Photo of the Day

Setting up for last Thursday's
'Edible Garden' event at NYBG~Photo by ErLu

Listing of the Day: Parkchetser 2 Bedroom

7 Metropolitan Oval, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom - $179,000

This is a two bedroom unit right at the famed Oval, which is the heart of the Parkchester community. Parkchester is often called a city within a city, and this is an apartment within that city within a city - got that straight? Well, in any case, what was once a hidden secret is starting to be discovered and gobbled up.

This apartment looks like is really has the pride of ownership stamped on it. The pics seem to indicate a well loved and maintained unit. The listing boasts of the bubble era necessities of granite and stainless steel. No mentionof the common fees associated with this condo.

Parkchester has tons of shopping, chief of which are its own Macy's and a Starbucks. There is also a decent amount of public space to hang at, including the ovals of the complex proper and a few fountains. And who doesn't like fountains? Should we also mention that Parkchester is going to have Verizon FiOs soon too? Well, it will.

Parkchester was built under the same idea as Stuy-Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan, and has the same self-sufficient aura. Parkchester is a safe and family friendly hood with decent transportation via the 6 train and bus service. So if you're looking to own an apartment and have enough money to go out, or just need a place you with enough space that you can actually afford without roommates or a large inheritance or parental subsidy, check out this apartment and nabe.

"Living In" Parkchester [NY Times Article]

Parkchester Community Website

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Photo of the Day

Crazy Tree - City Island AvenuePhoto by ErLu

Ch. 13 Streaming North Brother Island Web Episode

Good news for web addicts like ourselves, or people who have thrown their televisions out the window because they are sick of the excessive Michael Jackson coverage: Channel 13 is now offering a bulk of their programming online for free.

The newly updated thirteen.org/video will stream many national programs, as well as original online content created to cater to hyper-local New York audiences.

A new "City Revealed" episode which premiered online this week takes viewers to North Brother Island, which used to be a quarantine hospital and is now a protected heron habitat. It's a really fascinating behind the scenes look at how this bird breeding environment is researched and protected.

So if you can tear yourselves away from the train wreck that is "So You Think You Can Dance" long enough, we suggest you check out Thirteen's new online offerings by clicking here, or checking out the Brother Island episode below.

The City Concealed: North Brother Island Bird Sanctuary from Thirteen.org on Vimeo.

~ErLu

This Sickens Me

The stalemate in Albany is over with Pedro Espada, Jr. coming back to the warm embrace of the Democratic conference with a new snazzy extorted title: Majority Leader.

So it looks like the State Senate spent a month wasting taxpayer money and neglecting important legislation so that Mr. Espada could aggrandize himself and accumulate titles. I am ashamed of the Democratic conference for accepting Mr. Espada back and giving into his demands that he be given a completely unearned title and leadership role in the Senate.

The deal has Espada as Majority Leader, Malcolm Smith as Senate President, and John Sampson as the leader of the Democratic caucus. Sounds like a whole lot of chiefs and not a lot of Indians to me...What happens the first time the Democrats block some questionable member items for which Mr. Espada asks? Will he bolt back to his man-crush, Dean Skelos?

Hopefully Mr. Espada will succumb to one of the several investigations currently targeting him and we can be done with him for good. If not, we in the 33rd district must not let this scoundrel be re-elected in 2010.

At least Mr. Espada can get back to work now and maybe open a district office or come hang out in his "primary residence" and invite ErLu over for breakfast.

I also hope that Dean Skelos is canned by the good people of Rockville Center for playing footsie with such an untrustworthy, deceitful, and downright unethical clown.

Here's some real journalism about the Democrats being bent over a barrel and the Republicans being stabbed in the back by a guy whose back stabbing skills they helped hone:

Standoff Ends as Defector Rejoins Albany Democrats [NY TIMES]

Turncoat Pol to Return to Dems [NY DAILY NEWS]

~ErLu

Silver Lining for the BoogieDown? [Update x2]

The Daily News has a brief article based on a real estate report produced by the Real Estate Board of New York. Update: the Daily News linkage is acting really weird and sending us to a different article, but under the same URL. When I figure out what's going on I'll fix it...Update2: The Daily News thing is still not working, but here is a link to the Press Release from REBNY's report.

Needless to say, the whole thing is a big shit show, but there was some good news buried in the stats:

1) The Bronx was the least bad of all the boroughs in terms of overall price decrease for all residential dwellings (condos, co-ops, and 1-3 family houses). Our beloved borough saw only a 9% decrease, while Manhattan saw a 22% decrease.

2) Apartment prices actually increased by 12% in the Bronx, which was the only borough to see increases.

Any theories out there to explain this? Less of an unrealistic mark up here? First time home buyers still priced out of inflated Brooklyn and Manhattan? The smaller they are the softer they fall?

But besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

~ErLu

Bentley Pics

A BoogieDowner reader sent these photos of the Bentley and its surrounding area for your perusal. Thanks, Lora!