Williams To Chair Hearing on Modified Construction Codes and Regulations Tomorrow

Tomorrow, the New York City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings, chaired by  Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Deputy Leader, will hold a hearing to discuss four bills and vote on three others that would modify construction codes and regulations.  The Committee will hear testimony from representatives of the Department of Buildings (DOB) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

The Committee will discuss the following four bills:

• Int. No. 918, sponsored by Council Member Margaret Chin,would prohibit construction documents from being subject to less than full examination, and would also require that final inspections be performed by DOB where more than ten percent of the dwelling units are occupied, or where the owner has previously harassed tenants.

• Int. No. 924, sponsored by Council Member Rafael Espinal,would require vacate orders to include a requirement that the conditions for which the vacate order was issued be corrected in ten days or less.

• Int. No. 934, sponsored by Council Member Mark Levine,would create a real time enforcement unit in DOB to enforce construction codes. The bill would also require DOB to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of such unit. 

• Int. No. 944, sponsored by Council Member Helen Rosenthal,would impose certain additional penalties for performing construction work without a permit and would require posting of information concerning the occupancy status of buildings subject to a permit.
   

The Committee will vote on the following three bills:

• Int. No. 831, sponsored by Council Member Jumaane Williams would alter permit filing fees for certain new building and alteration permit applications filed with DOB. The bill would decrease fees for 1-, 2- and 3- family homes and increase fees for larger buildings. I should note that permit filing fees have not been increased since 1991.

• Int. No. 1118 and Int. No. 1119, sponsored byCouncil Member Jumaane Williams would move the City expiration date for the J-51 program, a tax exemption and abatement program for renovations of residential buildings and single room occupancy housing units, from June 30, 2015 to June 30, 2019.   

WHO: The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Buildings, Committee on Housing and Buildings.

WHERE: Council Chambers of City Hall

WHEN: Monday, April 18, 2016, 10:00 AM

100 PERCENT Sunday April 17 , 2016

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

The Bronx Voice

    You may be asking what is the Bronx Voice, and it is the newest newspaper to hit Bronx streets. For those of you who liked the old Bronx News or Parkchester News the former editor of both newspapers has begun his own newspaper the Bronx Voice. You may notice some familiar  items in the Bronx Voice such as this column. The preview edition of the Bronx Voice arrived this past week, and the Bronx Voice will be published weekly starting the first week of May. 

    To see my predictions of the presidential race on both sides, and just why Ted Cruz and John Kasich came to the Bronx you will have to pick up the Bronx Voice. I will go over the results of the New York Presidential Primary later this week here. 

    As for local politics, in the 78th Assembly race two hatchet men of Assemblyman Jose Rivera are trying to end the candidacy this year's primary challenger Ischia Bravo by repeating a New York Post story that says Ms. Bravo is to be questioned about the Bronx Democratic County organization. A certain spy for Assemblyman Jose Rivera has gone one step further than the Post by adding more to the story on his facebook page, and here is my comment since I can not put it on his facebook page.

   I did my own story on the Bronx Democratic County organization last year right after a story by the New York Times did a story of possible wrongdoing by the Bronx Democratic County organization. The Times story focused on the Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie, but I went further and focused on other parts of the Bronx Democratic County organization. As a matter of fact I was at the Bronx Democratic County organization office one day when former Assemblyman Nelson Castro (while he was wired by the former Bronx DA and U.S. Attorney's office) tried to get information from Ms. Ischia Bravo. We see that either there is incompetence at both judicial departments, or there was nothing to be gotten from Ms. Bravo. I was there, I saw a wired U.S. Attorney agent (former Assemblyman Nelson Castro) try to get information, and there was nothing to be gotten from Ms. Ischia Bravo. 

   By the way it was former Bronx Democratic County Leader Jose Rivera who helped Nelson Castro win in the 86th Assembly district. It was also former Bronx Democratic County Leader Jose Rivera who ran with former State Senator Pedro Espada, and while the condoms given out may have said vote for Pedro Espada the palm cards said vote for Pedro Espada for state senate and Jose Rivera for Assembly. 

    I have many more Jose Rivera stories that could fill a book. In fact one day Assemblyman Jose Rivera said to me "we should write a book about all the things we know about Bronx politics, it would be a best seller". Now that this column is back in print in the Bronx Voice, 'One never knows what may happen next in politics'. My advice to Jose Rivera, enjoy your retirement. 

       If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

       

    

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Civil Forfeiture Complaint To Recover Proceeds Of $100 Million Wire Fraud Scheme

Complaint Seeks Forfeiture of Funds in At Least 20 Accounts Worldwide Stolen from American Company Through International Business E-Mail Fraud Scheme

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Diego Rodriguez, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the filing of a civil forfeiture complaint against the funds in at least 20 bank accounts around the world that are alleged to constitute the proceeds of an elaborate scheme to defraud a United States company (the “Victim Company”).  In particular, the complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court alleges that the perpetrators of this fraud created a fake email address and posed as one of the Victim Company’s legitimate vendors (the “Vendor”) in communications with a professional services company (the “Professional Services Company”) that the Victim Company retained to handle the details and logistics of vendor payments.  Through these fraudulent communications, the perpetrators of the scheme caused the Victim Company to transfer nearly $100 million due to the Vendor to an account at Eurobank Cyprus, Ltd (“Eurobank”) that was actually under their control.  Almost immediately after funds were transferred into this account, the perpetrators of this scheme caused portions of the fraud proceeds to be further dispersed to accounts under their control around the world, including in Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, and Hong Kong.

Through the timely actions of officials at Eurobank, and in coordination with U.S. and Cypriot law enforcement authorities, more than $74 million of the stolen funds have already been returned to the Victim Company.  Foreign governments acting at the request of U.S. authorities have restrained 20 accounts worldwide that received portions of the remaining ill-gotten funds, and the funds in those accounts are the subject of the complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Criminals can be resourceful and unrelenting in their efforts to scam innocent victims out of money.  Here, the alleged perpetrators – through a fake email address and by impersonating a legitimate vendor – almost got away with $100 million.  Thanks to the timely actions of law enforcement here and abroad, as well as by Eurobank in Cyprus, where the stolen funds were first sent, $74 million has already been returned to the victim company.  With this civil forfeiture action, we seek to return the rest.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez, said: “This modern-day impersonation scheme used a fake email account to scam a business instead of the old way of in-person imitation by the perpetrators.  However, this scam was cut short in the end thanks to modern-day tools used by banks to stop suspicious transactions and cooperation by our foreign partners to restrain the transferred funds.”   

As alleged in the Complaint:

The Victim Company is an American-based corporation doing business worldwide.  Like many corporations, the Victim Company has contractors and vendors who are paid via wire transfer for services provided, including the Vendor, which is based in Asia.  During all times relevant to the Complaint, the Victim Company retained the Professional Services Company to communicate with vendors and handle the details of vendor payments.         

Over the course of several weeks in August and September 2015, the perpetrators of the scheme described in the Complaint managed to impersonate the Vendor by creating a fake email address that resembled email addresses used by actual employees of the Vendor.  Using this fake email address, the perpetrators then communicated with an email account maintained for the purpose of allowing vendors to communicate with the Professional Services Company on behalf of the Victim Company.  Through those email communications, the perpetrators of the scheme convinced the Professional Services Company to change the designated bank account to which the Victim Company would make recurring payments to the Vendor for services rendered.  As a result, payments from the Victim Company meant for the Vendor were transferred to an account under the control of the perpetrators of this scheme (“Subject Account-1”) rather than an account actually affiliated with the Vendor. 

Once this change was put into effect, the Professional Services Company, on behalf of the Victim Company, began directing a series of payments from Victim Company accounts in the United States to Subject Account-1 that were intended for the Vendor.  Specifically, between August 21, 2015, and September 14, 2015, approximately 16 payments intended for the Vendor as payment for services rendered to the Victim Company were wired for deposit into Subject Account-1, totaling approximately $98,879,545.80.  Officials at Eurobank developed concerns regarding these transfers and, as a result, restrained approximately $74 million of the transferred funds before they settled into Subject Account-1.  In coordination with law enforcement authorities, those funds have since been returned to the Victim Company.    

In regard to the approximately $25 million that actually settled into Subject Account-1, the perpetrators of the scheme then laundered portions of those crime proceeds through at least 19 additional accounts, including accounts in Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Hong Kong.  Those accounts, along with Subject Account-1, have since been restrained by foreign governments acting at the request of U.S. authorities. 

**          **           **         **           **          **           **         **          **        **

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of FBI.  He also thanked the

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) of the United States Department of the Treasury, the Law Office of the Republic of Cyprus Unit for Combating Money Laundering, and Eurobank Cyprus Ltd. for all of their assistance in the investigation and the return of funds to the Victim Company.

This investigation is being handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit and Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Edward B. Diskant and Megan L. Gaffney are in charge of the case.

The investigation is ongoing.

New York Hispanic Clergy Organization Annual Banquet

   The main ballroom at Maestro's Caterers was filled to capacity as the 28th Annual New York Hispanic Clergy Organization Luncheon. Reverend Luis Serrano, Chaplain of the New York City Police Department; Dr. Ariel Torres, Member of Radio Vision Cristiana International Board of Directors; Reverend Dr. Feliciano Espaillat, Community Dentist and Pastor; Dr. Julio Wally, Pastor of the Iglesia Alianza Cristiana Ebenezer; and Reverend Francisco Peralta, Assistant Pastor of Heavenly Vision Ministry in Bronx County received Certificates, Proclamations, and Recognition during the luncheon. 

    Elected officials on hand included U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, New York State Comptroller Tom Di Napoli, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., New York State Assembly members Marcos Crespo and Luis Sepulveda, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, City Councilman Rafael Salamanca, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, and the event was hosted by State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. The photos below will tell some of the story.

Above - You can see that the rom was packed for this event.

Below - New York State Comptroller Tom Dinapoli, Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx DA Darcel Clark, and Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Marcos Crespo pose for the cameras.

Above - State Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. welcomes everyone to the 28th New York Hispanic Clergy Organization Annual Banquet

Below - While they may not agree on everything, there is no love lost between father and son Diaz.

Above - U.S. Senator Charles Schumer addresses the packed room.

Below - After giving his speech in english, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino then repeated it in Spanish.

Klein & Salamanca to City: No mini Rikers in Hunts Point community

Elected officials & community rallied against ‘secret’ proposal to locate new 2,000 bed jail in Bronx neighborhood

      State Senator Jeff Klein and Councilman Rafael Salamanca joined community leaders and residents today to rally against a “secret” proposal to develop a mini Rikers Island in the growing Hunts Point community.

Two weeks ago, plans to locate new jail facilities throughout the boroughs, including Hunts Point in The Bronx, were reported. The proposal detailed closing the Vernon C. Bain Center barge. Currently moored in the area, the barge already houses approximately 800 inmates.

The new proposal would introduce a 2,000-bed adult jail to the area - more than doubling the number of inmates housed in Hunts Point.

While the de Blasio administration at first denied any knowledge of plans to locate new jail facilities to replace Rikers in communities across the city, including Hunts Point, a detailed 18-page document outlining plans for the possible facility was later exposed.

“The Hunts Point community has worked hard to develop their area, and a secretive plan to bring a mini Rikers to the area is simply unacceptable. An exposed document is not how this community should learn about a proposal that will impact their day-to-day lives. The Hunts Point community has its own vision for business, housing and growth. This proposal puts their vision behind bars.  We should be focusing on the best way to fix Rikers, rather than on blindsiding our neighborhoods, ” said Senator Klein.

“While I understand that we need to make strides in improving corrections infrastructure, primarily Rikers Island, the solution is not building a new facility in the South Bronx. I’m incredibly concerned that it took a leaked document provided to a newspaper for this community to learn about a proposal to place a possible jail in Hunts Point. Enough is enough. This neighborhood is making positive strides and already has had its fair share of these types of facilities. South Bronx families deserve better,” said Councilman Salamanca.

“Building jails is a bad idea because it does not fix the problem.  Hunts Point is resurrecting itself from a dark past.  The community is against it,” said Bronx Community Board 2 Chairman Dr. Iam Amritt.

Above - It appears that State Senator Jeff Klein had to be called in to fught the latest City proposal to build a new 2,000 bed adult jail into the Hunts Point area where an 800 bed jail currently sits. 

Below - Former Bronx Community Board #2 District Manager, and recently elected City Councilman (to replace the former Councilwoman Maria Del Carmen Arroyo who resigned in December 2015) claims ignorance as to the sighting of the new 2,000 bed adult jail in his council district, and former community board where he was the District Manager. 

In the background is a large fish company that is right across the street from the proposed adult jail site.

I was able to ask Councilman Salamanca about the power of the city council which seems to have diminished greatly under Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, after this project, the sighting of homeless shelters, The MIH and ZQA council approval over the opposition of the community boards, and the recent problems at the Kingsbridge Armory to name only a few. Councilman Salamanca could only say that he did not see any diminished power in the city council. 

If so why was the community not notified Councilman Salamanca?

. 

COUNCIL DISTRICT 45 COMMUNITY NEWS

Community Says NO To Co-Location  Proposal At Meyer Levin JHS On Monday night, April 11, Council Member  Jumaane Williams joined parents, teachers and  students to testify at a Department of Education  (DOE) hearing at Meyer Levin Junior High  School to speak out against the forced co-location  of Meyer Levin with the proposed Uncommon  Charter School. For video of the Council Member's  testimony, log on here. And hear from the students  themselves in this unique video that demonstrates  the extraordinary talent being nurtured at Meyer  Levin. The forced co-location would displace Meyer  Levin's performance arts space on the third floor,  essentially "gutting" their performance arts program,  which is the heart of the school's curriculum. Here  are photos of what the community would lose if this  co-location were allowed to proceed: Since the rally, the Department of Education has felt  the pressure and decided to postpone the vote about  the co-location to May 18 at Long Island City HS in  Queens, which was initially to take place next week.  Plans are now underway to transport parents &  student to the vote. Council Member Williams is  working with his colleagues in government, State  Sen. Kevin Parker and Assemblyman Nick  Perry to help preserve this much-needed resource  in our community. COMING NEXT WEEK!

COMMUNITY BOARD #17 MEETING

Wednesday, April 20

SUNY Downstate Medical Center Auditorium

395 Lenox Road, Brooklyn

7 p.m.

COMMUNITY BOARD #18 MEETING

Wednesday, April 20

1097 Bergen Avenue, Brooklyn

7 p.m.

70TH PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

Wednesday, April 20

175 Lawrence Avenue, Brooklyn

7:30 p.m.

67TH PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

Thursday, April 21

2820 Snyder Avenue, Brooklyn

8 p.m.

The Bronx Voice Hits the Bronx

   The newest newspaper in the Bronx called the Bronx Voice has become available from Riverdale to Throggs Neck, to Bay Plaza, and beyond. Below is a photo of the premier issue front page of the new Bronx Voice which will become a weekly Bronx newspaper starting the first week of May. Did I forget to say that the Bronx Voice will be free newspaper full of what the Bronx readers want. No games, comics, or dull columns, The Bronx Voice will have Bronx Life and Bronx News.

http://bronxvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PrintEdition.pdf

Construction on Riverdale Avenue Two Weeks After DOT Mills and Repaves the Street.

   Less than two weeks after the NYC DOT milled and then repaved Riverdale Avenue from West 239th Street all the way down the hill to West 239th Street there appears to be markings on Riverdale Avenue from West 238th to West 239th Streets. The photos below will show markings for gas and water line that are below the street as is done prior to any street construction. 

   It was said by Bronx DOT Commissioner at a public Community Board 8 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting that the DOT was starting its yearly milling and repaving program because of the nice weather the New York City area was having. Unfortunately, it appears that construction may dig up the street that was milled and repaved two weeks ago in the near future as you can see in the photos.

Above - You can see just how fresh the repaving of Riverdale Avenue is at the intersection of West 238th Street, as the tar sealant still has not cured in place. Note the markings that have been placed on the newly repaved street.

Below - More markings show where placement of certain utility and water or sewer line are below the street level.

You can see the markings go up Riverdale Avenue towards West 239th Street where the repaving ends.