Someone's in for a big surprise...

From Crains:

The fate of the [living wage] bill is largely in the hands of Ms. Quinn, who must decide whether to let it come to a vote. Thirty of her fellow council members have signed on to support the measure, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg has promised to veto. Thirty-four votes would be needed to override his veto.

Opponents of the measure are promising a fight. They've advertised in local newspapers and a dozen plan to testify at the council hearing. “It's no surprise that the same union which helped kill 2,000 good jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory is back on the bandwagon now,” said a spokesman for a coalition of business groups that oppose the bill.

The opponents say it would make it impossible to develop retail projects in the outer boroughs. An insider at one firm that bid for the first phase of the Willets Point redevelopment said the project “would be unleaseable,” and therefore unbuildable, if the living-wage ordinance passes.

“Any project that has a large retail component will not be able to get over the burden with national retailers,” the insider said.

Living wage was mandated by the City Council as part of the Willets Point project. So which nimrod firm bid on a project they don't think is feasible? Mike Meyers, is that you?

Quinn favors food stamp fraud

From the NY Post:

Thought experiment: Victims of a Central American earthquake have no hope of eating without international food assistance. The agency at the scene fingerprints aid recipients for tracking purposes. How many victims would turn down life-sustaining food because they don’t want to be “stigmatized” by fingerprinting? None.

The chances that New Yorkers in straitened circumstances would forgo a stream of free food because of a finger-imaging requirement are equally low. New York’s food-stamp rolls have jumped 50 percent in the last three years; 1.8 million New Yorkers now use food stamps, at a cost to federal taxpayers of $3.3 billion.

The only potential recipients who might be deterred from applying are criminals with outstanding warrants against them, who worry that the police will track them down if they give the welfare agency their prints. But even that fear would be misguided. The Human Resources Administration, which runs the program, doesn’t share the prints with any other government agencies — neither the police nor federal immigration authorities. If fugitives are inhibited from eating for free at taxpayer expense, that’s a cost we can live with.

Perhaps Berg should sue the city for subjecting its employees to what he refers to as “electronic stop-and-frisk.” All city hires, from agency commissioners to janitors, have their fingerprints taken as a condition of employment. The welfare workers who administer this allegedly “punitive” food-stamp requirement have all been finger-imaged. The deterrent effect appears to be minimal. At 275,000 full-time employees, city government dwarfs all other local employers.

Quinn, The New York Times and other welfare activists imply that no one would ever try to game the welfare system. In fact, food-stamp fraud was a major problem in the Dinkins era, before the finger-imaging reform. Even with the requirement, the city discovers 1,200 to 1,500 applicants a year who are already collecting food stamps, for a total in benefits of about $5 million a year. Thousands more potential fraudsters are undoubtedly not reapplying because of the integrity measures.

Vallone endorses hipster stupidity

From the Daily News:

When hundreds of zombies take to the streets of Astoria this weekend to feed on the flesh of human victims, it won’t be an apocalypse as much as a fantasy come to life.

The first annual Queens Thanksgiving Zombie Walk on Saturday is just the latest crawl to capitalize on the growing craze for everything undead and supernatural.

More than 550 “zombies” had confirmed their attendance on the event’s Facebook page by Thursday afternoon for the walk along 30th Ave.

The walk is to conclude at the Shillelagh Tavern for walking dead drink specials and live bands — including a folk songs from the zombie perspective.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. said it’s about time the undead came to Astoria.

“A few citizens may have their brains eaten, but it’s a fun thing,” said the Astoria Democrat, who was planning a viewing party from a safe distance. “Astoria is already known as a trendy, cool place to be and this is just going to help with that reputation.”

If this is what passes for trendy and cool, I think I'll stay boring. BTW, crime in Astoria has skyrocketed to the point that rallies are required. (But at least it's trendy.)

Will the southeastern Queens water table dilemma ever get solved?

From the Queens Chronicle:

About 100 people packed the Robert Ross Johnson Center in St. Albans last Thursday, many with similar experiences, all of them hoping to get answers from the city on what it plans to do to solve the persistent flooding problem affecting Southeast Queens.

Mark Lanaghan, assistant commissioner of intergovernmental relations for the city Department of Environmental Protection was the only agency official who attended the meeting and he presented two possible ideas to reduce flooding which didn’t go over very well with the crowd.

One idea is to change the elevation of a weir, a small dam which Lanaghan described as a gate, at the south end of Baisley Pond. That would modify the water level, drawing more groundwater out through the streams that empty into it.

The short-term plan would not require much effort or funding, according to Lanaghan, but the agency would need the permission of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and city Department of Parks and Recreation to do it.

He said lowering the weir by one foot should drop the water by about the same amount and positively impact 10 to 20 square blocks north of Baisley Pond. Some expressed concern that the plan would actually elevate the aquifer by pulling more water south, but the DEP doesn’t think that will happen, because the south end of Baisley Pond flows into a storm sewer that empties into Jamaica Bay.

Another plan is to install reverse seepage basins, or French drains, which involves sinking a pipe or chamber into the aquifer to draw it out and dispense it into the storm drains.

Lanaghan said the agency would have to consult the USGS to determine how many would have to be installed, where, and how much of an effect they would have. He added that the plan would not work for those who do not live near a storm sewer.

Lanaghan also told attendees that building out the storm sewers in community boards 12 and 13 is a high priority for the agency, with $250 million allocated to such projects over the next four to 10 years.

When Jamaica Water Supply served Southeast Queens it pumped millions of gallons of water out of the ground daily. But when the DEP took over the company in 1996 it stopped utilizing area wells, instead transporting water through tunnels from upstate. That change caused the groundwater level to rise to an alarming degree.

“We were not monitoring the groundwater elevation,” Lanaghan said. “We did not expect the groundwater elevation to respond like this and we were not prepared.”

Walcott out-of-touch with scheduling snafus

From the Daily News:

A Queens high school where the daughter of city schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott teaches gym is so disorganized that many students don’t know where their classes are or when they start.

Some kids at Metropolitan High School in Forest Hills have gotten 10 different class schedules in 11 weeks of instruction, angry parents say.

But this is all news to Walcott, because he refuses to talk shop with his daughter.

“We try not to mix our respective lives as far as education is concerned because she is her own person and teacher,” Walcott told a room of angry parents at the Panel for Educational Policy Thursday night.

DeJeanne Walcott, who earns $57,000 a year teaching gym at the school, has been a city teacher since 2010.

The chancellor blamed rapid enrollment growth at the school ’t mentioned the issue to him ."My daughter and I have worked out where she's not passing information," said Walcott, adding that he just heard about issues at the school "about two weeks ago."

DOT to better mark dangerous crossing

Traffic Controls @ 147St & 3rd Ave
The attached is a letter our organization received with regards to a dangerous street we highlighted on your blog. After being on your blog, WPIX contacted us and a subsequent piece appeared on their news segment. Without your blog, this would not have been possible and for this we thank you.

We are appreciative of their response and believe it is a good start in addressing the potentially dangerous situation on this street in front of Francis Lewis Park.

Thank You for your help with all issues Queens.

Alfredo Centola
President
Malba Gardens Civic Association

"One need not be in a position of power, nor hold a title, to affect positive change." A.C.

Abrams quits; Liu announces mayoral run

From WNYC:

Did John Liu announce his candidacy for Mayor last night?

That’s what some people are wondering after an event in Greenpoint last night. The Chinese-language newspaper World Journal reported that at a fundraising event, the Comptroller reportedly told the crowd of about 80 people, “I’ve never felt this strong a will to run, I will run for New York City’s top job!”

He went on to talk about the changes he would bring to City Hall and to discuss the growing inequality in the city. The announcement came at roughly the same time the man accused of making illegal contributions to his campaign was released from jail on a $100,000 bond.

From the Daily News:

The well-respected lawyer hired by city Controller John Liu to conduct an independent review of campaign finances quit Thursday after being ordered to put the probe on ice.

Former state attorney general Robert Abrams resigned one day after a Liu fund-raiser was charged with steering illegal contributions to his 2013 mayoral election coffers.

Liu decided having Abrams poke around while the feds investigate irregularities would be “difficult and expensive,” the resignation letter said.

“Your request that I suspend my work on this matter is untenable, as it compromises my independence and my ability to do a thorough and effective job,” Abrams wrote.

A lawyer for Liu’s campaign committee, Martin Connor, said a two-track probe was not “wise” and the campaign is fully cooperating with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.

X-rated after school activities

From the Times Ledger:

Residents of a Flushing housing complex want students from two nearby high schools to stop engaging in X-rated extracurricular activities in their backyards.

The teens are having sex in broad daylight in the sheltered greenspace in Parsons Gardens, near the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and 76th Avenue, according to a civic organization.

“This is happening,” said Kenneth Cohen, president of the Flushing Suburban Civic Association at a recent meeting. “It’s not nice to come home ... in the middle of the day and find someone half-naked in your lawn chair.”

Cohen chalked the illicit behavior up to the fact that the kids come from all over District 25, which roughly encompasses the neighborhoods of College Point, Whitestone, Flushing and Queensboro Hill. Since the students can come from any of those neighborhoods, many of them do not live in the area where the high schools are, and thus feel they can act with impunity.

We could be underwater soon

From Metro:

Within decades, New York subway tunnels could be flooded in under an hour during a major storm, according to a new report released yesterday.

Another storm like Tropical Storm Irene could cripple the subway system and flood JFK and LaGuardia airports, predicted researchers from Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Cornell University and the City University of New York in the report.

By 2020, the sea levels around Manhattan could rise by 10 inches. Researchers warned of a possible four-foot rise in sea levels by 2080, if the glaciers continue to melt at their current rate, the scientists said.

That would jeopardize the entire New York City subway system, they warned, putting it at risk of extreme flooding every 10 years. Right now the system is at risk of extreme flooding every 100 years.

New York City has long been reported as at risk for flooding, but yesterday’s report crystallized just how quickly low-lying areas of the city, such as nearly all of Lower Manhattan, could be underwater.

JFK lot parking cars on street

Liu's bundler busted

From the Daily News:

Oliver Pan was snared in a sting operation by an undercover FBI agent posing as a bigwig who wanted to make a $20,000 donation — four times the city limit.

Pan, 46, was caught on tape describing an elaborate scheme to divvy up the cash among 20 “straw donors” who would make $800 contributions in their own name, the feds said.

Plans were made for the fatcat to meet Liu at a small event with some of the straw donors and give a campaign staffer a sheaf of their bogus contribution forms, court papers said.

“Here’s the thing,” Pan told the undercover during a recorded Aug. 15 phone conversation.

“Only [the candidate] knows it’s your event.”

Liu, a 2013 mayoral contender who has already raised a million bucks, was not named in the complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court.

But law enforcement sources identified him as the “candidate” repeatedly mentioned, but not accused of any crimes, in the court papers.

Pan, who lives in New Jersey, told the undercover agent that he had used straw-donor schemes to pump up Liu’s coffers in the past, prosecutors said.

The alleged fraud had a two-fold effect: It let the campaign collect more than the legal limit from a single donor and it could have entitled Liu to extra matching funds from the city.

From the Daily News:

Forget becoming New York’s first Asian-American mayor.

The real question that had the city’s political world buzzing Wednesday is whether city Controller John Liu can get reelected to the job he has — or even keep his hide out of prison.

“It’s not likely he’ll be elected mayor in 2012 and not likely that voters will reelect him to be controller, the city’s chief auditor,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime political consultant. “The person who’s supposed to protect the city from fraud can’t be under investigation for fraud.”

Liu’s political fortunes were skewered Wednesday when a campaign fund-raiser working on his 2013 mayoral bid was arrested for chopping up an illegal $16,000 campaign contribution to make it look like it came from 20 different people.

Documents from Manhattan federal prosecutors show that Liu personally glad-handed the deep-pocketed donor — who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent — and that top campaign aides seemed to have knowledge of what the dubious fund-raiser was up to.

National Grid better get on that

From NY1:

A huge hole in Ozone Park, Queens has sat uncovered for over a month after a gas main was replaced by National Grid, leaving the neighborhood on edge.

“Biggest concern is really the safety of them having this opened up. We have a school down the block, kids are constantly on this route, and you know kids are curious, so they're constantly looking in,” says resident Hardat Singh.

“I've seen kids actually jumping across, like daring each other,” says resident Zoey del Rio.

Anyone could easily fall into the hole, which is why residents say National Grid should cover it with metal plates at the very least.

Joe Bruno to be retried

From the NY Post:

The federal government intends to re-try former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno on government corruption charges after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled today that it can.

The appeals court earlier today overturned Bruno's conviction on charges he deprived taxpayers of "honest services."

But the court found the federal government presented sufficient evidence in its initial prosecution to retry the upstate Republican on the two charges on which he had originally been convicted and a third that resulted in a hung jury.

Bruno, 82, who led the Senate from 1995 to 2008, had been charged with eight counts.

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian and Special-Agent-in-Charge Clifford C. Holly of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced their offices "will work expeditiously to present a superseding indictment."

Sad ending for a cute house

Cute house, no? Well, we can't be saving and preserving things that look nice.

To see what happened to it over time, click here.

As Pardon Me for Asking points out:

How terribly ironic that the empty lot is now selling for less than the original house sold for in 2007. Had the owner just left it standing, it would have been worth a lot more. And a cute historical house would have been preserved in the neighborhood.

Funny business at Vito's not-for-profit

From the Daily News:

The report by the city Department of Investigation details several alleged misdeeds by Christiana Fisher, Lopez’s campaign treasurer and director of the non-profit he founded, the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Center.

The DOI report also says Fisher approved raises for Angela Battaglia (pictured at right), a Ridgewood exec who’s also Lopez’s girlfriend and a sitting member of the City Planning Commission. Battaglia’s salary jumped 73% in one year to $343,000 with Fisher’s approval.

The dubious salary hikes and other corruption allegations at Ridgewood Bushwick are the focus of ongoing probes by several law enforcement agencies, including federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The new allegations surfaced in a Nov. 9 DOI report obtained by the Daily News under the Freedom of Information Law.

DOI released an earlier report alleging unaccounted-for spending at the non-profit Lopez founded years ago, which gets public funds to bring social services and housing to seniors across northern Brooklyn.

Lopez says he no longer has any connection to the group, although he’s steered hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to it through legislative “member items” for years. And as boss of the Brooklyn Democratic party, he holds sway over numerous politicians who have also steered public money to the charity.

Rest in peace, Patricia Dolan

From the Queens Chronicle:

Patricia Dolan, president of the Queens Civic Congress, was struck and killed by a car on Hillside Avenue near 198th Street in Hollis at about 7:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

Dolan, 72, was on her way to a Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting at the time. She was struck by a Nissan sedan that was traveling eastbound and was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The motorist remained at the scene.

Life's a beach

From the NY Times:

The New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force has held an annual conference here for 24 years, attracting lawmakers, lobbyists and labor leaders with 85-degree weather, pristine beaches, and unparalleled networking opportunities.

Officially a chance to discuss issues of concern to Puerto Rican and Hispanic voters, the conference, known as Somos el Futuro, is unofficially a giant schmooze-fest, a place to foster relationships and broker deals by the pool, on the beach or in the casino.

Some longtime conference participants were having none of it. On Saturday afternoon, three members of the Vallone clan — Peter J. Vallone Sr., a former City Council speaker, and two of his sons, Peter Jr., a current councilman, and Paul — were all on the beach, shirtless and bronzed.

The younger Peter Vallone, another possible contender for Queens borough president, was unapologetic about his decision not to attend any of the conference’s panels or networking events; he was treating the weekend as a vacation, with the bonus of being able to run into people on the beach whom he needed to talk to.

“I decided long ago that I wasn’t doing the lecture thing,” he said, adding that he had told colleagues, “ ‘I’ll be on the beach — you can find me there, with a piña colada.’”

Spoken like a true Queens Borough President contender. Interesting how this guy is worried about fluoride in the water but not skin cancer which can actually kill you...

Jackson Heights schoolyards become parks

From the Daily News:

A congested community in western Queens that fought long and hard for more parks is about to get a little more open space.

The city is transforming two Jackson Heights schoolyards into student-designed playgrounds that will be open to the public after school and on weekends.

Community leaders were also optimistic that the city will soon hammer out a deal to buy land from a nearby private school to expand Travers Park.

“These are good things for the neighborhood,” said City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights). “Our community needs as much green space as possible.”

Construction on the schoolyard at Intermediate School 145 began last month. When it is finished by summer, it will include basketball courts, play equipment and a game table area.

The playground at Public School 69 is to be completed by the spring, according to the city Parks Department.

The renovated play areas are part of the city’s Schoolyards to Playgrounds program, which has so far opened up almost 200 of the 290 designated spaces citywide.

Interesting how Dromm didn't push one park project at the expense of another like another council member has...

More incentives needed for solar panels

From Metro:

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vow to install more solar panels on rooftops, outlined in his PlaNYC, the number of panels in the Big Apple compose only 3 percent of the nation’s total, according to testimony.

Councilman James Gennaro said New York needs to speed up adding solar panels to building tops, especially since the city is “the rooftop capital of the state,” he said.

But creating solar energy can be expensive — a city Department of Buildings spokesman testified that outfitting a regular brownstone with panels might cost as much as $50,000 for the labor and permits required.

The city provides a rebate to reimburse 20 percent of the installation fee, but council members said more incentives would help ease the expense for New Yorkers.

The joke vote

From the NY Post:

Suppose they gave an election and almost no one came?

That’s what happened last Tuesday, when a mere 150,000 of the city’s 4.2 million registered voters went to the polls.

Many candidates ran unopposed. The only real contest was on Staten Island, where Republican DA Dan Donovan trounced a Democratic challenger with 70 percent of the vote. Bronx DA Robert Johnson was alone on the ballot. So were half a dozen judges in Manhattan.

That didn’t stop the Board of Elections from staging a full-fledged election, opening all 6,109 election districts in 1,363 polling sites, manned by nearly 25,000 workers.

The estimated cost: $17 million.

Amazingly, the board requested millions more from the city, including $8 million to boost the $200-a-day salaries of the poll workers and $3.5 million for extra staffers. City Hall, which is at war with the board over its finances, quickly rejected the request.

By law, the board has to open every polling site on Election Day. But it has the discretion to consolidate election districts.