Criminals and Guns found at Creedmoor asylum seeker tents

Queens Chronicle 

A press conference was held in Queens Village last Friday in the wake of two Cuban migrant brothers wanted for attempted murder in Orlando, Fla., allegedly being discovered with a gun inside the tent city on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center complex.

Councilwoman Linda Lee (D-Oakland Gardens), who held the event, in conjunction with other area officials, was stunned to learn about the fugitives from the New York Post, which first reported the incident.

“It happened three days ago,” Lee told the Chronicle on Oct. 4. “The most alarming part of this is that I found out today ... We didn’t get any phone calls from anyone at [City Hall].”

Lee said she was at the complex just a few weeks ago discussing how to improve conditions at the tent city.

“Quality of life issues need to be addressed,” Lee said. “Whether it is the garbage, the lack of buses or the parks not being open.”

The councilwoman said residents have been patient and understanding when it comes to what is happening with the migrant crisis, but to have a tent city with more than 1,200 asylum seekers smacked down in the middle of a residential neighborhood, unlike the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers on Randall’s Island in Manhattan and Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, is problematic.

“Those two other tent city HERRC sites are in isolated areas,” said Lee. “This one is ... across the street from a school, the park and everything.”

Lee said when she did a site tour of the facility when it first opened up, she was told there was an intake process and background checks being conducted.

“My question is, where did the system fall apart?” she said. “Maybe we need to do a better intake and reevaluate the system to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Lee said the situation is very dangerous not only to the residents, but the migrants too.

“If a fight broke out, if there is an incident that happens, that puts the other migrants at risk as well,” she said. “We want this site to be closed, but in the meantime, what we are demanding are metal detectors installed ... We are going to push the city for this.”

Mayor Adams’ office said it does not do criminal background checks on everyone who comes through the system, but all its migrant facilities have 24/7 security to keep every individual under its care — and New Yorkers at large — safe. Adams’ office also said that anyone who violates the code of conduct or threatens the safety of other shelter residents and staff may be subject to loss of shelter.

The Mayor’s Office did not say whether it will consider having metal detectors in HERRC facilities in the future after the alleged incident, but did say that it inspects all bags and packages, including food delivery bags.

When asked what the vetting and flagging process entailed, the Mayor’s Office did not further elaborate before press time. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that it will look into the Chronicle’s inquiry and will respond at a later time.

Daniel Sparrow, a spokesman for Lee, told the Chronicle that she was under the impression the vetting or flagging process included criminal background checks.

Sparrow said, during initial the tour her office was assured that between the CBP and Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, where migrants share their information again for intake in the city, asylum seekers would be vetted, screened (for communicable diseases such as Covid-19), and flagged if anything alarming came up.

“Since these individuals were previously in Florida, there was evidently a lapse in the intake process that allowed individuals with outstanding warrants to be placed there,” he said.

Jaroscar Chavez Silva, 36, was charged with one felony count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, according to the city Department of Correction.

According to a criminal complaint from the Queens District Attorney’s Office, a black G2S Taurus pistol loaded with one 9mm bullet and one magazine containing six 9mm rounds of ammunition was found in a duffle bag underneath the bed of the defendant. The complaint said a warrant was issued for Chavez Silva’s arrest on Sept. 16.

Rosheil Chavez Silva, 30, his brother, was extradited back to Florida after police at the 105th Precinct questioned both, reported the Post.

Bob Friedrich, president of Glen Oaks Village, a co-op with 10,000 residents adjacent to the migrant facility, said he does not believe the people at the site are being vetted.

“We have minimum-wage guards entrusted with securing our security inside the shelter,” Friedrich said. “Twenty-four-seven NYPD presence has been eliminated. The sidewalks outside have been strewn with litter and scores of migrants hang out and block the sidewalks. Our beloved elderly residents and young moms with children no longer can congregate at the park across from the migrant shelter because they have been pushed out and feel unsafe.”

Rich Hellenbrecht, the secretary and treasurer of the Bellerose Commonwealth Civic Association, told the Chronicle he was outraged, but the Borough President’s Office told him it would look into the matter.

“These are the guys that got caught,” Hellenbrecht said. “How many people are walking around with knives in their pocket or guns?”

 

BP Richards Creedmoor of Yes gets resistance.

  

Queens Chronicle

Seventeen Eastern Queens civic leaders reiterated their opposition to the state’s redevelopment plan for much of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center property last week after Borough President Donovan Richards touted it as a “community-led effort” in a newsletter.

Area civic groups oppose the plan because, they say, it will be too dense for the region, with buildings that are too tall and lack adequate parking, and that it will be too great a strain on existing infrastructure including roads and sewers.

Richards, who regularly speaks of the need for more housing in Queens and touts the projects slated to produce it, included an item headlined “A New Day is Dawning at Creedmoor” in a newsletter his office said was mailed to tens of thousands of homes across Queens last week. The missive was timed to follow his April 12 State of the Borough address.

“The largest community development project in the history of Eastern Queens is on the horizon in the form of Borough President Richards and Empire State Development’s draft Creedmoor Community Master Plan,” the piece says. “The community-led effort aims to redevelop 50 vacant acres of state land through the creation of more than 2,000 units of housing, with 55 percent being designated for homeownership.”

Empire State Development, the agency planning the project, has proposed 2,873 units of housing on 58 acres of the Creedmoor campus. The plan includes 813 elevator co-ops in buildings of six to eight stories, 536 walk-up co-ops in buildings of three to four stories, 186 triplexes in three-story structures and 98 semidetached two-family homes of two stories. There would be 377 senior homes, 431 supportive housing units and 432 apartments deemed affordable and granted by lottery, in buildings of six to eight stories.

The civic leaders said in a letter emailed to Richards on April 19 that they object to his calling the project “community-led,” since area neighborhood organizations do not support the plan and saw their own proposals for the property overridden.

They want a maximum of 1,000 units of two to three stories, and note that Community Board 13 passed a resolution to that effect.

“The plan by Empire State Development is not acceptable,” the civics’ letter says. “The layout is primarily four story, six story and eight story buildings, which are not compatible with our communities. In fact, except for one six story apartment building at 259th Street you will not find anything on the Hillside Avenue corridor from Winchester Boulevard to the city line higher than two stories.”

 

Governor Kathy Clown brings the housing crisis circus to the crazy house

QNS 

A newly unveiled plan for the Creedmoor campus in eastern Queens seeks to bring 2,800 housing units alongside community amenities to the underutilized plot of land. 

The 93-page Creedmoor Community Master Plan, made public by Governor Kathy Hochul on Dec. 6, proposes the revitalization of 48 acres of the 125 acre plot of the state-owned land. Currently 19 of the 25 buildings are sitting vacant. And in the past year, the site began to shelter some of the city’s new migrants in tent structures. 

The plan proposes a grand total of 2,873 housing units – with 1,633 available for ownership and the rest as rentals. It stands to be the largest housing investment in eastern Queens since the construction of Glen Oaks Village in the 1950s and the newest single expansion for homeownership in the area since the North Shore Towers were constructed in the 1970s. 

“Creedmoor represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for New Yorkers to reimagine state land and plan for the emerging needs of tomorrow,” said Hochul. “Working together in productive partnership with the community — and thanks to the leadership of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards — we can build more housing, create more jobs, and strengthen Eastern Queens for the next generation.”

Over the past year, seven workshops were held to engage the community and hear from stakeholders on what they want to see in the redevelopment. Attendees expressed a strong desire for recreational family-friendly places to gather, such as open outdoors and an accessible town center. They also wanted new housing to give low and middle income households starter home options, as well as designate units for seniors and veterans.

Adamsville migrant tent city green lighted for Creedmoor

THE CITY 

New York City officials are moving ahead with a plan to open a sprawling tent shelter to house 1,000 migrant men at a parking lot on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus in Queens, officials confirmed Wednesday.

At a press conference at City Hall, Zach Iscol, the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, said they hoped to be able to open the new shelter by early August. The plan was first reported by THE CITY in mid-July, but city officials had declined to confirm details about the plan until the Wednesday meeting.

Another proposal to erect a second 1,000-person tent structure at Aqueduct Racetrack has been nixed due to fire safety concerns and the fact that the state needs the parking lot back by early September for race season, Iscol confirmed. 

New York state owns the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and is expected to reimburse the city for the cost of the building and running the new shelter, according to Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom.

The plan to build a large-scale migrant shelter on the campus of Creedmoor has been met by pushback from local elected officials who have voiced concerns about the site being so far away from public transit. 

Immigrant and homeless rights activists have repeatedly decried the city’s use of sprawling, barracks-style facilities to house migrants. The city opened and closed similar tent shelters on Orchard Beach and Randalls Island in the fall, when a surge of asylum-seekers first started arriving in New York City.

“Queens will always open its arms to any and all people wishing to seek refuge and build a better life here,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who is calling for the city to set up a community advisory board to address neighborhood concerns with residents of the shelter as they arise. 

“The success of this effort hinges upon an efficient, constant channel of communication between the state, city and borough, as well as a community-informed decision making process around ensuring the needs of our asylum-seekers are met and the concerns of area residents are heard,” he added.

Next stop Adamsvilles, Aqueduct and Creedmoor

NY Post 

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is eyeing the Aqueduct Racetrack and Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens as new locations for massive emergency tent cities that would help temporarily shelter the relentless influx of migrants in the Big Apple, officials said Sunday.

City Hall notified Queens Borough President Donovan Richards late Saturday that officials would be touring the grounds of both sites this week, he confirmed to The Post.

If they are deemed suitable, the tent cities would open on the grounds of Aqueduct and Creedmoor at the end of July, Richards said.

The City first reported the locations were in play to be converted into encampments housing 1,000 migrants each.

Both sites are on state property and Gov. Kathy Hochul would have to approve the plans, officials said.

“As the mayor has said, all options are on the table as we deal with this crisis and no humanitarian relief centers are final until announced,” an Adams spokesperson said Sunday.

“With over 53,000 asylum seekers currently in the city’s care, we need additional support from state and federal partners.”

While racing at Aqueduct has been on the decline, one of the state’s cash cows — the Genting NY-Resorts World casino — is located next to the race track and attracts gamblers who use the parking lots there.

That could potentially complicate use of the site as a migrant encampment.

Many of Queens’ hotel airports — particularly those near JFK and LaGuardia — have already been converted into migrant shelters.

Richards said his borough has been doing its part in aiding the asylum seekers, but the Adams ally also emphasized there must be better coordination and communication between City Hall and Queens elected officials.

“I understand we are in a crisis. I’m not playing the NIMBY game here,” Richards said, referring to the acronym for the phrase “not in my backyard,” used to refer to people who oppose undesirable developments in their neighborhoods.

Community board kept from community workshops for Creedmoor housing conversion

QNS 

As of the afternoon of July 11, nearly 1,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Creedmoor Property Development project to be halted in its current form.

According to organizer Carin Bail, the purpose of the petition to try and get Queens Borough President Donovan Richards to receive more input from the residents in the area to try and address some of their biggest concerns.

Bail, who is a member of the Hollis Hills Civic Association, brought up multiple concerns she and other community members share about the Creedmoor Property Development potentially being transformed into housing units. While Empire State Construction is still in the process of developing the master plan for the project, many residents in the area are worried that a large influx of people for the developed property will cause overcrowding, creating more traffic in the area and making parking significantly more difficult. Additionally, there is concern over the environmental effect such a project could have, like its impact on the sewage system.

Despite the fact that Richards and Empire State Development announced back in January that a series of community visioning workshops would be held on the matter, Bail questioned the amount of input that truly came from the community during those that have since occurred. She said many living near Creedmoor weren’t aware of these sessions for quite a while, and feels these people should have their voices heard since they will be greatly impacted by it. Still, these offices have been in constant contact with several local civic associations in eastern Queens to keep them updated.

“I’m a civic president in a neighboring community and I wasn’t even aware of this until someone in my community asked if I was going to the Zoom meeting, which was back in April,” Bail said. “I have almost 1,000 people who are not in favor of this because they didn’t even know that this was happening.”

Forget it Jake, this is the "City of Yes"

 

What goes on near Creedmoor

From Crains:

Fully 70% of Creedmoor patients are now managed by the various nonprofit organizations operating on the Creedmoor grounds. These nonprofits have been absent from each of the three Creedmoor meetings, although their presence had been requested. They shield themselves from accountability, and tout HIPAA patient confidentiality laws to keep neighboring communities in the dark.

Surprisingly, there is no requirement that wandering patients take their daily medications and there is no behavioral code of conduct protocol conveyed to them. The general lack of accountability by the nonprofits is stunning. Their managers enter the facility gates in the morning and leave at night, rarely stepping foot outside of Creedmoor to see what their patients have wrought on nearby communities.

The aggressive panhandling is rampant. Unsuspecting pedestrians are accosted daily and disheveled individuals often follow them into a Dunkin’ Donuts or wait outside an ATM to demand money. Recently, a woman sitting at McDonald’s in Queens Village was assaulted by a Creedmoor resident. A middle-aged worker in Creedmoor was sucker-punched by a patient as she bent down to pick up a food tray. She is now recuperating with 3 steel rods in her neck.

Public defecation, substance abuse and other quality-of-life infractions are now commonplace in residential communities around Creedmoor. Unfortunately, the police are discouraged from enforcing certain laws now that Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council have decriminalized some low-level infractions. Creedmoor officials acknowledge that well-meaning individuals should neither give money nor endure menacing shakedowns by patients who live rent-free, receive three meals per day including snacks, plus a weekly monetary stipend paid in part by the very same individuals that are being accosted daily.

Civic leaders who sought to identify why these problems have dramatically worsened over the past year were repeatedly told by Creedmoor administrators that nothing has changed. But recently, writer and former City Council candidate Dennis Saffran, who investigated Creedmoor for another story, revealed some interesting facts. It turns out that much has changed. Governor Andrew Cuomo prioritized deinstitutionalizing the mentally ill and moving them out of wards and into so-called “transitional housing.” To accomplish this, OMH simply rebranded its wards as “transitional housing” and redesignated inpatients as “outpatients” although their living arrangements never changed.

Creedmoor of concern to local citizens

From CBS 2:

A Queens community says it has grown impatient with some patients at a famed mental health facility near their neighborhood.

They say incident involving patients range from scary to downright gross.

Matt Kruger told CBS2’s Jessica Borg the scenes he captured in a cellphone video are the reason he’s moving out of Glen Oaks.

“No one wants to see someone’s pants down to their ankles, in broad daylight, then going to the bathroom in the middle of the street,” he said.

He showed Borg the video – too graphic for TV – that showed a man doing just that right around the corner from his home.

“It’s inappropriate,” he said. “There’s kids, there’s families.”

Aggressive panhandling is also a growing concern for neighbors of a shopping plaza on Union Turnpike.

Creedmor situation kind of peculiar

"I have attached three pictures of beautiful housing, built by the state on the grounds of Creedmor, for the disabled. Three of the buildings have never been used. They contain brand new furniture.

Right now, only three buildings are occupied and the residents are being farmed out.

In less than 5 years the state built residences that are not being used. This is wasteful and very stressful for the residents and the wonderful people that care for them."

- Linda

State wants to develop more of Creedmoor property

From the Queens Chronicle:

Members of Community Board 13 have learned to take more than a passing interest when a state agency comes to them talking about development plans for surplus land at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Bellerose.

Richard Hellenbrecht, the board’s land use chairman, said the Empire State Development Corp. has approached them with plans for two parcels on the south campus totaling 53 acres.

The south campus is bordered by Hillside Avenue to the south, Winchester Boulevard to the west, Union Turnpike to the north and mostly residential housing to the east.

The towering main hospital is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Winchester Boulevard and Union Turnpike.

Speaking at the board’s monthly meeting on Nov. 21, Hellenbrecht said housing is the primary aim, with 1,278 dwelling units included in the proposal.

“There would be apartments and one- and two-family houses,” Hellenbrecht told the group. Twenty percent of the dwellings would be classified as affordable. There would be 370 one- and two-family homes.

But the ESDC also is proposing apartment buildings of four and five stories, which CB 13 has considered out of character with the existing homes in the adjacent neighborhood to the east. It would require zoning changes that would allow builders to exceed the 35-foot height limit.

“We’re not too happy about that,” he said.

And while a new public school building is part of the requested package, so are only 1,294 new parking spaces to accommodate the new 1,278 units.

The ESDC also is proposing to put a youth center in or on the site of the old Creedmoor power generating station.

Abandoned corner house becomes a problem

Even the "nice" areas have problems with abandoned/vacant houses - this is on the corner of Union Turnpike and Commonwealth Blvd.

If you drive past it now, the front door is bent down and the front door is wide open. Since it's right next to both Creedmoor and the school complex on former Creedmoor land, I wonder if any kids hang out inside; or if squatters are living there. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

BTW, found a complaint made about it on 7/15/2015.

07/15/2015 - I AM CALLING BECAUSE THERE IS A VACANT BUILDING THAT HAS BROKEN WINDOWS AND IS NOT GUARDED.
07/16/2015 - I2 - NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION
Comments: 2- STORY FRAME BUILDING. SECURED. 5-0 CHAIN LINK FENCE INSTALLED.

No homeless at Creedmoor

From the Queens Tribune:

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) put cold water on rumors that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was eyeing the vacant Creedmoor Psychiatric Center tower in Bellerose to house homeless persons.

Several news outlets reported over the weekend that Cuomo was looking into using the vacant tower on Winchester Boulevard and Union Turnpike as part of a plan to put homeless persons into a shelter. He was allegedly also eyeing several other vacant psychiatric centers across the state.

But Avella released a statement on Tuesday stating that the governor had dropped any consideration of using the center.

“When I originally came across the rumor that the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center was being considered for housing the homeless, I reasoned that there was no way such an awful proposal could be taken seriously, but experience told me that worse ideas have been considered,” he said in a statement. “After several calls, I can confirm that the Governor’s office has no intention in using this facility to house the homeless population.”

Avella added that he feared the city would be receptive to the idea, which according to the Daily News was receptive to the idea, but later confirmed that they, too, would be dropping the idea.

DeBlasio, Cuomo & Comrie want homeless at Creedmoor

From the Daily News:

The de Blasio administration said Saturday it is open to the idea of converting a near empty psychiatric center to house the homeless.

Sources say Gov. Cuomo is considering a proposal to use the Creedmore Psychiatric Center in Queens to help deal with the city’s homeless crisis.

City officials have not been briefed about the possibility of using the site’s empty buildings by the Cuomo administration, but on Saturday seemed receptive.

“Given the dimensions of the problem that has built up over many years, any additional state resources are welcome and we look forward to hearing more about the plan,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton.

From the NY Post:

Queens state Sen. Leroy Comrie, whose district includes Creedmoor, said providing homeless people with housing there is not such a crazy idea.

“The homeless individuals would have an excellent chance of being successful with a complement of services,” Comrie said. “I will be talking to the governor about it.”

Fun times at Creedmoor

"I have something for your Queens Crap website: Today, January 13, 2015, around 3:55pm, I was walking on Winchester Avenue between Union Turnpike and Hillside Avenue, and a woman walked by me STARK NAKED. It must have been like 20 degrees outside, and she didn't have any panties, bra, shoes or socks on. NOTHING AT ALL. Not even jewelry.

I went into the Creedmoor complex to tell someone. I went into building # 73, there was a receptionist and a man there in a small reception area. I told the woman there. She asked me is the woman I saw dark skinned? I said yes, but not too much. Is she a bit chunky? Yes, and just a little taller than me. Then the receptionist said, oh that must be "CeCe".

Apparently they knew who the woman was and this woman has done this before. I couldn't believe it. What a sight. A flabby 30 or 40 year old woman stark naked in the cold walking down the street. Don't know where she was going. Cars were stopping and looking. Later on, I went back into building 73 and asked them what happened, they said the cops and the firemen all showed up to corral her.

I'm writing to you because I live near that Creedmoor area, and last year an inmate from Rikers Island escaped around there. To enter that complex, there's a small opening to enter, on Winchester close to Union Tpke and there's a traffic light there. If you go in, there's a guard booth BUT there is NEVER EVER any guard there. There really should be!! This area is really scary. I witnessed something really, really weird there today, the naked lady."

Marie

ICCC up for BSA vote

From the Times Ledger:

Now that another city Board of Standards and Appeals hearing is nearing, opposition is mounting again against plans by the Indian Cultural and Community Center to break ground in Bellerose to construct a four-story building on the site of the Creedmoor Psychiatric facility campus.

The group originally convinced lawmakers to sell the parcel to build a community center.

It soon changed plans, proposing to build two nine-story buildings instead of the original one-story community center and athletic field.

The new development plans irked the community, and the ICCC again changed its mind and argued in favor of building the two structures, but keeping them to only six stories..

The fourth and latest idea shrank to the one-building with a recreational center on the roof.

“We are not against the ICCC if they build what they said they would,” said Jerry Wind, president of the Bellerose Hillside Civic Association. “The latest incarnation of the plan is this one building.”

Community leaders, in collaboration with state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), are asking the city Board of Standards and Appeals to deny the variance needed for the ICCC to develop the site at 82nd Avenue and 242ns Street.The BSA was scheduled to hold a hearing on the fourth revised proposal Nov. 25.

“I hope the board reviews the latest proposal and looks at how they got here,” Avella said. The ICCC “didn’t get here with unclean hands.”

Crazy gang member was let out to run around with weapons

From DNA Info:

A convicted killer who was out on bail following a gun charge in July was arrested again with a cache of weapons, ammunition and fake IDs, according to police.

Raymond Morillo, 34, was picked up after police officers saw him near a van with New Jersey plates parked on 108th Street near Horace Harding Expressway the day on Sept. 28, according to the district attorney's office.

Police saw Morillo — who did 14 years in prison for murder — driving the same van in July, but he denied owning it when he was asked about it on Sept. 28, according to the criminal complaint.

After getting a search warrant, officers returned and found a loaded revolver, a loaded 9mm pistol and more than 20 rounds of ammunition in a safe inside the van, police said.

Officers also found a wallet with New York and Texas drivers licenses with Morillo's name and photo, as well as a Social Security card and identification card with a different name, but a photo that matched Morillo, according to police.

He was arrested for multiple weapons charges and criminal possession of stolen property. He was held without bail.

It's just the latest run in for Morillo, who a police source said was a member of the La Familia gang and a threat to the community.

This is the second time this happened!

Why was he on the streets in the first place?

From DNA Info:

A convicted killer who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in January by swapping clothes with a friend was busted again carrying a gun near a rival gang's turf, according to a source and the district attorney's office.

Raymond Morillo, 33, was sitting in a car with overly-tinted windows and a license plate cover, on Junction Boulevard and 57th Avenue on July 20 at around 3:15 a.m., according to the district attorney's office.

Officers spotted a .44-caliber revolver, loaded with five rounds of ammunition, on the floor of the passenger side of the car and arrested him, police said.

Morillo had previously been charged with criminal impersonation for fleeing the hospital, but he was released without bail. The case was also set to be dismissed in November.

The area where he was arrested is popular with the Trinitario gang, according to a source.

Morillo — who was convicted in 1999 for manslaughter and assault in another gang attack — is affiliated with La Familia, a rival gang in Corona, the source said.

Another inmate escapes from Creedmoor

From the Daily News:

Cops are searching for a mental patient who escaped from a Queens psychiatric facility on Tuesday.

Clifford Brown, 27, made his mad dash for freedom when he vaulted over chain-link fence on the south side of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Facility on Winchester Blvd. in Queens Village, cops said.

Brown - who is mentally challenged and also suffers from schizophrenia - was arrested by cops on gun charges in 2003, police said.

He’s described as five-foot-eight, 120 pounds with brown eyes, black hair, thin build, and has a scar on the right wrist. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, tan slacks, and a gray hat.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Pols want Creedmoor project downsized dramatically

From the Daily News:

A controversial South Asian group attempting to build senior housing in Bellerose received the latest in a long series of blows.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz postponed a vote Thursday on whether to grant the Indian Cultural and Community Center a variance to put up two six-story buildings on the site that was formerly part of Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.

The nonprofit group was unable to submit its plans because the city Board of Standards and Appeals ordered the center last week to downsize the buildings so they would better fit into the neighborhood of one- and two-family homes.

“I will do everything in my power to stop this out-of-character, and obnoxious project,” state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) told the Daily News.

He said members of the group offered to help him get reelected — if he helped them acquire a second parcel of land at the site. He refused to support them.

“I have never come across a more disreputable bunch of individuals who consistently misrepresent and lie about their intentions,” Avella said.

The center sparked outrage in the community because its initial plans called for a community center, athletic field and parking facility.

It was only after the center bought the 4.5 acres for $1.8 million — about a fourth of its market-rate value — from the state New York State Dormitory Authority, that it revealed its full intention: to build housing on the site as well.

This is comforting: Prisoner walks right out of Creedmoor

From the NY Post:

A killer who had been locked up for for the past 15 years for manslaughter, escaped from a psychiatric center in Queens by swapping clothes with a friend Tuesday, cops said.

Raymond Morillo, 33, was imprisoned for manslaughter in 1999, prison records show. In December he was moved from prison to the Creedmor Psychiatric Facility in Rosedale, according to police.

At about 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, Morillo was visited by a friend, with whom he traded a black baseball cap, white sneakers and tan pants. The new get up allowed him to exit the building, cops said.

The friend also managed to leave the building, police said.

UPDATE 1/31/2014: We can relax. He was caught in Tennessee.