By Nathan Duke
“What do we want?” Taylor called to the crowd of 200 people marching from PS 111 down 21st Street in Long Island City to the Center of Hope International at 40th Avenue Friday. “A bank!” they responded in unison. “When do we want it?” Taylor asked. “Now!” yelled the crowd, which included Queensbridge Houses residents and PS 111 faculty and students.Taylor was accompanied by faculty and students from PS 111 as well as Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Long Island City), state Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria).Taylor and Gioia have long called for the creation of a bank near Queensbridge, which houses 15,000 people. Residents said they now must walk up to 15 minutes to get to the nearest bank, use check-cashing businesses that charge high rates or stuff money under their mattresses. Heather Stephen, a guidance counselor at PS 111, said she must walk about a mile to get to a bank when she works at the school.Taylor said more than 1,000 people have signed a petition to get a neighborhood bank.Students carried signs at the march reading “Queensbridge wants a bank” and “Economic justice now for Queensbridge.””Across the street from Queensbridge Houses there are two places that represent this community – a liquor store and a check cashing place,” Taylor told the large crowd assembled at the Center of Hope International following the march. “In order to build a economic stability in the community, you need a financial institution.”Taylor said, according to statistics, every 6,000 residents in Queens have easy access to a bank. However, he said Queensbridge has a body of 15,000 people in an area of several blocks where there is no bank.He said a local bank will help Queensbridge and area students begin to save for a college education and prevent elderly residents from walking long distances to do their banking.”It's very difficult for disabled and elderly people in our community to get to a bank when the closest one is so far away,” said Nina Adams, president of the Queensbridge Tenants Association. “Instead, we have to go to check-cashing facilities that charge us astronomical fees.”Taylor planned the march for economic justice around Dr. Martin Luther King Day because the civil rights leader called for social justice. Elected officials echoed Taylor's call for a financial institution near Queensbridge.”Banks are the foundation of Americans' financial security,” Maloney said. “Queensbridge residents desperately need a place to establish regular bank accounts, save for college, build credit and have access to the financial system.”Gioia said he hopes banks will be lured to Queensbridge through the state's Banking Development District initiative, which offers incentives like tax abatements, workforce training and public deposits.”Not only would bringing a bank to Queensbridge benefit its thousands of residents, but the Banking Development District program makes sure that it's a good deal for the bank, too,” he said. “If you work hard, do right and play by the rules, you should have access to the tools that make it possible to build a better life for yourself and your family.”Reach reporter Nathan Duke by email at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 781-229-0300, Ext. 156.
