Thursday, March 27, 2014

No sidewalk café permit for Nonna's

From the Queens Courier:

The City Council unanimously struck down a controversial bid for a Whitestone sidewalk café Wednesday.

Owners of Nonna’s Pizzeria & Trattoria wanted to wrap an outdoor sitting area around their 22-30 154th St. Italian restaurant.

But a handful of neighbors said the proposal would bring excessive noise and take away parking spaces.

Lawmakers said the sidewalk is also not wide enough and too close to residential homes.

“The impact of this victory should ensure all future applicants make every effort to address the concerns of the community board and neighboring residents,” Councilman Paul Vallone said.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the hundreds of illegal outdoor cafés already operating throughout Queens?

Anonymous said...

Guess they didn't sufficiently grease Stinky's palms.

Anonymous said...

Some good news for a change.
No Nonna's for You !

Anonymous said...

The impact of this victory should ensure all future applicants make every effort to address the concerns of the community board and neighboring residents,” Councilman Paul Vallone said.

Translation form Queens politician speak:

1. its not my community board yet.

2. when it is we can talk behind closed doors (wink wink)

Anonymous said...

Vallone ain't my guy but he is on the correct side of this issue.

Cut him a bit of slack.

Anonymous said...

But you still have useless Vallone staff like Michael Yon who blow people off and make Vallone look bad and useless civic leaders who are community liasons like Devon O'Connor who go against the community wishes despite running a residential civic association.

Anonymous said...

Let's see how Vallone votes on the Plastic Bag pricing bill. This garbage bill is sponsored by Manhattanites who do not live in the outer boroughs where we go grocery shopping once or twice a week.

We purchase large amounts of products and need a viable way to transport these purchases from store to home. I cannot see charging us a "tax" for a necessity. It is akin to placing a tax on groceries.

Buy a gallon of Milk, pay a ten cent tax for transporting it to your home. Buy orange juice or soda or meat and pay a transportation tax on them too.

Vallone had better be on board and vote against this discriminatory bill that only serves a small portion of the city's population.

Anonymous said...

If this were the Village (West, not Whitestone!) there'd be no problem. But we can't have nice things in Queens.

How is that Marinos is allowed to put out tables in their little concrete fiefdom? What an incredibly ugly corner!

Anonymous said...

Just so everyone knows...

PAUL A. VALLONE is one of the sponsors of the Plastic Bag Bill.

If this bill passes you can thank PAUL A. Vallone for placing a tax on groceries.

I'd suggest calling his office and voicing your complaint to this TAX.

His office number is: (718) 619-8611.

Anonymous said...

Another sponsor of the plastic bag bill is, surprise, Dizzy Lizzy Crowley.

You can call her at (718) 366-3900.

Anonymous said...

I have no problems with the plastic bag bill. Don't like it? Get a tote or backpack.

Anonymous said...

Devon o Connor is president of no real civic in Whitestone and every day more and more residents are seeing thru his sham. Hopefully Vallone will too.
As for this, it is in Vallones district and for all his wrongs, he is right in this one. The community spoke and he obliged.
Were this halloran he would have (once again) had Devon conduct a bogus survey (Whitestone whitehouse) and then acted as Nonnos mouthpiece ( also ala Whitestone white house).

Vallone is right on this one. Let's hope he continues. Eyes are watching.

Peter May said...

Devon O'Connor is a useless civic leader. His welcome to whitestone organization is a shill for something. Count on that.

Anonymous said...

Devon came to the dwarfe giraffe building and asked to put up a banner. We did. Then we were starting to figure him out. He hit us up for $350 for his welcome to Whitestone sign. He promises us a small sign along botom saying "home of DG little league". Never happens. So $350 that could have gone to the kids. But ok.
Then he donates balloons for our annual Memorial Day fundraiser. He comes in and sees his sign off our walls. A)we were decorating for the fundraiser B) we started to see what he was really all about -promoting his business not civic group. He went ballistic and sent us a $250 bill for the balloons he "donated" saying " you don't advertise with my banner I don't donate balloons". Well the veterans thank you I'm sure. Either way, te owner of the Exxon gas station on Clintonville who is friends with one our parents wrote a check immediately. Thanks Exxon and Devon, thanks for teaching us a lesson.

Anonymous said...

Yet Vallone makes Devon a community liason. Lame as hell.

Randi Crovets said...

Even though I never met Devon O'Connor beforehand, Devon O'Connor friend requested me on facebook and I accepted because of his civic leader status. I reach out to him about a community issue and soon after, he unfriends me from facebook. What the hell?

Anonymous said...

Ask Devon about his civic groups non profit status. Dhole you're at it ask him about the money he's collected in his tin cans he places in all of his friends local shops. Money he collected for the " veterans" and how much money made it to the veterans.

Heck ask him about the "survey" he did for Franco/halloran/whitehouse/catering hall. Bogus survey to claim people in favor of a catering hall when community was in an uproar against it. Ask him.

Ask him about the photo he stole from a woman online and put a trademark stamp on her photo and published it as his own.

Anonymous said...

Notice how his "civic" events center around his business. Btw makeup by Jessica is his girlfriend.

Oh yeah and the new boat and kayak that came into his life around the same time as the tin cups.

Randi Crovets said...

Besides I heard a rumor that Devon's girlfriend Jessica Julig is having a side relationship with Jonathan Szott who is Stinky's chief of staff.

Anonymous said...

I live around this area and the sidewalk is wide enough, besides, almost nobody walks on that sidewalk, just the ocasional shooper that goes to a mini market next to this restaurant. It would be nice to have an outdoor cafe in which ti sip a cup of coffe on a nice summer afternoon as long as it doesn't get out of hand and the furniture starts walking towards taking over more space leaving pedestrians to the mercy of vehicular traffic.
Just go to Pesso's Italian Ice located at 203-20 35th Ave, Bayside, NY and you'll see chairs and tables placed in a more narrow and pedestrian transited sidewalk and still people enjoy the seating area in their quiet neighborhood. Paul Vallone should look into making better use of his time and taxpayer's money instead.

Anonymous said...

Is that Jessica Tommy's daughter from la cheesecake? Does he know she's dating that little turd?

Anonymous said...

Vallone gets a win on this from his constituency. Nonnas has only been there a couple of years. They got balls.

Anonymous said...

I guarantee you randi and the person posting smack about devon is adam lombardi. I heard he and Devon hate each other.

Devon is actually a good guy, not sure where this hate suddenly coming from.

Anonymous said...

Good for Vallone, glad to see my vote was casted correctly. You think that little pos shafran would have given a fuck about this issue. He prob would have let it pass easily. Glad he's not my council member, truly am.

Anonymous said...

Devon such a good guy? Really? Why not just verify if the comments were true or not. Real simple to do. Take a minute and ask the people mentioned if it's fact or not. Then check the state dept website to see If the group has it's tax exempt status. Then ask about who paid for the balloons. Then ask how much money they actually gave the VFW for the parade. All very verifiable.

Who I am is not relevant. What is relevant is the facts just the facts.

Anonymous said...

This isn't that serious of an issue. The city council votes no for a little sidewalk cafe' but is silent against Willets Point Mega Mall.

Peter May said...

Either way it is established that Devon O'Connor has done nothing for the community except give out balloons some free and some not free.

Anonymous said...

I guess Nonna's didn't hire Chuck Apelian as a consultant.

Peter May said...

Hiring Chuck Apelian as a consultant does not do much because even this restaurant had the support of sham civic leader and Vallone ass kisser Devon O'Connor and still got nowhere.

Anonymous said...

Collecting monies for a charity and not giving what was collected to the charities is a felony
Buying boats a kyacks with said money is a serious Ferony
Opening one or more business ventures with that money
You guessed it
Felony