Out of state car registrations cost NY $93M

From Crains:

Newcomers are required to register their cars with New York authorities within 30 days of moving to the state, but many don't bother. As a result, they cheat the state and city out of millions of dollars in revenue while making use of precious free parking spaces.

Neither the city nor the state could provide an exact number of improperly registered cars on the road, but a 2011 state Senate report found that nearly 25% of all accidents in the state involving cars with Pennsylvania license plates occurred in Brooklyn—a number that suggests many of those cars' owners were New York residents, not visitors.

The report also found that motorists who live in New York but drive cars registered out of state cost the city $73 million in unpaid parking tickets and deprive the state of $1 million annually in fees for license plates, titles and vehicle registrations.

But those unpaid tickets and uncollected fees still take a back seat to the loss of potential sales tax revenue. A New Yorker who pays the average price for a new car—$33,560, according to Kelley Blue Book—must fork over about $3,000 in sales tax. Approximately 125,000 new cars were added to state Department of Motor Vehicles registration rolls in 2015. If up to 25% of residents' vehicles were purchased out of state, as the Brooklyn accident number suggests, New York could have lost out on more than $93 million in tax revenue.

AirBnB violators face heavy fines

From the NY Post:

A Manhattan landlord and a former Corcoran realtor are the first casualties of a newly enforceable law meant to curb illegal Airbnb listings, The Post has learned.

Property owner Hank Freid — who was once crowned one of NYC’s “Worst Landlords” by a watchdog group in 2005 — and real estate broker Tatiana Cames were slapped with 17 violations, at $1,000 apiece, for their allegedly illegal listings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and in Bedford-Stuyvesant, in Brooklyn, according to documents obtained by the Post.

Freid, who manages the Marrakech Hotel, was hit with 12 violations for listing SROs in the building on several booking platforms, including Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, Hotwire, Travelocity, and Orbitz, the citations reveal.

Meanwhile, Cames — who was served with five violations — allegedly posted five separate listings to Airbnb advertising 320 Macon St, which records show she purchased for $2.15M in 2015.

The Macon St. property was discovered to have inadequate fire alarms, sprinklers, illegal subdivisions, and a confused bunch of French tourists in a rear unit, according the procured documents.

Cames appears to be making money off the vacancies in the building as she attempts to fill the space, as the same units are advertised as “for rent” on her personal website.

The listings also seem to suggest that drawing illegal Airbnb-ers into BedStuy will help “diversify” the locale.

Expensive report released about project that will never happen

From Curbed:

On Monday, the city’s Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) released a feasibility study in regards to a planned, mostly residential development over the Sunnyside Yard.

The study is a follow up to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to build thousands of units of affordable housing on top of the massive rail yard, which he first announced at his state of the city address in early 2015.

Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed his opposition to the project shortly afterward claiming that the owners of the site—the MTA, Amtrak, and New Jersey Transit all had expansion plans that would interfere with any development in that area.

The results of the feasibility study are now looking to dispel those concerns. The study identified that about 80-85 percent of this 180-acre site is buildable with the use of decking, and highlighted three potential proposals, costing anywhere between $16 to $19 billion, on how best to move forward.

The first would see the creation of 18,000-24,000 apartments, 5,400-7,200 of which would be affordable (that’s about 30 percent of the overall development). That proposal would also create between 13-19 schools, 38-52 acres of open space, and retail.

LPC turns its back on another Queens historic site

From the Queens Chronicle:

In a blow to Queens preservationists, a Downtown Flushing building with a rich history involving Quakerism will be replaced with an eight-story mixed-use building.

The Orthodox Meeting House and Cornucopia Masonic Temple are attached at the site, which is located at 137-66 Northern Blvd.

English colonists bought the location from Matinecock Indians in the 17th century, when Flushing was a Dutch New Netherlands colony, according to zoning consultant Paul Graziano, who made a report about the building’s viability for landmarking in 1994 under a contract with the Queens Historical Society.

A British guardhouse was at the location by the end of the 1600s to defend against Native American attacks. The building was demolished for firewood in 1776.

After the war ended, the site was bought by Orthodox Quakers for use as a secret meeting place (which they had used the location for since the 1600s), according to the report by Graziano, who is running in the nascent Democratic primary race against Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside). They built a meeting house there in 1827. It immediately bordered the Quaker Meeting House during that era, which also saw a split in the religious group known as the Separation: Factions were divided between the Hicksite and Orthodox sects.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected protecting the site in 2014, finding that “it did not rise to the level of an Individual Landmark” according to spokeswoman Damaris Olivo. She did not immediately return a request for comment when asked why it was not determined to be deserving of the status or who submitted the building for landmark consideration.

“If it was in Manhattan, it would have been designated 40 years ago,” Graziano told the Chronicle.

The owner of the site today, an LLC, will build 12 units in the planned eight-story structure, according to the real estate news website YIMBY. Retail, medical office and residential space is set to go there, and demolition permits were filed last year.

Letter grades for food carts?

From DNA Info:

A Queens councilwoman wants food trucks and carts to display letter grades, just like city restaurants.

Karen Koslowitz introduced a bill in the City Council Wednesday, which she said would require the city’s Health Department to conduct inspections and give food carts and trucks letter grades of A, B or C.

“You go to a food cart, and you really don’t know its sanitary condition,” Koslowitz said in a statement. “Our current grading system works well for restaurants, and I believe it would be good for the City’s food carts as well.”

Letter grades have been given to restaurants in New York City since 2010.

Vision Zero not working in 112th Pct

From DNA Info:

The number of pedestrians hit by vehicles in Forest Hills and Rego Park jumped by 64 percent this year, according to the 112th Precinct which recently launched a safe driving campaign.

In January, 23 people were hit in the neighborhood, compared to just 14 during the same month in 2016, according to the precinct's commanding officer Captain Robert Ramos.

In many instances, pedestrians were hit by cars making turns, police officials said.

De Blasio claims he will raise private money for his defense

From NBC:

Mayor DeBlasio answers questions from reports for the first time since the I-Team reported he will be questioned by federal prosecutors. Melissa Russo reports.

Related: De Blasio Won't Use Taxpayer Money for His Legal Defense, He Says

Fighting to protect historic neighborhood

From GoFundMe:

The Fenimore Street Block Association learned late last month (Jan. 2017) that a beautiful house on the southeast corner of Bedford Avenue and Fenimore Street is being targeted for demolition. A prominent Williamsburg developer recently filed for a permit to demolish 174-176 Fenimore Street. While no plans have been filed as of yet, we suspect that he will construct an as-of-right apartment building many times the size of the existing house.

For several years now, our Block Association has been fighting to preserve our neighborhood from non-contextual development that is quickly becoming the hallmark of new construction in PLG. We are currently in the process of initiating a rezoning application to change our current R6 zoning - which allows high density development - to R2, which only allows single family homes. This is due to our research, where we discovered that houses on the south side of Fenimore Street between Bedford and Rogers--including 174-176 Fenimore--have deed restrictions that explicitly prohibit the development of apartment buildings, as the language makes clear that only single-family houses may be built - like the rest of Lefferts Manor. We discovered that this side of the street was originally part of the Lefferts Farm and should have been included in both the R2 single family zoning which begins on the north side of the street as well as the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District, which covers the entirety of Lefferts Manor proper. In fact, as of this week, all 19 properties on the south side of Fenimore Street have been found eligible to be added to the National Register of Historic Places as an extension of the existing Lefferts Manor National Register Historic District.

The Fenimore Street Block Association intends to battle this developer in court with the understanding that we have a very strong legal leg to stand on. We are doing this because the courts have routinely deemed these original deed restrictions to be binding if found enforceable, which our zoning and land use expert has affirmed to be the case. However, we lack the necessary funds for a sustained legal battle. It is possible that there are other parts of PLG which also have enforceable deed restrictions as well and a victory in this case could set an important legal precedent for future court cases against developers.

Seneca Avenue crazy crap got stopped

You may remember this big steaming pile from a post here last summer - August 2016. Shortly after that post was made, there was a partial stop work order placed on the site. But not for the questionable mezzanine (DOB made sure to mention that is was A-OK) - for an unsafe scaffold. All these months later, per DOB precords, it doesn't look like they've rectified that situation, and work has seemingly come to a halt.

Hydrant slides to the left

The hydrant in front of the Gerry Caliendo warehouse that replaced the St. Saviour's site has been moved to accommodate a driveway/loading dock. Who paid to move it is anyone's guess. It's going to be fun watching the tractor trailers pull out into two-way oncoming traffic in the middle of Rust Street.

Concerns over LIC rezone

From DNA Info:

The city is eyeing a 50-block swath of Long Island City for possible rezoning, an effort to spur development of more office space and affordable housing — but some locals worry the change would only speed up gentrification in the increasingly pricey neighborhood.

The Department of City Planning held a community meeting Tuesday about a portion of Queens Plaza and Dutch Kills, the first in a series of public discussions over the next several months before officials make specific zoning recommendations sometime this summer, they said.

The goal is to encourage the creation of more office space in the area — which has been dominated in recent years by new residential construction — and to implement the city's new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) amendment, which would require developers of new buildings in the area to construct affordable units on or off-site.

Worrying about gentrification in LIC at this point is like closing the barn door after the horse ran away.

Civics to de Blasio: Pay for your own lawyers!

From the Queens Chronicle:

Although the city’s paying for the lawyers is legal, civic activists in the borough say that the embattled mayor — who has personally hired a lawyer paid in campaign funds to represent himself— should not be relying on public funds to pay for the attorneys.

“It’s another example of the mayor wasting taxpayer money,” Juniper Park Civic Association President Bob Holden told the Chronicle. “He’s done it on so many other issues. It really seems almost unethical.”

Queens Civic Congress Executive Vice President Richard Hellenbrecht recalled another scandal-tarnished lawmaker who used public funds on attorneys while he was being probed.

“Look at Chris Christie over in New Jersey, who spent a couple of million dollars in taxpayer money fighting the Bridgegate situation,” he said. Christie, however, had taxpayers foot the bill for his own criminal defense lawyer, unlike de Blasio.

“I think that money should go for things the city needs,” Community Board 8 Chairwoman Martha Taylor, who is also a member of the Jamaica Estates Association, said. She added that the money could go toward “improvement or maintenance” work.

It is possible that the public’s footing the bills in situations like the de Blasio administration’s could be banned eventually. State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said he would “look into” legislation prohibiting the practice.

The Queens lawmaker, who will not re-endorse de Blasio for re-election, has heard complaints from constituents not happy about public dollars going to pricey attorneys.

Landlord renting from MTA refusing repairs in Kew Gardens

Excellent report in the Queens Tribune:

Kew Gardens businesses have been waiting eight years for $3 million in repairs to their buildings on Lefferts Boulevard and several store owners have said there appears to be no end in sight.

According to business owners on the Lefferts Boulevard bridge over the LIRR tracks between Austin and Greenfell Streets, the landlord of the property has refused to maintain the buildings for the eight years he has leased them from the MTA.

Since the master tenant, Zee N Kay, took over the lease in 2009, Nathalie Reid, owner of Thyme Market, said she has had a hole in the floor of the storage room through which she can see the passing LIRR trains below, and Zee N Kay has not made any attempt to repair it. She has since covered it with plywood boards.

Reid said that the stores are so poorly insulated that they have to keep the heat on high during the night so the pipes don’t burst. Thyme Market carries vitamins with gel capsules and during the night, in the high heat, those capsules melt. “My heating bill is astronomical,” Reid said.

Pradeep Argawal, a certified public accountant with an office on Lefferts Boulevard, said that his pipes have frozen several times and the landlord sent someone to fix it, but it is only a temporary fix as it will freeze again regardless of whether or not the heat is kept on.

Both Argawal and Reid have asked for reimbursements for heating expenses since they say that Zee N Kay has never insulated the pipes, but that request was refused.

De Blasio won't kill innocent groundhog this year

From SI Live:

Mayor Bill de Blasio won't risk dropping Staten Island Chuck again this Groundhog Day.

Three years after a potentially-fatal fumble on his first Groundhog Day as mayor, de Blasio will skip the Staten Island Zoo's annual ceremony for the second year in a row.

"The Mayor's on Staten Island as much as possible and that will continue in 2017," de Blasio spokeswoman Jessica Ramos said. "We doubt the groundhog will be heartbroken."

The mayor's office didn't say what de Blasio would be doing on Thursday instead of attending the 7 a.m. ceremony.

The Staten Island Zoo said Public Advocate Letitia James will officiate instead of de Blasio.

Weiner likely to get hard time

From the Daily News:

Anthony Weiner is facing hard time — unless his lawyers can strike a good deal.

Attorneys for the disgraced former congressman are trying to talk prosecutors out of going forward with child pornography charges that could land Weiner behind bars for at least 15 years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The charges stem from sexually explicit messages and images he allegedly exchanged with a 15-year-old girl.

Sources told the newspaper that Weiner’s lawyers have been in talks with federal prosecutors for weeks, angling for a plea deal. But officials from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and FBI agents have not backed off.

De Blasio suddenly in favor of more deportations

From DNA Info:

Mayor Bill de Blasio is willing to add to the list of 170 felony criminal offenses for which the city will work with federal authorities to deport perpetrators.

De Blasio — who has said cooperation with those crimes makes President Donald Trump's executive order threatening to pull funding from sanctuary cities redundant — made the statement during a budget hearing in Albany Monday as part of a testy exchange with Republican state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis.

"So, for instance, if an individual here conducts sexual misconduct, forcible touching, sexual abuse in the second and third degree, grand larceny, welfare fraud, identity theft — this was just a small list of a much larger list in which the city refuses to comply with detainer requests from the federal government — why would you protect individuals who are here illegally committing these crimes?" she asked the mayor.

"If there are some offenses that we should add, we are willing to do that always," de Blasio replied.

From September 2014 to September 2016, New York City received 584 detainer requests from the federal government but only complied with 32, Malliotakis stated.

"My issue is, why would the mayor of the city of New York who is entrusted to protect the safety of our citizenry say that they're not going to comply with these detainer requests," the assemblywoman asked.

Malliotakis said she was concerned that offenses such as identity fraud, welfare fraud, forcible touching and grand larceny were seemingly not included. But the mayor believes many of those offenses overlap with what is listed and invited the assemblywoman to consult with the city's lawyers.

"When you come up with a list of 170 offenses, if there were several more that should be included, I'm perfectly happy to include them," de Blasio said.

Enforcing parking restrictions in residential zones

From the Queens Chronicle:

Just as President Eisenhower worried about the “falling domino” principle that would spread Soviet influence in Indochina, Maria Becce of the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association is concerned that a few instances of illegal parking practices in her neighborhood will become widespread.

“One house does it and it’s a domino effect,” she said. “We have three active complaints; one seems to have been resolved. We don’t want it to be 30.”

Broadway-Flushing, with its well-preserved Tudor Revival homes and cavernous lawns, is a rare breed of Queens neighborhood. With a large portion of it protected by the Rickert-Finlay Covenant, a deed restriction that limits homes to single-family usage that is not enforced by the Department of Buildings, the homeowners association must litigate to preserve the rule, and its members are vigilant about notifying city agencies and elected officials when they see misconduct of any kind in the neighborhood.

The DOB issued violations in October for the creation of an unpermitted parking pad at 35-69 168 St., an apartment building, according to a spokesman for the agency. Violations were also given for not complying with area parking regulations and work without a permit.

The agency also gave a violation at 35-66 165 St. for the illegal usage of the side yard as a parking lot in December. The Chronicle saw three cars in the property’s side yard on Wednesday.

And at 35-28 163 St., where a car was parked on pavers in the front yard when the Chronicle went to the site on Wednesday, the DOB issued a violation in October for not complying with a residential district’s parking regulations.

Construction firms' de Blasio donors are under the microscope

From DNA Info:

City investigators are looking into $45,000 in donations that workers from two related construction firms made to Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2013 campaign, city records show.

DNAinfo New York first reported in October that the Department of Investigation opened a probe into de Blasio fundraiser Husam Ahmad and his construction companies, HAKS and SIMCO Engineering.

DNAinfo reported at the time that both HAKS and SIMCO — which each have city contracts worth tens of millions of dollars — said in disclosures to the Mayor's Office of Contract Services that DOI investigators executed search warrants on their offices on Aug. 17.

Neither the firms nor the DOI, however, would tell DNAinfo what the probe was about.

But in a recent disclosure to the city, HAKS said the search warrant sought information on campaign donations.

Ahmad, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of HAKS, personally bundled $6,400 in contributions from HAKS employees to de Blasio's 2013 mayoral run, campaign finance records show.

HAKS employees donated an additional $32,900 that was not bundled by Ahmad to de Blasio's 2013 campaign and transition team. SIMCO employees gave $5,800 in donations to de Blasio's 2013 campaign, records show.

Ahmad did not donate directly to de Blasio — principals of firms that do business with the city can only give a maximum of $400 to a city candidate per election cycle. But Ahmad's wife, Uzma, has given a total of $13,450 to de Blasio's 2013 and 2017 campaigns.

In June 2014, de Blasio appointed Ahmad to the board of advisors of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit that solicits donations to promote city causes. Records show that HAKS donated between $20,000 and $59,000 to the Mayor's Fund in 2015.

The mayor also appointed Ahmad to his Workforce Development Board, which consists of leaders from the private sector, public agencies and unions who advise the city on its policies about job seekers, employers and adult learners.

While HAKS does not have the disadvantaged business enterprise designation, SIMCO does.

Glendale plaza construction hurts small businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city, area elected officials and community leaders have reached a deal they hope will alleviate some of the burden pedestrian plaza work had placed on a number of Glendale businesses.

According to Department of Design and Construction representative Ian Michaels and Community Board 5 Chairman Vincent Arcuri Jr., the project at Myrtle and Cooper avenues hit a snag recently, as it was discovered underground Verizon infrastructure had to be moved in order for the project to continue.

But even before the issue with Verizon occurred, a number of area stores had said the restricting of traffic flow and the loss of parking in the area was resulting in declines in sales and customers.

Bill gets an unfriendly welcome in Albany

From CBS 2:

Mayor Bill de Blasio traveled to Albany Monday, where lawmakers turned his annual budget hearing into a fiery showdown.

As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, the mayor defended himself against questions surrounding his performance.

De Blasio was on a charm offensive on steroid as he shook hands and exchanged hugs and kisses at the start of his annual attempt to get funding from Albany. But it did not take long before he found himself on the ropes – with two grand jury investigations front and center.

“What should be of grave concern to every single person in this room is the two sitting grand juries; is the $11 million you’re asking the taxpayers to pay for representation for you and your administration’s legal fees,” said state Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Shrub Oak).

Murphy was questioning why de Blasio deserves a three-year extension of mayoral control of the schools.