Meeting Eyes Expansion Of Space
Glendale residents will have the chance to voice their input regarding the planned creation of a new public plaza near the Glendale Memorial Triangle at a public hearing scheduled to take place later this month, it was announced.
The Ridgewood Local Development Corporation and the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) will hold the information session on Wednesday night, Jan. 25, at 6:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran School, located at 69-26 Cooper Ave. near 69th Place.
Attendees will have the opportunity to speak out about the creation of a public plaza on the short block of 70th Street between Myrtle and Cooper avenues. The plan is a joint collaboration between the RLDC and the DOT through the city agency’s Public Plazas program.
While there are no designs yet to review, the RLDC’s Executive Director Theodore Renz said, those attending the session will have the chance to provide their suggestions on how the new space should be used and created.
“This is an opportunity for whoever shows up at this community forum to [offer] ideas on what they would like to see there,” Renz explained in a phone interview with the Times Newsweekly. He noted that the session marks “the first of many steps toward creating a public plaza at this site.”
The portion of 70th Street in question is only about 70 feet in length and measures about 4,000 sq. ft. of outdoor space; it abuts the Glendale Memorial Triangle on the east and Zum Stammtisch restaurant on the west. The DOT noted on its website that the plaza would “expand and enhance” the memorial triangle and likely include “seating, trees, decorative paving, public art and events.”
Renz stated that the exact cost of the plaza’s creation is not known since “the design will determine the actual cost.”
As described on the DOT website, the Public Plazas Program links the
–SEE PLAZA ON PG. 28- agency with various non-profit groups around New York City to transform “underused streets into vibrant, social public spaces.” Like other plaza proposals, the project was suggested by the RLDC and selected by the DOT through a competitive process.
Other Public Plaza Program projects that are either complete or in the process of being developed, according to the DOT’s website, include the 71st Avenue triangle in Ridgewood (co-sponsored by the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District), Corona Plaza (co-sponsored by the Queens Economic Development Corporation) and the triangle at Knickerbocker and Myrtle avenues in Bushwick (co-sponsored by the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council).
For more information on the Jan. 25 hearing in Glendale, call the RLDC at 1-718-366-3806.
