Civic activist demands return to CB5 for being right about the COVID-19 lab leak

NY Post

A member of a New York City community board ousted for referring to COVID-19 as the “Wu-Flu” in a January meeting is demanding he be reinstated — saying he’s been “vindicated” by a classified US intelligence report that said the deadly virus most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards removed longtime Glendale community activist and CB5 member Richard Huber after fielding complaints that the “Wu-Flu” comment was anti-Asian and racist and violated the code of conduct for board members.

“I was cancelled,” Huber told The Post Monday.

“But I have been vindicated. Just look at the front page of the NY Post.”

The Post’s front page story highlighted the US Energy Department claim, as the FBI had previously, that the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 1 million Americans and 6.8 million people worldwide likely originated in a Wuhan lab.

He said friends texted him The Post cover with smiley faces.

Huber said his use of the shorthand for Wuhan was not anti-Asian — nor was it intended to be.

NYC Department Of Transportation Alternatives: You'll get citibike and like it

 

Queens Chronicle

The city’s Department of Transportation has approved a plan that will result in more than 50 Citi Bike docks coming to Community District 5, with construction beginning as early as December.

The reception from officials representing the Maspeth-Glendale-Middle Village area was about what might have been anticipated, particularly with the anticipated loss of parking.

Information obtained from Community Board 5 on Monday said about 40 of the docking stations would be on the street, with the others on sidewalks — this in spite of numerous requests to preserve parking.

“The one-size fits all approach of DOT with Citi Bike is nonsensical and ought to be reconsidered,” said Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth). “Time and time again, the DOT pretends to engage the community and waste their time garnering input, only to move forward with a widely unpopular project. The community devised an alternate proposal that made sense and mitigated any issues of losing much-needed parking. The local community board did not approve this project. The community will not accept it.”

Holden said he intends to fight the DOT “until they listen to the community and stop pandering to special interest groups who monopolize public space.”

In a press release sent out Monday evening, District Manager Gary Giordano said the DOT had not given Community Board 5 definitive numbers on the parking spaces to be lost.

The DOT also gave no numbers in a response to the Chronicle.

“Citi Bike has proven to be a wildly popular transportation option with ridership soaring since the pandemic,” DOT Spokesman Vin Barone said in an email. “DOT has thoughtfully incorporated, and continues to incorporate, community feedback into our final proposal in a way that ensures convenient and reliable access to Citi Bike. We look forward to expanding this vital service to help offer Queens residents safe, sustainable, and efficient ways to get around.”

  

These pictures where these citibikes were abandoned on this same block were recently taken in the past month in South Richmond Hill, where there are no citibike racks to speak of. Really not sure if it's the same one. This is what's coming to your town even though there is absolutely no security or any effort to maintain them by the bikeshare provider and proprietor Lyft/Citibike. This is spiteful and chaotic theft and corporate privatization of public spaces being done by a regulatory captured municipality. 

@DannyHarris_TA and @TransAlt wants @CitiBikeNYC to be its own New York City transit agency

This is why they should never be taken seriously. Especially by our elected officials #NYCDepartmentOfTransAlt pic.twitter.com/7xiBu84TBf

— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 18, 2022

Why no one should trust @TransAlt and Don @DannyHarris_TA. This guy insists that TA is still a grass roots organization despite that it's rooted in corporation, big bank, lobbyist, "non" profit group, venture capital and oligarch money

And Lyft, the only killer cars he likes pic.twitter.com/xlTnN4O0fY

— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 14, 2022

The Department of Transportation Alternatives accused Juniper Civic of political machinating at Community Board 5 meeting

From the Juniper Civic:

This is a new comm board member from Ridgewood lamenting that JPCA had the executive committee change the chair of the transportation committee because "DOT told him that's what happened". We had no idea we had this much power! We didn't even realize the chair was changed, nor do we care.

I actually would like to know who this masked man is and what would compel him to make such an accusation. Which is ironic considering how Transportation Alternatives presence has been at every announcement of street infrastructure and transportation related policy announcements this year. And whoever this person the committee removed is such a concern for the clearly regulatory captured DOT then that's ok by me.

And if this guy is representing Ridgewood that town has got a lot less cooler.

This just in:

It turns out that this masked man relaying accusations by the Department of Transportation about Juniper Civic is Derek Evers,the campaign manager for Juan Ardila for his failed city council campaign last year. As reported on this blog, Evers was picked by Borough President Donovan Richards to represent the district on CB5 and also appeared in Ardila's social media campaign ad larping as a regular citizen. It's a safe bet that honesty is not one of his skill sets.

  

Since Ardila had tremendous backing by non-profit "advocacy" organizations for street safety and equity Transportation Alternatives and Open Plans's StreetsPac during his stunning win for the State Assembly, despite his use of a car and racking up a load of traffic and parking violations during his campaign run; what Derek has clearly done here, to use his term, was reveal their influence on the D.O.T.'s street infrastructure policy decisions. Going after Juniper was obvious considering numerous social media posts showing how they want to place citibike racks on the streets to usurp parking spaces for people's cars instead of ample sidewalks. 

About the person who got sacked by CB5 that the DOT and Evers were trying to defend, Toby Shepard Bloch. That's him on the right sitting next to Lincoln Restler during a town hall for a hotel about to converted into a homeless shelter in Maspeth. Toby apparently was supposed to be their rubber stamp for the Citibike expansion and colonizing of curbside parking and this fits in well with Linky's own attempts to force shelters on communities without their input. And as we all her know about Linky, he's the biggest Transportation Alternatives agency captured official in Brooklyn and all of New York.

 

It's beyond hilarious how the DOT has the audacity to accuse CB5 and actually anyone of political shenanigans after the way their municipality has been agency captured by Transportation Alternatives as that non-profit org has been present at every rally involving street infrastructure and policy announcements by politicians the past year and then they get mad because some appointee who was basically a proxy for them gets canned? Maybe if they didn't try to force Citibike on a town and wouldn't compromise on how public spaces can be used for them, they wouldn't be whining right now. They need to remember who the fuck they work for, the taxpayers, not private corporations with some bike share scheme.