Talk Bronx New York

 

Lawyers, judges and tenant advocates say the staggering economy has sent an increasing number of middle-class renters across New York City to the brink of eviction, straining the legal and financial services of city agencies and charities. Suddenly, residents of middle-class havens like Rego Park in Queens and Riverdale in the Bronx are crowding into the city’s already burdened housing courts, long known as poor people’s court.

No one knows exactly how many of those kinds of tenants are facing eviction; the city’s five housing courts, and two smaller community courts that hear similar cases, do not keep data on the income level of litigants. Overall, court records show that the number of cases filed citywide for nonpayment of rent jumped about 19 percent in the first two months of 2009 from the same period last year, to 42,257 from 35,588.

Government & Politics

A proposal by Gov. David A. Paterson would limit spending increases to the average inflation rate over the previous three years, which could save billions of dollars annually. [NYT]

Connecticut added its name on Monday to the list of public entities that have fired Aldus Equity Partners, the pension advisory firm whose founder was accused of securities fraud by federal and state authorities last week. [NYT]

Gov. David A. Paterson’s historically low ratings have sunk even deeper — with only 19 percent of New York voters approving of his performance, according to a new Marist College poll. [New York Post] (Also see City Room and The Daily News.)

The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said. “We have no plans to release them,” an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further. [New York Post]

New York’s next mayoral election is six months away - but the two leading campaigns are girding for battle. Brace for commercials blaring from your TV and radio; pollsters and recorded robo-calls dialing your phone; organizers trying to get your attention at your subway stop; and flyers and stickers popping up all over the city. [Daily News]

Crime & Public Safety

A typescript by Charles Ponzi’s publicist is part of a trove of 2,200 written accounts of famous frauds recently acquired by John Jay College of Criminal Justice. [NYT]

Philippe de Montebello, the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, testified about Brooke Astor’s deep involvement in the museum, at the trial of her son, Anthony D. Marshall. [NYT] (Also see The Daily News.)

A former federal prosecutor pleaded guilty to conspiring to run an infamous courthouse-district brothel — but only has to serve three years’ probation and pay $50,000. [New York Post]

The former boyfriend of a woman found strangled in her Staten Island apartment with the cord of her hair dryer wrapped around her neck was arrested and charged with killing her, police sources said. The parents of aspiring teacher Caroline Wimmer, 26, found her body face down on the bathroom floor of her West Brighton home on March 30. [New York Post]

Housing & Economy

If you have an app-etite for fine dining, Michelin has a new app for you. It has launched two Michelin Guide Restaurants iPhone applications — one for New York and the other for San Francisco. [New York Post]

Senator Charles E. Schumer tried to turn IHOP into the International House of Politics yesterday by proposing that the chain’s New York restaurants use only maple syrup produced in the state. In a letter to CEO Julia Stewart, Schumer endorsed local products after a Vermont IHOP vowed to serve only Vermont maple syrup. [New York Post]

A new bill requiring chain pharmacies in the city to provide translation help along with their pills isn’t going down too well with some critics.The City Council bill calls for pharmacists to speak any foreign language spoken by 1 percent or more of the people in any community district. [Daily News]

Transportation

Two Democratic state senators said Monday that they no longer oppose a rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which would give the measure enough support to pass the Senate. [NYT] (Also see The New York Post and The Daily News.)

The cash-strapped city hopes to haul in a record $686 million in parking fines next year in what could become the mother of all ticket blitzes. Documents released last week as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s new $59.4 billion budget show that the Finance Department is projecting a $93 million increase in parking-summons revenue over the $593 million expected to come in this fiscal year. [New York Post]

The city is looking to increase taxi-driver training in English, geography, driving skills, customer courtesy and all that new cab technology. [New York Post]

Metro-North has loosened its bicycle restrictions. Riders still won’t be able to take their bikes onto rush-hour trains headed for Manhattan from the northern suburbs. [New York Post]

The lettered subway lines are coming under new management - a move transit officials hope will mean fewer delays. New York City Transit this summer will put a general manager in charge of each lettered line, expanding a program some credit with improving the on-time performance on the IRT or numbered routes. [Daily News]

A truce may be in the works over the military invasion of Westchester Square in the Bronx. The proprietor of a parking garage in the tight-for-parking shopping district has offered armed forces recruiters 15 spots for $1,000 a month. [Daily News]

Schools

The number of children qualifying for gifted kindergarten programs in New York City public schools rose by 45 percent this year, the schools chancellor announced on Monday. The New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, gives partial credit to publicity about the admissions process. [NYT] (Also see City Room and The New York Post and The Daily News.)

With classes canceled at six schools after a swine flu scare, students missed crucial exams and extracurricular activities while parents scrambled to find baby sitters or alternative programs. [NYT]

Two months ago, Bronx mother Mona Davids was leading the charge against a charter school’s being placed in the same building as her daughter’s public elementary school, P.S. 160. But after speaking with the founders of the Equality Charter School, a sixth-through-12th-grade institution looking for a temporary stay in Co-op City, Ms. Davids suddenly reversed course. [New York Post]

The campaign over mayoral control of the schools is heating up. About 250 members of a coalition calling itself the Campaign for Better Schools and seeking to gut mayoral control will lobby legislators in Albany today during meetings and a Capitol rally. [New York Post]

Happy kids streamed back to a sanitized St. Francis Prep, the center of the city’s swine-flu outbreak, but 8 percent of the student body still stayed home as a precaution. [New York Post] (Also see City Room and The Daily News.)

Kadeem Cooper’s rapid-fire recall skills made him a star Latin scholar at his Bay Ridge high school, a scholarship student and a whiz at movie trivia games. Now, his Brooklyn smarts have gotten him something even bigger - a spot on national TV and a shot at winning $100,000 in the “Jeopardy!” 2009 College Championship. [Daily News]

As soon as Albany lawmakers agree on an M.T.A. bailout, legislators will tackle yet another hot topic - mayoral control of city schools. It’s the Albany equivalent of a final exam for Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein. [Daily News]

Thousands of kids who failed to get a high school placement last month just found out where they’ll end up in the fall - and many are just as unhappy. For the fourth year in a row, at least 9 percent of students - this year about 7,500 - did not get any of the schools they chose in March. [Daily News]

People & Neighborhoods

Fashion models were the center of attention at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute gala, an event that typically focuses on clothes and their designers. [NYT]

Entry Level: Adrianna Gyorfi, 23, handles the arrangements when exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History go on the road. [NYT]

Clyde Haberman’s NYC column: Have a problem with a nasty name, like swine flu? Call it something else. [NYT]

A fight is looming on Long Island over the ghostly remains of Nikola Tesla’s biggest and most audacious project. [NYT]

A kosher tequila will make its bow in the Big Apple today for Cinco de Mayo with mariachi bands and free pastrami burritos. [New York Post]

Macy’s is moving its entire fireworks extravaganza to the Hudson, turning what were once the best seats in the house along the East River into the equivalent of an obstructed view at one of the city’s new ballparks. [New York Post] (Also see City Room.)

The head of the famed Brooklyn Steppers marching band - stars of President Obama’s inauguration parade - has been booted on suspicion of having sex with a teen band member, officials said. Tyrone Brown, 31, said he is being smeared by “rumors that blew out of proportion.” [Daily News]

Gospel hits ringing in their ears, mourners gathered Monday to remember Brooklyn pastor Rev. Timothy Wright and said the “godfather of gospel music” would live on in his songs. “They’ll never forget you,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton during a “homegoing ceremony” at Pilgrim Baptist Church. “As long as there’s music, they’ll be singing your song.”

SOURCE

Tags: 2009, Albany, Bronx News, Bronx People, Bronx Real Estate, Brooklyn, City Council, co-op city, Community, David A. Paterson, Joel I. Klein, Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg, neighborhood, new york, New York City, Obama, Politics, Politics, queens, Riverdale, The Bronx, Westchester

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