Happy Birthday! Queens Crap is thirteen years old!

Almost forgot...

Here's to a 10-year long crap.

Rats fleeing sinking ship

From the NY Post:

The fund-raising scandal surrounding Mayor de Blasio is so toxic that he hasn’t been able to sell out his birthday bash at a tiny venue, even with comedian Louis C.K. headlining.

City First Lady Chirlane McCray on Sunday — the mayor’s 55th birthday — sent out an e-mail blast urging supporters to snap up tickets to the Thursday-evening event at Brooklyn Bowl, a Williamsburg bowling alley and concert venue that holds up to 600 people.

“Remember to get your tickets now if you haven’t yet — news that Louis C.K. will be there has traveled fast and space is filling up,” McCray wrote.

The e-mail came a week and a half after the de Blasio campaign announced that the comic — who had no trouble selling out three shows at Madison Square Garden — would be introducing Hizzoner at the event to benefit his anticipated 2017 re-election bid.

Tickets cost $100 to $250, according to an invitation form on the ActBlue Web site for Democratic fund-raising efforts.

One Democratic activist said McCray’s e-mail pitch was “like the infomercial: ‘Hurry up while supplies last.’”

“I don’t know anyone who is going,” the source said.

I know someone!

Happy birthday, Mr. Washington

Washington's Farewell Address (issued as a public letter in 1796) was one of the most influential statements of republicanism. Drafted primarily by Washington himself, with help from Hamilton, it gives advice on the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people. He called morality "a necessary spring of popular government". He said, "Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

And here is the text.

Happy belated birthday to the Crapper

It was brought to my attention that my 8th anniversary passed this week without celebration. I suppose I was too busy alternating between laughing and getting pissed off about the things that go on in this borough that I forgot.

Cheers to another 8 years!

In 7th heaven

So a couple of friends and I started this blog back in 2006 on this very day. And 7 years later, we're still at it. Are we nuts? Dedicated? A little of both? I guess it doesn't matter so long as you find it useful. Let's raise a glass to people who actually give a crap about the state of our borough. Cheers!

John Liu: Twice a liar

From the NY Post:

John Liu hasn’t officially announced, but he’s already recycling an old — and debunked — tale about working in a sweatshop while growing up in Queens.

In a video released for his recent birthday, Liu put it this way: “My mom worked for a long time in a garment factory, and when I was seven I got my first job working in the same garment factory, and I learned first-hand why they called the place a sweatshop.”

The last time he used this story was in his successful 2009 race for city comptroller. The recycling of this tear-jerker is a signal that he now has his eye on Gracie Mansion.

Don’t go reaching for the Kleenex, either. Liu’s own mom says the story is fiction.

After Liu began blanketing the airwaves with his startling claim four years ago (“By seven, I had to work in a sweatshop to make ends meet”), his mother corrected him.

“I never go to the factory,” she told a reporter. “I just go there and pick up some material and bring home, because I had to take care of my kids.” She says John used to help her with garment work back at home to earn a few extra dollars.

That was New York’s bizarre introduction to John Liu. Soon, voters will likely be asked to consider him as a candidate for mayor. What does it say that he’s repeating a tale his own mother says is a lie?

Maybe he hopes that if he tells a story often enough, voters will simply believe him.

Maybe he’s a bit confused in the head.

Whatever the case, Liu may want to figure out his own past before he asks New Yorkers to trust him with their future.

Johnny won't quit!

From the NY Observer:

Earlier tonight, Comptroller John Liu held a birthday party extravaganza at the renowned Jing Fong dim sum restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown. It was quite the affair, featuring a number of speakers, a packed crowd, a massive display of balloons, a gigantic American flag-themed birthday cake and even a celebrity impersonator. The event, which doubled as a fundraiser for his expected mayoral campaign, also served as a teaser for the expected electoral effort.

“2013 is going to be a year of change, a year of change in the City of New York, the greatest city in the world!” Mr. Liu declared in a policy-laden speech outlining his plans to achieve greater economic equality in the five boroughs while deftly avoiding directly announcing his intention to run for mayor. “We’ve got a lot of ideas. We’ve got the will to start this campaign and to win this campaign. And 2013 will be a year of change and with all of your support, I know we’re going to get there.”

Then came the “big” announcement.

“Now that 2013 is here, we’re going to make the big announcement very soon!” he shouted. “Tonight I’m announcing that we’re going to make an announcement soon!”

While Mr. Liu himself refused to specifically say what office he’s campaigning for, some officials and other speakers who introduced him expressed excitement about the comptroller taking the helm at Gracie Mansion next year.

“We all have to support him for this political journey,” Councilman Peter Koo declared. “In November, we’re going to have a new mayor!”

From the NY Post:

Political insiders say Liu has only a remote chance of emerging as the Democratic mayoral nominee, but would be a formidable contender if he sought another term as comptroller.

Liu has until June to make a final decision, since that's when all candidates for office this year have to hand in their nominating petitions.

But it seems like he's sealed the door on the drop-bak option.

Before I forget...

Queens Crap was first published December 9, 2006.

And the crap hasn't stopped flowing.

Still crapping ...

Telling it like it is for 4 years.

Happy birthday, Queens Midtown Tunnel

From the Queens Gazette:

A fter 20 years of lobbying and planning and four years of hard labor, the Queens Midtown Tunnel, linking Manhattan and Long Island City, Queens, opened on November 15, 1940 to the public. At the time it was the largest, non-federal public works project in the nation.

To commemorate the tunnel’s 70th anniversary, MTA Bridges and Tunnels will have a collection of historic photographs from the construction of the tunnel on display in the lobby of its Lower Manhattan offices at 2 Broadway through the end of the month.

On November 8, 1939, LaGuardia pulled a switch to blast the last six feet of rock between the Manhattan and Queens shields in both tubes. A year and one week later, opening ceremonies were held on the Manhattan toll plaza, attended by Roosevelt, who was the first person to drive through the new tunnel. Other attendees included Mayor LaGuardia, state Senator Robert Wagner and the tunnel’s Chief Engineer Ole Singstad, a wellknown tunnel builder who finished building the Holland Tunnel after the death of its original engineer.

In its first full year of operation, 4.4 million vehicles used the tunnel, while in 2009 that figure was 27.7 million.

Now, 70 years later, the tunnel appears much the same as it did when it opened in 1940, with the exception of the original brick roadway, which was replaced with asphalt in 1995, and the addition of EZPass technology. The last major rehabilitation project, a $126 million project completed in 2001, replaced some of the original 1930s materials that created brighter lighting, new ceilings, new tiles along the walls and an entirely new traffic control system, including electronic message signs and traffic control lights and signals.

Friends of Charlie

This pretty much says it all...



But the Daily News has more.

Gay activists cause ruckus at Addabbo party

I found this video funny. Not because LGBT activists infiltrated Joe Addabbo's birthday fundraiser to raise hell about his "no" vote on gay marriage, but because

1) They were surprised that he voted no in an overwhelmingly conservative Catholic district
2) They would rather have a Republican in there than Addabbo, who might be persuaded to change his mind down the road
3) They actually think they had something to do with the dumping of Hiram Monserrate
4) They wanted to embarrass Addabbo in front of his father, a former congressman, who they were hoping would be there. (He died in 1986...)

Video found on NBC

Crappy birthday to me!

Yes, we've been at it for 3 years now. And there's still plenty of crap to cover. So let's not waste any time.

Happy 70th birthday, LaGuardia Airport

From Gothamist:

LGA was dedicated on October 15th, 1939, as the New York Municipal Airport, and opened for business on December 2nd of that year. Didn't things look so hopeful and exciting back then? See the full slideshow here. Time magazine called it "the most pretentious land and seaplane base in the world."