LIC BID Opens For Business

The Long Island City Business Improvement District officially launched at the Met Life Building on Tuesday morning with many of the people involved in its creation singing the praises of what they envision as a booming “gateway to Manhattan.”
In an event attended by hundreds of community leaders and elected officials, the LIC BID was introduced as the city’s 50th, marking a new era for an area long-neglected in Western Queens.
“I’ve lived in Queens since 1957 and I know all about its past dreariness,” said Borough President Helen Marshall. “But today we are expanding the concept that everything that happens in this city isn’t necessarily in Manhattan.”
“If you think about what we can accomplish here, we are going to turn relics of New York’s past into monuments to New York’s future,” said Councilmember Eric Gioia.
The BID will encompass 85 properties and 65 small businesses between 21st Street and Queens Plaza East on Queens Plaza North and South, as well as properties along Jackson Avenue and Crescent Street in what Marshall called a “ribbon-shaped BID.”
The launch was three-and-a-half years in the making, but actually took 20 years of start-and-stop planning.
“I thought it took a village to build this BID, but I was wrong, it takes an army,” said Gayle Baron, president of the LIC Business Development Corp. and new executive director of the BID.
Officials spoke of future companies who may be coming to the area, including Barnes and Noble and Whole Foods Market. Gioia said he looked forward to people coming in from Manhattan and walking the streets of Queens Plaza in search of new shops and restaurants.
“We are here today at the beginning of something special,” said BID Chair David Brause.
editrich@queenscourier.com