Gropez to represent Queens?

From Crains:

Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s interest in running for the New York City Council appears to be renewed. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Lopez told The Insider that he would make a decision about a run in “two or three weeks.” And after several weeks of trudging to Albany, Mr. Lopez, who said he skipped this week’s legislative session to keep a series of doctors appointments in New York City, is strongly looking at a position closer to home.

“I will be evaluating whether I want to retire or whether I want to continue in politics and run for the City Council,” Mr. Lopez said, adding that he did not enjoy the cold weather in Albany. Previously, Mr. Lopez has cited poor health as a reason he may not run for the council.

If he does run, Mr. Lopez said, he would have support, noting that “600″ people showed up at his Christmas party this year. Mr. Lopez said a run would be for the seat currently held by Councilwoman Diana Reyna, which would require that he move into the district if he won.

Which would mean he would represent part of Queens should he win. God help us.

Long Island Sounds like B.S.

From the NY Times:

New York City’s health commissioner ardently defended the city’s decision not to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes before Hurricane Sandy, facing down withering questions Thursday from City Council members who contended that some old people may have died as a result.

The commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, said that the city and state health commissioners — ultimately reporting to the mayor — had made the best decision they could using information from the National Weather Service, which he said initially showed the brunt of the storm hitting Long Island Sound.

By the time on Sunday that it was clear the storm was threatening the city more directly, he said, “We couldn’t have accomplished the evacuation of everybody in Zone A before zero hour,” which appeared to be as early as midnight.

Part of Long Island Sound lies between Queens and the Bronx, so a storm surge should have been expected regardless of where along the Sound the storm touched down. Plus, the hurricane would obviously have had to pass over land before reaching Long Island Sound. (Makes me wonder if the health commissioner, city council and NY Times know where LI Sound actually is, since this was not explored further.) And how is it that City officials got different information from the National Weather Service than every media outlet that reported on the storm? I recall phrases like, "storm of the century" and maps showing the amazing width of the storm well before midnight, all of them showing a direct hit on NYC.

Of course, the decision to not evacuate had more to do with piss-poor planning: there was no place to send the evacuees and it cost a lot of money that the administration didn't want to spend. And despite the nonsense Farley spewed during this dog-and-pony show, people DID die after being evacuated, because the places they were sent were not prepared to take care of them. Here's what some of them are going through now. Sad, isn't it?

Huntley to plead guilty

From the NY Post:

Former New York state Sen. Shirley Huntley is planning to plead guilty to mail fraud charges in a new federal case leveled against her, The Post has learned.

The Queens Democrat is expected to admit that she used funds from a non-profit organization to benefit herself and family members, a source said.

The embattled ex-legislator was indicted originally on Aug. 27 by state authorities on charges that she falsified documents to conceal the fact that her niece and an aide allegedly siphoned $30,000 from a sham charity she created. She pleaded not guilty to those state charges.

But Brooklyn federal prosecutors working in the US Attorney's Office's public corruption unit quietly opened a mail fraud case against Huntley — and now she is poised to surrender to authorities soon with the intention of entering a guilty plea, sources said.

A spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn declined to comment on the case against Huntley.

Parking problem on Roosevelt Avenue

From the Daily News:

Woodside merchants are urging the city to lift a weekday parking restriction on Roosevelt Ave. because they say it’s unnecessary and bad for business.

Donovan’s Pub owners launched a petition this week appealing a 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. “No Parking” regulation on Roosevelt Ave. between 51st and 59th streets.

“It has a really negative impact on our business and others along the avenue,” pub co-owner Dan Connor, 45, said of the regulation.

“It’s metered parking all day except those three hours and not everyone knows that,” Connor said. “There are no traffic issues here that we would need the zone.”

Connor and his business partner, James Jacobson, took over the bar on Dec. 28 and said they will be recruiting fellow merchants in their petition.

Donald Zarchy, 58, who owns Zarchy Pharmacy, across the street from the pub, said he would sign the petition.

“People come in for prescriptions and then have their cars towed,” he said. “Some have no idea it’s a tow-away zone. It’s been a problem for a long time. It’s just to get revenue for the city but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

A spokesman for the city Department of Transportation said the agency would be unlikely to change the rules.

Developers clearly favor Katz for BP

From the Times Ledger:

One of the powers entrusted to a borough president is to review and make recommendations on land use applications for development projects in Queens.

The real estate industry has been backing certain candidates in the race to replace current Borough President Helen Marshall, and it seems to be firmly behind former Democratic Councilwoman Melinda Katz, according to an analysis of campaign finance data from the city Campaign Finance Board.

The current Democratic field also includes state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Director of Community Boards Barry Grodenchik, Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria).

Both Katz and Comrie, who was unable to file because of a technical difficulty, have served as head of the Council’s powerful Committee on Land Use.

Each candidate’s filings were examined for donations from real estate firms, developers, architects and real estate lawyers. The filings cover the period up to Jan. 15. Because some of the data was incomplete, the numbers are only rough estimates, but Katz is clearly preferred.

Katz stepped down as a lobbyist from Greenberg & Traurig in November and her filings date back to August. About $109,000, or about 38 percent, of her funds for the borough president race have come from real estate interests.

High-ranking employees of major Queens developers, like Cord Meyer, Tully Construction and the Hemmerdinger family’s ATCO, were all represented in the filings, but some of the biggest developers from across the city chipped in as well.

Katz received at least 15 maximum donations of $3,850 from real estate interests, including the spouses of company executives. Only one other candidate received a maximum donation from a real estate interest.

56 acres and 400+ trees will be lost to FMCP projects

Information concerning three large projects proposed by private business interests, that threaten more than 50 acres of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York City.

Gov wants to buy up waterfront property

From the Daily News:

Gov. Cuomo wants Hurricane Sandy victims who live along the coast to consider rebuilding their homes on stilts or selling their houses to the state and relocating.

“At one point, you have to say maybe Mother Nature doesn’t want you here. Maybe she’s trying to tell you something,” Cuomo said in a phone interview with the Daily News Editorial Board.

Cuomo said he hopes more Sandy victims will choose to have the state buy them out rather than rebuild in areas that are at risk of future storm damage.

It would relieve the government of having to pay to rebuild the same houses multiple times.

The state will offer “fair market” appraisals of people’s properties that he expects will be “on the generous side.”

“We give you a check and you move on,” he said. “We take the property.”

'Under Cuomo’s plan, the properties would stay “fallow” — with nothing built on it.

Under Cuomo’s plan, the state would have to decide what to do with the bought-out properties. One possibility is giving them to the city or state parks departments.

You can get there from here, but it'll take a while

"I think we can sometimes see how interested members of Congress are by judging how accessible they make their district offices.

Congresswoman Grace Meng has opened her district office in Bayside at 218-14 Northern Boulevard. That's six blocks from the eastern edge of the district. It's also an hour and fifteen by perfectly functioning public transportation from Juniper Valley Park (in the district). It's 3 1/2 miles from the nearest subway station (Flushing Main St) and 4 1/2 from 179th Street on the F Line. It's only a half mile from Bayside on the LIRR. There were plenty more centralized options closer to the subway she could have picked, considering the district includes 16 subway stops.

Even Joe Crowley found a way to be more accessible to constituents in both Queens and the Bronx." - anonymous

This was probably done in homage to Gary Ackerman. This is where his office was.

The tax man cometh

From the NY Post:

New York’s a tax hell — according to Gov. Cuomo’s own budget proposal.

The state and localities took $14.71 of every $100 New Yorkers earned in 2010 — second most in the nation after Alaska and 42 percent above the $10.38 national average, according to Cuomo’s budget division and census data.

Budgeteers suggest taxes paid by high-earning out-of-state commuters and tourists inflate New York’s numbers.

And Cuomo aides noted that since he took office in 2011, he limited property-tax growth to 2 percent a year, cut middle-class income-tax rates and approved a state takeover of future local Medicaid cost increases.

But critics faulted him for increasing income-tax rates for high earners, extending some taxes and fees and failing to provide enough relief to localities from unfunded state mandates.

Contaminated Whitestone soil came from Brooklyn

From the Times Ledger:

Months after a state agency fined two companies working on a brownfield site in Whitestone for importing unauthorized soil onto the property where a high-end residential development is planned, TimesLedger Newspapers has learned that some of the soil in question came from a former Superfund site.

The property in question is called Waterpointe, a proposed development of expensive homes near the corner of 6th Road and 151st Place.

...well before Edgestone acquired the property, additional soil was dumped on top of the DEC-approved material under Barone and EBI’s watch. This eventually led the agency to fine the two companies a total of $150,000, half of which will be nixed if the problems are corrected, and prompted a cleanup of the unauthorized material. Some of that material included soil from a former electroplating facility in Brooklyn, Gordon said Tuesday night.

Documents obtained from the DEC via a Freedom of Information Law request showed that the soil she was referring to came from 154 N. 7th St. in Brooklyn.

That is the same address where in 1997 a company called All Plating Corp. was abandoned and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later cleaned up leaking hazardous materials under its Superfund program, according to the EPA. A Superfund site is a hazardous waste site that poses harm to surrounding communities and is cleaned up under the EPA.

In two instances, Barone told TimesLedger Newspapers that the fine from DEC and subsequent required cleanup were due to a paperwork error. In essence, Barone Management and EBI did not do enough testing on the material it brought in to satisfy DEC requirements, he said.

A new environmental company overseeing the site estimated that removing the unauthorized material would take between weeks and months and would cost at least about $500,000.

Another hospital closure?

From the NY Post:

Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn faces closure -- just two years after the state approved a merger to save the financially ailing 155-year old facility, source told the Post.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center, which acquired LICH in 2011, has sent out word that its eying shutting down the Cobble Hill hospital — the only one that provides emergency room service in Brownstone Brooklyn.

A New York State Nurses Association rep visited the hospital to warn staffers that the hospital could close as soon as March 15.

Historic theater to be restored

Mystery line

Does anyone know why there would be a yellow line painted on the sidewalk? There's a school on the right.