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The Crap-O-Sphere ("Crappy")
Artwork by Jerry Rotondi
The official mascot of Queens Crap
The Crap-O-Sphere ("Crappy")
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Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap
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Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse
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Blog Archive
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▼
2015
(1528)
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▼
October
(111)
- Groups join forces to stop the insanity
- City Council wants to crack down on AirBnB
- Worker dies in Manhattan building collapse
- Bill to end double-dipping
- Oxy suppliers shut down
- The end of Whitestone Lanes?
- Building collapses in Astoria
- Projects produce lots of trash
- Unique Kew Gardens house finally sold
- Pod living in Flushing!
- AirBnB hostess arrested?
- Big sports gambling bust
- DOB says yeshiva dorm is not kosher
- Homeless taking over Penn Station
- Crackdown on fake OSHA cards
- LIC residents freaked out by waterfront rats
- Jamaica: hotels! hotels! hotels!
- A new story regarding Bayside AirBnB shooting
- Grave robbing at Maple Grove
- Van Bramer backs congestion pricing
- More details about Bayside house party gone wrong
- Diner deathwatch
- Bayside McMansion rented out on AirBnB for house p...
- Dogs to combat rats?
- City cleaning up Jamaica Bay
- Silvercup building more condos
- Overhaul of dollar van industry proposed
- AirBnB not happy with council bill
- MASSIVE watermain break on Queens Blvd in Elmhurst
- Vallone stands alone in support of new school
- Abandoned Fresh Meadows house a major eyesore
- LIC hotel alleged to have bedbugs
- City planning thinks seniors don't drive
- Concannon & Grodenchik debate on NY1
- Construction fatalities on the rise
- Ridgewood dog abuser arrested
- Paul Vallone takes credit where credit is not due
- DOB determines that 16-unit building is a 2-family...
- DeBlasio a no show for murdered cop's street renaming
- Homeless to be booted from subway
- Skeptical about DEP plans
- Transportation geared toward millenials?
- She never met a tax she didn't like
- F*cked up Flushing house finally shut down by DOB
- NYPD cop charged with stealing house
- A matter of priorities
- CB5 says no to yeshiva dorm
- $1B spent on NYC homeless
- Don't believe the affordable housing hype
- Farrington Hotel prostitution bust
- Alley Pond dumpster saga continues
- Aigner Chocolate to reopen
- Junk in Flushing Bay
- The NYPD can see right through you
- Bill may force utilities to repair streets they de...
- Guy blames dogs for being a squatter
- Contractor cops to bribery
- Flushing West bus terminal talk
- Sunnyside parents suggest new school location
- Another one bites the dust
- Lovely in Laurelton
- Former Council Member Tom Ognibene has passed away
- CB7 wants restriction on Waterpointe site
- No place left to shop
- And so the SWO violation continues
- Nolan wary of LIC ferry dock
- Gentrification hurts the poorest residents (duh)
- Another Flushing project mishandled by DOB
- Woman found dead at Kissena Park
- MTA finally funded
- SWO violated at f*cked up Flushing house
- Avella rally today in opposition to Pan Am shelter
- Live like the servant you always dreamed to be
- Huge Pelham Parkway project done incorrectly
- Cool footage of LIC from the air
- Owner of f*cked up Flushing house speaks
- Department of Bribery
- They scam their own first
- It takes a year and a half to pave a parking lot
- More money thrown at the Queensway
- Dog run in Astoria to cost $1M
- All Queens libraries will be open 6 days a week
- Guess who pays 1/3 of all U.S. tolls?
- Cuomo flip-flops on pork spending
- Vallone to block Douglaston historic district exte...
- US being screwed out of jobs
- Lots of kids in shelters & special ed
- That's a lot of pot!
- About those scooter cabs...
- Meng wants the EPA to take over plane noise issue
- More people living in overcrowded conditions
- Congestion pricing DOA in Albany
- Eyesore at Alley Pond
- "Minor interior alterations" shut down in Flushing
- City enters Supreme Court fight re: voting distric...
- 6 months of destruction at the Steinway Mansion site
- Forget what you heard about the economic benefits ...
- Fresh Pond Road Staples closing
- Air rights an issue
- Forest Hills business scene changing rapidly
-
▼
October
(111)
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Include address of property and any other information you have about it.
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34 comments:
Thanks for posting this up, Crappie, and I'm glad those photos I sent you did the job of illustrating how unbelievably illegal this entire situation was.
Once again, thanks to Senator Avella for reinforcing the concerns that I brought to both the DOB and his office. There's no question that he helped in putting pressure on the DOB to actually do their job.
Paul Graziano
Now it will sit there just like that for several years.
Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't...
Paul and Tony are saving this neighborhood one house at a time. I hope everyone who enjoys living here appreciates that and votes for them. If it weren't for the downzoning, anti mcmansion bill, constant vigilance and rallies they hold to bring attention to the illegal construction in our neighborhood we would have lost it a long time ago.
1 down 1 to go. What's happening with similar situation at 149-15 33rd Avenue?
Unfortunately, our politicians are off most times off in too many directions. They do not get immediate and swift results when it comes to the DOB. They write letters and make phone calls. They mean well but truly accomplish little. FREQUIENTLY, IF NOT ALMOST ALWAYS, DROP THE BALL.
Why have we not heard our Councilman speak out on matters such as this.
The only way this will stop is if we the citizens come together to challenge the City. We have the legal right to sue the City of NY and the NYC DOB. We can file a Special Negligence Case for the harm caused to us. Contrary to belief, municipalities can be sued for the wrongdoing of their employees. The problem is, we the interested citizens -- who have furiously been trying to do that -- cannot find attorneys to take on the cases. They are costly to finance. The City has corporation counsel that contrary to belief employ competent attorneys who are available to litigate these matters for the City. Another issue is how to circumvent the timing requirement to put the City on notice.
Perhaps, our politicians should figure out a way for us to have changes made in that regard.
In the interim, perhaps we should fund our own organization to fund an organization to enable us to hire attorneys to sue the City and the DOB for the harm that they have caused large numbers of citizens. If our legislators do not pass the legislation to protect us, then they too should be held accountable.
At the same time, third parties need to have the legal to sue architects, engineers and other professionals that break the rules and thereby harm us.
There is NO ACCOUNTABILITY. The Quality Life of Adjacent Property owners and the neighborhood as well are severely and adversely affected by the illegal construction that the NYC DOB essentially gives free reign for general contractors, contractors, owners, architects and engineers to
Another Professionally Certified Job. That seemingly somehow passed audit.
The DOB now instead of having a 40-day turnaround time on many types of complaints has a closer to 60-day turnaround. Well, they claim they have over 10,000 construction sites to monitor.
What does that tell you. If you cannot monitor the sites -- STOP ISSUING PERMITS. And, definitely stop encouraging and carelessly reviewing; expediting and permitting jobs.
YES....
why hasn't councilman Vallone been on top of these kinds of issues?
Could it be because he is too busy lobbying for his developer clients, and representing us isn't as critical to his personal political career advancement?
Might Vallone desire a judgeship in the future, and won't upset anybody's apple cart that could spoil his plans?
Does our district really have any good representation besides Tony Avella?
Good job Senator Avella, Good job, Paul Graziano!
Mixed bag. Demo and construction have already occurred, so we know that it will never be put back the way it was, leaving it as crap for several years during litigation and lawsuits. Ultimately it will be purchased by Habib or Kam Fong who will fully level it and Mediterranean McMansion it, right?
Tony and Paul: Kudos to you fellas. You always had my vote and you always will!
Paul can you like have a kid and send him to St. Andrews and expose all the scandal there and clean it up? We'd find a way to canonize you if you could do that. This whole neighborhood is steeped in scandal and hypocrisy. Everything is broken. We need YOU! Run again.
I fear a similar fate is about to occur just several blocks from this site where at 33-10 150th Place; Block 4991, Lot 31 permits have been granted for a new home to be constructed on the site. At the rear is an old barn, which served the builder of many, many homes in the immediate area, (mine included in the forward adjacent house, bordering on 150th St.) who erected so many of these older one families back in the early to mid 1920's. I noticed in the DOB permit filings a grant of zone variance from R-2 to R-3 and permission to expand the site. A return call to me from the Chinese builder with promises to show the proposed replacement plan is still pending. Like many in the area, we are sick and tired of giant structures being erected on formerally 1 family modest plots. Where once lush back yards existed have
been encroached upon by extending these newly built houses like helium baloons.
Having worked with Avella in my contributor position with one of the Queens weekly newspapers, I now find my own personal interest at stake. I would welcome any and all advice as to how to procede to keep this upcoming project in check, so that it does not exeed it's size and proposed plans.
The Avella lovers and Vallone haters are out in force on this thread. surprised it took so long for Vallone's name to appear in a comment.
According to the DOB website NO PERMITS have been issued for 33-10 150th Place. NO DEMO PERMITS ISSUED EITHER.
This is the job description: NEW 2-STORY DETACHED RESIDENCE FOR 1-DWELLING UNIT. OBTAIN NEW C.O. -- DISAPPROVED.
Zoning Characteristics: R2A - SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHED RESIDENCE DISTRICT
Just a small postscript, to the one prior about the upcoming demolition and replacement with one can only assume some ungodly inappropriate replacement of 33-10 150th Place. The former owner, the daughter and life long friend of mine going back some 45 years, was forced to sell when some unknown entity reported a so called illegal working tenant living in her basement. Not some alien but just a single oil burner mechanic who parked his truck in the driveway and was a normal working stiff. From his eviction to her subsequent Housing Court ruling, she sold out to a willing Chinese buyer who brought cash of course. But more to the point, this house, while dating back I think to 1906 is one of the oldest in the area. Just once It would be nice to see a Chinese buyer or builder exercise some historical perspective and honor to some sense of tradition. But given how fast they are abandoning such prosaic notions in their own country it is, I guess, a pipe dream, that any one of these newly gentrified arrivals would consider preservation over devastation. What a shame for history, Flushing and Queens. And ya want to know why ISIS has no desire but to blow up sacred cities, and centuries old monuments. Queens is but a microcosm of the same ethos. OH, I will meet the buyer and newly proposed resident within the hour....stay tuned!
When you meet him be sure to tell him if he builds contrary to code and zoning regulations and operates an unsafe construction site -- you and other feed-up citizens -- will be his worse nightmare. Somehow the Asians seem to believe that the Building Code; Zoning Regulations and NYC Laws do not apply to them. Why is that?
It is because they know that there are little or no consequences. They always seem to be able to get plans approved; and hire architects and engineers to Professionally Certify the Jobs and self-certify the objections. It is common knowledge that the DOB is incapable of overseeing all the jobs that they permit.
There should be a "moratorium" on new projects and the issuance of permits -- until the DOB can adequately oversee each and every project that they permit.
Simple. Yes.
Noted on the DOB Website in response to complaint:
NO PLANS ON SITE & PERMIT INDICATES MINOR INTERIOR RENO NEW ROOF BEING INSTALLED & POSSIBLE ENLARGEMENT OF 1 & 2 FL
Did they mean approved plans? What Permit are they referring to? Beats me! Possible enlargement? Are they not going to demo the house? If I am mistaken please let me know.
Most times it is an absolute waste of time lodging a complaint. Because it is usually mishandled; administratively closed out or not addressed at all. The major of citizens that make complaints have a legitimate reasons to do so. It is pointless to file complaints that are not valid. It is pointless to file valid complaints as well because it mostly is a total waste of time.
Quite frankly, the NYC DOB is an embarrassment to the Mayor and the City that they should address.
No permits issued yet.
Tip: Alt 1 - Mandatory Zoning Review
Self-certification on Alt 1 application triggers an automatic zoning audit.
DOB is supposedly getting stricter about what work the Alt 1 includes.
I can almost guarantee that this monstrosity of a "renovation" will be allowed to continue as planed in the very near future. You have to understand that the people who are trying to stop this do not have the time or resources to spend on stopping this. These owners/developers do nothing but this. They will wait until no one is looking and then find someone they know at DOB and get the stop work order lifted. I see it all the time. Just watch and see what happens
OH, I will meet the buyer and newly proposed resident within the hour....stay tuned!
Please be sure to let us know how that went.
To those reporting similar issues at other locations, to get the DOB to inspect a property like this quickly (usually within 2 days), you need to make a 'Priority A' complaint.
If you call 311 and report work being done without a permit or beyond what the permit permits, it will be opened as a 'Priority B' complaint, which the DOB may not address for a month or two. Instead, tell the 311 representative that you have concerns for the safety of the workers on the site. Mention something like the site has no scaffold or you have concerns about the stability of the existing scaffold. Don't make it sound too dramatic or they might transfer you to 911 instead of putting in a DOB complaint. In addition to the safety concern, mention your actual concern to the representative.
Always check the BIS for permits before complaining, don't make assumptions that the work being done is illegal.
It's unfortunate that we need to lie to get the DOB to respond in a reasonable amount of time, but when homeowners and contractors commit fraud like this, a white lie is a necessary evil.
Camel bladder said...
You are probably right.
The head of DOB and the mayor should tour the area zoned mostly R2A and explain these monstrosities/eyesores - built thanks to them.
Tax money is good, when you get the next letter "Average property value in your area is xxxxxx", well fill in the (higher) numbers. Win win situation.
Only losers are the existing property owners, the old timers.
They will get screwed, but who cares?
The quicker they move out the quicker the builders will litter the landscape with their junk.
So what if the infrastructure is not there. Again, who cares?
I see more mansions going up, one by Bowne Park on 155th Street, one on 32nd Av, all fenced in, seems they started already with gutting the first floor.
By Bowne Park Deli young occidentals spitting, smoking and high fiving each other while their blue BMW (long wheels base) and yellow Lamborghini illegally parked in the bus stop on Bayside Av.
What the heck did they buy the property? Sure looks like.
Sad.
If you are referring to me, Vallone worshipper, I do not love or hate either political side in particular.
Avella has done his job. Vallone has not. Period!
I reserve my hatred for those who might really deserve it. Vallone is far too unimportant for such an energetic dispensation of extreme emotions on my part.
Love and peace to all men and women of good will.
P.S.
I do, however, love my wife, family and neighborhood, and will do my best to protect them.
If Vallone, or his supporters, feathers get ruffled....my comment is.....DO YOUR DAMN JOB , council member Vallone!
Then you'll earn my support, respect and vote.
To that Vallone ass kisser.
Vallone has introduced a bogus bill that would do nothing to protect the deed restrictions in Broadway Flushing.
The expense of defending Rickert Finlay covenants still falls on the head of BFHA.
Vallone would not even support red flagging such deed restricted properties on the DOB files.
There's your phony Valloney for you!
It seems to me that Vallone's "popularity" is waning after he's screwed so many nabes in his district.
My guess is that a few die hard apostles are posting for him here.
My guess is that he's a one termer.
Dump Paul Vallone!
Paul Graziano for city council!
It seems that Paul Graziano is doing his job and Paul Vallone is not doing his very well.
Vallone is an entitled , spoiled little bastard who thinks that his family name guarantees his advancement.
Through family connections, if Vallone weren't a developers' lobbyist, he'd be a common ambulance chasing lawyer!
How many building sites in Flushing have stop work orders?
How many sites have remained an eyesore for years In the process?
1.
Southeast corner of 163 Street and 35 Ave.
2.
The hotel house near I Hop.
Now this one!
How many buyers would want a home next door to any of these stop work eyesores?
The block has been devalued.
The Avella lovers and Vallone haters...
You my friend are a jerk. Is not about love and hate.
If you haven't noticed most people actually care and love their neighborhood.
Seems that some don't.
Especially the new wave of invaders, who have more tricks than Bugs Bunny when it comes to taxes, permits, constructions.
The fact is that Avella cares, Vallone not much.
Actions speak louder than words, election promises.
With this one original post, truly touching many hot buttons it is clearly obvious that nearly all the dissatisfaction is coming from the concerned; the disrupted and long time residents. Yet the new Chinese are as racist and have their beliefs as any entity. The new buyer whom I referenced earlier in this thread met me at the door yesterday of the house that will soon be, for the most part demolished. If this structure were in an episode of This Old House, it would be hailed as a relic worth saving; with its baldustrade, pronounced mouldings, and strategic stained glass panes. Unfortunately this woman named Lucy, will have it gutted and defiled, all while fleeing her "Spanish" dominant East Elmhurst, because she wants to be with more of her own kind. She tried to be reassuring in the presence of her more English language adept teenage daughter, and two other women, likely to foist a stronger front to me, the ascerbic opinionated journalist neighbor, that only four people would be living there after the renovation. They seemed both concerned and impressed when I pointed out my byline and credit in the weekly newspaper I contribute that I'd brought. Would she want to save the historic barn in the back? Oh no, it must come down; too big. Bullshit. She is being driven to spend more money by the builder who like most of their ruthless kind want to excell in their pursuit of not regeneration but wholesale replacement with crap, devoid of taste or excellence for preserving an enclave or a neighbothood. And, today I received a return call from my voice mail message from someone at the City Planning Commission. It was reasonable, conversant, but clearly left for further contact to address my concerns for abuse of the filed plans, property lines, permits, zoning and abuse. I kept pressing the issue that the DOB rarely comes to inspect if construction exceeds the original allowance, demonstratable by many examples as have been cited over and over here on this site. However, if our voices stay persistant, and loud, we can't be totally ignored either by the city or the Chinese. They have to know or be told as blatantly and as often as possible we are not the roll overing kind, no how much cash is waved in our faces.
Just retread this thread. Where are the pro-Vallone comments? I only see comments for Paul Graziano the only Paul who matters.
Crappy check this out
Here is an update on the Bowne Park Deli situation.
Seems the dry cleaner next to the deli is no more.
Sign says Cloud Cove - lounge, e-cigs, gaming.
Lounge in a residential area? Next to the nursery/kindergarten?
WTF? How is this possible?
Something is not right.
Cloud Cave is the name and they are off to a great start:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ComplaintsByAddressServlet?requestid=1&allbin=4109018
Complaint
Number Address Date
Entered Category Inspection
Date Disposition Status
4632079 150-07 BAYSIDE AVENUE 09/24/2015 05 10/05/2015 D5 ACT
CONSTRUCTION WORK NO PERMIT THEY ARE WORKING ON THE VACANT SIDE 1 MONTH FROM 7:00PM- PAST MIDNIGHT THE GATES ARE DOWN YOU SEE SHEET ROCK
4631863 150-07 BAYSIDE AVENUE 09/22/2015 05 ACT
THERE IS BUILDING CONSTRUCTION BEING DONE WITHOUT A PERMIT
4630982 150-07 BAYSIDE AVENUE 09/14/2015 05 10/05/2015 XX RES
workers are operating without a permit and after hours past6pm at night
This crap just never ends.
I love all the Chinese this and that when the house is actually owned by the original destroyers of NYC.
Why do you feel "Cloud Cave" is off to a great start? In my op anyone that pays $2400/mo is foolish, unless they have an ilegal business.
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