5th photo of Spring

Goose family, Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Broad Channel

The hottest corner in Queens

A couple of months ago, a 10-story, 130-room hotel was mentioned for the southeast corner of 112th Street and Northern Boulevard, and now a 44,000 square foot luxury condominium complex has been announced for the northeastern corner of the same intersection:

LEV Group's CEO, Eddie Shapiro, recently commented: "We are delighted that our new project is being embraced by the community and we look forward to offering the neighborhood new modern residences in this beautiful high-end designer building."

LEV Group Announces New Designer Condominium Development in Queens

Yes, Eddie, the community has a history of embracing projects like this. So does Helen Marshall.

In case you didn't notice, Ed, this isn't a "high-end designer" community. Perhaps this is another attempt at forced gentrification?

Illustration from levdevelops.com

The Far East meets East Elmhurst

A recent press release from Greiner-Maltz reveals that a gigantic expo center is on the horizon for Astoria Boulevard:

Fujian Trade Exposition Center Coming To Queens

“This development represents a change of land use from industrial (cardboard box manufacturing) to high value product showrooms which will transform a transitional neighborhood of bus yards, motels, and mixed use retail-office into a destination for merchants who are located throughout the entire Eastern Seaboard” reports Richard Maltz, Chairman of Greiner-Maltz. Further, geographically situated between the burgeoning Asian population of Flushing, Queens, and the rapidly repopulating industrial areas of Astoria and Long Island City, this transaction will “be the harbinger of a new development surge in Queens, which will add a significant vibrancy and economic growth impetus to NYC.”

Despite the company's claim that this facility is an improvement over the current land use, it is hard to image the construction of a commercial space of this size without a substantial increase in traffic. Also, take a look at the parking lot in the attached drawing. Does this look adequate for such a huge facility? Maybe they can define what "transitional neighborhood" means. Exactly where are those bus yards, motels and mixed use retail-offices going to go?

A Crap Above, part 2

This "penthouse," sitting atop a two-story rowhouse, is on 110th Street near 63rd Drive in Forest Hills. When the add-on was built, the front was refaced and a second door was squeezed in for the upper apartment. Now it is the eyesore of the block. Sent in by mazeartist.

See also A Crap Above, A Crap Above, Part 3, and A Crap Above, Part 4.

4th photo of Spring

Taken of a front yard garden in Sunnyside

How they do things in China

Our friends at Atlantic Yards Report have a frightening analogy on their blog.

Here's how eminent domain is handled in a Communist country:

Pitted against the builder

Compare to what's going on in Brooklyn:

Coming demolitions mean "urban room" at crucial corner

Photo from Atlantic Yards Report.

A bump in the bike road

The Rockaway Beach Branch Greenway Committee asked CB6 last week if it would welcome a feasibility study for their proposal to convert the abandoned Rockaway Beach LIRR Branch into a bike path. They hit a bump in the road:

...the board did not vote on the project itself - just on a study to see whether having the greenway and bicycle path would be a good idea.

A greenway study divides CB 6 members

Board members opposing the study, worried the greenway — which runs adjacent to many homes in Rego Park — would bring more crime, litter and civil disturbances to the area. But members in favor of the study said a cleaner greenway would improve the quality of life for nearby residents.

Community Board Rejects Rails-To-Trails Proposal

"The Parks Department asked if we'd do a feasibility study," which requires community support, Sandke said. Meanwhile, CB 6 balked at the lack of support for the project from the Parks Department.

You gotta love it.

CB 6 scraps greenway plan for old LIRR line

"One concern I have is that there's not enough money to develop Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and the other parks we already have," said CB 6 member Barbara Stuchinski. She added that the current mayor has not welcomed new parks that require city funds.

That's not entirely true, Barbara. The mayor's unwelcoming attitude is only reserved for new parks in the borough of Queens.

"It's not really going to deter us," said Jordan Sandke, a greenway committee leader.

You go, boy!

Photo from Rockaway Beach Branch Greenway Committee

Cell towers: friends or foes?

Verizon officials said recent installation locations in Queens include: Beach Channel Drive and Rockaway Beach Blvd. in the Rockaways; Willets Point Blvd. near the Cross Island Parkway and Francis Lewis Blvd. in Whitestone; Woodhaven Blvd. and Myrtle Ave. in Woodhaven and inside Grover Cleveland Park on Cypress Ave., between Forest and DeKalb Aves. in Ridgewood.

City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Woodhaven) has introduced legislation that would require cell phone companies to alert residents within the vicinity of any proposed tower.

Verizon towers dialing up anxiety

The anxiety over cell phone towers is not new, as this article written 3 years ago by a concerned Astoria resident proves:

The Epidemic Spreads: Cellular Base Station Antennas

A Catholic church in Flushing is trying to force a cellular company to remove the cell phone towers it allowed them to install on their school building after an outcry by the parents of schoolchildren:

St. Mel’s Sues T-Mobile To Take Down Antennas

Photo from JuniperCivic.com

A great reason to live in Queens

"$1,100 small and perfect studio in the Meatpacking District," the ad read.

Living small in the Big Apple

The description on Craigslist was accurate: It was about the size of a home office -- 100 square feet, according to the broker.

Ah, what fools these mortals be.

Photo from AM NY.

Simonson Says Crap

Ah yes, we come to another space in Elmhurst inundated with Queens Crap. Cute little pastel colored homes in a row, in the shadow of an ugly mamajama brick behemoth. Take a gander at the complaints and violations on this baby. They run the whole gamut of illegal building.
This piece of crap comes to Queens courtesy of the infamous Huang family. How they continue to get away with violating building and zoning codes is beyond anyone's guess. Perhaps those little red envelopes that get passed around Chinese New Year made their way into the DOB inspectors' pockets.

CB 8 & CB 12 torpedo Jamaica rezoning plan

"I can't fathom where, outside of eminent domain, you're going to get the land to build a school, a firehouse, a water testing station if the plan were to be approved since it lacks plans for all of the above facilities," Haken said.

Unanimous CB 8 nixes Jamaica rezoning plan

According to a handout prepared by the Jamaica Estates Association, City Planning is forecasting 1,016 new school-age residents and added that the 2005-09 Department of Education Capital Plan called for 2,350 new school seats, but neighbors countered with the argument that if 38,000 new people moved to the area and a quarter of them are children, the total demand will be more than 9,000.

The Queens Civic Congress backs CB 12's plans for Jamaica. Yes, CB 12 came up with their own rezoning proposal. Pretty smart thinking on their part.

Photo from NYC Dept of City Planning

Old folks at home

Senior housing in Astoria-LIC has been a hot topic in the papers lately:

New Senior Housing To Open In Astoria

Seniors find affordable living in LIC building

1938 Berenice Abbott photo of St. George's Parsonage (R.I.P.) from Museum of the City of New York (mcny.org)

Calling Jacob Riis

Corona resident Gladys Hernandez discussed her housing tribulations at Friday’s gathering. When she first came to New York over 30 years ago, her rent was $250 for a four-room apartment. She and her husband now pay $1,500 a month for a three-bedroom they share with another family. She has friends that live with up to 15 people in an apartment. “How in a democracy, in a free state, can people be forced to live in such conditions?” Hernandez asked.

Tax Breaks Should Include More Of Queens: Residents

Delia Herrera lives in a two-bedroom basement in Corona with her husband and 10-year-old son. They share it with another family of three and have only one kitchen and one bathroom. The rent is $750 a month per family. Herrera would like to give her son better living conditions, but her husband only earns $450 a week and two bedrooms in Corona are going for $1,800 a month.

City Reformed It, But State Must Approve It

CEO of NYHS needs new glasses

A letter to the editor of the Queens Courier from Marilyn Hoyt:

"Flushing Meadows-Corona Park has never looked better than it will this spring as the investments of recent years continue."

Future of Queens is rising!

Yes, the sleeping giant of Queens is finally rising. And it won't be pretty when he wakes up.

Ironing out Iron Triangle plans

The 75-acre swath of land is contaminated as a result of petroleum spills and illegal dumping and EDC believes the costly cleanup of the site must be completed as a single unit.

Shulman tapped to lead Willets Point group

Tom Angotti, a professor at Hunter College and the principal author of a land use study on the Willets Point area, disagreed.

"This notion that the city's plan is environmentally sound and is going to solve an environmental problem is salacious. You don't have to destroy an entire business district in order to clean it up," he said.

City Gets to the Point With Willets Redevelopment

Good thing CUNY has tenure, Tom.

In the meantime, Businesses Decry Plans For Willets Point

(By the way, the Claire Shulman award was given last night, right after Melinda warbled God Bless America...)

Photo from Queens Tribune

Pinky loves Katz's constituents, turns back on his own

The landmarked Richmond Hill Republican Club, next to the now demolished Simonson Funeral Home, is up for public auction because of the exorbitant tax liens on the property.

Richmond Hill’s Fading History

Councilman Dennis Gallagher (R-Middle Village), who stood beside Kasper in the Jamaica courtroom, cited the building’s historical significance in his effort to postpone the auction. He further told Hart that he and Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills) planned to petition the city to purchase the property and establish it as a community center, setting up a potential bidding war.

So Dennis is asking the city to buy a historic structure in Katz's district, and turn it into a community center, but when his own constituents ask him to do the same thing for the St. Saviour's property in Maspeth, he lobbies for a zoning change on behalf of the developer. Especially abhorrent considering that a recent study showed that the area is too polluted for new housing.

That Pinky is an interesting fellow.

Photo from Queens Chronicle

3rd photo of Spring

Bunny in Maspeth clover

Heavy Load

"Another lovely new oversized piece of Queens Crap is being erected at 156-46 89th Street.

It's bad enough we have to put up with all the noise during the construction, but they also love to dump their loads of bricks, tarps, etc. outside the fence and if they're not blocking the parking lane or sidewalk, then at the very least they've created an unnecessary eyesore." - G.L.

What you are looking at is NOT oil

Councilman Avella was quoted in an earlier post today saying, "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck."

Roebling Oil Field Update: Everything Is Under Control...

Apparently, Buildings isn't the only city agency that believes an animal that wears feathers and quacks must be something other than a duck.

Photos from Gowanus Lounge.

9 million people by 2030, eh?

New federal Census figures assert that New York City's population grew by a total of 587 people between 2005 and 2006, a number the Bloomberg administration says substantially underestimates the city's tremendous growth.

Size of the City Is Challenged by the Census

Late last year, the city released a report projecting that its population would grow by more than 1 million by 2030, bringing the city's total population to 9.1 million, with an increase of nearly 400,000 people expected between 2000 and 2010.

Mr. Bloomberg routinely cites the figures as justification for various large projects and infrastructure improvements, as the city needs to make room for an extra million people.

No, Bloomie, we need infrastructure inprovements for the people we have now...but with the number of illegal apartments and illegal immigrants that you have encouraged, no one has the foggiest notion of how many people actually live here. Now you can explain to the Feds why their numbers are off.

Chart from Gothamist