Como flub justifies elections board snub

From City Hall:

Apparently, even a former commissioner of the Board of Elections and one-time hopeful for the executive director job can make mistakes on his elections paperwork.

That is what Anthony Como, the Republican running against State Sen. Joe Addabbo discovered some time late Tuesday, hours after submitting 4,900 petition signatures to create a third party line for his candidacy.

The problem was that Como filed the petitions for the wrong election.

At 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Como submitted petitions for the “Tax Cuts Now” line that were designated for the Sept. 14 primary, not the Nov. 2 general election, when he will face Addabbo. As a result, the Board has taken initial actions to invalidate Como’s signatures, according to Steve Richman, its general counsel. The 10-member Board as a whole will now get the case.

Como already lost out on the Independence Party line after a dispute over his campaign’s use of signature gatherers from the party’s rival New York City faction. The “Tax Cuts Now” line was conceived of as a replacement.

Instead, it seems it will be the party line itself which may be cut now.

From the Queens Courier:

Addabbo questioned whether all of the petition signers were legit saying he has heard stories of confusion.

“A number of people I spoke to said they were approached to sign petitions for Como and some of them thought it was for Andrew Cuomo, and they didn’t know what they were signing,” Addabbo said.

[Where did I hear this before? Oh yeah...]

Meanwhile, Addabbo is still dealing with his own ballot issue, whether or not to appeal the court’s decision to boot him from the Working Families Party Line.

“I normally like to exhaust all legal remedies before closing a case or a matter,” Addabbo said.

Council member gambles on lawsuits

From the NY Post:

City Councilman Lewis Fidler gets a $60,000-plus salary from a company that helped finance the lawsuit by police gunshot victim Sean Bell and other major cases against the NYPD.

The Brooklyn Democrat moonlights as the chief lawyer for LawCash, a company that gambles on the outcome of court cases -- including headline-grabbing police-brutality suits -- by giving money to cash-strapped plaintiffs who could hit legal pay dirt.

The company quietly gave money to Joseph Guzman -- who was shot 16 times in the 50-bullet barrage that killed Sean Bell, a source said. It was a savvy business investment: Guzman won a $3 million settlement from the city last month.

LawCash is "involved in many police-brutality cases filed against the city," said Bell family lawyer Sandy Rubenstein, who represents victims in the 2006 shooting case, as well as the woman Bell was to marry the day he died, Nicole Paultré-Bell.

Another LawCash client was NYPD torture victim Abner Louima, who won an $8.7 million settlement in 2001 against the city.

Fidler said he makes somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 as LawCash's general counsel -- on top of the $127,500 he makes as a council member.

The firm generally advances a few thousand dollars to plaintiffs at interest rates of 2 to 4 percent a month. If the case loses, they get nothing back. If the case wins, they get principal plus interest, which can exceed 25 percent.

Fidler says there is no conflict of interest in his firm's going against the city in court.

"There is no contact with the city of New York," Fidler said of his part-time job. "What possible conflict would there be, as I do no business with the city?"

But the City Council sometimes sits in judgment of the same cases that LawCash invests in.

Good question!

From NBC:

The Commission has labored long and brought forth a mouse. If the voters say they don’t want the change, then three terms presumably will be enshrined for the future. If they vote for this wishy-washy version of term limits, it won’t happen until years from now. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

It’s a compromise, they say, but at whose expense? They want to be fair, the commission members say, to the incumbents. But what about being fair to the people of New York? Somehow, that has escaped them.

From NY Civic:

The bottom line here is that some people wanted to take care of some other people they know. And they were able to convince enough naive colleagues so that they could do it.

The remedy here is relatively simple: another referendum, with an effective date written into it so no Commission can substitute its wishes for the voters' decision by fiddling with implementation and postponing a simple reform for over a decade.

The unanswered question is Rule 17-C. Who will bell the cat? Who will step forward and take the initiative to see that the will of the people is implemented, whatever it may be. Now is the time to begin consideration of that question. It has been attributed to Edmund Burke in 1795. No one, however, really knows who said it first: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing."

To those of you who think, what difference does this make, two terms or three, you have a point. The issue, however, is not two or three terms. The issue is fairness; first the Mayor and Council circumventing the Charter in 2008 for their own benefit, and now the Commission trying to circumvent the referendum of 2010, whether they know it or not.

Americans, and New Yorkers are Americans, like to play fair, and don't like to be disregarded or manipulated. That is what underlies this controversy. It is the same nagging issue that sharply reduced the majority the competent mayor should have received after two successful terms. Our recommendation: respect the will of the people.

From Room Eight:

The need for a referendum to change the charter, or at least portions of the charter for which the politicians have a conflict of interest, is one thing I thought any decent group of people would propose. But they haven't, and there is no explanation as to why, although the report does mention that having he Council overturn a referendum without another one is something many objected to. Not only could the City Council eliminate term limits, but it could also eliminate initiative and referendum. This stunning omission has gone without comment. BTW, to change the NY state constitution requires the assent of two consecutive state legislative terms AND a referendum. If the City Council can just change the charter, why does it exist, since it is no more difficult to change than any ordinance?

"Queens" ferry in 1910

Click photo for larger version.

Fix the curbs!

These photos show DOT prep for the repaving of 42nd Avenue (malls and curbs deterioration for forty years) and leaving the curb replacement undone.





The community has requested the curbs to be raised so that trucks and inconsiderate motorists would stop parking and destroying this green space from Francis Lewis Blvd. to Bell Blvd.

McMansions not wanted by most people

From MSNBC:

They've been called McMansions, Starter Castles, Garage Mahals and Faux Chateaus but here's the latest thing you can call them - History.

In the past few years, there have been an increasing number of references made to the "McMansion glut" and the "McMansion backlash," as more towns pass ordinances against garishly large homes, which are generally over 3,000 square feet and built very close together.

What sets a McMansion apart from a regular mansion, according to Wikipedia, are a few characteristics: They're tacky, they lack a definitive style and they have a "displeasingly jumbled appearance."

Well, count 2010 as the year the last nail was hammered into the McCoffin: In its latest report on home-buying trends, real-estate site Trulia declares: "The McMansion Era Is Over."

Just 9 percent of the people surveyed by Trulia said their ideal home size was over 3,200 square feet. Meanwhile, more than one-third said their ideal size was under 2,000 feet.

"That's something that would've been unbelievable just a few years back," said Pete Flint, CEO and co-founder of Trulia. "Americans are moving away from McMansions."

Shit tit worker in deep crap

From the Brooklyn Eagle:

A Brooklyn sewage treatment worker with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was arrested this week on a charge of submitting a forged letter purportedly from his DEP supervisor to the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a Site Safety Manager’s license.

The letter falsely claimed the defendant had supervisory construction experience at DEP, according to the criminal complaint. The city’s Department of Investigation (DOI) opened an investigation after the Buildings Special Investigations Unit, a specialized unit that is supervised by DOI and includes staff from DOB, questioned the claims in the defendant’s letter. The office of New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is prosecuting the case.

Alvaro Mora, 44, of Woodside, Queens, has been charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, a class D felony, and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a class E felony. Upon conviction, a class D felony is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a class E felony by up to four years in prison.

DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said, “Fabricating experience is a foolish way to seek a city-issued license, especially where the fraud, if successful, would have compromised the safety of New Yorkers. This arrest is a stern reminder that individuals who flout the rules and willfully disregard construction safety will be held accountable.”

In March 2009, DOB denied Mora’s application for a Site Safety Manager’s license because he did not submit the required letters from his supervisors describing his construction experience. In May 2009, Mora resubmitted his application and asked for reconsideration for the license.

Photographing Helen

From the Daily News:

Queens borough President Helen Marshall sure is more than ready for her closeup - and it's costing taxpayers a pretty penny.

The pol's office revealed Thursday it's renewing a local shutterbug's $85,000-a-year contract to photograph her at events and in her official duties.

The vanity project is paid out of the borough president's discretionary funds.

The contract, awarded to Whitestone photographer Dominick Totino, was announced in the City Record.

Marshall spokesman Dan Andrews said Totino provides pictures to local newspapers and event honorees.

"He's a very experienced photographer," Andrews said.

He added that while Totino can earn up to $85,000 in assignments, the borough president's office paid him less than $50,000 in each of the past two fiscal years.

Totino has held the contract since 1997. He once described Marshall as very photogenic.

I like the Wilma Flintstone pearls...

Hunt for Hillside Ave bank robber

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Police are looking for a suspect wanted in connection with an armed bank robbery in Queens.

Authorities say the suspect entered the Chase Bank at 184-01 Hillside Avenue Friday morning around 8:30 a.m., approached a teller and demanded cash while brandishing a silver handgun.

The teller gave the suspect an undetermined amount of cash and the suspect fled on foot, police said. No shots were fired and no injures were reported.

Anyone with information in regards to this suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Cell towers may cause buildings to crack

From the NY Times:

Tenants at 165 Pinehurst Avenue, a six-story brick building on a hilltop in Washington Heights, have something most modern Americans would envy: impeccable cellphone service.

But it comes with a cost. They worry their building in northern Manhattan is going to collapse.

Their reception is so crisp because of two cellphone base stations and 20 antennas positioned on their building’s roof, sending and receiving thousands of calls each day for T-Mobile and AT&T.

To the cellphone providers, this hub — and others like it — are essential to accommodating the explosion of mobile data and voice communications.

But the tenants, as much as they like their clear reception, are in an uproar because they argue that their 82-year-old building cannot bear the weight of the base stations.

Long, zigzagging cracks have appeared along the building’s outer walls, and mortar has crumbled from the parapet, which supports hefty I-beams that the base stations sit upon.

“Before this went up, we were told we couldn’t come up here, because it wasn’t stable enough for human weight,” said Meg Gibson, a longtime tenant, as she surveyed the building’s factorylike rooftop on a recent sunlit day.

The rooftop, painted silver, was crisscrossed with snakelike metal coverings, protecting transmission cables. The rectangular cellphone antennas stood sentinel along the edges. Two raised metal platforms, resembling miniature oil rigs, filled a quarter of the rooftop, supporting the cabinetlike base stations that receive and send calls.

The tenants did not mind much when the first base station, which belongs to T-Mobile, went up in 2006, but grew concerned when the second one, owned by AT&T, was installed last fall.

Ms. Gibson said her roof had a “chronic problem” of disrepair, and alerted the city to her concerns. The Buildings Department issued a notice of violation to the landlord, Shahram Mobasser, for failing to maintain the buildings’ walls, and, in a report, noted four large cracks beneath the base station’s support beams, though a city engineer concluded that it was hard to determine the cause of the cracks.

The Buildings Department approved the landlord’s application to erect the AT&T base station last summer, after determining, a spokeswoman said, that the plans complied with the building code. Sarita S. Marbella, the architect who signed off on the work last February, would not comment on the tenants’ complaints, citing a confidentiality clause with AT&T.

Astoria Park is full of trash

From NY1:

Astoria Park houses the largest pool in the city, and residents say with more people, comes more trash.

“Every year, once the pool opens, the trash gets out of control, and it’s been going on for years and years,” said resident Debbie Riga. “There are not enough garbage cans in the park to accommodate the number of people who come.”

For years, Riga repeatedly asked the city to place trash barrels along 19th Street between 24th Road and 23rd Avenue.

“Sanitation’s saying it’s a Parks [Department] issue; Parks is saying it’s a Sanitation Department issue,” Riga said.

Frustrated by the response, Riga decided to take matters into her own hands – at her own expense and time.

“We really don’t care what agency it comes from, we just want a clean neighborhood,” she said. “I just started putting garbage bags up this year, and you can see the difference. It’s much cleaner. It’s not rocket science, people use the bags if they’re there.

NY1 reached out to the Department of Parks and Recreation, which released the following statement:

“The Astoria Park Pool is extremely popular and has had almost 110,000 visitors since the pools opened at the end of June. The Parks Department sends crews to pick up the trash in the mornings and afternoons. More trash barrels will be added this week.”

Isn't it sad that you have to call a TV station in order to get even simple things done in this town?

Some homeowners stuck in a real shitty situation

From CBS 2:

Carmen Thomas was attempting to recover from a deluge that claimed the boiler, washer, dryer and nearly everything else in her Queens basement after five feet of water made its way into her home.

“Horrible, crazy, it stinks,” Thomas said. “Sewer water – everything is all ruined.”

Thomas’ home on 139th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard is just one of dozens of homes on the street that suffered the same fate.

In the basement of Richard Green’s home, a sliding glass door was pushed in – frame and all.

“It came down the steps from the backyard and over the other houses,” Green said of the sewage that made its way into his home.

But next door, where a commercial cleaning company was at work, the owner said much of the flooding “back-up” from the sanitary sewer.

“Found out it was coming from the main sewage line and after that, sewage started coming up. Raw sewage coming out the main line,” resident George Brash said.

The Department of Environmental Protection said crews were cleaning sewer catch basins and draining sewers after they were just overtaxed.

The city was passing out flyers in Springfield Gardens Monday, advising flood victims how to go about filing claims against the city, which may be liable.

Fire knocks out LIRR and possibly hospital

A problem has developed on the LIRR and has knocked out all lines except the Port Washington line.

UPDATE 5:00PM: From WNYC:

The Long Island Rail Road is functioning at 60 percent of its capacity this evening and all trains are going local as a result of a fire in a control tower at the Jamaica transfer station.

Officials are instituting numerous steps to handle the crowds. LIRR President Helena Williams told riders not to take the subway to Jamaica but instead said most of them should go to Penn Station and board the train they need to get home--without making any transfers at Jamaica.

She said riders on the Far Rockaway and Hempstead lines should take the subway to Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal, however, and board those trains there.

And there may also be a fire at Wyckoff Heights Hospital.

Will try to post updates as soon as we get them.

It's official: Even the city's most famous landmark isn't safe

From CBS 2:

Will the Empire State Building remain a stand-alone act? That question will be the focus of a City Council hearing Monday.

Council members will look into a proposal to build a 67-story, 1,200-foot office tower at 15 Penn Plaza, less than three blocks from the landmark skyscraper.

The Empire State Building’s landlord said the project will ruin its view and destroy the Manhattan skyline.

If the proposal passes the City Council, it would then go to Mayor Bloomberg for approval.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said the building would create jobs, office space and would give “people a sense that we are building again in New York City.”

But New Yorkers, who see the Empire State Building every day, have some thoughts of their own. “The Empire State Building is a landmark. We want to be able to see it wherever we are,” said resident Beverly Coleman.

Frank Costanza goes home

From the Daily News:

Jerry Stiller, who played George Costanza's irascible dad on "Seinfeld," made a surprise visit last week to the couple who live in the Astoria, Queens, house that doubled as the Costanza abode.

He made their day.

"Hey, Costanza's father!" said Jack Lopipero, 84, who answered the door in an undershirt and shorts.

His flabbergasted wife, Bessie, also 84, stood on the steps behind him in a blouse and pajama bottoms.

"I can't believe this!" she exclaimed.

The Lopiperos have long lived in the two-story brick house on 37th St. whose exterior was used as the home of George Costanza's bickering parents, Frank and Estelle, played by Stiller and Estelle Harris.

Alligator found in Astoria

From the NY Post:

Cops apprehended an 18-inch gator that crawled out of an Astoria drain and hunkered down beneath a parked car this afternoon, delighting onlookers and giving fresh meat to the urban myth that the carnivorous critters are living below the Big Apple.

The scaly spectacle began just after 3 p.m., when a passersby spotted the reptile on Newtown Avenue near 29th Street and yelled "Crocodile!" One witness said the alligator crawled out of a drain during this afternoon's downpour.

Cops couldn't verify that the animal crawled from the sewers — a big-city myth that inspired the 1980 B-movie "Alligator," and others — but were baffled as to where it came from.

"It's a big mystery," said police spokesman Officer James Duffy. "It could have been dumped from a car or it could have come out of a sewer."

The police Emergency Service Unit lassoed the animal and bound its snout with tape. The caged gator was kept at the 114th Precinct until it was picked up by Animal Care & Control.

A spokesman for animal control said the alligator would be taken to a licensed rehabilitator or reptile sanctuary.

Untangling the mess that is the Van Wyck

From the Daily News:

STATE TRANSPORTATION officials yesterday unveiled the first phase of an ambitious plan to reconstruct the traffic-clogged Kew Gardens Interchange.

The interchange is a tangled mass of roadways that includes the Van Wyck Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Jackie Robinson Parkway, Queens Blvd. and Union Turnpike.

More than 500,000 vehicles travel on those roads every day, according to state officials.

The first phase of the revamp, slated to start in the coming weeks, targets the perpetually bottle-necked Van Wyck Expressway. It's expected to cost $148 million and take about five years to complete.

Auxiliary lanes will be added to the Van Wyck in an effort to ease traffic flow in the section between Union Turnpike and Hillside Ave., Gee said.

"We will also be replacing a number of bridges," he said. "The infrastructure is aging."

Gee joined Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and a group of elected officials yesterday for a groundbreaking ceremony on Queens Blvd. near the entrance to the Van Wyck Expressway.

The crowd also included several construction workers to highlight the 200-plus jobs the project will create.

A restaurant that needs a new name

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing restaurant has admitted to discriminating against customers who practice Falun Gong and violating their civil rights, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

In a consent decree issued last Thursday, the owner of Lucky Joy Restaurant, at 41-10 Main St. in Flushing, admitted engaging in a pattern of ejecting 10 patrons, including an 8-year-old girl, from the restaurant on three occasions in 2008 because they were wearing clothing that displayed the doctrines of the religious movement.

Falun Gong has been banned in China for more than a decade due to its practices and has been on the rise in the United States.

“It is disgraceful that a person would be refused service in a restaurant for doing nothing more than exercising their right to wear clothing with a religious message,” Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The manager was not available to comment by press time Tuesday evening.

Under the agreement, the Chinese restaurant’s owner is barred from discriminating against any patron based on “religion, religious expression, religious dress or association with Falun Gong,” according to the U.S. attorney. The owner has agreed that the staff will attend special training that will teach them the non-discrimination requirements listed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. attorney said.

Drug shipper busted at JFK

From the Queens Chronicle:

For the second time in less than a week, federal law enforcement authorities at Kennedy International Airport have thwarted large-scale drug-trafficking efforts with the help of man’s best friend.

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesman, Bernardo Gonzalez Garcia was arrested on Aug. 7 after a CBP canine alerted agents to his checked luggage, which upon inspection revealed cocaine and heroin concealed in cooking pots and sneakers.

Gonzalez Garcia, a Dominican national who arrived on a flight from Santo Domingo, allegedly attempted to smuggle nearly 30 pounds of product into the country carrying a street value of more than $1.4 million. CBP officials said he faces a “significant” prison sentence if convicted. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation is ongoing.

The bust came five days after another CBP canine helped agents at JFK discover more than three pounds of heroin with an estimated street value of $56,000 hidden in a cargo shipment of clothing samples which had arrived from India. The package was destined for Detroit.

The key word is "unlicensed"

From the Times Ledger:

Some local businesses, community activists and drivers are fed up with the moving trucks parked at Corona Plaza on Roosevelt Avenue and National Street.

Dr. Ruben Diaz, a dentist who has been working across the street from Corona Plaza for 11 years, said the parking problem with the moving trucks has been going on for over a decade. He said he is upset that local politicians have not done anything about it yet.

“Those trucks have always been there,” Diaz said. “There is nobody that can do anything.”

The moving trucks are operated by mostly unlicensed companies that serve the Latino community of Corona and other parts of Queens. People go to them because it is cheaper to hire them than pay licensed professionals. That’s why many movers park near the plaza by the No. 7 line’s 103rd Street station to find customers.

According to city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), anyone parking at a meter is required to pay the rate and is only permitted to park for the amount of time displayed on the parking sign. But some of the drivers of the moving trucks park in a metered space for longer than the two-hour time allowed, which is a violation that carries a penalty of $35. DOT spokesperson Monty Dean said the enforcement of the traffic rules is handled by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Ruben Peña, president of the community organization Corona Community Action Network (Corona CAN), said he wants the moving trucks to leave the area so that visitors can park and shop.

“The only problem that we have is the infamous moving trucks that occupy the meters every day,” Peña. “It is an inconvenience for the local businesses.”

Javier, who did not want give his last name, has been working as a mover out of Corona Plaza since 1996. The Ecuadorian native said he knows that it is difficult to find parking in the area, but that it’s not because of the moving trucks. He said he knows what they are doing is not legal, but he said they are providing a good service to the community and they pay insurance to do it.

“The businesses accept us,” Javier said. “Like any situation, there are people who are upset. They have their right to complain. Instead of fighting the moving companies they need to fight against drugs and liquor.”