On 11/13/15: APPLICATION HEREWITH FILED TO RESTORE EXISTING GAS SERVICE TO DWELLING." - Anonymous
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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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Blog Archive
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2015
(1528)
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November
(111)
- 149th St Bridge may actually be repaired soon
- Parkway Hospital is open and unguarded
- Developer walks away from project
- Last Thanksgiving's exploded house still not repaired
- Fool me once...
- Murdered developer's project vacated by DOB
- Arsonists didn't just damage homes under construction
- Legislation would protect homeowners from sidewalk...
- CB7 wants Waterpointe property rezoned
- Consultants may be considered lobbyists soon
- Jackson Theater a goner
- People with high incomes living in public housing
- The more things change, the more they stay the same
- Yet another Forest Hills fire
- Happy Thanksgiving from Queens Crap (and a real tu...
- DOE withdraws purchase of school site that Vallone...
- "Ninja" set Forest Hills fires?
- Reynoso proposes relaxed rules for cyclists
- Data to be more readily available
- Paragon building to be developed into condos
- MTA won't stick to sound barrier promise
- Hunters Point South phase 2 breaks ground
- His lips are sealed
- Is windfarming in our future?
- Proposal to make LaGuardia shuttle free
- Don't be a victim
- With security like this...
- The great walls of history
- Nothing illegal about hanging dead fish outside
- More kids in classrooms
- What happened to Forest Park's lake?
- RIP Jamaica Renaissance: 2013-2015
- Homelessness down nationwide, up in NYC
- There's no place like home
- Possible SRO created in Brooklyn
- Pan Am shelter resident assaults old man
- Van Bramer angry about AirBnB in affordable housing
- Hoverboards not legal
- Koo not sold on Flushing West project
- More skimming going on
- DeBlasio announces $2.6B homeless plan
- DeBlasio's zoning proposals tank at Borough Board
- Small number of building use a whole lot of energy
- New FMCP conservancy a total sham and a total shame
- DOI arrests inspector for filing false report
- Affordable LIC housing used as AirBnB rental
- It's Forest Hills house burning season
- Putain de merde!
- Special Enforcement to go after illegal hotels
- New call for landmarking Cornell Farm
- Issuing fines easy; collecting is not
- Leaf blowing blows!
- Vicki Been suggests you stop resisting development
- Inclusionary zoning a gift to developers
- No, they don't deserve a raise
- MTA bus device may improve pedestrian safety
- Cuomo changes mind on veterans bill
- Bill to ban credit score for tenant screening
- Dromm only let de Blasio supporters inside town hall
- They want how much of a raise?
- Dangerous conditions existed inside the Glendale y...
- Connecting the congestion pricing dots
- Friday the 13th caption contest
- Know where your food is cooked
- Still no official cause determined for Elmhurst's ...
- Why not the Steinway Mansion?
- A walk in Woodhaven
- Contractor is a wage cheat
- Juniper Valley bocce courts are a soggy mess
- Vito Lopez is dead
- A look inside an illegal conversion
- Council trying to reform campaign finance rules
- Tenants not benefiting from 421-a
- Landlords don't want LINC vouchers
- Kim reverses course on his own bill after donations
- Fire destroys house under construction in Forest H...
- 311 complaints are down, but not due to lack of co...
- Glendale yeshiva vacated by DOB
- LPC rejects Old St. James Parish Hall for not bein...
- How leaders feel about new Bayside high school
- Queens has fewest complaints against NYPD
- Deed fraud is big business
- Bad stuff happening in Queens parks lately
- Mr. Transparent puts his foot down
- SWO ignored yet again at F*cked up Flushing house
- Pol wants to grade day care centers
- Malcolm's in the clink
- Cornell Farm may be in trouble
- Japanese house in Kew Gardens hit with SWO
- Holliswood Hospital may go condo
- Labor violations alleged at affordable housing pro...
- DAs want more money
- How convenient!
- LIC getting ugly pink sculpture
- DeBlasio will answer questions when he is good and...
- New term for those who work at spas
- Gazette a bit confused about election results
- DeBlasio & City Council will no longer support hou...
- Elmhurst LIRR station projected to be functional b...
- Make commuting fair for all?
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November
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14 comments:
Here's a recap of what happened here:
Back in 2009, the North Flushing rezoning (which I helped to design with then-Councilmember Tony Avella) was just about to become law, which included changing the zoning for this property from an R4 multi-family zone with a commercial overlay to the R2A detached single-family zone. 10 days prior to being adopted, the owner of this house and the commercial building behind it on Francis Lewis Boulevard, Paul Rufino, attempted to start construction of a 3-story 8-unit apartment building. A construction fence went up and concrete walls were built about 6 feet high in some spots along the perimeter of the property.
One minor problem: the house, which he said was empty and prepared for demolition, still had a family living in it with all of the utilities still on.
While the site was shut down and the R2A zoning went through, the developer filed a variance at the Board of Standards and Appeals to demand that the DOB permits be allowed.
Avella, as usual, was on it and did everything he could (though he was leaving office) and called out the developer for the illegal plans filed and actions which were taken.
Some of the neighbors met with two of the candidates running for City Council in 2009, both lawyers, to help them with a potential lawsuit against the developer or the city. Both candidates blew them off and told them that there was nothing they could do and they should just give up and deal with it.
The two candidates in question? Dan Halloran and Paul Vallone.
After that meeting, I met with those neighbors and told them that, in fact, they had a great case to go forward and stop the proposed variance. In response, a new civic association was formed by the neighbors called the Northeast Flushing Civic Association, or NEFCA, and dealt with both fighting back the proposed variance and other continued bad behavior by the developer.
I worked closely with the lawyer they hired on my recommendation, Marc Bresky, who is not unknown to the civic associations and other organizations in Queens for being one of the few litigators who will work hard to help people fight against illegal development in the borough.
After several years of arguments by Bresky and NEFCA, the DOB admitted that they gave out the permits in error due to the false documents submitted by the developer and the BSA denied the variance. The developer then brought a lawsuit to the New York Supreme Court to overturn the BSA decision and, after he lost, appealed several times to the Appellate Court, which he also lost. Still, the developer refused to give up and fix the mess that he had created. He even tried to renegotiate with NEFCA in order to get their support to do more than he was allowed. They said NO.
With the permits that have been filed as of a few weeks ago, Paul Rufino has finally capitulated. A new family has signed a two-year lease, the fence is coming down, along with all of the concrete walls, and new plumbing and utilities are being installed inside the house. If this all follows through correctly (and it should), 6.5 years later, NEFCA has won a great victory!
The moral of the story?
1) Don't listen to asshole lawyers running for political office who are in the pockets of developers like Paul Rufino - and deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra famously said, in terms of Vallone's actions on the proposed high school debacle at the Bayside Jewish Center.
2) Organize, get real legal advice and assistance and keep the heat on.
3) Never, ever give up as long as you have the facts - and the law - on your side.
Paul Graziano
You guys were quite persistent!
Good job, but, IMHO you got lucky...
Carnac the Magnificent predicts that Stinky will somehow try to take credit for this victory by the civic association. Keep exposing Vallone's lies, whenever and wherever they appear.
Thanks Paul !
Thanks Paul Graziano, Tony Avella, NEFCA and Mark Bresky for all you did here. I live two blocks from the site and I'm glad this landlord/developer didn't get to crap all over my neighborhood in order to line his pockets.
a battle won
but the war is lost
a battle won
but the war is lost
What imagined war would that be?
This was a very important battle. If this project had been approved by either the DOB or the BSA, it would have set a precedent for any developer to proceed in a similar manner. Winning in court was even more critical, as there is now caselaw that protects neighborhoods from this kind of situation from occurring again.
Finally, I misspoke about one thing: the developer had stated that the house was ALREADY demolished in his paperwork, not that it was vacant and ready to be torn down. Frankly, that is about as felonious as it gets and he and his architect should have been arrested for perjury.
Paul Graziano
If the administration has no desire to prosecute, this will just continue.
How are those deportations going???
Often, when the law and the facts are there ..... the individuals like adjacent neighbors cannot afford the legal fees that must be paid to fight the project.
Perhaps a fund is needed so that we the people can band together to fight these illegal projects. Also, people are often afraid to go up against developers that are notorious. Others are just too lazy to fight the project and sit back and let others do all the work.
"Avella, as usual, was on it and did everything he could (though he was leaving office) and called out the developer for the illegal plans filed and actions which were taken."
The architects should also be held accountable. They should not only lose their privileges with the DOB, which obviously is not a strong enough deterrent -- they should lose their licenses as well.
The DOB makes what they call "errors" / "mistakes" and we suffer the consequences. We need to file a class action against the AGENCY and hold the City and the DOB accountable. Maybe then, and only then, the DOB will endeavor to weed out all the corruption and hire qualified people.
By the way, Dan Halloran said about the Huang's Bayside development -- let him get finished -- because in the end he will -- and let him get out of here. Halloran did nothing with regard to fighting the project. Senator Avella seems to have tried his best. Unfortunately, Tommy Huang is not your average developer. In recent years, Vallone's office was approached for help and his underlings would not even come to take a look at the horrendous project. They said send us pictures. Pictures were not sent. Shame on the Councilman and his staff.
a battle won
but the war is lost
Wining a war is about winning battles.
Isn't it?
we lost & continue to lose many battles
we lost & continue to lose many battles
We win some battles and we lose some.
If we don't fight, we lose them all.
Paul Graziano
Perhaps a fund is needed so that we the people can band together to fight these illegal projects.
BFHA has a legal fund for just such purposes, within Broadway-Flushing. Every year, when they send dues reminders, they also ask for donations to the legal fund. I always give.
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