Here we are the end of August. It’s still hot, languorous, and quiet in LIC and about a week away from our thoughts turning to Fall and school, aka the future. And yet a select group still in town are struggling and barely keeping their heads above water, despite working long hours primarily in the heat of the sun. I’m talking about the restaurant owners, which by appearances may seem to be doing quite well were one to simply observe the bustling outside activity. But for most owners the outdoor seating is a wash at best, as the capacity is still a fraction of what most restaurants hold. Plus the extreme heat coupled with occasional rain is a financial widowmaker. It pains me to walk by a restaurant on a rainy day knowing that it leads to a flood of cash down the drain with zero recoupment. For more details on the suffering and ramifications I highly recommend you read the letter below written by Long Island City’s Communitea in Eater.
//FOR more on suffering, or maybe stupid in this case, is the story below about the guy (ID’d) smashing windows on the 7-train for …kicks? The suffering will occur if they run out of replacement windows and have to reduce service.
//ABOUT ten days before the city shut down, the Sunnyside Yards Plan was released. Though I wrote about it at the time, I did hold back a financial piece I was putting together because the sense I got was that in completing the plan the city came to realize it was completely unfeasible – and this was before the pandemic led to a mass exodus from NYC. Why a reporter from Bloomberg decided to dredge it up again five months later is beside me. Oh yeah, it’s slow, hot, and eerily quiet…
Restaurants Are Closing, Not Failing, That Makes A Difference – the sad truth about Communitea in LIC is a reality for so many individual restaurant owners in NYC and across the country
7-Train Window Smashing Puts Line At Risk – one spree occurred at Vernon-Jackson station
Amazon Opponents Shift Focus To Sunnyside Yards – let sleeping dogs lie
Jerry Seinfeld: So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’ – It’s not
Anonymous says
August 26, 2020 at 1:10 pmA sad reality about the small businesses and ultimately the entire neighborhood. Maybe the landlords will drop their pricing enough to draw in businesses to replace the vacancy. Maybe our politicians have ideas to help when COVID is over?
ASensibleMan says
August 27, 2020 at 4:32 pmAnd yet this entire fiasco is politically driven. The “pandemic” was over in New York in May. Restaurants could have opened with 100% indoor dining and no masks (masks do nothing anyway) in June, quite easily.
All along, there has been near zero risk for anyone under 45, and little risk for anyone under 70 that didn’t have known risk factors. But it was goalpost moving from day one (remember “lower the curve”?). Now we’re at the point where there may be more people in New York dying from dog bites than from Covid, yet still the lockdown goes on. It was nonsense from the start. It’s catastrophically insane nonsense now.
And all so Cuomo and DeBlasio can keep grandstanding. What do they care? They’re getting paid every week. They should both be arrested and jailed for life. They are among two of the worst criminals in the history of America.
JFC says
August 28, 2020 at 2:16 pmWow it must be terrible to live in NY if there are 180 dog bite deaths a month. Oh no wait, that was Covid deaths. Yeah who cares if 3% of people die and a large percent have long term health problems and need expensive medical care.
Anonymous says
August 29, 2020 at 10:18 pmI know LICTALK does not take positions on local politics but there has been a growing sentiment among many local residents that Jimmy Van Bramer has completely given up on his duties.
– He pushed away major job opportunities by bullying Amazon and trash talking them in the media, while offering no alternate plan for job growth. Maybe he was too strong w his dialogue. If only he had another crack at this.
– The community involves YOURLIC process occurred, a plan for job growth was prepared and he continues to insist it isn’t what’s best for the community. As if he didn’t have time to think about great options after Amazon left. As if he doesn’t have time right now to think ahead and provide alternate suggestions.
– His recent handling of the private security hired on LIC waterfront shows that he is selective re. which citizens he cares for. He initially chose not to listen to HIS concerned community and then effectively shamed these citizens for being rich and/or racist. Incredibly divisive rhetoric for someone who blatantly disregarded his abandoned citizens.
– Now, his recent twitter account activity has been scattered with divisive rhetoric, at one point calling an 18-year old a “jerk” and today he was spreading hate by cursing at the NYC PBA telling them to “f*ck off” for disagreeing with his policies.
As someone who has been living here almost ten years and has experienced his approach to leading this neighborhood, I do not know who he is advocating for at this point and he’s now resorted to outwardly projecting on those who disagree with him. I used to trust that he had our best interests in mind but have now concluded he’s completely abandoned us. Morale is at an all-time low with COVID and his rhetoric is just just worsening things. It seems like forever from now that true leadership may be restored to the area. I hope to God that in 2022 we are offered a responsible council member who treats all of us as equal – not just some, can offer inclusive ways to grow jobs for all our people, can partner with companies for our future growth, can generally be a productive force for improvement and can leave all the divisiveness behind.
Anonymous says
August 31, 2020 at 8:03 amNext article should state: Per the CITIZEN app, “Report of Assault With Knife” hits Hunters Point waterfront area last night amidst calls from concerned residents who say Jimmy Van Bramer turned their back on them.