Oh yes, I've been here all along. And the Diversity Plaza renovations were hijacked by a group purporting to represent the whole community- all of JH, commuters, residents, business owners and non-business owners- should have been part of the planning. But it did not end up being representative of the community at large in my opinion. The business community took over. Was it worse before the millions were spent? Not every one thinks so. The cars were a problem, yes, but the traffic only got thrown to one side - the right hand side headed towards Roosevelt- creating a weird traffic area there.
Also the lack of thru traffic has some shady business going on with more sex traffic and suspect businesses that were not there before. It's a shame because at one point not that long ago this lower end of Jackson Heights seemed to be a promising retail and restaurant area. The block on Roosevelt between 73rd and 72nd seems to have taken the hardest hit. There are some fine restaurants sprinkled in but the area as a whole is seedier now than I have ever seen before.
What might be a solution? There needs to be a diverse group of businesses, I think, that will have a variety of clientele and different merchandise and be open staggered hours. A cafe that has a good handle on its outdoor seating, smaller kiosks in an organized fashion would be nice. Near Madison Park on 23rd street in Manhattan, the city has done a good job of limiting the food vendors and have places to sit and throw your garbage which is cleaned often.The trash and garbage collection on 73rd is awful now and worse than before the traffic changes. This is a fear for 34th Ave too because changes making vehicular access more difficult tend to result in reduced services for all. The rat scene at Diversity Plaza is unreal!
Sorry, not progress in my opinion and all that money just for raising the sidewalk to the level of the street? Why? And for gods sake let's not let that hijacking happen again. Collect
data, feel the temp of the whole neighborhood post Covid and see what consensus and professional planners can deliver.