Sunday, August 28, 2016

2,000 protesters shut Maspeth streets down

Photo by Robert Holden
I was wondering when a community in Queens was going to tell de Blasio to shove it and from the photos and videos coming in, it appears that day was yesterday. Roughly 2000 people poured into the streets of Maspeth to protest BDB's planned dumping of a homeless shelter for "high risk" adult couples on the town.

The protesters assembled at the Holiday Inn Express near Maurice Avenue and marched through the streets of Maspeth, led by civic leaders and State Senator Tony Avella. Several candidates for election, including Democratic Assembly candidate Brian Barnwell, Republican Assembly candidate Tony Nunziato and State Senate candidate Michael Conigliaro participated. In fact, the Queens County GOP sent several reps to march with their banner, but not one cog of the Democratic Queens Machine bothered to show up.

The marchers left the hotel area and entered the heart of Maspeth, heading east on Grand Avenue and shutting it down. After marching through almost the entire length of town, they doubled back and marched up 69th Street, stopping to jeer Marge Markey at both her office and her home. They then walked down to Maurice Park and over the pedestrian bridge back to the hotel.

Yesterday was quite hot but thanks to water donated by Rosa's Pizza and O'Neill's Restaurant, nearly everyone who participated made the full 5 mile round trip.

Although the tweeders, through their lackeys in the media, like to portray Maspeth residents (or anyone opposed to a homeless shelter) as "racist", there were a number of non-white people either marching or cheering the protesters on from their homes. People of all races don't want their quality of life destroyed, their families living in fear, or their property investments threatened by the presence of a facility that even the city admits will cause major problems in the community. And that's what Lincoln Restler, Bill de Blasio and the rest of the tweeders need to understand before they get swept out of office by an electoral tsunami.

However, with responses like THIS, it doesn't appear that Liz Crowley is getting the message:
A light rain was falling as Community Board member Jerry Drake addressed about 200 protesters on Thursday night, August 25th in front of the Holiday Inn Express near Maurice Avenue and the L.I.E in Maspeth. Drake was the last speaker of the night and reported on a meeting he had earlier that day with Council Member Elizabeth Crowley in her Glendale office.

Drake told the crowd that he had asked Crowley if she would attend the giant protest march scheduled for Saturday, August 27th through the Maspeth community to protest the de Blasio Administration's decision to convert Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter for 220 adults. Crowley told Drake that she would not attend the march. The news however did not surprise the crowd since Crowley had not attended any of the 9 daily protests that regularly draw between 200-300 protesters. A frustrated Jerry Drake asked Crowley why she decided not attend the protests or the scheduled march to support her Maspeth constituents in a show of unity against Mayor de Blasio. "I didn't like the way I was treated at the Martin Luther School homeless meeting (on Aug. 3rd)," said Crowley. Drake reported that he asked Crowley what he should report back to the protesters. "Tell them whatever you want," she replied.

Crowley then told Drake that the Maspeth shelter was going to happen because the Mayor wants to place homeless shelters in Queens and particularly in the Community Board 5 area that has no shelters. When Drake reminded Crowley that she is up for reelection next year she responded, "I'll cross that bridge when the time comes." Crowley's response angered the protesters with many chanting ‒ "Vote her out!"

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

And the media, Ch2, reported that there were " more than a hundred" people protesting at the HI site.

Anonymous said...

as foolish as Dizzy Lizzy is she knows there are more than enough useful idiots to reelect her
nothing will change
u got your protest now move along
sit down & shut up
if u like your shelter u can keep your shelter

Joe Moretti said...

Not enough of this type of activism or ongoing activism in regards to all the bullshit that goes on especially in Queens. A reason why shit gets dumped here and the borough looks like a third world dump. Also where are all these people when it comes time for election, especially at the local level, where it really counts.

Anonymous said...

And come next November people will run to the polls and reelect the same idiots over again.

Anonymous said...

As predicted the media ignored or misrepresented this rally. Should have closed the LIE, that would have made the news.

Anonymous said...

Great showing!

BFHA MEMMBER a said...

WONDERFUL!
That is community activism at its finest!
Now, if only the rest of Queens would tell their elected crooks to SHOVE IT, as well as Maspeth's citizens did,
we would all be in better shape.

C'mon people...tell Paul Vallone to SHOVE IT at the polls.
He is a PAID developers' lobbyist.

Who does he owe his loyalty to, you his mere constituents, or his retainers in the real estate industry?
Wake up! Your quality of life is SOLELY in YOUR hands. NEVER rely upon a shady politician to look out for your best interests.
Your big investment is in your home and neighborhood.
Vallone is just a big wind bag, looking out for his family's business...POLITICS and EBNY campaign contributions.

He claims years of family service? Yes...you were all SERVICED in barnyard terms like a bull services his cows.

Jerry Rotondi said...

Northeast residents...take a lesson here.
Run to the polls and run Paul Vallone out of business.
His family's business is, indeed, servicing the community, not community service.
Well put , previous commentor.

Anonymous said...

Really?
So what is it 2,000 or 100?
Good show either way!
LEARN TO ACT UP or be crushed!

Anonymous said...

But guys lets be serious, this is just a waste of time. Nothing is getting done by protesting and marching through the streets. Crowley and Markey's hand are completely tied with this. Everyone is raising money for a lawsuit, but you can't file one because there is nothing to file against. The city hasn't officially put this into play and they probably won't until 11:59pm on sept 31. It's sad but true. Everyone should have seen this coming from deblasio. Just wait until he releases exactly what he wants to do if he closes Rikers. There's going to be a mini jail in Maspeth. But a majority of the people marching and protesting voted for him in because he was a democrat. Never looking at what he did as public advocate. And it's a shame that everyone thinks Brian Barnwell is here for Maspeth. He's only showing up to get elected, he'll run back to Massapequa once this is all over. Everyone should be marching on City Hall to get more officers in our precinct because once this is in full effect, our already short staffed precinct can't handle it.

Anonymous said...

I heard that Glendale suggested this site to spare a shelter over there. Did Liz have her hand in that? I was also told that the city still has the permits to make it a shelter. I don't trust anyone anymore and if we get this shelter because of Glendale and Crowley I hope karma bites everyone in their ass.

Anonymous said...

Get on the LIE and walk to Gracie Mansion next. That will get more PR.

Middle Villager said...

"I heard that Glendale suggested this site ". Stop right there. As a supporter and member of the Glendale -MV Coalition to stop the Cooper Ave shelter I can tell you that no one here suggest the Maspeth shelter. Crowley has done nothing but bad-mouthed the Coalition and has been no help to it. Many of us have been supporting the Maspeth fight as well as the PanAm. I believe you have been the victim of someone's divide and conquer strategy. As to who might want to bring about infighting between the neighborhoods I suggest you look at our shared politicians who haven't helped any of us. This is a time to unite, not argue amongst ourselves. The common enemy here are the money grabbing politicians that have control of NYC. This fight is not about the homeless either. It is about the politicians filling their pockets with our tax dollars under the guise of helping the needy. The NYC DHS has been a failure for years because the insiders are making a ton of money off of these 'non profit' contracts. It's all about the Benjamin's!

Middle Villager said...

BTW... The only reason the Glendale shelter has not been built is because the citizens reached into their own pockets to hire lawyers and architects to break the City's balls. I suggest you do the same.

Anonymous said...

Why would the establishment and the media assume we are racist?? If they are assuming that minorities are the only homeless then doesn't that make them the racists?!!!

Anonymous said...

What a tragic waste of human skin that 'Dizzy Lizzy' Crowley and her political dynasty are, all of whom continue to deplete the Earth of precious oxygen.

Alas, even seasoned, Third World sex workers collectively cringe at what this rigged hustler does for money, power, privilege, unjust enrichment and private splendor---versus, public squalor, beggary, obscurity and quiet desperation for everyone else!

The only difference between sex workers worldwide, and whatever 'Crooked Crowley' does (and her daily stress load of cavorting with the 'lunch-and-a-manicure' set--off the backs of the forever livid taxpayers', no less), is that the street workers EARNED that money by ACTUAL work by complying to the needs of their paying clients (you know, just like it's supposed to work--but, never does--with taxpayers!), besides which these productive souls (I am STILL talking about the sex workers!), were never sworn in to purported service by public oath (in which every single elected fungus continually betray, violate and abrogate every single day of their derelict service)!

The only way to rid (and exterminate) a hopelessly addicted SCOURGE of corrupt, entrenched and utterly failed leadership is to return to the beginning of all activism, protest, rally and resistance themselves--EN MASSE--and force the media and these empowered idiots to obey their constituents and the erstwhile edicts of what public servitude USED to not only demand--but enforce, versus the continual (and continuous) loop of lies that both a criminally political enterprise, and a corporate fascist-ordered media keep reporting that are 'KNOWINGLY FALSE'--the greatest crime against humanity of them all--as these voracious enemies of the state continue to be rewarded for monstrous humanitarian fail--and, the public be eternally duped, bilked, scammed and damned!

In the end, I have never seen so much ubiquitous anarchy building up amongst We the People, and the rank and file, as a totally corrupt-and-desensitized media cabal continue to rely on breaking news stories of fluffy little bunny rabbits, and many other 'human interest' stories (and other diversions) from the monstrously failed, fake and criminal 'Big Bird-brained' de Blasion administration--where men have been hanged for less--FAR, FAR LESS!

Anonymous said...

She's done....

Anonymous said...

You can forget getting any extra police. The hiring cant keep up with attrition. And when the Sanitation test list comes out there will be even more defectors. No one wants to be part of the nypd. It's gonna get get worse.......

Anonymous said...

To the very first Anonymous, who said, ❝And, the media, Channel 2 reported that there were 'more than a hundred people' protesting at the Holiday Inn site.❞

To that I say: 2016--the year that hackers broke some of the BIGGEST news stories--and, the journalists tried to cover them up!

Corporate fascism hard at work betraying public trust, ethics, integrity, accountability and transparency EVERYWHERE with a vengeance, as they strain all credibility. Which only makes me spread the word to the next generation of millennials to trust no one and challenge everyone--no matter who--they now devalue all honesty itself, and it's purely treasonous and traitorous when the media are corporate bought to airbrush government reality!

That's government tyranny and anarchy. Good job, Channel 2! Now, I've already blocked, banished and boycotted your for life--and, now everyone in Maspeth (and beyond!) can join me!

(sarc) said...

No one watches the evening News anymore. Notice that their ratings are greatly reduced.

They are competing with over two hundred other networks.

Most who actually look at news get it from the main stream media cable networks, so the only local news is useless filler.

People are so distracted by the endless so called reality shows, binge watching various "crap" and the endless drivel of the various social media sites.

Everyone is sucked into their devices, to the point of great excess, so much so, that there may have been people on the street oblivious to the active peaceful protest going on right before their own eyes.

It will take much more than this to stop this shelter plan.

The protests have reached their apex and will now get smaller.

The homeless will be moved in any day now.

This will soon be forgotten, and only the local residents will remember and suffer the consequences.

And these current powers that be WILL BE REELECTED...

Anonymous said...

Good start but we need more civil disobedience !
"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." Henry David Thoreau

Anonymous said...

"What a tragic waste of human skin that 'Dizzy Lizzy' Crowley and her political dynasty are, all of whom continue to deplete the Earth of precious oxygen."

GREAT POST, THAT'S WHY I LOVE QC.

Anonymous said...

Elizabeth Crowley is a great example of an air-headed bird brain (my apologies to my fine feathered friends) using her dubious name to get elected and spending a decade taking up space and screwing her constituents almost on a daily basis. Has this woman no shame?

Ms. Tsouris said...

There are no pols in Queens, only thugs except for Tony Avella. I live in little Paulie Vallone's district, and it was he who tried to chisel a whole new high school into a closed synagogue in a great neighborhood 3 blocks from Bayside HS. That slink sent some loser intern to "represent" him at a community board meeting while the community found out who he really is. There was something going on with him and the School Construction Authority but thanks to an uproar the kibosh was put on this horrible plan. The neighborhood came together thanks to Facebook and now a couple of civic groups emerged as a result. Power to the people!!

Anonymous said...

I would like to know how the Maspeth residents became aware of the homeless shelter the pols wanted to foist on their community and how they organized their protest. They want to do the same thing in Kew Gardens Hills and I'd like to make people aware so they can also protest against the threat to residents' safety and the value of property around here. The Queens Hospital wants to convert 225 units of Parkway Village co-op into housing for the severely MENTALLY ILL and HOMELESS. Just what we need around here.

Anonymous said...

"I would like to know how the Maspeth residents became aware of the homeless shelter the pols wanted to foist on their community"... Not all of the members of CB5 are SOB's, but Crowley is working on that every year.

Anonymous said...

Going up against deblasio is a waste of time and money just wait until he puts the mini jails in to place

Brian Barnwell said...

Would love to know who said I am going to run back to Massapequa. Yeah I went to high school in Massapequa, 12 years ago. Why doesn't the author of such statements reveal themselves. Maybe I can personally invite you over to the Boulevard Gardens in Woodside where I live. Or will you be busy out in the Hamptons with Markey? If you are going to troll me, at least troll me with current events.

- Brian

Anonymous said...

Crowley is packing community board 5 with misfits and losers who ask the dumbest questions. Having attended about a dozens meetings in two years I find most of the board is not paying attention and can't comprehend very basic information. Many are so old and bloated that it's actually very amusing. They look like charactitures.

Anonymous said...

Misfits, egotists, wannabees, losers are what most community boards are packed with.
Look at CB7! One of the worst CBs in NYC! At least they have a good excuse. It covers the largest expanse of territory.
So? Put east of 150th Street on Northern Blvd. into CB11's district.
Marilyn Bitterman can then earn her $90,000+ a year working less hours.
LOL! She's got a great racket going now anyway.

Anonymous said...

To Ms. Tsouris who said, ❝There are no pols in Queens, only thugs except for Tony Avella.❞

For your information, ALL politicians are political gangsters who continue to lie, cheat and steal--easier than they breathe--and Tony Avella is hardly the exception to the rule.

If anything, Avella could teach other, less seasoned, openly practicing criminals on the public payroll how to be more efficient and self-serving---he's gleaned years of expert practice and personal experience like no one else!

For example, in a four year period alone, this dedicated public servant ran for mayor, senator and borough president--and, then he sold out his entire constituency in order to become a member of a separate caucus.

So, merely showing up at a protest (on Avella's selective and occasional terms that always buttress his latest political 'grab du jour,' this time being the mayoralty [again!]), is not any credible action of honest, ethical, inclusionary, not for sale leadership (that leads by example) that I have yet to see. Frankly, all of this vapid sideshow is far too little and way, way too late!

DEEDS TONY---NOT WORDS!

authorericarstinson said...

What's really sad is why there are so many homeless shelters in the first place. These landlords skyrocket the rents to the point that no one can afford to live anywhere. That's the real problem!

Anonymous said...

Hey Erica, the same landlords are collecting our tax $ from Dept. of Homeless Services for these shelters. It's a win,win, for them.

Anonymous said...

Remember this on Election Day...Maspeth and the surrounding communities Crowley,Markey and the others represent...it is time for a change we need representatives who are for the people and do not forget where THEY came from!!

Ms. Tsouris said...

To the the troll/pol who objected to my comment, tough nuggies, sweetheart. You're just a big mouthed buily. I know what I know, you of no consequence or knowledge. I did community and tenant organizing in Flushing back in the 1980s. I know about community, not how to exploit it like you or whoever exhorted you to wrote your anti Avella bullcrap. You said exactly nothing specific in reference to what you were foaming at the mouth about. Get over yourself and do more for the community and not for yourself or your crooked boss

Anonymous said...

wise up maspeth, vote out Markey Sept 13th. Oh.. theres a primary dont cha know? If half the protesters turned out to vote, that old useless cadaver would be GONE.