AirBnB is gobbling up affordable housing

From the Daily News:

Airbnb is gobbling up a huge chunk of apartments in some of the city’s hottest zip codes — snagging as much as 20% of vacancies in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to a new study by two affordable housing advocates.

The East Village led the list with a whopping 28% of its units going as illegal hotel rooms on the popular home-sharing site, according to an analysis from New York Communities for Change and Real Affordability For All.

The 20 most popular Airbnb neighborhoods — in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens — have lost 10% of their available housing units to Airbnb, according to the study.

Airbnb has maintained that its users are overwhelmingly tenants looking to make a quick buck when out of town, but the study found that the average rental was available for 247 days a year, and rented 109 nights a year.

That number would support criticism that huge numbers of shady landlords were using the website to convert rental units into illegal hotel rooms, exacerbating the city’s housing crisis to make a profit.

It’s illegal to rent out your apartment when you are not home, but you can rent out a room when you are, according to the law.

Glendale may get its own zip code

From the Queens Courier:

Is it Glendale or Ridgewood? You can’t tell from the ZIP code.

But the confusion may be a thing of the past if new legislation, introduced by U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, gets passed.

“For years, the residents of Glendale have sought to obtain a ZIP code for their community and now I join them in their fight,” Meng said. “Most areas in the borough are recognized by their neighborhood names, which provide a sense of identity and pride for local residents. That is true for Glendale, and it’s time for the Postal Service to accept and recognize that by creating a ZIP code that the community can finally call its own.”

The pleas for a Glendale ZIP code have been constant for over a decade but have continually fallen on deaf ears, according to published reports. The neighborhood currently shares its 11385 ZIP Code with Ridgewood.

Graffiti complaints spike in Woodside

From DNA Info:

Graffiti complaints in the neighborhood have more than doubled so far this year compared to the year before, according to data, an uptick that some advocates attribute to aggressive reporting.

Since Jan. 1, there were 211 complaints made to the city's 311 system about graffiti in the 11377 ZIP code, which covers Woodside and includes small parts of Maspeth, Sunnyside and Elmhurst, according to stats found on NYC Open Data.

That's up from the 96 graffiti complaints the city received in the ZIP code through Oct. 13, 2013, an increase of nearly 120 percent.

This year's numbers are also 9 percent higher than the same period in 2012 when there were 193 calls about graffiti, city data shows.

Glendale pols apply for new zip code

From The Forum:

Glendale may soon have its own ZIP code, distinguishing it from Ridgewood and hopefully clarifying mail delivery.

The two politicians working on the project, Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Glendale) and Congressman Bob Turner (R-Queens), say it’s a practical step with the benefit of boosting Glendale as a neighborhood.

“Glendale is a unique community and should have its own ZIP code,” Turner said. “Sharing a ZIP code has created numerous, and sometimes dangerous, problems for Glendale residents such as delays in medication delivery and first responder services. Assemblyman Miller and I are asking the USPS to help remedy these issues by taking our application into consideration as soon as possible.”

On May 22, Turner delivered an application for changing the ZIP code to the USPS. Along with the application were letters from residents, businesses and civic organizations backing the idea and a petition with 1,000 signatures.

Miller said this could have an everyday impact on residents’ lives.

The assemblyman said he was recently trying to make a purchase online and when the site asked for his ZIP code, it wouldn’t allow him to pair it with Glendale.

Instead, the site insisted he lived in Ridgewood. He had to call customer support to work out the problem but ended up having to enter his address as a Ridgewood residence.

Borderline crazy!

From the NY Times:

For many New Yorkers, a borough is like a tribe, a singular identity, a way of being in the world. There is Brooklyn, land of the $5 slice (Di Fara Pizza) and the $12 million brownstone (Brooklyn Heights), the kind of place that has become as much a brand as a borough, where people wear Brooklyn sweatshirts as they drink Brooklyn Brewery beer. And then there is Queens, land of Archie Bunker (Corona or Glendale, depending on whom you ask) and former actual home of Run-D.M.C. (Hollis), the kind of middle-class mecca that more people seem to be from than aspire to, where half of the residents own homes and two-thirds drive cars.

Then there is the border. It is a curious, somewhat unsettling experience to stand between the two boroughs. You keep looking for some sign of Brooklyn, some sign of Queens, but there is nothing — the same parked cars, the same trees, the same power lines, the same houses. Boroughs exist in the mind as much as they exist on maps.

There is no painted line running down the middle of Menahan Street between Cypress and St. Nicholas Avenues, but there might as well be. Stand in the middle of Menahan facing St. Nicholas — your right foot is in Brooklyn, your left is in Queens. The three-story brick row houses on either side face one another as if the two counties were locked in a staring contest: Kings versus Queens. For those who live on this block, the border remains a kind of psychological and bureaucratic barrier.

On Election Day, residents on the west side of Menahan voted at an apartment complex on Bleecker Street in Brooklyn, and residents on the east side of Menahan voted at Public School 81 on Cypress Avenue in Queens. If Francisco Miranda needs assistance from the police, he has to take it up with the 83rd Precinct in Brooklyn. If Jaime Arroyo, Mr. Miranda’s neighbor and friend who lives a few houses down, has a problem, he has to call the 104th Precinct in Queens. Mr. Miranda’s ZIP code is 11237; Mr. Arroyo’s is 11385.

Does Glendale need its own zip code?

By Council Member Elizabeth Crowley via the Times Newsweekly:

Living in Glendale, we know that our community has an identity all its own. Glendale has the feel of a small town tucked into New York City. We have our own business district on Myrtle Avenue, our own schools, parishes, parks and community centers.

However, Glendale still does not have its own ZIP code, and all the benefits that come with one. And the 35,000 Glendale residents live with the consequences of inefficient services that come with the bloated zip code we are currently forced to live in.

The 11385 ZIP code for both Ridgewood and Glendale has a population of roughly 69,500, making it one of the most populous of all five boroughs. In Manhattan alone, there are nearly 50 ZIP codes that cover areas with a population much lower than Glendale’s. Several relatively new ZIP codes have a significantly smaller population than Glendale, such as 10075 in the Upper East Side covering a population of 12,005. To add insult to injury, Saks’ Shoe department has its own zip code.

If the U.S. Postal Service provides ZIP codes in Manhattan for vanity purposes, then surely they must be willing to reconsider giving Glendale a ZIP code for reasons based on safety, efficiency and economic growth.

For an area as populated as Glendale, the lack of a ZIP code is a considerable safety concern for residents. Modern navigational technology, like the GPS, does not always list Glendale in their registry under the 11385 zip code. There are incidents when emergency services outside of Glendale rely on navigational systems to reach the people in need.

If Glendale is not listed in the navigational systems, it becomes unnecessarily difficult for help to reach people who may need it. And this has also delayed the delivery of medications for some elderly residents. Many of these prescriptions are timesensitive and with the deficiency in medical services throughout Queens, our seniors cannot afford to wait for their medications.

Granting a ZIP code for Glendale is necessary for local economic de- velopment. It is in our best interest to encourage visitors from all over the city to travel to Glendale to experience the local spots, such as Zum Stammtisch and the Shops at Atlas Park. However, potential out-oftowners could be discouraged to visit Glendale’s attractions because there is not easy access to accurate directions. Simply put, Glendale loses business because of the lack of a ZIP code.

Furthermore, post office carriers and technology too often cannot locate Glendale, resulting in delayed delivery service and constant headaches for residents. Internet transactions for Glendale residents are always more complicated than necessary because they are often forced to prove their identity and residence to government authorities and credit card companies who have them registered under Ridgewood.

In addition, federal, state and local statistics are often broken down along ZIP code lines, and what may be right for one end of our ZIP code, may not always be good for the other.

Glendale is long past due for its own ZIP code. Our sense of pride and belonging coupled with the lack of an official identity creates daily issues for the Glendale resident that could be solved with an additional ZIP code. While it may not seem like much to outsiders, having a ZIP code is important for services to our neighborhood.

The problems associated with not having a ZIP code will only get worse as time goes on. As the post office reorganizes itself to face new challenges in the 21st century, a priority in Queens should be for a new ZIP code for Glendale because we deserve better.

Middle Village has 11379. The next zip code is Ridgewood/Glendale's 11385. After that, 11411 is next. So there's plenty of room for a new one. Time to ask cousin Joe for some help.