I just learned a new twitterish acronym that describes my manic state – FoMO, which stands for “fear of missing out.” It’s exactly why I spent the first half of last week in Davos, and then caught a flight for the presidential inauguration – which I celebrated in Mexico City. Didja miss me?
I expected little noise locally in light of the national doings, and fortunately the news gods cooperated.
Yet my voyage back swept me past the Midtown Tunnel 2.017, which was denuded of it’s toll booth last week! Then, I awoke this morning to discover the East River lapping, once again, over Gantry Park, which now seems to be an annual occurrence – at the very least.
//INSIDE of 36 hours from the news that an RFP to develop a site over tracks owned by the NYC and the MTA, came a shot across the bow from a local politician. On first being reported by DNA Info, my quick read of the story led to my thinking “How can anyone make money where the proposal requests an affordable housing allocation and community space in a 10-story building1 that has to be constructed over a usable train yard?”
Aha, there’s a loophole! Uncovered by State Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan’s office, the city is trying to pull a fast one by conjuring an extra 40-50 stories through a sleight of hand way too sophisticated for my pay grade. According to a press release from Nolan sent out midday:
“This project has high probability to be outsized and not right for Long Island City. I oppose such overdevelopment. Considering the size of the site and its proximity to other large scale development in Long Island City there must be a better plan to increase basic services before such large scale development is considered”
We concur, and appreciate the efforts by Cathy to root out and question the costs of densification.
City Seeks Developer to Build Housing Over Railyard in Hunters Point – the lot is adjacent to the northern side of Hunters View condo building on the corner of Jackson Ave and 49th Ave
City to Share Sunnyside Yards Study in a Few Weeks – “we’re not saying it’s on the back-burner, but it’s certainly not on the front burner either as we’ve got a lot of balls in the air (not to mention battles to fight)” Maybe this is why the city’s looking to do it piece-meal like above?
Queensbridge Houses Celebrates a Year Without Gun Violence – while it may be a notable accomplishment …it’s also notable! Raze Queensbridge?
Work Rises Above Construction Fence on Murray Park – the MPD is getting densified, though thankfully this one will only be 4 stories
REBNY Extending it’s Reach into Queens – Eric Benaim @ Modern Spaces helping to spearhead
NY Neighborhoods May Get More Say in Public Art Decisions – all because of a furor in LIC
Teen Lights Sleeping Commuter On Fire Near Court Square Stop – gotta stay awake on da G
An Afternoon at The Noguchi – good re-cap on Noguchi Museum history, but all I could think about was the two people in the accompanying pic and what may have transpired before and after the visit
- the approximate height per current zoning [↩]
Leave a Reply