Daily News Sept. 26, 2016 (Editorial Board) (SEE POLL BELOW)
By wielding the power of “no” more befitting a small child than an elected official, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has stopped a worthy plan for affordable housing dead in its tracks.
Thus, for the second time in as many months, an individual council member has vetoed a project aimed at increasing the supply of apartments with reasonable rents amid an uproar by anti-development constituents.
Mayor de Blasio has made building affordable housing a top priority — cheered on by the City Council’s progressive posse as long as developers build anywhere but in their districts.
He’ll kiss goodbye his dream of building 80,000 affordable units unless Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito stops empowering her members to put the interests of neighborhood naysayers over the good of New Yorkers at large.
The city’s oldest affordable apartment developer, Phipps Houses, last week withdrew a proposal to build 209 homes for tenants of modest means on a parking lot at the rim of the Sunnyside Rail Yard in Van Bramer’s Queens district.
Phipps had embarked on the city’s routine land use approval process, which journeys from community board to borough president to City Planning Commission to Council and finally to mayor.
Or should have. Van Bramer short-circuited the review before it began, declaring that he would vote no when the Council’s turn came to consider the project. Then he took petulant offense at the mayor’s promise to have “a polite but firm conversation with the councilman,” retorting, “I don’t work for the mayor.”
So, although the City Planning Commission last month unanimously approved Phipps’ plan, under custom zealously embraced by Mark-Viverito the local Council member’s position dictates that of the Council as a whole — making it pointless to proceed to a vote.
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31 Comments
I guess JVB Will be canceling his daily news delivery
Well said John O’Leary.
JVB listened to his neighbors.
John O’Leary said it best. We voted for JVB and he listened to us.
JVB did the right thing, listened to a majority of his constituents, voted against the proposed development.
When elected officials are viewed as unresponsive they can be voted out. It happened recently in a primary, NYS Assemblyman Marge Markey was defeated by a young attorney not backed by the Queens Democratic machine.
A subtle, but significant distinction must be made. JVB did not vote against affordable housing. Rather, he voted against a development that was much larger than its next door neighbor, Phipps Houses, all 4 to 6 stories high.
Presumably, the Mayor’s political operatives suggested the negative story about JVB to The Daily News. The real person evidencing infantile behavior is the Mayor, not JVB, The Mayor didn’t get what he wanted when he wanted it. Too bad!
I don’t see the address for the Sport’s Authority site on the SCA website. What am I missing?
For all that were asking about how to do something. It appears that the SCA will take public comments until Nov. 4th. Sunnyside residents in opposition for the location (not a new school) should consider a petition immediately.
https://dnnhh5cc1.blob.core.windows.net/portals/0/Community/New_School_Sites/Barnett%20Avenue%20-%20Notice%20of%20Filing%20and%20Attachments%20-%2009202016.pdf?sr=b&si=DNNFileManagerPolicy&sig=po7odvG0c92Y2SXEoimvb%2Bz06NZdGTbnxtfyB4ChqQ0%3D
now the sports authority is a halloween store –
for 4 weeks and then it will be vacant again. Happens every year around here.
Separately-
Can we look into the location for the now defunct Sports Authority for this new proposed Middle School?
It provides: 1) Bigger area than proposed Barnett location 2) Multiple access roads 3) Easier access for surrounding neighborhoods 4) Preserves the integrity of Sunnyside Gardens.
Please talk to the local goverment people about finding a better location that Barnett Avenue. It’s not the right location.
The ol’ Sports Authority site was suggested to SCA by Nolan’s office, along with 4 other specific locations.
NYDN is dead wrong. The proposed project was huge, 10 storeys, and out of scale with the neighborhood. Phipps is a terrible landlord, as the residents of their current building report. Schools and the subway are already overcrowded, and no thought was given to infrastructure. Finally, the so-called ‘affordable housing’ wasn’t that affordable. Just another real estate scam. All elected Queens politicians opposed it, not just Jimmy van Bramer. For good reason. People are not opposed to affordable housing, but not this brainless stuff. Get a clue, NYDN and DiBlasio. Thanks to Jimmy van Bramer.
He’s not a small child; he’s a small man! But he did the right thing. The big thing.
Anyone who stands up to big real estate and a bully mayor is a big human being. Physical facts like tall or short, thin or fat, white or black, bald or hairy are irrelevant. The insides count. The outsides are just the outsides. Jimmy Van Bramer has it where it counts.
Phipps has turned a prize-winning example of far-sighted, effective, community building low cost housing into a dumpy shadow of its former respectable complex full of gracious gardens and resident amenities. It has been stripping value from the property on 39th Avenue for decades.
The tenants association formed in the Seventies or Eighties because Phipps launched a series of poorly done Major Capital Improvements that were disimprovements because they were sub-par and effectively non-functional. The association has spent decades trying to force them to make proper repairs to roofs, brickwork, sidewalks and plumbing. Management brick walls everything until they have to be taken to court. In several instances they just ignore judges orders to make the repairs, withhold refunds the judge orders them to pay and essentially delays until everyone on the lawsuit either dies or moves away. They do everything in bad faith. One elderly disabled tenant was told “Just move!” if you don’t like it. They can’t seem to exterminate properly. Bedbugs pop up everywhere. Mice and roaches live long comfortable lives there.
Landlords like that do not deserve to have zoning laws changed. They should be sent somewhere and taught that although residential real estate is a business it is the business of housing the human race. The housing should be sanitary, safe, restful, and support a self-sustaining community where everyone can play a part. The original builders and managers were hands on people who knew their tenants and their property intimately. Now they are numbers crunchers who farm everything out to contractors who do the least possible. If they were the Phipps of old I would urge the councilman to give them the go ahead. But they are not. And they should be restrained from profiting off a piece of land they bought specifically for tenant parking because it was no good for anything else.
JVB-Ignore the nydn, im sure your all for affordable housing,just not that location. Good job, keep up the good work
Media bullying continues against Jimmy Van Bramer for standing up for his district. We see that the Phipps Trojan horse is an unaffordable and destructive land grab and its backers seek to a false picture. Phipps withdrew proposal for 50-25 Barnett last week but renews the mischaracterization of opposition in the 5th largest newspaper in the US, also seen on NY1.
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Not only do we all have to contend with our city administration opposing the will of the people, in a unsavory alliance with big real estate/finance who want to continue the overdevelopment tsunami that has engulfed Manhattan and LIC, but also with the help of a forceful ally that is most worrying of all. Our major media is in apparent cooperation in the destruction of NYC and our democracy.
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Hitting this setback of voter will, the would-be Queens tsunami let loose their media counterparts to savage JVB – if not to change his mind, at least to wound him politically and show what is in store for other council members who dare participate in democracy. Queens is now at the crossroads of insisting we have a vote or allowing our quality of life and land to be taken.
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The Daily News is published by real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, who according to Forbes has a net worth of 2.8 billion. The so-called progressive paper has already accused JVB and us of creating a “stench of hypocrisy,” meaning we live in affordable housing but trying to keep out those we don’t want who might lower our property values. The opposite is true.
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We are trying to our cost of living and property values from going UP, because we see it is not be of benefit to us, and is actually harmful to us, to have Queens traded like beads to big real estate financial interests, politicians who are onboard their gravy train, and now major media.
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The attacks are because billions are at stake for them, not us. The blitz omits the real reasons for opposition (below) and do not mention the opposition of the assemblywoman, the borough president, and the community board, which includes a professional housing advocate as land use chair, the 200 hours of work suggestions, with no substantive change from Phipps. Why? Presumably because the “easy pass” fake affordable housing had to pass as is, in order for the domino of Barnett properties and beyond to fall their way.
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As we have figured out now, M’s – moguls, mayor and media, wanted the precedent zoning change from light manufacturing to residential (read high-rise luxury condos) so that Barnett and beyond could be quickly rezoned. The prize is all the land surrounding and in Sunnyside Yards.
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We struggle in NYC to survive and the over develoopment planned will harm and displace us. StreetEasy.com finds “the typical household in New York City is expected to spend 65.2 percent of its total income on market-rate rent in 2016.”
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Facts on why we rejected 50-25 Barnett:
1, The rents are not affordable: Government/HUD set them. The government area median income figures – 42 apartments for people earning between $32,000 to $44,000, 62 apartments for $50,000 to $115,000 earners, and 104 apartments for $75,000 to $150,000.
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2, There will be a net loss of 124 spots plus a loss of street parking meaning we are getting more residents and traffic in area where many drive around for an hour after work.
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3, The large prison-like 10-story
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4, The construction is the non-union, despite promises made to the unions when the dreadful zoning amendment Mandatory Inclusionary Housing was passed March 22, also accompanied by coverage by major media which did not reveal plainly what was at stake for NYC residents: gentrification and displacement for current small business residents as rents skyrocket and speculation empties buildings. MIH allows higher buildings, meaning more money, if some affordable housing was planned for – a big pay day for real estate and a crushing of NYC because in order to get the affordable housing, many more times the amount of luxury apartments have to be built.
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5. We have an already overburdened infrastructure with no nearby public parks, antique sewers, few schools, and public transit already jammed. The expense for this will fall on the taxpayers, long after the destroyers have made their billions and left, leaving us with no sky, crowds, traffic, no way to get to and from work easily, and cost of living much higher as has occurred elsewhere in NYC .
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6. Even small property owners and small businesses here overwhelming signed the 2500+ signature petitions in opposition. Why, won’t owners make out like bandits in the speculation? Small owners live here, too, and if they had wanted to live in a high-rise farm with snarled traffic and the loss of our “small town in the big city” (the chamber slogan), they would. And small businesses are opposed because there are few near 50-25; they would have to be built. As soon as current leases are up, renting small businesses would be face the tripling of rents we already see on Queens Blvd. and Greenpoint. The retail space in the luxury towers to come are only affordable by banks, giant pharmaces and other chains. And when goes up, their prices will also rise.
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6. Residents of the building is run by Phipps, which pays no taxes as a non-profit, said their building was neglected and in eternal disrepair, and that they were treated with disrespect. Phipps talked about the 50-25 playspace, but Phipps sold the playground across the street for profit.
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Our local free public meeting 9/18 Queen of Angels Parish Center to protest 50-25 Barnett and share information on coming destructive plans for Queens, the BQX, Brooklyn Queen Connector, the failure to have a hearing on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, which could stop this speculation in its tracks helping residents and business, and more, was called “Jobs, Homes & ‘Hoods: We’re Staying in Queens” and was well attended.
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Unity as we saw on 50-25 Phipps is our only chance. All are welcome to the next meeting Sun, October 30, 3pm, Woodside on the Move, 39-45 59th St., 2nd floor, Woodside. Organizations participating were the one I work for The Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, plus TakebackNYC, Queens Anti-Gentrification, Woodside on the Move, Access Queens, Sunnyside Artists, Artist Studio Affordability Project, SaveMomandPops, Art F City, Small Business Congress, Queens United Network, and If you or your organization want join, please email AllboroCouncil@gmail.com.
Oh shut your mouth.
Yeah I guess it is over your head. Go take a soda from the fridge and watch cartoons til your mom and dad come home.
Pat Dorfman:
You are the ultimate knee jerk ant-development neighborhood nay sayer. You think any development is going to upset your idea of an idyllic Sunnyside that probably never existed. You still have dreams about bringing back mom and pop stores. I don’t know who elected you neighborhood spokesperson but you don’t speak for me. I’ve lived here for almost 30 years and I don’t want to hear your same broken record.
typical old Fart Conservatives and NIMBY Liberals! who live in this neighborhood! as the old Tom Lehrer song goes ” it’s fun to eulogize those people you despise as long as you don’t let em’ in your school or in this case Neighborhood.
The fact is we need to create more transportation and infrastructure. Plain and simple. I’m sick of letting packed subways go by in the morning. The article also neglects to mention that the “project” Phipps proposed is way out of scale to the low density neighborhood it was planned for. A little urban planning needs to go into these projects or we ultimately will create such a miserable quality of life nobody will want to live here and you won’t be able to give these apartments away just like the case of the south Bronx in the 60’s. It will be the 70’s all over again.
Please stop using such politically charged and wholly inaccurate terms. They serve to divide people in false ways. This neighborhood is one of the most diverse in the world and we all get along just fine. No one despises anyone. New ethnic groups have moved in at a normal pace of change and we take it in stride. But this extensive hostile takeover by government and real estate seeks to move long-time local residents an/d the new immigrants out in favor of monied people who have been lured to Queens by glossy brochures full of the slickest real estate smoke and mirror talk. As Bloomberg said of Trump: We’er New Yorkers. We know a Con when we see one. And The Barnett will be shoehorned on an irregular wedge of land between what is essentially a paved cow path and the biggest commuter railroad in the nation, plus Amtrack’s busiest route the Boston to Washington Ascela. World over people consider apartments up against the railroad tracks to be the least desirable of all. Railroads are toxic and dangerous places.
If the lamestream media berates someone for sticking up for the individual then he/she must have done a good deed. We see which propaganda house is the mouthpiece of Duh Blasio. Get Duh Blasio out now!
@hero Your buzzword post sounds like it’s been penned by a weak minded low IQ imbecile. Just goes to show you, someone could be right in spirit and still come across as sounding like a fool. Have a good
@Mac: Personal attacks are a true sign that you have nothing to offer and the other side won.
-out Pointing out the reason why somebody is a weak minded imbecile is not a personal attack, it’s an attempt to to help someone to better themselves. Many times these weak mined imbeciles don’t even realize they’re doing what they’re doing. As for your absurd statement about the other side winning. Go back and reread my post you idiot. Both parties were in agreement on the topic of the discussion.
@Mac: stop reloading the page and liking your own comments to make it seem like people support you. Everyone knows you’re a loser so get to work.
Bro ur wack prolly don’t even live in the gardens
-Better Than Mac You must be new to the area.Native and long time residents refer to “the Garden” as the houses or private houses.
@truth Im a stand alone free thinking individual and don’t need anyone’s support, unlike you a low performing imbecile who believes political discussion is nothing but chest pounding random hysteria and other facets of “popular conservatism”. Romney in a landslide. Hahahaha
-truth Since none of us posting here can see what the other people posting here are doing or who they really are for that matter makes your bullying post that more ridiculous. Do you know what projectionism is? Go look it up.
Not a Van Bramer fan but Jimmy was right this time. The Daily Snooze is Pravda central. Left wing garbage and propaganda.