Livable Streets: Queens Style!
Join us for the fourth installment of our yearlong initiative, The Future of Your Neighborhood: Who Decides? This ongoing monthly series invites New Yorkers to effectively envision and enact their advocacy skills through open dialogue, and to unpack the assumptions that frame how we address neighborhood concerns.
Our August workshop will highlight four projects currently underway in Queens that are getting everyday people involved in shaping streets and public spaces to make them more walkable, bikeable, safer, and generally more livable. Moderator Helen Ho of POW! People on Wheels will discuss this new group’s efforts to expand the face of cycling advocacy to include women, minorities, and delivery cyclists. Donovan Finn will present a successful community-based effort to create a car-free space on a Jackson Heights street. Prerana Reddy of Queens Museum of Art will discuss efforts to develop a community input process for transforming a Corona intersection into a DOT plaza. Members of the QueensWay Project will present their efforts to create a “Queens High Line” on an abandoned LIRR track in Southern Queens. We’ll also check out some Street Films that feature Queens projects and people.
The presentations will be followed by a provocative discussion about the future of livable streets advocacy in this often-overlooked borough, and the benefits and challenges of including diverse populations in the planning process.
This educational initiative is organized by Christina Vassallo, Douglas Paulson and Lacey Tauber. It is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Photo courtesy Nick Normal.