Sanitation Writes Fewer Litter Tickets; City’s Getting Cleaner

NEW YORK, NY — Fewer New Yorkers are getting slapped with $100 tickets for dirty sidewalks and gutters – yet the city’s streets keep getting cleaner.

The Sanitation Department wrote 43% fewer tickets for litter on residential sidewalks in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year.

Racial Slur? So what! Two Police Officers say Black Chief didn’t Care

Two black cops who reported a boss for using a racial slur say they were viciously chewed out by an African-American chief in the NYPD and are now planning a lawsuit.

Assistant Chief Gerald Nelson went ballistic after Officer Shelron Smikle made a June 10 report to the Internal Affairs Bureau charging that a black sergeant at the 83rd Precinct dropped the N-bomb on him.

Two days later, Nelson, the commander of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, ordered Smikle, 28, and his partner, Blanch O’Neal, 38, to his office, they told the Daily News in an interview.

“’We have friends in IAB, and you’re full of s—!’” Nelson screamed, according to Smikle and O’Neal. “So what, he [the sergeant] called you a n—-r? If you can’t handle it, resign!’”

Straphangers Release ‘Subway Shmutz’ Report

NEW YORK, NY [WNBC] — A subway riders advocacy group, the Straphangers Campaign, has released its annual report on the city’s 22 subway lines, saying the timeliness and quality of service on most lines has deteriorated from the previous year.

The 2007 “State of the Subways” report card analyzes service in key areas including wait time, regular arrival, a chance for a seat, clean cars, and understandable announcements.

MTA Plan to Raise Fares Angers Officials and Riders

NEW YORK, NY — A proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to increase transit fares and tolls in 2009 drew sharp criticism from an array of powerful officials on Tuesday, as the mayor, City Council speaker and Assembly speaker said they would oppose it, and the governor pledged “to do everything I can to prevent it.”

City E-Gnored 54,000 Parking-Tickets Mails

NEW YORK, NY — Perplexed motorists who sent e-mail inquiries about their parking tickets to the Finance Department as far back as four years ago didn’t get any responses until last month, The Post has learned.

Responding to an inquiry from The Post – by e-mail – officials confirmed that 54,000 electronic messages went unanswered until a few weeks ago.

Power Restored To Most Brooklyn Residents

BROOKLYN, NY [NY1] — Some Brooklyn neighborhoods are finally getting some relief from the heat today, as the power returns after being knocked out from over the weekend.

Hundreds Without Power In Brooklyn, More Asked To Cut Back

BROOKLYN, NY [NY1] — As of Sunday evening, Consolidated Edison was still working to restore power to hundreds of Brooklyn residents, while thousands more were forced to sweat through another summer scorcher without any air conditioning after the utility asked them to cut back on non-essential electrical appliances.

Rikers Guard Accused in Cop-Killer’s Escape Plot

NEW YORK , NY — A jail guard is under investigation for allegedly trying to help an accused cop-killer escape from prison.

The Rikers Island officer slipped a handcuff key to Lee Woods, one of three men charged with killing Brooklyn police officer Russel Timoshenko, according to the Daily News.

Politics Failed, but Fuel Prices Cut Congestion

NEW YORK, NY — Soaring gas prices and higher tolls seem to be doing for traffic in New York what Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ambitious congestion pricing was supposed to do: reducing the number of cars clogging the city’s streets and pushing more people to use mass transit.

In May, with gasoline at more than $4 a gallon, traffic at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bridges and tunnels dropped 4.7 percent compared with the same month the previous year.

Circling for Parking Wastes Gas, Harms Environment

NEW YORK, NY — New York City drivers waste hundreds of thousands of miles just looking for a parking space.

That’s the finding of a new study by the group Transportation Alternatives.

Bill Passed Authorizes Traffic Agents To Enforce “Block the Box” Violators

ALBANY, NY [NY1] — City and state officials are looking to up the ante on drivers who sit the middle of an intersection.

It’s already illegal to “block the box” –- but currently, only police officers are allowed to hand out tickets. However, today the State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that increases enforcement by giving traffic enforcement agents the right to ticket drivers, as well. They also want to double fines.

A Young Man From Omaha, Who May Perfectly Represent Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY — Moments before Yosef Abrahamson, 16, accepted an award for the essay he’d written in a competition sponsored by the Police Athletic League, an officer approached him to complain about his fedora. The hat, an essential wardrobe item for Hasidic men, was gaudy, the policeman told him, and what’s with all these kids today and their nose rings and their attitudes. A second police officer, overhearing the conversation, came over to steer away the first one, who reappeared a few minutes later to apologize. He’d never seen a Hasidic Jew, he told Yosef.

Jackson Heights City’s Parking Ticket Capital

A trip to Jackson Heights, Queens, will get you some great food, a colorful trinket – and likely, a parking ticket.

The neighborhood, along with adjacent East Elmhurst, is the parking ticket capital of New York, according to new numbers obtained by the Daily News.

More in the Extended Article.

Lawn Litter Woes? Call A Notary

Litter on your lawn? Call a notary public.

That’s what fedup homeowners may have to do if they want a new state law banning the dumping of menus, leaflets, handbills and circulars on their doorsteps and lawns enforced.

The law leaves enforcement to the Sanitation Department, which is planning to require complaints to be notarized.