Sunday, February 24, 2008

SJU dorm's Residential Threat

Dear Editor (Queens Chronicle):

The development which is being built by H2H for St. John’s University in Jamaica Estates is a threat to many communities well beyond the borders of this residential community. As a civic leader who has had significant experience with St. John’s residential development, I feel obligated to comment on H2H’s media campaign, as illustrated by their recent advertisement in your newspaper. H2H states that safety and security for students and the community is their goal. They claim that they wish to address the severe shortage of safe, affordable student housing and that by providing institutional, supervised housing they will reduce illegal apartments within the community. History tells us otherwise. The more housing the university provides, the greater the demand will be; the greater the demand, the more students who will rent private homes in the surrounding community — many of them illegally. Many of us are more concerned about addressing the severe shortage of affordable housing for the full-time hard-working citizens of New York.

They state that the city sewer system is capable of handling the addition of their building. It is well known that the sewer system supporting this area is totally insufficient. There are hundreds of millions of tax dollars allocated to address these problems with at least a 30-year time table.

They boast that their plan conforms to the character of the neighborhood.New Yorkers know that neighborhood character is very local. Go a few blocks and we may feel as if we are in another section of town. The blocks that are affected by this development are of a different character than a seven-story dorm.This R5 zone is across the street from a R1-2 zone, one of the lowest density zones in NYC.

They claim that traffic disruption will be minimized by providing 80 spots underground for 485 car driving-eligible residents. This is true if only in the sense that if no parking were provided, the effect on traffic would be worse. Reality is that there will be hundreds of additional cars without any corresponding increase in parking at the Henley Road site.

St. John’s University wishes to expand to meet a demand for more housing for their students and generate the income that residential students provide. H2H wishes to fill St. John’s demand for student housing. That is the business of a developer-— to meet demand and realize a profit. I find it insulting to try to spin this development into anything other than what it is: the pursuit of the myopic self interest of a university and a good investment for a developer.

Kevin Forrestal,
Hillcrest Estates

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The same can be said for dorms proposed by Queens College and by CUNY in Long Island City.

patricia dolan

Anonymous said...

these tell-it-like-it-is letters are a breath of fresh air from the usual crap that gets "reported" about in our local papers.

Anonymous said...

Higher education
is quickly becoming nothing less
than BIG BOX SUPER STORE EDUCATION
and is VERY BIG BUSINESS for the likes of
SJU, NYU, CUNY and many others.

While this mass produced
lower quality education abounds
the quality of life erodes
in the surrounding neighborhoods
where these "universities" continue
to use their forced entry tactics!

SJU is building up their real estate holdings
(while increasing tuition to subsidize this)
by raping the community.

And Father Harrington is in the position
of holding down the victim
while this dirty deed progresses!

Anonymous said...

If Mayor Bloomberg only knew!

Anonymous said...

Development might fuel the economy, but overdevelopment ruins neighborhoods. Why is government allowing private universities to build up their real estate portfolios at the expense of the homeowners and students? The community facilities technicality in the zoning law provides carte blanche to unscrupulous developers by allowing them to construct larger structures with little or no government oversight. Aside from altering the character of our lovely communities, infringing in our quality of life and peaceful enjoyment of our homes we are inheriting ugly poorly constructed edifices with compromised sewer systems that ultimately we the tax payer will have to pay to repair. When is outrage going to set in? Community residents, we are a huge majority, let your voices be heard! IT IS NOT A DONE DEAL!
Join the Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates on Thursday February 28, 2008 at PS 131 170-45 84th Ave. Jamaica at 7:15
We must defeat the St. John’s dorm on Henley Road and then work to close the community facilities loophole and make sure we vote into office elected officials that do not talk thru both sides of their mouth and truly represent their constituents.

Anonymous said...

I still don't hear the Jamaica Estates Association raising its voices to protest this dorm. Could it be that they are in bed with Father Harrington? Has anyone asked the Board how much money they are getting for their Security Patrol from St. John's in exchange for their silence? I wonder what will happen when St. John's starts building closer to the Board's own homes. It's amazing how vocal people CAN get when their own property is threatened.

As for Anonymous #1's comments (Ms. Dolan) - please don't equate the travesty in this area of magnificent one family homes with Long Island City.

Mr. Forrestal, your letter is not strong enough. Father Harrington has a habit of threatening neighborhoods when they stand in the way of St. John's "master plan". This man has got to be put in his place, along with any other principals of that University who have no respect whatsoever for the quality of life of other people. He is using people as pawns.

Jamaica Estates Association - have you not learned ANYTHING????

Anonymous said...

"As for Anonymous #1's comments (Ms. Dolan) - please don't equate the travesty in this area of magnificent one family homes with Long Island City."

Uh oh...someone thinks their shit doesn't stink and that their neighborhood is better than other people's neighborhoods. That is how developers and politicians have been taking advantage of Queens for decades - divide and conquer. Don't expect anyone outside of your neighborhood to care since you have an attitude like this. Personally I think it's time we in Corona, LIC, Maspeth shared our pain with Jamaica Estates.

Anonymous said...

"I still don't hear the Jamaica Estates Association raising its voices to protest this dorm. Could it be that they are in bed with Father Harrington?"

Yes. The Association fired it's previous president because Father H. didn't like him, and threatened to cut off funding if they didn't comply, as a commentator pointed out in a recent post. So if the Association was willing to do that then you can be sure that Father H. is calling all the shots in the Jamaica/St John's Estates Association.

Anonymous said...

Silencing the Jamaica Estates Association should be worth a lot more than what St. John's University contributes to the ineffective community security patrol.The JEA sold Jamaica Estates short,it was one of Queens loveliest communities.Sorry....

Anonymous said...

Silencing the Jamaica Estates Association should be worth a lot more than what St. John's University contributes to the ineffective community security patrol.The JEA sold Jamaica Estates short,it was one of Queens loveliest communities.Sorry....

Why did the Community let this happen? Apathy? Why didn't residents kick the Board out and put someone in who cared about the neighborhood? It's not just the Jamaica Estates Association which is to blame - it's everyone who lives there.

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