Mob tried to rig DOS bid

From the NY Post:

A city official was accused of bid rigging with his mobster father-in-law after they were captured in expletive-filled secret wiretaps allegedly crafting a deal for a crony to provide barriers for the Department of Sanitation, The Post has learned.

Frederick Grimaldi, the Sanitation Department's deputy chief for equipment and facilities, was caught on tape March 31 providing precise bidding instructions to his wife's dad, Michael Murdocco, a reputed Gambino crime-family soldier.

The suspected insider information was for their friend Vincent Alessi, owner of Duramix Concrete Corp., to use on documents that had to be submitted for the tens of thousands of dollars' worth of city work.

"Maybe tell him $205 and $50 [delivery charge per barrier], 2-0-5 plus 50," Grimaldi says to his father-in-law as they haggle over a figure for Alessi and his New Jersey-based company to bid, according to recordings made by the state's Organized Crime Task Force and obtained by The Post.

"Then I need his information," Grimaldi says, "and then I'll take it from then."

Grimaldi, 44, Murdocco, 64, and Alessi, 42, were charged by the state's Organized Crime Task Force along with 18 other members of the Gambino and Luchese crime families and their associates on a range of charges from loan sharking to bookmaking to bribery last month.

Silver lining to the credit crunch

From the NY Times:

From the Florida Everglades to the bluffs overlooking the Deschutes River in Oregon, conservationists are snapping up prime property for preservation, often at a fraction of what the asking price was at the real estate market’s height.

The victories reveal a green lining of sorts in a credit crisis that has depressed real estate prices, prompted foreclosures and derailed development projects across the nation.

The purchases by conservationists and state and local governments assure that thousands of acres will be put aside in perpetuity for parks, watershed protection or simply preservation of open space.

Although the real estate bubble burst in 2008, it was only in the last 6 to 12 months that many developers and banks became desperate enough to slash prices deeply enough for the trusts, Mr. Rogers and several other conservationists said.

In many cases, the preservation deals are negotiated with banks that have foreclosed on property and are eager to get bad assets off the books.

...in the long run, said Mr. Rogers of the Trust for Public Land, even developers recognize that newly protected lands can have a positive effect on real estate prices.

“Developers have long seen that conserved land next to a development adds value,” he said. “There are genuine economic benefits for everyone that will come out of this.”

Conserved land adds value? Holy cow! And here we are zoning areas so that backyards can be subdivided in order to build crap in them...

This week's political news roundup

Councilmember Simcha Felder is being appointed Deputy Comptroller by Comptroller John Liu. The Daily News explains that this move by Johnny is to help position him for a mayoral run in 2013. (Of course, Johnny still has 4 years in which to mess up and resign in disgrace.)

Former Comptroller William Thompson has declared his intention to run for mayor again. (Maybe this time he'll expand his campaign to white and Asian neighborhoods as well as black and Hispanic ones.)

Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio is going to push the civic-minded to community organize. (The idea is that you'll do the work so he won't have to.)

Queens Council neophytes have declared their New Year's resolutions and have new ideas. (Danny Dromm really wants to help day laborers. Taxpayers seem to rank a lower priority.)

Following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton, another southern carpetbagger is considering running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

And last, but certainly not least...

Barry Grodenchick, former Assemblyman and Parkside Group lobbyist, has been appointed Deputy Queens Borough President. (Even though his role in the illegal lobbying that Claire Shulman's group did with regard to the Willets Point land grab is certainly going to be examined by authorities.)

Movie made about dangerous cyclists

From the NY Times:

There is something cinematic about riding a bicycle through New York traffic with its speed, lights and danger. For the rider, street scenes can open up in flashes between stopped cars, creating a kind of stuttered approximation of film. No wonder, then, that many riders, like Luke Stiles and Chris Thormann, have tried to capture these scenes with a camera.

From the backs of scooters and the tops of skateboards, Mr. Stiles, 36, a software developer and former racer, and Mr. Thormann, 25, a bicycle messenger and alleycat rider, have been shooting “Empire,” an as-yet-unfinished film about everything that is “fun, scary and exciting” about bicycling in the city without brakes. “It’s in the sub-sub-subgenre that is fixed-gear action sports videos,” Mr. Stiles explained. A profile in the latest issue of Cog magazine chronicles the project, which Mr. Stiles and Mr. Thormann hope to complete by this spring.

Here's a taste:

Run, Steve, run!

From 1010WINS:

Steve Levy, a suburban politician whose opposition to illegal immigration has brought him national attention, said Sunday he was weighing a primary challenge to Gov. David Paterson.

Levy, the Suffolk County executive, said he had formed an exploratory committee, creating the potential for a three-way race to lead the Democratic Party's state ticket.

Levy was elected as Suffolk County's executive in 2003 after serving in the state Assembly. He was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature in 1985.

Levy signed a law that required contractors doing business with the county to certify their employees are in the country legally. He also supported efforts to get day laborers off street corners and backed doing raids aimed at overcrowded houses where Latino workers live with their families.

He is co-founder of a national group called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform.

Levy has raised nearly $4 million for his possible campaign, according to the most recent campaign finance reports filed in July.

Inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard

From Scouting New York:

I recently had the chance to scout the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is always a fun experience. The Navy Yard, for those who don’t know, is a massive shipyard complex near DUMBO dating back to the 1700’s. The land was purchased by the government in 1801 for use as an active Navy Shipyard, and at its peak during World War II, employed over 70,000 workers. It was decommissioned in the 1960’s and sold to New York City, and is currently being used in a number of different ways, including as the city’s foremost movie studio space, Steiner Studios.

On my recent trip, I had the chance to see the ship repair dry docks in operation, which was really amazing.

Angst not over at Atlas

From the Daily News:

A Queens mom-to-be among the early tenants at a fledgling Glendale mall is mulling bankruptcy after being ordered to pay more than $300,000 to the prominent family that founded the Shops at Atlas Park.

Jennifer Padilla's two failed stores and dreary personal finances reinforce growing speculation that the Cooper Ave. center, nearing a foreclosure sale, isn't viable for small businesses - if at all.

Padilla's troubles stem from a $300,000 credit line that she secured in April 2008 with a guarantee by the clan of then-MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger, whose son Damon ran Atlas Park.

Padilla soon used the funds to start an upscale women's clothing store that would accompany the men's apparel shop, M12/Thirty One, that she opened at Atlas Park in November 2007.

Padilla opened the women's shop, Femme1231, in June 2008. But sales sagged after the mall fell into foreclosure in early 2009, and she stopped paying the bank.

When Valley National officials couldn't reach Padilla to collect, the Hemmerdingers covered her entire debt of $303,062 - the value of the loan plus interest - in September.

Hemmerdinger won a Christmas Eve judgment for that sum in Queens Supreme Court, renewing Padilla's bankruptcy fears.

The four-page decision by Judge Orin Kitzes capped a messy legal war that included whether the Hemmerdingers improperly intervened in the loan process.

Padilla's papers said that Damon Hemmerdinger, after coaching her how to obtain the loan, seemed angry when she was initially rejected in March 2008 by Valley National's Robert Minson. Hemmerdinger promised to follow up with the bank and told Padilla another person would contact her about the loan.

Just weeks after Minson turned down Padilla, James Zhou, an assistant vice president at a Valley National Bank subsidiary, e-mailed her to renew loan talks.

She was soon approved.

Padilla said Dale Hemmerdinger's clout paved the way for approval, but his son denied it.

"The fact that my father is board member at the bank in question means nothing," Damon Hemmerdinger insisted in a signed affidavit.

It was fun while it lasted

From the NY Times:

The Queens Library announced on Monday that beginning next month, 14 library branches in Queens will no longer serve customers on the weekends.

The Central Library in Jamaica will remain open on Sundays from noon to 5 pm, and the other 48 locations will keep their hours on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The libraries that will be open only Monday through Friday are Arverne, Astoria, Baisley Park, Court Square, East Elmhurst, East Flushing, Kew Garden Hills, Lefrak City, North Forest Park, Ozone Park, Queensboro Hill, Ridgewood, South Hollis and Windsor Park.

Fire leaves Sunnyside residents out in the cold

From the Sunnyside Post:

A large fire gutted a Sunnyside building on 42nd Street Saturday night leaving the residents of 20 apartments on the street.

In the 20 degree cold weather, police had barricaded the building off and residents were not allowed back in to the premises.

The back of the building was in such disrepair, boarded up with plywood, that residents have been told that they cannot move back in for several months.

How good neighborhoods go bad...

From Courier-Life:

Officials said that eight borough precincts saw increases in homicides, the largest being in the 75th Precinct in East New York, which recorded seven additional slayings (from 17 to 24). East New York was followed by — surprisingly — Borough Park and Kensington, which saw four additional homicides for the year (from three to seven). Many of the killings could be attributed to the influx of Mexican gangs in the command’s periphery, police sources there said.

Sorry, not buying it. Illegals bring nothing but good things with them to America. The mayor never talks about any bad things like gangs when he prattles on about how important his sanctuary city policies are to public safety, so these crimes must not be happening.

ESDC gave $1.62M in taxpayer money to shady kosher slaughterhouse

From the Huffington Post:

I won't get into the details of the conditions at New Square Meats; if you're reading this, odds are you likely have a sense of what they might have involved. One of the basic, primary laws of Kashrut implies cleanliness: there is no eating of bottom-feeders, no partaking of animals that chew their cud and don't have cloven hoofs, no noshing on beasts that wallow in mud baths. Animals under the laws of Kashrut also may not be slaughtered if they are unconscious; among the supposed health benefits of this practice (like it or hate it) is the elimination of potentially sick and/or infectious animals from getting into the food supply. Theoretically.

So how could New Square Meats, which is itself affiliated with the Skver Hasidim--a sect that has repeatedly run afoul of the law--so obviously flout not only the religious dietary laws that they are supposed to be adhering to, but government regulations as well?

First, take religion completely out of the equation (since they've already blown a big fat Bronx cheer in the face of kashrut).

The answer?
Logrolling.

New Square Meats recently received a $1.62 million grant from New York's Empire State Development Corporation to help subsidize the cost of building a new, larger slaughterhouse near the one that has just been shut down; they received the money without obtaining the approvals from local town and county planning departments:

As the Forward reported recently, the slaughterhouse, New Square Meats, was already under fire for its attempt to build a bigger plant, five times the size of its current one, close to New Square's border with the town of New Hempstead. The proposed 26,250 square foot slaughterhouse would cost $3 million. Some local officials were particularly upset by the fact that New Square Meats had received a $1.62 million grant from New York's Empire State Development Corporation to help subsidize the new building without getting approval first from the county- or town-planning departments.

What is clear is that where New Square is concerned, the government--at least at the state level--has simply looked the other way for almost an entire decade; the New Square slaughterhouse that was just shut down had been selling uninspected birds since 2002.

Another public authority. Another horrible waste of taxpayer money.

WE NEED THE FEDS!

Bloomberg now okay with limiting mayors to two terms

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to call a Charter Revision Commission this year is moving forward -- he recently had a breakfast meeting with cosmetics king Ron Lauder to discuss the topic, the Post has learned.

The private meeting between the two billionaires was specifically to talk about a Charter Revision Commission, and came about at the mayor's request, said Lauder spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

The mayor can appoint as many as 15 people to the panel, which is expected to oversee an extensive overhaul of the city charter, starting with term limits. Besides Lauder, the mayor hasn't indicated whom he might choose.

Lauder, a longtime proponent for limiting mayors to two terms, reversed his position last year after Bloomberg said he wanted to run for a third term.

In exchange, Lauder was promised a spot on the commission -- and is expected to lobby for a return of the two-term limit.

The commission is also expected to look at the Public Advocate's Office, borough presidents' offices and land-use procedures as part of its extensive examination of the charter, City Hall sources said.

The die is cast

From the Newtown Pentacle:

At 46th avenue, the brick horizon opens, and a glimpse of the shining city is offered. Soon, this viewpoint and vantage will be occluded by yet another high rise spire, a warehouse offered to white collar laborers.

What will happen to the fragile infrastructure of 19th century streets, where wounds to the modern asphalt reveal victorian cobblestones? Why is the municipality not requiring the construction of new subway stations and schools, or at least sewers, from these Oligarchs for the rapacious profits they will garner from these grand projects?

Not bad folks these Tower People, on the whole, despite being a denigrated group referred to with smirks and winks by long time LIC’ers. Degreed and lettered professionals on the whole, they are a legion of bankers and lawyers who exist in the warren shadows of Manhattan’s financial district and turbulent midtown by day, but they turn Long Island City from a neighborhood into a dormitory.

A narrow enough lensing of the past can create causality from coincidence, but if you think that Battery Park City or Jersey City is city planning at its best, you’re going to love the new Long Island City.

From Part 3:

It is the end of a year of change - but all years are “years of change”. New York, and the United States on the whole, continue their trend toward apathy and quasi-fascism.

Ceasar is just a few years away now, and will choose to reveal him or her self shortly - and offer clarity and purpose to the masses - who will love their Ceasar, along with the bread and circuses.

And all the poisons in the mud will leach out.

DOH pamphlet explains how to shoot heroin

From the NY Post:

The city spent $32,000 on 70,000 fliers that tell you how to shoot heroin, complete with detailed tips on prepping the dope and injecting it into your arm.

The Health Department handout has outraged New York's top drug prosecutors and abuse experts.

"It's basically step-by- step instruction on how to inject a poison," said John Gilbride, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office.

The 16-page pamphlet features seven comics-like illustrations and offers dope fiends such useful advice as "Warm your body (jump up and down) to show your veins," and "Find the vein before you try to inject."

It even encourages addicts to keep jabbing if their needles miss the mark.

"If you don't 'register,' pull out and try again," it says.

The brochure sends the wrong message about the dangers of the drug, experts said.

"It concerns me that the city would produce a how-to on using drugs," Gilbride said. "Heroin is extremely potent. You may only get the chance to use it once. To suggest there is a method of using that alleviates the dangers, that's very disturbing."

Gilbride and city drug czar Bridget Brennan noted that the manual does have some sound advice. It stresses the importance of kicking the habit, seeking professional help and not sharing needles.

But it also spells out how junkies should ready their fix and the best ways to shoot it -- a bad idea when more New York teens than ever are trying heroin, they said.

The Health Department defended its brochure, saying it was helpful and necessary, and has been distributed only to addicts or those at risk of becoming abusers.

Whitestone annexed by the Bronx

Surprise! You folks in Whitestone woke up this morning as part of a new borough. You also have migrated to the other side of Long Island Sound.

It must be true as it was printed in the paper of record.

EDC let Mets pay mob with taxpayer money

From the NY Post:

The Mets shelled out $51.6 million in taxpayer money to contractors shunned by the city for their ties to the Mafia, labor corruption or bribery, The Post has learned.

At least seven contractors the city avoids were hired by the team to build Citi Field between 2006 and 2009, according to government records.

The tainted companies were paid from a $91 million pot the city Economic Development Corp. gave to the Mets.

As part of its agreement with the EDC, the Mets had to submit records detailing how it spent the $91 million and to whom it was paid. Those records show at least six other Citi Field contractors on the caution list.

Queens-based S.N. Tannor Inc. was paid $3.5 million for electrical work despite owner Evan Tannor's 2007 felony conviction for giving $350,000 in kickbacks to disgraced labor boss and ex-state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, according to court records.

Another Queens firm, Eagle One Roofing, was paid $7 million. Its principal, Damian Sabatino, was convicted of fraud in 2001 for bribing a labor official, money laundering, falsifying business records and prevailing-wage violations. Sabatino also pleaded guilty to income-tax evasion in 1996.

And now EDC is giving money to a different kind of mafia that operates in the area - Claire Shulman and the board members of her phony LDC, who want to take over Willets Point and turn it into their cash cow.

In fact, one of the blight justifications was past crime at Willets Point, including a mafia-related auto theft ring that was busted 15 years ago.

Yet the government agency that wants to condemn WP has no problem using mafia contractors across 126th street. Why ask for details on how money is spent if you aren't going to look at what they put down?

This is a good example of why we need Public Authorities reform.

Hell, why not just BRING IN THE FEDS already?

Fire Commissioner To Restore Staff To Engine Companies

From NY1:

The new city fire commissioner is restoring staffing levels at 49 of the city's engine companies.

Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano says the fifth firefighter has been restored to teams that were reduced to four firefighters last month.

The cuts were made after a rising number of firefighters called in sick, straining the overtime budget.

The annual medical leave rate for firefighters rose above 7.5 percent by December 1. That is the threshold at which the New York Fire Department begins to cut staff, and it is the third time in seven years the department has done so.

FDNY officials say absenteeism has dipped 16 percent since the cuts, which has allowed the department to add the staff again.

Out with the old, in with the new

From the NY Times:

Jimmy Van Bramer, one of 13 new members elected in November to the New York City Council, lives a few blocks away from 47-01 Queens Boulevard in Woodside, where his predecessor, Eric N. Gioia, kept an office for the past eight years. Mr. Van Bramer, 40, a former Queens Borough Public Library official, decided to keep the place, Suite No. 203. Mr. Gioia left Mr. Van Bramer a welcome note in the drawer of the big desk, along with this advice: Lock the windows and doors. The office had been broken into twice (burglars, not political operatives). The first time, the computers were stolen, which was problematic, Mr. Gioia said, because as chairman of the Council’s Oversight and Investigations Committee, he had some sensitive information on those hard drives.

Yes, because he oversaw so many successful investigations while on the Council...

Mr. Gioia, 36, who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for public advocate, will now put his political prowess and connections to work as a bank executive.

Rather appropriate that for the last photo of the Doorman in office he was photographed opening/closing a door, dontcha think?

Many day laborers are now homeless

From the NY Times:

Carlos Ruano was down to his last $50 when his landlord kicked him out in September because he could no longer pay rent. He sent the money to his wife and children in Guatemala and spent the night riding the E train, which has a nickname among his fellow day laborers in Woodside, Queens: “hotel ambulante,” Spanish for roving hotel.

Mr. Ruano, 38, who had drawn his living from 69th Street and Broadway for six years, has been on the streets since. He and other hard-luck day laborers have slept wherever they can: in the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital Center, in unfinished buildings abandoned by bankrupt developers and under bridges along the freight railroad tracks that slice through western Queens, where dirty mattresses and work boots lay on the rocky ground one recent morning.

With their isolation and day-to-day existence, the laborers are perhaps the most invisible and hardest-to-reach victims of the recession, advocates and city officials say.

No one knows for sure how many have become homeless since the downturn brought construction projects to a virtual standstill and sapped them of jobs that once paid as much as $200 a day. Most of them are illegal immigrants who may be on the streets one day and off the next, depending on their work.

The rules of the shelter system do not suit them, they said. They might be placed too far from the job pickup site or miss curfew if a job runs too late or is too far from the shelter.

Afraid that their immigration status might be exposed — outreach workers might ask for identification, though the shelters are open to everyone — they say they would rather sleep outside.

I guess this was written in response to the outrage at the soup kitchen that's been set up at Hart Park. Your heart is supposed to bleed for them instead of being pissed off about how they've ruined our quality of life.

To Infinity and beyond!

I don't know anything about Teddy other than the fact that he's no longer with us. He apparently was either a dumbass thieving coward or quite a ladies' man, depending on whom you ask.
Also no longer with us is this strip club that sits in the shadow of the LIE. More than likely, the recession hurt it and the Borden Avenue Bridge reconstruction put the final nail in its coffin.
But as I stood here, I found it rather appropriate that Greenpoint's Shit Tits were highly visible from the site of the former titty bar. These photos were taken New Year's Day in lands where Tower People fear to tread.

How many things are disturbing about this story?

From the Daily News:

As Nathaniel Chambers was arraigned, prosecutors said the Department of Homeless Services driver was visibly blitzed when he was stopped on the Triborough Bridge on Friday.

Thank you, Daily News, for calling the bridge by its real name.

As the Daily News reported, Chambers was on his way to pick up Commissioner Robert Hess to take him to City Hall for the inauguration.

Why does the Commissioner of Homeless Services have a driver?

Hess has worked for the agency for nine years - and he was employed there when he was busted for DWI in 2003 and paid a $750 fine.

Homeless Services spokeswoman Linda Bazerjian couldn't explain how someone with a DWI conviction could be employed as a driver.

No comment.

Chambers refused to take a Breathalyzer test at the scene, but cops held the device in front of his mouth when he spoke and it registered a blood-alcohol content of .089 - just above the legal limit.

If the suspect refuses the test and the police try to take it anyway without his consent, it's most likely going to get tossed in court.

Paterson gives lawmakers deadline for Aqueduct pick

From the Daily News:

Gov. Paterson is giving legislative leaders a week to decide who should operate long-delayed video gambling at Aqueduct Racetrack - or he'll make the choice.

"What I am probably going to do in the next week or so is pick one myself and try to publicly persuade them to embrace this decision," Paterson said Friday before hosting a New Year's open house at the Governor's Mansion.

Paterson and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate must agree on an operator for the facility but have been deadlocked for months over which of the five remaining bidders should redevelop the Queens racetrack.

Should the FDNY institute racial hiring quotas?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lawyers for New York City and the Justice Department have urged a federal judge to reject one group's plan to diversify the city's fire department through a strict minority hiring quota.

A firefighters fraternal group called The Vulcan Society has proposed that the department should be forced to make six of every 10 new hires either black or Hispanic.

City lawyers say the plan would be unconstitutional.

The Justice Department has taken the city to court over the FDNY's hiring practices, saying its recent entry exams discriminated against minority candidates.

But federal authorities have also asked the judge to reject the Society's proposal, saying it is too broad.

Community Board from Hell prefers concrete jungle

From the Queens Gazette:

Zoning Committee Chair John Carusone said new restrictions on curb cuts on properties less than 40 feet wide would impact parking and restrict development, especially in cases of conversions of two-family into three-family homes.

A slew of new regulations couched inside the streetscape text amendment infuriated Board Member Gerald Caliendo. An architect by profession, Caliendo said, “I am completely disgusted with the amount of [zoning] changes [the DCP] are bombarding us.” Echoing Carusone, also an architect by profession, Caliendo said people “won’t be able to build”.

In parts of Queens within Community Boards 1 and 2, existing buildings whose owners want to provide new parking spaces and construct curb cuts to access parking on wide streets are allowed to apply for authorization. The proposed text amendment would give DCP the power to review the effect of a new curb cut on the character of the streetscape.

Cracking down on “parking pads”, the proposal would also prohibit parking in front of all detached buildings on lots less than 35 feet wide and would permit new curb cuts only if they access a driveway located within a side yard that is at least eight feet wide.

For required parking in conversions, the text amendment proposes R3 and R4 units be required to provide an off-street parking space in addition to any existing parking spaces on the lot.

That's funny, most Queens taxpayers I speak with are more concerned about having their streetscape remain intact and not looking like a third world slum rather than milking their cash cow until it can't stand up anymore. This is why having real estate people on your community board is generally a bad idea. However, if you reside within the Community Board from Hell, then you probably have been appointed by a Vallone, or by the borough president with the blessing of a Vallone.

Photo from Washington Post

Martins Field now "Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground"

From the Times Ledger:

Bayside community activist Mandingo Tshaka said he was pleased after the city renamed Flushing’s Martins Field to honor the remains of African Americans and native Americans who had been buried there more than 100 years ago, but he has also called for the site to be locked up at night to prevent vandalism.

The city Parks Department changed Martins Field’s name to the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground in mid-December. The site, between 164th and 165th streets along 46th Avenue in Flushing, had originally been a cemetery for 19th-century blacks and American Indians who had died of small pox and cholera.

Several new signs at the burial ground have been put up to notify community residents of the site’s historical significance.

The city had paved over the burial ground more than 70 years ago to build a playground and pool at the site, which had violated city law. In 2006, the city performed $2.7 million in renovations at the burial ground, such as adding a steel picket fence, new sidewalks and a playground with a commemorative plaque.

The burial site, which dates back to the 1840s, was originally known as the Colored Cemetery of Flushing. More than 1,000 people were buried at the site between 1840 and 1898.

Burglaries way up in 104th Precinct

From the Times Ledger:

The 104th Precinct has a problem with burglars, but other major crimes were down for the year in Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood.

Some 441 homes and businesses had been broken into through Dec. 27 in the precinct, a 15.7 percent increase compared with the 381 break-ins reported for the same stretch of 2008.

At least two homes and one commercial establishment had been broken into on 53rd Road in the last three weeks, police said. Neighborhood leaders are also concerned that the same burglars may be striking businesses on 51st and 57th avenues in Maspeth, gaining entry by climbing onto the buildings’ roofs.

NY derails $28B in MTA's budget

By TOM NAMAKO, NY Post
December 31, 2009

The state last night rejected the MTA's $28 billion budget for big-ticket transit projects like the Second Avenue Subway, sending agency officials back to the drawing board.

The two sticking points were a $10 billion funding gap in the plan, and the fact that the budget to finance upstate roads and bridges hasn't been finished yet.

Gov. Paterson's representative on the four-person board that oversees capital budgets, state Transportation Commissioner Stanley Gee, cast the sole "no" vote. But under MTA rules, his veto is enough to sink the plan.

Chronicling 8 years of Bloomblight

From Nathan Kensinger:

This construction boom created an equal boom in demolitions. According to The Real Deal, "during the recent building boom, the number of demolition permits rose from 3,386 in 2002 to a high of 6,480 in 2006. The number fell in 2007 to 5,582..." Among the thousands of structures lost over the last decade were many familiar landmarks in the New York skyline, particularly along the edges of New York City. All along the waterfront, from the South Bronx to the Far Rockaways, neighborhoods were affected by the development gold-rush.

As documented by this website, many historic structures were demolished along the industrial waterfront to make way for developers. Neighborhood icons vanished, like the smokestacks of the Long Island City Powerhouse, erased from the skyline in 2005 by luxury condominiums. In Brooklyn, the rapid pace of development claimed so many historic structures that by 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Brooklyn's entire industrial waterfront at the top of their list of "America's 11 Most Endangered Places," stating "historic dockyards and factories are being demolished by developers anxious to cash in on the area's newly hip status." Some of the industrial structures lost included the Greenpoint Terminal Market - a potential landmark which was burned to the ground in 2006; the Todd Shipyard - a working shipyard demolished in 2006 by Ikea; the Revere Sugar Refinery - a neighborhood icon which guided ships into the Eerie Basin until being demolished in 2007, and the Kent Avenue Powerhouse - a grand structure completely demolished by 2009. Many of the industrial buildings destroyed throughout the decade were functional, stable, useful structures that could have been redeveloped and given a second life.

Today on the streets of New York, the losses inflicted by the development boom and bust are readily apparent. Like a modern day gold-rush ghost town, empty holes dominate the landscape. Nicknamed "Bloomblight," these holes consist of hundreds of stalled construction projects throughout the five boroughs. On the commercial streetscape, block after block of "prime real estate" sits empty throughout the city. Vacant storefronts dominate once vital commercial strips, especially with the 2009 failure of chain stores like Circuit City and Virgin Megastore. In July 2009, the NY Times reported that "the storefront vacancy rate in Manhattan is now at its highest point since the early 1990s — an estimated 6.5 percent — and is expected to exceed 10 percent by the middle of next year."

In January 2010, Michael Bloomberg will be sworn into power for his third term as the Mayor of New York. As the new decade begins, the future of New York's urban landscape remains unclear.

Already 5 murders in first 2 days of 2010!

B'klyn pool hall murder is city's 5th of the year
By JOHN DOYLE, NY Post

An argument in a backroom pool hall in Brooklyn turned into the city’s fifth homicide of the New Year late this afternoon.

Police say that around 4 p.m., gunfire erupted in the backroom of Maria’s Grocery on Broadway near Hooper Street in Williamsburg.

One man, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Three other men were taken to the nearby 90th precinct for questioning. Police sources described all four men, including the deceased, as Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Here's a quick recap of the others. Only the one above involved a gun.

Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4

Deutsche Bank demo faces more delays

Deutsche Bldg. faces new snags
By TOM TOPOUSIS, NY Post

The Deutsche Bank Building is finally coming down -- but at a snail's pace.

More than two months after the city gave the long-stalled deconstruction project the go-ahead, workers have removed just two floors from the remaining 26 stories of the toxic tower, officials confirmed yesterday.

At the current rate, the deconstruction project would be hard pressed to meet its latest deadline at the end of 2010, jeopardizing crucial construction projects needed to continue work at the World Trade Center across the street.

Officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which is overseeing the deconstruction, said they are pressing the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, to find safe ways to speed up the project.

"We have told the contractor to improve efficiency, but not at the expense of safety," the LMDC said in a statement.

But officials yesterday refused to set a timetable for completing the project, which was initially scheduled to be done by the end of 2008.

Photo from the NY Times

Queens Botanical Garden almost out of hibernation

From the Times Ledger:

The Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing has made it halfway through a short winter hibernation instituted for the first time in 2009 aimed at cutting costs in the face of declining funding.

The renowned cultural institution has suffered since the economic downturn from decreased government support, halved corporate donations and decreased foundation and public contributions, Executive Director Susan Lacerte said.

As such, the garden has closed for two weeks ending Jan. 5. The winter months bring the fewest people to the gardens and school is not in session during the two-week period, so class visits do not have to be canceled.

State still not quite bankrupt

From 1010WINS:

New York's government finished 2009 with some cash on hand, and Gov. David Paterson said local aid payments he ordered withheld in December should be released in January.

A report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli showed $883 million available at the close of business Thursday. He noted there was a $600 million year-end shortfall in the general fund, the account used to pay for state operations and local assistance, and said that was a first in recent history.

"I would assume that in January, when the revenues come back, I would complete the payments that we delayed to the entities that have been afflicted," Paterson said. "At that point, I will issue a budget that will project what we would think will be the necessary cuts."

The state likely faces a deficit of about $8 billion in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, Paterson said. Some payments may need to be delayed again when major bills come due in March, he said.

School raffle rules revised

From the NY Times:

At a time when New York City schools are struggling with budget cuts, the Department of Education proposed a regulation this month that would ban parent-teacher associations from holding raffles, a mainstay of fund-raising — especially after the city effectively banned PTA bake sales in June.

On Wednesday, however, education officials said that Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein had not known about the proposed raffle ban before it was published, and that he had decided to rescind it.

The department also said it was considering whether to ease the ban on PTA bake sales during the school day, to make it easier for parent groups to raise money, which they use to plug budget gaps in school programs.

While the rationale for the ban on bake sales was student health, the raffle ban was judged to be a potential legal liability. Raffles can be considered a form of gambling under state laws, and holding one without following a complex array of rules could result in a misdemeanor.

Because of legal concerns, the city’s Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, which regulates parent groups, used to say no to PTA’s that asked to hold raffles, even though some schools had raffles without asking permission. There was no official ban.

A lesson for Nussie

From the Daily News:

Asian women are everywhere. We rank No. 11 on the blog "Stuff White People Like" and star in a host of iPhone apps: "Cute Asian Girls" promised; "If you have yellow fever, this app is the cure!" "Asian Boobs," which heralds our modest-sized racks, was a top seller for the App Store in October.

Now, we're playing peek-a-boo in "Puff!" In this app, the user selects a photo from a scrolling selection of Japanese women, then blows into the iPhone microphone to lift the woman's skirt and reveal her undergarments.

I'm infuriated at the thought of sitting next to some pervert on the subway furiously blowing and touching a woman who giggles adorably in response. But what I hate most about this app is that it feeds into an old and tired stereotype. The image of the voiceless, passive Asian woman is a common form of racism in visual media. She's the "Puff!" woman - cutesy and obedient, she'd never kick a creep to the curb. She's not too different from that saccharine Hello Kitty, the infantilized mail-order bride who promises to "love you long time" or the hypersexualized character in anime porn.

Passing off sexual stereotypes that reduce women as objects of so-called harmless fetishes is socially irresponsible. And it's not harmless. By fostering a culture of behavior that denigrates one group of women, all women are denigrated. And that is unacceptable.

Whitestone con man canned

From the NY Post:

An alleged grifter from Queens with fake identities ranging from motocross champ to war vet to record producer was arrested in Southampton, LI, this week on a Florida warrant.

Robert Schnepf, 35, is also under investigation by the NYPD for attracting women by fabricating accomplishments and for bilking them out of money before vanishing.

His alleged victims have even coined a phrase to describe their experience with the Whitestone man -- "getting Schnepfed."

Southampton cops targeted the 6-foot-6 scam suspect this week after getting reports that he was passing himself off as a struggling veteran and milking sympathetic marks for free food and lodging in the area.

Schnepf was arrested on Monday after a computer check revealed a Florida warrant on a burglary rap from April 2008. He is awaiting extradition.

Several of the women told The Post that Schnepf, a native of Forest Hills, would present himself as a fat cat in need of administrative assistance. He claimed business partnerships with everyone from R&B star Rihanna to Heineken and even gave an October speech at a Staten Island domestic-violence shelter after promising to build it a $3.5 million facility.

Too many tickets in Astoria

From the Times Ledger:

Astoria residents, business owners and elected officials said they are fed up with neighborhood traffic agents whom they say over-zealously hand out tickets to drivers and parked cars in one of the borough’s prime restaurant and shopping meccas.

Community leaders and residents said they have witnessed agents slap drivers with violations or been ticketed themselves for reasons they believe are completely unfair, while business owners are concerned excessive fines could scare away customers.

“I was pulling out of a parking space and dropping off my husband at a bank on 31st Street when a traffic cop pulls in right beside me so I can’t pull out,” said Anna Balash, who lives in Astoria. “I had to slam on my brakes. He gave me a ticket even though I was not parked — I was moving and in-gear. They know we can’t take a day off from work to fight it. They’re very aggressive.”

Balash said she received the $115 ticket in July. After she was given the fine, she said she then attempted to pull out a second time, but was again boxed in by an agent. But she was not ticketed a second time.

Simone Petromelis, a Westchester County attorney who grew up in College Point, said she was harassed by a traffic agent during the Greek Orthodox holy week in April.

“It was a horrible experience,” said Petromelis, whose father, Angelo Petromelis, was a former district leader in the community. “The agent was out of control. I pulled into a spot, which turned out to be a legal spot, to let out my elderly mother. The agent ran up and pressed against my car. She wouldn’t let me see her name. It was like a drug bust.”

She said the agent told her she was receiving a ticket, but would not tell her for what reason.

“She laughed at me and said, ‘Too bad, it’s not my holiday,’” said Petromelis.

Suzannah B. Troy at the inauguration

"Forced to move...at first I was singled out and I asked the NYPD why. There is a very small crowd -- no harm is being done. I yelled once...then we were all made to move.

I was again singled out as a protestor and got a private escort of 2 NYPD officers - one who attempted to make me shut off my video camera but the more senior one told him I was with in my rights -- THANK GOODNESS HE KNEW THE LAW! Then I saw 2 very senior NYPD officers and implored them to not make me walk all the way down so far away to protest and they said that I did not have to as long as I was across the street."

"I screamed very loudly Mike Bloomberg and Christine Quinn are corrupt before John Liu spoke and than I had to go I was so cold."

Like 2009, he went out with a "bang"

From the Daily News:

An elderly man died Thursday after he jumped off a Queens snow bank and stood in front of an oncoming Long Island Rail Road train, investigators and witnesses said.

The victim was struck at 11:20 a.m. by a Penn Station-bound train on a desolate stretch of track running through Elmhurst, investigators said.

"I saw somebody leap," says Michael Mertyris, 42, a snow shoveller from Maspeth.

"I heard the train coming down the tracks, and then all I heard was 'Ahhh!' and then I heard 'Bang!'"

The victim, whose identity was not immediately known, died instantly. He was wearing a heavy winter jacket but did not have any pants on, witnesses said.

Vallone wins 2010 Overdevelopment Award!

It's time to crown our new King of Queens Crap. We've had a Queen for 2 years out of the past 3, but due to limiting the contest to 3rd termers, this year we only had men in the running. For 2010, you have chosen the best candidate out of a field of 5. And what a doozy he is!

Winning the Queens Crap crown by the largest margin ever, the one, the only - Peter Vallone, Jr! Yes, this guy has been so bad that people now refer to Astoria as the neighborhood they don't want theirs to look like. A fellow whose overdevelopment reputation helped sink his brother's chances for the 19th Council District seat.

Let's also add that Mr. Law and Order doesn't believe in feeding parking meters.

For all these reasons, and for not only helping overturn the will of the people by changing the term limits law to keep his ass on the public dole for 4 more years, but also for crossing party lines to endorse Bloomturd, it's our pleasure to crown Peter F. Vallone, Jr. the 2010 King of Queens Crap. Congratulations, it was well-deserved!

Some year-end Queens crime reports

From the NY Post:

Police are hunting for the boyfriend of a Corona woman found stabbed to death in her apartment.

The sister of Diana Bolivar, 29, grew concerned after she was unable to reach her for nearly a week, and called police.

Police met the sister outside the victim's apartment on 110th Street near 34th Avenue at around noon on Tuesday. They forced the door open and found a mutilated Bolivar on the bed, sources said.

She had been stabbed numerous times.

The victim had a stormy relationship with her boyfriend, who was still being sought for questioning yesterday, police said.

(This one's believed to have left the country...perhaps because the NYPD failed to make a timely report.)

*

A South Jamaica woman who was delinquent on her utility bills swung a baseball bat at uniformed Con Edison workers who came to shut off service at her home, cops said.

The workers, a man and a woman, arrived at the home of Monica Plazaluna, 24, on 120th Avenue near 153rd Street on Dec. 14 at 10:45 a.m.

When they informed Plazaluna that they were cutting her service, she allegedly tried to punch the female employee.

The male worker jumped in front of Plazaluna, and she retreated back to her residence. But she came back out swinging a Louisville Slugger, cops said.

She was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, said a spokesperson for DA Richard Brown.

*

An ambulette with a drunken driver behind the wheel jumped a curb in Rego Park, cops said.

Georgy Petrenko, 48, was driving the 2001 Ford van near the southwest corner of 98th Street and 63rd Drive at 10:57 p.m. on Dec. 13. He drove the vehicle over the curb, leaving it halfway on the sidewalk, police said.

An undercover cop saw Petrenko exit the vehicle with blood gushing from his forehead, and reeking of booze, authorities said.

Petrenko, who blew a .21 on a Breathalyzer, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and aggravated driving.

*

Cops responding to a dispute in a Forest Hills apartment recovered a shotgun and arrested the occupant, police said.

Officers responded to a 911 call at 104-20 Queens Blvd. near 69th Avenue at 6:45 p.m. on Dec. 17 and found a belligerent John Lastorino, 55, with a gun case, cops said.

"F - - - them. I was done. I was going to take care of them," a raging Lastorino told cops.

They recovered a shotgun from the apartment's supply room, and Lastorino was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, according to the DA's spokesperson.

Lawsuit filed against fradulent debt collectors

From the NY Times:

...thousands of New Yorkers...according to a class-action lawsuit, are victims of a network of debt collectors who used fraudulent documents to surreptitiously win court judgments — all without the debtors’ knowledge.

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan this week, takes aim at a decades-old practice known in legal circles as “sewer service.” This is when a debt collector fails to serve a notice of complaint and then files a false affidavit claiming the notice has been properly served. When the debtor doesn’t show up in court, the collector can then apply for, and almost always wins, a default judgment.

The first a victim often learns about the judgment is when a bank account is seized or a lien is threatened. The judgments can also ruin a person’s credit report.

Consumer advocates say the practice has grown in recent years, fueled by the recessionary rise in consumer debt actions and the emergence over the last decade of companies that buy up charged-off debt for pennies on the dollar, then seek to recover the full debt, along with interest, for themselves.

Landlords resist new heating standards

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg's environmental team wants to stop big apartment and office buildings from belching smoke into New York skies - but landlords say that will mean higher rents.

In the next few months, the city plans to introduce a regulation to phase out No. 4 and No. 6 heating oil, the cheapest - and dirtiest - type of fuel oil.

The proposed rule would force new buildings to use cleaner No. 2 heating oil or natural gas, and eliminate old boilers over 15 years.

Building owners and apartment managers don't dispute the environmental benefits of cleaner oil, but say New Yorkers can't afford the cost - up to $150,000 to change a building's boilers, plus up to 30% more a gallon.

Environmental groups say switching over will cost most building owners far less, and often pays for itself through more efficient combustion and lower maintenance costs.

"It's just unrefined sludge - the bottom of the barrel," said Mary Barber of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The EDF used city permit data to map the almost 9,000 buildings that use No. 4 or No. 6 oil on its Web site - including famous ones like the Flatiron Building and the Dakota apartments.

Those buildings generate 87% of the city's heating soot, the EDF says - and converting a 200-unit apartment building to natural gas would have the same pollution benefits as taking 45 delivery trucks off the street.

City officials have met with real estate and oil industry groups to try to find a middle ground.

Sneak peak at Bloomberg inauguration speech

From the NY Times:

Thank you very much and Happy New Year. Muchas gracias y Feliz Año Nuevo.

Here we are on yet another inauguration day. The last time we did this, none of you thought you’d see me standing here again, did you? Come on, you can admit it.

To get down to brass tacks, I want to thank the 29 council members who had the courage to extend term limits and make it possible for me and for them to run for office once more. It wasn’t easy. Self-interest is never easy. You have to put up with a lot of guff from the quibblers and professional crepe hangers. Those brave council members — one of whom, sad to say, is a convicted crook on his way to jail — didn’t blink.

Let me get this out in the open for this one time only. I know that many New Yorkers were disappointed with how I reversed everything that I’d said for years about the sanctity of term limits. I owe them an explanation. I know that the election was close in part because of this issue. It was a tough campaign. I knew it would be. Why else do you think I spent more than $100 million of my own money getting re-elected? I mean, come on!

But we need problem-solving, not ideology. And I really had a problem.

What was I supposed to do? Leave office and sit around some foundation signing checks all day? Wait for my once-a-year invitation to Davos? I mean, come on! Any billionaire can wangle an invite to Davos. But would I have been given the chance to speak at that conference in Copenhagen a few weeks ago or go on “Meet the Press” or get a shout-out from President Obama if I were just another rich guy and not the mayor of New York? No ways.

You know the old saying “When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window”? Well, God provided. The economy fell apart, thank God. I had the excuse I needed to change the election rules without asking the voters what they thought. I mean, come on! Who knows the buck better than me?

Here he is making bad jokes and acknowledging the beliefs of atheists then talking about "God's planet".

.

New park for the New Year

From the Daily News:

A vacant Jamaica Bay property originally tabbed for private developments is slated to be transformed into the borough's newest waterfront park.

The 1.2-acre site along Beach 88 St. near the Cross Bay Bridge, will offer a range of activities to the public such as picnicking, fishing and boating.

The property was snapped up by the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit group that specializes in land conservation, for $1.925 million, more than $1 million less than its market price, according to the owners.

"We basically purchased and donated the property within five minutes," says Matt Shaffer, assistant director of marketing services for the nonprofit group. Funding by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey allowed the Trust to give the property to the city for the park's construction set to begin in Spring.

Hudson Companies LLC, the original owners, planned to build 20 single-family homes on the waterfront property sometime in the next year, said Alan Ball, an owner of Hudson Companies.

"We had no debt on the property, and we could have held on to it pretty easily, so we said we might as well cut bait and move on," he said. "Moving this project to the Trust for Public Land was a very good thing to do."

The addition of the waterside park would bring much-needed parkland and open space to the Jamaica Bay area, which some environmental activists say is being overdeveloped.

Will Quinn limit lulus?

From the Daily News:

Heading into her second term as speaker of the 51-member City Council, Christine Quinn is weighing whether to - Gasp! - eliminate some of its multitude of committees and subcommittees.

...she recently told the Daily News, "The whole committee structure is something we're looking at, and I haven't made any decision on it yet."

In deciding, Quinn has had to weigh both internal Council politics and the county Democratic leaders, as well as lobbying from pressure groups, ranging from Mayor Bloomberg to unions, tenant groups, gay-rights activists and big donors. Most returning incumbents will keep their chairs, or get to head even better committees. But there are a dozen vacant committee chairs because 13 incumbents are not returning.

The two most-coveted vacant committee chairs are for the Finance and Land Use Committees, which each carry a $18,000 lulu, plus clout over budget and zoning matters. The posts were vacated by David Weprin and Melinda Katz, both Queens Democrats who lost bids for controller.

Council sources said the Land Use chair will likely go to Leroy Comrie of Queens - a bow to the clout of the Queens Democratic organization and the fact that white Council members are now in the minority. Comrie is African-American. The Finance chair will likely shift to either Lew Fidler, Domenic Recchia or Simcha Felder, all from Brooklyn, to help Quinn make peace with Brooklyn Democratic leader Vito Lopez.

Another exclusive article about Ackerman

Crapster -

First I would like to wish you and the Queens Crap community a Happy and Healthy New Year! Let's make 2010 a year to remember.

Thank you for sending me the link about Congressman Ackerman's revision to a financial disclosure statement.

I did a little digging and found out a lot more about the Queens Congressman than I knew before. The information was so compelling that I wrote another original article for the Queens Crap blogsite. I am sure that your readers will find this new information to be very interesting and I doubt if they were aware of this aspect of Ackerman's connections.

I look forward to seeing the comments that the article generates. Let's start 2010 with a bang!

Peace,

Alan
(Check out the set of cojones on Halloran, who showed up at the Trib's Holiday Party!)

Unhappy New Year for Rego Park parkers

"2 weeks ago (at 6 am Monday morning) the street signs on 97th Street (between 63rd Road and 62nd Drive) were changed.

10 to 12 parking spaces are now gone and have been replaced with NO STANDING 7 am to 8 PM every day of the week - supposedly to ease congestion (from the traffic at the mall).

1--no store has yet opened.
2--several stores have backed out
3--store that housed Circuit City is still unrented

Supposedly, the RIGHT side of the street had to be free of
cars to allow LEFT hand turns onto 62nd Drive...(huh?)

Several cars got caught (they didn't notice immediately the new signage--NO one expected it, and non of the building management got any notice...

Lack of parking (free on the street parking) means more business for the parking lots.

I guess if they can't get money from renting stores, they will sock it to the neighborhood by getting rent for spaces."

- Helen.