The Queens Museum. Just "museum".

Hey, folks, if you want to see what people are saying about the "new" Queens Museum (of art?), you should read this review from New York Magazine, which I found courtesy of Brownstoner Queens.

LPC rejects Avella's landmarking request for Flushing Meadows

From Save FMCP:

Senator Tony Avella was joined last Friday by preservationists and several area civic groups at a press conference protesting the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s (LPC) decision to reject landmark designation for Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP).

The 1,255 acre Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is the Borough of Queens’ most prominent park and provides open space and recreational benefits to thousands of borough residents and low and middle income families. The Park is a valuable asset for the City and the residents of Queens not only because of its green space and natural areas, but also due to its embodiment of historical structures and leading cultural and educational institutions. The Park also has a unique history, serving as host to two World Fairs in 1939 and 1964, plus hosting the General Assembly of the United Nations from 1946 to 1950.

That is why, earlier this year, Avella asked LPC to review landmark status for Queens’ most prominent and historic park, which is under the threat of devastating development interests. Currently, the Mets organization is floating the idea of building a Mall in the park, the United States Tennis Association is proposing to expand and Major League Soccer is still interested in building a stadium that would further eliminate parkland.

Unfortunately, LPC recently denied this request and indicated that the park did not meet the criteria for designation.

Avella stated, “I am very disappointed in the Landmark Preservation Commission’s decision to not designate Flushing Meadows Corona Park as a landmark. It is clear to me that with its rich history and importance as Queens’ most significant and treasured park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park deserves landmark recognition, especially now. With three separate development proposals threatening to take away valuable parkland, Flushing Meadows Corona Park needs to be preserved now more than ever.”

“Parkland is sacred,” continued Avella. “The City should not be entertaining these proposals which would radically reduce open and recreational space for the hundreds of thousands of Queens residents who use this park on a yearly basis. Instead, the City should landmark this vital borough park to ensure its continued usage for generations to come and send a clear message that parkland is not for sale!”

“That is why I am calling on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to immediately reconsider their decision and demand that they hold a public hearing on this important issue. At the very least, the residents of Queens deserve to have their voices heard,” concluded Avella.

I guess the only surprise here is that the Parks Department turned the Unisphere fountains on a full month before the US Open.

Avella leaves Muslim parade in disgust

"On a beautiful September Sunday afternoon, not far from the scene of the infamous Islamic jihad attack in lower Manhattan, Democrat New York State Senator Tony Avella came face-to-face with Muslim hatred for America and he did something that few people have the courage to do. He got up from his seat as a VIP Marshall of the 27th annual New York Muslim Parade and stormed off the stage in disgust! Over one thousand Muslims in the audience and the large group of Muslim community leaders were shocked that the Senator would walk off the stage, even before it was his turn to speak. But, Tony Avella had enough of the blatant tirade of hate against America by "moderate" Muslim dignitaries and his love for America was more important than embarrassing a group of Muslim "wolves in sheep's clothing." Sure, the Muslim cultural jihadi's had the first amendment right to condemn America (which they could never do in their home countries) but Senator Avella had the right to exit, stage left!! Our hats are off to Senator Avella for taking a very public stand on a critically important issue."

The never ending joke of affordable housing in NYC

From Economic Policy Journal:

The city says a low-income household is one earning less than 80 percent of the median income of $37,000 (by the way, if this is a relativistic definition based on a sliding scale, it's possible for a household to qualify as low-income making $150,000 if the median income is $200,000). The Furman Center at NYU says an apartment is affordable if it costs no more than 30 percent of a family's income. But what do the people say?

The people say all kinds of things about affordability. Some people are thrifty and won't spend more than 20 percent of their income on housing. Some prefer to spend more of their income on housing than on other monthly expenses and will spend 40 percent. Some think it's more "reasonable" to spend more if they conclude they're getting a safer housing experience, others spend less when they find their housing options to be inconvenient to their lifestyles. There's no right or wrong answer when it comes to individual perceptions of affordability... unless you happen to work in the mayor's office or on the campus of NYU.

Public housing programs and "affordable" housing regulations are a disaster. They punish and reward at random, they suppress profits and leech taxes out of private wealth that could be used to maintain and expand the supply of ALL private goods and services, including private housing, and they violate economic law in a tragic race-to-the-bottom. The more housing resources and wealth in general under control of the State and Michael Bloomberg, the less housing resources and wealth in general will be available to you, me and everyone else to do as we prefer with it.

Keep in mind, whereas the private sector does everything it can to try to promote the kind of quality, convenience, security and accessibility that maintain and drive property prices higher, it is the stated policy aim of governments everywhere to drive property prices and values lower. And while it is the competition of the marketplace which is the only phenomenon capable of actually achieving the government's aims (lower real property values), the government will nevertheless achieve one of its goals (lower nominal property prices) by inviting in all the crime and decrepitude normally found in government-owned ghettos the world-round, and spreading this social malice as far and wide as it is able to do so.

So, in a nutshell, Bloomie, you blew it. Your pursuit of "affordable" housing for the benighted people of NYC will forever remain elusive, but your success in visiting more stagnation, rot and hardship on those same poor people will indeed be great and remembered forever!

The U.N. is investigating affordable housing in NYC.

Bloomberg wants to give playground away to U.N.

From the NY Post:

City officials are breathing life back into a moribund plan to erect a 35-story office tower for the United Nations in Robert Moses Park -- a 1.3-acre concrete square at East 42nd Street and First Avenue.

The project could pump millions into city coffers by providing work space for about 1,000 UN employees currently housed in two city-owned office buildings on First Avenue, which the UN rents for $25 a square foot -- a deep discount that amounts to about half the market rate the city could charge.

Mayor Bloomberg has been pushing for the office tower for years. At one point he even dispatched his sister, Marjorie Tiven, whom he appointed commissioner for UN affairs, to Albany to lobby lawmakers. But the plan was quashed in 2005 by the state Legislature, which must approve any plan that involves the loss of city parkland.

In May, city Economic Development Corp. staffers quietly began meeting again with elected officials, including Assembly members Jonathan Bing and Brian Kavanagh, Councilman Daniel Garodnick and state Sen. Liz Krueger, who in the past have opposed plans that eat up open play space in the dense neighborhood.

Some state lawmakers said they were shocked that the plan, in which the city would cede land to the United Nations for them to build an office tower, is back on the table.