Karen's a double-dipper

From the NY Post:

New financial-disclosure forms released yesterday show at least one member of the council, Karen Koslowitz, is double-dipping from the public trough, earning a $122,500 salary as a city lawmaker while collecting her city pension, of at least $60,000 a year.

Koslowitz built up her pension after 23 years on the city payroll, including a decade in the council that ended in 2001 after the arrival of term limits. But she was re-elected to the council in 2009 -- and after getting her pension.

The Democrat also held posts as a former deputy borough president in Queens and as a City Council aide in the 1980s. She declined to comment.

Pervert after Astoria women

 

Quinn's employees also bitchy

From the Daily News:

Christine Quinn needs to rein in her director of community outreach Tony Simone.

The City Council speaker's office has issued an apology after Simone reached out to protesters outside a Quinn fund-raiser last Monday by lobbing a few F-bombs their way.

Documentary maker Donny Moss tells us that the protest outside the Dream Downtown hotel, which drew close to 30 people, was one of several that he and others will organize "between now and the mayoral election," to urge voters to "look beyond" Quinn's "identity" as a gay politician "to her actual record."

According to Moss and another witness, Simone — who's a former Goldman Sachs portfolio analyst— approached the demonstrators, who were stationed on 16th St. between Eighth and Ninth Aves. outside of the hotel's entrance.

There, Simone asked one protester if Moss was present. Told that the filmmaker was indeed among the group, Simone responded: "Tell him to go f--- himself."

Moss says Simone then spotted longtime gay rights activist Allen Roskoff, and shouted "F--- you" at him before heading inside to the fund-raiser.

Roskoff, who's also been critical of Quinn, is president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and co-author of the nation's first gay rights bill.

When we ran this story by Quinn's office, her communications director Jamie McShane told us Simone had gone to the fund-raiser "on his own time," where he was "repeatedly verbally abused by protesters. Tony lost his cool and should not have. He apologizes for his actions."

"That's a patent lie," replied Moss, who insisted "no one even recognized" Simone until he hurled his epithets.

"I didn't even say a word to him after he said I should go f--- myself," said Moss.

City loses pothole complaints

From the Daily News:

Scott Stringer said his office logged more than 130 pothole complaints on the 311 site since March and claims that every one of them has disappeared without a trace.

The potholes, however, live on.

As of Monday, at least 10 of the potholes Stringer reported on busy thoroughfares like Sixth Ave., Third Ave. and 145th St. appeared to still be lying in wait, ready to shred the tires of unsuspecting motorists.

Roughly half the complaints were made online. When the complaints were entered into the 311 website - which directs users to the Department of Transportation homepage - Stringer's staffers received reference numbers.

When the staffers did not receive the promised confirmation emails 10 days later, they called 311 operators and were told there was no record of the complaints and the reference numbers were useless.

Nearly all of the calls made by phone were processed.

Ridgewood 'music venue' ransacked and robbed

I was alerted to this posting on Facebook:

This weekend has been incredibly heartbreaking for all of us at The Silent Barn. On top of many issues that we’re currently dealing with, over the weekend our house was completely ransacked. About $15k worth of audio equipment, house projects and personal belongings are gone. The violence to the space is almost as upsetting as the theft. Doors were ripped off of hinges, furniture ripped to shreds, and everything in the space strewn about in a sea of debris. We’ve lost 7 years worth of accumulated equipment, tools, and artwork donated and built by individuals from every end of the scene’s spectrum, and we’re still reeling with what this means for our own lives and the future of the space. If you would like to find out what you can do, email silentbarn@gmail.com. We need your help to continue.

Well, were you supposed to be here? There's a full vacate on this property... which has been illegally converted into 4 SROs... (Note the photos of hipster in bathrobe making breakfast.)

And here's some work without a permit:

Tweeding extends to comptroller's office

From the NY Post:

City Comptroller John Liu has awarded nearly $144,000 to two groups he enlisted to help him battle attacks against public-workers' pensions, The Post has learned.

Liu, known for pro-union stands, said in March he was "partnering" with the National Institute for Retirement Security and the New School's Schwartz Center to conduct research supporting his views on pensions.

Those views are in sharp contrast to those of Mayor Bloomberg, who is trying to stem pension spending.

Liu steered $50,000 to the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, and $93,725 to the Retirement Security group in no-bid contracts for research he commissioned.

Bikes stolen at Flushing Meadows

From A Walk in the Park:

A non-profit bike group which provides free lessons to kids in parks had all of its bikes stolen in a brazen burglary in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Bike New York had thirty-five children and adult Schwinn mountain bikes and accessories — estimated at a total of $10,000 dollars — stolen from a large green container located next to the abandoned iconic 1964 Worlds Fair New York State Pavilion. Thieves also made off with 40 helmets, clothing, and a bike pump.

Instructors discovered the theft on July 5th when they arrived on the first day of Summer camp at around 10:30 in the morning to find the lock missing and the door open. The container's entire contents were cleaned out. The thieves left behind official NYC Cycling Maps and waiver forms strewn around the metal box. According to Bike New York, the camp was supposed to run for seven weeks and reach 120 kids per week, ages nine and up. The group hired instructors to provide free of charge two-hour sessions three times daily to area camps and programs including the Parks Department, PAL and the YMCA. Activities were to include bike driver's ed and, group riding and trips promoting safe bike use.

Open the door, Eliot!

From the Daily News:

Rep. Eliot Engel and a business partner have repeatedly ignored city efforts to shut down an illegal apartment at a Bronx building they own, the Daily News has learned.

One city agency cited the owners of 1142 Metcalf Ave. in early 2009, and since then inspectors repeatedly tried to investigate complaints that the illegal unit never went away.

Again and again, Engel and his business partner ignored them, and the initial violation remains open, records show.

Six times since 2009, Buildings Department inspectors door-knocked the six-unit building owned by Engel, (D-Bronx/Westchester), and his partner, local businessman Harry Bajraktari.

Each time they couldn't get in, so each time they left notices instructing the owners to contact the agency to arrange an appointment - six notices in all since 2009. The latest visit took place last month.

Each time, city officials say, the owners ignored the request.

From stalled site to affordable housing

From Crains:

A stalled Long Island City, Queens, project will become a 117-unit mixed-income residential development with 108 affordable rental apartments for middle-income New Yorkers. The project, located at 23-10 41st Ave., was originally designed as a market-rate condominium. Under the Housing Asset Renewal Program, the city and Bank of America will provide Queensboro Development, the project's developer, with a low-interest construction and permanent loan for a total of $28 million. The program will provide $7.6 million, or $70,000 per unit, in subsidies for the project. For the city, one of the key points is that the subsidy per unit is far less than the $100,000 to $125,000 per unit needed to build new moderate-income rental projects.

And it's already causing problems...

Parks neglecting street trees

From the Daily News:

The city is taking years to prune trees and remove stumps that pose a hazard to people and houses, state Sen. Tony Avella charged Monday.

And when homeowners take matters into their own hands, they face thousands of dollars in fines, said Avella (D-Queens).

"This tree was last pruned in 2003," Avella said, standing in front of William Voss' home in New Hyde Park. "We called the Parks Department, and they said it would be included in the next seven-year cycle for pruning. That means it would be pruned once in 18 years."

Voss, 84, said he has been after the city to prune the tree since one of its limbs went crashing to the ground near a busy sidewalk several months ago.

On the trail of downed wires in Rosedale

Gallagher and Brown together on GOP petitions

From the NY Post:

Queens DA Richard Brown, who once prosecuted former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher on charges of sexually abusing a woman in his office, now finds himself joined with the former lawmaker again -- on election petitions for the Sept. 13 GOP primary.

The Queens Republican Party cross-endorsed Brown, a Democrat, in the GOP primary, putting his name on the same election form as Gallagher, who is running to keep his county committee seat in the 14th Election District.

Gallagher was accused of raping a woman in his campaign office in 2007. He pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor sexual-abuse charge and resigned his council seat to avoid jail time. But he isn't barred from running for a party post.

In an ironic twist, the Queens GOP collected signatures for both Gallagher and Brown -- whom they've cross-endorsed in the past -- in a petition submitted last week to the local Board of Elections.

Gallagher faces a contested race in September in what is turning into an all-out civil war among Queens Republicans -- with the Democratic district attorney caught in the crossfire.

Since his departure from the council, Gallagher has been doing consulting work. He did not respond to a request for comment.

This example of vibrant diversity may take the cake

From the NY Post:

A transvestite hooker who turned an unused Elmhurst Dairy trailer into her longtime personal crack den and brothel burned to death there yesterday, according to eyewitnesses and police.

The 47-year-old woman, known only as Dee, was found dead at about 6 a.m. at South Road and 157th Street in Jamaica, in the parking lot of the city's only dairy, where workers had for years allegedly turned a blind eye.

She both "lived in the trailer" and lured men there, said a prostitute calling herself Coco Blue, adding that Dee -- tall, manly faced and in love with tight skirts -- "stuck out like a sore thumb."

The dairy had long failed to lock the containers, according to people who work in the area.

43rd Avenue walk

Click photo for story.

A lot of property is off the tax roll

From the NY Post:

A new analysis of the city's property-tax rolls found that religious institutions, wealthy private colleges, hospitals and other nonprofits -- and even Madison Square Garden -- are exempt from an astonishing $13.5 billion in property taxes.

The Independent Budget Office, which released the review yesterday, reported that, just in the last two years, an extra $1 billion in potential property taxes were placed off limits to city tax collectors.

"Some of the breaks are permanent, and may actually be more than estimated," the IBO said, noting that the city's tax assessors don't have much reason to boost values on buildings they know to exempt.

The lengthy list of those living the zero-tax life ranged from nonprofit institutions ($2 billion in exemptions) to the MTA ($751 million) to Madison Square Garden, still enjoying the fruits of a sweet deal reached during the Koch administration that's now worth $15 million a year.

Incentives for economic development offered through the Industrial Development Agency consumed $368 million in property taxes that might otherwise have been added to the city treasury.

Hospitals and other medical facilities were spared more than $515 million in taxes.

Private schools, colleges and universities saved $430 million in tax levies.

The city itself made the list since it owns more than 7,500 properties that could generate $5 billion in taxes in private hands.

Danny has left the building

From the Queens Chronicle:

Clamoring between cardboard boxes that hold the memories from the past 33 years, Danny Chan runs to the phone that continues to ring off the hook despite the fact that his restaurant, Danny’s Szechuan Garden, officially closed its doors at the end of June.

“I have to be here, answering the phone because people are still calling for takeout,” Chan smiled. “So I take down their information and tell them I’ll let them know when we’ll be opening again.”

After more than three decades at 164-14 Crossbay Blvd. in Howard Beach, Danny Chan and his wife, Veronica, sold their building to the New York Families for Autistic Children, a nonprofit, and hope to soon open their restaurant in a smaller venue somewhere in Howard Beach.

“We want to run a more modern, smaller place,” Veronica Chan said. “It’s a good thing NYFAC will move in. It’s for a good cause.”

Originally from Hong Kong, the Chans describe their experience of owning the restaurant as “the story of the American dream.”

“We came here with nothing in our pockets and slowly but surely built this place up,” Danny Chan said. “Over 30 years, we made a lot of friends here.”

Another fine upstanding jiggle joint

From the Daily News:

Robert Potenza's testimony in federal court offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a jiggle joint - from his $1.5 million salary to the club's $4.50 cut on every $5 ATM transaction fee.

He says the tax agents who grilled him about the finances of Gallagher's 2000 in Long Island City were babes in the woods when it came to flesh peddling.

"They didn't seem like they knew much about my business," he testified.

The feds are seeking the forfeiture of nearly $900,000 seized from Potenza's TD Bank and Merrill Lynch accounts.

Government lawyers say he made more than 100 deposits of four-figure sums to avoid federal reporting requirements for transactions over $10,000. That practice is called "structuring" and is a red flag for tax evasion.

In a civil bench trial last week, the strip club king insisted he pays his taxes and said his mammary mecca is just a cash cow.

Chronicle endorses Vallone for DA?

From the Queens Chronicle:

As [Peter Vallone] told the Chronicle on Wednesday, unlike many council members, he hasn’t been handing out funds to groups that employ his former staffers. Around the city, many such organizations are little more than slush funds for the politically connected. But Vallone hasn’t been playing that game.

It’s time all of this nonsense came to an end. All council members should receive equal discretionary funding. And Vallone, an independent conservative Democrat and man of integrity, should get your vote. He’s expected to run for district attorney after this term in the council, his last under the law, if Richard Brown retires. Seems like he’d make a fine successor.

Bloomberg paid big money to boost approval ratings

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg tapped his personal fortune this year to boost his personal image.

Campaign filings released Friday show the billionaire mayor dropped $5.6 million in March and April on a blitz of TV ads, polling and mailings designed to improve Hizzoner's reputation.

Bloomberg's approval ratings plummeted in the wake of the city's bungling of the December blizzard cleanup, the CityTime fraud scandal and the mayor's ill-fated choice of an untested publishing executive to run the city schools.

Weprin, Padavan deny Creedmoor malfeasance

From the Queens Chronicle:

Former state Sen. Frank Padavan and City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), both supported the Indian Cultural and Community Center when it purchased two parcels of land at the site, approximately 4.5 acres, in 2008, which the group said it would use to build a community center, athletic field and parking lot.

But now the group’s plans have changed and it has lost the political backing of Weprin and Padavan that it once had.

Padavan said that representatives of the ICCC told him they planned to build a community and youth center. When asked if he supported the new plan, Padavan replied, “The area is not zoned for it,” adding “I am not in office anymore. I have nothing to do with this.”

When asked if he favors the apartment towers, a plan he said he only learned of recently, Weprin said he does not. He believes affordable housing for seniors is needed in the area, but not on the large scale that the ICCC is proposing.

The lawmaker also denied an accusation by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who replaced Padavan, that he pushed him to back legislation supporting the second deal.

The whole thing is now under investigation and Tony Avella is introducing legislation to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future.