There are other leafy, walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods in Queens which are being turned into deserts by cash-waving immigrants from drier areas of the world who believe every last inch of space they own should be covered with beige-bricked, colonaded McPalaces and their attached domestic cement parking lots. Those neighborhoods do not enjoy the architectural protection that Forest Hills Gardens does, and so long as money is the only way to wield power in this city, those areas never will be protected. The trees and bushes and grass which made Queens less urban and a bit of a respite from concrete hell are being ripped out and replaced by homes that are veritable heat islands unto themselves. These houses are ugly, cheaply built and disguised as humongous single family or semi-attached homes, but are converted to multiple family dwellings as soon as the final inspection is finished. Any questions about number of families living there are answered with "That's my sister and her husband from Tashkent. My stepfather and mother and my spouse's mother and stepfather also live here. Hey, we have big families. Back off, we don't have to prove anything. It's not our fault you people don't have 3 generations, plus nieces and nephews, living together in one place."

Money is the only thing that talks nowadays in New York. If your neighborhood wasn't protected years ago, when people cared about something other than the almighty dollar, you're going to be looking at a landscape more Middle Eastern or Central Asian than leafy walkable suburb soon.

When I worked for a savings bank in downtown Flushing, I did mortgages. The Fannie Mae rep told us that illegal apartments and certificates of occupancy were no barrier to placing loans with Fannie. Are we allowed to criticize Fanne Mae here?

Had you walked Flushing Main Street in say 1976 you would be glad for todays immigrants though.

"If your neighborhood wasn't protected years ago ... you're going to be looking at a landscape more Middle Eastern or Central Asian"

And we wouldn't want that!

God, east coast zoning/planning snobs annoy me.

"which are being turned into deserts by cash-waving immigrants"

Yeah, whatever, Archie Bunker.