Central Park Crime Up By 45%: Rapes 600%

Police say crime is soaring in Central Park this year. (photo: Bales for NY Daily News)

Central Park

Crime in Central Park has jumped by 45% this year, NYPD figures show.

The Manhattan greenspace's precinct recorded 90 major crimes as of Oct. 24, compared with 62 in the same period last year.

Grand larcenies led the uptick, rising to 56 in 2010, up from 35 a year earlier, according to the NYPD.

"It's always a big concern when there is crime in our public spaces," said Geoffrey Croft, head of NYC Park Advocates, which first reported the rise.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said 17 additional officers, including 10 in the scooter task force, have been assigned to the park precinct this year.

Read More:

Crime in Central Park grows by whopping 45% in 2010: NYPD

New York Daily News - October 30 2010 - By James Fanelli

SPIKE: Crime Skyrockets In Central Park,

Bad Economy Said To Be Reason For 45% Jump From Year Ago

WCBS - November 1, 2010 - By Magee Hickey

Central Park Crime Rate Jumps 45 Percent, NYPD Figures Show

DNAinfo - October 30, 2010

Central Park Drug Arrests Up 103 % This Year

A Walk In The Park - October 29, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft

Governor’s Aide Named To Replace Ousted DEC Commissioner

“DEC accounts for approximately 2.5 percent of the New York State workforce subject to executive control,” and yet, “DEC's layoffs will comprise more than 10 percent of the 2,000 positions that the governor plans to eliminate.” - Memo from DEC Commissioner Alexander B. Grannis to Gov. David A. Paterson. The memo says laying off another 209 employees is unfair and disproportionate. Mr. Grannis was fired by the governor’s top aide, Larry Schwartz, after the memo was leaked.

Albany

Gov. David A. Paterson is replacing a Pete with a Peter. On Thursday he announced that his deputy secretary for the environment, Peter M. Iwanowicz, was taking over as acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation after the dismissal of Alexander B. Grannis, better known as Pete, according to the New York Times.

Judy SandersPeter M. Iwanowicz

Mr. Iwanowicz, 43, will remain in his current post and hold both positions.

He first joined state government in 2007, when Mr. Grannis named him director of the state Climate Change Office.

Last week, Governor Paterson fired Mr. Grannis after the leaking of a memo warning of dire consequences from the administration’s budget cuts to the department. Mr. Grannis denied he had anything to do with the release of the memo and complained that he was dismissed by Lawrence Schwartz, the governor’s secretary, without ever getting a chance to talk to the governor.

As the governor’s deputy secretary for the environment, a position he assumed in March, Mr. Iwanowicz is responsible for environmental policy matters.

As the first director of the New York State Office of Climate Change, he oversaw the state’s participation in the cap-and-trade program among Northeastern states known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced “Reggie.”)

Before joining state government, Mr. Iwanowicz was vice president of the American Lung Association of New York State and also worked for the Albany-based Environmental Advocates of New York.

Alexander B. Grannis in his Albany office in April. He was fired on Thursday October 21, after a memo about cuts in his staff was leaked. (Photo:Mike Groll/Associated Press)

Read More:

Governor’s Aide Steps In for Ousted Environment Chief

New York Times Green Blog - October 28, 2010

- By Mireya Navarro

A New Commissioner and More Cuts for the DEC (VIDEO)

WENY -

October 29, 2010

- By

Jane Park

Gov. Paterson Replaces DEC Commish; Loses Spokesman

New York Daily News - October 28, 2010 - By Celeste Katz

DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis Fired Over Leaked Critical Memo

A Walk In The Park - October 22, 2010

Internal DEC Memo Warns Governor Against Further Agency Cuts

A Walk In The Park - October 20, 2010

Little Bay Park Gets Dog Run But No Bathrooms For People

Here was a brand-new, half-million-dollar dog run in one of the most scenic parks in the city, but no dignified place for human beings, taxpayers, to relieve themselves while on a morning stroll, jog or pedal. No place for a Little League boy to legally relieve himself between innings. Okay, so no one's calling the vice squad if a boy pees in the bushes.

But it really is a different situation for girls - and their soccer moms, many of them pregnant - to answer nature's call.

The Little Bay Park Dog Run cost the city half a million dollars, but the park has no bathrooms for the dogs' two-legged owners. "I'm disgusted," former City Councilman Avella said. "I earmarked that money in 2005. Then Rep. Gary Ackerman secured federal money to expand the parking lot. Parks delayed the bathrooms until the parking lot expansion was completed. They (parks department) told me that the state Department of Environmental Conservation froze the project because the planned rest rooms area was considered protected wetlands. Parks never told me so I could intervene. Instead, they let the issue lay there awaiting an approval letter from DEC." (Photo: DelMundo/NY Daily News)

Queens

The city put in a $500,000 dog run. But no facility for people to run to when nature calls, according to the New York Daily News.

Last week, I walked east from Utopia Parkway through gorgeous, 50-acre Little Bay Park - sandwiched along the Cross Island Parkway between the Throgs Neck Bridge and Fort Totten - as the sun spilled out of a baby blue sky. Joggers panted past. Bicyclists zoomed. Walkers nodded in the crisp fall morning. I was putting in a few miles of my own when nature called.

I looked around for a rest room.

I saw a lumpy Little League field where my son sometimes plays ball and remembered there was never a rest room here. I did see six workers putting the finishing touches on a state-of-the-art dog run near the Utopia Parkway exit of the Cross Island that will open next month. The dog run has a water supply, one fenced area for large dogs, another for smaller dogs, and a third for all dogs to mingle, beautifully landscaped, with a place for dogs to relieve themselves.

I walked toward two men talking. One guy looked like he was in charge.

I asked, "Any dog can go in there, run, play, go to the bathroom, whatever?"

"Yep," he said. "Open to all dogs."

"Cool. Where's the rest room for people?" I asked.

"There isn't one," he said. "There's Porta Potties at the other end of the park."

Read More:

City goes to the dogs as Little Bay Park finishes pristine dog run, with no bathrooms for people New York Daily News - October 26th 2010 - Denis Hamill

Coney/Brighton Beach Boardwalk To Sidewalk Uproar

A boardwalk user walks from traditional wood to prototype concrete in Coney Island. The Parks Department, in concert with the Department of Design and Construction are attempting to replace the historic boardwalk with concrete. The City refuses to allocate proper funds to maintain the wooden boardwalk. (Photo: Egan-Chin/News)

Brooklyn

That's no boardwalk. That's a sidewalk.

The iconic 42-block Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island may be headed for a makeover as a concrete-slabbed walkway, city officials said, according to the New York Daily News.

Outraged residents hissed and shouted at Parks Department officials who presented a $7.4 million project to rebuild a five-block chunk of the fabled stretch with concrete.

City officials indicated at a local meeting they were thinking about redoing most of the rest of the stretch the same way.

"It is a boardwalk! It is not a sidewalk!" shouted Brighton Beach resident Ida Sanoff at the Community Board 13 meeting Wednesday night. "It looks like crap. ... You're looking for the cheap way out and the easy way out. Not acceptable!"

City officials hope to eventually rehab the whole beatup walkway and are leaning toward using concrete everywhere except the Coney Island amusement area, which already got a wood makeover.

"Certainly if we use it and it's successful, as we expect it would be, we would be proposing it for future projects," Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey told the Daily News after the meeting.

Locals, fiercely protective of the Boardwalk, weren't having it.

"This is a historic, hundred-year-old, world-famous Boardwalk ... and we're going to turn it into a sidewalk which is harmful to people's feet, their joints, their bones?" railed Ruby Schultz, 76, who walks the Boardwalk every day. "This is an absolute disgrace."

Read More:

Coney Island folk rage over plan to put concrete in place of historic boardwalk

New York Daily News - October 29th 2010 - By Erin Durkin

Call Boardwalk plan a concrete bungle - Borough President Marty Markowitz

New York Daily News - October 30th 2010 - By Ben Chapman

Coney Island Boardwalk Could Become Sidewalk

CBS - October 29, 2010

Yankee Stadium Parking Garage Developer In Desperate Attempt To Avoid Defaulting On Millions In Tax-Exempt Bonds

Parking Lot A- (Former 2.9 acre ball field in Macombs Dam Park) Another Bad Deal. The Bloomberg and Pataki administration allowed 25.3 acres of public parkland to be seized in the South Bronx in order to accommodate the building of a new stadium for the New York Yankees, including the building of thousands of additional parking spaces in the asthma capital of America. As predicted the Yankee organization's insistence of building more parking is turning into a nightmare for the city. The developer warned bondholders in an Aug. 18 letter that it currently has "insufficient funds" from operations to pay a $6.8 million interest bill due Oct. 1, and another $6.8 million due next April. Bronx Parking has failed for three years to pay its annual rent tab of $3.2 million to the city. It also has yet to pay any property taxes for the 21 acres of publicly owned land it is leasing to operate the parking system. The Bloomberg administration selected Bronx Parking in 2007 to build and run the garages after the Yankees demanded a minimum of 9,000 spaces to stay in the Bronx.

Adding insult to injury, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is floating a plan to convert Parks Department managed parking lots into additional development instead of public parkland. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Bronx

The owner of the financially troubled Yankee Stadium parking system plans to hike game-day rates by as much as 50% next year in a last-ditch effort to avert defaulting on millions in tax-exempt bonds, according to the New York Daily News.

Stadium self-parking prices will zoom from the current $23 to $35, while valet prices will go from $36 to $45. That's according to financial documents filed last month by garage owner Bronx Parking Development.

Even at those rates, the garages will still fall into a technical default unless two-thirds of bondholders agree to waive some requirements in the original construction bonds.

Bronx Parking barely managed to make a $6.8 million bond payment that was due Oct. 1 and will likely not have enough cash to make its next $6.8 million due in April. Without the waiver, the company warned, it will be forced to charge a minimum of $55 per car next year to avoid a default.

"The truth of the matter is, the whole thing's a mess," said one financial adviser to several bondholders. "If the city doesn't step in, there's no way Bronx Parking can pay back the money it took to build those garages."

For several weeks now, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has been urging City Hall to restructure the entire garage project and possibly arrange a sale of some of the sites for other development projects near Yankee Stadium.

Yankees fans shun the official stadium parking, opting for the Gateway Center Mall. (above) According to Bronx Parking Development more than 800 fans are heading on game days to the Gateway Shopping Mall five blocks from the stadium, where they pay only $10 to park instead of the stiff $23 self-parking fee ($35 for valet service) at the stadium garages. (photo: Chu for NY Daily News)

Read More:

Firm plans to yank up parking prices at New York Yankees Stadium in hope of closing gap

New York Daily News - October 29, 2010 - Juan Gonzalez

Yankee Stadium Parking Developer On Verge of Defaulting On $237 Million Of Tax-Exempt Bonds

A Walk In The Park - September 10, 2010

Central Park Drug Arrests Up 103 % This Year

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Drug arrests in Central Park have more than doubled over the last year, according to the latest figures from the NYPD.

Police have made 65 drug-related arrests in the park so far this, compared to 32 last year, an increase of 103 %.

The NYPD has been stepping up enforcement in the North end of the park, concentrating on the wooded areas north of 106th Street. Officers from the narcotics unit, a division of NYPD's Organized Crime Control Bureau (OCCB) have made 20 arrests, compared with 2 last year, an increase of 233.3%.

Other crimes in Central Park are up too: Overall crime in the park for the seven major felonies, (not including drug arrests) is 90 this year compared to 62 last year, a 45.2% increase from last year.

Grand larceny jumped 60 percent, with 56 crimes compared to 25 last year, with only five arrests. Robberies increased 22 percent, with 22 so far this year compared to 18 last year, while the number of arrests for robbery has soared, 26 this year compared to 15 last year, an increase of 73 percent.

An additional 7 officers were permanently assigned to the park in September, A Walk In The Park has learned. In July the NYPD flooded Central Park with additional officers. The officers were temporarily assigned to the park from other details and precincts in order to help combat a spike in crime. At that time, Central Park had seen the highest increase in crime of any area in the city. As a result of these temporary assignments, the Central Park precinct doubled their man-power of officers available for patrol, according to a enforcement source. The park has seen a sharp decline in officers assigned to the 843 acres over the last decade.

"Since [the NYPD] were getting their asses handed to them over the summer, they have stepped up getting out there and dealing with quality-of-life issues," a police source told A Walk In The Park. "Downtown responded and they flooded the park [with new officers]. It's paying off. The new officers are very much needed. We were really down in numbers."

Source: NYPD Compstat 10/18 thru 10/24.

Union Busting Continuing At Hudson River Park?

"On December 29th of last year, at Ms. Fishman's request, the Trust's Board of Directors approved an additional $150,000 for "Labor and Employment Law Consultation," services of Bond, Schoeneck and King, bringing the total appropriation for the firm to $350,000. The request included no mention of the "union avoidance" training and consultation advertised on the firm's website." - IUOE Local 30 Press Release

A group of 16 workers at Hudson River Park are waiting for a decision by the New York State Labor Relations Board to know if their vote to join IUOE Local 30 union will be upheld. The board will be hearing the appeal on November 9. The next Hudson River Park Trust board meeting is scheduled for December 6. (Photo: Nicole Breskin/DNAinfo)

Manhattan

Battle brewing in Hudson River union bid.

The battle to unionize maintenance and operations workers at Hudson River Park heated up last week when the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30 filed an "improper conduct" charge against the park's trust with the state's Public Employment Relations Board, according to the New York Daily News.

Union officials said the park's management has refused to recognize the workers as union members, even though they voted to join IUOE back in April.

May 2010. A 15 foot inflatable rat, courtesy of International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)

Local 30, greeted park-goers attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of Hudson River Park’s newest facility at Pier 62 in Chelsea. According to Local 30 the rat and informational picket was organized to protest Hudson River Park Trust President Connie Fishman’s continued use of taxpayer and donor funds for a high priced “union avoidance” law firm in an attempt to overturn the union’s election victory in the Park‘s Maintenance and Operations Department.

On April 19th 2010, Hudson River Park's Maintenance and Operations (M&O) personnel voted by a majority of 7 to 5 to join the INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE) Local 30. Local 30 has been trying to organize since 2007 and has been fighting what they say is Hudson River Park Trust's continued use of park operating funds for a high priced “union avoidance” campaign run by Bond, Schoeneck and King, a high-priced law firm located upstate. The campaign now includes an effort to overturn the union’s election victory in the Park‘s (M&O) Department the union charges. According to the Union, M&O employees have met the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) criteria three times during the past year to establish union recognition, but each time the Trust delayed recognition with objections and challenges.

Press Release:

October 29, 2010

IUOE Local 30

LOCAL 30 CHARGES IMPROPER CONDUCT BY HUDSON RIVER PARK TRUST

Maintenance and Operations workers fighting for union recognition at Hudson River Park claim beleaguered Park Trust President Connie Fishman's costly anti-union crusade has now gone from merely unethical to blatantly illegal.

An improper conduct charge filed with the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) this week claims Trust management has harassed employees that signed a petition demanding the Trust recognize International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30 as their Collective Bargaining Representative and directing the Trust to immediately enter into contract negotiations.

The petition was a response to the Park's continued refusal to recognize Local 30 as their Collective Bargaining Representative. Three times during the past year M&O employees have met the PERB criteria to establish union recognition, but each time the Trust delayed recognition with objections and challenges.

Park employees loudly declared "Union Yes" when the union won an April 19th recognition election. In a May 14th e-mail message Hudson River Park Trust President Connie Fishman assured its Advisory Council the Trust “we have never had any intention of engaging in a protracted, expensive legal fight over the outcome of the vote", even though the Park had already filed a challenge to the election result. The challenge claimed the rules the Trust had agreed to prior to the election, to protect the integrity of the ballots and prevent fraud, should not apply after all. When PERB Public Employment Practices and Representation Director Monte Klein rejected the Trust's challenge, the Trust again dismissed its assurance to the Advisory Council and filed an objection to the Director's decision.

On December 29th of last year, at Ms. Fishman's request, the Trust's Board of Directors approved an additional $150,000 for "Labor and Employment Law Consultation," services of Bond, Schoeneck and King, bringing the total appropriation for the firm to $350,000. The request included no mention of the "union avoidance" training and consultation advertised on the firm's website. While "union avoidance" is commonly recognized as a code name for union busting, the firm's activity at Hudson River Park has coincided with Local 30's organizing activity and the Park's tactics and rhetoric regarding unionization are consistent with that routinely employed by established anti-union consultants, Ms. Fishman insists that the firm is retained for reasons other than an aggressive campaign of misinformation and intimidation.

Read More:

Battle brewing in Hudson River union bid New York Daily News - November 3, 2010 - By Lisa Coangelo

Hudson River Park Trust Fights Employees' Vote to Join Union DNAinfo - October 27, 2010 - By Gabriela Resto-Montero

Hudson River Park Trust Spends Park Money To Fight Union Drive By 16 Employees West View - June 8 2010 - by Zachary Black

HUDSON RIVER PARK SPENDS TAXPAYER MONEY TO OVERTURN LOCAL 30 ELECTION VICTORY

IUOE Local 30 - June 7, 2010 - By Neal Tepel