Setting up shop at Leavitt Park

Hey Crapper,

I am hoping you can help with this situation in Flushing at Leavitt’s Park on the corner of 32nd Ave and Leavitt Street. For the past two weeks or so I have seen a U-Haul truck drive into the park, open the back door and set up shop. The people take out tables, clothing racks, boxes and sell the merchandise to people in the park. I have seen them there for the past two weeks from 11am to 6pm. I called the police last week but little has changed, today I called 311 and they said it is a minimum of 14 days for the parks department to do an investigation of my complaint.

Any suggestion who I should reach out to? It infuriates me that someone would drive a truck into a public park and open a store on public land.

- Anonymous Flushing Resident

U-Haul clock to get fixed

From the Queens Gazette:

A four-sided clock tower with a timepiece that has been frozen in place for decades is about to be rejuvenated.

The U-Haul building, situated on the Flushing River along College Point Boulevard in Flushing, was visited recently by New York City clock masters Marvin Schneider and Forrest Merkowitz who have both worked on clocks around the city, including the weekly winding of the timepiece atop the New York City Municipal Offices on Broadway and Leonard Street in Manhattan.

For years the hands of the clock have been stuck at about the 11 o’clock position.

Schneider and Merkowitz were pleased to find during a visit last December that all the original parts remained inside the clock tower.

The building, and its timepiece made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company in Connecticut, dates back to 1925. It was constructed by W & J Sloane Furniture Co. for their subsidiary, the Company of Master Craftsmen. Serval Zipper Company purchased the building in 1942. In 1979 it was taken over by U-Haul, which continues to operate a storage center in the space to this day.