News Of The Neighborhoods

COMPILED BY LIZ GOFF
 

Call For Jail Time For Gas Thieves

Brooklyn Assemblymember William Colton is drafting a bill calling for increased penalties for thieves who steal gasoline from parked cars.

The bill calls on legislators to make fuel theft by thieves who use hoses or siphon pumps to steal gasoline a felony punishable by up to four years in jail.

If the bill is approved, fuel theft would become a Class E felony punishable by jail time determined by a sentencing judge.

Astoria Residents Angered Over Cabaret Law Changes

Residents in several Astoria neighborhoods were angered by recent reports of a plan by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to eliminate or ease obtaining a city cabaret license by owners and operators of bars and clubs- a move that would allow patrons to dance the night away.

"This is total nonsense," said Theresa Sortis, 37, whose apartment is located over a popular Steinway Street nightspot. "Let Bloomberg live over one of these places. It would take him about three minutes to stop the noise and increase penalties to these people."

Sortis is one of many residents who fear police will lose the only enforcement tool that works in turning down the noise, or shutting establishments that create a nuisance.

Estelle Scarafalo, 33, said she is forced to call 311 "too many times" at night on weekends to lower the boom from a club located at 34th Avenue and 28th Street.

"They don't understand the words, 'lower the music'," Scarafalo said. "You have to call the police and wait for them to shut it down."

Bloomberg plans to argue that the new city noise code would give police the power to pull the plug on clubs that turn up the decibels at night, reports indicate.

"The noise code requires police and other agencies to test decibel levels in houses and apartments where residents complain about the noise," Scarafalo said. "I should only live long enough for the city to complete the testing and come up with enough to turn off the noise at these clubs."

"Someone has to tell Bloomberg this is not a popular plan," said 30th Avenue resident Steve McDonnel. "If he has a problem with our concern, he can come to my apartment any night in the summer to see if he can sleep with the noise these places make. And that's without dancing."