Con Ed Urges Brooklyn Residents to Curb Power Usage

Con Edison is urging all customers in Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush and Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn to discontinue their use of nonessential electrical appliances and devices until problems on electrical equipment can be resolved.

The utility is experiencing difficulties in this area and customer cooperation will help ensure uninterrupted electric service, officials say.

B&H Photo Emerges as a NY Institution

New York, NY — Carl Redding, a chef who owns the Harlem soul food restaurant Amy Ruth’s, has a routine that takes him out of the kitchen one afternoon every week. Mr. Redding, who works on the side as a freelance photojournalist, makes a trip to Midtown to stock up on a few hundred dollars’ worth of photography supplies at B &H Photo, the large photo and video store on Manhattan’s West Side.

“They have the best prices, and whatever I’m looking for is almost guaranteed to be in stock,” Mr. Redding said.

Crown Heights Gets More Cops

Crown Heights, Brooklyn — An additional 36 graduates assigned to Brooklyn South were sent to an impact zone in the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights, where two police officers were shot — one fatally — on July 9.

For the year, the 71st Precinct has reported seven murders and 899 total felonies.

Click here to download the 71st Precinct Crime Stat Sheet (PDF)

Steam Pipe Explosion Jolts Midtown

A steam pipe explosion beneath a street near Grand Central Terminal yesterday propelled a giant scalding jet of brownish steam toward the sky, sending commuters who had been heading home stampeding to safety.

Officials said that one person died and more than 30 were hurt, two of them critically. The city said that three firefighters and one police officer were among the injured.

Shhhh: New NYC Noise Code to Take Effect

New York, NY — At a busy Manhattan corner, a cabbie lays on the horn as he struggles through rush-hour traffic. A few blocks away, sirens blare as an ambulance races down the street. In the subway below, trains screech to a halt and an amateur dance troupe blasts hip-hop music on the platform.

New York can be earsplitting.

But city officials say Gotham is about to get a little quieter when new regulations governing jackhammers, barking dogs, barroom music and other auditory menaces take effect July 1.

BP Markowitz Celebrates “BrooklynBest Festival” 2007

Brooklyn, NY — On Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday, June 3rd, BrooklynBest 2007, a Brooklyn Tourism destination event which officially launches Brooklyn’s summer season each year, took to Grand Army Plaza and several of the borough’s cultural institutions. Fireworks, fashion shows, musical performances, an 18-mile “Tour de Brooklyn” bike ride, mini-golf, and a 30th anniversary showing of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” starring Brooklyn’s own Richard Dreyfuss were among the activities enjoyed by Brooklynites and visitors alike.

4 Accused of Plot to Blow Up Facilities at Kennedy Airport

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Queens, NY — Four men, including a onetime airport cargo handler and a former member of the Parliament of Guyana, were charged yesterday with plotting to blow up fuel tanks, terminal buildings and the web of fuel lines running beneath Kennedy International Airport.

NYC Cracking Down on ‘Blocking the Box’

New York, NY — Here’s another way to get a ticket in New York City. The city is cracking down on “blocking the box” vioolations. The city plans to hire 117 additional Traffic Enforcement Agents this year to look for motorists who get stuck in the intersection when the light changes red. Some drivers get caught by trying to squeeze through the intersection just as the light is changing.

Verizon Wins $195 Million 911 Contract

Verizon Communications Inc. said Tuesday that it has won a $195 million contract from the city to build a new 911 emergency network system for the police and fire departments.

“The contract is one of the largest contracts we’ve been awarded,” said Alex Coleman, group president for the government and education unit of Verizon Business, the division of the telecommunications giant that won the contract. “It demonstrates that we are providers of advanced technology specifically around emergency and recovery services.”

Police Launch Two Week ‘Buckle Up’ Campaign

State police and hundreds of other law enforcement agencies across New York are about to launch a two-week seat belt enforcement blitz.

State police officials say their troopers and officers from more than 500 police agencies will be setting up safety restraint checkpoints throughout New York starting Monday and running through June third.

The enforcement measures are timed to coincide with the Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer travel season.

B’klyn Psych Ward A Horror Show: Suit

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The psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital is a shameful “chamber of filth, decay, indifference and danger” where patients are subjected to overcrowded conditions, physical abuse and unnecessary injections of mood-altering drugs, a federal lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Sidney Hirschfeld, head of Mental Hygiene Legal Service, a state agency, paints a portrait of horrors at the psychiatric ward where patients – including children and the physically disabled – are routinely neglected and abused.

Con Ed pays ’em to sit on grates

Livery drivers making a bundle to guard dangerous city hot spots

Con Edison has come up with a bizarre way to protect the public from stray-voltage hot spots throughout the city – it’s hiring livery cab drivers to guard them until crews can fix the problem.

The dark cars and their drivers sit next to a roped-off area around the clock for days, with a placard explaining their mission.

“A stray voltage hazard was discovered here,” the card says. “The coned/taped off area contains an extremely dangerous electrified object or structure.

Mayor Bloomberg wants to do a ‘Tikkun Olam’ – Promotes Clean-Air plan

New York, NY — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking in forceful and personal terms, went yesterday to a neighborhood plagued by high asthma rates to argue for his sweeping plan to reduce the city’s air pollution, which includes a surcharge for vehicles entering congested sections of Manhattan.

Proposed Water Bill Increase Is Criticized

Queens, NY — Officials and city residents yesterday criticized a proposed 11.5 percent increase in city water and sewer bills.

In the first of five public hearings scheduled to take place over three days, speakers told the New York City Water Board, which sets the rates for the city, that the increase would hurt working families, especially those on fixed incomes. “The senior citizens are going to be in trouble,” Nancy DiCroce, 76, of Howard Beach, said at the meeting, which was held at the city’s Department of Environmental Protection office in Flushing.

Bloomberg Proposes $8 Tolls for NYC Drivers

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New York, NY — For years, the concept of charging motorists to drive into Manhattan’s busiest areas has been batted around as a way to reduce congestion and pollution, but many said it would never happen because of significant opposition.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has argued both sides of the issue, saying just months ago: “I don’t know that I’m a fan.” But after studying the idea and weighing the perceived benefits _ less traffic and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue _ the mayor has proposed that the city give it a try.

Hikind seeks to locate owner of Tefillin found in JFK

Brooklyn, NY — When Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) was recently contacted by a constituent about tracking down a set of tefillin lost at JFK airport, Hikind was informed by NYPD that they had in their possession another lost tallis bag which held two sets of tefillin and are embroidered with the name in Hebrew: “Aaron Tzvi Hakohen Katz.”

Nasty NE’ Expected Sunday Into Monday

New York City and surrounding areas braced Saturday for a wallop from a winter storm well into what was supposed to be spring.

A flood watch was in effect for New York City, Long Island and some northern suburbs as the National Weather Service predicted 2 to 4 inches of rain and wind gusts up to 50 mph, meteorologist John Koch said Saturday morning. Snow and sleet were possible inland, he said.