Though the entire world was dominated by Covid this year, North Queens was certainly the first section of the city to truly feel its effects. The largely Asian population faced Covid-19 induced discrimination and small shops suffered from a severe drop in business, a struggle they continued to combat throughout the remainder of the year.
Despite the hardships, North Queens pushed through and celebrated many good times â award ceremonies honored its leaders, DJs played free concerts for neighbors, activists took a stand and more.
Hereâs a look back at what the first six months of the infamous 2020 looked like in North Queens.
Despite months of community opposition and numerous protests, the City Council last week gave the Special Flushing Waterfront District the green light, approving a plan that would rezone 29-acres of Downtown Flushing for luxury condominiums, hotels, offices, stores and a new road network.
But its adversaries are not giving up the fight yet.
âCity Council has allowed a massive takeover of 1,700+ luxury apartments and a privatized waterfront with vastly inadequate and unenforceable âconcessions,ââ MinKwon Center for Community Action, one of the leading protesters, said in a statement following the 39-5 vote.
The activist organization is continuing to pursue a June lawsuit challenging the proposalâs omission of an environmental impact statement, which they say should render it and its approval illegitimate. Rather than completing an EIS, the developers conducted a less thorough environmental assessment.