The final moments of Civic Virtue in Queens

The statue was transported down Queens Blvd...

To the LIE...

And eventually over the Kosciuszko Bridge to Brooklyn.

Video available on George The Atheist's blog: While You Slept

And here he is in his new home:

NY's financial health in jeopardy

From the NY Times:

New York State faces long-term budget problems that are compounded by the teetering finances of its local governments, an aging infrastructure and the possibility of severe cuts in federal funding, a panel of fiscal experts said Tuesday.

The State Budget Crisis Task Force, a nonpartisan group, said that New York’s problems had been “papered over with gimmicks” for decades, and that while Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had taken some steps to rein in spending, the state was still saddled with burdens that would leave it unable to make ends meet in the long run. Over the past decade, the report said, New York had postponed a reckoning by using one-time measures to produce $25 billion in revenue.

Former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, a co-chairman of the group, said the math spoke for itself. “There are expenditures that are growing at a rate faster than revenues,” Mr. Ravitch said. “As long as that happens, then we are on an unsustainable course.”

A report released on Tuesday by the panel, which was also led by Paul A. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, offered a sobering assessment of the state’s finances, raising concerns about its outsize spending on health care and education, its vulnerability to the ups and downs of Wall Street, and the struggles of its local governments to pay retirement obligations.

As one major area of concern, the report highlighted the state’s enormous Medicaid budget, which is larger than those of Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas combined. The report said that while the Cuomo administration had put in place a cap on annual increases in health care spending, it was not certain the measure would drive down costs over the long run.

MTA boss running for mayor

From AM-NY:

MTA chief Joe Lhota plans to announce Friday he is stepping down to run for New York City mayor as a Republican, a state government source said Tuesday.

Lhota, who was deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, has been lauded for leading the restoration of the transit system after Superstorm Sandy.

He was appointed to the MTA post Jan. 4, at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's recommendation. His term was to expire June 2015.

By law, Lhota cannot run for mayor while holding the chairman position.

MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg declined to comment. Lhota did not answer a phone call.

The source said Lhota will finish the year with the MTA.

Poletti Plant to be demolished

From the Daily News:

One of the city’s dirtiest former power plants is being razed to the ground, ensuring that it cannot be resurrected to once again pollute the air in northwestern Queens.

The Charles Poletti Power Project, located off 20th Ave. in Astoria, is to be dismantled in early 2013, elected officials said Tuesday.

The facility, which began operation in 1977, was shuttered in 2010 following a lawsuit and years of sustained community opposition.

Former Gov. George Pataki announced in 2002 that the Poletti facility would be phased out. The 885-megawatt plant, which burned oil and natural gas, was operated by the New York Power Authority. It was phased out over the next eight years and was replaced in 2005 by a newer, cleaner New York Power Authority facility nearby.

Authority officials did not immediately respond to repeated requests for information on Tuesday.

But Astoria and Long Island City still produce the bulk of the city’s power supply — a fact bemoaned by local environmentalists who blame the area’s high rates of asthma on the facilities.

A new school for Sunnyside

From the Queens Courier:

A Queens neighborhood desperately in need of class space for its booming student population is getting a state-of-the-art $57.3 million facility.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE) said the agency is in the early stages of developing plans for a new school to be located at 45-46 42nd Street in Sunnyside, between Queens Boulevard and 47th Avenue. The 75,000-square-foot structure, called P.S. 313, will seat roughly 430 students in grades kindergarten through five and is expected to be completed in June 2014.

The building will include a gym, cafeteria, kitchen, administrative and medical suites, 20 classrooms, specialty art and science rooms and a library. It will also have a rooftop play space and a separate early childhood play area.

The site is located in a densely-packed urban block, surrounded by seven- and five-story brick residential buildings and some smaller single-family residences. According to Macrae-Gibson, the architects used a contextual approach to designing the school’s layout and look, integrating it seamlessly into the neighborhood.

$100M in city tax money to fund Wilpons' scheme

NYCEDC has published the agenda of its Executive Committee meeting, to be held today (Dec. 19).

The agenda includes a topic entitled "Willets Point Predevelopment funding agreement" which is

"to provide funds to a joint venture between Related Willets, LLC and Sterling Willets, LLC, or an affiliated entity, to partially reimburse predevelopment costs associated with the development of a site in Willets Point."

"Amount to be approved: Up to $5,000,000.00."

"NYCEDC proposes to enter into the Funding Agreement to reimburse up to $5,000,000.00 of approximately $14,800,000.00 of estimated total budgeted predevelopment costs."

So, $5,000,000.00, for now. But according to the meeting agenda, there'll be more:

"It is anticipated that NYCEDC will enter into one or more funding agreements of up to $94,990,000.00 in the future to reimburse development costs of Phases 1A and 1B. NYCEDC will seek authorization from the Executive Committee at that time."

Is it standard operating procedure for NYCEDC or the City to reimburse developers' costs in this way? Why should city residents pay the Wilpons and Related a dime, especially since they are getting free land?

City Comptroller John Liu, why did you approve city funding of NYCEDC earlier this month, if this is how they plan to spend OUR tax money?

Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio, why are you staying silent about how the public you represent is being ripped off by billionaires?

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, why do you approve of hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare?

City Council introduces flood mitigation bill

From Crains:

The City Council on Tuesday proposed legislation to improve the city’s ability to withstand powerful storms like Hurricane Sandy. The package of bills would raise elevation requirements for new or substantially renovated buildings—including health care facilities—as well as boilers and other critical equipment in flood zones.

The legislation is to be introduced during the council’s main monthly meeting. A series of oversight hearings have been scheduled before more than 20 council committees over seven weeks. Substantially renovated means upgrades that amount to 50% or more of a property’s value, a City Council spokesman said.

According to a press release released by the office of council Speaker Christine Quinn, the bills would:

Study the feasibility of relocating power lines underground. The council Committee on Consumer Affairs will examine a bill that would require the mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability to conduct a study over the next six months on the feasibility of placing power lines underground. The study will review recent power outages in the city and include a list of areas that would most benefit by burying power lines.

Adopt new flood elevation maps. Legislation would adopt the new FEMA flood advisory maps, expected to be released this week. The maps would expand the areas that must adhere to flood-proofing requirements in the city’s building code.

Impose new flood-proofing requirements for buildings in vulnerable areas. Legislation would alter the city’s building code to raise elevation requirements for future buildings in flood zones as well as their boilers and other critical equipment. The bill would also establish more restrictive flood construction standards for buildings in coastal A-zones, which are areas that may be flooded by coastal waves.

Adopt more stringent codes for health care facilities.

Bunch of lawyers arrested for immigration fraud

From NY Times:

They invented woeful tales of persecution for their Chinese clients. Prepped them on how to lie about having had a forced abortion. Even tutored them on religion.

In all, 26 people, including 6 lawyers, were charged Tuesday with helping Chinese immigrants submit false asylum claims in an effort to stay in the United States, law enforcement officials said.

The indictments describe elaborate schemes based in law offices in Manhattan’s Chinatown and in Flushing, Queens, which involved teams of paralegals and office managers, translators and a church official, who conspired to dupe immigration officials by inventing stories of political and religious persecution for their clients, officials said.

The indictments say female clients who sought asylum based on China’s one-child policy were encouraged to prepare for asylum interviews by watching Chinese soap operas so they could describe the experience of a forced abortion. Some paralegals were called “story writers” for their knack for inventing detailed tales of persecution. A church official in Flushing prepared clients for questions on religion by offering basic instruction in Christianity.

More than 20 defendants were arrested in raids in Manhattan’s Chinatown and in Flushing, capping a three-year investigation.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused the defendants of “weaving elaborate fictions” and making it “more difficult for those who are legitimately seeking refuge in this country.”

The indictments charged employees of at least 10 law firms, the authorities said. In the past few years, the firms filed more than 1,900 asylum applications, according to the indictments; officials did not say how many they believe were fraudulent.

LaGuardia getting a huge upgrade

From the Queens Courier:

LaGuardia Airport’s $3.6 billion facelift is getting ready for its closeup.

The terminal, built in 1964 and designed to hold eight million passengers, is set to undergo a series of developments over the next six to 10 years. According to Thomas Bosco, LaGuardia Airport’s general manager, 11 million people travel through the airport each year, and estimates that by 2030, the number will reach 17.5 million passengers.

“[The terminal] is over 50 years old. It’s beyond its useful life,” said Bosco. “It’s virtually obsolete in every functional area.”

The main developments will occur mostly on the aeronautic side, pushing the terminal considerably closer to the Grand Central Parkway to accommodate larger capacity aircraft. Currently, the 35 gate terminal houses DC-9 planes which require towing by ground vehicles to go from the runway to the gate.

LaGuardia Airport accommodates about 1,150 planes daily – roughly a thousand fewer crafts than land at JFK Airport every 24 hours. While Bosco said the expansion will not increase turnaround due to federal regulation caps at 75 flights per hour, upgrading to larger aircraft will accommodate the airport’s growth in the number of passengers. The larger planes are quieter, burn cleaner fuel and emit fewer emissions and decrease the average number of delayed flights – providing what Bosco believes is a more ecologically friendly environment.

Coney Island to get plastic planks

From the NY Post:

Plastic is the new wood, a judge has decided — at least when it comes to Coney Island’s boardwalk.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Martin Solomon has green- lighted the city’s plan to replace five blocks of the historic — but rickety — structure with concrete and recycled-plastic planks, according to court documents made public yesterday.

Some Brooklynites were quick to slam the decision.

“The Coney Island boardwalk is nostalgic, and it’s famous world-round,” fumed Todd Dobrin, president of a group called Friends of the Boardwalk.

“I don’t think tourists are going to come to see the Coney Island driveway.”

Photo from Kinetic Carnival

Fat Boy heads to greener pastures

From the Daily News:

The Triumph of Civic Virtue, the controversial Queens statue that has divided local lawmakers and residents for decades, has moved to greener pastures.

A last-minute plea from supporters who wanted to keep the statue at its present perch outside Queens Borough Hall failed to change the mind of city officials.

A crew spent almost 12 hours Saturday carefully removing the statue from its base outside Queens Borough Hall for its journey to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Under an unusual agreement with the city, the cemetery will restore the statue and then place it on display.

“This is a sad day for Queens,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who recently led a rally in front of the statue to demand it be kept in the borough. “The people of Queens wanted this statue. They need to replace it with another large piece of Greco-Roman art immediately.”

No, we need to replace our do-nothing elected officials immediately. Or rather, next November.

Havoc wrought by illegal alien

From the NY Post:

A heartless Scrooge wants to give his ex-wife a lump of coal for Christmas — by booting her and their kids from a rent-stabilized Brooklyn apartment.

Convicted drug dealer Ahmed Elgheur is currently locked up and facing deportation for immigration fraud.

But before he gets tossed back to Morocco, he is trying to get ex-wife Bajia Elmourabit evicted from her $1,140-a-month, three-bedroom home so his young girlfriend can move in.

Elgheur, 47, used an alias to sign the lease on the Ocean Parkway pad almost 20 years ago.

He and Elmourabit had two children — a son, now 19, and a daughter, 17 — before he abandoned the family after being busted for selling heroin and jumping bail.

Elgheur eventually surrendered and served more than six years in prison for two federal drug raps.

Meanwhile, Elmourabit, 47, raised the kids on her own and made a living running a since-closed Moroccan restaurant on Prospect Park West.

She renewed the lease every two years, signing her own name at the bottom, and paying the rent on her own for 17 years without any child support.

But her ex-husband’s alias — “Gerome Mancini” — stayed at the top of the rental agreement.

Elmourabit’s housing nightmare began last year, when she got an eviction notice from “Mancini.”

Must...keep...building!

From the Huffington Post:

In a neighborhood of Staten Island where Hurricane Sandy flooded homes, swept boats into the streets, and caused at least two deaths, builders have already resumed construction on a series of new houses, raising concerns among residents who have long tried to halt development in the area.

Many residents fear that the ongoing development of the shorefront might make the area even more vulnerable to storms, in part by directing water away from the new properties and toward older, weaker buildings. "We used to have that land to absorb water," Carol Zirngibl, a longtime community advocate, said in Crescent Beach on Tuesday, looking at a construction area where workers were hammering together the wooden frames of at least five homes. "We don't have that anymore."

Eileen Monreale, a member of the coalition's steering committee, called for the city to incorporate the property into its plans for a nearby waterfront park, and asked for a temporary moratorium on building in Staten Island until the city came up with a "comprehensive plan" for developing the borough.

In her testimony, Monreale specifically noted that the proposed building site was located in what the Federal Emergency Management Agency had designated as a dangerous flood zone and warned that the planned development "could endanger life and property." (She also discussed Staten Island's notoriously congested roads and argued that overdevelopment would harm the borough's "beautiful waterfront and wildlife.")

But the City Planning Department ruled that the developers could go ahead with a scaled-down version of their original plan, and although the city adopted a new set of zoning rules for Staten Island in 2004, it didn't specifically prohibit builders from putting up homes in the borough's most vulnerable waterfront areas.

A decade after that hearing, workers are now erecting the last of the scores of houses that have gone up as part of Sailor's Key.

For Zirngibl and her neighbors, fresh memories of Sandy has also revived concerns about a development that has yet to be built -- a three-story, 87-unit residence for people over the age of 55, poised to go up on an undeveloped plot of land overlooking the sea.

In June 2011, the local community board voted against the plan, and the Department of City Planning denied the builders' application for a permit. But in February 2012, another city department -- the Board of Standards and Appeals -- ruled that the development wouldn't hurt the neighborhood, and Rampulla Associates Architects, the architecture firm representing the developers, was allowed to proceed.

Strange collection

"What's the message here?
A Korean store window on Northern B'lvd. around 160th Street featured this.
I dunno...can't figure!" - The Flushing Phantom

Hope you folks like tennis (and have money to burn)

From Crains:

Community leaders say the USTA should have to replace the 0.68-acre strip that will become part of the complex, which hosts the U.S. Open every summer. Instead, the city plans to ask for a still- undetermined financial commitment from the tennis organization to refurbish parkland nearby. Money is one thing the USTA seems to have in abundance: Its CEO received total compensation of $1.4 million in 2010, and 12 employees were paid more than $400,000, according to a Crain's review of its latest available financial filings.

But the Bloomberg administration has decided the USTA will not have to replace the parkland because the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is open to the public 11 months a year and serves the community.

"In the case of USTA, we decided improvements in the park will provide a greater benefit than scrounging for a small parcel someplace else," said Joshua Laird, the Parks Department's assistant commissioner for planning and parklands. "We like the USTA; we like having the tennis center in Queens. The Open itself is important to the city."

With Major League Soccer eyeing the same Queens park for a 25,000-seat stadium, the community is fiercely defending every inch of remaining recreational space.

"The general sentiment of the families we work with that live near the park is that the USTA is not at all accessible," said Joseph McKellar, executive director of the Queens Congregations United for Action. The courts, for which the USTA charges $40 to $66 an hour, are too expensive for many in the neighborhood, he said. "The sentiment is, 'Wow, they already don't do much for folks in the community, and now they want to take even more of the public space.' "

From what I understand, "Parking Lot B" in the upper right hand corner of the above map is where they want to build their new stadium.

All in the family...

From the NY Post:

State Senate Democrats steered more than $1.5 million in campaign money this year to the Parkside Group, the political consulting firm of Evan Stavisky — son of state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens).

Both Staviskys defended the arrangement, insisting that the senator plays no role in the Democrats’ central fund-raising committee and that the son’s firm worked hard for the money.

“We produced more than 3 million pieces of campaign literature, multiple TV ads and other essential campaign materials that propelled Democratic candidates to important victories in tough races throughout the state,” said Parkside spokesman Pat McKenna.

Records show that Parkside also conducted polling for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. The firm scored a 2010 contract guaranteeing itself 80 percent of all DSCC business.

Quaker graveyard still has pole in it

From the Queens Chronicle:

There is some unfinished business at Flushing’s Quaker Meeting House.

The concrete base of a misplaced utility pole buried on the house’s property stands as the sole remnant of flawed construction work next to the house.

The concrete support is 8 feet below the surface, at the southern end of the house’s historic cemetery. Members of a committee designed to address ongoing problems with the adjacent construction site want it gone, but lack the means to remove it.

Work at the planned apartment building at 136-33 37 Ave. has been suspended by a stop-work order issued as a result of its incursion into the Quaker house’s property. The Chronicle first reported in April the work was being carried out by Pinnacle Engineering without Meeting House members’ knowledge, necessary archeological testing and permits from the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Workers on the construction site tore down the Quaker Meeting House’s chain-link fence and erected a makeshift plywood barrier about 4 feet onto the historic property. They also slapped a utility pole into an old graveyard dating back centuries.

The LPC must approve any construction work at or near a historic graveyard, a process which typically includes archeological testing to see if any remains are below ground.
The apartment project’s owner, Jeff Huang, quickly responded after the LPC informed him he could face substantial fines for the work, with the utility pole’s above-ground portion taken down and the fence moved back.

He then paid for the cost of an archeological assessment of the disturbed area in May, a process that involves sifting and sonar to search for any remains. Remains were not found in the area, though the site’s age could be a reason.

The LPC does not require the pole’s base be removed, a process that has the potential to further disturb the cemetery. The Meeting House committee plans otherwise...and is working on an alternative plan that would see it taken out.

Bad timing for important projects

From the Queens Chronicle:

The only direct route into Coleman Square, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge in Old Howard Beach just six weeks ago, 159th Road has been impassable for the past few weeks because a National Grid project to move gas lines is causing the street to be torn up. The square sits in a low-lying swampy area adjacent to JFK Airport near the bed of Hawtree Creek, which meanders behind homes and stores between the street and the subway tracks. During Hurricane Sandy, the storm surge reached anywhere between 6 and 10 feet in the square, destroying every business there.

Now, as most merchants in the square attempt to return to some sense of normal, some are complaining that the construction work is hindering progress.

Further complicating the situation in the square are the repairs being done to hurricane-damaged buildings and the shuttle buses from Far Rockaway dropping off commuters at the subway while the A line to the Rockaways is out. The subway tracks in Broad Channel and over Jamaica Bay were destroyed in the hurricane and the MTA is running shuttle bus service from the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station around JFK Airport to Howard Beach.

The National Grid project should take a few weeks, but there is no timetable on when the DEP’s sewer replacement project will commence or be completed.

Take our soccer stadium - Please!

From the NY Post:

He stole the Nets from New Jersey and the Islanders from Long Island — and now he’s after the new soccer franchise trying to set up shop in Queens.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants Major League Soccer to drop its plan to build a pro-soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows Park, and instead field a team in the “greener pastures” of his borough.

The Beep says no place on earth can compete with the cachet of the Brooklyn brand — and claims the Borough of Kings is filled with more soccer-starved fans than its neighbor to the east.

“I know Queens is pushing for a stadium, but I believe pro soccer belongs here in Brooklyn,” Markowitz said following a ceremony marking the opening of three new sports fields in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“Soccer is the Number 1 sport in the world, so why shouldn’t we have a team here in Brooklyn?”

He suggested East New York or Brownsville, saying both struggling neighborhoods could use the economic boost and have the empty land and transportation access needed. He also mentioned East Williamsburg and Bushwick.

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., called it a declaration of war.

“Brooklyn is already in the process of stealing our . . . Civic Virtue statue and moving it to Green-Wood Cemetery, so what’s next, the Mets?” he fired back. “I better go and lock up the Unisphere.”

Vallone has yet to take a position on whether Flushing Meadows is the best place in Queens for a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, saying he has concerns about the use of existing parkland.

Queens isn't pushing for a stadium. Its lobbyist $$$-fed pols are (see above Vallone quote). As far as most are concerned you can have it, Marty.

Staffs of losers win larger paychecks

From the NY Post:

Lame-duck state legislators showered loyal staffers with fat raises after their defeats, a Post analysis of state-payroll records found.

As state Sens. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) and David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) prepared to exit their government offices at the end of this month, they suddenly promoted pet staffers and granted them salary hikes that, in some cases, are higher pay rates than their own.

After a defeat, losing legislators typically “try to get as much money as they can to their friends and supporters,” an Albany insider said. Lawmakers’ taxpayer-funded staffing budgets begin at $350,000 but can increase.

Raises over 10 percent annually are considered “questionable,” the insider said.

“Its an old Albany game of ‘take as much as you can,’ ” he added. “This is the time when no real work is going on, especially for someone not coming back.”

Most of the hikes arrived in paychecks a day after the Nov. 6 general election.