Flushing BID announces plans

The Flushing Business Improvement District (BID) held its quarterly meeting recently, declaring that, “Everything is according to budget and on track.”
“The BID continues to be on top of the cost-efficiencies in its budget and [is] planning for the preparation of services in the coming year,” said BID Chair Jim Gerson.
At the meeting, on Thursday, January 8, Executive Director Mabel Law updated the business community on its collaborative efforts with the city’s Department of Small Business Services to overcome the effects of the recent fire in the center of the transit hub at Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street.
Law stressed the importance of the Emergency Readiness Seminar for Businesses on Thursday, January 29, at the Sheraton LaGuardia-East Hotel.
She urged all business owners to sign up for the meeting, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the seventh-floor Gallery Room of the hotel at 135-20 39th Avenue in downtown Flushing.
“The BID will continue to assist all of our members as we have every year and continue to provide services in the form of direct assistance seminars and multi-agency coordination,” Law said.
Police representatives from the 109th Precinct provided a crime update, which touched on a local bank robbery and the recent increase in robberies of restaurant delivery workers. The precinct is planning extensive business outreach in conjunction with the BID to help owners adopt safeguards against crime, they said.
A report from City Councilmember John Liu, Chairman of the BID’s Long-Range Planning Committee, reported that “The Willets Point Redevelopment has been authorized by the City Council, and the BID will continue to monitor potential developments that take place at the Willets Point site to ensure that there’s synergy with Downtown Flushing.”
Liu also reported that the long-awaited traffic management plan for Downtown Flushing has undergone extensive review by the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
According to Liu, another round of discussions throughout the community will take place to review the proposed pattern of one-way streets, designed to relieve the almost-constant traffic congestion in one of the borough’s busiest transit and commercial hubs.
As one of the major sponsors of Flushing’s Lunar New Year celebration, the BID is continuing coordination and planning for the festivities and parade, to be held on Saturday, January 31.