Fat cats searching for next mayor

At charity balls and board meetings, on putting greens and in telephone conversations, New York’s corporate titans are on the hunt: Michael R. Bloomberg will end his reign as mayor in 18 months, and they are desperate to find someone from their ranks to take his place.

Business Leaders Seek a New C.E.O. for City Hall

The executives searching for Mr. Bloomberg’s replacement are considered some of New York’s most influential business leaders: Martin Lipton, a founding partner of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; the financier Steven Rattner; and Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of the developer Tishman Speyer.

They have told colleagues that Mr. Bloomberg’s financial independence, his lack of party affiliation and his corporate, by-the-numbers approach to management have created a golden age of New York City government that none of his would-be successors seem poised to reproduce.

Business leaders, of course, have a vested interested in recruiting one of their own, like Mr. Bloomberg, to run for mayor. The Bloomberg administration is considered an ally to many corporations, especially developers. Rezoning projects under his watch have opened large swaths of the city to new construction. And Mr. Bloomberg travels in the same orbit as many of the city’s elite; he goes to their functions and they to his; he gives to their causes and they reciprocate.

Photo by Laphoto1 on Flickr

Pete plotzes over graffiti store

Those of you who have not read this article, please do so. Among other things you will learn that Peter Vallone Jr. (who does not even represent our district) has set his sights on this store and a graffiti artist is described as using spray paint “outside” Alphabeta. While this statement is technically true, it is also incredibly deceptive: the gentleman in questions was using spray paint ON THE PREMISES behind said store.

What’s the difference, you ask? Very simple: the wording of the am New York article insinuates that this gentleman is painting someone else’s property, e.g.; he is committing a crime. Sorry to disappoint all the folks who were put in a dither by this misleading statement, painting one’s own walls is not against the law — and if it ever is, we’ll probably be kissing many more of our civil liberties goodbye. I don’t know about you, but that is not the kind of world I want to live in.

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Don’t Believe The Hype

Here's some news from the district that Pete actually does represent:

The owners of Pinocchio Palace on 30th Avenue in Astoria are happy to announce their grand re-opening, now that extensive renovations are complete.

Looks like the Vallones will once again have access to an ideal location for their fundraisers!

Hey Pete, perhaps you should concern yourself with real graffiti and in the borough of Queens, which you seek to be president of.

Something smells rotten at Oak Ridge

From a NYC Parks Department press release:

On June 30, Forest Park & Highland Park Administrator Debby Kuha received a Meritorious Service Award from the Highland Park Community Development Corporation (HPCDC). The HPCDC presented Debby with the award in recognition of her outstanding achievements and dedication to improving the quality of life for the families of Brooklyn and the Highland Park community.

"We are tremendously proud of Debby for receiving this award in recognition of her hard work and dedication to Highland Park," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "I would also like to thank the Highland Park Community Development Corporation for its commitment to promoting the vitality of the Highland Park neighborhood and the many invaluable services it provides to Brooklyn residents."

Well, here Parks gives us yet another reason for us to be suspicious of them:

Mr. Thompson, a likely candidate for mayor in 2009, said the department [of Homeless Services] used an off-the-books account to pay service providers on a month-to-month basis without drawing up long-term contracts that would require city oversight. He pointed in particular to payments to the Highland Park Community Development Corporation in Brooklyn, which in March was accused of corruption in an article in the New York Post.

Here's an excerpt from the Post article:

Highland Park Community Development Corp. never ran anything bigger than field trips and summer recreation programs before the city OK'd its $6 million bid to open a homeless shelter in Brooklyn last year.

Now, city investigators are probing whether the politically connected charity was just a bad manager or trying to fleece taxpayers - with big pay hikes, padded expense sheets and payrolls packed with cronies, The Post has learned.

This is who the Parks Department brags about receiving awards from? Maybe DOI should start an investigation starting at the Arsenal and ending at Oak Ridge.

Protests forbidden, hair bands welcome

Fans of Sayreville's own Bon Jovi have apparently learned how to defy the laws of gravity! Either that, or Mayor Bloomberg and his administration are once again rolling over for sports teams and leagues.

Kiss my grass, Mayor Bloomberg

Back in August 2004...Anti-war groups hoped to channel that anger with a massive demonstration in Central Park, but the city refused to issue the necessary protest permits. Peace, love and understanding, the city argued in federal court, is not healthy for Great Lawn grass and other living things.

But when Major League Baseball and its corporate sponsors decided to host a Bon Jovi concert this coming Saturday, in conjunction with the July 15 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, nobody in the Bloomberg administration apparently raised a Sambora about the grass. Is Bloomberg livin' on a prayer, hoping Bon Jovi fans will hover over the Great Lawn?

But given how Bloomberg has consistently put the greed of the sports teams - especially the Yankees, Mets and Nets - over the needs of ordinary citizens, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

We're a happy family (me, mom and daddy)

Raising a happy family requires more than just a good school system. With that in mind, ranked these counties using 10 data points: cost of living, graduation rate, standardized scores, home price, property tax rate as a percentage of median home price, percentage of homes occupied by owner, per-capita income, air quality, crime rate and commute time.

America's Best Places To Raise A Family

Wha...?
Queens sucks in these categories.
Where does "diversity" fit into this?
Why aren't there luxury condos or Fedders houses in that photo?

Mugging like it's 1989

In recent months, an old crime has started to reappear...on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant: a spate of muggings that has caught some in the neighborhood by surprise. People walking or biking alone have been attacked with punches, kicks — and in one case, a baseball bat — and then had their cellphones or purses stolen before they could recover.

Muggings Revive Memories of an Area’s Bad Old Days

The head of security at Pratt Institute, whose campus is in the neighborhood, said that at least six students had been mugged since April. The 88th Precinct, which covers Clinton Hill, has recorded a 26 percent increase in robberies so far this year, from 99 in 2007 to 125, for the period ending on June 29. Robberies are defined as the forcible taking of property from a person.

Some of the recent attacks have been committed by teenagers, residents and the police say. They have mostly caught their victims unaware, sometimes with a blow to the back of the head. The perpetrators have managed to revive memories of a seedier time in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, reminding the new arrivals that for all the advertised drops in crime, central Brooklyn is not the suburbs.

Another conflict of interest for Bx pol

A BRONX legislator under scrutiny for channeling $82,000 last year to a group that had ties to her relatives has allocated $1.5 million in capital funds this year to a charter school where her nephew is chairman of the board.

BX. POL STEERS $1.5M TO NEPHEW'S SCHOOL

Records show that City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo directed the money to the 3-year-old South Bronx Charter School for International Cultures and Arts, founded by her nephew Richard Izquierdo.

Arroyo vigorously defended her actions - and was backed by council officials.

"It's an incredible program in a school district in desperate need of quality education," she said.

Arroyo said the funds would be combined with a $1.5 million grant from Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion so the highly rated school could relocate from three locations to its own building next year.

Izquierdo isn't just Arroyo's nephew. He's also treasurer of her 2009 re-election campaign and chief of staff to Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, the councilwoman's mother.

Queenscape: Bus stops here, DOT doesn't

Q: When will DOT put a bus shelter here?
A: As soon as they put in a sidewalk!

Post chronicles NYC park horrors

While the Bloomberg administration boasts that parks are in better shape than they've been in four decades, an investigation of 70 parks over the last nine months found:

* Clusters of homeless living in tents and small shantytowns in 10 parks, including Riverside Park near 148th Street in Manhattan.

* Hookers brazenly plying their 24-hour trade, including at Printers Park on Hoe Street in The Bronx.

* Areas where junkies shoot up and crack dealers set up shop, including at Fort George Playground in Washington Heights.

* An illegal chop shop where stolen vehicles, including a stripped US Defense Dept. sedan, are harvested is thriving in Fresh Creek Nature Preserve in Brooklyn.

* And many barren parks covered in weeds up to 12 feet high that are used as illegal dumps for items like abandoned boats and cars, construction debris, containers of hazardous material, opened steel safes, Vegas-style slot machines - and even a discarded tombstone in Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn.

RAIDERS OF THE 'LOST' PARKS

Benepe also said his department doesn't favor some parts of the city over others, but an analysis of city data tells a vastly different story.

The city spends $10,694 per acre in taxpayer dollars annually to maintain and operate Manhattan parks. The other boroughs fare far worse, with Brooklyn ($10,173) second, followed by Queens ($4,676), The Bronx ($4,198) and Staten Island ($2,104).

But the best parks are usually the ones in elite neighborhoods that supplement their budgets with private dollars raised by well-heeled conservancies or government affiliated entities.

Bird's eye view of a big problem

From In My Backyard:

Surveying the damage to the back yard garden at 327 20th Street. Looks as if the shoring may have failed, leading to the cave-in and yet another Stop Work Order for Tao Construction, Inc.

325 20th Street: Contractor gets "Lynched"...again

Fake turf can give you heat stroke

It's like walking on hot coals.

Artificial turf installed in city fields can heat up to a blistering 162 degrees even on a mild summer day, a Daily News investigation has found.

Parks' fake grass can reach a scorching 162 degrees

Over two mildly warm days last month, The News took surface temperature readings at five synthetic fields across the city accompanied by NYC Park Advocates, a group that has been critical of the fake grass.

At all five, temperatures at the synthetic fields soared roughly twice as high as at nearby natural grass ones, from a low of 144 degrees at the Greenbelt Recreation Center on Staten Island to a scorching 162 at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

When confronted with The News' findings, the Parks Department also conceded high temperatures can be a problem at turf fields.

They said they were in the process of installing signs warning visitors of the dangers at fields across the city.

"The temperatures can get very high during the heat of the day. But people are smart. They are not going to use a place that is uncomfortable to play on," said Liam Kavanagh, first deputy parks commissioner.

Well they don't have a choice but to play on it since you make them apply for a permit in advance, nimrod.

City agencies moving to Queens

The Health Department is poised to sign a deal to move some of its 15 downtown offices into 18 floors of a new building to be erected on the site of a decrepit parking garage at Queens Plaza.

I've still got some moves, Mike Bloomberg says

The Correction Department will leave its Hudson St. headquarters and a Battery Park location for the former Bulova watch headquarters building in Astoria, Queens - putting top brass closer to Rikers Island.

Bloomberg campaigned in 2001 on a promise of moving city offices to less-crowded and less-expensive office space in outer boroughs. His "campaign accountability" scorecard on the city Web site said he achieved that years ago by moving five downtown Sanitation Department offices to Queens.

Registering bikes to prevent theft

Another good idea from Commuter Outrage:

As more people switch to bicycles in lieu of high gas prices, bicycle theft rates will only continue to rise. Bicyclists need protection from this threat, and this protection requires resources that are expensive. Bicyclists should contribute funding toward the services they use, and registration of bicycles will make it easier to track and return stolen bicycles. A $1 per year registration fees is much less expensive than having to buy a new bicycle, which could easily cost more in one shot than 100 years of registration fees.

Regardless of how we view the situation in Detroit, bicycle theft is a common problem in other cities as well – particularly New York. New York wants to encourage bicycle use, but they have a difficult time providing necessary services to bicyclists.

Bicyclists need serious safety regulations that are enforced. They need better parking, and they need to register bicycles so that we can take steps to protect them from crime. All of these services cost money, and it is only fair to ask bicyclists to pay for them.

Non-Asians considered "exotic" in Flushing

From the NY Sun:

In American lore, "Main Street" is as small-towny and homey as you get — a place in Bedford Falls or Mayberry. Not long ago, that's exactly what Main Street in Flushing was like. "Flushing" was a byword for the dull, homey, comfortable outer-borough world inhabited by clerks, technicians, and city workers.

When a well-respected architectural critic dismisses what many remember to be great living in Queens as "dull", then goes on to focus on the handful of old buildings that the city managed to salvage and ignores the problems brought on by the new out-of-context buildings, you know we're in trouble.

Then there's this from the Epoch Times:

Flushing Street Fair Celebrates Diversity

America is a melting pot, and that surely showed this July 4th in Flushing, New York. An area with a high immigrant—especially Asian—population, Flushing teamed with the Flushing Development Center Friday to host an extravagant street fair on Sanford Avenue between Main St. and Union St.

The merchandise certainly had an Oriental ring to it: among the items for sale were Chinese drama DVDs, Asian artwork, and bamboo art.

The bustling and lively atmosphere mirrored the warmth of the midday heat. Most of the street wanderers were Asian, but a sprinkling of non-Asians certainly provided an interestingly exotic addition to the fair.

How did the street fair celebrate the diverse melting pot if the goods were "Oriental" the population taking part was homogenous and non-Asians in attendance were considered to be "exotic"? Why is it mandatory for the media to use the D-word whenever writing about a Queens event even when it doesn't apply?

Just in time for the bulldozers...

Proof that in order to get a new park you have to allow overdevelopment, gentrification, eminent domain abuse or all three...


Harlem Piers Park Open

"The Harlem Pier park has opened across from Fairway on the Hudson River. Located on 125th to 132nd streets It looks great, although the piers are still off limits to people right now. At the water's edge is gross new chain link fencing - we are hoping this is temporary and eventually nice railings or something will be along the river front. Rumor has it a ferry service from Fort Lee will be running to the Harlem Piers as well as water taxi."

Kosciuszko Bridge replacement now delayed by feds

State officials plan to spend $630 million to demolish the traffic-choked Kosciuszko Bridge and replace it with two parallel spans, beginning in 2011, the Daily News has learned.

But the long-awaited project, already delayed six months by a squabble between state agencies, has been snagged by another bureaucratic roadblock - a maddening case of dejá vu for property owners affected by the plan.

The project has been delayed at least two more months by federal highway regulations, which the state Department of Transportation had originally thought would not come into play, officials confirmed.

Before the DOT can move ahead with the project, the feds must review its price tag and schedule, said DOT spokesman Adam Levine.

Kosciuszko Bridge replacement project hit with another lengthy delay

Cagey crap

That's some patio. Perfect for those with pet orangutans. This one's in Brooklyn along Bay Parkway.

Big unemployment jump in Queens

Workers, hold onto your hats – the stiff breeze of unemployment is beginning to blow.

And the unemployment rate is growing throughout New York City, most severely in Queens.

Queens Sees Jump In Unemployment Rate

The national jobless rate jumped to 5.2 percent in May, up from 4.8 percent in April, as employers shed jobs in many sectors and the economy continues to slump. The national unemployment rate has grown considerably over the last year, standing at 4.3 percent last May.

In Queens, the overall number of unemployed workers grew only slightly over the last year, but saw a sharp 3.7 percent rise between May and April of 2008, the largest such increase in any of the five boroughs.

The unemployment rate in Queens rose in the same period by 0.3 percent, which may seem tiny, but over a year could lead to a significant rise in the number of jobless workers. If this trend continues near the current rate, the county could see more than 3 percent growth in unemployment over the calendar year.

SJU trying to ditch Jamaica

Letter to the editor of the Queens Courier:

At the June 16 Jamaica Estates Civic Association meeting, the secretary of the board provided a report of a recent meeting between members of the association and the president of Saint John’s University (SJU), Father Donald Harrington. The purpose of the meeting was to address the community’s dissatisfaction concerning the SJU off-campus dormitory presently being built on Henley Road in the heart of our residential community. A series of questions from the membership ensued, which Mr. Joseph Sciame, Vice President of Community Relations at SJU, attempted to address.

One of the questions/comments posed to Sciame and Arthur Flug, Chair of the Association, was if the SJU Queens campus is located outside the perimeters of the Jamaica Estates community, why does SJU include in their literature that their “Queens campus is located in the beautiful Jamaica Estates community?”

Sciame was quick to respond, saying that because of SJU’s strategic plan they will no longer refer to the school as the Jamaica Estates campus but as the Queens campus because the word “Jamaica” carries a negative connotation, which could adversely influence the decision of out of town students.

I consider SJU’s plan insulting, elitist and racist. Saint John’s University is modifying their brochures and literature, not to correct an error, but to target a different audience that might find the name Jamaica offensive!

Write and share your outrage with Father Harrington at Saint John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439.

Philip Ross
Member of the Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates
Jamaica Estates Civic Association

Liu ignores violence against Falun Gong

Falun Gong practitioners brought some challenging questions to New York City Council Member John Liu on July 2. The session was arranged by Liu's office and held at the Flushing, Queens branch of the New York library.

Council Member John Liu Dodges Questions from Beleaguered Community

The discussion lasted over 2 hours and was attended by about forty Falun Gong practitioners and some media. It was the result of repeated requests by Falun Gong practitioners to meet with Liu since violent attacks against them began happening frequently on May 17.

A video was played for Liu by Falun Gong practitioners which showed an overview of some of what had happened. Most of the footage took place on Main Street of Flushing near the library. In the video, people who were not Falun Gong practitioners waved Chinese Communist flags, and shouted death threats, physically attacked, spit on, and cursed at Falun Gong practitioners.

Liu watched the footage quietly, and dismissed it as not showing anything significant.

Calls Made for Investigation of NY Councilman and Assemblywoman

According to two reports by pro-communist newspapers Chinese Press (Qiaobao) and Ming Daily (Ming Pao) , on June 28 New York State assemblywoman Ellen Young granted an audience to several members of the pro-communist mobs who allegedly assisted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in their assault against Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing, Queens.

Young, while listening to their "complaints" during the meeting, also said that she would be working with New York council member John Liu to restrict the New York Police Department (NYPD) 109th Precinct from issuing permits which allow Falun Gong practitioners to hold rallies in the downtown Flushing area.

Experts are currently appealing to the U.S. government to investigate these two pro-communist media outlets as well as these two U.S. elected officials for allegedly helping the Chinese communist regime to incite spies and accomplices to assault Falun Gong adherents.

Onderdonk House burglarized by kids

Are you aware that the Onderdonk House was recently vandalized by adolescents who broke into the property and structure?

There's a police report on file and available for your perusal.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a profound patron of the arts and humanities. I'm sure he would be upset if the Onderdonk House, a valuable historical resource for New York City students and historians, would have to curtail its educational activities because of lack of security.

Onderdonk House burglarized by kids

I'm sure that great Queens preservationist, Michael Bloomberg, has lost a lot of sleep since this incident...

Ice cream war in Maspeth

Responding to a concerned phone call, the Queens Chronicle accompanied Price and his muscle-bound driver on their route through Maspeth last Friday. The reporter witnessed the harassment first hand.

Exposing The Harder Side Of Soft Serve Ice Cream

Although most of the afternoon was uneventful, around 4 p.m. the Mister Softee truck spotted Price and immediately pulled over. The driver was seen dialing a cell phone.

A few moments later, the Mister Softee driver approached Price’s Kool Man truck.

“What are you doing over here,” the driver asked aggressively. “This is my route.”

Price’s hired driver replied he wasn’t interested in the conversation.

“You don’t need to talk to me?” the Mister Softee driver said angrily. “You’ll be talking to my boss then.”

In these situations, Price explained, that “boss” often shows up in a green minivan to further harass him.

Bukharians on a Forest Hills crapping frenzy

“We like to utilize every single square inch of land, every inch of territory,” explained Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, head of a Bukharian synagogue and community center in Kew Gardens Hills. “For some reason, people don’t appreciate it.”

Questions of Size and Taste in Queens

The Bukharian tendency to pave over everything is practical, he continued. Bukharians preferred a terrace or patio to a lawn, which he called “useless land.” A yard required mowing — “a waste of time,” he said.

“Exhibit A,” he said, gesturing to a brick row house on 76th Road. It had a verdant front yard that seemed to beg for mowing and pruning. “You see this?” he said dismissively. “What is this? What are we seeing here?”

He then pointed to the house next door. “Exhibit B,” he declared. The house was fronted by a well-swept terrace of red and black paving stones and enclosed within a five-foot-high wall that, he said, ensured some privacy. Any remaining green was an accent rather than a feature.

“You can eat outside, the kids have a place to play,” the rabbi said. “You have usage of the front of your house.”

“It’s nice, it’s beautiful,” he added. "What are you afraid of?"

Oh, little things like worsening pollution, the heat island effect, 3 feet of water in our basements...

More on Springfield Gardens nightmare

Rent Stabilized Complex consisting of 28 two-family buildings with 56 units now being subdivided into a real nightmare for Ground Floor Residents!!

This has to be the worst so called SUBDIVISION managed garden apartment complex in Queens!!!

Since spring of 2007 all safety and privacy rules have been axed. With no common management and multiple owners would this still be called a COMPLEX??

DOB violations for demolishing community garages without a permit and creating illegal parking lots. Can this be fixed?

Imagine yourself as a ground floor resident in this situation. Cars coming and going while children play, cookouts etc. Did I mention that there is a locked gate to prevent access, for resident security? Owners of certain buildings have keys and access from their basements to rear community yard which had been plowed down, removing every tree and bush, leaving the yards as you see them here. Notice that a back yard has been fenced off by one owner. Makes you think twice about the housing prospects of Queens. What are they thinking???? - anonymous

Congratulations to our newest Americans

They were born in 39 different countries - from Afghanistan to Jamaica to Guyana - but yesterday, they stood side by side in Manhattan and became Americans together.

IMMI-GREAT DAY TO BECOME A CITIZEN

Surrounded by friends and relatives who cheered and waved the Stars and Stripes, 122 men and women recited an oath of allegiance on the day before the Fourth of July and received certificates declaring them to be US citizens.

Many of the new citizens said they were motivated to go through the naturalization process - which includes a lengthy exam on American history - because of the upcoming presidential elections.

Ursula Melo, 31, who is from Peru, said she was going to register to vote immediately after the ceremony.

"The most important reason I wanted to do this was so I could vote. That's what motivated me the most," she said. "Peru was the place to see me born, but this is my home now."

They came here legally and are now legal citizens. What a wonderful thing.

Fighting terror in a red-white-and-blue boat

There is nothing else like it in any other American city. A $1 million lean speedboat – the newest weapon in New York City's war against those looking to do us harm.

NYPD Unveils Super Anti-Terror Patrol Boats

It's called a "TRACS" boat. Because of security purposes, CBS 2 HD can't reveal all of the equipment on board, but it has the unique capacity to detect even the most minute traces of radiation to prevent one of the city's top security nightmares – the smuggling of radioactive material that could be used to make a dirty bomb.

Babs advocates teardown

She's at it again:

Q I bought a home in Marine Park that I, after the fact, discovered had asbestos, water in the basement, a broken deck and a faulty aboveground pool. Am I better off renovating before I sell or finding a buyer who just wants to knock it down?

A You're a textbook example of why every buyer should spend a few hundred bucks to get a professional home inspection before they close.

Sorry Charlie - keep your money in your pocket and find a buyer who wants a teardown.

"A broken deck and a faulty aboveground pool" certainly are not reasons to tear a house down. Water in the basement probably means you need a new cellar door. Asbestos can be sealed up rather than removed for a fraction of the cost. These are things you would expect to fix when you buy an older house. As for Charlie, he sounds like a flipper and not someone who planned to live in this house. He also is a dimwit since he didn't get an inspection before buying.

An Astoria Boulevard ditty

You’re a grand old house
You’re a cute little house
But you soon may be sent to your grave

You're an emblem of
The borough I loved -
Now home to the tweeded and lame.

Ev'ry heart beat true
'Neath the red, white and blue
Now a different flag everyone waves

And since all our history’s being wiped out
Brace yourself now for more Queens Crap.

(with apologies to George M. Cohan)

Sinatra's American history lesson

Starring Frank Sinatra, this short ten minute film was given an honorary Oscar and a Golden Globe. Sinatra raises awareness for religious tolerance.

And for more education, the Queens Gazette has printed a history of the American flag.

Appropriate activities for today

The Declaration of Independence is on display at the New York Public Library from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. And if you can't go today, there's still plenty of time to see it before it leaves on August 2nd.

There's also an exhibit on political campaigns at the Museum of the City of New York. And their website says it's free today if you walk in wearing a campaign button.

Washington crosses the Flushing

Joseph Ardizzone, who has lived in Willets Point since 1932 and is the last resident at the site, criticized the city’s attitude towards the area for the past 30 years and its failure to put in sewers, roads and provide other municipal services for the neighborhood.

CB 7 OKs Willets Plan … with buts

“For the past 75 years the city has said no to me, why should I now say yes,” said Ardizzone, who dressed up like a colonial American and decried the city’s tactics as un-American during the meeting.

Here's a letter from a business owner:

At the Community Board meeting, the members started fighting over what they wanted to build on my land. This is land that has been in my family for years and that I pay taxes on and it is being fought over already? I could not believe what I was witnessing.

I looked around the room as Evan Stavisky, the lobbyist who was hired by the city, schmoozed with the board members trying to sway their thoughts and votes. I saw Claire Shulman, the woman who withheld basic services from Willets Point while she was Borough President, do the same.

I felt helpless and could not believe that these people did not care that we were being thrown off our land due to their long-standing neglect. They just want us out to preserve their legacy.

Facing the threat of losing your business and livelihood due to an eminent domain seizure is cruel. I have worked my entire life to build my nest egg and now it is going to be snatched away. No one at the Community Board meeting seemed to care about all the equity the city was trying to loot away from all the landowners by offering 50 cents on the dollar.

I thought about my father - how he fought in Germany to protect other people’s land. Now here I am fighting my city and country for the land my dad worked hard for to keep his American dream alive. My father died two years ago just as the city started its fifth attempt in 25 years to take our land.

And, of course, Grandma Shulman has weighed in on her blog:

Now in my travels around the borough and talking with our citizens, I have yet to find any significant opposition to this plan with the exception of the businesses on the site.

Everyone wants to get rid of the unsightly mess at Willets. Some Councilmembers and folks have different ideas on what should be developed there but most are negotiable.

Translation: "Evan, we need to throw more money at them."

Meanwhile, the Mets are begging for more tax money...

Brian blames it on booze

At a back booth in a coffee shop in his former Flushing district, McLaughlin politely nudged the conversation toward what he most wanted to talk about: his wife Eva, his family and the life he leads today. He talked about the rewards of returning over the past couple of years to blue-collar work as a sandhog, electrician and limo driver - and about saner hours and spiritual matters, with a backward glance or two at the ruin of his public life.

Former Assemb. McLaughlin pours himself into new life

"In my case alcohol was a factor in some of what I did," he said. With his public roles always keeping him away from home, he said, "you're out of touch with the emotional needs of your wife and family, those that matter the most to you, largely without recognizing it. And unable to recognize it, because every day your work schedule and your personal lifestyle kind of take on a habit and a culture of their own.

He speaks of having moved from one life to another. He suggests his fall from grace might resemble a bit the story of Michael Vick, who'd come up "from the neighborhood" but still hung out with the old group of "knuckleheads."

The next chapter on McLaughlin will be written in federal court, a little more than two months from now.

Roadside flags, Brooklyn-Queens edition

Grand Avenue LIE overpass with what remains of Sandy Falls.
Happy Fourth of July.
Stay safe out there.

Construction fence turned into art exhibit

Even with the cooling economy, there are a couple of things that New York City still has in abundance these days: artists and acres of condominium construction sites surrounded by wooden walls. On a recent night in Long Island City, Queens, the first found a mutually beneficial use for the second, called it a gallery and held an opening, with Cheez Doodles standing in for canapés.

The name of the makeshift and, in this case, legal street art space might sound a little awkward: Gallerie Pulaski. But it is honest. The exhibition of work by more than 20 artists, most of them graffitists in good standing, has taken shape on the scaffolding-shaded plywood walls around a rising condo, just yards away from the busy ramps to the Pulaski Bridge spanning Newtown Creek.

Construction Zone: Beware of Audacious Art

One reason why tweeding is easy

N.Y.'s Voter Turnout Among Lowest in Nation
By MARK GIANNOTTO, Special to the Sun

New York State has some of the lowest voter turnout numbers in America, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report says only 37.6% of registered New York voters came out to the polls for the 2006 congressional election, the seventh-worst voter turnout percentage in America. The national average for voter turnout was more than 43%.

White non-Hispanics had the highest turnout in New York, with 45% casting votes in 2006.

The 2006 numbers show a steep decline from the more than 53% of registered New Yorkers who voted in the 2004 elections. In the 2002