Letter sent a couple of minutes ago to the Western Queens Gazette:
To the Editor,
Having followed the Gazette's coverage of the Sunnyside landmarking decision for months, I am disappointed in the factual inaccuracies in the
recent article by Thomas Cogan, to say nothing of its anti-preservation bias. To begin with, Mr. Cogan's article implied that the landmark designation would revoke the Special Planned Community Preservation District status of the area. The two designations are separate things overseen by separate city agencies, as Queens Director of City Planning, John Young, testified to at the Landmarks hearing. Any change to the Special Planned Community Preservation District would, by law, have to go through a full Uniform Land Use Procedure and the public would have multiple opportunities to comment. The statement "the commission wanted to exert hegemony at its offices on the ninth floor of the Municipal Building in Manhattan" is strangely hostile. The Landmarks Commission holds almost all its hearings in its offices, whether deliberating on properties in Tottenville, Fieldston, Brooklyn Heights or the Upper West Side. The only times in recent memory the LPC has held hearings outside of its offices has on two Upper East Side proposals for alterations. In those cases, knowing the overflowing public interest in them, the agency relocated to larger quarters nearby its downtown offices - not on the Upper East Side.
On the topic of the article's bias, why do the anti-landmark forces, who numbered 25 speakers, get three paragraphs of space detailing their claims when the proponents of landmarking, who numbered 61, only get one? Furthermore, Mr. Lehrer, a Sunnyside resident and opponent of landmarking, gets his professional accreditations but Dr. Jeffrey Kroessler, a Sunnyside resident, proponent of landmarking, and professor at CUNY's John Jay College, does not?
A lot of time and thought has gone into the City's decision to consider Sunnyside Gardens as a potential New York City historic district. Based on its merits, the neighborhood clearly deserves this recognition, as is evidenced by its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Even the opponents of landmarking do not dispute the worthiness of Sunnyside Gardens as a distinct place within the city that deserves to be recognized and protected. The reasonable complaints come from concerns about regulations - regulations which many neighborhoods throughout New York City have managed to live under and even more want. The majority of Sunnyside Gardens residents who have spoken out about the landmarking, have been in favor. This is an observable fact, one which your article does not portray or even allude to. The lack of balance and the obvious presence of bias in your article does no credit to your publication or your readers.
Sincerely,
Simeon Bankoff
Executive Director
Historic Districts Council
Lawmakers are considering a move that might save tens of thousands of Queens' fixed income senior citizens mileage on their cars:
Photo from the Queens Chronicle
Letter to the editor of the Times Ledger:
A day laborer from Ecuador was killed yesterday when an eight-foot-deep trench collapsed at a Brooklyn elementary school, burying him under hundreds of cubic yards of dirt, officials and his employer said.
...Daos had been cited by the city in February for cramming 29 tenants into 16 living units with two communal bathrooms and two communal kitchens in what was zoned a two-family home at 265 E. Chester St...the average monthly rent was $500 per room, and the rent roll topped $100,000 a year.
Vacant land next to the busiest stretch of the LIRR? Sounds like a perfect place for Queens Crap. These two triangular lots were combined into one to allow for our next piece of crap to be built. 
Here we are in front of 42-35 65th Street. We have no idea what that thing is behind the tree and above the doorway. You're looking at the facade for 16 units of Queens Crap. The homes adjacent to and across the street are 2 and 3-family buildings.
We wonder how much extra it is to have an apartment with a "view."
Seems as though Councilman Dennis Gallagher, whose salary is drawn from taxpayer funds, is using his taxpayer-funded staff to send out hit pieces on neighborhood civic leaders from his taxpayer-funded office:
Letter sent a couple of minutes ago to the Western Queens Gazette:
Mayor Bloomberg and DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster announced the completion of the first proposed overhaul to the building code since 1968 yesterday.
This three-bedroom house on Ramona Ave. on Staten Island is only 10 feet wide:
Councilman John Liu, Community Board 7, and other leaders gathered Monday in front of the Fitzgerald/Ginsberg Mansion, a recently landmarked site in Flushing, to denounce the destruction of seven antebellum trees and warn against further destruction to this historic area.
Things will soon be greener along Jackson Avenue, and we're not talking about the expansion of the ugly Citicorp development:
Boro reps protest mayor's new commuter tax
Iron Triangle to rise from the ashes in city's new plan
Here's how the city of New York treats one of its retired Finest:
Letter to Queens Courier:
How to build a better neighborhood: destroy the one that is already there!
Councilman David Weprin, Councilman James Gennaro, State Senator Frank Padavan, and several civic association leaders spoke at a rally to encourage swift rezoning of many Queens neighborhoods.
No more schlepping to A.C. would be necessary if this proposal becomes reality:
You have to wonder if the 2 reviewers ate at the same place...
It's Bayside's turn to be profiled in AM-NY. It's a shame they got a lot of it wrong, because they made the mistake of getting the "feel" of the nabe by talking to a realtor:
Letter to Queens Gazette:
A row of charming townhouses is fenced off, approaching its day with the demolition team. In the background are the beautiful Walden Terrace apartments. They don't build them like this anymore.
This tow-away zone does not have the name or phone number of the towing company. Where do illegally parked cars go? Your guess is as good as mine! - mazeartist
For five very uncomfortable minutes, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall stood next to Mayor Bloomberg yesterday as he let loose with a fierce tongue-lashing of elected officials who oppose congestion pricing. One of those officials happens to be Marshall, who joined Bloomberg at the Queens Museum of Art for an announcement about the long-awaited development of Willets Point.
They're young, motivated and talented. 
Four steamed city councilman blasted a proposed 11.5% hike in water rates yesterday, calling it "outrageous" and "completely unnecessary."
Projected New York City energy increases:
The Mayor has released his plan for the redevelopment of Willets Point, and it doesn't include retaining the businesses that have been there for decades:
Police detectives posing as the owners of a rundown house invited bids for repair work from unlicensed contractors, then arrested 16 of them when they showed up, officials said Monday.
The NY Times reports on the battle of the boroughs between the Yankees and the Mets with regards to buildings their stadiums:
The glitzy premiere of Spiderman 3 was held last night at the Astoria-Kaufman Theater:
Foreign diplomats who reside here will likely be exempt from paying for congestion pricing, as the fee is considered to be a "tax":
The DOB has a number of events planned for this week, including:
So people apparently are selling their identities to mortgage brokers and moving to foreign countries:
This should be a good one:
Down this little alley in Woodside is a giant PoS. What's cute is that the permits and complaints for this one property are under different street names. (Burroughs Place was the former name of 66th Street, but for some reason remains in DOB's system.)
