Blizzard of 2009: 12" of Snow

Residential Streetscape Preservation Text Amendment

Please read : City Planning's proposed text amendment

Norwood Neighborhood Association is urging Mayor Bloomberg, Queensborough President Helen Marshall, Council Member Vallone and Community Board 1 to lead the way and support The City Planning Commission's proposed city wide Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendments. These proposals to amend zoning regulations will help protect and promote more livable neighborhoods by closing some of the loop-holes currently being exploited by developers*** who turn a blind eye towards quality of life, architectural continuity and preserving green spaces in our community.

***curb cuts, parking requirements, front yard plantings and requirements

LICA Safer Streets Rally 12/07 @ 11 AM

Photos by Donnelly Marks

Come support LICA Rally today for safer streets!!
21st Avenue 2 blocks east of 21st Street @ 11 AM

Quality of Life Issues: Working With Precinct #114

Last night's Community Affairs meeting was very positive. Terrific news is three NNA members were able to attend and represented our community well.

Deputy Inspector Vorbeck reported that statistically crime is down in Astoria. Precinct #114 assigned a special task force to deal with the 2 problematic clubs on 30th Avenue and issued them summonses as a warning. Revelry has been closed by US Marshall's Office, but no news yet as to the reason for the closure. Inspector Vorbeck said the Precinct will be keeping watch on 30th Avenue and Steinway nightlife over the Thanksgiving Holiday (especially this evening and into the wee hours) as Wednesday before Thanksgiving has historically been a big party night.

The professionalism of the officers present last night was very impressive. Inspector Vorbeck introduced Jackie Keating, the new Community Affairs officer. Ms. Keating has over 9 years experience and excellent people skills. We are lucky to have her as our liaison.

Tom from 37th Street brought up a parking situation on his block where contractors may be illegally coning off a large number of available meter spots without proper DOB permits. Inspector Vorbeck recommended calling 311 and reporting this to the Department of Buildings, as permits are required to reserve public parking.

NNA discovered a wealth of safety literature and tips available for download on the Precinct #114's website. The Precinct offers 2 services to residents for free:(1) home security surveys and (2) ID tagging of personal items. Please check out the #114's website

NNA would like to thank the officers of the #114 and Deputy Inspector Vorbeck for their professionalism and concern and all they do to help make Astoria a safer and better community.

A happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

New Trees for Norwood Gardens

Many beautiful tress have been planted on 35th, 36th and 37th Streets; pin oaks, silver linden and maple. They look great do so much to make our neighborhood greener and more inviting. On 36th Street Jimmy helped and encouraged many homeowners to fill out and submit trees forms. Hopefully for next spring additional trees will be planted in the remaining empty tree pits, especially those closest to 31st Avenue. If you would like a tree planted in front of your home or apartment building, please email us with your address and we'll stop by with a form and submit it to Community Board 1.

Rally Against Inappropriate Development in Norwood

A sincere thank you to all the Norwood Neighborhood Members and Norwood Gardens residents who turned out on a rainy Saturday!! You deserve a big hand.

Thank you too to Council Member Vallone, LICA President and Vice President - Brian Beard and Costa Constantinides and to Old Astoria representative John Collins. NNA hopes the big turn out at today's Rally will send a message to City Council that Astoria residents care about their neighborhoods and want to protect the quality of life and character of their neighborhood through appropriate, contextual zoning.

More to come...
Again, thank you all!!!
NY Daily News Article:

RALLY AGAINST INAPPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT: Rain or Shine!!

When: Saturday, November 14th, 11 A.M.
Where: 30-88 36th Street (site of proposed demolition and new construction)
Who: Norwood Neighborhood Association, supported by Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr.

Mayor Bloomberg says Quality of Life is getting better for most New Yorkers. In Astoria, with out of context over-development, residents face power shortages, over crowded schools, congestion, pollution, lack of green spaces and inadequate services such as mass transit, hospitals and policing. Norwood Gardens would like to see an adequate Quality of Life Plan!

Right now on 36th Street where outdated zoning from the 1960's is still in effect, out of context development is still going on - against the will of the community! This block busting may be legal but it's WRONG.

NNA would like to see a bill reintroduced into legislature which would put a moratorium on development such as 30-88 36th Street while zoning changes are under review.

30th Avenue Liquor License Map (using GIS)

Impact of 30th Avenue Clubs & Cafes on Community

Residents are experiencing brawls at 3am, fights in the streets, urination on private proberty, beer bottles, trash and drug packets on the sidewalk, recklessly speeding cars with souped up engines screeching and revving their way down residential streets. There have been a few accidents and numerous arrests.

It's PAR-Tay time on 30th Avenue and "Happy Hours" for the cafes but Happy Hour begins about 11:30 PM and goes all night long, especially on the weekends.

If you're want to see Quality of Life return, email us a sentence or two. NNA is sending The New York State Liquor Authority letters and comments from residents re clubs and cafes with liquor licenses.

Out of Context Development: NORWOOD WANTS A MORATORIUM!!!

Is it true that three 2 family homes will be torn down on 36th Street?

Workers were pounding in construction fence posts at 36-88 36th Street and a "Full Demolition" permit is nailed to the front door.

As the commercial overlay under current R6 zoning permits huge apartment buildings on this low rise street, our community will feel the pain.

Norwood Gardens demands introducing a "Moratorium Legislation Bill" to stop block busting developers from taking advantage of outmoded laws in neighborhoods whose zoning is under review.

It may be legal to build a 50 foot 8 unit apartment building and an 80 foot 10 unit apartment building with a community facility on 36th Street but it's WRONG!

A protest rally is being planned. Stay tuned!

ELECTED OFFICIALS!
CITY PLANNING!
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS!
WILL YOU ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?
NORWOOD GARDENS RESIDENTS DEMAND A MORATORIUM!

OVERSATURATION OF LIQUOR LICENSES ON 30TH AVENUE

Our neighborhood is great! 30th Avenue is a thriving and vital shopping street chock full of cafes and nightspots. 30th Avenue is so popular, people come from all over NYC to hang out, party and be seen. The new cafes and clubs have much to recommend them but there has also been a serious fall out, impacting the lives of those who live here.

Visitors to 30th Avenue cafes are not always very conscientious and show no respect towards the neighborhood or those who live here. Cars are emptied of fast food containers, beer bottles, cigarette butts and trash. Late night fighting and yelling wake people at 3 am, 4 am and 5 am - arrests have been made. Cars travel at dangerous high speeds, especially for our quiet residential streets. In the past year, 36th and 37th Streets have recently experienced a number of serious accidents involving cars and at least one involving alcohol.

Norwood residents seek a return to a more balanced and enjoyable quality of life. With that aim in mind, we invite cafe owners to recognize their responsibility to the community and pitch in. NNA hopes to initiate a "clean up" task force on 35th, 36th and 37th Streets, those hardest hit by litter and hope the cafes will participate in picking up after their patrons. In addition we ask that cafe owners abide by the law and close their club according to the hours stated on the liquor license. Above all, we ask that clubs not serve intoxicated and belligerent guests as many will be driving home in their car after a night out in Astoria.

NNA urges the NYSLA to investigate and open up its eyes to the effects of cafe and club overload in a residential neighborhood.

Fall Beautification

It's fall again! Come join Norwood neighbors for a September Spiff Up (date and time TBA soon). Let's hear your Quality of Life concerns and changes you would like to see in the community. Together we can make our streets safer and cleaner.


September's agenda includes:

1) Beautification. A neglected street encourages vandalism and litter. With NNA'S fall spiff up, our streets will look cared for and visitors will be more likely to respect our blocks. NNA made a start on 36th Street (see photos below) on cleaning up tree pits. Working together we can make a huge difference and feel proud of our neighborho0d.

• 2) Quality of life issues: with the influx of 30th Avenue nightlife, noise pollution (at 3, 4 and 5 AM), vandalism, reckless speeding and trash thrown on our streets have been on the rise. We need to work with our precinct and elected officials to address QOL issues. These problems will not go away and will only get worse until we have an action plan. Together we can do it!
  

A sad block

A happier tree!

Check out NNA's Spiff Up sneak preview: a little effort makes a huge difference! Weeds and trash were removed, dirt raked through to take out glass, old batteries and debris. Then the stones were swept up! Our trees are happier, our blocks look cared for and our neighborhood is a more welcoming place for all.

Norwood Gardens History

A Brief History of Norwood Gardens

Norwood Gardens, one of many planned communities built in Astoria, Queens in the late 1920's, was underwritten by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company during a period of expansion in New York CIty which provided access to Astoria via the Queensboro Bridge (then called Blackwell's Bridge) and a fast growing rapid transit system.

Norwood Gardens offered city dwellers a better quality of life than that which the city's apartment dwellers found in the small, crowded, dark apartments of Manhattan. Astoria had cleaner air, less congestion, more green space and offered middle and working class families what was described in the Norwood Gardens sales brochure from 1929 as "country living in the city". Homes in Astoria's planned communities had front (and sometimes back) gardens, often 25' deep. Interior space was well designed providing circulating, fresh air and sunlight.

Astoria's early population was comprised of teachers, craftsmen, merchants, laborers, doctors, lawyers and recent immigrants from Europe; the backbone of working-class, middle-class and professional New York City.

Rickert-Brown Realty Company built the homes, bathroom fixtures furnished by J. L. Mott Iron Works of Manhattan (J.L Mott for whom Mott Street in Chinatown was named after).

In 1929, Norwood Gardens homes sold for $15,000 (corner homes for $16,000) mortgages underwritten by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. A copy of the original sales brochure will be online here soon.

Norwood GardensToday

Largely unspoiled by development, the planned community of Norwood Gardens, designed in the late 1920's, is a low rise residential neighborhood. The green city trees and front gardens of 35th, 36th and 37th Streets create a special district in Astoria. Neighborhoods such as Norwood Gardens have been rapidly disappearing in the recent development boom which hit Queens hard in the form of tear downs and block busting the 1980's.

A set of row houses; thirty attached terrace homes on 36th Street, 5 blocks East from the 30th Avenue stop on the N train in Astoria, were designed by Walter Hopkins of Warren & Wetmore, the prominent New York architectural firm responsible for Grand Central Station, The Biltmore Hotel, The Ritz Carlton Hotel and other important commissions. Residents of 36th Street have spent countless man hours in effort to save this unique block from the wrecking ball and out of character development.

Since 2002 Norwood Neighborhood Association has been working with core Queens civic organizations, preservationists, land use experts, City Planners, and Council Member Vallone on new zoning initiatives. A recently proposed Residential Streetscape Preservation Text Amendment is another important proposal aimed to protect and preserve not only Norwood Gardens but the other special low rise, residential neighborhoods in Queens, cherished by those who live in them and highly valued by Astoria residents and merchants who enjoy and benefit from the unique character of these communities that draw people from all over New York City.

BEAUTIFICATION: NO MENUS here for free!

NNA has just added another flier for you to download and use to help reduce litter from fliers.

The signs are sized 4x6 for white index cards. Two can be laminated in an 8.5 x 11 sheet at Kinko's for under $3. Carefully cut out your No Menu laminated signs, leaving extra plastic around the card. Using a hole punch, make 2 holes in plastic - top and bottom- for fastening to a fence, using care not to cut into the card, otherwise the laminate will not be waterproof.

The good news is these have greatly reduced litter on 36th Street.






NNA is trying to reduce street litter in our neighborhood. Feel free to use Norwood Neighborhood Associations's "No Menu" fliers in your community too!: click here for high quality files.

Cafes and Clubs Hurt Residents' QOL

Our Precinct #114 Community Council met September 22nd, 7Pm at Ricardo's. The meeting was very informative and encouraging. A Norwood Neighborhood member attended and spoke with Precinct #114 Executive Officers, Deputy Inspector Vorbeck, Captain Tarantola (traffic safety) and Lieutenant Morrales (Special Forces; crime) about the chronic Quality of Life issues Norwood residents' have been facing. Late night noise disturbances, fighting and brawls, vandalism, public drunkenness and speeding cars on 36th Street have been cause for concern and safety to all residents.



The Officers were very receptive and will be conducting hot spot investigations in our neighborhood. Captain Tarantola said the Precinct is trying to get a speed bump installed on 36th Street to slow traffic down and make our streets safer.
The Officers will be giving a follow up report at next month's
Community Council meeting.

Deputy Inspector Vorbeck was pleased and rightfully proud to report that Quality of Life complaints and crime in Astoria are down in comparison to previous years and that Astoria is a much safer community. Norwood residents look forward to working with our Community Board and Precinct #114 to ensure Norwood residents' share in this welcome trend.


Contact Police Precinct #114 Community Affairs

Chronic 311 Noise Complaints in Astoria and Norwood Gardens

Daily News on noise in Astoria.

Invitation to Beautification!

We have lots of beautiful and unique green spaces
in Norwood Gardens so there must be many talented
gardeners! NNA would love to get neighbors together a few times
a year for street beautification. Let's all help make Norwood Gardens
the best it can be. It will be fun working together on this project.
Look forward to hearing from you! Please click here to enjoy
some of 35th, 36th and 37th Streets great green!

R4B Letter to City Planners                     

                                                       

 

Date: June 25, 2009

 

Re: Zoning designation for Norwood Gardens: bounded by 35th, 36th and 37th Streets between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue.

 

Dear Queens Department of City Planning, John Carusone, Chair of CB1Q Zoning Committee, Mayor Bloomberg and elected officials:

 

Norwood Neighborhood Association members and residents have been fighting for R4B zoning since 2002 after a four-story apartment building busted the continuity of a beautiful and architecturally significant row of attached 1-family homes on 36th Street in Astoria. Our fight made The Daily News and all the local papers. Please see our website:

http://norwoodneighborhoodassociation.blogspot.com/

 

Over the past seven years, NNA members have logged in hundreds of man-hours, working hard behind the scenes on zoning concerns. We've met with residents many times. We’ve also consulted with land use experts, urban planners, civic leaders, community organizations, preservationists as well as our elected officials. We have gone door to door on 35th, 36th and 37th Streets and found that the MAJORITY of property owners (and renters too!) want Norwood Gardens to be zoned R4B not R5B. Do City Planners incorporate the overwhelming needs and desires of the community that will be rezoned and the community’s vision for the future?

 

NNA applauds this long overdue rezoning initiative and proposal for Astoria. We appreciated Ian Haegerty’s meeting with NNA’s representatives and explaining how an R5B designation would protect Norwood Gardens from commercial overlays, curb cuts, front yard depth minimums and building line up. R5B works well for the residential blocks whose character reflects an R5B zone. We can’t emphasize enough how highly unique our 3 blocks are. Only R4B zoning will give Norwood Gardens adequate protection!! Let the signatures of over 100 property owners speak for themselves! We demand R4B zoning for our 3 unique blocks and the height restrictions (24’) and protection only R4B offers. We invested in the low-rise neighborhood of Norwood Gardens and want to protect our investment! Our Quality of Life is under attack by inappropriate development. Norwood Gardens has had 2 blows to its character. We need R4B protection now. Enough!

 

Zoning and visionary planning should go hand in hand. Norwood Gardens R4B designation will benefit more than the property owners. An attractive neighborhood with a discernable character (think of Greenwich Village) increases in value over time and offers a high return and many benefits to everyone, residents and businesses alike. 30th Avenue has a vibrant street life, much of this due to the special nature of Norwood Gardens’ attractions and contributions to our area. Astorians love 35th, 36th and 37th Streets’ leafy low-rise setting. It is this character that draws visitors from all over NYC. Let’s not have inappropriate zoning for the next 50 years!

 

Out of context development has ravaged so much of Queens and is taking its toll on our community. 38th Street between 31st Avenue and 30th Avenue is a sad street, ugly, lacking continuity and stripped of its character. 38th Street will never recover from the destruction and disgrace developers brought and which inappropriate zoning permitted. Shame! Please, we urge you, do no not make the same mistake for Norwood Gardens. R4B is the contextual zone which most closely reflects our community.

 

Norwood Neighborhood Association members met June 23rd in preparation for the upcoming CB1 zoning that will meet 6/30/09 at Astoria World Manor. Our chief topic of discussion was should Norwood Gardens (35th, 36th and 37th Streets between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue) accept an R5B designation. The response was a resounding NO – we vote for R4B!

 

Respectfully yours,

Norwood Neighborhood Association

mailto:norwood.astoria@gmail.com

 

Norwood Neighborhood Association

PO Box #9102

Grand Avenue Station

Astoria NY 11103

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

             

 

             

PO Box #9102 Grand Avenue Station, Astoria NY 11103

                                     email:  norwood.Astoria@gmail.com

R4B Letter address to NYC Planners

Biggest Rezoning of Astoria Since 1961!

Peter Vallone, Sr. moderatesTown Hall Zoning Meeting

Town Hall Meeting on Astoria Rezoning Proposal.
Over 150 concerned Astoria residents showed up at the Town Meeting May 5th, as City Planners unveiled their Zoning Proposal for over 8,000 Astoria properties; the biggest zoning study in almost 40 years!

Director, Queens City Planning, John Young

Norwood Gardens has long been pushing for a zoning study. Local residents watched in disgust, the razing of 38th Street's 1 and 2 family homes. Beautiful, front gardens are now gone and so is 38th Street's leafy, homey character. Norwood Gardens homeowners and residents DO NOT want this to happen in the Norwood Gardens Community (35th, 36th and 37th Streets between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue) and have been pushing for R4B a contextual zone that would protect the beauty and distinct character of our low rise neighborhood. Norwood Neighborhood Association had a strong presence at the Town Hall zoning meeting May 5th, and applauds Council Member Vallone's pushing for this zoning study and his support of contextual rezoning.

Council Member Peter Vallone speaks in support of the zoning Study.

During the zoning meeting, New York City Planners explained how "upzoning" will be guided to "appropriate" areas of Astoria and how "contextual zoning" of low rise communities will not allow them to be inappropriately and destructively developed. Contextual zoning will protect many of Astoria's low rise neighborhoods that Astoria residents appreciate. These low rise pockets bring benefits to all of Astoria's residents (home owners and renters alike), by providing variety, green spaces and a solid sense of community with an investment and love of their neighborhood.

Residents expressed concern that some very important planing issues were not addressed, e.g., more green spaces! Green spaces are disappearing at an alarming rate: front gardens are being replaced by built out-apartment buildings, community churches and surrounding green areas are being razed in order to develop the properties and front yards are cemented over to make room for parking slabs. Residents need more public parks and green spaces! Families near Broadway / 30th Avenue between Steinway and 31st Street rely on Sean's Place playground (38th Street). The playground is so overcrowded it's dangerous. In the Zoning Proposal, 30th Avenue and 31st Street and Broadway are zoned for high density. Are there any green spaces or parks included in new Zoning Proposal to accommodate more residents and families? It is our City Planners' responsibility to incorporate these important quality of life needs in the 2009 Zoning Proposal, as this MAJOR Astoria rezoning project will affect Astoria residents for many years to come.

Suggestion:

Are there incentives in the new Zoning Proposal to encourage developers to include green spaces and plantings in their development projects? Developers often build out as far as possible and are not concerned with adding quality of life benefits for the neighborhood at large. Developers do not live in our communities and their primary concern is not in creating or contributing to a better more livable community. Families and residents want and need beauty, quite spaces and green in their environment.


Norwood Neighborhood Association has been working on a rezoning study for many years.
When a 1 family home was razed breaking the architectural continuity of 30 planned, attached homes, the community went to the press and elected official in hopes of getting a zoning study initiated. Articles appeared in: Daily News (June 6, 2002), The Western Queens Gazette (June 5, 2002), Queens Chronicle, June 6, 2002 and Queens Chronicle, June 27, 2002 and more. It's taken 7 years to get a Zoning Study. Let's hope R4B is approved for Norwood Gardens and that the implementation takes place soon before more damage is done.

Please, mark this important date on your calendar!
The City Planning Dept. will explain the new
zoning proposal. It's important we show up!
The meeting is scheduled for 6/30 at 6:30 pm
at Astoria World Manor, 25-22 Astoria Blvd.

Agenda for Norwood Meeting June 23rd @ 7 PM!

Kids drinking in their car, yelling and disturbing sleeping
people at 2 AM, left their empty beer bottle and cups
on 36th Street before driving off.





Garden statue on 36th Street was smashed on the
sidewalk sometime after 2AM June 12th.


Beautiful shrub was ripped out of a 36th Street garden
and thrown on top of a parked car.

Drinking and high speed driving do not mix

as seen in photo of 36th Street car crash.

Residents are furious and FED UP!!!!

An Open Letter from Norwood Gardens Residents!

Queens Community Board 1 , HELP!!!

Re: Approval of outdoor cafe permits and liquor licenses for 30^th Avenue has brought vandalism, late night noise disturbances, drivers using excessive speed and aggression, trash and public urination.

Dear Queens Community Board Members:

As the Neighborhood Association has a meeting tonight to discuss the rezoningproject they cannot be present this evening. I am here as a representative of NNA and Norwood Gardens residents to request your help with serious quality of life issues our community is experiencing.

The new cafes and clubs on 30th Avenue bring a vibrant street life to our community. People from all over Queens and Manhattan flock to 30th Avenue to enjoy the social life provided by new cafes and clubs. Most residents welcome the variety and European flavor the cafés offer but the increase in liquor licenses and outdoor seating permits has also brought late night noise disturbances (3AM), vandalism (auto break-ins, property damage and graffiti), speeding cars (there have been a number of drunken late night crashes), litter (empty, broken beer bottles, trash) and public urination. Norwood members have been in contact Police Precinct #114 re these issues. Our precinct recommended contacting CB1, to request that a task force be assigned to 30th Avenue on the weekends, especially in the summer. If revenue is generated by approving liquor licenses and outdoor cafe permits, some of the income should go towards protecting Norwood Gardens’ residents, people who’s quality of life has been negatively and regularly impacted.
Of utmost concern to the residents (especially the children!) is exposure to the excessive speed and aggression by café patron’s vehicles. We need preventative measures in place before an unfortunate accident kills or maims someone. To curb excessive speed and reckless driving we recommend safety measures such as speed bumps, road or street signage or vibration bumps be put in place to slow cars down. A resident’s dog was run over and killed by a speeding SUV that never stopped. The enclosed photos document the tip of the iceberg what we experiencie daily.

If there is anything NNA can do to help with these quality of life concerns, we welcome the opportunity to help make our neighborhood better and safer.

Thank in advance for your help and support. Norwood Neighborhood Association