Rogue parking company reimagines and colonizes the curbs

 

South ozone Park 152nd Ave from 129th street to 124th street all streets affected by this long-term parking lot company parking customers vehicles out side of their lots onto the street. 

 ARB parking lot located 128–20 152nd Avenue. park AC, which has since changed its name to Apex JFK parking. ARB parking lot was exposed by CBS News in June 2023 and February 2024 they are operating these lots without licenses however, even with the news exposing them. it still continues every time there is a holiday and during the summer months.

 And when these lots run out of room inside they flood the streets with customers vehicles they will even park them blocks away. They don’t care. if you look at there reviews on Google, you will see nothing but negativity on these two parking lots who are both affiliated with one another 

 Another problem with these parking lot companies they speed through the streets here recklessly with their company van not even paying attention looking at their phones they blow stop signs and speed through a school zone.

 It seems to be falling on deaf ears, no matter who you complain to. Nothing is being done.

What happened to the DOT's curb enthusiasm and passion against parked vehicles? Or is that only in areas where the urbanism lobbyists and their owners and donors live?

Socialist beats sociopath to win NYC mayoral democrat primary

NY Post 

Dark-horse socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani staged a stunning upset Tuesday night by knocking off former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary.

“Tonight we made history,” Mamdani told supporters at his victory party after midnight. “In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘It always seems impossible until it is done.’ My friends, we have done it. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”

The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman defied polls and expectations as he notched a likely insurmountable 7-point lead over Cuomo, the three-term governor who hoped to make a political comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2021.

“Tonight is his night. He deserved it, he won,” a seemingly shell-shocked Cuomo, 67, said as he conceded to Mamdani.

The first round of the ranked-choice voting contest had Mamdani ahead with 43.51% of votes, followed by Cuomo’s 36.42% and city Comptroller Brad Lander’s 11.31%, Board of Elections unofficial results show. Mamdani carried roughly 432,000 votes to Cuomo’s 362,000, the results show.

 

The state lawmaker didn’t crack 50% of votes, so the contest will still be decided July 1 once the other rounds of ranked-choice votes are calculated.

But the first-round totals still put the avowed democratic socialist within sight of becoming New York City’s next mayor.

Cuomo conceded he lost the primary as he addressed his campaign’s watch party — and signaled he may not run in the November general election on an independent line, as widely assumed.

“Tonight was not our night,” Cuomo said, as he praised Mamdani’s grassroots campaign, which mobilized young, far-left voters with catchy campaign promises and slogans focusing on affordability.

“It’s affordability, stupid,” quipped longtime New York City political operative Kevin McCabe, in a reference to Bill Clinton, about the issue that decided the race.

A win by Mamdani is bound to have sweeping impacts beyond the Big Apple and signal the rising power of the Democrats’ progressive wing, especially over aging party stalwarts such as Cuomo.

His near-insurmountable lead hints he could be replicating what his backer and fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did in 2018, as she ran as a charismatic outsider to topple entrenched Democrat Joe Crowley — only he did it across the whole city, a political veteran told The Post.

Cuomo could barely be seen actually on the campaign trail as he relied on his name recognition, backing of powerful unions and attacks against Mamdani’s thin legislative record and ample history of criticizing Israel.

The scandal-scarred ex-governor entered the race in March as the clear frontrunner, but saw his polling lead steadily chipped away by Mamdani, who waged a social media-friendly campaign heavy on proposed freebies — which he plans to pay for by hiking taxes on billionaires and businesses.

“He should’ve learned a lesson from the terrible, Rose Garden race that Joe Crowley ran against AOC. Like Crowley, Cuomo was arrogant and grossly underestimated his opponent,” said Democratic operative Ken Frydman.

A year after the slumlord fire, tenants and the building they once called home are still suffering

 

QNS

Eighteen months after a five-alarm fire gutted a Queens apartment building, dozens of displaced tenants remain locked out of their homes — and now, state lawmakers are proposing legislation to hold landlords accountable for prolonged repair delays across New York City.

The fire ignited just before noon on Dec. 20, 2023, at 43-09 47th Ave. in Sunnyside, as residents prepared for the holiday season. Investigators determined the blaze was caused by a contractor hired by building owner A&E Real Estate. The contractor was illegally using a blowtorch during construction work.

What unfolded in Sunnyside has become a symbol of a broader crisis. Across the five boroughs, tenants displaced by fires often wait months — or even years — to return home, as landlords delay essential repairs and face few consequences. The Sunnyside case has galvanized lawmakers to push for stricter enforcement and firm deadlines to accelerate recovery and protect tenants left in housing limbo.

The December 2023 inferno displaced approximately 250 residents, many of whom had lived in rent-stabilized units for years. More than half of the apartments in the six-story, 107-unit building were rent-stabilized or rent-controlled, including the home of Lauren Koenig, who had lived there for 13 years and paid $2,650 in monthly rent for her stabilized unit.

For Koenig, reentering the housing market after more than a decade in a regulated apartment has been financially and emotionally overwhelming.

“It was a perfect storm,” she said. “You’ve got the holidays, housing crisis, inflation.”

In the aftermath of the fire, A&E Real Estate offered displaced tenants six-month temporary relocation license agreements, allowing them to rent units in other A&E-owned buildings at the same rate they had paid in Sunnyside. Under mounting pressure from elected officials and community members, the company later extended the agreements twice — each time for an additional six months.

But tenant Lauren Koenig said most residents turned down the offers, noting that the available apartments were located far from their Sunnyside neighborhood — in the Bronx or deep into Queens — effectively uprooting them from the community they had long called home.

“Only about 25 people took the deal, because it’s a raw deal,” Koenig said. “I didn’t take it.”

Koenig said tenants had repeatedly asked A&E to offer alternate housing in its other Sunnyside properties, but the company was not responsive. As a result, she spent nearly a year without stable housing, relying on the generosity of friends and moving between apartments as she searched for something suitable in the area.

“I don’t have kids — I only have to take care of myself,” she said. “I can’t imagine the pain of trying to do this while caring for an elderly parent, or with a newborn, young children, or pets. I cannot imagine what others went through.”

Koenig eventually secured an apartment nearby, but it came at a steep cost: $3,100 per month — $500 more than her previous rent-stabilized unit — amounting to a $6,000 annual increase.

In response, an A&E spokesperson said the company had only a limited number of vacant units in Sunnyside and insisted it “did its best” to keep displaced residents in the neighborhood. While acknowledging the hardship tenants faced, the spokesperson called the situation “imperfect” and maintained that the company’s options were limited.

Melissa Orlando, a market-rate tenant who was displaced by the fire, said she immediately found another apartment in the area because she had a young son and didn’t want to “bounce around” from place to place. Furthermore, she was going from one market rate unit to another, so the price difference wasn’t vast. However, many tenants with rent stabilized and rent controlled units could not afford comparable apartments at the new price.

“Fortunately, I had the means to go and find a new place to live, but the rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants in that building are here, there and everywhere, scattered, all over the city,” Orlando said. “A lot of them have been in that building for very long time… and if you’re in something that was stabilized or rent-controlled and now to have to go out into the market, that’s a serious shock.”

On the day of the fire, Orlando heard sirens but smelled no smoke. She left her apartment only after checking the Citizen app, grabbing whatever essentials she could. At the time, she assumed she would be able to return home later that evening.

In the shock of watching the fire rip through the building, Orlando admitted thinking that she might be able to re-enter her apartment that evening.

In the days immediately following the fire, Orlando said A&E appeared responsive, setting up a temporary office across the street, distributing holiday gifts and meals to impacted families. But that initial cooperation quickly faded. After Christmas, Orlando said, A&E’s tone shifted — and interactions with tenants became increasingly tense.

“Every step of the way it’s been a fight with them,” she said.

Orlando also said the alternative accommodation offered by A&E was in “far-flung places” where she didn’t feel safe walking at night.

Nearly 18 months later, no repair work has begun on the building, despite repeated calls from tenants, elected officials, and city agencies. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is now suing A&E to compel them to begin restoration.

 

 Sunnyside Post

NYC Council Member Julie Won has penned an open letter criticizing the owners of a Sunnyside apartment complex damaged by a five-alarm fire last December for allowing the area surrounding the site to become a “dumping ground” over the past several months.

Won addressed the letter to A&E Real Estate, the landlord of an apartment building at 43-09 47th Ave., severely damaged by fire on Dec. 20 last year.

She accused A&E of allowing litter, trash and human waste to build up around the perimeter of the building over the last few months, writing that she has personally seen Sunnyside residents wading through bottles filled with urine, bags filled with waste and other forms of trash.

Won described the situation as “an egregious health hazard and profoundly unsanitary” and added that the problem partly stems from security workers at the building having no access to port-a-potties or trash cans.

She cited NYC Admin. Code 16-118, which states that property owners and landlords are required to keep public areas near a building in a clean and sanitary condition, including sidewalks and the first 18 inches of road by the sidewalk.

“A&E has not adhered to this law, instead allowing the sidewalk under the scaffolding to go into disrepair and allow litter to accumulate even on the road outside the building,” Won said in the letter. “This presents unsanitary conditions and a possible fire hazard.”

A spokesperson for Won said the issue dates back to at least the start of the summer, stating that the Council Member has regularly sent Department of Sanitation and ACE cleaning teams to clean up the area.

However, the spokesperson said the current state of the building is encouraging people to dump trash and garbage underneath the scaffolding, meaning that the area quickly becomes litter-strewn after each cleaning.

Won has urged A&E to dedicate time and resources to keeping the public-facing areas of the building clean and free of litter, while she has also asked the real estate company to provide overnight port-a-potty access to security workers on a daily basis.

Won has requested a response from A&E by Oct. 15.

Candidate busted ripping down and discarding opponent's legally posted campaign material

Bro, if your campaign is going to do shit like this, you send a volunteer out to do it. This way if they get caught, you issue a statement apologizing and saying they have been spoken to and it won't happen again.
This dude also has been sucking up to a TransAlt group that wants to take the B13 away from Glendale, so watch out, District 30!

Not a surprise then that Bob Holden endorsed Phil Wong.

Caption Transportation Alternatives

The fugliest apartment building in the City Of Yes.

I like to call this the Felix The Cat building, because it looks like his magic bag of tricks made it.

Police got their back

 

 Queens Eagle

It took four decades, but residents of Southeast Queens and the elected officials who represent them say their neighborhoods are finally getting the policing they deserve.

NYPD officials and elected officials said last week that since the new 116th Precinct finally opened in December to police the neighborhoods of Springfield Gardens, Brookville, Laurelton, and Rosedale, response times in adjacent precincts are down and the new cops are beginning to address long-time local complaints.

Speaking before the City Council on Thursday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that response times in the two precincts that used to split the area now covered by the 116th are significantly down.

“We have seen great results, I would say, in terms of the decrease in response times since that command opened up,” Tisch said. “We are pleased with what we are seeing in terms of the trends in response times.”

In the 105th Precinct, response times have been cut by more than half. Before the 116th opened, 105th Precinct cops took an average of 21 minutes and three seconds to respond. Now, it takes them, on average, eight minutes and 38 seconds.

Response times for the 113th Precinct have also decreased by a little over four minutes, down from 20 minutes and 48 seconds to 16 minutes and 19 seconds on average.

The new precinct is staffed by 199 people, including two captains, seven lieutenants, 20 sergeants, 147 police officers and detectives and 23 civilians.

The Eagle reached out to the NYPD for response times for 116th Precinct and whether or not those staffing levels are expected to grow. The NYPD’s press office referred the Eagle back to Tisch’s Thursday comments, which did not answer the questions.

Tisch on Thursday was asked about the 116th during a City Council budget hearing by the local councilmember, Selvana Brooks-Powers, who is happy with the results the precinct has brought so far.

“Response times [being] down is something that's significant,” she told the Eagle. “That's an area that the community, for many years, complained about. At times, there were people who would call my office and feel like calling the precinct was a waste of time because of how long it would take. I don't hear those complaints right now…the data around it supports what we're feeling on the ground.”

Before the 116th opened, the 105th and 113th split the large chunk of Southeast Queens, meaning cops were travelling large distances to respond to calls.

“If there was a big situation happening in the southern part of the community, they would have to get there from the far end of their confines,” Brooks-Powers said. “But right now, this is a precinct that's within our community, so naturally they're going to be able to respond much more quickly.”

Brooks-Powers said she is happy with the community and policing efforts from the new precinct, as well as the management of the station from its inaugural commanding officer, Jean Beauvoir.

“They've been also taking steps to be more community oriented,” she said. “I've seen firsthand the work that they've done to really combat a lot of the double parking that we experience along the Merritt Boulevard corridor, in particular.”

 

Radical group gets to discriminate at a community garden for a month longer.

 

 

 Queens Chronicle

Shortly after the city Parks Department moved to evict Ridgewood’s Sunset Community Garden, it said it will stick around.

The group behind the garden at Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues said Wednesday that the New York County Supreme Court has granted a temporary restraining order against Parks and GreenThumb, the agency’s program that supports hundreds of gardens in the city. 

Parks had issued a termination notice last month after it found the group out of compliance with community garden rules for requiring new members to affirm its political and ideological views. Those who wish to join the garden are required to uphold a set of “community values” that includes rejections of Zionism, homophobia, transphobia, racism and sexism. 

The agency said it had been working with the group since last September to address violations.

Members say the city also tried to remove a memorial honoring transgender activist Cecilia Gentili, for whom the garden has been renamed Jardin de Santa Cecilia. Parks said the altar did not qualify for permanent installation and that, although it had suggested ways to keep it on display, the group refused.

“As Pride begins, this victory makes clear: Our lives, art, and voices are not violations. They are human rights,” group leaders said in a press release. “Pride is a riot they can’t silence, and this garden is a home they can’t take away from us.”

A Parks spokesperson said the agency was notified Tuesday that a garden member had filed an order to show cause for a TRO to enjoin Parks from ending the garden’s license agreement. The TRO was signed the next day and will remain in effect until July 17, when the court is set to hear arguments from both sides regarding next steps, the agency said. 

According to the group, the court determined there was a “likelihood of success” on the merits of its allegations of violations of the city’s Human Rights Law and the First Amendment. It said in the release that the city falsely labeled its community values discriminatory and demanded that its license be reinstated and the altar recognized as protected speech. 

“This ruling is a lifeline for our community,” garden leaders said.

Funny thing about this is that the Parks Dept tried to negotiate with them for their alter for an activist who never lived in the area and they refused to cooperate and how they are such freedom fighters they think it's right for people to sign a pledge in fealty to their beliefs to help maintain the garden. That's not how community gardens or how this country works.

 

Mayor Adams approves pedestrian path on Queensbridge for the few people that walk on it

 

 AMNY

City officials told amNewYork on Tuesday that cyclists and pedestrians will finally have their own lanes on the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge, ending a years-long controversy that had the two groups sharing a narrow path on the vehicle-heavy span.

Starting May 18, the north outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge will be used exclusively for cyclists, and the south outer roadway, which is currently a vehicle lane, will become a dedicated space for pedestrians. 

The Queensboro Bridge, which connects Queens to Midtown, is the only city-owned bridge above the East River without separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Currently, the north outer roadway of the bridge is a shared space that crushes both pedestrians and cyclists together in a tight, 11-foot lane.

Advocates (aka lobbyists) have fought to open a separate pedestrian path, citing dangerous overcrowding that has led to conflicts among cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility users. Manhattan Community Board 6 even passed a resolution in October calling on the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to open the path without delay and “without regard to delays of construction,” which was being done on the bridge’s upper level last  year. 

However, once the south outer roadway opens for foot traffic, the bridge’s pedestrian and cycling space will double while eliminating space for vehicles. 

he new pathway was supposed to open sooner but Mayor Eric Adams, at first, delayed the celebration to ensure he and his team were fully briefed, and the new layout did not negatively impact traffic, a City Hall spokesperson explained. 

The double-decker Queensboro Bridge was built in 1909. Adams cited the span’s history by saying it has connected New Yorkers between Manhattan and Queens for 100 years while offering “breathtaking views” of the cityscape. 

“Now, our administration will make it even easier and safer to do so,” Mayor Adams said. “The more we make it safe to walk and bike, the more people utilize their bikes, and thanks to new cycling infrastructure in communities near the bridge, more and more pedestrians and cyclists are utilizing the Queensboro Bridge. Today’s announcement doubling the space available for pedestrians and cyclists builds off those upgrades and is a win-win for everyday New Yorkers.”

Queens is burning again: RV goes on fire by the Goodfellas Diner in Maspeth

During my fundraiser in #Maspeth, a huge fire broke out across the street. The fire started from folks living in an RV, trying to generate electricity. We cannot have streets filled with RV’s that people live in full time. The fire spread to the location of GoodFellas Diner,… pic.twitter.com/UrpJHrlDJQ

— Curtis Sliwa (@CurtisSliwa) May 11, 2025

Back in March I only saw about 8 RVs, none were by the Goodfellas Diner. Looks like a bunch more trailers moved in when the weather got warmer. Can the City of Yes fix this?

NY Post

A fireball from a parked RV sparked a fire that tore through an iconic Queens diner from the movie “Goodfellas” – and now one mayoral candidate is calling for a camper crackdown. The fire erupted at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at GoodFellas Diner in Maspeth with 60 firefighters eventually arriving to put out the flames, according to the FDNY.

“We were talking about all the RVs and debris in the garbage and the problems that come with this epidemic of RVs on the streets of the outer boroughs, and that’s when boom!,” Sliwa said. “We all came running out of the Clinton Hall, and we saw the truck exploded on fire and watched as the fire spread to the Goodfellas diner.”

The fire has reignited debate over illegal RVs in the outer boroughs neighborhoods like Maspeth, Red Hook, and Hunts Point, which have seen streets taken over by dilapidated campers, local outlets have reported. Sliwa blamed City Hall for the latest. “There’s no police response, no DOT response, nothing like this right here, you got campers parked on the lot of the Goodfellas Diner?! The Buildings Department should be out here asking what the hell is going on, but nothing,” he said.

Queens Man remagines street with fence, gives DOT a taste of their own medicine

Restaurant annexes the curb

 

 Today is the day City Council has a remote hearing on a deranged and autocratic proposal by the Department of Transportation to give restaurants, BIDs and Transportation Alternatives and Open Plans connected groups the right to annex roads and steal parking spaces for privatization to continue the pandemic era "open streets" program that barricades streets and impedes traffic. 

A good example of this colonizing of the streets of New York for dining and drinking is this space hogging restaurant that built two shanties and stole multiple parking spaces where the aforementioned urbanist lobbyists have ties. 

Here's where you can testify via writing or zoom to finish this program once and for all.

 

Queens is burning again: Makeshift boarding house goes up in flames and kills 3 people in Jamaica Estates

Update. 17 people were living in this house. Queens Borough Redundancy/President Donnie Richards called the fire "preventable", which is pretty far-fetched considering these boarders could only afford to live virtually on top of each other because the city built a bunch of towers in the city's housing connect system that were 80% market rate. The landlord decided to put the fire out himself and waited to call 911. The City Of Yes will fix this.

 Firehouse

Three men died in a Queens fire early Sunday that tore through a house full of illegally converted apartments — with panicked survivors leaping out of windows to escape the flames, FDNY officials said.

The two-alarm blaze broke out on Chevy Chase St. near Henley Road in Jamaica Estates about 1:30 a.m., officials said, with the inferno soon bursting through the windows and roof.

FDNY officials described the house as a firetrap, with no apparent smoke detectors, makeshift walls and occupants packed into apartments on the first and second floor as well as the cellar and attic.

One of the survivors described making a desperate escape as his father died leaping out of a second-story window.

“There was a lot of smoke inside. We cannot get out. I broke the window so we can just get out of the window. This is the only way,” said Abdullah Zaher, 25. “There was no flames upstairs. Smoke! My father jumped, my brother jumped, and I jumped in the end.”

Zaher’s hand bled heavily from breaking the window as he spoke to the Daily News hours later. His father didn’t survive.

“He was everything to me, literally everything to me. He was a friend, he was a father, he was a giver. Literally everything. There was food, he would give me the food,” Zaher said. “He’s still working, trying to survive. He was a chauffeur.. Uber driver.”

Firefighters found three men dead at the scene, ages 45, 52 and 67, according to police.

“There’s no evidence to us at this time that there’s a working smoke detector in this house,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker told reporters at the scene. “And there’s a lot of evidence of extension cords and other carelessness.”

At least eight residents were hurt but survived, including three injured jumping out of second-floor and attic windows, according to police sources. One of the survivors is in critical condition, according to FDNY officials.

FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito described the scene in the house.

“When our units arrived, they had fire out the windows of the first floor. The fire had extended to the second floor and attic and these were all living spaces,” he said. “There were makeshift walls. The means of egress were substandard, exits blocked, stairways blocked.”

“There was a wall through the middle of the kitchen, which was very abnormal,” he added. “There’s makeshift access to the second floor, which allows the fire to spread much quicker upstairs.”

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze, which the FDNY brought under control by about 3 a.m.

The house is listed in city records as a single-family home, but dozens of Buildings Department complaints dating as far back as 2008 show neighbors and residents complaining that it was illegally converted into a roominghouse.

The most recent complaint, from February 2023, reads, “The home owner [has] a mental disabled individual living in the basement. The homeowner built a half wall in the kitchen so someone can live there … there is approximately 12 to 14 people in the house.”

“It’s so frustrating because we’ve been watching this unfold for years. I called 311. My husband called 311. Many of the neighbors called 311,” said Steve Fischer, 67, who lives across the street on the upper-class tree-lined block. “We knew based on what we saw that it was being used as an illegal roominghouse.”

“It wasn’t for lack of many people trying to alert the city that there was something illegal going on,” he added.

Buildings Department officials said the owners of the house were hit with a violation in 2010 for illegally converting the basement into an apartment and in 2016 for work without a permit when they constructed two wood-frame structures in the back and side yards.

Since then, the Buildings Department has received several 311 calls complaining about illegal conversion conditions — but inspectors were unable to get into the building for one visit in 2020 and three visits in 2023, agency officials said.

“Calls would prompt people from the city to show up. Supposedly they would knock. The guy was not an idiot. He wouldn’t answer the door,” Fischer said of the landlord. “It’s so frustrating because it was so avoidable. … I hope he is charged criminally.”

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Tony Rock, 40, who paid about $1,000 a month to live in a first-floor room, dived out of a window to escape the fire.

“I heard screaming, the guy upstairs above me … begging to get out of the room. He’s in there dying,” Rock said.  “I saw him jump out the window.”

Nearly 20 years of complaints on four pages on the NYC Buildings website

 

AG Letitia James's whale of corruption and hypocrisy

 

White Collar Fraud

This comprehensive investigative report presents original research conducted by the author, consolidating key findings to date—including documented evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James has engaged in a consistent pattern of financial and property disclosures that raise serious legal questions. By bringing these discrepancies together in one document, the report offers a clear roadmap for further investigation by journalists, regulatory authorities, and ethics officials. The evidence points not to isolated errors, but to a systematic pattern of misrepresentation that raises serious questions about James’s legal compliance, transparency, and ethical obligations as New York’s top law enforcement official.

• Principal Residence Misrepresentation: In August 2023, James signed a Specific Power of Attorney declaring her intent to make 604 Sterling Street in Norfolk, Virginia her “principal residence”—a legally binding statement that may have automatically vacated her position as NY Attorney General under Public Officers Law § 30. This declaration came just 45 days before she launched her landmark civil fraud case against Donald Trump. It also potentially constituted mortgage fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1014, which criminalizes false statements made to obtain a loan.
• Hidden and Phantom Mortgages: On her first Virginia property at 3121 Peronne Avenue, James used a $109,600 mortgage from OVM Financial in 2020 but never disclosed it on any of her NY financial disclosure forms, despite legal requirements to do so. Later, in her 2023 disclosure, she reported two different mortgages—one from Freedom Mortgage ($150,000-$250,000) and one from National Mortgage ($100,000-$150,000)—but a 2025 title search found no record of either loan, suggesting they may be fictional.
• Severe Overleveraging: If all three mortgages are considered, James claims $509,600 in mortgage debt on a Virginia property assessed at just $187,300—a loan-to-value ratio of 272%, far beyond any rational underwriting standard and likely impossible to obtain through legitimate lending channels.
• Brooklyn Property Unit Count Misrepresentation: Since 2001, Letitia James has repeatedly represented her property at 296 Lafayette Avenue as a four-family dwelling on mortgage applications and permit filings—even though its official Certificate of Occupancy designates it as a five-family building. Under federal lending guidelines, buildings with five or more units are treated as commercial properties, subject to stricter underwriting standards, including higher down payments, lower loan-to-value limits, and more complex documentation requirements. By misclassifying the property, James may have obtained more favorable residential loan terms—such as lower interest rates and easier approval criteria—that she would not have qualified for if the property had been accurately reported. This misrepresentation also enabled her to secure a federal HAMP mortgage modification in 2011, despite the program explicitly excluding buildings with more than four units. The pattern raises serious questions about the accuracy of her mortgage filings and her compliance with lending and disclosure regulations.
• Undisclosed HAMP Mortgage and Handwritten Alterations: In 2011, James received a federally subsidized HAMP mortgage modification that required the property to have no more than four residential units. The official Certificate of Occupancy showed five. My investigation revealed critical last-minute handwritten notations in the mortgage document, including “4 fam” in one corner and a contradictory note stating “not more than 6 residential units“—suggesting deliberate manipulation to maintain technical eligibility while creating plausible deniability about the property’s true status.
• Missing and Misclassified Mortgages: James’s financial disclosures reveal a pattern of delayed reporting, missing mortgages, and unexplained classification changes. A 2019 Citibank HELOC went undisclosed for three years, then mysteriously disappeared from her 2023 disclosure with no record of satisfaction. Similarly, a 2021 Citizens Bank mortgage went undisclosed that year, appeared as a mortgage in 2022, then was reclassified as a HELOC in 2023—all without corresponding documentation in public records.
• Undisclosed Rental Income: In 2013, Crain’s New York reported that James had failed to disclose rental income from her Brooklyn property for at least five years. Even after being exposed, she understated her actual rental income of $44,400 when filing corrections. Similarly, she reported rental income from her Norfolk property in 2020, then reported zero income in subsequent years while still claiming ownership—leaving unexplained why the active mortgage on the property was never disclosed as required.
• Taxpayer-Funded Private Jet Travel: Between 2020-2021, the Attorney General’s Office spent $41,807.80 in taxpayer funds on private jet travel through Venture Jets Inc., a vendor used by no other state agency. Several flights coincided with James’s campaign activities, including a Martha’s Vineyard trip and the politically significant SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico where she was described as being “fully in campaign mode.”
• Luxury Campaign Spending with Creative Accounting: Campaign filings show a pattern of luxury travel with inconsistent expense categorization. The same hotel charges on the same day were often split between different expense categories (“Office,” “Lodging,” “Transportation”), making it nearly impossible to track true expenditure purposes. In May 2022, after her office stopped paying Venture Jets, her campaign picked up the tab—paying over $12,000 to the same charter company.
• Selective Enforcement of Building Codes: When a complaint was filed about the discrepancy between James’s property’s five-unit Certificate of Occupancy and her four-unit permit applications, building authorities dismissed it as a “MINOR ERROR”—a striking contrast to how such violations are treated for ordinary New Yorkers, who face stop-work orders, substantial penalties, and even forced vacancy for similar infractions.
• The 1983 Queens Property “Husband and Wife” Designation: Records show that in 1983, Letitia James and her father, Robert James, co-signed a mortgage document identifying themselves as “husband and wife”—a legal classification that typically confers specific benefits not available to a father-daughter relationship. 
  

These aren’t isolated incidents but reveal a systematic approach to financial and property reporting that spans multiple jurisdictions, decades, and legal filings. The fact that these patterns have persisted throughout James’s rise to become New York’s chief law enforcement officer—the very official responsible for prosecuting similar misrepresentations—makes these findings particularly significant and demands thorough investigation.

 

NY Post 

 New York Attorney General Letitia James was hit with a federal criminal referral for instances of alleged mortgage fraud on Tuesday, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

Federal Housing FHFA Director William Pulte sent the missive to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche, alleging that James had “falsified records” to get home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed was her “principal residence” in 2023 — while still serving as a New York state prosecutor.

In February 2001, James also purchased a five-family dwelling in Brooklyn — but has “consistently misrepresented the same property as only having four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents and applications,” the letter noted.

Dysfunction Junxion

 

For over two months (maybe longer) this massive and hideous bus that was being used as a sanctuary for artists for events and was once parked by a restaurant shanty, was illegally parked on Starr St. until it finally got removed by the NYPD which led to a hilariously fitting end.

But now another bus is now illegally parked on Starr. While less massive but equally hideous, it also has a connection to the art scene as the last one. Meet Ridgewood's newest neighbors "the Junxion"

They think illegal parking and dumping is art and we should like it.

The platform on top of their bluebird bus illegally taking mundane and unused parking spaces is used for performances that can happen anytime according to their "mission" 

  

 

 

Which is why getting nearly 4 grand in parking violations is just a meager cost of doing business. 

 

Ti

 This is what the bluebird bus looks like when it's being immersive.

This collective has 3 other "reimagined" buses in their fleet, so be on the lookout for the bluebyrd and the other trashy art buess when they try to "immerse" on your block. 207

Caption our newest neighbor

Juniper Park reimagined for gentrifiers

 

Looks like the end of softball, concerts and events on the blacktop at Juniper Valley Park and the introduction of adult fitness equipment and bike paths for kids, along with new basketball and pickleball courts. All for the low price of $6M+!

 

 

The Parks department is also making their own version of crunch fitness.

 

Caption MAGA Eric Adams

City of Lithium-Ion

 

Crain's New York 

The city is giving landlords the ability to generate some extra cash by installing outdoor battery charging stations in front of their buildings and charge a fee for bikers to access the amenity. 

 The Department of Transportation on Monday launched an application process for building owners to install e-bike battery charging and swapping cabinets on public sidewalks outside of their properties. 

The idea is for landlords, or their ground-floor retailers, to offer tenants and the delivery workers most city eateries rely on, greater access to outdoor e-bike battery charging, instead of risking lithium-ion batteries sparking deadly fires inside businesses and apartments.

 In 2024, lithium-ion batteries ignited 279 fires and killed six people, FDNY data shows. The fires are tied to the city’s delivery economy boom and its workers’ reliance on inexpensive, uncertified electric bikes and mopeds. DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement that the effort seeks to make safe charging infrastructure more accessible to curb fire safety concerns, while giving private property owners the perk of monetizing public space to better serve their tenants. “We need to do our part to ensure charging is safe and accessible,” said Rodriguez. 

 Building owners can charge bikers a fee to access the cabinets, but the Transportation Department hasn’t worked out potential restrictions for such fees, according to the agency. One e-bike cabinet company, the Berlin-based Swobbee, that the city is partnering with to add the infrastructure on sidewalks says it plans to charge a maximum of $2 a day for an unlimited number of battery swaps.

  A landlord or ground-floor tenant in a building with an eatery, shop or community space, or with five or more apartments, can apply for permission to bolt the skinny, vending-machine size metal cabinets to the sidewalk, which are lined with lockers that store and juice up batteries. Building owners interested in applying can contact DOT to obtain a permit at revocableconsents@dot.nyc.gov.

Summer of Bus Hell

 

NY Daily News

The Queens bus map will change this summer, MTA brass announced on Monday.

As previously reported by the Daily News, the massive overhaul of the largest borough’s bus network will give Queens 124 routes — 94 local and 30 express — with an emphasis on connecting bus riders to the rest of the city’s transit systems.

In a statement Monday, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said that “800,000 Queens residents depend on our buses every day, and we owe it to them to find new ways to speed service.”

The bus map will change in phases, transit officials said, with the bulk of the new routes coming online in June.

On Sunday, June 29, 16 new routes will launch, 67 routes will change, and five routes will be discontinued. Then on Sunday, Aug. 31, one new route will launch, 37 routes will change, and one route will be discontinued.

To help Queens riders parse the changes in service, the MTA has launched an interactive version of the new bus map.

“As implementation dates near, we’ll ramp up the outreach efforts to make sure everyone’s aware about the upcoming changes,” New York City Transit president Demetrius Crichlow said in a statement. “In the meantime, we strongly encourage bus riders to take advantage of the online tools which provide the best customized approach to learn more about how your trip can change.”

Hell on wheels on Rockaway Blvd.

 

Queens Chronicle

Police were mocked and their vehicles vandalized during another raucous illicit car meet in Ozone Park late Saturday into early Sunday morning. Cops are seeking multiple individuals wanted for reckless endangerment and criminal mischief in the matter.

The incident occurred within the confines of the 102nd Precinct, in the vicinity of Rockaway Boulevard and 97th Avenue, at around 12:50 a.m., police said.

A group of individuals recklessly operated multiple cars and vandalized three NYPD vehicles. Authorities said the suspects dented the sides of the police cars and broke multiple vehicle windows using traffic cones. The group fled the location in various directions in multiple vehicles. No injuries were reported. Several people have been charged.

Footage posted to the social media platform Instagram by someone at the meet shows the delinquents surrounding both marked and unmarked police vehicles, jeering and making vulgar gestures at the officers seated inside before throwing a traffic cone on top of one marked vehicle’s windshield. The cops seated inside stare straight ahead, unmoving.

The car meet situation is not unfamiliar for those living in the area, as that location, near Cherry Valley Marketplace, at 84-12 97th Ave., has seen its share of rogue gatherings over the years. The issue recurs every few months, residents say, with large groups gathering to do doughnuts, race and perform other dangerous activities in their vehicles.

But the attack on police is a new factor.

Videos from the incident, centered on Rockaway and 84th Street, were posted to neighborhood Facebook pages and received hundreds of comments, with the majority of respondents outraged at the exhibited behavior.

The Ozone Park Residents Block Association on Monday sent a letter to Mayor Adams, the city Department of Transportation and area elected officials about the matter.

“This past Saturday, March 29, 2025, from approximately 10:00 PM until 1:30 AM on Sunday, a large group of individuals unlawfully took over Rockaway Boulevard between 83rd and 84th Streets. This has been a worsening trend over the past five years, with each incident growing in scale and audacity,” the letter read. “We commend the officers of the 102nd Precinct for their diligent efforts in curbing these meets in private lots and parks. However, now that the problem has moved into our streets, they require reinforcements and a coordinated response plan.”

The block association called on city leadership to “take decisive action before this issue spirals further out of control.”

The Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol in a statement thanked the NYPD’s 102nd Precinct for its quick response.

“After the last major incident at this intersection, we wrote to the NYC Department of Transportation calling for permanent traffic-calming infrastructure — including flex-post delineators,” the group wrote. “We renew that call today. This can’t keep happening. And it’s going to take more than just enforcement to stop it.”

Dirty bomb lit-ion battery storage building coming to Middle Village gets resistance

 

QNS

Council Member Robert Holden spearheaded a rally on Wednesday, April 2, to oppose the proposed construction of a large-scale lithium-ion battery storage facility at 64-30 69th Place in Middle Village, directly across from PS/IS 128. 

The rally, which brought together local residents, political leaders, and concerned parents, demonstrated the growing frustration and alarm surrounding the project. 

Holden, joined by Council Member Joann Ariola, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, and many local residents, condemned the facility’s location in a densely populated residential area, emphasizing the risks posed to public safety, particularly the safety of children and families living nearby.

“So many people will be affected. The children, the parents, the homeowners who live close to this facility,” Holden said, addressing the crowd with urgency. 

“They should all be on this lawsuit. It has been filed. We will follow through and we have a good shot at winning. We’re not going to take this lying down. We have to fight back. They are always shoving these kinds of places at us. This is very, very dangerous.”

Holden’s concerns center on the proposed facility’s proximity to several important community spaces. The site is located near an animal hospital, a daycare center, and a children’s party and play space. 

Additionally, it sits directly across from PS/IS 128, a school that serves hundreds of children. Local residents, many of whom have lived in the area for decades, are alarmed by the potential dangers posed by a lithium-ion battery storage facility, particularly considering the risks associated with battery fires.

The case against Yes

 

 

Queens Chronicle

Residents, elected officials and community groups on Wednesday gathered outside City Hall to announce a lawsuit against the zoning changes under the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, which passed in December.

The Article 78 complaint, filed on Tuesday night, argues that the plan violates the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the City Environmental Quality Review.

Quoted in a press release from the office of Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park), the suit alleges in part that the city failed to properly examine “significant areas of environmental concern.” According to the release, the City Planning Commission concluded that new development under the plan would have no significant negative impact on communities, even though many neighborhoods face issues such as flooding, pollution and overcrowded schools.

“How, with a straight face, can the city of New York say that what they’re doing is not going to have an effect on these things, which are already overburdened and overtaxed, at capacity or beyond capacity, today?” urban planning consultant Paul Graziano said at the press conference.

Liu caves to Cohen's Casino fake park lobby

 

 QNS

A coalition of community groups in Elmhurst, Flushing, Jackson Heights and Corona has criticized State Sen. John Liu for announcing his plans to introduce a parkland alienation bill in the State Senate that brings the $8 billion Metropolitan Park casino project closer to reality.

Liu announced Sunday that he will introduce Senate legislation to reclassify the 50 acres of asphalt parking lot adjacent to Citi Field from public parkland to commercial property—a necessary step for the Metropolitan Park project.

Liu outlined his intention to introduce the parkland alienation legislation after securing commitments from Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International for Flushing Skypark, a pedestrian and cycling bridge that would span Flushing Creek and connect Downtown Flushing and Willets Point.

However, several community groups have criticized Liu for facilitating the Metropolitan Park development, describing the move as a “betrayal” of the local community.

The “FED-UP” coalition, which held a protest against the Metropolitan Park project two days before Liu’s announcement, opposes the development for several reasons. The coalition cites the need for “public parks, community spaces, and low-income housing.” The coalition also contends that the development will raise prices in the neighborhood, forcing long-term residents out of their homes.

The group accused Liu of aligning with lobby groups rather than representing his own constituents.

“Liu is aligning himself with Cohen’s 14 lobbying firms rather than with his constituents. Liu has invited in a billionaire to prey on his own constituents while displacing working people in Flushing and across Queens,” the group said in a release Monday.

The FED-UP coalition features various groups from Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, and Flushing, including Guardians of Flushing Bay, the Western Queens Community Land Trust, Queens Neighbors United, and Jackson Heights Indivisible.

Guardians of Flushing Bay, for example, is calling on all local residents to lobby their state representatives not to support parkland alienation bills that would facilitate the project. 

 

Meanwhile, the coalition has also criticized Liu for introducing the senate legislation despite State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents the district covering the 50-acre parking lot, refusing to do so.

Ramos has regularly refused to introduce a parkland alienation bill in the State Senate and outlined her intention to vote against Liu’s legislation.

“My position has not changed. I cannot support a casino in Corona and am a definitive no on any alienation bill that goes against my neighbors’ wishes,” Ramos said in a statement Monday.

Representatives for Liu said the decision to introduce a parkland alienation bill was based on feedback provided by the local community. They stated that far more local residents supported the project than opposed it. Representatives further noted that all relevant community boards passed supporting resolutions of the project during the ULURP process.

 

Dirty Pervy Dan

QNS

Former Queens Council Member Dan Halloran, who was convicted in 2014 for his role in two bribery and corruption schemes and served five years in federal prison, is in trouble with the law again.

Halloran was arrested at Miami International Airport on Saturday, March 29, and charged with possessing child pornography and transporting child pornography after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers inspected his Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and an Apple iPad 6th Generation tablet and discovered several videos of suspected child pornography located in a hidden folder album on the phone’s photos application, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida.

Halloran told officers he owned the devices and provided the passcode to unlock them. At least 35 videos showed young children performing various sex acts. One video showed a prepubescent girl disrobing and masturbating with exposed genitalia and another video showed a partially nude prepubescent girl performing oral sex on an adult man.

A CBP officer discovered on Halloran’s Apple iPhone a text conversation on Telegram, a messaging app, that indicated he had purchased child pornography after he had received different pricing packages. Halloran wrote back and asked, “What’s the delivery platform” and “What are the differences between reg. Premium, VIP?”

When asked by CBP officers how many of the videos in the hidden folder in his phone depicted child pornography, Halloran told the officers that approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of the videos depicted child pornography.

According to the criminal complaint, a total of 1,362 videos are stored in the hidden folder of a photo album on Halloran’s Apple iPhone.

The 54-year-old Halloran, who currently resides in Floral Park, was traveling home from Camaguey, Cuba, when he had a layover in Miami. He was taken into custody and booked at the Broward County Main Jail. His arraignment is scheduled for April 14.

 

Eric Adams Exonerated

 

 

 NY Daily News

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed sweeping public corruption charges against Mayor Adams “with prejudice,” blasting the Trump administration’s bid to potentially revive them while leveraging the mayor’s help in hardline immigration enforcement as a “disturbing” bargain.

While the judgment caps a months long legal saga by letting Adams off the hook, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho’s decision was not based on the merits of the case against him or a belief of whether he was innocent or guilty. It served as a searing condemnation of the Justice Department’s position that it could drop the case to secure the mayor’s cooperation on immigration matters, which he called “disturbing in its breadth.”

“DOJ’s immigration enforcement rationale is both unprecedented and breathtaking in its sweep. DOJ cites no examples, and the Court is unable to find any, of the government dismissing charges against an elected official because doing so would enable the official to facilitate federal policy goals,” Ho wrote in his 78-page decision.

“And DOJ’s assertion that it has ‘virtually unreviewable’ license to dismiss charges on this basis is disturbing in its breadth, implying that public officials may receive special dispensation if they are compliant with the incumbent administration’s policy priorities. That suggestion is fundamentally incompatible with the basic promise of equal justice under law.”

Less than a month after Trump took office, Emil Bove — Trump’s former criminal defense attorney turned top Justice Department official — on Feb. 14 asked Ho to dismiss the case without prejudice, which would have meant federal authorities could bring it again, a provision Adams agreed to.

Bove argued that the case had national security implications by restricting Adams’s ability to cooperate with the feds on immigration matters, interfered with the mayor’s ability to govern, and was improperly filed within nine months of the mayoral primary. Bove declined to comment on Ho’s decision when reached by the Daily News on Wednesday.

 

Ho rejected assertions that the timing of the case was improper as “not just thin, but pretextual,” finding it was entirely consistent with previous public corruption prosecutions.

His ruling was in line with the findings of an independent lawyer, Paul Clement, who he appointed to advise him on the matter. The former solicitor general under President George W. Bush recommended that the judge dismiss the case for good. Clement found that the possibility of the mayor feeling indebted to the president rather than New Yorkers out of fear that he could be reindicted was “deeply troubling.”

“In light of DOJ’s rationales, dismissing the case without prejudice would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration, and that he might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents,” Ho wrote.

“[After] DOJ decided to seek dismissal of his case, the Mayor took at least one new immigration-related action consistent with the preferences of the new administration. Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” the judge later added, referencing Adams’s decision to let ICE operate on Rikers, which he said appeared “to be contrary to New York City law.”

In addition to the government’s motion, Ho had to consider a separate request from the embattled Democratic mayor to toss the charges permanently and arguments from former federal judges and prosecutors, which urged him to scrutinize the terms behind the dismissal deal closely and consider appointing a special prosecutor.

Ho found that even if he were to deny the bid to dismiss the case, it would almost “certainly” be futile, with prosecutors able to run out the clock by delaying the trial that was set to start this month by more than 70 days, which would lead to a dismissal.

“[A]bsent a sudden change of heart at DOJ, such a denial would produce only a staring contest,” Ho wrote.

In a brief appearance outside his Gracie Mansion residence after Ho’s order, Adams said he’s “happy that our city can finally close the book” on his indictment and railed against the press and his critics for spreading what he called “false” information about his criminal case.

Throughout his opinion on Wednesday, Ho, a Biden appointee, noted it was not based on the case’s merits. He entirely rejected parts of the DOJ and the mayor’s claims that the prosecutors who were trying the case before the Trump administration intervened had political motivations.

Both sides also lobbed accusations at former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, accusing him of bringing the prosecution that stemmed from an investigation that began before Adams won the 2021 mayoral election for personal gain. Williams declined to comment when reached by The News Wednesday.

“[The] Southern District of New York prosecutors who worked on this case followed all appropriate Justice Department guidelines. There is no evidence—zero—that they had any improper motives,” the judge wrote.

The mayor faced scathing criticism for agreeing to the terms laid out by the Trump administration and saw calls for his removal amid concerns he was sacrificing New York City’s immigrant communities to save his own skin.

Those criticisms reached a fever pitch when Adams appeared on “Fox & Friends” with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who said he’d be “up [the mayor’s] butt” if he didn’t play ball with the Trump administration as it sought to carry out deportations.

Bove filed the dismissal bid after the interim head of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, Danielle Sassoon — a veteran prosecutor and registered Republican whom Trump had installed in the senior role on his first full day in office — quit rather than obey the order to wind down the case, in which Adams faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

Sassoon wrote to Trump’s new Attorney General Pam Bondi before resigning, saying she had been preparing to sign off on more charges accusing the mayor of attempting to conceal his crimes from the FBI and ordering others to do the same. She said the proposed arrangement amounted to a “quid pro quo” between Adams and the Trump administration, “indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were d

“[The] Southern District of New York prosecutors who worked on this case followed all appropriate Justice Department guidelines. There is no evidence—zero—that they had any improper motives,” the judge wrote.

The mayor faced scathing criticism for agreeing to the terms laid out by the Trump administration and saw calls for his removal amid concerns he was sacrificing New York City’s immigrant communities to save his own skin.

Those criticisms reached a fever pitch when Adams appeared on “Fox & Friends” with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who said he’d be “up [the mayor’s] butt” if he didn’t play ball with the Trump administration as it sought to carry out deportations.

Bove filed the dismissal bid after the interim head of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, Danielle Sassoon — a veteran prosecutor and registered Republican whom Trump had installed in the senior role on his first full day in office — quit rather than obey the order to wind down the case, in which Adams faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

Sassoon wrote to Trump’s new Attorney General Pam Bondi before resigning, saying she had been preparing to sign off on more charges accusing the mayor of attempting to conceal his crimes from the FBI and ordering others to do the same. She said the proposed arrangement amounted to a “quid pro quo” between Adams and the Trump administration, “indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed