Hi Crappie,
Here’s a photo from our rally yesterday. It was well attended with about 200 people, Senator Avella, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, Paul Graziano and many representatives from our neighboring civic associations.
Broadway Flushing has been seeking help from the Landmark's Preservation Commission for 10 years and have been met with continual and unwarranted disdain. We continue to enforce restrictive covenants in order to protect our community from development that is not covered under New York City zoning or building ordinances we currently have the strictest zoning in NYC and it is not protecting us. We are an excellent example of early to mid Century development of a suburban enclave within an urban setting along with our sister community, Douglas Manor, which was landmarked in 1997. The last few years, we have been under attack from developers who are preying on our large lots, tearing down houses and trees all the greenery that goes with it and building large brick boxes. We must break this pattern of destruction immediately or we will lose the very reason we all live here. We all bought into Broadway Flushing because of its architectural integrity and stately, suburban character.
-Janet McCreesh
Flushing
NY1 report
Queens Chronicle report
48 comments:
As usual, you are all props for Tony Avella's press conferences and absolutely nothing is done. He has been our main politician for how long in this neighborhood ? How long was he our Council member ? What did he do to protect the zoning in our neighborhood ? Oh yeah, nothing.
We should get rid of him the same way we got rid of that phony Frank Padavan.
Somehow Council Member Vallone got cropped out of both the photo and NY1 story [/end sarcasm]
Anonymous 1, who do you think got us the R1-2A zoning? Santa Claus???? It was Avella. We have the strictest zoning in the City because of him. The fact that you say Tony has done nothing is clear evidence that you have not done your homework. What have you done for your community?
I do not count 200 people in this photo.
Yeah....phony Tony...grabbing as many photo ops as he can. He wants to be re-elected. Albany has no term limits.
Uh....he could return to the city council or run for borough president (again, then drop out) or even run for mayor.
By that time gracious Broadway will be history. This house will go down if the new owner has a bundle of money to build his castle.
And...all of BFHA's horses and all of Senator Avela's men, will never be able to put this home back together again.
I love it...props for a pol.
Still...Avella is the only one out there speaking up.
The chrome domed Vallone is always on vacation , except when he takes calls from his developer clients.
Be sure to vote Vallone out! put!
C'mon ladies and gents, you are just getting smoke blown up your asses.
Do you think that a state senator, who is disliked, has more power than your local developers' lobbyist councilman who does not give a crap?
YOU HAVE GOT TO FIND A BETTER WAY...BFHA!
These 1960s style demos
won't do shit for you. Sure, you get some momentary PR. Then it dies down.
Uh what's your bounce back plan? What is Avella's follow up plan?
LPC is playing their waiting game. When enough is destroyed they can repeat louder..."Broadway does not meet our criteria for landmarking". After a decade on no results, why repeat the same steps?
Anonymous 1, how dare you challenge the merits of these people's lord and savior, Tony Avella. Don't you know the man can do no wrong? he walks on water to the obfuscated people who live in the areas he does not deem "valuable" to his own agenda. he has crapped on many an area of his "district" without a care in the world.
hooray, for zoning changes claimed to be brought on by Avella. he's still as worthless as the rest and should join Padavan on the sidelines.
Get used to it. All of the oversize avenue lots will be developed according to zoning and restrictive covenants.
Broadway is Malba in progress! At least the home values are not going down here. Which is more than can be said of other areas of Queens. I like the nabe regardless and am not moving. All of Manhattan's art, music and culture are only twenty three minutes away.
My home is not my hermit's cave.
Anon #1
You my friend have no idea what you are talking about.
So you either misinformed or a paid operative to trash Avella.
Either way you should be ashamed of yourself.
Younger Koreans are moving into Broadway seeking to enjoy the fine neighborhood.
Will Broadway become a Little Seoul like downtown Flushing has become Little Taipei?
Who knows?
The demographics are changing, so will the housing.
Nothing is as certain as change.
Only historic district status will protect the architecture.
And after ten long years, it does not look like it will ever come in time.
Kudos to your efforts though.
Enjoy, as is...move...find better methods of preservation that will deliver positive results in time.
Endless press events fall on deaf ears these days. They are fast becoming a tactic of the past, bearing good results mainly for the politicians running them.
Wow...Saint Tony Soapbox....granted Broadway the miracle of R1-2a zoning all by himself.
I'll light a candle for him at St. Andrews. I am sure that Paul Vallone will promptly blow it out.
"What have you done for your community?"
Since when does someone have to do something for the community in order to express an opinion?
So what gets put up next., the demolition photos of this fine home?
How come Avella does not think of providing buses to transport people into NYC and hold a real protest rally on the steps of the Municioal Building, home of the LPC?
This is just a repeat of the hotel house rally. A repeat of the usual will get BFHA nowhere.
How about camping out on Paul Vallone's doorstep. His house is only a few blocks east of Broadway.
Oops, some church lady hostess might turn blue at that thought.
Was Vallone there? How about Hanophy? Someone said they spotted Vallone in the park at that time. Did he walk over?
"I do not count 200 people in this photo."
Have you ever been to a rally? People tend to stand in a circle around the speaker, not crowd in behind him or her. There were at least 200 people there.
You are all being sold a bill of goods...lulled into fantasy land.
A game of kings and thrones has more reality connected to it.
Avella, though well meaning and generally a good guy, can do NOTHING for you.
You need Vallone, your city councilman, on your side, and he isn't.
A state senator has NO JURASDICTION in the landmark process.
So what is BFHA's next move?
It better be a good one, and a quick one! A lot of your members are on the verge of losing interest or moving.
BFHA's longstanding drawback is not having the stomach or the balls to take some positive aggressive action on their own.
These polite , previously politically favored wussies, are used to calling up Senator Padavan to do favors for them.
Frank is out of the picture and Broadway is about to be , hitching their cart to a non effective state senator.
It's not Avella's fault that extremely few of his bills ever get passed. He swims in a polluted cesspool up in Albany.
His enemies hate him for his honesty. So why believe in the powerless to deliver for you?
Is this the best political star you can book for your event?
Your efforts are inspiring but the area will never be landmarked.
You will always lose to revenue and cash flow,people don't matter
Cash is King,
One thing is for sure... Avella haters are crazy looney tunes!
We had about 200 people at the rally now for the next step...
We need to contact the Mayor and demand he respond to the rally and save our neighborhood. You can go on-line and send him a message by typing the following in your browser www.nyc.gov/contacthemayor or you can leave a message for the Mayor by calling 311 and they will take up to a 50 word message.
It's not Avella's fault that extremely few of his bills ever get passed.
Actually, Avella has one of the highest bill passage rates in the State Senate. It's shocking, but true - I couldn't believe it myself until I saw the numbers (and the bills he introduced that became law). He's actually gotten meaningful legislation passed in Albany, which is a lot more than I can say for most of the other clowns up there.
"I do not count 200 people in this photo."
I was in the area Saturday and the 200 is pretty much an accurate number.
Since when does someone have to do something for the community in order to express an opinion?
Well your opinion is trashing Avella, a pretty nice guy who did a lot for his constituents and the area in general.
That makes you a shill, political operative or extremely ill informed.
Either way - very pathetic.
Ah, so attacks on Avella are because....
"You have so many communities throughout the entire City that need to be protected from overdevelopment. You have the Department of Buildings, which is in a shambles. And it has been such a huge effort to get even the smallest rezoning, even the smallest change done within the City Council. It’s bizarre.”
“Listen, a lot of my fellow councilmen seem to be more interested, along with the Speaker, in getting money from the real estate industry than stepping up and doing the right thing. I don’t need to tell you, there’s very little independence in the City Council. It’s amazing to me how nobody speaks up.”
Too late. The fix is in.
So the next step is to contact Mayor Duh Blasio?
Good luck. It sounds like a plan...a bad one. He's hooked up to REBNY...
and they do not want Broadway landmarked.
Is that the best that BFHA has to offer? I am selling my house before it is too late and there is some value is still in it.
P.S.
The real question to ask is not how many bills Avella has gotten passed but how many neighborhoods have seen positive results from these?
My spy glass is trained on the horizon. I don't see squat!
200 or 2,000 in attendance....it makes no difference.
Yes, the fix is in. Avella has NO pull with De Blasio.
The LPC DOES NOT want to be troubled with pesky piddling Broadway which they have said twice doesn't meet their criteria.
So....how will you force their hand when the landmarks law, as it is written,
gives them sole power to designate or reject?
It is one thing to have a dream. It is another to live in fantasy.
So, what's the next house to be torn down and will another rally be scheduled?
At the rate the best of the best gracious avenue lot homes get destroyed, the less likely that the LPC will designate.
You had better start singling out individual architectural gems for landmarking before those are erased.
Hoping for a historic district has become a rather distant dream.
Now, what expert will advise on these individual landmark worthy sites?
Too much time is being spent here either kicking or kissing a politician's ass.
Too little is being spent on developing real viable effective measures In preserving the quality of life here.
And PLEASE...emails, postcards letters are not the be all and end all best tools on the bench.
They are good but need major follow up. Is Broadway , and it's polite minions, willing to get down in the dirt if necessary?
I've seen little evidence of that in thirty years.
RIP. The Ferrignos and their network of social tea contacts are gone. It is now up to all residents to take up new tactics to defend what they fought so hard to preserve up to the present date. If not, that will be lost.
Who was it that once said,"You cannot petition the Lord with prayer".
Well, you cannot petition the mayor with e mails.
Lock 'n load! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Each of us is a Minuteman for Broadway.
A 200 turnout was good but not decisive. The war goes on.
And as the late Yankee Yogi proclaimed, It ain't over 'til it's over".
BFHA president Robert Hanophy should resign if it interferes with his profession.
It's the right thing to do. A president must be out In front for his organization, and not delegate his function as a CEO.
Doing a lot and being a nice guy does not equate with being effective in gaining historic district status for Broadway.
Face that and grow up. Adolescence is not becoming when you need to do a grown up's job. Find a power broker who really has some power to affect change.
If you could get as many people involved in Broadway's business as there are posting here, things might be better.
There are an awful lot of armchair critics and warriors here. Sweat a little for your neighborhood, in real time.
I was unable to attend the rally and do not feel I have the right to comment, so far.
I've changed my mind on that. After scrolling down the deluge of anger, criticism, praise, suggestions I can only say this.
Bravo! Brava! Through my RKO Keith's experience I've learned that keeping the heat on , keeps a cause from freezing.
Tony has always turned out for many just causes and has stood with us many times. The heat has been kept on and turned up.
The ultimate success of any campaign, be it military, business , political, etc. depends on all of us doing what we can do best to contribute what skills , time, or money etc. that we can , to it. No contribution is ever too small.
The undertaking of a multi assault preservation agenda is vital. Do not put all of your faith in just one method.
Sorry for my professorial tone. I've done what I can do. Have you?
So you got 200 to a rally,demacrats get 200,000 zombies to the polling booth for the promise of 5 dollars and a block of cheese,still think you have a prayer ?
Bravo Janet!
She does some very heavy lifting for BFHA!
This is sooooh entertaining!
Please. Every time anyone brings up the RKO Keith I roll my eyes: this is NOT the Sistine Chapel, people! You have got to get real.
Any comment from the new (or old) home owner?
"Too much time is being spent here either kicking or kissing a politician's ass."
Really? I see one guy standing up for what's right. That's not kissing ass.
Kicking does not apply either, they not even around to protect the neighborhood they LIVE in!
"Please. Every time anyone brings up the RKO Keith I roll my eyes: this is NOT the Sistine Chapel, people! You have got to get real."
RKO Keith might not be the Sistine Chapel, but is part of OUR history that was destroyed with the help of corrupt local politicians by Asian vandals.
The manner this landmark was destroyed is also infuriating.
So you can roll your eyes all you want, because it makes no fucking difference if you cannot comprehend what is going on around you.
To be more specific, the RKO was destroyed by a convicted Taiwanese criminal, Tommy Huang.
Huang went on to commit many more crimes. At least his pal, Donald Manes is no longer with us.
Yet Claire Shulman is. She went along with what Manes and Huang conspired together.
Ah, but we do not want to offend any Asians here , since they have bought so many of our local politicians.
That is why these very same, bought and paid for pols, look the other way when it comes to Asian crime.
There is a splendid Tudor home on the northwest corner of 162nd and 35th that has been bought.
What will be its fate? It should have been proposed for individual landmark status. It wasn't.
Continue dragging your feet and soon have the all primo landmark deserving dwellings leveled.
I do not think LPC will ever grant historic district status in the time needed.
I fully agree with the idea that some single sites and blocks should be submitted to the LPC for designation immediately.
No sense losing these anchor sites , which might lead to the creation and expansion of a district some day.
Time to get real, you pie in the sky preservationists, expert urban planners, dreaming residents and self promoting politicians.
I am thinking of submitting these sites on my own. Anyone can. It does not require the approval of the local homeowners' associations, community board etc. If anyone agrees with me, download a request for evaluation form and submit it to the LPC.
There are some real gems in Auburndale too, that surpass a lot of Broadway's so called treasures.
We have got our R1-2A zoning. We should be thankful, so far.
Let's see some movement. Spinning our wheels in the mud with the same old over and over again rallies hasn't worked very well
in securing preservation.
Ah, but we do not want to offend any Asians here
No offense. If the truth hurts, that's too fucking bad.
Imagine Americans tearing down monuments, historic buildings in China.
Or dumping heating oil into their landmarks.
Would be just as wrong as what happened here.
I guess there is there is a limit on my posts, so we will let these comments stand as they are.
Enough said , anyway.
Talk about beating a dead horse for ten years.
Is there any gray matter besides gray hair here?
They should have thrown a beer blast. Then maybe 500 would have shown up.
At least, spirits would have been higher.
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