Friday, December 12, 2008

Young Astorians worried by train loss

The M.T.A.'s budget proposal includes a list of cuts that would target nighttime travel to and from the neighborhood, eliminating the W line, which makes local stops between Astoria and the Financial District; terminating the G train in Long Island City, Queens; and extending late-night wait times from 20 minutes to half an hour. For many young Astoria residents, what could be a quick trip to Williamsburg will become an increasingly daunting prospect.

Dude, Where's My W?

Make friends in Astoria. I heard there are lots of great restaurants there. This guy eats there all the time!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you poking fun at your fellow Queenies again?

Anonymous said...

They deserve it. I have never seen a community so abused by its tin pot leadership, and so afraid to speak out.

Until they do, they will be f*cked over and over and over again.

Anonymous said...

CB1 the community board from hell.

Anonymous said...

I'm probably as angry as I am from years of enduring the shit subway service in this area. Back when the R ran here it was one of the last lines to run broken down, graffiti covered cars.

Now the trains just bypass all the stops since they're not running 'on time'. Things haven't really changed that much.

Anonymous said...

Grrrrrr...
Thanks for point that one out Crappy, I needed something to close this week with a bang:
http://angrynyer.com/?p=701

Anonymous said...

Id rather eat with the hawk than spend too much time in Williamsburger.He has all the good spots right below him and the rats at the trade fair dumpster fill ya up.

Queens Crapper said...

I was going to type a line that says, "I guess service only sucks for those visiting their pals in Williamsburg," but I came home from a party last night too happy. Before there was a W, my friends called the two trains that run there the Rarely (R) and the Never (N).

Anonymous said...

Thank you Crappy, for posting this article!

Wade Nichols lives for pieces like this, fodder for his sardonic port wine infused brain! And on a lovely Friday morning as well!

“The nightlife of Astoria's 20-somethings is at risk.”

Sacre bleu! We’d better get President elect Obama to work on this, first thing, right after he’s sworn in! There’s a reason why us white hipsters voted for this dude!

"So many people live in Brooklyn. Anyone our age living in Astoria is going to have a ton of friends in Brooklyn. And it's just hard to see them."

I'm not a neighborhoodist! Some of my best friends live in Brooklyn!

"It shouldn't be this huge problem that I've chosen to live three miles away from my friends," said Claire Skowronek, an Astoria-based writer and filmmaker who loathed the idea of settling in Williamsburg. "Sometimes I feel like I might as well live in Rockaway!"

Oh the horror! Rockaway! That’s like, ya know, like, so far away, or something, like, whatever! But some of my best friends live in Rockaway!

"I can't tell you how many times I've been in the library or something," said Mark Lebetkin, 27, a graduate student at New York University, "and the next thing I know it's midnight. … And I know immediately that I should have just packed up an hour earlier because it would have been a million times earlier that I'd have gotten home."

Mark Lebetkin is the one ray of sunshine in this article! Mr. Lebetkin reaffirms some of Wade Nichols’ faith in American 20-somethings – a guy who actually studies in the library, until midnight! And he’s that extremely rare breed of American youth – a NON-ASIAN guy studying in the library! There may be hope for this country after all!

Despite Astoria's inaccessibility, no one seems to think local hipsters or young professionals will protest the planned cuts. They're too "jaded," "transient," or "apathetic."

"Whenever I hear reports of 20-somethings advocating in New York for anything," said Mr. Del Senno, "they're just dismissed as a bunch of hipster, whining cry babies. It's never, ever, ever taken seriously."


Youth is wasted on the young. Wade Nichols was once in his 20’s also. Enjoy it while you can!

Anonymous said...

Wow, our friend Wade is back. Seem to be spending an awful lot of time in NYC with lots o time on your hands lately. Wassup?

Now the 20s. What a carefree decade. Isn't that the age that the kids meet mate and move. So what do they care?

Ever actaully been to ASStoria?
Let me give you a tour. We can go to the latest Bangla restaurant, hookah bar, or Mexican bistro.

I understand the kids think these places are really hot - but what can you expect for taste if your raised in Denver or Buffalo or Chicago or some like spot in the American outback.

Anonymous said...

I would post this on astorians.com but they ban bad things. We cannot disturb the suffocating public discourse can we?

http://www.astorians.com/community/index.php?topic=13258.0

"Although I do not find CB1 to be particularly effective, they do conduct regular meetings and you can easily get on their mailing list. They will send you monthly notices."

Exhbit A of why that community is going into the toilet. Useless community board but there is hope - they have meetings!

Good God! If that is all you can expect from your local government dont be surprised if someone believes that you are a dipshit that should get screwed.

Anonymous said...

Seem to be spending an awful lot of time in NYC with lots o time on your hands lately. Wassup?

Yes, I'm spending quite a lot of time in NYC lately, even I must cut my expenses in this unfortunate economic climate.

Rather then have my Gulfstream jet sit idle at LaGuardia, I've leased it to Albert Gore Jr., so that he can fly around the world in style and warn everyone about the dangers of global warming.

Anonymous said...

Real estate in LIC/Astoria is going into the toilet. Understand they are still building .... and the buildings sit all but empty.

Owners still refuse to cut selling prices but do in some cases accept rentals (its temp they say - yes like the mediterrian stucco they clad their buildings with).

Amenities, like shopping and schools are just around the corner, they say. Welcome to Queens, kiddies! Look at the bright side, they cut back on trains but god golly you have some of the nicest bike lanes this side of Paris.

In all the buildings (at Queens West) rentals are creeping up.

All that hard work in keeping the stock up and all you get is zip!

Ant said...

The Q will just pick up the slack for the W, it'll be extended into Astoria.

I hate it when reports try to make a story out of nothing and people feed on it.

Anonymous said...

Ant, you need MORE trains.

Why are you Astorians satisified when something just shows up, no matter how lousy the service?

You guys need to get organized and move your community's management out of that smoke filled room.

Its not 1960 anymore.

Your population is growing big time and from the postings on your community's websites, mass transit is, like the rest of Astoria' services, going into the toilet.

Welcome to the Crapper.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Messr. Wade, why do you always favor the silly young man, with his "library or something"s and his "million times earlier"s, and mock the articulate girl?

Did you not receive enough love from your mommy?

Anonymous said...

Did you not receive enough love from your mommy?

Actually no, but what your mother has given me over the years has more then made up for that!

Anonymous said...

The best is yet to come.

Anonymous said...

I thought that Astoria had everything
in the eyes of the "newbies".

So why do you guys and gals lament the loss of some trains that enable you to travel into Manhattan with "great" speed?

Why not just wine and dine at those colorful, diversely bustling watering holes and cafes on Broadway or Ditmars....h-m-m-m ?

It sounds like some condo sales agents are pissed.

That sort of puts a crimp in their sales pitches now....doesn't it?