 Good afternoon, everyone. And it is certainly a beautiful afternoon. I'd like to thank everyone for gathering in this gorgeous parking lot behind what's going to be a gorgeous park. Thanks to today's announcement. And first, I'd like you to hear from the man who made all this possible, our Mayor Eric Adams. Thank you. Thank you so much and really with the group that has made it possible of those who are standing behind us, we really want to thank them for the vision as we deal with reclaiming spaces for communities. So New York City is a five borough city. And all boroughs deserve access to high quality park space, something that they've all advocated for. And we're excited to be here today to announce a $35 million investment to deliver phase one of the Queensway, something that has been asked for for a long time. And we are happy to be announcing this today. This project, this community wanted for decades, for decades. It's not new for decades. And being able to accomplish this is crucial. Phase one will convert abandoned railroad tracks, which have been used as a dump and ground or roast into a five acre linear park and provides a safe way for residents to walk, to jog, to enjoy the open space. We've learned during COVID-19 how important it is to have good quality open space. And it can't be just in one part of the city. We all celebrate the use of Central Park. Well, this park is going to be the center of the lives of this area and this community so they can enjoy the open space that we have here. Queensways improves quality of life, improves the air quality, and it promotes physical and mental well-being. And it gives more visibility to businesses along the route. And so this is an economic stimulus as well. And we all know, we've known for a long time, that linear parks are successful. We see what's happening in the high line of Manhattan. Every time I visit there, I say we can have high line in high times and the out of boroughs as well. And that is why we're bringing this to this amazing community here in Queens. Because of the density of our city, linear parks penetrate deep into neighborhoods and don't just focus on one particular area, but allow us to go further in open space and it allows eyesores like what's behind us to become from an eyesore to an oasis. They showcase our creativity and just this can-do spirit that we are embracing in the city again. We are moving from a city of no to a city of yes. And Queensway is the way we are going to go throughout this entire city and ensure that open space, greenways, good, clean environments for children and families will continue to grow in this city. So I thank you all for what you have done for your advocacy and the beauty is unimaginable. When you look at that photo over to the left and we're going to sneak and get a peek of that photo there, imagine this turning into that. That's a great achievement and it is a legacy. People walking through here, having conversations, being able to engage and interact with each other again. This is what parks have to offer. And I'm just really proud to make this announcement and all those people who advocated on behalf of this announcement. Congratulations and thank you. Thank you very much, Mayor. I'm Mirazoshi, Deputy Mayor for Operations and one important hallmark of the Adams Administration is we consider parks as part of our city's infrastructure. That hasn't been the case in years past, but as fundamental as parks are to our well-being, our climate resiliency, and to our health and peace of mind, they absolutely are at the core of our infrastructure. So today is an absolute moment of advancement in New York City's infrastructure, our foundation as we celebrate the Met Hubs. So thank you. It's also part of our commitment to parks, expanding our green space throughout the city. And because a right-of-way is a terrible thing to waste, it's recycling a right-of-way, which is a really, really valuable commodity in New York City and being creative about how we use that right-of-way. It's also another example of how the Adams Administration doesn't work in silos. This project will be managed by both Parks and EDC. We'll have our green space experts as well as our contracting experts together to work on it, to make sure that it's delivered, hopefully under budget and ahead of schedule. So I'd like to thank all the city agencies in coming together to make sure that we're working in partnership to deliver for New Yorkers. And finally, I really wanna thank the decades of work that have gone into advocating from merchants to electeds to community residents to nonprofits. And as I had a few moments ahead at this event in Trader Joe's, which is packed, by the way. Absolutely packed. I can only imagine how many thankful people that are now shopping will be so much more thankful when they can enjoy this green space. So thank you very much. I wanna now introduce Council Member Shulman, who has been a key player in getting us to today. Thank you very much. I'm so excited to be here. I can't believe that we're here today. Today is a very special day. We are facing a once-in-a-civilization public health challenge to save our planet from destruction within. And today's investment by Mayor Adams and Elinia Park right here in Forest Hills, Queens is a huge step in meeting this challenge. It was 10 years ago that two friends and constituents, Travis Terry and Andrea Crawford, brought me their dream of creating Elinia Park where our kids could play, seniors could exercise and get fresh air and bicyclists could have safe bike paths. I was a member of Community Board Six back then and was a supporter from the beginning. There were many obstacles to overcome, but I was determined when I took office in January that I would bring this extraordinary vision to fruition. Just six months later, with the help, support and investment of Eric Adams, the Get Stuff Done Mayor, the Queensway will now become a reality. I also wanna thank New York City Council Speaker, Adrienne Adams, for her dedication to parks and green space and for her support and financial commitment to this project. There were a number of people that were involved in this and I wanna thank the elected officials, my colleagues from Southeast Queens, from Central Queens and from Northeast Queens for helping to be supportive of this. And I also wanna tell you that nothing happens in Queens without the say so and the approval of our wonderful borough president, Donovan Richards, who I'm very thankful for his, oh well, that's true, for his support today, because that was very invaluable in taking this to the next step. Together with my colleagues in government and local stakeholders, we are turning this historic blight into a true community amenity that will improve the quality of life for those living, working and visiting Central Queens. I also wanna point out that we have people here from Community Board Six. Peter Beetle was on the Queensway Advisory Committee when it first came up. I wanna introduce, there's a small business owner because this is gonna help small businesses. Rachel Kellner from Ida and the Chocolates, a business that has been here for over 90 years in this district. So that's very important, Sharon Levy, who's a member of the Women's Action Group of Forest Hills who's been very active. All of these, a lot of these people have been very instrumental in this. So Mr. Mayor, this is a historic moment that he made happen. I and our community thank you and we thank the deputy mayors who are here, the Parks Commissioner, I mean, take a look everybody. This is our government and these are the people that helped make this happen. Thank you. Thank you council member. Next we'll hear from borough president, Queens borough president, Donovan Richards. Thank you. Woo! Thank you deputy mayor and good afternoon to everyone. And today is really a special day. Let me start off by thanking our mayor to get stuff done mayor. As a matter of fact, he's getting so much stuff done that he literally leaves his check here, make sure that it can be cash and then he goes on to spend money elsewhere. So I wanna thank the mayor for today and of course I wanna thank the steadfast leadership of Lynn Shulman on this day. We would not be possible true champion and also to Travis Jesus. This has been a long time in the coming. I might have made him turn red a few days, but it's all good, we're here. And I know I can say with confidence that enhancing our open space and improving our transportation are both top priorities for all of us in Queens and coming out of this pandemic, I think as the mayor alluded to, we all were trying to figure out, especially in this borough, one of the hardest hit places in our city, how do one preserve life in our borough, but two, how do we ensure we have open space and most of us rediscovered our neighborhoods during the pandemic. I don't know about you, but when you have a five year old cooped up in your house with you, you better figure out what open space you have in your community, but it really was a special time, a hard time for us, but also a special time to rediscover our neighborhoods. And Queens has historically demonstrated a need for more extensive and more accessible open space. And the Queens way is uniquely poised to fulfill those needs while simultaneously connecting communities and making it easier for people to travel without the use of their cars. All of our borough communities experience many glaring inequities in both park access and transportation opportunities. But the Queens way will help tremendously in both areas. The opportunities for cultural enrichment that the Queens way will bring are also very exciting for our borough. Queens is becoming more and more known around the city and well beyond for its outstanding cultural institutions which are helping us become a major tourist destination. The Queens way just like Manhattan successful Highline Park will become one of those attractions, but we still know much more needs to be done to address the inequities around our borough. It's one of the reasons I put $20 million into parks this year out of my fiscal budget. We know that much of Queens remains a transit desert as well with no subway access and limited and often poor bus service. And let me just point out that this is not either or scenario here. We need to do both when it comes to making sure that we can enhance our public transportation and also ensuring that our communities have access to open space. And we should ensure that those competitors interest are met together as well. The shortcoming disproportionately impacts low income communities where residents depend on mass transit to go to work. Clearly more needs to be done to make it easier to get around our borough and to go to it and from it. To that end the state needs to get the train moving on the Queens League, Queens links environment to impact study as well. It is the role of government to address difficult issues like this and we only get things done by working collectively together. The work that will be necessary to solve the transportation in green space problems may seem impossibly difficult but announcements like the one we are making now give me great hope that we can and will achieve great things that will make life better for all 2.4 million people in the world's borough. Today's announcement is a great way to end the week on a high note. So I congratulate Mayor Adams for making this commitment to fund phase one of this vitally important Queensway project. I'd like to also thank EDC and of course our new commissioner who's come in and really knocked the door down getting stuff done, Commissioner Donahue. And finally thank you to the trust for public land. They have done such great work in our borough and ensuring that communities of color have access as well to more open space. And of course today and I end in saying this is transformative and this is the Queensway. This is what we do, we lead. And coming out of this pandemic, we simply said we're not looking to build back the same. We're looking to build back better in the Queensway as a part of that. God bless you all. Glad to have you. Congratulations all. Thank you Borough President Richard. Next we'd like to hear from Senator Comrie. Good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon. I'm glad to be here today. I want to thank the mayor for putting in the $35 million into this project. I want to tell you that I was part of the push to get the high line done under Gifford Miller. This gray hair is earned. And I can tell you that the high line as you know has been a game changer for the city and for the state. And I believe that this project will also be a game changer in the same way that the high line was. In order to be able to stimulate opportunities, to create also cultural things that will be happening there. But the primary thing is to make sure that we have an opportunity for people in Middle Queens to have somewhere else to go. There's not enough parkland in this part of the borough, so it's clear that we need to have an opportunity for people to be able to walk and experience this new project. And I have to thank Travis Terry because I unfortunately gave him my cell phone number a while ago. And he knows how to use it. And I want to thank Gifford for about 15 years. And it's a critical undertaking. As I said, it's a great thing that the mayor has recognized that this needs to be a partnership between parks and EDC, making sure that there's real opportunities for real economic growth and development also while this project is being done. I want to thank the trust for public land and the Queensway and for also making sure that they stay in contact with our office. As borough president Donovan Richard said, who's making historic investments in the borough as well. Now we haven't forgotten all of the needs for all of the Queens residents and council. And former council member now borough president Richard is hyper focused on making sure that we improve transit for Queens, all of Queens. I'd invite you all. The Queens bus plan is still being developed. And please make sure that you put your input in that so that we can make sure we have a Queens plan that really benefits all the needs of Queens. You still can't get here from Southeast Queens by bus, which makes no sense at all. But the last person I want to thank is someone that right after she asked me for her endorsement, for my endorsement for her city council campaign, which she knew I was doing, she started talking to me about this project. And anyone that knows Lynn Shulman knows that when she gets something and wants to do something, she's hyper focused on it. So there was no conversation that we haven't had in the last six to eight months where she hasn't brought up this project. She hasn't worked to try to build the bridges to make the create understanding, to create an opportunity to ensure that all of the needs for her residents would be taken care of, not just this project, but making sure that there's improved transit as well. I really appreciate her passion, her integrity and her diligence. And that's council member Lynn Shulman. I'm here also in my capacity as a chair of corporations for the state Senate. And I can let you know that we are hyper focused in improving MTA transit opportunities for Queens residents. We are working with the MTA to do everything we can feasibly to make that happen. With this team here, with the borough president, we are definitely going to make the necessary transit improvements so that our borough can also benefit economically and benefit with lower transit times into the city. Thank you all for being here. I look forward for the ground breaking. Thank you. Really good. Thank you, Senator Comrie. Next we'll hear from a man who's been an advocate of this project for a very, very long time, representing the trust for public land, Carter Strickland. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. This is a wonderful day. I wanna note that this is an important step for equity in parks funding and for better access to safe transportation, public health, outdoor recreation and environmental education in Queens, which is a city of 2.4 million people. For too long, communities here have been divided by roads and this out of bounds land behind us. And soon, communities will have a shared public space to make connections and stay united. Trust Public Land, thanks very much. The Mayor, Speaker Adams, the Council Member Schulman and all the elected officials who have pulled together over so many years to make this happen. It's an historic investment in the future of Queens and the entire city. I especially want to thank the community who for over a decade, several decades as you will hear has sought a better use for this abandoned right of way for more recreational space and for safer ways to walk and bike around the city. With Friends of Queensway, we held dozens of meetings and public workshops to listen to the community and develop an overall plan for this greenway and preliminary designs for the Met Hub section behind us. This work was supported by many Sydney and state officials as well as foundations working for a better future. We know that parks pay back. They pay back substantial benefits. Trust Public Land has recently completed a study of the economic benefits of parks in New York City and we found, among other things, over $9 billion every year in recreational value for the residents of New York and over a billion dollars in healthcare savings for the people of New York. And that's many times the parks budget, I will say. Parks are a good investment. Preserving the 60 year old trees behind us, of course, will also provide a cool respite from the heatways that will get worse with climate change. These benefits are long overdue for Queens. Over the last decade, this city has made substantial and excellent investments in this park system and now it's Queens turn. We're grateful that this administration and council is turning its attention to the needs of the outer boroughs. This new park will be for all New Yorkers but will especially benefit 36,000 Queens residents who live within a mile of the Met Hub and ultimately over 244,000 residents who live within a mile of the entire Queensway plan. Here where adjacent parkland does exist, it's separated from neighborhoods by crowded multi-lane highways like Woodhaven and Union Purr and Turr and Pike which are dangerous to cross, especially for children. And think about this, there are 12 schools adjacent to the Queensway section. Mel's campus is right over the burn behind us and kids need safe ways to get to school. Getting the, thanks to the city's investment, this Queensway will be shovel ready and that's really critical when we think about all the federal and soon state investments in infrastructure that are coming down. City money can help leverage state and federal money and that will extend the Queensway. In closing, I want to thank you, Mayor Adams, your administration, this council for making Queens safer, healthier and more resilient. Thank you. Next we'll hear from Andrea Crawford. Wow, this is big. I'd repeat what our president said when he was VP but I'd probably get into trouble for saying that. Today our little section of Central Queens shows what it's like to be a leader in creating a new wonder. On behalf of the Friends of the Queensway, we were originally the Rockaway Beach Rail Trail. We were just a ragtag group of community minded folks who 10 years ago got together and 20 years ago we were even scruffier group of community activists with a singular goal to advocate for open space for kids and family that could serve as a conduit to the jewel of Queens which is Forest Park. I want to express our sincerest appreciation and gratitude for Mayor Adams and council member Lynn Shulman who's been a friend of the Queensway and mine for many, many years and all the elected officials past and present as well as the community members, civic associations, business leaders for being here today and who are joining us in announcing this historic and epic investment in the Queensway and in Queens. All over this country and indeed the world we have seen how greenways improve the quality of life for those who live adjacent to it and have easy access to safe, linear green space. We're now embarking on finally creating the Queensway which will create safe spaces for all of us to bike, walk, run, provide much needed boost to our local businesses, enhance our community resources like the Mel's Campus right next door which sits and runs along the Queensway as well as the Glendale Little League. Additionally the Queensway will help enable new cultural, community and environmental programs as well as improve our air quality and help reduce flooding, something which is endemic in our communities. So many people to thank who helped us get here. First of all, I'd like to thank guess who? Travis Terry who I met about 10 or 12 years ago, Ruben Ramales and Karen Imus, all of Friends of the Queensway. I'd like to really thank our thousands of volunteers across Central Queens. I'd also like to invoke the memory of Ivan Morechovic who is no longer with us, who we lost two and a half years ago right before COVID. He and I and two others of community board nine got up and said, wow, this is pretty cool. This could be an amazing bike path. And now here we are led by the most important friend of Friends of the Queensway, is Trust for Public Land. We just got together and said, we wanna make a park. Let's make a park. We didn't know how, but they do and they have and they've done it, so thank you. Mostly I'd like to thank everyone who came to our events, our park cleanups, met with community and civic groups, got yelled at, got hugged, got cursed at, and all the schools and cultural groups that run along the entire expanse of the abandoned rail. We applaud you and thank you for staying with the vision for so long. And finally, when the story of the Queensway is written and we remember that it came about with the relationship of government and community, that the qualities of kindness and fact-based decisions and the desire to make our corner of the world better and that as a public servant of which I am, work tirelessly for the betterment of the community they serve. We see these virtues and qualities in our mayor, borough president, council member, and all of those who are with us today, either in person or in spirit. After laying vacant as an eyesore for 60 years, this group of servant leaders got it done in six months. Again, I repeat what President Biden once said to his boss, this is a big deal. Thank you and congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You want to charge Sunday, don't you? I like that censorship. You're usually not. Usually not. Next, we'll hear from assembly member Raj Kumar. Good afternoon. This is a great day for my district. It's a great day for South Queens. We always knew that the abandoned Rockaway Beach line had enormous potential. But after seven decades of inaction, our mayor finally got it done. So let's give him a round of applause once again, the mayor of getting stuff done. And here's what we're talking about. Queensway will draw one million visitors every year. It will generate $2.2 million in new revenue. It will connect four subway lines and 12 schools will be within five minutes of the Queensway. Also, all the major thoroughfares in my district will be connected to Queensway. That includes Rockaway Boulevard, 101 Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, Atlantic Avenue. This is extremely exciting for my district. It will create new green space for little Guyana. And of course, it will create wetlands that are gonna help us with flooding as we combat climate change. So this is a truly historic achievement. And we all know about the High Line. And we know how the High Line overnight became one of the biggest attractions in New York City. And now we're going to have a huge attraction here in South Queens. So I wanna thank everyone who got this done. Yes, the mayor of getting stuff done along with our deputy mayor, Mayor Joshi, our new Parks Commissioner who is an incredible steward of Forest Park, one of the treasures of my district. Of course, the incredible Councilwoman Lynn Schulman. Let's give her another round of applause. I mean, if you talk to Councilman Schulman about any issue, she'll know everything about it inside and out. So we are truly blessed to have these kinds of public servants working and making these initiatives happen. Our borough president, Donovan Richards, who is literally in every nook and cranny of Queens. It is a big borough, my friends. And all of the advocates here today, this is what it means to advocate on the ground and make things happen for the community. This is what happens when the community and government comes together. South Queens is on the rise and Queens Way is the way. So thank you all. And now we'll hear from Assembly Member Weprin. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. And thank you, Mayor Adams, for getting stuff done. I wanna thank all my colleagues in government, especially Councilmember Lynn Schulman and Borough President Richard, who have been pushing for this. I also was in the City Council with Leroy Comrie when we were planning the High Line in Manhattan. And Senator Comrie. And this is gonna be amazing for Queens, especially coming out of the pandemic. A five acre linear park will benefit not only this immediate area, but so many surrounding areas in Queens. We need more linear parks. We need more parks in general. And this is taking an ISOR abandoned property and transforming it into an amazing linear park. So I wanna thank everyone who is involved in this. I'll probably leave somebody out, but you've heard from the partnership and it's when government all comes together with the community, we can get stuff done. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And I wanna thank everyone, especially that brought about the political will to bring us to today. So have a great weekend and this is a great celebration. Thank you.