CB3 almost unanimously votes down Mets shopping mall

From Willets Point United:

By a wide margin of 30-1 (plus 1 abstention), CB3 voted on Thursday night to disapprove the proposed "Willets West" mall / Willets Point development. The landslide vote endorsed the earlier recommendation, on Tuesday night, of several CB3 committees, and took place after a public hearing on the matter. Reasons for CB3's disapproval include the project's huge and unaddressed traffic congestion and related negative impacts, failure to prioritize housing and a school, overcrowding of subway and bus lines as a consequence of the project, and disregarding the Advisory Committee and Queens officials when selecting the plan and the developers. CB3 concluded: "The proposed project would change the character of the surrounding neighborhoods and impact the livelihoods of 250,000 residents and many small mom-and-pop businesses."

Likely aware of the committees' Tuesday recommendation to disapprove the project, no representative of developers Sterling Equities and Related Companies, or the city, bothered to attend the Thursday night public hearing.

Although CB7 voted last week to approve the same development project by a very slim margin of 22-18 (notoriously, after the CB7 committee had rejected it the week before by a vote of 7-2), the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure ("ULURP") entitles other affected community boards to also evaluate a land use application that "may significantly affect the welfare of the district or borough served by such board". CB3 has exercised that right, and decided to disapprove the application. So at the moment, the Willets West mall / Willets Point development has been approved by CB7 by a very slim margin, and rejected by CB3 almost unanimously. ULURP does not give any greater weight to any particular community board's recommendation – so both boards' recommendations must be equally considered by the next decision-makers.

Kind of funny how one community board bent over backward to ensure a "yes" outcome, while another boldly voted "no".

Remember the Sage!

The Queens Gazette has an announcement about the opening of the Nevada Diner in Elmhurst, which has replaced the Pop Diner/Pop City Grill (which replaced the Sage Diner - site of an infamous 1986 shootout). There apparently is another Nevada Diner in Bloomfield, NJ, with the same theme and decor, so it probably is owned by the same entity. Early reviews aren't good, but then again, the Pop was pretty awful as well.

CB1 doesn't think Astoria is developed enough

From DNA Info:

Queens Community Board 1 voted Tuesday night to unanimously approve a developer's plan to bring thousands of residential apartments, parkland and retail space to a stretch of Astoria waterfront known as Hallets Point.

Lincoln Equities Group is applying for zoning changes in order to go forward with the project, and still needs the approval of several other government bodies in the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

If ultimately approved, the project would bring 11 buildings ranging from 11 to 31 stories high to seven acres of the waterfront.

The development would include more than 2,000 apartments, 20 percent of which would be designated affordable, the rest market-rate. Construction would start in late 2014 or early 2015, the developer said.

Ain't no wave strong enough...

From the NY Post:

The city is moving closer to getting emergency housing with the selection of a three-story, three-unit prototype — complete with balconies — that will soon be erected next to the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn.

The prototype includes two, 822 square-foot three-bedroom units on the upper two floors, and one 480 square-foot one-bedroom handicapped accessible apartment on the ground floor — still far larger than the city’s 250-to-370 square-foot permanent Micro Units.

We’ve learned the mini-complex — designed by Garrison Architects of Brooklyn for American Manufactured Systems and Services of Vienna, Va. — was selected this month for the $1,135,147 contract by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Star Nissan fined for hacking young street trees

Dear Crapper,

On Tuesday May 21, 2013 employees of the Star Nissan/Toyota Service Center located at 40-20 172 Street in Auburndale took a small hand saw to twenty two of twenty three city trees that are planted on the sidewalks surrounding the facility on 172nd Street, 42nd Avenue and Auburndale Lane. Branches, as many as ten per tree, were removed. Those branches that were too large for the saw to cut through were ripped from the tree after partial cuts taking the branch and up to three feet of tree bark and interior matter.

The trees were planted between 2003 and 2006 at the direction of the Mayor's Office to provide a barrier between the noxious business and the neighboring residential homes. The trees provided a visual barrier as they grew, a sound barrier from the power tool noise, a pollution absorption mechanism and added greatly to the aesthetics of the area.

From the beginning Star Nissan/Toyota ownership, management and/or employees opposed the planting of the trees, running over the first few the night they were planted. The Parks Department returned a few days later with a police escort to re-plant the trees. A few years later when the planting moved to Auburndale Lane, the first Parks Department crew was harassed so badly by the Star workers that they vacated the site and returned again with a police escort. The trees have prospered in the intervening years providing a full canopy on Auburndale Lane and a beautiful counterpoint to the bland industrial building on 172nd Street. That is until yesterday when, according to a Star Manager, the trees presented such a safety hazard with low hanging branches that they were cut so that any branch that extended from the tree up to six to eight feet above the ground was excised. He admittedly did not contact 311, the Parks Department or Mayor's Office for advice or permission.

A contingent of Parks Department employees were on site first thing this morning to inspect the damage and to ultimately serve the Star manager with $84,000 worth of fines ($4,000 for severe damage to each of 20 tress and $2,000 each for damage to the remaining two trees). The Parks Department will continue to monitor the trees as an initial analysis indicates that some will not survive the attack.

Rhea O'Gorman
Station Road Civic Association

MLS Stadium in FMCP is apparently DOA

From the Times Ledger:

The odds that a soccer team funded by an Abu Dhabi sheik and the New York Yankees will scrap plans for a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park are more likely than official announcements have indicated, TimesLedger Newspapers has learned.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced Tuesday Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the owner of a British team called Manchester City Football Club, and the Bronx Bombers, which have signed on as minority partners, will head the league’s newest franchise.

The team, called New York City Football Club, plans to begin its first season in 2015 at a temporary venue the team said has not been decided, but which documents seen by TimesLedger identify as Yankee Stadium.

MLS has spent more than a year and nearly $2 million on lobbyists to lay the groundwork for a 13-acre stadium proposed on top of a non-working fountain in the park, which was touted by the Bloomberg administration but met with vehement opposition by Queens parks groups.

In order to fend off continuing criticism directed at the team’s majority owner from Abu Dhabi’s royal family, the New York City Football Club has already planned to abandon the idea, documents suggest.

The club plans to draw focus away from the turmoil in Queens by backing off the park complex and instead pushing news about players and highlighting the upcoming 2015 season, according to documents, which is a year earlier than MLS had originally anticipated play would begin.

The decision seems to have come as a surprise to both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MLS.

As recently as May 13, Bloomberg defended the Flushing Meadows stadium plan, telling reporters at a news conference replacement parkland would be found for the proposed 25,000-seat stadium.

And in late April, MLS Commissioner Don Garber was still insisting the Queens stadium was the only option.

“If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadows Park,” Garber told the Associated Press at the time. “There is no Plan B.”

But the MLS commissioner was informed sometime after making the comment that the new team, which is now taking the lead on the stadium search, would consider other locations.

“MLS is no longer leading the effort with the stadium project,” Garber said this week, adding the league has also dropped its pursuit of a land-use application to site the stadium in the park, he said.

New York City Football Club knew its decision would anger the city administration, since the mayor and a team of high-ranking city officials poured significant resources into the park stadium plan, considered by many to be a Bloomberg legacy project, TimesLedger has learned.

According to the documents, the club plans to thank and reach out to community groups in Queens and may offer to refurbish soccer fields in the Flushing Meadows near the proposed stadium site even thought he stadium may never be built.

From the Queens Chronicle:

As officials from MLS, the Bronx Bombers, Abu Dhabi-owned Man City and Mayor Bloomberg congratulated each other during a Tuesday press conference rolling out the franchise, there was one notable absence: the Unisphere, which had become ubiquitous in the league’s push to build a home in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Sources say the league and club owners plan to slowly suffocate talk of a Flushing Meadows stadium through a series of distractions meant to push the mythical arena to the sports pages. There it will likely die a quiet death, where MLS hopes the Bloomberg administration will be spared the embarrassment of yet another ambitious failure. The process has already begun.

According to sources who requested anonymity to maintain ties to the project, FMCP’s precipitous drop from essential to optional is fueled by a mixture of feasibility issues, unexpectedly strong opposition and face-saving on the part of all involved. The Pool of Industry site, it turns out, is fraught with regulatory and practical headaches, and the public needs its attention drawn away from a billionaire owner from Abu Dhabi.

The stadium, however, reportedly carried the extra weight of being labeled a “legacy project” by the Bloomberg administration. Ditching the location in FMCP would invoke the mayor’s ire, but was a necessary repercussion.

Sources said Bloomberg has expended significant political capital in trying to make MLS’s expansion franchise a reality. The potential scuttling of the FMCP stadium would add to the mayor’s list of failed proposals, alongside the failed West Side Stadium, part of the infamously flawed push to host the Olympics in 2012.

The political capital is paired with nearly $2 million in literal capital MLS spent lobbying for the stadium.

Dan's back

From the Daily News:

Embattled City Councilman Dan Halloran showed his face at the Council for the first time since he was hit with federal corruption charges nearly two months ago.

The Queens Republican showed up at City Hall for Wednesday’s meeting of the full Council, after skipping its last two meetings while battling charges he joined a scheme to buy Sen. Malcolm Smith a spot on the Republican mayoral ballot and offered Council member item cash in exchange for bribes.

“I’m here fulfilling my obligations,” Halloran said. “I’m here doing my job, the job I was elected to do.”

Will there be any punishment?

From the Queens Courier:

Concerned Woodhaven residents want to know what repercussions, if any, a local landowner will face after his building collapsed last month, damaging the adjacent Volunteer Ambulance Corps and forcing residents to leave the Woodhaven Senior Center.

An abandoned furniture store at 78-19 Jamaica Avenue crumbled onto the street on April 12, crushing a minivan parked out front and shutting down a section of the road while debris was removed.

At a May 18 meeting of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA), many voiced their desire to see the landlord held responsible for alleged negligence that led to the vacant building’s collapse.

The Woodhaven Senior Center is currently covered by a tarp, which must be proven watertight before seniors will be allowed back into the building.

Turning parks into huge billboards didn't pay off

From the Daily News:

A Bloomberg administration plan to sell naming rights on dog runs, basketball courts and other spots in municipal parks has been a bust, leaving the city with a $13 million hole in its budget, a budget watchdog said Tuesday.

No one applied to the revenue-raising program, which the Parks Department launched last year in partnership with NYC and Company and IMG, a sports marketing company, the Independent Budget Office said.

But while the city made no money, IMG did.

The marketing firm was paid $135,000 to trumpet the city’s parks to potential sponsors, the budget office said.

All of that money came from private donations, provided through NYC & Company, according to a spokeswoman.

The city will continue trying for sponsors in the next budget year, when it is counting on the program raising $7 million, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Walmart possible in Ridgewood

From the Observer:

It’s been mostly quiet on the Walmart front since plans for a Brooklyn behemoth collapsed last fall, but prominent New York brokers insist that the world’s largest retailer is in active negotiations for a spot in the five boroughs.

Walmart announced in September that its quixotic quest for a New York City location had hit a wall. The company’s latest failed bid for a toehold here came at the Related Companies’ Gateway II project in East New York. A coalition of labor unions, community defenders and politicians (including Christine Quinn) had condemned the proposal. Its downfall was attributed mostly to the company’s employment practices and perennial spats with unions. A unionized ShopRite will rise on the Gateway II site.

The Gateway Walmart had been expected since 2010, though it was never confirmed by the retailer or Related. When the East New York prospect dimmed, Walmart seemed to retreat from its designs on New York.

But several brokers told The Commercial Observer that negotiations are currently underway. “I understand they’re looking at something on the Queens-Brooklyn border,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division. “There’s an old industrial building over there with vacant lots next to it.”

Another real estate industry source familiar with Walmart’s hunger for a New York location, wishing to remain anonymous, said the company was in active negotiations for a “very substantial,” roughly 300,000-square-foot as-of-right site in the outer boroughs.

Ms. Consolo could not confirm the 300,000-square-foot figure, but did not reject the possibility of a Walmart site in or near Ridgewood, the gentrifying neighborhood between Bushwick and Middle Village that has recently welcomed artists and Polish families priced out of Bushwick and Greenpoint.

Anthony's finally in

From the Politicker:

He’s in. After weeks of speculation, disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner has officially thrown his hat into the mayor’s race, announcing he’s running with a new video posted on his revamped campaign website.

“Look, I made some big mistakes. And I know I let a lot of people down. But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor ’cause I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you,” he says in the video, which opens with a family scene of the former Councilman and his wife, Huma Abedin, having breakfast in their kitchen with their son.

The video goes on to show iconic scenes of the city and images of Mr. Weiner growing up in middle-class Brooklyn, and goes on to outline a platform that includes dropping fines for small businesses and more opportunities for the middle class.

Observers have been mixed about how Mr. Weiner will impact the field, but Public Advocate Bill de Blasio appears to have the most to lose. A long-time Brooklyn resident and fellow former councilman, Mr. Weiner is expected to appeal to the same outer-borough, ethnic whites and progressive voters who feel Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the race’s front-runner, is ideologically impure.

Yankees join forces with sheik to buy soccer team

From the Times Ledger:

Major League Soccer announced Tuesday the New York Yankees have teamed up with an Abu Dhabi sheik to buy a new soccer team franchise based in the Big Apple, but the announcement cast doubt on whether the crew will eventually play in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The Bronx Bombers and Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who already owns English soccer team Manchester City, hope the new team, New York City Football Club, will begin play in 2015, according to an announcement from the brand new club, which will compete with another team across the Hudson River.

Manchester City will be the majority owner of the club, with the Yankees acting as an investor, according to the club. On May 25, Manchester City will play a friendly match against another British team, Chelsea FC, at Yankee stadium.

Where the new team will play afterward is up in the air.

Last month, Garber reiterated the league’s insistence on Flushing Meadows.

“If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadow Park,” Garber said to the Associated Press. “There is no Plan B.”

But statements by the New York City Football Club in its Tuesday announcement seemed to open the possibility the sports facility could be located elsewhere.

“In considering any stadium site, we will listen first. This is what we have always done in Manchester and what we will do in New York. Only in this way can the club truly represent the city whose name it will carry,” said Ferran Soriano, chief executive officer of Manchester City.

The announcement also mentioned the negotiations, public relations pitches and outreach that MLS has been undertaking.

“New York City FC is committed to seeking a new permanent stadium in New York. Until that time, the new team is arranging to play in an interim home beginning in its inaugural MLS season in 2015. Over the past year, MLS began discussions with the city of New York and other stakeholders about the possibility of constructing a new stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The club’s new management will continue these discussions with local government officials, community residents and businesses, soccer leagues, and MLS,” the announcement stated. “The club will continue to review other potential sites as well.”

The possibility of another location was welcome news to Queens park advocacy groups.

“As everyone in Queens — except for most of our elected officials — seems to know, the proposed site was a terrible location for any sort of stadium, as it would have horribly impacted the park as well as sat directly on top of the Flushing River, which the Fountain of the Planets currently is sited,” said Paul Graziano, a co-founder of the park advocacy group Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is opposed to commercial development in the green space. “As advocates specifically for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, we are hopeful that we are seeing the last of this awful proposal and that it will evaporate back into thin air where it came from.”

Illegal hotel rentals can be costly to owners

From the NY Observer:

Temporary apartment renting service Airbnb has had its share of tussles with New York law. In 2011, the city instituted an illegal hotels statute that makes it illegal for users to rent out their apartments for less than 29 days, effectively rendering Airbnb hosts subject to fines. Last September, the city council jacked up the fines that could be levied upon illegal hoteliers advertising their wares through Airbnb from $800 to $2,500.

Now, CNET reports that a New York administrative law judge has fined an Airbnb host $2,400 for breaking the illegal hotel law when he leased out part of his condo on the site, arguing that the unit “may only be used as private residences and may not be rented for transient, hotel, or motel purposes.”

Airbnb attempted to come to the rescue of the host, Nigel Warren, and helped get his fine knocked down from $7,000 after zoning charges were dismissed. But even with Airbnb’s crack team of experts at his side, Mr. Warren is still expected to pony up the $2,400.

Bye, bye Barry!

From the Queens Courier:

Former assemblymember Barry Grodenchik has ended his borough president bid less than a day after being beat for a key county endorsement.

“The next borough president must focus like a laser on jobs, education, healthcare, economic development and Sandy recovery,” Grodenchik said. “I am proud to have brought those issues to the forefront of the debate. But at this time, I believe that it is in the best interest of my family, team and party to end my candidacy.”

Grodenchik, 53, served as deputy borough president from 2009 to earlier this year, when he stepped down in order to run for BP.

The Queens County Democratic Party endorsed his rival, Melinda Katz, on Monday.

Sources close to the race said the endorsement, coupled with Grodenchik’s exit, was meant to give Katz a much-needed boost over front-runner Peter Vallone Jr. The councilmember leads the race both in polls and in fundraising.

Helen didn't know that Johnny is in the mayoral race

From the NY Observer:

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall holds one of the most prominent elected offices in Queens. But the 83-year-old lawmaker was apparently unaware until yesterday that John Liu was running for mayor.

During the Queens Democratic Party’s endorsement event Monday, a reporter for a Chinese-language newspaper asked Ms. Marshall if she was disappointed the county hadn’t backed Mr. Liu, who lives in the borough and used to represent it on the City Council. (They backed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn instead.)

According to a source who witnessed the conversation, an article in The China Press and an interview with the reporter who interviewed the borough president, Ms. Marshall appeared confused by the question.

Well, he’s facing opposition in his re-election campaign for comptroller, Ms. Marshall reportedly answered. City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who was standing near Ms. Marshall, leaned over to explain to her that Mr. Liu is actually running for mayor–prompting surprise.

"Oh, I like him, I don’t know why we didn’t endorse him, then," Ms. Marshall reportedly replied.

Ms. Marshall, who was elected in 2001 after serving in the City Council and the New York State Assembly, has just one year left in her final term. But some observers have raised questions about her muted activity. Colleagues described Ms. Marshall as increasingly absent-minded, sometimes repeating herself and forgetting things.

“It’s been getting worse over time,” observed one Queens Democratic source, who said this fall’s election can’t come soon enough. “I think she’s winding down a long political career and is less engaged in the job than she used to be,” said another.

Others were less forgiving. ”Nothing against Helen personally, but for several years she’s been a couple miles past out to lunch,” a Queens insider quipped. “On a good day.”

Crowley pissed off a lot of Dems with his endorsement picks

From the Politicker:

When the Queens Democratic Party rolled out its endorsements this morning in Forest Hills, one notable demographic, African Americans, was left without a major candidate. Indeed, Queens' black political establishment looked on with disappointment as their favored candidates for mayor, borough president and public advocate were passed over for rivals.

Congressman Joe Crowley, the party chair, endorsed Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor and former Councilwoman Melinda Katz for borough president. While a vast majority of district leaders voiced their approval, Elmer Blackburne and several other black district leaders dissented, indicating that instead they would support Bill Thompson, the former comptroller, who is also black. Ms. Quinn and Ms. Katz are white.

"Our community tells us that they're gonna vote for him [Thompson] again," Mr. Blackburne, a district leader from a predominately black southeast Queens, told reporters after the endorsement meeting. "We feel strongly and we'll be working very strongly with Mr. Thompson. [Ms. Quinn] can't win in our district. She can't win the Bronx, from the numbers I'm getting. She can't win in her own district, I'm told--her own part of Manhattan--and she can't win in Brooklyn."

Mr. Blackburne said he understood the county organization had an appreciation for diversity but also made decisions that were not always popular with the local black political establishment. Archie Spigner, a former southeast Queens councilman and close ally of sitting Councilman Leroy Comrie, the black candidate Mr. Crowley was considering endorsing instead of Ms. Katz for borough president, expressed disappointment at the seemingly last-minute decision the county organization made to not support Mr. Comrie.

"I'm disappointed but I understand their logic," Mr. Spigner told Politicker. "We'll have to see whether Leroy continues in the race. If he continues in the race, I'll be with him. The reasons they gave me were that he was a very unsuccessful, unspectacular fund-raiser."

Sources indicated that Mr. Spigner and other Comrie allies were only informed of Mr. Crowley's decision to support Ms. Katz late Saturday and Sunday. Initially, Politicker reported that the county organization was expected to back Mr. Comrie, despite his poor fund-raising. However, according to several plugged-in Democratic sources, Mr. Comrie's candidacy was met coolly in the pivotal organized labor community, some of whom favored Ms. Katz. When other candidates, sources said, made it clear they were not going to step aside if Mr. Crowley backed Mr. Comrie, the county organization reevaluated their plans and chose Ms. Katz, a strong fund-raiser and former county-backed candidate for Congress.