Hillside Avenue is one big garbage dump

WHY is nothing being done about the condition of Hillside Avenue, especially the stretch from 165th all the way to 179th, that is taking place on the north side and the south side, although the north side is a little better due to community board 8's involvement, both sides are not great, but the south side is a disaster. How is having a constant overflowing garbage can with garbage all around it near the entrance of the 179th Street subway right near Rocoto Restaurant acceptable. Why should the owners of this establishment have to deal with this and the patrons have to see this while dining.

Many businesses are not cleaning up in front of their places (165th to 174th) and some are actually dumping their business garbage in the public bins. Public bins are continuously overflowing and spilling on the ground due to infrequent pickup but more so because people are putting large amounts of household garbage into these receptacles (due to illegal apartments or landlords not providing garbage cans). I have watched people coming out of apartments and dump their household garbage in these public garbage cans, especially all of the ones on the South Side from 171st all the way to 179th. This morning I could not even put a circular from the newspaper in any of these, they were so filled and overflowing garbage. In fact this morning the public can at 174th in front of that dirty deli across from Major Mark Park was filled and overflowing and even had a huge wooden loading crate. This was like that on Thursday morning and nothing had changed except more garbage. I have seen this deli on a daily basis dump their business garbage in there. Speaking of Major Mark Park, a disaster of garbage and homeless people.

As far as the south side why isn't Councilman Miller on this, this is in his area and why isn't community board 12 doing something about this disaster called Hillside Avenue, it is a disgrace. It clearly looks like the slums of some third world country.

I do not have recent photos from today, but have photos from past visits and nothing has changed. Totally unacceptable and all leaders should be ashamed for allow this to continue.

Yet another reason why many are feed up with the current leadership.

Joe Moretti

It's time to resume pickups

"The department of Highways used to cleanup the adjacent land immediately off of the Jackie Robinson parkway, That hasn’t happened now for the last couple of years !! The trash is piling up it mostly comes from the cars passing by on their way east and west tossing their bottles and cans, baby carriages, overnight bags, partially eaten fast food and assorted other items out the window and over the fence on to the grass hills around 82 and 83 Avenue’s…

With the upcoming modifications of the highway and adjacent area’s it’s imperative that they resume their cleanup responsibilities associated with their property on behalf of the City of New York." - anonymous

This is why we end up with crap

The Queens Courier asked some random people in Bayside who they planned to vote for and the answers were sad, but not surprising. This is the mentality of the average voter: they're not engaged and they couldn't care less, which is why we end up with such crappy leadership.

Affordable housing is falling apart

From Capital New York:

As Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration embarks on an ambitious plan to expand the stock of affordable housing for New Yorkers, he faces another daunting task: Ensuring those homes are safe, comfortable places to live.

A report released Monday morning by Comptroller Scott Stringer finds that the city’s affordable housing stock—both rent-regulated and public—is in a state of disrepair.

New York has come a long way in the 125 years since Jacob Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives, the report notes. But in some areas, the gains of the last century are slipping away.

The 27-page report finds a wide gap between the conditions of market-rate housing and the rest of the city’s apartment stock, noting disparities along income and racial lines. There are noteworthy differences in the conditions of stabilized housing and market-rate.

In 2011, for example, 20 percent of rent-stabilized apartments had heating equipment breakdowns, while broken plaster and peeling paint was noted at 24 percent—twice that of market-rate units. One out of three rent-stabilized units had rodent problems in 2011, compared to one in five market-rate units.

“While much of New York City’s housing stock remains in good condition and asset values have increased, significant pockets of our city’s housing are deteriorating,” Stringer said in a statement. “We still have much work to do to ensure that every New Yorker has a safe place to call home.”

Much of the city’s public housing is in a state of disrepair, Stringer’s report finds, noting problems have became far more widespread in the last decade.

Liu campaign falsified resident's signature on mailer

From the Queens Chronicle:

A Douglaston resident claims his name, address and a false signature that is not his were wrongly included in a letter supporting John Liu sent out by the candidate's campaign team last week.

Liu is running a primary race to unseat state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) in the 11th District in northern and northeastern Queens. Avella is a maverick member of the Independent Democratic Conference and Liu a former city councilman and comptroller supported by the party establishment.

Last week some residents in the district received "An Open Letter to Our Neighbors in Little Neck and Douglaston" promoting Liu's candidacy and touting his support for middle-class families. The letter says it was paid for by the John Liu Senate Election Committee and is signed by former Rep. Gary Ackerman, Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), Borough President Melinda Katz and City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) — as well as nine area residents.

But one of the residents listed on the letter, Joshua Block, says the signature is not his and that he knew nothing of the missive until he opened it last Thursday.

"I wasn't involved in drafting it. I knew nothing about it. I didn't sign it," Block said in an email. "Nobody asked me to be a part of it, and I'm no way committed to voting for Liu. I was absolutely shocked to see my name at the bottom."

Variations of the letter were sent all over the district. There may be other victims.

John Liu accepted campaign money from a charity and the mob

From the NY Post:

Scandal-scarred state Senate hopeful John Liu will take money from just about anyone.

The former city comptroller and failed mayoral candidate, who faces a bruising Democratic primary battle Tuesday against Queens incumbent Tony Avella, has raked in $706,190 — but some of it is from shady sources.

He accepted a donation from a group linked to Chinese organized crime, campaign filings show. And a nonprofit, the Fukien Benevolent Association, held a prohibited fund-raiser for Liu in June that raked in a reported $15,000.

Liu’s campaign also received donations from two other tax-exempt groups, which are not allowed to make political contributions.

The Fukien American Association, which shares the same East Broadway building as the Fukien Benevolent Association but is a separate organization, donated $4,000 to Liu on June 29.

The Fukien American Association has been tied to the Fuk Ching gang, a powerful organized-crime racket with branches in New York and Los Angeles that specializes in human trafficking and extorting Chinatown merchants, according to a 2007 report by the Justice Department.

Neither group returned messages seeking comment.

“The NY Post is negligently ignorant of the incontrovertible evidence that no contributions were received from a [tax-exempt] organization, and since they don’t have any facts to support their story they’re just making them up,” said Liu campaign spokesman Austin Shafran.

He failed to provide the “incontrovertible” proof, and did not address the donations from a group linked to a brutal crime ring.

Liu's donor list reveals interesting repeat contributors

Taking a look at John Liu's current donors seems to indicate that many of those listed as having donated during the illegal Fukien Benevolent Association fundraiser (reported 6/29 & 6/30/14) are repeat John Liu donors, and even more interesting, quite a few gave $800 toward his 2013 mayoral campaign during the time that Liu's 2 convicted campaigners were working for him.

You can read into this what you wish.

You are who your friends are

Let's recap who supports John Liu, and in turn supports everything dubious:

Reps. Joe Crowley, Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks

Former Congress Member Gary Ackerman

The NY Times, The Daily Kos & Queens Politics

New York Communities for Change, CWA Local 1180, UCFW Local 1500, the New York City Coalition of Operating Engineers, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, and the Working Families Party

The Queens Times, Queens Gazette and Queens Tribune

State Senator Liz Krueger and Manhattan BP Gale Brewer

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz; and practically every Democratic assemblymember and senator in Albany, and in the City Council in New York.

Civic leaders

Holy macaroni, there are a lot of dumb, brainwashed bunnies in politics! (And I didn't even include them all.) You'll also note the way he tries to make it seem like Cuomo endorsed him, when he didn't:

More mosquito spraying tonight

From the Queens Courier:

On Monday, Sept. 8, there will be West Nile spraying in parts of Queens to help reduce the mosquito population and the risk of the disease.

The spraying will take place between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next morning. In case of bad weather, the application will be delayed until Tuesday, Sept. 9 during the same hours.

The following neighborhoods are being treated due to rising West Nile virus activity with high mosquito populations, according to the city’s Health Department:

Parts of Auburndale, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Murray Hill Pomonok, and Queensboro Hill (Bordered by 46th Avenue, Holly Avenue and Kissena Boulevard to the north; Main Street and Elder Avenue to west; Long Island Expressway to the south; and Hollis Court Boulevard to the east).

Parts of Astoria, Jackson Heights, Steinway and Woodside (Bordered by 19th Avenue and 81st Street to the north; 45th Street to the west; 25th Avenue and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway West to the south; and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway East, 25th Avenue, 77th Street and Grand Central Parkway to the east).

DeBlasio pushing hard for development of affordable housing

From the NY Times:

The next time a New York City developer seeks permission to replace a derelict factory with a shimmering condo tower, the heated swimming pool and sky-lit roof lounge will have to be accompanied by another amenity: affordable housing.

In the most forceful remarks yet of an administration determined to reshape the cityscape, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s top planning official declared on Friday that affordable units will be a requirement for any future real estate project requiring a zoning change from the city.

The mandate will apply not only to neighborhood-wide redevelopments, like the earlier transformation of industrial Williamsburg into a residential mecca, but also to individual projects, as when a developer needs a waiver to graft stories onto an apartment tower in Midtown.

“You can’t build one unit unless you build your share of affordable housing,” Carl Weisbrod, chairman of the City Planning Commission, told a packed room of landlords, planners and investors at a New York Law School breakfast on Friday. “You can’t build just market-rate housing, period.”

Aides to Mr. de Blasio, who has pledged to create or preserve 200,000 affordable units in the next decade, have signaled for months that mandates for developers were on the way. But Mr. Weisbrod’s comments provided the clearest glimpse yet of what the city’s plan would mean in practice for the real estate industry, which is still wary of a mayor who has presented a lofty vision for future development but has provided few details on how he plans to achieve it.

Privately, some developers expressed skepticism about the administration’s plan, fearing that the requirements would make it financially difficult to build. While few in real estate criticize the mayor publicly, Mr. Weisbrod acknowledged those concerns, saying the industry was a necessary partner.

In his speech, Mr. Weisbrod said the administration would take steps to ease the bureaucratic burden on developers, such as speeding up the public review process and rolling back other onerous regulations. And he pledged that planning officials would consider new projects on the merits when determining how many affordable units should be included.

Former Astoria theater sells for $32M

From the Queens Courier:

A corner retail building near the heart of Astoria’s Steinway Street commercial strip has been sold for $32 million.

Realty service Massey Knakal, which handled the transaction, announced the sale Friday of 2856-2860 Steinway St., which occupies the entire block front of 30th Avenue between Steinway and 38th streets in the burgeoning neighborhood.


The building houses a trio of long-term leases for New York Sports Club, JP Morgan Chase Bank and Duane Reade in more than 37,000 square feet. The sale breaks down to $627 per square foot.

The transaction indicates that investors are coming over from Manhattan and looking for new opportunities elsewhere, according to Massey Knakal chair Bob Knakal.

Hey, remember when that was actually a theater?

Summarizing southeastern Queens corruption

From NY1:

State Senator Malcolm Smith starts his Saturday praying.

"God, let him go back into his elected official office," a preacher says.

Whether that will happen after next week's Democratic primary is unclear.

Smith faces a new bribery trial in January. The first one this summer ended abruptly in a mistrial.

"It has a profound impact on you. There is no question about it," Smith said. "I have never been involved with the law in any regard."

He is also staring down his toughest re-election fight yet, against a former City Councilman, Leroy Comrie.

Smith's indictment rattled the city's political world, but he is hardly the first elected official in southeast Queens to be slapped with handcuffs.

Former state Senator Shirley Huntley had the experience in 2012. Earlier this year, it was City Councilman Ruben Wills.

"I know because of where I come from and the color I am, it doesn't usually work like that with you guys, but I am presumed innocent," Wills said in May.

It's a familiar line.

"I always continue to tell people of my innocence, and the more information that comes out, the more they realize," Smith said.

It's also a familiar subject: federal investigations into politicians' pockets.

"All of us, whoever we are, once you get elected, you're a target, and I think we realize that we are targets," said Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens.

It seems that focus is zeroed in on southeast Queens, with scandal after scandal slamming the same neighborhoods.

How the city fails to repair potholes

From the Queens Chronicle:

Two weeks after the Queens Chronicle published a story on two giant holes in the middle of 101st Street in Ozone Park, the city has filled them up.

How good of a job it did is another question.

The depressions in the street — bigger than normal potholes, but smaller than what are typically seen as a sinkhole — were located in the middle of the street about a third of the way between 101st and 103rd avenues. Each hole had a traffic cone in it to keep cars from hitting it.

That clearly hadn’t worked as the holes were filled with debris that appeared to have come from vehicles, including pieces of bumpers and headlights.

The holes were filled early last week, but a quick glance at the newly poured asphalt show tiny holes developing already, likely as a result of cars driving over the material before it was completely dry.

DeBlasio a less transparent mayor than predecessors

From the NY Post:

Remember when Bill de Blasio, the People’s Mayor and not at all one of those imperious out-of-touch/out-of-town billionaires, promised a new era of transparency in city government?
Now that he’s in charge, he’s about as transparent as oak.

This week the Press Club of New York blasted de Blasio in an open letter that said, “You have departed from a precedent set by at least eight mayors before you, which has been to take questions in open press conferences without restriction as to the subject matter.”

That doesn’t sound like the Billy Blazes we were promised.

“I will increase transparency with a series of reforms of the Freedom of Information Law,” candidate de Blasio told the New York City Bar in an interview published in 2013.

“I will include FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] statistics in the Mayor’s Management Report . . . I will also levy fines and penalties against city agencies that regularly duck and delay FOIL requests, and proactively post online information that is most-frequently sought by FOIL request . . . I have continued to go beyond the current laws when it comes to transparency and disclosure and will continue these practices when Mayor.”

These days, though, de Blasio has established an alarming habit of walling off reporters from his public appearances. By May he had already logged 83 events at which journalist access was restricted or barred.

At press conferences, he bristles when asked a question he doesn’t want to answer, telling the hacks that they’ve gone “off topic,” a phrase de Blasio evidently hopes sounds less self-incriminating than “no comment.”

The trick is this: de Blasio holds a presser, warns everyone to stay on topic, then answers questions on anything that comes up. Until he is presented with a question he doesn’t like: Then he swats it away for being “off topic.”

Meanwhile, the unanswered FOIL requests are piling up.

Rabbi turns house into illegal synagogue

From the Queens Courier:

A Bayside homeowner is being accused of using his home as an illegal synagogue, according to city records.

The Department of Buildings received a complaint that Jacob Hasis, a rabbi, is using his 26th Avenue residence as a house of worship, in violation of its certificate of occupancy as a residence, a spokesman said.

“This property has many past issues so we take the complaints very seriously,” the DOB spokesman said.

Hasis acknowledged that residents complained to him about loud noise coming from his home. But he said that people mistake his large family of 12 and a couple of friends who come over for religious reasons as a synagogue.

“My family is 12 people and maybe another three or four of my friends come over to pray,” he said. “I don’t know why they were complaining.”

But in a flier that Hasis made, he invites “the whole community” to “Rabbi Yaakov’s shul for the high holidays service,” although the flier does say there is “limited space available” in the single-family home.

Hasis has a history of constructing additions to his home “illegally” and has paid $1,200 in fines to the city in regard to the property, according to the DOB spokesman.

The home also has three open violations relating to construction without the proper work permits. This construction includes creating entry doors for the cellar, two of which the DOB has deemed “immediately hazardous.”

The front yard of the house is filled with bricks, wheel barrels for cement and an abundance of wood.

Newtown Creek projects still in limbo

City Parks Foundation released an update on the status of the Newtown Creek projects. The North Brooklyn Boat Club is still working on an agreement to be located inside Gina Argento's hotel next to the Pulaski Bridge. They are potentially sitting on $3M, but have not been given a deadline to ink an agreement. I'd like to remind you all that they came in 3rd place in the voting.

Meanwhile, the only Queens project on the list, the Dutch Kills basin park, has been given a deadline of May 2015 to find a new site or their funding gets taken away. I'll also take this opportunity to remind you that this project came in first place in the voting.

But everything going on with regard to these funds is totally above board.

Katz releases strategic policy statement

September 4, 2014

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I hope all is well with you and that you’ve had a wonderful summer. As school begins for the hundreds of thousands of children around the Borough, I dropped my son off, as well, on his first day of public school. Mother and son were both very excited!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to pass along exciting news for the Borough of Queens. Every four years the City’s five borough presidents each prepare Strategic Policy Statements that summarize the most significant long-term challenges faced by our Boroughs, the policy goals related to these challenges and the proposed strategies for addressing these issues.

My office’s Strategic Policy Statement was submitted to the Mayor’s Office and the City Council. Highlights from this 138-page document organized under eighteen policy areas include discussions about:

· Rockaway Ferry: The need to fund permanent Rockaway Ferry service to allow greater access to the peninsula and to provide Queens with an additional mass transit option;

· Immigrants and Intercultural Services: Helping new immigrants by making services available in multiple languages and improving outreach so that culturally sensitive programming can be made available to all immigrant groups;

· Tourism: My pledge to continue to promote Queens (“The World’s Borough”) as a major tourist destination with top-level attractions;

· Economic Development: The need to encourage economic development by facilitating job training, welcoming start-up businesses, encouraging new technologies and helping small business owners navigate City regulations and take advantage of government procurement opportunities;

· Housing: My commitment to address the impact of the housing shortage by securing additional funds for housing assistance and working to improve the enforcement of rules aimed at deterring people from creating illegal and substandard apartments;

· Zoning: A continuing need to contextually rezone Queens neighborhoods to preserve their existing characters and to allow increased density only in appropriate locations where new housing should be developed;

· Education: The need to solve overcrowding in Queens schools by convening the Queens Borough President’s Education War Room, a monthly meeting that brings the School Construction Authority and school superintendents together with my office to identify ways to reduce overcrowding and address other problems that can hinder our children’s education;

· Parks: The importance of making sure Queens parks are adequately funded, upgraded and accessible for all to enjoy;

· Public Safety: My support for a plan to improve police response times by creating a new police precinct that would serve part of the area now served by the 105th Precinct in eastern Queens.

The Office of the Queens Borough President is dedicated to making sure Queens is the best possible place to live, work and visit. This Strategic Policy Statement will guide our efforts to achieve these goals.

I invite you to read the entire document linked here. I also look forward to working with you over the weeks, months and years ahead as we strive to achieve our collective objectives on behalf of the people of “The World’s Borough.”

Sincerely,

Melinda Katz
President
Borough of Queens

Q103 to become permanent

From the Times Ledger:

Straphangers in Long Island City got their G train service restored Tuesday morning after a five-week shutdown.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority closed down the Greenpoint subway tube that runs under Newtown Creek and connects LIC with Brooklyn to perform critical work still needed after the tunnel was flooded by Hurricane Sandy in fall 2012.

Meanwhile, riders of the Q103 bus, which connects Long Island City with Astoria, is just one public hearing away from becoming permanent.

The agency introduced extended hours and weekend service on a trial basis this summer, taking riders past Socrates Sculpture Park, the Noguchi Museum, the Chocolate Factory theater and other cultural institutions as well as several waterfront parks along the East River.

The Q103 also provides transportation options for many who live far from the subway.

311 procedures revamped

From the Daily News:

New Yorkers who dial 311 to complain about quality-of-life violations can expect a call back from police asking if they’re satisfied with how the problem was handled, the Daily News has learned.

In the wake of the Staten Island chokehold death of Eric Garner during his arrest for selling loose cigarettes, critics have called for the NYPD to abandon broken windows policing — cracking down on minor offenses to prevent more serious crime.

But an Aug. 15 order makes it clear quality-of-life enforcement remains a top priority — and that the NYPD believes a little customer service can go a long way toward making friends with the public.

“The process of identifying, addressing and monitoring 311 complaints plays a vital role to the department’s mission of improving quality of life for the communities it serves,” the order reads.

Precinct bosses will track 311 complaints, and each precinct’s special operations lieutenant will make sure every caller is contacted within one business day, with officers asking if the police response solved the problem.

For “chronic complaints,” defined as at least five calls about the same condition within four weeks, the caller will get a personal visit from one of the precinct’s top two officers.

Monthly audits will also be conducted, with at least 15 callers polled about their experience with the officer who originally contacted them.

Apelian and Vallone support never ending variance

Dear Civic Leaders:

The Station Road Civic Association is asking for your help in opposing a variance renewal request for Utopia Realty located at 167-02 Northern Blvd. The matter is on the CB 7 meeting calendar for Monday September 8, 2014 at 7:00pm. (at the Union Plaza Care Center located at 33-23 Union Street) The variance request is for extension of the term of variance for a one story building that is occupied as a real estate office. The April 18, 1990 extension included a provision that states “there shall be no change in ownership or operating control without prior application to and approval from the Board”. The provision was continued in the 1999 variance renewal. The applicant now requests that this provision be removed. We have been informed that the provision was inserted due to the location of the property within an area covered by the Rickert-Finlay covenant.

The current operator of Utopia Realty is the son of the owner of the property, Paul Luciano. He has no ties to the community and currently lives in Sag Harbor. Though he professes no intention to immediately sell the property or business, the sale will undoubtedly occur within the next few years. He is looking to the removal of this clause and the renewal of the variance for as long a time as possible as a means to maximize his inheritance.

We believe the restriction should be maintained to give the community a means of control over the next occupant and to make that occupant aware of and accountable for the restrictions placed on the property from the inception of their occupancy/ownership. We do not oppose the granting of a 10 year extension so long as the clause remains.

The opposing argument, proposed by Chuck Apelian, is that the cost of a variance is a burden on a property/business owner and should be a one- time event, that once obtained, continues in perpetuity. This variance renewal would be that one time event. We estimate the cost of a variance over its entire duration is about $100/month.

Why the Community Board vice-chair is concerned with the financial welfare of an heir or a successor owner, who if due diligence is done before the purchase will know that the property comes with the extra expense of a variance is beyond logical reasoning.

There is no reason why the Community Board, Borough President or the BSA should be willing to give up their power to regulate and oversee businesses to make them better community members. Once one applicant receives such a “forever” variance, every other applicant will want one too.

Hypothetically, once a business obtains a “forever” variance it is a small step to then request a change in zoning. The theory would be that I have a perpetual variance, so why not just change the zoning to make it legal, there really would be no difference, except for the opportunity to change the type of business and size of the premises, which is actually a really big difference. Mr Apelian contends that the businesses coming in want the re-zoning so they will exist in an area with a commercial overlay. It is a back door way to negate the zoning changes that were approved by the Community Board, Borough President and City Council only a few years ago.

This is a step that would have catastrophic consequences for northeast Queens and the entire city. The entire area along Northern Boulevard from 162 Street to 192 Street and beyond in both directions would be vulnerable to dramatic up-zoning that would render the area unrecognizable over time. Any increases in building size and density would then be requested by owners in adjoining areas.

To date we have met with Assemblyman Braunstein and Senator Avella and have spoken to Paul Graziano, all support our position and will attend or send representatives to the Community Board hearing. Councilman Vallone has not agreed to meet with us prior to the hearing.

Please support our position at the September 8th meeting. Please attend and sign up to speak. It is time for Northeast Queens civics to unite as one voice to acquire greater political clout. It is the only way we will be able to retain the physical integrity of our communities and our way of life against the onslaught of real estate development interests.

Thank you.
Rhea O’Gorman
Station Road Civic Association

The Vallone banner in the top photo has now been replaced by a John Liu banner. And this sign is in their front door:

Remembering old Forest Hills and Rockaway

Parks now likely to shelve stupid Ridgewood Reservoir plan

From the Daily News:

The city may not need to cut culverts and roads through the green oasis in order to stave off the potential risk of flooding, state officials said this week.

It marked the first sign of victory for the activists who have been battling for seven years to protect the untamed 50-acre site, which has grown into a natural woodland since the reservior was closed more than two decades ago.

“There aren’t wild places left like this is New York,” said activist Robb Jett, who founded Save the Ridgewood Reservoir. “There’s more to gain to keep it as a natural area.”

State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens told lawmakers the area could be reclassified as a low-risk dam, a distinction that would eliminate the need for flooding mitigation measures currently required by state law.

The state will make that decision after it completes a review of information provided by the city Parks Department.

The news comes in time to head off a $6 million Parks project — mandated by the state — that opponents said would destroy the reservoir’s delicate ecosystem.

Another activist, Christina Wilkinson, convinced eight local lawmakers earlier this year to sign a letter to Gov. Cuomo detailing the importance of preserving the site.

School scaffold up prematurely

From the Queens Courier:

As a new school year starts, students at a Bayside elementary school will find their school shrouded in scaffolding and mesh for a building project that doesn’t yet exist, according to city officials.

The city put the scaffolding up last school year at P.S. 162, according to a DOE spokeswoman, who said the project is still in its planning stage and designs for the project haven’t been made.

The K-5 school, which was built in 1936, was chosen for an “exterior modernization project” that would replace and repair the roof, parapets, windows and exterior masonry.

Goldfeder wants online food stamp purchases authorized

From The Forum:

Grocery shopping is very different for shoppers using food stamps in the Bronx.

There, a select number of zip codes have the option of ordering groceries online, which has served as a lifeline especially for senior citizens. State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Park) called out the United States Department of Agriculture this week, asking why the same did not apply to southern Queens.

“Buying groceries should not be a nightmare for seniors with limited mobility,” Goldfeder said. “No senior should have to rely on friends and family when technology allows for an easier option.”

The assemblyman fired off a letter to USDA head and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, calling on the agency to use its power administering food stamp benefits at the national level to provide online grocery delivery services to zip codes in southern Queens and Rockaway. The service has been part of a pilot program the USDA launched this year to allow for online purchases of groceries using Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, which shoppers use to make purchases with their SNAP benefits – or food stamps. Goldfeder’s letter said southern Queens and Rockaway were home to a large senior population, and allowing residents to use their EBT cards to order groceries online would be a great relief to seniors unable to make it to the supermarket.

Malcolm Smith confident in win

From WPIX:

Despite facing retrial on federal bribery charges in January and difficulties raising campaign funds, Sen. Malcolm Smith remains optimistic about re-election.

Smith has held a seat on the State Senate for 14 years. His most formidable challenger is former city Councilman Leroy Comrie, who has the backing of the Queens Democratic Party and a number of unions, including the 120,000-member Teamsters Joint Council 16.

Some of the pundits say the race could be a toss up. The question is can the candidate under the cloud of serious felony charges overcome the stigma of a federal indictment and win re-election to the Senate. Smith believes he can.

I like the condition of the American flag outside his office...

Pre-K programs cancelled right before they were to start

From the NY Times:

Nine private programs that were to offer free, city-financed prekindergarten this year will not open because of safety concerns or other issues, and 36 programs will not be ready to open on Thursday, the first day of school, New York City officials announced on Tuesday.

Extending free, full-day prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds was Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature campaign proposal and for him, much is riding on the program’s success. The 45 programs cited on Tuesday by the city represent a small percentage of the roughly 1,100 private sites that are scheduled to open on Thursday.

Over 50,000 children have been signed up for full-day prekindergarten programs this year, an increase of 30,000 from last year. The city plans to add 20,000 more seats next year.

About two-thirds of the seats are in private programs, which have undergone rigorous inspections by fire and health officials and employees of the Education Department. The city had said that if sites still had serious health violations or other problems by now, they would not open, but Tuesday was the first time that the city said that some programs would not open at all.

The nine sites would have served 265 students. The Education Department was helping parents at those programs find other places to send their children and had re-enrolled 83 students so far.

Apparently some of the programs are under DOI investigation.

Chris Moss speaks in Bay Terrace

Candidates Forum held August 26, 2014 by Bay Terrace Community Alliance. © 2014 LoScalzo Media Design LLC. All rights reserved,

AirBnB hosts sue to stop records release

From The Real Deal:

More than two dozen New York Airbnb hosts filed a lawsuit early this morning to block the disclosure of their personal information as stipulated in an agreement between the New York attorney general and the online rental service.

The group of 25 anonymous hosts are fighting to keep their information private following a deal hammered out in May between Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office and Airbnb.

The suit, filed this morning in New York State Supreme Court, is seeking an injunction blocking the turnover of information including names, addresses and social security numbers, Adam Leitman Bailey, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The Real Deal. He was citing the U.S. Stored Communications Act, which he said precludes Airbnb from turning over the information without a warrant or court order.

The suit also says the disclosure would be a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment against illegal searches and seizures, as well as violations of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, the suit claims.

In addition, he added that prevailing law prohibits the turnover.

“Under federal law, you are not allowed to release that information,” Bailey said. “Last month, we followed our normal procedures and notified a small number of hosts that their data had been requested by the New York Attorney General under a subpoena,” Airbnb said in a statement. “We will not take action with data from hosts who have previously filed suit until the court makes a decision and we will respect the court’s decision.”

About a quarter of the hosts are unemployed, and at least one is a single mother, Bailey said. Most of his clients had more than one unit, but Bailey would not disclose how many the largest had.

John Liu's questionable filings

"I was looking at John Liu's filings and I noticed something weird with regard to Chuck Apelian. Chuck's occupation is listed as a Sales Executive at Irene Hermann Incorporated/Prestone Printing.

If you notice, the corporation and Chuck have the same address. The biggest question is why is the corporation getting $5K for consulting twice when it's a printing company?

Irene Hermann Incorporated got $5,000 for consulting on July 21st and the address is 145-30 29 Road which is Chuck's address.

On August 11th, "Irene Hermann Incorporated" was reimbursed $420 for buttons and it's Chuck's home address again.

Then 7 days later, Chuck gets reimbursed over a thousand dollars for office supplies at the same address.

On August 21st, Irene Hermann Incorporated got $5,000 for consulting fees.

I am confused who exists at 145-30 29th Road, Chuck or the corporation or both? This is a single family home." - Sad about the state of Queens

(Ha! And the Vice Chair of Queens CB7 running a political campaign isn't a conflict-of-interest or anything.)

But wait, that's not all! Let's see who else Johnny has on his payroll:

Sharon Lee, who agreed to turn state's evidence against Jenny Hou and Oliver Pan in return for immunity.

Chung Seto, who ran his shady campaign - and his office as an unpaid staffer - a conflict of interest.

Mei Hua Ru, a former aide to John, who likes using mafia terms.

But I'm sure John Liu would bring a breath of fresh air to Albany if elected...

Tall walls don't always make good neighbors

From Crains:

What has angered many residents is the watchmaker's plan to expand the 160,000-square-foot plant by 50%. To do that, the company built a two-story extension that resulted in a 35-foot blank wall running along the back of the seven-acre lot. The howls of outrage came even though the privately held, 58-year-old watchmaker last year had voluntarily met with Queens officials to share its plans. At the time, the company, with its 350 skilled employees, seemed like an ideal fit for the area.

Surprised by the reaction, perhaps, but eager to please its new neighbors, E. Gluck quickly moved to make amends. In August, it spent more than $1 million to chop 14 feet off the offending 35-foot wall and set back the second story from the street by 40 feet.

"Our concern was to be a good neighbor," said Murray Stimler, senior vice president of the company, which imports parts from China and then crafts them into more than a half-dozen brand-name timepieces for Armitron, Nine West, Vince Camuto and Anne Klein, as well as private-label offerings.

He also noted that the company has put its security kiosk 50 feet back from the curb to spare locals from trucks idling in the street, and has splashed out $100,000 on mature trees and landscaping around the back of the plant. The hoops that E. Gluck has had to jump through in Little Neck come after 33 years as a pillar of the community in its current home, on the other side of Queens in Long Island City. There, ironically, E. Gluck is being forced out not by developers keen to convert its 800,000-square-foot, nine-story building into luxury condos, but by the City University of New York, which wants the property for its own use.

On the other hand, when it signed its 20-year lease in 2013, the city sweetened the deal by giving E. Gluck $15 million in tax incentives over 25 years. Now, after having spent a hunk of that savings to better fit into its new home, the company will move into it in December.

Video tribute to Rego Park

Chemical company hitting the road

From the Daily News:

A longtime chemical storage facility in Glendale may be headed out the door.

Independent Chemical Corporation is “fully committed to moving” by early 2015, its owners told state inspectors during a July checkup that resulted in unspecified violations.

The “minor” infractions have already been addressed, according to company president Jonathan Spielman, who declined to comment on the move.

The DEC could not immediately confirm his account.

Civic leaders had asked the DEC to look into the site in June after they found chemical barrels out in the open at the facility, which is next to the site of a proposed city homeless shelter.

Crazy storms put us all up shit's creek

From NY Environmental Report:

On August 13th, New York State witnessed the greatest 24-hour rainfall, 13.27 inches, in its recorded history. The state record – last set in 2011 – was broken in West Islip, Long Island, fewer than 30 miles from the Queens border.

A flash flood watch went in effect throughout New York City, and beaches in Brooklyn and Staten Island were closed to swimmers the following day. The heavy rain had overloaded sewer mains, necessitating the release of untreated sewage directly into local waterways.

If the City’s climate scientists are right, New York will steadily become a wetter city, subject to more frequent and intense rainfall – and thus, more overloaded sewers and water-related health risks.

And at the very same time that New York’s climate is shifting, the City is engaged in what will be a decades-long effort to address a long-standing problem: the need to capture stormwater before it overwhelms sewers and treatment plants, triggering the release of untreated sewage into Jamaica Bay, the Bronx River, and other waterways.

State Senate candidates at Bay Terrace forum

[Note: In this video, John Liu directly addresses the investigation and conviction of his former treasurer Jenny Hou, and his unpaid fines for posting illegal campaign posters.]

Video of Candidates Forum held August 26, 2014 by Bay Terrace Community Alliance, moderated by Warren Schreiber and Phil Konigsberg. © 2014 LoScalzo Media Design LLC. All rights reserved.

Leaf blowers create a cacophony

"This might be a little off topic but the noise pollution from these things is totally out-of-control all over Queens – and now I read that they’re bad for the environment, people and animals. We need to ban them!

Modern Pestilence: Leaf Blowers Generate Infuriating Noise, Toxic Gases and Hazardous Dust

Thanks Crappy!

Regards,

Flooshing Rezident"

Why Jamaica is the way it is

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

With a primary coming soon, September 9th, it is a really good time to start exposing the Jamaica leaders for who they really are and why our community is never improving. There will be more to come in the passing days.

Some things never change, no matter how bad or corrupt, especially with Jamaica/South East Queens majorly dirty politics and the residents of Jamaica who are being played by these snake oil salesman who have been entrenched in this dirty system that to this day plagues Jamaica, like all the garbage everywhere, and serves only the players and the hell with the community and the residents.

Ever wonder why Jamaica for decades has been kept down in the dumps, all one needs to do is look at past and present players, many who are the same names year after year, decade after decade. It is a game of corrupt musical chairs to keep the same culprits deep in the system. The late great and feisty Jamaica assembly woman, Cynthia Jenkins (1st black woman elected to public office in South East Queens and more about her latter on, READ UP ON HER) who battled the Queens County Democratic machine constantly said of South East Queens politics, “It is “plantation politics”, which to this day still continues in all forms of government, but especially here in Jamaica by the same names from decades ago to the present. Names like Archie Spigner, Leroy Comrie, Helen Marshall, Malcolm Smith, Gregory Meeks, William Scarborough Joan Flowers and Rev. Floyd Flake. Speaking for a long time with Ms. Jenkins' son, Rev. Joe Jenkins, he filled me in on the history of this corrupt system, since this was way before my time here in Jamaica. And boy does he have stories, that our leaders would not like to be brought up in this era of “selective memory”.

Take this quote I came across:

“A plantation. Black people in the worst jobs. The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we’d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our soul for a Christmas turkey.”

This is a strategy of keeping blacks poor, angry, uneducated, sheep, victims and voting for Democrats or whomever, who end up never giving a shit about them, just like our Jamaica leaders. They count on this and they do not want smart, intelligent, educated and politically conscience people voting, because they want to bring in their sheep to vote for them, which is exactly what Rev. Flake and some other church leaders do to control the system. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

Tree pruning audit praising Queens is a joke

From the Times Ledger:

In a recent audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens was heralded as the model borough whose Parks Department tree pruning practices should be followed by the rest of the city, but one area leader is skeptical of that finding.

After seeing the report, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) questioned whether the results were something Queens should be proud of or if they signaled the need for change within the borough’s Parks Department operations.

In an audit made public by Stringer’s office Aug. 17, the comptroller revealed that Parks offices in four of the five boroughs, excluding Queens, failed to properly prune tree limbs or provide the maintenance needed.

It also found that the borough offices in Manhattan and Staten Island failed to review vendor invoices before making payments to ensure contractors were only paid for pruning eligible trees, which Stringer defined as those with a diameter of 5 inches or greater when measured at the height of an adult’s chest.

Queens was the only borough, Stringer said, that had no issues with its pruning practices or how they were reported. According to Stringer’s report, 41.8 percent of all trees eligible for pruning across the city, equivalent to 204,825 trees out of 490,417 total, were in Queens.

“Pruning operations in Queens are a model for the rest of the city,” Stringer said. “The Parks Department needs to implement reforms that will help protect all taxpayers, boost services and ensure greater safety in all neighborhoods.”

But despite the praise, Avella said he was skeptical that tree pruning in Queens has been as successful as Stringer reported.

“Although I’m glad [Stringer] found the response of the Queens Borough Forestry Department to be much better than that of the other boroughs, the Parks Department has certainly failed to provide proper tree maintenance and speedy stump removals throughout all five boroughs in the city of New York,” Avella said.

The senator argued that the Queens Parks Department has ignored the needs and desires of residents by continuously planting new trees, despite opposition from the community, and failed to care for them as needed.

Rush job at the Times Ledger?

It appears that someone was sloppy at the Times Ledger. If I ran the Avery campaign, I'd request a correction.

Here's the original article.

22 beds in a downtown apartment

From WPIX:

A man is renting out an East Side apartment for “young professionals” for $900. 22 to be exact.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, you’re given a tour of what looks like a cramped dwelling.

It’s a two-bedroom apartment with 22 beds.

The man claims to have plenty of storage space (perhaps under the beds?) and tells how the apartment is walking distance from the subway trains.

He doesn’t mention the word hostel, but a city spokesman says they are investigating this place as a possible illegal hostel.

Monetary dispute shuts down Atlantic Yards construction

From the NY Times:

Forest City Ratner, the developer at the sprawling Atlantic Yards complex (renamed Pacific Park this month) in Brooklyn, boasted in 2012 that it had “cracked the code” sought by builders for more than a half-century, enabling the company to build residential, high-rise towers faster, better and more cheaply.

But a dark shadow was cast over those claims on Wednesday. Slow-moving work on the first tower shut down completely amid a battle over tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns between Forest City and its partner, Skanska, the giant Swedish construction company that is also the construction manager for the building.

This dispute over a high-profile development is unusually bitter and public, even for the typically rambunctious New York real estate industry.

Skanska on Wednesday unilaterally closed the factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard where 157 workers assembled and built the steel-framed modules for the first of a planned 14 prefabricated apartment buildings, at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street.

A day earlier, Skanska ceased work at the construction site, where the building rises to only 10 floors of its 32-story height, 21 months after work started.

Candidates for Governor address Bay Terrace Community Alliance

Video of Candidates Forum held August 26, 2014 by Bay Terrace Community Alliance, moderated by Warren Schreiber and Phil Konigsberg. Copyright 2014 LoScalzo Media Design LLC. All rights reserved.

Andrew Cuomo did not attend...

Fresh Meadows hotel project is underway

From the Queens Courier:

Foundation work is progressing on a planned 12-story mixed-use hotel near the Fresh Meadows Shopping Center.

The hotel, which is designed by Tan Architect, will be divided into 14,672 square feet of residential space, 40,675 square feet of retail space and 2,239 square feet of community space, according to filings with the Department of Buildings.

The new structure will have 22 rooms and is expected to be completed in January 2016, according to the work poster at the site.

The permits say 29 rooms... Why does it look larger than that?