Vernon Blvd near 9th St, LIC

Last month, LICBDC held a Queens Agency Breakfast in LIC featuring Maura McCarthy, the Dept. of Transportation’s commissioner for Queens; Paul D’Amore, the Dept. of Parks & Recreation’s deputy chief of operations for Queens; and Lt. Philip Aversano of the 108th Precinct.

In a neighborhood like Long Island City, conversation topics regarding parking, parks, and crime were, as you can imagine, varied.

Via the Queens Gazette:

• The Borden Ave Bridge should be open again by September and the huge building project at the corner of Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza South “would, when completed, include a garage incorporating municipal parking, though it will not be a municipal garage.”

• 108th Precinct: several statistics were read off that point “to the great decline in the crime rate in recent years,” and apparently “these positive statistics have become so familiar that their significance had to be emphasized by the lieutenant »

Neighborhood rooftops from a bird’s eye view, Hunters Point, Long Island City

The LICBDC’s latest newsletter landed in our inbox yesterday and included a link to BID bits, featuring informative updates from the LICBID (Business Improvement District), a not-for-profit association of property owners, residents, and businesses along the triangle intersection of Jackson Ave & Queens Plaza North.

In general, a BID is a formal organization comprised of property owners and commercial tenants in a defined area who pay annual assessments. They promote local business development and improve an area’s quality of life through the provision of supplemental services.

“The Long Island City BID is comprised of much of the area that was rezoned as New York City’s fourth central business district in 2001. Currently, the District consists of properties with frontage on Jackson Avenue, from Court Square north to Queens Plaza, and along Queens Plaza west to 21st Street.”

Here’s some highlights from the January 12th LICBID update »

LICBDC’s Annual Luncheon & Trade Show at Terrace on the Park, Flushing

The Long Island City Business Development Corporation, better known as the LICBDC, is a non-profit organization that has been relentlessly promoting the business sector of Long Island City for three solid decades. Yesterday, they introduced the mantra of “Buy Local, Think Global” and successfully brought their Annual Luncheon & Trade Show to Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which saw several luxurious rooms packed to the hilt with exhibiting businesses and a steady stream of LIC networkers filing through.

A wide range of Long Island City business was represented »