Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess. Crappy was told the focus was on hotels yesterday, so I posted about the two I am the most familiar with: the one in the previous post and this one. All I did was post a tongue in cheek photo essay to show that hotels in industrial areas, surrounded on three sides by pollution and noise, do not really showcase good urban planning. Boy did they go nuts!Maspeth Hotel Bonus: Not in Kansas Anymore!
Check out pains they went through to do research to prove my opinion wrong! (Can you ever prove an opinion wrong?) I must be touching a nerve.
The moderators told me they thought the entry was entertaining before they posted it. Go figure!
63 comments:
Great photo-journalism Crappy. Love the one of the cemetery scene. Should post that one here, too.
don't worry, crappy, we love ya
Good for you! As Jack said, They can't handle the truth!
Hey, Crappy......great photos!
This is obviously not a hotel meant for tourists
but rather a retreat where various politcos
can tryst with their "companions" and go unobserved
by the general voting public.
Had this establishment been open for business
at the right time, perhaps, Pinky Gallagher
would have brought brought all of his "dates" here
instead of having to cavort in the back room
of his district office.
Keep up the good work QC! Don't listen to those guys on Curbed - where do they all live?
This hotel is disgusting for a variety of reasons. And I agree with Verdi on who the clientele at this establishment will be.
Excellent, good work crappy! Now we can add bullfighting to your resume.
Exposing this hotel, and the poor planning done by city planning, the politicians, and the community board is something we will show over and over and over and over again until it registers with ol John Q (and it will!)
But even more significant, you are going out there and placing the flag on places like curbed and astorians and the like exposing the prodevelopment lobby that masquerades as community activists. After all those who take real estate money to support their blog (and agenda) are beholden to their minders.
Only in Queens, where anything goes (including taste) would people think it is perfectly fine to put a hotel in the middle of nowhere next to a cemetary.
A commericial is aired around the country showing this as an example of stupid plannning.
In Queens, Vicky would run a puff piece as a review saying 'whats the big deal? this is a great place' Should send Dee out to do a photo essay on the place.
Would be like reading the junk when they tell us the Main Street is 'revitalized' and 'vibrant' or the real estate market in Elmhurst or Long Island City is 'hot.'
That place could be used to:
1. sequester people on the witness protection program
2. be a hot sheet place (is this in pinky's district? ummmm ...)
3. be a place where 'deals' go down
4. and in another downturn, or after the furnishings get worn out, a marvelous location to house the homeless.
You see, Crappy, those few people who actually bother to post comments on Curbed are furious that a) Queens is getting attention. b) that attention is something that is not fawning praise over everything that is built along the waterfront.
Queens Crap is the electronic version
of the 18th century pamphlet that was hawked about
the streets of the town.....
the true unfettered voice of its citizens!
The vested interests are getting its message
and are afraid that the voters are also tuned in !
I don't think the comments on Curbed proved your opinion "wrong," rather they showed your opinion to be uninformed and silly. I'm hoping that the experience on Curbed opens your eyes to the fact that most people out there (not just the ones that post supportive comments on this blog) are not in favor of a lot of the positions you take. I really would support this blog if it focused on illegal building practices and not so much on disparaging every new development in Queens or any new thing that isn't to your tastes.
Who needs your support of this blog?
We like it the way it is. Hard hitting and TRUTHFUL!
IF THAT BOTHERS YOU GO BACK TO WATCHING TV.
What did the "research" actually reveal? The opinions of people who actually STAYED AT this hotel rather than QC's speculative and baseless criticisms of what it "would be like" to stay there.
On TripAdvisor.com, this hotel got a 4.0 average rating out of 5.0, nobody made ANY mention of air pollution or truck traffic, and the people who noted the industrial area and cemetary didn't mind; they actually liked the quiet and wanted to go for a walk in the cemetary! The complainers complained about dirty carpet, broken TV and non-working Internet -- things that have nothing to do with location. And you can get a free shuttle ride to the subway, or a livery car will take you back and forth for a flat $8. People generally like the hotel and have chosen it for the value it represents versus the Manhattan alternatives, or because they are in the area for a wedding. The photo shows a "NOW HIRING" sign. This is good for visitors, an improvement to the dreary block, and good for the community. The criticisms are baseless and the reference to "city planners" is frankly puzzling. Hey, this hotel isn't for everyone, but there's nothing wrong with it, and the construction of a similar hotel a couple blocks south suggests it has been successful.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g48127-d570174-Reviews-Comfort_Inn_Suites_Airport-Maspeth_New_York.html
"Would recommend this hotel to anyone that does not mind a shuttle ride to the train or airport, which we found great, however if you are going to be out past 9 or 10 pm the shuttle probably would not pick you up, then just jump in one of the black limo taxis and back to the hotel for an eight dollar flat rate."
"We stayed here for a wedding in Queens, checking in around 12:30 am and then driving into Manhattan the next day."
"Once we got back to the 61st st station (at around 3am) there are black lincoln townscars that will bring you back to the hotel for a flat fee of only $8."
"After much investigation, chose this hotel for a long weekend stay in April. Drove from Chicago to NY so free parking lot a definite plus--Manhattan hotels charge upwards of $45/night. ... I will definitely stay here again--in August as a matter of fact. It was excellent quality for the price."
"Location good only 2 dollars for bus or subway to town.Nearest subway Woodside 20 mins walk away.Overall great place clean rooms well priced.[one small hiccup some rooms over look local cemetery,but that didn,t bother us.]"
"The staff was very nice, the room was clean, the area was quiet (cemetary next door), and the parking was super convenient. "
"I stayed there for 6 nights, in preparation for my wedding and the days following the joyous event. "
Hey, does the hotel have "neighborhood" photos like this posted on their website?
Wow so now this guy is SO incensed by what I wrote about - a Comfort Inn in Maspeth that he is copy and pasting his same ramblings here.
Those opinions pasted on a website are no different than the opinions put forth by the three women I encountered at the bus stop. So while I see your point that some people don't mind, I am aware of that fact. Some people won't mind. It still doesn't make it the appropriate spot for a hotel. And your selected comments are not completely accurate either - 20 minute walk to the Roosevelt Avenue subway? Try more like 40 minutes. Town cars lined up at the subway? Those are illegal gypsy cabs! Those websites are also notorious for having shill posters praise their own hotels.
Uh, YOU expressly took issue on THIS blog with the "research" that had been posted on Curbed in response to your "opinion." So I reposted that "research" here for everyone to see for themselves what it was. I'm not a shill for anyone. I would also note that my original post of this same information was mysteriously deleted from the Curbed comments.
None of this really matters. The point is that the original criticisms make no sense. "Inappropriate place for a hotel" not only ignores that this is conveniently right off the LIE, but it also suggests that you would accept nothing in these locations except the same gritty industrial factories or empty lots. Why would you argue to maintain the status quo? These hotels are unquestionably improvements to the immediate area. The only reason I am "so incensed" as to respond to these posts is that I am increasingly frustrated by people in my own neighborhood (and this city) generally who unthinkingly oppose all development because they view development as evil. This is New York City, the largest city in the country, and what made it good is that industrialized areas in places like Manhattan and Brooklyn were improved through development. You ought to choose your fights and focus on things worth opposing (there certainly are many such projects). There is no basis to criticize these perfectly OK hotels situated near the expressway. No basis as a resident of Maspeth, and no basis as a hypothetical visiting hotel guest.
"Inappropriate place for a hotel" not only ignores that this is conveniently right off the LIE, but it also suggests that you would accept nothing in these locations except the same gritty industrial factories or empty lots.
Actually, I never suggested any such thing so stop putting words in my mouth. What would be appropriate both here and on the other Maspeth hotel site is retail. This would be part of a logical buffer between industry and residential, the proximity to the LIE is perfect for it, and the people who live in the neighborhood would actually shop and work here. Something along the lines of a P.C. Richards, a Best Buy, etc.
And I never called YOU a shill, I said comments about how great places were are often posted on hotel websites by shills.
As for your deleted comment, one of my comments about how I don't make income off of my blog was deleted too. So be it. I'm not ranting and raving over it on 2 websites. That would be pathetic.
Actually, I agree. The entire Maurice Avenue corridor would make for excellent retail and if done correctly would improve the neighborhood as a whole.
Exclusive to QCrap blogsite...
...the owners are changing the name of the inn to:
Hot L Baltimore II
"No basis as a resident of Maspeth, and no basis as a hypothetical visiting hotel guest."
I think someone who lives in a neighborhood has every right to point out something they think is wrong whether anonymous commenting assholes on Curbed think they have a basis to or not.
This is the first time here or on Curbed that you have suggested an alternative type of development for these sites.
But don't the same "criticisms" apply? Who wants to eat dinner or buy toys across from a cemetary? Who can go grocery shopping on a polluted truck route?
Well, maybe a retail strip would please you. But aren't a couple of hotels actually a pretty good start to an eventual "retail corridor?" The hotels are far more likely to attract other commercial/retail/services tenants than the existing wood flooring and mansonry warehouses. I still don't see a basis to complain about these hotels -- they are a step in the right direction.
No, I think something that would draw the community would be the best thing to start off the strip with. Like the gym that was supposed to get built there but somehow died after the metal frame was erected.
Dude, that post was hilarious! You just don't get the Crapper's sense of humor. If you grew up in Queens, you would.
"Who wants to eat dinner or buy toys across from a cemetary?"
Toys R Us in the Metro Mall has been there for something like 15 years now and it's right by Lutheran Cemetery. Who cares where the toy store is once you're inside it? All I care about is whether there is parking and if they have the toys my kids want.
Julie: Sure, a resident has a "right to comment" but the comment is subject to criticism on the basis that it is uninformed and lacks basis in the facts. We can agree to disagree on aesthetics and whether we personally would want to stay in such a hotel. But I still haven't heard what *I* feel is ANY legitimate reason to disparage these hotels from the Maspeth resident's point of view. They replaced empty lots, they brighten dreary industrial streets, the architecture is much better than other scary Queens hotels, they bring visitors into the area, they provide a decent place to stay for relatives visiting from our of town or for a wedding, they may spur additional commercial development, and they provide good local jobs. Honestly, what is there to complain about?
Similarly, a lot of hotel guests (especially those coming off the highway or laying over from the airport) don't care at all what's next to the hotel as long as there is free parking and their room is spacious, clean and attractive.
"Similarly, a lot of hotel guests..."
Uh, no. Toy shopping takes about an hour and you don't sleep in the store for several nights in a row.
This type of architecture belongs on Queens Boulevard, not on Maurice Avenue. Someplace where guests will be able to easily take either a car service into the city or the subway, or even a bus into Manhattan if they prefer. No one is "laying over" from the airport here. There are tons of hotels right in the vicinity of LGA, why would they come here?
A typical strategy when losing a debate is to change the topic.
First (on Curbed) the newer hotel was in a gritty location with views of the red brick wall, a gas station and a billboard. (Suggesting that it would suck to be a guest here.) Then it was that local businesses wouldn't "benefit" from the new hotel. Then it was that the new hotel had views of a cemetary and a truck route (although you left out the fact that half of the hotel looks out over streets of houses). Then it was that this location is bad for transportation because of the unreliable buses. Then it was that the Queens infrastructure can't handle ANY new development. Now the focus has shifted again to argue that they should have built a gym or a Best Buy here (i.e. MORE development -- which is encouraged not precluded by these hotels). Someone please tell me what the ONE worst aspect of these hotels is.
"lacks basis in the facts"
Oh God...a person gave an opinion based on a word-of-mouth experience with some out-of-town ladies who shared their story with him. Why do we need "facts" when we have photos? Since when is Curbed based on facts anyway? Most of it is rumor and could even be made up for all we know...look at the post about the guy who found shit on his front door, ok? Trying to rip Crappy over this is just a precious waste of your time and clogging up the comments with the same argument over and over again is a waste of mine.
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, NEITHER CAST YE YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." - from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:6 (King James Version)
Hey Crapper, what are you wasting your pearls of wisdom on this asshole Curbed site?
I can't wait for you to get back home to where you belong: Queens Crap blogsite!
[Enuf already with this Curbed s__t!]
As far I I can tell, no one has been changing the subject. The posts were made about 2 different hotels. There are several reasons/points to be made about the inappropriateness of both hotels both collectively and respectively.
One more day George...hold on, I'm heading back home!
"Someone please tell me what the ONE worst aspect of these hotels is."
That a Curbed commenter is obsessed with them.
Yeah I remember when they were gonna put that gym there. I think Sid Fernandez and Jesse Orosco were partners in it with George O'Neill. Then the deal fell through and the metal skeleton was left for YEARS. I was so excited when they were building again, I thought they were going through with it. When I saw it take the shape of a hotel it was disappointing. The sports club where the strip joint is now was mismanaged financially and that closed and the area could use a decent health club.
Uh, the one hotel has been there for at least 2 or three years now. When is the retail coming that was supposed to be encouraged by it?
Actually, it opened in July 2005. I'd say the follow-on development is right under your nose two blocks south (the other hotel under construction!). The success of first hotel has encouraged the development of a similar one down the street. If you get a new development of this scale every couple of years, you might get your gym or Best Buy after all. I don't see any more vacant lots in the area though, so the next development is going to have to buy out an existing business.
"If you get a new development of this scale every couple of years, you might get your gym or Best Buy after all."
So the hotel patrons will buy stereos at Best Buy and appliances at P.C. Richard?
This is at the edge of a fully developed neighborhood. There are huge coops on the Plateau not far away. No reason for there not to be retail there now except that there is not much to bring regular traffic down this street, like say, a neighborhood health club would have brought!
No, Julie, the hotel guests aren't going to buy stereos and appliances. But when Best Buy and PC Richard scout for a new store location, they might consider this street once they notice that there are new successful non-industrial service establishments here. It suggests the street has a commercial future as something other than junkyards and warehouses. The customer base for big-box retail is already there (or it isn't, which would explain why the gym failed to be built.) It's not like SimCity where some Wizard-of-Oz "city planners" decide that it would be great to have an electronics store on the gritty cemetary street. The local demand drives the development, which in turn influences the next stage of development. As these hotels represent "out of place" progressive service outlets, it's a step in the right direction and all of you "crappers" should be happy rather than critical. And these hotels DO serve the immediate community: a couple of reviewers on TripAdvisor spoke about attending nearby weddings.
The health club failed because 2 investors backed out of it. not because there was no demand.
Now a health club is considered big box retail. Hand me a tylenol.
"The local demand drives the development, which in turn influences the next stage of development"
Oh boy, where did this fireball go to school? Who in the hell in Hunters Point thought it was a good idea to bulldoze their own neigbhorhood? Then exclude themselves from their own waterfront?
Well, I know, I know, Dutch Kills did but, well, top floor unfurnished if you know what I mean.
A neighbor who used to work for the airlines
just informed me why these
out of the way hotels are being built.
If a flight is canceled or there's a holdover ......
the airline company puts up the passengers
in Queens rather than in a Manhattan location
because it's CHEAPER !
A gym would've fitted the local. Most of those muscle builders are on steroids so when they died from complications they could've been conveniently tossed into the nearby cemetery.
George the Atheist quotes the bible - there is something weird going on . . .
"If a flight is canceled or there's a holdover ......
the airline company puts up the passengers
in Queens rather than in a Manhattan location
because it's CHEAPER !"
It's also a lot CLOSER Einstein.
"If a flight is canceled or there's a holdover ......
the airline company puts up the passengers in Queens rather than in a Manhattan location because it's CHEAPER !"
Why wouldn't they just put them up at one of the many hotels in close proximity to the airport? Why all the way in Maspeth?
"And these hotels DO serve the immediate community: a couple of reviewers on TripAdvisor spoke about attending nearby weddings."
There are quite a number of hotels in the area already that also service people who come in from out of town for weddings. I'd love to know exactly where in Maspeth these wedding receptions are being held. in some secret underground lair?
"I stayed there for 6 nights, in preparation for my wedding and the days following the joyous event."
Some asshole honeymooned on Maurice Avenue! I wonder if they walked hand in hand through the graveyard.
We understand that many things are "consummated" in these types of "hotels" besides marriages!
Possible uses for a low profile out of the way hotel:
#1. Terrorist meeting place
(closer to potential airport targets....
but not too close to arouse suspicion) .
#2. Drug/small arms deal
meeting place/distribution point .
#3. Low class weddings, sweet sixteen, prom
queen galas.
#4. Kinky whipped cream parties .
#5. (of course) for discreet clandestine trysts.
#6. "Scrabble" etc. championship game
marathons.
#7. "Butch" truckers' or "leather" hangout.
#8. Dominatrix dance parties.
#9. Whatever "tickles" your "fancy" !
"I stayed there for 6 nights, in preparation for my wedding and the days following the joyous event."
Well she couldn't go home, Homeland Security had put up a fence.
I guess if you're used to using the back seat of a car.....
this "hotel" would be a sign of upward mobility!
This is a ho's ho.
Ha, ha, ha !
Bring on the Johns!
AHAHAHAHAH! This is the funniest thing I read all day! I am still laughing thank you.
"Some asshole honeymooned on Maurice Avenue! I wonder if they walked hand in hand through the graveyard."
Anyone out there remember the old
"Quality Courts" motels ?
Maybe this one will be nicknamed "Quality C---s"
by some chauvinist.
crapper, what you are reading is a reaction to your constant negativity
your site has the potential to become a true tool to good planning
instead you mok people who are trying to create new neighborhoods and commerce.
I would gues you and your naysayers are old timers.
luckily for us, you are in your golden years and we wont have to hear from you all much past another 10-20- years
a proud new YOUNG queens resident
I am in my 30s, moron. I also got past 5th grade and learned how to spell...
I an a young Queens resident as well and Crappy is right on. THERE'S TOO MUCH CRAP IN QUEENS.
We "OLD NAYSAYERS" have the best
voting turnout record in the city.
We'll kick you scum before you even reach 40 .....
and long before we're dead!
That's right.
Wake up to the new order....or "old" , if you prefer!
You over development bitches
are about to be butt f----d by the new silent majority!
Just listen to the frantic lingo
of all these pro over development bastards.
Our skillful barrages have made them so angry
that they wish we would all die!
Well.....come and get us....
you're not doing a very good job are you?
The uncontrolled exhibition of your furor
is the proof of our success!
Mamma mia.....62 comments so far!
Is that a record?
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