Deconstructing Weisbrod-speak

I had to chuckle at this Queens Chronicle op-ed by City Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod, defending how he is planning to force low and medium density outer borough neighborhoods to their knees.

Paragraph 3 is a lie, plain and simple.

"Notwithstanding the misperceptions perpetuated in last week’s Queens Chronicle editorial (“Save Queens from City Hall,” April 23) we are not proposing growth or major change. Let’s get the facts straight: No upzoning is proposed for Queens neighborhoods, and certainly no skyscrapers, under our Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposal. No changes at all are being proposed to the size and shape of buildings in one- and two-family neighborhoods."

So which is it: no upzoning or no skyscrapers? It's such a lie. Huge portions of Queens will be affected by this. And what's the definition of a one- and two-family neighborhood? Is it an area that has one and two family houses or zoned for them?

Paragraph 4:

"Instead, our proposal simply allows buildings to incorporate affordable and senior housing, to be better designed and to fit quality ground-floor retail space where permitted. The resulting buildings will fit more graciously into their neighborhoods, and facilitate a better quality of life, better enabling residents to shop within walking distance of their homes. The small incremental height proposed in our zoning text change for multifamily districts does not permit a single additional square foot for market-rate housing."

Who says? I find it absolutely galling that Weisbrod can make a blanket statement like this.

Paragraph 5:

"Why are we proposing this now? Since 1916, the rules for how we build have changed as the city has changed. Each change brought its own challenges. The city’s “contextual” zoning regulations, created in the mid-1980s in response to disruptive “tower-in-the-park” developments, are unintentionally forcing new buildings to fit within inflexible envelopes, leading to bad design and high costs that hinder housing affordability. Moreover, developers cannot take advantage of zoning incentives for affordable housing, leaving those units on the cutting room floor."

Ok. So now we get to the heart of the matter. The developers have their panties in a bunch because they aren't able to build as big and charge as much as they want because contextual zoning stops them from doing so. The last sentence about affordable housing not being built is laughable.

Paragraph 6:

"Architects and nonprofit organizations that support the city’s housing and neighborhoods have identified aspects of these dated rules as an impediment to both quality housing and affordable housing. We agree. The City’s Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposal tweaks the zoning code for medium- and higher-density districts to permit property owners the flexibility to build what they are already allowed to build."

Translation: the Building industry told us what we need to change so they can increase their profits. We agree.

Paragraphs 7 and 8 are just ridiculous. I'm not even going to comment on them.

Paragraph 9:

"Only 5 percent of residents of low-income senior housing near transit own cars. Yet current regulations require costly parking that often reduces the amount of desperately needed senior housing that can be provided, and yields no benefit to the overwhelming majority of its residents. Developing housing for seniors with low incomes is not profitable. It requires public subsidy. Precious public dollars that support much-needed housing for low-income seniors can go further when they’re not used to subsidize unnecessary parking spaces, which cost more to build than it costs to buy a car."

This proposal looks to eliminate or severely reduce parking for *ALL* senior housing.

Last Paragraph:

"It’s important to note that this proposal is still in the early stages. Although April 30 is the last day for public comment on the scope of the environmental review, we have not completed the proposed zoning text, nor begun the official land use review process, which provides multiple opportunities for public input. We appreciate how much communities care about issues that affect them, and we welcome their engagement. But the public discourse will be most constructive only if the facts are clear to all."

Translation: Don't worry. Whatever you've written, we're going to ignore it anyway. Suckers!

Then to put the cherry on top of this shit sundae, we have our borough historian spouting the same nonsense in letters to the editor, and he signs it with his official title. Blech!

Melinda Katz pretends to care about preservation

The following e-mail, which was forwarded to yours truly, is quite something.
_____________________________________________
Dear all:

An organization, the NYC Landmarks 50 Alliance has been formed to promote commemorations of the 50th Anniversary of NYC’s Landmarks Law in 2015. The goal of the Alliance is to utilize the 50th Anniversary commemoration to stimulate the understanding of the wider public as to how the Landmarks Law helps to preserve and enhance the quality of life for New Yorkers, and visitors alike; and to further the recognition of the general public that the preservation movement is, at its heart, a grassroots cause whose proponents represent the vast diversity that is New York City.

Many organizations throughout the city, including the Offices of the Borough Presidents are planning and scheduling programs to commemorate next year’s 50th Anniversary of New York City’s Landmarks Law, signed by Mayor Robert Wagner on April 19, 1965. In Queens we all share great pride in the nine historic districts, over fifty individual landmarks and many other historical places that enrich our lives.

On behalf of the President of the Borough of Queens, Melinda Katz and in collaboration with the Queens Preservation Council, I invite you and your colleagues, as representatives of preservation, neighborhood and/or history-related organizations to plan and schedule some of your future programs in celebration of this milestone anniversary.

We turn to your knowledge, experience, and expertise in planning programs that will inform and educate the public about historic preservation, architecture, history, and culture in our beloved borough. Program formats can be as varied as your imagination allows – tours, lectures, panel discussions, author talks, exhibits, performances, film screenings, workshops, family programs.

Borough President Melinda Katz would like to meet with all of you on Thursday March 26th @ 4pm here at Borough Hall to plan our activities.

Best,

Nayelli Valencia Turrent
Director of Cultural Affairs and Tourism
Office of Queens Borough President Melinda Katz

Why is Melinda Katz, the biggest destroyer of preservation causes in Queens in the last 15 years, hosting this event? Shouldn't Jack Eichenbaum, our borough historian, be leading the effort?

Her biggest preservation feat thus far has been lighting up the NYS Pavilion.

Tours celebrate local history

From New York Shitty:

Some might recall that not terribly long ago I was contacted by a very nice fellow named Geoff. He is not only a Greenpoint resident and school teacher (!), but he calls north Brooklyn history his hobby and to this end he has a web site and is publishing a book. Upon his applying for and receiving a tour guide license, Geoff was kind enough to invite me on a tour! I had a wonderful time and learned a lot.

Darn, that's a cute old pink house setback from the street! I hope it doesn't meet the wrecking ball...

Brownstoner Queens mentioned that our esteemed Queens Borough Historian also has a busy summer tour schedule.

Interestingly, he does not appear to hold a Sightseeing Guide license.

Borough historian lays out agenda

From the Times Ledger:

Flushing resident Jack Eichenbaum, plans to focus on environmental preservation, changes in Queens’ demographics and using technology to document history in his new role as borough historian, he said during a ceremony celebrating his new post last week.

“This is the garden borough and we’re paving it,” Eichenbaum warned last Thursday at Queens Borough Hall.

Eichenbaum, who was appointed historian by Borough President Helen Marshall in June, was joined by a large group of history and preservation buffs as well as civic leaders, at the Queens Preservation Council reception.

The new historian said he plans to work with area colleges to document the changing demographics, including archiving interviews with community leaders from different ethnic groups.

He also stressed the need to attract Queens’ newer residents to the preservation movement in the borough.

“We’ve got to get the second-generation immigrants interested in preservation and history in Queens,” Eichenbaum said.

New technology could be a big boost when it comes to documenting changes in Queens, including using aerial photographs to show shifts in population and buildings trends, Eichenbaum said. Additionally, he said he would like to create walking tours in the borough that individuals could access from their cell phones.

“You could hook into a recorded walking tour for wherever you are in Queens,” he said. “It would be free and maybe funded in part by merchants along the tour.”

Queens as the new Brooklyn?

AM-NY has published a piece entitled, "Is Queens Going Brooklyn?" I was asked to contribute my answers to a list of questions. But they didn't use them. Instead, they relied on Jack Eichenbaum and Brian Rafferty which tells you just how serious a piece this was. Anyway, here are Jack's responses, followed by QC's, in red.

From AM-NY:

The big question: Will Queens gentrify and become a borough of micro-nabes of coolness like Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, DUMBO, Red Hook, etc.?

Jack: Not likely for gentrification. These areas were once for the urban (upper middle class) gentry. Queens was built in more “suburban style” for the lower middle and middle class. (LIC is exceptional since it’s an industrial conversion like Dumbo and Red Hook.) “Coolness” is something else. It’s already here. It’s increasingly cool to live in an area that has convenient transportation, biking ... [and] not a price rip-off for most essentials.

QC: Not a chance. What we have in Queens is forced gentrification, and that never works in the long run.

How would you describe Queens’ DNA?

Jack: [It’s] an inheritance of small rural and suburban 19th-century nodes that grew denser and more connected in the 20th century.

QC: Watered down from what it once was.

What keeps the borough from becoming over-gentrified?

Jack: Immigrant competition and simpler quality of original structures.

QC: The fact that it is the dumping ground of City Hall.

Where are the most likely areas of gentrification and why?

Jack: Jackson Heights and Sunnyside Gardens are historic districts. Enclaves like Forest Hills Gardens, Kew Gardens, Malba ... and Bayside Gables were built for the upper middle class or wealthy and haven't changed too much in the last century or so. Classic gentrification ... is not as likely as more spillover of native-born Americans.

QC: They're trying to force-gentrify Jamaica and Rockaway. Good luck with that.

What neighborhoods are prime for development? (and I don't mean just new condos going in, but areas that are ripe for new boutiques, restaurants, etc. that change the mom & pop fabric)?

Jack: [It’s] already happened in Astoria and Forest Hills, and it could happen more in Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Flushing.

QC: Ha, ha, ha, you're more likely to get 99 cent stores, nail salons and dive restaurants here than boutiques and classy restaurants. And that's alongside the garbage that passes for "luxury condos" here.

Here are two additional questions that were not included in the piece:

Where would you go to experience a real Queens moment? Or, alternatively, which area do you feel represents the essence of the borough?

QC: Go to the St. Saviour's site in Maspeth and see the spot that once hosted a beautiful landscape with landmark-worthy architecture and a small forest, all of which was torn down and replaced with a garbage dump. That's the essence of Queens.

Brooklyn has its own "curators"--a new layer of people changing things there, i.e. Eric Denby of Brooklyn Flea/Brownstoner, young proprietors of micro-breweries, wineries and artisanal food stores/restaurants. Any such people in Queens, and who are they?

QC: You'd have to ask those interested in that kind of thing. I buy most of my food at Stop and Shop and cook at home.

New Queensmarks even lamer than the originals

From the Daily News:

Preservationists argue that Borough Hall, including new borough historian Jack Eichenbaum, can prove its commitment to local heritage by posting signage or creating brochures for the spots that will be profiled in these pages.

Eichenbaum sparked a debate over the role of a borough historian last month when he told The News that he wants to be an "educator" rather than fight to landmark buildings.

"I don't see myself championing those types of causes," Eichenbaum said at the time.

Eichenbaum was criticized but defended his approach, emphasizing his efforts to educate children about Queens history and vowing to refer landmarking causes to more "passionate" advocates.

The exchange spawned many ideas on how Eichenbaum, Borough President Helen Marshall and Queens tourism director Terri Osborne could honor local legacy even without landmarking.

For starters, historians say signage may encourage residents to take an interest in Queens' past.

"It can be a very effective way of explaining to passersby the transformation in New York's development," said Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council.

Such efforts, advocates contend, may boost Queens tourism, inspire groundbreaking research and stir public interest in the borough's past.

HA HA HA HA HA! What a waste of time and money.

May I suggest the following wording:

"On the site of this pile of Queens Crap used to stand an historic building. - Jack Eichenbaum, Borough Historian, Helen Marshall, Borough President, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor. Plaque donated by the Historic Districts Council."

Can't wait until the plaque unveilings. Let's do Niederstein's first!

Eich responds

From the Daily News:

Author Jeffrey Kroessler posted the critical comments online in response to a recent Daily News article in which Eichenbaum said he'd rather be an educator than fight to landmark buildings.

"Sadly, Mr. Eichenbaum is poised to continue the ineffective pattern set by his predecessors," Kroessler wrote on the blog of the Historic Districts Council.

Eichenbaum responded in a statement that he has a "more inclusive" approach to the job than Kroessler, adding that he wants to emphasize Queens' ethnic diversity and environmental issues.

Some chalked up Kroessler's harsh words to sour grapes over losing out on the post.

But the Internet ire highlights a debate on what role the unpaid borough historian should play in protecting structures in danger of renovations or destruction.

Some preservationists, including Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council, said Eichenbaum's words do not mesh with the attitude they hoped for from Borough Hall.

On the other hand, Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione noted that Eichenbaum is wise not to be entangled in time-consuming landmarking efforts.

Flushing Commons may unearth graves

From the Daily News:

Human remains from a 19th-century Methodist graveyard may still be buried beneath a Flushing parking lot slated for a controversial development, a Daily News investigation has found.

Research suggests 150 parishioners were interred between 1846 and 1857 at the proposed site of Flushing Commons, a housing and retail complex to be voted on today by the City Planning Commission.

An environmental impact statement for the plan noted that attempts to excavate the Methodist burial ground - near 37th Ave. and 138th St. - in the 1950s reportedly were unsuccessful.

Still, church leaders at the time did not consider that conclusive.

It's unclear how the possibility of graves - unknown to even the project's fiercest opponents before The News' digging - may impact the contentious project.

The city has already ordered archeological testing before work on Flushing Commons, believing artifacts or graves from another congregation may still be present.

But critics wonder if graves are scattered throughout the 5-acre site, given that the Methodist graveyard went undetected for so long.

"It intensifies the fact there are human remains," said recently named Queens Borough Historian Jack Eichenbaum.

Opponents of the project also stoked speculation about graves where the nearby Macedonia AME Church wants to erect affordable housing.

Historic newspaper reports seem to verify Macedonia's stance that the parishioners buried in the former graveyard were reinterred beneath the church.

But two sources close to the plans contended the church excluded a basement in its affordable housing component due to fears that crews might unearth bodies and halt or delay work.

Um, it was known to the projects fiercest opponents. It was mentioned at the farce of a hearing by several testifiers. But nothing is sacred anymore in the city that never stops building.

He doesn't like Eich

From the Historic Districts Council Newsstand:

...I doubt we will hear anything from our new borough historian about the importance of protecting the 1850s Ridgewood Reservoir, arguably the most important undesignated place in Queens today. I expect he could lead a tour along the terminal moraine through Forest Park to the reservoir, but I cannot imagine him speaking against the Parks Department plan to install playing fields covered with artificial turf where there is now a thriving wetland. It seems it would be enough to point out that where the playing fields are was once Brooklyn’s water system. Oh well.

Mr. Eichenbaum makes clear he will not work to save “just every old building.” We ought to ask, will he fight to save ANY old building? I for one do not think it is enough to point out the site where St. Savior’s used to be, or where the Aquacade once stood, or where Flessel’s once was. In this regard, Borough President Helen Marshall seems to be more in tune with the temper of her constituents. As she told the Daily News, when people see the history in their own neighborhoods, “they don’t want it to be destroyed.” That was the genesis of walking tours, actually, to bring greater awareness of the historic resources around us and feed the movement to preserve them. They were not born to foster antiquarianism.

Boro historian not a fan of landmarking

From the Daily News:

Pledging to connect with the public instead of library shelves, Jack Eichenbaum said he will offer scavenger hunts to help students learn the under appreciated legacy of their neighborhoods.

It's among several novel methods Eichenbaum vows to embrace in the prestigious post he assumed last week - at a crucial time when overdevelopment threatens Queens history.

Eichenbaum said he will also undertake digital research to determine, for example, how much of Queens' green space has been paved over in recent years.

Borough President Helen Marshall told the Daily News that she has already lined up a project for Eichenbaum: starting a one-room Queens history museum at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.

Marshall said the display could feature items from the eclectic collection of the Queens topographical unit, such as a 1686 Bible and teeth from a famous Woodhaven racehorse named Dexter.

Marshall also hailed Eichenbaum's passion for leading walking tours past significant sites. "When people see that history and get into it, they don't want it to be destroyed," she said.

Eichenbaum stressed he will embrace an "educator" role rather than becoming an advocate who leads landmarking rallies to save "just every old building."

Pressed on whether he would seek landmark status to protect historic sites, Eichenbaum replied, "I don't see myself championing those types of causes."

Instead, he said, he will refer preservationists who seek advice on landmarking causes to other experts or museums.

He even dismissed some calls for historic preservation as residents fearing change.

Eichenbaum also bemoaned the "frozen-in-time" approach to the city's historic districts, which protect select blocks from major alterations or demolitions.

I think it's becoming abundantly clear why this chap was chosen for the role. Forget the buildings. Display the horse teeth!

Jack Eichenbaum is new borough historian

From the Daily News:

A SELF-PROCLAIMED "urban explorer" who leads walking tours around Queens will be revealed today as the next borough historian, the Daily News has learned.

Jack Eichenbaum, 67, was chosen for the prestigious post to advocate for historic preservation and research, according to sources close to the decision.

The retired city assessor is set to be introduced to the media during a 3:30 p.m. news conference at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.

Borough historians do not collect salaries, but they often use their official positions as a bully pulpit to document and save under-appreciated sites.

Bah, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!! Is that what they do? Here I thought their job was to keep mum while Borough Hall allowed the sites to be developed into crap.