Police sting shuts down $1 bus service from Queens to Manhattan 

Four unlicensed charter buses confiscated in Flushing and Chinatown

Pearl Gabel for New York Daily News

The Police Department nabbed four unlicensed charter buses on Thursday for carrying commuters from downtown Flushing to Manhattan’s Chinatown without a license.

Dirt cheap buses that take commuters from Queens to Manhattan are no more.

The Police Department nabbed four unlicensed charter buses last week for carrying commuters from downtown Flushing to Chinatown without a license.

Local business owners said the buses were a nuisance and were unfair to competitors, while a company official argued the buses offered a consumer-friendly alternative.

The unlicensed buses were “bad for the community,” said Dian Yu, executive director of the Downtown Flushing Transit Hub Business Improvement District. “It creates an unhealthy competition.”

Councilman Peter Vallone pushes for law to ban naming city property for living people

Queens lawmaker insists honor should be solely for the departed

New York Daily News

Drop dead — that’s the only way a New York legend should have his or her name slapped on a city-owned landmark.

So says City Councilman Peter Vallone.

The Queens lawmaker is pushing for a law that would ban the naming of any city property for someone who is alive — insisting the honor should be solely for the departed.

Vallone, who fought an uphill battle against the renaming of the Queensboro Bridge for former Mayor Ed Koch, said elected officials could use treasured city icons as political chits.

“If they were willing to take the Queensboro Bridge away from Queens, there’s nothing stopping them from going after the Manhattan Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge,” said Vallone (D-Astoria). “It’s a way to curry favor with living people who may be able to endorse you or help your campaign out in other ways and city property should not be used for that.”