#developments in blog

[whatupatlefrak]

Opinion: Why are Lefrak City crime so unreported?

This question came up into this writer's mind while writing about the aforementioned murder case of Andrew Ramirez. However, it really became present reading through the story of Timothy Greene and his unsolved 2012 murder, in a piece published on Narrative.ly and written by Neil Gluckman. It tells the efforts of his mother to help Timothy and his brothers to rise above the seedy element of the neighborhood, the success that Timothy's family had in doing so with other families in the complex, and the blow dealt to such efforts with his murder. It is a compelling read, and this reporter recommends that anyone reading this article should take a look at it.

The only negative thing about it is this - Timothy Greene's murder is still unsolved, and there are other stories, murder or otherwise, that are left untold in the city press. Indeed, why is Lefrak City crime so unreported, especially if at least 20% of Corona's population lives in the complex or lives along its perimeter?

Thus, management has been trying to improve the complex's reputation. To do so, the complex is undergoing a renovation, bringing in new shops, and improving security, among other things. They have also been pushing up prices and pushing long-time residents out, and all will be hit with higher rents once the renovations are finished.

However, to improve their reputation, it seems they have also chosen to suppress information, including that of crime. This is very unfair since that information affects anyone who has anything to do with Lefrak City. This is true for all tenants, old or new, as well as any visitors to the complex. To not have some accurate idea of what happens in a complex this size can be detrimental to its future.

In the past, the picture was not so bad. At the beginning of the past decade, a fellow resident published a small monthly newsletter that gave some idea about intra-complex affairs. For unknown reasons, the paper ceased publication, and any dispensing of information of Lefrak has been largely in management hands since then (this includes the recent publishing of a new newsletter which will be covered in the near future). This website has been trying to fill that void with varying results.

Then again, perhaps we are being alarmists here. This writer has given an opinion; what's yours? Why is Lefrak City crime so unreported? Is there no crime being reported because there is nothing significant enough to report? Is there another reason in your mind relating to this question?

This website will be happy to see your comments.

[whatupatlefrak]

Pause to resolve technical issue

As you can see, there has been another pause in writing. This is because at the time of the last two items published, our blog was not present in search engines. We felt it didn't make sense to keep on publishing if no one could see the articles, so there was a pause in writing until the issue could be figured out. 

Since then, the problem has been solved, and in the meantime things got busy in other areas of life, so now we will proceed once again with some sort of publishing schedule. This week, to compensate for the situation explained above, we will be republishing the last two articles (with revisions and expansions) as well as questions from reader, including one from a reader who apparently saw the last article. 

[whatupatlefrak]

New way to write posts

Right now, this website will try a new way to post, in an effort to keep the blog fresh and current while keeping the workload manageable.

Starting from this point on, posts will generally be put up every week to every two weeks. The time between posts will become shortened based on how much this website has to cover.

The next article will be the first opinion piece here, and your opinion will be asked for as well. It will be posted on Friday at 1 PM.

Come prepared with your comments!

[whatupatlefrak]

Stream of new posts to begin again

Given the busyness of New York life, I have been unable to accomplish the  goal of keeping this website up solo. However. recent events (one of which will be published tommorrow at 7 pm) have caused me to realize that for the good of the community, this blog will need to keep running on a regular basis. I have pursued a few changes regarding how the blog is run, and hopefully the reading audience will see a difference.

Be in expectation of it!

[whatupatlefrak]

We're still here! Lefrak City News still alive!

Hello to all readers (or potential ones).

A few weeks ago, there was a post put up that said that there would be a break of one or two days to write more articles.

Those two days, as you know, turned into two weeks. Life has gotten very busy for those here on the blog, and article writing is simply going at a slower pace than we expected. Rest assured however Lefrak City News is far from a dead blog: it is very much alive and will continue to publish stories for a benefit of Central Queens and Lefrak City.

Since the opening of the blog about a month ago, we haven't gotten any submissions from any readers regarding any news. We ask our readers to give us any information that they know as to what's going in Lefrak City or Central Queens in general, whether it's in the newspapers or not. We here only know and find out so much; you can help us greatly. Remember, submissions can always be made anonymously.

We shall be posting an article at 6 PM tonight regarding a piece of Lefrak history that most know nothing about: The Lefrak City Theater. To wet your appetite for it, here's a bit of the article written:

"The Lefrak theater (single screen upon its opening, then run by United Artists) opened at the same time as Lefrak City in 1962 at the corner of 99th Street and Horace Harding Expressway ... It allowed Lefrak residents to be able to enjoy the movie experience the Golden Age offered - without even leaving their block."

Along with that, in the coming days expect a post on the "improvements" going on at Lefrak City, as well as an article on the Elmhurst library, and many others.

Enjoy all that is to be offered here at Lefrak City News!

[whatupatlefrak]

First post: What this blog is supposed to do

Welcome to the Lefrak City Blog!

This blog has been established on this date, Saturday July 21st 2012, because there seems to be a lack of information concerning about what really goes on in the Lefrak City complex and the surrounding areas (Corona, Forest Hills, Elmhurst, Rego Park). There seems to be more crime going on in the general area of Central Queens than the police and other authorities let on, and this put us the citizens at risk, since it puts in us a false sense of security. Along with that, there are other vital developments such as economic opportunity and pieces of interest that only spread haphazardly through the area.

A prime example is the rape(s) that has (or have) occurred in front of the Lefrak City complex in early July 2012, committed by Ibrahima Ragis and an unknown accomplice. Until it was covered by WABC-TV and subsequently by other news sources, the news was only being spread by word of mouth around the complex and the immediate areas (that's how the writer of this post got to know of it a few hours before the WABC-TV report) in a very informal manner. Such a crime that threatens the quality of life of all inside of Central Queens should have been announced by those in charge (police, Lefrak City Management) before the report, since news reports didn't come till 8 days after the incident.

Since the powers that be are unwilling to do so, we the citizens will do it ourselves.

In addition to using established news sources whenever possible, we also need the help of you, the reader, in providing news to the rest of the area. There are things that you know (whether crime, new economic developments in the area, other kinds of news developments) that aren't being covered in newspapers or television. We will greatly appreciate any and all contributions to the website that help to enlighten the community as to what's happening in their midst, and we will protect the identity of contributors to the site and not release them without the permission of the contributors themselves.

It should be mentioned here that the content of this blog (esp. with crime) is not intended to scare the people of Central Queens to the point where they are afraid to leave their houses. It's only meant to enlighten us all to what's happening in the neighborhood, good, bad, or neutral. This blog is a work in progress and as time goes by, we will continue to fine-tune the blog and it's features to better serve the needs of the community.

Please also note that while the blog is titled "Lefrak City News", we intend to cover the areas surrounding it as well, and while we at first will focus mostly on Lefrak City (since given the rise in crime in the city, and the fact that Lefrak City always seems to be the middle of it), we will welcome any news from Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Corona, and we hope that it will get to the point that we will reflect in the title in the near future.

Our first news piece will be published later tonight at 8:34 PM.

We hope this blog will satisfy the community's need for news.