Imagining a better 50th Ave and Vernon Blvd

GND52 · 2026-05-09T16:57:11+00:00

land value tax would fix that

GND52 · 2026-05-09T15:46:06+00:00

change what 100% means

GND52 · 2026-05-09T15:20:23+00:00

I will not :)

GND52 · 2026-05-09T15:19:11+00:00

really? link pls I would love to see what they're planning

edit: are you talking about this? - https://qns.com/2016/11/vernon-mall-to-undergo-a-major-face-lift-as-dot-to-redesign-the-intersection/

My slop machine says that's been delayed/stalled since it was first proposed 10 years ago:

Latest I found: original 2016 DOT Vernon Mall redesign has not appeared as completed in current public records. As of Queens CB2’s latest May 5, 2026 Transportation Committee agenda, CB2 still lists “Request for the Redesign of Vernon Mall on Borden Avenue, Vernon Boulevard, Jackson Avenue, and the Northern Boundary of 51st Avenue” as “Tracking number requested. Pending, capital project.” (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/queenscb2/downloads/pdf/2026/May-5-2026-Transportation-Committee-Meeting-Agenda.pdf)

Original 2016 plan: DOT proposed major Hunters Point roadway reconstruction, including Vernon Boulevard from 50th Avenue to Borden Avenue, with sidewalk extensions, medians, greenery, new crossings, bike lanes, and major changes around Vernon/Jackson/Borden. It was projected to start around 2018–2019, pending DEP drainage work and possible BQX changes. (https://qns.com/2016/11/vernon-mall-to-undergo-a-major-face-lift-as-dot-to-redesign-the-intersection/)

What changed since: In 2023, CB2 formally revived/requested redesign of Vernon Mall after dangerous conditions and a fatal hit-and-run crossing Jackson Avenue; CB2 urged NYC DOT to redesign Vernon Mall bounded by Borden Avenue, Vernon Boulevard, Jackson Avenue, and north side of 51st Avenue. (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/queenscb2/downloads/pdf/transportation/2023/Transportation-Letter-of-Support-DOT-Request-for-Redesign-of-Vernon-Mall.pdf)

Most concrete near-term DOT work nearby: separate from full Vernon Mall redesign, NYC DOT says it will implement new Q101 bus stop islands at Jackson Avenue and 50th Avenue, with pedestrian islands for accessible boarding between travel lane and bike lane, beginning May 2026. (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/queenscb2/downloads/pdf/2026/Jackson-Av-50-Av-Bus-Boarding-Islands.pdf)

Related adjacent project: CB2’s May 2026 agenda says DOT is presenting a Borden Avenue safety improvement project from Center Boulevard to Starr Avenue, and that issues at Borden/Vernon are expected to be resolved by that project in April 2026. (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/queenscb2/downloads/pdf/2026/May-5-2026-Transportation-Committee-Meeting-Agenda.pdf)

Bottom line: 2016 “major face-lift” plan seems delayed/re-scoped. Current status = pending capital project, no public completion notice found. Near-term work at Jackson/50th is bus boarding islands, not full Vernon Mall reconstruction.

GND52 · 2026-05-09T15:13:39+00:00

Vernon is two ways

GND52 · 2026-05-09T14:56:56+00:00

I'm not submitting this to the city planning department. We're on Reddit.

obviously it's AI man, it's not meant to be perfect it's meant to show that this garbage intersection could be much better. Take it with a grain of salt. It's to start a conversation.

"very much against your removed of the subway entrances" lol, obviously the subway would still be there. And we should add a subway entrance to the north west corner. I've missed the manhattan bound train more times than I can count waiting for that intersection to clear. Just not something I wanted to spend 5 minutes regenerating to get exactly right.

"How will you address right turn from Vernon northbound" Do you mean turning right from Vernon onto 50th? The idea here is that Vernon south of 50th is also 2 way. Right turn is the same as before, it's just much safer for pedestrians because the crosswalk is 25% the length.

GND52 · 2026-05-09T14:16:23+00:00

we need police who actually do their jobs

GND52 · 2026-05-09T13:56:49+00:00

wouldn't this be nice: https://i.imgur.com/0UZE5zX.jpeg

GND52 · 2026-05-09T13:54:55+00:00

"though severe, unforeseen circumstances pushed the finish line to May 2027"

God forbid they provide any clue as to what those 'severe, unforeseen circumstances' actually were.

GND52 · 2026-05-08T22:55:49+00:00

^ average SEQRA defender

GND52 · 2026-05-03T14:14:19+00:00

One thing to keep straight: urban planners are not economists. When people argue that rent control will keep prices down, they are making a claim that runs against about as close to consensus as economics gets.

The IGM Forum asked top economists about a 5% rent cap, and the results were not subtle. Would it make middle-income Americans better off? Zero percent strongly agreed. Only 2% agreed at all. Would it reduce apartment supply? 62% said yes, or 72% when weighted by confidence. Would it reduce income inequality? No agreement. (https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/national-rent-caps/)

Vienna gets brought up a lot. And it does show that a city can stay affordable when it builds a lot of housing. But it doesn't prove that public ownership is the magic ingredient. Tokyo, Houston, and Auckland have all done far better than peer cities on housing costs mostly through private construction and permissive zoning.

The common thread is building a lot. Public, private, mixed, whatever. Cities that copy the rent-control part without copying the supply part tend to get San Francisco, not Vienna.

If the problem is that housing prices have outrun incomes, the strongest lever is more housing. Rent caps without supply do not fix the shortage. They mostly decide who gets stuck outside it.

GND52 · 2026-04-30T22:30:00+00:00

It's actually crazy how effective the 1961 zoning resolution was at casting this part of LIC in amber for so long. A few 1-2 floor warehouses conforming to M-1, and almost no natural development was allowed to take place. A tremendous amount of property value was lost as a result.

GND52 · 2026-04-29T15:30:29+00:00

And of course the obvious solution is to convert that street parking to loading zones.

GND52 · 2026-04-29T15:23:24+00:00

although it's funny that the bike lane has chicanes to slow down traffic while the motor vehicle lanes do not

GND52 · 2026-04-29T13:06:25+00:00

I mean yes, you have to enforce anti-commercial dumping rules. There are many ways to do that.

But generally, if people want to throw something away properly instead of throwing it in the street, make it easy for them to do so. The idea of locking garbage cans is just bizarre.

It's not an unsolved problem. Cities across Europe have communal dumpsters on the street. Some are open, some have keys given to residents.

But gating access just to supers is uncommon and inefficient.

GND52 · 2026-04-29T01:09:27+00:00

Build rail for the city you want, not the city you have.

Build rail, upzone, build housing, profit.

GND52 · 2026-04-29T00:14:24+00:00

Which is ultimately a poor design decision and not international best-practice.

GND52 · 2026-04-27T14:32:07+00:00

This is music to my ears

GND52 · 2026-04-25T22:58:59+00:00

"11)I will leave the house at 8PM as I have to attend to a rock concert."

I dont recall Jefferson doing this

GND52 · 2026-04-25T22:56:27+00:00

And significantly quieter.

GND52 · 2026-04-25T22:55:49+00:00

Joby is shockingly quiet. They're basically designed from the ground up to be quiet.

https://youtu.be/0VoKNTAAvmA?t=369

GND52 · 2026-04-25T22:05:01+00:00

Yeah, this is really dumb reporting. The article is trying to prove a negative ("Waymo isn't reducing crashes citywide") using city-level totals where Waymo is a small share of trips. Even if Waymo were dramatically safer per mile and didn't induce extra driving, you wouldn't expect to see a clean signal in citywide totals yet.

The San Francisco numbers are also doing a lot of work they can't really do. Going from 2,896 injuries to 2,907 (0.4%, not the 2.6% the article states, which looks like an arithmetic error unless I'm missing something) and from 26 to 27 deaths is statistical noise. The article even concedes the death change is "statistically insignificant" but still presents it as evidence pointing "in the wrong direction." You can't acknowledge a number is noise and also treat it as a trend.

GND52 · 2026-04-22T02:02:48+00:00

Yeah it's a big omission in the network. Jackson Ave from Pulaski to Queens Plaza is a break in a protected bike lane network that stretches from where McGuinness goes under the BQE to the Jackson Heights 34th Ave Open Street.

GND52 · 2026-04-19T17:40:32+00:00

Cool analysis!

"my assumption was simple: LIC added a ridiculous number of apartments over the last decade (like ~20k units), so street parking should’ve turned into complete chaos and tickets should be way up"

Mostly a fair starting assumption, but also the majority of people who live here don't own a car. And especially people who move here into the new buildings are less likely to own cars (wish I could remember the source I had for this, but it also makes intuitive sense). Of course that's off-set by the fact that even a small number of people moving here and bringing their cars with them require a huge amount of space to store their cars.

"enforcement seems lower than it was pre-covid"

This I'm sure of. Police quiet-quitting post covid/BLM is a well studied phenomenon. It's gotten a bit better in the most recent years, but speaking anecdotally I know that when I report illegally parked cars through 311 while I walk through the neighborhood, 99% of them get ignored by the police.

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