Your Neighborhood — Your News ® Jan. 26, 2014 A CNG Publication • Vol. 3, No. 4 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT TIMESLEDGER.COM BY BILL PARRY Mayor Bill de Blasio ex- pressed support for airport work- ers in their struggle against poor working conditions and unfair wages following a rally and pro- test on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The mayor says the Port Au- thority should intervene in the way contractors pay Skycaps, se- curity personnel and cleaners at the three major airports. “Folks have to make a living wage. They have to have decent benefits,” de Blasio said. “We de- pend on them for our safety, in particular obviously the security workers. I’ll certainly do all in my power to help them get it.” The comment followed a ral- ly and march to support airport workers Monday that led to the oc- cupation of the 94th Street Bridge approach to LaGuardia Airport and the arrests of 32 union lead- ers, elected officials and clergy. More than a thousand gath- ered at the airport to protest poor working conditions and unfair wages after over 2,000 airport workers had signed a petition demanding MLK Day as a paid holiday. When the Port Authority ignored the request., leaders from the Service Employees Interna- tional Union called for the rally and the civil disobedience on the bridge. Among the 32 arrested for failing to heed orders to disperse were U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) and City Council- Council member Jimmy Van Bramer is among 32 people arrested during a civil disobedience on 94th Street bridge. Photo by Bill Parry BY RICH BOCKMANN City Council members Jim- my Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) and Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) came out as big win- ners in the Council sweepstakes when Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) named the two Progressive Cau- cus members to a pair of top posi- tions Wednesday. In addition to retaining his chairmanship of the Cultural Affairs Committee, Van Bramer was appointed majority leader of the Council, the legislative body’s No. 2 position, and co-chairman of the budget negotiating team. “It has always been my goal to play a meaningful leadership role in this new, progressive council,” he said. “I look forward to working with all my colleagues to ensure the adoption of budgets that reflect our progressive agen- da.” One of the two most coveted committee chairmanships went to Ferreras, who was named to head the powerful Finance Com- BY ALEX ROBINSON A Huang family company that racked up city Department of Buildings violations in December for allegedly cutting down trees on a protected property in Fresh Meadows has not been a reg- istered business since 2009, according to Depart- Firm that owns Klein Farm dissolved in 2009 by state BY RICH BOCKMANN Winter may be the time of year to pack on a few extra pounds of pad- ding to insulate oneself against the polar vortex, but that doesn’t mean you have to put your healthy eating habits into hiberna- tion until the spring. A handful of green markets across the borough offer fresh food year-round, even in the dead of winter. “If you go to the su- permarket, they still have produce, but it’s imported from outside the area,” said Dr. Marcy Stein-Albert, who helped establish the year-round greenmarket at Queens Hospital Center in Hillcrest a few years ago. “We make the case that folks should be buying it in season at the market.” Norma Bermeo shops for carrots at the Jackson Heights Greenmarket, one of a handful of markets in Queens open year- round. Two boro pols get plum spots in City Council De Blasio calls for fairer wages Mayor backs airport workers after civil disobedience protest at LaGuardia Continued on Page 9 Continued on Page 9 Continued on Page 10 Continued on Page 10 Green markets alive in winter
Transcript
Your Neighborhood — Your News®Jan. 26, 2014
A CNG Publication • Vol. 3, No. 4 UPDATED EVERY DAY AT TIMESLEDGER.COM
BY BILL PARRY
Mayor Bill de Blasio ex-pressed support for airport work-
ers in their struggle against poor working conditions and unfair wages following a rally and pro-test on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day.The mayor says the Port Au-
thority should intervene in the way contractors pay Skycaps, se-
curity personnel and cleaners at the three major airports.
“Folks have to make a living wage. They have to have decent benefits,” de Blasio said. “We de-pend on them for our safety, in particular obviously the security workers. I’ll certainly do all in my power to help them get it.”
The comment followed a ral-ly and march to support airport workers Monday that led to the oc-cupation of the 94th Street Bridge approach to LaGuardia Airport and the arrests of 32 union lead-ers, elected officials and clergy.
More than a thousand gath-ered at the airport to protest poor working conditions and unfair wages after over 2,000 airport workers had signed a petition demanding MLK Day as a paid holiday. When the Port Authority ignored the request., leaders from the Service Employees Interna-tional Union called for the rally and the civil disobedience on the bridge.
Among the 32 arrested for failing to heed orders to disperse were U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) and City Council-Council member Jimmy Van Bramer is among 32 people arrested during a civil disobedience on 94th Street bridge.
Photo by Bill Parry
BY RICH BOCKMANN City Council members Jim-
my Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) and Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) came out as big win-ners in the Council sweepstakes when Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) named the two Progressive Cau-cus members to a pair of top posi-tions Wednesday.
In addition to retaining his chairmanship of the Cultural Affairs Committee, Van Bramer was appointed majority leader of the Council, the legislative body’s No. 2 position, and co-chairman of the budget negotiating team.
“It has always been my goal to play a meaningful leadership role in this new, progressive council,” he said. “I look forward to working with all my colleagues to ensure the adoption of budgets that reflect our progressive agen-da.”
One of the two most coveted committee chairmanships went to Ferreras, who was named to head the powerful Finance Com-
BY ALEX ROBINSON
A Huang family company that racked up city Department of Buildings violations in December for allegedly cutting down trees on a protected property in Fresh Meadows has not been a reg-istered business since 2009, according to Depart-
Firm that owns Klein Farmdissolved in 2009 by state
BY RICH BOCKMANN Winter may be the
time of year to pack on a few extra pounds of pad-ding to insulate oneself against the polar vortex, but that doesn’t mean you have to put your healthy
eating habits into hiberna-tion until the spring.
A handful of green markets across the borough offer fresh food year-round, even in the dead of winter.
“If you go to the su-permarket, they still have produce, but it’s imported
from outside the area,” said Dr. Marcy Stein-Albert, who helped establish the year-round greenmarket at Queens Hospital Center in Hillcrest a few years ago. “We make the case that folks should be buying it in season at the market.”
Norma Bermeo shops for carrots at the Jackson Heights Greenmarket, one of a handful of markets in Queens open year-round.
Two boro polsget plum spotsin City Council
De Blasio calls for fairer wagesMayor backs airport workers after civil disobedience protest at LaGuardia
Continued on Page 9Continued on Page 9
Continued on Page 10 Continued on Page 10
Green markets alive in winter
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BY RICH BOCKMANN Builders in Queens
looked toward the sky in 2013 as they increasingly put unused development rights to work in order to push their outsized con-struction projects past the city’s zoning limits, though the market for the assets remains up in the air on prices.
All told, 127,420 square feet of development rights were transferred in Queens last year, an increase of about 3 percent from 2012, a TimesLedger Newspa-pers analysis of property records found.
The height and bulk of new buildings are limited by the city’s zoning laws, but the regulations do al-low owners of adjacent, un-derdeveloped properties to sell builders their unused space, which in hot mar-kets can become a lucrative commodity just the same as
real estate.Over the past two
years, Heatherwood Com-munities has bought up the lion’s share of development rights in Queens for its
nearly 500,000-square-foot residential tower at Queens Plaza in Long Island City.
The company paid $12.6 million in 2011 for the 17,500 square-foot prop-
erty at 42-12 28th St., which is zoned for up to 175,000 square feet of development, where it plans to erect a 477-unit, 58-story tower.
In order to build big-
ger, Heatherwood pur-chased 86,630 square feet of air rights for the project in 2012 and bought up another 102,430 square feet of rights in 2013, paying $100 per-square-foot in both trans-actions.
Heatherwood was not the only developer buying the LIC sky in 2013.
Another outfit, Brook-lyn condo builder Kora Developers, paid approxi-mately $120 for each of the 2,300 square feet of rights it purchased in December for its even-story, 21-unit mixed-use project in the Hunter’s Point section of the neighborhood.
The developer shelled out $2.83 million a year ago for the 5,000-square-foot lot on the corner of 11th Street and 47th Road, which zon-ing limits to 20,000 square feet of development.
Kora principal Alex Kostovetsky said the build-ing will cap out around
26,000 square feet with about 4,000 square feet of commercial space in the cellar, which he said does not count toward the build-ing’s limit..
Eric Benaim, presi-dent of the real estate firm Modern Spaces, brokered the air rights deal between Kora and their next-door neighbor and said it took some explaining on both sides.
“We were working with [Kora] from the very early stages and noticed the top floor only had one apartment — basically it had a lot of pretty much roof space,” he said.
Benaim suggested Kora purchase excess de-velopment rights from the mom-and-pop property owners next door — also Modern Spaces clients — who, after some explaining, realized the assets they had overhead.
Kora Developers has purchased 2,300 square feet of air rights for its planned residential develop-ment at 11th Street and 47th Avenue in Hunter’s Point, which will start to go up after the auto body shop on the site is demolished. Photo by Christina Santucci
Queens builders buy more air rights in ‘13
BY SARINA TRANGLE
State Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Wood-haven) only wants to see yellow and navy plates when he looks out on the street at night.
Miller said he is fin-ishing a bill that would ban vehicles that are not registered with the state from parking on city streets overnight. He said the prevalence of non-New York license plates in his district has him convinced weeding out unregistered cars would ease parking problems.
“There are some people who look to avoid registration here and New York insurance rates,” Miller said. “It’s not fair to the people who pay to park here. They pay the higher rate and higher fees.”
The measure would apply to any city with at
least 1 million residents and provide exemptions for New Yorkers with homes in other states as well as passes for visitors and va-cationers.
Drivers that become residents of the city have 30 days to register their
cars with the state. Fees for transferring a car registra-tion run from $26 to $140 depending on the weight of the vehicle, according to the state Department of Mo-tor Vehicles website.
People who do not reg-ister their cars in New York
within 30 days of becoming a state resident can be tick-eted.
The NYPD said last year it issued 248,038 tick-ets for drivers with ex-pired New York registra-tion stickers. The violation costs $65, according to the city website.
Police handed out 12,422 moving violations for unregistered cars in 2013.The Department of Motor Vehicles said such penalties can cost between $75 and $300.
The NYPD said it does not enforce registration maintenance for documents issued in other states.
Miller said he has not finished researching how many non-New York cars sit on city streets overnight or put together an estimate of how much registration revenue goes uncollected.
“I know the police of-ficers in my district. They
are doing so many other things and looking for these vehicles is just not their priority,” Miller said. “We’re thinking about who can tow the car. We may get the local marshals in-volved.”
He also has not hashed out the penalty system that would be used to tow unreg-istered cars and fine their owners.
Community Board 9 Chairwoman Betty Bratton said out-of-state plates are a frequent sight, especially near John F. Kennedy In-ternational Airport.
“They’re all over the place,” Bratton said. “We hear more about cars parked for a length of time ... the cars may be left there for weeks, sometimes months, and they never move.”
Andrea Crawford, chairwoman of CB 9’s Transportation Commit-
tee, said parking woes were common in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens, but she did not think the streets were clogged with cars from other states.
“I understand that peo-ple register in Pennsylva-nia or New Jersey for insur-ance purposes, but if they live here, I don’t know if it would change anything,” said Crawford. “When you drive around the streets of Kew Gardens, you’re not seeing out-of-state plates.”
Crawford said CB 9 has been advocating for a residency parking system that would permit drivers to purchase stickers autho-rizing them to park in their neighborhood while bar-ring others from doing so.
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Miller seeks to reserve street parking for N.Y. cars
State Assemblyman Michael Miller plans to introduce legislation prohibiting drivers from parking cars that are not registered in New York on city streets overnight.
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BY ALEX ROBINSON
A Flushing McDon-ald’s franchise and a group of Korean seniors the fast food chain said had out-stayed their welcome have officially ended a feud that drew international atten-tion last week.
The group of seniors had been coming into the McDonald’s, at 144-01 Northern Blvd., buying a $1.09 cup of coffee each and sitting for hours on end chatting, before employees eventually decided to call the police when other cus-tomers could not find plac-es to eat.
News of the seniors’ fight to stay in the McDon-ald’s quickly went viral and spread from Canada to Ko-rea.
The controversy prompted state Assembly-man Ron Kim (D-Flushing) to arrange a conference call with the owner of the
McDonald’s, Jack Bert. He said Bert agreed to a compromise to extend the maximum amount of time the seniors can sit at the restaurant, except during
high-traffic lunch hours. Customers had been lim-ited to 20 minutes.
“I was confident that once we were able to sit to-gether and talk we would
come to a positive resolu-tion that would create an environment where all cus-tomers who wish to enjoy this restaurant would have the ability to do so,” Bert
said in a statement.Kim said he has also
asked the owner to call his office or that of City Coun-cilman Peter Koo (D-Flush-ing) in the future rather than notifying the police if he has problems with the seniors. In response, Kim said the seniors have agreed to abide by the new hours, which will be posted in Chinese and Korean.
“This incident was never about David vs. Go-liath nor was it about dis-crimination. It was more of a cultural miscommunica-tion,” Kim said. “It was a small business owner who has been doing business in Flushing for 20 years try-ing to keep his business running while accommo-dating our local seniors. His restaurant became so comfortable to this group of seniors that they are fight-ing to stay as long as pos-sible there.”
Christine Colligan,
president of the Korean American Parents Associa-tion of Greater New York, initially declared a boycott of McDonald’s last week with other Korean commu-nity leaders, but canceled the protest after the com-promise was reached.
“It’s a very reasonable agreement,” she said. “So we’re calling off our boy-cott. We don’t want to put businesses in danger, but want to make sure that they know the mistreating of se-niors is not acceptable.”
Mr. Kim, who is of no relation to the assembly-man and would not give his first name, said he lives a couple of blocks away from the McDonald’s and comes once every two days to drink coffee and talk with friends for up to an hour at a time. He said he was in the McDonald’s when the police came by to ask him to leave.
Korean elders win round one with Mickey D
Christine Colligan, of the Korean Parents Association of New York, speaks out against the Flushing McDonald’s before the problem was resolved. Photo by Alex Robinson
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BY ALEX ROBINSON
State Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) joined Asian-American health professionals last week to warn residents of the dangers of the inappro-priate use of intravenous fluids in the Asian commu-nity.
There is a prevail-ing belief in some Asian cultures that IV solutions cure aches, pains and ill-ness and as a result they are commonly asked for in Chinese and Korean hospi-tals, said Dr. Jason Song, a cardiologist at North Shore University Hospital.
“When they come here and are unaware of the lev-el of care they can access, they simply demand the same type of treatment or expect that that is the most they can get,” Song said.
This is problematic as many immigrants substi-tute actual medical care
with intravenous injections at private clinics and the misuse of these injections can heighten risks of in-fection and serious health problems, Song said.
Intravenous solutions are typically used in hospi-tals on patients who are un-able to hydrate themselves. Song said the solution pa-tients receive in private clinics is typically water with some electrolytes and is similar to Gatorade.
“In terms of what the patients feel, there’s prob-ably a large placebo effect. They think they’re get-ting something. They see something happening, so they assume they should get better and feel better,” Song said. “When patients are fatigued from working a long day, and they sim-ply get to relax in a chair for one or two hours, that just makes them feel bet-ter. And they’re attributing that to the solution.”
BY KELSEY DURHAM
The students and staff at PS 46 in Bayside know that academic success is not just about getting good grades.
“It’s about everything,” said Marsha Goldberg, the school’s principal. “Hard work, the joy of learning, being a well-rounded child. That’s what we celebrate.”
Earlier this month, PS 46 was one of just 18 schools in all of New York state to be designated as a 2013 Na-tional Blue Ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education, recognizing the high level of performance the school has recorded over the past few years.
To be named a Blue
Ribbon school, a building must have test scores that place it in the top 15 per-cent for the most recent year. Last year marked the first time PS 46 received this award and Goldberg, who is in her 11th year as principal at the school, said she never imagined such success.
“When I got into educa-tion years ago, I never, ever expected that anything like this would have happened,” she said.
To celebrate this dis-tinction, the school de-clared last week “Blue Ribbon Week” throughout the building and held a ceremony Jan. 17 honoring the students and teachers who made the remarkable
achievement possible. Sev-eral elected officials, from local to federal levels, ac-cepted invitations to attend the event and offered their congratulations to the young learners and their educators on the major ac-complishment.
City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) presented the school with official resolu-tions honoring PS 46 for its achievement.
“This is such an excit-ing honor and it’s about time you got recognized,” Weprin said during his re-marks to the packed audito-rium. “It’s nice to be nation-
ally honored for something we’ve all known for a long time, and that’s that PS 46 is a very special place.”
With the recent chang-es to Common Core curric-ulum that called for more rigorous testing among students as young as third-graders, Goldberg said the school’s success is even more significant and shows how dedicated the students are to hard work.
PS 46 is also home to several special needs and English as a Second Lan-guage students, and Gold-berg said that diversity gives another layer of ac-complishment to achieving the national honor. State Assemblyman Ron Kim, flanked by medical professionals,
warns residents of the dangers of IV solution misuse. Photo by Alex Robinson
PS 46 students Lindsey Domiano (l.-r.), Arthur Stewart, Hannah Yang, Natalie Ha and Victoria Kim perform music during a ceremony to celebrate the school’s 2013 National Blue Ribbon Award. Photo by Kelsey Durham
Kim warns residents of IV fl uids misuse
Bayside school wins awardPS 46 celebrates National Blue Ribbon for academic achievement
QUEENS W
EEKLY, JAN. 26, 2014
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BY BILL PARRY Passions ran high at
a recent Long Island City rally.
Business owners and cultural directors joined elected officials and con-cerned citizens to voice displeasure with the Met-ropolitan Transportation Authority’s plans to shut down the No .7 subway line for 22 weekends beginning Feb. 28.
Nearly 200 people at-tended the rally last Friday in front of Dorian Cafe, at 10-01 50th Ave., at the en-trance to the Vernon-Jack-son subway station.
Rebecca Trent, owner of The Creek and the Cave and founder of LIC Eater-ies, said, “I cannot run a consistently successful res-taurant without consistent train service.”
The Creek and the Cave is also a comedy club that depends on the No. 7 to
deliver customers on week-ends.
“You can’t have art without an audience,” Trent said.
She choked back tears explaining how times are tough even without ser-vice suspensions, saying, “Things have been so bad I haven’t been able to pay myself since the holidays. I don’t know how I’m going to
survive this, I do not know and neither do many of my neighbors.”
Richard Mazda, found-er and director of The Se-cret Theatre, said, “If peo-ple cannot get here, they will not come here. It is as simple as that.”
Sheila Lewandowski, owner of The Chocolate Factory, agreed.
“It’s devastating to
imagine how much this is going to cost us,” she said. “I’m particularly worried about the restaurants, though. A lot survive on parties and people will can-cel the moment they hear of subway shutdowns.”
City Councilman Jim-my Van Bramer (D-Sunny-side), who arranged for the rally, said “real people’s lives are affected in real
ways here. This is not a game, this is about human beings. They are trying to survive and the MTA is try-ing to kill us.”
The MTA said the shut-downs are necessary infra-structure projects aimed at improving the No. 7 line, including an updated com-munication and signaling system, replacing critical track panels and recon-struction inside the Stein-way Tube under the East River that was damaged during Hurricane Sandy.
“We understand that these service disruptions are inconvenient to the cus-tomers who depend on the 7 train and we appreciate their patience,” said MTA Transit President Carmen Bianco. “We have made ev-ery effort to schedule these projects simultaneously to get as much work done as we can during these peri-ods.”
Elected officials were
angered by the agency’s lack of communication prior to the announcement last week.
“The No. 7 runs through the heart of my dis-trict and I found out from a reporter,” Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said. “They did not go to officials, community boards, business owners. The MTA never talked to anyone, they just gave no-tice and that’s wrong,” Van Bramer said.
Borough President Me-linda Katz found the lack of communication frustrat-ing.
“Ultimately we’re try-ing to bring businesses to Queens, not drive them away,” she said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 718-260-4538.
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People at a rally in Long Island City vent fury at the MTA’s plan to shutdown subway service for 22 weekends. Photo by Bill Parry
LIC rally decries weekend shutdowns on 7 line
QUEENS W
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9
QUEENSWeeklyWife could stop deportation
A Bangladeshi national who lives in Sunnyside with his three young children is being held in a detention center in New Jersey, even though his wife is an oath away from becoming a citizen.
“It is the end of the world,” said Lipiara Begum, whose hus-band Mohammad Anwarul Islam was arrested Feb. 10. “I do not like to know anything, because I want my husband back.”Begum, a permanent resi-
dent, has been relying on the help of her family friends ever since Is-lam was arrested and taken to the Essex County Correctional Facil-ity in Newark. She and Islam have three children who were born in the United States: 5-year-old Afnan Fazia and 19-month-old twins Afrina Anwar Farah and Afsa Anwar Zarah, who were born premature and have medi-Continued on Page 1
Halloran scolds Dems over newAssembly linesAt a Republican gathering
Sunday evening, City Council-man Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) criticized the Democratic lead-ership in the state Assembly for redrawing legislative boundar-ies in a way that gerrymandered part of one northeast Queens dis-trict and minimized the voice of GOP voters.
“Everywhere they could, they cut us in half,” he told mem-bers of the Queens Village Repub-lican Club during its annual Lin-coln’s Day Dinner.“The 26th Assembly Dis-
trict — the strongest Republican district in the county of Queens — they cut it in half to prevent Re-publicans from being able to run successfully for office,” he said.
State Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) repre-sents the 26th District, which cov-ers Whitestone, Bowne Park, Au-burndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck and Glen Oaks.The councilman was refer-
ring to the western portion of Dis-Continued on Page 20
Flushing residents packed into a neighborhood mall Friday night to watch New York Knicks superstar Jeremy Lin, just hours af-ter Time Warner Cable and Madison Square Garden
reached an accord allowing fans to watch games from home.
The contract between the cable company and MSG had run out Dec. 31, which meant many Queens residents could not see the Knicks play, which led some civic leaders to take matters
into their own hands.Fred Fu, head of the Flushing Development Cen-ter, organized a viewing of the game Friday night at Flushing Mall, at 135-20 39th Ave.
The Knicks took on the New Orleans Hornets
Lin madness hits Flushing
Continued on Page 18
Westway Motel off homeless shelter listState Assemblywoman Aravella Simo-
tas (D-Astoria) said despite rumblings that the
Westway Motel could become a full-time shel-
ter for homeless families, the city Department
of Homeless Services decided not to consider it
Continued on Page 20
Halloran Dems overAssembly l
At a Republican gSunday evening, City man Dan Halloran (R-Whicriticized the Democratiership in the state Assemredrawing legislative bouies in a way that gerrymanpart of one northeast Queentrict and minimized the voiGOP voters.
“Everywhere they cothey cut us in half,” he told mbers of the Queens Village Repcan Club during its annual Lln’s Day Dinner.“The 26th Assembly Di
— the strongest Republicaict in the county of Queeny cut it in half to prevent Re
ns from being able to run ully for office,” he said.e Assemblyman Ed n (D-Bayside) repre-th District, which cov-one, Bowne Park, Au-ayside, Douglaston, d Glen Oaks.cilman was refer-rn portion of Dis-on Page 20
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mittee, which puts her in a prominent seat when it comes to negotiating the city’s budget.
Ferreras said she was honored to be the first per-son of color to hold the posi-tion.
“At a time when women hold less than 20 percent of the top leadership positions in the national finance in-dustry, this momentous ap-pointment marks an excit-ing milestone not only for myself and my colleagues in government, but for all New Yorkers, all people of color and all young girls who never before thought that they can grow up and shatter glass ceilings,” she said.
Appointing leadership roles and committee chair-manships was the most watched moves Mark-Vi-verito has made since she was elected speaker earlier this year. That contest split the Council between the 30 lawmakers who initially
pledged their support to the East Harlem Council wom-an and the 20 who only fell in line after her opponent, Councilman Dan Garod-nick (D-Manhattan), ceded the race.
Both Van Bramer and Ferreras were strong Mark-Viverito supporters, and the speaker’s other backers received plum positions.
Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans), a for-mer transit union leader, was named chairman of the Civil Service and Labor Committee, while Council-man Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) was appointed chairman of the Environ-mental Protection Commit-tee.
Councilman Dan-iel Dromm (D-Jackson heights) will be in charge of the Education Commit-tee and Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) will head the Veterans Commit-tee.
Mark-Viverito sup-porter Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) was appointed to the pow-erful Land Use Committee, a position previously held
by former Queens Council members Leroy Comrie and Melinda Katz.
Some Queens lawmak-ers who did not originally support the speaker were appointed to head commit-tees, but others found them-selves in lesser roles.
Councilwoman Liz Crowley (D-Middle Vil-lage) will head the Fire and Criminal Justice Com-mittee and Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) will be in charge of the Committee on State and Federal Legislation.
Councilmen Peter Koo (D-Flushing) and Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gar-dens) were named to head subcommittees under Land Use, and Councilmen Ru-ben Wills (D-Jamaica), Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) and Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) were each ap-pointed chairmen of differ-ent subcommittees.
Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) was one of a few lawmakers who was not named to chair a committee.
Continued from Page 1
Council
men Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) and Ruben Wills (D-Flushing). All were bused to the 115th Precinct, where they were given summonses and re-leased.
“In New York City, it is impossible to raise a fami-ly, put food on the table and send your child to college
on a minimum wage sala-ry,” Van Bramer said. “It is a disgrace that employees at our city’s airports work tirelessly without health benefits and on minimum wage salaries.”
Van Bramer, the son of union parents, added, “My act of civil disobedience on the 94th Street Bridge outside of LaGuardia was out of solidarity with air-port workers who are be-ing treated unfairly. I sup-
port the workers’ efforts to unionize and believe wholeheartedly that their ongoing campaign to se-cure living wages is a fight worth waging.”
Council Speaker Me-lissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) voiced her support during the rally, saying “the Council stands united to support you air-port workers in your de-mand for dignified work and respect.”
Continued from Page 1
Rally
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ment of State records.Audrey Realty Corp.,
headed by Henry Huang, son of notorious developer Thomas Huang, was dis-solved in 2009 because it did not pay its taxes, DOS spokesman Laz Benitez said.
“The entity in ques-tion was dissolved by proc-lamation as they failed to pay taxes and are no longer registered with the Depart-ment of State, thus they cannot operate as a busi-ness entity,” Benitez said.
Audrey Realty is listed as the owner of the histor-ic Fresh Meadows Klein Farm, at 194-15 73rd Ave., on the property’s deed.
The company caused an uproar among Fresh Meadows residents in De-cember when it was issued DOB violations for unap-proved work on the prop-erty’s driveway and for removing trees from the farm.
The property is in the Fresh Meadows Special
Planned Community Pres-ervation District, meaning any changes to the prop-erty require approval from the City Planning Commis-sion.
Audrey Realty is due to appear in court Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 for the violations at the Queens Business Center in Jamaica, at 144-06 94th Ave.
An Environmental Control Board judge will rule on the violations and the company could face up to a total of $20,000 in fines, according to ECB.
If Audrey Realty fails to attend the hearings, it could be found in violation and given a penalty five times higher than the stan-dard amount imposed, said DOB spokeswoman Kelly Magee.
“If the property owner fails to correct the viola-tions and pay the associated fines, then the violation re-mains open and increased penalties may be assessed,” she said.
Henry Huang did not respond to multiple re-quests for comment.
Benitez said a corpo-
ration that has been dis-solved is still allowed to own property while it is going through a “winding up” phase, which could take years.
“A corporation that has been dissolved still ex-ists, but should limit its activities to those that are incidental to winding up its affairs,” Benitez said. “The winding up process includes collecting obliga-tions owed to the corpora-tion, paying obligations owned by the corporation and distributing its re-maining assets.”
During the winding process, which does not have a specified time limit, dissolved corporations also have many of the powers of a corporation that has not been dissolved, includ-ing the power to sue and be sued, Benitez said.
In June 2013, state At-torney General Eric Sch-neiderman banned Huang along with his mother Alice and father Thomas, from selling real estate se-curities.
Fresh foodstuffs like kale, sweet potatoes, beets and celery are grown in hothouses at upstate farms and trucked to the lobby of the hospital’s ambula-tory care pavilion every Friday when the market is open to patients, staff and the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“They come from an hour and a half away and they’re picked at the peak of freshness when all the nutrients are there,” the pediatrics doctor said. “It’s great.”
Stein-Albert helped start the market about five years ago as an extension of the pediatric depart-ment’s healthy lifestyles program, and she said it offers a great alternative to unhealthy habits, such as those that may be rein-forced by seasonal affec-tive disorder.
“The vending ma-chines have, let’s say, questionable choices,” she said.
A pair of the GrowNYC markets whose annual return across the city marks the changing of seasons, are open year-round as well.
Both the Forest Hills greenmarket, at Queens Boulevard and 70th Av-enue, and the Jackson Heights outpost, at 34th Avenue and 78th Street, are open Sundays and accept food stamps and Women, Infants and Chil-dren/Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program cou-pons.
The market at For-est Hills, in front of the post office, is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and fea-tures exclusively in the winter beef, pork, chicken and eggs from Haywood’s Fresh farm in Columbia County in the Hudson Val-ley.
The region’s Ronny-brook Farm Dairy also offers Empire State milk, yogurt, butter and ice cream.
In Jackson Heights, shoppers who turn ex-clusively into carnivores this time of year can
drop in between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to peruse of-ferings such as turkeys from DiPaola Turkeys in New Jersey, grass-fed and grain-finished Angus beef from Maple Avenue Farm in central New York and heritage-breed ducks from Hudson Valley Duck Farm in Sullivan County.
Both markets also host composting events where food scraps can be transformed into nutri-ent-rich soils to be used by parks, conservation groups, community gar-deners and street-tree caretakers — once the ground thaws, that is.
For more information on the GrowNYC markets, visit grownyc.org/green-market/ourmarkets.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 718-260-4574.
Continued from Page 1 Continued from Page 1
Realty Markets
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