Check out the points made by this Times Ledger letter writer:As a lifelong New Yorker, I have seen many neighborhoods disintegrate. The answer to urban blight in the Bloomberg-era is gentrification, but that is no solution for most people. The solution is to get out before it is too late.
Four clues your community is facing urban deterioration
15 comments:
Bloomberg is a businessman first and a mayor second. His vision for running a metropolis like New York is to treat it like any other business venture.
We've often heard the phrase, "BUY LOW & SELL HIGH" .......that's how fortunes are made !
From Mayor Mike's point of view:
If you take a run down "ghetto".....an undervalued piece of real estate and introduce the yuppie factor......the process of gentrification will take care of the redevelopment of that formerly "depressed" area without any substantial investment from NYC !
Of course step #1 is for the city to under-serve such an area so it becomes a "ghetto" in the first place!
Step #2 the developers walk in and buy up everything (little by little) at a cheap rate.....begin to demolish older homes....build Mc Mansions or high rise apartment blocks.....then sell them off at ridiculously high prices and the neighborhood has thus been neatly "upscaled"!
To both the real estate/development industry (and many of our politicos who receive campaign $$$$$$ from them) and Mayor Mike this is indeed a good thing !
But it's another story for those former neighborhood residents who were displaced from their previously affordable homes and forced to move.....who knows where......to some God forsaken unwanted piece of real estate far off in in the boon docks of Long Island......h-m-m-m.....maybe ? !!!
It is clear that this administration has also got its eyes on eventually displacing the middle class from NYC. There's a large exodus already !
And what shall the future NYC be comprised of........only the extremes of the wealthy and some poor (to service the rich) will remain if this plan is allowed to be implemented to its final stages of completion......who knows ? !!!
There is little doubt that Astoria is heading the direction of Elmhurst and Corona.
You can see the blight marching down Broadway towards Steinway Street then expanding into Ditmars.
Usually I try, but I cannot say it any better than what John Borrillo of Astoria said in his letter and what Delphi Oracle said in the first comment.
The only thing I want to add is this: Yesterday, the outraged public drove the arrogant Senate into deep retreat (surrender?) on its Amnesty plan.
We now need to study and cultivate that outrage and channel it to make people understand that all politicians are just trivial temporary obstacles. Our job is to make them very temporary so that they bend to our will.
We did it once. We can do it repeatedly.
Its funny to read local blogs like astorians.com and watch the clueless kids wonder why there are few lounge venues, no stores, and no book shops that cater to their tastes. Its sad to watch a struggling arts community underfunded by the politicians and getting no support from the local merchants.
Plenty of Mexican and Brazilian restaurants, Arab hookah places, and Bangladeshi delis, though.
Someone should tell the kiddies that 'International' whatever means 'Third World' not 'Zabars.'
The population of Astoria is either apathetic or fearful.
Take a look at the blackout last summer. The cameras panned around empty auditoriums. No one believed the politicians, but no one protested them either.
Take a look at Old Astoria, the most significant community in NYC without a shred of protection.
Everyone knows that the local politicians, community board, and media feed misinformation to the public (look at Sunnyside Gardens and that infamous letter from Crowley posted on this blog).
The inexcusable point is that the preservation community, instead of educating the public and trying to do something about this, is fully aware of the problem and does nothing about it.
That make them fully complicit in the crime.
Tons of Euro-cafes full of hard faced men quietly arguing the 'Bosnian question.' Punk mobster wannabies from Whitestone and the Island flock here in their souped up Mazdas wearing their 80s clothes and sunglasses at midnight listening to Euro-thump or clogging sidewalks with Euro-cafes pumping out airconditoning into the open air (right after the blackout last summer), wafting their sickly sweets and tobacco smoke onto the public grimly trying to step around them on the way home.
You should get a picture of Athens Square and the surrounding areas, especially after a concert.
A congested pig sty. A filthy disgrace.
Good article! This is precisely why me and my husband are moving out of NY and heading way out west. Quality of life, good schools, clean air, clean streets, etc. , etc., etc.
"This is precisely why me and my husband are moving out of NY..."
Yep, another set of quitters runnin' out on those who are still willing to fight.
Bye, don't let the moving van door hit you on the ass on the way out!
rob said... "This is precisely why me and my husband are moving out of NY..."Yep, another set of quitters runnin' out on those who are still willing to fight. Bye, don't let the moving van door hit you on the ass on the way out!
Rob - I've been fighting for 10 years to no avail. I have volunteered for graffiti clean up, park clean-up, and have started my own non-profit club to help woman and children. I have written letters, made phone calls, visited Councilwoman's Katz office numerous times to see how I can help some more and I have attended all the rally's, all to no avail.
I have a daughter now and I want the best for her - that is the only reason why I am leaving. She needs better than this city can offer and I want to give it to her. If I wasn't blessed with her, I would stay and continue to fight. Your words are hurtful considering the reasons why my husband and I have decided to leave. If God didn't bless me with her, believe me I would stay and fight - but she deserves better. Next time think before you write nasty words.
Jennifer, Forest Hills
I tried moving way out west. Sterile, smoggy, filled with chain stores, rapidly paving over everything that made the town unique to turn it into a clone of LA or Phoenix. I couldn't wait to get back to NYC. Once you get out there you'll see what bullshit the "Western Dream" is.
Good luck "rob" & wife.....sincerely !
I'd suggest Pittsburgh.....one of the most undervalued up and coming cities in the USA.
Between the Carnegie & Melon interests (that'll guarantee that city won't ever go under), a thriving art community, great public transportation, fabulous restaurants, prime residential neighborhoods (Squirrel Hill & Shady Side) etc.....it's a great city to build a life in ! I've been there twice and if I were young, that would be my destination of choice !!!
New York is for those whose mortgages are paid off and the throngs of arriving hordes of the "unwashed" !
After returning to my old neighborhood in Richmond Hill, I see why I left. When people move in that couldn't care less about the neighborhood, when 10-12 people move into each old house, when burned houses are left to rot, and seeing what the owners of my former three family home have done to it, makes me happy to have moved out. It was just too depressing to see and show my daughter where her father had grown up. If you are still in Richmond Hill, GOOD LUCK!!!
I'm impressed by the fact that so many people have responded to my letter about urban decay. I'm hoping that some of the Queens politicans read it, too.
JOHN
John someone posted it on astorians.com.
It got 9 responses.
Threads for Happy Birthday, Pet Peeves and Feel Good Songs over 300, and the ever popular Last Poster Wins more than 5,000.
Apathy (older residents) and cluelessness (new residents) are big in the community; your letter is a rare and welcome breath of fresh air.
A real slap in the face of the suffocating political clubhouse that has called the shots there for a generation. A real stomp on the toes to the callous bleeding the community white by its landlords.
Go ahead, we encourage you and your friends post away Queens Crap and in astoria!
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