L-to-R: Brendan Leavy of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Deputy Inspector Seth Lynch of the NYPD 114th Precinct, Astoria Small Business Owners, Man-Li Kuo Lin of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Leaders of the Association at the Nov. 13 meeting. Photo courtesy of AHTBCA Association
Feb. 14, 2025
Dear Editor,
In the “Op-ed: Astoria is doing just fine, the thriving restaurant scene,” Neil Herdan wrongly claims that the Astoria Homeowners, Tenants & Business Civic Association compiled a misleading chart of 50 closed businesses” at our Nov. 13 public meeting. This mischaracterization requires correction.
As a preliminary matter, Mr. Herdan inaccurately attributes the views of some guest speakers at the November meeting to the Association itself. This fundamentally misunderstands our organization and its purpose. The Association hosts public meetings to provide a discussion forum for a range of topics and guest speakers, including, at times, community groups, political candidates, and government officials.
Attendees hear these speakers present, followed by audience questions and answers. The flyer for the November 13 meeting clearly listed “Guest Speakers.” The Association did not “publish” information at that meeting but merely invited others to present. It is, therefore, unreasonable and unfair to ascribe the views of guest speakers—who sometimes disagree—to the Association.
More to the point, Mr. Herdan misrepresents the November meeting as “misleading.” Roseann McSorley presented a factual list of over 50 local businesses that have closed for various reasons in recent years, including long-established institutions and newcomers alike. A few, fortunately, have reopened in different locations, whether in Astoria or in another part of the city. However, the vast majority have closed permanently, many because of the difficulties of doing business in New York City generally and in Astoria specifically.
Several owners of establishments around 30th Avenue then provided firsthand accounts of the challenges they faced. Their stories and the list of closures were intended to illustrate what Mr. Herdan himself concedes in the very first line of his op-ed: “These are very challenging times for Astoria businesses.”
Mr. Herdan further neglects to mention that the November meeting also featured guest speakers representing the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the NYPD 114th Precinct. They discussed resources for struggling businesses and encouraged attendees to shop locally.
The Association invited these guest speakers so that its public meeting would present a fair, nuanced, diverse, and constructive overview of Astoria’s small-business environment. Mr. Herdan ignores them and then alleges that the meeting “conveyed a very unbalanced perspective on the current economic climate in Astoria.” Whose perspective, exactly, is “highly misleading” and “greatly exaggerated”?
We appreciate Mr. Herdan’s optimism and join him in celebrating the small businesses flourishing in our beloved Astoria. In fact, we wish to see more join them. Our Association exists to foster collective action for a better Astoria—one where its residents and businesses can thrive.
Sincerely,
Luigi Farina, Chair on behalf of the Association Board of Directors, and Roseann McSorley
