Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Tour de Queens

K. Emmanuel Fuentebella

Picture this – blistering hot 100 degree temperatures, 450 people with 450 bicycles, and riding around 21 miles of western Queens.

This scene describes the start of the 1st Annual Tour de Queens, an idea conceived by Partnerships for Parks Outreach Coordinator and Queens resident, Helen Ho. “I thought the Bronx has one, Brooklyn has one, it’s time for Queens to have its own tour too. Plus, it is a great way to showcase Queens Parks,” said Ho.

The 21-mile tour took place on Sunday, June 8 and took 450 riders, marshals, and volunteers on a loop of western Queens, starting and ending at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The Queens Museum generously opened their doors to allow riders to bring their bikes inside the museum to seek reprieve from the sweltering outdoors, and also to take a look at the renowned Panorama of the City of New York, the largest to-scale architectural miniature model of New York City commissioned by Robert Moses. On ride day, the Panorama also boasted of the Tour de Queens route, where riders could see their route visually mapped out.

The Tour de Queens took riders through the neighborhoods of East Elmhurst, Astoria, Long Island City, Maspeth, Middle Village, Rego Park, Forest Hills, and the Forest Hills Gardens. Featured along the way were the Astoria-LIC waterfront parks.

“What I found most exciting is that the route highlighted the Queens East River Greenway and showed the potential and the existing shortcomings of the proposed route. I hope this inspires people to get involved in the community by joining the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee or Green Shores NYC,” said Transition Coordinator Karen Overton. The ride complemented the work of Helen Ho and Karen Overton in building a constituency and gaining community involvement in the Queens Greenway.

A multi-agency and non-profit effort and almost a year’s worth of planning was put forth in producing the first Tour de Queens. A true collaboration between NYC Parks & Recreation, Partnerships for Parks, Transportation Alternatives, the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee, DOT, the Queens Borough President’s Office, and the Queens Museum of Art was achieved in putting together the Tour de Queens.

Helen works with the Queens Partnerships for Parks team, Karen Overton, Norman Chan, and Hassan King, all of whom regularly commute to work by bike. “I bike to work primarily because I’ve always liked biking, but also to save money on gas, and to stay fit!” said Hassan King.

Norman Chan commented that, “The Tour de Queens was a great first year event. The first of its kind in Queens! It gives people the opportunity to explore different neighborhoods in Queens from a different perspective.”

To see a short clip of the ride experience, go to http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/tour-de-queens-2008/.

GO GREEN!

Eco-Friendly Fact of the Day

“The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year.”

“10 Ways to Go Green at Work.” www.Sierraclub.org

“Discontent is the first necessity of progress.”

Thomas A. Edison

(1847- 1931)

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