All on board for new power plant

From DNA Info:

Residents and officials usually oppose bids by power plants in this Queens neighborhood, which they say has suffered from pollution and high asthma rates for years.

But this time they have thrown their support behind NRG's move to replace its generators to cut peak emissions by 98 percent.

Smart Power NY, a coalition of elected officials and community leaders, formed in April to promote the NRG's bid for a deal to sell power to the grid, which is necessary to obtain financing for the $1.5 billion project.

The group is trying to garner as much support from state and federal officials as possible ahead of May 30 deadline, organizers said at a meeting in Astoria Wednesday night.

The Princeton, N.J.-based company wants to replace 31 decades-old generators, which are currently using primarily oil, with four new units, which would use mostly natural gas.

The switch would allow the company to increase energy production from 600 Megawatts to 1040 Megawatts, increasing generation efficiency by 56 percent while reducing on-site peak day emissions by 98 percent, according to NRG.

Company officials also said the project would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million tons each year, the equivalent of removing 185,000 cars from New York City’s streets.

City Council comes up with more stupidity

From NY1:

The City Council is proposing letter grades for the city's subway stations.

During a Transportation Committee hearing Wednesday, Councilmember Peter Koo suggested the agency should come up with letter grades similar to those issued to restaurants for each of the 468 subway stations.

The committee's chairman, Bronx Councilman James Vacca, says he plans to introduce a non-binding resolution urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to do so.

"We rate the restaurants and every takeout place. Why can't we rate stations on cleanliness, water, garbage, graffiti? That's a good idea, councilmember, I'm with you," Vacca said.

MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota says the agency does not have the money for station letter grades.

The MTA does publish station cleanliness ratings by line and borough but does not break down the information station-by-station.

Forest Park carousel reopens tomorrow

From the Daily News:

The Forest Park Carousel, a turn-of-the-century treasure shuttered since 2008, is ready for a whole new generation of riders.

The historic amusement opens its doors to the public on Saturday and the new operators are hoping crowds will come to savor old memories and make some new ones.

The carousel, crafted by master carver Daniel Carl Muller, was first brought to Forest Park in the 1970s to replace one that burned down in 1966.

In 1989, it underwent a meticulous restoration but has languished while under the care of previous concessionaires, who griped it generated little revenue.

In the few weeks since the Parks Department gave NY Carousel the nod to operate the site, the improvements are noticeable.

The wood floors has been buffed and a new coat of paint has brightened up the carousel’s interior. Light bulbs were replaced and a new safety gate gives visitors a closer and better view of the galloping animals.

Michael Gianaris, actor

From Capital Tonight:

Here’s the video that served as Sen. Mike Gianaris’ response at last night’s LCA show, in which he and his fellow reform-minded Democrats poked fun at their quixotic quest for an independent redistricting process.

The seven-minute spoof opens with Gianaris, who has been pushing for an overhaul of the state’s political line-drawing system since he was in the Assembly, brainstorming with Sens. Kevin Parker and Liz Krueger about how to make Gov. Andrew Cuomo stick to his pledge to veto the Senate GOP’s gerrymandered plan.

At his colleagues’ urging, Gianaris places a personal call to the governor’s office, only to be hung up on by a secretary.

He plays through, however, pretending for his fellow senators’ sake to to give the governor a piece of his mind while in reality, the dial tone is echoing loudly in his ear.

Bloomberg to follow rules for once

From the NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is rich, and New Yorkers often forgive him for it. His rarefied life of weekend homes in Bermuda and private jet flights to Paris has not stopped him from earning the votes of constituents who give him credit for competence and leadership.

But being a billionaire is one thing, and breaking the rules another. So it was on Wednesday that Mr. Bloomberg, an experienced pilot, found himself under fire after he was discovered flying his private helicopter where he was not supposed to.

An amateur video, filmed by an annoyed Manhattanite and broadcast Tuesday on WABC-TV, showed the mayor landing and taking off several times over the weekend from the East 34th Street helipad, where trips on Saturday and Sunday have been expressly banned for more than a decade.

On Wednesday, a City Hall spokesman said Mr. Bloomberg would not be flying from the helipad on weekends any longer.

Murder-suicide-fire in illegal Bayside apartment

From DNA Info:

A fire that broke out in the basement apartment of a Queens home led investigators to a possible crime scene.

A woman, 33, whose body was covered in marks, was transported to Flushing Hospital according to the FDNY. Initially, she was recovered from a traumatic arrest by rescuers, but was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital, fire officials said.

Rescuers also discovered a man, 50, in the process of attempting to hang himself in a closet, said Brown. The fire turned out to be a small one, the FDNY said.

The man was in transported to New York Hospital Queens in cardiac arrest Wednesday night, and was last listed in serious condition, fire officials said.

Rescuers recieved a call at 7:24 p.m. to the two-story home on 214th Place near 40th Avenue for a fire that started in the basement of the home, the FDNY said.

The woman had been found inside the basement unit on a bed, Brown said.

Investigators believed that gas in the kitchen of the basement apartment may have set off the fire, which prompted a neighbor to call 911, Brown said.

Clampdown on curbside scrap metal thieves

From the NY Post:

The city Department of Sanitation’s police force has beefed up neighborhood patrols to combat the theft of valuable recyclable scrap metal carted to the curb.

“It’s a continuing problem, one that the department is very aggressively trying to combat,” said Vito Turso, a spokesman for the Sanitation Department, noting that old ovens, refrigerators and air-conditioning units command high prices at scrap yards these days.

Last year, a whopping 46 percent of the appliances put out for recycling were not at the location at the time of pickup — apparently taken by roving scrap-metal thieves.

That’s a jump from 36 percent the previous year. So far, for 2012, the rate is at 43 percent, or roughly 11,000 missed pickups.

The city has a contract with Sims Metal Management to recycle the scrap — and the city gets a cut of Sims’ action in return.

Sims has estimated it loses up to $4 million a year from the thievery, meaning city coffers are getting hit hard, too.

Unconstitutional internet bill proposed

From the Huffington Post:

Republicans in the state government in Albany, N.Y., are attempting to pass a law that would ban anonymous comments on the Internet (to articles such as this one, or even to websites such as the one you're reading this on now). That clever login name you came up with? Sorry, you'll have to use your real name instead.

Luckily for all of us, this is never going to happen. Even if New York Republicans had their way, and actually passed their so-called Internet Protection Act, once it arrived in a federal court it would be tossed out in a "New York minute" (as they say).

This isn't just overconfidence in the judicial branch or civil libertarian smugness, either (although the "New York minute" bit is admittedly rather snarky). Legal precedent from only a few years ago already exists, which not only puts the First Amendment stamp of approval on online anonymity, it actually says that any attempt to uncover the identity of the commenter would be unconstitutional. And the case hinged not on political comments on a website but actual email spam. Political spam is protected free speech -- so how can website comments not be?

Speaking out on politics in whatever technological medium exists -- and remaining anonymous while doing so -- is not just one of the foundational rights our government was built on, it was actually largely responsible for our nation and our government even existing.

That is not going to be taken away by any misguided modern group of politicians in Albany, New York. Whether they've read and understood the Constitution or not will not matter, even if this pathetic excuse of a law is actually passed. Because it won't last that "New York minute" in federal court, before it is tossed on the historical ash-heap of past attempts at such censorship -- and, indeed, laughed right out of the courtroom.

This actually sounds like part of Gov. Cuomo's "war on cyberbullying."

Cleaning up illegal signs

From Bayside Patch:

With election season in full swing, Council Member Mark Weprin D-Oakland Gardens, is tackling one of the more cosmetic blights of dirty campaining: illegal signs.

Wepin wants to triple the current fines for posting signs illegally on public property. His office says they can be distracting to drivers and strain City resources to remove.

“The number of illegal signs is multiplying, and we must increase both fines and enforcement to discourage this pattern from continuing,” said Weprin.

It is currently illegal to post stickers, advertisements or fliers on telephone poles, lamposts or other public property.

Catching illegal dumpers red-handed

From CBS 2:

Illegal dumpers are tarnishing the Big Apple in a big way, but now the city is fighting back with a trash sting, CBS 2′s Maurice DuBois reported.

Illegal dumpers pull up in the middle of the night, maybe even on your block, bearing bags of trash — old furniture, tires and used appliances. New Yorkers are fed up with it.

But there’s a very good chance they will get caught – by the Sanitation Department’s police force.

CBS 2 went undercover with Officers Chad Jacobson and Kevin Torres who stake out, follow and apprehend violators. Violators like one man who was seen dumping a potentially dangerous propane tank on a Brooklyn sidewalk.

Sampson gone as Senate minority leader

From the Daily News:

Senate Minority Leader John Sampson should enjoy the rest of the year — because his tenure as the chamber’s top Democrat is likely to end at the start of 2013.

Senate Democratic insiders say there is virtually no chance Sampson will return as leader should the Dems capture the majority in the fall elections. And there is little likelihood he will be retained as Dem boss if the effort falls short.

“The writing is on the wall,” one said.

Sampson (D-Brooklyn) is personally well-regarded by Democrats and many Senate GOPers.

But this isn’t personal — it’s politics.

His leadership has come under fire after a string of head-scratching decisions that left many Dems angry and embarrassed.

In December, he selected controversial lawyer Ravi Batra as the Senate minority's sole representative on the state ethics commission despite outcry from his rank-and-file.

The last straw likely came when Sampson recently decided to give his top aide a $50,000-a-year raise. A number of his members exploded after learning about it in the Daily News — and the pay hike was quickly rescinded.

“These bad decisions on top of other ones he made basically made it clear that John can’t be the leader,” one high-ranking Dem said bluntly.

Meanwhile, a breakaway group of four Democrats who formed their own independent caucus have indicated they will not return if Sampson remains. (The four will be needed to return to the fold if the Dems have any chance of retaking the majority.)

Who would succeed Sampson in the fractured caucus isn’t clear.

Only rich or poor will be left in NYC

From the NY Times:

The wealthiest 1 percent of New York City residents took in nearly one-third of the personal income in the city in 2009 — almost double the comparable proportion nationwide, a new study shows.

In a report scheduled to be released on Monday, the city comptroller’s office found that large percentages of New Yorkers earned high incomes and low incomes, leaving a smaller middle class than in the nation as a whole.

The report analyzed tax filings by city residents for income earned from 2000 through 2009, the most recent data available, and compared them with the national numbers. All of the numbers were adjusted for inflation.

The most striking difference between New York and the rest of the United States, the report showed, was the concentration of earning power at the high end.

In 2009, nearly 15,000 filers reported adjusted gross income of $1 million or more. They accounted for less than half of 1 percent of the total number of filers, but they took in 26.7 percent of the income in the city. Nationally, people who earned at least $1 million in 2009 collected less than 10 percent of all the income.

The comptroller’s report also revealed that New York had a smaller bulge in its middle than the rest of the country. Nationally, about 31 percent of filers earned $50,000 to $200,000, and they took in 52 percent of all the personal income in the country. In New York, just 28 percent of filers fell into that income bracket, and they collected only 36 percent of all the personal income in the city.

East side access project now more than $8B

From the CBS New York:

The project to link the Long Island Rail Road to the East Side of Manhattan now has a price tag of more than $8 billion.

The final cost is more than 30 percent above the original estimate.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials also reiterated Monday that the new completion date for the project is August 2019. The East Side Access project was supposed to wrap up by 2016.

MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota had revealed the delay earlier this month at a meeting of business leaders on Long Island.

He said there have been problems tunneling underneath a rail yard in Queens. The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward.

Cemeteries fined for flower vases

From Eyewitness News:

There is outrage over a little known New York City ordinance that some families claim is not allowing them to properly mourn their loved ones buried at cemetery in Queens.

The ordinance forbids cemetery visitors to place flowers in water. It's all part of a citywide effort to prevent West Nile Virus, but many people say it's ridiculous. "This is a place that's supposed to be after life peaceful not people giving out tickets," says Andy Pilizota. Daniel Austin runs the cemetery, and he says two days before Mother's Day, their busiest week, an inspector from the Health Department walked the grounds. He had no idea, until Monday, he got a notice in the mail, saying the inspector found, "conditions conducive to the breeding of mosquitoes. Water in vases and flower pots throughout the property, some that contained larvae." It's a violations, something officials take very seriously in order to prevent cases of West Nile Virus. Daniel was fined $1,200. "I've done everything physically to curtail water or standing water with the grounds of this 225 acre sprawling cemetery," he says. That's the irony, there is a zero tolerance for standing water there. Signs clearly warn visitors not to bring it in from mid-April to the end of October. Staff looks for empties containers, even going as far as completely closing down facets but with only 15 full time workers and roughly 250,000 grave sites, Daniel says it's impossible to be everywhere at every time. He feels the health department is unfairly targeting him and other cemeteries.

Vicky's on top of Dr. Mittman

Hello Crapper:

I drove by the offices of the Queens Courier on Friday. Look what's on the front of their building's facade. That's Vicky's window with the arrow pointing to it.

Regards, GtheA

DEP pretends to respond to 311 complaint

SERVICE REQUEST #: 185405517
CREATED ON: 04/22/2012 9:47:00 PM
REQUEST TYPE: Sewer
DETAIL: Street Flooding (SJ)
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 53-04 ROCKAWAY BEACH BOULEVARD
INCIDENT BOROUGH: QUEENS
STATUS: The Department of Environment Protection inspected your complaint but could not find the problem you reported. If the condition persists, please call 311 (or 212-639-9675 if calling from a non-New York City area code) with more detailed information to submit a new complaint.
LAST UPDATED ON: 04/23/2012 9:55:00 AM

Does anyone believe that DEP responded in 12 hours and failed to notice this vast street pond? It's been there for months! Do they not care about West Nile Virus? - anonymous

With liberty and free porn for all!

Here are some choice highlights of a NY1 interview Liz Crowley recently gave.

"We're out there everyday, mornings at train stops, afternoons at senior centers in the evening we're knocking on doors."

So she's out there spending all of her time running for congress (and apparently flying to Israel to study unemployment)? How much time is she spending at her city council job?

Around 5:08, she claims, "We want to be like the next Silicone Valley."

"Silicone Valley" is the nickname given to the San Fernando Valley in California, where the vast majority of our country's hardcore porn is created. I think the genius meant to say Silicon Valley.

The screenshot is from the precious moment when she proudly claimed, "I've worked with my hands in the past."

Yes, we know.

Willets Point plan nothing like what was promised

From Crains:

Because Willets Point is far from being ready to attract home buyers, builders want to push back the housing component until 2025. They would start by cleaning up a 20-acre swath that needs extensive remediation—greater than the 12.75 acres called for in the request for proposals. Related and Sterling Equities would then build parking lots, a retail strip and a 200-room hotel just to the east of Citi Field along 126th Street.

After that, they would add a new component to the project—an approximately 1 million-square-foot retail and entertainment complex on the parking lots just west of Citi Field. This new piece became possible because the Mets control the lease. Tentatively called “Willets West,” the mall would connect Willets Point and Citi Field to Corona, expanding the scope of the redevelopment and creating thousands more jobs. It serves two main purposes: to make the rest of the project economically viable and to make the desolate area more of a destination before the housing comes in.

Once the mall west of Citi Field is built, the developers would start construction on the housing and additional retail space east of the stadium. The city negotiated a clause in the deal that would force the developers to pay $35 million if they don't break ground on the housing by 2025. The city could also replace the developers at that point.

The city's budget for the project hasn't changed—it still has about $400 million earmarked—but some of that money will be moved around to help the developers with remediation and infrastructure. Economic activity from the initial parts of Related/Sterling project will allow the city to put $65 million into its capital budget for 2020 to build Van Wyck Expressway ramps that are needed for the housing.

The changes virtually ensure that one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's signature economic development initiatives will not get off the ground before he leaves office. Assuming approvals are granted, the new plan calls for remediation to begin in 2014.

What happened on 94th Ave last week?

"A question: A little after 10 PM last Wednesday there was an armed home invasion down the block from me on 94 Avenue (that's what the rumor is). There were loads of police cars (both marked and unmarked), ambulances and even a police helicopter. I've looked at all the local news websites, but cannot find any mention of this incident. Have you heard anything??" - anonymous

Crowley caught lying about school funding

From Queens Politics:

Elizabeth Crowley wants you to believe that she was the one that secured the resources to design, develop, and implement the new schools within her Council District.

As a matter of fact Crowley mailed a piece of campaign literature all across Queens to curry favor with those deeply concerned about Education in her bid to become your Congresswoman from the 6th District, however upon research and review and confirmation from her office spokesman, she’s taking credit for schools that were budgeted and started construction prior to her even being elected to the City Council.

“Elizabeth Crowley fought for the resources to open four new public schools to relieve overcrowding in her City Council District,” according to her campaign mail.

Her spokesman, Eric Yun, indicated that the “Metropolitan High School site was funded by Elizabeth”, but a check of District Education sources and community leaders indicate that the development of this site goes back to 2001, during the days of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Those in the community clearly recall Forest City Ratner was going to place a 35 multiplex movie theater. The community and its elected officials were adamantly opposed and the site was eventually turned over to the Department of Education for an 8 acre educational complex.

Who really fought for the funding?

District 24 Community Education Council president Nick Comaianni said it wasn’t Liz.

According to Comaianni,

“It [the funding] came from CEC24 that lobbied the Chancellor to get as much money to deal with the overcrowding. These schools go back to the capital budget in 2005, we had 3,600 seats and we lobbied for an extra 3,000 seats and we got it with the help of Councilman Gallagher.”

(Btw: Crowley’s spokesperson did not even realize that the Metropolitan Campus is NOT within her Council District it is actually in the 29th District occupied by Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz. To be fair we should mention that the leader in that high school fight was Councilwoman Melinda Katz.)

The second school Elizabeth is falsely asserting she delivered is the new Maspeth High School which hasn’t even opened its doors. This project first appeared in the 2005 Capital Plan four years before Elizabeth was sworn into office. Oddly this school was the subject of great debate and many in the community opposed the construction. Elizabeth told the Daily News that she would “oppose this development if the school were not locally zoned.”

Yun contacted us after his initial quotes to retract his statement. Yun said he had “misspoke” and that Crowley fought to keep local zoning and construction, which did in fact occur before her election into office. He said two of the four schools mentioned in Crowley’s literature were schools in Richmond Hill. Richmond Hill is outside the 6th Congressional District.

Yun initially indicated two additional schools were elementary schools, but couldn’t name them. Checking the district, the only three schools to be developed were PS113 and PS128 and PS49. Does Elizabeth really believe this to be true? Does she believe that she fought for those resources? How do you fight for something that’s already in the budget? All of the aforementioned schools were under construction well prior to her election!