Headscratcher of the day

Question:

Why is Dutch Kills Civic Association publicly opposing the Queensboro Bridge renaming while the Queens Civic Congress sits silent? This one is a no-brainer!

AEG subpoena fight cost state big time bucks

From City Hall:

Senate Democrats spent tens-of-thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to quash subpoenas issued by the state Inspector General’s office seeking information about the conference’s role in the Aqueduct Entertainment Group scandal, according to Senate expense records.

On April 1, 2010 Senate Democrats cut a check for $29,300 to the Manhattan criminal defense firm Thompson, Wigdor & Gilly LLP—a payment Senate Democratic spokesperson Austin Shafran confirmed was used for a lawsuit to block the Inspector General’s subpoena requests, though the State Supreme Court ultimately rejected the suit. All of this came less than a month after the Paterson administration, under a cloud of scandal, shut down the AEG contract.

Shafran insisted the funds were used for official Senate business, and not to shield individual members from potential legal fallout.

In October, the Inspector General’s office released a scathing report that found several high-ranking Democratic senators, including now-Minority Leader John Sampson, Malcolm Smith and Eric Adams, among others, had acted improperly in initially helping AEG win a multi-billion dollar racino bid.

Notably, $118,000 in subsequent payments to Thompson, Wigdor & Gilly were made by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in June for individual legal services for Senate members. Shafran said the shifting nature of the case led Senate Democrats to pay the firm at first out of government funds and later out of campaign funds.

Thompson, Wigdor & Gilly did not return a request for comment about the firm’s role in the case.

Bloomberg budget talk full of hot air

From City Hall:

During his budget address, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city would have to layoff more than 4,000 teachers, close 20 firehouses, shutter one-third of its senior centers, and eliminate more than 16,000 child care slots.

But budget analysts who know the process say those cuts are just theater, and are not likely to pass.

“The mayor wants to eliminate 20 fire companies again, but the City Council has always successfully gotten it back,” said Nicole Gelinas, a budget expert with the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. “The things that get the most public attention, and that people get most outraged about, they’re not huge budget items, and they’re things that politically just won’t happen.”

Gelinas added, “The mayor’s just playing bad-guy.”

Last year, for example, the mayor proposed a budget that would eliminate 8,500 teachers and 4,300 non-uniformed city positions. Those reductions did not come to pass.

The cuts he has called for in fiscal year 2011 are also scaled back considerably from what they were in November, aided by an “eye-popping” $2 billion windfall in revenue on the business tax side. The increase came from the recent extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, as well as cuts to the capital gains tax, analysts said.

And the increase led the mayor to what some say is a questionable precedent: filling up a purported $1.86 billion gap in federal and state education funding with the city’s own money.

“It’s hard, when you find $2 billion in new revenue, to go with your hat to the state and say ‘I need money,’” said Citizens Budget Commission analysts Maria Doulis.

3 Council women stand in the way of EDC oversight hearing

From Neighborhood Retail Alliance:

Put simply, the legislature was snookered by EDC and the city when it abdicated its land use oversight role by approving a project that lacked any specificity-or, better yet, even a developer. The money quote comes from former land use committee chair, Melinda Katz: "Well, just so it's clear, my issue in the last hearing and this one is clearly that if we do the ULURP process first, it takes the New York City Council out of the process as we move forward. It historically is not done that way. Historically we do the RFP first, the developer is chosen, then you do the ULURP process..."

Having given the mayor carte blanche in 2008, there is little the council can now do to oversee what actually does get put into those 62 acres at the Iron Triangle-a Walmart, perhaps, or an unwanted developer like Related. Now, however, EDC has unwittingly provided the council with a way out of its self imposed dilemma. By going back on its pledge to hold off on any eminent domain use until the Van Wyck ramps were approved-and initiating a new development scheme not previously vetted by SEQR at the same time-EDC has opened the door to a city council revisit.

But opening the door apparently does not insure that the council will actually walk through it-and our efforts are foundering because of the reluctance of some council members to re-open the Willets Point can of worms.

Who could be doing that? I know there are a lot of candidates. But let's look at the role of 2 of them.

From the Queens Tribune:

Ferreras has sought to act as an intermediary between all parties throughout the process. She said she may call a hearing into the EDC’s handling of Willets Point, though has not decided entirely.

“I am very strongly leaning towards a hearing if it’s going to answer some questions,” Ferreras said. “But there may not be any need if the questions are answered prior.”

Ah, the Willets Point council person thinks she will get straight answers from EDC. What a crock.

From the NYC Council:

Karen Koslowitz chairs the Committee on Economic Development, where she leads the council’s effort to foster economic growth, create jobs and improve quality of life.

Prior to her election in 2009, Koslowitz served as Deputy Borough President under Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, where she represented a county of 2.2 million residents in the most diverse county in the United States.

In other words, Karen's committee would have oversight. Will her past ties to the borough president's office cause her to drop the ball on this?

And then of course, there's Chris who not only never met a development project that she didn't like, but is the mayor's lapdog.

Time to call in the Feds in order to get a fair shake.

City rents out condemned beach club to Hollywood

From NY1:

For nearly 100 years, a lucky few rented the 41 cottages that line the water. But last September, the Parks Department, which owns the land, forced the residents off the 45-acre site so it could make way for a public park.

There are few details about the upcoming park, except that it will be built in stages.

The agency has sealed the site to the public, and insists it is readying the space, though former residents are not so sure.

"I think it's a little hypocritical," said former Cedar Grove resident John Murphy. "They said they're going to open it up to the public, and obviously they're not doing that. But private concerns can actually use it, and I think that's very wrong."

The state is still considering whether to give the area historic designation, which would force the city to preserve some of it.

Removing Hiram was quite costly

From the Daily News:

The state Senate paid a whopping $376,464 for legal help to expel Hiram Monserrate after he assaulted his girlfriend, the Daily News has learned.

That's the tab a Park Avenue law firm charged taxpayers last year to help lawmakers - who have dozens of in-house lawyers at their beck and call - to decide whether they had the authority to boot Monserrate for his crime.

"That's a lot of money to spend on a bad guy," quipped state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).

Golden, who was among the most vocal critics of Monserrate, said the Democrats who controlled the Senate at the time could have used one of their more than 150 in-house staff lawyers to do the work.

"That, in and of itself, is a crime," Golden, an ex-cop, said.

Accountant wins license plate jackpot

From the NY Post:

In a stunning security lapse, the federal General Services Administration mistakenly shipped nearly three dozen license plates marked "U.S. Government -- For Official Use Only" to a humble Queens accountant, The Post has learned.

The foul-up is part of a troubling pattern of lost license plates at the agency, which handles plates for every federal office except the military.

"I don't know how it happened. Mistakes can happen, but I guess in this day and age, you want to be careful," said Antonio Guadagnino, who received the package, addressed to him, via UPS at his small Astoria office.

"If they ended up in the wrong hands, they could be used to get into secure places. Not everyone is so honest," added Guadagnino, who said that he never held a federal contract and that his business consists mostly of personal income-tax returns.

Unsure of what to do with the plates, he handed them over to state Sen. Michael Gianaris, whose district office is in the same building.

But, Gianaris said, the GSA didn't appear overly concerned.

"The reaction we got was that this was business as usual," he said.

"This is not a time in our nation's history to be screwing around with federal identification. What would happen if they wound up in someone else's hands, someone who thought he could profit selling them -- or worse?"

Bikeholes prove they aren't environmentally friendly

From the NY Post:

A nonprofit group that espouses cycling as an eco-friendly substitute to cars in the city is not so friendly to trees -- faxing thousands of sheets of paper opposing a bike-registration proposal to the city councilman behind the push.

City Councilman Eric Ulrich said he got the reams of faxes from Transportation Alternatives, accusing him of a "hateful attack against every New Yorker who owns a bike now or might ride in the future."

The Queens Republican called it a tremendous waste of paper -- especially from a group that considers itself environmentally friendly.

"Transportation Alternatives promotes itself as a champion of environmentally friendly causes, yet they inundated my office with 4,840 paper faxes -- 99 percent of which came from people who don't even live in my district," Ulrich said. "These kinds of tactics are anything but 'green' -- they're just wasteful."

Ceding City Council authority was a stupid thing to do

City Council Speaker Emeritus Peter Vallone Sr. – City Council Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions and Concessions Hearing, October 17, 2008:

"It took many, many years for the United States Supreme Court to declare the Board of Estimate unconstitutional and to say that only the City Council, only the City Council, has jurisdiction over land use. And while the Administration may propose, as it does a budget, this Council has to dispose." …

"So now you have a situation where they're asking the Council to say yes, you have land use power, but we will – the Executive Branch – we will make this so much better." …

"I can't believe that the Council would say to the Administration oh, hey, okay, take over. You're – forget our jurisdiction. You take it over 'cause you know better than us."

Testifying and making lucrative land deals for some (but not all) of his clients was stressful, so Pops partied...

Photo from Queens Campaigner

So why are we building more?

From the Daily News:

The collapse of the housing market has cast a shadow across the city in hundreds of unfinished and decaying apartments, condos and houses.

Derelict and unsafe, these eyesores have blighted neighborhoods, drawing rats, squatters and junkies. They drag down property values and enrage residents who feel helpless.

As of last month, the Buildings Department recorded 682 stalled sites across the city: vacant lots, empty foundations, concrete skeletons of half-built luxury condos, boarded-up single-family houses.

New York Building Congress president Richard Anderson doesn't expect much will change: "If the trend continues, there will be hundreds and hundreds of sites in limbo for years to come."

Concentrations are high in neighborhoods where the rush to gentrify collided with the collapsing market - hipster Brooklyn, the trendy lower East Side, Riverdale and Kingsbridge in the Bronx, Staten Island's North Shore and foreclosure-plagued Southeast Queens.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall's spokesman calls Southeast Queens "the epicenter of foreclosure in the state."

The fallout has been scores of abandoned homes and complaints about "lack of security fencing, drugs, prostitution and squatters."

Typical is the boarded-up house at 120-06 194th St.

"It attracts crime," said neighbor Ron Miles. "You've got people taking the copper piping out."

For a time one derelict made the house his hangout. "It was scary," said Yolanda Stowe. "He used to be outside naked in the morning."

Botanic Garden kicks seniors to the curb

From the Queens Tribune:

Seniors who enjoy the use of Queens Botanical Garden for planting vegetables and flowers believe they are being “financially extorted,” after being told they will now have to pay $150 for plots that were always free.

In January, QBG notified Senior Garden members of the introduction of the annual fee to use plots which were free to them for 45 years.

In addition to the new fee, seniors will also have to pay a membership fee which increased from $30 to $45 as well as $1 for parking each time they use the garden’s lot.

Although the Senior Garden will be phased out over the next year, QBG Deputy Director Patty Kleinberg said seniors are more than welcome to join the Family Garden, which will debut in 2012.

Ultimately, the Garden is not trying to get rid of seniors, added Kleinberg, but rather is trying to expand the use of the garden to a broader range of people in the community.

Kleinberg also asserted that once QBG transitions the Senior Garden into the Family Garden, the non-profit group will be eligible for various additional federal grants that will help it develop programs for more members of the community.

Sounds like the Flushing elders are being kicked out in order to benefit a more vibrantly diverse clientele.

Feds deny relief to Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens

From NY1:

President Barack Obama declared Friday that New York State was a "disaster area" following December's blizzard, allowing certain areas of the state to get federal recovery money.

Staten Island and Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk Counties will get federal aid to repair damage from the blizzard of December 26-27, 2010.

The declaration paves the way for the city to get reimbursed for the money it had to spend for snow removal and emergency measures, including overtime, equipment rental and temporary labor during the blizzard.

The state's application also sought funds for the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, but those petitions were denied.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he appreciated the money, but felt the other boroughs also deserved to be on the list.

Welcome back

From the Daily News:

It's the coldest day of the year in New York City, around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, but John Leguizamo doesn't mind.

The 46-year-old actor, whose third solo show on Broadway, "Ghetto Klown," begins previews Monday, is just excited to walk around his childhood neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens.

After all, it has been 11 years since the fast-talking actor, best known for his movie roles in "Carlito's Way" and "Summer of Sam," has returned to the predominantly immigrant community that raised him until the age of 19 and inspired much of his self-reflective work like "Ghetto Klown."

"I moved to Jackson Heights from Bogotá, Colombia, when I was 3½," says Leguizamo, who now lives with his wife and two children in the West Village. "I don't know how much is reality and how much is imagination, but I remember coming from a really bright, sunny place with a lot of white buildings and colorful attractions to this dark and cold area. But, in time, I grew to love it."

"This neighborhood formed me," he says through teeth that neither Hollywood nor Broadway ever bothered straightening. "It was a transitional neighborhood. People were just trying to make it and get out as fast as they could. But this was where I developed my sense of humor and discovered what I liked and didn't like."

"We used the word 'rumble' a lot back then," says Leguizamo as he strolls toward the 89th St. park where he used to hang out with friends. "There were a lot of gangs and they were always fighting over honor or something like that. They'd use chains, nunchucks and switchblades, but no guns."

So he calls himself a "Ghetto Klown", talks about gangs in the area and says it was full of people who couldn't wait to get out. According to some people, this other Jackson Heights doesn't exist and its all about the food. I'm guessing Mr. Leguizamo didn't grow up in the garden apartments...

CB7 upzones homes without owners' consent

From the Queens Chronicle:

With support from the area’s city councilman and little community opposition, Community Board 7 approved plans on Monday to enlarge the former White House restaurant in Whitestone, that would increase space for a catering facility and parking.

New owner Joe Franco, who formerly operated the popular Caffe on the Green at the Clearview Golf Course in Bayside, bought the Whitestone facility at 10-24 154 St. in December. He needs to change the zoning to R3-1 with a commercial overlay from its current R2A.

The area is now zoned for single- and two-family homes, but the restaurant was grandfathered in prior to the zoning restrictions. At Monday night’s meeting at the Union Plaza Care Center, CB 7 member Frank Macchio noted that a majority of the block is already commercial.

Franco wants to enlarge the parking lot and has purchased vacant property behind the restaurant and the adjacent building. No changes will be made to the facility next door, but the long-neglected yard will be transformed to accommodate up to 120 cars there and on stackers in the cellar. There will be valet parking.

Thirty-three parking spaces are required under the zoning, so developers believe there will be little chance of patrons taking up space on neighborhood streets.

Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) spoke in favor of the proposal, noting that Franco has promised to relinquish the restaurant’s cabaret license. “Nobody should stand in the way of responsible development,” the councilman said. “I’ve seen the plan and am comfortable with it.”

He said the restaurant, which has been in operation since 1956, is falling apart. “This is an opportunity,” Halloran added. “It will improve the quality of life in the area.”

But state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who used to represent the area when he was a city councilman, sent a statement opposing the project. While in the council, Avella successfully led the campaign to downzone many areas in Queens. “This application would upzone an area the community and I sought to protect,” Avella said.

He also questioned the “questionable business practices” that led to Franco’s loss of the city franchise at Caffe on the Green.

Paul Graziano, an urban planner who worked with Avella on zoning changes, spoke against the proposal Monday night. He questioned why a variance wasn’t sought for the parcel rather than a zoning change.

NY1 has great coverage of this.

Pedro a really, really big spender

From the Daily News:

Former Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada was a one-man employment agency while in office, racking up a $1 million payroll over his final six months at the State Capitol.

Our Glenn Blain reports:

The scandal-scorched Espada, who was tossed by voters last September, spent more on staffers than any other senator -- by far.

"That is such a waste of taxpayer money," said Citizen's Union Executive Director Dick Dadey. "And for the Democratic leadership to be complicit in giving him that amount of staff is just outrageous."

Espada's 50-person staff included more than 20 "community outreach" and constituent liaison workers who made as much as $60,000 a year, new disclosure forms show.

It also included former Erie County Democratic Chairman Steve Pigeon, who earned $150,000 a year.

How did it get to this point?

From CBS:

Dozens of families in Upper Manhattan were suddenly homeless Friday night after their apartment building was deemed too dangerous to live in, reports CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez.

With barely a moment’s notice, dozens of Inwood residents living in a dilapidated building found themselves carting their belongings on the street.

The Department of Buildings evacuated 552 Academy St. after discovering the building in deplorable condition, sighting more than 1,000 open housing code violations.

And guess what? We're gonna pay for it.

Buckle your seatbelt, Bloomie!

From the NY Post:

Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg should have allocated extra money to fix potholes a little earlier.

Wouldn't you know it -- somewhere in the East 70s, between Lexington and Park avenues, his SUV struck a monster pothole.

"I was trying to read my speech before I got to the place I had to give it, and it bumped me so much everything fell right off my lap," Bloomberg recalled yesterday.

Someone understands the role of the press!

Dear Mr. Larry Mendte,

Would you please do a seminar for publishers of Queens weekly papers? They need to understand what their purpose is. You seem to get it. They don't. As evidenced by this....

Truth comes out at Keith's vote

From the Queens Chronicle:

It was deja vu all over again at Community Board 7’s monthly meeting Monday as members OK’d plans for the redevelopment of the derelict RKO Keith’s Theatre exactly five years to the day of the last approval.

In a vote of 24-10, following a hearing at the Union Plaza Care Center, members agreed to a revised plan for the site, which includes a lot more housing units and less parking spaces. The new owner, Patrick Thompson of Manhattan, bought the decaying structure at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Main Street last May for $20 million and expects the project to cost $160 million.

Jerry Rotondi, acting president of the Committee to Save the RKO Keith’s Theatre of Flushing, noted his group got the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places and supported its full interior designation as a city landmark in 1984. But, Rotondi pointed out, “Claire Shulman, acting for her mentor, corrupt Borough President Donald Manes, lobbied to have the designation abridged to just the ticket lobby and grand foyer,” he said.

The landmarking reduction was later supported by Shulman, when she was borough president. The lobby and foyer are the only significant parts of the theater remaining.

Protecting both is the main focus of Rotondi’s group now. He also recommended that a museum element be incorporated into the final design “that celebrates the important and rich theatrical history that included live performances by some of the greatest show business icons in 20th-century America,” he said.

265-lb man kills 8-lb chihuahua

From the NY Post:

A hulking 265-pound Jerry Melendez, 33, allegedly took his rage out on his defenseless eight-pound dog on February 10, striking him with enough force to fracture his skull and causing a hemorrhage to his left eye.

After the heinous assault in Ridgewood, Melendez rushed five-year-old Spotty, to a private animal hospital where doctors desperately tried treating him for seizures and head trauma. They were left with no choice but to euthanize the pooch, whose injuries were just too severe.

Veterinarians notified the ASPCA and a necropsy later determined Spotty sustained blunt force impact.

Melendez, was charged with one felony count of animal cruelty yesterday.

He faces up to two years in prison and a $2,000 fine.