Hey guess whose district this is in?
Monday, October 12, 2015
Another Flushing project mishandled by DOB
Hey guess whose district this is in?
Woman found dead at Kissena Park
From CBS 2:
A woman was found dead with slash wounds to her body in Kissena Park in Queens Sunday afternoon, police said.
The NYPD was called at 2:52 p.m. for a report of an unconscious person at Colden Street and Laburnum Avenue in Queens, police said.
Responding officers wound the woman unresponsive at the scene with slash wounds to the neck and abdomen, police said.
MTA finally funded
A deal was reached Saturday to keep the MTA on track after Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio settled their differences over funding the future of the agency.
The city will pony up $2.5 billion and the state will provide another $8.3 billion in funds toward the agency’s five-year capital plan.
In a joint statement, Cuomo and de Blasio announced the “historic” deal to move forward with the $28 billion repair and improvement plan — with the city pitching in more than four times its original offer of $657 million.
In exchange for the city’s increased contribution, transit projects in the Big Apple will be prioritized and planned with the mayor’s reps on the MTA board, although details have not been identified yet.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
SWO violated at f*cked up Flushing house
Word came early yesterday that there was continued construction at 30-35 150th Street despite a Stop Work Order.
I sent the QC photography team out to document the activity.
But then something funny happened. Adam Lombardi, on behalf of Paul Vallone, sent this comment into the blog:
Yes, please join the team because it's quite apparent that the sitting council member can't figure out on his own how to get the DOB to answer complaints that are months old, and also can't get the BEST Squad out for a priority A weekend call.
Avella rally today in opposition to Pan Am shelter
The building’s numerous violations and lack of kitchens have blocked attempts to grant the shelter permanent status. Senator Avella and Elmhurst United now call for use of the facility to be discontinued and for proper accommodations to be provided for the homeless
WHO: State Senator Tony Avella, Elmhurst United
WHEN: Sunday, October 11th, at 12:00 PM
WHERE: On the corner of Queens Boulevard and Hillyer Street, Elmhurst, Queens
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Live like the servant you always dreamed to be
Fifty-seven new residences under construction in Long Island City, Queens, are small apartments being billed as micro units, but with a twist.
While the city’s only other prominent project advertising its apartments as “micro” will offer only studios, the Queens units will have two or three bedrooms.
“Our concept is we can offer really high-quality public amenity space, and better value with smaller private spaces, and bring the rental cost down,” said Sheldon Stein, managing principal of Ranger Properties, developer of the project at 37-10 Crescent St.
The building’s two-bedroom units will be about 490 square feet, and the three-bedrooms 735 square feet. Most of the bedrooms will be 10 feet by 12 feet and may have built-in desks and Murphy beds, which fold into the wall, said Chris Fogarty, a partner at Fogarty Finger and the project’s architect.
Huge Pelham Parkway project done incorrectly
I've been interested in this Pelham Parkway debacle for a while. Here is the latest from the Bronx...
Owner of f*cked up Flushing house speaks
[Eddie] Peralta told the Queens Chronicle all is not as it seems.
He adamantly denied that he intends to enlarge the house.
As for why the siding and roof were removed, he said the previous owner put layer upon layer on without removing the first piece and he feared the roof was about to collapse, later showing pictures to a Chronicle reporter that apparently proved his claim. He is in the process of submitting those plans to the DOB now, he said, and intends on going back to work if those plans are approved.
Why no construction fence? He only needs one if new construction is occurring, something he denies is happening.
At least two people don’t buy Peralta’s story.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said the pictures he’s seen of the house show something more than “minor renovations” going on.
“If that’s the case,” Avella said of Peralta’s claim the roof came off for safety reasons, “then he has to reamend the permit and get a different one.”
Paul Graziano, an urban planner who has raised questions about the house, said the removal of the roof is “not a minor alteration.
“That is a major alteration,” the Flushing resident continued, adding he, too, believes that if the homeowner does not intend to enlarge, he should file different permits.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Department of Bribery
A top agency official was caught on tape explaining how he regularly killed code violations as a favor to the guy who got him his cushy job.
On Wednesday Daniel Cornwell, 31, the $105,000-a-year chief of the Emergency Response Unit that responds to building collapses, became the 12th DOB employee busted in the city Department of Investigation’s probe of corruption at the troubled agency.
In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, DOI revealed how Cornwell was caught on tape discussing killing a code violation as a favor to Donald O'Connor, the agency’s chief of development for Manhattan.
Prosecutors say O’Connor – who was busted in February – who was regularly pocketing bribes from contractors to ignore or kill their many code citations.
On Aug. 12, 2014, someone filed a complaint with the agency about a contractor working without a permit at a Bayside, Queens jobsite.
DOI says they overheard O’Connor – who had no jurisdiction in Queens – call Cornwell to say his contractor friend “Mike” needed a favor. He asked Cornwell to kill the complaint, and Cornwell had O’Connor send him the complaint number.
DOI checked and discovered the contractor was, in fact, working without a permit, but discovered that the complaint had nevertheless been dismissed.
They scam their own first
From WPIX:
We’re not using her full name because she is an illegal resident of Queens. She and her family gave about $17,000 to a guy they say was the family priest, Rajesh Jhangdharie. He promised to get them work permits and green cards. We haven’t checked into his religious background because it’s not that relevant here. All that really matters is he has their money and they never received any papers and haven’t gotten a full refund.
It takes a year and a half to pave a parking lot
With the need for parking still great around Borough Hall, the city plans to turn the former parking garage behind the hall into a flat parking area.
The crumbling garage was demolished this past July. Sharon Lee, a spokesperson for Borough President Melinda Katz, stated there will be an, “at grade (flat, not elevated) street level municipal parking lot.”
“They are working on the parking lot design now,” said Lee, adding that there will be a January 2016 procurement, bid and anticipated construction completion is first quarter of 2017.”
The project was initially slated to finished this fall, but has been extended for one year.
More money thrown at the Queensway
The Queens version of the High Line is one small step closer to becoming a reality.
The Trust for Public Land, which works on the proposed QueensWay, just got a $100,000 grant from The New York Community Trust “to support converting an abandoned rail line in Queens into a 3.5-mile linear park.”
The entire park, which envisions bicycle and pedestrian paths and an adventure park as well as a number of sports facilities, would run from Rego Park to Ozone Park along the rail line abandoned in the 1960s.
It would cost about $120 million to build it, according to a study, which was released last year.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Dog run in Astoria to cost $1M
Dog owners in Astoria, Queens, have for years suffered dog-run envy. As fancy new runs have popped up around New York, Astoria residents have wondered when they might get their own.
Now, through the participatory budgeting process and public largess, their moment appears to have arrived. Local officials recently announced that they had pooled enough money to convert a basketball court under the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge into a dog run.
But many residents, including some in the vanguard of the yearslong lobby for the run, were stunned by the estimated price tag: $1 million.
“I didn’t trust my ears initially,” Erin Kirby, media and marketing secretary for the Astoria Dog Owners Association, said. “We were shocked by that.”
City officials said the projected cost was in line with the budgets of other recently built dog runs. Still, for many Astorians the estimate has been a bittersweet introduction to the high costs of capital projects in the city.
All Queens libraries will be open 6 days a week
All 62 branches of the Queens Borough Public Library will soon be open at least six days a week, thanks to increased city funding, the library announced Tuesday.
The last time all library branches in the borough were open six days a week was more than a decade ago, the library said.
Guess who pays 1/3 of all U.S. tolls?
Drivers in New York and New Jersey pay the heftiest price for their commutes — accounting for almost one-third of all tolls collected across the U.S., a new report says.
The report, which was released by the International Bridges, Tunnels and Turnpike Association, indicated that drivers in the two states forked over an astounding $4 billion of the $13 billion in tolls accrued across the country.
“The primary reason (for New York and New Jersey drivers paying the highest tolls) would be the concentration in the region of bridges and tunnels connecting the greater New York metro area,” said Neil Gray, director of government affairs at IBTTA.
“The facilities have been in place for a long time, they were very expensive to build, they are expensive to maintain and they are tremendously expensive to replace.”
Gray added that the greater New York metro area has a very high concentration of commuters, which is likely to account for the costliness.
Cuomo flip-flops on pork spending
Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted legislative earmarks during campaigns, investigated them as attorney general and promised in 2012 that he would banish them from the state budget.
Now, he's approving them.
In the last week, leaders of the state Legislature publicly disclosed lists of earmarks they secured under the State and Municipal Facilities Program, which fiscal analysts have likened to the old “member item” program that let legislators direct money to local groups and projects at their discretion.
But unlike the past, agencies that report to Cuomo are reviewing — and signing off on — the projects before the money is released. According to critics, that means the Democratic governor is approving “pork” spending that skews to support powerful incumbents: Republicans in the state Senate and Democrats in the Assembly — even after railing against spending for “pet projects” earlier this year.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Vallone to block Douglaston historic district extension
On Thursday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a hearing, the first of four, to clear a backlog of 95 items that have been on the agency’s to-do list for up to four decades. Among them is the Douglaston extension, which in addition to 17 homes includes a Tudor-style apartment building, a church and an elementary school, most of which date from the 1850s to the 1910s. A final determination will be made next year on whether to declare these properties landmarks.
While many in the existing Douglaston Historic District, as well as New Yorkers across the city, might view living in a landmark with pride, there are those who consider it onerous. Where some see history and beauty, they see bureaucracy, expense and limitations on what they can do with their properties.
Councilman Paul Vallone, a Democrat whose district includes Douglaston, has already said he will block the expansion of the historic district in light of residents’ opposition. The City Council has final say over land-use matters, and members almost always defer to the local representative. As a result, Ms. Carroll, the commission director, anticipates the agency might not expend resources approving something that will only be defeated.
US being screwed out of jobs
Paragons of American corporate citizenship are perverting an immigration program that was designed to boost the country’s high-tech economy.
The U.S. Department of Labor has let businesses as prominent as Walt Disney World and Toys R Us use a special category of work-related visas not only to cut costs but to send jobs overseas.
President Obama wants immigration reform? It’s never going to happen this way.
So-called H-1B visas are intended to admit into the U.S. highly educated, highly skilled workers whose talents are desperately needed. For example, a company may apply to bring computer engineers from abroad if it cannot find enough of them in America. That, at least. was the theory.
Now, it turns out that consultants that specialize in helping companies move operations overseas are securing most of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually — and are using them to help eliminate jobs wholesale.
With calculating cruelty, the consulting firms obtain visas and bring workers in to copycat the tasks of U.S. workers slated, whether they know it or not, for the unemployment line.
When the knowledge download is done, the visa workers fly back overseas, often to India, to train their countrymen to join the company payroll at a much cheaper rate.
Lots of kids in shelters & special ed
New York City has massive numbers of New York City schoolchildren living in temporary housing, as well as a large and growing special education population, according to an Independent Budget Office report released Tuesday.
The large population of high-needs students may present new policy challenges for Mayor Bill de Blasio and his schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña.
According to the IBO report, there were 82,807 students living in some form of temporary housing during the 2013-2014 school year, including 27,772 who were living in shelters.
There are about 1.1 million schoolchildren in New York City.
The number of families living in shelters has increased substantially during de Blasio's tenure.
That's a lot of pot!
Six men have been arrested for possessing more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana.
Members of the DEA's New York Drug Enforcement Task Force discovered them transferring cardboard cartons containing the drug from a tractor trailer parked in Elmhurst, Queens, to two smaller vehicles early Monday morning.
In addition, it is alleged that the suspects possessed between $200,000 and $300,000 in United States currency.
Weiyang Yao, 47, of Cucamonga, California, Yuejiang Zeng, 53, of San Gabriel, California, Shan Wu Zhang, 30, of British Columbia, Canada, and Duanzhao Zhang, 38, Tong Shun Zhang, 29, and Tong Zhew Zhang, 24, all of Brooklyn will appear in Queens Criminal Court Tuesday
They will each be charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana. If convicted, the defendants each face up to five and a half years in prison.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
About those scooter cabs...
From WPIX:
There's a new cab service in the city but it may be illegal.
"Motoconcho" is the city's only known Vespa taxi service.
Customers can order a ride through an app, then a message is sent to a Vespa driver – who arrives within minutes.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission says such vehicles cannot be used as cabs and the company's owner may be violating city rules.
Dustin Rodriguez says the Taxi and Limousine licenses only apply for cars not scooters.
As seen previously.
Meng wants the EPA to take over plane noise issue
A lawmaker wants a federal environmental agency to take over efforts to fight airplane noise because the current overseer is "doing virtually nothing" to deal with it.
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng first introduced legislation in July that calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to take over work being done to mitigate noise in neighborhoods close to airports.
She's been vocal about the EPA stepping up its monitoring of noise for months, but now wants it to take over the whole process, currently handled by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"The FAA has failed the residents of Queens," she said, adding that the EPA is "better suited to handle the problem."
Her bill, the Quiet Communities Act of 2015, would bring back the EPA's Office of Noise Abatement and Control — which monitored noise issues until President Ronald Reagan defunded it in 1981, Meng said.
Airplane noise in Queens isn't new, the congresswoman pointed out.
But it's gotten worse since 2012, when the FAA implemented new flight paths.
More people living in overcrowded conditions
The last few years have seen a huge surge in the number of apartments and homes deemed to be “overcrowded,” a new report by Controller Scott Stringer has found.
There were 272,000 overcrowded units in New York City housing nearly 1.5 million residents as of 2013, census data show. That’s a spike of nearly 20% from 2005.
Not surprisingly, nearly 70% of these overcrowded homes and apartments — those with more than one occupant per room — are occupied by an immigrant head of household.
Stringer said the growing trend toward cramped living makes for unhealthy conditions by exacerbating asthma, creates dangerous illegal apartments, and sometimes forces families into homeless shelters.
Congestion pricing DOA in Albany
Shortly after Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez called on the City Council to pass a resolution supportive of congestion pricing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that while he's open to the idea, Albany isn't.
"I’ve said it’s something that is worth looking at, but as you’ve heard right now in Albany there’s no appetite for it," he said, following an unrelated press conference.
The MTA is facing a multi-billion-dollar hole in its $30 billion plan to fix up the region's subway and mass transit system.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and the mayor are engaged in an ugly battle over who should fill the gap.
One proposal that's been around, in various iterations, for years now, would put tolls on the East River bridges and along 60th Street and reduce them on inter-borough crossings, like the Verrazano Bridge.
Transportation experts like the idea. De Blasio has declared himself open to it. Rodriguez, who chairs the Council's transportation committee, supports it.
But the idea also appears to be dead on arrival in Albany.
Eyesore at Alley Pond
JP
Bellerose, NY
Monday, October 5, 2015
City enters Supreme Court fight re: voting district lines
The de Blasio administration has joined a Supreme Court fight that could change the way voting districts are carved up to exclude residents like immigrants and felons from the population count, the Daily News has learned.
If successful, Evenwel vs. Abbott would dramatically change the political landscape in immigrant-rich communities like New York, because it would draw districts to include only eligible voters.
Immigrants, felons who have lost the right to vote and children would be excluded.
In court papers filed last week, the city’s Law Department said rewriting the rules would punish New York City for its diverse population.
It would “effectively wipe millions of individual residents and entire families off the map, rendering those residents and their unique needs invisible to our local democracy,” the brief read.
The brief argues that the city’s use of total population in apportioning districts “conforms with fundamental tenets of representational democracy.”
It ensures that “all residents are entitled to equal representation, a principle of particular importance given the nation’s historic commitment to diversity, inclusion and robust civic involvement and debate,” the brief adds.
Zachary Carter, head of the city Law Department, said that counting everyone in an electoral district is important because all residents use city services, not just those eligible to vote.
6 months of destruction at the Steinway Mansion site
What the politicians wrought. Almost 6 months since the start of construction. This could have been a park. Now see what you have.
Forget what you heard about the economic benefits of the film industry and recycling
Proponents argue that film tax credits create well-paying jobs for local residents. Some even suggest that the incentives pay for themselves by boosting the economy and increasing government revenues. The Motion Picture Association of America claims: “Pure and simple: film and tax incentives create jobs, expand revenue pools and stimulate local economies.”
But real life is no Hollywood dream. Nearly every independent study has found that these arguments are more fiction than fact. The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put it best in a 2010 report: “State film subsidies are a wasteful, ineffective, and unfair instrument of economic development.”
In New York City, the net cost of recycling a ton of trash is now $300 more than it would cost to bury the trash instead. That adds up to millions of extra dollars per year — about half the budget of the parks department — that New Yorkers are spending for the privilege of recycling. That money could buy far more valuable benefits, including more significant reductions in greenhouse emissions.
It would take legions of garbage police to enforce a zero-waste society, but true believers insist that’s the future. When Mayor de Blasio promised to eliminate garbage in New York, he said it was “ludicrous” and “outdated” to keep sending garbage to landfills. Recycling, he declared, was the only way for New York to become “a truly sustainable city.”
But cities have been burying garbage for thousands of years, and it’s still the easiest and cheapest solution for trash. The recycling movement is floundering, and its survival depends on continual subsidies, sermons and policing. How can you build a sustainable city with a strategy that can’t even sustain itself?
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Fresh Pond Road Staples closing
Air rights an issue
PropertyShark's air rights map, published recently on the Real Deal, may very well be your tool for decoding where developers may be headed next. It shows where there's still lots of air rights available—important if you're a real estate investor looking to build the next high-rise. A quick primer: Air rights are developable assets that exist above a building if it isn't as tall as what the neighborhood's maximum heights are. According to the website Air Rights New York, "if a building adjacent to a construction site is lower than neighborhood zoning laws allow, the developer can acquire the building’s unused air space, add it to his or her project, and erect a taller building."
Forest Hills business scene changing rapidly
A number of popular Forest Hills stores and restaurants have shuttered recently, prompting some residents to worry their neighborhood may be losing its unique character along with its mom-and-pop stores.
“I feel that Forest Hills is losing its class and distinctive nature and becoming a more predictable and generic community,” said Michael Perlman, a local resident and historian.
Danny Brown Wine Bar and Kitchen on Metropolitan Avenue, which was awarded a coveted star in the Michelin Guide, was unable to renew its lease and will close by the end of the year.
It will follow several other longtime restaurants in the area, including Pasta Del Giorno on Austin Street, as well as Uno Pizzeria and Santa Fe steakhouse on the so-called Restaurant Row on 70th Road, between Austin Street and Queens Boulevard — all of which closed after decades in business.
Brandon Cinemas, a two-screen movie theater on Austin Street, closed last year, as did the nearby Strawberry clothing store earlier this year. Barnes & Noble is set to close in January.
Some venues are replaced quickly with similar types of establishments, like Mexican eatery El Coyote which took over for Garcia’s Mexican Cafe on Austin Street. The new restaurant Rove is also replacing Bonfire Grill, which closed earlier this year.
But in some cases, like Santa Fe, storefronts remain empty for months. Other venues, including Brandon Cinemas and Pasta Del Giorno, have been taken over by banks and walk-in medical facilities. Barnes & Noble, on Austin Street, will be replaced by a Target.
Moldy Sandy foreclosure still not cleaned up
A Queens family is still trying to recover from Superstorm Sandy.
As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, cancer survivor Joyce Zoller said she’s devastated after being ordered by her doctors and attorneys to move from her Queens home to Florida.
Not because her house is unsafe, but because she said the abandoned home next door is hazardous to her health.
“The mold, the smell, the vermin inside, birds flying all over, it’s a disaster,” said Zoller. “I don’t know how much more I can take. It’s my home and I can’t even live in my own home.”
CBS2 met with the Zollers in June of 2014 and learned their neighbor at 145-08 Neponsit Ave. had abandoned the property after Superstorm Sandy.
Black mold had been growing inside the home.
City records show HSBC Mortgage took ownership after it went into foreclosure, but as owners did nothing to clean up the mold.
A Department of Buildings inspector stopped by the house Thursday morning, slapping HSBC with another violation for failing to maintain the building, Sanchez reported.
HSBC has been issued multiple building code violations since Superstorm Sandy and faces more than $20,000 in fines.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
DeBlasio renaming Municipal Building for Dinkins
Mayor Bill de Blasio has a big gift for his former boss: a 40-story piece of real estate downtown.
The Manhattan Municipal Building will be renamed for former Mayor David Dinkins, announced Mr. de Blasio—and his wife, Chirlane McCray, whom he met while they both worked for the 106th mayor of New York.
“Those of us who were lucky to serve in the Dinkins Administration had the honor of serving a leader who took challenges head on,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement. “He’s left an indelible impact on this city—and on Chirlane’s and my lives. We are so grateful for Mayor Dinkins’ decades of public service and everything he’s done to ensure a stronger, safer city. I can’t think of a more fitting tribute than to rename the Municipal Building, where he spent 14 years of his career, in his honor.”
Mr. Dinkins told the Observer he was “delighted” by the honor, but sought to share it with those who worked alongside him.
Dutch Kills luxury hotel built in 2007 converting to shelter
Facing a spike in the number of women entering the city’s teeming shelter system, the de Blasio administration said Friday it was transforming an old Queens hotel into housing for homeless women.
The 200-bed, women’s only shelter will be at the site of the old Verve Hotel in Long Island City, and is the second shelter the city has opened this year.
It’s the 25th shelter to open since de Blasio has taken office.
Administration officials said it is necessary because they have seen a 9% spike in the number of single women entering the system.
I like how the Daily News calls it the "old Verve Hotel" to mask the fact that it isn't. So riddle me this, how much money is the city shelling out in order to get the new owner of a luxury hotel (all of which are supposedly doing well) to agree to convert it to a shelter?
And which lucky lady will get the hot tub?
Friday, October 2, 2015
State fines Newtown Creek metal dumper
The manager of a Brooklyn metal cleaning company pleaded guilty to using a simple, secret maneuver to dump industrial toxic waste into the Newtown Creek.
Manuel Acosta, 58, of Control Electropolishing Corporation, admitted he directed his employees to insert a plug into a bypass line, sending waste and sludge — containing high levels of chromium, copper, lead and nickel — on a path to the estuary that runs between Brooklyn and Queens.
The bypass line is designed to treat the waste water before it is released into the NYC sewer system, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.
Instead, the gunk traveled to the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant, which does not treat industrial products. The infractions occurred between November 2013 and December 2014.
Foreclosure fixed up
Dozens of Habitat for Humanity and Delta Airlines volunteers, a few carrying small luggage, gathered Wednesday on a rainy day to start work on restoring an abandoned home in Cambria Heights.
The derelict house, infested with termites, fell victim to foreclosure and then became a zombie home until a fire destroyed most of the property. The property was then handled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before being acquired by the New York City Housing Authority to become affordable housing.
Future homeowners are required to volunteer in the restoring of their homes. At the Cambria Heights house at 219th St, 53-year old carpenter Richard Thompson was ready to work on his future home.
“I found out about the program when I was looking for a home, but I did not have enough money for a down payment,” said Thompson, who currently lives in Brooklyn.
The program through Habitat for Humanity offers a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 2.0 percent rate with only a 1 percent down payment for a restored home.
Katz concerned about Coachella
 |
| Photo montage by George the Atheist |
The company behind the Coachella music fest has mounted a huge charm offensive, lobbying city officials for more than a year in the hope of throwing a similar concert in a Queens park.
AEG Live paid $150,000 to a lobbying firm over the past year just to be introduced to city officials.
The entertainment juggernaut plans to meet with Queens Borough President Melinda Katz later this week, after the Daily News reported on the possibility of a Coachella-sized gathering in Flushing-Meadows Corona Park next June.
“My biggest concern is there is no public process here,” Katz told The News Wednesday.
The fest, tentatively called Panorama, would fall two weeks after the Governors Ball and during a weekend when the Mets are playing at Citifield.
Plenty of room at the inn
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Group seeks to preserve burnt Elmhurst historic house
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| Greg Carriero via Facebook |
“Our goal is to save the oldest surviving farmhouse in Elmhurst and the most historically significant, and possibly move it to a park or empty lot,” she said. “Newtown was one of the first communities in Queens, and this home is well known by locals and is the subject of historical Elmhurst tours.”
Ideally, Giampino would like to see the home restored and revitalized as Elmhurst’s first house museum and cultural and historical institution.
“This would be a great way to get the community’s youth and all ages involved,” she said. “It is extremely important to show our beginnings and how far we have come as one of the most multiculturally diverse neighborhoods in the U.S.”
On September 21, the Newtown Civic Association coordinated a public meeting, sparking the interest of local volunteers. Over the past few years, the civic attempted to preserve the early 20th century Andrew Carnegie library on Broadway, but now a new library is rising in its place.
Anyone get in touch with Karl McNamara?
Contractor license yanked for first time
For the first time, the city has revoked the license of a bad-actor construction contractor for racking up a mountain of dangerous code violations, officials announced Wednesday.
MRMD NY Corp. was cited for more code violations than any other contractor in the city, running up $834,000 in fines for repeatedly putting workers and the public in danger at their job sites, officials said.
The company reached an agreement with the city Law Department back in November to clean up its act, but building inspectors kept finding more violations after that.
By last month MRMD had piled up another $600,000 in fines. Last week the city moved to revoke MRMD’s license after finding the company and owner, Michelle San Miguel, in default of the November agreement.
Jerk vandalizes historical sign
 |
| JeanMarie Evelly/DNA Info |
An historical sign in Astoria Park that commemorates the General Slocum Disaster is being replaced after it was heavily vandalized, according to the Parks Department.
The sign, which was located on Shore Boulevard near the Hell Gate Bridge, describes how the General Slocum steamboat caught fire off the park's shoreline in 1904, killing more than a thousand people — what the Parks Department says was the highest death toll of a disaster in the city before 9/11.
The sign was taken down last month after someone vandalized it, tagging it with what appeared to be a marker or paint. It will be replaced with a new sign since workers were unable to remove the markings, according to Parks Department Spokeswoman Meghan Lalor.
There's no set date yet for when the new sign will be installed, she said. It will be similar to the old one in its wording but will have an updated design.
Breezy Point home still not repaired
From WPIX:
Jean Marie Bach has been waiting three years to move back into her home on Breezy Point, Queens.
When Superstorm Sandy hit, she hired contractor Richard Kloska, from American General Contracting to repair her 2-bedroom bungalow that she lived in year-round. Bach says he promised hers would be one of the first homes he’d work on.
Although Kloska was licensed, Bach made the mistake of not getting a written estimate or a detailed contract.
“I trusted him,” she said, “I believe he would finish the job.”
She estimates she paid him almost $150,000 to raise the home, put in a new foundation, and then lower the house onto the foundation. In addition, the inside of the home needed to be redone, and siding and decking were supposed to be completed on the outside.
Bach says Kloska didn’t do most of the work.
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