Speaker unveils plan to clean up Liberty Ave.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and other supporters announced plans to address quality-of-life issues on Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill. Photo by Gerardo Romo/NYC Council Media Unit

By Ryan Schwach

Local officials rolled out a plan on Tuesday to address quality-of-life issues along Liberty Avenue in Queens’ Richmond Hill neighborhood.

The plan includes the appointment of a task force aimed at cleaning up the busy corridor, new signage and a push to create a new merchants’ association that will advocate for small businesses along the thoroughfare.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who represents the area, also announced $50,000 in funding to help kickstart the clean up.

“Liberty Avenue is the heart of our diverse and vibrant Richmond Hill community,” the speaker said on Tuesday. “This important corridor is home to both long-time and new small businesses that exemplify what makes our community and this borough so very special.”

Locals say that – similar to many other busy Queens roadways – there are cleanliness and mobility problems abound along the strip.

“Sanitation and the lack of cleanliness remains an ongoing issue for this corridor,” said Adams. “Our small businesses have consistently dealt with the garbage on the sidewalks and overflowing litter baskets, some of which have been attributed to illegal dumping by nearby households.”

Unlicensed vending is also a concern, Adams said.

“Addressing these quality-of-life issues for the long term requires all of us as a community working together to advance solutions,” she added.

The clean up is getting started this summer, with cleaning and other services beginning on June 30, funded by the $50,000 Council allocation. The effort will start at Liberty Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard and run down to Liberty Avenue and 132 Street, and then from Lefferts to Rockaway Boulevard.

“The services will range from street sweeping to litter pickup to bird poop cleaning, the little things that folks oftentimes don't look at or aren't concerned about,” said Adams’ District Chief of Staff Tyrell Hankerson, who is running to replace his boss – with her support – in the Council.

Hankerson is running for District 28 along with Democratic candidates Japneet Singh, Romeo Hitlall, Latoya LeGrand and Ruben Wills.

The new Liberty Avenue cleanup is centered around community partnerships with the DSNY and NYPD.

“The cleanliness in the community is disappointing to see,” said local business owner Danny Persaud. “The way trash is thrown about everywhere here, and no one does anything about it, besides the business owner himself coming out and sweeping it up.”

Adams hopes the planned merchants’ association – which she said is a longtime coming – works to increase those partnerships.

“This merchants association will help promote our neighborhood businesses and share resources to ensure we can all succeed in District 28,” she said. “This is the type of comprehensive and coordinated partnership that is needed to tackle these challenges in our community. It will require sustained focus and resources, but working collaboratively, I'm confident it will make a positive difference for everyone who calls this community home.”

Betty Bratton, the longtime chair of local Community Board 10, is also hopeful the new initiative will help the neighborhood address some of the more persistent problems in the area.

“When you have the partnerships that the speaker spoke about, and that her office and all of the different stakeholder groups along Liberty Avenue corridor work together to try and accomplish something, we can take the steps forward,” she said.