Flushing West being studied

From City Limits:

Two years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio chose this unusual area named Flushing West as one of the first three neighborhoods (along with Brooklyn's East New York and the Jerome Avenue corridor in the Bronx) to undergo comprehensive studies for likely rezonings under his affordable housing plan.

Like other neighborhoods that are set to be rezoned, the proposal for Flushing has drawn some criticism—although there are also forces in Flushing that support a redrawing of the map for the area.

Before a rezoning could be contemplated, a study of the area was needed first, and the Department of City Planning’s Queens Borough Office began one last year. It focused on an areas below Northern Boulevard (on its north side) running west from Prince Street to Flushing Creek north of Roosevelt Avenue, and from College Point Boulevard west to the creek from Roosevelt down to 40th Road and the LIRR tracks. A sliver of undeveloped land on the west side of the creek, pinched between the water and the Van Wyck Expressway, is also included.

The DCP is not the first to study the area. The Flushing – Willets Point – Corona Local Development Corporation, led by former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, received a $1.5 million grant from the state’s Department of State to redevelop the waterfront. The area is a brownfield site, one of many contaminated areas the city noted for redevelopment in 2011.

Alexandra Rosa, project consultant for the LDC, says the mayor's announcement complimented LDC’s goals for the waterfront.

There are so many conflicts of interest here, and so little time to expose them all... Suffice it to say that all the usual suspects have their fingers in this pie.

Flushing waterfront development: Ah, the smell of it!

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing group and the Department of City Planning have teamed up to push forth a project that would redevelop the Flushing waterfront and bring more affordable housing to the area.

In 2011, the Flushing Willets Corona Local Development Corporation received a $1.5 million New York State Brownfield Opportunity Grant to fund its Flushing Riverfront Project, which would clean up and rezone 60 acres on the Flushing waterfront. The project would create a planned community with waterfront access and housing and commercial space.

City Planning decided to combine the corporation’s project into its study of Flushing West, which supports Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10-year affordable housing plan.

The study area — whose lot area consists of 32 acres — covers Prince Street to Flushing Creek on the west, Roosevelt Avenue on the south and Northern Boulevard on the north.

“This was a great opportunity to join both efforts because the goals were aligned to create a new community and Flushing has a great need for affordable housing,” said Alex Rosa, a project consultant for the corporation.

The agency will put together a brownfield opportunity area report that will explain the challenges and opportunities for redeveloping the area and prepare rezoning recommendations.

“Flushing did have a lot of dynamics to it where it seemed to be growing towards the waterfront and we wanted to combine the idea of the downtown vibrancy, creating new jobs here and new housing and provide a market with a direction that would also include affordable housing,” said John Young, director of the City Planning’s Queens office.

In 2012, members of the Flushing Willets corporation found that the 60-acre area was mostly made up of industrial and unused lots, which could be used for numerous purposes.

Three-quarters of the study area is zoned C4-2, or a commercial and residential zone. The northern portion of the study has M1-1 zoning, which is light manufacturing. The northern portion along the waterfront is zoned M3-1, which is heavier manufacturing. The study will be introduced at a public town hall meeting May 21 at 6 p.m. at Flushing Town Hall.

So Claire Shulman's bogus lobbying group is pushing to to rezone more manufacturing areas for bullshit "affordable housing" that will do nothing but further enrich wealthy developers? Aren't we tired of this shtick already?

With development looming, Flushing River may get cleaned

From the Queens Courier:

Councilman Peter Koo and Commissioner Emily Lloyd of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) met deep underground on Tuesday to tour the Flushing Bay Retention Facility, which serves as a storage area for raw sewage and is meant to keep the sewage from entering Flushing Creek, but can only hold so much. The small body of water receives more human waste per year than any other dumping site, according to city records, leading Koo to call the creek “shit’s creek.”

“Cleaning up this waterway has long been a top environmental priority of mine,” Koo said. “There is a popular phrase used by many when trying to explain they are in a bad situation: being up shit’s creek without a paddle. With the amount of raw sewage that still enters it, the phrase might as well be changed to, up Flushing Creek without a paddle.”

With Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that calls for residential development along the Flushing waterfront, Koo and advocacy groups like Friends of Flushing Creek are hoping the spotlight will help spur the city and state to take action and reduce the amount of sewage going into the creek.

“Now that the city has officially announced they are looking to develop the land along the waterfront, this is a great opportunity to shine a brighter light on this longstanding problem,” Koo said. “I will continue my work with DEP, the Friends of Flushing Creek, and every stakeholder in the community so that we can ultimately see the day where people can safely swim in these waters again.”

“Do you know how much human waste that is?” said Alex Rosa, a consultant for Friends of Flushing Creek, which is advocating for the city and state to reduce the amount of filth going into the Flushing bodies of water. “I’ve never calculated how many people you need to make that much waste. But I’m sure it’s a whole lot.”

No, you just need Claire Shulman! And what's with Koo saying the word "shit"? This is conduct unbecoming a council member, no?

Developers want Flushing Creek cleaned up

From the Times Ledger:

A coalition of developers, businesses and environmentalists have launched a bid to clean up Flushing Creek.

More than 800 million gallons of raw sewage flows into the finger-shaped body of water, which separates Willets Point from Flushing, every year, according to researchers.

Sludge seeps into the creek from combined sewage overflows anytime there is even minimal rainfall because the city’s sewer system cannot handle the extra water.

“Our whole mission is to promote projects that clean up the creek and we want to return it to community use,” said Alexandra Rosa, a consultant who presented the group’s plan to Community Board 7 Monday night.

The group, Friends of Flushing Creek, is composed of a number of developers and businesses, some of which own land adjacent to the creek.

Representatives from Skyview Park, Crystal Window and Door Systems and developers F&T Group are stakeholders in the group and sit on the organization’s board of directors.

“We need a creek people will want to come to that meets water standards,” Rosa said. “We are all about restoring the creek so it can be used by the community.”

Rosa said the group’s initiative complements an effort by Claire Shulman’s Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp. to redevelop a 60-acre waterfront property bordered by Flushing Creek, Prince Street, Roosevelt Avenue and Northern Boulevard.

Shulman’s LDC was awarded a $1.5 million Brownfield grant by the state in 2011 to explore the possible development.

Rosa, Shulman’s former chief of staff, stressed in an interview that Friends of Flushing Creek is operating separately from the former borough president’s effort, but added some of the same stakeholders in the LDC are also involved with the group.

So they're about restoring the creek because it will make money for the developers on the board. We aren't dumb.

Half of Helen's staff in jeopardy

From the Queens Courier:

Half the staff at Borough Hall could get pink slips if cuts proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg go through.

Borough President Helen Marshall’s office is expected to receive about $3.14 million in funding for the 2014 fiscal year—nearly $1.8 million less than last year—officials announced at Marshall’s Borough Board meeting on Monday, May 13.

If the budget is approved, the cuts will result in half the staff’s dismissal, according to Chief of Staff Alexandra Rosa.

There were roughly 88 employees when Marshall was first elected in 2002, according to spokesperson Dan Andrews. If this year’s cuts go through, the current staff of 54 could be reduced to fewer than 30.

The question is, who will notice?

Marshall already celebrating Fat Boy's departure

From DNA Info:

Borough President Helen Marshall is pushing to replace a controversial statue on Queens Boulevard with a public plaza to honor New York City women.

The Triumph of Civic Virtue statue, which depicts Hercules with the sirens of Vice and Corruption, has been standing in Kew Gardens since 1941, after Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia moved it from City Hall Park. Known as “Fat Boy” or “Rough Boy,” the monument, fashioned by Frederick MacMonnies in 1919, has been denounced by some as sexist and in recent years fell into disrepair.

And now that the artwork is moving to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, Marshall says the space should be used to honor the city's women.

The statue should be replaced, she said, by “a public space that will honor outstanding women that have contributed in one way or another to the city of New York.”

The names of women may be inscribed on the base of the statue, which could remain along with a fountain in the proposed memorial, Marshall said. The redesigned space would also feature seating and landscaping.

Marshall's vision of the public plaza is in the early stages, however. Her chief of staff, Alexandra Rosa, said the borough president has discussed the idea with the Parks Department, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Mayor's office.

It was too early to put a price tag on the plaza, Rosa said. Still, the mayor's office was "receptive" to the idea, she said.

I picture a Mount Rushmore-style monument featuring likenesses of Marshall, Stavisky, Shulman and Meng...

Here's info about a rally today at Borough Hall:

Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr. will join Community Board 9 Chair Andrea Crawford, District Manager Mary Ann Carey and residents of Queens at a rally protesting the City Design Commission’s recent ruling to permanently relocate the Triumph of Civic Virtue statue to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn from Queens Borough Hall. The cemetery has stated that the statue may be moved in the next week!

The Design Commission ruled on November 13th to move the statue without input from the public, despite most Queens residents wanting the sculpture to remain in the borough. Community Board 9, which has always supported keeping Civic Virtue in Queens, is also greatly disappointed by the decision and the lack of consultation with residents and community leaders.

WHAT: Triumph of Civic Virtue Rally
WHEN: Saturday, December 8th, 11:30 AM
WHERE: In front of statue, next to Queens Borough Hall (120-55 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens)