Parking eased along Northern Blvd

From the Queens Courier:

The community has spoken, and they have been answered.

There have been increasing complaints from business owners as well as neighborhood residents that the parking restrictions on certain blocks along Northern Boulevard are more of a hindrance than a benefit.

Because of this, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) will be removing the 4-7 p.m. parking restrictions along the south curb of Northern Boulevard between Parsons Boulevard and Utopia Parkway.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to provide safety and transportation enhancements to the Flushing community, DOT recently removed the evening rush-hour regulation from the south side of eastbound Northern Boulevard between Parsons Boulevard and Utopia Parkway,” said Nicholas Mosquera, a DOT spokesperson. “This change, which was requested by Councilmember [Peter] Koo and also supported by the Community Board 7 Transportation Committee, will provide additional parking for the community and customers of nearby businesses during these hours, while retaining loading areas for local deliveries.”

The current regulations have become an issue because they prohibit parking during prime shopping hours, making it more difficult for residents to find spots.

Read More

Lippman Plaza graffiti is out of control

From the Queens Chronicle:

Lippmann Plaza, a pedestrian walkway in downtown Flushing, has been a problem for years with its graffitied walls and litter-strewn paths. Despite efforts by elected officials and volunteer groups, the site looks as bad today as it did more than 10 years ago.

Recently, Liz Vannicola, a longtime Flushing resident, contacted the Queens Chronicle to vent her frustration about the conditions in the plaza. “When young kids see graffiti, it sends the wrong message,” Vannicola said. “It becomes the norm and they think it’s okay.”

She has called the offices of area elected officials “but nothing gets done” and believes there should be ongoing cleanups at the site.

“It’s not artwork; it’s vandalizing and not welcoming,” Vannicola added.

The city upgraded the site in 2006 after talking about it since 2001. The work involved new lighting, plantings and tree pruning. But looking at the location now, the trees are just as big and sit in dingy pits of eroded soil and weeds. Litter abounds and the walls of businesses are covered in graffiti.

The plaza is a major connector for the 50,000 commuters who travel through the area every day using buses and the subway. It links Roosevelt Avenue, site of the No. 7 subway and several buses, with 39th Avenue, where there are more buses and Municipal Parking Lot 1.

Illegal street vendors set up tables at either end of the plaza, hawking their merchandise and adding to the confusion. Community Board 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said police are trying to crack down, as it’s become a problem.

Bitterman noted that the property belongs to the Department of Transportation and that the Sanitation Department empties the trash cans.

Read More

Roosevelt Avenue trip hazard

"Hey

This afternoon I watched as a woman coming out of the escalator exit of the Main Street-Roosevelt Ave 7 train station tripped and fell to the ground.

Her foot had become caught in a 3 inch deep gap caused by a missing section of sidewalk grate just about two feet from the top of the escalator.

There were no signs, cones or caution markers of any kind in the area, despite the heavy traffic that station receives from both commuters and MTA folks.

This could definitely cause someone some serious injuries.

Attached is a photo of the grate."

- Rob from Flushing

Let me guess...the grate became a victim of those metal collecting guys?

Read More

Staking a claim to community garden

From the Wall Street Journal:

Despite its serene setting and rows of flowers and vegetables, a community garden in Flushing, Queens, has turned into a battlefield.

Violent fights, death threats and shouting matches, sometimes involving fistfuls of dirt, have become routine at Evergreen Community Garden, leading to volunteer guards at the entrance and police patrols. And almost all of the tangles involve elderly Korean gardeners, officials and witnesses say.

The disputes grew out of the city Parks & Recreation Department's decision last year to take control of the 5-acre garden from a Korean-American senior citizens' group, which had transformed the trash-filled public space into a working garden back in the early 1980s.

A fight broke out at a news conference by elderly Korean gardeners upset that New York City took control of their park in Flushing, Queens. Mellad “Sam” Massoud, a member of the Evergreen Community Garden who supports the city’s control of the park, is seen shouting in the video because he was upset that the news conference was taking place. He was injured in the fight and spent three days in a nearby hospital. He said he was "simply reacting to the situation,” adding, "The fighting has gotten bad and we need to stop.”

The parks department—which contends the seniors' group had been improperly selling produce from the city-owned plot and excluding outsiders—turned control of the park over to its GreenThumb network of community gardens and installed a manager last year.

But the older gardeners are still trying to reclaim the land, at times by drastic means.

A year ago, the garden's 75-year-old former manager clutched a lighter and container of gasoline, threatening to light himself on fire if he didn't get his old job back, city officials said. The incident prompted a police hostage negotiation team to respond and two nearby schools to be locked down.

Then earlier this summer, 100 gardeners signed a petition saying they feared for their safety around one of the garden's new managers—and one person took out a restraining order against him, according to court documents. That manager now has a gardening schedule, set by city GreenThumb officials, so he doesn't violate the court order.

Parks officials say they are trying to keep the peace at the garden, located in Kissena Corridor Park.

Read More

The history of Tommy Huang

From The Real Deal:

Huang left his native Taiwan in 1974 at age 20 and settled in Flushing, Queens. A few years later, he married Alice Liu, heiress to Taiwan’s Haw Di-I Foods and Bull Head Barbecue Sauce fortunes and cousin to City Comptroller John Liu, a Democrat who is running for mayor.

While studying business at Queens College, Huang saw opportunity in Flushing’s many vacant properties and decided to go into the real estate business.

“I could not believe it,’’ Huang told the New York Times in 1997 of the empty land he saw around him. “How come nobody wants to buy it?’’

With the help of his wealthy father-in-law, Huang built seven high-rises and hundreds of houses. By the late 1980s, he had been credited with helping to revive downtown Flushing with projects such as the Golden Shopping Mall and Main Street Tower, a nine-story office building. In 1986, Huang paid $3.4 million for the dilapidated RKO Keith’s movie theater on Northern Boulevard in Flushing. Huang closed the landmark and began work on the site, with plans to develop it into a major shopping center.

Soon, Huang caught the eye of the Democratic political machine, which at the time was led by then-Queens Borough President Donald Manes. Working with Manes to encourage business development, Huang solidified his ties with the Queens political establishment, which helped him evolve into one of the most powerful real estate developers in the borough.

“They were grooming Tommy to be the fair-haired boy,” said Jerry Rotondi, a member of the Committee to Save the RKO Keith’s and a long-time critic of Huang.

“He was the symbol of the revitalization,” State Senator Leonard Stavisky told the New York Times in 1997. “But it was wrong to entrust so much of it to Tommy Huang.’’

It’s been suggested that Huang’s political ties with the city comptroller and others could partially explain the city’s inaction.

Read More

Bowne Park update

From 10am until sundown on Friday after the original Bowne Park post was put up, I received reports that parks workers were there in droves addressing the nasty conditions present. Here is an update:

Hi Crappy –

Well – they’ve mowed the lawn and emptied the trash.

Here are some pix.

Decaying tree branches providing a much-needed tripping hazard – check!

Inaccessible garbage pail out of reach within the fenced-off area, surrounded by garbage chucked over the fence – check!

Unnecessary second bocce court construction project on target for mid-2014 completion – check!

Scummy, dirty broke-down pond – check!

Gee - mowing the lawn did not entirely eliminate the neglected, sorry atmosphere at Bowne Park – go figure!

To Quote Bette Davis (and Elizabeth Taylor) - "What a Dump!"

Regards,

Flooshing Rezident

Read More

Dead wildlife and filthy conditions at Bowne Park

"Bowne Park is exceptionally filthy and filled with dead animals this year. Last year we had a great young girl there every day cleaning up the park and looking out for everyone and their pets. This year, the Parks Dept. has really dropped the ball. Perhaps Bloomberg moved all the money into his Canadian Geese Extinction Program!

Here are some not-so-lovely images.

There are about four garbage pails for the entire park.



They are always overflowing with garbage and are rarely emptied.


I like a beer as much as the next person but this is ridiculous. We need webcams beaming to a website that we can all monitor.


Chairs, shopping carts and baby strollers are regularly thrown into the pond and are left there for weeks at a time. The wooden platform by the seating area has been removed and a crappy metal barricade on wheels has been positioned in front of the missing platform for months now. Would it really cost that much to replace a few pieces of wood???? Yesterday, the temporary (HA!) metal barricade was in the pond – along with the chairs, shopping carts and baby strollers!

The pond itself is filthy and there are new dead turtles every day. It’s a really nice sight for the kids and the animal lovers!




When notified of four abandoned baby ducklings, the Parks. Dept. lied to PETA and said they had been taken care of, but they were, in actuality, ignored and eventually killed by the snapping turtles (12 out of 13 died, 4 had been abandoned by their mother – perhaps she was killed as well).

I guess it would have been too difficult to put on waders and go out with a net. They were trapped in the water – it’s not as though they could fly away! This was the only day they got out of the pond and it was because the pond had overflowed – a common occurrence due to the jerry-built fountains!

Trees bases are filled with garbage (perhaps a drugs stash – note the Marino’s bag – I guess these slobs are local!)


It’s absolutely disgusting!

Yet the Parks Dept. has $700,000 (that’s the number people are throwing around) to WASTE on a bocce court!!! And even that’s a complete disaster!

Two guys show up perhaps once a week and work for perhaps an hour. They must be getting a  monthly fee and, as such, are majorly dragging their heels. This should have been a $30,000 two week job! At the very least it should have been finished for the summer.

Why hasn’t it been completed? Why don’t the contractors just put the damned benches in and take their fence home? Because they get paid thousands every month on the fence rental!!! This entire project warrants an investigation. It just reeks of corruption!


We, the local residents, are disgusted by the conditions present at Bowne Park and we are angry!  Joe Moretti – your homegrown activism is starting to spread to Flooshing!!!! Thanks for the forum Crappy!" - Flooshing Rezident

Read More

Family's cars burglarized at cemetery

From WPIX:

While Annie Boghossian and her family were burying her grandmother, about a half a mile away from the burial site, their cars were broken into.

It was during the funeral of Josefina Iskandaria at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Flushing Queens, that family members claim perpetrators broke into five parked cars of people attending the service.

It happened on Friday around 2:30 in the afternoon.

They said purses were stolen from three of the cars. But, it gets worse.

Within hours, the family claims their credit cards were racking up charges all over Queens and on Long Island.

An engagement ring and other jewels they said were also taken from cars.

More than what was stolen; they feel betrayed and bewildered by what they feel is such a despicable act — theft at a funeral.

Read More

Illegal street parties at the Point

From the Times Ledger:

Residents of a serene North Flushing block spent six weeks tracking down the elusive source of blaring music — and were shocked to find it across a river and more than a mile away.

Peter Condiles lives in the leafy section of Flushing north of downtown where lawns, driveways and carefully manicured bushes are the norm.

It was a quiet place to grow up and live.

“At least it use to be,” he said.

On May 11, Condiles was awakened by loud music pulsating through the walls of his home.

When the racket returned the following weekend, he began walking around the neighborhood, thinking someone might be throwing a party.

But the sound seemed to be playing tricks on him.

Main Street? Linden Place?

Just when the lifelong Flushing resident thought he had cornered the source of his sleepless nights, the sound would vanish.

Condiles had been in contact with another neighbor also seeking the source of the pumping bass, Flushing activist Paul Graziano, and the two spent several evenings driving around, ears tuned to the night air. They went as far as College Point Boulevard before they agreed the sound must be coming from farther away, across the Flushing River.

After another unsuccessful venture into Corona, on June 21 Condiles stumbled upon hundreds of people congregated in Willets Point, a gritty area of junk yards and auto shops across from Citi Field and more than 1 1/2 miles from his house.

“There were between three and five cars or vans. Each one had its trunk or back doors open and maybe 20 or 30 speakers on the doors,” he said. “They were all playing the same thing.”

Condiles and Graziano believe the combined amplification power of the souped-up speakers had sent sound waves bouncing across the Flushing River, off of building facades and into their quiet enclave — and they want the parties, which have been driving neighbors nuts, to stop.

Deputy Inspector Ronald Leyson, commanding officer at the 110th Precinct, said police had already driven the pop-up parties — which may be organized through social media — from around Meadow Lake inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park several months ago.

Now that they have migrated to Willets Point, the precinct has started to do patrols and issue summonses.

Last Friday, officers confiscated a car, he said.

Read More

West Nile found at Pomonok

From the Queens Courier:

The West Nile virus has been detected in Flushing and Staten Island for the first time this season, city officials said.

Infected mosquitoes were collected from the Pomonok area of Queens and the Huguenot Beach neighborhood in Staten Island, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said.

While no human cases were reported, the department advises residents to take preventative measures to safeguard themselves against the virus.

Read More

Arboricide at landmarked mansion

Interesting that the Korean Church congregation (that sold St. Saviour's church and grounds in Maspeth to a developer) that now owns the landmarked Fitzgerald-Ginsberg mansion and grounds in Flushing decided to wait until July 4th to continue their path of destruction. They previously were criticized for cutting trees down on the property, and they're at it again.

Nice collection of violations, too.

Read More

Downtown Flushing in olden times

The following photos come from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.


136-50 Roosevelt Avenue, near Main Street. Old Central Bus Terminal building, three-stories, 330 feet long, faces west. 1942

Roosevelt Avenue. [Row of shops.] 1951

136-20 to 30 Roosevelt Avenue. [Row of shops.] 1942

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking N.W. along north side at N.W. corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Union Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.W. along south side, at S.W. corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Union Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.E. at Main Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.E. from L.I.R.R. platform at corner of Kissena Road and 41st Avenue, also shows park in front of library. 1951

136-21 Roosevelt Avenue. Consolidated Edison Building, view looking N.E. from near corner of Main Street along Roosevelt Avenue. 1951

136-31 Roosevelt Avenue. Stores. 1951

39-01 Main Street. [Row of shops.] 1944

Read More

Flushing & Whitestone parking hogs

"As street parking is becoming increasingly difficult in this part of the neighborhood some tenants don't have any regard for their neighbor’s needs, they bring boats, trucks, schools buses and also big RV's to be stored permanently on the streets in front (or not) of their houses taking valuable parking space from their respective neighbors.

Others park cars for years and although is not against the law there should be an ordinance that help remove from the streets vehicles that have been there for more than an specified amount of time, also, not to allow vehicles bigger than a certain size to be stored not only preventing neighbors from parking but preventing the view, sunlight and breeze to reach certain dwelling units besides being eyesores.


In front of 21-17 147th Street in Whitestone there's what appears to be a huge covered RV permanently parked taking some two or three parking spaces.


Near the corner of Union Street and 26th Avenue in Flushing in front of the Mitchell Gardens #1 coop building 142-15 26th Avenue there's another RV type of truck color brown with license plates FCR-3579 that has been parked there for months now. It’s near the water hydrant in front of the playground

In front of 146-16 25th Rd in Flushing there's a black BMW parked on the street for years, I’ve been walking this block at least once a week for a long time now and this car has always been there in the same position, you can see the marks of time on the car’s body and tires. License plates AXM-9464.

In front of 144-13 26th Avenue in Flushing there’s a very long limousine belonging to Royal Way Limousine Inc with license plates T621443C that barely moves from this place, the owner could park blocking his/her own driveway in order to save someone else some space.

All these vehicles are taking someone else's parking space, most people in these parts need the street parking space because most tenants in the neighborhood rent and don't have the right to use the driveway since landlords store their property in the garage of the house they rent to other people." - anonymous

Read More

Rape at Flushing massage parlor

From the Daily News:

Cops are investigating a rape at a Queens massage parlor Saturday.

Sources said the victim was attacked inside the Union St. shop near Northern Blvd. in Flushing at about 5:30 p.m.

Paramedics rushed the woman to Queens General Hospital in stable condition, officials said. Her attacker remained at large Saturday night.

Police sources said they don't know exactly what transpired at the massage parlor, noting there's a "language barrier" between investigators and the Asian victim.

Cops were seen entering and leaving the second-floor business - its windows covered by a neon "Open" sign and pictures of men and women getting massages - for most of the night.

The attack occurred at a time when communities are complaining about the proliferation of massage parlors and spas that stay open late and where workers provide more than just rubdowns.

Yeah, by the way, there's a website where you can find out what's "on the menu" at each massage parlor. Nice, eh?

Read More

149th Street bridge saga drags on

From Eyewitness News:

As the Eyewitness News Investigators reported in April, a bridge in Queens is so riddled with cracks, the city has kept it closed to traffic.

Not only is this bridge still closed more than a year after a complete overhaul, but there appears to be no real fix short of starting all over again.

Now the city blames the engineer and the engineer faults the city.

Read More