Conflict-of-interest for Bloomberg

From the Daily News:

In 2008, Bloomberg took City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to a conference in Belfast on his jet, while then-Controller William Thompson and then-Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum had to fly coach.

City disclosure forms ask the question differently, though - and Quinn didn't list her trip.

Two longtime Bloomberg staffers (and occasional Air Bloomberg passengers) said they were stunned to hear the mayor gave a top agency head a lift to Florida for a vacation, not for work. After all, what's the difference between a boss giving his underling a lift on his jet and the boss giving his underling a couple of airline tickets?

The Conflicts of Interest Board declined to comment. In one of its advisories for city employees, though, the board offers this guidance: "If the gifts from the superior to a subordinate start to get fairly regular and extravagant, people may begin to wonder what kind of silence the superior is attempting to buy."

Bloomberg is a big fan of putting out information, except when it applies to his own operations, saying just last week: "Disclosure is the thing that keeps us free and keeps government honest."

$15.7M for "bike superhighway"

From the NY Times:

Now, after two and a half years and $15.7 million worth of construction, the promenade has been restored to the straight and narrow, giving the West Side of Manhattan a continuous bike path from the Battery to Riverbank State Park at 137th Street. With some inland detours, the path continues to Dyckman Street north of the George Washington Bridge.

To build the bike path extension, which is suspended over the water like a concrete bridge or boardwalk, workers had to sink 102 pilings into bedrock, 78 of them in the water, Mr. Benepe said. “It was incredible, the marine engineering needed,” he said. “That’s why this was an expensive and time-consuming project.”

Of the $15.7 million cost, $15 million was allocated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from city funds, $400,000 was allocated by City Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side, and $300,000 came from a federal transportation grant administered by the state.

“We were lucky to have a healthy economy, at least the first two terms, so a lot of money was put in to build this kind of infrastructure,” Mr. Benepe said.

That's funny, the entire time Bloomberg was turning down park projects in Queens and the excuse was that the City had to conserve money for the future. What he meant to say was that he would rather spend the money in Manhattan.

Nancy Cataldi's house being altered

From the Daily News:

Even a historic preservationist's home is not immune to the ravages of time and an impulse for the new.

Two years after Queens historian Nancy Cataldi died, the Victorian home that she lovingly restored has been drastically altered - its signature porch and stained glass windows removed.

The prominent Richmond Hill house was rotting so extensively due to an infestation by carpenter ants that the new owners said they had to replace key elements.

Locals sympathize with the incoming residents. But they also blame the city Landmarks Preservation Commission for not protecting Cataldi's home long ago as part of a historic district.

"We're losing too much," said Carl Ballenas, who co-authored a Richmond Hill history book with Cataldi in 2002. "We would have had this solved 10 years ago if we had a historic district."

A Landmarks Preservation Commission spokeswoman responded that even landmarked structures are routinely changed with the agency's approval.


Oh puh-leeze!

Why we need troops on the border

From Fox News:

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.

The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami.

In 2008, the U.S. government designated Al Shabaab a terrorist organization. Al Shabaab has said its priority is to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on Somalia; the group has aligned itself with Al Qaeda and has made statements about its intent to harm the United States.

In recent years, American Somalis have been recruited by Al Shabaab to travel to Somalia, where they are often radicalized by more extremist or operational anti-American terror groups, which Al Shabaab supports. The recruiters coming through the Mexican border are the ones who could be the most dangerous, according to law enforcement officials.

Security experts tell FOXNews.com that the influx of hundreds of Somalis over the U.S. border who allegedly have ties to suspected terror cells is evidence of a porous and unsecured border being exploited by groups intent on wrecking deadly havoc on American soil.

Here's more from CNN.

Former Council President indicted

From the NY Times:

Andrew J. Stein, a former City Council president, assemblyman and Manhattan borough president who left politics in 1994, has been arrested along with a Manhattan financial adviser who has celebrity clients. Court documents said the financial adviser, Kenneth I. Starr, was charged with a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.

Mr. Stein was charged with making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service. Court documents say he used about $1.6 million from a company created through Mr. Starr to cover “extravagant personal expenses,” including hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card bills.

When I saw the headline stating that an ex-borough president had been indicted, I was really hoping it was Claire.

Oh well...

BRING IN THE FEDS.

You're kidding!

From the Wall Street Journal:

At Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, the emergency room has expanded into a former café and conference area as hospital officials cope with double their patient capacity.

At New York Hospital Queens, patients in March waited an average of 17 hours to be placed in beds, sometimes being held in hallways, waiting rooms or sunrooms.

"If you want to think you're in a war-torn third-world country, just go to the ER at New York Hospital Queens on a Friday afternoon," said Dr. Paul Aaronson, president of the Queens County Medical Society.

As the closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan sparks fear about the impact on the remaining hospitals, hospital employees and advocates in Queens say they continue to struggle with the effects of three hospital closures—two last year, and one the previous fall. The overcrowding problem, they say, is exacerbated by a growing elderly and immigrant population, and state cuts in hospital funding.

"Queens going in was significantly underbedded," said Kenneth E. Raske, president of Greater New York Hospital Association. "They have the lowest bed-to-population ratio of any of the boroughs."

With a potential state budget cuts on the way, Mr. Raske said it is imperative that the 10 remaining hospitals remain financially stable. "It could precipitate a public-health crisis if one of them were to go down," he said.

Fence ok for Central Park is "too dangerous" for Ridgewood Reservoir

Ridgewood Reservoir fence


Central Park fence

From Save Ridgewood Reservoir:

In a January 6th Daily News article, Kevin Quinn, director of Queens capital projects for the Parks Department, was quoted as saying that the historic fences at the reservoir needed to be removed because, the "spacing of the pickets no longer meets code as a guardrail." As far as I've been able to determine, the city's code requires that the spacing on railings be not more than 6".

There are two style of fences at the Ridgewood Reservoir. The first is a circa 1850s Hecla Ironworks fence that surrounds the central basin. In 2003, the department of parks had a replica of that fence created for the Central Park reservoir. The cost for the reproduction was $2 million. Here is a parks department 2003 press release about that installation. Welding Works, the company that built the fence received an industry award for the project.

The parks department was more than happy to spend $2 million to create a copy of the Ridgewood Reservoir fencing for Central Park. The same agency now wants to tear down the original, historic ones in Ridgewood for something that doesn't even try to look like a period piece. Why do you suppose they would do that?

"Burning orb of death" at Union Square Park

From A Walk in the Park:

For months, children have been playing a dangerous game at the new $2 million playground in Union Square Park: How to avoid getting scalded on a seven-foot-high metal dome.

The play equipment reaches scorching temperatures in the sun. Heat waves can be seen rising from the top.

The metal orbs were quickly covered at Brooklyn Bridge Park, but the city has refused to even post a warning at Union Square. On Friday afternoon, however, a Parks Department employee was forced to close off the blazing orb, placing traffic cones and flimsy caution tape around it. A shade structure is supposed to go up sometime according to the Parks Department, but warmer weather will arrive first.

I'm glad we paid a hoidy-toidy architect to design this wonderful amenity.

Parks says contaminated Brooklyn park is now safe

From the Courier-Life:

Moving quickly after state environmental workers discovered cancer-causing chemicals near the popular park, the city tested the soil — and declared the grounds safe on Wednesday.

Department of Health workers dug down two inches at 18 spots in and around the two soccer fields closest to the alleged source of the contamination — a defunct plastic additive manufacturing plant at Court and Halleck streets.

None of the samples revealed PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, the once-ubiquitous compounds that were banned in the 1970s after they were discovered to cause cancer.

The operator of the plant, the now-bankrupt Chemtura Corporation, is being sued by the state to continue its abandoned clean-up of PCBs, which were discovered seven feet underground and in groundwater near the park, court papers show.

Despite the city testing, residents were not sold on the safety of the park, which is packed with soccer players and food vendor customers every weekend.

Police won't arrest sex offender

From NBC 4:

The Victorias recorded a phone conversation between Ricardo and the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the man’s case. In the conversation, the prosecutor tells the Victorias that unless the New York City Police department makes an arrest, there is nothing the district attorney’s office can do.

A spokesman for the Queens District Attorney said they advised the Victoria family to follow proper procedure and file a police report. The Victorias say they went to their local precinct and tried to report the Sex Offender Registry violation but were redirected back to the district attorney’s office. They think prosecutors missed an opportunity to take a sexual predator off the streets.

Cop didn't report it, perp didn't do it.

Did Astoria get downzoned or upzoned?

From the NY Observer:

The City Council on Tuesday afternoon adopted the Bloomberg administration's planned 238-block rezoning of Astoria, one that mostly restricts new out-of-scale development in the low-rise neighborhood.

The rezoning, which covers Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.'s district, was relatively uncontroversial (rezonings that restrict developments rarely are). Of course, as the Furman Center at NYU has pointed out, rezonings such as this restrict the amount of new housing that can be built citywide, exacerbating the housing shortage.

From The Real Deal:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden are celebrating the City Council's approval of a rezoning plan for Astoria, Queens. The plan, which covers approximately 240 blocks in the neighborhood, will allow for an increase in residential and commercial density in some areas, which supporters say will increase the number of opportunities to build affordable housing. The area is boarded by 20th Avenue and Broadway, and Vernon Boulevard and the East River. The previous zoning was outdated and did not allow for adequate development, Bloomberg said. "The rezoning of Astoria... [provides] opportunities for mixed-income housing and new job growth," Bloomberg said.

Queensbridge Houses Hosts Another Murder

Normandeau Newswire

Normandeau Newswire – Queensbridge Houses is the largest public housing complex in North America. The area around Queensbridge Houses is gentrifying with fourteen luxury hotels springing up. Just a gunshot away from Queensbridge Houses, wine sells for $9.00 a glass.

Hundreds of artists studios have sprung up in the Queensbridge Houses area with a two-day open studios event the weekend of May 22-23.

One might find it hard to find anything more exciting.

How about a murder for excitement?

The early morning hours of Saturday May 22, 2010 brought another murder to Queensbridge Houses just blocks away from another recent murder at Queensbridge Houses where three people were shot.

What is unusual about the May 22 murder is that the police do not seem to be releasing any details.

All that is known is based on hearsay. Apparently two people were arguing at 40-16 12 Street. A third person intervened. That third person was shot and killed. An all too familiar memorial is now on on the sidewalk at the site of the 40-16 12 Street murder.

Hopefully the NYCPD, either the 114 Precinct or the PSA9 Housing Police Bureau will enlighten the tenants.

Efrain Gonzalez gets 7 years in prison

From the NY Post:

Crooked ex-pol Efrain Gonzalez Jr. was slapped with a seven-year prison term yesterday by a judge who slammed him for failing to show any remorse for the "venal acts" of looting two charities in a corruption scheme.

Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley III rejected defense arguments that the former Democratic Bronx state senator deserved the same sort of leniency shown one-time Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, a Republican who got just two years for peddling his influence through a consulting firm.

"You deprived your constituents of the scarce resources that could be allocated to help those in need," said the judge, who also ordered Gonzalez to forfeit nearly $738,000 netted by his five-year scam.

The portly 62-year-old -- who blew the cash on luxuries, including an upstate vacation home -- rolled his eyes after being told to stand up and accept his punishment.

The disgraced ex-lawmaker said only, "Your Honor, I want to take this opportunity to apologize to my family, my friends and my communities. Thank you."

Afterward, Gonzalez -- who in February blamed his former attorney for making him plead guilty -- refused to speak to reporters in English, but insisted in Spanish that he wanted a trial to prove his innocence.

"We Hispanics, we have to unite. It's not fair what they're doing to us. I feel like an illegal immigrant," he said, according to a Spanish-speaking observer.

Staten Island park pier collapses!

From the SI Advance:

"major" collapse of the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville is being reported, and numerous emergency officials are on the scene.

There are no injuries reported and nobody is believed to be trapped inside the building, according to emergency officials who conducted initial searches.

Click here for a map of the location.

A pylon at the front of the building on Pier 6 has collapsed, according to an account from the scene, and the front right corner of the building is in the water.

According to an employee at a nearby business, the collapsed was foreshadowed by an ominous noise.

"We could hear the cracking and pieces started falling off," the witness said. "Within 10 minutes, the whole front section went down."

Gay activists cause ruckus at Addabbo party

I found this video funny. Not because LGBT activists infiltrated Joe Addabbo's birthday fundraiser to raise hell about his "no" vote on gay marriage, but because

1) They were surprised that he voted no in an overwhelmingly conservative Catholic district
2) They would rather have a Republican in there than Addabbo, who might be persuaded to change his mind down the road
3) They actually think they had something to do with the dumping of Hiram Monserrate
4) They wanted to embarrass Addabbo in front of his father, a former congressman, who they were hoping would be there. (He died in 1986...)

Video found on NBC

LPC may step in to prevent mosque

From the NY Post:

A controversial plan to build a $100 million mosque and community center just two blocks north of Ground Zero could be undone by history.

The 152-year-old building at 45 Park Place that would be torn down for the mosque is under the protection of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which has had a pending application on its books since 1989 to grant it landmark status.

A Landmarks spokeswoman said that the application had been on hold for more than two decades but that a hearing would be scheduled and a vote would follow on the designation.

The landmarking issue is a potentially big obstacle for a project that both the city and the mosque's backers had said could be built "as of right," with no interference from city land use laws.

If the commission approves landmark designation, it would be highly unlikely that the building could be torn down to make way for Cordoba House, a proposed 13-story mosque and community center.

And until a vote is taken, the building has temporary landmark protection.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday continued to support the project, despite the latest wrinkle.

Klein takes axe to school budget

From WNYC:

Back in March, when the city was still trying to get a handle on its education budget, City Councilman Robert Jackson noted that there were two different scenarios for the coming fiscal year: "bad" and "horrid."

Today, the education committee chairman said, there's only one: "horrid."

Jackson repeated that word at least nine times during the education committee's hearing on proposed budget cuts. He said the loss of $500 million in state aid would mean laying off 4,400 teachers, letting another 2,000 go through attrition, and eliminating almost 600 other support staffers and cafeteria workers. Which was why he wanted to know how Chancellor Joel Klein could justify hiring two more deputy chancellors who are each paid almost $200,000 a year, and giving raises to several more. He noted that there are now eight deputy chancellors.

Klein testified that one of those deputies is actually a new Chief Operating Officer and said the job is needed now more than ever because he's cut $38 million from central offices. The chancellor said another deputy is dealing with new schools and enrollment, and said the rest were given promotions. As for the raises, he called them "small adjustments" and said their salaries had been "out of line."

The chancellor insisted he had done all he could to protect classrooms from budget cuts. Several council members expressed great skepticism about his department's contracts with outside vendors at a time when it's projecting teacher layoffs. But Klein said the city retained a $5 million contract with The New Teacher Project to hire new teachers because there aren't enough with special education licenses to meet demand. And he said most of the city's other contracts are for special education services and busing that's legally mandated.

Spit = assault to MTA

MYFOXNY.COM - Driving a bus in New York City can be a tough job. Apparently, 1,500 MTA bus drivers were assaulted in 2009 -- 51 of them got spit on.

It is disgusting for sure, considered an assault. But is it so bad a driver should get 2 years paid time off? Thanks to an MTA policy and the transit union contract, they can.

Some riders that Fox 5 spoke to may think it's nuts, but 51 bus drivers spit on in 2009 claim they were so distraught afterward that they took an average of 64 days off to recover.

One driver told Fox 5 that she was spat upon, and that it was terrible. She took off months.

"Very traumatic, upsetting, unexpected, humiliating, embarrassing," Oneshia Portlette says. Her attacker's saliva got in her mouth and eye.

The Transport Workers Union president said their members' contract allows for them to take up to two years of paid time off after being assaulted, whether they are punched, stem, or spit on.

Some MTA board members say it is an abuse of MTA money. They say that assault is too broadly defined.

Pols afraid to open up

From the Daily News:

In a stunning show of hypocrisy, two-thirds of the New York City lawmakers who voted to disclose how much they earn moonlighting now refuse to make the numbers public.

Dozens of Assembly and state Senate members who publicly approved revealing their outside income 14 weeks ago suddenly decided not to put their money where their votes were.

Asked by the Daily News to reveal their outside income, 63 of the 90 sitting members of the city delegation declined - including top legislative leaders. Only 27 city lawmakers agreed; 16 flat-out refused, and the rest ignored The News' request.

That means the public still does not know how much Senate President Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) makes with his title insurance company, Great Abstract Title Co., or how much Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and other lawyer-legislators make from their legal practices.

When the best case scenario doesn't happen

From the NY Observer:

On May 17, Governor Paterson and several other officials and community leaders assembled on Manhattan's West Side for a ribbon cutting at Hudson River Park, the 5-mile-long strip of green space, converted piers and bike lanes along the Hudson River. They were on hand to christen the new (and growing) park's latest section, a 9-acre run that has a new skate park and gardens near West 24th Street.

It is, indeed, the season of parks: Earlier this spring, the long-planned Brooklyn Bridge Park opened its first section, a large pier; and the year-old High Line elevated park that runs through Chelsea is laying materials for its second phase, to open next year.

There's just one little nagging detail with these expanding parks: There's not enough money to fund their upkeep, and, for the most part, no one quite knows where it will come from.

All three parks were held up as gems of an economic development agenda in New York, as, theoretically, they were to be self-sustaining or close to it, with the private sector to pay for the ongoing operations. Yet the situation is one of classic overreach, as the administrations of Mayor Bloomberg and three governors put their faith in the panacea concept of the public-private partnership, pledging a win-win for all involved. The logic ran like this: New parks would be built; creative planning would open the floodgates to money from the private sector to fund maintenance year after year; and public balance sheets would be spared. The reality is far less heartwarming. The city and state are now grasping to find ways to make the parks work in the long term and are finding no answers that pass muster with the local communities and elected officials whose sign-off is needed. With this question mark hanging overhead, the fact that the groundbreakings continue-money continues to go into expansion-looks to be something of a reckless move, as officials are betting that some unspecified solution will indeed materialize at some future date.