• Home
  • Our Board of Directors
  • Updates
Citizens for a Better Maspeth

Community updates

LEFTOVER SHELTER FUNDS TO BE USED TO BEAUTIFY MASPETH

9/2/2021

 
During the 2016 Maspeth shelter fight, we promised the people of Maspeth that their unused donations would be used for beautification efforts such as graffiti and litter removal and tree pit care. Organizers weren’t sure after the hotel was vacated if the DHS was going to try to open another shelter in the area, so the funds were held in case of emergency. But now that 5 years have passed it seems like the right time to start using the leftover funds for their promised purpose.

Citizens for a Better Maspeth started purchasing paint and equipment for Assembly Member Barnwell’s community cleanups which take place every Sunday. Along with organizer David Rosasco and a group of volunteer youths, including missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Brian is tending to areas that need sprucing up. Weed trimmers, trash bags, gloves, paint sprayers and paint in a palette of col- ors are some of the supplies that are being purchased with the more than $42,000 remaining from the fight.

PS9 receives $30M in funding

8/24/2019

 
Picture
Last year, Council Member Holden submitted a proposal for a District 75 special needs school at 78-16 Cooper Ave believing that not only was School Construction Authority Commissioner Lorraine Grillo in favor of the site for a new school, but she also wanted to close PS9, a District 75 School in Maspeth, despite it being in the middle of a $14M renovation. The Council Member also stated at Juniper Park Civic Association's October 2018 meeting that a deal to build a new school at Cooper Ave was 90 percent done, and that he was just waiting on one signature, that of Mayor de Blasio, for the project to start the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Process. But this month Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza dropped a bomb via a letter to Holden, stating that after having visited PS9 he decided that it would remain where it is and that DOE would spend an additional $16M to make it more handicapped accessible, provide a total renovation of the basement and build new music, sensory, and computer rooms. CBM is in favor of schools at both locations because we need more school space in general, especially in District 24. Holden continues to search for a location for a new D75 school. 
(Historic photo shows PS9 when it was PS86, circa 1920.)

Homeless men removed from Maspeth Holiday Inn Express

8/2/2019

 
The Holiday Inn Express, located at 59-40 55th Road in Maspeth, has been vacated by the NYC Department of Homeless Services and Acacia Network. There had been up to 200 homeless single men housed at the hotel since 2016.

You can read more here. Victory at last!

Court rules in favor of Maspeth hotel's landlord

5/24/2019

 
In early May, the New York Supreme Court issued a blow to New Ram Realty, (aka Harshad Patel, et al) by siding with the landlord of the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express (KCM Realty Company), located at 59-40 55 Road, in declaring that New Ram's arrangement with the NYC Department of Homeless Services and Acacia Network violated the terms of their land lease. The court:
  • "Ordered, adjudged and decreed that defendant New Ram Realty, LLC's renting of rooms at property located at 59-40 55th Road, Maspeth, New York to DHS or another agency of New York City to house homeless persons constitutes a material departure from the use provisions of the lease and a breach of such use provisions; and it is further,
  • Ordered, adjudged and decreed that plaintiff KCM Realty Company is entitled to exercise its remedies under the lease; and it is further,
  • Ordered, that the motion for summary judgment on the third cause of action is granted on the issue of liability."
In the order, the court pointed out that not only did New Ram breach its contract with KCM, but it also violated the NYC Zoning Code by housing homeless people at the hotel for extended periods of time. On average, each resident of the Holiday Inn Express stayed there for 195 days. The hotel is in a manufacturing zone which allows for short-stay hotels, but not long-term rentals, which are restricted to residential zones. A short-stay is defined as less than 30 days. Many of the hotels being used to house the homeless are in manufacturing zones, meaning that the City of New York has been knowingly violating its own zoning code for years.
 
The lease is a privately recorded transaction, so we cannot tell you what “remedies” are listed in it, but there are land leases that allow for property seizure in the case of breach of contract. Let’s hope this is one of them.

Citizens for a Better Maspeth, the organization that fundraised in an effort to fight the proposed shelter and filed a partially successful Article 78,  is now consulting with attorneys to determine if any action could be taken on its part to hasten a vacate of the hotel by the City and Acacia. New Ram has filed an appeal.

It drags on and on...

2/5/2019

 
The property owner's lawsuit against the Holiday Inn Express is still in court, with the next appearance happening in March.
Picture

A second shelter proposed for Maspeth

10/21/2018

 
There is now a proposal to swap a Maspeth school located at PS9 on 57th Street for a shelter proposed at 78-16 Cooper Ave in Glendale. PS9 was formerly PS86 which many older Maspeth residents attended in their youth. The school is now a special needs facility in District 75. Council Member Robert Holden wants a state of the art school built at Cooper Ave for special education students and expects PS9 students to be relocated there. He has confirmed that the DHS would like to convert PS9's school building into a shelter. CBM still has $42,221.64 left from the fundraising push to stop the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express, and will be allocating it as necessary to stop a shelter at PS9. 

The latest on the Maspeth shelter fight

10/21/2018

 
The lawsuit by the owners of Mendon Plaza against the owners of the Holiday Inn Express has been going on since 2016. The battle has been a long one and is now dragging into next year, as per the document filed with the court below.

KCM vs New Ram request to judge by Christina Wilkinson on Scribd

Letters to judge

9/23/2018

 
The following letters were recently submitted to the judge in the matter of KCM Realty, LLP vs. New Ram Realty, LLC:

712807 2016 Kcm Realty Company l v Kcm Realty Company l Letter Correspond 101

712807 2016 Kcm Realty Comp... by on Scribd

Shelter trial delayed

8/18/2018

 
We expected the KCM vs. New Ram lawsuit to go to trial soon, but the judge has given both sides more time to file motions in the case. It seems both plaintiff and defendant wish to seek Acacia Network. This could get interesting.
Picture

Maspeth car show postponed

8/10/2018

 
The Maspeth car show was originally scheduled for 8/12, but as rain is in the forecast, it was changed to 8/19. Please take note.
Picture
<<Previous
Picture

​Contact us with issues of concern at:
​(718) 326-4707 weekdays 11am -  5pm or [email protected]
  • Home
  • Our Board of Directors
  • Updates