Monday, November 1, 2010

LIC: still a work in progress

Haven't we been hearing that LIC was going to be the next great neighborhood for something like 25 years now? Can we can that talk already? Especially when we have genius quotes like this one from Seth Pinsky:

"Look at where Long Island City was a few years ago. Not many people knew it was there. Today, we're at a tipping point for this neighborhood where growth could go from steady to exponential."


Not many people knew it was there? Um, what? Are you talking about just among your friends in the ivory tower?

Exponential growth, eh? And has infrastructure been upgraded to accommodate this? No.

LIC may also be getting fan-muffling equipment. See, not one of our genius city planners or the administration's favorite developers thought a noisy fan would be an issue if the area became residential, so now we're scrambling to fix it.

Why is everything so ass backwards in this city?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe what happens in this city isnt "ass backwards" but maybe YOU Queenscrapper are the one who is ass backwards.

Queens Crapper said...

So you're seriously suggesting that these issues shouldn't have been resolved before opening the floodgates to all the development?

Sounds like someone is either upset that they plunked down a mint for fool's gold or is trying to sell it. Or both.

Anonymous said...

Crapper. You should know better than to engage a clueless troll!

Anonymous said...

"Look at where Long Island City was a few years ago. Nobody knew it was there."

Funny how the EDC, developers and realtors act like they are the ones who "discover" neighborhoods in the outer boros. As if people already living there never existed.

Magically, a neighborhood suddenly exists when it becomes "up-and-coming," "trendy" and people with money move in.

Queens Crapper said...

So you still haven't answered the question. Do you really think that these issues shouldn't have been resolved before opening the floodgates to all the development? Save your shout outs and name calling and stick to the issue at hand. You only seem to pop up when there is a post about LIC, so you must have an interest in it beyond just browsing the website.

Anonymous said...

None of the issues were thought about, planned accordingly and more importantly, planned into the future about Queens West. It went from a small, working class Italian-American residential / industrial neighborhood to one of New York City's most overdeveloped, noisy, overcrowded, overpriced and utterly pretentious places to live in. It has nothing to do with putting down roots and all of trying to flip apartments for the highest possible dollar that started during the real estate bubble of a few years ago and is thankfully over.

Now, there is a serious glut of apartments waiting to be unloaded to the "newest" unsuspecting out of towner. The windows of it's two real estate street level offices are testament to the amount of nervous people who are trying to sell now. Case in point, the travesty that is "The Power House", the old Schwartz Chemical factory. It is slowly being surrounded by buildings that have destroyed it's view. Didn't these people think this was eventually going to happen? Why would someone pay 1.4 million for an apartment that no one will want in a few years unless it was indeed porrly planned out? Typical bad planning that personifies the neighborhood now. Building after building gets financing to go up and then sits there, mostly empty and taking up more of the overburdened infrastrucure, not to mention the absurd amount of electricity those buildings are drawing from the power grid. MORE bad planning.

There is absolutely nothing attractive about this neighborhood now. It only exists to give billionaire developers more tax breaks on the backs of the working class New Yorker that has to make up for the tax losses. Pataki's vision of excess comes true.

There is no parking except if you work for the Police Dept or the MTA. There is only one, very ridiculously overpriced supermarket that no one in their right mind would spend money in when you can go to C Town on Van Alst and pay half price, but heaven forbid, someone who has moved into that immediate neighborhood would actually support the mom and pop business there. That's why The Blue Sky Diner went out of business and countless other small businesses went bust including two bakeries, only to be replaced by a few overpriced pretentious bars and restaurants. Yikes. If I want pretentiousness, I'll go downtown now. Another case of Bloomberg-itis of a neighborhood but at least I can AFFORD a night out on the town in the Village.

L.I.C. was a very BAD experiment that failed miserably. It's totally passe now. And to answer your original question, no it is NOT the neighborhood it claimed it would be 25 years ago. Those days are gone for good.

Anonymous said...

There are so many lies in that story. Infrastructure? Hah? Amazing what these real estate scum will print just for the love of money. Middle class housing? Yeah, if you make 100K per year. And the 4 high rise "parcels" on the river have been stopped due to lack of financing. A lack of financing for one of the hottest neighborhoods?

Anonymous said...

I want to see how much of our taxes are wasted in muffling the LIRR diesel engines!

Anonymous said...

No one complained before, so why should it have been fixed. Although I always liked LIC I wasnt so sure if I ever wanted to live there.

By the way, I live in Glendale and I grew up in Ridgewood but I will be moving soon, not to LIC but Astoria. What does that say about me? Tell me all knowing Crapper, I am on the edge of my seat.

Queens Crapper said...

"No one complained before, so why should it have been fixed."

Because if you are going to move tens of thousands of people into an area, you should have documented this little problem and had an action plan for it in advance of the rezoning, not after someone complains.

I can't believe you come from Glendale and lack such basic common sense but I guess it happens.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I live in Glendale and I grew up in Ridgewood but I will be moving soon, not to LIC but Astoria.


PLEASE stay away. Our overburdened infrastructure could not possibly hold any more of the likes of you.