MTA ruffling Long Island City feathers with 9 weekends of 7-train shutdown
7 train, Court Square, Long Island City
Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My. Actually, it’s the MTA again… everyone’s favorite local transportation authority.
It’s been a long time since liQcity’s inbox has been slammed with complaints about the same topic (read: never), but the MTA’s proposed shutdown of the 7 train between Times Sq and Queensboro Plaza for the next consecutive 9 weekends seems to have struck more than a few nerves in Hunters Point.
In fact, on Sunday there was an organized protest by local politicians and community members against the MTA calling for increased reparations to our forsaken village:
1) The MTA should increase service on the Q32 bus, which runs on Roosevelt Avenue to Queens Boulevard and into Manhattan.
2) The MTA should have shuttle bus service from Grand Central Station through the Midtown Tunnel to key #7 train stops in Queens.
3) There should be free Long Island Railroad service from Penn Station to Woodside (which is also the 61st Street/Woodside stop on the #7 train)
4) The TLC and taxi dispatchers should encourage taxis to come to Queens and also urge off-duty drivers to come to work to ensure that there are enough cabs for those who can afford them.
As a separate MTA note, the development of the internal transfer station between the 7 train and E,V,G is fully underway in Court Square. The projected completion is two years.
LIC Residents protest 7-train service interuptions [Village Voice]
MTA contact page [Official website]
“The crowds won’t come to PS1 and the hipster-filled cafes, surmised Gioia and his allies, without shuttle bus service from Grand Central Station to the closed 7 train stations.”
1) Hipster-filled cafes in LIC? Really? Really?
2) PS1 is right by the E and G at Court Square…
Anyone ever read the news lately and see how the MTA just has tons of money just lying around?
Come on, really now. We’re most likely heading into another Depression (not recession) and people want exclusive shuttle service via bus from Manhattan?!? They don’t do this for any other subway line, why would they do it for LIC?
Brains people, use em or lose em.
This should be an issues of buses. Why can’t a way be found to do the construction work without shutting down the entire line. Why not run a reduced schedule allow traffic on one of the 2 tracks. You complete the work on track 1, while using track 2.
From the previous post:
“The LIRR connection to Grand Central would have no effect on anything. That connection will be running through the LIRR stop by Hunters Pt Ave stop, not the LIRR stop by Vernon and Borden. If someone relying on the 7 train by Vernon and Jackson on the weekend needed to go to the Hunters Pt stop to catch the LIRR, they can just go to the E or V train and take the subway and not pay extra for the LIRR. Also, that link you posted is misleading. Service for those trains were back and up and running within a couple of months from the fire incident.”
Well the complaints are about losing the direct connection to Grand Central. An LIRR connection at Hunters Point would solve that. Thanks for pointing out the walkable alternative to get to Manhattan. And if you think it wasn’t so bad to have an entire subway line out of commission for 2 straight months during rush hour, then you must really be wondering what the big deal is about 9 weekends of shuttling to another subway station. It was the MTA employees in the article that said the system was antiquated, and at 100 years and counting, I would have to agree with them. I like how you ignored my comment about the 7 train not being able to handle any more people.
No. 3, you can’t be serious. “Exclusive shuttle bus”? You make it sound so luxurious and unreasonable. The MTA, last I checked, is a public transit organization, and LIC is right across the river. How much could it possibly cost to run a few buses when the subway isn’t running? The economic toll they are taking on businesses in the area by not running the subway is contributing more to this oncoming Depression than anything else.
The 7 train is very long and runs very frequently, especially during rush hours. I take it every day and it is not at capacity now. It is certainly less crowded than the E or V trains. As you said, the LIRR stop to Grand Central will eventually help.
Your point about having the LIRR to GC before doing any development is just juvenile. You love to miserably complain about everything and anything.
The E train is running when the #7 train is out of service on week-ends. The first stop in Queens, 23rd Street/Ely. Another option, one that I’ve used many times over the years.
There is a lot of misinformation here. The LIRR connection to Grand Central will do nothing to alleviate this problem. As you can see here:
http://www.mta.info/capconstr/esas/images/gallery/pages/1004%20Project%20Map_jpg.htm
There are no plans to have trains running to through the Hunterspoint LIRR Station directly Grand Central. The tunnel is being dug well north of the area. A person would need to get to Sunnyside Yards before they could take a train to GC. If you are going to go there you have to pass several subways lines. It’s silly to suggest that this is at the root of the problem.
The work needs to be done, we are glad they are doing it, however as other posters have pointed out in needs to be done in a way that is respectful to the community.
The East Side Access project will presumably detour all the folks transferring to the 7 from the Hunterspoint and LIC LIRR stations, though, helping with 7 crowding, no?
#10 not really – I don’t see that making much of a difference at all.
9- What are you talking about? All the people from Long Island that take the LIRR, get off at the Hunterspoint stop, and pour into the 7 train to get to Grand Central will just stay on the LIRR and not get on the 7 train. That is a good number of people. Of course this will help with 7 crowding.
When the project is finished, you will be able to ride the LIRR from Hunterspoint to Sunnyside (which is less than 5 minutes away), with continuing service to Grand Central. This will help alleviate the overcrowding on the 7 train, as well as divert the people that #12 mentioned. People pay to take the LIRR train from Woodside Station with a subway right there; surely those with disposable income will choose that route, too. If a switch is involved, service can be timed to allow for the connection. You will still probably get to GC faster than to wait for 4 or 5 7 trains to pass before you can board.
“The 7 train is very long and runs very frequently, especially during rush hours. I take it every day and it is not at capacity now.”
That’s because the economy sucks and people lost their jobs, so they’re not on the train. If employment is ever back to the level it was in June when this article was written, and if all the new condos in Flushing and LIC are occupied, we’re in deep shit:
No one will take a train to Sunnyside so that they can take a train to GC. Besides, I don’t even think the two lines converge anywhere out side of Jamaica Station. I’ve never had to wait 4-5 train to get on 95% of the time I get on the first train the pulls in during rush hour. They rest of the Time there is usually a signal issue or police investigation that is causing dleays. Not sure what other people are talking about.
I agree with #15 most of the time the 7 is fine during rush hour. However, when it does back-up because of mechanical problems or police activity then it is a pain in the but. I also find that if you take the train before 8:30 am it is far less crowded but once the clock hits 8:30 you could notice the difference.
The MTA drama makes me happy that I commute by bike.
Where are the offical announcements that the 7 is done for 9 weekends? All the signs that I’ve seen mention only last and this weekend. Are people jumping on what may be, rather than a fact? I can handle two weekends, but 9 is a bit much.
At court square there are signs that say weekends from January to March . As for all the people whining about not having the 7 on the weekends and want shuttle buses, those of us who use the E at 23rd Ely have no service during the week from 12:01am to 5 am for the next two weeks. The E is running on the R line from Canal Street to Queens Plaza. Where is Eric Gioia about this? This also effects those who use the G as this is a transfer point. I guess because those of us who use this train don’t live in Luxury highrises it’s not important. If you can afford tolive there you can afford to take a taxi if it is that urgent to get into Manhattan. Besides despite what Eric Gioia said, it has never cost me more than $20 to take a cab from Manhattan to my home in Hunters Point.Face it, things need to be done on the subway and sometimes you have to suck it up and deal. These are things you should be considering when you look into a particular neighborhood as a place to live.
How come when you complain becca, you’re voicing your concern and care about your community, but when others do, they’re ‘whiners.’
You need to seek help about your obsession with luxury high rises. How many years of your life have you wasted repeating the same things over and over and over?!? You’re very close to becoming an old, bitter, lonely obsessed crank. Enjoy what little you have left of your life. Enjoy paying your rent-stabilized apartment too, that us ‘yuppies’ help you live in.
And another thing, you displaced people when you moved here and people before you thought you were the ‘newcomer’ and the ‘yuppie.’ It’s a matter of perspective, you need some.
20, how do you help people live in rent-stabilized apartments?
I’m not 20, but there are several ways that other NYers help rent-stabilized people live in apts. First, because the rent-stabilized apartments decrease the amount of market rate apts available, the cost for the market rate apts goes up for the non-stabilized renter. Also, real estate taxes are based on income of commercial properties, so if there are rent-stabilized tenants paying lower amounts in rent, the property-owner of the rent stabilized building pays less taxes and therefore people living in single homes and property owners with all market rate tenants need to pay a greater amounts of taxes.
So property owners and other renters pay higher amounts in connection with rent-stabilization. I’m not saying it is necessarily a bad thing but it’s true.
I used to live in a rent-stabilized apartment. The place was a dump, the neighbors were trash, the landlord a skinflint, and the rent wasn’t such a good deal. I never felt I was enjoying some entitlement that other people bestowed on me.
So, why haven’t you posted under your own name#20? What are you hiding? I’ve noticed that hardly anyone uses their name when they are posting. At least I am willing to say what I have to say and use my name. I wasn’t whining. I was stating the fact that there is no one complaining/whining about there being no E service. It hasn’t been in the news like the 7. It also affects those who live in Manhattan. Yes I am rent stabilized, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pay a lot in rent related to my salary as a city employee (who is required to live in the city to keep my job). I have lived in my apartment for over 13 years, so am I supposed to move out of my apartment because you don’t like rent stabilization. There is no need for me to move as my apartment fits my needs as far as space and I can afford it. You seem to think that everyone who lives in a rent stabilized apartment is living the high life because they have a lower rent. What I pay for my apartment would get me a studio/one bedroom( if I am lucky) in another neighborhood in queens and it certainly would not get me anything old/new in LIC or manhattan. As for being an old, bitter, lonely crank, if thats what stating opinions about my neighborhood and it’s changes is so be it. I’m actually none of those things, have quite an active life of family, friends andvolunteer work but hey that’s your anonymous opinion. As for displacing some one whenI moved here, the apartment I moved into had been occupied by an elderly woman who went into a nursing home because she could no longer live by herself. Her rent at that time was $86 a month. My rent was raised to what was market at that time. So I think my perspective is fine as far as I am concerned. Maybe you could use a little perspective about the rest of the residents that live here too, because you probably have displaced someone.
Forgot to fill in my name for the previous #24 post. So now I am correcting my error.
I think Eric Gioia is just trying to get people huffed up and puffed up on an easy target. These politicians- anything to hold a news conference. I was out there when the news conference was supposed to begin and there were 20 or so media and no more than 10 local residents. I left because I had better stuff to do than listen to a politician who loves to hear himself talk (no offense to Gioia, they are all the same).
I made it to LIC both days. Sat I used the n/r to QP and took the waiting shuttle bus (I was prepared to walk) and Sunday I used the E from 23rd. It took longer, sure, but running a shuttle bus from Grand Central through the tunnel would probably not be much quicker.
I know that having no 7 for 9 weekends sucks, but the good news is that the MTA is actually laying new track at a fairly rapid clicp. New track should be safer track.
Wow, that was a first- defending the MTA, I must be dreaming.
Unless you are elderly or can’t provide for yourself, you are at some level a leach if you live in a rent-stabilized apartment. Just saying.
A leach? I can provide for myself because I have a rent stabilized apartment. Not everyone who lives in this city works on wall street etc and brings home a high salary. Face it, there will be stabilization until the law is changed. So don’t blame the people who live in an apartment that is stabilized. They didn’t make the law. Yes there are people who stay in an apartment that is too big because the rent is cheaper, but if they are on a fixed income they aren’t going to move and if they do and the apartment becomes destabilized then people who might like a larger apartment can’t afford it so they stay with what they have. it’s a catch 22. I spend half of my monthy income on my rent stabilized apartment, and as long as I live in my apartment I can stay in NYC, because the field I am in I will never make big money. When the time comes that it is too expensive, I’ll probably have to leave NYC. Not sure where I would go though. I supposed I could move into my brothers basement Portland Oregon.
wow- that is unfortunate but the there is train work on the n/w lines all the time- there are occasions when it does not run to the city on the weekends and those burdened have to take the 7-#7 riders can take the F, G, or E trains into manhattan? Or transfer to the n/w at QBP? It is a pain but why should LIC dwellers get any more special treatment than anyone else from the MTA when service is cut?
a leech? that’s nice… better a leech than an asshole i suppose.
Some people just can’t afford rent above $2000 a month- like most of the population of nyc- leech- I think not.——————————————————————————Rent-Regulated Housing includes both “rent controlled” and “rent stabilized” apartments. Newcomers need not concern themselves with rent control since rent controlled apartments either “go to market” or fall under rent stabilization upon vacancy. Thus, there is no such thing as a vacant rent controlled apartment. About half of all the two million apartments in the city fall under rent stabilization. Over 100,000 of these units become vacant each year. If the lawful rent exceeds $2,000 per month, upon vacancy rent stabilized apartments are deregulated. If the rent is below $2,000, the vacant unit remains under stabilization. As a rule of thumb, if you are searching for a rent stabilized apartment, the building must have been built before 1974, have six or more apartments, and the new rent must be below $2,000 per month. Some rehabilitated and newly constructed buildings also fall under rent stabilization if the owner has received a tax abatement.
There are plenty of good neighborhoods in the boroughs that are affordable without rent stabilization. Those who feel entitled to rent stabilization because they feel entitled to live in Manhattan or LIC or a neighborhood of their choice are basically insulting everyone who lives in those other middle-class neighborhoods. Here’s an idea – live where you can afford. Listen, your rent stabilized apartment is subsidized by others who do not live in RS apartments, as the poster above explained. You figuratively are leaching on to others who are paying for your lower rent. That may be ok, but just call it what it is.
27, you are such a wanker. This is what I love about so many newcomers to NYC (and I’ll bet you are one): absolutely no community spirit that goes beyond their own four walls, no long bond with other neighborhood residents, no empathy or common appreciation for the struggles of other people. Only pure self-interest, misery guts, and a heart of flint. Just saying.
27 here. I was born and grew up my entire life in Queens. I have great long-term friendships and community ties, and appreciate all the hard workers and people who work through their struggles without looking for handouts from others. Take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, but for those who can, I don’t believe in a system where they are propped up by others.
You’re still a wanker
I agree, #35.
#32, please enlighten us with the neighborhoods that have affordable rent w/o stabilization. I hear this all the time but no one ever says which neighborhoods they are. And what is affordable?
Andrew. I agree. Unfortunately Eric Gioia is absolutely useless. While he is always there for the camera, truth of the matter is that his office rarely responds to calls to aid in the neighborhood and while he may show up to get on TV, he is absolutely useless in getting things done.
Hey #20- while that argument would make sense in Manhattan or other neighborhoods where rent stabilized apartments actually do decrease the available pool of apartments and drive up the market rate, in LIC where market rate vacancy is rampant and the major landlords are offering large incentives to fill that empty space, it’s pretty hard to argue that’s occurring. Beyond that, the tax issue that you mention could alternately be construed as an additional tax burden on *new* apartment buildings not a stabilized vs. market imbalance, since it’s these new buildings at market rate that are in fact carrying a larger burden of the real estate tax burden (which many can argue that they should, given the increased cost of providing these new buildings with city services).
The rent stabilization system is nothing for the city to brag about and nothing for those in market rate apartments to complain much about. Most years, the rent stabilization board approves rent increases in excess of the rate of inflation. They are not artificially depressing market rate rent, but are effectively buffering residents in some particularly “hot” neighborhoods from rapid and unsustainable rent increases, and preventing speculators from buying buildings and driving up rents past a sustainable market rate.
Becca – are you kidding? Maspeth, Middle Village, Rego Park, East Elmhurst, Flushing, Sunnyside, Glendale, etc.
JB, even in LIC rent stabilization increases costs for market rate apts. Even though prices may be coming down in new apartment buildings, so long as market rate apartments cost more than stabilized apts (which will always be the case), the rent stabilized apts will artificially increase costs for the market rate apts. I don’t think the tax issue is new vs. old — it’s stabilized versus non-stabilized. Old-time single family home-owners as well as new apt building owners end up paying a higher taxes because of stabilization. I’m not sure I followed last comment, but stabilization does artificially decrease rent. You either have market rates or government-controlled rates, but I don’t think you can have government price controls that create a sustainable market rate. I also am not sure whether it is a good or bad thing for price controls in “hot areas” but the price controls are meant to create an artificially affordable rent, not a sustainable market rate or market rate of any kind.
40, I’ve got to live like a gypsy, hopping from one Queens area to another, because you decided to move into my neighborhood where I lived my entire life? Go screw yourself.
42 – go cry me a river. Welcome to a free society. If you want stability from market movements, you have to own your place.
Is that why Gioia left LIC for Woodside?
I moved from Sunnyside into LIC a number of years ago because it was *cheaper* and we had another subway option (the E train) for when the 7 train wasn’t running. Go figure. ;)
#41- while you’ve said you disagree, I don’t see any compelling explanations for *why* you disagree. How exactly does the pool of rent stabilized apartments in LIC (which are now outnumbered significantly by the number of market rate apartments in the neighborhood) increase the market rate in a place where there’s rampant market rate vacancy? You can’t make a case about supply and demand if there’s plenty of supply. And let’s face it- who’s moving into LIC for new apartments below $2k? Even a lot of rent-stabilized apartments in LIC are now renting for market rate, even though they’re technically stabilized, because the market rate for them is equal or less than the legal stabilized rent. I’m in a stabilized apartment where the legal rent is $300 more per month than the rent we actually pay. The landlord is smart and has kept the legal rent at the maximum while giving us a rent credit to get the rent back down to the market rate. Net effect on the overall neighborhood market rate = zero.
JB, where in Sunnyside does the E train go? It doesn’t hit that neighorhood at all.
By they way, I’m living happily in LIC with 8 train lines within walking distance.
Also, do the new developments attract Republicans? Discuss.
I pray to God that the economic downturn forces Republicans in LIC onto the bread lines. When I see them shivering on the street, I’ll give them a stern lecture on the value of a free market as I gob in their pudgy faces.
What does gob mean?
new developments attract republicans? that has to be the stupidest comment ive ever heard, considering that NYC is a democratic city, we probably out nuimber republicans 9/1 or something.
Believe it or not Democrats are probably more wealthier then republicans, i doubt that middle american evangelicals are making 6 and 7 figures, just look at all hollywood, look at the Kennedy’s, we probably raised more money for Obama this year then any president in history, i think we even broke a record with Kerry 4 years ago… So lets refrain from bringing politics into this
#46- JB moved FROM Sunnyside TO Long Island City.
Ohhh. Ooops.
happy i live in court sq with options. the 7 train shutting on weekends would suck otherwise.
When is LIQ coming back? I miss the blog…
#54 I think it is only on post per week or at least that is how it feels.
I meant “one” post.
55/56, LIC really deserves a blog that posts more than once a week. What gives, liqcity? The blog has sucked for over a month now.
Make your own blog, 57.
Hawt rumors about potential DIY live shows at Jackson Ave Steakhouse Party Room coming up, btw
If Jake loosened up a bit, resisted the impulse to baby everyone (”Don’t cross post!” “This thread is done!”), and redesigned that horrible QW.com site, then he could easily pick up some more eyeballs right now.
jake destroyed what was once a fairly decent site, it was too citylights centric, like this better.
Is there really new things going on in LIC to justify a new post everyday? Or are you looking forward to the next thread to start a flame war on now that this one has died down? It’s been said before, but there are other places to go if this does not suit you. I think LIQ is just fine. LIQ is not about saying something for the sake of saying something. Go to curbed for that.
61, don’t be such a high-minded ass. Even Jake posted news today that a new German restaurant is opening in LIC. Liqcity just got scooped by QueensWest.com.
QueensWest is for the lame sanitized waterfront bubble. The rest of us don’t consider that really “part” of the neighborhood, but more its own little island. Feels like college dorms.
#62, too bad those QueensWest types are pretty unlikely to hang out in Ravenswood. It’s becoming quite the European hub with Ion’s, Bulgara, and now this Wunderbar place.
64, I prefer the pace that redevelopment is taking in Ravenswood. Hunters Point seemed too eager to toss away all the old vestiges of the neighborhood in its sloppy embrace of the QW/Murray Hill East crowd. The result is that we are left with these overpriced, ugly, hulking buildings and little of the charm of other neighborhoods that have undergone transformation.
LOL @ “Murray Hill East” … it’s so true. Feels much more like Cheesy Manhattan than like Gentrifying/ied North Brooklyn, don’t it?
Apparently there are folks who don’t know what Rent stabilization is. It’s nothing more than a yearly negotiation between the City tenant advocates and a board that primarily represents large owners where an appropriate increase rate is established that is designed to protect tenants from being gouged and at the same time assure the landlords a profit. For years the tenants group have been willing to allow higher increases based on owners opening their books. But the owners groups have fought that concept and so a more or less blind increase survives.
These apartments are not subsidized by anyone (that’s rent Control you are thinking of and there are hardly any of those in existence.) People think they are subsidized because they are in the realm of normalcy. And these apartments are outside of the frenzied overhyped world of new, bigger, better i.e. the so-called market rate ones.
So 62, you confirmed that you ar elooking for the next flame war. If you are so eager to talk about it go over there.
What were all the old vestiges of the neighborhood that were tossed away? Vacant warehouses? Polluted brownfields? Vacant lots strewn with trash? I’d rather have a sloppy embrace of the QW/Murray Hill East crowd thna that.
does anyone know when Dutch Kills opens? i’m dying for a $15 drink. Really i am.
“Murray Hill East” is redundant. Murray Hill is a neighborhood in Manhattan on the eastside. Since there is no “Murray Hill West” it is simply “Murray Hill”.
I agree 69. This myth that the highrises by the water replaced some bucolic small town neighborhood is ridiculous. We have beautiful new buildings creating a great residential area where there previously were ugly, underused dumpy buildings and lots.
Besides the smoke stacks and the Hackett Building I don’t see any other buildings that was torn down that had any architectural significance. However, there have been new buildings that look like cheap boxes and one of the culprits of this is the developers of the Galaxy and all their other cheesy buildings.
69 and 72, a neighborhood is much more than its buildings. It includes the character and “feel” of the neighborhood and the bonds of the people who live there, which have been largely lost in the rush to build the towers. I don’t really need to explain this anymore to you if you don’t get it. The people who lived in LIC in decades past know exactly what I’m talking about.
71, I was using “Murray Hill East” to refer to what LIC has become.
#74 New bonds are being created by the new people and the old ones. I am sure that in the old days it was a great place to live for the few that lived and live here. However, things change and the new population is creating a new community which is different but not any worse or better than the old one. I for one know manyof my neighbors (inmy building and outside my ivory tower) and actually care for what is happening in the neighborhood as whole. I guess as the new kids in the block we will be looked at funny and suspicously but with time you will see that we all want whats best for LIC. This does not mean we will agree on everything. :)
#74, for sure.
But even the “community” scene found in other nearby gentrifying areas like Greenpoint, Williamsburg, etc has a lot better vibe than the one in LIC. Definitely Murray Hill East. Something is just off about it. Its like Kips Bay. Everyone is so cleancut and boring.
What neighborhood “feel” was generated by empty lots and a dump of a waterfront? As 76 pointed out, why can’t new residents contribute their own “character” and “feel” to a neighborhood. And can we please stop waxing nostalgic over smokestacks?
#78, a really interesting neighborhood feel with lots of space to produce and exhibit art and music, and without the whiny babies who want everything clean and polished and “aesthetically pleasing.” A place where people make things happen and a grassroots scene can take root without the neighbors worrying about their property values or luxury groceries and nannies and dog walkers. Move to Manhattan or “Brownstone Brooklyn”
See Williamsburg -> Bushwick.
#79- that argument could just as easily be turned back around on you. I mean, what’s with hipsters who want every neighborhood to be what Williamsburg is (or used to be- it’s arguable whether Williamsburg is now the way you describe it)? Does every neighborhood in NYC have to be full of starving artists putting on performances in dirty industrial lofts? Couldn’t you move to Williamsburg or Bushwick if that’s what you’re looking for?
;)
Sure, Williamsburg is super gentrified and lots of fancy stuff and even condos now, but even among that there is still a great scene happening. I can go to shows at places like Death by Audio or Glasslands and great bars and cafes any night of the week even though they are right by the waterfront near gentrification ground-zero.
Somehow LIC seems to be plowing over its potential in a way that the development in Brooklyn has not.
79 mentions a few of the things I was trying to get to when I said LIC lost so much of its old gritty spirit. It’s the whole effluvia of the entitled class I just can’t relate to — the obsessions over groceries, nannies, daycare, brunches, square footage costs, kitchen appliances, and all those meaningless crap of the overly protected, entitled suburban-minded people who now have spread like a virus all over NYC. How can you not have a dull and superficial ‘hood when you’re surrounded by such dull and superficial people who give a toss about this crap?
#82, we should hang sometime. Shannon Pot.
82, as long as Shannon Pot doesn’t put on Halloween parties for moms and their babies, I’ll be there.
Williamsburg reflects those who moved into the neighborhood over a decade and a half ago and built that scene. At the time, there were plenty of “old school” neighbors who HATED the fact that a bunch of kids moved into the neighborhood and were opening bars and clubs and pissing on their doorsteps at 4 in the morning, but it’s easy enough to gloss over that history now. ;)
You can’t manufacture that, and because Williamsburg was what it was, it sucked that potential energy out of other NYC neighborhoods (remember when Smith Street was going to be the next Bedford? Didn’t happen). LIC could have gone that route, but I suspect it didn’t because those artists who lived in LIC just hopped down to Williamsburg when they wanted that experience. I mean, that’s what *I* always did. I’ve been to plenty of shows at Northsix (RIP), and even put on a show at Galapagos (RIP), but I never had any desire to live next to one of those clubs.
So how do we make LIC awesome then? Do we just have to give up and hang out in Brooklyn all the time?
Because I am sick of riding the G and B61 every single night.
Awesome LIC Dive Pub Night can be a new thing. Once a week at the Shannon Pot. Or something.
82- you come off as extremely juvenile. How dare people worry about their groceries, food, their kids and their homes! They should just walk around like slobs and then they can say they have “character.” Do you want to know what I find dull and superficial – People making too much effort to look and act like hipsters.
#89, it isn’t about worrying about groceries, food, kids, and homes. Those are normal things. It’s about “upscale” groceries, fancy brunch, nannies, and homes as luxury amenities/status symbols/investments.
If you can’t see the difference you obviously have a pretty different value system than some of us.
Let’s move to Michigan.
To all those (or the one person) who oppose rent stabilization, do you also oppose Mortgage Interest being tax deductible? That is a gigantic middle class handout and is disproportionately larger the wealthier you are.
I need a pedicure and a $15 dollar martini. Who’s in?
89, you really don’t get it, do you? As 90 says, it’s about the importance you folks place on these essentially banal, non-remarkable aspects of life that is so damn irritating. There have always been grocery stores, kids, babysitters, and household appliances in LIC. If anyone bothered to agonize over this stuff half as much as you do, they would have been locked up in Creedmoor or given a slap around the head.
Michigan rules, let’s make Queens into Michigan!
Like the people who hang out at the Shannon Pot and complain they can’t get free Wi-Fi. And have messy hair. And like ironic indy music.
What crap. I hope the crime comes back to NYC like in the 70’s and we can get rid of the Midwestern trash.
I heart ironic Indiana music.
Its funny that no matter what the topic is on this blog, once the comments go past #50 or so, the conversation always devolves into and “old vs new” type argument.
Hipsters, old-times, newbies…. on and on and on….. I hope you all realize that most of the people who post here are people that enjoy being argumentative. I wouldn’t assume that the majority of folks in the neighborhood share their black and white perspectives.
My personal favorite has to be the guy who has an unbridled hatred of ‘hipsters’. (My guess is that he secretly likes boys in tight pants)
Ironic Indy Music Messy Hair Midwestern Trash Night: Every Tuesday at the Shannon Pot, 9-12. Be there!
Stupid Midwesterners! What with their INTERNET and fondness for COMMUNITY! This is NYC. Love it or leave it!
I get the jokes about being ironic and having messy hair… although that style isn’t really specific to just hipsters. But, to call an entire demographic of people (Midwesterners) “trash” is pretty offensive. I’m guessing you don’t really care, but I’m just saying. NYC probably has millions of Midwesterners here.
See you Tuesday.
Great. I’ll be the one in the tight pants. (wink wink, if you know what i mean…)
How about that 7 train, huh.
They do have an Internet jukebox. So we can either ironically listen to the Zeppelin they normally have playing or fill it up with MGMT or Dan Deacon.
Just an honest question – are you guys saying \ironic\ when what you really mean is \iconic\???
Hmmm Zepellin, one of the few bands that can be iconic AND ironic.
Seriously the young interesting folks around here all need to hang. We are scattered and being overtaken.
106, I was a scattered young person at one time. I did all my hanging in Manhattan (it was much cooler then), as did a generation before me. Why do you need LIC to be filled with bars? Is that really so vital?
108, maybe even one bar that’s fun to hang out at and not filled with cheesy Hobokenesque types? Is that too much to ask?
We all hang in Brooklyn as-is… it’d be nice to walk to somewhere that’s enjoyable to be at and not either a) empty and depressing or b) filled with lame people.
er, 108 was directed at 107
Midwesterns love the word lame. And bumble and bumble hair products. And dating fat chicks with tattoos.
Some of us prefer thin chicks with tattoos, but I can’t speak for everyone.
108, it’s 107. I think it probably is unrealistic at this stage of Hunters Point’s development to expect a bar like that. There’s a direct relationship between the number of project managers in your neighborhood and how lame the bars are. Fortunately, that’s something I never had to deal with when I was your age.
That’s why we need to start hanging at the Shannon Pot. Hardly anyone is in there most of the time. It’s a blank canvas and they could use the business.
On another note, the 7 was running last weekend, oddly. I don’t get it. Did Gioa’s protests work?
No, they cancelled the work because of the weather.
#114 – The snow caused the service crews to cancel from what I heard.
I do agree with #112. However, if you want something to happen, you might just have to do it yourself (remember, DIY?). Make friends with a bartender, ask if you can DJ, invite your friends, get bands to play, promote it. That way if it sucks, then its your own fault. None of the bars in LIC are exactly overflowing with people from what I can gather, so they might like the business.
True… I’ve tried this before, time to get back on the horse.
Any DJs in the neighborhood with their own equipment? We should start a night.
Not electronic or hiphop.
We need like a forum.
This comments section is fun, though.
Liqcity has got to be the laziest blogger on the planet. Get some forums or this thing will die in pile of hipster-vs-yuppie-vs-townie crap.
116, I remember years ago, in the mid-’80s, something like this happened at the bar at the corner of Vernon and 50th. The place used to be a real stinking dump, just filled with barflies and local characters with their racing forms. The beer was cheap, but that was about the only thing the place had going for it. But a bunch of young people started to hang there and really soon the place became a scene and was a lot of fun.
I bet something happened to LIQ, she is usually so reliable, and wouldn’t be reading all this without commenting unless there was a reason.
I’m hearing rumors about a cool bartender who plays good music at Lounge 47 on Thursdays, now. Thats always a first step.
Dominies plays good music… but the crowd there can still be annoying.
Has anyone noticed that LIC Bar plays their music way too loud recently? it didn’t used to be like that. Good tunes. But I hate yelling.
Often volume is seen as a substitute for talent.
Ok, this is a big mystery. Does anybody know where LIQ is? Does anybody know her, and know if anything happened to her? This is clearly not a case of being lazy and not posting.
126, what a stupid comment. Why have a blog if you aren’t going to regularly post new content?
Other things happening in your life? Burnout? Everyone needs a blog break at some point.
Send tips, feedback, and death threats to info [at] liqcity [dot] com
The MTA must have a few spare buses lying around on weekends. Just run them between Queens Plaza and Grand Central. Problem solved. Why won’t they do this?