Big Changes For Western Queens If Roosevelt Island Selected As Site For New York City Applied Sciences & Engineering School Says Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Queens Elected Officials and Business Leaders
Image of Goldwater Site From NYC EDC RFP Page 56
This previous post from last July 19 asked the question:
Can you imagine how Stanford, or any other University's presence might change Roosevelt Island?It will also change Western Queens. The NY Daily News reported yesterday:
Building a hi-tech campus on Roosevelt Island would be a major boon for Queens, elected officials and business leaders said Monday, as two top schools threw their support behind the location.Click here for the entire Daily News article.
Both Cornell University and Stanford University officials said they favored Roosevelt Island over the two other sites being considered for the creation of an applied sciences and engineering campus - Governors Island and the Brooklyn Navy Yard....
Below is Press Release from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's office supporting Roosevelt Island as the site for NYC's proposed Applied Sciences & Engineering school and describing the economic benefits to Western Queens from having the campus located on Roosevelt Island.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Michael Gianaris, Long Island City Partnership President Gayle Baron, and business and community leaders in Queens today voiced their strong support for Applied Sciences NYC, a Bloomberg administration initiative to site a state-of-the-art applied sciences campus in New York City, and specifically for a City-owned site on Roosevelt Island and to provide the new engineering institution with up to $100 million in infrastructure investments.Proposal are due from applying schools by October 28 and a decision will be made by New York City before the end of the year. More information on the proposed NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School proposals for Roosevelt Island available at these previous posts.
In remarks delivered today, Congresswoman Maloney said, “An applied sciences and engineering facility on Roosevelt Island offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spur western Queens’ transformation into a world-class hub of technology and entrepreneurship and to generate significant long-term job growth for the borough. The Long Island City central business district offers an ideal location for start-ups created by the new campus’ faculty, students, and graduates, featuring affordable and accessible space near convenient transportation and a growing residential community. Those of us who represent western Queens or Roosevelt Island are thrilled with the enormous opportunities this could provide for our constituents, and have pledged to work together to land this groundbreaking initiative in our own backyard, where it will generate well-paying jobs. The New York City Economic Development Corporation projects that a new or expanded applied sciences facility could have a multiplier effect and create more than 400 new businesses across the city, generating billions of dollars in new economic activity and creating tens of thousands of jobs. These jobs will not only benefit academics and researchers; they will also benefit New Yorkers of all skill levels, as universities and technology businesses employ people in a diverse range of jobs and generally pay higher salaries to employees without college degrees than other sectors of the economy.
“In addition, Roosevelt Island’s proximity to western Queens makes it likely that this community will benefit most from the businesses spun off by a new campus there. Roosevelt Island provides an idyllic setting for students and faculty, and offers proximity to new and existing businesses in Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside, and Woodside. And start-ups would be able to join a growing core of science and engineering-based businesses and institutions in western Queens, including JetBlue, the RCN Corporation, Schick Technologies and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as well as a expanding center of film and television production.”
State Senator Michael Gianaris said, “Roosevelt Island is the ideal location for this new facility because it complements western Queens' growing reputation as a hub of job growth, technology and entrepreneurship. Its close proximity to Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside and Astoria would allow students, faculty and visitors to easily travel to and from campus, prompting exponential growth in western Queens' economic development through job creation, revenue increases and new business incentives.”
Other elected officials submitted written statements about the proposal. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said, “An applied sciences facility located on Roosevelt Island could be the next best thing that happens to Long Island City. Such a campus, easily within reach of Queens by subway or the Roosevelt Island Bridge, would have enormous benefits attached to it. It would be fertile ground for growing leaders of tomorrow, create hundreds of jobs and generate millions in tax revenue. Local labor and businesses in Long Island City and beyond would be involved in the creation and operation of a university in a unique environment, while the campus received support, millions of dollars for infrastructure improvements and land from the City of New York.
“Long Island City has undergone a revolution in recent years with thousands of new housing units, retail activity and open space that makes it one of the most attractive waterfront vistas in New York City.
“We’re calling for continued growth and renewal for Long Island City and all of New York City. Interested schools can seize this opportunity, lead the way to future research and technology and have a presence in New York City that will generate worldwide interest.”
In a written statement, Assembly Member Catherine Nolan said, “The proposal to site a new institution of engineering and applied sciences in Roosevelt Island will bring significant benefits to residents and businesses in Long Island City and western Queens. It will create good jobs, create a multiplier effect that will benefit existing businesses in the area, and reinforce the strong ties between western Queens and our neighbors on Roosevelt Island.”
“In order for the technical campus on Roosevelt Island to be a success, there must be significant investment in Western Queens,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, who attended today community meeting for local business leaders hosted by Congresswoman Maloney and the Long Island City Partnership. “I support efforts to make Queens the borough of technical innovation, bringing well-paying jobs into the communities of Long Island City, Dutch Kills, Sunnyside, and Woodside.”
11 comments :
I am hoping that Roosevelt Island will get the nod, but it should be noted that getting to Western Queens from here is not all that simple right now, except by car. Building a subway spur would be too expensive, but a regularly scheduled shuttle bus would be convenient and cost-effective. Columbia and NYU use them for their dispersed locations. It would be great, of course, if residents of RI were allowed to use the busses, too (with proper ID, of course.)
The hopes for Western Queens have been going on since Citibank's Court Sq skyscraper was built - the hope then being it would spur a mini-downtown in that part of LIC. Did it? The closest W. Queens has gotten to revitalization has been the several new high-rises around the Queens-Midtown Tunnel Entrance - near Vernon, as well as Gantry State Park. Could this mini building boom ever link up with the frenzied development in Greenpoint-Williamsburg? Does the LIC neighborhood really want this to happen - to become another hipster outpost? How about the endemic community, the locals - will they be priced out of their own neighborhood by gentrification? I don't see an engineering campus on RI as having much of an effect on W. Queens - which will remain a bastion of car repair shops, light manufacturing, low-rise cheap housing, projects. At least one area of NY will not be overbuilt, at least the sky will still be visible in W. Queens.
Take a look at the ten blocks or so on Vernon Blvd. north from the railroad tracks. It's gotten quite lively, thanks in part to those high-rises and savvy marketing that emphasizes that the area is only one subway stop from midtown Manhattan (on the 7 train.) In contrast, Roosevelt Island likes to stress its apartness from the city. Many, many people still do not even realize that we are one stop from midtown Manhattan on the F line.
That is true - but not quite to the extent of Williamsburg-Greenpoint. Also,it was inevitable that some businesses would open to cater to the crowds of new customers in the new hi-rises by the river in LIC. College campuses and billions of dollars of investments in college buildings don't always necessarily result in revitalization. Consider UMDNJ in Newark - one campus of many in that city. Did Newark ever revitalize as a result? Despite tremendous transportation infrastructure already in place etc. Not really.
Newark is not New York and Roosevelt Island is.
Some communities smarten up to push back on Bloomberg's pro-development land zoning. It happened just recently in Brooklyn - with the restoration of rules in a gracious, low-rise neighborhodd prohibiting hi-rises. It's admittedly a different circumstance as the area in Brooklyn is already upscale, brownstone. That neighborhood didn't want to be ruined by an influx of upscale usually ugly luxury hi-rises (out of context with the prevailing gracious brownstones) and won an important battle against Bloomberg in reversing the zoning law. Admittedly, W. Queens is hardly Cobble Hill or Brooklyn Heights. Yet, by now, I simply do not believe the hype that for years has been spewn by politicians going back to the time before Giuliani, about W. Queens - that it's going to be the next Manhattan, the next Gold Coast, the next "expensive" area. I'll believe it when I see it.
i hope roosevelt lsland dose not win on this one , because the rents will go thru the roof . and the owners of these buildings will be puting 6,7,8,9,10, collage kids in one apartment. just like they are doing in roosevelt landings now
when are the wall street protesters coming to southtown .its a great place to camp out,
So they can protest against all of the cornel medical students and working nurses living in south town ?
Where is the great place to camp out? Kramer says he'll put more trees on Main St., but how come there's so few trees on Southtown Commons (if I'm not mistaken). Is it because he only wants trees -- which give shelter from the sun and thus something for free -- only where a business can benefit from them? Trees in the Commons would make it more likely for folks relaxing on benches to linger - less likely to visit a nearby eatery to get out of the sun. Now, as undisputed Master of Main St (and basically boss of RI) Kramer's going to take away the sheltered, free benches on RI, in the arcade, so the space can be used for tables of cafes. In other words, under Kramer, we're going to have to pay for the "privilege" of relaxing on Main St whereas up to now, it's been a free amenity. I'm surprised Kramer hasn't figured out a way to get money even for the "privilege" of merely walking on Main St or just gazing at his planned gentrification, the expensive new stains and finishes. I'm sure he would charge for walking through the arcade - like charging admission to a midway - if he could! Anything to make a buck. Southtown Commons is not a great place to camp out. Kramer has made sure there are no places - great or otherwise - to camp out in Southtown. An Occupy Southtown would really crimp the style of the arch-capitalist of RI.
I have a feeling Cornell will win - since it's a big player in NYS. I don't see one development site - Bklyn Navy Yard vs Governors Island vs Roosevelt Is - as being better or worse: There are good & bad features for all three. If RI doesn't work out for Stamford, they could always be offered the Bklyn Navy Yard or Governors Island opportunity.
Post a Comment