OuterB has been M.I.A. the last few months, but we are preparing for a relaunch very soon, so keep an eye out for the all new improved OuterB

See you soon…

More parking workshops! The first round of workshops was last November, held by the City Department of Transportation (DOT). These public workshops will further address community concerns about the possible impact of congestion pricing on neighborhood parking, especially those that risk being “park and ride” nabes for out of town drivers. Here’s the 411 on the workshops:

Tuesday, 1/29
Long Island City
6:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:00
Citicorp Building
1 Court Square
Long Island City

Wednesday, 1/30
Forest Hills, Queens
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30
Forest Hills Jewish Center
106-06 Queens Boulevard
Forest Hills

Related:
DOT Parking Workshops - Second Round [NYC DOT]
Workshops to Address Queens Neighborhood Parking [previously on OuterB]

KEW GARDENS

$309,000

125-10 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, NY

1,270 square foot, two bedroom, two bathroom co-op in a postwar building with a 24-hour doorman. Apartment features a dining area, central air conditioning, hardwood floors, washer/dryer, and a common roof deck. Maintenance: $1,316; 51% tax deductible. Asking price: $309,000; on the market for four weeks.

Broker: 21st Century Benjamin

Source: The New York Times - 1/11

FLUSHING

$1,150,000

33-74 157th Street, Flushing, NY

Five-bedroom, four-bath Colonial on a 60-foot-by-100-foot lot, with master-bedroom suite with walk-in closets, fireplace and full bath with Jacuzzi and shower, living room with fireplace, formal dining room, eat-in kitchen with new appliances, full finished basement with family room and laundry area, central AC, driveway and garage. Taxes: $4,641. Asking price: $1,199,000; on the market for six weeks.

Broker: Carollo Real Estate

Source: The New York Post - 1/10

Photo: Carollo’s Blog

Well, the “Astoria Castle” finally got its gates. It does not improve things.

There’s more construction across the street. Who knows what it’s going to look like in the end!

The Slummification of Kissena Boulevard [Citizen of the Month]

Update for the Long Island City Sundial [LIC Sundial]

This is still one of the best videos on Long Island City [LICNYC]

Is Queens the New Brooklyn? [drawger.com via Jackson Heights Life]

Hello, G Train! [NY Times]

Photo credit: Dmadeo on Wikimedia Commons

The radio today told me that there’s going to be no way around paying to cross the East River. Congestion Pricing - in one form or another - is coming. The five options are:

1. $8 congestion pricing fee proposed by Bloomberg, with an 86th Street upper terminus
2. Lowering the terminus to 60th Street, same charge
3. $4 toll each way on East River bridges
4. Charges based on the last number of your license plate
5. Raise parking fees and taxi surcharge

Numbers 1 and 2 seem the most workable, number 3 the most penalty-laden, number 4 just plain lame, and number 5 seems too unrealistic.

If they decided to charge a toll on the East River bridges, I wonder how they would fit toll plazas into things - where would they go?  That kind of construction would be pretty awful for Queens on the 59th street bridge.  How would that disrupt the neighborhood?

It will be interesting to see what happens, what the final decision is.  One needs to be made by end of the month.

Spotted tonight on the way home, the artist’s rendering of the senior housing going up in Astoria just west of the Astoria Blvd subway station. There used to be a parking lot there. In the near future, it will be affordable housing for people of our grandparents’ generation. This sign is on the Astoria Blvd side of the construction.

The building has really grown since the last time I posted about it. I think the picture is a little misleading, but that’s the nature of these sorts of renderings.

Related:
Astoria Senior Housing Construction [previously on OuterB]

LONG ISLAND CITY

$525,000

13-11 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY

One-bedroom, one-bath condo, 867 square feet, with renovated kitchen, washer/dryer and three exposures with city views. The Echelon building features part-time doorman, roof deck, health club and live-in super. Common charges: $481. Taxes: $145 (15-year abatement). Asking price: $535,000; on the market for 16 weeks.

Broker: David Ahdoot, The Developers Group

Source: The New York Post - 1/3

FLUSHING

$760,000

144-23 28th Avenue, Flushing, NY

46-year-old attached two-family house. Two, two-bedroom one-bathroom units, guest suite and a one-car garage. Taxes: $4,500. Asking price: $758,999; on the market for one week.

Broker: Re/Max Millennium

Source: The New York Times - 1/5

This weekend, the NY Times ran a story on parking permits and the Mayor’s plan to reduce by 20% the number of permits given to city employees - police officers, firefighters, teachers and other city employees. As you can imagine, those drivers who work in jobs that traditionally have had parking permits as part of the employment package are not happy with this plan. These jobs are not the highest paying jobs, especially compared to salaries in the private sector, so the parking permit softens the blow a bit.

This, in part, encourages people to continue to have cars, and cars will continue to be a problem as NYC gets more and more populated. Where are all these cars going to go? Thank goodness new developments provide some off-street parking spaces (though at a price).

For a year, I worked as a parking appeals officer. I read appeals people wrote regarding parking tickets they were given. My boss used to say that parking was the great equalizer on campus - it didn’t matter if you were a student, staff, or faculty - you were each given a parking permit and had to abide by its rules.

A lot of people felt they were above the rules and would park wherever they wanted to. And when they got a ticket, it pissed them off sometimes. I was once left a message from an angry woman who said that God was going to strike me down because she had been issued a parking ticket.

One of the things that I had no tolerance for was abuse of placards, disabled placards in this case. Some of these people felt that they could just borrow grandma’s disabled placard, or park in front of a fire hydrant regardless, so this part of the Times article really struck a nerve:

When the city announced plans to crack down on the abuse of parking permits issued to city employees, Christopher Stephens felt a shiver of furious recognition.

He once oversaw parking permit violation cases as an administrative law judge in the city. One day, in Queens, a woman seeking to nullify her parking ticket confidently claimed breathtaking powers for her Fire Department placard.

Are you a Fire Department employee? Judge Stephens asked. No, she replied, but my father is a retired fire chief. “No way is that legitimate! No way!” Mr. Stephens, 39, now a lawyer for the city, said on Friday. “She is not a Fire Department employee, her father is no longer a Fire Department employee, the vehicle does not belong to the Fire Department, and the vehicle was not being used for Fire Department business.” He ruled against her.

I say, right on! It seriously irks me that people feel that they can flaunt the rules like this.

The placard cuts start March 1. It will be interesting to see if this affects the future parking situation in any way, and I’ll be curious to see how much backlash comes out of it.

Related:
Paring Down Parking Permits, and Raising a Fuss [NY Times]
Parking Permits in Queens? [previously on OuterB]

This weekend I was running down by Astoria Park, and walked a segment of 19th Street alongside the Pistilli Riverview East building - the side that looks onto the park. And you know, apart from the stucco covering, that part of the building really looks just fine. I mean, the nature of the original building has a kind of monolith air to it, but the ornament and the way the windows are situated within make for a nice industrial look. But that 21st Street side is still just ghastly.

Some of my current work requires me to bone up on certain American mythic personalities, so I’ve been paying close attention to the trailers being released of the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight. First, it looks fabulous - I love Christian Bale as Batman and Batman Begins was truly excellent. And second, in this trailer, about a third of the way through, a building is blown up and I swear, it reminds me so much of the 21st Street side of the Pistilli building. See for yourself and let me know if you agree:

The Dark Knight Trailer 2

But with all this being said, I’m sure it will be nice to have new neighbors in that part of town. Despite the fugliness of the east side of the building, it’s gotta bet better to have people there than the previous tenants - rats and (rumored) prostitutes.

Related:
Pistilli Riverview East in Astoria Wins Honors [previously on OuterB]