The beginning of the end for Woodside

From the Times Ledger:

Woodside is being mentioned in real estate circles as the next hot neighborhood in western Queens, and a new luxury apartment building called Icon 52 may be responsible for moniker.

The nine-story building, at 52-05 Queens Blvd., sold all 66 units in just six weeks, surprising Eric Benaim, who represents the landlord, the Tsilo Group.

Icon 52 rented studios starting at $1,500 per month, one-bedrooms for $1,700 and two-bedrooms for $2,600. Benaim’s first venture in Woodside went so well he is already at work on another project just a couple of blocks away.

The hot neighborhood buzz has at least one Woodside resident feeling uncomfortable.

David Rosasco leads an award-winning neighborhood beautification nonprofit called the Woodside Neighborhood Association and he said he is aware of more hipsters and young professionals moving into the neighborhood but not enough to cause the current buzz.

“I suspect there are more powerful forces in play,” Rosasco said. “I have a feeling that this is by design to gobble up Woodside and transform it into another generic, dull, hipster and young professional community where they make demands but never get their hands dirty.”

He added that his all-volunteer group has worked too hard cleaning up the neighborhood for the last seven years for the community to be overrun by outsiders, noting that three condominium and apartment buildings have been built in Woodside in the last three years.

“What I do fear is that, after all the work we did to restore confidence and order, pride and service, that all we did was beautify Woodside so thatwe could be banished from it,” Rosasco said. “I am depressed by it because all this work was done by poor, minority, immigrant, working-class people at no cost to the taxpayer.”

LIC development nightmare going on for years

August 13, 2009

Dear Queens Crapper,

I have lived in Long Island City all my life and let me tell you it has gotten so bad. I used to have to deal with prostitutes and johns in cars on my block - which was bad, but now I have worse things to deal with. One is the traffic agents who patrol my block like a hawk looking for prey. Then there is the property at 45-64 Pearson Street (across from the storage place), that is a mess. These developers bought this property at the height of the housing boom for $16 million. They claimed that they were going to build a 20+building. They demolished the property years ago and now the property is just sitting there. No people are living there, but there are things living there among the garbage, debris and 10 ft. high weeds - rats, rodents, raccoons - you name it - it lives there. I have complained to the Health Dept., Sanitation Dept., Buildings Dept., Community Board 2, Eric Gioia and George Onorato. These agencies are useless. My community board contacted me months after my initial complaint. George Onorato didn't even respond. The only one who tried was Gioia. I guess unless you are an FOB (friend of Bloomberg) - nothing happens. I guess even if you are a hard working, taxpaying citizen - you need to have lots of $$ to get something done. These developers are shady people and this city lets them get away with leaving neighborhoods in shambles.

Thanks for listening!

A Concerned LIC Native
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August 13, 2009

Don't give up yet.

1) Get me a photo.
2) Call a Sanitation Supervisor at 718-326-9803 and tell him the situation.

Also, try contacting Gioia's potential replacements, esp Deirdre Feerick (feerick09@gmail.com), David Rosasco (contact@davidrosasco.com) and Jimmy Van Bramer (jimmyvanbramer@gmail.com).

Keep me posted.

- Crapper

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August 13, 2009

I sure will get you that photo. Thanks for your encouragement. I love your blog and I am avid reader - I look everyday for new posting. Keep up the great work!

A Concerned LIC Native
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September 19, 2009

Has this been taken care of yet?

- Crapper
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November 12, 2009

Sorry that I did not contact you sooner - the answer to your question is no - things have not gotten better. After trying my councilman, the community board, and my state senator I got nowhere. I called 311 - I contacted the department of health via their rodent complaint form and the DOB via their complaint form and nothing happened. I even contacted the dept of sanitation - nothing happened. In July, I wrote a lengthy letter to the commissioner of the dob and after months (September) - I received a letter stating that the property received several violations (I checked the DOB site). I then took the same approach for the department of health and wrote to the commissioner. I then received a letter stating that they will give the property a warning and then eventually a summons if they don't clean up the property, but that is what the DOH health said back in 2008. No one came to clean up the lot and no one came to clean up They were supposed to get a DOH summons over a year ago, but the DOH did not follow-up. In the mean time the rats have taken over. I have secured my garbage cans (I have the big plastic ones), but it does not make a difference. They patrol my block - in front of my house and in my backyard. My husband killed one with a stick and my dog killed another one. Also, now that it gets darker earlier, the rats start their patrol earlier. I guess it doesn't make a difference, my neighbors have said all along that they also have seen the rats during the day.

Bottom line - this city doesn't care about its citizens. These developers came - tore down a perfectly good building and left a piece of unattended crap for the community to deal with. This is disgraceful.

Here are a couple of things I have learned from this experience:
Local government is a joke.
311 is even funnier.
Taxpaying citizens continue to get shafted.
The end.

See attached photos.

A Concerned LIC Native
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