The Greening of Queens Not Quite Going as Planned

1.

Wow. Someone should be shot for that.

2.

Jesus! That is terrible...

3.

That is so funny!!

4.

Thank you for bringing attention to the plight of St. Saviour's. We may have lost this battle, but we plan on winning the war. With all of the loss of our history and overdevelopment in Queens, we can't afford to lose yet another open space, especially one that has so much history attached to it.

5.

Appalling.

6.

this is the lowest form of human

7.

as usual. bloomberg admin just wants more condos in nyc. lets just steam roll the entire city and put up ugly glass condos. who needs trees? who needs parks? who needs cultural institutions? who needs landmarks? who needs nyc culture when you can bring in the new american sterilicity?

8.

Wow, the owner really went out of his way to do that. Sad.

9.

I agree with bing, that was hilarious, and im okay with this.

10.

i agree. appalling. sad. and makes my heart hurt.

11.

This developer = SCUM

12.

Wow, the Juniper Park Civic Association is having a very bad year what with the off leash law hoopla and this. It's tragic that they lost this fight in this way.

13.

Was this a city decision or did the owner do this pre-emptively?

14.

Excuse me, we haven't lost this fight. We are still in it to win it!

By the way, what kind of barbarian cuts down trees in the middle of nesting season? The trees were devoid of leaves a few short months ago and there were no birds living in them at that time. This was done purely to intimidate. It failed to do that.

15.

Either way, it's still funny.

16.

Bing should be shot

17.

16, make like those trees and BUZZ OFF!

18.

For a second the bottom shot looked like a part of Fallujah I patrolled last year. Sad that it's actually in NYC.

19.

Some of the trees the developer cut down were so large your arms wouldn't reach around the trunk. Do we still believe in the 2030 Plan? Juniper Civic appealed to the Mayor and his Landmarks Preservation Commission in vain. There is no park anywhere near here. Children are playing where they can, in unsafe conditions. No city designated landmarks either. And the church, which is next to be destroyed, was designed by Richard Upjohn, the architect of Trinity Church Wall Street, and built in 1847. Nobody in City Hall cares!

20.

Chopping down old-growth trees just to spite local park/preservation advocates isn't funny. It's cruel and it's against everything that PlaNYC purports to stand for.

21.

It's called raze before the craze!!!

22.

Really Bing I'd like to know what is so funny about cutting down trees.

23.

Get over it. There will continue to be parks, pigeons will continue to crap all over everything in Queens without these trees, and live will move on. Unless it's your property, they're not your trees.

24.

Chopping down old-growth trees just to spite local park/preservation advocates isn't funny. It's GENIOUS!!!

25.

Screw you, bing...your the same type of douche who leaves the windows on and the AC pumping on high. Nothing funny about cutting down trees...

26.

What isn't funny about this property owner showing everyone who's in charge of that land?

27.

Baldman - at least Bing knows how to form a grmatically correct sentence. And in this case he's also right.

28.

Sweet Zombie Jesus.

29.

What exactly makes this funny? It's disgusting.

30.

Jesus freaking Christ! That developer should be expelled from the country.

No doubt we'll be seeing some Fedders crap being built there and then we'll see them on Queens Crap website.

31.

BLOOMBERG MIGHT AS WELL PULL DOWN HIS PANTS AND JUST CRAP ALL OVER EVERYTHING!!! it's amazing how people move here to live in NYC and erase it's culture in the process and Bloomberg doesn't give a shit. As long as wealthy people keep moving in he's happy. I don't want this little man to run for president.

32.

Funny would be the city claiming the land under eminent domain and giving the owner a pittance for it.

33.

Cutting the trees down shows just how much precious open space there is to save. Just think how beautiful this site could be properly landscaped with a garden and new trees, with that view of the NYC skyline in the backdrop (behind the Kosciuszko).

34.

The developer needs a zoning change to build here and he has to go through several levels to get it, each of which requires input from the public. This was not a smart move.

35.

Why don't you give up your property, Mal Content? I mean, if you're so concerned about having enough parks for the drug dealers and homless... you should put your money where your mouth is and give a big wad of cash to the city for the purchase of a park in that area.

36.

"Funny would be the city claiming the land under eminent domain and giving the owner a pittance for it."

Not only would that be funny, but would also be sweet justice!

37.

Why is everyone so concerned that the city might actually have to spend OUR tax dollars for something that benefits US for a change? This area deserves a park just like the hip trendy areas of Brooklyn and Manhattan do.

- Queens resident

38.

Your questioning my grammar, and you can't spell GRAMMATICALLY??? Thanks for the input,jerkoff...now go up to the top of a building, and jump off...idiot

39.

For the love of God, Baldman...

"you're" = you are

"your" = second person possessive

You're using your words incorrectly in your postings here.

40.

six people commenting in a row with different names, I smell the same person commenting over and over again. I cant see curbed commentators getting this worked up over queens, and maspeth after all, the place is 90% graveyards for gods sakes, theres lots of treed, countem on a map there there are 19-20 graveyards.

41.

"having enough parks for the drug dealers and homless..."

The more Bing writes, the more stupid he sounds...

42.

Why didn't they tear or burn down the church, too? If I owned it, I would.

43.

You're right, 41. I am stupid. I should have typed "homeless" (and not "homless").

44.

Graveyards in Maspeth:

1) Mount Olivet
2) Mount Zion
3) part of New Calvary

Cemeteries are not the same as parks.

45.

I'm the Curbed troll.
Wind me up and watch me piss you off.

46.

Piss off, Bingo.

47.

Oh, a troll on the Curbed board. How cute. When do the kids go back to school?

It's no surprise that people are having an emotional reaction to this. Deep down, all of us know that destroying nature is just plain wrong.

48.

It is a church that means it probably didn't pay taxes so those were illegal trees.

49.

Thank God I live in a toxic neighborhood already denuded of trees and without any real parks. If I lived in Maspeth, that would really piss me off.

50.

I hate to break it to everyone, but Bing is permanently out of school and he's been a troll on this site since the beginning.

51.

In Maspeth it's called a two dollar whore; in Manhattan it's called a Brazilian.

face it, it's both funny AND a dick move.

52.

Despicable. Hopefully, they will not place a cookie cutter, or another Aris (lofts) on that site.

53.

#51 I think a one dollar whore is you mother, or is it your sister? maybe its your grandmother.

54.

Though you may disagree with me, I'm certainly entitled to my opinions.

55.

Pwned by the owner.

Not saying it isn't unfortunate, but if it's his land, isn't it his right? Why don't you go buy some land and plant trees all over it?

56.

This is just like what the Jews did to the Palestinians.

57.

Ok two names added to the list:
Dennis Gallagher
and
Graff Homes
scumbags
oh and Bing too. I appreciate the ownership arguement- but these actions, and your comments, are sickening.

58.

This is what happens when you get an indifferent councilman, Dennis Gallagher, who is term limited and who, despite his constituents' fight to halt overdevelopment, wants to develop the St. Savior's site with 70 housing units, in an attempt to placate his developer "friends." Bloomberg doesn't care about St. Savior's, he doesn't care about Queens or its heritage. Remember that if he decides to run for president. If St. Savior's was in Manhattan Bloomberg would have preserved the church and the trees and the site would become a park. These two elected officials personify why term limits make so much sense.

59.

"St. Saviour’s Church.... was used for church purposes through December 2005, when it was taken over by an Israeli development group"

I hear they're pretty adept at razing olive groves too.

60.

Here's the kicker - the developer will still need a zoning change to build houses anyway. A zoning change that he will never get. Instead of negiotating for the retention of this land for some kind of community purpose; which is what the community has been asking for years far - they illegally destroy this natural park. And yes, illegally - the cops showed up and made them stop at one point. And before the free-market zealots get all uppity, if the local pol actually represented his constituency, he could have allocated public monies to remedy this situation - like they asked him too.

61.

Well the owner,Tommy Huang, according to an article I just read has a long list of misdeeds- sounds like a real peach.

62.

um, I think bing should know genius is spelled without an o.

63.

Well, lee, I didn't say that I was a genius. I said chopping down these trees was genius.

64.

If you own the land you can do what you want. If the community wanted the land they should have put up the money and bought it. Losers weepers.

Get over it. The trees are gone. There are millions just like them.

65.

Sad but if you owned the property, what would you do?

Unless the city offers money equal to developing the property it gone. I always thought the city should get back to the deal of open/public space equals bonus heights on developments. That way a big developer would trade the land for more stories somewhere else

66.

Maspeth has discovered the internet? That's impossible.

67.

I'm still laughing my booty off over how the owner chopped down those trees. And nothing anyone can do will bring those trees back. HAHAHA!

68.

Bing, you're horrible.

69.

I see your point Bing. Thanks.

70.

I've given it some thought and I take back what I said. Go developers.

71.

Thanks, Jane and Dan.

72.

I climbed up a tree once and the fire department had to get me down.

73.

I help my daddy run the family business by staying on the internets and keeping busy and out of his way. He's not so crabby as when I used to help him in his office.

I have to go now. It's juice box time!

74.

Daddy loves trees.

75.

Mommy's secret boyfriend talks about smoking trees.

76.

What's all this garbage about mommy and daddy? Paging Dr. Freud!

77.

Someone's obviously impersonating Bing. I can't believe some of you don't get that.

78.

Give me some credit, please.

79.

sad how this is going to get to a bullsh$t 100 post thread. Go Bing!

80.

Nah, the tree lovers are going to pussy out and stop posting their whiny posts at about #85.

81.

I love trees, but for some reason I dont really care about this, maybe because its in queens. The trees lost the war in queens a loooong time ago.

82.

The site looks like a perfect scene for the last stand in a zombie movie.

83.

We need much, much more control over what goes on with property in this city.

Bottom line: you should not be able to bulldoze, or threaten to destroy, a historic building designed by one of the country's eminent architects.

Even if you own it.

www.forgotten-ny.com

84.

This is the last straw! You must not do anything to the property you own unless at least 3/4 of the people who don't live in the area tell you what they think you should do, and if you deviate from the cultured, educated self appointed elites, then shame on you!

85.

If this gets knocked down, then perhaps it's time to overturn the landmarks law. If this were in Manhattan, it would have been saved already.

86.

Mayor Bloomberg:

Planting trees in Israel; hastening their destruction in NYC.

87.

^ Yea!! by the way where is the floor plan of that church? It probably has a better layout than that SoHo loft

88.

#84-- I think the point here is that the cultural elites (who have some money and some influence in Bkln and Manhattan) have largely ignored this nabe, leaving the local residents to fend for themselves. Obviously the property owner has the LEGAL right to knock down his own trees, but most people would agree that it's not a very moral, community friendly or eco-friendly thing to do.

89.

did i just read over 80 post regarding queens? yes i did.

90.

WTF? Blaming the "cultural elites" is like crying for mommie to make it better. The fact is that Councilman Dennis Gallagher screwed the community on this. You think the developers care if the NYT or some other "big media" or "cultural elites" from Manhattan don't like it? If Dennis cared about his constituents and Queens wasn't run like a crooked poker game, then these trees would have never been touched.

91.

Stop with the talk of the 'cultural elite' in Manhattan and Bklyn.
Read the lastest post:

Brooklyn Heights Blog
The coop board of 145 Hicks Street (Mansion House) will hold an open meeting tonight to share with residents its plan to cut down the 80 year old American elm tree in the building's courtyard. (Note: The meeting is not open to the public. It's an open board meeting for MH residents.)

92.

I guess I was wrong. The tree lovers are continuing to post their whiny comments.

93.

These types of things do happen in Manhattan; stop losing credibility by making things up. St. Ann's was recently destroyed and there is a movement going on now to save St. Brigid's. I guess Bloomberg thought those churches were in Queens. Please make sure your facts are accurate.

Didn't the developer agree to keep the church and build on the rest of the property?

94.

>>>did i just read over 80 post regarding queens?

>>>I love trees, but for some reason I dont really care about this, maybe because its in queens

Yeah, it's a bit different from the usual Manhattan, Williamsburg and Greenpoint posts. People in the areas that don't matter, according to some curbed readers, give a damn about their neighborhoods too.

Sorry, folks, if Queens residents are feeling somewhat defensive. With the pillaging and rape of our landmarks (which don't get officially recognized) and the indifference shown by City government toward our neighborhoods, we have the perfect right to.

www.forgotten-ny.com

95.

>>>there is a movement going on now to save St. Brigid's.

It's funny you should mention St. Brigid's. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been front and center in her efforts to save St. Brigid's, which is on the east side of Tompkins Square Park, and has enlisted celebrity support:

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runninscared/archives/2007/06/matt_dillon_get.php

However: letters to Christine Quinn's office regarding St. Saviour's by the Juniper Park Civic Association have gone unanswered.

www.forgotten-ny.com

96.

Well, St. Brigid's is different.

97.

Of course it is, Bing; it's in Manhattan. That unquestionably must make it more important.

www.forgotten-ny.com

98.

Of course it does. But you're just being sarcastic.

99.

Unfortunate but this seems to be the theme these days. Those with the most money have the power to do with things as they please. SAD.

100.

#100

101.

The developer never promised to save the church and build around it. That was the phony plan that Gallagher was working on. He's in hiding these days. He supposedly secured a million dollars to purchase the church and a bit of land around it for a small park. That's why his cronies are now hinting that it will be torn down now.

102.

I'd rather "hug a tree" than "roll around in bed" with a developer any day!

103.

I'd rather chop a tree down.

104.

This is one of the most spiteful acts that a community rapist like Councilman Gallagher has condoned to date.......the destruction of a grove of old growth beautiful trees on an important historic landmark worthy property .

He has turned his back on his constituents....betrayed the public trust.... and is far more guilty of this crime than the developer who ordered the actual chain saw massacre .

Your elected representative is supposed to be the one that protects your district from these kind of perpetrators instead of being their chief accomplice in such arborcide.

He has placed a curse upon his own head by allowing this tragedy to happen!

105.

If I were a developer, I'd focus my efforts on Queens. Obviously, the political powers ignore what's going on there. You don't even have to spread money around like you do in Manhattan. You can just pretty much do what you want.

It's not just the politicians, anyway. The media does not cover these beats as much, and there's less commonality than in Manhattan. Lots of people from the outer boroughs pass through Manhattan, but the opposite is not true.

And though no one likes to hear this, the problem is us, too. I'll bet everyone here knows way more about St. Brigid's than the above site and not because, like me, we all live in the East Village.

106.

The bottom line is that our community is only as good as we make it.

107.

Bing, is this the part where we hold hands and sing Kumbayah?

108.

Also guilty as charged in this heinous crime are:

#1. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for arbitrarily refusing to designate this site in spite of its worthiness.

#2. His Imperial Royal High Ass Mayor Mike (let them eat cake attitude) gave St. Saviour's the cold shoulder .

#3. Dan Doctoroff (EDC's demon of destruction) the only green he cares about in NYC is the unimpeded money stream that flows from developers' hands into politicians' pockets .

#4. Matt Gorton (ersatz CAU and mayoral go-fer) a wimp among men.... who wouldn't set up a meeting to discuss a land swap deal that could have saved the day .

109.

Judging by the caliber of his comments "Bing" must be on crack!

110.

Just try to ignore Bing. He's an old time troll on this site.

111.

fuck you bing

112.

Sorry Bing. I had too much coffee.

113.

The trolling award for this thread goes to the Juniper Park Civic Association. Without your tireless typing efforts, this thread would never have made it to 100+ comments.

114.

#94
Kevin, I love your work at Forgotten and greatly respect you, but the reason that Queens often is overlooked is, I feel, it lacks the activism that many in Manhattan and certain other neighborhoods have.
Manhattan and west Bkly is undergoing constant change, Queens not as much. Hence, there is a pre-existing cadre of activists ready to pounce on inappropriate development or LPC designation.

115.

This is a good start. All boroughs should be razed, burned and rebuilt from scratch. New Yorkers fail to understand that Hoboken would be like Mercer Island, WA if it could forget the pathetic Industrial Revolution era that laid the foundation for its ruination.

116.

Razing and burning Hoboken? I'm ok with this.

117.

And we all know what Mercer Island WA is like right guys?

118.

Mercer Island was never the same since they opened a Starbucks

119.

Good lord, doesn't the city have a tree ordinance!? How can this be legal?

120.

I don't know whether it's legal, but it's funny as hell!

121.

Hey #56- if you'd like to expand on your idea about what the Jews did to the Palestinians, give me a call you f--g pussy.

Reply back and I'll give you my Ph #.

122.

Give me your number and I'll explain to you how this is exactly the same as what the Jews did to the Palestinians.

123.

I am not a blogger that shields them self behind the anonymity of the Internet. And, I have indeed witnessed a tragic event in my community. And all for unbridled profits at the expense of our heritage. Clearly the blame lies at the doorstep of Mayor Michael Ruben Bloomberg. While it is quite correct that our local elected officials never stood with the community, and some conspired against their constituents, sufficient out cry was registered to the media and the courts that Mayor Bloomberg could have stepped up to the plate and exercised the powers of eminent domain to claim this historic site as a treasure for the City of New York and restore it to its original beauty as a place to teach and inspire the children of New York about History. The fact that he allowed the destruction of 180 grown trees which were capable of removing volumes of pollution from our neighborhood shows that all his talk about keeping New York “Green” is just that - talk. Bloomberg touts a 4 billion dollar surplus certainly sufficient to squeeze out six million dollars for a full city block of trees or her could have engage the owner into considering a land swap or some form of tax abatement, he definitely had options. The community is in the ninth inning Mayor Bloomberg you can still step up to the plate and hit a home run for History.

As for Bing, your comments have elevated you the class of Royal Dingbat.

124.

Huang's answer to carpetbagging central planners...........next....

125.

two years growth of thornwood (not the town) will replace that

126.

the excavation ? seems to have weakend the front buildings foundation.. is this good, by which perspective?????????/

127.

the excavation (?) seems to have made the foundation of the front building weaker. is that good. and by whose or which perspective

128.

Edward Kampermann = Juniper Park Civic Association

129.

I can't blame the mayor for this. He can't be expected to come in to this situation at the last minute, spend millions of dollars of city funds to acquire, develop and maintain a property in private hands, and insert himself into a nasty hornet's nest of an issue with accusations flying everywhere. Even if the city acquired the property through a land swap or eminent domain, it would still cost millions to refurbish and maintain. The city has a surplus but it also has large projected future deficits which he is trying to plan for. A park may very well be the right thing for this site, but I can't blame the mayor for not responding to insults and righteous demands. Also, I'm sure he doesn't personally tell the Landmark Commission what to designate on a site by site basis. There are other people here to point fingers at, we shouldn't be recklessly throwing blame at Bloomberg.

130.

This isn't a "last minute" plea to the mayor, Peter. This has been going on for more than a year-and-a-half. "Last minute" was the Elmhurst Gas Tanks site, and the mayor managed to save that even though constructing a park there costs millions of dollars I am sure could have been used for something else. If you think Mr. Bloomberg doesn't exert control over his appointed commissioners, then there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'll happily sell you for $10 million, and then I can buy the church myself.

131.

This property is not owned by Tommy Huang and there has not been any excavation done up to this point.

132.

>>>>Edward Kampermann = Juniper Park Civic Association

Quite true, and the Juniper Park Civic Association has done more than any other organization to kep St. Saviour's Church standing.

www.forgotten-ny.com

133.

Yeah, the Juniper Park Civic Association is so effective. Just look at how they managed to prevent all those trees from being chopped down.

134.

And in case anyone doubts me, just look on the Juniper Park Civic Association website:

http://www.junipercivic.com/executiveBoards.asp

Edward Kampermann is on the Board of Directors with the fancy title "2nd Vice Pres."

Edward Kampermann = douchebag shill

135.

I've never doubted you, Bing.

136.

#121-I was merely referencing a past post in which Israel was a hot topic. In inside joke if you may, among those frequent site commentators. dickhead. And this is alot like Israel and Palestine. And im a Jew, and I support Israel. Now give me your phone number. pussy.

137.

So Christina's vast experience in city governance has led her to the conclusion that the mayor controls the Landmark Commission's decisions on every site that it considers. Because she has worked so much with organizations that handle budgets of billions of dollars and make administrative decisions that affect millions of people. You have to be kidding. No wonder the city doesn't want to deal with such naivete and belligerence.

138.

No, Christina is not naive enough to believe that commissioners appointed by the mayor will base their decisions on the evidence presented to them rather than on politics.

139.

So, Gallagher rapes more than the environment:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18579675&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574901&rfi=6

140.

boy, this guy really doesn't like trees

141.

We need to preserve our history and especially St. Saviour's Church. It is one of the last remaining significant structures in the area from the James Maurice and Dewitt Clinton era.

142.

Hey Bing grab your ankles....

143.

Yeah, baby! Give it to me rough. You don't even have to use spit.

144.

"The church itself was gutted by a fire over thirty years ago and is now a shell of what it originally had been. It also has not been used in years and did not have enough attendance to sustain itself when it was open as a church."

The church had exterior damage in a 1970 fire. It is in no way a "shell" but may become one if the developer and Gallagher have their way. It was used as a church through December 2005. When the developer made the multi-million dollar offer, it was vacated by tax shelter Korean Methodist congregation that had used it since 1997.

145.

Anyone remember the early 1960s in Maspeth, I lived at 53-07 43rd street in a building called the flats and we left in 1962, anyone?