To The Editor (of the Queens Tribune):In all the praise going to the Novo64 development in Forest Hills, not one critical voice appears in the local press. Should your readers assume that the long lines for the Q23 bus and the crowded conditions inside the 71st-Continental Avenue subway station are worth the price of having another shiny new condo tower?
A month ago, I wrote a letter to Councilwoman Melinda Katz about the ugly conditions of the subway station, and have yet to receive a reply. Another concern is the growth of banks and pharmacies on Austin Street, taking the place of grocery stores and supermarkets. I suppose that with Fresh Direct doing the shopping for you, there really is no need for supermarkets anymore.
While Manhattanites can boast of having its island ringed by a string of park trails, much of the waterfront in Whitestone and College point is owned by luxury townhouse developers who have spelling problems. Can someone please explain why “Soundview Pointe” is purposely misspelled? Should we assume that when an extra E is added, it makes the place appear fancy?
In Maspeth, a church dating to 1847 is being razed in favor of more housing. Who needs a church or a community center when all the amenities you need are inside your new luxury condo?
How much more development can the city cram into Queens before it recognizes that it is hurting our quality of life?
Sergey Kadinsky,
Forest Hills
50 comments:
Sergey, you defined the burden of present day Forest Hills to a tee. What a great letter to the editor! How can some of us who share your views, get in touch with you?
Wow, nice work!!
Crappie goes where no newspaper dares!
Let's see more letters like this, folks!!
A man (or woman) grows and develops
a human heart out of their own life experiences.
We grow up to be loving or hating individuals
based on the quality of life
that each of us live on a daily basis.
Jacob Riis knew this well and his photos are
glaring documents of this early sociological study.
Man, indeed, does not live by bread alone.
If we're crammed face to face, strangled by concrete and glass and denied access to nature's green belts of hope.....our souls begin to wither before we even get a chance to live.
We are thus forced to become one of those Darwinian creatures..... fiercely competing for living, working and much scarcer playing space.
This is not a sound way to build a healthy society.
Are we to become merely beasts of burden ?
Survival of the fittest mentality
breeds a citizenry intent on destroying itself....
much like an overcrowded cage full of Rats
fighting with and biting each other for the food
they desperately need.
Now a 6-story building is a "tower". Your anti-development zeal has blurred your eyesight.
Many people are actually thrilled with this new development in Forest Hills. They are the majority. The anti-progress commenters here are a small minority.
I definitely think people should move into this piece of Queens Crap. Just check out the kind of neighbors you'll have!
I live within a few blocks of Novo64. Thanks for all of your support. I'll let you know when Councilwoman Katz will reply to my letter.
I was surprised to see my letter published in the Tribune.
"If we're crammed face to face, strangled by concrete and glass and denied access to nature's green belts of hope.....our souls begin to wither before we even get a chance to live."
Excellently put!
Hey "anonymous anti-progress" poster.....
In an area already choked up to the max with inadequate infrastructure.....
you bet that even a 6 story piece of crap
is over development.
Now go back and kiss your developer's ass
just like a good little real estate agent is supposed to.
Don't bother kissing mine
unless you enjoy being down wind !
Fred, a zabasearch.com query indicates the drunken Ms. Karnabe actually lives in Rego Park (which I suspected before looked it up).
Sergey, great letter!
anonymous 2, I've lived in Forest Hills for 30-plus years, and my dad has lived here for 50. We know MANY people, especially on the "Novo 64" side of town and NO ONE, young or old, wants to see this building built, plain and simple.
"Many people are actually thrilled with this new development in Forest Hills. They are the majority."
Right. If progress is living in a place that has nothing, and requires a shuttle to get to the train station, you can have it.
I'm tired of the pro/anti development labels. Don't be blinded by thinking that new buildings are the answer to forward progress.
The developers are usually looking out for long term growth in the neighborhood's interests. But you knew that.
Good work Sergey. I've come to the conclusion that writing letters is not enough. I bet the office of Councilmember Katz usually read these types of forums, so they should be aware of the issues. You should call their office with your concerns.
With greed pushing up the rents of retail spaces, only banks and retail chains can afford to pay them. I suppose the "pro-development" zealot(s) have a good reason for an oversaturation of banks and nondescript retail chains.
"Who needs supermarkets when Fresh Direct is doing the shopping for you?"
Before there was Novo64, the site was a supermarket parking lot. Half of it was destroyed to make way for Novo64. Where do you expect the shoppers to park? On the street? Do you expect them to shlep all their groceries onto a bus?
On rare occasions, the parking lot was used for fairs. Now, streets must be closed in order for a fair to take place.
Where do you expect the guests of NOvo64 to park? They will be competing against the shoppers and other local residents for the same spots. Finding parking will take much longer- increasing local traffic and pollution.
Ms. Katz, do you have an answer to this problem?
Parking spaces can be incorporated in the planning and design. That way, the parking spaces are not lost, and additional residential/commercial units can still be added.
But parking spaces don't generate money, so why waste the space? What are most developers in the game for?
"I bet the office of Councilmember Katz usually read these types of forums, so they should be aware of the issues. You should call their office with your concerns."
I mean really, what do you want? A paternalistic nod? Watch Hillary listening to someone pouring their heart out to her in a public meeting. She just stands there and nods with just the slightest smirk on her face.
I always love when people get all upset somthing. What is the first thing they want to do? Well tell their elected official about it!
(Like they don't know what is going on?)
Nitwits.
For the record: the only way you will change things is to organize the PUBLIC and do it yourselves.
Notice how nobody answered my point about how ridiculous it is to call a 6-story building a "tower". There is no point in reading the rest of "Sergey"'s letter after his use of the word "tower" to describe the proposed Novo64. All of his credibility is lost by the use of that one word.
Maryjane, I guess you've interviewed every single resident of Forest Hills in order to reach your anti-development conclusion. Just because you spoke to a few like-minded friends and neighbors proves nothing about what the majority of FH residents want.
"Just because you spoke to a few like-minded friends and neighbors proves nothing about what the majority of FH residents want."
And neither does what you say about development being so great!
"Notice how nobody answered my point about how ridiculous it is to call a 6-story building a "tower"."
That's because your point was a waste of time. Next to a 1-story house, a 6-family house is indeed a tower. Now go play in traffic.
Novo64 may not be a tower, but the Windsor is. Most condos come in towers. My letter wasn't just about the Novo64, but about a much greater trend affecting the neighborhood.
"I always love when people get all upset somthing. What is the first thing they want to do? Well tell their elected official about it!"
Congratulations. You deserve a big pat on the back. I see you've got local government all figured out.
I wonder how you can be intelligent enough to dress yourself every morning.
It is clear who you are. Posting under Anonymous won't help.
I am usually supportive of responsible development. But reading this atypical pro-development drivel makes me understand why more people take a more anti-development stance.
The worse part of it is the delusional thinking that cramming "new buildings" into every crack and crevice is the answer.
Maryjane didn't have to talk to me. I, and everyone else I have talked to, have a negative opinion of Novo64. You are the only one that speaks in support of it. Why is that? You have no intention to buy there. You can figure out for yourself that it will have no significant benefit for FH from where it is built. So why do you defend it?
Because you believe the answer to growth is uncontested development at any cost.
I hope you are smarter than that.
So now Sergey admits that Novo64 is not a "tower". I hope that the Queens Tribune reads this and realizes that the anti-all-new-development zealots cannot be trusted to stick to the facts. The only way they can make their case is by exaggeration and misrepresentation of the truth.
"You can figure out for yourself that it will have no significant benefit for FH from where it is built. So why do you defend it?"
Novo64 will have no benefit for FH? You couldn't be more wrong. Novo64 will bring great benefits to FH. It will increase property values in FH, which benefits all property owners in FH. It will improve that area of FH and attract better retail and restaurants to that area. It will raise the profile of FH and make it an even more desirable place to live. And one final benefit is people like you will be more likely to move out of FH.
It will improve that area of FH and attract better retail and restaurants to that area.
Spoken like a yuppie asshole who just moved in last year and thinks he knows what's best for the neighborhood. It's funny, I grew up in FH and never thought that the area needed more retail and restaurants. That's because I was raised by someone who cooked for me every day and taught me not to be materialistic. Thanks, Mom!
And one final benefit is people like you will be more likely to move out of FH.
And here we have the admission that the newbies want to clear the middle class out FH so that they can colonize it.
People want to live in that thing? It looks like an ugly, uninspired office building.
P.T. Barnum once quipped about suckers being born every minute. How about those willing to move into these uninspiring boxes?
How about the anonymous supporter of Novo64- where does this person live? Does this person shop on 108th Street, use the Q23 bus, or the 71st-Continental subway station?
Mr. Kadinsky does all three. So who is more qualified to speak on out what is good for Forest Hills? He is also an active member of the local immigrant community.
"It's funny, I grew up in FH and never thought that the area needed more retail and restaurants. That's because I was raised by someone who cooked for me every day and taught me not to be materialistic."
Once again, you are proving my point that you can't make your case without misrepresenting the truth. I take it from your comment that you never eat out and you never set foot in a store. I guess you must be operating a farm in Forest Hills, where you raise cows and chickens and make your own clothes.
Unlike this fantasy world you live in, the rest of us city-dwellers do eat out once in a while and need to go to stores to buy things. Maybe you should take a break from all of your farming duties and go out once in a while. You might actually enjoy yourself and realize that the "yuppie assholes" you love to hate are not the evil people you think they are.
"How about the anonymous supporter of Novo64- where does this person live? Does this person shop on 108th Street, use the Q23 bus, or the 71st-Continental subway station?"
This person does not shop on 108th Street, does not use the Q23 bus, but believes his subway on 71st/Continental should be the only answer to congestion issues.
This person never misses an opportunity to throw in his 2 cents supporting uncontested development. Which is fine.
But why is this guy is now posting under anonymous?
"It will increase property values in FH, which benefits all property owners in FH."
So, by building a new building on the absolute edge of FH, further away from mass transit and 71st and Continental, property values in FH will magically increase? Guaranteed?
"It will improve that area of FH and attract better retail and restaurants to that area."
"That area" already has retail and restaurants. Whether they are better for you or not is subjective. It is about you, isn't it?
"It will raise the profile of FH and make it an even more desirable place to live."
FH is a blighted, and undesireable area. But even if it is not, this abomination that looks like a giant medical facility is your golden answer to make FH "more desireable"? The funny thing is that you think are serious.
"And one final benefit is people like you will be more likely to move out of FH."
Sorry to disappoint. We are here to stay. "People like me" have decided to buy into the area with long term interests. These interests include sensible and sustainable growth, while keeping the neighborhood character that has attracted most of us here in the first place.
Perhaps you consider it a bedroom community, a good way to make a quick flip until you move on. After all, if new development is what you desire, what are you doing here? There are a dime a dozen in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and LIC. Remember, just by building new buildings, communities and neighborhoods will magically turn into flowery utopias.
"Sorry to disappoint. We are here to stay."
I doubt it. You'll be outta here in a New York minute as soon as someone who doesn't look like you (i.e. anyone who is non-white) moves in next door to you.
"You'll be outta here in a New York minute as soon as someone who doesn't look like you (i.e. anyone who is non-white) moves in next door to you."
Wow, what neighborhoods do you think we live in? Might I remind you that Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the nation? I think you've been watching too many All in the Family reruns if you think that's how people in Queens are.
I'm here to stay, am white, and have an Asian family on one side of me and an Hispanic family living above me.
"I doubt it. You'll be outta here in a New York minute as soon as someone who doesn't look like you (i.e. anyone who is non-white) moves in next door to you."
Hmmm. As far back as I can remember, I don't recall looking like a white person. My neighbors are all sorts of colors, if that is your preference.
I've probably been in the neighborhood long before you have soiled your first Huggies.
"I think you've been watching too many All in the Family reruns if you think that's how people in Queens are."
You hit the nail right on the head. Most commenters on this blog are exactly like Archie Bunker - anit-immigrant and bigoted. From reading many posts and comments on this blog, it is obvious that bigotry plays a big part of the anit-all-development zeal that is displayed here. This blog and its supporters don't want any new development in their neighborhoods so they can keep out the undesirable urban element (i.e., immigrants and non-whites) and keep their neighborhoods "suburaban" (i.e., white). If you don't believe me, go read all of the commenters that are so angry when the media calls Queens the "most diverse" county in the country. They long for the "good old days" when Queens had no diversity.
I don't get it. There are plenty of white people also moving into Queens Crap. The comments are directed at the crap, not at immigrants.
There are countries and cultures where cleanliness, regard for human life and building codes don't exist. When people come here from there, they bring their bad habits and diseases with them. That's just a fact. Sorry you don't like reality.
"From reading many posts and comments on this blog, it is obvious that bigotry plays a big part of the anit-all-development zeal that is displayed here."
Written by a self-righteous hypocritical white asshole who decided to move into a lily-white condo in an already white neighborhood, insulating himself from the lower classes and only mixing with people of other races when he is patronizing one of his favorite ethnic restaurants that he wants so desperately to move into the neighborhood.
I love when yuppies preach about ethnic diversity. They must pat themselves on the back for being so open-minded.
What the hell does this letter to the editor have to do with immigrants? Nothing. So knock it off.
Talk about trying to grasp at straws.
"There are countries and cultures where cleanliness, regard for human life and building codes don't exist."
This is just too easy. The very fact that you are stereotyping entire countries and cultures just proves my point about bigotry.
"insulating himself from the lower classes and only mixing with people of other races when he is patronizing one of his favorite ethnic restaurants"
Another commenter who thinks he/she is refuting my point while actually proving my point. Equating the terms "lower classes" and "other races" is bigotry. Did it ever occur to you that not all people in the "lower classes" are from "other races" and vice versa? Of course not. Also, I "mix" with people of "other races" every day when I take the subway to work and when I'm at work in a diverse office. You should get out of your car sometime and experience the city like a real New Yorker.
Did it ever occur to you that not all people in the "lower classes" are from "other races" and vice versa?
Actually, dear anonymous poster, it was YOU who proved MY comment. I never equated lower classes with other races, YOU did. I said you moved into an ALREADY WHITE neighborhood and insulated yourself from the lower classes (i.e. other white residents who make less than you do) in your LILY WHITE condo.
I take both a bus and a train everyday. I also travel the 5 boroughs extensively due to my job and know a hell of a lot more about the real New York than you do, pal.
This is just too easy. The very fact that you are stereotyping entire countries and cultures just proves my point about bigotry.
What countries were stereotyped? Do you deny that people from countries where there is a lower standard of living will bring those customs and ideals with them to their new place of residence?
Why can't we ever disagree about possible drawbacks of cultural differences without being branded as bigots?
Jane, my dear, I could go on and on about your denial of the obvious meaning of your first comment. But I'm not going to bother. Anyone who reads the two comments I quoted previously can see what they mean. And these are just two among many, many comments I've read on this blog with the same bigoted viewpoint.
I'm just glad that the opinions of commenters here only represent a small minority of Queens residents. All open-minded and progressive people in Queens will welcome the day when the minority represented by this blog and its supporters move out of Queens and take their narrow-minded view of the world elsewhere.
"All open-minded and progressive people in Queens will welcome the day when the minority represented by this blog and its supporters move out of Queens and take their narrow-minded view of the world elsewhere."
Spoken like a true gentrifying yuppie asshole.
Nah, just spoken like a true asshole.
"Spoken like a true gentrifying yuppie asshole."
"Nah, just spoken like a true asshole."
You obviously have no intelligent response to my comments. If you did, you would not have to resort to name-calling.
It's also funny how bigots try to portray themselves as victims of "gentrification".
Narrow minded. Said the intellectual who would like to impose his views on everybody else.
You have your pick from so many new buildings that have sprouted up like uncut weeds in the past few years. Instead, you offer us your diatribe from your apartment in Queens. Clearly, your idea of "progress" is to build new and build more, so why are you not there? What are you still doing here?
The reality is, YOU will be forced out by your own doing. The irony will be bittersweet.
"Narrow minded. Said the intellectual who would like to impose his views on everybody else."
What makes me an "intellectual"? Because I can argue a point intelligently without name-calling?
As for "imposing my views on everybody else", you are perfectly describing all of the anti-all-development commenters on this blog. I'm not trying to impose anything on anyone. I'm happy with how things are going in Queens--regarding new development and otherwise. It is this blog and its supporters that are trying to impose their views on the rest of Queens because of their desire to stop all development and keep Queens like it was in the "good old days".
With all due respect to the previous poster, no one here is trying to impose their viewpoints on the rest of Queens. This is a forum for people who are disgusted with what is going on here and for those that disagree with that viewpoint. Maybe you should start a blog called, "Ain't all this building great?" if you feel threatened by the opinions of the rabble rousers here. And with that, I am closing this thread. I've had "Enough Already!"
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