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Modern Spaces To Open Another Vernon Blvd Office

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March 18, 2016 Staff Report

Modern Spaces will open its seventh New York City location – and third in Long Island City – next month.

The real estate brokerage company will take over a 750-square-foot location at 47-46 Vernon Blvd.

Following renovations, this location will serve as an extension of the Modern Spaces’s current Vernon Boulevard office (47-42 Vernon Blvd.), the company announced Friday. A third office sits at 10-63 Jackson Ave.

The space will be used as a sales gallery for new development projects that the Modern Spaces team exclusively markets, beginning with The Jackson, a new 56-unit luxury condo that will launch sales this spring.

“The storefront location, which used to be occupied by Dream Property Group, is right around the corner from our first Vernon Boulevard office,” Modern Spaces CEO/founder Eric Benaim said.

“Our team gets an influx of traffic when we launch new and exciting buildings in the area, so another space will allow us to accommodate sales and leasing for specific new projects, especially during their initial stages of construction,” he added.

Modern Spaces also has offices in Astoria, Williamsburg and Manhattan. It has 100 employees between their six locations.

“Modern Spaces started in Long Island City in 2008 and has grown to capture 70 percent of the residential market share in the neighborhood,” Benaim said.

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168 Comments

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MRLIC

Maybe so,but people will drive without Licenses and I doubt they could boot enough cars to make a difference. There would also be an outcry for another way to pay the tolls, as there should be anyway. All automatic tolls are not good.

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MRLIC

Not a bad idea but not enough enforcement in this city to do it.Not enough follow up in NYC or NY State Frank.

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Frank

All you need is a handful of cars booted and people will get the message. Similarly, suspending vehicle registrations can be done in about a hundred fewer keystrokes that it has taken me to make this post. Again, the result would not be immediate, but a couple of people getting their car towed during a traffic stop, and the message will be clear.

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MRLIC

I see the Tappanzee bridge is now a Cashless Toll Bridge. I guess no one will pay when they get the bill in the mail here either.

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Frank

Real easy solution: suspend vehicle registrations on cars with tolls over 60 days past due and boot cars with bills 180 days past due.

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MRLIC

New York always drags behind other cities. If they can’t enforce the tolls on 1 bridge, imagine how many motorists will skate FREE on many bridges like this. Bag Taxes and Stupid Tolls should not be imposed here. Make all the bridges and Tunnels FREE. Watch Traffic move better. I believe these tolls should have come off when these Bridges & Tunnels were paid off.Other cities do it.

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Frank

Yes, this is an issue, but it is also a new system being used that will have teething problems. Other cities have figured this out; I am sure we can too.

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MRLIC

Continued… The City Council doe not have a full brain between them all. I wish I could vote myself a raise. The Council also voted a higher raise than was called for by a Mayoral panel, Comrade DeBlasio’s approval rating has tanked to 35% his lowest ever. Also adding more people to an already overcrowded Transit system is not a good idea.

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MRLIC

continued.. This is not London. King Bloomberg tried to make us like London and it did not work. It is a TAX on hard working middle class and lower income people as the bag tax is. On principle alone I would rather carry the groceries in my hands than pay the 5 cents per bag. There should be an alternate bag to use, not a TAX.

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Frank

The alternate is paper, which I imagine stores will start to carry again once consumers demand it. And New York, as a global financial hub, probably has more in common with London than most American cities.

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MRLIC

You must be kidding me. I heard or read that the people are not paying the tolls through the mail promptly. There is no enforcement of this. Some will have to be dragged to court to pay. I think the East River Bridges will be used more than the Henry Hudson Bridge. Some won’t get Easy Pass for spite I’m sure. Many will defy this proposal I hope it does not pass.

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MRLIC

Continued…You seem to be against the majority most of the time, no matter the subject. Do you like to be different? Which is OK just not all the time. You must agree with some things which are wrongly put before the people. that are wrong.

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MRLIC

You must have blown a gasket to want traffic backed up through queens and other areas. Most Queens residents don’t want congestion pricing. most people think it is a Tax also such as the plastic bag fee/tax.. slowed traffic causes pollution why are crazy politicians trying to hurt the working people?

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Frank

You seem to think that collecting the tolls is going to back up traffic, presumably because of toll booths. The current proposals would use ANPR technology, like what is used on the Henry Hudson bridge (http://web.mta.info/bandt/html/cashless.html). Similar technology is in use for congestion pricing in London without snarling traffic going in and out of the congestion zone. If anything, traffic flow should improve as more people look to take public transportation into the City instead of driving to save the toll. Indeed, London saw a ~15% decline in partculate pollution after congestion pricing was introduced.

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MRLIC

Continued…These wealthy towns you speak of don’t have 8. million people in them, I’m sure. Maybe they have more area but not people. I think forwardly and straight and fair. I don’t think just for the wealthy way you do. Equality seems lost on you. I guess you are for the East River tolls on Bridges or just the QB bridge. I am not for it. It’s another Tax. on New Yorkers.

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Frank

But when it comes to a commute, area is the relevant metric, or, more accurately, the time it takes to get from home to job. A 90-minute radius around Manhattan yields many affordable areas for people to live in. And, yes, I am for tolling the all of the bridges and for congestion pricing in Manhattan.

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MRLIC

Wow, you agree the idea is DUMB. We seem to agree more often now…lol…To many it is a tax and they should have an alternate bag to use. Many people don’t carry reusable bags to work with them. It takes 2 bags for a heavy 2 liter bottle alone.

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Gennaro

Hunterspoint before all of the development was a great place to live. It was friendly and we all played in the street and went to either St. Mary’s school or PS 1 and all of the families knew each other.

The biggest problem with all the development were the lies told by the politicians that the people who lived in the area would have access to the housing that was to be developed. It never happened. This left a bitter taste in the mouths of many long term residents.

I for one did sell and move out. I live in a beautiful apartment that cost a third of what it would have cost me in LIC and i’m only 2 miles away. .

Maybe if the politicians had decided to blend the old and the new it would have made for a smoother transition As for services we always had nice stores that provided everything you needed and as for restaurants we had many including lucheonettes and diners. It was a great place to grow up. It was not as Frank stated a derelict neighborhood. It was always safe and you always felt comfortable. it was a place where everyone knew everyone else and you worked to keep it friendly. I can’t say the same for the new residents.They seem to be all about themselves. There is no need to ridicule the people who kept it safe and made it a place where others would like to live. . .

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Frank

Let me update your sepia-toned memories.

1. Large areas of the neighborhood were derelict shitholes, with rotting factories and warehouses. Or were all those factories put up in the past few years?
2. Politicians do not determine the makeup of an area. They have a role, for sure, but money is the lifeblood of any economic decision. No money, nothing happens. (And, yes, the area would still have changed even without 421a’s)
3. Residents being given magical (read: subsidized) access to new housing because they are residents is disgusting, not because money is being used to support change, but because money is being used to suspend the reality that they can no longer afford an area that will inevitably increase in value.
4. The new residents are not all about themselves. They are about themselves and their circles of friends. Most of the new arrivals have friends scattered around the City and bound by things other than geography. That is modernity. To suggest that everyone desperately needs to get to know everyone in a new neighborhood, especially if they only plan to rent there a few years, bespeaks a medieval set mentality, bound to the land.
5. I am not ridiculing the old residents; just those who whine about the Good Old Days.
6. Everything from your childhood will change. Deal with it or seek the help of a mental health professional.

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MRLIC

continued… Real non-delusion people know it will fail. The sad thing is many are already and many will be forced to move because they can’t afford to stay here. Now some DUMB City Council members want to impose a 5 cents per plastic bag fee (TAX) on Hard Working New Yorkers. The lower and middle incomes will be hurt more than the rich of course.

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Frank

You seem to think that it is impossible for people to commute across city limits. If you work in Manhattan and cannot afford to live there, welcome to having a commute like the rest of the country. As shocking as it might be for you, there are plenty of wealthy towns and neighborhoods bigger than Manhattan that do just fine around the country. You are just stuck in a provincial backward way of thinking.

Oh, and the bag fee, which is not a tax, is designed to incentivize people to either provide their own bags or use paper. Theoretically, it is because the plastic bags are bad for the environment, although I agree the idea is dumb.

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MRLIC

I have to wait to move unfortunately as I have said. If someone was a little down and out I would give them extra time to pay or charge what they could afford. I would not lose money but If it meant making a little less, why not. I am not GREEDY. Your city for the RICH will FAIL!!!!!!!!!!! as I have said before.

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MRLIC

If others read what I say here and know the truth and then read about a city for the rich,. Most are not rich and will see th correct way a city should run, not just favoring the wealthy. We had one rich corrupt Mayor in Bloomberg and now another in De Blasio. The deck is stacked for the rich.

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MRLIC

The whole world is not just for the rich. Maybe NYC and other big cities in the USA and around the globe. Corrupt as can be. That is your world which I and many others know don’t work for us. You would be shunned if you were in with middle and lower income people, Not everyone thinks like you. Thank Heaven.

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Frank

Well, that was 3 incoherent posts. Yes, the core of New York is becoming more and more for the wealthy. So? Big cities are becoming more livable and more expensive. And, yes, Virginia, having more money gives you more options and choices. Shocking! Who would have ever thought that?

And I would be shunned for thinking that $5 gets you a $5 widget and $2 gets you a $2 widget? That is called logic, not elitism, snobbery, favoring the wealthy, or whatever else is dribbling out your delusional “mind”. Or would you be willing to charge less money for whatever labor you used to do just because someone had less money?

Really, move. For your own mental health, leave this evil, corrupt, [insert yet more braying] city to go find your ideal. Detroit seems like a good place for you to start.

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MRLIC

If people read what I write and think correctly , not the warp world we live in you are proud of. It is worth showing others how your world is wrong whether we live in it now or not. I tend to believe there are other cities and countries that don’t favor just the rich and have a vibrant middle class. The whole world does not work your way yet.Hallelujah!!!!! it doesn’t

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MRLIC

In your world (Frank’s World) as long as people can outspend other people it’s OK. Where do those people go?……..The street? Homeless all over the place. Oh wait isn’t the homeless population in NYC increasing.?No real affordable housing. You do sound like Scrooge. “Are there no prisons? Are there no work houses?

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Frank

Actually, it is the real world. If it were my imaginary world, why would you be howling about it? You know that I am correct that this is how the world actually works. It is clear you don’t like how the world works, but there isn’t much you can do to change it. Get over it or figure out something you can do to effect change.

Hint: ranting here isn’t going to change squat.

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MRLIC

Continued…You can attack me all you want. My thinking will never change. I know right from wrong and “YOU ARE WRONG”. The fact your utopian does not include everyone makes you wrong, Favoring only the RICH SNOBS is ELITIST as I have said before.

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MRLIC

Maybe there is nothing left to be done about your for the rich only LIC but people are protesting gentrification in NYC. 100 people protested Comrade De Blasio’s supposedly “Affordable” housing plan. Some were arrested that’s how far it has come. This is the NYC “YOU” want? People thrown from their homes because they can’t afford it? Shame on you.

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Frank

Well, yes. If you cannot afford your rent, you forfeit your right to be in your home. Is it ideal? No, but it is REALITY. Ignore reality at your peril.

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MRLIC

Continued…. Many people do not know about mortages 0% down or not. They should not be swindled either. This is your world sir not the 99%. LIC is not headed in the right direction. Many many people even some younger ones feel that way.

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Frank

Should, should, should. Lots of what “should” be in your posts but not a lot of what is. Guess which one actually matters. LIC is going to continue to develop, and there really isn’t anything you can do to stop it. So either get current with reality, or please stop muttering about your imaginary dream world powered by unicorn tears and fairy dust.

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MRLIC

Continued…. I and many others do not want your world sir. I am not a Marxist and just want fairness for all. Your world with BIG MONEY in Politics helping Wall St. rig the system for the wealthy and their OWN interests is not the way Government is supposed to work. All Senators and Congressmen should have health care as the 99% do and not their lucrative plans. They wouldn’t like that I’m sure.

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MRLIC

Continued… My so called bygone era was better than your world for the rich any day. I do not live in the past and am not a Marxist. I just want fair for all. The current system is rigged by Wall St. and BIG MONEY in Politics. Remember many people are not that familiar with mortgages, 0% or not. Why are there so many crooks out there? GREED, that’s why. This is your world sir. I and many others don’t want any part of it.

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MRLIC

Continued… The rich would not be hurt as much, true. Corporate profits and rich wealth took a bit of a hit somewhere. Goldman Sachs just paid $5 Billion in penalties for their part in the recession. Why is no one from these BIG Corporations going to jail people have been asking? They are all GREEDY CROOKS.

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MRLIC

I don’t live in the past but the bygone era is better than this one. I just saw how people are losing their eyesight constantly looking at computer screens. Is this the world you want? The recession hurt lower incomes but also took a nice chunk out of Corporation profits and rich wealth a bit. Maybe they didn’t hurt as much but they hurt. Goldman Sachs just paid 5 Billion penalty for their part in the recession.

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MRLIC

What is your world where the rich use the poor and middle class as service personnel and pay them low wages and no benefits? That is your world and no one wants it unless you are wealthy. Why were the banks so crooked? To make crooked money, that’s why. GREED is good on Wall St. and all the other big corporations.

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MRLIC

Continued….. Still remember that without the 99% these rich snobs would have gone broke. Maybe if that happened they would see the world in a different light, such as SCROOGE did. You have to struggle to know what it is like. The silver spoon set don’t know what it means to struggle.

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Frank

Here is where you are going off the logic rails again. Without a bailout, the economy would have crumpled. The 1% would have been fine; actually, they would have been able to go on a shopping spree and buy up all sorts of assets for cheap. Sort of like what happened in the Great Depression.
As far as people being duped into getting mortgages they could not support, that is simply shirking responsibility. Anyone who thinks a 0% down mortgage is a good idea, takes on a monthly payment they cannot afford, or lies on a mortgage application is too oblivious to own a home. You have a responsibility to think for yourself, not assume someone else will be there to figure things out for you.
Obviously you are a dried up class warrior from a bygone era who only sees the world as a Marxist fantasy land. How 100 years ago.

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MRLIC

Not your reality that’s for sure. reality of rich snobs and buildings blocking out the sun. No fresh air and too many people and too much traffic. You can have it. By the way the 99% had phony real estate people advising them on their mortgages amongst the Banks lying to them also. All crooks. This is the world you like. Duping hard working honest people?

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MRLIC

Continued…Are you proud to say this is the way the world works…think about that a second. The world isn’t doing too well if you follow the news. The non-rich are not more equal than the rich. All men are created equal …remember…I will never think like you thank heaven. Attacking me verbally shows you are wrong.

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Frank

I am simply pointing out reality, but it is clear that you don’t want to live in reality.

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MRLIC

You seem to think money is everything.! Sure it’s nice to have but not everyone does as the 1% have hoarded most of it. The same CEOS who now get Golden Parachutes and millions in salary and bonuses led us into the recession, remember???? The 99% remember because they had to bail them out. Sure most was paid back but they still had to bail them out.

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Frank

The 99% benefited immensely from TARP because it stabilized credit markets. No credit, no businesses can function, no payroll. Plus, the main problem underlying the recession was the 99% overextending their credit and buying more house than they should.

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MRLIC

Your way of thinking is why no one but the Rich can afford to live here in NYC and other places. San Francisco is also very expensive, maybe worse than here.More people would rather think my way because they are not Rich. If you think the world is in good shape you don’t read or listen or go online to find the shape the world is in. The world isn’t doing too well. Maybe for the rich but no one else.

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MRLIC

You can attack me all you want but right is right and wrong is wrong. You’re style of thinking has never worked and never will, There will be opposition to your style of thinking. Money does not make a person right or better than another. Remember all men are created equal. Go back and read the bill of rights and the constitution.

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Frank

In the marketplace, money is the measure of purchasing power. Your argument is that the non-rich are more equal than others because their dollars should buy more. Face it – you are a sloppy thinker at best, but most likely a hypocrite convolution logic to match your political views. You had better get used to “my style of thinking”, because it is the way the world works.

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MRLIC

It is still segregation. You just don’t understand. Some buildings the rich came into after the landlords treatted the lower incomes badly. (Not fixing things etc.) These rich mixed with lower incomes should share the facilities equally. Rich were the newcomers.Let them have their own separate building to SNOB each other out.

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MRLIC

It is segregation when you are in the same apt building. Just remember some buildings house the lower incomes before the rich came into them..This where you FAIL to see where you are wrong. Landlords treated some tenants badly (not repairing things etc..) to get these apts in some buildings vacant . The landlord wanted lower incomes out and fixed these apts. up and moved in the RICH. If rich people don’t want subsidized buildings they have to share with the lower incomes, let them live in their own separate buildings.The rich can then snob each other out and do what they please.

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MRLIC

There is no chip here, When your are right you are right. You believe in segregation and class warfare. Just remember there are more middle class and poor than rich.

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Frank

There is nothing remotely segregationist about thinking that someone paying more for an apartment should get, well, more. If you cannot understand that, I wonder how you go to a grocery store and how long ago dementia set in.

At this point you are just throwing out “what I believe in” and hoping something sticks. Clearly you are a pathetically bitter individual who must be a real joy to be around. You have nothing to contribute other than that “things were better in the old days”, not realizing that things are better now and will improve further once you leave this neighborhood. Please, go wallow silently in your self-pity and retread “thinking” and leave those of us who are the future of the area alone. Buh-bye.

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MRLIC

The rich door does nothing for me , but make me sick.The Poor door shows you are anti-middle class and poor. Remember Scrooge said “Are there NO Prisons, are there NO Work Houses” he was talking about the less fortunate. We all Know what happened to Scrooge.

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Frank

Well, I think you get what you pay for. Cut rate housing means cut rate service. You just have a chip on your shoulder. How pathetic.

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MRLIC

I don’t mind change if it is fort he better, overbuilding without a plan is not for the better, Infrastructure cannot handle this amount of people or any add ons in the future. Even Jimmy No Brainer now sees that from what I heard. You probably were not born in NYC/LIC and don’t really know how it was. I was born here in LIC and it sucks now from what it was. You own land and want your land valued high. I understand that but not at the cost of the neighborhood.

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MRLIC

You are completely wrong. You have a warped sense of Right & Wrong. It is segregation plain and simple. Why have you moved so much. You keep arguing with people who disagree with you. I have seen your name on posts berating people who think differently than you. The link was working I don’t know what happened. The taxpayers paid for some of that structure and deserve to use the facilities. Remember some apt;s were constructed in existing buildings where lower income were already.

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Frank

First, you posted a dead link.

Second, New York City is different from New York State. New York City had experienced a growth rate over the past 5 years “not seen since the 1920s. Link: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/nyc-population/current-future-populations.page

Third, a poor door is not segregation. It is a different entrance to a structure for people who pay a different rent and live in a different area of a building with different levels of service, i.e. a different “building” in the same structure. The tax payer subsidy is to construct the structure, and the payout was to have an affordable housing area included in the design. By definition, the rich and poor are unequal from a money perspective, and this is a question of ability to pay for something. Not sure what is so hard to understand there…maybe if you thought of the other door as the “rich door” you would be less offended.

Finally, I doubt that I will be gentrified out of here, since I own (and, if I were, payday!), but I have seen neighborhoods I lived in change over my lifetime and left them. This is my 12th neighborhood/city/country and 17th home to live in. Gentrification happens because the world is constantly changing. I don’t really see it as a big deal; rather it is an opportunity to see and experience someplace new. Of course, I don’t have the mentality of a provincial serf bound to the land where I was born. You seem petrified of change to the extent where the help of a mental health professional is probably warranted.

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MRLIC

Elitist to me and others means SNOB. You sound like one of the snobs. You like segregation with the POOR DOORS and the like. Speaking of DInosaurs segregation went out in the 60’s. Everyone is supposed to be equal now. Rich or poor. The people who come to NYC are mostly well off financially. I recently saw on the internet that more people leave NY State than come here.

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MRLIC

You sound like a snob. I read posts and other I know read them and some I don’t know. Many neighborhood people I know don;t like what is happening in LIC , but you do. I guess you like segregation because that’s what POOR Doors and the like are. You live in the 0’s-50′ era friend. If you read more people leave NYC than come in.The one’s hat come are rich snoby people mostly.

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MRLIC

Continued…. 25% of any city is fact that people were fed up here. He ruined this city. I am not a Dinosaur and there must be many like me still here. just look at the newly formed Civic Association around Court Sq. No one likes your type of City.( Elitist) By the way birds are relatives to the dinosaur and they are still here.

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Frank

You keep on throwing around elitist like it is a bad word. I whole heartedly embrace elitism because it is focusing on success vs failure. And, despite no one liking the direction the city is going in, more and more people move here. Yep, they must hate it.

Really…go read your own posts and tell me it doesn’t sound like the braying of an unhinged crank. Perhaps the neighborhood dinosaurs will evolve into another, less loathsome form too. Or just get crushed by the gentrification asteroid. Either way, it is an improvement.

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MRLIC

If there is a recession LIC will change as these snobs move out of their Luxury suites. I agree with you on one thing. I need to move out but have to wait as I’ve said before. I don’t like it here anymore. I don’t like Comrade De Blasio maybe we agree again and I voted for him. He is a liar. Fact on King Bloomberg’s last election (Illegal 3rd Term) he was expected to win BIG and only won by 5%. Only 25% of New Yorkers voted.Not a ringing endorsement.

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MRLIC

Continued,,,,,, 421a which I heard has been discontinued (GOOD) did not help LIC , it ruined it. Bloomberg was a TERRIBLE Elitist Mayor. He alone ruined NYC and also he bought his illegal 3rd term thanks to Speaker Chris Quinn. She was the BIG loser by helping him win his illegal 3rd term and when she ran for Mayor they brought that up and she failed miserably, The RICH as I have said should even be paying more as they hide their money off shore and save through loopholes with accountants the poor can’t afford. 421a was hust to subsidize the rich with taxpayer dollars.

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Frank

And now MRLIC is simply foaming at the mouth or forgetting to take his medication. At the end of the day, Bloomberg was reelected with more votes than our current Comrade Mayor. LIC is a better neighborhood today by virtually any objective measure, as I listed above.

You are just a whiny crank who really needs to move out – it would be better for your physical and mental health. Or you are a remarkable put together parody of one of the Old Days dinosaurs that roam the neighborhood. Either way, it doesn’t matter. LIC is changing and you have no power to prevent that. Thankfully.

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MRLIC

I have had a computer for some time FYI. People making $1 million are living in rent controlled apts. This isn’t fair. I am the farthest from elitist. I don’t support Poor Doors and the no access to building amenities such as pools and gyms for the poor, You do, so who is the elitist? LIC wasn’t perfect before but was not a wasteland. It was still better than today’s LIC and the peope were real not fake.

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MRLIC

Many times I have read how rich elitist people get subsidized by the poor. In Mitchell Lama Housing there people with million dollar incomes living in rent controlled apts. If the city was run your way(Elitist) there would be no unions for middle class workers and no housing for them and the poor,. The fact you support Poor Doors and the like shows how you think. You must have never had to struggle like some people today with the overpriced rents. You must live in a bubble. LIC was never a wasteland as you say. It was not perfec but better class of people. Also not overcrowded as today in LIC. I have had a computer for some time now by the way.

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Frank

Looks like MRLIC final went off the deep(er?) end, reposting himself many, many times. Those newfangled computers can be tricky beasts. Maybe you DO need a hipster to help you. Or an adjustment to your medication.

You might also want to think about your negative views of elitism. Do you believe that skill and capability should be the primary driver of success? Do you think that people who are less skilled should end up in low-skill jobs? If so, then you might be an elitist. Or sane (which I question).

In any case, a 421a is designed to facilitate the rehabilitation of neighborhoods like LIC. This is in the interest of society as a whole, since most people don’t like living in post-industrial wastelands or crime-ridden sewers. 421a’s expire on a timeline, which cannot be said for the handouts given to those in subsidized/controlled housing. And, again, the bottom 60% paid less than 2% of federal income taxes, so I don’t think those in affordable housing are subsidizing (or deserve) much.

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MRLIC

Just remember the buildings with 421a tax breaks are subsidized with taxpayer dollars. The very people you don’t to use the facilities. An airplane seat does not work that way. You can go in your business class seat and remain elitist sir. I know how to use a smart phone. I don’t need hipster help.

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MRLIC

You are the Elitist. I know how to use a smart phone. I don’t live in the past even though it was better. I am as modern as anyone. I always liked new things. Remember the subsidies for these Luxury Condos with 421a tax incentives. where do you think the tax incentives come from the taxpayer. The very people you won’t give access to the building’s amenities. An airplane seat was not subsidized by taxpayers, You can have your business class seat and remain elitist..

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MRLIC

continued……The NY Yanks showed their rich uppity favoritism from stopping Stub Hub and other sites selling Tickets under face value… Why? rich premium ticket buyers complained of sitting next to Riff Raff. Ticket Master will only sell Yanks tickets at face value. (Yanks business partner). Comedian J.Oliver bought some premium seats for the low income people who will cheer loud and dress accordingly. Bravo.

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MRLIC

The Yanks stopped Stub Hub and other online sites from selling Yanks Tickets under face value, Ticket Master (Yanks site partner) will only sell face value and up. Rich Premium seat buyers don’t want Riff Raff near them too bad..welcome to reality. Comedian John Oliver bought some premium seats to be given to low income people who will cheer loudly as a requirement for the seats. Good for Mr. Oliver. Boo Yanks.

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MRLIC

The NY Yankees recently stopped Stub Hub and other ticket sites from selling Yankee tickets under face value. The rich snobs in the premium seats complained that low income Riff Raff were sitting net to them. The Yankees site partner Ticket Master can only sell online tickets at face value.John Oliver (comedian) bought some premium tickets to be given out to lower income fans as long as they dress accordingly and cheer loudly. Bravo Mr. Oliver . Boo Yankees,

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MRLIC

Continued…. The Yankees recently heard from premium seat buyers that lower income RIFF RAFF were getting premium seats online at cheaper prices,. The Yanks stopped Stub Hub & others from selling tickets under face value. Ticket Master (their Partner) is allowed to sell tickets on the Yanks site at face value only. Comedian John Oliver recently purchased Premium Seats to be distributed to lower income fans who will cheer loudly and dress accordingly. Bravo Mr. Oliver , Boo Yankees.

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MRLIC

I do not ramble as I state the true facts, The rich who make more should pay more whether Federal or State. FACT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Doors and Gym & Pool facilities are in the same building in some cases, All tenants regardless of income in that building should have access. Some buildings are new and some had luxury apts. added to their existing building. Your uppity character is showing as is your separatism of the classes rich-poor and middle class.

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Frank

First, the bottom line is that nearly half the income taxes paid are being paid by the 1%. Fact, sans unhinged exclamation points.

Second, you can have 2 separate areas in the same physical structure; one for people who actually pay market rate and get the full amenities and the other for the people who are being subsidized and, frankly, are already getting a fat handout without a gym membership or pool access. Or do you think that, even if I buy a business class ticket and you a coach ticket, you are entitled to the bigger seat at the front of the plane? No, you get what you pay for. How exactly is that class obsession?

You obviously have some chip on your shoulder about class warfare or have your reality stuck in a 1970s left-wing mentality. Please note that you are welcome to join modernity at your leisure, but you might need to have one of those evil hipsters help you figure out how to use a smartphone. Or just ramble and be incoherent in the corner. Up to you. Just, please, no tying onions to your belt.

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MRLIC

Poor Doors are in the same building whether new or existing building adding Luxury apartments with lower income already there. I am sure the landlord tried to kick the lower income tenants out to try to further gentrify the building and the neighborhood they are in . you are showing your uppity character and separatism between the classes rich-poor and middle class. The Yankees Baseball team recently heard from Premium seat buyers of RIFF RAFF in the Premium seats. The Yanks responded in the uppity way and won’t accept printed out tickets under face value from Stub Hub and others. Ticket Master (their partner) can only sell face value tickets and up. John Oliver the comedian bought a number of premium tickets to be distributed to lower income fans who will yell loudly and dress for the occasion. Bravo Mr.Oliver. Boo NY Yankees.

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MRLIC

I have news for you. Some Poor Doors are in the same existing building where either low income apartments to the building when bought from old owner. Some are NEW buildings with affordable housing in the same building not 2 different structures. How about pool and facilities also in the same buildings. You are showing your uppity character and separatism between the classes rich-poor-middle class. All rich people should pay more as they earn more Federal or State to clarify myself. I don’t ramble , I just tell the true facts. The Yankees premium seating customers complained of low income riff raff paying less than face value for the premium seats online through Stub Hub and other online resellers. The Yankees did not want this of course and won’t let you print out a ticket under face value online except through Ticket Master (their online partner), Comedian and Talk show host bought Premium Yankee tickets to distribute to fans who will yell loudly and dress differently.Bravo John Oliver. Boo Yankees.

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MRLIC

The NY Yanpartner).nkees fans in premium seats complained to Yankee brass that the seats near them had low income Riff Raff near them. The Yankee Exec. Lonn Trost said you can’t buy Yankee tickets under face value and only through Ticketmaster. (A Yankee business Partner ). Comedian John Oliver recently bought some premium Yankee seats with one stipulation. Cheer Loudly at the Game and dress normally. The Yanks and snobby rich premium seat patrons must love that.

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MRLIC

Rich people have tax loopholes and other underhanded ways to hide money.The Yankees rich premium seat fans complained to Yankee Brass that lower income riff raff were sitting next to them because they got their tickets under face value. Yanks said only through their ticket reseller Ticket Master could you buy only at face value (tickets). Talk Show Host John Oliver bought some tickets recently for regular lower income fans. The one stipulation they cheer loudly.Bravo for Mr. Oliver.

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MRLIC

Also in some buildings the developers that got 421a tax breaks didn’t even have to locate their lower income tenants in the NEW city subsidied building. If they had a building nearby they could put them there without notifying the City Council. I believed the council changed that this year. How about the NY Yankees rich Premium seat people complaining that low income riff raff were sitting near them because of under face value tickets from resellers. You have to buy only face value tickets from the Yankees partner Ticket Master, Talk show host John Oliver just bought premium seats to be given away as long as they dress as low income people cheering loudly for their team the Yanks. Bravo for Mr. Oliver, No one really wants these rich snobby New Yorkers but a select few. A neighborhood with middle class and poor is much much better place to lie.

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MRLIC

Rich people have it made in NYC thanks to loopholes in taxes. Poor doors for the poor lower income in the same building as the rich. Low incomers are not wanted in the building’s Gym or Pool facilities. You make more you should pay more.

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Frank

Gosh – I didn’t realize that NYC tax laws trumped federal tax laws. Now you are just embarrassing yourself with your rambling.

And you do realize that so-called poor doors are because there are functionally 2 buildings with 2 different price structures on a single lot of land, right? Something about getting what you pay for and all.

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MRLIC

New York as a city for the rich as I have said will fail MISERABLY. On the order of Ancient Rome. Rich snobby people don’t want lower income people near them. Poor door entrances for low income people. Low income people they don’t want using the Gym or Pool in the same building. Snobs that’s why.Rich snobby people in NY Yankees Premium seats complained to Yankee Brass that low income people were getting premium seats under face value on ticket re-seller web sites The Yankees won’t let you print out tickets under face value now. You have to use their partner Ticket Master to get only the face value or more for the ticket. Talk show host John Oliver bought some premium seats with the express purpose to hand them out to lower income people to irk the rich snobs. No real New Yorker likes these snobby people. The more a person makes the more tax they should pay. Rich people have accountants to show them loopholes and the suh.

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MRLIC

How come the rich want POOR DOOR entrances in the condos for lower income residents? How come the rich don’t want lower income residentsl to use a building’s Pool or Gym facilities> Because they don’t pay overpriced rents..The more a person makes he should pay more in taxes. The rih as I said have loopholes and get 421a tax breaks for development, The developers up to this year anyway didn’t even have to put the low income residents in the new building . If they had a nearby building they could locate them there, How about the Yankees Exec that won’t let Yankee’s premium or any ticket for that matter be resold for under face value. The rich snobs in the Premium seats (the Moat) complained about lower income riff raff getting the seats near them . Talk Show Host John Oliver recently bought some premium seats to give to Yankee fans. The one stipulation was to dress like you weren’t rich. Wear something a little off kilter. Bravo for him. No real New Yorker likes these rich snobs invading this city.

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MRLIC

The rich have offshore accounts and loopholes that aren’t taxed or lowers their taxes. Higher earners should pay more. What about the poor subsidizing
the rich condos with tax breaks. Up til this year developers didn’t even have to put the lower incomes in the same building that got a 421a tax break. The lower incomes could be located in a different building owned by the developer. How about the rich want separate entrances (Poor Doors) and don’t want the lower incomes to use or facilities Gym, Pool)in the same building.Look at the Yankees premium seats. The rich complained people buying tickets off stub hub and other ticket resale sites could not sell under face value, The public have to use Ticket master ( the Yankees Partner). I am glad Talk show host John Oliver bought some premium tickets and will hand them out for free as long as you look middle class or poor and not rich. Good for him and bad for the Yankees. Bad for the rich SNOBS. The rich think their SH-T does not stink. LIC was middle and lower income and was better off.

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MRLIC

Also, you seem to think the rich people’s taxes fund everything. Some of them pay as little as a working guy/gal who makes less. Rich people use loopholes to pay less taxes. How about the 421a program subsidy –No Taxes for 10 yrs if you put some supposedly affordable housing in your development. Rich people don’t pay what they should in this country and you know it. Everyone else seems to know it.

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MRLIC

I don’t whine as my statements are valid. I am surprised you agreed with me a least on GM. next recession let them all fall down along with the Yuppies and Hipsters and trust fund babies. LIC and anywhere else better off without them. Many non New Yorkers anyway, You must like non-New Yorkers to say what you say. This neighborhood STINKS in it’s current form. I recently read in the Queens Chronicle Voice Of the People about LIC being overbuilt and has no plan for development. Many disagree with how LIC has changed and not for the better in the letter. Many people feel the way I do. Building should be smart not stupid the way it is now.

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MRLIC

Remember the recession the working stiffs mostly bailed out the Too Big To Fail Corporations. Without the taxpayers mostly middle class and poor you would not have your Wealthy only gentrified neighborhoods in NYC. How did the wealthy repair the people who bailed them out? The rich gentrified these nice people out if their neighborhoods (LIC included). Who will walk the rich people;s dogs and watch their children? Oh wait ! the middle class and poor.I guess. You can’t just have a city for the rich.

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Frank

Actually, most of the TARP funds were paid back to the government with a hefty interest rate. The only bailout that didn’t generate a return on investment for the government was the GM bail out, and I agree GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt and reemerge as a more efficient organization not saddled with costly union labor. The bottom 47% don’t even fund the federal government through taxation – only the entitlements of Social Security and Medicare. Those pesky facts again. Like the fact that this neighborhood will continue to improve regardless of your whining about it.

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MRLIC

You are completely wrong (last commenter). The rich got us in the recession and the taxpayers many middle class and poor bailed them out. What did the rich do? Gentrified some of the very people who bailed them out. NOT FAIR!!! Who will deliver takeout orders and watch the rich people’s kids?Who will walk their dogs? Not the wealthy. This is why you can’t just have wealthy in one city. A city for the rich will FAIL !!!!!!!!! King Bloomberg tried to make it that way. Unfortunately he did succeed to some extent. The middle class and poor are fighting back. Sooner or later these wealthy people will either leave or their trust fund kids will lose their money from Mom and Dad if a recession hits. Cities must have all classes to be a thriving city. Many people agree with me. Your version of a city could never work. If it does more working class people will be forced out and hurt financially. The rents here will go boom eventually.Many condos not even half full.

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MRLIC

You are still wrong last commenter. You want a city only for the well to do. There is no such place. Who will deliver your takeout orders and walk your dogs and watch your children. NOT THE WELL OFF. NYC and the rest of the country were bailed out by the taxpaayers, many of those people gentrified out bailed out well to do;s. What did the well to do;s do?Gentrified the people who bailed them out. Something is wrong there. You can’t just have rich well to do’s because many of them can’t fend for themselves.

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MRLIC

I believe reality goes beyond LIC.You are wrong and need to evolve to the last commenter. I repeat as a neighborhood this is a house of cards that will fall. NYC is not financially stable either and if a recession hits LIC and the rest of NYC will fall like that house of cards. Change just for change is not always good. We need good changes for everyone, not just for Yuppies and Hipsters.

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Frank

Yep – that is why all those gentrified NYC neighborhoods fell apart during the recession from 2008-2011. Because, you know, they were just a house of cards etc. And the predominance of cash buyers in this neighborhood means that everyone’s mortgage must be dangerously close to being under water. Yep.

Sorry, but the facts do not support your ramblings; rather, they support the changing of society and the City. Cue muttering about tying onions to your belt from MRLIC in 5…4…3…

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MRLIC

Does anyone else find LICLover as annoying as all the candidates. Ignore them all. I can say the same things but I am not a mean person. I copied what LICLover wrote bascially to show how hateful things look when written.. I guess he/she likes the kids not exercising and losing their sight and hearing on their phones and games early in life. People like Zombies staring into their devices as they walk/drive cars and bikes. Change is good but this kind of change is not good for anyone or the neighborhood in general. Trump by the way has a lot of support and I have people (many) on this site who believe I am right.

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Frank

There may be people who believe you are right, but reality shows you are wrong. Evolve.

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Frank

He reminds me more of Abe Simpson.

“…like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ’em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you’d say.

Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…”

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MRLIC

Why can’t it change for the better? Why does it have to be the other way. Anti-sociaal people don’t make good neighbors or a good community and snobby people don’t either with attitudes or people who don’t clean up after their dogs. It needs to change or it will fall like a house of cards. I hope I am out of here by then. No one says hello to other people not just me. Yppies and hipsters are for the most part selfish and snobby but there are a few nice ones I have met. Yes where are the Bowling Lanes and Pool Halls or a movie theater? LIC is developing without plans and I am not the only one who writes about it. A lawmaker in NJ wants to make it a fine to walk around with your face buried in your phone, she lost a friend crossing a street to a accident that way. My friend saw a man on his phone head down walk into a street sign pole 2 weeks ago. There are not just too many new people, there are too many people period . More than LIC infrastructure can handle. I do understand Yuppies and Hipsters and Trust funders, that is why I don’t like most of them. It was not nice that real long time residents were priced out by these people..Yong kids these days need more exercise because they are far too heavy than they should be at that age. The kids are not exposed to the real world only screens. I will say this one more time, change is good when people benefit aand plan not wild building and zombie people on their devices. What would these people do in a power failure. I shudder to think.

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Frank

Generic MRLIC post:

Things are changing too much.
Young kids these days don’t play in the street like they used to.
Too many people use their phones instead of striking up conversations with total strangers.
LIC is developing too much.
There are too many new people.
Get off my lawn.
Yuppies and hipsters are everywhere.
Anything I don’t understand or like is because of yuppies and hipsters. And trust funders.
No one says hello to me in the hall anymore.
Where are the bowling alleys and pool halls?

Did I miss anything? We get it – you don’t like where things are headed, but isn’t going to change squat.

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MRLIC

To the last 2 commenters, I am not the one pushing ageism. I just don’t think LIC is heading in the right direction. Cell phone zombies and lack of exercise with kids enamored with their video games and internet, whether on their phones or not is a troubling problem all over. Building without aa plan is a DUMB idea. Overkill is happening all over LIC and our roads and transit can’t withstand the influx of all these people, Never mind sewage and power also. Common sense does not prevali here. I have been pretty civil and have been called names such as Dinosaur and been told if I don’t like it to get out. I am not mean by nature but I know right from wrong. Now they want to toll the East river bridges. Another tax on New Yorkers. Sure we agree to disagree but when I am told that it is OK for people in your own building and on the street should not even say hello there is something wrong. Anti-social behavior keeps these Yuppies and Hipsters behind their phone screens and tablets etc…etc…

Reply
The

Ageism we were seeing was directed towards you- not that you were pushing it. Keep voicing your opinion freely. While people may not agree with you ( I see your point) you have every right to voice your opinion as everyone else does.

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Anon

We should all just agree to disagree. There are people who value certain ways of living and others who do not share in those values. It all comes down to a matter of personal preference. There is no right or wrong when it comes to that preference. I mentioned in my last comment to Frank that he is constantly bashing the longtime residents but maybe we should all just tone it down. One thing that should be universal is manners and common courtesy, something I think we forget here as we bemoan a lack of manners and common courtesy from behind our screens.

However, I really dislike the ageism I read here. Remember that everyone will grow old. No amount of money can stop that physiologically.

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I share your

Sentiment of agreeing to disagree. One keeps trying to sway the other to their line of thinking when it’s clear their perspectives on life couldn’t be more different. They don’t argue if a glass is half full or empty. They argue if there is even a glass on the table at all. The outright contempt for the “dinosaur” is the last acceptable form of an “ism” apparently.

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Frank

The term dinosaur is not ageism; it reflects an unwillingness to adapt to a new reality. There are 25 year old dinosaurs posting here and 65 year old non-dinosaurs. The long time residents can cry all they want about how the neighborhood is changing, but it isn’t going to change the fact it is changing. It also isn’t going to change the fact that most people move here with an established network of friends and really don’t feel a need to get to know the guy down the hall until he becomes a problem. Welcome to modernity.

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MRLIC

To the commenters who disagree with me. If the modern world is changing where kids and probably many adults also don’t exercise and stay on their phones like robots. I’m sure many stay in the house and play video games or out on their mobile devices and don’t socialize with others by just saying hello neighbor is GOOD. What kind of world is that? That commenter said Specific to this neighborhood I believe, other neighborhoods do the same. I don’t mean Rock climbing is bad if you like it but why don’t we have Bowling or Pool and just what the Yuppies and Hipsters want? I am not deluded about a “Changing World” as you say but another commenter said change is not always for the good and he/she is right. The LIC neighborhood is Build without planning as I have said before. It is reckless and stupid to build a neighborhood this way. People that can;t or won’t say hello to a person who lives in your building (and not just me they do it to) are rude individuals and mostly are of the younger sort. (yuppies and Hipsters). Many come from other states and or countries. Many are trust fund babies. A society like the ones the Yuppies and Hipsters want is destined to FAIL. I don’t live in the past (GOOD OLD DAYS) even though they were better. We used to have block parties all over LIC and Astoria, not so much anymore in your version of a neighborhood.

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MRLIC

The last commenter must be exactly what is wrong with LIC and the modern world today. He or she must be a Yuppie or a Hipster that is defending less exercise for kids, less interaction amongst neighbors,, talking incessantly on their phones to the point of addiction. All this is GOOD.? You must be a sheltered person. I also know many people still play pool and Bowl, maybe not in gentrified LIC but other places and states. It is fact. I still play softball and am not ready for a retirement community yet.I have someone in a community for retirement and it is also better than here, Think of what you are defending, people afraid oftheir own shadows.

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Frank

The only sheltered person here is you. What MM described is how American society in general is changing, i.e., reality. You also read a lot into what MM wrote. He/she did not say these changes are good, nor did he/she write that playing pool or bowling never happens anymore. The criticism was directed at your blanket assumption that everyone should only like what you liked back in the Good Old Days.

It seems like you have just built up this amalgam of all the elements of modernity that you don’t like and projected it onto anyone who had the temerity to not be just like you. It is ironic that you complain about people who are scared of their own shadows, because what you are doing is deluding yourself about a changed world you are too frightened to engage with.

For your own mental health, you should probably take MM’s advice. Maybe a retirement community with have a nice porch you can sit on to reminisce about the Good Old Days in LIC.

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MM

Frank’s livability checklist sums things up pretty well. Exactly how I feel about the neighborhood changing for the better.

Also, anyone who thinks people becoming overall busier, chit chatting less with strangers on the street, spending more time on their phones, and kids playing less outdoors, are all signs of this SPECIFIC neighborhood getting worse, is really out of touch with modern society.

Consider moving to a retirement community with other like minded people who also think pool halls and bowling alleys are automatically superior than rock climbing gyms and dance studios.

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MRLIC

Let’s hope the middle class and poor win the class war. Maybe they won’t have enough money though. Money talks in LIC and most places. I guess you want all the rich in and all the middle class and poor out. It’s OK if they make deliviries for the rich and nanny their kids and walk the pampered pets however. That’s what the middle class and poor are needed for in your LIC. the chip on my shoulder is not to let the snobby rich Yuppies and Hipsters win the class war.

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Frank

Yes, Virginia, it is a class war. Now please adjust your shirt, as the chip on your shoulder is showing. What was the emoji for rolling one’s eyes again?

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MRLIC

Anon is 100% correct. Many developers get these buildings through changes in zoning rules. Why not keep a certain for Large development and the majority of the neighborhood maybe 7 stories or less. Money talks with politicians and Developers,]. Many corrupt to get their agendas done. Building wildly and not planning stores (not all chain stores) places to visit pool halls, bowling alleys,, other small businesses etc… not Rock climbing , museums and dance studios ruins a neighborhood. You could do so much more with those rotting warehouses. I have news also that LIC while still a bit cheaper is catching up in rent prices with Brooklyn and Manhattan. The plan for LIC is wrong,, people were lied to by King Bloomberg when he said he wants a :” Mxed Use Neighborhood”. 421a should never have happened for these RICH DEVELOPERS. I guess people who like LIC now favor wealthier people than the middle class and poor. Poor doors and no use of Gyms or pools will be next. Remember that originally developers did not have to put affordable housing in a certain development if they had a nearby property they could put the lower income housing in. The rich would be offended to rub elbows with middle class and poor people. It is a class war here plain and simple. Yes people sell their homes when money is thrown at them. They know the neighborhood will be lousy and get out. It really stinks the way LIC has been over developed. Trains are not just crowded it borders on safety after a while. Transit in NYC is terrible if you don’t know that. Look at the station for Hudson Yds 7 line . A new station where corners were cut and the head MTA engineer knew it. He is also overseeing the 2nd Avenue Subway which they need more billions to finish. Would you trust a engineer where waterproofing leaked after only a few months? The contractor is liable but the MTA looks bad again. NYC is very corrupt.

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Anon

Neighborhoods don’t have to be a take or leave it situation. As a community member you should have a voice and can effect change. I guess a lot of people commenting here are just push overs and don’t see fighting for a neighborhood they love worth it.

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Anon

Fighting without money to bribe those people in power is almost pointless. Seems that’s how real estate business gets done.

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Frank

Come on – no bribes are necessary. Here is how it works: (1) The property here is now worth a ton of money because Manhattan has become so expensive; (2) people here sell their property to developers because they want the money; (3) developers develop the buildings, maximizing sales per square foot of ground; (4) now that the same lot can yield more sellable units, more people will be here. Pretty simple. You can prattle on about 421a etc., but the reality is those are the laws and the developers will look to use the laws to maximize profit.

Zoning does get changed, but that goes through a review process that is fairly transparent. In an area that is becoming residential, it doesn’t make sense to preserve rotting warehouses. Or are you saying the City should take a page from the Soviets and centrally plan housing? It worked great there…and rent control is such a great program here.

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Anon

“review process that is fairly transparent” is the most hilarious thing I’ve read all day, especially since it does not apply to the current administration. The MIH rezoning plan has not gone through any public review, which should be part of the process.

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Anon

These comments are ridiculous. All of these personal attacks on MRLIC just go to prove his point. Again, change and evolution can be good. It has clearly been unchecked and gotten completely out of control here in LIC and a in many other parts of the city. MRLIC, there are plenty of people that share your views.

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Frank

And his point is…that people should be more carmodgeonly or that wistfully remembering the Good Old Days should be encouraged? Or that people who live here and, because of their jobs and/or having moved around a lot, who have their network of friends outside the neighborhood should be demeaned? Or that people who have more pressing things to do than to chat in the hall with MRLIC are snobs? Or that everyone who lived here for more than a decade automatically should have veto power over how things are and how property owners use their property. Please, do clarify.

Look, it is a neighborhood, as in a geographic area you happen to live in. It isn’t some extended family or tribe. Most people spend a few years here (or anywhere) then move on. As an owner, my interest in the neighborhood is maintaining my property value and general livability. Hipsters and Yuppies are indicators that the former is doing well, and a crowded subway train station or tall buildings in New York City is hardly the end of the latter.

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He has a right

To criticize as you have a right to compliment. Two sides to every coin. Glass half full or empty.

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Anon

What constitutes “general livability” in your eyes? The value of your property? What about quality of life?

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Frank

General livability….let’s see:
Expansion of Gantry Park? Check.
More restaurants and bars? Check.
Crappy restaurants/bars going out of business (See: Crabhouse)? Check.
Better nightlife? Check.
Another supermarket? Check.
New library being built? Check.
Fewer derelict buildings? Check.
More people to support more interesting businesses? Check.
Businesses that offer the things I am interested in? Check.
More secure streets? Check.
Not having to explain to a taxi how to get here anymore? Check.

And the list goes on. Really, where is the downside? That the neighborhood and train is getting more crowded? Oh no, we might **gasp** start to look like part of New York City instead of the outskirts of Newark. The horror! I really cannot see anything negative beyond the few minutes of grumpiness from having a more crowded 7 train.

Oh, forgot this one: Lame dinosaur residents moving out? Check.

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Anon

You always seem so disgruntled in your posts, yet you complain about MrLIC for being the same way just on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I agree with the library and the Gantry Park expansion because the park really is lovely.

As far as the bars/nightlife, it is OK within reason. There are times I am woken up (on a weeknight!) by loud, drunk, pedestrians walking past my window. There have also been a couple of fights where the cops were called. For a family-friendly neighborhood, I cannot imagine that being high on the list of “general livability”.
I do not have time to type a response to everything on your list, but there are downsides to the crowds besides what I mentioned. Want to wait in line for absolutely everything? Be my guest. Want to go to the only Duane Reade to fill a prescription while you are sick, wait in line for 20 minutes, and not be able to get the prescription filled because they “ran out” of it? I have been there. The neighborhood has had an influx of people and many buildings in progress, yet no interesting businesses have been knocking down the doors to be here. Maybe because they cannot afford it and LIC will look like an empty retail wasteland like Manhattan? Correction: the dance center is going to be a great addition to the neighborhood.
Lastly, the commute is usually a factor in quality of life. It is more than a few minutes of grumpiness when you cannot get onto a train because it is too crowded, because ultimately, you are able to get onto the crowded train and you are pressed up against so many people it feels like a violation.

You constantly bash the longtime residents but maybe one day you will actually care enough to spend a lifetime in a neighborhood you love and this will happen to you. Stay humble.

jack

Who are you calling “lame dinosaur residents?” Where do you get off making that judgement? Who do you think you are? Or, who do you aspire to be, in this new iteration of Hunters Point, which was a neighborhood long before you arrived with your attitude? Not much of a neighbor, for starters.

Frank

Anon, it sounds like city life is just not for you. Oooooh….a line! Heaven forbid! A few fights…what a world! Really, please decamp to the suburbs, as it is clear you just are not able to hack it in an urban environment.

Jack: there are plenty of dinosaurs posting on this board who simply cannot accept that the world around them is changing. instead of bellyaching, they could certainly do the rest of us a favor and adapt or move on (unlike the real dinosaurs).

MRLIC

When my wife is ready to leave I will too, gladly never to return to what was once a”Neighborhood”. I will gladly leave you and the Yuppies and Hipsters and transplants etc..etc… to this Canyon of too tall buildings with no SUN and AIR and cattle trains and never return. I won’t have to deal with 0 degree temps and wind where I go Lord Willing. Sometime as another commenter put it Change for the so called better is not good. There is no planning here just building, why can’t people see that. I say hello to everyone in my building and most say hello back. It’s mostly the millennials and Yuppies and Hipsters who don’t say hello. It is as if they are afraid of their own shadows. They do it to others too, not just me. It seems they are miserable and never smile. By no means am I a snob. probably the farthest thing from it, if you knew me. I am friendly and outgoing. I know what it takes to be a neighborhood and this isn’t it.

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Frank

So, your plan is to bitch and moan here until your wife is ready to go? What a friendly guy. Kind of like a rash or toenail fungus. Why not move to a suburb now and spare us your whiny indignation?

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Hey guys-

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Mr. Lic and Frank knew each other in real life? Stood in line together for coffee without realizing it was their arch nemesis?

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MRLIC

To the commenter who agrees with me. You are not alone. Many people don’t like what is happening here. The 2 or so people that do like this sterile boring neighborhood are mindless in their supposedly Yupward Mobility thinking. They are socially dead if they think this what a community should be. The idea for LIC is build without planning and see what happens. Rea lNew Yorkers who have been gentrified know what I am talking about. If this is the future of LIC you can have it. Just hope the Stock Market stays UP. If it tanks these boring Yuppies and Hipsters and Trust fund babies will flee their high rent Condos and apartments for mommy and daddy or go back from whence they came, leaving many buildings empty as many many are not full now. LIC was not that polluted. How do you know these buildings will not get some ground water pollution if they were built on toxic sites, even Gantry Park which I don’t think is so great anyway. It’s not bitterness, it is just over crowded and Over built now that irks me. The City Council has no clue as to what is good for a neighborhood. Jimmy No Brainer either.

Reply
Frank

You’re still here? I thought you were going to leave so we don’t have to listen to your incessant braying about the Good Old Days. You just come off as a curmudgeonly obtuse snob who cannot be bothered to actually, you know, get to know the new residents, because you are just too cool for them. Please, lock yourself away in your personal echo chamber until you are ready to go away to spare us your whining.

The neighborhood has and will continue to change, regardless of the opinion of MRLIC. You cannot change that. Evolve or go the way of the dinosaurs.

Reply
Anon

Van Bramer makes sure to keep Sunnyside low rise for a reason. More light, less people. If only he could do something about that 7 Train. Ha!

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Anonymous

There may be problems with the pace and scale of development in this neighborhood, but there couldn’t be a worse messenger than Mr. LIC. Just a bunch of bitterness, nothing constructive. I really hope he doesn’t fall off that high horse of his. LIC may have been a community back in the day, but it was also an industrial wasteland polluted with toxic chemicals. I fail to see how Gantry Park is a downgrade from the barren industrial landscape of even 10 years ago. And there is still a community in this neighborhood, maybe MRLIC just can’t find it

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Anon

Hey Mr. LIC. You are not alone in this view. There are a lot of people very unhappy with the direction and rate of growth in the neighborhood. I think everyone is on board with evolution and change but not all change is good or smart. This neighborhood is becoming sterile and boring. It had so much potential. What a shame.

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MRLIC

For the people that think this is a cool neighborhood. Where are the kids playing stick ball, basketball or Roller Hockey., Touch Football, yes sometime on the block ? Oh wait. the kids today need a “PLAY DATE” or are in the house playing video games or movies or on their phones like Zombies, LIC used to have the types of kids who got out and exercised. The parents walking around like Zombies on their phones set a bad example. I am waiting for my wife to retire but I would leave right now. Transit here stinks,Corrupt Mayor and Governor, Lying Police Commissioner who says NY is Safe. There is a lot lot of BS in NY in my opinion. Let’s not forget the cost of living is very high in NYC. Just read a paper or go online and you know it is not safe here. People here are afraid of their own shadows. It never used to be that way because it was a “Smaller Community” where most people knew each other. Not like this antiseptic garbage neighborhood of LIC now. Too many Large Buildings Blotting out the sun we did not have before. It is choking off what was once a pretty good neighborhood.

Reply
Frank

Sounds like MRLIC needs to get to a suburb or wherever those evil “transplants” came from ASAP. And back to 1956.

Reply
LICer

Mr.LIC, It’s the times you don’t like and it’s not the influx of new people in the neighborhood that is stopping the kids from coming out. Most kids these days aren’t outside playing and that’s not just LIC that’s everywhere. I’m sure when I’m your age I will feel the same and move to Florida too, but there’s no sense in pointing fingers at people. That’s just very off putting! There is one thing I whole heartedly agree with you are those DAMN PEOPLE WHO DON’T PICK UP THEIR DOG SHIT! PICK IT UP! AND KEEP YOUR DOG OFF THE ASTRO OVAL THAT DO NOT ALLOW DOGS. Thank you.

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LICer

I imagine the people who constantly complain about the community changing is the older generation. I fully understand why they may want LIC to stay the way it was and not change but unfortunately this is life things and places will always change and the world is ever evolving. Was LIC much better back then when it was all warehouses, hookers and gangs? I remember watching this movie and my boyfriend told me THAT was LIC back in the day (SCARY!) was that much better than now you think? To complain constantly on why communities evolve and why the younger generation will grow up and chose to live in these communities and be called YUPPIES, HIPSTERS and STUCK UP is crazy to me. If you don’t like it move out? MRLIC, ever think of moving to Florida?

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Anon

You are wrong. I am a LIC native in my 30’s and I gripe about the community changing. It is not all bad; however, it is the TYPE of change. I’ve said it here many times before- a neighborhood destroyed to make way for residential building after residential building does not make a good neighborhood or community. You cannot tell me that shoving more and more people into a neighborhood where resources are scarce is a good thing. There needs to be a balance, which LIC does not have. And before anyone starts in with the “move somewhere else” nonsense- save it. Thankssssssss. (MRLIC you are all good in my book- you speak much truth)

Reply
Anon

Edited to add: I should have started my own post but I wanted to make the point that there are natives who aren’t part of an “older generation”

Reply
Licer

Well according to Mrlic if you are in your 30’s and you use your cellphone you are a yuppie,hipster,robot too. Welcome.

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Anon

I think what MrLic really means is that we have “phone zombies” – the people who stop in the middle of the sidewalk to check social media and/or take a selfie, or walk down the street with their heads facing down and in their phones. They have no consideration for anyone around them. I am not one of those people. I like to pay attention to my surroundings.

MRLIC

I do want to leave LIC, if this is how the neighborhood will be in the future. You can live where you can’t see the sun and are herded like cattle on a train. Not me. Actually the cattle have more room. LIC meant no BIG Buildings and snobby people in the past. You can have it. Maybe you should leave as one commenter said. Many people feel the way I do. It is a shame our elected leaders gave in to GREEDY Developers..

Reply
Frank

No big buildings? No crowded trains? You realize you live in New York City, right? Go repopulate Ohio, or wherever you imagine those dreaded “transplants” come from. The neighborhood is changing because the City is changing. This isn’t a conspiracy by greedy developers to destroy MRLIC’s neighborhood As He Says It Should Be. It is the inevitable development of an area close to Manhattan because the City has spent the past 2 decades growing in residential population. Time to put up or shut up. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

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MRLIC

The Good Old days were better than this antiseptic Yuppie, Hipster neighborhood. It wasn’t derelict as one commenter says. It was more a community than this will be ever be now. Self centered people walking and not picking up after their dogs. everyone like a zombie on their phones Bring back the DRAFT and watch these Yuppies and hipsters run to Canada or somewhere else. Freedom is not Free and the entitled people I mentioned don’t understand that.

Reply
Frank

Oh, really. Get over yourself. This neighborhood has improved over the past decade by virtually any objective measure. Your rant is complete “good ole days” caricature. So, are you serious, or just howling for those kids to get off your lawn? Please, if the changes to the neighborhood trouble you so much, then leave, because those changes are not going away and more are coming.

Reply
Frank

I am not the one crying about how the neighborhood is changing. And “parasite”? Do explain, or is that just another insult you blurt out? Thanks for your contribution the the conversation…eloquent always.

Reply
Kris -

Ha! Well said Frank.

Things change.
Every big city is in constant flux.
Roll with it or move on.
Like it or not Hipster exist
Like it or not a thousand real estate places will open as long as there is money for them to be made.
Like it or not people in this town can now pay to have caviar smeared on there face.
Yes – it’s a world of strange changes.
Stick with the ones you like and don’t support the ones you dislike.

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MRLIC

Just what we need more Real Estate Brokers for Luxury Buildings. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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glad to see

Hey be nice. They are employing people, paying rent, taxes, and sponsor/cosponsor events for neighborhood. Modern spaces is the only brokerage that does things for LIC. If you want to go hating, go hate yourself “MRLIC”

Reply
Frank

MRLIC is a curmudgeonly whiner who wistfully remembers the good old days when LIC was a derelict neighborhood. Don’t try reasoning with him – the very idea that Modern Space (a) does things for the neighborhood or (b) needs another location to accommodate their business makes his head hurt.

Reply
Astoria Resident

Older people find it difficult to change. When you’re old you’ll understand.

Reply

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