DOB cracking down on repeat offenders

From CBS2:

There’s a new push by New York City to keep landlords accountable for dangerous conditions.

A new Department of Buildings regulation bars owners of residential buildings with a high proportion of hazardous violations from getting new construction permits.

The buildings will be put on a list by the DOB and won’t be able to obtain a permit until violations are resolved.

The permit restriction applies to violations issued on or after Jan. 4, 2020.

Council member Brennan looking to curb e-commerce warehouse development

The Real Deal
Politicians’ fight against Amazon is not over.
The e-commerce giant’s bid to build a Queens campus died a year ago, but warehouse projects have proliferated as e-commerce companies seek infrastructure to speed deliveries. And one Brooklyn official has had enough.
City Council member Justin Brannan is calling for a special permit requirement for large warehouse projects. That would give the Council power to stop the developments, which Brannan says are hurting the quality of life, especially in the outer boroughs.
Brannan wrote an op-ed in Crain’s last week saying they have led to “clogged streets, pedestrian hazards, increased asthma, low-wage jobs and the death of brick-and-mortar neighborhood retail.”
He is asking the Department of City Planning to “institute a special-permit requirement for all warehouse development over 250,000 square feet” to give communities and local officials input into when and how such projects come to their neighborhoods.
The move would force large warehouse projects subject to navigate a process similar to the city’s seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
“A special permit means a community won’t be bulldozed — literally and figuratively — in the development process,” Brannan wrote. “Local leaders and elected officials will be able to consider the potential collateral damage to long-term plans for neighborhood development, and potentially be able to reach outcomes that benefit local residents, landlords, retailers, and even consumers.”
Other projects have triggered such proposals, some of which have been enacted. In the past two years the city has required special permits for hotel and self-storage projects in certain light-manufacturing zones, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration said earlier this year that it supported such a requirement for hotel construction citywide. The move would enhance the New York City Hotel Trades Council’s opportunity to unionize new hotels.

MOFTB refers to DHS homeless shelter as "rundown hotel"

This came from the COMET civic association website. 73-00 Queens Blvd happens to be a city contracted homeless shelter run by the same owner as the Pan Am. It's nice to see him making even more money off his property than he is from warehousing the unfortunate.

And happy to see that the city is at least admitting now that these places they utilize to house homeless families in are dumps. Progress!

No music festivals at FMCP

From the Daily News:

The city Parks Department has rejected all three proposals to host multi-day music festivals at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the Daily News has learned.

Concert promoter AEG, the force behind the popular Coachella music festival on the West Coast, applied for a permit to have an event at the sprawling Queens park.

MSG and Founders Entertainment followed with applications for the site which housed both the 1939-40 and 1964-65 World's Fairs "Parks reviewed all permit applications thoroughly," said Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver. "While we are heartened by the interest in one of Queens' most historic parks, our primary concern is ensuring the park is available for the many New Yorkers who call Flushing Meadows Corona Park their backyard."

Officials said large-scale, multi-day festivals had never been held on the grassy areas of the park and were surprised by the number of applications the city received for 2016.

Jackson Heights Food Court closed

From DNA Info:

The Jackson Heights Food Court, which re-opened in the fall after the city closed it for health code violations, mysteriously shuttered its doors again last week, according to customers.

The restaurant and market opened in 2012 in the site of a former movie theater at 73-07 37th Ave. inside Diversity Plaza.

The food court first closed in October after inspectors discovered it was operating without city or state permits, officials said.

Officials later found the presence of mice and other vermin inside the market.