This Weekend, the Times Took on Queens

This past weekend the New York Times published two, yes two! features on Queens. The first, “The King Can No Longer Afford Queens,” is about Queens the brand and the rising prices in the borough. The Times looks at Queens’ transition for being the “image of white, urban American working-class life” — brought on by shows like All in the Family and King of Queens — into a “taller and skinnier and cosmetically rearranged” borough. Units at luxury developments like Five 27 (pictured above) and The View are asking several million bucks, attracting buyers and investors from around the world and affluent suburbs. The first quarter report of 2014 showed dramatically rising sales prices, a chic children’s boutique opened in LIC, etc. As far as Queens trend pieces go, this one feels very simplistic, only concerned with the luxury market in Long Island City. We love Queens because it’s a huge, diverse borough — you sure wouldn’t know it from the article.

Secondly, the Times published “In Queens, Chickens Clash With the Rules,” an article about a family keeping chickens in Forest Hills Gardens. Strict neighborhood regulations ban backyard chickens, with the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation citing the nuisances section of its century-old homeowners’ covenant. The chicken/home owner Sylvia Saye thinks the covenant restrictions are antiquated and plans to keep the coop, telling the Times that there have been no resident complaints about “odor, noise or unsightliness.” Here’s what Mitchell Cohen, president of the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, had to say: “[The covenant] is what has kept the Forest Hills Gardens the oasis it is today. I’m sorry Mrs. Saye is upset by our letter, but to keep the Forest Hills Gardens the community it is, everyone must look beyond themselves and follow the rules we all agreed to follow.”

The King Can No Longer Afford Queens [NY Times]
In Queens, Chickens Clash With the Rules [NY Times]