By James DeWeese
The street peddlers have the potential to compete with taxpaying local businesses while not giving anything back to the city, Gerry Lederman, president of the chamber, told a meeting of the group Tuesday.
“They're vendors that accumulate and they open up their little tables,” said chamber board member Theresa Facciuto. “They sell their wares without generating any taxes for the city and they hurt the shopkeepers.”
The city Department of Transportation closed the 33rd Street underpass less than a month ago as part of the second phase of a program to address pedestrian safety along Queens Boulevard, colloquially referred to as the “Boulevard of Death.”
When a similar stretch was cut off at 46th Street and Queens Boulevard a decade ago, street vendors were quick to set up shop in the space, Lederman said. It did not take long before they started hawking all manner of wares, he said.
“I can go to 46th Street now and buy my shoes at the elevated subway,” Lederman said at the Dazie's Restaurant meeting. “We worry that a similar situation will occur at 33rd Street, particularly when the retail district there takes off.”
In recent months, retailers have begun moving into the area around 33rd Street in Queens Boulevard, lured by the potential market offered by LaGuardia Community College's expanding number of students and traffic at MoMA's temporary borough home.
The chamber worries the 33rd Street underpass closing could also give street peddlers prime real estate and a toehold in the apparently booming area, Lederman said.
“In view of the history of 46th Street, it's very likely that a similar situation will occur,” Lederman said.
Constance Moran, the Department of Transportation's Queens commissioner, said “33rd Street is probably one of the most dangerous areas in the world.”
Moran, who also attended the chamber luncheon, said the 33rd Street closing is aimed at protecting the throngs of people who descend from the subway platform, which is near LaGuardia Community College and MoMA QNS.
The first phase of the department's safety initiative focused on stretches of Queens Boulevard between the Long Island Expressway and Union Turnpike. Engineering changes included lengthening pedestrian walk signal intervals, protective fencing to avoid jay-walking, street closings and warning signs, the DOT said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the second round of safety changes April 5.
“Although we have drastically reduced the hazards facing pedestrians who use Queens Boulevard, we will keep focusing on them until we can drive the amount of fatalities each year to zero,” Bloomberg said at the time.
There were 72 pedestrian fatalities along Queens Boulevard between 1993 and 2000, the DOT said. Most recently, in 2003 there were five.
Moran said the Department of Transportation will continue to monitor and assess its Queens Boulevard safety program.
“We're very open to listening to what everyone has to say,” she said.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
