The Lost Supermarket: The Quest For Fresh Foods

The Lost Supermarket: A Breed in Need of Replenishment

A continuing decline in the number of neighborhood supermarkets has made it harder for millions of New Yorkers to find fresh and affordable food within walking distance of their homes, according to a recent city study. The dearth of nearby supermarkets is most severe in minority and poor neighborhoods already beset by obesity, diabetes and and heart disease.

The supermarket closings — not confined to poor neighborhoods — result from rising rents and slim profit margins, among other causes. They have forced residents to take buses or cabs to the closest supermarkets in some areas. Those with cars can drive, but the price of gasoline is making some think twice about that option. In many places, residents said the lack of competition has led to rising prices in the remaining stores.

“Many people in low-income neighborhoods are spending their food budget at discount stores or pharmacies where there is no fresh produce,” said Amanda Burden, the city’s planning director. “In our study, a significant percentage of them reported that in the day before our survey, they had not eaten fresh fruit or vegetables. Not one. That really is a health crisis in the city.”

This is a much larger problem than it appears, there is already a health crisis of the poor urban neighborhoods as they are already at higher risk for disease due to living conditions, but now the removal of fresh foods completely from one's diet could be devastating. A supermarket closes down and another two fast food restaurants open up. This is just another subtle affect that the dependence of foreign oil and inflation is causing.

Man Arrested Throwing Cocktails in Queens, This isn't Grand Theft Auto IV Buddy...

Police: Man Arrested for Queens Firebomb Barrage

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) -- New York City police have arrested a man accused of hurling homemade firebombs from a Queens rooftop after slashing someone with a machete on a nearby street.

Police say Felipe Velasquez is being held at a hospital where he was taken for a psychiatric evaluation after the incident Tuesday evening. The 21-year-old has been arrested on charges including attempted murder, reckless endangerment and assault.

No telephone number could be found at the Queens address Velasquez gave police. They aren't certain whether he has a lawyer.

Police say Velasquez tossed five flaming, liquid-filled containers into the street from a building roof, setting a car on fire.

Police say Velasquez ran to the roof after using the machete to attack a 45-year-old man on the street below. The victim is hospitalized in stable condition.

What the hell is going on? The chaos is slowly picking up momentum or so it seems... but just maybe the news is that slow that they are reporting things like this. I like how 1010wins also omits where in Queens this happened. There was no injuries or property damage (besides one car) reported so once again Queens residents get lucky. Could it be due to foreclosure rate in Queens? Could it be the Recession? No its called F_ _king crazy. That is all.

Community Board Rejects Synagogue On Block

Community Board 8 Rejects Synagogue On Block

“Our neighborhood is under siege by institutions. The community is saying we are over-saturated. We know this is a growing religious community where the membership will go beyond 400. What will happen to parking then?” asked Marie DeInnocentiis, at last week’s Community Board 8 meeting.
Over 30 residents, many angered about a lack of parking caused by a fourth synagogue being built within a block of the Hillcrest Jewish Center, signed up to to speak at the meeting.

Finally someone is standing up to the increasing invasion of religious institutions. It is certainly not needed for a neighborhood to have four places on one block or in a 5 block radius for that matter, and as always parking for the residents in the area is more and more of an issue.

Hopefully someone in Flushing/ Community Board 11, will stand up and prevent future conversions of residential housing into "places of worship". I am not singling anyone one religion out, I just believe in general it has been over crowded with religious institutions and this problem is only getting worse. Understandably this rise in places to worship increase with the population and diversity that Queens has to offer.

Cars Got Larger, Drive Ways stayed the same, SUVs Got Tickets

Homeowners Ticketed For Parking In Own Drive

A Bay Terrace homeowner has been ticketed three times in the past month for parking in his own driveway.
“A guy came through two or three times in the same month. He ticketed two of the cars, but not the third, even though the third was over just as much,” said Anthony Scharge, long time Bay Terrace resident.

Well sadly Queens residents eat up nearly one third of all the parking tickets dealt in the New York City Area. Is this a new all time low? An all- time low maybe... but this act of ticketing has been practiced in Flushing for as long as I can remeber (as the family minivan renders our driveway unusable).

However, if blocking the sidewalks becomes an accepted practice and not enforced like the Bayside residents are suggesting, then it is plausable to suggest that we could see many more people doing the same, as well as people trying to pack in two cars into one driveway space and big cargo vans blocking sidewalks more so than they already do. There is no simple way out, and every solution creates another problem.