...the city of New York via the Department of City Planning aided by the folks at Economic Development [are] creating a wall about the community of Hunters Point. Either knowingly or by accident they are smothering a small village that has survived for several hundred years. The latest addition to the wall is called Hunters Point South. It should be called Queensbridge 2. Plan Kills Hunters Point
5,500 new families will smother the Number 7 Subway station at Vernon/Jackson. No need for your Metrocard, you can walk train to train through the tunnel to Manhattan. The MTA will create new bus routes. The routes will carry the new residents beyond the existing community. The integration will be with Astoria, Sunnyside and possibly Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Once again, the village of Hunters Point gets screwed.
Parking in the area has always been a problem. The city penalizes current residents by placing meters not only on the main streets but also on the side streets. Discrimination against residents is flagrant. The Police Precinct staff have "Park Anywhere" placards. They tie up parking in the area. Add to this the new Queens West residents and you find that you have two or more cars for every legal space. How many autos will 5,500 families bring? Oh, I forgot the parking needed for the Water Taxi, parks and shopping. In terms of parking needs, the state legislature did Hunters Point a favor by defeating Congestion Pricing, the $8 fee to drive below 60th Street. The plan's success would have smothered Hunters Point.
I suggest that all residents in Western Queens get involved. What is happening in Hunters Point will happen to Dutch Kills, Blissville, Astoria, etc. Obtain a copy of the Plan. Read it and realize that as Sal Anzalone predicted, the community and Western Queens are being screwed to reach the Mayor's new housing goals.
Thomas V. Sobczak
Chair of the Community Board 2
Land Use and Zoning Committee
for 10 years during the 1980s and 1990s
13 comments:
This post has so much false information it is almost a joke. Just go onto the NYC EDC website to read the details of the plan. It will contain parking garages behind the buildings unseen from the street. It will add over 11 acres of park space. It will add bicycle paths and bus lines. The 7 train service and station will be enhanced. The plan is not perfect, but this poster is just spewing narrow-minded nonsense.
Yeah the station may be "enhanced" but there won't be more trains or room on the current ones to accommodate the influx of people.
"It will contain parking garages behind the buildings unseen from the street."
And how much will you have to pay to park in them, and if you don't want to pay, where will you park? IN THE STREET.
Small Village? This specific area is an abondoned Daily News warehouse and factory.
What are you smoking?
"Small Village? This specific area is an abondoned Daily News warehouse and factory."
Hunters Point is a village and that is what the letter writer was referring to. Not the site of the proposed development. Believe it or not, industry is part of villages. What are you smoking?
Yes, a great place to raise your kids - next to perhaps the most polluted creek in the country.
All kinds of toxins in the air and soil.
It should be a park.
It should be a park.
--------
I call upon Greenshores (what happened to LIC/Astoria in their name?!?!) and Transporation Alternatives to help the public achieve this goal.
Housing with no amenities nearby is something that is not new.
The Astoria Houses and Queensbridge Houses come to mind. You will never get Yuppies to move into this.
Thomas V. Sobczak you sir are misinformed and an ass.
"Enhanced"
is just one of those words
that's often used to conceal a lack of real overhaul and necessary rebuilding of our borough's transportation system.
The #7 line
is an antiquated 3 track system
that was designed in the 1920s
to serve a limited population!
So what is the MTA going to do
to "enhance" service....
get some local yokel artists
to put up some artwork
in the Hunters Point
and Vernon Jackson stations?
Another "tile job"
of installing new mosaics ?
Boy, are you dopes being sold
a bill of goods!
I hope the "Water Taxi (ha, ha, ha)
is running again soon.
Otherwise it's the crush hour!
Don't worry.
If the faltering real estate market forces the "yuppies"
into foreclosure,
they can always pack Queens West
full of Mexicans
who often bike to work.
So there will be more parking spots available.
Hi Gang: My name is Tom Sobczak. If you think the information I provided is false, sign your name so we might debate. Anonymous is a cop out by the chicken hearted.
My village of Hunters Point ranges from the East River east to the Sunnyside yards. It goes north from Newtown Creek to the Queensborough Bridge. It existed before Sunnyside and Woodside were gleams in a developers eye.
Remember when we we proposed a parking garage below what is now the strip park along 48th Avenue. On the other side of Vernon was a planned supermarket. The leaders of Board #2 and our Councilman worked against it. Expanding the potential of Hunters Point was not among the plans of then Councilman McCaffery. The unstated goal was to keep Hunters Point from developing. That kept real property values down. Before Queens West, Census Tract #1 had no human inhabitants.
Look at the promises made first to get Citibank approved. The library is less than optimum. It is a bankers lunch hour retreat. Where, oh where, is the promised park. Go on to look at Queens West. All streets except 54th Avenue were to remain view corridors to Manhattan. Stand on 47th Road and look west. Your view corridor is a large building that takes away the view.
The promised major library is still a wet dream. People want good deeds to happen. Unfortunately they stand back and hope someone else will be the mover. That doesn't happen so they continued to get screwed.
They other day I read that someone thought that Gantry Park could be a cheap alternative to the tunnel between New Jersey and Brooklyn. Imagine losing the State Park for a few years so an underground passage could link the river with the Sunnyside Yards. Years ago I predicted a bridge would connect 5Street & 44 Drive. Could be a reverting to the 1950 freight car movement is my next prediction.
In any case, the village I call Hunters Point continues to be raped in the name of community expansion. My name is Tom Sobczak. I'm not adverse to criticism. Let's debate for the betterment of Queens.
Thomas V. Sobczak, PhD, PE
I am completely against this proposal. I only wish I had a chance to go to the hearing today to voice my opinion.
-Pete
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