Not even an ocean view is enough to keep some residents of Rockaway happy.
According to a survey by the Citizens Budget Commission, people who live in Community Board 14 are some of the most dissatisfied in Queens.
Just over half of the people surveyed said the area, which includes the Rockaway peninsula and Broad Channel, is a good place to live. They griped about traffic and limited travel options and said that the city squanders its tax dollars.
That’s compared with 63 percent of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the citywide survey first released in May that rated their neighborhoods as good or excellent.
The CBC released the borough-specific statistics as Mayor Bill de Blasio spends the week in Queens with his City Hall staff to better connect with constituents.
Only 42.6 percent of respondents from Community Board 12, which includes parts of Jamaica, Hollis and Springfield Gardens, were satisfied with their neighborhood. They cited problems with local streets and roads as well as crime. Only 45.5 percent said they felt safe walking in their neighborhood at night.
“Regularly gauging resident satisfaction is important to keeping New York City a competitive place to live, play, and work,” said Maria Doulis, vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission. “As the Mayor moves his team to Queens this week, they should review this data and use it as a basis for addressing areas of concern for residents.”
City Hall officials said the de Blasio administration is “working on all fronts to improve New Yorkers’ quality of life.”
“We have seen tremendous success: first and foremost, historic drops in crime and pedestrian fatalities,” said Melissa Grace, a spokesperson for de Blasio.
She said the city is also investing in infrastructure, schools and roads as well as the new ferry system.
“While there is always more work to do, we are making important progress,” she said.
John Cori, a Rockaway activist who has fought for better protection from storms, said he was not surprised only 34.1 percent of the residents in the Superstorm Sandy-battered area feel that the city is prepared for another natural disaster. He also said the peninsula has been a dumping ground for social welfare programs for decades.
“We have halfway houses, problems with the roads and not enough people to clean the beaches,” Cori said. “Other neighborhoods may have one of these problems but we have a little bit of everything people don’t like.”
The most satisfied residents in Queens were found in Community Board 11, which includes Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck. Close to 87 percent rated their neighborhood as good or excellent.
