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.

An all-too-familiar problem

Hi QC,

I recently attended the Community Council meeting at the 105th precinct. I expressed my concerns about an illegal businesses being run out of a residential home on 107-16 Springfield Blvd in Queens Village. These individuals are fixing cars at all hours of the day right on Springfield blvd. In the process, they are dumping oil all over the street and sidewalks, and discarding oil down the sewer drains which eventually drains into Jamaica Bay. They have a tractor trailer parked in the driveway, and a full blown junkyard in the backyard! A couple residents at the meeting expressed concerns about this place as well, since it's bringing down the quality of life in our neighborhood and devaluing our homes. The community affairs officer told me that they'll be paying them a visit, and she'll contact the DEP. I also contacted the NYS DEC Police twice and they were very helpful. I also filed 311 complaints with the DSNY and DOB, for the messy conditions, illegal parking of the tractor trailer, and of course the junkyard in the back. I just want to show your readers some of the ghetto nonsense that we deal with in SE Qns on a daily basis. Thanks.

- Philster

Rezoning leads to jobs? Don't believe the hype

From Progress Queens:

In the neighborhood rezoning of Long Island City, the promises of jobs creation are being made by a Municipal agency, the Department of City Planning, raising some eyebrows. Despite the making of promises of jobs creation by a Government authority, some community activists have expressed skepticism. At the Department of City Planning community event promoting jobs creation in Long Island City on Thursday night, an activist group, the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project, scheduled an event to draw attention to the false promises of jobs creation being used to promote large-scale real estate projects. In the description of their protest event on the Facebook social media Web site, the activist group cast disbelief on the promises of jobs creation, stating that there was no evidence of truth to the promises of the creation of high-technology jobs for area residents, noting that, "Those jobs are not for us. The only jobs we can expect to see will be a handful of service industry jobs that employ low-income communities to serve the rich, deepening the class divide. The city has lied time and time again about jobs. Why believe them now ?," adding that, "Workforce development is the carrot they dangle in front of us, trying to get us to agree to the gentrification of our neighborhoods and our own displacement."

For this report, the City Hall press office did not provide any statistics that were requested by Progress Queens to show the track record of past promises of jobs creation in connection with neighborhood rezonings. The Department of City Planning has announced that community events about jobs creation will continue to into the fall, yet the de Blasio administration is refusing to make any commitments about the number of jobs it intends to create for Long Island City residents. A press official with the Department of City Planning did not immediate answer a press request for information about the record of jobs creation statistics for neighborhood rezonings.

Petition: Crowley, resign as Chairman of the Queens Democrat Party

Friend --

To stand up for Queens, we need to ask for integrity within the Queens County Democratic Party. That can’t happen when Joseph Crowley, as chair of the Queens Democratic Party, is in charge of his own endorsement and appoints friends and family to key positions throughout the borough. Plus, the chair of the Queens Democratic Party should actually reside in Queens—not live full-time in Virginia, as Crowley does. Asking Crowley to step down as Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party isn’t personal—it’s fair.

The move will help rebuild trust in a machine long seen as corrupt. Crowley must open up the Chairmanship to impartial leaders who will guarantee a free and fair election—and who actually live in the borough. We will not allow Crowley to distort the vote in Queens. Ocasio2018 will be there to challenge him in the New York primary, and put a stop to the establishment’s iron grip on Queens politics.

Can you help us re-establish trust and fairness in the Queens County Democratic Party?
Sign the petition to ask Crowley to step down as Chair.
When I first called for Crowley’s resignation, it created quite a stir in the New York political machine. Within hours, the announcement was shared over 50 times in NY political groups and reached over 14,000 people. The people of New York are riled up and ready to fight for a fair, open, and representative system.

As Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, Joe Crowley pulls the strings of political power in the city and hand-picks party endorsements and appointments. This has led to serious questions over profiting off of constituent foreclosures and cherry-picking candidates to reinforce his power in the district. But here’s the kicker… the man who decides the fate of politics in Queens doesn’t even live here! Crowley plays Democratic party boss all while living in Arlington, Virginia to be closer to lobbyists, high-ticket fundraisers, and beltway politics. Crowley’s choice to live outside our district should disqualify him from local party leadership. Joseph Crowley serving as party boss isn’t just a matter of location—it’s a question of ethics.

It is unethical for candidates to have power over their own endorsements and the endorsements of their friends. Someone with such obvious bias should not be given the chance to tilt the Democratic primary in his favor.

Join Ocasio2018 to demand a fair primary.

Ask Out-of-Town Crowley to give up his Chairmanship.

As a powerful political boss who doesn't even live in the community, Crowley reinforces the influence of big donors and undercuts the concerns of local residents. Instead of fighting for working class needs, dignified healthcare, free education, and a $15 minimum wage, Crowley spends his time fighting for real estate deregulation to help his big-money donors. The time has come for real, unbiased leadership that lives in the district and cares about the issues of the community.

Sign the petition, demand that Crowley Step Down as Party Boss.

In solidarity,
Alexandria Ocasio

Pols support keeping Columbus in his circle

From the NY Post:

...the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle was not built to herald the explorer’s subjugation of native people. If it had been, I would be the first to demand that it be torn down.

No, the Columbus Circle statue was erected in 1892 following a massive fundraising campaign by the nation’s Italian-American community in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the Americas.

Hard-working men, women and families of Italian descent, along with businesses and various institutions with Italian or Italian-American ties, pooled their money to pay for the statue as a way to give something of value back to the city that had given so much to them. They were acting in the spirit of community and with a love of this nation and the dream it represents.

Across the city, there are statues and monuments to great men and great women who have made a significant impact on our world. Yet they cannot be judged fairly using only the standards of our time.

From the Observer:

A group of Italian American and Catholic organizations rolled out a list of 54 elected officials and candidates for office in New York City who want to keep the Christopher Columbus statues in the city.

The 41 groups — which include the Columbus Citizens Foundation, Italian American Museum and the New York State Commission on Social Justice — said their supporters include Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Public Advocate Letitia James, City Comptroller Scott Stringer, GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis, independent mayoral candidate Bo Dietl and Democratic mayoral candidate Sal Albanese, a former Brooklyn councilman who is now running on the Reform Party line.

Affordable housing activists to protest de Blasio

From the Daily News:

Four years after Mayor de Blasio was elected on promises of making the city more affordable, 5,000 people are expected to descend on City Hall and say he hasn't done nearly enough.

Metro-IAF will marshal supporters across the city at noon Monday to call on Hizzoner to go beyond his affordable housing plan and back their own.

The Metro-IAF plan calls for building 15,000 units of affordable senior housing on dozens of vacant lawns and parking lots owned by the New York City Housing Authority.

Seniors in NYCHA would get first crack at the units, freeing up their often large NYCHA apartments for younger families, some of them homeless. At the same time, Metro-IAF wants the mayor to spend big on NYCHA to repair deplorable conditions.

Council cracks down on hookah bars

From Brooklyn Daily:

A bill cracking down of the water-pipe watering holes passed the Council on Sept. 27, restricting the flavored “shisha” mixtures smoked in hookahs just like tobacco, tightly regulating existing hookah bars, banning the opening of new owns, and outlawing the practice for anyone under 21.

“Today we once and for all clear the air on the dangers of hookah smoking,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile’s (D–Bay Ridge), who sponsored the bill. “Any way you cut it, hookah smoke is no joke. It is not a safe smoking alternative, and restricting minors makes the decision to smoke up to those of adult age.”

Starting six months after the mayor signs the bill into law, even non-tobacco shisha will be subject to the city’s Smoke-Free Air Act — which bans most indoor tobacco smoking — making it illegal to smoke hookah indoors except in the bars that meet strict requirements for ventilation and other measures.

Existing hookah bars will have three years to bring their businesses up to sanitation, ventilation, and fire code requirements, and are forbidden to relocate or expand.

Hookah bars selling shisha mixtures that contain tobacco will have to obtain permits to continue operating, and all will have to prove that at least half of their profits come from shisha sales.

NYC prefers millionaire's tax to congestion pricing

From AM-NY:

A majority of New Yorkers prefer a millionaire's tax over congestion pricing when it comes to funding fixes to the city’s crumbling transit infrastructure, a new poll found.

Sixty-four percent of registered voters who were surveyed said they support a proposal to increase taxes on the city’s wealthiest earners, while only 21 percent favored tolling motorists entering Manhattan, according to the Quinnipiac University Poll released on Friday.

Support for the millionaire's tax was strong in each borough and spanned across every listed party, gender, age and racial group, the poll found. Support was highest in Queens, with 71 percent of those polled favoring the millionaire's tax over congestion pricing.

From the poll:

A total of 28 percent of voters rate the quality of New York City subway service as "excellent" or "good," while 64 percent rate it "not so good" or "poor."

The best rating is among Manhattan voters - 5 percent "excellent" and 30 percent "good." The lowest score is among Queens voters - less than 1 percent "excellent" and 20 percent "good."

Metrocard machine placement is pretty dumb

From NBC:

New Yorkers are used to things on sidewalks --muni-meters, bicycle racks and the bygone phone stands -- but those are always close to the curb. So neighbors are scratching their heads over the SBS MetroCard machines right in the middle of the sidewalk near the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard and Pitkin Avenue in Queens.

"Somebody must have been drinking and put it in the wrong spot," joked store decorator Eddie Cavuto.

Actually, the Department of Transportation says the kiosks were installed exactly where they were supposed to be.

"Okay, the worker didn't screw up, but the architect was drinking and he screwed up," cracked Cavuto.

The DOT says the kiosks are for a new bus lane and bus stop arriving there, and "our standard is to align the fare machines and other Special Bus Service amenities (like wayfinding totems) with the back of our shelter."

"These enhanced bus stop amenities needed to meet our minimum sidewalk clearance requirements," the DOT said.

Pols request restoration of Q75 bus line

From the Queens Chronicle:

Joined by City Council Transportation Committee Chairman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan), eastern Queens lawmakers called on the MTA last Thursday to restore the Q75 line.

Before being discontinued in the agency’s 2010 budget cuts, the bus brought residents of public transit-barren Oakland Gardens to the F subway line on Hillside Avenue.

“We’re here today to call for the restoration of Q75 bus service from this very spot at 69th Avenue and 230th Street, which is long overdue,” Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens) said. “In the midst of what we rightly call a transportation desert, this is really the worst part of the desert.”

But the agency told the Chronicle it has no plans on bringing back the line.

“Currently, the Q88 and Q17 bus routes cover the same operating area as the former Q75 bus route,” an agency spokeswoman said in an email. The bus, she added, had the fourth lowest ridership in the entire city.

The spokeswoman also said that people in Oakland Gardens who want a one-stop ride to Jamaica can just cross the pedestrian bridge over the Long Island Expressway and get on the Q30 bus adjacent to the intersection of Cloverdale Street and the westbound Horace Harding Expressway.

New bike lane causing car crashes

From CBS:

Last week, the city installed the bike lane on heavily traveled Northern Boulevard between Douglaston Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway. It’s protected by a concrete divider, which some some say has led to accidents, including one Thursday.

The problem, opponents say, is that some motorists traveling along Northern Boulevard don’t know there’s a bike lane ahead, as the road narrows from three lanes to two. The bike lane and concrete divider appear to come out of nowhere, critics say.

There are no warning signs posted.

State Sen. Tony Avella said the bike lane is dangerous and needs to be scrapped.

“I think this is a nightmare,” he said.

Avella said the city Department of Transportation installed bright orange cones in front of the concrete barriers just Friday morning.

The senator said his office has received reports of four accidents there since the lane was installed, reports he is still trying to confirm. He said you can see scrape marks on the divider from where cars have apparently hit it.

“All of a sudden, you’re coming around a curve, and you’re hitting a concrete barrier,” he said.

Avella said the community board in the area wants the bike lane replaced with a lane built onto an expanded sidewalk off the road. Trottenberg said that would take too much time and money and that the current bike lane provides safety for cyclists now.

Has DOT ever listened to a community board?

Katz pushing for soccer stadium, "100% affordable housing" at Willets Point

From Empire of Soccer:

New York City FC remain in discussions with Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and city officials about building a stadium at Willets Point, Katz told Empire of Soccer on Wednesday.

NYCFC confirmed a report in The New York Times report that it was viewing two sites in the Willets Point area as potential locations for a stadium, and Katz did as well. At the moment, Katz said, the overall plans for re-developing the area are uncertain after a State Appellate Court determined that a part of the area west of Citi Field was parkland and could not be built upon without approval from the state legislature.

“The City has not determined how they want to move forward,” Katz said. “We’re in discussions with the developers and they’re also in discussions with legal teams as to what can be done there. It’s 23 acres that the City now owns outright and I have made it very clear that my first priority would be a soccer stadium there and affordable housing.”

At the moment, none of the parties are in agreement about where a stadium and potential housing would be located, Katz said. That’s largely because of the uncertainty surrounding the legal and zoning situation. NYCFC continues to pursue other venues while waiting for the Willets Point situation to be resolveedf, Katz said she didn’t mind that. Should any team propose a stadium in Willets Point, Katz said an affordable housing component would be ‘extremely vital.’ ”

“You need to have affordable housing there,” she said. “The City is in a crisis with housing. People are in desperate need of places to live and places they can afford to live in. The Mayor has made it a priority to build and retain 200,000 units of affordable housing and this has to be part of that resolution. I don’t think any body would argue that point and now that the City owns 100% of the property we’re building on, there’s no reason why it can’t be 100% affordable.”

“You keep assuming it’s NYCFC, which is nice,” she said, “but at the end of the day, I want to see a soccer stadium there. That can be a small one, it can be a larger one. I just think we just need to answer constituents’ calling to have soccer represented in a larger fashion in Queens.”

Another Queens hotel becomes a shelter

From LIC Post:

The Department of Homeless Services has been housing homeless families at the City View Inn in Long Island City since late July, residents learned at a community meeting last night.

The revelation was made during a heated Community Board 2 meeting on Oct. 6 while board members were questioning DHS officials on why the agency started using the Best Western hotel as a shelter without providing the community adequate notice. Some officials said they were given less than 24 hours notice before the decision to use the hotel at 38-05 Hunters Point Ave. as a shelter.

Claims that DHS lacks transparency grew in intensity when attendees were informed that it had been using the Citi View Inn, located at 33-17 Greenpoint Ave., to house 37 homeless families since late July.

A representative from DHS claimed that elected officials and the community board were notified 24 hours prior to the homeless moving into the Citi View Inn. CB2 officials, however, claim that they only learned about it being used as a shelter after the 108 Police Precinct notified them of some domestic disputes at the location — and they did some digging.

Representatives of DHS faced an onslaught of criticism at the meeting, with elected officials, board members and the public arguing that the agency acts in secret to the detriment of the public.

“This is a broken system,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who spoke at the beginning of the board meeting. “It is wrong and absolutely absurd to start moving people in before anyone in the community knows or has an opportunity to talk about it.”

Some board members claimed that Community Board 2 is carrying an unfair burden, with four hotels in the district now being used to shelter the homeless–the Verve Hotel, Best Western, Quality Inn and Citi View. Many also wanted to know how many homeless people came from CB2.

Amanda Nasner, the Queens Director for DHS, said that 416 homeless people are being housed in Community Board 2. She said that 260 individuals who are part of the citywide shelter system come from CB2.

You know what's kind of funny? Amanda Nasner worked for years for Jimmy Van Bramer. Here they are at some kind of soiree together. Kind of amazing that she wouldn't give him the heads up on all this. (Or did she?)

No movement on Rockaway courthouse project after 5 years

From The Wave:

Concrete plans for the long-dormant courthouse on Beach Channel Drive hang in the balance as the back-and-forth between local residents and developer Uri Kaufman continues.

At a special Sept. 28 Rockaway Beach Civic Association (RBCA) meeting regarding the courthouse, members of the civic tore into Kaufman, president and CEO of The Harmony Group, as well as New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) reps in an effort to clarify future uses for the space and vent their frustrations about the deplorable conditions of the site and adjacent lot.

The historic building, which formerly served as a Municipal and Magistrate’s court, was built in 1932. Save for a brief use by an arts group in the 70s, the 24,000 square-foot building at 90-01 Beach Channel Drive has remained dormant since 1962.

NYCEDC stepped in in 2012, issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the adaptive reuse and redevelopment of the Rockaway courthouse. According to NYCEDC, the RFEI aimed to assess options for the reactivation of the site that were “compatible with the existing neighborhood in order to ultimately improve the overall quality of life for the community.”

As reported by The Wave in 2012, “a proposal for the development of the courthouse into an ambulatory surgical facility was approved by Community Board 14, which allows the developer [The Harmony Group] to move forward with negotiations to obtain the property from the city.”

Fast forward five years and the space, to the surprise of some but not many on the civic board, has yet to go into construction or finalize tenants.

Controversy over rebuild of Flushing's Macedonia AME Church

From the Times Ledger:

In the midst of the $1 billion Flushing Commons project on Union Street in Flushing, community members are worried about the fate of the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church and the human remains they believe are buried on the property.

Dr. Richard McEachern, the minister, told a Community Board 7 meeting on Nov. 9, 2015 that the church would be torn down and replaced by a new, but not “oversized” church, according to the meeting minutes. No construction plans have been disclosed publicly or at quarterly church meetings, however, according to church members. McEachern is a member of the community board.

Jim Driscoll, a member of the Queens Historical Society, said he is concerned about the human remains mentioned in an archeological report, originally created in 1988 and confirmed in 2006 by Historical Perspectives Inc., a firm that conducts cultural and archeological research.

The extensive report determined that “current A.M.E. Church property must be considered sensitive for possible human remains.” It also recommended a 15-foot perimeter around three sides of the church to prevent disturbance of potential grave sites connected to Flushing’s historical African-American community.

It's not your grandmother's Lefrak City

The NY Post has photos of the "new" Lefrak City:

All these upgrades have made LeFrak City more desirable than ever. Its thousands of apartments are currently 98 percent full. Because of normal turnover, there are always around a dozen units available.

Currently, they range in rent from $1,900 for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,800 for a three-bedroom pad with a terrace. Several residences, in fact, have terraces; the newest units have been renovated with stainless-steel appliances, stone countertops and wood floors.

The sprawling private grounds and their newly snazzy amenities are no longer open to the public. Security cameras are posted everywhere; cheery safety officers greet everyone who passes. The vibe is less “Big Brother” and more “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”'s