Major World in major trouble

From NY1:

The commercials for the Major World Car Dealership promise no pressure sales tactics and affordable financing.

But according to the city's department of consumer affairs (DCA), the claims are misleading.

"These ads typically promise loans even when you have poor credit, and often result in predatory lending targeted at New Yorkers with limited English proficiency and with poor credit history," said Lorelei Salas, the commissioner of the department of consumer affairs.

The agency says the dealership targeted Spanish speakers by forcing the customers to sign contracts in English — even though the verbal negotiations were done in Spanish.

DCA also alleges that Major World inflated car values, sold defective vehicles, and even changed incomes and job titles on loan papers so applicants would qualify.

The DCA is seeking nearly $2 million in fines and restitution, and calling for the revocation of the dealership's license.

You've been warned!

From the Daily News:

Airbnb hosts and their neighbors are about to get an education in New York’s new law cracking down on the advertising of illegal short-term rentals.

Share Better, an anti-Airbnb coalition that includes politicians and the hotel industry, is launching a new ad campaign and website Tuesday warning about the new law and the costs of violating it.

Ads will also encourage neighbors who suspect illegal rentals in their building to alert the city.

“AIRBNB HOSTS: KNOW THE LAW,” the headline on one ad reads. “YOU COULD FACE FINES UP TO $7,500 & EVICTION.”

Another ad reads: “If your neighbor is renting an entire apartment for less than 30 days, they are BREAKING THE LAW.”

The ads will run on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other websites.

Unwanted real estate ads foisted upon homeowners

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association receives numerous complaints of offers landing in homeowners’ mailboxes and some getting an agent walking straight up to their door.

The offers all have the same theme — agents can sell your home for cash, a lot of it. Some of the pamphlets, copies of which were provided to the Chronicle, show comparative sales in the neighborhood.

One such ad, given to the WRBA on Jan. 18, said the realtor had closed 15 deals in five months in Woodhaven and surrounding neighborhoods.

It also reads, “Your house will be next,” seemingly assuming the sale.

Another was simply a white piece of paper with the words “I am interested in buying your house ALL CASH,” with the agent’s name and phone number on it.

Such unsolicited offers were once barred in Queens, as homeowners could list their homes as properties where solicitation was not allowed.

That ended in 2014 and realtors were once again free to solicit whomever they wanted.

Now, such cease-and-desist zones can only be established for certain neighborhoods that show it’s a prevalent issue.

If you see something, say something

From the Observer:

In case New York City’s employees need a refresher—and it seems like many might—the Department of Investigation would like to remind them: bribery and corruption are illegal.

As the city grapples with several ethics scandals, The Department of Investigation would like to remind city employees that bribery and corruption are illegal. corruption-fighting agency is rolling out a Just-Say-No style aimed for the world of waste, fraud and corruption: plastering the sides of city buses and the radio airwaves with advertisements reminding people not to get sucked into the seemingly ever-present temptation of graft.

The campaign began this weekend with ads on the sides of city buses showing money in a mousetrap proclaiming: “Bribery & Corruption Are a Trap. Don’t Get Caught Up. Report It.” (The mouse trap is a bit of an interesting choice, given that people who report crimes are often referred to as “rats.”)

AirBnB listers face heavy fines if new bill is passed

From Crains:

With only two full days left in their 2016 legislative session, state lawmakers are poised to deal a blow to Airbnb.

A bipartisan bill to ban Airbnb-style posts for short-term sublets is moving swiftly through legislative committees and could get floor votes in Albany Wednesday or Thursday. Senate leaders informed the Real Estate Board of New York, which supports the bill, that the bill will move before the session ends, according to a source.

Short-term apartment sublets—those for less than 30 days—were banned in New York City in 2010. But under the law, only building owners, not the renters who arrange the sublet, face penalties.

The new legislation would make advertising such a sublet, or any use other than permanent residence, illegal. The change would put absent Airbnb hosts on the hook instead of their landlords. The proposed penalties range from up to $1,000 for a first offense to $7,500 for third and subsequent violations.

St. Michael's Cementery?

Ad from QNS.com

I can see the old ladies lining up with coupons in hand...

Stop posting illegal signs!

We were walking around Juniper Park in Middle Village yesterday (9/27/15) and noticed multiple postings of flyers on the lamp posts and utility poles. There were ones for puppy sales, free chinchillas, yard sales and OctoberFest.

They are littering (illegally by the way) with these postings. The attached was for an Octoberfest at a nearby Church. There were literally over 20 of these flyers posted around the park. We noticed a few concerned people taking some down, but shouldn’t the Parks Department be on top of this?

I understand the need to promote these type of events, but there are neighborhood community bulletin boards (Silverbarn, Artis Pharmacy, Met Foods). Why litter our neighborhoods, especially an event that’s 2 weeks away!

If people continue to post these flyers, our street lamp posts will look like the attached image!

Signed,
ANONYMOUS

Looking to bring back "cease and desist"

From the Queens Courier:

Community activists gathered outside state Senator Tony Avella’s office Thursday afternoon to call for an extension of the state’s “cease-and-desist” law, which empowers Queens homeowners to prohibit unwanted solicitations from real estate brokers.

The original law, which expired in August 2014, allowed homeowners to register with New York’s Department of State on a list banning brokers from sending advertisements to the registered addresses.

Once the law expired, Avella stated, local property owners became inundated with “predatory real estate solicitations.” During the most recent legislative session, he introduced a bill extending the cease-and-desist law and strengthening it by expediting the registration process for homeowners. The bill would also designate Queens as a “non-solicitation zone” and double its length of protection to 10 years.

Numerous civic activists in the area demonstrated their support for the legislation at Thursday’s press conference.

Gazette has interesting definition of "columnist"

The Queens Gazette published an "article" about how their "columnist" John Ciafone, was featured recently in New York Magazine. Both links look like ads to me and not editorial. But whatever. Here are some shots of his new digs in a building renovated by Broadway Stages last year.

Before - 2nd floor office above check cashing biz (above) and now in his luxurious first floor suite - of course with ample signage (below)

That's a great use of discarded campaign posters!

Company advertises illegally all over Fresh Meadows

From the Times Ledger:

State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) is calling on the city Department of Sanitation to address illegal advertising throughout Fresh Meadows.

In a letter dated July 13 to Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Rozic requested an investigation and immediate removal of unsolicited commercial ads posted across Fresh Meadows detailing sewer cleaning services.

Residents informed Rozic’s office of a sudden increase in ads being posted illegally on city streetlights and lampposts by Liberty Developer USA, Inc., a company in South Ozone Park.

The sticker ads listing a telephone number for a “24 hours sewer service” can be found in residential areas between 164th Street and 188th Street from the Long Island Expressway to Union Turnpike.

Jim Gallagher, president of the Fresh Meadows Homeowners Association, said residents were “totally disgusted” by the ads.

He said he thinks multiple people were involved and that it took place at night.

“It gives you an address of a two-family house in South Ozone Park, not too far from Aqueduct Race Track, so why is he coming all the way over here to advertise in that particular way?” Gallagher said. “It’s very hard for Sanitation to get them off because of the heavy glue that’s on the poster and when you take the glue off, off comes the paint. That’s no way of advertising.”

Liberty Developer hung up the phone when asked to comment.

Hipsters moving to Detroit

From the NY Times:

“Detroit, Just West of Bushwick,” read the first billboard that popped up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, this spring, with a working class scene from one of Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals. “Detroit, Be Left Alone,” a second one preached soon after, again in Bushwick. And then a third sign appeared, in two locations in Brooklyn and two in Manhattan — “Detroit: Now Hiring.”

No one quite knew where they were coming from or who had put them up.

But when an unrelated photo popped up on Instagram — “Move to Detroit” spray-painted on a girder of the Brooklyn Bridge — the campaign’s anonymous crusader finally revealed himself.

“I rent billboard spaces where others don’t see value. That is how I saw Detroit on my first visit four years ago,” said Philip Kafka, the 28-year-old man who then put his passion behind the billboards with his SoHo-based company, Prince Media. “I saw great buildings, a deep and rich cultural history, and met amazing people.”

He now owns six buildings in the Motor City, one of which will house his new restaurant, Katoi, across the street from Detroit’s most photographed “ruin porn,” the Michigan Central Station. “I want people to know that in Detroit you can afford to make art, be a chef, buy houses, start a business, do anything if you work hard,” he said.

It is now well-documented that some of Brooklyn’s much-written-about creative class is being driven out of the borough by high prices and low housing stock. Some are going to Los Angeles (or even Queens), but others are migrating to the Midwest, where Detroit’s empty industrial spaces, community-based projects, experimental art scene and innovative design opportunities beckon, despite the city’s continuing challenges.

“Brooklyn lost its whole sense of adventure for me,” said Ben Wolf, 31, a Pratt Institute graduate who, after more than a decade in New York, moved to Detroit almost three years ago to continue creating his site-specific installations and sculptures, made from rotten boards, rusty stairwells and peeling paint, or as he said, “the decadence of abandonment.”

Ridgewood roofer posts illegal signs in North Flushing

"Mysterious unwanted construction and roofing advertisements have been appearing all over North part of Flushing, Queens in tree lined and quiet residential parts of the neighborhood.

The DOT should be aware as well as any other pertaining authority to bring this "company" to the point of being fined and demand for the removal of these eyesores.

It's a terrible sighting when a person wake ups in the morning, check out thru the front window and the first thing they'll see is this terrible sighting.

Shame on these crooks who come in the middle of the night to deface our communities offering their unwanted services damaging the trees by using screws on trees and in some instances placing their ugly adds side by side on the same tree.

One is placed in front of 146-35 25th Rd., Flushing, NY 11354 and another in front of 151-07 26th Avenue, Flushing, NY 11354. The owners of these two houses should remove them and send them in a parcel to this shady company as a message not to mess with their street." - anonymous

de Blasio wants more folks on food stamps

From the Daily News:

More than half a million New Yorkers who qualify for food stamps don’t get them, officials say — and the city wants them to sign up.

With a new website and ad campaign, the de Blasio administration will encourage people who are hungry or struggle to afford food to seek help. It’s especially targeting seniors and immigrants, who are most likely to qualify for food aid but not enroll in the program.

Mayor de Blasio said 1.4 million people in the city struggle to afford food, 20% of them children. “This is not only a striking indicator of the inequality crisis we face, but a status quo we don’t accept,” he said.

An average of 1.76 million city residents were getting food stamps last year. But officials believe another 550,000 people qualify but aren’t signed up.

If people have managed to get by without government assistance up to this point, why are we telling them to become dependent on it? Don't we want to promote self-sufficiency? And do they really expect us to believe that someone who lost a "lucrative Wall Street consultant job" or someone else who had a struggling business will actually qualify for food stamps?

Comrie wants more tasteful alcohol ads

From CBS New York:

Is another battle at hand in the war over inappropriate advertisements? A Queens lawmaker is now taking aim at sexy inappropriate outdoor ads.

Sen. Leroy Comrie said he is acting on community complaints about alcohol ads – especially in family neighborhoods – on state property.

“We understand the right to free speech, we understand the right to advertise your product, but if you need to advertise your product in a friendly community, in a public space, then advertise it without the salaciousness,” he said.

The MTA does not comment on pending legislation and said its advertising standards ban the illegal, obscene and indecent.

Illegal hostel advertises on the subway

These were pasted all over a subway car I was on yesterday. Who needs AirBnB when you have the MTA?

Paul Vallone needs to hire a better writer

This ad was printed in the St. Andrew Avellino's 100th anniversary commemorative book. You'd think Paul Vallone would have placed an ad as council member for the district where St. Andrew's is located instead of for the family law firm which he allegedly left to work full-time as an elected official. Also note the spelling of "anniversary". Now that's class!

He's also managed to reduce the Poppenhusen Institute to "one of NYC's first jail systems" in this video which our tax dollars paid for:

Sad Japanese-style home in Kew Gardens now for sale

From DNA Info:

A Japanese-style house in Kew Gardens, which the Department of Buildings declared unsafe in 2009, has been listed for sale on Craigslist for $1,200,000.

The house, at 84-62 Beverly Rd., was built in the 1920s and was initially a neighborhood attraction. But neighbors said the owners moved out more than a decade ago, allowing the house to decay.

An inspector who came to examine the house in September 2009 — after the agency received complaints that it was unguarded — found the front door and garage door left open, according to records provided by the Department of Buildings.

The agency then issued two unsafe building violations, which remain open.

In January 2010, the DOB obtained a court order to seal the building by pouring concrete into its windows in order to make it safe, the agency said.

But the ad on Craigslist describes the 3-story property as a “huge beautiful 1 family house.”

"Tons of options," the listing says.

The ad also notes that the 3,600 square-foot house features a garage and a driveway. The lot, where the house sits, is 7,000 square feet, the ad says.

A man whose phone is listed in the ad declined to answer questions on Friday.

Dopey subway poster calls Elmhurst a "new" neighborhood

"Hey Crapper, I took this pic a few weeks ago and completely forgot about it till now. These have been plastered ALL over the Grand Ave subway stop on the mezzanine and platforms, as well as billboards up on the streets.

I just didn't know that Elmhurst was a "new neighborhood." I guess the definition of new must be anything under 350yrs old or at least under 115yrs old, if you want to go by just the name of Elmhurst itself being used.

But hey, with real estate in Queens, anything goes to move prices up and move properties out." - J

Affordable housing group wants AirBnB ads nixed

Photo from New York Shitty.

From the Epoch Times:

Affordable housing advocates are banding together Friday to launch a campaign against the Airbnb ads plastered throughout subway stations in New York City.

The ads are misleading according to the Real Rent Reform coalition, which formed to combat illegal hotels.

“The problem of illegal hotels predates Airbnb by many years, but Airbnb makes the problem more difficult,” said Matthew Abuelo, a steering committee member of the West Side Neighborhood Alliance (WSNA).

Typically, an illegal hotel is run by a landlord who stands to make higher profits by renting out apartments to a constant stream of tourists, rather than to a long term resident.

A residential building is then used as a commercial hotel, putting a dent in the housing supply and raising rents in the neighborhood.

It is also easy to see why neighbors of these units would take issue with this short term renting—tourists are noisy, the increased volume of people moving in and out is considered a fire hazard, and then there is the worry of being pressured to leave so their own apartments can be converted into more illegal hotel units.

New York City has struggled with the problem of illegal hotels for over a decade, resulting in a state law that prevents most renters from subletting their apartments for under 30 days unless the tenant is also present. Yet, about two-thirds of the hosts using Airbnb are doing just that, according to the State attorney general office’s estimates.

Now it’s not just landlords and tenants at odds with one another, but neighbors are pitted against each other as well, Abuelo said.

And then there's the push by the electeds.

No more anonymous attack ads

From the Epoch Times:

During the 2013 City Council elections, there was more money spent on independent mailers than all of the candidates’ expenditures combined. A glaring loophole in the campaign finance law led to negative ads that were at times attacks on candidates' personal lives, backgrounds, or beliefs, councilmembers said Wednesday before a committee hearing on legislation to ban these ads.

“We want candidates to own up to what they’re saying,” said councilmember Dan Garodnick, who is introducing a bill that will require every ad or communication paid for or authorized by a candidate to disclose that information.

Councilmember Brad Lander is introducing another bill that will require all independent ads and communications relating to local elections to make clear it is funded by an outside group, and include the name of the organization’s owner, CEO, and top three donors. While many of the ads were hostile, the only information voters had about where the information was coming from was the vague and positive sounding organization names, Lander said.