Having Our Say: We'll See.

Due to the efforts of the Coalition and the assistance of Community Board #2, the Queens West Task Force formed a Subcommittee to solicit community input regarding the Gantry Plaza plans. In March of this year community representatives met with this Subcommittee, and presented these recommendations:

  • The entire project is too high, too dense, and too bulky.
  • Considering the project¹s entire area, the open space is inadequate.
  • (A dog run was flatly denied.)
  • The project should not be reviewed in a piecemeal manner.
  • A comfort station is needed.
  • Shade structures, trees, and more plantings are needed.
  • Senior needs are not addressed.
  • Children¹s needs are not addressed.
  • Sculptured water-play pieces are needed.
  • Stainless steel, concrete, and rubber safety surfaces should be replaced with more wood, stone, and grass.
  • Center Boulevard should not end at 50th Avenue, as this block is already plagued by traffic problems.
  • The tidal planting area probably will be too small for long-term survival.
  • A rodent abatement program is necessary.
  • The fish-cleaning table should be cancelled.
  • Local artists¹ work should be considered for sculpture placement.

    Reluctant to address the community¹s recommendations, which they openly solicited, Queens West has shifted the focus from the entire Gantry Plaza to an area of about 7,000 sq. ft. that is available for interim use (3 to 5 years). Only 750 sq. ft. of this space, about the size of the ³tot lot² in the strip park, will be permanent space. It is in this permanent space that the LICPG wishes to place Katherine Thompson¹s stone slide.

    According to those polled, this larger space provided for interim use should have the following items:

  • creatively-constructed play equipment
  • Horseshoes and shuffleboard
  • shade trees
  • a comfort station
  • picnic tables
  • grassy area

    At numerous Subcommittee meetings, LICPG representative Mary Faith Decker told Queens West representatives that parents understand ³that they (Queens West) have safety issues, but you forget about the creative parts-- we don¹t want items straight out of a catalogue.² Ms. Decker stressed the need for nature, ³It is important to the parents to have grass, stone, and wood incorporated with the play equipment. This is what is currently missing from Queens West¹s plan.²

    Katherine Thompson, also a LICPG and QWTF Subcommittee member, dislikes the park plans and hopes to see something more like the spacious and creative Battery City Park in lower Manhattan. ³This waterfront park is an opportunity to make a special contribution to Queens and to New York City. We are trying to make a creative interpretation of park space.²

    Based on these meetings the project¹s designers, Weintraub & di Domenico and Thomas Balsley Associates, are in the process of sketching out new plans, which should reflect the community¹s interests and ideas.

    To contact the Hunters Point Community Coalition
    Call or write:

    Hunters Point Community Coalition
    P.O. Box 1276
    Long Island City, NY 11101
    718 472 4260
    Back to The View - Volume 3 Number 2
    Last Update: August 3, 1996