QUEENS — A new group representing nearly 500 businesses located around JFK — including hotels, food service companies, customs brokers and freight forwarders — will seek to boost economic development in that portion of Southeast Queens, city officials said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was expected to sign a bill Wednesday creating the Greater JFK Business Improvement District, which would advocate for infrastructure investments and quality of life improvements in the area, such as more security cameras, increased lighting, upgraded streetscapes and additional sanitation services, the city said.
"Creation of the half-million dollar BID was a truly community-driven effort to help boost economic development in Southeast Queens, home to nearly 500 businesses/properties that support the core functions of the airport," the Department of Small Business Services said in a statement.
Local business owners and community leaders asked the agency to help them form the BID over three years ago, the agency said.
SBS then helped them organize a steering committee consisting of more than 20 local stakeholders — including commercial and residential property owners, tenants, neighborhood associations — such as the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Fairfield Marriott and the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation.
The agency called JFK "a critical component to the borough’s economy [and] the second largest employer in Queens with 69,000 jobs."
