When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
CHRISTMAS IN LONG ISLAND CITY
HOW CAN THERE BE A HELIPAD WITHOUT A REC CENTER?
“Cut-off fortresses are no fun for anyone”
THE highlights of this weeks HQ2 news, which continues to dominate the headlines in LIC, contrasts the manner in which another mammoth corporation came to the decision to greatly expand its work force in NYC. In case you missed it, Google announced they are doubling their jobs here to 14,000 and adding more buildings in the West Village/Chelsea area to do so. That news led to a lot of ink and jawboning about the lack of subsidies needed for Google to arrive at that decision, and more bashing of the Amazon deal and Bill de Cuomo.
Justified or not, I came to my own revelation this weekend in perusing the names of the 45 members of the Amazon Community Advisory Committee [Read more…] about HOW CAN THERE BE A HELIPAD WITHOUT A REC CENTER?
THE VERNON JACKSON CHOKE POINT
NO one knows Long Island City better than LICtalk. NO ONE! Unlike politicians, journalistic interlopers, and other carpet-baggers, we eat, breathe, and actually live on the streets of this town. Therefore we’ll share a local issue that has heretofore been missed. While every talking head discusses the worry about overcrowding on the 7-train (legit but obvious), there’s a much smaller yet more immediate bottleneck that will require a solution: access into and out of [Read more…] about THE VERNON JACKSON CHOKE POINT
2018 XMAS WISH LIST TO SANTA VAN BRAMER
On behalf of all the people who have assembled here
I would merely like to mention if I may
That our unanimous attitude
Is one of lasting gratitude
For what our friend has done for us today
And therefore I would simply like to say Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
That’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me
I may sound Double-Dutch
But my delight is such
I feel as if a losing war’s been won for me
I would merely like to mention if I may
That our unanimous attitude
Is one of lasting gratitude
For what our friend has done for us today
And therefore I would simply like to say Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
That’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me
I may sound Double-Dutch
But my delight is such
I feel as if a losing war’s been won for me
GIVEN that we’re almost done with 2018 and the S&P 500 is nearly flat this year ((+/-2% on any given day)), I’m going to keep my Christmas wish list modest, unlike in years past. In fact there’s only one item: renovate the pair of tattered basketball courts in Murray Park.
Repave, reline, replace current backboards with fiberglass ones that jut out another 1-2 feet from the fence to create a baseline that’s not abutting it That’s all, very simple and shoudn’t be expensive.
Currently they are in such a state of disrepair they [Read more…] about 2018 XMAS WISH LIST TO SANTA VAN BRAMER
HQ2 YEA/NAY, KATZ TO JVB TO O’LEARY, CHANGE A KUMON’, 80%?
The only thing that is constant is change – Heraclitus circa 500 BC
POLLS can be funny, so I try not to read too much into them. Let’s take one released this week showing 60% of Queens residents favor Amazon coming here. Maybe. More likely 60% are neutral or “Don’t Know” where they stand on HQ2 in LIC. If the deal really is even-handed that’s where the majority should sit under the bell-curve of a standard distribution. But that doesn’t make headlines.
Well thought out analysis can also be buried in favor of sensationalism. The most eloquent opinion piece I have read in the morass that has been written about HQ2 in the last month, was scripted by Seth Bornstein who heads the Queens Economic Development Corp. which despite its industrialist-like moniker is largely dedicated to helping out people from modest backgrounds. Having read his monthly letters for years, I can tell you that Seth knows Queens. He also knows the history of New York City, which in a nutshell is that it’s always changing, and usually at a faster pace than the rest of the world. [Read more…] about HQ2 YEA/NAY, KATZ TO JVB TO O’LEARY, CHANGE A KUMON’, 80%?