Amalgamated bank coming to L.I.C

For as long as Rev. Mitchell G. Taylor, a 40-year resident of Long Island City, can remember, the biggest financial institution in the area serving the 30,000 residents of the nearby Queensbridge, Ravenswood and Astoria Houses was a commercial check cashing place.
The nearest bank to Queensbridge, where half of the three developments' residents live, is approximately one mile away. However, all of this is about to change.
Amalgamated Bank's application to open a branch at the corner of 21st Street and 36th Avenue was accepted by the New York State Banking Department and by the Queens Borough Board early last summer. Renovations to the building will begin this month, and the bank is expected to open in early 2007.
The 2,400-square-foot, full-service retail branch will have a drive-thru teller window and 24-hour ATMs.
&#8220By building the branch here, we are continuing our mission of providing affordable banking services to low and moderate income workers,” said Derrick D. Cephas, President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. &#8220Our goal for the Banking Development District (BDD) is to assist neighborhood people who want to take advantage of our banking services, know-how and community outreach to achieve a better life.”
Cephas, who has previously served as the Superintendent of Banks for New York State, said that the bank will also offer new jobs to the area and will provide home loans, which will spur home ownership.
In July, the Queens Borough Board unanimously approved Amalgamated Bank's application for a BDD, which is an incentive program to lure banks to open in low-income areas. In BDD areas, banks are offered tax abatements, workforce training and deposits from city and state agencies. Amalgamated's BDD, which is bounded on the north by Broadway, on the east by 31st Street, on the south by Queens Plaza North and on the west by Vernon Boulevard, is the 19th established in the City since the first BDD was created in Harlem in 2001.
Last week, local elected officials and government executives gathered with representatives from the Bank to announce Amalgamated's opening. Several politicians, including Borough President Helen Marshall, City Councilmember Eric Gioia, Congressmember Carolyn Maloney and Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, had pushed for months for the BDD to be developed in the Queensbridge area, marching with hundreds of children through the streets of Long Island City in January to call for the bank.