Rolling over in his grave

Grant's Tomb in Manhattan was recently profiled by the New York Sun: History Comes Alive

The renovation of 10 years ago was rapid and impressive. Yet it was applied almost exclusively to the front, or south side of the monument.

Around back, the paths leading to the Tomb as well as the stairways leading to them remain cracked and splintered.

An overlook pavilion that could provide majestic views of the Hudson River just to the west of the Tomb, that once housed public restrooms, which has been in shambles for more than 40 years, has been closed. Because of this nuisance, the National Memorial remains one of the only public attractions of its kind without any public restrooms. And finally, the Tomb has no visitor center.

The Crapper has nothing against these creative mosaic benches that line the paths on the monument's north and south sides. As public art, they cetainly have their place. They just don't seem appropriate here.

The official NPS website: General Grant National Memorial

The Grant Monument Association has more photos of conditions at the site and a plan for its future.

Godfather of Soul park?

"I am petitioning the St. Albans and Addisleigh Park communities to have a park named after James Brown. To further commemorate the James Brown legacy, I am proposing the park and playground bordering Linden Boulevard to the south, Merrick Boulevard to the west, Marne Place to the east and 111th Road to the north be renamed after one of the country's most enterprising performers. Mr. Brown resided at 175-19 Linden Boulevard and 175th Place.

I have spoken with members of the St. Albans and Addisleigh Park communities, and thus far, everyone agrees a park near his home is an excellent idea. I will, with pleasure, position a commemorative inscription plaque and collage of him in the park.

Assets for the St. Albans and Addisleigh Park communities include the wide spread discovery of past Queens personalities such as Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Milt Hinton, Lena Horne, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson to name a few. As you well know, these legends are less than half of the past-celebrated populace of St. Albans and Addisleigh Park and the home of many celebrities of today. Nearby businesses would benefit from local enthusiast and tourist. Please consider this endeavor. St Albans will not be a forgotten neighborhood any longer."

Most sincerely,

Johnnie Barton
jamesbrownpark@aol.com

Twin tweeders

Somewhere in western Queens, via phone:

Eric: Hey, Mike, I was thinking of wearing a red tie today.

Mike: No, Eric, it's Spring, I think we should go with green.

Eric: You're right, Mike. White shirt and gray suit?

Mike: You got it. See you at noon.

Later on, at the press conference:

Eric: We're blaming Con Ed for rate hikes, but there is increased consumption. I don't know...

Mike: Oh, relax, Eric, it's not like we have to admit that the cause of the blackout and subsequent rate hike were overdevelopment and illegal conversions. The press will never ask those questions and we will never be blamed for allowing them to happen.

Eric: You're right. That reminds me, I have to send in my payments to the weeklies for the Memorial Day ads.

Mike: I need to do that too. Thank God the taxpayers pay for that. The rates are going up. Just like Con Ed.

Eric: Here come the reporters.

Mike: It's showtime!

During the press conference:

Mike: Con Ed sucks!

Eric: Con Ed blows!

Mike & Eric: We hate Con Ed!

After the press conference:

Eric: Damn, I hope that guy in the tweed jacket didn't block the photographer's shot of my face.

Mike: Don't ever let them hear you say the word "tweed," Eric!

Eric: Crap!

Mike: Don't say that word, either, or you'll end up on that blog.

Eric: I hate that blog.

Mike: Me too.

Eric: But I must say, their stuff on Pinky is hilarious. How did they know that Council security was using that as his code name?

Mike: Don't know, but I put that Napoleon picture on my wall.

Eric: Yeah, that one was pretty awesome.

Mike: So how are you managing to eat on only $28?

Eric: Heh, well I am only spending $28 of my personal funds but my "meat and potatoes" are being paid for by Team Gioia.

Mike: Very clever!

Eric: I learned a little something working for the Clintons.

Photo from Queens Gazette

The Mysterious Mansion

The Queens Gazette is asking for readers' help in identifying this mansion in Astoria that apparently has fallen on hard times:

Help Solve The Mansion Mystery

Photo from Queens Gazette

How ironic...

Real estate giant Tishman Speyer plans to turn a contaminated Long Island City site into a new high-rise residential development with ground-floor retail space. But first, the company must reckon with the site’s toxic legacy.

Located at 28-10 Jackson Ave. near Queens Plaza, the property was once part of a larger complex owned by the West Chemical Company. The site had been used to store chemicals needed to make products like floor waxes and industrial cleaners.

Queens Plaza Site To Be Developed After Cleanup

How do you clean up cleaning fluid?

Tishman Speyer’s plan calls for the removal of all accessible contaminated soils by excavating the entire half-acre site to a depth of 16 feet, deeper in areas where there is greater contamination.

Oh, ok, thanks. What park services this area? You know, within 10 minutes walking distance?

Photo of "cleaning time" clock from Forgotten-NY.com

LeFraks $elling 'Kings & Queens' portfolio

A residential portfolio in Brooklyn and Queens owned by the LeFrak family is in contract to sell for $250 million, two sources said. The portfolio, dubbed the Kings and Queens portfolio, consists of about 2,000 apartments.

LeFraks Selling Brooklyn, Queens Portfolio for $250 M.

The LeFraks have been a city landlord since 1901, and have built more than 250,000 apartments, including LeFrak City, the Queens complex with more than 5,000 units.

What will they call it now?

Photo from Forgotten-NY.com

Exposed gas line a concern at railyard

What would happen if an exposed gas pipe that runs through a Queens railyard were to be sabotaged?

“It would cripple Queens,” said [a] worker at the site...speaking under the condition of anonymity. “You’re talking about wiping out [four highways] and all of the trains in Queens. At night you come in here and there’s a train on every track. There’s only so much service running. There’d be over 1,000 subway cars in here that [the MTA] would lose.”

A Ticking Pipe Bomb? Keyspan’s New Natural Gas Line Close To Third Rail, Open To Anyone

Photo from Queens Tribune

Fort Totten military base to close

In a move that some consider a threat to the safety and security of New York City, the Department of Defense is relocating an Army Reserve unit from its 40-year home at Fort Totten in Bayside.

Totten Troop Loss Could Hurt NYC

As part of its 2005 Base Realignment and Closure project, the DOD is planning to deactivate the headquarters of the 77th Readiness Regional Command at Fort Totten, downsize it to a sustainment brigade and move the unit 90 miles away to Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Senator Padavan weighs in on the issue:

New York needs troops at Fort Totten

In other Fort Totten news:

Ciy Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said the Fire Department should stop paving over grass at Fort Totten this week. But the fort's director of operations said he needs spaces because the department will lose existing parking this summer when the city implements its master plan for Fort Totten Park.

Fort Totten grass sparks blazing row

Photo from Queens Tribune

Was it just a Mirage?

From the Queens Ledger:

Are you waiting for the slots to come to Aqueduct? Well, unfortunately, your wait just got longer.

Casino and hotel giant MGM Mirage, Inc. announced last week that they have formally withdrawn their proposal to develop and manage the video lottery terminal (VTL) facility at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, as well as terminated negotiations with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and the State of New York.

Mirage for Real: Withdraw VLT App at Aqueduct

Photo from LVindex.com

The Fedderization of Brooklyn

"Fedderization lives in Prospect Heights, too..."

$949000 3 Family Brick on Classon off Bergen Street

- Dave from Brooklyn

Dave, we're truly sorry. Looks like it has a twin in Bed-Stuy:

The Battle of Who Could Care Less

When will central air conditioning become vogue?

Housing squeeze continues

Excerpt from an interview with the HPD Commissioner from Metro:

While there are clearly still middle-class people who leave New York City, there’s also an enormous growth of a new middle class. Take Queens. It’s an enormous growth of the middle class there, from Caribbean and other fairly recent immigrants... That’s not to say there isn’t more of an affordability squeeze on the middle class, but that’s an area we’ve tried to address. We created, as part of the New Housing Marketplace plan, a new middle class initiative, 22,000 units funded by $300 million in city capital. Queens West is the signature example [where up to 5,000 units will be created for families earning between $60,000 - $145,000] but there are lots of other properties already under way...

Easing the housing squeeze

From the NY Times:

After taking a job as an instructor at Outward Bound, Ms. Rubin, along with some of her co-workers, settled into the top floor of the organization’s Long Island City headquarters. She camped out in a bunk bed; others converted nearby office cubicles into sleeping spaces, or pitched tents on the building’s roof. To create some privacy, they hung towels and sheets around their bunks.

While Outward Bound officials stress that they view these cubicles and tents as temporary housing solutions, Ms. Rubin, who has since moved to Vermont for a short while, was grateful for a free place.

New York City Renters Cope With Squeeze

You can also download the city's 10-year housing plan.

Here's a shock: Pinky lied!

Councilman Dennis Gallagher has been swearing to his constituents that he is not running for office again. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that he's having a fundraiser on May 21st!




You have to wonder why this bunch listed on his invite would want to keep company with someone who's so dishonest. Perhaps they are a bunch of liars themselves?

So what is Pinky running for? Of course, the invite doesn't say.

Invite courtesy of Councilman Dennis P. Gallagher (and probably mailed out by his taxpayer-funded staff from his taxpayer-funded office).

Gateway most polluted national park

Now here's a proud distinction:

Pollution earns city park nation's lowest rank

According to the study, Gateway Park is surrounded by polluted water, has suffered a huge loss of native wildlife and has been contaminated by toxic runoff.

The group found water clogged with untreated sewage, floating garbage and industrial waste.

Those pollutants, paired with lack of funding over the years and the ill effects of an ever-expanding urban neighbor, have damaged the ecosystem and resulted in next to no services for visitors, the report said.

Update 5/17/07:

Study rates Gateway as worst park

Gateway Park: worst of them all

In other Gateway news, a brush fire burned 10 acres in Howard Beach last week:

10 Acres Torched By 3-Alarm Brush Fire

Contaminated Water Found in Parts of Queens

NEW YORK (AP) -- Authorities are trying to figure out why a chemical commonly used in dry cleaning and auto body repair has turned up in tap water in Queens...The City Department of Environmental Conservation says it's found "minute amounts" of a chemical called PERC in drinking water in a part of the Hollis neighborhood...Authorities say they don't expect any long-term health problems from the contamination. But they say that if people in the affected area are worried, they might want to use bottled water and take shorter showers for now...The DEP says the problem is limited to the area bounded by Linden Boulevard, Cross Island Parkway, Farmer's Boulevard, Hempstead Avenue and Jamaica Avenue. About 64,000 people live in the area...The DEP says the PERC, or tetra-chloro-ethylene was detected during routine tests last Friday. The DEP has set up an office for local residents at Springfield Boulevard, between 110th and 112th avenues.

Here's more:

Dry cleaner chemical taints Queens water

Elevated Levels of Chemical Found in Queens Drinking Water

Photo from WCBS880.com

Doorman to live on $28 a week

No more costly cappuccinos for one Queens councilman.

Starting today, Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) will live for one week on $28 for groceries - the average food stamp allotment for an individual - as part of a national push to increase the federal subsidies.

"The goal is to raise awareness about how difficult it is for so many New Yorkers to put food on their table," Gioia said.

Budgeting $1.30 a meal, Gioia plans to load up his cart with peanut butter, beans and "the cheapest bread I can find" at the local supermarket, Food Dynasty, he said.

"Often the cheapest food isn't the healthiest," he warned.

Thanks for the tip, Eric.

Queens pol tries to live on 28 bucks

Congestion pricing...again

Will the Critics Kill Congestion Pricing?

This guy says "No."

Photo from Streetsblog.

Building alteration law passes unanimously

Metro Briefing | New York
Manhattan: Notification of Building Permits
By RAY RIVERA, NY TIMES
Published: May 10, 2007

The City Council passed legislation yesterday requiring the Buildings Department to notify the Fire Department when alteration permits are issued for buildings. The bill was submitted after a 2006 Bronx fire in which two firefighters were killed when a floor collapsed in a building that had undergone renovations, though the cause of the collapse is still under investigation. The bill passed 51 to 0, and the mayor is expected to sign it.

More from Newsday: Law aims to prevent firefighter deaths

QBG & tree destruction

"The installation of the new $12 million dollar 'sustainable' administration building designed by the Green Design Award winning BKSK Architects for the Queens Botanic Garden is anything but "green." Building construction has occurred in blatant disregard of the QBG landscape resulting in numerous incidences of permanent construction damage to valuable large shade trees.
Root zones have been compacted by machinery and roots physically torn and removed by as much as 75%. Many trees are now a public liability that will require their removal. Yes, that's correct, the removal of trees because of neglect by NYC officials.
Where is the tree loving President of QBG Susan Lacert while all this damage to public trees is occurring?
On the Crapper of course.

As an important cultural institution in Queens, the destruction, not preservation, of large shade trees is the legacy of our publicly funded Botanical Garden. And that's a load of crap."

Council: Safety comes second to owners' bottom lines

The City Council's Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services will vote tomorrow on a bill that would require the Department of Buildings to notify the fire department when major structural changes are made to city buildings.

Council Vote Set on Bill To Inform Fire Department of Building Changes

Ms. Brewer introduced the bill in the council last month; it originally required owners of large buildings to submit detailed floor plans to the fire department. But after a public hearing, the language of the bill changed, Ms. Brewer said, and it now requires only that the "flight" plan be provided.

The president of the Rent Stabilization Association, Frank Ricci, said forcing building owners to submit detailed floor plans is an unnecessary financial burden.

Hmmm...helping firefighters locate people during a fire and preventing deaths costs too much? Let's see why this bill was changed and who would sacrifice people's safety so that building owners and developers can save a few bucks:

RSA campaign contributions - city

RSA campaign contributions - state

Photo from NYC.gov

City Ponies Up $30M For Queens Development

Special to the Sun

The city is offering a lending hand of more than $30 million to one of the city's largest developers, as it plans to be the anchor tenant in a proposed Queens office tower.

Adding more government support to the development in Long Island City would spark the construction of the 650,000-square-foot building, which has been slow to take off, officials said at a City Council hearing yesterday.

People familiar with the planned building say the project has lagged because development company Tishman Speyer has been unable to find a large tenant to anchor the building, and did not want to proceed without assurances that a good portion of the building would be leased.

"The hope is that with the first building constructed, Tishman would then be able to attract private sector tenants to the rest of the building," an executive vice president at the city's Economic Development Corporation, Seth Pinsky, said.

Especially in today's hot real estate market, government assistance to projects has drawn ire from watchdog groups, who claim that developers are frequently offered overly generous subsidies.

So let's summarize:

A private developer proposes an office building, but can't find anyone to fill it. For whatever reason, the city desperately wants the tower built, so $30 million of our tax money is handed over to the developer so that they may start construction on a building that they are afraid will turn out to be a financial failure. And the city's $4.4 billion budget surplus can't be spent on things like new parks, schools, firehouses and building inspectors because we have to save it for follies such as this. Great!

Congratulations, SoHo

You've been Trumped by the Donald!

SoHo up in arms over Trump's latest project

"The proposed condominium units may not be used for residential occupancy," reads a warning on the building's Web site. "They may only be used for transient occupancy and for no other purpose."

But that requirement will be "virtually impossible to enforce," say activists opposed to the project. They accuse the city of flouting its own zoning laws by allowing Trump and his partners to build what will amount to luxury condos in an area where they are prohibited.

"The city has set a precedent for all of these other developers to step in and do the same thing," said Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens), chairman of the zoning committee. "They're ignoring their own rules."

Facing a firetrap rap

From the Daily News:

The Brooklyn district attorney's office is weighing whether to bring criminal charges against the owner of an illegal apartment where a mother and her 1-year-old son died in a fire.

Samily Chan, 25, and her son, Ivan, died Monday after they were trapped in their basement apartment in Homecrest.

Deran Chan, 2, and Zheng Chan, 27, remained in critical condition yesterday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in Manhattan.

Owner Xiao Ping Li has already been hit with violations for creating the illegal apartment, which has only one way in and out.

Flushing arboricide protested

The Daily News has picked up on the story of the arboricide at the Fitzgerald-Ginsburg mansion in Flushing:

Protesters' arbor grudge

Eugene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, said that the commission designated the entirety of the site purchased by Kim - not just the mansion. "They designated the site. They did not say just the building. That means the driveways, the trees and everything else that goes with it and that is what we are contending," said Kelty. The protestors also contend that the owner illegally put up a 6-foot-tall red stockade fence along the property perimeter.

The CB chair in North Flushing shows up at protests? Holy Toledo...

Photo from Daily News

West Side Railyard proposal

From the NY Post:

Manhattan's West Side rail yard - once slated to host a football stadium - is now on track to become home to a new riverside development, including office towers, apartment buildings, shops and a green space as big as Bryant Park.

Guidelines for what the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority want for the 13-acre site were unveiled yesterday and will be used later this month to lure more specific plans from developers.

More from the Sun:

New Plans for Hudson Yards Feature High Rises, High Line

Photo from NY Post

Far Rockaway may get a little closer

Bloomberg is floating a plan to provide ferry service to the Rockaways:

MIKE ROCK(AWAY)S THE BOAT

Read the list at left for the details.

Also, from Newsday:

City pushes for Rockaways ferry service

The willingness to foot part of the bill for a Rockaways ferry marks a reversal of the city's position from just two years ago, when the Department of Transportation said of such a service: "Our policy is not to be involved in subsidies."

Graphic from NY Post

Revenge of the Clown

Don't like Atlantic Yards? Well then, you're off the community board!

From the Daily Gotham:

...Markowitz is now showing that nasty, vindictive side as he fires members of Community Board 6 who failed to blindly support Markowitz's master, Bruce Ratner.

Markowitz had appointed people in hopes that they would sign on to Bruce Ratner's project faithfully and blindly, much as Pataki was able to do with the much tamer Empire State Development Corporation. Ignore the fact that Ratner has filed no business plan and is expecting taxpayers to foot the bills for him, Ratner demanded and Markowitz wanted to deliver...but it didn't work that way. The Community Boards showed they actually had some scruples and some sense of serving...well, the COMMUNITY, not just millionaire developers who happened to be Pataki's law school crony.

Now I hear the letters have gone out. It is Revenge of the Clown as Markowitz fires anyone on the Community Boards (again, I know this for certain about Community Board 6 and possibly others) who has shown any spine in standing up for the community against Ratner.

Full post here:

When Clowns Go Bad: Marty Markowitz Goes on a Rampage

Photo from Brooklyn Record

Oh, Lord!

From Forgotten-NY, ca 1999: "The only property fronting on Claremont Terrace is this dilapidated house. It's got possibilities, but let's say it's a fixer-upper handyman's special for now."


"According to Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, Claremont Terrace...

...was a row of houses built by Samuel Lord (of Lord & Taylor) for his daughters. The last one left (1854) built closest to the train for his least favorite. If you saw the four buildings in their heyday you would weep.

Update: 2005 found this building just about demolished."
You can say that again. At left is the property today. And here is the list of complaints that 1 Claremont Terrace has managed to rack up over time. This ECB violation was for building what is seen at left under an 'alteration' permit. Well, they did leave the enclosed porch...(seen to the left of the tree)

LPC considers Jamaica landmark

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is holding a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Jamaica Savings Bank, located at 161-02 Jamaica Avenue in Queens, on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The hearing will take place at the Commission’s offices located at 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor North, starting at 9:30 a.m. Any information you can provide about the building's significance and condition is relevant to our consideration. Attached please find historic information and a picture of the building.

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Diane Jackier
Director of External Affairs
Landmarks Preservation Commission
Phone: (212) 669-7923
Fax: (212) 669-7797

The former Jamaica Savings Bank, a building which is significant for its architectural merit, was constructed in 1897-98 for the oldest and most prestigious banking institution in Jamaica. Designed by the noted firm of Hough & Deuell, the building is a fine and particularly exuberant example of the classically-inspired Beaux-Arts style which became popular in the United States following the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and is one of only a few buildings in the borough of Queens to embrace that architectural aesthetic. The striking façade of the building displays especially rich and fluid ornamental forms reminiscent of French Baroque architecture, skillfully executed in carved limestone and wrought iron. Notable among the façade’s decorative motifs is a carved stone beehive, a traditional symbol in the imagery of bank architecture, denoting industry, thrift, and prosperity. Prominently sited on Jamaica Avenue, the bank building is an urbane presence on the neighborhood’s main commercial thoroughfare. Although the four-story structure is relatively small in scale, the imposing design of the façade conveys a monumentality which is appropriately suited to the distinguished image and reputation of the banking institution, while lending the building the formal elegance of a private club or townhouse.

Incorporated in 1866 by a consortium of local citizens—including John A. King, former Governor of the State of New York and the eldest son of Federalist statesman Rufus King—the Jamaica Savings Bank played an important role in the development of Jamaica, at that time a burgeoning commercial center. The success of the organization was marked by its exponential growth in the late nineteenth century and its need for more commodious—and more conspicuous—quarters. The construction of the bank coincided with the 1898 incorporation of Queens County into the municipal jurisdiction of the City of New York and reflects the metropolitan spirit of the period. The façade of the building maintains its original Beaux-Arts design and survives today essentially intact as a reminder of an important era in Jamaica’s
history.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission held several public hearings on the Jamaica Savings Bank in 1974 and designated it a New York City landmark on November 12, 1974. The Board of Estimate overturned the designation. In 1990, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held additional hearings on the Jamaica Savings Bank, and designated it a New York City landmark on May 5, 1992. The New York City Council overturned the designation.

But crime is down...

More than 250,000 fugitives - including hundreds of suspected murderers and rapists - have managed to escape justice in New York and are still on the lam, the Daily News has learned.

Short arm of the law

The rogues' gallery includes 812 suspected killers, 537 accused rapists, more than 60,000 suspected drug offenders, 10,000 johns and nearly 11,000 people who skipped out on drunken-driving charges, The News found.

An opinion on congestion pricing

In a time where we are struggling, as a city and as an economy, with the issue of affordable housing, when dedicated middle class housing developments are being bought by speculators for billions of dollars and when the state is revaluating its role in subsidizing market-rate residential development, should we be codifying prejudice against our outer-borough neighbors? No.

Without Money in the City

New York City is in danger of losing itself. Our city is rich, almost beyond measure, but we're supposed to be rich in a "I still buy my coffee from the cart on the corner" and "I buy paper towels in bulk" sort of way. Congestion pricing just isn't us. It's a mistake.

Here's more from NY Press:

Congestion Question

Map from NY Press

In a rush

Developers Are Rushing To Beat the Tax Man




The elimination of the certificates, which allowed affordable housing to be built off-site, and most often in the outer boroughs, was a very cost-effective way of producing affordable units for real working families.

Interesting. So there are no 'real working families' in Manhattan?

"The effects of the 421-a change has not affected the land prices in Manhattan to date," the president of the City Investment Fund, Thomas Lydon, said. "Perhaps the development community feels the state Legislature will not approve it in a timely basis or that a phasing-in or changes in the law will be negotiated before the end of the year."

Funny how these things are assumed.

Another prominent real estate leader who prefers to not be identified said, "As to the reductions in prices for condos, I've never met a market rate developer who wasn't all of a sudden going broke because of any adverse change in the law."

You got that right!

Accordian craphouses

These 2 doozies in Maspeth are 51-43 & 51-45 69th Street. Plans for both of these state: "Three (3) family dwelling with (2) off-street parking spaces." The parking is supposedly located in the space between the sidewalk and the front doors. Not surprisingly, the lot was owned and the homes built by the realtor next door.

Rating the envirobuilders

Notice how the latest trend in building is to do it the eco-friendly way.

How Green Is Your Tally?

Notice how none of these green buildings are in Queens, where less green means more space for the SUV.

Photo from NY Magazine

Parking permits part of plan?

Another possible part of the congestion pricing scheme:

Residential Parking Permits May Accompany Congestion Tax

Residential parking permits could be established in Brooklyn Heights, Upper Manhattan, Long Island City, and other neighborhoods surrounding Manhattan's central business district — a concession to those communities that would discourage drivers from approaching the edges of tolled Manhattan and clogging up their streets to avoid paying the $8 congestion fee.

The city in the past has opposed residential parking permits on the basis that visitors would be unable to find parking. Permit parking has been used for years in cities such as Boston and Washington. In those cities, cars without permits can park for two hours or less.

What happens if your employer is located in one of those areas and you need to drive to work?

Better pools and gardens

Two barges are making headlines, one for its ability to yield produce, and the other for its ability to keep people cool:
NY Sun Works

Brookyn barge pool set to open on July 4

I guess when you run out of land for these things, you have no choice but to turn to the water.

Photo from Curbed

Storm surge scenario

From yesterday's New York Times:

Nicholas K. Coch, a hurricane expert at Queens College, predicts that a Category 3 hurricane (the strength of Hurricane Katrina when it hit Louisiana) making landfall just west of the Hudson River Estuary would result in a greatly amplified storm surge, owing to the piling up of coastal waters in the almost right angle formed by the New Jersey and Long Island shores. Surge levels would rise to 20 feet at the Statue of Liberty and more than 26 feet in Jamaica Bay. This would cause extensive flooding of the New Jersey shore, Staten Island and Lower Manhattan, the Rockaways and Coney Island, southern Brooklyn, much of Queens, part of Long Island City and Astoria, and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and continue on to the Westchester shore.

Local Forecast: Bad

New York Press tackled this issue in 2005:

New York's second vulnerability is demographic. During the decades of calm between major hurricanes, the city grows and forgets. During the great hurricane of 1821, only 152,000 people lived in New York City. When the next major, direct hit came in 1893, the city's population was 2.5 million. At the time of the 1938 storm, Long Island wasn't a densely populated suburban sprawl; it was a rural home for oyster fishermen, potato farmers and wealthy industrialists. The same storm today would wreak incredible havoc. AIR Worldwide Corporation estimates $11.6 billion in New York losses alone.

THE BIG ONE

Photo from NY Press

Window-Free Wonder

"An update on the Window-Free Wonder on Sanford between 162 and 163." - K.W.

Previously featured here: Sanford Avenue Bomb Shelter

Jamaica realignment plans

The Queens Tribune explains 2 plans for the Jamaica transit hub that have garnered the support of the local community board:

Massive Rezone Plan Gets Mixed Reviews

The $45 million project at Station Plaza includes the widening and realignment of Archer Avenue between 144th and 147th Places, and the establishment of a new public plaza, concession and open, green spaces. These improvements, McKnight said, would greatly benefit pedestrians and drivers in that they would spur retail and commercial growth in a comfortable, spacious environment.

But there is a catch: property acquisition is required. According to McKnight, six private properties and two MTA properties would be needed to proceed with the project.

Similarly, the $26 million Atlantic Avenue Extension project would require the acquisition of two private properties, one City-owned and another belonging to the LIRR. But the rejuvenation of the area appears worthwhile, according to the EDC.

Community Board 12 supported these two plans last month, with 34 of 39 and 27 of 39 board members voting in favor of the Station Plaza and Atlantic Avenue Extension plans, respectively. The board voted 19-13 against the controversial Jamaica Rezoning Plan, citing concerns of lacking infrastructure, increased traffic and congestion, and inappropriate development.

It sounds as though the community is opposed to the rezoning but in favor of infrastructure improvements. So the headline of this article is a bit misleading.

Map from Google.

Kew Gardens on film

The NY Times today takes a look at a film that chronicles the history of Kew Gardens:

A Generation of Strivers Sits for Its Portrait

The hourlong movie traced the history of a group of families who fled from Hitler in the 1930s and ’40s and landed in this suburban enclave in Queens. German was spoken on the streets, and Tudor-style buildings housed bakeries and butchers similar to those back in Vienna.

The movie's website is here:

"Last Stop Kew Gardens”

Photo from AM-NY.

Catching up with Moses' biographer

The question trails Robert Caro like a fly, buzzing in his ear. Over and over, at cocktail parties and museum receptions in the past few years, he hears variations on the same query.

“Doesn’t New York need a new master builder?” people ask. “Don’t we need a new Robert Moses?"

Mr. Caro, 71, sits in his spare writer’s aerie high in a Midtown office building, an owlish man with a faint smile. His answer has the virtue of concision:
No.

A Tale of Two Cities

Photo from NY Times

Affordable nabes in upzoning cross-hairs

So how was Queens spared from inclusion on this list?

City targeting nabes for new housing

The plan suggests rezoning "underused areas" and "decking" over old railways and highways to make room for "high-density" housing, which mean high-rises or voluminous, squat buildings, near transportation hubs.

Some quotes from the article:

"What we're doing is scouring the city for opportunities. We can't afford to let transit-accessible areas go undeveloped." - Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff

"It will drive out the poor. It seems like they're trying to drive them out of New York City, period." - Benjamin Bullock, Broadway-Junction resident

"The illusion is that if you increase the supply and demand stays constant, prices should fall. The problem is that as we increase the density, we also increase the cost of providing services." - Elliott Sclar, a professor of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at Columbia University

I know there are those who don't like high-rises, but there's a desire to move to the borough." - Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz

Are there really people who are dying to move to these areas, or are the units being bought up by foreign investors taking advantage of the weak dollar and who are planning to cash in later on? Why are so many people being priced out of the city?

Anyone in the city administration want to answer these questions?

Envisioning a new Gateway

The Queens Chronicle reports that there are New Designs In Sight For Gateway’s Future.

From National Parks Conservation Association: This public design competition will help redefine Gateway as a world-renowned national park and a global model for thinking about not only the role of national parks relative to an increasingly urbanized national landscape, but the ways in which thriving cities and complex ecosystems can co-exist and enrich each other. In efforts to align with New York City's 2030 Vision, the competition will address threats facing Gateway, including Jamaica Bay's ecosystem and Floyd Bennett Field. Designs will generate a collaborative vision that bridges science, design, and politics, as well as new 'green technologies' and new sustainable design principles and practices for the adjacent waters in the region and beyond.

Architects, landscape architects, ecologists, planners, and urban designers from around the globe are invited to generate innovative, visionary and compelling proposals that celebrate the unique potential of this 26,600-acre national park. Members of a distinguished and diverse competition jury will evaluate the submissions, and winning entries will be presented to the National Park Service for potential inclusion in the next planning phase of Gateway's General Management Plan, which is scheduled for 2009.

Visit Envisioning Gateway for complete details.

Caption this photo

Since DOB's system seems to be off-line, the Crapper was unable to look up the info on what was planned to be today's pile of Queens Crap. Therefore, our midnight post will consist of this photo of a yard fronting Francis Lewis Boulevard. There's an interesting collection of crap here representing different modes of transportation with a few construction components thrown in. You are welcome to comment or suggest a caption.

Queens lacks railway backbone

Letter to Queens Chronicle:

The City Council’s Transportation Committee held a rare public hearing in South Queens on April 25 at the Broad Channel American Legion Hall. Legislators heard the reoccurring theme of a borough in crisis, rapidly expanding but hampered by very poor mass transit service. Another sore point was the city administration’s inability to grasp the borough’s urgency. Mayor Bloomberg gave his “green” speech just days before the hearing, proposing an $8 surtax on cars entering Manhattan — clearly showing an inability to think outside the box: the Manhattan box.

We’re not referring to the mayor’s backbone but to the borough’s lack thereof — Queens has no backbone. Without north-south crosstown service joining east-west lines at strategic points, Queens lacks what Manhattan’s transportation designers brilliantly implemented in over a century of development — a mass transit grid. And to this day, Manhattan-centric thinking dominates the city’s longterm transit plan. The cries of pain, emanating from the Broad Channel Legion Hall, bemoan the city’s incredibly shortsighted decision of 40 years ago, to deactivate the Rockaway Beach line — the borough’s only north-south rail right-of-way — and thereby sever the spine of Queens. The shrieks are still heard today louder than ever.

The saddest proposal of all and a reflection of pure frustration at ever seeing a Queens mass transit system that actually takes people where they want to go is the “Let’s build a ferry dock and get around by boat” plan. This is the Algonquin plan, or the same way the Indians got around before Giovanni da Verrazano sailed into the bay. The pros and cons of this plan were discussed at the hearing. It was surprisingly popular: an “any port in a storm” approach to the intractable transportation problem. And how does the administration (the mayor) justify this quaint return to the 15th century, while the 21st century transit system for Queens, the borough’s north-south rail right-of-way, remains fallow? Well, it’s cheap and doesn’t warrant federal funds, the billions of dollars presently earmarked for Manhattan construction projects.

Joseph Tiraco
Forest Hills

Screenshot from Windows Live Local

Parkway Village fined for asbestos

The owners of Parkway Village have been hit with a $117K OSHA fine, which may force them to sell to developers:

Parkway Village Hit With Federal Asbestos Fine

Parkway Village: Talk Of Sale Flies As $117K Fine Hits

The historic community recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.

Photo from Queens Tribune