Betty Davis in the movie "Dead Ringer" had the famous line "What a Dump". Well, if she were alive and saw Jamaica, that is exactly what she would say, well she probably would say, "What a Fucking Dump" and the below photos do not deny this. I mean, doesn't anyone care...... elected officials, community board 12, Melinda Katz who all of a sudden is on the Jamaica bandwagon, but seems to care less about the quality of life issues and the many problems this community has, which many are brought on by bottom of the barrel folks who are the albatross around the neck of Jamaica. I mean don't any of you elected officials, church and community leaders have any fucking pride, are you not ashamed. I mean this shit has been like this so long, I think all of you are used to this ghetto mess and think it is totally normal. It is the same shit, over and over. I mean talk about keeping the black community down and by leaders of color to boot.
So, let's get to the fun stuff.
18 comments:
I don't disagree with the point of this post, but Bette Davis said "What a dump!" in "Beyond the Forest."
Pour another $10 billion into "revitalizing " Jamaica. The $50 billion over the last 40 years just wasn't enough...
Anon 1, thanks for the Bette Davis film correction. Don't want to be like mainstream media and have incorrect facts.
How do you spell ghetto?
J-a-m-a-i-c-a!
It is a population problem, not a host of redevelopment attempt failures.
And on hot summer days, the smell. Oh, the disgusting smell.
Back in the '50s & '60s, Jamaica was a shopping mecca for my mom, and thousands of others who flocked to the big chain stores like Macy's et al
There were even many small stores she favored, too.
When I got married in 1972, mom introduced my wife to some of her favorite stores, including a small "mom & pop" shoe store that specialized in small shoes sizes, which my wife needed.
Anyway, I digress! Even as late as the '70s, Jamaica still had promise. Unfortunately, the number of people who live in Jamaica who actually care about and take pride in where they live has dwindled, and it seems they are fighting a losing battle. I feel for them!
As for the majority of Jamaica residents, I think they are a bunch of filthy, lazy, apathetic slobs who have no sense of neighborhood pride and just don't give a shit!
Again, for the minority of people who are fighting a losing battle against the tide of neighborhood decline, I feel their pain, because even though I did not live in that neighborhood, I remember what it was back when I held mom's hand as a child, and a my wife's hand as an adult while shopping there...
blacklivesmatter
And they want to encourage tourism in Jamaica?
WTF for? Slumming with colorful vibrant diversity?
This looks like a third world, dangerous slum!
I see nothing wrong with what Jamaica looks like. It has that homey and lived in appearance. It's just as vibrant as the rest of Queens.
Wow what a mess but on a positive note there wasn't any graffiti on the wall.
I've seen some really lost and somewhat bewildered tourists walking around near the LIRR, I really wanted to ask them what type of unfortunate events led them to arriving there. Yikes.
Try smelling Flushing, then do a nose to nose analysis whether it's Jamaica or Flushing that wins
the stingiest nabe in Queens title.
Liberty Girl says...
Give me the wretched refuse from your teaming shores.
When you run out, send us your vibrant and diverse.
Any car that is parked in a front yard, sidewalk with NO LEGAL EASEMENT
SHOULD BE TICKETED AND TOWED AWAY BY THE POLICE.
Oh, I forgot, the police don't live within the 5 boroughs so they DON'T FUCKING CARE.
Before I moved to Queens, such photos would have made me think "Oh how awful! This must be the scene of natural disaster. These poor people were subjected to hurricanes or floods, and FEMA hasn't finished making the area livable again. I hope they have emergency housing somewhere far away, because no human being could live like this."
Of course now I know that this is pretty much the norm for many parts of Queens, including my 'hood (Elmhurst). For some reason, so many people** who live in this fine borough are apathetic. From what I can tell, they really and truly do not have any sense of being part of a neighborhood or community. They shut themselves inside their homes, and sh*tall can go on outside, even right on their own property. When I pass dwellings with front yards piled high with age-old crap, I often wonder what the INSIDE of the home looks like. Maybe the inside is pristine, and this garbage dump exterior is meant to deter burglars (and visitors?). I dunno, it's all just really really depressing.
**I know there are a few decent, caring people in Queens who are very upset by such conditions, and work tirelessly to clean up after their neighbors. But they are the minority from what I can tell :o(
But you evil Americans don't get it. We want Queens to look just like the Third World countries we weaseled out way out of. Laws are for Americans not immigrants. We don't have to follow your dam rules.
I used to inspect vacant properties in Jamaica for a contractor for mortgage companies and WOW, the city doesn't do anything to combat dumping in this area. I had one vacant that had thousands of junk tires in the backyard. The fence had been busted down and clearly someone was dumping truckloads of old tires. A series of vacant row houses on South Road had bags of garbage piled 5 feet high on all the front lawns for a block. A house goes vacant in Jamaica and within days someone kicks down the door, wrecks the place and sleeps in the house. This fact was perpetually a problem to get through to some Midwestern mortgage companies I dealt with....they thought I was exaggerating or making it up. It was always dicey to have to enter a vacant house alone with a busted in door and Crip tags all over the walls with nothing but a camera and a smile. This is why I left this job.
Around the same time I also used to repo cars in the area at night so I got to know South Jamaica intimately day and night, the vacant houses, the abandoned cars, the corner boys doing whatever it is they do. It's such a shame, a lot of the houses are really nice...or used to be...or could be again if anyone cared.
As bad as Jamaica as its a country club next to the Bronx, in fact, I took the Q44 over the Bronx during the summer and man what a shock, that place is a shithole that makes Jamaica look like a Brady Bunch town, even saw someone urinate on a sidewalk while people were walking by completely oblivious to this clown who could have walked into the nearby McDonald's and used their restroom.
Not that I am giving Jamaica a free pass because I am not but the Bronx is on a whole other level of crap, Jamaica is surrounded by newly gentrified areas like Forest Hills, Flushing, Astoria, etc, The Bronx well is mostly a ghetto with the exception of Riverdale.
Numerous friends of mine over the years have waved their white flags and have moved on to other parts of the country. A next door neighbor moved to Arizona, a more recent neighbor moved to Virginia, a couple of friends of moved across the George Washington to New Jersey. I myself am thinking of getting out of here too. This city is not for the Middle Class, its for either the rich or for the poor.
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