During a recent visit to Chinatown in Queens, NY, it felt like I was walking down a crowded street in Shanghai, China.
In the past, Yirong and I went with neighbors Elena and Bill to Flushing for shopping and to enjoy pleasant meals, but last time the street traffic was awful, and the pedestrian walkways were worse.
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The community is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a retail area, and the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue at its core is the third-busiest in New York City, behind Times Square and Herald Square.
This Chinatown is one of the busiest commercial corridors in the five boroughs and home to the third busiest intersection in the city, And let me be clear, our concern is not to prevent people from making a living or providing for their families; however, in the absence of enforcement, the current situation in downtown Flushing has become untenable.
We hope city officials help locals and visitors like myself regain the sidewalk. The sidewalk is for all New Yorkers. Remember that we are a transit hub with 100,000 walking on Main Street, so we have got to get the street cleaned up and have the city agency enforce the law.
These sidewalks are half the size they should be, causing established businesses to lose sales because people don’t want to come to downtown Flushing anymore.