Horns will be silent

Quiet! Little Neck LIRR Crossing Getting Gate

1010WINS - A neighborhood in Little Neck, Queens is to get the gift of silence as federal funds for the Long Island Rail Road will improve a crossing gate so trains don't have to blare their horns.

The crossing at Little Neck Parkway sees more than 80 trains a day.

The opening in the crossing gate is wide enough to allow a car to fit through so under federal regulations, trains are required to blast their horns for 15 to 20 seconds as they approach.

U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, (D-N.Y.) has gotten the LIRR railroad $245,000 to reduce the gap, so the Federal Railroad Administration can classify the Little Neck crossing as a quiet zone.

LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto said we understand the congressman is seeking funds for a quiet zone and the railroad will work with him and New York city.

There's no timetable for the work, said Zambuto.

Photo from Forgotten-NY

Serf and the Pope

Nothing says Christmas like Serf's Columbus portrait on a dish.

A billionaire's points of light

Shea subway ramp demo-ed

As we recently found out:

RIP Subway Ramp To Shea Stadium

Getting to/from a game is gonna be a bitch next season...

Photo from Loge 13

History of the WPIX Yule Log

Have a Merry New York Christmas

Here's an 80-year old article from the Daily Star:

Old Christmases

And one from this past Sunday's Daily News:

How New York invented Christmas

Electric Christmas

The Queens version of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is on Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. Blvd.
Meanwhile, the Maspeth Christmas tree is looking better than ever!

Merry Christmas from the Mets

"My invoice for 2008 arrived yesterday. My fears about opening it were well founded.

I paid $600 per seat for 25 games last year on my Tues/Fri plan, $1,200 total.

After witnessing the "Greatest Collapse in Team Sports History" and an off-season where the big move consisted of trading a young, exciting potential star outfielder for an old catcher with no stick and an outfielder with no power, the Mets have raised my bill 33.25% to $866 per seat, $1,732 total. Lucky for me they've been holding $758 of my money for the playoff tickets I bought which never left the DHL envelope they came in so I only owe $999 ($25 service charge included). And full payment is due by January 15th or else they cancel my account.

MERRY F'N CHRISTMAS METS FANS!

No doubt this is just to prepare us for the imminent gouging to come when the new park opens in 2009." - Anon

I've seen fire and I've seen crap

RESIDENTS of the bungalow district of Brighton Beach, a 10-block stretch of wooden single-family houses in Brooklyn that stand cheek-by-jowl along narrow lanes, are accustomed to feeling embattled. Since the late 1990s, developers have been snapping up these bungalows, which are half a mile from the ocean, and replacing them with beige concrete apartment buildings.

Burned Bungalows, and an Iffy Market

Now the bungalow dwellers of Brighton Beach face a new threat: arson. Over the past six months, at least 13 fires have been reported in eight vacant buildings, according to Chuck Reichenthal, district manager of Community Board 13. A fire on Nov. 12 on Brighton Fifth Street injured three firefighters, destroyed a bungalow, damaged several adjacent houses and wrecked a car.

Barging into the bay

For months, local residents have been complaining about these mystery guests, saying that they look ugly, that trash has been sliding off them into the water, and that their presence could damage the fragile wetlands nearby. According to a joint city-federal study released in August, the Jamaica Bay marshlands are vanishing at the rate of 33 acres a year and will be mostly gone by 2012 unless something is done.

No owner or government agency has come to remove the barges.

Uninvited Guests, and the Hope That They Won’t Stay

Photo from NY Times

Schenkler's wish list

Here's a sample of Santa Schenkler's wish list for our favorite tweeders:

May The New Year Bring Peace To Us All

Peter Vallone, Jr: name recognition, boroughwide -- especially among single women.

Um, okay...

Melinda Katz: The brass ring.

To match her brass balls.

Anthony Weiner: He has boundless energy, perhaps he could use a moustache, too.

Yes, to match his "beard"... (tee hee)

Dennis Gallagher: May he find peace, good will and grace after a terrible year.

Yes, Pinky's had a bad year. But just think how bad it's been for his victim.

Sounds like this guy's been knocking back the egg nog.

Downtown Flushing development changes

Pictured is a rendering of what the RKO Keith's was to become. So much for that.

Redrawing Queens: Downtown Flushing’s Planned Growth Stays On Course – With Some Changes

Money down the pothole

See how your tax money is wasted.

NYC Road Repair

Holiday crap

We were planning to tour the borough and take photos of houses with gaudy Christmas decorations but the Courier beat us to it.

Queens Courier holiday pics

On the prowl

Across the city, delis and bodegas are a familiar and vital part of the streetscape, modest places where customers can pick up necessities, a container of milk, a can of soup, a loaf of bread.

Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.

To Dismay of Inspectors, Prowling Cats Keep Rodents on the Run at City Delis

Maybe this is where the idea for Deli-Cat brand cat food came from.

Can we get some of these kitties at City Hall? There's a big rat problem there, both inside and out!

Con Ed's toxic waste in Astoria

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public input on an application filed by Con Edison, renewing its permit to operate a hazardous waste storage facility in Astoria.

Public Comment Sought On Con Ed’s Astoria Facility

The site, located at 31-01 20th Ave., serves as a temporary waste storage and transfer station for materials generated on site and at other Con Ed facilities.

Materials handled there include oil, electrical equipment waste and the chemical compound PCB, according to DEC documents.

The materials come from a variety of sources and operations. These include general equipment maintenance of tankers and pumps, as well as procedures like consolidating liquid and solid waste and preparing equipment for storage.

How cozy, part 2

Mayor Bloomberg's closest aide, Deputy Mayor Patti Harris, has been working for his charitable foundation without first getting clearance from city ethics watchdogs.

Harris, who earns $227,219 a year on the city payroll, took on an advisory role for the Bloomberg Family Foundation, which the mayor set up last year to give away his billions.

Mayor Bloomberg's aides staff his foundation without city ethics check

And she's not the only city employee doing side work with the foundation.

Her assistant, Allison Jaffin, has also spent time working on behalf of the charity without prior approval from the city Conflicts of Interest Board.

The city charter generally bans bosses and subordinates from entering into business relationships with each other or doing private work on city time unless the Conflicts of Interest Board agrees it is in New York's best interest.

Photo from NY Times

Marshall supports Briarwood rezoning

Last rezoned in 1996, the Central Queens enclave is currently a mishmash of low- and high-density housing, with properties ranging from 20-foot-wide rowhouses to towering condos and apartment complexes.

Boro Prez Gives Green Light To Briarwood Rezoning Plan

Over the past decade, however, population growth has fueled increasing pressure to build higher-density, multifamily structures that appear grossly out character alongside smaller properties, critics say.

The Department of City Planning’s latest proposal would preserve the “hodgepodge” nature of the existing real estate, but prevent further development of the multistory complexes that, residents say, are ruining the character of their neighborhood.

Photo from About.com

CB 8 letter to mayor

We are particularly disturbed and can no longer silently sit by while our communities are negatively impacted by a number of recent actions by city agencies that have circumvented the involvement of this board, our legislators and our community.

The processes by which findings by a number of city agencies are being imposed upon our community with impunity and without regard for our views and recommendations are creating the potential for harmful consequences. The process has resulted in a collective discouragement, and we experience the anger of affected residents of the community.

Some examples are:

A high school for at-risk students has been imposed on us without notification or consultation, and without regard for the consequences, it may create on nearby schools and the residential community adjacent to the site.

The concealed plan by St. John’s University to place a six-story dormitory for about 485 students adjacent to one-family residential homes on Henley Road.

A major drug and alcohol detoxification center is being placed in the former St. Joseph’s Hospital without regard to nearby homes, schools and the community at large.

The rezoning of the Hillside Avenue Corridor component of the Jamaica Redevelopment Plan, designed to create a two-mile long wall of eight-story multi-unit houses is to be imposed upon an existing area of one and two-family homes.

Despite the overwhelming opposition and the submission of viable options by CB8 and the local community to the Department of Transportation, extreme changes in traffic patterns have been implement by the agency at two local elementary schools, P.S. 200 and P.S. 117, with anticipated harmful consequences.

Please understand our utter frustration with our inability to carry out our mandate as Community Board members and responsible community leaders. Our board hopes that such uncompromising acts do not reflect a course formulated by your office. We call upon you to review these patterns of insensitivity, and to meet with us at your earliest convenience in order to consider how our city agencies would be able to give greater weight to the views of our local Community Boards to assure them a more meaningful role in the process of governance.

Alvin Warshaviak
Chairman of CB 8

SJU dorm build commences

Dorm Build Begins

And from the looks of it, will be surrounded by crap!