RIP Senator Onorato

From the Queens Gazette:

Lifelong Queens resident and former state Senator George Onorato, who served the 12th Senate District in western Queens for over two decades, died on Saturday. He was 86.

Onorato began serving the district, which encompasses Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside and parts of Woodside and Maspeth, in 1983 until he announced his retirement in 2010. He was succeeded by state Senator Michael Gianaris, who currently holds the position.

Park seawall crumbling

From the Queens Gazette:

Lawmakers in Western Queens have sent out an SOS to Mayor Michael Bloomberg urging immediate action to repair a 200-foot section of the Queens seawall overlooking the East River in Queensbridge Park in Astoria.

The wall has completely failed an expert warned, and is concerned about further deterioration along the waterfront near Queensbridge Houses, the city’s largest public housing development.

For safety reasons, the public officials added, the city Parks Department fenced off the damaged area around the seawall, blocking out local residents’ access to the waterfront.

In addition, cathodic devices under the seawall that are critical to the safe operation of the New York subway is endangered by the seawall’s deterioration.

Making the plea to the mayor were Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, state Senator George Onorato, Assemblymembers Michael Gianaris and Catherine Nolan and Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer. They were joined by Borough President Helen Marshall.

Years ago, Maloney and Nolan secured significant funding to help repair the seawall, but at the time the Parks Department rejected the funding saying the city could more quickly make the repairs if the work was done as mitigation for city projects that have impacted area waterways.

However, the lawmakers’ statement went on, many years have passed since the Parks Department rejected the funds, which were then diverted to other projects, and no work has been done on the seawall.

I have an idea. Let's wait until it collapses and kills a child playing in the park, then we can not only pay for emergency repairs, but also a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

Onorato to step aside to make room for Gianaris

From the Daily News:

State Sen. George Onorato, a veteran Queens Democrat, won't seek reelection to the seat he has held since 1983, clearing the way for a run this fall by Assemblyman Michael Gianaris.

At 82, Onorato is the Senate Democrats' oldest member. His recent "no" vote on gay marriage made him vulnerable to a primary challenge, worrying party leaders who urged him to step aside, insiders said.

Senate Democrats were anxious to prevent a primary between Onorato and Gianaris, but just as interested in harnessing the assemblyman's prodigious fund-raising skills for their upcoming battle with the GOP for control of the chamber.

Gianaris, 39, was elected to the Assembly in 2000. He raised more than $2 million for a short-lived state attorney general run in 2006 and was the state Democratic Party's finance chairman in 2006.

He had been considering another attorney general attempt this fall.

Well I'm glad that was handled without the mess of a primary. Lack of choice is what democracy is all about!

LIC development nightmare going on for years

August 13, 2009

Dear Queens Crapper,

I have lived in Long Island City all my life and let me tell you it has gotten so bad. I used to have to deal with prostitutes and johns in cars on my block - which was bad, but now I have worse things to deal with. One is the traffic agents who patrol my block like a hawk looking for prey. Then there is the property at 45-64 Pearson Street (across from the storage place), that is a mess. These developers bought this property at the height of the housing boom for $16 million. They claimed that they were going to build a 20+building. They demolished the property years ago and now the property is just sitting there. No people are living there, but there are things living there among the garbage, debris and 10 ft. high weeds - rats, rodents, raccoons - you name it - it lives there. I have complained to the Health Dept., Sanitation Dept., Buildings Dept., Community Board 2, Eric Gioia and George Onorato. These agencies are useless. My community board contacted me months after my initial complaint. George Onorato didn't even respond. The only one who tried was Gioia. I guess unless you are an FOB (friend of Bloomberg) - nothing happens. I guess even if you are a hard working, taxpaying citizen - you need to have lots of $$ to get something done. These developers are shady people and this city lets them get away with leaving neighborhoods in shambles.

Thanks for listening!

A Concerned LIC Native
______________________________________________

August 13, 2009

Don't give up yet.

1) Get me a photo.
2) Call a Sanitation Supervisor at 718-326-9803 and tell him the situation.

Also, try contacting Gioia's potential replacements, esp Deirdre Feerick (feerick09@gmail.com), David Rosasco (contact@davidrosasco.com) and Jimmy Van Bramer (jimmyvanbramer@gmail.com).

Keep me posted.

- Crapper

_____________________________________________

August 13, 2009

I sure will get you that photo. Thanks for your encouragement. I love your blog and I am avid reader - I look everyday for new posting. Keep up the great work!

A Concerned LIC Native
_____________________________________________

September 19, 2009

Has this been taken care of yet?

- Crapper
_____________________________________________

November 12, 2009

Sorry that I did not contact you sooner - the answer to your question is no - things have not gotten better. After trying my councilman, the community board, and my state senator I got nowhere. I called 311 - I contacted the department of health via their rodent complaint form and the DOB via their complaint form and nothing happened. I even contacted the dept of sanitation - nothing happened. In July, I wrote a lengthy letter to the commissioner of the dob and after months (September) - I received a letter stating that the property received several violations (I checked the DOB site). I then took the same approach for the department of health and wrote to the commissioner. I then received a letter stating that they will give the property a warning and then eventually a summons if they don't clean up the property, but that is what the DOH health said back in 2008. No one came to clean up the lot and no one came to clean up They were supposed to get a DOH summons over a year ago, but the DOH did not follow-up. In the mean time the rats have taken over. I have secured my garbage cans (I have the big plastic ones), but it does not make a difference. They patrol my block - in front of my house and in my backyard. My husband killed one with a stick and my dog killed another one. Also, now that it gets darker earlier, the rats start their patrol earlier. I guess it doesn't make a difference, my neighbors have said all along that they also have seen the rats during the day.

Bottom line - this city doesn't care about its citizens. These developers came - tore down a perfectly good building and left a piece of unattended crap for the community to deal with. This is disgraceful.

Here are a couple of things I have learned from this experience:
Local government is a joke.
311 is even funnier.
Taxpaying citizens continue to get shafted.
The end.

See attached photos.

A Concerned LIC Native
______________________________________________

Dutch Kills funding headscratcher

From the Queens Gazette:

A $20,000 state grant to Dutch Kills, delivered by state Senator George Onorato, came next. Walsh said again, as he had last month, that he sought suggestions about the best way to spend the funds and thus appear worthy of similar grants in the future. He held out a small shopping bag as a suggestion box and pleaded for written entries. Time is fairly short: the suggestions have to be acted upon and the money spent on them before next spring.

Why is the senator giving taxpayer money to a group that doesn't have a plan for its use? Doesn't that mean they don't need it? Why were other groups with stated projects passed up?

How not to deal with a constituent

So the story behind this is that an Astoria guy and his mother went to State Senator George Onorato's office and tried to make an appointment with him to discuss gay marriage (they being for it). When they got there, they were told that he would not meet with them at his District Office about the issue but perhaps would in Albany.

No matter how you feel about this particular issue, you have to agree that the Senator's office staff needs some training in public relations.

An 'oh no' from Onorato

If you were an elected official, would you put pages like this on your website?
I mean, the titles are cut off and the letters aren't signed... Sheesh.

Serf's up(side-down)

As a point of information, Queens has seven Senators. Five are Democrats and two are Republicans. During the time period covered by the data we found, the five Democrats were Shirley Huntley, George Onorato, John Sabini, Malcolm Smith, and Toby Stavisky. The two Republicans were Serf Maltese and Frank Padavan.

Politics Unusual: Save and Spend, Serf; Candidates Speak at Un-Debate

The data shows the tab to staff the offices of the two Republican senators as a hefty $1,809,710 from October 06 - September 07. By the way, that's without the senator's salaries included. Maltese's office cost us a whopping $933,661.64. Comparatively, the total cost to run the offices of the five Queens Democrats also without their salaries included, was $1,532,075.06. Maltese and Padavan cost us over a quarter-of- a-million more than the five Democrats put together.

Delving into a little perspective, running those two Queens Republican Senate offices also cost more than it did to run five of the Queens Assembly offices, all occupied by Democrats, that cover parts of the Maltese Senate District. Added together, minus their salaries, it cost us $1,425,523 to run the offices of Assemblymembers Pheffer, Hevesi, Markey, Nolan, and Seminerio. (Of course we didn’t figure the extra $500,000 Tony Seminerio allegedly picked up all on his own).

We were having so much fun that we just couldn’t stop without telling you that Maltese had 36 staff members during the time period covered by this data. Padavan had 27. That's a total of 63 employees who cost us in total, $1,625.555.93. Between them, the five Dem Senators had 11 more employees, but the tab was about half-a-million less. And those five Assemblymembers you might ask... well they cost us a total of $1,228,387 for the 58 employees they had between them.

The point of this you might be wondering...well let’s just say we think that when Sen. Maltese makes it such a big issue to point out how much money he’s supposedly saving us in tax dollars, it may be sort of relevant if he tells us where all those savings are going. From the looks of the figures above it’s easy for us to put our finger on exactly where all the savings went...to his offices.

Really now – when it comes to our money, who should we be calling reckless?

Queens Plaza: What's taking so long?

Elected officials representing western Queens at the federal, state and city level sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week in which they said they were frustrated with the slow progress of two projects that would renovate Queens Plaza in Long Island City.

Mayor blasted for lagging renovations

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) and several other borough elected officials sent a letter to the mayor in which they said they were concerned with the lack of information about construction start dates for the projects, a delayed groundbreaking for the upgrades, project coordination and that the Long Island City Business District Corporation would bear the cost of maintaining the renovated portions of the plaza.

The letter to the mayor was also signed by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, state Sen. George Onorato (D-Astoria), state Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) and City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside).

Photo of the month

State Senator George Onorato welcomes Daphne Roper, manager of the new Sovereign Bank branch at 24-29 Jackson Ave., to Long Island City.

Balanced reporting

Not only did the Queens Gazette dedicate full pages to these two incumbent pols' fundraisers, they wasted their color pages to do so:

Vallone fundraiser draws 150+

Astorians show support for Onorato at fundraiser

Well, what did you expect them to do at his fundraiser...heckle him?

Photo from Queens Gazette

Special commemorative newspaper issue

Why newspapers go easy on overdevelopment and the people who make it possible:

Amorelli Realty

Assemblyperson Mark Weprin

Assemblywoman Audrey Pfeffer

Congressmember Carolyn Maloney

Gerald Caliendo

State Senator George Onorato

Councilmember Eric Gioia

Congressmember Gary Ackerman

Congressmember Joe Crowley

Councilmember David Weprin

Councilmember Pinky Gallagher

Dynasty Realty

FDR Democratic Association

Forest City Ratner

FS Marino Realty

Global City Enterprises

Macaluso Realty

Assemblyperson Margaret Markey

Councilmember Melinda Katz

Councilmember Peter F. Vallone, Jr.

Pistilli Realty Group

Remax Today Realty

State Senator Serphin Maltese

State Senator John Sabini

Serf on Sunnyside

Landmarking is a highly polarizing issue, and like the residents of Sunnyside Gardens, the politicians who represent the neighborhood are also divided. Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) and Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) are proponents of landmark designation, while Sen. George Onorato (D-Long Island City) and Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale) are against designation.

First Step Made In Hot Landmark Case

Photo from Queens Tribune

Don't Landmark Sunnyside

A copy of the following letter was received by the Queens Gazette:

Commissioner Robert B. Tierney
Chair New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007

Dear Chairman Tierney:

I am writing with regard to the proposal currently under consideration by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate Sunnyside Gardens in Queens as a Landmarked Historic District. After having heard from many of my constituents regarding this proposal, including approximately 400 homeowner families who have banded together as an organization known as "Preserve Sunnyside Gardens," I have come to believe that landmarked historic district status is inappropriate for this community.

Designating Sunnyside Gardens as a landmarked historic district could impose onerous rules and regulations on the private homes in the neighborhood and create undue burdens for the homeowners in the area with regard to the use and appearance of their own homes. I am sure you are aware that Sunnyside Gardens is already a special Planned Community Preservation District governed by special zoning rules designed to protect the open common green spaces and limit certain building renovations inappropriate to the overall character of the neighborhood. Landmarking Sunnyside Gardens would rescind these zoning rules, a step that my constituents appear to oppose.

It is my understanding that the current proposal to landmark Sunnyside Gardens began in part as a response to a lack of enforcement of the special preservation zoning already in place in this community. Rather than designating the community as a landmarked historic district, perhaps greater effort should first be put into enforcing existing zoning rules. Regardless of where Sunnyside Gardens residents all stand on the landmarking issue, I am certain that they all share a common desire to preserve the unique character of their neighborhood. They may just disagree on the means to achieve this common goal.

I appreciate your attention to this matter, and look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.

Sincerely,
George Onorato
State Senator, 12th District

Western Queens Dems Oppose Sunnyside Landmarking

By Adam Pincus, Times Ledger
02/15/2007

In a sign of growing opposition to a proposal to landmark Sunnyside Gardens, a number of Democratic political leaders from the area have spoken out publicly on the plan.

John Smyth, Democratic district leader for the 37th Assembly District, said the city Landmarks Preservation Commission should not set a date for the proposal, a bureaucratic move that can signal the plan will ultimately be approved.

"I think the best solution would be for Landmarks not to calendar it," he said in a telephone interview Monday. He was elected to the district leader seat formerly held by the late Queens County Democratic Chairman Thomas Manton in September.

He was one of about 70 people who attended a meeting at the Sunnyside Reformed Church at 48-03 Skillman Ave. in Sunnyside Gardens, organized by a loose group of residents opposed to creating a historic district in Sunnyside Gardens, which contains about 600 buildings. The group is calling itself the Preserve Sunnyside Gardens Coalition.

State Sen. George Onorato (D-Long Island City), though not directly involved in the process, also sent a letter critical of the plan to Landmarks Commission Chairman Robert Tierney.

"I have come to believe that the landmarked historic district status is inappropriate for this community," he said.

Another Democratic district leader from the area, Deirdre Feerick, said although she supported landmarking in general, she opposed it in Sunnyside Gardens.

The situation could be difficult for City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who must navigate between voters supporting and opposing the designation.

He has been holding small meetings with residents of the proposed district in his office and area homes, residents said.

Although Landmarks can designate the area a historic district, ultimately the decision must be voted on by the Council.

Organizers of the meeting, including longtime Gardens residents and authors Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer, said they were not opposed to preservation, but did not want the additional layer of bureaucracy that would come with landmarking.

"Lets see how we can fix the current situation instead of going to Big Daddy or Big Brother," Sloan said.

The Landmarks Commission was considering a designation for about 600 buildings in Sunnyside Gardens as an historic district, which would create greater regulation as a means of preserving the area.

The third public meeting sponsored by Community Board 2 over the past three months to discuss landmarking was scheduled for Feb. 27 at the Sunnyside Community Services at 43-31 39th St. where representatives from the city departments of Buildings, City Planning and Landmarks were expected to attend.

Landmarks, which said in December that it would likely calendar the proposal by early February, has not set a date for the hearing, spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said.