Neir's gets national preservation grant

 

QNS 

 The historic Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven is getting a much-needed cash infusion to help it stay afloat as the city begins its post-COVID reopening.

The 191-year-old bar and grill, one of the oldest establishments in the five boroughs, is one of 25 historic and culturally significant restaurants across the United States to be recognized with a $40,000 grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Neir’s Tavern is so grateful to be included as an American Express and National Trust for Historic Preservation grant recipient,” Neir’s Tavern owner Loycent Gordon said. “As the oldest establishment on the list, we appreciate that these organizations are spotlighting the need to preserve historic small businesses across the country.”

Established in 1829, Neir’s Tavern survived the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, two world wars and the Great Depression, but nearly went out of business in 2020 until the de Blasio administration helped broker a new deal to keep the doors open. The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for the establishment as it draws closer to its bicentennial.

“As we struggle to survive our second pandemic, this grant will ensure that Neir’s Tavern’s outdoor area is not only maintained but enhanced,” Gordon said.

The “Backing Historic Small Restaurants” funding will help each of the 25 historic establishments enhance restaurant exteriors, build new outdoor seating areas, and upgrade online businesses to help mitigate operating costs as they work to recover from the pandemic.

“Historic small restaurants are cultural treasures that strengthen their communities and carry their legacies and traditions forward in deeply meaningful ways,” National Trust Chief Preservations Officer Katherine Malone-France said. “These restaurants have demonstrated their resiliency for decades, and even while dealing with the financial impacts of the pandemic, they have continued to support their communities in many ways.”

Mayor de Blasio accuses the MTA of protecting Cuomo for bringing up the rise in subway crime

@NYCMayor has accused the @MTA of running protection for Cuomo's scandals because of pointing out the rise in crime on the subway and their concern for the safety of commuters and transit workers

He also called them stupid and chided them for not whitewashing the crime stats pic.twitter.com/UYEQZOmsMT

— This machine kills fauxgressives (@Lowlifecrusher) May 18, 2021

Failed Riis Park Beach Bazaar receives foul welcome to Rockaway Beach boardwalk.

  

NY Post

 The new operators of a Rockaway Beach snack bar found an unwelcome surprise when they unlocked the property last week and found it vandalized with rotting fish in the walls, noxious “food bombs” in the ducts and concrete in the drains.

Rockaway Beach Bazaar took over the lease on the Beach 97th Street concession on the boardwalk this year after outbidding the prior occupant, Rockaway Beach Club.

“It stings that somebody is going to come in and reap the benefits of all our hard work,” Rockaway Beach Club’s Andrew Field griped to Gothamist in January when the Parks Department, which owns the property, announced its decision to change vendor groups.

Police are now investigating the May 13 criminal mischief incident that caused $10,000 of damage and threatens the shack’s planned opening over Memorial Day weekend.

 A copy of a 15-page document obtained by The Post details the destruction in photos — fish carcasses found atop old air ducts that created a “pungent stench” throughout the premises, as well as mayonnaise jars filled with condensed milk and raw fish.

These “food bombs” were supposed to stay hidden inside air ducts until the extreme heat of the summer — when they would pressurize and pop, releasing a noxious odor, according to the document that was provided to the NYPD and Parks Department by the new operators.

Summer is coming. 

 

The India COVID strain has been in New York City for over a month

 

Progress New York 

 The de Blasio administration updated online records about Coronavirus variants on Sunday, but the newly-released trend and cumulative data for various strains don’t add up.

 The Municipal Agency tasked with ensuring public health, NYC Health, released on Sunday a long-awaited update to Coronavirus variants sequencing that revealed, for the first time, the presence in New York City of the B.1.617 strain that appeared to originate in India and that has been ravaging that Asian nation. Not only did the update report, for data pulled from the GISAID database as of May 11, disclose the first cases of the B.1.617 variant in New York City, but the report also made retroactive disclosures, showing that the strain was first detected in COVID-19 cases from sequencing of specimens collected from April 5 – 11.

Notwithstanding the disclosures, the trend data and the cumulative data don’t add up. In the cumulative table, the B.1.617.2 strain showed 12 cases, whereas the trend table showed 16 cases for the most current week. Furthermore, the sample size was the second-lowest and less than half of recent peaks in March, according to the report’s figures. The press office supporting Mayor Bill de Blasio (WFP-New York City) did not immediately answer a media request to offer explanations.

As reported by Progress New York, the de Blasio administration has for several days refused to account for the missing data.

For the week of April 26-May 2, the P.1 variant, first detected in Brasil in 2020, was observed in 5,9 per cent. of COVID-19 cases, as noted in a social media post. The rate of detection has been steadily increasing since early March. The upward trend in that strain has been happening as New York City residents have increasingly received vaccinations against the Coronavirus.

Separately, the number of cases of the B.1.526 strain subclassified as S:E484K+ plunged from 229 in the May 4 report to 34 in the May 11 report for the week of April 19-25 without explanation. The change was first observed on social media.

As reported by Progress New York, it not known why Mayor de Blasio hasn’t faced a Federal inquiry over apparent violations of open records laws, even when they may be detrimental to public health. The press office supporting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, whose office would have jurisdiction, have again refused to answer questions submitted in advance for this report.

 Can't have a recovery for all of us without jukin' the stats...

Queens tenants living in hell sue landlord

Have a tenant horror story for you. Tenants at 84-53 Dana Court in Queens have been living in disgusting squalor for months thanks to their negligent landlord who has let garbage pile up inside and outside the building and refuses to address the rats, cockroaches, mice infestations as well as water damage and mold. Mgmt company has also been harassing tenants, sending them fake bills for rent. One tenant’s daughter is actually afraid to go in the hallway because a rat once bit her. Tenants believe landlord just wants them out.

 

 

The landlord, Highpoint Associates run by Donald Ammons, who has been on the Worst Landlord List multiple times, fired the super back in September 2020 and now garbage continues to pile up inside and outside the apartment, causing a rat infestation among other issues. The landlord has racked up more than $800,000 in fines and fees, according to our calculations, and over 400 building violations. The tenants have sued the landlord for repairs and have a court date on Friday, May 20. 6sqft covered this landlord before here. Tenants are willing to talk to you and show you the building this week ahead of the court date. Thanks.

Best,
Seth Hoy, Director of Communications
Legal Services NYC
40 Worth Street, Suite 606
New York, NY 10013

The Blaz admits he was wrong about how unsafe the subway has become, sends more cops to the rails.

 

NY Daily News 

The city will deploy 250 extra police officers to the subways, bringing the number of cops patrolling the system to the highest level in the NYPD Transit Bureau’s 26-year history, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.

With the new increase, the mayor said there’ll be about 3,250 NYPD transit cops. That figure also includes desk cops or supervisors who aren’t in the field, an NYPD spokesman noted.

The 250 additional cops won’t work full eight-hour shifts on subway patrol. They’ll walk the system for a couple hours during the morning and evening rush, earning overtime on top of their regular shifts in some cases, the police spokesman said.

The expansion comes as 24/7 subway service resumed Monday for the first time since May 6, 2020, when Gov. Cuomo ordered the system closed to passengers overnight to remove homeless riders. Its announcement also follows a series of violent incidents, including a Friday rampage in which five straphangers were assaulted during a horrifying stabbing spree.

“Anyone who commits an offense on the subways will be found, will be prosecuted, will be held accountable,” de Blasio said at a press conference, adding: “We’re going to take officers and put them in right places in the subways at the right time, particularly at peak times of ridership.”

24

  

AP

New York City’s subway will begin rolling all night again and capacity restrictions for most types of businesses will end statewide in mid-May as COVID-19 infection rates continues to decline, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

City subway service will return to 24-hour operation on May 17 after being closed for cleaning during overnight hours since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Democratic governor said.

Capacity restrictions on businesses — including restaurants, offices, beauty salons, gyms — will be lifted in New York and its neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut on May 19, Cuomo said.

Businesses in New York will still be required to operate in a way that guarantees that unvaccinated people can keep 6 feet of social distancing space, even after the occupancy limits go away, the governor said.

New York City’s subways, famous for all-night operation, were shut down between 1 to 5 a.m. on April 30, 2020, so trains and stations could be disinfected. The change was also intended to make it easier to remove homeless people from trains where many had been spending the night. The overnight closure was scaled back to 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. in February.

Queens Blvd. bike lane coming to completion in Forest Hills and Kew Gardens

 

LIC Post

The overhaul is the final phase of the 7.5-mile redesign of Queens Boulevard, from Sunnyside to Kew Gardens, that began in 2015.

The thoroughfare has been called the “Boulevard of Death” for decades for the notoriously high number of cyclist and pedestrian deaths along it.

Pedestrian injuries decreased by 55 percent and total crashes dipped by 19 percent after the first three phases of the redesign were completed, according to DOT data.

Construction of Phase 4 was supposed to begin in the summer 2018 — but the work was pushed back to summer 2020 and now again to summer 2021.

The final phase has been repeatedly delayed due to opposition from the local community board and Council Member Karen Koslowitz, who said the loss of parking spots would hurt small businesses along the boulevard.

Community Board 6 voted against the plan in 2018, also citing the loss of parking spaces.

Koslowitz put forward an alternative plan in February 2020, which de Blasio agreed to review. Her plan, she said, would save the parking spots. Transit advocates, however, said her plan was not as safe as the DOT’s redesign.

De Blasio said today that the DOT is sticking to its original plan, not Koslowitz’s.

“The council member I think honestly felt that what she was proposing was a better approach for the community and we truly carefully listened to her, thought about, looked at but came to the conclusion that it wasn’t workable and that the original plan was fair,” he said. “I think there were some adjustments made, but it’s based essentially on the original plan.”

Birth tourism is our business, and business is still good.

 

NY Post

 Three years after a deranged nanny savagely stabbed three babies in a Queens “birthing center,” the assailant will not face trial – and the unregulated, makeshift maternity wards for foreign women have only multiplied in New York City.

Some immigration experts call the “birth tourism” industry that supports these baby businesses a national security threat, as they aggressively promote themselves overseas as places for mothers to give birth to instant American citizens.

Yu Fen Wang was working as a nanny at the Meibao Birthing Care Center in Flushing on Sept. 21, 2018 when she attacked three newborns, along with two adults, while screaming she was trying to kill wolves.

Wang “was found to be not responsible due to mental disease or defect and was committed to a mental health facility” on Nov. 20, a Queens DA spokeswoman told the The Post.

All five victims in the bloody rampage survived. But baby Chloe Cao, then only days old and a New York City resident, has scars and nerve damage from the attack, according to family attorney Kenny Jiang. The two other babies and their families reportedly went back to China.

The Cao family has since filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Meibao Center’s operators, Xuexin Lin and Meiying Gao. The lawsuit remains active, and is pending the return of civil court judges on May 24. Their babycare center, now closed, was shoehorned into a three-family home in a residential neighborhood.

The attack opened a window into New York City’s thriving underground baby tourism industry, where moms-to-be visit the United States, often with immigration and paperwork assistance from one of these services, give birth in an American hospital, often on the taxpayer dime, and then spend weeks in recovery at one of these types of maternity centers. Often the facility is no more than a bedroom or partitioned space in a private home. The moms soon return home with their baby, a legitimate American citizen.

Shockingly, the 2018 bloodbath apparently did little to dissuade foreign nationals from continuing to flood these NYC centers, or to prompt local pols and agencies to begin cracking down on, or regulating, them.

The Post recently found ads for more than 80 local centers, most clustered in Flushing, advertised in Chinese-language media. A visit to several of the advertised addresses revealed each one to be in a private home.

A search of the phrase “going to the USA to give birth to a baby” last week on Chinese search engine Baidu yielded 6.3 million results.

The birthing businesses appear to be unlicensed and unregulated, and they falsely advertise overseas and on foreign websites by trumpeting deeply ingrained traditions of postnatal care. In Chinese and other cultures, relatives, friends or hired women often care for a baby in its first month of life while the mother recuperates.

“The New York Angel Baby Birthing Center … has been officially registered and certified by the U.S. government and operated in a personalized, scientific and professional manner,” reads one ad on a Chinese-language website. “As long as you have a U.S. visa, let us do the rest in realizing your dreams.”

Another reads: “Cross East U.S. Maternity Service Center provides a full range of U.S. childbirth services, allowing you to easily have an American baby with a higher starting point in life and more choices in the future … everything is governed by relevant U.S. laws. As long as you have a U.S. visa, you can leave everything else to us.”

Yikes. 

Please turn your Brooklyn down, we're tryin' to sleep ova heah

Okay, 5 hours ago was pretty early in the morning. Don't you folks sleep? Oh, sorry, you couldn't because of these assholes. In all seriousness, this isn't just a Brooklyn thing, it's happening ALL OVER the damn city and Queens is getting more than its fair share.

Why is absolutely nothing done about this? The progressives want cars banned yet have nothing to say about this wackadoo culture, which affects not "pedestrians," "cyclists" or "drivers" but people trying to sleep in their own beds?

The Blaz: "Why so serious?"

 

NY Daily News 

 Hizzoner has been in such a good mood recently, he’s been making numerous wisecracks and puns at public appearances.

The attempts at showmanship make for a strong contrast with his mood at events through the end of last year, when New Yorkers were wondering whether the COVID-19 pandemic was spiraling out of control.

But with a historic vaccination campaign underway and infection numbers down, Mayor de Blasio has been on much more jovial.

In his latest gag during a briefing, he cut to a video feed from the Shack Shake in Madison Square Park in Manhattan, where the chain’s CEO Randy Garutti touted an offer of free burgers and fries for people who get vaccinated.

By the time the video jumped back to the mayor in City Hall’s stately Blue Room, he had a Shake Shack meal in front of him.

“Did you say free fries when you get vaccinated?” he said playfully before he stuffed a handful in his mouth. “I got vaccinated.

“You’re saying I can get this — delicious fries — wait a minute, but there’s also a burger element to this?” de Blasio said with a mischievous smile.

“If this is appealing to you, just think of this when you think of vaccination,” he said before chomping down. “Mmm, vaccination! I’m getting a very good feeling about vaccination right this moment.”

The silly streak comes with just over seven months left in the de Blasio administration. During the mayor’s tenure, headlines have been dominated by the scandal over the Campaign for One New York — his nonprofit that nearly got him indicted — his humiliating 2020 presidential run and the coronavirus pandemic.

None of that made for an atmosphere of levity at City Hall and Gracie Mansion.

But with COVID-19 numbers improving, the mayor has been promoting the coming months as the “Summer of New York City,” expressing a love of the Big Apple long absent from his administration, according to his critics.

It probably doesn’t hurt that Hizzoner’s main nemesis, Gov. Cuomo, has been reeling from scandals over allegations of sexual misconduct and his handling of coronavirus deaths at nursing homes.

Asked why he’s been so upbeat at a recent press conference, de Blasio shied away from mentioning his arch-rival’s crises.

“There’s a lot of good stuff happening and a lot of people are working together. Those are the kinds of things that make me happy,” he said on April 22.

Admin note:

What I really like about this Daily News article is how it's similar to my post about how the Blaz and his media management monkeys have been slicing up their press briefing uploads, cutting out reporters questions and also the responses by the Mayor and his health commissioner. Which they did again in the most recent video where the joke from Park Slope was scarfing down fries and a burger like a degenerate slob. Most of all, I appreciate the Daily News for posting those briefings in full, because while I am still deplatformed on Twitter, I bombed the hell out of the comments section on those videos, so my voice will still be heard by the masses. (Well, maybe hundreds) Ciao, baby.

There's a new double COVID variant coming to town

 

  Progress New York

Despite the devastating toll of the double-variant of the Coronavirus wreaking havoc in India, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (WFP-New York City) is keeping mum about conducting Genomic sequencing for the foreign mutation, designated as B.1.617. For this report, the press office supporting Mayor de Blasio refused to acknowledge that it was an act of “neglect” to fail to sequence for B.1.617 in New York City.

NYC Health, the Municipal health department, last reported Genomic sequencing on May 4 of a subset of virus specimens taken from New York City residents. NYC Health tracks five variants being monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.427, and P.1), in addition to three other variants being monitored by New York City health officials (B.1.526/B.1.526.2, B.1525, and P.2). But City health officials have not been tracking the B.1.617 double-variant from India.

In recent weeks, the B.1.617 double-variant has reportedly been detected in the San Francisco Bay Area ; Shelby County, Tennessee ; Clinton County, Michigan ; and Jefferson County, Ohio.

The oversight comes as the Coronavirus pandemic has been described as “changing too quickly,” given the emergence and spread of new variants and the decline in vaccination rates, leading to a reported loss of faith that global herd immunity might be achievable, according to a report published by the New York Times.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (WFP-New York City) was highly critical of the easing of economic activity restrictions by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), according to a report published on Friday by the political magazine Web site, City & State. The success of the reopening would depend on whether New Yorkers continued to follow public health guidelines that recommended the wearing of masks and adhering to social distancing, Dr. Danielle Ompad, an associate professor of epidemiology at New York University, said for the City & State report. There was a sense that the public would change their behaviour in the face of changes in Government policy, Dr. Ompad said.

The emphasis to reopen the economy requires a change from focusing on public health to individual risk sensibilities, according to an essay by Joseph Allen, an associate public health professor at Harvard University, published in the Washington Post that was later cited in a CNN report.

Early in the Coronavirus pandemic, Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo were faulted for failing to condition the public to change their behaviour in order to contain the initial outbreak, according to a report published by the New Yorker magazine.

To promote the reopening of the economy, Mayor de Blasio has announced a tourism campaign to encourage travel to New York City, and Gov. Cuomo moved up the scheduled reopening from Mayor de Blasio’s proposed date of July 1 to May 19, according to reports. The moves fly in the face of past efforts by Gov. Cuomo to blame travel for the spread of the Coronavirus.

High noon

 

NY Post 

Brazen gunslingers are shooting the daylights out of the Big Apple.

After a shocking execution in Park Slope and last Saturday afternoon’s shooting spree in Times Square, The Post requested crime data to see if the impression that criminals have become bolder in broad daylight is true.

Sadly, it appears so.

As of April 25, the NYPD recorded 374 shootings this year — and 119, or 32 percent, occurred between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. During the same period last year there were 213 shootings — with 63, or 30 percent, happening in daylight.

The 2-percent uptick in the percentage of daylight-to-overall shootings was not as worrisome to the cops’ union as the surging frequency of daytime gunplay: the increase from 63 shootings last year to 119 this year represents an 89-percent explosion.

“The increase in brazen, broad-daylight shootings just confirms what we already knew: violent criminals have no fear anymore,” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch told The Post.

“They know that the police are underfunded, understaffed and hobbled by pro-criminal politicians and a broken justice system,” he added. “They know that if we arrest them in the morning, they’ll be back out in time for dinner. If New Yorkers don’t want a city where criminals control both the night and the day, they need to push elected officials to act

 

Caption the Mayor of Shake Shack

 A very special extra caption Friday courtesy of the shamelessly shilling dope from Park Slope

 

This awful man is mocking every real New Yorker right now.

Caption this couple looking longingly and wantingly at the East River Pool

 

Crappy Friday Les Miserables, it's caption time. Wonder what else this couple thinks about this stupid ass pool, which is clearly only meant for the wealthy denizens of riverfront Brooklyn.

Structual problems at Bayside LIRR station are being neglected

There are ongoing problems at the Bayside Long Island Rail Road Station that impact several thousand dally riders. I give the LIRR full credit for installation of new concrete ties and ballast.  This will insure a safer and more comfortable ride. They have also recently completed repairs to sections of the west bound platform edge.

As you can see by the accompanying photos, there is still other significant outstanding maintenance and repair work to be done. The original wooden support beams for various sections of the canopy have deteriorated.  Pigeons have moved into the rotting bottom section of the west bound canopy stairs roof. Other portions of the canopy roof are also in need of repair.  Pigeons droppings can be seen at the bottom of the west bound stairs and second set of stairs for the east bound platform.  The metal structure supporting the over pass connecting the east and west bound platforms have begun accumulating rust.  There is also a hole in one of the east bound steel stair cases.  Pigeons have also found a second home in the hole on the roof over the ticket office side facing the platform.

Why has the LIRR waited so long to allow these issues to grow even worse? When will the necessary repairs to these structural deficiencies be dealt with and completed? - Larry Penner

Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked 31 years for the US Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office.  This included the development, review, approval and oversight for grants supporting billions in capital projects and programs on behalf of the MTA, NYC Transit bus and subway, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus and NYC Department of Transportation along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ).

 

Willets Point housing development can begin

  

QNS

 

The Queens Borough Board on Monday, May 10, voted to approve a long-term lease for Phase 1A of the Willets Point Development, which will contain affordable residential units, a public school, community facility space and public open space. 

Borough President Donovan Richards approved the motion receiving nine votes and one abstention, on the condition that the New York Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) conduct reporting on the school remediation cleanup to the local board and borough president’s office, a meeting every other month to address concerns of the community as the development proceeds, and that Community Board 7 receive a 50 percent allotment of affordable housing, unless there are changes under the federal, state or Housing Preservation Department (HPD). 

Councilman Francisco Moya, who is the chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and represents the area, said the historic vote is an exciting step toward getting affordable housing for residents. 

“After decades of bad deals and failed attempts, no project has gotten this far under Council members in past administrations. This is historic,” Moya said. “This historic project will bring the deepest levels of affordability: 1,100 units of affordable housing, zero market rate units, and units set aside for older New Yorkers and those transitioning out of the shelter system or formerly without housing. It will also bring a publicly accessible open space, a new public elementary school and environmental remediation.” With limited infrastructure and a history of environmental degradation, Willets Point — situated between Corona and Flushing — is located within the 100-year floodplain. The site is within proximity of the No. 7 train line, LIRR, major highways, LaGuardia Airport, Citi Field and Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It is also adjacent to Flushing Bay and Flushing Creek. 

The city has been working with community partners such as Queens Community Boards 7, 3 and 4, to reimagine Willets Point in ways that would create new opportunities for residents and businesses, according to NYCEDC, a major partner in the city’s efforts to continue growing and diversifying economic growth throughout Queens. 

During its virtual presentation, NYCEDC’s 384B4 proposal for the site includes their policy goals, lease business terms, and the next milestones for the area that will become a major new mixed-income neighborhood. 

“Queens deserves better and Willets Point could be a place that truly serves the borough and surrounding communities,” said Jana Pohorelsky, assistant vice president of NYCEDC. “Under this administration, the city has been focused on delivering the first phase of the entire 61-acre special Willets Point District.” 

NYCEDC’s business terms for the Willets Point Development include new utilities and streets; approximately 1,100 units of affordable housing with 220 units designated for seniors; 25,000 square feet of retail space; 3,000 square feet of community space; 310 parking spaces; 1 acre of open space; and the School Construction Authority (SCA) development of a K-8 school that will have 650 seats — a 44 percent increase from the number of seats announced in 2018. 

About 23 acres of the site is under city control, according to Pohorelsky, with a focus on the first 6 acres of land, that is referred to as Phase 1, kickstarting the remediation and infrastructure investment that will pave the way for long-awaited public benefits for the area. 

According to NYCEDC, the site will be leased to Queens Development Group, a joint venture of Sterling Equities and Related, pursuant to multiple ground leases each for a term of up to 99 years, on terms consistent with HPD affordable housing programs. QDG will participate in HireNYC, offering prevailing wage and setting a 25 percent target for hiring minority and/or women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) firms. 

Argh! United Towing & Collision illegal parking

 

Illegal Parking  -  Commercial Overnight Parking

United Towing and Collision 23-34 42 STREET, QUEENS (ASTORIA), NY, 11105 QUEENS

This business parks their damaged cars and trucks all over the neighborhood, creating an eyesore and taking up parking for the residents. There are feral cats living under some of the cars in the streets too.

They must be in cahoots with the police because the police do nothing. We have bene complaining for years to no avail. Come and take a look around the area and you will see their crappy cars and trucks everywhere. This is a quiet tree lined, grassy neighborhood and these cars parked all over really bring down the look of the area.

 For Example:

Abandoned MTA plow on 23^rd Road near Sound Street.

Minivan with PA Dealer plates (J78 463J) on 23^rd Road, there almost a year.

Winnebago van with VT plates (see photo below), parked there for almost a year.

Cars parked on Astoria Blvd North and across 42^nd Street (see photo below).

 

Signed, Irritated in Astoria.

Chairperson of hate crimes task force trashes bail reform laws

 

Eyewitness News 

Brad Lander funds the privatized police

 

 

NY Daily News 

Comptroller candidate and City Councilman Brad Lander has been a vocal supporter of defunding the police, but when it comes to a private police force that serves Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities, he’s been a lot more forthcoming with cash.

From 2011 to 2015, Lander, a Democrat who represents Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, doled out $30,000 to the Shmira Civilian Volunteer Patrol of Boro Park for providing security in the neighborhood, Council records show.

Lander is now running for city comptroller, and if elected, would serve as the city’s top fiscal watchdog with oversight of the city’s vast pension funds. During his run, and in the months before, he’s been an outspoken proponent of the defund movement.

But his past support of the Shomrim patrol has raised hackles among fellow political lefties.

“He was funding an organization that hasn’t been trained as well as the police department has been trained. It’s incapable of handling situations like it should,” said Lander’s longtime colleague Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Queens). “If Brad really believes in deescalation and defunding the police, he should find groups that are trained in deescalation.”

Dromm also accused the Shomrim of being “notoriously homophobic” for not hiring gays.

Last June on the Council’s website, Lander expressed his support of defunding the police.

“I am fighting for $1 billion in cuts to the NYPD this year, and I am committed to voting no on a budget that does not make significant cuts to the NYPD,” he wrote.

His comments came during a bruising budget battle that led to Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who’s also running for comptroller, being attacked for not cutting the NYPD’s budget more deeply. At the time, Johnson was planning a run for mayor, but dropped that effort. In March, he announced his comptroller run. Other candidates in that race include state Sens. Brian Benjamin and Kevin Parker, Assemblyman David Weprin, former CNBC journalist Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, businessman Zach Iscol and Terri Lifton, a compliance officer in private investment.

In Council appropriation statements from 2014 and 2015, Lander justified spending on Shomrim, writing that the money was for “operational expenses, including two-way radios, uniforms and other supplies to assist in providing safety and security services for the community.”

 Shmira’s president during that time was Jacob Daskal, who in March was indicted for coercing a minor into sex.