The Bigger Better Bottle Bill Prevails!

New Bottle Bill Expands Recycling Program

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Robert Sweeney announced June 11 that the Assembly had passed a “bigger, better bottle bill” to alter the way the bottle deposit recycling system will function in New York State.

The bill, which was first initiated by students from Queens College a month ago, passed in the Assembly 98 to 40 after nearly two hours of floor debate.

The new program expands the current five-cent deposit system to include non-carbonated beverages like bottled water, iced tea, sports drinks and juices. It also requires unclaimed deposits to be turned over from distributors and bottlers to the state. The revenue will be used to fund and support environmental programs.

A big win for the Queens College New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG).

See my previous post on The Bigger, Better, Bottle Bill for more info.

Willets Point Owners Given In And Sell

City Makes First Buyouts at Willets Point

After months of trying to cut deals, the city has made its first two agreements to buyout landowners at Willets Point, the 61-acre site by Shea Stadium slated for redevelopment, the city announced today. The first to give in were Sambucci Bros., an auto salvage business, and BRD Corp.

Well the first question to ask is, is this a good thing or a bad thing for the area? Naturally there are pros and cons.

Pros:
That is two less properties that the city has to deal with perhaps making the process from "blighted" to "properly utilized".

This shows good faith by the city that they are willing to negotiate in good faith.

The sooner these properties are acquired the sooner the clean up begins.
Unfortunately to rehabilitate this process will probably take years as the contamination is miles deep. The clean up will fair better to the environment surrounding Willets Point.

Cons:
The more leverage the city has the more likely Eminent Domain will be used to remove the last standing businesses.

If this is so then a proper plan may not be in place, poor planning is not acceptable. Not in todays age with the information we have available to access what is most beneficial for the neighborhood.

Current Conditions:

• Willets Point suffers from widespread petroleum contamination, with additional potential contamination from paints, cleaning solvents, and automotive fluids.
• Environmental hazards are exacerbated by a high water table that spreads pollution throughout the site, endangering adjacent water bodies.
• Most of Willets Point lies within the 100-year flood plain, necessitating a significant increase in grade across the site before modern infrastructure can be installed.

Current Plans:

• Thousands of housing units serving a mix of incomes and demographics
• Exciting new retail and entertainment amenities
• A new, high-quality hotel
• New York City’s first non-Manhattan convention center
• Office space
• Open space, parks, and playgrounds
• A new public school to meet the needs of the growing community
• LEED-certified green buildings and infrastructure

This is where I have a problem. We are talking about heavily polluted area, one of which no matter how many years of remediation will never return to a livable area. I also understand that dumping grounds and polluted landscapes are a number one candidate for public housing. In addition they proposed a school to be built on the area, endangering our youth and unfortunately given by the "mix income" housing the majority of children likely to become sick are the lower middle class and working class. New parks and playgrounds? same argument as before, and I guess Flushing Meadow Park is not big enough. In my opinion Willets Point should be turned into a commercial area. Perhaps similar to what Atlas Park has become. Bars and Restaurants within walking distance of Citifield would also be beneficial to the fans. Now if you want to make an argument that these bars in proposing would bring down the area or something along those lines, take a look at the "Pitch and Putt" golfing area which serves its own beer. If you think areas like Willets Point can be made reasonably safe for residents? take a look at other similar areas and the link to cancer. See Love Canal.

Find The Statistics Of Your Neighborhood

This site has more statistics about your neighborhood than you would ever even think to inquire about.

My Neighborhood Statistics

Current Events: The Turmoil

This was a rant I wrote up and never posted, but still relevant.

I will start this post quite different than most you are used to; I want to begin by saying " What the hell is going on around here?". Apparently we can't eat safely due to the Salmonella contaminated tomatoes.

Health officials confirmed cases in New York State of salmonella-tainted tomato poisoning Thursday.

That brings the total number of affected states to 23, and the toll of affected people has risen to 228.
The FDA blames the salmonella outbreak on uncooked red tomatoes, of the plum, Roma, and round-grown varieties.

We can not get the medicine we need with out worry about it being expired.

"Drug products have expiration dates for good reason. A drug's effectiveness can diminish over time as chemicals lose their potency," said Arthur Levin, executive director of the Center for Medical Consumers.

The godforsaken MTA can't get its act together and are planning on squeezing the shit out of mass transportation users when mass transportation is supposed to be pushed as the cheaper alternative, does anyone remember congestion pricing? Meanwhile the MTA has bled out over a billion dollars over the past 10 years due to personal injury cases, it being cheaper to pay out than to make needed changes to hundreds of train cars. Nassau county owes the MTA a nice chunk of millions for bus and train service, and obviously instead of doing something to assess the situation properly they just had the costs right back down to the same people who are suffering from inflation and outrageous gas prices (which super has passed $5 per gallon) the national average being $4.22. All of this meanwhile you have these big shots and ex-employees costing the MTA 14 million in lost revenue yearly.

Today we have prostitution rings with in walking distance of elementary schools.
We have corruption of politicians in both the local,state and federal government. We are becoming over-developed in the quiet communities, and we can't put together a coherent plan to fix Willet's Point.
We have Con Edison who holds onto property worth millions while they increase utility rates.
We have suffered greatly as the quality of live erodes, crime increases and we witness the destruction of the middle class.
We have people who are struggling to make ends meet while working far beyond the 9 to 5 and will still lose their house to foreclosure.
What can be done for the 4 family household who can not afford to spend 500 grand on a house, $2000 a month for an apartment and has too high an income for "affordable housing".
We live in an age where we need to speak up, in a way much louder than any blog or news publication can carry, an initiative if you will to carry beyond the lines of sex, race,language and economic class.

If you, like myself have had enough let your voice be heard. Whether it is a blog, a letter to congress, a sign posted on your front lawn, a brief mention at a community board meeting it will make a difference. The same way this post may instill a desire for change, and even if it has not you have still become more conscious of the current demise of our beloved borough. We need to avoid recession to the mean, because lets face it we deserve better than that.

Our voice is our most creative and musical instrument. It has great power to touch our lives and the lives of others.- Ted Andrews

Councilman Speaks Up For Queens Against Con Ed

Councilman Calls On Con Ed To Sell Queens Property, Not Hike Rates

A Queens City Councilman called on Con Edison Sunday to sell what he says is an expensive piece of waterfront property, instead of having customers foot the bill for rising costs.

In the wake of a five percent rate hike and another increase potentially on the way, Councilman Eric Gioia said the company should sell its 11-acre property in Long Island City, estimated to be worth a half-billion dollars.

"New Yorkers right now are tightening their belts, trying desperately to make ends meet, the price of food has gone up, the price of gas, and now the price of our utilities,” said Gioia. “Con Edison should be asked to make to run their company more efficiency before they look to New Yorkers to ask us once again to pay more for really lousy service."

The property is currently used as a parking lot, office space, and a training center for Con Ed workers.

Finally a Councilman doing what he/she is supposed to be doing.

Queens College Contractors Have A Bad Rep

Queens College hired dangerous developer

TROUBLED QNS. COLL. DORM FIRM
By YOAV GONEN, Education Reporter, NY Post

University of Connecticut dormitories built by the contractor tapped to erect a $72 million residence hall at Queens College have been plagued with costly fire and safety violations, The Post has learned.

Seven years after two of its dorms were built by the contractor, Alabama-based Capstone Development Corp., UConn is still bringing the buildings up to code, a university spokeswoman said.

She would not further discuss the trouble-plagued dorms, which were built in 2001 at a cost of nearly $55 million.

UConn was paid at least $1 million under the agreement.

Published records show that engineering consultants hired by UConn in 2004 identified dozens of building and safety-code violations at the dorms.

Queens College officials insisted yesterday that they operated with "due diligence" in selecting Capstone for the 506-bed residence, which is slated to open in August 2009.
Additional reporting by Angela Montefinise and Post Wire Services

The Dance Songs That Are Moving New York

Well its Friday and quite frankly today I couldn't give a crap about what is going on in the local news papers. It may be pouring outside, but here are the current beats you can hear on Pulse 87 (87.7).

This list is courtesy of Original Hot 97 .com

Lucas Prata—I Think I’m Falling In Love

Jennifer Lopez—Que Hiciste

September—Cry For You (Radio Mix)

Kat Deluna—Whine Up (album version)

Eric Prydz vs. Floyd—Proper Education (Radio Edit)

Cascada—Truly Madly Deeply (UK Club Mix)

Booty Luv—Boogie 2Nite (Seamus Haji Big Love Edit)

Get Far—Shining Star (Gianluca Motta Radio Edit)

David Guetta—The World Is Mine (F**K Me I’m Famous Edit)

Erasure—I Could Fall In Love With You (Monteverde Radio Edit)

Yardi Don vs. Frank Ti-Ana—One Love One World (Radio Edit)

Leonid Rudenko—Summerfish (Vocal Mix)

Edun—Put ’em Up (Radio Edit)

The Chemical Brothers—Do It Again

Bass Hunters - Now Your Gone

No other radio station keeps your work day or car trip moving as well as Pulse 87.

On a side note Star and Buck Wild are also pretty entertaining in the morning.

Congestion Pricing: Act Now?

Here is a pro-congestion pricing ad. It makes congestion pricing too beneficial, no one will take it seriously. Cleaner air? Additional Subway lines? Less Traffic? Yeah Ok...

My favorite part was the " What if every penny went to improving mass transit." We will never know cause it wouldn't happen. Damn Utopians!

Go here to help the movement. Better Transit

Parking Problems and Possible Solutions

Parking has been an ongoing problem that is increasingly getting worse. When will the congestion of an increasing population affect the ability to park? The question is, how do we fix the problem before it gets out of hand?

1. Make it a requirement for all new buildings with residential housing ( at least 4 stories). Must provide a parking garage or parking lot for its residents. The ratio of provided parking spots to residents must be at least 1.5 to 1. Assuming that there is at east one car per household.

a. However this will create a new problem. Where do we put these parking garages? Preferably
underground. In a worst case scenario a municipal lot could be erected.

b. This will curb the rate of which Queens one family hosing is turned into "McMansions", as it will become more expensive to do so.

2. Instead of creating more spots, possibly taxing the landlord for the amount of spots that its residents take up. To even the balance and make parking more available, some parking meters in the area should be removed. The tax would be the equivalent to the income the city would have received if there were meters at those spots. If you were to calculate the actual income from a metered spot, it works out to $1,560 per spot. Perhaps that is a little high. A $300 to $600, tax per year per spot could make a world of difference. In turn to benefit the residents, they will receive permits to park in a designated area, close to their homes.

Where do we need additional parking? The Long Island Rail Road stops usually have " Park and Ride" commuters taking up many spots. This is evident in Northern Flushing at the Broadway station as well as the Murray Hill Station and the Bayside Station. Of course in most cases there is no room to build such a structure, certainly not in an area that the community boards would approve. The under utilized properties should be selected.

Where could a proposed All Day Muni-Parking complex go?

An example off the top of my head would be the currently vacant property in Flushing on Northern Boulevard not far from 162nd Street where there once was a Movie Theater and then a CVS if my memory serves me correctly. There is an existing good sized lot and if the entire property is utilized it would benefit not only the surrounding residents but also the businesses on and around Northern Boulevard. On Sundays, parishioners of St. Andrew Avelino would benefit from such a lot (free on Sundays).

The DOT have been cracking down on extended driveway openings. The question is, who does this help? Now we must considering that the car which was parked in the removed spot would be moved onto the street, therefore negating and chance that available parking would increase. This does give the neighborhood "parker" for lack of a better word, a slight chance that they could find a spot.

Everyone has a few cars on the block that take up 2 spots or is horrifically crooked or perhaps a "Long Island Park". Then maybe you would like this bumper sticker: I Park Like an Idiot.
But please do not actually go on a sticking rampage, but maybe leaving it under the windshield whipper would be comical. On a side note they really need to make bilingual ones as well.

Do you want Bloomberg to run for office?

Basically any time anyone mentions the possibility and/or the benefit of having Michael Bloomberg in office I can never see down side. If you agree with me and would like to see Mayor Bloomberg run; sign the petition here. http://draftbloomberg.com/ I would like to see if he can really live up to all the promises and goals he has already made for the city of New York and Queens especially.

The four reasons I think Bloomberg will made a good president:

1. He can not be bought or bribed, ( if you don't think that current president Bush and Vice President Cheney are following such practices then you should catch up with Google or Digg.com to get a dose of reality)

2. He would be able to fix the economy, a very important factor considering we are going into a recession. Apparently a very bright man who attended Harvard Business School and John Hopkins University.

3. He is a philanthropist, however unlike current and past governments his history of funding is all based on New York and the United States.

4. Political Stance: He is a liberal when it comes to things like Illegal Immigration, gay marriage, and the womans right to choose. However, economically he is a moderate which should keep taxes down.