JFKIAT, the operator of JFK Terminal 4, has awarded $5,000 to the GatewayJFK Business Improvement District (BID) to fund the installation of appropriate lighting in the commercial corridor outside JFK International Airport. This will significantly improve safety and deter illegal dumping, which affects the more than 180 residential homes and over 500 retail and commercial businesses in the same area.
GatewayJFK is a non-profit public-private partnership established in 2016 that provides supplemental services and improvements and promotes economic development and advocacy for the JFK District’s off-airport cargo community and for all those who reside, visit, work, and do business in the area. Its mission is to create a space, a gateway, so to speak, where off-airport businesses can thrive, expand, and be a good neighbor, as well as an employment resource to the surrounding residential community of southeast Queens.
The District is geographically located in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens, adjacent to John F. Kennedy International Airport, with Rockaway Boulevard as its primary access route. GatewayJFK is unique due to the extent to which the on-and-off airport businesses and operations are functionally integrated.
In speaking to Metropolitan Airport News, of JFK International Airport’s massive redevelopment project, James Johnson, Executive Director of GatewayJFK, said, “There is a huge need to invest outside of the airport. You have to drive through the JFK business district to get to the airport. My role as director is to make sure that we are investing in ways to make the District more attractive..for people to say they want to stop and take a closer look at the area, or perhaps take a look at the commercial or cargo areas to see why it’s beneficial to invest outside the airport.”
Johnson explained that lighting was one of the first things that everyone in the GatewayJFK Business Improvement District asked for, but did not know how to get it done at first. “Commercial owners do not like deliveries after hours because it is pitch black. There are hotspot areas that need lighting in the district, and the lighting will do much to deter, and even stop, illegal dumping and other unlawful situations.” Additionally, with many homes adjacent to the FAA (located in the BID), appropriate lighting (along with GatewayJFK’s sanitation and security initiatives) will help foster a safer, cleaner, and more attractive environment.
JFKIAT has done a great job purchasing the lighting. So we are getting it done, and able to, with Terminal 4 as a partner, who sees it as a worthy investment in the area,” said Johnson.
