A Stop Work Order Comes Just In Time

Thanks Joe For Keeping Us Updated!

A STOP WORK ORDER is in effect at 147-10 Jasmine Ave. because the alterations do not conform to the new Zoning Text. ( Including the 6 foot high barricade type 'fence' and destruction of City Owned street trees and several other issues.)

If anyone should see any construction activity please call 311.

Property Profile Overview

Overview for Complaint #:4350482 = RESOLVED

In addition one of the two newly built houses on the corner of 45th Avenue and 149th Street also has a stop work order due to a non-conforming lot size. ( 149-08 45th Avenue) resulting from the break up of the original tax lot.
This is preventing them from getting a C of O and selling this house. According to the original application both houses were built on a single tax lot under special provisions of the zoning resolution because the lot was not large enough to create two new legal building lots. This resolution requires that both houses must remain under a single ownership.

Property Profile Overview

I understand that both of these STOP WORK ORDERS are the result of our (KPCA) recent correspondence with both the City and Borough Building Commissioners and the Parks Department (Forestry).


Thank you,
Joe A

MTA Hands Over Valuable Land in Queens

MTA Hands Over Valuable Real Estate To Spur Jamaica Redevelopment

More stores are on the way for commuters and Jamaica residents, as the MTA announced today that it is leasing some valuable real estate, as part of a plan to spur development in southeast Queens.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation is spear-heading a $12 million project, aimed at bringing more retail and private investment to the neighborhood.

To help the effort, the Long Island Rail Road is relocating its print shop, currently located under the rail road tracks on Sutphin Boulevard, to another Queens location.

The new plans would call for a better-lit underpass and more than 5,000 square feet of retail space.

Currently, the railroad underpass, pictured above, is a dark tunnel across the street from the entrance to the railroad and air train stations.

"Sometimes if you walk underneath here, you can't see the person's face that's coming towards you," said a local.

Supporters say they are especially interested in promoting businesses that cater to both the neighborhood and to LIRR customers.

"We are hoping to do convenience stores that will be helpful to people riding the Long Island Railroad and those in the neighborhood," said Andrew Manshel of the Greater Jamaica Development Corp.

"We service 280,000 customers daily, and many of them come through Jamaica, so additional retail might make this a good stopping off point for them," said Susan McGowan of LIRR.

Construction on the project is set to begin later this year.

This will be beneficial to both the community and to commuters and I give kudos. However I am still skeptical that someone is getting rich on this transaction.

The Parks Department may take our green spaces but the Buildings Department can take our lives

I was forwarded this email from a concerned Queens neighbor concerning recent events:

The Parks Department may take our green spaces

but the Buildings Department can take our lives.

No, this e-mail is not about parks, although, as usual

we have good and not-so-hot news on that front.

Today is all about buildings.

As you know, once again, despite repeated complaints

from the community, the community association, the community board

and every single local elected representative,

the Buildings Department failed to protect a neighborhood from

a construction crane's falling, crushing several buildings,

this time taking several lives in midtown Manhattan.

This is only the latest in a continuing series of tragedies --

illegal conversions, fires, collapsing buildings, & falling scaffolds and cranes.

According to public figures cited yesterday

by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer,

" the number of safety violations at high-rise construction sites

nearly doubled between November 2006 and November 2007."

Yet as the list of disaster continued to grow, no Mayor, regardless of party,

ever exercised executive control over this wayward agency.

Last January, after a similar construction accident in downtown Manhattan, Stringer "called for the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement

or a similar agency to take over construction site safety.

Special Enforcement is an elite unit staffed by police, fire and building inspectors.

The unit is responsible for interagency enforcement of a broad range of quality of life issues, including illegal building uses...[leading Stringer to suggest] that the unit's mandate be expanded to include an independent, interagency approach to construction safety."

To find out more about Scott's proposal, call his office at 212-669-8300.

To find out more about your own Borough President's plans, call him/her.

It is melodramatic but true:

The life you save may be your own.

Carol Schachter Carol Greitzer Carol Rinzler Pat Dolan