Caption the City Council Cronies

Name this band, wrong answers only of course

The city bails out artist conglomerate from being gentrified out again.

Queens Post 

The group also announced that it has purchased space in a new development that is part of the Hunters Point South mega development. It has bought space on the ground floor of the South Tower at Gotham Point, a two-tower development that is going up at 57-28 2nd St. The non-profit will be calling the space “Flux IV.”

The terms of the two deals were not disclosed.

Representatives of the Flux Factory said the purchases will help sustain the organization’s core programs, exhibitions and collaborative opportunities with other artists. The acquisitions were funded by the City, via allocations provided by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, the Queens Borough President’s Office and the Dept. of Cultural Affairs.

Nat Roe, the executive director of Flux Factory, said the purchases represent major milestones for the non-profit since it has looked to buy its own premises for years.

Flux Factory was founded in Williamsburg in 1994 and moved to Sunnyside in 2002 due to rising costs. In 2009 the organization then moved to its 29th Street location.

“We’ve constantly faced the threat of displacement, compromising our ability to support and promote artists most effectively,” Roe said.

The Dutch Kills building is 9,000 square feet and its acquisition will ensure the non-profit continues to host its “artist-in resident” program. This program provides artists with the ability to live on site while they develop their creative work.

The space consists of 16 private studios and 8 common workspaces for art production. It also includes a 1,400 square foot gallery where residents develop art exhibitions across a wide range of disciplines such as painting, poetry, literary, spoken word and sound art. The building also includes living space.

Meanwhile, the Flux IV location will be 3,000 square feet in size and is scheduled to open next summer. It will serve as a satellite space for the organization.

Transportation Totalitarians trying to annex another street for bike boulevard

 

Big money and Transporation Alternatives infiltrate community board and astroturf zoom hearing to induce bike boulevard

 

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 Update:

Jimmy Van Bramer brought Donovan Richards to the area along with fellow fauxgressive elected Democrats Letitia James and Grace Meng for a fundraiser at a house around the corner from the notorious bike boulevard. 

 

I hope their tax payer funded personal drivers escorting them were able to get over there o.k.

 

The people can see you Transportation Totalitarians. The jig is up.

Residents patience is gone for idiotic bike boulevard

  

Queens Post

A group of residents has launched an online petition in opposition to the DOT’s recent installation of a new bike boulevard on 39th Avenue in Sunnyside.

The online petition, which was launched Saturday, seeks to reverse the DOT’s transformation of many portions of 39th Avenue and Barnett Avenue that have been converted into one-way streets. The DOT began making the changes to the avenues last month in order to create space to put down a protected bicycle lane on 39th Avenue.

The petition has garnered more than 500 signatures since it launched less than 72 hours ago on change.org.

The group that launched the petition, called Queens Streets For All, claims that the new designs are dangerous, confusing and were not thought through. They also say that the community was not properly involved in the process.

Their view is counter to the DOT and bike-safety advocates who say that the new layout makes the streets safer for all road users —whether they be motorists, cyclists or pedestrians. The advocates say the measures reduce the number of motorists using 39th Avenue as a through-street and that the changes help prevent speeding.

However, the petitioners argue that the changes are too complex, unnecessary and have instead made the roads less safe.

They are calling on the DOT to reverse the road changes immediately. The petition is addressed to the Mayor Bill de Blasio, the DOT Commissioner, Queens DOT Commissioner, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, State Sen. Mike Gianaris, Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, Community Board 2 and other officials.

“What we have is chaos,” the petition reads. “These short, previously unproblematic and two-way streets are now a mess. Whoever rushed the installation was not focusing on our safety.”

The group claims that the process to approve the plan was “rushed through” via online meetings with little community notice and insufficient input from residents.

The bike boulevard was approved by Community Board 2 in June by a vote of 21-11 during a Zoom board meeting.

Solidarity frustration and loathing for Sunnyside's bike boulevard

 Sunnyside Post

 

 

 

Bike takeover on Sunnyside avenue

 

 Queens Post

 The Department of Transportation announced today that it will start construction on its 39th Avenue Bike Boulevard in Sunnyside in September.

The installation of the bike boulevard will bring significant change to portions of 39th Avenue and Barnett Avenue in Sunnyside.

The plan involves converting segments of 39th and Barnett avenues into one-way zones in order to create space for a protected bicycle lane and other traffic-calming measures.

The plan received the backing of Community Board 2 in June and has the support of Council Member Van Bramer.

Advocates for the bike boulevard say it will increase traffic safety, while provide a key bike connection from Jackson Heights to Sunnyside. It also comes at a time when Citi Bike is about to expand into Sunnyside.

The avenue is one of five stretches across the city that will be transformed into a bike boulevard by the end of the year. The DOT plans to create one bike boulevard per borough.

In the 26th, Won won

Upset complete.

Not only did fauxgressive @JimmyVanBramer finish a distant third in the Queens boro prez race, but his chosen successor, candidate of the Working Families Party machine, lost to a community board member in LIC/Sunnyside. LOL. https://t.co/92Txd44NPX pic.twitter.com/sWUj7EnoGM

— Enrique in the BK 🦞 (@enrique_pause) July 7, 2021

Which way will JVB's voters break?

Well now, this is shaping up to be quite a nailbiter!

Elizabeth Crowley may be the comeback kid after the dust settles. But it all depends on which way Van Bramer's #2s are distributed.

Stay tuned.

Driveway Jimmy

Talking to voters at the early voting site in Middle Village. Great response in the blazing sun! Thanks to Ashton Potter for holding it down for #TeamJVB! pic.twitter.com/VSrYoqRULN

— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) June 20, 2021

Jim is one step away from squeegee wiper

Kingmaker Van Bramer

 

  LIC Post

 Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer has endorsed Amit Bagga from a sea of candidates vying for his seat in the City Council.

Van Bramer announced his endorsement in the midst of early voting and less than a week away from Election Day.

“In a crowded field, which includes several terrific candidates, I was proud to rank Amit Singh Bagga #1 when I went to vote this past Saturday,” he said in a statement. “Amit is smart, thoughtful, progressive, and has experience in government that will make him effective on day one.”

Van Bramer chose Bagga — the former deputy director of the NYC Census 2020 — out of 15 Democratic candidates on the ballot for the District 26 seat representing Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside and parts of Astoria.

The council member said he would be announcing the names of five other candidates who he believes would be qualified to take his position in the coming days, but wanted to make it clear that Bagga is his top choice.

Van Bramer, who is running for Queens borough president, was previously tight-lipped on who he would endorse as his replacement. However his longtime chief of staff Matt Wallace endorsed Bagga in May and the candidate was spotted at a backyard fundraising event for Van Bramer’s borough president campaign the same month.

 

Van Bramer flack behind group backing his replacement for City Council while his volunteers are engaging in cheap campaign chicanery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIC Post

A group of western Queens community leaders has come together to help Amit Bagga break away from a crowded field to win the 26th District council seat.

The group, dubbed 26 for 26, is co-chaired by Matthew Wallace, the chief of staff for the term-limited council member Jimmy Van Bramer, and Clara Oza, a public school parent coordinator from Sunnyside.

They hope to get Bagga elected in District 26, which encompasses Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City and parts of Astoria.

“I’ve seen firsthand just how much our kids and families have suffered through the pandemic, and we need a leader who [will] not just fight to bring us back, but deliver real results,” said Oza, a Community Board 2 member. “Amit is the only candidate with a proven track record of having done so.”

Wallace, who endorsed Bagga last month, says Bagga is someone who will not only be a part of the progressive wing of city council, but has the policy chops to lead it.

“No one else has proposed anything even close in terms of having the legislative prowess that Amit has shown. That really means something,” Wallace said.

The group also includes Deborah Tharrington, who is the director of constituent services for Van Bramer, plus Community Board 2 members Osman Chowdhury and Anatole Ashraf.

The other members include Dan Hochman, Laura Dadap, Zach Job, Dominic Stiller, Jean Cawley, Marco Barrios, Joe Oza, Jake Cohen, Judith Sloan, Brian Romero, Louis Wellington, Amanda and Max Lefer, Annie Seifullah, Sam Goldsmith, Hugh Baran, Ayaz Ahmed, Samina Wasti, Neha Gautam, Erin Koster, Rob Bass, Patti Pion, Natalie Fuertes and Adeline Medeiros.

Nick Berkowitz, a spokesperson for the Bagga campaign, says the group comes from a diverse array of occupations, ages and backgrounds, which is representative of the district’s makeup.

“These are just folks who understand what the stakes are of this election and are willing to do what it takes to get him elected,” Berkowitz said.

Breaking News: This particular race has just got a little bit more cutthroat. Pity the poor fauxgressive.

  

Queens Post

A campaign poster battle has erupted in the crowded District 26 City Council race just weeks before Election Day.

The saga began after a volunteer for Amit Bagga allegedly put up a campaign poster on top of rival candidate Julie Won’s poster. This allegedly has happened on two separate occasions, according to photos uploaded to Twitter.

A former part-time staffer and current volunteer with Won’s campaign tweeted the image of a Bagga poster on Wednesday with the corner peeled up to reveal a Won poster beneath it. The posters were hung up on a storefront at the corner of 48th Avenue and 47th Street in Sunnyside.

The same campaign volunteer tweeted a photo on May 16 of a Bagga poster also covering Won’s.

Won retweeted the photo taken yesterday and questioned if Bagga was trying to erase her candidacy.

“This has been flagged 3x where we’ve seen @amitsinghbagga’s team poster over ours,” she said. “shows character of candidate when you campaign this way. Does your team feel insecure about your candidacy? Are you trying to erase my candidacy as an AAPI immigrant and woman?”

Instead of apologizing on twitter, maybe Bagga should dissociate himself from Jimmy's flack.

 

Which is appropriate Memorial Day weekend candidate behavior?

Honoring those lost in the fight to keep our country free:

#MemorialDay looks a bit different this year without the traditional parades, but #ForestHills knows the importance of honoring our fallen heroes no matter the circumstances.

Honored to join today’s ceremony and pay tribute to those neighborhood residents who sacrificed for us. pic.twitter.com/QncAVgMMvJ

— Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (@QnsBPRichards) May 30, 2021

Memorial Day is a solemn reminder of the ultimate sacrifice that many of our service members in the United States Armed Forces made defending our country.

With these heavy hearts, we offer our thoughts and gratitude to the families of those who lost loved ones in battle. pic.twitter.com/SAUMkP5ie8

— Elizabeth Crowley (@ElizCrowleyNYC) May 31, 2021

I was proud to participate in this year's Memorial Day wreath laying ceremony with the United Veterans and Fraternal Organizations of Maspeth and @MaspethFederal. The rain could not dampen our grateful spirit.
#MemorialDay2021 #maspeth pic.twitter.com/aSfNawGKmd

— Robert Holden (@BobHoldenNYC) May 30, 2021

I was honored to attend @MelindaKatz’s #MemorialDay observance ceremony yesterday. Remembering our fallen soldiers is what this weekend is about. Enjoy, but also remember. pic.twitter.com/znqLtPv7tW

— David Weprin (@DavidWeprin) May 28, 2021

Shamelessly barnstorming apartment buildings and quiet neighborhoods for votes:

All this rain has produced at least one good thing - higher than average contact rates on the doors! pic.twitter.com/tyFuZ1gtn6

— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) May 30, 2021

Lots of people home on this rainy Sunday full of enthusiasm for electing @tiffany_caban! pic.twitter.com/TOQbNANRMu

— Brad Lander (@bradlander) May 30, 2021

Rain or shine we’re talking to all our neighbors in my hometown #maspeth pic.twitter.com/drDhLKz3XZ

— Juan Ardila (@JuanArdilaNYC) May 29, 2021

(FYI: The "V for Victory" hand gesture was introduced in January 1941 as part of a campaign by the Allies of World War II.)

Van Bramer spends a half million dollars on a new flagpole

 

Sunnyside Post

A new flag pole will go up in the Blissville section of Long Island City where a century-old pole was located before it was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The original flagpole, which was part of the Blissville Veterans Memorial that was established after WWI, was cut down by the city shortly after it was damaged by the hurricane.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer said that he had been trying to get the Dept. of Transportation to erect a new pole at the site—which is located where Greenpoint Avenue, Review Avenue, and Van Dam Street all meet—with little success.

Van Bramer said that the agency had failed the community and that he has decided to step in and allocate $500,000 from the city budget to have it replaced.

“The Blissville Civic Association, Community Board 2 and [local resident] Thomas Mituzas have been trying to get the DOT to take responsibility and shamefully they refused at every turn,” Van Bramer said. “Ultimately, I wanted to get this done for the community.”

The $500,000 will be used to replace the flagpole, upgrade the memorial and the public space that surrounds it.

“I want this to be a civic space that the people of Blissvillle can take pride in,” Van Bramer said. “It is of great significance to the residents.”

 

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

From the Queens Chronicle:

Van Bramer said in an email from his borough president campaign that he is standing by Ardila.

“The words he used as a teenager were reprehensible,” said Van Bramer, who is gay. “He has taken responsibility and apologized to me personally and to all rightfully offended and hurt by that language. I believe Juan when he says he would never use those words again and that they do not reflect the man he has become.”

Teenager? The last homophobic comment on his Facebook was posted 7 years ago when he was in college.

A spokesman for Gianaris declined to comment. Richards’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Ramos’ office, nor the Stonewall Democratic Club.

Of course! What could you possibly say in defense of endorsing someone who exemplifies the opposite of your lame virtue signalling reputation?

New schools way past schedule for openings in over-developed areas

  

LIC Post

 The opening date of a number of schools undergoing construction in western Queens has been pushed back in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Philip Composto, Community Superintendent of District 30, provided Community Board 2 with an update Thursday on several schools in western Queens that are under construction—and many are opening later than initially planned.

There are two schools that are opening in September on time, which were of particular concern to parents in those areas who feared that there would be a shortage of school seats.

An elementary school in Long Island City, located on Parcel F of the Hunters Point South development, will open on time in September—despite doubts last summer by officials due to city budget constraints. Furthermore, a 180-seat addition planned for P.S. 2 at 75-10 21st Ave. is also on track to open in September—as planned.

There were concerns that these openings would be delayed, since the city put a halt on school construction last year when it faced cash flow problems at the beginning of the pandemic. The pause was later lifted and the School Construction Authority made these two schools a priority.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer called it a victory that the Long Island City school– PS-384, located at 1-35 57th Ave. on Parcel F — is opening on time. “We have fought alongside the parents and school community in Hunters Point for this building and despite the COVID-19 pause on construction this building is opening.”

Steve Madden threatens to move if "affordable housing" development takes over parking lot

  

 

NY Post

Steve Madden’s shoe company is ready to walk away from its Queens headquarters — and take 400 workers with it — over a proposed affordable-housing development that will step on the company’s parking.

The designer’s eponymous brand uses two buildings on Barnett Avenue in Sunnyside for offices and shoe production and says it relies on a parking lot across the street for employees.

A plan by non-profit developer Phipps Houses calls for rezoning the lot to build a seven-story building with 167 units.

“Without the public parking, Madden would have no feasible way to maintain its Barnett Avenue presence,” Andrew Luskin, a lawyer for the shoe mogul, wrote in a January email to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

Luskin said the company rents about half of the 223 spaces in the lot and many company employees have been driving to work, rather than using public transit, during the pandemic.

He wrote that the company’s more than 400 workers patronize area businesses and that the company donates to local causes.

“Madden urges that the neighborhood would have much to lose if the company were compelled to relocate due to the approval of the proposed housing project and conversion of the Project Site from its present use as a public parking facility,” Luskin wrote.

A "real affordable housing" conundrum develops in Sunnyside

LIC Post

Four years ago, Phipps Houses withdrew their application to build an affordable housing complex in my Sunnyside neighborhood after I had come out against it.

It was a project that the community board voted against and which faced significant community opposition. I too was opposed, but not because I didn’t want to see affordable housing built here.

As I said then, my opposition focused on four key issues:

1) Phipps’ unwillingness to commit to good jobs, paying good wages, offering real benefits. I have always and will always stand for good union jobs.

2) The “affordable” apartments weren’t truly affordable – income levels were too high.

3) The existing tenants living in the Phipps Garden Apartments across the street complained of serious maintenance issues.

4) The new building would be nearly twice the height of the building across the street

Those were real issues and real concerns. And I wish Phipps had been able to address them then.

They weren’t.

But Phipps maintained ownership of the property, currently a large parking lot. They revised their proposal and came back to me and the community with it.

Some of the same voices opposed to the project four years ago are once again demanding that I block it. They say it’s the same project, with the same flaws, and if I opposed it four years ago, I should do so again. But this is a different, and much improved proposal. Here’s why:

Phipps has changed their tune to hiring and now offers good jobs widely, including both in this newly proposed development and the Phipps Garden Apartments. The affordability levels have been lowered dramatically, with 20% of the units at 40% AMI and the highest income band at 80%. We have never seen such levels of affordability in this area.

 Phipps is also one of the worst slumlords in the World's Borough. Something Jimmy is willing to overlook to pander for the votes of the rent-burdened. 

Here's another thing Jimmy overlooked.

LIC Post

The fashion shoe company Steve Madden is threatening to leave Sunnyside if the seven story, 167-unit building development planned by Phipps Houses on Barnett Avenue goes up.

Steve Madden, which penned a letter to Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer Jan. 14, said that it employs more than 400 people at its 52-16 Barnett Ave. location and it would be forced to relocate if the Phipps development moves forward.

The company says that it rents 120 spaces on the 220-space parking lot where the development is proposed to go. The spaces are used by its personnel and are rented from Phipps. Without the parking spaces for employees, it says it would have to leave.

“Without the public parking lot, Madden will have no reasonable way to maintain its Barnett Avenue presence,” the letter reads.

The letter also notes that its employees help bolster the local economy by patronizing local merchants and eateries.

“In short, Madden and its employees provide substantial economic support for the local community and its retail businesses,” the letter reads.

Phipps needs to get its Barnett Avenue property rezoned in order to develop the site. The application currently rests in the hands of the City Council, having been approved by Community Board 2, the Queens Borough President and the City Planning Commission.

Van Bramer issued a public statement today announcing his support for the project, citing the need for affordable and low-cost housing. He did not address Steve Madden’s concerns in his statement and did not comment for this story.

Steve Madden, however, has done little in the way of outreach to make its concerns known other than the solitary letter to Van Bramer. It did not reach out to Community Board 2 nor did it speak to Queens Borough President Donovan Richards or the City Planning Commission.

The Jan. 14 letter to Van Bramer was also not released publicly but surfaced on social media via the Facebook page Small Town Confidential.

The Queens Post called the attorney representing Steve Madden whose name appeared on the letter. The attorney–Andrew Luskin, of the firm McLaughlin & Stern–confirmed that he wrote it and said the issue was real.

Jimmy's got a brand new bag while his husband is bringing home the bread

 

He is a reborn union man fighting real estate and for the working man and woman according to his website - Jimmy Van Bramer for Queens Borough President

 BUT he is notoriously close to real estate developers! In 2013 campaign finance records below show he got at least  $6,350.00 from a developer's family, the Wolkoffs, related to the Five Points Development, which not only got a lucrative variance BUT ALSO the developer G&M Realty owner -AKA Jerry Wolkoff - didn't use all union labor as promised. The people of LIC got glass behemoths instead - thanks to Jimmy! He is also an old friend of big-time developer Stuart Suna.

 

 

 

NY Post

While City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer may have sworn off special interest cash, the same hasn’t been true for his husband — author and documentary filmmaker Dan Hendrick.

His 2017 documentary “Saving Jamaica Bay” is larded to the hilt with money from lobbyists and big real estate interests the councilman swore to avoid, a review by The Post shows.

The influential lobbyists singled out for thanks in the film credits include Uber lobbyist Patrick Jenkins, the founder of Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates; Jon R. Del Giorno, a founding member of Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno and lobbyist for the Yankees; Arthur Goldstein, a partner in Davidoff Hutcher & Citron and lobbyist for the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation; former NYU lobbyist Rose Christ, of Cozen O’Connor; and Joe Reubens, a partner at The Parkside Group who lobbied for AT&T.

Big real estate also chipped in, with The Durst Organization, Tishman Speyer Properties, the Real Estate Board of New York Foundation and others also thanked in the film credits.

Hendricks made no secret of the need for financing while making the film, telling local news he took in “hundreds of thousands” of dollars for the flick, which was narrated by Susan Sarandon. 

 “On the surface, it doesn’t look good,” said Betsy Gotbaum, a former city Public Advocate and current executive director of the good government group Citizens Union.

Isn't it romantic? Massive sex shop opens in Sunnyside

I've been told that Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer's office is across the street from this establishment. Must be why the VIP entrance sign is prominently displayed on the window.