Community revitalization plan near Ravenswood plant unveiled

New plans are underway to transform the community surrounding the Ravenswood Generating Station in Long Island City, Queens.

It comes alongside efforts to turn the natural gas power plant into a source of renewable energy, but opinions about the neighborhood revitalization plan are split.

“To ensure that the residents impacted by pollution the most get the first crack at good sustainable jobs,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said, “we look at how to return as much of the waterfront as possible to the public who it should always belong to.”

Richards joined Clint Plummer, the CEO of Rise Light and Power, which owns the power plant, in front of the facility on 40th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard Thursday to unveil the “Reimagine Ravenswood” blueprint.

It includes expanded waterfront access, revitalization of public spaces, business generation and renewable energy workforce opportunities for the nearly 18,000 public housing residents in the community.

“That delivers good paying union jobs, that delivers clean energy, and delivers the reliability that we need with the transformation of this entire community,” Plummer said. “Union jobs from the renewable energy hub they hope to build here. For decades, the Ravenswood Generating Station, one of the largest power plants in the city, has emitted significant air pollutants — leading to its nickname ‘Asthma Alley.’”

“In this neighborhood, a lot people suffer from asthma and all of these pulmonary diseases,” said Maria Cuevas, who lives in the neighborhood and said she has asthma.

Rise Light and Power bought the plant in 2017. The neighborhood revitalization plan it announced Thursday was developed in tandem with the company’s “Renewable Ravenswood” initiative to turn the power plant into a source of cleaner, renewable energy.

The effort, which kicked off in 2022, would connect the plant with a wind farm 18 miles offshore, plus add battery storage and other links to wind, water and solar power.

Some residents in the Queensbridge public housing complex across the street support the plan.

“We all agree because this is a small neighborhood, and for we to absorb all of these energy coming from such a small neighborhood, we agree with anything that would be beneficial to our community, Pauline Jackson, who lives in the Queensbridge Houses, said.

While residents welcome a cleaner environment, they’re divided over the community revitalization efforts by the power plant’s owners. Some see it as a way to push long-time residents out.

“What they are trying to do now is to get rid of these people here so that they can revitalize the community,” Jackson said. “This is prime real estate here. If you go across the street, you’re looking into Manhattan.”

Others see it as a plus.

“We just need a change. We in a nice neighborhood. We right, 5 minutes from the city,” Cuevas said. “And I see a lot of different people, a lot of new faces.”

Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has de-prioritized renewable energy, which has made the timeline of these projects even more uncertain. Though, the owners of the power plant say they’re working with the state to get the necessary permits to begin the process of using wind power to generate electricity from the plant.

Right now, Rise Light and Power continues to convert natural gas into electricity. The power plant provides energy for up to 20% of the city.