Today I write to you as a concerned and fed up resident of Elmhurst, Queens! I grew up in Elmhurst since a child and Elmhurst was once a nice residential neighborhood with hard working people and today it is a much different Elmhurst (second largest Asian community to Flushing, both in Queens). Little concern or care from the lower class people who moved in. The remaining who do care, I feel have just given up. Not to mention very little help or attention from elected officials, there should be an incentive to get this neighborhood in shape.
The zoning has never been changed since before my grandmother moved there and she moved there in 1940, so who knows the last time zoning was changed. Therefore you can expect a lot of out character buildings/housing not to mention distasteful and awful looking mess of properties with garbage and so on. Very few people care for their gardens or even have gardens anymore. It is just very sad.
After all this ranting the most important is the infrastructure and care for simple maintenance to bigger issues such as street repairs that are left to worsen. But with constant buildings under construction and projects going on the infrastructure will worsen and so will traffic and congestion. My thoughts are, there needs to be an immediate of downsizing of the zoning (which should of been done along time ago) and community initiative and support from at least our Councilman, Daniel Dromm. Or else all will be lost and I have some hope that things can get better. Since the 90's this overdevelopment and lack of concern has only escalated with no action of reasoning or community concern.
Here are pictures from my block which is Dongan Avenue in Elmhurst, my block is located between Queens Blvd. and Poyer Street. There is a huge sink hole that has been there for almost 2 weeks with no sign of help or concern and believe me it has worsened.
311 was called by a few neighbors but nothing still done.
There is another picture of a city parking sign down, it is completely out of the ground. 
Another picture shows the endless building of apartments in the neighborhood this building being built on the corner of Queens Blvd. and Dongan Avenue (which is above the river in Elmhurst, this project has been ongoing since problems with the water table). My block isn't even in the worst condition compared to many issues in this neighborhood. I just want to show people another neighborhood in Queens that no one seems to care about and is only being abused for profit meanwhile stripped of any beauty. The usual articles are about Jamaica, Flushing or Astoria. Well welcome to my sad Elmhurst. - anonymous
19 comments:
Wasn't a lot of QB rezoned in the 80s? You had a subway that could move a lot of people but zoned the area for low density and manufacturing instead. Doesn't make sense.
Building on Dongan and QB? Short walk to a stop on an underutilized rail line? Sounds like a good place to put people.
And yes, QB local tracks are underutilized, and in terms of subway construction projects increasing frequency significantly would be a relatively easy project.
There is no hope for Queens. Developers are like water bugs . They are all over the place. Call your council leader and community board.
I just want to show people another neighborhood in Queens that no one seems to care about and is only being abused for profit meanwhile stripped of any beauty.
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Thanks to our elected officials and your fear of confronting them.
Once you do that - and get others to do so too - things will change fast.
You don't play you pay.
Wasn't a lot of QB rezoned in the 80s?
Actually it was a decade ago.
Zone a place for 6 stories.
Make a big deal you are down zoning which means you change a 2 story community zoned for 6 into a 2 story community zoned for 4.
You then tear down a 2 story building and, make a donation to a politician to get a variance, and put up a 5 story building with a stupid 1/2 story tower.
The pols can tell everyone they saved their community with down zoning.
The campaign donors can develop to their hearts' content.
The community believes their councilman fought for them.
The community doesn't understand why streets are impassible and blame the mayor ..
The politicians see no problem. Its a transient community of the tweeded that is all but hollowed out with no leadership that complain about quality of life issues.
The fact that it is ugly, chocked by traffic, filthy, and noisy is not the problem for the Man Who Pulls the Strings and lives in Virginia - who reports state is being considered by the Democratic Party for a senior position in Congress.
You know the Democratic Party - the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy - the party of the downtrodden - the one that protects us from the evil gun-toting Tea Party?
You see if he does nothing for constituents who expect even less, he can spend his time doing fund raising for the party and building his resume.
So your community looks like shit.
Who cares that matters?
If you have 311 complaints that aren't being inspected, contact your assemblyperson or councilperson. They can expedite an inspection once the complaint is in. Also, the DOT website has an online complaint form for specific conditions, such as potholes and broken signs/lights.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/contact/customer-service.shtml#report
They used to inspect fairly quickly. I personally have had many loose, noisy steel plates and manhole covers corrected over the years, but their budget's been cut like everyone else's. However, in my own experience with this, they do inspect street and sidewalk conditions and correct them or issue violations. There are just fewer inspectors to go around.
That pothole is bad. Get elected officials involved. They all have constituent liaisons who look into these things.
There is no hope for Queens. Developers are like water bugs . They are all over the place. Call your council leader and community board.
the same council leader that is financed with developers and the same community board where he appoints them?
ok, thanks for the advice!
Yea Queens Blvd. only has been zoned for 6 stories but take a look at all the new buildings, yup they are higher than 6 stories. So what is the point of having zoning??? Not too mention, this article is not just about Queens Boulevard, it is abut the state of Elmhurst as a whole. The issues of the whole neighborhood.
Danny Dromm is too busy advocating for non-citizen voting, banning the ROTC from public high schools, marching for gay pride, etc etc. He doesn't have time for constituent cases.
You mean 3rd largest population of asians....flushing, bayside then elmhurst! Bayside is not flushing, however, it is starting to look just as disgusting as flushing these days!
I grew up in Elmhurst, but currently reside in North Flushing/Whitestone. As a child,I can remember there already being quite a bit of overdevelopment going on, with beautiful, old Victorian houses being demolished and replaced with multi-family homes. But even those early multi-family homes do not fall in the same category as the present-day shitboxes they are constructing and touting as "luxury". I actually lived in in a multi-family home, one of the earlier constructions, but I can describe it as a great house with a nice-sized backyard with room for a garden, a small pool, and a patio with a long picnic table. It also had a garage, a nice basement, and two three-bedroom apartments with large rooms, a big balcony on the second floor, and eat-in kitchens. The first floor was a huge one bedroom, all of it way bigger than these "luxury" apartments containing half the living space, yet marketed as "high end". There is nothing high end about Elmhurst anymore, except for the cost of these "luxury" shitboxes. Elmhurst has become yet another shining example of a how-low-can-you-go neighborhood, consisting of over-priced, shit housing and transients who simply do not care. Can exploitation to this extent realistically ever be reversed? Take me back to a place that even I do not remember, to the beautiful neighborhood with old Victorian homes and horses quenching their thirst at a place where a gentle brook once flowed. Only in our dreams.
So important to get involved in your community and do as much as you can. You never know how other neighborhoods could affect you or make the turn for the worst. Get involved and don't give up, wherever you live. Eventually progress will occur, even if it is small it is still a success and hey you never know things could change for the better. But I do hope this terrible sinkhole gets fixed, I feel bad for the residents of that block, this must be hazardous.
How is the sinkhole hazardous? Go real slow and it's only an issue if you've lowered your car like a douche.
Fixing the sinkhole probably means closing off the street for a bit, maybe temporarily shutting off water or power. Can't do that until after they've given everyone on the block plenty of notice.
It doesn't matter how slow you're going. It's called a sinkhole because it's sinking, and any pressure put on it could make it collapse further.
Anon stated: "Can exploitation to this extent realistically ever be reversed?"
The truth is no it cannot, so much of Queens has been so destroyed by so much crap, low-quality people, developers out to make a buck and the biggest culprit, the elected officials for allowing it to happen and the residents for not taking a stand from the get go.
There is no other city in this country that has had the shit developed out of it and destroyed so much of it, like NYC and a good portion of this took place in the last 10-15 years.
"Anonymous said...
How is the sinkhole hazardous? Go real slow and it's only an issue if you've lowered your car like a douche.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014"
These are the type of people with a mentality that doesn't help or change the system or issues for the better. What a dope.
When all those "luxury" apartments stay unoccuppied, the chinese slumlords can rent them to the city for the homeless.
commentor #1. You have no clue what you are talking about. A-Hole!
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