MTA budgets just like Bloomberg & Council

From the NY Post:

Straphangers could face even larger subway fare hikes than already planned because of a potential $100 million hole in the MTA’s budget.

The looming crisis is the result of 64 of the agency’s 65 employee unions operating without a contract, a rare occurrence that could blow the agency’s already fragile budget apart and force even bigger fare hikes than the ones set for March.

The unions, which represent more than 57,000 full- and part-time employees, are in various phases of negotiations regarding pay and benefits with the agency — and insiders are wondering if the next round of fare hikes will be enough to cover the eventual contracts.

The MTA’s 2013 budget assumes that its workers receive zero pay raises — an assumption that its union leaders have already rejected.

That budget also relies on fare and toll hikes to rake in $450 million for the upcoming year — a gap that would be significantly widened if the MTA had to pay out significant raises.

Soccer stadium & CitiField mall not popular w/residents

From NBC:

Hundreds of neighbors turned out for a town hall meeting in Corona Monday to voice concerns over redevelopment plans for Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Neighbors are worried that the potential plan to build a soccer stadium in the park -- as well as another plan to replace and expand the facility for the United States Tennis Association -- would take away public park land.

Crap on the basement floor...

From DNA Info:

When Simon Gouldstone moved into his new house on 68th Avenue and Juno Street in July, he had big plans for his basement, where he was going to build a music studio.

One month after he and his wife, Ashlee, moved into their new home, a rainstorm changed everything. The storm, which caused massive flooding in Forest Hills and shut down area highways, caused the Gouldstone's sewer system to overflow, sending sewage up through their basement toilet, sink and shower and flooding the basement in 10 inches of flith.

"It's not what you expect during your first month of homeownership," said Gouldstone, who lost his wedding albums in the flood and will have to spend over $5,000 on repairs.

Gouldstone's house was not the only one to suffer sewage backup. Several homes along 68th Avenue flooded during two powerful storms in July, and as a result the residents, who fear flooding will only continue as the area's rainstorms intensify, are demanding the city take action to prevent further damage.

"For this to happen repeatedly, it's a health hazard," said Rochelle Goren, 72, who lives down the street from Gouldstone. Goren said that the city promised action after the area flooded during strong storms five years ago, but nothing has been done.

The DEP has taken steps to alleviate flooding in Forest Hills, installing new sewer systems in several parts of the neighborhood.

However, 68th Avenue was not included in the renovations, and Goren wants the city to make fixing their sewers a priority.

It's happening in Glendale, too.

But it can't be all the overdevelopment...

BOE still in the dark ages

From the Daily News:

There was an experiment Thursday night to determine whether the Board of Elections was ready to join the 21st century computer age. Of course it wasn’t.

When the polls closed that evening, the board counted the votes from the primary election two ways: by its much-ridiculed system of tallying by hand, and by uploading returns from memory sticks inside the electronic vote-scanning machines.

Unbelievably, poll workers got the job done faster by printing out the results on long strips of paper, cutting the strips by election district, writing down totals by district, adding up all the totals and delivering them to a police station for manual entry into a computer.

Virtually everyone had assumed that the board would electronically zap accurate vote counts out to the world quickly. Uh-uh. Like everything else the board does, its digital processing was a cumbersome, convoluted mess.

Should we want higher taxes?

Andrew Hevesi/Marcia Bystryn op-ed From the Daily News:

State Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cozzens’ recent ruling that the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax was unconstitutional is a dangerous decision that cannot be allowed to stand.

This tax — sometimes known as the payroll tax — was enacted by the Legislature in 2009 for the 12 counties in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority region to close a $1.8 billion dollar operating budget shortfall. We are pleased that Gov. Cuomo and the MTA have decided to appeal this decision, and by doing so have shown that they understand the gravity of this potential loss for all New Yorkers. Their efforts, which we fully support, must be successful.

While we understand that this particular tax is imposed on small and large businesses in the midst of an extremely difficult economic cycle and can appreciate why there are some who were glad to see the judge’s ruling, the unfortunate reality is that the potential loss of this revenue stream will lead our system into massive disrepair and significantly decrease service.

There are only three potential outcomes if the payroll tax is eliminated: Steep fare hikes, deep service cuts with dirtier trains and less maintenance and the elimination of desperately needed upgrades that are in the MTA’s current capital construction plan. None of these scenarios are acceptable.

Maybe instead, Andy and his pals in Albany should stop looting the MTA's funding for tweeding projects.

NYPD still fudging stats

From the NY Times:

On a Friday night two years ago, a 17-year-old fired a pistol at a group of young men on the street near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; two were struck in the leg.

Nearby, Amanda Dominguez, 14, and her older half-sister, Jazmin Rodriguez, were chatting away when the shots rang out. Each suddenly felt a sharp sting.

Jazmin looked down at a hole in her cargo shorts and saw blood. She picked a sliver of metal from her wound, but dropped it, she would later recall. Her sister, Amanda, felt a burn along her shoulder, which a hospital nurse later told her was a graze wound, she said.

But the New York Police Department concluded that both women had merely received scrapes while fleeing the shooting, and did not count them as crime victims.

In recent years, the integrity of the Police Department’s crime statistics has been questioned as accounts emerge by officers who say they are being pressured by their bosses to reduce the number of felony incidents reported.

The issue is particularly sensitive for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, who have overseen a significant decline in serious felony crimes throughout their tenure.

Why was someone like this walking around in public?

From the Village Voice:

One would think that one arrest is a petty mistake; two arrests, you're pushing your luck; three arrests, you might want to reconsider your lifestyle. But 45 arrests is a whole other story. And, for 43-year-old Thien Dinh, that's the kind of record he was working when he was arraigned this morning for intentionally setting about 13 fires ablaze in Queens County over a five month span.

The accused suspect was charged on Friday with the crimes of arson, reckless endangerment and burglary. In the past, Dinh's 45 arrests included burglary, property damage and Lord knows what else. The Associated Press reported that it's "unclear whether or not he has an attorney" and the phone at his place in the Bronx doesn't work.

But, regardless, his 45 prior arrests will probably make his need for an attorney pretty pointless.

Not hiding much

Wow, that's a great camouflage job. I can't believe there are cell towers behind those walls at 23-31 29th Street in Astoria... Completely fooled me.

Vito's trail of tweeding

From the Daily News:

Years before his political career imploded in a sexual harassment scandal, Brooklyn political boss Vito Lopez amassed power and loyalty by awarding supporters and their families with jobs, titles and with one of the most coveted perks in New York City: cheap housing.

Using his sway in the state Assembly, the Brooklyn Democratic Party and his influence over public agencies like the city Housing Authority, he hooked up friends, allies — and several elected officials.

Among the beneficiaries: City Councilwoman Diana Reyna who started her career in New York politics as a member of Lopez’s Assembly staff.

In 1997, while Reyna was working for Lopez, her sister, Melida Gonzalez, was selected through a lottery to buy a taxpayer-subsidized multi-family home in Bushwick for only $179,000. The house included a nice property tax break that will cut her bill nearly by 50% this year.

Other beneficiaries of Lopez’s power are Councilman Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn) and his father, state Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) who have funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to Ridgewood-Bushwick and received devoted political support from Lopez.

Lopez also combined his power as Democratic Party boss with his control of Ridgewood-Bushwick to help put favored judges on the bench in Brooklyn. One way he does that is through delegates who pick judicial candidates at party conventions. A News review found at least 11 delegates who were also employed by Ridgewood-Bushwick.

Billionaire braggadocio

From the Village Voice:

...Hizzoner announced he expects to see nearly $2 billion cut from his final budget the next fiscal year. That amount comes out to about 3% of the total budget as a whole, meaning that these cuts are going to be deep and their impact on New Yorkers' lives even deeper. And the targets of this setback ring out this message even louder: in a rare occasion, the NYPD will be on the chopping block.

From the NY Magazine:

"I just spent roughly $600 million of my own money to try to stop the scourge of tobacco, and I'm looking for another cause," Bloomberg said, reminding everyone that he can literally burying people under his piles of money.

So why don't you fix what you messed up by betting all our money on taxi medallion sales that won't be happening, and donate your billions to the city instead of stopping people in Uganda from smoking and eating trans fats?

By the way, there's plenty of city money to gIve raises to Bloomberg's staffers...

Too much free time on their hands?

From the Daily News:

The City Council just keeps churning out legislative solutions to problems that don’t exist but make for good press releases.

Queens Councilman Peter Vallone would make it a misdemeanor for anyone convicted of abusing an animal to buy a new pet.

Although there is no evidence of this ever happening, Vallone would make the Health Department distribute lists of convicted dog kickers and cat beaters to pet stores, shelters and breeders. Sellers would have to check buyers’ identification against the list. Cruel purchasers could be fined and jailed for up to a year.

Then there’s Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield, who would order restaurants to post lists of all the foods used in their kitchens that could trigger allergic reactions in patrons.

While people with allergies to ingredients like eggs, nuts, milk, wheat, fish and soy know full well what to avoid or ask about, Greenfield is convinced New Yorkers need protection from unknown perils.

Woodside Avenue house is a mess

From CBS 2:

How would you like to have a neighbor who not only abandons his house, but leaves it for squatters and rats to plague the neighborhood?

Mary Kearney, 67, said she is fed up with the conditions of the house next door to her in Woodside, Queens.

“It’s a nightmare. It’s a nightmare for the past three years it’s been there,” she told CBS 2′s John Slattery on Friday.

Kearney lives on Woodside Avenue next door to a home that was abandoned several years ago. It has since developed into an overgrown yard filled with debris, mosquitoes and rats.

“We had seen rodents in the yard, but we’ve seen mice in our yard,” Kearney said.

Neighbors on the other side are equally concerned about squatters.

“Homeless people go over there and find shelter and stuff,” neighbor Gerald Pasbangi said.

The current owner, who lives in Flushing, was not at home when CBS 2′s Slattery tried to reach him. Three years ago, he boarded up the Woodside house and since then, it’s been cited by the city as an unsafe building and structure.

It's like that because there has been a stop work order on the property since 2008.

Pasta Lovers hotel still not built

Hey, remember 4 years ago when Pasta Lovers revealed that they planned to build a 21-story mixed use residential/community facility/hotel on their parking lot and the neighbors protested? Well, this is what it looks like today:


They have't gotten very far. And they actually got shut down recently.

DiNapoli participated in cover up

From the Daily News:

State Controller Tom DiNapoli’s website declares him “responsible for ensuring that the taxpayers’ money is being used effectively and efficiently to promote the common good.”

How well did he fulfill the mission in the matter of the secret sexual harassment settlement that has embroiled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assemblyman Vito Lopez? Documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Law reveal that:

- Bill Collins, attorney for Silver, discussed the situation with DiNapoli’s chief counsel, Nancy Groenwegen, months before it was finalized.

- Collins emailed Groenwegen multiple drafts of the settlement — including names, dollar amounts and confidentiality clauses — that she says she forwarded to attorneys on her staff.

- One of those lawyers did a legal analysis of the deal and proposed changes that were incorporated in later drafts.

- A copy of the final, signed settlement was delivered to Groenwegen before the controller cut a $103,080 check on June 13.
Nowhere in these documents does anyone express the slightest concern that Lopez’s alleged mistreatment of female employees is being kept secret from the people who are footing the bill.

Welcome to the go-along-to-get-along political culture that spawned DiNapoli, who was a longtime member of the Assembly before his colleagues appointed him controller on the departure of Alan Hevesi.

Brokers want Astoria rezoned

From The Real Deal:

Brokers said that nearly every inch of available land in Astoria has been developed for residential use. The problem for developers, they say, is that there isn’t that much land — at least in desirable locations near the subway — left to buy. Some sources that we talked to argued that the city needs to step in and rezone the area in order to deal with the issue because Astoria is losing buyers to rival neighborhoods.

Not everyone on board with new stadium

From the Wall Street Journal:

An ambitious Bloomberg administration plan to remake a corner of Queens with two professional-league sports arenas and a roughly 1-million-square-foot mall is meeting with unexpected and growing opposition that could stymie the effort.

Although the projects are separate from each other, they are all in or near Flushing Meadows Corona Park and have roiled groups that accuse the city of eroding green space without considering the impact of an influx of traffic and thousands of new spectators and shoppers.

Importantly, the coalition of about a half-dozen groups has the initial support of the local City Council member—who, in the tradition of the council, has almost unilateral power to hold up necessary approvals.

The challenge could stall the projects, which are among Mayor Michael Bloomberg's signature development plans: an 8,000-seat U.S. Tennis Association stadium, a possible 25,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium—both in the park—and the mall on a gritty swath near Citi Field, across from the park.

More likely, it could force new concessions from developers as the groups push the City Council to look at the fallout of all three projects combined when voting on approvals for them individually.

People hatin' on Asians lately

From DNA Info:

A Fresh Meadows Hooters staffer resigned after using an anti-Asian slur to refer to a Korean-American customer on a take-out order receipt, humiliating the victim and his girlfriend, according to a new lawsuit and the restaurant.

Kisuk Cha, of Philadelphia, and 27-year-old Dayoung Choi, who he was visiting and is also of Korean descent, went to the Hooters at 61-09 190th St. to place an order of Buffalo shrimp and 10-piece chicken wings on July 1.

While they waited, they noticed that "several other employees were gawking and giggling at them," the suit, filed Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court, claims.

When the workers handed over their food, 25-year-old Cha — a recently naturalized citizen — noticed the word "CHINX" all in caps typed on the reciept, "presumably a plural form of what’s widely known as the 'N' word for Asians," according to the court papers.

"I'm happy to be a citizen, but I was so offended," said Cha, who works in information technology. "This isn't what I got my citizenship for — to be treated like this."

Ed McCabe, a lawyer who represents the franchise owners, confirmed that the receipt was printed at the Fresh Meadows eatery. He said human resources interviewed the waitress whose name was on the offending receipt, but she denied entering the word.

However, another young woman who was working that night stepped forward to admit responsibility and resigned immediately.

According to court papers filed by Cha's lawyer, Daniel Baek, Cha didn't confront the server because he was "paralyzed with anguish."

"He could not eat the food he had just bought as his stomach was churning and he could not be sure that someone did not spit in his food," the documents said. "He was so overwhelmed that he just wanted to go to bed to sleep, but was too angry to do so."

And according to the court papers, the Seoul native said that the ordeal continues to "haunt" him.

From the Times Ledger:

Lawmakers denounced racist graffiti left on a Flushing storefront that will house the future Mitchell-Linden branch of the Queens Public Library as well as a van parked nearby belonging to a Chinese newspaper and offered a cash reward to try and help find the perpetrator.

The graffiti, consisting of a racial slur directed at Asian Americans, was written in white paint on the building at 31-32 Union Street.

The epithet was discovered Sunday afternoon and reported to police Monday, when it was also cleaned.

The same slur was also written on a van belonging to the World Journal, a national Chinese-language newspaper in the country with offices in Whitestone.

EDC is running scared

From Willets Point United:

Crain's Insider is reporting on the efforts of Willets Point United to get a court hearing on the restructuring of EDC after the AG had found it had conducted an illegal lobbying campaign:

City Opposes Soapbox for Willets Foes

"The property owners and tenants battling Willets Point redevelopment are seeking a public hearing on the reorganization of the Economic Development Corp., but EDC says none is required and that if one were held, project foes should not get a soapbox.

The agency wrote to the state Supreme Court that hearings on reorganizations are not customary, and in any case Willets Point United members have "no stake" in the reorganization and "no standing to be heard." A WPU spokesman called that "absurd" because the group's members would be pushed off their land by the project. It was WPU's complaint about EDC's lobbying that led to the agency's seeking to drop its status as a local development corporation."

What Crain's is missing here is that the law requires the hearing, and NO provision in the law allows anyone to waive the hearing. (N-PCL § 907(b).) What also needs to be emphasized is the reason that EDC is running away from scrutiny-it wants to be able to skirt the lobbying prohibition for local development corporations, and it is engaging in a sleight-of-hand to evade the law.

What's troubling here is that apparently the AG who failed to sanction the illegal activity has given the go ahead to this subterfuge - adding insult to injury for those property owners who were harmed - and not made whole-by the criminal scheme and the irresolute law enforcement of Eric Schneiderman.

What this clearly underscores is that local law enforcement has been an abject failure in the pursuit of illegal activity by NYC EDC and its co-conspirators over at the Shulman LDC - highlighting the low regard that property rights holds in this New York environment. Because of that the entire Willets Point, Corona and Flushing communities are being threatened by a giant mall that will finally put some money into the pockets of the Wilpons - something that the Mets have yet to do.

Mayor's ex-secretary now protecting Silver

From the NY Times:

It did not take Stu Loeser long to find a high-profile client.

Mr. Loeser, who stepped down last month after six and a half years as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s press secretary, has been hired by Speaker Sheldon Silver to help navigate a sexual harassment scandal engulfing the State Assembly.

Mr. Loeser will not be paid with government money, though it was not immediately clear whether he would be paid by Mr. Silver’s campaign or from central Assembly Democratic campaign accounts. He will work closely with Mr. Silver’s main political consultant, Jonathan Rosen.

Since leaving the mayor’s office, Mr. Loeser has set up his own media consulting and strategy business. He has long ties to Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat. Mr. Loeser’s wife, Jessica, once ran Mr. Silver’s district office and is now a district leader in Mr. Silver’s Assembly district. Mr. Silver was also a witness at Mr. Loeser’s wedding.

No surprise: Real estate has bought our pols

From The New York World:

Companies associated with luxury real estate mogul Leonard Litwin have funneled more than $900,000 into races for the New York State Senate so far this election cycle — mostly to Republicans, who are fighting this fall to hold on to majority control.

These contributions have come through limited liability companies (LLCs) connected to Litwin’s real estate firm, Glenwood Management. Routing contributions through LLCs allows donors to legally circumvent the state’s $150,000 annual political donation limit for individuals and $5,000 cap for corporations.

All it takes to register a limited liability corporation in New York is a three-question form and $200.

The use of LLCs to evade campaign contribution limits has special significance this election year, in which voters will decide who fills every seat in the state Senate and Assembly. Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated during his 2010 campaign that he would be in favor of limiting donations from LLCs, and in his January State of the State address — which called contribution limits “riddled with loopholes” — vowed to enact campaign finance reform this year.

Cuomo himself has been a beneficiary of the LLC loophole: his 2014 campaign has received a quarter million dollars from the holdings of Leonard Litwin, the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) calculated in July.

In total, more than 20 LLCs associated with Litwin have funneled about $1.8 million to more than 60 state-level candidates, as well a a few local officials and more than a dozen political committees, since the beginning of 2011.