SO, the city made the announcement today that “Long Island City, New York City’s fastest-growing neighborhood, will get a $180 million infusion of capital to build and improve schools, streets and parks.” Before you get too excited note that $95 million of it will be spent on sewers, $60 million on a new school that had already been announced, $10 million on street improvements – all of which are necessary infrastructure for the fastest growing neighborhood in the U.S. That leaves $15 million for parks, so maybe a better headline is “City Allots $15 million for Long Island City Parks.” [Read more…] about $180 MILLION DEDICATED TO LIC BY NYC, WHY NO BRIDGE?
Politics
“KNOCK DOWN THE PROJECTS AND BRING IN THE CRANES”
But at night it’s a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it’ll be alright
3 1/2 years ago LICtalk proposed razing Queensbridge. Not because it was a blight on Long Island City – its presence has minimal impact, but instead as a pragmatic solution to the endemic problems of, well …the projects. It took awhile, but now others are making similar arguments, most notably in [Read more…] about “KNOCK DOWN THE PROJECTS AND BRING IN THE CRANES”
SUNNYSIDE YARDS DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
AN article in The New York Times this week rehashing the proposed development of Sunnyside Yards pulled the editorial staff here out of their late-summer stupor. I could spill lots of ink rebutting the rationale put forth by the proponents of this pipe dream, but I’m on the beach and the waves are so soothing. Plus I’ve already done so in the past, so I’ll boil it down to the two main arguments: [Read more…] about SUNNYSIDE YARDS DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
CITYLIGHTS TAX SAGA, TWO LESSONS FOR ALL LIC CONDO OWNERS
Just as the tax abatement for the Citylights Building was about to start rolling off, NYC boosted the buildings assessed value by 87%. For good measure they tacked on another 5% this year. The near doubling in possible tax payments has the co-op’s residents looking at a 50% increase in already steep monthly maintenance over the next five years, which if implemented on this tower of over 500 units will force out many residents who can no longer afford to live there.
You can read the story below for more details. Instead I’d prefer to focus on two takeaways that all apartment owners in [Read more…] about CITYLIGHTS TAX SAGA, TWO LESSONS FOR ALL LIC CONDO OWNERS
BIG DIG PLOWS FORWARD AND ‘WE ARE FAMILY’ IN LIC
Living life is fun and we’ve just begun
To get our share of the world’s delights
(High!) high hopes we have for the future
And our goal’s in sight
THE next step in the quest to deck over and develop Sunnyside Yards has been announced. An architecture firm has been hired by the city to form a master plan for the massive development. In addition the city created a local steering committee which according to Curbed “will spend the next 18 months organizing public meetings and workshops to elicit feedback from Queens residents on how best to proceed with the megaproject’s development, and address the needs of local residents.”
My thoughts on this project are well-known: [Read more…] about BIG DIG PLOWS FORWARD AND ‘WE ARE FAMILY’ IN LIC