DOB forces developer to tear down shitboxes

From the Bronx Times:

Kiss $2 million goodbye.

The developer of the Teddy Place luxury homes at 3250 Rawlins Avenue, after losing an appeal, was forced to raze two of five houses, so that he could proceed with marketing the remaining three Country Club properties formerly occupied by a decrepit old mansion. The demolition of 3 and 4 Teddy Place was completed on Tuesday, May 10.

The project’s architect and developer originally filed a self-certification application with the Department of Buildings to build the houses in a cluster format around a private street named Teddy Place, and to have the development treated as one house. Upon DOB review, an egregious mistake was discovered.

The homes were both too close to one another and set too far back from the street to meet Country’s Club’s R-2 zoning regulations.

The project’s owner, listed as 3250 Rawlins Avenue Partners, was left with no choice but to level 40 percent of his original investment.

The application for the demolition permit was filed on Tuesday, March 8, and the permit was granted on Tuesday, April 26.

“I think what we had here was someone who didn’t understand the local zoning and who took a chance and got stuck,” said Councilman Jimmy Vacca. “Our neighborhood has worked very hard to stop the kind of over development that we had here, and I hope this sends a message that no one should try to skirt our local zoning. Most importantly, hopefully soon the residents of Rawlins Avenue will no longer have to look at a construction site every day and we can now see this project move.”

The architect, Gerald Caliendo, declined to comment.

From a zoning expert:

"And why hasn't Caliendo lost his architect's seal and ability to file? Vacca's statement about the developer 'not knowing the zoning laws and taking a chance' is pretty ridiculous. Caliendo knew exactly what he was doing."

You'd think this sort of malfeasance would get one kicked off a community board, but in Queens, this is exactly the type of person the borough president appoints again and again. Caliendo has been on CB1 for more than 30 years.

$85,000 in grant money for this?

From the NY Times:

Tania Bruguera has eaten dirt, hung a dead lamb from her neck and served trays of cocaine to a gallery audience, all in the name of art. She has shown her work at the Venice Biennale, been feted at the Pompidou Center in Paris and landed a Guggenheim fellowship.

But now she is sharing a tiny apartment in Corona, Queens, with five illegal immigrants and their six children, including a newborn, while scraping by on the minimum wage, without health insurance.

She has not fallen on hard times. Ms. Bruguera is performing a yearlong art piece meant to improve the image of immigrants and highlight their plight. And she is bringing her high-concept brand of provocation to a low-wattage precinct of taco stands and auto-body shops, where the neighbors have responded with varying degrees of curiosity, amusement and befuddlement.

I was going to just make fun of this, since it's a really stupid "art" project. But then I read this: Ms. Bruguera has turned the space, a former beauty supply store, into the headquarters for her new advocacy group-cum-art project, Immigrant Movement International, using about $85,000 from Creative Time, a nonprofit arts group, and the Queens Museum of Art.

She's getting grants from not-for-profits funded by our tax dollars, even though it says in the article that she's a woman of means who could have funded this experiment herself. How generous of us!

Her roommates, especially an out-of-work Ecuadorean laborer, do not know what to make of her. “I explained to them four times what I’m doing already,” she said. “They don’t get it. They’re not very excited.”

Looks like I have something in common with Ecuadorean day laborers in Corona...

So much for the illegal conversion crackdown

From the Daily News:

Faced with two fatal fires at illegal apartments in three weeks, Mayor Bloomberg insists his administration is aggressively attacking the problem in the courts.

He says the city has ratcheted up its effort to get "access warrants," which allow inspectors to get inside suspected firetraps.

But a Daily News investigation found the city's use of this weapon is anemic at best. Reviewing records and visiting dozens of suspect buildings, The News found:

The city pursued warrants in less than 1% of the 20,000 illegal apartment allegations they field each year. Usually inspectors simply close cases after two attempts to get in.

The Buildings Department usually doesn't seek a warrant - even when another city agency has already cited a property for illegal apartments.

When the city does get a warrant, there's often no followup, which allows illegal apartments to remain.

Let's go for a Rockawalk

Click photo for story

Jimmy Van Bramer: Hole Hero!

Does this cab remind you of Cathie Black?

From the Queens Ledger:

In selecting Nissan as the winner of its Taxi of Tomorrow contest, instead of a Turkish car maker proposing a wheelchair-accessible cab made at an auto plant in Brooklyn, the city demonstrated a gross lack of respect for the disabled and threw hundreds of good-paying jobs out the window.

The baffling choice drew ready comparisons to the Bloomberg Administration's last bone-headed decision; as one disgruntled online commenter observed, Nissan's proposal represented “the Cathie Black of taxis.”

Really, what was the city thinking?

Choosing luxury and aesthetics over basic rights for the disadvantaged was morally wrong and reprehensible.

But who are we kidding? Mayor Michael Bloomberg does this all the time.


Yup. So remind us why your paper endorsed him?

NY1 gets trashed out yard cleaned up

From NY1:

Neighbors grew tired of seeing trash surround a nearby abandoned house in Jamaica, Queens, and they contacted NY1 For You for help.

The neighbors contacted NY1 after countless calls to 311 went unaddressed. After some digging, NY1 found the owner of record was deceased, and her family knew nothing about the condition of the house.

Once NY1 contacted the survivors, they cleaned up the house.

"The yard is looking better and I thank News 1," says Franklin.

Council says no to VA's development scheme

From the Queens Chronicle:

The City Council’s Committee on Veterans as well as the full council last week unanimously passed a resolution supporting the desire of many lawmakers and veterans advocates that a full-service hospital be built at the St. Albans VA site rather than giving a portion of the land to a private developer.

The St. Albans project has been a source of controversy for years, with the VA believing that replacing the existing facilities with a new nursing home, psychosocial rehabilitation domiciliary and expanded outpatient facilities is the way to go, despite consistent opposition from many veterans.

Resolution 422-A calls upon the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to completely renovate and utilize the existing St. Albans Community Living Center to provide a full-service VA hospital with an emergency room, a primary and extended care facility for female veterans and a comprehensive treatment facility with domiciliary for homeless veterans.

When asked if the resolution has caused the VA to change its position on the development of the site, Jennifer Sammartino, a spokeswoman for the VA said Monday, “The VA continues to evaluate development plans for the St. Albans campus. It is an ongoing process.”

Parks sings familiar song in Woodside

From the Queens Chronicle:

After almost one year since funds were obtained for its purchase, a parcel of land in Woodside dubbed ‘Triangle Park’ is not likely to become city property any time soon, according to the city Parks Department.

A spokeswoman for the department said on Tuesday that the city had abandoned negotiations with property owner Vinny Oppedisano after they were unable to agree on a price for the island located at the intersection of 59th and 60th streets and 34th Avenue.

Residents in the area had used the vacant land as a park until Oppedisano began construction on it.

At a rally last June, Oppedisano said he offered the land to the city years ago for $50,000, but that officials refused to purchase it. He agreed to sell the land to the city if a fair offer was made.

In July, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) secured $350,000, which he said was going to be used to purchase the 1,265-square-foot site. But the land was appraised by the city at $140,000, which was the amount offered to the property owner, Van Bramer said. The owner refused to accept the bid, and despite ongoing negotiations, no agreement was reached.

Van Bramer said a foundation has been built on the land. “At the end of the day this is private property,” he noted.

No, the correct thing to say is, "At the end of the day, there's always condemnation as this is for a public use."

Violent felon registry may be coming soon

From the NY Post:

Murderers, muggers and even simple barroom brawlers will find their names on the same kind of public listings now required for pedophiles, rapists and other pervs if the state Senate gets its way.

The Republican-controlled state Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to force violent felons to register their names and whereabouts annually with local law enforcement and on an Internet database accessible to the public.

The law would apply to anyone convicted of a crime classified as violent under current state law, ranging from murder to robbery to assault, and would last 10 years from release unless lifted by a court.

It could face a hitch in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Spano (D-Yonkers). Assembly Codes Chairman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) said he favored hearings to determine whether such a law would prevent convicts from successfully returning to society after serving their time.

Street hails in Queens to be legal?

From AM-NY:

There could be an additional 6,000 yellow cabs designated solely to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs if the city has its way, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said yesterday.

Currently, outer borough passengers can only hail down the rare yellow cabs or prearrange for livery cabs to pick them up.

“If you live in Brooklyn or Queens ... you’re either hailing a car that’s not supposed to pick you up or an unlicensed car,” Yassky told amNewYork yesterday. “Neither one is first rate service.”

Yassky is meeting with state legislators today to discuss the plan, since the sale of additional medallions requires city and state approval.

Your State Senate at work

From the Wonkster:

The Senate, with only weeks left to deal with ethics reform, redistricting reform, same-sex marriage, rent law renewal and a slew of other heated issues decided to take a detour. They decided to debate the display of “fresh-cut evergreens” in public buildings. No I am not kidding.

Although the Empire State Plaza remained closed this winter–the ice skating rink shuttered, and make shift gates around the entrances because the state couldn’t afford to staff the area–the Republican controlled Senate decided it was important to introduce a bill that would allow the display of Christmas trees in public offices and government buildings.

Sen. Liz Krueger said she was concerned about the safety of displaying trees with lights on them. Sen. John DeFrancisco argued that Krueger was only concerned because of the connotations of evergreen trees displayed during the holidays. Krueger denied this

Sen. Daniel Squadron asks if DeFrancisco would support bill if it only allowed Christmas trees. DeFrancisco responded that Squadron’s question was, “the most asinine,” question he ever received during his time in the legislature.

The bill passed with Sens. Liz Krueger, Carl Kruger and Daniel Squadron as the only no votes.

Retired firefighter owns firetraps

From the Daily News:

For years, landlord John Mayo was cited repeatedly for renting out illegal apartments - just the kind that fire officials deem dangerous death traps.

City inspectors hit his buildings again and again with violations, including citations for apartments with no second exits and a blocked fire escape.

What makes Mayo's case different from the average accused slumlord is this: Mayo is a retired New York City firefighter.

Since 2005, the city has repeatedly cited four of Mayo's South Bronx buildings for illegal apartments or SROs, missing and defective smoke detectors, exposed electrical wires, apartments with no second egress, even a blocked fire escape, records show.

Since 2007, when Mayo retired from the FDNY, three rowhouses he owns on one Bronx block have been the subject of 15 illegal apartment complaints, including two this month. One building has 150 outstanding housing-code violations, records show.

Residents on the block say Mayo turned the buildings into illegal boarding houses that are potential firetraps - a growing concern since a fire in an illegal Bronx SRO last month killed a 12-year-old and his parents.

As a former firefighter, neighbors say, Mayo should know all about the dangers of illegal apartments.

Why bike advocates are not taken seriously

From Bayside Patch:

Queens Civic Congress Vice President Dave Kulick caused the raising of some eyebrows—and voices—when he stated on Monday night at the group’s Transportation Forum that “anyone” could ride a bike from Queens to Manhattan.

Kulick spoke in support of Transportation Alternatives, a group invited to the forum with representatives of the Department of Transportation and MTA.

“I understand that you’re biker fanatics. We can’t ride [bikes] into the city every day,” Glen Oaks Village President Bob Friedrich told Budnik.

“I do it every day,” said Kulick, adding, “Anyone can.”

“No, I can’t,” shouted back Janice Schreibersdorf—answered back by Kulick with “yes you can.”

“You don’t know my life,” said Schreibersdorf, “Don’t get on your high horse. I’m lucky I can cross the street some days.”

“I’m not superman. I’m almost sixty years old,” said Kulick. Though Schreibersdorf‘s physical impediment was not apparent, there was at least one wheelchair—bound woman present at the meeting.

Ok, so advocating that more people bike is fine. Advocating that everyone bike is unrealistic. And the MTA needs money, so it's also counterproductive.

Start the damn ULURP already!

St. Saviour's rally flier
Our elected officials at every level of government are all on board with obtaining the St. Saviour's site and converting it into a public park. They have secured enough funding for the City to initiate the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) required to take possession of the property. The only problem is that the City has been dragging its feet on starting this, and it may take up to 2 1/2 years for the City to obtain official permission to purchase the property. We fear the developer will not wait that long and may either sell or develop the property in the meantime. In fact, construction activity on the site started this week.

We will therefore be hosting a rally calling on the City to initiate the ULURP process ASAP. We ask that you join us.

What: St. Saviour's park rally
Date: Saturday, May 21st, 2011
Time: 1pm
Place: 57th Road and 58th Street, Maspeth, Queens
Who: Local residents, elected officials and community groups

Hosted by Newtown Historical Society
Call (718) 366-3715 for more details

Bloomberg's shadow government

From the NY Post:

Through a web of charitable donations, backdoor payments and private bonuses, Mayor Bloomberg has created a shadow government that caters to his whims and caulks over budget cuts.

A Post analysis found that over the past two years the nation’s richest mayor lavished at least $99.1 million through his family’s philanthropy and his private company on nonprofits. In turn, those organizations wind up hiring Bloomberg loyalists from his administration, and are often tapped to lend a hand on city projects.

While Bloomberg’s generosity serves as a tangible example of his commitment to the city, the “revolving door” between City Hall and Bloomberg-backed nonprofits is cause for concern, said NYU public-policy professor Rogan Kersh.

The billionaire quietly bankrolls his crusades — healthier eating, curbing smoking, overhauling schools — and it falls to his trusted foot soldiers in government and nonprofits to carry out his goals.

Libraries may close

From the Daily News:

The citywide budget battle to restore library funding across the five boroughs has a special urgency in Queens, where more than 200 employees could lose their jobs.

Queens Library is the only one of the city's three public library systems that has sent pink slips to its employees.

Library CEO Thomas Galante said this year is the "most difficult budget challenge in its history."

"The city's executive budget calls for a cut of $25.3 million on July 1," he said in a statement. "Given the severity of the proposed reductions, I had no choice but to issue 90-day layoff notices, which would become effective if funding is not fully restored when the city adopts its budget for [fiscal year 2012]."

The notices were issued to 234 librarians, clerks, custodians and other unionized workers earlier this month.

The Bloomberg administration and the City Council are currently hashing out a budget plan. Library officials and employees from all three systems, which include the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library, have mounted an aggressive lobbying effort to get funds restored.

Along with layoffs, the library would be forced to slash hours of service and shutter some branches if funding is not restored.

Glendale Social Security office to close

From Forest Hills Patch:

Starting this summer, residents looking for help from the Rego Park social security office may have to wait ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn longer lines than they are used to.

The Social Security Administration is proposing to close its Glendale office, sending the people who patronize the office to other locations in the city — most likely Rego Park or Cypress Hills in Brooklyn.

Glendale’s office, on Myrtle Avenue, is south of the Rego Park office and north of Cypress Hills, but it serves an area where local transportation is largely done by bus for those who can’t drive themselves.

Maybe that wasn't a good idea after all

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Some Bay Ridgites are saying that litter along Fourth Avenue has gotten worse since the city removed public garbage cans at the request of a local panel that thought doing so would make the neighborhood cleaner.

At the request of Community Board 10, the Department of Sanitation removed 14 trash cans from Fourth Avenue between Ovington Avenue and 68thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifh Street on May 9 as part of a test to see if the removal of the cans — which had become magnets for household trash — would decrease the amount of litter in the area.

But the litter has gotten worse.

The removal of the cans comes a year after CB10 voted to ask the agency to get rid of them because they would overflow with trash — usually after residents illegally dumped household waste in them.

The agency initially ignored the board’s request, but in April of this year, it said it would remove the cans.

Meanwhile, Astoria's 34th Avenue just got trash cans.

What will happen to historic Woodhaven cemetery?

From the Queens Chronicle:

The impending closure of the beloved 111-year-old Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven is sending shadows across a community whose residents worry the diocese could sell the site to someone with little reverence for the historical building and the cemetery behind it.

Saint Matthew’s, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, will hold its last service on May 22 at 3 p.m. Officials from the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, which owns the church at 85-45 96th St., said they decided to shutter it because of a dwindling number of parishioners.

John McGinty, the diocese’s director of communication, said it was “unclear” as to what will happen to the Wyckoff-Snediker Family Cemetery, which the church purchased from the city in the early 1960s and which was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The cemetery has about 160 individual gravestones denoting burials from 1793 to 1892.

Allan Smith, 73, a Woodhaven resident who was baptized in the church, grew up going there and worked for years to restore the cemetery, said he is distraught to see the end of an establishment that has played an instrumental role in his life.

“It’s probably the finest example of English Gothic architecture on Long Island and probably on the East Coast,” said Smith, a former architect who has conducted tireless research on the cemetery and the church but is no longer a member. “It has a bell tower and beautiful stained glass. It really is very special.”

That may be, but it's in Queens, so down it will come. Just think how many units can be crammed into that space!