Pols call for heightened safety at construction sites

From CBS New York:

City officials are calling for improved safety measures at construction sites after a worker fell to his death in Manhattan this week.

As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported, standing at the construction site at 46th Street and Eighth Avenue where the worker fell to his death down an elevator shaft, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said, “Here was a grim responsibility to demand safety in and around New York City’s construction sites.”

Brewer said the city already this year has surpassed the eight construction deaths in all of the previous year.

The Department of Buildings says it takes aggressive enforcement action against unsafe construction professionals. It says development is at an all-time high, and with that comes more accidents.

Sure, they'll call for action at the hearing, then forget about it until the next death. After all, there's money to be made by the people who line their pockets.

A strange way to revitalize Jamaica

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

We have “Jamaica Revealed”, the Jamaica BID event to promote the potential of Jamaica. We have the “Jamaica Now Action Plan” by Queens Borough Melinda Katz and Mayor de Blasio for the revitalization of Jamaica. But what we really have in Jamaica is SHIT and more of it being dumped into this community.

Across the street from the New Ideal Basket Grocery Market (very nice), near the Walgreen’s and by several apartment buildings, located at 175-20 Hillside Avenue is a very plain looking 3-story building which over the last couple of years housed the Allen Health Care Service, a dentist office, an STD Testing Express site and some other businesses, but since last year has been empty, that is until now.

Walking by last week, I noticed, shall I say, “questionable types” going in and out of the building, some getting out of vans, others walking and being let in by a security guard. At first I thought, homeless shelter, but they all did not quite fit that bill and the faces were always changing. So today, when I walked by the “folks” hanging out waiting to go in around 8am, I stopped and talked to the security guard to ask him, what is in the building. He hesitated and really did not want to say anything, but eventually told me, that is what a methadone clinic. Maybe that explained the baggie filled with orange pills on the sidewalk at the entrance of the 179th Street station.

So is this what you call the “Revitalization of Jamaica”? Just what we need, a bunch of heroin addicts hanging out.

As usual let’s keep dumping crap into our community while praising the “potential” of Jamaica. So what power to be gave the go ahead on this one and where was Community Board 12 of yet another crap thing dumped into the hood.

Sticker crap

"Sticker "Graffiti" in Forest Hills. Would you ever use a business that advertised this way?" - anonymous

Has anyone else out there heard this?

Hey Crappy,

I almost forgot but was quickly reminded this past Saturday night of illegal parties happening near flushing meadows on every Saturday night of the summer. The parties go until the hours of the AM. I'm in Kew Gardens Hills but it sounds like its down the block from me. Curious if anyone in the surrounding areas hear it.

Crappy in KGH

Grand Avenue looks a lot different these days

Grand Avenue in Maspeth is pretty low-rise, and these latest additions aren't all that tall but they do seem to tower over everything else.

You can see what I wrote last year about progress at the pile on the left as well as the pile on the right. (Love the "balcony on top of false balcony" look.) Then you can take a trip back in time to 2008 when the whole magilla got started under seedy circumstances.

De Blasio protecting manufacturing...someone tell Weisbrod

From Crains:

For more than a year, manufacturers have been waiting impatiently for Mayor Bill de Blasio to articulate how he plans to protect them from encroaching housing, hotel and other nonindustrial development. On Thursday, they will get their first clue.

In his fiscal 2016 executive budget, Mr. de Blasio will propose to nearly triple funding for the city's eight industrial business service providers to $1.5 million from this year's $570,000, which itself was an increase from zero in the mayor's first budget proposal (the council restored the funding, as it did when then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg moved to eliminate it a year earlier).

Not only is Mr. de Blasio proposing to increase the funding but to baseline it, meaning it will be the minimum amount provided by the administration each year going forward. The City Council could still negotiate to add more, as it did last year when it increased the pot by $830,000 for a total of $1.4 million.

The mayor's budget will also include $450,000 for new industrial and manufacturing training to give workers the skills that industrial employers seek. It will be similar to the technology talent pipeline announced by the mayor last year.

Also from Crains:

City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod said there are no plans to rezone any of the city's 20 industrial business zones, though some tinkering around the edges may be warranted—a comment that baffled some business advocates.

"We are certainly not contemplating wholesale, area-wide rezonings within IBZs," Mr. Weisbrod testified at a City Council hearing Wednesday. Some IBZs have "inappropriate boundaries," he said, and acknowledged approving a handful of applications for spot rezonings at the "peripheries" of the zones.

These rezonings have been infrequent and minimal, he said. But reaction to his comments highlight the deep anxiety felt by many industrial business owners in the city.

Leah Archibald, executive director of Evergreen, an industrial business service provider in north Brooklyn, said questioning the borders of some zones made little sense.

"The IBZ boundaries were revised last year," she told Crain's. "Even in our rapidly changing neighborhood, little has changed so much that it would necessitate any boundary revision in the near future."

Left turns can be killers

From NBC 4:

New numbers reveal more people are hit and killed by drivers making left turns in New York than any other state. In New York City, left turns are more likely to hurt or kill a pedestrian than right ones.

NBC 4 New York partner WNYC Radio, which crunched the numbers, found reckless or inattentive drivers may not solely be to blame for left hand-turn accidents.

Crash standards have expanded the size of what are called vehicle A-pillars -- the pieces of a car that hold the windshield in place. The larger pillars are routinely used to protect people in rollover situations, but experts say they can also reduce visibility.

Steinway Mansion owner won't comment on plans

From the Queens Chronicle:

Bob Singleton, of the Greater Astoria Historical Society and the friends group, said he wouldn’t comment before hearing from the owners, one of whom is Philip Loria of an Astoria-based law firm, but noted there is a great love for the structure.

Last May, when they bought the mansion, he said they don’t plan to tear it down.

“We want to create a win-win for everyone,” Loria said.

After multiple attempts to contact Loria, an employee at Loria & Associates said Wednesday that he does not plan to comment on the matter for a while.

Oh you want plans? Well, take a look. It ain't pretty.

Astoria club is a pain in the ass

From the Queens Chronicle:

With summer right around the corner, some Astoria residents worry that one area night club, whose loud music has allegedly pestered those living in the surrounding neighborhood for months, will get louder as time goes on.

At this month’s 114th Precinct Community Council meeting, held last week in Astoria, a group of residents came forward with concerns over the disturbances from a sixth-floor rooftop lounge located at 32-72 Steinway St.

The establishment’s ownership changed eight weeks ago and the name went from Sunset Restaurant and Lounge to Escape Penthouse.

The residents asserted that the club was often so noisy it kept them up at night and that no amount of calls to 311 or 911 have had effect for more than a year.

Resident Chris Vega said the club’s glassed-in lounge seems to lack insulation.

“I can hear the whole song and I live a block away,” Vega said.

Capt. Dennis Mullaney, executive officer of the 114th Precinct, who led the meeting, said they are continuing to monitor the situation.

So who will Scarborough flip on?

From the Observer:

New York State Assemblyman William Scarborough, a Democrat representing Queens, has agreed to enter guilty pleas to state and federal charges related to misusing his campaign funds and state travel reimbursements, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced today.

Mr. Scarborough, 69, will pleaded guilty this morning on the federal charges of wire fraud and theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. This afternoon, he will appear in an Albany court to plead guilty to state charges of grand larceny in the fourth degree related to the misuse of more than $40,000 from his campaign account.

The guilty plea comes just days after Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos was charged with using his position and influence to earn cash for his son, Adam Skelos, and months after Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was charged with disguising kickbacks and bribes as outside income. The rash of high-profile Albany corruption cases has spurred calls for ethics reforms, with some changes included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recently adopted state budget.

As part of the deal, Mr. Scarborough is expected to serve a year in jail for the state charge. He could face up to 20 years in prison on the federal wire fraud charge, and 10 years for the theft charge.

Mr. Scarborough has agreed to resign his position as an Assemblyman, donate his remaining campaign funds to charity, and pay $54,355 in restitution to the state.

DOT damages woman's property while paving

From PIX11:

Like so many other streets in Jamaica, Queens, Foch Boulevard was riddled with potholes and in desperate need of paving. So when the New York City Department of Transportation began working on the street in late April, resident Latisha Wilson was relieved. But, she says, “Something went wrong with one of their trucks and the tar got all over my property, the gates, the sidewalks, the retaining walls.”

Letisha grabbed her cell phone and documented the damage, the wet tar covering the concrete slabs on top of the wall surrounding her yard, tar on the fence, the gate posts, even tar footprints from the workers’ shoes leading up the stairs to Latisha’s home.

“One of the guys came over and apologized, he said he was sorry, that it was an accident,” said Latisha. “He said we’ll clean it up.”

The D.O.T. used a power washer to try and remove the tar, but Latisha says it made the situation worse. So she called PIX11 to show us what it looked like two weeks after the power washing. Much of the tar was still visible and wet. In addition, the clean-up efforts also damaged the sidewalk. When it became clear this was a much bigger job than could be done with t power washer, the D.O.T. workers told her she would need to file a damaged property claim with the New York City Comptroller’s office.

People not impressed with big bad Bill

From CBS New York:

There is good news and bad news for Mayor Bill de Blasio in a new poll about the Big Apple.

The good news is the mayor’s approval rating is up 44 percent from 39 percent last year, according to the poll conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

Six in 10 voters also have a favorable impression of de Blasio, but only 40 percent say de Blasio is changing the city for the better, and 53 percent don’t think his policies are historic and transforming the city.

There’s also growing pessimism in the city.

Forty-nine percent of people say the city is headed in the wrong direction, and 57 percent say the overall quality of life in the city has gotten worse or remained the same in the past year.

White Castle HQ may become school

From Sunnyside Post:

Councilman Daniel Dromm has been in discussions with the School Construction Authority (SCA) about building a school at the old White Castle Headquarters at 69-01 34th Avenue.

The school would help ease school overcrowding in Woodside, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, which are part of School Districts 24 and 30, which are deemed to be among the two of the most overcrowded districts in the city.

Woman mistakenly gets car boot 4 times

From CBS 2:

A case of mistaken car identity has led to intense frustration for a Queens woman whose car keeps getting the boot.

As CBS2’s Weijia Jiang reported, when Brigitta Wareham walks to her car, “I have knots in my stomach every time.”

She said she is sick over the thought of having her car booted again.

“I’m mad. I’m worse than frustrated,” she said.

New York City boots cars when owners owe $350 or more in unpaid parking tickets. But Wareham owes nothing.

Yet in less than two years, the Sheriff’s Office has booted her car four times by mistake, Jiang reported.

“I want that clear – by mistake. I didn’t have any tickets, and don’t have any tickets, and they did it by mistake,” Wareham said.

The city’s Department of Finance oversees parking violations. A spokesperson said Wareham is the victim of “human error.”

Are better roads in our future?

From CBS 2:

Sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, and in this case it’s nearly $250 million dollars’ worth.

CBS2 was the so-called squeaky wheel on behalf of angry New York drivers. And so, after demanding answers week after week, month after month this winter about why the roads are so bad, residents and commuters are hopefully on the highway to driver heaven.

“It’s going to be a big victory for the motorists of New York City,” Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said. “Actually, I’ll give this mayor credit. This is going to be some of the most miles of resurfacing the city has done in many years.”

CBS2 has learned that the mayor has decided to add a hefty $242 million for road resurfacing to the capital budget, which is funded through borrowing.

What this means to you, the driver, is:
* 1,200 lane miles will be resurfaced starting July 1
* An additional 1,300 lane miles will be resurfaced starting on July 1, 2016

That should make a substantial difference in the quality of your ride throughout the five boroughs.

Mizumi wishes to expand onto contaminated land

From the Times Ledger:

The owner of Mizumi Sushi and Seafood Buffet joined his lawyer at Community Board 11’s April meeting to make the case for his application to physically expand his restaurant onto the adjacent lot.

The community board ultimately approved the application 27 to 9 despite a fair amount of opposition due to the specifics of the building site, which require extensive environmental remediation and traffic considerations.

In expanding and developing the site, tons of soil would be removed, contamination would be capped and the currently 7,000-square-foot restaurant would have a new footprint of about 15,000 square feet with a 7,200-square-foot second floor banquet room and service bar.

Property records indicate that Twin Deer Group LLC, as the property owner of Mizumi in Douglaston, recently purchased the adjacent property that was once home to a gas station and automotive service.

Ching Kuo Chiang, as the principal owner of Mizumi, is working with the city Office of Environmental Remediation to clean up the contaminated site, which had previously been walled off from contaminating the surrounding wetlands of Alley Pond Park.

Chiang’s application to CB11 was only for a zoning variance, because the contaminated parcel is currently zoned single-family residential. There are no developments to the west of the parcel on which Mizumi plans to expand, and it is surrounded by an environmentally protected area.

In the application, Chiang’s lawyer Josh Reinsmith said Mizumi, at 231-10 Northern Blvd., would be combined with the adjacent parcel to be a single commercial-zoned lot. The application is still subject to approval by the Department of Environmental Conservation. If combined, the lot would be just under 1.5 acres in size.

The Douglaston Zoning Committee recommended approval of the zoning variance. Committee chair Joseph Sollano said that the committee viewed the project as only benefiting the community.

Old Spartan Restaurant to be completely transformed

This building was the Spartan Restaurant on Grand Avenue in Maspeth. Here it is as it appeared in the movie "Goodfellas" in 1990.

After the owner, long time civic leader Peter Chahales died, the restaurant was sold and became a catering hall. First it was Russian, then Glatt Kosher then it was the Lido, whatever that was.

Now it's behind a giant green construction fence, undergoing its latest incarnation.

As what? My best guess, based on what the rest of the Grand Avenue strip is noted to contain, is a massage parlor, nail salon, cell phone store and 99-cent paradise.

Abandoned house blighting the neighborhood

From the Queens Chronicle:

Howard Beach resident Isaac Maya has had to look at the abandoned, dilapidated house next to his just sit there for more than five years.

“It’s just getting worse and worse,” Maya said. “I don’t see anything going on there.”

A for-sale sign is up in front of the house, located at 164-29 92 St., but according to Maya, nobody but possums and a few trespassers have entered the property in years.

“Who knows what the heck is going on in there,” he exclaimed.

The longtime Howard Beach resident said his security cameras have captured footage of people not from the neighborhood entering the back of the property.

The interior of the house is gutted. Looking inside it, it’s hard to tell if there are stairs leading up to the second floor.

The siding is slowly peeling off the house and weeks-old newspapers are left sitting in the front of it.

A notice has been placed on the front door stating that some of the locks to the property may have been changed.

Calls to the number listed on the notice led a Queens Chronicle reporter to a Wells Fargo hotline.

Fire at Pan Am as governor's deadline passes

#Queens 99-3124 79-00 Queens Blvd All Hands for a fire in a 7 sty 300 x 50 homeless shelter (ex Pan Am hotel) @NYCFireWire @FDNY #FDNY

— Worldwide Actions (@AlwaysActions) May 6, 2015

QNS ALL HANDS 79-00 QUEENS BLVD, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR,

— FDNY (@FDNY) May 6, 2015

QNS ALL HANDS 79-00 QUEENS BLVD, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE ON 3RD FLR, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNY (@FDNY) May 6, 2015

Thankfully it was under control quickly and seemingly without injury. The cause at this point is unknown. At least we know it wasn't a kitchen fire!

Ridgewood roofer posts illegal signs in North Flushing

"Mysterious unwanted construction and roofing advertisements have been appearing all over North part of Flushing, Queens in tree lined and quiet residential parts of the neighborhood.

The DOT should be aware as well as any other pertaining authority to bring this "company" to the point of being fined and demand for the removal of these eyesores.

It's a terrible sighting when a person wake ups in the morning, check out thru the front window and the first thing they'll see is this terrible sighting.

Shame on these crooks who come in the middle of the night to deface our communities offering their unwanted services damaging the trees by using screws on trees and in some instances placing their ugly adds side by side on the same tree.

One is placed in front of 146-35 25th Rd., Flushing, NY 11354 and another in front of 151-07 26th Avenue, Flushing, NY 11354. The owners of these two houses should remove them and send them in a parcel to this shady company as a message not to mess with their street." - anonymous

Jamaica Estates house: cool or crap?

From Curbed:

At first glance, this four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Jamaica Estates is all harsh angles and clashing colors and dissonant window sizes. But open the door. Take a good, hard look at its incredibly shiny interiors, which tell another story. A more aggressive story. Probably a story from a decade that has passed. Fancy a grand piano and a sunken dance floor? A pool table and fully stocked bar in a basement den of debauchery? A black- and red-tiled hot tub, sauna, and steam room set-up? Mirrored walls galore? All of the above can be yours—for a mere $1.69 million.

The most dangerous intersections in Queens

Data Source: NYC Open Data / https://data.cityofnewyork.us

Lipstick on a pig?

From the Daily News:

A rusting World's Fair icon in Queens is getting a $3 million paint job — for free, the Daily News has learned.

Bridge and steel painters will donate their time in a bid to turn back the clock on the New York State Pavilion, which was built more than 50 years ago for the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Parks Department officials said the paint job will “restore the original luster and beauty” of the pavilion while “protecting its bones.” It is the first such work to be done on the building since it was constructed.

Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver is expected to make the announcement Wednesday outside the pavilion with the New York Structural Steel Painting Contractors Association and union officials.

The donated work will be done through a training program for apprentice painters, officials said.

MTA wants de Blasio to pay up

From Capital New York:

In a move that surprised city officials, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Monday that the de Blasio administration should significantly increase its contributions to the agency’s $32 billion capital plan.

The request came the same morning City Hall confirmed it would meet the M.T.A.’s prior request for $657 million—and days after it began printing executive budget books with the line item. Reporters have been asking for months if Mayor Bill de Blasio would provide that funding, which increases the city’s annual contribution from $100 million to $125 million.

But in a letter to first deputy mayor Anthony Shorris, chairman Thomas Prendergast said the agency’s needs are far greater and increased his ask to $1.5 billion. He said the city should make an annual contribution of $300 million to the five-year plan, which is currently underfunded by about $14 billion. He said increased subway ridership, now at six million on busy days, makes it clear how important it is to find the funding.

“Now, at this critical juncture, is the right time for the City to acknowledge the need for significantly increased investment in the MTA, and in the City’s future,” Prendergast wrote. “We hope that you agree and that we can look forward to accelerated discussions.”

He also said the city should find additional money to help cover major projects. He suggested, as one example, that the city could contribute $1 billion toward the cost of the Second Avenue subway extension.

The requests appeared to annoy City Hall, with a spokesperson saying it was offering the highest level of “general capital support” to the agency in 15 years.

Better pay up, Bill. You don't want to deal with more subway delays while you're trying to look like an everyday New Yorker!

LIC couple set free by building management

From the NY Post:

A luxury Queens building that blocked portions of palatial balconies belonging to some rent-stabilized tenants — so that high-paying, tiny-terraced residents didn’t develop a case of porch envy — has finally removed the partitions.

On April 21, the steel partitions were finally removed — but tenants had to agree to a litany of provisions, including: no drinking, not using their patios as storage space, no hanging of signs or flags, no kids without adult supervision, no barbecues and no bird feeders.

A spokesman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said management, tenants and a window-washing company hammered out a plan that maintained the “safety of tenants without impeding window washing.”

The building started off as a failed condo project, resuscitated thanks to $7.6 million in subsidies and $28 million in construction loans from the city. In return, 108 of the units are income restricted or rent-stabilized — as low as $1,103 for a studio.

Another sad day for the NYPD

From the Daily News:

The NYPD was plunged into grief Monday after a hero cop who had been shot in the face by an ex-con died after a valiant two day struggle to stay alive, sources said.

Officer Brian Moore is the first cop killed in the line of duty since December, when officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were executed by a cop-hating maniac as they sat in their patrol car.

Moore, who was 25 years old, died at Jamaica Hospital.

EB-5 under fire

From DNA Info:

A Manhattan-based immigration lawyer and real estate broker wants to connect wealthy Chinese investors looking for green cards with small developers and nonprofits to build affordable housing, recreation centers, assisted living facilities and other projects across the city.

Min Chan hopes to tap the controversial federal immigration program known as EB-5, which grants visas to foreigners who invest $500,000 in U.S. projects that create 10 full-time jobs within 2 years. The program also gives visas to their families and children.

Roughly 85 percent of applicants last year were from China, thanks to the county's soaring number of millionaires in recent years, according to a report from commercial real estate firm Savills Studley. The State Department announced this month that the U.S. already reached its quota for its 10,000 EB-5 visas to be given out this fiscal year because of demand from China — marking the second year in a row the program hit its limit.

The program, which enables developers to tap low-interest funding, is intended to be a job-generator for high-poverty and high-unemployment areas.

In reality, EB-5 is helping fund some of the city's swankiest projects from some of the top developers like Silverstein Properties' towering, ultra-luxurious Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown rising at 30 Park Place, the Durst Organization's Danish-desinged glassy pyramid-shaped high-end rental rising on West 57th Street and Kushner Real Estate Group's NoMad tower at 281 Fifth Ave.

The EB-5 program — which is up for review in Congress this September — has come under fire for lax regulations that have led to shadowy transactions and scams. Some watchdogs have raised national security concerns since the fast-tracked EB-5 visas aren't required to have the same background checks as other visa applicants.

Stalled condo project is major eyesore

"At 146-10 35th Ave in Flushing, there seems to be a permanent construction freeze. This apartment building project has remained in this incomplete state for, I believe, more than 5 years." - anonymous

Cook coasts...for now

From the NY Post:

She’s the Teflon lawmaker.

Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, a Queens Democrat, skirts on the edge of scandal while her fellow pols have been hauled off to prison.

Her colleague Bill Scarborough is expected to plead guilty this week and resign his seat in a “per diem” travel expense scam. He was accused of submitting more than $40,000 in phony expenses and said last week he had “severe financial problems.”

Cook also racked up thousands in per-diem expenses, including one 12-day stretch in 2010 when she said she was in Albany but didn’t attend any legislative sessions, The Post reported.

Cook, 77, maintains that all of her expenses were legitimate.

“A lot of things do swirl around me, but I’m one of those people — I’ve worked all my life. I haven’t had to ask anybody for any money and I haven’t had to steal,” Cook told The Post last week.

Feds closing in on Skelos

From the Daily News:

Federal prosecutors are expected to announce criminal charges against state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son as early as Monday, sources told the Daily News.

Prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office have been investigating the Long Island Republican and his son, Adam Skelos, regarding a possible conflict of interest and violations of federal corruption statutes.

The two could be hit with corruption and other charges tied to a lucrative contract awarded to an Arizona-based engineering firm that once employed Adam Skelos, 32, as a consultant, a source familiar with the matter told The News.

The company, AbTech, won the contract even though it was not the low bidder, and the feds were trying to determine whether Sen. Skelos played a role.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on the matter.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

No one can explain why expensive bridge went bad

From the NY Times:

It was supposed to be the coolest little bridge in New York City. Designed by the winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant and built at a cost of $4.1 million, it zigzagged just 400 feet down from Brooklyn Heights to the waterfront, bouncing slightly underfoot and adding a touch of rustic adventure to the bustling Brooklyn Bridge Park.

But the pedestrian bridge, which opened in March 2013, soon bounced a little too much. Then it started to move from side to side. Then, last August, it was closed abruptly — and temporarily — park officials said. By October, the target reopening date was amended to spring.

Now, with spring well underway, officials for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, which operates the park, still do not have an exact date for when the Squibb Park Bridge, as it is formally known, will reopen, though they say it will be sometime in late spring.

Nor could they specify what went wrong. Belinda Cape, a spokeswoman for the park corporation, attributed the problem broadly to a “misalignment” issue. “Engineers have been working to correct the issue and repair the bridge,” she said. “They’re pulling it back into alignment and testing it, section by section.”

In the absence of an explanation, park officials and local residents have speculated that construction at two nearby sites may have compromised the bridge, or maybe it was the tendency of teenagers to jump en masse to accentuate the bounce.

“In an environment like this, if people find out something is moving, they are going to move it to the max, especially younger kids,” said Nick Ivanoff, president of Ammann & Whitney, a leading bridge engineering firm that was not involved in the project.

Those answers have not been enough for elected officials like State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, a Democrat whose district includes Brooklyn Bridge Park. He has called on the park corporation to provide a full accounting of the bridge’s defects and to recoup the cost of repairs, estimated at about $700,000.

Park officials say they planned to do both, although they declined to say whether they would also sue the engineer who designed the bridge.

Kids booze it up all over

From NBC 4:

Underage drinkers can easily buy booze in New York City, according to the findings of an undercover investigation into liquor sales at grocery stores, pharmacies and other retail outlets.

Underage decoys were able to buy alcoholic beverages in more than half of the 911 stores sampled during the six-month probe last year, officials with the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Sunday.

The outlets that sold alcohol to the decoys represent about 10 percent of all the stores with liquor licenses in the five boroughs.

Retailers charged with underage sales of alcohol face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, with fines starting at $2,500 for a first offense, according to the authority. Repeat offenders could lose their licenses.

The city health department intends to send letters to all stores in the city licensed to sell beer, wine or liquor requesting that they help reduce underage drinking by checking customer IDs.

Whitestone to rally against development plan

From We Love Whitestone:

SAVE THE DATE: Sunday May 17 - 1PM

We Love Whitestone will be holding a RALLY on May 17 at the location at 1PM. I will be setting up an EVENT INVITE - share with your FB friends, share it with your neighbors....please come and support your community..show everyone WE HAVE A VOICE!

Deconstructing Weisbrod-speak

I had to chuckle at this Queens Chronicle op-ed by City Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod, defending how he is planning to force low and medium density outer borough neighborhoods to their knees.

Paragraph 3 is a lie, plain and simple.

"Notwithstanding the misperceptions perpetuated in last week’s Queens Chronicle editorial (“Save Queens from City Hall,” April 23) we are not proposing growth or major change. Let’s get the facts straight: No upzoning is proposed for Queens neighborhoods, and certainly no skyscrapers, under our Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposal. No changes at all are being proposed to the size and shape of buildings in one- and two-family neighborhoods."

So which is it: no upzoning or no skyscrapers? It's such a lie. Huge portions of Queens will be affected by this. And what's the definition of a one- and two-family neighborhood? Is it an area that has one and two family houses or zoned for them?

Paragraph 4:

"Instead, our proposal simply allows buildings to incorporate affordable and senior housing, to be better designed and to fit quality ground-floor retail space where permitted. The resulting buildings will fit more graciously into their neighborhoods, and facilitate a better quality of life, better enabling residents to shop within walking distance of their homes. The small incremental height proposed in our zoning text change for multifamily districts does not permit a single additional square foot for market-rate housing."

Who says? I find it absolutely galling that Weisbrod can make a blanket statement like this.

Paragraph 5:

"Why are we proposing this now? Since 1916, the rules for how we build have changed as the city has changed. Each change brought its own challenges. The city’s “contextual” zoning regulations, created in the mid-1980s in response to disruptive “tower-in-the-park” developments, are unintentionally forcing new buildings to fit within inflexible envelopes, leading to bad design and high costs that hinder housing affordability. Moreover, developers cannot take advantage of zoning incentives for affordable housing, leaving those units on the cutting room floor."

Ok. So now we get to the heart of the matter. The developers have their panties in a bunch because they aren't able to build as big and charge as much as they want because contextual zoning stops them from doing so. The last sentence about affordable housing not being built is laughable.

Paragraph 6:

"Architects and nonprofit organizations that support the city’s housing and neighborhoods have identified aspects of these dated rules as an impediment to both quality housing and affordable housing. We agree. The City’s Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposal tweaks the zoning code for medium- and higher-density districts to permit property owners the flexibility to build what they are already allowed to build."

Translation: the Building industry told us what we need to change so they can increase their profits. We agree.

Paragraphs 7 and 8 are just ridiculous. I'm not even going to comment on them.

Paragraph 9:

"Only 5 percent of residents of low-income senior housing near transit own cars. Yet current regulations require costly parking that often reduces the amount of desperately needed senior housing that can be provided, and yields no benefit to the overwhelming majority of its residents. Developing housing for seniors with low incomes is not profitable. It requires public subsidy. Precious public dollars that support much-needed housing for low-income seniors can go further when they’re not used to subsidize unnecessary parking spaces, which cost more to build than it costs to buy a car."

This proposal looks to eliminate or severely reduce parking for *ALL* senior housing.

Last Paragraph:

"It’s important to note that this proposal is still in the early stages. Although April 30 is the last day for public comment on the scope of the environmental review, we have not completed the proposed zoning text, nor begun the official land use review process, which provides multiple opportunities for public input. We appreciate how much communities care about issues that affect them, and we welcome their engagement. But the public discourse will be most constructive only if the facts are clear to all."

Translation: Don't worry. Whatever you've written, we're going to ignore it anyway. Suckers!

Then to put the cherry on top of this shit sundae, we have our borough historian spouting the same nonsense in letters to the editor, and he signs it with his official title. Blech!

Udall's Cove Preserve may expand with new funding

From the Queens Chronicle:

Volunteers for the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee’s annual wetlands cleanup on Saturday filled a 25-cubic-yard Dumpster and got rewarded with a total of $710,000 in city and state funding.

Walter Mugdan, president of the UCPC, said he was “absolutely thrilled” with the surprise announcements from City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) and state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) at Saturday’s event, held on Sandhill Road, between Douglaston and Little Neck.

“We now have the good problem of determining where to use the money,” Mugdan said.

Avella provided $210,000 from the state budget that can be used to help purchase the Callender property, a privately owned land just outside the nature preserve. The 11,8000-square-foot parcel went on the market last spring and the UCPC has urged the city to acquire it.

Mugdan’s group and other area associations have pledged $50,000 toward the purchase. The owner is asking $585,000 for the site, but has said he’s flexible about negotiating.

Vallone announced at the cleanup that he and Borough President Melinda Katz were both providing $250,000 each to the UCPC for land acquisition. But Mugdan said they have specified they want the money for purchases within the preserve.

“That means we can’t use the money for the Callender property, but we will talk to them and they might be flexible about its use,” he said.

The UCPC and area groups such as the Douglas Manor Association, the Douglas Manor Environmental Association, Douglas Shores and the Westmoreland Association fear that if the Callender property is sold privately for residential construction, any house would tower over the park and be “an undesirable visual intrusion.”

It's funny how some well-heeled communities get government money to stop development but others, well...

DSNY hunts scavengers

From CBS 2:

Unwanted items are often left on New York City sidewalks for garbage pickup, but turning someone else’s trash into your treasure could land you in trouble with the law.

As CBS2’s Weijia Jiang reported, such scavenging is even costing the city money.

You may not know, but as soon as anything is left on a curb, it becomes the property of the city. It is illegal to grab and go.

CBS2 saw one man allegedly try to do it.

“When the super gave me the authorization, ‘Come pick it up,’ I think it’s no problem,” he said when Jiang pointed out that picking up discarded items is illegal.

Inside the man’s van was a residential microwave, refrigerator and washing machine – all appliances containing metal, police said.

Only sanitation crews or licensed vendors are authorized to take items. When they pick up less, the city loses money.

For that reason, police look for scavengers around the clock.

Did a squatter kill the football coach?

From DNA Info:

Police investigating the murder of a Queens father of three earlier this week are checking a vacant house the gunman was seen entering, authorities said.

Jerwaine Gorman, 34, a father of three young children and Rosedale Jets head coach, was shot in the chest while sitting in a Mercedes-Benz in South Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon.

The gunman walked up to the car, which was parked on 167th Street near Linden Boulevard, around 12:30 p.m. and fired one shot at Gorman, police said.

After the shooting, the suspect fled on foot towards 166th Street and was seen entering an abandoned house there, police said.

Four men were found inside the home and taken into custody for questioning, but it was not clear whether any of them was the gunman. No arrests have been made as of Friday morning, police said.

One of the men questioned had on a gray T-shirt which matched the description of the one the gunman wore, sources said.

Sources also said the house was not considered a spot known for drug use and a motive for the shooting remains unclear.

Bayside malls may finally be fixed

From the Queens Chronicle:

After being in financial purgatory for four years, the iconic medians and malls that make up Bayside Hills may finally be repaired.

“There are craters and all kinds of crazy looking things along the malls,” said Bayside Hills Civic Association President Michael Feiner during the group’s meeting on Tuesday night. “We’ve been lucky that Joe Black from the Parks Department put some wood chips in recently to fill in those holes, but the problems that were there years ago are still there and still worsening.”

The area’s former councilman, Dan Halloran, allocated $50,000 in 2011 for the Department of Transportation to make repairs. However, according to Feiner, the DOT and the Parks Department are debating over which agency is responsible for the malls and the original allocation is not enough to significantly rehabilitate the area.

But now, Borough President Melinda Katz is stepping in. According to Barry Grodenchik, director of community boards, and Budget Director Richard Lee, Katz has agreed to allocate $450,000 to the project.

“Ounce for ounce, Bayside Hills probably has more malls than any other area in Queens,” Grodenchik said. “The borough president has heard your complaints and she wants to make these malls as beautiful as they once were. She really wants to turn this area into something special.”

In addition, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) allocated $275,000 last year for renovations at Capt. Dermody Triangle, located at 48th Avenue and 216th Street in Bayside Hills. The green space, named after the abolitionist William Dermody, is in need of repairs to its sidewalk, lawn and monument.

“If you notice, we have some money over here and some over there,” Feiner said. “It just seems like there isn’t a lot of communications going on between our elected officials.”

CB7 unhappy with municipal lot plan

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city announced Tuesday plans for 208 units of affordable housing — 60 of those for senior citizens — in a Downtown Flushing municipal parking lot, but it does not have the blessing of Community Board 7.

The project, called One Flushing, was brokered by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which members of the community board say left them out of the planning process.

In a letter dated April 24 to board members, Chuck Apelian, CB 7 vice chairman and head of its Land Use Committee, wrote that HPD “refuses to meet and include input before a developer is selected” for the project.

Apelian added that a meeting was held in March at the Borough President’s Office with HPD, but that the agency’s presentation “was extremely guarded, confusing and perfunctory, designed to limit our participation.”

He said the community board has “great concerns” about proper development “on this very narrow and complicated site” that is adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road.

Assemblywoman catches AirBnB'ers on hidden camera

From CBS 2:

Business is still booming for Airbnb in New York City, even though a report last year from the state attorney general found that most of the listings in New York City violate the law and take affordable housing off the market for New Yorkers.

As CBS2’s Sonia Rincon reported, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, went undercover to see exactly how it’s happening.

Rosenthal used a hidden camera and got one leasing agent to admit he didn’t really live at an apartment and that it wasn’t really supposed to be rented short-term.

“If somebody asks you something, never mention in the building Airbnb,” he told her. ” … Because this is supposed to be residential.”

State law prohibits someone from renting out an apartment for less than 30 days unless that person is also staying in the unit.

But those aren’t the types of places Rosenthal found on Airbnb.

“Thousands of units that belong in the housing market to rent to New Yorkers are taken off the market and reserved for tourists,” Rosenthal said.

She says the apartments she saw had no evidence of anyone living there.

“So, in fact, they were hotel rooms,” Rosenthal said. “There were no clothes in the closet. There was no food in the kitchen.”

Koo doing LPC chair's dirty work

From the Queens Chronicle:

City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Fushing), chairman of the Landmarks Committee, has introduced a reform bill that will reduce the time it takes for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider potential sites.

The legislation (Int. 775) imposes a timeline on the designation of landmarks and historic districts.

“Landmarking in New York City is an arduous process that has kept many properties in a state of perpetual limbo, unable to reap the benefits of an actual landmark designation,” Koo said. “Since the creation of the landmarks law 50 years ago, many potential landmarks have languished on the LPC calendar for as long as 49 years with no end in sight.”

He called that inaction “unacceptable.” The legislation would give the LPC 18 months to clear that backlog.

You may recall that last year when the LPC chair announced that she was clearing up the backlog there was a shitstorm and she backed down. So she found a stooge to do this for her.

Pretty much everyone is opposed to Edgestone plan

From the Queens Chronicle:

A long-delayed construction project has Whitestone residents, elected officials and Community Board 7 furious at the developer for trying to change plans from 52 single-family houses to 107 townhouses.

The Edgestone Group recently met with CB 7’s Land Use Committee to discuss its plans to build the townhouses with 203 units on the waterfront at 151-45 Sixth Road.

At the recent meeting, representatives told committee members that the development of remediation plans with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to move the contaminated soil took longer than expected.

“The owner has been flip-flopping for two years and now they say they don’t have to build the waterfront park,” said Chuck Apelian, committee chairman. “They have no credibility.”

CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said Edgestone has not filed plans with any city agency and if it wants to proceed with the additional housing it will have to go through the public review process. Back in 2008, the area was rezoned from manufacturing to R3-2.

Apelian agrees, adding that he believes the developer will clean up the site and then flip it for more money to a new owner.

He noted that area elected officials are totally against the Edgestone plan and “I think the developer will listen because no one want it.”
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said that Edgestone “is declaring war on the community” and that it is unacceptable to challenge the pre-approved plan. “This kind of threat will not be tolerated,” he added.

He and Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) don’t always see eye to eye, but in this case they are in agreement.

“Quadrupling the amount of units and eliminating the waterfront park is a direct attack on Whitestone’s quality of life and I stand firmly with our community to call for the developers to abandon their ill-conceived plan,” Vallone said.

Will term limits improve community board process?

From the Gotham Gazette:

At a hearing of the City Council's Committee on Governmental Operations Thursday, issues of community board function will be taken up through bills to introduce term limits for board members and to add professional urban planners to board staff.

The term-limit bill, introduced by Council Member Daniel Dromm in December last year, would allow community board appointees to serve up to six consecutive two-year terms. Currently, there is no limit on how many terms a community board member can serve. The bill, co-sponsored by Council Member Ben Kallos, who chairs the government operations committee, would enact the six-term limit starting for members appointed in April 2016.

The bill provides exemption for current board members who would be grandfathered along current no-limit rules. Community board members are appointed by borough presidents; there are 59 boards in the five boroughs.

"This is just one of the areas in which community boards should be reformed," said Lauren George, associate director of good government group Common Cause New York. "In terms of increasing representation, this will be a big step in improving the way community boards represent the changing dynamics of the city. When experienced members basically get a lifetime membership, they tend to have entrenched interests. They don't reflect the neighborhood, age and ethnic diversity, or sometimes even gender diversity."

George also said recruitment to community boards is extremely challenging, which is especially true in certain parts of the city, and term limits could encourage new people to join.

Sunnyside deals with problem bar

From Sunnyside Post:

A bar/restaurant located on the corner of 48th Street and Barnett Avenue has come under fire by local residents.

Several residents have complained about noise coming from the 47-15 Barnett Avenue establishment, while others allege that it has been operating well past 4 am (after hours).

Community Board 2 Chair Pat O’Brien said the board has fielded more than six complaints regarding the establishment in recent months.

Furthermore, the operators of the bar/restaurant—called Baru–have failed to show up at several board meetings in recent months to discuss the renewal of their liquor license, according to board records.

Emilo Rubio opened Baru in 2012 as a Colombian restaurant.

Anti-hotel rally in Broadway-Flushing

I'm sure you remember the monstrosity from this post a week ago. The owner denies that it will be a hotel.

Original home, circa 1926. The John J. Halleran residence.