Saturday, August 11, 2007

Queens bloggers on the radio


The Crapper was invited, but had to turn down the invite due to work related matters. But enjoy the perspectives of the other 3 Queens bloggers.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Work-related matters? Puleze, get a job!

Queens Crapper said...

Yes, believe it or not, I am employed full time, as are all the other members of the QC team.

Anonymous said...

Asshole #1...is that you again?

I know the crapper (and wouldn't you like to know just who it is ....I'll bet) !

Crapper has a job which they do well......
and also does a GREAT JOB with QC at the same time.

Some people can multi-task with brilliant results, while others (as the late President Lyndon Johnson once said) ...." can't even fart and chew gum at the same time"

Does that sound like you boy?

Anonymous said...

Your boss wouldn't give you the day off? You should complain to Ronald McDonald. He can have a word with your manager.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous #3: Everyone knows the "Crapper" is the twisted amalgam of the JPCA executive board.

They just love dishing out just desserts (sic) to the community. They can't help themselves.

Sitting at home listening to your police scanner isn't a full time job.

Anonymous said...

Let's revisit the "just desserts" comment:

Do you mean just "desserts?"

To Pinky's minions: Your buddies will have their own big fat chocolate cake served to them very soon. Oohh, there's gonna be fireworks...on the 4th of July...


You see, the person posting this was me, and I am well aware of the appropriate use of the phrase "just deserts"; I simply used a play on words so that I could use the chocolate cake reference. The funny thing is that the DA had an even larger 7-layer cake in reserve for the 3rd of August, which may end up being District 30's new Independence Day.

Now go play with your friends at JPP. Can't wait until August 23rd...

Anonymous said...

"Now go play with your friends at JPP ..."

I didn't get the "JPP" reference. Does that mean Juvenile Prepubescent Porn?

Anonymous said...

Interesting to listen to the tape. Note how the two blogs in central and south Queens pretty much reflect subjects going on in the rest of the city: quality of services and above all overdevelopment.

The Astoria blog? No politics. No development. No meat.

Oh we do talk about restaurants!

No wonder that community is going down the tubes.

Naive Nitwits with their head in the ground!

Anonymous said...

Yet I know. You get a real falva of that group by going on astorians.com.

It must be the only blog of a community where the residents avoid it at all costs.

megc said...

Well, the point of Joey in Astoria is not to be particularly political - we talk about all sorts of things there. Not all blogs have to be political. However, we have been regular supporters of the work of ALWPA (newly renamed as Green Shores, FYI), APA (Astoria Park Alliance), and Power for the People, letting our readers know when their meetings and events are happening, so that they can attend and become involved with the community in this respect. I have attended a number of ALWPA and APA meetings and have helped APA especially with publicity and flyering. I've also participated in some of the ALWPA sponsored events as well, as have many of our readers. You may have also seen me at some of the 114th Precinct Meetings at Riccardo's, where friends and I go and keep up on that part of the community.

Our readers like what we write, find it useful and helpful, and we enjoy our job there, so everyone involved is happy.

On Joey in Astoria, we also don't allow anonymous comments. We found that anonymous commenters often tended to be abusive and harassing, both to the writers and other users, so we decided that anyone who wanted to comment had to use a real user name.

There are other resources for political issues in western Queens. Jake and friends over at Queens West do a fine job discussing what's going on with development and community there. And yes, even though some of you despise it, astorians.com has a number of threads going on right now about politics, development and community activism. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people there that hate the brutalist structures going up in the neighborhood.

On OuterB, another blog I write for, we discuss developments, over-development, preservation, eminent domain, McMansions,and other issues surrounding property rights and real estate in our fair borough. It is done in a manner that is both helpful and informative for the readers, as far as we can tell from feedback. If you have an property-related issue you'd like us to look into, I can be reached at megc@outerb.com. Also, comments are always open on OuterB, so you can always post concerns to any relevant post there.

Last, if you are going to trash me in public, I would prefer that you not do it while hiding behind the "anonymous" username. I'm not afraid to stand behind my words and I like it when others have the same level of commitment to what they say. If you have issues with me, just ask for clarification. I promise I am approachable and more than happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Meg Cotner
Writer and Editor of outerb.com and Joey in Astoria

Anonymous said...

Hey Meg, how long have you lived in Astoria? So what makes you an expert on our borough?

Reminds me of the folks in Queens West going ape shit every time a new building goes up in our neighborhood - hey, there is a community here, guys.

The people that live here are proud of who we are and got our battle scars fighting urban rot before you kids were even born.

Anonymous said...

Sure ain't the Astoria I know. Those guys are hyper-liberal.

Anonymous said...

Checked out the Outer B site. Slammed Queens Crap blog on the St Saviours issue and breathlessly reported on rising property values giving property owners the push to sell out with the Jamaica rezoning.

Lots of juicy ads for Queens Crap to. Revenue?

No wonder she pointed said nothing when the community bloggers decryed development.

Anonymous said...

"I always get the impression that they go in expecting to lose. Not good." - MegC on Outer B re: St. Saviour's

Honey, I don't do ANYTHING expecting to lose. I guess you would probably say we expected to lose the gas tanks fight too. Oops! We won. This ain't Astoria, and thank God for that.

Anonymous said...

Dennis Gallagher was putting the kibosh on St. Saviour's. Maybe now they'll have more progress.

megc said...

Well, I never expected us to see eye to eye on everything. I know you have an agenda and I have one, and sometimes they intersect with each other. On OuterB, I present many sides of a story. Here, it is just one, and I accept that fact.

Christina Wilkinson, I appreciate you writing under your own name. Thank you. I think you live in Maspeth, and are fiercely protective of the neighborhood, which I respect.

And yes, I am relatively new to Astoria. But I've heard the complaints that the new people never do anything to contribute to their community. You can't have it both ways - wanting the newer people to contribute and also telling them they are the problem.

I am learning a lot about Queens, have retained a lot of information about what's going on in the borough, and already know a lot about what's going on in Astoria. I admit and acknowledge that I could never have the knowledge and experience of some that have lived here for years, but I am open to learning as much as I can about this wonderful part of NYC. I am aware of the battles going on, and of the differing opinions. It's a great thing about Astoria (and Queens) - all the diversity, including points of view. I love it here. I hope you are as equally happy with the place you live in, too.

And for the record, I didn't "slam" the Queens Crap blog. I was critical of the comments on Curbed regarding St. Savior's. I pointed out that the blog/Crapper blamed everyone in A/LIC for the outage (with an enthusiastic response from the commenters here, I might add). That's about it. Queens Crap is on our blogroll, too.

Meg Cotner
Astoria, NY
outerb.com and Joey in Astoria

Unknown said...

What on g-d's green earth are you all so riled up about? Does every blog have to be just like yours? Does every blog have to be political?

You don't like it? Don't read it. And if you're so angry, channel your anger into a constructive cause.

Queens Crapper said...

"The Crapper was invited, but had to turn down the invite due to work related matters. But enjoy the perspectives of the other 3 Queens bloggers."

Yeah wow, Joey, you're right, it looks like I need to tone it down a bit.

Anonymous said...

"You don't like it? Don't read it."

Joey, maybe you should take your own advice.

Anonymous said...

ok, so to the old timer hating on the new astorians- why don't you enlighten us all and write up all your local knowledge on your own blog then??? don't feel like you need to or want to? well then don't knock others for trying. people, blogs are about what the people writing want to write about period end of story. there is no set of rules on what subjects need to be discussed and how serious things need to be. get over yourselves.

Anonymous said...

" astorians.com has a number of threads going on right now about politics, development and community activism."

Serious discussions? Silly childish shit gets the most postings. People have dropped off in frustation.

Heard Peter Vallone is looking for a civic to downzone his backyard (and push the development south of the GCP). Maybe you can meet with him.

Anonymous said...

I respect you for writing under your own names, Meg and Christina, but you know there are some real psychopaths out there who are attracted to blog sites, not many, just one in a hundred or so, or even just one in a thousand. Still, if they happen to disagree with what you have to say they may just become obsessed enough about it to pay you a personal visit or give you a ring in the wee hours of the night, as once happened to me.

That is why some of us choose to blog under the pseudonym “anonymous,” not out of cowardliness, but merely to play it safe and avoid the unnecessary risk. Then too, writing anonymously allows a person to be more upfront than they'd otherwise be and express themselves more honestly without concern for what others will think of them, which is of key importance if they happen to work at a place where such views would be considered unacceptable and might actually result in their termination.

Still, you definitely are right about the use of anonymous tags resulting in more abusive commentary and irrelevant personal insults being issued, which is unfortunate, but really not so much of a nuisance as you can always just ignore them and focus in on commentary that is relevant and informative, like the majority of stuff on this godsend of a site is.

Good luck. You are both obviously intelligent and have good hearts so I’m sure that whatever you undertake will result in success and be beneficial to the communities you’re looking to serve. With perseverance you may even rise to the stature of the Crapper.

Anonymous said...

That is an interesting point you made about Vallone. Some mysterous civic was quoted in the Gazette a few months ago that was advocating for downzoning in Astoria, and not only did no one hear of it, but the newspaper stonewalled in revealing who it really was.

That would be a big blow up if he tried to downzone his backyard - that part of Astoria is about the only area that can absorb more development.

Lets stay on this one.

Anonymous said...

" You are both obviously intelligent and have good hearts so I’m sure that whatever you undertake will result in success and be beneficial to the communities you’re looking to serve."

Kind of misses the point here. Does more than one person smell a politican?

Anonymous said...

Interesting little dialogue going on here.

I have been monitoring the various neighborhood blogs in NY. In a belt from the Brooklyn rail yard development up the East River, and out to eastern and southern Queens, as well as northern Manhattan, the underlying theme that seems to drive most of them is both a sense that local residents fear displacement from development, and a very real concern from a falling quality of life. There is a growing sense that city government no longer cares about their concerns but is sold out to special interest.

They fear losing control over their community.

The blogs are an opportunity for the rank and file to have a voice.

The websites and blogs that have sprung up examining these issues are run by residents, who for the most part, have a critical eye on these changes to their community. It is also here that new ideas and trends (my interest in watching them) can be monitored.

For example, the recently falling crime statistics on quality of life issues, that have been widely touted in official channels, many believe are falsified because the city has an unofficial policy of ignoring both 311 and low level 911 calls. This is an interesting point. Many of us are following this closely. Only in these blogs is the issue even raised.

You see the value of these blogs and community websites is that they are often the only public source of information on the policies of local officials and community boards – stuff you never see anywhere else. The real community blogs and websites critique and debate their actions in ways one would never read about in the big time media. Civic activists have a chance to compare notes.

A true pulse of any community is the citizen’s unfettered voice.

Queens Crap is one of the most successful of this genre and many blog watchers I know follow it closely. As far as Queens is concerned, perhaps it is the best and certainly one of the most powerful.

However, the ones based in western Queens have a number of unusual features not found elsewhere in the city: they have heavy real estate advertising, are generally neutral if not positive in development (in sharp contrast to the generally negative tone in other community based blogs) and always seem to give their politicians and community boards (which is responsible for a lot these problems) a free pass. Attempts at serious discussion are either laughed off or banished.

But perhaps the saddest part of the western Queens blogs is that they seem to be not really run by the community, but appear to be in the hands of small self-appointed groups that gives a spin in tune with Bloomberg’s pro-development stance or the press releases typically found in the hands of city council hacks. They seem to be, rather the public voice in opposition, yet another version of official public policy.

Most oddly, they are fearful of serious discussion.

But perhaps the saddest thing about these blogs is that, instead of giving the local residents of the communities in Long Island City and Astoria, who are fighting their deteriorating quality of life and displacement, a powerful tool, they seem to be just another facet in an all but official policy of marginalization.

For example, in Long Island City the community is being displaced by Manhattan types. What does the world of cyberspace hear? Cracked walls and illegal construction? The destruction of community landmarks? No. Development “foamers” breathlessly examining each new project, a rather unique breed indeed.

These are perhaps the only community blogs that seem to hold most of their community’s residents with scorn.

This is very, very, sad for in politics, if you become invisible, you on longer exist.

Anonymous said...

Previous poster:

I am glad that someone has finally said some of the things that a lot of us suspected.

Lets have ol' Crappie monitor our friends in cyberspace and 'gently' prod them to get a little more real.

Anonymous said...

Asshole "annonymous #4".....

So you sit home and "scan" QC all day.

Who's the unemployed part time boob now? !!!

Oops my bad....
your one of Gallagher's cronies
or employed by "Parkside"..... maybe?

I've stood right next to Evan Stavisky
and I'm familiar with his sophomoronic style.

On one occasion,
his mother (Toby) had to shut him up
in front of a group
for making stupid, revealing, and embarrassing comments.