The forgotten rent-stabilized residents of the sleazy Kew Gardens Hotel

 

Queens Ledger

 Tenants that live in the same building that housed the Umbrella Hotel just off Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens have lived with a constant barrage of criminal activity, culminating in a fatal shooting on New Year’s Day that eventually led to the hotel’s closure.

However, the seven remaining tenants say they are now living in their rent-stabilized apartments without heat or hot water.

Rohini Singh, a mother who has lived there since 2017, said the owners and management company have abandoned the building, leaving tenants to fend for themselves.

“We are on our own,” Singh said. “The temperature in my apartment was at 47 degrees this week. I’ve put in two tickets at 311 for heat and hot water. No one has showed up at my apartment to check anything.”

She added that the front doors are locked, which means that mail cannot be delivered, while basic maintenance like trash removal have completely vanished.

Jonathan Kastin, another resident in the building, has heat, but no hot water. He has taken it upon himself to serve as a make-shift tenants’ association leader.

“People are worried, scared and they’re suffering,” Kastin said. “They’re sitting there, living in their winter coats. I don’t know how they manage it.”

He said a worker came to the building on Friday to fix his hot water, but refused to hear any other tenant complaints.

“I said, ‘There are other tenants here and they are having heat and hot water problems,’” Kastin said. “She’s like ‘I’m just responding to my own ticket. Let them put in their own ticket.’ It was crazy. She just didn’t want to know about anything.”

He also worried about the elevators in the building. Two out of the three do not work, with the third being unreliable.

“The next time the elevator breaks, those of us on the top floor will be stranded,” Kastin said.

A notice posted in the building the day after the hotel closed advised residents to begin looking for another apartment immediately.

“It’s a hilarious notice, if it weren’t so awful” Kastin said. “They never communicated about conditions in the building. They would never send us emails, they would never talk to us.

Hunters Point South still waiting on sign offs

From Crains:

One of the final large-scale projects of the Bloomberg administration is languishing on the Queens waterfront despite its having been approved three and a half years ago. But there are signs that the development may finally be moving forward.

TF Cornerstone was selected in December 2013 to build a 1,197-unit apartment complex as part of the Hunters Point South complex on the Long Island City coast. Such projects typically take two or three years to complete, yet this one's design hasn't been finalized.

Sources with knowledge of the development told Crain's that delays piled up because of the tangle of utility lines and a train tunnel that run beneath the site. The complications of accommodating these subterranean obstacles was not initially apparent and led TF Cornerstone to alter its design of the building last year.

"The plan changed, and it needed to change based on what they discovered underneath the site," City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer said at the time.

But changing the blueprints was not enough. Both Amtrak, which owns the rail tunnel running beneath the East River, and the New York Power Authority, which controls underground electrical lines, must also sign off on an agreement covering the building's design and construction to ensure no harm comes to their infrastructure.

Negotiations with Amtrak began more than two years ago, a spokesman for the rail line said, and are ongoing. However, project insiders said that a resolution is nearly at hand and other aspects of the project are now moving forward rapidly, suggesting that the building may get off the ground early next year.

Tearing up the streets

From the Daily News:

City streets are increasingly being chopped up by utility firms to make repairs without permission — despite the de Blasio administration’s vow to boost road safety.

The city issued 3,909 summonses in 2014 to Con Ed, KeySpan Energy, Verizon and other smaller firms for illegally tearing up streets, according to data obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request.

By contrast, the city issued an estimated 4,800 tickets in 2013, 1,692 in 2012, 1,758 in 2011 and 1,027 in 2010, records show.

The roadwork can be dangerous.

“Without a doubt, whenever a crew has a road opened up and partially blocked, it’s a danger,” said AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair.

The unwarranted street work comes after the city has tried to crack down on utility companies that don’t follow the rules.

In 2010, the city increased fines, to $1,500 from $800, for shredding streets without permission.

But the city’s main utility companies have not been deterred.

Con Ed, the city’s largest utility, was hit with a whopping $14 million in fines in 2014, records show.

Bill may force utilities to repair streets they destroy

From the Daily News:

Utility companies that trash streets while doing underground work would face jacked up fines under legislation being introduced in the City Council.

When companies like Con Ed, Time Warner and Verizon tear up streets to do utility work, they’re required to repave the road and leave it in good shape.

But Councilman Dan Garodnick said there are frequent complaints that streets are left unevenly paved, marred with potholes, or strewn with debris.

The bill he is sponsoring would double fines from $5,000 to $10,000 for violations like digging up a street without a permit, repaving a street improperly, or blocking a fire hydrant or bus stop.

Fines would jump from $1,000 to $5,000 for improperly installing curbs, failing to remove debris, and similar violations.

Squatters invade foreclosed crap

From the NY Post:

Squatters have returned to New York City.

One, Peter Zephyrin, considers himself a modern-day Robin Hood for taking over an unfinished and boarded-up complex on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.

Zephyrin, 36, installed electricity and a water heater at the 10 adjoined three-story buildings and is collecting rent from two sets of tenants, who moved into the three-bedroom, two-bath pads in December. He charges $250 a week per resident.

“Imagine you woke up one day and found out the US government gave you license to use your brain and do something unorthodox,” Zephyrin told The Post. “I’m taking what the lazy wealthy person left behind . . . I’m trying to help families out.”

Zephyrin is trying to seize the buildings through “adverse possession” statutes, which permit an enterprising homesteader to acquire abandoned property after occupying it for 10 years, so long as the ownership is not contested.

They heat the apartment by boiling water on a hot plate. There is no gas, refrigerator or working stove.

Tenants don’t pay for electricity or other utilities — and don’t know who does. A Zara manager, who visited the site Wednesday, told The Post that Zephyrin “jumped wires” to get electricity.

Zephyrin was living at the Jamaica Avenue development himself until Jan. 23, when police arrested him and charged him with trespassing and scheming to defraud, court records show.

Another scam: Green Dot Moneypak

From The Forum:

Police are urging the public to beware one of the latest scams that is growing in Queens, and throughout the city.

Frequently referred to as the “green dot money scam,” the crime often involves con artists, who claim to be from companies like Con Edison, making phone calls to residents and threatening people with service disruptions if they do not send funds immediately via a “Green Dot MoneyPak.”

The scam is not only limited to utility companies, police stressed: The unsolicited calls could be from anyone demanding money.

Last week, NYPD Inspector James Klein penned a letter to owners of businesses where the green dot cards are sold, asking for their cooperation in combating the crime that he noted often targets elderly and immigrant communities.

“This scam has netted criminals thousands and thousands of dollars, negatively impacting those who can least afford it,” Klein wrote.

In the letter, the officer asked owners to display a flyer in their store – particularly near the green dot cards – about the scam.

Timber!

Made me think of this...



But if someone doesn't act soon, the result won't be so funny.

Addabbo and Avella introduce quality-of-life bills

From Forest Hills Patch:

One bill that recently passed the Senate is designed to curb graffiti by making those who are convicted of graffiti-related crimes to clean up the unsightly street art in their communities.

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, co-sponsored a bill that would require penalties for graffiti convictions to include graffiti removal.

State Sen. Joe Addabbo, who represents Forest Hills, is also pushing legislation that would force the city to give residents within a half mile of construction zones a heads-up three days in advance.

The bill would also apply to infrastructure projects that would disrupt gas and electric service. Construction that would be complete in under 48 is not subject to the restrictions.

On the trail of downed wires in Rosedale