Activists For LIC Building Repurposing To Hold Rally, Demand Hub

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — As one Long Island City native approaches his second week on hunger strike, activists will join him in a rally this weekend to show support for the repurposing of the Department of Education building on Vernon Boulevard.

Members of the Western Queens Community Land Trust, a collective looking to turn the building into a community-run hub, will join Lashawn Marston at a rally Sunday, March 12, to demand the city hand over the underutilized facility to the nonprofit.

"It seems like every time the city develops public land, they either give it away to a private developer, or they encourage high-end uses that don’t benefit the community,” Jenny Dubnau, a member of the Western Queens nonprofit, told Patch. “Suga Ray is mounting a powerful protest that calls that mode of development into question.”

The rally comes as Marston undergoes a hunger strike to advocate for the conversion of the DOE building located at 44-36 Vernon Boulevard into a space run by community members, artists, and small business owners, known as a land trust.

His hunger strike and sleep-in began Feb. 28 and will continue until March 14, his 39th birthday.

The rally will also feature live music performances.

The building’s initial controversy stretches back to when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once considered using the facility as a second company headquarters, but resistance from local activists eventually led to the company’s retraction.

Marston is also protesting 14 crises, including homelessness, political corruption, and police terrorism, which he says have created a divided neighborhood.

The group of Western Queens residents wants to turn the building into the Queensboro People’s Space to create a hub for manufacturing, art-making, and food and nutrition services.