Long Island City luxury hotel transforms into "motivational" short stay hostel.

QNS


The Paper Factory, a boutique hotel in an industrial section of Long Island City, has been acquired by The Collective, the British pioneer of the communal living movement.

The Collective will transform the building, located at 37-06 36th St., into a co-living environment and cultural destination that integrates the surrounding neighborhood at the southern end of the Kaufman Arts District.

The Collective bases its unique living environment on “A Theory of Human Motivation” by American psychologist Abraham Maslow, which he published in 1943. In it, Maslow described the “hierarchy of needs,” five different levels that when met allows a person to “self-actualize” reaching their fullest potential as a human being.

“We are profoundly excited for our arrival in Queens,” The Collective Founder and CEO Reza Merchant said. “We love to join culturally vibrant neighborhoods who are embarking on their own phase of change, and to work alongside locals to understand their current needs. Our vision for Paper Factory is to activate an inspiring environment where the community of Long Island City and our members can share unforgettable, enriching experiences that have a lasting impact on their lives.”

The Collective’s members can take advantage of flexible terms starting from a single night up to a few weeks, with all amenities, utilities, Wi-Fi, linen change and concierge services rolled into a single, simplified cost.

The first phase of rejuvenation at Paper Factory will its expansive ground and basement floors into a 
highly varied series of spaces designed to host daily experiences, ranging from cutting-edge music programming to educational gatherings around the future of living to mindfulness and wellbeing workshops. The program, which will be open to members and to the public, will strike a balance between intellectual growth, spiritual inspiration and cultural discovery.

 “We are very focused not just how people feel in our spaces, but what they may become there,” Merchant said. “We take a huge amount of inspiration from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and believe it is our duty to cater to all needs of the pyramid, starting from essentials like food and shelter. All the way to the top, which is self-actualization. Seeing people grow and achieve their full potential in life is what gets us out of bed every morning.”

Despite all the vibrant marketing jargon here (which is also disturbingly cult-like), this is a glorified and stylized homeless shelter.

LIC: It's almost hot!

From DNA Info:

“There’s going to be a lot of new stuff happening in Long Island City,” noted Carole Bloom, of Bloomstone Group, which is marketing the 168-unit Watermark LIC, an energy-efficient, non-smoking building with a rooftop gym, a Zen-like garden and coffee bar lounge, among other amenities.

Around the corner from the building, a Starbucks is opening next to a Chipotle, and Watermark is getting some new retail in its space, too, she said.

“It’s soon to be vibrant,” she said, “but not too vibrant that you won’t want to come home to it, like other neighborhoods that get too touristy. It will remain residential and won’t be bogged down with tons of people.”

Haven't they been pretty much recycling the same article and quotes for the past 20 years? And who the hell gets excited about shitty chain stores opening in their neighborhood? You'll also note that "It's soon to be vibrant" but not diverse!

Far Rockaway revamp may be in the cards

From the Daily News:

The long-neglected downtown commercial hub of Far Rockaway could become a gleaming, vibrant village under a plan that will be unveiled Friday, the Daily News has learned.

The “Downtown Far Rockaway Roadmap for Action,” part of Mayor de Blasio’s $91 million pledge to revitalize the area, envisions brighter storefronts, residential and commercial towers and an eye-pleasing streetscape.

That scenario is worlds away from the current state of Mott Ave., with its rundown stores anchored by a shopping center that has sat mostly empty for decades.

City officials said they are prepared to rezone the neighborhood and even create an urban renewal area if that’s what it takes to revive abandoned and blighted private properties.

“The Roadmap for Action will unlock the downtown’s full potential as a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood,” said Maria Torres-Springer, president and CEO of the city’s Economic Development Corp.

I'd like to think that the city will finally do something to improve Far Rockaway, but if it involves the EDC and "upzoning" then it's probably a recipe for disaster. (See Jamaica) And they used the V word, so you know this plan has gotta be full of crap.

20,000 tourists is considered a lot

From NY1:

"We get about 20,000 visitors a year here. And 20% or so are international visitors and they come from over 50 countries," said Jennifer Walden Weprin, director of marketing for the museum.

The borough's culture and diversity have become big draws. NYC & Company says more than 12 million people visited Queens in 2014 — with more from foreign countries than the U.S.

The city says tourism is helping to boost the borough’s economy, employing about 50,000 people.

Diversity Plaza is a little too vibrant

From DNA Info:

Two police officers have begun patrolling Diversity Plaza in response to complaints about vagrants, loud music and other safety issues, according to the precinct's commander — good news for those who say the plaza has become a scourge in the neighborhood.

One officer is stationed on Broadway and 37th Road and another on 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, with a focus on "proactively addressing any of the conditions [at Diversity Plaza] as well as making contacts with members of the community and partnerships w/the community," according to Deputy Inspector Michael Cody of the 115th Precinct.

He made the announcement at Community Board 3's June meeting, which was held outside at the plaza.

"Right here in Diversity Plaza, there's been a lot of complaints of vagrants, loud music, running the gamut," he said. "I know it's a very vibrant area and it's used for a lot of great purposes for the community."

Most of the complaints have been for drinking in public and sleeping on the ground among other things, he added.

The officers are on patrol from 2 p.m. until 6 a.m., Cody said.

Predictable article from NY Times doesn't say much about South Ozone Park

From the NY Times:

On a recent Saturday afternoon I set out to explore South Ozone Park in Queens, in particular a stretch whose racial composition — according to recent census data, about a quarter white, a quarter Asian, 10 percent black and 11 percent biracial, with 30 percent of residents belonging to the statistical category of “other” — makes it one of the three most diverse patches of the city. Ethnically, too, it contains multitudes: Dominicans and Puerto Ricans live alongside Ecuadoreans, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese and people who look as though they might be cast in the production of anything succumbing to Italian-American caricature.

What had prompted my visit was, in a sense, a tourist’s curiosity about how integration of this kind might actually be lived and how, in the midst of a mayoral race, political conceptions in such a place might be evolving.

There were instances of inspiration to be found, encounters with a New York of one’s gorgeous mosaic fantasies. A barbershop called E Place, owned by an Uzbek immigrant named Eric Dzhuray, caters to Trinidadians and Guyanese — who make up a considerable share of the community in South Ozone Park — and at least one young white suburbanite who had grown so devoted to the shop when he lived in neighboring Howard Beach that he continued his patronage even though he had married and moved to Long Island.

The fact that a catering hall called La Bella Vita, owned by a man named Tony Modica and steeped in Pompeii aesthetics, was full of black patrons on the day I wandered in suggested that a certain kind of social progress had been made since the divisive days of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” two decades ago.

Both the barbershop and catering hall were to be found on Rockaway Boulevard, the primary commercial thoroughfare in South Ozone Park. Though it seemed as if it should be a busy place, full of pedestrian traffic and businesses servicing varied cultural interests, it has the bloodless feel of a Sun Belt village lost to misbegotten visions. The area itself is not poor; in the particular census tract I was visiting, median family income stands at $63,000 a year, above the figure for the city on the whole. But whatever vitality the demographics might suggest is so obviously lacking that one longtime resident mentioned that he hoped simply for a McDonald’s to energize the slackened mood.

So NY Times reporters are now recording in print that they consider themselves tourists who check out census stats before heading out to the far reaches of Queens where they are prepared to have orgasms over the vibrant! diverse! mix of cultures found here. When are they going to get some new shtick already? If you can make it through the rest of this dreck, you'll see that the conclusion made by the author is that casinos bring bad things to neighborhoods. Which may be true, but this particular neighborhood had plenty of pawn shops before Resorts World moved in. And now onto some real news...

From CBS New York:

The New York State casino expansion bill being negotiated behind closed doors included a new provision Saturday, which would expand gambling even if voters reject the proposal to build more casinos.

A copy of the revised bill obtained Saturday by The Associated Press includes a provision that would authorize video slot machine centers in the outer boroughs of New York City, and as many as three or four places upstate. The bill provides for the video slot casinos with up to 5,000 machines at each center.

Previously, New York State Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said discussions for the casino plan included a proposal for video slot machines run by off-track betting agencies in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Hours after refusing to discuss the bill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed his proposal through a spokeswoman.

“If the casino referendum fails, we will propose offering more high-end (video slot machines) to combat the loss of revenue to neighboring states and secure new funding for our schools,” said Cuomo spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa.

Hindu rituals threaten Jamaica Bay ecosystem

From the NY Times:

As the Hindu population has grown in Queens over the last decade, so too has the amount of ritual debris — clothing, statues, even cremation ashes — lining the banks of the bay in Gateway National Recreation Area.

But to the park rangers who patrol the beach, the holy waters are a fragile habitat, the offerings are trash and the littered shores are a federal preserve that must be kept clean for picnickers, fishermen and kayakers. Unlike the Ganges, they say, the enclosed bay does not sweep the refuse away.

The result is a standoff between two camps that regard the site as sacrosanct for very different reasons, and have spent years in a quiet tug of war between ancient traditions and modern regulations. Strenuous diplomacy on both sides has helped, but only to a point.

...as new immigrants arrive, unaware of the rules, and others refuse to change their ways, park rangers have intermittently forsaken good-cop sensitivity for bad-cop force: installing signs, closing the parking lot at night and threatening to hand out $75 fines, to little avail.

“It’s been a mounting problem for years,” said Kathy Krause, the supervisory park ranger. “The breakdown of these items is very, very harmful.”

Cremated remains are a particularly touchy subject. The scattering of ashes in water is among Hinduism’s most sacred rituals, necessary for a successful transition to the next life. The practice has drawn concern from park officials; they issue special permits for spreading ashes on a case-by-base basis, but Hindu leaders acknowledge that some bereaved families do not wait for permission.

Open air toilet in Sunnyside park

From Sunnyside Post:

Many residents have long complained that the throngs of soccer players who come to Lou Lodati Park (43rd and Skillman) each weekend fail to use the bathroom and urinate against the trees and back fence.

This weekend the players – most of whom come from outside of Sunnyside - answered their critics by establishing a makeshift bathroom.

Gabe Pressman's Flushing Adventure

I'm not really sure why NBC sent Gabe Pressman to Flushing; I always thought he was more of a political reporter. Well, predictably, there is the typical vibrant! diverse! shtick, but then it gets kind of interesting. But one thing that's puzzling is the title: "Flushing: Diversity on Queens' Western Shore"

Western shore? Did he look at a map?

A scary cemetery find

There's some shady business going on under cover of darkness at St. Michael's Cemetery. Visit Newtown Pentacle for the lowdown.

They'll have a gay old time...

From NY Magazine:

Local gay-club impresario Nestor Romero opened the Music Box in 1993, three years after he introduced his across-the-way favorite Friend’s Tavern. Because the layout is identical and the congenial bartenders are similarly inclined to greet you with a handshake and a smile, patrons freely amble between one bar and the other, interrupting their chatter only for the looming rumble of the elevated train overhead. Such is gay life in the well-traversed southwest pocket of Jackson Heights.

Wow, it sounds like gay Mayberry, doesn't it? They forgot to mention that on weekends, Spanish boys take their pants off at 12 midnight and 2am like clockwork.

Something fishy in Flushing

Courtesy of CherokeeSista.

With some fava beans and a nice chianti?

Holy war at Qns. church
By KATHIANNE BONIELLO, NY Post

A Queens church has asked for divine judicial intervention -- in the form of a restraining order -- to keep four excommunicated worshipers away from Sunday services.

The action came after Nam Sik Park, one of four black sheep expelled from the flock at the Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Flushing, railed against Rev. Stephen Kim, calling him a "false prophet" and allegedly threatening to "take out the liver of Pastor Kim, chew it up and eat it," court papers charge.

The banished pariahs keep showing up for services -- shouting during sermons, cursing at church elders and complaining to the congregation, the pastor claims.

Former church deacons Jae Kun Lee, Soon "Sunny" Kwang Hong and Hyun Suh Park were excommunicated in October. They had protested the August reinstatement of a former church elder, accused another elder of taking bribes and threatened to take the church to court, according to papers filed in Queens Supreme Court.

Nam Sik Park said he never threatened the pastor that he would "chew" and "eat" his liver.

Park said he was trying to show his devotion to God, by explaining, "If I didn't believe in Jesus Christ, I would 'take out the liver of Pastor Kim, chew it up and eat it.' "

Vibrant and diverse high school!

From Queens Rules:

...this school is situated in Elmhurst, the most multicultural zip code in the United States, according to the Department of City Planning. Newtown has more than 3000 students who represent over 100 countries and speak 60 different languages.

“Newtown is a typical United Nations,” explained Mary Wang, an associate principal at the school. Facing a wall map of the world in her office, she described how this internationalization helps her wards adapt to an increasingly globalized world.

That's all well and good. But would you want to send your kid to this school?

To be sure, Newtown has had its share of tensions. Students say some classmates belong to gangs and occasional fights break out.

Only one line about this, eh?

City to take over former Jackson Heights Catholic school

From indiejourno.com:

For many students in Queens, overcrowded schools are a constant reality. Each day they jostle and push through crammed hallways, squeezing into classrooms designed for fewer occupants.

Some students in Jackson Heights, however, may soon be granted a reprieve, as the city has acquired the Blessed Sacrament School building at 34-20 94th St. and will be turning the facility into a public school, set to open in September 2010. The new school is expected to eventually house 700 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

After months of speculation, the school was finally acquired from the Catholic Diocese, which had shut down Blessed Sacrament as enrollment levels at the Catholic school dropped to a precipitous low of 180 students in January 2009.

On Thursday, members of CDEC 30 brainstormed what the new curriculum for the school ought to be, with five educators from across the city presenting proposals.

Jacqueline Coombs, who has been an educator for the last 17 years, also supported the idea of having the curriculum reflect the diversity of the neighborhood.

“For example, Friday would be ‘game day,’ and we can use this day to learn how math across the world is different and how different cultures add and subtract differently,” Coombs said, alluding to the use of the abacus and other counting instruments that would be used to enhance the learning experience.

Ok, students don't need "game day" or to be taught how math is learned in other countries. Here's a crazy idea...how about concentrating on teaching them how to read, write and count so they have skills necessary to become successful in this country? Get your priorities in order. You're doing a disservice to these kids.

Queens Center is vibrant, diverse!

From the NY Times:

The Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, a short walk from the Woodhaven Boulevard stop on the R, V or G train, has 70 stores, including most major chains, and is anchored by Macy’s and J. C. Penney. But it is also a microcosm of its surrounding borough, one of the most diverse places in the country: Colombian teenagers bump up against elderly Chinese, Indian women in saris shuffle past Filipino toddlers. The mall offers translation in nearly 50 languages. And what other mall allows for a nosh on empanadas, Italian ices or halal food just outside the air-conditioning?

Yes, go to the mall for the empanada truck outside and the chain stores inside. It's funny but you read this and say, "Gee, this diverse mix of people is shopping in the same place, but it doesn't sound like they're interacting with each other much." So, in that sense, yes, the mall is a microcosm of its surrounding borough.

Seriously, it's time for these papers to find another angle on their reporting of Queens. This one is sooooo 1980s.

Vibrant and diverse in Kensington

From the Daily News:

When El Gavilan Mexican restaurant opened across the street from Derek Mayer's Kensington home three years ago, he happily indulged in their authentic chicken tacos.

But two months ago, he says, the quaint eatery turned into a nightmare of a neighbor, transforming itself into an obnoxious nightclub, with dancing, blaring music and fights.

"Last night, I woke up at 3 a.m. because I heard somebody yelling. There were 20 drunk people congregating outside in the street," said Meyer, 43, last Friday, adding that in May he also saw a knife-wielding man trying to slash a bouncer armed with a baseball bat.

Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Kensington) said 66th Precinct cops raided the Church Ave. club July 29 and slapped its owner with a number of citations.

The charges range from selling alcohol after hours, unlicensed sale of alcohol and operating an unlicensed dance hall, to employing an unlicensed security guard and serving alcohol to minors, de Blasio said.

Hey...move the establishment to Astoria (Mr. Public Safety's backyard). The locals will flock there and then blog about it and Helen will post it on her website as an example of a vibrant, diverse place to visit. DOT will run a bike lane past your dive and City Planning will get federal money to mark it on their latest bike map of the borough. You picked the wrong place to settle, boys! Come to the spot where even the vegetables display diversity!

Vibrant! Diverse! Enough!

Actually, it's not only in New York or only in Queens. These type of events are celebrated throughout the world wherever people of the Hindu faith build shrines. This screenshot from YourNabe.com.

Instead of hyping "vibrancy" and "diversity" all the time, maybe the Queens weeklies should talk about how none of this would be possible if it wasn't for the freedom of religion this country's constitution provides. Freedom of religion that was first demanded by Flushing Quakers. (The celebration of that happened in 2007, wasn't exactly front page news and has long since been forgotten until the 400th anniversary.) But that would require actually caring about the history of Queens instead of reducing it to running an old photo of the borough once a week on one of the back pages. Queens has been "diverse" for centuries so why do we act like it just started within the past few years? Why do newspapers act surprised that people actually take advantage of the opportunity and freedoms our country provides?

Why do reporters flock to events such as Hindu festivals and condo openings yet ignore many issues of vital importance to their readers? Like how we are supposed to absorb 1 million more people when we can't meet the needs of the ones we have now? How long before our sewers and electrical systems give out completely? How about asking why we are inviting 1 million more people here and how will it benefit the people already here? The latest building boom certainly hasn't benefited the natives as promised. Remember the mantra of more jobs! increased tax base! more money for services! Well, where is it? Why did we give giant tax breaks to developers? Why are we pushing ahead with massive development projects when we lost 3 hospitals within the past year?

BREAKING NEWS: Queens is diverse!

From the Daily News:

Queens has been touted as a diverse borough that is home to immigrants from all over the globe, and a key component of New York City's melting pot.

But the sheer number of cultures represented by its 2.2 million residents truly sets the borough apart from the rest of the city and beyond, according to new figures released last week.

The surge in Hispanic groups in Queens is most notable among Ecuadorans. It jumped 68.9% between 2000 and 2006. The number of Mexicans increased 30%.

This is fantastic. The fastest growing group of Hispanics is comprised mainly of people here illegally.

Brooklyn Paper redefines "vibrant"

Idiocy from the Brooklyn Paper:

One need not be a hopeless romantic to appreciate the value of a professional sports team to a city like Brooklyn — which would be the fifth-largest in the country were it not shackled to the larger Gotham. Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and even Nassau County have their own major league teams — and the vibrancy that come with them — so it is appropriate that Brooklyn gets some of the action, too.

Vibrant? Have the editors over there walked around the other sports venues in this city? Yankee Stadium is in a ghetto, you can pick up a hooker a block away from MSG, CitiField sits within a neglected park across the street from a neglected industrial park and they don't call it the "Nassau Mausoleum" for nuthin'...

Sports arenas simply aren't engines for economic development. And that new design is hideous. Ratner might as well hire Scarano!

No Land Grab has another take:

Did the Brooklyn Paper miss the big news from the State Senate hearing two weeks ago, you know, the bit where the city's Independent Budget Office declared the arena a money-loser for the taxpayers? Now that's an economic development opportunity.