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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

Windsor Oaks co-op has backed down after recently attempting to remove a cat colony from their shelters on a wooded variance in the Oakland Gardens community.

Camille Dimasi has lived in the co-op for 22 years and said Windsor Oaks’ co-op board was retaliating against the cats because residents had risen up against the board’s plan to level the 100-foot-wide wooded variance in exchange for a clubhouse, pool and 98 additional parking spaces.

A BSA hearing, however, put an end to plans by the co-op board to develop the land when it upheld the variance from the 1950s and required the co-op board to tidy up the woodland, which had become littered over time. It was not long before Dimasi noticed the cats being evicted from their shelters.

Dimasi said the now ousted co-op president, Ronald Kaye, dismantled the cat homes. “He was throwing them right out of their shelters and smashing them,” she said.

Without the shelters, the cats would freeze, Dimasi claimed.

Dimasi said the colony started about 15 years ago when Windsor Park evicted a family with a woman who owned up to 50 cats. Dimasi began caring for the displaced felines by catching, spaying and neutering them. Shelters went up to keep them warm and today there are about 25 cats on the grounds.

According to the New York Post, the co-op board’s lawyer, Eric Goidel said the destruction of the cat shelters occurred because of a misunderstood order from the BSA demanding the variance be cleaned up.

This order did not apply to the cat shelters, the BSA told the Post. The TimesLedger was unable to independently confirm the BSA order.

The cat colony is under protection from the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals and they are exempt from removal. Dimasi said the cats keep the rodent population under control in the co-op.

Dimasi claimed Kaye had been re-elected as co-op president time after time because of a shareholder who owned up to 400 units and voted for Kaye just as many times.

It was not until shareholders had demanded transparency in the votes, requiring the assistance of a lawyer, that Kaye was removed from the position in December, Dimasi said.

Kaye could not be reached for comment, nor could the current co-op management, but the differences between residents and the former president go back years.

In 2011, the Tenant’s Corporation had secured a loan to build the 5,000-square-foot clubhouse which was refinanced four years in a row without construction moving forward.

The land where the variance is in place is between Bell Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard and as many as 15 homes border the variance.

A Community Board 11 meeting in 2015 heard strong resident opposition to the plan to clear the woodland and the co-op’s application through CB 11 to amend the variance was shot down. The advisory board had previously struck down the proposal to develop the land.

Kaye argued in 2015 that opposition to developing the wooded area would have taken place at any geographic location and the Windsor Oaks variance was in no way special.

“The objection here is simple: ‘not in my backyard.’ But as far as residents of Windsor Oaks are concerned, that land belongs to all shareholders,” Kaye said at the time, according to a story in the Bayside Times. “If this project was proposed for another property, we would have had an entirely different group of residents expressing ‘not in my backyard.’ It isn’t a good enough reason not to have this project go forward.”

Steve Behar, legislative council to Councilman Barry Grodenchik (D-Oakland Gardens), told the Bayside Times in December 2016 the co-op was not giving up its resolve to level the trees standing between the residents and their future amenities.

“Over the years, they’ve cut down the trees, which they weren’t supposed to be doing under the variance, and now they’re asking the BSA to eliminate the variance,” Behar said. “This is a buffer between the cooperative and the homes. These people are up in arms because they bought their homes knowing that there was a variance, that they would be protected from this big co-op. We’ve also received a lot of complaints from people who live in the co-op, but don’t want this either.”

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Zach Gewelb

TimesLedger Newspapers

Stuck in the middle of one of the slowest offseasons in recent memory, the Mets’ hot stove may be warming a bit.

The club has reportedly made center fielder Juan Lagares available in trade discussions this offseason, as it intensifies its efforts to cut costs and trim payroll.

The Mets don’t need to move Lagares. He is signed to a very affordable contract that pays him just $6 million next season. That number is significantly less than what free agent center fielders Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson and Rajai Davis are thought to be asking. Teams that don’t want to pay a premium in free agency or miss out on their top targets could turn to Lagares. In total, Lagares is owed just $15.5 million over the next two years.

The 28-year-old outfielder is known for his defense, and while his bat has slowed down in recent years, he has shown he has the ability to produce if healthy and with ample playing time.

Lagares broke into the big leagues with the Mets in 2013, hitting .242/.281/.352 in 121 games while playing strong defense and leading all center fielders in assists with 14. He drastically improved at the plate during his sophomore campaign, when he hit .281 with four home runs, 47 RBI and 13 stolen bases while continuing to build his strong reputation in the outfield.

He took a step back at the plate in 2015 and only appeared in 173 total games between 2016 and 2017, so he has been trending in the wrong direction. But the talent is still there and Lagares can help make a difference for any team that may be looking to acquire him.

So, who may want him, and what could the Mets get in return?

The San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox are three teams that could use center-field help. The Giants traded away their starting center fielder to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Evan Longoria trade, while the Rangers and White Sox are slated to go with younger players as currently constructed.

Lagares would help all three teams, without a doubt, but it’s unlikely either would offer a worthy return for a player of his caliber. Given his shortcomings the past three seasons, teams are going to try to buy low on Lagares. And if the Mets can’t get a significant return — either a high potential arm in the lower levels of the minors or a young, major-league ready, cost controllable bullpen arm in return — then the Mets would be better off hanging onto Lagares for now.

Michael Conforto will begin the year on the disabled list, so there will be plenty of playing time early in the season for Lagares. And if he performs well while Conforto is out, he can boost his trade value, which would give the Mets a shot at getting more in return for their homegrown center fielder.

So while moving Lagares may seem like a good idea, the Mets are better off hanging on to him rather than selling low. Let Lagares build his value early in the season before shipping him off and, who knows, he may surprise you.

Reach reporter Zach Gewelb by e-mail at zgewelb@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4539.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

The city Parks Department will hold its annual MulchFest for Christmas trees at multiple locations across the city Saturday and Sunday.

Residents can dispose of trees by dropping them off at designated sites. The Sanitation Department will also conduct curbside pickup to recycle trees.

Locations in Queens where trees can be left are Astoria Park, Brookville Park, Captain Mario Fajardo Park, Cunningham Park, Forest Park, Hunter’s Point South Park, Juniper Valley Park, Queensbridge Park, Rockaway Beach at Beach 94th Street and Shore Front Parkway, Rockaway Beach at the parking lot at Beach 11th Street, Roy Wilkins Park, Travers Park and Windmuller Park.

Residents should remove all lights and ornaments before disposing of trees. At locations with wood-chippers, residents are encouraged to take a bag of mulch home.

Sites opened for dropoff Dec. 31 and will be open until Sunday, according to Parks.

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Phil Orenstein

TimesLedger Newspapers

We celebrate President Trump’s first year of extraordinary achievements. This is a joyous Christmas season and a Happy New Year for millions of Americans as we rejoice in the pinnacle of our freedom, prosperity, opportunity and dreams for the future.

The historic tax cut, the most comprehensive reform of the U.S. tax system in 30 years, just passed by Republicans in Congress, was signed into law by the president on Friday, right before Christmas. $1.5 trillion in taxes will be cut for a vast majority of taxpayers except for some top earners in New York and other high-tax states. The “tax cuts for the wealthy” mantra of the Democrats has been thoroughly discredited, as working-class Americans stand to benefit the most with a doubling of the standard deduction, doubling of the child tax credit, and tax rate reductions across the board. Our jobs, factories and wealth, pushed overseas by the high anti-business corporate tax rate of 35 percent, will now come flooding back to our shores as the rate is slashed to 21 percent, making America the best investment for trillions of corporate dollars to return and grow into wealth for all Americans.

The law of capital is simple. You can’t create wealth without capital. Tax cuts create instant capital! As if to dispel the false notion that tax cuts benefit only the rich greedy capitalists, and the hard-working Joes never see a dime, many companies announced they would be giving bonuses and wage hikes to their employees right after passage of tax reform. AT&T announced it will “pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees” and will invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018. Comcast will give $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees and invest $50 billion over the next five years. Boeing, FedEx, Fifth Third Bancorp, and many other companies announced they will likewise be giving bonuses and wage hikes, and investing billions in the U.S. as a result of the tax reform bill. The president announced that abandoned factories will be reopening throughout America. There is a lot of yuletide cheer going around the country this Christmas season celebrating the new economic boom!

Besides celebrating the incredible economic news, we are rejoicing in the great announcement about Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital. Our righteous President Trump stood up alone for freedom and justice against the enemies of Israel and the West, proclaiming the official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and announced plans to move the embassy.

While 90 percent of TV coverage of Trump has been negative, this is a phenomenal moment in the history of our civilization, which has bypassed the fake news media, obsessed with the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, obstruction of justice claims, and the so-called hypocritical war on women. According to the Bible, Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years. Jerusalem is mentioned 669 times in the Bible, but not even once in the Quran. President Trump has answered the righteous call of the ages. He is standing up alone against a world that has lost its way, and is speaking out for truth and justice. President Trump is saving America, Israel and the free world from losing our way.

America is grateful to our president as well for the incredible stock market surge, which keeps hitting all-time highs. The economic news keeps breaking records as the unemployment rate is at a 17-year low, the jobs market is booming with 40,000 new manufacturing jobs in November — the largest number in the history of that metric. Blue-collar wages are rising, consumer confidence is at an all-time high, and the gross domestic product has been consistently over 3 percent, when it fell short of 2.5 percent during most of the past eight years of Obama’s presidency. ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, illegal border crossings are down 70 percent, ICE agents broke records rounding up nearly 800 MS-13 gang members, and more than 50 bills were signed into law, including such vital ones such as the Veterans Affairs Accountability Act, and rolling back Obama’s regulatory stranglehold, which has businesses cheering.

President Trump has scored incredible achievements in his first year, making good on his campaign promises. We are winning. America is back! Donald Trump may be one of our greatest American presidents. Our hearty congratulations go to our president in his first year in office! There is much to celebrate this holiday season. Wishing you and your families a safe and Happy New Year!

Phil Orenstein

Queens Village

Queens Village Republican Club

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Tammy Scileppi

TimesLedger Newspapers

Watch closely. This is going to be an exciting year for New York City’s diverse arts scene.

As always, there’s a lot going on — new things to experience. And a creative movement, is underway in Queens. It’s called TheNYCGrind, and it is catching on.

Whether you’re a passionate guitar player, a hip folk-rock band, an inspired canvas painter, a break dancer, a poet, a budding soul singer, a beat boxer or a freestyler, you, too, can take part in this dynamic arts crusade, like others who have joined a network of hundreds of talented creatives.

Providing the platform and audience for those who love to perform and create, The Grind helps artists of all kinds get lots of exposure. It hosts compelling events at a variety of venues, where New Yorkers can, for example, view and purchase artwork while enjoying unusual performances for reasonable ticket prices.

“Our past shows have grown exponentially,” said Grind founder Safiel Vonay, a local artist who put her idea in motion in 2012. “Our Grind Bash back in May was a packed-out event. We had a plethora of artists, from live tattoo art to live body painting by Jay Creations, phenomenal music performances from local up and coming bands, and live dance battles.”

About a week before Christmas, 70 or so artists took part in The Grind’s Ultra Art Bash, having their works displayed at Q Studios LIC, a photography and video space at 21-38 44th Road in Long Island City. While taking in the artwork, attendees also enjoyed performances from eclectic artists like Chop University (drummers) and MrTruthCity (a recording artist), who showcased their talents along with fellow Grinders from all spectrums of the arts world, from body painters to live art performers and Queens-based visual artists OgMillie, Lincoln Cuellar and Kathy Matthews. Corona performer Julian Valencia was the opening act. LED-lighted hula hoops, dance battles, spoken word artists, musical sets and a live DJ turned the event into a spectacular holiday celebration.

The party’s primary theme was “Expression.” All artists were required to submit work that was expressive. Abstract, modern, traditional, oil, acrylic, woodwork, live painting, body art and street art were shown. Prices for visual works ranged from $50 to $2,000.

This multiplatform arts movement has become one of the city’s biggest happenings and welcomes anyone hoping to follow a dream. At The Grind broadens horizons, it continues to search for more grinders to expand the team: performing artists, photographers, cinematographers, DJs and others, as well as volunteers and interns.

Like many great endeavors, The Grind started off small, as a casual open-mic event in the basement of Sunnyside Reformed Church. It was called Reformed Talent.

“I started The Grind as an 18-year-old spoken word poet that felt like Queens had very little events that put rising performers on display,” Vonay recalled.

“What inspired the opening was my desire to bring artists together. I used to perform a lot in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan, and I would see such a beautiful and eclectic scene there — young people with beautiful art, poetry, music, fashion … and I felt like I’d barely ever see that in Queens. So, I started morphing Reformed Talent into something for all artists.”

The artist’s open-mic events were intended to attract a variety of performers whose talents could be appreciated by an audience of curious residents. Eventually, different types of artists were drawn to the intimate setting.

Now TheNYCGrind draws more than 600 budding artists, performers and others, These days, the audiences are much larger and more diverse, and the events have expanded into different parts of the city, including Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“I changed the name to The Grind because it matched perfectly what our artists do,” Vonay said. “To grind means to work hard, and whether it’s dancing, poetry, art, music, clothing, etc. … that’s what our community does the most … work.”

The Grind’s next show, set for Jan. 27 at a venue to be determined, is Planet X, an avante-garde lifestyle art event focusing on female artists.

“This movement has created a beautiful space for artists to connect, sell art and network,” Vonay said. “We harbor a safe space for all to come, view and buy art, watch performances and be inspired.”

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Community leaders in Queens and environmentalists were shocked last month when Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) chose not to support Intro 495-C, therefore killing the waste equity bill he co-sponsored in 2014. The bill could have helped to reduce the garbage stations in low-income neighborhoods in southeast Queens, north Brooklyn and the South Bronx.

The purpose of the bill, which was rooted in the 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan, was to help southeast Queens and other communities overburdened with 75 percent of New York City’s trash with caps on the number of refuse sent to them, according to the Department of Sanitation. The bill would have cut traffic and pollution and improved air quality while commercial Marine Transfer Stations were created.

The city’s SWMP would have switched garbage transfer from long-haul trucking to marine and rail transfer, according to www.waste360.com.

Waste360.com, a site that follows trends in solid waste, stated truck travel would have went down by 60 miles and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced 34,000 tons.

Rev. Andrew Wilkes of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Jamaica was displeased by Miller’s decision.

“We are troubled that Council member Miller went from championing waste equity at our Toxic Tour and Pray-In last February to walking away from Intro 495-C in a backroom discussion,” Wilkes said.

Over 11 months ago Miller, Wilkes, residents and sanitation workers of the Royal Waste dump on 173rd Street and Liberty Ave., toured the facility that is directly near a park and residential homes.

In February 2017, the company was accused of labor abuses at the tour, and according to the NYPD, one employee and two subcontractors died at the facility in 2009.

Royal Waste was not able to be reached for comment.

“The issues which prompted the Toxic Tour and Pray-In — namely, environmental injustice and demand for safe, fair working conditions — remain, and the community suffers unnecessarily when generally reliable leadership fails to exercise leadership on such a well-known grievance,” Wilkes said.

Miller, after reviewing the bill that underwent several revisions, thought the final version did not address all the issues concerning the overloaded communities and could create more problems.

“Any legislation that is designed with the intention of addressing specific concerns within a community requires great care,” Miller said. “I came to recognize the bill’s broad approach would not have necessarily resolved each of these issues for our community and had the potential to make a number of them even worse.”

Labor activists believe some of the sanitation workers who live in the neighborhoods where the facilities are located could end up losing their union paying jobs if the caps went into effect immediately, especially since the zone system that Mayor Bill de Blasio would like to create won’t be finished until 2020.

The National Waste & Recycling Association, a trade group representing private-sector waste companies, sanitation workers earn $40,000 to 60,0000 a year with benefits.

Based on statistics used from the city’s Independent Budget Office, the trips to a Marine Transfer Station could increase disposal costs from city funds, according to the trade association.

The bill already went from having 26 sponsors in 2016 to having 23 when it was time for a vote last week, meaning it was still three short of a majority vote in the 51-member City Council, long before Miller withdrew.

Miller has not abandoned his support for waste equity, but said he wants to go even further with the bill by improving safety standards and wages for sanitation workers.

“I threw my support behind Intro 495-C four years ago because I recognized the ill-effects of air pollution, fumes, truck traffic and noise from commercial waste transport in southeast Queens were outstanding issues affecting residents for generations,” Miller said. “I decided it would be better to work anew with my colleagues to achieve Waste Equity legislation that is not only sustainable and environmentally sensible for southeast Queens, as well as the City of New York, but also compels the industry to improve its safety standards and wage compensation.”

New York Lawyers for Public Interest, an organization that focuses on health justice, was still disappointed in Miller’s last-minute decision despite his reasoning. Had the bill gone through, Queens would have seen 33 percent less garbage coming to the borough, according to NYLPI.

Campaign finance records also showed that Miller received six contributions of $2,500 total from Royal Waste Services’ employees and family members on Sept. 19.

A 2015 sustainability report by the group Transform Don’t Trash NYC, an organization that wants to transform the waste industry, showed Queens received 691,000 tons of garbage.

“It’s shameful that residents of overburdened neighborhoods will continue to live with the dangers and toxic air pollution of excessive truck traffic when this bill could have provided some relief,” said NYLPI Executive Director McGregor Smyth.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

The city will begin its long process of closing the prison complex on Rikers Island this summer, when the first of nine jails will be closed, the de Blasio administration announced Tuesday. The closing is made possible by the reduction of the city’s jail population, which last month fell below 9,000, a record low last reported in 1982.

“Every day, we are making New York City’s jail system smaller and safer,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “This announcement is an important step in our plan to close Rikers Island and create more community-based facilities to better serve people in custody and our hard-working correctional staff.”

As of Monday, the Department of Correction’s jail population was 8,705. The mayor’s plan to close Rikers in favor of community-based jails, announced in March, calls for the island’s prison population to be reduced to 5,000.

The D.O.C. will close the George Motchan Detention Center, which currently houses 600 men who will be relocated to other jails in the system, and there will be no layoffs or a reduction in DOC uniformed staff.

“The Department of Correction and the city are committed to closing Rikers, and today we begin delivering on that commitment,” DOC Commissioner Cynthia Brann said. “It is something we are able to do because of our department’s reforms in creating safer jails and the city’s work in creating a fairer justice system. Under Mayor de Blasio’s administration, we have reduced our jail population by 21 percent and have helped make our jails safer. We will continue building on our progress in reducing our jail population through programs that provide life and work skills that help individuals in custody re-enter our community.”

Former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, who led a blue-ribbon panel on criminal justice and incarceration reform, said New York City is on its way to being a model for the rest of the nation to follow.

“Today’s announcement of the closure of one of the jails on Rikers represents an important step in the right direction, and with the historic reduction in New York City’s jail population, it is clear that mass incarceration is not a prerequisite to keeping New York safe,” Lippman said. “The sooner new, smaller, state-of-the-art jail facilities are designed and sited in the boroughs, the sooner all of the horrific jails on Rikers Island will be a thing of the past.”

It was the so-called Lippman Commission that released a 146-page report recommending an “achievable plan” to permanently close Rikers Island and establish borough-based facilities in April. The mayor followed with his own comprehensive plan in March.

“The closure of the George Motchan Detention Center on Rikers Island is evidence of this administration’s commitment to criminal justice reform,” said state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), the chairman of the Assembly’s Correction Committee. “By offering low-level offenders alternatives to incarceration, enacting supervised release for low-risk defendants, and supporting other paths to stability, this city is proving that it’s possible to lower crime while ending the cycle of incarceration that too many find themselves caught in. I am proud to stand with Mayor de Blasio as we take another step towards a better, fairer and safer New York.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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