South Ozone Park sewage claims clinic hearing tommorow

Cook coasts...for now

From the NY Post:

She’s the Teflon lawmaker.

Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, a Queens Democrat, skirts on the edge of scandal while her fellow pols have been hauled off to prison.

Her colleague Bill Scarborough is expected to plead guilty this week and resign his seat in a “per diem” travel expense scam. He was accused of submitting more than $40,000 in phony expenses and said last week he had “severe financial problems.”

Cook also racked up thousands in per-diem expenses, including one 12-day stretch in 2010 when she said she was in Albany but didn’t attend any legislative sessions, The Post reported.

Cook, 77, maintains that all of her expenses were legitimate.

“A lot of things do swirl around me, but I’m one of those people — I’ve worked all my life. I haven’t had to ask anybody for any money and I haven’t had to steal,” Cook told The Post last week.

Which of Shirley's pals will be next?

From the NY Post:

Disgraced former state Sen. Shirley Huntley is days away from freedom, but the fate of nine people she caught on a federal wire still hangs in the balance.

Huntley is due to be released from a federal halfway house on May 31 after completing 10 months of her one-year sentence in a corruption case. She pleaded guilty last year to stealing $87,700 in taxpayer money from her nonprofit — cash she spent on shopping sprees with Assemblywoman Vivian Cook.

To save herself, Huntley agreed to secretly record fellow politicians and two political operatives at her Queens home, where she was recuperating from a broken ankle.

In June, July and August 2012, Huntley hosted fellow lawmakers in her den, catching them on recording devices hidden in a water bottle, a key chain and a cigarette case.

It was unclear why the feds focused on the nine guests, but at least four had links to the tainted bid by the Aqueduct Entertainment Group to build a racino at the Queens racetrack. The feds reportedly directed Huntley to ask them about Aqueduct.

With the arrest last week of one of the group, Rubin Wills, the “Huntley Nine” are asking: Who’s next?

Latest Jamaica garbage site wrapped in mystery

Property: 107-58 164th Street, Owner: James Fobbs

First photo shows the horrendous condition of garbage dumping at the property at 107-58 164th Street in March of this year and of course this situation had been like this for a very long time with no leaders doing anything about it (this is in Assemblymember Vivian Cook and Councilman Leroy Comrie's district). After the NY1 garbage series, it was cleaned-up very fast. Here it is a little over a month and the 2nd photo shows the dumping is starting again.

Also can anyone explain why the NYC Commissioner of Social Services is the mortgagee/lender of this property and if this property is in foreclosure, is he not responsible? The whole thinks smells like rotten fish.

As usual, poor leadership in Jamaica and no type of action plan to solve this ongoing garbage problem just continues to drag Jamaica further down and have the residents who care living in filth and affecting the quality of life of a community.

Might be time for a new Jamaica Garbage Music Video with new spots and photos of our leaders.

At the rate this is going I will not have to use terms like "low class ghetto" or "low class third world country", because if our leaders do not step up to the plate and act now, Jamaica will be just another shit hole third world ghetto! Those who are offended by this, get over it. GET OFFENDED BY THE CONDITIONS OF OUR COMMUNITY AND THE LACK OF TOP LEADERSHIP.

"You reap what you sow."

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432

What's Cooking?

From the NY Post:

New York state Assemblywoman Vivian Cook allegedly funneled thousands of dollars in public money to a corrupt fellow legislator — and was then rewarded with lavish shopping trips underwritten by taxpayer funds, The Post has learned.

Cook — a 75-year-old Queens Democrat first elected to the Assembly more than two decades ago — helped procure the government money for an organization run by former state Sen. Shirley Huntley, according to several sources.

Huntley, a fellow Queens Democrat, pleaded guilty earlier this week to charges linked to her embezzlement of nearly $90,000 in public money from that organization, known as the Parents Information Network (PIN).

When Huntley appeared in court, she spoke about how her murky arrangement with Cook guaranteed that a pipeline of tax dollars flowed to the nonprofit education charity, with the money later siphoned off to pay personal expenses.

“I have an agreement with a member of the New York state Assembly,” Huntley told a judge.

“This person ensured that state funds would be directed to PIN for what is known as ‘member items,’ ” Huntley explained. “Once PIN received the state funds, I alerted this person, and together we used PIN’s funds for personal shopping.”

Although her name was not mentioned in court, Cook has been identified as the state Assembly member who earmarked the tax dollars for Huntley’s private organization, according to several sources.

And it was Cook who joined Huntley on many of these private shopping excursions, which were financed with the embezzled government funds, according to several sources.

Pols collect extra money for not showing up

From the NY Post:

Claiming she spent a marathon 12 consecutive days in Albany on “legislative business,” Queens Assemblywoman Vivian Cook pocketed $171 for each reported overnight stay — a total $2,197 in taxpayer money from March 21 to April 1, 2010.

The Legislature was in session just three of those days — and Cook was absent for all three, records show.

“Me? You’re kidding! No! I didn’t do that,” she told The Post.

“I don’t lie, I don’t cheat, and I don’t steal,” said Cook, whose nonprofit Rockaway Boulevard Local Development Corp. prompted an investigation for allegedly misusing taxpayer funds.

In 2010 and 2011, Cook collected a total $17,035 in daily and overnight stipends, plus other travel expenses — on top of her $79,500-a-year state salary. During the 2010 legislative session, she missed 51 meetings of the Assembly, 63 percent of the sessions.

“I was sick for a very long time,” she said of her absences, but could not recall the dates.

She’s one of scores of legislators who claim more than $10,000 a year in “per diems” — a daily payment lawmakers can collect if they sleep over in Albany or travel more than 50 miles from home on legislative business.

The sleepovers add up. The Assembly and the Senate have socked taxpayers with more than $32 million in travel-related expenses in the past decade.

In one case, Queens Assemblyman Bill Scarborough submitted vouchers claiming $825 for spending five nights in a row in Albany: Sunday, March 13 to Thursday, March 17, 2011.

That Thursday, he attended a town meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. at York College in Jamaica, Queens, according to news accounts. Jamaica is three hours from Albany by car.

“I may very well have gone to that meeting, turned around and gone back to Albany that night,” Scarborough said. “If we arrive in Albany before midnight, we’re entitled to put in for the night.”

Scarborough, chairman of the Assembly’s Small Business Committee, said he attended meetings before going home again on Friday.

He was not required to submit any hotel receipts, and told The Post it was too long ago to look for one.

“I don’t think I have to give you proof,” he said.

In 2010 and 2011, Scarborough racked up $59,085 in per diem payments, plus other travel expenses.

More trash in Jamaica

Dear Councilman Leroy Comrie, Councilman James Gennaro, Councilman Ruben Wills, Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, Senator Malcolm Smith, Assemblymember Rory Lancman, Assemblymember Vivian Cook, Iggy Terranova, Community Board #12 Members and Other Concerned Individuals:

Finally after so long of complaining about the empty lot at the NW corner of 170th St & 90th Avenue (and surrounding sidewalks), the owner came out and cleaned everything, the surrounding sidewalks and the lot itself. But how long is this going to stay this way and what are you going to do about this irresponsible and negligent owner of this property? So far, he has come out twice, June of 2011 and June of 2012. What are you going to do to see that the owner of this property (who does not even live in Jamaica) comes out on a regular basis to clean this area? I know all about the red tape, bureaucratic BS involved, but this type of negligent owner needs to be held accountable and if that means changing the system, then change it - you are the leaders in the community, so do something about this, because this is a major problem in Jamaica.

For example, attached are photos of another property, an abandoned house surrounded by a not too steady wooden fence, which has a ton of garbage all over the surrounding sidewalk. The property is located at the 170-05 Cedarcroft Rd (corner of Cedarcroft Rd & Homelawn St). I have brought this to the attention of DOS. This property has been like this for over a year if not more. Not only is it an eyesore, but the building itself does not look too safe, not to mention that part of the fence can be opened and anyone can go inside the lot, which I looked and can tell people have done that. This property is in a very visible area and residential/business area. Again another irresponsible and negligent property owner, one of hundreds who are destroying Jamaica by tearing down nice 1 family homes and leaving the property abandoned to look like an eyesore or building a cheap, 3-4 story eyesore of an apartment building that destroys the quality of the neighborhood and attracts questionable individuals to these type of properties who in turn bring Jamaica down several notches.

The abandoned playground (not city owned, but privately property) at 109th Avenue and 171st St is a major eyesore, which has garbage in the inside and all on the outside of the property. Why is this allowed to be like this for so many years in a residential area? Why is the empty lot at Merrick Blvd and Foch Blvd right across from beautiful Roy Wilkins Park allowed to be a dumping ground for all kinds of garbage for so many years? Why is the 170th Street LIRR Tunnel continually allowed to be a notorious dumping ground? Can any of you answer this? Do any of you want to actually address these problems, find solutions and solve this? This is totally unacceptable for these situations to be allowed to stay this way for such a long period of time. Again I say that this would not be allowed to happen in Long Island City (and before it was developed), Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Astoria and Rego Park. So why Jamaica? It seems to be a combination of the kinds of people who live here, the absentee property owners and a true lack of leadership concerning this issue. It is like Jamaica is the Wild Wild West where people and property owners can pretty much do whatever they want without little retribution.

I do know that many of you are attempting to do something about this garbage/litter/dumping problem but you really need to come down with the hammer of Thor on this issue. You will never attract the kinds of businesses and people of quality with the current situation here in Jamaica. Right now Jamaica just seems to be attracting more and more of lesser quality people and businesses that do very little for Jamaica except to make it a place where you do not want to live and that is a shame considering the rich history of Jamaica and the possibilities that Jamaica has.

Sincerely,

Joe Moretti

Tweeding 101: Funding trips to Atlantic City!

From the Times Ledger:

The first event for the week will be a Sept. 10 health fair at York College hosted by the nonprofit community activist group Greater Queens Chapter of the Links. Seniors who attend the free fair can take part in blood, HIV, prostate, cholesterol and other screenings, according to the Links.

That same day City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) and state Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (D-Jamaica) will be having their annual Banner Day and Gospel Fest at Baisley Pond Park.

“Every day should be senior day,” Cook said.

On Sept. 12, Smith and Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) will be having two separate luncheons for senior citizens. On Sept. 14, Meeks will host an afternoon at the movies at the Jamaica Multiplex Theatre on Jamaica Avenue at noon.

The next day, Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) will be holding an informational fair and Assemblywoman Michelle Titus (D-Far Rockaway) will be holding a Zumba Fitness exercise class.

Her fellow Assembly member, William Scarborough (D-St. Albans), will be offering elders a treat with a trip to Atlantic City that day, too.

We paid double for this lot

From the NY Post:

This is what your toll money buys -- a bleak, junk-strewn vacant lot on a rundown section of Rockaway Boulevard in Queens.

The small strip of land is empty save for a decrepit shed, a beat-up picnic table and a dirty paint can. Yet a local community group run by a state lawmaker paid over half a million dollars for it -- with money from the toll-rich Port Authority.

The market value of the blighted space was estimated at only $287,000 when the Rockaway Boulevard Local Development Corp. bought it in 2006. Yet the nonprofit group, founded by Assemblywoman Vivian Cook of Queens, inexplicably paid almost double, $560,500, in an all-cash transaction.

The purchase grew out of deal struck between the Port Authority and Queens community groups 10 years ago, when the PA wanted to start construction of its AirTrain to Kennedy Airport over opposition from residents and neighborhood leaders.

The PA agreed to provide the Rockaway Boulevard Local Development Corp. with a windfall of public money to improve a stretch of Rockaway Boulevard. But the cash went toward buying this vacant land, street sweeping, vague studies and the salaries of workers at the nonprofit run by Cook.

Assembly aide with criminal past busted again

POL AIDE IN $CAM BUST
By LAURA ITALIANO, NY Post

An aide to Queens Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (left)has been indicted on charges he stole $520,000 in a previous job as a temp for the city Health and Hospitals Corp., Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday.

Dennis Jones, 45, of Jamaica, Queens -- who has prior convictions for forgery and drugs from 1996 and 1989 -- pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and was held last night in lieu of $300,000 bail. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Jones is accused of swiping the money between October 2001 and January 2006 while temping for the HHC's Construction and Maintenance Service department. His job was to prepare and organize the payroll paperwork for that department's employees, and officials said that he stole the half-million dollars by changing time sheets and forging payment requests.

Calls seeking comment from Cook's office in Queens -- where Jones has worked as a legislative aide since October 6, 2008, earning just under $1,000 a week -- were not immediately returned.

Gennaro turns MIH protest into political rally

Today's MIH rally drew a couple of hundred people from the community and of course, a bunch of tweeders. James Gennaro was the MC, and Helen Marshall, Eric Gioia, William Thompson, Vivian Cook and Shirley Huntley spoke, along with community leaders. They whipped the crowd into a frenzy by demanding that the government "fund hospitals before ballparks", with everyone apparently forgetting that these were the very morons who pushed for and voted to fund the ballparks before the hospitals.

James Gennaro did a roll call of elected officials who support keeping the hospitals open, and mentioned everyone except Tony Avella, who organized the City Hall rally. Why? Word at the rally was that Gennaro's Chief-of-Staff press secretary (is he still dating one of the Queens CAU directors?) called organizers at St. John's and went apeshit on them for seeking help from Avella and not Gennaro. If the tweeder currently occupying the 24th Council District seat had been in tune with his constituents instead of being preoccupied with making sure that the 11th Senate District was left with no voice, he would have taken it upon himself to reach out and arrange the City Hall rally. After William Thompson left the podium, Gennaro started chanting, "Thank You, Bill!" until the crowd went along.

WTF? Grow up, Sleazeball. This is not the time for petty politics.