Monday, July 16, 2007

Little Neck's community contrasts

Back out to eastern Queens. Here we are in Little Neck, steps south of the town's LIRR station. This neck of the woods is clearly not immune from Queens Crap architecture.
Both on and just off Little Neck Parkway are multi-unit dwellings that are not only hard on the eyes but also do not provide adequate parking. Note how the cars/SUVs park across the sidewalk.
Contrast the design of the older home with these.
And then there's dead storage at the end of the street.
Let's compare these new homes with the complex next door, built in the 1940s.
There's lots of common green space, which encourages socialization between neighbors.
Small scale architecture.
I have been inside one of the units and they are quite spacious, and the layout is both unique and conducive to peaceful living.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your comparison at the end. The latest "townhouse" version of suburbanization is just another sucky way to live in the expansionist car-centered America. The architecture, both in style and, I'm sure, construction values, is lousy.

http://todayeye.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

I'm waiting to see if Mr. P.B. Doofus (perhaps who's posing as "crawford" ???) will quickly jump to the defense of this kind of sub standard ugly housing that's starting to ruin Little Neck! Doesn't he live there ? !!!

C'mon....your idiot comments are always "amusing" to read !

Anonymous said...

I think Crawford's views are more in line with the majority of the younger residents of Queens. We are seeing better, more urban development and it is a good thing. Those older units in this piece look like small, boring boxes. I agree that the new houses should not be built so that cars are crammed on sidewalks, but the houses in the old picture sure look better than the older plain brick boxes. Green space around your house is good, but if you want expansive green space you should be living in a rural environment, not in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I used to live in that complex you showed! It's called Westmoreland Gardens, just a few steps from the Little Neck LIRR station. It had deteriorated from lack of maintenence when I lived there from 1980-84 but since has gone co-op so I assume they've fixed it up. It was nice having all those trees, though. Some of the tenants had been there for decades.

Anonymous said...

Queens is 13 miles across. There should be a lot more green and a lot less crap.

Anonymous said...

what a gorgeous courtyard! i'm jealous

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Queens have more parkland than any other borough?

Anonymous said...

Maybe Tony "Paper Tiger" Avella can clean up his house before he criticizes another's house.

Big Roar -- no results.

Anonymous said...

Oh....P.B Doofus has responded (note his anti Tony remark) !

He's so easily baited !

No wonder he lost the election !

More mouth than brains !

Anonymous said...

Hey anonymous #2......

If you are so in love with less green space, more concrete, higher density living.....move to Manhattan fella !

Oh.....you can't afford that on an aspiring yuppie's salary ? So move to Newark !!!

And 20 year olds, for your info, are choosing Brooklyn above Queens these days....so stop trying to impersonate one or indicate their residential preferences !

You're making your ignorance obvious here !

Anonymous said...

"Green space around your house is good, but if you want expansive green space you should be living in a rural environment, not in one of the biggest cities in the world."

The person that posted this suffers from an ingnorance of good urban planning. The point is that Queens communities that have this green space were designed that way as an answer to the festering slums of 100 years ago. I would invite the writer of that to do some reading and tell us what he finds on that point.

Taking away this green is not healthy for individuals nor for the city infrastructure (when it rains it now all goes into sewers overloading the system instead of sinking into the soil.)

If the majority of 30 year olds like this concrete (a point that is debatable or better yet, should be put to a poll) it is only as a result of the preservation community's failure to educate the public.

They were so self absorbed with their tiny enclaves that they are in danger of losing it all: they never changed to reflect the new realities.

And there is a good chance that the landmarks law might be overturned for their carelessness.

Anonymous said...

Idiot...stop pushing your "urban planning" credo in our faces.

This is a SUBURBAN urban neighborhood .

Use your eyes (closet developer) !

We don't take very kindly to morons who seek to Manhattan-ize us !