Widespread parking placard abuse

From the Daily News:

An Inspector General probe found widespread misuse of police parking placards by lawmakers and other state officials, the Daily News has learned.

Inspector General Ellen Biben, who launched the probe at Gov. Cuomo's request, will call for major changes in the way the parking passes are distributed, a source close to the probe told The News.

Thousands of placards stating a vehicle is on "official police business" have been issued by the state Department of Homeland Security - but distributed throughout the government.

Some go to the state police - others to the Office of Court Administration.

But many wind up in the hands of lawmakers and state officials who are not in law enforcement - and have no reason to be on official police business.

According to sources, the parking cheats include:

- Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Queens), who told The News on Tuesday the placards were traditionally handed out as a courtesy to senators.

- Waterfront Commissioner Ronald Goldstock - caught by The News using the official police placard while teaching a class on corruption at New York University Law School.

- Two Division of Parole officials who were on long-term leave.

- The Department of Environmental Conservation for giving a placard to an unpaid rabbi - former state police rabbi Bernard Freilich.

Biben also found that some people gave the placards to friends.

From the NY Times:

Cuomo administration officials announced on Thursday that they would sharply reduce the number of police parking placards handed out each year in an effort to crack down on abuses by state officials.

The new policy would strip state lawmakers, commissioners and other nonpolice personnel of state parking placards bearing the words “Police Vehicle Identification,” hundreds of which had been handed out annually with little oversight, according to the state inspector general, and in some cases abused by the bearer.

The total number of police placards handed out would be cut from 1,730 last year to 261 this year. In the future, the officials said, the State Police would handle distribution of police placards, which will be assigned only to members of that agency and other state employees with statutory police powers, like investigators with the office of the attorney general or police officers working under the department of environmental conservation.

Community Boards are "just advisory"

From The Brooklyn Paper:

The City Council voted last week to rezone a vacant Wythe Avenue lot in Williamsburg, paving the way for a new six-story apartment complex near S. Second Street that will includes the latest clubhouse of Manhattan tastemaker Taavo Somer, co-owner of the Lower East Side restaurant Freeman’s and West Village hangout The Rusty Knot.

The Council’s nod is a reversal of the community board’s recommendation to reduce the number of units on the site. Borough President Markowitz and the City Planning Commission had signed off on the plan, which will include two buildings, one with 59 market-rate units and the other containing 18 below-market rate units.

So much for the dorm

From the Daily News:

An industrial building in Long Island City that was on track to become a dorm for graduate students could now turn into a satellite campus for a university.

Alma Realty, which recently purchased the five-story vacant building at 30-30 Northern Blvd. for $21.5 million, is in talks to develop the property into a campus, said officials for Greiner-Maltz, which brokered the deal.

A university has expressed interest in developing 400,000 square-feet into classroom and auditorium space, said John Maltz, president of Greiner-Maltz.

North 30 Associates LLC., which sold the property in January, had planned to build a 19-story, 900-room, state-of-the-art dorm. Community Board 1 gave a thumbs-up in May for the project, but the company decided instead to use its money to develop residential buildings in Manhattan, Greiner-Maltz officials said.

Alma Realty officials declined to confirm whether the company was in talks with a university and would only say there are no set plans to build anything yet.

Locals who were anticipating the economic boom the dorm would have brought said they are still hoping that whatever moves in will benefit the neighborhood.

Looks like EDC needs to update their website. Also find it interesting how their touting Jerry Wolkoff's 5 Pointz redevelopment, even though his building has all those violations...

Fate of St. John's Queens Hospital is sealed

SJQH Proposed Certificate of Occupancy
75 units plus a mall and diagnostic facility but parking for only 18 cars? Sounds about right...

Thank goodness. I was concerned they may put another hospital here! Our poor showing in the census proves that we need more people, not more health care.

What goes on at "Manhattan Avenue Park"?

Miss Heather sent over these photos of a park at the end of Manhattan Avenue at Newtown Creek. It's interesting the things people leave behind.
A suitcase and a pair of jeans.
A jacket, packet of cigarettes and a water bottle.
Cans of Cobra Beer.
And a really nasty loogie.

Don't dare call her ma'am!

From the NY Times:

The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, on Wednesday lashed out at a reporter for The Daily News who did not invoke Ms. Quinn’s proper title when asking her a question.

The reporter, Erin Einhorn, referred to Ms. Quinn as “Ma’am” in asking the speaker about her efforts to improve the city’s response to snowstorms.

But Ms. Quinn was none too pleased with Ms. Einhorn, who earned the speaker’s scorn recently with a series of articles that were critical of the Council.

“You can call me Speaker,” Ms. Quinn said in a testy tone. “It’s my press conference. I actually decide what words are necessary.”

Ms. Quinn quickly apologized to Ms. Einhorn on Wednesday, saying that she should not have used a public forum to express her anger over a personal issue.

“I was nasty to you,” Ms. Quinn said. “I apologize.”

Mr. C. still not cooperating

From Beehive Hairdresser:

We already knew that the construction has begun to undermine the neighboring foundation by way of attaching the new structure illegally to the original neighboring structure, but now water damage is also doing so. Check out that hole!

All that we can say about this whole sordid mess is that enough is enough. The New York City Department of Buildings, the courts, and our local elected officials need to grow a set of balls and force the ILLEGAL and DANGEROUS construction to be torn down, removed once and for all and then give the bill to the Mr. Cunningham.

Does someone need to be killed by the goon who is so full of hate as to build such a monstrosity? And does a partial building collapse need to happen before something of actual significance gets done to remedy this HORRIFIC and UNSAFE situation?

See previously: Mr. Cunningham, tear down this wall!

New parking ticket rules proposed

From Fox 5:

The city issues about nine million citations a year, making parking tickets a $100 million business.

The City Council is introducing legislation that would stop the so-called gotcha ticketing. Council members held a hearing Tuesday on the legislation.

The bills would require the city to post temporary parking changes online and allow ticket agents to rip up the tickets at the muni meter if someone is in the process of feeding the meter. As the law stands now, once an agent starts writing a ticket he or she is not allowed to stop.

The NYPD does not supporting a change in the law because police officials say it would invite confrontation.

From the Daily News:

A Brooklyn City Councilman is going after the hated neon shame stickers slapped on cars parked on the wrong side of the street.

"It's a pretty punitive form of punishment. I mean, what's next? We're going to start slashing people's tires when they don't park on the correct side?" said Councilman David Greenfield, who represents parking-starved Borough Park and Midwood.

Greenfield plans to introduce legislation tomorrow that would abolish the hard-to-remove green stickers that sanitation agents paste on errant cars that violate alternate side parking rules.

"First of all, it's a safety hazard," Greenfield said. "How the heck are you supposed to drive and look out your window when you got this big thing stuck there? Second, it's punitive. And, third we have very fundamental principle of justice in this country that you're innocent until you're proven guilty and these people are not prove guilty."

Who cleans the pigeon poop?

More cars blocking sidewalks

From Douglaston Patch:

Community Board 11 members are complaining that auto dealers along Northern Boulevard have been parking their merchandise along sidewalks in Bayside.

Board member Henry Euler said he has noticed vehicles parked along the sidewalk near the Clearview Expressway service road, forcing pedestrians to step into the road.

“People have to walk out into the street on the Clearview,” he said during CB 11’s monthly board meeting last night. “It’s dangerous and it’s got to stop.”

Bill Conway, of the 111th Precinct’s community affairs department, said police officers cannot ticket the auto dealers unless the vehicles on the sidewalks have license plates.

“We cannot write summonses to vehicles without license plates,” he said. “We can operate an aggressive towing operation, but we can’t do it on the fly.”

Conway said the precinct is keeping its eye on the auto dealers and that a future towing operation is a possibility.

Piled high and deep off Ditmars

21-60 33rd Street.
A bunch of 2-story buildings were torn down to make way for this. What it will end up being, I am not sure.
It says all this, which adds up to 21 residential units, but then there's this from City Planning's map, which says 28 residential units:

Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Another car crash at Queens Plaza

From Fox 5:

A car slammed into a store in Long Island City on Wednesday just over one week after a similar incident in the same location.

Two people were seriously injured at around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the driver of a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta driving Queens-bound on the lower level of the Queensboro Bridge lost control and crashed into a building at Crescent Street and Queens Plaza, said police.

The 39-year-old driver was arrested at the scene. Charges are pending. EMS officials told FOX 5 News that the driver suffered a partial arm amputation. He was taken Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.

A 40-year-old passenger suffered head trauma, police said. She was taken to New York Cornell Hospital in critical condition.

The outer roadway to the Queensboro Bridge was closed.

Channel 11 enters Triangle hell

$300M down the drain, people evicted for nothing?

From Fox 5:

The Atlantic yards complex that will become the new home for the NBA's Nets could be a lot smaller than originally planned.

The developer had promised 16 residential and office buildings, affordable housing, and recreational facilities along with the stadium.

Much of that vision is on the chopping block. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by developer Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Enterprises show that much of the project could be scrapped because of money problems.

Union-busting homeless men set to invade LIC

"Dear Crappy,

I'm pretty much of the mind this is a fait accompli. Nonetheless, I imagine some folks in LIC would be VERY interested to know they'll be getting some new neighbors soon...

Fresh Direct has been busted for hiring illegal immigrants; now they're endeavoring to bust unions by hiring men from homeless shelters. A Department of Homeless Services representative at one of the prior Town Hall Meetings said the residents of 400 McGuinness would be expected to work and that Fresh Direct was one such employer.

In other words: 400 McGuinness will be a nice dormitory for that nice big Fresh Direct depot on Borden Avenue. In Queens." - anonymous

In a nutshell, an outfit is opening a new homeless shelter in Greenpoint and shipping their residents (who by and large are not Greenpointers) to LIC. I can just hear those property values crashing now!

Maybe if the unions got their collective heads out of Walmart's ass for a minute, they would wake up and realize that the rug's being pulled out from under them at Fresh Direct...

Why would Toby propose this?

Toby Stavisky proposes a phrase translation pamphlet for English-speaking shoppers to use while in Flushing (instead of requiring adequate signage in English).

So in America, we're expected to accept non-English signage throughout an entire neighborhood, AND spend tax $$$$$ to produce and distribute pamphlets so that we may have some chance to understand another language? Moreover, how would such a translation pamphlet actually work, as the Asian symbols do not correspond at all to the Latin alphabet and a user of the pamphlet would not readily be able to locate "alphabetized" Asian symbols/phrases? Can Stavisky actually be this brain-dead?

Here is the article from the Queens Courier.

"At a meeting in January, Meng, Councilmember Peter Koo and State Senator Toby Stavisky proposed a shopper’s guide with translations of common phrases in Chinese, Korean and Hindi. The pamphlet was originally proposed by Stavisky’s late husband, former State Senator Leonard P. Stavisky."

A crap above: Astoria edition

Here we are at the corner of 37th Street and Astoria Blvd South. Looks like a 2-story commercial/residential combo.
And this is what it looks like now. DOB shows the work being done to 37-02 Astoria Blvd South will add 4 stories and convert it into some kind of medical building. Yeah, okay.
Last month, they received DOB and ECB violations for work not conforming to approved plans. Yet there's no stop work order presently in effect. What a surprise!
Previously, they actually violated a stop work order.

I'm sure our future district attorney/borough president is on top of this one.

Hefty lefty wants to ban Happy Meal toys

From the Daily News:

A rotund city councilman who admits his eating habits are off the scales wants to make kids' fast food meals less happy and more healthy.

"I am an example," said Comrie, who refused to say how much he weighs but is thought to be over 300 pounds. "If you look at me. I enjoy fast food and unhealthy eating."

The Queens councilman on Wednesday will press the Fast Food Toy Ban Bill, which limit any meal that comes with a toy to under 500 calories.

That could mean some heavy changes for the big name chains.

Any restaurant caught hawking toys with crappy food would face fines ranging from $200 to $2,500 - the penalty increasing for repeat offenders.

Is this guy for real?

From Crains:

The topic of whether New York City has been shortchanged by the 2010 census is certainly a hot button issue. The mayor continues to insist the census takers missed as many as 200,000 residents because they could neither count people in apartment buildings nor find immigrants who had no interest in being enumerated.

Now comes a very provocative piece by Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, an expert on cities, which suggests the Bureau of the Census might be right.

Mr. Glaeser, in a piece on The New York Times' Economix blog, looked at the number of new housing units created in the city in the last decade. He notes that despite the supposed building boom, New York added only 170,000 new housing units in the 2000 decade, an increase of 5.3%.

Typically, he adds, population growth lags the number of new housing units by a couple of percentage points because household size is shrinking. He finds lots of evidence to support the idea that growth is in line with housing creation, which means the less-than-expected 2.1% increase is on the mark.

If true, the Bloomberg administration should start doing some hard thinking. In part, the housing shortfall is the result of the financial crisis that delayed major development initiatives at Atlantic Yards, Hudson Yards, Coney Island and Willets Point, to name only a few. The administration is not responsible for that.

Other administrations, however, would be considering measures to spur more construction, as Ed Koch did in the early 1980s. So far, the administration isn't interested in that approach; maybe it is time for a change in plan.

Why would we need more construction if many of the already built units are sitting empty? Why are taxpayers expected to foot any of the bills for Atlantic Yards, Hudson Yards, Coney Island and Willets Point - all private developments? How about tax incentives to get people to stay here instead of for developers who help drive them out?

What a joke: crooks investigating other crooks

From the Daily News:

The City Council's ethics committee has launched an inquiry into two criminal cases filed against Councilman Ruben Wills first exposed by the Daily News.

"The Committee on Standards and Ethics met this week and opened a matter regarding the pending misdemeanor charges" against Wills, said Jamie McShane, spokesman for Speaker Christine Quinn.

McShane said Quinn's review was ongoing and noted that the ethics committee's inquiry into Wills' misdemeanors would be held "in abeyance" until the charges are resolved in court.

The chairwoman of the ethics committee is Inez Dickens, who was featured in The News' series for housing and building code citations against apartment buildings she owns.

No lulus for Tony

From the Daily News:

Avella's office says he's going to pass up the $9,500 committee-leadership stipend (known in AlbanySpeak as a "lulu") he's entitled to receive (at our expense) as ranker on the Senate's Cities and Environmental Conservation Committees.

"The distribution of lulus is just another anti-good government practice in desperate need of reform," said Avella, who joins Manhattan Senate colleague Liz Krueger in turning down the dough.

Triangle hell: 3rd time's a charm?

Back in September 2010, I told you the tale of the DOT triangle project at 64th Street and Flushing Avenue in Maspeth that had to be redone because trucks that were being discouraged from traveling through the intersection were having a hard time turning (yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense). Well, the trucks are still having a hard time turning, so that hasn't changed. The streets were changed from thru to local truck routes on March 25, 2011, but NYPD failed to enforce the new regs as promised because they said DOT's new signs weren't noticeable enough (yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, either).
Here we are 7 months later and the triangle is being redone YET AGAIN because the contractor poured faulty concrete that needs to be replaced.
Just thought you'd all like to see your tax dollars at work.

Biologist to monitor garbage gulls

From the Queens Gazette:

Newly-released records indicate the city Department of Sanitation (DOS) is spending $700,000 over the next four years to hire a wildlife biologist to monitor seagulls and other birds that could interfere with air traffic around LaGuardia Airport after construction of a new marine trash transfer station near the East Elmhurst airport.
City records indicate the money will pay for services provided by a biologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Administration officials say the transfer station on the College Point waterfront will not present a hazard to LaGuardia Airport because the facility will be fully enclosed. Officials said trash would also be fully enclosed when it is transferred to the station via barge, thus eliminating any bird threat to the airport.

A 2010 federal study into the bird issue agreed that the transfer station would not pose a hazard to LaGuardia, but recommended that the city hire the wildlife biologist to manage the gulls and other birds that would likely gather there.
–Liz Goff

Small plane lands on Rockaway Beach

From Fox 5:

A single-engine aircraft landed safely in the Rockaway surf near Beach 56 Street.

It happened Monday at 7:05 p.m.

SkyFoxHD showed images of the plane pointed toward the land with the surf covering the wheels of the plane.

The pilot and two passengers on board were not hurt. NYPD Aviation and Harbor Units responded to the scene. The cause of the mishap is under investigation.

Police said the plane took off from Farmingdale, N.Y. on Long Island and was headed west. The destination was not immediately known.

How did DSNY not notice this?

Remember those 2 WPIX news stories about the junked cars on Flushing Avenue? I found out this is what preceded them...

On Mar 28, 2011, at 12:33 PM, Dom Dale wrote:

Mr. Holden;

I received the following email from DSNY:

"On Friday March 25th Supv Ohanlon of Sanitation District Queens West 5 visited American Auto and found area clean, with no cars illegally parked. He also spoke to owner and instructed him to keep area clean. Local District Supervisions will monitor the location."

Should you need anything further do not hestitate to contact me.

Dom

March 31, 2011
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
64-77 Dry Harbor Road
Middle Village, NY 11379
Att: Dominic Dale

Dear Mr. Dale,

I visited Flushing Avenue (near 59th St) with Tony Nunziato yesterday (March 30th, about 1pm) and found quite the opposite of what DSNY reported (below). Since I don't expect you to take my word on the mess at Flushing Avenue nor do I expect you to take the word of the many residents who have been complaining about the situation for years, I'm once again submitting photographic evidence of the illegal conditions there.

The streets are filled with wrecked autos, many without license plates. American Collision repair vehicles are parked on the sidewalk on a daily basis and their tow trucks are actually blocking a street, most of the time during overnight hours.

American Collision is also still parking their trucks and wrecks on the island triangle there.

Councilwoman Crowley's office and the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit promised back in 2009 to address the situation. The residents are still waiting.

Robert Holden
President
Juniper Park Civic Association, Inc.
PO Box 790275
Middle Village, NY 11379
718-651-5865
www.junipercivic.com

Illegal alien found guilty of cop shootings

From the Queens Gazette:

A Queens jury last week convicted an illegal immigrant who shot two police officers and tried to shoot a third officer inside a Queensbridge subway station three years ago.

Raul Nunez, 35, a native of the Dominican Republic, was found guilty of two counts of attempted manslaughter, one count of assault and criminal possession of a weapon for an attack that forced one officer to retire at age 28 due to the severity of his injuries.

Trial testimony revealed that officers spotted Nunez at about 5:10 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2008 entering a turnstile at the 21st Street and 41st Avenue station in Long Island City using a student MetroCard.

NYPD Officers Jason Maass and Shane Farina stopped Nunez on the station platform and asked to see the MetroCard and his identification. When Nunez replied that he did not have identification, the officers cuffed his left wrist, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. Before the cops could cuff his right wrist, Nunez fought back and his actions forced Nunez and the two officers to tumble to the platform, where Nunez grabbed Maass’ 9mm handgun and shot both officers.

Law enforcement sources said Nunez now has no reason to fear he will be forced to leave the U.S. He faces more than 50 years in a New York state prison when he is sentenced on April 7.

Is this the Belt or the GCP?

A brief glimpse of what was then a progressive concept in transportation: a parkway. It doesn't look it, but it's located in Greater New York. My grandfather filmed these scenes in the 1940's. He didn't note the exact location, but it appears to be The Belt Parkway somewhere along Jamaica Bay in the Borough of Queens - or is it Grand Central Parkway near Willow Lake in Queens?

The black and white "mystery highway" appears to be in Queens also, or further out on Long Island. Grand Central Parkway, perhaps?

Robert W. Martens
March, 2011

We're getting zapped by the Feds

From the NY Post:

With the city expected to get zapped with a 12 percent electric bill increase starting next month, Mayor Bloomberg was furious with the feds over the increase and said it's coming at the wrong time.

The Post first reported today that starting May 28, households in the five boroughs will be socked with rate increases of up to 12 percent to run appliances -- after the feds decided that power companies needed an extra $500 million a year.

That's on top of another 4 percent state-OK'd Con Ed rate hike that kicks in today.

Next one arriving at 2:22!

"Someone may have missed their train but certianly hit their mark on the platform..." - The Flushing Phantom

Candidates spent matching funds on trips and parties

Queens does fraud well

From the Daily News:

Two Queens men were charged with defrauding banks of more than $10 million, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Manhattan federal prosecutors charged Christopher Cavounis, 30, and Jagdesh Cooma, 27, both of Fresh Meadows, with using shell companies and fake names to get loans and lines of credit.

During the scam, which lasted from 2009 to November 2010, the pair gave a bank employee a $135,000 bribe and threatened other bank employees with violence if they didn't get their money quickly, court papers charge.

From the NY Post:

Authorities say a man tried to illegally sell three Manhattan buildings that belong to somebody else — and got a $1.6 million down payment from a potential buyer.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says a criminal complaint names Kook Hee Nam, also known as David Nam. The charges include grand larceny, forgery and identity theft.

The buildings in question are on Seventh Avenue between 30th and 31st streets. Their owner says the defendant never had permission or authority to sell them.

The defendant allegedly produced a signed document while offering to sell all three buildings for a total of $6.5 million. The prosecutor says Nam accepted the down payment at his home in Queens.

Nam’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

Nasty behavior now commonplace

From the NY Times:

Since I moved to New York six years ago, I have toned my tolerance muscles. If I allowed myself to get cranky every time someone barreled down the wrong side of the sidewalk or had a way-too-personal phone conversation on the M15 bus, I’d be one unhappy New Yorker. But the one thing I still cannot abide in this city is spitting.

Just the other day — one of the few warm ones in late March — I was enjoying the freedom of walking outside coatless when a young man in front of me, nice looking enough in khakis and a polo shirt, turned his head to the side and let fly a spinning glob that landed dangerously close to my left shoe.

What is it with people who think it’s O.K. to work up a wad and hurl it in someone’s path? I know the subject is revolting, which underscores the need for people to shut it down already. You’ve seen it, the tell-tale splat on the sidewalk, bubbling, wet and freshly flung. It sits as an affront to living cooperatively. It’s a message from its source that says, “I am imposing my grossness on you because I had a personal need that was not at all urgent but nevertheless trumped courtesy and consideration.”

I have seen only one woman spitting in public since I moved here, and I think she may have had the flu.

Well then you must never have visited Flushing. There, spitting is just considered part of our vibrant, diverse culture. Enjoy.

Pete ready to lend himself to the rest of Queens

From the Daily News:

Term limits will force Vallone (D-Astoria) and much of the Council from their seats at the end of 2013. He has publicly mulled a run for the office of Queens Borough President, which will be open when Helen Marshall's term ends that same year.

It's also no secret that Vallone, a former assistant district attorney, is interested in running the Queens DA's office - if current DA Richard Brown ever retires.

"I love public service. It's in my blood," said Vallone, whose father, Peter, was the first Council speaker, and whose grandfather, Charles, was a judge. "I'm definitely considering a Queens-wide run."

Uh oh! Well he has no choice but to be a tweeder, considering that musical talent isn't in the family's blood. Take a listen to this, which BTW, cost developers and lobbyists almost $4000 a head:


Note brother Paul singing and playing tambourine... God help us all.

Schools still bursting at the seams

From the Daily News:

More than 3,100 kindergartners have been waitlisted at their local schools - almost 1,000 more than last year, new data released by the city Wednesday shows.

The biggest overcrowding problem is once again in Corona, Queens, but the upper East Side, West Side and downtown sections of Manhattan, as well as Brownstone Brooklyn, are also swimming in displaced kids.

Hmmm...I wonder why Corona. Oh wait, that's right, the majority of people who live there are illegals. And we build schools in other neighborhoods to accommodate them instead of in Corona, which makes lots of sense.

Sanitation cleans up cars after news report

From WPIX:

In Maspeth, city streets have been converted into a dumping ground of crashed cars.

On 59th street and Flushing Avenue, Tony Nunziato, a self-described Maspeth activist, says he’s fed up with an auto-body shop leaving busted up cars on the street.

Worse than just being an eyesore, Nunziato says that the broken-down vehicles are taking up parking spaces that the neighborhood could otherwise use.

"It’s the Wild West out here for garbage and wrecked cars. Why isn't the city doing something about this?" complained Nunziato who has called 311 for months.

Repeated attempts by PIX11 News, to speak with the owners of American Collision were denied.

A Department of Sanitation spokesperson confirms he spoke with the owner of American Collision and will be monitoring the situation closely.

Mexicans having a hard time

From the NY Times:

About 43 percent of all Mexican immigrant households are overcrowded, compared with an average of 15 percent of all immigrant households and 9 percent of households in the general population, according to the report, titled “Housing the City of Immigrants.” The study also finds that about 35 percent of Mexican households spend more than half their income on rent, compared with 26 percent of all immigrant households and 24 percent of all households combined.

The report suggests that the relatively poor housing experience of many Mexicans is a function in part of the population’s newness to New York and their low income levels.

Those immigrant groups that have been in the city for a longer period of time tend to have better access to subsidized and public housing, the report said. In addition, Mexicans, particularly men who have immigrated alone to the United States for work, will crowd apartments to save money, especially if they live in neighborhoods where affordable housing is scarce, scholars say.

Among its other intriguing observations, the report noted that while home ownership rose from one generation to the next — to 44 percent of all second-generation immigrant households from 31 percent of first-generation households — the increase was even sharper among low-income immigrants, rising to 34 percent among second-generation households from 17 percent among first-generation households.

While the authors did not suggest a reason for this difference, David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute, said it could partly reflect the fact that some low-income immigrants were “pushed prematurely into home ownership by predatory lending.”

Honoring a friend and his home

From the NY Times:

By 1997 Mr. Graziano was living with his parents, which proved fortunate for Mr. Bruce. After his wife died in 2006, he grew increasingly frail. His sons had long since moved away, and the house had become an obstacle course. With the approval of the sons, Mr. Graziano helped care for the older man, escorting him to doctors’ appointments and taking him out so he wouldn’t feel like a shut-in.

And partly because of a wide-ranging career in historic preservation and urban planning, Mr. Graziano had always admired his neighbor’s house. From 2007 to 2009 he served as president of the Historic Districts Council, a citywide organization whose focus is historic preservation. He works as a freelance consultant; his seven-page, single-spaced résumé, described as a “partial work history,” lists nearly 70 projects.

A year after Mr. Bruce died in January 2009 at age 95, Mr. Graziano bought the house, along with its contents, for $407,000. “Before he died, he made it clear to his sons that he wanted me to have the house, and for a reasonable sum,” Mr. Graziano said.

Even before he moved in last October Mr. Graziano had been working almost full time to clean and repair rooms that have sat untouched for decades.

Watch the video.

Bloomberg ads continue

From the NY Post:

For a guy who claims not to care about the polls, Mayor Bloomberg is spending a fistful of dollars -- perhaps $2 million -- to raise his sagging approval numbers by blaming the city's fiscal woes on Albany.

The mayor dipped into his very deep pockets for a massive direct-mail campaign aimed at boosting his standing among voters -- while blaming Albany for a new round of budget cuts he could propose as early as next month.

The move came days after launching a TV ad blitz at an estimated cost of $900,000.

"Albany's Budget Cuts Will Hurt Our Families. That's Why Mike Bloomberg Is Standing Up For Us," reads the flyer that landed in mailboxes yesterday.

One source put the price of that effort at close to $1 million.

South Jamaica downzoned

From GlobeSt:

A massive rezoning of 530 blocks in the South Jamaica section of Queens has cleared the next-to-last hurdle in the city’s public approvals process. The City Planning Commission voted Wednesday to approve the rezoning, the area’s first in 50 years and the Bloomberg administration’s largest to date.

The proposed rezoning would restrict multifamily development to the area’s major thoroughfares. The plan now goes to the New York City Council for approval.

Most of the buildings within the rezoning area consist of one- and two-family detached houses with small concentrations of one- and two-family semi-detached and attached houses, according to a City Planning overview. “Over the last several years, South Jamaica and its neighboring communities have experienced development pressure largely due to its outdated zoning which has remained unchanged since 1961,” the overview states. The existing zoning districts allow “a variety of housing types and densities that are inconsistent with the prevailing scale and built character of South Jamaica’s neighborhoods.”

The zoning would also establish moderate-density districts to encourage “appropriately-scaled” new housing and businesses along portions of wider corridors in the area, including Sutphin, Merrick and Rockaway boulevards. It would establish building height limits between 30 and 40 feet and also reduce the depths of the commercial overlays on these streets to prevent commercial uses from encroaching on residential blocks, according to City Planning.

Don't piss on borough hall!

From the parking garage at Queens Borough Hall.

Help for homeowners?

From the NY Post:

The government is looking to plug homeowners' biggest leaks.

The Department of Environmental Protection wants to know if plumbing companies would be willing to repair private water lines connected to city mains in exchange for low monthly insurance payments.

Last year, 3,508 unfortunate homeowners learned the hard way that they are responsible for fixing pipes hooked up to the city's system, even if the leak occurs in the middle of the street.

Those repairs now average a distressing $4,000 -- a big hit to most families' budgets.

But under an insurance system, which is currently in use in other cities, people would pay the plumbing company about $5 to $10 a month, and there would be no additional cost for a water-pipe fix.

The program would be completely voluntary. Right now, the city has only issued an RFEI -- request for expressions of interest -- to see if companies like the idea.

"Eighty percent of the leak calls we get, the homeowner ends up being responsible," noted DEP spokesman Farrell Sklerov.

Unfortunate headline-photo combo

FEMALE LEADERS IN QUEENS HONORED

That first female leader on the left could use a shave...

From the Times Newsweekly

Why you shouldn't litter

From Bayside Patch:

These photos were submitted by Cathy St. Pierre, who recently tried to help the unfortunate photographed mallard remove a plastic can holder from its head. The bird was "too shy," to let St. Pierre approach it, she said.

It resides in Oakland Lake.

Judge questions Willets Point eminent domain

From Crains:

The city's bid to redevelop Willets Point, Queens, hit a pothole Tuesday when a judge ordered the Bloomberg administration to show why she shouldn't revoke the go-ahead she granted last summer.

State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden had ruled that the project could proceed because the city promised not to condemn any land until it had approval for new Van Wyck Expressway ramps, which it had deemed essential to the project. But when state and federal approval of the ramps proved elusive, the city split the project into two phases and moved ahead with condemnations, arguing that the ramps were not required for Phase I.

But the administration failed to make that argument to the judge.

According to Michael Gerrard, the attorney for Willets Point property owners who object to the city's plan, the judge signed an order directing the city to explain why her order dismissing his lawsuit should not be vacated.