Jackson Heights Life

Quote from: abcdefghijk on November 14, 2018, 09:47:50 AM

Quote from: Shelby2 on November 14, 2018, 09:01:32 AM

I wonder how this will affect the artists community. I know several in JH who have studios in LIC. In fact, I imagine that many or even most artists in these parts of Queens who rent outside studios do so in LIC, since that's where there has traditionally been availability.

Excited for Amazon’s Arrival in Long Island City? The Results for New York’s Art Community Won’t Be Pretty

Btw, the LIC open studios are this weekend (Nov 17-18, 2018)

Yes...as LIC morphs into a tech version of Williamsburg, I would say the artists' time in LIC has come to an end. 

My guess is that the warehouses in the industrial area around Northern Woodside will become artists' new homes. That's my prediction!

I always wondered why some of the buildings in industrial Woodside didn't get converted into artist studios. Some of the area is extremely close to the train, for instance, the R train at Northern Blvd. I suppose one reason is that artists tend to congregate together and no one was willing to take a chance on developing a building in an outlying area. But the rents for artist studios have already skyrocketed in LIC in the past 3-4 years so it would have made sense to branch out to Woodside, if commercial rents are actually cheaper in Woodside. Maybe the rents are not actually substantially cheaper.

for the lower-middle class (or even middle-middle class) residents of the surrounding areas, not so much. a rising tide does NOT lift all boats -- it's not like we're suddenly going to boost the salaries of EMTs, nurses, public school teachers or retail workers by 20 or 30 percent. those folks will remain where they are, and a gulf will open, a greater gulf than the one that already exists.

WHOA.

Queens Neighborhoods United
November 13 at 1:31 PM ·
***STATEMENT ON AMAZON TO COME TO QUEENS***
   To make it very clear, Queens Neighborhoods United is entirely against Amazon. We will not negotiate our survival and we’ll do everything in our power to shut them down. Our line is clear, fast and unflinching. We will make it impossible for them. We will target the politicians, the individuals, the institutions, the organizations and whoever else had the power to stop this deal.
   In a city with such wealth, we still have over 65,000 families homeless, NYCHA is 16 billion dollars in debt – its residents and many of our neighbors are living in mold-infested hazardous buildings, experiencing eviction, landlord terrorism, and crumbling infrastructure. We are told by city officials that this is because there are not enough tax revenues to repair these social dilemmas.
   How did the city suddenly come up with a plan to give such significant tax breaks and incentives to a corporation led by the richest man in the world? (Jeff Bezos makes $3,182 every second, according to Time.com)
   They say Amazon will create good jobs, but Amazon has a track record of relying heavily on short-term contract-based jobs without long-term security or benefits. Amazon uses mafia tactics to bully smaller thriving businesses forcing them to submit and sell their ownership status to Amazon (see what happened to diapers.com as an example).
   Amazon is notorious for abusing workers who must work intensive hours to the point where they are forced to pee in bottles to keep up with delivery orders. Jeff Bezos announced a wage increase to $15 an hour, but simultaneously stripped worker’s access to stock options and bonuses, leaving workers worse off.
   Amazon spent millions of dollars to lobby and buy out politicians and non-profits in Seattle to overturn a tax which would have created an affordable housing fund for homeless evicted residents that is desperately needed in that city.
   Most recently, Amazon has colluded with ICE and police departments across the country to create a bug-ridden, racially-biased facial recognition software system that puts our communities in danger. Amazon holds the largest share of governmental contracts to maintain databases about detainees and undocumented people.
   We have to remember that these politicians and these corporate behemoths are afraid of people coming together to fight for community self-determination. They will say Amazon is too powerful to take on, and that we should make concessions, but as we look back to our beloved NYC history those who conceded never make history. New Yorkers did not concede to Robert Moses and his corporate gang to bulldoze NYC communities to build a mega expressway for wealthy suburbanites. 100,000 New Yorkers did not concede to corporations when they successfully fought and protested to establish an 8-hour work day in the 1800s. NYC has always been the city that belonged to the tenants and the workers. We should not look to these crooked politicians because they will wear the resistance band for street credit while behind closed doors negotiate our survival with corporations.
   Instead we are the change we have been waiting for. This is not just a Queens problem, this is a fight for our City, and we need everyone fighting alongside us, disturbing the peace every step of the way, in any way possible. So this is a call to individuals and community groups and anyone that’s interested in fighting against this ain’t-shit-company, share this and join us.
   Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living. Amazon, it’s on.

Don't use the g-word.