Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
COVID card sharks
With these cards, you could be playing a real dead man’s hand.
A group scammers tried to make big bucks by selling useless cards that they falsely claimed would ward off COVID-19 and free users from having to wear a mask, prosecutors said.
The so-called “Virus Shut Out Cards” were meant to be worn around the neck on a cord and act as “air sanitizers” that killed the coronavirus — but they were really bogus snake-oil protection.
“The brazenly false claims allegedly promoted by the defendants about their product potentially endangered the public not only by claiming to protect against the COVID-19 virus, but also by exposing users to the health hazard posed by a misbranded pesticide,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in a statement.
Po Shan Wong, the general manager of JCD Distribution Inc., and Zhen Wu, the company’s sales manager, allegedly sold the cards in minimum quantities of 50, charging $9.50 each, over the phone and online from April to July, the complaint states.
JCD allegedly claimed on their Facebook page in Mandarin that the cards were “portable space disinfection and sterilization” devices that emit chlorine dioxide, which they touted as having a “sterilization rate at 99%.” Chlorine dioxide — a gas at room temperature — is actually a bleaching agent and a pesticide, officials said.
Monday, November 9, 2020
The Van Wyck Expressway's rotten underbelly needs a makeover
The unseasonably warm weather inspired me to take an immersion bike tour to Flushing. On my way to see the prospective development by Flushing Creek, I had to go under the Van Wyck Expressway and I find the current decrepit condition under the elevated road very troubling.
It looks like it can use infrastructure improvements. Fast.
Sunday, November 8, 2020
New York Times copycats George The Atheist blog mascot
From the front page of their weekly Sunday Review section of November 8, 2020: 
It's actually a good take on Trump's exit, with him waving at the abyss.
Arbitrary fines from pandemic guidelines are crippling small businesses
Business owners already struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic are getting hit again, this time with summonses and fines for not following COVID guidelines.
Lorraine Gericke, manager of Best Tress Hair Salon, was told by a city inspector she was doing it all wrong, using a notebook to write down customers’ temperatures and information for contact tracing.
“They’re slapping us with a $1,000 fine, which is so unfair,” she told CBS2’s Dave Carlin.
The penalty of one grand is because they did not use city forms instead.
“We were not aware that we needed these,” Gericke said.
Yi Qiang Chen learned he needed a paper displayed on his Jade Bamboo restaurant storefront indicating maximum capacity.
“I’m angry but I cannot do nothing you know,” he said.
He says the inspector told him, and just one day later, another inspector returned and fined him $1,000.
“They don’t give me the time to do that, you know,” Chen said.
On one block of Dry Harbor Road in Middle Village, Queens, at least four business were hit with fines and, in some cases, multiple fines.
Louise Fawcett, of Matson’s Delicatessen, has five documents displayed on her deli’s door, but she says she was fined $1,000 for not having a thermometer.
“You have to have one that’s non-contact,” Fawcett said. “I ordered it online the day before they gave me a summons.”
“Give them a warning,” New York City Councilmember Robert Holden said. “No, they won’t do that.”
CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ COVID-19 Info Hub | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Saturday, November 7, 2020
The luckiest man on the face of the earth
Finally. America fires Trump and she has a new president in former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden. Finally for Joe Biden, he has fulfilled his destiny following nearly 50 years of government service and after countless failures in his quest to be commander in chief in the last 30 (except in 2016 when he deferred to Manifest Hillary and stood down).
Uncle Joe’s road to the White House started off as rocky as a lunar landscape and ended up as smooth, protected and gilded like an award show red carpet.Normally if something like this happened to a regular Joe it would be considered a classic Comeback Story, but this is Political Establishment Joe. It sure helped when about 20 people decided to run with Joe in the primary and about half of them plus two billionaires would drop out simultaneously and endorse him, fulfilling the DNC collusion to destroy Bernie Sanders second run for president. Even Joe had no platform and no promises for people to give him their vote and he couldn’t even articulate what they were or even a complete sentence, he still was able to win a lot of states after Sanders narrow loss in Iowa and wins in Nevada and New Hampshire where Joe wound up near or at the bottom in the bottom of the vote tallies.
But when COVID-19 came, all bets were off. The states were primaries were held had low turnouts (even after the Biden campaign recklessly encouraged people to vote despite the risk of contagion) and the next primaries had to be rescheduled. Plus Sanders sappy performance at their last debate enabled Biden’s dominance at the polls in late Spring. While turning the nation and the primary election upside down, the novel virus managed to put Joe over the top and win the nomination with ease...
Thursday, November 5, 2020
Shootings and guns on the streets rise again
The NYPD’s crime statistics for October revealed a predicted increase in shooting incidents and gun crimes as compared to 2019, while homicide rates showed a slight decrease.
Citywide shooting incidents saw a 121 percent increase, with 137 citywide shootings this year compared to last year’s 62. On a year-to-date analysis these figures remark a 93.9 percent spike of 1,299 through Oct. 31, 2020, compared to 2019’s 670. Gun arrests for the month of October leapt by 102 percent from 248 in 2019 to 502 in 2020, with an increase in every borough and with the year-to-date tally up 15 percent.
Murders for the month of October fell from 36 in 2019 to 35 in 2020, while on a year-to-date analysis homicides are up 37 percent for the first 10 months of 2020 compared to 2019.
Last night one fatal shooting occurred in a public housing complex in Upper Manhattan, while two other shooting incidents related to automobile theft both occurred in the Bronx.
The NYPD made mention of the unique circumstance of the coronavirus pandemic as having a part to play in the city’s increases in shootings and gun crime, while commentators continue to ascribe part of the blame for the city’s increase in gun bloodshed to peaks in gang-related activity and bail reform.
In Ozone Park, a homeless man shot a bodega store clerk to death after the worker kicked him out of the store for being a nuisance and he returned with a gun from the car he was living in that was parked across the street. As the man was about to shoot the other clerk, an off-duty cop tackled him to the floor.
City Planning Commission approves Flushing Creek hyperdevelopment with some "affordable housing"
The City Planning Commission (CPC) on Wednesday, Nov. 4, voted in favor of approving the highly controversial Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD) proposal that will now move forward to the City Council for a vote.
The City Planning Commission’s 11-2 vote is a milestone for the development, which after a halted land-use process, is steadily gaining momentum.
Marisa Lago, chair of the City Planning Commission, voted in favor of the project saying, “the application is an important step forward for Flushing.”
The three developers behind the Special Flushing Waterfront Development include F&T Group, United Construction & Development Group, and Young Nian Group, known collectively as FWRA, LLC.
Their proposal seeks to revitalize 29 acres of inactive and underutilized land that the developers say will provide substantial public benefits such as a privately funded and maintained road network and a 160,000-square-foot waterfront promenade along Flushing Creek that will both be publicly accessible.
The plan also includes 1,725 residential units, including affordable housing, 879 hotel keys, office and community facilities, retail space and parking spaces to help alleviate traffic along College Point Boulevard.
In response to the CPC’s vote, the developers said they’re pleased that the City Planning Commission has voted to move the application forward.
“With 3,000+ permanent jobs, a new traffic-alleviating public road network, publicly accessible waterfront with public amenities, and $164+ million in projected annual tax revenue among many other benefits, SFWD will bring Queens a step closer to the future our communities deserve,” the developers said.
The CPC’s vote marks another step in the right direction, the developers said.
“City Planning rightly sees that the SWFD is not a rezoning, but an essential next step for Queens at large towards recovery. Our vocal community submitted more than 300 letters supporting the project, showing that our vision resonates with those we are working to serve,” the developers said. “Without question, the months since COVID-19 have been among the most trying times our city has ever seen. TThere is no better time to give Flushing and New York City this exciting new chapter.”Meanwhile, opponents of the proposal have said that the rezoning of the waterfront will exponentially increase the process of gentrification and displacement.
The MinKwon Center for Community Action along with the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce and Chhaya CDC, had filed a lawsuit against the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission, arguing that an environmental review must be conducted for the development proposal.
Local organizations such as the Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance, The MinKwon Center and the Flushing Workers Center took to social media describing the CPC’S vote as “shameful” while criticizing the mayor and Councilman Peter Koo.
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
New Jersey frees the weed
In the face of a budget crisis, New Jersey residents voted to legalize marijuana, which could be a huge source of revenue for a state still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Phil Murphy had pledged to legalize marijuana when he ran for election. He said the hundreds of millions in estimated tax revenue would go toward the state’s public pension payments and school aid.
New Jersey State Sen. Nick Scutari said he would introduce a bill to regulate the new industry as early as Thursday.
"Just because it passes today or tomorrow doesn’t mean it’s legal today or tomorrow," Scutari said.
Currently, New Jersey spends about $143 million per year on marijuana enforcement, according to a 2017 report by the American Civil Liberties Union.
There had been efforts to legalize recreational usage through the state legislature, but it was ultimately added to November’s ballot instead.
All sales of marijuana products would be subject to New Jersey’s 6.625% sales tax. Towns can pass ordinances to charge local taxes as well.
Nicole Malliotakis is a congresswoman
Republican Nicole Malliotakis has declared victory over Democratic incumbent Max Rose in the contentious congressional race in Staten Island and southern Brooklyn’s 11th District.
Malliotakis won just over 58 percent of in-person votes (127,213) in the swing district on Tuesday night, according to the Board of Elections’ unofficial election night results. Rose collected approximately 41 percent of in-person votes (90,560).
Malliotakis declared victory shortly after 10 pm Tuesday with a margin of about 36,000 votes — and little to no way of Rose catching up regardless of the close to 40,000 absentee ballots in the air.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets another two years
NEW YORK — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be returning to Congress for a second term, among several New York City incumbents to retain their seats.
The New York City Democrat defeated Republican John Cummings, a teacher and former police officer.
Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the most well-known voices of the American left in her first term.
She was a lead sponsor of the Green New Deal, a proposal to have the federal government mobilize a massive effort to wean the nation from fossil fuels and invest in zero-emission transportation.
Ocasio-Cortez has also become a target of constant criticism from the right, demonized nightly by conservative talk show hosts as the socialist future of the Democratic Party.
During our interview with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez we talked protests, progressive politics and challenges facing her district@PIX11News @AOC pic.twitter.com/PFU3VPrwM8
— Cristian Benavides (@cbenavidesTV) November 2, 2020
The 14th Congressional District in Queens and the Bronx was among the places hit hardest in the city by the coronavirus.
Monday, November 2, 2020
The First Lady Co-Mayor doesn't care about mentally ill people
A Brooklyn nurse says he repeatedly tried to warn city First Lady Chirlane McCray about the devastating effect of reassigning psych wards to be used for COVID-19 patients — only to be ignored by her billion-dollar mental-health initiative.
Irving Campbell, a psychiatric nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, told The Post he watched his 50-bed ward close in March to treat people with COVID-19 — leaving at least some of the hospital’s former mental patients on the street, rooting around in the trash nearby.
“My intention of reaching out was to get the support of the mayor and first lady in keeping these inpatient psychiatric beds available to the community,’’ Campbell wrote in an e-mail to a counselor with McCray’s embattled $1.25 billion mental-health group ThriveNYC in late July.
The counselor blew him off.
“I am unable to provide you with a way that you can speak directly with the Mayor or Ms. McCray,” the counselor wrote — although she suggested Campbell “continue to speak out about a need you see in your community,” according to a copy of their exchange.
Campbell then tried to reach ThriveNYC on social media and sent a letter to the mayor but got no response.
New York has lost 400 psych beds to coronavirus patients in private hospitals statewide since the pandemic broke out.
About 100 of those beds were in New York City. They included the 50 spaces at Campbell’s hospital, as well as 34 at Presbyterian’s Allen Pavilion in Upper Manhattan and 20 at Northwell Health’s Syosset Hospital on Long Island.
Campbell, who is active with the New York State Nurses Association, said that while state hospitalizations for the virus have plummeted, his unit has yet to reopen — and his union suspects this is because the hospital’s mental-health patients were largely poor, and other health-care issues generate as much as 70 times their related payments.
Everyday is Halloween at State Senator's and his sister's house
Neighbors say they’ve been creeped out for months by an apparent concrete and plaster “art installation” in the front yard of a Brooklyn row house owned by the sister of state Sen. Kevin Parker, who lives right across the street.
Since last December, the front yard to the two-story brick home on Avenue H in Flatlands has been an ever-evolving of construction of garbage, tree limbs and odd sculptures of painted plaster, cement and aluminum foil.
“It has nothing to do with Halloween,” one rattled neighbor told The Post. “For Halloween, it’s OK, but it’s been there much longer than that.”
“Maybe to them it’s art,” another neighbor guessed.
A half-dozen neighbors reached by The Post said they are wary of complaining, given the residents’ macabre decorating sense, which they variously described as “creepy,” “terrible,” “an eyesore” and “scary.”
“A lot of people are very, very afraid of that house — I mean, honestly, I walk on the other side of the street or I don’t go down there at all,” said one person who lives in the area — and who asked not to be named or even referred to by gender. (!!!)
The Brooklyn home with a garbage pile “art installation” on the front lawn that’s been creeping out neighbors for months is partially owned by state Sen. Kevin Parker, records show.
The two-story blight, found on Avenue H in Flatlands, is owned by Parker’s sister but it turns out the pol has a 50% stake in the property, his most recent financial disclosure records from 2019 show.
Lawmakers are required to submit the disclosures to the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which publishes the records on their website.
Buried on page 17 of the form is a section where lawmakers must disclose properties they own and it shows Parker listed the Avenue H monstrosity and wrote he had 50% ownership.
Friday, October 30, 2020
Mr. Lancman Goes To Albany
Term-limited Queens Councilmember Rory Lancman is leaving the legislative body Tuesday to take a job in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration. Lancman’s departure will trigger a special election to fill his District 24 seat.
Lancman will serve as the state’s first Special Counsel for Ratepayer Protection, a role in which he will represent the interests of residential and commercial customers of utility companies and some telecom providers. The role was created as part of Cuomo’s efforts to hold utilities, including electric companies, accountable for poor service and outages.
“Utility companies do not have a God-given right to operate in New York, and when they abuse and bully consumers they must be held accountable,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Lancman said he was eager to take on the job, particularly in light of recent power outages in Queens.
“Every time there’s a storm it seems power goes out and thats not acceptable,” he told the Eagle Friday.
Lancman said he was not angling for a new job but was approached by the governor. He will start out Wednesday at the commission’s headquarters in Albany, before working in state offices in Manhattan and Plainview, on Long Island.
“We all know that being a councilmember has an expiration date, and while I was in no rush to leave before my term ended, the idea of a ‘next thing’ is on the mind of every term-limited councilmember,” he said. “I was attracted to the idea of doing very meaningful work.”
Lancman shot down speculation that the job was a quid pro quo in exchange for dropping out of the Queens District Attorney’s race a few days before the June 2019 Democratic Primary. Cuomo had backed Lancman’s opponent Melinda Katz in that race and Lancman’s exit likely helped Katz secured the votes for a close victory.
“People shouldn’t have their minds filled with conspiracy theories,” he said. “When I dropped out there were no offers or anything. It was the right thing to do and the realpolitik thing to do.”
It was actually the real apparatchik thing to do.
Here come the warm jetties
Construction on six-miles of storm surge flood protection along the Queens waterfront began on Thursday. The work is starting eight years after Hurricane Sandy battered waterfront communities in the Rockaways and across New York City.
"It's a really, really exciting milestone to now see this work move forward, especially for a community that was so devastated by Hurricane Sandy," Jainey Bavishi, the director of the Mayor's Office of Resiliency told Gothamist. "We're now working to transform the waterfront, and build climate protection into it. And this is just one of many examples that we'll see come online."
The Rockaways were hit hard by the 2012 storm. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed, and 10 feet of storm surge flooded the area. Queens residents lived for months without heat and with mold in their homes from the water damage.
The first phase of the Rockaways — Atlantic Shorefront project includes building out or restoring nearly 20 stone groin structures—similar to rock jetties—into the ocean to keep sand from washing away on the beach.
Then, a network of dunes built after the 2012 storm will be reinforced with stone and steel to make them two-to-four feet higher. Then more sand will be added to the beach.
"All these elements will provide various layers of protection for the Rockaway peninsula," Bavishi said.
The federally-funded, $336 million project, runs from Far Rockaway to Riis Beach, and is supposed to be completed in 2024.
Southeast Queens is at the bottom of available COVID-19 testing sites
When Gov. Cuomo designated Ozone Park as a yellow zone, it served as a warning sign to the borough that the virus was traveling into the area south of Forest Park.
But while positivity rates of the yellow zone in the whole Central Queens area have stayed relatively low — hovering below 3 percent for the past seven days — another problem has revealed itself, which precedes the recent rash of positive cases.
South Queens has exceedingly low rates of COVID testing. Five neighboring ZIP codes in South Queens are among the 10 areas with the lowest rates of COVID testing in the whole city. Lawmakers and community leaders say their efforts to set up more sites in the area have met bureaucratic resistance.
“This is nothing new,” said Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica). “The whole phenomenon around the lack of testing in Southeast Queens has gone on since the onset of the pandemic.”
The absolute lowest amount of testing per 100,000 people in the city is bound by a ZIP code bisecting Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, stretching mostly over Adams’ district. Only 4,837 per 100,000 people have been tested there – nearly half of the city’s average rate of testing per ZIP code.
The next lowest ZIP code covers most of Woodhaven, just a little farther north. The rates of testing in ZIP codes stretching over South Ozone Park, Ozone Park and South Jamaica are not far behind.
While still below the citywide average, Howard Beach’s test rates are not as low as the aforementioned neighborhoods.
None of that information surprised Felicia Singh, a neighborhood advocate and District 32 City Council candidate, who has been calling for more and longer-lasting testing sites in the area for more than three weeks.
“I told [NYC Health + Hospitals, the mayor and governor] that COVID would travel here and sadly I was right,” Singh tweeted.
When she saw lines wrapping around the two-week rapid testing site at the Ozone Park Library on its final day on Oct. 2, Singh filled out a request for a city-run site on the border of the neighborhood and East New York. It was not approved, even though at the time the number of confirmed positive cases per 100,000 people had skyrocketed 650 percent over the two-week period, according to the city’s data.
“Still, getting the testing sites for all of our districts has been a battle,” Adams told the Chronicle over the phone. “We’ve still got communities of color slighted when it comes to testing. There is a lot of bureaucracy that astounds when it comes to maneuvering through this.”
Archie Spigner's dead.
Former longtime City Councilman and District Leader Archie Spigner died Thursday, Oct. 29. He was 92 years old.
The Guy R. Brewer United Democratic Club announced the news of Spigner’s death on its Facebook page on Friday. Oct. 30.
“It’s with great sorrow that we announce the passing of our great leader former City Councilman and District Leader “The Dean” Archie Spigner,” the Facebook post reads. “We will keep everyone updated on memorial services.”
As news of his passing became public, tributes dedicated to Spigner were shared on social media.
The Queens County Democratic Party said the borough lost “an absolute giant.”
Late last night our Queens family lost an absolute giant.
From South Carolina to St. Albans, from shoe shining to City Council, from volunteer to legend– Archie "The Dean" Spigner lived an almost fabled life that personifies the #Queens story.
Rest in power, Archie. pic.twitter.com/pkx5VNUS2p
— Queens Dems (@Queens_Dems) October 30, 2020
Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks, said on Twitter that southeast Queens “lost a godfather of politics.”
“New York City lost a great leader last night, and our nation lost a great man,” Meeks wrote. “Archie Spigner will be missed dearly. May god rest his soul.”
Southeast Queens lost a godfather of politics last night. New York City lost a great leader last night, and our nation lost a great man.
Archie Spigner will be missed dearly. May god rest his soul
— Rep. Gregory Meeks (@RepGregoryMeeks) October 30, 2020
Neir's gets five more years
Neir’s Tavern, the historic bar in Woodhaven, signed a new lease on Thursday, ensuring the tavern will tack on at least another five years onto its 191-year run in the neighborhood.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, the landlords, Ken and Henry Shi, and the tavern’s owner Loycent Gordon signed the five-year lease inside the bar, located at 87-48 78th St. The lease allows for an additional five years after the current lease ends in 2025.
The oldest bar in New York City has been the recipient of a great deal of community support, dating back to January, when the landlords threatened not to renew the lease to Gordon. The call to preserve the historic ale house – which was once used to film a scene in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas – made it’s way to the mayor, who came out in support of Gordon and Neir’s Tavern.
On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio again showed his support by attending the lease signing. Several lawmakers, including State Assemblyman Mike Miller and City Councilman Robert Holden also dropped by to see the bar, which first opened in 1829, into the future.
“We could all do something for the comeback of Neir’s Tavern and also for the comeback of the city of New York,” Gordon said. “We all can do something, and I think this is an opportunity to start over. This is a new lease on life. This is an opportunity in the middle of a pandemic. We have an opportunity to start over and strive to create connection and not division.”
The bar also received support from small business advocates, including Thomas Grech, the CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Jonnel Doris, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, and Raquel Olivares, the executive director of the Woodhaven Business Improvement District.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
