Hypocrites, a bit?

Photo from The Forum

From the Queens Gazette:

More than 500 people filled outreach center Ohr Natan on Thursday, July 25 to fight for the facility to remain open. Members of the community, spiritual leaders and elected officials voiced their support for Ohr Natan, where thousands of people depend upon for their food distribution, classes, children’s programs, events, lectures, referrals, ESL classes and Judaic studies each year. Ohr Natan is being evicted and possibly taken over by a developer who plans to convert the center into an apartment building. In attendance were Congressmember Grace Meng, state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblymember Michael Simanowitz, Councilmember Karen Koslowitz, borough president candidate Melinda Katz and Barbara Baruch representing City Comptroller John Liu. Proclamations were presented to Ohr Natan by Meng, Stavisky, Koslowitz and Liu. The theme of the event was “We are here together with Ohr Natan —No to development! No to Destruction!”

No to development, no to destruction?!?

When was the last preservation rally that this cast of characters showed up for? They usually are the ones proclaiming that a structure needs to be torn down in the name of progress.

Melinda Katz is the reason that they are being evicted in the first place because she told the LPC in 2006 that the site was not worthy of landmarking (at the congregation's urging).  The other dopey electeds have caused similar harm throughout the borough.  So why all of a sudden is preservation so important?  How deep are the pockets of this crowd?

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"Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it"

From DNA Info:

The building housing a long-time and prominent Rego Park synagogue is slated for demolition, raising fears that the congregation, which has more than 1,000 people, will have no place to go.

The worries came despite assurances from new landlord Rudolf Abramov of Trylon LLC that the displacement of Ohr Natan Synagogue would be temporary and the congregation will be allowed back once the new building is completed.

The news also comes after the congregation poured more than $2 million into a 4-year-long renovation of the historic former Art Deco Trylon Theatre.

The group's rabbi, Nahum Kaziev, said he fears that despite the developers' pledge, the congregation may not be allowed to return.

Kaziev also said the displacement during the construction period would last a couple of years.

"Where are we going to be in the meantime? On the street?," said Kaziev. “It’s unbelievable, it’s a shame."

The 25,000-square-foot property, located on a triangle-shaped lot between Queens Boulevard, 99th Street and 66th Avenue, was sold in December 2012, for $9 million, according to Eugene Kim from Massey Knakal, a real estate company, which facilitated the sale.

It was sold in 2012? I found a blog post about it, but no press release. Interesting that all media outlets would fail to pick up this February news story about such a controversial property. Who exactly did Massey Knakal send it out to...or did they "forget" to send it out?

Anyway, I don't feel sorry for the congregation at all. They could have had a permanent home. But they instead chose to lobby Melinda Katz for funding to destroy historical aspects of it as well as to deny landmark status for the building. Why couldn't preservation be part of the plan? Because they just HAD TO destroy the historic mosaics in front of the place and cinderblock up the entrance. So they are about to get exactly what's coming to them.

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Trylon Theater & Tower Diner block advertised as hi-rise development site

Trylon Portfolio

A special thank you to former City Council Member and current Queens Machine-backed Queens Borough Presidential candidate Melinda Katz for making sure the LPC rejected the landmarking application.

Quote: In an interview with the Daily News, Katz explained that she was not disappointed in Tierney's decision, and thanked him for taking a "very careful look" at the Trylon issue. She added that the Trylon had been modified too much from its original look, with the theater's interior and marquee having been redone in 1984 and 1994, respectively. "I never thought that this was a building suitable for landmarking," Katz said. "I guess I'm just happy that he [Tierney] made a decision, and now we move on.

Actually, the facade of the building was what activists sought for landmarking, and that's the only part of a building the LPC can designate, unless it's open to the public, which this wasn't. As for the marquee, it's very unlikely that it would not be replaced over time. It hasn't stopped countless other landmark designations of theaters. The facade was 100% intact. Melinda knows this. She'd rather have development on Queens Blvd than preservation. Enjoy much more of this type of behavior should she enter Borough Hall and make the entire borough the Katz litter box.

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