I know someone that lives in full view of the el and likes it. he's not even a rail fan.
anyone that lives under the el knew what they were getting into before they moved there. it's their own stupid problem if they don't like it there. no one told them to live under the el. you don't move near a location and then complain that it is there, because you're not going to get any sympathy from anyone.
Most stores around the el at 30th av, ditmars, 36th and b'way stay in business due to their proximity to the el and its associated foot traffic - the other businesses are car repair shops, gas stations, warehouses, a deli/resturant kitchen supply place by 36 av... these are all places that have no problem being by the el. and might even have lower rent because of it - so unfortunately for you, your logical that the el is destroying businesses is flawed and incorrect. the very reason many of them stores stay in business is the el. Don't believe me? Go ask some of them store owners for yourself.
As for property damage. I defy you to find me a significant number of newspaper articles or complaints about anyone having property damaged by anything falling off of the el wthin the last 15-20 years. I want you to go door to door, get the names and numbers of people who've had property or cars damaged by items falling off of the el. go ahead. try it. you'll be wasting a lot of time because it simply doesn't happen any more than parts of planes falling from the sky.
I suspect you have the astoria el confused with the hell gate bridge (which also goes over astoria). for a long time the hell gate had ballast and other items falling from it - and it goes over residental areas - so them people had a valid complaint. the problem here was that the bridge was not maintained since the new haven days and neither conrail or amtrak wanted to foot the whole bill. finally government money went into it and so far as i know, there hasn't been one complaint about the bridge since its mid 90's overhaul and repainting. (amtrak, of course, does quite well with the line now that it's electrified to boston, and conrail (thank god) is gone - leaving CSX, P&W and CP to service the line - all of whom are apparently doing increasingly better and getting more god damned trucks off the LIE (especially with LIRR out of the picture and NYA doing LI freight)(heard CP is hauling a lot of stone to LI now, and if they ever get into 65th street yard, will likely finally increase service from 3 nights a week to 5...).
In conclusion, you are WRONG. completely and totally. don't bother replying, because you know you're wrong and i'm not going to be kind enough to explain it to you any further. I'm done, finished, said all there is to say, and won't be bothering to reply to anything else you might have to add - beacuase you're wrong. plain and simple. Do yourself and this board a favor, and don't come around talking out of your ass (for lack of a better way of putting it) with no factual information to back up your opinions, because you will ever so kindly (or maybe not so kindly) be called on your ill informed opinions and thus find yourself in the 'hall of besmirched subtalkers'.
schools out. have a good one.