Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Waldheim waits for rezone no longer

The long-awaited rezoning of the Waldheim area of Flushing is expected to kick off with a community forum on Thursday.

Residents finally to see Waldheim rezoning plan

The city planners are scheduled to unveil the Waldheim rezoning plan and listen to feedback at the meeting in the auditorium of Flushing Hospital.

"After many years of study, community input and deliberation, the long-awaited proposal for the rezoning of the Waldheim neighborhood is moving closer to reality," said Waldheim Neighborhood Association secretary John Tsavalos.

Working with the association, the Department of City Planning is considering ways to preserve the area's one- and two-family homes, "while recognizing its vibrancy and growth," said Tsavalos.

Gene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, noted the community has been waiting years for this rezoning and that the board "will try to expedite approval for the proposed plan as quickly as possible."

City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said that as the community grows, "we need to protect the quality of life and neighborhood character that attracted so many of us to live in Flushing in the first place."

District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said the community board is expected to vote on the rezoning as early as June.


Photo from Forgotten NY

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tsavalos' hair must have turned white by now considering how long this
(former?)"do little" CB#7 member
has (ahem) been "on the job"
trying to "protect" his neighborhood
from over development.

We heard he once rented an apartment in his Waldheim home.

Was it a legal rental....h-m-m-m?

Anonymous said...

They waited long enough for this beautiful nabe to be f----d over!

What the hell is left to save?

Julia Harrison DID NOT support
a landmark district that was proposed
for historic Waldheim
during her tenure. Why not?

Anonymous said...

Arthur Douglas Nash of Tiffany Studios once lived in Waldheim.

His home was torn down over a decade ago, of course,and replaced with a cluster of crap!

Nash was the only one permitted to sign his own art glass pieces
produced at Tiffany's Corona studio.

verdi said...

Rezoning ain't gonna do squat
to prevent tear downs!

This area needs
to be made into an historic district
and pretty damn quick!

Anonymous said...

Julia Harrison DID NOT support a landmark district that was proposed for historic Waldheim during her tenure. Why not?

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission had rejected the designation in 1999. Through the efforts of a so-called preservationist, the Waldheim residents became increasingly divided on the issue of landmark designation for their neighborhood. The preservationist did not do a good job emphasizing the benefits of a Landmark district at that time. The restrictions that such a designation would impose, in order to curtail further demolition and development, were emphasized. The preservationist turned politician also told the LPC and the Waldheim residents that “Julia Harrison supported his efforts”, which was a lie.

From a January 2001 CNN story:

“Some Waldheim homeowners oppose landmark status, citing restrictions that come with it. A group of them went to Councilwoman Julia Harrison's office to complain two years ago, said John Watts, the office's chief of staff. Afterward, Harrison stopped supporting the effort.”

Anonymous said...

I knew it wouldn't take much time
for our perennial J.H. butt kisser
to be on the job!

Good morning....you're up early!

Anonymous said...

It took a local group
to push for landmarking .

JULIA DID NOT support
Waldheim's preservation.
End of story!

She seemed to be concerned
with not offending some Asian property owners in the area.

That was a moot point considering how she blew her mouth off
by publicly insulting them with bigoted remarks!

Anonymous said...

Are you speaking of the Green Party candidate running for a city council seat Paul G. ?

So he went into politics to serve.
So what?

And I suppose Councilwoman Harrison WASN'T a politician herself?

You need a pair of new eyeglasses
J.H. fan club member!

Anonymous said...

The preservationist turned politician also told the LPC and the Waldheim residents that “Julia Harrison supported his efforts”, which was a lie.
--------

yea, he is a good bullshitter. The big question is why he has soooo much cred. The answer can be explained easily enough: the preservation community is (shall we say politely) a bit lazy?

Anonymous said...

Waldheim??????????
What about North Flushing?
What about Auburndale?
Those neighborhoods are getting ravaged on a daily basis. When will it be their turn?

Queens Crapper said...

Maspeth-Middle Village-Glendale was started before this study was and still has not been certified.

Anonymous said...

And why should we support your downzoning if more and more gets pushed into western Queens?

All this will blowback into your faces unless we all downzone together.

Anonymous said...

Too little too late but better late than never. Fortunately I managed to live most of my life and raise my children before this part of Flushing was destroyed by progress.

I am sure that developers will manage to file their destruction plans before there is any change in the zoning. Then they can cry to the bobble head dolls of the Board of Standards and Appeals for variances and complain that zoning regulations are racist.

I love the use of the word vibrant when describing the area. I guess vibrant means overcrowding, monstrosity buildings, litter all over and streets choked with cars.

Anonymous said...

He has "CRED" because he
actually works for a living
in the field!

But Astoria's chief
armchair preservationist
prefers to rant in archaic tones
rather than raise a callous
through hard labor!

Anonymous said...

There are two I can think of that have always had a wild hare
up their asses about Paul G's professional "creds".

J.W and B.S. (and, of course, former Councilwoman Harrison herself) !

Do any of these shoes fit anyone ?

Anonymous said...

Tsavalos was (is still?) in the real estate business!

Anonymous said...

This Waldheim rezoning is being at the behest of developers.
John Young, of the Dept. of City Planning and Councilman John Liu have been targeted by a lobbyist hired by the New York Armenian Home. (Click on "View All" at that site to see the Johns.) That same lobbying firm, Akerman Senterfitt LLP, has been retained by many developers to target John Young and the Dept. Of City Planning.

It's no wonder that this proposed zoning plan UPZONES the Armenian Home lot so as to allow twenty-eight-story buildings. Free your minds, people! Julia Harrison was responding to the people; John Liu and John Young listen to the monied!

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