All aboard the Queens Crap express! (part1)

First stop, Elmhurst:








Taken from a moving LIRR train, facing north

Corona, part 2
Flushing, part 3

Papers protect & promote Pinky

Coverage of Pinky's rally from the Queens Chronicle:

Residents Rally Outside Maspeth Halfway House

Community Board 5 member Michael LoCascio also assailed the owner for failing to notify the community before moving there — adding that he would never have objected so strenuously if the facility had been authorized to serve nearby residents in need of minor criminal rehabilitation.
Mike LoCascio replaced the 70-year old former marine and community volunteer who was allegedly harassed by Dennis Gallagher at a shopping mall. He hasn't even attended his first CB5 meeting yet.

“This is why we have a problem,” LoCascio said, pointing to a plastic dime bag laying on the sidewalk, just feet from the front door.

Those words coming from him are just so damn funny considering...oh, nevermind.

Anyway, back to Pinky:

Despite the vacate order, Gallagher said he later received a defiant call from Gomez claiming he had no intention of leaving or complying with any of the department’s mandates. “That is why we planned this rally,” Gallagher said last Monday.

Yes, if I were running an illegal flophouse, I would be sure to call up the councilman in the area and tell him that the ex-cons are staying put. Gallagher felt the need to come up with something to explain the reason for this press conference after his phoniness was spotlighted on Queens Crap.

“To send a clear message that this … owner, who showed no respect for the community or for the occupants of this home, is not welcome in Maspeth.”

[I wonder if he told the same thing to the owner of nearby St. Saviour's, who also has shown no respect for the community. It's doubtful since Gallagher failed to show up at either the rally or press conference held last year to save the church and is now cutting deals with the same developer.]

Notice that Assemblywoman Marge Markey didn't come to her own rally, but her number one supporter, Maspeth Federal Savings president, Ken "I'm from Polack Alley" Rudzewick, did. [His bank sold the mortgage for St. Saviour's to the developer.] He's wearing a suit and tie and shades in the photos.

Now, on to the Queens Ledger:

Strength In Numbers

Maspeth will not stand for an illegal halfway house in its community.
150-plus neighbors made that clear on Monday, turning out for a rally hosted by Councilman Dennis Gallagher, who has been leading the fight against 59-39 58th Avenue.

150 people? I think not. Sources tell QC that the turnout was a few dozen. Take a look at the photos from the Times Newsweekly which show the entire crowd. Strangely, despite their own photographic evidence, the Times Newsweekly reported that there were "more than 200 people" at the rally. (The Times Newsweekly article is not linked online yet.)

Let's check the coverage from the Times Ledger:

58th Ave. flophouse sparks rally

More than 75 angry Maspeth residents joined area leaders Monday to protest a halfway house on 58th Avenue which had briefly housed 12 ex-convicts from Rikers Island before the city Department of Buildings issued a vacate order in late March.

The Fire Department gained entry into the home on March 28 and the DOB issued a full vacate order after finding hazardous conditions during inspection, a department spokeswoman said. The city evicted 12 former inmates from Rikers Island who were using the building as a halfway house, she said.

75 attendees sounds more like it. (Perhaps the reporters from the Queens Ledger and Times Newsweekly were seeing double.)

The building has already been shut down. It's obvious that there was no need for this rally or to waste police manpower to oversee it.

Thank you, Times Ledger, for having the guts to report the truth!

Queens woman appointed to LPC

Congratulations to Diana Chapin of Jackson Heights:

Landmarks Commission Appoints Queens Woman

Landmarks Has A New Queens Face

All will be well now.

Riled up in Rosedale

This one's about Rosedale and Laurelton:

Beset by a frenzied wave of super-sized development, the two traditionally single-family-home neighborhoods in southeastern Queens have long clamored to be rezoned. But they haven't had any luck - and are furious that more than 20 other Queens neighborhoods have been rezoned since 2002.

Rosedale locals press pol on rezoning

The vast majority of the roughly 75 residents in attendance angrily protested when the host, City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton), attempted to discuss issues other than rezoning.

Uh oh. Sounds like this bunch is taking no prisoners!

Queens Crap would like to welcome you guys into the Red-Lined Neighborhoods Club.

Mudslides at NYT site

Quotes from Brian C. Smith, Project Director of the New York Times Company:

"We're not keeping clean fill near the west side of the facility. We are keeping it away from the wetlands. We're keeping it covered."

"We are following DEC guidelines; DEP guidelines and I just wanted to basically stress that's how we are handling the project. We take the wetlands very seriously. We understand the potential impact to the environment and that's why we are doing it the proper way."

That's why the piles of fill are left uncovered, they are turning to mud, and washing into the marsh.

The NY Times would make Al Gore proud.

Meanwhile, the Queens Chronicle also reports that the Times claims what you see here isn't so:

Expanding Times

16th photo of Spring

Alley Pond Park, Douglaston

Real fixer-uppers

City Comptroller William Thompson says Lefrak City did a bad job of installing new windows. Normally, this would just be a tenant- landlord conflict, but when there's a tax break involved, the city becomes unhappy:

LOUSY LANDLORDS GET FAULTY-FIX TAX BREAKS

Photo from Forgotten NY

Understanding Bloomberg's policies

This article from MSNBC goes a long way toward explaining how policy in the Big Apple is shaped the way it is:

Without immigrants pouring into the nation’s big metro areas, places such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston would be shrinking as native-born Americans move farther out.

Without immigrants, metro areas would shrink

The New York metro area, which includes the suburbs, added 1 million immigrants from 2000 to 2006. Without those immigrants, the region would have lost nearly 600,000 people.

There are about 36 million immigrants in the U.S. About one-third are in the country illegally. The Census Bureau, however, does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

N.Y. CROWDS IN

The New York metropolitan statistical area stretches from Montauk, L.I., to Pike County, Pa., and from Ocean County, N.J. to Putnam County.

From 2000 to 2006, about 1.4 million people left New York for other parts of the country either to retire or change jobs and were replaced by more than 1 million newcomers from abroad - for a net migration loss of nearly 400,000.

Compare this to census data specifically about NYC:

New federal Census figures assert that New York City's population grew by a total of 587 people between 2005 and 2006.

9 million people by 2030, eh?

Of course, Pike County, PA, Long Island and counties in NJ are not part of NYC, but that won't stop the city from using this as proof that illegal apartments are necessary to house the illegal immigrants, which our city is welcoming with open arms. Of course, no one wants a shrinking or stagnant city even if it means allowing an underground economy and inviting terrorists to live in our own backyards. So we encourage a lot of luxury units to make up for the revenue being lost on illegal apartments. It all makes sense now. What sound fiscal and social policy the mayor is promoting. Yes, this man should be president.

Photo from savetheGOP.com

Landmarking not so sunny to them

The anti- landmarking people seem to have a really good PR machine:

Some don't see Sunnyside to rezoning

Area homeowners say they don't want to become custodians in their own homes...

Who takes care of a privately-owned home? Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't it the owner?

While the bickering continues, Landmarks Will Hear Case For Sunnyside.

LPC also grew a pair and kept a Douglaston couple's home designated against their wishes. The house was already landmarked when they bought it:

Historic Doug home to remain in district

City: House Can’t Opt Out Of Douglaston Hill District

FH Guy defends Queens on Curbed

Comments posted on Curbed referring to yesterday's illegal apartment ad.

Auburndale atrocity, part 1

Here is an aerial view of yesterday's featured piece of Queens Crap which now consists of just 3 standing walls on a vacant construction lot. The small, one-family white house shown here on the corner and its garage were demolished. Notice the green house next door with the blossoming tree in front of it.
Here is what replaced it. 196-17 & 196-19 42nd Avenue. Two 2-family homes. (Just ignore those windows in the basements - those are for "accessory purposes.") So glad they decided to throw in those overhangs and tall columns because they sure bring a touch of class to the development. Beautiful tree - gone. Green space - gone. Queens Crap - front and center.

Make Your Very Own Illegal Apartment!!

It appears that the developers of this urban trailer park on Flushing Ave in Maspeth are getting a bit anxious to sell the units. The realtors are advertising the nice two car garage that comes with one of these units - and enticing potential buyers by pointing out that the garage can be converted into an illegal apartment! The full listing was recently changed (4/7) to remove this illicit suggestion. Queens Crap remains disturbed (but sadly not surprised) that illegal conversions are so common place that they are openly discussed and encouraged in the real estate ads.

If any potential buyers are thinking about making such a conversion, please be aware that Crappy and the neighborhood will be watching and we love to get on the phone with the Department of Buildings.

Note: Crappy is laughing his metal behind right off the bowl at the "Superior In Workmanship And Design" comment at the top of the ad and the quote from the development's website below...

"Atop of the concrete block structure, window accents created in the stucco create a look that can be seen in the many of the homes in the affluent Forest Hills Gardens area of Queens." HA HA HA HA HA

Screenshot from Foxtons, Listing information courtesy Njn Realty Corp.

15th photo of Spring

Oakland Lake, Bayside

Daily News starts Astoria blog

The Daily News is expanding their web coverage of the outer boroughs, and is starting a blog for each of them. The one for Queens is called Astoria N/W York.

Here's a sample from the first post by writer Rich O'Malley:

Gone. Into memory. Years of great meals and good times flashed through my mind. I never lost a great restaurant before. This was traumatic...Rents are high and the restaurant business is unforgiving. Just a few weeks later another brunch fave, Le Sans Soucee on Broadway went down. Mon dieu!

What can be accomplished when you fight

Church officials said they sought to build the 151-foot-tall glass apartment tower to help pay for $21 million of badly needed restoration to the seminary's Gothic buildings that date back to the 1880s, but decided to withdraw the plan when they realized they were fighting a losing battle.

Chelsea Opponents Stymie Seminary Development Plan

See this article from 2005 about the building the seminary was proposing:

Seminary Seeks Commission Approval for New Building

The new British Invasion

Residents of East Harlem are fighting to keep the "Spanish" in Spanish Harlem:

British Firm's Big Real Estate Deal Draws Protests in Harlem

HARLEM IRE OVER BRIT 'INVASION'

The Museum of African Art is also under fire for replacing a community garden in the neighborhood:

Museum displaces garden

Cast out of the garden

Photo from AMNY.

NYC to revamp building codes

The NY Sun today reports that

Building Code Changes Could Increase Costs

More from DOB here: New York City Model Code Program

Which street's richest of them all?

Surprise, surprise...Mayor Boomberg has a home on Manhattan's most expensive street. The location of the most costly street in Queens? According to the NY Post, it's not Vernon Boulevard - yet.

EASY STREETS: $WANKIEST BLOCKS IN ALL FIVE BOROUGHS

Abandoned in Auburndale

The owner of this property at 196-29 42 Avenue at Francis Lewis Boulevard demolished this building and garage without a permit after obtaining ALT1 & ALT2 permits to enlarge the building. He then sold the property to someone else whose request to obtain a permit to build a 5-level day care center on the property recently was rejected. In the meantime, neighbors have had to live next to this abandoned lot for more than 3 years.

Couple Loses Property Rights Battle in China

A resilient Chinese couple has lost a three year battle to remain in their home, the last of 280 buildings on a site that was claimed for redevelopment.

"This is not an individual case, it concerns the rights of all those Chinese who say their homes were demolished. You are the people's heroes!" declared one anonymous posting on the Yangcheng Evening News' Web site.

The house was referred to by state media and Web commentators as a "nail house" because it stuck up like a nail that couldn't be pulled out."

Couple's Home Razed After Three-Year Fight

"Property disputes and illegal land grabs have accelerated in recent years as China's economy expands at double-digit rates and farmland is gobbled up for industrial parks and skyscrapers.

Government officials often have sided with developers, touching off riots and protests."

Why does that sound so familiar?

Photo from the New York Times.

14th photo of Spring

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (Yes, we know it's not in Queens. But it's a great shot!)

Filling empty spaces

Just when you thought the city had allowed building on every available space left, word comes that they are what was once considered to be off-limits may no longer be safe:

Open Spaces Are City's Next Frontier

In the meantime, lawmakers are adamant about not allowing a development to proceed on top of a Manhattan playground, but not necessarily because it takes away open space:

Lawmakers Vowing To Block United Nations Building Effort

Photo from Windows Live Local.

DA Brown: No phony deed goes unpunished

CBS-TV reports that "a wealthy Long Island real estate magnate has been arrested for allegedly using fake deeds to steal properties in Queens and selling them to unsuspecting buyers."

Stolen homes sold in real estate scam

Go Brownie!

Middle class extinction

The NY Sun reports that a forum was held last night featuring "four potential candidates to replace Mayor Bloomberg" who responded to a study last year which showed the middle class in NYC is fast becoming extinct:

Potential Mayoral Candidates Give Possible Preview of 2009

John Liu as mayor? God help us...

Newsday also covered the event:

Bemoaning city's middle-class flight

Meanwhile, Metro ignored the politicians in their report:

“New York City is extremely prosperous,” said John Mollenkopf, director of CUNY’s Center for Urban Research, “but income distribution is increasingly unequal.”

He showed charts documenting changes over the last 15 years, saying, “The bottom’s growing, the middle is shrinking,” and “the top part is growing relative to the others not only in numbers, but in total income.”

The state of the middle class

LIC housing crisis

Brooklyn resident, mayoral candidate, and current city comptroller William Thompson has turned his attention to western Queens:

Build affordable units in LIC: Thompson

And how to do it?

Bonds suggested for LIC

Photo from thirteen.org

Burn, grandma, burn!

"Why does this block of 45th Avenue near Kissena Boulevard always have parking problems?

Because this block contains the 19-story, 289-unit SelfHelp retirement residence, which has had its visitors' parking lot closed to the public since October 2006. As a result, children and grandchildren have been forced to look for parking on the street.

The management instituted a monthly fee of $100 for visitors wishing to park on the building's property to visit their elderly family members. To prevent ambulettes from using the parking lot as a pick-up location, a huge moving gate was installed. Now, ambulettes and taxis crowd the street awaiting their elderly customers, tying up traffic. On cold winter days, the residents are forced to wait on the sidewalk for their rides. The orange tower in the back contains 158 apartments for the elderly, and shares this parking lot with the gray Martin Lande Tower. The latter tower is mentioned in the AIA Guide to New York City. Both are managed by SelfHelp.

This building actually contains two parking lots. The second lot is almost always empty. So much so, that cars often park in front of its gate - in spite of the "No Parking" sign. What does John Liu, the local city councilman have to do with this inconvenience? In October 2006, a group of elderly residents mailed him a letter alleging the fire hazard, traffic woes, and parking shortage that may result from the pay-to-park gated lot. Letters were also mailed to Mayor Bloomberg and State Senator Stavisky. Responses ranged from "Have you spoken to the management?" to "We're looking into it," to no responses at all. A local firefighter told me, "In case of fire, I hope that the doorman has the key to open this gate." Sorry, but only the residents and paying members have the key. My grandparents fear that with a decline of services and unfriendly management, it's only a matter of time before the elderly-low-income limited-profit tower becomes just another luxury conversion." - mazeartist

13th photo of Spring

Tulips in Flushing

Preserving West Harlem

West Harlem joins the "they want to build what?" club:

"Columbia University’s proposal for a $7 billion expansion of its campus on 17 acres in West Harlem has touched off fears that another wave of gentrification will wash over this low-scale neighborhood of tenements, brownstones, housing projects, warehouses and small businesses."
Zoning Changes Proposed to Preserve West Harlem’s Character

"According to a new study by the Manhattan borough president’s office, more than 200 lots scattered across the west side of Harlem are prime candidates for redevelopment. Under current zoning rules, a developer can build towers or dormitories that are far larger than the four- and six-story buildings commonly found in the area."

Map from Manhattan Institute

Dan's plan: build on kids' playground

Staff members from the office of Daniel Doctoroff, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, have met with most of the legislators representing the neighborhood over the last two months, pitching a plan for a 35-story tower that would consolidate United Nations offices now housed in widely scattered city-owned buildings. Because it involves taking parkland, the plan would require approval in the Legislature.

This is referring to Robert Moses Park, in the East 40s by the FDR Drive.

At a Longstanding Playground, Yet Another Plan to End the Games

So, Dan, what exactly happened to that "more parks by 2030" plan?

Map from Gothamist

LIC Rising

According to a brokerage firm interviewed by Business Week, those searching for the next real estate "hot spot" or just trying to find a cheap and funky place to live should focus on this as one of the main factors:

If the zoning favors larger or more units, either residential or commercial, the area will gentrify more rapidly.

America's next hot neighborhoods

Oh, now we understand why all that density is being encouraged in LIC.

"We are going from salt piles to beautiful buildings," said Councilman Eric Gioia, a Democrat who represents Long Island City.

"All 5,000 of those units are in the top half of the Queens income bracket," said Brad Lander, director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. "Sixty percent of Queens residents could not afford to live there."

Great job representing your (future) constituents, Doorman!

Photo from AM-NY.

Around and Around

Forgotten NY chronicles the interesting architecture, green space and history of the Kissena Park area.

7-Layer Crap

"What do you do in Glendale, Queens when you get approval to build a 2 family house? That's right, you build a 4 family house in it's place! 71-41 72nd Place may look like a 2 family house to the untrained eye but take a closer look. Separate basement entrance- check. 1st and 2nd floors- check. Fancy 3rd floor loft- it's there but it is too high into the Craposphere to be seen by the human eye. Combine this jewel with the attached 3 units of 71-43 and you have 7 units where a one family woodframe home once stood. Thank goodness there is plenty of parking.....oh, wait....those garages belong to a business on the corner. I guess when the SUV's roll in, they will squeeze in somewhere." - Russ

Your tax dollars at work, continued

Councilman Dennis Gallagher and Assemblywoman Marge Markey are planning to hold a protest rally on Monday, April 2nd at 6pm in front of 59-39 58th Avenue in Maspeth. The funny thing is that the halfway house they are planning to protest has already been shut down - a point that Gallagher and Markey are well aware of, as it was front page news at their favorite newspaper. But that won't stop them from getting themselves a little face time in front of the cameras for their next taxpayer-funded mailers to their constituents.

Here's how the story unfolded:

On March 5th, a neighbor called 311 to report that a two-family home was being converted into a rooming house illegally. As many as 20 mattresses had been delivered to the house and a lot of traffic was observed going in and out of the dwelling.

On March 22nd, the issue was brought up at the area's monthly COP104 meeting, attended by more than 200 concerned residents. At that time, the Commanding Officer said the situation was being closely monitored by the precinct.

On March 26th, the Department of Buildings inspected the property and immediately issued an "order to vacate." They found that the house had indeed been converted into a transient hotel. It so happened that Dennis Gallagher showed up at the house as inspectors were trying to gain access with a newspaper reporter in tow.

According to the NYPD, who inspected the house, it was vacated on March 27th. Additionally, summonses were issued to the owner by both the FDNY and the Department of Buildings for several violations including lack of rear exits, sprinklers and other violations.

This incident perfectly illustrates why Councilman Gallagher should not be advising residents to deny access to DOB inspectors who receive complaints about illegal occupancy. It seems that this house was used for a program for recently released inmates from Rikers Island. This program is meant to help prisoners get acclimated to life in public. The ex-prisoners, who were described as "non-violent offenders," would stay at the house from Monday through Wednesday and then return to their regular homes for the rest of the week. The trouble is that this house was not built for 20 residents - a detail missed by the owner of the property and the program facilitator.

The FDNY, NYPD and the Department of Buildings all did their jobs with relative speed. The owner was fined and the house was shut down. So why are Gallagher and the clueless Marge Markey still holding a rally? Shouldn't an effective rally have been held sometime between March 5th and March 26th?

The answer is obvious - publicity. Gallagher and Markey are attempting to squeeze at least another week's worth of newspaper articles out of this story so it will appear that they actually did something for the neighborhood, when in reality they had no involvement whatsoever. By Friday afternoon, there were flyers posted outside the windows of shops (not inside) advertising the rally.

"Why are they wasting police manpower for a protest? The place was shut down!" That's what many local cops and residents are asking about this blatant abuse of tax dollars. The 104th precinct, in which the house is located, has seen an increase in daytime burglaries over the past few months, and cops are desperately needed out on the streets to keep potential intruders from striking and to protect citizens from harm.

We'll see which of their stooges turn out to stand behind them while they are mugging for the cameras and which papers report on it as if it is actual news. (Deadlines for the politicians' Easter ads are due soon so we predict widespread coverage.)

In coming weeks, Gallagher and Markey are also planning to protest other past events, such as the passage of the Tea Act, racist Jim Crow laws and U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Tune in to Queens Crap; we'll have full coverage of those rallies as well!

Oh, deer!

This is article is actually about the Bronx, but it may be just a matter of time before deer have repopulated Forest and Alley Pond Parks, too...

From City Drivers, Pleas for Country Signs

No April foolin'!

12th photo of Spring

Shea Stadium - LET'S GO METS!!!

Rosedale wants rezoning

Ok, so just about every Queens neighborhood has cried out for downzoning (except Dutch Kills, who got tricked into thinking that upzoning was a fantastic idea despite their brush with 19th century living last summer).

Rosedale wants rezoning

Maybe it's time to call for a moratorium on building in each community seeking downzoning until the studies are finished. This will prevent unscrupulous developers from ripping down homes and pouring foundations to beat the zoning clock and then leaving construction sites sitting dormant for years.

Last year, Councilman Jim Oddo of Staten Island said that it may be a good idea and that he would look into it, but then he became preoccupied with more important issues, such as banning metal baseball bats.

Expanding Flushing, continued

Flushing has experienced unprecedented growth in the last several years, marked by grandiose projects such as the Flushing Commons and Flushing Town Center project, whose housing is largely geared towards higher income families...The western Flushing affordable housing proposal came as a response to months of sharp criticism from residents that housing costs in the area were skyrocketing.

Housing study nears finish

So Johnny Liu and pals are looking to rezone a manufacturing district near Flushing Meadows to allow for "affordable housing." They are unveiling their feasibility study on April 5th.

Councilman Tony Avella, Chair of the Zoning Subcommittee, doesn't believe this is a good idea:

"Flushing has already seen a tremendous amount of growth and how much more can you really get in that area," Avella said..."They're not zoning experts," he said. "A feasibility study from them I don't think is going to amount to much."

Which came first - the chicken or the crap?

Right across the street from the elegance at Flushing Meadows Corona Park you will find these dream homes on 46th Ave just off 111th St...

Here you can see the three stages of Queens Crap. To the left, 8 units of crap (and 2 "medical offices") under construction. To the right, you have 15 units of completed crap. The little white shack in the middle is almost certainly crap-to-be.

But living on this block has a bonus - what is in that little white shack, you may ask? LIVE POULTRY! Ever catch a whiff of one of these places on a hot summer day?