During my fundraiser in #Maspeth, a huge fire broke out across the street. The fire started from folks living in an RV, trying to generate electricity. We cannot have streets filled with RV’s that people live in full time. The fire spread to the location of GoodFellas Diner,… pic.twitter.com/UrpJHrlDJQ
Back in March I only saw about 8 RVs, none were by the Goodfellas Diner. Looks like a bunch more trailers moved in when the weather got warmer. Can the City of Yes fix this?
A fireball from a parked RV sparked a fire that tore through an iconic Queens diner from the movie “Goodfellas” – and now one mayoral candidate is calling for a camper crackdown.
The fire erupted at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at GoodFellas Diner in Maspeth with 60 firefighters eventually arriving to put out the flames, according to the FDNY.
“We were talking about all the RVs and debris in the garbage and the problems that come with this epidemic of RVs on the streets of the outer boroughs, and that’s when boom!,” Sliwa said. “We all came running out of the Clinton Hall, and we saw the truck exploded on fire and watched as the fire spread to the Goodfellas diner.”
The fire has reignited debate over illegal RVs in the outer boroughs neighborhoods like Maspeth, Red Hook, and Hunts Point, which have seen streets taken over by dilapidated campers, local outlets have reported.
Sliwa blamed City Hall for the latest.
“There’s no police response, no DOT response, nothing like this right here, you got campers parked on the lot of the Goodfellas Diner?! The Buildings Department should be out here asking what the hell is going on, but nothing,” he said.
Unwanted visitors are residing in the long-closed Triple Crown Diner
in Bellerose, according to members of the local business community.
Joe, who runs a restaurant across the street, told PIX11 News the
squatters enter at night via a rear staircase that leads to the roof:
“You’ll see people just randomly walking out of there. I pay close
attention. You’ll see a lot of garbage stacked up right there.”
Behind the diner, there’s a shed with a mattress on the ground. The identity of the alleged squatters remained unclear as of Friday afternoon.
“I know it has been reported to the 105th Precinct and it’s been
reported by them that they’ve come and located an opening in the
ceiling, the roof, that they’ve covered with plywood,” said Richard
Hellenbrecht, the treasurer of the Bellerose Civic Association. “For
anyone to get inside and squat in the diner is really terrible.
Another business owner, Jack, told PIX11 the neighborhood has recently seen some changes for the worse.
“Well, they shouldn’t be living there. They’re vagrants. It ruins our
business – it runs the businesses in the area. Sure, it bothers you,
but what can you do about it?”
Construction of a new community center in Queens serving young
adults with special needs is well underway – and long delayed, says
property owner Young Seh Bae.
It’s all thanks to a squatter identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Sean Johnson.
Investigators said he set up camp in the now demolished home
that once stood on a lot in the fall of 2022, and then illegally
claimed residence after being there for more than 30 days.
“They just broke into the house using the back door,” said Bae.
The Sheriff’s Office also confirmed marshals recovered a gun from
inside the home where Johnson was squatting, adding he was not present
to be taken into custody.
“They caused a nightmare for us. There were people coming and going.
They would come on to our side of the sidewalk to intimidate us,” said
Angela, who lives across the street.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he supports updating squatters’
rights, which were originally enacted to help protect against bad
landlords.
“There was a reason that squatters’ law was put in place. And I think
people are starting to exploit what some of those reasons are,” said
Adams.
Under current New York State law, squatters are considered tenants if
they have had possession for 30 consecutive days or longer.
Bae said it ultimately took more than six months and six-figures in
legal fees to finally reclaim the property her family rightfully owns.
“It was very frustrating, not only mentally but financially. I have to say about $100,000,” said Bae.
State Sen. John Liu acknowledged his newly proposed legislation may
not be useful to responding police officers, but he added it will help
homeowners in a courtroom.
Liu’s bill clearly defines a squatter as someone who enters onto a property or building without title, right, or permission…”
The bill bans them from accessing a tenant’s rights and protections
under the law, and states squatters do not get any rights, even after 30
days of possession.
““New York State law, as it pertains to housing and property, it’s not
the easiest thing — no question. We need to erase any kind of ambiguity
in our state laws, and this bill will do just that,” said Liu.
Queens residents spoke out with frustrations Wednesday about a
run-down property in their neighborhood that they say is attracting
squatters.
“Sometimes the front door is actually creeped open. For years, people
have just been coming in, dumping garbage,” said Kamran, describing the
neglected house next to the home he’s lived in since childhood.
When Kamran says “years,” he means more than a decade.
During that time, he and his neighbors say there have been squatters
coming in and out of the run-down home.
The home, located at 245-04 Union Turnpike in Bellerose, is barely
visible behind the tall brush. Lydia lives within eyeshot of what she
says is an eyesore.
“When I see people there that I know are squatters, or they don’t
belong there because it’s been empty so long, I just call 911,” said
Lydia.
This is the third time in the last week PIX11 News has reported about a suspected squatting situation in Queens, from a now torn-down home in Bayside, to squatters who allegedly entered through the roof of the closed Triple Crown Diner – also in Bellerose.
PIX11 News took Queens Borough President Donovan Richards on a virtual tour of the property Wednesday.
The tour included a growing collection of New York City Department of
Sanitation tickets issued to the registered owner – Jan Robert Fortin –
who has no listed number and whose son did not answer PIX11 News’ phone
call requesting comment.
“So how do we resolve this issue? We need a change at the state law.
Yes, enforcement is one key piece of it. OK, they are going to end up on
Rikers on a trespass charge possibly. I also have to allude to the fact
that we are in a housing crisis, and people are squatting largely
because we are in this crisis,” said Richards.
The good news? About an hour after PIX11 News started reaching out to
multiple agencies, including the health department, Housing
Preservation and Development, and the buildings and sanitation
departments, a sanitation supervisor arrived at the house to assess the
situation.
More than 3,500 residents have signed a petition to save the beloved Ohr Natan Synagogue — housed in an Art Deco-style building with an iconic clock tower — and the Trylon Theater & Tower Diner in Rego Park, according to a change.org petition.
The project was hotly debated at a Community Board 6 meeting Wednesday evening.
“This is one of the most cultural, social, significant, historical,
and architectural sites of the community,” the petition proclaims. “The
redevelopment plan would not only demolish historic buildings, but
uproot a synagogue providing religious & humanitarian services, and
likely pose an economic hardship on all the small businesses in the
area.”
During the public hearing period at Wednesday night’s meeting, many locals voiced their opposition to the plan.
“This proposed change is not just disturbing, it is devastating,”
Queens resident Carol Hagarty said in written testimony to the board.
“No accommodations are in place to preserve whatever is of historic,
architectural, or social value on the block!” said Hagarty, who has
lived in the area for over 40 years.
Another public commenter, Joanne Davis, wrote: “Build apartment
buildings elsewhere. Raze ugly square buildings. Do not destroy this
beautiful building.”
This article was published in QNS and I couldn't help but chuckle at it. For example, here is a passage about the pictured business owner who was visited:
Lagos made some time, and spoke about the hardships of maintaining his business for what is nearly a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lagos, who noted Tasty’s has been in Ridgewood for 40 years, said not having indoor dining and getting “a bunch” of violations from the Department of Transportation for his outdoor setup are some of his biggest issues.
The response from the candidate during the listening tour?
When asked for his response to [incumbent Robert] Holden’s calls to open indoor dining to 50 percent capacity, Ardila said it’s “irresponsible.” Holden wants the governor to allow for the city’s restaurants to open indoor dining at the same capacity of Long Island, where there is a higher positivity rate of COVID-19 compared to the city, before more go out of business.
Sorry, Mr. Lagos, but Juan thinks you should just suck it up, because COVID spreads more in Queens restaurants than it does in Nassau County ones, or something like that.
Also interesting is the fact that the Tasty Diner is not in Council District 30. In reality, only about 3 blocks of the Ridgewood section of Myrtle Avenue are, and only on one side of the street. This diner is in Antonio Reynoso's district but he's too busy running for Brooklyn Borough President to care.
But do you know whose State Senate district this actually is? Not Jessica Ramos' but Michael Gianaris' who also endorsed this guy. Unfortunately, Mike sadly can't find anyplace outside of Astoria even if he uses Google Maps.
Keep voting for people who don't give a flying fig about you, because that's worked out well so far.
After more than 40 years in Rego Park, the Shalimar Diner will close its doors for good on Sunday.
The Shalimar Diner, located at 63-68 Austin St., is the latest eating establishment to close in the borough. In recent years, the Scobee Diner in Little Neck, the Palace Diner in Flushing, the Future Diner in Fresh Meadows and the Flagship Diner in Briarwood have all gone out of business.
In July 2016, Shalimar owner Chris Karayiannis told the Chronicle “I don’t know how long I can last,” in response to the rising costs of running a diner.
One waitress said that the rent was raised and that the landlord offered a 20-year lease but a deal didn’t happen.
It’s a far cry from 1977, when The New York Times mentioned the Shalimar Diner in an article titled “Diners Strike It Rich.” Diners were growing in appeal to families and not just truckers and taxi drivers.
According to the article, “on weekends, hundreds of people form lines in the diners’ parking lots from Rego Park to Bayside to Douglaston.”
Sunday was a bittersweet day for longtime customers of the Flagship Diner, which closed after decades serving up meals in Queens.
For 53 years, this 24-hour diner with a parking lot out front on Queens Boulevard was the center of so many peoples lives.
Customers would bring their children and grandchildren to the diner. They also made sure to come out to say goodbye.
For a year and a half, the diner’s owners have been battling with the landlord over a lease that was supposed to end next year so the property could be converted into a 7-story apartment building.
This day brought one of the owners to tears.
“We’re very sad, but it is relief that it is over,” Vincent Pupplo, co-owner of Flagship diner told PIX11. “There was a lot of pressure in the last year and a half so this is bittersweet.”
Late last summer, I 'Googled' my regular diner to confirm its closing time, and was shocked to find that the site had marked it Permanently Closed. I quickly called the restaurant and learned, thankfully, that it hadn't shut down; however, its Google presence had been hijacked.
And despite the owners' best efforts, it seemed there was nothing they could do about it.
Dozens of Queens residents and several elected officials came together for a rally Tuesday to support a popular diner, which is currently facing a court battle with a new landlord after more than five decades in business.
The owners of The Flagship Diner, at 138-30 Queens Blvd., which has been a community fixture since 1965, said their new landlord — Jamaica-based White Rock Management — began harassing them shortly after White Rockpurchased the site for $6.125 million last year and promptly obtained permits to knock down the restaurant and replace it with a seven-story, mixed-use apartment building containing 64 units.
On Tuesday, patrons holding signs that read “No more buildings — Save the Flagship,” “Stop Unfair Landlord” and “Stop the Harassment White Rock,” said that the diner has been like a “second home.”
The diner's owners — Vincent Pupplo, Jimmy Skartsiaris and Frank Lountzis — said they were initially hoping to keep their business open until their lease expires in October 2019, and then most likely retire.
The landlord proposed to buy them out, offering each of them $100,000, but they turned it down, the owners said.
Since then, they said, the landlord sent them several "notices to cure," requiring them to address a variety of issues within five days if they wanted to avoid eviction, including accusations that their parking lot, sidewalk and back steps are in disrepair and have to be ripped up and replaced immediately.
The owners said that their lawyer was able to obtain a “Yellowstone injunction” for each notice which temporarily suspends the time period during which they must address the issues.
In July, the restaurant owners filed a lawsuit in the Queens County Supreme Court accusing the landlord of harassing them, with the first hearing scheduled for Sept. 19.
The number of diners across New York City is on the decline and it is not just Manhattan establishments that are closing, according to the New York Times.
Health-department records show that there are half as many diners in New York as there were just 20 years ago, reported the Times. In fact, there were 398 diners last year as compared to 1,000 a generation ago.
The article stated that the diners everywhere are coming under pressure.
“Manhattan has certainly seen more diner closings than other boroughs,” according to the Times. “That said, with rising costs in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, classic diners like the Neptune and Bel Aire, both in Astoria, Queens, could soon be under threat.”
For nearly 51 years, the Flagship Diner at 138-30 Queens Blvd. in Briarwood has served hungry Queens residents.
But according to city records, another half-century of juicy burgers and steaks may not be in the cards.
Department of Finance documents show the land the eatery sits on was sold to White Rock Management Group LLC on July 14 for $6.125 million, as first reported by real estate website New York YIMBY.
And according to Department of Buildings records, demolition permits were filed and approved for the site on July 26 and plans to construct a seven-story, 64-unit residential complex there were filed on Monday.
But in a Tuesday interview, diner co-owner Vincent Pupplo told the Chronicle he expects the Flagship to remain open at least through the remainder of its lease, which expires Oct. 31, 2019.
The star-shaped, 1962-vintage Market Diner in midtown figures to be next. In July, The Real Deal reported that developer Moinian Group had filed with the city to demolish the 11th Avenue building and replace it with a 13-story condominium.
Indeed, something of a diner deathwatch exists among New Yorkers concerned about losing their favorite places for affordable comfort food. Earlier this year, a rumor surfaced on Reddit and Twitter that the popular Neptune Diner in Queens would close, which owner George Katsihtis denies. The clock is also ticking for the Evergreen Diner, which occupies part of the first floor of a parking garage on West 47th Street, just off Times Square. The Evergreen generates about $1.5 million in annual revenue, but barely makes a profit. "One day they will raise my rent and I will close," said co-owner Ilias "Lou" Argena, who pays about $25,000 a month.
"To me, it's not surprising that diners are closing in New York," said Jan Whitaker, a historian in Amherst, Mass., who writes a blog called Restauranting Through History. "Given how expensive everything is in New York, the wonder is they survive at all."
New building applications were filed today for a six-story building with stores and 10 apartments at 225 Wythe Avenue, where a 1950s metal diner currently stands. It was home to the Wythe Diner from ’68 to ’88, Relish from ’97 to 2010, and currently houses Soho Mexican joint La Esquina.
A federal agent fired off a shot as an undercover drug operation at a Queens diner fell into chaos late Monday, authorities said.
A multi-agency narcotics task force involving Homeland Security was conducting the drug buy at a parking lot connected to the Cross Bay Diner on Cross Bay Blvd. in Howard Beach at about 11:18 p.m. when an agent fired a single round while trying to apprehend a suspect, police said.
No one was hit by the bullet. It was not immediately clear why the agent fired.
Task force members netted two suspects, officials said.
A third man, who is not believed to be armed, ran off and was still being sought early Tuesday.
"When you walk in Rego Park, make sure you're walking in the middle of the block as you pass the Shalimar Diner at 63-68 Austin Street.
Although the Shalimar has knowledge that they are responsible for keeping up the area around the curbside tree, they just ignore it. The grass is nearly waist high and the garbage strewn and hidden in the tall grass makes it a trip & fall waiting to happen.
If you walk too close to the building, you may get hit in the head by pieces of the cement facade that are falling off. Makes one think what is going on in their kitchen with all this obvious neglect!" - Anonymous
A portion of the parking lot of the Georgia Diner, which years ago was slated for a multiplex and mall, is again up for sale for $24 million.
The more than 47,000-square-foot lot on the corner of Justice and 55th avenues, a block from Queens Boulevard and across the street from the Queens Place mall, also has more than 200,000 square feet in development rights, according to the listing.
The lot, owned by the diner, is zoned for residential and commercial purposes, and a potential developer would have to build either a residential and/or community facility or use the existing approved plans, the listing said. It was not immediately clear what the approved plans are.
A manager at the restaurant, who declined to give his name, said the eatery occasionally lists the land to see what offers come in.
"It doesn't cost anything to list it," he said.
From a tipster:
"The path of Horse Brook ran beneath the Georgia Diner parking lot. Expect construction woes."
Maybe that's why it was never sold in the first place?
I happened to be back there today. On my way to where I was going from the Court St. subway station a car was parked on the sidewalk of the side street (45th Rd.).
On my way back to the subway station it was parked on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance of the restaurant on 23rd St.
The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals has granted permits for two long-vacant sites in Little Neck, Community Board 11’s district manager said.
Permits have been approved for a watch manufacturer to move its headquarters into the former Leviton site along Little Neck Parkway and for a complex to be constructed at the former Scobee Diner site.
Susan Seinfeld, CB 11’s district manager, said that E. Gluck Corp., a watch manufacturer based in Long Island City, has been given the go-ahead to begin work at the Little Neck Parkway locale that previously housed Leviton, which manufactured electrical wiring devices and motion sensors.
A permit has also been granted for the former Scobee Diner on Northern Boulevard, where a complex is planned that will house a bank on its first floor and a dentist’s office on the second floor.
The popular diner closed for business in November 2010.
Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.
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