Parks and Library

RESTAURANT BONANZA IN LIC: FOUR NEW ONES SLATED TO OPEN IN ’13

December 13, 2012 by editor 13 Comments

New restaurants or not, there's already some tough competition in this town! — New restaurants or not, there’s already some tough competition in this town

Yowza! We go from zero to a hundred on LIC news inside of 48 hours. First off is an explosion of new restaurants expected to be coming to Long Island City in the new year, some announced, some surmised. In the latter category, the old M Wells location is rumored to be turning into a sports bar. Then, separate stories about two joints in Dutch Kills, one in the final stages, one completely a speculation. Most imminently comes word that opendoor, a restaurant we wrote about back in August which was scheduled to open in October, is weeks away from kickoff.

With news like that, who needs original content? So let’s get straight to the stories, but before we do, here’s a little newsflash on a Shady Park hoedown happening tomorrow afternoon:

THIS FRIDAY (DECEMBER 14): All are welcome to come help clean up Shady and bring some festive cheer to our beloved park! The Parks Department will be opening Andrews Grove from 12 noon to 4 p.m. so the community can join in an initial clean up (mainly collecting leaves and small debris, nothing heavy). AND, to bring some seasonal cheer we will be decorating a holiday tree that will be a festive symbol of our plans to make the park green and fun again as soon as possible. Please bring holiday decorations for the tree from any tradition or none (our only request is that they are non-breakable, especially no glass) so we can get this next phase of the park’s life off to a glittering start! This will be a family event with supervised children welcome, but please note that activities will be limited to the front part of the park closest to the street (the back part of the park where the play equipment is located will be off-limits). If you plan on joining us it would be great if you could leave a comment here to let us know. We hope to see you there!

The Old M Wells Space Scheduled to Become A Sports Bar Called Adelfia – there definitely won’t be any chants of “Let’s Go Rangers!” in the bar this spring

38-40 Crescent Street Restaurant Speculation – judging by the pic, I don’t think it’s gonna be a Per Se offshoot

A Closer Look At The Windmill Tap And Grill – beer n burger in a nice setting? make it a double

More Hotels Popping Up Outside Manhattan – USA Today takes a crack at this well known story about the proliferation of outer boro hotels, particularly in LIC

It’s In Queens – featuring some local happenings

No Longer Empty At Bank Of Manhattan in Queens – previously mentioned art exhibit in old bank

No Longer Empty Preview – hmm, pretty cool pics, might be worth a gander

SHADY PARK FINALLY CLEARED OUT

December 11, 2012 by editor 1 Comment

That’s right folks, this weeks hot story is the above headline. The wrecking/chipping/moving crew was in Andrew’s Grove today clearing out the rest of the trees, branches, and logs. Sadly, upon close inspection, it looks like the monkey bars did not survive. Yet now the restoration can finally begin.

In other LIC news …oh, there’s nothing of real significance to report, get back to the eggnog and gluhwein.

Among The Best –public high schools that is, and Queens got’em

Long Island City Winter Show – reception for a show featuring painters who find inspiration in Long Island City’s industry. Many works are images of an LIC that no longer exists

Inside The World’s Biggest Consumer 3D Printing Factory

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW GANTRY PARK PLAYGROUND

November 28, 2012 by editor 5 Comments

We need more than a ball and a wall for the “kids”

In light of the paucity of news coming out on LIC, it is time to make our own news with an advocacy push. Currently, Long Island City has numerous playgrounds serving its youngsters: Rainbow, Murray, “Train”, and probably Shady again by early 2013. What do they have in common? They are all geared for children aged 1-5 years old. While that constitutes the current majority of kids in our neighborhood, it is time for our cutting edge community to look to the not-too-distant future. Specifically, the new playgrounds slated for Hunters Point South should be geared to an older demographic. With that in mind, I have provided a link to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal about some of the more sophisticated equipment being put in today. One of the playgrounds they highlight is in our “sister” city on the other side of Manhattan: Hoboken. So if you are reading this and have children of any age in LIC, I urge you to click thru to the story, think of the possibilities, and put in a word with the powers that be. Isn’t it better that our kids are motivated to be outside in the park doing physical activities, rather than hanging on the couch with their pals Tivo, Wii, and Zuckerberg?

Are Playgrounds Too Safe? – it’s for their coping skills, shouldn’t every child be a master of(her own) universe?

SNOWFLAKES ON CENTER BOULEVARD

November 26, 2012 by editor 3 Comments

Riverfoliagebkgrd — Another autumn holdout(click on pic)

Well the news is still slow when it comes to LIC, we have a total of three articles today and the third is a stretch, but maybe that is because the holidays are seemingly in full swing. Center Boulevard has some new and tasteful holiday lights on its lampposts, and with them comes the cold and omnipresent winds off the river, as winter is finally evincing its presence. Thus, I too will spare you any lengthy dissertations so you can spend more time with your loved ones, new or old. Just one word of advice: bundle-up!

After Sandy, Some NYC Parks Stay Shut – TV interview about Shady Park, aka Andrew’s Grove, or is it the other way around?

A Battle of LIC’s New Luxury Condos – hmm, not really sure it’s apples to apples

School Rezoning’s Border Wars – it always comes back to the school issue. Want to know exactly what powers and influences a CEDC(Community Education Council) actually has and does not have? Then this is your article.