Gioia, Bemoaning Internet’s Effect On Brick-And-Mortar/Mom-And-Pop Enterprises, Vows To Call For An Investigation

Fearful of the loss of business opportunities at Queens Plaza, Councilmember Eric Gioia turns the attention of his bully pulpit towards Craigslist:

New York City law enforcement officials need to crack down on the new “Wild West” of prostitution, the Internet — and specifically the popular Web site Craigslist, City Council Member Eric Gioia said yesterday.

“What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has now moved to the Internet,” Mr. Gioia, who is a likely candidate for public advocate in 2009, said at a news conference.

He drew particular attention to Craigslist, where he said the majority of ads for “erotic services” in New York are thinly disguised solicitations for sex.

Best Green, Then Spurned

The dirty secret of parks is that while they’re great for real estate values (and therefore a boost to city property tax revenue), the people who live next door treat them like the ornamental gardens they are:

[Arlene Harrison] has added to a list of regulations (no dogs, no feeding of birds, no groups larger than six people, no Frisbees or soccer balls or “hard balls” of any kind) that, in turn, have served to dictate how [Gramercy Park] is — and is not — used. Most recently, she helped pave the way for Zeckendorf Realty to redevelop a 17-story Salvation Army boarding house on the south side of the park, and for the company’s plan to convert the 300 rooms into 14 floor-through apartments plus a penthouse duplex. The company would not confirm the transaction.

. . .

She added: “It will change the neighborhood for the better. It will be less use on the park.”

Indeed, while a key to Gramercy Park — or, more precisely, an address that entitles one to such a key — is among the most coveted items of New York real estate, under Ms. Harrison’s stewardship, the park has become perhaps the least-used patch of open space in the city. Most days, in nice weather, one would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of people in the park at once, and few linger.

Gramercy is one of two private parks in New York City (the other, in Queens, is Sunnyside Gardens Park), and a key is required not only to enter, but to leave through a gate in its wraparound wrought-iron fence.

Each of the 63 lots on which the current 39 buildings sit gets two keys, which residents (and guests at the Gramercy Park Hotel) may borrow from their doormen. In addition, residents of those buildings — but only those — may purchase keys for $350 per year; the keys are all but impossible to copy and cost $1,000 to replace.

About 400 people now have keys, but many of them apparently sit unused in junk drawers in the grand foyers in the apartments overlooking the park. One sunny morning last week, as Ms. Harrison chatted with the Rev. Thomas F. Pike, rector of Calvary-St. George’s Church, there were three others in the park: a woman checking her BlackBerry, a custodial worker and a jogger. On a Saturday morning three days later, about two dozen people could be spotted in the park over the course of four hours, and never more than six or eight at a time.

“Honestly, we don’t use it that much,” said Gale Rundquist, a real estate broker who has lived on the park for five years. Still, she said, access “adds a lot to a listing; it’s panache.”

“Because we work during the day, and we leave town on the weekends,” she explained of her own nonusage. “But it’s beautiful to look at.”

Actual use of the park is not Ms. Harrison’s measure. “It was always an ornamental park,” she said. “A lot of people don’t even go in to enjoy it. They’re so thrilled just to see it. It’s like a hotel room with a view of the ocean.”

. . .

[Harrison] knows the rhythms of the park intimately. “Between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning, there are two people here,” she said. “One walks, the other breaks into a jog and stretches occasionally. Two women walk here at 7, and then a third joins them at 7:15. The nannies come in with the small kids around 11, and then again around 4.

“Saturday, it’s empty,” she added. “People are doing their errands.”

There is, to be frank, not much to do in the park. Music is forbidden. So are alcoholic beverages, bicycles and furniture. A gravel path around the perimeter provides the only opportunity for low-impact play, or, for that matter, running or walking. Ms. Harrison said parents constantly offer to donate playground components for the park, but she won’t have it.

“Too much wear and tear,” she said. “But do you know what? The children who grow up here learn to use their imagination.”

Had You Just Shared The Wealth, You Could Have Easily Avoided All This

When you deny the public sweet locavore hooch, be prepared to risk the consequences:

Although the city faces a fiscal crunch, Staten Island’s borough president is spending $2 million in public money on a winery run by a businessman who sold him property he flipped for a profit, a Daily News probe shows.

Beep James Molinaro committed the cash from his budget to re-create a Tuscan winemaking farm on public property in Staten Island’s Snug Harbor.

The winery will be run by five local businessmen who have made thousands of dollars in donations to his campaigns, records show.

One of those businessmen is Randy Lee, a prominent local real estate lawyer and developer. In January 1991, a brokerage Lee controls sold a small vacant lot on Carteret St. to Molinaro, then deputy borough president, and a co-buyer for about $10,000, documents show.

Molinaro and Janice Errichiello sold the property for about $20,000 within a year, records show. The property then went back and forth between Molinaro and other buyers through 2004 when Molinaro sold it for $400,000, records show.

In February, Molinaro announced his plans to sponsor $1.5 million from his so-called “discretionary” capital funds for the Staten Island vineyard project dreamed up by Lee and his fellow businessmen. He has since raised it to $2 million.

Unholy Union

Bloomberg and unions, teaming up to force eminent domain on the Iron Triangle near Shea Stadium:

The Bloomberg administration has forged an unusual pact with labor leaders, promising that in exchange for their support of the city’s ambitious plan to transform Willets Point, a 62-acre enclave of auto repair shops and cinder block sheds near Shea Stadium, the project will provide union jobs and good wages.

Union leaders hailed the agreement as a template for similar pacts with city and state officials, even as the Real Estate Board of New York, the industry’s powerful lobbying arm, criticized it.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has promoted a $3 billion plan to raze the area, which is often flooded when it rains, to create a vast neighborhood of office buildings, hotels, parks, restaurants, retail shops and up to 5,500 apartments.

But some local civic groups, property owners and elected officials have opposed the plan because it calls for displacing about 260 small businesses, possibly through eminent domain. Housing groups like Acorn and some union leaders have also pushed for more housing that would be affordable for low- and middle-income New Yorkers.

After months of negotiations, the city recently completed a deal with unions representing construction workers and building service and retail workers. In return for their support, the Bloomberg administration essentially promised to require that developers use union construction contractors and pay union wages to building service workers like doormen and security guards.

The city also agreed to look favorably upon developers who propose job-intensive businesses at Willets Point that would pay at least $10 an hour. At the same time, the city said it would discourage “suburban models of big-box stores,” a reference to Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

“The transformation of Willets Point is one of the city’s most important economic development projects today, and the fact that we were able to come to an agreement on it with organized labor is good news,” said Deputy Mayor Robert C. Lieber. “We’ll continue to work closely with community and advocacy groups, elected officials, labor and the private sector to ensure the transformation of this blighted area results in the right balance of good jobs, affordable housing and sustainable design while remaining economically feasible.”

The support of organized labor for the administration’s initiative is vital because the City Council must approve zoning changes to make it possible. Labor is particularly influential in the Council, providing votes and campaign contributions to many members.

Location Scout: Iron Triangle.

Annotation: When you need something controversial passed, couch it in terms of “jobs for the community.”

Finally, A Seasoned Politician Emerges

Mayor Bloomberg figures out the art of promising big, untenable proposals and quietly dumping them when it’s obvious that they are unaffordable:

Mayor Bloomberg dropped a financial bombshell yesterday by saying he’s “not sure” the city can still afford the 7 percent property-tax cut that he had included just six weeks ago in his 2009 executive budget.

The mayor’s startling assessment came as he and the City Council were within days of wrapping up negotiations on the new $60 billion budget for fiscal 2009, which starts July 1.

Officials said a repeal of the tax cut — which would sap $1.2 billion from property owners — had never come up in those talks.

“This is the first I’m hearing of that,” said surprised Councilman David Weprin (D-Queens), chairman of the Finance Committee.

Sounding gloomier than ever, Bloomberg warned that Wall Street profits are falling off the cliff with $20 billion in losses recorded in the first three months of this year.

And he must be enjoying watching the City Council twist in the wind about it:

Judging from the initial reaction of legislators, the mayor faces an uphill fight.

“It’s a nonstarter,” said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens).

“The Wall Street numbers are definitely problematic,” said Weprin. “At this point, I don’t think there’s any need to panic. We can always do a mod [budget modification] later.”

Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said retaining the property-tax cut remains a “priority” for the council, as does restoration of budget cuts that impact classrooms.

Gioia, Weprin and Quinn: all term limited.

Annotation: For Queens in ’09, Candidates in Spades (City Hall News, June 11, 2007)