Bikes Are The Most Reported Issue For Astoria, LIC Residents

ASTORIA-LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Residents of Astoria and Long Island City most frequently call their City Council members for help with bicycle issues, according to data analyzed in a new report.

CouncilStat is a city database that Council district offices use to track questions and complaints from constituents, and The City recently analyzed data from 260,000-plus cases dating back to 2015, in order to find which issues are most regularly reported in each district, and how well each district’s council member responded to the concerns.

The analysis is one way for voters to see their incumbent Council member’s neighborhood track record, or to think about how a new candidate will handle one of the more mundane, but significant, parts of their job: responding to the concerns of constituents.

CouncilStat lists complaints by district number, and the number of recorded complaints varies between offices, in part since reporting is voluntary — a point that many incumbent Council Members stressed to The City in an effort to indicate that CouncilStat only shows part of their neighborhood track record.

In Astoria and Long Island City, District 22 and 26 respectively, the most frequently listed complaints were about transportation — specifically, bicycles.

In District 22 more than 125 bicycle issues were reported, and in District 26 the number of reported bicycle complaints was nearly 11 times higher: 1,375 complaints in total.

Hopefuls in both City Council races have bold platforms — including ensuring high-speed internet for all and ending the carceral system — but to see how candidates stack up in terms of their bike concerns, consider reading through the Long Island City City Council guide and the Astoria City Council guide that Patch put together.

You can read the full article about CouncilStat on The City.