Pinky lobbies Parks, BP on developer's behalf

An e-mail from inside Boro Hall regarding St. Saviour's:

"Helen said that the Parks Dept has changed its mind and does not want to own the St. Saviour's site as park land. She said the builder put a lot of investment into the property (I guess we are supposed to shed tears over this) and that he will maintain the 'shell' of the church and turn over a portion of the site for parkland (maybe as private parkland?). The implication was that all of the problems are solved."

So here we have proof that the Parks Department wanted to convert St. Saviour's into a park, but someone stepped in on behalf of the developer to change their minds. Who could that be? I'll give you one guess. (see copy of schedule above) Looks like the wife of a certain aspiring politician was by his side (before she quit, that is).

Check this out from the Forum West:

...Gallagher has taken steps to achieve his solution [for St. Saviour's] including asking Community Board 5 members where they stand on the issue before reappointing them, arranging for the city Parks Department to privately tour the site with the developer, allowing the trees to be removed to make the land less attractive to the Parks Department, lobbying Borough President Helen Marshall to support his plan and meeting with John Young, the Director of Queens City Planning to begin the process of changing the zoning.

And while [Gallagher] is “friendly” with members of Parkside Group, “that doesn’t mean they are going to get their way on every issue,” he said.

“When I disagree with them, I will fight them.”

Just haven't found an issue to disagree with them on yet, right Pinky?

The indicted councilman acts as though he has been actively trying to save the entire parcel up until Parks said no, but earlier reports prove that he has been working on his scheme to further overdevelop Maspeth for some time now. Of course, the $1 million he supposedly obtained to "save" the site, which no one can seem to find in the budget, will now disappear into thin air. Pinky held lots of meetings behind closed doors to discuss compromising the future of Queens.

Here's a rendering of what Helen's and Dennis' Maspeth legacy will be:

Lovely view, isn't it?

Thank you to our inside sources for the info. Apparently there are good, honest people in government, but unfortunately, most of them are not the ones that are in power.

Note all the "FYI"s on the schedule above. That means no personal appearance from Pinky. That's good news for Dennis. He has more time to work for Parkside this way.

Concerns About the Ridgewood Reservoir

Dear Editor:

The Ridgewood Reservoir is an area on the Queens Brooklyn border by Highland Park that the Parks Department and the City would like to develop into recreational space. The problem, however, is that it would mean acres of trees would have to be cut down.

How ironic that would be! The City, in conjunction with the Parks Department wants to plant one million trees throughout the city for health and ecological benefits. Yet in this pristine area, they are willing to sacrifice hundreds of trees to put down astro turf and the like. In the meantime, there are many ball fields and other recreational spaces around the city that already exist and are in need of improvement. Some of those areas are even near the Ridgewood Reservoir. Shouldn’t some of the money that would be allocated for this project be better used to repair what already exists?

It is not only the trees at stake at the Ridgewood Reservoir site. The area is an oasis for birds. Over one hundred types of migratory birds have been identified there. Many of those nest there as well. It is an ideal habitat for birds and other types of wildlife.

The Ridgewood Reservoir was used as a backup water supply for Queens and Brooklyn into the 1960’s. It was made up of three basins. Two of those three water areas subsequently became reforested in the typical way that land changes over time in nature. That process is known as succession and this particular site is on its way to becoming a full fledged Eastern Forest. Why interrupt this urban forest by cutting down trees?

My understanding is that the City and Parks department are planning on spending anywhere from 46 million to 55 million dollars on this project, depending on the sources. That money should be spend on improving existing recreational areas and purchasing additional parcels of land to be used for open space and park uses.

In Queens, many concerned citizens urge the purchase of several parcels including the St. Saviour’s church property in Maspeth, the Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows and the Iris Hill wooded property in Bellerose. Other parcels are available as well and all of this land should be used for green areas for the public.

According to the Mayor, one million more residents are expected in the City by 2030. It is difficult to figure where everyone will live given the overdevelopment, infrastructure, and flooding problems that we are already facing today. Where will everyone go to relax and enjoy nature? Where will our children play? It is time to plan ahead and think of the future. We must buy open space in the city to meet those needs and we also have to preserve land that is environmentally sensitive like the Ridgewood Reservoir area.

Sincerely,
Henry Euler
Bayside

Introducing the BNY Historical Center

My pals at Curbed have info about the Brooklyn Navy Yard Historical Center that the city is paying $15 million in an industrial area to restore and open as a center for the adjacent community. Hmmm....millions of dollars...industrial zone....adjacent community....historical center. Where have I heard this idea before?

Crescent Club golf ball giveaway

"Passed by the Crescent Club sales office on Queens Plaza North in Long Island City today and picked up a free Crescent logo golf ball.
I also took some shots of the kitchen and bathroom; they look pretty cool, very club like.
They claim the building will have a pool and a putting green. Is this the Queens we know?"

- Purebrooklyn

No, it's the Queens that's being forced upon us.

Coming soon to Atlantic Yards...

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is suing renowned architect Frank Gehry, alleging serious design flaws in the Stata Center, a building celebrated for its unconventional walls and radical angles.

MIT alleges flaws in Gehry building

The school asserts that the center, completed in spring 2004, has persistent leaks, drainage problems and mold growing on its brick exterior. It says accumulations of snow and ice have fallen dangerously from window boxes and other areas of its roofs, blocking emergency exits and causing damage.

The suit says MIT paid Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners $15 million to design the Stata Center, which cost $300 million to build. It houses labs, offices, classrooms and meeting rooms.

More of Gallagher's schedule

Here's another day in the life of Dennis Gallagher. This was his entire agenda for September 25th. As you can see, he's a busy guy.

New History Center for Navy Yard

Brooklyn To Get Historical Center
By Staff Reporter of the Sun

Mayor Bloomberg and the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, are expected to announce today the creation of a historical center on Flushing Avenue in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that will focus on the history of the navy yard and Northern Brooklyn.

The center will be housed in a renovated building and operated by the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment.

The council has set aside $10 million for the project. Officials also are expected to announce that a building will be constructed next to the historical center to house nonprofit organizations.

Good for Brooklyn, now how about one for Queens?

Photo from Bridge and Tunnel Club

156th Avenue before & after

There are one-family houses....
And then there are one-family houses on steroids.

How Gallagher spends our time

We are going to start a new series on QC called, "How Gallagher spends our time". Since being indicted and stripped of his committees in August, Councilman Dennis Gallagher has insisted that he is still working hard to represent Council District 30. We thought you might like to see what he has been busy doing. Nothing has been altered on these documents except for the crossing out of a phone number here and there to protect the innocent. And away we go...



FYI means just for your information, Dennis, no need to attend. Looks like 9/21 was not a very busy day for the pink man.

Queens' newest landmark

The Voelker-Orth house, which was constructed with a variety of materials and rooflines, sits near the southeast corner of a 10,000-square-foot lot at 38th Ave. and 149th Place.

It was built about 1891 by a Flushing merchant who sold it in 1899 to Conrad Voelker, a German immigrant who started a printing business in Manhattan that published a widely read German newspaper.

Museum has landmark status under wing

Houses like the Voelker-Orth were commonly built at the end of the 19th century to reflect the wealth and success of their owners.

The house remained in the Voelker family until 1996, when Conrad Voelker's last surviving heir, Elizabetha Orth, died and left instructions in her will to turn the house and grounds into a museum of Queens history, an environmental education center and a bird sanctuary.

Looking down at the ground

Enjoy the Daily News' Bird's Eye View of Queens

Falling in love with Astoria Park

...here I was in Queens, standing on a soft grassy rise gazing out across the deep treacherous waters of Hell Gate channel at the glorious midtown skyline of Manhattan, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building jabbing the blue sky with gleaming silver spires, the hood ornaments of a driven city. A city of people and bridges and ideas and schools and commerce and history. A city of big endless dreams.

I want to leave all this, travel hours north, to watch leaves turn?

Madness.

Leaf me be, it's fall in Astoria Park

Saving Jamaica Bay

With swamps and marshland gradually disappearing across the five boroughs, two Council members are calling on City Hall to preserve more than 250 acres of city-owned wetlands.

Queens politicians urge protection of wetlands

Queens Councilmen James Gennaro and Joseph Addabbo urged Mayor Bloomberg to place the land − 82 properties in all, including 68 in Queens − under Parks Department jurisdiction.

The holdings are currently controlled by as many as 12 different city agencies. With darker financial clouds looming for city government, the Council members reasoned, the time is now to pull those neglected environmental assets under the Parks Department umbrella.

With all sue respect, guys, I think the Parks Department is the last place you want to turn to protect habitat...

Trees on verge of destruction at Ridgewood

There were surveyors at the Ridgewood Reservoir Saturday. At the stretch of woodlands between the west basin and Highland Blvd. several dozen trees were marked with spray paint. The city usually marks trees in this manner when they are planning to cut them down. I suspect they will begin taking down trees even before they get the permission to proceed.

Are trees already being cut down?

This is the area where the trees were marked.

Teetering on the Ledge

The owner and publisher of the Queens Ledge, Walter Sanchez, was handpicked by Councilman Dennis Gallagher to become vice chair of community board 5. He is also former chair of the land use committee. This photo is evidence that he truly cares about his community. Great choice, Pinky!

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Huang violates stop work order again

On Friday, November 2nd, the stop work order on Maspeth's Huang House, located at 57-39 Mazeau Street in Maspeth, was violated once again.
Photo evidence taken by witnesses is permissible in a murder trial, but as far as DOB is concerned, if they didn't see it happen with their own eyes, then it never occurred.

The Farther East River

And now, something from the NY Times for George the Atheist to sink his teeth into:

Q. With proposals in the news to fill in more of the Hudson River, I’m remembering some far-out proposals to literally reshape Manhattan. Can you refresh my memory?

A. Far out is the word. One of the wildest schemes was drawn in 1865 by James Serrell, a New York City surveyor and civil engineer. Bothered perhaps by the dangerous turbulence around Hell Gate and inspired by visions of real estate opportunities, he published his “Plan and Description Proposing to Re-model the City of New York and Its Vicinity: By Making a New East River, Filling Up Hell-Gate, and Annexing Brooklyn.”

His new East River would have been to the east of the present one, and its shoreline, extending from about 12th Street up to the Harlem River, would have been arrow-straight. New avenues and city blocks would have run right over Hell Gate, the lower East River islands and the present river.

Serrell’s map, a copy of which is in the New York Public Library, makes the proposed fatter Manhattan look like a giant meat cleaver, thanks to the straightness of the East Side shoreline.

Another learning experience for Crappy, who in April found references to a similar proposal from 1894.

Keeping New Yorkers in New York

For 18 years, Mr. Murphy lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens. His $630 monthly rent was protected under Mitchell-Lama, a state program that gives tax-exempt financing to builders and then guarantees rent protection. But after a long battle in the courts and with the tenants, the building’s owners left the Mitchell-Lama program. Annual rent increases of 7 to 8 percent were supposed to bring the rent up to market value in nine years.

Growing Old in New York, and Struggling to Keep Up With Ever-Increasing Rents

After more than a year on waiting lists, Mr. Murphy secured a one-bedroom apartment in senior housing sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Manhattan’s West Side. Rent is calculated as a portion of income, and Mr. Murphy’s is $308 a month.

“It was a blessing,” Mr. Murphy said. “My biggest fear in life was being a homeless person. Seeing people sleeping on a park bench, I always had that fear. I don’t know why, it just scared me, you know?”

Dialing for dollars

MEMBERS of the City Council have gone on a fund-raising rampage to squeeze as much as they can out of lobbyists before a new law kicks in limiting those contributions.

POLS $QUEEZING LOBBYISTS TO BEAT NEW DONATION CAP

"I just got a call from a council member who said to me, 'When are you going to give?' " complained one lobbyist, who said he felt strong-armed. "It's like the gold rush. I've never seen anything like it. They're all asking."

More infuriating is that some of the legislators are pleading with lobbyists to file a lawsuit challenging the law.

"They're saying 'We want you to sue,' " confided a lobbyist. "These are the same guys who voted for it. It's ludicrous."

Cartoon from Slate

Hot sheets hotel?

What kind of tourists will want to stay at a hotel next to a string of junkyards?

Residents worry hotel may become den of prostitution

That's the question community leaders want the hotel's owner to answer at a meeting in November on the new Best Western hotel being constructed off the Sheridan Expressway.

The 64-room Best Western is located on a service road lined with salvage yards. On one side is an auto-wrecking business, on the other, a boiler repair business.

There is not even an expressway exit ramp near the location, which leads critics to wonder how the hotel would attract tourists or motorists.

This has fueled speculation that the hotel either will be used by the city to house the homeless or will become a den of prostitution, known on the streets as a "hot sheet" motel.

The building of hotels and motels in light industrial areas has become such a problem that Borough President Adolfo Carrion has called for a moratorium on such facilities in these areas.

DOB tries to gain our trust

As any Queens resident knows, construction code violations and over-development are rampant problems associated with the borough. Residents and community groups have for years been calling on the City to tackle these issues head-on.

Rebuilding Trust: Despite Better Inspection Numbers, Critics Still Lash DOB Over Flaws

Data recently released from the Department of Buildings shows, however, that it is taking measures to more vigorously address these problems, though community members are still wary as to whether the changes will be long-lasting and whether the department is doing all it can to address the concerns of communities.

Sunnyside wheel theft rampant

"I used to think Sunnyside was a pretty safe neighborhood, but apparently it's unfriendly for owners of late-model Japanese hatchbacks. Witness two auto wheel thefts on the same block within the past 11 months.

An unfortunate brand-spanking-new Honda Fit is minus four wheels this afternoon, thanks to wheel thieves who struck last night while the streetlight overhead was out. The same thing happened to a friend's Toyota Matrix on the same block last winter (though those thieves made off with only 1 of 4 wheels).

Prospective owners of the new luxury condos atop one of Queens Plaza's strip joints might want to consider investing in wheel locks.

Cheers!"

- C.B.

Tree trimming party at PS49

Looks like the holidays came a little early to Middle Village...

The 20 or more trees [at PS49 at 80th Street and Juniper Blvd South] were expeditiously cut down on Friday, November 2nd by the School Construction Authority, even though the SCA assured a Community Board member just days earlier that the trees would not be harmed.
A new school addition is being built in the parking lot.
There is nothing left of the triangle of trees now except stumps and a pile of wood shavings.

Christina Wilkinson
Secretary
Juniper Park Civic Association


As you can see, the Bloomberg 2030 tree initiative also extends to school property.

Saturday recreation report

Roller Derby Lives On In Astoria


Nice names.

Politically stumping

Reawakening rumors he will run for President, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday pitched a bold national plan to charge companies a pollution tax based on the amount of environment-killing greenhouse gases they produce.

"If you want less of something, every economist will tell you the same thing: Make it more expensive," the billionaire businessman told some 100 mayors at a climate summit.

Raise the fines for buildings violations to thousands of dollars instead of just giving a slap on the wrist, then actually make the violators pay up. You'll witness the same phenomenon.

Mayor Bloomberg airs idea of greenhouse-gas tax

The revenue generated from the tax could be used to cut taxes or invest in environmental technology, he said.

The revenue generated from the collection could be used to pay for infrastructure improvements that we desperately need.

Taking a swipe at President Bush, who has suggested voluntary targets on greenhouse gas emissions, Bloomberg said that would be "like voluntary speed limits - doomed to fail."

Taking a swipe at Mayor Bloomberg, who has suggested that self-certification is a fantastic thing that should be continued, Crappy said that is "like voluntary speed limits - doomed to fail."

Bloomberg hates polluters and loves builders. Unfortunately, many times, they are one and the same.

Crash into me

No park--no ring--no afternoon gentility--
No company--no nobility--
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease.
No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!

- Thomas Hood, November And no brakes, either! And no brains....third time in two years someone has tried to make a drive-through of the Aubergine Cafe--our beloved coffee shop and chit-chat hangout on Skillman Avenue and Fiftieth Street in Woodside.
Photo and text by John Millus

Astroland will stay

According to New York Magazine, Astroland will be saved by a rezoning by the Department of City Planning.

A balloon bursts in Brooklyn

Joe Chan, the head of the public-private Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, is scaling back expectations that downtown Brooklyn will ever achieve the dizzying heights of central business district-dom once imagined way back in 2004.

Dreams of Brooklyn Central Business District Dashed

Mr. Chan has sounded this note before, though never so definitively. The partnership now says that it expects just 1.6 million square feet of office space to be built in the next five years, compared to 4.5 million square feet that the city Economic Development Corporation estimated would be built when it proposed a massive downtown Brooklyn rezoning three years ago.

More office space might come eventually, Mr. Chan added, and the plan was also supposed to bring a 24-7 character to an area with a few hundred residents. But, still, a big justification for allowing 60-story towers in Brooklyn was that they would house jobs—some 19,000 of them, according to the EDC. Trim that number to less than 7,000 now.

The funny thing is that it looks like grassroots types made better predictions about the downtown Brooklyn real estate market than the experts did. Back when the downtown Brooklyn Plan was being approved in 2004, neighborhood groups asked why the city was envisioning so much back office space when, as the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association put it, “back office space is being exported to other countries.”

“One of the criticisms we had was that it wasn’t realistic and it wasn’t addressing the impending realities that we all expected we would see as all this residential moved in,” said Jo Anne Simon, an attorney and coordinator of downtown Brooklyn groups during the rezoning. “The city has guidelines about how much open space there should be per person. We were below the guidelines anyway, and now that there will be more residential, we are going to fail to meet those guidelines even more.”

The demolition of the LIC Savings Bank

I must apologize to the readers and the person who sent this in on October 15th for forgetting until now to post this.
I took these pics this morning of the building being demolished at Queensboro Plaza, where many older structures are being renovated or else swept away entirely, all in the name of luxury apartments, of course. Everything for the rich, who have reinvented NYC in their own bland image.
The building being torn down at QBP looked like a bank with big Doric columns out front and I have been seeing it for years from the N train. Most of this time it has been closed but recently it looked like a night club was operating there. At any rate the impressive facade is lost. A faint painted advertisement or sign has reappeared on the neighboring building.
Queensboro Plaza is now a hotbed of luxury development. The whole place is just going to be an extension of Yupperton.

:(

- Native New Yorker

Here's a story about murals that were stolen from the bank in 2000.

SROs have to go

Three single-room-occupancy apartment buildings on the Upper West Side that were renting rooms to tourists will no longer be taking reservations. On Tuesday, a State Supreme Court justice granted the city a preliminary injunction, blocking the buildings from being used as cheap tourist hotels.

Court Blocks 3 Illegal Upper West Side Hotels

Wow, great. Maybe the city will also seek a preliminary injunction against all the houses in Queens illegally converted into SROs to hide illegals. Maybe I'll win the lottery this week, too.

Ain't overdevelopment great?

What do you do when you want to promote the overdevelopment of an area and convince people it's a good idea?

Make a video narrated by a famous English actor highlighting all the "great" projects. Don't bother to ask even one person who actually lives there. (Notice how Atlantic Yards is shown briefly at the beginning then never shown again - it's so obviously out-of-scale with the rest of the area.)

The accompanying article is really balanced too...

B'KLYN REACHES FOR THE SKIES

"This sends a message to the entire city - and even the world - that Brooklyn is in a period of unprecedented growth."

Yeah, we already were aware of that, thanks.

Chronicling the tweeded

An Oral History of Queens Immigrants Hits the Road

Judith Sloan, an actress, writer and radio producer, admits that Queens — New York City’s most populous borough — does not always inspire the warmest feelings. “It’s not the easiest place in the world to fall in love with or feel at home in,” she says. “Its urban landscapes are often mundane, sometimes hideous, occasionally even toxic. My husband, Warren, grew up in Queens and, frankly, he hated it.”

Great way to start off. Let's see how much more offensive this interview can get...

But Ms. Sloan and her husband, Warren Lehrer, did fall in love with Queens, where they have now lived for decades. Their 2003 oral history of Queens immigrants, “Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America,” based on hundreds of interviews, amounted to a whirlwind tour and love poem of what has often been called the most racially and ethnically diverse county in America.

Of course, she wrote about the diversity of the tweeded. How original!

Surprisingly, many of the interviews Ms. Sloan and Mr. Lehrer interviewed have not stayed in Queens. In the roughly four years since “Crossing the BLVD,” was published, she said, about half of the immigrants profiled in the book have moved — many to suburban areas where housing is cheaper.

Why is this surprising? We've been telling you for months that Queens is made up of temporary communities, and that is why there is so much crap here. Our borough has become nothing more than a stopping point on the way to somewhere perceived as "better". Isn't it wonderful?

Here's the website.

Continuing the "temporary community" theme is the author of the soon-to-be-released book, The Neighborhoods of Queens. Check out her bio at the end.

Doctoroff's slip of the tongue

Interesting quote from Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff in this article: Doctoroff Races To Protect Mayor's Development Plan

"For anything we want to do, we will come up with money," he said.

Now, feel free to list the things that the city has said they would really like to do, but has no problem using the excuse that they don't have the money to do it. I'll start...hiring more DOB inspectors.

Or does this quote only refer to "Bloomberg's development legacy", and if so, why?

Picture postcards from Jamaica

Attached is a curious house sandwiched between industrial lots on the south side of the tracks, 166th Street near Liberty Avenue.
Also attached is a garage at Archer Avenue and 166th Street. It's one of the less ugly garages.

-Mazeartist