Drug treatment center? I think not.

I was in a pizza shop last week eating lunch when a fellow came up to me and asked me if I spoke Spanish. I replied that I did not. He then handed me this flier and in English told me he was representing a drug and alcohol treatment program and asked if I would donate money to the cause in return for a T-shirt bearing the logo of the place. Now, soliciting inside eating establishments was the first shady sign. The second shady sign was the fact that this alleged drug treatment center is in Corona and the pizza shop I was dining in was in Manhattan. So when I got home, I looked up the address and phone number.

The address belongs to a residence and the phone is connected to something called "Jovenes 24 Hrs AD Inc." which appears nowhere on the flier.

Draw your own conclusions.

Queens finally gets snow disaster aid

From Douglaston Patch:

It might have been Snowpocalypse 2010, but according to the U.S. government, the mammoth blizzard that hit Queens on Dec. 26-27 wasn't considered a disaster — at least, one worthy of extra federal funds.

Until now.

On Wednesday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. announced a deal that would allow for reimbursement of the city's snow removal costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“This storm was one of the worst New York City has seen in years, but by expanding the disaster declaration to include snow-removal costs for Queens, we can help make sure hard-pressed New Yorkers don’t have to shoulder these clean-up costs alone," Schumer said in a statement.

The original announcement made last month included assistance for Nassau County and Staten Island, leaving much of the city out in the cold when it came to federal help in paying for the unprecedented snow removal effort in the days and weeks after the storm.

Chinese group wants to build RKO Keith's

From the Times Ledger:

A Manhattan real estate agent is lobbying the developer behind the proposed overhaul of the long-neglected RKO Keith’s Theatre to take on the services of a Chinese construction company for the project.

David Drezner, of Canterbury Financial Group, said Monday that he is hoping to convince Patrick Thompson, the project’s developer, to hire the firm — which he declined to name — to handle the financing and construction of the redevelopment.

The firm has up to $1 billion available to finance projects, Drezner said, and it is willing to lend Thompson the full $160 million for the project if he can guarantee that the company will have the exclusive contract for its construction.

“I have an Asian construction company who will put up $160 million just to do the construction, but they’d have to arrange a takeout so they make sure they get their money,” Drezner said, later confirming that the company is based in China.

Michael Nussbaum, a spokesman for Thompson, said he was not aware of Drezner’s proposal. Thomspon has received offers to work with other firms and groups, he said, but the developer will not make any decisions until the project receives final approval from Borough President Helen Marshall and the city Board of Standards & Appeals.

Drezner, who said he has worked in real estate since the 1960s, also said the company would likely use union and local labor, though he said it would want to employ its own engineers.

Jamaica is homeless shelter epicenter

From the Daily News:

Local leaders in southern Queens have cried out for years that their communities shoulder more than their fair share of the borough's homeless shelters.

Turns out they were right.

Of the borough's 18 shelters, 14 are in the Jamaica area, according to a city Department of Homeless Services list obtained by the Daily News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

But a DHS official said yesterday that the distribution is fair because more than half of Queens' homeless families come from the Jamaica area. And 43% of the borough's homeless single adults are also from southeast Queens, said DHS spokeswoman Heather Janik.

But The News found additional facilities for the homeless and formerly homeless not included in the city tally. That wasn't a surprise to local officials.

From the Queens Tribune:

About a month ago, Valerie Lewis, the principal of PS 124 in South Ozone Park, noticed students who lived in the Skyway Hotel homeless shelter two blocks from the school began missing class. Concerned about the pattern of absences, she walked over to the shelter which housed homeless families at 132-10 South Conduit Ave., and was horrified at what she found.

Families, given only five days' notice, were uprooted. The water in the building was turned off. Furniture was being thrown into the street.

"What was going on there was egregious," Lewis said.

Without warning, the shelter was reclassified a "men only shelter," and local residents and officials, irate at the City for what it calls "lack of respect" for their neighborhood, have grown further incensed. Nobody, not the shelter's neighbors, nor local officials, nor Community Board 10, knew it was happening. By the time parents and community members gathered at PS 124 on March 3, more than 30 men had already moved in.

Lewis said she had contacted the City and the new owners of the shelter, who had told her that the homeless population among single adults had risen, necessitating the need for more shelters, and families were being moved to parts of the City where there were "more opportunities." By the end of March, she said, the shelter would house up to 180 men.

"I think they thought no one would notice," she said.

And there's another one heading to Greenpoint.

Beware the hospital administrators

From Forest Hills Patch:

In the midst of a push to reopen Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, the former top executive at the hospital was arrested on Thursday, caught up in a bribery sting involving state Sen. Carl Kruger, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Dr. Robert Aquino, who spent years fighting to keep Parkway Hospital from closing, and since its closure, fighting to reopen it, was arrested and charged with bribing the state senator in 2008.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, after the arrests were announced, expressed anger and consternation at the sheer number of state officials who have been tied up in bribery and corruption incidents.

In the complaint, Aquino is alleged to have paid $60,000 to one of a pair of shell companies set up by Kruger, in exchange for his help in 2008 lobbying to allow then-open Parkway Hospital to purchase to other Queens medical centers.

The plan, though widely publicized at the time, never came to fruition. Since the hospital's closure, Aquino has been aggressive in trying to reopen the facility, including writing a letter to Gov. David Paterson during the last month of his term to convince him to restore the hospital's operating certificate.

From the NY Times:

Starting in 2006, Mr. Rosen fought to block Wyckoff Heights Medical Center from buying two Catholic hospitals in Queens, Mary Immaculate and St. John’s. He feared that a takeover, which required state approval, would make Mary Immaculate a stronger competitor and would put nearby Jamaica Hospital out of business.

Medisys then tried to acquire the Catholic hospitals to keep them out of Wyckoff’s hands. Parkway Hospital also tried to buy them, and Mr. Seminerio and Mr. Kruger became involved in the dispute. Eventually, the two Catholic hospitals closed.

Woodhaven drug den sealed up

From WPIX:

Neighbors say its not just an eyesore, its a danger to their quiet Queens neighborhood.

Some neighbors are now referring to the house at 88-32 80th street as the "drug den."

The President of the Woodhaven Block Association, Edward Wendell said, "Its a tragedy really, the city is doing nothing about it."

The house sticks out in the row of neat residences -- graffiti and trash cover the porch and front yard.

The City's Buildings Department confirms there are 11 complaints on file.

Jennifer Gilbert, a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings tells PIX 11 News, "The Department issued a violation to the owner for condition found at the site today and requested that the housing authority seal the building."

Some neighbors were relieved to hear the outcome after living in the midst of the neighborhood eyesore.

"Thank you PIX11 News. I'm glad there was a positive resolution to this," said Wendell.

Kruger Crap

This is where Carl Kruger lives. Damn. This may be a Frank Lloyd Crap special.

From CBS 2:

Sources told Kramer that the investigation is on-going and that the taps and bugs on Kruger’s and other defendants’ phones have produced a cornucopia of possible corruption leads — even the complaint filed against Kruger has hints of possible new avenues of investigation. There is a reference to a Kruger conversation regarding “senator 1″ and a number of chats about “senate leader #1.”

Last attempt at jihad

From the NY Post:

A Queens man accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack in New York's subways launched a last-ditch effort to kill someone by deliberately crashing his car into another vehicle, an official said yesterday.

Adis Medunjanin panicked after FBI agents searched his residence in January 2010. He later jumped in his car, sped off at 90 mph and slammed into another car on the Whitestone Expressway, an FBI agent testified in a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn federal court.

"He thought this would be an act of jihad -- that there would be an explosion and this would kill people," said special agent Farbod Azad.

Moments before the collision at the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge -- which caused minor injuries -- Medunjanin had called 911 to announce his intentions, the agent said.

"We love death more than you love life!" he said in Arabic. After he was detained following the crash, Medunjanin confessed that he caused it, believing it was his last chance to wage jihad.

"He viewed himself as a prisoner of war, caught on the battlefield," Azad testified.

Telling it like it is

From "Penner's Pen" at the Queens Courier:

Some so-called developers continue to act like pigs, by feasting on taxpayer dollars. The Borough of Queens and New York City prospered for centuries prior to the creation of various city and state development corporations over the past decades. In too many cases, projects have been heavily subsidized by taxpayers, commonly known as corporate welfare. Between direct government funding, low interest loans and long term tax exemptions -- the bill to taxpayers may be greater than the benefits. Also there is a relationship between Pay for Play campaign contributions from developers to elected officials looking for favorable legislation, permits and subsidies.

Don't forget the conflict of interest for senior staff from city or state regulatory and permitting agencies. Too many leave at the end of any Mayoral or Governor's administration to become employees or consultants to the same developers they previously oversaw. Former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff went to work on some of the very same projects he previously represented at City Hall. Too many mega developers try to purchase the support of local community groups by making so-called voluntary donations. They also make promises for capital improvements, which after the major project is completed don't always appear.

If projects like Willets Point are so worthwhile, why can't major developers use their own funds. Can't they obtain loans from banks, like medium and small businesses, rather than pick the pockets of taxpayers to pay a significant portion of the bill? Can our water, sewage, power and transportation infrastructures handle the additional stress on the environment from such projects?

Existing small business people at Willets Point created their companies, over time by their own hard work and sweat with no assistance from government. During that same time period, they created several hundred jobs. Both the owners and employees are our neighbors. They pay taxes like the rest of us. The only difference is that for decades they have been denied basic essential municipal services that we take for granted.

Real business people who believe in capitalism build companies on their own. How sad that some don't want to do it the old fashion way by sweat and hard work. They continue to look for shortcuts in the form of huge subsidies at taxpayers expense, including favorable tax code changes, long term low or no interest loans, physical infrastructure improvements such as roads, sewers and street lighting, along with eminent domain favors from elected officials.

With a looming multibillion dollar municipal budget shortfall and $60 billion dollar long term debt, there are surely other priorities that City Hall could spend hard earned tax dollars on than the so-called Willets Point development project.

Parking scofflaws to get the boot

From NY1:

Car owners who do not pay their tickets could soon get the boot.

The city is launching a pilot program that uses special self-release boots to immobilize cars whose drivers have racked up more than $350 in unpaid parking tickets.

Instead of having to deal with the inconvenience of having their cars towed, car owners would call a toll-free number and pay their fines by credit card. They would then get a code allowing them to unlock the boot.

Drivers would have to return the device within a preset time limit or face another penalty.

The New York City finance commissioner says he expects a pilot program to begin in the next few months.

Introducing the Responsible Banking Act

From Crains:

The City Council held a hearing Monday morning before an overflow crowd on the recently introduced “Responsible Banking Act,” which would create a ranking system of banks based on how responsive they are to the credit needs of the city’s neighborhoods. The hearing was followed by a gathering of Council members, advocates and community residents on the steps of City Hall.

The bill, which is called Intro 485, would require the Commissioner of Finance to establish a classification system that would rank city deposit-taking banks based on their community involvement. Some of the practices that the bill is trying to avoid include predatory lending and a failure to locate branches in working-class neighborhoods. In classifying banks, the Commissioner of Finance would also look at whether local banks work with borrowers to restructure delinquent home mortgages and whether they provide sufficient funding, including construction loans, for affordable housing and economic development projects in low- and moderate-income communities.

At least one city official, however, noted a key weakness of the bill—the fact that it fails to require the City Council to move deposits from low-ranked banks to higher-ranked banks.

Sanders wants to open airport parking lots to city marshals

From the Daily News:

A Queens councilman hoping to land cash for city coffers said the Port Authority won't lift a ban barring the city from towing parking scofflaws at the city's two major airports.

Councilman James Sanders Jr. said the city misses out on much-needed funds since marshals, who tow the worst parking offenders, aren't allowed in lots at Kennedy and LaGuardia.

That's 29,000 spots where scofflaws can park worry-free.

"I'm disappointed," said Sanders (D-Laurelton). "I always think that reasonable people should reason together. Both are reasonable, and both are stuck on their positions."

Sanders said he asked Port Authority officials on Feb. 22 to reconsider the ban. But the Port Authority made it clear that rescinding the restriction was "not a priority issue," he said.

Critics have long slammed the city for failing to tow cars with certain out-of-state license plates, noting the city loses out on millions in unpaid parking fines.

But they support the airport ban since it cuts down on traffic and security concerns.

DiNapoli audits the MTA

From the NY Post:

If you see something, you'd better say something -- because the MTA's anti-terror technology will probably miss it.

The agency's top-secret program to guard the rails against terror is budget-busted and way behind schedule, according to a scathing new audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

"The mass-transit system is still inherently vulnerable. Individual projects in this program are months, if not years, behind schedule and well over budget, and additional capital improvements are needed," DiNapoli told The Post.

Overall costs for anti-terror work -- including reinforcing bridges, tunnels and stations as well as electronic-surveillance and fire-ventilation projects -- have jumped 44 percent, from $591 million to $851 million, DiNapoli report shows.

After 9/11, the MTA said it would have all the upgrades done by September 2008. The finish date now looks more like June 2012, the report said.

The bulk of the MTA's costs is in the security-camera projects, which were severely delayed when defense contractor Lockheed Martin defaulted on an agreement with the agency to equip the subway system with state-of-the-art cameras.

Those projects' costs leaped from $265 million to $515 million.

MTA and Lockheed are now in locked a legal battle in federal court. The trial won't start for more than a year, and the MTA's legal costs are expected to exceed $10 million, DiNapoli said.

LIC dorm site sold

From the Real Deal:

Developer Edward J. Minskoff Equities abandoned plans to build a 635-room dormitory in a rapidly-changing section of Long Island City in order to concentrate on larger projects in Manhattan, the company's president said.

Edward Minskoff, president of the commercial firm, had sought to build the 19-story tower on the property at 30-30 Northern Boulevard in Queens Plaza.

He sold it to Long Island City-based Alma Realty, which paid $21.5 million for the 238,000-square-foot building and the 103,000-square-foot parcel under it on Jan. 27, city property records published last Friday show. The sale went into contract in September 2010.

The Queens Plaza neighborhood is undergoing a transformation thanks to the city's rehabilitation of the streets underneath the elevated N and 7 trains, as well as the completion of Tishman Speyer's $316 million Gotham Center Tower office building. Yet brokers said the site still presents challenges because it faces the elevated subway tracks.

Minskoff's dormitory was slated to house 1,640 students on the parcel wedged between the elevated N train and Sunnyside Yards. He bought the site in 2006 for $15.75 million, city records show.

Chinese groups wage war in Flushing

From the NY Times:

On the bustling thoroughfare of Chinese immigrants that is Main Street in Flushing, Queens, countless people hand out fliers for massage parlors, calling cards, English classes, money-wiring stores and other services.

But one group of regulars that offers fliers from its daily spot is not commercially minded. Its message is an ideological one: to disparage Falun Gong, the spiritual and meditation movement founded in China. It’s a movement, Falun Gong organizers say, that has found its largest following outside Asia in Flushing.

The group denounces Falun Gong as a cult, and it incorporates this charge into its name: the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance. The alliance set up a small folding table in the summer of 2008 on Main Street near Sanford Avenue, not far from the numerous tables staffed by Falun Gong volunteers who hand out literature lambasting the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, which has banned and persecuted Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa.

For two years, the two factions have staked out their turf on Main Street like rival gangs, and they have waged a bitter ideological battle nearly daily for hearts and minds. They have created a scaled-down version of the tension between Falun Gong and the Chinese government.

Falun Gong members are convinced that this opposition group is an arm of the Chinese government and that its members are working as political operatives to oppress Falun Gong here.

DEP to notify homeowners about water leaks

From NY1:

Landlord Lisha Li was totally in the dark as the water dripped-dripped-dripped deep below a home she rents out in College Point, Queens.

But a little grey box around the side of the home was silently sending messages, and those messages prompted an appreciated call to Li's phone.

"They said, 'Miss Li, we've been tracking all the meters, and we found very abnormal high usage in one of your properties,’” recalled Li.

That high usage was going to cost her $100 a day instead of the normal $8.

Li got a plumber, and on Monday, offered up praise to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a new tracking system from the city's Department of Environmental Protection.

"Weeks or months of undetected leaks can result in hundreds or even thousands of dollars, basically, if you pardon the pun, going down the drain for homeowners,” said the mayor.

Homeowners don't have to do anything special to get called if there's a problem. If you want an email alert, call 311.

The DEP is about three-quarters of the way toward installing the wireless sensors citywide. It credits the gizmos with allowing New Yorkers to track their water usage, and the cost, in real time – and more accurately than before.

But Councilman Mark Weprin complains that accuracy should mean paying less for water. Instead, water rates have more than doubled since Bloomberg took office.

"They're making more money than they initially anticipated and rates should be reflecting that,” said the councilman.

Officials say much of the increase is driven by federally-required improvements.

Greenpoint and Maspeth to get screwed together!

Private Funding Sought for Kosciuszko
from the Crain's Insider - March 11, 2011

The newly confirmed state Department of Transportation commissioner said a private-public partnership could help pay for the $800 million replacement of the Kosciuszko Bridge. Joan McDonald said she hasn't explored revenue options. Tolls would likely be needed to create revenue for private developers to pay for a new bridge connecting Greenpoint and Maspeth.

To all the selfish Greenpointers (no, not Miss Heather) who think it's a great idea to dump your unwanted depot on Maspeth, take a good hard look at who your real enemy is. Mine enemy is thine.

Avella opposes bridge renaming

From Capital Tonight:

Sen. Tony Avella has joined his former NYC Council colleague Peter Vallone Jr. in opposing the city’s plan to rename the Queensboro Bridge (or, the 59th Street Bridge, if you prefer) to honor former Mayor Ed Koch.

“Despite my deep affinity and respect for Mayor Koch, I think it is completely inappropriate to be naming the Queensboro Bridge after him at this time,” Avella said in a press release.

“First of all there should be a moratorium on all bridge renaming while the City is facing a fiscal crisis. In addition, this renaming flies in the face the general rule against the naming of public structures in honor of living persons.”

“As a lifelong Queens resident and as an elected official representing parts of Queens, it is particularly disturbing to see a Hallmark of Queens history stripped of its association to the borough.”

Where the hell are the rest of Queens' elected officials on this? Are these asswipes planning to vote yes? Or are they going to make a deal with Quinn so that they can safely vote no while the reps of the other 4 boroughs vote yes?

There's now a Facebook Group dedicated to the topic.

Pedaling to the beat of a different drummer

From the NY Times:

In four years as commissioner, Ms. Sadik-Khan has earned international fame for transforming the car-clogged streets of New York. She has directed the installation of more than 250 miles of bicycle lanes, turned parts of Broadway into pedestrian plazas and eliminated hundreds of parking spots across the city. Even some of her critics concede they are impressed with the scope and the speed of her achievements.

But among the city’s political class, Ms. Sadik-Khan has also become notorious for a brusque, I-know-best style and a reluctance to compromise.

In public screeds and private whispers, many city leaders say they have felt rebuffed, alienated or outright dismissed by Ms. Sadik-Khan, with several recounting in interviews having picked up their phones to find her yelling on the other end. And she recently set City Hall atwitter by appearing to deflect criticism over the response to the December blizzard to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

“Even if one appreciates some of Janette’s goals, it’s clear the approach has been very alienating all over the city,” said Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate. “There is a needless level of conflict. A lot of communities have become distrustful of the approach that the mayor and Janette have taken.”

In the past several months, even members of the Bloomberg administration have begun to acknowledge that Ms. Sadik-Khan’s aggressive style, so effective at first, may have morphed into a liability. The mayor, who found himself booed over bicycle lanes at a town hall meeting in Queens in January, spoke with Ms. Sadik-Khan, and they agreed she would solicit more opinions from neighborhood leaders. Since then, she has been making conciliatory phone calls to City Council members, adopting a friendlier tone and proposing more collaboration.

She has it made

From the NY Post:

It's not an urban myth: an Upper West Side apartment that goes for $99 a week.

Dorothy Williamson, 70, a retired computer-systems administrator from Queens, checked into the Imperial Court Hotel at 79th Street and West End Avenue as a "tourist" in 2009 for a 10-day stay.

Two years later she's still there, living as a permanent, rent-stabilized resident, paying $398 a month for a room in a classic pre-war building in one of Manhattan's priciest neighborhoods.

All Williamson had to do was request a permanent lease.

The sweetheart deal comes courtesy of a little-known quirk in the city's housing law that applies to the city's 30,000 Single Room Occupancies, known as SROs.

"An individual can become a permanent tenant by simply requesting a lease," said Marti Weithman, director of the SRO Law Project. "If someone comes in and pays for a night, he or she can request a lease orally, or in writing. The very act of requesting a lease gives you statutory tenancy."

Once you've asked for the lease, you can't be evicted.

Her 200-square-foot carpeted room has a window overlooking 79th Street. She has a bed, a chair, a television, two refrigerators, a microwave and a hot plate She uses a communal bathroom in the hall.

You had me up until the communal bathroom.

Farewell to a grand Long Island home

From Newsday:

The once-grand white house watches over Long Island Sound from the tip of Sands Point, its days numbered.

Lands End, the 25-room Colonial Revival mansion that local lore says was F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's home in "The Great Gatsby" faces demolition this month.

In the 1920s and '30s, Winston Churchill, the Marx Brothers and Ethel Barrymore attended parties there. Fitzgerald was perched on the back deck, drinking in the view. Rooms featured marble, parquet and wide wood-planked floors, Palladian windows and hand-painted wallpaper.

Now, the front door is off its hinges, wood floors have been torn up for salvage, windows are missing and the two-story Doric columns are unsteady.

Sands Point Village in January approved plans to raze the house and divide the site into lots for five custom homes starting at $10 million each.

Lands End is the latest Gold Coast estate to fall. With each demolition, the North Shore loses more of its gilded past, when sea breezes and social events attracted the rich and famous. Historians say hundreds of the mansions have been lost in the past 50 years as owners faced increasing taxes and high maintenance costs.

Long lost road

Click photo for story.

Steinway Mansion artifacts to be auctioned off

From the Daily News:

The contents of the Steinway Mansion in Astoria are going to be auctioned off later this month through a series of sales as the Halberian family prepares to sell the property, the Daily News has learned.

The first round of auctions, which will contain a majority of the assets, will be at the Capo Auction House in Long Island City on March 26.

"We're trying to honor his legacy. We're not trying to liquidate it," said Michelle Kazarian, whose father, Michael Halberian, lived in the mansion his whole life until he died at age 83 in December.

A majority of the items from the mansion are Halberian's. However, there are a few Steinway family heirlooms for sale, including a marble bust of Johanna Steinway from the 19th century.

The Steinway Mansion was originally a summer home for the Steinway family of piano manufacturers, but has been owned by the Halberian family since 1924.

Officials with the piano maker said Halberian made the mansion accessible to the public and surprised visitors with his "vast collection of museum-quality" items.

"Mr. Halberian had a unique appreciation for history and items of historical value," said Anthony Gilroy, a spokesman for Steinway & Sons, still based in Astoria.

Kazarian said she selected the Capo Auction House because of owner Michael Capo's ability to keep the hundreds of items together and his knowledge of antiques.

They also found an ancient voodoo mask in the attic.

If you were able to have toured the Steinway Mansion, consider yourself lucky because most, if not all, of the pieces within will likely never seen by the public again. And that's just sad.

Halloran playing games with Whitestone rezone?

From the NY Post:

"Unfortunately, many Italian-Americans in my district get painted with a very broad brush," [Halloran] said during a closed-door meeting last month with concerned civic groups.

He conceded Franco, a construction and catering entrepreneur, may "know people."

What Halloran didn't say was that Franco, 58, a Flushing native, was fingered as a soldier in the Gambino crime family by the FBI in a 1998 hearing about his brother, Salvatore, a former asphalt workers' union president.

Their late uncle, Giuseppe "Joe" Arcuri, was a mob captain who helped run the family while godfather John Gotti was in jail, testified former agent Bruce Mouw, who led the FBI's Gambino squad.

Franco is "a Gambino soldier for the rest of his life," insisted a law-enforcement source who said Franco is more involved in white-collar high jinks than any thuggery.

Sid Davidoff, Franco's lawyer, said his client is no gangster and has "never been accused of anything, including a parking ticket."

But the reputation of Franco's previous joint, Caffe on the Green in Bayside, isn't so savory.

In 1992, Franco won the Parks Department concession to run the restaurant in a historic Queens mansion on the edge of Clearview Park. Ten years later, a patron was shot there in an apparent mob rubout attempt. In 2003, an alleged wiseguy and his wife were charged with a hate crime after attacking an Asian woman there.

In 2008, an audit by the city comptroller found that Franco cheated the city out of more than $120,000 in proceeds from tips and party deposits.

The city stripped Franco of his contract, but he never paid up the missing funds, said mayoral spokesman Jason Post.

From the Queens Chronicle:

Opposition to expansion plans for the White House restaurant in Whitestone is growing, with area residents saying they were deliberately misled that the application was going to be withdrawn. But who did the misleading?

Following approval earlier this month by Community Board 7 on the plan to upzone the area surrounding the restaurant at 10-24 154 St., the proposal went on to the Borough President’s Office. The hearing was last Thursday, but the evening before members of the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Civic Association were erroneously notified that the developer was pulling the application.

Marlene Cody, a vice president of the civic group, said she was told by a staff member of Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) that he was notified by the developer’s attorney, Steve Sinacori, that the plan was off the table. “We had a lot less people go to the borough president’s hearing because of it,” Cody said. “I feel he [Sinacori] lied.”

The attorney denied the charge.

Halloran’s spokesman, Steven Stites, said Monday that the councilman expected the plan to be pulled and was just as surprised as residents to find out it wasn’t.

But on Tuesday Stites said that there was more to the issue and asked that Halloran elaborate. In a telephone interview, the councilman called it a miscommunication with the civic association. “They misunderstood my message,” he said.

Halloran said he told members at a meeting last week that he wanted the item pulled from the borough calendar this month, but found out later it was too late. “I told them that they don’t need to go in droves to the borough president’s hearing because even if she approves it, I won’t as the sitting councilman for the area,” he said. “I promised them that I would remove the two houses on the block for the upzoning. I gave them my word that the council member carries the day.”

From the Queens Ledger:

In his letter, Halloran wrote that he still supports the redevelopment of the restaurant site but won't vote for the project in its current state.

“To reiterate, I support the redevelopment of the White House Restaurant site, but I do not support, and will not vote for, the rezoning of the residential properties located on this block,” read the letter.

In an interview, Halloran said that he still believes that the best way to accomplish that is by upzoning the site. Opponents of the project have suggested that rather than upzoning the property the owner should apply for a variance, but Halloran argued that would put too much oversight in the hands of the Board of Standards and Appeals, which would make the final decision.

“At least with an upzoning there would be a greater degree of control,” said Halloran, referring to the fact that the City Council would make the call on any rezoning.

But Paul Graziano, an independent urban planning consultant, said that in most cases a variance offers greater certainties that a rezoning can't guarantee.

“With a variance, the developer can't deviate from the terms of the variance,” he said. "However, with a rezoning it doesn't matter what plans have been shown to the community, after the rezoning a developer can do whatever they want, as long as it is by law."

Photo from the Daily News

9/11 bureaucracy still in business

From the NY Post:

I am advocating that the mayor, who controls half of the LMDC board, use his clout to secure half of the remaining LMDC war chest ($350 million) to be used to keep New York safe and secure over the next five years.

Despite the fact that there has been no successful terrorist attack on our city in the last nine years, New York clearly remains the No. 1 target for terrorists. The May 1, 2010, attempted car bombing in Times Square illustrates this.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has said there have been 11 failed terrorist plots against our city since 9/11. Continuing staff cuts to the NYPD and FDNY are a clear threat to public safety.

In February, Mayor Bloomberg reduced staffing levels on FDNY companies to save about $15 million a year. He has once again proposed closing 20 fire companies effective July 1 to save another $30 million, while the NYPD head count has been reduced by over 6,000 officers.

Crime statistics are rising in the wake of these cuts, and the mayor’s February staffing reductions have already left hundreds of families homeless and led to unnecessary fire deaths.

By simply earmarking $70 million per year for the next five years from the LMDC, the city can put more police officers on the street and keep firehouses fully staffed and open. This infusion of cash for public safety will ensure that New York remains the safest large city in America. Safety and security are the main ingredients for a strong and thriving economy. This is a smart investment at this time that will pay dividends for New York and its taxpayers.

For the life of me, I can't understand why NYC continually bleeds its first responder agencies dry. FDNY, EMS, NYPD, etc., should have the most money spent on their needs, should have the most personnel, and should have the most up-to-date, functional equipment. The city will certainly head down the crapper if there is no money for basic emergency services. No one wants to see headlines like this one or worry what will happen in the event of a large scale emergency (like the tornado/microburst or the Dec 26th snowstorm). Stop spending money on tweeding programs and losing out on revenue by providing developer tax breaks which only serve to overwhelm the systems in place and instead focus on crime and fire prevention.

City employees' fines are past due

From the NY Post:

City Hall is hunting down municipal employees who aren't paying their parking tickets -- 4,600 deadbeats with 12,000 outstanding tickets worth a total of $1.6 million -- in one of the biggest crackdowns in years, The Post has learned.

The city Finance Department intends in the next few months to garnishee the wages of evasive employees who have failed to heed the recent warnings they received from their own commissioners to pay up.

In the last sweep, in 2002, the city went after the paychecks of only 750 employees.

"No one likes fines. But people who don't pay the city are hurting the vast majority of New Yorkers who do," Finance Commissioner David Frankel told The Post yesterday.

After agency heads fired off warning memos in December, the city recovered $600,000 in outstanding fines from 2,600 workers who paid 5,600 tickets, according to agency data.

But 4,600 delinquents -- representing every city agency and averaging $350 in individual ticket debt -- remain.

Is anyone surprised?

From CBS 2:

Angry residents are suing City Hall, and in a first of its kind action, are demanding that a judge order the controversial Prospect Park West bike lane ripped out. They claim the Department of Transportation falsified its information.

Residents, who include former DOT commissioner Iris Weinshall, also claim the agency is in cahoots with pro-bike lobbyists to go after lane opponents.

Through a Freedom of Information Act suit they obtained what they call “stunning” e-mail communications between Ryan Russo, the DOT’s director of street management, and a bike lobbyist.

On June 21, 2010, Russo told the lobbyist: “There are enough important people talking to other important people for me to worry and to require neutralizing.”

The lobbyist offers a proposed counter-flyer and directs Russo to a blog in which the lobbyist called bike lane opponents: “shameless, selfish pigs” and “complete [expletive] troglodytes.”

And he also writes on the blog: “If they won’t shut up and they can’t be ignored, then they need to be publicly disgraced every time they pop their heads up.”

Russo called the comments “very enjoyable.”

From the Daily News:

According to court papers, when DOT proposed the lane to Community Board 6 in April 2009, the department reported there had been 58 crashes on Prospect Park West and side streets from 2005-07 - proving a need for so-called traffic calming. That number was inflated; a more honest accounting wouldn't have included 12 accidents that did not occur on the thoroughfare.

Oops.

The plaintiffs allege more shenanigans: At a followup meeting six months after the bike lane was installed last June, transportation officials declared the path a rousing safety success.

How? They used a three-year average culled from the second halves of 2007, 2008 and 2009 - purportedly showing a decline in the number of accidents from 29.7 to 25 in the second half of 2010.

That was heavy spin - papering over a jump in accidents from 22 in late 2009 to 25 in late 2010.

Why didn't DOT present the raw numbers? Because they didn't help make the case for the lane?

Double oops.

Then there's this. According to the complaint, back in 2007, worried about speeding cars on Prospect Park West, the agency changed the timing of traffic lights to slow vehicles from 30 mph to 20. Crashes dropped from 29 in 2007 to 23 in 2008 to 14 in 2009, and the number of injuries fell as well.

Both those numbers went up after the bike lane, justified by Sadik-Khan on grounds that it would make the roadway safer for all, was installed.

Triple oops.

Another Gang of Four member to bite the dust

From NY1:

State Senator Carl Kruger is expected to turn himself into authorities Thursday on unspecified charges brought forth by the U.S. attorney's office, sources tell NY1.

The veteran Brooklyn lawmaker and the former finance chairman of the state Senate has been implicated in an FBI influence peddling probe since 2008.

Kruger's surrender comes a week after a Brooklyn restaurant owner pleaded guilty in federal court that he lied to an undercover FBI agent, who was investigating the lawmaker.

Michael Levitis had bureaucratic problems with his restaurant, and says the senator's longtime chief of staff encouraged him to give the senator a fundraiser a return.

Ok, so what was hovering over Brooklyn this weekend?

UFO Over Brooklyn?: MyFoxNY.com

 

Cop radios don't work underground

From AM-NY:

NYPD street officers are carrying radios that don’t work in the subway, making it impossible to call for help. The city has spent 15 years and millions of dollars trying to resolve the problem, but it’s still unclear when it might be fixed.

“Not being to communicate in this day and age is ludicrous,” said Nicholas Casale, a retired NYPD detective and the MTA’s former Deputy Director of Security for Counterterrorism. He pointed to Madrid and London as examples of transit hubs increasingly becoming terrorism targets.

In NYC, transit police can radio one another, but they can’t talk to street-level officers, who use a different frequency. To bridge the communication divide, the MTA and NYPD agreed in the mid-1990s to create a uniform radio network in the subway using above-ground frequencies.

But after spending $144 million in transit funds, only an FDNY network has been established.

The multiple police frequencies technically are trickier to resolve, and the project has been beset with numerous technical issues, mainly audio interference, experts said.

The NYPD, the Transit Authority and City Hall have deflected responsibility. The mayor’s office referred requests for comments to the NYPD, which in turn directed questions to the MTA.

Chuck calls for crackdown on phony colleges

From CBS:

Five U.S. senators are calling for a federal crackdown on what they say are phony colleges handing out student visas to potential criminals and terrorists.

Sens. Diane Feinstein of California, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Bill Nelson of Florida and Charles Schumer of New York say the colleges are fronts for people who pay to illegally enter the United States.

The Democrats are calling on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security to share information that could help identify the fake colleges.

The senators note several of the Sept. 11 terrorists entered the United States on student visas. They also cite recent incidents in California and in Florida where schools have been accused of being involved in the illegal visa scheme.

The senators will ask the federal departments to determine “high-risk factors” within 90 days and conduct site visits at schools that show a high risk factor through data — or the lack of data — that legitimate schools must provide to the federal government. The senators also seek stiffer penalties for “sham universities” that engage in student visa fraud.

Illegal hostel shut down

From Brownstoner:

Earlier this year a tipster told us the big yellow house at 70 Lefferts was operating as a hostel; they've followed up to tell us it has been since vacated. DOB shows a partial vacate order and full stop work order for "illegally converted rooms into transient hostel without providing required means of egress, fire alarm."

Regulating airline worker "crash pads"?

From the Forum:

Flight attendant Denise Grant has slept in crash pads near JFK for the last 16 years and managed one in Kew Gardens for the past three. She said “hot beds”—shared bunks—are a way of life for many in the airline industry, and that most attendants and pilots have lived in bad crash pads—loud, crowded and dirty apartments.

The home Grant runs is clean and quiet and everyone has his or her own bed, she said. “When the owner decided they didn’t want to maintain the house anymore I knew that I didn’t want to give it up, so I offered to run it,” she said.

She said that crash pads—even those with up to 12 tenants—are important for pilots and flight attendants who commute—living in one state and stationed in another.

“We’re here maybe six or seven days a month, sometimes the house is almost empty,” Grant said. “If we had to pay for a hotel—you can’t get a hotel near the airport for less than $250 a night in New York, and even then they’re probably all full.”

Her apartment is listed on a website hosting crash pads listings: It’s a three bedroom with six or more roommates; there is cable, Internet and a full kitchen. According to the listing, all a flight crewmember would need is twin sheets and a towel. The monthly rent is $240.

When asked about the possibility of new regulations restricting the use of crash pads near JFK, Grant hesitated before saying, “I’m not sure I understand; why would anyone want to do that?”

The legislation passed by Congress this month calls on the FAA to issue new regulations dealing with pilot fatigue. While the bill calls on measures that limit flight and duty time, the recent ABC News reports reflect similar stories in the past, which have led city officials to shut down crash pads.

According to a New York City Building Department spokesperson, any residential building must have 80-square feet of space per person and is allowed to house three non-related residents and an owner.

City Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) spokesperson Eric Bederman said he was not aware of any complaints about crash pads, but added that the complaint would likely have to come from a tenant to reach the HPD.

A Walk Through Centreville

Click photo for story.

The greatest mystery I have ever come across in the area is "What the hell was this on Cohancy Street?":


Been in that condition for a decade or more.

Trash among us

From the Daily News:

An MS-13 gang member whooped it up, shouting "The beast has eaten!" after murdering a Queens man he mistook for a rival Blood, a government witness testified Thursday.

Julio Chavez is charged with emptying his revolver into Maurice Parker on May 18, 2007, in Flushing.

Chavez then hopped into a SUV, flashed gang signs and yelled in Spanish, former MS-13 gang member Jose Molina said in Brooklyn Federal Court.

" 'Yeah, homie, that's how you're supposed to do it,'" Chavez said, according to Molina. "'You see the blood coming out of his head?'"

Molina said Chavez then uttered, "The beast has eaten!"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Kazemi asked the witness to translate the meaning of Chavez's rant.

"That he had just given a soul to the devil," Molina said.

Parker, 21, was not a Blood and was mistakenly targeted because he had on red sweatshirt.

Chavez and other members of a Long Island-based MS-13 crew allegedly went hunting for a Blood to retaliate for an earlier stabbing.

Willets Point reality

What was promised in 2009:


Affordable housing!
Schools!
Shops!
Luxury Condos!
Convention Center!
Jobs!

What will actually be developed as of today:


Renderings courtesy of NYC Economic Development Corporation - click for larger versions

Shops!
Luxury Condos!
Hardly Any Affordable Housing!
No Schools!
No Convention Center!
Hardly Any Jobs!

Note that half of phase 1 is listed as a "buffer". So people will lose their property and their jobs for empty space that will likely become a parking lot for Shitty Field.

This is nothing more than a Wilpon-driven Citifield beautification project. The development is concentrated right across the street from the Mets' offices.

But we're going to pay for it.

As well as Claire's bridge to nowhere.

What Support?

To The Editor:

Concerning the proposed Willets Point project, Queens Tribune reporter Joseph Orovic in the Feb. 24 edition makes reference to the City's Economic Development Corporation's (EDC) claim the plan is "Rife With Support."

Other than support from real estate moguls, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and a few misguided politicians, the claim does not stand up to scrutiny. There is no support from the poor, the middle class or small businesses - all of whom are the backbone of this city.

The EDC hides the fact they are engaged in dismantling the more than a century old understanding that eminent domain deals with taking private property for a public purpose and not for a private developer. The EDC, complicit with its boss Mayor Bloomberg, has kept secret the taxpayer cost the developer will reap. If the sordid history of the influence politically and financially possessed by real estate interests is any indication, the taxpayer bill for direct and indirect aid will be enormous.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky is quoted as saying people speed up on the highway so as not to look at Willets Point. She is confused. What they do not look at is the proliferation of ecologically damaging advertising signs on the top of the Mets stadium. Stavisky also claims she "cringes" when she looks at Willets Point.

She apparently does not cringe when looking in the mirror and seeing a politician who for many years on the public payroll consistently defaulted in an obligation to correct the city's blatant failure to repair the Willets Point site. She does not cringe over the fact the proposed project will have destroyed hundreds of small businesses with thousands of their employees and dependents. She does not cringe over the fact she favors fat cat real estate interests over the little people. She does not cringe over the fact she has exhibited a complete lack of understanding of the time-honored concept that eminent domain should not be exercised for the benefit of private real estate interests, something a third grade elementary school civics class does understand.

Stavisky's support does not say much for this ill-advised taxpayer rip-off project.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Bringing BRT to Queens

From the Times Ledger:

As growing numbers of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island residents work outside Manhattan, thousands endure tough commutes to work on a transit system never designed for their trips, an urban think tank says.

“Fortunately, relatively inexpensive changes to the city’s bus system could plug many of the holes in the city’s existing transit network and vastly improve the quality of life of many working poor New Yorkers,” the Center for an Urban Future reported.

The New York City-based center said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should provide Bus Rapid Transit super express buses to connect the many areas between boroughs other than Manhattan. The BRT buses would cost tens of millions of dollars as compared to hundreds of millions for new subway lines.

The BRT buses, in service in the Bronx and on Manhattan’s East Side, require paying before boarding through any door, offer other time-saving features and have BRT-only lanes that have been successful the world over.

But the center contended that few of the MTA’s recommendations for BRT service would solve the lack of inter-borough buses.

The report said, “Most of the low-income residents we interviewed rely on a bus to get out of their neighborhoods and they complain of multiple transfers and long, undependable commutes.”

“New York City’s transit system was not designed for commuter trips to jobs within and between boroughs outside of Manhattan and partly as a result, the city’s median commute times have been climbing for decades,” the report said.

The center found that the commute times are among the highest in any large American city, ranging from 52 minutes each way in Brooklyn to 69 minutes each way in Staten Island.

Best coverage of lame press conference

From the Queens Tribune:

The work depicts a cherub-faced, nearly-naked man who oddly resembles actor Matt Damon standing victorious over vice and corruption, as embodied by two strange siren/mermaid hybrids, their faces and bodies crumpled in visible agony...

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens) and Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) held a tongue-in-cheek press conference damning the artwork as sexist and insensitive to women, calling for its sale via Craigslist.

"It's ugly and offensive today and we want it out of Queens," Weiner said. "It represents an eyesore. This statue is neither civil nor virtuous - and it's time for it to go."

But defenders of the statue lambasted the electeds' claims, criticizing their misinterpretation of an artistic work. More than differing interpretations, some outlined a notable point: after having laced history books with notorious surnames like Donald Manes, Alan Hevesi, Brian McLaughlin, Anthony Seminerio and Hiram Monserrate, maybe a sculpted rock is the closest Queens can come to actual civic virtue.

OH YEAH!

And our old friend Sergey weighed in on the controversy:

To The Editor:

With an ongoing recession and a civil war brewing in Libya, it was unbelievable to see my local congressman grandstanding before the press to remove "Triumph of Civic Virtue," the famed but neglected nude sculpture, from the lawn of Borough Hall. If Anthony Weiner had some appreciation of art history, he would understand that the image is an allegory, and not an endorsement of chauvinism. It is shameful enough to live in a borough where history is paved over by development and crumbling away in neglect.

Now, we have the forces of political correctness working to destroy our borough's history. The fact that the statue was designed by Frederick MacMonnies, sculpted by the Piccirilli brothers, and funded by a woman named Angelina Crane does not deter Weiner. Neither does the fact that my mother, who happens to be a woman and a voter, finds no offense with the statue, and is more offended by the ongoing recession and rising gas prices.

As an art educator, I tell my students that a monument serves as a physical link to the past, its ideas and its imagery. Even fascist, communist and Confederate monuments have much to teach us about the societies they represented, as opposed to a society that only cares about its own moment in the sun.

Perhaps some elected officials would prefer a rootless Queens, where a Flushing film palace is collapsing, space-age towers from the 1964 World's Fair are rusting, and an allegorical statue that condemns corruption is crumbling. I pray that Queens will be saved for future generations to cherish.

Sergey Kadinsky
Rego Park

Greenwood Cemetery has expressed interest.

And Weiner's proposal has made him look like an ass country-wide!

Truck causes Haz Mat situation in Malba

All of the pictures I sent you were taken tonight March 6th, 8PM, as another Tractor Trailer attempted to turn onto our small residential street. This driver struck the hydrant, and ruptured his gas tank as his cab completely jumped the sidewalk spilling Diesel fuel all over the street. According to witnesses he then attempted to back out of the block. What if the hydrant was a person? or worse, a Child? HE ATTEMPTED TO BACK UP? IN ESSENCE RUNNING THE BODY OVER AGAIN?

Now tragedy was averted this time as it was only a hydrant. It did however become a HAZ MAT CONDITION which the Fire Department handled quickly (Albeit a Haz Mat condition of this magnitude should not be occurring on a 24 ft wide residential street, especially when we forewarned them over and over). Our organization has been trying to get our dangerous street converted into a one way westbound in order to avoid such happenings.

Today a Hydrant, tomorrow ? Yet if you ask Maura McCarthy of Queens DOT the traffic on 5 th avenue is not a safety issue, it is just a mere inconvenience. You look at these pictures and tell me, is it an inconvenience or a tragedy waiting to happen? Gene Kelty Community Board 7 chairman claims that his other group, Boosters Beach is against the change as it would be an inconvenience.

This is not the first time a Tractor Trailer has turned on our residential street, along with the scores of box trucks, on top of the 107 cars per hour all day every day (As per DOT traffic survey). For FIFTEEN YEARS the Malba Gardens Civic Association has been fighting to make this street safe for the residents, especially the 18 children under the age of 16 living on the first block of 5th avenue alone.

The Hydrant was destroyed today, LET US NOT ALLOW A FAMILY TO BE DESTROYED TOMORROW.

MAKE 5TH AVENUE A ONE WAY WESTBOUND TOWARD THE BRIDGE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.


Some of our members, while reading the Whitestone Times, almost fell off their chairs.

The following is a direct quote in the paper about the one way story in the paper about 11th and 12th avenues.

“I don’t like one-way streets, but my feeling is if it provides safety for the people, makes plenty of room for the cars to travel and maximizes parking, then I am in support of it,” Kelty said.

I guess that goes for everyplace other than 5th avenue in Whitestone. Converting 5th avenue into a One Way Westbound (which is what the residents want) would not provide for safety of the people, make plenty of room for the cars to travel, maximize parking, (Heck they could even put in bike lanes)? This is exactly what we have been saying! For the past 15 years its residents have been requesting this change, demanding this change.

What is going on here?

MALBA GARDENS CIVIC ASSOCIATION