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Is Starbucks Coming to Vernon Boulevard this Fall?

July 23, 2024 by editor 8 Comments

ABOUT two weeks ago, the windows were papered over at 10-01 50th Avenue. Previously the brief home of Juice n Bagels/Black Star Bakery, and for a much longer period Dorian’s Diner, this highly visible and well-trafficked location on Vernon Boulevard and on top of the Vernon/Jackson Manhattan-bound subway station, has been vacant since January. Curiosity got the best of me and in snooping around the premises on the way to work, I asked a construction worker ‘What’s coming in here?’

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Silence Is Not Golden for Long Island City

July 21, 2024 by editor 10 Comments

There are times in one’s life when people are called upon to make difficult decisions. Sometimes those decisions are wrong, but in the hands of a capable and intelligent person, more often than not they are right. Other times, people choose to not make a decision on an important matter (aka: do nothing). If by doing nothing, this leads to an adverse outcome, it is what I would refer to as an invisible mistake.

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Comings and Goings In LIC This Summer

July 15, 2024 by editor 3 Comments

WARBY Parker has opened a new store in Court Square. Is this good news for LIC? Raising Canes has opened their first store in Queens out in Flushing. Is this good for the borough? With openings come closings: M Wells, the home-grown, meticulously-curated, and somewhat offbeat steakhouse has announced they will be closing at year end. Could be the end of the lease, could be the exhaustion from running a restaurant full-time for a decade, no explanation needed and this is not good for LIC.

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Rezoning Revolution in Long Island City?

July 4, 2024 by editor Leave a Comment

INDEPENDENCE Day is not just about barbecues and fireworks, it’s a reminder that when leadership from afar is not representative of local needs, something must be done. While I previously stated that the latest rezoning proposal for LIC will be dependent on the market, not the politicians, it does not mean that were they to come to fruition our needs should not be met.

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There’s Movement On The 50th Ave & Vernon Empty Lot

June 23, 2024 by editor 3 Comments

ANYONE who’s walked to the Vernon/Jackson subway station during work hours this week could not have missed the renewed construction on the empty lot on 50th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard. In addition to a new fence, there was briefly a freshly printed permit and rendering with an expected completion date of Fall 2025. Will this come to pass? Who knows?!? Why was it delayed all these years and suddenly sprung to life? Ahh, if these walls could talk, but I don’t think it had anything to do with political prodding. Will Hunters Point get a new Starbucks, other national chain, or a ‘homegrown’ purveyor? Yah Mon, I already told you I do not know. But progress…

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