Joseph Wroblowski was thrilled when T-Mobile offered to pay him more than $1,000 a month in exchange for putting a 27-foot cell phone antenna - disguised as a flagpole - on the roof of his Maspeth home.

After being criticized by his neighbors and learning more details about the project, Wroblowski decided the star-spangled headache is not worth the money. However, T-Mobile is not going to let him off the hook.
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For a map of cell phone towers in New York City, click here.

In the city that never stops developing, day laborers have become a growing cause for tension between unions and the contractors who employ the jornaleros (day laborers).

As major unions hold on to traditional regulations, contractors working on low-rise sites – routinely non-union jobs – have increasingly sought out workers willing to accept cheaper
pay and no benefits.

“Right now a lot of non-union contractors take advantage of the available labor,” said Louis Coletti, president of the BTEA (Buildings Trade Employers’ Association), which represents 1,500 union contractors around the city. “They offer workers $10 to $15 an hour with no training, they leave them on the worksites, and a lot of laborers never even get paid when the job’s done.”
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The Social Security administration announced a 2.3 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase for next year recently - the lowest in four years.

It will not help retiree Clifton Rutherford much.

The 77-year-old Jamaica resident’s rent is scheduled to rise $20 in January to $700. That is twice the $10 boost he will get in his Social Security check, under the smallest nationwide COLA increase since 2004.

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The city is reviewing bids from private ferry operators to run a pilot program between the Rockaways and lower Manhattan – a service officials hope will help the environment and shorten commutes.

While the city Economic Development Corporation declined to comment on a timetable, community leaders in the Rockaways were hopeful there would soon be a decision.

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Darnell Finisterre and three of his classmates at the School for Arts and Business in Corona have a bright future in advertising - and public safety.

Their ad about the dangers of reckless driving beat out entries from 24 other city high school teams last week to win the fourth annual Advertising Futures competition, which pairs students with local firms to create public service ads targeting teens.

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A Long Island City elementary school is celebrating the transformation of a barren lot into a state-of-the-art playground that students played a big role in designing.
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Volunteers raced against the clock to collect, identify and count as many living things as they could find in 24 hours at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge recently.

WILD LIFE: John-Kaarli Rentof, 12, makes a friend at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

The 250 nature enthusiasts — ages 2 to 81 — hiked the 9,000-acre grounds armed with butterfly nets and binoculars as part of the park’s first BioBlitz, organized by Queens College and the Jamaica Bay Institute.

The tally: 665 species, including birds, mammals, insects and fish.
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His father and grandfather were city cops. His Uncle Walter was a City Council member. His beloved first cousin, Fire Battalion Chief John Moran, died on 9/11.
For Congressman Joe Crowley, public service runs in the family.
“I grew up in a family that was a powerful inspiration,” he said.
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