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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Kiss the South Street Seaport goodbye

From Curbed:

The shopping mall on Pier 17 has been one of Manhattan's quintessential tourist traps for over 25 years. On a hot summer day, the tourists are like bugs circling flypaper, swarming around establishments that include Shoelaces You Never Tie, The Wonders Of Rice, and Christmas In New York. Inside this massive shed, souvenir license plates and steaming trays of cheap food are served up alongside stunning views of the lower Manhattan waterfront. When this troubled old mall is closed down at the end of this week, to be replaced with a shiny new mall designed by SHoP Architects, few New Yorkers will miss it.

Many of the neighborhood businesses near Pier 17 were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy and have not yet reopened. On the side streets of the Seaport, restaurants, theaters, and the Seaport Museum galleries have all been boarded up, abandoned, or vacated, while the Fulton Market Building, another mall owned by the Howard Hughes Corporation, has remained closed since the storm.

After Hurricane Sandy, a number of businesses in the mall closed down, including restaurants like Harbour Lights and Finn's Fish Market Pub.

The entire mall will be closed on September 9th and emptied for a "complete renovation," according to the Howard Hughes Corporation. Their new mall is scheduled to open in 2015.

The subject of many of Rauam's paintings is the Fulton Fish Market, which was closed down in 2005.

The fish market was relocated to the Bronx, leaving behind its old buildings. This newer section of the market was built in 1939 and is located next to the Pier 17 mall.

The building was denied Landmark status in August, according to the Epoch Times, leaving preservationists concerned that its owner, The Howard Hughes Corporation, "will tear the building down and replace it with a high-rise structure."

Though renovations continue on the historic older structures of the neighborhood, the future of the Seaport is far from certain.

Don't understand tearing down a mall to build another one, when the problem is the location, but whatever.

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CPC also approves shopping mall on parkland

From the Daily News:

The City Planning Commission approved a plan to build a mega mall near Citi Field as part of a larger redevelopment of the gritty stretch of auto body shops.

The 13-member panel gave its overwhelming approval for the proposal — paving the way for a City Council vote within the next 50 days.

Board member Michelle de la Uz was the lone dissenting voice during the meeting.

She argued that there are a glut of malls already in Queens and said “questionable and weak” efforts have been made to relocate the immigrant shop owners working in the auto body shops.

The development group — a joint venture between Sterling Equities and the Related Co. — said Wednesday that they will begin “briefing Council members” on the “support the plan has received from local civic leaders.”

What civic leaders are those? Chuck Apelian and Paul Vallone?


New York City Planning Commissioner Michelle de la Uz explains her "NO" vote -- opposing the proposed Willets West mall / Willets Point development of Sterling Equities and Related Companies -- during the Planning Commission meeting on August 21, 2013. Commissioner de la Uz is appointed by the New York City Public Advocate. Her predecessor, Commissioner Karen Phillips -- who was appointed by the prior NYC Public Advocate -- similarly voted against the original proposed Willets Point development during 2008.

Copyright 2013 LoScalzo Media Design LLC. All rights reserved.

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Mattones return to screw Elmhurst again

From the Queens Chronicle:

A former parking lot between the Queens Center mall and the Long Island Expressway has been empty for the past 12 years and now the developers who own it want to build three restaurants there.

The College Point-based Mattone Group presented its plan at an informational Newtown Civic Association meeting in Corona Tuesday night. The company would bring in an Olive Garden, a Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe’s Crab Shack, which will cover approximately 25,000 to 30,000 square feet, surrounded by free parking spaces. If the plan moves forward, they predict that the establishments will open in April or May 2014.

Most of the meeting focused on the civic association members’ parking and traffic congestion-related concerns, but Robert Valdes-Clausell, an officer of the Newtown Civic Association and a member of Community Board 4, brought up the property’s history and the developer’s history of shortchanging the surrounding community.

Valdes-Clausell also noted the meeting’s unusual timing, in the summer, when many community members are away.

“This has all the trappings of something that is not kosher,” he said of the new plan.

The city’s Economic Development Corp. sold the property, which was a city parking lot, to Mattone on Dec. 17, 2001 for $2.2 million. The City Council, including the area’s former Councilman John Sabini (D-Elmhurst), approved the deal, overriding the objections of CB 4 and disregarding the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

Mattone’s contract with EDC contained several restrictions. The developer was supposed to build a movie theater, which Loews would operate, within four and a half years and buy the dilapidated Elmwood Theater, and give the proceeds to Catholic Medical Services, which then operated St. John’s Hospital according to Valdes-Clausell. If those restrictions were not met, the EDC was entitled to buy back the property for $1.

The Mattone Group did not comply with the restrictions, but the EDC did not repossess the property. Loews declared bankruptcy shortly after, and Mattone never found a replacement as the movie-theater business was in decline. Therefore, Mattone never purchased the Elmwood Theater and Loews sold it to the Rock Church instead. St. John’s Hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

On Feb. 6, 2013 Mattone signed a new contract with the EDC, in which the developer paid $3 million to modify the original deed from 2001, allowing it to build the restaurants on the property.

Mattone claims that they did not need to seek community approval because the proposed restaurants are in accordance with area zoning laws and that informing the community before beginning construction was merely a courtesy.

Valdes-Clausell accused Mattone of putting the cart before the horse, by making a new deal with EDC without informing or asking the community about it first.

Moreover, the $3 million in the recent contract went straight to the EDC, not the community.

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Shulman, Ferreras, called out at Willets Point press conference

From A Walk in the Park:

Opponents of the Willet's Point West attempted land grab in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park gathered on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday and voiced their overwhelming opposition toward the mega-development project planned on more than 30 acres of public parkland.

Under the proposal a massive 1.4 million sq. ft. mall would be built in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park on parkland currently used for Citi-Field parking. The majority of the land for the $3 billion Willets Point project would be taken from the public parkland.

Critics of the plan argue that if the 40-plus acres being proposed for mall use are no longer needed for parking then it should revert back to its original recreational use.

The City and Bloomberg-preferred developer the Related Companies in partnership with Sterling Equities, the real estate firm controlled by the owner of the Mets - are attempting this without seeking State Alienation legislation as is required under state law to use parkland for non-park purposes.
Critics denounced numerous issues regarding the Willets Point redevelopment project including:

1. This was not the deal that the Council approved: The affordable housing component has been delayed and subject to escape clauses, and the agreed living wage provision has been eliminated;
2. No project - let alone a 1.4 million square foot mall - should be built on public parkland;
3. The City Administrative Code does not authorize or provide any legal basis for the construction of a mall on 30+ acres of parkland, in violation of the parkland Public Trust Doctrine;
4. No massive development should be built in this area without new access ramps being built to and from the Van Wyck Expressway before any other construction;
5. No private property should be taken to merely be paved over as a parking lot;
6. Developers Sterling and Related were selected via a process that excluded the Willets Point Advisory Committee and Queens officials – contrary to written promises made by the City administration in 2008;
7. The City must be compensated for the $200 million it has spent to buy Willets Point property;
8. No team of billionaire developers should be given said property as a $1 gift;
9. No developer who was part of an illegal lobbying scheme should be allowed to profit for engaging in the illegality;
10. No development deal based on an illegal lobbying scheme should be approved by the City Council

Press Conference Statement from Irene Presti, Willets Point property owner:

My name is Irene Presti and I own property at Willets Point that is threatened by the illegal and unethical deal that the Bloomberg administration has put forward to develop the Iron Triangle. 

That’s right, the entire development was promoted by a violation of not only the not for profit lobbying laws of New York State; but by the brazen violation of Federal law as well.

In order to promote this dirty deal the city helped to set up a phony not for profit local development group headed by Claire Shulman. The group, made up of rich developers with the names Muss, Wilpon, Mattone and TDC, was never anything but a not for profit but in name only-it was put in place to advance the special interest of its real estate company members.

Incredibly, NYC EDC forwarded $500,000 in tax payer funds to finance this illegal lobbying scheme.

Unfortunately, this LDC was barred from doing any legal lobbying from the standpoint of the NY State law on local development corporations. Don’t just take my word for it. In July of 2012, the NY State Attorney General cited the violation of the law but, shamefully, failed to do anything to sanction the illegal behavior.

Apparently, some people are considered to be above the law and the AG even failed to demand that the Shulman group refund the illegal contribution from EDC and the tax payers. So small property owners like myself were forced to fend off the big real estate companies who were publicly funded in the campaign to take away my property.

But it gets worse folks. When the Shulman group filed for tax exempt status with the IRS there are two important boxes it checked. The first was: Will you be doing any lobbying? The second was: will you be doing any economic development? The group, lying through its teeth, answered no to both questions-even though Shulman told the NY Times that the entire purpose of the group was to lobby for the Willets Point project.

Did the IRS act on this blatant violation of the federal not for profit laws? Not on your life. It was busy chasing the Tea Party and didn’t have the time to investigate and punish a clear violation of law. So on the state and the federal level, law enforcement is a partisan activity and justice be damned!

Now, however, it gets much worse. We see that Mr. Wilpon of the Mets-the prime mover of the illegal lobbying group- has been awarded the development rights to Willets West and $200 million worth of property for $1. And there is no one with the courage to step in and put an end to this criminal scheme. Who says crime doesn’t pay?

Not only that, but the entire original development deal has been changed in a breathless bait and switch that has eliminated the affordable housing and living wage pledges that were the heart of the approval in 2008. Instead of the “next green neighborhood” we have been given a huge mall and a parking lot. For this we are abusing the eminent domain process?

I am a proud member of Willets Point United. If my group had done what EDC, Wilpon and Shulman have conspired to do, we would be under arrest and awaiting trial. Instead, Shulman remains at large and Wilpon is poised to reap billions of dollars for evading the law and ripping off the tax payers.

Willets West is a scandal and the conspirators should not be rewarded for their illegal scheme. The city council must vote, No-and let the next mayor sort out this scandal.

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Will third time be a charm for Atlas Park?

From the Daily News:

A struggling Glendale shopping mall is shooting for a comeback, and nothing would make nearby residents happier.

The Shops at Atlas Park is being re-energized. Its owner has added a grassy 10,000-square-foot courtyard, and has been reaching out to the community, offering free outdoor movies, concerts and even a fireworks show.

But skeptical Glendale residents — who watched the airy, upscale mall go bankrupt several years ago — say the only thing that counts is filling the vast empty storefronts.

On Tuesday morning, contractors were putting the finishing touches on the outdoor parking lot, reconfigured to get shoppers closer to stores including the soon-to-open Forever 21.

“That will help enormously,” said Peter DeLucia Jr., marketing manager for the center, which was snapped up by mall giant Macerich in 2011 for $54 million.

DeLucia refused to divulge the names of new shops poised to move in, but rumors have included a Modell’s sporting goods site and cosmetics giant Sephora.

“We’re trying to get the community back,” said DeLucia, who noted hundreds of people have already responded to an email campaign that asks them to compile a wish list of stores for the site.

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Marshall demands taxpayers build ramps for Wilpon's shopping mall

Save FMCP has a copy of the Borough President's ULURP decision with respect to the Mets shopping mall on mapped parkland.

QBP WilletsWest ULURP by Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Here are the highlights:

- "There were 2 speakers in favor and 20 speakers opposed to the application" at the Borough President's hearing.
- "Phase 1A/1B will be a $3 billion dollar private investment..." Okay, but the mall first has to turn a profit and recoup this money before "affordable housing" - which is used interchangeably with "low-income housing" will be built. In other words, nothing will happen after the mall.
- "The full buildout and impacts of this construction will occur over the next few decades." Hmmm. I thought this was all supposed to be done by 2025. Sounds more like 2125 now.
- "Funding must be committed to the design and construction of the Van Wyck Expressway Access Ramps." That's right, Helen is demanding that our tax dollars be used to build ramps so that the Wilpons can build a shopping mall in a public park.

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Whitestone Cinemas to become mall

From Jeremiah's Vanishing New York:

The Whitestone multiplex cinema has shuttered after 30 years in business. It was purchased for $30 million last year by real estate development company the Lightstone Group, who will be turning the site into New York City's first outlet mall.

The Lightstone Group is best known these days for its massive luxury development of Gowanus, but they have developed a number of outlet malls--full of typical mall chain stores. The one at Whitestone will be a chain itself--in the Paragon Outlets chain of outlets--and will "feature an open-air racetrack design and showcase over 100 global brands."

Whitestone Cinemas opened in 1983, when its owner, media magnate Sumner Redstone, decided that an indoor cinema, with lots of screens, would be more lucrative than his father's old drive-in. Mr. Redstone credits himself with inventing the word "multiplex," which he trademarked it in 1973.

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Queens Civic Congress comes out against Mets shopping mall, for fixing up FMCP

Testimony on FMCP June 2013

City Council Testimony on FMCP Needs and Conditions 2013

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