The Bukharian Jewish Center of Forest Hills is calling a series of fires throughout Forest Hills a hate crime and is offering $50,000 reward for tips after the latest suspected arson hit the home of a rabbi early Sunday morning.
A police spokeswoman said the investigation was ongoing and that the NYPD could not confirm whether the arsons are a hate crime yet.
The house burned in the most recent incident belongs to Rabbi Valman Zvulunov, the director of the Bukharian Jewish Center’s Yeshiva, who lives in Maspeth.
At an emergency meeting convened by an ad hoc committee of leaders from the Bukharian Jewish Center Sunday morning, Zvulunov received a call about his house being burned at about 2 a.m., he said, noting that in the last incident, someone set a small fire to a doorway and the Fire Department had put it out.
Rafael Nektalov, editor and publisher of the Bukharian Times, a weekly newspaper, said every victim is a member of the Bukharian community, noting that if the incident had occurred in Russia or France, “there would have been headlines about fires in the Jewish quarter.”
Aron Borukhov, a lawyer who spoke on behalf of the ad hoc committee, who is also part of the committee, suggested that cops put a patrol at every construction site and 360-degree-view cameras at every intersection.
He explained that because there is a permit posted at construction sites showing who the owner is, the arsonist knows who owns the houses.
“It (fires) has been only the Jewish community,” he said. “Nobody else. We can only make conclusions from what we have seen.”
These sites most likely are targets because they are unguarded at night. An arsonist is not going to light an occupied house on fire. A posted permit generally lists the name of the contractor that applied for it, not the owner of the house. And if you can afford to build a mansion, you should be able to afford a night watchman to protect it.
UPDATE: The biker has been ruled out as a suspect.
49 comments:
These houses cost millions of dollars to build. The owners should be able to afford their own security and not ask taxpayers to foot the bill.
These ugly brick & cement box tributes to themselves should be banned unless they have parking for 6 cars. 15 people, 3 generations of family average live in them. Most every one of these colonists living in these boxes will have cars at some point !!
Perhaps they should be happy with the house they buy and not tear it down to build some ugly monstrosity.
These people think the world needs to revolve around them and anyone who feels otherwise is an anti-Semite or hate-monger. remember the issue with Lefrak city when they complained they couldn't open the electronic doors and wanted the entire system changed for their religious reasons?? these people are a joke.
and if the arsonist really was looking to commit a hate crime, he would target your homes directly and watch you cry out to Yahweh as it burned.
get over yourselves. Jews destroy everything they set their sights on, turnabout is fair play
The only hate I see is the hate of poor architecture. It's awful.
'And if you can afford to build a mansion, you should be able to afford a night watchman to protect it.'
Plus the first comment with the same sentiment.
What a disgusting display from small minded people. What shame on the Times Ledger for writing that.
If you get mugged and have your iPhone taken is it ok because you can afford a new one? If your nice expensive car is stolen is it ok because you can afford another?
They do not ask the taxpayers to 'foot the bill' for their own security. If you are the victim of a home invasion should you have paid for your own protection?
Is it unreasonable to expect police to protect private property?
You may not be as well off as the people who are building these mansions, but always remember there are people who are worse off than you. Is it ok for them to take your stuff because you can replace it?
Bad enough someone would write that as a comment, worse that the Times Ledger put that in an article.
Maybe the arsonist doesn't care that Jews own the mansions in progress, but that the buildings are hideous.
They really do need to hire their own guards for these construction sites. Or they need to join forces with the 112pct and start their own watch at night because clearly the cops do not have the manpower to sit on and watch every site in the area all night trying to catch this guy in the act.
You get the community you are active in.
The test case then should be a Jew who builds a new house that is not over-sized and enhances rather than detracts from the architectural character of the neighborhood.
That would determine if we are dealing here with an anti-Semite (if it is arsoned) or a violent unhinged architectural critic (if it is not).
What a disgusting bunch of racists posting comments on this story.
I think I will give Queens Crap a pass from now on.
I don't like the company that associates with it.
"Bad enough someone would write that as a comment, worse that the Times Ledger put that in an article."
I wrote that, genius, not the Times Ledger. Most construction sites hire private security. Why would these folks expect that there wouldn't be a problem without it? People steal materials and equipment from construction sites frequently.
What a disgusting bunch of racists posting comments on this story.
Stop grandstanding.
Lots of people are outraged by the crazy actions of this lowlife.
I don't agree with everything I read, some people don't agree with everything I post and that is OK. We are not at the nursery.
We are dealing with a serious crime here that needs to be stopped before someone gets hurt.
btw I read the community posted 50K reward in addition to the city's 12.5K.
"What a disgusting bunch of racists posting comments on this story."
Racists? What race do you think we commenters are? And what race are the Bukhs? Duh.
'Racists? What race do you think we commenters are? '
I don't think I am a self loathing jew, but I guess I am the exception.
I just think people are finally just fed up with all the bullshit in this city that allows crooked politicians and city agencies to not do their damn jobs and let residents do whatever they want to destroy communities with over sized properties, paving over anything that is green. This city does absolutely nothing and the people do whatever they hell they want, so I guess the arsonist is doing whatever the hell he/she wants.
At this point who gives a fuck anymore. And if you shall out big bucks for an ugly cemented mansion, then provide fucking security for you own damn property.
And learn to fucking read.
'And if you can afford to build a mansion, you should be able to afford a night watchman to protect it. And the person who made the said this:
Plus the first comment with the same sentiment. What a disgusting display from small minded people. What shame on the Times Ledger for writing that.
THOSE WORDS ARE NOT IN THE TIMES LEDGER. READ!!!!!!
Maybe this so called arsonist should be relocating to FluShing, for more raw projects going up. The Chinese are as bad as the houses that have been burned in terms of gross violation of taste, community mindedness, and just their don't give a crap attitude about anyone but themselves.
Not everything is RACISM!! Walk by the streets where these incidents have taken place and you will seewhat long time residents are angry about. Forest Hills isn't Beverly Hills or Palm Beach for that matter.
It makes no sense to build these crappy over-sized behemoths in the limited terrain that was laid out by city planners when they developed this neighborhood.
ARSON is fucking wrong !! Labeling something as RACIST without any reasonable justification to back it up is wrong as well. I hope they find this fucker so that peace comes back to this neighborhood... Happy Chanukah !!
Having grown up in Forest Hills and having friends among those who dwell in the Cord Meyer section, I am terribly disappointed at the comments posted here. While I've had questions about the cost and appearance of the McMansions, I cannot stand silent when Joe Moretti spews slander against my friends. Go ahead, call me a hack. I can take it.
Suppose that the construction sites have violations, how does this justify putting the sites to the torch?
Suppose the properties do not fit into the historical and aesthetic context of the surrounding neighborhood, how does this justify putting the sites to the torch?
Suppose that the property owners pay their taxes and are upset that after two months, the arsonist still hasn't been caught, why should they have to pay for private security to do the police's job? If needed, my folks can easily form our own patrols, just as we have our own volunteer ambulance service when it is needed.
Suppose that a family that worked hard to make it in this country loses everything because of a firebug? Large homes are built so that grandparents can live with the grandchildren, rather than warehoused in a nursing home or hospice, to be cremated thereafter. Imagine a community that respects its elders.
Suppose that there are other hardworking immigrant communities that also have a penchant for building large homes, but only the homes owned by Bukharians are put to the torch, why isn't this regarded as hate when only one group suffers?
I would not be surprised if the arsonist is a regular Queens Crap reader. I hope that his IP will be traced and he will be found. Considering the damage he caused, he would be fortunate to be safely under arrest.
Maybe this so called arsonist should be relocating to FluShing
So your are saying he or she should burn down the neighborhoods based on ethnicity?
What a stupid comment.
People the issue is with the city!!!!
Next to me they allowed a mansion to be built, the owners are running a full service business, gambling den, prostitution you name it. Endless complaints to 311 from the residents of the area and nothing gets done.
Whoever gives permits and allows these mansions to be built is at fault no one else.
Arson is a serious crime and serial arson is even more serious.
Vote the bums out if you want change.
Hold them accountable once in office.
In all fairness Crapper, there is no division in the post above between the Times article and your comment other then a change from italic to standard type. Instead of blaming someone for not reading maybe you should clearly delineate your comments better. Or was it your intention to deliberately obfuscate the fact that it wasn't part of the original article?
Anon said;
Large homes are built so that grandparents can live with the grandchildren, rather than warehoused in a nursing home or hospice, to be cremated thereafter. Imagine a community that respects its elders.
BULLSHIT. How big does a house need to be to have grandparents stay. Many people have their parents live with them when they get older and they don't big huge behemoths. And many people have big ass houses and put their parents in nursing homes.
And by the way, if the arsonist is on this site, how do you link a comment (and his ISP address) to arson. Quite a stretch. There is something called evidence.
Not condoning arson, just saying many people are fed up with all the bullshit in this small city jam packed with millions and millions of people. I guess the logical choice would be to move rather than commit arson, but then arsonists are not quite logical folks.
Also, you don't like the comments on Queens Crap, don't read it, I mean this is not the Wall Street Journal.
PS:
ANON stated:
Suppose that the property owners pay their taxes and are upset that after two months, the arsonist still hasn't been caught, why should they have to pay for private security to do the police's job?
--------------------------
The police jobs is not to provide private security and it is not the job of private security to find arsonist, they provide security of said property. If you have a McMansion in Forest Hills, you can provide security if need be to the arsonist is caught.
In all fairness Crapper, there is no division in the post above between the Times article and your comment other then a change from italic to standard type. Instead of blaming someone for not reading maybe you should clearly delineate your comments better. Or was it your intention to deliberately obfuscate the fact that it wasn't part of the original article?
It's funny, but I've been writing this site for several years in exactly this format and no one has been "confused" about it until today. It says right in the sidebar that the italicized passages are what's quoted.
"It's funny, but I've been writing this site for several years in exactly this format and no one has been "confused" about it until today. It says right in the sidebar that the italicized passages are what's quoted."
hey crapper, people nowadays will complain about anything. how dare you not make a clear demarcation between quoted text and your own each and every time! are we supposed to actually READ the sidebar? me sorry, i ejumacated in publick skool and read not so good.
you're doing a fine job crapper. just more lazy people than educated in this world.
I find it odd that this morning I posted a comment saying the Bukharians were on TV claiming me this was a hate crime and the mods didn't let my comment go through. Well like I said, they all claim it's a hate crime but I doubt it.
@Joe Moretti
Wrong:
NY Laws ›
Penal Law ›
Part 3 ›
Title I ›
Article 150
ARSON
Section Offense Class
150.00 Arson; definitions.
150.01 Arson in the fifth degree. A MISD
150.05 Arson in the fourth degree. E FELONY
150.10 Arson in the third degree. C FELONY
150.15 Arson in the second degree. B FELONY
150.20 Arson in the first degree. A-I FELONY
When the torch is found, I predict it is a disgruntled/angry Buk.
"I find it odd that this morning I posted a comment saying the Bukharians were on TV claiming me this was a hate crime and the mods didn't let my comment go through. Well like I said, they all claim it's a hate crime but I doubt it."
Did you check the previous post abut this topic? Because that's where you commented and I posted it. :::rolling eyes:::
Anonymous Anonymous said...
@Joe Moretti
Wrong:
NY Laws ›
Penal Law ›
Part 3 ›
Title I ›
Article 150
ARSON
Section Offense Class
150.00 Arson; definitions.
150.01 Arson in the fifth degree. A MISD
150.05 Arson in the fourth degree. E FELONY
150.10 Arson in the third degree. C FELONY
150.15 Arson in the second degree. B FELONY
150.20 Arson in the first degree. A-I FELONY
-------------------------------------------------
And what is your point, we all know arson is a crime. Yes, police are to investigate, they are not to provide security at private property as one person stated. So exactly what was the point of stating something everyone knows and pointing it a me.
And not to beat a dead horse, but how does anyone know that it is a hate crime at this point. Someone mention names on the permits, but normally the names on construction permits rarely are the owners names and of the builder or developer, not the person owning the house. Not everything in this day and age is a hate crime, real easy to go that route.
I have not heard from our Borough President on this issue and find that a little odd, but did dig up this 2008 NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/nyregion/05forest.html?hp&_r=1&. Interesting what Melinda Katz, then Councilwoman had to say about these big Bukharian McMansions:
There, Bukharians have been tearing down the neighborhood’s sedate Tudor, Georgian and Cape Cod-style homes, paving over lawns and erecting white-brick edifices that borrow from old Europe, with sweeping balustrades, stone lions bracketing regal double doorways, chateau-style dormers and pitched roofs, Romanesque and Greek columns and ornate wrought-iron balconies accented with gold leaf that glints in the sun.
But while the Bukharians’ arrival has been a boon for the area’s residential construction industry, it has been a bane for some neighbors. These residents have complained about the Bukharian tendency to build boldly and big, saying that the new houses are destroying their neighborhoods.
“There is a lot of history in the Cord Meyer area and a lot of historical houses that have a specific aesthetic character in that community,” said Melinda R. Katz, a city councilwoman whose district includes Forest Hills. “A lot of the houses that are going up there are just simply too big relative to the other houses that are there and have been there for generations. They are out of character.”
@Joe Moretti
Is an investigation. That's the point.
Providing or not providing security, who what when, based on your assumptions is not really an option is it?
Speed limits are enforced for the benefit of the insurance companies.
So what the hell is your point?
You know fires do get out of hand.
Innocent people might get hurt.
And that is the point.
"Large homes are built so that grandparents can live with the grandchildren, rather than warehoused in a nursing home or hospice, to be cremated thereafter. Imagine a community that respects its elders."
They can just stick their ashes right in the walls of these buildings since most of them already look like mausoleums.
“There is a lot of history in the Cord Meyer area and a lot of historical houses that have a specific aesthetic character in that community,” said Melinda R. Katz
I don't remember having a pretty house to look at as being one of the unalienable rights.
One more thing and this is an important thing that no one has really addresses, even that NY Times article I shared. The problem is not people building such big homes, the problem are those powers that be who are responsible for such zoning to allow such out of place homes in such small areas. Remember this is not the sprawling suburbs, where you can build big. We are talking small communities that were not designed to have every inch of ground have an entire foundation.
So in the NY Times article, when Katz was a councilman, she talked about these big houses were out of place, but she did not talk about the zoning which allowed them.
I just walked through the neighborhood. I can imagine the fear of families who live next to homes under construction. Can you imagine going to sleep not knowing whether the house next to yours could be the next to burn? As an earlier commentator mentioned, often these are families with small children and grandparents under one roof.
Whatever concerns I've had on the architectural tastes of my friends in Forest Hills, I stand with them in solidarity. Joe Moretti, you are a piece of work. I'll end my comment with that.
@Joe Moretti
"Remember this is not the sprawling suburbs"
Exactly.
So ask the homeowners how much are they paying in taxes?
10, 15, 20 thousand dollars a year?
So who is really benefiting from all these mansions whether in Forest Hills or Flushing or Bayside? Who is issuing permits? What are the zoning laws?
Meanwhile the homeowners in the area after paying all kinds of monies can live in fear because of some sicko.
And finally NYPD stepped up the efforts to catch him or her.
@Sergey Kadinsky
Agreed.
This type of criminal conduct cannot be condoned.
Some people seem to think the creep is stealing construction materials from the sites and the owners should hire private security.
What happens if one of these fires touches a gas line?
Lots of misleading s going on here.
The story's about "the grandparents" is a shill regarding most these cement boxes
These people build extra HUGE so they can host extended and other peoples family’s wile THEIR homes are being built. (being your dealing with Russia its impossible for the city to prove who's family coming over and who's not) The process then repeats itself. Its a system these people developed to quickly take over and colonize neighborhoods. --As in BLOCK BUSTING. As if to say "FU we have money, we have power, GTF out 'or with us" or soon be outnumbered and stepped on like a bug. If you ever had to deal with these Russians you quickly learn they are extremely aggressive egomaniac monsters who only care about themselves ! I also question what they do for work.
Now the Asians have learned from these people and are doing the same dam thing.
If there was a night watchman, the arsonist would keep walking. That's what these folks don't seem to understand. Invest in security and you won't see your investment go up in smoke.
"If there was a night watchman, the arsonist would keep walking."
Is that a fact?
Spend millions on building your "palace" then skimp on security.
A very stupid move, regardless of the circumstances.
So how many houses set ablaze are "love crimes"???
Some of these home are being used for holding religious services so that they avoid paying taxes. Why isn't this being investigated?
Exactly where the fuck do some of you think I am condoning the actions of the arsonist? I have never said that, but some of you feel the need to twist words to suit your narrative.
Anon stated: "While I've had questions about the cost and appearance of the McMansions, I cannot stand silent when Joe Moretti spews slander against my friends."
Again where did I "slander" against "your friends". Slander the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. Show me an example in this post of that or where I condone the arsonist. Some of you sound like Fox News, just say it and it is truth.
Not a peep out of the Queens Borough President who represents " The world's borough and borough of families". What's that all about? Borough of families?
No peep out of the Queens Borough President likely because a Jew never goes against another Jew in NYC. Katz is a chicken shit not ready to deal with the wrath that will come from those people. (and Im sure Curtis told her about them) --Not all but SOME of them without question have ties to Russian businessmen who are not the boy scouts.
the uzbek muslims are targeting jewish homes
>No peep out of the Queens Borough President likely because a Jew never goes against another Jew in NYC.
Then why is she keeping mum instead of supporting her fellow Jews who are having their homes burnt down?
"Then why is she keeping mum instead of supporting"
Like hinted here because some real nasty mob organization is likely doing this over some sort of beef with construction company's or owners. Who knows what deals were made here (or over in Russia) --Follow the money
It wouldn't surprise me if some of these politicians are involved or on the 'payroll". They would have so many skeletons in the closet for blackmail etc they could never open their mouths.
These Uzbek, Russian, Albanian & eastern block mobs are particularly very nasty, women, children, pets, relatives (anythings game) For example In the good old days the Italians would never banned affiliation with Albanians because they were too friggan crazy and unstable in the brain. Uzbek, and Georgi's are WORSE. I'm sure people get my point.
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