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.

Queens Victoria

 

 City And State

“Go fuck yourself.” 

“Go fuck yourself, how’s that?”

That’s how Republican New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino responded to a man she thought was a squatter outside a Whitestone, Queens, home after she called the dilapidated property “a disgrace.” The August 2022 exchange between the small, straight-talking lawmaker and a very surly large man smoking a joint was filmed by her staffer. Paladino chose to post it online, and, like much Paladino content, it went viral. 

Paladino drove by the house on her way to work after a constituent complained, not expecting to meet the man face to face. “We won’t have this goings on in this neighborhood,” she tells the man shortly before he exhales his marijuana smoke in her face. “It won’t happen. It just won’t happen.”

Paladino flipped “this neighborhood” red by a razor-thin margin in 2021. Months after his loss to her that year, Democratic former state Sen. Tony Avella said, “It may be necessary to create an unofficial government in exile in order to show the rest of the city she does not properly represent Northeast Queens.”

That’s the thing, though: She does represent Northeast Queens. Everything about the alleged squatter video – Paladino’s nerve, her husky voice and her intolerance of the appearance of the man’s house and his blasé attitude – is just so Northeast Queens, and so Vickie Paladino, the Republican lawmaker known for her silver hair, direct confrontations and extreme right-wing politics.

She carried the district by 20 points in her 2023 rematch against Avella. President Donald Trump – who Paladino passionately supports – won back the White House in November with the strongest show of support in New York in decades, making dramatic gains in New York City. That rightward shift has been brewing in Queens for several election cycles, as Paladino’s popularity evinces. Many may find her extreme online rhetoric about immigrants and transgender people, congestion pricing and vaccine mandates abhorrent, but when you visit her in her district office and see how people respond to her in real life, it’s difficult to deny that what she is doing is working politically.

“I think if you’re going to talk objectively and talk about what’s going to lead to the most electoral success (for the GOP) – especially on the heels of President Trump’s results in the city and state – the only direction is to embrace a more populist, MAGA tone and direction,” said New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax. “And that’s embodied by Vickie Paladino.”

Paladino is aware of her reputation. When I tell her the question my Gen Z friends and millennial peers have asked me most often about her over my three years covering her – “Is she actually crazy?” – the 70-year-old laughs. “I love it when they ask that.”

Council Member Chi Ossé, the progressive, TikTok-loving 26-year-old lawmaker from  Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been among Paladino’s harshest critics, particularly online. So you can imagine my surprise when, at the end of a contentious council meeting on Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes housing proposal, I saw Paladino and Ossé among the few still lingering in the council chamber, laughing together – hard. What was so funny? “We said we’d be, like, the best of friends if we weren’t living in alternate universes – but we do,” Paladino said, “alternate universes,” meaning “far left, far right, whatever you want to call it.”

“We have so many disagreements … I would say she’s my rival, in a way, my tether,” Ossé said a few minutes later. “But … whether you like what she says or not, she tells it like it is – she’s truthful, she’s upfront. And I think in a world of politicians who bundle a bunch of things up through niceties and fakeness, Vickie’s 100% herself.”

The New Boss

 

 NY Post

The new GOP chief on the City Council told The Post after her stunning ascension Friday that she wants to be a “hands-on” leader while growing the Republican presence in New York.

“We want to grow our party in the senate, in the assembly, grow our party right here in the City Council,” said Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola — who took the helm of the smattering of Republicans on the council in a contoversial vote Friday.

Ariola, born and raised in the 32nd District that she serves, said her focus as the council’s GOP leader won’t stray from her current priorities — which include getting unvaxxed city workers who were sacked during the pandemic their jobs back and making sure “sanctuary city” laws serving even some illegal migrants are used for their intended purpose. 

“If the president brought back the people who were in the armed forces without having to get alleged vaccine, why can’t our municipal workers come back?” Ariola said.

“And our right-to-shelter laws in this city were meant for our homeless population,” she said. 

Such issues have been debated exhaustively between the council and the Adams administration —  but Ariola hopes as a GOP leader she’ll be able to push the agenda even more with the help of other Republican honchos and even Democrats.

“I want this to be a working office. I want this to be an office that is active on all levels of government, from the federal government all the way to the city government,” she said.

“I want to continue to work with all my colleagues even on the Democratic side, and the speaker. It’s very important to have that relationship.

“I was also once chair of the [Queens] Republican Party, and I really had no problem backing a conservative Democrat.”

The longtime Queens civic leader won a Republican primary in June 2021 with more than 80% of the vote and in November the same year was elected to the City Council in a general election by a margin of more than 65%.

The City of Yes, Mess and Less Affordable Housing is complete

 

AMNY 

A compromise version of Mayor Eric Adams’ zoning overhaul aimed at easing the city’s dire housing crisis squeaked through the City Council on Thursday, clearing its final hurdle to become law.

The mayor’s “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan, a suite of proposals that promises to allow for “a little more housing in every neighborhood,” passed the 51-member chamber by a slim 31-20 votes on Dec. 5. The city estimates the plan will spur the construction of 82,000 new housing units over the next 15 years, down from the 109,000 homes it was projected to produce before the council’s modifications were made.

All that remains is for Adams to sign what will likely be his greatest signature accomplishment as mayor thus far into law.

Adams, during a City Hall rally on the heels of the vote, compared his administration to the 1986 Mets team that won the World Series.

“We’re gonna argue in the locker room, we’re gonna get in debates, we’re going to do all sorts of things, but you know what? We’re gonna bring home the championship ring,” Adams said. “That’s what we did…You’re seeing the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city.”

 

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, following several council members’ impassioned speeches for and against the plan, said the body “cannot do nothing” about the city’s dire housing crisis. She also emphasized that the modified version of the zoning text amendment hashed out by the council is far better than what the mayor initially proposed.

“This council cannot be the body that says ‘no’ to people that need a place to live,” Speaker Adams said in an emotional speech. “This cannot be the council that turns their back on homeless; this cannot be the council that continues to say ‘scrap it, let’s move ahead and do something else,’ because I tell you that will never happen.”

 

The plan consists of a series of updates to city zoning rules that have not been changed in over half a century. It’s designed to expand the amount of housing that can be built in parts of the Big Apple that typically do not see much development.

The zoning changes only narrowly passed the city legislature even after they were altered last month to assuage many council members’ concerns about them potentially altering the character of the neighborhoods they represent. The final deal between City Hall and the council also includes a $5 billion commitment from Adams’ office and Gov. Kathy Hochul to fund affordable housing construction, housing affordability programs, infrastructure improvements, and more staff for city housing agencies.

Several council members acknowledged that the modifications addressed their concerns and got them to a “yes.” 

 

The lawmakers who voted against the City of Yes included every member of the chamber’s conservative Common Sense Caucus, some Democratic members representing low-rise outer-borough neighborhoods, and one progressive who saw the plan as a giveaway to developers.

City Council Member Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said her “no” vote was driven by her constituents’ concerns that City of Yes would change the character of their neighborhoods. She also expressed concerns that the infrastructure in her district, which covers coastal areas in the Rockaways, will not be able to support the added housing that would come with the plan.

“The city of yes will only add to the heavy burden that residents face every day,” Ariola said. “We don’t have the infrastructure and I know the mayor has promised money for infrastructure. But why are we putting the cart before the horse? Why are we putting the housing up and then worrying about the infrastructure?”

David Carr, a Republican council member representing Staten Island, who also voted “no,” said he believes the plan is “incredibly vulnerable to legal action” and “will not survive” such action, which could be forthcoming.

Progressive Council Member Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan) said he voted against the plan because it is a “yes to only the real estate developers.”

Update:

The lawsuit against the City Of Yes is about to begin. Donate to their gofundme to put a stop to this real estate land and air grab.

 

We need your support to cover legal fees, compliance costs, and expert consultations as we oppose the City of Yes rezoning plan. This sweeping proposal threatens to undermine our neighborhoods, eliminate public input on critical land use decisions, and promote unchecked overdevelopment and excessive density.

The City of Yes is a giveaway to developers at the expense of our communities’ character, livability, and long-term sustainability. With your help, we can push back and ensure responsible urban planning that prioritizes people, not profits.

Your donation will empower us to make our voices heard and protect the future of our neighborhoods. Join us in this fight—every contribution counts!

 

 

The City of Mess for predatory land and air grabbing opportunity gets approved by City Council fauxgressives

 

NY YIMBY

Sorry, NIMBYs: Your opposition to New York housing creation has just been drowned out by a resounding $5 billion of “Yes.”

A City Council subcommittee on Thursday approved Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to build 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years, lowering the cost of rent for New Yorkers amid one of the worst housing crises in city history. Dubbed “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” the rezoning proposal aims to spur the creation of affordable housing in all five boroughs, along with upgrades to critical infrastructure. The approval by the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use was secured following a $5 billion pledge from the city and state.

According to the city, the proposal exceeds the housing creation total of all rezonings pushed out by the administrations of Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio.

“Thanks to our shared commitment in building critically needed housing, we have reached an agreement on a historic plan that could open the doors to a little more housing in every neighborhood in our city,” Adams said in a statement on Thursday. “If passed, New York City will once again serve as a model to the nation on government’s infinite ability to take challenges head on, set forth a bold agenda, and get the job done.”

The plan, first announced in April, originally sought to facilitate more than 100,000 new housing units. It also included provisions for lifting the parking space requirement for new residential construction, which developers claim adds an undue cost burden, and for unrestricting property owners’ ability to create accessory dwelling units in spaces like basements, attics, and garages.

Thursday’s amended proposal involved concessions on all three points. Rather than dropping the parking requirement wholesale, it will instead divide it into three zones, preserving the mandate in boroughs like Staten Island and Queens where local lawmakers deemed it necessary. Further, accessory dwelling creation will remain restricted in many areas, particularly in historic districts and flood zones, but will be permitted in transit-proximate areas.

City Of No Vouchers

NY Post 

 A Manhattan judge handed the Adams administration a major win on Thursday in its bitter feud with the City Council over controversial changes to a housing voucher program.

Mayor Eric Adams had vetoed the council’s expansion of the city’s rental-assistance program called CityFHEPS that would’ve fast tracked vouchers for tenants facing eviction — but lawmakers overrode the veto, then took him to court in an effort to force him to comply with the expansion.

But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle E. Frank ruled only the state government has the authority to expand the voucher program in a ruling that Adams celebrated.

 “While we are glad that the court agrees with our administration that these laws went beyond the City Council’s legislative authority, we are hopeful that our partners in the Council will join us in remaining committed to working to connect New Yorkers in need with safe, affordable, permanent housing,” Adams said in a written statement.

The City Council members disagree with the ruling and are planning an immediate appeal, a spokesperson said in a statement.

“It’s unfortunate that Mayor Adams’ administration has fought to delay help to New Yorkers that can prevent them from evictions and homelessness amidst a housing crisis,” the spokesperson said.

Lawmakers joined a class action lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and four other plaintiffs back in February that would have forced Adams to comply with the expanded CityFHEPS.

The new law would have made housing vouchers available for people facing eviction without having to enter the shelter system for at least 90 days, and it would have increased the income-level cutoffs to qualify for aid while barring landlords from deducting the cost of utility bills from a voucher.

City Council approves soccer stadium, small turnout for the team's season home opener in Citifield

 

 QNS

Willets Point’s long-awaited transformation from industrial wasteland to Queens’ newest neighborhood got the green light from the City Council Thursday.

The legislature approved on Apr. 11 a massive redevelopment that includes a brand new soccer stadium for the New York City Football Club (NYCFC), which has played home games at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field since its inception, and a 100% 2,500-unit affordable housing project that is the city’s largest in four decades.

Mayor Eric Adams called the plan “the goal of the decade” that will generate billions of dollars in new economic activity, and tens of thousands of jobs, through not only the new soccer stadium and housing, but also more than 20,000 square feet of retail and a 250-room hotel.

“We’re building a brand-new community out of the ‘Valley of Ashes’, and we couldn’t have done it without all our partners, including Councilmember [Francisco] Moya and the rest of the City Council, [Queens] Borough President [Donovan] Richards, NYCFC, Queens Development Group, our union members, and everyone living in Willets Point who made their voices heard and demanded a new future for themselves,” the mayor said on Thursday. “After today’s vote, we’re one step closer to delivering that future.”

For years, the city and the Queens community has debated the fate of Willets Point, which for decades has been home to junkyards, auto repair shops and light industry. Even as Shea Stadium rose and was eventually replaced by Citi Field, the industry in the “Valley of Ashes” persisted beyond the Mets outfield while visions for redevelopment never seemed to get off the ground.

 QNS

Thousands of New York City Football Club (NYCFC) fans packed Citi Field on Saturday, Apr. 6, for the team’s first home game in Queens this season, playing against Atlanta United FC. This match marked the beginning of a series of five straight home games, equaling the club’s all-time record for consecutive home matches.

Fans from across the five boroughs packed Citi Field to support their “Boys in Blue” for an eventful night. Kick-off was scheduled for 7 p.m., but fans, especially from NYCFC’s official supporter groups, arrived early for pregame celebrations outside the stadium.

The match started with NYCFC’s early possession of the ball to mount almost-immediate pressure, including a header from center back Thiago Martins that was parried away by the Atlanta United keeper.

NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese was impressive in his own right, saving multiple attempts from Atlanta. In the tenth minute, he showed the breadth of his skills, catching a header directed toward his goal comfortably.

In the 39th minute, NYCFC was awarded a penalty. Santiago Rodriguez put the hosts in front from the spot for his third goal of the season in the 42nd minute.

Tensions were rising in the second half and Atlanta pressure paid off in the 66th minute when Jamal Thiare found an equalizer that ultimately rescued a point for the visitors — the match ending in a 1-1 draw.

Rodriguez was awarded the Man of the Match honors, but NYCFC’s slow start to the season continued as they have taken just five points (1-2-4) from their first seven games of the 2024 MLS season.

Uh, oh...

City Council kills the Mayor's veto of how many stops bill

NY Post

NYPD cops will be forced to report on even their most minor interactions with the public after the City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the “How Many Stops Act’’ — which he and other critics argued would threaten public safety.

Adams, who fought the bill tooth and nail in recent weeks, failed to sway the two council members he needed to beat the override — which passed in a bruising 42-9 vote.

The Democrat-led council also voted to override Adams’ veto of another bill banning solitary confinement in Big Apple jails.

“These bills will make New Yorkers less safe on the streets, while police officers are forced to fill out additional paperwork rather than focus on helping New Yorkers and strengthening community bonds,” Adams said in a statement after the vote.

“Additionally, it will make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable.”

Under the NYPD bill, officers will have to record the “apparent” race, gender and age of nearly every person they question — even someone who could just be a potential witness to a crime, or other of the lowest-level encounters.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, and police advocates had been adamant that the bill would bog cops down in a sea of unnecessary paperwork and slow down investigations.

“Today’s override is one more step toward the city council goal: Destroy the world’s best police

department,” NYPD Detectives Endowment Association president Paul DiGiacomo said.

“Thanks to the politicians, the divide between the police and citizens will grow. And so will retirements of our best, most experienced detectives. Heartbreaking.”

 

Former City Councilman Paul Vallone dead at 56

 

 AMNY

Paul Vallone, a former City Council Member who was part of a Queens political dynasty, died suddenly this weekend. He was 56 years old.

Vallone most recently served as the city’s Deputy Commissioner of Veterans’ Services. His brother Peter, a fellow former Council Member who presently serves as a judge in Claims Court, confirmed Paul’s passing.

Peter Vallone said his brother was rushed to Flushing Hospital Saturday evening after suddenly falling ill at home, but could not be saved. The news was first reported by the Queens Chronicle.

In addition to his brother, Vallone is survived by his wife Anna-Marie and three children, as well as his father Peter Sr., formerly the City Council speaker and a giant of municipal politics.

News of Paul Vallone’s death stunned Queens politicos and spurred an outpouring of grief.

“Paul didn’t just carry on his family’s immense legacy of service — he personified and embodied it,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement. “He inspired me every single day to be a better elected official, but it’s his lessons in friendship, family, and fatherhood that I will cherish for the rest of time. Queens is a better borough because of Paul, and I am a better person for having had the privilege of calling him a colleague and a friend.”

Before entering politics, Vallone was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone & Vallone LLP, founded in 1932 by his grandfather, Judge Charles Vallone. His father, Peter Sr., was elected to the City Council in an Astoria-centered district in 1973, and became the first Speaker of the City Council following the reorganization of city government in 1989.

Vallone Sr. was term-limited out of the Council in 2001 and was succeeded as Astoria’s City Council representative by Peter Jr., who served two terms.

After running unsuccessfully in 2009, in 2013, Paul Vallone contested the Democratic primary in northeast Queens’ 19th District, which includes the neighborhoods College Point, Whitestone, Beechhurst, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Auburndale, Douglaston, Little Neck, and part of Flushing.

 

The district at the time was represented by Republican Daniel Halloran, who during the 2013 campaign was arrested and charged in a broad federal corruption probe that also ensnared Queens Senator Malcolm Smith, Bronx Republican Chair Joseph Savino, and a slew of others.

Vallone narrowly won the Democratic primary and then prevailed in the 2013 general election. Per his City Council webpage, his mission from day one was to “put District 19 back on the map.” He won reelection in 2017, and at the end of his second term he told the Queens Chronicle he was proud to have added school seats to his district and helped launch a new free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. He also got underway efforts to build a new environmental center at Alley Pond Park and to renovate Bowne Park. He chaired the Economic Development Committee.

The moderate Democrat represented one of the most conservative districts in the city. At the end of his two terms, in 2021, the political pendulum had swung to the right and he was succeeded by Republican Vickie Paladino, an ardent Trump supporter and arguably the most right-wing member of the current City Council.

That same year, Vallone narrowly lost a race for Queens Civil Court to Republican Joseph Kasper, another sign of voters’ repudiation of the Democratic Party in northeastern Queens. The defeat meant a Vallone was not in elected office in the city for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Afterward, Vallone was appointed by Eric Adams to be the Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs at the Veterans’ Services Department under his new mayoral administration.

Members of New York’s political class expressed shock and dismay at Vallone’s untimely passing. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who reps southeast Queens, said she was “utterly heartbroken” by his death.

“Paul was a kind, beloved, and dedicated public servant who left an indelible mark on Queens and NYC,” said Speaker Adams. “My prayers are with his wife, children, and the entire Vallone family.”

 

Single Mom Kelly coming for Caban's Council seat

 

Queens Post

The Queens/Astoria Post last week sat down for a video interview with Kelly Klingman who is looking to score a major political upset in November by ousting progressive Council Member Tiffany Cabán from her District 22 seat.

Klingman is an Astoria resident who works in real estate and is a single mother to 10-year-old twins. She says she is running for office because she is concerned about a number of issues impacting residents in her neighborhood, including rising crime, dirty streets and the spiraling costs of living.

Running as a Republican, Klingman says she is hoping she can sway enough voters in her own party, as well as moderate and left-leaning Democrats, to help catapult her into office.

The 22nd Council district covers Astoria as well as sections of East Elmhurst, Woodside and Jackson Heights. The election is scheduled for Nov. 7, with early voting beginning on Oct. 28.

In this interview, Klingman outlines her policy positions on crime, housing affordability, sanitation, the cost of living and the migrant crisis.

She says more police officers are needed to help curb crime while morale around the NYPD needs to be improved.

“We all need to come together and solve some of these problems and tone down the rhetoric and that’s my main goal,” Klingman said. “To go into City Hall and work across the aisle and come up with solutions to fix the problems that we have.”

Klingman says she empathizes with the plight of the migrants who have come here and says many of them traveled here under false pretenses. She said she has spoken to migrants staying at a church on 12th Street.

“With the migrant crisis, it’s a tragedy all around,” Klingman said. “They’re very nice people and they are put in the worst situation ever because they thought they could come here and get jobs. “They’re going around now collecting bottles in order to make some money because they can’t get jobs.”

The mayor has repeatedly said the cost to house and feed the migrants will cost the taxpayer $12 billion and Klingman has questioned if this money is being spent wisely, with some hotels being known to charge the city full rates.

“Are we negotiating any of these deals? I think that financially we need to look at everything that’s been done, what’s being negotiated.”

Airbnbyebye

 

 CBS New York

Starting Tuesday, enforcement of a new law in New York City is expected to cause a big drop in the number of Airbnb rentals.

One expert says it could mean as much as 70% of listings will disappear.

If you search for an Airbnb in the city for next week and most of the results are apartments in New Jersey or boutique hotel stays.

Missing are short term stays, like a bedroom CBS New York saw in Bedford-Stuyvesant, or another one in Sunset Park. That's because starting Tuesday the city will enforce a law that prohibits Airbnb hosts from renting for stays of less than 30 days. (Wasn't that the rule in the first place?)

The only way it's allowed is if the host registers with New York City and they have to be present in the home for the duration of the stay.

Alex Thompson said he applied and hasn't heard back.

"Mine was application number like 9500 or something and they have approved like a few hundred at this point," Thompson said. "In the meantime, we're kind of in limbo."

Travel news site Skift said as of Monday, the city only looked at 25% of applications.

"Airbnb is going to lose about 70% of New York City's listings," Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal said.

He said it'll be bad for tourism, adding families will have to rent multiple hotel rooms for the holidays, instead of an Airbnb for a fraction of the price.

For those that decide to stay with a host, Schaal said, "How many times have you wanted to go, ya know, sit on the couch with your host and watch Netflix instead of enjoying some privacy in an affordable place?"

The goal of the legislation was for the city to crack down on illegal hotels and bad actors who deplete the city's housing stock. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he's urging the city to target them, instead of New Yorkers operating in good faith to try to make ends meet.

Sunset Park resident Gia Sharp co-founded a coalition of one- and two-family homeowners called RHOAR -- Restore Homeowner Autonomy and Rights. She said she needs her space intermittently for family, so she can't rent long term. Nut no one has booked it for the minimum 30 days required by law, either.

"As much as we can saving our money because we rely on short-term rental to help pay our mortgage and our expenses, so it's pretty scary," Sharp said.

Another homeowner, a retired city worker in her 70s, said by phone she'll keep renting and risk getting the $5,000 fine.

"If I decide I want to have people stay for four, five, six days, I don't see what I'm doing wrong. I pay property tax," she said.

Longtime Bed-Stuy resident Wayne Slater said he hopes regulation will make the neighborhood less transient.

"When I came here people bought these houses so they can raise a family and through this we became community," Slater said. "They have agencies that are purchasing the houses and then flipping them."

Airbnb told CBS New York, in part, "It has long been our goal to work with New York City to create sensible home-sharing regulations for our host community. ... The city is sending a clear message to millions of potential visitors who will now have fewer accommodation options when they visit New York City: You are not welcome."

 

107 billion dollar semi-austerity city budget passes in time for holiday weekend

Julie Won's husband got racist on social media and had access to info from City Council hearings

  

 NY Daily News

Democratic Councilwoman Julie Won’s husband — who is also her campaign manager — was banned from Twitter after spewing the N-word and other insensitive language on the platform years ago, the Daily News has learned.

Noh, a political strategist who married Won in 2020 and then managed her 2021 campaign for a western Queens Council seat, thumbed out the questionable tweets over a decade ago through his @EugeneNoh handle, screenshots show. The posts are no longer publicly viewable due to Noh’s account suspension, but The News got hold of a cache of screengrabs of the since-deleted missives.

“F—k dude. Get here soon n---a,” Noh tweeted at another user on Nov. 22, 2011.

Noh, who is Asian and was 20 at the time, first denied writing the social media messages when contacted by The News.

“I have no idea what’s going, man,” he said. “It’s not me, and I mean, clearly, it’s not me ... I don’t have a Twitter. I don’t recall having one, especially over a decade ago.”

But after The News sent Noh a screenshot of the tweet and one of his Twitter profile page, Noh said that he “must have forgotten about this account.”

“It looks like I had forgotten that I had a Twitter,” he said. “When you sent me the screenshots, I saw like, ‘Oh no, that’s clearly me’ ... It looks like I tweeted like 150 times over six years. So it’s like a pretty miniscule part of my life ... That’s why I forgot.”

Noh also posted and reposted eyebrow-raising tweets about gays and people with speech impediments.

“I don’t care what anybody says, being homosexual is still not as gay as Twilight,” read a Dec. 6, 2011 post retweeted by Noh from an account called “Men’s Humor.”

A few months earlier, Noh wrote in another post: “Lisp has an s in it so ppl with the condition can self-diagnose themselves, methinks.”

”A decade ago as a young man, I said and did many things that were obnoxious, attention-seeking or flat-out offensive — a lot of which I regret right now as a father and as a husband,” Noh told The News. “Really, it’s no wonder Julie refused to date me until I turned 30.”

It’s unclear exactly when or why Noh’s Twitter handle got suspended, but it was active as recently as 2018. Twitter did not return requests for comment on why it expelled Noh, but a disclaimer on his deleted account states it was suspended for violating Twitter’s rules.

Won did not return requests for comment.

In addition to letting him run her 2021 campaign, Won consulted her husband last year on a key appointment to her Council office, according to the emails reviewed by The News.

“I think she will be good,” Won emailed Noh on July 13 from her official government account with a job application attached from Jenna Laing, who would go on to be hired as her Council communications director.

When asked about this, Noh said he doesn’t “make decisions or anything like that for Julie as Council member.”

“I’m her husband, yes. I’m her campaign manager. So there is a firewall. Anytime she asks me my opinion on something I may give it, but I am genuinely disinterested in what happens in the Council office,” he said. “I, in my estimation, exist pretty much only to compete and to campaign, and that’s what I enjoy doing.”

Won also looped in her husband on multiple emails last summer from the New York City Districting Commission sent directly to Council members seeking input on last year’s redrawing of the Council district map.

But in an email chain in May, Noh indicated he’s aware he shouldn’t be involved in government business as a non-Council staffer.

“Remove me from this chain; I’m not on the government team,” he wrote on May 18 to a lobbyist from the Bolton-St. Johns firm who included him on an email to Won about a discretionary funding request for an LBGTQ community group.

Though sent to Won’s office, the lobbyist’s email was addressed to Queens Councilwoman Linda Lee, and Noh capped off his reply: “Also, you either mistakenly sent this to the wrong council member, or you’re racist.”

Council members are barred under the City Charter from disseminating information to non-Council staff that has been obtained as part of their “official duties” and “which is not otherwise available to the public."

Julie Loser

 

THE CITY 

A rezoning allowing for a massive new real estate development in East New York that would include 11 residential buildings with more than 2,000 apartments passed a key City Council test Thursday, with support from a local representative best known for his oppositional stances.  

Councilmember Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), an avowed socialist and frequent opponent of rezonings, backed the plan for Innovative Urban Village after years of negotiations with the developers — an unyielding stance that he says resulted in a project with solely affordable units for the overwhelmingly Black and Latino, working-class neighborhood.

The plan, as initially envisioned by Gotham Organization and the Christian Cultural Center, a megachurch in Starrett City that owns the land, originally proposed rentals for residents making between 30% and 120% of the New York City region’s area median income — currently anywhere from $40,000 to $160,000 for a household of four.

But after community feedback and negotiations with Barron’s office, the developer brought the income limits down to between 30% and 80% of the median income, or between $40,000 and $106,000 for a family of four. According to 2019 data compiled by the Furman Center, the local community district’s median household income was $48,000 and more than half of the area’s households earned incomes that would qualify.

Barron, a former Black Panther and a longtime adversary of Brooklyn’s Democratic Party establishment, said the project should set an example for other City Council members with proposals for large developments in their districts, as well as the Adams administration, about how to get to “yes” without rubber-stamping projects with rents beyond what local residents can afford.

The same Council committee also unanimously approved another large rezoning, known as Innovation QNS, following lengthy negotiations with local Astoria Councilmember Julie Won (D-Queens), who had initially raised objections to what she called insufficient affordable housing.

The $2 billion project is slated to bring nearly 3,000 apartments to an area near Northern Boulevard, about one-third of which are categorized as affordable.  

The project is backed by building workers’ union 32BJ SEIU and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who ridiculed Won as she held out, citing concerns that the arrival of luxury units will exacerbate gentrification in the area.

In a statement, Won explained her apparent change of heart by pointing to “wins” including an increase in affordable units that her team had secured — though those modifications appeared to fall short of the 55% affordable threshold she had initially demanded.

 We’ve been negotiating daily to secure unprecedented levels of affordability for my immigrant and working-class community,” Won said, adding that she was “finalizing negotiations for commitments from the developer and the Mayoral administration.”

In effect, she let the project proceed through the subcommittee, which is where other lawmakers usually defer to the desires of the local council member, prior to receiving a firm, written commitment.  

“As the council member, I will utilize every accountability measure to ensure that our community wins are actualized,” Won continued.

 

Crybaby Caban calls the cops over cussin'

QNS

The NYPD and the New York City Council’s security team are monitoring threats made against Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán last month, according to authorities.

“We take violent threats against our members and staff very seriously and are uncompromising about taking any and all necessary actions to ensure they are safe,” said Mandela Jones, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ deputy chief of staff for communications. “The Council’s security officials work closely with city authorities to protect all members and employees and has taken steps to support the Office of Council Member Cabán in the face of troubling threats like we would with every member’s office.”

Jones added that violent threats against an elected official is unacceptable and “has no place in New York City.”

A police spokesperson told QNS that multiple voicemails were left for Cabán at her office, located at 30-83 31 St., within the confines of the 114th Precinct.

According to the spokesperson, the voicemails did not contain any threats to harm Cabán and her staff; however, they “did contain vulgar and violent language.” 

There have been no arrests made and an investigation is ongoing. This incident is being classified as aggravated harassment, the spokesperson said.

“It is unfortunate that this has been disregarded, perpetuating division and undermining safe working conditions for a Council member and their staff without consideration for the people impacted, including their tens of thousands of constituents,” Jones said. “The overheated rhetoric needs to be immediately dialed down and de-escalated. We all have a responsibility to foster a climate that unequivocally discourages threats and promotes constructive dialogue – that includes every individual and institution with a voice. The public servants who dedicate themselves to serving our city deserve respect and safety, regardless of whether you may disagree with them.”

A spokesperson for Cabán’s office told QNS that City Council security (NYC Council has their own police force??)  has discouraged Cabán’s team from speaking to the press regarding the voicemails. However, the spokesperson did say that Council security is monitoring the situation closely and Cabán’s office is following safety protocols. 

“Our office reported the large volume of hostile, violent, and threatening voicemails and emails to Council security, who, given the intensity of the harassment campaign, determined that the situation warranted law enforcement involvement,” said Cabán’s spokesperson. “As an office, we take our cues on security protocols from Council security.”

 

For a few billion dolllars more...

NY Post

The price of everything is going up — even the city budget!

Mayor Adams and the City Council announced a record-breaking city budget at $101 billion Friday, blowing past the $98.7 billion budget deal his predecessor Bill de Blasio struck with lawmakers last year.

The deal between Hizzoner and Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) adds $1.4 billion in new spending on top of what the mayor proposed in his formal budget layout in April — and is $2.6 billion above City Hall’s preliminary estimate in January.

“This is not a dysfunctional Council and this is darn sure not a dysfunctional mayoral administration,” Adams said, as he and the lawmakers touted the earlier than usual budget deal. “We’re going to function and we’re going to GSD: Get stuff done.”

Still, the deal swells the Big Apple’s potential budget deficits over the coming three years, prompting new warnings from budget watchdogs over spending amid soaring inflation and worries about a potential recession.

The expected shortfall for the 2024 budget now stands at $4.2 billion, up from $3.9 billion projected in April. The expected gaps between expected revenues and spending for the 2025 and 2026 budgets grew too.

 

Council speaker from Queens top aides are from Long Island and Jersey

NY Post 

These bigwigs work for the City Council but they’re not based in the Big Apple.

Speaker Adrienne Adams has granted rare waivers exempting three top Council staffers from a rule requiring such workers to live in the city, The Post has learned.

“People know about it. It has caused dissension. People will say, ‘Why can’t I get a waiver to move out of the city?'” one Council veteran said.

The waivers went to new Council Chief of Staff Jeremy John, Chief Financial Officer Tanisha Edwards and top Finance Division deputy Jonathan Rosenberg.

John, who grew up in Brooklyn, now resides in Westbury in Nassau County and is getting paid at least $220,000, city records show. He comes to his council job with deep Democratic Party and labor connections — he’s the former political director of the District Council 37 union representing city workers.

Edwards, who is making $245,000 according to public records, has a listed address in Valley Stream in Nassau County. She’s a native of southeast Queens, the home turf of Speaker Adams, and most recently was employed as general counsel and chief legal officer of the state Insurance Fund.

The NYC Open Restaurants Clustershanty Of Koreatown

Impunity City

 It wasn’t much long ago when yours truly did a expansive on the street eyewitness story about the much ballyhooed NYC Open Restaurants program (albeit ballyhooed by our feckless and bought elected officials in NYC Council, former mayor Bill de Blasio and current Mayor Eric Adams) and what an actual clusterfuck it was and making a case out it shouldn’t exist anymore. Now thanks to a judge’s recent decision to order the city to make a thorough environmental review of the restaurant shanties all over the five boroughs, it has thankfully put a pounding kibosh on the City Council Cronies plan to make these unsafe, blighted, filthy, ugly and traffic congesting eyesores a permanent part of the street infrastructure which the restaurants have been using for free for the last two years.

 

But before the Council Cronies begin their study, I would like to present exhibit A on why every public space these restaurants has usurped must cease to exist and that’s the massive triple cluster shanty on the southwest corner of 32nd St. and 5th Ave, just two blocks away from the Empire State Building.

This is truly the tipping point of public space misuse and the heinous blight that has befouled the streets in the last year, which continues unencumbered because of the willful obliviousness of elected officials and the persistent bickering demands of the hospitality industrial complex lobby, represented by some neoliberal runt named Andrew Rigie.

Behold.

 

 

 

Impunity City 

City Council set to make the shanty emergency program a permanent one even though the emergency is about to end

Queens Eagle

Permanent al fresco dining is now one step closer to becoming a reality in Queens and the rest of the city after the City Council approved a bill amending the city’s zoning laws Thursday.

While the council passed a text amendment that eliminates zoning restrictions for sidewalk cafes throughout the five boroughs, just how the city’s permanent outdoor dining program will ultimately look is still very much up for debate.

City legislators passed the text amendment 43 to 6, with one member abstaining. In Queens, Councilmembers James Gennaro and Robert Holden voted against the amendment, which only sets the table for a permanent outdoor dining program but doesn’t actually create one. All other Queens councilmembers voted in support of the amendment.

“This new local law will be kind of too broad in the sense that it’s one size fits all,” Gennaro told the Eagle. “Will it allow for the kind of granularity that you need to regulate something like this? My hunch is no, it won't.”

“I hope that I’m wrong,” he added. “Everyone has good intentions here but I’m wary.”

The appetite for the text amendment, which first made its way through community boards and borough boards throughout the city, has been mild – its strongest support has been in the City Council. Still, nearly every councilmember who spoke in support of the text amendment Thursday also expressed reservations.

“This program born of pandemic necessity has been a gift to our city in many ways. It was an economic lifeline and still is to many of our small businesses and it has now fundamentally changed how many dining establishments operate, and how New Yorkers utilize their public spaces,” said Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé. “However, this program needs to ensure that our streets are for the people and not the rats. The rodent population growth has been undeniable and is clearly linked to outdoor dining.”

The sentiment was repeated by a number of councilmembers, including Queens Councilmember Linda Lee, who represents portions of Bayside Hills, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village. 

 

A better safer plan for Rikers Island

Queens Chronicle 

Community Board 9 is calling on newly elected City Council members to revisit plans for the proposed closing of Rikers Island and the switch to borough-based jails.

“We figured that now, with 26 new City Council members, that it would be time to hopefully bring to their attention what our feelings are,” Community Board 9 President Kenichi Wilson told the Chronicle.

The group is supporting a revised plan from Bialosky New York, an architectural firm based out of Manhattan, which calls for a completely new, more “humane” and cost-effective complex to be built on the existing island.

The plan was originally presented at a 2019 press conference in Chinatown held in opposition to the proposed jail there.

Rallies at that same site resumed on Feb. 6 as Lower Manhattan residents gathered to protest the destruction of the current jail there for a new and bigger site.

Around the same time, Community Board 9’s land use chair, Sylvia Hack, was working to track the original proposal down and the board received a “new and improved version,” CB 9 District Manager James McClelland said.

In early February, Wilson sent a letter to elected officials in the area.

“The proposed borough-based jails are towers offering no outdoor recreation spaces for the incarcerated and, should there be a reason to empty a tower building, no viable plan exists to safely evacuate nearly a thousand detainees plus security and support staff,” he wrote.

“If we are concerned about the incarcerated population and the possibility of really helping them with the reasons that landed them in jail, then we should seriously look at this new, alternative option to four huge monoliths constructed in densely populated areas of the city,” the letter continues.

The plan of transitioning from Rikers to borough-based jails, begun under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, calls for the Queens location to be erected in place of the old lockup near Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.

The Adams administration’s plan for Rikers remains unclear.

The plan for a “reconceived Rikers” includes outdoor space, gyms, art, music and science programs and skills-training programs. Another focus is to create low-rise buildings instead of the current towering structures.

According to Wilson’s letter, the plan would almost halve the price of building four new jails and prevent the “environmental and negative impacts” on surrounding communities.”