More money thrown at the Queensway

From DNA Info:

The Queens version of the High Line is one small step closer to becoming a reality.

The Trust for Public Land, which works on the proposed QueensWay, just got a $100,000 grant from The New York Community Trust “to support converting an abandoned rail line in Queens into a 3.5-mile linear park.”

The entire park, which envisions bicycle and pedestrian paths and an adventure park as well as a number of sports facilities, would run from Rego Park to Ozone Park along the rail line abandoned in the 1960s.

It would cost about $120 million to build it, according to a study, which was released last year.

State throws more money down the toilet

From the Times Ledger:

The state announced Thursday The Trust For Public Land won a $433,750 grant to design a roughly 1.5-mile section of the proposed QueensWay.

The Trust for Public Land, a group pushing for creation and preservation of parks across the country, applied for the grant through the New York City Regional Economic Development Council, one of 10 bodies overseen by the state.

The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation will oversee the $443,750 grant.

The money is slated to fund the complete design of the northern gateway in Rego Park of the proposed QueensWay.

Queensway farce continues

From Capital NY:

“I think it certainly lends itself to a total win-win for the administration, should they sign on to this proposal,” said Marc Matsil, Trust for Public Land’s New York director.

"Matsil hopes the park can be funded using federal transit dollars, philanthropy and city money."

Good luck with that! We all know that the High Line couldn't sustain itself and required a taxpayer bailout. This would definitely qualify as a multi-generational welfare case.

By the way, there are major mistakes in the NY Times piece: Lisa Foderaro states that "Forest Park touches three of the most dangerous streets in the borough - Woodhaven Boulevard, Jamaica Avenue and Union Turnpike." It doesn't come anywhere near Jamaica Avenue. Myrtle Avenue bisects the park diagonally; Woodhaven Boulevard dissects it from north to south. Also, Myrtle is sunken and doesn't really cause trouble, while Union Turnpike is on the north perimeter of the park and, in fact, is not the main barrier to the park from Forest Hills: that would be the Jackie Robinson Parkway which cuts off most access from the north, which she fails to even mention in her piece. And let's not forget Metropolitan Avenue, either, as a major road. How about looking at a map, honey!

Did you see any of the elected officials present to support this project at the big announcement?

I can't help but think that the efforts of the Trust for Public Land would have been put to better use lobbying for adequate funding for existing Queens parks, to repair the NYS Pavilion, or building one of the parks hoped for by neighborhoods throughout the borough instead of spending years on this pie in the sky project with laughable renderings.

$500K state money to study Queensway

From the Wall Street Journal:

The effort to remake a 3½-mile stretch of abandoned railway tracks into the Queens answer to the High Line took a step forward this week as the state put up about a half-million dollars to study the project.

But the Queensway plan favored by park advocates and local groups faces significant hurdles: Is the site contaminated? Can elevated tracks abandoned for 50 years still support walkers and cyclists? Will a project stretching from Rego Park to Ozone Park attract the Chelsea-size checks that helped bring the High Line to life?

The proposal for an elevated park paired with bike trails, fitness zones and ethnic-food stalls got its first nod from the state when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday gave the Trust for Public Land a $467,000 grant to study the project.

"That is the first step toward making the Queensway a reality," said Christopher Kay, chief operating officer of the Trust, the nonprofit group helping spearhead the new park.

But even if the elevated tracks turn out to be free from environmental or structural issues, huge challenges would remain as nonprofit backers work to clean and revitalize a site that has suffered from a half-century of neglect.

In its current incarnation, the Queensway features "a great representation of cultural diversity from the beer cans that you find," said Marc Matsil, a local official with the Trust.

I thought the state was broke. The governor all of a sudden has money to piss away on a feasibility study for something we all know isn't feasible? With this money, the acquisition of the Brinckerhoff Cemetery could have been funded 4 times over.

Beer cans as a reflection of Queens diversity...gotta love it.

Vallone asks City to buy Steinway Mansion

From the Queens Chronicle:

After touring Astoria’s historic Steinway Mansion on Friday, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) was inspired to write letters to city officials and preservationists asking that they purchase the building for use as a museum, park or community facility.

“It would be a great loss to the city to let this property slip away,” Vallone said in a statement. “Rarely do we get opportunities like this to open up historical treasures to the community.”

In an attempt to secure the building for the city, Vallone has written to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Trust for Public Land and the Historic House Trust of New York City for assistance.

Silver lining to the credit crunch

From the NY Times:

From the Florida Everglades to the bluffs overlooking the Deschutes River in Oregon, conservationists are snapping up prime property for preservation, often at a fraction of what the asking price was at the real estate market’s height.

The victories reveal a green lining of sorts in a credit crisis that has depressed real estate prices, prompted foreclosures and derailed development projects across the nation.

The purchases by conservationists and state and local governments assure that thousands of acres will be put aside in perpetuity for parks, watershed protection or simply preservation of open space.

Although the real estate bubble burst in 2008, it was only in the last 6 to 12 months that many developers and banks became desperate enough to slash prices deeply enough for the trusts, Mr. Rogers and several other conservationists said.

In many cases, the preservation deals are negotiated with banks that have foreclosed on property and are eager to get bad assets off the books.

...in the long run, said Mr. Rogers of the Trust for Public Land, even developers recognize that newly protected lands can have a positive effect on real estate prices.

“Developers have long seen that conserved land next to a development adds value,” he said. “There are genuine economic benefits for everyone that will come out of this.”

Conserved land adds value? Holy cow! And here we are zoning areas so that backyards can be subdivided in order to build crap in them...

New park for the New Year

From the Daily News:

A vacant Jamaica Bay property originally tabbed for private developments is slated to be transformed into the borough's newest waterfront park.

The 1.2-acre site along Beach 88 St. near the Cross Bay Bridge, will offer a range of activities to the public such as picnicking, fishing and boating.

The property was snapped up by the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit group that specializes in land conservation, for $1.925 million, more than $1 million less than its market price, according to the owners.

"We basically purchased and donated the property within five minutes," says Matt Shaffer, assistant director of marketing services for the nonprofit group. Funding by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey allowed the Trust to give the property to the city for the park's construction set to begin in Spring.

Hudson Companies LLC, the original owners, planned to build 20 single-family homes on the waterfront property sometime in the next year, said Alan Ball, an owner of Hudson Companies.

"We had no debt on the property, and we could have held on to it pretty easily, so we said we might as well cut bait and move on," he said. "Moving this project to the Trust for Public Land was a very good thing to do."

The addition of the waterside park would bring much-needed parkland and open space to the Jamaica Bay area, which some environmental activists say is being overdeveloped.