ID not legal? No problem!

From the Daily News:

The bartender studied the phony Pennsylvania ID card for about 10 seconds before bursting into laughter.

"This is the worst fake I've ever seen," he said - and then served the bogus card's owner a cold beer.

The shady transaction was no one-shot deal. A Daily News spot check of Manhattan nightspots showed the only thing easier than buying a fake ID is using it to buy a drink.

A pair of News reporters - legally old enough to drink - hit 18 bars this weekend and were admitted or served in 13. Both were able to score sham "emergency IDs" at a Chinatown shop for $108 - with barely a 10-minute wait.

The intensity of the ID checks varied wildly from bar to bar.

Some places had bouncers working the doors, others none. Some inspected the cards intensely, others with a quick glance. Some went high-tech, others decidedly low-rent.

There was better luck at bars in Hells Kitchen and in the neighborhood around W. 14th St. The chuckling bartender at Bill's Bar and Burger on Ninth Ave. had no problem serving one reporter after mocking his fake ID. Fake ID at the Mercury Bar at 46th St. and Ninth Ave.? No problem.

At the Tanuki Tavern on W. 13th St., the bartender was initially suspicious of the bogus ID - but wound up offering the reporter a shot on the house.

Getting the laminated cards was relatively easy at the Chinatown operation, where the shop workers were eager to help.

When one reporter provided her birth date as 1990, a sharp-eyed employee quickly changed it to 1989 - making her "legal."

I just had a flashback from my youth consisting of two words: "Busy Bee"

Charter commission goes out with a whimper

From The Real Deal:

Six months after being formed, the city Charter Revision Commission issued its final report yesterday, declining to make any recommendations on the three thorniest land use issues before it.

The 15-member panel appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg heard from deeply divided interest groups such as the Real Estate Board of New York and Pratt Center for Community Development, but said certain issues were too complex to tackle in the brief period allotted to them.

The commission acknowledged the deep divide on those issues, such as a proposal from community advocates and elected officials to increase the influence of community boards and borough board presidents within the ULURP process. The commission declined to make any changes.

"The commission has considered both the criticisms and the responses to [increasing the role of community boards and borough presidents] and recommends for the future both further empirical study and analysis of how such changes would affect development in the city," the report says.

The panel declined to suggest changes to the city Department of City Planning uniform land use review procedure, known as ULURP. In addition, it decided not to propose regulating controversial community benefits agreements or to revise a locally-driven land-use mechanism called 197-a.

However, the panel in its 219-page report did suggest requiring disclosure of third-party campaign spending from independent groups such as real estate interests, and publishing on city maps the locations of private as well as public waste-treatment facilities, the panel's report issued yesterday says.

The commission, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in March, was directed to review the city's charter and after holding a series of hearings, to make recommendations on how to revise it. Its major recommendations yesterday were a term-limit proposal, the disclosure of independent campaign expenditures and reducing signature requirements for candidates' petitions.

The report contained no surprises, coming weeks after a draft was released, but the findings do memorialize the arguments of the competing interests for any future attempts to change the charter, which is the city's constitution.

What's City Hall hiding?

From the NY Post:

Political operative John Haggerty Jr. may stand accused of swiping $750,000 from Mayor Bloomberg, but that doesn't mean City Hall is ready to disclose any more details about him than it has to.

Responding to a Freedom of Information request filed by The Post seven months ago, the mayor's office last week provided just nine e-mail exchanges between Haggerty and mayoral aides in all of 2008 and 2009.

There were other e-mails that the mayor's refuses to release on the grounds of "personal privacy."

They're so private, in fact, officials won't even say how many e-mails are being withheld.

That's a stricter policy than was in force in 2007, when the mayor's former Albany lobbyist, Anthony (Skip) Piscitelli, was discovered to have violated ethics rules by contacting administration officials in 127 e-mails soon after he left while representing private clients.

Back then, the mayor's office declined to release 62 of the e-mails, claiming they weren't government-related. But at least they gave out the numbers.

The skimpy exchanges that were provided with Haggerty indicate he was close as could be to top mayoral aides.

Of course, that was before this year's stunning indictment, in which the Manhattan DA's Office charged Haggerty with stealing $750,000 in Bloomberg money that was meant for the Independence Party's Election Day poll-watching operations.

Homeless shelter opens in Flushing Meadows

"This is the structure that replaced the Aquacade which was demolished because of the cost of restoration and the homeless took it over.I noticed that the door was wide open and there was bedding and bottles in there , all the piping and wires are exposed under there and I would be surprised if it wasn't vandalized. I told a park worker and he said he would lock it up.It's a shame we lost a historic building from the 1939 World's Fair that seated thousands and had a big public pool that was easily accessible from major highways and had parking too and they gave us a little concession stand that isn't even used." - anonymous

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I'm sure Estelle Cooper will get right on it...

Early morning murder in St. Albans

From the Daily News:

Detectives are trying to unravel a puzzling, pre-dawn homicide in Queens - a 21-year-old woman shot to death on a quiet, tree-lined block, police said.

The unidentified victim was shot three times on 202nd St. in St. Albans about 3:30 a.m. Monday. She was hit twice in the torso and once in the left leg, and was pronounced dead at Franklin Hospital, police said.

Several shell casings were found scattered in a line down the street. Investigators are trying to piece together why the young woman was slain, police officials said. It was unclear if there were any witnesses to the crime, and neighbors said nothing seemed amiss before the gunfire.

Happy Labor Day from Hugo Chavez

Not even close to enough

From the Daily News:

A PROGRAM that strives to give mentally ill veterans treatment - instead of jail time - is set to receive a boost of more than $500,000.

The money will be used to hire social workers and peer counselors to help troubled veterans get back on their feet, organizers said.

It is the last piece of the Veterans Project, which identifies nonviolent offenders in Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau who are veterans, and tries to get them help instead of prison sentences. It is available to first-time offenders only.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens, Long Island) earmarked $540,000 last month to hire peer counselors and social workers. The money must still be approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

So we have a measly non-guaranteed $540,000 for veterans, who have to sell off pieces of their St. Albans campus to make ends meet...

But we have billions of dollars for development schemes like Willets Point and Atlantic Yards, hundreds of millions of dollars for tweeding programs and $64M for Marty's potato chip?

DISGUSTING.

New York looks to extend ObamaCare to illegals

From City Hall:

New York State has found a loophole in the federal health care reforms that it wants to use to cover a group that Washington specifically has not, of non-citizens since before the 1996 welfare reforms.

The same loophole, though, could also present a challenge to the state’s constitution, if the federal government decides to cover fewer people than the state currently requires, government watchdogs said.

At issue is whether a class of non-citizens known as PRUCOL (persons residing under color of law)—a designation that includes legally present, undocumented and in-between immigrants under federal laws, but recognized under state laws— are covered under the new guidelines for the state’s high-risk pool program, the temporary reform that provides coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, until insurance exchanges go into effect in 2014. The temporary program is set to go into effect this October.

These non-citizens can include people not currently covered by programs like Medicare, such as people waiting to receive immigration statuses from the U.S.

Customs and Immigration Services. PRUCOL residents are already covered under New York State’s expansive health care laws. Immigration advocates say the challenge is to make sure the federal reforms do not shrink coverage for them.

When passing the reforms in the spring, Congress decided to cover all persons “lawfully present” in the United States. But Washington has yet to issue a permanent ruling on who, exactly, falls under that umbrella.

“There’s sort of a question mark about what that means,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society.

And that question mark could provide a golden opportunity for broadening federal benefits for non-citizens, said Sonal Ambegaokar, a health policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.

“There’s no set list for ‘lawfully present.’ We suggested, ‘Here are a few categories you may want to consider adding,’ as we have those immigrants already enrolled in state Medicaid,” Ambegaokar said.

Crappy highways plague New York State

From the NY Post:

This won’t be a holiday for your car.

As millions of New Yorkers take to their cars this Labor Day weekend, they’ll be driving along some of the most decrepit, crumbling roads in the nation, a new study shows.

The Empire State ranked 46th out of the 50 states for highway quality, according to the Reason Foundation report.

Bloomberg promises to stay until he dies

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg says there's only one way he's leaving his third term before it's over: in a box.

After flirting with a presidential run, Bloomberg's name has been dropped for governor, vice president and White House gigs like Treasury secretary.

A round of golf with President Obama last week triggered another flurry of speculation, and a reporter asked Bloomberg Wednesday if there was any way he'd leave City Hall before his third term is up.

"Yes," he said. "If I died."

Asked if there was anything else that would cause him to quit, he allowed there was one. "I suppose total incapacitation would also," the mayor said.

Long road to U.S. citizenship finally ends

From the Daily News:

A Queens Man who longed to become a U.S. citizen had his American dream deferred for 17 years because he shared a name with a wanted man.

But Miguel Mejia never stopped trying to convince the feds he's a hardworking, law-abiding man - and not the fugitive who was born on the same day in the same country.

And his persistence has finally paid off.

"Now I feel like part of the country," he said, proudly displaying his brand new American passport.

The 55-year-old Dominican-born man's long, frustrating road toward citizenship began in 1993 when his application was suddenly stalled by immigration officials.

When he asked why, Mejia said he was told that his file had been forwarded to the FBI because he had the same name, country of origin and date of birth as a crook named Miguel Mejia.

This Mejia had a rap sheet and was "not a very good guy," Mejia said.

Then, two years ago, a reporter for the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa got wind of Mejia's story. That report found its way to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who promised to help.

Another year passed before Mejia got the letter he'd been waiting for telling him that he was now officially a U.S. citizen.

"I was so surprised to finally get that letter," he said. "We all feel so happy. My whole family is overjoyed. It is a great feeling to see my sacrifices and hard work finally pay off."

Asked about his plans, Mejia said, "I'm going to keep working, God willing."

This makes a lot of sense...

A couple with 3 kids tore down this perfectly lovely 3600 sq ft home in Forest Hills Gardens to build one that's 6000 sq ft with 7 bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths.
The new house was finished in 2006 and decorated lavishly (including a "French brothel" bedroom). Now, 4 years and millions of dollars later, the owners "plan to move to a smaller place in Manhattan". Read all about it here.

You gotta love weirdos.

Comptroller offers tips on how to game the pension system

From the NY Post:

A red-faced state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli -- who has been warning against rising pension costs -- yesterday removed from his Web site information about how state workers can game the pension system.

Until yesterday, a section on the comptroller's official Web site titled "Life Changes: How Do I . . . Prepare to Retire?" had provided state workers a veritable primer on pension padding.

Under the heading "Ways to Increase Your Pension," it encouraged workers to squirrel away sick time and cash in vacation days before retirement

One jaw-dropping section, titled "Increasing Your Final Average Salary (FAS) -- A Raise is Not the Only Way," appeared to actually encourage the practice of overtime spiking, in which veteran workers pile on extra hours to pad retirement checks.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s official Web site had featured a list of retirement tips that essentially read like a guide to pension padding, including a section that appeared to encourage the questionable practice of overtime spiking.

"Once you are informed, you will be able to determine if you can increase your pension by adding to your service credit, reducing loan balances or increasing your final average salary," it reads.

The "Message from Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli" put the Democratic comptroller at odds with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the party standard-bearer, who has made reining in pension abuse -- overtime spiking, in particular -- a theme of his gubernatorial campaign.

Shelly's Pepsi conflict

From the Daily News:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver owns stock in 30 companies with business before the state, the Daily News has learned.

The shares are a potential cash cow - and possible conflict of interest, watchdogs say.

One of those holdings, Pepsi, was a key player in blocking Gov. Paterson's proposed penny-per-ounce sugar tax on soda the past two years - a plan that fetched little serious consideration in the Silver-controlled Assembly.

Silver's stake in Pepsi, or any other stock, is a state secret - one protected by New York's notoriously weak disclosure laws.

Silver flatly refused to disclose how many shares he holds - or how much it's worth.

Lawmakers are not required to release how many shares they own or even how much they are worth - beyond noting their value is above $1,000.

Pepsi is just the tip of the iceberg. Silver also owns shares of Verizon, which has 95 contracts with the state, and Cisco Systems - which does $1.5 billion in state business.

Silver is not likely to volunteer anything. Critics have been waiting for years for him to disclose the salary he makes moonlighting at a top city law firm.

And did you hear about his slush fund?

Terrace on the Park concession is disappointing

From the Daily News:

The company that runs catering hall Terrace on the Park, a historic relic of the 1964 World's Fair, hasn't lived up to promises to build a grand restaurant garden, a city audit charges.

The report from Controller John Liu also hammers two other park hot spots, the Flushing Meadows Ice Rink and the World's Fair Marina Restaurant, for failing to finish contracted improvements.

The neighboring facilities highlight the Queens portion of an investigation into the city Parks Department's ability to ensure that concessionaires live up to their license agreements.

Facility operators painted the audit as misleading and inaccurate. They acknowledged the initially promised structures were not built, but said alternatives were designed to best serve the community.

But Liu's office stood by its evaluation of facilities such as Terrace on the Park, where auditors noted water-damaged panels and the unfulfilled contractual obligation to create a $345,000 garden restaurant.

The Parks Department said the walkup restaurant was scrapped in favor of a snack bar.

Terrace on the Park did not return calls seeking comment.

Bike riding thief sought by NYPD

QUEENS (WABC) -- NYPD is looking for a bandit on a bicycle.

He is wanted in connection with five thefts in the Forest Hills section of Queens.

In each case, the suspect approaches the victim on a bicycle, takes something from them such as jewelry or a purse, and flees the location on the bicycle.

The first incident happened at 3:30 in the afternoon in front of 63-74 Austin Street. He approached a 14-year-old boy from behind and removed a chain from his neck.

On August 2, he committed the same crime at 4:45 in the afternoon at 66th Road and 108th Street. A 15-year-old was the victim in this case.

Ten days later, he took a 21-year-old woman's purse at 62nd Drive and Junction Boulevard.

On August 22, a 13-year-old boy had a chain taken from his neck in front of 102-35 64th Road.

The most recent incident happened last Saturday at 99th Street and 62nd Drive. Again, the suspect approached a 13-year-old boy from behind and took a chain.

The bandit was riding a red bicycle in the first four incidents. He was riding a silver BMX bicycle with rear pegs in the last incident.

And it's still just a drop in the bucket...

From NY1:

About 17,000 thousand students will walk into brand new classrooms next week, and city officials say it is the most new space the School Construction Authority has ever opened in a single year since it was created in 1988.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he could not be happier.

"There are colleagues of mine, they don't see 30 buildings in the course of a lifetime, and we are seeing that basically this year in New York City," said Klein.

Despite all the new seats, though, schools are still overcrowded in many neighborhoods. A report by the Independent Budget Office last month found half of high school students attended overcrowded schools last year. That is down 15 percent, thanks to the capital plan construction, but is still an ongoing problem.

Yep, that'll do it...

From the Bronx Times:

An overcrowded house on Holland Avenue was the scene of a fire some believe happened because an absentee landlord created illegal subdivided apartments.

A house that neighbors called an eyesore for the past few years, 1731 Holland Avenue, caught fire at 12:07 a.m. on Sunday, August 29.

It took the Fire Department over an hour to control the blaze. While no one was injured, Van Nest residents are up in arms about the house.

Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who responded to community complaints even though the house is located in a neighboring council district, said that the fire was a shining example of the problems caused when people subdivide their houses and don’t follow building codes. He said there are over $36,000 in outstanding Department of Building’s violations revolving around construction without permits and illegally subdivided apartments at 1731 Holland Avenue.

According to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, there are numerous violations for failure to provide heat, electricity, and hot water to three apartments in the house. It is part of HPD’s Alternative Enforcement Program, which seeks to remedy properties with excessive amounts of violations.

Van Nest community leader Joe Bombace said that he was not surprised that the house caught fire, and said he believes all homeowners should properly screen their tenants. He said that certain properties in this community, including 1731 Holland Avenue, are being misused by absentee landlords.

Bombace said that conditions at the house were so bad that neighbors were thinking about selling their houses. According to Department of Buildings records, the owner of the house is Paddy Taylor-Hadson.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the FDNY.

Flushing Art Deco building to become hotel?

I snapped this from a car passing east bound on the south side of Northern Blv'd. just off Union St. (west side) in Flushing yesterday.

There is this great old art deco building that was originally. I believe, the headquarters of the North Shore (Daily?) Journal.

It looks like a hotel is going to replace it judging from the advertising banner on the side of that building.

I'll try to find out more.

- The Flushing Phantom

Skunks are next to go

From the NY Times:

For residents of northern Manhattan and the Bronx, skunks have become the stinkiest unwanted guests of them all. Earlier this spring, residents of Co-op City complained of the striped stinkers invading the garbage, and Inwood and Washington Heights have dealt with them for several years. Last year, our colleague Jim Dwyer, a longtime Heights resident, wrote about an invasion of Bronx skunks into Manhattan that touched off a great skunk battle at his own co-op. Relocation of the critters, he said, was futile. They just came right back.

And the raccoons will, too. We also have skunks here in Queens.

Guy caught stealing Verizon van

From the Daily News:

A Verizon worker helped cops catch a man who stole his company van in Queens - chasing him down and using the suspect's abandoned cell phone to get him arrested.

Alphur Willock, 38, was driving on Northern Blvd. about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when a warning light flashed on the dashboard showing the back door wasn't closed. He pulled over, got out of the van to check on the door and then stared in amazement as the vehicle started rolling away.

Willock sprinted down the middle of the road near Parsons Blvd. and reached the van as it was stopped at a red light less than a block away. "I open up the door, and this guy is there, changing the radio station," he said. "I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out."

The two scuffled, but the suspect, identified by cops as Andrew Scudiero, 48, slipped away. He ran into a nearby Staples store, and Willock chased him. Scudiero got away - but not for long.

The Verizon technician found the suspect's cell phone in the van and took it to the 109th Precinct stationhouse in Flushing. Detectives punched in his recently dialed numbers, which led them to his father's office. That's where cops made the arrest.

Bell widow may run for White's seat

From the Daily News:

Sean Bell's fiancée has the potential to turn a crowded Queens City Council race upside down - if she moves into the district.

Up to a dozen candidates are looking at jumping into the competition to fill the unexpired term of the late Councilman Thomas White Jr.

Nicole Paultre Bell, whose fiancé died in a hail of police bullets almost four years ago, brings name recognition and a heart-stopping personal story.

She declined to outline her political plans, though a source close to her confirmed she is considering a run.

She lives outside the district in Far Rockaway, and is still registered to vote at her mother's house in Suffolk County. Under state election law, however, Bell would have to move into the district by Election Day - and get 899 signatures from registered voters on her nominating petitions.

Bell has been a regular at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, and may be able to count on his support for a run as well.

Layoffs hit Queens Library

From the Daily News:

More than 40 employees of the Queens Library will be laid off Friday after last-ditch negotiations to save their jobs fell through, officials said.

"The union is devastated by this loss," said John Hyslop, president of Local 1321, which represents library workers. "These are hard-working library employees. Morale is abysmal."

Library officials originally expected to slash about 400 positions because of a proposed cut in city funding. A large chunk of that was restored in the city budget, allowing it to rescind many of the pink slips handed out 90 days ago.

But the library said it still had a $2.4 million deficit and asked the union for givebacks. One of those would have stopped workers from carrying over vacation time.

Henry Stern on another developer giveaway

From the Huffington Post:

...the skyline of New York City is ever-changing, and as generations of New Yorkers know, your view lasts as long as the owner of the lot next door allows. Property owners can build as of right on their land, consistent with zoning codes and city regulations.

In this case, however, the proposed tower was far outside the zoning codes, and required five separate changes in the law to give the developer the height and bulk of the building that he wanted to erect. That is why the Community Board and the City Council were involved under the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (sometimes affectionately called ULURP).

If it is built, the proposed Penn Tower would have 56% more bulk than the zoning code would have permitted without discretionary bonuses. That comes out to almost a million square feet of additional office space. The variances granted to the developer also eliminate the setback regulations typically required for buildings of this size, thereby aggravating the impact upon the skyline from the perspective of New Jersey. The glare from night lighting of the financial tenants will further impact the view of the iconic Empire State Building from the east.

On this one, the CPC was clearly in the tank, abandoning its customary guardianship and attention to size, taste and design in its eagerness to approve the tower.

We believe that what happened in this case is a textbook example of unsound public policy, favoritism to a particular extremely well-connected developer, and lack of regard for the future of the commercial neighborhood around Penn and Moynihan Stations. To grant a massive upgrade to a property owner with no tenant, no financing and no immediate plans to build is premature and irresponsible. These valuable new rights will be for sale along with the property if the developer is unable or unwilling to build on the site.

This is a case of the city making an extraordinary gift, probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to one of its richest and most influential developers. It is a top-down decision, clearly made at City Hall and not by the Planning Commission, which should have been embarrassed at the tricks they had to turn.

You got it! Also, there is a major conflict of interest here because:

Ms. Quinn did not mention that a loophole has allowed Vornado Realty Trust to contribute thousands of dollars to her campaign even though the company, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the country, has business before the city. Last week, Quinn and the council approved Vornado's controversial 15 Penn Plaza development, despite opposition from Community Board 5. - Crains

Drunk dad takes kid for ride on boardwalk

From the Daily News:

A drunken Queens dad cruised his car 30 blocks down the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk - with six kids in the back, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Renato Bernal, 41, had 1-1/2 times the legal alcohol limit when he almost hit a man on the pedestrian-only beach strip, then zoomed off Tuesday.

The Richmond Hill man was charged under the state's Leandra's Law, which makes it a felony to drive drunk with children in a car. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

"It's a miracle that no one was injured or killed," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Among the six kids in the car were Bernal's two daughters, 16 and 14. There were also two 7-year-old nephews.

Bernal nearly struck James Beatty who was walking on the Boardwalk near Beach 73rd St. around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to prosecutors. Cops caught him 35 blocks away at Beach 108th St., a block from the Boardwalk.

"I was not driving anywhere near the Boardwalk," he told a cop. "I didn't have anything to drink."

Prosecutors say Bernal had bloodshot eyes, booze on his breath and registered a .122 on a blood-alcohol test, way above the .08 legal limit, they say.

PS305: Your tax dollars at work

This is what most would consider to be a BRAND NEW school which opened in 2008 and already apparently needs major repair work. They've been at it for a few weeks now. Hopefully they'll be done before the kiddies return after Labor Day.

Build it union!

Post points fingers at Queens pols

From the NY Post:

What's in the water in Queens?

Rep. Joseph Crowley -- chairman of the borough's Democratic Party -- finds himself the target of an ethics probe.

The Office of Congressional Ethics -- an outside, independent body of former members of Congress -- recommended this week that the House Ethics Committee investigate three members, including Crowley, who raised significant sums of Wall Street money before key votes on the financial-services-overhaul bill.

Crowley pulled in $23,500 from one fund-raising event alone last December, just days prior to a vote.

Yes, even members of Congress are innocent until proven guilty. But the OCE is akin to an ethics grand jury, so its referral is quite serious.

Meanwhile, an actual empaneled federal grand jury is probing four other high-profile Queens Democrats -- Borough President Helen Marshall, Rep. Gregory Meeks, state Sen. Malcolm Smith and ex-Rep. Floyd Flake -- over their ties to contractor and contributor Robert Gaskin, who's worked on housing and construction projects for all four.

That probe is also exploring questions -- first raised in The Post -- about Meeks' role in a charity he created to assist Hurricane Katrina victims: New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families only paid out $1,392 of the $31,000 raised after the Gulf disaster.

Furthermore, the watchdogs at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants OCE to investigate a $40,000 loan Meeks accepted from a Queens businessman, yet failed to report on his financial-disclosure forms.

Innocent until proven guilty?

Yes, indeed.

Stinks like a dead fish?

That, too.

Queens needs a fumigator, ASAP.

Swastikas may be result of landlord-tenant dispute

From the Queens Chronicle:

A dispute between a landlord and tenant in Howard Beach has turned ugly.

A property owner in Lindenwood said a former tenant who owed more than $22,000 in back rent trashed his old apartment on 83rd Street after the landlord finally kicked him out.

In addition to the property damage, disturbing images of swastikas, Ku Klux Klan symbols and various profanities were spray painted on many walls in the apartment.

“It’s disgusting,” said the landlord, Vincent, who didn’t want his last name used for fear of privacy concerns for his family. “I hope the authorities pursue this as a hate crime.”

The landlord, who is of Romanian Jewish descent, said he believes a former tenant, John Liveri, whom he has clashed with on several occasions over the past year, is responsible.

Earlier this year, Liveri called police and claimed Vincent punched him, and then had a restraining order taken out against the landlord.

Although charges against him were dropped, Vincent said he was still put through the ignominy of being arrested.

Though that issue was eventually resolved after Vincent was cleared of any wrongdoing, he continued to have issues with the tenant not paying rent.

The property owner said he finally kicked him out after not paying rent for eight months. He is not aware where his former tenant is currently living.

However, Vincent believes he wanted revenge and is responsible for the property damage at the apartment, which included a destroyed hot water heater and cracks in walls that appeared to be caused by a hammer, along with the racial images.

Police at the 106th Precinct are investigating the case as a burglary, though no arrests have been made yet. Police would not confirm whether a warrant was issued for Liveri’s arrest.

Will vandals strike this mural?

From the Queens Ledger:

When Paola Belotti attended a barbecue that was hosted in the alleyway behind Maspeth Discount Liquors some years back, she was distracted by the graffiti covering the surrounding walls, particularly the atrocities on the back wall of 56-05 69th Street.

After befriending the owner, she volunteered to cover the graffiti and paint a simple picture on the wall, selecting a Tuscan landscape because, as she pointed out, Tuscany is the place that comes to mind when people think of wine.

After painting the landscape, Belotti felt there was too much green in the mural, so she added more details characteristic of the region: cypress trees, vineyards, terracotta pottery, a lemon tree, a little villa in the distance.

“I know Tuscany and I know what looks good in a big space like this,” said the native of Lake Como, Italy. “I have an idea in my mind, but during my work it comes together little by little.”

Belotti, a textile designer by profession, studied fine arts in Italy and paints only as a hobby, but her artistic skill is evident in the detail of her landscape mural. Certain aspects of the picture look almost three-dimensional.

“The colors are like Tuscany and it’s really like this, with the rolling hills,” she said. “Everybody has joked they want to be inside the picture.”

The completion of the mural took Belotti at least two weeks. She realizes all her hard work will have gone to waste if her painting gets defaced, but she remains optimistic.

“Who does graffiti? In some way they are artists too,” said Belotti. “I think when they see something nice, they will respect it…I hope.”

Bloomberg unintentionally hilarious

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg advises The New York Times: "The government should not be in the business of telling people what to do."

To which we say: Ha ha ha haha ha ha! Thanks, Mike. That was a good one.

Previous mayoral pronouncements on the proper role of government in peoples' lives have been, of course, somewhat less libertarian in tone.

They went something like:

* "Drop the donut, Fatso!"

* "Unhand the saltshaker, Knave!"

* "No sugar for your sodapop, Buster!"

Then there's tobacco -- which he has succeeded in taxing so oppressively that's it has become almost as attractive to the black market as that other devil weed, marijuana.

Mike's admonishment, to be sure, came in the context of the discussion over the Ground Zero mosque -- and his point was that government has no business dictating how people should pray.

But that's so self-evidently true that it's a wonder he even raised the topic.

Still, we're glad he did. A little hot-weather hilarity is always welcome.

Serial transit stealer busted again

From NY1:

A man with a reputation of impersonating a transit worker is in trouble with the law once again.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says Darius McCollum, 45, was arrested Tuesday morning in Kew Gardens for allegedly stealing a New York Trailways bus from a maintenance yard in Hoboken, New Jersey.

This isn't the first time McCollum pulled a transit stunt.

He first made headlines when he took over a subway train at the age of 15.

The DA says McCollum has been arrested more than 20 times for commandeering trains and buses, posing as a transit worker and other offenses.

McCollum is charged with grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Still profiting after all these years

From the Daily News:

Just because they violated the public's trust doesn't mean they've stopped taking the public's money.

At least 10 ex-lawmakers who've been convicted of criminal charges are still receiving taxpayer-funded pensions worth tens of thousands of dollars a year, a Daily News review of state pension records found.

"The law says I've earned it. I am entitled to it. I take it," said disgraced former state Sen. Guy Velella, who receives a $75,012 annual pension from the state.

Velella, a Republican who represented parts of the Bronx and Westchester, pleaded guilty in 2004 to bribery charges and served six months at Rikers Island.

Other convicted felons who receive fat pensions include former state Controller Alan Hevesi, who pleaded guilty in 2006 using state workers as his wife's chauffeur, and ex-Brooklyn Assemblyman and Democratic leader Clarence Norman, who was convicted in 2007 of selling judgeships.

Hevesi receives $105,221 a year, while Norman gets $43,321.

Ex-Senate boss Joe Bruno, a former GOP kingmaker who is appealing his conviction of honest services fraud, pockets $96,085.

Dick Dadey, executive director of the good government group Citizens Union, said the payouts underscore the need to reform New York's pension system.

Home invasion tape

From Eyewitness News:

Police in Queens are searching for a group of armed robbers following a frightening home invasion.

Police released surveillance video of the robbery in progress, taken from inside the home in East Elmhurst on August 26th at 12:20 a.m.

Investigators say the four men forced their way into the home on 97th Street and then made three tenants lie on the floor.

They were held at gunpoint while the robbers cleared out their belongings.

No one was hurt.

Community facility crap

A year ago, we brought you the story of a Flushing developer exploiting the community facilities loophole to build bigger at the corner of Gates and St. Nicholas Avenues in Ridgewood.
Well, they look about done here.
The luxury condos are now for sale! (Still no new C of O, though.)
And who wouldn't want a balcony overlooking this?

Further investigation of "Honest Joe" Crowley

From the NY Post:

House ethics investigators yesterday recommended a full-blown probe of whether influential Queens Rep. Joe Crowley improperly solicited donations from corporate executives just before voting on legislation overhauling Wall Street.

The independent Office of Congressional Ethics urged the House ethics panel to investigate the actions of Crowley, along with GOP Reps. Tom Price of Georgia and John Campbell of California.

At the same time, five other lawmakers were cleared of wrongdoing.

Crowley, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, also is chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, and a close adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The scrutiny centers on a series of fund-raisers -- including one Crowley attended last Dec. 10, at which he collected thousands of dollars from financial power brokers before returning to the Capitol to vote against a series of amendments that would have imposed tougher restrictions on Wall Street.

Crowley was reported to have received at least $23,500 before the vote.

Crowley denied wrongdoing.

"Congressman Crowley has always complied with the letter and spirit of all rules regarding fundraising and standards of conduct," a spokeswoman said.

Crowley has been a staunch defender of Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel, who is charged with 13 ethics violations. Crowley co-hosted Rangel's 80th-birthday fund-raiser at The Plaza hotel last month.

Feds bust drug traffickers

From NBC:

It was a scene straight out of a crime movie -- but this was real.

In the video above, which provided by officials, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations in New York are seen busting 17 individuals for their alleged roles in a narcotics trafficking ring operating in Long Island.

The complaint was unsealed on Tuesday charging 17 members of a criminal organization based in Suffolk County and the Bronx with conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine and marijuana, primarily on Long Island, officials said.

In a coordinated operation Monday night and earlier today, more than 300 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers arrested 16 defendants in the Bronx, Long Island, and Queens, officials said. One additional defendant was already in custody on state charges.

The following 16 defendants were arrested during this operation:

Andres Marroquin-Corzo, aka Alex Lnu, aka Alex Rodriguez, aka Alexi Rodriguez, Ercilio Antonio Marine, aka Tony, Rolando Carmenante, aka Rolando Carmentate, aka Flaco, Huascar Figuereo, aka Ramon Lnu, aka El Gordo, Fausto Collado, Freddy Martinez, Rafael Perez, aka Gordo, Aida Sandoval, aka The Girl, aka Chiquita, Natalia Areiza, Alexander Morales, Hipolito Roldan, aka Paulie, Denny Rodriguez, Yunery Marine, Juan Carlos Ferrera and Engenio Solarzano-Lameda, aka Cuba.

Williamsburg: So much for that...

From Nathan Kensinger:

Williamsburg has the highest concentration of stalled development sites in New York City, according to a 2010 report in The Real Deal. This has been the case since at least July 2009, when The New York Post described it as "ground zero in the growing scourge of stalled construction," with more stalled projects then The Bronx, Staten Island or Queens. The number of abandoned projects in Williamsburg has soared since 2009, according to the Brooklyn Paper, which reported in June 2010 that "Brooklyn is pockmarked by a disproportionate number of abandoned development sites compared with the rest of the city... North Brooklyn has been hardest hit." Currently, Williamsburg's stalled projects range from empty condominium towers and unfinished steel frames to huge holes in the ground and vast open fields.

Cars torched in Whitestone

From CBS 2:

Some residents on a quiet Queens street woke up to find their cars in flames.

Police said someone set fire to four vehicles on 9th Avenue in Whitestone early Tuesday.

Some were in the street, some were in driveways and at least one of the fires spread to an owner’s home.

Another dozen cars were keyed in a vandalism spree across a four block area.

Investigators dusted for prints and located a security camera that may have caught the culprits on video, CBS 2′s John Slattery reports.

Detectives have been canvassing the area. No arrests were made.

Group hopes to create garden with blackout money

From the Daily News:

A DEVASTATING blackout that hit western Queens could be the spark to energize a green oasis under a proposal to build a unique community garden.

Astoria-based Cidadao Global wants to build a garden on property that also would double as a community center for recent immigrants. It would be funded by a chunk of a $7.9 million initiative that came out of a settlement with Con Edison after the 2006 power outage.

"There's nothing like it in Queens," said Ramona Ortega, founder of the nonprofit group - one of many submitting proposals to get a piece of the settlement for "greening" projects.

"It would be a garden space where many organizations can share the immigrant experience," she said of the project, which she estimates would cost $500,000 during the next three to four years.

Cidadao Global, which serves mostly Brazilian immigrants, will submit its proposal to the Greening Western Queens Fund next month. That fund will be used for projects to benefit Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Astoria, which were affected by the 2006 blackout.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance," said Ortega, 35, who wants to create a garden run with the cooperation of different immigrant groups in the neighborhood.

Ortega said she hopes the garden will connect diverse groups in the neighborhood.

The need for this kind of center is very real, immigrant advocates said, pointing to blighted properties and a general lack of open areas.

DEP restores marsh at Alley Pond

From the Daily News:

FOR THE first time in decades, egrets and horseshoe crabs have been spotted in the northern section of Alley Pond Park.

The 16-acre spot, once clogged with construction debris and invasive plants, has been restored to its natural wetland state under a $20 million project recently completed by the city Department of Environmental Protection.

The dense field of trees and shrubs at the northeast corner of Northern Blvd. and the Cross Island Parkway was cleared to make way for a rolling meadow of wildflowers and a large tidal pool filled with ducks and birds.

The city took on the project as part of a larger plan to battle flooding woes in the area. A combined sewer overflow tank is being installed in the park to help catch stormwater runoff.

Since a portion of the wetlands was being disturbed for that project, the DEP agreed to restore the adjacent piece of park.

Crews started excavating the site and eventually removed 7,500 cubic yards of construction debris that had been used to fill the ground over the years.

Buildings existed on the land in the 1920s and 1930s, but were razed over time. Nature took over, filling the field with poplars, mulberry and black locust trees as well as phragmites.

And while it may have appeared to be a pristine field of green, the invasive plants were actually choking the land, blocking the tidal flow and discouraging wildlife.

During the restoration process, workers made an important discovery - water bubbling up through the soil.

City officials hope to open up the site to the public in a few years, after the plants, grass and trees have time to establish themselves and grow.

But osprey, hawks and kestrels have already flocked to the area, along with the egrets and crabs, to make nests and take advantage of the fish-rich tidal pool.

Perry Avenue crap unveiled

February 2010:
We knew this crap in progress was gonna be ugly last February when we featured it. We just didn't know how ugly...

August 2010:
Here we have the "lopsided look".
Damn, that's one ugly piece of crap!

Taxpayers footing tweeders' tweeding fees

From the NY Post:

In a move that has infuriated some City Council members, lawmakers' new Progressive Caucus will use taxpayer money to pay annual dues -- a privilege not granted to any other caucus, The Post has learned.

Each member of the 12-person group, which comprises the most liberal council members, will pay $2,500 annually to hire a staffer and buy office supplies, sources said.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is not a member of the caucus, approved the new arrangement, but refused to lend the progressives an employee from her own staff, as she does with the Black Latino & Asian Caucus, the sources said.

"Why don't they just use their [existing] staff? Why are they double-dipping?" fumed one member who is not on the Progressive Caucus. "They're using taxpayer money to support a liberal viewpoint."

Quinn spokesman Jamie McShane said, "The pooling of individual expense budgets by members for legislative work in accordance with council procurement rules is appropriate."

In other words, we taxpaying schmucks are paying their tweeding fees. The Queens members of the caucus are Daniel Dromm, Julissa Ferreras and James Van Bramer.

Here's an editorial from the NY Post:

Now, how exclusionary, race- and ethnicity-based "caucuses" qualify for tax dollars is a mystery; one needn't wonder how willing Quinn would be to fund a White Caucus to understand that.

Not at all, is the answer -- and she'd be correct.

But she shouldn't be ponying up to assist ideological separatism, either -- especially since the subsidy, like the progressive caucus itself, is meant to underwrite partisan political activity.

Again, the money is so small it really isn't the issue here.

But the principle is important: If council members feel the need to form little cliques, they should pay for them out of their own pockets.

New breed of folks in LIC

Miss Heather recently found something in LIC that might lead to some stimulating conversation. I'll just leave it at that.

Washington Square Park mess

Curbed has the story of the Washington Square Park contractor getting the run around from the Parks Department.

...the Parks Department is in charge of the second stage of the park's controversial renovation, originally scheduled for an October completion. And there is apparently serious beef between those Parks Department suits and the Tucci team, the lead contractor on the project. The Villager received some alarming e-mails from Tucci boss Anthony Martucci regarding the park's progress, or lack thereof.

Millions of dollars wasted to line up the fountain with the arch...but there's no money for Flushing Meadows...

Slumlord list now online

From the Daily News:

Now they can't hide.

Not Alan Fein, whose Bronx tenants live with urine-soaked hallways, crackhead squatters and filth so severe that one tenant was attacked by a rat in her toilet.

Not Chris Grijalva, whose roach-infested Brooklyn building sports a giant pile of garbage on the front lawn.

And not any of the 153 landlords whose buildings are so disgusting - or so unsafe - they've earned a place of shame on a new slumlord watch list from city Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. The site launches Monday.

"We want these landlords to feel like they're being watched," de Blasio said. "We need to shine a light on these folks to shame them into action."

De Blasio's new website - www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov/landlord-watchlist - will let tenants look up a building owner to see if he or she is on the list. They can plug in an address, type in a street or sort to see the worst slumlords in the city. They can also sort by borough or see a map of slumlord buildings in their neighborhood.

5 in our fair borough made the list.

The seedy side of Sunnyside

From Sunnyside Post:

Manolo’s, the Mexican restaurant on the corner of Greenpoint Ave. and 47th Street, has been closed for some weeks. But the police are looking over the store for suspicious narcotics related activity. A court order prohibits the store owners from removing items from the premises.

And also from Sunnyside Post:

One person was stabbed and four others were slashed during the Friday night brawl at Casa Romano, police said.

The owners and operators of Casa Romano–located at 39-20 Queens Blvd–have both been charged with selling alcohol to minors. Enid Nieves, 49, was arrested for “criminal nuisance 2″ , for selling alcohol to minors that resulted in one stabbing and four slashings. However, no one died during Friday night’s chaos.

Wilfred Nieves, 25, was also arrested on the same charges, police said.

At this point, the Sunnyside Post is still trying to ascertain whether arrests have been made as a result of the stabbing and slashings themselves. The police press office did not have this information at hand.

Many nearby business owners — who operate between 39th and 40th on Queens Blvd — were victims of Friday night’s fight as well. Some had their windows smashed when the big brawl spilled out onto the street.

No surprise here...

From CBS 2:

“Travel And Leisure Magazine” readers were surveyed about airports in 30 cities. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports came in dead last in on-time performance, food, entertainment, and staff efficiency.

The Magazine called the airports “miserable.”

14-hour tire changes are part of the problem.

Brownfield dorm site seems dormant

When you wander down 47th Avenue in LIC, you come across this scene. First off, you know there is some governmental interest at stake if Claire Shulman's favorite architect is involved.

A scaffold that expired more than a year ago? Nice. So that's why there was no activity on the site in the middle of the day on a Monday.

Holding true to half-assed Queens preservation/adaptive reuse efforts, we have one wall of the original building still standing.

Brownfields are the perfect venue for CUNY dorms.

And who were the Toch Brothers? Well, they still exist, but just not here anymore. They mixed some really toxic stuff at this location. If you want the whole history, visit this link.