skip to main |
skip to sidebar
 |
| NY Post |
From the
Observer:
Mayor Bill de Blasio joined Rev. Al Sharpton and a host of other Democratic politicians at a demonstration calling for the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign off on a package of proposals to maintain and strengthen the city’s rent laws.
The event, held outside the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem and emceed by Assembly Housing Chair Keith Wright, drew a modest crowd of a few dozen people. Mr. de Blasio warned that only days remain before the end of the legislative session—and before New York City’s rent stabilization and rent control laws expire, which could leave roughly one million regulated apartments open to becoming market rate.
“Let’s be clear what’s happening: in the next two weeks in Albany, a decision that will affect well over 2 million New Yorkers who live in over a million apartments. This is the magnitude of what we face,” he said, warning of a potentially dire outcome. “If they do the wrong thing, they will damn thousands and thousands of New Yorkers to be displaced and not have an affordable place to live.”
Mr. de Blasio stressed that he would not be satisfied with a simple extension of the existing regulations, but called for preventing landlords from removing vacant apartments from the rent control program and from increasing the rent 20 percent on stabilized apartments once they become unoccupied. He also demanded new regulations making charges for major capital improvements a temporary, rather than permanent, add-on to a tenant’s rent.
From the
Queens Chronicle:
Forest Hills residents looking for a meal at the closest Sizzler eatery now have quite a long drive ahead of them.
The chain restaurant located at 100-27 Metropolitan Ave. closed on Monday after over two decades in business, according to a Sizzler spokesman.
The franchise was just one of two left outside the western third of the country.
The only other Sizzler east of New Mexico is located approximately 1,000 miles away in Kissimmee, Fla.
Sizzler USA spokesman Brad Ritter said the restaurant was operated by an area franchisee and shut its doors over high monthly rents.
“It closed because the lease is expiring and the franchisee cannot afford higher rent and remain in business,” Ritter said in an email to the Chronicle on Tuesday. “The restaurant operated there for more than 20 years.”
From
CBS:
Four parking spaces near Prospect Park in Brooklyn have already been described as a lucrative ticket trap, and now, motorists say authorities have taken it all a step further – booting and towing cars.
Last month, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reported on the four spaces at Prospect Park West and 9th Street.
Two signs are mounted overhead, and the bottom sign allows motorists to park there after 1 p.m. But the top sign says, “No standing April 1 to Sept. 30.”
On Sunday, the New York Daily News reported that the city will replace the signs and allow parking year-round in the four spaces. But two days before that, someone tweeted 1010 WINS’ Papa showing cars at the site had been outfitted with the Denver boot.
Police on Friday could not explain why cars would be booted rather than just ticketed.
The Department of Transportation said the signs will be changed next week.
From the
Queens Chronicle:
Esther and Marty Golden won’t have to look at the cracks on 153rd Avenue much longer.
The Department of Transportation, responding to an inquiry about the poor condition of the corridor, said on Tuesday it’s preparing to fix holes along that stretch of road — but stopped short of saying it will receive a total makeover.
“DOT will make pothole repairs as needed and we will review the street to see if resurfacing in the future is warranted for the corridor,” an agency spokeswoman said in an email.
The Goldens, who live in a co-op on 153rd Avenue, told the Queens Chronicle the road has been a safety hazard for the past couple of months.
“I haven’t fallen but I have tripped on it,” Esther Golden, a 35-year resident of the community, said pointing to several cracks and holes along the road.
She said the street has been in bad shape for a few months but the onslaught of ice and snow this winter exaggerated the problem.
From the
Queens Courier:
The intersection of Utopia Parkway and 65th Avenue in Fresh Meadows should no longer be plagued by flooding every time it rains.
Councilman Rory Lancman and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced Friday that several measures have been installed to mitigate flooding that has inundated residents for years.
The area has experienced severe floods since 1975 and residents have had to pump out their basements and repair flooded cars, spending thousands of dollars in the process.
The manhole cover in the area, which would have several feet of water shooting out of it when it rained, has been sealed and duckbill check valves have been installed in the catch basins. Duckbill check valves, which get their names from the shape they resemble, prevent back flow in the sewers.
