From left: Mathieu Eugene, Peter Koo, Darlene Mealy, Erik Dilan, Jumaane Williams and Fernando Cabrera

Six New York City council members bent city housing laws to the brink of their breaking point to obtain affordable residencies, according to a Daily News investigative report.

Council members Jumaane Williams, Fernando Cabrera, Peter Koo and Mathieu Eugene allegedly received as much as $1,500 in tax breaks by reporting primary residencies outside of their council district homes.

Council member Erik Dilan lives in a home reserevd for families earning less than $114,000 even though he and his wife combine to earn $45,000 more than, said the Daily News. Darlene Mealy moved into an apartment available for families making less than $15,200 in 1993, but within two years made a $14,000 down payment on a $90,000 home nearby. Williams was also found to have illegally converted the basement of his apartments.
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A Long Island City strip club is claiming in its second lawsuit in seven months that the city is trampling its First Amendment rights in a broader effort to rid the city of adult entertainment. TC Queens Entertainment, owner of the topless nightclub Scandals located in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge, claims in the lawsuit filed Jan. 15 in New York State Supreme Court that the city is limiting the number of areas where clubs can set up shop or remain, by first legalizing neighborhoods for adult use, then later whittling away at them through subsequent zoning changes. “The city has engaged in a systematic campaign to shrink the adult zones,” the suit says, to “play whack-a-mole with the First Amendment.” The TC Queens lawsuit is an effort to block a Dec. 15 decision by the city Board of Standards and Appeals that makes the Queens Plaza club located at 24-03 Queens Plaza North as currently configured, illegal. [more]

Another strip club may be coming to Long Island City, whether local community board members like it or not. GLC Entertainment, the company that owns Sin City in the Bronx, is seeking a liquor license for its property near the Queensboro Bridge, despite previous reports that its plan to open a club in the spot had been abandoned. Community Board 2 members had believed their initial opposition to owner Gus Drakopoulos’ attempt to obtain a liquor license had curtailed his plans to turn his two-story brick building, which used to house Smiley’s Flowers, into another Sin City-like venture. Now both Drakopoulos and the Liquor Authority are saying Drakopoulos never withdrew the application. Construction plans for the venue show 12 karaoke rooms and a main lounge with two cash bars on the lower floor, a service bar on the upper floor, and a maximum occupancy of 299 people.This isn’t the first time Long Island City community leaders have butted heads with strip club owners in the area. As The Real Deal first reported Scandals, at 24-03 Queens Plaza North, is suing the city and the
Department of Buildings for trying to remove its authorization to
operate as an adult club in that location.