Return to the South Richmond Hill Horror

 

Impunity City 

Spring in South Queens is off to a despairingly dangerous start, particularly with targeted muggings of elderly Indian Sikh men in the same vicinity that’s located on Lefferts Blvd near a Guawdara Temple one block west. First was a violent assault on a 70-year-old man going on an early morning stroll and a little over a week later two other elderly Sikh men were mugged and robbed by two men on the same corner around the same time. In both incidents, the criminals knocked their turbans  religious headwear off their heads, giving credence to Sikh community leaders theories of being hate crimes against them.

 

The two men involved in the brutal attacks eventually got arrested after being on the lam for a few weeks, one of them who was involved in both crimes. Yet something caught my eye from the Queens Chronicle report after the young man involved in the second attack:

Two Sikh men were attacked Tuesday morning in Richmond Hill near where a hate crime against a member of the same community occurred last week. One man is in custody and another is still at large.

The incident occurred near the intersection of 95th Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard just after 7 a.m., according to police, a block from the Sikh Cultural Society gurdwara.

Officers found the two men, 76 and 64 years old, with minor injuries to the head and body. A preliminary investigation determined that the victims were approached by two men who struck them both on the head and body with closed fists and a wooden stick. The victims were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

The assailants removed religious headwear from the men and stole their money. The incident is being treated as a robbery and a hate crime, according to police.

Hezekiah Coleman, 20 years old, who police say was squatting at 95-54 Lefferts Blvd., was taken into custody and charged with robbery, assault, hate crimes and aggravated harassment, officials said.

Police believe the suspect they have not caught also committed last week’s assault against Nirmal Singh, 70, said Community Affairs Officer Scott Adelman of the 102nd Precinct at the Community Board 9 meeting on Tuesday night.

The 102nd has a directed post at 95-54 Lefferts Blvd., which appears to be abandoned. It is believed that both suspects were squatters there.

“That car will not leave until the perpetrator is caught,” said Adelman.

Sukhjinder Singh Nijjar is the chairman of external affairs and the elections commission at the Sikh Cultural Society. He says the society is working with the precinct and hate crimes unit in the aftermath of the attacks.

He hopes to see increased police presence and is working to get a car permanently assigned for the temple area. On Wednesday, he and a group of about 15 community members met at the temple at 3 a.m. to patrol.

“We’re exploring all these avenues to see if we can have this area covered, not only for our local Sikh community, but also many other multicultural communities in this area,” he said, adding that the society will continue to hold elected officials accountable on delivering on their promises.

Strong words indeed, especially to elected officials who continue to remain insouciant to the rapid rise of crime in Queens and the other four boroughs and most of all to the party all the time mayor Eric Adams. But in the case they should hold the Queens Chronicle accountable for getting the address of the house were the suspects were squatting in (twice in the same article). The actual address is 94-54 Lefferts Blvd, and  this house has a sordid past and currently is casting an ominous aura. I covered this house exactly one year ago right after a man was found dead on the porch one morning, a result of being bludgeoned in the head by two other homeless men.

Evidently, this abandoned house has got even worse and more squatters are occupying it even if they can’t get inside. 

 

 

 

DSNY, please clean this up!

"Driving home today in Bayside on 43rd Ave. and 223rd Street a home made sign caught my eye. I had to stop get out and snap a picture that I hope you share on Queens Crap. People are feed up with the inordinate amount of littter and their do nothing local government.
Thanks..."

- anonymous

Removed trash baskets cause dumpers to trash neighborhoods

This PIX11 story is about a residential area in Harlem having their street corner trash baskets removed, however we're aware that this seems to be happening all over the city, even in commercial areas. There's a backwards logic that removing cans means people won't dump trash, which just is not the case.

Push to use video as evidence for littering summonses

From the Queens Chronicle:

A Sanitation Department official told the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association last Thursday that the agency would “love” to use camera footage in its enforcement of littering laws, but can’t because of the law.

“It does help our enforcement because usually its ritualized,” said Nicholas Circharo, community affairs liaison for the DSNY. “They do it every morning. We would love to use the footage.”

Right now, Sanitation enforcement agents must catch a litterer in the act to write him or her a summons and are not allowed to use video evidence against an illegal dumper.

Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) said earlier in the meeting that he’d be interested in writing a bill that would allow the agency to use surveillance equipment to keep streets clean.

Litter laws are a top issue for the WRBA, and it’s discussed at almost every one of the civic’s meetings. Circharo was asked to appear at the May one to answer a few questions from WRBA President Steve Forte and other residents.

Many complained that summonses are often written to homeowners and merchants for trash left behind by other people in front of their property — some businesses have been issued thousands of dollars in violations.

Presenting "The Filth of Forest Hills"

From the Filth of Forest Hills:

Thanks for joining me on this filthy journey on Queens Blvd (between Union Turnpike & 78th Ave) in Forest Hills in Queens, the “dump any kind of crap borough”, where a mere few blocks from the garbage strewn, homeless hang-out of Skid Row are multi million dollar homes in the gated community of Forest Hills Garden. and just a block away is the prestigious K-12 Kew Forest School. So then why is this section of Queens Blvd allowed to continue to look like skid row with constant garbage dumping, litter and several homeless men bothering people every single day. Of course having a homeless shelter a few blocks away in Kew Gardens in the Comfort Inn does not help the situation, in fact, this skid row is helped immensely by this failed policy of one of the worst Mayors in New York history. DeBlasio’s legacy will be the destruction of good communities and bad communities to get even worse, while all the while he poses as some progressive liberal, though his administration has been corrupt and the homeless population has increased greatly under his so-called leadership.

Speaking of so-called leadership, what are the hack elected officials of Forest Hills going to do about this mess here in Forest Hills on SKID ROW. You know Forest Hills folks like political hack Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and the awful do nothing while standing by city councilmember, the dishonorable Karen Koslowitz.

City fines at an all time high

From AM-NY:

Fines for parking tickets, litter and other violations reached a record high of $993 billion in the 2016 fiscal year, according to a report released by the city comptroller Wednesday.

Since the 2013 fiscal year, when the city collected $811 million in fines, violations have been increasing, with parking tickets leading the way, according to the report.

In the last fiscal year, the city collected $545 million in ticket revenues. Quality of life violations, such as littering, building fines and noise complaints, were the second biggest category with $184 million in revenues.

Free newspaper hawkers banned from subways

From WNYC:

Earlier this year, the MTA announced an agreement with the publishers of amNY and Metro — both free dailies — that prohibits these modern-day "newsies" from working in the subway, and allows the newspapers to place self-service metal racks stands in stations instead.

The MTA argues that the hawkers contribute to excess trash in the stations, which is a continual struggle for the agency, and contributes to track fires. There were over 1,000 subway fires last year, according to a report from the MTA. This new agreement holds the newspapers accountable for the disposal of leftover papers at the end of each day. Metro has already begun to withdraw hawkers, while amNY is expected to follow, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz. (A spokesman for amNY wouldn't comment.)

Though banned from the subway, the hawkers will continue to physically distribute newspapers in NJ Transit, LIRR and Metro- North stations, according to Metro's media kit.

Get ready to be pissed on more

From the NY Post:

In January, the City Council voted to reclassify low-level crimes such as public urination, public consumption of alcohol, littering, subway fare evasion and taking up multiple seats on the subway from criminal to civil offenses.

But if California is any indication, it may not have been a smart move.

Retail giants with locations in the Golden State, including Safeway, Target, Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies, say they have seen at least a 15 percent increase in shoplifting since California voters opted to reduce theft penalties in 2014, The Associated Press reports. Shoplifting reports in LA increased 25 percent in the year after Proposition 47 passed.

Should we lighten up on minor offenses?

From DNA Info:

Penalties for drinking alcohol and urinating in public could be reduced under a package of bills being discussed by the city council next week.

Under the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2016, drinking alcohol in public, littering, public urination, unreasonable noise and violating parks rules would largely be considered civil offenses punishable with summonses, according to a city council memo on the plan.

The legislation would remove the possibility of a permanent criminal record for urinating in public and violating park rules. Instead, police would create public guidelines about when those violations are civil or criminal offenses.

The city has used the "broken windows" theory of policing for years which holds that smaller offenses are predictors for larger crimes. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton have remained strong defenders of the strategy in the face of criticism that the theory unjustly targets minorities and the poor.

Dirty sidewalk violations can't be fought

"I have been getting tickets for a dirty sidewalk in Astoria. The tickets are issued by the Dept. of Sanitation and start at $100. If I don't find out about the violation until later (because I don't live at the problematic address) the fine goes into default by the ECB and the fines goes up. If you were to see the sidewalk for this corner property, it looks reasonably clean. I've tried the impossible task of keeping it completely clean but it seems useless. The wind will bring some wrapper or piece of misc. over immediately. I wish someone from the city could witness it. This sidewalk is reasonably clean but it can never be 100% clean. It's also my responsibility 18" into the street. The tricky part isn't getting under parked cars or car tires but dealing with others people's nonsense. I have to dispose of and get the ticket when someone leaves a bottle of warm piss behind. I have to dispose of random bags of garbage dumped from cars. I've had other people's Christmas trees dumped on the corner. And of course, dog dookie.

I feel that I'm not alone. There must be other residential properties targeted for tickets. This is an unfair burden. Tickets may be necessary but they won't make the sidewalk any cleaner. Sanitation officers could probably bring in more revenue if they issued tickets to the offenders that are actually littering. But that job isn't easy. I know about the 8-9am and 6-7pm rule but I am not able to stand guard at those times. I can clean earlier or later than that but I can't make this my full time job. I have attempted to find someone to help using ads with local merchants. I have also tried Craigslist ads. So far, no one affordable is available. I can't pay $50 an hour. As a job it sucks, I know because I'm doing the cleaning. I am requesting some sound advice if Queens Crap can post a blog on this matter. The world wide web of misinformation makes it seems that fewer tickets are written and that the city is only getting cleaner. I haven't been able to locate articles on residential properties with these problems. This is not a Businesses only problem." - Anonymous

_________________________________________________________________________

I tried to assist someone else with just this problem. Unfortunately, I found that it was damn near impossible to mount a defense to these tickets. No proof needs to be offered by the officer issuing the ticket and it's a "your word against theirs" situation that the home or business owner always loses.

An entire report was written about just how unfair this issue is, but our local lawmakers would rather petition the president for terrorist pardons and worry about tampons in schools than pass legislation that would actually help the average taxpayer in this town.

Bill threatens to take away business licenses of scofflaws

From the Daily News:

A new City Council bill would yank the licenses of businesses that rack up thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.

The city is owed $1.5 billion in uncollected penalties on building and fire code, sanitation, health and other violations - all judgments handled by the Environmental Control Board.

Under the bill being introduced by Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) Wednesday, businesses could lose their licenses or permits if they have $50,000 overdue for two years, or $25,000 overdue for five years. They’d also get hit if they owe $10,000 and fail to make three straight payments on a payment plan.

“There’s $1.5 billion that’s sitting on the table,” Kallos said. “Passing these laws to revoke permits would do a lot to improve quality of life.”

The legislation would mean construction sites that rack up debt for dangerous building code violations would have their permits taken away.

Other targets could be restaurants that don’t pay their health code fines, or businesses that leave sidewalks covered in litter or don’t shovel snow.

Documenting filth in Brooklyn

From WPIX:

When it comes to litter, Alexandra Larger says she understands how candy wrappers, cigarette butts, and empty soda cans end up on the street, but seeing chicken bones and rubber gloves littering the blocks near her home in Bed-Stuy just never made sense.

So now she’s started documenting the sightings on her blog “Streets of Brooklyn.”

“I can’t recall ever seeing anyone eating a fried chicken thigh in the middle of the street – can you? And as far as the rubber glove situation … I don’t even want to know,” Larger writes on her blog.

Larger says she never notices garbage like this popping up in wealthier neighborhoods around the borough. So she decided to start snapping pictures of the unusual sightings and posting them online.

Council looking to decriminalize quality-of-life crimes

From the Daily News:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s office is working on a proposal that would make some of the most common criminal court summonses civil charges instead. Violators would get a ticket to one of the city’s administrative courts, such as the Environmental Control Board, instead of criminal court. Cops could no longer make arrests for those offenses, and missed court dates would turn into default monetary judgments instead of warrants.

Bratton appears cool to the idea, saying people wouldn’t take a civil ticket seriously.

A Daily News analysis shows the seven offenses that would be sent to one of the city’s administrative civil courts under the Mark-Viverito plan account for roughly 2.7 million, or 42%, of the summonses issued by the NYPD between 2001 and June 2014. They also account for more than 510,000 open arrest warrants, according to the analysis of data provided by the state Office of Court Administration.

The seven offenses under consideration are public consumption of alcohol, public urination, bicycling on the sidewalk, being in a park after dark, failure to obey a park sign, littering and unreasonable noise. The offenses under consideration for decriminalization are under the city’s administrative code — not the state penal code — making it possible to amend them without state approval, officials said.

Public urination and open container are the only two minor offenses for which fines can be paid by mail. But Lancman said many people have reservations about allowing people to simply pay online for criminal court summonses because they’d essentially be pleading guilty to a violation or, in some cases, a misdemeanor without having an attorney present.

“When it’s a civil offense we don’t have any problem letting people pay online or by mail without having to show up at all ... that would almost certainly mean you’d have a higher percentage of people paying a fine,” Lancman said.

He said that in criminal summons court, roughly half the people don’t show up, and of the people who do show up and are assessed a fine, a quarter of them don’t pay.

Bus company needs to clean up its act

From the Queens Chronicle:

Ozone Park resident Eduardo Venegas has been waking up at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of idling school buses for the past two years, and he’s sick of it.

Venegas’ house neighbors Logan Bus Co.’s Ozone Park depot, located at 97-14 Atlantic Ave.

He said the school buses depart via 95th Avenue, a quiet residential street, in the early morning hours and idle their engines in front of people’s houses.

The buses often double-park on the narrow road, he added, causing people stuck behind them to honk.

When they’re parked curbside, he claims the drivers are behind the wheel either sleeping or eating before they begin their routes.

Venegas said in addition to waking up residents along 95th Avenue, the drivers are throwing their garbage in front of their houses and on the streets.

Venegas said he has brought his complaints regarding the depot to Community Board 9, but has not reached out to any elected officials about the situation yet.

He brought his complaint to the board at its Dec. 9 meeting.

Corey Muirhead, a representative for the owners of Logan Bus Co., said the company is aware of the situation and is working to correct it.

Live from Jamaica: The next hot neighborhood!

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

It is so funny when I read the other day, that Jamaica is going to be one of five new "hot" areas come 2015. Funny, because the below quality of life issues that plague this community continue over and over again and Jamaica certainly does not look like the next "hot" neighborhood, especially with the large majority of slobs, bottom of the barrel folks, slumlords, a poor excuse of elected officials and a lack of enforcement on many issues.

Plus, no matter what city agency you talk to the same thing "not enough man-power". This excuse has gotten so fucking old and if NYC was a business, it would have been shut down decades ago. How about enough with the fucking excuses and just enforce the fucking laws on the books. How can you keep cramming more and more people into this city if you 1) do not have the infrastructure to handle it and 2) you say you don't have the 'man power".

Latest Jamaica shit sights:

Mysterious oil truck at Memorial Field

Hey Crappy! So last week I was walking my dog to Memorial Field in North Flushing. I previously reported on the newly reconstructed ballfields at 149th Street and 26th Avenue, which included a new bioswale on the eastern 20' of the park, to capture rainwater and mitigate flooding. However, as with most bioswales, it quickly became a garbage magnet - which was cleaned up several days after I contacted Queens Crap.

Well, I thought I'd give it another whirl, because the bioswales are truly excellent at attracting trash as can be seen in these pics. And, since maintenance by the Parks Department is next to zero, I thought I'd reach out to you again.

Outside of the athletic fields is even more interesting. A few weeks ago, I noticed a fuel truck at the northwest corner of Bayside Avenue and 149th Street parked illegally and reeking of what smelled like burning oil. It also had yellow "CAUTION" tape wrapped around it. I figured it was a disabled truck that was going to be moved in a few days.

Well, lo and behold: two days later, the truck was gone. However, as I was walking up to the field...there was the truck! Now on the east side of 149th Street at 28th Avenue, the truck was there reeking of combustible fuel - with the yellow tape around it AGAIN!

This is a disaster waiting to happen, Crappy. Why hasn't the DEP or the 109th Precinct gotten this polluter off the streets?

- North Flushing Resident

Woodhaven businesses pissed off about tickets

From WPIX:

A group of small business owners in Woodhaven, Queens says the New York City Sanitation Department inspectors are playing dirty.

The enforcement agents, they say, are slapping the businesses with $100 tickets in the middle of the night.

Last year, Bill de Blasio, while he was still Public Advocate, called the middle of the night ticketing “unreasonable.” So why is it still going on? Mayor de Blasio refuses to answer. His office referred us to the Sanitation Department , which also declined to address our questions.

Businesses being fined in the middle of the night

From The Forum:

The city Sanitation Department this week promised to investigate an area civic organization’s claim that the agency is engaging in an “unfair practice of issuing tickets to property owners in the middle of the night for garbage dumped outside their properties.”

According to the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, in a statement issued on Monday, it is a common nighttime occurrence for people to dump trash outside Jamaica Avenue storefronts. Then, DSNY agents write summonses in the middle of the night, fining the victimized property owners for failing to dispose of garbage that they had actually never seen. These owners, the WRBA said, are getting fined for dumping “they could not possibly have prevented or corrected.” Additionally, the civic detailed how the agents many times take the trash with them when they write the ticket, without providing any photographs to the fined party.

“The property owners have no evidence of the infractions for which they are being fined,” the WRBA noted. “This practice not only adds insult to injury; it also costs struggling business owners hundreds of dollars.”

The community organization indicated that it, too, had been ticketed in the overnight manner. In recent weeks, the WRBA has received Sanitation fines at 1:05 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. for trash dumped long after business hours outside its Jamaica Avenue storefront.

In a message addressed to Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, members of the civic called on her to put an end to the practice. However, “previous efforts to communicate with Sanitation Department personnel have not resulted in any discernible changes,” the WRBA wrote.

Toilet seat accurately represents Jamaica garbage problem

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

I did not have to go very far for this Jamaica ghetto garbage mess, in fact this is just in one block, the block of 90th Avenue between 169th St and 170th, Councilman I. Daneek Miller’s district.

Garbage, toilet seats, tires, bottles and other assorted shit plus the “cash for cars” signs plastered on telephone poles.

As usual, the extremely low-class residents of Jamaica, lack of enforcement and useless leaders all contribute to Jamaica being in the ghetto toilet. So how appropriate we start with the first photo. Yes, something to be really proud of.

Litter plaguing Elmhurst as well

From NY1:

A trail of trash leads to a lack of litter baskets say residents living near the Woodhaven Boulevard Station in Queens.

"The surrounding area is a total dump,” said one resident.

"Here we live in a civilized world and this trash has been here, it looks like months,” said another.

Closer to weeks since a severe littering problem has resurfaced here. A year ago, NY1 told you about the loads of litter lying on the ground, offending those who live and work in the area.

"It's kind of disturbing to look at. It's usually pretty filthy,” said a resident.

"People going to the mall, coming off the subway and just throwing the trash around the station because there's really nowhere for them to throw it away,” said resident Daniel Hirsch.

At the time, we contacted the Department of Sanitation and the agency sent a crew to clean up the area. A spokesman said DSNY crews had recently removed trash bins due to excessive misuse. However, he went on to say Sanitation would put some litter baskets back on a trial basis.