City Council cronies form civic concern for "transportation equity" and are coming to your town

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 11, 2022

Contact: Vanessa Caesar | vcaesar@council.nyc.gov | (646) 941-3331

 

 

Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers Continues

Citywide Transportation Tours in Partnership with

Council Members Alexis Avilés and Lincoln Restler

 

(Queens, NY) - New York City Council Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, will tour New York City Council Districts 33 and 38. Majority Whip Brooks-Powers will embark on the fifth stop on a citywide transportation listening tour as a part of her First 100 Day Tour, meeting with elected officials and citywide stakeholders to better understand both infrastructure and transportation needs in communities across the city.

 

Majority Whip Brooks-Powers will first join Council Member Alexa Aviles will tour the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway intersection, plaguing trucking routes, and pedestrian crosswalks, ending at a last-mile facility in Red Hook, Brooklyn. During the tour in Council Member Lincoln Restler’s district, the Majority Whip will tour the district viewing dangerous pedestrian sites, local subway stations and will conduct tour partially via Citi Bike. 

 

Following tours in all 50 City Council districts, Majority Whip Brooks-Powers will conclude with listening sessions with each Borough Delegation. Listening sessions will be open to the public and take place virtually to discuss borough-wide issues regarding accessible transportation options, bus routes, train and commuter line rail issues, for-hire-vehicle rights and availability, as well as a myriad of issues affecting residents of the five boroughs.

 

WHO:           NYC Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers and

NYC City Council Members Alexis Avilés and Lincoln Restler

 

WHEN & LOCATIONS:     Friday, March 11, 2022

·         Stop #1 @ 8:15am: 4417 4th Avenue (Ground Floor), Brooklyn, NY 11220

·         Stop #2 @ 10:00am: Intersection of York Street and Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

 

Press is invited to attend

###

 

 

Vanessa Caesar | Director, Scheduling/Events

Office of NYC Council Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers

31st District, Queens

City Hall: (212) 788-7216

Far Rockaway: (718) 471-7014

Laurelton: (718) 527-4356

Website: https://council.nyc.gov/district-31/

Follow Us At:

Facebook/Instagram: @CMSelvenaBrooksPowers

Facebook: @CMBrooksPowers

Do I have to remind everyone that one of these council cronies, the notorious Linky Restler is wholly influenced and agency captured by the Transportation Alternatives non-profit lobby organization that are trying to usurp the streets from commuting by car? This guy is such a pawn for them that he's reduced himself to making ludicrous videos feigning to be scared of crossing a street.

 

 

Linky Restler is a parody of a city council official.

If only there was a Boy Scout around to help this dork cross the street https://t.co/kajldOFqLJ

— JQ LLC: The Impunity City (@ImpunityCity) March 9, 2022

Well except if you happen to work for app-hail car corporation that happens to be one of Transportation Alternatives biggest contributors. Because Council Member Brooks Powers is holding a massive job fair event "powered by Lyft" in Rockaway Beach to recruit new gig livery drivers, which will also be attended by other elected officials including the meddling shitlib self-promoting comptroller Brad Lander. '''

 

 

 

Oh, don't forget your fucking vax pass.

 

 

 

 

Homeless staffer for James Sanders got stiffed by N.Y. Senate

 

Queens Eagle

A former staffer for Queens State Sen. James Sanders Jr. says he is missing weeks of back pay, money he needs to buy food and do laundry while living in a Manhattan homeless shelter.

Larry Malcolm Smith Jr., 22, began working as a constituent liaison for Sanders on September 9, according to an email welcoming him to the district office team. He worked for the Queens senator until resigning in November, Sanders’ office confirmed.

Smith said he received two paychecks, one by mail and another through direct deposit, during his time representing Sanders in Southeast Queens and the Rockaways but is still missing about five weeks of pay. A Senate official confirmed the missing payment.

Smith said he has lived in a shelter for months and needs the money for pay for basic necessities.

“I have no money at all. I have no money for food. I have no money for laundry,” Smith told the Eagle.

“I was supposed to make $35,000 a year. I’ve been manipulated, I’ve been disrespected. I live in a shelter,” he added. “Nobody is helping me.”

Sanders wins again despite Machine opposition

From DNA Info:

Incumbent State Sen. James Sanders Jr. won the Democratic primary in Southeast Queens' 10th Senate District Tuesday.

Sanders, a former city councilman who has been in office since 2013, received nearly 57 percent of the vote, according to state results. He has wide name recognition in the district and secured a number of labor endorsements.

His challenger, Adrienne Adams, chairwoman of Community Board 12, picked up more than 41 percent of the vote.

Sanders won even though the Queens County Democratic Party backed Adams after he declared last year that he was planning to challenge Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks this fall.

Jamaica transportation hub getting an upgrade

From the Daily News:

A major transit hub in Jamaica, Queens, is getting nearly $8 million in state money for upgrades that’ll make it easier to catch a ride, State Sen. James Sanders will announce Tuesday.

The money for the Jamaica Transportation Center Station Plaza — one of the city’s busiest transit stations where commuters can catch a Long Island Rail Road, the E, J and Z trains and a host of bus routes — is intended to give more space to pedestrians at the bustling transit and retail center, said Sanders, who got money for the station improvements as part of a transportation funding plan hashed out with his fellow state lawmakers.

Sanders drops out of congressional race

From the Queens Chronicle:

State Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-South Ozone Park) announced Tuesday afternoon that he is ending his campaign for Congress and will instead run to defend his seat in the 10th District this fall.

Feds probing Sanders

From the NY Post:

A couple who run a small urban farm said powerful Queens lawmaker James Sanders offered them $1.7 million in taxpayer money to fund their operation — then demanded a $250,000 kickback.

Marion Moses and Malisa Rivera said they refused Sanders, then a city councilman, during a 2012 sit-down. Sanders, now a state senator running for Congress, became irate, and the couple believe their charity has been blacklisted by government officials ever since, they told The Post.

Three weeks ago, Moses filed a civilian crime report with the office of Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. Sources said the feds were already investigating Sanders for steering City Council discretionary funds to other nonprofits.

Mike Duvalle, a former Sanders staffer, told The Post that he met with the FBI last month in connection with that probe.

Sanders to primary Meeks

From the Observer:

Queens State Senator James Sanders filed paperwork yesterday to take on Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks, the Observer has learned.

Federal Election Commission records show Mr. Sanders submitted paperwork to challenge Mr. Meeks, a fellow Democrat and 17-year incumbent. Both men represent large tracts of predominantly African-American southeastern Queens.

Mr. Sanders, a close ally of organized labor, has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Meeks’ support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a proposed free trade agreement backed by the Obama administration and congressional Republicans, but opposed by unions and most Democrats.

Sanders is a campaign finance scofflaw

From the Daily News:

Queens state Sen. James Sanders owes nearly $20,000 to the city Campaign Finance Board for violations during his 2009 City Council run, records show.

Sanders, a Democrat, was fined $10,113 in 2013 and ordered to pay back more than $21,000 in public campaign funds after he failed to report transactions and accepted improper corporate contributions.

So far, Sanders has yet to pay the fine but has returned all but $8,953 of the public funds, board spokesman Matt Sollars said.

Will Meeks' decision kill jobs?

From the Politicker:

A group of state and city legislators from Queens today released a letter to Congressman Gregory Meeks urging him to flip his current stance and vote against the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement backed by the Obama administration but opposed by numerous labor and environmental groups.

State Senators Joseph Addabbo, Tony Avella , James Sanders and Leroy Comrie, along with Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and Councilmen Daneek Miller and Donovan Richards—all Democrats representing districts that overlap with Mr. Meeks’—co-signed the missive attacking the deal, which would ease trade barriers and a host of regulations between the United States, Australia and several Asian and Latin American nations. President Barack Obama and Democrats and Republicans supportive of the deal in Congress have pushed a bill that would grant “fast-track” authority to the administration.

Such power would permit the president to present the trade package to Congress as a purely yes-or-no vote, with little debate and no possibility of amending the arrangement.

“We are writing to urge you to oppose fast track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” the letter reads, going on to criticize the closed-door dealings that have forged the TPP. “The agreement is being negotiated with a lack of transparency, but we know that the TPP will affect jobs, environmental protections, prescription drug prices, financial industry regulations, internet freedom, food safety and much more.”

Most Democrats oppose the deal, but Mr. Meeks is a co-founder of the bipartisan four-member “Friends of the TPP” caucus, and recently joined Republican Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on a trip to Singapore promoting the pact. However, the state and city politicians alleged that the partnership’s impact would mirror that of the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in the 1990s with Mexico and Canada, and lead to the outsourcing of as much as 20 percent of American jobs—many of them from Queens.

Don't blame Schneiderman

From the Observer:

After yet another lawmaker from southeast Queens faced criminal charges from his office, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman denied today he is taking particular aim at the area.

Mr. Schneiderman, along with State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Northern District U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian, announced the indictment of Assemblyman William Scarborough this afternoon, making Mr. Scarborough the third southeast Queens pol to be arrested following an investigation from Mr. Schneiderman’s office. But Mr. Schneiderman, a Manhattanite, argued he treats all regions equally.

“We’ve brought dozens and dozens of cases and if you ask the people we’ve indicted in Niagara County or in St. Lawrence County or in Elmira or in any other part of the state, I don’t think they’ll tell you that we’re concentrating all our efforts on Queens,” Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, told the Observer at a press conference in his Manhattan office.

“We’ve pursued people, town clerks and town supervisors and their cronies all over the State of New York and we will continue to do so,” he added.

The optics of a white Manhattanite indicting black elected officials has set off some grumbling in southeast Queens political circles, even if Mr. Schneiderman has a perfect conviction record there. State Senator James Sanders, Ms. Huntley’s rival in that 2012 race and her successor, raised the possibility last year, with little direct evidence, that prosecutors were unfairly targeting black lawmakers.

Is it Schneiderman's fault that Shirley rolled over on all her friends, and that they all happen to be black?

Sad situation in Jamaica getting worse

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens Now:

In Jamaica we have a whole set of different rules compared to civilized communities. Well, really we here in Jamaica don’t even have rules, it is pretty much do whatever the hell you want and the bottom of the barrel people we have here know that and that is the reason we see the same old sh*t over and over again.

Garbage just being dumped on sidewalks and streets like this is some third world sh*thole country. People parking their cars anywhere they damn well please like up over sidewalk over and over again. People getting shot in the head, the most recent on Saturday night in Cambria Heights. You know, regular “hood” sh*t that has become the norm in Jamaica.

You know the deal, same old song stuck on repeat.

And then Pamela Hazel weighs in:

"Well, Senator Sanders, election is right around the corner. Do you know what else is, right around the corner from your advertisement? It is James Fobb's eyesore.

Pardon the pun.

Please do not invoke "I do not know," unless you live under a rock.

A few feet further and what do you know ---- another eyesore on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard."

St. Albans Civic protests variance for oversized housing

From the Queens Chronicle:

Moments before leaving for Albany on Tuesday evening, state Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-South Ozone Park) offered to help mediate the ongoing dispute between the Presbyterian Church of St. Albans and neighbors over a proposed 5-story senior housing complex that the church wants to build on Farmers Boulevard.

He should have stayed another 20 minutes, as the meeting, hosted by the St. Albans Civic Association, erupted into a nearly five-minute shouting match before about 30 church members walked out of the Guy R. Brewer Democratic Club.

The land in question is at 118-27/47 Farmers Blvd. in a neighborhood containing mostly one- and two-family houses.

The church wants the 67 units to house senior citizens who are being forced by circumstances to raise their grandchildren. There also would be space for a community center and some of the church’s social service programs.

Residents fear that 67 units could bring into a small plot of land more than 200 new residents, who they believe could overwhelm area schools, parking availability, infrastructure and services.

Under city zoning regulations, the church could build 22 units in three stories or fewer with about 26 parking spaces. But developers sought and received variances for height, allowable floor space and parking from Community Board 12 in November.

The final approval now must come from the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals. Harrigan said no hearing is yet on the BSA’s calendar, but that he wants to bring at least 25 residents to speak in opposition when a hearing does take place.

St. John's Episcopal Hospital needs funds to stay afloat

From the Daily News:

Local leaders are eyeing a prescription that would keep an ailing Rockaway hospital in stable condition.

Two officials introduced a bill to reimburse St. John’s Episcopal Hospital — the only hospital left on the peninsula — the $4.3 million it spent sheltering, feeding and caring for thousands of Hurricane Sandy victims.

“They need all the help they can to get back on their feet,” said Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Beach), who introduced the bill on Monday. “We’ll beg, borrow and steal to make sure the hospital stays open.”

State Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) introduced the bill in the senate.

Goldfeder also sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo this week asking that the hospital receive a portion of the $1.2 billion the state sets aside for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities across the state.

Rockaway counts about 170,000 year-round residents, Goldfeder said. Hundreds of thousands more flock to the peninsula’s beaches during the summer.

The 257-bed facility has seen an influx of new patients since Peninsula Hospital closed in 2012. To cut costs, St. John’s recently got rid of its detox center, outsourced some of its clinics and laid off several dozen employees.

During Sandy, the hospital was a beacon for residents.

MSG gets $16M in tax breaks that won't end under Cuomo

MSG Press Release by Queens Crapper

From the Daily News:

Gov. Cuomo said he opposes efforts to revoke a lucrative city property tax hike for Madison Square Garden.

“I haven’t heard any argument that’s convincing for eliminating that,” Cuomo said Tuesday.

At an earlier press conference, Assemblyman David Weprin and Sen. James Sanders, both Queens Democrats, said they are pushing the bill to revoke the three-decade-old tax credit that saves the Garden an estimated $16 million a year because the cash-strapped city can use the money more than a rich corporation.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told the Daily News Monday that getting rid of the tax break would be “troubling.”

A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg had no comment.

Common Cause/New York released an analysis that showed Cablevision, which purchased the Garden in 1994 but spun it off into a separate company in 2010 with the Dolans retaining a controlling interest in both companies, is a major campaign contributor to Cuomo and other key officials.

Cuomo, the top individual recipient of Cablevision donations since 2005, has received $359,150 as governor an additional $50,100 as attorney general from the company.

Former Cuomo aide Irene Baker last year left the administration to join MSG as its senior vice president for government affairs.

From CBS New York:

Silver told the News the deal is to encourage development.

The tax break has been in place since 1982.

1) Yes, developers need to be "encouraged."

2) MSG is already developed.

3) If the tax break is eliminated, they won't be going anywhere.

4) Cuomo is a bullsh*t reformer.

Special election for Council District 31

Donovan Richards

From the Daily News:

Candidates vying for former City Councilman James Sanders Jr.’s vacated District 31 seat is shaping up to be an eclectic cast of characters.

There will be a special run-off election on Feb. 19, open to any candidate who can collect the requisite signatures by mid-month, Mayor Bloomberg announced last week.
Sanders vacated his Council seat to assume his new role in the state Senate after defeating embattled incumbent Shirley Huntley.

The candidates must scramble to collect 1,350 signatures by Jan. 15 and then submit them to the city Board of Elections.

Thus far, former Councilman Alan Jennings and Selvena Brooks have filed their petitions with the board, according to spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez.

Brooks served as the deputy chief of staff to state Sen. Malcolm Smith and most recently worked with the politically active SEIU union.

The early frontrunner appears to be Donovan Richards, Sander’s former chief of staff. The outgoing councilman has thrown his weight behind his protege. Richards has not yet filed his petition with the Board of Elections as of Monday. A handful of other names have been rumored.

How's this for tweeding?

The Districting Commission's latest round of maps includes gerrymandering Broad Channel into two districts. West of the black line is Council District 32 and east of the line is 31.

It's hard to believe that the tiny population of the island couldn't be kept together in one district. The row of homes east of Cross Bay Blvd and north of East 6th Road will now be in James Sanders' current district while the rest of the island is in Eric Ulrich's district. I suppose the Commission figured that no one in Broad Channel would catch this since they are still recovering from the storm damage. Nice try, guys!

Sanders the next one in trouble?

From the NY Post:

Southeast Queens residents traded one politician who’s under indictment for allegedly covering up the theft of state funds for another who is in hot water with the state Board of Elections.

State elections officials said last week that they were preparing to sue James Sanders for failing to file proper expenses in his campaign report due 10 days after his Sept. 13 state Senate primary. After The Post’s inquiry, the Democrat updated his filing over the weekend.

Sanders, a councilman who’s had similar issues in a prior race, last month defeated Sen. Shirley Huntley, who is under indictment for allegedly covering up the theft of $30,000 in state funds from a charity she funded.

The board has also sued Sanders four times over the past three years for ignoring required disclosure reports from 2009 Council race, which he won easily.

“(Campaign) people have called over the years to find out what’s missing and then promised to make the filings and then they haven’t made the filings,” Board spokesman John Conklin said.

Sanders' campaign directed questions to his Council office; a spokesman there acknowledged the error with the recent forms but said he could not speak to the 2009 campaign filings.

Hot sheets hotel killed

From the Queens Chronicle:

A controversial plan to open what many feared would be a “hot sheet motel," a charge-by-the-hour facility probably to be used for prostitution, along North Conduit Avenue across the street from Springfield Gardens High School, has been killed. City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) announced today that the property has been sold to new developers who intend to build a small strip mall at the site.

The community was so concerned about the project that residents filed a lawsuit to block the property owner, Sailesh Ghandi, from moving ahead, stating that the establishment would not only attract an unsavory element to the neighborhood, but that Ghandi had failed to meet the city's deadline to finish the foundation of the building in accordance with a zoning variance he was granted.

Some believed Ghandi would try to demonstrate that he had a common-law right to build, meaning that he had made a significant financial investment in the construction of the motel and therefore should be allowed to continue the work. But now those fears have been allayed with the sale of the property and residents can finally breath a sigh of relief.

Photo from the Daily News.

Next in line?

From the Daily News:

The protege is ready for the torch to be passed to him.

City Councilman James Sanders Jr.’s primary victory last week over scandal-torn state Sen. Shirley Huntley unofficially kicked off the race for his Council seat several months earlier than expected.

Sanders (D-Laurelton) will have to vacate his Council post before he can be sworn in to the state Senate, triggering in a special election in early 2013.

Donovan Richards, Sanders’ chief of staff, has been gearing up for the race even before Sanders bested the incumbent of Senate District 10.

False advertising in senate race

From the Daily News:

An endorsement controversy has emerged in a contentious Queens primary.

The Daily News has learned that a clergy member and several unions that were touted on campaign material as favoring District 10 incumbent state Sen. Shirley Huntley are actually remaining neutral for the Sept. 13 vote.

Huntley (D-Jamaica) listed the Plumbers Union and Civil Service Employees Association as members of her “heavy union endorsements” roster.

Abraham Benjamin, a local CSEA organizer, was irate that his group was included on Huntley campaign material.

“It’s under-handed and disingenuous,” he said. “I have a problem with that. You never know if that will sway another vote.”

Apostle David Cockfield of the Battalion Pentecostal Assembly Church, who was mentioned on a separate list of faith-based supporters, was troubled by the error.

“It bothers me a lot. That’s false advertisement,” he said.

Huntley is facing competition from her own party with term-limited City Councilman James Sanders Jr. and candidate Gian Jones in a three-way primary.

Officials with Huntley’s campaign said endorsement error was an honest mistake.