City asks New Yorkers what they want to see in DT Jamaica redevelopment
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A map of the area in Downtown Jamaica slated for redevelopment. This week, the city launched a survey soliciting feedback from residents about what they want the redevelopment to include. Map via DCP
By Jacob Kaye
The city is looking for feedback from New Yorkers about how it should proceed with its plan to redevelop Downtown Jamaica.
As part of the city’s “Jamaica Neighborhood Plan,” a Department of City Planning-led effort to redesign the neighborhood’s streetscape, bring in new businesses and build new housing in what is one of Queens’ most bustling neighborhoods, the city this week launched the survey to garner input on the $70 million redevelopment, which is expected to cover 300-blocks in the Southeast Queens area.
The survey, which can be found on the Department of City Planning’s website, features 9 questions, including one that asks what you love the most about Jamaica, another that asks what the three most pressing issues facing the neighborhood are and another that asks about your biggest hope for the future of Jamaica.
Those who live, work, shop, own property or otherwise frequent Downtown Jamaica are encouraged to complete the survey.
The redevelopment effort has been years in the making and is still in its earliest stages. In late May, Speaker Adrienne Adams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, City Councilmembers Nantasha Willams and Linda Lee, DCP Director Dan Garodnick and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer went on a walking tour of a section of the neighborhood, taking stock of what currently sits in the area’s “underdeveloped” streets and the potential of what’s to come.
“This is an opportunity to really get the work done – to expand, beautify and maximize this amazing downtown core,” the speaker said during the tour. “To bring the vibrancy that we know is prospective – it's already here, we just want to unveil it to the world.”
The redevelopment plan includes a study to “explore opportunities to promote job growth in the neighborhood; create new housing, especially permanently affordable housing and housing produced in partnership with faith-based institutions; and enhance resiliency, including by addressing flooding,” according to the mayor’s office.
Part of the plan includes a “Jamaica NOW Urban Design Strategy and Streetscape Plan,” which will be led by the Department of Transportation. The program would aim to make improvements to Downtown Jamaica’s streetscape, redesign public spaces and make upgrades to the neighborhood’s infrastructure.
During the walking tour, a number of officials, including Adams, Richards and Williams, said that
they see the area as one that’s primed for growth – it has the transportation infrastructure, it has the business, it has the foot-traffic and the residents. But it’s also home to a manufacturing district, riddled with shuttered business, as well as areas with lacking infrastructure.
In May, Speaker Adrienne Adams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, DCP Director Dan Garodnick and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer went on a walking tour of Downtown Jamaica ahead of the city’s development of the “Jamaica Neighborhood Plan.” Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye
All that’s needed is a comprehensive plan for development and money.
“[The area] is stuck in the past,” Richards said. “As you walk the streets, you will hear from businesses, from people who have said over the years, ‘Why can't our Downtown Jamaica look like other places?”
In addition to the survey, Richards, Williams and the city will host multiple public workshops on the redevelopment plan throughout the year.
