Repeating the cycle: Astoria condo violates contract with city again
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Shore Towers Condominium in Astoria has been found to be in violation of its agreement with the city to keep its gates to the public greenway it’s responsible for maintaining open. Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
Cyclists in Queens are again sounding the alarm on an Astoria condominium that they say isn’t living up to its agreement with the city to keep its public space open.
Shore Towers Condominium, located one block south of Astoria Park between 9th Street and Shore Boulevard, is responsible for maintaining the public path located on the waterfront side of the building. The publicly owned, privately maintained greenway’s gate is often locked during hours it should be open and signs posted around the space have been, in the past, hostile to bikers, the cyclists say.
“They’re doing it intentionally,” said Eric Harold, the founder of cycling group QNS Social Ride. “They're withholding public access, which should be a public right of way for the people of the city of New York.”
Shore Towers’ Certificate of Occupancy – a document issued by the city’s Department of Buildings that outlines a building’s legal use – says the building is required to “provide access to [the] pedestrian and bicycle path to residents and non-residents.”
Cyclists have shared multiple photos of the gates at Shore Towers locked during daytime hours. One Twitter user, who goes by the name BronxBikeGuy, has come across the locked gates nearly half a dozen times in the past two months.
A property manager with Shore Towers said “the only time that area is closed is only when there is inclement weather.”
“We do have staff opening it from dusk to dawn,” the property manager said. “We recently had our first snow for the year and there are a lot of hazardous conditions concerning ice. But otherwise when it’s addressed, we do have that section open.”
In response to requests for comment from the Eagle, the Department of Buildings, which has found the building in violation of its agreement with the city in the past, dispatched inspectors to the greenway on Wednesday, Jan. 12, and found that the gates at both ends of the greenway were locked, according to a DOB spokesperson.
The inspectors also found signs that read “Please Walk Bicycles,” the spokesperson said.
The building’s owners were issued a zoning violation and were ordered to take down the signs and open the gates, the DOB said. Additionally, a hearing with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings has been scheduled for March. The owners face a maximum penalty of $6,250.
“If the building receives any type of violations, property managers adjust accordingly,” the Shore Towers property manager said. “Again, there is nothing that is against codes.”
Harold says that locked gates create an unnecessary hazard for bikers looking for a safe and quick way to and from the park. If the gates to the Shore Tower greenway are locked, one of the only other options available for a cyclist is to travel down several narrow streets riddled with potholes. Additionally, the greenway is located at the bottom of a steep hill, something cyclists have to contend with if they bike all the way down to find the gate locked.
“This is the shortest route between Queensbridge Houses and Astoria Park, and they're shutting it down and there’s people who depend on it for their commute back and forth to work,” he said. “It's really pissing a lot of people off and I think it's time that the Parks Department should hand the keys to somebody else.”
