Peeking into windows; summer sprouting drug stores & fruit stands

I can’t wait for Manducati’s. I’ve been watching the space for months since we moved in around the corner. I hope they do have gelato as the walk over to Brooklyn Ice Cream is a bit far and the stairway down from the Pulaski Bridge is really gross.

It’s great to see local people, the Manducatis, who’ve been in the neighborhood forever open up this place.

Any truth to the rumor that the owner of the deli told the fruit stand guy to beat it?

I don’t think the deli really has to worry. it may see a dip in biz, but only from the crazy exponential spike of late. we will always always need a good 24 hr deli on vernon. And they are hands down the best one.

I spoke to the fruit stand guy and he confirmed that they asked him to move. At least that was his version of the story. His fruit is better and cheaper. He will be getting my business. The days of EI ripping off people are coming to an end. With Duane Reade the Market and others coming into the neighborhood their business will certainly fall off. I for one plan on cutting back my expenditures there once the new stores open. It will be nice shopping at a store where they don’t sell re-frozen melted ice cream or milk that feels only slightly below room temperature.

Manducatis (with an s, no apostrophe) is not the last name of the owners. I have been told it’s from a psalm in the Vulgate bible.

Great post! I love hearing about what’s going on on Vernon. Thanks!!

How dare E&I tell the fruit vendor to move. Who handed them a monopoly? It’s absolutely outrageous.

You guys should just go to C-Town. They are nice and have way more stuff than E&I. Ride your bike or walk 10 minutes. It’s worth it.

#11 dana, you’re right. Manducati isn’t their last name. The family that owns Manducati’s are my landlord.
They make amazing food and I’m sure the new place is going to be great.

“I refuse to take seriously the comments of any adult who so casually abuses the English language.”

Dude, this is Teh Interweb you are on, here.

There’s a difference between generational and local jargon, and abusing the language. Though I prefer to write in the manner that I do, when we are conversing/discussing on a public message board, I see nothing wrong with using such jargon; along with slang, as long as it’s not overdone, and it is respectful to, and understandable by all.

I’d much rather read a respectful post from anyone using jargon and slang, than from those who don’t bother to think before they write.

Tunnel Rats, River Rats, Jungle Rats, and Desert Rats were all “Rat” titles associated with difficult and honorable endeavors. So, maybe the title “Mall Rat”, is not such a bad thing to be called. It all depends on one’s perspective.

Charlie.

i want to “hate on” the fireworks last night. what a bummer. i feel bad for all the families that came down to Gantry Park with there kids only to be able to see the top 1/3 of the fireworks.
also, did Manducati’s open yesterday? I didn’t get over that way.

yeah the fireworks in LIC was a disappointment. Why didn’t they tell anyone they moved the barge so far away? It’s not even worth it to go to the pier anymore. That sucked.

We watched them from the roof of the Badge and had a straight-on clear view of the whole shebang. They were…meh; you didn’t miss much. I miss Grucci. Tried Mancati gelato yesterday–that was the best part of the 4th.

Did you see the article in Gothamist?
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/05/a_very_stuyvesant_town_fourth_of_ju.php

I’m pretty pissed about the whole thing. If you read Macy’s website, they said that if you had a view of the East River below Roosevelt Island, you would be able to see the fireworks. We did and we did not.

I hope people are calling Eric G., NBC, etc. This is bad for LIC businesses– this could mean a big loss for them each year. I was talking to the guy at the liquor store and he said it was his biggest day of the year.

Sending serious issue correspondence via e-mail is a joke, and is virtually useless. The vast majority get deleted by screeners. No one will take them seriously. Write real letters and send them certified mail. Contact and get all the community representatives involved. Get Community Board 2 involved. Get business owners in the area involved. Start petitions, spread them around and keep them circulating for months, to ensure enough signatures. Get the developers, real estate people, and building managent involved; it’s in their best interests. Get the State Parks people involved; it’s good for their business too. Contact the local news media (especially broadcast/cable), to try and get a story done on the growing population and prominence of Hunters Point, and how Macy’s just yanked the established prime viewing area rug, out from under it.

You can send all the e-mails you want, but they will never be taken seriously, because e-mails involve an absolute minimum of effort. Look at what LIQCity did concerning the “toxic dust” situation. Does anyone seriously believe that if they had simply sent e-mails, called 311, and/or bitched on a message board to all concerned, that the situation would have garnered the attention that it did? If anyone, any organization, or any corporation sees that you are not going the extra mile to convince them (in this case, of their error in moving the fireworks show southward), then they in turn will put the same effort into resolving it; virtually nothing.

Charlie.

This fiasco did not only impact the usual Hunters Point viewing area – it also had an impact on the other side of the river in midtown where people always had a decent fireworks display in the low to mid 40′s. Moving the barge that always was positioned right off Gantry Park (even before there was a GP) has deprived us and much of mid town Manhattan from even a glimpse of the show! Also, people who could view it from South facing balconies or at the tip of the piers were seeing a show in the distance — nothing up close and personal like in the past. If you happened to watch it on TV, you could see that they were not shooting high –it was carefully staged to fit your TV screen. Advertising Stuy Town on national TV was a sure tip-off to the Tishman-Speyer involvement in this whole thing. The Stuy Town area of the FDR has always been a great viewing spot from the FDR on that side of the river—why was it necessary to take away our great viewing spot?

If you are serious about trying to get the fireworks show back upriver #40 , then do some research. Why would you wait for someone to give you an address. Go look it up.

It might be helpful if you could find and post an address for others, being as you brought it up.

Charlie.

Just go to Macy’s website — you will find a wealth of info. Some are at Macys Herald Square and others are at Federated HQ in Cincinatti(sp?) If you have the time to do the research and the equipment to do so,I would suggest an e-mail blast followed up with hard copies via snailmail. In the meantime, I also suggest that the number of letters that cross the desk of Macy’s CEO Terry Lungdren would have some impact.

Who said Hunters Point has a right to view fireworks every year? You people sound like the bunch of spoiled children that you are.

This is about the vitality of the businesses in LIC. I am a resident- not a business owner- and I think the businesses should have this day.

I hear they’re moving the Thanksgiving Day Parade to pass by Stuy Town.

#48 : Without local business you don’t have a neighborhood, moron. Every holiday in this country serves business interest. If it’s going to do that, wouldn’t you prefer it help sustain your actual community, instead of those bloated, uber-rich, greedy corporate fucks?

Oh I’m sorry, you’re right- those local deli’s really have it good… they make tiny profit margins, pay through the nose for rent, and maybe they get to put their kids through college. Screw TS for pulling that crap and showing no love for NYC. greedy pricks.

Are some of the posts getting deleted? This is the second time the numbers have changed, after I referred to a particular poster by number.

Anyway #40, “snail mail” is efficient mail. It gets things accomplished in ways that e-mail could only imagine. There was no reason for you to ask others, to do the work of looking it up for you. If you need others to do so, then you will probably do nothing about it anyway. I stated what I did, in detail, to show all the things which can be done, not to do the work for others. If you would have taken the time to understand what I had written, you might have realized that I was implying an organized effort, not just having people sitting at their computers and shooting off e-mails, on a mostly fruitless effort.

Now, as far as Macy’s doing this out of the “goodness of their bank book”; that is far, far from the case. No “for profit” company on this planet, would lay out that kind of money, unless it will put more money in their account, or bolster their image in ways which would ultimately mean more money in their account, or both. It’ a purely business venture, that’s all.

Poster #43 is correct, in the sense that no one area has a right to the fireworks show. If you want it back, you’ll have to work at it. The businesses in Hunters Point, profited greatly from it. Now businesses elsewhere will profit greatly from it.

Here’s my post from over at Queenswest.com, on the subject:

From the look of the map on the Macy’s site (from the provided link), it appears that the barges indeed, are more than a mile further downriver than they used to be. The Greenpoint waterfront will appear to have the eastern shore premium spots; a prized position which used to belong to the Hunters Point waterfront.

Maybe all of those in Hunters Point, who wish the fireworks barges to return to their more northerly positions, should write to Macy’s, to let them know. Starting a petition and having it circulated in the neighborhood for the next six months or so, should hopefully provide enough signatures, along with individual requests from business owners, Community Board 2, and from all of the elected representatives for the area.

The fireworks show brings huge numbers of people into the neighborhood. It’s like Christmas in July for the local businesses, and for some, it’s their biggest sales day of the year (or close to it). Looking at the big picture, it’s the biggest day of the year, period, for Hunters Point. A lot less people coming to experience the show, due to the loss of this prime viewing location, will mean that much less business for the local shops. In addition, the real estate salespeople probably use it as a selling/enticing point in their sales pitches. Without the very up close and personal, in-your-face fireworks show, as has usually been the case, there very well might be less Independence Day parties in the waterfront buildings, which is both a lost selling point for the buildings’ agents, and more loss (or less gain, in reference to the unfinished ones) for the local businesses. It might affect overall apartment sales, but that’s really a big unknown, as there would be too many variables in that equation.

As long as the fireworks show is funded by a for profit company (Macy’s and others), then you will get what they decide to give you. Money and image talks. You will have to convince them that it’s in their best interests, for them to return to Hunters Point. It appears that Tishman – Speyer convinced them to move downriver. If you’re not ready to roll up your sleeves, and get busy with the business of trying to convince them to come back upriver; then the wishes and the interests of the neighborhood, will forever mean nothing to them.
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As far as the Fouth Of July being about businesses these days, and not about patriotism, as #48 stated; it is about business, and everything else American. We are celebrating the birthday of our country. It’s about patriotism, people, culture, and business. It’s about everything that we are, and everything that we do.

So, #48, do you attend any memorial services, attend any special services or observeances, or visit a national cemetary, or observe the national moment of silence, or visit any monuments or memorials to those who served the country, but are no longer with us, on Memorial Day? Do you visit a VA hospital, or State Veterans Nursing Home, or watch a Veterans parade, or mail holiday cards to hospitalized Veterans, or even thank a Veteran on Veterans Day? Have you donned the uniform and served the country yourself? Have you done volunteer work in the communities in which you’ve lived? Do you vote in every election? Do you have a flag (of any size) displayed in your place of residence? These are all things which are patriotic. There are others, also. If you do/have done all, or most of these things , then you can make comments on what passes for patriotism. If not, then your comments on such, have no substance.

Charlie.

Thanks # 52.

I like me too.

Charlie.