Jetsetting Bill!

From CBS 2:

Mayor Bill de Blasio is facing criticism for using the NYPD’s $3 million counterterrorism plane to shuttle him to and from his Canadian vacation for a street renaming in the Bronx.

“This is a bad use of resources. God forbid there’s an emergency somewhere in the city that needs this vehicle, and we have a big problem,” Joe Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant, told CBS2’s Political Reporter Marcia Kramer.

Giacalone said it’s unusual to turn the sophisticated plane, which is outfitted with sensitive radiation sensors, into a commuter airline for one.

“This is something that I find very strange,” he said.

Data from the flight tracker website Flight Aware shows the Cessna Caravan left its hangar at MacArthur Airport and flew to Montreal, where it picked up the mayor at 9:09 a.m. Wednesday, then landed at Westchester County airport at 10:58 a.m. De Blasio was driven to a street renaming in honor of slain NYPD Det. Miosotis Familia, then back to the airport for the return trip to Canada, landing at 3:34 p.m., records show.

A City Hall spokesperson first directed questions to the NYPD, then said, “We don’t have a comment on the plane.”

Cat sitter caught on camera doing the nasty

From PIX11:

A woman was shocked after surveillance video captured her pet sitter getting intimate with a female visitor while she was away on vacation.

So she reached out to PIX11's Howard Thompson and he found the pet sitter, who admitted to the deed.

It all started back in May when Audrey Yang of Forest Hills went on vacation to Australia with her husband. The trip was 19 days, so they needed someone to care for their cat, Meow Meow.

This may be the funniest story ever posted on Queens Crap. Be careful who you hire.

Mayor No Show

From the NY Post:

Bill de Blasio isn’t just mayor of New York, he’s also King of the Road — spending nearly twice as much time as his predecessor on personal weekday travels outside the city, The Post has learned.

During his 22 months in office, de Blasio has spent 33 weekdays taking nonofficial trips as far away as Italy and California, according to a Post analysis of his mayoral schedules and other records.

By contrast, Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent just 19 weekdays on the road for anything other than official city business during a comparable time in office, from January 2002 through October 2003.

De Blasio’s travels — many paid for with tax dollars — have taken him to Europe four times and to Puerto Rico twice. He has also made multiple treks to both Boston and Chicago.

One getaway last year saw Hizzoner tour Italy with his family for nine days — five of them weekdays — marking the first time in more than two decades that a New York City mayor skipped work for longer than a week straight.

De Blasio’s six-plus workweeks’ worth of travel don’t even include jaunts to Albany or Washington, DC, where he was presumably conducting city business, The Post’s analysis found.

Advertising your illegal rental could get you burned

From the Daily News:

A couple who crowed online about raking in big bucks by renting out their Central Park West condo to tourists is getting sued for renting out their Central Park West condo to tourists.

“Last year we spent 110 days away from home,” Jodi Samuels wrote in a blog post last year.

“Best of all, we rent our apartment out while we travel and, New York being New York, we make good money.”

The board at the Olmsted at 97th and Central Park West, however, wasn’t impressed by Jodi and Gavin Samuels’ entrepreneurship when it finally got wind of it this year.

The board members say the Samuels’ bed-and-breakfast business violates the building’s bylaws — and they want the couple to pay $500 for each documented rental.

That could add up. The building says it found almost a dozen instances where the couple rented out one or both of their fourth-floor apartments for at least $250 a night, and Jodi’s blog indicates the total number might be much larger.

“As usual, we rented out our New York apartment at a premium, drove 12 hours and it actually pays for us to go away,” says one entry on the couple’s MetroImma website for Jewish mothers.

“Some nights we may as well hang up a sign that says, ‘Camp Samuels,’ ” said another.

She wrote that she has visited almost 70 countries, and that her young son has been to 32 states.

The suit says the couple advertised their apartments on numerous websites and Jodi’s own Facebook page. Their listing on homeaway.com describes one of the apartments as a 900-square-foot one-bedroom, complete with Wi-Fi, a DVD player, a renovated bathroom and kitchen, and “a great balcony facing the gardens.”

“The building has a 24-hour doorman, gym, playroom (and) playground,” it says.

Helen takes a lot of time off

From the Daily News:

As she wraps up her third term, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall seems to be preparing for retirement early — taking more than 40 days off last year.

Marshall took at least 41 personal or vacation days in 2012, according to a review of her public schedules obtained by the Daily News under the Freedom of Information Law.

The Queens pol, who gets a $160,000-a-year salary from taxpayers, was off duty for much of the summer, taking off most of August as well as nine days in June and July.

That’s on top of a five-day weekend for Memorial Day, and a number of Mondays and Fridays throughout the year.

The count does not include weekends or holidays — including an assortment of minor holidays like Presidents’ Day and Columbus Day — or days when she was listed as working but had no events scheduled.

A spokesman for the borough president said the huge gaps in her schedule were due to a combination of regular vacation time and time spent caring for her ailing husband, who had serious back surgery last summer.