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Jan. 31, 2018 By Tara Law
Astoria Councilmember Costa Constantinides announced an ambitious plan to overhaul the Astoria Park pool during his State of the District speech last night.
Constantinides introduced the initiative in front of 120 community members and leaders at P.S. 17 Henry David Thoreau, where he also discussed plans to pass environmental legislation, bring affordable senior housing to the district, and promote asthma safety in schools.
The plan to overhaul the pool, he said, would be separate from the $30 million that has already been allocated by the Mayor to revitalize Astoria Park under the city’s Anchor Park Initiative. That initiative includes a new soccer field and the overhaul of Charybdis Playground.
Constantinides, who started his second term in office this year, aims for a “full overhaul” of the pool’s basin and deck–potentially resulting in the pool being open year-round. The plans would also include a “facelift” of the pool’s locker rooms and bathrooms.
The pool renovation is “one of the main goals of my second term,” Constantinides said.
“Now, let’s be clear,” he said. “This will be a larger capital expense by far than any I have undertaken, and it will not be completed before I leave office. All of us, however, have a responsibility to ensure that we leave things better than we found them, and while it will be daunting, I believe that we can do it.”
Costa Constantinides at State of the District
Constantinides also announced his mission to build at least 500 affordable housing units for seniors in the district by the end of his term.
New York’s senior population has grown twice as fast as the general population over the past decade, Constantinides said, and seniors in the district are disproportionately affected by rising living expenses.
“Our office has gotten too many anguished pleas for help finding decent housing, and we have a duty to act now,” said Constantinides.
Constantinides speech took place about two hours prior to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, which hovered over the proceedings. Constantinides drew a sharp distinction between his beliefs as a political leader and the president’s, with the councilmember emphasizing the need for environmental regulations, tax fairness and affordable housing for seniors.
Constantinides discussed his role as chair of the council’s Environmental Protection Committee and said that 2017 was a particularly productive year for the committee. Constantinides noted that it passed 16 bills in 2017 and plans were put in place to curb emissions, encourage wind power and prepare the city for flooding.
“We knew that, with Washington taking a hatchet to the EPA, we had our work cut out for us,” he said.
Constantinides said that he plans to introduce a bill that would lead to the reduction of emissions from all buildings 25,000 square feet and over. The bill would place a cap on fossil fuels burned on site and set an overall energy target.
“If done correctly, this legislation could give us up to a 10% reduction in our city’s greenhouse gas emissions, the largest in city history from any single policy,” Constantinides said. Details of the bill still need to be fleshed out.
He also plans to introduce legislation that would require the city to study flood patterns and come up with plans to mitigate their impact.
“Northwest and southeast Queens are the front lines in our borough for this flooding and are home to half a million New Yorkers as well as much of the city’s most sensitive infrastructure including airports and power plants,” Constantinides said.
Constantinides discussed two bills he introduced last fall to combat asthma. The first piece of legislation would require the City to collect asthma hospitalization rates and prevalence across communities on the basis of race, age and educational attainment.
The second bill would require all schools to have nebulizers. Although state law requires all schools with a nurse to have nebulizers, funds were never allocated to fund the program.
Constantinides concluded his speech by reminding his audience that although Trump is from Queens, the borough does not need to follow his example. He called for all the boroughs residents to stand in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors, the environment and as a community.
“As one, we will look out for our neighbors, and let them know that we will protect them, and that they do not need to be afraid,” said Constantinides.
“As one, we will safeguard our natural resources and our public institutions for generations yet to come. And as one, we will show our native son in the Oval Office that it is tolerance and love, not division and discord, that lie at the heart of the Queens we love and that light the path to our future.”
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8 Comments
Seniors need to find roommates and live together like the younger generation does. A good example of this is the golden girls TV show. Having roommates can be help with costs and reduce feelings of loneliness.
IFO Astoria public library at 14-01 Astoria Blvd. There is a tripping hazard by mailbox from a city tree roots for over two years . Nothing done by councilmember”s office,DOT, or NYC.Parks, Senior housing around corner. on 27ave/14st .
Call 311 about it and send pics to whomever you complain too. Sidewalk repairs take time when handled by the city especially if it involves a city owned property. I have the same situation with a sidewalk under the amtrack in a very busy area. We made numerous calls for years but no one is doing anything about it because the city has no one to fine or bill for the repair.
Kudos on bringing the pool into at least the 20th century (I’d like to see the diving well restored and the pool brought to regulation to host competitive swimming and diving usage.
As far as Senior housing, there are a lot of aging astorians who would be well served to cash in their chips and sell off the underbuilt and out of date housing stock at what to them would be a huge premium. The argument I get from seniors about selling is ” where will we go” / we like it here – family is nearby, grand children etc… So if there was an affordable senior friendly development plan where these folks could afford to live while not having to lose the equity they have realized from the sale of their homes – equity that can be given to children, grandchildren now as opposed to later. Equity that can be used to invest in other income producing channels to make for comfortable retirement living.
As far as Asthma goes – how about shuttering these power plants that are spitting out god knows what and moving them somewhere less populated – Big Alice on Vernon and the one out by Steinway…. These plants are glomming up valuable waterfront land and making us all sick.
first of all “Big Alice” is no longer “Big Alice” Con Edison sold it a long time ago — and second of all another company by Steinway Street owns part of that plant with Con
Edison — and third of all he will not be building any senior housing NO MONEY IN HIS POCKETS for that —
So many senior homeowners that I have encountered echo the same responses when it comes to leaving Astoria. Many are not happy with the changes in the neighborhood but unless you are planning on leaving NYC it is not worth it to sell. Developers are the ones buying these small homes and driving up market value which increases everything else. Seniors need more options when it comes to affordable housing and choices. But then again if you own a home and sell it you will most likely not qualify for affordable housing if the money is in the bank.
I would love senior housing… as you get older you don;t need to worry about your rent being raised.
Very good . Im 80 and i have to move. First time in 30years. The people I rent from died and they left the house to the kid who’s in his 50s and he’s selling for big money. He’s trying to make money. I understand. But I can’t afford these rents. A place for seniors would be nice but it’ll never happen around Astoria. Its not a working class neighborhood anymore