Saturday, January 21, 2017

Broadway-Flushing wary of construction plans


(This WAS a nice house!)

From the Queens Chronicle:

According to Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association President Janet McCreesh, the issue of Airbnb home sharers using houses in the neighborhood — much of which has a restrictive covenant limiting houses to single-family usage — is largely over.

“We have managed to get all of the homes, I think, on the Airbnb website,” she told the Chronicle. “We initiated lawsuits.”

But Broadway-Flushing is not without other home-related problems. McCreesh estimates that 10 percent of the Flushing subneighborhood’s houses are illegally used for single-room occupancies or hotels.

In Broadway-Flushing, two houses with unusual aspects of their interiors are being built — though no one publicly contends any illegality could be afoot. Ten bathrooms and eight bedrooms are planned at 33-05 157 St.; seven bathrooms and seven bedrooms are planned at 33-62 159 St. Both buildings’ plans have been approved by the Department of Buildings.

“That is not the layout of your typical Queens single-family home,” McCreesh said, referring to the properties. “The law needs to change for this type of situation. This is not a 10-acre estate. This is a plot of land in Queens.”

“The DOB does not limit how many bathrooms you can have in a house,” she continued. “There’s nothing in terms of protection for architectural design.”

Construction is happening now at both of the locations. According to McCreesh, both of the properties are under the jurisdiction of the restrictive Rickert-Finlay Covenant of 1906, which requires that homes only be used by single families and covers much of Broadway-Flushing.

And the homeowners association president does not necessarily believe that the locations on 159th Street and 157th Street will be used for any other purpose, although she is very concerned.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lets stop beating up on ourselves about this and place the blame where it belongs - the city wide preserevation community - worried about that their fate would be to lose funding for meddling in the affairs of the serfs out here in Queens by giving us useful support and ideas.

They see what happens to Queens groups that speak up - getting thrown under the bus when it comes to funding if they dare speak out of 'line' fighting for their communities against corrupt officials, the stooges of their bosses, venal developers whose only interest in our communties is to slash and burn, and then move on.

Community preservation in Queens gets a torrent of bad reporting in the press, wrong information from officialdom, and laughable yet dangerously inept 'preservation' wanna-bees that are totally unqual to the task on how to fight for their communities.

In short, we are cut off and isolatd while other communities in the city move forward, often funded by programs that are paid for by our taxes.

Anonymous said...

For many years my neighbors have complained about two notorious homes on 155th Street and have placed dozens of complaints with DOB and the violations continue today ! North Flushing is toast !

Jerry Rotondi, long term activist said...

And where the F is our....out to lunch with his developer clients....councilman Paul Vallone?
Vote this developers' lobbyist phony "representative" out of office, or see more destruction of our great neighborhood!
Does Vallone ever go the extra ten miles on behalf of his constituents , they way he does for his real estate developer clients?
A RESOUNDING , NO!
He actually went against the folks in Douglaston. Ask them. They know. He went, instead, to bat for developers who were intent on having their way with Douglaston.
Can we afford to have another term of Vallone?
ANOTHER, RESOUNDING , NO!
Vote the entitled bum out!
I know my business , regarding the phony politicians who were partners in destroying the historic Flushing RKO Keith's Theatre, since 1986.
Check my credentials and see if I speak the truth here.
Only YOU can decide the future of Broadway Flushing. Vote wisely. Do not fall for Vallone's window dressing politics.
So he lights up Fort Totten with a photo op July 4th foreworks show.
Meanwhile he sets fire to you neighborhoods by canoodling with rapacious developers, for pay!
Check out his campaign contribution list.
Of course, I expect to see posts from Vallone trolls regarding my comment.
Hello , Adam.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like your brain is toast...#2.
BFHA has done a great job protecting its turf.
What about you...malcontent critic?

Anonymous said...

"Sounds like your brain is toast"
Open your eyes and walk the streets and see all the "shit" in North Flushing.
Park your car and try going for a walk on Northern Blvd. from 154th ST to 162nd and come back here and tell me you are in America ! Do it in the evening and you might get a Happy Ending !

Anonymous said...

Then you've got that church lady BFHA hostess who is always kissing up to Vallone.
Open your eyes, Miss Pollyanna. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Douglaston resident said...

FYI:
Paul Vallone has stopped attending any civic association meetings who disagree with his policies.
I call that a political fag, who's afraid to face his responsibilities like a real man.
Most pol's are wimps. They do what's best for their careers no you.
Dump Vallone.
Do not give this political mafioso a minute's worth of peace.
A constituent recently called his office about a violation.
His answer was to call Tony Avella.
Well, if DOn Chooch Vallone did his job properly as a city council member, there would be no need to call in the cavalry.
State Senator Tony Avella always comes to the rescue while Vallone hides behind a rock.
TONY AVELLA FOR MAYOR!
Drain the swamp. Clean up political pond scum, like Vallone.

Anonymous said...

#1.....
Uh that's a little obtuse.
We learn to act locally without any, uh, high fallutin' discourse.
Underlying meanings mean nothing. But thanks for the lecture.
Go out and grab the balls of your local pol and the rest of him will follow to attend to your complaints.
Stop being a bunch of lazy navel gazing negative academics.
Actio. No words!
Uh....follow the Trump example.
Down and dirty gets you what you need.

(sarc) said...

But the renovations are being done "legally".

Is this not what we ask?

Yes, eight bathrooms may seem like a lot, but when you got to go, you got to go!

I have done some of my best posting sitting upon the Crapper...

Anonymous said...

Anon 2 Have you gone to your Councilman to complain? If they don't know they can't help. Go complain.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2 Have you gone to your Councilman to complain? If they don't know they can't help. Go complain.
--
Waste of time outside of documenting that you are letting them know.

These are things they avoid like the plague by either ignoring you, or sending you on a fools errand with some agency or 311, stuff they or their staff should be doing.

And yes, Anon 1 hit the nail on the head. You can expect no help from anyone in or out of Queens except blogs like this - the court of public opinion - the only thing that frightens the pols.

Anonymous said...

If the Donald"s tweeting scares the shit out of politicians, Queens Crap makes them poop in their pants and skirts while doing their business in the halls of government. Keep up the great work Crappy.
You are far more effective than Ex- lax!
Vallone's big operative fat boy reads Queens Crap. That's the only way you can get an issue before The Don.
Give him some notice he cannot refuse to notice.
QC rocks! Shake ALL of those entitled career political bums 'til their brains are scrambled. THEN vote out ALL incumbents.
What is an incumbent but a cucumber who's crazy glued to their Council, Legislature, or Congressional seat!
Vallone chitrool (Italian slang for cucumber with a skull full of seeds instead of gray matter).

Anonymous said...

the author of "THE TRAITOR "is Seymore Hersch.New York or New Yorker Mag.10 pages of crimes against the American people.and O's people let him out of jail?????
How many U.S.agents died because of JP's treason ?