Rachel Thieme
March 2, 2016 By Michael Florio
Sunnyside Shines, a Business Improvement District dedicated to promoting Sunnyside’s commercial zone, will hold its annual meeting on March 9 to outline its upcoming plans and elect its board.
Sunnyside Shines has an annual budget of about $462,000 and the funds are used to market, beautify and clean the business district on (or near) Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue from 38th to 50th Streets.
The meeting, which will be held at the Sunnyside Community Services Center (43-31 39th St.) at 7:30 p.m., will also provide attendees with details of last year’s achievements.
Rachel Thieme, Executive Director of Sunnyside Shines, said the BID would review some of its highlights from 2015 at the meeting, which include:
1) The Taste of Sunnyside and Restaurant Week
2) The addition of 15 new garbage cans and several tree guards throughout the district
3) The BID’s “Third Thursdays in Bliss Plaza” event series which ran from June through October
4) The opening of 11 new businesses in the district, including Dumplings & Things and Chihuahua Mexican Restaurant & Cantina
5) The BID’s ongoing neighborhood cleanup
6) Various business promotions
Thieme will also discuss some of the organization’s plans for 2016, including a new event series that will start Friday called “Spring into the Plazas.”
The series will take place at Bliss Plaza and Lowery Plaza every Friday from 12 p.m. through 3 p.m. The season will go from March through June.
“We want to activate the public plazas even more,” Thieme said.
This Friday the BID will set up “giant” board games such as chess, Connect 4 and beanbag toss in Lowery Plaza.
At the annual meeting, the 17-member board is up for re-election.
However, with five of the 17 board members being City representatives or elected officials, only 12 are truly up for a vote. The majority of the 17 members of the board must be property owners and only residents, landlords and businesses owners within the BID boundaries are eligible to vote.
The annual meeting is free and the community is welcome to attend. Anyone planning on attending is asked to RSVP by calling (718) 606-0142 or emailing janet@sunnysideshines.org.
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4 Comments
A bangup job – no mention of all the stores that have closed. Soon we will miss the nail salons!
Maybe consider doing this stuff at Bliss and Lowery Plaza outside of normal working hours?
what happen to Yum Yum Queens
A joke