News

GIN OR FURTHER?

May 24, 2013 by editor 3 Comments

For those not going to the Hamptons this weekend, there's a new swimming hole in town — For those not going to the Hamptons this weekend, there’s a new swimming hole in town

The weeks leading up to Memorial day are always agonizing for me, as I am forced to make a final decision as to which of two lanes I will be summering in: Gin or Further. In the never-ending tussle between old and new money, I perpetually seem to get caught in the middle. Ultimately it comes down to whether I want to spend more quality time with Howard, Rachael, and fellow journalistic mogul Arthur; or should it be Jerry, Martha, and Carl who are the lucky recipients of my sagacity and wittiness? The latter specifically has credited me with making him billions in summers past with my stock tips. But money isn’t everything, and based on these two crews it seems the old guard has just about been pushed out anyway. Thus I have decided to allow trendiness to trump tradition, and will spend the summer in Montauk. Because the youth of today are also deserving of my counsel and bonhomie, and maybe a little cuddling. Plus I can catch the Cannonball out of the Hunters Point LIRR station and be in Montauk in two and a half hours, leaving all the troubles of LIC behind. I may even leave my Bentley out there. So while you may not see me on the links at the Maidstone this summer, fear not because I’ll be able to make myself right at home with a quart of tonic, a liter of Beefeater, and a lime. Phew, now I can rest easy until August approaches, when I’ll have to decide if it’ll be Marbella or St. Tropez?

Oh wait, this news site is about Long Island City isn’t it? Well there’s not much news heading into the weekend, especially after Wednesday’s crush. Talking about crush, what I have been telling you about all year in terms of the demand for condo’s here in LIC, manifested itself earlier this week, per the Daily News:

“Condos in Long Island City are so hot real estate companies may need to hire bouncers for upcoming building openings. A crazed buyer bum-rushed the door at the opening of Five27, a project in the popular Queens enclave where new construction condominiums are selling at neighborhood highs.”

Everything else is just a recap of earlier news, so rest your eyes and enjoy the long weekend.

New LIC Condo Building So Hot Buyer Rushes The Door – gee, even I couldn’t have predicted this intensity

New LIC Rock Climbing Gym Plans to Open This Summer, Despite Bribery Scandal – good news for the neighborhood

Van Bramer Restores Some Faith In Pols – no disrespect for what JVB did, but this comes across as another case of hooking a small, struggling fish instead of those who cause much more damage

5Pointz To Be Replaced by Cornball Glitzy Box, Critics Say – a recap of the zoning board meeting Wednesday night

Locals Irate Over Plans To Convert 5Pointz to Condos – alotta coverage on this one

5Pointz Developer Blasted at Meeting – lotsa different views on this

Queens Businessman Kidnapped and Tortured in LIC Warehouse – far from the cornball, glitzy boxes lies another world in LIC

CHARTER SCHOOL AND 50-STORY RESIDENTIAL TOWER COMING TO LIC? PLUS VAN BRAMER BUST!

May 22, 2013 by editor 9 Comments

xxxx — Big changes coming to the LIC skyline

Even I would be stretched to make up the big LIC news today. The headline says it all, and there’s a whole lot more.

Before we dive right into it, a few other interesting notes. Tonight is the public hearing on the proposed 5Pointz development, 7pm at MoMA PS1. Tomorrow night Food Cellar is holding another Vendor Party from 7-10pm. This is basically an occasion where Food Cellar’s vendors give out samples of their food and beer. Kinda like Smorgasburg, sans hipsters and it’s free, kinda.

Finally, a little environmental tip: Do not put plastic bags into recycling bins for general plastic. Plastic bags are the bane of recycling programs. When carelessly placed into recycling bins for general plastic — which they often are — the bags jam and damage expensive sorting machines, which cost huge amounts to repair. Who says LICtalk is just a heartless, vapid, profit-focused media conglomerate? Who?

Charter School Plans For LIC Fought By Education Leaders – there was a local meeting last night for charter school Success Academy, which might try to bring its act to LIC in the next year or two.

New Rockrose Building to Be Tallest Residential Building in Queens – the Citigroup tower will soon have a girlfriend, well it’ll have to hold out for 3 years(ouch), but it’ll forever change the LIC skyline

Van Bramer Helps Bust Local Businessman – The Cliffs LIC’s owner implicated in bribery charge. Hmm, kinda seems a little grey to me, kinda.

Newest TF Cornerstone Tower Ready to Rip With New Amenities Galore – what comes after trilogy? Well anyway, the third of TF Cornerstone’s four Center Boulevard buildings is now filling up. As for amenities, in 2013 I kinda feel it should include the word “aromatherapy”, kinda. Oh and “green” too, yeah, that word also makes me kinda touchy-feely and wanna buy(or rent) things, kinda. Not to mention it garners great tax breaks, and I’m not talking “kinda.”

Gastropub To Move Into Lounge 47 – on Vernon Boulevard. Wow, we may have to rename Vernon “PubCrawl” Boulevard.

Artists Howl As Developer Moves to Tear Down 5Pointz – a rehash of numerous other stories about 5ptz recently. If you really wanna be in the know, go to the meeting tonite.

Mets Players Move Into LIC Luxury Buildings – a little late on this story guys

Long Island City Open Studio Weekend – a recap of the LIC Arts Open and profiles of numerous local artists who work/live there

NO MACY’S FIREWORKS FOR LIC IN 2013

May 13, 2013 by editor 7 Comments

We don't need no stinking Macy's! — We don’t need no stinking Macy’s!

Though they are few and far between, there are some things that even LICtalk cannot do. Sadly, bringing the Macy’s Fireworks to the East River is one of those things. I have nothing to add to this, it’s just disappointing. On the other hand, we do have a restaurant in our ‘hood worthy of review by the The New Yorker. Small consolation.

Macy’s July Fourth Fireworks Staying Put on The Hudson – BOO!

M. Wells Dinette’s Review in The New Yorker – outrageous …ly good,

Hunters Point Residents Angry About Parking Spaces Lost to State Workers – you can’t get much more local than this

The Growing Black Market for Stolen Food – so, a week after I reported the Blue Print theft, we learn that maybe food isn’t so hard to fence. Whodathunkit?

HUNTERS POINT LIBRARY FENCE WRAP VANDALIZED

April 30, 2013 by editor 10 Comments

Farhenheit 451 today? — Fahrenheit 451 comes to LIC (click on pic for detail)

Hey, did you notice the terrific mural installed last week around the Hunters Point Library site? Well inside of 72 hours, some schmuck came along with a box cutter and dissected it. Earlier today I received this in an email from a concerned and outraged resident:

Many of you may already know this by now, but in walking along Center Boulevard this morning, I noticed that the newly installed scrim was sliced with (probably) some sort of knife on almost half of the surfaces! I was heart-broken and I’m furious, as this scrim was providing not only an nice, aesthetic coverage of the work sight, but also a sign of progress for our library – some excitement that soon it will be built. I spoke to 2 workers who were tending to it on my way back to my building and they said it happened over the weekend. The workers said the scrim cost $6,000 to create and produce and that they won’t be repairing it – it will stay that way the duration until the library is complete.

The resident sent the same email to the LIC powers-that-be and received the following response:

Dear –,

My name is Jen Manley, I am the VP of Government and Community Affairs at the Queens Library. Both Assembly Member Nolan and CM Van Bramer’s office relayed your concerns this morning to me. I cannot express how upsetting this is to the library. We are so very excited about this new library in your community and you are absolutely right that the new fence wrap was a small but important signal of progress. It was also very beautifully designed by our partners at the City Department of Design and Construction and very generously supported through the financial contribution of the Queens West Development Corporation. As you learned- this sort of wrapping is actually very expensive to have produced and the Queens West Development Corporation stepped up to make sure it could be completed to enhance the community. It is so discouraging that it has been destroyed. I spoke to both DDC and to QWCD today and everyone is equally upset. Funding is short but they are going to try to repair the several panels that were damaged and we will see what else can be done if needed. Diane Balleck from Assembly Member Nolan’s office already brought this to the 108^th precinct (thank you Diane) and they advised that as soon as a complaint is initiated at the precinct they can then work with your building and your neighbors buildings to secure footage and identify whomever did this terrible thing. I spoke to QWDC and they will file a complaint with PD tomorrow. If we can nail whomever did this the whole community would be grateful. Please feel free to share this update with your neighbors as well.

Thank you so much for sharing your concerns – let’s stay in touch.

Jennifer Manley, Vice President, Government & Community Affairs, Queens Library

Here, let me repeat the most important part:

If we can nail whomever did this the whole community would be grateful.

Agreed. So if you anyone saw anything, please contact the police with the info.

QUEENS, QUEENS, QUEENS, QUEENSNYC

April 15, 2013 by editor 9 Comments

Saboroso - yup, that's Queens! — Saboroso – yup, that’s Queens!

After bombarding you with LIC news on Friday, we once again encounter the occasional lull in local news. What does one do at a time like this if they are straddled with a curious mind? Stray from your comfort zone. Fortunately we live in a neighborhood located in curious mind central: Queens! Now had you asked me a decade or so ago, I would have condescendingly replied something along the lines of how “I don’t do bridges and tunnels.” Yet that antiquated view went out in the last century, as Williamsburg eclipsed the West Village for hip nightlife(now only to also be on the verge of passe). Which brings us back to Queens, the next Prague, Paris in the 20’s, Phuket, or Phnom Penh. Well maybe that’s a bit much, as we don’t quite have the architecture of the first two, or a concentrated, bustling nightlife, nor any signs of a counterculture. But what we do have is an unparalleled diversity, genuineness, and lack of pretension. Those qualities are extremely hard to find in a no-stone-unturned 21st century planet. So if I’ve enticed you enough to leave the confines of an increasingly gentrified Long Island City, then let me also pass on what I think is the best guidebook to all the aforementioned qualities, as it encompasses them itself: QueensNYC.com. I love reading all its posts, as I know the sights and sounds are all reachable and attainable. Unlike say, reading an article in the New York Times Travel section about taking a 41-mile hike in remote Piaui, or one on a debaucherous, over-the-top bachelor party weekend in Tallinn. In addition to introducing you to all these great, new, frequently undiscovered places in Queens, they have terrific photographs. In fact some of them are so enticing, the only advice I can give you is to not read it before mealtime. So am I jealous of all the wonderful stories QueensNYC puts out? Sometimes, but I like to think my musings and utterances stand up on their own. I mean didn’t Hemingway read Steinbeck?

Hey folks, we always try to keep you apprised of all the disparate programs going on in LIC; here’s a great one for kids, and it is still open for registration:

Musical Theatre with AudraRox Inc.

STARTING APRIL 9TH at the New York Irish Center!

10 weeks for $300

***Our 3-5 year old drop-off class has become a big hit!!
Audra’s Musical Theater Class is back by popular demand! If your older child loves music & drama they will enjoy the theatrical element to this class. This is a class was created specifically for our older students, building on Audra’s extensive theater background and successful experience teaching Aardvarks. Through song we will activate our imaginations & re-inact some of our most beloved childhood stories! From The Gingerbread Man to The Wizard of Oz – we are going to act them out with SONG! The result is a creative and dynamic drama class where kids will develop their writing, performing and collaboration skills- resulting in a final performance. Plus, it’s fun way for your older kids to stay connected to making music with AudraRox.

QueensNYC – lots of wonderful places to go, and the best thing is you can still sleep in LIC after visiting them

An Urban Adventure in LIC – video

Building a Better Tech School – all about Cornell Technion, coming to Roosevelt Island. You can live in LIC and send your kid to the MIT of NYC, and he can sleep at home and have all his meals cooked and laundry taken care of, another great reason to live here!