Post Office Off Chopping Block
By Dan Rivoli
Cherokee Post Office is being spared from consolidation, the United States Postal Service announced on Nov. 20.
The decision followed intense lobbying from local politicians and community groups. Groups such as the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association held public meetings and delivered 4,000 signatures in support of keeping the York Avenue post office open. Read more
Back to School
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (rear, third from left) and State Sen. Daniel Squadron (rear, second from left) pose with prospective students at a CUNY College Fair they co-sponsored Nov. 15. Read more
COUNCIL BILL TARGETS SUBWAY PERVS
By Dan Rivoli
Most women in the city have a story about subway sexual harassment. They or someone they know have been groped or noticed men rubbing against them on a train. They may have even seen men touching themselves on the train.
This has become such a problem on increasingly crowded trains that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started an advertising campaign to get women to report these incidents to the police or transit staff. Now Council Member Jessica Lappin wants police to collect complaints of sexual assault and harassment in each patrol and transit precinct and add the data to the Crime Status Report.
“Everyone who rides the subway knows it happens,” Lappin said. “You’d be hard pressed to find a woman who commutes to work on the subway system that hasn’t been fondled or harassed on the subway at some point.”
Lappin believes collecting this data will help police better target areas with a concentration of sexual assault complaints, and will assist women in making informed decisions when traveling on the subway.
“The goal in the end is to improve our enforcement,” Lappin said. “First, we have to assess the problem: How big of a problem is it and is it happening in more places than others?”
Borough President Scott Stringer released a survey in 2007 that showed the pervasiveness of subway harassment. HollaBackNYC.com, the website where women post cell phone pictures of the men who sexually harass them in public, was a part of the study.
Advocacy groups and elected officials have tried on several occasions to get the MTA and New York City Police Department to release this information through Freedom of Information Law requests.
Emily May, the co-founder of Holla Back NYC, said this information is essential for a subway system where crime can happen in moments and the victim has few options to report the incident.
“This data is so important because these crimes are more or less invisible,” said May, who also co-founded New Yorkers for Safer Transit. “It happens to women quite often. You’re assaulted, harassed and your perpetrator rides away.”
POL AGAINST PARKING GRACE PERIOD
By Dan Rivoli
Council Member Dan Garodnick is rarely on the dissenting side of Council votes. Other than controversial legislation such as the term limits extension, Garodnick usually goes with the majority. Read more
Ask the Vet
Protecting Pets from H1N1
On Nov. 2, test results confirmed an H1N1 influenza infection in a pet cat living in Iowa, a revelation that startled pet owners nationwide. Health officials say it is likely that human family members transmitted the virus to the cat. Read more
Woman Sexually Assaulted
By Dan Rivoli
A woman was sexually assaulted by a man on the street while she was walking to work Nov. 5 at 7:15 a.m. According to cops, the man asked the 34-year-old woman, who was walking west on East 84th Street between York and First avenues, for spare change. When she said no, he ran in front of her, pushed her against the wall and grabbed her breasts and crotch. She kicked him in the groin and ran east
Burglar Chased Off
By Dan Rivoli
A suspected burglar was scared off from an apartment he had broken into Nov. 9 at 6:45 p.m. Cops said the intruder was in the basement of an apartment building on East 83rd Street between Second and Third avenues. A resident was walking down to the basement to store his bicycle when he saw the man. The intruder told the resident that his brother “has a problem. So I came to help him,” according to police. As the intruder tried to flee, the 24-year-old building resident fought with him and yelled out for someone to call the police. The unknown man escaped without any property.
Expensive Equipment Stolen
By Dan Rivoli
A man returned to his Lexington Avenue and East 95th Street apartment Oct. 31 to find thousands of dollars worth of technology stolen. The 37-year-old man saw that his front door was closed but unlocked. His apartment’s rear window was open. Stolen items, totaling $16,700, included a watch, laptop, desktop computer and camera equipment.
Nightlife Nightmare
Push to revoke liquor licenses, despite efforts to mitigate noise
By Dan Rivoli
Two nightlife establishments on the Upper East Side are being targeted by residents fed up with late-night weekend disturbances.
Neighbors of Saloon, at 1584 York Ave. between East 83rd and 84th streets, and Vudu Lounge, at 1487 First Ave., between East 77th and 78th streets, are complaining that patrons are loud and boisterous when they leave in the early morning hours. Read more
Christmas Comes Early
With pumpkins and reindeer both on display, retailers hope for a miracle
By Jill Colvin
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” Andy Williams croons in the popular holiday standard.
But for New York retailers, the “wonderful time” has come early—too early, for some—with storefronts across the city already draping their windows with holly and strings of twinkling lights, despite the Halloween pumpkins still peering over Brownstone stoops. Read more
