From Queens: The Brand Residents Don't Buy
Back to How is Queens Branded?
Municipal Govt's Redevelopment and Marketing Strategies
The Borough of Queens puts forward an image of being intensely diverse and cultural, while at the same time having the enjoyable aspects of suburbia, such as sporting events and nature parks. The borough wants to give off an image that it is being worldly. For instance, the official Queens tourism website compares shopping in Queens to shopping everywhere in the world at the same time (DiscoverQueens.info). Queens also has a very rich cultural heritage, boasting the fact that it has a multicultural amalgam of residents who are, but not limited to, Greeks, Koreans, Romanians, Colombians, Chinese, Irish, Dominicans, Indians, Argentinians, and Italians. So what is Queens branded as? The world.
There is a very clear goal set by the NYCEDC (New York City Economic Development Committee) to gentrify NYC, Queens included. According to their 2009 annual report, it focused on three of Queens’ neighborhoods: Jamaica, Long Island City, and Willets Point. In Long Island City, the committee is planning on making large buildings that would house industry. The NYCEDC is hoping that Queens will become popular because of its close proximity to Manhattan and its cheaper pricing. The NYCEDC is also building apartments near Queens so the borough will also be a residential hot spot for young, upwardly-mobile professionals. It also mentions its attempt to “create a more attractive street level experience” in Jamaica outside of the AirTrain Terminal. The airport is being marketed as a transportation hot spot rather than acknowledging the neighborhood as a whole. The government wants to attract wealthy young people as opposed to the poor and middle class people it has now.
Willets Point currently is home to some lower class homes, but mainly houses automotive repair shops and other similar industries that contribute to its part in the “iron triangle.” For the Worlds Fair, Robert Moses revitalized some of Willets Point, but it was short-lived and remained mainly untouched since then. Interest has again been peaked by the Bloomberg administration to make it “Queens’ next great neighborhood.” There are plans in place to make it a shopping bazaar, with only 5,500 housing units planned, but 1.7 million acres of retail space and more than 500,000 acres of office. (nyc.gov) Again, the government wants to attract money to the borough.
In addition, the NYCEDC is in the process of creating a middle-income urban community and waterfront park in Long Island City. This is part of Mayor Bloomberg's $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to preserve housing for people who move in for the next ten years. The area will also have retail space, community and cultural facilities, school space, parking, and a new continuous waterfront park. This is the city’s action to try and get more people to live in Queens. However, the middle-income urban community displaces the poor working class living there (NYC Economic Development Corp.).
In an attempt to draw people into Queens, the government also eagerly pushes the natural and cultural aspects of Queens. In order to showcase the parks in Queens, The Partnerships for Parks Outreach Coordinator started the Annual Tour de Queens two summers ago (Tour de Queens). The route takes bikers through East Elmhurst, Astoria, Long Island City, Maspeth, Middle Village, Rego Park, Forest Hills, and the Forest Hills Gardens. Featured along the way are the Astoria-LIC waterfront parks. Queens has been trying to promote sites of interest to attract tourists and residents. Examples include nature-filled sites, such as Queens Wildlife Center in Queens Corona Park, and the Queens Botanical Garden. These two parks are strongly advertised because they present openness in Queens, which is rarely seen in other boroughs. Other places advertised include the New York Hall of Science, Queens Museum of Art, and Queens Theater in the Park (DiscoverQueens.info).
Queens also promotes other parts of its natural beauty, such as beaches in the Rockaways at which people can surf, as well as the over-seven-thousand-acres of park grounds. The Rockaways is the only beach in New York City that allows surfing. Queens also has the third largest park in NYC- Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation). According to the December 2008 figures of the NYC Department of City Planning, 19.5% of all land in Queens is used for open space and recreation. Square-foot wise, it allocates the most land toward open space and recreation, second only to Brooklyn.
The Queens Borough governmental website (http://www.queensbp.org/) boasts that Queens is home to many wonderful parks. Since Queens is the borough with the most area and second highest population level, one would probably assume that the area would have more parks than any other borough. However, if you look at this link, you can see a map of parks in the city, and you'll see that Manhattan and Brooklyn both possess more parks.
Another interesting viewpoint to observe when studying governmental branding of Queens is that of Queens College. As the official Queens school of the City University of New York system, it provides its own perspective on the borough. It calls itself “an urban school in a suburban setting” (qc.cuny.edu). Clearly, the school wants to stress the worldliness and urbanity of the college because it continues to point out that it is “immersed in the nation’s brightest city,” and that one can see the “celebrated view of the Manhattan skyline” from Queens College campus (qc.cuny.edu). There is still, however, some focus on the borough itself beyond its being part of New York City and near Manhattan. Later, promotional material on the college website boasts of the wonderful shopping and dining in the area along with “attractions of other neighborhoods [ranging] from museums to professional sports” (qc.cuny.edu).
The “Keep It In Queens” project, a joint project between the Queens Borough President’s Office, the Queens Chamber of Commerce, and the City of New York, is another attempt to make Queens into more of an economic hub. The project acts as a web of communications between businesses in Queens to encourage economic development in the borough (queensbp.org). Various businesses in Queens, ranging from big chain stores to small family owned stores, signed up to be part of this project’s newsletter in order to remain updated for news of various developments going on in Queens so they can help and give an opinion about what’s going on in their borough (keepitinqueens.com).
The Municipal Planning Strategy, or MPS, is a legal document issued by the Council that describes a strategic plan for Queens to achieve its “vision for a sustainable future.” There are three steps in the MPS: 1) to identify the issues within a community, 2) to establish a plan to solve the issues, and 3) to set goals for future sustainability. Basically, the MPS provides the foundation for “future economic, social, and environmental development for the community,” while at the same time it maintains and betters the development already going on and the quality of life. The MPS documents specific land use issues in the community and sets goals and policies to address them over the next few years. Overall, it furthers the governments efforts to brand Queens as a place with luxury housing that is only going to continue to grow (Region of Queens Municipality).
Despite all the positive imagery that the local government in Queens and Mayor Bloomberg propagate, it is quite clear that they don’t believe everything they are saying. According to Mayor Bloomberg, for instance, Queens isn’t good enough to host the Olympics. The borough, evidently, is lacking the order of magnitude or grandeur that is present elsewhere in New York City. Queens, according to Bloomberg, is inferior (nytimes.com).
Sources:
Official Planning Page of the Queen's Borough President's Office
Economic Development from the Queen's Borough's President Office
Queen's Chamber of Commerce Region of Queens Municipality
Home Page of the Queen's Borough President's Office
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
New York City Economic Development Corp.
New York City Economic Development Corp.
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