Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel..

It shouldn't shock anyone that the Juniper Berry and its crazed ego maniacal chief; Robert Holden, has hand picked Councilman Tony Avella as their "Man of the Year". It is important to note that Tony Avella does not represent our community, has never funded a project in Middle Village or Maspeth, never spearheaded a positive change for our community, and was absent when our communities fought to turn the Keyspan site into a park. So you might be wondering what is Tony’s qualification and why is he deserving of the JPCA’s “Man of The Year”? It is every simple, Avella is the only elected official left that Bob Holden can speak with. You see, Holden is at war with all of our legislative and community leaders including Community Board 5 of which he is a member.

Although Bob is a master of grandstanding, public attacks, over stepping his authority and sphere of influence, Tony "Old Yeller" Avella gives Holden a run for his misappropriated money. If you haven't yet observed Tony yelling and turning beat red when he doesn't get his way, you are missing something to marvel and behold.

Sadly, the JPCA chooses to ignore that Mr. Avella voted to have a street renamed for convicted felon and racist Sonny Carson (Yes the same Sonny Carson who openly admitted his hatred for white people) despite overwhelming opposition from his own constituency. Tony justifies his vote and wants you to believe that he did so because the community wanted it done. But we know that Tony could care less about what the community wants and his only focus is his political future. Damn everyone or everything else. Tony is willing to support a domestic terrorist and hatemonger like Sonny Carson to curry favor with African-American voters in his laughable bid for mayor. This vote was political pandering at its very best. Way to go Tony X! I'm sure Councilman Barron sleeps better at night knowing Tony Avella has his back.

The Patriots are extremely glad that Tony will not have to endure this long hot summer without the comforts of a refreshing watering hole. Recently, Mr. Avella was found to have an illegal pool in his backyard but he whined, cried and yelled so loudly that the Department of Buildings turned a blind eye and dismissed the violation. I wonder how many other Queens residents enjoyed the same luxury when they received violations for their pools. If Tony really cared about the community, he would invite over every Queens resident who had to tear down their pool to a 4th of July pool party in Whitestone.

Mr. Avella spends more time in other communities and less time in his own district that local residents are modeling a new coloring book after the "Where's Waldo?" series and renaming it "Where's Avella?" If there were a small crowd, a camera, and a few reporters I would suspect that Tony would travel to Hunters Hollow, Kentucky for his 13 and half minutes of shame. Just imagine if we could keep Tony in his own district, we wouldn't need congestion pricing.

The most unforgivable action in his tenure as a leader in Queens was when Avella allowed a baseball field to be built with contaminated fill.

Highlighted in The Queens Courier the Headline reads:

AVELLA’S DIRTY DEAL

This article clearly proved that Tony Avella as President of the College Point Sports Association oversaw the dumping of contaminated fill on an athletic field designed for children to play upon. City lawyers stated, “CPSA, one of whose officers was PAID to monitor dumping of fill, was negligent in its oversight.” The material being used was considered hazardous when used as a substrate for baseball. Is this a Man of The Year or is Holden honoring his lone political ally?

Tony was that you? As President, the buck stopped with you. Despite Avella's transgressions and many faults the Juniper Berry has decided to honor him in their recent publication. It is obvious, the Juniper Berry is turning over every rock to look for honorees these days because they have alienated just about everyone in the community. There is a bright side, however, because any time the Juniper Berry honors someone it is just a matter of time before they attack, malign and ridicule. Just take a look at our "Hero to Zero" series and you'll quickly see what we mean.