Queens Gazette

Letters to the Editor


Keep Key Food Open

May 20, 2020
Jenel Real Estate
A&H Acquisitions Corp.
To The Owners of 22-15 31st Street:

We write as four seriously concerned representatives of Astoria, which is at risk of losing an invaluable source of quality food and good union jobs – right in the middle of a global pandemic. It was frankly sickening to read in the Queens Daily Eagle last week that you seem to prefer to evict Key Food, even as their employees continue to serve Astorians who desperately need nutritious fresh food. Although our relations have been terse, you are a neighborhood stakeholder, so we would ask you to at least offer Key Food a one-year lease extension to guarantee Astoria residents don’t go hungry as COVID-19 rages on. This request is made independent of the grocery store owner. Rather, we feel it is our duty as elected officials to fight food insecurity and job loss when we see it.

As you hopefully are aware by now, this Key Food has served northern Astoria for approximately 50 years. It has seen our neighborhood change, but remain strong, throughout that entire time. We are Astoria natives, who remember our parents asking us to run into the store as we got off the subway from high school or our first jobs. It provided our friends with their first jobs, taught them the value of honest work, and made them hard workers who became leaders in their own right.

This Key Food has always been here to serve our neighborhood, but perhaps never more so than right now. While other small businesses have been forced to close or modify service, the workers at Key Food have continued to work long, grueling shifts to make sure we are fed. They have put their lives on the line so that we can have food on the table. Many of them live right here in Astoria and care deeply for their neighbors. On top of it all, their employer has stepped up to provide hazard pay and personal protective equipment to keep them safe. This Key Food is an example of how you lead during a crisis.

How these lease negotiations have carried on, however, is a model of what not to do in a time of crisis. Since the Queens Daily Eagle story ran last week, we have come to learn that talks over the last year to save Key Food have been unproductive. It almost appears that any time Key Food or the other tenants make a concession, there is a new excuse to set the grocery store up for failure. Not only that, but it’s shocking that you prefer to lose a stable commercial tenant for the sake of gambling that sometime in the future you may find other, higher paying retailers to occupy a newly built development. With the economic uncertainty that’s upon us, this is extremely ambitious to say the least. We have seen irresponsible real estate development thumb its collective nose at neighborhood institutions, all in the name of profit. Who benefits? Certainly, not the community.

Astoria’s food supply will be put under extreme strain unless something is done to save Key Food. The grocery store will no doubt have to begin laying people off over the summer, as well as reduce its inventory to meet its unfortunate closure at the end of October. This is a section of the neighborhood that needs more grocery stores – not fewer. Your unwillingness to make a deal with Key Food will add to the already historic unemployment in New York City. Experts believe this virus can come back even stronger in the fall. New York City might once again come to a standstill. Our grocery store workers will be called upon to step up, only now dozens of them will be out of work. Astoria residents, forced back into their homes to cook more meals, will have to wait on even longer lines to get into a grocery store. And once they’re in, it’s almost certain there will not be as much food on the shelves with the higher demand you’ll create.

Astoria is a real neighborhood. Our small business owners and residents sit next to each other at community meetings and the subway. They run neighborhood volunteer drives to help those at risk, whether from COVID-19 or any other threats to the neighborhood. If you want to be a part of that, here’s your opportunity. We implore you to offer Key Food an extension as you continue to find a long-term solution. Astoria residents deserve access to quality food and jobs right now. We all have a role to play in guaranteeing that happens.

NYS Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris NYS Senator Jessica Ramos
Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas
Councilman Costa Constantinides

Shop Owner Harassed

To The Editor:

On Tuesday, May 19 my husband and I were harassed by two sheriffs at my hair salon, She goes To Your Head on Steinway Street, which I’ve owned since 1972.

I was there going through mail and paying bills, while my husband was cleaning, so we could be prepared to open when it’s allowed. I own the business 100% and my husband Robert owns the building. The sheriffs were harassing us, saying we could not be there together in a 3,000-square-foot salon, even though we live together. They threatened to give me a $1,000 fine if we did not leave and warned us that we were now on a list and were going to be reported to their boss.

We were doing nothing more than cleaning and paying bills in a business and building we own. The sheriffs inspected the entire salon and saw no one else was there with us and could clearly see I was just paying bills. They told us we were breaking the law. Since when are you breaking the law by being in a place you own with someone you live with?

Pauline Jannelli, owner
She Goes to Your Head

Creative, Sensible Reopening

To The Editor:

Restaurants, bars, cafes, and small retail service businesses are the economic drivers of our community. We are known throughout the city for having some of the finest food and hospitality services.

However, these are some of the hardest-hit industries in the country, and OANA believes that their recovery should be our number one economic priority in Astoria. They are amongst our largest employers and their recovery is imperative.

There are obstacles. This last weekend was an example of (how) opening without proper infrastructure can be a disaster. While our restaurants were able to offer window service (including alcohol), those waiting for service on the sidewalks were not properly observing social distancing. This phenomenon existed throughout the city, and promises to get much worse as the weather warms.

Two solutions are unacceptable: (1) closing the restaurants for pick-ups, and (2) using the NYPD to police social distancing. (You cannot mix alcohol and policing: Recipe for disaster).

We would like to offer a third solution: Infrastructure. Create enough space so that tables can be placed outside observing social distancing regulations.

This could be done by closing the street to vehicular traffic temporarily for part of the day: Let’s say from 6 pm to 11 pm. This way deliveries and services will still be available during the day, and local retail will not be negatively affected. This might be done under the Open Streets program from DOT. However the restriction against economic activity should be lifted, especially as funding for the program has been negatively affected.

We would look at sections of Ditmars, 30th Ave and Broadway that have a high density of restaurants and cafes.

This will make enforcement of social distancing much more feasible. Perhaps an association of business owners can work together to enforce these regulations, as they know that ignoring these can lead to the closure of their businesses completely.

When this proposal was brought up by one of us (OANA President Richard Khuzami) at a recent Community Board 1 meeting, there was significant push-back stating that they did not want to close a bus route. However, we feel that buses are given wheels for a reason. A temporary route change down a neighboring street or avenue is a small price to pay for the jobs and economic activity this would create.

Another negative would be that if anyone parked their car in the closed area, they would have to accept they cannot remove it until after the restrictions are lifted. Frankly, after a few days of not being able to get to their car, habits would change. An example of this is when we close streets for use by our schools.

When one weighs the positive of increased economic activity plus more effective social distancing against the inconvenience of losing parking for a few hours or perhaps having to walk a block to get a bus, we think the conclusion should be obvious. During the quarantine, we have all shown a willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. This is a temporary extension of that attitude – again, for the greater good.

Richard Khuzami
President, Old Astoria Neighborhood Association
(OANA)
Frank Arcabascio
President, 30th Avenue Business Association

QEDC Steps Up

To The Editor:

I have to admit, we didn’t have a crystal ball when we themed the 2020 QEDC Calendar At Home in Queens. We just thought it was a nice idea to grace the pages with photographs of historical and culturally significant residences. As I write this in my kitchen (and the odds are pretty good many of you are reading this in your kitchens), the calendar on the wall displays the May photo of Jamaica’s King Manor shaded by pink cherry tree blossoms.

Built in approximately 1700 as a farmhouse, it was bought by Rufus King in 1805. Over the first 100 years, inhabitants endured Yellow Fever epidemics in 1702 and 1798. During the 1800s, the King family suffered the 1832 and 1866 cholera outbreaks, smelled burning embers from the Great Fire in 1845, and were no doubt housebound during the Blizzard of 1888. After becoming a museum at the turn of the last century, the three-story, three-chimney mansion saw the 1918 Pandemic, experienced darkness during the 1977 Blackout, and watched smoke rise on 9/11. Our city has had its share of terrible disasters.

This disaster is different. It’s global and its tentacles impact everyone, everywhere. Some day historians will write about how Gotham reacted as COVID-19 took root. I suppose our little QEDC village responded as many small offices did: we made contingency plans: moved in with family; stocked up on everything from tuna to toilet paper; and quickly developed work-from-home scenarios. It was more about doing what needed to be done than analyzing the situation.

We’re now two months into the Great Pause, as historians might call it someday. The first month brought the daily shock of learning the number of those who had been stricken and those that died. We were humbled, too, by the dedication of those who aided them. And we realized that Queens was the epicenter. Elmhurst Hospital Center will forever have a place in history.

We’re certainly not frontline providers. We’re witnesses. But as people who love this city, our staff found roles that we hope have proven useful. We quickly developed a Resource Doc regularly updated and available in translation which details aid for businesses and individuals; our business advisors counsel clients online; and the Queens Tourism Council promotes local businesses still operating. We’re proud that food makers at our Entrepreneur Space incubator, assisted by the dedicated staff there, have prepared tens of thousands of meals for hospital workers via the Fuel the Frontline and Queens Together programs.

The Great Pause has given us time to plan. On May 26 and running for the following few weeks, QEDC will offer Reboot & Reset, a series of free webinars in the areas of small business operations, finance, and marketing. Each one is taught by an expert. This is the time to get advice. For our city will reopen, and we will forge ahead. We hope the Reboot & Reset webinars will be a catalyst in making that happen. (“‘ReBoot & ReStart’ Your Biz w/QEDC’s Interactive Online Workshops” in the May 20 issue of the Queens Gazette.)

The word “pandemonium” has its roots in Greek and Latin: “pan” means “all” and “demon” needs no translation. The COVID-19 pandemic has released demons of untold suffering. But we’re New Yorkers. We know adversity and we know that by persevering and looking out for each other we will come out stronger. This is what has happened whenever a disaster threatened to cripple our beloved city. There will be a day when we’ll be able to walk in King Manor Park and enjoy the beautiful cherry tree blossoms without fear, just as generations of residents have done over the last three centuries.

Take care and look after those who are vulnerable,

Seth Bornstein
Executive Director, Queens Economic Development
Corporation

Don’t Be Selfish

To The Editor:

The recent story online about a particular MLB player being upset that his salary of $7 million might have to be reduced this year due to the shortened season is just out and out unbelievable! With 30 million Americans now out of work due to the shutdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, neither this player nor any other should be complaining about anything! Some athletes seem to think that the world revolves only around them and their super egos, and that is why they feel that they should be paid such very high salaries. Why don’t all professional athletes take a pay cut this year, and donate that portion of their salaries to help with the COVID-19 pandemic relief across our country? This certainly would show that they really do care about their fellow Americans. Those athletes that are so angry that their salaries might be reduced should stop their whining and understand that there are so many people in this country who are suffering in many ways because of the pandemic, need as much assistance as possible to pay their bills, put food on their table, pay their mortgage, pay their rent, medical insurance and auto insurance, and other important expenses. They should realize how dangerous everything is right now for all of our essential workers – doctors, nurses, EMTs and other medical personnel, as well as our firefighters, police, and all other workers, from supermarket workers to delivery drivers, utility, transit and construction workers, as well as teachers, principals and other school personnel, and everyone in between. These are the real heroes and heroines of this country, not some overpaid, egotistical athletes! To all professional athletes – try to help your fellow Americans in some way to show your compassion – we are all in this crisis together, and we will all come through this crisis together as a country with resilience and determination. God Bless America, now and forever!

John Amato
Fresh Meadows

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