As reported by a neighbor of the church, workers are taking out the windows and pulling tiles off of the roof right now.Just found out that today is the birthday of one of the preservationists who was trying to save the church... and he is at the scene watching the destruction. A very unhappy birthday, indeed.
UPDATE: DEP shuts demo down
42 comments:
Mark this day.
The clubhouse, both in politics and preservation, made a very very big mistake.
Nothing will be the same again.
This is a sad day for preservationists in Queens and NYC at-large...it's a shame that a disingenuous politician like CM Dennis Gallagher failed to serve his constituency...
Its a shame the preservation community was toothless to stop this - after four decades if this is all they can do, its bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit
never thought it would come to this. Really sad to hear it.
If the site and church had been preserved residents from all over the borough would've gone there to hang out. Now, I suppose, others will be hanging.
Don't expect the Crowleys to do any etter.
Now the time has come to demolish the clubhouse
and dismantle NYC's phony landmarks law !
Speaking of hanging ....
erect a scaffold on that very same spot
for Pinky Gallagher and the rest
of his gallows' meat crew to swing from!
That be a fitting pirate's penance.
This is indeed a sad day. How is it that all of a sudden there is money and interest by the boro president in the Cornell Farm house and this just goes by the wayside. A true piece of the Queens original landscape with a landmark worthy structure. It just goes to prove some areas are redlined to destroy and develop and others are set aside to preserve. Unfortunately, the landmark law is not fair to all.
Not one - not one - politician showed up. The bell has "mysteriously" disappeared. The countdown has begun: Friday the whole structure is coming down. See it while you can; bring the kids. Another vestige of Queens' history will only exist in old photographs. Bye-bye.
George - there were TWO bells. Wait til I reveal who stole the smaller, older one.
WTF is with the school bus?
Painful as it is....
a photographic and video record
must be made.
Another failure of the alphabet soup
preservation community.....
LPC, HDC, MAS, QHS, NYLC, etc.
If the shoe fits....wear it.
You all know who's guilty!
LPC, HDC, MAS, QHS, NYLC,
---------------------------------
You forgot DPG
Take plenty of photos, because the mainstream press will not publish this desecration of our local history. Everyone should gather and watch this demolition, and never forget who is behind this act.
Painful as it is....
a photographic and video record
must be made.
-------
Why? to waste our time on yet another f*##$& list. "Oh, lets make a list of buildings destroyed in 2007."
Now there is a useful waste of valuable time.
Don't you guys ever do anything useful? Always like a bunch of headless chickens.
Add GAHS to your list that did nothing to help St. Saviors.
Whats with the schoolbus ?
That's one of the Sano "auction special" crew busses. They weaken the structure with maul axes ripping out copper , brass and stuff......Make sure Asbestose, and lead paint chips "disappear" before the bulldozer comes.
It takes no skill, just smash and pickup.
You you can also find these buses outside 7-11's and all round Roosevelt Ave jackson heights round 7AM.
Photos are for archives and maybe for the creation of
a 15 minute documentary
to go on You Tube or distributed on a 15 cent CD.
Maybe a self produced pamphlet
to tell the real story that the weeklies
wont tell.
Certainly organizations like GAHS
appreciate the value of maintaining archives.
B.S. wouldn't even give comment to reporters
at the early Mas Fed Bank St. Saviour's demo
after he arrived 25 minutes late
for the cause he's supposed to love!
Sorry old boy for having to speak the truth!
ok, so what is gonna happen now?
the church is almost done , and what about the land?
Here is the inside story. Gallgher begged his developer friends to rip it down ASAP so the issue of moving it would go away. He made these calls from someone else's phone so they couldn't be FIOLed. He panicked when it looked like there was actually a use for the million dollars he had fabricated, so he thought the best way to make the issue go away fast.
Dennis Gallgher is innocent of the rape charge, but make no mistake about it, he pushed HARD for this demolition.
Just look what Dennis and his buddies have published on their hate blog about the prervationists:
"Their refusal to work with elected officials and city agencies has long sealed the fate of the crumbling church."
"More disturbing is that they don't give a damn about the community all they care about is publicity and attacking everyone who disagrees with their narrow-minded agenda.."
So, ladies and gentlemen, heed the warning from the clubhouse: Cooperate with the city and your councilmemebers OR ELSE. THEY are the ones who will know what is best for the community and THEY will decide the future of our neighborhoods. Not the civic assosciations, not the preservationsits, not the people.
These citizens are to do the bidding of the clubhouse, They are to make the clubhouse look good, or they will be attacked, villified and destroyed.
It is time for a political revolution. We will throw these assholes to the curb and elect people who actually give a shit about community, not those who seek money, power and prestiege
FUCK the clubhouse
FUCK Denis Gallagher
FUCK Mike Bloomberg
FUCK CAU
FUCK Melinda Katz (had to throw that money grubbing, developer canoodling bitch into this).
speaking from the nside:
I take great offense at your statement that Pinky is innocent of the rape charge.
The charge was thrown out because of prosecutorial screwups, as I understand the charges may be re-filed and Pinky may yet face justice on this one.
"speaking from the nside:
I take great offense at your statement that Pinky is innocent of the rape charge.
The charge was thrown out because of prosecutorial screwups, as I understand the charges may be re-filed and Pinky may yet face justice on this one"
Yes, but pinky has dirt on a lot of people so you're going to see shit like this show up. Maybe Peter Vallone Jr posted it himself.
Yes, you stupid preservationists - learn your lesson. You have to join your political rapists in compromising the community.
Real leaders fight for what is right, they don't compromise with isreali soldiers who are here to rape our community and shit on working class americans. But any parasite can hire the Parkside group, they get their way with city hall and political whores like dennis gallagher.
I hope the Daily Snooze got their photographer there in time.
Hey pink piece of shit - congratulations on showing the community who's boss.
Let this horrible day be the turning point. Never let them get another piece of Queens history. There comes a day when we graduate junior high, and the bullies are suddenly gone from our lives. Stick it out: the grown-ups will eventually prevail. -Joseph Ditta
Unfortunately "Joseph"
scenarios like this will be played out
over and over and over again....
in those neighborhoods that NYC chooses to red-line
and make ripe for over development.
Tearing down clubhouse politics
is the only hope for change .
A great unified voice has got to be forged
that will lead to change.
IT WON'T come from the "hysterical" societies
or established "preservationist" groups.
They suck off the teats
of the borough, city etc. for the grant money
that's necessary for their daily survival.
If they dare to anger these cash cows.....
no more ($$$$$$) milk!
The neighborhood preservation movement
needs WARRIORS not WIMPS
who are smart, skillful and persitent
in the art of political warfare!
Surveys and studies, undertaken by the
idealistic novice "do-gooders" of fledgling
"preservation councils" etc. are a waste of time.
It seems that each new day
births yet another of these Don Quixotes
who think that they're going to save
their nabe by coaxing city officials
in a well behaved fashion.
Just wait until that windmill blade
whacks you in the head!
Where is Jonny Mosquito?
Whatever happened to moving St Saviours????? did that go poof? up in the smoke these crack heads are obviously smoking?
Hello Cheryl, maybe you should read the 2 previous posts for the answer.
Well, when the preservation community response it to vote to make a big stink after it gets torn down, we must ask ourselves, what is wrong with this picture.
Maybe someone from HDC can answer that, and explain to us, how this doesn't encourage developers.
Even better, maybe the next time Two Columbus Circle and like like comes up, they can sustain that policy for Manhattan battles, too.
Yea, sure.
Those who do not remember history are bound to repeat it.
I guess the clubhouse mentality of the preservationist didnt help either. I tried to be involved with this cause but was exlcuded from doing so because my political affiliation was different from most in the clubhouse.
HA HA HA The developer had been willing to save the church and build around it but now you NIMBYS get nothing for being greedy.I will laugh every time I drive by and see the new transfer terminal or whatever industrial use goes in there to poison your lives. Before you say I work for the developer or other BS I am just a citizen sick of your types.
The developer never had any plans of saving the church. He left it wide open, and allowed it to fall into disrepair over the course of 2 years which is not something you do if you plan to restore a building. As for your schadenfreude, you should be aware that city planning was about to certify the developer's zoning change, but when they asked him for specifics on how he planned to save the building, he pulled the application, citing the downturn in the housing market.
Maybe Dennis Gallager can come on this blog and tell us about the meetings he facilitated between the developer and the civic group. I'd be curious to see what compromise was presented to them and rejected.
Dennis Gallagher will not be coming on this blog to say anything of the sort because he never set up a meeting between JPCA and the developer. Tony Avella met with the developer's attorney back in 2006 and said had no intentions of negotiating. Gallagher met with Bill Driscoll, Lee Principe and the developer in a closed door meeting at his office. Principe suggested a land swap and had the other parties interested in the idea. Gallagher put a kibosh on it, saying that it wouldn't work and Principe was appalled. Then Gallagher and the developer met with Vinny Arcuri, Chairman of CB5, behind closed doors. Arcuri is from Glendale. No one from Maspeth ever saw the plan or was approached about it. The Daily News reported that Gallagher pressed City Planning to certify the zoning application and they were about to do it when the owner suddenly withdrew it. Gallagher will try to put his spin on it, that it was our fault that there was no compromise, but we were never invited to the table and were intentionally kept out of the loop.
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