Liu, Nolan Address Sunnyside Chamber Luncheon Meeting

Assemblymember Catherine Nolan and City Councilmember John C. Liu appeared at the September luncheon meeting of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. John C. Liu, in his second term representing the 20th City Council district, which covers Flushing, told the September luncheon meeting of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce that politics has been "the best experience of my life", though he didn't say if or how he would continue in it after term limits force him from office at the end of 2009. The 20th District City Council seat is the first public office to which he was elected. In the council, he serves on several committees and is the chair of the one dealing with transportation. His luncheon audience at Dazies restaurant had transportation matters in mind, particularly the closing of 40th Street and other moves by the Department of Transportation that have seemingly regarded the Queens Boulevard viaduct of the No. 7 train line as a wall that should separate the north and south sections of Sunnyside. There was also an appearance by Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, making the rounds on primary election day. News announcements from the Sunnyside BID and other local organizations rounded out the meeting.

Liu called Queens less dependent on the financial milieu of Wall Street than other parts of the city and further described it as increasingly the beneficiary of shopping traffic from Long Island and New Jersey. He implied that that situation could only get better with the development of Willets Point, which he called "the biggest thing to happen in a long time in Queens". Realizing that opposition to all or parts of that plan is strong, with protesters deploring the eminent domain procedure by which private property is seized and replaced with projects that are declared as being for the greater good of the public, Liu nevertheless came down in favor of it. He said the city council is reluctant to vote for it, but expressed the hope they will "see the light" and do so. Seth Bornstein of LaGuardia Community College came to the luncheon with copies of La Guardia's plan for training of displaced Willets Point workers. Willets Point has for a long time been an area full of automobile salvage shops and other auto-based businesses.

When reminded of the closing of the through route at 40th Street under the Queens Boulevard viaduct, Liu said he

"probably should have been made more

aware" of it before it was too late. He said that easing the way for traffic going to or coming from Manhattan is done with disregard for Queens. Better realizing now what has been going on, he could ask why DOT has been unilaterally closing these streets. He characterized the department as too insular. Queens Boulevard, he said, is "a local street that just happens to be wide". Debbie Markell-Kleinert, Community Board 2 district manager, said the closing in Sunnyside came about as a result of the campaign against the "Boulevard of Death", beginning in 2000. There was a legitimate concern about the many traffic-related injuries and deaths that were occurring on Queens Boulevard, but most of them were occurring between Elmhurst and Briarwood. Stemming sidestreet entrances in Sunnyside did not address the problem properly.

Being from Flushing, where 22 bus lines run in the streets within the immediate area of Main Street, where the No. 7 train line begins and ends, Liu is naturally enthusiastic about buses. If Flushing is well supplied, though, other parts of the borough are not, he said, because of what he called the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's complacent assumption that areas with subway and elevated lines have little need for bus lines also. Very much an enthusiast for express buses, he lamented the current shelving of improvement plans for them. At least Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg reversed himself on water traffic, he added, so river and harbor taxis can be tried out.

Among the announcements made at the luncheon were those from the Sunnyside Business Improvement District (BID), Sunnyside Community Services (SCC) and Our Lady Queen of Angels church. BID President Glenn Yule said there would be holiday decorations on Queens Boulevard this December, for the first time in 20 years. Also, Atlantic Maintenance has been hired to improve cleanliness. The BID does not as yet have a logo. Judy Zangwill of SCC said the Sunnyside Art Auction is to be held Thursday, October 23 on the ground floor of SCC's 39th Street home—this time without needing special permission from the Department of Buildings. Another art auction is scheduled for a few days earlier, Sunday, October 19, at Queen of Angels church on Skillman Avenue and 45th Street, said Pat Dorfman. Her works and those of other local artists will be on display.