Busted at the Baisley Houses

From Eyewitness News:

Dozens of people were arrested in a major narcotics bust at a city housing project in Queens Thursday morning.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the indictment of 14 people and the arrest of 48 others as part of a large-scale undercover narcotics investigation at the Baisley Park Housing Development and Rochdale Village in Jamaica.

The suspects, who range in age from 16 to 62, are charged with selling powdered and crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana, oxycodone, ecstasy and BZP to undercover police officers on hundreds of separate occasions over a 6-month period in and around the housing complexes.

Ten of the defendants are also charged with selling drugs within a drug-free school zone.

Community concerned about vacant lot

From NY1:

After years of neglect, Jamaica residents are speaking out about safety risks presented by a nearby vacant lot.

(It's actually Rochdale Village.)

Railroad Park kinda trashy

From the Queens Chronicle:

Trees, flowers, a playground — these are the things that come to mind when one thinks of an urban park, but just walk around the more than 16 acres known as a Railroad Park near Rochdale Village and you will encounter a very different site.

Aside from a narrow pathway that stretches a few dozen yards beyond the entrance, navigating the desolate area on foot is nearly impossible — though it is that way largely by design. Thick underbrush, tangled branches and weeds growing several feet high make for purposely natural but potentially dangerous surroundings. Residents in the area say that for the most part, it has always been that way.

Carol Booth, who lives a few houses away on 129th Avenue, says she often sees raccoons in the area and at one time there were rats roaming the streets. Garbage including and old tire litters the land.

The unruly park has also become a haven for rodents, which are now attracting coyotes, according to several residents who spotted the canines roaming the park late last year.

City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) believes that the area should remain a natural habitat, but says the Parks Department, “should do a better job of keeping it clean” and plans to send officials a notification about the conditions.

Ironically, Comrie says the area was not turned into an active recreational park because of concerns that it would attract unsavory characters and lead to crimes like muggings, so in a way the unruly underbrush is important because it keeps people out.

Coyote wandering around Rochdale Village

From CBS 2:

A four-legged animal that has been spotted in Queens has people nervous. And talking. And they have the pictures to back it up.

Maybe, somewhere in the more wooded areas around Rochdale Village, maybe … the creature lurks. Traps have been set. But people, like Darnell Brunston have already taken pictures. And they're not waiting to be told what it is. They're giving it a name.

"I saw him the other night. He's taller than me when he stands up on his two hind legs. That is a coyote! I'm a country boy from Georgia. That's exactly what it is," resident Richard Howard said.

Noreen Savage said the idea of some kind of animal roaming around out there makes her nervous and she wants it captured.

Animal Control officers have set up a series of traps. They think they're going to find a stray dog. But you never know.

Squatters occupy foreclosed homes

Even for homeowners who have weathered the subprime mortgage debacle, the epidemic of foreclosures in Jamaica, South Ozone Park and Rochdale has created another major headache.

Foreclosures in Jamaica now home to squatters, druggies - making ghost town

Friendly streets once populated by predominantly black, working-class families in starter homes are now haunted by drug dealers and squatters.

Vacant, litter-strewn yards have become the norm for residential blocks like 118th Ave. and 152nd St., the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in Queens.

Photo from Daily News

Seeking dead end to development

A group of Springfield Gardens residents banded together last Thursday to make sure their dead end does not spring to life with overdevelopment.

New development riles 176th Street residents

Community activist Warren McCain rallied his neighbors outside his house on 176th street against the ongoing changes on his block that have taken almost 16 acres of green parkland for 34 semi-attached and two-family houses. McCain and his neighbors contend that the change has hurt the quality of life in their community.

New Homes A Burden On The Neighborhood, Residents Say

This is just the latest chapter in the long saga to save Springfield Gardens’ dead-end streets from development. In 2003, Warren McCain, president of the Queens Community Council, an umbrella organization of two dozen block associations, began the fight. It was then residents on 132nd and 133rd avenues learned their quiet streets –– punctuated at the ends with pastoral views and shielded from the bustle of the nearby boulevards –– would be uprooted. The expanse of trees they believed was all parkland was in fact partly privately owned by Rochdale Village, which sold its parcel to developers. The community protested and lost. In 2004, trucks tore through the forest, laid down cement and 176th Street was born. Gone were the days when children played freely on the dead-end street without the danger of cars. Then the two-family homes sprouted in pairs.

No ‘yellow brick road’ for Springfield Gardens residents

“We don’t have a problem with the buyers,” said Haigler. She added that she takes issue with the increased stress on the school system, sewer system, and how many of the local homes’ basements flood.

And here people were coming to this board telling us that being against overdevelopment was just a "white old man Archie Bunker" position. Looks like it's affecting everyone's quality-of-life equally regardless of skin color or ethnic background.

Photo from Queens Chronicle

Libraries in Queens reopen on Saturdays

This information is from the Queens Gazette.

The following branch libraries will be open on Saturdays beginning August 4:

• Arverne, 312 Beach 54th St., • Astoria, 14-01 Astoria Blvd., • Briarwood, 85-12 Main St., • East Elmhurst, 95-06 Astoria Blvd., • Glendale, 78-60 73rd Pl.,

• Lefrak City, 98-30 57th Ave.,

• North Forest Park, 98-27 Metropolitan Ave.,

• Peninsula, 92-25 Rockaway Beach Blvd.,

• Queensboro Hill, 60-05 Main St., • Rochdale Village, 169-09 137th Ave.,

• Whitestone, 151-10 14th Rd. and

• Windsor Park, 79-50 Bell Blvd.

On July 7 the Cambria Heights branch at 218-13 Linden Blvd. and the Long Island City branch at 37-44 21st St., started Saturday hours. Libraries in 23 communities already have weekend service. Their schedules will continue. Expanded hours of service at additional Queens Libraries will be announced in the next few weeks.

Four Queens parks get an 'F'

New Yorkers for Parks did a survey and graded parks throughout the city:

The failing parks are Powell's Cove Park in College Point, Rainey Park in Astoria, Rochdale Park in Springfield Gardens and Southern Fields in South Ozone. Powell's Cove and Southern Fields were respectively ranked sixth and eighth worst in New York City.

Four Queens Parks Get Failing Grades

Three other borough parks received a D grade: Broad Channel Park, Francis Lewis Park in Whitestone and Linnaeus Playground in Oakland Gardens.

Complete report here: An Independent Assessment of New York City’s Neighborhood Parks

Map from CityMap

Locust Manor project underway

Metal skeletons are rising from the vacant lot, but Locust Manor Estates — a residential complex of new homes and cooperatives at 171-04 Baisley Blvd. — is far from completion.

On Monday, project manager Rich Culley, milled around the construction site, which will eventually include 60 two- and three-family homes, an eight-story senior residence and a 17-story apartment building. The site is a stone’s throw from Rochdale Village, near the Long Island Rail Road corridor.

New Home Development Rises Near Rochdale

Christopher March, who operates VIP Cuts, a barber shop on 172nd Street and 125th Avenue directly across from Locust Manor Estates, doesn’t expect it to affect his business. But he was surprised to hear about the towering apartment building. “Seventeen stories? Where are they gonna put that?” he asked.

Previously featured in You be the judge.

Photo from Queens Chronicle

You be the judge

This vacant piece of land in Rochdale is about to be developed. The Rochdale Village sold it for $80 million, all of which will be reinvested into their co-op community. As you can see, it was and is a completely vacant piece of land - no trees, no homes, nothing.


Here's a schematic of what the new development will look like:
It contains a 20-story co-op building, sixty 2- and 3-family homes, and and 8-story senior rental building. Parking seems to be adequate and a new street will be built to access the homes closest to the railroad.

The developer is including things such as street trees and interesting architectural details not found on most new construction. In other words, these won't be boring, boxy pieces of crap. Railroad Park is down the street, so there is green space available, as is the LIRR, providing public transportation.

Here is the website for the project: Locust Manor

Is this well-planned development? Ponder, decide and then post your thoughts.