A thousand reasons to love Long Island City. Tips: Editor@LICtalk.com
BULBS planted in Fall begin to show themselves in March. So it is with Bellwether restaurant on Vernon Boulevard, where the scaffolding has been removed and there is a sign in the window mentioning they will be opening in a few weeks. Further details were revealed [Read more…] about BELLWETHER RESTAURANT IN LONG ISLAND CITY CLOSE TO OPENING
I’m just trying to find the bridge
Has anybody seen the bridge?
Please
Have you seen the bridge?
I ain’t seen the bridge!
Where’s that confounded bridge?
THERE’S going to be a protest this Saturday. In general, the impetus behind it is to make sure the LIC community has a say in the development of three adjacent waterfront plots: Anable Basin, Waters Edge, and Lake Vernon. Of equal importance is the request to recognize and rezone these three lots as a whole, not in isolation. The belief is that in doing so it will not only optimize the space for the neighborhood but also for the city, inasmuch as it will allow more comprehensive planning and be able to incorporate much larger economies of scale and/or amortization of concessions. The most obvious example, and one near and dear to The Editor’s heart, is a rec center. ((and that rec center can also be optimally located where the most people could potentially have the closest walk to get there: on 5th Street & 46th Rd.))
The logic of creating a Master Plan for the three lots is self-evident, yet the powers-that-be have been completely dormant in recognizing the tremendous opportunity right in front of them. That’s what the protest is for!
Now, while the Rec Center is the most obvious oversight, and almost de rigeur when talking about concessions for variances or granting a rezoning, there’s another need that also lends itself to amortization, and frankly might be more timely than even, ahem …affordable housing. That would be [Read more…] about PROTEST -> MASTER PLAN -> BRIDGE
CORRECTION: The Real Deal has just amended their story and forgot to include that the 2nd tower, of 56-stories, had previously been filed in October. Thus the plan is basically in its original form of 1000+ units, plus school, and maybe a Shake Shack. Never mind.
TF Cornerstone has taken a big knife to their plans for Parcel C in Hunters Point South according to The Real Deal. The latest iteration contains only ~400 units in a single 46-story tower versus 1,200 units in a pair of 55 & 44-story towers [Read more…] about TF CORNERSTONE GREATLY SLASHES HUNTERS POINT SOUTH PLANS
So what’s with the recently painted gold-lettered “Mona Coal-Ice” on Vernon Boulevard? Is it an olde-tymey steam-punk themed haberdashery? Is it a spin-off from the ice cream store next door? Or maybe we should take it literally and get our ice for parties and coal for umm, you know, like burning? No. no, thanks to a little sleuthing from my desktop [Read more…] about MONA COAL-ICE ON VERNON BOULEVARD
When a problem comes along
You must whip it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it
When something’s going wrong
You must whip it
DON’T let anyone tell you that incubation is bad/dirty/will make your child go blind. It’s not and is perfectly natural and normal. Now that we have that out of the way, we are happy to report that next year every child in LIC will be able to incubate in LIC. That’s because after much brainstorming and jawboning by an ardent group of local advocates, the DOE has decided to convert the large Pre-K center at 27-35 Jackson Avenue in Court Square into a new K-2 location called 30Q384 to incubate the brand new elementary school coming to 54th Avenue in Hunters Point. Therefore the lucky parents of the class of 2032 will have two local options as to where to send their kids for elementary school as opposed to all previous classes who were relegated to a sole choice.. That’s a 100% increase, and as every teacher knows 100 is perfect. In addition, it now gives parents in Court Square (of which there will soon be many more – see below) a much closer option than PS78Q. Finally, we hear that the trailer pre-school on 49th Avenue, which was slated for closure, will now remain open.
//RENT War Breaks Out in LIC – that should have been the title of a story below in the WSJ, as it relates to how [Read more…] about NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO BE INCUBATED IN LIC, NOT WOODSIDE