Monthly Archives: March 2013

Jamaica Station, built in 1913, is located in the downtown area of Jamaica, Queens. It is a hub for Long Island Rail Road trains that come and go from the boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. In recent years, the station has been improved with the extension of a “futuristic” terminal that connects the LIRR and the AirTrain. The new terminal for JFK passengers was completed in 2002. It was just one of the major changes for this station. Recently, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has planned to have a “Station Plaza.” The work towards the project has already started by creating better lighting in the walkway beneath the LIRR where passengers walk throughout the day and dark nights. These lights have turned the dark and scary underpass into a colorful and bright place where passengers can feel safe as they transfer to their next destination. Another addition to the underpass is business spaces called, “Shops at Station Plaza,” made for retail shops and other amnesties that might be convenient for visitors of the station.

by Alex Goetzfried

It is 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday in March and the Baker Street Pub is packed with ravenous soccer fans. The scene could easily be mistaken for a Saturday night if it wasn’t beautiful and sunny outside.

The match is a big one, Manchester United vs. Real Madrid. There is an order to the seating arrangements. Real Madrid fans are at the bar, Manchester United fans occupy the tables in the back.

The patrons are Albanian, Israeli, Irish, English, and some, the bartender Eileen, doesn’t know what they are and has no idea what they are saying, so she serves them whatever she feels like.  “Can you speak up! I can’t read lips back here!” Eileen yells at a patron with an indiscernible accent. “Some are alright, and some are cheap,” she says with a roll of her eyes.  It is what would normally be considered an off day, but she knows European soccer fans are her weekday bread and butter.

At most bars weekday lunch shifts are a death sentence or are reserved for training newbies, but not at the Baker Street Pub.  What happens on any given day, at any time revolves around soccer and rugby schedules.  An outsider couldn’t tell the difference between what is going on here and a Sunday afternoon of American football.

Artists rendering of proposed convention center.

My proposal is a story about the talks by New York Governor Cuomo to build a new convention center in Jamaica, Queens, as well as the newly built World Resorts Casino, the first casino in New York City. The convention center is far from being built, but I wanted to discuss the current state of negotiations, how if built, the convention center would effect the surrounding community, and lastly discuss the first Casino in New York City, and how its maintaining after a full year of business.

Artists rendering of interior of proposed convention center

The Aqueduct Racetrack  and newly built World Resorts Casino, built adjacent to the track, may have a new neighbor, with Governor Cuomo’s proposal for a convention center to be built on the race track’s site. According to Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, “The convention center in Queens becomes the biggest urban development project in the country.” No voting for whether or not the project will happen has taken place yet, however Cuomo has already publicly announced that he would open up the bidding process to others outside of The Genting Group, the parent company of the current operator of the Casino.

“Next stop Jamaica Station.” Tourist and commuters anxiously wait to exit the train doors of the Long Island Rail Road to catch the AirTran to JFK Airport or to connect another

subway train. In downtown Jamaica, Queens, you can find yourself at JFK in less than 5 minutes by taking the AirTrain. If you don’t have time to waste, take the LIRR and you will be in Midtown Manhattan in less than 30 minutes. Whether you are using aboveground or

underground trains, Jamaica Center has become the main connecting station for not only Queens natives but tourist alike.

Jamaica Station has received a lot of attention in that last few years. After the recent 3 billion dollar AirTrain system was completed, there had been a lot of changes in the downtown Jamaica area. The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has expressed their vision for this busy port. “This will be New York’s only mass transit-accessible “Airport Village,” and will include a hotel, offices, retail, a wholesale merchandise mart, and housing.”

I am doing my place story on Jamaica station, in Queens, NY. In my article, I want to hit 3 different points.

• How Jamaica Station serves commuters that live in and outside the area of Queens
• The history of the Station: When and why Jamaica station was built
• Now and Later: What’s taking place today and what is the plan for tomorrow

I chose Jamaica Station because it is the main station in my neighborhood. I have witnessed the changes of the area throughout the years; as well the new buildings and projects, like the AirTrain. I plan to use my own experience as a reference as well as quotes from family and neighbors who have lived in the neighborhood for over 10 years.

My Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/nyregion/jamaica-queens-is-reborn-with-airtrain-riders-help.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&NS=16&AID=9BAR002300&an=CNYB000020120726e87n0000j&cat=a&ep=ASI

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&NS=16&AID=9BAR002300&an=REWK000020120807e87400005&cat=a&ep=ASI

http://gjdc.org/

New York is a city of churches.  Sure, there are chapels like St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, who’s architecture and long history of faith make it renown, but in New York it goes beyond that.  In the financial district lies the New York Stock Exchange, the front adorned with Corinthian columns that hark back to the pagan temples of Ancient Greece.  Inside are men and women who have devout faith in a higher power – the stock market – making this building a church of capitalism.  Even the Empire State Building, with its antenna stretching toward the sky like a spire, is a church of industry, a testament to the will of the American industrialist.  But what about a church of the arts?

On the corner of 10^th Street and 2^nd Avenue lies the second oldest church in Manhattan.  St. Marks Church In-The-Bowery was originally a chapel built by Peter Stuyvesant in 1660, and is actually the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City.  Yet there is a quality other than the age of the building that makes it unique.  The church is a staple of the art scene, supporting art across all mediums.  It is home to the Poetry Project, holding readings and events every week.  The church also houses Danspace Project, a dance performance group, as well as Incubator Arts Project, a group that does live performances year round.  In an age where gentrification and big business is threatening the once thriving East Village art scene, St. Marks Church In-The-Bowery continues to provide a safe haven for poetry, dance, and theater as well as for the hundreds of artists and performers who work in those mediums.

Right in the middle of East Harlem, across the street from project housing, and inside a school that houses kids from Kindergarten to 12^th grade, it’s hard to notice any differences in the students who pour in every morning and leave every evening other than their age. The outside may look like any other school for the local community, but a small section inside tells a different story.

The East Harlem Scholars Academy is a charter school located on 106^th St. and Madison Avenue inside a larger school called the Jackie Robinson Educational Complex. You have to walk through several doors, encounter several students from other schools, and up 4 flights of stairs to get to it but the artwork in the staircase let you know you’re in the right place. The school first opened its doors to educate young children on August 29^th 2012 with Cheyenne E. Batista Sao Rogue serving as the Head of the Charter school. Although NYC residents can apply through the application process, children from the school district have a better chance of being accepted.

The East Harlem Scholars Academy serves grades K-1 as part of the beginning phase and is now expecting to expand its space within Jackie Robinson to serve grades K-12 starting August 2013. The sister school will be called The East Harlem Scholars Academy II. E.H.S.A needs about 3 million dollars annually to cover expenses which is a number expected to increase pending their expansion. Charter schools and Public schools are repeatedly compared in regards to performance. A comparison showed NYC Charter school children perform better in English and Math in terms of meeting the standard. However, who attends these schools varies. The East Harlem Scholars Academy is still very new without much statistical evidence on performance but their initiative is to provide a learning environment that helps them succeed in higher education, help develop leadership skills, and promote a fun but challenging learning environment.

Due to the Charter school being new and placed into a building that already has another school that serves the same grades, people of interest to interview would be parents and/or faculty from the separate schools. If possible, the Head of The Charter School, Cheyenne E. Batista Sao Rogue, can be interviewed to get her thoughts on the expansion of the school and the goal they hope to achieve.

Here are a few links to articles I found from my Factiva search: (not much has been written on the school)

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/aa/?ref=MRKWN00020110826e7930008c&pp=1&fcpil=en&napc=S&sa_from=

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/aa/?ref=TARGNS0020110605e75p001s1&pp=1&fcpil=en&napc=S&sa_from=

This is a sign indicating what SCHOLAR stands for

This is the artwork with the name of the school right before you enter the 4th floor

 

Here are a few children eagerly waiting for their parents to pick them up

Vignette: East Harlem Scholars Academy Information

The East Harlem Charter School is a brand new school that opened last August and has been around for less than a year. It is located in a community surrounded by several different types of institutions. There is an all girls school located an avenue away on Park Avenue, a private school across from that school, another public school 2 blocks up on Madison, another 2 blocks down the same avenue, and not to mention the school that houses it. There is a hearing on March 11^th for them to expand their school to more grades which might take over the place of one of the current schools inside the building, either Central Park East I or Central Park East II. Are more of these new Charter Schools going to move into these other buildings and phase out other schools? Charter school education is compared to Public school education often. This Charter is new and its “progress” over long periods of time can’t be compared so there is a small sample size. Many of the students who attend were selected through a lottery at random for an equal opportunity but kids within that school district have a better chance of being accepted. Each classroom is named after a “big time” college such as Syracuse and contains about 25  kids with 2 instructors.

by Alex Goetzfried

The Baker St. Pub is named after a road in England, and is also the address of Sherlock Holmes, but on the Upper Eastside of New York City it is the second home to many Irish immigrants.

Baker St. Pub on 1st Ave

The Pub was the location for the original scenes from the film Cocktail starring Tom Cruise, as well as the location of the original TGIFridays.  Now the pub is a place where Irish immigrants can go to see soccer and rugby games, and to chat about the old country.  It is ironic that a bar with an English address serves mostly Irish customers.

This is a true neighborhood bar, the bartenders know everyone’s name and there is a family atmosphere that most bars in a city as big as New York don’t have. The place is packed at random times like 10 on a Saturday morning because they get all of the major soccer and rugby games. With St. Patty’s day around the corner a feel good story about Irishmen and their sports bar is appropriate.  The history is interesting as well.  Tom Cruise has acted there and it was where TGIFridays took off, originally planning on opening a TGIMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. until realizing that Friday is what bar patrons are looking forward to. It is also located around the corner from Sloan Kettering and has a good number of nurses who go there, and they serve traditional Irish breakfasts as well.

The profile of Sherlock Holmes watches over Baker St.

I will interview the bartenders, managers, and patrons, who are Irish and a few patrons who are not but live in the neighborhood.  A few short articles have been written about this pub but nothing substantial the links are attached.

http://nyclovesnyc.blogspot.com/2011/03/baker-street-irish-pub-in-new-york-with.html

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/c/cocktail.html

http://nymag.com/listings/bar/baker-street-pub/

A colossal fireplace sends sparks through its mouth. Cheerful children gather around it in a dim lobby. Behind them, a heavy oak-wood door and a small staircase let in the light and sound of a busy Murray Hill. Secrets are reveled to the curious visitors who dare to enter.

Tucked between high-rises on a busy Murray Hill block stands this opaque architectural pearl, with a blue-black-white flag flying on its façade, exposing its pride and revealing its foreign nature.

A Stars and Stripes next to it reminds us that were are still in America.

East 34th Street is the center of a bustling Midtown district – Murray Hill, also known as Kips Bay towards the East River. Modern condominium building have lately sprung up like mushrooms between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, in a stretch that once used to be filled with single-family houses. Most of them are gone now.

This five-story house at 243 E. 34^th Street that was built in 1898 comes from a different era but mysteriously still stands. Since 1946 it has belonged to the Estonian community and is called the Estonian House serving as a cultural center for thousands of Estonians and their friends.

1. Old-timers’ memories. Professor Mardi Valgemae, a Lehman College professor.

2. Many events that have taken place there: Latvian folk dancers practice there who I’ll interview.

3. Interview with the house’s manager Katrin Albaz on a recent renovation.

4. Exchange thoughts with Urve Ruut, a long-time bartender, about her experience and the meaning of the house when she first came from the Soviet Estonia in 1990s and the meaning for her now – being the soul of the house. She relieves the thirsty ones and extends an ear for those in need to talk.

5. Interview Ambassador Margus Kolga who has hosted receptions for the diplomatic corps.

6. I know lots of people who visit the bar often, even decades, and who like to be  interviewed

Factiva and NY Times links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/dining/15blood.html?_r=0

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

http://global.factiva.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/ha/default.aspx

Place Story Proposal

Few people know about the International Youth Fellowship center, which is primarily a small church located one block away from Baruch College. Recently, this Christian-based non-profit organization decided to expand its volunteering work among CUNY campuses. After submitting all the paperwork to create the IYF club at Baruch, they still need the Bearcat students to join the club and participate in changing the global community by teaching English in Mexico and Haiti. IYF strives to advance Christian mission work in developed and developing countries, administer alternative methods of post-secondary education and to facilitate short-term and long-term volunteerism domestically and overseas. And all of this is happening in a small two-room apartment, on third floor on Lexington avenue. The tiny church consists of a small number of pastors and about 40 volunteers from Korea who worship every Sunday in a small room filled with guests. The volunteers live there from Monday to Saturday, eat there and educate themselves in this place. This story is important because the IYF organization is willing to promote goodwill and send college students abroad to volunteer and provide them with many workshops that teach how to become a leader. But since no one is aware of this organization, its work and its kind-hearted people, it seems like the IYF club at Baruch college is going to remain half empty without students getting all of the possible opportunities that IYF wants to provide. I also think that it’s going to be an interesting place story, because this small place is unique in its atmosphere and people. This place is a home for many young people who dedicated themselves to spread the goodwill. It’s a place where people of all ages come to become better.

All my research is based on interviews with the volunteers and workers at IYF. I haven’t found anything on Factiva, but for the article I will ask IYF if they have any press clips about their organization.

Sources:

Ayleen Mota – [email protected], 1917-288-0547

Mykee Baluyut – mykee.iyf @gmail.com

Maria Parra- [email protected], 1718-607-0454

Vignette:

As I have mentioned before, the IYF and its church are located a block away from Baruch, it’s on the third floor, it has two rooms, one big one – with the cross in the middle for the worships on Sundays, and the smaller room is for the workers and the volunteers who live there. It’s packed with office necessities, as projectors, books, notebooks, chairs and tables. On the photos the room has been already cleaned for the next day and all the furniture was gone. When I came for the interviews, there were a few people, mostly young volunteers, who were waiting for their supervisors to come from a new location that is supposed to open soon, because of the excessive amount of volunteers who from South Korea. The room appears to be empty because the interview was conducted in the evening.