Sunday, December 1, 2013

Knockdown Center has become an "artful" eyesore


From the Queens Chronicle:
Knockdown Center manager Tyler Myers was present at the meeting but did not speak to the board. However, he believes that the Knockdown Center has been and will be a force for good in the community.

"I have a long history of work in the non-profit sector, experience I am excited to bring to the Knockdown Center’s operations,” he said in an email after the meeting. “In a single year of operation, Knockdown Center has donated thousands of square feet of warehouse space to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for their Hurricane Sandy emergency response operations … and produced fundraisers for organizations like Ugly Duckling Presse, a Queens-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit and registered NYS charity.”
Yes, he worked in the non-profit sector - for Friends of the High Line. You know, the place that's supposed to be a public park, but is increasingly becoming privatized, much like Flushing Meadows. And Ugly Duckling Presse is in Brooklyn. Their corporate filing says so and their website says so. And we're talking Red Hook, not close to the border. But they're used to bending the truth, so we expected this.
"We feel good about the mass transit options there,” Myers said. “Four major bus lines stop within a block of us. There’s an L-train less than three-quarters of a mile from the Knockdown Center. There’s no reason why anyone coming to Knockdown would go through a residential neighborhood; they’d stay on main thoroughfares.”
How do you plan to "contribute to your community" and "build an important home for culture in Maspeth" if you don't expect Maspeth, or any Queens residents, to attend your alleged broad cultural programming? Maspeth is in the direction opposite of where the L train is, sir. And those "four major bus lines" are not very reliable at 2am.

Anyway, these photos show us exactly what you have brought to Maspeth: eyesores.

When I sent her these pics, my friend, Miss Heather, observed:
"It's like hippy meets Fred T. Sanford."

This sits outside the Knockdown Center on a public sidewalk. WTF is it? An "art project"?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes. This is supposed to be an arts center?

Looks more like what the city wants to tear down by CitiField.

Anonymous said...

How long did that scooter have to be sitting there for the tarp on it to have disintegrated?

Tyler said...

Let's see... We want to be an integral part of the community, and get a liquor license, so it's probably a good idea to hang ghetto-looking signs all over our fence. Maybe next we'll hang a mural of a giant middle finger. That should go over well.

Anonymous said...

Ah, Tyler. Let's not forget this gem:

“I’ve spent my adult life being driven out of neighborhood after neighborhood,” Shann pleaded to the board. “I don’t want another Greenpoint, I don’t want another Williamsburg and I don’t need another Bushwick.”

Myers disagrees, saying that as a member of the Ridgewood community himself, he is on the same page as Shann.

“As one of her neighbors in Ridgewood who just started a family and rents an apartment governed by NYC rent stabilization laws,” he said, “I pay close attention to the decisions of the Rent Guidelines Board and personally advocate for ideas on how our neighborhood can reasonably protect affordable housing.”


Then you look at his Facebook page...and it says Brooklyn, just like the fake "Queens" charity he cited.

If they're lying so much at this stage of the game, I'd hate to see what they'd do with a liquor license.

Joe Moretti said...

"It's like hippy meets Fred T. Sanford."

More like hippy meets Fred T. Sanford for a bottle of Ripple in Jamaica Queens.

Anonymous said...

Now, now. I like Fred T. Sanford (and *LOVE* Redd Foxx). The resale of used goods and scrap metal are both laudable (and arguably "green") pursuits.

But if (or in this case WHEN) an "arts center" LOOKS like something I see on Provost Street...

I am guessing they probably need permits to post those signs. That scooter/motor vehicle? That's on public property (the sidewalk). The latter fall under the DOT and DOS's jurisdiction. Good luck seeing any enforcement, tho. That said, they did a smash-up/very professional job posting that DOB permit. Priorities...

-H

Anonymous said...

"By 1998, Ugly Duckling took up residence in Woodside, Queens. Continuing in an open-armed, collective tradition, the press continues to aggregate members to add to its growing skill sets and publications, among them in 2000, the first issue of 6 x 6 in..."

http://www.subitopress.org/archives/419

Queens Crapper said...

Guess you failed to read the rest of that link you posted:

"Ugly Duckling Presse now calls the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, Brooklyn their home."

I do my homework, pal.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the hipsters woke up early today (or never went to bed last night, which is more likely).

If Ugly Duckling Presse lists on their up-to-date website that their address is in Brooklyn, then they are in Brooklyn.

I suppose passing off a Brooklyn charity as a Queens charity is par for the course for a bunch that tries to pass off a Queens venue as a Bushwick one.

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