Several weeks ago, a construction fence went up around 156-10 32nd Avenue, a quiet block in Broadway-Flushing across the street from Bowne Park.  The house's new owner, Jian Wen Zhu, had recently applied for an alteration permit known as an "ALT 1" which specifically states that over 50% of the building must be retained, including the basement or cellar. In other words, an alteration permit means just that: an alteration to an existing building, not a new building.

Two days later, the building was more than 50% demolished; within another two days, almost the entire building had been removed, except for two exterior wall stubs.

Paul Graziano, candidate for the 19th Council District, had contacted the local homeowner association as well as State Senator Tony Avella, and wrote a "Zoning Challenge" to the Department of Buildings, as it was clear that the architect on record, Ling Li, had self-certified a project that violated the R1-2A zoning - New York City's most restrictive - which covers much of Broadway-Flushing.

After a series of 311 calls were made and official complaints were lodged by residents of the area, the Buildings Department sent an inspector, who stated that 'No violation warranted for complaint at time of inspection; site is fenced, gated and secure with permits posted and current for ALT 1 - no workers on site.'

"This was an outrage," Graziano stated, "as the complaint that was filed with 311 called for a Stop Work Order, as the demolition for the house far exceeded what an ALT 1 permit allows and the permit itself should not have been granted as the floor area was over what is allowed under the R1-2A zone. The 311 operator had listed that the complaint was concerned with safety, and the Buildings inspector responded to that instead of what they were supposed to."

One week later, the Department of Buildings finally responded to the correct complaint, after much pressure from Senator Avella, Graziano and local residents. On Thursday, July 18th, a Full Stop Work Order was served to the owner for demolition contrary to approved plans. However, the contractors at the site continued to work on Friday, July 19th and Monday, July 22nd.

On Monday morning, Graziano and a resident involved with the homeowners association confronted the foreman of the construction crew - which numbered at least a dozen - and engaged him in a heated exchange which lasted for more than 10 minutes. The foreman stated that he was allowed to work and "do maintenance" to the property, and that they hadn't done anything wrong. When pressed as to why there was a Stop Work Order and they were still working, he stated that "the house had some extra rot in it so we had to take down more of it than we thought." He followed this statement with a discussion about how this was America and it was the owner's right to build what he wanted.

That afternoon, again pressed by Senator Avella, Graziano and the homeowners association, the property was inspected by the Buildings Department a third time. A violation of the Stop Work Order was issued for "failure to obey stop work order" and a $5,000 civil fine was levied.

Now, the owner must apply for full demolition and new building permits as well as file new plans, which must be approved by the Department of Buildings.

"I'm glad the Department of Buildings finally did what they were supposed to do," said Graziano, "but it shouldn't have taken so long. More importantly, this house, along with all of the other teardowns that have occurred in the last decade, would have never happened if Broadway-Flushing had become a New York City landmark historic district as more than 85% of the residents have supported. The homeowners association and residents of this area have spent significant time, money and effort to protect their century-old neighborhood from speculative developers."

All of Broadway-Flushing was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and was downzoned in 2009 with the most restrictive "anti-McMansion" zoning in New York City (R1-2A and R2A), both of which were authored and designed by Graziano.

"Last week's victory against the developer who tried to break the restrictive covenants and split a corner property is wonderful and the Stop Work Order is welcome," Graziano stated, "but if Broadway-Flushing had been landmarked almost a decade ago as it deserves, neither of these - nor other - bad development situations would have happened. The house at 156-10 32nd Avenue was a beautiful house and there was absolutely no reason to tear it down in the first place. Should I be lucky enough to be elected by the people of the 19th Council District in November, landmarking Broadway-Flushing and our other historic neighborhoods in the 19th Council District will be one of my absolute top priorities to make sure this doesn't ever happen again."

Stop Work Order / Civil Penalty for 156-10 32nd Avenue can be viewed here:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=5&vlcompdetlkey=0001648878

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=5&vlcompdetlkey=0001651663


http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ComplaintsByAddressServlet?requestid=7&allbin=4109856&fillerdata=A

Paul Graziano, Democratic candidate for New York City Council District 19, kicked off his grassroots campaign on Saturday, March 23rd at the edge of Bowne Park, surrounded by his parents, who were also celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary; his fiancé, Elzbieta, and her two children; lifelong neighborhood friends; and leaders and representatives from civic and homeowners associations from the 19th Council District and beyond.

The candidate invited local civic leaders to speak first, all of whom personally endorsed Paul in his quest for the 19th Council seat.

Local civic leader Mel Siegel said, “We’re here to support Paul in his race for the City Council.  Nobody has done more to help preserve and protect this neighborhood than Paul and we’re delighted that he’s running and he has our full support.”

“One of the reasons why we support Paul is because what is most important to him is preserving our neighborhoods and making sure that builders don’t go ruining good houses and destroying the property around here,” said Peter Brancazio, President of the Northeast Flushing Civic Association.  “He’s a community activist and that’s what we need in this position.”

Joe Amoroso, Zoning Chair of the Kissena Park Civic Association said, “I’m happy for the people that live in his district, but I’m not in his district and that makes me unhappy.   He’s not just out for his own community; he’s trying to help everybody in all the communities in Queens.  And as a City Council member, he’d be able to do that not just for here, but for everyone.”

Henry Euler, 1st Vice-President of the Auburndale Improvement Association stated, “I am endorsing Paul Graziano for the City Council in the Democratic Party.  I know most of the other candidates running and it’s very clear to me that Paul is the one that has done the most for our community.“

Jim Colasante, President of the Bayside Gables Homeowners Association said, “I can say wholeheartedly that we’ve worked hand-in-hand with Paul on the front lines in court as well as within the community.  He’s done a lot to help preserve what we have in our community.  I, myself, and a lot of our homeowners definitely will support Paul come the Fall.”

Bob Nobile, representing the Little Neck Pines Civic Association said, “Paul has been very instrumental in getting us rezoned along with Douglaston.  He is very hands-on.  He would be perfect to be a City Councilman.  He’s not part of the political machine.  Paul is an activist.  He’s one of us and that’s what we want. We want someone to represent us and not their personal agenda.”

Members of Korean-Americans for Political Advancement (KAPA), the Bayside Hills Civic Association, the Bayside Historical Society and the Douglaston-Little Neck Historical Society as well as other residents of the 19th Council District were also in attendance to support Paul’s candidacy.  Civic leaders Warren Schreiber (Bay Terrace Community Alliance), Sunny Hahn (a well-known Flushing activist) and several others from across the 19th Council District could not be at the kickoff due to conflicting schedules but wanted to make it a matter of public record that they had planned to be in attendance.

Paul Graziano then addressed the crowd.  “My campaign is very simple: Protect your neighborhood.  Do no harm.  And what that means very simply, and I’ve mentioned that to a number of people…it’s hard for me to think about theoretical and esoteric problems when we’ve got problems at hand in the community,” he said.

On overdevelopment, Paul stated, “Right now there’s a big fight in Douglaston going on.  We had a press conference there last week, where a 150-year old farmhouse is threatened with demolition or severe alteration because an area that should have been landmarked almost 20 years ago with the rest of Douglas Manor, has not been landmarked.  These sound like almost trivial discussions to some people, but this is the bones.  This is what it’s all about.  It’s about protecting your neighborhood...[In this area] we’ve, along with the [Broadway-Flushing] Homeowners Association, put the neighborhood on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, 1330 buildings.  We rezoned this area with the strictest zoning in New York City – the R1-2A and R2A zonings, which I helped to co-author several years ago - and it’s still not enough.  It’s still not enough.”

On education, Paul said the following: “Parents are pulling their kids out of certain schools – some of the best schools in the borough and the city – because they are very unhappy with the direction that the Department of Education has gone.  I think that the Department of Education should essentially be abolished.  I was not a huge fan of the Board of Education, but at least the Board of Education gave local communities and local areas more of a say in what they needed to happen instead of a top-down decision-making process that has not benefitted anybody.”

The speech then turned to parkland.  “Twenty percent of this city – 1/5 of this city – is parkland, and yet we see our parkland being abused.  Abused, compromised, sold out.  There’s a model being presented that’s trying to corporatize our parks.  Does anybody here actually know how much the city spends on parks of the budget?  It’s 1/3 of 1% of the budget for the entire City of New York, which is deplorable.  It is a lack of responsibility and accountability from those people who run this government.“

Then he mentioned, “We have 100 acres of undeveloped land in the 19th Council District: Flushing Airport, the remaining parcels in Udall’s Cove which are still privately owned and can still be developed.”

In closing, Paul said, “Everything is local, but everything is also citywide.  It’s also really important to make sure that we have an agenda that focuses on the needs of this community as well as, really, things that are crossing the entire city in importance.  When we’re in a situation where I think every neighborhood feels embattled by the kinds of things that are happening, we have to stand up and do something about it.”

For a copy of the full press conference and transcript, go to http://www.paulgraziano.com/latest-news.html.