Queens Day 1986

The Chairman of the Board speaks out on Dock Street

Frankie is shocked that the Land Use Committee of the City Council voted yes Thursday on the Dock Street proposal. For those of you not aware, Christine Quinn, who received lots o'dough from the Walentases who own the site, threatened the council members with reduction in their district funding if they voted no. The local council member, David Yassky, is against the project.


Click photo for video of Ol' Blue Eyes paying homage to the wonders of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Contractor chosen for Police Academy

From the Daily News:

The city has picked a contractor to build its new Police Academy in College Point, Queens, and is prepared to spend big bucks to get the long-awaited project underway soon.

A construction venture called Turner/STV will be paid $656 million for the four-year task of turning a 35-acre police tow pound into a modern training center, city records revealed Monday.

The new academy, which carries a $1.5billion total price tag, will include a simulated city street and subway station to practice tactical maneuvers, as well as space for firearms and driving training.

Finding parking just got a little easier

From the Daily News:

Say goodbye to exasperating hunts for parking spots.

A popular Web site that lets motorists plug in addresses to find local parking regulations - with photos of streets and signs to help plan trips - is expanding east from Manhattan into Queens.

Launched in 2007, PrimoSpot.com - which covers the city's most trafficked areas - recently added Astoria, Elmhurst, Long Island City and Woodside, and hopes to encompass the entire borough by year's end.

The next batch of neighborhoods - expected to go live within a month - will include Jackson Heights, Middle Village, Maspeth and Ridgewood, said site founder Mike Hill.

Solar panel field for former landfill?

From the Daily News:

A disused Rockaways landfill could soon be lighting up homes on the peninsula.

Local civic leaders have asked the Long Island Power Authority to install a solar panel field at the 118-acre Edgemere landfill along Jamaica Bay near Kennedy Airport — with waterfront access to park users.

The former dump was closed and remediated more than 15 years ago, and is now controlled by the Parks Department.The site handled 1,000 tons of garbage a day in 1987, according to published reports.

LIPA officials said they’re open to the idea and are prepared to sit down with local leaders to discuss it. Unlike most of New York City, the Rockaways are on the LIPA power grid.

Crazy guy shot in 109th Precinct

Ognibene, civics file suit vs. SCA

From the Forum West:

Middle Village attorney Thomas Ognibene has joined up with two local civic groups to file a lawsuit against the School Construction Authority to prevent the city from immediately moving forward with its Maspeth high school project.

Thomas Ognibene, who is running for City Council in November, announced on Monday that he has joined up with civic groups Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together and the Juniper Park Civic Association to file the lawsuit. The civic group’s participation was necessary, he said, in order to give the lawsuit standing – something he expects the SCA to challenge instead of addressing the “substantive issues.”

“The primary goal is to ensure that kids don’t wind up going to school in a highly-toxic environment,” said Ognibene of the lawsuit’s intent. “Unfortunately, the City Council should have stopped this – that’s why we have a City Council.” He accused the DOE of providing the City Council with a “false and misleading report” and said the public was left with no alternative other than filing the lawsuit.

The City Council voted 38 to 10 in April to approve the Department of Education’s plan for a 1,100 seat high school on the former Restaurant Depot site at 74th Street and 57th Avenue. The vote came despite overwhelming opposition from Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), who voted against the plan, and local residents. The civic groups charge that it wasn’t until after that vote that the full extent of the site’s contamination was revealed to the public. Last month the city paid $16,250,000 for the site, which was recently listed for $15 million.

Call for probe into Staviskys' conflict of interest

From the Daily News:

Senate education bigwig Toby Ann Stavisky's son is a lobbyist for a firm that goes before his mother - and also lists her as a client, the Daily News has learned.

Evan Stavisky is a partner with The Parkside Group, which has a client list that includes SUNY-Buffalo and several CUNY entities, including Queens College.

Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens) became head of the Higher Education Committee in January, when Democrats took control of the state Senate.

Parkside, which also does political consulting for a host of elected officials, lists the senator as a client, and records show she paid the firm more than $200,000 last year.

Toby Ann Stavisky and Parkside deny there is any undue influence.

Also from the Daily News:

Susan Lerner of Common Cause-New York called the commission's opinion "exhibit 1 on why we need real ethics reform. ... It's just not reasonable to ask members to sit in judgment of other members."

Lerner said she agrees with Padavan and Golden that there should be an ethics probe but fears the state lacks a proper mechanism to do it.

"If the commission already issued a letter saying they don't see the obvious conflict of interest, which is as big as a barn, why would we get a different outcome?" she asked.

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith defended Toby Ann Stavisky, just minutes after calling for changes in the state ethics law to help restore public confidence.

"The question ... at hand that we want to answer for the public is, 'Are you guys doing business on behalf of the people or on behalf of your friends?'" Smith said when announcing a bill requiring more disclosure by lawmakers.

Smith said he is not concerned about his Senate Higher Education Committee chairwoman being lobbied by her son's firm.

Homeless get posh (temporary) digs in Brooklyn

From Fox 5:

A luxury apartment building in Brooklyn has been converted into a homeless shelter -- and the neighbors are not happy.

In a statement, the city's Dept. of Homeless Services called the shelter in part, "a case of innovation and outside the box thinking that benefits all those involved."

The families moved into the building May 18. Thirty-four families live in the Alice Branch Plaza shelter, which houses 68 units, according to the city.


From the Daily News:

Don't get too comfortable!

That was Mayor Bloomberg's message to dozens of lucky homeless families who scored a posh pad at a luxury condo that has been turned into a homeless shelter in Brooklyn.

"We're not going to let people just sit there. This is a transition thing. We want to move them out," Bloomberg said Friday. "And if they say, 'Oh, I love this here, I don't want to try something else,' I'm sorry, that's not the whole intent here."

And closed homeless shelters in Queens may reopen.

Old dog food ad uncovered

Chlorophyllin, eh?

This old ad has been uncovered at Flushing Avenue and Fresh Pond Road in Maspeth. Forgotten New York dates it from the 1920s.

Click photo for story.

Private companies to benefit under state plan

From AM-NY:

Gov. David Paterson wants to entice private companies to partner with the state to rebuild the Kosciuszko Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Queens and to repair the Gowanus Expressway.

Under the plan unveiled yesterday, Paterson said the state can consolidate the many public works projects across the state under one or a few companies.

The private firms would earn money through ongoing state payments, while the public would pass along the burden of building and maintaining the projects.

So far, the state has identified 27 projects it hopes to farm out to private firms.
Besides the Kosciuszko Bridge and the Gowanus Expressway, there are plans to build wind farms off the shores of Long Island and provide affordable Internet service across the state through the partnerships.

Photo by jag9889 on Flickr

Williamsburg also a squatter's paradise

From Curbed:

According to one Curbed tipster with a camera that makes us a bit seasick, the squatters have Williamsburg—with its many corpses left behind by the real estate boom—in their sights:

"I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in a condo I bought one year ago. Warehouses around my area have been sold for development and since abandoned and ignored by both the owner/developers and the police due to the financial downfall. These structures have now become dumping grounds and squatter homes. I have called 311 and 911 about these issues, totally ignored."

Avella: workaholic activist turned councilman

From WG:

Bloomberg and Avella were each elected to office in 2001, the Manhattan executive-turned-mayor, and the workaholic activist-turned-councilman from Queens. In the eight years since, the city has rezoned one-sixth of the total land in the five boroughs—more than the last six administrations combined—and the City Council has approved more than 80 total rezonings.

Many of these have been down-zonings, reducing the height of buildings in a given area, but the administration’s penchant for large-scale development projects has engendered a number of bitter fights across the five boroughs—from Atlantic Yards to East Harlem, and from Willets Point to the far West Side.

The City Council, as an unwritten rule, defers to the local council member on these projects, a system that makes most votes nearly unanimous, and often leaves Avella as one of only two regular dissenters (usually paired with Charles Barron, who represents a district in east Brooklyn). Avella’s willingness to reach out to dissenters in other districts has made him something of a pariah among his council colleagues, who recently voted against a minor rezoning in Avella’s district as punishment for his insubordination.

(Leading the charge on that vindictive little hissy fit was The Doorman, Eric Gioia.)

Illegal hotel problem getting worse

From the Daily News:

The city's legitimate hotel business is slumping, but the illegal room-rental industry is booming, said pols pushing to pass state legislation to stamp out the practice.

The number of residential buildings with units illegally converted to hotel rooms has soared by 20% in the past year, according to a study released Sunday.

Elected officials said the illegal hotels, which are marketed online, cut into the city's increasingly scarce stock of affordable housing and put both apartment dwellers and tourists in danger.

The study, done by the West Side Neighborhood Alliance, found illegal hotel operations in 270 buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, many in rent-stabilized, single-room occupancy buildings or apartment houses.

A growing number of sponsor-owned condo and co-op units have also been turned into makeshift hotel rooms.

Most of the illegal hotel operators don't pay city hotel taxes, the group said.

Tenant sues affordable housing church group

From the Daily News:

Frederick Jones says he has endured years of harassment and neglect at the hands of a church-affiliated nonprofit group that bought the Jamaica, Queens, building where he lives.

But when the roof of his rent-regulated apartment caved in, Jones said, he'd had enough.

He recently filed a lawsuit against the city and Allen Affordable Housing Development Fund Corp. to get them to make desperately needed repairs to the building at 107-05 Sutphin Blvd.

"They allowed this to deteriorate to convince me to move," said Jones, 50, who has lived there for 16 years. "They have an agenda."

Another member of the Ceiling on My Head Party!

Loft Board folded into DOB

From GlobeSt:

The city’s Loft Board, which oversees the conversion of loft buildings from commercial to residential use, has been folded into the Department of Buildings, the Bloomberg administration announced on Friday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the change via an executive order.

The transfer is intended to streamline communication among code enforcement agencies, including the Fire Department and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and to facilitate compliance with the law by the remaining 300 buildings under the Loft Board’s jurisdiction, according to a release. Bloomberg says in a statement that the order "provides the board with more resources to ensure the remaining properties that do not meet code standards are renovated to meet those standards."

Created in 1982 as a result of the state Legislature’s enactment of a law to establish a framework for converting lofts, the Loft Board is chiefly responsible for working with owners and tenants of loft buildings on making renovations to comply with code provisions and obtain residential certificates of occupancy. Once compliance is reached and certificates of occupancy are issued, the buildings move out of the board’s jurisdiction.

This guy will scare the pants off you!

Thank you to IMBY for calling attention to this video of Timothy Lynch, Forensic Engineer testifying at the NYC DOB's Build Safe New York Conference.

"In the last three years, there have been 13,000 new building permits in the city. Every new building has an excavation component, and for every new building, there are approximately three adjacent buildings impacted by the construction. Most of these buildings are on the lot line. That potentially equates to 40,000 neighbors being impacted by the new building. In response to the rise in excavation related incidents and collateral damage to the neighbor's buildings, the Department recognized the need to focus on excavation." -Timothy Lynch, DoB Special Enforcement Forensic Engineer

Wait 'til you hear him talk about what he found at the construction sites and in self-certified plans!

Marty's $64M potato chip hearing gets raucous

To whom it may concern:

The following attachment is the Minutes of a Parks & Recreation Public meeting on the Asser-Levy Seaside Park Amphitheater. This meeting took place Thursday, May 21 at the Aquarium. In attendance there were over 200 community residents who are in opposition to this Marty Markowitz $64 million dollar Vanity Project. Let the truth be known: The chair of the Committee, Ms. Teitelbaum, stifled dissent & didn't allow one of the leaders of the opposition, Ida Sanoff, speak. Ms. Teitelbaum declared the meeting over when Ms. Sanoff was to begin to talk. Nothing in these minutes express what truly took place, at a quality of life issue for the thousands of community residents who reside right next door to this proposed fiasco of an amphitheater.

Thank You.
Jerry

Funny how the news report failed to mention the stifling of Ms. Sanoff's voice as well...

Money can't buy self respect

To the editor (Queens Tribune):

I received in the mail, as I am sure many of your readers did, a self-serving Bloomberg brochure in which he claims he knows "helping small businesses is key to helping the middle class stay and thrive in New York City." This will come as a surprise to the hundreds of small businesses and their thousand employees in Willets Point that Bloomberg and his fat cat real estate friends have consigned to the unemployed trash heap.

If Mayor Bloomberg thought he should be entitled to a third term notwithstanding two public referendums supporting term limits, he was free to seek a third referendum. Fearful a term limits would again be approved, he orchestrated a cabal with 21 term-limited council members to enact legislation permitting them to seek a third term.

Such indifference to the will of the public; his push-polling in the case of Representative Anthony Weiner, his exclusion of Garry Esposito, the manager of Brooklyn Community Board 1, from a public meeting because he claimed Mr. Esposito would be a threat to order without Esposito having uttered a word, and his outrageous spending of vast sums of money to buy a third term indicates the Times editorial was correct in suggested Bloomberg's maneuvers "lend a thuggish cast to Mr. Bloomberg's Park Avenue style campaign."

Michael Bloomberg may, with his enormous personal wealth, be able to buy a third term, but he does not have enough money to buy self-respect and the electorate should keep this in mind before giving him a third term.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Bloomberg's latest fan site

Hey, folks, click on You're a disgrace, Mayor Bloomberg and join the movement.

Campaign contributions pay off for non-profits

From the Daily News:

Sometimes being on the New York City Council is like being Santa Claus - but with tips.

Three-quarters of the Council’s 51 members got campaign contributions from employees or board members of the nonprofits they helped bankroll with taxpayer money.

A Daily News review of campaign finance and other city records found:

- City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) earmarked $150,000 for the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, whose board chairman raised at least $10,900 for her abortive mayoral campaign.

- Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) sponsored or co-sponsored $37,500 in Council funds for the Chinese-American Planning Council. He picked up $9,713 in checks from employees, board members and their spouses (up to $20,213 with matching funds).

It all adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from groups that got millions in taxpayer cash - more than $200,000 in contributions, or up to $467,000 with public matching dollars.

And that's a conservative estimate.

Breezy Point-Sandy Hook hurricane barrier suggested

From Yahoo(AP):

When experts sketch out nightmare hurricane scenarios, a New York strike tends to be high on the list.

Besides shaking skyscrapers, a major hurricane could send the Atlantic Ocean surging into the nation's largest city, flooding Wall Street, subways and densely packed neighborhoods.

As a new hurricane season starts Monday, some scientists and engineers are floating an ambitious solution: Barriers to choke off the surging sea and protect flood-prone areas.

The plan involves deploying giant barriers and gates that would move into place — in some cases rising out of the water — for storms. One proposal calls for a 5-mile-long barrier between New Jersey and Queens.

No one has formally proposed the structures, which would require extensive government reviews and billions of dollars.

But a first-ever conference on the subject this spring drew 100 researchers and engineers, who provided various conceptual designs. City emergency management officials say they're interested in hearing more if details develop.

Work dries up for day laborers

From NY1:

When the housing market was booming, many day laborers found steady work with contractors who would pick them up. These days the jobs are few and far between.

As a result, there are hundreds of laborers, most of them undocumented, waiting where there used to be dozens. In some places, they line the streets for several blocks. While many have been day laborers for years, some are new. One man NY1 spoke with says he was laid off last month after 10 years at a construction company.

With very little cash, many are struggling to take care of themselves. Advocacy groups say a great number of them are becoming homeless.

Mohan Masjey has been communicating with his family in Nepal and has been thinking about leaving the U.S.

"If I cannot get a job, I go back," said Masjey.

Some say if things don't turn around soon, that's something they will have to consider as well.

How many times are we going to hear this angle?

Is this not a HUGE conflict-of-interest?

"05/03/09 - Paul Vallone announces Chuck Apelian as Campaign Manager"
"Chuck Apelian, who is the Vice Chairman of Community Board 7 and a respected leader in the community, is honored and excited to work with and support Paul to become the next City Councilman."

So...the chair of the Community Board committee that oversees development is running the campaign of the candidate who works as a lobbyist for his daddy's lobbying firm who is paid million of dollars by developers and whose campaign is being financed by real estate developers and special interests.

Will they stay or will they go?

Hey, it's two bicyclists! Let's see if they observe the traffic laws at this red light. Will they stay put? Well, they're already in the intersection when they are supposed to be behind the first white line of the pedestrian crossing. They seem a bit antsy...

Will they at least wait for the light to turn green?

Click the here to find out.

Examining Sonia's record

Before we all go ga-ga over Obama's Supreme Court nominee because of her rags-to-riches background, perhaps we should look at her record with regards to property rights.

It doesn't look good.

Sotomayor's endorsement of this ruling is a strong sign that she has little or [no] interest in protecting constitutional property rights. Her appointment is likely to exacerbate the second-class status of property rights in the Court's jurisprudence.

Immigrants and flags

Dear Editor (Queens Chronicle):

It seems that I have written about this every Memorial Day and Fourth of July for the past five years – we see few American flags flying in South Ozone Park and Richmond Hill, and the situation only seems to deteriorate with each passing year. I am disgusted by the lack of patriotism and appreciation for America shown by immigrants in this section of Queens. No American flags fly, but there is a bounty of flags from Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Mexico, India and Pakistan. It seems the only symbol of America that counts to this bunch is the U.S. dollar.

A few weeks ago, I happened to catch a ceremony from the White House — the president was presiding over the Oath of Citizenship of over 100 immigrants. Those taking the oath came from all over the world, and so many of them were in U.S. uniform — they had joined the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines, actively serving in the military, defending American freedom in dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming U.S. citizens.

Watching them sworn in as Americans was so touching. You could see how much it meant to them – imagine putting yourself in harms’ way for a nation you are not yet a citizen of? Think of the great sense of love and commitment they have. Anyone would be proud just to stand in the same room with them. It would be wonderful if the “newcomers” in my neighborhood possessed just a fraction of the sense of patriotism displayed by those new citizens.

I was just a kid when I watched JFK sworn in as president and I heard the words that inspired a generation: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Those words are inscribed near JFK’s final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery. You can read them while looking out over the countless graves of brave and decent Americans, many of whom, like those newest citizens, came from other countries to make a life here and give service to their adopted homeland — some paying the ultimate price. Freedom isn’t free, and living here in the U.S. is a privilege, not a right. If you are going to make a life here, then be appreciative of what has been given to you — stop looking back from whence you came and pitch in and do something for America — and you can start by flying the stars and stripes!

Ann Rychlenski
Ozone Park

Foreclosed properties are a squatter's paradise

From the NY Post:

They should be prime local real estate -- a line of 16 quaint bungalows in the Rockaways, right on the beach, decorated with sea air and sunshine.

Instead, like a growing number of abandoned and foreclosed properties around New York City, they are home to only squatters -- eight Salvadorans who ripped away cheap plywood that sealed the doors and windows and set up camp.

The shacks are in bad shape, lacking water, heat and electricity. But the few that are habitable have been turned into adequate shelters, complete with front porches, buckets to collect rainwater, and small courtyard gardens seeded with jalapeno peppers and tomatoes.

"It's nice and calm here," said Roberto Escobar, a 53-year-old native of El Salvador who used to make his living as a day laborer until business dried up.

Run for your lives!

Great shot from Fleet Week:

Flushing Meadows Invaded

The origin of Ozone Park's name

From the NY Times:

Q. How did Ozone Park, Queens, get its name? One suggestion I heard is that it was the “O” zone as distinct from the “P” zone.

A. Ozone was no zone. The name sprang from the fancy of two 19th-century developers, Benjamin W. Hitchcock and Charles C. Denton, who bought farmland and created building lots after a railroad opened in 1880 from Long Island City to Howard Beach. They decided to call their development Ozone Park to promote the idea of cool, clean breezes blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. Fresh air is one of the meanings of ozone.

Inside Fort Totten Army Hospital

The Kingston Lounge has a tour of long abandoned Fort Totten Army Hospital. Brace yourself before you click on the link.

And in other Fort Totten news, the tram is ready to roll.

Photo by Richard Nickel, Jr.

Plastic bag fee nixed by Quinn

From the NY Times:

The Bloomberg administration has backed down on a plan to charge a 5-cent fee on plastic shopping bags and to add sales tax on all clothing purchases as part of a budget agreement reached with the City Council on Monday night, aides said.

To close a gap of about $1 billion in next year’s budget, Mr. Bloomberg and the Council have instead proposed increasing the city’s sales tax by half a percentage point, to 8.875 percent. In addition, the city would begin charging sales tax on clothing over $110. All clothing was previously exempt from such taxes.

A typical household in New York City making $35,000 a year would have to pay an extra $74 a year in sales taxes, clothing included, according to estimates by the city’s Independent Budget Office. A household making $125,000 would pay an additional $237 a year, and one making $500,000 would pay $687 more.

The budget agreement represents a significant victory for the Council and its leader, Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who vigorously opposed the plastic bag fee and sales tax on clothing under $110.

Wow, she stood up to the mayor for once...

Photo from Daily News

City reopens school it closed years ago

From the NY Post:

An unprecedented demand for public-school seats is compelling the city to reopen an Upper East Side elementary school closed eight years ago for low enrollment.

The long-sought resolution will let kids zoned for PS 151 stay in the neighborhood rather than enter a lottery and risk busing to nearby sites.

You mean to tell me that we have school buildings in this City collecting dust with all the overcrowding going on?

MTA's Forest Hills tree chopping unpopular

From the Daily News:

A Long Island Rail Road effort to clear brush that blocks passing trains in Forest Hills has devastated a plentiful array of trees and shrubs that added natural beauty to the urban landscape, angry locals charge.

The stretch of decimated plant life - along the north side of tracks parallel to Austin St. from 71st to 82nd Aves. - reminded residents of a 2007 LIRR sweep that turned mighty trees into mere stumps.

"I was really hoping to prevent the mass clearing," said Nate Grove, 36, who lives in an Ascan Ave. co-op. "There's no ground coverage, there's no saplings and limbs have been removed from big, healthy trees."

"They cut down 100-year-old trees," co-op president James Versocki said. "There were other alternatives. They could have replaced [them] with evergreens."

Another Tennis View co-op owner, Edward McGinnis, griped that the trees cut down in 2007 had provided not only pleasant scenery but also a train noise barrier for the adjacent West Side Tennis Club.

But LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena insisted the railroad made efforts "to preserve a tree buffer where possible," adding, "Safety is always our overriding concern."

LI pols want Indian casino at Belmont

From Newsday:

Key Long Island political leaders expressed support Thursday for the idea of locating a possible Shinnecock casino at Belmont Park.

Should the tribe receive approval to open a gaming facility, Belmont is "the only place it would possibly make sense," said Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi.

A spokesman for State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) added that the Senate minority leader "would be open" to an Indian-run casino there.

Skelos, who represents neighborhoods south of Belmont Park, and other state lawmakers from Nassau have pushed for the installation of slotlike gambling machines at the Park to compete with ones slated to open at nearby Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.

Miss Heather's challenge

Miss Heather is holding a contest between the ugliest buildings in Brooklyn and Queens:

We need a real contest. A Brooklyn versus Queens smack-down of fug infamy— or outer-borough barfiquitecture. To this end I have created this flickr group and will get the ball rolling with my nominee: The Luminous.

I have to admit, that may be tough to top. But send your photos to me and we'll try.

DOT will cause "mayhem" to accommodate bike lane

From Brooklyn Paper:

The city unveiled its latest Kent Avenue bike lane plan — this time seeking to bring peace to warring bicyclists, motorists and business owners — but Williamsburg’s inland residents claim the new proposal only makes matters worse.

As a result, some inland Williamsburg residents — a new group of opponents in the tumultuous conflict over the bike lanes — fear that Wythe Avenue would become a big-rig highway.

“It’s mayhem!” said Williamsburg activist Stephanie Eisenberg, who was one of many residents at the crowded meeting to claim that truck traffic is a major quality of life concern in North Brooklyn. “With all of these new residential communities, how are you going to reactivate a truck route?”

“If the bike lanes are the tipping point, you should get rid of one of them,” she added.

Grand Street resident Tim Main agreed.

“Kent Avenue is a natural thoroughfare,” said Main, who called for two-way traffic on Kent and a one-way bike lane. “Closing it down to traffic in one direction would be like closing the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in one direction.”

Ratner trying to cheat the MTA

From Gothamist:

After months of speculation, the MTA announced that the Long Island Rail Road improvements proposed at the Atlantic Yards development will be less grand than planned. Instead of nine rails, there will be seven, and the MTA is also expecting less money from developer Bruce Ratner. The Post reports that the MTA "allowed Ratner to renegotiate because the national credit crunch was making it difficult to finance the 22-acre plan to build an NBA arena and 16 office and residential towers in Prospect Heights." To refresh your memory, back in 2005, Ratner won the MTA's land—called the Vanderbilt Rail Yard—after bidding $100 million, which was $50 million less than a rival bid (the land is appraised at over $200 million). It's unclear how much Ratner will end up paying the MTA (rumor is $50 million!)

DEP vehicle makes road trip to school

"Hey Crappy,

As one of the many Forest Hills residents whose home was flooded with sewage in August 2007, I'm particularly incensed that this DEP worker finds picking up his daughter from school is an appropriate use of a DEP vehicle. Our tax dollars are paying for the gas, the depreciation of the vehicle, and his time (unless he was on his lunch break, which is doubtful because he was sitting in the vehicle for more than an hour before school let out). Perhaps those dollars would be better spent by the DEP actually fixing our sewer problems.

Attached are pictures of the vehicle and of the worker getting back into his car after putting his daughter in the car. I don't have a picture of the daughter, but that wouldn't be appropriate anyway, being that she's a minor and this situation isn't her fault.

Thanks for listening Crappy and keep up the good work!" - anonymous

$400,000 is like middle class to Bloomberg

From 1010WINS/AP:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't think $400,000 a year is much for an annual salary.

The billionaire said at a campaign event that President Barack Obama "doesn't get paid that much'' and is "on a budget'' like millions of Americans.

Forbes magazine ranks Bloomberg the richest person in New York City and the 17th wealthiest in the world. His net worth is estimated at $16.5 billion.

He doesn't want to discuss it, ok?

From the NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sought to put an embarrassing — and widely publicized — flash of temper behind him on Monday, saying “I am who I am” and that “I am going to be judged on what I do.”

But Mr. Bloomberg did not express regret for calling a reporter a “disgrace” on Friday after being asked about his rationale for re-engineer the city’s term limit law and seeking a third term.

Asked if he was sorry, the mayor said, “We are beyond that.”

Thompson concerned about Queens hospitals

THOMPSON: HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOMS IN QUEENS ARE IN CRISIS DUE TO CLOSURES AND H1N1 VIRUS

--State, City need to take immediate action --

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today charged that hospitals in Central and Eastern Queens are in a “state of crisis” as their emergency rooms confront a torrent of patients amid H1N1 virus worries and the closures of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospitals.

“Hospital emergency departments in much of the Borough of Queens are in crisis,” Thompson said. “A new approach is needed if we are to ensure that the Queens hospitals and all of our remaining hospitals and emergency rooms are able to provide the public with quality care.”

Thompson was joined by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall in front of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. Jamaica Hospital is among the Queens hospitals severely affected by recent closures.

“In recent years, the State Department of Health has closed four hospitals in Queens,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. “Most recently, St. John’s and Mary Immaculate, which each saw approximately 50,000 emergency room visits annually, shut their doors, representing a loss of more than 400 inpatient hospital beds. In addition, emergency rooms and a trauma center were closed. Short term funding from the State was targeted for equipment and infrastructure expansions, but did not address the need for additional healthcare professionals, especially nurses. Comptroller Thompson is right when he says that emergency rooms in Queens are in crisis. I warned the Governor’s Office that the hospital system in Queens would not be able to handle a major emergency.”

“The healthcare crisis in Queens has gone from bad to worse,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “It was troubling enough that the closing of two intensely needed hospitals could not be prevented. In January I called on the city to explore every viable option before deciding to shut down St. John’s Queens and Mary Immaculate Hospitals, a decision which could put excessive strain on surrounding hospitals and jeopardize the health and safety of New Yorkers.”

She continued: “Unfortunately, the outbreak of the H1N1 virus not only demonstrates the lack of sufficient emergency care capacity in Queens and around the city, but it has elevated the severity of the hospital crisis. I want to thank Comptroller Thompson for drawing attention to this important issue and I echo his call for immediate action to ensure that the city can provide New Yorkers with quality emergency care.”

Thompson has consistently warned about the impact of hospital closures in the region on remaining facilities. In December 2006, he issued Emergency Room Care: Will It Be There?, a report that assessed the impact of five city emergency room closures proposed by the Berger Commission. Earlier this year, he spoke out repeatedly about the need to better prepare for the closures of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospitals.

The new Policy Alert, Closures of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospitals Are Overwhelming Remaining Emergency Rooms; Emergence of H1N1 Virus Causing ER Crisis in Queens, found that emergency rooms are being flooded with patients, many who must now await admission, ambulance turnaround times are rising, and medical professionals are facing extraordinary challenges in their ability to provide care. Among the findings:

* The number of emergency room patients at the surrounding hospitals soared right after St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals closed earlier this year. For example, from mid-February to the end of March, there were 20 days when Jamaica Hospital’s emergency room exceeded 350 patients versus only two such days in the same period in 2008. The number of patients waiting to be admitted from the emergency room also rose dramatically in the surrounding hospitals.

* The number of patients brought to surrounding hospitals’ emergency rooms by ambulance soared. For example, comparing January and March 2009, the number of patients arriving by ambulance at Queens Hospital Center rose 51 percent, and at North Shore University Hospital-Forest Hills by 40 percent.

* Ambulance turnaround times – the amount of time from arrival at the emergency room until the ambulance is free to make the next call – increased significantly at Jamaica, Queens and North Shore University-Forest Hills hospitals.

* A Queens Hospital Center emergency room doctor with more than two decades of experience told the Comptroller’s Office that he now sees 35 patients per shift compared with 20 before the two closures, that conditions at the hospital have become a “living nightmare,” and that “the state of emergency medicine in Queens is the worst I’ve seen in my career.” His observations echoed other physicians, some of whom spoke of an overwhelming added patient load.

In his Policy Alert – available at www.comptroller.nyc.gov- Thompson noted that there had not been any public or inclusive discussion concerning transition plans or how the closures would affect area residents. Thompson faulted the New York State Department of Health (SDOH) and the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) for failing to acknowledge the deteriorating financial condition of Mary Immaculate and St. John’s Hospitals in a timely fashion and failing to put in place a plan to address the impact of the closures.

Thompson also noted that the SDOH allowed St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospitals to close without finalizing and approving a closure plan, in violation of the Department’s own requirement. Nine days before the hospitals’ emergency rooms closed, in its “Final Draft” closure plan (February 5), the operator of the closed hospitals, Caritas, revealed, “We have yet to determine that alternate resources will be in place upon the closure of Caritas.”

Noting that Elmhurst and Queens Hospital Centers could face an additional 30,000 emergency room visits and 8,000 inpatient admissions, the closure plan stated that “these hospitals may not be in a position to absorb this projected demand in the timeframe contemplated herein.”

“What we are seeing now is a crisis in the hospital and healthcare system in Queens, a version of which may very well spread to other boroughs if H1N1 virus outbreaks appear in other neighborhoods,” Thompson said. “To be sure, while the timing of the H1N1 virus itself was not foreseeable, the likelihood of some event of a similar nature causing a sudden surge in demand was both foreseeable and inevitable.”

Thompson offered a number of recommendations. Among his priority items: individuals with flu symptoms should be triaged at ambulatory care facilities; the necessary resources to deal with emergencies should be activated; loans and working capital should be provided to cover expansion costs; data on emergency room utilization should be made public; hospitals should be staffed-up to meet increased demand; and, gaps in services created by the closures must be identified.

“The City and State need to pull key healthcare providers and other stakeholders together immediately to share information, identify problems and develop solutions to address the current surge in demand stemming from the H1N1 virus,” Thompson said. “If the State Department of Health had begun planning in December 2006, as I suggested, it is likely that much of the current impacts in Queens could have been minimized or avoided entirely.”

Bronx baby dies of swine flu

From the Daily News:

A Bronx infant has become the fifth New Yorker suffering from swine flu to die, the boy's family and an official close to his case told the Daily News yesterday.

Eleven-week-old Steven Montañez was already sick with swine flu when his aunt found the boy unconscious on Thursday, an autopsy revealed.

"I went in to check up on him, I turned him around and he was purple," said his aunt, Jennifer Castellanos, 18. "He was a completely healthy baby."

"The Health Department told us he died because of swine flu," she added.

Queens machine man backing Bloomberg

From the Daily News:

Democratic party unity will take a big blow Monday as another congressional Democrat plans to back Mayor Bloomberg's reelection campaign, the Daily News has learned.

Rep. Gary Ackerman of Queens will make the endorsement just hours after Rep. Anthony Weiner invoked party ideals while throwing his support behind Democratic mayoral hopeful city Controller William Thompson.

"This is a case where I can really say I'm voting for somebody, no matter who else is running," he said.

Bloomberg admits he's an idiot

From AM-NY:

When asked this week whether he would commit to debating his opponents this year, he again told the reporter to "talk to the campaign."

Another reporter asked why he always responds that way. Isn't the decision ultimately yours, she asked.

The mayor answered that he has a team of paid consultants and isn't "smart enough" to make decisions without checking with them.

Safari on the 7 train

From the Queens Chronicle:

You might not think of the subway as an ideal place to find wildlife, but architecture students from Columbia University and Barnard College are trying to introduce people to the array of animals that can be found along the 7 line.

The students, working through Columbia’s Urban Landscape Lab and collaborating with a graphic designer, have developed a series of about 12 podcasts called Safari 7, which together offer an “urban tour” of the wildlife that exists along or near the 7 line.

Anyone can download the podcasts onto an MP3 player and then listen to information about animals that can be found in the areas they pass through while riding the subway. The segments are timed so as to correspond with subway stops.

“This is a kind of broadcast of information about animal life in the city,” said Janette Kim, director of the Urban Landscape Lab. “It’s a celebration of the biodiversity of the city and an understanding that we already live in a very rich ecosystem, but we don’t always acknowledge or understand it.”

In addition to segments about common city critters such as rats, squirrels and pigeons, there’s a piece on life forms that inhabit Calvary Cemetery, and one about the city’s cormorants, many of which reside on U Thant Island, a small bit of land constructed of the leftovers from the 7 line’s Steinway Tunnel.

For more information, or to download podcasts, visit safari7.org.

DOB forcibly removes illegal ad

From the NY Times:

For several years — in spite of 103 violation notices issued against it — a three-story, wrap-around billboard has blanketed the lower floors of the 19th-century Cushman Building, 174 Broadway, at Maiden Lane.

On Thursday, clearly feeling that its enforcement efforts had been lost on OTR Media Group, which installed the sign, and 1 Maiden Lane Realty, which owns the building, the Department of Buildings took the sign down itself.

“This is the first time the Department of Buildings has physically removed an illegal sign from a building,” the agency’s press secretary, Kate Lindquist, said. A company called Service Sign Erectors performed the work for the city.

Personal hygiene an issue for those who bike to work (and those around them)

From the NY Times:

Short of installing showers or locker rooms, Mr. Norvell said, employers can designate a space as a changing room and provide space for clothing storage (his own office’s changing room consists of a five-by-five area cordoned off by a curtain). Employers are increasingly receptive to such suggestions, Mr. Norvell said. Also important, he said, has been the gradual erosion of what he described as the city’s “1960s Madison Avenue decorum,” where casual clothes and sweaty bodies were looked at disapprovingly in office situations.

Sorry, but most people will still be offended if your sweaty ass sat next to them all day long at work. And in this economy, you should be happy you have a job, not demand that your employer give you extra perks because you choose not to take the mass transit that everyone else in the office does.

Slumlord still withholding services from Schleicher tenants

From NY1:

Seven College Point families who live in one of the oldest buildings in Queens are heading back to court as a bitter dispute with their landlord continues.

124 outstanding violations? How many does it take before the Bloomberg administration puts an end to situations that threaten the lives of Queens folk? In Manhattan, only 103 violations will get your billboard torn down...

Things looking up in Bayside church fight

From the Times Ledger:

A group of 17 Bayside families has filed a lawsuit against the developer of a Korean church being constructed on 210th Street on the grounds that the structure would not comply with the city’s zoning and administrative codes.

In addition, City Councilman Tony Avella (D−Bayside) said the Emigrant Mortgage Co., which provided the loan for the church, plans to begin foreclosure proceedings at the site.

Native New Yorkers born on bridges

From the NY Times:

Five peregrine falcon chicks have been hatched in recent weeks in nests atop the towers of the Verrazano-Narrows, Throgs Neck and Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridges, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Thursday.

The Verrazano-Narrows falcons were two females and a male, while the Throgs Neck and Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges each had a male. The Throgs Neck chick hatched four weeks ago, and the other four hatched three weeks ago.

This week, a state volunteer wildlife expert placed metal bands around the chicks’ feet, with numbers to identify and track the birds as they grow and reproduce. Peregrine falcons are still on the state endangered species list, although they are no longer on the federal list.

SCA is eminent domain happy

From the Queens Chronicle:

For the past nine years Sharif El Fouly has been leasing most of a building he owns in Astoria to the Baccelaureate School for Global Education. Now, the city’s School Construction Authority wants the whole building, located at 34-12 36th Avenue.

The SCA isn’t offering to buy the property though, Fouly said; instead, it seeks to aquire it through a process called “condemnation,” which involves seizing the property without the owner’s consent.

The Department of Education confirmed that the public approval process for acquiring the property has begun, although spokesman William Havemann said the SCA typically tries to negotiate with owners before taking properties without their consent.

Fouly said he wants to keep the property but is more than willing to negotiate lease options. He added that his requests to sit down and talk with the SCA have fallen on deaf ears.

“A month and a half ago, [the SCA] said, ‘That’s the law, and we’re going to exercise it — we’re going to take the building,’” he said. “They never once came to the table.”

The DOE declined to comment on that assertion.

LIC condo wins design award

From Miss Heather:

Remember that phlegm-colored condominium a bong’s toss from the Pulaski Bridge in Long Island City called the L Haus? Well, I almost forgot about it. Thankfully we have Autumn Sol to thank for reminding us that this nondo-in-the-making received a very dubious distinction...

Since the Queens Plaza parking garage is gone, L Haus may be the winner after all!