de Blasios DHS kicks out homeless people from a hotel to move in homeless people kicked out of another hotel

 

PIX News 

  In response to neighbors' complaints, Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration vowed to move hundreds of homeless men out of an Upper West Side hotel to a shelter just south of the Empire State Building, but that shelter is currently full of adult families, many with disabilities.

The city not only neglected to tell the families that they were forcing them to move, it also didn't tell them that they were being transferred out immediately, without time to even pack all of their belongings. The Legal Aid Society is now launching a lawsuit.

The city on Wednesday morning formally announced that it was moving 300 men out of the Lucerne Hotel in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. By Wednesday afternoon, residents of the Harmonia Shelter, on East 31st Street in Midtown, still didn't know that the de Blasio administration had decided to relocate them to make way for the men displaced from the Lucerne.
Maria Lopez has lived at the Harmonia for two years.

"Why are you going to take out families that are doing something positive," she said, "and bring something that's negative? And make it some men's shelter, that don't make no sense."

 NY Post

With little warning, City Hall moved more than a hundred disabled New Yorkers out of their Midtown shelter to make way for the homeless who were booted by Mayor Bill de Blasio from an Upper West Side hotel.

Frustrated and fearful residents of the Harmonia, a former hotel located on East 31st Street, lined the streets with their belongings Thursday as they awaited their sudden transfer to other shelters in the Big Apple’s sprawling system — with some saying they are being moved to Brooklyn and Queens.

“We’ve been living here for two years. We’ve accumulated so much stuff and they want to just bring one bag. I feel mad,” said Moises Oliveras, 44, who suffers from a host of medical issues and lived at the shelter with his wife, Maria.

“They use us like chess pieces. Moving us around like that.”

The Oliverases only found out Wednesday that they were being moved, just a day after City Hall quietly acknowledged its decision to stop housing the homeless in the Lucerne Hotel.

“We’re human beings, man. And they treated us like garbage,” Oliveras added.
An undated fact sheet posted online reports that more than 170 families call the Harmonia home, though it’s unclear how many lived in the facility as of Thursday. The Post observed dozens of residents standing outside near the facility preparing to move.

“It’s unfair. It’s last notice. Everyone is running around. We were just told this yesterday,” said Lisa Feliciano, 49, a childcare provider who has lived at the shelter for eight months with her daughter.

The Mayor's office and the Department of Homeless Services refused to respond about these transfers

de Blasio clearly doesn't have a soul.

19 years, 9/11

Rents go up at COVID-19's epicenter neighborhoods

THE CITY

In some parts of the city, rents have dropped since the COVID-19 crisis began. But for neighborhoods that felt the effects of the coronavirus most, listed prices have risen slightly, according to a new analysis.

The annual rental report by the apartment-listings site StreetEasy paints a very different price picture between the neighborhoods with the lowest coronavirus infection rates — primarily wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn — and the hardest-hit areas, mostly in Queens and The Bronx.

Between February and July of this year, rents fell by 1.9% in the zip codes with the lowest COVID-19 rates in the city, like Battery Park City, Greenwich Village and Tribeca, according to the report, comprised of market-rate listing data.

However, in the neighborhoods with the highest rates of COVID-19, per city health department data — East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights topped the list — advertised rents have climbed a bit in the same time period, rising 0.3%.

 The findings contradict the claim that there’s an “exodus out of the city,” said Nancy Wu, an economist at StreetEasy.

“That’s specific to Manhattan, and a lot of these Manhattan-esque neighborhoods,” she said. Elsewhere in the city, “it’s a very different picture.”

You're welcome Governor

Like Chuck D once said, Some biters I know are damn devils...

Cuomo's colon is in the wrong place on his Daily Fact prop

Don't forget to bring money; casinos and malls reopening soon

Greenpoint Post


Shopping malls and casinos are allowed to reopen in New York City next week– after being closed for six months in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Malls and casinos are permitted to reopen on Wednesday, Sept. 9 on the condition that they have an adequate air filtration system in place, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

Malls, which have opened in all other regions of the state, can finally open in the five boroughs at 50 percent capacity. No indoor dining inside mall restaurants and food courts is permitted, however.
Stores that have separate entrances from the main mall entrance were already allowed to reopen.

Casinos, which have been closed in all 10 regions of the state, can open statewide at 25 percent of their maximum capacity. No table games or beverage service on the gaming floor is allowed, Cuomo said.

The New York City First Lady is a tax boondoggle part II

NY Post

First lady Chirlane McCray’s pet project to erect more city statues to women is a monumental failure, critics say.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife started the effort two years ago — yet has chosen only one artist for a single monument so far.

A rep for McCray insists her boss’s She Built NYC effort had to be temporarily shelved because of the coronavirus, but critics note that construction restraints on the Big Apple amid the pandemic were lifted several months ago — and claim City Hall’s incompetence and scattered priorities are really to blame.

“There is no leadership, there is [no] follow-through. There’s no one at the helm,” City Councilman Mark Gjonaj (D-Bronx), a member of the body’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, griped to The Post.

Meanwhile, last month, de Blasio appointed his wife to yet another monumental effort — a racial justice task force, where she’ll be reviewing the fate of current city statues honoring figures tainted by slavery, including memorials to Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — even as she struggles to address the first related project.

Seven historical female city figures, including groundbreaking politician Shirley Chisholm and legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, were selected for monuments by She Built NYC last year. Fewer than 10 of the city’s 150 current statues honor women.

The city’s first lady is not paid for her work on either project and uses existing city employees for them.

de Blasio abolishes YourLIC development plan

Patch

 City Hall has cut ties with Your LIC, a coalition of four developers formulating plans for a portion of the Long Island City waterfront where Amazon had planned to build a second headquarters, after failing to reach an agreement with the developers over infrastructure investments they would make.

The city will withdraw its plots of land from the Your LIC planning process, after officials determined that the developers were not offering adequate open space and infrastructure investments as part of the project, City Hall spokesperson Mitch Schwartz confirmed to Patch.

Patch has reached out to a spokesperson for the Your LIC coalition and will update this story with their response.

"We remain committed to Long Island City's future as a thriving mixed use community," Schwartz said in an emailed statement. "That means supporting proposals that properly account for the development's critical infrastructure needs and impacts, like open space, transportation and water and sewer.

"After extensive discussions with YourLIC developers, we are disappointed that the proposed project does not deliver on those requirements. This project must complement the surrounding area and properly support the development's residents, workers, and visitors. We're going to hold private developers accountable to those goals. Queens deserves nothing less."

de Blasio abolishes the BQX

Queens Post

The future of the $2.7 billion streetcar connecting western Queens to the Brooklyn waterfront will be up to the next mayor of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.

The coronavirus pandemic and fiscal constraints have significantly delayed the timeline of the project, dubbed the Brooklyn Queens Connector or BQX.

The city had just begun the environmental review process for the 11-mile streetcar project in 
February but the pandemic brought the process to a screeching halt. It was scheduled to begin scoping and public hearings in May and June, but has been delayed indefinitely.
Yesterday, de Blasio said the next administration will decide the fate of the project, as his term ends in 2021.

“We’re going to continue to do the work to prepare,” he said at a press briefing. “The decisions will have to be made by-and-large in the next administration given the time that’s been lost here.”
The project also comes at a time when New York City faces a multi-billion-dollar budget hole due to economic fallout from the pandemic.

At the end of April, de Blasio said he was unsure whether the city had the funds to cover its share of the costs — given the budget crisis. He said that “substantial federal funding” was needed to make the project a reality.

Critics of the BQX argue that the project is not worth the multi-billion dollar cost. Many transit advocates say the money would be better spent on improving MTA buses and bus lanes, which cost much less.

 

Tom Seaver, dead at 75

The most Amazing Met.

Trump to New York City, Drop Dead

NY Post

President Trump is ordering the federal government to begin the process of defunding New York City and three other cities where officials allowed “lawless” protests and cut police budgets amid rising violent crime, The Post can exclusively reveal.

Trump on Wednesday signed a five-page memo ordering all federal agencies to send reports to the White House Office of Management and Budget that detail funds that can be redirected.
New York City, Washington, DC, Seattle and Portland are initial targets as Trump makes “law and order” a centerpiece of his reelection campaign after months of unrest and violence following the 
May killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police.

“My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,” Trump says in the memo.

“To ensure that Federal funds are neither unduly wasted nor spent in a manner that directly violates our Government’s promise to protect life, liberty, and property, it is imperative that the Federal Government review the use of Federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America’s cities.”

Federal agencies must detail “all Federal funds provided to Seattle, Portland, New York City, Washington, D.C.” Also, within 14 days Attorney General Bill Barr must develop a list of “anarchist jurisdictions” that “permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures” to restore order. The memo does not require Barr to include the four cities, possibly for legal reasons.

The memo instructs White House budget director Russ Vought to issue guidance in 30 days from Wednesday “to the heads of agencies on restricting eligibility of or otherwise disfavoring, to the maximum extent permitted by law, anarchist jurisdictions in the receipt of Federal grants.”
 
The amounts of money impacted by Trump’s order could be massive. New York City, for example, gets about $7 billion a year in federal aid.

 Impunity City

Didn't the PBA just endorse this guy? I don't know about y'all but this is going to be extremely counterproductive to the NYPD's efforts to make the city safe. Plus the city will just get worse than it is right now in all aspects regarding essential services like schools and mass transit.

 

The CDC cancels rent until New Years Eve

Gothamist

 Renters nationwide have a new chance for reprieve from evictions until the end of 2020.
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order bans evictions across the country for those making under $99,000 a year or who received a coronavirus stimulus check -- a move tenant advocates cautioned still doesn't protect all tenants.

The nationwide eviction moratorium goes beyond the federal protections under the CARES Act, which expired in late July and only applied to housing with federally-related financing or assistance. 

The moratorium could help out the country's some 43 million renters, the CDC estimates.
"[H]ousing stability helps protect public health because homelessness increases the likelihood of individuals moving into congregate settings, such as homeless shelters, which then puts individuals at higher risk to COVID-19," the CDC order reads, detailing how the coronavirus spread would be exacerbated across state lines if tenants are forced to move out, whether to the streets, crowded shelters, or with family and friends.

Under the order, tenants still owe the rent, eventually.

Renters must meet one of three requirements to qualify: make less than $99,000 this year, did not have to pay income taxes last year, or received a federal stimulus check. Those seeking relief will have to sign a declaration they're unable to pay rent due to lost income or "extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses," and that they've tried to pay some rent or seek government assistance. 

They must certify an eviction would force them into homelessness or shared living conditions. Renters would also have to sign a statement acknowledging their landlord could require the rental payments in full as soon as the moratorium expires—January 1st.

1,014

NY Post

The city surpassed 1,000 shootings for the year on Sunday, according to NYPD data, which also shows an average of nearly 10 people fell victim to gun violence each day over the last four weeks.

With four more months left in 2020, New York City logged 1,004 1014 shootings as of Aug. 30, according to NYPD data released Monday. Last year, there had been just 537 by that time.

It is the first time the city has eclipsed the benchmark in gun violence since 2015, when 1,138 shootings were recorded for the entire year.

“Mr. Mayor, it is time to stop calling New York the safest big city,” a Brooklyn cop quipped to The Post.

200,000 reasons why Cuomo is a now a big Islanders fan

 

Field of Schemes

As I’ve often pointed out in this space, political corruption is seldom as simple as a quid pro quo, where a politician backs a favored project solely in exchange for campaign donations. There are other factors at work — wanting to have big shiny projects they can use to show they’re allegedly creating jobs, wanting to please “growth coalitions” of business leaders who band together behind development deals, wanting the damn lobbyists to finally go away — that are equally if not more effective than outright bribes.
 
That said, handing over stacks of twenties is a time-honored way to at least say thank you for services rendered. And according to campaign finance records compiled by Newsday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo collected more than $200,000 worth of small bills in recent weeks in the wake of his support of the New York Islanders‘ new arena at Belmont Park:

Cuomo received $50,000 from Scott Malkin, and another $50,000 from Jon Ledecky, with both contributions listed as occurring on July 10, according to state campaign finance records. Ledecky and Malkin are the co-owners of the New York Islanders, who are in the midst of building themselves a new arena at Belmont. Belmont is state-owned land – and the project’s approval came after strong support from Cuomo.

Adding to the Belmont sundae just a few days later, an entity referred to in campaign finance data as Sterling Mets LP provided another $50,000 to Cuomo’s political coffers. Sterling Project Development, the real estate arm of Sterling Equities, the owner of the New York Mets, is partnering with the Islanders on the Belmont effort.

The cherry on top came from Oak View Group – another partner in the Belmont effort. Oak View itself contributed $5,000 on July 8. But Oak View chief executive Timothy Leiweke gave Cuomo $50,000 on July 8, and another $3,000 on July 14.

Is $203,000 in donations a lot? Cuomo’s relection campaign committee raked in just over $2 mllion in the last six months, so the Islanders developers’ cash amounted to about 10% of his total take, which is significant if not overwhelming. Though Cuomo has long relied heavily on donations from big developers and other donors with business before the state, so you can certainly argue that the promise of campaign cash is what got the Belmont arena team a seat at the table, even if it didn’t buy them the entire table. 



Islanders lost in OT

Riis Park Beach Bazaar is getting cancelled

Rockaway Times

 

Riis Park Beach Bazaar (RPBB) immediately helped revitalize Riis Park when it secured a lease to run the concessions at the park that offered little to visitors for decades. That was five years ago. Since then, the group has offered a wide variety or food vendors, beach rental equipment, live entertainment and even year round indoor dining (in pre-Covid times). Many locals have found employment with the company as well.

And now the lease is up. The five-year lease is due to expire November 1, just a couple of months from now. The lease does not have a renewal clause and NPS says the “park plans to release a competitive solicitation in early Fall 2020, to lease facilities at Riis for similar purposes.”

Chalk up another bust for this hipster culture entrepreneurial collective. Thanks for the memories

Slow down, ZWEET, your neighbors

 
I hope the attached video comes through to you. Here in Flushing and Bayside this guy speeds through the streets like our neighborhood is his own personal speedway. His car is LOUD. He's a menace to our quiet neighborhoods. It's a growing trend. 
 

Duh

QNS

After suffering $300,000 of damages in the subways from more than 400 cases of vandals smashing windows, the MTA says it is considering teaming up with NYPD to implement a “broken windows strategy” in order to bring the situation under control.

MTA Chief Safety Officer Pat Warren said on Saturday that a tough-on-crime approach will be needed, in a supplement to their effort of increased surveillance, to end the repeated attacks on their infrastructure and their already enfeebled pocketbook from COVID-19.

“Let me tell you, if there’s any time that we think about maybe a broken windows strategy, this may be that moment in time and we certainly would like to continue and work with the NYPD on that strategy if they choose to take them,” Warren said. “We have to take a train out of service when we find broken windows in it because it’s a safety hazard. So for that period of time whether takes is a couple hours or three hours, whatever it takes us to repair those windows, that train’s out of service, which means at that point in time our customers are inconvenienced with long wait times and or potentially more crowding on the platform.”

This recent vexation, Warren said, takes the wind out of the MTA’s attempts to keep their systems running at full service at just a fraction of their operating budget and only about a quarter of their pre-pandemic ridership.

Not only that, but the MTA is running low on their stockpile of replacement windows.