Center Cinemas at 42-17 Queens Blvd. (Photo Courtesy of Sunnyside Soyboy)
June 23, 2021 By Christian Murray
The marquee sign at a shuttered Sunnyside movie theater was altered for the third time this year with the perpetrators taking yet another shot at landlord and political candidate John Ciafone.
“Ciafone Lost Again, Long Live Radical Communism,” the sign reads, referring to Ciafone’s unsuccessful run Tuesday in the Democratic primary to represent the 22nd Council District in Astoria.
The latest message comes just months after the perpetrators targeted him by putting up signage that read “Death by Speculation, Starring Limpdick Landlord.”
Another sign went up in May prior to a pro-Palestine rally held in Sunnyside. “From the River to the Sea,” the marquee sign read. Ciafone took it down after residents alerted him to it.
The harsh messages directed toward Ciafone, however, largely stem from his ownership of the 42-17 Queens Blvd. building containing the movie theater. The site has been vacant for about 6 years, although he plans to develop it in the future.
This time the perpetrators sent an e-mail to the media — explaining their behavior.
“Sunnyside Soyboy Strikes Center Cinemas Again,” the e-mail reads, which comes from the address sunnysidesoyboy@gmail.com.
“Our long, unnecessary political primary season has come to an end. While it’s hard to rejoice over some of the candidates that won last night, we can at least come together and celebrate some of those that didn’t.”
The letter also targets Ciafone’s campaign platform, which focused heavily on law-and-order and was very critical of progressives.
The marquee sign at Center Cinemas in Sunnyside that was altered in January (Queens Post)
“For months, John Ciafone has called us ‘cowards, socialists—no make that communists,’ and more recently ‘a gang of progressive, anti-development radicals…who hate the police.’”
Ciafone came in third, with about 10 percent of the vote, in yesterday’s primary. Tiffany Cabán is the apparent winner with Evie Hantzopoulos coming in second.
It was Ciafone’s third run for the 22nd District council seat, having lost in 2001 and in 2013. He was also unsuccessful last year in his campaign for a judgeship on the Queens Civil Court.
Ciafone told the Queens Post that the perpetrators put up the latest sign at 3:30 a.m. today. He said that his video footage shows that it is the same people who targeted him in January.
He said he doesn’t have footage of the people who put up the pro-Palestine message, although given what’s involved in putting the marquee signage up he believes it is the same people.
“These people should be ashamed of themselves,” Ciafone said. “Don’t they have anything better to do?”
Ciafone, an attorney, described them as “radicals.”
The suspects believed to have been responsible for the January incident (Courtesy of John Ciafone)
“These people are anti-American,” he said. “The deface private property and try to stop free speech.”
“They hate the police, hate this country, hate Jewish people, hate everyone and are anti-development and against gentrification,” Ciafone said. “These people are destructive not constructive — and they want to take us back to the ’70s and ’80s when the city was saddled with crime.”
He said that he will find out who is behind it and will sue them. He said he would be reaching out to authorities.
“This is really disturbing,” he said. “This can’t continue to go on.”
Sunnyside Soyboy Strikes Again by Queens Post
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41 Comments
You know that renting and buying are two different things, right?
Let’s see…
Caban is wholly incompetent. Her policies will further damage marginalized communities, while the mostly white coalition of gentrifiers will jump for joy for their new socialist savior.
Ciafone is an idiot. He is obviously just trying to leverage the property for maximum value no matter the interim value lost to the community for having an abandoned eyesore on the boulevard.
And these sign people are losers. They’re not clever or edgy. And the joke is tired. Get a full nights rest and read some books that aren’t manifestos. Doubling down on being a “soy boy” is not blasé, it’s just awkward.
Does anyone see a phony here?
It’s foolish to think that equal outcome is better than equal opportunity. It is the difference in the outcome that people take risks and open a business or in this case let it rot. It’s the difference in the outcome that people better themselves. Be wise and brave to the evils of communism.
This is objectively awesome.
If you’d read s non biased history book you would know capitalism isn’t much better.
I would not call the vandals activists. Nor would I call Ciafone a legitimate political candidate. Two wrongs don’t make a right here while we all suffer. That PJ Horgan’s interior should be landmarked!
Tear down that wall!
If you’ve lived it you would know that these people wouldn’t last a week under communism.
I just want the theater back.
Yea… Long live communism written on… Private… Property…
When you leave your property to rot.
Who is paying the taxes?
lol sounds like ciafone has taken some time to be reflective over his losses and assessed the current needs of the neighborhood where his development is stalled and where he practices law. or he continues to be regressive, reactionary and totally unaligned with the current future of america.
the open letter is stupid, but this situation is hilarious. 🙂 people use the marquee sign as if it was a fridge whiteboard.
Letter Magnets!
Not hilarious. Would you say the same if the Proud Boys or a white nationalist group posted there?
Love me some Communist antics
Tag your own property
You don’t own it and apparently have lots of free time
Their property hasn’t been vacant for 6 years. Ciafone has plenty of free time now that he’s lost his election. Maybe he can do something productive with it. Oh wait, he won’t.
They look Palestinian to me.
So these heroes are… very attractive you say?
Everybody is a hero these days, huh?
I’m for neither of these 2 extremist elements. Develop that property for something good not another one of these ugly 6 story buildings in our neighborhood. How about a music venue? Oh yeh nice to see that the “radicals” keep movie theatre letters in their apartments. I guess when you don’t have jobs it’s easy to climb up on a ladder at 3 in the morning to post messages. God bless America.
Most people are able to have jobs and also do other stuff when they are not working.
I guess I’m not as smart as they are. I can’t get up at 3am and run around and deface property. But that’s just me.
Soyboy is a coward – if he is so concerned about the neighborhood he should OFFER TO BUY THE PROPERTY HIMSELF. There is a “for rent” sign there. And yes, the previous message was calling for the death of the Jews and soyboy should be ashamed of himself.
You do realize that the For Rent sign is a sham, right? They put it up to deflect accusations of warehousing the property but good luck actually renting it. Try it.
AWESOME. I just sent thank you note to these heroes at sunnysidesoyboy@gmail.com
I hope Ciafone never takes down that marquee. This is awesome.
Oh lord, this is high-quality trolling. This is maybe my favorite recurring story in the neighborhood. When will Ciafone learn?
Give that Soyboy a Pulitzer!
Hey Graffiti writers, Do your thing. We don’t care.
Art is better than Abandonment.
???????
Finally! So-called progessives calling themselves what they really are: COMMUNISTS.
Well, that’s “progress” I suppose.
BTW: for those of you who have never read a history book: communism sucks.
It’s. A. Joke.
Truth is often revealed in jest.
Yes. Marquee letters are the cornerstone of communism.
No people who don’t work and like free stuff are
You realize that Orwell, whose character you’re trying to co-opt, was a democratic socialist, right?
Indeed he was and insiders make the best whistleblowers.
Conservatives and libertarians read 1984 and see it as a warning. Today’s liberals read it as a how-to manual.
EXACTLY. And Orwell hated Stalin and Stalinism which today’s progressives worship. Orwell was also in the Spanish Civil War and put his money where his mouth was unlike today’s Soy Boys.