1,000 Job Seekers Flock to Atlas Park by Stephen Geffon - Queens Chronicle

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About 1,000 job seekers waited in line at Atlas Park to speak with potential employers or drop off their resumes, in hopes of securing a job interview. (photo by Michael O’Kane)

And you thought your job search took you far.

Artravious Henley, 23, of Seattle Wash., came to the job fair at The Shops At Atlas Park in Glendale Friday with one mission: to get a job.

A recent graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Seattle and an avid viewer of the Food Channel, Henley is working as a freelance wedding coordinator.

By the end of the day, the master chef was offered a plum job as a culinary arts teacher with Restaurant Opportunities of New York, one of 50 employers at the fair.

“I would never have found that company otherwise,” Henley said.

Henley wasn’t the only one looking for a quick hire at the fair. The event
attracted 1,000 people from Queens and beyond, though not everyone was fortunate enough to snag a job in one afternoon.

Jennifer, 21, from Jamaica, a pre-med student at St. John’s University, said she was seeking a part-time job that would fit into her college schedule. She met with both Jet Blue and Delta Airlines recruiters, who advised her that the company’s policy was to have applicants file their applications online.

Another job-seeker from Woodside, who declined to give her name, said she lost her job at a Manhattan publishing firm two months ago and was seeking administrative work. She didn’t find what she was looking for at the fair, but dropped off her resume with MetLife and Aflac in hopes of scoring an interview at a later date.

To help candidates succeed, fair organizers didn’t simply invite employers to pitch their tents around the park grounds. They created four workshops entitled Ace your Interview, Employment Search, Resume Building and Green Jobs Training, designed to motivate and train job seekers.

At 9 a.m., an hour before the fair began, there were about 100 people lined up and waiting in the 90-plus degree heat, according to state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr., who sponsored the fair.

“I hope that people leave here with a sense of optimism that they have an opportunity for a job,” Addabbo said. Similar job fairs would be run periodically as the economy dictates, he added.

Joseph A. Galasso, senior vice president at SL Green Realty Corp., an employer at the fair and one of the bidders vying to resurrect Aqueduct Race Track, said more than 100 people had left resumes with him. He added that SL Green is always hiring and keeps resumes on file, and that if the company is chosen to run Aqueduct, it would spur the creation of almost 2,000 permanent jobs.

Companies participating at the job fair ran the gamut from nonprofits and state and federal government organizations to colleges and private employers. Among the fair’s participants were Catholic Charities, Mercy Home, U.S. Army, Navy and National Guard, Internal Revenue Service, New York City Commission on Human Rights, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York State Department of Civil Service, New York State Office of Court Administration, City University of New York, Kingsborough Community College, National Grid, Jet Blue and Delta Airlines, Pepsi Cola, Stop & Shop Supermarkets, Century 21-Fortune Realty, Aflac and the Queens Chronicle.

Senator Joe Addabbo to Host Job Fair at The Shops at Atlas Park on August 21st - 10am - 3pm

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What: Job Fair
Where: The Shops at Atlas Park
(Cooper Avenue at 80th Street, Glendale, NY)
When: Friday, August 21st
Time: 10am - 3pm

Free to all...

Statements from City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley on Atlas Mall & the Recent DEA Drug Bust in Middle Village...

Statement from Council Member Crowley on DEA drug bust

March 2, 2009; Queens, NY – Council Member Elizabeth Crowley released this statement:

“I want to congratulate the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for their ongoing efforts to squash the drug trafficking problem in Queens. I am working with the DEA and will continue to provide them with full support from the City Council to ensure that our community and our kids are safe.”

Statement from Council Member Crowley on Atlas Management

March 2, 2009; Queens, NY – Council Member Elizabeth Crowley released this statement:

“I look forward to working with the Mattone Group over the coming weeks to maintain the quality of shops at Atlas Park,” said Council Member Elizabeth Crowley.

"I trust that they will attract and retain stores and restaurants that will help serve as a positive economic engine for our community’s small businesses and local residents.”

Mall Struggles to Catch On: Owner Says Atlas Park's Growing Pains are Normal by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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Damon Hemmerdinger, co-owner of Glendale’s Shops at Atlas Park (inset), says the shopping center is 'still building our brand.' The mall opened in 2006. Noonan for News

From its inception, the Shops at Atlas Park mall has been a blend of opposing extremes.

The manicured outdoor retail center in Glendale was once a gritty industrial park. Opening upscale shops in a blue-collar neighborhood has been praised as enterprising and jeered as unrealistic.

It's a center of either suburban bliss or inflated expectations - depending on whom you ask - as it enters the crucial holiday shopping season and nears its third anniversary in April.

Since opening in 2006, the mall at 80th St. and Cooper Ave. has elicited both praise and criticism as an ambitious complex anchored by a movie theater, eight restaurants and more than a dozen clothing stores.

"We have growing pains that are very consistent with new shopping centers," said Damon Hemmerdinger, the mall's co-owner and development director. "We're still building our brand."

Some retail experts expressed doubt that Hemmerdinger's focus - targeting a key 18 to 35-year-old female demographic, with a niche for "mature women" up to age 55 - would work long term.

Former Crain's New York Business writer Leslie Jay, who covered the planning of Atlas Park in 2000, said she remembered wondering if it would appeal to southwestern Queens.

"I just didn't know if the immediate neighborhood was up for a fancy mall," Jay said, adding the complex still isn't "the first mall you go to on Black Friday."

But Paul Barchitta, a retail marketing professor at Queensborough Community College, said the Glendale mall has a key edge even in a bleak economy.

"If they were opening today, brand-new, they would certainly have a harder time finding success," he said. "At least they've gotten the first year or two under their belt."

Atlas Park storeowners focused largely on the positives.

"Weekdays are a little slow, but on the weekends it's packed," said Henry Fernandez, 32, who opened a Simply Fondue restaurant at the mall last month.

Teri Basile said she moved her framing shop, Art World, from Austin St. in Forest Hills to Atlas Park last year because the Glendale center has a "magical feel."

"You come to work every day and you feel good about being here," said Basile, 54.

Not every tenant shares that enthusiasm.

Starbucks said in July it will shutter its Atlas Park coffee shop and 10 other city outlets.

Reports that a Chili's Grill & Bar persistently leaks liquids into a Borders bookstore downstairs are backed up by scores of water-stained or missing ceiling panels.

Storeowners and employees who asked to remain anonymous griped that Hemmerdinger charges outlandishly high rents and issues steep penalties to shops that open later than scheduled.

Hemmerdinger said rents and penalties are consistent with those at other shopping centers.

"That's not the criteria I'd use to say whether we have a good relationship," he said.

Perhaps the truest indicator of Atlas Park's success is its customers, who frequent the theater and eateries but often bypass stores.

"It's good if you want to see a movie, but not to shop," said Tyrone Casey, 18, of Jamaica, as he roamed Atlas Park last week.

"They just need more stores," said his pal, Chaz Fraser, 28, who lives a block from the mall.

"Stores people go to," Casey quipped.

But coming soon are a Republic of Couture apparel boutique and a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Hemmerdinger said.

Times Ledger - Boro Preservationists Learn Landmark Ropes by Alex Christodoulides - Times-Ledger

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Invoking the names of the fallen as cautionary tales - Ridgewood Reservoir, St. Savior's, the Klein Farm - community preservation activists met last week with old hands to find out how to landmark Queens' historic neighborhoods and buildings.

Left to Right - Kevin Wolfe - Douglaston & Little Neck Historical Society, Simeon Bankoff - Historic Districts Council, Frank E. Sanchis III - Municipal Arts Society, Councilperson Jessica Lappin, James Trent - Metropolitan Historic Structures Association

The community room at The Shops at Atlas Park was full of neighborhood activists as City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin (D-Manhattan), chairwoman of the City Council Landmarks Committee spoke at a historic preservation and landmarking workshop organized by the Queens Civic Congress.

"The designation process starts with people like you who are active in their communities," Lappin said. "The people who oppose something always come out, but the ones in support don't always come."

Left to Right Kevin Wolfe, Herb Reynolds - Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, Bankoff, Sanchis & Lappin

Frank Sanchis III, senior vice president of the Municipal Arts Society and a fellow panelist, mentioned the statistic that Queens ranks last in landmarked buildings in New York City and said it was the result of the building materials used.

"They're [the Landmarks Preservation Commission] looking for integrity and a sense of place" in designating a historic district, he said.

Left to Right Kevin Wolfe, Herb Reynolds & Simeon Bankoff

The meeting took place all of 12 hours before demolition began Feb. 27 in Maspeth on the 1847 St. Savior's building, in which developer Maspeth Development LLC bought the property in 2005 to build condos. Activist Christina Wilkinson announced at the workshop that the demolition permits for the church had been issued Feb. 25.

Corey Bearak - Queens Civic Association & North Bellerose Civic Association at Podium

The anxiety level climbed in the room after the announcement, and Fresh Meadows area activist Bob Harris told the panelists that the Klein Farm on 73rd Avenue was locked in a similar tug-of-war between developer Tommy Huang and local preservationists.

James Trent at Podium

Herb Reynolds, director of the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, said that getting the Historic Districts Council on board was key to getting neighborhoods landmarked, but warned that the process could take years.

Sanchis said Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn get the lion's share of landmarks because their structures are masonry, which is harder to modify, whereas many Queens buildings are wooden.


"It's true that wooden buildings are easier to alter, but I've seen an astonishing number of masonry buildings get aluminum siding," Sanchis said, adding that reversible changes should not deter residents from seeking landmark status.

Resident Renee Levine asked what could be done in her Kew Gardens neighborhood, where reversible changes were taking over.

Audience of Activists

"One by one, the 100-year-old houses are being turned into garbage with gold this and concrete that and Home Depot doors," she said.


Wolfe offered her a simple plan of attack: "You have to get your ass in gear," he told Levine. "There have to be areas that are viable, and the blocks [proposed for landmarking] have to be contiguous. You need passion and you need people to help you out."