Small Business Congress lays blame for Court Square Library closing and delay of SBSJA on Jimmy Van Bramer

SBC - The Small Business Congress      

E-mail  savenycjobs@gmail.com                Websites:  Savenycjobs.org

 Councilman Van Bramer’s  Favoring Big Real Estate over Commercial Tenants 

Is The Reason for Queens Closings!

Deadline NYC, Jan. 10, 2020:

Yesterday the Queens Public Library announced that their Court Square Library will close on Feb. 15, 2020 due to being unable to find suitable long term space and reasonable lease terms in an area with sky high rents.  Councilman Van Bramer disagrees with their reason for closing and blames the Library for dragging its feet in finding a new location. 

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer made clear who was responsible, “This could and should have been avoided…...this is about the library failing to plan for this community.”  The truth is CM Van Bramer is fully to blame for this library closing as well as all Queens businesses willing and able to pay a reasonable rent but forced to close because they have no rights when their leases expired to negotiate reasonable lease terms. They have no rights because CM Van Bramer has fought against any legislation giving them rights. 

CM Van Bramer should be ashamed of the critical role he played in using his office to work to prevent a vote on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, giving all commercial tenants rights when their leases expire.  Rights needed to remain long term in business and rights to equally negotiate fair lease terms that would allow owners to make a reasonable profit. Instead, CM Van Bramer actions has favored the real estate lobby’s interests and he has worked to “keep the status quo”, which is destroying the backbone of Queens local economy.

These are the facts CM Van Bramer does not want the Queens residents to know which shows how hypocritical his statement is, “This (closing) could and should have been avoided.”  All of the Queens business closings for the past decade could and should have been avoided, if not for lawmakers abandoning their progressive values and selling out to big real estate for their own political ambitions.

CM Van Bramer was the Majority leader of the City Council from 2014 thru 2017. A leadership role that offered a platform to be a strong voice for Queens small businesses.  Adding to this political influence was the fact the majority members of the Small Business Committee were Queens council members (5 of 9 members). Other than the Speaker, no council member was in a better position to influence legislation to save Queens small businesses than CM Van Bramer.  What did CM Van Bramer do with all this political power to

prevent the growing small business crisis from coming to main streets in Queens? 

For the entire term of CM Van Bramer he did absolutely “nothing” to save a single business, job, or give rights to businesses to survive.   Only once under the many Speakers in over 30 years has the Jobs Act not been allowed to have an honest hearing in council. That was under Majority leader Van Bramer’s term with the majority members on the Small Business Committee from Queens.  Not only was the Jobs Act denied a hearing but NO hearing was held under Van Bramer’s watch to address the sky high rents and the growing crisis forcing the closing of small businesses citywide, even when the crisis came to Queens. Just one honest public hearing on the Jobs Act would have shown the bill to be only solution to save small businesses.  The Queens desperate small business owners, especially the immigrant owners, would have NO Voice at City Hall under Van Bramer’s entire leadership. His recent sponsorship of the worthless Levin Commercial Rent Stabilization bill shows they still have NO voice.

CM Van Bramer is Chairman of the Arts and Cultural committee and not once as Chairman did he hold a hearing specifically on finding legislation to stop the closing of our city’s art and cultural tenants. 

Under CM Van Bramer’s watch no effort was ever made to have the Council’s legal department resolve any legal issues with the Jobs Act. For every legislation introduced in the council, the legal department will review and give recommendation to its legality and recommend amendments to resolve any real or potential legal issues. The one exception to this policy is the Jobs Act, whose unsubstantiated legal claims remain for over a decade.  CM Van Bramer claims he is a proud sponsor of the Jobs Act and yet never once did he use the power and influence of his office to insist that the legal department due their duty and treat the Jobs Act like other legislation by resolving any legal claims. During his entire tenure as Majority of Council, Van Bramer remained silent and complicit to the rigging by the Speakers’ Office and REBNY to stop the Jobs Act.

In May 2016,  87 Queens Associations signed a petition calling upon Queens lawmakers to stand up for small businesses as they face a crisis to survive caused by exorbitant rent increases. Community leadership signed this petition calling on Queens lawmakers to “ address the crisis quickly by passing the Small Business Jobs Survival Act,  which gives rights to owners to protect and preserve Queens’s businesses and jobs”. 

What was the Majority leader of the Council’s response to the largest Queens community groups’ plea to do something?  CM Van Bramer did not respond and continued his policy in the face of this crisis, to “do nothing.” 

CM Van Bramer should be embarrassed by allowing the Small Business Committee to have NO members on it representing Queens small businesses. It is bad enough to allow, without protest, CM Mark Gjonaj, a real estate owner and an anti small business chairman, but to also allow a vital committee that in a time of crisis will determine the future of every Queens small business owner and the future of their employees to have NO representative is a disgrace.  Clearly, CM Van Bramer is going along with the rigging by REBNY to stop the Jobs Act.

CM Van Bramer’s statement on the Court Square Library closing, “I believe they dragged their feet and now we’re in a crisis where this community is faced with the loss of a public library.”  No lawmaker has dragged his feet more than CM Van Bramer in pressuring the Speaker to make the changes in the Jobs Act and bring it to a vote.

On Oct 22, 2018 at the hearing on the Jobs Act, Speaker Johnson repeated many times the Jobs Act would be changed to not include or protect big Fortune Companies like Goldman Sachs, and then moved to a vote. In the face of a growing small business crisis Speaker Johnson, when questioned on the progress of the Jobs Bill repeatedly said, “it’s being tweaked and fine tuned.”  The changes to the Jobs Act that Speaker Johnson pledged to make would take one hour to make. A simple change in the definition of who the bill covers, one paragraph. Yet, 14 months after the hearing and no changes to the Jobs Act have been made!!  With Queens businesses closing monthly, why didn’t CM Van Bramer go to Speaker Johnson to encourage him to “ stop dragging his feet” and make the changes so the Queens commercial tenants, like the Court Square Library would have rights to renewal their leases for 10 years, which would stop the closings?

The reason CM Van Bramer did not “push” Speaker Johnson to make the changes to the Jobs Act and move it to a vote and begin saving Queens businesses was because CM Van Bramer was promoting another bill written by the real estate lobby.  On December 13th, Councilman Van Bramer held a rally in Sunny Side Queens proclaiming his endorsement of Councilman Levin’s new bill, Commercial Rent Stabilization.  A bill touted to save small businesses by having a commercial rent guideline board set rent increases for businesses,

This bill is an insult to every business owner in Queens and an affront to good government. What CM Van Bramer has done was throw Queens businesses under the bus by promoting legislation to kill the Jobs Act.  CM Van Bramer was promoting legislation that would substitute for the only real solution to save small businesses, and promote legislation that would keep the “status quo.” destroying small businesses.  This new bill was written by REBNY to keep all the rights solely in the hands of the landlords and would give NO rights to business owners.  CM Van Bramer along with CM Lander and CM Levin were serving big real estate interests by stopping a Tenants Rights Bill ( Jobs Act) and substituting a Landlords Rights Act (Levin Bill). 

How does CM Van Bramer explain why the simple change to the Jobs Act was never made and instead, 14 months later end up in another bill which was written by the real estate lobby?  How does CM Van Bramer explain how the council ends up with two bills at the same time dealing with Commercial Lease Renewal Process?  In the long 34 year debate on the Jobs Act, never once has two bills been in play, but today CM Van Bramer is promoting one of bills while he is a proud sponsor of the other.  The public may be confused by CM Van Bramer’s actions but the small business advocates who wrote the Jobs Act are not. Sung Soo Kim, Godfather of immigrant businesses, “ CM Van Bramer has joined in the rigging to stop the Jobs Act.”

How shameful that CM Van Bramer remains silent on the small business crisis for his entire term and only now speaks loudly in support of a Landlords Bill that was created for only one purpose, to kill the Jobs Act, and with it the hope for survival for countless Queens businesses.   

* Sung Soo Kim, recognized as the “godfather of immigrant businesses” and major advocate for over 30 years.  He is the founder of the oldest small business service center in NYC, the Korean American Small Business Service Center, and was chairman of the Mayor’s First Small Business Advisory Board, appointed by Mayors Dinkins and Giuliani. He is co-founder of Small Business Congress and sole creator of the Small Business Bill of Rights.  He has spent every working day for 30 years addressing the problems of immigrant small business owners. He never took a salary from government as Chairman of Small Business Advisory Board nor in consulting on numerous regulations. He turned down offers to run a BID in Queens and turned down government funding for his business service center.  In 30 years he has personally negotiated and re-negotiated an estimated 50,000-55,000 commercial leases for his Korean/Chinese members. He has gone to court twice a week for over 30 years to fight for his members in court.

Oh, poor Jimmy!

From the Commercial Observer:

City councilman Jimmy Van Bramer presides over one of New York City’s hottest real estate markets: western Queens. And one of its submarkets, Long Island City, is on track to get 6,200 new residential units by next year and sits at the heart of crucial zoning, infrastructure, transportation and urban planning issues that affect much of the city.

The 49-year-old councilman, who represents LIC, part of Astoria, Sunnyside and Woodside, was raised in his district by a printer father and painter mother, both union members. Since taking office in 2009, he has found himself facing down developers and community activists alike, while trying to stay true to both his core principles and his working-class neighborhood roots.

Over the past few years, he’s netted some victories for his district, like a new modern library for Hunters Point South in LIC and protected bike and bus lanes along Queens Boulevard. He’s also run into controversy over development and transit issues, like when he refused to greenlight a 2016 rezoning for a 200-unit affordable apartment building developed by Phipps Houses in Sunnyside. And last year he clashed with neighbors and businesses along Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside for proposing protected bike lanes there and along 43rd Avenue after two cyclists were killed by motorists. (After getting pushback from local merchants and the community board over bike lanes replacing parking spots, he abandoned the plan. Congressman Joe Crowley—recently unseated in a surprise victory by democratic socialist candidate Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez—even weighed in on Twitter to oppose the bike lanes.)

Hunters Point library besieged with delays

From the LIC Post:

The Hunters Point Library will not open until the summer of 2019 as the project continues to be besieged by construction delays.

The city agency in charge of overseeing the construction estimates that the library will be completed by the end of the year, with the Queens Library taking an additional three to six months to get it ready for opening.

The 22,000-square foot library, which has been under construction since 2015, was expected to open in the first half of 2017. However, between the complex design and issues with the general contractor it continues to be behind schedule.

The major source of the delays can be attributed to the performance of the general contractor, Triton Structural, according to Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer. “The contractor has essentially defaulted on the project.”

Waterfront library's opening pushed back to 2019

From LIC Post:

Construction on the the Hunters Point Library is delayed once more, and is expected to be completed in August 2018 with a possible opening in 2019.

The update on the $40 million project was announced on Dec. 18, when the Department of Design and Construction and the Queens Public Library testified on the progress of several library projects during the City Council Subcommittee on Libraries meeting, chaired by Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Long Island City).

“It is a unique design,” Walcott said at the meeting. “When we talk about outfitting a normal library it can be three to four months. With Hunters Point we are saying six months.”

Van Bramer questioned the DDC and the QPL on the series of “horrific” mistakes that have led to the project’s multiple delays, including the fiasco involving the glass used for the library’s windows.

The architect, Steven Holl, insisted that a specific type of glass be used for the building due to its lighting and heat features. The glass chosen was manufactured in Germany, glazed in Spain, and eventually exported to Connecticut before reaching Long Island City. The glass was held up in Spain, however, due to a strike by dock workers at a port.

Only "under two years" of additional delays? It's a Festivus miracle!

Hideous LIC library experiencing delays

From Curbed:

Just when it seemed like Hunters Point’s zany library was on track for its opening this year, the project has been delayed yet again. This time it’s because the project is waiting on a glass shipment from Spain, where a workers strike has delayed delivery, DNAinfo reports.

The Steven Holl Architects-designed library was once set to open by the end of 2014. Budgeting concerns delayed the project and construction only got underway in March 2015. There’s been steady progress since, with the library being fitted with its concrete facade last fall.

Now this latest setback means the library’s opening could be delayed to the end of this year or early next year. A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Design and Construction told DNAinfo that the project is expected to be complete by September.

But the Queens Library will take another four months after construction wraps to actually get the library ready to open to the public. It’s not yet clear if this delay will also escalate costs on the $38 million project, but it wouldn’t be a first for big name-architect-designed project funded by the city.Just when it seemed like Hunters Point’s zany library was on track for its opening this year, the project has been delayed yet again. This time it’s because the project is waiting on a glass shipment from Spain, where a workers strike has delayed delivery, DNAinfo reports.

The Department of Bureaucracy

From the Wall Street Journal:

New York City’s libraries and other cultural organizations looking to build facilities or make repairs often endure a staggeringly long process and added costs under the agency that manages such city-funded projects, a report finds.

The city’s Department of Design and Construction was created in 1996 to consolidate and more efficiently manage the city’s capital projects. But a study issued by the Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan policy think tank, found that delays and cost overruns were pervasive among the 144 library and cultural projects analyzed between 2010 and 2014.

The study revealed that the median cost of construction for new library and cultural buildings managed by the DDC was $930 a square foot, compared with $425 to $500 a square foot range for speculative office construction costs estimated by a New York Building Congress analysis of 2015 New York City construction costs.

The main problem: Excessive layers of reviews and approvals dragged out these projects, according to the report, conducted in partnership with the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan nonprofit group.

New Elmhurst Library opens - finally!

From the Queens Tribune:

The $32.4 million, 32,000-square-foot library, which is projected to serve 1.2 million visitors annually, is now open. And to celebrate the official opening, CEO and president of Queens Library Dennis Walcott, Borough President Melinda Katz, and every civic leader and elected official within the confines of the district gathered together at the Elmhurst Community Library at noon on Tuesday for a ribbon cutting, followed by the official opening of the doors to consumers.

Originally, the Elmhurst Community Library, which had broken ground in 2011, was set to open in 2013. However the date continued to shift back. The 2013 grand opening was then set for spring 2014, followed by a set opening for spring 2015.

Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights) said the new Elmhurst Community Library is the most beautiful building he had ever seen in his life, and is “one of those buildings that will be cherished every time anyone walks by.”

This guy must not get out much if he thinks that's the most beautiful building in creation.

Queens Library to protest Trump

From LIC Post:

Demonstrations and protests have dominated cities across the country since the election last week, and now a local politician is getting in on the action.

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer will be leading a march across the Queensboro Bridge to Trump Tower on Saturday to protest against the values that President Elect Donald Trump espouses. The march will begin at 1 pm and will leave from Dutch Kills Green in Queens Plaza.

Organizations included in the event tonight are:

-Planned Parenthood of New York City

-Girl Scouts of Greater New York

-Make the Road New York

-Woodside On the Move

-Jacob Riis Center

-Sunnyside Community Services

-Emerald Isle Immigration Center

-Big Reuse

-Catholic Migration Center

-Queens Library

-Fortune Society

-Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City

-Muslim Student Association of Aviation High School

-Theater of the Oppressed New York

-Aids Center of Queens County

-The Arab American Family Support Center

-…And possibly more

These protests get more comical by the day. There were no protests when they were sure he would lose.

Former Queens Library president makes a pretty penny

From onrockaway:

Only in New York City would a man who used more than $250,000 in public funds on “inappropriate” expenses be rewarded with a $300,000 windfall and be protected from paying back the money he used.

City officials, have agreed to just that deal with Queens Library president Thomas Galante, who got canned for his actions and then sued the city for violating his contract. The city caved and paid out the money. The library has agreed to settle Galante’s severance suit for $1.5 million, most of which will go to legal fees, except for $300,000 that he will pocket.

An audit by the city Comptroller’s Office found that he racked up roughly $260,000 in “inappropriate” expenses on his library-issued credit cards over two years including for food, booze, casino trips and concert tickets.

Nevertheless, Galante filed suit last year in Brooklyn federal court after he was terminated in December 2014, claiming he was due severance pay under his contract because he was not fired for cause. But even though the library argued that he was indeed fired for cause, it decided not to fight Galante in court.

A Frank Lloyd Crap special?

You might want to check out the progress of the construction of the Hunters Point Library over at Curbed. The photos are quite something.

Elizabeth Crowley knew about Maspeth shelter in JUNE, told no one

Questioning @NYCHRA Commissioner Banks at BP @MelindaKatz's Borough Board meeting on homelessness in Queens. pic.twitter.com/e8yrExVVWu

— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) October 19, 2016

Something a bit earth-shattering - at least if you live in Maspeth - happened last night at Borough Hall. As you are likely aware, DHS Commissioner Steven Banks gave a presentation to the Borough Board. He also took questions from the board members. Elizabeth Crowley got into it with him. He then responded by stating, "When I met with you in private in June and explained to you what our plan would be, I never said any of the things that you said." You can hear the exchange yourself by downloading the file from here. The exchange begins at 0:56:06.

So, despite what Crowley, Addabbo and Markey would like everyone to believe, this was known about long before that secret Maspeth Library meeting where she acted surprised and outraged in front of members of the community board and the community at large. And why would she meet with Banks privately, if not to make a deal?

Queens Library makes historic photos available online

From the Times Ledger:

The Archives at Queens Library has collected more than 50,000 items since 1912, detailing the history of the four counties that originally comprised Long Island, including Queens, Kings, Nassau and Suffolk, before New York City consolidated in 1898.

The new space for the archives features climate-controlled storage units to preserve the older items, and users accessing the archives online will be able to search through the contents by neighborhood, material type and collection name. The archives include maps, books, newspapers, musical scores, and thousands of photographs from throughout the history of the four counties.

The archives can be accessed online at digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org.

Queens Library now involved in de Blasio woes

From Progress Queens:

Large campaign contributors, lobbyists doubling as bundlers, lawyers, and real estate developers were listed on a spreadsheet that totaled 97 names from which top officials in the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-New York City) were said to have selected key appointments during his first months in office.

Ultimately, at least 43 of the 97 individuals appearing on the spreadsheet accepted at least one appointment.

The existence of the spreadsheet and some of its details were revealed in a bombshell report published Tuesday by The New York Daily News.

The spreadsheet "shows how the mayor uses the power of his office to reward those who have sent checks his way," wrote the journalists Jennifer Fermino and Greg Smith, adding, in part, later in the report that, the spreadsheet "makes clear the very top of City Hall was involved in coordinating appointments for VIPs."

The news report noted that some individuals listed on the spreadsheet eventually were appointed to government agencies and quasi-government bodies, such as the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, and the Queens Borough Public Library.

...the office of Borough President Katz would not comment when asked by Progress Queens about the possibility that Mayor de Blasio was selecting political supporters to serve as Trustees of the Queens Borough Public Library during a time when the public has been demanding more accountability from the library system's leadership.

Presented without comment

Photo by Bill Parry/Times Ledger

From Progress Queens:

The sale of a Brooklyn Heights library branch that many flagged as troublesome, but which was nonetheless approved by the New York City Council, has become the subject of a reported Federal corruption investigation, according to news reports.

Now, one leading library advocacy group has expressed criticism of the judgment of a Queens municipal legislator, who has portrayed himself to be a defender of public libraries : Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Woodside).

“Although Councilmember Van Bramer is known as and presents himself to be Mister Library,” said Michael D.D. White, who co-founded the community group Citizens Defending Libraries, which has endeavored to save libraries from closure or sale, “he has not been pro-library. He has been pro-real estate deals.”

Councilmember Van Bramer did not answer a request made by Progress Queens for an interview for this report.

Excitement over new library, apathy over history

From DNA Info:

The reconstructed library on Broadway, which was originally scheduled to open three years ago, should be ready in the fall, Queens Library officials said Monday.

Construction on the new site is "95 percent complete," according to Dennis Verriello, the vice president of capital projects and facilities.

Verriello spoke at a public hearing on the library's budget that took place at the Main Street branch in Flushing on Monday night.

Library officials anticipate that the Elmhurst library will open by the fall, once furniture and millwork is complete.

During construction, which began in the spring of 2012, the library has been operating out of a trailer across the street from its new location.

Meanwhile, the story of what's been going on across the street at the Old St. James Episcopal Church (built circa 1735, which the city refuses to landmark) continues to be ignored by the press, along with the fact that the Library is damaging its interior by using it as a construction staging area.

But hell this is Queens, so whaddowee expec?

Walcott is new Queens Library CEO

From the Daily News:

Respected former city Schools Chancellor and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott is poised to take over as CEO of the Queens Library, the Daily News has learned.

Walcott, who grew up in Queens, is expected to bring a steady hand to the busy system that was rocked by the free-spending ways of former CEO Thomas Galante.

“We are confident that Dennis Walcott has exactly the right skills and depth of experience to lead the library through the challenging years ahead,” said Carl Koerner and Judith Bergtraum, who served on the Queens Library Board’s search committee.

Walcott was chosen after a six-month national search, officials said.

Library sues Galante

From the Daily News:

The ex-CEO of the Queens Library expensed books he bought on Amazon for his Kindle, the library says in court papers.

The library filed the complaint about Thomas Galante in a countersuit to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses and legal fees it forked over to the ousted executive, the Daily News has learned.

In the scathing answer to Galante's breach-of-contract suit demanding $2.2 million in severance pay, the Queens Library seeks more than $200,000 in questionable expenses from 2009 to 2014.

Thomas Galante sits on the board meeting briefly before leaving for the evening. He was later voted on Administrative Leave with pay, September 11, 2014.
In addition, the library wants Galante to return $260,715 it paid to his attorneys after he and his consulting company were slapped with subpoenas by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.

All Queens libraries will be open 6 days a week

From DNA Info:

All 62 branches of the Queens Borough Public Library will soon be open at least six days a week, thanks to increased city funding, the library announced Tuesday.

The last time all library branches in the borough were open six days a week was more than a decade ago, the library said.

Queens Library: still not cleaned up?

From Sunnyside Post:

There are substantial reasons to doubt that the Queens Library has yet turned the corner on the use of taxpayer monies or that the public can have full confidence in the Library Board to make decisions in the best public interest without continued close monitoring by the appropriate authority outside the Library bureaucracy.

What has the Library done to recoup and recover monies the Comptroller characterized as embezzled by its two top executives?

Virtually nothing. Worse than that, the Library now refers to the Comptroller’s findings of a “sickening track record of waste, fraud and abuse” as “allegations,” particularly with respect to the approximately $50,000 the Comptroller says was spent by current Acting CEO Bridget Quinn-Carey on personal items, not authorized, in violation of policy, for which she may owe taxes. Here’s what the Library Board has to say regarding the Quinn-Carey expenses:

“On July 23, 2015, the Queens Library Board met in executive session to hear the preliminary findings of our general counsel regarding the Comptroller’s investigation as they relate to Interim President and CEO Bridget Quinn-Carey. The credit card charges highlighted by the Comptroller relative to Ms. Quinn-Carey are predominantly purchases of goods and services for Library business. Some of the charges continue to be reviewed. The Board will wait for the full review before taking further action. Since the date of these charges this Board has imposed even greater standards for incurring and documenting purchases for all employees.”

A Library spokesperson said that the General Counsel who reviewed Quinn-Carey’s expenditures was Lewis Finkelman, who was hired by Ms. Quinn-Carey.

The precise date of his hire was not made available and there was no public announcement of his hire. Finkelman’s identification as General Counsel does not appear on the Library website (unlike in the past when the General Counsel was identified).

There is an internal staff announcement of his hire dated July 20, 2015. The Library spokesperson said that Mr. Finkelman reports to Ms. Quinn-Carey as the Acting Chief Executive Officer.

More detailed information was not provided by the Queens Library after repeated question.

Redbird may fly in a better location

DNA Info suggests 5 better places for the redbird tourism center than borough hall:

Long Island City, JFK, LaGuardia, Times Square and the Flushing Library