30 The QUEE NS Courier • MARCH 24, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Ask the MAYOR The Queens Courier and the Mayor’s Office are proud to present a weekly column in which Mayor Bill de Blasio answers your questions about issues that concern you the most. If you have a question about anything going on in the city, in your neighborhood, or on your block, we want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] and Mayor de Blasio will get you an answer! What are the homeowners’ responsibilities for maintaining their sidewalk, and what kind of penalties could they face if the city finds that their sidewalks are broken? Unless a tree is the cause, it is the property owners’ responsibility to repair a damaged sidewalk. If damaged by a tree, a property owner can file a report with the Department of Transportation or 311 and the city will address the problem. If a sidewalk is damaged, a property owner might be issued a violation. If you received a violation, you may take one of the following actions: • If the defects marked on the violation don’t exist on your sidewalk, you should appeal the violation. If you can’t find the marked defects, then you may appeal the violation by requesting a reinspection within 45 days of the original inspection date. The reinspection may be scheduled up to 45 days after you make the request. • If you agree with the Notice of Violation, you should get a sidewalk construction permit and sidewalk contractor licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs. You can get more information about sidewalk repair and maintenance, including tips for hiring a contractor, at www.nyc.gov/ sidewalks. • If you do nothing, the city MAY hire private construction firms to make the repairs and bill you for the cost. There are individuals who sell used cars and park them on city streets rather than in driveways or lots. Are they allowed to do that? How can residents report illegal car sales on public streets? A business that sells used cars, trucks and/or motorcycles must have a DCA Secondhand Auto Dealer license. Based on the State Vehicle and Traffic Law, a person that sells five or more vehicles in a calendar year and/or displays three or more vehicles for sale at the same time or within a calendar year and on their property, requires a license. It is illegal for Secondhand Auto Dealer to offer to sell vehicles parked partially or completely on the sidewalk or street. Curbstoning is the common term for the process of selling cars on the street without having a license from the city or state. New Yorkers should report curbstoning to the NYPD. Could you explain the city’s grading system for restaurants and bars and why they’re important to consumers? How often are restaurants inspected and graded? The Health Department conducts unannounced inspections of restaurants at least once a year. A restaurant’s score depends on how well it follows city and state food safety requirements. Inspectors check for compliance in food handling, food temperature, personal hygiene and vermin control. Each violation of a regulation gets a certain number of points. At the end of the inspection, the inspector totals the points, and this number is the restaurant’s inspection score — the lower the score, the better the grade. The Health Department’s grading system not only represents effective and transparent public policy, but promotes a uniformly high standard regarding restaurant cleanliness and safety. FOR MORE NEWS VISIT QNS.COM Queens-area Kings of Long Island event offers networking opportunity to meet the best in business on April 12 This spring, New York City’s premier business event is coming to Long Island. On Tuesday night, April 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Leonard’s Palazzo, 555 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck, the Star Network will host its inaugural “Kings of Long Island” awards ceremony and networking expo. For more than a decade, Star Network, along with Schneps Communications (publishers of The Queens Courier), have successfully held similar events, honoring the powerful and prominent of the business, technology, banking, real estate, medical industries, and more, in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. This will be the first to recognize the elite businessmen of Nassau and Suffolk counties. Along with dinner and the awards ceremony, the “Kings” (and sister “Queens”) events have become known for providing a unique opportunity for business professionals and community leaders in all sectors to mingle, share their accomplishments and make important connections. No other event brings together so many elite business professionals and leaders at one time. It is not to be missed. For tickets, visit www.qns.com/ upcoming-star-networking-events. For information on sponsorship opportunities, call Lauren Cremer at 718-224-5863, ext. 227, or email [email protected]. Andrew Cuomo: The Great Gatsb y of Queens The intersection of politics and literature is alive and well in the Douglaston where Governor Andrew Cuomo use to live. Cuomo’s former Douglas Manor home was a six-bedroom house, almost identical to the Great Neck residence of American literary icon F. Scott Fitzgerald, and was designed by the same architect. Often dubbed “The Gatsby House” by neighbors and literary fans alike, it sold recently for a whopping $2.4 million. But that “West Egg” home, which was the inspiration for Fitzgerald’s classic novel, “The Great Gatsby,” gives more than just an insight into one of the greatest works of 20th Century American Literature. And, thanks to the good, hardworking agents at Douglas Queens Politics & More BY MIKE FRICCHIONE Elliman Real Estate, I had a chance to see first-hand our modern political history come alive. The first thing you are struck by is the Tuscan-style terrace over the main entryway of the Grosvenor Street house, which is a detail that someone who’s read Fitzgerald’s masterwork might be familiar with, as it marries elements that are both classic New York, as well as oldworld European charm. Fitzgerald himself describes it as “a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.” True to the Fitzgerald’s description, Governor Cuomo, an amalgamation himself of New York and the Mediterranean, bought the home while married to Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and niece of President John F. Kennedy. They spent their formative years married in that house, raising their daughters, until Cuomo moved to Washington to work for the Clinton Administration in 1993. Almost immediately, I’m struck by how two different political dynasties once lived. The old grand piano, which has been with the home since even before the two were married, appears as soon as you walk through the grand entrance and continue through the foyer, which leads into the living room. There, the beautiful grand piano fills the room and harkens back to Roaring Twenties. It’s almost hard not to imagine Klipspringer, Gatsby’s perpetual house guest, maniacally playing a jaunty love tune during the day, or night. Cuomo, who hails from Holliswood, is not entirely unlike Gatsby before him. Cuomo is still aspiring to bigger and better things and is very weary of how difficult eventually running for a 4th term as Governor will be. His father Mario knew it best. Unfortunately for Cuomo, the old world political power from the Clintons has temporarily stymied his greater ambition. And only time can tell what his third act will bring.
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