24 The Queens Courier • OCTOBER 17, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Photo Courtesy Councilmember Daniel Dromm Councilmember Daniel Dromm allocated $7,000 for Community Board 3 to replace rundown wooden benches along Northern Boulevard with 13 new metal benches. Take a seat along Northern Blvd. BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] Residents and visitors walking along Northern Boulevard now have 13 new spots to take a break. Councilmember Daniel Dromm announced he had allocated $7,000 for Community Board 3 (CB3) to remove broken-down wooden benches down Northern Boulevard and replace them with 13 new metal benches as part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) CityBench program. The new Jackson Heights benches are located along Northern Boulevard between 80th and 90th Street. “The benches were originally installed in the 1980s at the request of the now defunct Northern Boulevard Merchants Association,” said Giovanna Reid, CB3 district manager. “We decided to replace the benches because they were in severe disrepair and potential hazards. With the installation of the new CityBench, the appearance of Northern Boulevard has significantly improved.” With the goal to make it easier to walk through the city for people of all ages, in 2011 the DOT launched CityBench, a three year program that would install 1,000 benches throughout the five boroughs. In the past two years, CityBench has installed more than 700 benches. “CityBench is a pedestrian friendly, community driven program which is helping make Jackson Heights and neighborhoods throughout Queens more livable and walkable,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik- Khan. Artists file suit to keep 5Pointz BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] The fight is not over for 5Pointz. Jonathan Cohen, curator at 5Pointz for the past 11 years, and a group of 16 other aerosol artists announced they are filing a lawsuit in an effort to stop the demolition of the graffiti mecca. The announcement came a day after the City Council voted on October 9 to approve the land use application that would allow the Wolkoff family, owners of the property on Jackson Avenue and Davis Street, and developer G&M Realty to build apartment towers to larger dimensions than allowed by current zoning rules. One tower would reach 47 stories and the other 41 stories, with close to 1,000 rental apartments, 32,000 square feet of outdoor public space and 50,000 square feet of retail space between them. Developers agreed with the City Council to build and staff the two buildings with 100 percent union workers, bringing more than 1,000 jobs to Long Island City, and also increase the number of affordable housing units from 75 to 210. Yet the federal lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, claims the destruction of 5Pointz, which is home to over 350 works of unique aerosol art, would result in a violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, which gives visual artists limited moral rights and copyright law. “It’s about respecting and preserving artists’ rights, integrity and reputation,” said Jeannine Chanes, a lawyer for the artists. ‘BANKSY’ WORK GRAFFITIED BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] A “residency on the streets of New York” would not be complete without Queens for one artist. Since the start of the month, the mysterious, ghost-like and notorious British graffiti artist only known as “Banksy” has hit the streets to tag his way around the Big Apple. In a unique show titled “Better Out Than In,” Banksy has been going around each day and leaving his stenciled pieces for people to find. Each day the official website for Banksy, www.banksyny.com, gets updated with images of the new stencils. After hitting Manhattan and Brooklyn, Banksy made his way to Queens on Monday, October 14 and wrote the quote, “What we do in life echoes in Eternity” from the movie “Gladiator” and stenciled a man trying to wipe off the words on a wall at 69th Street and 38th Avenue in Woodside. Even with all the admirers, on Monday night the Woodside piece met the same fate as other New York Banksy pieces, with a different graffiti artist painting over the work. Photo Courtesy Eric Benaim According to the complaint, in or around 2002, Cohen and Gerald Wolkoff agreed that the trained artist would take over as the volunteer curator of the aerosol art program at 5Pointz. Cohen was given full authority to control what works could be painted on the building, making sure none were political, religious or contained pornography. “Plaintiffs’ honor and reputation as artists will be damaged if defendants act on their stated intentions to raze 5Pointz,” says the complaint. “Plaintiffs’ works of visual art have been incorporated in and made part of 5Pointz in such a way that removing the works of visual art, or any part thereof, from 5Pointz would cause their destruction, distortion, mutilation or modification.” Chanes said the group hopes the lawsuit will prevent the demolition of the building and through fundraising they hope to raise the money to purchase the property and preserve and improve it to keep it as a part of the community. “Over the last two decades, 5Pointz has become a Long Island City landmark, and has been feature in countless films, television programs, music videos and commercial photo shoots,” says the complaint. Although the artists have until December 1 to leave the property, Marie Cecile Flageul, a 5Pointz spokesperson, previously told The Courier business will continue as usual with artists from around the world currently putting up their work and more making the trip to the borough. A hearing is scheduled in Brooklyn Federal court on Thursday. G&M Realty and the Wolkoffs did not respond for comment as of press time. BEFORE Photos Courtesy Senator Jose Peralta’s office AFTER STRIP CLUB BILLBOARD TAKEN DOWN On the heels of community complaints, a billboard promoting a local strip club has come down. The billboard sat above the New Hope Baptist Church at 105-13 Northern Boulevard. “Common sense and decency have prevailed,” said State Senator Jose Peralta, who had called for the ad to be removed. “Like everyone else that I spoke to who had seen the billboard, I thought that the female pictured looked far too young to be featured in an ad for a strip club. It was a jarring image that was offensive and sickening. That it sat above a church was an especially twisted mockery.”
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