Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Possible parkland usurpation in Astoria

"There's some city property near the BQE...not sure, but it may be parkland. As a kid, some of us locals used to play softball there, but it is now being used by contractors that are storing demo containers filled with debris and construction materials. They also are parking commercial vans and pickups there." - Anonymous
That's a sturdy-looking structure!
Looks like the remnants of a grassy field.
The 1951 map above shows the outline of what appears to be the contributor's ballfield.
I tried to look up this property, but according to the NYC Tax Map, this property doesn't exist. Which is probably why local businesses did what they did with it.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the leaders of Astoria, at some point in the last few decades, sold or authorized parkland to private interests for nothing in return.

Anonymous said...

I eagerly await Gothamists' anti-parks post about this.

Any guess at an address? I wonder if the DOB has any record of any structure being built here? My guess is going to be no.

Queens Crapper said...

Across the street from 23-23 48 Street. Maybe 23-24?

Anonymous said...

Can private parties make claims of adverse possession against the city?

And if it's not on a tax map, how in any sense can it be "owned"?

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the leaders of Astoria, at some point in the last few decades, sold or authorized parkland to private interests for nothing in return.

hahahahaha
hehehehehe
hohohohoho

... get surprised.

Anonymous said...

From what I can see here, the property in question is part of the roadbed, meaning it's officially a road owned by the City of New York and under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation.

There are at least two possibilities: either the property is being squatted on by the current occupant or it's actually being leased by the DOT to that entity.

We have similar situations in other parts of the city where the government professes that they don't know who has jurisdiction over a particular parcel of property.

Paul Graziano

Anonymous said...

I remember playing ball in that lot. We would wear summer t-shirts with iron on numbers and walk or bike ride over there like it was our very own baseball diamond. A place where a home run had to go over an actual fence and we didn't have to stop every few swings at the call of "car!"

Anonymous said...

Propertyshark.com shows no owned property here.

NYC Dept. of Buildings BIS search for addresses 23-00 through 23-40 48th street yield no results. (It's publicly accessible - http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bispi00.jsp)


That cinderblock structure should be considered a garage, for which there would be permits/records for. DOB doesn't seem to think this lot exists at all.

Google street views shows a black pickup illegally parked on what should be sidewalk on the corner.

Of course, you can also see a greek flag being flown on this site on google street views - so you can be sure Costi is going to get on this case.

georgetheatheist said...

This is considered to be in Astoria?

Anonymous said...

lousy foreigners have no respect for this land of ours the neighborhood politicians should be all over this but i think it will get swept under the rug as the squatters are greeks and so are costa, aravella and mike our local politicians but wait a non greek politician in astoria? maybe its time to see what Sen Peralta thinks about this surely his office should be able to find out who has juristiction over this parcel

ron s said...

Please explain how the photos, aerial photos and my own eyes show a triangular piece of land bordered by a street, but the tax map shows a giant triangular intersection as though it is all one big piece of road........

Anonymous said...

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/template?applicationName=ZOLA

Use Block 746 ... the mapping shows the building ...

Who are the legislators for this area?

Anonymous said...

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/template?applicationName=ZOLA

Try Block 778 ... which seems to be the land along the Parkway ...

Anonymous said...

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=2004112900878001

Lease of "Demised Properties" by the Port of Authority

Page 20

Anonymous said...

Being next to a highway, this land is probably under the jurisdiction of the state DOT.