Two NYers from outside our borough wrote to the NY Times to denounce the city's neglect of the Civic Virtue statue:
A Statue in Queens, Noted for Neglect
Photo from Bridge and Tunnel Club
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Quinn says "no" to lobbying money
This is a big step in the right direction:'NO-MONEY HONEY' QUINN NIXES LOBBY $$
Others on the council quietly grumbled that Quinn was going to end up making it difficult for those who remain after she leaves office under term-limit laws.
Now that is quite amusing!
Photo from NY Post
Rockaway Fire Sale
The city seems set on selling a former firehouse in the Rockaways to the highest bidder, rather than listening to the wishes of the people who live there who want it turned it into a community center:Arverne 'fire sale' stalled
Photo from the Wave, who did a story on this in December:
Old Firehouse Up For Grabs. Got Any Ideas?
At least the city replaced this firehouse rather than simply closing it.
Voting Rights Debate
The city council is considering passing a bill that would allow non-citizens to vote in city elections:
LET ALIENS VOTE: ACTIVISTS
"More than 50,000 adult noncitizen taxpayers in those two districts are disenfranchised by citizenship voting laws."
(You can't be disenfranchised unless you have the right to vote in the first place.)
LET ALIENS VOTE: ACTIVISTS
"More than 50,000 adult noncitizen taxpayers in those two districts are disenfranchised by citizenship voting laws."
(You can't be disenfranchised unless you have the right to vote in the first place.)
Piled high and deep
Here is one of the ugliest blocks (imho) in Middle Village, the previously mentioned 66-53 to 66-65 69th Street. You will notice in the pic that there is not much room to navigate the sidewalks on trash day. That nice grafittied-up truck has been parked next to the house for several weeks without being moved at all. Same thing with the contractor's truck in the foreground. The contractor's truck smells like it is leaking fuel as well. To make matters worse, 69th street is one of the main thoroughfares through Middle Village and sees more than its share of trucks and buses. Couple all these things together along with a $634,000-$750,000 per home estimated real estate value and you have all the makings of a poor quality of life sandwich. - Russ
Monday, February 19, 2007
Two families, two incomes
Today's Daily News reports on how people have afforded homes in the outer boroughs for more than a century:Renting rooms, buying a dream
Live in one unit and rent the other!
A holiday message from the Crapper
Yesterday marked the beginning of the Year of the Golden Pig.Today is President's Day.
Notice how gold, pigs and politicians seem to go together!
Happy everything!
Manhattan vs. Queens
Here's one of the key differences between Manhattan and Queens:
In Manhattan, more than 100 people show up to protest a billboard. In Queens, you can't even get 10 people together to protest the city's failed response to a massive blackout.
Long fight to hold on to history of Village
In Manhattan, more than 100 people show up to protest a billboard. In Queens, you can't even get 10 people together to protest the city's failed response to a massive blackout.
Long fight to hold on to history of Village
Building Big Boxes in Bayside
42-19 to 42-23 212th Street in Bayside - here we have demolition of a garage without a permit, site safety violations and work not conforming to approved plans. "NOTE: MEDICAL OFFICES ON THE FIRST FLOOR AND PART OF CELLAR, TOTAL 11 DWELLING UNITS ON THE 2ND THROUGH 5TH FLOOR AND IN THE OPEN SPACE PROVIDED 8 REQUIRED AND 4 PERMITTED PARKING SPACES." After this was approved, a revised plan was submitted to build a 6th story and 12th housing unit.This is a gargantuan pile of Queens Crap!
And the fun doesn't end there. Next door is more crap, at 42-07, 42-11 and 42-15. The first 2 are 3-family buildings which took the place of 2 one family homes, while the last was supposed to be a 6-unit building, but - surprise! - inspectors discovered an illegal 7th unit in the cellar.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Meadowmere just now getting sewers
It is the 21st century, and one section of Queens is just getting about the receive a basic city service for the first time:When Pipe Dreams Come True
Sewers still will not be installed for the Iron Triangle at Willets Point, however, at least not until the city takes it over via eminent domain.
Commercial Crap, part 1
The Crapper hasn't really posted much about commercial buildings which uglify our urban landscape, so here's a good one to start off with. 79-06 & 79-10 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village. Since it's cold outside, get a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy reading about the violations the owner and/or contractor was allowed to get way with on this one. Not to mention that people with taste like this should be locked up with the key tossed into a bottomless pit.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Western Queens Dems Oppose Sunnyside Landmarking
By Adam Pincus, Times Ledger
02/15/2007
In a sign of growing opposition to a proposal to landmark Sunnyside Gardens, a number of Democratic political leaders from the area have spoken out publicly on the plan.
John Smyth, Democratic district leader for the 37th Assembly District, said the city Landmarks Preservation Commission should not set a date for the proposal, a bureaucratic move that can signal the plan will ultimately be approved.
"I think the best solution would be for Landmarks not to calendar it," he said in a telephone interview Monday. He was elected to the district leader seat formerly held by the late Queens County Democratic Chairman Thomas Manton in September.
He was one of about 70 people who attended a meeting at the Sunnyside Reformed Church at 48-03 Skillman Ave. in Sunnyside Gardens, organized by a loose group of residents opposed to creating a historic district in Sunnyside Gardens, which contains about 600 buildings. The group is calling itself the Preserve Sunnyside Gardens Coalition.
State Sen. George Onorato (D-Long Island City), though not directly involved in the process, also sent a letter critical of the plan to Landmarks Commission Chairman Robert Tierney.
"I have come to believe that the landmarked historic district status is inappropriate for this community," he said.
Another Democratic district leader from the area, Deirdre Feerick, said although she supported landmarking in general, she opposed it in Sunnyside Gardens.
The situation could be difficult for City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who must navigate between voters supporting and opposing the designation.
He has been holding small meetings with residents of the proposed district in his office and area homes, residents said.
Although Landmarks can designate the area a historic district, ultimately the decision must be voted on by the Council.
Organizers of the meeting, including longtime Gardens residents and authors Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer, said they were not opposed to preservation, but did not want the additional layer of bureaucracy that would come with landmarking.
"Lets see how we can fix the current situation instead of going to Big Daddy or Big Brother," Sloan said.
The Landmarks Commission was considering a designation for about 600 buildings in Sunnyside Gardens as an historic district, which would create greater regulation as a means of preserving the area.
The third public meeting sponsored by Community Board 2 over the past three months to discuss landmarking was scheduled for Feb. 27 at the Sunnyside Community Services at 43-31 39th St. where representatives from the city departments of Buildings, City Planning and Landmarks were expected to attend.
Landmarks, which said in December that it would likely calendar the proposal by early February, has not set a date for the hearing, spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said.
02/15/2007
In a sign of growing opposition to a proposal to landmark Sunnyside Gardens, a number of Democratic political leaders from the area have spoken out publicly on the plan.
John Smyth, Democratic district leader for the 37th Assembly District, said the city Landmarks Preservation Commission should not set a date for the proposal, a bureaucratic move that can signal the plan will ultimately be approved.
"I think the best solution would be for Landmarks not to calendar it," he said in a telephone interview Monday. He was elected to the district leader seat formerly held by the late Queens County Democratic Chairman Thomas Manton in September.
He was one of about 70 people who attended a meeting at the Sunnyside Reformed Church at 48-03 Skillman Ave. in Sunnyside Gardens, organized by a loose group of residents opposed to creating a historic district in Sunnyside Gardens, which contains about 600 buildings. The group is calling itself the Preserve Sunnyside Gardens Coalition.
State Sen. George Onorato (D-Long Island City), though not directly involved in the process, also sent a letter critical of the plan to Landmarks Commission Chairman Robert Tierney.
"I have come to believe that the landmarked historic district status is inappropriate for this community," he said.
Another Democratic district leader from the area, Deirdre Feerick, said although she supported landmarking in general, she opposed it in Sunnyside Gardens.
The situation could be difficult for City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who must navigate between voters supporting and opposing the designation.
He has been holding small meetings with residents of the proposed district in his office and area homes, residents said.
Although Landmarks can designate the area a historic district, ultimately the decision must be voted on by the Council.
Organizers of the meeting, including longtime Gardens residents and authors Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer, said they were not opposed to preservation, but did not want the additional layer of bureaucracy that would come with landmarking.
"Lets see how we can fix the current situation instead of going to Big Daddy or Big Brother," Sloan said.
The Landmarks Commission was considering a designation for about 600 buildings in Sunnyside Gardens as an historic district, which would create greater regulation as a means of preserving the area.
The third public meeting sponsored by Community Board 2 over the past three months to discuss landmarking was scheduled for Feb. 27 at the Sunnyside Community Services at 43-31 39th St. where representatives from the city departments of Buildings, City Planning and Landmarks were expected to attend.
Landmarks, which said in December that it would likely calendar the proposal by early February, has not set a date for the hearing, spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said.
Community Benefits for Whom?
An article in this week's NY Observer is brutally honest about a number of development issues as well as entertaining:Mr. Bollinger’s Battle
Atlantic Yards:
- “Ratner and the city got together with one big, national not-for-profit and a set of local sycophants and put something together which doesn’t seem to have satisfied too many people, except for those who are benefiting directly from it,” Mr. Reyes-Montblanc, the chairman of Community Board 9, said.
Yankee Stadium:
- The point was to avoid the conflicts of interest that were apparent when Bronx City Council members negotiated a “community-benefits program” with the Yankees that called for, among other things, a $32 million charitable trust fund that would be indirectly controlled by the same elected officials who negotiated the deal.
Columbia University:
- “The problem with having elected officials on the local development corporation is that one of the constituents they represent is Columbia University,” Mr. DeMott said. “There is immense potential here, but there is also immense potential to get screwed.”
- The university softens up the local development-corporation members with enough well-meaning promises that a majority of them would overlook the eminent-domain issue. The City Council takes its cue from the local development corporation and approves the land-use changes that Columbia needs to turn an industrial slum into gleaming scientific laboratories.
IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN that way.
Photo from Wikipedia
Dan "the Man"
Ah yes. Now the rehabilitation of Robert Moses' image makes total sense. We have his clone in our midst determining our future. And he doesn't want to have a book like The Power Broker written about him.Modern-Day Robert Moses
Q: Can you name, say, your top two priorities for the next three years?
A: I don’t have top priorities. Certainly the development of Ground Zero and downtown and its progress; Hudson Yards would also be on that list. ...Willets Point, Long Island (City), Queens West. The Brooklyn waterfront is enormously important to us. In Jamaica, we are about to certify the largest rezoning in the city’s history.
When you're done with that, head over to DanDoctoroff.com for more from Dan, aka "the Man."
Photo from NY Observer
Common Crap on Commonwealth
A developer called O'Leary Brothers bought this narrow piece of property from the LIRR. The address is 87-33 Commonwealth Blvd.
This very same developer built this ugly "2 family house" (notice the downstairs windows, just screaming out cellar apartment?) and placed part of it on someone else's property by almost five feet.
The house was sold as is. Now the new owner is finding out why she cannot place any windows on the sunny side.The south side of the building, with the long expanses of vinyl siding, doesn't have any windows, 'cause another building's probably going to go up right next to it. That's also the side that was built past the property line.
-RSD
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Jamaica Jinx
Wow. It seems as though the people of southeastern Queens aren't quite ready to accept the platter of crap that city planning is trying to feed them:Community Reaction To Plan United: Change Is Needed, But Not This Much
Residents Urged To Stay In Jamaica Plan Loop
Photo from the Queens Chronicle
Deal or no deal?
The Queens Tribune reports on the problems with the municipal lot plan in Flushing:Muni Lot Plan ‘Dead’ If Plans Are Changed
From the Times Ledger:
Liu decries changes to Municipal Lot 1 plans
Trib's Editorial:
A Deal Is A Deal
Photo from Queens Tribune
Bloomberg leaves city on ice
Boy, his highness really pissed off the outer boroughs this time:Mayor's storm response leaves many chilly
Ice the tickets, Mayor
Hey Mike, tick it in yer ear
Has Your Street Been Cleared?
Bloomberg on Ice
After Storm, Parking Tickets and an Outcry
Storm Warning for Mayor: Remember Mr. Lindsay
Sir Bloomie has probably never shoveled the white stuff in his life. Plenty of brown stuff, however.
UPDATE from NY1 (2pm):
Mayor Does About-Face On Alternate Side Parking Tickets
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made an about-face on parking tickets issued to drivers whose cars were stuck in the snow after Wednesday’s storm.
The city has now decided to forgive all alternate side parking tickets for yesterday, and today.
The mayor’s decision to keep alternate side parking rules in effect following the snow storm drew serious criticism. Many drivers argued the ice and snow made it nearly impossible to dig their cars out.
The mayor said yesterday moving cars was important for the plows to do their job.
"In retrospect, in some parts of the city, there was not that much snow and in other parts there probably was an imposition,” the mayor said on his morning radio show today. “We did get a lot of calls and listened very carefully to what the Sanitation Department heard, what our Community Assistance Unit heard, we took a look at the call that came in to 311 and … this morning I instructed the Department of Finance to waive any Alternate Side of the Street parking tickets for yesterday and today."
Tickets issued on Wednesday during the storm still have to be paid.
Tickets from today and yesterday will be automatically taken out of the city's computer.
Grand Crap
The small homes that formerly dotted Grand Avenue in Elmhurst harkened back to a simpler time when less house and more green space was valued. Today, packing as many people into a behemoth structure is what is in vogue. Developers and architects incorporate absolutely no tasteful elements in their building designs; therefore, people's homes now resemble barracks. Actually, many army barracks are better looking than both of the examples presented here.
Van Loon Street and Grand Avenue is an appropriate corner for this grand loony example of Queens Crap. The builder obviously exploited several loopholes in the zoning code to erect this monstrosity. The building contains "community facilities," one of which is already boarded up, and occupies a corner lot and adjacent lots which allow for greater density. Note the firehouse at the extreme right. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see what types of homes were at this site decades ago.
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