Monday, January 28, 2008

Sounds like a great place for luxury condos

Queens: Prison-Release Party Leads to Killing
By MICHAEL WILSON, NY Times

The police said they found a man dead of a gunshot wound to the forehead shortly before 5 a.m. on Sunday in Hunters Point. The man was identified as Joseph Prince, 30, of 35th Avenue in Ravenswood, the police said. At a news conference on Sunday, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said people had been throwing bottles at each other before the shooting. “The party was a celebration of someone getting out of prison,” he said. Mr. Prince was found in front of 44-3 23rd Street, the police said. There were no arrests on Sunday, the police said.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on now, luxury condos are about the magic of the hood! Sure the apartments are spare, small and fully sheetrocked. A little stone here and there, including the balcony, is only the basics of a starting point of 500K for a 1 bedroom.

The magic lies in it location - you heard it before, Loc, Loc & Loc! You buying the character, grittiness of the nabe, the ambience of the special folks you live along side of, eat with, drink with and whom throw bottles at you. Price-less if there is a bit more and you can recall stories to your friends about the realness of death that occurs outside your door. You have arrived, that's the real fabric of luxury priced into your condo - real world experiences.

Anonymous said...

This is new age "luxury" folks.....
not the real, solidly built, gracious, "pre war" kind.

If you're dumb enough to "invest" in one of these
once around the Home Depot type of condos.....
with their cheap doors, stock softwood moldings,
(if any) bottom line windows
and various other tacky features.....good luck.

But consider this.....
when the current ailing real estate market
takes it's final descent.....
what will your "luxurious" digs be worth
at resale time?

Anonymous said...

Before this whole thing devolves into the obligatory Arris/QW b.s., can we at least take a minute to mourn the loss of life here? Regardless of the circumstances, a young local man, a father of two, has been cut down--let's think about that. Those of us who live and work on this side of the bridge are very fortunate that this is a rare occasion, and can surely take a minute out of our precious blogging time to offer condolences.

Anonymous said...

Hey "cabby fella".....
condolences are ALWAYS being silently offered....
but blogging time is indeed precious ......
especially if it points the finger (the middle one) and PREVENTS any future loss of life.

Think a little on that
before you suggest that anyone here
is being either glib or callous!

Anonymous said...

We don't talk about Arris/QW here. You got the wrong blog.

Anonymous said...

Dear Knickers Twisted: Sorry for merely pointing out, after a snarky headline and two posts about real estate, that the piece dealt with tragic gunplay on the streets of my neighborhood. I'm still a little confused as to how writing about the quality of construction in luxury condo developments relates to the likelihood of getting wacked on the streets of New York. Or how commenting on sheetrock is going to prevent the loss of life.

Nice screen name, though, prince.

Anonymous said...

The real issue here is that so-called cheaply built, skyscraper buildings are being built without regard of the existing neighborhood residents that are fast being displaced by folks flocking to these building heavily marketed as premium luxury properties they could not otherwise afford in Manhattan or elsewhere. The social issues across the areas where these buildings are built go un-resolved especially crime, poverty, public projects, lack of basic food shopping. Developers gloss over these facts and simply attribute the area as up&coming, edgy and exciting. The speculators are now long gone - the units in these CRAP buildings are going unsold and those in them can't unload them at the prices paid and especially hard to convince anyone paying 500k to 1.2 million to buy a resale in this neighborhood. Sure waterfront view is special, but the only reason to buy these units - you have been snookered otherwise when decending to ground level at night to get staples at a nearby store to find none, except some lowlife looking to sell you crack or worse rob you. The City encouraged you to be here because you the pioneer pour profits into the coffers of their Deleveoper friends whom elect them. Yes above all, an individual, a parent was murdered and an outrage that this could occur in Queens. But this occurs in this area frequently more so than elsewhere in Queens because there is no support on the part of the City to properly police the area and or have policies that zoning could address to encourage the right kind of development that could nurture the kind of responsible growth to build a decent community. There is no money in that for the big RE families that hold large holding of speculative land your CRAP was built on. Accept the fact you are holding onto a huge loss if you bought a unit here.

verdi said...

Hey...."cabbie"......c'mon....
you don't really push a hack.....
unless you keystroke while yer drivin'.

I forgot to tell ya.....
I'm also king of the gypsies!

But I do like yer style!
(And I'm workin' on becoming
emperor of the NY limo drivers).

Anonymous said...

http://www.view59.com/

These buildings are going up with the marketing as if they will be luxory housing. This is how you get the needed zoning and assistance from the city to build.

This, or course, will not happen. There are too many real neighborhoods that are fully appointed with little things like stores and barbershops and the like, neighborhoods that will actually get the yuppies promised to Quees.

No one with that kind of money will move into an area that boasts Queensview park, dining on Queens Plaza, the rattle of elevated trains and newly released Rikers inmates sauntering around the backyard.

After the expected failure of these little schemes, the owners will get their hands on hot overseas money (not too many questions asked when the country is in hock to foreigners) and convert these into dorms for the service industry of Manhattan.

So ... when we used to have the problems from 5 six story buildings in a housing project, now we will have one 30 story building.

Anonymous said...

Just like the "Old American West".

Crime and murder will cease
as soon as the cavalry drives out those pesky "Indians".

Then the western territories of Queens
will be settled by the newbies
and "civilization" will abound !

Anonymous said...

Verdi: Sorry to disappoint you, brother, but I got my hack license in March 1992, and since May of '94 have been driving nights out of a coupla garages in LIC. (Lived in LIC since April '93, for three years on the historic block on 45th Avenue, and in a rent-stabilized place since.) And for the curious: yeah, the new credit card setup screws the driver over, big time.

Anonymous said...

Regardless of the circumstances, a young local man, a father of two, has been cut down--let's think about that. “The party was a celebration of someone getting out of prison,”

In my Queens neighborhood 2 miles away and a world away from Jackson Ave. , we celebrate family events like birthdays and anniverseries. We don't celebrate "getting out of prison day" it's not on my calendar, in fact if one of our even has such an event he/she does not return home - we would kick their rotten ass in the street otherwise.

Happy luxury living and celebrating happy get out of prison day - don't bend over boy!

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm going to my first "celebrating getting out of prison" party in a coupla weeks, for my nephew, who's getting out in Jersey after 3-1/2 years on a vehicular manslaughter rap. His wife, whom he married just before going in, is decorating each room in a different holiday theme, to help him enjoy all the holidays he missed.

Whether this is appropriate or not, I don't know--it's a new one on me. Perhaps better a party when you get out then dropped off at Queens Plaza straight outta Rikers, aimless, hopeless, alone. (Although a winnowing of the guest list would surely help matters.) But let's not casually dismiss the experience of so many people who live and work and love and die among us. Especially in a city, and a country, which incarcerates so many of its citizens.

georgetheatheist said...

Hey kingofnewyorkcabbies: what's happening with Melissa Plaut, the New York Hack blogger? All her fans are curious.

verdi said...

I'll take your word for it then
and my hat's off to you .

Cabbies get around and are the only ones
that know the real nitty gritty New York !

Keep it up.

verdi said...

P.S.
cabbie king.....we may have met.

Have you ever eaten in the Court Square Diner
or driven a bunch of guys from "5 Points"
down Davis street to SOHO
one late evening about 2 years back?

If so....way to go brother.
You're a regular guy in my book!