Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sad stroll down 58th Avenue

Before
After
Before
After

(Apologies for the lack of photo of the old Maspeth United Methodist Church. It used to have a giant tree in front of it nearly blocking out the whole building, so a drawing was the best I could find.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeech, that used to be such a nice block, a door to the past. Sad.

Anonymous said...

Those utility meters are a nice accent.

Missing Foundation said...

This is a direct result of the complete lack of community preservation in the city - except for a notable minority of savvy well heeled areas.

In Queens we are told that everything is better if its new - so say our newspapers, our elected officials. We see that all the laws that were passed for good housing and building strong communities are now looked at to circumvent. We see our taxes not being used for our communities, but to displace us and subsidize development. We see all the think tanks on urban studies have been hijacked by the development lobby.

Only the most elite communities that have managed to preserve the principals of community preservation for their neighborhoods.

These areas do can do a tremendous help to Queens with advice and ideas.

They don't.

They could be in Timbuctoo as far as we are concerned.

Why?

Its true that they need our councilmen to support them with funds and this might be cut off if they help us.

This should not be fatal - they have the money to neutralize the petty pathological Van Bramers and Vallones that grow in the petrie dish of Queens politics.

They know it would be a waste of time for them to share with us their access to information and know-how on how organize to get the word out.

They know that these things seem to be beyond the reach of Queens.

They wince at the local talent's efforts as we stumble around frittering away every opportunity, or worse, have complete loss of self respect when a pol strolls into a room.

They roll their eyes as Archie and Edith blather nonsense, and those that dare to try are stabbed in the back for a paternalistic pat on the head.

We have earned the attitude that rest of the city has towards Queens: 'forget it Jake, its Chinatown.'

Until and unless we change, things will only get worse no matter how hard we pathetically 'hope.'

Anonymous said...

Where are the satellite dishes. Judging by the number of people supposedly living here , there should be no fewer than 8. Queens: Vibrant. Diverse.

Anonymous said...

"Missing foundation" is absolutely dead on about what's the problem with preservation in Queens. It's a terrible terrible state of mind residents and politicians have in Queens. It just makes me angry when I think about it.
Well it's not much but I started a fb page just to spread info on Queens historical and community events, old houses for sale, and information on preservation. Feel free to post anything or join. https://www.facebook.com/oldhomesQUEENS?ref=hl

Anonymous said...

the church burned downed.Did you really think they were going to rebuilt for a community that doesn't go to the church.
It's all about the $$$$
As for the other house I'm sure they were lifelong residents who cared about the community.
Ha

Anonymous said...

I could swear that queens has changed for the worst! Ever since more Hispanics and Greeks and Asians moved to nyc, the houses have gotten more expensive but look 10 times shittier looking! Vibrant and diverse my ass!!

Anonymous said...

Let's leave the Greeks out of this. For now, anyway.