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.