Sunday, January 31, 2021

Limpdick Landlord now playing at Sunnyside Cinema

  

Queens Post

The marquee sign at a shuttered Sunnyside movie theater was altered over the weekend with the perpetrator taking aim at the landlord.

“Death by Speculation, Starring Limpdick Landlord,” the sign reads, which appears to have gone up in the past 24 hours.

The vacant cinema, located at 42-17 Queens Blvd., closed in January 2015 after its operator Rudy Prashad was unable to renew the lease.

The landlord, John Ciafone, who bought the property off Dime Savings Bank at the end of 2012, decided that he wanted to develop the property.

Ciafone, who still owns the building, was subject to heavy criticism at the time since a theater had been located at the Queens Boulevard site for more than 40 years.

Prashad, who had operated the theater for nine years and fought to keep the theater open, broke into laughter Sunday when he saw a photo of the altered signage.

“I love it. I’m saving it to my phone and using it as a screensaver,” Prashad said.

“I want to shake his hand,” he said of the perpetrator. “I want to take him out to dinner.”


Landlords are illegally refusing city vouchers from homeless people

 


NY1

 

It’s been more than a year since Rebeka and her family lost their apartment in Queens. Since January 2020, they have been living in a hotel — a hotel operating as a homeless shelter for families.

"This whole year has been different," Rebeka explains. "Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, everything is just different."

She has two children and worked for the city until the pandemic hit the five boroughs. NY1 has changed her name to protect her family's privacy.

When we met on a cold day in December, Rebeka was carrying a large stack of papers. On it was the names and phone numbers of management companies and realtors.

"This is a prospective list that I was given by my shelter," she said. "And this is what I have been doing, making calls. I also do social media."

 Rebeka was given a list of management companies and buildings from her shelter provider that are supposed to accept her voucher. She called one of them, only to be told they only accepted Section 8. 
 

Her family’s only path out of shelter is a voucher from the city — a path that all too often is a dead end.

She calls a management company based in Long Island City.

  On the other end, they ask: "Do you have a Section 8 voucher? Are you looking for affordable housing?"


Rebeka replies: "I currently have CityFHEPS." 

"We don’t accept that here," replies the management company. It’s an exchange that is repeated again and again for Rebeka.

 Rebeka calls a realtor about an apartment in Brooklyn. He says they have income and credit requirements. 

"He is looking for 650 credit and he is also looking for about $45,000 to $50,000 annually," a realtor tells Rebeka. 


"Wait, so is he accepting vouchers at this time?" she asks.


"I sent him a message and he hasn’t gotten back to me," the realtor replies. Then he hangs up.

There are thousands of people in the city’s shelter system desperately searching for housing with the city’s rental assistance voucher known as CityFHEPS. It’s a voucher program started in October of 2018 aimed at getting people in shelter back on their feet.

A NY1 investigation found these vouchers are routinely rejected by landlords — some refusing to rent to people coming from the shelter system — discrimination that is illegal but nonetheless appears to plague the system.

The city has issued thousands of eligibility letters to homeless people to show landlords that they can use the voucher to get an apartment. But statistics exclusively obtained by NY1 show just a fraction of these families actually get housing every month.

For the first 10 months of 2019, on average every month, about 4,118 families with children in shelter had an eligibility letter to entice landlords into the voucher program. On average in that time period, only about 178 of those families found an apartment every month — a tiny slice of those potentially eligible.

Since it started in October 2018, the city says a significant number of households exit shelter and enter permanent housing every year with CityFHEPS. Through September 2020, 6,490 households have moved into an apartment.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Governor Cuomo confirms he doesn't care

 



NY Post

 “Who cares [if they] died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They died.”

That’s how Gov. Cuomo callously responded Friday to the damning state attorney general’s report that revealed his administration downplayed the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19.

During his first remarks on the spiraling controversy, Cuomo said, “If you look at New York state, we have a lower percentage of deaths in nursing homes than other states.”

“A third of all deaths in this nation are from nursing homes,” he said.

“New York state, we’re only about 28 percent — only — but we’re below the national average in number of deaths in nursing homes.”

“But who cares — 33 [percent], 29 [percent] — died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They died.”

Cuomo’s stunning remarks sparked a furious backlash, with Timothy Dunn tweeting: “My uncle died in a nursing home from COVID two weeks ago.”

“I care @NYGovCuomo,” added Dunn, whose website says he’s from upstate Malta and runs a consulting company.

State Sen. James Tedisco (R-Clifton Park) tweeted that Cuomo’s comments were “Pathetic!”

“How about the families who lost loved ones! We need to know where the contagion spread and if the Gov’s March exec order doomed many of them to suffer and die alone from COVID,” he added.

Impunity City

Well, now it’s out. It had to take an investigation from New York’s Attorney General Letitia James (who he endorsed to win) about his lethal edicts and internecine obfuscations and obstructions of the state’s nursing home fatalities data to finally come out with this callous take from Mario’s son Governor Cuomo. Fatalities which he also callously conflated with his own father’s demise, which happened by natural causes while he wasn’t in a nursing home, especially a nursing home that was given immunity from responsibility of the care of residents and patients.

But don’t be mistaken, Cuomo’s dismissive response about being accountable for his negligence is not out of character for a guy who once remarked when 71 people died from COVID19 back in May that because less people were dying of the contagion at the time that it was not that devastating because of the absurd reality we’re all living in.

 

 

 

 

Bike lanes coming to Brooklyn Bridge and Queensboro-Ed Koch Bridge roadways

 


 

Queens Chronicle 

 

Mayor de Blasio said Thursday that construction will begin this year on a plan to give cyclists and pedestrians their own dedicated lanes on separate sides of the Queensboro-Ed Koch Bridge during his state of the city address.

The plan also calls for the innermost Manhattan-bound lane of the Brooklyn Bridge to a two-way protected bike path, while converting the existing bike-pedestrian crossing to the exclusive use of pedestrians.

“The Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge are iconic and deeply intertwined in the daily lives of countless New Yorkers,” the mayor said in a summary provided by his office. “Now, it’s time to bring them into the 21st century and embrace the future with a radical new plan.

“On the Queensboro Bridge, we will begin construction this year to convert the north outer roadway into a two-way bike-only lane and convert the south outer roadway to a two-way pedestrian-only lane,” de Blasio said.

Construction is not expected to be complete until 2022.

The northern outer lane on the Manhattan-bound side right now is shared by pedestrians and cyclists, and while painted lanes and signs supposedly assign both their separate lanes, it’s pretty much a matter of the honor system.

 update:

In the comments, George the Atheist pointed out the moped (with the fake plate) that I caught zipping down the bridge along with bikers and how this might cause a problem if these two way lanes the city is proposing might lead to an escalation of these scofflaws taking advantage of these new amenities. Well, let this here be confirmation of that:


 


 

 

Planner rebuts Corey Johnson's BS zoning report with actual facts

If you're concerned about the hard work your neighborhood has done to achieve the proper zoning, please read the entire report presented below and sign the petition to stop it.

From the Queens Chronicle:

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) wants to eliminate single-family zoning across New York City, but some community representatives are concerned the change will cause more bad than good.

The plan, introduced in December, is intended to “streamline” housing development by establishing a new commission, made up of members appointed by the mayor, City Council and borough presidents, which would set construction targets for each community district.

Johnson claims the Planning Together initiative would close racial and economic disparities, but urban planner Paul Graziano argues it would instead ruin the character of Queens.

“This is what set off the red flags for me: the main pillar of this report is based off a complete lie — I’ll just say it straight out,” Graziano said at a Jan. 20 Community Board 8 meeting. “The complete lie is that the rezonings that occurred under the Bloomberg administration were to help white, wealthy neighborhoods at the expense of all others ... This isn’t true.”

Graziano, who presented before CB 8 on his own accord, said he had designed about half of the Bloomberg-era rezonings and called Johnson’s statements “outrageous” and “dangerous.”

The majority of single-family zones in the borough are in northeastern and southeastern Queens, Graziano said, and most neighborhoods there are not largely white. To illustrate his point, he presented maps of each borough neighborhood that was rezoned between 2005 and 2013 with maps courtesy of the CUNY Graduate Center that show demographics by block.

Planning Together Final Report December 16 2020 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Response Memo RE Planning Together - 1-15-2021 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Response Memo RE Planning Together - Appendix A - Demographics - 1-15-2021 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Response Memo RE Planning Together - Appendix B - Single-Family Zoning - 1-15-2021 by queenscrapper on Scribd

Legislation Details (With Text) by queenscrapper on Scribd

Thursday, January 28, 2021

AG James is investigating Governor Cuomo's nursing homes data

 


AG.NY. Gov

Investigations Reveal DOH Publicly Reported Data Undercounted COVID-19 Deaths
and Many Nursing Homes Failed to Comply with Critical Infection Control Policies

AG Conducting Ongoing Investigations into More Than 20 Facilities

NEW YORK – Attorney General Letitia James today released a report on her office’s ongoing investigations into nursing homes’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, Attorney General James has been investigating nursing homes throughout New York state based on allegations of patient neglect and other concerning conduct that may have jeopardized the health and safety of residents and employees.

Among those findings were that a larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than the New York State Department of Health’s (DOH) published nursing home data reflected and may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent. The investigations also revealed that nursing homes’ lack of compliance with infection control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm, and facilities that had lower pre-pandemic staffing ratings had higher COVID-19 fatality rates. Based on these findings and subsequent investigation, Attorney General James is conducting ongoing investigations into more than 20 nursing homes whose reported conduct during the first wave of the pandemic presented particular concern.

“As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate,” said Attorney General James. “While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents. Nursing homes residents and workers deserve to live and work in safe environments, and I will continue to work hard to safeguard this basic right during this precarious time.”

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

AOC has forsaken political courage

Impunity City

This has been quite the new beginning for re-elected wunderkind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. After easily winning the primary and the general election last November along with Trump falling to a guy who didn’t make any effort to win, AOC became the most culturally powerful figure in Congress with a massive social media following bigger than most celebrity figures in movies and pop music. With this much status and power in presumably good hands, it seem the iconic Latinx from the Bronx had solid momentum to get progressive policies and programs for the working people and working families ratified into laws.

Then all of sudden, a jagoff comedian dared her to back her words and foment change…


Gov. Cuomo is about to lift pandemic restrictions on restaurants

  


Patch

 A long-awaited plan to reopen indoor dining in New York City could be served later this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The New York City-only ban on indoor dining amid coronavirus fears has created difficulties for its restaurant industry, Cuomo acknowledged on Wednesday.

He said he'll be talking with local officials and restaurant leaders about potentially reopening and what percent capacity.

"We'll have an announcement by the end of the week but we're looking at going back to the 25 percent… would be the question and how and when you do that," he said.

The coming reopening plan came as welcome news to Andrew Rigie, executive director for the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a restaurant industry group that has pushed for bringing back indoor dining.

Rigie, in a statement, argued that limited occupancy indoor dining has been a "minor factor" for spreading the coronavirus. Instead, the full shutdown has permanently shuttered thousands of bars and restaurants and put more than 140,000 New Yorkers out of work, he said.

"We're happy that Governor Cuomo heard the voice of New York City's decimated restaurant industry and we look forward to working towards a plan that hopefully reopens indoor dining soon," he said. "As the Governor acknowledged, it's paramount these decisions are based on data. And, because New York City has lower infection and hospitalization rates than nearly all counties in the rest of the state where indoor dining is open at 50% occupancy, our city's restaurants must be treated equitably and reopened safely."
 
 
 Color-coded coronavirus cluster "zones" will disappear across the state, after a drop in COVID-19 cases following the post-holiday spike, but Forest Hills will still be subject to yellow-zone restrictions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday he would eliminate nearly all of New York State's COVID-19 cluster zones and their associated restrictions. Among the five zones not included: the yellow zone that covers a swath of Western and Central Queens.

Yellow "precautionary" zones are the third tier of Cuomo's cluster action initiative to tackle local coronavirus spikes, with orange zones bearing even tighter restrictions and red zones drawing the most severe measures.

Under the "yellow zone" designation, restaurants may offer indoor and outdoor dining with a maximum of four people per table, gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed and houses of worship can operate at 50-percent capacity. Schools must conduct 20-percent weekly testing of in-person students and faculty.

 
 
 
 

Mack the jackknife

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Homeowner hangs banner condeming Joe Biden socialism

 

 

LIC Post

A local candidate for city council has taken issue with a large banner hanging in front of a house in Kew Gardens that claims Joe Biden’s inauguration marked the beginning of socialism.

Aleda Gagarin, who is running as a progressive to represent District 29, came across the banner at 82-28 Abingdon Rd. Sunday and posted an image of the house and the sign to Twitter.

The banner reads: “January 20, 2021, Death of Democracy, The Beginning of Socialism.” The date marks the day Joe Biden was sworn into office as the 46th President of the United States.

The banner also features a hammer and sickle as well as an image of Lady Liberty crouched over with her hands in her face. The banner drapes between two flag poles in the middle of the front garden that each fly the USA flag.

“It’s just so silly, the person is clearly misunderstood,” Gagarin told the Queens Post. “Joe Biden is certainly not a socialist.”

Gagarin noted that Biden doesn’t even support universal healthcare.

“The sign also uses communist imagery that shows a clear lack of understanding,” she added.

Michael Ricatto, who owns the house and put up the banner, disputed Gagarin’s claims and said he knows exactly what he is talking about. Biden’s policies are socialist, he said, and all hardworking taxpayers will have to pay more due to his left-wing policies.

Queens Is Burning: Restaurant owner torches his business

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIF.zHQYaHaP2OxE9we1GMc2tQ%26pid%3DApi&f=1

Patch 

 The owner of Ignited Restaurant & Lounge in Astoria has been arrested on a federal arson charge, after fire marshals accused him of starting fires that had the Steinway Street enterprise living up to its name.

New Jersey man Asif Raja stands accused of using a flammable liquid to set a series of fires inside his hookah lounge the night of Aug. 4, according to the FDNY.

Surveillance video released by authorities shows a man dousing tables and chairs with the liquid, then running as they burst into flames.

The building's automatic sprinkler system put out the fires before firefighters even arrived, the FDNY said. No one was hurt.

"We are extremely grateful that no one was injured during this incident and for the collaboration between all the law enforcement agencies involved in bringing this individual to justice," Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said. 

 Authorities suspect that Raja, 54, set the fires due to financial woes related to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Post reported.

The business has been closed since March, according to an Instagram post.


A post shared by Ignited Restaurant & Lounge (@ignitedlounge)

Monday, January 25, 2021

COVID vaccine stadium sites strike out


 NY Post

 Plans to convert Yankee Stadium and Citi Field into large-scale coronavirus vaccination sites have officially been postponed indefinitely — while 15 existing city inoculation hubs will remain closed as New York continues to struggle with a supply shortage, officials said Monday.

The setbacks are the latest blows to New York’s problem-plagued vaccine rollout, most recently hampered by a lagging supply of shots from the federal government and manufacturer Moderna — forcing the city to reschedule tens of thousands of appointments when it became clear there weren’t enough jabs on hand.

“We want to get those to be full-blown, 24-hour operations but we don’t have the vaccine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field during a Monday press briefing.

Hizzoner did not establish a new opening date for the venues, instead saying it was tied to when the city receives ample vaccine supplies to support the operations.


Sunday, January 24, 2021

Slumlord NYCHA deprives tenants of gas. Again.

 

More NYCHA tenants lack gas for cooking 1 

Queens Chronicle

Annie CottonMorris, who heads the tenants association at the 71-year-old Woodside Houses, lives just a block from the nearest deli but it takes her two hours to buy a newspaper these days.

“That’s how many people stop me now to talk about what’s wrong with their apartments,” she told an outdoor rally of angry Woodside Houses residents Tuesday.

The latest complaint sweeping the city-owned housing complex is a utility outage that has left 12 apartments without gas.

Some tenants have been cooking on hot plates since last November, CottonMorris said.

Six units were fixed last week, said the New York City Housing Authority, which manages the 1,350-unit complex.

Six other apartments are due for repairs starting this weekend, a NYCHA spokesman said.

“While we understand gas service interruptions are inconvenient, we also want to ensure our residents’ safety as we work to restore service as quickly as possible,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

The complex of 20 six-story buildings straddles Broadway between 49th and 51st streets and has had its fair share of problems.

At the height of last month’s snowstorm, the heat and hot water failed throughout the 22-acre complex for several hours.

Some 40 tenants — joined by an equal number of residents of other NYCHA projects, many with similar breakdowns — called the rally to dramatize what they said were other, more longstanding deficiencies.

“I’ve lived here for 30 years,” said Marie Richardson. “When I moved here, it was a paradise. Now, I pay $2,000 a month rent and I have no gas.”

Other tenants complained of water being turned off late at night, mold, broken doors and bathroom fixtures, mounting trash and vermin.

“You can see the mice play tag on the scaffolding,” said one angry tenant.

“This is an ongoing situation,” Tomasina Reyes, another resident, told the rally. “It just doesn’t stop.”

Middle Village nursing home withheld shots from patients because of state regs

https://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/A9SmT28sknPg18I-QfnxUw/o.jpg 

NY Post

A Queens nursing home in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak withheld potentially lifesaving vaccines from rehab patients, leaving a city councilman’s 96-year-old mother and others to catch the contagion.

Dry Harbor Nursing Home in Middle Village — where 44 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since Dec. 22 — vaccinated its long-term residents shortly before Christmas, but not patients admitted for short-term care after being discharged from hospitals, Councilman Robert Holden told The Post.

Holden’s mom, Anne, and others finally did get shots in a second vaccination round on Jan. 13, but it was “too little, too late,” the furious Queens Democrat said.

Anne Holden, 96, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday and admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, where she remained on Saturday. 

“If she had gotten the shot before Christmas, she would have been eligible to get the second shot in January. The earlier the better,” Holden said.

“They knew the numbers were going up,” he added. “They should have done more –inoculated everybody as quickly as possible to stem the outbreak.”

Dry Harbor staff told Councilman Holden that it was following a state policy that gave priority for the vaccines to permanent nursing-home residents.

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Ridgewood EMS is coming to town

  Ridgewood EMS corps to expand 1

Queens Chronicle

The Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps recently announced that its plan for 2021 involves extending community-based volunteer EMS services to Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens.

In December, the RVAC submitted a formal application of area expansion with the New York City Regional Emergency Medical Services Council to provide services into those communities.

A few years ago, the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Corps lost its right to operate due to administrative troubles, according to Kevin Mahoney, RVAC board vice-chairman. Eager to resume coverage, the board of the defunct South Queens volunteer group reached out to the RVAC to partner and get back up and running under the Ridgewood banner.

“It’s easy for us to put in an expansion as opposed for them to start over as a new ambulance service,” said Mahoney.

Mahoney said the group is hoping to get the expansion on the agenda in a February NYC REMSCO meeting, when the body would vote on it. If approved, the application would then head over to the state.

The move comes after a series of successful mergers for the ambulance corps.

In 2019, RVAC, which serves parts of Brooklyn as well as Queens, incorporated the Glendale VAC and Middle Village VAC. According to a press release the group sent out, the mergers have allowed it to centralize its clinical services and operational efficiency. The three entities now serve together as one unified EMS service.

The mergers have reinvigorated the RVAC’s volunteerism and allowed a stronger response to the pandemic, it said.

Homeless man prefers freezing elements and cold concrete than warmer but more dangerous city shelter

 Man refuses help, remains on street 1

Queens Chronicle

A homeless man underneath the train tracks at Myrtle Avenue and Fresh Pond Road in Glendale, only a block from the Community Board 5 office, has been refusing help for weeks, area leaders say.

Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District Executive Director Ted Renz called his presence there “an ongoing issue.”

Community members say the man, Pawel, has refused help.

The Rev. Mike Lopez of All Saints Church said the city has done some cleanups of the man’s belongings but that area residents continue to bring him food, money, coats and blankets.

“I think it comes out of a good place from people who don’t want to see him get hurt,” Lopez told the Chronicle Tuesday. “He’s a rather charming gentleman if you’ve ever had the opportunity to deal with him.”

But the residents might be hurting more than helping.

“Our hope is to bring them indoors. As long as they’re being supported with their needs it makes it much harder to bring them off the street,” Lopez said of homeless people, though he acknowledged telling residents not to help “is almost impossible.”

Lopez has known the man for five years. Lopez said Pawel, who is in his mid-40s, was a working member of the community, a carpenter by trade, who became homeless three years ago.

Lopez said Pawel has family but declined to discuss that any further.

“He knows his rights,” Lopez said. “He knows he can’t be forced away.”

Accepting outreach efforts is voluntary. In accordance with the state Mental Hygiene Law, street homeless New Yorkers cannot be involuntarily removed from the streets unless they pose a danger to themselves or others.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Homeless Services said nonprofit service provider Breaking Ground canvasses the area more than 20 times a week and actively engages 24 verified homeless individuals encountered on the streets in an effort to offer them services and get them indoors.

“As the weather gets colder, our outreach teams continue to be out across the five boroughs, implementing best practices, latest health guidance and Code Blue protocols whenever appropriate, as they engage unsheltered New Yorkers and encourage them to accept services,” DHS said.

Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) told the Chronicle he visited Pawel with his chief of staff, Daniel Kurzyna. Holden said he stayed back as Kurzyna, who speaks Polish, approached him.

“We don’t want to gang up on him,” Holden said. “Dan said he looked white as a sheet.”

The lawmaker wants to see the city invoke Kendra’s Law, which allows courts to order certain individuals with serious mental illness to stay in treatment for up to a year.

“I didn’t examine him but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if this man would rather live under the trestle than be in a warm room then he can’t make rational decisions,” Holden said, adding, “Obviously it’s the wrong decision to pick being outside in 20 degree weather.”

But Lopez said Pawel has had bad experiences in shelters.

“They feel that it’s safer to be on the street and they wanted to be connected locally to their communities and I think that’s one of the reasons he stays,” Lopez said.

The reverend believes the city needs to improve its shelter system.

“Can you imagine choosing to live on the streets of New York City in January over a shelter because it’s unsafe?” Lopez said.

CB 5 Chairman Vinny Arcuri said Pawel told him “he’s just waiting to die.”

Bernie at the Pavillion

Image

Friday, January 22, 2021

Lizzie Two Times


 

LIC Post

Former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley said Tuesday that she is thinking about making another bid for Queens Borough President.

“I feel like I have a lot to offer the borough in terms of what we have to do to get back on our feet,” she said. “I haven’t made the final decision yet, but it is something that I am strongly considering.”

Crowley, who represented Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, parts of Woodside and Woodhaven in the City Council from 2009 to 2017, lost to Queens Borough President Donovan Richards in a June 2020 Democratic primary for the seat.

She came in second in the five-person primary.

It's BP Groundhog Day in Queens.

Homeless staffer for James Sanders got stiffed by N.Y. Senate

 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b9ffe0f1137a680c2c08250/1611258277197-XIYC9SYKK7ZF3KWI1EC6/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kPg5qeJsKza1qrLlhzSyLZ4UqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKcxWINpompN1DBzoJzAXkGVJbecSn8ogqvhsLS8pBCIq0w1Uljw7SWAUdKUPTBYu14/IMG-4667.jpeg?format=750w

Queens Eagle

A former staffer for Queens State Sen. James Sanders Jr. says he is missing weeks of back pay, money he needs to buy food and do laundry while living in a Manhattan homeless shelter.

Larry Malcolm Smith Jr., 22, began working as a constituent liaison for Sanders on September 9, according to an email welcoming him to the district office team. He worked for the Queens senator until resigning in November, Sanders’ office confirmed.

Smith said he received two paychecks, one by mail and another through direct deposit, during his time representing Sanders in Southeast Queens and the Rockaways but is still missing about five weeks of pay. A Senate official confirmed the missing payment.

Smith said he has lived in a shelter for months and needs the money for pay for basic necessities.

“I have no money at all. I have no money for food. I have no money for laundry,” Smith told the Eagle.

“I was supposed to make $35,000 a year. I’ve been manipulated, I’ve been disrespected. I live in a shelter,” he added. “Nobody is helping me.”

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Jimmy Two Times

 

 

 Queens County Politics

City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Astoria, Dutch Kills) officially launched his bid for the Queens Borough President’s office on Tuesday morning. 

“We’ve got a once in a lifetime chance to fundamentally change Queens politics forever,” he said in a launch video released on YouTube. “That’s why I’m running for Queens Borough President.” 

Van Bramer is a term-limited decade long city councilmember. He will be up against a handful of candidates already filed to run in the borough-wide race including current Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Richards assumed office late this fall after a special election to replace Melinda Katz, who left the office to serve as Queens District Attorney.

 Van Bramer has positioned himself as a progressive option for the borough-wide office citing his support for policies such as taxing the rich and reallocating funding away from the New York City Police Department.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The wealthiest New Yorkers are bluffing


 

Curbed

After ten months of breathless panic over the state of Manhattan’s luxury real-estate market, the industry is sighing with relief as a surge in leases and rental prices suggests that the wealthy New Yorkers who left town at the onset of the pandemic are beginning to return. While Fran Lebowitz and other curmudgeons have cheered on the exodus of the rich, whether or not they return has big implications for the city’s budget and thus vital public services.

According to Douglas Elliman’s December rental report, rents for the biggest and most expensive apartments in Manhattan rose by double-digit percentages compared to the previous month. Rents on smaller apartments and in lower price tiers remained flat or declined slightly, remaining about 20 percent lower than a year ago. This pattern appears to be driven by demand, which is stronger at the high end and weaker below, with discounts of 20 percent compared to a year ago.

Manhattan’s vacancy rate dropped for the first time since the pandemic began, falling from 6.14 percent in November to 5.52 percent (it’s typically between 2 and 3 percent), which is as blunt a signal as you can get that people are returning to the city. The number of new December leases signed in Manhattan was up 36 percent compared to November and a whopping 93.6 percent from a year ago. The basic principles of supply and demand are at work here too; at some point, rents fall so much the deals are just too good to pass up, particularly in desirable Manhattan.

Taken together, these data offer a clear signal that the rich are coming back to New York. The idea that wealthy households would never return to the city was always a little suspect — mostly the fever dream of anti-urban conservatives who grabbed on to temporary post-pandemic migration trends in support of their biases against city life. But with the vaccine rollout underway, the rich are returning in time for what stands to be a memorably jubilant period: the reopening of New York City.

Donald Trump Has Left The White House

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsLLQXZXUAEEDM-?format=jpg&name=small 

Impunity City 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Feds come to Ridgewood again to detain a social media troll

 



4 New York

Another man in New York has been arrested by federal authorities after he allegedly threatened multiple elected officials online, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation tells NBC New York.

The man, identified as Brendan Hunt, was arrested in Queens following a raid by the FBI -- but he wasn't at the siege in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the source said Tuesday. Authorities are currently executing a search warrant at Hunt's apartment.

At least eight FBI agents were seen entering a residence on Gates Avenue as part of the search.

Hunt is expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn later Tuesday, law enforcement sources said. Federal charges have been filed in court in Washington, D.C.

The New York state court system confirmed that Hunt was employed as an assistant court analyst in the attorney registration unit. He has been suspended without pay. 

 Update: 

Queens Eagle

A 37-year-old Queens-based court employee accused of threatening to “slaughter” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Chuck Schumer and other Democratic lawmakers was denied bail by a federal magistrate judge Tuesday.

Brendan Hunt, an assistant court analyst in the Office of Court Administration’s attorney registration unit, used Facebook to call for the “public execution” of Democratic members of Congress, according to a criminal complaint.

“Trump, we want actual revenge on democrats. Meaning, we want you to hold a public execution of pelosi aoc schumer etc. And if you dont do it, the citizenry will. We're not voting in another rigged election. Start up the firing squads, mow down these commies, and lets take america back!” he wrote on Facebook Dec. 6 under the alias “X-Ray Ultra”.

Hunt lives in Ridgewood and worked out of OCA’s offices on Beaver Street in Manhattan, an official said.

His extremist rants continued on his personal website and other social media platforms, including Parler and the video-sharing site Bitchute, spurring an investigation by federal authorities, prosecutors said. FBI agents arrested Hunt at his home on Gates Avenue in Ridgewood Monday. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kessler detailed the “chilling series of calls for direct violence against members of Congress” during Hunt’s arraignment in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday. 

Two days after far-right extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Hunt posted an 88-second video on Bitchute urging followers to “Kill your senators,” the complaint states. His website and video-sharing account, threaded with bizarre conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic content, were still active Tuesday afternoon.


Sunday, January 17, 2021

South Queens, home of the highest COVID positive cases in the city, finally gets a vaccination site

 

Queens Chronicle

Vaccines are coming to New York City’s top Covid hot spot: South Ozone Park.

The new vaccination center at the Aqueduct Race Track, the sole state-run site announced in Queens, will bring much-needed relief to the neighborhood, which currently has the highest positivity rate of all New York City ZIP codes at 15.94 percent as of Friday. 

Its two adjacent ZIP codes in Ozone Park and Richmond Hill have the second- and third-highest rates in the city.

The distribution site will open on Monday, and will fill a void left in the surging heart of the second wave left by the city’s vaccination sites, which do not extend into South Queens west of the Van Wyck Expressway. Community leaders in South Queens, who had been watching the positivity rate increase at an alarming rate for months, have been critical of the mayor’s decision not to include Richmond Hill or South Ozone Park on his list of priority neighborhoods.

The new site’s announcement, however, left some residents confused because it does not show up on the city’s Covid site map, leading them to wonder whether they were eligible. It seems to be the latest in a gap of communication between the city and state’s vaccination efforts.

In a meeting of the Ozone Park Residents Block Association and Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol on Thursday night, President Sam Esposito said that the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Queens community liaison did not have the eligibility information on the site when he had asked him about it.

“The mayor and the governor have to get on the same page because when they argue we get hurt. And that’s not right,” said State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) at the meeting, who added that his office had received inaccurate information about the vaccination efforts as well.

The Blaz still has 348 days to fail even more

 

NY Post In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio was swept into office after promising voters he’d put an end to “income inequality” that created a “Tale of two Cities” across the five boroughs.

As the lame duck completes the final year of what’s been a rocky two-term mayoralty, critics say he’s not only failed to deliver his central pledge but is on pace to renege on a plethora of other promises before leaving office.

“When it comes to lying, Mayor de Blasio would give Pinocchio a run for his money,” quipped Councilman Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat.

While Hizzoner has delivered on some key promises — including bringing universal pre-K to city schools, expanding paid sick-leave benefits, and reducing stop-and-frisk policing – he’s failed to make headway on much of his progressive agenda and stands to leave City Hall with few legacy projects to show for it.

 Uh oh, looks like the NY Post was premature in praising The Blaz for pre-k:

NY Post

The Department of Education has canceled 105 community pre-kindergarten schools that applied to continue programs this fall, The Post has learned.

That’s 11 percent of the 997 current sites serving families citywide.

The Brooklyn Archdiocese, which will be forced to close pre-K programs at three Catholic schools in Queens and two in Brooklyn, sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza last week protesting the decisions.

 “It is inconceivable that successful, long-term programs hang in the balance and that families will once again have to try to find suitable options for their children” wrote schools Superintendent Thomas Chadzutko.

The city’s $1 billion-plus universal pre-K program, free to all parents, is considered de Blasio’s signature achievement.  

DOE letters rejecting the applications do not specify reasons, saying only: “Your proposed site location was not selected because the need for services in this area was met by proposals that received higher quality scores.”

The diocese has received no response to its appeals and requests for a more thorough evaluation, Chadzutko wrote.

 

 

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Donny Two Times

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Queens Eagle

A Queens-born real estate developer made history Wednesday when he became the first U.S. president ever impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

Donald Trump, a 74-year-old lame duck Republican, is accused of inciting a lethal mob of far-right supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in order to prevent Congress from certifying the results of his resounding loss in the November 2020 election. President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, recorded 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

With Trump’s encouragement, Confederate-flag bearing white supremacists and fascist agitators besieged the Capitol, threatening to kill Vice President Mike Pence, breaking into lawmakers’ offices, stealing public property and smearing feces on the wall.

The attack left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer beaten by rioters.  

Ten Republican members of Congress joined the Democratic majority in voting to impeach the Jamaica Estates native for the second time.

In December 2019, Trump became the third president impeached by Congress — and the first from Queens.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

AOC is scared


 

 LIC Post 

 Congress member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she feared for her life last Wednesday when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and forced her and fellow lawmakers into hiding.

She recounted her experience in an hour-long video posted to Instagram late Tuesday night.

Ocasio-Cortez said that she worried that she would be kidnapped or hurt and was concerned that some of her fellow congress members–some of whom she describes as white supremacists –would disclose where she was hiding during the ordeal.

“I, myself, did not even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnon and white supremacist sympathizers – and frankly white supremacist members of Congress – in that extraction point, who I know and who I have felt would disclose my location and … who would create opportunities for me to be hurt, kidnapped, et cetera,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s account was harrowing.

“I had a pretty traumatizing event happen to me,” she said. “But I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die.”

“You have all of those thoughts where at the end of your life, and all of these thoughts came rushing to you, and that’s what happened to a lot of us on Wednesday,” she said.

Sure it's horrible that she and her fellow congress members had to go through all that, but this video is heavily self-indulgent. In the last month since her re-election she's more concerned with her influencer celebrity status than with her constituents; a lot of them who don't have health insurance during a pandemic under another outbreak.

Feds come for militia minded internet troll in Middle Village for posting ideas on social media

Patch 

  A reputed Proud Boys member was arrested Tuesday night in Queens after federal authorities tied him to a series of online posts threatening to send an armed caravan to Washington D.C., according to news reports.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Middle Village resident Eduard Florea, 40, after searching his home on 76th Street near Elliot Avenue, the New York Daily News and NBC4 New York reported.

Florea was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition, a law enforcement source told Patch.

He is expected to appear in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday.

Florea is not believed to have joined the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol last week by pro-Trump extremists, law enforcement sources told NBC4 New York.

 But he has purported ties to the Proud Boys, a far-right group that reportedly helped lead the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, according to ABC7 New York.

Florea has previously been arrested on weapons and domestic abuse charges.

 When a Proud Boy got taken, I didn't say anything because I'm not a Proud Boy...

When a Progressive got taken....

Update: The suspect is quite the influencer

Vice

The Proud Boys typically move around public demonstrations like a small army, flooding entire blocks in their trademark black and yellow colors. But on this day, their strategy was to avoid detection. Their self-styled “chairman,” Enrique Tarrio, had ordered the Proud Boys to go “incognito” and dress in plain clothes, so while they were central to the planning, inciting, and execution of the insurrection that led to five deaths, their role was not immediately obvious from the video disseminated from the scene.

In a stream from before the rally, Joe Biggs, a former InfoWars staffer who led the Proud Boys in Tarrio’s absence, reiterated the plan for the group not to wear their traditional colors. 

“We will not be attending D.C. in colors. We will be blending in as one of you. You won't see us. You'll even think we are you,” Biggs said. “We are going to smell like you, move like you, and look like you. The only thing we'll do that's us is think like us! Jan 6th is gonna be epic.”

Partly because of this, the group has mostly evaded scrutiny for the violence at the Capitol—which came as lawmakers were scheduled to convene and certify the results of the 2020 election, affirming Joe Biden as the winner and Donald Trump the loser. 

Tarrio himself was not present: He was arrested on his way into D.C. earlier in the week and charged for a misdemeanor for his alleged role tearing down Black Live Matter signs from a Black church in December. During the arrest, police discovered two high-capacity magazines, emblazoned with Proud Boy insignia, and charged him with an additional felony. Upon his release, a judge ordered him to stay away from D.C.

 

.

COVID cases rise again in Katz's office, new strain found in Queens resident from undisclosed location and the city is out of vaccines

 


Patch

 A cluster of coronavirus cases among employees of the Queens District Attorney's Office, who continue to work in-person at reduced capacity, has forced colleagues into quarantine and has the agency warning employees that "it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed," as one administrator put it.

At least 10 employees with the Queens District Attorney's Office have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since Friday, according to emails from Chief of Staff Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt that were reviewed by Patch.

The cases include four employees who work in felony trial bureau two and the appeals and detective bureaus, according to an email sent to employees Wednesday. The divisions where the other six work were not disclosed.

Employees, at least some of whom have been working in-person since October, are now being urged to limit contact with others and conduct meetings virtually.

"I think it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed and act accordingly by wearing face coverings and limiting any in-person contact," Chin-Kee-Fatt wrote in an email Monday. "We must limit our contact at this time as much as we can, which includes meeting and IT/Facilities repairs."

LIC Post

A Queens resident has tested positive for the highly-transmissible variant of COVID-19, city officials announced Wednesday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference that the variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, had been detected in two New York City residents. One resident is from Queens, the other from Manhattan.

One of them had recently traveled to the U.K., although officials did not say which one. Furthermore, officials declined to identify the neighborhoods where the residents live, citing privacy concerns.

Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said that both people had been diagnosed with coronavirus in late December, and genetic sequencing showed that their infections had been from the U.K. variant “within the past few hours.”

Patch 

 More COVID-19 vaccine shots are going into more New Yorkers' arms at more places this week than any time since doses first arrived. There's only one problem: New York City could run out of vaccines next week.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday warned that the city's cache of vaccines may not be enough to keep up with supply.

The federal government and manufacturers need to step up and send more to the city, he said.

"I confirmed with our health care team yesterday that even with the normal supplies that we expect to have delivered next week that we will run out of vaccine at some point next week, unless we get a major new resupply," he said.

Here comes Hiram again

Queens Post 

The twice convicted and disgraced politician Hiram Monserrate is once again trying to make a comeback to public office.

The former State Senator and Council Member — who was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2009 and for the misuse of taxpayer money in 2012 — has filed to challenge Council Member Francisco Moya for the 21st Council district seat, which covers East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona.

Monserrate’s filing with the NYC Campaign Finance Board was first reported by the Queens Eagle.

In 2010, Monserrate was expelled from the State Senate after he was found guilty of misdemeanor assault. According to the charges, on Dec. 19, 2008 he slashed his girlfriend’s face with broken glass  before dragging her through the lobby his Jackson Heights apartment building.

Two years later, Monserrate pleaded guilty for misusing more than $100,000 in taxpayer money while he was a city council member in 2006 and 2007. He was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay back the money.

The Democrat has repeatedly tried to get back into public off office despite his convictions.

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Vaccination site coming to Citifield; also, Mets acquire superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor from Cleveland Baseball Team

 


 QNS

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Citi Field will become a 24/7 mega COVID-19 vaccination site during his daily press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

The site will be run inside the stadium, located at 41 Seaver Way, by NYC Health + Hospitals, and will have a capacity to administer 5,000 to 7,000 vaccines a day. It will open in the week of Jan. 25, according to the mayor.

“This is going to be fantastic. This is going to help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio said, praising the Mets for stepping up and helping the people of Queens and New York City as a whole. “We welcome Queens residents. We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”

De Blasio said there is still work to do, but it will be a “game-changer.”

New Mets owner Steve Cohen joined de Blasio for Tuesday’s announcement.

“When we heard about your initiative, we were just so excited to participate in this program,” Cohen said. “It’s so important. We know the suffering that’s going on with COVID. Anyway the organization could help support this effort, we were going to do it. We talked about being involved in our communities and I can’t think of any way that’s more important than what this hub is going to do.

Cohen described Citi Field as the “intersection of Queens,” that can be reached by subways, trains and highways.

“The goal is to just get the vaccine in people’s arms so we can get this crisis over with and get back to living a normal life,” Cohen added.

NY Post

The new Mets regime isn’t messing around.

After weeks of feeding the fan base appetizers, the organization served a main course Thursday, completing one of the splashiest trades in franchise history.

The result was Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco headed to Queens in a blockbuster deal that sent Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf to Cleveland. The trade — the first “wow” moment of new owner Steve Cohen’s tenure — bolsters the Mets’ lineup and rotation, turning the team into an instant NL East contender.

The 27-year-old Lindor, who can become a free agent after this season, rates among the game’s premier shortstops. The Indians have been shopping Lindor the last two winters in an attempt to shed payroll. He is expected to receive around $20 million this season in his final year of arbitration eligibility.


 

Front desk worker of sleazy Kew Gardens hotel is arrested


 

 

QNS

The front desk supervisor of a troublesome Kew Gardens hotel home to a slew of shootings and sex trafficking charges in the past year, was arrested on Monday, Jan. 11, after an investigation by the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Gulshan Gandhi, the front desk supervisor at the Umbrella Hotel, located at 124-18 Queens Blvd., faces two counts of criminal nuisance in the second degree, Katz said. In his role as front desk supervisor Gandhi, 68, created “conditions that endangered the safety and health of hotel guests and the community at large,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

The infamous hotel has been the scorn of residents and local elected officials for the past year. 

 The four men involved in the street killing are still on the loose.

South Queens COVID rates rise again

 

 

As the city’s seven-day Covid positivity jumped from 6.92 percent on Monday to 9.25 by Wednesday, South Queens has remained near the top of the city’s infection rate.

Three neighborhoods in the area have surpassed the rest of the borough in Covid positivity. Richmond Hill/South Ozone Park’s 11419 ZIP code had climbed to the third-highest rate of Covid in the entire city at 15.71 percent. Three surrounding ZIP codes 11420, 11416 and 11417, encompassing Ozone Park and South Ozone Park, had also ascended to be the next-highest rates in all of the borough — all with rates hovering near or above 15 percent.

After that area, Flushing and Murray Hill had the highest rate in Queens at 13.9 percent positive.

The South Queens area has continuously contained some of the highest Covid rates, ever since they started to tick up across the city in the month of October.

City data showed by the end of October that the Ozone Park-Richmond Hill area had exceedingly low rates of testing, contributing to the problem. Five neighboring ZIP codes in South Queens were among the 10 areas with the lowest rates of Covid testing in the whole city. The efforts of Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) to set up more sites in the area had met bureaucratic resistance.

Finally in mid-November, the city opened a testing site at the Lefferts Library at 103-34 Lefferts Blvd. The site is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with molecular and antigen testing available, although the Health + Hospitals website says that rapid testing may be limited.

 

State and City makes vaccination online applications and hotline a pain in the ass

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PIX News

  As New York expands eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to millions more people, including those 75 years old and older, concerns are being raised about the steps it takes to register online for an appointment.

Harris Ton’s 85-year-old mother is among the new batch of New Yorkers now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. She stood in line — among many others — on Monday after making an appointment through one of the city’s websites.

But others who showed up at the Brooklyn Army Terminal vaccination site were left confused by a process too digitally advanced for them. Those who did not have an appointment were turned away and told to call the city’s new hotline if they’re unable to complete registration online.

The hopeful but rejected walk-ins illustrate how dependent the appointment process is on technology and digital literacy.

New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer on Sunday called the online vaccine registration process a "major problem," especially for older residents.

The [Health Department] site for signing up for a COVID vaccination is complex, burdensome, and buggy,” Stringer said on Twitter.

 According to the comptroller, the Health Department’s website features a multi-step verification process just to set up an account. Then users looking to make a vaccine appointment have to complete a six-step registration process that includes as many as 51 questions or fields to fill out and requires uploading images of an insurance card.

 

Community service enters the digital age

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Patch 

 The Queens Borough President's Office is now accepting applications to serve on one of the borough's 14 community boards, and, for the first time, the application process is completely digitized.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is looking for "qualified and civic-minded individuals" to represent the neighborhoods where they live or work as a member of their local community board, according to a news release.

Prospective members and current members whose term has expired have until Feb. 19 to apply.

This year's community board application marks the first time the application process is completely online. In the past, applications had to be signed and notarized, then submitted in-person at Queens Borough Hall.

 "Government is more effective and accountable not only when it works hand-in-hand with the communities it is sworn to serve, but when the full tapestry of each and every neighborhood is justly represented within that government," Richards said in a statement. "This common-sense overhaul of the outdated community board application process represents a significant step toward ensuring that our 14 Queens Community Boards truly look, sound and feel like the diverse neighborhoods of each district."

Sunday, January 10, 2021

NYC Parks awards 15-year contract to failed Riis Park Beach Bazaar to run concessions on Rockaway Beach boardwalk

 

Queens Eagle

 A decision to award a 15-year Rockaway Beach Boardwalk concession contract to a new company could result in the eviction of a handful of beloved boardwalk businesses, say worried beachgoers and eatery owners.

The New York City Parks Department has contracted with Rockaway Beach Bazaar LLC, a company formed by the owners of Brooklyn Bazaar and nearby Riis Park Beach Bazaar, to renovate, operate and maintain three beachfront cafes, one shop and 20 additional units for the next decade and a half. The properties include the popular bars and restaurants Rippers, Low Tide and Caracas.

The LLC outbid Rockaway Beach Club, a coalition of local business owners that won the contract to operate concessions at Beach 106th, Beach 97th and Beach 86th Street in 2011. The Rockaway Times first reported on the contract.

The longtime tenants and many of their customers say they worry the new operator will evict the eateries or raise rents.

“The Rockaway Beach club has been the umbrella of love, hard work and fostered the CULTURE of the Rockaway we all know today,” the Rockaway Beach shop Zingara Vintage wrote on Instagram Friday. 

The store is located on Beach 91st Street, about two blocks from the boardwalk, and opens occasional pop-up shops outside Rippers. “It’s because of them that so many of us have had the times of our lives on the Rockaway Boardwalk,” Zingara said.

Zingara’s post also described a concern among many boardwalk businesses: even those offered leases to remain in their beachfront buildings may lose control of bar sales, a crucial moneymaker.

“This would crush their business,” Zingara said. “And what about the dozen or so other small businesses that operate in the concessions ? Where will they go?”

The businesses in place have weathered COVID-19 and helped restore the boardwalk in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, said Rockaway resident Sarina Parachini, whose husband owns Rippers, located near Beach 86th Street. 

“These are all Rockaway businesses owned by people from the Rockaways,” Parachini said. “We just got through COVID. We were on the boardwalk for Sandy, we rebuilt after Sandy in a huge way.”

Impunity City 

 

To quote a scene from the surreal suspense series Twin Peaks; “It’s happening again.”

As I documented here for a few years now this LLC, which has had almost as many name changes as Eric Prince’s war mercenary corporation Blackwater to adapt to the times and also to cover for their past failures from their own bottom line decisions, got tasked by NYC Parks and National Parks Service to “revitalize” Riis Park with their annual summer event of upscale foodie and leisure lifestyle culture consumerism. And as I observed and reported, while it did much to rejunivate the boardwalk with new concessions which included the restoration of the Riis Park Bathhouse, there was absolutely no improvements to infrastructure or even basic environmental maintenance like a sufficient amount of garbage cans or even intermittent collection of trash which piled up like sand dunes at the end of the night.

 Image

And after all that prospective allure the concept of the Riis Bazaar LLC conveyed, many areas and public amenities remained in ruins during their time here.

Image

 The only revitalization that occurred in Riis Park only happened where the Bazaar’s concessions were set up and it was never more pronounced than this year of the pandemic.