Park Slope residents speak out against homeless shelters

News 12 Brooklyn

 
Community members in Park Slope are pushing back against a plan to build two homeless shelters a block away from each other.

The proposed shelters, which will consist mainly of single women with children, will be located at 555 and 535 Fourth Ave. The city wants to spread shelters more evenly across the boroughs.
Neighbors contest that the city hasn't properly planned for integrating the homeless families into the community. Community members have created a petition against the plan and have received nearly 800 signatures.

One resident opposed to the plan says the city needs to address what's going to happen to the families once they move in.

The two shelters will be run by the nonprofit group Win. President and CEO Christine Quinn tells News 12 helping these families get back on their feet is instrumental in solving the city's homeless crisis.

This is too, too funny. The city has been pulling these overnight homeless shelter stunts for 6 years in Queens (and also the Bronx) and now that it's finally come to their area they are aghast. Looks like their neighbor Mayor doesn't need their support any more either,

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Queens Crap!

Tickets going fast! Oh wait, there are no tickets. Just a big Irish tweederfest. Who wouldn't want the Tom Manton Irish Person of the Year award?

Queens targeted with homeless shelters thanks to Joe Crowley deal

With each passing day, this is becoming more clear. Someone I know from Borough Hall broke this down for me yesterday:

Congress Member Joe Crowley is the head of the Queens Machine. A political kingmaker. He endorsed Christine Quinn when she ran for mayor against de Blasio in the primary. De Blasio was very unhappy with that, as Queens was the only borough that did not back him. Queens therefore is going to relentlessly be dumped on, including the placement of 10+ homeless shelters in 2 years.

It all makes sense once you connect the dots.

Now, where the hell is Queens Borough President Melinda Katz while the borough she represents is getting dumped on? Painting the NYS Pavilion?

Voters ready to dump de Blasio...but for whom?

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio’s approval ratings remain in the toilet as multiple investigations swirl around his administration, with 51% of voters saying they disapprove of his job performance in a new poll.

Hizzoner’s 51%-42% rating in Monday’s Quinnipiac University poll remains largely unchanged since his worst-ever poll numbers in May, when 52% of voters approved and 41% disapproved.

Half of voters say de Blasio does not deserve reelection next year, compared to just 42% who say he does.

But de Blasio outpolls potential challengers tested in the survey — 45% say they’d pick him against City Controller Scott Stringer running as an independent, who gets 32%. That’s an improvement from May, when de Blasio was statistically tied with Stringer.

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, polled by Quinnipiac for the first time, was favored by 33% for a general election matchup, compared to 43% for de Blasio.

Christine Quinn wants more shelters

From the Daily News:

The number of families living in the city’s shelter system is now at record levels, with 12,302 parents and kids calling a city shelter home.

The city quietly reached the sad milestone Wednesday, according to stats from the Department of Homeless Services.

The previous high was in December 2014, when an average of 12,281 families a night slept in shelters.

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is now president of the non-profit homeless advocacy group Women in Need, said the “troubling” surge showed the need for more shelters.

“The problem is growing and therefore the capacity of the system as it exists today is not sufficient,” she said.

(Women in Need runs shelters throughout the city.) The mayor is doing a bang up job on this issue, as usual.

Like a turd that won't stay flushed

From New York Magazine:

A little over a year after she lost New York's Democratic mayoral primary, Christine Quinn is working in politics again. Governor Andrew Cuomo has hired the former City Council speaker as a special adviser, and she appeared with him on Saturday at NYU for an announcement about preventing sexual assault on college campuses. While some see Quinn's hiring as a jab at Mayor Bill de Blasio (though he and the governor are ostensibly friends), her formal rival was cordial. "The mayor welcomes Christine back to public service," said de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell.

Vallone scholarship is concern #1 for Queens Dems

From the Daily News:

Queens lawmakers voted Tuesday to make resurrecting the Peter F. Vallone Scholarship their top priority this year after the city-funded program that aided CUNY students was cut in 2011 for politically motivated reasons.

“Kids were hurt by a petty act of retribution, and it’s time to rectify that injustice,” said former Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who claims then-Speaker Christine Quinn slashed the $6 million program named for his father after he opposed a push to rename the Queensboro Bridge.

Each year since 1998, the merit-based scholarship went to about 15,000 students who graduated from city high schools, regardless of immigration status, said Vallone Sr., who joined supporters in City Hall Thursday to call for its reinstatement by 2015.

Recipients who maintained a B-average saved up to $1,250 in tuition each year.

“This is the first real Dream Act,” the former Council speaker said. “Please restore it because it simply is the right thing to do.”

Legislators say they stand a chance under the city’s new administration, especially if they rally support in other boroughs.

With all the issues the borough has, this is the Machine's top priority?

Ridgewood-Bushwick charity suddenly okay again

From Capital New York:

After Bill de Blasio's mayoral campaign attacked an opponent for funding a troubled nonprofit connected to a tainted former assemblyman, de Blasio's administration is now giving millions of dollars in city business to that same organization.

Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which was founded by embattled ex-assemblyman Vito Lopez, received a $3.6 million, three-year contract beginning July 1 for providing an "innovative senior center," according to a notice published last week in the City Record and additional information provided to Capital by a city official.

As public advocate and a contender for mayor last year, de Blasio admonished City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for allowing taxpayer-backed money controlled by the council to fund Ridgewood Bushwick. He lobbed his criticisms in light of ethical charges Lopez was facing for sexually harassing several of his female staffers, as well as previous investigations by law-enforcement agencies for allegations of corruption and fraud at the nonprofit.

"It's ridiculous after all we've learned about Vito Lopez and the way he manipulated the system. I have no doubt in the world that Chris Quinn could have stopped it if she wanted to," de Blasio told the Daily News last year, after it was revealed that Ridgewood Bushwick received $421,964 in so-called member items.

At the time, Quinn, who lost her mayoral bid to de Blasio in September, had said she did not support the allocation but deferred to two local Brooklyn councilmen who requested the funding.

"People should be outraged," de Blasio said last year.

He even said New Yorkers "should demand this money not go to this organization."

Ridgewood Bushwick, a sprawling social-services empire that Lopez started in 1973, responded to a solicitation issued on Oct. 16, 2013, before de Blasio became mayor, to provide expanded services for senior citizens. City Hall sent notification to providers who won the awards on Jan. 14, two weeks after de Blasio took office.

An administration official noted that Ridgewood Bushwick, which won its current contract through a competitive bid, entered into a "corrective action plan" on Jan. 17, 2012 to address "business integrity issues" so it could continue offering services to the city.

Boost for Council budget

From Capital New York:

The City Council will increase its budget by $5.1 million, as Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito plans to hire more staff to oversee investigations and draft legislation, a source briefed on the changes told Capital.

The increase comes as part of the $56.6 city budget for FY2015, which the Council will vote to adopt on Thursday, according to the source.

Members, who typically receive between $292,000 and $332,000 each year for both staff and office expenses, will also get a boost to their individual accounts, the source said.

Budgets will be equalized so that every member receives the same amount.

Former Speaker Christine Quinn often trimmed or kept flat the council's operating budget, as she prepared a run for mayor in 2013.

Overall, Quinn increased the operating budget from $49 million in Fiscal Year 2006, when the full-time headcount totaled 316, to $51.5 million in Fiscal Year 2014. (The most recent available headcount is 281 for Fiscal Year 2013, when the budget was $51.6 million, records show.)

A spokesman for Mark-Viverito declined comment.

Some of the additional staff hired with the extra funds will be designated to help draft legislation, a process that would get an overhaul under the proposed "rules reform" Mark-Viverito has endorsed.

Council Members none too happy with Viverito

From Capital New York:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is facing her first widespread fight with members, nearly three months after winning the job.

The burgeoning discontent has been prompted, most recently, by the speaker's appointments to the body's "budget negotiating team," or BNT.

Several members, including some of her allies in the Progressive Caucus, are furious they were left out of the group, and recently held a conference call to air their concerns, multiple sources told Capital.

Other members are upset they were not informed directly by the speaker or her aides about the makeup of the team, which reviews the city's budget and determines the Council's priorities before it is adopted on July 1.

Mark-Viverito promised to be more approachable and inclusive than her predecessor, Christine Quinn, who was often criticized for ruling the Council with a heavy hand. But between the delayed consultation over the paid-sick bill, which members learned about from the media, and the new appointments to BNT, some of her colleagues are growing skeptical of that campaign commitment.

Several of the members interviewed for this article said they felt Mark-Viverito, so far, has been less inclusive than her predecessor.

Quinn seems to think she's still relevant

From Capital New York:

Christine Quinn's political battle with Bill de Blasio has continued into the speaker's race.

The outgoing City Council speaker has quietly pushed the candidacy of several potential successors, in an effort to block Melissa Mark-Viverito from succeeding her, three sources close to the process told Capital.

Mark-Viverito claimed victory in the race earlier this month, when she unveiled the backing of 30 members, more than the 26 needed to win the race, after de Blasio reportedly intervened to sway some members to her side.

Quinn and her allies, who are also close to the Queens Democratic organization that opposes Mark-Viverito, have been pushing members to instead back the candidacy of Manhattan Democrat Dan Garodnick, sources said.

"I had a conversation with her where she was absolutely discouraging Melissa," said one member, who requested anonymity.

The member added that Quinn's closest advisors "were explicit in trashing me, and telling me by supporting [Mark-Viverito] I was not in a good place, I would not be in a good place."

The interactions took place as recently as the last Council meeting on Dec. 19.

"The Queens-Quinn machine is losing and is losing badly, and they definitely sort of let it be known that you were not on the team if you were for Melissa and those of us who indicated support for Melissa heard about it in various ways, some subtle, some not," the member added. "I think (Quinn) would've preferred anybody but Melissa."

Machine hacks may have to find real jobs

Charles Meara

From The Politicker:

For a decade, remaining a close ally of the Queens County Democratic Party meant that Charles Meara, the chief of staff to two City Council speakers, could earn an annual salary almost equal to the mayor.

But if Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito is crowned the next speaker of the City Council, Mr. Meara and a host of other county loyalists may be swiftly axed. Cleaning house is standard for incoming speakers–when outgoing Speaker Christine Quinn took over, she immediately fired about a fifth of central staff. But sources say they now expect an even greater exodus if Ms. Mark-Viverito is elected speaker, stretching far beyond what would be doled out if her top rival, Councilman Dan Garodnick, somehow prevails in the end. (Mr. Garodnick is Queens and the Bronx’s counties’ candidate).

That reality, council insiders say, is Ms. Mark-Viverito’s willingness to clean house if she wins, potentially decimating the City Council’s current central staff, which numbers around 300 and is filled with individuals who scooped up choice posts through their ties to the traditional county organizations after the last speaker’s race. Queens in particular could suffer; sources say that county organization was the greatest beneficiary of patronage posts.

Mr. Meara, the chief of staff to Ms. Quinn and Mr. Miller, is likely to be on the chopping block, sources said. Mr. Meara, who did not respond to a request for comment through a council spokesman, is the brother of Queens County Chair Joe Crowley’s personal lobbyist. In 2012, Mr. Meara earned $208,884–more than Ms. Quinn, according to records compiled by the Empire Center’s SeeThroughNY website.

Another Crowley loyalist, Ms. Quinn’s executive legislative coordinator, Ramon Martinez, who made $206,190 in 2012, is also considered vulnerable–though one council insider said Mr. Martinez, who was Mr. Crowley’s one-time brother-in-law, could be “saved.” (It’s not clear if Ms. Mark-Viverito would have any motivation to preserve a high-ranking Queens loyalist.

Styrofoam & e-cigs banned by Council

From the NY Times:

In its last scheduled legislative session of the year, the New York City Council passed major health and environmental regulations on Thursday, establishing a ban on plastic-foam food service containers, extending the city’s ban on public smoking to cover e-cigarettes and requiring composting at large restaurants.

The plastic-foam measure was a final victory of sorts for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, though it came with a caveat. In his State of the City address this year, Mr. Bloomberg said the plastic-foam containers were virtually impossible to recycle, and environmentalists have long complained that the foam cups, trays and containers, stained by beverages, grease and food, were needlessly clogging landfills.

In response to concerns that small businesses would be hurt by switching to costlier alternatives like paper and plastic, the bill allows small establishments and nonprofit organizations to apply for a waiver from the ban.

E-cigarettes, which use a battery to vaporize a nicotine solution, have grown in popularity based on a perception that they are a safer alternative to regular cigarettes, but the health implications remain in question. The bill limiting their use, pushed by two departing council members, James F. Gennaro of Queens and Speaker Christine C. Quinn of Manhattan, bans e-cigarettes wherever smoking is now prohibited, including restaurants, bars, parks and office buildings. The Bloomberg administration supported the measure.

Proponents cited the potential, if not yet fully known, health effects of e-cigarettes and their secondhand vapor, and said e-cigarettes confused bartenders and others who had to enforce the existing ban.

Leroy Comrie supported shady doctor

From Capital New York:

A nonprofit executive accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of local, state and federal grant funds intended for public services in New York City was arrested, the state attorney general's office announced Thursday.

Dorothy Ogundu, president of Angeldocs, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation billed as a health clinic for the poor, allegedly spent portions of 12 government grants to pay the mortgage and utilities on a commercial property she owned, make improvements to that property to increase its value, purchase and ship vehicles to Nigeria and make other personal purchases. The funds were intended to improve the clinic facility in Queens and help her operate it.

Of the $373,000 in government grants Ogundu, a Nigerian doctor, is accused of stealing, $91,000 was from New York City, $87,000 was from the state and $195,000 was from the federal government.

From NY Post via True News for Change NYC:

The City Council dished out nearly $147 million for pet projects throughout members’ districts, including a grant to a dysfunctional medical center in Queens that even Mayor Bloomberg’s agencies doubt should get taxpayer money. Included in the massive list of “member items” — funds individual council members dole out to non-profits — is a $5,000 allocation to Angeldocs, whose city funds are under examination by the city Health Department. Last year’s taxpayer-funded council grants to Angeldocs were reviewed in April by the Department after The Post reported it was delinquent on property taxes and its only staffer, Dr. Dorothy Ogundu, refused to reveal details about her practice. Despite that, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) appropriated another $5,000 for the clinic, which Council Speaker Christine Quinn has yet to approve.

Cleanup Jamaica Queens has a "12 Years of Comrie" retrospective.

Council seeks to reduce speed limit

From The Politicker:

The New York City Council hopes to pass legislation that would reduce the speed limit on most residential and side streets to 20 miles per hour, Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced today.

“We are actively working on that bill and our goal is to pass it before the end of the year,” Ms. Quinn said during an unrelated press conference this afternoon before the month’s final council meeting. “We’re actively working on it right now.”

The bill, introduced by Councilman David Greenfield, is aimed at reducing serous pedestrian injuries and traffic fatalities. Last year, 148 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents and crashes.

“We are working to fine-tune this life-saving legislation that will slow down automobiles on narrow residential streets. I am hopeful that we can get consensus on this important legislation, which will literally save lives once it is enacted here in New York City,” he said in response to the speaker’s comments.

But there are complications. The city’s Department of Transportation has argued the proposal would conflict with state law, which only allows limits that low if other traffic-calming devices are used. Last Friday, Councilman Jimmy Vacca, chair of the council’s transportation committee, told WNYC the bill was being “tweaked a little bit” and that members were “aiming for 25 miles per hour on narrow, one-way streets.”

In other traffic safety news, a problem intersection in Astoria is under scrutiny and Woodhaven Blvd solutions are being pondered.

Pol aides snag "affordable" apartment

From the NY Post:

An aide to Council Speaker Christine Quinn is living large after helping push through the development of a Hell’s Kitchen luxury building — then landing a coveted affordable apartment there.

Danielle DeCerbo, 33, moved into Gotham West with her wife and their two children after her application for a “middle-income” pad was approved this summer.

Described by colleagues as a tenacious negotiator for the city, DeCerbo scored one of 682 affordable apartments — out of nearly 30,000 applicants — in a housing lottery after working on the West 45th Street development as a staffer on the council’s land-use division.

“For her to benefit from any project she negotiated or worked on, it’s just unseemly,” a political insider told The Post.

Another person with knowledge of the project said DeCerbo was “very much in the driver’s seat” during the years of bargaining over the four-building Gotham West complex.

The $520 million, 1,238-unit complex near 11th Avenue is the result of the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning, which promised neighbors low-income housing in exchange for office and residential towers on Manhattan’s West Side.

DeCerbo, who earned $85,913 in 2012, also helped secure new offices and housing south of Gotham West, after Mayor Bloomberg’s push to build a football stadium failed.

DeCerbo was selected in the lottery for 530 W. 45th St. with wife Erin Kaiser, 34, a former aide to Manhattan Assemblyman Dick Gottfried who made $34,806 last year.

The affordable building includes a fitness center, children’s playroom, laundry room and courtyard space.

HPD and City Council representatives say DeCerbo won her apartment fair and square.

Midtown East rezone a no-go

From Capital New York:

Councilman Dan Garodnick and Council speaker Christine Quinn will not vote in favor of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to allow taller buildings around Grand Central Terminal.

That means that the controversial proposal to rezone some 73 blocks in Midtown East is now, effectively, dead.

“Creating new jobs in East Midtown—and across all of New York City—is essential," said the councilmembers in a joint statement just emailed to reporters. "We can and should do more with the commercial corridor around Grand Central. ... However, a good idea alone is not enough to justify action today. We should rezone East Midtown, but only when we can do so properly. After extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach agreement on a number of issues in the proposed plan."

The real estate industry and Bloomberg administration have argued that the office space in Midtown East is outdated and increasingly unappealing to modern tenants. In order for New York City to retain its status as a world-class city in an increasingly global economy, the city must allow for more modern office skyscrapers around Grand Central, the argument goes.

Most of the proposed rezoning falls within Garodnick's district, and since the Council typically refers to the local member in land use decisions, his support, or lack thereof, is considered decisive.

In a statement, mayor-elect Bill de Blasio applauded the councilmembers, "for pressing the pause button in order to ensure these concerns are adequately addressed. We must continue this process in earnest upon taking office, and I commit to presenting a revised rezoning plan for the area by the end of 2014."

Council members attempting to take bitchiness away from next Speaker

From DNA Info:

During her eight-year reign as City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn has been accused of running the group with an iron fist — doling out cash to supporters while stripping the same from dissenters, and holding back broadly popular bills from coming up for a vote.

But in the wake of Quinn’s significant loss in the Democratic primary last week, four returning City Councilmen are reaching out to the rest of the membership in hopes of coming up with a plan that would significantly check the power of the next speaker and instill a measure of balance in the chamber.

While all four of the councilmen say conversations with other members are just beginning, they have a set of initial ideas for checks and balances in mind.

First among them is a plan to get proposed legislation on the table for discussion with or without the speaker's approval.

“The idea is that if you have legislation, there should be a mechanism that it can actually be written, whereby it gets introduced, and whereby it can get a hearing,” Greenfield said.

“We’re looking at making sure that bills and laws have a larger space to be discussed, no matter who put it in and no matter what it is," said Williams.

Another idea is to bring greater equity to the distribution of funds to members. Quinn's critics have regularly accused her of using the process of doling out member items to reward friends and supporters, while cutting back funds to her enemies, regardless of overall needs in individual members’ districts.

Bloomberg planning to ban food waste

From Crain's:

The Bloomberg administration hopes to introduce legislation requiring hospitals, hotels, universities and other large-scale producers of food waste to make it into something useful rather than just send it to landfills or incinerators, sources told The Insider.

A bill could be introduced next month and passed before Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leave office at the end of the year. But it would not take effect until at least 2015, and only then if food-waste processing facilities could handle the enormous quantities of food that institutions throw away. Food waste accounts for a third of the city's more than 20,000 tons of daily refuse.

A spokesman for the mayor's office did not respond to an inquiry about the plan. A City Council spokeswoman said the administration has told the council about the effort but has not shared a bill or enough detail for the speaker's office to be able to comment yet. However, Ms. Quinn has been vocal about expanding composting in the city and has indicated a desire to pass a great deal of legislation before her term expires.

Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts have already adopted bans on sending commercial food waste to landfills, though it is too soon to know if they are effective because their trigger mechanisms have yet to kick in: Until sufficient processing capacity is available, businesses are off the hook.

Gennaro now a DeBlasio fan

From the Politicker:

Councilman James Gennaro, once a fierce backer of Council Speaker Christine Quinn and an even fiercer critic of her old rival, Bill de Blasio, is now one of the presumptive Democratic nominee’s biggest fans.

“So the people really want change. And they want it now. And they want their agent of change to be Bill de Blasio. Period,” Mr. Gennaro, a term-limited Queens councilman, declared in a jubilant statement titled, “It’s a New Day in NYC- Congrats to de Blasio!”

“On the number one issue of change, it was a rout for de Blasio. In the overall vote count, it was a rout for de Blasio. Highest favorability rating? De Blasio. Lowest unfavorable rating? De Blasio. You get the idea,” he added.

While many of Ms. Quinn’s former backers have turned to Mr. de Blasio, the words are especially notable coming from Mr. Gennaro, who was once one of Ms. Quinn’s most aggressive attack dogs, bashing Mr. de Blasio on issue after issue. As the public advocate pressed Ms. Quinn to pass paid sick leave legislation earlier this year, Mr. Gennaro shot back, for instance, that Mr. de Blasio was simply “on a quest for relevance.”

Because Gennaro is on a quest for a new job.