BP pitches ‘Reimagine Ravenswood’ plan
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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Queensbridge and Ravenswood Houses locals unveiled a new plan to bring new community benefits to the underserved community. Photo via Queens Borough President Donovan Richards/Flickr
By Ryan Schwach
Officials on Thursday unveiled the outline of their plan to use an upcoming renewable energy hub to bring new economic opportunities to an underserved Queens community.
Across the street from the Queensbridge Houses, one of the largest public housing developments in the country, officials debuted the “Reimagine Ravenswood” plan, which would bring a host of community benefits to the area in tandem with a similarly named plan to turn the notorious fossil fuel energy station in the area into a renewable energy hub.
“Reimagine Ravenswood” is a new initiative that proposes investments in environmental justice, economic opportunity and public space improvements funded and pushed by the Queens borough president, the state and developer Rise Light & Power.
The plan is a follow up on “Renewable Ravenswood,” a plan proposed in 2022 that would turn the Ravenswood Generating Station, the largest fossil fuel plant in the city which has contributed to the area's “Asthma Alley” nickname, into a hub for renewable energy, by surrounding it with community benefits.
“There cannot be a starker example of environmental racism than this one,” Borough President Donovan Richards said in the shadow of the generating station on Thursday. “But we're here today because we finally are righting this wrong.”
The “Reimagine Ravenswood” proposal includes plans to get local residents from Queensbridge and the nearby Ravenswood Houses into green energy jobs created by the energy plan, to create infrastructure for bikes and zero-emission vehicles, as well as to expand public space and access to the waterfront nearby.
“This isn’t just about energy — it’s about equity, opportunity, and transformation,” said Rise Light & Power CEO Clinton Plummer. “We’re committed to making Renewable Ravenswood a model for how clean energy infrastructure can uplift communities and create good-paying union jobs.”
Richards said the plan’s goal is to make sure the environmental and economic benefits the renewable generating station brings feed directly into the surrounding communities.
“This development is home to tens of thousands of hardworking families who make this city run but have been disenfranchised and disinvested in for decades,” he said.
Locals say the plan is a move towards reversing those issues.
“For decades we have been fighting for cleaner air, good jobs and our fair share of investment,” said Ravenswood Residents Association President Carol Wilkins. “This plan takes a hard look at the disparities we face but also the bright opportunity ahead with a Renewable Ravenswood.”
Renewable Ravenswood was first pitched in 2022 as a way to start the work to reverse what Richards described as the "environmental racism” that has stemmed from the health and pollution the generating site brought to the area.
“If you're curious how this part of Queens got its nickname Asthma Alley, all you have to do is look up,” he said. “There couldn't be a starker visual in this borough than this power plant towering over public housing residents.”
The renewable plan will turn the generating station, known for its large red and white smoke stacks, into a source of clean energy by interconnecting multiple sources of energy to the site, and constructing new off-shore energy sites.
However, the local efforts may clash with the federal government, which has cut funding and tax credits for renewable energy projects since the start of the Trump administration.
Richards and Rise Light & Power officials said that while federal funding will be necessary in order to bring both projects to fruition, they weren’t concerned about the future of their plans.
“We're going to outlive the Trump administration,” Richards said.
