Urban Fur: Scaly At Gantry

August 8, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11101, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Urban Fur 

Today yours truly knocked around Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Long Island City. It was at Gantry State Park where I encountered this, the first lizard to be featured as an urban fur. His name is Draco (which his winsome keeper made emphatically clear means “dragon”) and all the Greenpointers reading this will be pleased as punch to know he calls our very own Kent Street home!

Miss Heather

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Defend Greenthumb Gardens!

August 5, 2010 ·
Filed under: 10002, 10003, 10009, 10012, 11101, 11104, 11201, 11205, 11206, 11211, 11215, 11216, 11217, 11221, 11222, 11231, 11237, 11372 

This item comes from a fellow flower lover in north Brooklyn. She writes:

The agreement between the City of NY and the NY State Attorney General that has been protecting community gardens for the past 8 years is set to expire in September.

The City of NY recently published Proposed Rules for community gardens under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development.

The AG’s agreement referred to itself as a “protocol for preservation and development of GreenThumb gardens” —  some community gardens were given up for development, some were “subject to development” and 198 community gardens were “offered to the Parks Department or land trusts for preservation as community gardens or open space.”

The word “preservation” appears nowhere in the proposed rules. In a nutshell, the rules essentially make new NYC community gardens not owned by land trusts or Parks subject to development after a review process.

This is a sea change for community gardeners. Though the city has said they do not intend to develop community garden sites, this is little consolation for gardeners who fear the protections that allowed their community gardens to thrive for the past 8 years are being stripped away.

Green Guerillas has been supporting the untiring efforts of the NYC Community Garden Coalition (NYCCGC) as they have negotiated with the city, mobilized community gardeners, and made a strong case for why community gardens can and should be preserved.

Green Guerillas also mailed out 550 copies of the rules to community garden groups across the city and co-sponsored with NYCCGC an information session to help community gardeners understand the issues so they can mobilize support in their neighborhoods.

We could make an emotional appeal for why you should voice your support for preserving community gardens, but we would not do a better job than the New York Times – read their editorial HERE.

What can you do?

…Attend the upcoming public hearing: The city will be holding a public hearing on August 10th at 11 AM at the Chelsea Recreation Center at 430 W. 25th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) – closest trains are the C, E at 23rd Street or A at 34th Street. (To testify, you must notify Associate Counsel, Ms. Laura LaVelle at the Arsenal via telephone at (212) 360-1335 or e-mail at laura.lavelle@parks.nyc.gov by August 9, 2010.)

View and comment on the rules on the City of NY website HERE.

If you prefer to put pen (or ink cartridge) to paper, submit comments to General Counsel, Mr. Alessandro G. Olivieri, Department of Parks and Recreation, The Arsenal, Central Park, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065.

Call 311 and tell them you would like to comment on the Proposed Park Rules as published in The City Record.

As arduous and boring as this legalese is you should read it. Especially this passage:

Given tour Parks Person (and “Open Space Advocate”) has seemingly seen fit to obstruct Nick’s Garden/Red Gate Garden’s Greenthumb paperwork it makes one wonder who she’s serving. Is it the people using said parks? I think not.

The dead tree that graces the beginning of this post is a testament to her folly. It was one of the many trees planted by the Boy Scouts of America last April at her behest and due to neglect (no watering) and poor placement (being pissed on by humans and canines) died. They since have been removed. I suppose our “Parks Person” finds “carpet-bagging” concerts and fund-raisers more compelling?  I can’t blame her. She has no public administration or horticultural knowledge at all. She formerly hails from Wall Street. It”s all about the money.

Which is, I can assure you, what this revision of the Greenthumb rules is about. Cashing in.

Miss Heather



From The New York Shitty Inbox: Seriously Good Stuff

Noah Devereaux writes:

You’ve been running some of my photos from the flickr pool for a while and I figured I should introduce myself and let you know how much I appreciate your blogging of daily eccentricities. When I moved to New York over a year ago and trying to figure out where to live, NYShitty was one of the things that brought the Garden Spot to my attention. I was drawn by the unpretentious quirkiness that I saw in your pictures and now that I’ve been living here for a while, I don’t want to live anywhere else.

For the past few months I’ve been working on a project about our local treasure, Newtown Creek, that you’ve been running photos from. I’m a photographer professionally but have been bumming around the creek out of personal curiosity and it’s great to be able to have the work in progress seen by a local audience. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of the pictures already but I have a selection of works so far at my website.

Give Noah’s shots a look-see. They’re amazing!

Miss Heather

Quicklink: Pistilli’s House Of Horrors

July 28, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11101, 11222, Astoria, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

I was recently contacted by a reporter from the New York Daily News. She was interested in writing a story about Pistilli Realty (which as some of you know own and manage the Astral Apartments). As some of you can probably imagine, I had a few things to say about them. Regrettably they did not make it to print. However, this story is definitely worth a read. Check it out!

Miss Heather

New York Shitty Day Starter: Tug

From Newtown Creek.

Miss Heather

From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: LIC

July 19, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11101, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens 

Taken by entropymedia.

Miss Heather

New York Shitty Day Ender: Alas, Poor Teddy…

July 18, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11101, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens 

even if I didn’t know him well. It’s been just over a year since I documented the testament to Teddy that is the now defunct Infinity Club.

And the props just keep on coming.

What a guy.

Miss Heather

P.S.: Inasmuch as I can ascertain this space is still for rent. Any takers out there?

New York Shitty Slide Show Du Jour: Queens Selections

As I mentioned previously today I took an afternoon sojourn in Queens. Truth be told, I was not in “in the zone”. Some days I am more photographically-inclined than others. But I did have my moments— such as the above image. It has a certain Edward Hopper quality I kind of like. What was even more interesting is what I stumbled upon— quite literally— immediately after taking said photo.

A motel fit for a queen— albeit one on a tight schedule. I told the Mister this is where I want to spend our fourth wedding anniversary. He quipped that he was nonplussed that they don’t charge by the quarter hour. So it goes. Without further ado here are some shots from today’s sojourn around Queens. Enjoy!

Miss Heather

P.S.: You can view this slide show in larger format (which I recommend) by clicking here.

Spotted At First Avenue: “Official Neglect”

I am not a marketing whiz. I leave that to the experts. But placing such a polemic at the entrance of Canarsie-bound L train, well, strikes me as being misguided at best. We have problems of our own. Believe you me when I waited for the mighty Crosstown Local (which was more fragrant than usual) last night— for over 30 minutes— at Metropolitan Avenue— I found this missive wretchedly comical. You want to see neglect, Upper West Siders? Why not cross the pond and see the not-so-benign neglect that our city has seen to lavish upon us G trainers.

21st Street, Long Island City, Queens

Taken March 6, 2010.

This sign is unnecessary. When foul-smelling muck is dripping from the ceiling people will inevitably avoid the edge of the platform until it is absolutely necessary. That is, when the G train finally arrives. Taken July 4, 2010.

If my memory serves me correctly this tile work was done in the late 90’s. As of July 4, 2010 it looks like ass. I skipped Nassau Avenue. Here’s why: because there is a busted water main and it makes the Norman Avenue entrance smell like dead fish. But back to the purpose of this post:

  • Token booths being unattended
  • Dysfunctional Metrocard machines
  • Non-functional panopticons (Lest anyone from the Upper West Side is reading this: the ones on the L and G appear to be fully functional. Exactly what effect this has as a crime deterrent has yet to be determined.)
  • I know of not a single person who has attempted to use the intercoms in North Brooklyn. It is popularly considered as an exercise in futility. (If anyone has please contact me via email at: missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com. I’d love to hear your story.)

These conditions (and worse) are taken for granted in the hinterlands (READ: the outer boroughs), my uptown friends. We often have to go above ground in order to interface with a station agent. Occasionally we encounter an actual human being.

To conclude: the grievances our friends at 86 Street have stated are pretty much par for the course. They are nothing special. These people are simply better organized. Perhaps a few G,L,J,M,7 (to name a few) trainers would like to make their voices heard at this meeting?

MTA Public Meeting
July 13, 2010 starting at 6:00 p.m.
Cooper Union
7 East 7 Street
New York, New York 10009

Let’s show them, Mayor Mike, et. al. the true meaning of neglect!

Miss Heather

Long Island City Photo Du Jour: Jackson Avenue

July 4, 2010 ·
Filed under: 11101, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Street Art 

You can see the above image in larger format by clicking here.

Miss Heather

  • NYS Flickr Pool

    christmas tree oddly placedDissociationMalevolent and asking for donations20241031_095113Hudson Yards  EDGELooking east-Northern view.
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