One woman may be cause for Glen Oaks burglary spike

From CBS 2:

Police have connected 16 burglaries, all following the same pattern in the 105 Precinct, since January. With the help of surveillance photos they have an idea of who they are looking for.

Police say the woman targets homes, typically enters through a window, or unlocked back door, and grabs cash and small valuable items like jewelry.

Neighbors believe there may be a common tie.

“As per Indian culture people keep a lot of gold in their house in case of an emergency,” Eldo Varkey said, “The crooks know that they have money and gold in their house.”

Cops can’t confirm that the thefts were racially motivated, but they do know that the suspect has been driving around in a van.

Fingerprint guidelines made stricter in wake of report

From NBC:

The New York state court system says it will tighten its fingerprinting procedures after the I-Team exposed what some believe is an organized scheme to exploit the Queens Family Court to gain faster access to green cards.

Earlier this month, the I-Team revealed that family court insiders allege a pattern in Queens in which a federal law intended to protect child victims of abuse or sex trafficking is exploited as a shortcut to legal immigration status.

Hundreds of young men from the same part of India have told strikingly similar stories in Queens Family Court, the I-Team learned from months of interviews with judges, clerks, lawyers and translators who work the cases. Judges tell the I-Team they fear these undocumented young men are illegally crossing the U.S. border with the knowledge that they can head to family court for help getting special immigration status.

As part of that process, the young men, appearing in court often with older men from the neighborhood petitioning for guardianship, recount tales of abuse they've suffered to judges. If the young men are under age 21, undocumented and unmarried, abused or abandoned by just one parent and say their lives will be better off in the United States, judges, having little recourse to verify their stories, most often approve the guardianship, paving a fast track to green cards for the men under the federal William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

NBC discovers Indian green card scam

From NBC:

There‘s growing concern that undocumented young men are illegally crossing the US border knowing they can head to family court for help getting special immigration status. It’s a little known route they’ve learned to navigate with the help of lawyers and criminal human smugglers who sources say are profiting. I-Team reporter Melissa Russo has this exclusive story.

Inspector General confirms that Creedmoor sale was shady

From the Queens Chronicle:

A scathing report issued by the New York State Inspector General’s Office blasts actions taken by the Indian Cultural and Community Center — and inaction by the New York State Dormitory Authority — in connection with the sale of more than four acres of property on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center site in Queens Village.

The ICCC was before the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals on Tuesday in continuing its effort to construct a pair of nine-story towers on the property.

The project has been roundly opposed by residents, local elected officials, civic associations and Community Board 13.

The 18-page IG report found that “the ICCC exploited loopholes in the statute and lapses in oversight by the Dormitory Authority ... which was tasked with overseeing the transaction.”

The ICCC first proposed purchasing about 4.5 acres for the creation of a cultural and community center, an athletic field and parking spaces, a sale that went through in 2008 with the backing of Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village), former state Sen. Frank Padavan and then-Assemblyman and current Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens).

By the time the contract was signed, the ICCC was claiming it was allowed to build the two apartment towers, first proposing 126 units and now seeking 143.

The IG’s report states that Dormitory Authority officials negotiating the contract were ignorant of the Legislature’s intent on land use restrictions when making the deal; and that the ICCC representatives did nothing to fill the gap in the agency’s knowledge.

It also said the Legislature never placed the specific restrictions in the authorizing statute itself.

Avella & civic leaders rally against BSA application

(Bellerose, QUEENS) On Saturday, September 7, Senator Tony Avella, Bellerose civic leaders and residents rallied against the Indian Cultural and Community Center (ICCC) for moving ahead with their Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) application despite the recent release of a report by the New York State Office of the Inspector General that criticized the ICCC’s involvement in a state land sale.

Two years ago, Avella reached out to the Inspector General and the Attorney General and asked for an extensive review of the New York State Dormitory Authority’s sale of 4.5 acres of land on the Creedmore psychiatric-hospital campus in a no-bid deal to the politically connected nonprofit group for a fraction of its value.

This past week the Inspector General released their report which showed clear and convincing evidence that the ICCC not only “exploited loopholes in the statute and lapses in oversight by the Dormitory Authority” but purposely sought to deceive that agency as well as members of the community and elected officials regarding their intention to build residential housing on property which is the subject of the applications currently before the BSA. The findings in the report have been referred to the Attorney General’s office.

Despite this information, the ICCC is moving ahead with their BSA application, which is scheduled to be heard at a public hearing on September 10th.

Avella stated, “From the very beginning, I have had my suspicions regarding the ICCC’s involvement in this shady land deal. The Inspector General’s report confirms my suspicions, that at the very least the ICCC intentionally engaged in deceptive practices with the intent to mislead the public about its intentions with this property and at the very worst engaged in possible illegal activity. Obviously, this is completely unacceptable and the public deserves better. That is why I am pleased that this matter has been referred to the Attorney General for further review. We must get to the bottom of any misconduct committed by anyone involved with this land deal.”

“I am calling on the Attorney General to fully investigate the potential illegal conduct of the ICCC and for BSA to postpone any hearing until such a review is conducted,” concluded Avella.

Creedmoor tweeding project revision

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Indian Cultural and Community Center has revamped plans for building senior housing on the campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. The project has been embroiled in controversy since it was first proposed. Now that the group wants to add an extra 17 apartments to the mix has civic leaders and at least one elected official furious.

“The ICCC continues to amaze me,” state Sen Tony Avella (D-Bayside) told the Chronicle Wednesday. “There are two open investigations. The community and elected officials are dead set against this plan, so why the ICCC continues to pursue this is beyond me.”

The ICCC owns approximately 4.5 acres at Creedmoor, located at 79-25 Winchester Blvd., in Queens Village and wants to build a community center and senior housing. Originally they were seeking to construct two nine-story buildings, with 126 apartments. Now it’s asking to place 143 apartments into the same size towers.

Jordan Most, the zoning lawyer for the ICCC, said the new plan “fits the mode of senior affordable housing better.”

Both the state attorney general and inspector general are investigating the deal to determine if there was any inappropriate or criminal behavior on the part of the group and both current and former elected officials.

“Even if the investigation doesn’t find anything, the ICCC has been unethical throughout this process,” Avella said. They’ve lied to the community several times. They’ve changed their plan three or four times. Now, they’ve changed it again. ... The project will move ahead over my dead body.”

The ICCC has also recently petitioned the Board of Standards and Appeals for a waiver because the project does not have frontage on a mapped city street.

ICCC project raises its ugly head again

From the Times Ledger:

Since its attempt to acquire more land on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Campus in Bellerose fell through last year, the Indian Cultural and Community Center is hoping to provide alternative access to its proposed developments, but the community is reluctant to approve anything before investigations into the center’s controversial dealings are concluded.

The center is now looking for approval from the city Board of Standards and Appeals to provide access through a vehicular easement on the eastern side of the property by 82nd Avenue.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the community board’s Land Use Committee report was not available Monday, so members could not vote on the application, although the surrounding controversies seemed to be enough to put them off on from taking any position on the center’s dealings.

“Given the fact that we have never had any closure on any investigations that are taking place within the state, I feel that we are not in a position to vote either way on anything regarding this,” said CB 13 member Charlie Farruggia.

When the state’s legislative lines were redrawn earlier this year, the Creedmoor Campus was removed from state Sen. Tony Avella’s (D-Bayside) district and placed in Sen. Malcolm Smith’s (D-St. Albans).

Avella has been a vocal critic of the original land deal, and Smith introduced the bill on the second one, though he later pulled his support.

More vibrant diversity in our midst

From the Daily News:

A Manhattan Federal Court jury listened Tuesday to a recording of a Queens man agreeing to refer to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah as “the brothers.”

Prosecutors broadcast the conversation during the trial of Patrick Nayyar, a 47-year-old citizen of India who is accused of providing material support to a terror organization.

“Listen, we don’t have to keep repeating the name Hezbollah,” the informant, a man named Ali, says to Nayyar, who then agrees.

Ali was posing as an agent for Hezbollah.

During the July 27, 2009 conversation Nayyar also says he can supply Ali with sniper rifles, night vision goggles, Glock handguns and hollow-point bullets.

Judge orders Indian group to turn over Creedmoor docs

From the NY Post:

A Manhattan judge has backed state investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of a controversial deal to sell state land to an Indian community group in Queens.

The organization that got the sweetheart deal, the Indian Cultural and Community Center, has stopped cooperating with detectives dispatched by state Inspector General Ellen Biben, court records show.

But Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez said in a ruling last week that there is “a legitimate and reasonable basis for [the IG’s] inquiry,” and he ordered the Indian Cultural and Community Center to turn over the records requested.

CB13 votes down Creedmoor variance

From the Queens Chronicle:

At its Monday meeting Community Board 13 voted against a plan by a nonprofit group to construct two large apartment towers on the campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, stating that the project was out of character with the neighborhood and was not what the organization originally told residents it had intended to build.

CB 13 denied the group’s application for a variance by a vote of 22-1 with 16 absent. First Vice Chairwoman Tanya Cruz abstained from the vote and board member V. M. Chacko was the only one in favor.

In 2008, the Indian Cultural and Community Center purchased two parcels of land at Creedmoor, which is located at 79-25 Winchester Blvd. in Queens Village, near the Bellerose border. The approximately 4.5 acres are adjacent to the homes on the west side of 242nd Street, from Union Turnpike to 82nd Avenue.

The ICCC told community leaders the land would be used to build a community center, a multi-use athletic field and an above-ground parking lot, but the plan was changed to include two nine-story apartment buildings that would contain 126 units of affordable housing for seniors.

The project is not in compliance with the master plan created for the campus by former Borough President Claire Shulman, and the towers would be located 30 feet from its low-rise neighbors with no buffer for privacy or noise, according to Richard Hellenbrecht, the chairman of CB 13’s Land Use Committee. The apartment buildings would also completely obstruct the sunlight and vistas of neighboring homes, and could set a precedent for other similar high-density projects.

Will CB vote torpedo Creedmoor plan?

From the Daily News:

A politically connected South Asian group that purchased state land in Bellerose on the cheap for a community center is now seeking local support to also build apartments - angering neighbors.

Community Board 13 is to vote Monday night on whether to sign off on the Indian Cultural and Community Center's plans to build two nine-story senior housing buildings on the site of the former Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.

The group also plans to build homes and a three-story facility on its 4.5 acres, a community board official said.

"It's a bait-and-switch," said Richard Hellenbrecht, who heads the board's Land Use Committee. The tall buildings "would severely change the character of the neighborhood, reduce property value."

He said he was particularly angry that the ICCC misled local leaders about the center's true intentions. The senior housing, which would either be co-ops or condos, could eventually be passed down to dependent children, who would be allowed to live there, Hellenbrecht said.

"You have to wonder what's going on there," he said.

Shady Creedmoor project goes for variance

From the Times Ledger:

An Indian group proposing senior housing and a cultural center on the ground of Creedmoor was grilled on its plans by a testy crowd during a public hearing last week in Bellerose.

The Indian Cultural and Community Center wants to build two nine-story towers of senior housing and a community facility after state legislation led to it acquiring the Creedmoor land last year.

Civic leaders and public officials criticized the group, claiming it had been deceptive about its plans and saying the proposal is out of character with the community.

Some community residents walked out of the meeting when a South Asian man claimed opposition to the plan was the result of racism.

The public hearing was needed because the ICCC needs a variance to build the senior housing in a zone that only allows for commercial buildings.

The offices of the state attorney general and the state inspector general are investigating the group’s land purchase, which was authorized under legislation sponsored by then-state Sen. Frank Padavan and then-state Assemblyman Mark Weprin.

Still no clues about Hillside Avenue arboricide

From the Wall Street Journal:

In Floral Park, the tree-cutting episode has exposed racial tensions in a community that has developed into a "Little India," with an influx of Indian immigrants and businesses shaking up the old order.

The block where the incident took place includes Masala 2 Wok, Mumbai Xpress, an Indian astrologer and the forthcoming Balaji Super Bazar.

On the aptly named "Queens Crap" blog, comments quickly devolved into blaming "animals" who want "nothing to do with America."

The underlying assumption among some was that the owners of the new supermarket must have had something to do with it. The trees blocked the store's façade and a fourth tree on the block was conspicuously left standing.

As the scene this week, I asked Mr. Castellano if anyone had spoken to the grocery store's owner. He had not.

But minutes later, out came Rakesh Kumar, the owner, hand extended and eager to talk. Mr. Kumar called the tree cutting "very bad." He said his landlord had also condemned the act.

"People are pointing fingers at us," said Mr. Kumar. "First day it happened I said, 'It's a small tree first of all and it doesn't bother us.'"

He continued: "We know the rules and regulations of this country," noting that if they wanted to take the tree down they know they would have had to get city approval. He is now offering to plant new trees and to pay all the associated costs.

"According to our custom, we worship the trees," he said.

Mr. Kumar has his own theory about what might have happened. "We have a lot of competitors around here, our supermarket competitors," he said, rattling off the names of nearby Indian supermarkets.

And so the speculation continues.

Like so many arborcides, the Floral Park ones may never be solved.

Restaurant claims South Asians don't tip

From the NY Post:

Two patrons filed suit against the Baluchi’s restaurant chain yesterday over claims that their bill was illegally padded with an “automatic” 18 percent gratuity reserved for South Asian customers.

Abe Shah and Hema Virani also charge that they were physically attacked by a worker after leaving Baluchi’s eatery in Forest Hills, Queens, without paying the alleged ethnic surcharge.

The Brooklyn federal court suit seeks unspecified damages over what the duo’s lawyer, Denise Shulman, called the “shameful and appalling” incident.

According to court papers, Shah, who is of Pakistani descent, and Virani, who is Indian, were slapped with the mandatory gratuity when they got their check on May 12.

Shah demanded to speak with the manager, who admitted that the restaurant added the charge for “Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi customers because ‘they never tip,’ ” the suit says.

Queens Dems worked with Padavan on corrupt land deal

From the NY Post:

Members of the Indian cultural group, including Koshy and Sanu Thomas, went to Padavan and pitched a community center to hold “community activities and social gatherings,” including picnics, dances, weddings and holiday celebrations. They targeted two chunks of land on Creedmoor’s 98-acre campus and drew up plans.

So Padavan and then-Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Queens) rammed through separate legislation to OK the sale through a three-day message of necessity. That passed in July 2006. When the sale took longer than expected, Padavan and Weprin authored another bill in 2007 to extend the timetable for the sale by a year.

The group showered Padavan and Weprin with campaign contributions. Members donated at least $2,850 to Padavan and $2,510 to Weprin for his City Council and Assembly runs between 2000 and 2009. Group members also gave $1,600 to Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens), Mark’s brother, for his 2009 city comptroller bid. Sanu and Koshy Thomas shelled out the lion share of the group contributions.

Padavan, whose daughter-in-law is Indian-American, went on a crusade to get the land sold. He hounded state dormitory authorities to approve the deal without the usual attorney general review, according to state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens). Sale of state land is usually conducted through an auction to the highest bidder, or granted to public entities. Since 2006, the Creedmoor parcels were the only sale of state Dormitory Authority land to be pushed through with special legislation, according to state records.

Clark introduced a bill in January to grant the group roughly 6 acres to eliminate the state’s concerns about the patchwork of property. Last month, as the legislative year was winding down, she and Assemblyman Weprin visited Avella in his office and asked him to co-sponsor it. When he refused, she got downright “threatening,” Avella said, and later publicly slammed a “freshman senator” for not knowing his place. Clark then went to Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) to co-sponsor a bill, which he did last month.

Local civic associations are up in arms over the development’s monstrous apartment buildings, which are slated for area seniors. The towers are too tall for the area’s zoning, and the group is trying to get a variance by using obscure examples from those granted in the dense sections of the South Bronx.

It’s not a difficult to see, in Sanu Thomas, the beginnings of a New York politician in the mold of Pedro Espada or Vito Lopez. Espada started a non-profit health clinic in The Bronx, then, when elected to office, steered millions in contracts to it, enriching himself. He will now stand trial for embezzlement.

If the Indian Culture and Community Center gets its land, it could be a low-cost way for Thomas to have a non-profit that “gives back to the community” while it potentially pays his friends and cultivates voters that put him on the City Council or in state government. Decades from now, will Sanu Thomas be steering taxpayer “member items” to these groups?

Thomas already has learned one lesson of New York politics. Any criticism is not motivated by the misuse of public funds, or suspicion about private deals, but racism.

More on the sweetheart land deal

From the NY Post:

State leaders went out of their way to push through a controversial land deal -- which robbed taxpayers of millions of dollars -- to gain the favor of a politically powerful Indian church, sources said.

Former Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens) championed the sale of 4.5 acres of the old Creedmoor Hospital to the cash-poor Indian Cultural and Community Center, going so far as to hound state Dormitory Authority officials to OK the deal without the usual attorney general's review, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) claims.

"Why would you want to circumvent the normal contract-review process? Only if you want to hide something," charged Avella, who is pushing the AG's Office to investigate the fishy deal.

Padavan's 2006 legislation authorized the sale of the Queens psych-hospital parcel for $1.8 million, a fraction of its estimated market value of $7.3 million. The measure allows the Floral Park group to build a community center and apartment buildings.

Sale of state land is usually conducted through an auction to the highest bidder, or granted to public entities. Since 2006, the Creedmoor parcels were the only sale of state Dormitory Authority land to be pushed through with special legislation, according to state records.

This year, Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens) shopped around another bill to sell the group roughly six more acres as they seek to erect 126 potentially lucrative apartments.

Padavan -- who lost a re-election bid last year -- and Clark received a combined total of $5,201 in campaign contributions from the cultural group's members, elections records show.

The nonprofit is led by a circle of increasingly powerful Queens and Long Island businessmen.