At a pair of community workshops at P.S. 69 Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives met with Jackson Heights residents for a block-by-block look at land uses.
Facilitators met in small groups with members of the Jackson Heights community on Tuesday, April 27 and Thursday, April 29, to go over the problem areas identified by DOT and get local feedback. The intention was to cover the entire neighborhood in each group discussion.
According to the DOT, the “Street Classification” process is the most recent attempt to improve transportation and traffic congestion in the area, by targeting certain blocks for revision.
“Sometimes we have ideas that look good on paper but the community says no,” said DOT facilitator David Fields. “That’s why we run these workshops.”
One trouble spot is 37th Avenue because it serves different purposes. DOT is looking at street types by asking members of the community to classify the streets individually.
“I’m very pleased,” said 30-year resident Terri Farrell. “They’ve noticed the concerns we’ve expressed and these were the problems we discussed today.”
At the last workshop on April 17, workbooks were distributed to those in the community as a checklist of what changes they wanted to see. The workbooks were then collected as further research into the study, which will continue through the summer.
DOT hopes to implement these changes in the fall.
