From the Queens Tribune:
Pomonok Houses is a sprawling 60-year-old public housing development, and Eli Goldstein is one of its earliest tenants. When Pomonok creeps into the news lately, it is usually for the random acts of violence that plague any housing development, or in one instance, garbage that piled up on a handball court. Life there is generally free of the greater strife that plagues the more desperate, crime-riddled developments in the city.
Yet interviews with residents reveal a troubling truth. Life in Pomonok isn’t what it used to be, and relief is not around the corner. Mailboxes are ripped up and not repaired. Toilets are fixed, only to break again. Lolloway, who is unemployed like her husband, lives with her three children in her father’s asbestos-tainted apartment. They are supported by the money her brother brings home, the disabled veteran checks her father receives – he was awarded the Purple Heart – and his pension, which he earned as a retired postal worker.
“We can’t get answers,” Lolloway said. “The apartment looks like a bomb hit.”
9 comments:
Pomonok was once the suburban jewel of the NYCHA system. Now, it's given equal treatment, the same shoddiness as other NYCHA projects.
add agency tag: NYCHA
And our taxes pay for nearly 1million of these apartments...$3 billion a year.
Pathetic!!!!
That place looks like a bomb hit in part because there are 4 adults and 3 kids living in it.
Not saying pomonok doesnt have its share of blight/downs.
But just look at those project cities in places like Brownsville or East Harlem. Then you'll really know what "bad shape" is.
Time to get rid of the projects altogether, raze em!!!
Not only in bad shape, but now threatening frail elderly residents that they must move into smaller apartments now that their families have moved out and they are alone in a two or three bedroom apartment. NYCHA management either does not care or has no clue on how devastating such it can be for a change like this to be forced onto a frail elderly person.
I lived in Pomonok from 1969 to 1987 and left in 1987. I have to say it is stunning to see the changes. It is also loaded with crime. One of the biggest problems is simply age.These buildings are old. Without consistent steady maintenance, they will fall apart. The crime in Pomonok is due to its new admission policy. Years ago, they would only admit working families to Pomonok. Today, that requirement is long gone. By the late 1990's it was going down the toilet. Its so sad to see what has become of it. I remember playing in those courtyards, even at night, not an ounce of fear.
I agree with flushing representer compared to far rock, Jamaica,queensbridge,Brownsville, or south bx it's not that dirty or bad although it still is pretty shady let's not forget its a housing project
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