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Long Island City Real Estate: The Latest

July 7, 2020 by editor 5 Comments

LIC Skyline — Condo’s, Commercial, or Rentals, the storm clouds are rolling in

It’s been almost two months since we gave our predictions for real estate in Long Island City in the shadow of Coronavirus, what’s transpired so far? Well inspiring me to do an update so quickly, was an article late last week in The New York Times highlighting the number of new apartments available in LIC. Less inspiring have been the multiplicity of articles saying prices are going down/haven’t really gone down much/dire predictions for the future of NYC real estate/minimal sales & leases signed since the shutdown, blah blah blah – all of which contained spotty data and little of value.

The NYT article had facts, and best of all they were specific to LIC. Oh, and Greenpoint too. And the combination of available units and soon-to-be available units in both locales ain’t good – unless you’re a prospective buyer!

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Yes Long Island City, We Had Macy’s Fireworks Tonight!!!

June 29, 2020 by editor 1 Comment

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Macy’s opened the first segment of their 4th of July 2020 Coronavirus Fireworks Tour in familiar territory along the LIC waterfront tonight. It began around 9:45pm and came in three short explosive bursts each lasting 2-3 minutes. Unveiled to the press around two hours prior, it was a resounding success in terms of garnering just the right amount of viewers onsite to be completely safe and being a very welcomed respite and resumption of normality. Oh, and though short they were also spectacular. The planners get an A+ for tonight’s event.

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Politics, Fireworks, And A New Pedestrian Bridge?

June 24, 2020 by editor Leave a Comment

What’s the big news in LIC this week? Well it’s not politics, despite a primary that basically determines the winners in the general election. Sure there are schisms within the predominant party, the Democrats, but I wouldn’t generalize the results in Queens, or the Bronx or Brooklyn last night, to a national level. NYC had already elected (and then re-elected) a progressive Mayor back in 2013. AOC’s startling win in 2018 came on the heels of ~20% of the country choosing a Socialist for President in 2016 ((if Dems represent 50% of voters and 40% of these voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary = ~20%)). So it should come as no surprise that additional upstart progressives defeated more mainstream, or at least incumbent, candidates in pockets of NYC, especially those more economically disadvantaged. At varying times over recent decades the backlash of extremism has happened on both sides of the aisle – think Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America in 1994 and the Tea Party in 2010.

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Fireworks And Other Disturbances On The LIC Waterfront

June 18, 2020 by editor 20 Comments

Center Boulevard LIC — Smorgasburg it’s not, more like Baghdad come nightfall

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there

Back in my early teens I was a fireworks fanatic. Bottle rockets, cherry bombs, bricks of firecrackers, roman candles, etc. gave me great joy. It also made me and my compadres the scourge of the suburban street I grew up on, which was largely inhabited by retirees for some reason – whose fanaticism centered around gardening. So it is with great reluctance, mainly as a result of my unwillingness to concede to adulthood, that I write this post.

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Moving Along In LIC

May 29, 2020 by editor 1 Comment

Now Available: Hanging Out With The Fruit Man

Well folks I’m happy to report that in this period of sheltering it’s given me the time to work on the Great American Novel and I am now .01% complete. More importantly I’ve already chosen which Hollywood stars will be in the movie version and am reaching out to them as we speak. The only thing I haven’t decided is whether to have Brad Pitt or George Clooney play the lead role of myself, please forward contact information for either if you happen to have it. You can pre-order the book on Amazon at the link below.

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