Photo: QueensPost
April 18, 2011 By Christian Murray
Sunnyside Shines, a public/private partnership with a mission to promote business throughout much of the neighborhood, is providing incentives to local business owners who upgrade their store frontages.
In the past year, there have been several store owners who have been criticized for failing to maintain their store frontages, which many argue detracts from the Sunnyside business district. Many critics also argue that roll down gates – as opposed to see-through mesh gates– invite taggers to the neighborhood.
Sunnyside Shines will be providing a 50% matching grant up to $1,000 beginning July 1, 2011, to any owner who upgrades a store’s frontage that meets the partnership’s guidelines. Such guidelines include:
- Erecting open mesh, see-through gates
- Producing well-designed simple signs that observe signage code and regulations
Businesses must be part of the Sunnyside Shines business district to qualify, which covers stores fronting Queens Boulevard from 38th St. to 49th St., Greenpoint Avenue from 43rd St. to 48th St., and South Roosevelt Avenue from 48th St. to 49th St.
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15 Comments
@Long Time Resident … guess it speaks for this whole city. It is NOT the norm in all cities or in the suburbs. It’s a sad state of affairs and time for me to make my exit.
You’ll be seeing a very overpriced aging dingy apartment on the market soon and one less car circling the block for an hour in the middle of the night trying to find a place to park. I’m going where it doesn’t snow and apartments have parking lots included in the cost of rent.
Time to slow down and smile smile smile!
The 46th Street “mall” is an eyesore.
I agree with Long Time Resident!
@Bliss&Skillman: what area of the city – beyond Fifth Avenue – doesn’t have roll down or mesh gates when businesses are closed? I kind of feel like some commenters on this blog see things that are pretty normal as signs of the coming economic apocalypse of the neighborhood. There’s plenty of things to be concerned about (why the neighborhood can seemingly support 3 pawn shops within only a couple of blocks of one another), but businesses using metal/mesh gates when closed? Come on…
I hope Fish House on 42nd and Greenpoint gets this memo. Their awning is so old and gross, I can’t bring myself to buy from them. Their awning literally has fish-shaped holes where pictures of fish used to be.
I go to the one Qns Blvd btwn 44/45th, which is great. Very clean, the people are wonderful and no trashy awning. It matters.
and the sidewalks along much of queens boulevarde could use a good powerwash,as they’re quite dingy.
Just the fact that they have to HAVE roll down or mesh gates at all tells you the direction this area is going. It is downright seedy looking and anything they do is going to be an improvement.
Hooray for Sunnyside Shines!
I can’t get worked up that a 99 cent store has a tacky store front. It’s a 99 cent store for Pete’s sake, not Bergdorf’s. If business owners can be encouraged to keep what they’ve got maintained, and clean (way too many awnings with what looks like years and years of filth), I’ll be happy.
Tacky, garish, dirty and shabby are the new black as far as store signage and canopies in this neighborhood go.
How many of these stores are not members of sunnyside shines for what eve reason. I think they all should be included in this to save money especially with all these for rent sigs we see every day. Maybe some of these stores cannot affort to pay the fee what every it is
I hope that any stores that have live animals sleeping on the premises overnight use this opportunity to change their front gates, so that in the event of a fire, at least the FDNY has a way to get in.
And again–washing windows and awnings would be a good idea for many stores. In fact, for most of them.
This reminds me – how is it that Sunnyside can support so many bodegas when each of them seem to sell close to nothing? Makes me very suspicious as to what exactly these businesses are up to. And god, they are among the most disgusting, dirty looking businesses in the neighborhood.
I think this is a great idea. Sunnyside is such a great neighborhood, but it’s hard to convince my non-Sunnyside friends of that when I take them for a walk down Queens Blvd or Greenpoint Ave and so many storefronts look like complete dumps. The 99 cent stores, check cashing places and other discount stores are especially ugly.
This stores, mostly near the 46th Street subway stop, are an eyesore. I have also noticed an increase in panhandlers. We have lost some good stores but we still have our junk stores!
well this would certainly be a nice start. Good job Sunnyside Shines!