Dumb DOT decision destroying small businesses

From Eyewitness News:

A group of small businesses in Queens are furious that a construction project outside their doors is delayed, costing them customers.

Cars seem to sit forever idling away the time, waiting for the traffic agents to finally wave them through.

The construction started more than a year ago, and a few months ago work just stopped. Nobody knows when it might start up again.

The Department of Transportation issued a statement about the construction project:

"As you know, safety is our number one priority. Mugrose was determined to be the lowest responsible bidder per NYC PPB rules, and their experience and qualifications were deemed satisfactory per NYC PPB rules. Mugrose also explained their bid numbers to DOTs satisfaction; therefore they were awarded the bid. The contractor was in default of the terms of performance in the contract, and the contractor's bonding agency is in the process of rebidding the project to a contractor who will complete remaining work. Discussions continue with all involved parties and a new schedule will be submitted after the new firm is under contract."


From PIX11:

“The contractor was suspect because of not having done contracts like this, not having the staff to do this, we felt,” Queens City Councilman Robert Holden said. “When you have a low bidder that’s $3 million less on a $20 million job, that has to send up a red flag.”

Tony Nunziato, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, said the DOT "should have done more research on the contractor."

Mugrose Construction, based in West Caldwell, New Jersey, is listed on some websites as primarily a home builder with a staff of five employees.

Two New Jersey bridge projects it’s worked on were both late in being finished.

In the meantime, conditions are deteriorating on the 100-year-old bridge above the Long Island Railroad tracks.

Concrete is buckling and crumbling, and metal plates cover the many holes in the pavement. The replacement of the bridge deck is an emergency, according to the DOT.

Local officials say they’ve heard that for years.

“It is a nightmare and it's ongoing,” Holden said. “I’m calling for an investigation.”

We’ll keep you posted.

2,000 protesters shut Maspeth streets down

Photo by Robert Holden

I was wondering when a community in Queens was going to tell de Blasio to shove it and from the photos and videos coming in, it appears that day was yesterday. Roughly 2000 people poured into the streets of Maspeth to protest BDB's planned dumping of a homeless shelter for "high risk" adult couples on the town.

The protesters assembled at the Holiday Inn Express near Maurice Avenue and marched through the streets of Maspeth, led by civic leaders and State Senator Tony Avella. Several candidates for election, including Democratic Assembly candidate Brian Barnwell, Republican Assembly candidate Tony Nunziato and State Senate candidate Michael Conigliaro participated. In fact, the Queens County GOP sent several reps to march with their banner, but not one cog of the Democratic Queens Machine bothered to show up.

The marchers left the hotel area and entered the heart of Maspeth, heading east on Grand Avenue and shutting it down. After marching through almost the entire length of town, they doubled back and marched up 69th Street, stopping to jeer Marge Markey at both her office and her home. They then walked down to Maurice Park and over the pedestrian bridge back to the hotel.

Yesterday was quite hot but thanks to water donated by Rosa's Pizza and O'Neill's Restaurant, nearly everyone who participated made the full 5 mile round trip.

Although the tweeders, through their lackeys in the media, like to portray Maspeth residents (or anyone opposed to a homeless shelter) as "racist", there were a number of non-white people either marching or cheering the protesters on from their homes. People of all races don't want their quality of life destroyed, their families living in fear, or their property investments threatened by the presence of a facility that even the city admits will cause major problems in the community. And that's what Lincoln Restler, Bill de Blasio and the rest of the tweeders need to understand before they get swept out of office by an electoral tsunami.

However, with responses like THIS, it doesn't appear that Liz Crowley is getting the message:

A light rain was falling as Community Board member Jerry Drake addressed about 200 protesters on Thursday night, August 25th in front of the Holiday Inn Express near Maurice Avenue and the L.I.E in Maspeth. Drake was the last speaker of the night and reported on a meeting he had earlier that day with Council Member Elizabeth Crowley in her Glendale office.

Drake told the crowd that he had asked Crowley if she would attend the giant protest march scheduled for Saturday, August 27th through the Maspeth community to protest the de Blasio Administration's decision to convert Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter for 220 adults. Crowley told Drake that she would not attend the march. The news however did not surprise the crowd since Crowley had not attended any of the 9 daily protests that regularly draw between 200-300 protesters. A frustrated Jerry Drake asked Crowley why she decided not attend the protests or the scheduled march to support her Maspeth constituents in a show of unity against Mayor de Blasio. "I didn't like the way I was treated at the Martin Luther School homeless meeting (on Aug. 3rd)," said Crowley. Drake reported that he asked Crowley what he should report back to the protesters. "Tell them whatever you want," she replied.

Crowley then told Drake that the Maspeth shelter was going to happen because the Mayor wants to place homeless shelters in Queens and particularly in the Community Board 5 area that has no shelters. When Drake reminded Crowley that she is up for reelection next year she responded, "I'll cross that bridge when the time comes." Crowley's response angered the protesters with many chanting ‒ "Vote her out!"

Maspeth homeless shelter meeting was quite a spectacle

I will try to summarize the most relevant points about the Maspeth homeless shelter meeting below.


This video shows the first 30 minutes or so of the meeting, featuring a screeching Liz Crowley and Yabba Dabba Joe Addabbo. Some of the first public speakers are also included.

(Incidentally, I believe this is the video that Gothamist reporter Emma Whitford used to write her false headline which Brooklyn BP Eric Adams then got his knickers in a twist over. Why actually attend a meeting and gather your own facts when you can just crib off someone else's work and call yourself a reporter on your résumé?)


I don't know if anyone has an estimate of how many people showed up Thursday, but suffice it to say that hundreds were inside the auditorium and hundreds more were turned away.


Perhaps the best comment of the night came from Maspeth activist and Republican Assembly candidate Tony Nunziato, who pointed out that people are upset because the city wants to dump something in Maspeth that will require security and additional police manpower in order to protect the community from it. (Incumbent State Assemblywoman Marge Markey did not attend the meeting.)

Those who couldn't get in marched down to the hotel to protest. When the meeting concluded, many others joined them. One person received a summons for disorderly conduct.

Lincoln Restler attended but did not speak. He spent the whole night with his nose in his cell phone. Acacia Network did not send a representative to answer questions for some reason.

There was no mention of the "alternate" plan proposed earlier.

Today it was revealed that the Acacia Network has been looking to hire social workers for the Holiday Inn shelter since July, well before the secret meeting at the Maspeth Library.

GOP war gets down and dirty

2 GOP candidates for State Committee decided to challenge Phil Ragusa and the status quo, and this was the result:



Mr. Bacarella was on the board of Unisphere, Inc when Estelle Cooper was stealing from it?

Well, wasn't Phil Ragusa the treasurer of said organization?



There actually is no proof that any of the allegations of identity theft or forgery are true.

Those attacked struck back...





Well, you can't argue with that...

Skunked in Midville

From the Queens Courier:

Residents who live along the train tracks in Middle Village have long complained of noise and odors emanating from the rails, though now locals say they’ve been infested with a new disturbance.

Over the past year, those who reside near the railroad tracks say they have experienced an increase in wildlife roaming city streets.

“Come 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning, you see what’s running around the neighborhood,” said Maspeth resident Tony Nunziato of the mostly nocturnal animals. “You’ll have every kind of animal down there. A lot of possum, skunks, rodents; it’s just a breeding ground.”

The influx of vermin have congregated near the tracks because of a lack of oversight by CSX, the company that runs the rails, residents said, leading to overgrown brush and litter from rail cars carrying construction debris, which they say is not securely sealed.

As of press time, CSX did not respond for comment.

Queens Machine still stinks

From the Times Newsweekly:

Ranking members of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) publicly slammed "clubhouse" politicians who allegedly put their own self-interests before the people they represent during the civic group's meeting last Thursday night, Mar. 8, at Our Lady of Hope School in Middle Village.

Robert Holden, JPCA president, specifically railed against Rep. Joseph Crowley, who is also the head of the Queens County Democratic Party, for overseeing a "corrupt system" that has led to the gerrymandering of the borough in order to ensure the re-election of established incumbents with little or no opposition.

Toward the end of the session, things turned testy when a member of the civic group spoke out against the ranking members' opinions about local lawmakers, past and present, in an editorial published in the JPCA's magazine, The Juniper Berry, which criticized Crowley. Holden and others defended its position, saying that the organization maintains its right to criticize anyone it believes is misrepresenting or harming the neighborhood.

Holden criticized the proposed realignment of Assembly and State Senate districts as proposed earlier this year by the Legislative Task Force on Redistricting and Reapportionment (LATFOR), claiming that the lines give an unfair advantage to incumbents and political parties.

"We've had that in Queens County for far too long," he said, charging that Representative Crowley and his cousin, City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, "are an example of this clubhouse atmosphere in Queens."

Holden claimed that Representative Crowley was "handed the Congressional seat" from the late-Rep. Thomas Manton, who declined to seek re-election in 1998. The civic president claimed that after Manton — the former head of the Queens County Democratic Party — secured the petitions to get on the ballot, he announced his retirement, which allowed him to pick Crowley to take his place on the ballot.

Since winning the Congressional seat in 1998, Holden stated that Representative Crowley has run unopposed in many elections since. He went further to claim that the legislator keeps his primary residence in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. rather than in his own Congressional district.

"This is the kind of corrupt system that we have," Holden told residents.

COUNCIL MEMBER ELIZABETH CROWLEY DASHES HOPES FOR ST. SAVIOUR’S PARK SPACE

Impetuous decision has dire consequences

Last week, park and community advocates including the Juniper Park Civic Association, Newtown Historical Society and NYC Park Advocates were shocked to learn that the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Council Member Elizabeth Crowley have dropped their bid to acquire the 1.5-acre former site of St. Saviour’s Church in Maspeth, Queens. The groups had been working for 5 years to have this site converted into parkland before the decision to quit was made by city officials without any community notification or input.

“I was dumbfounded when I received a call from a Daily News reporter on Thursday, November 10th, asking me for my reaction to the Parks Dept’s decision to nix the acquisition of the St. Saviour’s site,” said Christina Wilkinson, President of Newtown Historical Society. “It was news to me and every other volunteer involved in this project. As late as November 1st, Parks had indicated that they were ready to proceed with ULURP if and when the elected officials were to raise the money required for the process and we had been working up until this point to find this money.”

Crowley had called Wilkinson personally on Tuesday, November 8th and told her of the opportunity to acquire a 14,875 sq ft property at the corner of 61st Street and Maspeth Avenue from Martin Luther School, which currently uses the site as an accessory parking lot. Crowley said she needed to use the money she had already raised for St. Saviour’s or she might lose it during the City’s upcoming budget modification process. It should be noted that the loss of elected officials’ allocated capital funding happens frequently. It may delay projects, but it rarely kills them. It is incumbent upon elected officials to replace lost monies during subsequent budgets and to seek out and lobby for Mayoral, Speaker and Queens Delegation funding. (During her time in the City Council, Elizabeth Crowley has not secured a dime of funding from any of these sources and this year did not put any money toward the St. Saviour’s acquisition.)

Crowley said that Parks was on board with acquiring the Martin Luther site and had asked DCAS to appraise the property so that negotiations with the school could commence.

“Crowley assured me that it was her intention to use some of her funding toward the Martin Luther site, and then continue to seek other green space in Maspeth, including the St. Saviour’s site,” Wilkinson said. “I took her at her word. She asked me to gather community feedback on her proposal. I was in the process of doing so when I found out that she had gone to the Daily News with her idea and was pitching the Martin Luther site as a “replacement” for the St. Saviour’s site. I can’t believe they torpedoed this project which has borough-wide and city hall support, in return for a much smaller site that is nothing but a maybe at this point and is not in jeopardy of being sold or developed as the St. Saviour’s site is.”

The irresponsible decision by Council Member Crowley and the Parks Dept to prematurely announce the non-guaranteed acquisition of the 14,785 sq ft Martin Luther site as a “replacement” for the 62,500 sq ft. St. Saviour's project means that the original project is most likely ineligible for $1.2M from the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Mitigation Funding that it was being considered for. St. Saviour's had been listed as a priority 2 finalist, which meant it could have been eligible for funding had any of the four priority 1 projects been found to be unfeasible. As was mentioned in the DEC letter to the City Parks Foundation dated 10/25/11, the determination of the feasibility is to be made within 60 days, or by December 25th.

In addition, as of November 11th, State Senator Joseph Addabbo was waiting for a return call from DEC regarding $300,000 of unallocated priority 1 settlement money and if some of it could be used to cover the St. Saviour’s ULURP fees now. Addabbo also was in the process of finding out whether part of a grant from his predecessor, former State Senator Serf Maltese, could have covered the ULURP costs. Assembly Member Cathy Nolan was quoted in a story by the Times Ledger dated 11/12, “I will be working with other elected officials to advocate again for St. Saviour’s. The destruction of the church and yard has been a tragedy that needs to be addressed.” Apparently, Crowley never informed the other elected officials representing the area about her plan to pull the rug out from under St. Saviour’s in order to claim a win at the Martin Luther site.

This unforeseen development also means that the tentative offer secured by Maspeth activist Tony Nunziato from NYSDOT to fund the construction of the park at St. Saviour’s as part of the Kosciuszko bridge replacement project is also in jeopardy. Elizabeth Crowley could not wait to run to the media and announce her "Maspeth park victory" – in effect, disqualifying the community from receiving funding for the only project it had on the DEC and NYSDOT lists and slapping her own colleagues in the face in the process.

Juniper Park Civic Association President Robert Holden said, “Unfortunately it appears that Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has given up the fight to save one of the most historic sites in the City of New York and Maspeth’s most important landmark. I’m not surprised. After failing to convince city officials of its importance, Crowley has also given up the fight to reassemble St. Saviour’s church, one of the last remaining Carpenter Gothic-style buildings designed by world famous architect, Richard Upjohn in 1847. Saving the church and land were two of Crowley’s campaign promises. While the church still sits in trailers in West Maspeth, the St. Saviour’s historic land now contains warehouses as symbolic and grotesque monuments to the failure of the City of New York and our elected officials to recognize the importance of saving the last remaining landmarks of Maspeth’s history for future generations to enjoy.”

In spite of this avoidable setback, Juniper Park Civic Association, Newtown Historical Society and NYC Park Advocates will not be giving up on their proposal to convert the St. Saviour’s site into a park and we call on the Bloomberg administration and local elected officials to work together toward this goal and make it happen. Maspeth is sorely underserved by parkland and needs and deserves to have the historic St. Saviour’s site, the last sizable piece of open space left in the area, preserved as a park.

(Above text from press release)

From A Walk in the Park:

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Joshua Laird last week reiterated to a Walk In The Park that the Parks Department had not ruled out using eminent domain to acquire the St. Saviour's site.

People are also wondering that since the acquisition of the St. Saviour's site is much further along, why going after the Martin Luther site is not being done in tandem with the St. Saviour's site.

Multiple people who have been involved with the process for many years from the community say this decision was made without any community consultation or participation.

The community has also asked that since allocation funds have been earmarked for St. Saviour's, what guarantee is there that these funds will be available for the Martin Luther site?

How did DSNY not notice this?

Remember those 2 WPIX news stories about the junked cars on Flushing Avenue? I found out this is what preceded them...

On Mar 28, 2011, at 12:33 PM, Dom Dale wrote:

Mr. Holden;

I received the following email from DSNY:

"On Friday March 25th Supv Ohanlon of Sanitation District Queens West 5 visited American Auto and found area clean, with no cars illegally parked. He also spoke to owner and instructed him to keep area clean. Local District Supervisions will monitor the location."

Should you need anything further do not hestitate to contact me.

Dom

March 31, 2011
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
64-77 Dry Harbor Road
Middle Village, NY 11379
Att: Dominic Dale

Dear Mr. Dale,

I visited Flushing Avenue (near 59th St) with Tony Nunziato yesterday (March 30th, about 1pm) and found quite the opposite of what DSNY reported (below). Since I don't expect you to take my word on the mess at Flushing Avenue nor do I expect you to take the word of the many residents who have been complaining about the situation for years, I'm once again submitting photographic evidence of the illegal conditions there.

The streets are filled with wrecked autos, many without license plates. American Collision repair vehicles are parked on the sidewalk on a daily basis and their tow trucks are actually blocking a street, most of the time during overnight hours.

American Collision is also still parking their trucks and wrecks on the island triangle there.

Councilwoman Crowley's office and the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit promised back in 2009 to address the situation. The residents are still waiting.

Robert Holden
President
Juniper Park Civic Association, Inc.
PO Box 790275
Middle Village, NY 11379
718-651-5865
www.junipercivic.com

Sanitation cleans up cars after news report

From WPIX:

In Maspeth, city streets have been converted into a dumping ground of crashed cars.

On 59th street and Flushing Avenue, Tony Nunziato, a self-described Maspeth activist, says he’s fed up with an auto-body shop leaving busted up cars on the street.

Worse than just being an eyesore, Nunziato says that the broken-down vehicles are taking up parking spaces that the neighborhood could otherwise use.

"It’s the Wild West out here for garbage and wrecked cars. Why isn't the city doing something about this?" complained Nunziato who has called 311 for months.

Repeated attempts by PIX11 News, to speak with the owners of American Collision were denied.

A Department of Sanitation spokesperson confirms he spoke with the owner of American Collision and will be monitoring the situation closely.

Como comeback?

From City Hall:

Anthony Como is still waiting to hear on the job he says was promised to him to be a commissioner for the New York City Housing Authority. But if that does not work, State Sen. Joe Addabbo could have something to worry about.

“I think my wife would kill me [if I passed on the NYCHA job]” Como said. “I’m upset. I’m hoping it comes through sooner rather than later. As long as I can stay in government, that’s what I’m looking for. Whether it’s the city level somewhere in the administration, or on the state level in the State Senate, I don’t know.”

Como said he was offered the $172,311-a-year commissionership last spring by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign around the same time Bloomberg sought support for his mayoral campaign from a recalcitrant Queens Republican Party.

Como said the last time he was in contact with the Bloomberg administration about the NYCHA job was in late November or early December, and was told the Department of Investigation inquiry was still ongoing into several zoning violations Como committed while renovating his Middle Village home in 2007.

One local GOP operative said that Como appeared unlikely to get the position at this point. The operative said tensions between the Bloomberg campaign and the Queens Republican Party, which on several occasions bashed the mayor after giving Bloomberg their Wilson-Pakula endorsement, were a factor in Como likely not getting the position.

Other possible candidates include Gabriel Tapalaga, president of the Middle Village Republican Club and 2008 Assembly candidate Anthony Nunziato, a district leader who is part of the Haggerty faction. [Tom] Ognibene said he is not interested in running.

The joke's on the GOP, part 2

From Urban Elephants:

The facts are in! "Independent" NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is directly funding the challenge of the Queens County Republican Party.

It seems his goal is retaliation for Chairman Phil Ragusa's principled stance against the tax-and-spend liberal earlier in the year, when Mr. Ragusa refused to just rubber-stamp Bloomberg getting the Republican line in November. Although the Queens County Organization finally endorsed the Mayor, it seems that Bloomberg, who has been known to hold personal grudges, wants payback for making him "beg" to be unanimously endorsed by all the five County Republican organizations.

The proof of the Mayor's involvement comes from a close evaluation of the nominating petitions filed on behalf of the challengers to the Queens GOP. I will describe just two sets of petitions, volumes QN0900680 and QN0900681, that were filed on behalf of a number of candidates - all of whom are working in opposition to the existing Queens County Republican organization...

QN0900680 is a volume of petitions for Bart Bruno for City Council in the 29th City Council district - one of the positions I am personally running for as the endorsed Republican candidate, at least if I don't get knocked off the ballot by the Haggerty's at tomorrow's Board of Elections hearing. This volume contains petition signatures ONLY for Mr. Bruno to run for City Council as a Republican, yet they were ALL witnessed by paid Bloomberg people.

Why would the billionaire Mayor be paying to get Mr. Bruno on the Ballot? I don't remember Mr. Bloomberg endorsing Mr. Bruno, like he did Tom Ognibene or Eric Ulrich.

QN0900681 is a volume of slate petitions for Bart Bruno for City Council with State Committee candidates, Nunziatto and Mugno, who are both running AGAINST the Queens County GOP's endorsed candidates for the State Committee Positions in the 30th A.D. Again, the uniformity of the names on these petitions is clear - the witnesses are all either part of the Mayor's Queens crew of petitioners or canvassers. Did the Mayor formally endorse any of these candidates? How can he say he's not "supporting" their candidacies against the Queens GOP establishment?

The Mayor's campaign operatives have denied that Bloomberg is DIRECTLY challenging the Queens County organization, but how can those statements hold up when it was his PAID petitioners and canvassers who got all these people on the ballot to RUN AGAINST the Queens GOP endorsed candidates? These facts make Bloomberg's goal clear: the liberal wants to take over the Queens GOP for his own purposes.

$2M allocated to reconstruct St. Saviour's

$2M in combined capital funding from Borough President Helen Marshall and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley will pay for 100% of phase 1 of the reconstruction of St. Saviour's at the All Faiths Cemetery site in Middle Village.

From the Times Ledger.

When the reconstruction is finished, the historic structure will be called the Richard Upjohn Educational Center and Amphitheatre, after the famed architect who designed the church in 1847.

“This is a huge victory for the people of Queens, especially for those living in Maspeth and Middle Village,” said Crowley.

I guess it's all about the architect now and no longer about our history. That's a shame. How exactly is this a "huge victory" for the people of Maspeth? Are we overstating things just a bit, Liz?

Meanwhile, the original 1.5 acre site had previously been for sale at prices up to $11M, but is now being offered for $8.5M. The lie that you can build up to 85,000 square feet of residential is still being advertised. (The developer requires a zoning change in order to do that, as previously explained.) It's also been advertised elsewhere as "perfect for a hotel or shopping mall" which is quite laughable in that location and in this market. The site is currently being used as a parking lot for dumpsters.

Here are Juniper Civic members talking about the value of the land back in 2007:





Now, in the months leading up to the election, is the perfect time to call attention to the neglect of Queens history perpetrated by the Bloomberg administration. Glad everyone is back on board. The developer applied to the DOB for an excavation permit (to level the archaeologically sensitive land) but was denied yesterday.

So, when's the next rally to turn this site into a park?