After the floods

 

QNS 

 The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced Wednesday, July 31, that they have started their planned $51.8 million infrastructure project in Rosedale.

The project, which the DDC is managing, will address reoccurring flooding in the flood-prone neighborhood, among other plans. Project highlights will include improved tap water distribution, reconstructed streets and new transportation improvements in the area. The projected completion date is scheduled for winter 2026.

 

The project will add 92 catch basins and upgrade or install nearly 1.5 miles of local storm sewers and over half a mile of sanitary sewers. The new catch basins will help to drain precipitation from the roadways, while 13 underground storm chambers will further boost water holding capacity. 

About 2 miles of water mains will be upgraded from 6-8-inch cast iron pipes to more durable 8-12-inch ductile iron pipes. Additionally, 14 new fire hydrants will be added and 21 existing fire hydrants will be upgraded to guarantee firefighters’ access to the city’s water supply during emergencies.

Rosedale roadways and sidewalks will also receive a major fix. The project calls for the reconstruction of 36 blocks with new roadways and the replacement of over 4.5 miles of damaged and/or broken curbs. The city also plans to fix 4.5 acres of sidewalks. Additionally, 130 ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps will be constructed in the are

 

Sponge worthy

 

QNS

 

A residential street in the Rockaways is the first in the city to be redesigned with groundbreaking infrastructure methods to absorb stormwater and reduce tidal flooding from Jamaica Bay.

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on Sept. 6 that construction on a $1.2 million project that transformed three roadway medians into green infrastructure “sponges” that mitigate chronic flooding on Beach 67th Street between Almeda and Thursby Avenues in Arverne have been completed.

 “Transforming these medians into working green infrastructure that absorbs stormwater helps reduce any flooding along Beach 67th Street while also protecting nearby Jamaica Bay,” DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala. “In just the last several years we have constructed more than 12,000 similar installations that absorb stormwater and beautify neighborhoods across the city. We will continue to aggressively expand this critical work that is making our city more resilient to the changing climate.”

The completion of the project was announced just as forecasters began to warn of a potential hurricane threat to the East Coast forming in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Lee was upgraded to a hurricane on Wednesday with the potential to become a category 4 hurricane by the weekend, but it is too early to predict the storm’s path.

“As peak hurricane season nears, these new green infrastructure sponged in Arverne are a welcome addition to the Rockaway community, which we know is extremely prone to strong storms and coastal flooding,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “Every new median helps as we leave no stone unturned to mitigate flooding and protect our shoreline communities.”

Work included removing the old median curbs, trees, plantings and the accumulated trash. Stormwater storage vaults and drains were installed five feet below the surface and covered with stones and engineered soil – all elements designed to maximize the amount of stormwater that the median will be able to contain. Modeling shows that the new medians will absorb approximately 90,000 gallons of stormwater annually.

City contractor insurance company stiffs homeowners following reckless infrastructure repairs

 

QNS

After a major construction project along 74th Street and Penelope Avenue in Middle Village damaged multiple people’s property, local residents are calling on the city to look into why some homeowners were compensated and others were not. 

Construction began in 2016 to improve stormwater drainage and upgrade the city’s infrastructure system. The $32 million project, contracted by CAC Industries Inc., consisted of replacing the water main, reconstructing sewers, installing catch basins, manholes, sidewalks, roadways and more.  

The liability insurer for CAC Industries, Travelers, settled 11 claims from homeowners concerned about property damage after construction ended in 2020. However, an additional 13 claims were denied, leaving homeowners with thousands of dollars in damages that many cannot afford. 

Councilman Robert Holden got involved and sent a letter to the Department of Design and Constriction (NYC DDC), which previously oversaw the construction, to ask them to audit the project.

“My constituents deserve more transparency and an understanding as to what evidence was used in denying or approving the claims of homeowners,” Holden said. “Auditing the 74th Street sewer project will not only be useful to the homeowners who suffered property damage but will also help ensure future projects are conducted more responsibly.”

A DDC spokesperson told QNS that they plan to respond to Holden’s letter after reviewing the project and subsequent claims. 

One resident, Danny O’Neill, was previously compensated for damage to his water heater but denied payment for cracks sustained to the front stoop and his home’s foundation.

“There was massive machinery here every day, pounding the ground over and over again. Our houses were rattling and shaking,” O’Neill said. 

After incessant pounding, O’Neills water heater burst. CAC Industries took responsibility and O’Neill was compensated $1,000 for a new water heater. However, O’Neill’s damaged front stoop, only a few feet away from the construction, was not covered.

99 and a half won't do

NY Post

Mayor Eric Adams rolled out a record-busting $99.7 billion budget proposal on Tuesday fueled in part by an uptick in tax revenues, spending that he argued is essential for the Big Apple’s comeback from the coronavirus pandemic.

Adams unfurled his spending pitch to the City Council with great fanfare during a 50-minute speech at the historic Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, during which he highlighted his new anti-gun and homelessness initiatives, hiring hundreds of new corrections officers for embattled jail system and new funding to clean the Big Apple’s streets and parks.

“This budget puts people — especially those who have often been left behind — front and center. Success will be measured by how much we accomplish, not how much we spend,” he said. “Despite the massive shocks to our system in the past two years, our city enters fiscal year 2023 on strong financial footing.”

Hizzoner’s new spending plan would increase the Police Department’s annual budget from the $5.4 billion authorized by lawmakers to $5.6 billion and spending on the Department of Homeless Services would rise from $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion.

The massive Department of Education would see its allocation trimmed back from $31.6 billion to $31 billion, primarily due to enrollment declines and leaving hundreds of unfilled positions open.

Down in the hole

 

 THE CITY

Clement Bailey didn’t know what to expect when he moved from Flatbush just as the city shut down in March 2020

He’d bought a two-family house in The Hole, a low-lying neighborhood wedged between South Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard that straddles the border lines of East New York, Brooklyn, and Lindenwood, Queens.

Some call it the “Jewel Streets” neighborhood, for thoroughfares with sparkling names like Sapphire, Emerald, Amber and Ruby. But the area sits below the city’s municipal sewer network. With swampy flooding, septic seepage and illegal dumping, the atmosphere is lackluster.

“I can’t stand these conditions, honestly. I’m not used to living like this,” said Bailey, 29. “Everything inside the house is pretty peaceful, but when you step outside the door, you have to deal with all the water issues, the garbage issues. It’s not really appealing.”

A construction worker, he bought the house for his mother and sister to live in. But his mother died last year, and so he’s been living there with his sister.

In The Hole, many homes aren’t serviced by the city’s sewers and instead use septic tanks, which tend to overflow when there’s rain. There are no stormwater drains, so Bailey and his neighbors often navigate lakes of standing water in the streets. Abandoned vehicles sit in empty lots. Paved roads are inconsistent. Strewn trash abounds.

And it’s been this way for decades.

Plans to address the issues have long been stuck in the muck: Twenty years ago, the Giuliani administration proposed elevating the streets and installing sewers in the area. The plan’s been included in the city’s capital budget for at least two decades. Yet nothing was ever done. The most recent “request for proposals” on the project went out in 2019, but remains on hold, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Manhole exposed in Corona

 

Facebook 

Seen on Alstyne Ave. and 103rd St.. Truly a new low for the "World's Borough", but its just another day of negligence by the Department Of Transportation.

Talk about an open street. Nothing can get more open than this

Contractor turns sewer infrastructure project into an illegal dumping site

 

 Queens Chronicle

For more than five years now, an ongoing sewer construction project has wreaked havoc in College Point. But more recently, residents, civics and politicians alike have found themselves going head to head with city-hired, contracting company EIC Associates over its alleged violations of the 1972 Clean Water Act at its waterfront site on 20th Avenue and 119th Street.

“The site’s an absolute mess,” said Jennifer Shannon, president of A Better College Point Civic Association. “It looks like a third-world country. It’s just horrifying.”

According to marine and environmental scientist Dr. James Cervino, who is also the environmental chair for both Community Board 7 and ABCP, the contractor has been using the site as a transfer station and recycling center for the entire 20-block project. There, he said, EIC has been dumping illegally.

“You’re not supposed to dump 2,000 yards of demo dirt — excavated dirt — that might or might not be contaminated,” Cervino told the Chronicle. “You’re not supposed to be letting runoff and debris [get]into the state protective waters under the 1972 Clean Water Act.”

Such pollution was certainly on the community’s radar at the start of the project, Cervino said further; when this phase of the sewer project started roughly three years ago, he said, the community was “assured ... that there would be total communication” from EIC regarding its progress. That has not been the case, Cervino said: Although the Clean Water Act of 1972 requires that a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program be developed and shared with the community, EIC has not done one.

“[The contractor] is supposed to protect property where property is damaged,” he told the Chronicle. “It’s supposed to be immediately addressed and information supposed to be provided to the community board. None of that ever happens.”

Asked about the SWPPP, EIC Founding Partner Joseph A. Branco said, “My understanding is that we scheduled a meeting, people were notified, there were a number of people at the meeting.” He added, “I wasn’t there myself.”

The New Jersey-based EIC Associates has been part of a number of monumental projects in the area, perhaps most significantly, the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Regarding the company’s use of the site in question, Branco said, “What we have is the materials that are disposed of [for the whole project], every two or three days, we have materials going out. I mean, these are the excavated material[s] going out, but it’s not a transfer station, per se.”

There is a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the site, the state Department of Environmental Conservation shows.

Branco also said that the company had hired AMC Engineering to consult EIC on its environmental impact during the project. According to him, AMC had produced the information required for the SPDES permit — a 500-page document — in 2019, which he believes went to the city.

Asked for comment on the situation, a spokesperson from Borough President Donovan Richards’ office said, “We are aware of issues pertaining to this project and we are in communication with both DDC and the local elected officials in order to rectify them.”

 

Brooklyn pols holding rigged webinar about city streets

Since @ericadamsfornyc is pandering to @TransAlt and those totalitarians are acting like they're in his cabinet already,they really should see what an "open street" is doing to traffic on Atlantic and Washington Aves in Brooklyn. @StreetsblogNYC

Open streets do not calm traffic pic.twitter.com/TtyORqdAza

— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 19, 2021

Senator Chuck Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander are hosting an obviously rigged webinar tonight on the future of our city streets with transportation totalitarian lobbies

What the Infrastructure Bill Means for NYC: A Zoom Townhall with Senator Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander

Description

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has the potential to reshape NYC for the better, with investments in the transportation, resiliency, and internet infrastructure our neighborhoods will need for years to come. But how that new federal funding gets spent, which projects are prioritized, what kinds of jobs are created, and how quickly they move forward will really matter. Join Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and NYC Comptroller-elect Brad Lander for a conversation on what the infrastructure money means for NYC and how federal and local officials can collaborate on implementation to ensure that infrastructure dollars deliver what our communities need for the future.

Co-Sponsors (list in formation):
Bike New York
Center for an Urban Future
Citizens Budget Commission
Jobs to Move America
New York Building Congress
New York City Central Labor Council
New York League of Conservation Voters
Regional Plan Alliance
Riders Alliance
Transportation Alternatives

 

Time

Dec 9, 2021 06:30 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

 Expect this zoom astroturfed by bike zealots and Urbanish Yimby transplants, so if you own a car and you got zoom you better use it

 Canada? 

Sewer celebration

 

QNS

Southeast Queens leaders are hailing the completion of a $20.5 million sewers and water main project that upgraded infrastructure in Hollis and Queens Village.

The city announced the construction that started in March 2019 has been finished five months ahead of schedule.

“As a homeowner in southeast Queens, I understand the anguish of local residents who experience constant flooding of their basements,” Councilman I. Daneek Miller said. “Back in 2016, I worked with now-Queens Borough President Donovan Richards to secure $1.9 billion if funding for flood remediation infrastructure, which includes an unprecedented online portal that provides oversight of the initiative. Thanks in part to our advocacy and the cooperation of local residents, I am pleased that this project has been completed under budget and ahead of schedule.

“We look forward to the continued work to end the tremendous suffering many homeowners have had to endure over the last several decades,” Miller said.

Work occurred on 20 individual blocks to replace more than one mile of water mains, some of which were installed before World War II.

“These improvements are a significant investment in the future of Hollis and Queens Village, and their early completion greatly benefits the hard-working families of these vibrant neighborhoods,” Richards said. “This work underscores the city’s strong commitment to alleviate chronic flooding and addressing the other chronic infrastructure problems in southeast Queens.”

Show us the money Joe

  

NY Post

 New York’s roads, bridges, mass transit, housing stock and care for children, veterans and seniors would all see federal investment under President Biden’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure package, the White House claimed Monday.

The so-called “American Jobs Plan” would also provide money for climate-resilient infrastructure, clean drinking water and expanded internet access, according to a state-specific “fact sheet” posted online on Monday.

“For decades, infrastructure in New York has suffered from a systemic lack of investment,” according to the fact sheet.

“The need for action is clear.”

Among New York’s infrastructure shortcomings the Biden administration said would be addressed are the state’s $22.8 billion tab over the next 20 years to maintain clean drinking water, “lack of available and affordable housing” and $2.91 billion in school maintenance needs.

“Manufacturing” and “clean energy jobs” also make the list of potential funding items.

The White House fact sheet does not, however, promise to meet all of the state’s infrastructure spending needs. It also neglects to include how much funding each item would receive under Biden’s plan — citing total proposed nationwide spending instead.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has suggested the multitrillion-dollar spending spree would boost subway expansion into southeast Brooklyn and Harlem, as well as the construction of a new tunnel under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey.

Both efforts would cost many billions of dollars — without addressing maintenance of the state’s existing, ailing infrastructure.

The Van Wyck Expressway's rotten underbelly needs a makeover

The unseasonably warm weather inspired me to take an immersion bike tour to Flushing. On my way to see the prospective development by Flushing Creek, I had to go under the Van Wyck Expressway and I find the current decrepit condition under the elevated road very troubling.

 

It looks like it can use infrastructure improvements. Fast. 

 

Anarchy on the Belt Parkway

Impunity City

 The location of this is on 124th and South Conduit Blvd in South Ozone Park and it’s a remote residential area north of the JFK airport. Barely any pedestrian or even bike commuting goes here. The actual exit ramp for 130 st. is about a few blocks east.

But apparently, those venturous drivers looking to depart from the Belt didn’t want to wait that long…

Ozone Park Patch

A week ago, I photographed a massive cave-in on the intersection of Liberty Ave. and 96th St. and wrote a post on it called Holes in the Ozone. It got the attention of Queens Patch's twitter account and they retweeted my initial tweet about this road hazard to Polly's D.O.T. Well color me impressed when I went back a week later and see it fixed.

Kinda



 


 Looks like someone left, actually lodged a Capri Sun juice bag here for some reason.

 

 Let's see what we find..

 

 Shame on you. D.O.T., even drivers are afraid to go over it.





Apparently, this pathetic Ozone Park Patch job is an established norm. Because this is what I found a block east on 97th.

 

 

 Your city would prefer vehicle owners to get adjusted to this. Because the Mayor has a Black Lives Matter mural by Trump Tower to protect from getting splattered with paint. 

Shame! from ithinkchaos on Vimeo.

Developers and investor consortium looking to supress environmental review of luxury tower development by Flushing Creek

Curbed

Along the banks of the Flushing Creek—one of New York’s most vital and most polluted waterways—dozens of construction cranes loom over the landscape, and half-finished glass towers cast ominous shadows over the water. During heavy rain storms, the waterway regularly swells, flooding pathways in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the streets of Willets Point, and even portions of the Van Wyck Expressway. And after those storms, the city’s overtaxed sewer system often pours raw sewage into the creek and Flushing Bay, causing a stench to waft from its brackish waters. Dead fish occasionally float upon its surface.

But this chunk of Queens real estate has been targeted for development by a consortium of landowners and stakeholders, including a group called the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation (FWPCLDC) that has long pushed for revamping the waterfront. Last December, the group quietly submitted plans to redevelop a 29-acre stretch of industrial property along the waterfront, which would include rezoning the northernmost section from manufacturing to residential use.

The proposal calls for creating a Special Flushing Waterfront District, which could accommodate a huge mixed-use development with more than 1,700 apartments, retail, a hotel, and publicly accessible open space (including a riverfront promenade that would connect to the recently opened Skyview Flushing Creek Promenade). Developers also want to integrate a publicly accessible road network with the existing street grid, effectively expanding downtown Flushing. The portion of land that would be rezoned could eventually be home to just under 100 below-market-rate apartments.

While proponents say the development will benefit the community, critics are concerned that development will have “immense impacts” on the fragile condition of the Flushing waterfront. 

“Adding significant residential development could overwhelm the Creek’s overburdened infrastructure that already releases over one billion gallons of raw sewage and stormwater runoff into the Creek every year,” the Guardians of Flushing Bay, a group of environmental activists, said in a statement. “Though the plan aims to provide critical access to a virtually inaccessible swath of the waterfront, it is essential that this project, if enacted, be implemented in a way that would enhance coastal resiliency, recreation opportunities, ecological stewardship and equitable access to the waterfront.”

The proposal comes as downtown Flushing experiences a development boom: Between 2009 and 2019, the neighborhood saw the second-largest number of condos constructed in New York City after Williamsburg, Brooklyn, according to Nancy Packes Data Services, a real estate consultancy and database provider. Over the past five years, rents have climbed by a whopping 21 percent. Although historically home to a largely working- and middle-class Chinese immigrant population, many of Flushing’s new developments—such as the massive The Grand at Skyview Parc, which has two-bedrooms selling for around $1.27 million—cater to a new wave of immigrants with deep pockets.

With Flushing booming, the waterfront remains the last frontier for developers. But given the size of the proposal from the FWPCLDC, as well as the fact that the Special Flushing Waterfront District is situated in a coastal flood hazard area, critics have argued that an environmental impact study—which is not required for this particular project—must be conducted before the plan moves forward.

“They’re adding three million square feet along the waterfront,” says Tarry Hum, chair of the Queens College Department of Urban Studies. “Can you imagine the environmental impact?

Update: Community Board 7 approves the rezoning anyway

 At a tense Monday night meeting, Community Board 7 voted 30-8 to approve a development team’s plan to rezone a large section of land by Flushing Creek.

Dozens of protesters showed up to criticize the land-use application filed by FWRA, a consortium of real estate firms behind the project.

The development group wants to rezone a section of the area so it can construct a 13-tower project with 1,725 residential units and 879 hotel rooms–along with retail and office space–by the waterfront.

The 29-acre property is bound to the north by 36th Avenue, to the east by College Point Boulevard and to the south by Roosevelt Avenue.

FWRA seeks the creation of the Special Flushing Waterfront District and a rezoning in order to move ahead with the proposed plan.

The standing-room only meeting was heated. Activists grew frustrated that they were unable to speak until after FWRA presented its lengthy and time-consuming presentation, which continued on until after 9 p.m.

“Let us speak,” some in the crowd pleaded during FWRA’s presentation.

CB 7 Chairman Gene Kelty walked into the crowd and tried to hush some of the unsatisfied people who were waiting for their turn to speak.

In a video of the meeting, one frustrated woman tells Kelty, “Why are you saying this is a public hearing? This is not a public hearing and you know it.”

The footage shows the CB 7 chairman saying, “It is a public hearing,” uttering a few more words that are drowned out by other noise, and then appearing to lunge at the woman to steal her phone before being stopped by police officers and others.

“Let us speak! Let us speak!” the group chanted as Kelty walked away.

NYC Department Of Environmental Protection debuted new sewer infrastructure in Southeast Queens a few days before South Ozone Park homes got deluged with dung water

QNS


After breaking ground in the community of Brookville in southeast Queens earlier this year marking the beginning of an $84 million infrastructure upgrade project, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on Nov. 26 the installation of new storm box sewers to help alleviate flooding. 

DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza joined with the Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) Deputy Commissioner for Infrastructure Eric Macfarlane and Councilman Donovan Richards to review the progress of the project that includes the installation of 9-foot-by-5-foot storm box sewers. 

“To date, 1,650 feet of storm sewers, 2,500 feet of sanitary sewers and 11,800 feet of water mains have been installed,” the DDC said in a statement to QNS. “Additionally, 25 hydrants were replaced and seven additional fire hydrants were installed as well.” 

The project, which is funded by DEP and managed by DDC, is anticipated to be completed in the summer 2021. The large box sewer will form one of the major spines for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $1.9 billion buildout of the drainage system throughout southeast Queens. 
It was a much-needed development for the area which has historically flooded even with the slightest bit of rain, Richards said. 

“This is one of 55 projects that are slated for southeast Queens over the course of the next decade or two, and these are projects that have been on the books for a very long time, like many other projects in southeast Queens,” said Richards, former chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee, who lobbied for infrastructure investment in the community. 

Going by what happened on Thanksgiving weekend, it looks like this upgrade didn't make it to South Ozone Park yet.

"Temporary" wall put up by luxury tower developer at Court Square Station collapses from downpour and nearly kills a commuter

Ok this one is scary. Wall gave out last night during a rush of water while a train was coming and took someone out #subwaycreatures pic.twitter.com/WtzgY1FuWv

— Rick (@SubwayCreatures) July 18, 2019

Gothamist 

In a lengthy statement, MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek blamed the flooding on a "shocking lapse" by contractors working for a nearby private development, which is also building a new entrance and elevator at the Court Square Station. The property is luxury condo Skyline Tower, soon to be the tallest skyscraper in Long Island City, and developed by United Construction & Development Group. 

The building did not have the proper pumping system in place during the storm, Tarek said, leading to the "absolutely unacceptable and avoidable incident."

"Their worksite was inundated with rainwater during severe thunderstorms, causing water to build upat their worksite and breach plywood separating their worksite from the station," according to the MTA's investigation. There were no reported injuries as a result of the breach.

This is the thing that commuters have to sacrifice their safety on the subway for:

 

Bad roads are to blame for added costs

From CBS 2:

A new report finds they cost drivers in our area an average of $2,800 a year.

Part of that $2,800 is spent at car mechanics, reported CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas.

Drivers consider it a necessary evil to get to work, but traffic backups and potholes are an all-too familiar site in our area.

The cost of wear and tear adds up. A new report from TRIP – a national transportation research group – found drivers in the New York City area spend nearly $2,800 a year. It’s more money spent on car repairs, wasted gas by sitting in traffic and being late for work, all because the roads are so bad.

“It’s distressing to see that here in the metro area 2/3 of pavements are in poor condition,” said Carolyn Bonifas Kelly of TRIP. “That means two out of every three miles you’re driving on you’re hitting potholes, you’re hitting rough roads.”

The larger concern is that the deteriorating infrastructure could keep more jobs from coming to the area.

Experts say the solution is more transportation funding from the state and federal government.

City: "Now that LIC is overdeveloped, let's worry about infrastructure"

From LIC Post:

The city has committed to investing millions in Long Island City under a new plan released today aimed at supporting sustainable growth in the neighborhood.

The Long Island City Investment Strategy, as the longterm plan is called, outlines the ways the city is and will be addressing practically all infrastructure in the neighborhood, ranging from parks, schools, transportation, and sewage systems.

To fund the improvements, the city is funneling $180 million into the neighborhood on top of $2.2 billion it says it has invested into the area over the years.

The city admits the impetus for its strategy comes from rapid residential development that has strained neighborhood resources and the quality of life of people living in the neighborhood since the 2001 rezoning.

The plan, additionally, stems from coordinating with multiple city agencies and engaging with the community since 2015, where the city heard concerns from distressed locals on infrastructure keeping pace with development.

The 4th land grab: LIC

From the Newtown Pentacle:

The fourth land grab in Queens is underway, as you read this.

All of this development has avoided upgrading the municipal infrastructure which the new population would require – cops, fire department, sewerage, hospitals, schools. If you’re walking through one of the glorious new waterfront parks in Hunters Point, and you suddenly grab at your chest, where the FDNY ambulance will take you is either Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, the Mount Sinai hospital on Crescent street in Astoria, or out to Elmhurst hospital. FDNY’s fire fighting apparatus in western Queens was designed for industrial fires, and the 108th precinct is housed in a tiny 19th century building which still has horse stables. The sewer plant servicing this gargantuan residential population was opened by Fiorella LaGuardia in 1936. Our transit needs far outweigh current capability. There are not enough school desks. Don’t get me started on the environmental legacy of all that industry which used to be here. The buildings being erected in the photos in today’s posts are on the site of a former chemical factory in Queens Plaza, for instance.

Simply put, “gentrification” is nothing new in Western Queens and it’s been going on since at least the Civil War. The “G bomb” has already been dropped, and it has gone off. A looming infrastructure crisis is just beginning.