You're so cool Ridgewood

 

Queens Post

The Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood has been ranked by the annual Time Out Index survey as the fourth coolest neighborhood in the world.

The ranking was based on a poll of 20,000 city-dwellers across the globe who were asked about fun, food, culture and community. The outlet listed the top 51 coolest neighborhoods on the planet.

“Ridgewood, Queens sits close by the Brooklyn border, pulling in the best of each borough: the diversity and local vibes of Queens and the hip offerings of Brooklyn, specifically neighboring Bushwick,“ the outlet said in explaining its high ranking.

The magazine said Ridgewood is attractive given its mix of trendy bars and restaurants as well as its mom-and-pop stores. It also noted that the area has also retained much of its history—illustrated by its 10 historic districts and the rows of brick houses that line the streets.

The outlet also noted that Ridgewood has the oldest surviving stone-built Dutch Colonial house in New York City, dating back to 1709.

“Ridgewood’s identity, though, is old-school-meets-trendy with a mix of landmark staples, like Rudy’s Bakery and Gottscheer Hall, and buzzy new bars and restaurants like The Acre, Evil Twin and Café Plein Air. While (like all NYC neighborhoods) it’s constantly evolving, it keeps its past intact,” the magazine reads.

I'll save my audience the time to actually read Time Out's reason why Ridgewood ranks so high by pointing out the picture they chose to illustrate the neighborhood's "cool" quotient. It was a picture of the yard at Nowadays, which is actually located in not so cool Glendale. Whose proprietors opened it up near a superfund site.

 

Their patrons must not think its a big deal too since I caught Nowadays have their garbage hauled the early evening around 8 p.m. while people were chilling under the patio lights inside the yard.

I actually went there earlier this year to check out a DSA event being scheduled there and this is what I saw. A big private carting waste disposal truck taking out their trash while people were chilling outside in that dirty yard

Transplants are so fucking dumb. pic.twitter.com/tNzawoAG6A

— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) October 12, 2022

Bed buggin' out

Photo by JQ LLC

 

 

 Readers Digest

This is one superlative no one wants their city to win. Pest control company Orkin recently released its Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List, compiled with data from the places where Orkin performed the most treatments for bed bugs from December 1, 2020, to November 30, 2021. So where’s the worst bed bug infestation?

For the second year in a row, Chicago took the top spot on Orkin’s list. Looks like bed bugs love the Windy City. Jumping a whopping 12 spots to the number two slot: Philadelphia. And rounding out the top three is New York City; the Big Apple climbed a notable nine spots from last year. Here are the top ten cities on Orkin’s 2022 list:

1. Chicago
2. Philadelphia
3. New York City
4. Detroit
5. Baltimore
6. Indianapolis
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Cleveland, Ohio
9. Columbus, Ohio
10. Cincinnati

Baltimore fell three spots compared to last year, and Washington, D.C., fell four spots. Cities that exited the top ten include Grand Rapids, Michigan (now at number 11 this year) and Los Angeles (now at number 12). If you live in or are visiting any of these cities, it’s wise to be a little more vigilant about your susceptibility to bed bugs—and maybe stock up on some bed bug killer.

Cease and desist list now in effect

From the Times Ledger:

A cease-and-desist list targeting unwanted real estate solicitations went into effect with the new year, allowing residents of northeast Queens to opt out of receiving fliers and door-to-door visits.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who fought to have at least part of an expired cease-and-desist zone restored, reminded residents of Auburndale, Bayside, College Point, Malba, Murray Hill, North Flushing, and Whitestone to add their addresses to the list on the Department of State website.

“There may be 1,033 houses already on the list, but there is always room for more,” Avella said. “The Department of State will continue to accept new submissions and will update the list monthly.”

The cease-and-desist list established by the Department of State emulates a zone covering all of Queens County that was established in 1989 and expired in 2014. At three public hearings, residents and civic associations blasted the real estate industry for tactics they considered aggressive and complained of fliers littering their communities.

According to the Department of State, “no licensed real estate broker or salesperson shall solicit the sale, lease or the listing for sale or lease of residential property from an owner of residential property located in a designated cease-and-desist zone if such owner has filed a cease-and-desist notice with the Department of State indicating that such owner or owners do not desire to sell, lease or list their residential property and do not desire to be solicited to sell, lease or list their residential property.”

The new list will expire in 2022, but the IDC senator is hoping to get a law passed in the state to ban real estate solicitations in Queens indefinitely.

19th CD parishioner lists given to pro-Vallone PAC

The mailers get even more interesting. The Catholic Citizens Committee PAC somehow got hold of parishioner lists from the churches within the 19th CD and sent out 2 mailers to those folks: one for Peter Vallone and one for Paul Vallone.

The Catholic church is prohibited from making endorsements, so I suppose they formed a PAC to get around that.

And they wonder why people don't go to church the way they used to. The unholy alliances must stop.

Ugly list fails to include real crapitecture

So the Daily News has a list of the Top Ten Ugliest Buildings in NYC as compiled by the AIA. They failed to include any in the Queens Crapitecture style. Walk down your average outer borough street and you can't miss them. They're all more offensive than anything on this list by far.