Five Queens commitments from de Blasio’s State of the City address
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De Blasio visited Neir’s Tavern on Jan. 10 after his office helped the bar owner negotiate a lease deal with the landlord. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
By David Brand
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his seventh “State of the City” address Thursday, pledging to preserve the city’s affordable housing, expand education and help small businesses.
De Blasio, speaking at the American Museum of Natural History, laid out his vision for the entire city, but many of his proposals will have a specific impact on Queens.
From reopening community centers in neighborhoods beset by municipal and private disinvestment to helping small business owners negotiate leases with their landlords, Queens played a key role in the mayor’s annual address.
Assisting small businesses
The celebration at Neir’s Tavern lasted deep into the night on Jan. 10, as patrons, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, toasted a lease agreement that would enable the 190-year-old Woodhaven watering hole to stay in business.
Local elected officials, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and even the de Blasio administration stepped in to help broker a new deal that would keep the historic bar in business. The city provided a $90,000 loan to the owner of Neir’s to help him pay rent for the next five years.
De Blasio celebrated the intervention during his State of the City address, but said thousands of other businesses have not been so lucky. He urged New Yorkers to patronize their local establishments.
“So that was a 190-year-old bar, beloved by the community, this close to going down. You know how many weren't saved in time? You know how many are teetering on the edge right now?” he said.
De Blasio said the city will launch “a navigator's program” to assist small businesses with lawyers and low-interest loans. The city will also introduce legislation to ensure lease transparency. The city will fund the commitments through its pension fund, he said.
“I'm calling for us to commit half-a-billion dollars in pension fund money to local small businesses in New York City,” de Blasio said. “Let's invest in them.”
Regulating basement apartments, addressing homelessness
The mayor’s office successfully intervened to help the commercial tenants in the Neir’s building, but has not yet provided help to the residential tenants upstairs. A family of four who live above the bar have fought a monthslong court battle against eviction.
“For us this is home,” said Teresa Cruz Arcos, who has lived in the building at 87-48 78th St. with her daughter, sister and nephew since 2013. “We feel good that they’re helping the bar, but we want the same opportunity and the same help.”
The family previously lived in an illegally converted basement apartment — a common, but dangerous living arrangement in Queens. De Blasio proposed making basement apartments legal and applying city housing regulations to the units.
“The key to unlocking more housing for New Yorkers is just below our feet,” de Blasio told THE CITY ahead of the State of the City. “Legalizing basement apartments will give homeowners a new way to make ends meet and give thousands of New Yorkers an affordable place to live.”
Will Spisak of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, a Queens-based housing advocacy organization, told THE CITY he was “cautiously optimistic” about the plan.
“If this really does allow for easier basement conversion experiences, and allowed folks to create accessory dwelling units on their property, this could be really transformative for a lot of homeowners,” Spisak said.
Property power to the people
De Blasio announced that “community land trusts” will now become part of the city’s affordable housing policy. But what exactly are they?
The Eagle wrote about CLTs, and their impact on Queens, in July 2019.
CLTs, which received a $870,000 boost in funding in the last city budget, allow communities, rather than developers, to determine how to use vacant public lands in order to ensure long-term affordability. Councilmember Donovan Richards believes they could be “the future of New York City.”
As opposed to the traditional land use model, where developers buy public land and build private housing on it, Community Land Trusts give community members the power.
Local residents come together to form a nonprofit that leases vacant public land with the guarantee that they will keep prices affordable. Often, this lease will extend for 99 years, meaning that prices are guaranteed to remain low for the foreseeable future.
The CLT model can take different forms, with some land trusts focusing on preserving commercial spaces and others on residential ones.
New youth centers
The shooting death of 14-year-old Aamir Griffin galvanized an effort in Southeast Queens to reopen a dormant community center at the Baisley Park Houses in October 2019. Griffin was shot and killed while playing basketball on the court next to the Baisley Park Houses, prompting local leaders to call on the city to fund community spaces in the area.
At a South Jamaica townhall meeting hosted by Councilmember Adrienne Adams in November 2019, de Blasio pledged to reopen the Baisley Park Houses Community Center. The community space will be named after Griffin.
“Policing is one part of the answer,” de Blasio said at the town hall. “But serving our young people better, and giving our young people more positive options, giving them places to be and things to do that help them to be safe is another crucial part of the answer.”
On Thursday, de Blasio doubled down on the commitment to reopen dormant youth centers and expand the hours at current locations. He also announced that the city would build seven new youth centers, including sites in Queens Village and Astoria.
“We need more places that are safe and positive for our young people. I have heard this at town hall meetings all over this city,” he said. “So, dozens and dozens of our parks, recreation centers, we're going to open them up more hours, more days, and for young adults we’re are going to make their memberships free so they can go there and have that safe place to be.
Expanding 3K for All in Queens
De Blasio also announced the expansion of his signature early childhood education program to include 3-year-olds from four new school districts at the start of the next school year.
The 3K for All initiative will be available in Queens District 29, which includes Cambria Heights, Hollis, Laurelton, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens and St. Albans for the school year.
The city will also extend the program to District 1 in Manhattan, District 14 in Brooklyn, and District 12 in the Bronx. The expansion will bring the total number of eligible districts to 16 — double the original projection for the beginning of the next school year.
The initiative first came to Queens in District 27 —Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Ozone Park and the Rockaways — during the 2018-2019 school year.
