Meadowmere, Queens

Meadowmere is a neighborhood in Queens, New York City. It is connected to Meadowmere Park in Lawrence, Nassau County, New York, which is part of the Five Towns area of southwestern Nassau County.[4] Meadowmere is surrounded by Nassau County, and comprises just four streets and six blocks, bordered on the west by Hook Creek and on the east by Rockaway Boulevard.[5][6]

Meadowmere
Neighborhood of Queens
Hook Creek at Meadowmere, AKA Head of Bay
Location within New York City
Coordinates: 40°38′16″N 73°44′28″W
Country United States
State New York
City New York City
BoroughQueens
Community DistrictQueens 13[1]
Area
 • Total1.0 km2 (.7 sq mi)
 • Land.6 km2 (.6 sq mi)
 • Water0.4 km2 (.4 sq mi)
Elevation
2 m (5 ft)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total60
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
11422
Area code(s)718, 347, 929, and 917
FIPS code36-82942[2]
GNIS feature ID0971684[3]

History
JFK overflight at Hook Creek

A footbridge across Hook Creek joins Meadowmere with Meadowmere Park, a neighborhood in the village of Lawrence in Nassau County.[7]

The spring for the creek originates under the Green Acres Mall. The creek was engineered and emerges on the Queens side in nearby Hook Creek Park before flowing through 300 acres of wetlands to Jamaica Bay, subsequently passing between the two hamlets. The mall was built in 1956 on the northern portion of Curtiss Airfield.[8] Prior to 1956, the mall was once a small airport which operated until 1947. Before that, as part of Roosevelt Field, in May 1927, operating from a hangar at Curtiss Field, Charles Lindbergh used the Roosevelt Field runway for the takeoff of the Spirit of St. Louis on his flight to Paris during his solo transatlantic trip.

In 1963, as part of planning the parkways of New York state, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses used eminent domain to seize portions of Hook Creek for a failed extension of the Nassau Expressway.[9] The homes seized were demolished and ultimately the extension was never built.[10] Since then, there have been plans to complete the expressway.[11]

In 2007, the city began installing a sanitary sewer system in Warnerville and neighboring Meadowmere because some septic tanks had flooded into Jamaica Bay.[12][13] Rising sea levels and increased storm surges such as Hurricane Sandy devastated the communities and many homes on the waterfront were lost, with residents living for months out of the volunteer firehouse in Meadowmere Park.[14] Streets there had been raised 3-4 feet but that was not enough for Sandy’s surges, which placed most homes under 5 feet of water. As a result many homes are in the process of being elevated in Meadowmere Park and the wooden bridge will be strengthened and widened to accommodate emergency vehicles. Even in normal weather, the streets in Meadowmere flood with each high tide.[15]

Geography
Meadowmere Pk bridge on Hook Creek

Unlike the rest of the borough of Queens, the hamlet has 3 roads that do not conform to Queens street naming convention, simply named 1st, 2nd and 3rd Streets. The Rockaway Boulevard side separates the streets from the Five Towns Shopping Center.

One of the main roads of importance in Queens, Rockaway Boulevard, runs through Rosedale to Meadowmere, where traffic come to a halt at Meadowmere's two traffic signals that separate southeast Queens from Lawrence.

Meadowmere Park bridge

The bridge and hamlet of Meadowmere Park is the only portion of Nassau county that is located west of Queens.[16] It is along the main East-West flight path to the John F. Kennedy International Airport's runway which is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) away from the Hook Creek Bridge. By 1969, the bridge was in need of repair.[17] In 2016, $2.4 million in grant funding was secured to repair the 110 year old foot bridge and in 2018 the first contract of $243,615 was approved by the Hempstead town board.[18] The bridge will be redesigned to provide emergency access for ambulances in addition to the other narrow meandering road of East Avenue, the only road into the small Island.

Meadowmere at Hook Creek

Opposition to replacement has since stymied the upgrade, residents wanting the current bridge fixed while Nassau town supervisors say the grants are for replacement and improving vehicular access.[19]

Warnerville

Warnerville is adjacent to Meadowmere. It is surrounded on three sides by Jamaica Bay just to the southeast of John F. Kennedy Airport and comprises just three streets, bordered by Rockaway Boulevard on the east,[20]

References
  1. "NYC Planning | Community Profiles". communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  2. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  3. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  4. Barron, James (10 July 1983). "If You're Thinking of Living in: Five Towns" – via NYTimes.com.
  5. {{cite web|url=http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/endofqueens/bridge.html%7Ctitle=Meadowmere] at [[Forgotten NY]|publisher=}}
  6. Bode, Nicole (June 29, 2003). "Meadowmere is home to 66 people". Daily News. New York. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  7. Kershaw, Sarah (June 14, 2002). "A Bridge, and a Dividing Line; On One Side, the City, on the Other, Suburbia". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  8. Kensinger, Nathan (4 December 2014). "Following Hook Creek Through Ghost Towns and Wetlands". Curbed NY.
  9. "Nassau Expressway (NY 878)". www.nycroads.com.
  10. Abramson, Barry (March 25, 1979). "Nassau Expressway Ready to Materialize". The New York Times. Inwood, New York. p. 14. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  11. Parker, Vanessa (October 1, 2014). "Nassau Expressway completion sought: Rally in Lawrence on Sunday". Long Island Herald. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  12. Vandam, Jeff (February 18, 2007). "When Pipe Dreams Come True". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  13. Kilgannon, Cory (February 17, 2010). "Sewer Hookup Drags Queens Hamlet Into 20th Century". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  14. Bortolot, Lana (25 October 2013). "Tiny Meadowmere Park Is an Island Refuge" – via www.wsj.com.
  15. Vandam, Jeff (8 January 2006). "In a Place Long Sodden, High Tide for Impatience" – via NYTimes.com.
  16. Schaedel. "New York - History - Geschichte: The Lost Villages of Jamaica Bay - Part 2".
  17. "Rotting Footbridge May Be Rebuilt". Long Island Daily Press. November 3, 1969.
  18. "Town: Bridge would serve as new emergency route". Newsday.
  19. "Trouble over the bridge". Herald Community Newspapers.
  20. "Road to Warnerville, off Rockaway & Brookville Blvds". Archived from the original on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
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