BEN KALLOS - Angry at Scaffolds, Not so Concerned about Con-Artist Scofflaw Gypsies

December 16th, and BEN KALLOS sends out an email -- the concern? SCAFFOLDS. 

The New York Post has pointed out that BEN KALLOS has, in essence, DONE NOTHING about the scaffold problem for THREE YEARS. 

BEN KALLOS, who has a Democrat-controlled council, mayor and Borough President behind him, can't get a law passed? Can't get any action? Has to complain to the New York Post and send e-mails to his constituents? And asks for donations to his Borough President campaign?

He's proud of this?

Of ALL the issues this guy faces in this Big City, the ONE thing that concerns him most is....SCAFFOLDS? 

How about clean neighborhood free from deadbeat panhandlers or gypsy scum who chain signs to public property? 

How about graffiti? Benny Boy promised in an email to constituents that he was partnering with a charitable company that would remove graffiti if reported to his office. A few days later, he sent an apology to anyone "offended" by his remark that graffiti should be removed (ie, it's really ART). His office ignores all emails reporting graffiti...like THIS restaurant (formerly known as SAUCY) on York Avenue: 

 

Meanwhle, on 75th and 1st Avenue, a "PSYCHIC" sign has remained chain to a lamppost for years and years. Shouldn't the tony "Upper East Side" retain its real estate values and "quality of life?"

Instead, Kallos is concerned with scaffolding (how does he prove which scaffolds need to be taken down and how hard the workers are working?) He also is concerned that drag queens read fairy tales to children at public libraries. Wheee. 

Kallos has staffers who turn up once a month at a NYPL branch or other facility, to answer questions and solve problems. One of them was given photos of the chained signs. He smiled and said, "We'll look into it." That was all.  

FOR EIGHT YEARS now "psychic" signs have been chained at 75th St and 1st (PONY BAR) and 73rd and 1st (BAREBURGER) with impunity. 

A suggestion for Benny the K: write a law doubling the fine for a scofflaw sign, and tripling it for each additional offense.  

The city makes money on the fines and the streets look better. 

Mr. Kallos would like to be Borough President. Maybe he should visit a psychic to see if his dreams will come true? It's hard to miss their signs.

FREE AD SPACE at the NYC MARATHON

Yes, November 3rd, the New York City Marathon. 

The corner of 73rd and 1st in front of BAREBURGER.

And the "PSYCHIC" blatantly chains up an illegal sign in broad daylight: 

Another sign was removed a month ago, but nobody's chopped the chain on THIS one.  

How about THESE TWO GUYS? 

They don't look too busy. There were DOZENS of them, at least two every block or so. 

THESE two could've called the number on the sign and said, "Take your sign away. NOW. You are disturbing the peace. Creating a public nuisance. You could be held 72 hours for this."

Nope. Not THEIR job.  

They say "Don't take the law into your own hands, report it." And nothing happens. For a chronic scofflaw, the 19th precinct should make an exception. Just call the number or walk down the block to the store and say: "ENOUGH." 

Is it really asking too much for the 19th Precinct and "Community Affairs" to help remove a neighborhood pest's illegal signs? 

One sign DOWN -- THIS one to GO -- it should go on SATURDAY

The sneaky 73rd Street SCOFFLAWS who have been playing their fortune-telling games and abusing the neighborhood for years and years and years.

Sometimes if they actually get a few warnings in a row, they lay off chaining the sign in broad daylight, and just SNEAK it after 5pm and on weekends. 

They sure know that the police will not do anything: 

The manager of BAREBURGER should be on this, and asking the city to make sure his customers aren't being swindled. Perhaps there needs to be a law making a store owner responsible for not only the sidewalk being clean, but NO OBSTRUCTIONS on the sidewalk including signs chained to lampposts. 

NOBODY owns the city sidewalk or is entitled to chain up signs like this.  

The 19th Precinct and the BUNCO squad should get in on this if it continues. It's a public nuisance, it's a crime, and it's disturbing the peace.

THE NEW YORK TIMES is covering the plague of obnoxious "PSYCHICS" in NYC.  

A SIGN GOES DOWN...the other stays, while a Street Fair of suckers could get "taken"

GOOD NEWS: 

This sign is NO LONGER an eyesore on York avenue between 72nd and 73rd (in front of the deli).  

BAD NEWS: 

The creepy fake 'Psychic' sneaks another one on 72nd and 1st in front of Bareburger.  Seems there's a difference between chaining a sign to a bike rack and a lamppost? 

The sign in front of Bareburger was prominent on September 21st (SATURDAY) during a Ronald McDonald House street festival.  

FIVE MEMBERS OF THE 19th PRECINCT AT THE FESTIVAL were patrolling that one block between York and 1st and they did NOTHING. "Not their job." 

Five members of the 19th Precinct's "Community Affairs" team were at this event, including THESE two, who can be seen talking to a member of the Fire Department. 

One of them was asked, "Do you see that illegal sign on the corner? What can be done about it?"

You'd expect that someone from "COMMUNITY AFFAIRS" would say, "The 19th Precinct cares about the community. I'm going to walk down the block, knock on the door of that phony psychic, and tell her to take that sign in." OR, "We'll get somebody to bring over a chain clipper, and confiscate that sign so it will NEVER be a problem again." 

Instead? This was the answer: 

"Call the Mayor's Office." 

"The Mayor's Office? What will they do?" 

"They will handle it, because you need a permit to put a sign on the sidewalk." 

Buck-passing at its finest. The officer is not alone in this. 

A call to 311 about the problem drew THIS expert (?) response: 

"I'm forwarding this matter to...The Department of Buildings." 

"The Departing of Buildings? Why them?" 

"Because they regulate where a business can put signs. A business can only legally put signs on a portion of the wall above the store, and the awning is regulated as well. The Departing of Buildings can fine the store..." 

Buck-passing at its finest. 

STILL CHAINING THE SIGN

THIS is the sign placed EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY at BAREBURGER, 1370 1st Avenue, 73rd Street. Sometimes it's put up every night. 

Sometimes the sign is even up ALL DAY.  

BAREBURGER doesn't put up its own sign to tell people to drop in? But they allow THIS? 

NO other shops in a TWO MILE RADIUS have A-Frame signs chained to lamp posts. That's because only the PSYCHICS keep doing it...so there's this sign at 73rd, and another on 75th and York. There are several others who routinely chain signs in the neighborhood or hand out leaflets. 

Let's have somebody stand up and say "I got it done." Is that asking too much?  

Latest  updates: 

KALLOS: ignores emails.
SEAWRIGHT: ignores emails and her storefront receptionist says "nobody's in." 
SANITATION DEPARTMENT: "we did not see a violation"  
POLICE: "responded to the complaint and determined that police action was not necessary." 

311-00224123

Date Reported: 7/25/2019 5:31 PM

Date Closed: 7/26/2019 10:20 AM

Resolution Action:  10-90Y - Unnecessary

PUBLIC ADVOCATE: 
Thank you for contacting the Office of the New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams.
We have received your message and directed your email to the appropriate department for review.

(They received a second and third email, saying "which is the appropriate department, nothing's been done...both times they replied with form letters stating the same "we have received your message...")

BAREBURGER: no response via website template 

Mayor's office simply sent a form letter in response to this: 

311 suggested that the problem was actually NOT for the 19th Precinct OR  Sanitation but the DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS, because these signs were improperly placed by the store owner. The store owner can NOT put a sign up on public property and has limits to size of signs or awnings on the rented building. What did the DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS do? NOTHING: 

 

THE WITCHES OF EAST 73rd STREET - The Law Breaking Scofflaws who WON'T STOP

Illegal A-Frame signs chained EVERY DAY between 72nd and 73rd on York Avenue.  

Illegal A-Frame signs chained ALL WEEKEND on 73rd and 1st Avenue (where Bareburger is).  

The gypsies who do it also stand at 73rd and 1st pushing their cards on pedestrians. 

Sunday, June 9th. A lovely FIRST AVENUE STREET FESTIVAL. 

And who was out illegally pestering people with their con-job "psychic" games? Yes, the WITCHES of EAST 73rd.  Two con-artists ready to swindle people with the con game of tarot cards, "psychic" advice and palm reading. 

THEY ARE ILLEGALLY HANDING OUT THIS CARD ON CITY PROPERTY:

Here's the gypsy sign brazenly chained to the city sidewalk EVERY DAY at 1368 York Avenue  

Same phone number on the 73rd and 1st Avenue sign:

NO OTHER BUSINESS DOES THIS.  Why do THEY get away with it?  

Mayor De Blasio deserves part of the blame? One officer from the 19th Precinct smiled at that notion. He saw the leaflets being distributed and did nothing.

BOTH gypsies (the orange top and the long red dress) are pestering people.  

Why isn't the cop doing anything? 

Another policeman was standing at the blue-painted wooden barrier that kept cars from accidentally turning onto 1st Avenue. Here's the conversation that took place between a citizen and that cop, a 6 foot 200 pounder, wearing rainbow-mirrored sunglasses:  

What can be done about that illegal sign over there.  
What? 
That “Psychic Sign” over there. Can you handle this, or is it Sanitation? 
Why, is it bothering you?  
It’s illegal.  It shouldn’t be there, should it? It’s against the law. 
Yes, that’s definitely illegal, but we don’t consider it a problem. DeBlasio. 
You treat this like jaywalking or littering. 
(Smiles) Right. Everybody does it. 
Not everybody chains a sign to a city lamppost.
People chain bicycles, all kinds of things. Things like this, and jaywalking, we’re instructed not to enforce. We’d be writing tickets all day. De Blasio… 
If Giuliani was still around? (cop smiles) It would be a quality of life offense. (cop smiles). OK. But this isn't jaywalking. Don’t you think people should be protected against psychic swindlers?  
Some people believe in it. I think it’s BS myself. 
They prey on the elderly, they prey on immigrants. These people should be protected.
Some people believe in it.  

It was clear that the cop was NOT going to even give a snide, "If you want to spray paint the sign go ahead, if you want to get clip the chain on the sign I won't do a thing." Because, he WOULD. 

Cops have routinely threatened arrest on anyone caught trying to remove an ILLEGAL sign. They gave one citizen a choice: get arrested or get into an ambulance and be taken to a hospital for observation. Do they tell the phony "psychics" to stop putting out signs or face arrest?   

Cops and politicians say "don't take the law into your own hands" and then don't enforce the law.

"Some people believe in psychics," the cop said.  

"Some people" take heroin so should that be legal?  

Here's an article from former police chief Bratton, which underlines why Giuliani's "BROKEN WINDOWS" policy was so important and why it should NOT be ignored now. 

BROKEN WINDOWS WORKS

Part of what Bratton wrote: "we knew that serious crime is more likely to occur in a lawless environment — and unaddressed low-level disorder signals lawlessness.

Quality-of-life policing in the transit system worked. From 1990 through 1993, subway crime fell by 35.9%. In the city as a whole, where quality-of-life enforcement was less rigorous, it fell only 17.9%.

Cops had always responded to murders, robberies and assaults. But we gave them responsibility for the disorder, too...graffiti and prostitution....Swaths of the city, including street corners, commercial strips and parks, had been ceded to disorderly and sometimes violent persons. Our neighbors wanted their city back, and the police set about reclaiming public spaces.

The Upper East Side is prime real estate. It shouldn't have gypsy A-frame signs chained up, and gypsies pestering people in the street. The city shouldn't even allow these storefronts, any more than they allow 3-card monte games. Swindling people IS WRONG. 

NO BUSINESS should be allowed to chain A-frames to public places and get away with it.  The only ones who scofflaw are the gypsy "PSYCHIC" pests.  Some finally get the message, including the one on 75th between 1st and York. THIS one is STILL a scofflaw. 

The sign currently chained EVERY DAY on York was formerly chained in front of BAREBURGER on 73rd. Here it is, September 10, 2017. It was part of the gypsy "musical chairs" game, of chaining this sign on 1st Avenue one day in front of Bareburger, then moving it across the street the next day, and back again, amassing slaps on the wrist from Sanitation. 

Here's a Sanitation Complaint number from December 30, 2016: 

The 19th Precinct, Bunco, the NYC tax collectors, everyone could lean on those con artists at 425 E. 73rd and make money with fines.   

The cops make a big deal out of showing up for a few minutes at a neighborhood meeting one evening a month to read stats on bicycle thefts or to mention that pickpockets have been observed on a crosstown bus. How about ONE minute for this?

How about two cops in a car driving by on a Sunday, noting these violations on York and 1st, and coming to the gypsy's storefront and saying "TAKE THOSE SIGNS DOWN AND DESTROY THEM IN FRONT OF US. NO MORE." 

Politicians have time to take pictures with drag queens reading fairy tales at a public library, or crowing about how they got some minor thing done in a park. They have time to handle this. A law should be passed so that these signs can routinely be confiscated. If the city makes money towing bulky cars away, it can make money by clipping a sign and charging $200 to get it back. 

THE NEW PEST IN TOWN - a phony Psychic selling herself on the sidewalk

UPDATE: The "Psychic" is no longer loitering on 78th and 1st and has not chained her sign to public property in front of her building. 

* * * * 
Original post: 

Don't you need a LICENSE to sell on the street? 
Here's a brazen "psychic" sitting in a chair to annoy everyone walking up or down 1st Avenue: 

What nerve. Just like that: I'm doing a cash business on the sidewalk. Like any other whore.

Around the corner on 78th, there's her sign chained up on the sidewalk. 

The walk-up building has a STORE FOR RENT sign, which will be up forever, as nobody will want to rent a place that has a palm-reader bunco artist chaining up a sign in front and/or sitting on the sidewalk of one of the LAST decent neighborhoods in Manhattan. 

PS, it looks like the building next door is on its way to being condemned. 

Too bad there are plenty of crappy walk-up apartments where low-rent gypsy con artists dwell. Vigilance is needed as they paste signs to phone kiosks, pester people on the street, and chain those A-frames if they think they can get away with it. 

As to the "elected officials" of the Upper East Side if they can add an extra teeter-totter to a playground, or have a drag queen do a reading of fairy tales for pre-school kids (that would be Ben Kallos -- yes he did that), and take 10 minutes to wave to people at a neighborhood tenants meeting and leave, they can spend a minute or two on QUALITY OF LIFE. 

This includes making sure laws are on the books to empower Sanitation or the 19th Precinct to take action, and make sure they don't shirk with "we didn't see a problem" or "that's not a priority because De Blasio is the mayor."