Squatters invade foreclosed crap

From the NY Post:

Squatters have returned to New York City.

One, Peter Zephyrin, considers himself a modern-day Robin Hood for taking over an unfinished and boarded-up complex on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.

Zephyrin, 36, installed electricity and a water heater at the 10 adjoined three-story buildings and is collecting rent from two sets of tenants, who moved into the three-bedroom, two-bath pads in December. He charges $250 a week per resident.

“Imagine you woke up one day and found out the US government gave you license to use your brain and do something unorthodox,” Zephyrin told The Post. “I’m taking what the lazy wealthy person left behind . . . I’m trying to help families out.”

Zephyrin is trying to seize the buildings through “adverse possession” statutes, which permit an enterprising homesteader to acquire abandoned property after occupying it for 10 years, so long as the ownership is not contested.

They heat the apartment by boiling water on a hot plate. There is no gas, refrigerator or working stove.

Tenants don’t pay for electricity or other utilities — and don’t know who does. A Zara manager, who visited the site Wednesday, told The Post that Zephyrin “jumped wires” to get electricity.

Zephyrin was living at the Jamaica Avenue development himself until Jan. 23, when police arrested him and charged him with trespassing and scheming to defraud, court records show.

Leaky hydrant causes hazard

From CBS New York:

For days, the leaky fire hydrant on 73rd Place in Middle Village has delivered an unrelenting flow of frigid water. Local residents said the water has spread all the way down the block, turning much of the sidewalk into a treacherous slab of ice.

And frustration was turning to alarm late Saturday, as a deep freeze was set to hit new lows in New York City Sunday night into Monday.

As for concerns that the hydrant won’t work if there’s a fire, an FDNY source said fire crews have redundancy plans in place for any emergency.

And late Saturday afternoon, city workers finally responded – turning off the water and promising repairs, according to local residents. They hoped the city’s move would mean the end of a leaky hydrant that created a rink no one wanted.

No problem for employees living outside NYC

From Capital New York:

Eight members of the de Blasio administration were granted permission last year to skirt residency laws and live outside New York City, according to documents obtained by Capital on Friday from a Freedom of Information request.

By comparison, three waivers were given in 2013 and eight were granted in 2012.

In each letter, agency heads requested the exemptions be granted because the employees could not move for personal reasons, often family-related, but that they either possessed a unique skill or the agency needed to broaden its candidate pool.

State homeless' gain is city homeless' loss

From Crains:

Supportive-housing developers are already snapping up development sites throughout the city in anticipation that the new funding agreement laid out in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's preliminary budget will be passed this spring. But even as the city's homeless population has doubled since the last such accord 10 years ago, known as NY NY III, the upcoming pact looks like it will provide fewer resources to the Big Apple, according to concerned advocates who are lobbying for a larger commitment.

Now Mr. Cuomo is proposing to help fund 5,000 units of supportive housing over five years — with the catch that other municipalities across the state will be able to take advantage of the funds, rather than just its largest city.

While housing advocates are pleased that Albany is casting a wider net, it will almost certainly mean the five boroughs will receive a smaller sum, even as homelessness has doubled over the past decade, to 60,000 people today. And while the city approves roughly 20,000 people for supportive-housing applications annually, only one in six actually gets a unit.

City building in Rockaway flood zone

From the Queens Courier:

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development filed applications with the Buildings Department to construct an eight-story, 101-unit mixed-use residential and commercial building on a vacant lot in Edgemere.

There will be a total of 35 parking spaces at the residence, which will be designed by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects and located at 45-05 Rockaway Beach Blvd.

Only 35 parking spaces because the A train runs so well to Far Rockaway? Ha ha ha. HPD also building smack in the middle of the flood zone. No mention of affordability. Hmmm...

Happy Valentine's Day from Queens Crap!

From the Daily News:

‘Tis better to have loved and lost ... and lost ... and lost again... than never to have loved at all.

Just ask Curtis Sliwa.

The twice-divorced Guardian Angels founder and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz are no longer an item after going their separate ways on Election Day 2014.

“Melinda is a great mother and a great borough president,” Sliwa told the Daily News on Friday. “We are just two different people with totally separate lives.”

The low-profile parting came after a long relationship where Katz, 49, bore two sons using Sliwa as a sperm donor. Sliwa’s second ex-wife, Mary, accused the two of conceiving the pair in more traditional fashion during a torrid decade-long affair.

Counterfeiters flourish in Queens

From the Forum:

A 13-member counterfeit ring, responsible for the production of over $86 million in counterfeit U.S. currency, has been taken down by the United States Secret Service. The last two defendants named in the scheme pleaded guilty last week to RICO conspiracy involving multiple acts of counterfeiting U.S. currency and money structuring. Two other co-conspirators of the 13 are Rego Park and Forest Hills residents.

The criminal enterprise involved the production, sale, and distribution of high-quality counterfeit $50 and $100 Federal Reserve notes. The Secret Service first detected the well-designed $100 in 1999. Since that time, over $86 million of this particular note has been seized globally. In addition, the crime ring was in the process of counterfeiting the “new” $100 note released in October 2013, including certain security features such as watermarks, security threads, and blue 3-D ribbons. According to the Secret Service, this new $100 is much more difficult to simulate, and there has not yet been a significant occurrence of its counterfeiting.

Queens does happen to be a focus for the agency right now, owing to nearby airports and the fact that a large portion of counterfeit is manufactured overseas, then brought in bulk to the United States. Additionally, in Queens, there are high populations of many of the groups known to be producing counterfeit overseas. Counterfeit produced in the United States is most frequently $20 Federal Reserve notes, while $100s are more commonly manufactured overseas.

Feds to pay for Rockaway boardwalk rebuild

From the Daily News:

The city is poised to snag $480 million in federal funds for a storm-proof boardwalk in Rockaway, officials said on Wednesday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency signed off on a deal to repair or replace more than 1 million square feet of boardwalk beams ravaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“It's great news that FEMA has green-lighted this massive federal grant,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, who lobbied for the funds.The new boardwalk is scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day 2017. Sections will remain open while work continues.

City and state officials still need to approve the deal, but it isn’t expected to hit any major roadblocks.

Sounds like NYCHA's going private

From the Observer:

Shola Olatoye, the chairwoman and chief executive officer of the New York City Housing Authority under Mayor Bill de Blasio, said today that partnerships with private real estate interests may be the future for the cash-strapped agency.

Speaking at a hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Public Housing, Ms. Olatoye indicated that the housing authority could look to selling stakes in its 2,563 buildings across the city in order to fill its infamous budget deficits, in the absence of federal funding streams. She said a recent deal in which the housing authority formed a limited liability company with two private developers to co-own and manage six of its non-project properties in order to qualify for $465 million in loans and tax abatements could prove to be a model for arrangements going forward—as could the ongoing programs of rezonings and monetary incentives the city has used to encourage builders to construct below market-cost apartments.

“We don’t know what the future holds. But I think it would be irresponsible for us to not take advantage of tools that, frankly this city has utilized and pioneered to create thousands of affordable housing units,” she said.

Problems with Jamaica body shop

Hi,

I just recently came across your site. Thought I would try to get some help and the word out on this establishment. The exact address is 91-20 182nd St, Jamaica, NY 11423. I’m writing this on behalf of my elderly parents who live on this street. Ever since this ‘repair shop’ came into the neighborhood they have been parking the cars that they have been repairing on the entire streets. Numerous call have been place to 311 to fine them for illegally parking on alternate side days. But they remove the license plates every morning from all the cars so they can avoid being ticketed. They leave the damaged cars overnight on the streets taking away parking space from the residents that actually live on the block. And if you ask them to move their cars they threaten you with bully tactics. So much so that I have witnessed the enforcement agents just walk by the cars afraid they will confronted by them. As you can see from this picture from their Facebook page, anything below that parking sign is commercial use till 6pm. But they parks cars even before that sign and even around the block to the next street. I would just like them to be put on notice for their acts. And if you know of anyone I can call or anything I can do to stop them from abusing the parking situation please let me know. It was a quiet block till they moved in.

Thanks in advance.

- Anonymous

There are SO MANY auto body shops that do this. They need their own enforcement agency.

Call your council member: Daneek Miller (718) 776-3700.

You can also have residents bombard their Facebook page. Ain't social media grand?

We're gettin' gouged

From Crains:

New York City has not changed its real estate tax rate in years, but soaring property values are sending the dollar volume of the money collected skyward. One has to wonder how long before a property tax revolt takes hold in the city.

The accompanying chart tracks the past 10 years of property tax collections and the de Blasio administration's projections for the next four years. All are for the city's fiscal year that ends June 30.

Doesn't it say something that the most liberal mayor and City Council in the past 35 years have little interest in this issue?

Pols actually work when pressure is on them

From the Times Ledger:

Nearly 50 demonstrators rallied for the removal of the homeless families shelter at the Westway Motel in East Elmhurst Saturday, a day after a convicted child molester was removed from the facility.

Shouting “Westway, No Way” and carrying posters that read “The Westway is not the Best Way” the protesters demanded the closure of the shelter, at 71-11 Astoria Blvd., even after the Department of Homeless Services announced plans for a new policy change.

“We really put the squeeze on DHS,” state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) said. “Costa Constantinides, Aravella Simotas and then Joe Crowley got involved. We jumped on it and in a day and a half he was voluntarily transferred.”

Constantinides is the councilman from Astoria, Simotas is the assemblywoman for the area and Crowley is the congressman for that part of Queens.

State Sen. Michael Gianaris’ Astoria office received so many phone calls from angry constituents that he joined the battle even though the Westway Motel is in Peralta’s district. “The continuing lack of information and transparency surrounding the Westway is extremely troubling and validates the community’s concerns about this location from the start,” Gianaris said.

Please dig out your hydrants!

Hi QC,

This is worse than not shoveling or plowing side walks.

Some busnesses in Queens have their property plowed and pile it up in front of a fire hydrant.
Now the piles are hard as rocks.
I reported theses 2 to 311 today. 311 transferred me to FDNY who took the info:

66-05, Woodhaven Bvd. That is Fleet Street Realty Co.

114- 20 Jamaica avenue, 114 street side. That is Chase bank. They have had this happen previous winters.

Both have been blocked since Feb 01.

I don't know if the snow was piled there from those properties or nearby properties.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

- anonymous

Council cracking down on what we wipe with

From the Daily News:

Wet wipes that increasing numbers of New Yorkers are using instead of toilet paper are clogging the city’s sewer system — and now the City Council is mulling a crackdown.

A bill to be introduced Thursday by Councilmen Donovan Richards (D-Queens) and Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn) would ban advertising or labeling the moist toilet wipes as “flushable.”

Queens rents now higher than Brooklyn's

From DNA Info:

Queens' rental prices are catching up to Brooklyn's — and surpassing them.

The ascendance of Queens has been a common refrain for more than a year now. Last month's rents — particularly for the "hot" northwest part of the borough that includes Long Island City and Astoria — show that Queens is no longer necessarily cheaper than Kings County.

Queens' median rents jumped 30.7 percent from the same time last year to $2,905 a month for January, according to a report from Douglas Elliman released Thursday.

That was $4 above Brooklyn's median rent, which rose 2.5 percent to $2,901 a month.

AirBnB just isn't kosher

From Capital New York:

Months after facing accusations by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that its users were violating rental and zoning laws, home sharing site Airbnb continues to host thousands of potentially illegal apartment listings in New York City.

That’s according to a Capital analysis of newly published data that was “scraped” from the Airbnb website by a community activist. More than 58 percent of the Airbnb listings in the city are for “entire” apartments or houses, meaning no one else would be present during a stay, according to the data.

Under state law, it is illegal to lease most homes—with the exception of one- and two-family residences—for periods of less than 30 days when the owner or tenant is not present. But of the 15,977 full-apartment listings found on Airbnb, just one requires stays longer than a month.

Call for boycott of New York Sports Club of Forest Hills

"The entire neighborhood is shocked and furious that the neighborhood NYSC location has stooped so low. They are plastering the Forest Hills neighborhood with their “graffiti”.

Here’s a example - they plastered the LIRR westbound Forest Hills station with their advertising stickers. I have seen a bunch of portable signs sticking out from mounds of snow all along Queens Blvd.

Why do they have to resort to such low level advertising? I encourage the Forest Hills Garden Corporation and other local business and community groups to insist they remove these eyesores!

If they do not, then let’s boycott them! Encourage their membership to drop them!" - Anonymous

Ridgewood warehouse to be turned into artists' studios

From Brownstoner Queens:

A tipster recently passed along news that the four-story warehouse at 46-55 Metropolitan Avenue — right next door to the popular Ridgewood restaurant Bun-Ker — is slated to become artist studios. The tip was confirmed by a contact listed on this Department of Buildings application, which specifies an “interior renovation with partition works on 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor.” (Requests to the actual building owner went unanswered.) We couldn’t get any more specifics, except that the warehouse will be converted into commercial spaces for artistic use.

Delivery guy caught peeing in apartment elevator

From WPIX:

A building manager in Queens was shocked after what he saw a pizza delivery man doing in the apartment elevator. And it was all caught on camera.

The Mitchell Gardens building manager in Flushing, Queens reached out to PIX11 Investigates and asked for our help.

It seems they’d caught a pizza delivery man from a nearby restaurant on videotape. It showed him peeing in one of their elevators.

Melissa not keen on housing in IBZs

From Crains:

In her State of the City speech Wednesday, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for increased protections for the city's dwindling industrial and manufacturing zones, putting her on a collision course with Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is eyeing those zones for housing.
Ms. Mark-Viverito said the City Council would work to implement recommendations laid out in a report issued last November to "protect industrial space and support growth in the city's traditional manufacturing sectors, like furniture and ethnic food, and also nurture growing creative-sector industries."

Ms. Mark-Viverito's speech came amid tension between the council and Mr. de Blasio over the future of the city's 21 industrial business zones. The mayor is looking for ways to add apartments to the IBZs, which former Mayor Michael Bloomberg shielded from residential rezoning but largely ignored during his final years in office. Critics sense a similar lack of enthusiasm from Mr. de Blasio, whose first budget slashed funding for the IBZ program and whose aides talk of putting "workforce housing" in industrial areas to advance the administration's goal of creating 80,000 affordable units.