Developer gave Eric Ulrich a discount on a lux apartment hoping he would condemn a supportive housing building for the homeless across the street

 

 

THE CITY 

On the evening of Aug. 10, 2021, Eric Adams joined a rooftop party in Brooklyn where a crowd of real estate industry figures awaited him, each of them bearing gifts. It was a month after Adams’ victory in his hard-fought race to become the Democratic mayoral nominee and he was busily harvesting donations from those eager to show support for the man overwhelmingly favored to become the next mayor of the City of New York.

That morning, a breakfast fundraiser at a Manhattan law firm active in land use issues netted the candidate $38,750 in contributions. He picked up $20,250 more at a later event with healthcare executives and doctors. Another soiree, at a hotel in the Rockaways, yielded $25,925 for his campaign coffers. 

But his biggest haul of the day came on the Brooklyn rooftop. The host was a successful developer and investor in commercial and residential projects around the city named Mark Caller. The party was held atop Caller’s office building on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood where his firm, The Marcal Group, is headquartered. 

Once all donations from the gala had been collected, Adams’ campaign was $47,050 to the better. Almost a third of that money, $15,400, came from members of Caller’s family, with the rest from his friends and business associates, records obtained by THE CITY via a freedom of information request show. 

Even in a campaign that ultimately took in nearly $9 million in private donations, it was the kind of political generosity that stood out. 

Now, the previously undisclosed fundraiser stands out for a much different reason. 

In coming days Caller is expecting to be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on charges that he provided a luxury apartment at below-market rent to Eric Ulrich, a former City Council member and Adams appointee, in exchange for official favors. 

Ulrich, a Republican ex-Council member from Queens who bucked his party in 2021 to support Adams’ mayoral bid, is also expected to be charged. After Adams took office, he was appointed a senior advisor to the mayor.  A few months later, Adams named him city buildings commissioner.  The post put Ulrich, who held no management experience other than handling his Council staff, in charge of a sprawling agency of some 1,700 employees, one that is crucial to the city’s construction industry and notoriously prone to corruption.

The job didn’t last long. In November, five months after his appointment, Ulrich was forced to resign after it was revealed that the DA had seized his cell phone during an investigation into a mob-tied gambling ring. 

It’s unclear what favors Ulrich is alleged to have provided for Caller. The developer has been involved in significant construction projects that needed city approvals. Since 2020, Caller has built at least four new projects in the Rockaways, part of Ulrich’s former Council district. Just two weeks before he hosted the Adams fundraiser, Caller won a zoning change approval from the city planning commission to add a gym to a new condominium project he built on Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park. That’s the complex where Ulrich lived in a fifth floor apartment near the ocean with two bedrooms and two baths. Units there currently range from $700,000 to $1.4 million; listed rents go from $3,000 to $4,100.

Campaign records show Caller was an early supporter of Adams’ mayoral bid. In December 2019, nearly a year before Adams officially announced his candidacy, Caller and his wife, Rivka Spitzer, made donations of $1,000 apiece to Adams’ campaign. After Adams became an official candidate, the campaign returned $600 of Caller’s own donation. That’s because, due to his quest for city land use assistance for his Rockaway condo project, he is considered someone doing business with the city and limited to donations of $400 to candidates for citywide office. His wife’s donation was unaffected.

THE CITY

One of the more disturbing allegations involved Ulrich’s effort in 2022 to shut down a hotel housing the homeless because it enraged Caller, the real estate developer. Prosecutors say he made this corrupt effort to aid Caller at the same time he was negotiating to obtain a discount apartment across the street from the hotel from Caller.

At one point in March 2022, while he was a senior advisor to Adams, Caller let Ulrich know he wanted to shut down a hotel at 158 Beach 116th Street that was housing homeless adults because it happened to be across the street from and adjacent to two of his upscale rental buildings.

In a WhatsApp exchange captured by prosecutors, Caller wrote to Ulrich, “There has to be a way to put 158 B116th out of business. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

 In response, Ulrich promised Caller to set up a “task force” of inspectors from the FDNY and the buildings department, writing, “They might be able to vacate the f...g thing. It’ll take months to get it reopened.”

Prosecutors described a conversation Ulrich had with a state Assemblymember described as Jane Doe #1. At the time, Stacy Pheffer Amato was the Assembly member representing the Rockaways. 

Ulrich is alleged to have requested that the Assembly member demand an FDNY/DOB inspection of the hotel, and instructed the Assembly member “to make sure FDNY and DOB issue a full vacate order so the occupants can be moved by the New York City Department of Homeless Services into alternative housing.”

Prosecutors say that shortly after several violations were issued at that address, but none involved a vacate order. Pheffer Amato did not respond to THE CITY’s questions Wednesday about this exchange.

While Ulrich was targeting the homeless shelter, he was simultaneously discussing with Caller obtaining an apartment at a discount rate in a building across the street from the hotel, an upscale address at 133 Beach 116th Street, prosecutors say.

Caller then offered Ulrich an apartment for $2,000 a month, the lowest monthly rental in the building, and said Ulrich could apply the rental toward a down payment on the unit at a reduced rate. He also threw in the furniture and offered to void the closing costs.

Ulrich moved into the apartment about a week before he was named buildings commissioner. Just before the appointment was made public, he called Caller to advise that their communications would no longer be direct.

“We have to be smart,” he said. “I have to be a little more careful because I can’t be conflicted. If you have to communicate with me about something directly, about something concerning a property you own, maybe it’s better if it comes from the councilwoman or the elected officials, so that we’re working on it at their requests.”

 

Eric Adams gave Eric Ulrich the 411 about the feds cracking down on his gambling ties

 NY Daily News

Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich told investigators that Mayor Adams tipped him off to the possibility he could be reeled into an illegal gambling investigation — months before the Manhattan district attorney’s office executed a search warrant on Ulrich and its probe became public knowledge, two sources with knowledge of the matter told the Daily News.

“Watch your back and watch your phones,” Adams said to Ulrich, according to the two sources with knowledge of Ulrich’s interview with prosecutors at the Manhattan DA’s office in November.

In that interview, Ulrich told investigators he interpreted Adams’ reference to a friend with illegal gambling ties and the statement “watch your phones” as an indication that a probe was underway, sources said.

The revelation that Adams may have clued Ulrich into an investigation before it became public raises questions, including whether there’ll be fallout if Adams had prior knowledge of the situation, how he might have learned about it and why he might have shared that information with Ulrich.

Adams’ spokesman Fabien Levy said that “the mayor has not received any requests from the Manhattan DA surrounding this matter and has never spoken to Mr. Ulrich about this investigation, either before or after the matter became public.”

“Not only did the mayor not know anything of the investigation before news of it broke last fall, but it makes no sense for anyone to learn about or even suspect a criminal investigation into a particular person and then decide to promote that same person,” Levy said.

There is no indication Adams is a target of the probe.

News about the probe into Ulrich broke last November, seven months after Adams tapped him to become buildings commissioner. Two days after the probe became public, Ulrich resigned amid allegations he was involved in illegal gambling.

More recently, sources revealed that a grand jury is considering charges against Ulrich and that an indictment could come before summer’s end, as first reported by The News.

According to the two sources, who agreed to speak with The News under the condition of anonymity due to the DA’s probe, Ulrich told investigators that Adams revealed the possibility of an investigation during a conversation in May 2022, just days after Adams announced Ulrich’s appointment as head of the Department of Buildings.

Before taking on the commissioner post, Ulrich, a Republican, served as a senior adviser to Adams, who’s a Democrat. During Adams’ run for mayor in 2021, while Ulrich was a City Councilman representing Queens, he backed the mayor and was instrumental in raising money for his campaign.

In early May 2022, days after the announcement that Ulrich would serve as buildings commissioner, he and Adams appeared at an event in the Bronx. After it ended, Adams pulled Ulrich aside and asked him to hand over his phone to a member of Adams’ NYPD security detail, according to the sources’ recounting of what Ulrich told investigators. The sources didn’t specify who that officer was. Which event the two attended together also isn’t entirely clear, but a review of the mayor’s public schedule shows both attended a Department of Buildings Construction Safety Week event on Friday, May 6.

After Ulrich handed over his phone, he and Adams walked away from the cop, and then, according to the sources’ retelling, Adams told Ulrich that “a little birdie” told him a friend of Ulrich’s was involved in illegal gambling and that Ulrich should “watch your back and watch your phones,” a message both sources took as a reference to a potential wiretap.

According to the sources, Ulrich recounted this exchange to Manhattan D.A. investigators on Nov. 2, a day after the search warrant had been executed.

Levy denied that Adams told Ulrich to leave his phone with anyone during any conversation between the two

 

Ulrich folds 'em

 

 Queens Chronicle

Eric Ulrich has resigned from his position as city Department of Buildings commissioner, the Mayor’s Office announced this morning. 

The move comes after Ulrich, formerly a three-term Republican councilmember representing District 32, reportedly became a focus of a criminal gambling probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He was tapped by Mayor Adams in May to lead the DOB after serving as a senior advisor for the administration.

“This morning, Eric Ulrich tendered his resignation as DOB commissioner in an effort to, in his words, avoid ‘unnecessary distraction for the Adams administration,’” Fabien Levy, spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office, said in a prepared statement this morning.(Sure Fab, when Mayor Adams throws you under the bus at least he leaves you with some dignity-JQ LLC)

He continued, “We have accepted his resignation, appreciate him taking this step, and wish him well. We have no further knowledge of any investigation and, out of respect for his and his family’s privacy, have nothing further to add.”

In the meantime, First Deputy Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik will serve as acting commissioner and no city services will be impacted, according to the statement. 

Ulrich was reportedly approached near his home in Rockaway Park by investigators with a search warrant on Tuesday, according to The New York Times.

The scope and focus of the investigation are not yet known but outlets have reported that, according to sources, the conduct relates to his time in City Council, not in the DOB, and involve debts racked up during back-room card games.

 

 

The Gambler

 

 

 NY Daily News

Eric Ulrich, Mayor Adams’ Buildings commissioner, was questioned by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office Tuesday as part of an investigation into illegal gambling, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Manhattan DA investigators grilled Ulrich after serving him with a search warrant near his Rockaway Park home, the sources said. The New York Times reported that the investigators also seized Ulrich’s cellphone.

Ulrich did not return a request for comment on his face-off with investigators. Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, declined to comment.

“Our administration has no knowledge of any type of investigation,” said Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Adams. “If an investigation were to be be conducted, we would expect any member of this administration to cooperate fully.”

Ulrich served as a special adviser to the mayor before he was appointed to his current post in May.

Before news broke of the search warrant targeting Ulrich, Adams was abruptly whisked away from a City Hall press conference by an aide Tuesday morning.

Ulrich, who served as a member of the City Council for 12 years before joining Adams’ administration, has a history of gambling.

Eric Ulrich is commissioner of the Department of Buildings

 

NY Post

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday named an ex-City Councilman as his Buildings Commissioner and an ally of disgraced state lawmaker Hiram Monserrate to be the Big Apple’s next sheriff.

The two appointments came as Hizzoner traveled to California for a technology-related conference.

The new buildings chief, Eric Ulrich, was first elected to represent Queens at City Hall in a February 2009 special election and departed last year under the term limits law.

Adams initially hired him in January as a senior adviser, where he helped vet candidates for other key positions in the administration.

 

Caption the Erics

Eric hires Eric for advisor job.

I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed as a Senior Advisor @NYCMayorsOffice

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve in the @ericadamsfornyc Administration. I look forward to helping him implement his vision for a better New Yorkhttps://t.co/Hh0S5j3I6i

— Eric Ulrich (@eric_ulrich) January 5, 2022

Ridgewood Post 

Former Queens Council Member Eric Ulrich has joined Mayor Eric Adams’ administration as a mayoral advisor, Adams announced Wednesday.

Ulrich — a Republican who represented District 32 in southwest Queens up until the end of 2021 — has been tapped as a senior advisor to the mayor.

He is one of two general advisors Adams named in a list of new staff members that includes chiefs of staff, commissioners and directors.

Ulrich represented the neighborhoods of Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Neponsit, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Rockaway Park, Roxbury, South Ozone Park, West Hamilton Beach and Woodhaven for 12 years on the City Council.

He was succeeded by Republican Joann Ariola, who now represents District 32.

In his announcement, Adams noted Ulrich’s instrumental role in passing legislation that established the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services as well as his relief efforts for constituents following Hurricane Sandy.

Ulrich is not the first Queens resident to take on an important role in the Adams administration.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid!

From the NY Post:

Monday’s poolside fundraiser took place at the home of developer Carl Mattone and was co-hosted by Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens), lobbyist William Driscoll and architect Gerry Caliendo.

This is bad. Queens is gonna get f*cked royally.

 JQ LLC here; the DSA is not running a candidate for mayor, but Adams did clarify and also revealed what votes and donor lucre he is pandering for to beat "Eric Sliwa" and it's the same real estate and corporate oligarchs who mobilized super pacs to counter and cripple DSA candidates that were running for council seats. 

 Adams is such a narcissist, I bet he mistakes everyone's names for "Eric"

Councilman Ulrich is on the wagon

 

 

NY Post

Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich admitted he is suffering from alcoholism in a Facebook message he posted Friday, writing that the COVID-19 pandemic had turned what used to be a social activity into something “self-destructive.”

“The COVID pandemic has affected people in different ways,” Ulrich (R-Queens) acknowledged.

“What used to be mainly a social activity, and a way to cope with stress, has now become far too frequent and self-destructive,” he wrote. “After talking about this with my family and friends, I have decided to finally quit and get sober.”

UIrich was elected to the City Council in 2013 and will leave office at the end of the year under the city’s term limits law.

Queens Boat Crap

 

 QNS 

In the ongoing battle to clean up Jamaica Bay, Councilman Eric Ulrich joined members of the city’s Parks Department and the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers for a demonstration that removed a derelict boat from its waters.

Earlier this year, Ulrich secured $55,000 in funding for a cleanup initiative that will remove abandoned vessels from the bay.

“Most people are not aware of just how widespread this problem is, especially in Jamaica Bay. Abandoned boats are one of the biggest problems in New YorkCity’s waterways,” Ulrich said. “Not only are they an eyesore, they present multiple ecological, transportation and safety hazards. I am proud to fund this cleanup initiative, which will target the most problematic areas in Jamaica Bay, a local treasure.”

Many vessels are abandoned when an owner can no longer afford to maintain them, and leave them adrift into Jamaica Bay instead of performing proper removal. Despite having removed about two dozen of these abandoned vessels from the waters and marshlands of Jamaica Bay over the past several years, the Parks Department estimates more than 100 abandoned boats remain in the city’s waterways.

Thieves welcome themselves to Ozone Park sign

Queens Eagle

Southwest Queens has a sign-stealing scandal.

Thieves made off with a brand new “Welcome to Ozone Park” sign last night, hours after elected officials and civic leaders installed the refurbished marker near the Howard Beach border, Councilmember Eric Ulrich said Tuesday.

Ulrich and other community members joined workers from Cannon Signs & Awning to install the new sign near the corner of 149th Avenue and Cross Bay Boulevard Monday morning. The burgundy board replaced a famous, but weathered version of the sign that was first introduced in 2003.

The next morning, it was gone. 

Under cover of darkness, the thieves sawed through the wooden signposts near the base and fled, Ulrich said. He posted photos from the scene of the crime on Twitter.

“It’s probably the most selfish act that I’ve seen in a long time,” Ulrich said. “Somebody’s a real sicko.” 

Ulrich said he contacted the 106th Precinct to file a police report and also notified the Queens District Attorney’s Office. 

NYPD Spokesperson Sophia Mason said police do not yet have a suspect description, but the investigation is ongoing.

Ulrich said officers are pulling surveillance footage from a nearby hotel and private homes in the area.

He said he suspects at least two people were involved in the heist because the heavy sign required two people to carry off a truck on Monday.

Councilman Ulrich, one of 24 candidates running for Public Advocate, targets the Dope From Park Slope on his platform.

 

 Queens Chronicle

The field of candidates running for public advocate next month is starting to resemble the start of the New York City marathon. So Eric Ulrich, the three-term Council member from Ozone Park, has found a simple message to stand out.

“If people love Mayor de Blasio, if they think he’s doing a great job and think the city is headed in the right direction, then they have 20 other candidates to pick from,” he said in an interview this week with the Queens Chronicle.

“If someone is looking for someone to be a public advocate [who] is not afraid to be independent of the mayor, then I’m their candidate. That’s why I’m running.


Ulrich, who turns 34 two weeks before the special election February 26, is a popular figure in his South Queens Council district after his surprise victory in a 2009 special election and then winning re-election three times in an area that is overwhelmingly Democratic.

He is barred by term limits from running for City Council again when his current term expires in 2021.

I personally think this position is redundant, after all the majority of these candidates are already in city council, so they are already advocates for the public.

DOT's bright ideas are costly to local businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

The bus lanes on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards are affecting just about every stage of life.

According to several sources, parents dropping their toddlers and children at VIP II Daycare Center on Cross Bay Boulevard have had to park in the curbside lane and run into the building to drop off their children.

“When I called the [Department of Transportation] and told them about it, they said, ‘We know about VIP Daycare,’” said state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach).

And just a few steps away, according to several people, the hearse for James Romanelli-Stephen Funeral Home on Cross Bay has had to park on the sidewalk. Arlene Brown, from the office of Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), said late last month she witnessed one such occasion.

The DOT in October implemented the curbside bus lanes on Cross Bay from Rockaway Boulevard to the Belt Parkway, which restrict parking during morning and evening rush hours Monday to Saturday. Other businesses on the corridor have complained of financial impacts from the move.

From the Queens Chronicle:

Life in the slow lane continues for nearly a dozen frustrated Queens Boulevard business owners who say the bike lanes installed along the thoroughfare by the Department of Transportation this summer are to blame.

After months of fuming to themselves about the lanes — specifically the removal of parking spaces to accommodate them — the entrepreneurs gathered at Tropix Bar & Lounge on Monday to share their personal horror stories and brainstorm ideas on how to fight back.

“Every time a customer calls me, says he’s circling the block for one hour looking for parking, then says he will return next time,” said Edward Nisimov, the owner of both Falcoln Imports at 95-42 Queens Blvd. and Mother Imports next door. “But in the furniture business, there is usually no next time.”

After months of public outreach, the DOT removed 198 spaces along a 1.3-mile stretch of the boulevard’s service roads between Eliot Avenue and Yellowstone Boulevard to make way for the bike lanes.

Simultaneously, the agency added a number of curbside delivery-only zones which ban parking from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Sunday.

Before the lanes were installed, Nisimov said, there were approximately 24 parking spots in the direct vicinity of his businesses.

Now, he said there are just four.

Video Voter Guide - City Council District 32

Ulrich opponent appeared in racist, misogynistic, anti-cop rap videos

Councilman Eric Ulrich's campaign today released a video denouncing Mike Scala for his racist and sexist rap lyrics. The video follows news that Mike Scala or his supporters circulated a racially charged flyer in the Democratic Primary.

Scala's songs include racist lines such as "Me and rap go together like Spanish chicks and strollers" and lyrics that promote violence against police officers such as "Every time these cops talk, I wanna break their jawbone."



Mike Scala was endorsed by the Queens Machine. This makes somewhat of a trifecta - Elizabeth Crowley, who has a 16 year history of homophobia and is okay with her campaign workers verbally abusing women was also endorsed by the Joe Crowley clan. And let's not forget that an indictment didn't get in the way of them endorsing Ruben Wills. And they love Bill de Blasio as well...

Ulrich alleges that Crowley put the squeeze on Broad Channel restaurant owner

From the Queens Chronicle:

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) dropped a bombshell on one of his colleagues this week, an allegation that could shake up her bitter race less than three weeks before Election Day.

In a Monday interview with the Chronicle, Ulrich accused Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Glendale) of abusing her power as a lawmaker — claiming she sent a “SWAT team” of city agencies after a popular Broad Channel restaurant last year, not long after one of her sons, then an employee of the eatery, was injured in a fight nearby.

The establishment is in his district.

According to Ulrich and Bayview co-owner Anthony Martelli, Crowley’s two sons Dennis, 20, and Owen O’Hara, 19, were involved in a physical altercation about a block away from the restaurant on July 1, 2016.

Two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Chronicle that a criminal investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

However, Martelli said he believed Dennis O’Hara, who worked at Bayview at the time, to be the aggressor, while Ulrich said those who witnessed the incident “all know who kicked the kid’s ass and thinks he deserved it.”

“The irony here is that the kid and his brother are known for making trouble,” Ulrich said. “I don’t want to attack Crowley’s kids or anything, but her son got smart with his mouth and they followed him outside and kicked his ass down the street from the place.”

In response, the Republican lawmaker said his “idiot” colleague prompted a multiagency task force — including officials from the FDNY, the State Liquor Authority, the MTA, the Board of Standards and Appeals and the departments of Buildings and Health and Mental Hygiene — to be deployed to the restaurant on or around Sept. 2, 2016.

“There was never any underage drinking there,” Ulrich said. “But this is what she did. She did everything she could to shut this guy down. It’s like someone went in there with instructions to bang [Bayview] over the head until it got shut down.”
____________________________________________________

Well, the one thing we can all agree with Ulrich on is that Crowley is an idiot. How refreshing for a fellow tweeder to come out and say it, though!

In all seriousness, though, this is a lot to digest, and there are several more allegations at the original link, but let's stick with this for now. We already know that one of the Crowley boys likes to be verbally abusive and this fits in with that pattern. There was no press for some reason about this alleged incident at the time it happened. An assault this violent most certainly was a 911 call and the city's NYPD mapping tool confirms 2 felonious assaults at the location on that day. But if what Ulrich said - "all know who kicked the kid’s ass" - is true, then why have there been no arrests? And why would the mother of these 2 launch her own assault against the restaurant instead of the perp?

What's missing from this story is when Dennis O'Hara was let go from the restaurant. Was it that night? Was it because of this incident which was apparently witnessed by many and with an identifiable suspect? Who exactly did he piss off? It seems to be someone untouchable. A mother's natural inclination, one would think, would be to make sure justice was served to the punk that beat up her kid and not go after a business owner. She's hooked up real good with the PBA and other NYPD unions, so why haven't they arrested the perp?

Why were the MTA and BSA called in? What in tarnation do they have to do with any of this?

Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel rezoned

From the Queens Chronicle:

The City Council on June 21 unanimously approved a rezoning of Hamilton Beach and Broad Channel, which permits the construction of single-family homes on most lots in the coastal neighborhoods.

The initiatives were pushed through by Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), who urged the City Planning Commission to approve the plans at its June 7 meeting — even though the panel had more time to review them.

The rezonings will take effect once signed by the City Clerk — which could happen in the coming days.

Under the rezoning, future residential developments in Hamilton Beach and Broad Channel will be limited to one-family houses, with the possibility of two-family homes only on lots wider than 40 feet in the former area.

In Broad Channel, new developments would be single-family only and the construction of community facilities with sleeping accommodations would be prohibited.

The new rules would also prohibit the construction of semidetached multifamily housing in both communities.

Larger homes are often less storm-resilient and out of character in the low-lying, shoreline neighborhoods.

NYPD call boxes now in Forest Park

From DNA Info:

Joggers and cyclists frequenting Forest Park can now call for emergency help with the press of a button, thanks to several solar-powered call boxes recently installed throughout the green space.

The NYPD has already placed eight such boxes in the park, with nine more slated to be installed there by June 29, the department said.

The 500-acre green space is popular among local families and sports aficionados, but it has seen its share of violence in recent years, including a string of sexual assaults, several robberies, numerous car break-ins and a murder.

Following the series of sexual attacks, the 102nd Precinct assigned permanent patrols to monitor the park, and last summer, 14 cameras were placed in seven locations around the park, after Assemblyman Mike Miller and State Sen. Joseph Addabbo allocated $250,000 for that purpose in 2013.

Councilman Eric Ulrich, whose constituents frequent the green space, allocated $140,000 for the call boxes, hoping that they "will help to keep Forest Park visitors safe,” he said.

Assemblyman Miller also footed a portion of the bill, according to Ulrich's office.

The locations of the new call boxes, which include Metropolitan Avenue and Forest Park Drive as well as Woodhaven Boulevard and Forest Park Drive, were determined by the NYPD, officials said.

Hey, Eric, it's time to sh*t or get off the pot

From the Observer:

Only one of the four contenders to appear at the Columbia University College Republicans’ mayoral primary forum have yet to announce his candidacy—Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich, who promised reporters afterward he was “very close to making a decision.”

In his opening statement, Ulrich claimed that he was weighing a run because Mayor Bill de Blasio, a liberal Democrat, does not appear to be interested in the job. The councilman, who is eligible for another four-year term representing Howard Beach and parts of the Rockaways, has raised just short of $52,000 in a committee for undeclared office—some of it with the help of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whom Ulrich backed in New York’s primary last April.

“It’s the million dollar question, right?” Ulrich admitted to the press. “I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m very close to making a decision and I should have an announcement soon, but I’m still considering a run for mayor because I’m concerned about the future of the city and because I do believe that Bill de Blasio can be beaten.”

The forum also included real estate executive Paul Massey, former Jets defensive lineman-turned-minister Rev. Michel Faulkner and actor and disability rights advocate Darren Aquino.

Yet another hotel used for homeless

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Homeless Services recently moved dozens of homeless families into the Comfort Inn in Ozone Park — and a nearby resident says the area has become a hotspot for illicit activity.

“It’s filthy there,” said Dominic, a resident who lives nearby. “There’s food just laying on the windowsills all the time ... people smoking marijuana outside.”

It’s unclear when the families were moved to the hotel, located at 137-30 Redding St., a short distance from PS/MS 202.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Park) and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) condemned the use of the hotel as a homeless shelter in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

Dominic said in addition to people smoking marijuana, he’s spotted people he believes to be living in the hotel engaging in sexual activity.

He’s not the only one to report such acts, as other residents have reported them to area politicians.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.