Who's running Queens?

 queensbp.org

Shouldn't the acting BP be listed here? Or at least info about the upcoming special election?

D.A. Brown's entire legacy erased

Queens DA

Looks like the first order of the new district attorney was to construct a memory hole

 


Update:

Today, home page is not as foreboding.

Queens unicorns?

Forgotten NY has the story of ramp and step streets in the borough.

AirBnB victim is now ratting them out

From the Daily News:

A techie entrepreneur whose Chelsea pad was trashed after he rented it on Airbnb and it was used to host an orgy has launched a website to help landlords crack down on illegal subletters.

Ari Teman, 33, said he was inspired to create SubletSpy.com — which launched Sunday — after his horrific experience through the apartment sharing site.

Two years ago, the Brooklyn native, who rented his studio on Airbnb to make a few extra bucks, came home early to find a line of men at the door of his apartment and his furniture dumped in the back alley, apparently to make room for the evening activities.

He later found online fliers with his address on it advertising a “XXX Freak Fest.”

The lifelong computer geek - who claims his first words were “computer” and “monitor” — said he thought he could devise a 21st century solution to the problem of illegal hotels, which the city has been aggressively trying to combat.

He charges landlords a monthly rate — $1 a unit for a month for those who own 5,000 units or more — to scour apartment sharing websites like Airbnb and Craigslist in search of their properties through a program that he created.

Teman said the software works by finding clues to the addresses the landlords provide through pictures and reviews posted.

DOB transparency bill passed

Laurie Cumbo

From The Real Deal:

A new law requires the Department of Buildings to give city officials a heads up when a new building is proposed for a neighborhood.

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law Monday ensuring that the department alert the City Council and Community Boards via email on a weekly basis after an application for a new building or for an alteration requiring a new certificate of occupancy for a building is filed. The bill also requires the department to email notices of rejected applications and also post all this information on its website every week.

Council member Laurie Cumbo, who co-sponsored the bill with Council member Fernando Cabrera, said that the law will increase transparency — a boon to neighborhoods like Downtown Brooklyn where new projects sprout up on a daily basis.

A new way to report quality of life problems

From PIX11:

Abandoned cars, noise complaints, garbage and crime are problems in the city.

Neighbors report thousands of issues every month to NYC 311. The NYPD is also directly seeking community ideas.

At 6 precincts, NYPD is testing a program based on software from IdeaScale. Since the late Fall in the 113th Precinct in Southeast Queens, the site for neighborhoods in and around St. Albans has registered nearly 200 users and processed about 50 cases.

Sergeant Widy Geritano says it's similar to a social media site. Members from the community can sign up and anonymously write about issues they observe. Officers use their handheld devices to access the site.

Crowley campaign site hacked

From the Daily News:

An independent page maintained by City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) on Friday displayed a link offering users “nice chubby girls.”

The link — added to Crowley’s largely dormant campaign-style site — led only to a broken page.

A Crowley spokeswoman declined comment but confirmed the office didn’t know about the changes to the site.

Most parking tickets now fought online

From CBS New York:

Technology is a two-way street when it comes to parking violations in New York City.

As CBS2’s Tony Aiello reported, high-tech tools allow the city to write more and more tickets. But they also make fighting a ticket you think is unfair a little easier.

At New York City Parking Court, the waiting room is often mostly empty these days, and the hearing rooms are hardly ever crowded. Like so much of life, the process of fighting a parking ticket has moved online.

“On the Web is probably one of the easiest and most efficient ways to have it,” said Kevin Timoney of the New York City Department of Finance.

Timoney said about 50 percent of ticket adjudications now take place online, with a system that makes it easy to upload evidence to argue your case. For instance, a scan of a Muni-Meter receipt or a picture of a parking sign may easily be uploaded.

Everything will be reviewed by an administrative law judge sworn to be impartial.

“Take as many pictures – overkill is better than underkill,” said Administrative Law Judge Frank Reyes. “Submit as many items as you think is necessary.”

When will that project be done?

You may now look up the status of park construction projects by visiting the Capital Project Tracker.

Introducing Progress Queens

Dear All :

I have launched a news Web site called Progress Queens, which will primarily report about news and politics in the borough of Queens, but it will also include articles about New York city and state politics.

The site, which was launched on September 15, can be found here : http://www.progressqueens.com/

I'm currently looking for partners, to help me expand this platform. I envision Progress Queens to be supportive of an aggressive reform agenda and an opposition publication against the corrupt status quo.

Thanks,
-- Louis
louisflores@louisflores.com

You can now opt out of junk mail

From NY1:

In an effort to reduce waste, the city says its "Stop Junk Mail" campaign will benefit New Yorkers and the environment.

The Department of Sanitation is partnering with the GreeNYC program to promote an anti-junk mail service.

On the program's website, you can opt out of a number of unsolicited mailing lists at once.

You can create an account and unsubscribe from junk mail lists at nyc.gov/greenyc.

You can suggest an idea to be funded

There's a website for Participatory Budgeting and if you live in one of the districts that has it, you might want to get your suggestions in. The one above, I assume, is tongue-in-cheek, but then again I can see Van Bramer tossing some money to Queens Council on the Arts for it.

My personal feelings on PB is that $1M is a paltry sum, and all this does is pit people against each other with the outcome being exactly what it would be if there was no PB - the more organized factions of the community and friends of pols will get the dough.

Pan Am Hotel reopens as a hostel

A fan on Facebook recently brought to my attention that the Pan Am Hotel on Queens Blvd in Elmhurst has a new website, and is apparently being run as both a hotel and hostel. People on a budget will be able to afford to visit New York and the property has found a similar use to its previous incarnation. Sounds like a win-win, especially considering that the entire block was up for sale and at one point there were fears of a humongous crap pile being constructed in its place.

Bloomberg misdeed undone by Stringer

From the Daily News:

The company fired by the feds for the botched rollout of the Obamacare website has been “fired” again — the time by the New York City controller.

Controller Scott Stringer’s office refused Tuesday to approve a contract awarded by the Bloomberg administration to the Montreal-based firm CGI to overhaul the city’s 311 information hotline.

The Daily News reported that the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, known as DoITT, approved the contract hours before Mayor de Blasio took office, and that rival companies questioned CGI’s qualifications to do the work.

Sources said the controller’s office had questions about the planning and scope of the project and was concerned that the cost could balloon to as much as ten times the original $10 million pricetag.

An additional concern, sources said, was that the outgoing administration pushed through the contract on its final hours, denying de Blasio a say in the 311 overhaul.

In a letter Tuesday, Deputy Controller Lisa Flores said that if the new administration decides to go through with the project, it should request additional companies to bid on the work.

Bloomberg's final act as mayor was a doozy

From the Daily News:

In one of its final acts, the Bloomberg administration pushed through a costly contract to modernize the city's 311 call system — hiring the same company fired by the feds for the botched rollout of the Obamacare website.

The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, known as DoITT, awarded the contract to the Montreal-based company CGI on Dec. 31, hours before Bill de Blasio was sworn in as mayor.

Bloomberg administration officials were keen on approving the deal because the former mayor sees the 311 hotline as one his legacies, sources said.

But rival companies are up in arms, saying CGI has little if any experience managing call centers. A website, Dont911nyc311.com, has popped up to protest the contract.

CGI has never overhauled “a 311-type system,” said a source in the information technology industry.

From CBS Local:

A contract awarded to a Montreal-Based CGI on December 31, has caught the eye of City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

“I’m certainly reviewing the contract now,” Stringer told WCBS 880′s Jim Smith.

“This is a critical project when it comes to enhancing 311 and we’re going to be looking at all aspect of this process and contract,” Stringer said.

Stringer said that it was important to make sure that the company does what it said it would do. CGI and the city’s IT department say the competitive bid was awarded after a rigorous evaluation process.

Is PlowNYC full of sh*t?

"Hey Crappie,

If you look at the "Plow NYC" website in the Richmond Hill area, you'd have to surmise that they're airlifting plows in. There are one way streets that are unplowed then suddenly, the next block shows it was plowed in the last hour. Magic? Aliens? Maybe "Plow NYC" is a work of fiction?

Just sayin'..." - anonymous

Some neighborhoods not feeling the love today: Briarwood, Maspeth and Willets Point. (Purple means they were plowed 12-24 hours ago.)

Garbage problems continue in Jamaica

A new website, Queens Royalty, was launched about a week ago touting the greatness of Jamaica Queens. Well I certainly do not see anything great or royal about these photos below which were taken on December 1st.

1. Front of vacant lot at 16-13 90th Ave (which has an unlicensed commercial truck sitting in it, considered dead storage and illegal), a constant dumping ground and graffiti haven. I am sure one of the shit retail stores on Jamaica Avenue will be selling this mattress eventually on their sidewalk.



2. Problematic house with garbage issues at 166-11 91st St, off of Merrick Blvd. This has been reported numerous times, but obviously nothing has been done about this. People wonder why we have a rat and other rodent problem. This is right in downtown Jamaica.

3. Tick Tock Store in downtown Jamaica at 163-33 Jamaica Ave.

4. Vacant house at 89-24 168 Pl. Again this place has been reported numerous times. The house is falling apart, garbage is dumped here constantly and the neighbor across the street told me the place is filled with raccoons and other rodents. So why isn’t a fence around this and why isn’t the owner held responsible?

5. Another problematic low class ghetto apartment building with garbage issues. Again another reason we have a big rodent problem.

All brought to you by our low-class ghetto folks. Hell,even the seagulls in Jamaica are ghetto.

So exactly what is so “royal” about this?  And Queens Press had the nerve to honor these folks. Thanks for exactly what?

What's wrong in this picture?

Not sure why DOB chose this photo for its home page, but there's a violation in plain sight. Can you spot it?

That's quite a walk

Click photo for story.

Halloran's side gigs

I thought you might like Halloran's new Endeavor.

What I found most interesting is Halloran claiming it is his " turn to kick back in life after politics and discuss the things that matter to me "

Isn't he still on the public payroll?

Are we paying him to "kick back"? - anonymous

He's also started his own law practice.

Quite a busy fellow, that indicted one.