Baked Astoria

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Queens Chronicle

The Astoria Pool is undergoing a major reconstruction project that will keep it closed all this upcoming season, while the Parks Department’s goal is to have the work done in time to reopen it for summer 2024.

The $19 milllion project will see the entire pool shell replaced, along with the gutter and deck; the installation of new systems for filtration and recirculation, backwash and chemical treatment; upgrades to the electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system; and work to address leaks in the filter room and tunnel.

“We never close amenities unless absolutely necessary,” a statement from the Parks Department said, “and unfortunately, Astoria Pool will be closed this summer for needed repairs to the pool tub and mechanical systems — at nearly 100 years old, many of the pool’s features have reached the end of their service life.

“Fortunately, the recently renovated spray showers adjacent to the pool will remain open during construction, so there will still be a great option for families to cool off on those hot summer days.

“We know this historic pool is a beloved neighborhood amenity, and these repairs will help to ensure that this 87 year old icon continues to serve future generations of New Yorkers.”

The Old Astoria Neighborhood Association supports the pool’s reconstruction, which will be topic No. 1 at its next online meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. March 8.

“The upcoming restoration of the Astoria Park Pool is an inconvenient, but necessary project,” OANA President Richard Khuzami said in an email. “Nothing is more essential than a renewed pool tub and mechanical systems to insure the long life of this essential community asset.

“We do call upon the Parks Department to make all efforts to limit the closure to one season. Two seasons would place an unacceptable burden on our community.”

The civic also wants the city to study either providing transportation for area residents to alternative sites, such as other city pools, or reimbursing them for fare payments to get there.

City Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria) also had a request for the administration while the work goes on.

“The Astoria Pool is a vital community resource that contributes immeasurably to our neighborhood’s health and safety,” Cabán said in an email sent by her office. “Of course, we are delighted that the pool is being upgraded. Unfortunately, District 22 ranks second-to-last in percentage of residents who live within walking distance of a park (just 59.2%), so we’re requesting that the City work with us to expand programming, convert space, etc. while the pool is under construction.

This would be 17 million cheaper to fix than building a fake park in Jackson Heights

Queens Chronicle

Nearly three years after the Flushing Meadows Corona Aquatic Center’s Olympic-caliber pool closed for what was supposed to be “at least six weeks” for an emergency roof repair, it remains off limits to the public as the Department of Parks and Recreation struggles to repair its unique movable floor.

Parks said in a City Council oversight hearing last December that the pool at the 14-year-old, $67 million facility — built as part of New York City’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2012 Olympics — would reopen by January or February 2022. But while the emergency roof repair was completed in July 2021, the pool remains closed with the department’s site now reporting that the closure is “due to needed repairs to the movable floor” that’s designed to move up and down to accommodate diving as well as swimming.

Whirling machine sounds reverberated from the direction of the pool when THE CITY visited the center on Tuesday as a father rushed in looking for a swim meet for his two children waiting in the car — only to be told he was at the wrong location.

“This part of the building is closed, that’s why we have this thing here,” Ashley Bernal, the facility’s deputy director, told THE CITY as she pointed to a black belt cordoning off a section of the chlorine-scented lobby.

Construction work on the floor began this September. Yet the Parks Department capital project tracker shows the $500,000 fix marked as “0% complete.”

Parks spokesperson Dan Kastanis told THE CITY the department plans to reopen the pool around January 2023, before closing it again for 12 to 18 months starting in the summer of 2024 for a complete reconstruction of its roof along with its HVAC and dehumidification systems. In the meantime, safety netting installed onto the ceiling in early 2020 would remain in place to catch concrete shedding from the roof.

Progress on repairing the movable floor has been slow, one source familiar with the project said, because it’s a custom item that does not exist in any other Parks-run aquatic facility and requires specialized materials that are not widely available. The parts are expected to arrive in December and be installed shortly after, the source said.

Queens Chronicle 

More than two years after its transformation began, the 26-block stretch of 34th Avenue between 69th Street and Junction Boulevard in Jackson Heights remains a source of joy to many and angst to others.

The 1.3-mile section of roadway has been part of the city’s Open Streets initiative since May 2020. The longest open street in the Big Apple, it’s considered the “gold standard” of the program. On Oct. 24, the New York City Department of Transportation’s major redesign of the corridor, a project called “Paseo Park,” was officially completed.

The new design includes more “shared streets,” where cars can travel at slow speeds and are directed by diverters and other road treatments, as well as eight traffic-restricted, fully pedestrian plazas. The stretch of the avenue serves as an open street between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week.

“We are very happy with this space and design,” says Jim Burke, co-founder of the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition, which had helped bring Open Streets to Jackson Heights and push for subsequent improvements. “And I think it’s a pretty fair compromise.”

Not everyone agrees. Cassandra Langer, a resident of Jackson Heights for the past 35 years, believes both the open street and new design have blighted 34th Avenue and the neighborhood in general. She wants the route returned to a standard, functioning street.

“This new design ignores the needs of the retired elderly population, handicapped people and others,” laments Langer, a community activist who works closely with the Jackson Heights Coops Alliance — which holds an anti-Paseo Park stance. “The changes might have made sense at the beginning of the pandemic, but not anymore.” 

Langer stresses that the Paseo Park design negatively impacts parking and the ability to get deliveries, and is “not pragmatic” for older citizens who cannot solely rely on biking or walking to get around. She also points out that barriers aren’t always removed when open-street hours have ended.

“The politicians are not listening to our side or even looking for a compromise,” Langer complains. “They just want a top-down approach. We’re the grassroots taking on the powers that be.”

She said more community meetings about the situation will be held and a lawsuit is possible. And she believes the upcoming winter months “will show how unworkable the Paseo Park design is.”

Jim Burke, unlike Langer, is satisfied with the open-streets format, which he had helped fight to establish. He notes the various family-friendly activities held on 34th Avenue: everything from gardening to arts and crafts to dance classes.

The longtime safe-streets activist also emphasizes that Paseo Park “is a way to get to other thoroughfares without a car,” which is important to many in Jackson Heights. Burke believes the new level of accessibility, along with the chairs and tables peppered throughout the 34th Avenue corridor, is partly responsible for the economic resurgence of some “mom-and-pop stores and vendors” in the area.

In response to those who criticize Paseo Park for being ill-suited to the needs of older citizens, Burke cites his mother: “She has been using Access-A-Ride without an issue.” (Jim Burke's mom lives in Rockaway Beach)

Councilman Shekar Krishnan (D-Jackson Heights), who was instrumental in bringing Paseo Park to the community, is proud to have such a space in his district.

"The 34th Avenue Open Street was designed by DOT, FDNY and NYPD to improve safety and accessibility for our community," Krishnan told the Chronicle. “It is a family-focused oasis on what was once a car-centric corridor, bringing together neighbors of all backgrounds and ages. ” He declined to speculate about future plans.

Really would like to hear what the NYPD and FDNY have to say about their role in the open streets that has impeded accessibility of ambulances, fire engines and patrol cars. And who actually from those departments approved this? This one mile of new fake park land is going to cost us 84 million dollars too, so this dumb experiment is going to leave that Flushing pool high and dry.

Roof pool uncool with DOB

Flushing's drowning pool

THE CITY 

 A heralded Queens public pool central to New York City’s failed 2012 Olympic bid has been shuttered since before the pandemic — while as many as a dozen workers show up daily without swimmers to serve.

It’s one of six public indoor pools closed for maintenance even after the six others run by the city reopened last month following an 18-month COVID-spurred shutdown.

The Flushing Meadows Corona Park Aquatic Center was shuttered Jan. 13, 2020, for what the Department of Parks and Recreation described as “emergency repairs” after the roof started shedding concrete.

At the time, the department said in a press release, “the pool will be closed to the public for at least six weeks,” with “extensive ceiling netting” to be installed over the pool and a neighboring ice rink.

The pool’s public entrance on the eastern edge of the park is now padlocked, with handwritten signs reading “Pool is closed, sorry” pasted on the front doors.

That netting is now permanently in place over the drained 50-meter pool, according to workers at the facility, which first opened its doors in 2008. Chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling are to blame, the Parks Department says.

Conditions are so far-gone that Parks says it is developing plans to reconstruct the roof.

Caption this couple looking longingly and wantingly at the East River Pool

 

Crappy Friday Les Miserables, it's caption time. Wonder what else this couple thinks about this stupid ass pool, which is clearly only meant for the wealthy denizens of riverfront Brooklyn.

City approves fancy pool on filthy river

 

NY Post

 This watery venture just scored a formal street address in the middle of the East River.

Futuristic floating swimming-hole project Plus Pool (+ Pool) has officially been given a city-approved location to drop anchor slightly north of the Manhattan Bridge, in the water adjacent to the Lower East Side, Curbed reported.

The project was first conceived in 2010 when four friends at design firm PlayLab floated it by two members of architecture firm Family.

“It started as a simple idea: Instead of trying to clean the entire river, what if you started by just cleaning a small piece of it?” states a project history on Plus Pool’s official website. “With this thought in mind, four designers proposed + POOL — a floating plus-shaped pool in the inner harbor of the NYC waterfront, designed to filter the very river that it floats in through its walls, cleaning more than 600,000 gallons of water every single day.” 

The friends then crowdsourced over $40,000 for their giant East River Brita-filter idea, tested some of its filtration mechanisms at Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2011 and pitched it to city officials.

Costa has an opponent

From DNA Info:

A local real estate agent who's been pushing the city to restore the long-shuttered diving pool in Astoria Park has jumped into the race for the neighborhood's City Council seat.

Kathleen Springer is running as an independent candidate for Council District 22 in the Nov. 7 election, challenging incumbent Councilman Costa Constantinides, who's held the post since 2014.

"I am basically running against the machine," said Springer, who grew up in the Marine Terrace apartments near Astoria Park. She also worked for decades in local real estate before selling her Steinway Street firm, Your Neighborhood Realty, in 2009.

"I sold or rented a house, or even commercial properties, on almost every block in Astoria," she said. "I know the neighborhood well, and I know a lot of people."

Woodside church needs mucho money to keep pool going

From Sunnyside Post:

The St. Sebastian’s Parish Center in Woodside looking to raise $1 million in donations to help keep it afloat.

The Parish Center, which provides athletic facilities and programming to the community at 39-60 57th Street, began an online crowdfunding campaign yesterday with a goal of $1 million to help repair its facility. The online fundraiser had reached nearly $8,000 by Friday afternoon.

“Our beloved St. Sebastian Parish Center is in dire need of financial assistance. The Parish Center relies heavily on memberships as a source of revenue. With traditional health clubs popping up all around our building the competition is fierce,” reads a statement on the fundraising page. “If we don’t take action soon we are in jeopardy of losing the Parish Center.”

The Parish Center has been operating at a loss for years, explains the fundraising website, running a deficit of $294,000 in 2015. There is a desperate need to make repairs to the swimming pool infrastructure to avoid losing the ability to use the pool, according to the website.

To donate visit https://www.youcaring.com/stsebastianparishcenter-772620 or send a check to:

St. Sebastian Parish Center
c/o Harry Connor
39-60 57th Street
Woodside, NY 11377

(I have confirmed that pool membership is open to anyone, not just parishioners.)

Architect draws up better plan for Astoria Park diving pool

From DNA Info:

The Parks Department has planned for years to pave over the shuttered pool and turn it into a performance space, a proposal approved by Community Board 1 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2013.

But the plan has drawn criticism from some residents who would rather see the pool restored to its original use.

Andrew Tesoro, who runs the Manhattan firm Tesoro Architects, says he's come up with a design for the space that would keep it functional all year-round. He submitted it to the Parks Department earlier this month.

"As an architect, I object somewhat to the plans of the Parks Department," he said.

The diving pool should retain an "aquatic function" rather than be filled in, he added. "It should have at least other uses."

Tesoro envisions restoring Astoria Park's diving pool for swimming and using it as an ice rink in the winter, then adding a deck-like stage opposite the diving boards to use for events and performances.

He came up with the idea after being approached by Kathleen Springer, an Astoria resident who's spearheaded a campaign to get the pool reopened, Tesoro said, noting the "spectacular design" of the Astoria Park Pool complex.

"It's important to take this precious resource and do as much as we can with it," Tesoro said.

Tesoro doesn't have an exact figure for how much the plan would cost to implement, but thinks it could possibly be cheaper or close in cost to the Parks Department's current plan for the site.

"Filling a 17-foot basin with gravel and then paving over half an acre of that with attractive material — that's not inexpensive activity," he said.

Pool party needs to be shut down

"I've been trying for five years to shut this down. All summer long there are strangers in and out of the backyard, cars parked all over the street, children's birthday parties, no lifeguard, no CPR equipment and no bathroom access! I've had children urinating on my fence!! Any ideas on how to stop this?

Here's a recent ad: https://beta.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/kghsingles/conversations/topics/19289

I've contacted DOH, DOB, CB8, etc. just sent to Avella's office today as he seems to be the only one who gets anything done in Queens." - anonymous

Hipster hot tub roof gets even heavier

Here's an update on the hipster hot tub from a couple of years back:

"Now these aO's have added a pool to the hot tub roof, with all them people and water the loading must be 10 times what that roof was designed to hold (a couple skylights, tarpaper and tar)."

Spa Castle reopens

From NBC:

Spa Castle, a popular indoor pool and spa facility in Queens, has reopened after being shut down by the Health Department earlier this year.

Spa pools and outdoor pools at the College Point location were closed in March after health investigators discovered a water return feature in one of the pools that drew a girl underwater with excessive suction on Feb. 19, authorities said.

They also found that emergency response by the staff was not consistent to what the staff told investigators from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The Health Department said Thursday that Spa Castle "has undergone a rigorous process to correct violations and met our requirement to implement a new safety plan."

Astoria or LIC may get a pool in the East River

From the Queens Courier:

The Long Island City or Astoria waterfront might become the home of a floating pool that will filter water from the East River to become safe and swimmable water.

The designers behind +POOL, the world’s first water-filtering, floating pool, has reached the next step into making their design into reality as they announced they will be looking at 10 locations across the city as potential homes for their pool, first reported by Curbed.

+POOL, which brings collaborators from design offices Family and PlayLab, plans a pool area “for everyone” as it brings four pools into one plus-sign-shaped complex, including a kid’s pool, sports pool, lap pool and lounge pool.

Described “like a giant strainer,” according to the +Pool official website, the floating pool will filter the river water within its walls, removing bacteria, contaminants and odors.

Of the 10 locations being looked at, one is the Hunters Point in Long Island City, while the other is Hallets Point in Astoria.

According to a +POOL representative, they will look into the water conditions at both Queens sites to understand the depth, access points, navigable channels, 100-year flood wave heights, current speeds, tidal elevation and harbor conditions.

Water quality testing for sites that might be able to accommodate +POOL will include testing various parameters to understand how +POOL’s filtration system will support the site, the representative said.

Jamaica Estates house: cool or crap?

From Curbed:

At first glance, this four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Jamaica Estates is all harsh angles and clashing colors and dissonant window sizes. But open the door. Take a good, hard look at its incredibly shiny interiors, which tell another story. A more aggressive story. Probably a story from a decade that has passed. Fancy a grand piano and a sunken dance floor? A pool table and fully stocked bar in a basement den of debauchery? A black- and red-tiled hot tub, sauna, and steam room set-up? Mirrored walls galore? All of the above can be yours—for a mere $1.69 million.

Astoria Park amphitheater may be built next year

From the Queens Tribune:

The long intermission for a planned Astoria Park amphitheater is ending, according to the Parks Department.

Designs for the amphitheater, which will transform the park’s defunct diving pool into an outdoor performance space, are set to be completed by the end of March with construction tentatively slated to begin in 2016, a Parks spokesperson said.

Plans for this amphitheater have been years in the making. Parks started its design process in 2012, and brought preliminary plans to the community in February 2013, meeting a critical but mostly receptive audience, according to published reports from the time.

An original design completion date of October 2013 was then pushed back due to a delay in obtaining materials needed for grading and drainage, according to the Parks Department.

Once design is complete, Parks will file for work permits to begin construction.

Man dies at Spa Castle

From NBC:

An 84-year-old man died after being found submerged in a hot tub at a luxury spa center in Queens by another patron when she stepped into the water, the woman's friend and police tell NBC 4 New York.

Hock Ma, of Forest Hills, died Sunday evening after being pulled from the water of the rooftop hot tub at Spa Castle in College Point, police said. It wasn't clear how long he had been under the water or if he suffered some type of medical emergency before becoming submerged.

The Health Department says spa pools are required to be monitored on a regular basis by an aquatic supervisor, though it wasn't clear if any were watching the tub Ma was in. Pescatore said she didn't see staff members walking by regularly to check on people in the pools and that the area wasn't lit well.

Meanwhile, NBC 4 New York's I-Team found the 100,000-square foot spa in College Point has had 28 critical violations at its indoor and outdoor facilities over the last two years, including citations for inadequate life-saving equipment and lack of qualified pool supervisors, according to inspection data from the city Health Department.

Inspection records show the outdoor facility was cited in April 2013 for not having a developed and updated pool safety plan. The indoor facility was cited in April and September over inadequate life-saving equipment and lifeguard chairs, pool overcrowding and insufficient qualified supervisory staff on duty. The facility has also been knocked four times for "operations records not maintained/submitted monthly," records show.

The Health Department said the facility corrected all its violations at the time of the last inspection in September. It has A grades for the food service establishments in the facility.

The agency said it is investigating the facility, including its safety plan, following Ma's death.

Ice skating rink proposed for Astoria Pool

From the Queens Courier:

Astoria Park could soon be the next site to go skating for the holidays.

Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. sent a letter to Parks Department Commissioner Veronica White on November 19, asking the agency to develop the Astoria Park Pool area into an ice skating rink. The area being proposed for the rink is next to the pool and used for sprinklers during the summer.

“This area in the Astoria Park Pool would make the perfect space for an ice skating rink for the residents of Queens to enjoy during the winter months,” said Vallone. “With the addition of an ice skating rink to the existing skate park and upcoming amphitheater, Astoria Park will be a destination for every season.”

Vallone and White are both on their way out, so how is this even a "could soon" story?

Pool plan pricier than promised

From the Queens Chronicle:

Two weeks ago when plans were released for a once $1 million, now $4.3 million project to transform the defunct art deco diving pool next to the Astoria pool into an amphitheater, the reaction from some was “huh?”

How did a plan quadruple in price?

At first, based on a meeting held on Feb. 20, the price tag seemed to have skyrocketed because of materials. However, the cost of cement hasn’t matured like gold.
Asked to clarify, a city Parks Department spokesman said the scope of the project has grown.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) allocated the money for the proposal. He wants to see shovels in the ground before his term-limited tenure expires at the end of the year — although he does aspire to represent Queens as the next borough president — but is not happy with the escalated price.

As for comments online that the money should go toward oft-neglected Flushing Meadows Corona Park instead, Vallone responded that “the argument isn’t about if money should be going to different Queens parks, the argument should be why it goes to other boroughs and not Queens.”

Because our elected officials suck, that's why. And Vallone allocated $1M, not the whole $4.3M, so why are so many taxpayer dollars from outside Astoria being fed into this money pit?  They won't even have a $2M crapper like Elmhurst Park has.

No respect for Flushing Meadows

From the Queens Chronicle:

We’re tired of Flushing Meadows Corona Park being the Rodney Dangerfield of the city’s crown jewel green spaces. Why do we in Queens get no respect?

For weeks we’ve been covering Major League Soccer’s plan to eat up about a dozen acres of the old fairgrounds for a new stadium. Even leaving aside the myriad logistical, environmental and economic problems with the very vague plan, we’ve concluded that simply proposing it is offensive because Flushing Meadows is a public park —one that’s already suffered enough through city neglect.

Note that one selling point for the stadium is that MLS would refurbish the soccer fields in the park if its plan is approved. That should be a city function. But it’s no surprise that the city isn’t doing its municipal duty at FMCP. Though it’s far larger than the city’s true crown jewel, Central Park, the latter gets much more funding and much more staffing.

Underappreciated by the power brokers, the cocktail hour class and even our elected officials, yes. But not by the working-class and poor people, many of them immigrants, who live in the neighborhoods surrounding FMCP. Yes, the fact that they litter and tend to damage trees when they dump hot coals out of their barbecue grills is an affront — but one that better code enforcement could put a damper on. Still, the people who come to the park for a break from the concrete and steel of their neighborhoods love the place. Look at how adamantly many of them oppose the MLS plan —not to mention the much smaller, much more reasonable, much more feasible bid by the United States Tennis Association to take just another two-thirds of an acre.

While Central Park’s amenities are kept pristine, our Queens landmarks in Flushing Meadows, such as the New York State Pavilion, continue to deteriorate as if this was still the crumbling New York City of 1977. Meanwhile, the city plans to spend $4.5 million to turn the old Astoria Pool diving well into an amphitheater, in one of the more overpriced, harebrained schemes we’ve heard of late. How much plain old park maintenance would that money buy at FMCP?

As this page has said before, it’s City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras who holds the key to saving the park from the MLS plan. If she says no, the rest of the Council will fall in line and that will be that. She’s been noncomittal, and never said a word to us about laying the future of the park at her feet. We again urge you to urge Ferreras to reject the soccer stadium. And now we take it a step further: Demand that she and the rest of our City Council delegation start treating our park the way it should be treated. Fix the soccer fields. Restore the historic structures. Maybe even landmark the park, as state Sen. Tony Avella is asking — the first person ever to do so, according to the city (Prospect Park was landmarked in 1973, Central Park in 1974). And above all, pledge that the long period of neglect at FMCP is over.

Astoria Pool "Theater" to be crapper-less

From the Daily News:

An ambitious project to transform a defunct Astoria Park diving pool into an amphitheater could begin in 18 months, with a pricetag more than four times originally envisioned.

The long-neglected pool will be paved with concrete to create a 37,000-square-foot performance space that will hold 500 people, Parks Department officials said Wednesday at a community board meeting.

When the project was initially unveiled in December 2011, its pricetag was estimated at $1 million, with hopes that shovels would be in the ground by 2012.

Despite the quadrupled pricetag, there won’t be enough money to create permanent bathrooms there initially — a fact that concerned some stakeholders.

Parks Department officials said they would instead provide portable bathrooms in the interim due to a tight budget.