NY Blog » New York

Saggy Pants Okay in Bloomberg’s Nanny State

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:15:01 +0000

Don’t be deceived by his crisp uniform; this man is not the fashion police. The notoriously regulatory Mayor Bloomberg—whose administration hasn’t hesitated to tell New Yorkers what they can eat , drink , and inhale —is refusing to use his power to protect citizens from the ubiquitous eyesore of saggy pants. After a judge threw out a disorderly conduct summons issued to a Bronx man because of his sagging trousers, Bloomberg weighed in on the divisive issue yesterday. But while other politicians, most notably State Senator Eric Adams, haven’t been afraid to make a stand on sagging , Bloomberg isn’t showing leadership. “I don’t know why people dress the way they dress,” Bloomberg told reporters yesterday. “I don’t judge people on how they look or how they dress. I judge people about how they act… Some dress the way I do. Some dress differently. I am certainly not the style police, much to my girlfriend’s annoyance… I don’t think the government should be in the business of telling people what they should wear.” We don’t know who this man is or what he’s done with Mayor Bloomberg, but it seems pretty obvious the powerful Saggy Pants lobby had a role in this.

Original post:
Saggy Pants Okay in Bloomberg’s Nanny State

Child Fatally Struck By MTA Truck In East Harlem

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:57:02 +0000

Google Street View of 125th Street and 2nd Avenue Around 9:40 a.m. this morning, a 7-year-old child and his mother were struck by a MTA tow truck at Second Avenue and East 125th Street. The boy was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital. According to the Post , “The boy and his mother appeared to be jaywalking at the time of the accident” and the pair were trying to “coss an entrance ramp to the Triboro Bridge.” WABC 7 reports , “The tow truck was heading to assist a disabled vehicle on the bridge right when the mother and young boy were crossing the street. Sources tell Eyewitness News the driver probably never saw the two crossing the street. The tow truck is operated by the MTA Bridges & Tunnels.” The driver stayed at the scene and no criminality is suspected.

PETA Packages Human Flesh In Times Square

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:40:17 +0000

PETA got back to their “Meat Is Murder” basics earlier this week, wrapping up their members in cellophane, drenching them in fake blood, and letting them bake in the summer sun in Times Square. The organization blogged about the event, saying their mission was to get across that “all meat comes from somebody. And when you show human bodies in those neatly plastic-wrapped supermarket packages, the point hits home and it begins to look like a grisly scene from Dexter .” (Speaking of Dexter , this new season is going to be intense .) Would you Go Veg after stumbling upon this scene? If not, the organization also says that according to a new study , the more meat people eat, the more weight they gain over time—and chicken is allegedly the big culprit. They say, “researchers found that the people who were most likely to gain weight were also those who ate the most chicken, followed by processed meats and red meat. For every additional 8.8 ounces of meat that people ate daily, they packed on about four and a half extra pounds over five years.”

Read more from the original source:
PETA Packages Human Flesh In Times Square

NYC Rally Against Arizona’s Immigration Law

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:31:13 +0000

With Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law taking effect yesterday, hundreds participated in a New York City march and rally. According to City Room , the rally started with “about 30 people. But the crowd grew quickly as local groups like Vamos Unidos from the Bronx, and DRUM, a Southeast Asian group based in Jackson Heights, Queens, gathered their ranks and found additional support among grandmothers dressed in skirts and sneakers, church groups, women in hijabs, and a former Arizona border patrol agent.” Rafael Samanez of Vamos Unidos said of a judge’s decision to block part of the law ( here’s a Q&A on the law ), “It’s a good start, but it’s not enough. Whatever happens in Arizona eventually makes its way to New York.” And associate minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village told DNAinfo, “In the Bible, no rule is more often mentioned than welcome the stranger among you. This is a country built on the possibility that immigrants can come here and build a new life. Obviously you and I are not from here. That dream is not over.” But the marchers were met with a couple dozen pro-immigration-enforcement protesters. City Room reports that one Manhattan resident said, “There are illegals infiltrating every state; it’s not just Arizona. Do you think that they all stay in Arizona once they’re in? They’re everywhere,” while one from Queens said, “The illegal aliens have devastated the work force, the economy in Arizona and for the United States. They are devastating our education, all the schools are overcrowded. They are devastating our health care and they are taking jobs away from American minorities and unschooled workers.” However City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Queens) said that illegal immigrants are “taking jobs that Americans don’t really want.” The City Council rejected a total boycott of Arizona yesterday, but did allow Speaker Christine “Quinn to file a friend-of-the court brief on behalf of the Council supporting the federal lawsuit against the contested law, which calls for cops to check immigrants’ legal status.”

Subway Cell Phone, Wi-Fi Service Will Work in Most Tunnels

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:10:31 +0000

When it was announced earlier this week that the long-delayed subway cell phone project was lurching forward, some of you were upset that the signal would not extend into the subway tunnels, thereby depriving you of priceless ” Overheard in NY ” material. But don’t worry; one of the companies that won the contract, Q-Wireless, says cell phone users with vital information to impart will be able to get a signal in most subway tunnels. And it’ll work for Nextel chirp phones, too! Coverage will extend between stations where stops are relatively close to each other and tunnels are wide enough, and will be strongest in wider tunnels with express and local tracks, because the signal needs room to spread out to be most effective. “That’s how it works, that’s the physics of it,” Q-Wireless CEO Alex Mashinsky tells the Daily News . Transit Wireless (the joint venture that includes Q-Wireless) has up to two years to outfit six stations to test the technology, then another four years to rig up the rest of the 277 underground stations. But it will only work if cell phone companies reach an agreement with Transit Wireless. “If consumers really want this, they are going to have to make some noise,” he said. As if they needed any encouragement.

View post:
Subway Cell Phone, Wi-Fi Service Will Work in Most Tunnels

8 Men Sought In Fatal January Stabbing By China Club

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:47:48 +0000

Police are asking New Yorkers to be on the lookout for these eight men, who are wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 22-year-old man outside the China Club in January. Witnesses say Kenyatta Cotterell, the father of a 3-year-old son, got into an altercation with the men around 4 a.m. on January 23rd after one of his friends flirted with the girlfriend of another man. Cotterell’s brother told the Daily News , “It was really pointless. We were fighting over nothing.” Cotterell, who was stabbed in the chest near the club at West 46th and 8th Avenue and found at West 45 Street and 7 Avenue, was pronounced dead that morning at St. Vincent’s hospital. Two other men were also stabbed in the chest, but survived. The murder weapon was never recovered. Investigators made one arrest in February based on surveillance footage, but a grand jury would not indict the suspect. Investigators say these men—who apparently share an affinity for the Yankees and an apprenticeship with an avuncular older gentleman—are “people of interest.” The NYPD isn’t saying how they became interested or how they obtained the photos, but they’re asking anyone with information to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS. (Tips can also be text-messaged to 274637 then enter TIP577.)

View post:
8 Men Sought In Fatal January Stabbing By China Club

9/11 Health Bill Fails In House Vote, Weiner Gets ANGRY

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:10:02 +0000

Responders working at Ground Zero in the days after the 9/11 attacks (AP file) When does the Republican party abandon 9/11? When it’s time to provide $7.4 billion in medical treatment and compensation to first responders and residents sickened by the toxic dust after the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center. Yesterday, the House’s 255-159 vote (243 Democrats and 12 Republicans supported the measure; 155 Republicans and 4 Democrats voted nay) fell short of the majority needed to pass the long-debated James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 . Republicans called it a “slush fund” and an “entitlement program.” Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) slammed the partisanship in this rousing (and LOUD) speech. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) claimed the Democrats were taking “cover” by asking for the high majority. The NY Times explains , “Democrats used rules requiring a wider majority for approval to prevent Republicans from offering amendments on the floor that would embarrass Democrats in an election year”—amendments like denying illegal immigrants sickened during 9/11 benefits—”Republican opponents of the legislation expressed concern over the $7.4 billion cost of the program. But Democrats accused Republicans of being callous and vowed to bring the bill back for another vote in the fall.” Weiner, in response to King, yelled , “The gentleman is wrong! The gentleman is providing cover for his colleagues rather than doing the right thing! It’s Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes!” Here’s the breakdown of where the money would go, via the Daily News : “The bill would spend $3.2 billion on health care over the next 10 years for people sickened from their exposure to the toxic smoke and debris of the shattered World Trade Center. It would spend another $4.2 billion to compensate victims over that span, and make another $4.2 billion in compensation available for the next 11 years.” Rep. John Shimus (R-Illinois) said it was wasteful because it pays at a higher rate than Medicare, “What this is is enfranchising a bunch of New York City hospitals.” Wait, isn’t Medicare socialist? Mayor Bloomberg said, “It was wrong for the overwhelming majority of Republicans to vote against the bill. and it was wrong for Democrats to bring the bill to the floor under rules that made passage so much more difficult.” However, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), one of the sponsors, tried to remain upbeat; in a statement, she said, “Today’s vote showed that we have the support we need to pass the Zadroga Act, and we look forward to passing the bill with a simple majority when Congress returns from its August recess. We thank our colleagues in the New York delegation for their dedication to those who were harmed by the terrorist attacks on our nation. We will not rest until we finally provide proper care for ailing 9/11 responders and survivors, and fill the last remaining gap in America’s recovery from the attacks. Nine long years after the attacks, the living victims of 9/11 are still suffering. We must pass this bill. It is the least we can do as a grateful nation.”

Aww, Chelsea Clinton’s Future Ex-Con Dad-In-Law Speaks

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:49:11 +0000

Chelsea Clinton wi ll be marrying Marc Mezvinsky on Saturday and the city of Rhinebeck is flooded with the curious and security ( one resident said to NY1 , “I think I just saw secret servicemen over at the Burts Bees corner of CVS”). One of the proudest people is likely Mezvinsky’s father, Edward, a former Congressman who went to prison for fraud. He told Inside Edition , “I’m remorseful for what happened, it was a terrible time, and I was punished for that. And I respect that and accept responsibility for what happened, and now I’m trying to move on and am grateful I have the opportunity for that.” What kind of fraud did the senior Mezvinsky committ? Well, the kind that stems from Nigerian email scams: According to the Blotter , “Prosecutors say Mezvinsky used his connections to the Clintons and his son’s social relationship with Chelsea to persuade people to give him money to participate in the scams. Mezvinsky traveled to Nigeria numerous times and ultimately lost more than $3 million as a victim of the scammers. Prosecutors say Mezvinsky fell particularly hard for what is known as the “black money” scam. Victims are told millions of dollars have been coated with black ink so the money could be smuggled out of Nigeria.” He told the Des Moines Register , “The man later came out with a chemical, threw it on the money, and it all turned to $100 bills. He gave me 10 to have them tested back home. And they were real.” But about the wedding: Mezvinsky happily said to Inside Edition, “I’m a proud papa and I think the siblings are really excited. The family’s excited. We all hope we can get through this without getting teary-eyed and stand up…We have a lot to be thankful for. These two are wonderful human beings that have a sensitivity about life and have a warm regard for family, and that’s really what it’s all about, in the long run, is how you deal with your family and enjoy the moment and be thankful for that.”

Continued here:
Aww, Chelsea Clinton’s Future Ex-Con Dad-In-Law Speaks

Bloomberg Says More Immigrants Are Needed

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:38:19 +0000

Photograph by Ozzdo on Flickr Mayor Bloomberg continues to express his dismay over Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law . In an interview with MyFoxNY , he said, “The solution to our problems is more immigration, more immigrants. That’s been true since the Pilgrims settled here. And will continue to be true even more so in the future as we continue to live in a more global technological world.” He explained, “We have to an immigration law that everybody understands and that is enforced. And the ways to do it is very simple. It is four-pronged: You give permanent status, after [they] pay fines, learn English, whatever, to the 12 Million. You reduce the demand for labor from illegal immigrants by enforcing the laws that the companies cannot hire undocumented. And you can only do that if you give them the tools, which is a biometric Social Security card, probably nothing else. You make sure that we go and we provide visas for those that we want. And if you do those things, you have a strategy. If you don’t do those things, it’s not going to work.” When asked, “Is it not of a concern to you that 60 percent of Americans support the Arizona law, and a majority of New Yorkers also support it?” he responded, “I don’t think ‘concern’ is the right word. I think it is shocking and terribly worrisome.” And about the undocumented immigrants in NYC, ” This city depends on these people. This country incidently depends on these people. You would devastate the national economy if by some magic, and that’s the only way you would do it, you would find everybody who was here illegally and deport them.” Right now, a rally is being held at Cadman Plaza to protest Arizona’s law. While a federal judge struck down parts of the law , one of the rally’s organizers told NY1 , “The judge’s decision was really very limited. It’s also temporary. It means that key provisions are actually going to go ahead, such as people being able to sue the police department if they don’t enforce the law; workers are not going to be able to seek work in the streets, which is really important for people seeking day labor.”

More here:
Bloomberg Says More Immigrants Are Needed

Rangel: Today Might Be As Bad As Korean War

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:28:56 +0000

Rep. Charles Rangel is getting all reminiscent now that ethics charges against him may be revealed at 1 p.m. He told reporters this morning , “Sixty years ago I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea and as a result I haven’t had a bad day since. But today I have to reassess that statement.” He can avoid having all the gory details of the charges publicly announced if he reaches a settlement .