Friday, July 26, 2013

Nabe lacks sewers and is buried in horse crap


From the Queens Chronicle:

Caught in limbo on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, members of the Jewel Streets Block Association are frustrated that their community is forgotten by the city and used as a dumping ground by everyone else.

Elizabeth Watt, president of the group, gave a walking tour of her neighborhood to city and state representatives last Thursday, hoping that a message will get out that she wants action.

The Jewel Streets community, which residents have nicknamed “The Hole” because it lies many feet below the grade of Linden Boulevard, includes Sapphire, Amber, Emerald and Ruby Streets between South Conduit Avenue and the Lindenwood development of Howard Beach.

Comprised of fewer than 20 blocks, the Jewel Streets area, zoned R-4 residential, is home to a scattering of residents who are surrounded by vacant lots, abandoned cars, make-shift stables made of truck trailers, and piles of dumped garbage, construction debris and tires.

The community is one of only two small, isolated areas of Queens that are still not hooked up to the city sewer system.

Homeowners and city officials agree that, once sewers are installed, the vacant lots will be snapped up by developers and the neighborhood will get cleaned up.

But Watt hasn’t heard from the Department of Design and Construction or the Department of Environmental Protection since representatives came to her civic group’s meeting in June.

What makes the community unique, aside from the fact that residents are still waiting for sewer construction, is the proliferation of horse stables constructed from old trailers, vans and odd scraps of wood and metal.

The stables, some of which house other animals such as poultry, sit side by side and occupy roughly two or three blocks. Several homes, including Watt’s, are on the lots surrounded by stables.

“If I could afford to move, do you think I’d stay here?” said Watt, who, with several other residents of the area, has had an ongoing conflict with the stable owners.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoever bought a home in the hole (or whoevers parents bought a home in the hole) really should have looked before they bought.

Who the hell buys a home with no sewer in the city? In the burbs & rural areas it makes some sense - cesspool cleaning once a year at a hundred bucks a pop vs hundreds in taxes.

But in NYC? I'm sure those bastards are paying tax they aren't even getting the services of.

Anonymous said...

This borderline Brooklyn-Queens neighborhood was built atop a stream bed and wetland that separated the two boroughs. It should never have been built.

anon123 said...

Vacant lots? I bet Bloomberg would love to relocate undesirable Willets Point businesses over here.

Anonymous said...

Interesting, but this article is from 2003. Any reason for bringing it up now?

Queens Crapper said...

Blog wasn't around in 2003. And even though construction of this system was supposed to begin shortly thereafter and usher in a wave of building, the area remains undeveloped.

I have to say, I find this one of the most fascinating areas of the city.

Anonymous said...

I think the old water tunnel is still under that area that gravity pulled water from Bellmore lake in Long Island via Sunrise under the LIRR, down the center of N and South conduit to a pumping station then up Fountain ave to the Hyland park reserver.
The water was then gravity fed down to Ridgewood % Brooklyn with pipes along the Cemetery border and Cypress ave.
Connecting into the city sewer system may be to complicated since some "who knows what company" may want to buy and reuse them forgotten conduit tunnels.
Driving along sunrise highway west you can still see some of the old firehouse water towers and a "Hump" aside the highway.
That's why N & S Conduit blvd received there names (the tunnels in the center)
I wonder how many mobsters are entombed in it, I doubt anybody wants to open it up !!