Racist hacks into South Queens Education town hall zoom meeting

Porno cockblocks luxury tower development proposal during zoom hearing

 Queens Post

A development company’s plan to build a 23-story residential tower on Vernon Boulevard was rejected by Community Board 2 last week.

Quadrum Global, an international investment firm, is seeking a zoning variance through the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) in order to develop a tower at 45-40 Vernon Blvd., the site that is currently home to the dilapidated Paragon Paint Building.

The plan would involve rehabilitating the Paragon Paint building and developing a 23-story tower behind it.

The board voted to reject the zoning variance saying that the development would be out of character with the area. The variance, however, is not dependent on the approval of the community board, with its vote being advisory.

The community board vote took place over Zoom Thursday during its regular monthly meeting—but the video has yet to be uploaded to YouTube nearly a week later. Sources say that the meeting was Zoom bombed with porn—and attribute the delay to that.

Quadrum’s application for a variance will not have to go through the standard rezoning process known as ULURP since it is seeking the approval of the BSA. Therefore, its application will not be reviewed by the borough president and City Planning Commission—nor will it go before the City Council for a vote.

The application will go straight from the community board to the BSA, where the BSA will render a decision.

The BSA has a long history of approving zoning variances even when they have been rejected by a community board. For instance, the BSA gave the all clear to a developer to construct a 17-story hotel building at 32-45 Queens Blvd. several years ago, defying the wishes of Community Board 2 and then Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer at the time.

AOC lets Dr. Chok take over a town hall

 

 Queens Chronicle

A virtual town hall on Wednesday, organized by the office of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens), was missing the U.S. representative herself.

Ocasio-Cortez brought on city Commissioner of Health Dr. Dave Chokshi to talk about Covid with her constituents, but was unable to make an appearance after what her office called an “unavoidable conflict” came up at the last moment. In her absence, Chokshi held down the floor, reiterating the importance of getting vaccinated and boosted in the face of the Omicron wave, and taking questions from constituents.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to see our constituents at next month’s town hall,” said an Ocasio-Cortez spokesperson. 

Chokshi began his presentation by updating constituents about the progress the city has made fighting back the Omicron variant. As of this week, the seven-day case average per day has dropped below 8,000 — about a fifth of the 43,000-case-per-day peak earlier in January.

“We have climbed down from the worst of the Omicron peak, but we know we have more work to do,” he said.

Similarly the city has seen a decrease in Covid hospitalizations from a total of about 6,500 patients hospitalized citywide on Jan. 11 to under 4,700, according to the most recent state data. 

The guidance for preventing more cases has stayed generally the same in recent months: Get vaccinated and get boosted, wear a mask in public, but particularly a high-quality one like a KN95, KF94 or N95, and continue to get tested and stay home if you’re positive or feeling sick.

Chokshi acknowledged that breakthrough cases for the vaccinated have increased under Omicron, but said that inoculation still has been shown in those cases to be an important form of protection from severe disease and hospitalization.

When he began taking questions from the audience, one constituent asked about the risk of blood clots from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Chokshi recognized that there is a “small risk” of blood clotting, “most most significant for younger women” but said overall the vaccine’s protection exceeds the risks.

“The most important thing to know is that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh any small risks,” he said.

Whatever it was that was so important to abdicate her responsibility as a representative of the people to this gaslighting weasel, she could have easily rescheduled this for another day. Especially since this was on zoom. 

Apparently, Dr. Chok is more powerful than we thought.

Brooklyn pols holding rigged webinar about city streets

Since @ericadamsfornyc is pandering to @TransAlt and those totalitarians are acting like they're in his cabinet already,they really should see what an "open street" is doing to traffic on Atlantic and Washington Aves in Brooklyn. @StreetsblogNYC

Open streets do not calm traffic pic.twitter.com/TtyORqdAza

— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 19, 2021

Senator Chuck Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander are hosting an obviously rigged webinar tonight on the future of our city streets with transportation totalitarian lobbies

What the Infrastructure Bill Means for NYC: A Zoom Townhall with Senator Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander

Description

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has the potential to reshape NYC for the better, with investments in the transportation, resiliency, and internet infrastructure our neighborhoods will need for years to come. But how that new federal funding gets spent, which projects are prioritized, what kinds of jobs are created, and how quickly they move forward will really matter. Join Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and NYC Comptroller-elect Brad Lander for a conversation on what the infrastructure money means for NYC and how federal and local officials can collaborate on implementation to ensure that infrastructure dollars deliver what our communities need for the future.

Co-Sponsors (list in formation):
Bike New York
Center for an Urban Future
Citizens Budget Commission
Jobs to Move America
New York Building Congress
New York City Central Labor Council
New York League of Conservation Voters
Regional Plan Alliance
Riders Alliance
Transportation Alternatives

 

Time

Dec 9, 2021 06:30 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

 Expect this zoom astroturfed by bike zealots and Urbanish Yimby transplants, so if you own a car and you got zoom you better use it

 Canada? 

Community Boards want to keep hearings virtual during pandemic resurgence

 

Patch

Community board chairs are pushing back on a requirement that their meetings resume in person next month — with some saying they plan to defy state law if necessary to keep their sessions COVID-safe.

And as interpreted by New York's official watchdog for public access to government, the state's open meetings law means that every community board member who Zooms into a meeting now technically must advertise in advance the address they are dialing in from — even if that is their home — and open their doors to all who wish to join.

"Opening up people's homes? That's insanity. That's ridiculous," scoffed Frank Morano, chair of Staten Island's Community Board 3.

After Gov. Andrew Cuomo suspended in-person government meetings last year in declaring a state of emergency at the dawn of the pandemic, the city's 59 community boards migrated to online video platforms such as Webex and Zoom.

Civic engagement soared as members of the public, the boards and government agency reps easily participated from the comfort of their homes via the internet, mastering the mute button and other video conferencing features.

But once vaccinations made gathering safer, the state lifted the emergency order on June 24. Community boards were once again subject to the state's open meetings law — requiring public access to the physical premises of an official gathering.

With the return of board meetings following a summer break coming up in September while virus risks remain, volunteer board members and boards' government-employed managers are sounding the alarm on the risks of in-person gatherings, pleading with city and state officials to allow them to continue meeting remotely.

"Not only are we still in the midst of this ongoing health crisis, but we're on a trajectory with cases going up," said Alexa Weitzman, chair of Queens Community Board 6, which represents Forest Hills and Rego Park. "This is not a time to reconvene in person."

Because board members are not employed by the government, the vaccine and testing mandates covering city workers do not apply. Nor can boards screen members of the public in the way that restaurants, gyms and theaters now must.

All in the room must wear masks, according to a City Hall memo, which also directed community boards to keep six feet of distance between participants.

Morano and Weitzman told THE CITY that they plan to keep holding virtual-only meetings, either because of virus concerns or because of a lack of space to socially distance.