Thursday, September 27, 2007

Helen on tour

Today, at around 3:30pm, I happened to be passing through the intersection of 37th Ave and 73rd Street, and lo and behold, there is Councilwoman Helen Sears, surveying the strip closest to the intersection that she endorsed be used for the installation of additional parking meters. And, lo and behold, she was touring the site with her best friend, Mr. Gandhi, the chair of CB3 and senior member of the Jackson Heights Merchants Assn, which rammed through the vote on that issue without public discussion. And right in front of our eyes, a car pulled up to double-park, waiting for one of those spots to free up. . .and forced the oncoming bus on 73rd Street into the box in the intersection, setting off a traffic jam and horn-honking. What did they do when they saw me? Walked away. Nice to know that when residents let Helen Sears know that they're upset, she calls upon the merchants for counsel. Way to go!

Stan Mieses

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Stan, you got off easy. When residents let Dennis Gallagher know that they are upset, he shows up at their house uninvited.

Anonymous said...

God forbid a council member consult with the chair of the local community board. Most of Queens would be lucky if that happened more regularly.

Anonymous said...

This street has forever been a traffic nightmare.

Unknown said...

when a council member consults with a community board chairman whose business interests are at the bottom of a totally counterproductive idea for the betterment of the WHOLE community; who personally claimed that the DOT came up with the idea, when we have specific evidence that it was the merchants association that pushed the idea on the DOT. . .well, it appears to me that aligning yourself with vested interests that use stealth politics and false statements as a means to their ends, then all i can say is Helen Sears is totally in the pocket of commercial development. Most of Queens would be similarly blighted as western Jackson Heights if more council members maintained such an unholy relationship and such hostility toward residents.

Anonymous said...

"God forbid a council member consult with the chair of the local community board. Most of Queens would be lucky if that happened more regularly."

You must be joking. What CB do you live in? The council members tell the CB chair what to do, not the other way around.

georgetheatheist said...

What's blocking traffic more? A wide double-parked truck? Or a w-i-d-e Helen Sears?

[Helen, ditch the wide-brimmed hats and shades already!]

Anonymous said...

This area's been a shit hole for years.
They're just ripping it another one!

When it spills into the JH historic district.....
the co-op owners will take to their roof tops.

Anonymous said...

Maybe J.S. will lead a parade
of the beautification cohorts
to tie some pretty ribbons
on these new parking meters !

Unknown said...

To the ''anonymous'' who insists that the CB3 chair (and senior member of the Merchants Assn of 74th St) has nothing to do with the dumping of environmental and traffic issues on 73rd St....riddle me this....why is he (and Helen Sears, the commercial interests' best friend) soooo interested in adding parking meters where a loading zone ought to be on 73rd Street....yet RIGHT IN FRONT OF JACKSON DINER, DELHI PALACE AND PATEL BROTHERS on 74th Street there are NO PARKING METERS and the space is used as a loading zone??? Why are there SIX PROPERTIES ON 74TH STREET that have ''FOR RENT'' signs up, yet there's not a single Bangladeshi merchant from 73rd Street--where they have been expanding commercial development past the point of sustainability--moving to 74th Street? Why are half the doctors' offices on 75th and 76th Street show ''for rent'' signs and yet. . . another application to build on 73rd Street to accommodate doctors' offices has just been approved? (according to slumlord Mina Farah's application to build OVER SUBZI MANDI, RIGHT IN THE GRIDLOCKED INTERSECTION)??? Can someone explain the logic of all this?