Alphabet City Residents Furious Over Noise Coming From Nearby 7-11

Via CBS

It is quite literally the city that never sleeps for residents of Westminster in the East Village.

Tenants filed complaints over noisy air conditioner and refrigerator units that cool the 7-11 convenience store on Avenue A.

They told CBS 2 that they haven’t been able to rest at night since the store opened last year.

“For too many months, Westminster’s concerns about 7-11’s noisy units fell on deaf ears. We completely agree with local residents – the units installed and owned by 7-11 need to be moved, and we’re working to make sure it happens,” a spokesman for Westminster management said.

The store has received violations from the city along with a cease and desist order, but still residents toss and turn.

“It sounds like, in some apartments, you’re living in a wind tunnel,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan.)

“We’ve had to move out of our bedrooms on the third floor, as well as the first floor, in order to be free of the noise,” another tenant added.

In a statement, 7-11 said that it has been working with the landlord of the property to resolve the issue.

The landlord was scheduled to appear at a hearing of the environmental control board to present a plan for relocating the refrigeration units.

The landlord did not have a comment on Monday night.

Alphabet City Residents Furious Over Noise Coming From Nearby 7-11 [CBS]

Related

Residents annoyed at 7-Eleven’s loud refrigerator in East Village [ABC 7]
Local pols blast 7-Eleven for blocking order to remove noisy refrigeration unit at 170 Avenue A [EV Grieve]
7-Eleven’s Noisy Fridge Unit Forces Family to Sleep in Living Room [DNA Info]

Previously

Full Coverage on the AC Units at 170 Avenue A [No 7-Eleven]

Abominable 7-Eleven Disfigures a Baltimore Historic District

Via Baltimore Business Journal

It comes as no surprise that the opening of a convenience store selling almost nothing that anybody should eat or drink creates little excitement in the surrounding community.
Since this isn’t a food or health column, but one about urban design and architecture, I will focus on the wrapper in which a new Baltimore 7-Eleven is encased. The store opened in the spring at West Franklin and North Paca streets after just a few months of construction.

Like tourists wearing sombreros in Mexico or lederhosen in Bavaria, retail buildings often masquerade in garb inspired by local cliches — mission-style, colonial or anything in between. What constitutes a mere laughable nuisance in suburban shopping centers, however, becomes architectural assault in an urban historic district.

At first, seeing a barren surface parking lot being dug up by heavy equipment in late winter inspired hope in this corner of Baltimore’s west side, an area largely unaccustomed to investment and construction.

But the strip footing and tiny trenches for wastewater lines foreshadowed hastily erected spindly steel columns, confirming that whatever was being built here couldn’t be of any substance.

Disappointment turned into disbelief once all the sticks and beams were connected with astounding speed, revealing the shape of a giant shoebox, with the lid hovering one story above it.

That extra level mystified everybody around and became the talk at Trinacria Deli, a nearby restaurant, grocery and wine shop. No stairs led up to the lofty height, even though steel decking seemed to indicate a real second floor.

In quick succession, wall studs and window framing formed walls and horizontal punch-out openings on two levels. The overall appearance was that of a 5-year-old having decorated a sideways milk carton to look like a house.

Continue reading Architecture review: Abominable 7-Eleven Disfigures a Baltimore Historic District [Baltimore Business Journal]

Merrick Resident Says of Proposed 7-Eleven “Big America is gobbling up small America”

Via Long Island Herald

Merrick residents articulated many reasons why they do not want to see a 7-Eleven open at 150 Merrick Road, opposite Levy-Lakeside Elementary School, during a June 10 Hempstead Town Council meeting. Town officials, however, said there was nothing they could do legally to stop the business from moving in.

AJM RE Holdings V, LLC, a company that Great Neck real estate developer Adam Mann owns, holds the deed to 150 Merrick Road. Mann and his contractor applied to the town’s Building Department in March for a permit to build a convenience store at the location. The developer plans to lease the property to 7-Eleven, which aims to have the store built and open for business by December, according to an attorney for Mann and 7-Eleven’s franchising website.

About 30 Merokeans attended the Town Council meeting, which started at 7 p.m. last Tuesday at Town Hall in Hempstead. Several addressed the Council during the meeting’s public comment segment, arguing that the 7-Eleven would cause traffic congestion and accidents, attract crime, hurt nearby businesses, lower home values and introduce children to alcohol and tobacco. Town Supervisor Kate Murray was absent from the meeting, which was one of four the Council scheduled in the evening this year.

“The important part is quality of life,” said Randy Shotland, a lifelong Merokean. “Quality of life is about why my parents moved here in 1948, to a bedroom community. We’re not in Queens, we’re not in Brooklyn, we’re not in the Bronx. We’re in Long Island … Twenty-four hours a day is not acceptable — 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., I don’t know any Merokean that’s coming out to buy a six-pack of beer, tobacco, and whatever else they sell. It affects our community … Big America is gobbling up small America.”

Continue reading Town: We can’t legally block 7-Eleven [LI Herald]

Related

Proposed Merrick 7-Eleven cannot legally be prevented, officials say [Newsday]

Boycott 7-Eleven Rally in the East Village

Starting tomorrow, we’re holding our ‘Boycott #7Eleven‘ rallies the first Sunday of each month. Please come out and join us Sunday from 1-2PM at the corner of 11th Street and Avenue A in the East Village.

7-Eleven Withdraws After Opposition

It’s a bad week to be 7-Eleven. Yesterday we learned that residents of Merrick berated developers over a controversial new 7-Eleven that’s planned. Today, residents of Freeport have successfully fought off a fifth 7-Eleven fearing it would hurt local business.

Developers with plans to build a fifth 7-Eleven in Freeport have withdrawn their application after the village board of zoning appeals refused to grant them an extension to respond to community opposition. Residents say the area does not need another convenience store.

“We just don’t need another of those stores in the village, certainly not in that area,” said Douglas Mayers the leader of the NAACP in the village and of the Long Island Caribbean-American Association. “It would also hurt many local businesses.”

Plans for Freeport’s fifth 7-Eleven withdrawn after opposition [Newsday]