Saturday, April 28, 2007

Always Fast is sometimes too fast

1920s houses are a frequent sight along the roads of Maspeth, but something else is becoming more increasingly common.
Just a few steps south of Maspeth Town Hall on 72nd Street, you'll find these cookie-cutter human warehouses at 54-09 to 54-13 72 Street, which replaced the homes pictured above. DOB records indicate that there was some trouble at 54-11 with unsafe demolition. Not surprisingly, the demolition company has a not-too-stellar reputation. Their neighbors aren't too happy. Even tore down the wrong building once...
Ample parking is available across the sidewalks. No need to pull the minivans into the driveways when you can just selfishly block pedestrian traffic. The vehicles won't fit down the alleys anyway.

Screenshot from Windows Live Local.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sure the fines incurred by Always Fast are just written off as "cost of doing business" which is why they continue to do what they do.

Anonymous said...

Years ago common courtesy used to be common. Neighborhoods were stable, people grew up together and had a shared sense of values: red was red, and blue was blue.

Today? A light changes, some TLC jerk beeps the horn and cuts you off, a house is sold, and the public alleyway to the garage now is a parking lot hemming in others.

Is society getting coarser? Yes. But this is also a result of jamming people from many cultures together. Not everyone shares the same sense of community (particularly when neighborhoods in Queens are treated as way stations to somewhere else rather than a place to put down roots)

How about a public campaign (like the anti-litter one from the 50s) encouraging civil behavior?

God forbid we do anything to make offenders feel a bit uncomfortable or empower those of us (the Middle Class that is written off anyway) that have to put up with this nonsense.

Remember, as far as the clubhouse is concerned, its just better for all concerned if we move.

Anonymous said...

Bienvenidos a America....amigos!!

Anonymous said...

Always Fast is also the demo company that was hired by the owner of St. Saviour's. Thanks to their illegal demolition techniques, the buildings are still standing today.

Anonymous said...

At least 1920s era row housing included many architectural graces.

These new ugly monsters are nothing more than car barns with warehouse space for people to use as "crash pads" in their "work-a-day" lives .......while they're paying off expensive mortgages!

These are nothing more than "tent cities" constructed of brick!