A major fight is brewing in Queens over a massive biking path critics say will reshape a suburban section of the borough into another bustling urban district – and might serve as a new frontier for scooter-riding bandits.
The outrage reached a fever-pitch at Thursday’s Department of Transportation public workshop about the 16-mile Queens Waterfront Greenway project, which descended into chaos as verbal and physical spats erupted between advocates and naysayers.
“We’re not Williamsburg, we’re not Astoria,” a longtime eastern Queens resident told The Post at the workshop.
“I don’t want to sound like an old man saying ‘get off my lawn,’ but I live here to have some quiet and be away from it all,” the resident added.
“Where are we going to put our cars?” another chimed in. “If the people in the area don’t want it, it shouldn’t happen.”
The DOT’s greenway plan – aimed to expand park and waterfront access to borough residents underserved by public transit – has been dubbed a “non-starter” by city council member Vickie Paladino, who alleges the project would eat up residential parking space, create vehicular hazards in industrial areas and even foster a “freeway” for moped-riding criminals.
“We [already] have people getting robbed, we have stores getting robbed … when you connect us with Astoria, you’re giving them a freeway where the cops can’t get them on,” she said. “Should [the DOT] ever do anything like this, it would just be taking away all the barriers we have left to keep us the way we are.”
There were also concerns about the greenway facilitating bandits on mopeds gaining access to secluded neighborhoods like Whitestone and Beechhurst, Paladino said.
“There’s no place to put this fantasy that they’re living in,” she said, calling the project “impractical” as there is little space to build given existing homes and businesses already at the waterfront, as well as the narrow residential roads in neighborhoods like Malba.
A DOT rep told The Post that any final proposal for the greenway “will be made with respect for existing property rights.”
The agency added that there is no existing data linking greenways to increased crime, and “all street redesigns are coordinated with emergency responders.”
Stephen Yang
Crimes like robbery, grand larceny and burglary are actually down in the NYPD’s 109th precinct – which encompasses College Point, Whitestone and Beechhurst – by 1.6%, 4.8% and 26.3% year-over-year, according to police data.
Despite the latest figures, some residents are still wary about inviting more commotion into the public transit-sparse – and car-heavy – area of Queens.
“People here are more quiet. It’s not as crazy,” said Luis Perez, who has lived in Whitestone near Powell’s Cove Park for about four years. Perez said he wouldn’t want a bike path going through Whitestone, and prefers the seclusion of the neighborhood.
“I lived in Elmhurst before,” he said. “A lot of people are walking around and smoking, it’s very bad. Coming over here, it’s totally different – in the nighttime, it’s very quiet.”
Paladino herself left the Thursday public workshop early (later calling the meeting “absolute bedlam” in a video posted to X), and the DOT postponed a similar workshop slated for this week until a code of conduct could be developed “to ensure decorum and respect for all participants.”
The brouhaha erupted almost as soon as the workshop began, with Paladino later standing on a chair to address the crowd as the chaos ramped up.
“This was supposed to be a public hearing,” she said, despite DOT materials advertising public workshops since September.
“People came here thinking they were going to be able to get two minutes at a mic and express their feelings … either pro or con,” Paladino added in the X video.
“There were many plants,” she later wrote. “That was the point — they wanted to have a fake meeting with only their activists and no actual community members so they can manufacture consent.”
A rep for the DOT told The Post that the agency “successfully captured a wide variety of feedback at our third workshop in Douglaston,” and “will always strive to ensure we’re hosting respectful, inclusive meetings as we develop this historic greenway expansion hand-in-hand with local residents.”
Paladino’s district is one of five “early action corridors” the DOT has pinpointed in recent years to provide easier access to low- and moderate-income communities with little green space outside Manhattan.
“A waterfront greenway in Queens will better connect residents to the East River and Long Island Sound through new bike paths and pedestrian spaces, creating welcoming areas for cyclists as well as families in need of safer streets to walk with their children,” a DOT rep told The Post ahead of the meeting.
A final plan is expected in mid-2026 after more community feedback is gathered, the DOT said.
“As far as safe spaces for kids to ride their bicycles, we have plenty of that,” Paladino added. “If it’s kids hopping on their bikes going to Whitestone Park or down by the water, it’s already there … We don’t have kids getting hit by cars here.”
The council member added College Point is a heavily commercial and industrial area “with narrow streets and limited parking,” and a bike path through one of the busiest parts of the neighborhood would be “disastrous.”
Some cyclists say the area is dangerous as it exists today for those on two wheels.
“Biking on Northern Boulevard is terrifying,” one commenter wrote in their plea for a greenway.
“This is a great place to ride but the paths are dirt and not always safe for cyclists,” one user said of Powell’s Cove Park. “It would be great to take advantage of the beautiful vistas.”
“I’m a cyclist, I go to Queensborough Community College at least four times a week,” 20-year-old Luca Castilho, who lives with his parents in Paladino’s district, told The Post at the workshop.
The liberal arts major said that, while a greenway wouldn’t be necessary for experienced cyclists, it would be a great addition for older or less experienced riders seeking a leisurely, scenic ride in Queens.
“I’ve noticed the bike lane I take to go to school has been getting busier each year,” he added. “I was surprised by the opposition to my point of view and how much they think they’ll be harmed by what’s going to change.”
There have been 31 cyclist and 107 pedestrian injuries due to crashes in the council district since last September, according to city data, and 145 cyclist and 449 pedestrian injuries as a result of crashes in the last five years.
Biking over the city’s bridges has skyrocketed, according to DOT data cited by the Queens Daily Eagle, with bike ridership on the Queensboro Bridge up 19 percent year-over-year; on the Pulaski Bridge, ridership surged 26 percent during the same period.
Sheryl Kleven, a member of A Better College Point Civic Association, told The Post that the arguments against the greenway are nothing new: she’s been pushing for waterfront pedestrian access in the neighborhood for 40 years.
“[Right now] it’s all privately owned condos, with a lot of commercial sprinkled in,” Kleven said of the buildings at the waterfront. “Pedestrian and bike access on the waterfront would be a dream.”
“To have something like this, it would be not only good for our neighborhood,” Mirjana Karcic, another College Point civic association member, added, “but also a huge improvement to Queens.”