Final lap at Aqueduct?

Today's Holiday Fest at Aqueduct is the final big day of racing in New York this year - or perhaps any year, if the steamrollers and obstructionists in Albany don't get their stuff together before NYRA's franchise expires in 37 days, and racing shuts down for who knows how long.

IT'S THE RIGHT TIME FOR MIDNIGHT AT AQUEDUCT

Photo from NYRA

The Great Queens Mosaic in Woodside

From the Queens Courier:

When 38-year-old Joseph Moody moved to Woodside 20 years ago, day laborers waited for work on Roosevelt Avenue just as they do today. However, over time, the atmosphere of the neighborhood has changed, Moody said.

“As of late, the last 10 years, it has really been a problem,” he said, referring to men who catcall to women walking by and others who stumble around drunk.

“I find them to be a nuisance,” he said.

A particular group of a dozen men, who wait at 72nd Street, have clashed with local businesses, said several shop owners and employees who spoke only with condition of anonymity.

“I’ve been begging people to do something,” said one business owner who set up shop along Roosevelt Avenue 20 years ago and now is anxiously awaiting the end of the store’s lease to move to Astoria. The owner claimed that instead of seeking work, some of the men sell drugs and fake Social Security cards, harass women, and even destroy the property of storeowners who have complained about them.

“We really feel threatened. Even when the police come, we have to keep it all anonymous,” the owner said.

Last month, a graffiti tag, which read, “I’ll kill you,” appeared on the sidewalk in front of local deli, and local shops owners blamed the men who gather on the corner.

“Now we have to walk two blocks down in the cold just to buy a coffee or a gum because we can’t go across the street,” an employee said.

“There was a threat made,” said an employee of another store. “If you put that in the newspaper, they are probably going to set the store on fire.”

At another business near the intersection of 72nd Street and Roosevelt, the manager said, “They are always loitering there, leaving our entranceway dirty with food and cans.”

A dying breed in Brooklyn

From the Brooklyn Eagle: A Dying Breed: The Dutch Farmhouses of Brooklyn

Pictured: The Jeromus Lott House in Flatlands was at one point owned by Frederick Boyd Stevenson of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. He purchased the house and moved it to the northwest corner of Coleman Street and Avenue P, remodeled it and lived in it until his death. It was then demolished.

Hopefully there are now luxury condos there.

The third world of Queens

...there are no sewers or side- walks.
“I’ve seen pictures on the news of Baghdad, Third World countries, that have better services,” quipped one local business owner.

Willets Point Plan on the Horizon

In April 2006, Dr. Tom Angotti of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development conducted a land use study of Willets Point that described the area as a “unique business incubator that provides jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities to diverse new immigrant populations.” The study recommended that the city establish a public-private planning partnership in which Willets Point businesses, workers and city agencies would be equal partners in a process that would develop plans that could accommodate existing businesses and promote new commercial and industrial development. “It’s a disgrace the city didn’t come to us first to discuss redeveloping this area—we could have worked together. We want it to change as well, nobody wants the status quo,” said Dan Scully of Tully Construction Co. Inc.

Seems as though Willets Point business owners don't have a "preferred" relationship with City and Borough Halls via the Parkside Group. Read the rest of the press release here.

The Queens Chronicle, however, thinks a private land grab is a great idea: Getting It Right At The Iron Triangle

To have an area like Willets Point even in some far corner of the borough would be embarrassing; allowing it to rust within a stone’s throw of Queens’ revenue-generating landmarks is unthinkable.

Why? The city has no problem keeping the NYS Pavilion exactly the way it is. To have a park like Flushing Meadows even in some far corner of the borough would be embarrassing; allowing it to rust within a stone’s throw of Queens’ revenue-generating landmarks is unthinkable. At least the Willets Point eyesore generates tax revenue and employs people.

Photo from the Queens Chronicle

Only because it's not in her backyard

Here's some ultra-liberal crack-smoking tweeder talk from Vickie's paper:

Instead of waiting on the corner for work, these jornaleros must have a place where they can take refuge from the cold and find the tools for integration into society. They should have a job center, which should include English classes, assistance with citizenship applications and career advice.

Job center a must

We believe that the elected officials who represent this area must come up with the dollars - not just seed money, but full funding - to form a public/private partnership to make this Queens job center a reality.

Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the country and has paved the way on a number of groundbreaking issues.

Let us continue to set the example by raising the funds necessary to create a job center for the “Ghost Workers” of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

Let's get this straight. Our tax dollars don't go far enough providing medical care and other services for illegals. Now we should also provide aid and comfort to them while their lawbreaking selves go about looking for illegal work. Instead of curbing illegal immigration and overpopulation, we should embrace it and encourage it.

Okay. The men in the white coats need to make a visit to Bell Boulevard, pronto. Notice the adoption of a term in their language to describe them - "jornaleros". How about "illegales"?

Cartoon from Queens Courier