Comments

  • Congratulations! It’s about time the neighborhoods of Queens became more vocal about its issues. You’re linked on Queens Crap. Hey - that makes 2 QC’s! Best of luck. May this post serve as your dollar bill on the restaurant wall.

    Posted by Queens Crapper
    on April 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 am

  • Ah, always good to have well-wishes from the Crapper. That guy can make or break any new development! I don’t know where you live, by the way, but I’ve always suspected you of being a CQ resident.

    Posted by Steve
    on April 22nd, 2007 at 7:17 am

  • good luck with your new blog…

    Posted by David M. Quintana
    on April 22nd, 2007 at 7:22 am

  • Great idea for a blog!

    I’ve lived in FH for 9 years and I definitely agree with you that things are changing as far as the population. But more positive changes are needed. There is a real need for a blog like this where people can get and share information.

    I hope that this blog can raise the profile of our area of Queens so that we can attract better restaurants, stores and a decent supermarket. Companies like Trader Joe’s are finally starting to notice our area. While I welcome them, I wish they would have chosen a location closer to 71st/Continental which would be accessible by subway and which would be within walking distance for a lot more people.

    Good luck with this blog and your mission to change the cachet of Central Queens.

    Posted by FH Guy
    on April 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 pm

  • Congrats and great job on the launch. That was a damn quick turnaround from inspiration to realization. Can’t wait to see how the site and community grow and develop.

    Posted by DaveS
    on April 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 am

  • I really felt like a quick turnaround was important for some reason. Launching a site quickly is easier when you keep staying up ’til the middle of the night.

    By the way, Dave, I had your name as my sample user on all the mockups, so I owe you one.

    Posted by Steve
    on April 23rd, 2007 at 2:48 am

  • If you’re good enough for Queens crap, then you’re good enough for me. You’re now linked on oldkewgardens.com. Welcome to the web and good luck.

    Posted by Joe
    on April 23rd, 2007 at 3:15 am

  • Hey Steve–

    Congratulations–the site looks great! I look forward to seeing how it develops. I’ll be adding you to my blog roll, too, of course.

    Posted by Sarah
    on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:22 pm

  • OMG! Don’t you ever sleep? This site is quite the undertaking. Hope it leads to wonderful things — if you know what I mean.

    Posted by Mar
    on April 24th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

  • […] we changing the cachet […]

    Posted by Queens Central » Queens dominates the media
    on August 8th, 2007 at 1:21 am

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The Queens Central manifesto

Posted by Steve on Saturday, April 21st, 2007

Our humble area gets a lot of crap. If you’re over 60, your friends think you’re super cool for living in Forest Hills — so classy! Your septuagenarian pals know that Kew Gardens is home to some of the best skilled nursing facilities east of Woodhaven Boulevard.

But what about the rest of us? I’ve lived in Forest Hills going on three years now. In that time, I’ve seen a lot fewer people being pushed in wheelchairs and a lot more babies being pushed in strollers. Younger people are realizing that hey, this is a great place to live. It’s nice, safe, accessible, affordable, everything you need is close at hand. And it’s not just my neighborhood — Rego Park, Kew Gardens, even distant Briarwood are slowly morphing, too, as more people realize they can move there and get more for less. Central Queens’ character is changing. Its cachet has to change, too. That’s what we’re going to try to do around here.

You often hear defenders of Forest Hills’ hipness mention that the Ramones came from here. True, but the Ramones left for the Lower East Side. Let’s bring them back — the ones who aren’t dead, at least.

Here at Queens Central, you’ll find this, the blog, where we’ll try to highlight new and exciting things about the neighborhood. But it won’t be cheerleading — you’ll find plenty of complaining about what we’d like to change, too. For now, I use the royal we, but if you’re interested, I’d love to get you on board and blogging, too, especially if you live outside of Forest Hills. Be warned: For now, this site is going to be very FoHi-centric. Don’t like it? You can change it. As long as you’re a competent writer with the right attitude about what you’d like to see happen in Central Queens, you’re welcome to contribute.

You’ll also find Queens Central Forums, which I’d like to see become the vibrant, youthful, active message board this area really lacks. Want a greenmarket in town? Trying to lure some great chefs to open restaurants here? Sick of all the banks? This is the place to rile up the masses. It’s also the place to just talk and meet some of the people who live around you. I talk a lot about “changing character,” but even if you’ve lived here all your life, I’d invite you to come up and see the forums sometime. I’d rather not see a lot of threads about how great things used to be, but I don’t believe in censorship and I’ll always let you have your say, unless what you’re saying is seriously disruptive and/or illegal.

I could go on, but if you’ll excuse me, it’s 75 degrees out and a great day to walk down Austin Street and get some ice cream. Hope you like the site.