Nearly 175 Sunnyside residents—many accompanied by children—turned out for a rally Sunday afternoon in an attempt to save Sunnyside Center Cinemas from the wrecking ball.
Many residents who attended the rally, which took place outside the Queens Blvd.-theater, had been going to Center Cinemas for the past 40 years. They turned out in hope that it would not be demolished and some sort of agreement could be struck between the landlord/developer and the owner of the theater.
The cinema’s last day in operation is scheduled for Jan. 4 , and most believe that if John Ciafone, the landlord, and Rudy Prashad, the owner of the theater, can’t work out a deal by then the theater will be demolished to make way for a seven-story building.
“I grew up with this theater,” said Lisa Deller, a Sunnyside resident, who was at the rally. “I’ve been coming here for 40 years—since I moved to Sunnyside when I was 2 years old.”
Meanwhile, John Siscaretti, 51, who started the online petition to save the theater, went to the Center Cinemas when he was a young child. “My first movie here was Jungle Book,” he said.
The two organizers of the rally—Ty Sullivan and Pastor Jon Stork—made it clear from the get-go that the rally was not an anti-landlord event. However, both wanted to send Ciafone a clear message: Sunnyside is a tight-knit community and that it deserves to know what is going on.
Sullivan and Stork said they invited Ciafone to attend the rally and speak. They assured him that he would be made to feel welcome. He did not attend.
In related news, I got my hands on the renderings for what will replace it...
13 comments:
The are making a big mistake not going after Cathy Nolan and Jimmy Van Bramer for being no-shows.
Oh, those balconies again.
BTW, the rendering was a joke.
good joke.
the way this slimeball promotes himself,you think he was running for office.
I think he will
JQ - He isn't?
God bless America, God bless John J Ciafone, Esq.!
agnostic-not officially,but in bizarro future queens he will be boro president and his partner gina will have lizzie's seat.
that way northwest and middle queens will be the fortress of solitude for the movie and tv industry complete with tiny balconies and rooftop parties
god bless hepatitis C-iafone,god bless queens,I mean it man
you know the rest.for your pleasure...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8fLOJswWtk
Maybe if someone calls 311 and preemptively complains about the illegal advertisements now, by the time the Department of Buildings sends the Special Inspection Team, "SPIT" there they'll catch it/him red-handed?
By all appearances it takes the DOB roughly two years to follow-up such complaints. Best to call 'em in now so they'll be ready come 2017.
Crapper -
I know it's meant as a joke, but I wouldn't put it past Ciafone to try something like that.
Since Crappy was kind enough to tender me this treat, I will respond in kind.
Some screencaps of my favorite DOB violations.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/missheather/sets/72157649928741885/
I have refrained from listing the numerous lack of heat complaints Mr. Ciafone ESQUIRE has racked up.
But I--- and many others--- am/are watching them! :)
Yours truly,
NYS
A little off topic:
About John CIAFONE: he was my landlord at 154 Huron St, Brooklyn in 2008-2009. He was, not surprisingly, evasive regarding issues, constantly telling us something untrue to have us hang up the phone. I called that POS many many times, my roommate also, to try to get our security deposit back. He OWED 1650 USD to us. Never paid. He won, because after many efforts we gave up. Our ceiling collapsed the last month we were there due to a overflow upstairs. My roomate lived with that the last couple weeks. Anyways my roommate said "don't pay last month's rent" and I said "I only do the right thing" and we paid last month's rent, cleaned up the apt. Never paid us what we were owed for security. He is a scumbag and I hate seeing his prom picture all over the place.
Of course Jimmy Van Bramer turned his back on the theater. That is what he is good at. Fronting for developers is his business. Shady Jim took $10,500 in campaign contributions from the Wolkoff family which demolished 5 Pointz to create a mega monster building project. Has he gotten any perks from Ciafone? Merry Xmas councilman.
you say it's a joke, buy I'm sure this is very close to what we can expect. The only thing missing is the nail salon, cell phone store and 99 cent store. Ah, Sunnyside.....
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