Dozens of southeast Queens residents voiced their opposition at a town hall meeting last week against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recent expansion of its e-scooter program into their area.
Homeowners from an array of southeast Queens neighborhoods, including Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Laurelton and Springfield Gardens, were vocal in their opposition to the program, which they say has led to bikes being strewn all over the area since its launch on June 27. The program, which was initially introduced in the Bronx, covers 20 square miles—from Flushing in the north to Springfield Gardens in the south—and is part of a long-term contract between the city and participating e-scooter companies.
The residents gathered for the meeting on Aug. 17 at Archie Spigner Park for a conversation facilitated by Sen. Leroy Comrie’s office. They got to speak to Comrie, as well as DOT Queensborough Commissioner Nicole Garcia and representatives from participating e-scooter companies. Representatives from the Queens Borough President’s office and Council Member Nantasha Williams’ office were also present.
Since the program’s expansion into southeast Queens, many residents say that the riders are thoughtlessly dumping the bikes on the street when they are done using them, blocking sidewalks, driveways and bike lanes. Additionally, they expressed concern about rider safety and asked about the regulations.
Garcia said the DOT is reviewing the residents’ complaints, but also noted that the e-scooter program has become an important transportation option for southeast Queens residents.
“There are things that the agency is looking into, to adapt it to address some of these concerns. This is a really important transportation option for a lot of folks. We’ve seen some pretty incredible numbers in the first four weeks that it’s launched,” she said to the crowd.
Within the first two months of the program, around 30,000 unique rider accounts have taken nearly 190,000 trips, according to the DOT. Additionally, the agency said that it has installed designated parking corrals in downtown Flushing and Jamaica, with plans underway for more parking areas to service eastern Queens. No riding and no parking zone installations were also included based on community input.
Representatives from the three participating e-scooter companies— Lime, Bird and Veo— manned info stalls at the town hall, where they discussed bike safety, ridership and e-scooter usage.
The DOT told QNS that it decided to expand the e-bike program into southeast Queens based on what it claimed was its successful launch in the East Bronx.
“This expansion delivers a popular, safe and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation to underserved neighborhoods in Queens—and we’ve already recorded nearly 200,000 trips,” a DOT spokesperson said.
Bird Partnerships representative Austin Spademan, who was present at the meeting, addressed concerns about improper parking practices. He explained that users must provide an end-ride photo to show that they parked properly, with a penalty system that can see a rider banned from the service if company policies are not met.
Some residents expressed concern about minors using the bikes. Spademan said that riders must upload their identification for age verification before they can use them. Some attendees at the town hall also claimed the bikes were not being used.
Spademan told QNS that although there is vocal opposition, the data shows that riders are utilizing the scooters.
“The fact of the matter is that our riders are also equally a part of this community, and there are 6,500 active riders every single day across the city. Queens has the most active users out of all the neighborhoods,” he said. He added that well over 25% of rides within southeast Queens are ending or beginning around transit, with large amounts of daily ridership.
Spademan said there is work to do in the neighborhood, including enforcing ridership rules in order to improve the relationship between Bird and the community.
“Complaints are going down each week in Queens because the rider behavior is getting better and our enforcement policies are going into effect,” he told QNS. Spademan added that Bird is happy to work directly with residents facing issues with e-scooters being parked on their premises.
Residents were straightforward with their pushback against the representatives’ statements.
“The complaints that have been reported to you are that [e-scooters] are strung around all over the place willy nilly, and we don’t want them in the community,” said Michael Scotland, an Addisleigh Park homeowner.
Carl Cunningham, a St. Albans resident, told QNS he is not completely opposed to the program, but more needs to be done to stop the e-scooters from being abandoned on the street and out of the hands of underaged riders. “They can’t be dropped off on any street, anywhere at any time,” he said. “A lot of the teenagers I’ve seen riding them don’t look 18 to me. They’re using an older brother or parent’s or somebody’s [ID] and they’re leaving them on driveways and the sidewalks.”
Albert Silvestri, Queens Deputy Borough DOT Commissioner, told the attendees that whoever’s information or ID was used to sign up for the e-scooter would be liable for any rider under 18 using the service. Riders must be 18 or older to use the e-scooters.
Many residents seemed perplexed as to why the expansion moved forward after it was voted down by community boards 12 and 13.
“I’m a property owner in Cambria Heights. We never wanted this. We voted against it in Community Board 13 and Community Board 12,” said James Johnson at the town hall meeting.
Reverend Carlene Thorbes, chairperson of Community Board 12, said that during the planning stages, the board recommended, among other suggestions, that the e-scooter companies corral the bikes at train stations in downtown Jamaica and at LIRR stations. She said that when they were told that riders could “drop them anywhere,” the board’s response to the program changed. “That’s when a maybe turned into a no,” she said.
At times, the meeting descended in chaos, with frustrated residents shouting over the speakers. “We want them out of our neighborhood,” “We want them gone,” multiple residents quipped.
Some residents suggested that the DOT and e-scooter companies provide an opt out for communities such as theirs that do not want the program.
“If the other communities want it, that’s fine. We want to carve out no-ride zones and we want DOT to establish them,” said Scotland.
Residents seemingly began to calm down as the meeting transitioned into a conversation with Comrie, who said that the next step was to make their grievances clear to a large number of elected officials.
Comrie echoed the residents’ concerns, urging them to present a united front. “We got to get numbers. We got to get people willing to put their name, address and phone number on paper to get these statistics,” he said. “It’s not right, it’s not fair to any homeowner worried about whether you’re going to trip over a scooter. We’re going to have to organize all the elected officials and get the mayor involved.”
Comrie told QNS that the DOT needs to “respect the will, and the quality and history of our community.” He urged the DOT to make necessary changes to facilitate a program that is more cognizant of the needs of homeowners.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get it out of the community and all of the places where it is causing problems,” he said.
