Talk Bronx New York

An alert Port Authority Police officer identified an SUV idling in front of the La Guardia US Airways terminal yesterday morning as a police vehicle which was stolen half an hour earlier in the Bronx with a loaded weapon inside. Officer Mohammed Anwar Sadat noted the marked Chevy Tahoe at 8 am, and remembered it when a call came through on an emergency frequency reporting the theft of the car. The weapon, a loaded shotgun, was locked onto a rack in the vehicle and was not disturbed.

The car was stolen from Highway Police Officer Nelson Robles, who left it running outside when he went into the Lydig Coffee Shop in the Bronx to buy breakfast, according to the News (the Times went with “a personal reason”).

Anibal Lugo, 48, of the Bronx, was found at a car rental counter at the airport with handcuffs, rubber gloves and paperwork which were apparently taken from the car. Luggage belonging to Lugo was found at the airport, but no tickets. Police aren’t sure why he drove to the airport. He told them it was a joyride. According to the News, he may be slightly cognitively impaired.

According to police, Lugo has a long history of relatively minor offenses, including theft of services, criminal trespass and filing a false instrument. The more serious charges he faces now are criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and impersonating a police officer.

Robles, a 15-year veteran, was suspended without pay, and his gun and badge were taken away. Read more..

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A police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who spotted a city police sport-utility vehicle oddly parked at La Guardia Airport on Saturday discovered that it had been stolen that morning in the Bronx, the authorities said.

The S.U.V., a Chevrolet Tahoe, which was attached to the Police Department’s Highway Unit, was parked by an officer at 7:33 a.m. near Pelham Parkway South and Cruger Avenue in the Bronxdale neighborhood, the police said.

As the officer, Nelson Robles, left the vehicle idling and unattended to enter a store, a man jumped inside and drove off, the police said.

Officer Robles, a 15-year veteran, had gone into the store “for personal reasons,” an official said, without elaborating.

Later, after the officer was interviewed by supervisors, he was suspended without pay and stripped of his gun and badge, the police said.

About 20 minutes after the S.U.V. was stolen, the vehicle — equipped with lights and sirens, along with departmental logos on its side — turned up in front of the US Airways terminal at La Guardia, in Queens. There, the Port Authority officer, Mohammed Anwar Sadat, spotted it around 8 a.m., according to a law enforcement official. Read more..

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Expects good news from Bronx

HOPE is DHS’ annual, one-night survey of individuals living on city streets.

The 2009 HOPE found that unsheltered homelessness had decreased 47 percent since 2005 and 30 percent since 2008. Although critics such as Coalition for the Homeless, a Manhattan based non-profit group, have questioned HOPE methodology, the estimate is a jewel in DHS’ crown.

Thousands of volunteers help perform HOPE; DHS deployed more than 3,000 volunteers to streets, parks and subways on January 25. Unsheltered homelessness has dropped 72 percent in the Bronx since 2005, a decease Hess called “spectacular.” Last year, the HOPE found 2,238 homeless in the city and 164 in the Bronx. Most were found in Manhattan and on the subway system.

“We have made tremendous progress in the Bronx,” Hess said. “We hope that the 2010 HOPE will show that we’ve maintained that progress or done even better.” Read more..

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P.S. 178 parent Naomi Gonzalez suspended her lawsuit against the city Department of Education and School Construction Authority on Tuesday, January 19 as the DOE promised the federal Environmental Protection Agency that it would perform a million dollar pilot study of air, soil and caulk at five schools and develop a plan to address PCB contamination.

“The end goal is a safe school environment…for kids across the city,” said Gonzalez, who described the January 19 agreement as a “step in the right direction.”

The DOE and EPA entered negotiations in 2009 when New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) helped Gonzalez spotlight the toxic caulk issue. PCBs – Polychlorinated Biphenyls – are heat and fire-resistant compounds that leak toxins when they break down. Read more..

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Gov. Paterson Thursday joined a growing chorus saying the upcoming trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be moved.

 As protests grow louder over holding the 9/11 trial in lower Manhattan, a Long Island congressman introduced a bill Thursday that would keep the prosecution out of civilian courts.

Republican Peter King’s bill would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to try Guantanamo detainees in civilian courts.

“On top of having to provide security for three or four years, we’re talking about an area that is already congested and will have to be closed off,” King said. “It’s bad for traffic and business.”

The Obama administration announced last month that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others would be tried in Manhattan Federal Court.

The move angered many business leaders, who argue it would cripple real estate and commerce in the area, and frightened downtown residents.

King called the plan “one of the worst decisions ever made by any president” and insisted Mohammed should be tried by the military.

Mayor Bloomberg, who first supported the plan, reversed himself Wednesday and said it would be glad to see it moved somewhere else.

Gov. Paterson said Thursday there needs to be “some suitable alternatives that would fall within the court’s jurisdiction but for the public at large would be a better place to hold the actual trial.” Read more..

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