Floating sidewalks in Flushing

"North Flushing's Memorial Fields' sidewalk is like a haunted house' floating walking bridge.

On a 3 block stretch of 149 Street between Bayside Avenue and 26 Avenue there are 7 or 8 sections of the park's sidewalk that is so uneven it looks like a haunted house floating, moving walking bridge exhibit. I'm surprised DOT has not done anything about this in all these yrs, and haven't had anyone getting hurt and suing the city. In addition, uncaring dog owners don't curb their dogs nor do they clean up after their dogs does its business there by the park or on my front lawn just 2 blocks away." - Frustrated in Flushing

I'm sorry, but Parks is more concerned with giving away pieces of land to big businesses and turning diving pools into $4.5M theaters with no bathrooms. And DOT is busy catering to the miniscule percentage of NYers that bike. Sidewalks for pedestrians, which 100% of NYers are, will have to wait.

23 acres of prime real estate for $1!

Once upon a time, there was a billionaire that took control of a city. Everyone did whatever he wanted and did not challenge him. He used lots and lots of taxpayer money to buy up land across the street from a stadium run by his fellow billionaire buddies. Then he sold it to them for $1. He also gave them $100M in taxpayer-funded city grants to build a mall. Even though one of his deputy mayors promised that the stadium owner would pay for the total cost of remediation of the land - that, if truly contaminated, hurts no one because no one lives there (save for a man that lived more than 80 years of his life there) - he put a cap on how much remediation cost the stadium owner would be required to pay at a fraction of the expected total.

Now lots of people work there, so to help his minions in the legislative body save face, the billionaire made his buddies promise to build affordable housing. But, the affordable housing has to wait for highway ramps to be built by the taxpayers more than a decade from now, even though the stadium owners can build them themselves in a shorter timeframe. Oh, but the wording of the contract was changed to make sure they don't really have to build housing at all...

Then there's the free parkland they're going to build their mall on.

To make a long story short, after crying over Madoff, the Wilpons are now laughing all the way to the bank at our expense.

How do I know all this? It's in this week's Queens Chronicle. I suggest you read Joe Orovic's excellent expose and then call up your elected officials and ask them if they think the "fool me twice" saying applies here.

Civic Virtue cover up!

Dear Queenscrapper,

In our continual pursuit of the truth behind the circumstances of the removal of Triumph of Civic Virtue, we have received some tangential documentation from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) in response to our FOIL request, but not the information that we actually asked for. Among these documents are the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for services related to preservation of the statue and construction of the armature used for its transport to Green-Wood, in which we have found something quite unusual.

As a former intern with NYC Small Business Services, I had the opportunity to post several dozen RFPs. All of them were posted 3-4 weeks before the submission deadline for interested contractors, and often longer when addenda were involved. On DCAS' own open list of RFPs, this 3-4 week period is also followed. The RFPs related to Triumph of Civic Virtue however, were posted only 7 and 8 days prior to the submission deadline. This quick window is bewildering, especially given the intricate nature of the construction work involved. Furthermore, the required time period for public notice of RFPs appears to be set at 20 days by the Procurement Policy Board. DCAS has also not provided any communications pertaining to the removal of the statue that might have occurred with contractors prior to this time, and refuses to provide any of the communications that took place between itself or any other city agencies and Green-Wood cemetery related to the removal, citing attorney-client privilege.

We spoke to attorneys at the Committee on Open Government in Albany regarding this situation, and their assessment is that DCAS does not have the right to deny these records. We are considering what legal course of action to take at this point in order to receive what we have still not received months ago, namely, all records of communication. Some generalist attorneys have already expressed interest in representing us, but we are still looking for counsel with experience in matters of preservation, records access, procurement, or other NYC municipal procedure to examine documents, research the city and state statutes, and determine other help precedent that might better advise city or state legal authorities reviewing our case.

Please read more here:

http://triumphofcivicvirtue.org/2013/03/18/major-updates/

-Jon Torodash

Yes, more Jamaica garbage

You have all heard the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Well that is what the garbage problem is like in Jamaica. Leaders have been doing the same thing over and over again for decades and the problem still persists and is even getting worse. I report, as others do, problem areas to get cleaned-up and turn around and repeat the procedure again and again and again. Nothing changes, the problematic areas pretty much stay the same..............call, clean-up, garbage, call, clean-up, garbage, call, clean-up............well you get the point.

Just the other day I sent some before and after photos of some clean-up that took place after the NY1 four-part series on the Jamaica garbage problem. Here it is only a few days after and already the same thing is happening again with these problematic areas (photos attached). With warmer weather coming up the problem is only going to exacerbate.

In regard to absentee/negligent property owners,this vicious cycle goes around and around and around and something drastic needs to be done and done immediately. Now I do not have any problem with DOS, I call them, they come out and take care of the issue by cleaning up or issuing a violation or both. That is their job and I feel they are doing it. The problem lies with our laws, enforcement and our elected officials who are working with an antiquated system that is no longer working with this extreme problem. Laws need to be changed to increase fines drastically, the fines need to continue on a daily basis up to a certain time frame and after that time frame and the property is not cleaned-up, then a warrant must be issued against the individual.

An individual in my building who had several parking tickets and a time line to pay them did not. One day when he went into his car, he had a boot on it, which he had to pay electronically to be able to use his car. Several years ago, I walked between subway cars at Jamaica station when then train was not moving to get away from a car that had a smelly homeless person in it. I was immediately apprehended by 5 rookie police officers who hounded me with questions, ran my name through the system, gave me literature about subway rules and then gave me a $50 ticket. I could guarantee that if I did not pay that ticket, I would have had a knock on my door.

Yet problematic property owners, who do not take care of their property and have garbage everywhere continue this behavior for years with very little consequences. Their actions affect the quality of life, the health of our community, our property values and the future of Jamaica. On Sunday morning walking around my block I filled up a medium size garbage bag filled with all kind of litter that the low class scum of Jamaica throw down in front of two empty lots on 90th Street between 169th Street and 170th Street. This has been an on-going issue for a couple of years. The owner of the empty lot at the corner of 170th St/90th Avenue has only been out 3 times in 2 years. If I did not pick up bottles, cans, antifreeze containers, small garbage bags of fast food, dirty diapers, dog shit, etc, the place would look like hell and this is all next to my nice co-op building. This is what I have to endure because our elected leaders are dragging their damn feet. But believe me I also know too damn well that the pig individuals who live in our community and visit also share the blame. You can take the pig out of the dirty country but you cannot take the dirty country out of the pig and to make you feel right at home, come to Jamaica, Jamaica Queens that is.

I have heard every damn excuse there is about why this problem is still continuing from, well it is private property or we can not get into the empty lot because it has a fence around it and no entrance, blah blah, blah. Let me know when you cannot get into a lot with a fence around it, I guarantee you the next day there will be a nice opening for someone to go through.

When Senator James Sanders, was a councilman in his district, he and a group of volunteers cleaned-up a notorious abandoned home with mounds of garbage and brought all the garbage bags to the owner, Citi-Bank, on Hillside Avenue and dumped it in their lobby. Here is an elected official with balls, unlike most of our elected officials we have now, who would not even do this, hell they do not even address this problem unless a reporter sticks a camera in their face. So Comrie, Smith, Cook, Wills, Scarborough and Meeks, the next time I have to fill up a garbage bag while walking on my block, how would you feel if I came to your office or your home and just dumped in in front of your place. Well this is what it will be coming to if you do not start acting like leaders and doing something and something immediately about this unbelievable garbage problem.

Now here are the problematic properties that I have been dealing with for 2 years (and some that appeared in the NY1 series) and the same thing just keeps happening over and over again.

1. Empty lot at the corner of 170th St/90th Avenue (169-23 90th Avenue) owned by some low class third world immigrant and the empty lot two doors down on that same block on 90th Ave. Not only do people through garbage over the fence, but garbage is being thrown on a daily basis on the sidewalk surrounding it, especially by people who park their cars and feel it it totally acceptable to thrown their babies dirty diapers onto the sidewalk (can you spell G-H-E-T-T-O).



2. Notorious slum apartment building at 168-07 89th Avenue owned by some low life scum living on Long Island. Always garbage cans without lids all over the sidewalk always filled with loose garbage and overflowing onto the sidewalks. Just the other day it was all cleaned-up and today, it is already starting and their garbage pick-up is not until Thursday, can you imagine what is will look like by then. PHOTO ATTACHED.

3. Empty lot at 170-19 89th Avenue. Always garbage dumped in front of this lot. I have never seen the low class third world immigrant owner ever come to clean this up in 2 years. Again was just cleaned and already, a bag of takeout, a bag of raw chicken, assorted empty liquor bottles and a pack of cigarettes. I guess you would call this Ghetto Outdoor Dining. Who the hell does this and a bag of raw chicken! PHOTO ATTACHED.

4. Run down apartment building directly across from my co-op, address is 89-19 170th Street, 89-17 170th St and 89-15 170th St. Always has overflowing garbage cans with no lids and loose garbage blows all over the place including in front of my building which the maintenance men are complaining about. 89-19 170th Street, also owned by a low class third world immigrant (see a pattern), has no certificate of occupancy (how can that be), several major violations of every kind and had an illegal apartment in the basement, which I called about and which was taken care of. But it would not surprise me if this piece of scum started this back up. PHOTO ATTACHED.

The next two were two places that I saw when I went to take photos of the above problematic area and these two are interesting for different reasons.

1. 168-47 89th Avenue. This is Family Medical Care, which should have the subtitle, low class third world immigrant "doctor" on call. Now this is supposed to be a medical care facility. I would not take a goldfish to this place and before you step into the office you are more than likely to catch some type of bacteria or lockjaw from the garbage containers piled up with no lids and garbage lying around, the security door wide open and all those lovely medical waste container stacked up in front of the entrance. They probably do fax service, passport photos and have a day care center in the basement. This is not the only medical center like this in Jamaica. The majority of doctors, dentists and medical care places are pretty much like this. Uh, remind me what country I am in again and what century. PHOTO ATTACHED.

2. 168-17 89th Avenue. Now the person who lives in this house, is the one who appeared in the NY1 segment with me who told reporter Ruschell Boone and I about the house next to him that had garbage all over in the back and he was getting mice and rats coming into his house from that. Well, it looks like the garbage cans in front of his place, might also be the reason he has mice and rats. No lids, loose garbage and litter on the ground. Can you say Ironic! PHOTO ATTACHED.

Now these are just within a couple of blocks from me and some are on my block. These situations are littered all over Jamaica and our leader keep putting their heads in the sand, or I should say garbage, it is after all Jamaica, the mecca of garbage only behind Calcutta and Pakistan.

This would not be happening if this was an all white/black middle/upper class area. First off no one would tolerate any of this behavior for a minute and second the elected officials would be held accountable to take care of the problem immediately or your asses would be working at the car wash on Hillside Avenue. This type of community would not tolerate any of that ghetto bullshit behavior at all and they would expect, no I take that back, they would DEMAND that the problem be taken care of the day before. They also would have a high standard for their elected officials in their community and would not put in office a bunch of lazy ass, corrupt, do nothings who whine "we are being piled on".

Well pile on this................................................

.......................even President Obama disapproves of you and your sorry ass excuses.

Joe Moretti
Jamaica, NY 11432

2 injured in building collapse

Form DNA Info:

A home that was under construction partially collapsed in Canarsie Friday afternoon, leaving two people hurt, one seriously, the FDNY said.

The collapse occurred at 867 E. 95th St., near Avenue D, just before 3:15 p.m., the FDNY said.

Of the five people who were working on the building, two suffered serious injuries but were expected to survive, FDNY Deputy Chief Stephen Moro said.

The collapse happened when the floor of the building — a three-story, two family home that was under construction — was overloaded with concrete blocks and other materials and then caved in, the Department of Buildings said.

The DOB issued a full stop work order on the site to continue investigating.

Unstable stables

From the Daily News:

A popular urban stable in Queens is being temporarily shuttered after city officials said an “alarming” number of horses died at the site, the Daily News has learned.

Six horses died in the last half of 2012 without “adequate explanation” at the Cedar Lane Stables, a city concession run by the Federation of Black Cowboys, Parks Department inspectors said.

Some horses were malnourished and housed without proper food and bedding, according to documents obtained by The News. One horse named Wyatt tried to eat its bedding of wood shavings in a stall with no water or hay.

The existing concession — a “rough board” arrangement — allows the federation to rent out about 50 stalls to individual horse owners for about $165 a month. But the cowboys are under no obligation to care for those animals.

Some owners who board at the stable hire caretakers to make sure their horses are exercised, groomed and fed. But others do not. Members of the Federation are also boarders at the stables.

New road safety bills passed by State Senate

From Bayside-Douglaston Patch:

The state Senate has passed three pieces of driver safety legislation sponsored by Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, including one that would result in the suspension of licenses for drivers under 18 years of age who commit certain violations.

One bill would prohibit the use of radar and laser blocking devices in all motor vehicles, while another would incorporate standards for low volume road classification into state highway law.

Avella said the bills are vital to the safety of the state’s drivers. Under current law, penalties imposed on inexperienced drivers for failing to abide by restrictions on the hours new drivers can be on the road as well as the number of passengers they can carry are insufficient in deterring vehicle and traffic law violations, the senator said.

Beware of shoddy Rapid Repairs work

From Eyewitness News:

A licensed plumbing inspector says he was fired by Rapid Repairs after confronting his boss about unsafe installation of heating systems.

"I was fixing heating contractors mistakes left and right, things that would get people killed," the whistle blowing plumber said.

In talking to Eyewitness News, he requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

While at Rapid Repairs he documented what he says is shoddy and potentially deadly work such as this faulty boiler flue.

Live next to Lavendar Lake!

From the NY Post:

They’ve gotten the green light — so long as developers of housing along the toxic Gowanus can keep out the bright-green canal water.

The City Planning Commission today OK’d the controversial plan to build 700 rental apartments along the shores of the highly polluted Brooklyn waterway after the developer agreed to a redesign protecting residents from flooding that might be brought on by a future Hurricane Sandy.

The Manhattan-based Lightstone Group is set to break ground later this year on the project along the shores of Bond, Carroll and Second streets after satisfying new floodplains for the next century set up by feds.

Lightstone is pulling the housing back another 17 feet so that 66 ¹/₂ feet will separate the canal from the closest planned building.

Lobby areas would be raised more than two feet so they’re 10.6 feet above the floodplains. Heating, air conditioning and power systems would be moved out of the basements of each building and relocated to upper-floors.

Lightstone’s project would include 560 market-rate and 140 affordable rental units. The firm insists that the decade-long Superfund cleanup won’t affect construction.

But Councilman Brad Lander, who represents the area, said he “still believe[s] it’s a mistake to move forward with” such a densely populated project near the canal.

Ya think?

Does scaffolding law need to be reformed?

From Crain's:

Building owners and developers are gearing up for a major push in Albany to reform New York state's infamous scaffolding law. The law, which dates back to the late 1800s, was once a model of progressive safety standards on construction sites across the nation. More recently, however it has become a huge insurance headache for contractors who blame it for driving insurance rates to such levels that they are actually forcing up construction costs—and in some cases even stalling projects, according to the industry.

"I don't think there's a more important issue facing the development community right now," said Christopher Jaskiewicz, chief operating officer of the Gotham Organization, the fourth-generation real estate development firm.

Mr. Jaskiewicz was an organizer of a panel Tuesday morning before the Greater New York Construction User Council to discuss the issue. Speakers at the event held at Scandinavia House on Park Avenue argued that New York has put itself at an economic disadvantage as the only state with a scaffolding law, known as Section 240 of the state's labor law code. Whereas every other state puts an equal burden on the worker to ensure they are protecting themselves at work, New York places an absolute liability on the developer and contractors.

One example given was that if a worker falls or is injured by faulty scaffolding, the property managers are held liable regardless of unsafe behavior by the worker. Insurers typically make seven-figure settlements rather than risk an even bigger loss in court, but this has driven up the price of doing business. With New York City already the most expensive construction market in the country, developers and contractors are looking for any opportunity to reduce costs.

"We're not saying that workers shouldn't be protected, of course they should be, that's our top priority," said Louis Colletti, president of the Building Trades Employers Association, a contractor group. "We're just saying we want the ability to present evidence in a liability case that can exonerate us if the worker is at fault. Right now, we don't have that."

The labor unions were not represented at the panel, nor were trial attorneys. Both groups are the law's biggest backers. They have argued that if the contractors are doing their job, and the scaffolds and equipment is properly secured, they are free from fear of liability.

Bus Time is coming (but probably not the bus)

From the NY Observer:

Staten Island riders and those in the Bronx have had Bus Time, as the MTA calls its real-time bus tracking tools (and that’s trademarked, so back off, other cities!), since 2012, as have a small handful of routes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

But now, the MTA is announcing, we have dates for the rest of the network. “Bus Time is so helpful to our customers that we have scheduled an extremely aggressive timetable to introduce it to three other boroughs,” wrote Fernando Ferrer, the MTA’s acting (and reluctant) chairman in a press release issued today. Manhattan buses will be getting the technology by the end of the year, according to the release, followed by Brooklyn, and then finally Queens, where it will be completed by April 2014.

End of the line for energy scammer?

From the NY Post:

Underhanded sales practices like signing up customers without telling them and preying on non-English speakers could bar a Florida electricity seller from doing business in New York, state officials said today.

Liberty Power Corp.’s door-to-door sales force promises to lower Con Ed electricity bills by claiming Liberty gets better deals from generating companies.

But Liberty’s salespeople have repeatedly lied to customers by misrepresenting themselves as Con Ed or city employees, the Public Service Commission said.

In one case, a Liberty saleswoman pretended to be a city employee investigating Con Ed overcharges, and asked a customer to sign a “consent form” that was really a contract.

Even though the man didn’t sign the form, Liberty took over his electric bill anyhow, the state says.

In another case cited by the commission, a Con Ed customer complained that even though she had never signed a contract, “all three accounts at her three-family home had been switched to Liberty Power without her consent.”

Public Service Commission probers say Liberty has also presented English-language contracts to non-English speaking customers without offering a translation, a violation of state rules.

Liberty’s “misleading” and “deceptive” sales practices have resulted in more than 200 complaints since 2011, the PSC says.

The commission demanded last year that the company change its ways — but it said today the complaints are still rolling in, and that Liberty’s oversight of its sales force is “inadequate.”

It gave Liberty one week to tell the commission why it shouldn’t be barred from seeking new customers, and two weeks to tell the commission why it should not be booted from New York entirely.

Why did CB3 try to meet in secret about the USTA project?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Community Board 3’s March 13 public hearing featured the expected theatrics of a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure applicant presenting a contentious plan for Flushing Meadows Corona Park: angry statements, slideshow presentations and the odd round of applause.

But there was a second show going on. In the idealistic world of open meetings, laws and light being shone on public documents, CB 3 has been the oddball.

The all-volunteer board has a history of thwarting press attempts for access to documents, and even for taking photos at meetings.

During its vote on the United States Tennis Association’s expansion within the park, Chairwoman Marta Lebreton took to hiding behind a sheet of paper when a camera lens faced her direction.

Fair game. But Lebreton also rebuffed a Chronicle editor who asked to obtain a copy of the motion voted on that evening by the board.

The state Open Meetings Law says all documents discussed at open meetings must be available, though a board can charge a “reasonable” fee for copies.

The board’s attempts to limit public access allegedly go beyond holding back records. Two parks advocates have filed a complaint against the board for allegedly acting unlawfully.

A letter from Robert LoScalzo and Alfredo Centola, addressed to Queens Community Board Director Barry Grodenchik, claims the board did not properly alert the public or press about a committee meeting on the USTA proposal held March 5.



A review of the board’s website shows no record of the meeting.

Geoffrey Croft, the president of NYC Park Advocates, plans to file a complaint later this week.

“If they have a website and it’s easy to post, and they do not, then that would be failure to comply with the law,” said Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government.

The letter goes on to say that a CB 3 staff member told LoScalzo and Centola, “There is not a meeting.” When they followed up, a staff member said “[I’m] not allowed to say anything.”

CB3 Telephone Transcript EXCERPTS

The Open Meetings Law’s provisions on meeting notification are threefold — community boards must give notice of meetings to media outlets, designated public locations and, if possible, put them online.

Additionally, the complaint alleges the board did not give documents to the public and attempted to prevent photography.

LoScalzo and Centola ask in their letter that Lebreton be removed from the board and District Manager Giovanna Reid be formally disciplined.

The letter has been referred to the borough president’s board and a response has been requested from CB 3, Queens borough president spokesman Dan Andrews said.

“We got a seven-page letter alleging certain things. We are doing what we should be doing. We reached out to our legal person. These are allegations,” Andrews said.

The borough president’s board has authority over Lebreton, but not Reid, who is an employee of CB 3.



This is a photo of Barry Grodenchik talking over the situation with Giovanna Reid and Marta Lebreton, who couldn't hide from the camera this time. Barry, you better do something about this. You're currently in charge of community boards and running for borough president, after all, and you don't want potential voters to think you support dishonest practices. We're certainly going to be staying on top of this one.

Remember, folks, the government has the responsibility to let the sunshine in, but since they can't be trusted, it falls on us to make sure they do. Did the CB's marching orders come from Julissa or Barry? We'll get to the bottom of it. Everybody sing!

5 miles to the ferry...

From Forgotten-NY:

I was surprised to see, on an early 2013 jaunt in Flushing, the 5th mile marker of what is now Northern Boulevard beside the front driveway of Kingsland Homestead on 138th Street, the home of the Queens Historical Society. Since I hadn’t visited for awhile, I don’t know how long it’s been there — will have to check during business hours to find out.

By 1916, only three Jackson Avenue (Northern Blvd) mile markers still stood: the 5 mile marker to the 34th Street ferry, at Grinnell Avenue (100th Street); the 3 mile marker near 51st Street (Old Bowery Bay Road); and the 2 mile marker near Steinway Street.

The 5 mile marker survived in place, amazingly, until 1987 when it was removed to the Langston Hughes Queens Library branch in Corona. Now, it is here at the Kingsland Homestead.

Trying to protect Douglaston from bad development

From the Queens Chronicle:

The suggested landmarking of the remainder of Douglaston, five years after it was originally put on the city’s agenda, has re-emerged as a house on the border of the proposed historic district has been slated for alterations.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) was joined in a press conference on Friday by members of various civic associations demanding the Department of Buildings and Landmarks Preservation Commission prevent the home at 38-60 Douglaston Parkway from being transformed into something completely anathema with the calendared historic district that covers the area. Avella fought for the designation of the Douglaston Historic District Extension during his councilmanic tenure.

It was initially calendared in 2008 and has been sitting at the LPC ever since.

The owner, Xu Jun Zhai, has applied and been approved by the DOB to expand the home both vertically and horizontally, including an alteration in the number of stories, according to filings available on the agency’s website.

Paul Graziano, an urban planning consultant, and candidate for the 19th Council District hoping to unseat incumbent Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) in November, helped map out the historic district.
“This house was already moved 150 feet years ago, so that it would not be demolished,” Graziano said. “And now it is under threat of being changed.”

Should the LPC go ahead with landmarking either the single home or entire district, the area’s City Council member would have final say in the decision through home rule, which allows the presiding legislator the leeway to guide the council’s decisions on a particular district.

The proposed work puts Halloran in an ideological bind.

“Here’s my dilemma: I’m a big property rights person,” Halloran said in an interview, later adding, “There’s something to be said of homes that were colonial style or Tudor style and the maintenance of the theme of the neighborhood.

“The last thing I want to do is put ourselves in a box to have something going up that’s completely out of context.”

The proposed historic district runs contrary to the wishes of some of the homeowners within its bounds, and has been opposed by vocal members of the community. Halloran said he wants to abide by the wishes of the majority of homeowners, within reason.

To that end, he’s calling for a meeting of minds with all parties involved: the LPC, preservationists and those opposed to the historic district.
“Maybe we can build a consensus,” he said.

The consensus was already built and that's why the LPC wants to move ahead with designating the historic district. The one holding it up now is YOU, Dan.

New operator for Caffe on the Green

From the Queens Courier:

Patrizia’s of Bayside, the former site of Caffe on the Green and Valentino’s on the Green, has found a new operator, according to Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.

“We are very excited that a new concessionaire will be operating the former Valentino’s on the Green and look forward to the reopening,” said Lewandowski.

The new operator, 123 Restaurant Group is owned by George Makkos and Paul Nicaji. the pair who run the successful Battery Gardens restaurant in Battery Park. Makkos is also the operator of Terrace on the Park, located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Taxpayer-funded Lexus?

From the NY Post:

A Queens nursing-home director billed taxpayer-funded Medicaid for his . . . Lexus!

The 240-bed Elmhurst Care Center overcharged Medicaid by some $1.65 million — including more than $105,000 in expenses for a Lexus used by Executive Director Mark Persaud and another vehicle assigned to the marketing executive, Gov. Cuomo’s Medicaid probers claim.

The six-year audit, conducted by state Office of Medicaid Inspector General James Cox, concluded that expensing the program for the hospital administrator’s luxury vehicle was beyond the pale.

“Costs pertaining to luxury automobiles are not related to patient care. Consequently, disallowances were necessary,” said the OMIG audit, which examined billings from 2000 to 2006.

Elmhurst Care insisted the expenses were aboveboard.

Friday fun time

It's Friday. Spring is finally here and we're heading into a weird political season. Go ahead and caption this photo. Whatever you come up with can't possibly be any scarier than the truth.

As predicted, millstones get damaged at Queens Plaza

From the Daily News:

The western Queens hustle and bustle has taken a chunk out of a relic of old industrial New York City.

Local preservationists were alarmed when they recently noticed a centuries-old millstone — currently displayed in a small pedestrian greenspace near Queens Plaza — had been seriously damaged.

The circular stone is part of a pair in Dutch Kills that date back to as early as the mid-1600s. They were used in water-powered gristmills that converted grains into flour.

“They are not going to last much longer while exposed to the elements,” Bob Singleton, executive director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, told the Daily News on Wednesday.

A group of concerned stakeholders keep a “continuous watch” on the millstones, and quickly noticed the damage to one of them, Singleton said. The millstone had a previous crack in that spot.

His organization is reigniting its years-long push to have them relocated to somewhere indoors, Singleton said.

“You don’t need the precious artifacts to be exposed to uncertainties of urban life,” he said.

The proper location for the two millstones was debated in 2010 while the pedestrian plaza was being erected by the city Economic Development Corp. The two circular relics were excavated from their encasing in a city sidewalk.

“Parks retrieved the section of the millstone that came off and we’re storing it until we can make repairs,” agency spokeswoman Tara Kiernan said in a statement. “There were no signs of vandalism and we suspect the piece might have been part of a former repair. We do not have any plans to move the millstones indoors.”

Further proof that this city is run by a bunch of idiots.

Private students getting public busing

From the Daily News:

State lawmakers are pushing to enhance bus service for yeshivas in a way city officials fear could wind up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of extra dollars, sources said.

A measure that is wrapped into state budget talks and is being promoted heavily by Senate Republicans would require the city to offer busing for all private students in classes taught after 4 p.m. Most of those students attend yeshivas.

The plan also includes a provision that would require city buses transporting after-hour students to drop them off within 600 feet of home, a city source said.

Current regulations require city buses to stop within a half-mile for students in second grade or younger, and within a mile for those between third and sixth grades.

A city memo obtained by the Daily News urges lawmakers to reject the proposal.

Being required to stop within 600 feet of a child’s home, the memo says, “would require twice as many stops as current ... practice, at additional cost.”

City officials are worried that providing a superior service for yeshiva students will lead parents of students at public schools, charter schools and other private schools to clamor for equal treatment, sources said.

The state and city split the cost of busing kids to private schools during the regular school day.

But last year, over the objections of Mayor Bloomberg, the Senate GOP successfully pushed to require city bus service for students at private schools that offer classes until at least 5 p.m.

Thirty schools took advantage — 29 Yeshivas and one charter school — for a total cost increase that was capped at $3 million.