Civil Rights Advocates: NYPD Undermines Review Board

NEW YORK, NY — The New York Police Department has short-circuited a civilian oversight panel formed in the early 1990s by being blatantly dismissive of the panel’s investigations of wayward officers, according to a new study.

An analysis of the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s performance in recent years “allows for no other conclusion than this: The city’s civilian oversight system has failed,” the report says. ”It has been subverted and co-opted by the police department.”

Both police and CCRB officials called the findings released Wednesday by the New York Civil Liberties Union unfair and too reliant on outdated statistics.

‘TRIP’ SUITS VS. CITY IN A FREEFALL

NEW YORK, NY — Sidewalk trip-and-fall cases aren’t all they were once cracked up to be.

The number of claims filed against the city has been dropping dramatically over the past years, a phenomena alternately credited on good law – and good luck.

In fiscal year 2007 there were 2,536 claims filed against the city for personal injuries related to broken sidewalks – the lowest number in a decade, according to preliminary numbers from the city Comptroller’s Office.

On This Day in History: August 22 – Eastern Parkway Designated Landmark

BROOKLYN, NY — On August 22, 1978, Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway was designated a scenic landmark. Stretching from Grand Army Plaza through Crown Heights to Ralph Avenue, this parkway introduced some of the advanced urban planning concepts of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the designers of Central and Prospect Parks.

It was planned in 1866 as one of a complex of boulevards emanating from Prospect Park, with a central artery for through traffic and side roads for local use, separated by landscaped malls.

More in the Extended Article!

NYC BOGUS TICKET BUST

CHI Ed: The most hated city employees give reason to hate even more

New York, NY — Four NYPD traffic agents were busted yesterday after they were caught writing bogus summonses in Manhattan, police said.

Davey Griffin, 30, Raheem King, 26, Julian Fisher, 24, and Gregory Baird, 56, were slapped with a slew of charges, including forgery, official misconduct, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument, police said.

Section 8 Program Gets a New Lease on Life

Brooklyn, NY — Back in the early 1980s, this reporter worked as a housing assistant, or management assistant, on the “Brooklyn Team” of the New York City Housing Authority’s Section 8 program, a federally sponsored program in which the authority pays part of the rent for low-income tenants in private housing.

In those days, the place was hopping — tenants and prospective tenants came in every day, check after check was sent to landlords, new staff were added constantly out of necessity. Our tenant base had many immigrants, especially from Russia; many minority groups, especially Caribbean and Hispanic; and many, many seniors. Among the “big” Section 8 areas were Flatbush, Bed-Stuy, Coney Island, East New York, Borough Park, Bensonhurst and Brighton Beach.

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

Click Here for a newscast of this incident.
Click Here for a map of JFK airport

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.