Amazon sends glossy junk mail to Queens residents.

Queens Chronicle

“Happy New Year from your future neighbors at Amazon.”

That’s the message in one of two fliers being sent to residents in Queens as the company tries to win over residents in its controversial move to the borough.

“The announcement of our new headquarters in Long Island City was the beginning of what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial partnership between New Yorkers and Amazon,” the mailer says.

The positive aspects of the move are touted in both fliers, including the creation of 25,000 new jobs over 10 years and career training for residents.

The first flier says Amazon will be a “partner” with the community.


The flier also encourages people to call state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) or other state lawmakers to tell them to support the project.

Gianaris has been a critic of Amazon’s move to Queens.

"It's ironic that Amazon wants billions of our taxpayer dollars and is spending so much to convince the people of western Queens that it is entitled to those dollars," Gianaris said in a statement. "People will not be fooled by slick advertising — they will continue to be against the Amazon deal and so will I."

Critics of the company’s move to Long Island City have pointed to the $3 billion in tax breaks as well as concerns about the impact on housing prices and if there is enough transportation to handle all the new commuters.

Call for boycott of New York Sports Club of Forest Hills

"The entire neighborhood is shocked and furious that the neighborhood NYSC location has stooped so low. They are plastering the Forest Hills neighborhood with their “graffiti”.

Here’s a example - they plastered the LIRR westbound Forest Hills station with their advertising stickers. I have seen a bunch of portable signs sticking out from mounds of snow all along Queens Blvd.

Why do they have to resort to such low level advertising? I encourage the Forest Hills Garden Corporation and other local business and community groups to insist they remove these eyesores!

If they do not, then let’s boycott them! Encourage their membership to drop them!" - Anonymous

Cuomo doesn't play by the rules

From Capital New York:

While spending $34.4 million to win re-election this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo apparently ignored a legal requirement to itemize how the advertising firms he retained spent his campaign cash, according to an analysis of his campaign filings and disclosures of payments to television stations submitted to the Federal Communications Commission.

Cuomo's re-election committee and the New York State Democratic Committee paid $26 million over the past two years to AKPD Message and Media, which made a number of large buys of television ads on the campaign’s behalf. The committees also sent almost $10 million combined to three other outside groups: Mission Control Inc., Buying Time LLC, and Red Horse Strategies LLC.

If the recipient of funds from a committee sends a certain amount to a third party—more than $10,000 in a year for parties and statewide candidates and $5,000 for other committees—the committee needs to disclose the ultimate recipient of its money. For example, if a committee pays an advertising firm $20,000 to purchase commercials with one station, it would need to identify on its financial disclosure report that the station was the recipient of the money.

These requirements are detailed in §6200.8 of the executive regulations, are given two pages in the Board of Elections’ Campaign Finance Handbook and were confirmed by a spokesperson for the board.

Trying to make Corona cool

From DNA Info:

The seller of newly built luxury condos on Northern Boulevard is calling the section of Corona "NoCo" to infuse it with some "cool" — but the moniker has confused residents who say they've never heard of the nickname.

The area has become home to a handful of buildings in the past year with pricey apartments and high-end amenities on Northern Boulevard west of 106th Street.

Adrian Lupu, who is selling units at Sage House Condos on 112th and Northern Boulevard, said he came up with the name "NoCo" once construction began last year.

"I started about a year and a half ago to call it that. We sort of picked up on the SoHo trend," he said. "We're trying to bring the cool to the neighborhood."

More Ciafone fun!

14-55 Broadway. He owes quite a bit on this property. There's also a partial vacate order from 2011 when the basement was found to have SROs in it. (Complaint says 2-family house, though, perhaps an error.)

He makes it so easy to find his properties.

The stucco work is just sublime.
and the HPD violations on this are astounding.

Here's Johnny...yet again

Here we are at 23-06 Jackson Avenue in LIC. Oh, look, there's another John Ciafone banner.

I must say, the past violations here are quite eclectic. We've got gas lines about to blow, illegal occupancy in cellar and a weird staircase infraction. The more recent complaints are entertaining as well.
But nothing quite hits you in the face like the signs protruding out of the façade of the building.

Knockdown Center really has no shame

Came upon this eyesore one fine morning in Ridgewood right near 1717 Troutman Street, which, as you may recall, was forcibly vacated in 2007, throwing hundreds of hipsters out on the street. (After some reno, it reopened as legitimate art studios in 2009.)

It's pretty amazing that one would do this to his/her vehicle.

However, only very special people would drive down in their PT Cruiser from the Land of Lincoln every weekend (heh) to sell junk at a defunct factory to a handful of people.

Of course, all "arts centers", like MOMA and the Met, advertise themselves way, so allow me to suggest a new strategy... Since your magic blue bus grew horns, perhaps this vehicle should also sprout one, à la Blues Brothers:



That should round 'em up!

Trylon Theater & Tower Diner block advertised as hi-rise development site

Trylon Portfolio

A special thank you to former City Council Member and current Queens Machine-backed Queens Borough Presidential candidate Melinda Katz for making sure the LPC rejected the landmarking application.

Quote: In an interview with the Daily News, Katz explained that she was not disappointed in Tierney's decision, and thanked him for taking a "very careful look" at the Trylon issue. She added that the Trylon had been modified too much from its original look, with the theater's interior and marquee having been redone in 1984 and 1994, respectively. "I never thought that this was a building suitable for landmarking," Katz said. "I guess I'm just happy that he [Tierney] made a decision, and now we move on.

Actually, the facade of the building was what activists sought for landmarking, and that's the only part of a building the LPC can designate, unless it's open to the public, which this wasn't. As for the marquee, it's very unlikely that it would not be replaced over time. It hasn't stopped countless other landmark designations of theaters. The facade was 100% intact. Melinda knows this. She'd rather have development on Queens Blvd than preservation. Enjoy much more of this type of behavior should she enter Borough Hall and make the entire borough the Katz litter box.

Dunkin Donuts thinks street tree is their property

The Dunkin Donuts on Grand Avenue just east of 69th Street has been using the street tree and tree pit as advertising space for years. I have made several complaints to no avail. This is the biggest sign I have seen there so far. You'd think the Parks Department would do something about it as it should be a fairly easy situation to rectify.

Turning parks into huge billboards didn't pay off

From the Daily News:

A Bloomberg administration plan to sell naming rights on dog runs, basketball courts and other spots in municipal parks has been a bust, leaving the city with a $13 million hole in its budget, a budget watchdog said Tuesday.

No one applied to the revenue-raising program, which the Parks Department launched last year in partnership with NYC and Company and IMG, a sports marketing company, the Independent Budget Office said.

But while the city made no money, IMG did.

The marketing firm was paid $135,000 to trumpet the city’s parks to potential sponsors, the budget office said.

All of that money came from private donations, provided through NYC & Company, according to a spokeswoman.

The city will continue trying for sponsors in the next budget year, when it is counting on the program raising $7 million, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Adios, chica, chica!

From the Daily News:

Glossy cards emblazoned with graphic images of scantily clad or nude women may soon become a thing of the past in western Queens.

The state legislature recently took aim at prostitution by making the distribution of "chica" cards a crime punishable by fines and jail time. Gov. Cuomo is expected to sign the bill into law as early as this week.

The cards have phone numbers to escort agencies and are mostly handed out to men walking along Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights.

But instead of winding up in their pockets, many of the X-rated cards are tossed onto the street and wind up in the hands of curious children.