Cleaning up Jamaica DIO without the Democ(rats)

Some residents of Jamaica Queens have come to a nightmare reality. They now believe that their local leaders will NEVER cleanup Jamaica. Yes my comrade, Joe was right. This leaves ONLY one option. We the victims have to Do It Ourselves, (DIO).

According to a recent survey, residents said the following: for years they have been complaining about the same issues; with no resolution in sight.

The abandoned park at Merrick Boulevard and 109th Avenue take the rotten cake. It has been an eyesore for roughly 30 years. Some elderly residents said they vividly remember playing in the park as young people.

On 7/13/16 Hon. Howard G. Lane issued an order to thoroughly clean the park.

Nevertheless, our local leaders are so well connected that they allowed the court order to be ignored. Amid constant protests the owner was forced to remove garbage and other infectants.

 James Fob's house has been abandoned about 15 years. Cleanup Jamaica forced the Department of Sanitation to implement a NEVER before policy. They clean the private property on a regular basis and bill the owner; yet, there is no solution. Location, 107-58 164th. Street Jamaica.

 All along 108th Avenue and several areas contain widespread smashed-up vehicles and garbage. This is not a slight concern for the politicians. Even the four churches have remained completely silent. Yet, the church leaders invite politicians to make speeches on the pulpit; during campaign seasons.

 Under the trestle at Guy R. Brewer and Archer Avenue  is a disgrace. For decades the area was dark and garbage-filled. About three years ago, it was painted and lights were installed. Now it is back to square one.

The bathroom at the Archer Avenue E train station is never mentioned in MTA's budget. It is filthy and remains "closed for repairs " more than it is available for usage. On January 22, it was closed with a repair sign to be opened on the 23.  A janitor spotted me taking photos and a few hours later it was reopened. In addition, it was repaired more than 20 times last year, and the year before and the year before. 

The heater is rusty, the hand dryer is not working and one soap dispenser is broken. 

 

 Election after election, all the politicians make deceptive promises. It is beyond comprehension why some residents still feel a sense of obligation to vote for democrats.

Current Borough President, Melinda Katz declared that she will cleanup Jamaica during her campaign in 2013. This promise-breaker was also a councilwoman. Now she is vying for District Attorney.

Residents still have to deal with: Senator Leroy Comrie; former councilman. Other political gangsters: Daneek Miller, Adrienne Adams, Gregory Meeks. Currently in prison Malcolm Smith and Ruben Wills. These have been caught, others will follow suit.

 After the history of promises and no action; there is no logic or reasoning to suggest,  these elected officials will resolve the problems. It makes absolutely NO sense to continue asking them.

Thus, in the first phase of,  DO IT OURSELVES, I am planning a fund raiser. More information is forthcoming.

PS

Thanks for all who having been reaching out to me. I will not send e-mails as regularly due to time constraints, but I will diligently engage in cleaning up Jamaica.

Pamela Hazel: Social Media Journalist for Justice.

Homeless vets won't be resolved by end of year

From the Daily News:

One of the most ambitious plans from Mayor de Blasio’s State of the City speech — ending veteran homelessness by the end of the year — appears increasingly unlikely.

The number of homeless veterans remains at around 1,000 — the same number as in February, when the mayor announced his lofty goal.

Underscoring the difficulty of the goal — and the complications of battling chronic homelessness — the number hasn’t changed despite the city having placed 1,600 vets in housing.

This week's de Blasio leadership summary

He's giving up on banning horse carriages.

He's removing pedestrian plazas in Times Square to prevent bad behavior (but the one on Northern Blvd is still apparently a go).

He's sending Willets Point back to the drawing board. (Which is kinda interesting, because as public advocate, he thought the plan was just fine.)

What do you think of these decisions? Good? Bad? Spineless? Is he learning when to hold em, fold em, walk away and run?

DeBlasio's living wage promise has yet to be fulfilled

From the NY Times:

For the new administration, it was a pivotal moment: Mayor Bill de Blasio was standing before the crowd, announcing the first concrete steps of his progressive agenda. By the end of February, he vowed, he would issue an executive order to expand the city’s living wage law.

“We want to ensure that New Yorkers aren’t relegated to the ranks of the poor when putting in a full week’s work,” Mr. de Blasio declared in his State of the City speech.

The mayor was making good on a campaign pledge, promising to broaden the law requiring some city-subsidized businesses to pay their workers a living wage, which is often defined as enough money to cover the cost of basics like food and rent. His supporters eagerly anticipated the move, which was unimaginable under the previous mayor.

They are still waiting. February has come and gone, but there has been no executive order, no expansion of the living wage law and no public discussion about where things stand. Instead, there is silence from City Hall, where the mayor’s aides have declined to explain what has accounted for the delay.

So today I’m climbing on my soapbox to ask: What happened, Mr. Mayor?

You didn't think that whole transparency thing was genuine, did you?

From an op-ed by former mayoral candidate Sal Albanese in the Daily News:

Many New Yorkers were heartened by the election of Bill de Blasio because of his stated commitment to transparency. He loved transparency so much that he gave it a section on his campaign website.

Unfortunately, de Blasio fell out of love with transparency long before taking the oath of office at an event that he tried to keep private.

Despite lofty promises to let the sunlight in, de Blasio has long controlled his image with a paranoia that went out of style with the Cold War. As public advocate, he issued “transparency report cards” for city agencies, yet regularly met in secret with dozens of lobbyists.

Everyone is entitled to personal privacy. But when de Blasio is delivering speeches as mayor, he is acting on behalf of the public. They have the right to know where you are, who are you talking to and what you are saying. That’s what real transparency looks like.

Julissa "finds" Hiram's $3.5M; can't find group relocation site

Daily News

In November 2008, then-City Council member Hiram Monserrate and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that a $3 million tenant relocation fund would be established and available for Willets Point businesses (i.e., tenant businesses operating at Willets Point, that would eventually need to relocate due to the proposed development).

In addition, immediately prior to the City Council's vote to approve the Willets Point development, during the City Council Stated Meeting held on November 13, 2008, Council Member Monserrate referred to the Willets Point tenant business relocation fund: "We have put forth … a fund to assist the current business owners, that I also met with today." (Tenant businesses that attended the meeting with Monserrate that day recall that the amount of the fund was $3.5M.)

Later in 2009, when Monserrate successor Julissa Ferreras took office, she acknowledged that the tenant businesses want group relocation, together -- and she articulated a plan for the businesses to incorporate a co-operative so that they may best deal with commercial landlords. Ferreras would facilitate the legalities of this with EDC, and she said that the city must find or provide the needed property and that she would fight for this to the end...

Excerpts of interview with City Council Member Julissa Ferreras -- September 2009

Q: When you meet with representatives of the tenant businesses, what concerns are you hearing from them?

JF: Currently the concerns are, they want to move as a group. They want to move as a – all of them, together, for whatever property it is. They're concerned about identifying a property that is conducive and that makes sense for them, that's reflective of the services that they've already had. And when I say "services", I don't mean, you know – clearly, there's no sewer – we all know what they don't have. But they do have a highway; they do have mass transit; they're in the center of a huge hub. So they want to be able to replicate that and ensure that that is replicated wherever they go.
________________________

JF: EDC really feels that they are on their timeline. That their timeline hasn't budged. They feel, you know, "we said that we wouldn't start any type of looking for a site or working with Cornerstone until next year." So they say January first of 2010 is when they'll start looking for a site; identifying a site. Now, interesting, what I have learned in the conversations is that relocating them as a group is more complicated than just saying "okay, we're going to identify a spot," because all of them have independent landlords currently. So if you relocate them, and you move them, the landlord wherever they're moving, wherever they find a spot, let's say that they find a spot, the new landlord has to agree to subdivide them – the location – and give them each an independent lease. Which most landlords probably wouldn't necessarily agree on. So the conversations that we're trying to see if it can happen, is if they can form a cooperation, or a "co-op," or some type of corporation where they can all become partners. But then that's something independently as tenants that they all have to agree with, see what it means; and then the corporation would sign the lease with whatever manufacturing building that it is that they identify. And then, I think as the conversations are starting to happen, they originally talked about moving 60 of them together; now it's more like 40. So we really have to look at what the real numbers are, because I think even within their own groups the frustration and anxiety is now kind of wearing a little at the coalition that they have. But still, even if you're moving 20, or 50, it's still an incredibly large number, and I think it is the City's responsibility to find this space. And I'm someone who's going to advocate for that and fight for it to the very end, because it's something that they deserve. The monies are still there, which is the $3 million dollars.
________________________

JF: I think that Willets Point really needs to get that conversation going, and train the workers, as opposed to just trying to shuffle them off. Because that's where my frustration comes in – don't try to shuffle my people off! That I will not accept. We deserve the best, and that's what I'm going to advocate for.
________________________

JF: You know, I in my heart believe that we need to – we need Willets Point as a, as an entity, to be relocated. And it makes sense for our communities. So I think that they need to be relocated.

The Willets Point Defense Committee produced a 77-page document known as the Sunrise Cooperative Business Plan explaining exactly how, where and why the businesses needed to be relocated as a group, which is what Julissa suggested they do. The report was done in collaboration with the Urban Justice Center and Council Member Ferreras and was submitted to the EDC in October 2012 with the expectation that the City would act upon it.  Below is an excerpt:




Now, per the recent EDC letter to tenants below, there is NO group relocation -- after all of the effort that had been dedicated to it.  Instead, Ferreras seems poised to take credit, with EDC, for "identifying" $3.5 million to be disbursed to the tenant businesses. Per the letter, each tenant may receive a payout equivalent to 12 months' rent -- provided that the tenant must agree to leave Willets Point by November 30, 2013. Those who stay through the end of January 2014 would receive just 6 months' rent. Beyond that, perhaps nothing.

RentBuyOutLetter_130809

The announcement of this $3.5 million -- on the heels of tenant businesses receiving 30-day eviction notices -- is designed to distract from the real news: that Ferreras and EDC have failed to implement the group relocation that was the goal, and which the Sunrise Co-operative sought in good faith. Moreover, Ferreras has no business claiming credit for arranging the $3.5 million offered now, as $3.5 million was already established by her predecessor in 2008, and has been awaiting use since that time. In any case, 12 months' rent (or roughly $12,000 - $18,000) is insufficient for any business to make a down payment on rental of a property outside of Willets Point, where rents are considerably higher.

Queens Chronicle

Ferreras is unavailable to meet with Willets Point United Inc. to discuss the proposed development that will soon be considered by the City Council, as she is on "bed rest" during maternity leave -- but evidently, she is able to come off of bed rest in order to promote the availability of $3.5 million for tenant businesses (see paragraph 4 of above letter from EDC to tenant businesses).

It will be interesting to see whether Marco Neira, leader of the tenant businesses, objects to the inadequacy of the $3.5M fund or the failure to implement group relocation considering that he does not operate any business within "Phase One" (and so he is not affected by the $3.5M fund), and he has been presented with a proclamation by Ferreras.

Mattones return to screw Elmhurst again

From the Queens Chronicle:

A former parking lot between the Queens Center mall and the Long Island Expressway has been empty for the past 12 years and now the developers who own it want to build three restaurants there.

The College Point-based Mattone Group presented its plan at an informational Newtown Civic Association meeting in Corona Tuesday night. The company would bring in an Olive Garden, a Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe’s Crab Shack, which will cover approximately 25,000 to 30,000 square feet, surrounded by free parking spaces. If the plan moves forward, they predict that the establishments will open in April or May 2014.

Most of the meeting focused on the civic association members’ parking and traffic congestion-related concerns, but Robert Valdes-Clausell, an officer of the Newtown Civic Association and a member of Community Board 4, brought up the property’s history and the developer’s history of shortchanging the surrounding community.

Valdes-Clausell also noted the meeting’s unusual timing, in the summer, when many community members are away.

“This has all the trappings of something that is not kosher,” he said of the new plan.

The city’s Economic Development Corp. sold the property, which was a city parking lot, to Mattone on Dec. 17, 2001 for $2.2 million. The City Council, including the area’s former Councilman John Sabini (D-Elmhurst), approved the deal, overriding the objections of CB 4 and disregarding the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

Mattone’s contract with EDC contained several restrictions. The developer was supposed to build a movie theater, which Loews would operate, within four and a half years and buy the dilapidated Elmwood Theater, and give the proceeds to Catholic Medical Services, which then operated St. John’s Hospital according to Valdes-Clausell. If those restrictions were not met, the EDC was entitled to buy back the property for $1.

The Mattone Group did not comply with the restrictions, but the EDC did not repossess the property. Loews declared bankruptcy shortly after, and Mattone never found a replacement as the movie-theater business was in decline. Therefore, Mattone never purchased the Elmwood Theater and Loews sold it to the Rock Church instead. St. John’s Hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

On Feb. 6, 2013 Mattone signed a new contract with the EDC, in which the developer paid $3 million to modify the original deed from 2001, allowing it to build the restaurants on the property.

Mattone claims that they did not need to seek community approval because the proposed restaurants are in accordance with area zoning laws and that informing the community before beginning construction was merely a courtesy.

Valdes-Clausell accused Mattone of putting the cart before the horse, by making a new deal with EDC without informing or asking the community about it first.

Moreover, the $3 million in the recent contract went straight to the EDC, not the community.

It's likely that Recchia got the message

From The Brooklyn Paper:

A group of outraged Hurricane Sandy victims nearly ran Councilman Domenic Recchia out of a Community Board 13 meeting on a rail Wednesday after the legislator announced that a desperately needed Coney Island sewer repair project won’t begin until 2016.

Residents have been demanding the city update the neighborhood’s infrastructure for years, claiming that sewers constantly overflow during big storms.

“If we get a hard rain, a tough rain, we’re going to get that water again. And it’s not good,” said CB13 member Ronald Stewart.

When Hurricane Sandy hit, sewer backups washed out most of the neighborhood’s residential streets, say residents, who claim the People’s Playground wouldn’t survive another major storm if it didn’t get the upgrade the city promised.

“We can’t survive to 2016 if we get another Sandy!” resident Kenny Jones said. “Why is Coney Island taking so long?”

Recchia (D–Coney Island) asked the more than 20 community members attending the meeting to be patient, claiming that the city wants to complete the project as soon as possible.

But Recchia’s pleas fell on deaf ears — ears deafened by audience members shouting at the council’s Finance Committee chairman.

“We don’t need another Sandy!” screamed Brighton Beach activist Ida Sanoff. “We get another nor’easter, we’re going to be underwater!”

The meeting go so out of hand that cops in attendance shouted everyone down as CB13 chairman Eddie Mark incessantly banged his gavel to restore order.

Maybe someday people in Queens will grow a pair similar to the one that the people in Brooklyn own. I'm not saying that shouting matches should be part of the discourse of every meeting with elected officials, but there is a time and a place to show them you mean business.

Affordable housing at Willets Point pretty much nixed

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city’s announcement that the burgeoning and long-contested development project at Willets Point would not be proceeding as originally outlined and the lack of sufficient affordable housing for the middle- and lower-income families living in the borough led about 100 distraught residents to pack a Queens Housing Coalition meeting on Nov. 20 in Jackson Heights.

The Willets Point Redevelopment Plan was approved by the City Council in 2008 and included the construction of 5,500 mixed-income residential units, 2,000 of which were to be affordable housing.

This past June, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the affordable housing plan would be delayed until 2025.

“We just want the mayor to remember the promise he made about affordable housing at Willets Point,” said QHC’s coordinator Ivan Contreras. “We feel betrayed.”

You too? Welcome to the club! See, this was the old bait-and-switch. Convince activists that they will get something they want in return for their support of the project. (Extra points if the activists have skin that's a color other than white and especially if they are bilingual.) Once the project is in motion, pull the rug out from under them. And there are suckers that fall for it every time.

The Wilpons don't want to build affordable housing. They want to make money. Period. end of story. Wake up, Queens.

Linden Place construction delayed for 2 more years

From the Times Ledger:

The construction of a crucial road in the fight against College Point traffic has been delayed yet again, even while the development of the College Point Police Academy has proceeded at a clip.

Community Board 7 has wanted a portion of Linden Place repaired since the late 1980s after the road was closed due to flooding about a decade earlier.

Civic leaders said the city Economic Development Corp. first projected the work would be completed about four years ago, but last Thursday found out the road is not slated for completion until 2014.

“It’s a huge problem and it’s unacceptable,” said Chuck Apelian, chairman of the College Point Corporate Park Task Force. “They were able to get the police academy approved, in the ground and built. But we can’t get a road.”

The first phase of the College Point Police Academy is set to be operational in December 2013 and will include about 900 parking spaces to accommodate commuters to the training facility just off the Whitestone Expressway.

Apelian, also vice chairman of CB 7, said the reopening of Linden Place is crucial to accommodate the increased traffic the police academy will bring, especially when other developments in the area are taken into consideration.

Fool us twice, shame on us...

From the Daily News:

Bronx activists had some advice on Tuesday for Queens: Keep your precious park land and ignore the stadium sweet talk.

Major League Soccer said it’s close to hammering out a deal with the city to build a $300 million stadium on up to 13 acres in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

But the plan is reminiscent of a Yankee Stadium land deal that “shortchanged” the Bronx, local activist Mary Blassingame said.

“This is Yankee Stadium all over again,” she said. “They need to fight against it. Parks are for the people ... not for business.”

City officials begged to differ.

“As anyone who’s been to Heritage Field across from Yankee Stadium would say, it’s a stunning example of public space that has been widely celebrated by local residents and parks advocates alike,” said Mayor’s Office spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua.

Blassingame, a former Bronx Community Board 4 member, was a vocal opponent of the 2005 deal that allowed the Yankees to build a new stadium on 22 acres in Mullaly Park.

The Bronx Bombers promised the new venue would create local jobs and business and the city vowed to replace the green space with new parks elsewhere.

But the area near the stadium is still struggling and it took the city six years to complete the new parks, which are top-of-the-line but scattered, Blassingame said. “We got shortchanged all the way and now it’s going to happen again,” Blassingame predicted.

“The land they’re currently talking about on Flushing River is toxic,” said an elected official who asked not to be named. “So how would that be cleaned up?”

MLS officials said the Queens stadium will be privately financed, unlike Yankee Stadium, which received hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies.

The Bronx Bombers made similar claims during early negotiations, said Neil DeMause, co-author of “Field of Schemes,” a book on modern stadium deals.

“History makes it reasonable for New Yorkers to look at this proposal with skepticism,” he said.

Reflecting on 8 years under Bloomberg

From Bloomberg's 2002 inaugural speech:

Rebuilding our city and restoring our infrastructure, continuing the fight against crime and reforming our schools will not be easy in the current economic climate. It will require tough decisions and hard choices by all of us, in government, the nonprofit sector, business and labor. I will be asking all parts of my city government to do more with less. I will ask for their help, and I will seek their advice. But the facts are clear: We will not be able to afford all that we want. We will not even be able to afford everything we currently have.

And since leadership means setting an example, and in my book the search for efficiency always begins at the top, I pledge to reduce staffing in the office of the mayor by 20 percent, and I hereby challenge the controller, public advocate, borough presidents and the city council to do the same. We cannot ask of others what we are not willing to do ourselves.

I will do my part to balance the budget, as I am sure every city employee will do in turn. Let me say once more, though, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. We cannot drive people and business out of New York. We cannot raise taxes. We will find another way. And even though we must sacrifice now, let us not forget we are still a city of big dreams, of big ideas, big projects and a big heart. We must plan and develop for the long term. We can never abandon our future. We will bring new life to our waterfront and stimulate new investment in housing, schools, and when we can afford them, the world's best cultural and athletic facilities. These, along with our parks and transportation infrastructure in all five boroughs, cannot be ignored. We will plan now and build as funds become available. We will emerge from short-term pain to long-term gain.