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Early Addition
Famed New York realtor Barbara Corcoran chimed in on a matter of public aesthetics and the nature of our city by advising that homeowners would be best served by tearing up their lawns and gardens and paving them over as a suitable place to park their cars. We'll let her speak directly on the subject, as it seems too insane to try to rephrase ourselves. From Friday's Daily News:
Q. My wife and I have lived in Queens for the past 10 years and we plan on staying in the area for about another five. We are noticing lately that all of our neighbors are paving their yards and then use the space to park their cars on.We certainly hope the family in question doesn't heed Corcoran's advice too quickly, as we think that even a postage-stamp lawn adds a little something to New York's civic atmosphere. Corcoran's opinion, however, is only the latest in a municipal contretemps that's become known as the Paving Wars. The New York Times examined the phenomena back in September.My wife has spent many hours cultivating her plants and would like to keep the garden, but I think having a driveway will help us increase the price of the house when it comes time to sell. What do you think?
A. Hey, a flower garden might look pretty and keep your wife happy, but the space in front of your house is worth a hell of a lot more as a driveway.
You should know that the city council of Queens has just proposed a zoning change that would prohibit residents from paving their yards in some areas.
So get your wife on your side and get a cement truck over there fast.
By many accounts, the Paving Wars began in the 1980s, after a rise in car break-ins led property owners to seek parking closer to home. But the practice of paving yards has accelerated as developers tear down old houses, and new landlords seek to skirt the costs of maintaining lawns. The concrete yards are most common in auto-centric neighborhoods with limited street parking, like Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and Bayside, Queens.In October, City Councilman James Vacca representing the Bronx proposed legislation that would counter the practice of paving and try to preserve what remains of the city's domestic greenscapes. One of our favorite urban chroniclers, Kevin Walsh of Forgotten NY, described the above examples of paved lawns as a "monstrosity" and "excrescence," respectively. He also replied to Corcoran personally and described her advice as "asinine." We'd have to agree. Part of Mayor Bloomberg's PlanNYC is to make New York City a greener place, in part by planting up to a million trees.
(Photos by Kevin Walsh, from Forgotten NY)
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Also, creating a driveway for yourself takes at least a half of a space away from your neighbors who park on the street. I remember hearing a while back that many curb cuts in Brooklyn don't actually have the proper permits.
Disgusting tacky people. Evict them from New York City. Bleh.
Paved lawns are ridiculous.
working class people love paving their front yards for parking spaces all over nyc.
please don't impose your yuppy values on working class.
Green concrete-worthy paint manufacturers = blue chip investment. Lawns are for suburb-loving city-haters.
theres no room for a real "lawn" there anyhoo
Def a job for green spray paint
Also, creating a driveway for yourself takes at least a half of a space away from your neighbors who park on the street.
Every person who makes this argument fails to mention that, while it takes away .5 parking spots from street parkers, it also removes a minimum of 1 car from street parking.
Also by eliminating all that stupid grass look at the reduction of all the noise and gas pollution for cutting that grass.
Astro turf made out of recycled plastic grocery bags is the way to go. It's Queens right?
it's the home aesthetic equivalent of the orange tans and tracksuits.
The new owners of my old house in Kew Gardens cut down the tree and took away the small front lawn to make a driveway.
Barbara Corcoran is what's wrong with New York
another thing the working class love fedders!! who you think help built all those fedders.
a driveway adds a HUGE amount of $$$ to a house - Corcorans advice is far from asine its makes perfect sense from a RE/money point of view
That said the city should totally prohibit ANY driveway that wasnt in the original design of the property - they should also prevent new construction from cutting curbs -
Unfortunately the city doesnt do this so you had better do it if you can or else all your neighbors will and it will be that much harder to park your car.
Kill all plants! Down with trees!
I think paving your yard isn't necessarily a bad thing. Why? Because all that grass does absolutely nothing except attract bugs and grow tall and look ugly if not pampered. And maintaining them requiring pesticides, periodic mowing by polluting lawnmowers, and laying down all sorts of chemicals to help them look pretty and green. I say, if you want greenery, keep it in pots or in your backyard.
Concerning Fedder homes ... yeah they suck. They unfortunately meet NY's weak construction standards.
Grass, trees, flowers = open space, beauty, neighborliness.
Paved yards = sterility, chill, hostility.
Barbara Corcoran = greedy, egocetric twit, who values financial gain over the protection of community values. It's especially appalling that she's offering advice even though (a) she has retired from the brokerage that bears her name and (b) she would throw herself into the harbor before she moved to the neighborhoods where this phenomenon is taking place.
Grass, trees, flowers = hope, nature, kindness to neighbors.
Paved yards = despair, antagonism, the antithesis of community.
Ms. Corcoran's assumption -- that every square inch of real estate should produce maximum cash return -- requires that Central Park be replaced with high-rise luxury condos.
Let's hope for a more humane city!
It is only considered a legal driveway when there are permitted curb cuts made in the granite. Paving over a lawn does not entitle anybody to have that spot on the street reserved for them so they can come and go with their car as they please.
There's a certain truth to it being beneficial to put a driveway in like that, however it makes the residence look like a business storefront.
Although, I will say if you were to get some nice colored paving stone that looked like the facade of the building, it could work really well. Just pouring a slab would be kind of drab.
No rhyme intended.
While not having grass means not having to waste gas mowing it or H2O to water it, there are other considerations that outweigh that. Concrete adds to the heat island effect while grass doesn't. Think about that the next time the power cuts out because it's hotter than it needs to be in the city. We've already paved too much, which is why there's little soil to absorb rainfall and storm sewers are overloaded during moderate storms, flushing untreated sewage into the rivers.
Besides, you can always use a push mower. How big can a front yard in NYC be anyway? You have to have a mower anyway, unless you're going to pave your backyard, too. And think about the tradeoff in winter. You have to shovel or use a snowblower on your driveway. You don't have to shovel a lawn.
Proving once again that Barbara Corcoran is a short-sighted greedy shrew.
Replacing dirt with concrete means there's less ability to absorb rainwater, and instead you get flooding.
They should put in a grass driveway. Two strips of concrete, bricks, or paving stones surrounded by grass.
New York realtor Barbara Corcoran is, aside from a greedy bitch, a cold hearted individual. We live outside of Manhattan because we want a front yard, back & side yard. Paving it takes away from the personality of the HOME. Tending to one’s garden is a pleasure, not a chore. Planting something and watching it grow is a natural and beautiful thing. She obviously grew up in an apartment building. Maybe that is where she gets her point of view.
Keep Queens Green!!