SCA = School Construction Arboricide

The old St. Aloysius school on Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood has been purchased by the School Construction Authority, which has plans to demolish the building and replace it with a new elementary school (across the street from PS305, which is also brand new but already full and which is a few blocks away from PS290, also under construction).
Anyway, the company hired by SCA that erected the scaffold around the building has damaged every one of the surrounding street trees.
These are relatively young trees, planted only a few years ago, and we're already going to lose them because a tree protection plan was not implemented as required.
Do agencies in this administration actually communicate with each other?
So Bloomie's planting one million new trees? How about protecting the ones already here?
There's gotta be a better way than this.
But this is Queens, so no one cares. Not the community board, not the council member, not the school construction authority, not the parks department.
And look at all the municipal contracts the offending scaffolding company has!

No one can seem to shut illegal site down

From the Queens Courier:

Neighbors on one Glendale block say the nearby garage is a chronic nuisance.

“These people are lawless all day, every day,” said one woman who wished to remain anonymous.

The garage, nestled on a quiet block in Glendale, sees dozens of cars every day. Neighbors complain the owners’ cars stay parked on the sidewalks and down the street for days, inconveniencing residents.
However, owners Elsie Serrano and Oscar Ortega claimed they are running a completely legal operation.

“I have receipts for everything I have done here,” Serrano said.

The shop’s license to sell cars is up to date, and both Serrano and Ortega are licensed to run their business.

However, neighbors allege they do not sell vehicles, but illegally repair them.

Ortega said his store brings cars to a nearby Getty station for service and if the station is too busy, he will do an oil change or fix brakes himself. He added that the store also legally washes cars. However, neighbors said they have seen workers do larger-scale repairs.

“They’re fixing collision and mechanical problems,” said Danny, a resident who withheld his last name. “You can smell chemicals along our block. These are people that have no morals, no respect.”

The owners frequently have their large family visit the site, and several neighbors said they blast music and intimidate residents at all hours of the day.

The 104th Precinct has paid many visits to the site, handing out numerous tickets and summonses. Neighbors said police officers have told workers to shut down the operation, though the 104th did not return calls for comment.

The Fire Department has allegedly shut the site down four times, but the shop continues to reopen. The woman said she has not seen any police or fire presence at the site since April.

Vito getting taxpayer cash

From the NY Post:

Taxpayers may soon shell out more than $120,000 to Vito Lopez.

The disgraced former Assemblyman, who’s running for the City Council, has joined the public campaign-finance program, making him eligible for 6-to-1 matching funds, officials said yesterday.

Lopez claims he’s raised $20,135 in eligible funds.

No more welfare for booze, sex and gambling

From the Daily News:

Welfare checks could no longer go for beer, booze and babes under a bill that passed the New York state Senate on Tuesday.

The bill would bar welfare cash withdrawals at liquor stores and strip clubs, and would penalize recipients caught blowing support checks on sin and vice with the loss of benefits for a month or more.

The feds have ordered states to crack down on welfare waste, fraud and abuse by February or lose 5% of their federal public assistance funding.

Worker trapped where he shouldn't have been working

From NY1:

The worker was pinned under the pressure of hundreds of pounds of mud. Every time rescuers thought they'd be able to pull him out, he kept sliding deeper in.

"He was facing forward, but his legs were going back under him," said Chief Richard Portello of the FDNY Rescue Battalion.

Firefighters got the call that the man was trapped in the 25-foot hole at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The victim's brother said he was working and tried to release a chain but was buried in dirt up to his chest.

The Department of Buildings said the crew was doing excavation work for a home that does not have a permit.

A stop-work order was issued when inspectors found workers had failed to install proper shoring that likely contributed to the collapse.

Address is: 119-21 83rd Avenue

Digging for missing mafia members

From DNAinfo:

The FBI began digging for a body Monday in the former Queens home of notorious mob power James “Jimmy The Gent” Burke, who was famously portrayed by Robert De Niro in the movie "Goodfellas," sources told DNAinfo New York.

FBI Evidence Collection specialists and agents from the Organized Crime Division descended into the basement of Burke’s family home at 81-48 102 Rd. in South Ozone Park about 8 a.m. armed with jackhammers and sledge hammers.

Sources said the feds recently obtained information from a new cooperating informant linked to the Gambino and Bonanno crime families who told them he believed a hood who disappeared decades ago was buried in Burke’s basement or backyard.

The sources say the dig is not related to the fabled 1978 Lufthansa Heist, where Burke, portrayed as Jimmy Conway by De Niro in "Goodfellas," and his fellow wiseguys pulled off an $8 million robbery at JFK, which at the time was the largest robbery in history and was featured in the film.

Many of the suspects eventually were murdered.

Only the body of Burke's closest friend, Thomas DeSimone, who was played by actor Joe Pesci, has never been found, but sources say they are not looking for his remains at Burke’s home.

Looks like Jimmy the Gent had an illegal conversion in his cellar.

Ozone Park soil contamination to be removed

From the Queens Chronicle:

Work started this week on the controversial project to remove toxic chemicals from a former industrial site in Ozone Park.

The work along 100th Street between 101st and 103rd avenues will clean eight bays under the former Ozone Park LIRR station that were once used for storage by Ozone Industries, an aircraft parts manufacturer that operated out of an adjacent factory until the late 1990s.

Ozone Industries placed drums in the ground below the bays that contained a chemical called trichloroethylene, or TCE, a substance linked to some forms of cancer and problems of the central nervous system. The chemical is used in aircraft manufacturing.

For the past decade, End Zone, the successor company to Ozone Industries, has been working with the city and the state to remediate TCE contamination. The eight bays where the work will be done has been labeled a state Superfund site.

John Durnin, a representative from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, spoke to Community Board 9 about the status of the project that had been scheduled to begin last month. Durnin did not say what caused the delay, but did detail what kind of work will be done.

He said the concrete floor of the bays will be removed and the soil will be excavated.

“The contamination is in the soil,” Durnin explained. “It will be trucked away in sealed trucks.”

Air monitors will be placed around the site and workers will be assigned to shifts to make sure no dangerous level of the chemical is recorded.

“The work is going to be done inside the closed bays,” Durnin said. “There will be no outside work done. The contaminated soil will not be exposed.”

Some of the contamination will be vented into the air, but only trace amounts that the DEC says is not dangerous.

Of course not.

Get your junk off our poles

From the Queens Chronicle:

The placing of fliers, signs and posters around the city is an easy — and often free — means of advertising. Taping up signs for a missing pet or stapling a sign on a telephone pole pointing passersby in the direction of a garage sale is seemingly harmless but the line is fine.

“Forest Hills, south of Queens Boulevard has a long tradition of garage sales in the warmer weather,” Jon Torodash, a community activist and candidate for City Council, said. “These are often advertised by what are probably illegally posted but generally well-tolerated signs. Often we’ll also see fliers about missing pets.”

Recently, a series of posters advertising a day camp at Queens Gymnasia in Elmhurst were taped on trees along 69th Road in Forest Hills.

When asked to comment, an unidentified gentleman who answered the phone at the school said he did not know signs had been taped to trees in Forest Hills and that he would look into the issue and call back. He never did.

A few of the signs have since been ripped down. The distinction of what is considered a well-tolerated sign and a quality-of-life issue is, however, debatable.

According to the Department of Sanitation, “It is illegal for any person to affix any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker or other printed material upon any tree by any means.”

Violators of this law face a $150 to $200 fine for first-time offenses. Second and subsequent offenses bump the fine up to a range of $300 to $550.

Dromm defends Silver

From the Politicker:

At a Democratic club meeting in Queens last night, Councilman Danny Dromm said progressives should “thank God” for embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Speaker, not revile him.

“Thank God for Shelly Silver,” Mr. Dromm said to his group, the News Visions Democratic Club in Jackson Heights, when the discussion shifted to Albany politics. “A lot of conservative stuff that might have happened didn’t happen. I don’t know what his prospects are for the Assembly, but we’ll see.”

Mr. Silver has faced a barrage of criticism for his handling of sexual harassment allegations against ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez. While Mr. Silver has since apologized for quietly settling several cases against Mr. Lopez with $100,000 in public money instead of flagging them for investigation, many editorial boards and two Democratic Assembly members have called for him to step down as reports continue to swirl that Mr. Silver, who has held his post since 1994, may be facing growing backlash from his typically loyal members.

Mr. Dromm, however, reiterated to Politicker that he believes Mr. Silver’s presence is crucial in Albany.

“Shelly has held the line on a lot of progressive issues and I’m appreciative of that,” he explained. “I don’t want to see a lot of things that have been passed or proposed by the Republican Senate be put into law.”

Well, that's certainly interesting. More than half of NYers want Silver gone.

National grift

From the Daily News:

Nearly a million Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island residents were overcharged on their natural gas bills for two years — prompting investigators to freeze rates until 2015, state officials said.

The state’s Public Service Commission found National Grid charged customers around $2.90 extra a month in 2010 and 2011 - adding up to a $68.9 million payday for the utility company. The news was first reported by New York Power and Light, a new website watchdog.

National Grid stiffed about 980,000 of its users across three boroughs, said the commission, which figured out the overcharges after noticing “the company’s high earnings.”

The rate lockdown affects the “delivery” portion of customers’ gas bills. Prices for the gas itself can still increase, based on market forces.

Park maintenance shouldn't rely on discretionary funding

Photo from Times Ledger

From the NY Times:

Of the 51 Council members, at least three — the Democrats Charles Barron of Brooklyn, Peter Koo of Queens and Annabel Palma of the Bronx — gave no money to parks in the past three fiscal years. Another three — the Democrats Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, and Albert Vann and David G. Greenfield, both of Brooklyn — allocated $8 million to $9 million each over the same period.

The amount of money they have to disburse is determined, in part, by the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, who is now running for mayor (and who has been a major supporter of parks). Some members may perceive more pressing demands, like affordable housing or public safety.

Some City Council members chafe at the requests to finance basic park infrastructure. “Why should we be paying for it?” said Mark Weprin, a Queens Democrat, who recently designated money for protective netting at a public golf course. “They come to us with a list of projects, and I always find that offensive. These are the basic needs of an area. It shouldn’t be up to the local councilman to fix up parks.”

Agreed.

Proposal to plop aluminum house into Sunnyside Gardens

Now
Coming soon?
Dear Residents of Sunnyside, Woodside & beyond,

There is an alarming proposal in the works that seeks to turn the historic corner lot at 39th Avenue and 50th Street into an out-of-place, post-modern housing development. This corner lot falls within the Sunnyside Gardens historic district and therefore all development proposals must be approved by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). As a smokescreen, the developers are also proposing to move a 1931 aluminum house onto the lot.

We are a group of concerned residents opposing this development. The manner in which this proposal is being rushed through without sufficient public notice is indicative of the developers' not having our community's best interest at heart. This development proposal runs contrary to the community's aim of preserving the corner lot from succumbing to over-development.

Our group has other ideas for this historic open space -- namely the transformation of it into a truly public community garden and green common, while preserving its existing structures and trees. Most of the parks in Sunnyside now are either concrete playgrounds serving primarily school children, exclusive gardens or private parks charging membership dues. We want to change this.

The development proposal is completely wrong for the historic district, and it's completely wrong for our community. But the Landmarks Law gives every one of us the right to voice our choice for our future, and we need everyone to exercise that right.

Right now there are 3 things you can do to help:

1. Please “Reply” to this e-mail to say you oppose this development.

2. There will be an unveiling of this development proposal this week at Community Board 2's Land Use committee meeting. If a lot of us show up and demonstrate our disapproval of the proposal, the harder it will be for the development to win the support it needs. This is not a public hearing and we may not get to speak, but a lot of disappointed faces in the audience will help convey our message.

The meeting is Wednesday, June 19 at 7 pm at the address below:

Community Board 2 office
43-22 50th St. off Roosevelt Ave., 2nd floor.
(Note - this is NOT at Sunnyside Community Services)

Worse still the LPC public hearing, may be scheduled for July 9. This gives us little time to organize our opposition so we want the hearing delayed.

3. Call and e-mail Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s staff to ask them to do everything in their power to delay the LPC's public hearing. Please leave a voicemail if there is no pick up.

Nick Gulotta, staff preservationist:
NGulotta@council.nyc.gov
718-383-9566, ext.5

Yours,
Cautley Garden
cautleygarden@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/cautleygarden/

Jimmy Van Bramer has a "staff preservationist?" Well, excuse me!

It earned its stripes

Miss Heather found a doozy of a house on Judge Street in Elmhurst recently. I wonder if the guy who painted Doughboy Park lives here...

I especially like the parking on the front lawn (illegal) where there is no curb cut (illegal). Take a look at Google Maps and see that the whole block is apparently doing it. Enforcement? Pshhhaw!

City makes a mess of Jamaica

It is bad enough when Jamaica property owners do not clean up their own property and the city does not enforce the laws, especially with repeat offenders like below.
Major repeat offender. Vacant lot at 170-19 89th Ave. High weeds and garbage inside them.
Side of house at 168-22 89th Ave.
And really bad when the property owners are businesses in Downtown Jamaica (you know the “Diverse and Vibrant” slogan that the powers to  be  like to throw around in hyping Downtown Jamaica) and the City again does not enforce the laws and allows this to happen over and over, like all along the stores on 164th Street off of Jamaica Avenue.
In front of store at 89-31 164th St.
The stores along 164th Street. This mess actually sat here for about a month before being cleaned up.
The mess above sat for over a month, even though I reported it to DOS and , city officials and elected leaders. Alas that did not last too long as this exact same spot after finally being cleaned up looked like the below on June 15th when the Jamaica low life people got to it and again property owner is not held responsible and no did anything about this.
This spot in front of store along 164th street did not stay clean too long.
All of this is bad enough but when the property is New York City owned such as the NYC Department of Transportation property at 92-33 168th St, then that says everything about our system. What makes it worse is this same situation happened last year and here is is happening all over again.

Although you cannot see it, there is much trash and litter in those high weeds on city property.
This is just totally disgusting, what is this some low class Jamaica flea market.


So just how long is this city property going to look like this. I reported it several days ago, so let’s see. But the big question is why would the city allow their own property to look like this to begin with.

Damn, Jamaica needs a complete overhaul, a total clean-up of the city, major litter law enforcement against property owners (a huge one that would help eliminate much of this problem), toss out that certain element that is destroying and trashing all parts of Jamaica and then getting new leaders here who have the balls to stand up and do what is right for the community.

It is the same damn song over and over again with this community.

The powers to be say “Invest in Downtown Jamaica” and I know I would like to see a big overhaul of Downtown Jamaica, but  really, like why would people want to invest if nothing is changing to make it better, the place is a mess and no one is doing anything about it no matter what some of you say. Because if you were doing something about it, then I would not have photos like the ones above (and some of the same areas over and over again) and I would not be doing this for over 2 years. Something certainly is not right and someone is not doing their job, you are letting the undesirables take over.

So for those that want me to write about something positive on my blog, give me something positive because I have pretty much run out of the very little positive within this community.

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/