Lots of new taxes being considered to save MTA

From NBC:

A state panel is advising Governor Andrew Cuomo to consider a bundle of new taxes after revelations that the price for fixing the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority has doubled.

As it turns out, officials say a controversial plan for congestion pricing won’t raise enough money to cover the difference.

The task of finding solutions for raising the dough has been left to a city-state sustainability task force. Sources tell CBS2 that in addition to congestion pricing, the task force is exploring other options including:

- raising the payroll tax
- increasing the real estate transfer tax on sales of property over $5 million
- ending the sales tax exemption on clothing purchases under $110

Mitchell Moss, head of the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University, has other suggestions including raising the gas tax.

“We should be using the gas tax and other broad-based revenues,” Moss said. “We might even want to consider getting revenue from cannabis to be earmarked for riders.”

A marijuana tax is a real possibility if pot is legalized in New York, sources say. Other revenue streams could come from new taxes on casinos and sports betting.

Exxon off the hook - for now

From the Daily News:

A federal judge is not convinced that the methane gas leaking from waste oil underneath a Queens building is a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

Brooklyn Judge Pamela Chen rejected a demand by Phoenix Beverage — which operates a large warehouse in Long Island City — to order Exxon Mobil to launch an immediate cleanup.

“There's not enough evidence that there is an imminent threat of an explosion,” Chen said Wednesday. “I, of course, hope it does not come to pass.”

...Chen sided with the Exxon Mobil lawyers who argued that the situation is being monitored and the risk of an explosion is merely speculation. Both sides have been litigating the case for years and Chen will ultimately have to decide who is responsible for cleaning up the boatloads of underground waste oil.

Con Ed performs rescue after car accident

Con Edison Crew Rescues a Baby, Two Women Trapped at Scene of an Auto Collision
Four Con Edison workers rescued a baby and two women earlier this week when the cars they were driving in collided, bringing down a traffic light and exposing electric wires to spilled gasoline.

“We heard a loud crash and saw gasoline pouring out from under one of the cars right next to the pedestrian crossing sign that was hit,” said James DeVita, Brooklyn/Queens Overhead Supervisor. “And we saw people inside, trying to get out.”

The collision took place about 12:30PM Tuesday at the intersection of Francis Lewis Blvd. and 53rd Ave. in Queens. One car caromed off a pedestrian crossing sign at the northwest corner of the intersection causing the sign to topple and break.

The Con Edison workers immediately lowered themselves from their overhead buckets and ran one-and-a-half blocks to the accident scene.

“It was kind of crazy. We were standing in gasoline and then we saw the baby in the back seat,” said Rich Coyle, Chief Lineman.

DeVita and another Con Edison Lineman, Chris Jensen, quickly worked to free the baby and an unconscious woman in the driver’s seat. “I finally had to cut the little girl out of the seat. The gas fumes were getting pretty strong,” added DeVita.

Another lineman, Mauricio Rincon, also helped with the rescue, including getting another injured woman out of the other car by bringing her over the front seat to the back in order to get her out through the undamaged rear door.

“And all this time, we could see those exposed wires – something we know about,” said DeVita. He also dialed 911.

The crew managed to quickly get all the victims far enough away from the accident scene just as NYPD and FDNY responders arrived and aided the victims. The two women and baby are unidentified and the extent of injuries unknown.

“I have a six-year-old daughter,” said Lineman Rincon, “and that’s all I could think of was to get that baby out of danger.”

The workers were installing an overhead transformer in front of nearby P.S. 62 as part of Con Edison’s summer preparations.

Hipster shuttle bus now parked in Greenpoint

The magical blue bus that the notorious Knockdown Center/notorious Roberta's used to shuttle hipsters back and forth to the L train this summer was spotted recently on the street behind a high school in Greenpoint.



I believe the skull is a new addition.



Note the bottle of Smirnoff and the gas can in the center of the mess.



Yet more gas cans.



Amazing use of ratcheting tie-downs.

It all kind of fits in with Roberta's vibe, and Roberta's has been the exclusive caterer at the Knockdown Center thus far. Last year, Roberta's offered a menu that consisted of recipes containing marijuana and somehow kept their liquor license, even after bragging about it publicly. Perhaps they'll bring this avant-garde cuisine to Maspeth. After all, the manager of KDC once said:

“I think the Knockdown Center represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring something really unique and really special to Maspeth certainly, but also the New York community at large.”

I'll say.

This was on the Knockdown Center's website until last week (Click for larger version):


Now it's gone. I wonder why. Perhaps it's because they really don't give a flying crap about Maspeth, or Queens, and it makes their clientele cringe when they pretend they do.

This whole operation stinks to high heaven, and I have just revealed the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned. There's more to be uncovered...

Gas tax math doesn't add up

From the Queens Chronicle:

Before you lament your next fill-up at the gas station, stop a moment to do the math. Of the now-$3.95 average you pay at the pump for regular, 18.4 cents per gallon goes towards the federal gas tax, another 8 cents per gallon for the state and a fraction of a penny for the MTA district sales tax. But the city collects a percentage of the overall price.

The disparity in the excises has prompted state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) to call for a reform of the local gas tax’s math, calling for a flat cent-to-gallon ratio, rather than the 4 percent rate that increases the consumer’s payout alongside the price of gas.

“As we all cry out in pain over the rapid increase of gas prices the past few months, the city is quietly sitting back and collecting an unfair and undeserved surge in revenue,” Avella said. “With gas prices constantly fluctuating, it is important that motorists have protections in place at the pump.”

Avella has offered up legislation in Albany that would require the city to switch to a flat rate on the gallon. It currently has four co-sponsors in the Senate, but no co-sponsors in the opposite house, though freshman Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) was suggested as a possible co-sponsor.

The lawmaker was noncommittal about the ideal tax per gallon at the city level, but suggested the state’s rate could be a starting point. He posited the tax was taking a toll not only on consumers, but also gas station owners who he said are struggling to survive on a day-to-day basis.

Avella said no home rule decision from the City Council would need to be invoked in order to have the legislation take effect, even though it involved local policy being regulated at a state level, instead suggesting the city and state can collaborate on the measure.

Storm problems were predicted decades ago

From the AP:

More than three decades before Superstorm Sandy, a state law and a series of legislative reports began warning New York politicians to prepare for a storm of historic proportions, spelling out scenarios eerily similar to what actually happened: a towering storm surge; overwhelming flooding; swamped subway lines; widespread power outages. The Rockaway peninsula was deemed among the "most at risk."

But most of the warnings and a requirement in a 1978 law to create a regularly updated plan for the restoration of "vital services" after a storm went mostly unheeded, either because of tight budgets or the lack of political will to prepare for a hypothetical storm that may never hit.

Some of the thorniest problems after Sandy, including a gasoline shortage, the lack of temporary housing and the flooding of commuter tunnels, ended up being dealt with largely on the fly.

"I don't know that anyone believed," acknowledged Gov. Andrew Cuomo this past week. "We had never seen a storm like this. So it is very hard to anticipate something that you have never experienced."

Asked how well prepared state officials were for Sandy, Cuomo said, "not well enough."
It wasn't as if the legislative actions over the years were subtle. They all had a common, emphatic theme: Act immediately before it's too late.

The 1978 executive law required a standing state Disaster Preparedness Commission to meet at least twice a year to create and update disaster plans. It mandated the state to address temporary housing needs after a disaster, create a detailed plan to restore services, maintain sewage treatment, prevent fires, assure generators "sufficient to supply" nursing homes and other health facilities, and "protect and assure uninterrupted delivery of services, medicines, water, food, energy and fuel."

Reports in 2005, 2006 and 2010 added urgency. "It's not a question of whether a strong hurricane will hit New York City," the 2006 Assembly report warned. "It's just a question of when."

A 2010 task force report to the Legislature concluded: "The combination of rising sea level, continuing climate change, and more development in high-risk areas has raised the level of New York's vulnerability to coast storms. ... The challenge is real, and sea level rise will progress regardless of New York's response."

The Disaster Preparedness Commission met biannually some years, but there are gaps in which there is no record of a meeting. However, some administrations, including Cuomo's, convened many of the same agency heads to discuss emergency management. But even under Cuomo, who has taken a much greater interest in emergency management after three violent storms in his first two years in office, there are still three vacancies on the commission.

AG goes after gasoline price gougers

From The Politicker:

As several gas station owners are about to learn, it’s against New York State law to jack up the price of goods like fuel after a hurricane. To wit, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced he is bringing his “first series of enforcement actions” against price gougers in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

“Today’s action is the first in a series of steps my office will take as we continue to actively investigate the hundreds of complaints we’ve received from consumers of businesses preying on victims of Hurricane Sandy,” the attorney general said in a statement. “We will do everything we can to stop unscrupulous individuals from taking advantage of New Yorkers trying to rebuild their lives.”

Although the law doesn’t specifically cite an illegal price for gasoline, it does prohibit an “unconscionably excessive price” during an “abnormal disruption of the market,” according to Mr. Schneiderman’s office. In addition to “war” and “military action,” the law names “weather events” as a triggering event that would restrict such sharp price increases. A fatal storm that left much of the city without gas would certainly seem to qualify.

Taxi fleet owner's a gas hoarder

From DNA Info:

A Queens gas station owned by a taxi tycoon is refusing to sell gas to anyone but yellow cabs — with preferential treatment for his own drivers — even as desperate motorists line up for blocks to get fuel amid a massive shortage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

On the eve of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's mandatory gas-rationing plan, a Shell station on Northern Boulevard and 71st Street was giving away a seemingly endless supply of gas — mainly to members of taxi mogul Evgeny Freidman's taxi fleet.

Freidman's gas station had three working pumps on Thursday and has been flush with gas in the wake of the hurricane, even as dozens of others around the five boroughs ran dry and closed, sparking massive lines.

The station waved away at least five pleading motorists trying to fill up at the pump within an hour that evening while yellow cabs flew through the line and filled up, as officials from the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission stood by and watched.

"We're just here to provide security," said a TLC official, who turned up at the station at 5 p.m. Thursday, along with several NYPD officers, after getting "hundreds" of 911 calls about fights at that station.

Two pumps were reserved for Taxi Club Management, Freidman's massive fleet of cabs. All other cab drivers, who had been turned away from the station until the TLC intervened Wednesday, had to wait in two-block-long lines to use the third pump, even when the Taxi Club lines were empty.

Gas price gouging in College Point

"130-09 14th ave in College Point.



Cross Island Parkway, Whitestone.



150-65 Cross Island Parkway. They not only kept prices the same but hired extra people to pump gas in order to speed lines up.

Thanks, Exxon of Whitestone." - anonymous

Gas rationing started this morning

From NBC 4:

Significant damage to northern New Jersey petroleum distribution facilities -- including the region’s largest refinery -- could keeps lines long at the gasoline pumps for weeks, NBC 4 New York's I-Team has learned.

When Sandy came ashore last week, the Bayway Refinery in Linden, N.J. took on 12 feet of salt water, according to Rich Johnson, a spokesman for Phillips 66, the refinery’s parent company. Floodwaters damaged critical equipment, hampering the facility’s ability to pump gasoline into pipelines that are typically accessed by tanker trucks.

“We had a lot of electrical equipment that was damaged,” said Johnson.

The Bayway refinery is the most productive refinery in the tri-state region, processing about 238,000 barrels of crude oil per day. On the East Coast, Bayway is second only to a plant operated by Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which has a production capacity of 335,000 barrels a day.

As a result of the problems at Bayway and other storm-damaged petroleum terminals, many delivery trucks must fill up with wholesale gasoline at terminals in the Philadelphia area, severely delaying shipments to New York and New Jersey gas stations.

From The Huffington Post:

Due to the high demand of gas post-Hurricane Sandy, New York City and Long Island will begin gas rationing on Friday morning.

If your license plate ends with an even number, you can only purchase gas on an even-numbered day. If your license plate ends with an odd number, you can only buy gas on odd-numbered days.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg signed an emergency order instituting gas rationing on Thursday.

Richmond Hill's gas ass

From WPIX:

Police received an anonymous complaint about 8:45 p.m. Saturday that someone in a van with New York plates was filling up five-gallon buckets with gas at the Valero station at 347 Boston Post Road, police said.

Officers arrived at the scene and found that Yunus Latif, 47, of Richmond Hill, N.Y., was filling up buckets from The Home Depot with gas. Latif told the officers he was unable to get gas in New York because it was sold out.

He said his neighbors gave him money to buy gas; he had about 30 buckets of gasoline in the van, each of which contained about four gallons of gas.

The officers saw that the buckets had lids that had not been properly fastened, and the lids were beginning to expand, police said. The gas had not been put in proper containers, they said.

Police called the local fire marshal and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Officials decided to return the gasoline to its underground tanks.

Latif was charged with violation concerning flammable or combustible liquids, police said. He was given a court date of Nov. 19, at Superior Court in Derby.

Queens is out of gas!

From the Queens Courier:

With millions of New Yorkers heading back to work and limited subway service, many residents hopped in their cars only to find no place to fill up.

“Gas is in short supply,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed at the daily press conference updating New Yorkers on the city’s response to Hurricane Sandy.

Long lines litter the gas stations throughout the borough that still have gas, with drivers waiting more than hour.

There have been refineries or distribution sites that have had issues post-Sandy causing them to shut down and those problems have cascaded through the system, the mayor said.

One gas station owner in Fresh Meadows said it may be days before the shortage is over.

“The terminals that supply fuel to the gas stations are out of order, so it will probably take a few days. I own a gas station. We as gas station owners were told that we will not see any gas for 3 days (and that was yesterday). The terminals are out of power,” he said.

Other stations are still without electricity, preventing them from pumping gas.

Idling MTA vehicles costing us plenty

From AM-NY:

MTA employees waste about $800,000 each year by illegally leaving their work vehicles idling while on the job, according to a report released Wednesday.

Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North workers driving highway vehicles kept them running while they were parked for a combined total of more than 20,000 hours each month, the MTA's Inspector General found.

In one incident, investigators found that two trucks in Forest Hills had idled for a combined 25 hours over one weekend.

New York drivers are prohibited from leaving their cars unnecessarily running for more than five minutes.

Avella proposes flat gas tax

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York State Sen. Tony Avella, of Queens, is promoting a proposal that would require the city to tax gasoline sales at a flat rate, rather than as a percentage of the price per gallon.

Avella, a Democrat, said the city makes a lot of extra cash when gas prices go up because it collects more from sales tax. He doesn’t think it is fair to drivers.

“Obviously the price of gas is going up significantly. We need to do something for consumers and the city never budgeted for this extra windfall. So we’re not affecting their budget and I just think it’s the right thing to do,” he told 1010 WINS.

The savings from switching to a flat rate — which would equal 8 cents a gallon as opposed to the 4 percent per gallon the city charges — would save the average motorist around $80 per year, according to the senator.

Avella said New York City’s tax is the only gas tax that charges by percentage. He said federal and state taxes are flat.

Man tries to transport stolen fuel over Whitestone Bridge

From the Daily News:

A Bronx man driving a van toting more than 400 gallons of gasoline was arrested Sunday, prompting an investigation into whether he’s part of a black market petrol ring, police sources said.

Mauro Navarro, 39, was behind the wheel of a gutted white 1996 Dodge Ram van when he was stopped by Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Cops on the Whitestone Bridge.

He slowed down to go through the E-ZPass lane around 4:15 p.m. when TBTA Officer Richard Formato saw an expired 2010 inspection sticker on the window, police sources said.

TBTA Officer Giovanny Saravia then smelled a strong odor of gas wafting through the air and asked Navarro to open up the vehicle.

Tucked behind the driver's and front passenger's seats were two 55-gallon and one 300-gallon plastic drums filled with fuel, police sources said.

With a gallon of regular gas averaging $4 in the city, investigators have been vigilant against petroleum peddlers looking to cash in on soaring prices.

Are we ready for electric cars?

From the Gotham Gazette:

Potential demand for electric cars in New York City is strong enough that consumers will likely buy up all available supply for the next several years, according to a PlaNYC study, released in January, that explored potential demand and environmental benefits for electric vehicles in the city.

Consumers here and elsewhere soon will be able to choose between two types of electric vehicles: the plug-in hybrid and the all-electric car. Plug-in hybrids run on an electrical charge for about 40 miles before switching to gas power. The new plug-in-hybrids, like the upcoming Chevy Volt, contain the same technology as the hybrids on the market today but have larger battery packs and get about twice the fuel economy of a conventional hybrid.

All-electric cars, like the upcoming Nissan Leaf, have a range of about 100 miles and are powered by electric motors instead of the gas-powered internal combustion engine found in most current cars. They rely on a battery charged from a standard 120 volt or 240 volt outlet and do not produce carbon emissions while running but require frequent charging.

The PlaNYC study, conducted by McKinsey & Company, surveyed New Yorkers about their driving behavior and their attitudes toward electric cars. It found that 21 percent of city residents are considered potential early adopters, people looking to buy an electric vehicle as soon as they become available for purchase. Partly due to limited supply of electric cars, it found, these early buyers "will likely outstrip the available supply of electric vehicles to the New York market for at least the next five years."

Electric car owners must have a parking space with access to an electrical outlet charge their cars. The early adopters indicated they would for a charging station even without tax incentives and do not see the need for a large public charging network throughout the city.

Photo from the Car Connection

FDNY Issues Bedbug Gasoline Warning

From the Queens Gazette:

Queens fire officials are warning residents not to use gasoline or gasoline products if the bedbugs bite.

FDNY officials said several Astoria residents called 911 over the past few months after they smelled gasoline coming from adjacent apartments. Firefighters responding to the calls found that residents had poured gasoline on mattresses to kill bedbugs and had even wiped the flammable liquid on their arms and their children’s to stop the bugs from biting.

The incidents prompted FDNY officials to issue a stern warning about possibly fatal consequences that could result from the practice.

Fire sources said gasoline is a highly explosive compound that could ignite and “pop” from something as simple as flicking a light switch. Fire officials are advising residents to notify their landlords or seek help from professional exterminators to rid their apartments of bedbugs or other insects or rodents.

Queens residents are urged to call “311” for assistance from the NYC Health Department, fire officials said.