It Takes A (Middle) Village To Throw This Party!

Last year, roughly 5,000 Middle Village residents attended the First Annual Community Day, sponsored by the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce. Now the MVCC, along with the Dry Harbor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, are looking to trump that number at the Second Annual Community Day, scheduled for Sunday, September 9th at Juniper Valley Park.
Visitors of all ages can expect to be entertained with live music, clowns, local dance troupes and more. In addition, Western Beef and FUZE Healthy Infusions will provide food and beverages, while musical beats are to be provided by DJs WL2P.
This special day is intended to strengthen ties between Queens business owners and their surrounding community. Anyone interested in signing up to support the event, which already has the backing of local entrepreneurs Tiramisu Café, Acosta Cleaners, Middle Village Realty Corp. and Hess-Miller Funeral Home, as well as Astoria Federal Savings Bank, C-Town, and many, many others should call MVCC at (718) 894-5954 right away.
The Second Annual Community Day will run from 12 P.M. until 5 P.M.

Dogs Find "Underdog" Fakes

The war against movie piracy is now a little bit cuter, as the District Attorney’s office has recruited international DVD sniffing dogs to help them find illegal copies of counterfeit. Lucky and Flo, two black Labrador Retrievers rescued from shelters, were instrumental in three counterfeit DVD busts in Jamaica, Queens, yesterday. The dogs quickly sniffed out boxes containing DVD’s in a jam-packed basement, and their detective work lead to several arrests and the seizure of thousands of bootleg DVD’s. The dogs, each of which currently has a $30,000 bounty on their heads in the Philippines, are on a world tour right now. The next stop on their campaign to fight movie piracy will be Canada.
“My wife and I have a yellow lab at home,” said District Attorney Brown. “We’ve asked if she can help.”

Queens Pol Indicted

The personal and political life of Councilman Dennis Gallagher could get a lot worse before it starts getting better.

A gaggle of television and camera folk mobbed the councilman and his wife as he left Queens County Courthouse on Friday morning, some carelessly rushing into Queens Boulevard to get a shot of the embattled pol, who quickly posted $200,000 bail. (Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told reporters that Gallagher and his lawyers were informed of the bail amount last night, but noted that the practice was not uncommon.)

Gallagher was served with an eight-count indictment, including a first-degree rape charge that carries a maximum 25-year sentence if he is convicted.

On Thursday, he was indicted by a grand jury on charges he raped and physically abused a woman whom he met at a bar on July 9, and later took back to his office in Middle Village. Gallagher surrendered to the 112th Police Precinct in Forest Hills Friday morning.

The councilman, who won his seat in 2001, admitted to having sex with the accuser, but claimed it had been consensual.

The woman accusing Gallagher of rape, who appeared before the grand jury herself last week, called his claims of innocence "all BS" and denied the sex was consensual.

Meanwhile, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn issued a statement stating the matter would be referred to the council's Ethics Committee, which could ultimately choose to boot Gallagher from his seat.

DA Brown held a press conference after the arraignment. He denied reports in The New York Post that other women with similar sexual harassment allegations against Gallagher testified before a grand jury. He did, however, stop short of saying the investigation was closed.

Gallagher is due back in court on September 28.

Counterfeit Colgate for Your Fake Teeth

First there was the Watergate Scandal, now get ready for the Colgate Scandal. Councilman Leroy Comrie has warned that tubes of counterfeit toothpaste may be circulating in Southeast Queens. The toothpaste, which looks like Colgate, is made in Boksburg, South Africa and may contain anti-freeze instead of fluoride. There are reports from all over the nation about counterfeit toothpaste, and Colgate-Palmolive has issued a warning that fake tubes have been found in New York dollar stores.
Councilman Comrie said that counterfeit toothpaste may have even been given out at a supermarket in St. Alban's. If you think you have a tube of Colgate that was manufactured in South Africa, please contact Councilman Comrie's office at (718) 776 3700.

All Is World's Fair At Atlas Park!

For two consecutive weekends, the World’s Fair, that now-famous celebration of culture and technology that last took Queens by storm in 1964, is making a comeback.

Catch all the diverse fun at The Shops At Atlas Park in Glendale. There will be food and entertainment representing different peoples from around the globe provided by Shiro’s of Japan, The Amish Market, Rosetta Wines and others. Atlas Park has also promised a $1,000 giveaway each day to the top performance group as voted by mall visitors.

In keeping with the mind-expanding tradition of the World’s Fair, there will also be numerous booths set up by not-for-profit organizations selling cultural artifacts and handing out information. So far, Atlas Park officials have confirmed 25 groups representing 20 different cultures have been booked.

See you there! But if you can't make it this first weekend, you can still expect a full report in next week’s issue of The Glendale Register, published by Ledger/Star.

(Original image of photo can be found here.)

Whole Lotta Tony

Suggestions to improve the Department of Buildings? Calling out City Planning? Just another week in the life of Councilman Tony Avella.

On Friday afternoon, the plucky Queens pol will be holding a rally in front of a planned three-family house to demand DCP undertake the North Flushing rezoning they promised would be done about a year ago. The site is on a block of one-family homes that is currently zoned R-4, leaving the developer's options fairly wide open. The other side of the street, however, is zoned a more appropriate - given the existing housing stock – R-2. You can still see the modest foundation of the previous home in the photo of the actual site. We’re sure Avella will have a few other areas to offer up where he feels DCP’s been dragging their heels as well.

Meanwhile, this afternoon Avella called on DOB to implement a system similar to one that exists with the Department of Sanitation and reporting illegal dumpers. Citizens would be allowed to sign affidavits stating that they saw illegal work taking place on a site (Avella argues that in many cases, by the time inspectors arrive the work has already been completed), which could then be used in a legal case to retroactively impose fines. The DOB has already done it once, and the Environmental Control Board levied a $2,000 fine. The person who filed the affidavit? You guessed it – Tony Avella.

Amusingly, we also got a chance to see Avella at work, when just as the press conference was ending, he riffed on his own proposal, throwing in the idea that the person who signs the affidavit could receive a portion of the fine, just like with the Sanitation program. (We swear we saw a light bulb over his head.) In this city, we think we could turn that into a full-time job.

You can read an interview with the mayoral hopeful that ran in The Brooklyn Rail here.

Western Jackson Heights Alliance Demonstrates a Successful Demonstration

The Western Jackson Heights Alliance, a group that is actively trying to clean up slow the overdevelopment of their neighborhood, got a chance to present their agenda to Mayor Bloomberg, though in an unorthodox manner. Staging a demonstration in front a town hall meeting with Jackson Heights merchants that they were not allowed to participate in, Will Sweeney of the WJHA had the chance to speak with mayor for a few moments. Luckily, the interaction was caught on tape by Fox 5. For a more in depth look at the problems Jackson Heights is facing, Sweeney’s conversation with the mayor, and the fallout from the protest, check out next week’s papers.

Domino Sugar Plan Sweet For Some, Sour To Others

More than 100 people argued the pros and cons of the proposed Domino Sugar factory project last Tuesday, for which the Community Preservation Corporation, a managing partner in the development, has requested a zoning amendment.

The Department of City Planning had scheduled two public hearings - one at 2 p.m., the other at 6 p.m. - to field comments about CPC's 2.6 million square-foot proposal, which would contain residential, commercial, and community facility space.

Ostensibly, the hearings were intended for feedback regarding the Draft Scope of Work for the project's Environmental Impact Statement, which was released last week. But few attendees mentioned environmental aspects they would like to see added, concentrating instead of arguing the merits of a structure that will radically alter Williamsburg's waterfront.

The earlier session featured approximately 70 attendees, including City Council member Diana Reyna, as well as a representative from State Assemblyman Vito Lopez's office. In her testimony, Reyna expressed a willingness to support CPC's requested height increase if the number of affordable units also goes up to 1,000 units from the 660 planned.

On the other hand, the official for Lopez said the assemblyman was looking for a decrease in height and density while retaining affordability. "Why does affordable housing always have to manifest itself in height and density?" stated his testimony.

During the latter session, half as many attendees showed up, but evenly-matched numbers of people commented for and against the project. Some detractors, like Nancy Buivid, who has lived in the area since 1983, asked that DCP consider alternatives to the proposal in order to preserve the area's quality of life.

She complained the project, with its planned 300-foot and 400-foot towers along the waterfront, would shroud homes like hers in total darkness at sunset. "It's just not right," Buivid said.

Meanwhile, another neighbor, Susan Pellegrino, who lives on Wythe Ave., worried the development would tax the local infrastructure, including the L-train, beyond what it could handle. "I don't believe our tiny little neighborhood can support that many more people, even with ferry service," she said.

But supporters like James O'Shea, executive director of the not-for-profit Churches United Corp., said any negative aspects would be offset by one major positive - affordable housing for families who might otherwise be displaced by rising rents.

"There is not one family I know who needs a home who would bat an eye at taller buildings," he said, noting the market-rate units would finance the affordable ones. "Domino gives us the opportunity to be bold. The needs of our families demand nothing less."

You can read even more about the hearing at Times Ratner Report.

The Very Vest of Ft. Greene/Clinton HIll

When do you consider a building well on its way to being done? Once the walls start to rise? Immediately following the ceremonial topping-off? Its first mention on Curbed? Well, if you have the same criteria as DOB, a building is nearly complete once the foundation is fully poured.

That's why the rezoning that was passed by the City Council last week for 99 blocks in the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene area can be a bit misleading. While the downzoning will go a long way toward protecting the low-rise character of many of the neighborhoods' blocks, some of the out-of-scale development that spurred the rezoning in the first place will still be allowed to go forward despite the fact they are little more than holes in the ground.

In this week's Ledger/Star, we take a look at some of the bigger projects, as well as some another high-profile one that was stopped (see rendering) by DOB almost as soon as the last vote was cast in the Council. Unfortunately, a list of all of the buildings that were vested (DOB's terminology for projects that will be allowed to proceed under the old zoning) came after the paper went to press, so here is a list of all sites currently under construction and their new status:

VESTED
93 HALL STREET
75 GRAND AVENUE
73 GRAND AVENUE
72 STEUBEN STREET
56 CAMBRIDGE PLACE
174 CLERMONT AVENUE
268 CUMBERLAND STREET
122 ADELPHI STREET
97 GRAND AVENUE

NOT VESTED
163 WASHINGTON AVENUE
415 CLERMONT AVENUE
404 VANDERBILT AVENUE
447 CLINTON AVENUE
398 CLASSON AVENUE
420 CLASSON AVENUE
1057 FULTON STREET
478 GRAND AVENUE
457 GRAND AVENUE
4 LEFFERTS PLACE
66 CLERMONT AVENUE
163 WASHINGTON PARK
161 ADELPHI STREET
266 CUMBERLAND STREET
290 CARLTON AVENUE
120 SOUTH ELLIOTT PLACE

According to DOB, all non-vested properties have been issued stop work orders.

TGE: They're Baaack!

Call it the power plant that just won't fizzle out.

TransGas Energy (TGE) has filed a petition with the New York State Board on Electric Generation and Siting and the Environment (hereafter the "Siting Board") - (reading that entire legal brief must have influenced us a bit) - to overturn its June 25th Order that TGE get the necessary approvals from the city to tear up streets and other public right-of-ways to put in underground pipes and steam tunnels.

To make a long story short (the issue will be covered in greater depth in the August 2nd print edition), attorneys for TGE argue that requiring city approval runs counter to the Siting Board's legislative intent, which was to bypass local municipal law that held up the construction of major electric generation facilities. From the legal papers:

A "realistic appraisal" of the statutory language and the legislative intent leads to the conclusion that the Board must have the authority to allow use of the City's property, even over the City's objection, in order to carry out the legislature's intent to elevate the siting of major electric generating facilities to a state, not a local function.

According to TGE's lawyers, the state has basically handed over the decision on whether or not to construct the power plant to the commissioner of the city's Department of Transportation, which would have to grant permits to tear up city streets. The city has been adamantly opposed to the plant, envisioning the North Brooklyn waterfront parcel where TGE wants to build the facility as the home of a future park, as outlined by the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning.

This is just the latest in what appears to be a neverending cycle of legal maneuverings on the part of TGE, which has included suing the city and holding their own confusing eminent domain hearing.

TGE Nearly PUlls Off Public Hearing Under Community's Nose
Efforts to Condemn Bayside Fuel Site Continue
Judge Puts Park Plans on Hold

Domino Sugar Factory Hearing Tuesday

Public Scoping Meeting on the proposed Domino Sugar Rezoning

On July 31, 2007 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and from 6:00 PM to 8:45 PM, the Department of City Planning, on behalf of the City Planning Commission, will hold a public scoping meeting on the Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be prepared for the proposed Domino Sugar Rezoning. Comments on the Draft Scope of Work will be accepted at the meeting and for ten days following the meeting.The meeting will take place at the City of New York Department of City Planning, Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, New York 10007.

For a draft scope of the DEIS click here.

UPDATE: Norman Oder has some good Domino analysis and comparisons to the Atlantic Yards project on his blog.

Innovative Development Launches in Greenpoint

Greenpoint Lofts, a development of business condos on Norman Avenue, held a large launch party on the roof of their five story building last night. The development is billed as Brooklyn’s first commercial condominium, which means that the individual lofts can be purchased and used for business purposes. This type of building is very big in Queens.
The event featured local business owners and artists in the fifth floor lofts spaces, as both Brooklyn neighbors and savvy folks from Manhattan were invited to tour the still under construction project. Word has it that 30% of the units have been filled, which I’m told is quite impressive. The party featured a catered rooftop party and I even got a massage. For more information on the development, check out greenpointlofts.com. Massage courtesy of greenhouseholistic.com.

West Nile Alert

Get out the bug spray.

The Department for Mental Health and Hygiene just issued a press release stating that the West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes in Queens. The infected pests were collected from a pool in the Flushing section of the borough.

Here are some facts and symptoms to watch out for:

It is estimated that about 20% of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.

The symptoms of severe disease (also called neuroinvasive disease, such as West Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis) include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 150 persons infected with the West Nile virus will develop a more severe form of disease. Serious illness can occur in people of any age, however people over age 50 and some immunocompromised persons (for example, transplant patients) are at the highest risk for getting severely ill when infected with WNV.

Most people (about 4 out of 5) who are infected with West Nile virus will not develop any type of illness (an asymptomatic infection), however you cannot know ahead of time if you'll get sick or not when infected.

Rock-a-Wave at Rockaway

Queens and California just got one step closer as Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer open the second surf beach in the Rockaways. After Beach 67-69 is officially opened for surfing, local beach bums will dash out into the waves and do their best to “hang ten.” The event will be held at 11 am on Friday at Beach 67th St. It should be a swell time.

Get Your Powwow On

Looking for something a little out of the ordinary to do this weekend? Why not head out to New York City’s only working farm for the 29th Annual Thunderbird American Indian Mid-Summer Powwow?

Over 40 Native American tribes will gather in the Queens County Farm Museum apple orchard for music and entertainment. Really, how often do you get to attend an authentic Powwow in New York City? Maybe once a year?

For more info click here.

Outside the Blogosphere

In this week’s issues of the Ledger/Star:

Jeff Harmatz tags along with Western Queens residents to protest Con Edison rate hikes.

Phil Guie gets trapped on the 7 train…and lives to tell about it.

A congresswoman tells you to…Wha?!…keep your money!

Pol Position takes a big lick of Mob Candy.

Shane Miller goes where no member of the public has gone in over 100 years, with a bunch of other people.

Plus the usual tidbits and crumbs of information we know you crave.

Dive Into a Landmark...Someday

We guess it's better late than never.

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to landmark McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint, as well as the Sunset Park pool and another in East Harlem. Read the full press release here.

Now the pools just have to have their status approved by 51 landmark professionals we like to call the City Council.

Of course, that doesn't make McCarren Pool any less of an eyesore, but the city has set aside $50 million to makeover the pool, and is currently looking for ideas on its future. The Open Space Alliance, in conjunction with the Parks Department, is actually passing out a survey, which you will be able to find printed in future editions of the Greenpoint Star.

Time of the Season:The Zombies Play Summer Concert

As part of the 29th annual Seaside Summer Concert Series,The Zombies, one of the best and most overlooked bands of the sixties will be playing a free show in Brooklyn, and they're not even the headliners. The top spot goes to the The Turtles, and other performers include The Rascals, members of the Moody Blues, and several other acts. Even though we've never seen them live, and it's been decades since they recorded their great albums, The Zombies are still a can't miss act, especially for free. Check out http://www.brooklynconcerts.com for info about Thursdays show and other shows throughout the summer.

Watch an old clip of The Zombies here.

So Long Frank!

Dennis Hamill wrote a good feature in the Queens edition of The Daily News yesterday about everyone's favorite civic curmudgeon from Northeast Queens, Frank Skala.

Over the years, Skala has earned a reputation for speaking his mind, but now that he has reached 70, he's apparently decided to scale back on his "civic chop-busting." We'll believe that when we see it, but if he's sincere, we can tell you that won't be be good for copy.

The feature even caught the attention of the folks over at nolandgrab.org, who feel that the world could do with a lot less Denis Hamill's and a lot more Frank Skala's.

It's A Potter's Field Day!

Will he live or will he die? More importantly, will those who crowded the Borders bookstore at The Shops At Atlas Park to get their copy of J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, which goes on sale at 12:05 a.m., get home before dawn?

At least it isn’t a school night.

As we speak, the hundreds who flocked to Atlas Park for their Harry Potter-centric celebration are engaged in various games and activities, including face-painting and a Potter-related spelling bee.

While the aisles are rife with fans who know all about Hogwarts, Hermione Granger and Dumbledore (I had to look those up), many Borders employees also admitted to being longtime enthusiasts.

Harold Pfeiffer, the café supervisor, who was dressed up in a big purple wizard’s robe, said he first became aware of the Harry Potter books years ago, when he was working as a classroom assistant.

At the time, he noticed many of the students, who were third and fourth-graders, were reading the books for fun. “I had to pick up the book to see what it was all about,” said Pfeiffer. “I just kept reading.”

Nowadays, when Potter-mania has reached the point where the fictional world has inspired doctoral theses, it’s refreshing – downright reassuring – to hear from fans who appreciate the books just for being good reads.

Seven-year-old Emma Rafferty, a Maspeth resident, is among that group. When asked what she loves most about the books, Emma, who had a Hogwarts-style black robe over an English boarding school uniform, had this to say: “It takes me from my house when I’m reading it. I feel like I’m really in Hogwarts or wherever they are.”

Look for photos from this event in the June 26^th issue of the Ledger/Star!

Homeowners Bill Con Ed

Tonight in Sunnyside, on the anniversary of last year's blackout, a flashlight march will be held to protest the increase in power rates across the city. Activists from the Western Queens Power for the People Campaign will be presenting a "giant check" sized utility bill to the power company, which will rack up the amount they feel Con Ed still owes the community in damages and lost revenue from the 2006 blackout. It's a safe bet the Con Ed representatives won't be on hand to recieve the "large fascimile" bill, and it probably won't fit in their post office box either, so they'll have to read about it in the Queens Ledger. Starts at 7 on Greenpoint Ave and 43rd St.

A PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK'S EDITION

Got a problem with a local bar? How about motorcycles revving up and down the street into the wee evening hours? These folks did, so they brought their gripes to Community Board 5’s public hearing, which took place last Wednesday at the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council.
Were the local police able to help them? What did board members representing Maspeth, Middle Village, Elmhurst and Ridgewood advise them to do? Pick up the July 19th edition to find out!

In Print

This week in the Ledger/Star:

Whitestone leaders take an auto school to task for failing to make promised street improvement.

Brooklyn beep okays affordable housing project in North Brooklyn.

Flushing residents are on the lookout for a man who attempted to rape a seven-year-old last Friday night.

The Music Hall of Williamsburg taps Patti Smith to open the new performance space in September.

Photos from the Giglio Feast in Williamsburg this past weekend.

Phil Guie speaks with the owners of a new business on Grand Avenue in Queens that provides gaming fun in lush environs.