Being a resident of the Whitestone area for many years and working in Flushing, I have seen many changes.
To continue to grow, we need to support any arts enrichment and environmental programs in the area, as I believe most of these institutions need more funding.
The consistent building up of commerce and apartments in Flushing in and around Main Street seems to ignore congestion, traffic, parking and quality-of-life concerns, although I am happy to hear that finally the RKO Theatre will be restored and hopefully a construction company will be chosen carefully, considering the past history of neglect.
The time has come where we should all be respected and feel welcome in stores in our area with signage that is welcoming in English. If not done voluntarily, there should be a law in place for the store owners.
Also, I believe the small business owners in the Iron Triangle have had a long-enough run. In the interests of what is for the community and environment, they need to give it up and stop fighting and crying about eminent domain.
Years ago, my grandfather, an immigrant from Norway, had to give up a beautiful, two-family home due to eminent domain for the building of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which ended up going right through the house. He had to give it up for the betterment of the community.
I never heard him complain because he knew what had to be done. His family was uprooted, so we all had to move to other parts of Queens. This area across from Citi Field is unsightly, dirty and dangerous and needs to be improved.
Between the baseball games and tennis matches played in the area, people visit from all over and have to be subjected to the fumes and filth emanating from this area. The roads in the surrounding area are unacceptable because of deep potholes.
Let’s move on and continue to beautify our community and the surrounding areas so we can be proud of where we live.
Margaret Larsen Oddo
Whitestone
