Final paint job for 5 Pointz

From Crain's:

Working under the protection of NYPD officers in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, a crew of more than a dozen people painted over in white every square inch of the distinctive graffiti that had made the 5Pointz building in Long Island City a local landmark in recent years. The move came as the building's owner prepares to replace the industrial buildings with residential towers.

"I got it over with, and believe me, I had tears in my eyes," said Jerry Wolkoff, owner of G&M Realty. "I love what [the artists] did, otherwise I wouldn't have let them do it for the last 20 years, but it was time and I just wanted to end it."

Mr. Wolkoff and his son David, who together run G&M, and have plans to demolish the complex housing light-industrial users as well as artists' studios. In its place they plan to erect nearly 1,000 units of housing in two towers rising 41 and 47 stories.


One last mural:

'Coming to America' site stalled

From DNA Info:

Plans to build a luxury condo on the lot of a former Wendy's made famous in the movie "Coming to America" have been delayed after the Department of Buildings denied the construction company's permit, citing dozens of objections.

The plans to build a seven-story, mixed-use luxury building on the plot of land between Broadway and Reeder Street were not approved after the DOB found 70 objections that need to be addressed, according to a department spokeswoman.

She said the objections are mostly minor, but include zoning issues and the need for clarification on exit signs and fire ratings.

A secretary at Tan Architects, whose developer, Jerry Pi, also built the luxury building The Elm East across the street from the empty lot — said this week that the company was "still waiting for approval."

But plans were still set for construction to begin on the latest residential complex, called The Elm West, on the busy corner, according to the secretary, Winnie Mok.

Is Virginia Joe still relevant?

From The Politicker:

As the City Council’s growing Progressive Caucus sways the council speaker’s race, insiders are questioning whether their sizable bloc of Queens members will remain loyal to the caucus–or be picked off by their county leaders.

Members of the caucus have pledged to remain unified as they try to crown the city’s second-most powerful leader, even though they have yet to decide which candidate to support. But some wonder whether Queens Democrats–whose bloc vote has made them the most influential force in past speaker’s races–may stand in the way.

The caucus, which is expected to number roughly 20 next year, currently includes at least six members who hail from Queens, including the newly-elected Daneek Miller and Costa Constantinides. (Other county Democratic organizations, notably Brooklyn and the Bronx, also control a significant bloc of votes.)

Interviews with a wide range of Queens sources yielded varied opinions. But overall, political observers and even caucus members aren’t certain that Queens can be bucked completely. “If I had to guess right now, I think the Queens elected officials will most likely line up with county in the end,” said term-limited Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who hails from the borough.

For some, the benefits of the party’s backing seem too enticing for members to refuse.

“Is anybody going do more for Queens members than Crowley will?” asked another Queens Democrat, alluding to the choice committee chairmanships and election ground troops the county organization has bestowed upon members in the past. “What will the Progressive Caucus do for Queens members, for their ambitions, locally and in the future?”

Mr. Miller, who defeated a county-backed candidate to win his seat, nonethless reaffirmed his pledge of loyalty to the caucus. “The caucus has agreed to vote as a bloc,” he told Politicker, adding: “I think that people are firm in their commitment to a progressive New York City and the bottom line is I expect they will live up to their commitment.”

Mr. Constantinides, who did not return a request for comment, pledged to support the caucus upon his election but remains a close ally of Mr. Crowley. The other four Queens members of the caucus–Donovan Richards, Danny Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer (who has floated his name for speaker) and Julissa Ferreras–offered few hints on their plans today.

Queens Machine at odds with union over Speaker

From Crain's:

In the rest of the country, organized labor has been on the decline for decades. But following a highly successful 2013 election season in New York City, unions here have suddenly taken a seat at the table once reserved for the city's most powerful Democratic leaders.

The local political world now has moved its attention to the campaign for city government's second-most-powerful seat, City Council speaker. The vote of the council's 51 members won't happen until January, but the behind-the-scenes process has already yielded an eyebrow-raising move that demonstrates the political and legislative gains unions are likely to make in the coming years.

A top union official who was labor's lead negotiator in the deal to pass landmark paid-sick-leave legislation this year is now the chief negotiator for the council's Progressive Caucus in the horse-trading that will determine the next speaker. Alison Hirsh, the political director of the influential building workers' union, 32BJ SEIU, is bargaining with the county Democratic bosses who control other blocs of votes in the race.

A recent negotiating snafu demonstrates the conflict between the city's old and new political forces. About three weeks ago, council members from Queens who are part of the Progressive Caucus scheduled a meeting at the Queens office of law firm Sweeney Gallo Reich & Bolz. The firm's partners run the day-to-day operations of the borough's Democratic Party, and the progressives hoped to persuade them to partner in lining up the 26 votes needed to elect a speaker.

Just hours before the meeting, the leaders of the Queens Democratic machine learned that Ms. Hirsh of 32BJ would attend in her capacity as lead negotiator, according to multiple sources. The Democratic leadership, whose executive director declined to comment, demanded that only elected officials be allowed in the room.

The Progressive Caucus refused, and the meeting was canceled, sparking tensions between the two most powerful forces in this year's speaker race. A flurry of phone calls seeking to mend the rift has ensued, according to sources.

"Folks who were used to deciding things themselves are upset," one Progressive Caucus member said. "There's someone new that's going to make decisions."

The Queens Museum. Just "museum".

Hey, folks, if you want to see what people are saying about the "new" Queens Museum (of art?), you should read this review from New York Magazine, which I found courtesy of Brownstoner Queens.

Still no affordable housing at Atlantic Yards

From the Brooklyn Paper:

A band of politicians and civic groups is calling on the state to stop developer Forest City Ratner from selling off the majority of the Atlantic Yards development until the company fast-tracks the construction of below-market-rate housing.

The Shanghai-based developer Greenland inked a deal in October to buy the rights to the remaining, un-built towers of the stagnated project from Forest City Ratner, leaving just the Barclays Center and the under-construction modular high-rise B2 tower in the hands of the builder. But elected officials, including Fort Greene councilwoman and Public-Advocate-elect Letitia James, said the state should put the brakes on the deal and find someone new to jump-start the so-called “affordable” housing, because Brooklyn does not know Greenland the developer from the Nordic country it shares a name with.

“The governor should consider not-for-profit organizations to build the affordable housing, ones who have a track record of doing it,” James said at a Friday press conference. “Now here Forest City Ratner is, trying to kick out the plan and selling over 70 percent of his interest in this project to an organization that we really don’t have any relationship with and have no experience with.”

Greenland’s purchase includes a planned 15 apartment towers and one office building and a promise of 2,250 so-called “affordable” units, of which only 181 are in progress as part of the 383-unit B2. Officials are demanding that the state’s Empire State Development defer any sale until the state has looked at other ways to expedite construction.

To Letitia James' credit, she was one of the few electeds to speak out Atlantic Yards before construction started, and exactly for reasons such as this. The others aided and abetted Bruce Ratner, so the outrage doesn't exactly come across as sincere.

From faith to Fedders

From the Queens Courier:

City and state Housing representatives and local elected officials gathered with the community on November 15 for the grand opening of the affordable Hellenic-American Neighborhood Action Committee (HANAC) – Presbyterian Church of Astoria (PCA) Senior Residence, located at 31-34 33rd Street.

The six-story, $24 million project was built on the site of the former Presbyterian Church of Astoria, which had reached out to the nonprofit HANAC organization and Enterprise Community Partners after facing financial difficulties.

“HANAC-PCA Senior Residence is a critical example of how underutilized, faith-based sites can be used to create new housing in a city where land is scarce and the need for affordable housing is great,” said John Kaiteri, HANAC executive director and CEO.

The development was primarily funded through the city, state and Borough President Helen Marshall.

Nowhere to ride

From the NY Times:

The outcry has become even more pitched since Sept. 29, when a pack of motorcyclists was involved in an altercation on the Henry Hudson Parkway with a man driving an S.U.V. The police said some of the motorcyclists pulled the driver from his vehicle and beat him. One motorcyclist was hospitalized, and this month 11 men, including an undercover police officer, were indicted in connection with the attack; all but one were charged with gang assault. And while helmet-cam videos do not show dirt bikers in that melee, bikers say the authorities are intent on shutting down their urban sport.

Back in Harlem, they unloaded the bikes and rode off into the streets. Fire trucks and police cruisers showed up almost instantly. It is illegal to ride a dirt bike on New York City streets.

“This is why we rip and run in the streets,” Joseph Middleton, 31, a biker from Harlem, said. “There really is nowhere to ride.”

So far this year in the city, there have been at least 437 motorcyclist and dirt biker arrests: nearly 200 for reckless endangerment or reckless driving, and 5,498 summonses for license plate violations and other infractions. Joseph A. McCormack, the chief of vehicular crimes at the Bronx district attorney’s office, said prosecutors there had seen a sharp rise in the number of cases involving dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles in recent years. There were more than 200 cases — including reckless driving, vehicle violations and, in a few instances, striking pedestrians — this summer alone.

Hundreds turn out for 5 Pointz rally

From Saturday, November 16th.

Pol aides snag "affordable" apartment

From the NY Post:

An aide to Council Speaker Christine Quinn is living large after helping push through the development of a Hell’s Kitchen luxury building — then landing a coveted affordable apartment there.

Danielle DeCerbo, 33, moved into Gotham West with her wife and their two children after her application for a “middle-income” pad was approved this summer.

Described by colleagues as a tenacious negotiator for the city, DeCerbo scored one of 682 affordable apartments — out of nearly 30,000 applicants — in a housing lottery after working on the West 45th Street development as a staffer on the council’s land-use division.

“For her to benefit from any project she negotiated or worked on, it’s just unseemly,” a political insider told The Post.

Another person with knowledge of the project said DeCerbo was “very much in the driver’s seat” during the years of bargaining over the four-building Gotham West complex.

The $520 million, 1,238-unit complex near 11th Avenue is the result of the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning, which promised neighbors low-income housing in exchange for office and residential towers on Manhattan’s West Side.

DeCerbo, who earned $85,913 in 2012, also helped secure new offices and housing south of Gotham West, after Mayor Bloomberg’s push to build a football stadium failed.

DeCerbo was selected in the lottery for 530 W. 45th St. with wife Erin Kaiser, 34, a former aide to Manhattan Assemblyman Dick Gottfried who made $34,806 last year.

The affordable building includes a fitness center, children’s playroom, laundry room and courtyard space.

HPD and City Council representatives say DeCerbo won her apartment fair and square.

Little Neck LIRR staircase in bad shape

"The station overpass at Little Neck was given el cheapo plywood railings, which are falling apart already. Someone is going to get a handful of splinters from this.

I plan on bombarding Lex Luthor Vallone with this stuff when he assumes." - anonymous

Worker dies at NYU construction site

From Metro:

A construction worker is dead after falling from scaffolding on the sixth floor of a New York University building on Friday, police said.

Jamie Sillart, 56, of Bergenfield, N.J., was working on the façade of NYU’s Languages and Literature Building at 19 University Place when he slipped and fell from his perch around 11:30 a.m. He landed on the adjacent rooftop of the NYU Cantor Film Center at 269 Greene Street, police said.

Sillart, who was working for D.P. Consulting Corp., was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

LaGuardia to get better flood protection

From CBS New York:

LaGuardia Airport is set to receive $37.5 million in federal and state funds for five projects designed to protect it from another storm like by Superstorm Sandy.

The projects include installing flood barrier berms, concrete floodwalls and gravity drains as well as replacing generators and rehabilitating the airport’s power distribution grid, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo says about 100 million gallons of water flooded the airport during Sandy. He says flood water in the pump houses rendered them temporarily inoperable. Commercial flight operations were closed for three days. The airport is located between two bays on the East River.

Leftie revolution coming soon

From the Daily News:

The City Council is about to take a sharp left turn.

Twenty-one new Council members are about to take office, and many of them are more liberal than the lawmakers they will replace — creating a tipping point, analysts say, in favor of a “progressive” agenda that has been bottled up for decades.

New Yorkers can expect everything from the expansion of workers’ rights to the imposition of new burdens on businesses.

“You have a wealth of young progressives who are going to be more aggressive than their predecessors,” said Councilman-elect Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).

“And then you have a mayor who’s willing to partner with the City Council to advance progressive legislation.”

“All the stars are aligning in a progressive direction,” Torres said.

Some civic and political leaders are sounding the alarm.

“What concerns me is they’re certainly going to have agreement on the broader strokes, and I think they’re going to advance that agenda,” said outgoing Council Minority Leader James Oddo (R-Staten Island). “What’s to stop it?”

Concerned about overdevelopment in Ridgewood

"Hello Queens Crapper,

My name is Jack. I am a young South Carolina transplant who has been living in Greater Ridgewood for almost 2 years now. I have grown extremely fond of Ridgewood and what it contributes to Queens as a borough. I am disheartened lately by the rumors of Ridgewood's up-and-comming status. There is a condo I recently noticed on 60th Lane between 71 Ave and Myrtle. It is hideous and frightening. On Fresh Pond Road near Metropolitan there appears to be another condo going up. I was wondering if you knew of any grass-roots actions I could take to better fortify Greater Ridgewood. I would cry to see the lovely pre-war houses and buildings replaced by new construction buildings (like those seen around Myrtle-Wyckoff).

At any rate, I support your blog. Thank you."

-Jack

Grass roots actions? Well, I suppose you could join a civic organization. But then again, that doesn't seem to help for a number of reasons.

So, Jack, my advice to you is to become an independent researcher. You can't beat them at their game unless you know their rules and how they cheat. See below for an example:


This e-mail was sent to Queens CB5 and BCC'd to yours truly:

"There is a proposed project on Forest Avenue which I believe requires a variance, but it looks as though the developer is trying to do an end run around CB5 and BSA.

The address is 62-41 Forest Avenue. Plans have been filed for a 5-story building containing 44 dwelling units, with retail stores and an “ambulatory diagnostic center” on the ground floor.

The zoning for this lot is split between R6B & R5B, and also has a C2-4 overlay. The permits have been disapproved by buildings dating back to 2011, when they only planned to have 30 apartments.

The reason why I believe this requires CB5 and BSA approval is because they are building in a mapped street. My friend, Paul Graziano, an urban planning consultant, explained to me that any project built in a mapped street must go before BSA. [See section titled: General City Law Waivers - ed.]

I could not find any reference to this street having been de-mapped in the past few years, and it appears on the most recent version of DCP’s zoning maps:



Thank you."

- Christina Wilkinson

____________________________________________

Ah, she forgot to mention that this is yet another Gerald Caliendo special...

All it takes is a computer and NYC.gov to find most of the information that you need. I also have plenty of resources at my disposal - architects, urban planners, historians and just people who know their stuff - if you need help. A camera also is useful. Send in your stuff. I'll be happy to post it and do some of the legwork.

Mary Immaculate looks worse than previously reported

From Clean Up Jamaica Queens:

Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, which was located at 152-11 89th Avenue, right across from Rufus King Park, closed it’s doors back in 2009 like so many other Queens Hospitals, including Jamaica’s other hospital, St. John’s Queens, putting 2500 hospital employees out of work and putting a big burden on the people of Jamaica and Queens.

Since then the boarded up hospital sits there and not looking so immaculate these days.

Even though there has been talk of the large building being turned into condos or market rate apartments (and there are work permits posted all over), the once immaculate hospital is looking pretty shitty these days. Open windows side by side with many broken windows (talk about your Broken Window Theory), boarded up windows and doors, an air conditioner hanging barely from one window, huge tree branches broken and crashed into the railings of the adjacent parking garage, garbage strewn around, including mattresses, shopping carts and furniture, plus homeless people can be seen sleeping on the outside (maybe in the inside), the place is easily accessible, since there are very little fences around the buildings main entrance.

So Jamaica endures another eyesore in the community, a huge one just a couple of blocks from the downtown area.

Do you recognize the Flushing rapist?

From WPIX:

In Queens, cops have released surveillance video of a man they say sexually assaulted a young woman walking home from a Halloween party.

Police say the 23-year-old international college student was walking home in Flushing at about 4:30 in the morning Nov. 1 near Melbourne avenue and 152nd Street.

That’s when, cops say, the suspect ambushed her, punched her in the head, covered her mouth, dragged her into the bushes nearby, and tried to remove her underwear.

If you have any information, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Affordable housing: more of a joke than ever

From the NY Post:

Thanks to Albany, luxury developers may dodge property taxes in exchange for building — or at least funding — some affordable housing. But with $1 billion a year in uncollected taxes, are these really good deals for NYC?

At 90 stories, it will be tallest residential tower in the city. With sweeping views of downtown Manhattan and Central Park, the $1.5 billion building is one of the most coveted addresses; a 14,000-square-foot penthouse already sold for more than $90 million.

One57 has another perk as well — its residents stand to pay no property taxes for 10 years.

The sweetheart deal for One57 developer Extell, tucked into a larger housing bill at the behest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and signed by Gov. Cuomo, is under investigation by Albany’s anti-corruption Moreland Commission.

It’s also drawn renewed scrutiny to the 421-a tax exemption, a controversial program that dates back to the 1970s when the city began offering breaks to spur residential development.
The city lost out on a whopping $1 billion in property taxes last fiscal year under the 421-a program.

In exchange, the developers are suppose to set aside 20% of their units for affordable housing or fund affordable housing in another way.
But is the amount of money New York loses to these exemptions, which could go to programs that benefit the entire city, really offset by a relatively small number of apartments with lower rents?

Critics say no.

“Our city spends $1 billion every year on these kinds of subsidies, with little affordable housing to show for it. These valuable public resources should be used to keep New York affordable for middle- and low-income New Yorkers,” said Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander.

Affordable housing is the excuse politicians use to get away with rewarding their developer friends lucrative tax breaks. It's a complete joke. Everyone knows it. But no one will stop it. The way to keep housing affordable is to stop upzoning the crap out of everything.

DEP project may bring traffic nightmare

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed to spread a citywide project to South Ozone Park next August to prevent untreated sewage from ultimately making its way into the bay.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) result from the combination of this domestic sewage and industrial wastewaters with storm water. The project, once completed, will monitor this, and consists of adding higher level sewer separation, wet weather stabilization, drainage basins and more in the event of a future storm.

Currently, plans are in preliminary stages. There will be period for public comment, and the DEP is working with the DOT on road closure potentials.

According to proposal plans, once construction begins, 126th Street between South Conduit Avenue and 150th Avenue will be closed for one year, as will the 150th Avenue westbound lane.

Additionally, the Belt Parkway’s on-ramp near 150th Avenue will be closed for 22 months, and one eastbound lane will be closed for one year during nighttime DOT work hours.

North Conduit Avenue near 150th Avenue will also experience various lane closures for up to two years. A traffic analysis concluded that the left lane can be closed for two months, and the second lane closed at night for two, one-month periods.

The green space between the Belt Parkway and North Conduit Avenue will be closed for two years.

There are also additional flagging areas for trucks, and temporary, short-term closures for truck unloading.

CB10 not keen on hotel in residential district

From The Forum:

Community Board 10 members expressed serious reservations at their meeting last week about a proposal to build a hotel at 132-10 149th Ave., with a number of individuals citing concerns that the facility would be across the street from a homeless shelter.

If the plan is approved, the hotel that would likely be built at the spot would be a Quality Inn, according to Patrick Jones, who spoke on behalf of the property owner at the CB 10 meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in South Ozone Park last Thursday evening. The proposed 28,000 square foot hotel would include 101 rooms and four floors, Jones said.

While Jones stressed that the hotel would be situated near similar businesses, board members said they are worried about its placement because of the proximity to both the homeless shelter and nearby homes.

“There are residential homes a block away, a school a block away,” said CB 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton, who also emphasized that the planned structure would be “directly across from a homeless shelter with registered sex offenders.”

Braton, as well as other board members, said they were worried about the hotel’s patrons walking from the parking lot to the building’s entrance, particularly because of how close the building would be to the shelter. Jones said he could likely change the design of the hotel so the entranceway and parking lot would be closer together.

“A lot of our clients are people who have missed flight connections and wouldn’t be driving – they’d get dropped off at the entrance” Jones said in response to board members’ concerns about individuals walking from the parking lot to the front of the building.

Board members also asked if union workers would be used during the facility’s construction.

“A hotel of this size is generally built without union labor,” Jones said. “…But I imagine there might be a mix of union and non-union.”