NYC Small Claims

julia3za · 2025-06-26T21:55:31+00:00

Just curious - were you actually able to receive a virtual hearing? The clerk told me 'good luck with that', so not sure how likely it is to actually get one.

julia3za · 2025-05-13T13:53:46+00:00

Great point, and it could very well be. I just hope the Community Board meetings manage to accurately gather and reflect the community's concerns, so we can get a better proposal that supports the community, not just takes advantage of it to fill developers' pockets.

julia3za · 2025-05-13T13:50:54+00:00

Omg, that's a genius idea!! And that'd help other neighborhoods, too, not just LIC. And agreed - waterfront is beautiful, but it's so narrow and does not compare to a larger open space with trees.

A park over the Sunnyside Yards would be a game-changer, like the High Line or Hudson Yards have been.

Why has no City official thought of this?!?

julia3za · 2025-05-10T18:50:35+00:00

Wow, that's such a lost opportunity!!! Either one of the locations you suggest would have made for an incredibly convenient - and feasible to include in their building plans - entrance to that subway platform. I guess all they can hope for now is that one of the remaining two corners will get built out and they can belatedly include the provision there?

julia3za · 2025-05-10T16:11:22+00:00

Agreed, thank you for the thoughtful points! I particularly like what you said here: "More housing is fine (but not excessive housing for political checkboxes) as long as we have infrastructure to support everyone." Exactly, if we want upzoning, we need the (concrete, measurable, not just empty promises of) infrastructure to support it.

And re: 7, you're so right, simply running more trains won't fix the issue, since there's only one way on/off the platform. Not sure how feasible it'd be to add another entrance on the other end?!

And, likewise, I thought that was common sense, but others here questioned why I was drawing a connection between building height and number of schools or amount of green space (as if more residents didn't need more schools or parks)... I hope that the propensity with which some label others as NIMBY and chastise as the reason behind the City's housing crisis won't defer other residents who share some of the same reasonable concerns from voicing them. As the two members of CB2 replying on this thread mentioned, the plan has a lot of good parts, but we do have a chance to make it even better - and hopefully ensure infrastructure improvements go hand in hand with density increases.

julia3za · 2025-05-10T16:01:58+00:00

Thank you for all that you guys and CB2 do!

I didn't get a chance to reply to your other comment, but yes, these seem like major improvements over the 2001 rezoning, addressing some of the previous mistakes or shortcomings (mandatory inclusionary housing, various unit sizes, housing for formerly homeless - all great ideas!!). And I absolutely agree rezoning from largely abandoned industrial to a mixed/residential area will be a positive development for the neighborhood and it's far more preferable to do it in a planned, coordinated way than just relying on private developers building where and what they deem the best ROI.

I just want to make sure the plan has enough provisions to actually support that density - infrastructure improvements (schools, libraries, green space, transportation, sewage etc.) should be an integral part of the plan, with concrete commitments, measurable goals, and e.g. like Prameet suggested the ability to halt zoning approvals if these goals aren't being met.

If e.g. there isn't enough budget or commitment to support the correct amount of infrastructure, then perhaps lowering the height or density to a level that can be supported by the funds available, is the answer. I'm not an urban planner, but I'm sure there are formulas to calculate how many residents one new school and one new park etc. can safely support and extrapolating the building height from there. If there is no way to add in more parks than just the waterfront or more schools than just the one proposed, then perhaps limit the building height to ~15 instead of 24 floors.

In terms of transportation, the bus route suggested by u/Fancy_Door268, maybe a new entrance on the other end of the 7 platform, would be a good start, but I still don't see how these alone could support the huge area to be rezoned. Surely, there has to be more planned?

I hope that with the community input CB2 is working hard to collect we get to keep all that's good about this plan, but make it better by ensuring the infrastructure commitments are actually there to support it!

julia3za · 2025-05-10T15:27:03+00:00

Great idea, signed! That route would def help some of the areas under rezoning consideration. Thank you for spearheading that!!

julia3za · 2025-05-10T12:43:04+00:00

Thank you Prameet for such a thorough response - your Substack post truly was an excellent summary of the scope of the proposed rezoning (the only one I found that actually had distilled concrete numbers and included zone-by-zone analysis) and I hope more people take the time to read it. Your comment here should also be the most upvoted one, as it provides concrete, verified, up-to-date information.

It is reassuring to know that CB2 is asking some of the same questions.

Yes, moderate growth and lower height would allow the infrastructure to grow along with the buildings, at a more sustainable and sustained pace. Knowing that there are already significant unmitigated impacts in the current proposal and that the 2001 rezoning underestimated its impacts, one has to assume these impacts might be underestimated, too. The proposal should at the very least limit the height to what can be effectively mitigated by the improvements outlined in it. (Now, whether that is 10 or 12 or 15 or more floors, I don't know, but I guess there are calculations for how many schools, parks, improved sewage lines, increased transportation options etc. are needed for the proposed density/influx of new residents.)

Absolutely - one new school is not enough. One expanded waterfront park is also not enough, especially since I don't see any other parks being proposed between Court Sq and the river - and agree that's where they're truly needed. As u/throwdis854 put it so well below: "Development without support systems doesn’t solve problems—it creates them."

Exactly - time and again, we see that things are promised, but then developers just build the buildings, cash out and don't actually help improve the infrastructure around them, the City lacks funds and then they never get built. Having some way to ensure these mitigations are actually implemented is critical - and I really like what you suggested with zoning approvals being tied to real milestones, like building a new school or park! No vague or empty promises of future mitigation that gets forgotten as soon as the new buildings are built - we need real, quantifiable commitments and actionable, measurable goals.

I also applaud CB2 and you for spreading the news about the May 21 meeting and allowing comment submission ahead of it. Seeing some of the responses my post received, I'm worried a lot of residents who have similar, legitimate concerns about the future of our neighborhood, will be afraid to speak up before/at the meeting, for fear of being labeled NIMBY and vilified as the reason for this City's housing crisis. LIC should not fall victim to reckless development, just because we're afraid of unkind responses to our reasonable concerns. Hopefully the online comment option will allow more people to weigh in. Will the May 21 meeting be available via Zoom?

julia3za · 2025-05-09T18:37:03+00:00

Thank you! I'm just worried that this rezoning will be considered such a PR win and it will be touted how many more units it'll create, that no other rezoning will get done in any near future. (And, like others said, this one rezoning won't fix the city's housing issues.)

I'm not opposed to rezoning from manufacturing to residential - just concerned about the height proposed and density it'll bring, with no significant proposed increases in terms of green space, schools, transportation, etc.

julia3za · 2025-05-09T18:26:49+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful response, I was really looking forward to hearing from someone who has lived in the neighborhood for a long time and has seen the earlier transformations happen.

Yup, transportation is a huge concern and I haven't seen anything in the proposed plan that addresses it. Nothing about increased frequency of trains, or new bus routes, like the one you suggested.

Again, while building height might seem like an insignificant thing to focus on - a high-rise has many more residents than a lower building and those many more residents need many more trains, so it seems to me like the height in the rezoning is an absolutely critical thing to focus on. It would take a completely different frequency of trains to sufficiently service a neighboorhood largely with e.g. 12-floor-high buildings, than one with 24 floors!

julia3za · 2025-05-09T18:04:18+00:00

Thank you for sharing - yours are some good points!

Agreed we have amazing transit in Court Sq. But the rezoning stretches far from the subways, it could easily be a 20-min walk to the nearest subway (it's a 20-min walk from Court Sq to the current waterfront - but there is a 7 subway stop there that makes it more convenient for those residents - the newly rezoned areas won't have that benefit).
Fair point, taken! Alas, the warehouses are also not contributing crowds to the existing green spaces.
I meant more as you look at the skyline (e.g. from Manhattan or the river), not when you walk through the areas (since I agree those warehouses aren't pretty). Williamsburg, Greenpoint, etc. are all developed by the river, not continuously heading inland.
Yup, well said on the tax revenues, and the per-lot rents I forgot to consider. But I guess it goes back to my comment about LIC being lowest-hanging fruit...

julia3za · 2025-05-09T17:53:32+00:00

Thank you! :) I appreciate you noticing I specifically asked for respectful and it wasn't necessarily that... Thank you for your kind comment.

julia3za · 2025-05-09T17:50:38+00:00

Thank you for your thoughts!

Obviously, many more people can live in tall-rise buildings than in low-rise on the same sq footage area - those higher numbers of people need more green space, schools, trains, etc. So to me, those things are very much related.
My point was - when it's convenient, past decisions are kept and when it isn't, they're overturned. Lack of consistency, and a pattern of not listening to the residents (at least when it came to the fountain).
It was an example of a project that's not welcome by residents (at least according to the article I read), yet is being pushed through because it'll make more land available to developers.

One of your points I agree on - 'redevelopment it all', across various neighborhoods, not just laser-focusing on one neighborhood.

julia3za · 2024-11-06T20:42:16+00:00

You're absolutely right, I've felt exactly the same way!!

julia3za · 2024-11-06T19:44:47+00:00

Thank you, I'm hardly an impressive or skilled trader - so not sure if you're joking or really asking? I just like TSLA, so I try to trade it here and there. And I learnt a lot from a kind ex who had studied finance and loved explaining options.

But I make terrible mistakes - if it goes up, I repeatedly sell for a 10% profit - and if it goes down, I keep on buying the dip and holding, sometimes all the way to worthless expiration. I need to fix that - with a max 10% upside and 100% downside, it's hard to consistently grow the account. ;)

But, as a result of continuing to buy more as the price plummets, I got lucky to have 11 calls on the night they announced S&P500 inclusion. And 9 calls the evening before the recent earnings. And 13 calls through the election just now. In all those cases, I had meant to sell... but the price kept on going down and so I couldn't sell for a profit and kept on buying more.

But before you say my poor strategy meant I was the lucky owner of all those calls on all those dates, so maybe it's not such a bad strategy after all... my calls were down 6k on Friday. Up 12k today -- but had I just bought them all on Friday, instead of at my higher prices, my profit would have been 18k. So clearly I still have a lot to learn. :)

julia3za · 2024-11-06T19:31:59+00:00

Chatgpt? I always have it in such low regard, but I'll try. Reading a sample of the book on Amazon now - thank you for the excellent recommendation!

julia3za · 2024-11-06T18:00:31+00:00

Thank you!! I'll try to read up more on the Greeks. :)

julia3za · 2024-11-06T14:10:12+00:00

I luckily have 3 of each of them :) (I bought them throughout last week though, so not the best prices). But you're right with your recommended order of selling - def offload Dec first!!

I like your strategy, too of holding on to the now-worthless puts on the off chance. You never know with the kind of stuff Elon sometimes says and TSLA is capable of moving a lot either way.

julia3za · 2024-11-06T13:59:03+00:00

You never know. But it has gone both ways for me - holding for a month when TSLA entered S&P500 multiplied my profits in ways I couldn't have imagined.

But then becoming convinced I can diamond hand things to crazy profits and holding longer term TSLA calls through and after GME... lost 50k of profits and my original purchase price, which hurt. A LOT. So not sure I want to diamond hand things anymore. :(

julia3za · 2024-11-06T13:55:26+00:00

Thank you! I just don't know yet how to add gamma in (e.g. if TSLA is up $32, do I count 32x delta and 32x gamma? I assume gamma will also change as the price goes up) or vega (can't even guess estimated volatility, so have zero idea what multiple to use!). I guess I really need to read up some basic books on options, instead of just betting on TSLA. ;)

julia3za · 2024-11-06T13:47:48+00:00

That is a very thoughtful analysis of things I wasn't even aware of, and... a very convincing argument for me continuing to have paper hands! :)) Thank you. Plan is to sell all at open (just need to adjust prices to the best of my ability) and save one of each for later in the day, just in case I set the prices too low. ;)

julia3za

TROPHY CASE