Fraudulent company head going to the pokey

From Crains:

The head of a consulting company that faked safety inspections on dozens of construction sites in the city will spend up to three years in state prison, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced Tuesday.

Richard Marini, 62, ran a company called Avanti Building Consultants, which was supposedly staffed with licensed safety managers who could inspect building sites. But not only were Marini's inspectors unlicensed, according to Vance, they also had no experience in construction safety at all, in most cases.

Marini scoured Craigslist and paid bellhops, musicians and short-order cooks to simply sign off on safety logs in their own names, or forge the names of licensed safety inspectors—one of whom was dead. Avanti Building Consultants inspected about 40 sites.

RKO on the market again

From Crains:

The long-vacant RKO Keith's Theatre in Flushing, Queens, is up for sale—again.

The 1920s-era cinema at 135-35 Northern Blvd. has been gathering dust for 30 years as a series of developers have bought and sold the property without completing plans to convert it to apartments or hotel rooms. On Feb. 17, the latest firm to take a crack at redeveloping the property, JK Equities, announced that it is putting the former movie house up for sale. RKO Keith's Theatre is being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield.

"In the past six months, we have received several unsolicited offers to purchase the site at attractive pricing," said Jerry Karlik, head of JK Equities.

What happens when a shelter opens in an area

From LIC Post:

The Commanding Officer of the 114 Precinct has called on the community board for help in combating crime at a women’s homeless shelter in Long Island City, following two violent incidents that broke out at the shelter last week.

Captain Peter Fortune addressed Community Board 1 at its monthly meeting Tuesday and asked the Board to reach out to the City regarding the women’s shelter in the former Verve Hotel, located at 40-03 29th Street.

Fortune informed the Board of two incidents where residents of the shelter had to be arrested, with one resident assaulting police officers.

The first incident occurred on Feb. 11, where police responded to a dispute between two roommates. As police arrived, one roommate struck the other in the head with a metal object, Fortune said.

The suspect was arrested and taken to Cornell Hospital’s psychiatric center for evaluation. Upon arrival, as the suspect was being taken out of the ambulance, she assaulted an officer.

“She head butted the officer,” Fortune said. “That officer has been out with injuries.”

While in the hospital, the suspect struck an officer numerous times with a metal IV pole and kicked him. That officer has needed treatment as well.

Then on Feb. 12, a resident refused to go through the shelter’s metal detectors and began to act aggressively, Fortune said. She broke the metal detectors and then began throwing chairs and bottles around the lobby.

She was arrested and brought to Cornell Hospital for a psychiatric exam, Fortune said.

Fortune said he subsequently spoke to the shelter contractor, the Acacia Network, and they were not aware of these incidents or arrests.

He added that the Precinct has received complaints from neighboring business owners, primarily bodega owners, who say residents from the shelter harass them.

"Was licensed" contractor scammed old lady

From PIX11:

Joseph Battaglia claimed to be a licensed home improvement contractor when Virginia James hired him to renovate her small bathroom and replace a number of doors in her Queens home.

But a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs says “Battaglia and Sons Contracting license was revoked in 2013.” His new company, JAB Home Improvement, is also “not licensed” and is “under investigation,” says the Consumer Affairs Department.

We recently confronted Battaglia about a court judgment he lost to Virginia James for $4854.00 for failing to complete the bathroom renovations and not delivering the replacement doors.

“How come you haven’t paid the judgment?” I asked Battaglia. He claimed to be unaware the court case had taken place six months ago and that he lost by default when he failed to show up.

“You take advantage of the elderly. My mother was 80-years-old”, said Eileen James. It was Eileen’s mother who sued Battaglia. Tragically, she died just one week after filing suit, and Eileen continued the court fight on her mother’s behalf. “He made commitments to me that he was going to refund the money and fix what needed to be fixed. And of course, months went on. He never did anything”, said Eileen.

Way too much money going to shelter operators

From the Daily News:

Ponder Mayor de Blasio’s priorities — and the goods he is buying with spiraling outlays on serving the homeless. The rapidly rising figures are astonishing.

All together, the mayor will spend $1.7 billion on homelessness this year, a whopping 46% more than just two years ago.

For context, $1.7 billion is more than the city spends annually to pick up and dispose garbage, run the fire department or keep the city’s drinking water clean.

That amount includes $1.3 billion to run shelters, an outlay larger than the city spends on parks, senior centers, libraries and cultural institutions combined.

Wills a no show council member

From NY1:

City Councilman Ruben Wills' seat has been empty a lot lately. The indicted Queens Councilman has not been to City Hall since December, and he has not been to his court appearances, either.

Wills is on medical leave, and that illness is the latest hiccup delaying his corruption trial.

It was nearly two years ago that the Queens Councilman was charged by the state attorney general with grand larceny and filing false business records. He is accused of stealing public tax dollars from a nonprofit group he founded.

"I am not resigning on charges," Wills said in May 2014. "This is America, people. We are presumed innocent before you are proven guilty."

Sounds like he expects to go down. The phrase is "innocent until proven guilty".

Woman dies in cellar fire

From the NY Post:

A 30-year-old woman was killed in a Brooklyn blaze Sunday morning, police said.

The flames broke out in an apartment building at 2227 Homecrest Ave. in Sheepshead Bay about 6:30 a.m.

Sixty firefighters from 12 units battled the fire for about an hour before it was extinguished.

The woman, whose identity wasn’t released, was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where she died, cops said.

The fire started in the basement, and the Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating, fire officials said.

I hope they can figure this one out. It's baffling.

AirBnB dumped illegal rental data

From Curbed:

Back in November, in an attempt to prove that it's okay with transparency (and that its users are all above board, despite evidence/criticism to the contrary), Airbnb released a year's worth of data that it had accrued on listings in New York City. The data revealed many things about NYC hosts—including that many of them are operating illegal listings—but a team of independent researchers is now alleging that those facts weren't entirely accurate. The website Inside Airbnb (founded by Murray Cox) released a report alleging that Airbnb tampered with the data that was made publicly available, deleting as many as 1,000 listings in an attempt to "paint a misleading picture" of its NYC operations.

The report, compiled by Cox and tech writer Tom Slee, is compiled from two different sats of data using Airbnb listings going as far back as 2013. By doing so, they were able to compare the information that Airbnb made available to journalists in November to the site's data on a typical day/week/month, and the results were fairly damning. According to the report, "Airbnb ensured a favorable picture by carrying out a one-time targeted purge of over 1,000 listings," and used the days immediately following that purge as representative of its operations. The listings that were deleted were for "entire home" rentals, which have been targeted by critics as being the biggest source of illegal activity on the site.

Cox and Slee also poked holes in other data that Airbnb made available, including the statistic that "95% of our entire home hosts share only one listing"; according to their findings, that was true for "less than two weeks of the year." They allege that this was all done in order to make the company's dealings look better to journalists, who were presented with a very specific data set to analyze.

Fun in the sun 70 years ago

"Filmed by Gus Martens on June 15, 1946 in College Point, NY. The Kiwanis Club sponsors a Field Day beginning with a parade down College Point's main street. In Part 2 the parade finishes in College Point's waterside park where festivities continue with children's athletic games, appearances by local dignitaries, and plenty of free milk supplied by the church ladies. Filmed on 16mm Kodachrome. I did not apply or enhance the colors in any way - this is exactly how the film appears now, 70 years after it was made." - Robert W. Martens

Supposedly transparent mayor issued secret shelter order

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio personally banned the opening of new shelters in 2014 because of community backlash — and instead told officials to put homeless families in less secure hotels like the one where a mom and two kids were slaughtered Wednesday on Staten Island, The Post has learned.

De Blasio issued the edict during a meeting with Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli and Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor — both of whom later resigned amid the growing homeless crisis, a DHS official said.

“They started pushing us to put clients in commercial hotels because they didn’t want to notify the people in the communities,” the DHS source said.

“When you open up a shelter, you have to notify the community, City Council members, officials, and people get upset. [De Blasio] had opened a lot of shelters that fall and was afraid of opening more. So he started opening up these hotels.”

De Blasio sent senior policy adviser Lincoln Restler to work with DHS on the hotel program, but Restler ignored senior staffers’ fears that the hotels could endanger homeless residents, the DHS source said.

“These commercial hotels don’t have adequate security, and [city officials] know that,” the source explained. “Regular shelters do. [Many] have full-body metal detectors. A boyfriend can’t just walk in and go to his girlfriend’s room if he doesn’t live there.”

Landlord of explosion site finally arrested

From the NY Post:

Two building owners and three contractors were arrested Thursday morning on charges including manslaughter​, assault and criminally negligent homicide​ over the East Village blast that destroyed three buildings and killed two people nearly a year ago.

Petty corner-cutting and blatant greed caused the blast, officials said.

Sharing the blame, officials ​accused, are a penny​-​pinching building landlord, ​her son, ​her contractor, and the contractor’s unlicensed plumber, who installed a tangle of dangerous and illegal gas connections that they hid from Con Ed behind a locked basement door.

And check out this case from Michigan:

Federal officials charged a suburban Detroit restaurant owner and his wife Friday with harboring immigrants who were in the U.S. without legal permission after a fire at a house he owned killed five employees about two weeks earlier.

Roger Tam, 55, was arrested Thursday and appeared Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. His wife, Ada Lei, 48, also has been charged, but has not been arrested because she is hospitalized for an undisclosed reason.

Five Mexican nationals lived in the basement of the home owned by Tam in an upper middle-class neighborhood in Novi, northwest of Detroit, while working at Tam's restaurant, Kim's Garden. The Jan. 31 fire has been ruled accidental and possibly caused by smoking; a smoke detector in the basement had been disabled. The basement had stairs to the first floor but windows made of glass block, which would prevent any escape in an emergency.

The charge that Tam and Lei face carries a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Illegal conversions and illegal gas hookups kill. It's time to throw the book at these people.

New safety regs for construction sites

From Crains:

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city Department of Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler announced stricter rules for construction sites Friday, including quadrupling fines for serious safety violations.

Despite advances in technology and new laws, working on a New York City construction site has become more dangerous during the past decade. After a string of accidents over the past two years, including a fatal crane collapse last week, the de Blasio administration has come under increasing pressure to address the problems.

"No building is worth a person's life," the mayor said in a statement outlining the new measures, which will be phased in during the next few months.

Penalties for serious safety lapses will quadruple to $10,000 from $2,400. Property owners with projects under 10 stories tall, where 70% of accidents happened in 2015, will be required to hire a construction superintendent for all major work (they already had to have one for new construction). The fine for failing to do so will rise to $25,000 from $5,000.

Unhappy Valentine's Day for Maspeth family

From PIX11:

Imagine what it's like if your apartment inside is as cold as it is outside, just as New York City is experiencing the coldest temperatures and wind chills in 20 years this weekend.

One Maspeth family knows firsthand.

"We keep the heater going nonstop and we keep bundled up at all times," Dawn Stahl told PIX11 News.

Dawn, her husband Michael and 16-year-old daughter Ashley have been living in the second-floor apartment at 54–66 46 Street with no heat and hot water for three months.

Her Con Edison bill is over $2000.

And to make matters worse, her oven and stove don't work because she said National Grid removed the gas meter in the basement because her landlord didn't pay his bills. She's now using a hot plate for cooking.

The family stopped paying rent months ago and took the landlord to court.

And now they're moving out in April, but, in the meantime, they have to deal with this weekend's arctic blast.

Satanists may be responsible for park bones

From the Daily News:

Cops are investigating a possible satanic connection to the human bones found in a Queens park, police sources said Friday.

The black garbage bag containing a skull, a jaw bone and other bones found at Peters Field Park in Hillside on Thursday was next to another bag that contained a machete and a rope.

The rope had been fashioned into a cross, police sources said.

Vibrant! Diverse!

First responders on bikes at FMCP

London EMT bike

From DNA Info:

The EMTs from the Corona Community Ambulance Corps know Flushing Meadows-Corona Park like the back of their hands.

Starting this summer, his group will begin patrolling with the help of "ambulance bikes" — a supercharged vehicle he's dreamed of since taking over the volunteer group in 2014.

Perna said the bikes — which were made possible thanks to $8,000 in funds he received from Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland — will make his staff more mobile and able to reach more people quickly, especially in the busy summer.

Starting this summer his team will have four bikes out in the park. The bikes will be equipped with oxygen, a defibrillator and other medical items to help teams of EMS workers assist patients wherever they are in the park, Perna said.

Two bikes will go out at a time, and will have an ambulance nearby as backup.

Ron Kim notices that Queens gets ignored

From the Queens Chronicle:

Perpetual Foreign Place Syndrome. That’s the term Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) coined in a recent email to his constituents, lamenting that Flushing is not taken seriously by city or state agencies because it is viewed as a foreign place.

“Even despite this unfairness and mistreatment, Flushing continues to stay determined and resilient,“ Kim wrote. “But imagine if we actually overcame the Perpetual Foreign Place Syndrome and realize the return on investment toward Flushing?”

In a later interview, Kim explained the sentiment expands beyond Flushing, to places like Whitestone and Bayside, where middle- and working-class families, regardless of race or ethnicity, feel they’re brushed aside by the city and state governments.

“I think it’s all communities in the outer boroughs feeling like they’re not being heard, like every road leads to Manhattan,” he said.

City wants seniors to live in sardine cans, not have cars

Vicki Been

From AM-NY:

Relaxing requirements to have parking lots at senior and affordable residences within reach of subways would free up space and money to build apartments, city officials testified Wednesday at a second day of hearings on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan.

“Three unnecessary parking spaces are the equivalent of two units of affordable housing,” Housing Commissioner Vicki Been said. Officials said spots in parking structures can cost $50,000 to build, taking into account design, materials and labor.

But City Council members from the outer reaches of Queens and Brooklyn challenged how so-called transit zones — where parking requirements for developers would be waived — were drawn. They said public transportation options and other amenities must be improved before the parking is taken away.

“Senior citizens and other residents are not sardines,” Mark Treyger, a Democrat representing parts of southern Brooklyn that have seen bus line cuts, told Newsday. “They need to be mobile, they need to get to doctors’ appointments, they need to live out the golden years of their lives.”

From DNA Info:

The minimum size for a senior would be 275 square feet, which Queens Councilman Donovan Richards suggested is too small.

"I just know from my own grandmother, she couldn’t fit her hats in an apartment that size," he said.

Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield flagged the issue of allowing senior developments up to 65 feet tall in low-density residential districts that currently have a maximum building height of 35 feet.

The residents of those neighborhoods "want their small little homes with their little driveways," Greenfield said. "They're not looking necessarily for that influx."

City Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod indicated he was open to negotiation, but Been balked.

"I completely understand the concern. I also just want to point out that seniors come from every neighborhood," both low rise and high rise, she said. "They want to stay in their neighborhoods but they don't want to be trapped in a building that doesn't have an elevator."

Greenfield suggested the administration require a special Board of Standards and Appeals permit for tall buildings in those low-slung neighborhoods so "there would be more review."

Been objected to adding in a community board review process.

"I feel very passionately about this, because I have to look seniors in the eye and say, 'I'm sorry, but we have a waiting list of seven years. That's probably longer than you'll be alive,'" she said.

DOB transparency bill passed

Laurie Cumbo

From The Real Deal:

A new law requires the Department of Buildings to give city officials a heads up when a new building is proposed for a neighborhood.

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law Monday ensuring that the department alert the City Council and Community Boards via email on a weekly basis after an application for a new building or for an alteration requiring a new certificate of occupancy for a building is filed. The bill also requires the department to email notices of rejected applications and also post all this information on its website every week.

Council member Laurie Cumbo, who co-sponsored the bill with Council member Fernando Cabrera, said that the law will increase transparency — a boon to neighborhoods like Downtown Brooklyn where new projects sprout up on a daily basis.

Behold the most beautiful yard you've ever seen!

You may remember this post from 2014 regarding the property located on 60th Drive in Maspeth. I was told at the time to wait until the owner was done because it would be the nicest yard we've ever seen. Well, here you go. That's a humdinger of a horizontal enlargement.

It's a good thing I'm getting my allergy shots what with all that green on the property!

How many garages does one family need?

Supersized building to replace Forest Hills restaurants

From DNA Info:

The so called Forest Hills' "Restaurant Row" could soon be demolished in order to make room for a new mixed-use development, a plan that has immediately sparked protests among local residents and business owners.

The new 12-story development is being eyed for a 1-story building at 107-18 70th Road, between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street, which houses several restaurants, including The Grill, Cabana and Moca Asian Cafe. An annual jazz series is also held on that block.

Two restaurants that closed on the block in the past 2 years — Santa Fe and Uno Pizzeria — have since remained vacant.

Currently the developer can build up to seven floors (roughly 70 feet), but according to elected officials they will be seeking a special permit from the city to build higher.

Of course they are!

Library sues Galante

From the Daily News:

The ex-CEO of the Queens Library expensed books he bought on Amazon for his Kindle, the library says in court papers.

The library filed the complaint about Thomas Galante in a countersuit to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses and legal fees it forked over to the ousted executive, the Daily News has learned.

In the scathing answer to Galante's breach-of-contract suit demanding $2.2 million in severance pay, the Queens Library seeks more than $200,000 in questionable expenses from 2009 to 2014.

Thomas Galante sits on the board meeting briefly before leaving for the evening. He was later voted on Administrative Leave with pay, September 11, 2014.
In addition, the library wants Galante to return $260,715 it paid to his attorneys after he and his consulting company were slapped with subpoenas by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.

Hazardous condition down below

I couldn't resist taking a peek at this document posted in the doorway of a giant crap pile at 1075 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood. There is apparently an illegal cellar apartment here that was forcibly vacated.

Note the gorgeously landscaped parking area.

Interesting how there are no fines for this.

City Council threatens to kill zoning plan

From DNA Info:

Mayor Bill de Blasio must revamp his controversial rezoning plan to target lower income New Yorkers or risk the City Council killing it, Council members said at a public hearing Tuesday.

The hearing on Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, a key piece of the mayor's plan to rezone neighborhoods across the city, was the first time the Council had weighed in publicly on the rezoning plan.

But it has come under fire by activists and some city officials who say the income levels are too high for the very low-income communities who most need affordable housing.

"It's going to be very hard for this Council to support MIH without options for our communities," said Queens Councilman Donovan Richards, who chairs the zoning subcommittee.

They've got the 7 train blues

From the Daily News:

Fed up No. 7 train passengers on Tuesday called on the MTA to give Queens commuters a smoother ride.

At a rally underneath the elevated 40th St.-Lowery St. station, riders and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens) called on the agency to give the line a top-to-bottom review — the kind of audit that led to improved service on the F, G and L lines in the past.

"What we have witnessed nearly every single day are significant delays, significant problems with trains bypassing stations, crowded platforms," Van Bramer said.

No. 7 train riders have been waiting for better service for years as crews repair equipment and install a modern signal system that would let the MTA squeeze more trains on the tracks — work that requires weekend disruptions.

In the meantime, the day-to-day commuting headaches continue to pile up, causing crowding along the busy line.

(While we wait, let's keep building.)

Affordable housing requirement was really just a suggestion

From DNA Info:

An investigation by a local historic preservation group has found that a number of "oversized new developments" in the neighborhood's affordable housing zones were approved by the city without requiring affordable housing, according to a report.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation said in a statement Monday that its investigation of Department of Building records found at least five cases in recent years where the city approved new developments "with greater square footage than allowed for market-rate developments, without requiring any affordable housing either on-site or off, as mandated by law."

The developments identified by the GVSHP were: 84 Third Ave./138 E. 12th St. (“The Nathaniel”); 152-154 Second Ave.; 118 E. First St.; 438 E. 12th St.; and 67 Ave. C.

Much of the East Village, including the avenues and Houston Street, consists of "inclusionary housing" districts. Inclusionary housing limits how many square feet a new development can be without affordable housing included.

LIC just gets taller and taller

From LIC Post:

A new development is threatening to take the title of Queens’ tallest building from the Citi tower.

Developers filed plans Saturday for a 79-story, 774-unit building at 23-15 44th Drive, next to the CUNY School of Law and across the street from 1 Court Square.

According to City documents, the building is slated to stand 964 feet tall. It would loom over the Citi tower, currently Queens’ tallest tower, and would also be taller than a building planned at 29-37 41st Ave., which made headlines last year for its potential to become Queens’ new tallest tower at 914 feet.

Developers for the 41st Avenue project, known as Queens Plaza Park, could not immediately be reached for an update on that project or comment on this story.

Westchester town afraid of becoming Queens

From the NY Times:

“A big part of the reason people come to Larchmont is for the charming homes,” said Sarah Bauer, one of the leaders of Preserve Larchmont. “We know they can be drafty and leaky, but if you wanted something big and new looming over you, you would go to Queens or Long Island.”

After a spate of teardowns the past few years, on Jan. 11 the Board of Trustees took the unusual step of passing a six-month moratorium on residential development in the one-square-mile village.

Why the village is attracting so many wrecking crews is not entirely clear. The most common explanation is that as neighboring communities like Scarsdale and Rye have become saturated with new housing, and cracked down on it, developers are looking farther afield.

What has most alarmed villagers, and intrigued developers, is not simply that old homes are being replaced with newer, bigger ones but rather that two, three or even four homes are being built where once there was just one. There have been 23 new homes built over the past decade, 14 resulting from demolitions and subdivisions, according to city records. With roughly 1,800 homes, that may not seem like much, but village officials said it was undertaking the moratorium to ensure the trend does not grow.

Zoning votes approaching; lobbying ramped up

From The Forum:

The MIH hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers. The ZQA hearing is the following day, at the same time and place.

Testimony can be delivered at the hearing or submitted electronically: correspondence@council.nyc.gov.

From Gotham Gazette:

Community advocates are making it clear that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plans to rezone neighborhoods are not acceptable unless they include broader economic development initiatives like local hiring.

As part of his ambitious affordable housing plan, de Blasio has announced several communities the city plans to rezone first in an effort to create more density, build affordable units, and improve neighborhoods. When the mayor initially announced the start of the rezoning process, the blowback was severe. In East New York, which is slated to be the first area rezoned among 15 neighborhoods across the city, residents cried foul that the process involved limited community input, failed to consider local needs, and could lead to wide-scale displacement.

Residents and groups all over the city are concerned that new residential development and other aspects of neighborhood improvement will lead to rapid gentrification and displacement of current residents. Good employment opportunities for those locals can help avoid such pitfalls.

From Capital New York:

As Mayor Bill de Blasio's controversial housing plans come before the City Council this week, his union allies are joining forces with the AARP and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to form an organization that will push for the mayor's proposals.

The group, United For Affordable NYC, is being incorporated with city and state agencies as a 501(c)4, lead strategist Neal Kwatra told POLITICO New York.

The four founding unions are the Hotel Trades Council, health care workers union 1199 SEIU, building service employees' 32BJ SEIU and District Council 37 — the largest municipal labor organization in the city.

The fund-raising organization will begin with a seed grant from some of its members and the mayor's other 501(c)4, Campaign for One New York, according to a source familiar with the effort who would only speak on background. The donors have made a six-figure commitment for the initial grant, but the details are still being worked out, the source added.

From the Daily News:

The City Council’s progressive caucus is pushing for changes to Mayor de Blasio’s ambitious but controversial affordable-housing plan.

Apartments should be offered for people making less than the average 60% of area median income — $46,620 for a family of three — currently targeted in the plan, says the 18-member group, which represents about a third of the Council.

The caucus says developers should be discouraged from putting their affordable apartments at a different site — which they say worsens segregation — by requiring 40% affordable housing if they take that option, rather than 25%-30% if they don’t.

It also wants to reduce from 10 units to six the size where a building is exempt from affordable mandates and require half the units to be affordable when manufacturing zones are turned residential.

Avella pushing for tax cap

From the Daily News:

Not long ago, the city’s working- and middle-class homeowners gasped when they opened the mail to find new property tax assessments.

While the property tax rate in New York City hasn’t risen, our homeowners get slammed with exorbitant annual increases — many in my district in Queens saw hikes as high as $1,000 — because of a severely broken property-tax assessment system. These homeowners need relief to maintain a promise of affordability in New York City, which is why I support a 2% state property tax cap.

Our city can live under such a cap, just like every municipality, town and village in New York State has since 2011, where homeowners experience this respite from skyrocketing local levies.

Under the cap, increases in projected property taxes in localities are constrained. They can grow by only 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower — unless the local council overrides the decision by a two-thirds vote.

As a result, not only do homeowners outside of the city enjoy lower tax bills, but by Fiscal Year 2020, they will have received $4.5 billion in additional state relief tied to the cap. Right now, city taxpayers don’t get a penny from those relief programs.

So extending the tax cap to New York City would help lift a burden both on families and on the city budget. For example, with a New York City cap in place, I would fully expect Gov. Cuomo to pick up the Medicaid growth that he’s proposed the city pay in this year’s budget; no county living under the property tax cap foots the bill for Medicaid growth.

There is something wrong when a mayor who preaches the gospel of affordability wants to balance the budget on the backs of working- and middle-class families.

The State Senate already voted for a 2% tax cap for New York City. I urge my colleagues in the Assembly to do the same to help struggling homeowners cope with costs, to keep New York affordable and to finally let 44% of New York taxpayers receive their fair share from the state.

Feds probing Sanders

From the NY Post:

A couple who run a small urban farm said powerful Queens lawmaker James Sanders offered them $1.7 million in taxpayer money to fund their operation — then demanded a $250,000 kickback.

Marion Moses and Malisa Rivera said they refused Sanders, then a city councilman, during a 2012 sit-down. Sanders, now a state senator running for Congress, became irate, and the couple believe their charity has been blacklisted by government officials ever since, they told The Post.

Three weeks ago, Moses filed a civilian crime report with the office of Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. Sources said the feds were already investigating Sanders for steering City Council discretionary funds to other nonprofits.

Mike Duvalle, a former Sanders staffer, told The Post that he met with the FBI last month in connection with that probe.

Pan Am homeless shelter gets permanent contract - until next year

From DNA Info:

The city approved a permanent contract for the controversial Pan Am shelter on the provider’s fourth try, according to the comptroller’s office.

The $23.8 million contract will allow Samaritan Village to operate the more than 200-room family shelter through June 2017, provided they complete specific construction projects to clear up violations and make improvements, officials said.

Comptroller Scott Stringer had denied the shelter’s three other applications, citing concerns about the safety of the former hotel at 7900 Queens Blvd.

Officials with the comptroller’s office said Samaritan Village had either cleared or presented a plan to clear open violations and other building issues.

Samaritan Village also plans to convert the shelter into a Tier 2 facility, officials said. They would have to present a construction plan for kitchens and an outdoor playground by June 20, 2016, in order to receive all of the contract money.

De Blasio to announce new crane safety regulations

From CBS 2:

Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce safety improvements to crane operations on Sunday, after a deadly collapse in TriBeCa that left one dead and several wounded.

The collapse happened just before 8:30 a.m. Friday on Worth Street near Church Street. Cell phone video captured the moment the massive crane fell to the street.

David Wichs, 38, was killed instantly as he walked along Worth Street. Three others were injured, including 73-year-old Thomas O’Brian, who suffered a head injury.

The collapse happened as the crew was lowering the crane due to high winds. A veteran operator was inside the control cab when it flipped upside down. The crew was trying to lower the arm into the safety position – an upside-down V – right over West Broadway.

Instead, the 56-year-old operator lost his battle to control the crane and it collapsed.

The operator, identified as Kevin Reilly, of Port Jefferson, has been questioned about how he lost control of the crane. Sources told 1010 WINS’ Roger Stern that Reilly probably saved lives by moving the crane away from buildings and onto the street.

Worker's life in jeopardy after concrete falls on him

From PIX11:

A construction worker is critically injured after being hit with falling concrete in Manhattan Saturday afternoon.

A captain for the FDNY said around 3 p.m., the worker was on the 20th floor at 317 Madison Avenue when he was hit in the head by falling concrete. The building was scheduled for demolition.

The worker was lowered down own out of the building in a shaft and taken to the hospital in critical condition.

New law proposed to protect old neighborhoods

From the Times Ledger:

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) has announced plans to introduce legislation that would create special architectural districts throughout the state. The move was prompted by the Broadway Flushing neighborhood’s losing battle for city landmark status.

The bill, still in draft form but to be introduced in the new legislative session, would create a process allowing residents to petition for their neighborhood to be protected by their local zoning authority from non-contextual architectural styles, Avella said.

Avella said under his bill, petitions for architectural district designation would require residents to detail a plan with the special design characteristics reflected in their neighborhood, which would have to be approved through a public hearing process.

Under the concept, the city Department of Buildings or any equivalent agency in other municipalities would be made to enforce the design limits set by the architectural district designation.

There have many crane collapses in recent years

From PIX11:

New York City Comptroller Scott Springer has released two reports since 2014, and he said only eight of 65 safety recommendations have been fully implemented by the Department of Buildings since 2008. And Stringer listed a number of “high profile” collapses or accidents that have happened, involving cranes, in the past 10 years.

City Council votes for huge pay raise

From AM-NY:

Members of the New York City Council on Friday voted themselves a $36,000 raise — $10,000 higher than an advisory salary panel — to $148,500.

By a vote of 40-7, the council got their first raise since 2006, when the salary went up to $112,500.

“Every dollar is a worthy investment in a government that works full time for the people,” said Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), who was one of the legislation’s lead shepherds.

Backers noted that the legislation also prohibits most outside income, eliminates stipends for leadership posts and converts the job of council member to full time from part time.

Council members said they deserved the additional $10,000 because of the outside-income ban, which passed 45-2.

20,000 tourists is considered a lot

From NY1:

"We get about 20,000 visitors a year here. And 20% or so are international visitors and they come from over 50 countries," said Jennifer Walden Weprin, director of marketing for the museum.

The borough's culture and diversity have become big draws. NYC & Company says more than 12 million people visited Queens in 2014 — with more from foreign countries than the U.S.

The city says tourism is helping to boost the borough’s economy, employing about 50,000 people.

Crane collapse in Manhattan; deaths feared

From the Daily News:

Two people were wounded — possibly fatally — as a construction crane came tumbling down onto a lower Manhattan Friday morning, officials said.

The crane fell on at least one car when it plunged down on Worth St. near Church St. around 8:30 a.m. in Tribeca, leaving a person trapped inside.

Crazy scene! Crane just collapsed in TriBeCa #nyc pic.twitter.com/uUFjaYIlci

— Keith V Smith (@KVSaint) February 5, 2016

De Blasio horse deal is a no-go

From DNA Info:

The City Council won't be voting Friday on the carriage horse deal after the union representing the industry backed out, according to the mayor.

The deal that would've cut the number of horse carriages in the city and confined their services to Central Park has been scrapped after the Teamsters announced Thursday they could no longer support the bill.

"With the legislation now finalized, our members are not confident that it provides a viable future for their industry. We cannot support the horse carriage bill currently before the City Council," said George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16.

The Council had sufficient votes to pass the legislation, but without support from both sides of the agreement, the vote cannot happen, according to the Mayor's Office.

Astoria Park potties have been contaminating the East River since the '30s

From QNS.com:

Parents were dismayed earlier this month when they realized that the bathrooms in Astoria Park’s Charybdis Playground would be closed for a second summer due to plumbing problems.

City workers discovered last spring that sewage from the playground and Astoria pool bathrooms had been seeping into the East River since the 1930’s, according to Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.

The discovery was made when construction of a new amphitheater began at the park’s neglected diving pool. Designers working on the project found that pipes from the playground and pool concession were not connected to city pipes, Lewandowski said at the monthly Astoria Parks Alliance meeting on Tuesday.

“The pool and playground were built in the 1930s at a time when people were unfortunately not as environmentally conscious as we are now,” a spokesperson for the Parks Department said.

The Parks Department brought in portable toilets to Charybdis Playground last summer and will do the same this summer. The new bathrooms are not expected to be completed until 2019. Bathrooms at the pool were fixed to ensure the pool could operate last summer, the spokesperson said.

At least Little Bay Park finally got their new potties.

Vallone denounces outside income then introduces bill amendment to allow it

You may recall that during Paul Vallone's 2013 campaign, he stated that if elected, he would close his law practice and focus on being a full time legislator. Well, he did close the eastern branch of Vallone and Vallone, but he soon got busted by the media and by your humble blogger for not exactly being out of the lawyer/lobbyist business.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Vallone plans to introduce an amendment to the salary bill that is to be voted on today, which would allow council members to keep their outside income.

Will the real Paul Vallone please stand up?

City Council members break out the violin

From City Council Watch:

--Ydanis Rodriguez, during the first round of questions, took up his entire allotment yelling at Fritz Schwartz, who headed the Pay Commission. He explained that he loves his job, that he supports the 99%, but that he has to work so hard. He works 60 hours a week! He has to go to community meetings. People talk to him in restaurants. He believes that CMs deserve at least $175,000 per year.

Rodriguez kept coming back to the question of half-time versus full-time. He demanded to know what constitutes full-time, because he puts in so many more hours than that.

It became sadly clear that Ydanis Rodriguez thinks that “full-time” means you work 40 hours and then you go home. If you work more than that, then you deserve overtime. Could it be that he doesn’t understand the difference between an hourly and a salaried employee? Also, does he think that 60 hours a week is an unusual amount of work for a well-paid professional in New York? I know plenty of people who put in those kinds of hours…including Council staffers who make like $30k.

As a former staffer for a council member and a longtime Watcher, I have a pretty good idea of what members do. I am curious if Rodriguez counts the following activities when he adds up his hours: attending press conferences for civic groups, or to “save” El Diario; going to meetings of the Progressive Caucus; going to meetings of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus; going to meetings of the Democratic Caucus; going to meetings of the Manhattan delegation; getting plaques from local organizations; going to ribbon-cutting ceremonies; talking to other electeds; running for Speaker; sending out weather bulletins or press releases condemning a vicious criminal, etc. etc.

Rodriguez also claimed that some CMs “have Ph.Ds.” Is this true? I’ve never heard that. Unless he is thinking about Eva Moskowitz.

--Inez Dickens was mad that no one is taking into account all the groceries and funerals she pays for, for her needy constituents. She said that unlike other elected officials, CMs “are on the streets!”

--Ben Kallos also said that CMs never have time off. “If it is Christmas Eve and you are locking up your district office, and a resident comes by because he is being evicted, well there is no Christmas Eve dinner for you.” He contrasted this to citywide elected officials who supposedly don’t have to deal with constituents’ needs. Somehow he insinuated that he works harder than Michael Bloomberg ever did, which seems like a weird thing to say given Bloomberg’s reputation for total workaholicism. (Bloomberg once said, "I have nothing in common with people who stand on escalators.") Fritz Schwartz said that, when he was Corporation Counsel, he saw Bloomberg work quite a bit. Kallos sneered, “Um, I don’t weekend in Bermuda.”

--Jumaane Williams is insulted that lowly commissioners and deputy commissioners often make more than he does. Why should a staffperson make more money than an exalted elected official? It was pointed out that some deputy commissioners run billion dollar departments and have hundreds of people reporting to them; Williams was nonplussed at this, and seemed to want to say, “So do I!” But of course, he doesn’t.

--Brad Lander repeated his glib refrain that “It is easy to be cynical” about council members’ pay. It is especially easy to be cynical about it when one is given so much material for cynicism.

Amazingly enough, Lander will not even be present on Friday to vote on the bill. How come? He is going on vacation that day. Sure, just taking off a few days in February when he thought the hearing calendar was clear, two weeks before the whole Council goes on its unofficial mid-Winter break. Doesn’t everybody do that?

What f---ing gall.

The Daily News thinks so, too.

Because we've been dying for a Brooklyn-Queens streetcar

From CBS 2:

Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to deliver his State of the City address Thursday evening in the Bronx, where his speech will include a proposal for a new streetcar system connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

The above-ground rail line called the Brooklyn Queens Connector, or BQX for short, would stretch through growing neighborhoods from Sunset Park, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens.

The total length would be approximately 16 miles along the East River waterfront that stretches between the two boroughs, primarily in a dedicated lane the city says would avoid conflict with general traffic.

Officials estimate the route would shave about 18 minutes off a commuter’s typical weekday trip compared to current transit options.

How many people are really making this commute as compared to the numbers on the 7 train which breaks down on an almost daily basis?

Introducing CleaNYC

From NY1:

The city has launched a new initiative centered around being cleaner and greener.

Part of a new campaign called CleaNYC, the $4.2 million project includes an increased effort in removing graffiti from public and private buildings spanning 40 million square feet of space each year.

The Sanitation Department is sending seven teams every Saturday to clean an extra 100 miles of road along highway shoulders and ramps.

The city is also expanding Sunday trash pickup by 40 percent to accommodate heavy traffic neighborhoods.

Zoning amendments heading to City Council

From Gotham Gazette:

The next ten days are an especially critical period for Mayor Bill de Blasio's housing plan. While negotiations around a new state-level program to incentivize affordable housing production continue and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised to soon flesh out general affordable housing plans he announced during his recent State of the State speech, city-level changes being sought by de Blasio are on the move.

On Wednesday morning, the City Planning Commission is expected to vote through two major changes to the city's zoning codes being proposed by de Blasio. These adjustments to city rules for how land can be used are meant to set the stage for what the administration says will be more responsible development than the city has seen in the past, increasing density in neighborhoods across the city through the creation of tens of thousands of units of housing - including market-rate and "affordable" units - and adding community benefits.

Once passed by the Planning Commission, the proposals go to the City Council, which will hold two hearings on them next week.

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA), as the two proposals are known, have been highly scrutinized and received a mixed reaction, including a large dose of negative feedback from many local community boards and praise from some city planners and advocacy groups.

Critics worry about gentrification, landmark preservation, over-development, loss of parking, and whether "affordable" units will be truly so for current residents of neighborhoods that will see major change. Supporters say the administration is taking a measured approach to development, insisting on affordable apartments from developers who benefit from rezonings, protecting tenants from predatory eviction, creating more affordable housing for seniors, and being mindful of community improvement as more housing is created.

Stopping the stink

From DNA Info:

The city will begin a $33 million sewer upgrade this spring that will limit millions of gallons of pollution currently discharging into Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

The construction will be centered at five sites within the sewer system between LaGuardia Airport and the Horace Harding Expressway, officials said, and should be completed by 2018.

The changes should help prevent wastewater from flooding nearby lakes and bays as it currently does when it rains heavily, the DEP said, in order to avoid backing up into homes. The money will allow crews to work on the "regulators" or junction points, and divert water to a waste treatment plant even if it's raining.

Shelters are styes

From the Daily News:

City homeless shelters had a whopping 21,401 open code violations at the end of 2015, according to a new scorecard issued by Mayor de Blasio's office Monday.

The Shelter Repair Scorecard documents conditions at each of the hundreds of shelters around the city — showing buildings plagued by problems like vermin, leaks, and peeling paint.

Most of the open code violations — 14,418, or 70% of the total — were found at 265 cluster shelters, where homeless people are housed in apartment building units rented out by the city.

Another 6,984 violations were found at non-cluster shelters.

Hundreds of deed fraud cases under investigation

From the Daily News:

The city is dealing with a spate of cases where crooks swipe homes from under the owner’s nose through deed fraud schemes, officials said Monday.

The Department of Finance is pursuing 525 open investigations involving 671 properties across the five boroughs, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens, according to the agency’s testimony to a City Council hearing.

The thefts involve either outright forgery - where a deed to change ownership is filed with a fake signature - or scams where homeowners are talked into signing over their property, often on the promise of help with a delinquent mortgage or other financial trouble.

People opposed to corruption in poll

From the Daily News:

Nearly nine in 10 New Yorkers say corruption in Albany is a serious problem, and 60% believe lawmakers’ jobs should be full time and any outside income banned.

The Siena College poll, released Monday, also found 55% said legislators should not get a bump from their current $79,500 salary even if outside income is outlawed.

And a whopping 84% say lawmakers who are convicted of crimes related to their service should be stripped of their pensions.

Infrastructure upgrades for the tower people

From LIC Post:

The Long Island City/Hunters Point area is about to get a $40 million infrastructure and roadway upgrade through funding allocated by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Most of the roadways in the Hunters Point area have not been reconstructed since the beginning of the 20th Century, according to Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. With Long Island City’s explosion of residential and commercial growth, plus the City’s emphasis on traffic safety stemming from Vision Zero, this area was identified as due for a makeover.

Well this should be applied to the entire borough, if not the city, no? Infrastructure everywhere is shot and overdevelopment is everywhere.

Also, in years long past, the infrastructure upgrades were put in BEFORE upzoning, not as an afterthought.

Water main break floods Queens Hospital Center

149th Street bridge may actually be repaired soon

"Just drove along 149th Street southbound to 35 Av & suddenly I saw a lighted sign, pictured above & or below, by the 149th Street / LIRR Bridge. They put up a chain link fence, delivered a construction trailer etc. So I guess demo will actually start soon, sooner than recently told by DOT, newspapers, etc. But much later than they said over a year ago; scheduled to have been completed by November 2015.

After the bridge was completely rebuilt from May 2010-2012 at a cost of $7 million tax dollars, It has been, unnecessarily remained closed and unusable since it was inspected in May 2012, almost 4 yrs. That's a total of almost 6 yrs that it was closed and unusable to motorists, including all emergency service vehicles.

The latest I was told, this "deck replacement" is reported to cost, another, $1.6 million tax dollars. Let's see what the final cost actually winds up being." - Peter