The traveling man

From the Daily News:

Campaign cash gave Queens State Sen. Malcolm Smith a ticket to travel the globe.

Smith drained more than $41,000 from his campaign war chest on airfare, rental cars and hotel stays in more than a dozen cities, the Daily News has learned.

As his cash-strapped Democratic colleagues struggled to boost their campaign war chests, Smith’s donor-funded world tour included stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Montreal, Chicago, Tampa, Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Antonio and Saratoga Springs.

Along the way Smith’s campaign paid for golf at the exclusive Breakers resort in Palm Beach, barbecue at Dick’s Last Resort in San Antonio, accommodations at the Beijing Grand Hotel and a “meeting” at Big Daddys liquors in West Palm Beach, campaign records show.

Closer to home, Smith billed his campaign for hotel stays in Newark, Newburgh and the Crowne Plaza LaGuardia — which is just a few miles from Smith’s district.

“With all that time spent traveling, did he spend any time in Albany?” quipped Dick Dadey of watchdog group Citizens Union.

“His liberal use of campaign funds for travel to far flung locations just shows how bad our campaign finance laws are in New York,” Dadey added.

Sampson should stay off the roads

From the NY Post:

State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson isn’t exactly the guy you want teaching driver’s ed.

The Brooklyn Democrat piled up 23 parking and traffic violations over 30 months on his state cars — before crashing his government-issued Ford Taurus in the predawn hours last Friday, The Post has learned.

Senate records show that Sampson paid $1,820 in all to New York City and Albany for six red-light violations, a half-dozen no-parking or no-standing infractions, five bus-lane violations, three parking-meter violations and three instances of being caught with his registration sticker missing.

Queens men charged with cigarette trafficking

From Bayside Patch:

A Bayside man was among five Queens residents arrested Friday in an illegal untaxed cigarettes trafficking bust, the Nassau County district attorney said.

Fei Yin, 24, of Bayside, was charged Friday with evasion of cigarette and tobacco product tax, Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice said. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.

Three men from Flushing - Maerong Gao, 57, Wai Ming Lui, 46, and Sauha Candy Lam, 35 - and another from Elmhurst - Duan Jun Zhang - were also arrested, the DA said.

The bust took place following a year-long illegal trafficking investigation and resulted in the seizure of more than 100 cases of cigarettes and $958,000.

Council bails out High Line charity - again

From DNA Info:

The High Line is set to get a whopping $5 million in extra cash from the city — more than almost any other park — even as it reported pulling in $85 million in private funds and established a lucrative concessions deal, city records show.

The High Line cash, appropriated by the City Council as part of the 2013 budget's capital expenditures, will be paid to the Friends of the High Line for use building the estimated $90 million construction on its third section.

The move has some park advocates questioning why the city is set to spend on the High Line such a large part of its $105 million, 2013 appropriations for 142 park projects — when the taxpayer money could go to other city parks that have greater infrastructure needs and fewer wealthy donors.

Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates, called the difference in city allotments to park space discouraging — pointing to several other parks that could use city cash for improvements, including Ferry Point Park in the Bronx and Highbridge Park in Washington Heights.

"When you consider the dramatic needs of other parks that need a tremendous amount of help, the disparity is unbelievable," he said.

"The High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park, they’re exciting new additions to the parks system," Croft said. "But clearly that money could be used to take care of longstanding needs in other, poorer communities. But it’s not a priority."

Let's recall that Friends of the High Line was supposed to raise the money for their tourist playground-in-the-sky PRIVATELY. But they failed, so Christine Quinn saw to it that they got bailed out. Again. Meanwhile, parks in Queens look like crap or won't get built because "we have no money."

Douglaston civic wants new park

From Douglaston Patch:

The Doug Bay Manor Civic Association will discuss converting a local site into a park and improving the community’s business district during a meeting on July 26.

Topics at the meeting will include working with the Douglaston Local Development Corporation to improve the local business district and an ongoing project to turn a piece of land at the corner of 39th Avenue and 234th Street into a park.

Tom Pinto, the group’s president, said original plans for the site included a building and, later, a parking lot.

Now, the civic wants the locale to be turned into a park with benches for senior citizens and a path.

“We thought with the mayor’s green streets program, this would be perfect,” Pinto said. “But the city has never picked up on it.”

Johnny pays his lawyers

From the Daily News:

Embattled city Controller John Liu spent a jaw-dropping $341,000 on campaign expenses over the past six months — most of it for ballooning legal bills.

The mayoral hopeful, whose campaign fund-raising practices are under federal investigation, spent about $200,000 for lawyers and litigation consulting, chipping away at his roughly $2 million war chest, records released Monday show.

BSA approves Staten Island "Skinny House"

From SI Live:

When neighborhood residents saw the construction fence erected earlier this month on the narrow and long vacant lot at the corner of Decker and Orange avenues, it finally sunk in that a developer was serious about building a controversial two-story house that the city's Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) approved last September, over adamant objections of the local civic association and Community Board 1.

On Monday morning, two hand-printed signs had been placed over the developer's signage on the Orange Avenue side of the fence, accusing the BSA of "ruining neighborhoods one lot at a time."

"The BSA had a legal right to make the decision, but I'm opposed to what they did," Borough President James Molinaro said. "I'm opposed to using that land (for residential development)."

When the city sold the vacant parcel, it did not necessarily sell it "for the purpose of building a house on it," he said.

"I understand people's concerns," Siegel, president of Staten Island-based Cee-Jay Real Estate Development Corp., which owns and will build on the one-family home on the lot, said.

"I'm a developer. I don't make the rules or the regulations. I just try to abide by them," he said, describing his quest for zoning variances from the BSA as a "costly, arduous, and time-consuming process."

Abiding by the rules and regulations would mean respecting the existing zoning and not applying for a variance, sir. You created your own hardship and the city bailed you out. This needs to stop.

Special ed school ripped off taxpayers

From DNA Info:

An audit found that a couple running a Flushing special needs pre-school bilked the state out of nearly $1.5 million over the years, which they used on their cars, kids’ furniture and even mortgage payments, authorities said.

A state comptroller's office probe of Bilingual SEIT and Preschool’s books, which has branches in Flushing and Elmhurst, found that the school's billings to the state had skyrocketed over the last decade—spiking from $808,935 in 2002-'03 to $15 million in the 2010-'11 school year, The New York Times first reported.

Bilingual SEIT and Preschool runs programs to help kids aged 3- to 5-years-old with disabilities, teaching them communication and motor skills, the company website said.

Teachers employed by the company would give the kids one-on-one lessons at home or at the pre-school.

Companies can bill the state for up to $122 per hour per child for these services-an amount that is reimbursed, whose costs are split by the state and local governments, authorities said.

But auditors found that the company was overcharging the program and noticed that the school's honchos paid themselves hefty salaries. Executive Director Cheon Park overpaid his wife Hyun Ham, who worked as a payroll clerk in the office, more than a $100,000 over a decade, according to officials.

Not just that, they also allegedly avoided paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes, by working as “independent contractors,” and even billed the interest payments on their mortgages to the state.

Someone at Breezy Point pilfered plover eggs

From DNA Info:

Cops are on the hunt for the bird-brained bandit who swiped all of the eggs from two piping plover nests in Breezy Point, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area where the endangered animals live.

Authorities are hunting for an individual who went up to the two nests on the night of July 3rd, ripped off the wire netting protecting them and swiped the eggs inside, U.S. Park police said.

They believe that one person is responsible because a single set of human footprints was found in the sand.

Piping plovers are considered endangered birds and individuals convicted of violating the law that protects them can be slapped with a hefty fine ranging from $5,000 to $ 250,000 or be tossed behind bars for up to two years, authorities said.

MTA bringing back Q79

From the Daily News:

Days after the MTA announced plans to expand service in Brooklyn and the Bronx, eastern Queens got some good news of its own on Thursday.

Agency officials said it will partially restore service along the former Q79 bus route by re-routing every other Q36 bus to run along the old Q79 route from Little Neck to Floral Park.

City Councilman Mark Weprin said the restoration is a partial but vital victory in a long-fought battle since the Q79 got the axe in 2010.

But western Queens leaders charge the MTA has once again snubbed their neck of the woods.

State Sen. Michael Gianaris sent a letter to MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota this week requesting that two major transit options in his district be reinstated.

Gianaris called for the restoration of the W train and the QM22 bus, also cut in 2010 because of budget shortfalls.

All lined up and no place to work

From Crains:

Despite continued job gains, the city's unemployment rate jumped to 10% in June, from 9.7% in May, matching its recession peak, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The jobless rate was more than a full percentage point above last June's figure.

An analysis of employment over the past four years by the Fiscal Policy Institute shows that blacks have been hit especially hard. Household employment in the city was down 2.9% for the 12 months through May from four years earlier, but down 13.3% for black men and 8.6% for black women. It was up 8.4% for white women, the analysis showed.

An increase in people who held multiple jobs or were self-employed moving back into payroll employment could also account for some of the disparity. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also pointed to another factor: an expanding workforce. "As fast as New York City is creating jobs, people are entering the labor market even faster, which indicates optimism and confidence in the long-term future of New York City," he said in a statement.

I thought a third term for Mike Bloomberg was supposed to take care of all this. What happened, fiscal genius?

Queens company selling dog fur products

From CBS 2:

The Humane Society is sounding the alarm on what it said is a highly disturbing investigation involving dogs.

The organization found that dog fur is being used in products ordered online, although it’s illegal, and is worried that the cruelty behind the products may be more widespread than anyone knows.

Patrick Kwan of The Humane Society led a two-year investigation into the sale of dog fur. Acting on a tip, the society ordered items online from a Queens company.

Lab analysis confirmed that the fur came from a dog, even though dog-fur use has been outlawed since 2000.

Major Mark Park has major trash

From the Daily News:

It’s been almost 40 years since a bright red sculpture was installed in a small park along Hillside Ave. in Jamaica as a temporary piece of public art.

The piece — known as both “Wingdale” and “Untitled,” by sculptor Roger Bolomey — has been there ever since. Its bright red has turned slightly orange as city workers covered up graffiti and the ravages of time.

The abstract steel sculpture got a top-to-bottom facelift last week as part of the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program, a public-private partnership.

The temporary base, held down by sandbags, was removed and a new concrete base poured, allowing the bottom half of the sculpture to be viewed for the first time since it came to Major John Mark Park on Hillside Ave. and 173rd St. in 1973.

So this ugly thing is worthy of restoration, but Civic Virtue isn't? Meanwhile, here's Joe Moretti's take:

"Today I read in the Daily News how the sculpture “Wingdale” by Roger Bolomey is getting a makeover in Major Mark Park. Not one of my favorite pieces of art, but at least there is art in that park. Now, if only the entire park got a garbage makeover. I am sure Major John W. Mark would be rolling over in his grave if he could see the park that was named in his honor. Every time I walk through that park there is always a ton of garbage all over it and tonight (July 17th) was no exception. It was in the worst condition that I have seen it - and I have seen it bad - although my photos just do not do it justice since it was so widespread.

Of course, the park was filled with the kinds of people who more than likely created all this garbage, and they sat all around this crap and their kids played in this crap and more than likely added more crap throughout the night. And let's not forget the homeless who have made the park their home and personal toilet. This is all very reminiscent of Tompkins Square, circa 1985.

Again, another example of some of the fine people living in Jamaica who have destroyed this park (along with many other parts of Jamaica) and the politicians and leaders who are just not addressing this or finding solutions to this 'major' problem, no pun intended.

There is something very ironic about a park named after a US Army major who sacrificed his life for our country so that the new class of the bottom of the rung immigrants here in Jamaica can turn it into a piece of shit. Now, I say immigrants because as I walked through the park there was no sight of an African-American or a Caucasian anywhere and English was not the majority of the language spoken - nor was it the minority - hell, it was not even in existence. So when the powers to be decide to put some NO LITTERING signs in this park, they might want to think about putting them in some other languages as well (Urdu, Arabic or Spanish). No judgment calls here (I come from a family of immigrants, some who never learned the English language), but just good old-fashioned observations.

Now, Roy Wilkins Parks tends to be very clean as does Cunningham Park and even Captain Tilly Park, but somehow Major Mark Park always has garbage morning, afternoon and night. Even King Manor Park tends to be cleaner, some of the time.

Just calling it like it is, since most of you would not or could not do that, but maybe you at least can make an attempt to clean this park up and let Major John W. Mark have his dignity back."

Joe Moretti

All Hail, Julius Bloomberg!

From NY Civic:

He is scrupulously honest, of course. He never takes a dime. But while he does good, he has many powerful and rich friends who do well under City policies. He uses his wealth with no more caution than Julius Caesar used his armies. He gets done what needs to get done, using money. When it was necessary to have “popular” support for his term-limits repeal in 2009, the word was passed to certain churches that receive Michael Bloomberg’s personal philanthropy, and their parishioners showed up at City Hall to support the arcane law change.

Michael Bloomberg seems to consider the United States Bill of Rights as an unwanted intrusion upon his power. The First Amendment right to assemble, and the Fourth Amendment right to be secure in one’s possessions are annoyances to him, not jewels in our crown of freedom. The relationship between the New York Police Department and many parts of our population is going downhill fast.

Bloomberg’s leadership of the New York public schools has been a disaster. The details of the chaos will need a whole column, or maybe a book. But suffice to say that the Mayor who once boasted loudly of how he was going to straighten out the city’s schools is now urging parents to take their children out of the very schools that he himself runs and put them in charter schools. Is that not abject surrender? Is it anything else?

His creation of the “High Line” park, his street closings, his promotion of bicycles, his anti-smoking measures all have the tone of a modern day reformer. But they are really distractions from the city’s real problems – crime, injustice, class polarization, lack of low-income housing, rock bound poverty, etc. These all go on, yet there seems to be no relief from his good advice.

Howard tries to help Jamaica garbage situation

Grant money used to shill for major Queens venues

From the Queens Courier:

Now you can experience the “Real Culture/Authentic Flavor” of Queens.

Local officials, along with the Queens Tourism Council, launched the first ever “Real Culture/Authentic Flavor” summer promotion program, designed to highlight Queens activities and attractions for locals and tourists.

“There’s a lot to do here in America’s most diverse county,” said Borough President Helen Marshall. “This program will highlight dozens of events and attractions here in Queens, and tell visitors how to get discounts.”

Through a grant from the NYC & Company Foundation, the Tourism Council is providing special offers to various venues in Queens through brochures, websites and even Facebook. The main focus is bringing people into the restaurants and entertainment centers in the borough such as Citi Field, the US Open and Resorts World Casino New York City.

Citifield, the US Open and Resorts World are "the real culture/authentic flavor of Queens?"

If anyone can afford their own advertising, it's the above named establishments. Why is QTC wasting grant money shilling for them?

Dead woman signs petition of Stavisky & Iannece

From the Times Ledger:

A candidate for the state Senate seat based in Flushing has charged that his opponent, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), got onto the ballot with forged signatures, including one of a dead woman.

John Messer, an Oakland Gardens business owner and lawyer, released an affidavit signed by Jesus Palomino, saying that his mother Ana Rita Palomino could not have signed a designating petition for a slew of Democratic candidates, including Stavisky, this summer.

His mother died in February 2011.

“The petition signature shown to me that designates Toby Stavisky for the office of state senator and submitted to the Board of Elections could not have been that of my mother,” the notarized affidavit said.

Little Bay Park crapper bids due

From Bayside Patch:

The city's Department of Parks and Recreation has begun the bidding process for the construction of a comfort station at Little Bay Park for which Bayside leaders have been calling for seven years, state Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, said.

The agency will pick and vet the winning bidder and construction is expected to begin by the end of the year, the senator said.

The senator secured $1 million for the project four years ago when he was a member of the City Council. U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Bayside, also brought in funding for the project, which also involved expanding a parking lot at the park.

The Bay Terrace Community Alliance and Avella held a press conference last year during which they called on the city to get the project underway.

Quinn got paid by Related

From the NY Post:

Mayoral hopeful and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn took in more than $17,000 in campaign donations connected to Hudson Yards developer Related Cos. since the start of 2012, according to newly released campaign-finance reports.

During the same six-month period, Quinn privately negotiated a deal that gave the firm a break from the recently passed law that raises to $10 an hour the pay for lower-income employees who work for companies that receive major subsidies from City Hall.

Quinn denied any quid pro quo in the exemption.

Fat Boy kidnapped; not coming back

From the Daily News:

The city has hatched a secret plan to move a controversial, crumbling public statue out of Queens and into Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the Daily News has learned.

The Triumph of Civic Virtue, which sits near Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, has been both hailed as a priceless piece of public art worthy of restoration and derided as a sexist eyesore that should be trashed.

The city is mulling plans to replace the statue with a plaza dedicated to famous women from Queens.

Classic work of art to be replaced by a monument to tweeding. Only in Queens.