Monday, June 23, 2008

Welcome to Astoria, aka "paradise"!

Some streets are so shorn of trees they get as bleached-hot in summer as a Greek isle.

Despite its small size — just under two square miles — Ditmars-Steinway packs in five power plants, generating about 75 percent of the city’s electricity. Add the planes at La Guardia and the traffic as prison employees drive on and off Rikers Island, and no wonder some call the neighborhood Asthma Alley.


A Slice of Europe Near the East River

If Manhattan has high-rises and Brooklyn has brownstones, Ditmars-Steinway has one- and two-family red-brick row houses in a style that “I would characterize as nondescript,” said Gerald Caliendo, an architect who works in the area. They have small yards and often contain rental units.

Intermediate School 141 enrolls about 1,080 students in Grades 6 through 8; 51 percent of eighth graders showed proficiency in reading and 69 percent in math.


Does this sound like a place to live or a tweeder's dream?

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

astoria?

i have been in astoria quite a bit lately and althought there some nice blocks and the train service is good the place is way over crowded.

i drive down some of the streets and it just has that feel like i am in elmhurst or corona

way to overdeveloped and very dirty in some spots

but if diverse is what you are looking for look no further

Anonymous said...

A blogger by moonlight under the name Foodista, Ms. Klein was born in Slovakia and says that living in the culturally diverse Ditmars-Steinway are ...

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Why oh why in God's name can you not write about Queens without scaring away people with hot words like 'diversity.'

People see it and read 'immigrant' and think teaming dirty noisy slum full of transients or old out of touch codgers that are very very sure and very very wrong.

Anonymous said...

That is the point. It keeps the community 'safe' for the machine.

You will not get outside troublemakers moving in.

Anonymous said...

He pointed to a profusion of mom-and-pop stores and cafes, which give some streets a whiff of Europe.


A whiff. Its like saying root canal is a bit of work. All the supposed yuppies moving in and you would never know it.

Cafe after cafe (generally with a half life measured in months) open and close with numbing regularity offering Euro-trash envirnment.

When you walk by you see sullen men nursing their sleovic muttering darkly about the Bosnian question.

Hell, contractors need a place to unwind, but if you are a hipster, the understanding is we take your money for rent, but spend your time in the city and don't taint our community.

Anonymous said...

George Delis......hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Anonymous said...

“It’s the hottest area in New York City and the greatest community,” said George Delis, a former district manager for Community Board 1 and lifelong neighborhood tout

That's it George, everyone else is downzoning and you want to pack 'em in.

Anonymous said...

Pistilli, Callendo, Sciberras, Delis

Now there is a 'Panatheon of Promotors.'

You can see right there what the future holds for that community.

BTW, I am surprised they were even able to find that stretch of Ditmars that was not mutilated.

Anonymous said...

Despite its small size — just under two square miles — Ditmars-Steinway packs in five power plants, generating about 75 percent of the city’s electricity. Add the planes at La Guardia and the traffic as prison employees drive on and off Rikers Island, and no wonder some call the neighborhood Asthma Alley. “It’s not fair for one community to bear that burden,” Mr. Vallone said, “and it’s only going to get worse.”

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Well, um, Peter, your community is infamous around the city for being the 'Wild West' when it comes to development.

If you want 20 to 50 story buildings lining the waterfront (and cutting of your constituents)why should Bayside get the powerplant?

They are downzoning.

Anonymous said...

CB1, the community board from hell.

Anonymous said...

When you walk by you see sullen men nursing their sleovic muttering darkly about the Bosnian question.


Not entirely true. A good chunk of the real estate is devoted not to the residents of the community, but to the 2 or 3 generation Greeks that live out on the Island.

The kids come in with their souped-up Mazdas wearing double knits and shades at midnight. About 4 in the morning they leave the clubs fighting with each other.

Really great social scene.

Anonymous said...

Democratic Dictionary:

Calling a community a 'Pair of Dice':


moving into Queens is a crapshoot.

Anonymous said...

so true about the club fighting idiots too

i was coming back late on friday-saturday morning- (i was working)
4:15 am and steinway was teeming with people (club douchebags to be exact)

could not imagine living there near steinway

Anonymous said...

I just hate that the NY times is drawing attention to the strong points of Ditmars. I love this 'hood too but I don't want the pricing to go through the roof (at least until I can buy in).

And i was wondering what a 'tweeder' is? That term is all over Queenscrap, but even in context I am having difficulty understanding what a 'tweeder' is.

Anonymous said...

i was coming back late on friday-saturday morning- (i was working)
4:15 am and steinway was teeming with people (club douchebags to be exact)....

Actually there arent too many greek clubs near steinway...the douchebags you saw were probably some other ethnicity you havent mentioned here yet. It is so nice to see so many "native" Americans here. It is a wonder that you and your families have been here forever, and no one ever immigrated here. It must be nice.

Anonymous said...

It is so nice to see so many "native" Americans here. It is a wonder that you and your families have been here forever, and no one ever immigrated here. It must be nice.
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(yawn)

Anonymous said...

It is so nice to see so many "native" Americans here. It is a wonder that you and your families have been here forever, and no one ever immigrated here. It must be nice.


check out the community blogs and this is your biggest complaint.

Anonymous said...

The difference between today's immigrants and yesterday's immigrants is that the past generations came to Queens and acted as guests, hoping they would become citizens and part of the American fabric. Today's immigrants come here looking to make a quick buck and move on. That's why you get behavior such as this and neighborhoods that look like shit.

Anonymous said...

And i was wondering what a 'tweeder' is? That term is all over Queenscrap, but even in context I am having difficulty understanding what a 'tweeder' is.


we got a newbie here

Anonymous said...

IF you are serious, you can do a search of this website.

keywords:

Ackerman, Gangs of New York.

"to tweed"

any idea how long it will take to get in the dictionary?

Anonymous said...

Sorry, anonymous, the lowlifes that dominate the Queens Crap message boards like to blame everything bad on immigrants!

What they mean by "tweeded" is that they somehow think immigrants are beholden to politicians, such as Boss Tweed of old.

What they apparently don't realize is that new immigrants don't know the first thing about local politics, nor do they care, because they are too busy striving and living the American dream.

The only people who vote for these morons in office are the long-time Queens residents who like to complain about everything (such as the posters on this forum). Do you really think someone who arrived from Mexico or China recently knows anything about Tony Avella or any of these other morons in office?

Truman Harris said...

"new immigrants don't know the first thing about local politics, nor do they care"

That's certainly true. Wasn't Archie that voted John Liu or Hiram Monserrate into office.

Anonymous said...

"they somehow think immigrants are beholden to politicians, such as Boss Tweed of old."

No, they aren't beholden to Boss Tweed of old. They are beholden to the modern day versions of Boss Tweed who hold elected office and pander to their communities. Those who hold the government's purse strings and have made generations of voters loyal to them because of it. Just witness all of the slush fund charities that would not exist if it were not for government handouts. And we have said that the tweeded include American blacks and old white ladies too, who are swayed by a politician who shows up at their senior center and funds a trip to Atlantic City. "Gallagher's grannies" were just such a group.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, anonymous, the lowlifes that dominate the Queens Crap message boards like to blame everything bad on immigrants!
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Us 'lowlifes' Mr Politician, are the offspring of immigrants so its perfectly fine for us to critique an experience (that for most of us) is still within living memory.

The days that you can tweed (with our taxes) without criticism and comment are over.

Muzzling citizens and taxpayers will get you nowhere.

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine this community board is moving into a Pissstilli building?

Don't they have any shame?

Anonymous said...

No they don't.

And it tells you they have written off everything south of Astoria Blvd.

Buenos Noches!

Anonymous said...

"new immigrants don't know the first thing about local politics, nor do they care"


Don't waste everone's time trying to bullshit us. We are not elderly Greeks or Italians that live in the past or believe everthing Mr Bossman tells us.

Listen to you politicans the day after elections as you review the races.

Your comments would make Imus look like a choirboy.

Anonymous said...

"Diverse, vibrant, bustling"....
all the euphemisms that bespeak of a neighborhood in decline!

The same old BS line continues to be offered to the ignorant "tweeded"
constituency by the developers' pol/pals (i.e. La famiglia di Vallone)!

Anonymous said...

As a stay at home mom and asthmatic, I can tell you they're not kidding about the "asthma alley" thing. I know so many asthmatic little kids around here. It isn't a normal amount.

The construction doesn't help either.

Although I am very much settled here, I am seriously considering moving to somewhere where I can breathe properly before my son develops this affliction as well.

Nobody cares about anything but money, but you can't buy air when your lungs are filled with fluid.

Anonymous said...

Although I am very much settled here, I am seriously considering moving to somewhere where I can breathe properly before my son develops this affliction as well.
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That is what they want. Your place will be filled by the tweeded who don't mind.

Queens. Only the desperate need apply.