Not ironic at all

NY Daily News  

Hiram Monserrate, an ex-con and perennial New York politician expelled from the state Senate for assaulting his girlfriend, is gearing up to launch a campaign for a Queens Assembly seat this year, he confirmed to the Daily News on Wednesday.

Monserrate, who was previously close with Mayor Adams, said he’s in the midst of collecting signatures to mount a Democratic primary challenge against Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry.

Aubry, whose district includes East Elmhurst, needs to be unseated because of his continued support for the state Legislature’s 2020 bail reforms, said Monserrate.

“Out of the many reasons there are to challenge the current incumbent, the most important is his stubborn stance in refusing to repeal and amend the current bail reform laws,” Monserrate said.

Monserrate’s distaste for the bail reforms is shared by Adams, who has tied them to an uptick in crime during the pandemic and urged state legislators earlier this year to rescind them.

However, most Democratic lawmakers in Albany have countered that the reforms — which limited the use of cash bail for nonviolent crimes — are unrelated to recent crime spikes, sparking tension between Adams and the Legislature.

Aubry, who has represented his district since 1992, said Monserrate appears to be trying to hitch his campaign wagon to “the issue of the moment” by zeroing in on bail reform.

“You will remember that the mayor and Mr. Monserrate were in the Police Department together and in the Senate together,” Aubry said. “I don’t know whether he’s mimicking the mayor, and I support the mayor, but every time something happens in the city, he says it’s bail reform that’s at fault even though bail reform had nothing to do with it.”

A spokesman for Adams did not return a request for comment.

Pols set to give Vornado a big gift

From Crains:

A now-defunct bill sought to give Vornado Realty Trust control of city parkland in Rego Park, Queens, and allow the firm to build an apartment building closer to an adjacent green space than would otherwise be allowed.

The legislation, introduced by Queens Democrats Toby Ann Stavisky in the state Senate and Jeffrion Aubry in the Assembly, indicates that Vornado is testing the waters for an apartment complex more than five years in the making near the Rego Park Mall, which the firm also developed.

However, little information was available in the bill or from its sponsors to indicate how much the park property would be worth and whether the public improvements and the space Vornado would need to dedicate toward a school in its new building would have been a fair trade for taxpayers.

Vornado’s property shares a border with a park containing Lost Battalion Hall—a once puzzle-piece-like boundary that was straightened out by separate parkland-swap legislation in 2011. Since that time, the developer has planned to eventually erect a residential tower on the site.

Should Vornado opt to build apartments facing the park, it would normally have to set them back at least 30 feet from the property line. The legislation, however, would have authorized the city to give Vornado ownership of the air over a portion of the park. While not the same as purchasing unused development rights (also called air rights), through the complexities of the city’s zoning code, it would have eliminated the 30-foot setback rule.

Vornado would thus have been allowed to build closer to the park, if not right up against it. In exchange, Vornado would have given the city a similarly sized light and air easement over its own property, agreed to potentially pay for park improvements and included space for a prekindergarten in whatever structure it ends up erecting.

The offices of neither Stavisky nor Aubry could detail how the bill came to be, though it was likely introduced at the behest of lobbyists Vornado hired to push the issue in the first half of 2016, according to state records. Because it did not pass by the end of the legislative session in June, it would need to be reintroduced next year to ever become law.

They want to build WHAT in Flushing Meadows?

Check this out from A Walk in the Park:

Queens Community Board 7's Parks Committee convened forty-eight hours after a lively full-board meeting where more than a dozen members of the public came out to testify in opposition to the USTA's controversial $ 500 million dollar plan to expand again into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The Parks Committee expected the Parks Department and the USTA to come back with concrete financial numbers to be spent on "park improvements," in exchange for being allowed to build on almost an acre of parkland.

That did not happen.

Instead, officials spent a good portion of the night avoiding questions and answering in half-truths.

Board members brought up a host of issues - the loss of parkland, destruction of trees, increased traffic and pollution, high prices of playing at the National Tennis Center, and the city's lack of commitment to take care of the park among others. Despite repeated requests from the board the USTA has still refused to put its expansion presentation on-line for all to see.

Parks and USTA officials said they have already lined up State Assembly Member Jeffrion L. Aubry and State Senator Jose Peralta to introduce the alienation bill, which does not require park replacement. They did not identify the City Council member who will sponsor a Home Rule message that is also required.

"And yes, the Parks Department really need to do a better job of paying attention to the largest green space in the largest borough instead of spending so much damn attention to Central Park and Prospect Park," said Parks Chair Kim Ohanian closing the meeting. "And we are sick and tired of getting short changed. You guys treat us like crap and we're tired of it. Ok?" she continued.

"You spend very little money on this park. You have neglected it, you have treated it like garbage and it's not right.

You don't spend enough money to take care of it. You don't have enough help, and don't spend enough money and you don't treat it right.

There's no reason why the Fountain of the Planets looks the way that it does. You've neglected it, you've neglected a lot of that park and shame on you."

"Please be prepared have answers to the questions that were presented to you tonight."

We ask questions we deserve answers. We don't get them they don't get theirs."

The meeting was adjourned until the first week in March.

(When CB7 will vote yes anyway...)

From The Fairness Coalition:

2) Power Plant in the Park?
The plan calls for building a dirty diesel fuel power plant inside the park. Hidden inside the most recent DEIS report, the USTA seeks to build an 8 Megawatt, 20 foot high diesel-fueled power plant. Surrounding communities already suffer from air quality and asthma rates at epidemic levels. This power plant will emit a massive amount of air pollution into the park and surrounding communities. (page 11-17 DEIS Jan 2013)

So Hevesi, Koslowitz, Peralta and Aubry think a power plant inside Flushing Meadows is a great idea? How much payoff did these morons get from the USTA?