Stories
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi
Photo credit: Alain Barthélémy
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi
Families Torn Apart By Opioid Epidemic - dnainfo.com
STATEN ISLAND — Christopher Perrotto was taking oxycodone with friends in a parked car in the South Shore on April 10, 2011 when he overdosed and died. He was just 22 years old.
His friends bailed and left him alone in the parking lot, but somebody eventually found Perrotto and called the police. His uncle worked nearby and went to identify his body while his mother — who thought Perrotto had gone to a detox center the night before — got an oil change.
When she got back to her Arden Heights home, detectives were already inside. She saw her father sobbing as she walked in and knew her son was dead.
"I just dropped and started screaming," said his mother, Ann Marie Perrotto.
Keeping It Private: Homeowners Struggle With Life on NYC’s Private Streets - Commercial observer
Twice a week, 71-year-old Douglaston, Queens, resident Peggy Kalesis packs her trash-filled garbage cans into the back of her SUV and drives half a block from her home.
She and her dozen Stuart Lane neighbors drop their trash in front of an understanding Depew Avenue resident’s home because Stuart Lane is one of the nearly 1,000 private streets across the five boroughs that doesn’t get its garbage picked up by the city.
“It’s horrible,” Kalesis said. “We do pay taxes. We feel like we’re not getting city services.”
Private streets are owned, and tended to, by residents, homeowners associations (HOAs) or co-op boards. While they show up on Google Maps, they aren’t on the official city map so agencies won’t collect trash, remove snow, pave roads, repair street lights, fix sewer lines and more. Some have even caused issues for 911 dispatchers.
Eric Garner's Family Has Yet to Receive Thousands of Dollars Raised Online - DNAinfo.com (with ben fractenburg)
STATEN ISLAND — Online fundraisers are pulling in big bucks in the name of Eric Garner, but family members say they haven't seen any of the cash.
At least 19 crowd-funding projects that claim to raise money for Garner's family have been posted on various websites — and one has raised nearly $75,000. Yet Garner's mother Gwen Carr, who is the administrator of his estate, and one of his daughters, Erica Garner, said with the exception of a few fundraisers, they don't know where the money is going.
"I feel like people are trying to use my father's name for their own gain," said Erica Garner, 24, who said she's looking into legal action against the various campaigns not affiliated with the family. "It's unfortunately a sad situation."
After 16 Years of Construction, American Dream Mall Will Finally Open. Will It Work? - COMMERCIAL OBSERVER
The American Dream Mall—once given a deadline to open in 2014 when the Super Bowl was played in New Jersey—has become the butt of many Northern New Jersey residents’ jokes. It’s been empty for years, little more than a garish, multi-colored eyesore to the drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike.
But finally, after 16 years of starts and stops, missed deadlines, three developers, five governors and a major retail contraction, current developer Triple Five claims the $5 billion American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, N.J., will open its 3.1-million-square-foot center in April. That includes 1.5 million square feet of retail, the largest indoor amusement park in the Western Hemisphere, an indoor ski lift, a DreamWorks-branded indoor waterpark, a Cirque du Soleil venue and a National Hockey League-sized ice rink. Subsequent phases call for two hotels and a convention center.
“There’s a lot that you can see with your eye to let you know this thing is coming soon,” said David Townes, a senior director of retail at Cushman & Wakefield whose office is next to the American Dream site in the Meadowlands Complex.
But even as it nears the finish line, not everybody’s convinced the American Dream Mall will really come to fruition. (At least not on the April timetable.)
“We’ve been told this story a gazillion times,” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who recently criticized the project on Twitter, told Commercial Observer. “I gloss over these dates on when they’re projected to open.”
DDC Commissioner Lorraine Grillo on Trying to Turn Around the Delay-Plagued Agency - Commercial Observer
New York City School Construction Authority President (SCA) and CEO Lorraine Grillo had her work cut out for her when she accepted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s offer last June to divide her time and take charge of the Department of Design and Construction (DDC).
The little-known city agency, created in 1996 by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, currently manages $13.5 billion of capital projects around the five boroughs, tasked with handling everything from street repairs to new recreational facilities. But in recent years it has drawn the ire of local politicians and residents frustrated by the long delays and ballooning costs of its projects.
Grillo countered that government red tape, the media’s focus on problem projects and DDC’s poor communication with the community were in large part to blame.
“What’s on time for us may not be on time for someone else,” she said. “For example, we know that when we open up [a] street, National Grid [the gas utility company] has to repurpose their lines. I don’t have the leverage to say, ‘you have to do this tomorrow.’ ”
But the DDC critics have not been entirely without merit. A 2017 Center for the Urban Future (CUF) report looking at library, museum and performing arts projects managed by the DDC found that they on average took more time and money to finish than if the institutions handled them.
Message in a Bottle Tossed From Staten Island Shore Washes Up in France - dnainfo.com
STATEN ISLAND — Sting would be impressed.
A message in a bottle flung from the shores of Staten Island bobbed 3,500 miles across the Atlantic before washing up in front of two people walking along a beach on France's western shore.
Alain Barthélémy and his wife Brigitte found the bottle in La Tremblade. It had been launched from Wolfe's Pond Park Beach in 2013 by painter George Boorujy, riding the waves to Europe until it was found on Feb. 17.
The bottle was part of Boorujy's New York Pelagic project and the message included a drawing of a bird inside and a letter asking whoever found it to contact him.
"I was not expecting this at all," said Boorujy, who posted about the discovery on his blog over the weekend. "Most of the other ones that have been found, most have been found not terribly far from where they were launched."
Mt. Manresa Developers Paid $65K to Former Boro President Molinaro's Firm - dnainfo.com
STATEN ISLAND — The lobbying firm where former Borough President James Molinaro works was paid $65,000 over the past two years to lobby the city on behalf of the controversial Mount Manresa project, records show.
The Savo Brothers — under the name Mount Builders LLC — hired Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin LLC, of which Molinaro is a senior managing director, in 2014 to lobby the Department of Buildings, according to the Office of the City Clerk.
Molinaro, who was borough president when the 103-year-old Jesuit retreat house was sold for $15 million to be turned into townhouses despite huge protest, said he doesn't directly lobby for the Savo Brothers and didn't think there was anything wrong with his group working for them.
"I was the borough president. It was a piece of land for sale. It was legit. What should I be ashamed of?" Molinaro said. "People are mad at me for a lot reasons. You can't be loved from everyone, you can't be hated from everywhere."
'Boat Graveyard' Draws British Tourists to Staten Island - dnainfo.com
ROSSVILLE — A graveyard filled with the rotting hulks of decommissioned boats is drawing British tourists to Staten Island.
The city is promoting the place where ships go to die — a marshland holding rusted testaments to the borough's maritime heritage — to visitors from the United Kingdom.
On Thursday the city added the spot, tucked away in a marsh off Arthur Kill Road, to its summer guide for British tourists and promoted the post on Twitter.
On Thursday the city added the spot, tucked away in a marsh off Arthur Kill Road, to its summer guide for British tourists and promoted the post on Twitter.
"It may not have the #MaryRose, but NYC does have a rather spooky Boat Graveyard on Staten Island," the city's official U.K. account tweeted.
The city already has a listing for the spot on its NYCgo tourism website, something Tony Conssean, 55, who's backyard leads directly to parts of the graveyard, isn't surprised about.
Conssean, who grew up in the home and recently moved back to take care of his elderly parents, said on weekends he sees about 15 to 20 people in the morning going to check out the ships.
"I've had people from California, from Michigan, a guy from Wisconsin comes back repeatedly," he said. "This isn't necessarily No. 1 on the itinerary, but it's on the itinerary."
Hurricane Sandy's Scars Still Fresh 3 Years After Storm - Dnainfo.com
STATEN ISLAND — Three years after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on Staten Island, the scars it left are still painfully visible.
While some devastated properties were rebuilt and mountains of debris were cleared up, many homes were leveled, leaving empty, overgrown lots that offer painful reminders of the Oct. 29, 2012 destruction.
In Midland Beach, many wrecked homes stand in the same condition as they did the day after the hurricane, said Gil Rosa, who's lived on Hunter Avenue for 14 years.
"They forgot about us," he said.
Parents Fear Regression if Kids With Autism Move to Staten Island School - dnainfo.com
NEW SPRINGVILLE — Mary Celi never could have imagined that her 10-year-old son Francis would be able to eat lunch alongside his classmates at P.S. 69.
Francis, who is on the autism spectrum, used to get overwhelmed by the big groups of people in the cafeteria and withdraw into himself.
But, thanks to a program at the Staten Island school that was tailor-made for kids with autism, he's made huge strides, Celi said.
But now she fears her son's hard-won gains could be lost when he graduates from P.S. 69 this spring and moves across the street to I.S. 72, which parents and advocates worry lacks experience in serving children with autism.
"He's made a lot of progress," Celi said. "I never thought my son would want to eat in the lunchroom. They've come so far [at P.S. 69] — I feel like sending them across the street will set them back."