Hunting for a haven at Queens West

From the January issue: Thirteen months after the Bloomberg administration announced an ambitious plan to remake 24 acres of Long Island City’s waterfront into a haven for middle-income New Yorkers, no money has changed hands – and the proposal’s initial selling point has taken on a far more modest tone. In October 2006, the city announced plans to buy the largely vacant site from the Port Authority, and to turn the area into what would amount to an enclave on the East River for cops, firefighters, teachers, and other middle-income workers who are getting financially squeezed out of the real estate market in New York City.