Standing within the shadow of the Ravenswood Producing Station smokestacks, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards joined metropolis officers, native advocates and representatives from Rise Gentle & Energy Thursday to launch the Reimagine Ravenswood Neighborhood Plan, which goals to supply alternatives for the native Queensbridge neighborhood in the course of the transformation of the fossil gas plant right into a clear vitality hub.
Richards joined officers and advocates exterior the 27-acre producing station at 38-54 Vernon Blvd. on July 17 to launch the “historic” neighborhood plan, which guarantees to create “green energy jobs” and public facilities for the local people all through the transformation of Ravenswood.
Richards famous that simply 2% of residents dwelling within the close by Ravenswood and Queensbridge Homes work in the local people and stated the transformation of the era station creates “real economic opportunity” for native residents along with public facilities and entry to the East River waterfront.
The producing station, which supplies as much as 20% of town’s energy, was constructed by Con Edison in 1963 and stands as the most important energy station in New York Metropolis. Rise Gentle & Energy, shaped in 2020 to deal with the long-term redevelopment of the station, proposed changing the fossil fuel-power station right into a clear vitality hub as a part of “Renewable Ravenswood,” first outlined in 2022.
The proposal goals to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, together with off-shore wind, solar energy and battery storage.
Rise Gentle & Energy CEO Clinton Plummer stated Thursday that the group is now investing in advancing permits on the metropolis, state and federal for the challenge however famous that related initiatives have taken a number of years to acquire all essential permits.
Richards, in the meantime, didn’t give a timeline for the transformation of Ravenswood, however stated it could be a “struggle” for a few years.
“Without struggle, there can be no progress,” Richards stated Thursday. “There’s going to be a lot of struggle here in the days ahead.”
Richards stated Thursday’s occasion marks the “laying out of a blueprint” towards reworking the Ravenswood Producing Station and making certain that the native Queensbridge neighborhood advantages from that transformation. Each Richards and Plummer stated they weren’t involved by President Donald Trump’s January memorandum briefly stopping areas within the Outer Continental Shelf from being leased for brand new or renewed wind vitality initiatives.
Richards and Plummer each famous that initiatives just like Renewable Ravenswood take as much as a decade to finish and span a number of presidencies.
Richards, in the meantime, added that the transformation of the producing station will assist remodel Queensbridge from “Asthma Alley into Renewable Row.”
Richards speaks on the launch of the Reimagine Ravenswood Neighborhood Plan. Picture: Shane O’Brien
Richards stated the producing station is immediately answerable for uncommonly excessive ranges of bronchial asthma within the Queensbridge Homes neighborhood, describing the plant as one of many metropolis’s “biggest fossil fuel polluters.”
“If you’re curious how this part of Queens got its nickname asthma alley, all you have to do is look up,” Richards stated. “There couldn’t be darker visual in this borough than this power plant powering over public housing residents.”
He added that positioning the 27-acre plant beside the most important public housing complicated within the nation was a “stark” instance of environmental racism.
“We’re here today because we finally are righting this wrong. We’re here today to celebrate environmental justice for the families of western Queens and for our climate as a whole,” Richards stated Thursday.
Plummer stated the plan was “not just about energy” however about uplifting the local people via fairness, alternative and transformation.
Rise Gentle & Energy officers stated Thursday that the group will retain 70% of the prevailing 27-acre website as vitality stations, with the remaining 30% to be transformed into public exercise areas and “opportunity sites” that will likely be developed primarily based on enter from the local people.
The neighborhood plan may also present entry to the Lengthy Island Metropolis waterfront at Ravenswood, which has traditionally been blocked by the producing station.
The plan relies on a community-centered planning research carried out by consulting agency HR&A Advisors launched in March 2024 to solicit suggestions from members of the local people.
Plans for the reimagined Ravenswood Producing Station, together with public exercise areas, clear vitality services, waterfront entry and “opportunity sites.” Picture: Shane O’Brien.
HR&A companion Jose Serrano-McClain stated the plan is a chance to combine environmental and financial justice at Queensbridge Homes in a way that’s community-driven.
Officers stated Thursday that the plan is rooted in months of public engagement, dozens of stakeholder interviews and the steering of a steering committee composed of residents, advocates and union leaders.
Costa Constantinides, govt director of Selection Boys and Women Membership of Queens and a former Metropolis Council Member who served as chair of the Council’s Environmental Safety Committee, described the plan as a “blueprint” for the local people.
“Just coming here today, you can see the disinvestment in our neighborhood,” Constantinides stated.
Constantinides stated there’s a want for “true investment” in deprived communities that helps sort out excessive charges of bronchial asthma in the neighborhood whereas additionally offering financial alternatives for native residents.
Costa Constantinides speaks on Thursday. Picture: Shane O’Brien
He added that the Reimagine Ravenswood plan goals to uplift all members of the local people, “not just those who live in the high rises,” and stated the transformation of the producing station will take away the 4 smokestacks from the skyline inside his lifetime.
Rise Gentle & Energy officers stated the smokestacks ought to be eliminated by round 2040 because the station transitions to renewable energy.
Chris Hanway, govt director of the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, stated the plan can have a “transformational impact” on the local people.
“This plan presents a bold but attainable future for Queensbridge, for Ravenswood and for Western Queens,” Hanway stated. “(It will provide) clean energy, good union jobs and vibrant public spaces for our residents who deeply deserve this type of environment. We’re tired of being known as ‘Asthma Alley.’ We’re tired of being known as a place of poverty, because that’s not the real story.”
Frank Morales, president of Utility Staff of America Native 1-2, which represents the employees at Ravenswood Producing Station, stated renewable vitality initiatives ought to be considered because the “future.”
“We have a responsibility to move forward projects like this in order for the city to be sustainable,” Morales stated.
In the meantime, Richards additionally referenced a latest fireplace that broke out at a Con Edison facility adjoining to the Ravenswood Producing Station on Wednesday morning, sending thick black smoke over Western Queens. He stated the hearth, which broke out at a Con Edison substation on Vernon Boulevard, provided additional proof of the necessity to transition away from fossil gas sources.
Richards stated Thursday’s press convention had already been deliberate lengthy earlier than the hearth broke out on Wednesday.
“It’s toxic,” Richards stated of the hearth. “It puts it all into perspective… those closest to the pain should be those closest to the plan, closest to the solution.”
