Feb. 4, 2015 By Christian Murray
A day after Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he aims to build 11,250 affordable units over Sunnyside Yards, Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan issued a statement that questioned his plan.
Nolan’s viewpoint follows Governor Andrew Cuomo’s statement yesterday that made it clear that such development was not imminent. Cuomo said the ‘state and the MTA are studying several potential uses of the site from a long-term planning perspective.”
“I am extremely supportive of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s concerns that long term planning must be considered in any development of Sunnyside yards,” Nolan’s statement read.
“I have grave concerns about Mayor de Blasio’s plans as expressed in [Tuesday’s] state of the city address. There are many questions that must be asked. “
Nolan added: “I know I speak for mass transit users as well as the many residents and businesses and cultural and educational hubs in western queens when I say true community review is needed. I look forward to working with Governor Cuomo in Albany to review any city plans that hurt my community.”
19 Comments
That’s “affordable” housing. The affordable is relative, like 1400 for a studio for one person.
people yell that rents are too high in Sunnyside than deBlasio wants to build more affordable housing then they start with the nimby stuff.
If our beloved Assemblywoman Nolan thinks this is a bad idea, it must be! Cathy would never steer us wrong. We need more senior services, not new fangled developments.
as one counselman says time and time again “NOT IN MY BACKYARD” —
“Grave concerns” = nothing.
“grave concerns”, love this idea, lets built right on top of Calvary!
I was thinking the same thing. With the Catholic Church in such bad shape, I’m sure they would sell the old cemeteries if they could figure out how to do it without getting into too much trouble. I bet they suddenly decide post-burial cremation is the fasted way to get to heaven, dig up all the bones, light ’em up and sell the land to pay off their lawyers. Don’t put it past them.
wow, you’re even more cynical than me!
when they say affordable does this mean housing projects ?
De Bum got millions from Steve Nislick to get the Horse and Carriage stables in the city, Wonder who is paying him for this land grab?
Bottom line is the developers will always get their way, the people be damned.
This feigned political opposition is pure theater designed to make you nobodies think you actually have a voice.
No one has any power to stop it, but it’s a good opportunity for the local pols to pretend they’re against it — stalling and making impassioned speeches — while taking kickbacks the whole way. Eventually we’ll see Nolan, JVB and BdB smiling side-by-side with shovels and hardhats at the groundbreaking.
You think any of these politicians actually care for what’s good for people? They all care for what’s good for their pocket and whoever has the deepest pockets will win the majority of the politicians and whatever they say will be done.
Personally, I am all for development and making a better living conditions for all new yorkers, I wish they tore down all neighborhoods and built better communities that are cleaner, regulated and maintained properly. I would start by tearing down all those garages that people don’t use and store their junk and occupy the side of the street and build a large parking complex. Where are all these people who live in that affordable housing park? How will they get to and from manhattan? 7 train? N train? or drive over Queensboro Bridge? It’s already congested, it is taking people over 1 hour to go a small distance, not to mention the congestion leading to the bridge.
Anyway, all the best, but don’t look for hope in politicians. One who opposes today will support it if he gets enough donations…
Cathy is trying to be “relevant”. LOL.
Cathy:
Is playing to the crowd.
It certainly will be slow, but the point is, it’s been done. Parts of the Atlantic Yards project is going slow, but the Barclays center shot up pretty quick. That was built over train tracks.
Also – the Hudson Yards is currently a construction site
The Rope – true, but weren’t the atlantic yards not used any more? or not used very much? sunnyside has tons of active train traffic, they’re not just storage yards. it would be logistically hard to build here. that being said, if there’s enough money, they’ll find a way. over time the # of affordable will drop and the # of luxury units will rise until it’s worth it for someone to figure out how to build a platform over the busiest rail connection in america. i just think it’ll be a while
there’s nothing like the clacking hard hitting noise from trains every 5 minutes right under you or outside your window. good luck with trying to get inside a massively overcrowded subway train at that point from the worst subway system in the world!
There is no plan really other than lip service to reach a “big number” claim of adding affordable housing.
This thing would be so far down the pipeline that DeBlasio will be a distant memory before they even break ground.
If we ever do, you can sure bet that affordable housing will steadliy disappear from the plan. Look at how slow and screwy the Atlantic Yards project is going.