Greenway for blighted L.I.C. waterfront

Fourteen years after a plan to build a park and greenway along the western Queens waterfront was first proposed, local leaders announced that funding for the $3.1 million project has been secured.
Councilman Eric Gioia donated $500,000, and the city’s Parks Department will provide the remaining $2.6 million to the greenway at Gantry Park in Long Island City.
Stretching along the river for 10.6 miles — from Newtown Creek to 20th Ave. — the greenway will be open to all residents and will replace abandoned factories and remnants of industry along the waterfront.
“For my entire life, we’ve been cut off from our waterfront,” Gioia said. “When I grew up, the waterfront in Queens was completely cut off. It was filled with old dilapidated buildings. It was not a place you’d come to spend any time on a weekend or after work.”
The $3.1 million in funds will be used to pay the first phase of the project, including the waterfront greenway. The Parks Department said they hoped that phase could be completed within four years.
The second phase will connect the greenway to other parks with on-street biking routes. There is no estimate of how much the second phase will cost. Project organizers hope to connect the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Promenade along Flushing Bay in the east.
“We are thrilled that, with the support of elected officials and the community, we can soon build a greenway along the Queens East River waterfront and beyond to Flushing,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
Community advocates said that the new greenway will be a dramatic improvement to the neighborhood’s current condition.
“This fantastic project will improve the quality of life in these waterfront communities and will help to make this section of the borough a destination for all New Yorkers,” said Basil Seggos, of Riverkeeper, a watchdog organization that advocates on behalf of local waterways.
To ensure that local residents are involved in the planning, a meeting was held on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the ARROW Recreation Center.