Fauxgressive council cronies writes bill to cancel criminal background checks for renters

 

Queens Chronicle

A bill pending before the City Council woud ban landlords from conducting criminal background checks on prospective tenants.

Councilman Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn) and supporters say it is necessary and bans discrimination against ex-convicts who have turned their lives around. Many have trouble getting leases once their backgrounds are known. Advocates told the Daily News on Monday that the bill would ease homelessness and shelter overcrowding.

The bill reportedly has 27 co-sponsors — and the backing of Mayor de Blasio.

Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, represents thousands of landlords. He told the News on Monday the bill is problematic, and should be rewritten to allow exemptions.

He said landlords should have control over their properties, and have a right to prevent drug dealers, gun dealers and gang members from operating in their buildings. He also said the bill would expose landlords to unacceptable levels of potential liability. The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the next few weeks.

Lots of dough thrown down the homeless hole

From the Daily News:

It costs a lot of money to keep the homeless shelter system's population flat.

Both the City Council and Controller Scott Stringer questioned the precipitously rising budget for the Department of Homeless Services Tuesday, even as the homeless population of about 61,000 New Yorkers has yet to drop.

Councilman Steve Levin said that actual spending for the Department of Homeless Services was $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2016 — and had grown to $2.14 billion in the current fiscal year, after the city twice modified the budget mid-year, twice, to add cash. That's a $700 million jump.

"But we have not seen a significant decrease in the shelter census despite that increase in spending — 50% over what it was in fiscal year 2016," Levin said during a City Council budget hearing on the budgets of the city's welfare agencies.

Levin said the spending was worthy — and that the city had underfunded the system in the past. But he questioned what results the money was getting if the city had the same shelter population — and if those in shelter were still unhappy with conditions.

Simple: hotel rates went up.

CBS visits Greenpoint parking trap

From CBS 2:

It is called the parking trap of Brooklyn, on Manhattan Avenue between Huron and India streets. Even a Department of Transportation driver and Greenpoint’s city councilman have fallen for it.

“I’ve definitely gotten one or two tickets there myself,” said Councilman Stephen Levin (D-33rd).

A sign is set up on the sidewalk, and it says two-hour metered parking is permitted from the sign to the end of the block. But on the other side of the sign, parking is not allowed – even though there is a space is all circled off by the same white line.

But the space on the other side of the sign is a no standing zone. There is another sign saying as much on the corner, where there used to be a bus stop.

The bust stop moved last year, but the parking rules stayed.

“The best solution is actually restoring all of the parking on that whole block because there’s no bus stop there now, and so they really should restore all the parking that they can, and not give people a major headache and $115 ticket,” added Councilman Levin.

Fed up drivers said they have tried reaching out to the city to no avail, so CBS2 decided to show the images to the Department of Transportation. A department representative told CBS2, “The DOT will look into adjusting the markings in this area to eliminate confusion indicating where drivers can park.”

In the meantime, there's a new app to help you pay your tickets!

Comprehensive cultural plan to be formulated

From the NY Times:

New York City is looking to join Chicago, Houston, Denver and other major cities by passing legislation to create its first comprehensive cultural plan.

The legislation, which the City Council passed by a vote of 49 to 0 on Tuesday, requires the city to analyze its current cultural priorities, assess how service to different neighborhoods can be improved, study the condition of arts organizations and artists, and plan how the city can remain artist-friendly in a time of high rents and other economic pressures.

The bill was introduced by the council members Stephen Levin (Brooklyn) and Jimmy Van Bramer (Queens).

“Administrations come and go; cultural affairs commissioners come and go,” said Mr. Van Bramer, who is chairman of the council’s cultural affairs committee and majority leader. “What we want is to have this ongoing prioritization of arts and culture.”

Tom Finkelpearl, the city’s cultural affairs commissioner, said he fully supported the plan. “We went back and forth and back and forth on improving the bill and I have completely come around to the idea that it’s going to be great for New York,” he said.

“Even though I spend all my time out looking at everything in all the boroughs, it still only adds up to an anecdotal idea of what’s happening,” he continued. “Are there parts of the city that are not adequately served by cultural resources or are there imaginative ideas for getting cultural resources to those communities?”

The plan requires the city to find out what arts groups in the five boroughs want and need and to incorporate these recommendations in a plan to be submitted by July 1, 2017.

Manhattan BP & Brooklyn Council Members introducing landmarks legislation

From The Real Deal:

Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer unveiled a plan Wednesday to speed up and simplify the landmark review process.

The legislation, to be co-introduced with council members Dan Garodnick, Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, calls for a public web database of all actions by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and would allow online applications for landmark status.

The proposed laws would also put a lid on the length of the application process. It calls for a 90-day limit for responses to applications for landmark status and a 180-day limit for historic districts applications. Moreover, unresolved landmark cases could no longer be shelved for more than five years.

This is the same package of REBNY sponsored crap bills that Leroy Comrie tried to foist upon us when he was chair of the Council's land use committee some time ago. I'm sure there'll be more where this came from.

Lie-lies on lulus?

From the NY Post:

Fifteen current and former City Council members promised to donate their annual taxpayer-funded bonuses to charity in recent years — but only three could offer any proof they had, a Post review found.

Despite being given at least three weeks to show that they put their money where their mouths were, only Councilmen Eric Ulrich (D-Queens) and Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn) and former Councilwoman Gale Brewer, now Manhattan borough president, could do so. They provided a mix of donation lists and thank-you notes as proof.

The remaining dozen officials — who have been public credited with not pocketing the annual political handouts from the council speaker of $4,000 to $28,000 — declined to offer documentation, provided scant detail of recipients or ignored The Post’s requests entirely.

The bonuses, known as “lulus,” are doled out to members who take leadership roles or otherwise curry favor with the speaker.

This included Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), who for eight weeks was unable to provide a single receipt documenting what he has done with the $60,000 in lulus he has been allocated since 2010.

It was only after a Post reporter confronted him in person that Van Bramer’s office provided a short list of recipients, including the NAACP of Astoria and the 108th Precinct Community Council, but no amounts, dates or documentation.

Those two groups confirmed they had received donations of $100 each from Van Bramer.

But his minimal list was more than what was offered by the bulk of council members, who provided no detail of charitable giving from their bonuses.
Those include current Public Advocate Letitia James, Mathieu Eugene and Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn; Fernando Cabrera of The Bronx; Julissa Ferreras, Karen Koslowitz, Ruben Wills, and Peter Koo of Queens; and Rosie Mendez of Manhattan.

Why can't they just check their tax returns?

Pols call for a change in plans for condos-in-park scheme

From the NY Times:

Brooklyn Bridge Park, which stretches 1.3 miles along the East River waterfront, was a creation of the administration of Michael R. Bloomberg, with a novel — and contentious — financing mechanism in the form of luxury housing in the park.

But now that City Hall is under new leadership, a group of elected officials is calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to scale back some of that housing, intended to help pay for the costly upkeep of the park, which is buffeted by tides. In particular, they want the mayor to halt plans for two residential towers at Pier 6, one of several recreational piers in the park.

In a letter to Mr. de Blasio, dated April 7, a group of city, state and federal lawmakers expressed their dismay at the “breakneck speed” with which the administration was pursuing the housing at Pier 6 and urged the new administration to “work collaboratively on alternative park financing, rather than moving forward with the Bloomberg plan.”

The letter was signed by State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, State Assemblywoman Joan Millman, United States Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, and City Councilmen Stephen T. Levin and Brad Lander.

Maintenance of the waterfront park, whose piers are adversely affected by marine organisms, as well as winds and tides, is unusually expensive, estimated to cost about $16 million a year. But the housing, some of which is already built, was controversial from the start, with a number of community leaders and lawmakers arguing that it set a dangerous precedent for public parkland.

Did they use Common Core math?

From Crains:

In a contentious hearing, City Council members pressed the developers of the Domino Sugar factory project on the Williamsburg waterfront to explain how many market-rate and affordable-rental units it was planning to build.

Two Trees Management developer Jed Walentas acknowledged that the numbers were not yet final, but that the project is likely to include up to 2,300 market-rate apartments, with as many as 700 affordable units. He said that 537,000 square feet of the 2.2 million square feet of residential space would be devoted to below market-rate apartments.

But Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin said that based on an analysis the developer's other housing projects, the total number could be as high as 3,000 total units of housing, which he argued would bring added stress on the neighborhood's over-taxed infrastructure, as well as call into question whether a sufficient portion of the project was affordable.

During Tuesday's hearing of the Council's zoning subcommittee, Mr. Walentas was asked to justify his estimates of the total number of rental units that he plans to build. Mr. Levin argued that after examining similar projects built by Two Trees, and based on the total amount of space allotted for residential development, a larger number of apartments could ultimately be built.

"By my calculations, Two Trees could build in their market-rate component somewhere between 2,100 and 2,300 market rate units," he said. "You add to that the 660 or 700 affordable units, and it's closer to 3,000 units that could be developed in the project. And that's a major source of concern for me."

He continued, "Because you're unwilling to commit to a unit-size breakdown of your market rate, and you're unwilling to cap it at 2,300 units, I'm concerned that the opportunity is there, and the math bears it out, for a development that is much closer to 3,000 units than 2,000 units, and that's a major source of concern for me."

It's ok, Steve! Under DeBlasio, developers can build as big as they want if they even mention "affordable housing". Go with the "progressive" flow!

Lots of conflicts of interest keeping boathouse plan afloat

I've been pondering the whole Newtown Creek boathouse debacle and wondering why the City Parks Foundation has been pushing so hard for the project and how it leapfrogged over more popular projects as voted on by stakeholders back in 2011. Well, the dots have been connected.

The choice of the City Parks Foundation to oversee the whole community outreach process for the wastewater treatment plant settlement was a joke, since they are part of the Parks Department. They may say, "City Parks Foundation is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer programs in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City," however, all of their employees have "parks.nyc.gov" e-mail addresses. The CPF is a 501c3 that allows Parks to accept tax deductible donations. They should not be involved in any decision making or vote collecting process regarding how the settlement money is spent. Why? Because, as the WSJ explains: "the money comes from $10 million in fines levied against the city for failing to meet deadlines in constructing a new treatment plant and in lowering the level of pollutants in the water". The City is overseeing where the fines it paid will be spent? Hello, conflict of interest.

Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn is a multi-park conservancy authorized by the NYC Dept of Parks. (The OSA Director is also the Parks Department's North Brooklyn administrator - a Parks employee.) OSA's purpose is to raise private money for public parks in northern Brooklyn. But strangely, it’s accepting donations on behalf of this private boat club. OSA even went so far as to apply for funding for the boat club from the Exxon settlement money.

Hello, conflict of interest #2.

The boathouse project went from 3rd on the list to 1st on the list after the vote. Is this because DEC determined that it's what people in the area really wanted, or because "Commodore" Dewey Thompson, the president of the boat club, is a board member of OSA, which is affiliated with the Parks Dept, as well as a board member of GWAPP? (GWAPP applied for the sewage treatment plant money on behalf of the boathouse.) Conflict of interest #3.

Conflict of interest #4? How about the fact that the project submitted to the DEC and to the public is nowhere near the same as the one being pushed now? Don't we deserve to see the plans? (Interestingly, I hear that some of the board members of the groups behind this endeavor have not been allowed access to the plans.) Perhaps there should be a revote? Or was the result of all this "community input" pre-determined, with the necessary steps taken after the vote to ensure that the outcome looked legitimate?

And then there's Newtown Creek Alliance:

NCA Supports a New & Improved Home for the North Brooklyn Boat Club

And here are the reasons why they support it:

1) Access: Along Newtown Creek’s 11 miles of waterfront there are only two safe public access points: DEP’s Nature Walk and the Manhattan Ave. Street End park. The new NBBC facility will provide a third much needed public access point.

2) Eyes on the Creek: Dozens of pollution investigations and enforcement actions against Newtown Creek polluters have been set-in motion as a result of the first-hand observations and vigilance of concerned local residents. Waterfront and water access results in more “Eyes on the Creek”, which will ultimately lead to a safer, less polluted Newtown Creek.

3) Education: There is nothing quite like being on the water itself to inspire curiosity about the multifaceted history of the Creek and wonder at the innumerable life forms that call Newtown Creek home. Over the past two years, NBBC has introduced hundreds of people to Newtown Creek for the first time. A permanent home for NBBC that includes an education center will help build a well informed constituency for the Creek that cares about it’s future.

4) Water Quality: How the public uses a waterway informs how clean the government requires it to be. That is to say, if people are swimming in the water, then that body of water must be cleaner than one that is simply used by ships for navigating from point A to point B. Currently, Newtown Creek is misclassified with the lowest water quality designation, a classification that belies the fact that people boat and fish on Newtown Creek. It is our hope that the growing presence of human powered watercraft on Newtown Creek, enabled by a NBBC that teaches safe boating, will force a reclassification of Newtown Creek’s water quality designation so it reflects its actual use as a recreational waterway.

Hmmm... They forgot to mention reason number 5, as revealed by the NY Times:

There are also discussions to include office space for Riverkeeper and the Newtown Creek Alliance, nonprofit organizations working in the area.(inside the boathouse/hotel)

Ah...Conflict of interest #5.

Pushing "4) Water quality" when the public has been warned to stay the hell off the Superfund site, doesn't seem very responsible to me. But I am not a member of this group. I was asked many years ago to join, but I got a bad vibe from the people trying to recruit me, and I declined. Always trust your tweeding radar, folks.

I really have to wonder how the 2 men who are responsible for creating this monster - then Attorney General and now Governor Andrew Cuomo, and current Attorney General Eric Schneiderman - are allowing this to continue. And Bill DeBlasio, who is anti-conservancy for reasons perfectly illustrated by this situation...how about you? Public Advocate Letitia James? Anyone?

How about Queens elected officials whose constituents were disenfranchised by this process? Van Bramer? Crowley?

Assembly Member Joe Lentol and Council Member Steve Levin: You've been listed as "sponsors" of this boathouse. Are you supportive of the way this process has been carried out? You've been eerily quiet about the whole controversy. Of course, a member of the press would have actually had to ask you about it. Speaking of which... WHERE THE HELL IS THE PRESS? Specifically, the BROOKLYN PRESS?


Meanwhile, Miss Heather has been told that the above rendering is that of the boathouse. A tipster told her that it actually is 10 years old. Amazing that this has been going on for so long. You'd think that they'd be working out of more than just shipping containers by now if they had the community support that they claim to have.

To be continued...

Levin owes a lot of dough to DOF

From the NY Post:

He knows how to move legislation — but not his car.

City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn), a persistent parking scofflaw, has run up another $665 in unpaid tickets since July, according to city records.

Last year, The Post found Levin owed so much in summonses — $630 — that City Hall wouldn’t renew his official parking placard.

When he finally settled up, the legislator quickly amassed another $595 worth of fines wheeling around his Greenpoint-Williamsburg district.

Levin said Tuesday he’s thinking about finally springing for a garage.

What's the magic number for getting your car towed?

Let the tweeding begin

From The Politicker:

One source said Rep. Joe Crowley, head of the Queens Democratic party, is warming to the idea of backing Mark-Viverito, in part because she would be the first Latina speaker and his congressional district is heavily Hispanic.

"It would be a feather for him," said the source, who is involved in Queens County politics, as well as the speaker's race.

Mark-Viverito often touts her early endorsement of de Blasio in the Democratic mayoral primary this year and has said she agrees with most of his political positions.

Mark-Viverito has been the target of some negative stories since entering the speaker's race, and is a polarizing candidate in her own right.

Several sources said Dickens, whose candidacy is considered a nonstarter, was the least impressive of the interviewees and did not have a firm grasp on the rules-reform package.

UPDATE: Councilman Steve Levin, a member of the bloc, said Weprin was impressive too. Levin said Weprin "exhibited a lot of passion. He was passionate. He was moving and he spoke about his experiences as a legislator and about his family."

Astoria candidate doesn't play by the rules

Astoria attorney John Ciafone is running for City Council District 22 (Astoria) to replace outgoing Peter Vallone, Jr. He has run previously for the council as well as for the assembly. He dropped out back in 2010, and he may have dropped out this time around as well since there are no CFB filings from his campaign on file.

What you may not know is that Ciafone currently appears on Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio's slumlord list. To his credit, he is on the "most improved" list, having reduced his violations from 195 to 2. He tried to donate to DeBlasio, but it was returned. Local council member/Vito Lopez protege Steve Levin and Queens BP candidates Peter Vallone and Melinda Katz apparently have no qualms about keeping his money, however.

Ciafone currently has ads on residential buildings in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area.

They appear on 202 Franklin Street, 119 Freeman Street, and 199 Green Street, among others.

No permits are on file, so far as I can tell, that allow commercial signs on these buildings.

It's all about who you know, and who you give money to.

Quinn's asskissing presser features Queens councilmen

From the Politicker:

It was mostly smiles for Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn under the burning sun outside of City Hall this afternoon.

She accepted new endorsements from two council members from Brooklyn, Stephen Levin and Michael Nelson, as well as two from Queens, Mark Weprin and James Gennaro--all of whom spoke to her established record, which they contended distinguishes her from the other candidates running for office.

"Let me get right to it," Mr. Gennaro said. “Whatever you care about in New York City, whatever issue you care about in New York City, Chris Quinn has a record of accomplishment--a record of solid accomplishment in whatever issue you care about. Not a phrase, not a slogan, not a word picture. An actual record of leadership."

"Madam Speaker, I look forward in seven months to calling you Madam Mayor," Mr. Levin said to a beaming Speaker Quinn who graciously kissed him on the cheek afterwards. And so on for Mr. Weprin and Mr. Nelson.

The endorsements today were largely unsurprising. Mr. Gennaro, for instance, has been functioning as an informal attack dog for the Quinn campaign on a variety of issues. And Ms. Quinn was previously endorsed by the Queens County Democratic organization, and loyal members like Mr. Weprin were likely to follow suit. Nevertheless, it's a component of Ms. Quinn's larger strategy: steadily and slowly growing the list of colleagues backing her bid for Gracie Mansion.

Ms. Quinn, however, didn't strike exclusively positive notes this afternoon. Asked about former Gov. Eliot Spitzer nearly tearing up during an appearance on Morning Joe this morning (she appeared shortly after), Ms. Quinn said she hadn't seen a clip, but launched into a critique of both Mr. Spitzer and another scandal scarred pol, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, one of her main rivals in the mayor's race.

"I, as much as anybody else, believe in second chances. None of us are perfect. In every way, but particularly in elected life, you need to earn a second chance. So the question is what have Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer done to earn a second chance?" she said, echoing comments she made yesterday. "What have they done with their time since their fall from grace that would earn them this second choice--chance. I would say not very much."

Does anyone remember Miss Quinn calling for Weiner and Spitzer's resignations? I don't. Now they're dirt because one of them is running against her?

Brooklyn Bridge Park condo development questioned

From the Daily News:

Community advocates and local pols are criticizing the Bloomberg administration's plan to find a developer to build a luxury condo tower in a DUMBO flood zone.

Brooklyn Bridge Park officials Monday detailed plans for a proposed 13-story complex with with retail stores on the ground floor and up to 110 parking spaces on a vacant lot on John St. just east of the Manhattan Bridge. The 130-unit building is expected to be designed with state-of-the-art flood protections, including a raised bottom level and an electric system on a top floor, park officials said.

Still, the location and much of the park was buried under four feet of water by Super Storm Sandy, raising concerns about new developments.

“We now know what a big bad storm can do to DUMBO and it ain't pretty,” said City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Greenpoint), who has been a frequent critic of housing in the park. “We need to re-evaluate how we build along the water and this would be a great place to start,” he added.

Rules don't apply to them

From the NY Post:

This city politician has plenty of drive — he just has trouble parking.

Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin, whose coveted official parking placard was pulled by the Bloomberg administration in April after he racked up $630 in unpaid summonses, is in a fine mess again.

Levin, a protégé of embattled Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez, has piled up 10 new tickets totaling $595 in fines and late fees since his placard was briefly taken away, according to the city’s records.

The placard, among the prized perks of city officials, was returned to Levin the same month — after he paid off eight delinquent parking tickets.

“When you settle all of your tickets, they allow you to renew your placard,” he told The Post. The pass entitles drivers to park almost anywhere, except at hydrants and bus stops.

Yet that still wasn’t good enough for Levin.

Of his 10 new tickets — all racked up since his parking placard was renewed — two were for being caught running red-light cameras. The rest were for illegal parking, with four during street-cleaning hours; three meter infractions; and one in a no-standing zone.

Council members don't pay tix on time

From the NY Post:

Don’t pay the fine, and you can’t park on the taxpayers’ dime.

Three members of the City Council found that out the hard way when their official government parking permits weren’t renewed because records showed they had unsettled summonses.

The amounts involved weren’t huge. But in two instances, the tickets were months overdue and in judgment. It didn’t take long for each legislator to pay up when contacted by The Post.

Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn) ponied up $630 to wipe out eight summonses accumulated between Jan. 11 and April 2 for four different infractions: missing or expired inspection sticker; missing equipment; failure to display muni meter receipts and parking in a no-standing zone.

Debi Rose (D-Staten Island) was snared by a red-light camera Aug. 10, 2011.

An aide said she didn’t pay the $75 fine immediately because she was fighting the ticket. But records show the summons was in judgment, meaning she lost her case and owed the money. The same was true for Ruben Wills (D-Queens), who didn’t resolve a double-parking ticket from Nov. 8, 2011, until last week.

Money that Quinn didn't cut...

From the NY Post:

Let’s be clear: Nobody should be getting member-item money.

These are lump-sum appropriations that corrupt the political process by giving incumbents cash to curry unfair favor with constituents; simultaneously, these cash goodies give bullying council bosses undue leverage over their underlings.

And Vallone — who apparently irritated Quinn and had his cash yanked as an example — proves the point.

Yet Quinn is cool with Lopez, who attracts the FBI like overripe pork attracts flies. Quinn channeled $4.4 million this year to his Brooklyn power base — the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council — through Brooklyn council members Domenic Recchia, Erik Dilan, Stephen Levin and Elizabeth Crowley.

While some $3.75 million is earmarked for alleged “capital construction,” the rest neatly covers salary and benefits for:

* Chris Fisher, Ridgewood executive director/Lopez campaign treasurer ($607,000).

* Angela Battaglia, Ridgewood’s housing director/Lopez girlfriend ($282,940).

(Quinn also managed to find $2 million for the United Federation of Teachers’ academically shaky charter school — but that’s a tale for another day.)

Council members bribe Lopez with pork

From the Daily News:

The taint of a federal investigation hasn't stopped City Council members from lavishing pork on the social-services empire founded by Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez.

The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which was slapped with corruption probe subpoenas last fall, will be the second largest recipient of Council earmarks next year.

Documents released yesterday show Lopez's group is poised to pick up $607,000 from the Council's Brooklyn delegation - andmembers Erik Martin Dilan, Domenic Recchia, Elizabeth Crowley and Stephen Levin.

Ridgewood Bushwick is the subject of ongoing criminal probes by the FBI and the city's Department of Investigation. It has millions of dollars in city contracts - but may have difficulty collecting new Council money because of delays in filing needed documents with the state attorney general.

Where are the local electeds on this one?

From the Forum West:

A fight by residents in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to push the MTA out of the community could have a negative outcome for Maspeth.

The Brooklyn Paper reported last week that political rivals Councilman Steve Levin (D- Greenpoint) and Greenpoint district leader Lincoln Restler were both pressuring the MTA to abandon its Access-a-Ride depot at 65 Commercial Street. In 2005, the city agreed to build parkland at the site, but in the following six years, the MTA has yet to obtain a new property to store Access-a-Ride vehicles.

Now, the MTA is considering a site in Maspeth to relocate the Acess-a-Ride depot. According to MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan, the proposed site is on the east side of 49th Street, between 56th Road and Galasso Place.

“We’re working with the Mayor’s Office, which has agreed to make the site ready for use as a depot,” Donovan said in an e-mail.

For a community that already feels overburdened by commercial traffic, the proposed site is worrisome.

Maspeth, like Greenpoint, has been fighting for more public parkland. Residents have fought an ongoing battle to convert the former St. Saviour’s property into a park. The community also deals with constant traffic congestion.

The Cross Harbor Freight Program could create more truck traffic in that area if the proposal goes through, and the expansion of Waste Management’s Review Avenue site will bring more garbage trucks through the neighborhood. The MTA also already has an Access-a-Ride depot on Maurice Avenue.

“As far as I’m concerned, if Brooklyn wants to create a park at Access-a-Ride’s present location, then an alternate site should be found in Brooklyn,” Daraio said.

Agreed. Brooklyn dumping on Queens. You gotta love it.

Unfortunately, the local electeds were not quoted in this article. Is anyone surprised? Well, this will be a very expensive relocation considering that the site requires remediation before anything can be put there. That's why it's been vacant for years.

Levin loves Lopez

From the NY Post:

Before being elected to the council in 2009, [Steve] Levin, 30, was chief of staff to Assemblyman Lopez, and his critics -- pointing to this and other episodes -- say the freshman lawmaker is still Lopez's lap dog.

Levin, a Brooklyn Democrat, generously allocates taxpayer money to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a nonprofit organization where Levin once worked which is at the core of Lopez's Bushwick-based political machine.

The group, located outside Levin's waterfront district, gets a larger share of his discretionary funds than any group within his district, which extends from Greenpoint to Brooklyn Heights and includes part of Park Slope.

Ridgewood Bushwick is under investigation for the unusually high salaries it pays to Lopez's girlfriend and campaign treasurer -- the group's two top officials.

Of the $64,000 Levin personally earmarked for the group in the June budget, $12,000 is reserved for its annual picnic in Long Island, which critics say has turned into a partisan event that Lopez controls.

Levin also co-sponsored council measures to send an extra $275,000 to Ridgewood Bushwick, an earmark other council members signed onto.

Levin also singlehandedly allocated $800,000 in capital funds this year toward building a pro posed Ridgewood Bushwick low- income housing development on Willoughby Avenue -- about a dozen blocks outside his district, The Post has learned.