Community Corner

🏠 2,500 Affordable Units Coming To Willets Point + Citi Bike Debacle

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Queens.

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(Patch Media)

Good morning, Queens! 🍁

  • 🏠 Along with the construction of a 40,000-square-foot soccer stadium, the new Willets Point development will also include over 2,500 affordable home units, with 220 homes for low-income seniors.
  • 🚲 Nearly five dozen Citi Bike stations are coming to Community Board 5 in the next few weeks and not all residents are thrilled about it.
  • 🌱 The city's curbside compost pilot program began in Queens last month with great success, and now Manhattan elected officials have requested curbside compost pickup be extended to their borough.

🌞 Mostly sunny and 🌬 windy. High: 48 Low: 35.

Here are the top stories today in Queens:

1. Along with the construction of a 40,000-square-foot stadium for the New York City Football Club, which will be located beside Citi Field, the new Willets Point development will also include over 2,500 affordable home units, a new 650-seat elementary school, a hotel, and retail shops, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday. Construction on the housing, intended for families earning less than $40,000 a year, is expected to begin in 2023, and will cover seven buildings, including one with 220 homes for low-income seniors. Adams called the development "the biggest 100% affordable housing project in New York City since the 1970s." The city expects the project to create nearly 16,000 jobs — 1,550 will be permanent, and 14,200 will be union construction jobs. "The goal has always been to make Queens a true live-work-play destination. And with this historic announcement, Queens is scoring like never before," said Queens Borough President Richards. "Neighboring communities like Corona and Flushing — which have suffered from decades of disinvestment — must benefit the most from this project."

New York Daily News ; Patch

2. 57 Citi Bike stations are on their way to Maspeth, Ridgewood, and other neighborhoods in Community Board 5, according to a press release from the Board office Monday night. In the statement, CB 5 District Manager Gary Giordano said construction will begin "within the next few weeks," and that approximately 40 of the docking stations are planned for installation in what are now roadway parking spaces. Giordano stated that the Department of Transportation has not yet provided a definitive answer on how many car parking spaces will be lost to the bike stations. In a neighborhood where street parking spaces are already hard to come by, the expansion of the Citi Bike program has been a source of strain since March, when the DOT first broached plans with members of CB 5. In July, Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth) accused the DOT of flat-out ignoring community input on the matter.

Queens Chronicle

3. The city's curbside compost pilot program began in Queens last month with great success, and now Manhattan elected officials have requested curbside compost pickup be extended to their borough. In Manhattan, only Community Boards 6 and 7 are currently offered curbside composting, and on an opt-in basis, leading to low utilization. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and nine council members want to change this. In a letter to NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch last week, they wrote: "An automatic and guaranteed system for all Manhattanites would lead to a significant increase in usage of composting, transitioning us to a greener and more sustainable city." The sanitation department hopes to eventually expand the Queens program to all parts of the city, though it has not yet provided a specific timeline.

Gothamist

4. Dwayne Gaddy, 44, the man who hijacked and crashed an MTA bus last month, was indicted on kidnapping and robbery charges, the Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Wednesday. On the morning of Oct. 27, Gaddy boarded a Q5 bus in Cambria Heights with a fake gun, said he was being chased, and ordered the MTA operator to keep the bus moving. After opening the bus doors to allow the over 30 passengers to exit, the bus driver, a 21-year MTA veteran, stayed behind the wheel for a short time before jumping out the window. The hijacker tried and failed to gain control of the bus which crashed into a utility pole less than a block later. Gaddy faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Patch

🗞 Hungry for more news? 🍴Snack on these headlines:

  • Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning awarded recovery funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (Queens Courier)
  • Two NYC Health + Hospital Facilities Receive "A" Safety Grades From Independent, National Hospital Safety Organization - NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC Health + Hospitals)
  • Governor Hochul Announces Ten Grand Prize Winners in the $85 Million New York Clean Transportation Prizes Program (NYSERDA)
  • 4 NYC Drivers Carjacked, Some at Gunpoint, in Brazen Rear-Ending Scheme (NBC New York)
  • Man Arrested in Murder of 3-Year-Old Son in Homeless Shelter (The New York Times ; New York Daily News)

🗓 To Do Today in Queens:

  • Queens Hospital Center Farmers' Market (8 a.m.)
  • Corporate Volunteer Day (9:30 a.m.)
  • MoMA PS1 Free Admission Thursdays (11 a.m.)
  • Adult Open Badminton (12 p.m.)
  • Exhibition: Living with The Walking Dead (2 p.m.)
  • Opening Reception: Purple Sins Photography Exhibition (5 p.m.)
  • Karaoke at True Colors (5 p.m.)
  • The New York Winter Lantern Festival: Illuminate the Farm (5 p.m.)
  • Fall Family Paint Night (6 p.m.)

🗣 Queens Chatter:

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Alrighty, you're all good for today! I'll see you soon.

— Emma Radu Fighera

About me: Emma Radu Fighera is a reporter born and raised in Queens, New York. She studied Literature and Studio Art at Hamilton College, where she helped run the only daily publication on campus, The Daily Bull newsletter. This past spring she earned her M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Queens Daily? Contact me at queens@patch.com

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