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The Crap-O-Sphere ("Crappy")
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98 comments:
Our rally was a success and had great coverage from the press as well as significant support from Broadway-Flushing homeowners, neighboring civic and homeowner associations and numerous elected officials. Now we have to follow up and make sure that the Landmarks Preservation Commission does its job for once. Their record in Queens is abysmal and their hostility towards suburban housing is well-known.
Frankly, if I were on the City Council right now, I would be calling for an oversight hearing - as former CM Perkins did in 2006 - to call into question the entire validity of the vetting, or RFE, process for landmarks and historic districts; how decisions get made internally at the LPC; the validity of the "research" department, which essentially consists of one individual acting as gatekeeper; and call for the demand for equity of consideration for the 50% of the city that is suburban in nature, including most of Queens and Staten Island as well as significant portions of Brooklyn and the Bronx, and the end of the double standard that has destroyed so many of our neighborhoods.
A few corrections that need to be made:
In the Queens Tribune article, the Vice President of the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association who is quoted and referred to is Maria Becce, not Janet McCreesh.
The Queens Chronicle article has a rather large mistake pertaining to the deed restriction bill that Paul Vallone has introduced. I spoke to the reporter, Anthony O'Reilly, and explained to him what the error was but as of this posting it has not been corrected.
The article states:
'In semi-related news, Avella and Vallone clashed on a bill the councilman is proposing to protect deed-restricted properties — such as those in the Broadway-Flushing area.
Vallone’s bill would require the Department of Buildings to review any deeds or restrictive covenants placed on a house before issuing any permits for demolition or alteration. Many homes in the Broadway-Flushing district have covenants and restrictive deeds requiring certain lot sizes.'
Vallone's bill does no such thing. It calls for the creation of a "deed restriction registry" at the Department of Buildings. That's it. There is no enforcement of the deeds by the Department of Buildings or even a check box so that the DOB would notify a property owner - or developer - that there is, in fact, a deed restriction on a particular property. It is, unfortunately, a giant waste of time disguised as a bill which, according to Vallone in his press release, is a "tremendous victory for neighborhoods under any restrictive covenant," which is utter nonsense.
The link and actual language is below for anyone to read, so you can decide for yourself how effective this bill could possibly be:
- http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1709725&GUID=289C3B00-63DF-4A31-A862-80AF81D61F2F&Options=ID|Text|&Search=restrictive+covenant Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Article 103 of title 28 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 28-103.14.2 to read as follows:
§ 28-103.14.2 Registry of restrictive covenants. The department shall maintain a registry of all filed deeds containing restrictive covenants and shall make such registry available to the public during regular business hours.
§ 28-103.14.2.1 Filing of restrictive covenants with the department. A deed containing a restrictive covenant may be filed by the owner of the premises subject to the restrictive covenant or by a neighborhood association, civic association, or other similar entity whose area of geographic concern, as set forth in its certificate of incorporation, charter or other relevant organizing document, encompasses the premises subject to the restrictive covenant.
§2. This local law shall take effect immediately upon enactment.
Paul Graziano
We need landmarking status now!!! We need Tony Avella's enforcement bill passed now!!
While his intentions are good, Sen. Avella's proposals often go nowhere, could it be because he's reviled by his fellow lawmakers in Albany?
Excellent rally! Very good coverage!
Now....Councilman Vallone....let's talk turkey....no excuses....no compromises. Step up to the plate!
You are either FOR the creation of a municipal historic district , in its full glory , or you will be seen as AGAINST it!
The resident voters WILL not take kindly to a booby prize of accepting a smaller historic district.
I have served on many boards of neighborhood and historic preservation groups and know the real score.
The LPC has done everything in its power possible to avoid Queens.
PROVE that YOU are for the very neighborhood YOU live in. Support the district in full!
Convene, IF YOU DARE, an oversight hearing into the LPC.
ACTION, not words or the introduction of half measures....is the only currency that will be accepted here!
Not to bore any readers, but here are MY credentials (since 1986) as a bonafide preservationist.
President, Committee To Save The RKO Keith's Theatre of Flushing Inc. (a New York State not for profit corporation); Member of the boards of trustees of the Queens Historical Society, Queensboro Preservation League, and the Fort Totten Conservancy.
Also served with the Coalition For A Planned Flushing.
So...DO NOT try to bamboozle us that YOU, a NYC Councilmember, have little power to get Broadway landmarked!
Don't you see what Vallone is trying to do?
He is pulling the wool over your eyes. His bill is useless.
Providing a mere registry of deed restrictions puts the expense for defense right back in our pocketbooks!
As far as a landmark district goes. Vallone will feign great interest but sell you out as he has done in the past to other neighborhoods within his district.
He will offer a greatly trimmed down historic district. This will please a few residents and greatly please his many developer clients.
Vallone needs our votes. Vallone also needs developer money to fund his re-election campaign.
He will remain sitting on the fence of trying to please you and the developers.
It will be a simple matter of calculation. Votes versus campaign contributions.
As far as loyalty to his constituents...LOL!
A lawyer is most faithful to the retainer fees paid to him. Vallone is a developers' lobbyist.
Representing you over them is his MO.
The longer you allow Vallone to stall the issue of landmarking, the quicker you lose the beautiful grace of your area.
Vallone is playing a compromise stalling game with a lot of you poor dumb slobs. Yes, that's the way he views you.
The sooner you you learn to recognize this, the better equipped you will be to win the war of Broadway's preservation!
Avella had to carry the ball with a rally.
Vallone heard about it and tried to scoop him by holding a tour with the LPC.
How come Vallone waited so long to finally have to be shamed into taking action?
Do not be fooled. Vallone and LPC have cooked up some kind of deal that will be helpful to them, not the residents of Broadway
You are at the beginning stages of being sold out once again.
A new LPC chair and a new mayor mean nothing without BFHA and Broadway's residents keeping the heat up and turning it up even higher.
This rally, etc. is just a momentary gain. Victory will be achieved when the nabe is finally designated according to plan.
Now don't sit on your asses, BFHA, because you think you've gained an edge here.
This was just a skirmish. You won this mole hill.
Now drag your artillery to the mountain top and blast away!
Laziness or self content will lose you what you've just gained.
Keep the issue alive. Keep it in the press. No time for preparing to settle down for a long winter's nap!
Senator Avella's proposals go nowhere?
Hmmmmm...a Vallone troll is up early posting this weekend.
Vallone is a carpet bagger
"While his intentions are good, Sen. Avella's proposals often go nowhere, could it be because he's reviled by his fellow lawmakers in Albany?"
Are you joking or getting paid for this post?
All of us know that Avella is a great guy and does eveything he can for his constituents. No, I don't live is his district, but he does more than others.
Vallone? Really? He has done nothing for his people.A lot more for his (developer) clients.
Regards to Jerry and Paul, you guys are great!
"While his intentions are good, Sen. Avella's proposals often go nowhere, could it be because he's reviled by his fellow lawmakers in Albany?"
Avella stands up against the real estate industry. Many of his co-workers in Albany are the hand picked servants of that industry. So maybe he isn't very popular up there.
He is very popular down here, and just won an election with basically no money or Crowley machine support.
Now I address Peter Koo. His REBNY backed bill to gut the LPC has been noted.
Councilman Koo can now make amends by supporting the complete landmark district requested by Broadway residents in the city council and prod the LPC to calendar it for a hearing.
Broadway Flushing was good enough for the federal government to declare it a national historic district. It was good enough to be put on the state register of historic places.
Does the NYC LPC dare to overiride their determination of its worthiness?
Unless BFHA (some of its Polyannas) don't wise up to this time sensitive crisis, and Paul Vallone screwing them, PDQ......both the nabe and that organization will be history in four years. If BFHA survives, after it has exhausted its Rickert Finlay legal defense fund, it will be as an old ladies auxiliary type organization.
Welcome wagons and social teas will be their only forte.
The people with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ who have been replenishing the BFHA legal fund will have aged out or moved.
Thems the facts, folks. Smarten up. Get viral on Vallone's ass. Or perish.
I know there is at least one BFHA tea and crumpets hostess that will balk after reading this.
TOUGH SHIT! That's life. Get with the program!
Jeez VERY disturbing it appears not one single person under age 50 is in attendance. (with exception of the woman wearing the 60's striped go-go shorts)
Are young people ignorant to whats going on, dont give a shit about their civic duty or do they feel watching baseball is more important? Where are they ? They done care ? Can anybody s'plain me or give a valid reason other then the above ?
I thank Avella and Pauls efforts but at this point I say to hell with it. Let all the stupid lazy young people get what they deserve. The photo is proof of that !!
-Very disappointed
If Avella is reviled in Albany.....which I really doubt.......
it would be by a few of crooks that he has been exposing.
Avella rocks! Vallone sucks!
Vallone is coasting on his family's reputation, which ain't really much.
Brother Pete is a developers' lobbyist too.
Pappa Vallone, well, let's not get into that. It's irrelevant at this point.
All of these entitled poitical dynasties need to be flushed.
Uh....Stavisky too! She supported Leonard Square turned into Koreatown Plaza.
Then she criticized Avella because he thought it was a bad idea to close a street to create the plaza.
Really, Toby?
There were one hundred people there. WTF does it matter how old they are?
When I was young, and first moved to Broadway, my schedule was very busy.
It took me three years to attend my first BFHA meeting.
You sound very much like a bitter malcontent or a REBNY troll trying to bust chops and demoralize the residents.
If you have no faith in life, then sit down and wait for the grim reaper to pay you a call.
Blah, blah, blah.
From Vallone and his trolls!
Shutupayouface Don Chooch if you won't fully support a historic district, stop urging your trolls to post.
We gotta you number Walyo.
Wait until election time rolls around.
Broadway better be calendared or it's a you ass in defeat.
Paul Graziano for Paul Vallone's seat!
Vallone = neighborhood destruction.
Graziano = neighborhood preservation.
Very Disappointed, Queens has become a housing market most young people are priced out of. They can't afford the houses their parents bought 30 years ago when they were the same age. This is a big reason why they don't seem connected to the community. Believe me, a lot of us would stay if we could. But it became apparent to me and many others who grew up here years ago that trying to fight the changing neighborhood is a losing battle.
Most kids can't afford the houses their parents bought. Are you stupid or something?
Nobody really cares if a neighborhood changes. That's what they're supposed to do , dummy.
If the nabe is landmarked the housing won't deteriorate into a collection of brick boxes.
People appreciate good architecture no matter what.
And that is what it's all about. A battle is never lost until it's lost.
Or, as the great Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over!"
Now...go peddle your negative horse shit elsewhere!
LOL! The Vallone REBNY trolls are working overtime, and on a weekend.
Somebody is pissed off that the don is being pointed out to be a phony.
Hey, Don Vallone....waddaya offering these idiots to post...the promise of an internship?
Whose gonna pay for their kneepads?
I happen to be posting on my I-pad at a Korean cafe on Northern Blvd.
I am of Italian extraction...an Italian-American....if you will. I live in Broadway and am a senior citizen, as defined by my age.
I am having a great time enjoying myself. Get the fuck out there and enjoy yourselves.
I would enjoy my neighborhood better if there were not so many tear downs of irreplaceable architectural treasures.
Only the creation of a municipal landmark district can preserve the beauty of Broadway for all and all of the generations to come.
Kneepads....I love it!
You mean that they have to give Paulie a daily BJ to prove their loyalty?
Where is Adam these days?
Not trying to be negative or diminish the efforts to landmark Broadway-Flushing. I am with you 100%. I was just offering Very Disappointed some perspective as to why more young people were not involved in the rallies. It isn't as simple as they are stupid and lazy or watching baseball. It goes way beyond that, and the multitude of factors that prevent a lot of us from staying in the Queens neighborhoods in which we grew up are well covered by this blog. By all means, keep fighting the good fight.
"Are young people ignorant to whats going on, dont give a shit about their civic duty or do they feel watching baseball is more important? Where are they ? They done care ? Can anybody s'plain me or give a valid reason other then the above?"
They all joined the Falun Gong cult. They don't need to protest because their mystical leader will take care of everything.
Yep....there always appears to be that one person who, in place of psychotherapy, uses this site to vent their spleen about the good old days and these bad new ones. Even if you're 30 years old, which we doubt, you sound like you're over 50. Say something positive or say nothing.
Maybe all the young people are working their butts off trying to pay their mortgages and have barely enough time to breathe.
Stop making assumptions peppered with bitterness if you do not have the full picture of what is really going on.
Instead of bitching online, maybe you should move your own ass and do more to improve things.
Talk is even cheaper online. Action requires effort. Are you an armchair complainer who is only good at directing others to do his job?
See if this scenario sounds at all familiar, especially if you live in Northeast Queens. Older, long-time homeowner puts a house down your block on the market. Multiple offers are likely made but rather than deal with a pesky bank, the agent advises they take the cash offer. (You'd have to be crazy to sell to anyone who needs a mortgage!) A month later the plywood fence goes up, permits are posted showing an architect and contractor with a Flushing address. Within days the sold house is gone. I've seen it happen three times in my immediate neighborhood this year alone. Sadly, the old folks are cashing out at what seems to be an increasing rate. Most of them want the suitcase full of money. But tell us again how the young people are the problem.
The old folks are dying and their boomer children do not want to live in a Third World Ghetto.
Queens sucks!
No one speaks English, there's no American culture (yes, contrary to what some of the moronic vibrant & diverse think, we actually have one), the food and shopping suck, and the foreigners are destroying the look of the neighborhood! They demolish beautiful Tudors and Arts & Crafts cottages, kill every tree they can, pave over the backyards, put up white plastic fences and butt-ugly shiny metal gates!
Who in their right mind would want to stay???
The spotlight must also be shined on the unscrupulous actions of the real estate agents in the area. The same ones who stand in front of Marino Brothers offering free ice cream parties.
As someone who grew up in the area and has made three offers on houses only to be "outbid" I've learned first hand that these deals are full of back room agreements and under the table payments.
Who in their right mind would want to stay???
The same was said about Bushwick five years ago...
"Who in their right mind would want to stay???"
I agree there are many other places in America to raise a family. Why live with with "Crap" if you have a choice. Bushwick will take many more years to be safe.
You you want to see what's left in Bushwick take a walk at midnight and get back to this blog and let us know what you find.
Anonymous
If you think Avella is reviled by other lawmakers then you're probably right he does make other electeds uncomfortable and what I have learned after following Avella's career for the last 20 years is that he tells the truth and yes some people can't take the truth and don't want to know. Avella's got guts and i'll take guts over luke warm fakes promises and smiles any day of the week.
So the young children move out to Nassau County where the taxes are at least double and the gangs (MS 13, etc.) have claimed as their turf. Then come the costs of commutation to Manhattan where their are jobs to pay their mortgage. LOL! Snart move...eh?
Or they move to the Carolinas where land is cheap, jobs are few, and culture is wanting. Ah yes, the Carolinas. It has become the retiree's retreat.
Florida is no longer the "God's waiting room" destination of choice.
Yes, Judy and her ice cream parties. Doesn't she also have a home in Connecticut?
Maybe that's where she'll move after she's milked this nabe. That obnoxious plump little dumpling is a real low class broad.
I can remember her using her own newl born on an ad flyer. It went something like , "Judy delivers results".
Enough said.
Do not forget that it was Marino Bros. who wanted to tear down two adjacent houses that they own to expand their market.
Parking lot included! The threatened boycott brought them to heel. It would have violated the area deed restriction. Now they're meek.
In 1978, when I bought my Broadway home, everybody was making a bee line for Long Island. Wah, wah, wah...NYC is dead.
At the closing, my realtor asked me how I knew that NYC was "coming back" in desireability as the place of choice to live?
I answered him by saying that his myopic view was based on the commissions that he gets off of each sale and that he was not looking at longer term value. Realtors are just property pimps....pure and simple. They will sell you a pig all dolled up as a perfect pet or wife.
My realty agent followed me , like a hawk, until his commission check was placed into his hands, then went and banked it promptly.
BTW....Judy M. Is a real estate huckster.
Any of you dummies who have been demoralized into such a low valley of despair, remember this.
If Queens or NYC is really the crappy place that you've been made to believe through personal frustration....
then why is everyone else clamoring to get here?
They are paying top dollar, compared to the sinking market in Nassau County.
Utopia is Utopia Parkway, as far as I am concerned.
Almost everybody that I know who has moved, upstate, down south, to Long Island, longs for their brief and expensive visits back to The City! They come for its culture, art and vitality that is lacking in the boondocks. But if you insist in wanting to live in a nice little village, where everything is "perfect" and no blade of grass is out of place....be my guest.
I'll take Broadway any day with any of its imperfections.
These doomsday scenario sellers that are posting here, can be likened to that famous WW II morale breaker, Tokyo Rose".
"Hey, you GIs, you better surrender".
Believe in their crap and you will believe in any lie that's told you.
"Only twenty three minutes from Broadway".
Aaaahhhhh.....such travel convenience via the LIRR....and you're in the midst of the fabled "Big Apple"!
Jobs, art, culture, attractions, museums, concert halls, theaters, restaurants, architecture, learning institutions, historic sites.
This is as ideal as you can get....suburban living without the urban hassle yet so close to its stimulation.
Gee....maybe I should write a travel folder for Broadway Flushing.
FU if you're not happy here. I am! And I'm not moving. This is still the best deal that one can get anywhere in Queens as far as I'm concerned.
Now.....roll up your sleeves and let's get it all landmarked. No grumbling, and no excuses....uh Councilman Vallone!
The full deal, or nothing! With us, or against us? Let everybody call his office and pull him by his ear.
We haven't heard from Ed Konecnik.
Maybe that's a good thing.
"...and the gangs (MS 13, etc.) have claimed as their turf."
Please. Most professionals who live in this neighborhood and enjoy the proximity of the city, but who crave better schools for their kids and a cleaner, nicer environment do NOT move to Wyandanch or Hempstead or Freeport. They tend to move to Great Neck/Lake Success, Manhasset, Port Washington, or Garden City or East Williston. They stay close to the city. Sure their taxes increase, but they no longer have city taxes removed from their paychecks and can send their kids to public schools which many do NOT do in the city. Our best friends moved to Lake Success last year and said that after all is said and done, they end up paying 3,100 more a year what with new higher taxes/ city taxes no longer being deducted and Catholic school no longer being paid. And because the school district is so impressive and the resources so excellent they probably won't be paying for tutoring for their three kids when they catch up to grade levels after things even out this academic year. Years of enrollment in subpar area Catholic schools...
And do you not think that MS-13 is not thriving here in Flushing? How about the Netas? SWP? The Latin Kings? The White Tigers? The Triad? Don't recall having seen many of them at the Americana in recent years.
This idea that North Flushing is THE only place worth living is ridiculous. If you are happy here, STAY, but don't let fears of MS-13 keep you from seeking greener, less crowded pastures on Lawn Guyland. Preposterous.
Judy stinks and there are surely lots of unscrupulous realtors here but the "cash in the suitcase" crap is not happening anymore. In the 80s and 90s we saw a lot of that but not anymore. Big myth.
Young people are moving here. Maybe it's not the same kind of young people that some of those old blue hair tinted ladies like.
Yep.....there are still a few of those hard line bigots in Broadway.
For example.....some may take note of the quiet conflict over control that's going on in the nabe regarding a most notable particular house of worship.
Latinos have revitalized St. Andrews Church. A few of the Olde Tymers resent this. You know who they are....the Olde Italian crowd that was once the object of bigotry themselves from the olde Father Mc Goldrick's Irish crowd of parishioners. When the Ronzoni family contributed very heavily into building the 1940 church, the Irish had to accept them.
Neighborhoods organically change. It's character as a quality place to live should not. Let's keep our human environment. Do not destroy graceful homes.
Brick boxes breed brick personalities. And "only God can make a tree",
Until Mary Beth Betts (LPC's contrary director of research) can be put on a leash....all of the king's horses and all the king's men...will not get Broadway landmarked. Let's see what Koo (city council landmark subcommittee chair) will do. Let's take note of what Councilman Vallone might or might not do. Let's see if Mayor De Blasio will support Broadway'sm scenario to be landmarked.
The ONLY ones who are not with us, so far, is the Landmarks Commission itself. Their arms can be twisted to comply. Make no mistake about that!
St Andrew's Church revitalized? Now that's a joke if I ever heard one. There are definitely many Hispanics at Andrew's but no one would say the church has been revitalized.
"The Olde Italian crowd?" Have you actually BEEN to the church? You can count all the Italians on one hand. Are you sure you are not confusing it with Lukes or Mels? The Irish run the show there.
Where did the Ronzonis live when they were here? Newish to the 'nabe and seen them mentioned on these threads a few times. I heard Hellmans mayo family if I recall correctly.
Then how come about a dozen years ago that the FBI busted 900 members of the vicious MS 13 gang in Nassua County?
There was NEVER a bust THAT BIG in NYC. The Island has become a haven for gang organization. Sure they are also at home In NYC.
As far as good schools, it's still cheaper to send my two kids to private schools with the low NYC taxes. They've already been accepted to Bronx Science and Stuyvesant high schools. These kids are going to grow up real smart and cultured. Not like Long Island clam diggers.
I think that some bogus family man....realy a realtor ....trying to pimp Long Island properties is trying to drive a hard bargain.
Hmmmmmm.....and you have far more documented home invasions on Long Island than here.
Lake Success? LoL ! I hope that they enjoy long term success out there.
Why haven't you moved yet?
Are you the guy who sold the house to the guy who put in the swimming pool and wall?
As they say, "When you leave New York, you ain't Gowin' ' nowhere"!
Nobody is saying that Broadway North is the best place , only ONE of the best places in Queens to live.
I'd be just as happy in Douglas Manor, Forest Hills Gardens.....or moving to the Bronx.....Riverdale or Fieldstone.
BTW according to census data from about ten years ago....the percentage of Asians in the area was about twelve percent.
That includes South Asians, Chinese, Korean, etc.
The biggest group was Armenians, if I recal correctly! Can you beat that?
Okay, some figures have changed since then...BUT.....the area is truly diversified.....and its upscale diversity....professional class diversity.
If anything, this a a ghetto of the well off.
As far as education...... those assumed posh Long Island's "better schools" on the grade school level are not that great.
And you pay a very hefty school tax in addition to your real estate taxes. When it comes to high school , where do they go?
The average price of fine vintage 1880s row house (with abundant stained glass windows, pocket doors and distinctive woodwork) in the Crown Heights historic district extension ......went from about $800,000
before landmarking about just three years ago..... to about $2,000,000 and up! I know this because some friends are renting a duplex in one that they wished they had bought earlier.
So.....enough of all the BS about a historic district lowering property values. And that's in Brooklyn adjacent to some so-so areas.
The Netas, MS 13, and Latin Kings, etc. are "thriving" in Corona. You are out of touch, bub.
I'm a social worker who deals with problems there, though I live in Broadway.
Although I did see MS 13 graffiti around 149th Street and Roosevelt Ave. about a dozen years ago.
If you are trying to bullshit us into being as bitter as you have become, then get better info and become better at being a liar.
MS 13? LOL!
I would be more worried about the Whitestone and Malba Mafiosi types who tried to take over St. Andrew's for their own church years ago.
They wanted an Italian mass in the main church. Italian-American Monsignor Grace refused their request out of fairness to all other groups who would want the same in their language.
So they failed. It looks like St. Mel's and St. Luke's has become their home.
I love it.....all of Broadway's dirty linen hanging on the line....online.
Stop and think!
Vallone's bill may be a minor first step.
Realize he could present a Utopian Queens Crap Preservation bill that would landmark every dilapidated shack in Queens.
Where would it go?
How much political capitol could he use?
If it passed, it would infuriate the rest of the council's donor base as well as the mayors donors, and the Comrade would never sign it.
All for naught.
You haven't a "politically correct" cause, so with a minority concerned in this issue it will never get traction anywhere.
(minority as defined as a small group - not a sacred, protected political group)
Unless you "radicalize" and grow the issue like the LGBT groups and similar, you will just continue to just rant here. look what they did in a few short years...
All the politicians give you lip service, AND YOU REELECT THEM, and they do nothing for you. More lip service. "I'll have my staff get back to you on that one..."
Imagine that.
You constantly trash Vallone, the one guy who tries, at least he makes some effort.
Good Luck...
Whoever is posting this BFHA chauvinism, you're an embarrassment to the rest of the group. I'm sure your little community is nice, and so are plenty of others in Queens. But frankly, fewer in the younger generation can afford to buy a first home that is 2-3X as expensive for the same size as they could get in Nassau, and though there might be a slightly higher tax burden even when you factor out the city taxes and water rates, it's prohibitively expensive to come up with the down payment, and even if you did an FHA or something else with PMI, you'd never get the same return as buying a house at a more reasonable % of your disposable income and investing the money you'd otherwise spent on something else. As for the schools, it's not so much that they're better than what you could get elsewhere, but that you have more local control that is responsive to fewer people. Think you're immune from DoE incompetence just because you're in your little enclave? Tell it to the the parents in Forest Hills: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150417/forest-hills/parents-furious-forest-hills-schools-dont-have-room-for-their-kids
To the original moron who thinks MS13 is a reason not to leave Queens for LI: what are you smoking? Do you have a safe room in your house?
Great that your kids made specialized science high schools. Not everyone's kids have those opportunities. Queens pales to Nassau county when it comes to education. Don't kid yourself. Clam diggers? Ummm. Sure.
Vallone makes contributions ONLY to himself. If you've got to have your tongue so deep up Paulie's crack, then make sure that you are able to remove it without his consent. You are a fool if you think that Vallone is for you. Thank heaven most people in his district have his number as a phony. He has been a total disappointment to anyone but his REBNY clients.
I'm a non smoker of anything. MS 13 is not the main issue. Long Iskand sucks. The city rocks!
Whoa....somebody struck Vallone and his troll's nerves. Dontchaluvit? !!!!!
Somebody is trying SOOHH hard to make a case for Long Island living. I'll take the big apple over it anyway.
Enjoy your extra expenses of living in Nassau. There is a reverse flight to NYC for those who can afford to buy back in, that is.
No, it would not landmark every dilapidated shack in Queens, you dumb dildo.
I think that Ed K. and his Libertarian idiots got wind of these postings....are fuming....and counterposting their idiotic credo.
And Watch out for john.
Vallone always prefers taking small minor steps so he can turn around and do a 360 on any steps he takes, if needed.
We call that a traitorous turncoat. TheVallones ruined Astoria. Don Paulo will do the same to northeast Queens.
Where did the Ronzonis live when they were here? Newish to the 'nabe and seen them mentioned on these threads a few times. I heard Hellmans mayo family if I recall correctly.
The Ronzoni house was on the south side of Crocheron Avenue between 165th and 166th streets. It was torn down about a decade ago for a multifamily disaster.
The Hellman estate was at the northwest corner of 149th Street and Bayside Avenue where Homestead Gardens is today, across the street from Memorial Field. Richard Hellman, the last owner, developed both Homestead Gardens and the Art Deco Richell (Richard Hellman) Commercial Block on Northern Boulevard to the east of St. Andrew's.
Paul Graziano
You constantly trash Vallone, the one guy who tries, at least he makes some effort.
Once again the dickbag known as (sarc) rears his misinformed head about landmarking and elected officials.
Vallone has never tried to help any neighborhood. He has done exactly what his family has done in Astoria for more than a half-century: the Vallones help themselves.
Vallone's deed restriction bill is a joke. His "support" of landmarking only exists because of political pressure from other elected officials, including Avella.
Since he came into office, Vallone has only dumped on neighborhoods (like approving public schools with no community input) and helped developer clients. That will be his one-term legacy when his ass gets kicked in by whoever runs against him.
Thanks Paul for the great info. I always admired the Art Deco Richell building.
State Senator Avella will be speaking at the Kissena Park Civic Association meeting on Thursday night at 7PM at St Marys on Parsons and Jasmine. Please come and show your support.
Let me get this straight: new horrendous flight route over the neighborhood, homes being torn down and replaced with cement barracks, gang graffiti all along Northern BLVD, massage parlor brothels, "computer lab" gambling dens, "for sale" signs are everywhere and people are leaving in droves - and Flushing is still livable?
Who is this guy saying that?
It is an out of control nightmare. And if the officials don't step up and fix it soon, it will be irreparable.
It is an out of control nightmare.
Watch what you say here! I made some similar comments earlier and the claws really came out. I got called old, negative, lazy and bitter just to highlight some of it.
I was also told to say something positive or say nothing. Which is ironic, because that attitude pretty much sums up why Queens is the way it is today.
I'm a non smoker of anything. MS 13 is not the main issue. Long Iskand sucks. The city rocks!
Monday, September 21, 2015
Do you realize how stupid you sound?
WOW! 71 comments !
Maybe your kids were too dumb to make Bronx Science or Stuyvesant , so you retreated to Long Island.....eh, goombah?
LOL! BFHA "Chauvinism"?
Did you have to dust off your dictionary to find such a word?
We are hardly impressed with you trying to impress us.
Are you a "male Chauvanist" perchance? LOL!
You're a very 1970s sounding fellow. LOL!
Vallone's boys seem really upset. They are posting like popcorn.
That don't matter. Vallone's reputation for screwing neighborhoods cannot be spin doctored away.
Vallone is a developers' lobbyist. He serves them. They own him.
Replace this defective political product with a real neighborhood representative next election cycle.
Vallone sat on his hands until Avella's rally forced the lazy Don Paulo into some half measure action.
Big deal that he and the LPC chair toured the nabe. They have already made some quiet deal to sell out Broadway.
Paulie always pulls his punches when it comes to defending neighborhood quality of life issues.....
especially if it should interfere with a developer's plans.
He comes on very "Butch" but he later slithers away like the political faggot that he really is.
Avella is the leader here. Vallone is just a follower.
When the developers command, Paulie drops to his knees and kisses their....uh....rings.
When the developers buy and pay for a councilman, the councilman must obey them.
Real estate speculators want nothing better than to destroy Broadway.
It is your job as Broadway homeowners to destroy their plans and politically whack Vallone, who is their servant.
Yeah....LOL....maybe I should have built a "safe room" to protect me from imbeciles like you.
Unfortunately, stupidity cannot be stopped by four concrete walls and a steel door.
You betray yourself by your own ignorance. That is the best "safe room" that anyone can have to protect us from foaming throwbacks like yourself.
Enjoy Long Island. If you haven't moved there yet. Please move. Move your bowels. Move something.
Please move something else besides your mouth.
Yawn!
Maybe your kids were too dumb to make Bronx Science or Stuyvesant , so you retreated to Long Island.....eh, goombah?
BFHA, your community is beautiful. Wish I could say the same for all of your members.
P?S.
"Iskand" was my smart phone's glitch.
Beat me for its spelling error if it pleases you.
You gotta be a retired teacher.
Get out that red pencil, teach! LOL!
I just love these little nit picking side fights.
Keeps the little gray cells active.
If your kids make a great specialized high school, consider yourself lucky. Your kid has it made. Queens' public high schools are overcrowded and stink across the boards. Queens Catholic high schools are a farce, even the "best" of the bunch. They pale in comparison to a Jericho or a Manhasset or a Great Neck High School. The resources just aren't there.
If the neighborhood still works for you, as it does for me, do your best to continue to make it work for you. If not, don't be afraid to leave. It's the cycle of life. People get up and leave and start new lives all the time. It's really not that earth shattering. I'm definitely open to selling in the next couple of years as my kids approach high school age. The people who are so averse to any neighborhood but Flushing are afraid of change and feel like they have no options hence the bitterness and myopic views.
My next door Italian immigrant neighbor is one such person. He spends all day on the phone with useless 311 with his various complaints (all valid) or sending letters to Koo's office. "Nothing will ever change! It will only get worse!" is his unofficial mantra. But God forbid you tell him you've gone to an open house in Nassau county! "Oh my God. Long Island! Like another country. All those Jews! Those big taxes! Don't be so stupid!"
I say that maybe Jews were smart to leave. They are fine with coming back and visiting the old neighborhood for a dose of "culture" and legit Chinese food. Their kids are being educated in some of the best schools in the state and there are no planes flying over their homes or house with 6 families illegally living inside taking up all the parking spots on their blocks.
Change is the only constant. If you are not happy, you need to be open to it.
I'm not quite there yet, but when I get to that level of frustration and bitterness, I will make the effort to make the change.
This thread is fantastic. Right up there with Ray Donovan and Homeland. My productivity at work SUCKS because all I do is log on! I wish some of you would sign your names. I need you as friends.
If you are thinking of selling, do it NOW. Prices are high and the shit hasn't completely hit the fan. Just don't sell to someone who will rip down.
Posting like popcorn!
Love that. The alliteration. Wow.
You guys give Vallone way too much credit. His "boys" are all functionally illiterate and are not capable of this sort of repartee.
This thread is most likely the same 6 people.
What's really sad about all of this is that landmarking is just a band-aid for all the other issues facing Flushing, and pretty much all of Queens right now. If the community was in a healthy state, none of this would even be necessary because you'd have a new generation coming of age at this point and caring for a place they have a visceral attachment to. They'd raise their families here, renovate the nice old houses instead of razing them and maybe even get involved in local politics. In other words it would be like lots of other places in America. Newcomers, and all would be welcome, would see this behavior and conform. Instead, we have the aging homeowners (who love their neighborhood and want to preserve it) versus the newcomers who give zero f*cks about the history or architecture of the place and see it only as land to be bought and sold. And the latter are the ones with all the buying power. What a shame.
If you are thinking of selling, do it NOW. Prices are high and the shit hasn't completely hit the fan. Just don't sell to someone who will rip down.
What shit coming out of your mouth! Talk to anyone. All the building that will happen in Flushing over the next 5 to 10 years will only increase the value of your house. Where Do you dingbats get your info?
The high prices of real estate in Briadway is do to the R1-2a restrictive zoning which does not allow a one family home to be torn down and replaced with four units.
What shit is coming out of your mouth, fella! Where do you get your info?
Hmmmmm....from Vallone and his builder friends, no doubt. To call you an "A" hole would be the greatest understatement of the decade.
P.S.
And are you one of those throwback "White" racists ? There is still a sprinkling of them living in Broadway.
And they attend St. Andrews. I have heard them mutter their anti Asian bigotry after mass.
Some Catholics who aren't even good Christians.
Do you want to keep up the word battle? We are here to rebut your foaming ignorant anger.
We have in this corner
an ignorant anti landmark lightweight who has a paranoid knee jerk fear of our "communist" government controlling his life
In the other corner we have
a pro landmarking intelligent heavyweight who knows that property values and delivery of city services improve in any landmark district.
Place your bets, ladies and gents as to which is the winning position for Broadway.
"A bandaid for all the other issues facing Flushing"?
By God, you are a bigot!
This guy is anti Asian, for sure! He would be anti Jewish, Italian, Greek....anti anyone who isn't thinking like himself.
And I take offense because I am a Korean-American who has been living here since 1984.
I am staying put in my non Mc Mansion, 1920s Dutch Colonial home which still has its original clapboard siding.
You cannot rebuild those kind of gracious proportions and vintage detailing today without spending a fortune.
It is easier to build a brick cube home that has no real class.
This virulent voice is one or two guys...Ed K. or John W......maybe a couple of Libertarian "intellectuals"...LOL!
They represent the ignorant minority of anti landmark posters.
The nabe has voted for landmark status....not one....but two times!
They have the brains to know that this is in the best interest of Broadway.
You may continue to flail your arms in the wind....and rail and rant online.
You are of no significance. Your empty rhetoric vanishes as soon as we
put our computers in sleep mode.
Ah....but continue , if you must.
Seeing a good therapist to deal with anger management would be a far better option.
Good luck. Pound away on your keyboards.
I am following this lengthy....becoming boring...cat fight purely out of curiosity.
Both sides are missing one point. The final decision will be made by the LPC.
You MMA grand masters can continue your back and forth blows to each other.
Stable, gracious neighborhoods retain value over a long period of time.
The highest prices paid for homes are located in municipal historic districts compared to
similar homes that are not so protected.
End of story!
You can continue arguing or check the real estate listings. They tell the real truth.
There is no major building going on in Douglass Manor.
How come it's real estate has skyrocketed over the years?
Because it is a municipal landmark historic district!
So cut the crap about the building boom in Flushing increasing the value of a Broadway home.
The reason our homes are worth more is that people want to buy into a beautiful neighborhood.
Jackson Heights co-ops have doubled and trippled in value since they became a historic district.
You are a real estate shill who is posting your dumb venom here.
And your are probably pissed that you cannot break the Rickert Finlay deed restrictions.
Look at that dummy who bought, then tore down, a fine home on the southeast corner of 163rd Street and 35th Avenue.
He paid about a million dollars for it....planned to build two two family homes...then discovered he cannot.
Now he thinks he can get a million dollars back for an empty lot?
Good luck. An eyesore for ten years. Landmarking would have stopped this.
I would not want to buy a home next to that weed overgrown mess. So the adjacent properties have been devalued.
A lot of Asians are anti landmarking because they cannot break the zoning laws in a historic district as easily as they would want.
When Tommy Huang first violated the partially landmarked RKO Keith's he was quoted as saying, "We build better today".
Did he? Can they? That Asian "hotel-house" next to I-hop is a fine example of greedy real estate speculators attempting to block bust Broadway.
Stop cock kissing Vallone. He hasn't done squat for his district worth a damn.
He is only going through the motions of pretending to care.
Vallone is out solely for himself.
He sucks up to the Democratic developer friendly clubhouse because he wants to be a judge someday.
Vallone has got to kiss their ass. Developers' money feeds these politicians campaign coffers.
Vallone will never buck a builder.
If you think otherwise, you are dillusional.
Ask Bayside how Vallone screwed them by trying to sneak in a new high school on 32nd Ave. without their approval.
If you insist on 69ing Vallone...beware.....after he gets what he wants he will bite it off and you will be singing Soprano.
This is fabulous. I was really getting upset no new comments appeared for half a day and then THIS! 69s. Biting. Sopranos. Can you guys keep infighting like this? It is so entertaining. And do you think I should sell my house NOW or will it even go up higher? Will the neighborhood get worse or better? What should I do? For reals.
Entertaining? Maybe. But not useful, unfortunately. And that's right, I forgot anyone who says anything critical about Flushing is a bigot. Which is also why any attempt at a constructive dialogue about improving things in the nabe is immediately shut down. Thanks to the guy who trotted out that old classic. Because Queens is the perfect place to live for anyone who dislikes Asian, Jewish, Italian or Greek people! LOL! Really, enjoy your lovely community, many of you deserve each other.
Wrong! It's both entertaining and extremely useful.
Self serving, crooked. politicians cannot hide from Queens Crap.
We tell it like it is here.
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