We’re So Not Like LA

Those poor, much maligned donut shops:

Two high-profile Long Island City projects that would make areas surrounding Queens Plaza and along Jackson Avenue greener to attract retailers and residential development are expected to be completed by 2010, the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s president said.

The first project would beautify portions of Queens Plaza directly underneath the elevated subway tracks of the G and R lines by adding greenery and pedestrian walkways. Work on the $12 million upgrade would begin in 2008, EDC President Robert Lieber said Monday at a Long Island City Business Improvement District meeting.

“We want to make this a much more inviting place to work and live,” he said.

But Long Island City resident Megan Friedman said she did not believe many people would want to see a green space underneath the screech of the neighborhood’s train tracks. She said the city should focus more on attracting large retailers, such as Barnes & Noble or Target, to bring shoppers from other boroughs into Queens.

“You can get a donut or a lap dance on either side of Queens Plaza,” she said. “But we need retailers that will bring people to this neighborhood.”

We already know that people in Western Queens don’t read but on the other hand a Target . . . that would beat planting a few dumpy trees any day.

(Incidentally, not to geek out too much, but since adding greenery and pedestrian walkways under the G and R lines would involve a sandhog, you can safely assume they mean the N/W and 7 lines in that second paragraph there.)