Long Island City as seen from Sunnyside (Nathaly Pesantez)
Dec. 13, 2017 By Nathaly Pesantez
The LIC Partnership has released a survey that aims to collect insights from a range of companies and organizations in the area that may help shape the future of the neighborhood.
The survey, available only online and the second put out by the organization, asks a series of questions on the needs and priorities for the multiple businesses and non-profits in the neighborhood’s eight zip codes.
Topics like the difficulties in finding space in LIC, whether business owners believe they will stay in LIC long term, and how employees commute to neighborhood offices are included in the 20-question survey.
The survey also asks respondents to rank the quality of services/items like public transportation, parking availability, neighborhood amenities, and quality housing in the neighborhood.
Elizabeth Lusskin, president of the LIC Partnership, said the new survey is a chance to get a fresh, updated perspective from the answers given in the group’s first survey, issued in 2015.
“We wanted to do a reasonably spaced check in,” she said. “We want to compare back to the information we got.”
The LIC Partnership tweaked a couple of features for its second survey, including changes to its categories and creating more opportunities for in-depth answers. But the essence of the survey is the same, Lusskin said.
The 2015 survey, which saw over 500 completed responses, was the first of its scope, and contributed to the development of the LIC Partnership’s Comprehensive Plan, released a year later.
The group’s comprehensive plan listed a series of recommendations, partly based on the survey answers, to help guide development meant to bolster growth and increase attention to the neighborhood’s businesses.
Specific recommendations put forth by the LIC Partnership included exploring ways to build more space for industrial and commercial businesses, increasing opportunities for cultural institutions, fostering STEM-related industries, and relieving commercial parking strains in the neighborhood.
The LIC Partnership is currently working on phase two of the plan, an effort that will push for the implementation of the recommendations through policy making with the help of local leaders and stakeholders.
Lusskin said the results of the new survey will continue to inform phase two of the plan. “Its really been so valuable,” she said of the survey. “People are deeply invested in this neighborhood and we want to be able to reflect their needs and concerns.”
An update on where the partnership is regarding phase two will likely be revealed in the group’s summit in the summer of 2018, she said.
The survey is open until Jan. 31, 2018, and is limited to businesses and organizations in zip codes 11101, 11102, 11103, 11104, 11105, 11106, 11109, and 11120.
The survey can be accessed online via the following link : www.licqns.com/survey2017
Featured Events
One Comment
Unless it’s a biased survey for Developers the survey should find rents are too high, too many businesses close because of the rents. Businesses aren’t looking long term except maybe for Chipolte and Starbucks (BIG Chains) etc..