Woodside Succeeds in Defending Against Megachurch in Larger Fight Against Gentrification and Displacement

PRESS RELEASE

In September 2016, the Universal Church, on 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, had proposed to expand itself right in the heart of the Woodside community. The proposed structure of the “megachurch” would stand 70-feet high, taller than any surrounding building in the area. Not only would such a development be out-of-context in Woodside, but it would also break New York City building code that limits the height of building construction. It would set a dangerous precedent for commercialization and future development in the Woodside Community. And as a result would encourage gentrification and the displacement of residents especially working-class immigrant families. Organizations in New York City, such as Queens Anti-Gentrification Project (QAGP), Filipino American Democratic Club of New York, National Alliance of Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), and Anakbayan New York (ABNY) had convened with the Woodside community in response and strong opposition to this proposed development. In turn, these progressive community organizations and allies formed the Coalition to Defend Little Manila, dedicated to fight against the construction and expansion of this “megachurch” and its threats of gentrification of Woodside and displacement of its working-class migrant residents.

On January 5th, Community Board 2 (CB2), representing the Woodside, Sunnyside, and Long Island City neighborhoods, held its regular meeting with the megachurch proposal on its agenda. At that time, ABNY mobilized its members alongside the Woodside community in a speakout and rally against the megachurch construction to emphasize that it is the community who will decide what happens in Woodside, and the megachurch proposal was pushed to February 3rd. On February 3rd, the Coalition alongside Woodside residents mobilized to voice their concerns and dissent against the megachurch, and CB2 unanimously voted against the proposal. The Universal Church had then submitted its application to the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), asking for a variance to expand the church beyond the jurisdiction of CB2 and bypassing NYC zoning laws and building code. ABNY had successfully submitted a request to BSA dismissing the application on June 7, 2017, making it even harder for the Universal Church to continue forward in their development.

We are humbled by the support of the community in this fight. It was not CB2 nor the BSA that had defeated the megachurch development. It was the Woodside community, its residents and business owners, that had voiced their concerns by petitioning against it, by attending Community Board meetings, and sharing with members of the Coalition how they opposed such a development in their community. It was the community, and it is only ever the community, who can truly lead in its own defense, protection, and development. We understand that this small victory is but one step in a larger struggle against gentrification and displacement and that only with the support of the people can we achieve real victories in this fight.

NYC leads the country in traffic hot spots

From Crains:

New York's gridlock issues are getting worse, and a new study details just how widespread the congestion problem is. According to transportation analytics company INRIX, more traffic bottleneck points are scattered throughout the city and its surrounding suburbs than in any other metro area in the country.

On the bright side, New York's hot spots do not lead the way in the magnitude of adversity created by traffic. According to a measure from INRIX called "impact factor" that incorporates the frequency, size and duration of jams, Los Angeles drivers deal with the worst traffic conditions in the nation. The impact factor in the City of Angels is 42% greater than in No. 2 New York. When impact factor is evaluated on a per-capita basis, the metro area comes out looking even better: New York is ranked 17th, below Los Angeles, Atlanta and even Stamford, Conn.

But New York still has some of the country's worst locations for gridlock, including stretches across four local highways that rank among the country's 25 most miserable. That includes two Cross Bronx Expressway spots whose jams force vehicles to spend an average of 155 minutes traversing just 3.5 miles. Between the wasted fuel, lost time and damage incurred by carbon emissions, INRIX estimates that the pair of congested locations will impose a cost of $1.7 billion through 2026 if unaddressed. Overall, New York's thousands of traffic hot spots could lead to $63.9 billion in economic loss over the next 10 years.

Kew Gardens hotel flooded with water or DHS bookings?

From DNA Info:

Several guests who booked rooms at a hotel and luxury apartment tower in Kew Gardens where the city controversially began renting dozens of rooms to homeless people last month had their reservations abruptly cancelled, DNAinfo New York has learned.

A Kew Gardens resident said three of his family members, who are visiting for his daughter’s bat mitzvah this coming weekend, booked rooms at the Kew Gardens Comfort Inn several weeks ago.

But on Sunday, they received an email from the hotel stating that “Due to unfortunate circumstances recently at our hotel, we have had to cancel your reservation.”

"They said it was a flood," said the local resident, who did not want his name to be used but provided the email to DNAinfo.

An employee who answered the phone at the hotel Monday told a reporter that they “are having water damage on some floors,” but added that the hotel is open and that some rooms were still available. She did not elaborate about what caused the damage.

However, a caller trying to book a room at the hotel for Monday and Tuesday night was told there were no rooms available and was instead offered a room at a Comfort Inn in Jamaica.

A spokesman with the Department of Homeless Services — which alarmed locals by beginning to rent 42 rooms in the hotel on Sept. 29 — said Monday that there was no “water damage” impacting units used by the agency.

If you didn't watch it, you didn't miss much

From the Daily News:

Tuesday evening's mayoral debate was a particularly putrid taste of small-d democracy these days in our overwhelmingly Democratic city: Loud, stupid and basically pointless.

There was Mayor Bill de Blasio, up 40-plus points in the polls and towering in every sense over Republican Nicole Malliotakis, who went on, and on, and on about how New York (where crime is in fact at a record low) is collapsing into its blood-soaked streets.

She in turn towered over general creep Bo Dietl, who spent the night interrupting her and hurling non-sequiturs — "MOOSE! JAIL REFORM! TOUGH COP! BO DIETL!" — and random insults at the mayor.

All this as the crowd brought in by the campaigns yelled, hissed and chanted, giving our system in which few people vote and few votes matter that bread-and-circuses feel.

De Blasio's first words set the tone: "You know sometimes there are elections--" "BOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Crowley, Van Bramer pretend to be shocked by the mayor they endorsed

From DNA Info:

...elected officials who represent the area said they were "blindsided" by the move, with several blasting the city for its lack of transparency.

"This community finds itself once again blindsided with the last-minute announcement of yet another hotel conversion," Congressman Joe Crowley wrote in a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio last week that accused the administration of opening the site with "no prior notice, and zero community input."

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, whose district also includes the hotel site, said he was told about its use only "a few hours before they started moving families into that shelter."

"That is a broken system," Van Bramer said at a contentious Queens Community Board 2 meeting Thursday, where representatives from DHS were in attendance. "It is wrong, it is absolutely absurd, to start moving families in before anyone in the community knows."

Hey guys, this was going on long before you endorsed the mayor for re-election and carried petitions for him to get on the ballot and sang with him last month. So please knock it off with the phony outrage.