LIC forecast: heavy strain

Mayor de Blasio announced the Amazon-to-Long Island City plan just two weeks after warning how the infrastructure of the red-hot neighborhood was “strained” — and needed $180 million to keep up.

A City Hall press release on Oct. 30 pointed out that it is one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the country because of several rounds of rezoning meant to bring in new businesses — and now it’s bursting at the seams.

“This rapid growth has helped the LIC emerge as a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood but has also strained local infrastructure,” says the release. “Since 2015, the city has engaged stakeholders as part of the LIC Core Neighborhood Study, in order to address the dramatic growth experienced over the past decade.”

Transit experts say Amazon will make the already labored subway trains even worse.

The MTA will have to take steps to shore up service and stations, including lengthening platforms, adding cars to trains and adding more entrances to some stations, said Andrew Albert, an MTA board member who heads the New York City Transit Riders Council.

“There are a lot of things that need to be done to get ready for them,” he said.

And Amazon should pay for improvements, said Albert.

“I would like to see Amazon make a major contribution to pay for this,” said Albert. “They need to make sure that all of their workers as well as all the people who already use those trains and buses can get where they need to go.”

Parking in the neighborhood is already a nightmare. Long Island City has 19,264 parking spots, according to the app company SpotAngels, and the largest percentage of parking complaints come out of that neighborhood, with more than 4,000 in 2017, according to data cruncher Localize.city.

“Tensions over parking have revved up in Long Island City as more people have moved into the neighborhood,” Localize.city data scientist Michal Eisenberg said.

“Long Island City saw a 254 percent increase in the number of parking-related complaints over the past five years.”

Residents say they are already dreading looking for parking once the retail juggernaut gets moved in.

“My expenses just went up by $300 a month,” said Long Island City resident Angel Martinez, who decided to spring for a garage spot since parking is so bad in the neighborhood.

“It’s going to be a big hassle. I can only predict that people are going to hold spots like hostages and not move their cars.”