DOB says there's nothing wrong here

From SI Live:

There’s no foul play going on at a construction site at 1434 Forest Hill Rd. This is simply what happens when a contractor runs out of money in the middle of a project.

Near Travis Avenue sits a site that was clearly under construction. The only thing it’s missing, and has been since the end of 2008, is progress.

The two-story brick building in New Springville is surrounded by a chain-link fence and thin wooden boards with graffiti. One strong gust of wind could send those sheathings soaring through one of the partially-finished structure’s broken windows.

No sidewalk exists outside of the 11,475-square-foot property; just overgrown weeds and shrubs, which are also growing freely in the area behind the fence and around the foundation.

Piles of cement blocks and bricks are stacked to the right of the building, trash bags in front of them. Other wooden boards are laid across the floor.

But nothing is officially wrong with the site, according to the city Department of Buildings (DOB). The only currently active complaint is that it’s stalled. That was put into effect on May 24.

From 9/11 to this?

Phonytown rides off into the sunset...

Hey remember this?

The Times Newsweekly has been running ads for this shitshow as of late.

So I wandered down there today at 1pm to get more photos but guess what...

Ponytown USA has skedaddled out of the car lot and taken their signs with them.

Vibrant and diverse genital mutilation

From the Times Ledger:

U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), a long-time advocate for women’s rights issues, sponsored the Girls Protection Act of 2010 April 26 after receiving disturbing reports from New York-based women’s shelters, claiming FGM victims have recently visited or anonymously reported FGM cases.

If passed, the bill would outlaw sending girls overseas from the United States for FGM rituals, punishing violators with fines and up to five years in prison.

Women’s rights advocates are alarmed at an increasing number of female genital mutilation cases happening to women in Queens.

Some call it hygienic, others call it barbaric — but officials said a rising number of underage girls in New York, including Queens communities, are becoming victims of FGM, or what some call “female circumcision.”

“Wherever you have FGM-practicing immigrant populations, people from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eretria and West African countries like Senegal, the girls are at risk of being subjected to FGM,” said Lakshmi Anantnarayan, communications director for Equality Now, an international women’s rights organization. “If those populations exist in Queens, the risk of their daughters being brought home during summer vacations or having operations done at their homes is very high.”

The practice of FGM involves cutting off part or all of a girl’s external sex organs, including the clitoris and labia. In the most extreme cases, a girl’s vagina can be sewn shut through a process known as “infibulation,” according to the World Health Organization.

The practice is said to be common among some immigrants from certain regions in Africa and the Middle East, who subject their underage daughters to it to ensure they remain virgins until marriage, making them more desirable to potential husbands. Anantnarayan said in some cases FGM is used to deliberately destroy a woman’s ability to enjoy sex to discourage promiscuity.

No summer spins on Forest Park carousel

From the Queens Chronicle:

For the third year in a row, Forest Park’s famed carousel failed to take its customary first spin on Memorial Day weekend, leaving many to wonder what the status is of the iconic merry-go-round.

The Department of Parks and Recreation has been searching for a vendor to run the carousel since its former operator, New York One LLC, let its contract expire. Some community leaders bemoaned what they called the old vendor’s lack of attention to maintenance, saying the attraction was allowed to fall into disrepair. A spokesperson for the Parks Department confirmed that the city is currently in negotiations with a new concessionaire, but that it can not release the operator’s name until the contract is finalized.

Protest over Draconian budget cuts to parks

From NBC 4:

The NYC Park Advocates and local unions gathered today on the steps of City Hall to protest proposed cuts to Parks Department funding in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's executive budget for the 10-11 fiscal year.

"These cuts will be devastating," said Advocates spokesman Geoffrey Croft.

In the proposed budget, the Parks Department's allocation in city funds is $230 million, a nearly 13 percent reduction from last year's budget, $264 million.

This will entail the loss of 748 full-time jobs ( 20% of the current full-time workforce) and 450 seasonal jobs, as well as several services, according to the New York Park Advocates' calculations.

Several speakers at the rally called attention to the increasing number of privatized parks, whose upkeep costs are subsidized by neighborhood residents. In poorer neighborhoods, this is often not a viable option, pointed out President of the Brooklyn Bridge Defense Fund Judi Francis.

"We will not have parks any longer if we keep cutting the budget," Francis warned.

"In the current economic situation... now more and more people are using parks," Croft said, pointing to public parks' roles as a source of free recreation and exercise.

"Most people don't have the money to fly to the Hamptons, the Bahamas," he added. "These are our backyard."

Rallyers pointed to the fact that in 1960, approximately 1.4% of the city budget was devoted to the Parks Department, while in the new proposed budget would devote only .37 percent.

The Parks Department has lost a greater percentage of its workforce than other city agencies in the last 40 years, according to the NYC Park Advocates.

"We need to stop this downward slide," said retired park ranger Steve Rayfield at the rally.

Child rapist on the loose

From Eyewitness News:

Police in Queens are searching for a man wanted for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl on her way home from school.

It happened last Wednesday near 122nd Avenue in Saint Albans around 3:15 p.m.

The victim was grabbed by the man, and taken into a yard and sexually assaulted.

The suspect is described as a black man, age 40 to 45-years-old, about 6'3" tall, 220 lbs, with brown dreadlocks with reddish highlights.

He was last seen wearing a white tank top and black jeans.

The victim was taken to a local hospital and later released.

Bloomie's guy may be banned from Wall Street

From the NY Times:

As it investigates a suspected kickback scheme in New York’s pension system, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been pushing to bar Steven L. Rattner, a prominent financier and former adviser to the Obama administration on the auto industry, from working in the securities industry for up to three years, according to three people told of the discussions.

But Mr. Rattner has fiercely resisted the proposed penalty, setting up a face-off with the federal government, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are intended to be confidential.

It would be the most severe penalty for any of the Wall Street executives ensnared in the wide-ranging pension investigation, and it would carry a significant stigma for Mr. Rattner, whose rise in high finance catapulted him to the top of New York’s social and political hierarchy.

Even being barred temporarily would be a blow to Mr. Rattner’s career and could endanger several of his pursuits. He will soon publish a book about his experience trying to restructure the American auto industry, which was widely praised. And he is playing a vital role in creating an investment office for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, which will oversee billions of dollars for the mayor’s ambitious new philanthropic foundation.

Under the proposed S.E.C. settlement, Mr. Rattner, 57, would most likely be barred from advising Mr. Bloomberg on his finances, people briefed on the matter said. A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment.

BSA gives green light to another Dutch Kills hotel

From the Queens Gazette:

Officials at the Dutch Kills Civic Association had requested that the BSA block further construction of the hotel at 39-35 27th St., arguing that developer Stephen Bahar’s request for the variance to continue the project lacked proper foundation.

Bahar filed for a city variance for permission to move forward with plans to build the $3.8 million hotel on 27th Street, claiming he used his life savings for the project and he has suffered grievous financial losses, in part, because he was unable to lay the foundation before the new rezoning took effect.

Bahar’s attorney, Marvin Mitzner, argued before the panel at a January meeting that his client has also suffered financial setbacks as a result of Stop Work orders issued by Department of Buildings inspectors for unsafe working conditions and on other grounds, including other adverse conditions and circumstances.

Civic leaders and homeowners went on record stating their opinion that Bahar was not vested in the project prior to the rezoning because he failed to lay the required percentage of the building foundation before the new rules went into effect.

In a decision released last week, the BSA ruled that Bahar met the requirements by completing the required percentage of the foundation before the new zoning regulations went into effect and grandfathered the project into the old zoning, giving the developer a green light to go ahead with construction of the hotel.

This will make him want to stay in Cleveland...

Would you want to come here after watching and listening to this?

Terminal 6 to be torn down

From the Daily News:

Critics are slamming plans to raze an abandoned Kennedy Airport terminal - designed by famed architect I.M. Pei - four decades after the groundbreaking window-wall structure was unveiled.

Terminal Six, most recently occupied by JetBlue, will be torn down next year for an unspecified use - perhaps a new terminal, a parking lot or an area to de-ice planes, the Port Authority said.

Preservationists blasted the plan to destroy the terminal, which features Pei's distinctive Sundrome pavilion. It was the first airport structure to employ glass as a primary construction material.

"It represents an era of aviation," said Geoffrey Arend, founder and editor of the trade publication Air Cargo News. He called Port Authority officials' decision to tear down Terminal Six "remarkably stupid."

A spokeswoman for Pei, 93, said he was "very unhappy" to learn of the proposed demolition of the terminal, a transparent glass box connected by walkways to rear gates.

Don't let the bedbugs bite...

From Times Online:

The cockroach has scuttled in retreat. Bedbugs have become New York, indeed America’s, latest bug noire. These tiny, yellowish creatures (which grow to 4-5mm long), fiendishly difficult to eradicate and understand, have become an obsession for landlords, renters, pest-control experts and scientists. Why do they feed so hungrily on human blood? Why have they proliferated? Why are they so hardy? How can you eradicate them?

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite” now has a particularly hollow ring to it: we are almost powerless to stop them. There has been a 71 per cent increase in bedbug infestations since 2001, according to the US National Pest Management Association. In 2004, there were a reported 537 complaints and 82 “violations” (verified infestations) for bedbugs in New York; in 2009, there were 10,985 complaints and 4,084 verified infestations. “That’s just the reported cases,” says Jeremy Ecker, of Bed Bug Inspectors, a firm that uses two specially trained dogs to sniff out the bugs in apartments before advising occupants and pest exterminators on the best action. “The problem is everywhere, it’s growing and it’s mostly invisible because of people’s embarrassment. People are too ashamed to say anything. If they admit to having bedbugs they’re frightened of losing their apartment, of being asked not to go into work, of getting rid of their possessions. We see people in extreme distress.”

A female bedbug (official name Cimex lectularius) can reproduce 400 offspring ...to eradicate bedbugs requires ruthless planning, “even before the exterminators come in”, May says.

It seems laughable that the hokey-sounding bedbug could cause such havoc — and indeed, a spokeswoman for New York City’s Health Department says: “Anyone who has had an infestation knows that it can stressful and unpleasant but while bedbugs are a nuisance, they do not present a health risk or spread disease.”

But they are far from dismissable creatures, according to those who have suffered them and the scientists researching them. “It’s a plague, an epidemic,” says a National Pest Management Association spokeswoman — and although her organisation represents pest exterminators this is not a fear-generating marketing campaign.

“It would not be extreme or hysterical to call this a pandemic,” says Tim McCoy, a bedbug research scientist at Virginia Tech University. “We haven’t reached the halfway point in bedbug numbers, they’re still on the rise.”

They show no respect, says Ecker, of class or creed: “We’ve inspected the fanciest apartments on the Upper East Side and one-room studios downtown. Doesn’t matter how big or clean or small or dirty your place is, bedbugs will make themselves at home.”

Signs changed overnight, cars towed

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Drivers on Livingston Street were blanketed with tickets and some had their vehicles towed after the city changed parking regulations overnight, yet left parking meters in place with no notices that they were no longer in operation.

Signage stating the new regulations — no parking or standing from 7 am to 7 pm, Monday through Friday — was installed on the north side of Livingston between Court and Flatbush avenues, but many motorists ignored the subtly altered signs and fed the existing parking meters anyway.

“This is foul,” said motorist Kareem Tyree, who received a ticket and barely missed being towed. “How do you give a ticket [when] they still have meters here? It makes no sense.”

“They have made it a ‘No Standing’ zone just like that,” said Peter Sperry, owner of Trophy World on Livingston Street between Boerum Place and Smith Street. “I’ve already had four customers have their cars towed without the benefit of being told about the new regulations if that is what they are.”

Woodside tree cutting comes to a halt

From the Times Ledger:

Amtrak recently chopped down hundreds of trees along its tracks in western Queens, but halted the clearing after livid Woodside and Astoria residents complained to the railroad corporation.

State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and residents of Boulevard Gardens, an apartment complex at 51st Street at 32nd Avenue near the border of Astoria and Woodside, told an Amtrak representative at a May 18 meeting they were furious that hundreds of trees had been removed along borough tracks. The trees had been cut down in Astoria, Woodside, Forest Hills and other borough neighborhoods.

“These trees were nowhere near the tracks and residents said they posed no obstruction,” Gianaris said. “This does incredible damage to air quality, especially in an area where the air is already bad due to power plants. It was an aggressive effort by Amtrak.”

Gianaris said the community was given no notice that the trees would be taken down.

In addition, the railroad company has been removing trees all the way from Washington, D.C., to Boston, the assemblyman said.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said the company had removed trees to prevent the danger of falling leaves and limbs onto its tracks.

“We listened to residents’ complaints, so we are going to be looking to add some shrubs or lower trees,” he said.

The railroad is no longer removing the trees in the borough, he said.

At last week’s meeting, the corporation vowed to plant new fir trees along its tracks.

Coming soon to a sanctuary city near you!

From CBS 2:

A lawyer for reputed Jamaican drug boss Christopher Coke is reportedly in talks with the Justice Department about Coke's possible safe removal to New York to face charges.

Jamaica's top police official is vowing to capture Coke, who escaped a four-day assault on his slum stronghold.

For the last week, Jamaican security forces have been battling armed rebels who support the 40-year old accused drug kingpin, whom investigators said runs the Shower Posse, an international cartel with operations in several American cities, including New York.

According to an internal intelligence document obtained by CBS News, Coke and his cohorts, using fishing boats and small planes, "may attempt to flee the violence and enter the United States illegally to fight another day and control Jamaican criminal activity in the United States."

The document also states Coke and his crew may attempt to go through Belize in Honduras in order to sneak into the U.S. and settle down in any one of a number of major cities with established Jamaican criminal networks.

Libraries bracing for deep cuts

From WNYC:

As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council negotiate next year's budget, advocates are raising the alarm about deep cuts to libraries. Mayor Bloomberg's spending plan would reduce aid to libraries by $74 million.

The Queens Borough Public Library says it could close up to 14 branches, and let go of more than 300 employees--about 40 percent of its staff.

The libraries have long been a bargaining chip in budget discussions between mayors and the City Council. But the Council usually manages to soften the fiscal blow, and there haven't been widespread layoffs in libraries since the early 1990s. This year could be different, warns Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who himself used to work in the Queens library system.

Reprieve from double parking tickets?

From the NY Post:

Drivers desperate for parking spots would get a reprieve under a City Council proposal to legalize double parking in certain situations, The Post has learned.

Three members this week are introducing a bill that would permit double parking for drivers waiting for a soon-to-be-vacated space or dropping off or picking up passengers.

The sponsors of the legislation say their push aims to curb a double-parking ticketing blitz that is infuriating their constituents.

The city has given an increasing number of double-parking tickets each year under Mayor Bloomberg -- from 806,112 in fiscal year 2002 to more than 1.3 million in the last fiscal year.

Gentile, who represents Bay Ridge -- an area where parking spots are notoriously hard to come by -- lamented that some of his constituents have been slapped with the $115 double-parking fine for simply stopping by a doctor's office to drop off a spouse before circling the block for a legal spot.

"They're going around and playing gotcha with people," he said of ticketing agents, who work for the NYPD.

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he sympathizes with New Yorkers weary from double-parking tickets, but balked at the notion that ticketing agents only dole out the fines to collect revenue.

"We don't have a 'gotcha!' " mentality. We try to enforce the law and we get some revenues," he said.

Still, he said, he is "very sympathetic" to those who get the $115 violations.

Baby hawks ready to leave Unisphere

From 10000 Birds:

The two surviving eyasses at the Unisphere in Corona Flushing Meadows Park are doing well. They look ready to fledge. For information about what happened earlier this season, see Peter Richer's Queens Raptor blog.

And a pair of Peregrine Falcons were relocated from Queens to the Verrazano Bridge.

WTF happened to Tim Minton?

From NBC 4:

News 4 New York correspondent Tim Minton, who joined WNBC in 1998, has been honored with 18 Emmy Awards and other local and national recognition for investigative reporting.

Minton investigated a series of construction accidents in New York City that led to the resignation in April 2008 of the buildings commissioner. In 2006, he reported on a facility applying electric shocks to discipline students with developmental disabilities who misbehaved. That investigation led the New York State Board of Regents to ban the practice in 2007.

Minton came to WNBC from WABC-TV in New York where he was a lead reporter and investigative correspondent. Minton reported for WABC on the investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800. He covered the terrorism trials of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and terrorists convicted of plotting to blow up a dozen U.S. jetliners.

Wow, that's some pretty heavy stuff...

So what the hell is this?

The perennially political Vallone family had a big announcement Tuesday.

"I spoke to my father over the weekend and we just decided that it was time for the 'junior' to go," joked the New York City Council member now formerly known as Peter Vallone, Jr.

"We were playing volleyball at the time, and my father had just returned one of my best spikes," he told NBCNewYork. "That's when I said,'Okay, that's it, from now on, you have to use senior and I'm not using junior anymore.' "

Kid accidentally sets himself on fire

From the Daily News:

A Queens 10-year-old was burned over half his body when a water balloon he had ignited splashed into a gasoline puddle - sparking a vicious fireball.

Gavin Rogers was nearly engulfed in flames, but his quick-thinking friend doused him with a garden hose, extinguishing the flames - and likely saving his life.

Gavin suffered second- and third-degree burns over half his body, including to his legs and face, his shocked family said.

Gavin was playing on a concrete patio behind the garage of his family's home on Beach 146th St. in the Rockaways. With him were one of his brothers, Chris and another pal.

His mother was at work, and no other adults were around.

The boys, enjoying a gorgeous sunny day, used a can of gasoline to fill up a dirt bike, but they accidentally spilled some of the fuel onto the concrete patio, Chris recalled.

Then Gavin began horsing around with the water balloon - first filling it up with water and then touching it with a flame.

It was supposed to be just an innocent boyish antic, but it nearly cost Gavin his life.

The flame caused the balloon to burst, and amid the shower of water was a still-burning piece of rubber, which made contact with the gasoline on the floor - with devastating effect.

The flames that shot up Gavin's body were so intense they melted the rubber on the soles of the boy's sneakers, Chris and other witnesses said.

After an FDNY ambulance rushed Gavin to the hospital, his brothers and friends could only try to make sense of the horrific moment when frivolous fun turned terribly wrong.

York College has major flooding issue

From the Queens Chronicle:

York College has been plagued with a flooding problem that administrators fear may shut down a large portion of the campus, if a permanent solution is not found.

The college has been working with the City University of New York and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to come up with a plan — one that school officials proposed at a Community Board 12 meeting on Wednesday. Attendees, however, were skeptical about the plan, fearing that it would increase flooding problems at nearby residential homes and spur rodent infestation.

In 2004, during an unrelated project to install new boilers in the Academic Core Building, the college discovered that water was pouring into the sub-basement.

The 75,000-square foot building is the principal administrative and academic facility on the campus and it provides power for itself along with two adjacent buildings — the Health and Physical Education Building and the Performing Arts Center. The three buildings are also designated as Office of Emergency Management shelter locations for the South Jamaica community.

“The electrical conduits that bring energy from Con Edison to the building are under the slab and therefore the college runs the risk of losing its electrical supply at any moment,” Ronald Thomas, dean of administrative affairs at York explained. “If that happens, three of the buildings, which conduct 70 percent of all activity on campus would be lost, until we could make repairs.”

The other problem is that employees who are responsible for performing maintenance on the engineering plant in the sub-basement must walk through two or three feet of water to conduct their business in an environment that is electrically charged. Also, persistent water can lead to mold exposure.

Channels along with sumps and pumps currently carry the water to a combined sewer, for which York has a temporary DEP discharge permit. However, the agency has told the college that it will not renew the permit and has asked that officials find a permanent solution, compelling York “to move forward rather aggressively,” Thomas said.

York College has a deep basement — 30 feet below the street level, which is typical of large structures. The average residential basement is eight to 10 feet below ground. Over a million gallons of water must be pumped out of York’s sub-basement daily in order to keep it dry and support the regular operation of the campus.

Community concerned about vacant lot

From NY1:

After years of neglect, Jamaica residents are speaking out about safety risks presented by a nearby vacant lot.

(It's actually Rochdale Village.)

Police search for gang of subway thieves

From the Village Voice:

Police are asking for the public's assistance in locating a group of teens wanted in connection with a robbery that occurred on Friday, May 21, at 3:30 p.m., on the stairwell entrance to the Halsey Street subway station (L line) in Queens.

The suspects followed the victim, an 18-year-old male, out of the station and attempted to take his backpack, but fled on foot with only the victim's cell phone.

The suspects, pictured, are described as one black female and four black males between 15 and 16 years old.

Deblasio & Liu to fight fines

From the NY Post:

The elections are long over, but the three leading Democratic candidates for citywide office last year still face fines of nearly $1.5 million for plastering the town with illegal posters, The Post has learned.

Records provided by the Environmental Control Board show that mayoral contender Bill Thompson received 8,257 summonses over the course of his near-upset campaign. Comptroller John Liu got 7,270, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was hit with 4,023. Like all posters attached to city property, each carries a $75 fine.

So Thompson could owe as much as $619,275, Liu $542,259 and de Blasio $301,725 if they're found guilty after administrative hearings. Under the convoluted system, some of the cases won't be heard until September.

Lawyers for all three candidates say they intend to challenge every summons.

One candidate told The Post there's a move afoot at the City Council to overhaul the process and wipe out the fines retroactively.

But a council source said that was unlikely, since "you couldn't do it just for the candidates and not everyone else."

Mother tries to prevent a case from going cold

From the NY Times:

Mr. Agard told the police that he had taken the subway to Astoria to visit a friend and had been approached by three strangers, Hispanic or white men, peddling marijuana. One pulled out a fake gun, he said; he hit that man and was stabbed by another.

Only later would the police hear that Mr. Agard had actually been driven to Astoria — by a friend with a criminal record, the one who had called him that evening.

“He lived for a very long time, and you know what? He lied to us,” Lieutenant Keough said. “That doesn’t make me not want to solve the case, but it doesn’t make it easier.”

When resentment of the police is widespread, as it is among young black men, there is social pressure not to cooperate, law enforcement experts say. Victims also fear retaliation for “snitching,” Lieutenant Keough said.

“If anything comes out of this,” he said, “I hope victims learn: You never know when you’re going to die, so you might want to cooperate while you can.”

Mr. Agard eventually went home, but not for long. A high fever struck. Back in the hospital, he died on Sept. 27, 2008.

On Nov. 7, the police say they put out Crime Stoppers fliers offering a reward for information. Ms. Guerra thinks if her son had been white, or had died on Fifth Avenue, the fliers would have gone up sooner. (Sometimes she even doubts they were ever posted, since the police only asked for his picture a year later.)

On Dec. 16, Ms. Guerra brought a female friend of her son’s to the station house. Ms. Guerra had told the police that a friend had picked up her son that night, but she did not know his name. The female friend identified him from police photos.

Now the police had a lead. But they did not act right away, and soon it was too late. Four days later the friend — Ms. Guerra asked that he not be identified for her safety — was shot to death. The police eventually linked that killing to an unrelated criminal scheme involving cars.

On Dec. 26, the detectives alerted the police to look for the man’s associates, to see if they knew anything, even gossip, about Mr. Agard’s death.

Then the record goes fallow. The file shows that on April 22, 2009, the police questioned people arrested for selling marijuana near the spot where Mr. Agard died. Then, for five months, nothing.

Restaurant owners want more illegals

From Crains:

A group of local business leaders started a petition and met with Sen. Charles Schumer to advocate for immigration reform that incorporates their need for lesser-skilled employees.

Among the group were restaurateurs, Jeremy Merrin and Marc Murphy, who met with the senator, explaining that immigrant workers are not taking jobs away from Americans.

Messrs. Merrin and Murphy are members of the newly formed New York chapter of ImmigrationWorks USA, an organization representing business owners who rely on an immigrant labor force. The group just started a petition drive to collect 500 signatures (it has 300 already) calling for a worker visa program that’s not capped and has flexible requirements.

“The reality is that Americans are not applying to be porters and dishwashers,” says Andrew Rigie, director of operations for the city chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association. “Our focus is the workers that are the backbone of the day to day operations of the restaurant industry,” adds Mr. Rigie.

“We need the ability to bring in specialized chefs from other countries to ensure that New York City can maintain its title of the restaurant capital of the world,” says Mr. Rigie.

How did we go from needing dishwashers to needing chefs? No one in America wants to design foreign food now either?

I think INS should pay this guy's establishment a visit.

Astoria bodega worker grabs perp's gun

From the NY Post:

A bodega worker turned the tables on two thugs in Queens, wrestling a gun from one during a stickup, then holding the creep until cops arrived, police said yesterday.

"I'm not going to fight to fail. I fight to win," Danny Caba, 32, told The Post yesterday, proudly sporting the seven stitches he received after one of the robbers bashed him in the head with a bottle.

A gun-toting José Cruz and a cohort slipped in the back entrance to the Lantigua deli on 14th Street in Astoria at 7:15 a.m. Saturday and tried to rob Caba and manager Louis Colon, police said.

Caba said he made a grab for the gun, and the pair struggled. Colon jumped in to help, and Cruz's accomplice bashed Caba over the head with a bottle and fled, cops said.

Art asses for sale in Flushing

"I think 'asses' was meant to be an abbreviation for accessories? It's a doozie!

This guy is closing his booth tomorrow. It's in the former old "Quartet Theater" space. (LOL) Maybe the vice squad shut him down." - The Flushing Phantom

More Queens schoolkids sent to hospital

Broken thermometer sends kids to hospital
BY TONIA N. CIMINO, Queens Courier

Nine children from the Robert Goddard Middle School in Ozone Park were taken to the hospital after a thermometer containing mercury, a highly poisonous liquid metal, was broken on Tuesday, June 1.

According to Margie Feinberg, Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson, “As soon as it was dropped they closed the room.”

Police, firefighters and a Hazmat team responded and a wing of the school was evacuated.

“Two [of the nine] students said they felt itchy,” said Feinberg. “Parents were immediately notified.”

The incident is under investigation.

And they're off! (again)

From Crains:

A half-dozen entities have thrown their hats into the latest round of bidding to become the developer and operator of the Aqueduct racino. This time around two new players—one from overseas—have emerged.

Empire City Casino-Yonkers Raceway and Genting New York LLC, a Malaysian investment firm that operates casinos overseas, submitted the $1 million refundable entry fee, according to New York Lottery Division. In another surprise, Toronto-based Clairvest Group, which was a partner in Aqueduct Entertainment Group, also submitted a bid.

Earlier this year AEG, the previous winner of the Aqueduct video slot machine contract, was denied a gaming license and the state withdrew its support for the group. There is an ongoing investigation by the state's inspector general into the previous selection of AEG. It was unclear who Clairvest's partners are in the latest bid.

As anticipated, previous losing bidders in the earlier round—Manhattan's largest commercial landlord SL Green, Penn National Gaming, and Delaware North & Saratoga Gaming and Raceway—rounded out the other parties that submitted the entry fee by the June 1 deadline.

Queens bloody crime roundup

From the Daily News:

In Queens, a gunman leaned out the window of a speeding black sedan at 2:30 a.m. and unleashed more than a dozen shots, hitting three people stepping out of a house party, police said.

"The shots were really loud," said a resident of 167th St. in Jamaica. "It woke me up - continuous shots, probably about 20."

Daniel Guthrie, 19, was killed and two fellow revelers - one 21, the other 29 - were wounded.

Neither survivor was cooperating with police, cops said.

From Eyewitness News:

Police say a hammer wielding husband brutally beat his wife to within an inch of her life in the East Elmhurst section of Queens.

The man attacked during a dispute inside their home on Ditmars Boulevard just after 4:30 a.m. this morning, according to cops.

His wife was brutally beaten and rushed to Elmhurst Medical Center in extremely critical condition.

The husband was placed under arrest and charged with assault.

A bloody hammer was recovered at the scene.

2010 ... or 1984?

Looks like the attempted takeover of our minds is now in full swing. These ads are on the steps of Grand Central.
Suzannah has more.

Comrie protests Jamaica homeless shelter

From the Times Ledger:

City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) joined in on the protests against a proposed homeless shelter in Jamaica, a neighborhood where community leaders said they have been overloaded with similar homes.

Speaking outside 170-02 93rd Ave., where the nonprofit group Housing Bridge wants to create transitional housing for families, the councilman urged the city May 19 not to grant the Brooklyn group approval for the home.

Community Board 12, which covers Jamaica and other southeast Queens neighborhoods such as St. Albans and Springfield Gardens, is home to nine out of the 17 homeless shelters in the borough and residents have become fed up with the heavy concentration of the facilities in their community, according to Comrie.

Why would you dump more homeless shelters in an area you are trying to revitalize? Do they think that will attract new businesses and residents?

Lax security at CitiField

From Fox 5:

This Fox 5 report is not about security checkpoints where fans enter from all around the stadium, but instead it is about security checkpoints where Citi Field workers enter. One worker told Fox 5 he is concerned for his own safety along with thousands of fans on game day.

Trying to bring anything illegal past a security checkpoint at a Mets home game at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, could mean jail time and fines. From pat downs and bag searches, security here is extremely tight. But if you walk just a few yards away from the left field entrance, there's an entrance for Citi Field workers only.

It's a spot where hundreds and hundreds of employees from concessions to cleaning crews gain access to the stadium. And according to a number of these employees, security here needs to be stepped up.

A source told Fox 5 News that there are no metal detectors, no pat downs, and barely any bag checks for employees, which raises security concerns for those employees and fans alike.

Rules don't apply to them

Crappy,

These photos of Senator Schumer and Congressman Weiner were snapped yesterday at the Forest Hills Memorial Day parade. There were a few other local tweeder politicians marching, but at least they had the decency not to carry signs stating who they were. (For the record, none of the politicans received much in the way of applause.)

I'm not sure what the rules for the Forest Hills parade were, but a few miles away in Maspeth another parade was held in which politicians were told specifically not hold up signs. Someone posted on Facebook that Weiner held up a sign in the Maspeth parade after he was asked not to do so.

- Anonymous

Bobbi & the Strays seeks new building

From NBC 4:

"Throw us a bone!" a Queens animal shelter begs.

Bobbi and the Strays, home currently to 23 cats and 25 dogs, is looking for a new building because its shelter for large dogs is slated for demolition.

The animal shelter currently has two buildings: one at Atlas Mall in Queens for the cats and smaller dogs, and a building near the airport for the larger dogs.

The nonprofit no-kill animal rescue organization also provides educational programs to schools and the community, educating children and adults on responsible pet ownership and organizing spay/neuter services and events.

To learn how you can help, click here.

Small factory, big job

From City Limits:

Every time a new mayor or borough president gets elected, the city pays around $350 to update each of the affected signs. Those corrections and the entire set up, removal, and replacement of almost all the city-owned sign inventory are orchestrated at a city-owned facility, a sign factory if you will, located in Maspeth Queens.

In a red-brick building resembling a garage or repair shop, employees here either paint or laminate colors onto aluminum. Then, they stencil or paint on letters by hand. With around 25 employees, the sign shop in Queens is reportedly the largest of its kind in the nation.

Each year, the NYCDOT’s Borough Engineering Sign Shop in Maspeth has to replace or create 100,000 new signs. The entire city sign operation -- which includes the studying of locations, their fabrication and installation -- costs around $12 million annually.

Faded or damaged signs that get returned or retired to the factory in Maspeth are first inspected for possible refurbishment. When the signs are in good enough condition to be refurbished, they are reused. Signs that can’t be refurbished are delivered to a metal recycling yard, which in turn sends the scrapped aluminum signs and metal sign supports off to a recycling plant.

Jim Gerson resigns as Chair of Flushing BID

Jim Gerson's Resignation Statement
I was the first Chair of the Flushing BID upon its formation in 2004. I was born in Elmhurst and lived there for 14 years. Through three generations and for over 50 years my family has owned a building in downtown Flushing. I care deeply about Flushing, and have come to understand its needs-particularly of its small business community. Therefore, I take my responsibility to the merchants and property owners of Flushing very seriously.

The BID faced its first serious and controversial issue when confronted with the impact of the construction of Flushing Commons. My approach was to offer three resolutions which were approved by the BID Board of Directors.

The first resolution called for a business assistance program based on an analysis of the impacts of construction. The second called for restoration of the City’s previously agreed parking capacity and rate cap. The third resolution called for a contingency plan for completion of the project before the land was transferred.

Since that time the developer has lobbied extensively to emasculate these objectives with City agencies and Board members. The result has been that a previously harmonious board became highly factionalized and dysfunctional. One direct impact was the resignation of our highly competent and well liked executive director who supported these objectives but was becoming increasingly marginalized as a result.

The precipitating event for my resignation as Chairman of the BID was the Board’s decision last week to turn down my proposal for an independent analysis of the economic impact of construction on area merchants; and rely instead on the highly questionable representations of the staff of council member Koo that such a study could be conducted by either his office or by EDC.

At that point it became clear to me that I could be more candid and more effective advancing what I believe in, by working with other community groups outside of the confines of the BID. I have no confidence that a study conducted by the same people who are proposing and/or supporting the current unrealistic plans will be either fair or helpful.

I believe the impact of Flushing Commons as presently proposed will be devastating to local businesses especially during the evening hours. Just as in most other metropolitan areas or neighborhoods, there is a core focus which draws people and supports the non-core businesses. In the case of Flushing I believe the core is the quantity and variety of reasonably priced ethnic food (not unlike other "Chinatowns" around the world). These restaurants depend heavily on affordable parking. Affordable parking is the most important key to keeping Flushing vibrant.

During the day Flushing will lose their customers in one of two ways. Gridlock will frustrate some. Others will go to shop in nearby malls or other areas where parking is free. Flushing Commons, as now conceived by TDC, is as unsustainable a project as anyone could imagine. It needs to be thoroughly altered so that the interests of the small businesses of Flushing and its neighboring communities are maintained.

You can read an analysis of this event here.

Some serious coin spent on retirees

From the NY Times:

Roughly 3,700 retired public workers in New York are getting pensions of more than $100,000 a year. The New York Times collected this public information from the state’s two pension funds and four of the five city funds. The pension plan for the city's firefighters has yet to provide information, as required under public information laws. Some pension funds said they could not provide figures like job title or final salary; the N.Y.P.D. Pension Fund would not disclose names.

How much did this cost us?

A copy of this 14 page, full color report about our drinking water was mailed to what I can only assume is every household in the city since it was addressed to me personally "or current resident". I found mine in my mailbox on Saturday.

Add up the cost of writing it, taking and editing the photos, laying it out, printing it and mailing it in your head. I can only guess that this venture cost us taxpayers a few million dollars. Let's not even get into how many trees were wasted for this. Don't see a "recycled paper" symbol anywhere on it.

Please remember that we have money for things like this next time the mayor threatens to close a firehouse or tells you there is no money to collect garbage or create a new park in your 'hood.

Click the photo to see your tax dollars at work.

80 schoolkids get sick from contaminated water

From the Daily News:

More than 80 Queens elementary school students were sent to the hospital Tuesday after getting sick from drinking contaminated water, authorities said.

Dozens of children began complaining that their stomachs hurt after sipping from water fountains in a new wing at Public School 20 in Flushing just before 1 p.m., the officials said.

Students noticed pink water in toilets and coming from the fountains - which may have resulted from a chemical accidentally dumped into the water supply by a worker fixing the school's air-conditioning system, officials said.

Firehouse on chopping block rescues 30 pets from fire

From the Daily News:

Firefighters stormed into a burning Queens pet shop on Monday in time to rescue 30 cats and dogs, officials said.

U.S. Pet Discounts on Steinway St. in Astoria was closed for Memorial Day, which presented responding units with an obstacle - the store's metal "rolldown" doors were closed.

"We had to cut the gates, cut the locks and force our way in," said Lt. Jerome Farrell of Ladder 116.

Once inside, Ladder 116 firefighters were hit with heavy smoke, but they quickly found the source of the blaze, in the back of the store, Farrell said.

Members of Engine 262 fought the flames, while other firefighters, including those from the newly arrived Engine 263, grabbed animal cages and rushed the frightened animals out into the fresh air.

Do we need cops who are less fat?

From AM-NY:

New York City police officers are not required to take physical fitness tests, raising concerns that many on the thin blue line aren’t in the “finest” shape to protect the public.

Observers said fit cops are less likely to fire their guns in a chase. Further, the lack of fitness standards may bloat pension and disability costs, some contend.

City firefighters must undergo almost yearly physical exams, as do police in several other departments nationwide. And many NYPD officers concede that fitness tests are necessary.

NYPD officials would not comment, but law enforcement experts said fiscal constraints, the logistics of testing a 35,000-strong force, and discrimination concerns deter mandatory testing. Other city officials and former cops defended the status quo.

Flushing garage explodes

From Eyewitness News:

Five people were injured when a garage exploded at a home in Queens.

It happened just before 7 p.m. on 27th Avenue near Murray Street in Flushing.

Apparently the 31-year-old homeowner was cleaning his motorcycle in the garage while a tank of C16 high-grade racing fuel was leaking.

Vapors from the leak somehow ignited and caused an explosion in his garage, which also had several fireworks inside according to police.

The victims suffered shrapnel injuries and burns.

The homeowner suffered burns over 50% of his body.

He is in serious condition at Jacobi Medical Center's burn unit.

The resulting fire burned and destroyed the garage.

Friedrich vs. Weprin, Chapter 3

From the Times Ledger:

Bob Friedrich is hoping the third time will be the charm.

The Glen Oaks Village president launched his campaign last week for state Assemblyman David Weprin’s (D-Little Neck) seat representing the 24th Assembly District, which he lost when he ran against the lawmaker in a special election earlier this year.

He also made a failed attempt last year to win the seat now held by City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens).

Friedrich, a Democrat, ran against David Weprin on the Republican line. He will run on the Democratic ticket in the primary this September.

The president of Glen Oaks Village and a longtime civic activist, Friedrich announced his election bid Saturday and said he believes this time around will be different because of a “strong anti-incumbent sentiment.” Additionally, he noted there is no third candidate, which he said took votes away from him when he and Swaranjit Singh were in the race with Mark Weprin for the City Council.

“We need to elect leaders who have worked in the private sector running businesses, employing people and creating jobs, not career politicians like the Weprins, who have spent 36 years on the public payroll,” said Friedrich, an accountant. “It’s time to give them a reality check and send them back to the private sector, where they can look for a job like New Yorkers who are unemployed in a state whose economy is bankrupt with a $9.5 billion deficit.”

City not being straight with motorcycle club

From the Times Ledger:

History sure seems to repeat itself for the Queensboro Motorcycle Club.

The biker group was unceremoniously uprooted from its original clubhouse among the old ash heaps of central Queens in 1939 to make way for the creation of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in time for that year’s World’s Fair, according to Bill Goldstein, the club’s president.

The resilient club, which turns 100 this year, was never compensated for its property, Goldstein said, but it pushed on and eventually found a new slice of Queens in Willets Point, where members built a modest clubhouse behind a chain-link fence between two warehouses on 34th Avenue.

But time and the inattention of city officials took its toll on their new digs, and the Iron Triangle turned from bad to worse as the years passed. And it looks like the Queensboro riders may be rolling into the sunset once again.

The city never installed sewers, running water, sidewalks or other urban amenities in Willets Point and the 62-acre section of land is in a new administration’s sights.

The plans for Willets Point leave the bikers in a lurch as they attempt to continue their gatherings, rides and community service activities from a point with an uncertain future. Goldstein said the club pays $4,000 a year in taxes and he asks only that the city tell them what will become of them in coming years.

“We understand that this is an area of contention and that no one wants to breathe a word about it,” he said over sodas in the club’s wood-paneled meeting room. “But we pay $4 grand a year and we get nothing for it. We get no road repair, no sidewalks, no streetlights, there’s no sanitation. This place is an absolute pigsty.”

Or, as club member James Frost put it last week, “it looks like Beirut now.”

Years of unattended potholes and ruts have turned the roads of Willets Point into a minefield for motorcyclists, and earlier this month a member of the club slowly riding to the clubhouse hit a nearby pothole, sustained minor injuries and damaged his bike, according to club members.

The state of disrepair has reached a breaking point, members said, and member Jan Borodo has been compiling a file of the club’s repeated requests for repairs. Borodo has a file with dozens of copies of documents he has sent to Bloomberg’s office, the city Department of Transportation, 311, Community Board 7 and a number of news outlets in hopes of getting basic repairs done — all of which have yielded little or no results.

The group’s members said they do not want to fight the city — they only want to know what lies ahead. Goldstein said the group is willing to take a fair relocation deal or to stay if the city makes improvements.

Pistilli has some company

Poster campaign to help stop human trafficking

From the Queens Chronicle:

Human trafficking is described as the recruiting, transporting, selling or buying of people for the purpose of various forms of sexual or labor exploitation.

The city will display posters in the five boroughs on bus shelters through June 13. A new anti-trafficking website can be found at nyc.gov to provide more information.

Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman said human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world, but that the average person doesn’t know how to recognize this form of servitude.

Although human trafficking can be difficult to recognize because it is often kept out of sight, some examples are prostitutes, domestic workers, factory workers, landscapers, restaurant workers and those working in nail salons or janitorial jobs. Victims can be American-born or immigrants.

In Queens, Asian women are especially lured here with the promise of a job or a better way of life. Instead, they end up enslaved, owing their traffickers money, without documentation and kept as prostitutes in brothels, illegal massage parlors or on the street.

Human rights groups in Queens applauded the mayor’s campaign, saying that human trafficking has gone on for too long.

Ann Jawin, founder and chairwoman of the Center for the Women of New York, was elated about the mayor’s campaign. “That’s wonderful,” Jawin said. “It comes at a good time.”

Since February, Jawin’s group has been waging its own battle against sex trafficking by asking Queens newspaper owners to pledge not to accept ads for services that are clearly a front for prostitution.

So far, only Queens Chronicle Publisher Mark Weidler has signed, earning him a Good Guys award from the CWNY on Saturday. He says the Chronicle does not run such ads and will not in the future.

Jawin is continuing to reach out to other Queens papers and if they don’t respond positively, she has vowed to get businesses and libraries to stop distributing them.

Projects around Jamaica Station not dead yet

From the Times Ledger:

A weak economy may have delayed two projects aimed at improving downtown Jamaica, but developers said they are still moving forward with their plans.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corp. updated Community Board 12 May 19 about three developments that are in various stages.

Although two of the undertakings — a complete redesign of the transit hub at Archer Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard and an extension of Atlantic Avenue — are still months away from construction, Peter Engelbrecht, Greater Jamaica’s director of planning, design and capital projects, said he was confident they would be a reality.

Engelbrecht said construction on the Sutphin Underpass project has been moving along well and when it was ready would offer commuters and residents a new, mini shopping center that would enhance the area right near the Jamaica Long Island Rail Road and Air Train stations.

But progress was not the same for the remaining enhancement projects, according to Engelbrecht, because of funding issues. The Station Plaza transit project and the Atlantic Avenue construction were supposed to be funded by federal, state and city budgets, according to Jessica Pavone of the city Economic Development Corp., but the recession put those projects on hold.

P.S. Here's what Jamaica Station looked like 100 years ago:

How one guy celebrated the holiday...

EMTs respond to a playground in Sunnyside. Don't worry, this is nothing a little black coffee, iodine and stitches won't fix.

You can read the story at the Sunnyside Post.