Star Nissan fined for hacking young street trees

Dear Crapper,

On Tuesday May 21, 2013 employees of the Star Nissan/Toyota Service Center located at 40-20 172 Street in Auburndale took a small hand saw to twenty two of twenty three city trees that are planted on the sidewalks surrounding the facility on 172nd Street, 42nd Avenue and Auburndale Lane. Branches, as many as ten per tree, were removed. Those branches that were too large for the saw to cut through were ripped from the tree after partial cuts taking the branch and up to three feet of tree bark and interior matter.

The trees were planted between 2003 and 2006 at the direction of the Mayor's Office to provide a barrier between the noxious business and the neighboring residential homes. The trees provided a visual barrier as they grew, a sound barrier from the power tool noise, a pollution absorption mechanism and added greatly to the aesthetics of the area.

From the beginning Star Nissan/Toyota ownership, management and/or employees opposed the planting of the trees, running over the first few the night they were planted. The Parks Department returned a few days later with a police escort to re-plant the trees. A few years later when the planting moved to Auburndale Lane, the first Parks Department crew was harassed so badly by the Star workers that they vacated the site and returned again with a police escort. The trees have prospered in the intervening years providing a full canopy on Auburndale Lane and a beautiful counterpoint to the bland industrial building on 172nd Street. That is until yesterday when, according to a Star Manager, the trees presented such a safety hazard with low hanging branches that they were cut so that any branch that extended from the tree up to six to eight feet above the ground was excised. He admittedly did not contact 311, the Parks Department or Mayor's Office for advice or permission.

A contingent of Parks Department employees were on site first thing this morning to inspect the damage and to ultimately serve the Star manager with $84,000 worth of fines ($4,000 for severe damage to each of 20 tress and $2,000 each for damage to the remaining two trees). The Parks Department will continue to monitor the trees as an initial analysis indicates that some will not survive the attack.

Rhea O'Gorman
Station Road Civic Association

MLS Stadium in FMCP is apparently DOA

From the Times Ledger:

The odds that a soccer team funded by an Abu Dhabi sheik and the New York Yankees will scrap plans for a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park are more likely than official announcements have indicated, TimesLedger Newspapers has learned.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced Tuesday Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the owner of a British team called Manchester City Football Club, and the Bronx Bombers, which have signed on as minority partners, will head the league’s newest franchise.

The team, called New York City Football Club, plans to begin its first season in 2015 at a temporary venue the team said has not been decided, but which documents seen by TimesLedger identify as Yankee Stadium.

MLS has spent more than a year and nearly $2 million on lobbyists to lay the groundwork for a 13-acre stadium proposed on top of a non-working fountain in the park, which was touted by the Bloomberg administration but met with vehement opposition by Queens parks groups.

In order to fend off continuing criticism directed at the team’s majority owner from Abu Dhabi’s royal family, the New York City Football Club has already planned to abandon the idea, documents suggest.

The club plans to draw focus away from the turmoil in Queens by backing off the park complex and instead pushing news about players and highlighting the upcoming 2015 season, according to documents, which is a year earlier than MLS had originally anticipated play would begin.

The decision seems to have come as a surprise to both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MLS.

As recently as May 13, Bloomberg defended the Flushing Meadows stadium plan, telling reporters at a news conference replacement parkland would be found for the proposed 25,000-seat stadium.

And in late April, MLS Commissioner Don Garber was still insisting the Queens stadium was the only option.

“If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadows Park,” Garber told the Associated Press at the time. “There is no Plan B.”

But the MLS commissioner was informed sometime after making the comment that the new team, which is now taking the lead on the stadium search, would consider other locations.

“MLS is no longer leading the effort with the stadium project,” Garber said this week, adding the league has also dropped its pursuit of a land-use application to site the stadium in the park, he said.

New York City Football Club knew its decision would anger the city administration, since the mayor and a team of high-ranking city officials poured significant resources into the park stadium plan, considered by many to be a Bloomberg legacy project, TimesLedger has learned.

According to the documents, the club plans to thank and reach out to community groups in Queens and may offer to refurbish soccer fields in the Flushing Meadows near the proposed stadium site even thought he stadium may never be built.

From the Queens Chronicle:

As officials from MLS, the Bronx Bombers, Abu Dhabi-owned Man City and Mayor Bloomberg congratulated each other during a Tuesday press conference rolling out the franchise, there was one notable absence: the Unisphere, which had become ubiquitous in the league’s push to build a home in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Sources say the league and club owners plan to slowly suffocate talk of a Flushing Meadows stadium through a series of distractions meant to push the mythical arena to the sports pages. There it will likely die a quiet death, where MLS hopes the Bloomberg administration will be spared the embarrassment of yet another ambitious failure. The process has already begun.

According to sources who requested anonymity to maintain ties to the project, FMCP’s precipitous drop from essential to optional is fueled by a mixture of feasibility issues, unexpectedly strong opposition and face-saving on the part of all involved. The Pool of Industry site, it turns out, is fraught with regulatory and practical headaches, and the public needs its attention drawn away from a billionaire owner from Abu Dhabi.

The stadium, however, reportedly carried the extra weight of being labeled a “legacy project” by the Bloomberg administration. Ditching the location in FMCP would invoke the mayor’s ire, but was a necessary repercussion.

Sources said Bloomberg has expended significant political capital in trying to make MLS’s expansion franchise a reality. The potential scuttling of the FMCP stadium would add to the mayor’s list of failed proposals, alongside the failed West Side Stadium, part of the infamously flawed push to host the Olympics in 2012.

The political capital is paired with nearly $2 million in literal capital MLS spent lobbying for the stadium.

Dan's back

From the Daily News:

Embattled City Councilman Dan Halloran showed his face at the Council for the first time since he was hit with federal corruption charges nearly two months ago.

The Queens Republican showed up at City Hall for Wednesday’s meeting of the full Council, after skipping its last two meetings while battling charges he joined a scheme to buy Sen. Malcolm Smith a spot on the Republican mayoral ballot and offered Council member item cash in exchange for bribes.

“I’m here fulfilling my obligations,” Halloran said. “I’m here doing my job, the job I was elected to do.”

Will there be any punishment?

From the Queens Courier:

Concerned Woodhaven residents want to know what repercussions, if any, a local landowner will face after his building collapsed last month, damaging the adjacent Volunteer Ambulance Corps and forcing residents to leave the Woodhaven Senior Center.

An abandoned furniture store at 78-19 Jamaica Avenue crumbled onto the street on April 12, crushing a minivan parked out front and shutting down a section of the road while debris was removed.

At a May 18 meeting of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA), many voiced their desire to see the landlord held responsible for alleged negligence that led to the vacant building’s collapse.

The Woodhaven Senior Center is currently covered by a tarp, which must be proven watertight before seniors will be allowed back into the building.

Turning parks into huge billboards didn't pay off

From the Daily News:

A Bloomberg administration plan to sell naming rights on dog runs, basketball courts and other spots in municipal parks has been a bust, leaving the city with a $13 million hole in its budget, a budget watchdog said Tuesday.

No one applied to the revenue-raising program, which the Parks Department launched last year in partnership with NYC and Company and IMG, a sports marketing company, the Independent Budget Office said.

But while the city made no money, IMG did.

The marketing firm was paid $135,000 to trumpet the city’s parks to potential sponsors, the budget office said.

All of that money came from private donations, provided through NYC & Company, according to a spokeswoman.

The city will continue trying for sponsors in the next budget year, when it is counting on the program raising $7 million, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Walmart possible in Ridgewood

From the Observer:

It’s been mostly quiet on the Walmart front since plans for a Brooklyn behemoth collapsed last fall, but prominent New York brokers insist that the world’s largest retailer is in active negotiations for a spot in the five boroughs.

Walmart announced in September that its quixotic quest for a New York City location had hit a wall. The company’s latest failed bid for a toehold here came at the Related Companies’ Gateway II project in East New York. A coalition of labor unions, community defenders and politicians (including Christine Quinn) had condemned the proposal. Its downfall was attributed mostly to the company’s employment practices and perennial spats with unions. A unionized ShopRite will rise on the Gateway II site.

The Gateway Walmart had been expected since 2010, though it was never confirmed by the retailer or Related. When the East New York prospect dimmed, Walmart seemed to retreat from its designs on New York.

But several brokers told The Commercial Observer that negotiations are currently underway. “I understand they’re looking at something on the Queens-Brooklyn border,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division. “There’s an old industrial building over there with vacant lots next to it.”

Another real estate industry source familiar with Walmart’s hunger for a New York location, wishing to remain anonymous, said the company was in active negotiations for a “very substantial,” roughly 300,000-square-foot as-of-right site in the outer boroughs.

Ms. Consolo could not confirm the 300,000-square-foot figure, but did not reject the possibility of a Walmart site in or near Ridgewood, the gentrifying neighborhood between Bushwick and Middle Village that has recently welcomed artists and Polish families priced out of Bushwick and Greenpoint.

Anthony's finally in

From the Politicker:

He’s in. After weeks of speculation, disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner has officially thrown his hat into the mayor’s race, announcing he’s running with a new video posted on his revamped campaign website.

“Look, I made some big mistakes. And I know I let a lot of people down. But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor ’cause I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you,” he says in the video, which opens with a family scene of the former Councilman and his wife, Huma Abedin, having breakfast in their kitchen with their son.

The video goes on to show iconic scenes of the city and images of Mr. Weiner growing up in middle-class Brooklyn, and goes on to outline a platform that includes dropping fines for small businesses and more opportunities for the middle class.

Observers have been mixed about how Mr. Weiner will impact the field, but Public Advocate Bill de Blasio appears to have the most to lose. A long-time Brooklyn resident and fellow former councilman, Mr. Weiner is expected to appeal to the same outer-borough, ethnic whites and progressive voters who feel Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the race’s front-runner, is ideologically impure.

Yankees join forces with sheik to buy soccer team

From the Times Ledger:

Major League Soccer announced Tuesday the New York Yankees have teamed up with an Abu Dhabi sheik to buy a new soccer team franchise based in the Big Apple, but the announcement cast doubt on whether the crew will eventually play in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The Bronx Bombers and Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who already owns English soccer team Manchester City, hope the new team, New York City Football Club, will begin play in 2015, according to an announcement from the brand new club, which will compete with another team across the Hudson River.

Manchester City will be the majority owner of the club, with the Yankees acting as an investor, according to the club. On May 25, Manchester City will play a friendly match against another British team, Chelsea FC, at Yankee stadium.

Where the new team will play afterward is up in the air.

Last month, Garber reiterated the league’s insistence on Flushing Meadows.

“If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadow Park,” Garber said to the Associated Press. “There is no Plan B.”

But statements by the New York City Football Club in its Tuesday announcement seemed to open the possibility the sports facility could be located elsewhere.

“In considering any stadium site, we will listen first. This is what we have always done in Manchester and what we will do in New York. Only in this way can the club truly represent the city whose name it will carry,” said Ferran Soriano, chief executive officer of Manchester City.

The announcement also mentioned the negotiations, public relations pitches and outreach that MLS has been undertaking.

“New York City FC is committed to seeking a new permanent stadium in New York. Until that time, the new team is arranging to play in an interim home beginning in its inaugural MLS season in 2015. Over the past year, MLS began discussions with the city of New York and other stakeholders about the possibility of constructing a new stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The club’s new management will continue these discussions with local government officials, community residents and businesses, soccer leagues, and MLS,” the announcement stated. “The club will continue to review other potential sites as well.”

The possibility of another location was welcome news to Queens park advocacy groups.

“As everyone in Queens — except for most of our elected officials — seems to know, the proposed site was a terrible location for any sort of stadium, as it would have horribly impacted the park as well as sat directly on top of the Flushing River, which the Fountain of the Planets currently is sited,” said Paul Graziano, a co-founder of the park advocacy group Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is opposed to commercial development in the green space. “As advocates specifically for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, we are hopeful that we are seeing the last of this awful proposal and that it will evaporate back into thin air where it came from.”

Illegal hotel rentals can be costly to owners

From the NY Observer:

Temporary apartment renting service Airbnb has had its share of tussles with New York law. In 2011, the city instituted an illegal hotels statute that makes it illegal for users to rent out their apartments for less than 29 days, effectively rendering Airbnb hosts subject to fines. Last September, the city council jacked up the fines that could be levied upon illegal hoteliers advertising their wares through Airbnb from $800 to $2,500.

Now, CNET reports that a New York administrative law judge has fined an Airbnb host $2,400 for breaking the illegal hotel law when he leased out part of his condo on the site, arguing that the unit “may only be used as private residences and may not be rented for transient, hotel, or motel purposes.”

Airbnb attempted to come to the rescue of the host, Nigel Warren, and helped get his fine knocked down from $7,000 after zoning charges were dismissed. But even with Airbnb’s crack team of experts at his side, Mr. Warren is still expected to pony up the $2,400.

Bye, bye Barry!

From the Queens Courier:

Former assemblymember Barry Grodenchik has ended his borough president bid less than a day after being beat for a key county endorsement.

“The next borough president must focus like a laser on jobs, education, healthcare, economic development and Sandy recovery,” Grodenchik said. “I am proud to have brought those issues to the forefront of the debate. But at this time, I believe that it is in the best interest of my family, team and party to end my candidacy.”

Grodenchik, 53, served as deputy borough president from 2009 to earlier this year, when he stepped down in order to run for BP.

The Queens County Democratic Party endorsed his rival, Melinda Katz, on Monday.

Sources close to the race said the endorsement, coupled with Grodenchik’s exit, was meant to give Katz a much-needed boost over front-runner Peter Vallone Jr. The councilmember leads the race both in polls and in fundraising.

Helen didn't know that Johnny is in the mayoral race

From the NY Observer:

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall holds one of the most prominent elected offices in Queens. But the 83-year-old lawmaker was apparently unaware until yesterday that John Liu was running for mayor.

During the Queens Democratic Party’s endorsement event Monday, a reporter for a Chinese-language newspaper asked Ms. Marshall if she was disappointed the county hadn’t backed Mr. Liu, who lives in the borough and used to represent it on the City Council. (They backed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn instead.)

According to a source who witnessed the conversation, an article in The China Press and an interview with the reporter who interviewed the borough president, Ms. Marshall appeared confused by the question.

Well, he’s facing opposition in his re-election campaign for comptroller, Ms. Marshall reportedly answered. City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who was standing near Ms. Marshall, leaned over to explain to her that Mr. Liu is actually running for mayor–prompting surprise.

"Oh, I like him, I don’t know why we didn’t endorse him, then," Ms. Marshall reportedly replied.

Ms. Marshall, who was elected in 2001 after serving in the City Council and the New York State Assembly, has just one year left in her final term. But some observers have raised questions about her muted activity. Colleagues described Ms. Marshall as increasingly absent-minded, sometimes repeating herself and forgetting things.

“It’s been getting worse over time,” observed one Queens Democratic source, who said this fall’s election can’t come soon enough. “I think she’s winding down a long political career and is less engaged in the job than she used to be,” said another.

Others were less forgiving. ”Nothing against Helen personally, but for several years she’s been a couple miles past out to lunch,” a Queens insider quipped. “On a good day.”

Crowley pissed off a lot of Dems with his endorsement picks

From the Politicker:

When the Queens Democratic Party rolled out its endorsements this morning in Forest Hills, one notable demographic, African Americans, was left without a major candidate. Indeed, Queens' black political establishment looked on with disappointment as their favored candidates for mayor, borough president and public advocate were passed over for rivals.

Congressman Joe Crowley, the party chair, endorsed Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor and former Councilwoman Melinda Katz for borough president. While a vast majority of district leaders voiced their approval, Elmer Blackburne and several other black district leaders dissented, indicating that instead they would support Bill Thompson, the former comptroller, who is also black. Ms. Quinn and Ms. Katz are white.

"Our community tells us that they're gonna vote for him [Thompson] again," Mr. Blackburne, a district leader from a predominately black southeast Queens, told reporters after the endorsement meeting. "We feel strongly and we'll be working very strongly with Mr. Thompson. [Ms. Quinn] can't win in our district. She can't win the Bronx, from the numbers I'm getting. She can't win in her own district, I'm told--her own part of Manhattan--and she can't win in Brooklyn."

Mr. Blackburne said he understood the county organization had an appreciation for diversity but also made decisions that were not always popular with the local black political establishment. Archie Spigner, a former southeast Queens councilman and close ally of sitting Councilman Leroy Comrie, the black candidate Mr. Crowley was considering endorsing instead of Ms. Katz for borough president, expressed disappointment at the seemingly last-minute decision the county organization made to not support Mr. Comrie.

"I'm disappointed but I understand their logic," Mr. Spigner told Politicker. "We'll have to see whether Leroy continues in the race. If he continues in the race, I'll be with him. The reasons they gave me were that he was a very unsuccessful, unspectacular fund-raiser."

Sources indicated that Mr. Spigner and other Comrie allies were only informed of Mr. Crowley's decision to support Ms. Katz late Saturday and Sunday. Initially, Politicker reported that the county organization was expected to back Mr. Comrie, despite his poor fund-raising. However, according to several plugged-in Democratic sources, Mr. Comrie's candidacy was met coolly in the pivotal organized labor community, some of whom favored Ms. Katz. When other candidates, sources said, made it clear they were not going to step aside if Mr. Crowley backed Mr. Comrie, the county organization reevaluated their plans and chose Ms. Katz, a strong fund-raiser and former county-backed candidate for Congress.

The unholy Vallone-Crowley alliance has been forged

Amidst a groundswell of support from elected officials, as well as civic and community leaders, today Paul Vallone was nominated and officially endorsed by the Queens Democratic Party for 19th City Council District.

"Now more than ever is the time to restore integrity and trust to the 19th City Council seat. I am humbled and privileged to have the district-wide support of our elected officials, district leaders, as well as our community and civic leaders. It is an honor to stand with Congress Members Joseph Crowley and Grace Meng, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assembly Member Ed Braunstein and countless others,” said Vallone. "I continue to be proud of uniting Democrats in our district. As President of the Clinton Democratic Club, past president and founder of the Bayside Whitestone Lions Club and numerous other local organizations, this recognition proves that Northeast Queens wants and needs leadership that is active and committed to our community."

Vallone also recently received the endorsement of the Detectives Endowment Association (DEA) and today pledged to stand with the entire labor community if elected to the City Council.
“Make no mistake about it, I am a friend and an ally to working men and women and I will stand and work with all members of New York City’s labor community if I am fortunate enough to be elected to the City Council,” said Vallone.

Groundswell of support from civic and community leaders? Who exactly would that be? Let's take a look at where Paulie V's support comes from...

Total     $39,305 as of  3/11/13
             $73,470 as of  5/11/13

Disclosure Period 8                              $34,165    3/12 to 5/11


Contribution Category # Amount

Total                                                     98                 $34,165

Vallone Family and Friends                       5                      $650

Real Estate / Developers / Construction  26                 $11,475

Lawyer                                                  25                   $6,150

Investment Firms, Banks 7 $1,675

58.3% of contributions come from these 4 categories                     $19,950
64.2% of individuals come from these 4 categories                                  63
Other Individuals / Groups of note

S & H Glazer Brothers (Home Improvement Company)        4            $2,750

Deborah Gaslow (former Miss New Hampshire)                   1            $2,750

Touran Weissman (wife of Neil Weissman, major               1            $1,500
contributor to Democratic Political races)

Other important info:

16 of 98 contributors, or 16.3%, are from the 19th Council District.
$2,665 of $34,165, or 7.8%, is from the 19th Council District.

Too many luxury projects

From the NY Times:

The growth in high-end projects in Manhattan comes as housing for the working and middle class is in increasingly short supply in the city. These buildings are proving so profitable that they are warping the local real-estate market, making it more difficult to put up more-affordable housing.

Developers have long complained that the prices of land, construction materials and labor are high in New York, even if they are somewhat less expensive than in London or Hong Kong.

But builders of ultraluxury apartments have much more latitude on costs because they are securing spectacular prices for their projects.

As a result, the luxury building trend is driving up the overall cost of land in the city. Several developers maintained that they could build moderately priced housing only if they could get significant tax breaks.

Lots more where they came from

From the NY Post:

Shady politicians and their backroom deals cost taxpayers at least $49,710,630.64 — enough cash to build two schools, bankroll the New York Islanders or pay for 100 new fire trucks — according to a Post analysis of documents relating to 15 city and state officials who’ve been jailed, indicted, censured or lost re-election bids under a cloud of suspicion since 2006.

The rogues gallery is led by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who cost the state $36 million in pension-fund management fees after taking nearly $1 million in illegal gifts; ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada, who funneled $7 million to himself and family members through a Medicare-funded nonprofit; and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who cost taxpayers $103,000 in secret settlements after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.

The nearly $50 million tally doesn’t include bribes accepted or money embezzled from private entities, such as the $440,000 that state Sen. John Sampson allegedly raided from foreclosure escrow accounts he was appointed to oversee. It also doesn’t count taxpayer money that was promised but never doled out, such as the $80,000 in discretionary funds City Councilman Dan Halloran allegedly said he’d allocate to a dummy company in exchange for a bribe.

City didn't build promised "affordable housing"

From DNA Info:

Eight years after the city pledged to build 1,345 affordable housing units on North Brooklyn's city-owned land, only 19 of those units have been completed, officials admitted to DNAinfo New York.

The promised low- and moderate-income housing units — part of the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg that allowed high-rise and high-end commercial and residential developments to hit the neighborhood — have been more difficult to construct than expected, officials said.

"Some sites have presented unique challenges that we are committed to working through with the community and local leaders," said a spokesman for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The spokesman noted that an additional 722 of the pledged city-owned units were in "predevelopment," including 631 affordable housing apartments that would be built in the controversial waterfront towers at Greenpoint Landing and 65 Commercial St.

But to North Brooklyn leaders and residents, the city's failure to build affordable units quickly has displaced thousands of people as real estate prices have skyrocketed in the neighborhood. And now, a coalition of nonprofits and politicians is planning a giant rally Wednesday to "commemorate eight years of broken promises" and to demand the city move forward with the affordable housing.

Everything old is new again

From CBS News:

They may not make 'em like they used to -- but that doesn't mean no one's trying.

Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch are founders of the design firm Roman and Williams. In an age of generic glass buildings, their designs evoke a sense of personality . . . and permanence.

"We feel like we could build a building right now with current labor and materials that could last four or five hundred years," said Alesch.

"It's a breakthrough to do a brick building -- to do a really good brick building, with wood windows, right now, is a breakthrough," added Standefer.

Take for example Elizabeth Street in Manhattan: Other buildings on the block are well over a hundred years old, except for the seven-story building on the corner of Elizabeth and Prince. It's nearly new, but built the old-fashioned way, with old-fashioned bricks.

"All of our bricks were dead stock," said Standefer, which means, "they hadn't been used since 1950. No exaggeration."

And when the place was finished, people thought it had always been there.

"When we took the scaffolding down, they just thought we had cleaned the building," Alesch said.

"But you built it from nothing?" Smith asked.

"Totally. Ground up," said Standefer.

Stable that helps cancer patients likely to be replaced by crap

From the Queens Tribune:

For more than 100 years, a barn and horse stable have sat at the end of Auburndale Lane in Auburndale. Now known as the Western Riding Club Stables of Queens, the location has become a community facility for the neighborhood. However, the structure is in danger of being sold.

The landlord, John Lightstone, has decided to sell the property, which includes the barn, the stable and unused land. Joy Tirado, who is in charge of the land, has been given the right of first refusal, but she has also only been given 10 business days to come up with a down payment of $60,000. In order to save her stable, Tirado has gotten help from State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who is trying to get it landmarked, as well as from the community.

According to Tirado, she received a letter from Lightstone on May 3, dated April 30, about the sale of the .27 acres of land at 169-38 Pidgeon Meadow Road. The letter said that she had until May 19 at 3 p.m. to come up with the $60,000 down payment if she wanted to keep the stable and the surrounding property. The rest of the $800,000 total price tag would have to be paid in full by mid-August. Tirado has had no opportunity to work with the landlord.

“He has made it very clear that he wants no communication with me. The first hand-delivered letter of offer was left on my car windshield,” she said. “The original offer from the buyers was not included so I don’t know what the original offer truly is.”

The land has R2A zoning, which is single family detached. According to District 19 candidate and civic leader Paul Graziano, if the property is sold, about four houses could be squeezed into the space. If Tirado is unable to come up with the funds or if the location is not landmarked, she faces eviction.

From the Queens Courier:

“We need to maintain this horse stable here that has been a major factor within this community because its historical value is immeasurable,” said Tirado, who adopts rescue horses.

She also offers free therapeutic services every day to about 20 youths, seniors and cancer patients.

“It’s a wonderful community resource that unfortunately we may lose,” said State Senator Tony Avella. “We don’t do enough to preserve the unique character and history of each neighborhood.”

Avella called for the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to review the barn for landmark designation.

“The stable brings us back to the days when all of Queens was farmland,” he said. “To this day, it remains one of the few stables left within a residential community.”

Nearly 200 people have signed an online petition to save the barn by giving it landmark status.

“This is a real heritage,” said Beverly McDermott, president of the Kissena Park Civic Association. “If the city had half a heart and any brains, they would give [Lightstone] fair purchase price for this property and run it as a facility for children and for adults who need special therapy.”

City says its own buildings are life-threatening

On Friday, May 17, the NYC Department of Buildings suddenly issued "Vacate" notices to roughly 10 Willets Point tenant businesses, that rent city-owned property located along 126th street directly across from CitiField. These businesses were ordered to close immediately, and the vacate notices state (paraphrasing) that the life of anyone who enters the premises may be in peril; and that anyone who violates the vacate notice may be subject to arrest.

Significantly, after the city acquired and inspected these very properties years ago, it has rented these premises to the businesses for several years -- premises that the city now suddenly claims are unsafe. The vacate notices are vague, and do not specify what exactly is alleged to be unsafe. As concerns at least one of the affected businesses, Discount Muffler, located at the corner of 38th Avenue and 126th Street, the building appears to be in excellent condition and the premises is impeccably maintained; there is NO dangerous condition to be found. These businesses were shuttered, with the owners given NO advance opportunity to remedy whatever is alleged to be wrong -- and, for that matter, without even being informed specifically of what is alleged to be wrong.

These properties are administered by NYC Housing Preservation and Development and its legal counsel, Harold Weinberg. HPD must be aware that there are no unsafe conditions at these premises, or it would not have rented them to tenants for several years.

The affected business owners will be meeting with City Council Member Julissa Ferreras on Monday morning at approximately 10:00AM.

Wondering about status of "another crap too narrow"

"Hey Crappie,

I was wondering if you can answer a question that myself and my neighbors have.  On the stairs in Maspeth between 65th and 64th Streets, there is a 2-family home that began construction over 10 years ago; as of today the property is no longer under construction for at least 5 years and has never been completed and by the looks of it there are no plans to complete it. It is now just a hangout for people to drink and do drugs and is a blight to the neighborhood. Are there any stipulations that a developer has a certain amount of time to complete a project once started? Thanks for all your help on this and past problems." - anonymous

Nope! And not only that, if you leave your construction site an eyesore for several years, the City rewards you by including you in the "Stalled Sites Program" where they invite you to renew your expired permits free of charge. It must be nice to be a developer in this city, where the government bends over backward to help you make neighborhoods look like hell.