Queens and More

City to pursue public approval of Flushing Commons

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:25:00 +0000

The city said it will move ahead with plans to redevelop Flushing’s municipal lot by the end of the year, raising hopes for the revival of a project considered by many to be dead in the water since it was announced by the mayor in 2005.

Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber told Flushing leaders last Thursday that the city is committed to dusting off and starting the public approval process on its Flushing Commons project, an announcement that caught several in the room, most notably City Councilman John Liu (D−Flushing), by surprise.

Muss lands huge BJ's Wholesale Club lease

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:12:00 +0000

Send in the big boxes. Members-only warehouse-style retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. just signed on for 121,000 square feet at Muss Development’s sprawling shopping center at Sky View Parc on College Point Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. The asking rent for the 20-year ground-floor deal was not disclosed, but real estate sources say asking rents in the area are typically around $40 a square foot.

The store is expected to open by November. It will join other large retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and Target, at the 800,000-square-foot center. Chain restaurant Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar also recently signed on to lease 6,500 square feet at the shopping center, where the eatery plans to open in the spring of next year. The center is now 70% leased.

“BJ’s is going to be a big generator of retail traffic,” said Dave Brickman, vice president of development at Muss Development. “Customers coming to shop there will overflow to our other retailers.”

More than 750,000 would-be shoppers live within three miles of the project, which will include six towers—with a total of 1,100 residential condominiums, 140 of which have already been sold—and a rooftop park.

John Hanlon of Ripco Real Estate Corp. negotiated the BJ’s and Applebee’s transactions on behalf of Muss Development. The tenants were represented by their in-house teams.

At a time when many retailers are scaling back, BJ’s is aggressively expanding in the New York area. The Natick, Mass.-based club recently signed for a site in Canarsie, Brooklyn, that was formerly leased to Home Depot and is also planning outposts in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and Pelham Manor, Westchester. In March, BJ’s posted an 8.5% jump in same-store sales of merchandise, compared with the year-earlier period, while rival Costco’s same-store sales declined 2%.

Property Details

Crain's New York.

A Star is Born - Susan Boyle

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:16:00 +0000

The full version of the Susan Boyle Video

Leap to Track. Rescue Man. Clamber Up. Catch a Train.

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times - Chad Lindsey, 33, near the subway tracks where he lifted an injured man to safety as a train approached on Monday. Then he went on his way.

Nice to report a story like this.

Subway heroes, as they are inevitably tagged even before the grease from the tracks is rubbed off, come along every now and then — indeed, as the story of Chad Lindsey suggests, perhaps more often than we know.

Minutes after rescuing a man who had fallen onto the subway tracks at the Penn Station stop on Monday, Mr. Lindsey managed to melt back into the anonymity of the city, escaping the notice of the police, paramedics and subway workers.

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The Reverse Gear

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:40:00 +0000

Reverse mortgages can save the day for many older people.

GETTING credit is no simple task these days, even under the best of circumstances — just ask anyone who has applied for a mortgage. But it can be even more problematic for those who are retired, with many facing the triple whammy of declining income, falling home values and dwindling savings from Wall Street’s meltdown.

Looking for a way around the continuing credit crunch, more older people are exploring reverse mortgages, which allow homeowners 62 or older to borrow against their equity. With reverse mortgages, lenders and brokers generally don’t consider credit history. Instead, they look at the applicant’s age, any existing mortgage and the home’s value.

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Image from the New York Times.

New York Landlords Fight as Rent Refunds Loom

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:09:00 +0000

Looks like alot of renters may be getting money back.

The real estate industry in New York City is mobilizing with an intensity not seen in years as it faces an almost unheard-of possibility: a court order that it may have to return hundreds of millions of dollars in rent.

The state appeals court decision bars New York City landlords from deregulating apartment rents while receiving a popular tax break meant to encourage building renovations. Industry officials say the decision could affect as many as 80,000 apartments in the city, trigger widespread defaults on loans, eliminate construction jobs and reduce property tax revenues for the city.

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Image from the NY Times.

Open 311 May be Coming Soon

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:10:00 +0000

Getting the information straight to the people is the way to go.

Personal Democracy Form - Tech President -

The Daily News' Erin Einhorn is reporting that members of the New York City Council want to open up the city's immensely popular 311 system. "Eliminate the middleman," says Speaker Christine Quinn, and put the information the non-emergency line's operators use online and on iPhones and the like. Mayor and technophile Mike Bloomberg calls it "a brilliant idea." The members didn't make clear if under their proposal citizens might feed information -- like details on potholes, broken street lights, or flooding -- back into the database. Press release after the jump:

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
March 8, 2009
Release # 018-2009

311: The Next Generation
Speaker Quinn, Council Member Brewer Propose New 311 Mobile Application

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Image from MobiGates on Flickr.com

At Foreclosure Auction, Houses Sell, in a Frenzy

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:20:00 +0000

The auctioneers have high energy but think of the poor people who are being foreclosed on. They're probably home with the blanket over their heads.

New York Times - In rapid-fire speech that resembled a horse-race announcer’s, an auctioneer introduced the first of the day’s 375 properties: a seven-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Roselle, N.J., with an estimated value of $565,000 and a starting bid of $129,000. (Final sale price: $245,000.)

On the floor, four men called the bids, screaming, blowing whistles, thrusting their arms into the air and using their fingers to signal how much more was being offered over the last bid.

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Image from the New York Times.

Beethoven and Fonda: Broadway Soul Mates

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:09:00 +0000

Nice to see that at 71 Jane Fonda still has what it takes.

New York Times - It’s a fine line between brittle and breakable. Jane Fonda blurs that distinction to memorable effect in “33 Variations,” the new drama written and directed by Moises Kaufman that opened on Monday night at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Playing a sharp-witted, terminally ill musicologist confronting the betrayal of her body, Ms. Fonda exudes an aura of beleaguered briskness that flirts poignantly with the ghost of her spiky, confrontational screen presence as a young woman.

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Image from the New York Times.

Paired Houses, but One Is Abandoned

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Slate Magazine - In Camden, N.J., perhaps the poorest American city I regularly visit, I photograph what I call paired houses: two dwellings, side by side, one occupied, the other empty. Those living in the occupied home often have their lives made more difficult by what happens on the other side of a shared wall. If I see a neighbor or meet the resident of one of the occupied houses, I ask how they're coping. They tell me that people throw trash in the front and back yards of the vacant unit, causing foul smells and attracting rats. Physical problems in the empty shell cause accelerated decay in the occupied house. Water may be left running in the unoccupied unit, causing moisture to migrate next door. In cold weather, pipes burst. Joists rot and collapse, tearing bricks out of the shared wall. And if the empty dwelling is not properly sealed, prostitutes and drug addicts may break in and start fires.

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Image from Slate Magazine.

Amazon releases Kindle iPhone application and ebook readers rejoice!

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:04:00 +0000

ZD NET - I was reading my Twitter feed and stumbled upon a post by Rene announcing the new Kindle for iPhone application that you can now download for free (iTunes link) from the Apple App Store. Folks, this is BIG news for the ebook industry and came MUCH faster than I ever anticipated given that the Amazon Kindle 2 (check out my review) just started shipping last week. My Kindle 1 is now up for sale on ebay and it looks like my iPhone will now be a regular part of my gear. With the Kindle 2 and Whispersync technology the iPhone and Kindle 2 will make a perfect pair.

I can read with the Kindle 2, but for those times when I am out and about the iPhone will fill the void and keep my place in every book I buy from my Kindle 2 or the Amazon store. You can buy Kindle books from your Mac, PC, iPhone via web browser, or your Kindle 1/2 and then have them wirelessly transferred to your iPhone/iPod Touch.

I think the Amazon Kindle and ebook store just far surpassed the Sony Reader for true mobile reading on the go and is now the one to beat. I do still think that there is a place and market for the Kindle 2 device since the reading experience is better and the battery lasts a LONG time on the device, but the convenience of always having your books with you on the iPhone is a MAJOR bonus.

Stay tuned for an image gallery and video of the iPhone application and Kindle 2 side-by-side with a video showing how Whispersync works and how you can purchase books.

image from Flickr.com, Meghan A.

CUNY law school offering immigrants advice

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:13:00 +0000

Legal advice available but you must make an appointment in advance.

Queens Courier - Due to a lack of money many people do not seek needed legal advice.

Now a free legal assistance program for Queens immigrants will provide lawyers who will give advice about immigration issues and help them with the necessary application forms for citizenship and residency.

Councilmember James Gennaro, who represents the communities of Jamaica, Fresh Meadows and Forest Hills amongst others, and the CUNY Law School’s Community Legal Resource Network launched a four-month-long, weekly program that will offer the legal advice at the Ebenezer Pentecostal Church, located at 145-15 Jamaica Avenue. The program will be free, open to the public and available in both English and Spanish.

You’re Dead? That Won’t Stop the Debt Collector

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Eric Frenchman, an online consultant, said a DCM agent inquired about his late father’s $50 Discover card balance before the bill was even due. Since Mr. Frenchman had been planning to pay it anyway, he emerged from the experience vowing never to get a Discover card himself.

New York Times - The banks need another bailout and countless homeowners cannot handle their mortgage payments, but one group is paying its bills: the dead.

Dozens of specially trained agents work on the third floor of DCM Services here, calling up the dear departed’s next of kin and kindly asking if they want to settle the balance on a credit card or bank loan, or perhaps make that final utility bill or cellphone payment.

The people on the other end of the line often have no legal obligation to assume the debt of a spouse, sibling or parent. But they take responsibility for it anyway.

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Image from the New York Times.

Time Warner Goes Over the Top

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:09:00 +0000

New York Times - Just as soon as Time Warner has divested itself from the cable business, Jeff Bewkes, its chief executive, is preparing to stab the cable industry in the back.

That’s what I read in the interview with Mr. Bewkes in Advertising Age Monday talking about a concept the company calls TV Everywhere. Most of the article positions Time Warner, a major programming supplier, in agreement with Comcast and the newly independent Time Warner Cable, over plans to let people watch cable networks on the Internet.

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Image from Flickr.com, CJC4454.

Supreme Court Enters the YouTube Era

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Watch the video and be the judge.

New York Times - The Supreme Court is entering the YouTube era.

The first citation in a petition filed with the court last month, for instance, was not to an affidavit or a legal precedent but rather to a YouTube video link. The video shows what is either appalling police brutality or a measured response to an arrested man’s intransigence — you be the judge.

Such evidence vérité has the potential to unsettle the way appellate judges do their work, according to a new study in The Harvard Law Review. If Supreme Court justices can see for themselves what happened in a case, the study suggests, they may be less inclined to defer to the factual findings of jurors and to the conclusions of lower-court judges.

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Jobless Woman Headed For Texas On Horseback

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:22:00 +0000

This lady is homeless; lost her home and her job. She's travelling with what she has left, her two horses.

NPR NEWS - On roads teeming with motorcycles, pickup trucks and 18-wheelers, it isn't too hard to spot a woman on horseback.

So Donna Byrne is attracting a lot of attention. After she lost her job as a ranch hand in Arcadia, Fla., the 44-year-old couldn't afford her rent, so she decided to ride her horses, Jay and Tonto, to Texas — maybe even Montana — in search of work as a cowgirl.

In the first few weeks of her journey, Byrne has already received a large showing of goodwill. She says every day people stop to ask about her journey and offer a hand.

"She loaded up her horses and all her worldly goods and hit the road," says Daniel Skidmore, who pulled over on U.S. Route 301 in Wildwood, Fla., after reading about Byrne in a local newspaper. "I don't know many women [who] would do that."

At a rest stop up ahead from where Skidmore found her, Byrne ties Jay and Tonto to a handicapped parking sign, and they gulp down five buckets of water. Byrne pats them on the neck, nuzzles them and scolds them when they start drinking too sloppily. She says Tonto has a nice demeanor — that is, until someone tries to ride him.

"Then he wants to buck," she says, which is why she's designated him as her packhorse.

And as for Jay, "She gets one of them temperaments," Byrne says. "She wants to go, go, go, go — you've got to hold her back."

The horse's personality is not unlike her rider's. Byrne was a truck driver for many years, and that road mentality has stuck. She has no family, so when work didn't pan out in Florida, Byrne says, heading west was the best solution she could think of.

"It's been a dream of mine to do this ride," she says. "Lost a house, lost a job. Had to do something quick. I figured right now'd be the best time to do it."

Byrne spent the first few nights of her journey sleeping outside, until two local newspapers picked up her story — The Tampa Tribune and the Bradenton Herald. And that's when people started looking for her. Drive-by benefactors pulled over and donated cash. Some people offered their homes and their stables. A vet gave the horses roadside shots. A farrier gave them a new set of shoes.

In these tough economic times, something about Byrne's old-fashioned earnestness seems to strike a chord with people. In some ways, it's almost as if she rode straight out of a John Steinbeck novel.

"Owning a log cabin house," she says, longingly describing her dream life in Montana. "Having my own piece of property. Doing my own ranching. Mountains all around it."

But of all the people who are helping Byrne, horse lovers seem to be especially galvanized.

"Horse people are kind of a stick-together bunch," says Lisa Pannell. "So you know you kind of help out somebody if you can."

Pannell was at the receiving end of an elaborate phone chain to find lodging for Byrne in Wildwood. She let Jay and Tonto stay in her paddock, while Byrne slept at Sandy LeNoir's house down the road.

"I just think she's trying to hang onto her horses, which is, for a lot of us, that's our sanity," LeNoir says. "And she's hanging onto them and going after her dream. She's got nothing to lose."

Members of a Florida chapter of Cowboys for Christ, a national organization, have started a Web site for Byrne, and they've been making calls on her behalf. They're trying to connect her with people through Florida and even on to Texas. Nobody's really thinking beyond that yet.

That is, nobody except for Byrne. She says the word is that there isn't much more work in Texas than Florida.

"It's tough all the way around. It really is," she says.

And if she finds the Lone Star State lacking in job prospects?

"Just keep on riding," she says.

And that's exactly what she's doing — every day. After the horses slurp their last bit of water, Byrne ties the bucket to Tonto's pack and hoists herself onto Jay. She tips the floppy brim of her cowboy hat, and the three head on down the asphalt trail.

http://www.cowgirlsjourney.webs.com/

New Yorkers Cutting Back on Cable TV Service

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:58:00 +0000

New York Times - For most New Yorkers, moving into a new home means calling Con Edison, Verizon and the cable company. But some younger New Yorkers are no longer paying for cable television and instead watching their favorite shows, movies and videos online and from on-demand delivery services like Netflix. These early adopters are taking advantage of a growing number of Web sites like Hulu and software including Boxee, which stream many programs available on Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and Comcast, often at no charge.

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Image from Flickr.com, Reflection717.

7 train track rehabilitation behind - weekend service halts set to end

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Weekend commutes on the 7 train will soon be back to normal.

New York Daily News -A nine-week-long track rehabilitation on the No. 7 line that halted weekend service between Queens and Manhattan is set to come to a close this weekend, transit officials said.

That was music to the ears of flustered commuters, who have been at the mercy of free shuttle buses between Queensboro Plaza and Hunters Point Ave.

Before the project began, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rejected pleas for shuttle buses to Manhattan - adding to a long list of complaints against the agency among local leaders.

"This has just happened too many times," said Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley. "We don't disagree that the work needs to be done, but it needs to be better coordinated."

Apartment Buyers Abandoning 6-Figure Deposits

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:44:00 +0000

People are now walking away from six-figure deposits to get out of deals. That would be too big of a sacrifice for me.

New York Times -THE real estate market in Manhattan has become so unnerving to buyers that some are forfeiting six-figure deposits rather than close on deals they have made.

At 304 Spring Street, a sleek condominium building in SoHo with stunning Hudson River views, the buyer for the duplex penthouse recently decided he would not go through with the deal and walked away from a $780,000 deposit.

At 1120 Park Avenue, a classic prewar co-op filled with multimillion-dollar apartments, it appears that a buyer forfeited a deposit of as much as $1.1 million.

Real estate agents representing buyers of at least three other multimillion-dollar properties also report clients who knowingly left deposits of more than $1 million or hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table.

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Image from Flickr.com, Ben Heine.

And Do I Hear $2 Million? No? $1 Million? Sold!

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Developers are going back to a tried and true method of moving real estate, the auction.

New York Times - As housing prices around the country began to tumble about three years ago, the New York market kept rising, and only in the last year did it begin to show some weakness.

But now sales in the city have slowed so significantly that worried developers are planning to auction off some luxury condos in the spring for around half of what they were asking just a year ago.

Developers who are awash in unsold inventory see auctions as a tactic to jolt a paralyzed public to life.

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Image from Flickr.com, Peter Tsai Photography

Humpback Whale Is Stuck Off Sandy Hook

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:29:00 +0000

2-27-2009 - The whale has been set free.

See video of some of the activity.

2-25-2009 - I hope they're able to help this poor whale. Recently I posted a beautiful story about a whale that did get help...Humpback Whale Rescued by Divers

New York Times - A humpback whale has become entangled in fishing gear about eight miles offshore in New York waters, the Coast Guard said on Wednesday. Until the team from Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in New England arrives at the spot, near Sandy Hook, N.J., on Thursday, the Coast Guard has established a 500-yard safety zone around the stranded whale, which it announced via Twitter.

The Coast Guard boat first arrived at the scene around 12:30 p.m., which is close to the approach to the Ambrose Channel. It is not clear when the whale became entangled. The whale is about 25 to 30 feet long, and reportedly visible on the surface and breathing, said Barbara Patton, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said. However, the entanglement could be considered life-threatening.

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Image from the New York Times.

Flushing Home Sales Statistics

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:08:00 +0000

The New York Post has a chart that shows how prices peaked and then began to decline for home sales in Flushing. Currently prices are down to the 2007 level. If current predictions of the down economy continue, this chart will go even lower. I'll check back on it to see if there is significant change or not. If there's significant change, I'll repost.

My First Book of Urban Planning

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:56:00 +0000

If we have children thinking about the urban landscape from an early age, maybe we'll see some real improvements once they come of age.

ARCHITECTS may need only to point at a building to explain to their children what they do.

Planners aren’t so lucky.

In fact, unless airplane windows are involved, it’s probably a struggle to describe how they map out roads, stores and homes to form neighborhoods.

A new children’s book may help shed light at a time when interest in the field seems to be growing.

“Where Things Are, From Near to Far” (Planetizen Press, $19.95), by Chris Steins and Tim Halbur, depicts a mother and son on a stroll through a city and its surroundings.

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Image from the New York Times

Moove Over - CowParade is Coming to Flushing

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Some of the first cows to arrive are presently located at the Queens Crossing building on 39th Avenue in Flushing.

Image from Morton Fox on Flickr.com

A Sharp Drop in Home Prices at End of Year

queens.and.more@gmail.com (Infohack) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:55:00 +0000

The forecast for housing prices is that they will continue to drop. This bleak news is scary as well.

New York Times - Home prices in the United States plunged at the fastest pace on record in December, a sign that housing is likely to continue declining in the months ahead as the economy sinks deeper into recession.

Single-family home values in 20 major metropolitan areas fell 18.5 percent in December compared with a year earlier, according to a data released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index. Housing prices dropped 2.5 percent from November to December.

Nationwide, housing prices in the last three months of 2008 sank to their lowest levels since the third quarter of 2003.

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Image from the New York Times