14 The Courier sun • AUGUST 28, 2014 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com Demolition begins at 5Pointz NY Hall of Science challenges people to reinvent breakfast BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ @ericjankiewicz ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com Forget about the breakfast of champions. The New York Hall of Science is holding a contest to reinvent breakfast using science. The science and technology museum is calling the contest the Design Lab Challenge and they are asking people to take the first meal of the day and change it in some way. “Imagine a tool, design, gadget or idea that will elevate your breakfast experience,” the institution’s website instructs. “A fix for soggy cereal or burnt toast? Something to make breakfast more fun? You don’t need a lab or a celebrity chef — just use materials you have at home, at work or in school.” The idea for the challenge came from the museum’s new installment, Design Lab, which is built on the general notion of using resourcefulness and ingenuity to find solutions for basic engineering and design problems, according to the museum’s announcement. The breakfast challenge tacks the notion onto food. The Design Lab Challenge is open to anyone older than 13. To enter, participants must create a video or take a photo that shows off their idea for “the best breakfast ever.” And then the idea, or even working prototype, can be uploaded to the contest webpage at challenge. nysci.org or posted on Twitter or Instagram using #breakfastchallenge. Entries must be submitted by Sept. 1. THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Jankiewicz Three eggs, a frying pan and olive oil. Think of all the scientific possibilities. BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO AND LIAM LA GUERRE editorial@queenscourier.com The walls have started to come down at the Long Island City site that was once home to the graffiti mecca known as 5Pointz. Demolition began Aug. 22 at the property on Jackson Avenue and Davis Street as crews teared down the back wall with bulldozers. Last month, Jerry Wolkoff, owner of the property, said he hoped to begin demolishing the buildings in August after initially looking to tear down the site months ago. The demolition is expected to take up to three months to finish. Wolkoff and his company, G&M Realty, plan to build two apartment towers — one 47 stories and the other 41 stories tall — 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. In October, the City Council approved the developer’s proposal to build apartment towers to larger dimensions than allowed by current zoning rules. Wolkoff ordered to have the building and all the aerosol work that covered it painted white overnight last November, only a few days after artists and supporters held rallies looking to save the graffiti mecca and requested the site be landmarked. Then earlier this month, Wolkoff released a rendering of a reserved space for graffiti that will be on the new building’s exterior near a rear courtyard, and will be open to the public. However, some artists and 5Pointz supporters are skeptical of the reserved space. “Who knows what kind of artists it’s going to attract, what’s it’s going to be like and how are they going to manage that,” said Carolina Peñafiel, founder and director of Local Project, a nonprofit arts organization that used to be housed in 5Pointz. Peñafiel stopped by the former graffiti mecca to watch the early demolition and reflect on it. “It’s sad to see that nobody was able to do anything,” she said. “It wasn’t just a building. It was 5Pointz, you know? I don’t think you could build something like this again.” THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre
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