Sergey Kadinsky

A Crap Sandwich

The house on 159th Street and 72nd Avenue in Fresh Meadows was built in 1935, making it one of the oldest in the neighborhood. At the time, its backyard faced the Pomonok Country Club. Even after most of the club’s land became housing projects, a small part remained as an undeveloped block into the late 1980s. For many years, a John Burns resided in it. By early 2008, a new owner, Brian Tsabari’s Alaska Group, Inc. became its new owner. The home became vacant and neglected, as the neighborhood around it continued to crappify. Today, the home is a “Crap Sandwich,” surrounded by taller neighbors.

To my surprise, last week, a sign was installed, announcing the sale of this house. Potential homeowners need not apply, because the sign targets either condo builders, schools, or temples. When I called the broker, Impact Homes, Inc., I was told it was worth $2.5 million and that it has been vacant for 3 and a half years. I was also told that the sale was not intended for potential homeowners. It is a land sale for investors or developers. But, “If you think you can afford it, stop by my office,” the broker told me, before ending the brief phone conversation.

Need a Condo built?

I also called the owner of Boulevard ALP, the massive senior residence that adjoins the old house. They said they have nothing to do with it.

As a neighbor, my question is- What is going on?

Honestly, I am having a hard time figuring out why the most hideous tenements of the last turn of the century are far more pleasing to the viewer than today’s middle-income condos.

An abandoned South Bronx tenement. Note the cornices, keystones, and rounded corner. Photo by Ray Mortenson, 1984

Today’s developers seem to be cutting costs at every available opportunity. It seems that in the New York of 2007, only two architectural styles predominate- glass and steel boxes for the rich, and brick boxes for the poor. Whatever design there is to these buildings, it fails to inspire. Tearing down an older home in favor of high-density dwellings isn’t always bad news, but when it ruins the unique image of the neighborhood-

No stonework or decorations here. The viewer should at least thank the builder for providing gables to break the boredom.

This is New York in 2008. Goodbye aesthetics, and welcome back functionalism. Where these homes stood, there was once beautiful architecture. Usually, only an affluent neighborhood like Park Slope can muster the clout to prevent ugliness from being built. In my home borough, it’s good to see minority and middle-class neighborhoods speaking out against crapitecture.

This Long Island City tenement is a gonner. Expect a glass box in its place. Photo byLIQcity

Architecture critics praise these new glass boxes. It’s the new black, but from a pedestrian’s point of view, there’s really not much to see here. In my opinion, the glass office boxes are related to the brick boxes. Both lack imagination and design. When an abandoned South Bronx tenement looks better than an inhabited 21st century apartment, we have some serious thinking to do.

This article will appear in the Jewish Press later this week.

Emanuel Aminov, the man killed last week as he delivered meals-on-wheels to the elderly at a Brownsville housing project, was remembered in very different ways in two communities on the day of his funeral.

In the Bukharian Jewish community of Queens, hundreds of mourners remembered the grandfather of seven, a modest family man who put his kindness to work delivering meals.

In Brownsville, Brooklyn, a neighborhood struggling to solve the murder, Aminov’s death underscored the challenges facing the low-income, crime-ridden area.

“I will make sure that the police leave no stone unturned,” said Charles Barron, the city councilman who represents both Brownsville and Starrett City, where Aminov, 55, lived.  He dismissed Brownsville’s often-tense relations with police. “If you don’t want to snitch, tell me and I’ll do it, ” he said at the funeral.

“He was making life better for those in need,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to the mourners. “Each of you represents the very best in him.”

His family agreed. “He isn’t a business guy,” said his brother, Yosef Aminov. “He was a simple family person.”  Ironically, the family had fled war-torn Tajikistan in 1989 for New York where Emanuel Aminov worked hard to make a better life for his children and grandchildren.

Aminov wanted a better life for others, too.  That’s why he often filled in for other drivers to deliver food packages for the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA).  Last Monday morning, as he walked down the stairs of 341 Dumont Avenue, an anonymous black man confronted him, police said, and fired the fatal shot in his chest.

While his death brought city officials and rabbinical leaders to the funeral, the murder reminded Brownsville residents of the criminal in their midst.  “He may feel so guilty he will turn himself in,” said Terrell Jensen, 25.

Jensen didn’t sound as optimistic about security conditions in the Brownsville projects.  Unlike many of the city’s public housing areas, the Brownsville Houses project doesn’t have security cameras. Jensen wasn’t sure the cameras would have made a difference anyway. Across the street at Van Dyke Houses, Jensen said they have 200 cameras but they haven’t deterred two rapists.  “Cameras don’t work,” Jensen said. “The police only harass people, and cameras aren’t any better. People do stupid things.”

Back at the Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels in Queens, Yosef Aminov had a message for the murderer and anyone who knows where he is.   “You better sell him out,” he said.

Others reminded the mourners to remember the man. “In a tragedy like this, death can be overwhelming,” said Edwin Mendez-Santiago, commissioner of the city’s Department of Aging. “But in the coming days, I know you’ll focus on how he lived, serving the most vulnerable among us. Remember his life, passion, commitment to his family, and community.”

Aminov was laid to rest at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens. A candlelight vigil at the site of his murder is planned after the completion of the family’s seven-day mourning period. “This is not just a loss for your family, but also for our community,” Barron said.

Rabbi Itzhak Abramov urged the mourners to take greater care of their children, a message that would resonate in both neighborhoods.  “We write in our hearts and souls to communicate with our children,” said Abramov. “Otherwise, they too may become killers. Children are our happiness and our future. Don’t let them become like this murderer.”

procession

brothers

Story coming soon…

They emerged in the most puzzling manner, shirtless out of a storm sewer drain. The three teens were arrested for criminal trespassing. Located at Underhill Avenue and Fresh Meadow Lane, the 12-foot-wide drain is large enough to fit a car, and transports more than the excess storm runoff. It is a link into the watery past of Queens.
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The playground of the IS 73 Frank Sansivieri middle school in Maspeth was once an anonymous asphalt lot, offering few options to the students, aside from basketball and handball. The only touches of green were grassy cracks in the blacktop and ailanthus weeds on the periphery. Responding to the community’s need for more parkland, the Trust for Public Land facilitated the transformation of the schoolyard in an inclusive process where the students produced a lasting impact.

Student Anthony Cuocco, 13; Allison Suquitana, 12; principal Patricia Reynolds

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I’ve just completed my first impressions photo essay of Maspeth. It contains five images, but it’s only a start. In the near future, expect to see abandoned train tracks, yard statues, storefront posters, and other local curiosities.

The businesses of Maspeth have a reputation, built on ethics and community involvement. They hope this can help them survive the current economic crisis.

“We give back to the community. We’re not here to make money, but also enhance the lives of the residents,” said Thomas K. Rudzewick, the senior vice president of the Maspeth Federal Savings.

In spite of the growing unease about the economy, the feeling in Maspeth remains positive, even among the bankers and realtors who bear the brunt and blame for the nation’s financial woes.

The recent plummet of stocks has resulted in the collapse of the banking superpowers Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the insurance staple AIG. Yet the local bank appears to chug along smoothly. (more…)

How “hyper-local” can blogging get? I’ve just settled into my new home in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Queens, and on my block, there is a curious street that sticks out of the grid. It also defies local naming conventions.

The other Park Avenue: No Doormen Here

As a follow-up, I shall interview the residents of this block. I wonder if they have trouble receiving pizza deliveries.