Queens Council on the Arts now lobbying for liquor licenses

From the Queens Ledger:

The Knockdown Center continued its years-long fight to secure a liquor license at the Community Board 5 meeting last Wednesday, during which affiliates, employees and the owner of the center all took to the microphone and handed out pamphlets advocating for the board to reconsider their vote last year to deny the license.

The move comes after the center’s recertification hearing last month with the State Liquor Authority, during which a vote on the license was postponed until the SLA’s June 2nd session. The SLA had previously denied the center’s initial application in May of 2014.

A handful of other community members attended the meeting to make the case for the center, however a board rule limiting the number of people who can advocate for a certain issue during a public forum to three precluded many from speaking.

In a letter she was unable to read aloud but passed on to this newspaper, Lynn Lobell, Grants and Resource Director for Queens Council on the Arts, said her organization was a strong supporter of the center.

“Local artists value Knockdown Center as an important arts resource,” the letter read. “QCA supports the Knockdown Center because they are committed to be a positive force in the community.”

Pardon me, but why in hell is the grants director for a tax exempt not-for-profit arts organization such as QCA lobbying a community board for a liquor license?

Nonprofit boozed it up and got reimbursed

From Crains:

A Queens nonprofit received more than $150,000 in reimbursements from the state Office of Mental Health for inappropriate expenses, including almost $11,000 for alcohol at a two-day executive and board retreat in Montauk, L.I.

From July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, the Office of Mental Health paid PSCH $6.8 million to provide services and housing to people with mental illness. During that time, the Flushing nonprofit, whose initials stand for Promoting Specialized Care and Health, submitted $152,580 in expenses that were not in compliance with its contract terms, according to an audit conducted by the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

An October 2012 retreat at the Montauk Yacht Club for board members and executive staff cost the nonprofit about $63,000. The state agency reimbursed PSCH for half those costs: OMH paid $10,723 for alcohol, $6,312 for dinner and $5,746 for rooms for an additional night's stay.

"The rules for conference costs are clear," Mr. DiNapoli said in a statement. "And lavish parties with alcohol, cruises and extra guests are not allowable. State agencies must make sure that contractors are reimbursed for legitimate expenses only."

About two-thirds of PSCH's $152,580 were costs that were "not actual, reasonable and necessary in the provision of contract services," the audit said. They included duplicate charges, and expenses that were incurred during a different period than the one in which PSCH was applying for reimbursement.

The auditors also found PSCH was reimbursed $22,901 for a staff picnic at Cunningham Park in Queens, where expenses included $14,955 for the picnic and $3,420 in gifts to staff, such as coolers, T-shirts, pens and umbrellas. Another $1,300 was spent on ice cream.

de Blasio's grand NYCHA plan

From the Queens Courier:

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan Tuesday to help revitalize public housing and fix financial problems of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) by using the housing complexes more efficiently and reducing expenses.

The plan, NextGeneration NYCHA, involves various initiatives targeted to save the reeling city agency, which has only “one month remaining of surplus cash on hand and after that will go into deficit,” de Blasio said.

This includes leasing land in public housing complexes to developers to build more units, half of which must be used for affordable housing for families earning no more than 60 percent of the area’s median income, or about $46,600 annually for a family of three.

Also, 10,000 completely affordable units will be created in complexes in Brooklyn and the Bronx on underutilized, street-facing lots currently used for parking, trash or storage sites. These programs will cross over with de Blasio’s goal of creating 80,000 affordable housing units in 10 years.

If you're over 40, the city has a job for you!

From the NY Post:

The city’s narcotics cops are being told to stop arresting suspects over the age of 40 — a major strategy shift designed to target younger dealers, who are more likely to carry guns and use them, The Post has learned.

Top brass issued a directive that makes it all but impossible for cops to bust older drug suspects, in order to combat a spike in shootings — which are up 7 percent in 2015 compared with the same period last year and 12 percent over the last four weeks, police sources said.

The new policy was laid out in a May 14 memo obtained by The Post that scolded police bosses for busting people outside the 18-40 demographic — and demanded written explanations for arrests of midlife perps.

Division commanders who got that memo immediately ordered the rank and file to stop making collars in that age group and threatened officers with transfers and other discipline if they did not comply, according to multiple police sources.

The memo was signed by Assistant Chief Brian McCarthy, head of the Narcotics Division, who admitted at a meeting last week the directive came from higher up, said a source who was in attendance.

Artificial turf may cause childhood cancer

From CBS 2:

CBS2 first reported last January on concerns over artificial turf playing fields being a potential danger to kids.

Now in a CBS2 investigation, Carolyn Gusoff has found these fields may be linked to a growing number of cancer cases in young athletes.

Experts said the bad things in question include a number of chemicals.

“We know some of these chemicals do cause cancer,” said Dr. Robert Cohen of Northwestern Medicine.

Now, the issue is building steam — from New Jersey to Long Island and even New York City, where there are hundreds of similar fields.

“These are many years that children are playing on this surface, and they’re growing up on this surface, and now, we’re seeing throughout the country these cancer clusters,” said New York City Parks Advocates President Geoffrey Croft.

Croft said he has been petitioning the city to remove the 200-plus crumb rubber fields currently in local parks.

But the Synthetic Turf Council, which represents the companies that make the fields, insists the substance is safe. They cited 60 studies.

One of the studies cited was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, which examined four crumb rubber fields in 2009 and found that harmful chemicals were “below levels of concern.”

But Long Island U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said the EPA study is in adequate.

“Common sense tells us that four fields is not an adequate sample in an entire country,” he said.

Israel insisted that the agency should do more testing.

“The only way we’re going to know whether these fields are truly safe or unsafe is for the EPA to get its act together, and update the study, and let the American people know so that they can make their own judgments,” Israel said.

In a statement, the EPA acknowledged its original study was limited, and that more testing needs to be done. But the agency did not commit to doing it.