It appears that St Saviours church may be saved from the wrecking ball and moved to All Faith's Cemetery in Middle Village. The owner of the property has graciously agreed to give preservationists time to raise money to save the church building from demolition. The cost of moving the church could cost approximately a half million dollars so the public is being asked to donate money. If you are interested in donating money you should mail your checks to:
Newtown Historical Society
P.O. Box 790275
Middle Village, NY 11379
It is wonderful that the church is being saved but what happened to fighting overdevelopment and obtaining the much needed green space for Maspeth residents? Didn't the JPCA argue that the St. Saviour's site contained historical artifacts and possibly Indian burials? Didn't Robert Holden spew vitriolic rhetoric how it was imperative that the church and property needed to be preserved together to protect their historical significance? Didn't rally after rally after rally call for the creation of a museum, community center and park for the residents of Maspeth?
"I said look, all we want is the church, if you could just give us the church, donate the church to us, we'll get it off the property," said Robert Holden of the Juniper Park Civic Association.
The Patriots commend the developers for their Holden "appeasement scheme" and finally realizing that if you stroke his ego he will go away. Not surprisingly, this "appeasement scheme" has worked in the past for 7/11, Arby's and Wallgreens. All three of these establishments were protested until they paid off the JPCA antagonists. The payoffs were disguised as public donations to the Juniper Park Civic Association and Midville Dodgers or as advertising dollars in the Juniper Berry and Forum West. Holden and his cronies have their price and will sell out the community for their own gains or personal edification.
Unfortunately for the residents of Maspeth, Robert Holden, Tony Avella, Tony Nunziato and Christina Wilkinson have exchanged the hopes and dreams of Maspeth residents for the preservation of a wooden church. Robert Holden and his misfits are adding insult to injury by moving the church to Middle Village and clear the Maspeth property for industrial or residential development.
Don't be fooled our friends, this is not a win for Maspeth. This a major defeat for the people who live around the St Saviours site. Robert Holden never cared about the residents of Maspeth because Holden only cares about Robert Holden.
17 comments:
I agree. What good is saving the church by moving it to Middle Village when the original fight was to preserve the residential and tranquil integrity of that part of Maspeth?
I was duped! Bob and Tony told me that they would fight for green space in Maspeth. They never said that they would settle for moving the church to Middle Village so developers could build what they want on the site!
Paul Ditta
Holden has once again used "smoke and mirrors" to sell the community a win. The church of St Saviours will stand in Middle Village for all to see and an obtrusive development will replace its original home in Maspeth. Thank you Bob Holden.
I feel sorry for the home owners who live around the site. They were misled by the JPCA and Bob Holden. Not only did they lose the church, they lost the entire property to the developer
Interlopers come in all sizes, shapes and forms. They see an opportunity for personal gain and they seize the chance. As did the carpetbaggers and skalawags, Holden and the JPCA used Maspeth for their own personal gain.
Can you belive that Queens Borough President Helen Marshall is giving 100k to the restoration project. Doesn't she remember that the Queens Crap and Robert Holden reffered to her as a "house n****r"? Doesnn't she remeber that protesters displayed a poster depicting a noose? If Helen Marshall was a jew and Hoilden allowed the swastika displayed on the poster, would she give 100K?
I can't believe that their can be negative comments regarding the preservation of what should be a landmark. This was a good hard fought battle against politicians and developers. Can't you give credit where credit is due. This is a house of worship for god sakes. At least the church was saved and will be preserved. Isn't that a good thing?
How is this result better than keeping the church on the site and building some houses around it? These JPCA "leaders" are such hypocrites. And now taxpayer money may be used to move this building? Disgraceful. Also, the initial plan is to move it a few blocks to a Maspeth industrial site until more money is raised to move it to the cemetary. I wonder if they will be able to raise the money in time.
The options were bulldoze the whole church and surrounding area to build whatever the developer wants OR actually save the landmark and preserve the church by moving it.... Hmmmmmmm
So should we destroy the landmark or find a way to keep it?
Sounds like the efforts should be commended instead of slammed.
Volunteers saved the church... why is this a bad thing? What were any of you nay-sayers doing to help?
Just playing devils advocate here...
Actually wasn't one of the original proposals to keep the church & a small parcel of land while some type of housing structures were built around it?
I thought that was a brilliant solution. Why wasn't that done?
You conveniently left out the other available option - agree with the developer to leave the church where it was and build houses next to it. But under this option, the community rabble rousers couldn't have made a scene and gotten their names in the papers as much.
I've got absolutely no rooting interest in either camp. So please hear out my unbiased (though unsolicited) opinion;
The housing is going up anyway. From a historical perspective it would have made more sense to have kept the church at it's original site. Now housing, or something even less attractive (commercial) is still being built and though the church is likely saved (definetly a score) the fact that $100,000 of taxpayer money is being used to help dismantle the structure does not sit well with me. I do not see this a total defeat for JPCA as they did save the church (and kudos for that) but I in no way consider this a victory for them. In fact, it seems they let they're collective ego's supercede the better alternative. Just my two cents.
So why didn't anyone ELSE try to negotiate if you're not happy the way THIS group of volunteers handled it? I didn't see anyone else stepping up to the plate for this issue. Why didn't any government officials fight to keep this property?
And if all of you felt so strongly about what Holden asked for in the beginning why weren't you trying to make a difference in the issue? We're you at his "rallies" or writing to government officials to support what YOU wanted for this space? Or were you just bashing people on this blog?
Obviously the developer came to the final decision to bulldoze it all, and as the headline of this post states the Church was saved. When negotiating, you cannot always get EVERYTHING you want. Sometimes you have to settle and look at what can be salvaged in the deal.
Does anyone know of any level-headed non-biased community sites that I can view regarding this issue? Or any other community issue for that matter...
This matter WAS being handled properly and most people were happy with the negotiated compromise between the developer and the City Councilman (Gallagher) to keep the church and build houses around it. No one showed up at the rallies because most people saw the JPCA loudmouths as making a mess of the whole situation.
Why would you think this result is a success? Taxpayer money is going to be used for a dismantled church to sit in a factory parking lot in Maspeth for who knows how long, and the residents who live by this site will likely have a big ugly industrial building there soon.
Wow this argument makes a lot of sense. The developer said the decline in the housing market caused him to withdraw his rezoning application. He is selling the property and has to deliver the site vacant to the next buyer. You know, he could have allowed the zoning change to go through and then sell the site with the residential housing plan in place for the next guy, but he chose not to do that. The choice was to remove the church or to demolish it. Kudos to the JPCA for stepping in to preserve it. And if you are so upset that your tax dollars are being spent on this project, why don't you write letters to Serf, Andy and Helen and tell them so? In fact, I am looking forward to the organized protest at the site when they start taking the church apart. It's quite obvious that the hyperlinked names on this site all belong to one miserable person.
The most miserable person I know is that disgusting heffer Christina Wilkinson. A nasty, bitter rotund little creep.
"A nasty, bitter rotund little creep."
Sounds like you're confusing her with Dennis Gallagher, the granny molester who's losing his job next week.
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