208th Street brawl

"It appears that the filming was done yesterday after school. I believe this is Cambria Heights but am not 100% sure. Maybe one of the other Queens Crap readers will have a better idea of exactly where this took place." - anonymous

Actually, it's Spring Recess, so this wasn't taken after school. But it looks like it was filmed in front of a school.

Click here for video.

That's some salary!

From the NY Post:

A top aide scrutinized in the federal pay-to-play probe that snared his boss, state Sen. Carl Kruger, is raking in a $162,442-a-year salary -- the highest of any staffer in the state Legislature, The Post has learned.

Jason Koppel, 34, the embattled Brooklyn Democrat's chief of staff and campaign manager, saw his salary rise 40 percent -- or $47,128 -- over the 16-month period ending January 2010.

The pay hikes came as the feds stepped up an investigation into Kruger that also looked at Koppel, according to sources and court documents.

Kruger even backdated the last raise three months, in essence giving Koppel a $6,700-plus bonus, records show.

That put his 2010 earnings at $169,228 -- more than double Kruger's $79,500 legislative salary.

Koppel has never been charged.

He meant well, but...

From the NY Times:

It’s one of the oldest tricks in real estate: pretend that a property is in a more desirable neighborhood and demand more rent or a higher sale price. In other words, advertise that an apartment is in, say, Prospect Heights rather than Crown Heights.

When brokers cannot do that, some make up a whole new name, like ProCro for the area between Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. Or they rename places like the South Bronx “SoBro” and South Harlem “SoHa.”

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, has little patience for this kind of broker babble. He said he would introduce a bill next week to require a series of approvals for new neighborhood names — from the community board, the City Council and the mayor.

His bill would also punish real estate brokers who promoted property with an unofficial, made-up name. The bill calls for fines and the possible suspension or revocation of brokers’ licenses.

He said he was simply trying to bring order to the chaos out there.

You're gonna have a tough time with that one, Hakeem. It's nice to want to defend neighborhood identity but your proposal violates the first amendment and there are more effective ways to embarrass realtors besides legislation.

Jamaica rally postponed until Thursday

Community Leader's Letter of Support
CHANGE OF DATE FOR RALLY TO PROTEST DANGEROUS DEPT OF BLDGS PLAN:

DOBs’ Plan to Allow a Commercial Bldg Access over an Existing Gas Facility Imperils Residents’ Safety

Please be aware that the protest rally planned by the residents of this Jamaica, Queens neighborhood against a Department of Buildings (DOB) plan to permit a new commercial building to have their driveway over an existing National Grid underground Gas Facility has been postponed to accommodate for the NYPD protest permit process, which was started Monday morning.

The rally has now been moved back to Thursday April 21st, 2011 at the same time (5:00 pm) at the same location (the corner of 110th Avenue and Sutphin Blvd in Jamaica, Queens).

We apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you, kindly, update your schedule accordingly because your presence is vital to helping these residents get their story out in a way that would allow for proper review and a re-consideration of what is an accident waiting to happen if executed as presently planned.

For more information, kindly contact Mr. Felix Ogunkya, the point-person for the residents @: (917) 723-6500.

Thank you.

What will Christine do?

From Crains:

For Ms. Quinn, political calculations can be the toughest part. She's a former tenant activist with a progressive past, but her alliance with the mayor raises questions about what her path to victory might be in 2013.

She enjoys support from the business community, which is largely responsible for the $3.2 million in campaign cash she has collected in the past four years. Mr. Bloomberg is certainly a fan—a Democratic consultant said (disdainfully) that the mayor's team thinks of the speaker as staff—but as his popularity sags, his imprimatur could become a hindrance.

Still, the mayor can help Ms. Quinn behind the scenes. A Democratic insider said that former Bloomberg campaign manager Bradley Tusk, a consultant for Walmart, is telling some clients to get on board with Ms. Quinn. (Mr. Tusk said only that he's setting up meetings for his education reform clients with Ms. Quinn.)

The speaker has been moving to cast herself as independent of Mr. Bloomberg. But even if she bucks her business supporters by opposing Walmart's attempts to open a city store and backing living wage and paid sick days, insiders said, the most crucial labor unions and the Working Families Party would still support Public Advocate Bill de Blasio or Comptroller John Liu for mayor, should either one run.

Instead, campaign experts said, Ms. Quinn must assemble a patchwork of constituencies: small business, gays and lesbians, women, building trades, tenant activists and African-Americans. Smoothing Walmart's arrival would help her with the building trades and some black voters, who want the jobs the retailer would bring.

In other words, she has to tweed.

What's going on at Meyer's Hotel?

Passed by the old Meyer's Hotel (featured on this Forgotten-NY page) at 58th Street and 39th Avenue in Woodside the other day and did a double take.
The fence and lawn have been destroyed and the trees cut down. There also appear to be doors and other pieces from inside the home strewn about.
I looked up the address on the DOB website to see if permits had been issued for nefarious purposes, but there are none.
The last time I saw a sign for "Francis Albert Construction" it was hanging on the lot where Tommy Huang's negligence undermined a firehouse and killed a worker erecting a wall.

By the city, for the city

Does your neighborhood need a facelift?

Does that empty lot on the street corner need some fresh design attention?

What sites in your borough have unrealized potential or need a thorough re-imagining?

Want to give your input and help to create a better New York?

Well, you can. From now through April 30, the Institute for Urban Design (IfUD) will turn to the New Yorkers to reframe the debate about the future of the cityʼs public spaces. By the City / For the City (BtCFtC) is an innovative two-part open call for ideas that asks New Yorkers where they see potential for improvement in the cityʼs physical fabric. Nominate an untapped opportunity somewhere in the five boroughs today.

Then IfUD will ask the international design community to respond to the challenges set forth by the public. Together, ideas from citizens and designers alike will represent an atlas of possibility for the cityʼs future, which will provide the foundation for the first-ever Urban Design Week from September 15–20.

We'd like to get a wide range of ideas submitted, spread out in every neighborhood across the five boroughs.

For more information, contact Brendan Crain at IfUD at 212-366-0780 or crain@ifud.org.

Ok folks, I asked whether this applied to private spaces as well as public spaces, and I was told both. So, send them your thoughts or leave your suggestions below and I will submit them to the organizers. Abandoned lots that could become community gardens or parks, strips of concrete that should be prettied up, etc. You know your neighborhoods best.

Flushing crap disgusts activist

I am writing regarding a once very beautiful and serene garden apartment complex of four, 4-story walk-up buildings on Bowne Street between 37 Avenue and 38 Avenue, right across from an extremely important American landmark, "The Bowne House". Anyone who knows of the Flushing Remonstrance knows how important this landmark is to American history as well as the world's history. We have to protect and preserve this very precious landmark and we have to promote the history and what it represents to the American public of all ages.

However, what happened to a housing complex right across from the Bowne House undermines the beauty and importance of the House. It is because the landlord, who is a rather recent immigrant and who is obviously very ignorant of American values and way of life, totally disrespected his property and practically destroyed the beautiful old garden apartment complex that sits just opposite the Bowne House.

What this landlord did and is still in the process of doing is that he uprooted all the trees and shrubs of various sizes, flowers and grasses from the gardens in the front and back and side and in between buildings. There used to be beautiful court yards with benches to sit around with/without your neighbors to enjoy the garden and listen to birds. There were even a couple of stray cats living in the gardens and it was such a pleasure for me to look at those kitty cats while sitting in those gardens on sunny days.

It is gone, gone forever. All of the small oasis for the residents of the apartment buildings as well as for the little wild lives have been completely paved with cold, inhumane concrete. The gray, cold space has become a parking lot with numbers and markings, and it has been in use for several months already. The remaining small part of the side yard, where one large old tree stands, too, will meet the same fate sooner or later, if we do nothing.

To make it worse, this evil landlord converted all his basements into apartments. They are illegal basement apartments and people seem to be living there. Now by the look of these illegal basement apartments together with concrete-paved court yard, front and side yards, this once serene historic apartment complex has become a slum and this makes this very historic block so ugly and sad, very sad. You don't want to even walk on the block because it makes you so angry and sad.

I tried to organize residents of the apartment but almost all of the residents are Asian immigrants who don't speak English and who are afraid of their landlord. This is a very frustrating situation. At least there is one man who is brave enough to stand up for his rights as a tenant. I am assisting him to file a complaint with the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal. But it will take a very long time and there is no guarantee that the gardens will be restored. It has to be a community out-cry. We need elected officials' interventions to restore the beauty of this very historic block. But they won't do anything unless we pressure them.

So, please, join me in a fight to restore and preserve this very important place in American history.

Please, send e-mails to our elected officials on this subject.

Thank you for your support.

Sunny Hahn, community activist

Locals upset about JFK runway plan

From the Queens Tribune:

The Jamaica Bay Task Force, a group of private citizens and organizations concerned about the bay, met April 7 at the American Legion Hall in Broad Channel to discuss the potential the RPA's plan has to damage the ecological makeup of Jamaica Bay. The meeting was attended by more than 150 residents and civic leaders, including U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens), who flew back to New York from Washington D.C. during last week's budget negotiations just to make an appearance at the meeting.

Don Riepe of the American Littoral Society showed photos of birds and animals that live 150 yards or less from the airport. Some of them live and thrive along the boundaries of the airport. The bird populations, he said, could interfere with air traffic coming in and out of new runways in nesting areas.

Capt. Vincent Calabro, a fisherman who fishes in Jamaica Bay, fought the labeling of Grassy Bay as "dead," showing pictures of fish he has caught within yards of JFK, including two-to-three-foot-long striped bass, flounder and fluke.

Besides environmental concerns, some were worried about noise issues and the potential for disasters like the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 into a Rockaway neighborhood in 2001. One proposal calls for a new runway to be constructed on the west side of JFK that would send air traffic directly over Broad Channel at low altitudes, a problem that has already plagued Howard Beach, South Ozone Park, Rosedale and the Rockaways.

The implementation of NextGen, new air traffic control technology, will allow planes to fly closer together, meaning planes would be flying over residential neighborhoods as often as every 30 seconds.

Photo by godsavebklyn on Flickr

City outsources BikeShare program

From NY1:

An Ozone Park bicycle manufacturer whose business has been in New York City for over 100 years says the mayor's office snubbed him in favor of manufacturers who use out of country labor.

Here's more bicycle fun for the week:

Bike lanes, bike lies NY Post

Biking Queens Plaza Restless

Going off the Deepdale end?

Not sure why, but found a stack of fliers for Deepdale Pool in a bank in Ridgewood. I take it they're desperate for members. At those prices I think I'll stick to Jones Beach.

RESIDENTS & COMMUNITY LEADERS PROTEST DANGEROUS DEPT OF BLDGS PLAN

DOB's Plan to Allow a Commercial Building Access over an Existing Gas Facility Imperils Residents’ Safety

(If you're interested in seeing what this property looked like before, click here.)

In a plan that would strip the residents of this Jamaica, Queens neighborhood use of their park, the Department of Buildings (DOB) has given approval to a new commercial building to have it for a driveway, and this over an existing National Grid underground Gas Facility. It is a move that has both residents and Community Leaders unanimous in their disapproval for various reasons:

· Allowing commercial activities over such a sensitive public utility facility is an accident waiting to happen and the lives at stake would be the residents and their children

· Converting the use of a public park that benefited residents to one that only benefits a private entity, and that, for commercial purposes shows a lack of consideration to residents already underserved by the availability of such open spaces and parks

· The linking of these two new stores to this wholly residential short block (of about 15 houses) is bound to overwhelm existing infrastructure with the ensuing commercial activities in a way that would negatively impact the quality of life of the residents

Accordingly, the residents and their community leaders are planning a protest rally for Wednesday April 20th, 2011 @ 5:00 PM in front of the construction site at the corner of 110th Avenue and Sutphin Blvd in Jamaica, Queens.

Your presence to help the residents make their opposition known and their voices heard in a way that the DOB cannot continue to ignore would be greatly appreciated.

For more information, kindly contact Mr. Felix Ogunkya, the point-person for the residents @: (917)723-6500.

Thank you.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Felix Ogunkya
To: aiuliano@buildings.nyc.gov
Sent: Fri, April 8, 2011 6:12:36 PM
Subject: Photos of Some of the Problems Encountered With 110-10 Sutphin's Contruction

Mr. Iuliano,

Thank you for your call this morning. I apologize for the delay in getting this out to you: it got a little hectic at work for me to get it done within the time promised.

I was unable to reach Ms. Reddick because I understand that she was, sadly, in an auto accident just yesterday and will be out for a few weeks while recovering.


However, I have attached some photos in support of my earlier claim that this building was constructed from the beginning with many glaring violations without any serious consequences from the DOB (in spite of the added voice of then Councilman Tony Avella, whose letters I have attached as proof of why there is now so much frustration and skepticism on the part of residents as to the fairness of the DOB in the way they have handled this construction from the beginning till now).



For more than two years; being right next to this site, I especially have been dragged through hell as the pictures attached would show: my fence was removed without my permission, cars parked inside my driveway were damaged by falling mortar, bricks, and sawed rafter pieces and dust, as was my driveway and the shrubs around my property, all because the required protective fence was never—not even once—put in place between the construction site and my property until the building was completed. For close to a year starting from the beginning of 2009, my family and I were essentially living in a construction site with all the dangers inherent in that even though I regularly notified the parties I was supposed to asking for urgently needed help, all to no avail.


This is one of the reasons the residents of my block are now having difficulties accepting that the approval now gotten by the owner of this commercial building to link up to our street over an existing Gas Facility is the fair and/or correct adjudication on the part of the DOB and one that has taken the safety of the residents of the block into consideration: they were all witnesses to how the DOB stood by and watched this same person violate my property right and personal safety by permitting him to continue work without the required safety measures. How are we now to believe that we are not witnessing the same thing all over again, only this time, in a context that affects the whole block by allowing him access over a Gas Facility on a piece of property that used to be a park for the neighborhood?

The property on which the Gas facility exists is public land which is why National Grid was allowed to use it. For the residents, it used to be the only open public space for many blocks and one that they could enjoy without let. Preserving the use of a property like this only for a private entity and that, for commercial activity, without a single input from the residents affected demonstrates little consideration for us and our quality of life that is bound to be seriously impacted by this plan.

As proof of the seriousness with which we as residents of the block view this, I am attaching a list showing the names and signatures of the residents as they join as one in opposition and their individual reasons why...

We appreciate the review you promised and hope it takes into consideration some of our concerns as expressed here. I look forward to speaking with you again, sir, and thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Felix Ogunkya

Clogging up College Point Blvd

"Hello,
First of all -- love your blog.

This may or may not be fodder for a future installment, but, I'd love to know why the businesses along College Point Blvd just outside of College Point -- under the Flushing bridge and near the lumber yard -- are able to double -park day in and day out with their cement trucks and other heavy equipment vehicles and completely clog up the busy road while people like yours truly are trying to get to work. They have their entire industrial property to use while they get their trucks ready. Unless they are paying the city and are under some CP Blvd road-leasing agreement, this has really got to stop. I and my fellow commuters have the same right to the road as they do, and there needs to be a massive ticket-issuing operation so this practice will stop. Right now, it seems to just be accepted/ignored.

Thanks-
anonymous"

Time to clean the cart!

"This food cart located at 253-06 Hillside Avenue in Bellerose Queens has been at this location 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for over 6 months.

Where is the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene? Why aren’t they enforcing the NYC sanitary codes? Food carts are required to be cleaned at an approved commissary or depot.

If they have been enforcing the laws, why is the cart still on the street 7 days a week, 24 hours a day?" - anonymous

The Queens Machine, in about 200 words

"The Democratic Machine in Queens is liberal in name, conservative in substance.

They pander to gays, minorities, seniors without the spirit of openness and certainly without a trace of the traditional 'good government' that was the providence of liberals.

Hence the gap between their outward pious and inward souls that has spawned the word 'to tweed' - placing it right up there with that other term that Crappy has on his front page describing urban clubhouse politics - 'honest graft.'

They are in politics to make money, to disenfranchise opposition, to marginalize dissenting opinion, to alienate the voting public, to pass offices off on their relatives and the well-connected, to develop communities to maximize the wealth and power of a small group of cohorts, while those that are supposed to benefit from open liberal government - the immigrants, seniors, youth and others - have to deal with broken and overwhelmed services, eroding workplace conditions and hollowed out unions, substandard overpriced housing - and a government increasingly out of touch and self serving and undemocratic - in short, all those things that traditional liberal-reforming-good government Democrats fought against.

In short, the Democratic Party in Queens is cut from the same cloth as the old Democratic Party from the days of the Jim Crow south." - anonymous commenter

Win a home makeover

Cleaning out my mailbox, so here goes:

HGTV Homeowner Flyer
We are currently looking for homeowners in the NY metro area who want a living room or master bedroom makeover done by a popular HGTV show!

What we’re looking for:
-Couples or families in the NYC metro area whose living room or master bedroom is in desperate need of a makeover.
-The couple or family can live in a townhouse, brownstone, row home, traditional or modern home. However, all applicants must own their home. We cannot accept applicants who live in apartments or co-ops.

The show will be shooting in late April, so we encourage those who are interested to apply as soon as possible.
Anyone who’d like to apply should email CastingHomeMakeover@gmail.com with the following information:
· Name of each family member in your household and relationship to you (ex. mom, dad, daughter, son, grandma, etc.)
· Contact number
· Photo of you and your family
· Approx. area or neighborhood of your home (ex. Forest Hills, Queens)
· 3 photos of your living room and 1 photo of the front of your house
· A description of your favorite design style
· A brief description of who you are and why you feel you need a living room makeover

I’ve attached a flyer with all the details that you can feel free to post or send out. It would be wonderful if you could help us spread the word to homeowners in your area who could truly take advantage of a custom makeover by HGTV!

If you have any questions or need further information, don’t hesitate to contact me either via email lindsey@jenscasting.com or phone 212-359-9454.

400 cops to be pinched?

From the NY Post:

As many as 400 cops could face disciplinary charges for fixing tickets in a widening corruption scandal, The Post has learned.

Two NYPD lawyers were recently transferred from the department's legal bureau to its advocate's office, which handles departmental trials against officers, and told to expect hundreds of cases, according to a source in the unit.

"This is huge," said the source. "That's a lot of cops all in one shot. I've never heard of something like that before, this many police officers charged in one period."

"It was a systemic thing," said another source familiar with the probe.

The department will charge cops internally in all 12 Bronx precincts -- and possibly other boroughs -- for allegedly helping out friends and family by "losing" paperwork and missing court dates. In turn, parking tickets, moving violations and quality-of-life summonses would be dismissed in court or vanish before ever getting near a judge.

Officers found guilty in department trials could get fired, lose benefits, or be reprimanded or warned.

Those who tampered with documents might face criminal charges of obstruction or filing a false instrument, while cops who took money could be hit with felonies such as bribery.

Walled off

From the Times Ledger:

An Ozone Park woman is furious after a neighboring car dealership erected a cinder block wall topped with coils of barbed wire next to her backyard without permission from the city.

“It looks terrible and it makes the neighborhood look terrible,” said Mary Jane Maggio, whose garage and yard share a border with Nissan of Queens, at 93-19 Rockaway Blvd. “I don’t want to have to look at that all the time.”

But the approximately 10-foot tall wall and 4 feet of barbed wire are hard to miss.

“It looks like a prison,” she said.

The dealership did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

According to Maggio, the wall went up last summer, and aside from its looks, she said the barbed wire endangers wildlife.

“The birds are flying through and getting cut, and a cat went through, got caught and then died,” she said just as a cat leapt through one of the coils and latched itself onto a nearby telephone pole before scaling down and scampering away.

According to the city, the construction of the wall was not legal since the dealership never had it inspected.

Any brick wall more than 8 feet must be inspected by the city to ensure it meets safety requirements, according to the city Department of Buildings, and the dealership did not get it inspected.

Developers want more handouts

From the NY Post:

Another group is grumbling about the city's flawed property-tax system -- big-time real-estate developers with close ties to Mayor Bloomberg.

The immediate issue on the table is a request from the Real Estate Board of New York, which represents the city's largest landlords, to add a tax cap when the city asks Albany to renew the 421a program for rental buildings.

The program, which expired last year, grants a 20-year tax abatement if a developer agrees to set aside 20 percent of new units as "affordable," meaning for tenants with limited incomes.

Developers are howling that the city has increased assessments so aggressively in recent years that a third of the revenue of some rental buildings is now going to taxes.

They want taxes capped at 20 percent, warning that otherwise those 421a buildings will convert to condos, and 10,000 subsidized units will be lost.

Parking meter time extended on Queens Blvd

From Sunnyside Post:

New parking rules took effect on Queens Boulevard [Friday] that have extended the duration of parking from 1 to 2 hours.

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan and Department of Transportation Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy united with local small business owners and Community Board 2 members to announce the new rule.

The parking rule will extend the duration of 104 parking meters on the north and south side of Queens Boulevard from 1 to 2 hours. On the south side of Queens Boulevard the new meters will span from 39th Street to Greenpoint Ave. and on the north side from 39th Place to 48th Street. This new rule will phase into effect beginning April 15th and is expected to be completed by the first week of May.