Queens Gazette cries a river for troubled medical building

From the Queens Gazette:

Recently a police report was filed with the 114th Police Precinct by Pali Realty for extensive graffiti damage done to the multimillion dollar medical facility under construction at 23-25 31st St. in Astoria. Graffiti vandals damaged the façade and exterior glass windows. Damage to the building is estimated to cost more than $150,000, causing an unnecessary expense and delays.

“It is a real travesty that damage by graffiti vandals continues to plague our neighborhood. We deserve a neighborhood free from graffiti and vandalism,” said Yianni Konstantinides of Pali Realty, the developer of the property. “Every bit of damage done places burdensome costs for this project and negatively impacts this building and other hard-working small business owners in New York City.”

Pali Realty has invested millions of dollars into the Astoria Medical Facility on 31st Street. Upon completion, it will serve as a full-time medical facility featuring 134 underground parking spaces and offices for 26 physicians with a support staff of approximately 80 people, bringing jobs and medical care to a largely underserved community. The medical office building will be occupied by various medical groups and hospitals. These local medical services and new jobs will be a major benefit to the Astoria Community.

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Parolee responsible for car break-in spree

From LIC Post:

The police believe that they have nabbed a man responsible for a large number of neighborhood auto break-ins.

Long Island City—from Court Square through Hunters Point—has been subject to about 60 auto break-ins in recent months, according to Captain Brian Hennessy, the commanding officer of the 108 police precinct. However, an August 24 bust has brought that spike to a halt, he said.

Hennessy said the police caught the perpetrator breaking into the cars by wrapping his fist up in clothing and punching the windows.

They arrested Rafael Medina, a 45-year-old from the Bronx, who was out on parole when he was busted. He is back in prison.

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Seeking uses for vacant Far Rockaway land

From Brownstoner Queens:

Permanent development is in the works for a vacant, 80-acre site on the Rockaway Peninsula, an area badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, but in the meantime the organization 596 Acres is looking toward interim uses for the land. A few weeks ago, the group led a discussion on potential interim uses for these empty lots in the Arverne East/Edgemere neighborhood — all those green dots in the map above are public vacant space. Proposals for the lots include a food fest, a view tower for star gazing, a farmers market, and a ski trail. See the details of each proposal here.

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Shafran not conceding to Vallone

From the Daily News:

City Council hopefuls Paul Vallone and Austin Shafran are separated by just 144 votes in a Democratic Primary race that is still too close to call.

The two are leading a five-candidate battle for a shot at the northeastern Queens seat currently held by disgraced Republican City Councilman Dan Halloran.

Vallone, the son of former speaker Peter Vallone and the brother of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., claimed victory Tuesday night when unofficial tallies showed he had 2,723 votes. But Shafran, with 2,579 votes, refused to concede until the voting machines are checked and paper ballots counted, a process that begins on Monday.

“Protecting voting rights is the foundation of our democracy so we will use every legal option possible to ensure every vote is fully and fairly counted,” he said Wednesday.

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Underground dining becoming more popular

From CBS New York:

As you sit down to dinner, this story illustrates eating out like you have never experienced before. We are talking about super-secret, illegal dining experiences hosted in homes.

CBS 2 investigative reporter Tamara Leitner went undercover to see firsthand how this underground world works.

It may look like a dinner party, but it’s really an underground supper club.

The diners are a mix of New Yorkers and tourists. CBS 2’s undercover cameras captured one experience — eight people who didn’t know each other eating a meal in a stranger’s home.

That hostess, Naama Shafi, writes about food but is not a chef. Leitner found her through a website, which connects amateur foodies and professional chefs in 20 different countries with people who want unique dining experiences.

Clandestine dinner parties like the one Leitner attended have become more common in New York City. And insiders told Leitner they are completely unregulated.

When asked at the dinner, “do you ever worry about getting caught?” Michael Patlazhan responded, “I definitely do.”

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Remembering the fallen of 9/11

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Inside the 9/11 Museum

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2013 Primary election results

Good morning! I hope you all are happy waking up in a City that soundly rejected Christine Quinn last night. She came in with 15% of the vote. Bye-bye, Bloomberg lite!

The likely winner without a runoff is Bill DeBlasio. As of last night, he had 40.2% of the vote, with Bill Thompson coming in at 26%. Whether or not there is a runoff, however, let me point out once again that the political careers of Christine Quinn, John Liu and Anthony Weiner are DONE.

Scott Stringer bested Eliot Spitzer in the Comptroller's race and Letitia James and Daniel Squadron will go head to head in a runoff for Public Advocate.

Locally, Melinda Katz soundly defeated Peter Vallone, Jr. and even with the 9% or so of the vote that Tony Avella allegedly took away from Vallone, he still would not have beaten her. So much for Italian power.

In district 19, The latest numbers are Paul Vallone 2,723 votes to Austin Shafran's 2,579 votes with 98% of precincts reporting. Neither Huffington Post nor NY1 has called it for Vallone, although he claimed victory. So, in November, it MAY be Vallone and Republican Dennis Saffran. Will Saffran win because most Dems picked anybody but Vallone? Time will tell. (Apologies for previous mistake. Shafran got WFP endorsement, but NOT their line. He is challenging the election results.)

In the 22nd CD, Costa Constantinides handily beat John Ciafone.

In the 24th CD, Rory Lancman creamed Andrea Veras.

In the 27th CD, it's still a race between Daneek Miller (3,756) and Clyde Vanel (3,360) with 98% reporting.

In the 28th CD, Ruben Wills beat Hettie Powell.

In the 31st CD, Donovan Richards beat Michael Duncan.

And in the 32nd CD, Lew Simon beat William Ruiz.

Also, thankfully, in the 34th CD, which covers mostly Bushwick but half of Ridgewood, Antonio Reynoso sent Vito Lopez packing once and for all.

Sadly, because we are a one-party town run by a political machine, there were no primaries in the 20th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 29th or 30th districts and all incumbents ran unopposed.

In kind of a surprise, in Brooklyn, 23-year incumbent DA Charles Hynes was defeated by challenger Kenneth Thompson.

UPDATE:

Tony Nunziato and Phil Ragusa were also reelected as GOP state committeemen.

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Lever machines busted across borough

I'm getting reports from Ridgewood to Bayside that the old lever machines that were brought back for this year's elections are not working properly - levers are broken or not registering votes correctly. Let me know if you experience this. Please leave poll site location and description of problem.

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GOP war gets down and dirty

2 GOP candidates for State Committee decided to challenge Phil Ragusa and the status quo, and this was the result:



Mr. Bacarella was on the board of Unisphere, Inc when Estelle Cooper was stealing from it?

Well, wasn't Phil Ragusa the treasurer of said organization?



There actually is no proof that any of the allegations of identity theft or forgery are true.

Those attacked struck back...





Well, you can't argue with that...

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Avella & civic leaders rally against BSA application

(Bellerose, QUEENS) On Saturday, September 7, Senator Tony Avella, Bellerose civic leaders and residents rallied against the Indian Cultural and Community Center (ICCC) for moving ahead with their Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) application despite the recent release of a report by the New York State Office of the Inspector General that criticized the ICCC’s involvement in a state land sale.

Two years ago, Avella reached out to the Inspector General and the Attorney General and asked for an extensive review of the New York State Dormitory Authority’s sale of 4.5 acres of land on the Creedmore psychiatric-hospital campus in a no-bid deal to the politically connected nonprofit group for a fraction of its value.

This past week the Inspector General released their report which showed clear and convincing evidence that the ICCC not only “exploited loopholes in the statute and lapses in oversight by the Dormitory Authority” but purposely sought to deceive that agency as well as members of the community and elected officials regarding their intention to build residential housing on property which is the subject of the applications currently before the BSA. The findings in the report have been referred to the Attorney General’s office.

Despite this information, the ICCC is moving ahead with their BSA application, which is scheduled to be heard at a public hearing on September 10th.

Avella stated, “From the very beginning, I have had my suspicions regarding the ICCC’s involvement in this shady land deal. The Inspector General’s report confirms my suspicions, that at the very least the ICCC intentionally engaged in deceptive practices with the intent to mislead the public about its intentions with this property and at the very worst engaged in possible illegal activity. Obviously, this is completely unacceptable and the public deserves better. That is why I am pleased that this matter has been referred to the Attorney General for further review. We must get to the bottom of any misconduct committed by anyone involved with this land deal.”

“I am calling on the Attorney General to fully investigate the potential illegal conduct of the ICCC and for BSA to postpone any hearing until such a review is conducted,” concluded Avella.

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Thinking of voting for Quinn & Stringer? Think again...

Dear friend,

I wanted to provide you with an update on our investigations into the legality of the Trump SoHo "Condo-Hotel" at 246 Spring Street, a development which GVSHP from the very beginning opposed, claiming it would violate zoning regulations.

After months of inquiries and investigations by GVSHP, we have discovered that the city officials have repeatedly violated their commitments regarding the Trump SoHo, allowing the controversial development to avoid legal requirements that were the condition for its construction.

As you may recall, GVSHP and other community groups opposed permits for the towering Trump SoHo because the "condo-hotel" violated local zoning prohibitions barring residential and residential-hotel development. Had city officials enforced the existing zoning as we argued, the project could not have been built as planned.

Instead, the City, City Council Speaker Quinn, and Borough President Stringer insisted over our objections that the planned development did not violate the zoning, and its construction must be allowed. They offered instead a "legally binding restrictive declaration" as a condition of the development proceeding, which they claimed would ensure in perpetuity that it obeyed zoning restrictions. The deal required that the Trump SoHo undergo annual independent audits of its records to prove that the development was not being used for illegal residential or residential-hotel purposes. Trump SoHo was legally required to submit the independent audits to the City each year for their inspection and review to ensure the law was being followed in every case.

In the intervening time, GVSHP had found numerous indications that city officials knew that the Trump SoHo was being used for purposes that violated the zoning. We brought this to the attention of the City, Council Speaker Quinn, and Borough President Stringer, and repeatedly asked for the inspections required by the "legally binding restrictive declaration" to substantiate whether or not the law was being broken. We received no response from the City, the Speaker, or the Borough President.

In response to this stonewalling, GVSHP filed a Freedom of Information request, which city officials were legally obligated to follow, demanding that the City, the Speaker, and the Borough President release any materials pertaining to the legally-required audits.

As a result, we discovered some very disturbing information. We found that in the six years since the Trump SoHo's construction, none of the legally-required audits which were supposedly a condition of the project being built had ever been submitted. Incredibly, we additionally found that neither the City, the Speaker, nor the Borough President had ever asked for any of the legally-required audits, even though their review by city officials was supposed to be the means by which the project's conformance with the law would be ensured. Finally, and perhaps not surprisingly, we found that no penalties had ever been issued for the Trump SoHo's failure to submit the audits, as provided for under the terms of the agreement under which the development was allowed to be built -- see letters here.

In response to our Freedom of Information request, city officials have now been forced to ask for the past six years of the Trump SoHo's legally-required audits. However, so long after the fact, it is inconceivable that such a request will result in any sort of meaningful investigation into whether or not the development has been violating the law. This failure to in any way enforce the terms under which these city officials allowed the highly-controversial and legally questionable Trump SoHo to be built -- in spite of well-grounded contentions before, during, and after the building's construction that it violated the zoning -- is deeply disturbing. GVSHP is now investigating all options for next steps in light of this egregious breach of commitments to the public.

Sincerely,

Andrew Berman
Executive Director
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

(If they'll screw over the Village, just think of what they'll do to Queens!)

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All thanks to Everly Brown

"Residents reached out to our local leaders: Borough president/ Helen Marshall, Councilman/ Leroy Comrie and many others. Our request was to clean the abandoned property at 107-58 164 Street.

Local leaders ignored residents/voters. Thereafter,residents were forced to proceed with a protest. Residents invited: Everly Brown, Melinda Katz, and Peter Vallone, because the three are asking for our votes to be the next borough president.

Only one person marched with residents on 6/29/13 against landlords who abandoned their property. That ONE PERSON IS EVERLY BROWN. He MARCHED with us while Katz and Vallone looked the other way.

Thanks Everly Brown. As a result of Everly Brown's intervention, the site was cleaned. Queens residents, please show thanks to Everly Brown at the POLLS.

Vote for Everly Brown for borough president. Brown will continue to serve Queens residents. Send this message to your friends, family etc.

1 & 2 photos are before the protest. The last photo is after the protest." - Pamela Hazel, Jamaica

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19th CD parishioner lists given to pro-Vallone PAC

The mailers get even more interesting. The Catholic Citizens Committee PAC somehow got hold of parishioner lists from the churches within the 19th CD and sent out 2 mailers to those folks: one for Peter Vallone and one for Paul Vallone.

The Catholic church is prohibited from making endorsements, so I suppose they formed a PAC to get around that.

And they wonder why people don't go to church the way they used to. The unholy alliances must stop.

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Have fun in the voting booth tomorrow!

This was the Vetter house in Richmond Hill. It's last use was as the Simonson Funeral Home.
The Richmond Hill Historical Society stored its collections there prior to 2007.
Despite preservationist efforts, the house was torn down in 2007.
In its place, a Gerald Caliendo special. Mr. Caliendo sits on Community Board 1 thanks to Peter Vallone, who received $12,275 in campaign contributions from him. And this building, as well as the rest of Victorian Richmond Hill, was denied landmark status during the tenure of Melinda Katz as Chair of Land Use of the City Council.

Remember, the 2 main functions of the borough president are community board appointments and land use.

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Homeless cause havoc in Briarwood

From the Queens Chronicle:

A Briarwood church has grown frustrated with an ongoing problem facing the property.

For seven years, the Victoria Congregational Church at 144-64 87 Ave. has been having issues with inebriated individuals at all times of day and night sleeping and consuming alcohol on a ramp that acts as one of the main entrances to the church and in front of the parsonage’s primary entrance door located next to the church.

The Rev. Mark Marsh, pastor of the Victoria Congregational Church, has reached out to Capt. Frederick Grover, the commanding officer of the 107th Precinct in Flushing, in an effort to solve the issue, but little to no action has been taken.

“We need patrols but not only that, we need the officers to get out of the car and walk onto the property,” Marsh said. “Normally they just drive through.”

The times when Marsh had called 911, police officers did not show up at all or almost 45 minutes after the initial call was made.

One time, Marsh had to wait over an hour to go home because the exit was blocked. He called 911 but the police did not respond even though the operator knew an inebriated individual had a brick in his hand and threatened to throw it at Marsh.

Though the individuals have become a nuisance, Marsh said he is not looking to harm anyone.

“What we noticed is that the same people that were here in 2006 are still using the ramp today,” he said. “We’ve talked to the precinct about maybe having some program that the police could put them through to help them.”

According to Marsh, the church is not allowed to contact a social agency to remove the drunken individuals.

“The police are the only ones allowed to contact them and request their help,” he said. “The only way we would be able to get a social agency involved is if we go up to the individuals and ask if they would like us to take them to a facility but if they say no, there is nothing we can do to force them.”

Marsh said that the church has had to call three ambulances in the past month and has found old carpets, trash and even feces at the top of the ramp.

I wonder what Samaritan Village is planning to do about this since it is most likely their drunken residents who are peeing and shitting all over the place when they miss curfew and get locked out. If they want approval to open a homeless shelter in Glendale, they probably should clean up their act in Briarwood first.

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CUNY mural saved by...Joe Lhota?

FYI... The mosaic mural at City Tech has been saved! The college hired a firm to take the mural down in sections and crate it. Actually Joe Lhota, who is a CUNY trustee, and others, spoke on behalf of saving it at one of the board meetings.

Since 1% of the new building cost must be set aside for art, they're hoping it will be re-installed somewhere in the new building. They're still working on the details. But even if that doesn't work out, at least it wasn't destroyed.

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Who's protecting Tommy Huang?

From the Epoch Times:

Epoch Times spoke with two real estate owners whose properties were allegedly damaged by Huang’s practices.

Neither would speak on record, yet both were concerned about what will happen to the Huang buildings still standing. What will happen, they each asked, when families move into homes built with potentially dangerous foundations?

Considering the hundreds of developments Huang has done in Queens since 1979, it’s a frightening prospect.

Tony Sclafani, spokesman for the DOB, said the department issued more than two dozen violations at the Queens Boulevard site, and issued several thousand dollars in fines. They have also had inspectors at the site and others owned by Huang.

Yet, the fundamental problem, according to Sclafani, is “the department does not have the authority to refuse the issuance of a permit based solely on past work history.”

Sen. Avella pointed out that Huang must be getting protection somehow. “Obviously, somebody has been protecting him. I don’t know who. Because I have been after the Department of Buildings for a decade to shut him down,” Avella said.

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Is this the skinniest house in Queens?

Wow, that's one narrow house, especially for an unattached one. Is it a one family? There are 2 doors...
The DOB website says it is a one-family, but it was converted illegally into 2 offices and one residential unit. There are some cramped quarters in the shadow of Queens Supreme Court in Jamaica.

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City can't find anyone to build LIC library

From LIC Post:

Construction of the Hunters Point Library is likely to be delayed yet again following the city’s inability to find a developer willing to build it for the $28 million that was budgeted.

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, speaking at the Hunters Point Civic Association meeting last night, said the city has had to modify the design plans to keep the construction cost below $28 million. He didn’t say what those design changes would be, other than saying they would merely be “cosmetic.”

Well, it does seem that a facelift is exactly what this building needs.

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