skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The Crap-O-Sphere ("Crappy")
Artwork by Jerry Rotondi
The official mascot of Queens Crap
The Crap-O-Sphere ("Crappy")
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write." - John Adams, 1765
Spotted a piece of Queens Crap in your community?
Write to us at QueensCrapper@gmail.com
Please note
Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.
Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap
"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt
Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse
Artwork by Jerry Rotondi
Become a fan of Queens Crap on Facebook.
Sites that kick ass:
The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.
The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.
Street or satellite shots used here are from Google Maps or Windows Live Local.
The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.
Street or satellite shots used here are from Google Maps or Windows Live Local.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2016
(989)
-
▼
January
(102)
- Wondering what will replace Monahan & Fitzgerald
- Big project to replace Flushing supermarket
- Civics find Vallone covenant bill's requirements c...
- Legislation to stop DOB from penalizing disaster v...
- Infill is coming to NYCHA, like it or not
- DOB asked to audit Bayside's attached McMansion
- Hamilton Beach votes to downzone
- DeBlasio absolutely opposed to tax cap
- Staten Island homeowner has pipe problem that DEP ...
- Lined up at the trough
- DeBlasio grilled over lack of tax cap
- We were victims of "sectoring"
- Katz declines comment on snow situation
- MTA snow complaints take 15 days to resolve
- Where are the rest of the Queens pols?
- City Hall rally against Hollis homeless shelter
- School buses get stuck in snow
- Sidewalk sheds - an epidemic eyesore
- Queens' stuck-in-snow humor
- Sanitation vehicles get stuck, fail to clean stree...
- Katz called out at her own speech
- How Queens electeds handled the snow debacle
- DeBlasio realizes he left Queens buried in snow
- 3 people have died shoveling snow
- Eagles have landed at FMCP
- Should we lighten up on minor offenses?
- Will new massage parlor bills make a difference?
- 2 huge Astoria projects may never happen
- Fenceless parks: good or bad idea?
- Up-lifting cars too close to co-op
- Is a restaurant being run out of this single-famil...
- Forest Hills subway station to be shut down for 2 ...
- The court case that no one is talking about
- Another secret homeless shelter opens in Queens
- DOE allegedly wants to build on Newtown HS athleti...
- A better plan for Queens Blvd?
- AG slaps car dealerships
- AirBnB jerk cheated and harassed his own tenants, too
- Taxed to death
- It's all about the incentives
- A new way to report quality of life problems
- What idiots came up with this?
- The death of Jamaica Avenue
- Attached house in Bayside becomes McMansion
- Preservation, Queens style
- A different Hallet's Point perspective
- Big turnout at Broadway-Flushing rally
- Deal done for horse carriages
- Habitat for humanity rehabbing Queens houses for M...
- LIC hipsters just want to be assholes
- DeBlasio's non-profit not doing as well
- More crap headed to Whitestone
- 421-A expired
- Traffic not Uber's fault
- Raises all around
- It's who you know
- AG Gianaris?
- Woodside school has bad bug
- Basketball star's shooting becomes a federal case
- Bums kicked out of LaGuardia
- First subway shit stink of the new year
- Queens subways will be getting shown some love
- Calling for an end to Citizens United
- Horses may be moved to Central Park
- Massive Astoria waterfront project gets underway
- Child slavery in Flushing
- There's still way more homeless people out there
- No music festivals at FMCP
- Third man left standing
- Recall power to the people
- Parents want playground potties repaired
- Queens still reads
- Meeks occupies mansion illegally
- Astoria craphouse redux
- Woman scores eviction against deadbeat ex-cop tenant
- Legislators say MTA should make fares equal across...
- Laurelton deed scammer going to trial
- Gas lines need replacement, pronto
- Taking too long to fix Douglaston streets
- New plan for new Bay Terrace units
- Ticking time bombs on our streets?
- The day Staten Island took over Forest Hills
- All about the zoning frenzy
- Mark-Viverito fined for taking free gifts
- Historic Broadway-Flushing home sold
- Dope sets himself on fire trying to torch pet store
- AirBnB jerks scammed other landlords
- Rumba to lose liquor license
- Community board quotas soon?
- Israel will not run for re-election
- Cuomo looking to lift wages
- Rockaway street has sinking feeling
- MTA finally pays injured worker
- Mayor's buddy lobbying for FMCP music festival
- Cuomo's infamous order to shelter doesn't actually...
- Where the hell is Bill?
- Vision Zero not helping Queens as much
- I couldn't have said it better myself
- Strip club firebombed
- Community gardens sit in path of destruction
-
▼
January
(102)
Send submissions to:
queenscrapper@gmail.com
Include address of property and any other information you have about it.
All contributors will remain anonymous.
Include address of property and any other information you have about it.
All contributors will remain anonymous.
30 comments:
I will address all these recent Queens preservation outrages in my State of the Borough address tomorrow. Do not worry. This will all stop. Keep Calm and Carry On.
now you see it, now you don't, infinity
You can thank Peter Vallone Sr for this: he never cared for community preservation and now that lost generation in the community is coming back to haunt it.
And those attitudes have spread far beyond Astoria to the borough of Queens, now regarded as a pariah in polite circles because of things like this.
The silence of the elected official of Astoria, and their refusal to work with the Friends of Steinway Mansion - or anyone else for that matter - to protect this building is spilling over to the images of the community.
This is the image that that world sees of Astoria.
If the previous owner, the late Mike Halberian, were not so greedy and thought that he would live forever...he would have inserted a deed restriction in this property he claimed to love. So his greedier heirs chop up the lot and we have what we have today.
Peter Vallone Sr? How about Son of Vallone:
"I’m looking forward to seeing a positive resolution here,” Councilman Constantinides said. “[The buyers are] open to working with us. They share our vision.”
This succession of photos by GtA has been a great document. I imagine that, in the end, the developers will claim that all the construction has made the original building unstable, and they will apply to tear it down.
From the Queens Gazette, January 6, 2016:
Paul Halvatzis of Amorelli Realty has sold a historic home in the Broadway-Flushing neighborhood...
The National Trust, in recognition of the company’s experience in successfully selling historical properties, honored Halvatzis, along with Christina Halvatzis and Lauren Cornea. Other accomplishments include the Steinway Mansion and the DeRose Pharmacy Building.
The National Trust, in recognition of the company’s experience in successfully selling historical properties, honored Halvatzis, along with Christina Halvatzis and Lauren Cornea. Other accomplishments include the Steinway Mansion and the DeRose Pharmacy Building.
_____________________________________________________________
First, that is the Gazette.
Second, perhaps someone should tell the National Trust the truth. They probably got letters of recommendation on official letterhead from Costa, Michael, the usual.
Their words are increasingly lame - tricks increasingly out of touch.
If the previous owner, the late Mike Halberian, were not so greedy and thought that he would live forever...he would have inserted a deed restriction in this property he claimed to love. So his greedier heirs chop up the lot and we have what we have today.
For the record he told everyone that he was being advised by the Vallones. BTW, who was his attorney - Vallone?
Anonymous Roger said...
This succession of photos by GtA has been a great document. I imagine that, in the end, the developers will claim that all the construction has made the original building unstable, and they will apply to tear it down.
Doubtful as a number of teams of experts vetted those plans. more likely a fire in the dome from all those mystery books still in the mansion (and Costa refused to lift a finger to move so that potentially implicates him) or that street is lowered and widened leaving the mansion all but inaccessible.
Don't you think it's about time that someone, anyone, ask mansion/warehouse owner Loria what the plans for the mansion are once these warehouses are completed. Hmnn? Don't you think it's about time?
Don't you think it's about time that someone, anyone, ask mansion/warehouse owner Loria what the plans for the mansion are once these warehouses are completed. Hmnn? Don't you think it's about time?
----
Ask the 'real estate agent' gatekeeper, Costa of the 'Vallone Group'.
Nice side job, eh?
This succession of photos by GtA has been a great document
When he is done, this series will be shown in a gallery in the city. The Times might do a feature on it and its likely that other national publications in preservation will consider running a spread.
A powerful statement that will soil the image of the borough and will take a long time for Queens to live down. No one has so eloquently documented something like this before - and couple with the name 'Steinway' will forever expose to public outrage those responsible.
It seems the 'boys' overreached themselves this time.
Please...I do not wish to speak ill of the departed....but Halberian was always trying to have his cake and eat it too.
He tried in the early 1990s to foist his white elephant on every one he could.
BUT, he was asking a ridiculous price for the mansion.
So, he got to pass away on the dining room table in the middle of a snow storm in the house that he "loved".
A dramatic end. And the vultures...his family...circled.
How can they lower the street (41st street) without all the other property owners south of the mansion being up in arms? Their properties are also on that incline.
Speaking of which here's the Coming Attraction of what's involved at the extremely narrow, 12 foot wide, two-way street - you read that right: a 2-way street! - right next to the mansion's entrance. Get your popcorn and drinks. This ought to be fun to watch.
Previews here.
How can they lower the street (41st street) without all the other property owners south of the mansion being up in arms? Their properties are also on that incline.
-)-)-)-)
2 properties, one already for sale and the other, a house, being offered a kings ransom so the mansion might be ENCIRCLED with warehouses and perched on top of a pimple like Devil's Tower.
Mike used to tell us the city tried to do that in the past, and the rear house that was torn down, lost its access to 42nd street - and all deliveries had to go to the property on 41st St.
No the abuse of the mansion is just getting started. Step by step.
Right now we are enjoying, as Costa our councilman has stated, the fact that they 'might' develop' a 'part of the property.' You are right, someone should go to him for some more community misleading 'bon mots.'
Please...I do not wish to speak ill of the departed....but Halberian was always trying to have his cake and eat it too. He tried in the early 1990s to foist his white elephant on every one he could.
actually that stared back in the 80s.
you have to understand that a certain leading lawyer with lots of experience in estates was advising him mike hinted to this everyone,
and the locals, like so many in that part of Queens, have an almost childlike trust for people in authority.
no one could talk to mike, even when they laid on the table (pun not intended) step by step on what was going to happen.
he trusted people and thought his vision, as outlined in that documentary, would be fulfilled. old country, ya know?
Google Earth already shows the lot that is 2 lots south of the mansion (the one for sale) is empty. It just the house to the immediate south of the mansion that's holding them back from bulldozing the Steinway barn and isolating the mansion and perhaps even removing the mansion's grounds keeper annex to the west.
And it will happen within a week so that the local press will not cover something that has already happened like cutting down the trees and despoiling a native site.
The is no interest, in many people's view, for them to stop this slow strip-tease until the land is clear and made useful.
They make money, Astoria and Queens gets the black eye.
If the previous owner, the late Mike Halberian, were not so greedy and thought that he would live forever...he would have inserted a deed restriction in this property he claimed to love. So his greedier heirs chop up the lot and we have what we have today.
Once again, Costa was told about this well in advance, and dismissed it with a chuckle saying there was 'nothing he could do.'
Would somebody - ANYBODY* - please ask the Mansion's New York City Councilman COSTA CONSTANINIDES what the hell is going on there?
*Besides the redoubtable George the atheist.
There is still plenty left in NYC.
I am finding it hard to care about WTF goes on in Queens.
So the mansion's prospect is gone.
I'm not crying over it any more. It's over.
Next!
Sometimes it is not healthy to be obsessed by the past.
Just add this to the list of atrocities permitted by our crooked politicians.
What pisses me off is the swill that the Vallone family has fed their constituency for decades.
And the sheeple gladly drink it.
I don't think the Friends are going anywhere.
https://www.facebook.com/steinwaymansion/
Follow the link for the Friends latest postings! Please share with them if you know any art or artisans that are being threatened by landlords.
They are pushing for a Steinway Arts Districts and these 'warehouses' could play an important role in realizing that dream.
Why is it that every preservation group has to call it self "Friends Of"?
With some friends like the ineffective ones, one does not need any enemies.
A Steinway arts district? Just like the affordable one that was once in LIC Hunters Point?
Unless these "artists" own the property they practice their "arts" in , they will be removed after they have cultureized and softened up the area for hipsters and yuppies to gentrify.
Maybe some artists can rent these ware houses that will occupy the old front lawn of the mansion.
What will be the going rental rate? How many artists can afford to put a studio in one of these?
I had a feeling the (brave new)art world was involved.
Although I naively assumed that these were built so much needed manufacturing jobs would come thanks to our sainted governor's tax break for new businesses. But instead there are going to be knockdown center style events, starfucking galas, and facebook arranged parties. It's the same gentrification mission creep going on by the Sunset Park warehouses. The kicker is that they didn't serve alcohol because they knew they wouldn't get a liquor license.
Art is one of the main drivers in the nexus of gentrification. They marked Northwest Queens with that "sunbather" statue. It makes me wonder if any of these creative types have connections with the predator developers.
Great Job G the A. I would take those pics and tape them to the girders and bases there like some street art gallery if they weren't copyrighted.
Please.....yawn...let the mansion rest in peace....or pieces.
It's once nice prospect is gone.
Nobody is going to travel to the middle of a nowhere borough to look at what?
Pull your heads out of your duffle bags, as my drill sergeant used to say.
This is the world of hurt! Move on.
LOL!
They should have had Italy's renown architect , Renzo Piano, design these warehouses.
Post a Comment