Genting’s 380 Million Dollar Bet on Queens by Dawn Lim - Queens Ledger

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Men gather around screens during racing season at the Aqueduct racetrack, soon to be made over and developed by Resorts World New York into a racino.

Avneet Bindra packs up for the day. As dark sets in at 5:30 p.m. on a windswept evening in early winter and vandalized trucks pull out of the Aqueduct racetrack parking lot, the 22-year-old upstart folds up the wares from his blanket business. He motions to his father, Rumpy Bindra, who has manned a separate blanket business in the market for 25 years, asks the older Bindra if he needs space on his truck. They are among last few vendors who have held out on this bitterly cold December day in Ozone Park.

Bindra has grown up in this flea market, learning the tricks of the trade from his father. The iconic flea market, which has operated out of the parking lot of Aqueduct in Southwestern Queens for 30 years, is a noisy and sprawling hub for 500 vendors, many of whom are Indian, Guyanese and Caribbean immigrants making their way up the economic ladder by hawking cheap bargains to other immigrants. Now Bindra, who is paying his way through college with this business, is bracing himself for December 31, when he has to uproot his shop.

“They’re throwing us out,” said Bindra, “Who knows if the money will come back to the community? Who knows where I’ll go from here?”

In August of this year, entertainment giant Genting Malaysia Berhad put down a $380 million bid and won the rights to run the Aqueduct as a casino and make its first big splash in the U.S. market. A $1.3 billion makeover will equip the racetrack with 4,500 electronic slot machines, transforming it into a betting and gambling complex to accommodate 10,000 people by next spring.

On November 22, Genting New York notified the flea market’s operator, Plain & Fancy Shows, Inc., that its contract would not be renewed after its December 21st expiration date, although the market could operate through the holidays until December 31.

“Since the Aqueduct facility will be a construction site for several months, the Division of the Lottery determined that the continued presence of the flea market would raise safety concerns in addition to being incompatible with the future use of the property,” said spokesman Stefan Friedman in an email.

Vendors are in the dark over whether they will be relocated. Plain & Fancy did not respond to five calls for comment.

“This is a community of immigrant and working-class people who want to protect their jobs,” said Yvonne Kissoo, who is Guyanese and president of the Flea Market Vendor Association, a newly convened group of Ozone Park’s vendors partnering with the nonprofit Indo-Caribbean Alliance to collect signatures to petition for help. “How can Genting come and pull the rug from under our feet?”

It’s been difficult getting the flea market vendors to speak as a united body, Kissoo said, in between hawking ladies undergarments to regular customers she knew by their first name. Many vendors in the flea market can’t speak English, are terrified that their immigration status will be revoked, or afraid that they will be left out of future flea market opportunities if they protest, she said.

“I was hopeful that some sort of accommodation would be worked out, but unfortunately that was not the case,” said Councilman Eric Ulrich in a phone interview. “I don’t think any compromise will come out of it. Genting has said that the flea market is not consistent with the ideas and image they would like to project.”

New kid on the block

The conflict surrounding the flea market vendors and Genting has brought out fears amongst new arrivals in the community that a casino may cause them to be displaced.

“I don’t think the flea market and casino are compatible aesthetically or business-wise,” said David Quintana, a community activist, blogger and Community Board 10 member who has lived in Ozone Park for 41 years, over coffee at the neighborhood institution Esquire Diner. “One caters to lower to middle class people. The other is looking for real high-rollers from out-of-state and around the world. These are diametrically opposed interests.”

With a market share of $37.5 billion and the operator of the world’s most profitable casino in Singapore, Genting has arrived in Queens for the big win. Genting pulled in $8.9 billion in earnings in 2009, but is expected to make a 67 percent jump in earnings to $14.9 billion this year and 91 percent increase over two years to $17 billion next year, according to analysts for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Ozone Park’s location could prove more than ideal to bring in the big spenders: flanked by Howard Beach, Richmond Hill and Woodhaven, the casino is a 10-minute drive from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

But Genting will also have steer carefully through Ozone Park’s politically charged and culturally diverse landscape, where middle-class immigrants are a burgeoning group coming under the strains of overcrowding and the recession.

West Indian and South Indians are growing in numbers, drawn to the area’s familiar comforts, accents and lower rents. The population in District 10 rose by 18 percent between 1980 and 2010, according to New York City data. Between 1990 and 2000, Asian and Pacific Islanders doubled from 6.4 to 12.8 percent, and those in the non-Hispanic, non-black and non-Native American category went up tenfold from 0.5 percent to 5 percent.

The new tide of immigrants has resulted in jostling for space and storefronts. “We came in 20 years ago, and saved little by little, dollar by dollar,” said Mary, an Indian grocery store owner, with a tinge of pride, but added that with more Indians settling into the area, business was steadily getting more competitive.

The economic struggles may have taken its toll on the community. Guyanese made up over one-third of foreign born in District 10 in 2000, a number expected to have increased in 2010 census. But Little Guyana, located in Richmond Hill, is less of the vibrant and bustling center of gravity for the Guyanese community than it was five years ago, said Antonio Sieunarine, a pilot, whose Guyanese family moved to Ozone Park nine years ago from the Bronx, over roti at a Liberty Avenue bakery.

At a presentation before Community Board 10 at the Aqueduct racetrack in July, a Genting spokesperson stressed that it would exceed the stated goal of 25 percent employment of minority and women during construction and ongoing operations. Last month, Genting held an event to inform local certified minority and women-owned business enterprises about contracting opportunities and the procurement process during reconstruction of Aqueduct.

Genting also pledged to donate one percent of its net profits to civic projects approved by the community, and would be expected to donate over $350,000 and up to $500,000 each consecutive year.

Leroy Gadsden, president of the Jamaica National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that he was dissatisfied that jobs had not been earmarked for Queens residents. Together with 18 other civil rights, clergy groups, and trade unions representing 30,000 people in total, his organization authored and passed a resolution to support more efforts to ensure that Queens residents “get their economic fair share of jobs during the development of the racino,” he said in a phone interview.

“We need to ward off the ills of casinos that those who are poor and in the minority are going to suffer because they are people of color,” said Gadsden.

Betty Braton, president of Community Board 10, said there had been numerous discussions with Genting to ensure that the company would take local interests into consideration. “We are satisfied that Genting understands our concerns and will act to ensure that people from the local area get considered for jobs,” she said.

Genting will hold more outreach events in the next few months to notify the Queens residents about permanent jobs once the facility opens for use, said spokesman Stefan Friedman.

Bringing back Aqueduct’s glory days

In the grey interior of the Aqueduct racetrack, men cluster around the screen anxiously, furiously spurring their horses on. The floors are littered with betting tickets. The air is thick with anticipation and the smell of stale fast food. Arthur L., an Ozone Park resident, watches his horse intently, then shakes his head and laughs. He’s lost. Again.

He’ll still come next weekend, as he always does. “I really want to see this place up and pretty,” he said. Does he think the redeveloped racetrack will benefit the community? “You lose some, you win some,” he said, with a pensive smile, revealing gold teeth imprinted with the initials of his name.

In its prime, the 116-year-old track was graced by legends like Seabiscuit, glamorous women in big hats, and crowds of up to 73,000. The racetrack is now a shadow of its former self, with less than a tenth of its previous attendance during racing season from October to May.

This June, a report released by the Office of the State Comptroller’s warned that the New York Racing Association, the organization that runs Aqueduct, was staring at insolvency. Even after a $105 million bailout from the state in 2008, NYRA’s projected deficit was rising at an alarming rate, and estimated to reach $19 million in 2010, double its deficit of $8.9 million in 2009, noted the report.

The industry suffered a further blow this week when calls to bail out the city’s beleaguered Off-Track Betting Corporation fell short in Albany, making the revitalization of Aqueduct even more pressing. The bill fell three votes short of the 32 needed to pass the State Senate, and OTB, which owes Aqueduct $14.7 million, was declared bankrupt and shut down at midnight on December 7.

Attempts to turn around the ailing Aqueduct began ten years ago after then-Governor George Pataki agreed in October 2001 to a budget deal that authorized electronic slot machines at Aqueduct. The bidding process, however, fell through twice in the past three years.

In the most recent fiasco this March, the plug was pulled on Aqueduct Entertainment Group after it failed to meet the bidding criteria and was not able to not provide sufficient financial details of its investors.

In the lead-up to the elections in October, the state inspector general released a devastating report that alleged corruption on the part of Democratic leaders in the State Senate. John L. Sampson, the Senate Democratic leader from Brooklyn; Malcolm A. Smith, the Senate president from Queens; and Angelo Aponte, the appointed Senate secretary had tinkered with the bidding process and played favorites with a troubled bidder that had donated to Democratic party, alleged the report.

The political mudslinging has evoked deep frustrations. “After so many years of dealing with talk about the casino, people want to see it openly flourish,” said Quintana.

The desire for a revitalized Ozone Park holds especially strong amongst older and more entrenched members of the community nostalgic for the neighborhood’s thriving days when John J. Gotti and his partners in the Gambino crime family roamed the community and Aqueduct was in its heyday.

“When the Italians made their money and moved out to Long Island and places like that,” said Quintana, “there was a sense that there were more schlocky 99 cent stores, compared to the old days when there were real men’s stores, real furniture stores, and real shoe stores.”

Speaking at his blanket booth, the elder Bindra railed about the loss of his flea market business, and lamented about a slow business during a chilly morning. “The city is just thinking about getting rid of the budget deficit, but they’re not thinking about the other effects of opening the casino,” he said.

“The question is what would happen if the community didn’t do this? If Aqueduct ceases to be in existence, alternatives like a factory would have other effects on the community,” said State Senator Joseph Addabbo. “The plan we are taking on is the best plan we have going forward.”

A Tour de Queens on Two Wheels by Holly Tsang - Queens Examiner

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When you live in a busy city like New York, it's not easy to be an urban cyclist. Even though bikers technically have the right of way, cyclists are often at the mercy of aggressive drivers.

This past Sunday, however, 1,500 bike riders took the roads back as, escorted by police officers, they stopped vehicular traffic and breezed through red lights.

Sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, the third annual Tour de Queens commenced at the Queens Museum of Art. It attracted riders from all over the city and took them through 18 miles of residential and commercial neighborhoods including Flushing, Bayside, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Queens Village and Fresh Meadows. The midway point was marked by a rest stop at the Queens County Farm Museum.

"The Tour de Queens is all about celebrating the strides we're making towards a more bike-friendly borough," says David Dubovsky, chair of Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee. "Where else in New York City can you bike from a two-time World's Fair ground to a working urban farm - all in one morning?"

Richard Lau, a small business owner from Flushing, signed up for the tour to spend some quality time with his cousins. He enjoyed going down roads that the police had blocked off for riders, but the ride was an eye-opener as well.

“You really get to experience your neighborhood,” he said. “I didn't realize until I started biking how many hills there are, or how many ways there are to get to your house.”

Chris Kay, a nurse from the Bronx, recently joined a bicycling group that rides from the Bronx to Battery Park. He enjoys participating in bike tours because they allow him to see all the aspects of a neighborhood or borough he would otherwise miss.

“I often drive through Queens, but you don't get to stop and see the neighborhoods when you're driving on a highway,” he said. “Now you get to see it up close. I've never been this close to the Unisphere.”

Jim Henderson, a retired telephone switchman from Manhattan, grew up on Long Island, but as an avid cyclist who rides everywhere, he probably knows the city better than most born-and-bred city dwellers.

“I'm just amazed that people don't know their area and geography,” he said. “You get a wonderful opportunity to see what people are doing, how the city's laid out, the economy...there are rich people places, poor people places, commercial places. You can learn all these things simply by biking.”

Though he could easily ride on his own, Henderson enjoys the bike tours because they allow him to fly down the street without worry of being killed by drivers. It also means that he has to be careful around the less experienced riders, who are much slower; a handful of children completed the ride from start to finish. However, he encourages everyone to take up bike riding, which is an efficient form of travel as well as a fun hobby.

“The best way to start is to go down your street and keep going,” he said. “Keep going and don't stop.”

Middle Village Car Crash Claims Life? by Holly Tsang & Shane Miller - QueensLedger

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The residential intersection of Juniper Boulevard South and 70th Street was blocked off for hours Friday morning after a car crashed into a tree at approximately 10:30 a.m., killing the driver.

“I was watering the flowers in my yard when I heard a big bang,” said a witness, who was standing about 15 feet from the site of the crash. “It’s a different sound when metal hits wood.”

He noted there are usually four cars parked in front of the tree on any given day, but today for some reason, all the spots were unoccupied.

Details on the cause of the crash were not yet available, as police are still investigating. An officer on the scene estimated that the male victim was in his sixties.

The witness pointed out that there was no collision except with the tree.

“He lost control. Maybe he had an attack or something,” he said.

The force of the impact was so great that the car was completely destroyed, and emergency crews had to cut the victim out of the wreckage. One of the car's headlights was still lying on the sidewalk on 70th Street, about 100 feet from the scene of the accident, hours after the incident.

The witness, who asked that his name not be printed, was surprised that no relatives of the victim had arrived nearly two hours after the accident, admitting that he himself was a little shaken up.

“Every accident is a shock because it’s something you don’t expect, and you try to wish it away, but it happens,” said the witness, adding that he was so close to the site that fluid from the car sprayed the back of his shirt. “If that tree hadn’t been there, I’d be dead.”

City Finishes $20 Million Sewer Upgrade for Maspeth - Queens Ledger

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Two years and $20 million later, a flood-prone section of Maspeth has a new sewer system.

The city has finished replacing combined sewers, water mains and catch basins along 54th and Maurice avenues, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Cas Holloway announced June 21.

The infrastructure project, started in August of 2008, targeted the section of 54th Avenue between Maurice Avenue and 58th Street, and Maurice Avenue between 54th and 56th avenues.

It was started in August of 2008, one year after severe flooding hit Maspeth and Middle Village. Since then, civic groups and elected officials have lobbied for a better sewer system.

The upgrade includes 35 new catch basins, 2,692 feet of new combined sewers, and the replacement of 3,392 feet of distribution water mains.

Holloway said it would “substantially reduce flooding in Maspeth, and ensure that the water supply network continues to deliver healthy, great tasting drinking water for years to come.”

The project is part of a larger effort to overhaul aging sewer and water distribution networks in Queens. The DEP has budgeted another $1.7 billion through fiscal year 2014 to carry out the work.

“Investments in our infrastructure make our communities safer, reducing sewage backups and providing our residents with a quality water distribution system they deserve,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. “The completion of this project marks a great day for Maspeth residents.”

Bids Go Out on Ridgewood Reservoir Phase One Work by Daniel Bush - Queens Ledger

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The phase one redevelopment of Ridgewood Reservoir is moving forward, despite continued opposition from community leaders who want to see the plan tweaked.

The Parks Department will begin accepting bids for the $7.6 million project May 28, according to Steve Fiedler, chairman of Community Board Five's Parks Committee. He said construction is scheduled to begin in the fall, which gives the board a few more months to make its case.

“Hopefully we can get the Parks Department to realize the community doesn't like what's going on,” he said.

Phase one work includes new lighting, pathways, stairs, an ADA-compliant ramp, and a controversial four-foot fence around the three-basin reservoir on the Brooklyn-Queens border.

CB5, numerous elected officials, and community groups all support the creation of a taller six-foot perimeter fence to ward off vandals and an enclosed pedestrian bridge over Vermont Place, among other changes.

So far, the Parks Department has rejected the recommendations.

Parks told Fielder a taller fence would disturb views of the reservoir, but he pointed out that thick summer foliage does that anyway. “We don't believe the reason they gave holds any merit at all,” he said.

Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski caused a stir at a meeting last week when she announced that dozens of trees would be cut to accommodate phase one construction.

The work is part of a larger, $26 million redevelopment of the reservoir, which was decommissioned in 1989.

Reconsidering-Gowanus? by Daniel Bush - QueensLedger

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Planning the redevelopment of an urban industrial neighborhood as promising and complex as Gowanus takes time. Luckily, everyone involved in the effort has ten to 12 years to figure it out.

That's the length of time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated it will need to carry out a Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. The timetable-inspired fierce debate from Superfund opponents lasted through most of last year, however, now that the EPA's plan is in place a new consensus is emerging around the redevelopment prospects of the gritty canal-side neighborhood.

Yes, uncertainty over the scope and logistics of the Superfund cleanup will delay the long-sought-for transformation of the area, which is sandwiched between several affluent neighborhoods. But that might not be such a bad thing, after all.

At a recent CUNY forum aptly-titled “Reconsidering Gowanus,” public policy makers, real estate experts, and community groups that are taking the long view described the ten-year pause brought on by the Superfund cleanup as an opportunity to reassess the neighborhood's future before moving forward with plans to change it.

The high-profile conference was the first large meeting of stakeholders since the EPA announced its Superfund listing last month.

Its timing, and the sweeping report on the neighborhood unveiled at the forum, were intended to shift the focus of public discussion from the science of cleaning the canal - which is now firmly in the hands of the federal government - to the surrounding community.

The report identifies Gowanus, population 28,000, as an area bounded by Bergen Street to the north, Fourth Avenue to the east, the Gowanus Expressway to the south, and Court Street to the west.

The data on business, housing, and demographic trends shows the tiny community - which is defined by the canal and its industrial heritage, as well as by its proximity to transportation and desirable communities such as Carroll Gardens and Park Slope - is poised to explode, if new residential and commercial development can successfully be mixed in with the neighborhood's existing industrial base.

After a steady post-war decline, Gowanus experienced a major resurgence in the 1990's, according to Harry Schwartz, one of the co-authors of the report, which relied mostly on data from the 2000 Census. Since then, property values have increased, and the neighborhood's residents as a whole have become increasingly prosperous and better educated.

And thanks to an influx of creative young professionals and artists, the community has gained a reputation for its under-the-radar arts scene; Marty Markowtiz, Brooklyn's borough president, called the area the “indie adjunct” of Brooklyn's better-known BAM cultural district.

But is Gowanus a true “Soho in the making if left alone” in the coming years, as Staurt Pertz, a former member of the City Planning Commission, suggested at the forum. And how will it respond to the development boom that is sure to follow the Superfund cleanup?

“Gowanus is going to become more like its wealthy neighbors like Park Slope and Boerum Hill and so on,” if the current wave of gentrification continues, said Schwartz. However, he said, “there's a chance we can change that trend.”

That's the challenge facing community groups, which will use the next several years to argue for a comprehensive neighborhood rezoning that includes plenty of affordable housing, space for local businesses and artists, and public parkland along a revitalized canal corridor.

The city drafted plans to rezone 25 blocks inside of Gowanus several years ago, but put them on hold last year after the EPA became involved with cleaning the canal. The plan would have set aside more land for manufacturing uses, while creating broad swaths of low and high-density mixed-use zones to encourage development.

“We believe that we've come up with a pretty balanced approach,” Purnima Kapur, the director of City Planning's Brooklyn office, said at the forum. She said the city is “waiting to see how the Superfund will affect the city's plans” before resuming the rezoning process.

Whenever it does, the city must also contend with the neighborhood's growing polarization along racial and socioeconomic lines. While Gowanus has improved in general in the past two decades, several sections of the neighborhood have been left behind.

For example, the CUNY report found that in the two largely Hispanic census tracts situated in the rougher pockets of Gowanus east and southeast of the canal, the number of people living below the poverty line rose 32 and 62 percent, respectively, between 1980 and 2000.

In contrast, during the same time period, poverty declined by 38 percent in the two mostly-white census tracts northwest of the canal, situated in affluent Carroll Gardens,

Overall, the data shows the richer, whiter areas of the neighborhood have become wealthier, while the southeast section of Gowanus is home to a growing number of low-income Latinos.

A third of the mostly African-American residents in the neighborhood's public housing developments live below the poverty line, according to the report.

Recycling Laws Could Get Makeover by Daniel Bush - Queens Ledger

Lawmakers are pushing to bring the city's recycling laws up to date with a package of comprehensive reforms that would expand recycling efforts and increase fines for those that don't comply.

The new legislation is now under review by the City Council, and builds on Local Law 19, the city's first recycling bill. When it was passed in 1989 it was widely seen as one of the world's most ambitious recycling programs.

But two decades later it is no longer enough, elected officials argue.

A group met in Astoria Park on May 10 to call for a 21st century upgrade to the city's recycling laws, citing a lack of recycling options in public open spaces in a day and age when residents are more in tune with a cleaner, greener city than ever before.

“I am excited to join my colleagues in promoting the public spaces recycling legislation,” said Councilwoman Letitia James, chair of the Sanitation and Solid Waste Committee. She said successful recycling efforts in Astoria Park and Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn have made it “easier for everyone” to recycle, and could be replicated throughout the city.

The legislation would expand plastic recycling considerably by requiring the Department of Sanitation to start recycling rigid plastic materials such as flower pots and takeout containers. The measure would take effect after a new recycling facility opens in Brooklyn in 2012, and would divert more than 8,000 tons of plastic from landfills and incinerators each year, according to city estimates.

The law would also create the position of recycling coordinator at every city school and agency; these recycling czars would be charged with increasing recycling options inside of cafeterias, classrooms and all city-run and city-owned buildings.

And in another move to update Local Law 19, the new bill would implement a tiered fine system for those who don't recycle properly. Currently, residential and commercial buildings are fined the same amount for recycling violations, regardless of their size.

The new law would create a first tier of fines for residential buildings with less than nine units, and a second tier for residential and commercial buildings alike that have nine units or more.

Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. said the legislation would clean the city's parks and improve the environment. “We need to do everything we can to give people the opportunity to help the environment,” he said.

Atlas Park: Struggle and Hope in Glendale - QueensLedgerTV

As Atlas Park Mall faces an upcoming auction, storeowners express their experiences at the shopping center.

Wetlands Designation Right for Ridge Reservoir - Queens Ledger

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We welcome the news that the state is considering protecting the Ridgewood Reservoir with a wetlands designation. It would be the right thing to do, for several reasons.

First, the reservoir- with its beautiful, lake-like second basin and winding pathways- is a gem of a natural habitat the likes of which can never be replaced. The site is home to over 100 species of birds, other animals and a rich variety of flora. It is a community resource, and by any measure more-than-deserving of environmental oversight and protection.

The issue of preservation hits roundly on the second- and perhaps most important- reason why the state plan makes sense. If the DEC classifies the site as a state-regulated wetlands, that could impede the city from pursuing a misguided redevelopment plan for the site, one that has been soundly rejected by the community board and neighborhood preservationists alike.

To be fair, the city isn't planning to raze the reservoir and replace it with high-rise apartment buildings or a large mall. But the city's vision for the reservoir- the final version of which has not been chosen, or made public- suggests a keen desire to build ball fields on the reservoir's third basin.

This makes no sense. It would disrupt the site's fragile ecosystem, and does not take into account Highland Park, which is adjacent to the reservoir and has plenty of recreational areas of its own. If the city, in these tough fiscal times, is committed to spending millions of dollars on a parks project on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, why not invest the money in improving Highland Park and leave the reservoir alone?

In that scenario, the entire site could be converted into a nature preserve with educational facilities, as many wish. The Bloomberg Administration, though, is not known for backing development compromises when it could instead spend more money, and build new projects.

So unless the state steps in, its very likely the city will proceed with its plans, regardless of any opposition to them. It is still unclear how a wetlands designation would impact the city's plans. And of course the DEC might decide not to follow through with the wetlands designation after all.

But if it does, that might be enough to protect the reservoir for generations of Queens and Brooklyn residents. And we might get an improved Highland Park in the bargain. How about that?

Inside the Ridgewood Reservoir with the Queens Ledger...

A visit to the Ridgewood Reservoir on July 1st, 2009 with reporters from the Queens Ledger...