Zero tolerance for cesspool scooter pilot

 

QNS 

Dozens of southeast Queens residents voiced their opposition at a town hall meeting last week against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recent expansion of its e-scooter program into their area. 

Homeowners from an array of southeast Queens neighborhoods, including Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Laurelton and Springfield Gardens, were vocal in their opposition to the program, which they say has led to bikes being strewn all over the area since its launch on June 27. The program, which was initially introduced in the Bronx, covers 20 square miles—from Flushing in the north to Springfield Gardens in the south—and is part of a long-term contract between the city and participating e-scooter companies.

The residents gathered for the meeting on Aug. 17 at Archie Spigner Park for a conversation facilitated by Sen. Leroy Comrie’s office. They got to speak to Comrie, as well as DOT Queensborough Commissioner Nicole Garcia and representatives from participating e-scooter companies. Representatives from the Queens Borough President’s office and Council Member Nantasha Williams’ office were also present.

Since the program’s expansion into southeast Queens, many residents say that the riders are thoughtlessly dumping the bikes on the street when they are done using them, blocking sidewalks, driveways and bike lanes. Additionally, they expressed concern about rider safety and asked about the regulations. 

“There are things that the agency is looking into, to adapt it to address some of these concerns. This is a really important transportation option for a lot of folks. We’ve seen some pretty incredible numbers in the first four weeks that it’s launched,” she said to the crowd.

Within the first two months of the program, around 30,000 unique rider accounts have taken nearly 190,000 trips, according to the DOT. Additionally, the agency said that it has installed designated parking corrals in downtown Flushing and Jamaica, with plans underway for more parking areas to service eastern Queens. No riding and no parking zone installations were also included based on community input.

Representatives from the three participating e-scooter companies— Lime, Bird and Veo— manned info stalls at the town hall, where they discussed bike safety, ridership and e-scooter usage. 

The DOT told QNS that it decided to expand the e-bike program into southeast Queens based on what it claimed was its successful launch in the East Bronx.

“This expansion delivers a popular, safe and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation to underserved neighborhoods in Queens—and we’ve already recorded nearly 200,000 trips​,” a DOT spokesperson said.

Bird Partnerships representative Austin Spademan, who was present at the meeting, addressed concerns about improper parking practices. He explained that users must provide an end-ride photo to show that they parked properly, with a penalty system that can see a rider banned from the service if company policies are not met. 

Some residents expressed concern about minors using the bikes. Spademan said that riders must upload their identification for age verification before they can use them. Some attendees at the town hall also claimed the bikes were not being used.

Spademan told QNS that although there is vocal opposition, the data shows that riders are utilizing the scooters. 

“The fact of the matter is that our riders are also equally a part of this community, and there are 6,500 active riders every single day across the city. Queens has the most active users out of all the neighborhoods,” he said. He added that well over 25% of rides within southeast Queens are ending or beginning around transit, with large amounts of daily ridership.

Spademan said there is work to do in the neighborhood, including enforcing ridership rules in order to improve the relationship between Bird and the community.

“Complaints are going down each week in Queens because the rider behavior is getting better and our enforcement policies are going into effect,” he told QNS. Spademan added that Bird is happy to work directly with residents facing issues with e-scooters being parked on their premises. 

Residents were straightforward with their pushback against the representatives’ statements. 

“The complaints that have been reported to you are that [e-scooters] are strung around all over the place willy nilly, and we don’t want them in the community,” said Michael Scotland, an Addisleigh Park homeowner. 

Carl Cunningham, a St. Albans resident, told QNS he is not completely opposed to the program, but more needs to be done to stop the e-scooters from being abandoned on the street and out of the hands of underaged riders. “They can’t be dropped off on any street, anywhere at any time,” he said. “A lot of the teenagers I’ve seen riding them don’t look 18 to me. They’re using an older brother or parent’s or somebody’s [ID] and they’re leaving them on driveways and the sidewalks.” 

Albert Silvestri, Queens Deputy Borough DOT Commissioner, told the attendees that whoever’s information or ID was used to sign up for the e-scooter would be liable for any rider under 18 using the service. Riders must be 18 or older to use the e-scooters.

Many residents seemed perplexed as to why the expansion moved forward after it was voted down by community boards 12 and 13. 

“I’m a property owner in Cambria Heights. We never wanted this. We voted against it in Community Board 13 and Community Board 12,” said James Johnson at the town hall meeting.

City of what again?

 

Queens Chronicle

Paul Graziano lives in Flushing, but he had a direct message Monday night for his neighbors in Forest Hills.

“We are the target of City of Yes,” said Graziano, a planning and land use expert, said to a room of more than 200 people at an emergency town hall meeting of the Forest Hills Community and Civic Association. “The intent of City of Yes is to eliminate owner-occupied housing and replace it with rental units ... The aim, essentially, is to allow developers to build whatever they want as of right.”

City of Yes is a three-pronged initiative from the Adams administration which the Mayor’s Office said will reduce carbon emissions, stimulate jobs and businesses and increase the construction of housing.

The carbon portion was approved by the City Council in December.

The reasons for Monday’s emergency meeting, according to civic President Claudia Valentino, were the city’s presentation on the economic development portion to Community Board 6 scheduled for last night, May 8; and a hearing before the City Council on the housing portion on June 4.

Even residents who are not members of the FHCCA turned out in force at the parish hall of Our Lady Of Mercy Church on Kessel Street. A good meeting, Valentino said, normally can draw about 50 people.

“They support City of Yes,” Valentino said of Board 6 leadership. “They rubber-stamped [the carbon emissions portion] without our approval.”

She told Monday’s crowd that they needed an equally strong turnout at Wednesday’s CB 6 meeting.

Valentino dislikes numerous aspects of the economic development and housing plans, pointing out they would allow businesses to open in residential neighborhoods where they cannot now, and could allow massive apartment buildings in single-family home neighborhoods.

“It’s complicated,”she said of the proposals running more than 1,000 pages apiece. “You’re not expected to dig through it ... That’s deliberate.”

She had letters ready for signatures to Councilwoman Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills) demanding that all present one- and two-family housing zones must remain in place; that corner stores not be allowed in those same neighborhoods among other things.

Graziano pointed out that most of the community boards in the city, and all but three in Queens, including CB 6, have voiced opposition to City of Yes thus far.

“They never mention that,” he said of the administration. He and Valentino counseled residents to not just accept City of Yes as a fait accompli. Valentino said she heard the same thing 25 years ago when residents and the city told her she could not succeed in downzoning large swaths of residential neighborhoods in Forest Hills.

“They forgot about me,” Valentino said of administration officials. “Unluckily for them, I didn’t die. I know what I’m doing.”

Queens Chroncle 

Hundreds of people were in attendance at a City of Yes housing presentation at Cambria Heights Library last Saturday.

Throughout the forum Paul Graziano, an urban planner, said the city is actively trying to destroy single-family zoning through upzoning, to make way for dense multifamily buildings.

Graziano said approximately 50 percent of single-family housing throughout Queens, Staten Island, Southern and Central Brooklyn and Northern and East Bronx would be impacted by the city “eliminating” existing zoning.

According to stats from Graziano, while the Big Apple is the largest big city by population — more than 8.3 million — it has the smallest share of single-family homes — 15 percent — across the country. In comparison, LA, second in terms of population — over 3.8 million — is 75 percent single-family homes. Washington, DC, has a population of 670,050 but double the single-family homes in New York.

Graziano was thankful to Assemblymembers Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) and Alicia Hyndman (D-Springfield Gardens), along with state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Jamaica), who prevented a state version of the housing plan to get through in 2022. He now wants to raise awareness about Mayor Adams’ housing plans, which he said also would push through transit-oriented development, more mandatory inclusionary housing, town-centered housing units, religious housing and legalized accessory dwelling units.

“The electeds here were some of the hardest fighters in shutting that down,” Graziano said. “They essentially walked out of [budget] negotiations and [Hochul] dropped everything.”

Graziano said Queens folks should leverage the 2025 election to get municipal leaders to say no to City of Yes, Adams’ rezoning plan. Residents, who fought since 2004 to stop overdevelopment in residential communities, approved downzoning plans for the neighborhood and now the city is pushing against the interest of the people.

“This administration has stated publicly that lower-density neighborhoods are the cause of the housing crisis,” said the urban planner. “We have a target on our backs.”

Graziano also called out mainstream news outlets like the Daily News, which said in an April 14 editorial that “those who want to live in a suburb, we’ll remind you there are several in the vicinity of the five boroughs. This is New York City.”

“If you take our communities out of the mix, there is virtually no single-family zoning in the City of New York,” said Graziano. “The transit zone is going to allow apartment buildings all over the place that is cross-hatched [on a map he showed]. This is Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, Addisleigh Park and Queens Village, just a few blocks north of Murdock [Avenue].”

Low-density housing areas or commercial buildings with three to five-stories would be eligible for higher density; more houses will be built by train and subway stations; basement, attic and garage apartments would be legalized; religious institutions would be allowed to dedicate parcels of their land to housing complexes; and much of the proposed developments would come with little to no parking and take up some green spaces under Adams’ plan.

“That [plan] just went to the City Council and they are going to vote on this at the end of the month,” said Graziano, to the crowd, which also included people and civic leaders from St. Albans, Rosedale, Queens Village and Bayside. “There is no affordable housing. [ADUs and TOD would] replace older occupied homes with market-rate rentals ... There is an affordability thing with higher density buildings ... but its [virtually] nothing.”

Sneaky Shelter

 
Queens Chronicle

During a Cambria Heights Civic Association Zoom meeting last Thursday, many residents aired their concerns about what will become of a defunct area Rite Aid, located at 222-14 Linden Blvd.

Throughout the online forum, several people said they had heard rumors that the new owner of the former pharmacy’s lot intends to transform the space into a transient shelter and worried that could destroy property values and create safety problems.

Under the city Department of Buildings certificate of occupancy, or CofO, Comments section, it was noted that “the facility shall be operated by a philanthropic or non-profit institution, sponsored by [the Department of Homeless Services] ... This certificate shall expire when the ownership operation and use by an institution or public agency ... ceases. The Class B multiple dwelling classification of this building is lodging house.”

DOB’s job filing data says there are no work permits filed, but the zoning information, scope of work and cost affidavit sections have proposals for a transient lodging house, which would include a community facility, a cafeteria and eight dwelling units for 120 beds. If the proposal were to go through, the project is expected to cost $607,170 in property alterations.

Bryan Block, the president of CHCA, said there were about 60 objections to the proposed project as of April 11.

Some of the objections to converting the space include a lack of egress, the parking layout, the elevation of the lot, the noncombustible rooftop hatch and whether the property was in a flood zone, according to DOB.

“The civic was not notified about this and nothing came to the community board,” said Block, “Yes, there was a rumor going around, but there was nothing filed until a couple weeks ago. So, when we said it was a rumor, it was because we didn’t have anything in writing from about three weeks ago. We don’t go on rumors, we go on what we get from the city and we still haven’t gotten anything from the city.”

The lot is zoned R3-2, which in general denotes residential districts that allow a variety of housing types, including low-rise attached houses, small multifamily apartment houses, and detached and semidetached one- and two-family residences. It is the lowest-density zoning district in which multiple dwellings are permitted in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx, according to the Department of City Planning.

“The site where the building is located is ... zoned residential, but it has a commercial overlay, which allowed the Rite Aid commercial use there,” said Steven Taylor, a CHCA board member. “The point I’m making is, they have the ability to make this for residential use even though we’ve always looked at it as a commercial use.”

The lot is 20,460 square feet, including the 10,000-square-foot commercial building and 30 parking spots. It is a six- to 11-minute drive from five Long Island Rail Road stations, the E,F, J and Z subway stations and the JFK AirTrain. It was put up for sale on Dec. 12, 2023 and sold for $5 million on Feb. 16, according to several real estate websites.

State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said seeking an injunction against the DOB to prevent a shelter from being erected in the space could be a possibility.

“I’m going to check with the councilmember if one has not been filed,” Comrie said.

 

Cops shoot armed man down following his tirade against Adams and Hochul

NY Post 

NYPD officers shot and killed a Queens man who was threatening to kill the governor and other top officials, saying he was going to “blow up” the world Saturday evening, cops and sources said.

Police arrived at 205-17 116th Ave. in Cambria Heights shortly after 6 p.m. after they received multiple threatening 911 calls from the man, identified by sources as Raul Hardy.

Hardy, 60, said he would “change the government” by assassinating New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the “PD Chief,” and also threatened to “blow up” the world, according to police and law enforcement sources.

“He clearly stated that he was going to blow the head off of the first police officers that he saw,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference at the scene.

“A short time later he made another 911 call and he basically reiterated the same thing.”

A large group of uniformed officers responded to the call, parked down the street and walked to Hardy’s house with guns drawn, Maddrey said.

Cambria Heights houses make history

 

Queens Post

Two residential areas in southeast Queens were designated historic districts yesterday by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The commission created two separate historic districts—the Cambria Heights-222^nd Street district and the Cambria Heights-227^th district. Both areas, which consist of Tudor-style houses, have traditionally been occupied by the African American and Afro-Caribbean communities.

The districts contain row houses built in 1931 that are remarkably intact along two blocks, according to the commission. The Cambria Heights – 222^nd Street Historic District contains 46 row houses between 115th Road and 116th Avenue and the Cambria Heights – 227^th Street Historic District, which is five blocks away, contains 50 houses between 116th Avenue and Linden Boulevard.

“The designation of these two historic districts, the first in Cambria Heights, was a priority for me and fits within LPC’s equity framework, as we seek to increase designations in communities not well represented by landmarks, and to better tell the story of all New Yorkers,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Sarah Carroll.

The 222^nd and 227^th Street Historic Districts, according to the commission, consist of two cohesive and intact groups of Storybook-style row houses incorporating Tudor-style elements.

The Storybook style is primarily associated with California, where it flourished as a small-house style in the 1920s—influenced by fantasy architecture and movie backdrops. Storybook features of the 227th Street houses include half timbering, diamond-pane windows and stucco with brick and stone accents, as well as whimsical red, blue, and green slate shingles.

The 222^nd Street houses feature Tudor-arched window openings, brightly colored terra-cotta roofs and windows, brick facades with random stone accents, and whimsically decorated chimneys with patterned brick and stucco panels. The design of the row houses gives the street a “stage-set” quality consistent with the Storybook style, of a Hollywood backdrop or fairytale illustration come to life.

Initially, residents of both 222^nd and 227^th Streets consisted of mainly white middle-class families. Black families began moving to Cambria Heights by the 1950s and the makeup of the community began to change.

By the 1980s, immigrant families from Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Barbados moved to the area. Today, Cambria Heights remains one of several prosperous predominantly Black residential communities in Southeastern Queens.

“These homes are significant not only because of their appearance but also because of what they represent to the communities…that the American Dream was within reach,” said Mayor Eric Adams.

Assembly Member Barbara Clark has died

From the Times Ledger:

State Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village), who represented parts of southeast Queens, died at the age of 76 Monday night, a representative from her district office said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Clark had been serving the 33rd Assembly District since 1986. The district includes Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Queens Village, Hollis and Bellerose.

She played a key role in converting Andrew Jackson HS into four small magnet high schools and served as a primary sponsor of the 1996 New York City Governance Law, which mandated parental involvement in school policy decision-making.

Clark also supported the plaintiff in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity vs. State of New York lawsuit, which resulted in a $5.5 billion increase in funding for city public schools and authored a bill to establish the age of 6 as the statutory age for full-time attendance in school.

Foreclosure fixed up

From the Times Ledger:

Dozens of Habitat for Humanity and Delta Airlines volunteers, a few carrying small luggage, gathered Wednesday on a rainy day to start work on restoring an abandoned home in Cambria Heights.

The derelict house, infested with termites, fell victim to foreclosure and then became a zombie home until a fire destroyed most of the property. The property was then handled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before being acquired by the New York City Housing Authority to become affordable housing.

Future homeowners are required to volunteer in the restoring of their homes. At the Cambria Heights house at 219th St, 53-year old carpenter Richard Thompson was ready to work on his future home.

“I found out about the program when I was looking for a home, but I did not have enough money for a down payment,” said Thompson, who currently lives in Brooklyn.

The program through Habitat for Humanity offers a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 2.0 percent rate with only a 1 percent down payment for a restored home.

The final round of skeeter spraying?

From the Queens Courier:

Another round of West Nile spraying is set for parts of Queens this week.

The spraying will take place on Thursday, Sept. 18, between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next morning. In case of bad weather, the application will be delayed until Monday, Sept. 22 during the same hours.

The following neighborhoods are being treated to help reduce the mosquito population and the risk of the disease, according to the city’s Health Department:

Parts of Arverne, Bays Water, Edgemere, Far Rockaway, Hammels and Somerville (Bordered by Jamaica Bay to the north; Cross Bay Parkway to the west; Atlantic Ocean to the south; and Nassau County Boundary to the east).

Parts of Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Saint Albans and Springfield Gardens (Bordered by 119th Avenue to the north; Farmers Boulevard to the west; Merrick Boulevard to the south; and Belt Parkway and Nassau County Line to the east).

This guy was trusted with a chainsaw?

From the NY Post:

A boneheaded tree trimmer climbed his way to the top of an overgrown maple in Queens yesterday, cutting limbs along the way — until he realized he had no way down.

Red-faced David Fleischer, 21, of Brooklyn, had to be rescued by Queens firefighters in a ladder truck.

“He is a good boy, but he is learning,” said the man’s dad, Yisroel “Izzy” Fleischer, who runs the family’s landscaping business, Kensington Gardens Handiworks.

Yisroel Fleisher said the company, based in upstate Monticello, was hired to trim two maple trees and a cherry tree at a business on Linden Boulevard and 225th Street in Cambria Heights before chopping them down to clear the area for new construction.

David Fleischer made it 40 feet up before realizing his predicament — and drawing a small crowd of giggling bystanders.

Foreclosures double in southeastern Queens

From the NY Post:

A new wave of foreclosures is hammering middle-class homeowners in Queens.

Southeastern Queens neighborhoods such as St. Albans have been reeling since 2008, when the first wave of the foreclosure crisis hit, ensnaring many low-income homeowners with subprime loans.

Filings fell in 2011, but a dramatic spike in the 2012 foreclosure rate is spreading the pain to middle-class residents with higher-quality loans.

These homeowners should be the backbone of a stable middle class in Queens, but they’ve been undone by high unemployment and unyielding bankers.

The new face of foreclosures includes couples of whom one spouse loses a job — and the only replacement is part-time work for lower pay. Many owners of two-family homes are falling behind on mortgage payments after their tenants become unemployed.

Foreclosures jumped 19 percent in New York City and 164 percent in Queens in 2012 versus 2011, as The Post reported last week. Four of the hardest-hit sections of Queens — St. Albans, Rosedale, Cambria Heights and Queens Village — saw foreclosure rates more than double, according to RealtyTrac. More than 2 percent of housing units in those areas are in foreclosure, outstripping the national average of 1.39 percent.

Profiles in gerrymandering: Cambria Heights and Springfield Gardens

Cambria Heights

The Commission has proposed that 52 blocks located in southern portion of Cambria
Heights (Figure 11) be moved from the 27th Council District to the 31st. Concerned
Citizens of Laurelton, the civic organization that represents the adjacent blocks
immediately to the south, has voiced their opposition as has the Cambria Heights Civic Association, which is strongly in favor of retaining these 52 blocks in the 27th Council District. The boundary between Cambria Heights and Laurelton has been well established for over a century as the north end of Montefiore Cemetery and 121st Avenue. By moving approximately 1/3 of Cambria Heights into the 31st Council District, the Commission is splitting this well-defined community and weakening its political representation. QCC believes that the Commission should reverse this proposed redistricting and keep all of Cambria Heights in the 27th Council District.

Springfield Gardens

Significant portions of Springfield Gardens have been proposed by the Commission to be removed from the 31st Council District and placed in the 27th and 28th Council Districts (Figure 11). In particular, the 23 blocks of Springfield Gardens north of the Belt Parkway between Baisley Pond Park and Guy Brewer Boulevard proposed by the Commission should be retained in any new plan. Otherwise, QCC agrees with relatively few of these proposed Commission changes and believes that significant areas should revert back to their existing districts (Figure 12).

Area civics do not agree with the Commission's plans to move 32 blocks south of the Belt Parkway that are being proposed by the Commission to be moved to the 28th Council District from the 31st. The Belt Parkway acts as a major dividing line between these sections of Springfield Gardens; they are essentially two separate neighborhoods (Figure 13). Placing half of the area south of the Belt Parkway into a separate Council District will significantly weaken the ability for this area to have fair political representation and, frankly, cause an area already isolated due to its immediate proximity to Kennedy Airport and surrounding industrial areas to be even more marginalized.

Similarly, two other discrete areas of Springfield Gardens - a 24 block area just west of Springfield Boulevard south of Merrick Boulevard; and a 25 block area south of Rochdale Village (Figure 13) - should remain in the 31st Council District for similar reasons, as they do not relate to other areas adjacent to them and have more "common interests" with the neighborhoods to the east. QCC believes that the Commission should reverse these proposed changes and have these blocks remain within the 31st Council District.

Jewish dorm unwelcome in Cambria Heights

From CBS 2:

Some neighbors in Cambria Heights, Queens are fighting a synagogue’s plan to expand a building in a cemetery, where already hundreds of worshipers pray each day.

The place: the Old Montifiore Cemetery on Francis Lewis Boulevard, where crowds come, especially on the high holy days. A community center has been constructed near the graves, behind five single-family homes owned by the Lubavitchers.

But now, the congregation wants to join all five homes into one large structure that would essentially be a dormitory.

The people who live in the modest homes and always had the solitude of a cemetery nearby, now find their homes in the path of a pilgrimage that keeps growing and growing.

The issue must go before the zoning board and would require a variance for approval in the predominantly residential area.

Dutch Broadway? Hmmm....

208th Street brawl

"It appears that the filming was done yesterday after school. I believe this is Cambria Heights but am not 100% sure. Maybe one of the other Queens Crap readers will have a better idea of exactly where this took place." - anonymous

Actually, it's Spring Recess, so this wasn't taken after school. But it looks like it was filmed in front of a school.

Click here for video.

Developer rezonings reach insanity level

From the Times Ledger:

Community Board 13 voted against an application to build a one-story commercial building in Cambria Heights during its monthly meeting Monday night.

The public hearing at St. Clare’s School, at 137-25 Brookville Blvd. in Rosedale, was an extension of one held Feb. 15 at the Alpha Phi Alpha Senior Center in Cambria Heights, where residents expressed concerns over traffic, congestion and parking, according to Richard Hellenbrecht, chairman of CB 13’s Land Use Committee.

Jamaica Associates Inc., the applicant, wants to change the zoning from an R3-2 residential district to a C1-3 commercial zone so it can build a one-story commercial building at 226-01 Linden Blvd. in Cambria Heights.

Hellenbrecht said the property used to be occupied by a farmhouse but is now vacant and adjacent to the Cambria Heights Community Garden, which is maintained by the Cambria Heights Civic Association’s Beautification Committee.

Jerry Caliendo, architect for the project, said the developer reached out to City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), the community garden and the Cambria Heights Civic Association and agreed to provide water, light and winter cleanup for the garden if the developer gets approval to build the structure.

Well I can certainly see how a cheap strip of stores would enhance the aesthetics of the neighborhood...

The fact that this was certified by City Planning shows that so long as there is a chance a developer might turn a profit off it, the City will approve just about anything, no matter how detrimental it might be.

Smith's failure to disclose

From the NY Post:

State Senate President Malcolm Smith kept to himself details of a lucrative land deal that grossed $500,000 for two companies he controlled, The Post has learned.

Smith, through his Smith M. Realty company, acquired two adjoining properties on 230th Street -- one with a house and one vacant -- in 1995 from [Joan] Flowers and her husband, Neville. City records do not show any money changing hands in the transaction.

In 1999, architect Robert Gaskin submitted building plans to the city for the land, but no work took place for years.

In 2002, Smith M. Realty transferred one of the two parcels to another of the senator's companies, 230th Street Associates.

That company took out a $100,000 mortgage on the property from Farnaz Tabaroki, a private lender in Queens. Such private borrowing is usually done, at high interest rates, when a bank won't lend money.

Flowers was involved in the deal, signing onto the $100,000 mortgage as a "borrower" for 230th Street Associates and as its secretary.

Six months later, Smith M. Realty and 230th Street Associates sold the parcels to a developer for $249,500 each. It is unclear whether Smith shared the proceeds with Flowers.

Smith did not record any capital gains from the sale on his initial 2002 legislative disclosure form. He later amended the form with a vague declaration of income from "230 St."

The senator also failed to disclose, as is required, his affiliations with either 230th Street Associates or Smith M. Realty.

Surprising food stamp stats

From the NY Times:

The area with the most food stamp recipients in the city last year, 63,328 people, was Community Board 5 in Brooklyn, which includes the neighborhoods of Cypress Hills, East New York, New Lots and Starrett City. The area with the fewest recipients, 2,312, was Community Board 1 in Manhattan, which covers most of the lower part of the island south of Canal Street. Since 2001, several areas have had a startling increase in food stamp use, mirroring a national trend. Community Board 13 in Queens, which includes Bellerose, Cambria Heights, Floral Park and Queens Village, has had a 205 percent jump in the number of recipients. Nearby, Community Board 12, encompassing Hollis, St. Albans and South Jamaica, has experienced a 184 percent rise. No district in the city has had a drop in the number of people receiving benefits through the program.

Woman pistol-whipped and robbed in her home

From the Queens Chronicle:

Yellow caution tape separated a modest-sized home with a finely manicured lawn from the others on a quiet street in Cambria Heights on Monday, while officers from the NYPD’s Crime Scene Unit walked around the property gathering evidence.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Mathilda Theodore, 58, had been brutally beaten and robbed at gunpoint, inside her home at 115-75 231 St., where she has lived for the last 19 years.

At what her daughter speculated was 7:30 p.m. on Sunday evening, Theodore was taking her garbage out to the curb, when two armed men wearing black ski masks approached her and told her to “show them where the cash was,” according to her daughter.

Theodore took them to her bedroom where they searched through her jewelry and snatched up several boxes.

Theodore hoped the commotion would alert her tenant and prompt her to call for help, but she wasn’t home. The assailants broke down the door and as they were trying to disconnect a flat screen television that was affixed to a wall, Theodore tried to get away, but didn’t make it very far.

“She tried to run up the stairs and they grabbed her by the hair and hit her in the head several times with a gun,” Sainah said. “She had blood in her eyes so she couldn’t see too well, but she heard them say, ‘Let’s go, let’s go,’ and they ran out the door.”

Theodore was taken to North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital in Manhasset, where eight staples were required to close the laceration on her forehead. She was released and is recovering at home, but her daughter says she is in a lot of pain.

Cambria Heights man shot over big screen TV

From the NY Post:

A Queens man was shot by a group of thugs in a home-invasion robbery — but the bumbling thieves had to ditch the massive TV they were trying to steal when they realized it wouldn’t fit in their car, authorities and witnesses said.

The victim, a retired mason identified by neighbors as Bentley White, 64, was hit in the body and taken to Jamaica Hospital where he was reported in stable condition, cops said.

The botched Black Friday heist unfolded at the house he shares with his wife and two grown children on 223rd Street, near 130th Avenue in Cambria Heights at 8:30 a.m.

White was loading a trailer with construction materials for a vacation house that he was rebuilding on the island of Jamaica as well as a 47-inch flat-screen LG TV.

It’s not clear if the thieves followed him into the house, but they shot him in the kitchen and tried to flee with the cumbersome screen.

Witness Dudley Young said that he was looking out his window and arguing as they tried to stuff the box into the trunk of their car.

"I saw three guys by the lamp pole fighting with each other over the box," he said.

"The box was on the side of their car and then they just left it."

Second gang bust in Queens carwash slay

By MURRAY WEISS and KIRSTEN FLEMING, NY Post

A second teen gang member has been busted in last week's carwash shootout that killed a 13-year-old bystander, authorities said yesterday.

Gregory Calas, 18, an alleged member of the Crips, was arrested Thursday for firing the stray bullet that hit Kevin Miller in Cambria Heights. Calas could get 25 years to life if found guilty of second-degree murder.

Nnonso Ekwegbalu, 16, also a suspected Crip, was arrested last week and faces a similar charge.

Cops said the two opened fire after an altercation with rival Bloods. An unidentified teen was also shot, in the leg.

Neither Miller, a freshman at Campus Magnet Humanities and the Arts HS, nor the second victim was believed to be involved with either gang.

"This case is another example of the mindless gun-related violence and street-gang mentality that turn our streets into battlefields and too often take innocent lives and recklessly endangers public safety," said Queens DA Richard Brown.

"The result of such gunplay is that a 13-year-old boy . . . is being buried today, and his family must struggle with his loss, and a second innocent teenager is recovering from a gunshot wound."
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This is the first reference I have seen to the Crips and the Bloods being involved in this tragedy. (In Bloomberg's New York, there is no such thing as a gang.) Pictured is the dead victim, 13-year old Kevin Miller, who was going to get a snack with money his mother gave him for getting good grades in school.