Several heavy chunks of concrete fell from the roadbed of the elevated train structure at Beach 73 Street and the Rockaway Freeway, at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Police officers closed off that stretch of the roadway. An MTA spokesperson told The Wave that the city agency was continuing its work on the structure, but that it is safe to travel underneath it.
Two Bellerose civic leaders are warning that a gaping hole more than 5 feet deep in the divider separating Little Neck Parkway’s main road from the service road is an accident waiting to happen.
Bruno and Lucy DeFranceschi of the North Bellerose Civic Association said they were driving on the road by 82nd Avenue when they noticed the hole.
“We passed by. We thought it was a pothole,” Lucy DeFranceschi said.
But when they pulled over and looked closer, they saw a hole that exceeded 5 feet.
A city Department of Transportation inspector faces charges of trying to shakedown employees of two businesses in order to look the other way about alleged sidewalk violations.
Kenrick Forde, 48, of Jamaica, Queens, was charged with grand larceny by extortion, bribe receiving, official misconduct, attempted grand larceny by extortion, attempted bribe receiving, according to the Department of Investigation.
Authorities busted Forde after the owner of a service garage in Brooklyn called cops to say that the inspector wanted a $50 bribe in other to drop a possible $450 summons for a vehicle parked on a sidewalk outside the business.
The owner of the garage directed his employee to give money to Forde in view of the security camera.
QUEENS CRAP ROVING REPORTER #2 -- DATELINE APRIL 1, 2010 FINAL CB7 LAND USE COMMITTEE & VOTE ON FLUSHING COMMONS
Unfortunately, it was not an April Fool’s Day gag. CB 7’s Land Use Committee wasted a whole evening to, in the end, approve every single one of the many exceptions to land use policy requested by Rockefeller/TDC (Michael Lee) and Bloomberg’s EDC. Some committee members apparently think that total capitulation gives them leverage in further negotiation with the BEEP’s office (she thinks it’s wonderful, boys) and the city (which has already shown how much it gives a crap). Yeah, like capitulation gave Czechoslovakia so much leverage with Hitler.
On the other hand, when has this community board ever voted against ANY development in downtown Flushing? Some of them complained it was too big-- a total of 69 stories and 1 million square feet-- and a couple thought the Macedonia Church affordable housing project should have been a separate vote (aaaand actually, it is! Keep reading...), but mostly they were your average lemmings.
A great deal of time was spent creating stipulations to be added to the city’s agreement with Michael Lee & Rockefeller, which recapitulated the terms of the letter by then-Deputy Mayor Doctoroff and then-Councilman Liu. Even those had some trouble being approved. One of the key conditions added in by CB7 was putting the capped parking rates back in. Rob Goldrich of the Deputy Mayor’s office assiduously took notes (or at least scribbled a lot) but of course, once he gets back to City Hall, they’ll just tear it all up, and why not, since anything a community board says is just advisory anyway.
Flushing BID chair Jim Gerson is a member of the CB7 land use committee. When Gerson raised the issue of the number of parking spaces (1,600) being less than previously agreed by John Liu and Dan Doctoroff (2,000), and also said that he had personally spoken to Liu to confirm this, committee chair Chuck Apelian told Gerson, "Liu did not tell you that", insisting that nowhere within the Liu-Doctoroff agreement are 2,000 parking spaces explicitly required for the project as presently contemplated. Apelian repeatedly insisted "that is mistaken".
Also, when Gerson later pointed out that the DEIS is predicated upon a proposed one-way Flushing traffic pattern which NYCDOT has recently decided not to implement, and that the DEIS therefore does not accurately depict the traffic conditions that will result from the Flushing Commons development, Apelian said "I don't care what an EIS says. I don't care about it. I go by my gut." So, per Apelian, it is acceptable to approve a project which generates significant adverse traffic impacts, even though there is no EIS on the record which relates to the actual conditions that relate to the proposed project.
Also, as currently proposed, rates to park will become market rates after 5 years. They are not capped in perpetuity as was to be the case under the aforementioned agreement.
And, although CitiField is to become a detour location for long term MuniLot parking, and the City's EDC representative mentioned that the rate there is $4.00/day, the fact that parking there on game days costs $19.00 was never mentioned. Drivers who divert from MuniLot 1 to CitiField are going to be in for a very rude awakening, when they discover that they will pay $19.00 to park at CitiField on game days (already an increase of more than 5% in less than a year).
Here's the real deal about the parking:
During the RFP process, the developers kept raising the # of parking spaces that they would provide, with the winner, TDC, and two others bringing it to 2,000.
Part of the reason that it was 2,000 spaces is that the original proposal that was won by TDC had less apartments and more retail/commercial, which would have generated more required parking.
When they changed the mix - added over 100 apartments but removed several hundred thousand square feet of retail - the net loss of parking spaces correlates closely.
The problem is that they can't arbitrarily change the mix without rewriting that pesky contract.
One more thing: The topic of converting the existing YMCA into a school came up. A letter from Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber apparently addresses this, by making vague reference to a different school that is to be built as an element of another "nearby development" which the letter does not identify. During last week's committee meeting, when the letter was discussed, someone asked Bob Goldrich, representing the Deputy Mayor's office, if this different school to which the letter refers is the school that will be built at Willets Point. Goldrich appeared disturbed, as if the site of the school was not supposed to be identified at this time. He may not have explicitly answered the question, but said "A school in a development that will be nearby". I was left with the impression that EDC is saying that you don't need to convert the YMCA building into a school, because residents of Flushing Commons/Macedonia will be able to attend the school in Willets Point.
Perhaps, they will walk across the pedestrian bridge connecting downtown Flushing with Willets Point, to do this...
However, with the Willets Point project in limbo (and with the school possibly not being in "Phase One" anyway), is it prudent to rely on Flushing students attending a Willets Point school? It is likely that development of the MuniLot site will be complete (and the YMCA ready to be repurposed) long before a Willets Point school is available, if it ever is?
And what will happen when the Wilpons build on the Citifield Municipal Parking Lot, which everyone seems to forget is part of the Willets Point Redevelopment plan? Apparently the CB7 land use committee forgot to ask about that little detail.
THE VOTE
The only three who consistently showed some spine among the jellyfish, consistently voting NO, were Yang-Hee (Sunny) Hahn, Jim Gerson and Ikwhan Rim.
Voting YES, over and over again, were Land Use chair Chuck Apelian, Arthur Barragan, Tyler Cassell, Bob LoPinto, Kim Ohanion, Millicent O’Meally, Terence Park, Lynda Spielman, Linna Yu, Raymond Chen and Gene Kelty. John Byas’s and Pablo Hernandez’ YES votes are pending legal approval, since they are with the church and the Y respectively, which might be conflicts of interest (ya think?).
Basically, just like every other moronic development decision they have made, they voted yes when they meant to vote no so as not to piss off the City. However, they are supposed to be watching out for the community, not for the government or developers. Clearly, it is time to flush the crap out of CB7 of Flushing!
CB 7 Chair Kelty vented some after the vote, complaining that once more, the city had given the board no time before the ULURP clock started counting down. Rob Goldrich gave him the classic civil servant's impassive, "screw-you" look. TDC’s Michael Meyer spent the whole evening with a shit-eating grin on his face, diddling with his...cell phone.
James McClelland, Councilman Peter Koo’s chief-of-staff, made two revealing comments. Early, he asked that the evening be short, as he had to get to confession before Holy Thursday mass: “I have a lot to confess.” When the discussion went to whether DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy would try CB 7’s one-way plan if her traffic test failed, someone commented that she took her orders, after all, from Manhattan. Said McClelland, “Now she takes her orders from us.” Meaning McClelland, Dennis Gallagher, and Councilman Koo... If the EIS is uncorrected by the time this gets to the Council, that fact alone may be a fatal flaw. But why is the City promulgating a project using an EIS that does not contain a proper traffic study? And why is CB7 not calling them out on the carpet for that? Just because the board feels the outcome is inevitable doesn't mean they can't take a stand against a bad project in their district.
- CB7 will make a long list of demands for approval...Check - TDC will add the extra parking deck and that will be enough to placate CB7...Damn, I was wrong here. (That's how lame Chuck is as a land use chair, he couldn't even find the balls to ask for this.) - CB7 will approve it...Check!
Now, look closely at the application status report for CB7. The Flushing Commons/Macedonia developments have a number of applications for actions that must be taken in order for this project to proceed. CB7 could vote only for Macedonia's plan by voting yes on application C100207 ZMQ (last item on page 3) for the rezone of the entire block but no on all the rest of the items before them.
Will they do that? Certainly not. They will do what they are told in order to keep their pathetic status as the "voices of Flushing". And TDC will laugh all the way to the bank.
Being psychic, this reporter predicts that on Monday, April 5, the community board as a whole will approve every detail of Flushing Commons, down the line. Usher them into the Invertebrates’ Hall of Fame.
Ah, excellent reporting by #2! This type of B.S. coming from Apelian and CB7 is nothing new, as readers of this blog know full well.
seeing as forecasters were unanimous in calling for sunny skies and warm weather I planned, once again, to take what has become my favorite walk in Queens. It really is great to have such a well-connected set of parks as Flushing Meadows Park, Queens Botanical Garden, Kissena Corridor Park and Kissena Park within walking distance, and even greater when it is warm enough to do most of the walk in a T-shirt. Like my last post about this walk I’ll not bore you with the details but just share some of my favorite pictures from my stroll.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park will soon be home to a new skate park that blends together distinctive urban elements from locations throughout the city, officials said.
The 16,000-square-foot facility will be built atop the derelict Astral Fountain left over from the 1964 World’s Fair with money provided by the Maloof Money Cup, a skateboarding competition organized by the California family that owns the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team.
Construction was slated to begin this month. The skateboarding competition starts June 5 with a $100,000 prize for the winner. The completed skate park will replicate rails and stairs from locations like Union Square, Police Plaza, a now-closed curved concrete space under the Brooklyn Bridge and even the ledge and curvature of the Unisphere fountain pool.
The project has already gotten the go-ahead from Community Board 4 and the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy.
Not everyone was overjoyed with the plan, however. Greg Godfrey, president of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park World’s Fair Association, attacked the plan for destroying a piece of history.
All that remains of the Astral Fountain, which once included a towering, lattice-like cage around its water plumes, is a ring of nozzles in the middle of the concrete foundation. The last listed Parks Department inspection, in December 2009, found all elements of the structure were acceptable except for its paved surfaces.
The road to building a retail mecca in Queens is paved with backed-up one-way streets.
Rego Center opened its doors a few weeks ago, hoping to lure shoppers with Kohl's, T.J. Maxx and Century 21 department stores. And bargain hunters are coming.
But traffic in the already congested area, which includes the Long Island Expressway, Queens Blvd. and Junction Blvd., is also starting to jam up.
Costco, the bulk discount chain known for luring people who love to fill their cars with pallets of discounted merchandise, hasn't even opened up its basement store yet.
Local officials have been working with the city Transportation Department and developer Vornado Realty Trust to hash out traffic congestion issues.
DOT officials have reviewed plans and met with local leaders.
They are mulling a proposal to convert 62nd Drive to a one-way street and change the timing on traffic signals at Junction Blvd. and 62nd Drive.
And if you think it's bad now, wait until they build the 2 residential towers that go along with this project!
Queens residents may be at a substantially higher risk for tuberculosis (TB) than the average American, despite an encouraging citywide decrease in occurrences of the disease, according to data released by the New York City Department of Health.
While the national average for tuberculosis occurrences is 3.8 cases per every 100,000 people, the rate for west Queens is 21.5 cases, an increase of more than five times. Flushing is also well above the national average, with 16.3 cases per.
The wide ethnic demographics in Queens may play a role in the borough’s poor rates. According to the health department data, which was released on March 24, foreign born New Yorkers comprise most of the city’s tuberculosis cases, accounting for 77 percent. China leads the pack for countries of origin of the city’s TB patients, followed distantly by Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and India. The high rate in Flushing may be accounted for by its large population of Chinese residents.
For the second time in three months, and the fourth time in a year and a half, the anticipated contract for the Related Companies to develop the 26-acre West Side rail yards has been delayed. Related and the M.T.A., which owns the rail yards near the Javits Center and initially granted Related the development rights in May 2008, have agreed to extend by one month a March 31 deadline for signing the contract to develop the site. An M.T.A. spokesman confirmed the extension.
Multiple people familiar with the discussions said that the process of readying the legal documents has dragged on, taking longer than expected.
The news on Thursday that the Port Authority and the developer Larry A. Silverstein had ceased hostilities and come to a tentative agreement at ground zero was greeted with a great deal of fanfare. But judging from a blistering note the next morning from the Port Authority’s vice chairman, the next 120 days are going to be anything but peaceful.
The vice chairman, Henry R. Silverman, said in an e-mail message that the final deal allowing Mr. Silverstein to build two skyscrapers at ground zero with up to $1.6 billion in public subsidies cannot leave the developer flush with cash and the authority at financial risk.
“The notion that a private developer and/or his investors profit while the public sector is at risk for billions of dollars is unacceptable,” he wrote to the authority’s executive director, Christopher O. Ward, and eight fellow commissioners.
Only 17 hours earlier, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Gov. David A. Paterson and various labor leaders lauded the announcement that the two sides would spend the next three months putting their rough outline of a deal into formal documents.
But clearly the commissioners are worried. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is already building 1 World Trade Center, a $3 billion tower at the northwest corner of the site, which also needs tenants, as well as a $3.2 billion transit center and the national memorial.
NEW YORK - An ailing environmental threat assessor has pleaded guilty to filing false reports that masked potential lead paint and asbestos hazards in New York City buildings.
Saverio Todaro entered the plea Friday in federal court in Manhattan.
The 68-year-old Todaro admitted his private inspection business submitted fictitious reports to federal and city officials between 2005 and 2008. The reports said several buildings were safe to occupy.
He said he sometimes never submitted dust samples to a lab. Other times, the inspections weren't even performed.
Todaro appeared in court with an oxygen tank and a walker. His wife says he suffers from emphysema.
He is free on $250,000 bond. He faces up to five years in prison.
The sign just outside the door to the State Assembly chamber’s back hallway could not be clearer. “All lobbyists must use east entrance to chamber,” it reads, adding, “This is west side.”
But like many of the rules meant to create distance between lobbyists and legislators in Albany, it is frequently broken.
On most days when the Assembly is in session, lobbyists breeze right past the sign, usually with a knowing nod to the guard stationed at a desk on the other side of the doors.
Once inside, they are free to mingle and chat with Assembly members, who use the hall to shuttle between the chamber and the refreshment-stocked members-only lounge.
Shameless state legislators have given themselves the okay to take free food and booze at lobbyist-sponsored soirees - though the so-called ethics reform law says it's a no-no.
In the latest only-in-Albany outrage, the Legislature's inhouse ethics panel quietly decreed in February that lawmakers can eat, drink and make merry at "widely attended" lobbyist events.
Banning such fat cat-backed revelry was supposed to be the main point behind a 2007 ethics law that barred officials from taking gifts of more than "nominal value" - generally interpreted as anything more than a cup of coffee.
Still, brazen state lawmakers - who can't seem to pass a state budget on time despite a $9 billion budget gap - now get to pass their bar tabs onto someone else.
Four "Jacob’s Four-Horned" Lambs were born last week, and have been fluffily frolicking ever since. Two males were born to mom, Phoebe, while her sister, Emma, gave birth to a duo of females.
Zookeepers report the yet-to-be-named lambs are doing well, and they are all very active -- spending their time jumping, running, and generally exploring.
The Paterson administration has released a confidential document that assessed the various bidders vying for the rights to operate a casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.
The document, which was prepared by the state’s Division of Lottery last August, was turned over to The New York Times, which sought to obtain it through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The document is likely to raise new questions about why Gov. David A. Paterson and the Legislature selected the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which does not fare nearly as well in the Lottery Division’s assessment as some of the other bidders. A.E.G., in fact, appears to be the fourth rated among six bidding groups in the running at the time.
A Queens man - enraged because his wife refused to have an abortion - slashed her throat and then stabbed her sister in the stomach Monday night in front of a room full of children, police and relatives said.
The wounded wife, Petrona Kates, and her bleeding twin, Patricia Kates, both 36, fled their Jamaica residence about 8:45 p.m. and ran to a local bodega, desperately pleading for help.
The Kateses' cousin Lesia Wickham, 32, said that according to family members' account, Petrona Kates' husband, Fitzgerald Jolly, became furious after he returned from Philadelphia and learned his wife was pregnant.
Wickham said that as Jolly stormed out of the house, he "dropped the knife in a neighbor's yard and jumped in his vehicle and drove off." Cops later found the vehicle abandoned on the Whitestone Bridge, but Jolly's whereabouts are unknown, police said.
Petrona and Patricia Kates were both in stable condition last night at Jamaica Hospital, police said.
The garbage isn't the only thing stinking up some city sanitation routes.
New Yorkers filed 27 bribery complaints against the city's Strongest last year, alleging That trash haulers demanded money just to do their jobs, solicited bribes to haul away extra garbage and asked for cash to cart commercial waste, which they're not supposed to remove, records show.
The complaints, obtained by The Post, came from residents and building managers, who said grease-seeking haulers thrust out their palms all over town.
The complaints included 21 calls to 311 and memos to Sanitation Department brass on six internal probes by the agency -- none of which substantiated bribery allegations, a spokesman said.
Sanitation workers are required to take away residential trash and as many as six bulk items per collection day, including bags of plaster, broken rock, dirt weighing up to 60 pounds, bundles of wood and tied-up rugs.
Health care officials in Queens say the ripple effects of last year's hospital closures have presented new challenges, especially when it comes to emergency care.
Jamaica Hospital, located in southern Queens a mile away from the closed Mary Immaculate Hospital, is dealing with a steady increase of patients in its emergency room, trauma center and psychiatric emergency room.
Elmhurst Hospital is almost filled to capacity these days, and local officials hope the recently-closed St. John's Queens Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital can be used once again to provide Queens with much-needed hospital beds.
While the state gave $40 million to Queens's remaining hospitals for new facilities last year, local medical officials still say the state needs to invest more money in the borough's health care infrastructure.
As NYU prepares to unveil an enormous plan to vastly expand its campus in Greenwich Village, longtime residents are warning the university to tread lightly while carving up their neighborhood's last bits of open space and quaint streetscapes.
Much of the development would be shoehorned into two "super blocks" between Mercer Street and La Guardia Place, north of Houston Street, where tall towers were permitted in the 1960s in exchange for setting aside a large swath of green space.
Non-NYU residents expect that the university's expansion plan, to be made public in three weeks, will chew up large parts of the open space to create up to 3 million square feet of new space for college facilities.
NYU officials have promised to retain much of the space by putting some buildings underground, while improving public areas.
Uh huh...yes, I'm sure everything they do is aimed toward making the community a better place.
People living in East New York, who endured grueling commutes that averaged 63.3 minutes in the previous survey, made it door-to-door in 46 minutes this time.
Researchers determined that was because fed-up residents decided to drive to work.
In 2007, 17.5 percent bypassed mass transit and got to work by car. By 2008, the figure had jumped to 26 percent.
Oh boy, you mean all that time and money wasted on bike lanes instead of real transportation actually caused more people to drive?
And we're gonna now spend $16M in tax money for a bike path along the Brooklyn waterfront (which just as in LIC, doesn't go along the water for most of the route)?
Pointy shoes, oyster shells, clay pipes and other detritus of the Dutch who founded New Amsterdam, the British who followed and the early New Yorkers were among the 65,000 artifacts uncovered during construction of the $400 million South Ferry subway terminal.
A sampling of the remnants, including segments of the 18th-century battery wall that gave Battery Park its name, are now on display at the New York Transit Museum’s annex at Grand Central Terminal.
Diane Dallal, archaeology director for AKRF, a firm that analyzed the artifacts, was excited to find yellow Dutch bricks that once lined walkways.
“A lot of times you see these black-and-white drawings of New York,” she said. “But it must have been very colorful.”
Her attitude is interesting considering Dallal works for AKRF, the firm the city and state hires whenever it wants to do something particularly dastardly, such as Columbia University expansion, Atlantic Yards, etc. She is the one who probably gave the green light to the MTA to start digging despite the fact that it was an archaeologically sensitive area, just like she did at the St. Saviour's site in spite of the LPC stating that there was a strong likelihood of finding similar archeologically sensitive material and graves at the site. This gal really gets around!
"6 Shoredale Drive, Manhasset The foundation footprint must be 75X100 and 20 feet deep. Every tree on the property has been cut down. There's a sloppy fence to boot. Most of it, including the whole house demo, all happened on a Saturday. No public polling, peep of it in the paper or in the mailbox. Talk about bringing crap to 'new heights'!!" - Joe
Feds: New York Car Dealer Stole Millions to Live High Life
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP/1010 WINS) -- Federal officials say a used-car dealer embezzled millions of dollars to live out a fantasy lifestyle.
Thirty-seven-year-old Chris Orsaris is accused in a massive fraud and embezzlement scheme at Major Automotive Cos., which has 14 New York City dealerships. He was denied bail Thursday, and previously pleaded not guilty.
Officials say Orsaris funneled a fortune in inflated sales commissions to cover luxuries. They included a $5.5 million Trump World Tower apartment and a $2.9 million Hamptons home.
The feds say he also hired thugs and drug dealers as his bodyguards, chauffeurs and personal assistants.
At the time of his arrest, Orsaris managed a Queens dealership.
His lawyer did not return a call for comment. Major Automotive's lawyer said the company is fully cooperating with prosecutors.
Those charged were Brendy Garcia, 19, of Brownsville, Brooklyn, who is suspected of wielding the knife; Franklin Varella, 21 of Inwood, in Manhattan; and Diogenes Hernandez, 21, a JFK baggage handler who lives in Woodhaven, Queens.
Garcia, who has no criminal record, confessed to the stabbings, sources said. But he insisted he wielded his knife in an attempt to fend off the drunken men after they had clocked him in the head with a beer bottle.
He faces an additional charge of weapons possession.
The dead men, Darnell Morel and Ricardo Williams, had gotten on the No. 2 train at Times Square at 5 a.m. Sunday with about eight friends.
Both victims, along with several others in their group, had police records.
All of them had spent the night partying at Cellar Bar in The Bryant Park Hotel.
As soon as they boarded the train, they began menacing the passengers, according to the suspects' friends and other witnesses.
The witnesses said the gang woke a homeless man, then terrified a young woman.
After she fled the train, they allegedly confronted other riders, including the stabber and the other two suspects. They were returning home from a baby shower in The Bronx, a source said.
Soon, the victims and their pals began lobbing trash at the smaller group, the witnesses told cops.
The 19-year-old was hit with the bottle and furious words were exchanged.
The larger gang allegedly began moving toward the smaller group. They started fighting as the train traveled between the 14th Street and Christopher Street stations.
Both groups had been drinking on the train, cops said.
UPDATE: Charges against two of the suspects were dropped.
A federal grand jury is zeroing in on some of Queens' most powerful political figures - including Senate President Malcolm Smith - the Daily News has learned.
Sources said the feds are investigating whether the Queens pols used a web of nonprofit groups to benefit themselves, their families and their friends.
The raft of documents the Manhattan-based panel wants involve:
- The Merrick Academy charter school - a source of campaign funds and patronage for Smith.
- A lavish home built for Rep. Gregory Meeks in Jamaica.
- A four-family house owned by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.
One subpoena revealed for the first time that prosecutors are looking at the housing and social service empire built by the Rev. Floyd Flake - Meeks' predecessor in Congress and political mentor to Smith and Meeks.
The grand jury also wants records related to a Springfield Gardens commercial building owned by Joan Flowers, a politically active lawyer who has been campaign treasurer for Smith, Meeks and Gov. Paterson.
Flowers was "terminated" Wednesday from her $145,000-a-year Senate job as Smith's counsel. Although Senate officials said Flowers left of her own volition, sources told The News that Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson made it clear to Smith that it was time for Flowers to go.
The investigation is being conducted by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's public corruption office, sources say.
Among the documents being sought are work papers of Robert Gaskin, a Jamaica, Queens-based architect who has done work for several of the pols and many of the nonprofits they have funded.
Gaskin declined to comment.
Might I suggest adding Gary Ackerman and Claire Shulman to the investigations list? This Smith business is small potatoes compared to what those 2 are doing.
Serious crime went up again last week, and the NYPD is developing emergency strategies to tackle the sharp rise in murders and shootings this year.
Overall crime rose 3.5 percent for the week ending Sunday at midnight, compared to the same period in 2009, according to the latest figures.
The number of shootings -- up 19 percent this year -- remained constant last week, but there were 12 murders compared to 10 last year.
Burglaries were up 9.5 percent and robberies rose 8.2 percent.
Police brass have ordered commanders to bring in other units and manpower where violence is erupting.
They said they're confident that even with a thinning Blue Line, they can keep crime levels down to levels not seen since the early 1960s.
Underground, the NYPD and the MTA are scrambling to get their entire array of security cameras in working order. Only 2,270 out of 4,313 are currently in operation.
Students at Merrick Academy charter school - housed in an old bowling alley in Queens Village - must cross busy Jamaica Ave. for recess in a nearby park because there's no gym or playground.
They also must get used to water leaking into classrooms when it rains and wearing winter coats inside when there's no heat.
There's also another potential problem - one many parents may not know about: Merrick has served as a source of campaign funds and patronage for one of its high-profile board members - State Senate President Malcolm Smith.
Smith was one of the founding members of Merrick and was on its board from the time it moved into the alley in 2001 through June 2007, records show.
During that time, the K-6 charter school - run entirely with public money - has written at least three small checks to Smith's campaign.
A state controller's audit in 2006 noted slack fiscal controls and singled out a $140 check written by a school employee to attend the fund-raiser of an unnamed state senator.
The Daily News discovered there were actually three checks - all written out of Merrick's checking accounts - to Smith's campaign: $65 in 2003, $140 in 2004 and another $140 in 2005. At the time, Smith was on the board.
While Smith was on Merrick's board, an architect did "preliminary drawings" regarding turning the bowling alley into a school. That architect also was working on one of Smith's personal properties at the time, records show.
The same architect was also later hired to design a home owned by another Merrick board member and Smith ally, Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks.
Child beaters should be tracked just the way sex offenders are, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday.
"We have no comprehensive system to make sure that after they strike once, they never strike again," Schumer said, speaking outside state court buildings on Centre St. in downtown Manhattan.
Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to implement a national tracking database of child beaters, similar to those that exist for sexual predators.
"It doesn't make any sense at all that while we try to watch sex offenders like hawks, we let child batterers, who physically batter children, slip through the cracks," he said.
A 2006 congressional act authorized the government to create such a database, but it has yet to be implemented.
Sounds like an interesting idea at first until you realize that they usually beat the shit out of their own kids, not kids they pick up at the mall. So I'm not sure what he has in mind.
Outdoor enthusiasts looking to enjoy the 580-acre Great Kills Park for fishing, ballplaying, model airplane flying or other activities this summer may have to make alternate plans.
Four-foot high wooden fencing has been erected, almost overnight. It sections off approximately half of the park land that is believed to be affected by radium contamination.
In fact, the entire portion of land bounded by Hylan Boulevard, Bulkhead Road and Buffalo Street has been indefinitely closed to the public. This includes the stretch of shore along the Great Kills Harbor bulkhead frequented by anglers and crabbers.
“As a result of the preliminary investigations for radium contaminated soil at Great Kills Park, Gateway management has taken the precautionary step of closing public access to the areas of the park that were built on landfill,” said Jane Ahern, a spokesperson for the National Park Service (NPS). “We appreciate the public’s cooperation as we work towards completing a full investigation.”
The developer of an 11-story, 124,000-square-foot mixed-use building proposed for downtown Flushing requested a zoning change at Tuesday night’s Community Board 7 meeting.
Lawyers and an architect for the United Construction and Development Group asked the board to support changing the proposed site at 134-03 35th Ave. from industrial zoning to allow for mixed-use residential.
The company argued that residential zoning better reflects the current character of the area surrounding the site near the intersection of Prince Street and 35th Avenue.
The developer also said the community benefits of the project, called the New Millennium building, will make it a net positive for downtown Flushing.
The project, as proposed, would provide 87,000 square feet of residential space — most likely condominiums — 17,000 square feet of commercial space, a 14,900-square-foot senior center and about 5,000 square feet of doctor’s offices. It will also include at least 189 new parking spaces.
Brooklyn Rep. Ed Towns tried to steer $5.3 million in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that employs one of his staffers, the Daily News has learned.
The group, Trinity Community Development and Empowerment Group Inc., lists a vacant building as its address and a total of $329 in revenue on its 2008 tax filing.
Towns' sponsored $500,000 for the group, and joined with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) to get Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) to sponsor another $4.8 million for Trinity.
Late Thursday, Meeks and Towns withdrew both requests after the Daily News raised questions about conflict of interest caused by Towns' staffer. Clarke did not return calls.
Two hours before pulling the plug, Towns' spokeswoman, Jenny Rosenberg, praised the group, saying: "Mr. Towns thinks this is a good organization and he wants to support people and organizations who are doing good things in the community."
Towns' staffer, Christopher Lundy, is listed as a congressional aide making just under $37,000 in 2009, records compiled by the government watchdog site legistorm.org, show.
Lundy was listed as working 20 hours a week for the non-profit, Trinity's 2008 tax filing shows.
Rosenberg claimed Towns withdrew his support for the congressional funding "once he learned of the possible conflict."
Rosenberg told The News Lundy claimed he received approval from the House Ethics Committee to hold both positions. She declined to elaborate.
Sunnyside residents must convince their local legislators and community board representatives that the proposed zoning changes to Queens Blvd (between 39th Place and 50th Street) will cause irreparable harm to the neighborhood.
The proposed changes would allow buildings to be 125 feet high (12 stories) and have a floor area ratio of 5 times the zoning lot size. This is up from the floor area ratio of approximately 3 times the zoning lot size.
Therefore, with the upzoning, a Queens Blvd. developer with a 10,000 sqf lot would be able to build 50,000 sqf of, say, condo space (5 times the lot size), up from 30,000 sqf today.
Sunnyside does not need these kind of monstrosities to be built between 39th Place and 50th Street. They have already scarred other sections of Queens Blvd, particularly in Elmhurst and one section in Woodside. Yet should the proposed upzoning go into effect, these developments would become much more likely to be built.
Many condos were built along Queens Blvd in neighborhoods like Elmhurst at the height of the real estate boom. They were very low budget buildings, built with a low-income market in mind. Many are unoccupied today and are a blight on their respective neighborhoods.
Do we want to see our independent movie theater, for example, torn down, because the profits are just too good in producing one of these low-budget condo buildings? Do residents want to lose the charm of small-town living in favor of these buildings?
If not, send an e-mail to Joseph Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, and Jimmy Van Bramer, District 26 councilman, and have your say:
Their e-mail addresses are:
Community Board 2 Attn: Joseph Conley (718) 533-8773 E-mail: qn02@cb.nyc.gov
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer District Office Phone: (718) 383-9566 Email: jimmyvanbramer@gmail.com
The photo is of a building on Broadway in Elmhurst which is at about the same height as is what is being proposed for Sunnyside.
You can always count on Amanda Burden to come in and ruin a perfectly good neighborhood. Kids going to school in trailers? Check. Overcrowded subways, now with reductions in service? Check. Of course, the logical thing to do is to encourage tens of thousands more people to move in.
Note the only commenter on the Sunnyside blog in favor of this wants it so it will bring in "more and better stores, bars and restaurants." I think this guy meant to move to LIC and accidentally took the 7 train too far. Sunnyside already has a decent assortment of all three, which will no doubt be displaced if this rezoning goes through. Just as it has everywhere else.
QUEENS CRAP ROVING REPORTER #2 – DATELINE MARCH 24, 2010 CB7 LAND USE COMMITTEE MEETS AGAIN ON FLUSHING COMMONS
Well, the vote of the full Community Board will be Monday, April 5. The final land use meeting will be tonight, Thursday, 4/1 – April Fool’s Day! Since the mayor wants the project, we know it will go through regardless, but give the members credit for staying late at lots of meetings.
Don’t give them credit for asking the right questions this night let alone understanding the issues. Maybe they realize it’s all a sham and just can’t be bothered anymore. Exception: CB7 chair Gene Kelty, who asked astute questions and wouldn’t take bullshit for answers.
And credit to Land Use chair Chuck Apelian, who must have been having a frustrating evening, as members completely missed the point over and over. Several thought the letter of agreement between the City and then-councilman John Liu stipulated keeping the same exact parking rate forever. Wrong. As it says in the letter – a “cost of living” elevator or 3% annual increases are built in under the cap. Duh, guys.
But no one even seemed sure what document had been the template for CB7’s initial approval of the City’s proposal for Muni Lot 1. Was it the letter? Or…what? If not, what had CB7 spent 2 years’ work on?
And why didn’t most CB7members at the table care about the city abrogating a signed agreement? If Bloomberg’s cabal break their word on this, what can you ever trust them on? Why isn’t that a problem?
Another issue that apparently didn’t rate discussion: the impact on school overcrowding. One thing that did come out: the Environmental Impact Study is specifically designed NOT to measure any impacts that matter or might be negative. That’s why, over and over, the EIS said a one million square foot project would have no impact on the nabe. Oh, and check this out – that measly $2M for the poor, screwed local merchants? They might never see a dime; it may all go to consultants for “an advertising campaign to bring in shoppers.”
It seemed to occur to 2 or 3 folks that the Y will get a sweet deal selling off its Northern Blvd property (to TDC?) and the community will offer Flushing the same programs it offers anywhere else. None of the money the Y gets from the City will be specifically targeted for Flushing. Plus, the Northern Blvd site is as-of-right, so, as Apelian said, CB7 could inherit a problem there, with layout, design and parking concerns. Paul Christian of the Y assured everyone that “the Y knows you’re concerned and we will make sure you are heard during the process.” Uh-huh.
And look who crawled out from under a rock, representing Councilman Koo: James McClelland, ex-councilman Dennis Gallagher Anthony Como’s chief-of-staff. You remember Como...he replaced Dennis Gallagher who was arrested for raping a grandmother in a room above his district office, and copped a plea (to avoid having to register as a sex offender) for “forcible touching.” Nice company you keep, Koo!
Let's see, he's dropping a lot of celebrity names and using the fact that the Nets arena just broke ground and a Russian billionaire just bought the team to get a filmmaker to destroy his property. You're probably thinking, as did I, that this HAS to be an April Fools joke. Nope... A few keyword searches and clicks of the mouse eventually revealed this sight at 78 Adelphi Street. Seems that someone ran out of money and needs help destroying a piece of Brooklyn. In that case, using Ratner's project to sell this one is appropriate.
State Senator Eric Adams of Brooklyn really wants young people in Brooklyn to pull their pants up, and he's putting up billboards to tell them so. On Monday, billboards with pictures of models in ultra-low-riding jeans reading, "We are better than this! Stop the sag! Raise your pants, raise your image!" will be going up in 6 locations in Brooklyn. Adams says the 22-foot-tall billboards were paid for with $2K in campaign funds.
Adams, a former captain in the NYPD and the cofounder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, calls sagging a trend which started in prison, and worries that what he calls "the sagging culture" is perpetuating negative cultural stereotypes. Moving forward, he plans to petition Joel Klein to pass an anti-sagging dress code in city public schools.
Looks like Maspeth has finally gotten its wish - 2 new green spaces! I suppose this one on Flushing Avenue could host tree someday... But this one is on 64th Street between Grand and Flushing Avenues. Since both a street light and a traffic light didn't survive the trucks making turns here, I doubt that a tree will. Not that those facts would stop the City from planting one here.
Ladies and Gents, I present to you a photo that really takes the cake.
A P.O.S. car with fake whitewall tires! Click the photo to see it in full res, with the sloppy paint job 'round the rims... Taken on Arnold Avenue in Maspeth. Then there's this:
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank St. John Cemetery for installing this sidewalk (or perhaps DOT has struck again) along Metropolitan Avenue. It's extremely useful and was long overdue. Look at those schmucks walking on the dirt path across the street when traveling is so much easier over on this side! Silly people.
(Yes, in the 21st Century, we still have dirt paths for pedestrians on major Queens roads...or in this case rocky paths.)
"Among the subway trains of Queens Boulevard, the F is the most predictable. Days, nights, weekends, holidays- it is always an express from 179th Street to Coney Island. Imagine my surprise when I saw this erroneous sign on the Manhattan-bound platform at the Sutphin Blvd. station.
The train goes to Coney Island via Queensbridge. It does not terminate there." - anonymous
The main sponsor of a March 27th event entitled "Going Green in Queens" was Waste Management - you know, the company that is choosing to send hundreds of trucks per week through western Queens rather than barge garbage from the Creek which is on one side of their property or use the rail line that is on the other side of their property. But seeing as this was held in the borough which serves as the doormat of the City of New York on city property (which is actually above a sewage facility), this is to be expected.
“As an environmental service company, we strongly believe in working with good environmental groups in the community,” said [Waste Management's Rachel] Amar, who grew up in Fresh Meadows. “It’s important for people to learn how they can be better stewards of the environment.” - Times Ledger
When is Waste Management going to learn be a steward of their environment?
Furthermore, although the event was held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the event was supposed to be boroughwide. Maybe Times Ledger Newspapers should bring a more inclusive banner next time because I personally have no interest in subscribing to the Flushing Times, even if free Mets tickets come with a free 3-year subscription. (How they make money off that is a mystery.)
Since we're still at 64th Street between Grand and Flushing Avenues, I thought we'd take a moment to ponder what the hell DOT was thinking (or drinking) when it painted that crosswalk, created that curb cut and placed that bus stop sign in that configuration and how they all enhance the "Safe Streets to School" debacle across the street.
Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.
Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap
"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt
The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.
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From the Wave:
QUEENS CRAP ROVING REPORTER #2 -- DATELINE APRIL 1, 2010
If the EIS is uncorrected by the time this gets to the Council, that fact alone may be a fatal flaw. But why is the City promulgating a project using an EIS that does not contain a proper traffic study? And why is CB7 not calling them out on the carpet for that? Just because the board feels the outcome is inevitable doesn't mean they can't take a stand against a bad project in their district.
From 10,000 Birds:
From the Times Ledger:
From the Daily News:
From the Queens Courier:
"Easter Sunday on Fifth Avenue in 1900"
From the NY Times:
From the NY Times:
From the Daily News:
From the NY Post:
From NY1:
From the NY Post:
From Metro:
"6 Shoredale Drive, Manhasset
The foundation footprint must be 75X100 and 20 feet deep. Every tree on the property has been cut down. There's a sloppy fence to boot.
Most of it, including the whole house demo, all happened on a Saturday. No public polling, peep of it in the paper or in the mailbox.
Talk about bringing crap to 'new heights'!!" - Joe
Feds: New York Car Dealer Stole Millions to Live High Life
From the Daily News:
From the NY Post: 
From the Daily News:
From the Daily News:
From SI Live:
From the Times Ledger:
From the Daily News:
From the Sunnyside Post:
QUEENS CRAP ROVING REPORTER #2 – DATELINE MARCH 24, 2010
And look who crawled out from under a rock, representing Councilman Koo: James McClelland, ex-councilman 
Let's see, he's dropping a lot of celebrity names and using the fact that the Nets arena just broke ground and a Russian billionaire just bought the team to get a filmmaker to destroy his property. You're probably thinking, as did I, that this HAS to be an April Fools joke. Nope...
A few keyword searches and clicks of the mouse eventually revealed this sight at 78 Adelphi Street. Seems that someone ran out of money and needs help destroying a piece of Brooklyn. In that case, using Ratner's project to sell this one is appropriate.
This truck was parked along Maurice Avenue in Maspeth recently.
Looks like Maspeth has finally gotten its wish - 2 new green spaces! I suppose this one on Flushing Avenue could host tree someday...
But this one is on 64th Street between Grand and Flushing Avenues. Since both a street light and a traffic light didn't survive the trucks making turns here, I doubt that a tree will. Not that those facts would stop the City from planting one here.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank St. John Cemetery for installing this sidewalk (or perhaps DOT has struck again) along Metropolitan Avenue. It's extremely useful and was long overdue. Look at those schmucks walking on the dirt path across the street when traveling is so much easier over on this side! Silly people.
Please note: 
"Among the subway trains of Queens Boulevard, the F is the most predictable. Days, nights, weekends, holidays- it is always an express from 179th Street to Coney Island. Imagine my surprise when I saw this erroneous sign on the Manhattan-bound platform at the Sutphin Blvd. station.
Maybe Times Ledger Newspapers should bring a more inclusive banner next time because I personally have no interest in subscribing to the Flushing Times, even if free Mets tickets come with a free 3-year subscription.
The winner of Game 7 was Roger McDowell, not Sid Fernandez.
Since we're still at 64th Street between Grand and Flushing Avenues, I thought we'd take a moment to ponder what the hell DOT was thinking (or drinking) when it painted that crosswalk, created that curb cut and placed that bus stop sign in that configuration and how they all enhance the "Safe Streets to School" debacle across the street.
