Battle over Manhattan air rights floor price

From Crains:

Religious organizations have joined with developers to oppose the city’s intention to set a minimum price for air rights in midtown east. The air rights would be bought by developers from existing land owners and used to build taller office towers if the city goes through with its plan to rezone the neighborhood.

The city wants to enforce a price floor because it stands to gain as much as 40% of the sale of air rights. It can use the money to improve streets and sidewalks as part of the proposed rezoning of the 78 blocks around Grand Central Terminal. Already there are concerns that allowing building owners to sell their air rights will create a glut that will depress prices. Developers would like to pay as little as possible, but the city wants to make sure it doesn’t allow redevelopment to happen without getting funds for upgrades.

“The floor price is a tool that ensures a minimum contribution will be made to east midtown’s public-realm improvement fund as part of each development-rights transfer,” a spokeswoman for the Department of City Planning said.

But even religious organizations in the neighborhood, such as Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue, oppose the floor. They want to get the highest price they could in order to fund needed repairs to their landmarked buildings. And they support allowing air rights transfers over a larger area to do so—a policy they have long been pushing the city to adopt. But they worry that for small deals or if the market softens, the minimum amount might be higher than the going rate, in which case developers wouldn’t buy. Fewer transactions also would mean less money in the public-improvement fund.

City payroll is bigger than ever

From the NY Times:

New York City is undergoing a rare explosion in city government: More people now work for the city — 287,002 full-time employees as of July — than at any other point in its modern history, with thousands more scheduled to join them.

The projected growth finds few parallels in other major American metropolises; most, like New York, trimmed their numbers after the financial crash of 2008. Some have rehired, though not at the level that New York has under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

But behind all the job growth is a complicated set of factors that explain the possible benefits and costs to the city, the mayor and his supporters. Unions will see new jobs for their members, but the city will see future pension costs rise.

And even if the city fails to fill all its projected job openings, there is a benefit: An unfilled job can be taken off the budget, enabling the de Blasio administration to claim so-called savings from the absence of thousands of workers who were not hired.

Every major agency is growing under Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, but some expansions seem to stand out: His latest budget would have the Sanitation Department’s number of civilian employees increasing by a third since 2014; the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ by 20 percent; and the city information technology department’s by more than 50 percent.

The growth in full-time staffing has worried some budget experts, who fear a lack of fiscal discipline at City Hall, and greater pension obligations down the road.

Banks stands by bait & switch and shitty service provider

From PIX11:

Less than 24 hours after Maspeth residents watched Department of Homeless Services officials covertly move homeless males into the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth, Queens, the commissioner for the agency decided to hold a news conference.

"There are 6,000 New Yorkers currently in commercial hotel rooms that I have been rented on an individualized basis," said Steven Banks at City Hall.

Approximately 30 of those New Yorkers, all working males, are now being housed at the property with Banks admitting his agency did not notify the community until after the men were checked into the hotel --- besides regular paying guests, "We did provide notice yesterday as soon as we went into those rooms."

State senator Tony Avella, the chair of a task force in Albany that focuses on the homeless says Commissioner Banks is manipulating the system calling the move a "bait and switch" in an interview with PIX11 News.

When PIX11 asked Commissioner Banks on Tuesday if he had any concerns about the city doing business with Patel considering his past? Banks offered the following, "We work with Acacia which is a reputable non-for-profit. They identified this site as a site in which services could be provided."

When pushed about DHS providing the contract with Acasia? Banks said, "We are going to keep doing business with Acacia which is a very reputable non-for-profit."

City data we examined on the Mayor's Office of Operations site, showed that in the August shelter scorecard, Acacia had more than 3,700 open violations.

City Hall tries to fool public into thinking that filling a shelter means that Maspeth "won"

From PIX11:

The city has ruled it won't turn the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express into a full homeless shelter because its ardent opposition but locals are still furious homeless men were snuck in without any notification.

"One of the changes I wanted to make was to create a process in which we open shelters and we give the community notification," NYC Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks said during an August 11 community meeting in Maspeth, where tempers flared over the proposed conversation of the Holiday Inn Express off the Long Island Expressway.

On Monday, residents were out on full force again as they have been for nearly every night in the last two months. But this evening was unlike any other as the city quietly moved in 25 homeless men.

Bryan Barnwell, a Democratic nominee for the 30th District, watched the entire process unfold Monday at approximately 2:30 p.m.

"I said to myself this looks kind've fishy so I investigated," Barnwell said. "We go to back entrance and go to the back of property to see what's going on and I see an empty van there with 10 people in it. They were adult males."

Barnwell believes the city snuck homeless men "100 percent."

The Department of Homeless Services responded to the protests in a statement to PIX11.

"Due to local opposition to housing homeless New Yorkers, we have not been able to convert this site into a full shelter at this time. We are renting rooms for employed single adults and providing onsite services and security."

Holiday Inn Express management had no comment in response to the city moving homeless adults into the hotel.
________________________________

Ok folks, lets translate what is going on here. Carefully read the city's quote: "we have not been able to convert this site into a full shelter at this time", and zone in on the phrase "at this time".

This says in a sneaky way that the city has no plans of abandoning its plan to make this entire hotel a shelter. They are starting with 30 individuals, and will build it up slowly until a good portion of the shelter is filled. And not with "adult couples" as was told to the residents of Maspeth, but with single males. Note also how they emphasized that those males will be "employed" but fail to mention the substance abuse problems expected (which their job ads indicate will be something to deal with). Then we'll see a contract submitted for a permanent shelter, and the Holiday Inn sign will come down.

Spinning it to make it seem like the community "won" allows the press to get their clickbait for a day, while confusing readers into thinking this is somehow "over".

It doesn't appear that the good people of Maspeth have fallen for it, however. According to most reports, the protests are set to continue, and several road trips are in the works.

In recent years, we've lived through 5 terms of Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani combined, and over all that time, haven't seen anything like the propaganda and lies put forth in 3 short years under this mayor. It's truly astounding.

De Blasio shuns "unfriendly" press

Mayor picked two outlets - NY1 & NBC - and took only their questions, while other reporters kept at bay by barricades + security #safespace pic.twitter.com/0vIVQhvIgO

— Yoav Gonen (@yoavgonen) October 10, 2016

From the Daily News:

Hizzoner, who has come under fire recently for his attempts to curtail the press, on Monday handpicked two media outlets to take questions from while refusing to address any of the other media covering him at the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan.

De Blasio addressed TV reporters with NBC and NY1, as frustrated journalists from other outlets including the Daily News were forced to watch from behind a police barricade.

Progress Queens has more.

Sunnyside Gardens want SCA to preserve historic garage

From DNA Info:

Plans to build a much-needed middle school on the site of an old garage has drawn the ire of local preservationists who say the structure is too precious to be destroyed.

The city is looking to purchase the privately-owned property at 38-04 48th St., home to a two-story former garage, most recently occupied by a pool hall but now sits empty.

A 600-seat middle school is being proposed for the space, something local parents have been pushing to get for years to accommodate the growing number of children in the neighborhood.

But preservationists say the garage should be saved due to its historical significance. The building was designed by renowned urban planner Clarence Stein, one of two architects responsible for designing Sunnyside Gardens.

Though the building sits just outside the boundaries of the landmark historic district, it was designed as part of the project in the 1920s as a garage for Sunnyside Gardens residents to park their cars, according to architectural historian Barry Lewis.

"He didn't want to eat up the space in the city blocks with garages and driveways," said Lewis, who said the building was designed with features similar to the homes in Sunnyside Gardens, including its red brick.

"You'd be ripping out one of the major components of Clarence Stein's original plan," he said.

Maspeth protest fundraiser nets more than $12,000

Why McMansions are so ugly

From Slate:

What is it that so unnerves us about McMansions? Why are they so ugly, why do we hate them, and why—despite their atrociousness—do builders keep building them? These are the questions that the blog Worst of McMansions (aka McMansion Hell, per its URL) sets out to answer. Authored by an architect who calls herself “Kate,” the Tumblr has been around only since late July but has spread across the web faster than a subdevelopment through a vacant tract of suburbia. The site catalogs the most egregious examples of terrible overbuilt architecture, delivering ridicule to these behemoths—along with a series of McMansions 101 posts, which explain patiently everything that’s wrong with them, architecturally speaking.

The site’s fans seemed to have flocked to it not just for its ability to put words to that uneasy disgust that so many have when facing these gargantuan homes. We’ve always known they were ugly, but until now we didn’t know why, exactly. A normal house, for example, is made up of a “primary mass” (the central architectural shape of the building) and a few key “secondary masses,” building-block shapes that complement and highlight that primary mass. A McMansion, on the other hand, will have so many secondary masses—gables, garages, entryways, and so on—“that the primary mass is reduced to a role of filling in gaps between the secondary masses.” Nor is the McMansion balanced; unlike a Victorian, its individual pieces don’t have equal visual weight. It is often out of scale with its small lot and out of proportion with itself: inconsistent window sizes, dormers, and gables of contrasting style.

What emerges in Kate’s McMansions 101 posts in particular is that nearly all of the sins of McMansions often boil down to the same thing: violations of order, harmony, and symmetry. What makes a normal house successful is a sense of balance, with equally weighted elements and an overall sense of aesthetic cohesion. What makes a McMansion an eyesore is its jumble of eaves, columns, oversized garages, and other compounded fiascos.

Use of homeless hotels has doubled in 2 months

From the NY Post:

The number of homeless housed in hotels by the city has soared 50 percent in just two months – from 3,990 in July to 6,000 this month, The Post has learned.

The surge comes despite a pledge by Mayor de Blasio in February to “utilize hotels less and less and, as quickly as possible, to stop using hotels,” following the murder of a homeless woman and her two kids in a Staten Island hotel.

There were 2,656 homeless people in hotels at the time, with an average room cost of $161 per night.

The growing crisis has led to protests in parts of Queens, where residents have railed against the administration for plunking down homeless hotels with little notice.

There were 59,928 homeless individuals staying in shelters and hotels as of Thursday.

Emails obtained by The Post reveal that the surge in hotel use was predicted by de Blasio lobbying pal James Capalino, who in early 2015 questioned why the administration had enacted a moratorium on new “transitional” apartments for the homeless.

On Jan. 15, 2015 Capalino emailed then-Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli to express concern that the Department of Homeless Services had been “told to suspend development of shelters/transitional residences,” even though he had clients ready to create them.

“Given that residences such as we are proposing are much more appropriate for housing families in transition than hotel rooms, etc., we believe that it makes sense for the city to create a pipeline of these projects (which will take 12-18 months to build) so that as they come on line, the less appropriate units that the city is now using can be ‘shed,’” Capalino wrote.

In response, Barrios-Paoli the moratorium. was temporary.

Neither Barrios-Paoli, who has left the administration, nor Capalino would comment on the exchange.

DHS pulls a fast one on Riverdale residents

From Riverdale Press:

The dozens of homeless men whom the city had promised to relocate from the Van Cortlandt Motel by late September are now gone – only to have been replaced by homeless parents with children, in a reshuffle that prompted an outcry from local residents, politicians and community activists.

Community Board 8 voted unanimously on Sept. 29 to approve a resolution demanding the resignation of city officials it blamed for a “material misrepresentations of facts” – the head of New York’s Department of Homeless Services, Steven Banks, and his deputy Matthew Borden. Several speakers at the meeting accused the officials of having “lied.” The resolution also called for an investigation and for an end to the motel’s use as a homeless shelter.

City officials denied having lied and argued that the arrival of homeless families was prompted by the city’s attempt to find temporary housing for an influx of homeless New Yorkers this summer.

The Van Cortlandt Motel has long been known as a place for assignations and suspected drug use, and linked to violent crimes and theft. It also sits next door to a home for people with mental health problems, the Riverdale Manor, and is just across Broadway from Van Cortlandt Park.

But the main focus of the outrage at the board meeting was the city’s apparent failure to notify the community about placing homeless families at the motel – a charge of surreptitiousness that officials tried to refute, but with little apparent success.

Jamaica hotel without C of O used to house homeless

From DNA Info:

The city placed homeless families at a new hotel on Jamaica Avenue before the building before obtained its Certificate of Occupancy, documents posted on the Department of Building's website indicate.

The Department of Homeless Services confirmed to DNAinfo New York that it is currently renting rooms to house homeless families with children at the brand-new building at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 183rd Street which does not have any logo nor a reception area.

But neighbors, who said they were never informed that the building would be used to house the homeless, said that the city started placing families there before the building was even completed, they said.

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

More than just wrong, TOTALLY ILLEGAL. First, it is illegal for anyone to be in a building that does not have a certificate of occupancy and TOTALLY ILLEGAL to place homeless people in a hotel or any place that does not have a kitchen, yet the city and this awful mayor dumblasio is skirting all kind of legal issues. I am curious, how many of those people are from Jamaica, how many of those people are here in this country legally, how many of these people came from another state recently (NY is a right to shelter state, which is a BIG PROBLEM in itself), how many of these people pose a threat to others and the community due to a history of crime, drug/alcohol/mental healthy issues & violence, which we have seen a pattern of this in the majority of these places.

All this talk and all this money about investing in Jamaica and then more than 5 hotels have already been turned into homeless shelters and more hotels are being built. I was not aware that Jamaica, let alone Queens was a huge tourist attraction (WHICH IT IS NOT) that so many hotels (and small shady ones by shady owners) are being built.

Every time Jamaica attempts to make 1 step forward, the powers that be turn around and take three steps back.

Indeed.

Closure of 2 shelters announced hours after 2nd propaganda video released

Released Thursday evening:

From the Times Ledger yesterday afternoon:

On Friday, several elected officials in Eastern Queens announced that DHS will comply with hotel owner Harshad Patel and no longer use the Bellerose Inn and Quality Inn as housing for homeless families within the next 60 days.

“Now that we have confirmed that the city will comply with his wishes, we have to work towards finding a more permanent solution to help these families,” state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said.

DHS would not say how this would affect its proposed shelter at the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express, which Patel also owns.

Well it would seem that if DHS wanted to respect the wishes of the hotel owner, they would stop pressuring him to make a deal in Maspeth, since he said publicly multiple times that he wasn't interested in turning his Holiday Inn Express into a shelter. Also, if Avella, et al can accomplish this for 2 hotels, why can't Yab-Addabbo and company do it for just one?

De Blasio can't stop talking about Maspeth lately

'From the Queens Tribune:

Many people throughout the city have been outraged by this. In Southeast Queens in particular, the opening of homeless shelters has taken a toll on the community, as they hold 34 percent of the borough’s burden. That outrage has most recently spread to western Queens as Maspeth residents continue to protest shelter proposals there. The mayor addressed the Maspeth protests directly at the Jamaica town hall.

“There is controversy in Maspeth, Queens,” the mayor said. “In our shelter system citywide, there are 250 individuals who come from Maspeth, Queens.” He believes that all communities, “especially one that has not had to shoulder the burden” before, have to step up and participate in helping solve this problem.

The mayor doubled down on his stance, saying that he will continue to encourage the entire city to take on this issue for the greater good, but did want to ease up on bringing those facilities to overburdened communities like Southeast Queens, as was evident in the Maspeth proposal.

“This is what we need to do to put a roof over their heads and to take care of families in every kind of community regardless of race, income,” de Blasio said. “I don’t think the tone of those protests has always been that appropriate,” he said of the Maspeth backlash. “I don’t like that protesters not only protested at the house of our commissioner, Steve Banks, but threatened him and his family as well.” So we will pursue a fair-share strategy, in the sense of going to areas that have not had these kind of facilities before and we will catch hell for it and we will stand our ground and take it because it is an act of fairness.”

From NY1:

Mayor de Blasio defended his administration's efforts to combat homelessness during a wide-ranging and spirited Q&A with reporters today. When asked about community protests over plans to convert a hotel in Maspeth, Queens into a shelter, de Blasio said "If people in Maspeth think they cannot have responsibility for a problem that is their problem, I will happily stare them down. We will put a roof over people's heads."

Wow, tough guy! How does he propose to stare Maspeth folk down when he refuses to set foot there? The only time he's paid a visit was to do a shitty job filling a pothole. And is this really appropriate language coming from the mayor of the city?

DOB has new category of ALT-1 permits?

From the Times Ledger:

Work has been allowed to continue on the land where the Bayside house formerly owned by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis once stood.

A stop work order for 218-15 40th Ave. was issued in July due to the Alt-1 permit being revoked for work that exceeded the scope of the original plans. The violations have been dismissed, according to a Department of Buildings spokesman, and a new Alt-1 permit was issued in mid-August and took effect in mid-September.

It was not clear why the violations were dropped.

Controversy about the house began brewing in April after neighbor Bonnie Skala Kiladitis noticed the renovations to the four-story house taking a turn for the extreme. Within days, the home had been reduced to the first floor.

An Alt-1 permit requires at least 50 percent of the original structure to be retained during the renovation of any home. The DOB, however, reissued an Alt-1 in this case on the basis that the foundations were still intact and because the building plans had been revised and approved for an Alt-1, a DOB spokesman said. He pointed out that it is at the discretion of a plan examiner to determine how much of the original structure needs to remain to call for an Alt-1.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) has kept an eye on the situation with the property and said the DOB informed him the new Alt-1 permit is what is known as a Big Alt-1 and allows renovation to exceed the usual 50 percent required to be retained.

Schneps event interrupted by anti-gentrification protest

From LIC Post:

A Queens-focused real estate conference that took place in Long Island City this morning drew dozens of bankers and brokers—but also several anti-development protesters.

The event, held at Gantry Loft, was organized by QNS and included a number of panelists who were there to discuss the opportunities that are available within the borough’s residential, commercial and industrial real estate market.

The event, which cost $95 a ticket, included speakers such as Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Elizabeth Crowley.

The event was going as planned until one of the speakers was interrupted by the leader of a group called “Queens is Not for Sale.” The group claims that existing residents are being displaced by rapid development.

“We are here today because we represent the people of Queens that the Mayor’s affordable housing plan has left out,” the protester said. “We are domestic workers, fast food workers, taxi drivers, day laborers, seniors, among others.”

“Queens is being billed as the ‘new frontier,’” she said, adding that this ‘new frontier’ has been our home for many years. “This is about displacement.”

The protester was escorted out of the building and was joined by about 30 activists on Borden Avenue who were holding “Queens is Not for Sale” signs, who were also yelling out that message.

Ziggy Mintz, one of the protesters, said “the future of our neighborhoods are not being determined by the community but by the developers.”

Heastie makes his case for legislative pay raises

From the NY Post:

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie claimed today that lawmakers deserve a raise because they’ve never worked harder.

Ignoring the corruption scandals swirling around Albany, Heastie argued in a letter to the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation that “the complexity and demands” of a legislator’s job “have dramatically increased.”

He pointed out that legislators’ base salary of $79,500 is now worth $53,997 in real purchasing power because there hasn’t been a pay hike since 1999.

Heastie didn’t mention ethics reform, which has been a point of contention between lawmakers, who claim they passed meaningful changes, and critics who contend they haven’t done enough.

The speaker, a Bronx Democrat, also did not recommend a specific new salary, merely pointing to a rate of inflation of about 2 percent a year.

But he noted that the current salary is modest at best for people living in and around the five boroughs.

If salaries aren’t adjusted, Heastie said only inexperienced, retired, or independently wealthy people would be willing to take the job.

Hmmm... inexperienced means that there wouldn't be decades-long incumbency, retired means they may actually show up for work and independently wealthy means they likely won't take bribes. I think I'll stick with no raises as the way to go.

Glass box for Flushing non-profit

From Curbed:

Housing non-profit Asian Americans for Equality are set to open a large new community and entrepreneurship center in Flushing, Queens that will be located at the corner of College Point Boulevard and 39th Avenue. The seven-story structure will span 90,000 square feet and is being designed in collaboration between JCJ Architecture and Leong Leong.

Plans so far call for an outdoor plaza on the ground floor that will connect to a 5,000-square-foot public market. The second floor will be configured in such a way that it can be used for a variety of events, meetings, exhibitions, and performances. This floor also comes with a large terrace. The third floor will house a business incubator that will provide the neighborhood’s businesses a co-working space, and an area to collaborate. Floors five through seven will offer additional office space.

The architects have also designed a three-story staircase that starts at the base of the structure. This creates a seating area for the market on the ground floor, and on the second and third floor, it can be used for events, performances, and screenings.

Fort Totten floor fall-through

From CBS 2:

A city worker fell through the floor of a crumbling old building in Queens.

The parks employee and his crew were sent in to clean after someone else decided the structure was safe.

The inside of the old building on the grounds of Fort Totten — a former U.S. Army site — has seen better days.

It’s now dilapidated and deserted.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation employee Cory Credell said on Monday, he was asked to go inside and clean it up after the department’s health and safety team deemed the site safe for the job, CBS2’s Valerie Castro reported exclusively Tuesday night.

Once inside — wearing a paper mask he was given to protect his face — Credell said he knew it was trouble.

Animals had made the structure their home long ago.

Credell began to sweep the floors, but the weak structure gave way and he fell through.

The sad demise of a Ridgewood street tree

You may recall back in 2013 when a school building under construction in Ridgewood resulted in the damage of the street trees around its perimeter. Well it appears that the destruction of one of the trees was completed this week.

I'm sure the stump will stay for quite some time. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they just removed it and filled in the tree pit.

Taxpayer money planted it, helped destroy it and took it away.

From classic to crap

Hi Crappy,

I know how your readers like to hate the crap that has replaced the old homes.The monstrosity on the right replaced a large home probably built in the early 1900's. This apartment building is right by the beach and there's no balconies so I'm guessing it's not going to be luxury housing, perhaps a homeless shelter. Location is on B 94th St. and Shore Front Pkwy.

- Rich

Well, upon researching the property, it seems to be some kind of apartment building. But a shelter wouldn't surprise anyone either.