Thursday, October 3, 2013

5 Pointz at the City Council


From WPIX:

It’s really just a warehouse on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. Some businesses operate in and out of it.

Technically, the address is 22-44 Jackson Avenue, in an M1-5/R7-3 District, within the Special Long Island City Mixed Use District in the Borough of Queens, Community District 2, Council District 26.

Most people know it because of its exterior.

It’s visible from the 7 as our trains enter and leave the borough.

Most everybody calls it “5 Pointz.”

The owner, Jerry Wolcoff, says the building will be coming down.

No approval is needed for that.

However, a plan to build taller structures (40-story towers) on the site does need NYC Council Approval. Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer held a hearing today. Artists spoke about the significance of the site. Supporters of the new plan praised the economic impact from the new construction and development.

The full council will vote on the request for taller towers this month.

10 comments:

Jerry Rotondi said...

"Mendacity and tokenism" on the part of the owner-- is how I began my testimony yesterday.

This whole charade--presided over by Mark, who is considered the "smarter" of the 2 Weprin boys--was the usual dog and pony show.

Promises, promises, and more promises were issued by the owner's reps--that this overblown project is for the good of the community!

We all know that such promises are made to be broken.

Then there was a freak tent side show of a few union boosters--harking that this project will create jobs.
H-m-m-m-m--more of the usual!

The elder Wolkoff is already in trouble with the unions out in Suffolk county for using non union labor on his Pilgrim State project.

I concluded by pointing out that councilman Jimmy Van Bramer received campaign contributions from the Wolkoff family, and that he should recuse himself from voting on the Wolkoff's project--for which council member Weprin chastised me for making it "personal".

Then Weprin quickly defended "Jimmy" as being a great councilman. If I were a developer, I'd think him a great councilman too.

I beg to differ with you, councilman Mark. This issue is extremely personal, and rightfully so!

These council club members--or councilmen, if you prefer, are there on my dime!

They park their asses in the city council chamber because we hired them.

My tax money runs NYC. So if I smell corruption, isn't it my civic duty to point it out?

I was consoled that Councilman "Jimmy" turned a bright shade of red! His ears looked like signal flags.
NOW THAT'S PERSONAL!

I hope you're reading this councilmen.

Thank the Lord for Queens Crap. It's where the people attain real enlightenment into what's going on in their borough.

Bless you, Crappy!

Anonymous said...

If it comes down, the site will remain a vacant lot eyesore for years.

How is that good for the community, councilman Van Bramer?

And with the high water table and toxic ground beneath it, excavation will become a mammoth expense, for Wolkoff, or whoever he intends to flip the property to.

Has anyone been there recently?
Drilling rigs are all over the place. They've put more holes in the ground than a wild cat oil prospector.

Wherever there is a monitoring well, there are toxins in the soil. There are at least 4 of those at 5 Pointz.

No, this ain't gonna all be happening so quickly!


Anonymous said...

Gerald Wolkoff was blowing hard yesterday...from all of his blow holes!

Junior Wolkoff tagged along.
That nerd has got nothing on his tough daddy...except that he married Stephanie Winston, of Harry Winston Jewelers fame..

Big Jerry is running the show...though little David purports to be the runner of G&M Realty.

Anonymous said...

Too bad it can't revert back to being the Neptune Meter Company. In its day, the world's largest manufacturer of water and steam gauges. A different Long Island City, a different Queens, and a different country.

Anonymous said...

Yes Jerry Queens crap does serve a purpose, but you keep voting for same losers in the same party! Deja vu all over again. At least write in your vote as a matter of protest. We can all talk these corrupt politicians and their developer friends to death but unless we can keep them out or remove them Queens Crap is a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

Talking about them is fine - at least it starts the process of hollowing them and their bullshit myth out.

It takes a long time to bore through cement that has been sitting a long long time.

But Crappy is doing it one word at a time and one reader at a time.

Jerry Rotondi said...

Excuse me--
I DID NOT VOTE FOR THE SAME LOSERS.
You must be clairvoyant--for how did you know which candidates I have pulled the lever for?

Very 1060s--writing in a "protest" vote is like farting in the midst of a hurricane.
Nobody notices your meager wind expulsion.

AT LEAST I SPOKE MY PIECE IN THE CITY COUNCIL--where the news media was present

Were you there to protest what was going on?

Anonymous said...

Why does everyone prefer that freaky dump that's there now to a normal building with normal people living in it?

Jerry Rotondi said...

I just spotted my my tiny error.
I always like to correct my mistakes whenever possible.

I meant 1960s not 1060s.
How did that boo-boo get by my proofreader?

Anonymous said...

How much did Van Bramer , Conley or Wolkoff pay you for your freaky comment?

NO NORMAL person I know would live in a "luxury" condo on toxic land in such a noisy location...unless they were on drugs.

I can see buying into a nice western view...in one of those Queens West condos...where you get the unique NYC skyline to marvel at in the golden glow of sunset.

Buying a Wolkoff special next to the rattling #7 line ain't my cup of tea.

Are you a real estate sales agent, perhaps, hawking this loser of a project?

Anyway, the buzz around the real estate bizz is, that Wolkoff intends to flip the property, as soon as he obtains his zoning variance.

Jerry Wolkoff doesn't have that kind of money to build such a behemoth. This slumlord, compared to other real developers such as Rockrose, is practically bankrupt with his Nassau County fiasco.