A Walk Through the Meadows, 2015 edition

Aerial view of Meadow Lake parking lot near boathouse

Aerial view of traffic circle

The following photos were taken yesterday of this same area. You can see that Rory Lancman had a point when he called the newly created Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Alliance a sham that will only spend money on the northern sections of the park, which comparatively are in great condition. It's a joke to have community listening sessions to get input for future projects, like "better signage" when an outstanding issue like this one is so blatant.

Come visit Queens - the World's Borough!

A soccer stadium for Sunnyside?

From LIC Talk:

A new article written in a soccer publication, makes a well-thought-out case that Sunnyside Yards could be the optimal location to build a stadium for the NYCFC. That would be the NYC Football Club for the bulk of us not familiar with the acronym, but don’t let this new professional soccer team’s relative obscurity make you relegate the stadium idea as a lark.

That is because, as the author points out, the team is majority-owned by Manchester City, a well-known (and as you’ll see, well-funded) and newly successful team in the English Premier League, and Manchester City is wholly owned by one Sheikh Mansour. Now as it turns out, the Sheikh is also on the board of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which a quick google shows has about three-quarters of a trillion $ in its coffers!$!

Not that there’s any shortage of capital looking to be put to work within spitting distance of midtown, but with that kind of heft, the ADIA may be willing to provide some very generous financing to make this struggling project more palatable. Plus the new stadium angle allows the Mayor to do a major rewrite on what’s turning out to be a very difficult sell. Add the fact that the NY Yankees are the minority owner of the team, and you have another powerful and connected gorilla in the room helping to push it through.

Now the above is just my handicapping the possibility of the stadium happening. I am still very much against the Sunnyside Yards project, and will continue to refer to it as the NYCBD, aka the NYC Big Dig. It will be good for the 5-10 thousand residents who score an affordable apartment, it will be great for the developers, and it will be bad for the 2.3 million other residents of Queens mainly due to the drastic effect of overcrowding at the margins.

Bayside Burger King bites the dust

Dear QC,

In case you're interested, looks like a large retail development is going to replace the Burger King location near the Cross Island entrance on Northern Blvd. Safe to say this will generate more traffic here, but I am a little relieved it is not going to be residential.

Mike in Bayside

Another AirBnB disaster

From the Daily News:

A Midtown landlord is suing a tenant for $300,000 for repeatedly renting out her apartment on Airbnb for $200 a night.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, 357 West 54th St. LLC says Madalina Iacob's bid to make some quick bucks on Airbnb and other short-term apartment rental sites has already cost the building over $60,000 in fines — and could wind up costing it four times as much.

"Under the law, the landlord is strictly liable even though it's the tenant causing the violation — and even though we're not participating in this with this lady," said the building's lawyer, Lawrence Silberman.

Iacob's lease on the small $2095-a-month one-bedroom says that "tenant understands that they may NOT sublet the apartment" — but that's what the yoga instructor and self-described life coach and emotional intelligence coach was caught doing by the city in May, court papers say.

As a result, the building was slammed with four violations by the city, including operating as an illegal hotel, not having the required amount of exits for a hotel and not having adequate fire alarm system for a hotel.

City employees rollin' in dough

From the Daily News:

Overtime pay gave nearly two hundred city employees a salary bonanza in the last fiscal year.

Most of these workers — spanning a range of city agencies — were able to double their earnings with the extra hours, according to the latest data.

All told, the city shelled out $1.7 billion just in overtime pay to 167,851 workers — and 195 actually doubled their salary, according to the numbers compiled by the Empire Center.

Most of those — 90 — were in the Department of Transportation, 35 at the Department of Correction and 26 in the FDNY.

Of the top five overtime earners — including many who have have been pulling down big bucks for years — four work for DOT and one for the FDNY.

DOT employee David Russell, a highway repair supervisor, scored the most overtime — $177,630. That raised his total pay to $274,352 for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30.

Right behind him was FDNY marine engineer Frederick Domini, who earned $153,787 in OT and $262,926 in total pay.

DOT bricklayer Edward Alfano laid down $146,118 in OT, for $239,462 total pay,

LIC construction site goes up in flames

Wow.. Work hazard..

A video posted by Angel (@cruzin511) on Dec 19, 2015 at 11:02am PST

From PIX11:

A drilling rig hit a gas line at a construction site, causing the development to burst into flames.

According to FDNY, the fire is being fed by the gas, and crews are trying to protect neighboring buildings.

Four people have been safely rescued from the site.

DeBlasio, Cuomo & Comrie want homeless at Creedmoor

From the Daily News:

The de Blasio administration said Saturday it is open to the idea of converting a near empty psychiatric center to house the homeless.

Sources say Gov. Cuomo is considering a proposal to use the Creedmore Psychiatric Center in Queens to help deal with the city’s homeless crisis.

City officials have not been briefed about the possibility of using the site’s empty buildings by the Cuomo administration, but on Saturday seemed receptive.

“Given the dimensions of the problem that has built up over many years, any additional state resources are welcome and we look forward to hearing more about the plan,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton.

From the NY Post:

Queens state Sen. Leroy Comrie, whose district includes Creedmoor, said providing homeless people with housing there is not such a crazy idea.

“The homeless individuals would have an excellent chance of being successful with a complement of services,” Comrie said. “I will be talking to the governor about it.”

Mass transit commuters to save more $

From Crains:

Tucked into the massive federal spending and tax-cut agreement reached by congressional leaders this week is a measure that will save New York mass-transit commuters hundreds of dollars apiece each year. Employers will save as well.

The provision nearly doubles the maximum amount of pre-tax income they can use to pay transit fares. Currently $130 a month, the limit will be raised to match the amount that people who drive to work can spend in untaxed earnings on parking fees—$255 per month in 2016.

Moreover, just like the parking benefit, the transit break will be permanent and will rise annually with the cost of living if Congress passes the mammoth bill as expected.

The biggest beneficiaries will be high earners who regularly take the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North and spend at least $255 a month on fares. By participating in a commuter-benefit program such as TransitChek offered by their employers, they will be able to spend $3,060 annually in untaxed income on fares, up from $1,560—yielding a tax savings of about $1,200 instead of $625 for someone in the highest income-tax bracket.

The reduction in taxable income lessens employers’ payroll taxes, such as Social Security and Medicare. It adds up to 7.65% of what their workers spend in pre-tax money. It is nearly always greater than the $5 to $7.50 per employee per month that businesses pay a third party, such as WageWorks, to administer the program. But businesses with low participation rates among employees could end up paying more than they save.

Forest Hills trucks towed

From DNA Info:

Forest Hills police towed away several illegally parked tractor-trailers after their drivers recently turned the Grand Central Parkway service road into their rest area.

For several months, local residents have voiced concerns about tractor-trailers parked on the service road as well as in a nearby parking lot behind Forest Hills High School between 66th and 67th roads.

“Some of them leave the trucks there, some of them are sleeping there, they are also lined up on the service road,” said one concerned resident who did not want to give her name. “We don’t know what’s going on there at night.”

Other residents also complained that the parked vehicles block their view making it dangerous to drive in the area.

Due to complaints regarding tractors parked along the GCP Service Road, we're conducting a heavy duty tow operation pic.twitter.com/Ba8bbWSmYQ

— NYPD 112th Precinct (@NYPD112Pct) December 18, 2015

No high school for Linden Place

From the Times Ledger:

City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña has decided the city Department of Education will no longer be placing a high school inside its building at 30-48 Linden Place after significant community opposition to the proposal, elected officials and community leaders said Friday.

After receiving confirmation in July from DOE staff that the site would be used for a high school for more than 450 students, City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) met with Farina to express his opposition to the proposal due to student safety and traffic congestion concerns.

Koo made the announcement at a news conference in front of the building Friday afternoon, along with state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing); Arlene Fleishman, president of the Mitchell-Linden Civic Association; and Chuck Apelian, first vice chairman of Community Board 7.

“Maybe the chancellor realized this is not a good place to put a high school,” Koo said.

At the meeting, Fariña told Koo the plans to build a high school would no longer go forward. Koo’s office received written confirmation from DOE staff.

Former SI beep lobbied against preservation cause

From DNA Info:

The lobbying firm where former Borough President James Molinaro works was paid $65,000 over the past two years to lobby the city on behalf of the controversial Mount Manresa project, records show.

The Savo Brothers — under the name Mount Builders LLC — hired Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin LLC, of which Molinaro is a senior managing director, in 2014 to lobby the Department of Buildings, according to the Office of the City Clerk.

Molinaro, who was borough president when the 103-year-old Jesuit retreat house was sold for $15 million to be turned into townhouses despite huge protest, said he doesn't directly lobby for the Savo Brothers and didn't think there was anything wrong with his group working for them.

"I was the borough president. It was a piece of land for sale. It was legit. What should I be ashamed of?" Molinaro said.

"People are mad at me for a lot reasons. You can't be loved from everyone, you can't be hated from everywhere."

Conflicts of Interest Board rules require elected officials not to give up confidential information and not to communicate with the executive branch of government for one year after leaving office.

Officials are also not allowed to directly work on any matter that was dealt with while they were in office — but that does not stop their firms from being involved.

Molinaro is not mentioned by name as a principal or additional lobbyist in city records for Mount Builders LLC.

He served as borough president from 2002 until 2013, during the time the controversial plans to redevelop Mount Manresa were approved.

While other elected officials spoke out against the project at the time, Molinaro said that the deal was completely legitimate and nothing improper was done, to his knowledge.

He left office in December 2013 and a month later took a job at the high-powered Pitta Bishop Del Giorno and Giblin LLC, which has been one of the city's top 10 lobby firms for the past several years.

City misjudged homeless population

From Crains:

The de Blasio administration and the City Council failed to set aside enough funds for the homeless shelter capacity they would need this year and are now paying for their optimism, officials revealed this week.

Early this year, the administration believed that its systemic, long-term approach to homelessness would reduce the shelter population by winter.

They were wrong. The census just again topped 12,000 families, where it was at the same time last year.

The City Council voted Wednesday to tack $137.5 million on to the Department of Homeless Services budget for shelters, $88 million of which will come from city taxpayers. That represents an almost 17% increase in the shelter budget for this year.

“These are predominantly for adult shelter and family shelter re-estimates," outgoing Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor said at a City Council hearing last week.

The gap resulted from an incorrect assumption by the administration and the council that the shelter population would trend downward by the end of the year thanks to new subsidy and homelessness-prevention programs, according to council staff. While mid-year budget adjustments are normal, this year’s is remarkable, one aide said.

A mayoral spokeswoman said the funding adjustment was meant to cover population and cost increases since fiscal year 2014, upon which this fiscal year’s estimates were based.

Mad slasher has Whitestone on alert

From NBC:

The apparently random slashing of a 16-year-old girl walking to school in Queens Wednesday morning has shaken neighbors as a local politician says the suspect may have struck before.

The victim, an exchange student from China, was walking near 13th Avenue and 146th Street when a man wearing a surgical mask and gloves grabbed her and slashed her neck and cheek with a utility knife before running off, police said.

The stalker was captured on surveillance video following his victim.

The attack has left families in the quiet residential neighborhood frightened.

State assemblyman Ron Kim said Thursday the suspect may have struck before.

"We've been receiving some calls since yesterday that a similar-looking individual has been harassing females in the neighborhood," he said.

Kim said he has visited the girl, and doctors have told him the attacker missed major arteries but there are still concerns about possible nerve damage and disfiguring scars.

We've heard it all before

From the Queens Courier:

New York City is stepping up its efforts to alert residents to the dangers of illegal housing.

The Department of Buildings, the Fire Department, and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced on Thursday that they would be running a “Living Safely” campaign throughout the city to raise awareness of and warn New Yorkers about illegally-converted apartments.

The three agencies aim to distribute 10,000 flyers containing tips on recognizing and avoiding illegal apartments, as well as their dangers and consequences. The flyers will be available at elected officials’ offices, community boards, and various transportation hubs, including the 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue subway station in Jackson Heights.

Foundry has interesting history and works out of history, too

I pass the Modern Art Foundry every day when I cover the Mansion. The MAF is headquartered in the Steinway Mansion stables (old photo below). The MAF's more modern building next door has now been gutted and is being renovated. Here are some photos I took of this ongoing renovation.

All the best,
GtheA

I don't think we're in Queens anymore, Toto

From the Juniper Berry:

Have you felt lately like you were conked on the head and awakened inside a nightmare? Or maybe that your house had been picked up by a cyclone and touched down in the Land of Odd? That's kind of what Queens feels like these days. All the characters are here – the witch, the coward, the heartless, the one without a brain. You name the freak, we have it representing us.

Unfortunately, we voters can't click our heels together three times and be brought back to a better time. The Land of Odd is now our reality and our first chance at getting back over the rainbow won't come until Election Day, 2017. Until then, we'll continue our long slog down the yellow brick road with this unsavory cast of characters.

Having said all that, does anyone have a bucket of water?

Forest Hills LIRR scheduled for facelift

From DNA Info:

The Long Island Rail Road promised to remove graffiti from the walls of its historic Forest Hills station after residents’ pleas, officials said.

Locals said numerous markings have covered the sidewalk walls under the 71st Avenue overpass since last spring, defacing the Station Square area which was designed more than a century ago by renowned architects Grosvenor Atterbury and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

There is also graffiti spray-painted under the Ascan Avenue overpass, locals said.

Addabbo wants old Rockaway line made safer

From the Queens Tribune:

In light of all the attention it has been getting lately, state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) has called attention to the structural stability of the overpasses holding up the retired LIRR Rockaway Beach line that runs from the south shore to Queens Boulevard.

Local politicians and civic associations have been seeking further advocacy and turning the stretch of land in to either a paved over busway, a reactivated railway, or possibility a park stretching across the borough. Addabbo stated, “However, proposals fail to detail the vulnerable and unsafe conditions the line is currently in.”

Initially Addabbo called the MTA, but, he said, “The MTA was quick to point out” that they no longer own it. An MTA spokesperson said it was sold to the city in 1953. Addabbo said he plans to take up this issue with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office and Borough President Melinda Katz.

Report says Jamaica to be the next hot nabe

From AM-NY:

As New Yorkers continue the eternal struggle with high rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn, they’re increasingly setting their sights on Queens, according to a report.

Demand in the borough is set to rise in 2016, according to real estate site StreetEasy, with Jamaica shaping up to be the top neighborhood to watch, according to Alan Lightfeldt, a senior analyst for the company.

Five of the ten neighborhoods predicted to be the most in demand for renters next year are in the borough, according to StreetEasy. Jamaica’s cheaper rents (a median monthly rent of $1,750 in 2015), proximity to public transportation and major highways, as well as recent redevelopment efforts, launched it to the top of StreetEasy’s list.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who set up a “Jamaica Now Action Plan” this year to create a blueprint for its future, was thrilled by the presence of Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Woodside, Elmhurst and Kew Gardens Hills on StreetEasy’s report. She emphasized the importance of keeping the borough affordable amid the predicted influx of new renters.

“While the growth is necessary and encouraged, the challenge for government will be to aggressively expand affordable housing stock to meet the ever-growing demand,” she said in a statement.

City planning holds sham hearing; freezes out the public

From Historic Districts Council:

"Were you left outside, too? The Historic Districts Council, NY Landmarks Conservancy, MAS, Friends of the Upper East Side, Landmark West!, and the Society for the Architecture of the City were unable to testify at the City Planning Commission’s public hearing for ZQA/MIH this morning because the room was at capacity by 9:15 am--the hearing commenced at 9:00 am. By 10:30 am, representatives of City Planning explained that attendees who wished to speak could choose to wait outside with no guarantee of entry. Even worse, the City Planning Commission has not given any indication that they will hold additional hearings to ensure the whole of the public will be heard.

This is a public hearing, not a line on Black Friday. ALL of the public should be able to speak, not just those who got in line several strategic hours earlier than everyone else. There must be allowances made so that all the people of New York can have a voice. Please send a letter to Carl Weisbrod, Chair of NYC City Planning Commission and tell him that this morning’s situation was untenable and that our voices deserve to be in the record on this unprecedented rezoning proposal. Everyone deserves a chance to be heard and not be left out in the cold."

______________________

I submitted a protest letter and received the following reply at 8pm:

"Thank you for your message regarding the ongoing public hearing on the MIH/ZQA text amendment proposals.

We are sorry that you encountered long lines in the morning. We appreciate your interest in appearing before the Commission to testify on these important initiatives. Please note that the the City Planning Commission hearing on these items is ongoing, and the Commission will continue to hear every speaker who signs up and is present to speak.

There are no lines at this point, and we encourage you to come back and sign up to speak. We are continuing to post the Speaker # on our Twitter account and on our website.

If you would like to submit written testimony at any time prior to the vote, written comments on the DEIS will be considered until Monday, December 28 and written comments on the application may be sent up to the date of the Commission vote. You can mail written comments to:

CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Calendar Information Office - 31st Floor
120 Broadway, New York NY 10271"
______________________

Familiar government story:

• Call a public hearing
• Call your cronies to reserve prime speaking slots
• Schedule hearing for a room that's too small to accommodate crowd
• Sit and laugh as opponents get frustrated and leave
• Claim that you were available to listen to all the testimony and there was minimal opposition
• Enjoy the lazy media's reporting that suggests that suddenly everyone loves what you proposed
• Use this as justification to proceed as planned