A petition has formed and a rally is being planned as local residents try to save Sunnyside Center Cinemas from the wrecking ball.
An online petition started Wednesday that has already garnered more than 240 signatures. Meanwhile, Ty Sullivan and Jon Stork, two local activists, are already planning to hold a rally outside the theater that is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 21 (details to come).
The petition—called “Save the Sunnyside Theater”– is addressed to the property owner/developer John Ciafone. It reads, in part, “Save the movie theater from demolition and have a new lease extended.”
Meanwhile, Sullivan is reaching out to the media and various community groups as he plans the rally. He is designing posters, fliers and launching a social-media campaign to generate community interest.
This activism comes at a time when Ciafone has just offered the owner of the theater Rudy Prashad a six month extension to his lease. After the six months, he would operate on a month-to month basis.
Prashad, however, seeks a longer lease claiming that he has organized movers and contractors to remove all the seats from the theater as required. Furthermore he has already told his staff about the upcoming closure.
Ciafone was nonchalant about the “Save the theater” petition. “I could get a petition going with just as many signatures from people wanting affordable housing,” he said.
11 comments:
It is fashionable and even hip to defecate on property owners and landlords at their every move, but seriously, what has Ciafone done wrong? Any human with access to the Internet could get 240 petitioners to sign up for any freakin' thing.
John Ciafone is a slumlord with a long history of harassment of his tenants in rent stabilized housing. Now he's trying to sell the thought of affordable housing at the Sunnyside Theater site. If you see no problem here, then I feel sorry for you.
Click the John Ciafone tag at the bottom of this post if you want to know who he is and what he does to buildings and people.
He's right though that an online petition is meaningless, and that he'd bury these activists with people who want cheap housing if this were a contest for signature count.
And when the affordable housing is built and the idiots who don't do research move in and the problems start, I'll be here to document them.
You mean the 'affordable housing' that legally goes back up market rate after 5-10 years?
Online petitions are nice, but buying a movie ticket would help Rudy Prashad much more!
Gina will wipe her ass with that petition ! Rudy Prashad is a good guy sorry to here he his getting f_cked over like this.
http://web.archive.org/web/20131005104415/http://queens-politics.com/2013/08/city-council-candidate-john-j-ciafones-commits-forgery-nyc/
The thought of Ciafone rolling out a petition amuses me greatly.
Don't expect any help from the local councilman. Back door politics Van Bramer is pro development. Who do you think pays for Jimmy's election campaigns?Petitions....even the ones signed on street corners...mean nothing in the long run without political support. In Qneens a jock strap is the only support you can expect from its machine pols. Ballocks! The truth really huts doesn't it?
Maybe Van Bramer got his cherry popped there back in the day and would be sympathetic toward saving it.
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