Printer Friendly Format
View Press Conference
56k  or  300k



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2003
PR- 056-03
www.nyc.gov


MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES “QUEENS PLAZA CLEAN-UP”
TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE AND PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Next Step In Transforming Long Island City Into Central Business District

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the “Queens Plaza Clean-Up” program to encourage economic development and to improve the quality of life in the Queens Plaza area.  The NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, has entered into a contract with the Center for Court Innovation to conduct a year-long clean-up and area improvement effort. The Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator will coordinate the program, in which sentenced low-level offenders required to perform community service, volunteers, and day laborers supervised by the Salvation Army will provide a uniformed workforce that will be responsible for a range of projects.  Participants will remove graffiti, implement open space improvements such as planting and weeding, collect litter and clean signage in the area. The Mayor announced the initiative at the MetLife Building in Queens Plaza, which opened last June and is home to over 1,000 employees; an additional 800 employees are expected to relocate to the Queens Plaza location during the coming year.

“As I said in the State of the City, one of my Administration’s most important goals is creating central business districts that will attract companies to locations outside of Manhattan,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “With Long Island City’s proximity to midtown and accessibility to public transportation, it has enormous potential to be the City’s next successful business district. Through this innovative program, we’ll keep the streets clean, the walls graffiti-free and invest in beautification projects so that Queens Plaza is inviting to businesses and has a high quality of life for those who live and work here.”

“Queens Plaza Clean-Up,” will be coordinated by CJC and include four components: 1) low-level offenders sentenced to community service for crimes committed in Long Island City will return to the neighborhood to clean up parks, clear litter and remove graffiti; 2) daily crews of twenty residents from the Salvation Army shelter for homeless veterans on Borden Avenue will sweep the streets as they work toward establishing their own economic self-sufficiency; 3) volunteer teams from the community will conduct beautification projects such as painting murals, cleaning empty lots and planting trees; and 4) the Corporation for National and Community Service will support the Americorps members, who will work with local business and community members to identify cleanup sites, coordinate the clean-up crews, and organize the volunteer events.

Low-level offenders of quality of life crimes who are sentenced to community service will work under the close supervision of the Center for Court Innovation, which has managed similar community improvement programs using sentenced offenders in Times Square, Harlem, and Red Hook, Brooklyn.  It is expected that as many as 1,300 offenders, charged with low-level crimes such as graffiti, prostitution, and criminal mischief, will be sentenced each year to work in the 37-block redevelopment area around Queens Plaza. A study of the Center for Court Innovation’s effort in Times Square found that using community service sanctions as part of a comprehensive criminal justice strategy has a marked impact on street conditions; for example, prostitution arrests dropped 56% over the first 18 months of the program.  The NYPD will continue to combat quality of life offenses in the community, including prostitution, as part of the new initiative.

“Queens Plaza is one of our most important commercial areas and it is essential that we do whatever we can to maintain and improve the quality of life for those who conduct their businesses and live or work here,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “The Queens Clean-Up Program will assure that when that punishment includes community service, sentenced offenders will be required to participate in cleaning up the area as well as any damage that they themselves may have caused.”

“Queens Plaza is the gateway to our Borough,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. “This innovative program is a clear indication that the revitalization and development of Long Island City is a top priority for the administration.  I look forward to working with the Mayor as it becomes a destination of choice for the business community.”

“We’re sweeping the stoop, shaking out the welcome mat and hanging a sign on the front door of Queens that says we’re open for business,” said Councilmember Eric Gioia. “This is one more piece of good news for Long Island City. It builds on the positive momentum of MetLife, Citigroup, Silvercup Studios, MoMAQNS and P.S.1, and continues the revitalization of this neighborhood in the midst of a renaissance.”

“MetLife enthusiastically supports the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and City officials as they continue to make improvements to the neighborhood, ” said Lisa M. Weber, MetLife senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer. “Together in partnership with our government leaders, we will continue to improve this area for the community and our 1,000 employees that currently work at MetLife Plaza.”

Long Island City is ideally suited to become a successful business district due to its location, just east of midtown Manhattan, and superior accessibility including service by eight subway lines and an interstate highway. In 2001, the 37-block area was rezoned to allow up to 15 million square feet of commercial development and additional residential development. EDC and City Planning are working with consultants to design a new transportation network to reduce traffic congestion, improve the neighborhood’s streetscapes and pedestrian, bicycle and bus connections between offices, retail outlets, and cultural institutions in the area.

“Good criminal justice policy is good economic development policy,” said Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt. “It only makes sense to use the labor of those who have damaged the community to repair the face of the community. We are seeing to it that the punishment fits the crime and, in the process, making the community more hospitable for investment.”

“This program will not only clean up the neighborhood but also has the potential to reduce quality of life crimes by putting minor offenders to work,” said EDC President Andrew Alper. “This effort, combined with recent rezoning and the planning studies EDC is doing in conjunction with City Planning to improve traffic patterns in the area, will contribute a great deal to Long Island City’s future as a thriving business, residential and cultural hub.”

The Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, with the assistance of the NYPD, conducted a public safety study in Queens Plaza. More than 100 local residents participated in individual interviews, focus groups and community meetings about the project, which found that conditions such as litter and debris in the streets, graffiti and untended vacant lots contribute to the fear of crime and act as an impediment to economic investment in the area.


 

www.nyc.gov

Contact: Edward Skyler / Jennifer Falk / Jerry Russo 
(212) 788-2958
 
  Michael Sherman / Janel Patterson  ( EDC )
(212) 312-3523