HUNTERS POINT — The Long Island City Business Improvement District is proposing an expansion to begin servicing commercial corridors near the neighborhood's waterfront, including busy Vernon Boulevard.
The BID, which is run by business advocacy group Long Island City Partnership and currently covers much of Queens Plaza and Court Square, wants to expand to include businesses on both sides of Vernon Boulevard and Jackson Avenue south of 44th Drive.
The new boundaries would also include 44th Drive east of Vernon Boulevard, where they would connect with the BID's existing coverage area in Court Square.
The proposed expansion was prompted after business owners in the area asked to be involved in the BID, LIC Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin said.
"They decided that the area needs to have more direct attention and services in order to make it successful," she said. "A BID is a really successful way to do that."
The LIC BID, which has been operating in its other areas since 2005, offers street and trash maintenance, graffiti removal, landscaping and beautification like hanging flower baskets. It also advocates to get city services when needed, like extra lighting or transportation improvements.
"The idea is really to increase the pedestrian circulation, the pedestrian traffic in the area by making these areas…more inviting," she said. "It's making the businesses that are there more successful."
The BID would also help with marketing the area with tools like maps, brochures and other promotions, as well as through events, like its annual LIC Springs! block party.
"This is a very special area of the city," Lusskin said "We hope to have the opportunity to work closely with the stakeholders in that area, of giving it the fair attention and treatment that it deserves."
Gianna Cerbone-Teoli, whose owned restaurant Manducatis Rustica at 46-35 Vernon Blvd. for the last eight years, is one of the local business owners serving on a "steering committee" to help spread the word and collect feedback on the proposed expansion.
She said she supports the idea of joining the BID so that Vernon Boulevard could benefit from things like street cleaning and more lighting, noting that there are currently no lampposts in front of her eatery.
"Its completely dark where I am," she said, adding that she would also like to see more trees, plantings and flowers on the block.
"The landscaping is so important — most people don't really think how important the landscaping is, but it is," she said. "The beauty of the neighborhood makes people feel comfortable coming."
The LIC Partnership has proposed creating the new sub-district within the BID that would cover the Hunters Point Area, which would have its own annual budget of $350,000 (the BID's existing area in Queens Plaza and Court Square has a budget of $425,000).
If approved, the owners of commercial and mixed-use properties located within the BID would need to pay annual fees, based on the "front footage," or the length of the front of their properties.
LIC Partnership estimates that half of the properties in the new area would pay less than $660 a year, or $55 a month, what Lusskin called a "modest cost" for what the BID would provide.
Property owners who own only residential space within the BID district would need to pay $1 a year.
Expanding a BID requires a public review process, where the LIC Partnership will need to garner ballots of support from tenants within the proposed district as well as the approval of the City Planning Commission, Queens Community Board 2, Queens Borough President, City Council, Mayor and Comptroller.
LIC Partnership will be holding two informational meetings for the public to hear more about the proposed expansion on Wednesday, July 29. The first meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Hunters Point Plaza, located at 47-40 21st St., while the second will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the New York Irish Center at 10-40 Jackson Ave.
