50 Things to Do in Queens

Okay, so in this week's New York magazine there's a bit called "50 Things to Do in Queens (Before it Gentrifies)". Now ordinarily I'd be excited that Queens was finally getting some play and positive attention from NYC as a whole, and while the list is pretty cool, it bothered me for two reasons. 1) I resent the implication that Queens is in need of gentrification. Dictionary.com defines gentrification as: The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people. See what I mean? What are they trying to say? That there are currently no middle-class and/or affluent people currently residing in Queens? And 2) Queens is going to become trendy? Like Wiliamsburg? Oh Jesus.

Thinking of scads of people moving into Queens and erecting Starbucks all over the place is quite scary. What I like about Queens - at least the parts I live in is that it can feel small townish, Main Street USA when you want it to. And when you want Starbucks and trends - you go to the city.

If you are interested you can find the list at:

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/realestate/neighborhoods/features/12195/

Props to my neighborhood can be found in the mentions of Maspeth "Lose yourself in a Normal Rockwell painting" and Juniper Valley Park. Hopefully once everybody reads and recycles this issue of New York magazine everyone will forget all about Queens again and we can go back to living our happy uninterrupted airplane roaring cemetery lives.