Return to Ciafone's Broadway outpost

It looks as thought the illegal signs sporting his mug have been removed.

The psychic, however, still holds court on the first floor.

Nice weeds & graffiti.

The clunkers remain.

Anyone want a used car with a smashed roof?

Ciafones dabbling in dead storage

44-19 Broadway, Astoria. You may recall this property from a previous post that noted that Gina Argento owes $30K in fines on it.

It also still has a stop work order on it.

But there's something I forgot to mention last time.

The used car parking lot/dead storage in the yard next to it, also owned by Gina.

Step right up, folks. Johnny Ciafone will give you a great deal!

Dealer providing fake vehicle reports

From WPIX:

When Ana Hua went to Bayside Imports on Northern Boulevard in Queens, she saw a 2010 Mercedes SLK300 she liked and bought it. But after a week of driving it and hearing noises coming from the engine, she took the car back to Bayside Imports and asked to see the Carfax report.

She says she was given the Carfax on her Mercedes. It came from a dealership called Luxury of Queens—and had no reports of any accidents or damage.

After continuing to have mechanical problems, she took the car to another dealer, asked to see the Carfax and got a very different report. Same car, same VIN number, but this Carfax reported the Mercedes had been in a rear-impact accident in Florida in August 2010, had suffered structural damage and had to be towed from the scene. The Carfax report warned “structural damage may impact vehicle safety and reliability”.

Ana Hua called PIX11 Investigates and we went to Bayside Imports and spoke with Jason Lee, the General Manager. Lee said he did not personally give her the “clean” Carfax and was investigating who did. When I asked how the same car could have one Carfax that indicated no damage, and another that said it has been in an accident, Lee said “look, Carfax has their opinion.” But Carfax officials say the data on the reports is not an “opinion”. They say there’s no doubt the Mercedes was in an accident.

Car dealerships should park legally

From Sunnyside Post:

Car dealerships are displaying their vehicles on the sidewalk along Northern Blvd and street safety advocates are sick of it.

Angela Stach of Transportation Alternatives and Cristina Furlong of Make Queens Safer, two pedestrian safety advocacy groups, have spoken out against these dealerships, stating that this practice creates a danger for pedestrians.

Both stated that these dealerships force pedestrians to walk around the vehicles, often into the street.

“It puts pedestrians in the very dangerous position of having to walk into oncoming traffic in the street,” Stach said. “Especially on Northern Boulevard, which is one of the most dangerous streets in Queens.”

There have already been a number of pedestrians hit and in some cases killed by vehicles along Northern Blvd, including an accident that left five people injured after a Mazda sedan struck them at a bus stop on Northern Boulevard and 48th Street, in February, 2014. Noshat Nahian, an 8-year-old heading to school, was struck and killed in December of 2013, while crossing the intersection at Northern Boulevard and 61st Street.

While the practice of dealerships parking on sidewalks had nothing to do with these incidents, “these dealerships along Northern Boulevard put more people at risk,” Furlong said. “It is really insulting to see nothing get done.”

Furlong said that there are over 20 dealerships and garages along Northern Boulevard from 40th Street down into the 60’s.

Funny how people have been compaining about this for years, but it's only when Transportation Alternatives gets involved that it's considered newsworthy.

CB11 denies variance for car dealer

From the Queens Courier:

Community Board 11 unanimously refused to renew a zoning variance that allowed a Bayside Toyota dealership to operate in a residential area after neighbors complained.

Star Toyota and Scion has been operating on Northern Boulevard for 40 years with the variance, but locals want the dealership gone for being, according to one board member, a “bad neighbor.”

“The community wants them removed because they don’t respect us,” said board member Steven Behar. “It’s as simple as that.”

Residents complained that the dealership parked their cars on residential streets and illegally dumped garbage in the neighborhood.

As a requirement of the variance, the dealership must meet with the community board every 10 years so their business can be reviewed.

After reviewing the business this time, the board decided to act on the complaints and vote down the renewal.

There are two more steps in the process: Borough President Melinda Katz is expected to announce a decision on Sept. 18 and, if she supports the community board’s decision, the Board of Standards and Appeals will make a final decision.

Actually, the BSA makes the final decision regardless of what Katz decides.

One truly amazing (yet believable) story!

From the Village Voice:

Here's the short version: A Queens cab driver and father of three, Shahdat Tuhin, 41, is suing a Woodside car dealership called New York Motor Group, alleging that they sold him a lemon, and charged him much more than he'd agreed. He's upset about that. Longer version: According to the lawsuit he filed this month in federal court, Tuhin is also upset about other things he says the dealership did during the process of selling him that car, including defrauding him, deceiving him, and threatening to file for divorce on his behalf.

Auto Palace sales tax fraud

From the Queens Courier:

A year-long investigation brought the wheeling and dealing of a criminal couple’s auto shop scheme to a screeching halt.

Hooshmand “Danny” Kohanano, 54, and his wife, Fereshteh “Jenny” Kohanano, 41, were charged with $730,000 worth of sales tax fraud in connection with their operation of the Auto Palace, Inc., a used car dealership at 53-21 Northern Boulevard in Woodside.

A Queens County grand jury also returned an indictment charging the dealership’s former finance manager, Julio Estrada, 37 — aka Jay Torres — with defrauding 23 car buyers out of a total of more than $115,000 in cash through a sham refinancing scheme.

“The defendants are accused of serious tax fraud allegations and other charges that, if proven true, could result in considerable time behind bars,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Tax fraud is the type of crime that makes every New Yorker a victim by cheating the government and the public out of money that is especially needed during this continuing economic downturn.”

According to the criminal complaint, between September 1, 2006, and November 30, 2009, the Hooshmands and Auto Palace, Inc. allegedly swiped more than $728,844 in state and local sales taxes collected from buyers but not handed over to the State Department of Taxation and Finance as authorized.

Meadow Lake truck mystery

From DNA Info:

A pickup truck with temporary plates from a Texas used-car dealership was pulled from the water at Flushing Meadows Corona Park Monday morning.

The truck, a diesel 2007 Dodge Ram 2500, was unoccupied, the FDNY said, and no injuries were reported.

Firefighters responded about 8:45 a.m. and found the truck stuck in silt and covered up to its engine and door handles in water at the southern end of Meadow Lake.

The truck was purchased Nov. 9 from North Texas Truck Stop, a used car dealership in Mansfield, Texas, by a man from Rego Park, according to North Texas Truck Stop vice president Kevin McCary.

Used car seller in hot water

From the NY Post:

A Queens used-car dealer will be driving off into the sunset — unless a judge overturns sanctions from the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Auto Palace of Woodside was hit with two rulings: One would suspend its business certificate for 90 days; the other would revoke it permanently.

The dealership is going to Queens Supreme Court to fight the rulings, which were based on violations including charging customers for DMV and other documents that Auto Palace never filed. The dealership denies the accusations.

On another front, Auto Palace, which received an F grade from the Better Business Bureau, also faces a possible revocation of its business license by city regulators, sources told The Post.

Photo from Sunnyside Post.

Halloran rants at car dealership

From the Daily News:

A hot-headed City Councilman let loose a curse-filled tirade at a local car dealer last week that left stunned employees demanding an apology.

"I couldn't believe this was a politician acting like that," said Elliott Rothman, the service manager of the Star Nissan repair shop on 172nd St. in Flushing.

"He had anger in his eyes. He was standing a foot in front of me, pointing at me.... I've run multiple dealerships and nobody has ever spoken to me the way I was spoken to by him."

Rothman received the brunt of two recent rants from Councilman Daniel Halloran, who says he's fed up with noise from the repair shop that disturbs nearby residents.

A video of Halloran's visit to the shop last week shows the Queens Republican angrily threatening the shop with recriminations if it doesn't keep its doors closed to control the noise.

"I'll park every f---ing city agency down here for the rest of f---ing two years," Halloran is heard to say on the video, an apparent reference to the two years left in his term.

"I'm not f---king joking. Either these doors stay closed, top to bottom, all the f---ing time or we're gonna have a problem! This is the last time we have this conversation!"

Halloran says his outburst was justified because of the dealership's long history of conflict with neighbors - including his chief of staff, who lives a block away.

Oh, so that's why it's a big deal.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

From Forest Hills Patch:

A Forest Hills used car dealer who ran his business on Long Island was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation for attempted grand larceny of more than $2 million.

Boris Michaelov, formerly of 108th Street in Forest Hills, was a naturalized Israeli citizen, fled to Canada in 2007 after he was caught underreporting the value of cars sold at his Long Island dealership. In doing so, Michaelov pocketed more than $2.3 million in pilfered tax money.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and his team fought a four-year legal battle to extradite Michaelov from Canada so he could face the music.

After his sentence is served, he will be turned over to Immigration agents to be deported.

Phonytown rides off into the sunset...

Hey remember this?

The Times Newsweekly has been running ads for this shitshow as of late.

So I wandered down there today at 1pm to get more photos but guess what...

Ponytown USA has skedaddled out of the car lot and taken their signs with them.

Phonytown, USA

Weekdays, this lot at Amory Court and Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood hosts used cars.
On the weekend, the cars stay where they are and a pony is shipped in to provide rides to children at $5 a pop. The trailer that delivers him gets parked on the street reeking of excrement and attracting flies.

Ponytown, U.S.A., Inc. is not listed as a corporation in New York State and the Queens phone number on the sign is unlisted. The shady sneaker vending is also less than copacetic. Is this outfit insured? Is the pony healthy? Let's remember that children and animals are most directly affected here.

This entire operation is quite gauche and I would love to report it if I only knew to what agency it should be directed. The owner of this lot has an unpaid zoning violation dating back 12 years for the used cars, but the zoning has changed since that time to include a commercial overlay.