Long Island City, Queens
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Long Island City, Queens OPEN SPACE INDEX LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS OPEN SPACE INDEX ❁ 1 LONG ISLAND CITY n NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS 16 McKenna Triangle (1 to 20 acres in size) 17 Old Hickory Playground Long Island City Study Area 3 Dutch Kills Green 18 Playground Thirty Five XXXV n East River and Newtown Creek 4 Dutch Kills Playground 19 Rafferty Triangle MTA 7 Subway 5 Gantry Plaza State Park 20 Sixteen Oaks Grove MTA N, Q, R, W Subways 6 Murray Playground 21 Short Triangle MTA B, D, F, M Subways 7 Rainey Park 22 Spirit Playground MTA A, C, E Subways 8 Ravenswood Playground 23 Vernon Mall MTA G Subway 9 Socrates Sculpture Park 10 Torsney Playground (Lou Lodati Park) n COMMUNITY GARDENS n NEW YORK CITY HOUSING 24 Windmill Community Garden AUTHORITY DEVELOPMENTS n POCKET PARKS 25 Long Island City Community Garden (Less than 1 acre) 26 Long Island City Roots Community Garden 11 A.R.R.O.W. Field House n LARGE PARKS 27 Smiling Hogshead Ranch (More than 20 acres) 12 Andrews Grove 1 Hunter’s Point South Park 13 Bridge and Tunnel Park 2 Queensbridge Park & 14 Court Square Park Queensbridge Baby Park 15 Gordon Triangle ASTORIA HOUSES 9 MANHATTAN QUEENS 33 7 RD 34 AVE 33 AVE 35 AVE 8 1 ST 1 RAVENSWOOD BROADWAY 22 HOUSES 9 ST 12 ST 28 ST 10 ST 37 29 ST 32 ST 13 ST 20 AVE 30 ST ST 4 35 37 ST QUEENSBRIDGE HOUSES ST 2 21 ST 45 ST WOODSIDE NORTH 22 ST 23 ST 24 ST 36 38 ST HOUSES QUEENSBRIDGE HOUSES 11 41 ST 44 ST 40 42 ST 43 ST QUEENSBOROSOUTH BRIDGE A CRESCENT ST 31 ST 34 ST VE 39 33 ST 18 VD AVE WOODSIDE AVE 2 41 AVE THERN BL 24 NOR 43 48 ST AVE VERNON BLVD VE 10 ST 37 A BARNETT AVE L 44 3 P AVE 1 1 44 RD SUNNYSIDE YARDS 15 44 DR 19 6 10 46 AVE 16 14 5 5 46 RD 21 SKILLMAN AVE43 AVE 47 AVE THOMSON AVE 5 ST 5 QUEENS BLVD 50 47 AVE ST AVE 25 26 31 51 AVE 12 27 1 49 23 AVE 27 ST 17 13 LONG ISLAND BORDEN 51 2 ST AVE 1 AVE EXPRESSWAY 1/4 Mile 2 ✿ NEW YORKERS FOR PARKS Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a Queens waterfront neighborhood that evolved from an industrial hub to a booming business and residential center. Home to almost 60,000 New Yorkers and numerous businesses, LIC is a rapidly developing mixed-use neighborhood. The pace of public investment in neighborhood amenities has not kept up with LIC’s breakneck growth, and local residents clamor for open space creation and investments in maintenance. In the 1990s, City and State agencies Park. The pressures of residential and LONG ISLAND CITY sought to catalyze mixed-use develop- commercial development continue, plac- DEMOGRAPHICS ment in LIC due to the neighborhood’s ing increased demand on neighborhood SEX proximity to Midtown Manhattan. parks and open spaces. New York State developed a formerly 49% 51% industrial waterfront space into the In fall 2018, responding to the neigh- Female Male first new Queens waterfront park, borhood’s growth, the City announced Gantry Plaza State Park. LIC.NYC, a major investment commit- ment. It promised $180 million to Long Twenty-first century investment in Island City, $15 million of which would LIC has been concentrated to the support local parks and open spaces. AGE neighborhood’s south: the City’s 2001 Shortly thereafter, Amazon announced rezoning spurred housing construction a multi-billion dollar campus in LIC, but 17% 10% in Hunters Point, and in Court Square, withdrew its project plans in Winter 19 and 65 and office towers sprouted up. Hunters 2019. Residents know that LIC’s growth under older Point South Park is complete, but it has is not complete, and they clamor for 73% taken decades of local advocacy to lead continued investment in local parks 20-64 to transformative public investment in and open spaces. parks to the north, like Queensbridge RACE AND ETHNICITY 39% 11 % 20% White Black Asian 28% 3% Latinx Other Rainey Park LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS OPEN SPACE INDEX ❁ 3 Open Space Goals and Local Results For each Open Space Goal in the Index, NY4P staff gathered data from publicly available sources to answer the question, “Does Long Island City meet this goal?” Information on population comes from the US Census’ American Community Survey, and most open space amenity and acreage information comes from the New York City open data platform. Visit www.ny4p.org/data-and-research for methodology. AMOUNT OF OPEN SPACE Total Open Space Active Open Space Playgrounds Athletic Fields Queensbridge Park Lawrence Village Playground Hunter’s Point Park South Hunter’s Point Park South All acres of open space in the All acres of playgrounds, fields, Places for play with things like Fields for sports like soccer, neighborhood that provide courts, rec centers, and other swings, climbing frames, water football, cricket, baseball, rugby, space for play, relaxation, and active open spaces features, sand boxes, or other and field hockey, as well as contact with nature play areas outdoor ice rinks CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT 2.5 1. 5 1 0.3 1 6.3 1. 5 2.6 acres per acres per acre per acres per per 1,250 kids per 1,250 kids per 10,000 per 10,000 1,000 people 1,000 people 1,000 people 1,000 people people people Courts Recreation Centers Passive Open Space Community Gardens Sean’s Place ARROW Fieldhouse Dutch Kills Green LIC Community Garden Courts for playing sports like Indoor recreation centers All acres of lawns, esplanades, All GreenThumb gardens and basketball, handball, volleyball, operated by NYC Parks, and plazas, beaches, natural areas, other community gardens with tennis, and bocce other indoor facilities with planted areas, and community public access similar fees and public access gardens CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT 5 8.7 1 0.3 1. 5 1. 2 1 0.7 per 10,000 per 10,000 per 10,000 per 10,000 per 10,000 per 10,000 per 20,000 per 20,000 people people people people residents residents residents residents 4 ✿ NEW YORKERS FOR PARKS NY4P studied the area of Queens that the NYC Department of City Planning used for its Long Island City Core study. Meets goal Approaches goal Does not meet goal ENVIRONMENTAL ACCESS TO OPEN SPACES SUSTAINABILITY Pocket Parks Neighborhood Parks Large Parks Urban Tree Canopy Rafferty Triangle Gantry Plaza State Park Hunter’s Point Park South Gantry Plaza State Park Parks smaller than 1 acre Parks larger than 1 acre but Parks larger than 20 acres The layer of tree leaves, in size smaller than 20 acres in size in size branches, trunks, and stems, that cover the ground when viewed from above CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT 1 00% 3 4% 1 00% 2 9% 1 00% 3 4% 4 0% 7 % of people live of people live of people live of people live of people live of people live potential tree actual tree ten ten canopy canopy minute walk minute walk minute walk minute walk minute walk minute walk PARK MAINTENANCE Cleanliness Overall Condition Torsney Playground Spirit Playground NYC Parks’ Park Inspection NYC Parks’ Park Inspection Program rating based on the Program rating for overall park maintenance conditions weeds, and ice CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND CITYWIDE LONG ISLAND GOAL CITY RESULT GOAL CITY RESULT 90% 86% 85% 7 9% of inspections of inspections of inspections of inspections rated “acceptable” rated “acceptable” rated “acceptable” rated “acceptable” LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS OPEN SPACE INDEX ❁ 5 Findings and Recommendations ACCESS INFRASTRUCTURE There is a distinct lack of park space in LIC. From a maintenance standpoint, LIC Findings This rapidly densifying neighborhood is parks and open spaces are treated well, gaining residents south of the Queensboro approaching the goal for maintenance Bridge, where new open spaces have been standards. Yet with more residents developed, but the continued population expected, investment in maintenance at boom is still putting stress on an inade- today’s levels will be inadequate. Local quate park system. Only a third of local advocates are calling for unusual solutions LIC residents are within walking distance to LIC’s park scarcity and people density to pocket parks or large parks, and less mismatch, focusing on opportunities than a third are within walking distance where other city infrastructure can be to a neighborhood park. Those who more repurposed or reinvented for open space likely have access live closer to the East goals. LIC parks range from brand-new to River and Newtown Creek waterfronts old, broken, and beloved: there are serious whereas Court Square and Blissville are capital needs in this neighborhood’s particularly park-poor. Residents of upland parks and open spaces. communities report physical and psycho- logical barriers to reaching the neighbor- hood’s parks, from a lack of wayfinding and signage to feeling that some spaces just “aren’t for them.” Recommendations 1. Invest in connectivity from waterfront 1. Make the sidewalks and plazas of the parks to upland communities: local neighborhood do double duty—as civic organizations like the Long Island transportation infrastructure for pedes- City Partnership (LICP) and the NYC trians, and as green corridor continu- Department of Transportation (DOT) ations of LIC’s open spaces.