No AM. No Metro.

I'm renewing my crusade to have the AM and Metro newspaper-hander-outers that plague the underground passage between the L and the 1/2/3 eliminated. This video was taken just outside the subway entrance at Lex and 42nd. Please take note of the hander-outer properly disposing of his day's excess (several bundles) papers in the recycling bin.


In an effort to bolster my argument that we should banish AM and Metro to the "land of wind and ghosts," I'm asserting that these publications have swollen carbon footprints. I'm glad they appear to use recycling bins for leftovers, but let there be no doubt that the energy and fuel used to produce and transport their product grossly outpaces their efforts to reduce such waste.

An Update

A quick update regarding my letter to the honorable Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo: I received a nice letter (good stationary and all) from his office thanking me for bringing it to their attention. They copied The City of New York Tax Commission on the correspondence and The Commission quickly wrote me a letter indicating that they had determined it was a matter under the jurisdiction of The Department of Finance; they forwarded my complaint to the DOF and I'm waiting to see if they think I'm a total nut or if there's some merit in my complaint.

I'll keep you posted.

A Complaint

This post is dedicated to Miss Heather and her futile efforts to have illegal occupancies eradicated from the Northside.

Below you will find a copy of a letter I delivered to the New York State Attorney General today:



Dear Attorney General Cuomo:

475 Kent Avenue located in borough of Brooklyn , per it's certificate of occupancy and Department of Finance Records(you can see it in the center of the page near the middle) is a warehouse. The owner of the building illegally converted the warehouse to apartments. While the Fire Department of the City of New York (FD) issued a vacate order after an illegal matzoh factory with highly explosive grain silos was discovered in the cellar, the Department of Buildings (DOB) and FD allowed them to re-occupy illegally converted residential apartments after upgrading their sprinkler system to work (it was not working at the time of the vacate).

While this drives me nuts from a professional perspective, I'm willing to accept the City was willing to look the other way; think about the "artists." However, I'm upset the owner still pays property tax based on a "warehouse" occupancy instead of the reality that this is a 200 unit residential building he illegally converted (I can demonstrate the illegality beyond a reasonable doubt, but it's very wordy; if you actually respond to my complaint, I'll elaborate further).

I do not know the difference in the tax rates but have a gut feeling it's substantial. Very substantial. Several hundred thousand, if not a million plus.

I can date the conversion at at least 2005 based solely on DOB violations (1, 2, 3). With utility bills, I bet it would go back at least 10 years. The building owner is thumbing his nose at the city. They [the city] allowed the tenants back in without a CO and without dismissing any of the 91[!!!!] open violations; not to mention the open stop work order and open partial vacate order (I understand it's for a girls' school located in a separate structure on the same block and lot, but he still owns it and this is yet another example of the property owner's indifference to the rule of law).

While I could go on and on and on and on why this drives me nuts, I'm going to focus on reclaiming the taxes for the people of this great city. My children need park improvements. My objective in submitting this complaint is to reclaim what is rightfully ours [the taxpayer--the taxpayer who pays the highest tax rate in the nation, mind you]: our tax dollars.

Mr. Cuomo, I'm certain this issue has not been brought to your attention as I'm sure you're a busy man. I only ask you investigate this matter; I'll gladly outline the code and zoning issues that back up my assertions.