Queens sex machines

 

Patch 

  "Sex mayhem" is driving at least one Queens resident to distraction.

"For the love of God, stop these sex addicts," the 311 complainant wrote. "O to the R to the G to the Y. If you know how to spell and read that is orgy."

This report of a boisterous outer-borough bacchanal is one of hundreds the city's 311 system received regarding raucous reproduction in New York City over the past year.

The city's official helpline received 277 complaints between Feb. 19, 2021, and Feb. 9, 2022, from people scorning orgies and bemoaning the sounds of moaning, according to records obtained by Patch.

Queens logged 103 complaints — the most of all the boroughs — with Manhattan second with 66, Brooklyn third with 55, Bronx fourth with 48 and Staten Island fifth with four.

The most clamorously amorous appear to partake on a seemingly quiet road of residential houses on the coast of Jamaica Bay, although some residents expressed skepticism the reports were valid.

"This cannot be real," one local told Patch on a private Facebook group message.

Yet someone logged 56 sex noise complaints for Cross Bay Boulevard against an orgy of "hippies" — who sometimes dress up as Freddy Krueger, Pennywise and the Easter Bunny — with an alleged fondness for the theme music of professional wrestler Velveteen Dream, data shows.

"They're still here causing a sex mayhem," their alleged neighbor declared one morning at 6 a.m. "Thought it was too cold outside for an orgy party. Doesn't stop this guy."

Return of the rat

 

Ridgewood Post

The number of rat complaints has jumped significantly in Queens this year, with complaints in neighborhoods like Woodside and Ridgewood more than double what they were a year ago.

There were 1,812 complaints across Queens for the Jan. 1 — June 30 period this year, up more than 27 percent from the first half of 2020 when 1,424 complaints were filed with the city, according to 311 data.

The increase, in part, can be attributed to the reopening of restaurants and New Yorkers returning to the office, experts say. Rodents rely on the food waste generated by these establishments, which were closed for much of past year due to COVID-19.

The rodent problem, however, is still high even compared to pre-pandemic records. The number of rat complaints during the first half of this year is higher than the first half of 2019, when there were 1,528 rat complaints in Queens.

Certain neighborhoods have seen a big uptick in rat complaints over the Jan. 1 — June 30 period compared to 2020, 311 data shows.

For instance, the greater Ridgewood area (11358) saw a huge rise in rat complaints year over year. Rat complaints more than doubled in the ZIP code, which also had the highest number of rat complaints in Queens both in 2020 and 2021.

There were 221 rat complaints in Ridgewood during the first six months of 2021 compared to 103 complaints during the first six months of 2020, according to 311 data.

Woodside (11377), the ZIP code with the second highest rodent complaints in Queens, also saw a jump. Residents of the neighborhood filed 180 rat complaints with 311 during the first half of this year, compared to 89 times during the first half of 2020.

The number of rat complaints has also increased in the section of Astoria represented by the ZIP code 11105. There were 106 complaints filed with 311 during the first six months of 2021, up from just 66 during the first six months of 2020. The ZIP code comes in third for the most rat complaints in Queens this year.

Corona (11368) and Briarwood (11435) had the borough’s fourth and fifth most rat complaints during the first half of the year respectively.

Both neighborhoods experienced an uptick in rodent complaints as well. There were 86 rat complaints in Corona during the first half of this year — up from 58 for the same period in 2020. In Briarwood, there were 81 rat complaints— up from 43.

There should be no doubt why rats are proliferating in the world's borough and the blame lies with the restaurant shanties taking up parking and sidewalk spaces. But I think the reason for the rodent rise in Briarwood is a combination of the highway modernization by the van wyck expressway and the construction site of the Kew Gardens tower jail nearby has become a nice complex for rats to burrow and breed.

A lot of citizens hate the city's open restaurants program

 

 

Patch

 A cornucopia of outdoor dining setups, from igloos to gazebos to cozy shacks, will be permanent fixtures of New York City's dining scene. But restaurants' recent expansion from dining rooms to sidewalks and streets left many New Yorkers stewing.

Outdoor dining setups drew more than 4,400 complaints to 311 since July as the city's Open Restaurants program ramped up, according to data.

They complained about restaurants encroaching into sidewalks and onto streets, the lack of ADA ramps, the setups' conditions and more.

But starting in October the complaints began to trail off — perhaps because of cold weather, or maybe as New Yorkers got more and more used to what Mayor Bill de Blasio called a "new reality" when he first announced the program in June.

"We've had it before, but the way we have to do it now, is very new and different, but we're ready," he said.

Outdoor dining sprang up as a way to safely reopen restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic — and eateries and New Yorkers alike quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

Within days, nearly 6,000 restaurants signed up for the program. Nearly 11,000 outdoor dining locations were listed on the city's Open Restaurants finder as of Friday.

The city allows restaurants to self-certify but sets strict rules. Sidewalk seating, for example, must allow an 8-foot path for pedestrians. Roadway setups must have a fully built interior wall that can hold filler material, as another example.

And to ensure compliance, the city's Department of Transportation has conducted nearly 40,000 inspections across the boroughs, data shows.

Roughly 7,500 of these uncovered a non-compliant condition, according to data.

Inspectors also responded to 311-driven complaints. Of those 4,400 complaints, data shows roughly 2,300 were essentially ruled unfounded — the outdoor dining set up was in compliance.

Senior citizens left to rot by your city

Dear Crappy,

In recent days we have been made aware of a large number of seniors in desperate need of food. As more and more local stores and delis shut down, seniors have to travel further and further to find a grocery store, and even when one is open, there is a long line waiting outside. My husband runs a food pantry in Queens, and in normal (non-covid) times, only opens once a month. His pantry is on the 311 Emergency Food Provider list for our area (Elmhurst), and this past week he has been inundated with calls from agencies/social workers trying to find help for their clients, as well as desperate ppl calling for themselves because they have nowhere else to turn. Today my husband walked a shopping cart full of food to a 94-yr-old homebound lady 30 blocks away. My question, what is the city doing to try to help people in need of food, especially vulnerable seniors? At this point, Senior Services workers are calling volunteer once-monthly food pantries looking for help. Attached is a photo from 311’s web site. Should the seniors start waiting outside public school cafeterias for their pb&j or cheese sandwich?

 

Mayor de Blasio stupidly breaks CDC protocol by wrongly advising woman about coronavirus

NY Post

Mayor Bill de Blasio directly contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on Wednesday when he gave a woman who’d recently returned from coronavirus-ridden Italy bad advice on when to self-isolate.

Hizzoner dished out the dubious tip while fielding a call at a 311 center in Lower Manhattan, as reporters looked on.

“No symptoms of any kind?” de Blasio asked the unidentified caller, who had recently come back from a trip to Europe’s hardest-hit nation but not shown any signs of sickness. “If you experience any symptoms at any moment, at that time adjust your approach.

“The important thing is to really be sensitive that if anything changes at all stay home immediately.”
The CDC, however, advises that anyone returning stateside from Italy self-isolate for two weeks — regardless of whether they’re symptomatic.

“Stay home for 14 days from the time you left Italy and practice social distancing,” the agency writes on its website.

City Hall admitted de Blasio was wrong and said it had reached out to the caller to give her the right information, following an inquiry from The Post.

“The mayor misspoke,” spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said. “If you return from Italy you should self-quarantine regardless of symptoms. We have made contact with the caller and clarified and the mayor will be issuing a clarification, as well.”

More flooding in South Ozone Park...this time with abandoned cars on the streets

I live in south ozone park just off south conduit and 130th street. One of the big problems we have here are cars parking in the same spot for weeks and months and not moving.. most of the cars do not belong to people who actually live here. Over the last 5 months it has become unbearable here. This is a very small neighborhood maybe 100 homes in this section of south ozone park. Yes every neighborhood deals with this issue but since it’s so bad here I thought I would let people know how bad it is.. if there was a way to find out what part of south ozone park has the most 311 complaints I’m sure my section would be number 1 on the list.. I must of done a 311 complaint every single day since September. Wether it’s for a abandon car parked over seven days. A car blocking a driveway or hydrant a commercial vehicle parked over night which is another big problem here but that’s a story for another day . Here are some pics of cars parked over seven days some even marked for tow cars with missing plates on the street.

 Some more pics the Honda Civic has been parked on the opposite side of the street for almost two months it’s been ticketed to 

Where the most street homeless are

From RealtyHop:

As shown on the map, homeless encampments are mostly concentrated in Manhattan, with Midtown-Midtown South being the worst of all neighborhoods. The good news? So far, only 402 encampments have reported in the neighborhood, 201 fewer than 2017. West Village is another neighborhood that has seen more homeless encampments than others, with 275 reported in 2017 and 260 reported in 2018 as of October 31st, 2018. The number goes down as the neighborhoods get farther away from the city center. In Brooklyn, however, things seem to be worsening in Stuyvesant Heights, with 56 homeless encampments reported in 2017 and 130 reported in 2018. Other neighborhoods that have seen an increase in the number of encampments include East Williamsburg, Dumbo-Vinegar Hill-Downtown Brooklyn-Boerum Hill, and Prospect Heights.

So this study, using 311 call data regarding homeless encampments, seems to show that while Manhattan numbers are skyrocketing, Queens homeless numbers are on a steep decline. (They cut up and mashed together neighborhoods in a weird way, though.)

Where the most selfish dog owners live

From Brick Underground:

...a report from RealtyHop, which looked at 311 poop complaint data for New York City and other cities. With over 84,000 registered dogs in the city (which the city's Department of Health estimates is just 20 percent of the total dog population), there were 2,458 poop complaints logged in 2017, a decrease from the prior year.

Worst neighborhoods by borough
Average yearly complaint per 10,000 households in 2017

Soundview-Bruckner (the Bronx) 46
Ozone Park (Queens) 20.3.
Cypress Hills-City Line (Brooklyn) 19.1
Mariner’s Harbor-Arlington-Port Ivory-Graniteville (Staten Island) 18.0
Hamilton Heights (Manhattan) 11.5

Cleanest neighborhoods by borough
Average yearly complaint per 10,000 households in 2017

Stuyvesant Town-Cooper Village (Manhattan) 0.8
Brooklyn Heights-Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) 1.0
Co-op City (the Bronx) 2.1
Springfield Gardens North (Queens) 3.1
Grymes Hill-Clifton-Fox Hills (Staten Island) 6.9

Pam's Place is a hellhole

"From July 11 through July 25, 2018 the Dutch Kills community was forced to endure three completely unacceptable incidents directly related to clients at “Pam’s Place,” a shelter for homeless women at the former Verve Hotel at 40-03 29th Street in Long Island City.

• At 10:30 p.m. on July 11th, shelter client Yaremis Perdomo, 33, became enraged and set her 51-year-old roommate on fire. Perdomo has since been arrested and is being held on attempted murder and other charges related to the attack. The roommate remains in critical condition at the New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Cornell Burn Unit with third-degree burns to her face, arms and hands.

• An unidentified shelter client stood in the center of the intersection at 29th Street and 39th Avenue at about 5 p.m. on July 23rd, tossing loose change into open windows of passing vehicles – snarling traffic, alarming motorists and creating serious safety concerns for pedestrians. Eyewitnesses told police that the shelter client backed off when she spotted police pulling up to the scene, making it impossible for the officers to observe her actions. This unfortunately made it impossible for the officers to charge or summons the woman. The best they could do under current law was to tell the woman to stop, which she promptly did.

• A shelter client viciously, and without provocation, attacked a local woman who was walking on 29th Street near 40th Avenue on July 24th. The unidentified assailant approached the woman, punched her in the mouth and fled. The attack was not reported to police at the 114th Precinct, an NYPD spokesperson said.

I have requested Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer’s chief of staff, Matt Wallace, to call an Emergency Meeting of the Community Advisory Board of “Pam’s Place.”

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss ongoing violent and/or dangerous conditions that spill from the shelter into the Dutch Kills community. These conditions result in a fearful, dangerous environment that substantially affects our residents’, business and quality of life.

The Dutch Kills Civic Association has requested that this meeting to be scheduled for a Tuesday or Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Wallace has assured us that such meeting will take place in the near future.

The following is a portion of our agenda for this upcoming meeting. We are requesting:

• A listing of all incidents reported to the 114th Precinct regarding Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter – including a client assault on a 114th Precinct officer.

• A complete breakdown of responses by FDNY and other ambulance crews relevant clients at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter.

• A complete listing of 911 and 311 calls seeking response to conditions at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter, from October 2016 current to the date of the upcoming meeting.

• A comprehensive report of all disciplinary actions taken by the operators and managers of Pam’s Place regarding troubled or combative shelter clients, from October 2016 current to the date of the upcoming meeting.

• A complete breakdown from the Department of Homeless Services and Sena Security of all incidents related to clients at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter.

Lastly, in order to ensure an open, transparent dialogue of issues surrounding Pam’s Placer Shelter for Homeless Women, we strongly urge that members of the press be informed and invited to provide coverage of the upcoming meeting.

George L. Stamatiades,
President
Dutch Kills Civic Association of
Long Island City

311 call turns into 2-year saga

From QNS:

A potentially dangerous street condition in Maspeth is finally being addressed by the Department of Transportation (DOT) more than two years after a local resident filed a complaint with the agency.

The situation was brought to light in January of 2016 by Middle Village resident David Paz, who informed the DOT that a guardrail along the south side of 56th Road between 43rd Street and Maspeth Avenue had been severely damaged and needed to be repaired.

Photos revealed that the guardrail was in fact lying on the sidewalk on many parts of that stretch, detached from the bollards that normally hold it in place.

The rail serves as a barrier between the sidewalk and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks used for freight operations, and the industrial area is frequented by large trucks that park along 56th Road.

On July 19, more than two years later, a DOT spokesperson confirmed that jersey barriers — concrete or plastic barriers typically used to separate traffic — would be installed at the site this week, weather permitting. The statement came after QNS obtained copies of letters between DOT officials and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who had been advocating for the guardrail to be fixed on Paz’s behalf, revealing that the agency had stalled in its response to the matter.

Bars almost always get away with being loud

From NBC:

New Yorkers fed up with noisy nightlife have the odds stacked against them when filing complaints about loud bars and clubs. The I Teams Chris Glorioso reports.



(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Aftermath of deadly fire is another tragedy

From CBS 2:

Trash can be seen on the lawn, over the fence and in a tree around the house on 252nd Street in Bellerose.

“We were expecting it to be gone by like soon, and it’s still sitting there,” neighbor Sandra Cyril told Bauman in an exclusive interview.

The home caught fire 10 days ago. Eight firefighters were hospitalized, and the 82-year-old woman living there alone was killed.

“I feel so bad for her. She had no one,” said resident Jacqueline Pilosi. “But it sucks for us, too.”

Pilosi’s house next door is perfectly manicured up to the dividing line on their shared driveway. She spent the last week and a half pleading with the city for help.

“311, when we found out the front room was filled with fecal matter, said we can’t do anything about it, it’s inside private property,” she told Bauman.

The Pilosis said they have been trying to talk to the person who inherited the property from their neighbor, but he lives out of state and hasn’t told them when it will be cleaned up and what’s taking so long.

Illegal truck lot was very bad neighbor

From the Times Ledger:

From December 2017 to March 2018 there were several complaints made to the city Department of Buildings regarding illegal commercial vehicle storage.

Hollingworth said he and neighbors, who are mostly elderly, did not know who to turn to. He said they felt hopeless when 311 was not taking action. Hollingworth contacted Times Ledger on March 14 where he was directed to DOB and City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) for further assistance. Two days later on March 16 DOB inspected the lot and issued violations for illegal commercial use of the property in a residential area. The violations had a cure date of April 25 or a date by which the property owner was compelled to correct the violating conditions. DOB’s padlock unit also sent a warning letter to the property owner April 17 directing him to cease illegal use of the lot.

Neighbors speculate that Frank Camisi loaned the lot to Arnoldo and told him if he cleaned the lot out for him, he would be able to park his trucks there for free or at a low rate.

On April 22 neighbors said the the truckers were gone from the lot, but debris remained that reminded them of their misery.

Junked cars litter South Ozone Park

"Can you get this on your site. Business called runway towing in south ozone park. They are parking all there junked cars. Trucks and company tow trucks on residential street and sidewalks. For years it’s been like this. These trucks are here 24/7 and never move. Numerous 311 complaints and nothing has ever been done. This is a daily nuances here. The business is located 124-20 south conduit Ave.Here are some pictures." - anonymous

An icy dilemma

From CBS 2:

A water leak is creating dangerous, slippery conditions on a sidewalk in a Queens neighborhood.

As CBS2’s Dave Carlin reported exclusively Thursday, complaints are pouring in. But the water is still flowing and turning into ice in the cold.

A two-story cascade of water has created icy dangers on the sidewalk to the below-grade Grand Central Parkway Service Road between Aberdeen and Tudor roads.

The unwanted waterfall started gushing over the top of a wall more than a week ago.

Large items pickup can be arranged via 311

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Sanitation Department last Thursday announced the launch of a service that allows city residents to schedule pickups for bulky items such as sofas, mattresses and large wooden furniture.

Those looking to have items picked up can do so by calling 311 or visiting nyc.gov/bulk.

The service is designed for items larger than 4 by 3 feet that can be lifted by two workers and fit inside a Sanitation truck.

It does not apply to items that require special handling such as air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions or other electronics.

No one is removing dumped car

"please post the below with all attached pictures maybe someone high up will actually do something....

green honda minivan opposite the paul klapper elementary school near 144-42 gravett road. Dumped here 3 months ago. Owes $510 in outstanding parking tikets. Gets ticketed daily for expired inspections and 1x a week for street cleaning. Multiple 311 calls 6/4/2017# 1-1-1424383051, 6/25/2017 1-1-144250739671, 6/26/25017 #1-1-1425440791, 6/26/2017 #1-1425538231, 6/27/20171-1426033741. Officers from the 107 just ticket it for expired inspection piling up tickets. Great Job -Not!!. If you can issue a ticket it may be towed immediately. I guess they found a cash cow for tickets. We are back to the 70's and 80's of dumping cars. This is across from an elementary school." - anonymous

Constituent makes plea to Jimmy Van Bramer

"I just wrote this to Councilman Van Bramer and will be sharing the information with my neighbors. Just thought you might want to know how it feels to live in Long Island City for these last 7 years:

Councilman Van Bramer,

Here in Long Island City, we've come to learn that change is inevitable. The residents here have become used to construction, construction noise, construction vehicles blocking streets and traffic -- and we've also become used to our complaints being ignored by 311 or our local politicians and community boards.

On any given day in Long Island City there are probably 5 construction or demolition sites in any 5 block radius. It's happening. But now, not even weekends are immune to the disruption and noise...starting as early as 7am in the morning on a Sunday with and without official permits.

Complaints to 311 are ineffective. However, according to 311, "after-hours noise" is "Monday to Friday before 7:00 AM or after 6:00 PM, or anytime on Saturday or Sunday without special authorization."

Sure, we can blame the developers and the inconsiderate and shady construction and demolition companies (who are most certainly non-union). But whoever is making the rules granting "special authorization" for weekend work is a blight on this neighborhood. Who are the enforcers of the rules? Because they are certainly absent on the weekends.

Can you help? The quality of life of the residents of Long Island City is being held hostage by these companies. And there is no end in sight." - Eileen

Bulk trash piling up

From Brooklyn Daily:

The Department of Sanitation must switch over to an appointment system to pick up large junk piling up on Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights streets, say angry locals.

New garbage trucks rolled out into the area last fall as part of the city’s organics program, but the waste haulers’ separate compactors for recyclables and garbage mean less room for bulky items — which are accumulating on curbs. And the city’s lack of response is turning the area into a garbage obstacle course.

From October 2016 to mid-June, 311 has logged more than 760 missed pick up complaints for “bulk” trash — anything bigger than four feet by three feet — on top of nearly 200 calls to Community Board 10’s office from residents grousing about garbage.

But the city could nip the situation in the bud if it implemented an appointment system where residents could request curbside bulk pickup, similar to the department’s electronic waste pilot program, which at the moment is only available in Staten Island.

And the problem is actually worse than city data lets on, because 311 will not accept calls about missed bulk collection until the following Sunday before a given block’s last garbage collection day of the week. This reporter was told by a 311 operator that she could not log a complaint about a sofa — that had already been on the curb for nearly two weeks — on Thursday because policy is to wait until at least 8 am on Sunday.

Nightlife noise complaints are way up

From AM-NY:

City nightlife is bringing the noise — and the headaches, according to a report released last week.

An audit by the state comptroller’s office found the number of 311 noise complaints related to bars, clubs and other nightlife establishments soared from 38,000 in 2010, to more than 93,000 in 2015.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli called on the state Liquor Authority to take action against repeat violators.

“Establishments with hundreds of complaints lodged against them faced little or no repercussions. For the sake of city residents, more action must be taken to address noisy clubs and bars,” he said.
The report showed 277 businesses each received 100 or more complaints.

DiNapoli said the state doesn’t access 311 data readily and can’t adequately assess the complaints. He recommended the state Liquor Authority design and formalize a process to go over the data themselves.