Sunday, October 21, 2012

Koo notices that Downtown Flushing has an issue


From the Daily News:

Navigating the sidewalks of downtown Flushing is a bit of an art form as pedestrians weave and dodge around merchandise that spills out of storefronts, vending tables and lines of commuters waiting for the bus.

City Councilman Peter Koo thinks that needs to change.

Koo (D-Flushing) is asking the city to crack down on the vendors — legal and illegal — who have turned Main St. into an obstacle course.

“I walk this street every day,” said Koo, who said he has received complaints about the vendors since he was first elected to office in 2009. “The sidewalks are very narrow. You can’t walk.”

Koo said he is even mulling legislative action that would ban vendors along Main St., similar to the restrictions that exist along Austin St. in Forest Hills.

The downtown Flushing area is both a transit hub and a shopping center, home to several bus lines as well as the Long Island Rail Road and the No. 7 subway.

That makes it a prime location for vendors and merchants.

Koo said some shop owners are frustrated by vendors who take away business while others add to the problem by renting out space in front of their stores.


Bayside has a vendor problem as well.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

John Liu took up
this very same issue while he was councilman.

Did it ever go anywhere? Obviously not!
We're having smoke blown up our asses again.

What's the difference anyway?

Low class Orientals are used to these overcrowded sidewalks...tight, squalid living conditions.
How "cozy" it all is...just like the lower east side around 1900.

Us middle class Occidentals gave up shopping the hub long ago....and that's been a serious loss of income to the hub's merchants ever since.

The local Chinese aren't spending money there,
the way they used to.
Their children are much more Americanized and are ashamed of "stinky" Flushing.

Can you blame them?

H-m-m-m...
so, what's really all behind this sudden realization by Peter Koo that things need to change?

Eureka! Bingo!

Despite all of the propaganda being spread by the Flushing BID to the contrary, ...Flushing is a failure!

A child could see that.

What does it have to offer but 99 cent stores and discount crap merchandise?

We hear that Sam Chang's New World Mall isn't doing that well either...except, maybe, the food court.

Why should Councilman Koo care,
since he lives and shops in Port Washington?

Koo is just going through the motions.
It's an election year.

Macy's is the only saving grace.
How long will that last in this Asiatic ghetto?

Anonymous said...

it just follows suit that this mayhem and anarchy has taken over Flushing. Nobody want tostNd up and do anything
Where is Grace Meng
And what is her view on this trashing if a once fine and respectable community where laws were followed?

Jerry Rotondi said...

Isn't it the job of the BID to IMPROVE Flushing?

The Flushing Business IMPROVEMENT District
appears to be in as much of a mess as Flushing is.

Where is the IMPROVEMENT
besides the obligatory street banners on lamp posts?

Anonymous said...

Where is the lion's share of the additional tax revenues levied by the BID going....to paying the salary of it's executive director?

Get rid of its Chinese director,
if you want to see Flushing to become more than just a filthy overcrowded mono-cultural third rate Chinatown.

Comment by Wellington Chen
to the press regarding Flushing:

"...a crappy little Chinatown..."!

Anonymous said...

Grace Meng is running for Congress
far away from the nothing she did for Flushing.

She only cares about issues
that affect her own kind anyway.

Try getting some quick action from her office
if your name isn't Foo, Wang or Chen.

Her staff does speak English, but with accents so thick that you can't understand them anyway.

Anonymous said...

This doesn't happen in China! Look Chinese people as well as other nationalities are an enterprising bunch. So if you can sell your goods without overhead of a store front etc, on a street that is the busiest in NYC with foot traffic walking by without being ticketed or jailed, why not? In China this doesn't happen because YES they enforce the laws - here POLICE make excuses SMALL LAWS can be ignored thus the chaos you see. ENFORCEMENT IS KEY - RULE OF LAW is crumbling fast folks!

The Flushing Phantom said...

Nobody has enforced the laws in Flushing because they were told by it's lawmakers to give the Asians (Taiwanese) a free hand in things.

The director of the long defunct Downtown Flushing Development Corporation(DFDC) once said:
"We don't want to offend the Asians".

That's right Ms. "H". They might cut off campaign contributions to our elected officials and funds to local organizations like the DFDC.

What ever happened to the $30,000 that was left over when the Downtown Flushing Development Corp. (DFDC) shut down?

Donald Manes set up the DFDC. Tommy Huang was on its board and also on CB#7's!

The crap goes way back!

Anonymous said...

WTF has Toby Stavisky done?

Joined by Grace Meng they put out a pamphlet
translating some key Mandarin phrases into English.

That was tried 20 years before, and was a total failure.

Did CB#7's Chuck Apelian's printing company get that nice fat contract?

Anonymous said...

Do you want to hear the real truth?

NOBODY WANTS TO IMPROVE FLUSHING!

As long as the various tongs are in disagreement with each other...
THERE IS A FORTUNE TO BE MADE by everyone!

Anonymous said...

Start collecting some of those $10,000 fines from Chinese violators and you'd see real improvement damn fast.

But the Asians have a free pass in Flushing.
Nobody will step on their toes.

The only one who was actively on these violators' asses was Council Member Julia Harrison.

And see how the clubhouse branded her for doing her job too well.

As long as there are Asians running the local government...Liu...then Koo and Meng...the status "stinky" will remain.

Anyway why bother changing a thing?
Most civilized folk have already left.

Let the low class Orientals swim in their own cesspool.
Those who have bettered themselves have moved up to Scarsdale or onto Great Neck.

Anonymous said...

BRAIN FLASH!

That mythical 1970s "BLIGHT" that was often talked about just to scare people will REALLY be here this time and soon. It's being caused by the Asians.
They've held the town for 30 years, so who else can we blame?

How many empty lots, vacancies and stalled projects can you list in Flushing...besides an empty RKO Keith's theater?

How many below capacity rentals are there?

Sky View Parc; Flushing Commons; Former peck's store; yadda, yadda.

This sounds like REAL BLIGHT to me.

Property values have got to drop if this goes on.

Mehran and Schwartz and Kent Realty, etc. have got to be craping in their shorts already.

Are you reading all this, you crooked pols?

Anonymous said...

Abandon ship! Abandon the town!
BUILD A WALL around Flushing and hand it over to Taiwan!
Let them spend their money NOT OURS to clean up all the crap and congestion if they wish to!

Put our tax money to work improving local schools.
Passports will then be required for Taiwanese Floo-shing-ites to enter our zone and vice versa!

Speaking of "vice"...
is Peter Koo interested in closing the many whore houses doing business in his district...unless maybe he frequents a few himself?

That might account for his ever present smile.

Anonymous said...

Does one person post about 90% of the entries on this website anymore?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Does one person post about 90% of the entries on this website anymore?
_________________________________________________________
Why do you ask? Were you thinking of abandoning QC and trolling elsewhere???

Anonymous said...

Can you post English subtitles on Koo's video?

Nobody can understand a damn thing he's saying.

Uh,
and it's F"l"ushing not F"r"ushing, Councilman.

Anonymous said...

Is it James Mc Clelland or Dennis Gallagher that's doing the trolling for their boss here?

Anonymous said...

Just because MANY are commenting on the same subject hardly means that only ONE person is posting.

We are merely ALL singing together in harmony...
t(give me a "A")...ta, ta...

"FLUSHING LOOKS AND SMELLS LIKE SHIT" !

Anonymous said...

CONFISCATE THEIR GOODS, if fines alone don't work!

Anonymous said...

Either 1% or 90%...they're speaking 100% of the truth!

Anonymous said...

What a walking tour de farce!

Councilman Koo did the walk and he did the talk, but after the cameras stop rolling, will he break a sweat to fix up Flushing?

He hasn't so far.
Koo WILL NOT put the screws on his fellow Chinese
to clean up their act.

He just appeared on TV to pass the blame for his own incompetence along to a few city agencies. merchants and store owners.

"It's not my fault", cries the Councilman.

That was a nice try, Pete. Nobody believes you.

The Flushing Phantom said...

Dirty politics make for filthy streets!
Corrupt politicians make for congested sidewalks!

High pressure hoses and a good enema are the solutions to both!

Anonymous said...

LOL!
Councilman Koo, stars in the "Flush-stink" Follies".

Maybe DOS will give it an "A-crudd-emy Award".

Anonymous said...

Koo sat on his ass for years in his office, and assigned his chief of staff-interpreter to deal with constituents.

Good thing...at least James doesn't speak "Engrish".

Now Koo finally decided to walk around the ward to see things for himself.

OK...what's the follow up after the television photo op?

Anonymous said...

Since the Chinese took possession of Flushing, it's become very unsanitary and extremely overcrowded.

Who would dare to deny these facts?

Our eyes, noses and ears won't be fooled that easily.

Promoting Flushing as "vibrant and bustling" is just another way to describe a 3rd world neighborhood.

And that's that!

Anonymous said...

KOO...KOO! Poo-poo!

Passing under the LIRR trestle...was that pigeon shit that just landed on my head, or the councilman's crap "decorating" my shoes?

Speak English, not "Chingrish". We can't hear you.

Koo is full of lies about wanting to clean up Flushing. He knows that it can't be done to civilized western standards.
The town is full of former farmers from Fujian and Taiwan.

They spit wherever they please.
They have the manners of a goat and the cleanliness habits of pigs.

Anonymous said...

The PIX 11 piece interviewed three black women and no Asians. Are we supposed to draw the conclusion that the Asians of Flushing like things the way they are? If no one was buying the crap there wouldn't be profits to be made and the vendors would find somewhere else to sell. Ergo, the neighborhood is making its choice to be what it is. You can't change it unless the people stop buying.

Anonymous said...

They can do whatever the f*ck they want with that shithole. As long as they don't touch the Korean side of Flushing.

Anonymous said...

And those vendors feed the pigeons

Anonymous said...

Too bad for all, In fact, Chinese people are richer than us now. Even US government would not make mainland China gets mad. What can you do? Work harder and become richer than them? or still getting medicare and supports from our government?