Comments on: Saturday Evening in Jackson Heights, Queens: Feel the Pain

By: C

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:09:34 +0000

I live here and am moving soon mainly because of the poor quality of life with the noise, crowds and pollution. We're staying in the neighborhood but it a quieter, less crowded section. 73rd Street and 37th Avenue really is this bad. Thanks for trying to build awareness.

By: A K

A K — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:49:02 +0000

They have a sign hidden by the trees warning if you honk, you will be fined. Ive called the police station so many times- every weekend when it get realllly crazy. Even today, monday night as I am writing this, around midnight, people are sooo inconsiderate and are honking away. Please can someone actually research how many times people have actually received a ticket on 37th Ave around 72st or 73st? I bet non, in the past 10 years. Seriously, whats the point of that sign? Doesn't the city need to make money? I wish they also gave tickets for littering!

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:45:39 +0000

I think this area 73rd St btween 37th Ave and 37th Road is getting into vicious cycle where people on the street don't respect the public and throw garbage on the street and this condition sending the message to city department like DOT and sanitation department "Ok, this street is dirty and people here don't mind it. So, it is ok not to do job, either." So, MTA bus drivers honk way more often than they would honk in Manhattan. Sanitation dept. inspector don't respond quickly. (These days, it takes 3 days for them to get there to give a ticket.) One time, I happened to see the a guy from sanitation dept. in the car and there was a huge garbage dump on the sidewalk. I asked him if he can give a ticket to the store owner and he was like "we all know this area. We can't give a ticket everyday.. I have to go..." and he ignores the dirty side walk.

By: stan

stan — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:53:49 +0000

Let's all set Benny's personal issues aside, it's digressive....the real issue in Jackson Heights, and particularly around the intersection of 73rd St and 37th Ave, is the passive acceptance of conditions that can only be described as incipient decrepitude. I agree with the earlier comment about the lack of respect for public space in Jackson Heights, which is only reinforced by complete lack of enforcement--by police, by DEP, by the Health Department, by the Department of Buildings, by Dept of Sanitation; reinforced by a complete lack of political will by do-nothing representatives Sears, Peralta and Sabini, as well as a tired Democratic machine that isn't compelled to do anything by a sleepy electorate; and a total neglect of the residential concerns in the area by City Planning, which has the power to re-zone and cut the crappy commercial expansion in what is already a dangerously crowded and polluted intersection. How do you raise the consciousness--and compel to action--a slice of the community that has no regard for the wider community; elected officials who do nothing but gerrymander the district to their personal advantage; and a developer-friendly City whose Queens agencies are a mockery of ''public service"? The out-of-control horn-honking travesty alone tells you what we're all up against.

By: Flamma

Flamma — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:59:58 +0000

Benny, I could care less about your issues. As your writings amply show, you are simply a racist and a bigot! Shame on Streetsblog for tolerating people like you.

By: Benny

Benny — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:44:51 +0000

You're right Benny has issues, but at least I air it out. A question? Do you go home at night and say something anti immigrant of off color? I cannot be perfect, and yes I have views that many people do not and will not agree with. This is my choice, Earlier I broke down and bashed an immigrant culture, but are you that pure at heart also? Remember Mr R stated the following "This is how we are. We like our cholera outbreaks, tenement fires and child labor" So as I speak for Americans that do not want to express thier hidden views, so has MR R.
Yes, I am a die hard American. I have held this country so dear to my heart. In my home I hold 5 armed forces burial flags of people that are dear to my heart and it is a shame to see their past efforts fall to ashes (and hopefully some one will cherish their sacrifices when I am gone from this earth). America is a great country. It is great for all walks of life and cultures (this I am not denying). When I am forced to conform to what I feel is colonization (speaking the new languauge, the clans, the private places of business), I get defensive. Again note to quote the good book "he who is without sin, cast the first stone."

By: Flamma

Flamma — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:33:02 +0000

WOW! Who would have suspected that this discussion would turn into immigrant baiting by GREAT AMERICANS like Benny here? Anyone? Now let's see why this happened. Is it:
a) because Benny's got issues
b) because the video has elements that are a jab at immigrants in JH
c) because anti-immigrant attitudes are becoming socially acceptable
d) because immigration and gentrification don't get along too well
or is it just a fluke?

By: psycholist

psycholist — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:16:07 +0000

Benny's got issues, but the point about retiring at 67 is off target. The original retirement age was set at 62 because life expectancy was so much shorter. You were expected to die before you saw much of the social security benefits. So you're actually getting a much better deal overall, if breathing all the noxious exhaust doesn't get to you first.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:58:34 +0000

Geez, it sounds like Benny is telling the hipsters to go back to their own country. Does he mean Williamsburg? Or Avenue B?

This topic has gotten a bit un-StreetsBlog-like, I'm afraid.

By: Benny

Benny — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:49:31 +0000

Dear Mr. R
This is why America has laws!!! We provide a working union and labor wage (not to be bastardized by some illegal). We screen future and legal immigrants for sickness(so keep your sicknesses to your country and don't bring it here). We as a country believe in assimilation not colonization. As per the rich yuppies, well because of YOU and YOUR KIND, I have to work till I am 67 (Not the good old America way of 62). I have to pay for my medicare (not get it for free). Most of all I have to work past your overcrowded diaper smelling garbage infested tenement. THIS IS AMERICA AND I AM AN AMERICAN. I had immigrant grandparents that assimilated, spoke, and respected their new home. So Mr. R if this hit a nerve all I could say is LEAVE!!! YOU have overstayed your welcome as a guest!!! NOW LEAVE AMERICA and lets US try to make it what it once was!!!!

By: Mr. R (circa 1897)

Mr. R (circa 1897) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:24:09 +0000

These people need to get a life, if you moved to the Lower East Side, this is how we are. We like our cholera outbreaks, tenement fires and child labor. We don't need your activism, just because rich, moralizing, urban reformers want things like sanitation and building regulations.

By: Mr. R

Mr. R — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:14:55 +0000

These people need to get a life, if you moved to Jackson Heights, this is how we are. We don't need your activism, just because rich yuppies like you wanted to save money on your apartment.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:22:58 +0000

I totally welcome the diversity in Jackson Heights. But what I don't welcome is the people who don't respect public space and i hate to say this but people should admit the fact that those who hang around on 73st and 74st do not respect the public space. They don't seem to feel guilty about throwing the garbage on the street. I litterally saw a young girl throwing the garbage in front of the mother and mother didn't say anything about it. (Trash busket was 3 feet away from her, by the way.) Everyone who lives around the area knows this, yet I think people have been afraid to speak out about this because they dont want to be called racist. but it should not be considered as racist to urging people to respect the public space. Jackson Heights has people from diffferent culture and we all share the public street, which should be kept clean.

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:28:43 +0000

Oh, ick, Benny! I couldn't disagree with you more. One of the things I love about Jackson Heights is walking down the street and hearing all the Bengali, Urdu, Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, etc. spoken all around me. But I can't hear it very well, because of all the horns honking! I'm happy to welcome immigrants to Queens, just as my grandparents were welcomed when they came to this country. I just wish that so many of these immigrants didn't feel that they had to buy cars to show everyone how much they've "made it in America!"

By: Benny

Benny — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:15:29 +0000

I'm glad that someone has the nerve and upstanding community spirit to enlighten all of US (get the anology). I to have been a long time visitor of this great community, and in the past few years Jackson Heights has gotten worse. The schools are built to educate the massive amounts of illegal as well the legal immigrants in this community. They spend our tax dollars building schools and community centers for the young, but what about the old? When we went to school we had a playground, we were home when the street lights went on at night. We respected our parents, friends and neighbors in the language of ENGLISH. The police spoke to us in ENGLISH, we were educated in ENGLISH, but most of all we respected each other by speaking ENGLISH. I know this deviates from the noise and garbage topic, but this has a lot to do with the horns and garbage!!!! We were taught respect for others. We worked hard to establish this community. Now the only thing this donkey riding community knows is to honk the horn (after all patience was not taught to them), spilling the garbage on our streets (reminds them of the village they came from), and bastardizing the language taught to us (the pussification of the new America). So you expect their peers to watch out for each other and respect the community we made( now a stinking rat infested third world country)! Please America has long been gone and WE are the last of a dying breed from a community we call Jackson Heights!!!!!!

By: JD

JD — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:45:55 +0000

HI, I have lived in beautiful Jackson Heights for 49 years. Things have changed for the worst. All the school yards now have additional buildings. Where do the children play before school? They stand in line and wait to be searched for weapons. When I walk to 82nd street the street are filled with vendors. Selling garbage for pennies. You can't walk down the street let alone drive down. My brother was in Elmhurst hospital it was a nightmare getting there. On the weekend they hold parades and close down the whole neighborhood. I can't put my car in my garage. I have to wait til the parades is over. There are no signs to announce these events. THe streets smell eventhoy the department of saniation sweeps. THere is homless peson living in the 90 street park. Washes his cloths in the park and drys them on the fence. The best was thig morning . There was a peron wearing very little running downNothern Blv. lifting his dress, while the Watch Tower ladies watched in horror and my amusement.

By: SPer

SPer — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:53:07 +0000

RC -- Okay, point taken. I do agree that honking is part of NYC driving "culture", but I disagree that working to make commuting less time-consuming and stressful would be an effective approach to changing it. It is the habit of NYC drivers to honk very aggressively and I think the only way to stop it is to impose some consequences on the behavior.

By: RC

RC — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:31:58 +0000

SPer:
You are right that my comment sounds like nitpicking - I guess I failed to convey my point, that the pervasive honking in NYC has more to do with the pervasive stress of commuting/getting around, such as for example the fact that our commutes average 45 minutes one-way vs 23 minutes for the nation as a whole. So focusing broadly on that would probably be a more effective way to combat honking than trying to give people tickets for it.

By: K

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:45:45 +0000

The present way of ticketing people who honk is ridiculous. To give ticket, the police officer has to be on the spot and see the driver's hand pressing the honking on the wheel. We need a better system than that for sure.

As far as people can be trained not to honk, it is something that can be trained. I think people have different standard about the usage of honking. I grew up in a country where people rarely use honking except avoiding the emergency. It is basically considered as really bad manner to honk. They may honk but not too long like people do here. And yes some other countries have even worse usage of honking than the United States, also.

By: SPer

SPer — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:24:41 +0000

RC -- and since you agree that people can be trained not to honk, wouldn't ticketing be the way to do that?