Friday, September 28, 2007

Speaking out against Queens stupidity

Now if government officials have the hard working, tax paying public at heart (as we are often told), they should stop the inappropriate overbuilding in this city, especially here in Queens. We are sick of developers and their allies being allowed to threaten property owners and to steal homes and our hopes for some contentment in these very troubled times...Remember, (those of you who want to keep expanding the population and the infrastructures here inordinately), when a lifeboat is full, one more can destroy all. Stop trying to sink our little community ships.

Neighbor to Neighbor: Boro needs protection from overdevelopment

We know that there is a lack of affordable housing in New York City. It should be evident that many illegals-and others-are living under conditions that are at best sub-standard. Every once in awhile we hear of a loss of life in a fire that broke out in a building housing far too many people in too many chopped-up rooms.

I Sit And Look Out: Queens firms profiteer on illegal immigrants

They have managed to suck out the charm of the neighborhood. I wonder if there is anything in the zoning laws to stop this carnage of greenery and beauty.

Forest Hills area denuded

To me, cutting the trees down to prevent leaves from falling on the tracks is like detonating an atomic bomb to kill a few flies. Total overkill! And who is to say that the wind will not blow leaves from other nearby trees onto the tracks? Will the railroad try to destroy these trees as well? And in order to install security fencing, would not pruning existing trees be adequate? Why the need to destroy so many trees? The railroad should be considering other viable alternatives to address their issues.

Stop LIRR from cutting trees on Port Washington line

Cartoon from Queens Courier

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look, guys, we can talk about this until we are blue in the face. The solution is very simple:

1. the boro, indeed the city, needs to organize with one voice to stop this - you are dealing with one city government and one clubhouse and the only way to defeat them is to organize.

2. we need to recognize that those people mentioned in the previous point are masters at creating dissent within a community so that it does not have one voice - thus letter the developer in through the front door. This is something that has to be recognized and then overcome.

3. you do not solve the problems of overdevelopment by downzoning your back yard letting development fester down the road within a community that is under the boot of the machine and can't stop it - it will come back sooner or later to haunt you again - we need to push for downzoning for the entire city. Yes, we are all on the same lifeboat.

4. We need to have the city channel its resources to taking care of those who are here - affordable housing sloganeering is nothing more than a clever arguement to open the door for more development. The needs of those who want to move here should clearly take a back seat to the needs of those who live here, who, by the way, are supporting the whole damn thing with taxes.

Anonymous said...

You write, "We know that there is a lack of affordable housing in New York City. It should be evident that many illegals-and others-are living under conditions that are at best sub-standard."

I submit that it is due to all the illegal immigration that this overbuilding is out of control. Who cares if illegals live in substandard housing? Nobody asked them to come here. If they don't like it here, let them go home.

If I was still living in NYC and had some money to invest, I'd be doing the same as the developers: Build cheap and rent to the filthy illegals. As a former Queens resident, I sympathize with your plight, but blaming the developers isn't getting to the root cause of the problem, which is illegal immigration.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to stereotype, but many of the owners of the 112th Street mansions in Forest Hills come from Central Asia- a place where grassy lawns are rare.

Some of the mansions look generic- right out of a catalog, but a few are worth noting for their custom designs.

Anonymous said...

So....where did their sheep graze?

Oh.... they kept them at home for second wives !