Every bus line in the five boroughs sucks except just one, and it's in Queens!

NY Daily News

Transit advocacy groups released report cards for bus routes across the city Wednesday, and the grades weren’t exactly honor roll material.

Half of all the routes analyzed across the five boroughs received a “D” grade or lower, shining a light on the depressing, delay-ridden commutes that plague the city’s 2 million daily bus riders.

The report also shows breakdowns of bus performance by City Council district— all but five of the 51 across the city received “D” or “F” grades.

“For a long time I’ve felt that the problems on our buses were an ignored second transit crisis in this city,” said City Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), whose district received an F grade and has an average bus speed of 5 miles per hour. “All the attention goes to the obviously serious problem in our subways.”

Despite the dismal findings, the analysis does show that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus service is improving slightly. Last year, 30 fewer bus routes received failing grades than in 2017, a statistic advocates largely chalk up to improvements in the way that buses are dispatched.

Just one route detailed in the report received an “A” grade: the Q52 select bus, which travels from Elmhurst to the Rockaways.

Jaqi Cohen of the Straphangers Campaign attributes the route’s success to features like dedicated bus lanes and all-door boarding.

 “We know how this bus got this great grade,” she said. “The simple answer is that it uses solutions that we know could work across the city.”

Inspector finds no problem where there clearly is one

From the Queens Chronicle:

When Mary Ann Giammarco sees the empty house at 73-36 179 St. in Fresh Meadows, she isn’t happy.

A graffiti-stained commercial truck sits in the driveway, with lumber languishing behind it. A sign on the door urges passersby to stay out.

“The whole property is just an eyesore,” Giammarco told the Chronicle last week. “And the homes around here are beautiful.”

A resident of the same street, she is a member of the Utopia Estates Civic Association and a block captain.

Giammarco penned a letter to the editor about the site that the Chronicle ran last week. It also doubled as an open letter to Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows), who then reached out to the 107th Precinct, Community Board 8 and the Department of Buildings about the location.

Earlier this month, multiple 311 complaints were issued about the property, leading a DOB inspector to visit it on Aug. 21. But no conditions contrary to the zoning and construction codes were discovered, so no violations were issued.

Plans had been filed last year to gut renovate the single-family house and add a second floor to it. But they were rejected.

The house wasn't looking so bad a few years ago, as you can see in the Google Street View above from 2013. The Chronicle photo shows how fast a property can go downhill without maintenance. How did a DOB inspector not find a problem? The presence of the truck alone is a zoning violation.

Prime location that no one wants

So this eyesore on Metropolitan Avenue was originally slated to become a "World Financial Group" location as reported back in 2013 on this blog. However, that never happened, and the building has continued to deteriorate for 4 years. There was a change in the sign to indicate that "Legacy Panning Solutions" would be moving in, but that also never occurred.

Would someone please buy this building and fix it up?

Dilapidated Jamaica home is raccoon heaven

"A seven year-old girl had to run for her life from a raccoon; but according to policy the raccoon has the right to stay. A woman reached out to CleanupJamaicaQueens after her child was almost attacked by a fierce looking raccoon on Sunday June 25th.

The woman is living next door to the raccoon dwelling. Her home is about six feet away separated by a short fence. The decade old abandoned property is located at 167-05 144 Avenue Jamaica Queens. And yes, she has reached out to the local leaders many times to clean up the site.

The woman, Ms. B said that she has seen: rats and lizards, but the raccoons appear to be the leader of the pack. She said, "I was sitting on my stoop, watching my daughter play in my yard; when a raccoon started walking towards her direction; she started screaming, crying and running." That is when I had to reach out to CleanupJamaicaQueens.

Well, I (Hazel) got to the scene around fourish; the Sunday afternoon was still bright. The raccoon was long gone home, but next door. I called 311 and reported the issue. The operator said, some one will come out to investigate, but the raccoon can stay if it does do not have rabies. He went on, "do you know if that raccoon has rabies?" I was so damn angry that I responded, "no I did not have time to investigate."

Photos were taken on 6/25/17. Location, 167-05 144th. Avenue Jamaica Queens.

And this is why the black communities remain a fourth world area in America. There is always a technicality NOT to resolve problems in black communities.

Borough President/Katz, please get off your ever promising ass. You are responsible for Jamaica; It is part of Queens.

Please have your henchwoman/Boranian call the appropriate agency. The raccoon house is surrounded by trees and bushes, where creatures run freely. The entire house is inhabitable and the neighbours are living in fear."

P. Hazel: Social Media Journalist for Justice.

Trump's boyhood home has gone to rack and ruin

From DNA Info:

When President Donald Trump’s boyhood home in Jamaica Estates sold in March for $2.14 million, locals expected property values in their neighborhood to soar.

Months-long media buzz surrounding the sale of the property at 85-15 Wareham Pl. near Henley Road — where Trump was born and lived until he was 4 — included speculations that one day it might become an official historic site.

But a little more than two months after the sale closed, the house appears to be deserted and knee-deep grass which has not been trimmed since March shelters various pests and neighborhood cats, neighbors complain.

“It’s been left unkempt and anyone who sees it is going to consider it abandoned,” said Deborah Ayala-Braun, who lives next door, and worries that properties in the area may now see a drop in value instead.

Bayside LIRR plaza not being maintained

From the Times Ledger:

The small traffic island in front of the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station on 41st Avenue has a history of neglect.

This summer the shrubs planted around the half-circle plaza became overgrown with weeds. What used to be grass alongside the paved pathway is now only a few patches of dirt littered with trash, cigarette butts and empty beer bottles.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees LIRR, said the plaza is under the jurisdiction of the city Department of Transportation.

The half circle is on MTA property, but at least part of the plaza is zoned as city property, lined with streets and sidewalks, according to the city Open Accessible Space Information System.

The DOT said it does not have the equipment to take care of green space and is only responsible for paving in park space and plazas.

This was also discovered by Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who expressed concerns about safety at the site, calling upon the DOT to repave the cement paths on the traffic island.

In response to the lack of responsibility taken for the small plaza at the Bayside train station, Avella said he is in the process of finalizing a $50,000 grant to be awarded to the Bayside Village BID to take on maintenance at the site.

Falling bricks kill a baby

From the Daily News:

An adorable 2-year-old girl who was hit when bricks rained down from a crumbling Upper West side building died Monday, police sources said.

Greta Greene was sitting with her grandmother when she was struck by the terra-cotta bricks that fell from the 8th floor of 305 West End Ave. Sunday, the sources said.

The Esplanade was hit with two Department of Building complaints right after the incident. Department of Building inspectors said the owner failed "to maintain the property in safe and code-compliant manner."

Zombie homes remain a problem

From the Times Ledger:

Property values in Queens are on the rebound from the housing crisis, but despite increases in median home values, the concern over the growing number of blighted, abandoned houses is very much real throughout the borough.

There are currently 172 properties in Queens that realtors call “zombie homes,” according to RealtyTrac, a national real estate tracking company. These are properties that remained vacant during New York’s nearly three-year-long foreclosure process, and in many cases have fallen into disrepair.

Lenders pay property taxes in instances when owners abandon homes and fail to complete the foreclosure process, but often don’t make an attempt to maintain or secure the properties.

There are an additional 110 houses in Queens, mostly in Jamaica, that have been abandoned for decades under the stewardship of the New York City Housing Authority. But that number is slowly shrinking as the housing authority partners with nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity to renovate and place low-income families in them, a NYCHA spokeswoman said.

Between March 2013 and now, more than 6,000 written notices of a lawsuit were filed in Queens, which are the first state filings that result from mortgage default, property tax delinquency or common unpaid charges. Over 20 percent of the properties are vacated upon the first filing, according to RealtyTrac.

So even if a property isn’t a “zombie,” eligible for demolition, there are often hundreds more properties that are left vacant for months at a time.

The mess on Metro

I must have passed this spot dozens of times in the last couple of years, but it wasn't until I was stuck in a line of cars navigating the slippery snow yesterday that I noticed that this house at 72-55 Metropolitan Ave in Middle Village was abandoned. So I looked it up on DOB's website:

I'm sure that the lack of permits since these violations were issued, along with all the snow we've had this year have served to worsen this disaster.

LIRR pedestrian overpass is a dump

From the Queens Courier:

Local elected officials and community leaders gathered earlier in December to tour the pedestrian bridge that connects two separate sections of 55th Avenue, one of which turns onto 85th Street and the other that becomes a dead end near Haspel Street.

The group toured the overpass with Long Island Rail Road and Sanitation officials to discuss the conditions and demand immediate improvements be made at the site.

According to Christian Cassagnol, district manager of Community Board 4, the problems most residents have voiced concerns about include graffiti, lack of sufficient lighting, safety overnight and dirty conditions.

Residents and members of CB 4’s environmental committee regularly gather to clean up the site, Cassagnol said, but there is only so much that could be done on a local level. He decided to contact Councilman Daniel Dromm’s office in the hopes of finding a better solution.

Rosemarie Daraio, president of the nonprofit Communities of Maspeth & Elmhurst Together Inc. (COMET) Civic Association, added that some other issues include illegal dumping, weeds overtaking the site, and deteriorating and uneven steps.

Days before the Dec. 15 walk-through, the city’s Department of Sanitation showed up and did a cleanup.

“This site must be cleaned and made safe for pedestrians,” said Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who was part of the group that toured the overpass. “There is no substitute for an on-site visit to see conditions firsthand.”

According to Stavisky, she and Dromm will continue to monitor the issue.

Fresh Meadows house is a scary sight

From WPIX:

Getting the monstrosity of a house torn down would be great. But first step: a clean-up. We contacted the city Health Department and sanitation department. The law is before the city can do a clean-up, it has to give the owner 5 days notice. So, the city mailed a notice to the owner’s last known address.

But nothing happened after 5 days. So we got back in touch to find out what was up. That friendly reminder did the trick.

The first thing this past Monday morning, sanitation had a crew out there. For some reason, Mae says they couldn’t clean up the backyard. But it’s a good start.

Take a look at the before and after in the video and you’ll see what I mean.

Squatters removed from Howard Beach house

From the Forum:

Two well-known area vagrants...ambled off the block after authorities forced them out of the Howard Beach house that area residents said has been a haven for prostitution, drug dealing, violence and other crimes for the past two years.

Vice cops from the 106th Precinct and Queens District Attorney’s Office investigators, performing a nuisance abatement around 9 p.m., booted Amanda Miller, 38, and Logan Gruntz, 33, from the troubled house on 95th Street between 159th and 160th avenues, padlocked the front door and placed bright official stickers on it declaring the edifice closed by court order.

And not a moment too soon, according to one neighbor who asked that his identity not be revealed.

“Business was booming [last Thursday],” he noted, referring to johns frequenting the house. “I counted five cars within an hour and a half.”

Court records show that Miller is currently facing outstanding cases for prostitution and larceny.

The neighbor said the house began to decay after Superstorm Sandy hit and the house’s original owner, Maria Savinetti, moved away.

Rabbi turns house into illegal synagogue

From the Queens Courier:

A Bayside homeowner is being accused of using his home as an illegal synagogue, according to city records.

The Department of Buildings received a complaint that Jacob Hasis, a rabbi, is using his 26th Avenue residence as a house of worship, in violation of its certificate of occupancy as a residence, a spokesman said.

“This property has many past issues so we take the complaints very seriously,” the DOB spokesman said.

Hasis acknowledged that residents complained to him about loud noise coming from his home. But he said that people mistake his large family of 12 and a couple of friends who come over for religious reasons as a synagogue.

“My family is 12 people and maybe another three or four of my friends come over to pray,” he said. “I don’t know why they were complaining.”

But in a flier that Hasis made, he invites “the whole community” to “Rabbi Yaakov’s shul for the high holidays service,” although the flier does say there is “limited space available” in the single-family home.

Hasis has a history of constructing additions to his home “illegally” and has paid $1,200 in fines to the city in regard to the property, according to the DOB spokesman.

The home also has three open violations relating to construction without the proper work permits. This construction includes creating entry doors for the cellar, two of which the DOB has deemed “immediately hazardous.”

The front yard of the house is filled with bricks, wheel barrels for cement and an abundance of wood.

Shalimar Diner needs to clean up its act

"When you walk in Rego Park, make sure you're walking in the middle of the block as you pass the Shalimar Diner at 63-68 Austin Street.

Although the Shalimar has knowledge that they are responsible for keeping up the area around the curbside tree, they just ignore it. The grass is nearly waist high and the garbage strewn and hidden in the tall grass makes it a trip & fall waiting to happen.

If you walk too close to the building, you may get hit in the head by pieces of the cement facade that are falling off. Makes one think what is going on in their kitchen with all this obvious neglect!" - Anonymous

Pomonok a sad sight lately

From the Queens Chronicle:

Flushing’s Pomonok Housing was once considered the crown jewel of the NYC Housing Authority, but some tarnish has accrued over decades of neglect, mismanagement and budget cuts, according to tenants.

Monica Corbett, president of the Pomonok Residents Association, guided elected officials through the development last Thursday to show them the unkempt grounds, flooded parking lot, broken doors and overall lack of maintenance.

Corbett said the development was once a nice place to come home to, but at this point NYCHA is demanding more money from residents for very few services. She called on the agency to work with the residents to make Pomonok a better place to live.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz (D-Flushing) and City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) observed the conditions and spoke about the root causes and the need for NYCHA to address the issues.

“This is an ongoing problem,” Stavisky said. “The Dumpsters are overflowing; there’s debris on the street; we have a little lake over there in the parking lot. I’m sorry for the person whose car is partially underwater, but this shows the lack of personnel here at Pomonok to take care of these situations.”

The submerged parking space in “Lake Pomonok” costs the tenant approximately $600 for the year.

Stavisky said there are only 12 caretakers for the entire complex, down from 45 about 10 years ago. NYCHA says there are 25. There used to be seasonal summer and winter workers, but they’re gone.
Pomonok consists of 52 acres with 14 buildings and 2,171 apartments.

Inconsiderate crap

"249-27 88th Road

This is new - that's not a driveway, plus he's blocking the sidewalk. It also means that there are too many people in this tiny 2-bedroom triangle house.

They don't even own the house - they are section 8 renters (yet they own a BMW). This house has thousands of dollars in unpaid violations.

House is also starting to sink/settle. The front steps are lopsided now.

This house was featured previously on your blog." - Anonymous

Homeowner gets ticket for sinkhole

From the Daily News:

A Queens man is livid after inspectors flagged him for a giant sinkhole that opened under his lawn after Wednesday’s rainstorms, calling the violation he was given unfair.

When he noticed the 20-foot deep fissure Thursday morning, Julio Colon says the first thing he did was call the city.

“I tried to do the right thing and it blew up in my face,” said Colon, a contractor by trade, who said that instead of helping, Buildings Department pencil pushers wrote him a violation. “I could have had this full already.”

Inspectors cited his “failure to maintain,” the property even though they noted the ditch was most likely caused by the remnants of an ancient cesspool.

Forest Park: fantasy vs. reality

From Project Woodhaven:

I wrote a column for last week's Leader-Observer voicing concerns about the proposed QueensWay in which I voiced concerns over the cost and how it would impact the maintenance of the existing park land. I wrote:

"Take a brief walk between the Bandshell and Oak Ridge and you will find sidewalks that are crumbled and in many spots, completely gone; roadways and paths that are eroded and have long been in need of maintenance."

The existing GreenWay, that runs through Forest Park and intersects the land proposed for the QueensWay, is poorly lit and in many locations, a poorly maintained mess. We took a walk along one stretch today to take some pictures -- this sidewalk is right around the corner from Oak Ridge, not far from the Bandshell and the landmarked Forest Park Carousel. Signs identifying the road as the GreenWay can be seen throughout.

Here, a jogger navigates through rubble - right next to a crumbling set of stairs. Is this what we have to look forward to when the QueensWay is built, less than a 5-minute walk away?

It's one long mess -- and we'd love to see an expensive feasibility study on how the existing park land could be maintained better before spending millions and millions to create more of the same. This GreenWay right here should serve as their "experiment in a bottle" -- fix up this GreenWay and keep it lit -- and then maybe we can look at expanding it.

The pictures and video above represent the reality that exists on the GreenWay in Queens today. It's a far cry from the fantastical renderings released a few weeks back --

Heck, if you're going to concoct a fantasy, why not go whole hog and make it really special!

- Ed Wendell

Little Bay Park soccer fields need work

Dear Parks Department,

Attached are photos of the Little Bay soccer fields. As you are aware, the CYO uses these fields for soccer programs that benefit the children of the surrounding communities. We have been trying for years to get these fields repaired and or replaced, let alone maintained.

Several years ago the fields were plagued with contaminated soil (placed there by the Parks Department in an attempt to raise the level of the field) which contained dirty diapers, used syringes, as well as other contaminants. Last year, we had to deal with large rocks and pockets of holes all over the fields. Now this! We understand their is money to replace at least one field if not both. In the interim, this is what our community and our children have to deal with. Your assistance in re-mediating this field ASAP would be greatly appreciated. As you are aware soccer season is fast approaching and practices have already been scheduled.

Mind you, this is a soccer field that is scheduled to be used by over 600 community children beginning this week. The wood chips and the tire groves that are over 6 inches deep should not be here.

Thank you,
Alfredo Centola
Malba Gardens Civic Association
Community Activist

Queens roads in bad shape

From the Times Ledger:

Queens is the location of five of the nine worst maintained roads in New York City, according to the Center for an Urban Future, a city planning agency.

The report also said it found that 9 percent of the borough’s bridges are what it called structurally deficient and that Queens public housing developments are in the worst condition of any place in the five boroughs.

The center said the Jackie Robinson Parkway, the Shore Front Parkway, the Cross Bay Parkway, Hempstead Turnpike and Queens Boulevard were poorly maintained.

The report documents other “infrastructure challenges” in Queens, such as 29.7 percent of the borough’s streets were in fair or poor condition. This is worse than Brooklyn, where 27.2 percent of streets were in fair or poor condition, but better than Manhattan (42.7 percent), Staten Island (40.1 percent) and the Bronx (34 percent).