The MTA will reroute another bus past its chairman's family-run shopping mall in Queens, defying a community board's 39-to-1 vote against the switch and marking the second such reroute in just over a year, officials said.MTA chief Hemmerdinger gets stop & shop in bus rerouting
Starting Sept. 1, the Q45 bus - which runs from Jackson Heights to Middle Village - will extend its route about 1.4 miles south to stop at the Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale, co-owned by MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger.
In July 2007, the MTA diverted the Q54 a few blocks off its old path so it, too, could stop at Atlas Park.
Critics charge Hemmerdinger orchestrated both reroutes to benefit the mall - run by his son, Damon - despite nearby residents' concerns about noise, traffic and pollution.
"This is like sticking it to the people of Glendale," said Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5. "This is a crazy move that is going to hurt [Atlas Park's] goodwill with the community even further."
The board, which plays an advisory role in city government, voted overwhelmingly against the Q45 reroute on June 11.
A month later, on July 11, MTA Bus President Joseph Smith sent a letter to Giordano thanking the board for its input - but announcing the reroute would still go forward.
Photo from the NY Observer
39 comments:
Disappointing - it will delute the service on the portion that already exists.
I see no benefit in the 45 routing beyond Juniper Park. The line is dead for most of the day and the Atlas Mall destination will not fill it at all and only increase the wait time of riders who wish to get on. The route is much longer and expect delays. A lose - lose proposition for everyone, especially Glendale whom will suffer with more traffic and fumes.
Nice job, Hunperdinkers, you just convicned everyone why you deserve to be put out of business.
i would be pissed if i owned a home on 80th street
oh well queens is toast anyway time to move
Why are vacancies still so high at Atlas? Why are several major tenants making this their last year at this miscalculated center? It's a nice complex and concept but
it won't be long until we see this property up for sale and then transitioned into a discount retail center that would better serve the low-middle income blue collar population that surrounds it.
Hey Damon, go to Bay Terrace and take notes.
It is never a good idea to go against what a surrounding community wants. They are the ones who will support the stores. They did not want the Q45 bus route extended ..... they voiced that loud and clear.
The MTA has made the community very angry. The sad part is that they don't care....they do what they want in the end anyway!
Yay!!
More traffc in an already overcorwded corridor... What's next? Bike lanes?
The surrounding community doesn't care if they extend the bus. A few loudmouths who love to complain about everything are the only ones upset by this.
I've said before, if Atlas were to fail and be replaced with junk stores, that would be a very sad commentary on the surrounding community. Fortunately the place seems to be doing very well and there is talk of expanding into other buildings to bring in more retail.
"The surrounding community doesn't care if they extend the bus."
Why then did an overwhelming majority of CB5 vote against extending the route?
you deserve to be put out of business.
do you think that is going to happen? the 45 is a safety valve for them if the community doesn't support Atlas as is, they bring in crap stores and they can now get crap patrons into them. The obsession with crying at things others can afford to do or have the connections to do is what allows these people to do what they want no matter what the cb or community says. Maybe if there were some sort of positive suggestions offered instead of "NO NO" to everything different, the people who can really get things done, in this case Hemmerdinger, would occassionally listen. this is just the blog that cries WOLF
"The surrounding community doesn't care if they extend the bus. A few loudmouths who love to complain about everything are the only ones upset by this."
Apparently this genius hasn't been listening. The community planning board voted 39-1 against extending the bus and hundreds of people signed petitions. But everyone knows the MTA does as they please.
Damon Hemmerdinger builds an upscale California-style mall not on a main business thoroughfare... no he builds it next to homes in a middle/working class neighborhood. Smart little spoiled rich kid is an asshole! He's proven that over and over again. Carnivals, plastic skating rinks, concerts, money giveaways all haven't worked and won't work because the mall is too small, too specialized, buried and outdoors.
Nobody goes to Hemmersmuck's mall because of the lack of a variety of stores and he charges for parking. The Q45 won't save Damon. A bad idea is a bad idea. Hemmerschmuck's big idea to get even richer went down the tubes.
The Atlas Mall won't make it whether or not the surrounding community likes it or not.
The Atlas Mall won't make it whether or not the surrounding community likes it or not.
and if it doesn't, who loses? putz!
you do. He'll still be much richer than you, lives where he doesn't have to look at a decaying mall. Plus it is definitely better to have tried and failed than to never had tried at all. You people are missing the point , if you don't support the mall you lose big time, it will become worse than ever for the surrounding area. Is it a form of economic hostage taking? maybe but better luck in your next life.
As far as paying for parking if the 45 is going to disrupt so many close to the mall than walk your lazy fat asses, don't bike though, biking is bad, by the way there is a bike shop in Atlas so I guess that's another reason for you all to hate the place.
When Atlas Mall fails and no longer has any tenants, it will be time to exercise some eminent domain on the property.
Let it be a high school, or a hospital, or, among other PUBLIC purposes, be home to a new police precinct.
In any event, it will be a decision for the community to make.
How 'bout that, Commissar? You want to experience the joy of land grabbing? Here's an opportunity to transfer land from a moronic and corrupt owner for use by the public?
Do you have the balls to take land from a wealthy developer?
Or are you frightened that he will throw a tantrum and make you tinkle in your pink panties?
Oh. Why wait until the mall fails. Do it now! You didn't wait for the Iron Triangle to fail. Your developer cronies want the land, so you steal it for them.
Oh. Oh. Oh. Now I remember; you prefer to steal land from successful property owners to transfer it to clearly incompetent developer cronies who pay you for the theft.
People aren't supporting the stores because the economy is in the toilet and everything there is way too expensive. There's a Big K, Conway, Toys R Us in Middle Village with a nice big FREE parking lot. Where do you think the working class is going to shop?
This was meant to draw in the Forest Hills crowd. They didn't come. With your warped way of thinking, it won't be the failure of Glendale, it will be the failure of Forest Hills, Hemmerdinger's target market.
Where are you getting this idea that the mall isn't doing well? Do you just make things up out of thin air? The mall seems to be doing just fine when I go by there. I can't believe some of the comments from the small-minded ones here that middle-class/working-class people don't want nice stores, they just shop at cheap junk places or low-scale cheap places like Conway. Speak for yourselves, because most people I know in the area like a lot of the stores that are in Atlas.
"Where are you getting this idea that the mall isn't doing well? Do you just make things up out of thin air?"
Maybe it's the ghost town atmosphere. And for the store selection, most people aren't plunking down $80 for a t-shirt or paying $200 for a pair of shoes.
"I can't believe some of the comments from the small-minded ones here that middle-class/working-class people don't want nice stores, they just shop at cheap junk places or low-scale cheap places like Conway."
I shop at Sears, Big K, Bed, Bath and Beyond, JC Penney, Macy's. None of these are in Atlas. What's in Atlas is pretty much the same but at twice the price because it's in a store with a fancy name.
I have lived in Glendale my entire life. We did fine when this place was a truck depot and we'll do fine if this mall fails, which it will because of the general disregard for the neighborhood.
store selection, most people aren't plunking down $80 for a t-shirt or paying $200 for a pair of shoes
truly an ignorant statement, just because you don't pay doesn't mean people aren't. You people gloat about not being tweeded yet you flock to big box stores instead of local shops? the extra you pay could be recycled into the neighborhood, I'm not just refering to Atlas now but all local stores. Free Parking WOW.
the idiot who thinks Atlas will be taken over under eminent domain or should be, typifies the small minded person who should just breath, pay taxes, bitch in private and then die.
warped way of thinking, it won't be the failure of Glendale, it will be the failure of Forest Hills, Hemmerdinger's target market.
either way who LOSES? genius
"truly an ignorant statement, just because you don't pay doesn't mean people aren't. You people gloat about not being tweeded yet you flock to big box stores instead of local shops? the extra you pay could be recycled into the neighborhood, I'm not just refering to Atlas now but all local stores."
I know people aren't because in the neighborhood you hear, "Atlas is nice to walk around in but the stores are too expensive." And the place is pretty much dead outside the movie theater and restaurants. The idiot Hemmerdingers rerouted the Jackson Heights bus instead of the Forest Hills bus, when their target market is Forest Hills. HELLO??
How exactly is Atlas helping stores outside of Atlas? There are no other stores in close proximity. And people shop where they can afford, especially these days; it's not a matter of choice. But maybe you have all this extra money to spend, so you can have Atlas to yourself.
"either way who LOSES?"
The Hemmerdingers do. Glendale was fine before Atlas Park, it would be fine after.
Let it be a high school, or a hospital, or, among other PUBLIC purposes, be home to a new police precinct.
any you kidding? this group went nuts when they were going to put a HS where restaurant depot was, and that area would have been fine except for the????, a hospital ? right I'm sure they won't put a low income wing in there, wait til their guests are trolling around glendale. a police pct? the area is bigger than 1pp now. All three at once, what about the traffic problems? Good thing would be that between the D- students from latino ville, the visitors for the migrant worker who needs stomach surgery on your dime, and the people coming down to get their little angels out of a holding cell they'll use the shit out of the new 45 route.
so you can have Atlas to yourself.
stop typing and go to Atlas right now, you will not find a ghost town. The WOPS in MV are buying $80 shirts like Mussolini was going to rise again.
The Hemmerdingers do.
that's truly wishful thinking by an obviously jealous person
I know it's busy tonight; Friday and Saturday typically is. It's the rest of the week that's dead. And the comment about the Hemmerdingers was not jealously, just fact. They own it. If it tanks, they lose.
Hey. Guess who paid for the Atlas Mall--we did!See the NYTimes article this week on brownfields in which Demon Humdinger is quoted as saying that without the incentives it would not have been built.
I have news for everyone - Atlas is not some high-end place. This isn't Bergdorfs. It is mid-scale, but a big step up from the Conways of the world. There are plenty of people in the area that make the money to shop at the stores in Atlas.
Glendale was fine before Atlas. Sure, but it was boring and lacked nice retail. Atlas is a major plus to the area and most people are very happy it is there.
"You people are missing the point , if you don't support the mall you lose big time, it will become worse than ever for the surrounding area. Is it a form of economic hostage taking?
WTF, we should support a mall that's overpriced, has a poor selection of stores and that's half empty? The place is a ghost town. Anybody that kids themselves into thinking that the Atlas Park mall is doing well must be blind or Damon Hemmerdingleberry. Just talk to the owners of Amish Market and Shiro's. They blame "that asshole" Damon.
We in Glendale were fine before Atlas and we'll be fine after Atlas. Get off this blog Damon and crawl back to your pathetic existence while you suck ass in Forest Hills. You made a colossal $100 million mistake. Leave Glendale out of your hair brain schemes to expand your mistake.
Damon Hemmerdinger is a smug little rich kid who has had everything handed to him. Don't feel sorry for him. He got what he deserved.
It is amazing that some of these commenters would be proud if their community would rather shop at junk stores than nice mid-scale shops. How embarrasing. Thankfully most of the residents of Glendale and Middle Village are glad to have the options available at Atlas. The same people that in one breath say it is a ghost town in their next breath say it has too much traffic. Inconsistent? Hypocritical?
The traffic is on the streets, not inside the mall, dumbass.
Sure . . . the mall is causing people to go there to drive all around the mall, but never actually go in . . . Another genius comment.
There are now lights where there were no lights before because of the mall. This causes the backup in traffic flow past the mall. Cooper and 80th Street were always busy. Now they are busy and backed up.
You Atlas Park haters make me sick. I love Atlas, go there and shop there all the time, and it's very busy on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
You should be proud of the unique center in Glendale - not hating on it all the time.
Pathetic.
"You Atlas Park haters make me sick. I love Atlas, go there and shop there all the time, and it's very busy on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays."
Again, you must be vision impaired or Damon Hummerdingleberry.
If the mall fails they will turn it into condos - I would want to live there if they did that, it would be very pretty to wake up in the morning and see the fountains Take the Q45 right to Roosevelt and hop on the train to the city.
I know that the Damon Hemmerdinger jerk was buddy buddy with the planning board head Vince Arcuri and the disgraced Council Man Dennis Gallagher.
Both were and are still up Hemmerdingers ass.
Damon looks a little like a gay demon in this snap.
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