Cuomo the fisherman allows dumping in Jamaica Bay

Yes, folks instedda workin, Gov Cuomo decided to veto legislation that would have protected Jamaica Bay from dumping because...drumroll...he wants DEC to be able to dump in it.

Last year, State Senator Joe Addabbo and Assembly Member Stacy Pheffer-Amato passed legislation to extend sunsetting environmental protections in place for the Bay:

In his veto statement, Cuomo said the legislation would change the criteria for fill Jamaica Bay borrow pits to comply with the federal criteria for the unrestricted ocean dumping of dredged material, which is not applicable to Jamaica Bay.

Under this bill, the Department of Conservation would be required to utilize more restrictive, and costly federal ocean dumping criteria to test the materials instead of DEC’s existing standard, and further, the legislation would make this enhanced standard permanent, Cuomo continued.

“The increased costs and time associated with the bill’s required fill standards will impact the availability of applicants with high-quality material for use as fill, which is critical for the restoration of these pits. This bill would make the procurement of this material, and in turn, the achievement of revitalization goals for Jamaica Bay extremely challenging, if not halt restoration altogether.”

Translation: We have to further contaminate the Bay in order to save it.

The bill was reintroduced and passed again, but the outcome was the same.

GOVERNOR CUOMO VETOES JAMAICA BAY PROTECTION BILL ! Looks like Governor Cuomo has vetoed the Jamaica Bay Protection...

Posted by Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers on Friday, November 27, 2020

This session, if the bill is passed again, it will likely survive Andrew "follow the science" Cuomo as there is now a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Ozone Park protests homeless shelter for mentally ill men

Honoring an outstanding veteran

From the Times Ledger:

The Vietnam Veterans of America Queens Chapter 32 will march in Monday’s Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade with their former leader, Michael O’Kane — still slowed by knee surgery — riding along in a camouflage Camaro. This year the organization will pay a special tribute to former service members from Queens who died alone and sometimes homeless.

“We are sponsoring the Francis Lewis High School Junior ROTC, who will be carrying 125 folded casket flags belonging to indigent veterans that our chapter has had the honor of escorting to their final resting place,” O’Kane said.

For nearly a decade Chapter 32 has partnered with the Hess Miller Funeral Home in Middle Village to provide dignified burials for veterans who can’t afford one. Each flag-draped casket is transported to Calverton National Cemetery in Suffolk County, where the veteran receives full military honors and since there are no family members to receive the flag, the Chapter 32 members take it back to their Whitestone headquarters where the flags are put on display.

“In an effort to reconnect a family member with their relative, a listing of the veterans’ names, date of birth and date of death will be distributed along the parade route,” O’Kane said. “Contact information will also be provided if a relative is found and the casket flag will be returned to them. This is a very proud moment for the chapter.”

He recently stepped down after serving two years as president of the chapter, but he remains on the board of directors. Last week, the Glendale resident was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame after he was selected by state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach).

O’Kane served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, where he earned the Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and the U.S. Navy Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, and Meritorious Unit Citation for engaging the enemy several times in fire fights along the various rivers and canals in the Republic of Vietnam.

DOT allows bus lane parking on weekends

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Transportation will allow motorists to park in the curbside Select Bus Service lanes on Cross Bay Boulevard from Liberty Avenue to the Belt Parkway at all hours on Saturdays, area elected officials announced Thursday.

"Today is a perfect snapshot of how government should work," state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said in front of C-Town Supermarket located at 107-66 Cross Bay Blvd. in Ozone Park. "Business owners, residents and others complain to their elected officials about a Select Bus Service that started in November and wanting change and change occurs. And we're thankful the DOT listened to our concerns and did the change."

Parking in the lanes was previously not allowed from 7 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, with buses and cars making right turns being the only vehicles allowed in the space.

The DOT on Wednesday changed the signs to let motorists know parking is now permitted all day Saturday, following pushback from business owners along the strip who said business was negatively impacted.

Rose, the manager of C-Town, said her store lost 10 to 15 percent of its Saturday customers since the restriction was put in place in November — when SBS launched on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards.

DOT's bright ideas are costly to local businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

The bus lanes on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards are affecting just about every stage of life.

According to several sources, parents dropping their toddlers and children at VIP II Daycare Center on Cross Bay Boulevard have had to park in the curbside lane and run into the building to drop off their children.

“When I called the [Department of Transportation] and told them about it, they said, ‘We know about VIP Daycare,’” said state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach).

And just a few steps away, according to several people, the hearse for James Romanelli-Stephen Funeral Home on Cross Bay has had to park on the sidewalk. Arlene Brown, from the office of Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), said late last month she witnessed one such occasion.

The DOT in October implemented the curbside bus lanes on Cross Bay from Rockaway Boulevard to the Belt Parkway, which restrict parking during morning and evening rush hours Monday to Saturday. Other businesses on the corridor have complained of financial impacts from the move.

From the Queens Chronicle:

Life in the slow lane continues for nearly a dozen frustrated Queens Boulevard business owners who say the bike lanes installed along the thoroughfare by the Department of Transportation this summer are to blame.

After months of fuming to themselves about the lanes — specifically the removal of parking spaces to accommodate them — the entrepreneurs gathered at Tropix Bar & Lounge on Monday to share their personal horror stories and brainstorm ideas on how to fight back.

“Every time a customer calls me, says he’s circling the block for one hour looking for parking, then says he will return next time,” said Edward Nisimov, the owner of both Falcoln Imports at 95-42 Queens Blvd. and Mother Imports next door. “But in the furniture business, there is usually no next time.”

After months of public outreach, the DOT removed 198 spaces along a 1.3-mile stretch of the boulevard’s service roads between Eliot Avenue and Yellowstone Boulevard to make way for the bike lanes.

Simultaneously, the agency added a number of curbside delivery-only zones which ban parking from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Sunday.

Before the lanes were installed, Nisimov said, there were approximately 24 parking spots in the direct vicinity of his businesses.

Now, he said there are just four.

NYPD call boxes now in Forest Park

From DNA Info:

Joggers and cyclists frequenting Forest Park can now call for emergency help with the press of a button, thanks to several solar-powered call boxes recently installed throughout the green space.

The NYPD has already placed eight such boxes in the park, with nine more slated to be installed there by June 29, the department said.

The 500-acre green space is popular among local families and sports aficionados, but it has seen its share of violence in recent years, including a string of sexual assaults, several robberies, numerous car break-ins and a murder.

Following the series of sexual attacks, the 102nd Precinct assigned permanent patrols to monitor the park, and last summer, 14 cameras were placed in seven locations around the park, after Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Sen. Joseph Addabbo allocated $250,000 for that purpose in 2013.

Councilman Eric Ulrich, whose constituents frequent the green space, allocated $140,000 for the call boxes, hoping that they "will help to keep Forest Park visitors safe,” he said.

Assemblyman Miller also footed a portion of the bill, according to Ulrich's office.

The locations of the new call boxes, which include Metropolitan Avenue and Forest Park Drive as well as Woodhaven Boulevard and Forest Park Drive, were determined by the NYPD, officials said.

Yet another hotel used for homeless

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Homeless Services recently moved dozens of homeless families into the Comfort Inn in Ozone Park — and a nearby resident says the area has become a hotspot for illicit activity.

“It’s filthy there,” said Dominic, a resident who lives nearby. “There’s food just laying on the windowsills all the time ... people smoking marijuana outside.”

It’s unclear when the families were moved to the hotel, located at 137-30 Redding St., a short distance from PS/MS 202.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Park) and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) condemned the use of the hotel as a homeless shelter in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

Dominic said in addition to people smoking marijuana, he’s spotted people he believes to be living in the hotel engaging in sexual activity.

He’s not the only one to report such acts, as other residents have reported them to area politicians.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Civics to de Blasio: Pay for your own lawyers!

From the Queens Chronicle:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post tells de Blasio to knock off the racism crap

From the NY Post:

If Mayor de Blasio thinks the Queens folks who’ve derailed his push for a new homeless shelter in Maspeth are just racists, he should say so himself. If he doesn’t, he needs to fire the aides who keep pushing that smear.

It’s been more than a week since mayoral aide Aja Worthy-Davis said city Comptroller Scott Stringer should be “ashamed” after “courting a group advocating for kicking women and toddlers onto the street [and] using ‘White Lives Matter’ as their protest song.”

Stringer had merely visited the Juniper Park Civic Association in Maspeth to hear concerns about the mayor’s ill-advised shelter plan for the area. More, he’d made a point of warning that the city needs more homeless shelters — but that communities deserve to have input on siting issues.

Cue Worthy-Davis’ harsh words — which themselves echo two videos put on the City Hall Web site by the mayor’s aides.

State Sen. Joe Addabbo accuses the mayor — rightly so — of hiding “behind an imaginary racial battle” that has no place in solving homelessness.

Worse, it seems de Blasio is leaving it to his aides to play the race card for him.

Man up, Mr. Mayor.

Electeds knew about Queens shelter plan in 2014 - did nothing

During a debate held in Rockaway on Wednesday evening, Joseph Addabbo revealed that Queens elected officials were told by Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Emma Wolfe at a meeting in 2014 that Queens was about to be bombarded with homeless shelters because we didn't have "our fair share" of them.

These fantastic representatives of ours strangely sat on this information and allowed the rollout to happen rather than raise holy hell in an effort to stop it. And they think they deserve re-election?

In fairness, the response of the challenger, Mike Conigliaro, is presented.

The day that Maspeth marched through Floral Park

Below are photo albums from the Bellerose/Floral Park march that happened this Saturday.



You will notice that the signs protest the de Blasio administration, local politicians, Steven Banks and the DHS. There are none protesting against homeless children.



Joseph Concannon spoke first. It's obvious from his criticism of de Blasio's homeless policies that he must hate homeless children. (end sarcasm)



Mayor de Blasio must also think that State Senators Martins and Addabbo are child haters since they both attended the rally.





Funny how the Queens Machine stays silent about the mayor not only dumping shelters all over the borough, but unfairly framing one of their members and their constituents as people who want to see kids sleeping on the streets.

The protesters, however, aren't silent:





It also sounds like this movement is growing:

Other neighborhoods are getting pissed off about this as well. Click the photo below to hear from Rosedale and Woodside.

Thank you to Juniper Civic and Queens by the Minute for the additional footage.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

From the Daily News:

The opening of a controversial homeless shelter slated for Maspeth, Queens, has been postponed, officials said Wednesday.

The shelter was set to open Oct. 1 in a converted Holiday Inn.

“This postponement gives us the opportunity to continue to bring pressure on the City to change its plan for Maspeth,” said Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens).

City Hall sources said the plan will still go forward and the opening will only be pushed back a few weeks.

Compare the coverage above to this coverage from QNS:

The planned opening date of Oct. 1 for the proposed homeless shelter at the Holiday Inn Express on 55th Road has been postponed, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey announced on Wednesday.

After holding phone conversations with both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Steve Banks, Department of Homeless Services (DHS) commissioner, on Sept. 6 and 7, Markey reported that the city has agreed to not move forward with the original opening date of Oct. 1 for the proposed shelter, and will continue to evaluate the plan and the program for location.

“This postponement gives us the opportunity to continue to bring pressure on the city to change its plan for Maspeth,” Markey said. “With [the] Community Board 5 (CB 5) review still underway, we still have not seen answers to our continuing concerns about the location of the facility, the track record of the proposed provider and details about the financial arrangement between the city, Acacia Network and the hotel owner.”

Shortly after the shelter proposal was made in early August, Markey reached out to City Comptroller Scott Stringer to aide her in examining the proposal. Stringer then met with Markey, other elected officials and local civic leaders where he explained that he is responsible for reviewing the contract for any facility once it is submitted. As of today, Markey announced, Stringer has yet to receive a contract for the proposed shelter at the Holiday Inn.

This has set off a bunch of questions which I think we all can answer rhetorically.

• Do we really think that a phone call from Marge ("Why are you booing me?") Markey caused Steven Banks and Bill de Blasio postpone this, or was it the fact that the community held a march shutting down streets and exposing the fact that the owner has a history of bribery?
• As shelter contracts require 30 days written notice to the community, if I was a reporter, I would have called the comptroller's office on September 1, which was the deadline for the receipt of the proposal. Upon finding out that there was no submission, I would have reported that the plan was obviously delayed and investigated why.
• Why were Fox 5 and PIX11 news at the protest last night while the local press was busy crafting a politician's press release into a story?
• Do they all realize that Joe Addabbo told protesters last night that he found Markey's claim surprising being that he and and Liz Crowley didn't receive notification from the city that the plan is delayed?
• Do we think that this "story" is conveniently timed just before the primary coming up this Tuesday to Make Marge Markey look like she is actually doing something?

Crowd turns their backs on DHS Commissioner Banks at shelter hearing

From PIX11:

On Wednesday night a spirited crowd with sharp verbal jabs came out to a Community Board meeting that started with the crowd of nearly 1,000 turning their backs on Commissioner Banks.

"It's a travesty what these politicians do and get away with without having public opinion, that is why we all stand here with our backs to him," said one attendee.

Commissioner Banks took very few questions. He primarily sat in his suit, tie and loafers. The only movement on his body was the slow twitch of his fingers.

His body language did not sit well for many at the meeting.

"He is so ice cold. He sued the city for the last thirty years, reaping our tax dollars. He is insensitive to he whole thing, the man should get kicked out and De Blasio should get a new commissioner put in."

As constituents protest, electeds hold secret meeting with Maspeth shelter operator

This gets more and more interesting. Apparently as protesters continued their nightly vigil outside the hotel, one night before the public meeting about the shelter, Maspeth's electeds and members of CB5 decided to hold a secret meeting at O'Neill's Restaurant (no one would ever see them there) with Acacia Network in order to discuss the security plan for the shelter they are supposedly fighting. We're still 30 days away from the opening of the shelter and these people have already thrown in the towel by meeting to discuss the security plan.

The only problem is that when you have a secret meeting in a place half the town visits regularly, you are bound to get caught. That's exactly what happened. The police notified the electeds that the protesters were storming up to the restaurant and they ran away just before they got up there.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Part of secret Maspeth shelter meeting caught on video

Well, well, well. We finally have a look inside the "secret" meeting that was held August 3rd at the Maspeth Library to "inform" elected officials about the conversion of the local Holiday Inn Express into a 110-room homeless shelter for adult couples without children.

In this video you will note:

• The first person heard speaking is Vincent Arcuri, Chairman of Queens CB5. He mentions that the next CB5 meeting is not until September 14th and they need more time to inform the public and study the issue. The city knew this and planned this entire thing for when CB5 was in recess and most board members are on vacation. It's an old trick.


• Marge Markey and Joe Addabbo stay silent (Addabbo actually left the room).


• Lincoln Restler and cohort stating that they have to "plan capacity" (because there is no immediate need but they will be producing more homeless to enrich de Blasio's friends in the homeless warehousing industry). Arcuri points out that they are not "planning capacity" if they are moving people in the day it converts.


• Note that Lincoln Restler planned a meeting at a library knowing full well that there was a children's program scheduled and that they would have to cut it short.


• "This was intended to be a briefing for the elected officials" so he brought them a dozen donuts from Greenpoint. Why not hold it at the CB office one of the electeds' offices?


• Liz Crowley saying "as the council member that represents both Glendale and Maspeth, I feel that you are pitting one part of my district against another and I think that's unfair" - indicating that she is fully aware that a swap is being made.


• No one at the table questioning why 35 rooms would be an acceptable alternative to a 110-unit shelter. Instead they are going to idiotically knock themselves out looking for sites they can mention as alternatives so that the district will end up with an influx of 290 homeless people instead of 220.


• Liz Crowley demanding that no 60-day clock start and instead of answering her, the city reps get up and walk out.


• Someone yells out "So is the clock ticking?" and there's no answer.

Friends in Maspeth, with this type of representation, you are royally screwed.

Interesting signs pop up at Maspeth shelter protest

Will any elected official ever show up? Maybe someone from outside the district?

Day 3 of protests and still no electeds

Screenshot of NY1 website

Hundreds of Maspeth residents have been showing up every night at the Holiday Inn Express to protest against the mayor's plan to dump 220 homeless adults into their community. Noticeably absent are Elizabeth Crowley, Joe Addabbo and Marge Markey, the elected officials who represent the area. Their lack of attendance is one of the biggest topics mentioned every night. You really need to wonder what they are thinking by not showing up to support their constituents.

Several shelters were defeated over the last 2 years

From Norwood News:

In a rare reversal, a Bedford Park landlord has halted a process to convert a significant portion of their seven-story building into a shelter, a win for tenants who are celebrating with cautious optimism.

From the Daily News:

A city plan to site temporary housing for the homeless on residential Taylor Ave. in Van Nest has been scuttled, said one official from the local community board. The decision came days after neighbors railed against the shelter at a hearing in Morris Park.

From Politico:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has dropped a proposal to convert some vacant buildings at the former Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens into shelters for the homeless, a senior administration official told POLITICO New York Monday.

State Sen. Tony Avella, whose Queens district includes Creedmoor, said he was assured late last week by the governor’s office that the plan was going nowhere.

From Politico:

One day after Councilman Donovan Richards asked the de Blasio administration to reconsider opening a men's homeless shelter in his Rockaway district, the Department of Homeless Services said it has scrapped the plan.

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio has put the kibosh on a homeless shelter proposed for the Upper West Side, the man pushing the project claims.

Anti-shelter pressure came from local elected officials, including Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, a former councilwoman.

From the Queens Chronicle:

It’s official: There will be no city homeless shelter in Bayside. City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) reports that he was officially notified by the Department of Homeless Services that the plan to put one there, announced in October, has been taken off the table.

Cameras finally installed in Forest Park

From DNA Info:

After numerous delays owing to red tape in Albany, NYPD security cameras have finally been installed around Forest Park, nearly three years after the last assault in a string of sexual attacks that terrified parkgoers.

In total, 14 cameras were placed in seven locations around the 500-acre park last week, including at the entrances to the park, near main trails used by bicyclists and joggers, and close to playgrounds, officials said.

The equipment was installed after Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Sen. Joseph Addabbo allocated $250,000 for the cameras to be placed in the park back in 2013.

Officials said they hope the cameras will serve as a deterrent to crime and that they will also help identify suspects in the future.

Pols ask for some common sense

From the Queens Chronicle:

Three elected officials representing a large stretch of Woodhaven Boulevard have asked the Department of Transportation to go back to an alternative plan for its Select Bus Service proposal.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Woodhaven) and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) in a May 2 letter urged DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to utilize what is called Concept 1 for SBS from Rockaway Boulevard to Park Lane South.

The DOT originally proposed three concepts for SBS and last March announced it is going ahead with Concept 2, much to the chagrin of some residents who oppose the plan. Others, however, support it.

Concept 1 would have the dedicated bus lanes along the corridor be placed along the service road of Woodhaven Boulevard, rather than along revamped medians, as is being proposed by the agency.

The stretch of Woodhaven Boulevard from Park Lane South to Rockaway Boulevard will be the only part of the corridor that has the median lanes, which also will require commuters to wait in the middle of the road on redesigned bus stops.