They really love paving stones

"It's amazing what you discover when you walk the dog.

And I am in wonder why I've never seen these violations before, but they appear to be springing up all over.
I've filed a half dozen on-line 311 / DOB complaints in the past 3 weeks.

Example. 141-18 Negundo Ave at Robinson.
Violation of the fence height restrictions and full paving of front and rear yards.

On the yardage paving matter we are reminded of the adopted yard texts of 2008 and the initiatives by City Council to make neighborhoods more greener, attractive and environmental sound. The full paving of yards converts otherwise pervious surfaces into impervious surfaces.

"Ensuring that residential developments throughout the five boroughs have adequate yards and green space is critical to creating a livable, sustainable city with a healthy environment and an improved quality of life," said Director Burden. "Landscaped surfaces will absorb storm water, cool the air and make neighborhoods more attractive places to live and raise a family."

City Council Zoning Sub-Committee Chair Tony Avella, who has opposed the paving over of front yards, stated, "Replacing greenery with concrete not only is an aesthetic issue, it also hurts the environment and overburdens the city sewer system. The Yards Text Amendment has other significant improvements to the zoning which will help to preserve the quality of life in low-density residential neighborhoods throughout the City."

Civic leaders should take an interests in the paving matter as many were involved in the development of the Yard Text Amendment proposal 6 years ago in the aftermath of a series of damaging storm water overflow and flood events across Queens.

Thank you." - anonymous

Forest Hills chicken is happy at farm

From DNA Info:

Queeny, the tiny hen who delighted Forest Hills residents for a year by prancing along 71st Avenue and Station Square, is thriving in her new home at an upstate farm animal sanctuary, the owner of the farm said.

“She lives the best life,” said Kurt Andernach, 50, of the 60-acre And-Hof-Animal Sanctuary in Catskill, N.Y., where Queeny was taken just before Hurricane Sandy.

Queeny, a Bantam Araucana hen who ate bagels and blocked traffic in Forest Hills, now hangs out with a flock of seven other chickens of the same breed. Among her "best friends" are two roosters, Henry and Herbert, and a hen named Silly, Andernach said.

Most of the Bantam chickens at the animal sanctuary were rescued from post offices, after the birds were injured during shipping or people who ordered them failed to pick them up, he said.

Queeny was taken upstate just before Hurricane Sandy hit, after a group of Forest Hills residents worried the chicken would not survive winter and the dangers of Queens traffic, and asked Andernach to take her in.

Sinkholes are still a problem in the Rockaways

From The Forum:

The re-emergence of a sinkhole and a water main break on Beach 84th Street near Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park – which rendered residents unable to use their tap water at the end of last week – has once again highlighted the need for the city to launch a comprehensive study of sewer infrastructure, and other flood mitigation issues, throughout South Queens and the peninsula, area leaders and residents said.

The water main break occurred during last week’s snowstorm late Thursday or early Friday, causing water to rush down a street that residents say is plagued by flooding issues and prompting the formation of a sinkhole in a driveway that was about three to four feet in circumference and about a foot and a half deep. The flooding impacted about 41 residences on a street where area residents stressed numerous children and families live.

Because of concerns over water quality, the city Department of Environmental Protection shut off the block’s water service while they tested it. Residents were permitted to once again use their water on Sunday.

“There are so many problems on that block – there are problems with heat; there are problems with sinkholes and flooding,” said Marissa Berkowitz, founder of the Rockaway’s Sandy Relief Free Flea Market, a group which she formed following last year’s hurricane to help residents with a wide variety of needs, including coordinating donations efforts to benefit storm victims. “People shouldn’t have to live like that.”

Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and Brett Scudder, a community activist whose family lives on Beach 84th Street, have praised the city DEP for responding to the problem immediately. Scudder also lauded Goldfeder, Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) for their help with coordinating efforts to address the flooding and sinkhole – which has been filled.

Still, while the problem was immediately addressed – and, Goldfeder stressed, during inclement winter weather, residents said flooding problems have long persisted throughout the Rockaways and South Queens – and have grown increasingly worse following Hurricane Sandy.

Abbracciamento's will close March 2nd

From Brownstoner Queens:

This news just in from Project Woodhaven’s Twitter: the restaurant Joe Abbracciamento at 62-96 Woodhaven Boulevard will close on March 2nd. The Rego Park restaurant serves Italian food and has mostly good reviews on Yelp. According to Project Woodhaven, Joe Abbracciamento is closing because the owners are retiring.

Whoa, here she comes

From the Politicker:

Manhattan Councilman Dan Garodnick has officially conceded the speaker’s race to his rival, Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Three weeks after Ms. Mark-Viverito declared victory and half an hour after the vote was set to take place, Mr. Garodnick released a statement throwing his support behind her.

“Today, that process comes to a conclusion, and in the spirit of strengthening the council, which animated my candidacy from the start, I now formally concede to the next speaker of the City Council, my colleague Melissa Mark-Viverito,” he said.

“I look forward to working with Speaker Mark-Viverito and to helping her to ensure that we can deliver a sound and responsible government for all New Yorkers,” he added. “I will do my part to resolve any rifts this process may have caused among our colleagues and am here to take any steps necessary to help move forward together.”

I wonder how the council members must have felt to have a candidate run unopposed.

From the Politicker:

Melissa Mark-Viverito held her first press conference as speaker of the City Council speaker this afternoon, where she brushed aside questions about her independence from the mayor and vowed to battle him on the front of member items.

“Those who continue to say that don’t know my track record of independence and a trajectory personally,” said Ms. Mark-Viverito in response to one reporter’s question on the topic. “We are a unified City Council. It’s gonna be a collective body, we’re gonna make decisions on the direction we want to go in.”

Clad in a white jacket and flanked by many of her long-standing backers, Ms. Mark-Viverito tried to demonstrate she would be an effective counterweight to Mayor Bill de Blasio–who played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in her ascension to the speakership–by noting her disagreements with him in the past.

“I have differences with the mayor … on many issues, including the five-borough taxi plan, the soda plan, discretionary allocations,” she said, ticking off policies. “I have a consistent record of being able to be very vocal on positions that I, when I arrive at a decision, and now decisions will be made collectively obviously with my colleagues and I will express that.”

In her first time in front of the city’s large press corps as speaker, Ms. Mark-Viverito was cautious. She often spoke in generalizations and, unlike her predecessor or Mr. de Blasio, declined to call on reporters herself, delegating a press aide to do so. She also refused to delve into specifics about her legislative agenda, other than to express objections to the mayor’s plan to eliminate the ability of council members to dole out discretionary funds, abused in the past by corrupt members.

So tweeding is here to stay. Got it.

Airport improvements on Cuomo's agenda

From the Wall Street Journal:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants the state to take over construction projects at LaGuardia Airport and Kennedy International Airport.

Cuomo made the announcement during his state of the state address in Albany Wednesday. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey runs the airports.

The governor said LaGuardia and JFK are busy but rate poorly in design and passenger experience.

He says the development of a new central terminal at LaGuardia has been "frozen in time."

He says both airports also need upgrades that will bring retail shopping, restaurants, on-airport hotels and free Wi-Fi.

He says he's planning to redevelop JFK's cargo capacity, which already supports about $6.3 billion in economic activity.

A spokesman for the Port Authority didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Church hopes to preserve slave burial ground

Aerial view of site of United African Society in 1924

From the Daily News:

A local church is hoping to preserve a long-forgotten burial ground for freed slaves that was discovered on the Elmhurst site where a five-story condominium building is slated to go up.

Leaders of the Saint Marks A.M.E. Church in Jackson Heights plan to meet on Thursday with the owners of the property, at 90-11 Corona Ave., to plead their case.

The church was founded in 1828 on the site of the burial ground as the United African Society. Over the years, the congregation’s name and location changed.

“The site is very significant because it is believed to be one of the first places where former slaves organized and started their own church,” said the church’s pastor Kimberly Detherage.

“In a time when people are tearing things down and building, it’s important to know our history,” she said.

The construction crew found the body of a woman in 2011 when a machine accidentally dredged up her iron casket as they were tearing down a decades-old warehouse. She is believed to have died in the 1850s.

“We dubbed her the Iron Lady,” said John Houston, owner of the Triboro Funeral Home, in Corona, where she is stored. “The body is so well-preserved they thought it was a [recent] murder.”

After the discovery, construction was halted and the owners of the site, 90 Queens Inc., hired an archeologist to research the burial ground. Bones of 15 more bodies were unearthed in October.

Houston said there’s no telling how many more are buried there.

The city issued a partial stop work order at the site, which is across the street from Newtown High School.

“We were never aware there was a graveyard there,” said the project’s construction manager, who declined to give her name. “We covered everything back and are talking to the Health Department to find out ... the proper way to [handle] this.”

The property owners did not immediately return calls.

Judge's decision on NYU expansion puts Willets Point project into question

From the Daily News:

New York University's $6 billion expansion plan all-but-collapsed Tuesday when a Manhattan judge ruled that construction cannot start unless the state legislature agrees that three tiny strips of city parkland can be used for the project.

“The legislature will never go for that,” Randy Mastro, the lawyer for the opponents, predicted Tuesday night as New York University officials mulled Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills’ 78-page decision.

Mills rejected all the other arguments of the opponents — who included Greenwich Village celebrity residents like Matthew Broderick — but she agreed that they were right about the misuse of three tiny strips of land used as parks.

City lawyers had contended that they didn't need the legislature's permission to give the parkland to NYU because the strips were not dedicated parkland and are still on city maps as streets.

But opponents said these strips have been treated as official parks by the city for decades; they have used as parks by area residents; and they are on city websites as parks tended by the Parks Department.

“Land can become parkland ‘either through express provision such as restrictions in a deed or legislative enactment, or by implied acts, such as continued use of the parcel as park,’” Mills wrote.

“Land may become parkland by implication even...where the land remains mapped for another purpose, as here,” she added, ruling that for the city to give the property to NYU without the legislature's approval would violate the ‘public trust doctrine.’

So parkland is parkland? What an original concept! So this most likely means that the former site of Shea Stadium will be considered parkland. Tee hee!

LIC paper factory now a hotel

From LIC Post:

A new hotel has just opened in a renovated old paper factory that contains vestiges of Long Island City’s industrial history.

The Paper Factory Hotel, located at 37-06 36th Street, has incorporated many old items into the design—such as an antique paper machine.

”We have preserved its intricate machines and interspersed them in our space, keeping alive the roots of our hotel and the stories it brings with it,” according to the hotel website. “We wished to hold on to the charm of this industrial age.”

I do give them props for acknowledging the history of the area and understanding that this building used to provide good jobs to working people. It still does, but to a lesser extent. Better a hotel than "luxury condos".

Parkway Hospital looks like hell

"NYS Pavilion is in ruins, Civic Virtue is exiled, legal graffiti at 5 Pointz is gone, and a bear is humping a man at Socrates Sculpture Park. But here's some abstract expressionism I spotted earlier today at the Parkway Hospital site.

See, there's still art in Queens to be found."

- anonymous

Liz Crowley wants to make Bronx cemetery a park

From the Daily News:

Part of Hart Island, a 130-acre isle off mainland Bronx that has been used as a public cemetery since 1869, may become the city’s newest park after a Queens lawmaker vowed to revisit a measure that would bring it under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department.

A Queens lawmaker?

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said she’ll re-introduce the bill she co-sponsored to transfer Hart Island’s jurisdiction from the city Department of Correction. Crowley said she aims to have the bill — which died in committee on New Year’s Eve — reintroduced by next month.

Crowley said she plans to work with the Council’s new Parks Committee leadership to give the plan a fair hearing.

The northern end of the island — which hasn’t had new burials in many years — could easily be turned into a park, said Melinda Hunt of the Hart Island Project, which is advocating for increased accessibility to Hart Island.

A Parks Department spokesman said he wouldn’t comment on legislation that didn’t yet exist, but said the department has refused jurisdiction of Hart Island in the past because the agency won’t operate on an active burial ground.

I guess since Crowley lacked the talent and ability to obtain a park anywhere within her own district, she's focused her attention on another borough. You know, Liz, there's a cemetery in the town you grew up in, that should be preserved. Why not focus on that?

Glen Oaks Village replaces windows during Polar Vortex

"It's freezing cold out there today and Dun-Rite workers are installing windows on 76th Avenue and 246th Street in Bellerose, starting at 8am when the temp was 7 degrees. Most residents were in their pajamas or night dress when installers came knocking on their doors. Some could not even have a breakfast. The workers today are different from yesterday. Asked one worker and he clearly stated anyone who wants a job can come to work despite the weather. These are recruited by a temporary employment agency in Brooklyn and no handyman experience is required. Also asked the workers if they are cold and their reply is, "yes but we need the bread." No one from the usual crew showed up for work including Wallace and George who oversee everyone." - Glen Oaks Family on Facebook

Day of reckoning for civil servant scammers

From NBC 4:

More than 100 former police officers, firefighters and other city workers faked mental disabilities in order get tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits a year, NBC 4 New York has learned.

But an investigation has revealed the former city workers were pursuing other activities that appeared to negate their claims. One police officer who claimed he was so mentally disabled was allegedly working as a martial arts instructor, officials said. Another who claimed he could not work was allegedly flying helicopters.

One got benefits because of a fear of crowds and yet was found to be selling cannolis in Little Italy during the San Genarro festival. And another went on to allegedly run a private security company.

Many allegedly claimed to be affected by their efforts on 9/11, yet investigators found many were not even near ground zero that day.

All allegedly got help gaming the system from the same two lawyers, ages 89 and 83, and two former police officers who in exchange allegedly took cash payments.

Investigators said one of the attorneys who helped run the scheme is Raymond Lavallee, who worked as an FBI agent in the 1950s and '60s. Calls to Lavallee’s home and law office were not returned Monday.

The criminal charges expected to be announced Tuesday will include 106 people in all.

The more than 100 workers were allegedly taught how to claim they were mentally scarred on SSID applications in order to collect $30,000 to $50,000 in benefits annually.

Investigators said Lavallee would receive thousands in cash payments from successful applicants that were at times left for him in paper bags on a park bench near his office.

Casino that was supposed to provide jobs lays off 175

From the Queens Courier:

Resorts World Casino shut the doors to its Aqueduct Buffet on Monday, and in turn on about 175 employees.

“I thought it was a drastic move, certainly one that could be reconsidered down the line,” said State Senator Joseph Addabbo.

The buffet closed on Jan. 6 after “trying to make it work for two years, and just couldn’t,” said a spokesperson for the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (HTC).

“We have made the difficult decision to close the Aqueduct Buffet, which never caught on with our customers and has consistently lost money,” said Ed Farrell, Resorts World president. “We sincerely regret the impact this closure has on the buffet’s employees and are working closely with the HTC to ease this transition.”

The HTC is in contract with Resorts World and has begun helping the laid-off employees find new work.

In the interim, the buffet workers will receive up to five weeks severance pay, depending on how long they were employed at the casino and what job they did. They will also get 120 days of extended family medical coverage and preferential hiring in other Resorts World departments, according to the spokesperson.

The employees did not receive notice the buffet was closing, but the spokesperson said the “federal WARN notice,” the worker adjustment and retraining notification act, does not apply in this situation. The buffet had to have more than a third of Resorts World employees to receive forewarning.

Taxpayers to bail out failed garages in order to build rent-free soccer stadium

From the Daily News:

The nearly bankrupt Yankee Stadium garage company could receive new taxpayer subsidies of more than $200 million if a financial bailout plan approved last month by the Bloomberg administration goes through, the Daily News has learned.

The Yankees and a billionaire Middle East sheik who is partnering with the team are proposing to pay an estimated $25 million for one of the garages currently owned by Bronx Parking Development Co. LLC — the independent firm that operates the stadium’s garage system. The Yankees partnership is proposing to demolish that garage on W. 153rd St. and build a new $350 million Major League Soccer stadium for its team, New York City FC.

But under the bailout plan approved Dec. 18 by Bronx Parking’s board of directors and the holders of its debt, the reorganized company would pay no rent until 2056 for more than 20 acres of city-owned land where its other stadium garages are located.

That’s right, no rent for the next 42 years!

There's more on the IBO blog. And this will all come down to what Melissa wants to do.

Next speaker has more serious ethics issues

Click for larger version

From the Daily News:

The leading candidate for New York City Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, has been leasing out space in an East Harlem building she owns without reporting any rental income on city financial disclosure forms, the Daily News has learned.

Mark-Viverito purchased the three-unit building on E. 111th St. in 1998 with the help of a no-interest city loan, and has been using it as her home.

From 2009 to 2012, three people other than Mark-Viverito have voted while listing the building as their principal residence, Board of Elections records show. Yet, in each of those years, Mark-Viverito reported on her city financial disclosure forms that she received no rental income from the property.

Another person listed at the address, Muneer Panjwani, 29, confirmed Sunday that Mark-Viverito was his landlord, but he declined to discuss the matter further.

“I was told not to comment on this,” said Panjwani, who would not say who told him not talk.

Johnny still hanging around

From The Politicker:

He’s out of office, no longer running for election, and supposed to be weighing jobs in the private sector, but that isn’t enough to stop ex-comptroller and unsuccessful mayoral candidate John Liu from ending his perennial politicking.

Indeed, Mr. Liu, who was known to log a dozen stops across the five boroughs during an ordinary day, seems to be having trouble giving up the trappings of elected office, continuing his break-neck schedule of events even after his term as comptroller ended on December 31.

On Friday evening, Politicker spotted Mr. Liu, now back from a family vacation in California, attending a swearing-in ceremony for Brooklyn Councilwoman Inez Barron. Mr. Liu, who was greeted warmly by those in attendance, was joined by a longtime campaign aide who insisted she was off the clock and simply volunteering for Mr. Liu.

Over the weekend, Mr. Liu was off again on a four-borough tour–relayed to reporters by an emailed public schedule he has continued to release via his campaign address “press@liunewyork.com”–also compiled by the same loyal aide.

“I’m not going to have a public schedule everyday. But we’ll have one this weekend, really not much during the weekdays, but evenings and weekends,” Mr. Liu told Politicker Friday when asked about his peculiar post-election schedule.

More hospital closings on the horizon?

From Crains:

Two events defined 2013 for New York City hospitals: the battle to keep two failing Brooklyn hospitals open, and Mount Sinai Medical Center's takeover of the former Continuum Health Partners. Closures and consolidations will again set the tone for hospitals in 2014. New York City hospitals need fewer beds—and fewer employees, too.

This isn't news to New Yorkers who have witnessed the death of St. Vincent's Hospital and other recent bankruptcies. Hospitals have been struggling with reimbursement cuts for years. But in 2014, a convergence of trends will accelerate consolidations and closings.

One trend is the way insurers are paring their network of hospitals and doctors under Obamacare. Low-priced health plans sold on the new insurance exchange are less costly because they offer a limited choice of providers, often only a quarter of the number in more traditional insurance policies. Some hospitals will find their patients steered elsewhere.

Insurers and companies that pay employee health care costs have -realized they "don't need a phone book of providers," said one hospital executive. "That is a revolution. Hospital utilization is dropping because the plan benefits are changing."

Another factor that will drive down hospitalization in 2014 is an ambitious new plan by New York state to cut the rate of avoidable hospitalizations by 25% over five years. That means shifting care from institutional settings to outpatient clinics and other alternatives.

The fall in hospital employment may begin in early 2014. Mayor Bill de Blasio may try to keep Brooklyn's money-losing Long Island College Hospital open, but the Cobble Hill facility filed a notice of mass layoffs with the state Department of Labor, specifying that 1,442 employees could lose their jobs between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3.

Likewise, bankrupt Interfaith Medical Center had been set to fire 1,545 workers late last month until the state promised funding to keep the hospital open through March 7.

Mount Sinai Health System cut 70 positions—a fraction of its 35,000 employees—shortly after its merger with Continuum, but the possibility remains that more consolidation could lie ahead.

Cuomo to legalize medical marijuana

From the NY Times:

Joining a growing group of states that have loosened restrictions on marijuana, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York plans this week to announce an executive action that would allow limited use of the drug by those with serious illnesses, state officials say.

The shift by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who had long resisted legalizing medical marijuana, comes as other states are taking increasingly liberal positions on it — most notably Colorado, where thousands have flocked to buy the drug for recreational use since it became legal on Jan. 1.

Mr. Cuomo’s plan will be far more restrictive than the laws in Colorado or California, where medical marijuana is available to people with conditions as mild as backaches. It will allow just 20 hospitals across the state to prescribe marijuana to patients with cancer, glaucoma or other diseases that meet standards to be set by the New York State Department of Health.

While Mr. Cuomo’s measure falls well short of full legalization, it nonetheless moves New York, long one of the nation’s most punitive states for those caught using or dealing drugs, a significant step closer to policies being embraced by marijuana advocates and lawmakers elsewhere.

New York hopes to have the infrastructure in place this year to begin dispensing medical marijuana, although it is too soon to say when it will actually be available to patients.

No wonder the city never has money

From the NY Post:

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña will collect both a city salary and her pension for a total income of $412,193 a year — nearly twice as much as Mayor de Blasio is being paid.

Farina is getting a Department of Education salary of $212,614 — the same as her predecessor, Dennis Walcott, officials told The Post.

But she will also continue to collect her $199,579-a-year DOE pension, which she received upon retiring in 2006 after a 40-year career in the city schools.

“She’s earned her pension, and she’s worth every dime of her salary,” said Phil Walzak, a spokesman for de Blasio.

A Jan. 1 letter offer by de Blasio, signed by Farina, states she will additionally get the DOE’s managerial-benefits package, including vacation and sick-leave allowance.

She can take a $1,000-a-year bonus to opt out of health and welfare benefits, which she already gets as a city pensioner.

She also gets a car and a driver.

Her total income will far exceed that of de Blasio, whose salary is set at $225,000.

Report says that Port Authority needs to expand airports

From Crains:

The two international airports in Queens rev up that borough's economy to almost rival Manhattan's, but further growth will require new infrastructure investments that remain uncertain at best.

LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports generated $42.4 billion in economic activity in 2012, according to a recent report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and directly employed 46,000 people, more than half of whom live in Queens. That translates to 9.5% of the borough's private-sector employment. Indirectly, the airports are responsible for about 300,000 jobs.

With passenger traffic growing, the air transportation sector is a key component of the borough's recovery from the recession, the comptroller notes. Unemployment fell to 8% in October, higher than Manhattan and Staten Island, but beating out Brooklyn and the Bronx, while private-sector jobs climbed to 486,000. The borough's average salary of $44,350 is second only to Manhattan's.

"There is a capacity problem at JFK — you have more airplanes trying to land at the peak time than you have ability to handle them," said Joshua Schank, president and chief executive at the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank. "That is the biggest constraint on growth, and new terminals don't really help it."

A recent Eno Center report projected that by 2030, JFK will be operating above its capacity the majority of each day. A separate report from the Regional Plan Association estimated that the region will lose out on $26 billion in annual economic activity by 2030 unless major changes are undertaken at all three Port Authority facilities.

The Regional Plan Association argues that a new JFK runway would be the best way to address the issue — no small task. The updated navigation systems being slowly implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration would also help, according to Mr. Schank, but all of these ideas would need to be implemented by the public sector and, for now, are nowhere near takeoff.

Melissa has made tweeding into to an artform

From the NY Post:

Many activists interviewed by The Post said they feared what would happen if Mark-Viverito headed the council — claiming that advocates who stand up to her are often blacklisted.

The lefty lawmaker was the first council member to support the bid of Mayor de Blasio, who in return has been pushing her for speaker.

“It’s too much power to put in her hands,” said Jo Ann Lawson, who claims Mark-Viverito booted her from the community board in March 2013 after 10 years of service in order to add more Latino members.

Lawson said Mark-Viverito would often call board members and tell them how to vote.

Neighborhood resentment deepened in 2012, after the lawmaker helped cancel a city contract held by a Puerto Rican nonprofit for 20 years for the Leonard Covello Senior Center — giving it to an Upper East Side group.

While the wealthy councilwoman donned “99%” T-shirts during Occupy Wall Street protests, she’s come under fire for taking advantage of tax breaks reserved for the poor.

The Puerto Rico-born politician, the daughter of a rich hospital administrator, owns $1.5 million in real estate. Yet she obtained an interest-free loan under a city program to help low-income people buy homes.

Still, Mark-Viverito lavishes money on supporters, giving $65,000 in the past two years to low-income advocates Community Voices Heard and helping to push $160,000 in council funds to Picture the Homeless, run by her ally Lynn Lewis, according to budget data.

Franklin Plaza, a 1,632-unit co-op, received a $1-million grant from Mark-Viverito. The board posted flyers requesting residents re-elect her.

Overpruning is ruining city-owned trees

To (Parks Dept official):

I thought you and your team should know of a recent street tree branch cutting incident on 160th Str / Oak Ave in the Kissena Park area as reported by a community member.

LOCATION: 160-03 OAK AVE / 160TH STREET.
SPECIES: 30-IN DBH SWEET GUM STREET TREE / SETBACK WITHIN THE CITY ROW.

This is a fine well-branched large-canopy speciman street tree that survived numerous storms as well as past abuses by utility line clearing operations. We are troubled that the homeowner did not take the proper steps to obtain an application for any tree work that would have been needed. And instead of removing diseased and dead wood the homeowner (in collusion with the hired tree firm) resorted to needlessly pollarding numerous beneficial and duly necessary live tree branches. We see that the tree trimming outfit hired as the "expert" by the homeowner to be at fault. And I am sure you agree that this branch pruning does not comply to even the basic ANSI and ISA standards.

With PEP enforcement kindly do your best to investigate this rogue tree outfit and ensure their removal from the Parks Forestry approved arborist list to the unapproved list. Because if they've abused this street tree here you know well that they are doing it elsewhere to other public street trees.

Thank you and kindly let me know of your findings.

Carsten W. Glaeser
KPCA

(FYI: In many areas of Queens, trees that appear on private property are actually in the public right of way, such as this one. There is an easement for future street widening should need be. - QC)

Proposal to revitalize the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway

Hi Crapper,

I dont know if you are familiar with the Motor Parkway but decades ago the section from Winchester Blvd to Little Neck Parkway was torn down. (The remaining portion to the east of LNP is now known as 74th Ave).

I have an idea on how to restore (as much as one can) the sections of the Motor Parkway that ran through Creedmoor, the Frank Padavan Campus of the Queens School and the Farm Museum. It would be an opportunity to right a historic wrong and bring back a bit of Queens borough history.

Essentially since all these properties are government owned, the only thing keeping this area from becoming a pedestrian, running and bike path like the rest of the Motor Parkway is government inertia. I've tried several times to get Queens politicians to pay attention to my idea, but I've always gotten the polite brush off. So I recently built a website and online petition to get their attention.

Additionally - the reality is left to their own devices the politicians will continue to sell off Creedmoor piece by piece. However, if people could travel through these lands (rather than see them as an obstacle) then they would develop an affection for them and slowly selling off Creedmoor piece by piece would no longer be possible.

I'd love for any feedback you have on this idea.

www.motorparkwayeast.com

- Joby

There's actually a shortage of luxury condos

From CNBC:

The records keep piling up for Manhattan real estate.

The fourth quarter saw a string of records broken—from number of deals and average sale prices to dwindling inventory—as the rich from around the world scoop up luxury apartments as a store of wealth.

The average sales price in Manhattan rose 5.3 percent to $1,538,203 in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago. That marked the highest-ever price for a fourth quarter. The median sales price for condos is the highest-ever tracked, hitting $1.3 million.

And the inventory of apartments for sale has shrunk to its lowest level in recent memory, with a little over 4,000 apartments for sale.

The total number of sales surged 27 percent—a surprisingly strong increase given the rush in the fourth quarter of 2012 to do deals before the "fiscal cliff" tax changes.

While the overall market is on fire, New York is quickly becoming a tale of two markets—the soaring condo market and the lackluster co-op market.

The average sales price for condos surged 13 percent over the prior year to $2,115,228. The number of sales jumped 23 percent.

Yet co-ops—those storied preserves of Manhattan wealth and exclusivity—are being left behind. The average price for co-ops fell 1.6 percent in the quarter to $1,171,552, Elliman said.

Brokers say the main reason for the difference is foreign buyers, who are virtually banned from the co-op market, since co-op boards often won't approve them and the overseas rich don't want to reveal their financials.

Plus, foreign buyers prefer the newly built, gleaming glass condo towers to the prewar co-op apartments of the past.

If luxury condos are what everyone presumably wants, then why do we need to subsidize their construction? Especially since it's not even people in need of housing that are buying them?

Courier's "Man of the Year" is controversial developer

The Queens Courier presents our Man of the Year, Joseph M. Mattone Sr.: founder, father, philanthropist. Testimonials from Mario Cuomo and Bruce Ratner are contained within.

Interestingly, there's no mention of this.

Or this.

Or this.

Work delayed on interchange

From the Queens Tribune:

Briarwood residents will have to wait a little longer for their streets and subway to return to normal.

The reconstruction of the Briarwood-Van Wyck F train station entrance has been pushed back from the end of 2013 to March 2014, due to the discovery of lead paint. The renovation of the subway entrance, along with the installation of an elevator, is happening alongside a major project to improve traffic conditions on the Van Wyck Expressway.

The original completion date for the subway entrance was listed as Sept. 2013. It was then pushed back to Dec. 2013 due to design changes. However, lead paint in the pedestrian tunnel has to be removed before the area is safe to open, moving the timetable to next March.

The subway work was bid on and won by Ecco, for $9.9 million. This price tag included all of the work associated with moving the passageway, rebuilding the entrances, excavation, the new elevator and more. The cost has increased by about $1.7 million due to changes in field conditions and materials used. The lead paint removal added another $300,000 to the total.

The subway entrance is part of the State DOT’s Kew Gardens Interchange Reconstruction, which is made of two separate contracts and is due to be completed in 2016.

Mark-Viverito pushed for zoning change for donor

From the NY Times:

If she becomes, as appears likely, the next speaker of the New York City Council, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito of East Harlem has vowed to listen to all groups, treat everyone fairly and be a paragon of transparency.

Yet some community leaders contend that she displayed few of those traits when she rammed through an unexpected, last-minute zoning change supported by her staunch ally, the 1199 S.E.I.U. health care workers union.

The dispute centered on a bid by Jewish Home Lifecare, a nonprofit operator of nursing homes in the region, to demolish existing buildings on its 106th Street campus and replace them with two new structures — a new nursing home and a residential tower.

Proceeds from the tower would have let the nonprofit, then known as Jewish Home and Hospital, upgrade its aging facilities and care for a clientele that is mostly elderly minorities on Medicaid.

But no one — not the community, not Ms. Mark-Viverito or other officials — knew about Jewish Home’s plan until late in the planning process.

As it turned out, the community had long been wrestling with a major rezoning of the Upper West Side, from 97th Street to 110th Street, spurred by a desire to restrict the heights of new buildings after two 38-story towers sprouted along Broadway.

For more than two years, residents and officials sparred over height restrictions and other zoning details before coming to a consensus in mid-2007. The plan was approved 38-0 by Community Board 7.

But then, after residents learned about the Jewish Home proposal, Ms. Mark-Viverito surprised them by, in many people’s view, strongly advocating the project.

“I was blindsided,” said Sheldon J. Fine, who was chairman of Community Board 7 at the time. “Her focus was not a conciliatory one.”

In an interview, Ms. Mark-Viverito vigorously defended her role in the process, saying she had wanted to hammer out a compromise.

Before 2007, very few, if any, trustees or people affiliated with Jewish Home donated to her City Council campaign. But after she injected herself in the dispute, she received more than $8,300 from people associated with Jewish Home — more than 10 percent of her $81,000 fund-raising total for the 2009 election. She also reported just one bundler of donations, a Jewish Home trustee, according to Campaign Finance Board records.

“I never do anything with the expectation that I’m going to get any contributions,” Ms. Mark-Viverito said. “My goal is to listen to all sides and figure out what would be in the best of interests of the community."

Mr. Geto said that Ms. Mark-Viverito had solicited the 2009 contributions, and that he had advised the nursing home to give, “because she’s been constructive.”

Ah, tweeding.

BSA approves 2 Little Neck projects

From Bayside Patch:

The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals has granted permits for two long-vacant sites in Little Neck, Community Board 11’s district manager said.

Permits have been approved for a watch manufacturer to move its headquarters into the former Leviton site along Little Neck Parkway and for a complex to be constructed at the former Scobee Diner site.

Susan Seinfeld, CB 11’s district manager, said that E. Gluck Corp., a watch manufacturer based in Long Island City, has been given the go-ahead to begin work at the Little Neck Parkway locale that previously housed Leviton, which manufactured electrical wiring devices and motion sensors.

A permit has also been granted for the former Scobee Diner on Northern Boulevard, where a complex is planned that will house a bank on its first floor and a dentist’s office on the second floor.

The popular diner closed for business in November 2010.

Williamsburg slumlord kidnapped & killed

From the Daily News:

A Brooklyn businessman with $4,000 in his wallet was snatched off the street by two men who bound him in duct tape and threw him in a van as a blizzard bore down on the city.

Surveillance video shows landlord Menachem Stark, 39, leaving his office, South Side Associates, on Rutledge St. near the Williamsburg Bridge, about 11:45 p.m. Thursday.

Stark had just managed to trigger his car alarm when he was approached by a lone attacker and a struggle ensued on the snow-swept street, according to a video released by the NYPD early Saturday.

Within moments, a light-colored 2006-2007 Dodge Caravan can be seen on the video pulling up along the sidewalk.

A second man hops out of the vehicle, according to police sources and Stark’s brother, Yitzy Stark.

“They came out of the minivan and went straight for him,” the brother said. “They grabbed him and he fought with them for about five minutes.”

The two men managed to wrestle Stark into the van. Then they sped off with him. Stark has long been strapped with financial trouble, but was still known to carry a lot of cash.

When he didn’t return home Thursday night, Stark’s worried wife reached out to friends, who then notified Shomrim, the neighborhood Orthodox Jewish patrol. The NYPD was alerted hours later — around 2:30 a.m. Friday, police said.

Update from the NY Post:

A smoldering corpse pulled from a Great Neck dumpster is the millionaire Hasidic real estate developer who was dramatically kidnapped outside his real estate office in Williamsburg on Thursday, law enforcement confirmed to The Post.

“He owed a lot of people money,” one source said of Menachem Stark, 39, who had a string of recent foreclosures and owned some 16 mostly vacant or run-down and drug infested properties under at least a dozen corporate names in Queens and in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick neighborhoods.

The father of eight died of suffocation, sources said. His body suffered severe burns to one hand and below the waist; it is not clear if he was set on fire before or after his death.
Stark’s business troubles included his history of defaulting on $51 million in real estate development loans — and a string of related lawsuits.

Investigators are finding a pattern of shady dealings in which he acquire properties and then “lose” the properties by foreclosing on big mortgage and improvement loans, only to have the properties snapped up at bargain basement prices by family members and associates, one law enforcement source said.

Stark was also known as a neighborhood ATM machine — dispensing loans to those in need of quick cash, said a neighborhood source familiar with his business dealings.

“He’s a Hasidic Jew from Williamsburg, and we think he’s a scammer,” said one law enforcement source. “And he f—ed over a few people.”

"Park advocate" in favor of alienation joining HUD

From Crains:

New York City parks advocate Holly Leicht will join the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the director for New York and New Jersey. In that post she will be responsible for rolling out continued recovery efforts in response to Superstorm Sandy. Ms. Leicht was appointed to the post by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. She is currently executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, a nonprofit advocacy organization, where she will have worked for nearly three years when she leaves Jan. 10.

I can't think of a better place for this hypocrite. Buh-bye!

Parking mess at Flushing Commons

"Came to work this morning and found a sign up regarding the Parking situation. Called the sign on there for monthly parking rates and was told to call: 1-734-771-1685. Forwarded to voicemail with no response. Please help us find out how much everything is so that we can continue to commute. Thank you so much! Attached is the picture." - anonymous

Well, I don't know anything about this situation. But perhaps Peter Koo does since he sent out a newsletter about it.

90-unit building for Ridgewood border

From WyckoffHeights.org:

Essex Capital Partners has engaged KSQ Architects to design a new seven-story residential building at 16-26 Madison Street in Ridgewood, near the border with Bushwick and two blocks from the L and M trains at Myrtle-Wyckoff.

Demolition applications have been filed for the two warehouses currently on the site (one a former post office), and DOB records show the new 63,000 SF building will have 90 dwelling units and 45 parking spaces.

Convention Center for Corona

From the Daily News:

A spacious convention center and 25-story hotel and apartment complex will soon rise on the site of a Corona car dealership near Citi Field.

Fleet Financial Group plans to break ground on the $200 million project in June. The Flushing-based group purchased the 1.67-acre DiBlasi Ford dealership, at 112-21 Northern Blvd., for $17 million last month.

The site sits across the Grand Central Parkway from Citi Field, where a $3 billion mega-mall and housing complex is planned for Willets Point.

The group plans to build 292 five-star hotel rooms and 236 apartments above the roughly 106,000-square-foot convention center. The project will also include about 97,000 square feet of retail space, a restaurant and parking.

Xia is also in talks with Audi to put a showroom on the site.

Remediation of Farrington Avenue site underway

From the Queens Tribune:

The third phase of Con Edison’s remedial investigation at a Flushing site is underway.

The agency entered into a voluntary cleanup agreement with the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and the State Dept. of Health to investigate and remediate potential impacts at former manufactured gas plant sites, such as the Farrington Street Gas Works. The latest phase of this investigation is taking place through January.

The agency is looking into sites that were at one point operated by Con Ed or its predecessor companies, before natural gas became widely available. These plants, which operated between the 1800s and mid-1900s, were used to convert coal and oil into gas for heating, lighting and cooking.

One example is the former New York & Queens Gas Company, which manufactured and stored gas at Farrington Street Gas Works. That company used to own properties on the blocks contained by Linden Place to the east, Downing Street to the west, 31st Road to the north and 32nd Drive to the south. The site is approximately 6.17 acres of land.

The areas the agency is looking into now contain a Pathmark grocery, pharmacy and various stores, a Con Ed storage facility and a Con Ed truck flush facility.

The third and current phase of this project includes the collection of soil and groundwater samples around the Pathmark building. When the testing is completed, a report will be issued with the findings and results of the investigation, along with Con Ed’s next steps.

During the remedial investigations, Con Ed said extensive efforts are being made to protect the community from potential hazards, such as real-time air monitoring.

Former site of St. John's Queens Hospital sold

From Crains:

The former St. John's hospital building on Queens Boulevard near the Queens Center Mall has been acquired for more than $50 million by a developer who plans to convert the bulk of the property into apartments. A group of Asia-based investors led by the New York builder Steven Wu purchased the property for roughly $55 million and plans to spend as much as $45 million more to convert the former medical facility into rental housing and medical office space as well as to add ground-floor retail space.

The deal included the roughly 260,000-square-foot hospital building at 90-02 Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst, Queens, and also a five-story parking garage across the street at 87-28 58th Ave. that the buyer will use to provide parking space for future tenants at the property.

Quinn seems to think she's still relevant

From Capital New York:

Christine Quinn's political battle with Bill de Blasio has continued into the speaker's race.

The outgoing City Council speaker has quietly pushed the candidacy of several potential successors, in an effort to block Melissa Mark-Viverito from succeeding her, three sources close to the process told Capital.

Mark-Viverito claimed victory in the race earlier this month, when she unveiled the backing of 30 members, more than the 26 needed to win the race, after de Blasio reportedly intervened to sway some members to her side.

Quinn and her allies, who are also close to the Queens Democratic organization that opposes Mark-Viverito, have been pushing members to instead back the candidacy of Manhattan Democrat Dan Garodnick, sources said.

"I had a conversation with her where she was absolutely discouraging Melissa," said one member, who requested anonymity.

The member added that Quinn's closest advisors "were explicit in trashing me, and telling me by supporting [Mark-Viverito] I was not in a good place, I would not be in a good place."

The interactions took place as recently as the last Council meeting on Dec. 19.

"The Queens-Quinn machine is losing and is losing badly, and they definitely sort of let it be known that you were not on the team if you were for Melissa and those of us who indicated support for Melissa heard about it in various ways, some subtle, some not," the member added. "I think (Quinn) would've preferred anybody but Melissa."

Condo project halted as cemetery is investigated

Received in e-mail:

"15 Graves Opened
CONDOS/STORE FRONTS BUILT OVER CHURCH CEMETERY

Recent construction on property previously owned by the Union Street African Methodist Episcopal Church and its cemetery has uncovered more than 15 exposed graves thought to be those of Negro slaves and their decedents that have been dug up and then recovered shallowly after a stop order from the Health Department. The property is the site of new condominium apartments and storefronts on Corona Avenue at 91st Street -- across the street from Newtown High School.

Wing Fung Realty is the management company whose sign declares they are conducting the sale of the apartments that are entered at 47-19 and 47-21 91st Street (next door to a residence at 47-07 91st Street) and the block of store fronts from 90-05 to 90-19 Corona Avenue, which are next door to the Sabor Colombia 2 restaurant at 90-31 Corona Avenue. Dahill Construction is listed as the current property owners on the NY Department of Transportation notices for sidewalk and bus shelter (Q 19) openings in the lobby and storefront windows.

The current Corona Avenue condos and stores are separated from the uncovered graves by a thin strip of parking lot. As more graves are suspected to be beneath the property, additional construction has been halted until January 3, 2014 while Saint Mark AME Church of Jackson Heights, the owner of the graves but not the property, investigates the situation." - Lydia Gardner

See previously.

Thanks, but no thanks

Suggestions for the new mayor on how to create "affordable housing" from New York Magazine:

Give Queens a skyline.
The lion’s share of affordable New York will be constructed outside Manhattan, because of simple math—there’s more buildable land, and it’s less expensive. Western Queens is the likeliest focus. (Brooklyn, too, but there’s more being built there already.) Vishaan Chakrabarti, the SHoP Architects partner and Columbia University urban-planning maven, puts it this way: “Queens Boulevard, Long Island City—there’s [property] ten, fifteen minutes from Manhattan by subway that still has one- and two-story buildings. Queens, clearly, to me is the future of New York in many ways. I wouldn’t limit it to Queens, though—there are areas in the Bronx that have good subway access, and then St. George on Staten Island.” And those 200,000 units De Blasio wants? “Almost a Co-op City per year. I’ve been on the battlefield—it’s not easy, and it’s a lot of progressive politics rubbing up against each other.” Racism, classism, NIMBYism, ageism, and every other ism will come into play. So will every tool the administration has at hand: tax incentives that tilt the economics toward building at the middle of the income range; subsidies for lower-end building; and rezoning even in the wake of Bloomberg's rezoning.

Quit making everyone build a garage.
Almost every new residential building, notes the urban-planning strategist Alexander Garvin, is forced by law to include parking. It’s a dated requirement from the early sixties, one that cannibalizes land and makes every building more expensive.

Tax the hell out of vacant lots.
In New York (as in most cities), land and buildings are taxed as one entity, meaning that developers can accumulate land for years, waiting for a booming market to put something up. “Split-rate taxation” taxes the land itself at a higher rate, encouraging developers to build something sooner rather than later.

Do more horse-trading.
Bloomberg’s 80/20 zoning—80 percent of units are market-rate, 20 percent for people of modest income—can be taken further. Chakrabarti and his colleagues are working on 50/30/20 buildings, where the 30 is middle-income. And De Blasio ally Bertha Lewis suggests we could flip the 80/20 ratio entirely.

Lower permit costs.
It costs twice as much to put up a building here as in Chicago. Some of that is the price of land, but a 2005 study by the economists Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko revealed the surprisingly large role played by permit costs. “I’d like to see just a quicker, easier permitting process,” says Glaeser.

Stop wholesale landmarking.
Individual landmarks should surely be preserved; ditto certain blocks or districts that are genuinely of historic value. But when historic districts are widely extended, they significantly reduce the buildable area of the city, argues Glaeser, meaning rents go up everywhere else.

Live at the Javits Center.
No, seriously, says Chakrabarti: “I would look at moving the Javits Center to Sunnyside Yards” and replacing it with apartment buildings as the No. 7 train extension arrives. “It’s a huge opportunity for a new neighborhood.”

Sell off Manhattan’s projects and build bigger, better housing in the boroughs.
It’d be close to politically impossible, but relocating 115,000 NYCHA residents to the outer-boroughs could generate enough money to build several times as many units of affordable and true project housing in less expensive parts of the city. Consider: The housing projects of the Lower East Side are bigger than Stuyvesant Town, which sold for $5.4 billion.

Child dies in New Year's fire

From the NY Post:

A raging home fire killed a seven-year-old boy in Queens on Wednesday morning, police sources said.

The blaze began in a fireplace at the East Elmhurst home, on 90th Street near 31st Avenue streets, then grew out of control at around 9 a.m., fire department officials said.

The boy’s 13-year-old brother suffered second degree burns and was rushed to Cornell Hospital, according to cops.

Bars on the windows of the home may have caused the boys to be trapped inside, police sources said.

I suppose "2 FLR IS BEING RENTED AS SRO'S, ALSO WALLS ERECTED ON THE 1FLR, NO PERMITS" was also a factor.

What they're planning for us this year

The Queens Courier has a lot more of their resolutions...

In case the champagne didn't get you nauseous enough

Happy New Year from Queens Crap!