The Last Picture Show

Queens Chronicle 

Showcase Cinemas, a global chain that manages movie theaters across the country, has told the Chronicle via email that Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas will cease operations on Tuesday, April 30, about two months earlier than what has been reported over the past few weeks.

“Members of our Starpass loyalty program will receive a special offer as a way to thank them for their many years of movie-going at Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas,” said a marketing and partnerships representative of the chain. “Showcase Cinemas remains deeply committed to our theatrical exhibition business and we look forward to continuing to provide a superior movie-going experience at our U.S. cinema locations.”

When asked why the multiplex, located at 159-02 Jamaica Ave., is closing, the representative said the move follows a failure to come to terms with the landlord on a new lease agreement.

Michael Mattone, CEO of Mattone Investors, LLC, the owner of the building that houses the movie theater, told the Chronicle there was no dispute with Showcase Cinemas.

“Their lease terms came to an end,” Mattone said. “They were there for 20 years and then we gave them an extension. That extension basically expired and they decided not to seek an additional term.”

When asked about the April 30 end date, Mattone said he had been told it was June.

“That’s news to me,” said Mattone, who opened up a JD Sports next door to the multiplex two weeks ago.

As for whether he will work with a different movie chain or replace the business with a retailer, the CEO said he has a couple of things in the works.

“I am not at liberty to get into the details on those just yet,” Mattone said. “Those range from maintaining it as a theater to change of use ... [Details] coming soon to a theater near you.”

Several people were shocked and dismayed on Monday to learn that Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas will be closing.

The move comes on the heels of Brooklyn’s Linden Boulevard Multiplex Cinemas’ closure on Jan. 2 and the announcement that College Point Multiplex Cinemas will close May 7 and eventually be replaced by a logistics center.

According to multiple reports, Showcase Cinemas, owned by National Amusements, which owns all three theaters, has been shuttering movie houses across the country due to the rise of streaming, low foot traffic since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and expiring lease agreements.

“I think another theater would be good,” passerby Javonte Wooten said when asked by the Chronicle if there should be a new business or another moviehouse. “I actually live near where the Linden Boulevard theater just closed. Those are staples in our community.”

 

Caption the congestion pricing stooges

Top official for Mayor Adams crashed at hotel shelter housing ex-cons that donated money to his re-election

 

THE CITY 

 

Three contributors to Mayor Eric Adams’ 2025 re-election campaign recounted in interviews in the past month how they — and in two cases their spouses — were reimbursed for a total of more than $10,000 in donations by hotel and construction executives in violation of state law.

The interviews came during a joint investigation by THE CITY, Documented, and The Guardian US into the presence in the mayor’s current campaign of illegal “straw” donations — contributions paid for by undisclosed sources in a way that masks their identity. Suspicions of such donations spurred the indictment by the Manhattan district attorney of a fundraising group involved in Adams’ 2021 race, which has led to two guilty pleas, and are part of an ongoing federal investigation into whether they’ve been used to veil illegal donations from the Turkish government.

A representative of the mayor’s campaign has decried the use of straw donations generally and said that if any were made to Adams 2025, they had eluded a vetting procedure designed to flag illegal gifts. 

Three of the five reimbursements were linked to the owners of a hotel in Fresh Meadows, Queens, where the mayor’s director of Asian Affairs, Winnie Greco, lived for a number of months in late 2022 and the early part of 2023 — even as the site was operating under a city government subcontract as a shelter for formerly incarcerated individuals.

City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak said Greco stayed at the hotel “for parts of late 2022 and 2023, as she recovered from a medical procedure” and that she paid for the room out of her own pocket. He didn’t address how much she paid or why, out of all the alternatives, she recuperated at a shelter funded by city dollars.  

MTA's FUBAR bus routes gets excoriated at community board hearing

 

City Council kills the Mayor's veto of how many stops bill

NY Post

NYPD cops will be forced to report on even their most minor interactions with the public after the City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the “How Many Stops Act’’ — which he and other critics argued would threaten public safety.

Adams, who fought the bill tooth and nail in recent weeks, failed to sway the two council members he needed to beat the override — which passed in a bruising 42-9 vote.

The Democrat-led council also voted to override Adams’ veto of another bill banning solitary confinement in Big Apple jails.

“These bills will make New Yorkers less safe on the streets, while police officers are forced to fill out additional paperwork rather than focus on helping New Yorkers and strengthening community bonds,” Adams said in a statement after the vote.

“Additionally, it will make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable.”

Under the NYPD bill, officers will have to record the “apparent” race, gender and age of nearly every person they question — even someone who could just be a potential witness to a crime, or other of the lowest-level encounters.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, and police advocates had been adamant that the bill would bog cops down in a sea of unnecessary paperwork and slow down investigations.

“Today’s override is one more step toward the city council goal: Destroy the world’s best police

department,” NYPD Detectives Endowment Association president Paul DiGiacomo said.

“Thanks to the politicians, the divide between the police and citizens will grow. And so will retirements of our best, most experienced detectives. Heartbreaking.”

 

Two man terror cell busted in Astoria

 Queens Post

Two Astoria brothers were criminally charged Monday after an arsenal of improvised explosive devices and ghost guns, including assault rifles, were found inside their apartment directly across Vernon Boulevard from the Ravenswood Generating Station.

 Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Andre and Angelo Hatziagelis were indicted Monday on 130 counts of criminal possession of a weapon and related charges after a Jan. 17 raid on the apartment they share with their mother and another brother at the intersection of 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard across from Big Allis, the name locals use for the massive Con Ed power plant on the East River.

Both Andrew, 39, and Angelos, 51, were remanded into custody, and their arraignment is pending.
“The city is safer today,” Katz said. “My Crime Strategies and Intelligence Bureau launched investigations every day so that we find illegal weapons, including guns and in this case explosive devices. We cannot measure the number of lives that were saved, but we do know that these weapons will never hurt anyone.”

Katz added that her office executed the court-authorized search along with the NYPD, Homeland Security and New York State Police and recovered eight fully operable bombs, several guns and numerous other weapons. According to the charges, based on prior intelligence, investigators the DA’s office launched a six-month probe into the purchase of firearm component parts, accessories, and the manufacture of illegal ghost guns by the Hatziagelis brothers.

Detectives from the NYPD were brought into the investigation to assist in the collection of additional data and a search warrant was secured.

On Jan. 17, law enforcement officials executed the search warrant on their residence resulting in their arrests and the seizure of eight IEDs, including one constructed with a trip-wire, two loaded AR-15 ghost gun assault weapons and other ghost guns, 600 rounds of ammo, three sets of body armor, 29 high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, numerous notebooks containing instructions on the manufacture of explosive devices and anarchist related propaganda. Investigators also discovered a radio set to the frequency of the 114th Precinct in Astoria.

“Today’s charges underscore the harsh reality that our communities contain a small number of people who conceivably harbor evil intent,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said. “This cache of weapons — including explosives and untraceable, 3D-printed ghost guns — had the potential to wreak horrendous carnage.”

Upon the execution of the search warrant on the brother’s apartment, members of the NYPD Bomb Squad were called to respond and subsequently evacuated the building due to the discovery of the live IEDs.

“Along with our NYPD investigators, I thank all of our local, state and federal law enforcement partners for their persistence in identifying, investigating, and holding accountable anyone who poses a risk to New Yorker’s safety and well-being,” Caban said.

Jessica Ramos bad bill to deter shoplifting loots businesses more

NY Post 

 It’s criminal. 

An ill-conceived “worker safety” bill introduced by far-left state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a supporter of bail reform and defund-the-police, would saddle small businesses with hundreds of thousands of dollars of security mandates to combat rampant retail crime caused by the very policies she has pushed and promoted, critics told The Post.

The “Retail Worker Safety Act” would require retail shops to assess their stores for violent crime risks before developing and implementing plans for protecting their employees, such as installing better outside lighting and using drop safes.

Businesses would also be required to have staff undergo safety training, and stores hit by violent attacks would be forced to hire a security guard, according to the incendiary legislation introduced Monday.

The measure would also require employers to document and report violent workplace incidents, while those with 50-plus employees must install panic buttons.

“This need for security is because of her,” said a disgusted Francisco Marte, founder of the Bodega and Small Business Association of New York, which reps over 3,000 Big Apple storefronts. “Progressives have turned the city into chaos.”

Marte, who owns three bodegas in Norwood and Grand Concourse, predicted the bill’s mandates would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” that small business owners can’t afford.

 To be in compliance many stores will have to close down,” he said.

“It’s another [case of] blame the victim,” said Kenneth Giddon, co-owner of Rothmans men’s clothing store in Manhattan. “We’re getting robbed, and it’s our fault.” 

Giddon estimated the new legislation could run him well over $200,000, citing the cost of hiring a security guard during the store’s off-hours as well as paying a company to lead safety training for his staff twice a year.

The beleaguered businessman slammed Ramos’ bill as “offensive,” explaining that many retailers like himself are already doing all they can to keep staff safe in addition to minimizing job-crushing revenue losses to thieves.  

“Retail workers are on the front lines of violence in our society,” reads Ramos’ legislation. “Many employers have not done enough to take responsibility for the health and safety of their employees.”

But Ramos, a Democrat repping Jackson Heights, Woodside, and Elmhurst in Queens, has for years helped keep robbers out of jail and fewer cops on the streets, critics charged.

The legislation she co-sponsored in 2019 notoriously eliminated cash bail for nonviolent felonies, in addition to burdening prosecutors with onerous discovery requirements that have led to a massive spike in case dismissals.

Leadfoot comptroller breaks promise to slow down

 NY Post

He coulda, woulda, shoulda — but didn’t.

City Comptroller Brad Lander, who championed a law to crack down on reckless driving and once admitted “I should slow down,” was caught speeding in a school zone again.

Lander was hit with a $50 summons from a speed camera on Shore Parkway last May after he promised to improve his dismal driving record — which included eight prior tickets for speeding in school zones, city records reviewed by The Post reveal.

The former Brooklyn councilman also racked up five parking tickets since taking office as comptroller in 2022, according to records.

During his campaign for the seat in 2021, The Post revealed that Lander was hit with eight school-zone speeding tickets since 2016, even though he had publicly promoted speed cameras outside city schools and pushed legislation to crack down on unsafe driving.

Critics accused Lander of being a hypocrite and he admitted then, “I should slow down.”

He also added to his collection four tickets for parking in “No Parking Zones” during street cleaning since taking office — along 13th Street in Park Slope near his home on Oct. 29 and Oc. 31 in 2022, and July 17 and Oct. 2 of last year, records show.

The fine for the second parking violation in 2022 was for $75 and the three others were $65.

The comptroller also got socked with a $35 fine for failing to display a metered receipt while parking on Sept. 25 of last year, also on 13th Street.

Politicos who know the self-described progressive Lander said they weren’t surprised.

“It’s ‘Do as I Say,’ not ‘Do as I Do,'” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar, who lives in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. “And he’s one of the top three elected citywide officials.

 

Fundraising blowback for Juan Anon

 

 Queens Chronicle

Beleaguered Assemblymember Juan Ardila (D-Maspeth) closed out the latest campaign finance filing period last week with less than $12,000 cash on hand, state records show. While an increase from last July, when he had $934.22 in cash on hand and had raised just $2,000 from one donor last February, his poor performance relative to his primary opponents, who have tens of thousands of dollars available, suggests his reelection bid may be feeling the effects of two women’s sexual assault allegations against him.

The end of the latest filing period provides Queens residents with the clearest financial picture of the race for Assembly District 37 thus far, and is the first since Ardila officially filed for reelection in November.

Ardila was accused of sexually assaulting two women at a 2015 party, allegations first reported by the Chronicle last March. Ardila denied the women’s accounts, and did not heed calls from many of his colleagues, as well as Gov. Hochul, for his resignation. Instead, he hired a lawyer to independently investigate the allegations and craft a report.

Ardila did not respond to the Chronicle’s requests for comment for this story by press time Wednesday.

In addition to becoming a pariah among many of his peers in Western Queens and in Albany as a result of the allegations, Ardila lost quite a bit of the financial support that had propelled him to victory in the 2022 Democratic primary, most notably from the Working Families Party and the Courage to Change PAC, a political action committee formed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens) designed to support progressive candidates. Both groups rescinded their endorsements of Ardila in March, and neither has donated money to him in his reelection bid. In 2022, the WFP gave his campaign $43,665 — the most of all of Ardila’s donors — while the Courage to Change PAC gave $4,700.

Since then, Ardila, who had only been in office some two and a half months when the accusations became public, has struggled to raise money for his re-election bid. State campaign finance records show Ardila finished the cycle with $11,844.32 cash on hand, thanks in part to a $2,000 loan he gave himself right before the filing deadline and a $1,500 contribution he made to his own campaign. Together, the two account for $3,500 in his account, or about 30 percent. His largest donation (not counting from himself) is $1,000 from a Sunnyside-based veterinary clinic.

 

Missing the 11

 

Queens Chronicle

After the MTA proposed a Queens bus redesign that would largely neglect those in the Centreville area of Ozone Park, three area elected officials are speaking out.

According to a press release from the office of state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Woodhaven), he, alongside Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) and Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) sent a letter to the MTA, expressing their “deep concern” over the proposed discontinuation of the Q11 bus service through Centreville due to the impact it would have on residents.

Currently, the Q11 and Q21 both provide service from Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst down the entire length of Woodhaven Boulevard and into Crossbay Boulevard. The Q21, however, serves Lindenwood and New Howard Beach, while the Q11 stops in Centreville and serves Hamilton Beach and Old Howard Beach.

According to redesign information on the MTA’s website, the Centreville Street/149th Avenue stop could be removed “due to new routing.” The MTA has drawn up a “final” bus route redesign plan it says it will present to the public for feedback.

While the Q11 in its redesign would still serve residents of Howard Beach and Hamilton Beach, the loss of the Centreville stops on its existing route may still impact those residents.

The area affected by the proposed discontinuation of the Q11 service, according to the elected officials, is home to approximately 3,500 residents. Their letter emphasizes the essential role the Q11 route plays for those who rely on its services.

The redesign would result in longer walking distances for residents who would have to access a bus stop on Cross Bay Boulevard instead of one closer to home. The politicians emphasized that the change would be burdensome and potentially dangerous for those who have come to rely on the safety and convenience of having a bus stop nearby.

The elected officials in their letter also cited “numerous testimonies and complaints from residents who utilize the Q11 for short trips to Old Howard Beach,” including those who often visit Our Lady of Grace Church, nearby Veterans of Foreign Wars meetings or quick stops at the butcher shop for groceries, all of which are accessible via the Q11.

 

Former City Councilman Paul Vallone dead at 56

 

 AMNY

Paul Vallone, a former City Council Member who was part of a Queens political dynasty, died suddenly this weekend. He was 56 years old.

Vallone most recently served as the city’s Deputy Commissioner of Veterans’ Services. His brother Peter, a fellow former Council Member who presently serves as a judge in Claims Court, confirmed Paul’s passing.

Peter Vallone said his brother was rushed to Flushing Hospital Saturday evening after suddenly falling ill at home, but could not be saved. The news was first reported by the Queens Chronicle.

In addition to his brother, Vallone is survived by his wife Anna-Marie and three children, as well as his father Peter Sr., formerly the City Council speaker and a giant of municipal politics.

News of Paul Vallone’s death stunned Queens politicos and spurred an outpouring of grief.

“Paul didn’t just carry on his family’s immense legacy of service — he personified and embodied it,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement. “He inspired me every single day to be a better elected official, but it’s his lessons in friendship, family, and fatherhood that I will cherish for the rest of time. Queens is a better borough because of Paul, and I am a better person for having had the privilege of calling him a colleague and a friend.”

Before entering politics, Vallone was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone & Vallone LLP, founded in 1932 by his grandfather, Judge Charles Vallone. His father, Peter Sr., was elected to the City Council in an Astoria-centered district in 1973, and became the first Speaker of the City Council following the reorganization of city government in 1989.

Vallone Sr. was term-limited out of the Council in 2001 and was succeeded as Astoria’s City Council representative by Peter Jr., who served two terms.

After running unsuccessfully in 2009, in 2013, Paul Vallone contested the Democratic primary in northeast Queens’ 19th District, which includes the neighborhoods College Point, Whitestone, Beechhurst, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Auburndale, Douglaston, Little Neck, and part of Flushing.

 

The district at the time was represented by Republican Daniel Halloran, who during the 2013 campaign was arrested and charged in a broad federal corruption probe that also ensnared Queens Senator Malcolm Smith, Bronx Republican Chair Joseph Savino, and a slew of others.

Vallone narrowly won the Democratic primary and then prevailed in the 2013 general election. Per his City Council webpage, his mission from day one was to “put District 19 back on the map.” He won reelection in 2017, and at the end of his second term he told the Queens Chronicle he was proud to have added school seats to his district and helped launch a new free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. He also got underway efforts to build a new environmental center at Alley Pond Park and to renovate Bowne Park. He chaired the Economic Development Committee.

The moderate Democrat represented one of the most conservative districts in the city. At the end of his two terms, in 2021, the political pendulum had swung to the right and he was succeeded by Republican Vickie Paladino, an ardent Trump supporter and arguably the most right-wing member of the current City Council.

That same year, Vallone narrowly lost a race for Queens Civil Court to Republican Joseph Kasper, another sign of voters’ repudiation of the Democratic Party in northeastern Queens. The defeat meant a Vallone was not in elected office in the city for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Afterward, Vallone was appointed by Eric Adams to be the Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs at the Veterans’ Services Department under his new mayoral administration.

Members of New York’s political class expressed shock and dismay at Vallone’s untimely passing. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who reps southeast Queens, said she was “utterly heartbroken” by his death.

“Paul was a kind, beloved, and dedicated public servant who left an indelible mark on Queens and NYC,” said Speaker Adams. “My prayers are with his wife, children, and the entire Vallone family.”

 

The DOT's spite delineators

 

 Queens Chronicle

When a loyal reader wrote us about new posts clogging up traffic crossing Queens Boulevard where 83rd and Hoover avenues meet, above, the Chronicle went to the scene.

The posts are set too far into the street, the resident wrote, preventing cars headed straight across the boulevard from going around those that have to stop to make a left. Thus traffic on 83rd Avenue, second photo, is getting backed up all the way to Kew Gardens Road, making things more dangerous for children going to PS 99 [see Letters to the Editor].

The delineators, which are popping up all over, are meant to protect pedestrians and calm traffic. But the ones on the boulevard at 83rd and Hoover take up space that had been actively used by cars, and the writer suggested the city Department of Transportation go back to the drawing board.

Then on Tuesday morning as the snow fell, at least one motorist drove right over the crosswalk to get around them — right in front of the courthouse, no less.

Shown the top photo, a city Department of Transportation spokesman said via email, “Last year New York City had the second fewest pedestrian fatalities on record thanks to street improvements that prioritize safety. Anyone who drives in a crosswalk or other pedestrian space should be ashamed and held accountable for endangering others.”

 

City sneakily converts Rego Park hotel into a homeless shelter

 

 

Queens Chronicle

Community Board 6 Chair Heather Beers-Dimitriadis says her board and her community have no issue with carrying their fair share to help with the city’s homeless crunch.

But she did tell the Chronicle that board members were surprised with the speed and lack of communication involved with the Department of Social Services’ decision to open a single men’s homeless shelter at the Wyndham Hotel, located at 61-18 93 St. in Rego Park, as early as March.

Beers-Dimitriadis said the board got the final word during a presentation from the DSS at its Jan. 10 meeting.

“We had been working with DSS on a project to bring family transitional housing to our district,” she told the Chronicle last Friday. “It’s new construction next to the [Rego Park]post office. And we were pleased to see it was coming. We were approached in the fall and told that they were going to be converting the Wyndham Hotel into a single adult male shelter, and basically the letter said, ‘because you don’t have shelters in your community.’ You know, we were sort of surprised, because as far as we were concerned, we thought the transitional housing was sort of us doing our part.”

Board 6, in fact, routinely requests funds for transitional housing on its annual list of priorities for city capital funding.

“And so when we found out this was going to be moving in the first quarter of 2024 — which could be potentially March, it might lead into April — I mean, we had very little time to respond, so we have been sort of scrambling to learn as much as we can.”

The shelter will be run by Community Housing Innovations, which Beers-Dimitriadis said is new to Queens but does operate in surrounding counties.

The DSS and the Department of Homeless Services did not pick up their phones for multiple calls last week, and the phone system did not accept messages. The DSS also had not responded to an email sent through its website to Commissioner Molly Park as of Sunday afternoon.

Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who inherited the area in the new redistricting after Board 6 was notified last fall, said in an email that he has been getting up to speed.

“We were not notified about this shelter until after the district lines moved in the new year,” he said. “In spite of that, my office has hit the ground running, and has already scheduled a meeting with the Dept. of Social Services to learn everything there is to know about the shelter and the shelter operator. I am committed to working with DSS and the community to ensure that, if this shelter needs to happens, it rolls out correctly and with full transparency.”

Beers-Dimitriadis said there are concerns that it is effectively across Queens Boulevard from the transitional housing project; literally across the street from the Lost Battalion Hall Community Center, which is undergoing massive renovations; and within walking district of PS 206, the Horace Harding School.

 Was the Maspeth protests against hotel shelter conversions that long ago?

 

IBX DOA

 AMNY

The success or failure of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s marquee transit proposal, the Interborough Express (IBX) connecting Brooklyn and Queens by light rail, is centered on a short, skinny tunnel underneath a Queens cemetery that the MTA says requires the line to be routed away from existing railroad tracks and onto the street.

Based on a long-time dream of transit planners and aficionados, the IBX would utilize existing railroad tracks called the Bay Ridge Branch, which were built for the Long Island Rail Road but have long since been used only by freight, and only about one round trip per day at that. The 14-mile spur runs from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Jackson Heights, Queens; Hochul first proposed reactivating the line for passenger service back in 2022.

The project is set to bring rail service to several transit-starved neighborhoods and connect to 17 other train lines, while providing a crucial new link for Brooklyn and Queens residents to move between boroughs without having to take a train through Manhattan first. Hochul has described her vision for the IBX as a “transformative” investment in expanding the city’s transit.

After undergoing a “feasibility study,” the MTA opted not to endorse building a subway along the right-of-way. Instead, the MTA endorsed building light rail, which it has never constructed before in New York City despite being in many cities around the world; the agency said this would be $3 billion cheaper (the overall plan is projected to cost $5.5 billion) without sacrificing speed or capacity.

The basis for that claim lies buried among the dead beneath All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, just across the way from the M train’s Metropolitan Avenue terminus. The cemetery opened for business in 1852, and today its 225 acres are the final resting place for 540,000 people, including the grandparents, parents, and older brother of former President Donald Trump.

Also underneath All Faiths is a short tunnel, about 520 feet in length and 30 feet in width, that freight trains under the CSX banner travel under en route to and from Bay Ridge. The MTA says this tunnel is too narrow to add in passenger tracks alongside the freight ones, and expanding it would be prohibitively expensive and require disturbing final resting places above it.

That, in effect, kills the possibility of using subways on the corridor, the MTA claims. Instead, light rail can be routed out of the railroad right-of-way and onto busy Metropolitan Avenue, turning left on 69th Street before returning to the Bay Ridge Branch tracks after two-thirds of a mile.

 This is never going to happen. 

 

General Gouging Electric

  

Crains New York

New York ratepayers will be on the hook for a $1.2-billion Con Edison project to boost electric grid capacity in southeast Queens. The utility said the new networks and substations will meet the area’s surging demand, partially driven by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s efforts to electrify its bus depots and fleet.

The state Public Service Commission on Thursday approved cost recovery for Con Edison’s Reliable Clean City Idlewild Project. The effort will divide the existing Jamaica network in two and build a pair of substations so that the local grid can meet a surge in demand brought on by New York’s efforts to electrify its transportation and building systems.

Con Edison describes the current Jamaica network as its largest, serving more than 162,000 customers, including transportation hubs such as John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Long Island Railroad’s Jamaica Station and at least four major MTA bus depots. In the utility’s petition to state regulators, it claimed that without the investment, demand during times of peak usage would exceed what the network was designed to handle by 2026.

In a statement, PSC Chair Rory Christian backed the utility’s project “to promote the transition to a clean-energy economy while ensuring the reliability of the electric grid overall.”

Typically, the need for major utility upgrades are hashed out as part of the regular rate case process for utilities, but because Con Edison raised the need for load relief at the end of last year’s rate case, the utility was allowed to file a separate petition.

PSC commissioner Diane Burman, who voted against the expense, said the investment should have been scrutinized as part of the rate case process. She similarly took issue with the need for state customers to foot the bill for upgrades primarily supporting MTA and JFK projects.

“If these were customers that were private developers, we would probably be having a more detailed conversation on the cost allocation that they needed to pony up rather than being borne solely by the ratepayers,” Burman said during the vote. She added that it’s not “sustainable” for ratepayers to bear the bulk of the costs of electrifying New York’s economy moving forward.

 

Army vet ROTC teacher gets carjacked as auto theft continues to climb

 NY Post

Six armed bandits carjacked a veteran teacher outside a Queens high school, pistol-whipping the educator in front of his family and taking off with his BMW and $7,000, cops said.

Christopher Dash was smacked in the head with a gun during the terrifying 5:30 a.m. heist on Jan. 11 outside Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows – one in a recent series of luxury carjackings in Queens.

Dash, 59, was sitting with his wife and 18-year-old son in their car in a lot behind Horace Harding Expressway next to the school when two Dodge sedans approached and blocked them from leaving, cops said.

Five males and a female got out and brandished weapons while demanding the keys and belongings, the NYPD said.

As Dash, his wife, and son got out of the car, the thieves “forcibly removed” their wallets, taking  $7,000 in cash, a cell phone, ID, debit cards, and laptops. Cops did not know why he was carrying that large a sum of money.

One crook hit Dash in the head with a gun, causing a laceration, police said.

 

Empire State Tombs

 

60 Minutes

Looking for signs the U.S. economy can continue to stave off a recession? Avert your gaze from commercial real estate. City office buildings are in trouble. For a century, the towers have been propped up by two pillars. One, workers filling the buildings all week. Two, money flowing freely in the form of loans to borrow, buy, and build. Those days are over. As hybrid work hardens from trend to new normal, office occupancy rates have hit all-time lows. Meanwhile interest rates have spiked to historic highs… and now the mortgage comes due: $1.5 trillion in commercial real estate loans expire in the next two years. It's enough to make you rethink the future of cities. We criss-crossed Manhattan, talking to players big and small, about a sector rocked to its foundations.

What is New York City without its skyline? Monuments to commerce, standing proudly shoulder-to-shoulder. More office space than any city in the world. But peek inside all this vertical real estate and there's a fundamental question. Where IS everyone? More than 95 million square feet of New York office space currently unoccupied - the equivalent of 30 Empire State Buildings.

Scott Rechler: This building had a lot of law firms, had some government tenants… 

Scott Rechler is CEO of RXR, a New York real estate company with more than $20 billion in holdings. We walked through his property at 61 Broadway, near Wall Street. Every other floor—half the building—lies empty.

Scott Rechler: I think this is an existential moment. You know, I call it crossing the chasm

Jon Wertheim: What's the chasm specifically? 

Scott Rechler: This post-COVID world of higher interest rates, the changing nature of how people work and live. We're not going back to where we were. It's a different world. And it's gonna be turbulent.

It already is. The return to office has stalled out: Fridays are dead. Mondays aren't much busier. As tenants shrink their office footprint, office landlords are confronting the fact that some of their buildings have become obsolete, if not worthless…Ever the pragmatist, Rechler decided not to throw good money after bad at 61 Broadway, and defaulted to his bank on a $240 million loan.

Jon Wertheim: I could see people saying, "that's a lot of money. How did he sleep last night?"

Scott Rechler: We invest a lot of equity. If it works, we make a lot of money. If it doesn't work, the lender-- can take over the building. You gotta face reality, right? Reality's coming your way.

The reality is the price of office buildings is tanking, as much as 40% since the pandemic. Uptown at Columbia Business School, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate, has modeled out the impact of hybrid work on pricing…and calls it a train wreck in slow motion.

Prof. Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh: And this is just the beginning. And the reason it's just the beginning is because there's a lot of office tenants that have not had to make an active space decision yet. "Do I want to renew this space? Do I wanna vacate? Maybe I sign a new lease for half as much space." This is what tenants have been doing for the last three years. So when you take all of those current and future declines of cash flows into account, we end up with about a 40% reduction in the value of these offices.

Consider this office building near Penn Station - one of a handful of sales in the city last fall. Built in 1920 and showing its age, eight empty floors with a 99-cent store on the ground level.

Real estate partners Tony Park and Elad Dror, told us they'd been eyeing that building for years, and, pre-pandemic, offered the owner $80 million. They didn't get very far.

Tony Park: He doesn't answer.

Jon Wertheim: He didn't even answer you guys?

Tony Park: He didn't answer, (laugh) yeah. We didn't have his attention, at all.

Jon Wertheim: So what do you think happened? 

Tony Park: The whole building is now empty.

In September, Park and Dror got the building for less than half their original offer. And they have plans to convert the place.

Jon Wertheim: Did you ever think of just keeping it as an office building? 

Tony Park: No. Never.

Jon Wertheim: You laugh. 

Tony Park: Anything that is not an office.

 

Billionaires don't want Eric Adams to go to prison

 

 

  Politico

 

Mayor Eric Adams has already spent more than $400,000 on legal costs for a federal investigation involving his 2021 campaign. The expense was revealed Tuesday, in the first disclosure of a fund he established to allow him to fundraise to pay off the bills.

Meanwhile a 2025 campaign filing also released Tuesday night shows Adams’ reelection bid doled out more than $181,000 over the course of six-and-a-half months to his former fundraiser, whose Brooklyn home was raided by FBI agents in November as part of the probe.

A campaign spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment about the unusually high payment to Brianna Suggs.

Adams still has almost $300,000 left in his Legal Defense Fund and plans to continue seeking contributions, a representative for the trust told POLITICO.

The bulk of his legal defense spending —$397,000 — went to WilmerHale, the white shoe firm employing Adams’ lawyers Boyd Johnson and Brendan McGuire. McGuire worked as Adams’ chief counsel in City Hall before resigning last summer.

A smaller payment of about $6,000 went to the firm Haystack for “forensic data collection” — a hire by the legal team to review electronic records, explained the representative, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

Adams’ campaign compliance attorney, Vito Pitta, serves as counsel for the trust and his firm was paid $7,500 for its work to date. Artus Group, a firm of private detectives, was paid $18,664 to vet would-be donors.

The trust is overseen by the city Conflicts of Interest Board and must adhere to strict limits on who can give: City employees, lobbyists and their family members, among others, are prohibited from donating.

The trust reported raising more than $732,000 in eight weeks from about 223 individual donors, about half giving the maximum allowable donation of $5,000.

Contributors include Alexander Rovt, a billionaire businessperson who’s been accused of running a “fiefdom” through his board chair position in a Brooklyn health care system. Two of Rovt’s family members, Olga and Maxwell, also gave $5,000 each.

Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, a steadfast ally of the mayor who’s regularly seen by his side at official events, gave $2,500. She appeared to be the only elected official to donate.

Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg donated, as POLITICO first reported ahead of the filing. “Mike thinks it’s in the city’s interest for Mayor Adams to succeed, and it’s not in the city’s interest for him to be distracted,” longtime Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson said.

Other billionaires who gave include cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce and Russian-tied businessperson Leonard Blavatnik, the Daily News first reported.

Frank Carone, Adams’ former chief of staff who now runs a consulting firm, gave $5,000, as did three members of his family. People with business before the city aren’t allowed to contribute, but Carone — who remains close to the mayor — is not a registered lobbyist.

GOP candidate chickens out of debate for congressional seat to replace Santos

 Queens Chronicle

For weeks former Rep. Tom Suozzi has criticized his opponent, Mazi Pilip, the Republican Party’s nominee in the special election to replace George Santos, for her failure to commit to several televised debates.

The only one the Nassau County legislator has agreed to is one with News12 Long Island, which Queens residents cannot access.

“By hiding and refusing to debate the important issues that Queens voters care about, Mazi Pilip is showing the same lack of transparency that George Santos did,” Kim Devlin, senior advisor to the Suozzi campaign, said in a statement. The campaign also noted that the News12 debate is set for Feb. 8 — five days after early voting is set to begin.

While Suozzi, a Democrat, has repeatedly asked on social media and in press releases, “What is she hiding?” her failure to respond to requests from Telemundo and NY1 — as both outlets have confirmed (Suozzi says she has not responded to WABC, either, but the outlet did not answer the Chronicle’s inquiry) — to participate in their debates poses another question: Why would a candidate who is new to the Queens Republican scene not want to make herself known to roughly a third of the district’s voting population?

Aidan Strongreen, Pilip’s campaign manager, replied to that question just before the new year by saying Pilip “has opened a productive and enjoyable dialogue with the media and the public” on the issues, and that she is “interacting with many residents from Queens, and is accessible to people throughout the 3rd District.”

Pressed further on why Pilip has not accepted several debate invites, communications director Brian Devine told the Chronicle via email Tuesday that while Pilip “will continue to be a visible presence” in the Queens section of the 3rd Congressional District, “Unfortunately, her schedule has quickly filled up, making some other requested debate dates unworkable.”

But St. John’s University political science professor and analyst Brian Browne said both candidates’ approaches to the debates are strategic.

“This is a familiar tactic of Tom Suozzi’s,” he said. “He did this when he ran in 2006 in the primary for governor against then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer ... He did this when him and Jumaane [Williams] were primarying [Gov.] Hochul two years ago.”

 

Mets world champion player and coach Bud Harrelson dead at 79

 

 Queens Chronicle

Bud Harrelson, the scrappy, switch-hitting shortstop for the 1969 Miracle Mets and the third-base coach for the 1986 world champions, died Wednesday night after a nearly seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was 79.

The two-time National League All-Star and 1986 inductee into the Mets Hall of Fame spent the first 13 seasons of a 16-year career in Flushing.

He also played for the 1973 “You Gotta Believe!” pennant winners, won the Gold Glove 1971, and received Most Valuable player votes in 1970, 1971 and 1973. He managed the club in 1990 and 1991.

“We were saddened to learn of Mets Hall of Famer Buddy Harrelson’s passing,” Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said in a press release on the team’s website.

“He was a skilled defender and spark plug on the 1969 Miracle Mets. The Gold Glove shortstop played 13 years in Queens, appearing in more games at short than anyone else in team history. Buddy was the third base coach on the 1986 World Champs, becoming the only person to be in uniform on both World Series winning teams. We extend our deepest condolences to his entire family.”

The team said Harrelson passed away at a hospice house in East Northport, LI.

“The Harrelson family announced they will have a celebration of his life at a later date,” according to the statement.

“Terribly sad to hear of the passing of one of the finest human beings ever to be associated with the @Mets, Bud Harrelson,”  said Howie Rose, a lifetime Mets fan and longtime team broadcaster, on X. “Apart from being a World Champion and National League Champion as a player, a World Champion as a coach and a manager, the Mets have never had better ambassador. There was no fan to whom he would refuse an autograph, a handshake or a conversation, no charity to which he would refuse a request for help, or an appearance, and no one who was any prouder to be a New York Met during and after his playing days.”

Derrel McKinley Harrelson was born in California on June 6, 1944 — D Day. He was signed by the Mets in 1963 and joined the team in 1965. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978 and 1979, and concluded his playing career with the Texas Rangers in 1980.

Harrelson was typical of the slick-fielding, light-hitting starting shortstops of his day, weighing 160 pounds. He hit six of his seven career home runs as a Met, and never more than one in a single season.

By comparison, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver hit seven of his 12 career home runs as a Met.

But his defense never quit, nor did his fighting spirit, the latter never more famously on display than in the 1973 National League playoffs in which the Mets upended the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds.

In Game 3 at Shea Stadium, with the Mets drubbing the Big Red Machine 9-2, Pete Rose tried unsuccessfully to break up  a double play with a dirty, late side. 

Rose had taken exception to comments Harrelson made to the media after Game 2. Harrelson, giving away 40 pounds to Charlie Hustle, got right into Rose’s face before Rose grabbed him, slammed him to the ground and began throwing punches.

After the multiple-contest bench-clearing brawl was brought under control and the inning ended, Rose went out to left field to a four-letter serenade and a shower of garbage from the Mets’ faithful until Reds Manager Sparky Anderson pulled his team off the field.

Manager Yogi Berra, Seaver and Willie Mays had to go out to left field to quiet the crowd down.

The unlikely Eastern Division championship club that won only 82 games in the regular season proceeded to finish off the Reds before losing the World Series to the eventual three-peat Oakland Athletics dynasty team in seven games.