Former de Blasio aide was paid to bolster quasi city government office Economic Development Corporation and its president after Amazon bailed from deal

THE CITY

Just a dozen days after Amazon announced this winter that it would pull out of plans for a Queens headquarters in the face of raucous opposition, the local authority that had helped forge the deal sought help from a familiar face, emails obtained by THE CITY show.

Andrea Hagelgans, the de Blasio admininistration’s former communications chief, got a message from the NYC Economic Development Corporation chief of staff James Katz on Feb. 26 requesting a phone call about a “potential engagement.”

That engagement — cemented in April at $80,000 for four months’ work — was a reputational rescue led by Hagelgans at the public relations firm Edelman, which she’d joined in 2018 after leaving her City Hall job.

Her team signed up to lead a course correction in Amazon’s aftermath, the correspondence shows. It would enhance EDC’s existing press operation, rehabilitate the corporation’s wounded image and win future land-use fights against community and political opponents.

EDC spokeswoman Stephanie Báez characterized the hiring of Edelman as nothing out of the ordinary. “EDC carries out dozens of complicated projects that require time and attention,” she said. 

“As in the past, we’ve taken the straightforward step of engaging outside help to assist with capacity and strategic support.”

She did not answer questions about total billing, whether the contract would be extended or renewed or if the work was ongoing.

Edelman declined to comment.

 The Edelman proposal from March, released to THE CITY under a Freedom of Information request, describes EDC’s “most urgent needs” as “capacity building and the preparations needed to weather and win critical land use fights.”

“We have designed a program that we believe meets your immediate needs while propelling NYCEDC forward as you work to shape the future of NYC for its residents,” Hagelgans wrote in an email to Katz.

The proposal also aimed to elevate EDC President James Patchett in the public eye, “building executive visibility.”

 The objectives included positioning Patchett “as a fierce advocate for business growth and development,” and creating a “playbook outlining a strong defense to political or community-related attacks surrounding high-profile land use fights and other reputation risks.”

The strategy involved a “systematic, rapid-response approach to effectively navigate political and community-related opposition that could slow or stall progress” on such deals.

Amazon had a shitlist of officials and critics against their HQ2 deal

NY Post


Amazon brass kept a “burn book” to memorialize unkind comments made by those who opposed the online retail giant’s headquarters move to New York before pulling the plug on the project, it was revealed Wednesday.

The Microsoft Word document called “NY Negative Statements” was filled with criticism from officials and neighbors, who said the move to Queens would send real estate prices soaring — and that it wasn’t worth the thousands of new jobs Amazon promised.

The book had a specific section for politicians who opposed the project, which by late January appeared to be in jeopardy despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, had his own chapter in the document that included him dissing Amazon’s founder while addressing shivering union members in late January: “It’s a cold day in New York, but not as cold as Jeff Bezos ’ heart.”

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, whose district included Amazon’s new campus, complained that his anti-Amazon campaign appeared to be going nowhere.

“We were punching, and no one was punching back,” Van Bramer told The Journal.
But Amazon was taking notes.

One of the first entries in the book came from state Sen. Mike Gianaris, a Democrat like Van Bramer whose district also included the new campus.

He and Van Bramer had signed a letter in 2017 supporting the project but a year later were having second thoughts about the fat tax breaks.

“We were not elected to serve as Amazon drones,” Gianaris wrote in a joint statement sent with Van Bramer.

Gianaris had the longest section, with 25 entries.

Candidate de Blasio proposing policy favorable to Hotel Trades Council for their endorsement of his stupid ass presidential campaign

Crain's New York

Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked the city’s planning department to draft a proposal outlining how to implement a citywide special permit for hotel development, just a few months after a major hotel union endorsed and financially contributed to de Blasio’s presidential campaign. 
“The city continues to explore how to implement a citywide hotel permit,” a spokeswoman for the department said in a brief statement. A source at City Planning characterized the mandate as being in a “study” phase. 
The request is the first step in crafting what would be a major change to land use policy that could restrict hotel development in the city at a time when tourism has surged and has driven demand for new hotel rooms. If such a rule were to be adopted, new hotel projects anywhere in the five boroughs would be required to pass through the city’s costly and politically-fraught land use review process—a hurdle that many land use experts said would stymie hotel development.

“If the city is actually contemplating a ban on hotels, it would be a devastating blow to our remarkably resilient tourist economy, to the many service industries that are linked to hotels and to multiple neighborhoods,” said Mitchell Korbey, a land use attorney at Herrick Feinstein. “There is no land use rationale and absolutely no zoning or public policy justification for this.”
The new rule, if adopted, would make hotel development one of the most restricted use groups in the city—beyond even potentially hazardous operations such as petrochemical storage and other businesses that many city residents might find distasteful, including pornography stores, both of which are permitted as-of-right in specified areas. 
The orders from City Hall to explore the policy change come just months after the Hotel Trades Council came out as the sole union backer of de Blasio’s presidential campaign—giving his sputtering bid a lift. A report in The New York Post revealed that about 70% of de Blasio’s presidential campaign contributions have come from the union’s members.

Murray Hill building doesn't curb it's own junks.

Hello,
 
This is a property I pass by everyday that is adjacent to the LIRR Murray Hill station. This pictures depicts a thousand words, as they have this poor written sign yet their entire yard is dumped by the tenant.
 
Hopefully this can be published on your blog.

U.S. Open are deadbeat renters

THE CITY
 

Visitors are already starting to descend on Queens to attend the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which holds court in Flushing Meadows Corona Park next week.

Last year, a record of nearly 830,000 spectators passed through the United States Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

But according to a new audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer, the USTA has not been playing fair with the city.

The comptroller’s probe found that from 2014 to 2017, the USTA failed to report $31 million in revenue, which would mean it owes more than $311,000 in additional rent to the city. In 2016 and 2017, USTA paid $6.6 million each year in rent to the city.

The audit finds USTA underreported benefits received from other companies and fees and took inappropriate deductions.

The USTA may also owe an additional $82,000 because of discrepancies in financial reports, Stringer’s office found.

The comptroller’s review also determined the lease’s restrictions on access to records hinders closer city oversight of the USTA’s finances.

“Any corporate entity leasing land from the city must pay its fair share of rent – no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Tennis Center collects more than $300 million annually, and yet, it shortchanges city taxpayers,” Stringer said in a statement. “This arrangement should be a win-win, not just ‘advantage’ USTA.”

Some Queens residents said that the park doesn’t feel like theirs during the U S. Open, calling the Grand Slam tournament a complete takeover of the 1,255-acre park.

David Pastor, 29, a member of grassroots group Queens Neighborhoods United, said that the park is usually a safe haven for immigrant families and contended that this community character gets “overridden” around tournament time.

“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never even thought to go. It’s super expensive,” Pastor said. “You have to question who it’s for.”

Glendale and Ridgewood are getting new homeless shelters

NY Daily News

Central Queens residents who thought they successfully beat back city plans to place a homeless shelter in their area should think again.

Now, they’re getting two.

The move comes despite years of opposition from Maspeth residents who yelled at officials, protested outside a top city official’s home and even voted out their Dem council member in favor of an opponent who ran on the Republican line.

One facility, to be located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. just outside Maspeth, will house 200 single adults. 

The other, at 1616 Summerfield St. in Ridgewood, will be for 132 families with children.

“While the narrative is that communities oppose shelters, the reality is that most communities have accepted the opening of shelters because we’re providing the ability to shelter people from that area,” Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks told the Daily News.

The Cooper Avenue shelter, scheduled to open early next year, replaces a temporary shelter that had been located at a Holiday Inn Express. Like the temporary shelter, the new facility will emphasize getting residents employed. It will be run by Westhab, a Westchester-based non-profit.

The Summerfield Street shelter will open by end of 2020 and is aimed at enabling homeless Queens children to continue to go to their neighborhood schools, Banks said. CORE Services Group, which has worked with the city on other shelters, will run this one.

 
The Department of Social Services promised to establish “community advisory boards” that will work with residents in the area.

QNS 

The Cooper Avenue site will house 200 single individuals who are currently employed or seeking employment and open in early 2020. 

Holden said in an Aug. 23 press release that Westhab, a service provider based in Westchester County, will operate the Glendale shelter. “A significant portion of the men housed at the shelter will be from the now–closed Maspeth Holiday Inn temporary shelter, per DHS,” according to Holden’s office.

The Ridgewood location, located at a former factory at 1616 Summerfield St., will house 132 families with children with a late 2020 opening date.


Priority at both locations will be given to those originally from Community Board 5, most of which is represented by Holden, who are experiencing hardship, DHS said.


“Homeless New Yorkers come from every community across the five boroughs, so we need every community to come together to address homelessness,” a DHS statement read. “With zero shelters in Queens Community District 5, these sites will give individuals and families with children the opportunity to get back on their feet closer to their anchors of life. Working together with neighbors and not-for-profit service provider partners, we’re confident that these New Yorkers will be warmly welcomed—and through collaborative support and compassion, we will make this the best experience it can be for these individuals as they get back on their feet.”


Holden claimed that he and others would rally against the plan to provide services to about 330 in southwestern Queens, which DHS claims has no full service shelters at this point in time.


“I along with other elected have  just been informed by [DHS] that they intend on moving forward with a shelter in Glendale,” Holden said on Twitter. “We’ll be meeting with community leaders/members in the coming days to start planning how we as a community will fight against this irresponsible decision.”


A furious Holden blasted the city on Aug. 23 for not considering his alternate plan to build a school on the site instead of a shelter.


“I am disgusted with the way City Hall does business when it comes to housing the homeless,” said  Holden. “I presented a strong plan to have a new District 75 school built on the Cooper Avenue property and I was told by all involved city agencies that this was an ideal solution. But as soon as DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza got involved, he decided it would be better to continue wasting our tax dollars and let the District 75 special needs students suffer in a century-old building surrounded by heavy truck traffic.”


Holden was a driving force in the protests against homeless shelters in Queens during the 2016 demonstrations in the midst of a homelessness crisis. Since then, he has used that influence, in part, to  successful unseat former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley in November 2017.


“I tried to fight against this shelter the right way, by negotiating with city agencies and coming up with reasonable proposals, only to have the rug pulled out from under me,” added Holden on Friday. 

“I was told countless times that DHS and SCA loved my plan to build a new school on Cooper Ave, and the Mayor’s approval was all that was needed. But the mayor recently told me he knew nothing about the plan. I’m sick of playing this game with City Hall, so now I will fight back the best way I know how, with my neighbors by my side.”


Among the complaints against shelters in nearly any part of the borough, critics often point to the proximity of facilities to schools or cite the areas lack of accommodations such as transportation or grocery stores.


State Senator Joseph Addabbo also vowed to oppose what he deemed to be “large scale” shelters in favor of smaller facilities he views as more appropriate for the community.


“With my district on the verge of having Mayor De Blasio place a fourth large population of homeless men within its boundaries, most recently proposed for Glendale, I will continue to oppose larger scaled shelters with limited services and inadequate transportation, while advocating for smaller, more community-appropriate sites that would better serve the homeless individuals in need,” Addabbo said. “What about utilizing city-owned sites and properties for cost-efficient modular housing as done in other states? What about developing abandoned zombie homes and providing a better living environment for homeless families, especially the children? I guess after witnessing 5 years of the De Blasio administration’s treatment of the homeless crisis, we may never know the answers.”

This decision comes over a year and a half after the city said they were not going to make it a shelter.

(Also, neither Cooper Ave nor Summerfield Street are anywhere near Maspeth.)

de Blasio's D.O.T.'s and D.E.P.'s primitively cheap remedies for potholes and damaged catch basins

 

 Impunity City


New York is not only famous for being the biggest city in the world (by default, reputation and hype) but it’s also infamous for it’s potholes which manifest from time to time and also notorious for the tardiness to repair them. But decades riding (and at few occasions driving) in this big city of dreams, I don’t think I have ever seen the creative and quarter-assed way Mayor de Blasio’s Department of Transportation has displayed to remediate or even fix these blights on the roads and pavement. Especially with the usage of traffic cones.

 

 But the de Blasio’s D.O.T.’s shiftlessness is not limited to the lame efforts and solutions to warn citizens of road hazards, it also applies his Department of Environmental Protection for our dilapidated water catch basins. Especially the ones in the perpetually ignored neighborhoods in Southeast Queens.

 

Undocumented immigrants are allowed to participate in de Blasio's "affordable" housing program

NY1

The de Blasio administration is easing requirements to enter the city's lotteries for affordable housing. With the changes, many more undocumented immigrants will be eligible to land one of the hard-to-get apartments, which are subsidized by city taxpayers.

• Every adult member of a household needs to enter their Social Security number or tax ID number for a family to enter the affordable housing lottery. Now, you won't need either for any member of your family
• This is being done to eliminate the need for a credit check and, according to the de Blasio administration, make entering the lottery more fair
• City officials consider the opening up of the lottery to so many undocumented immigrants an additional benefit

"It completely opens the floodgates," says Ana Nuñez, of Churches United For Fair Housing, a nonprofit organization.

 New Yorkers entered the city's affordable housing lotteries 4,654,603 times last year. Only 7,857 "won" the right to an apartment with below-market rent.

But now the de Blasio administration is dropping its requirement that applicants have a Social Security or a TIN, a Tax Identification Number. The city says the numbers are no longer needed because it is eliminating credit checks. The change will have the effect of opening the lottery to many more undocumented immigrants, who do not have Social Security numbers and are reluctant to apply for a tax ID number.

Nuñez is a housing ambassador, helping people apply for the affordable housing lottery.

Undocumented immigrants, she says, "confide in me. They don't have a social security number or a TIN … They may fear that if they apply especially with this administration they might face some repercussion … so that is now a huge barrier that has been eliminated."

 The de Blasio administration says President Trump's get-tough policies toward the undocumented are a major reason for the change.

\"The Trump Administration has created a chilling effect," says Margy Brown, the associate commissioner of housing opportunity and program services, in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

What a cynical reason to make applying for this bullshit program much harder. Bad enough that it's very difficult to even qualify for them if you aren't in the right income range. There are already 60,000 homeless people who are American citizens, most of them families. How long will they have to bunch up with their relatives or forced to live in hotels? Which is still going on because de Blasio's shelter program is taking too long. As expected from Mayor Big Slow

NY Post 

New Yorkers with family members in the country illegally will be able to more easily apply for the city’s highly competitive affordable housing lotteries as part of broader rules changes announced by City Hall on Wednesday, which are meant to expand eligibility.
The new rules will allow applicants to provide proof they pay their rent on time instead of submitting for a formal credit check, which required prospective tenants to put down their Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers.
“For too long, families without access to credit have faced barriers to the affordable housing they need,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement. “By allowing New Yorkers to submit rental history instead of credit checks, we are creating a fairer system for all New Yorkers.”

 "It’s just the latest idiotic idea to come out of this administration,” said Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens). “The mayor is setting up people to fail and is doing a disservice to New Yorkers who desperately need affordable housing."

One question that has not been brought up at all about this "program" and the impossibility to get in and it came from social media; Why is there a lottery for something one needs to survive: housing?

Woodside forecast calls for metal

QNS


Things keep falling apart — and off of — the elevated 7 line in Woodside, with the latest incident of plunging debris coming in the form of a steel chunk that dropped near the 52nd Street station this week.

On Wednesday, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer tweeted a photo of a large piece of steel that fell to the sidewalk between 51st and 52nd Streets in Woodside.

Now the MTA tells QNS they plan to extend netting that currently only exists around the 61st Street – Woodside Station to protect motorists and pedestrians from debris commonly known to fall by those living and working along Roosevelt Avenue.

“The object that fell reflects no structural risk but is obviously a serious matter. This area was re-inspected today to ensure that there are no other loose pieces there,” an MTA spokesman said. “This has the full attention of President Byford who had already expedited the netting process by ordering a systemwide cost and priority analysis while the four-location pilot is underway. A comprehensive inspection in March found no issues.”

A luxury tower grows in Flushing

QNS


A new proposed Flushing development may become the tallest building in the borough of Queens outside of Long Island City. 

The 400-foot-tall structure consisting of two residential towers, 39 stories each with four floors of underground parking and an official address of 71-12 Park Ave., will include 488 apartments, according to plans pre-filed with the Department of Buildings (DOB) on Tuesday. 

Plans to construct the two development sites, with a total area of 2.4 acres, were announced by David Marx, of MDG Real Estate Global Limited, who purchased the lot for himself, The Real Deal reported. On Aug. 4, MDG announced that the sale had been completed, but New York City property records do not show any transfer of real property. 

MDG’s Israeli bondholders approved the deal in May. Marx purchased the vacant lots for roughly $54 million off of his British Virgin-Islands registered holding company, MDG Real Estate Global Limited. 

Nothing written here about affordable apartments. And such an impressive amount of money invested in this with millions and millions diverted from a island account. I'm not a federal agent or an economy scientist, but this all looks as dirty as what's behind that green mesh fence.

Despite overdevelopment and rising population in western Queens, engine 261 remains dormant

THE CITY

As Amazon pressed last winter to bring tens of thousands of jobs to Long Island City, the FDNY seemed to agree with local calls for increased emergency services in the booming area.

 A fire official even told the City Council discussions for funding a long-shuttered engine company were ongoing.

But with Amazon’s plans for a Queens headquarters long extinguished, the FDNY is throwing cold water on the notion of reopening Engine 261— much to the ire of local officials and community members who say the neighborhood’s need is greater than ever. Engine 261 also responded to incidents on Roosevelt Island, which doesn’t have an active firehouse.

“Thousands of people have moved to Western Queens in the last decade and our brave firefighters are strained to capacity,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens). “Green-lighting the rapid development of our LIC community without providing the necessary infrastructure to sustain population growth is a threat to public safety.”

In January, during the throes of the citywide Amazon controversy and a month prior to the deal’s Valentine’s Day collapse, a handful of FDNY representatives testified before the City Council’s committee on Fire and Emergency Management.

At the hearing, acting FDNY Chief John Sudnik said Long Island City’s need for additional fire and EMS services was the highest anywhere in Queens. He noted the neighborhood had been on the FDNY’s radar prior to Amazon’s November 2018 announcement of its pursuit of a Queens headquarters.

“Put simply, Long Island City is a neighborhood to which we were already considering adding resources due to the growing emergency response needs of the area,” Sudnik told the Council.

The MTA removed schedules off of bus stop poles in Queens to save money.

Queens Eagle

A cost-cutting measure by the Metropolitan Transit Authority has prompted 16 Queens lawmakers to write a letter demanding the transit agency restore paper bus schedules.

The MTA began removing physical bus schedules earlier this summer. The move would enable the agency to save $550,000 by no longer having to reprint the pamphlets, which are regularly updated, the MTA said. 

“As we modernize bus service, we’re finding ways to provide `accurate arrival time information to customers in faster, more efficient ways,” MTA’s Chief Customer Officer Sarah Meyer told amNY in a statement. “Moving to paperless schedules helps reduce our paper waste and makes the most of new technology that puts real-time information in customers’ hands whenever they need it.”

But the reduction in paper waste and printing costs did not please an array of Queens’ councilmembers, assemblymembers, state senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Riders across the city will be left “lost and confused without a physical printout of the bus schedule to guide them,” the lawmakers said.

“Simply put: posted bus schedules help get riders where they need to go, and removing them will only hinder the commutes of those without access to technology. Even the MTA readily admits that bus schedules change frequently,” reads the letter addressed to MTA Chairperson Patrick Foye.

Also:

Queens Eagle

The Q60 bus is slow. So slow that an an average jogger can pass it on the road. So slow that a manatee could likely keep pace. So slow that transit advocates gave it an “F” grade on a report card based on its speed and reliability.

Indeed, the Q60’s average weekday speed of 6mph is a drag for the 4,752,023 riders that boarded the bus between Midtown Manhattan and South Jamaica in 2018. But what is impressive, is all the cool places it passes as it chugs along.

Take for instance, the Queensboro Bridge — also known as the 59th Street Bridge — which the Q60 crosses on its path between Manhattan and Long Island City. The Queensboro Bridge recently turned 110, as the Eagle previously reported, so the next time you’re stuck on the Q60, try Feelin’ Groovy.

As the Q60 makes its slow cruise through Sunnyside and Woodside consider hopping off and grabbing a bite at 24/7 diner Pete’s Grill, located on Queens Boulevard near 39th Place. On second thought, maybe don’t hop off the bus, since it boasts a 53 percent on-time performance and you never know when you’ll be able to get on the next one.

Once your bus manages to make it to Woodside, look out the window to see Calvary Cemetery, a mid-19th Century cemetery that was the first burial ground established outside of Manhattan by the Trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Don’t look too long though, or you’ll miss seeing the “geographic center” of New York City, denoted by a circular plaque on 58th Street (note: it’s not actually the geographic center, no matter what the plaque says).

Developer plans to flip the bird to Ridgewood's low and middle income residents if their tower doesn't get the rezoning they want

Queens Eagle

A proposal for a high-rise luxury apartment complex in Ridgewood has put longtime residents and the local councilmember in a bind, with the project’s developer suggesting it will build a 300-foot-tall tower without any affordable units unless the city consents to a rezoning. 

Under the area’s current zoning, developer Avery Hall Investments could construct a 24-story, 200-apartment tower on the site of a Food Bazaar at 1590 Gates Ave. A contextual rezoning would enable Avery Hall to construct a shorter, but much bulkier complex that features 375 market-rate apartments and 150 affordable units, according to plans published by Avery Hall. That’s the plan the developer seems to favor.

"Some people might see it as a threat, but I don’t take it that way,” Councilmember Antonio Reynoso told the Eagle of Avery Hall’s two plans. “I want to believe people are innately good.” 

Reynoso says there’s a third option for the development. He thinks the city can still entice Avery Hall to build a 100 percent affordable complex in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, where home and rental prices have surged in the past five years.

“Avery Hall is not objecting to 100 percent affordable housing if they felt the subsidies are there,” he said.

The developer has said it supports the rezoning plan, which would enable the company to build 175 additional units of market-rate housing. Avery Hall did not respond to requests for comment from the Eagle as of press time. 

Under federal guidelines, units priced at 165 percent of Area Median Income — currently $96,100 for a family of three — would count as “affordable housing.”

“I want to believe people are innately good.” Don't stop believin' that about the developer overlords of this city, Reynoso. Idiot.

Hovels discovered in Lower East Side apartment building

PIX News

It was a 311 call that led city inspectors to this building at 165 Henry St. on the Lower East Side and their disturbing, even shocking, discovery.

The NYC Buildings Department says the owner of one apartment created a new floor between the fourth and fifth floors to rent out nine micro apartments, tiny spaces with ceilings in the apartments between four-and-a-half and six feet from the floor.

In one picture, you see an inspector on his knees almost touching the ceiling.

Tenants in these windowless, tiny, cramped, illegal apartments were being charged up to $600 a month.

“I’m concerned for the safety of the tenants, mostly an immigrant population, Ben Kallos, a NYC Council Member, told PIX11 News. “Part of me thinks this is like the movie 'Being John Malkovich,' back in the 1990s. Then there was this idea of creating a floor in between. But that was fiction and this is a horror story,” he added.

The Buildings Department issued a vacate order for apartment 601 and the apartment right above, 701. You can even see from the outside of the building the many air conditioners and boarded up windows in the two apartments.

de Blasio's D.O.B. office is a joke, But from the mayor's viewpoint, these hovels are a good way to claim that affordable housing is being built.

21 story tower to be developed on little Rego Park soccer field.

Forest Hills Post


Plans have been filed for a 21-story, 261-unit apartment building in Rego Park on a vacant lot next to the now-shuttered Our Lady of the Angelus Catholic Academy.

The plans, filed Aug. 6, call for a 143 feet tall building at 98-10 63^rd Rd. that will include about 177,000 square feet designated for apartments, with the average unit measuring at about 675 square feet. The development will include 19,000 square feet for community facilities and 156 enclosed parking spaces.

The site was the former soccer field used by the academy. It is one block from the Rego Center Mall and a 5-minute walk to the 63 Drive-Rego Park subway station, serviced by the M and R trains.

Kenney Liu, a Flushing-based developer, is listed as the owner. He bought the lot from the Church of
Our Lady of the Angelus for $30 million in January, according to City records.

Asswipe Mayor de Blasio overspends on city toilet paper

NY Daily News

New York City is literally flushing millions down the toilet.

The city has spent at least $8.8 million on cheap toilet paper since June 2013 – and the costs are piling up under Mayor de Blasio.

Around $1.58 million was wasted on toilet paper last fiscal year, a 12% bump since 2014, according to records obtained by The Daily News. Last month alone, the city bought $126,000 worth of toilet paper rolls.

The city uses about four million rolls every year, buying only cheap, single-ply toilet paper, according to the Citywide Administrative Services. An average of $1.45 million was spent on potty paper annually over the last few years.

That’s about 35 cents a roll.

DCAS dumps the rolls in all municipal buildings, including City Hall, police precincts, parks and firehouses.

"It’s a waste of money,” one Democratic councilman, who asked not be name in order to cover his behind, quipped. “Taxpayers are watching their money flushed down the toilet.”

 

Another councilman tried to perfume the issue slightly.

 

 “It seems like a lot of money for toilet paper, but at least we now have a solution for all the crap coming out of City Hall,” Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) said.

Mayor de Blasio's affordable housing scam presents parasitic building in Jamaica with apartments going for $2,100 a month

Jamaica Patch

 Three new "affordable" apartments are up for grabs in Jamaica, but households need to earn at least $72,000 a year to apply.

The two-bedroom units at 170-19 89th Ave. rent for $2,300 a month, records show.

Households that earn between $72,000 and $138,710 are eligible to apply.

The brand new building has an elevator, recreation area and laundry room.

 It says $2,100 a month on this. But the actual area median income of renters in that area is $42,800. 30,000 less than those who can qualify. Interesting that the window for higher income applicants is about $40,000 to $64,000, this is how the city is redefining affordability. Affordable for the wealthier only.

Gentrification brazenly by design.

St. Albans residents demand Billie Holiday monument to be placed in Addesleigh Park, Chirlane McCray wants it by Queens Borough Hall

Jamaica Patch

 First Lady Chirlane McCray in March made a much-heralded announcement: The city would build a monument to jazz singer Billie Holiday, one of four new statues honoring trailblazing women.

It was a first step in eliminating the gender disparity in city monuments. Of the 150 statues in New York, just five depict women.


But some residents in Southeast Queens felt slighted.

The Billie Holiday monument, the city announced, would rise by Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens — and that didn't seem right, they thought.

"She's a major part of our neighborhood," Southeast Queens resident Amir Abbady told Patch. "The statue should belong in the neighborhood she's from."
 
Abbady, who chairs Queens Community Board 12's parks committee, is championing an effort to bring the Billie Holiday monument to the Addisleigh Park Historic District, where the pioneering jazz artist once lived.


"Our Southeast Queens community would benefit from a statue of this successful black woman for cultural heritage purposes," Queens Community Board 12 Chair Rene Hill wrote in an email to Patch.


Jeff Gotlieb, president of the Central Queens Historical Association, suggests that the city instead put the monument in St. Albans Park. The park is just blocks away from Holiday's former home on 
Linden Boulevard.


The city hasn't yet decided on the exact site for Billie Holiday's monument, but a spokesperson for the city's cultural affairs department said they are focusing on the area by Queens Borough Hall, calling it the "most appropriate" location.

Guess what monument used to be at that "most appropriate" location...

 

The Statue of Civic Virtue.

Like the statue, civic virtue in your city ceases to exist or literally thrown in a graveyard.

There is a demented cult in de Blasio's administration, and it's being led by his co-mayor wife. 

Nothing but nets for Astoria's elevated train tracks

Astoria Patch

  As the MTA moves to install protective netting under stretches of the elevated subway tracks that run through Queens, elected officials are calling for the transit authority to put nets under the entire N/W line in Astoria.


The MTA plans to install netting under the N/W tracks at the Queensboro Plaza and 39th Avenue stations, which City Council Member Costa Constantinides says leaves two miles of track in Astoria still exposed.

The MTA's plan excludes four N/W subway stations along 31st Street in Astoria: 36th Avenue, Broadway, 30th Avenue, Astoria Boulevard and Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard.

"The MTA can do right by Astoria residents by installing protective netting under the entirety of this line — not just a few stations," Constantinides, who represents Astoria, said in a statement. "Given the aging infrastructure of this line and the years of work still ahead to fix it, this is a no-brainer."

Flushing Meadows playground sprinkler turned into a viral petri dish last July

Flushing Post


Parts of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park have been sanitized following a Shigellosis outbreak that infected 32 people.

In mid-July, during the blistering heat wave, scores of Queens parents took their children to cool down in the water sprinklers across NYC parks.

However, many parents who took their children to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to escape the heat came to regret their decision.

Within a few days many children became feverish, nauseous, and/or had diarrhea.

The Health Department said in a statement that it investigated a Shigellosis outbreak associated with the park after “several individuals reported symptoms after playing in a playground with a splash pad or a large fountain.”

The Health Dept. noted that there have been 32 cases associated with the park and that it worked with the Parks Dept. to sanitize a number of areas to reduce the risk of Shigella transmission. One section that was targeted was the Playground For All Children, located by 111th Street in Corona.

The Parks Dept., in a statement, said that it “cleaned and disinfected Playground For All Children’s spray shower and other water features to [Health Dept.] specifications. As an additional precaution staff also cleaned and disinfected all other spray showers in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.”

Apparently, lead isn't the only thing in the city parks pipes you have to worry about.

75th Street Middle Village - The Ghetto

This has been like this for nearly a year...

Property owners not summoned and have not cleaned this.

Why....??

Affidavit votes disqualified by the Board of Elections pushed Katz's slim victory

NBC News

 Eighty percent of the approximately 2,800 affidavit ballots cast in the 2019 Democratic primary for Queens DA were disqualified — but it’s not clear how many of the voided voters still don't realize their ballots didn’t count.

 The I-Team obtained a list of more than 2,300 disqualified voters.

Though the list was not confirmed by the Board of Elections, two sources close to the ongoing court challenge between Tiffany Caban and Melinda Katz did confirm the list.

Some voters on the list said the Board of Elections has so far failed to notify them — even as a high stakes court battle proceeds to determine if Katz's narrow victory over Caban should stand.

 “I have not received any such notification (or any mail otherwise) from the Board of Elections,” said Sophie Epstein, a registered Democrat who said her vote for Tiffany Caban disqualified because she failed to check the “Democrat” box on her affidavit ballot.

 Mark Miller, a long-time Astoria resident, told the I-Team his vote for Caban was voided after a poll worker advised him to cast an affidavit ballot at the wrong polling place.

“We should be finding reasons to count the votes, right? Not reasons to not count the votes,” Miller said.

Katz wins primary. The Queens Machine rolls on

NY Daily News

Tiffany Cabán conceded the Democratic race for Queens district attorney on Tuesday, officially cementing Melinda Katz’s razor-thin victory after six weeks of contentious recounts and court battles.

Addressing supporters at the Katch beer garden in Astoria, Cabán said she would keep fighting for progressive criminal justice reform.

“To every woman, to every young person of color, to every queer person, every single human being who was inspired by the movement we built, you are next," Cabán said after supporters had chanted her first name for nearly a minute. "And I promise that I will be the first there knocking on doors for you.”

Cabán, a Manhattan public defender, added, “This campaign may be over, but the movement does not stop ... We are just getting started.”

Katz, the establishment favorite and Queens borough president, now claims victory by a mere 55 votes — 34,913 to Cabán’s 34,858. The borough president is all but certain to win the general election against long-shot Republican candidate Daniel Kogan on Nov. 5.
 

City screws Astoria homeowners financially from shitty water main repair job

(Photo by Jeff Fox/THE CITY)

THE CITY

 Astoria homeowners are fighting to recoup tens of thousands of dollars they say they were forced to spend after a city water main repair snafu sent raw sewage spewing into their homes.

The Department of Design and Construction acknowledged in letters obtained by THE CITY that a “number” of sewer-to-house connections were “inadvertently damaged” as a result of a water main project that began two summers ago.

 “The contractor when excavating on 38th Street affected a series of private sewer connections that were not indicated on the maps,” DDC spokesperson Shoshana Khantold THE CITY. “As a result, several of those lines were severed.”

 Yet some residents on the quiet stretch of 38th Street between 21st Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard say they can’t get city government to pay back the cash they were forced to spend on cleanup.

Some say they’re getting no clear answer on the holdup, while others say they’re caught in a bureaucratic Catch-22: a 90-day statute of limitations that ended before problems emerged.

“All of us got negatively impacted by this work,” said Jeff Fox, 40, a longtime homeowner. “It strikes me as incredibly unfair they can get away with doing shoddy work.”

Mayor de Blasio got mortgage extensions from bank lender owned by one of the Podolsky brothers

NY Daily News

Mayor de Blasio got mortgages on his Park Slope homes from a bank founded by the brother of men who received $173 million from the city in a controversial real estate deal, The Daily News has learned.

The bank de Blasio secured the mortgages from is Wall Street Mortgage Bankers, which operates under the name Power Express Mortgage Bankers, city Finance Department records show.

The bank’s treasurer, secretary, former president and founder is Abraham Podolsky, public records and multiple sources revealed.

 Abraham is the brother of slumlords Jay and Stuart Podolsky, who earlier this year sold 17 buildings to the city for $173 million. Abraham did not respond to several messages.

 The $173 million deal — ostensibly aimed at providing affordable housing for poor New Yorkers — came under intense scrutiny for months from critics who pointed to Jay and Stuart’s criminal past, a federal probe into their real estate empire and wildly divergent appraisals on the land they ultimately sold to the city.

Abraham’s company’s loans to de Blasio as well as his family connections are now renewing concerns about potential conflicts of interest surrounding the deal.

Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer said she wants to see the web of connections investigated.

“Something doesn’t smell right. I’m not willing to say something is wrong just yet,” she said. “...This is worth an inquiry.”
 

City Comptroller Scott Stringer is probing appraisals of the Podolsky properties — one city appraisal valued the 17 properties as low as $49.67 million. In April, he demanded de Blasio’s administration make them available through a subpoena.

Stringer declined to comment on that investigation, de Blasio’s mortgages and whether those mortgages potentially could have given Jay and Stuart Podolsky any leverage during negotiations.

Mayor de Blasio’s hand-picked Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett refused to comment as well.

The ironic thing about this disgusting bribe (which the mayor is allowed to get away with) is that this hook up with the Podolskys, who use to run dilapidated and rodent infested cluster apartment buildings to house the homeless for decades, technically prevents the mayor from being homeless himself.

Amazon is looking at Maspeth site for next "fullfillment center"

QNS

Nothing happens along Newtown Creek without Mitch Waxman knowing about it first, so he was not surprised to see Crain’s report that Amazon was eyeing an industrial property in Maspeth for a new distribution facility.

As the historian for the Newtown Creek Alliance, Waxman walks along the Queens and Brooklyn shores and updates his Newtown Pentacle website with the daily chronicles of western Queens as it transforms under over-development.

He posted photos of his discovery on his website July 24, nearly a week before the Crain’s report.

“I was on my way to a meeting when I came across heavy demolition going on over on Grand Avenue,” Waxman said. “I noticed the old Cascades Containerboard factory was being torn down by crews from Breeze Demolition so I started asking questions.”

Waxman learned that 54-15, 55-15 and 56-19 Grand Ave. were recently acquired by a California-based company called LBA Realty for $72 million. The deal involves a partnership with another realty company, RXR, to build a four-story warehouse large that would be ideal for the “last mile” of logistics of an e-commerce company.

“Yeah it’s only four stories tall but that thing is going to be massive, massive, massive,” Waxman said. “It’s going to be large enough that heavy trucks will be able to drive around inside the facility, so that the first floor would have to be at least 30 feet tall. As an environmentalist with the Newtown Creek Alliance this set off all kinds of alarm bells with me. This will be a gigantic magnification of truck traffic in residential areas that are already very sensitive to heavy truck traffic.”

QNS reached out to Amazon and is awaiting a response. Amazon scuttled its plan to build to build an HQ2 campus in Long Island City, and create more than 25,000 high-paying jobs, in February.

Now the e-commerce giant is reportedly scouting a million square feet of space in Brooklyn’s Industry City for a new storage and shipping facility in Sunset Park. Amazon may be looking to lease the entire Lord & Taylor building in Midtown, according to Crain’s. 

Waxman, an Astoria resident, is concerned about what is happening in Maspeth.

 This sort of footprint tells me we’re looking at well over a hundred heavy trucks a day as well as additional delivery vans,” Waxman said. “It’s like you’re throwing the whole Green New Deal right out the window with that type of truck traffic clogging Maspeth’s residential streets as they make their way from the Long Island Expressway. This part of industrial Maspeth has a rail spur and it runs right along the back of this property with a direct connection to JFK International Airport. Instead, we just keep building more and more infrastructure for trucks.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff steps off

The Intercept


Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff, and Corbin Trent, her director of communications — who, through their work with Justice Democrats, have been alongside Ocasio-Cortez since her primary run — will leave the lawmaker’s office. Chakrabarti will go to New Consensus, a nonprofit focused on climate issues and promoting the Green New Deal. Trent will direct communications on Ocasio-Cortez’s 2020 campaign, the same role he played during her first congressional run.
 
“Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal,” Trent said in a statement to The Intercept. “We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in the official office, Saikat’s goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do just that.”

Good. Now this guy can do his get richer schemes exploiting progressive values and policies on his own time.

Lead is still a persistent problem in Queens public schools

Jackson Heights Post


Classrooms in nearly 50 different elementary schools in Queens tested positive for lead, according to new data released by the Department of Education Wednesday night.

Inspectors hired by the DOE found lead-based paint in 48 borough schools where children below the age of six study, according to the data. Many of the schools have multiple classrooms where peeling lead paint was found.

 In total, the department inspected 797 school buildings across the city built prior to 1985 that house students younger than six years old. More than a third of the pre-K and kindergarten buildings, 302 schools, tested positive for lead, according to Chalkbeat.

Deteriorating lead paint is especially dangerous to young children who may breathe in lead dust or swallow paint chips. According to the CDC, lead poisoning can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, learning and behavioral problems, slowed growth and development and hearing and/or speech issues.

Van Bramer has gone bike lane batty

NY Post



With cyclist fatalities on the rise, a City Councilman from Queens wants to blanket Long Island City with protected bike lanes — a proposal that could likely cost the neighborhood hundreds of parking spots.

“We have got to understand that this is about saving lives and we have to act now,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer told reporters at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge on Wednesday morning.“We have to prioritize people’s lives over parking spaces and over cars, once and for all in this city.”

Under the proposal developed by Van Bramer and cycling advocates from Transportation Alternatives and Bike New York, Long Island City would be a testing zone for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $58.4 million “Green Wave” plan to increase the number of new protected bike lane miles each year by 50%.

The proposed lanes would go on Skillman Avenue, Jackson Avenue, 11th Street, Center Boulevard, 44th Drive, 46th Avenue, 48th Avenue and Borden Avenue — the street where a driver struck and killed Robert Spencer in March.

Vernon Boulevard’s protected bike lane, meanwhile, which currently ends at 46th Avenue, would be extended south to Borden.