NYPD To Use Drones To Monitor NYC Parks?

The NYPD could be exploring plans to use drones as a law enforcement tool in New York City to keep an eye on city parks and streets, according to WPIX.

Drones are unmanned aircraft that can be used for surveillance or to shoot live missiles.

In a recent email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, an NYPD Detective in the Counterterrorism Unit asks the Federal Aviation Administration about the use of drones as a way to protect the city.

Drones have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're already being used by law enforcement in some European cities.

They have also flown in the United States, but only in restricted airspace along the borders with Mexico and Canada.

There is some concern about the invasion of privacy.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report about the lack of laws protecting average people from drone surveillance.

So far, no local police departments have been authorized to use them, but police departments in Houston and Miami have conducted field tests -- and New York could be next.

NYPD Reportedly Experimenting With Drones To Monitor NYC

WPIX11 - January 24, 2012 - Kerry Drew

Randall's Island/South Bronx Connector Path Land Easement Still Not Secured

Existing Randalls Island connector path. The pedestrian and bicycle span would link South Bronx to parks and ballfields. The land between the bridge and the South Bronx is owned by the State DOT but controlled by a private company, Harlem River Yards Ventures under a 99 year lease. The New York City Economic Development Corp. needs an easement so it can build a path from the bridge to E. 132nd St. (Photo: New York City Economic Development)

Bronx

The city could be building a bridge to nowhere, thanks to a muddled South Bronx land deal.

The Randalls Island Connector, a planned pedestrian and bicycle bridge, will eventually span the Bronx Kill, a narrow waterway separating the South Bronx from public ball fields and green space on Randalls Island.

But land between the bridge and the South Bronx street grid is controlled by a private company, Harlem River Yards Ventures. The New York City Economic Development Corp. needs an easement so it can build a path from the bridge to E. 132nd St, according to the New York Daily News.

The EDC and HRYV have worked together on the project for years and now that the city is ready to start bridge construction, it has made the company an easement offer. But no deal has been struck and now the project is in doubt, sources said.

Anthony Riccio, senior vice president of HRYV, said negotiations are ongoing and claimed there is no cause for concern.

"There is no problem," he said. "We are confident we will reach a satisfactory resolution soon."

But the viability of the $6 million bridge is at stake, said an EDC spokesman.

The Connector will link the South Bronx to a greenway network that stretches from Randalls Island to Astoria, Queens and East Harlem.

We are hopeful that the negotiations with (HRYV) can be resolved quickly, so the city can move forward with this important project," said Kyle Sklerov, EDC spokesman, claiming the bridge will help South Bronx residents enjoy the outdoors.

The strip of land needed for the path is actually public property already, part of a sprawling 96-acre rail yard owned by the state Department of Transportation.

But HRYV controls the land because it secured a 99-year lease for the site in 1991 under terms later slammed by the state controller as a sweetheart deal.

Harry Bubbins, executive director of Friends of Brook Park, a South Bronx group, called the Connector "an extremely important" project with widespread community support. But he blasted the easement negotiations.

"The site belongs to the state. It is unfathomable why we even have to pay to use it and (HRYV) should expedite the easement."

The EDC and HRYV are also in talks about building a new headquarters for Fresh Direct at the rail yard. The Queens-based grocery delivery company is mulling a move to the site, with the EDC offering it millions of dollars in public benefits.

Despite the timing, Sklerov said the Connector and Fresh Direct projects are unrelated.

U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx) is betting on the Connector.

"I am confident any last minute problems will be worked out and this important project will move forward," he said.

Read More:

Randalls Island Connector could become bridge to nowhere due to

muddy South Bronx property deal

New York Daily News - January 24, 2012 - By Daniel Beekman

Friends of the High Line Seeks Operator For New Full-Service Restaurant

The proposed year-round restaurant concession will be located on Washington Street under the High Line. Revenue from the consession is being alowed to bypass the city's general fund and be diverted directly to the politically connected Friends of the High Line a private group. (Image by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Beyer Blinder Belle)

Manhattan

Friends of the High Line is now seeking an operator to run a new full-service, year-round restaurant to open directly below the High Line at Gansevoort and Washington Streets in October, 2013.

Friends Of High Line (FHL) are planning two restaurants/cafes. One will be at street level at Gansevoort and Washington Streets under the stairwell that leads up to the High Line (above).(Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advcoates) click on image to enlarge.

According to the plan the new venue will activate the existing concrete plaza below the southern end of the historic rail line with 1,600 square feet of dining space surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass walls that open to the street during the warmer months of the year. The restaurant’s exterior is being designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Beyer Blinder Belle, and built as part of a broader construction project that includes the new maintenance and operations center for the High Line and the new downtown location for the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The winning responder will be granted a ten-year license to develop and operate the restaurant in a way that enhances the High Line visitor experience, engages neighborhood residents, and supports the High Line’s goals for sustainable operations. The restaurant’s menu, interior design, and operational plan will be developed by the winning operator with approval by Friends of the High Line.

When it opens in 2013, the new restaurant will provide a much-needed public amenity that also gives visitors a new way of giving back to the High Line. A portion of the restaurant’s proceeds will go directly toward the park’s ongoing maintenance and operations, helping us keep the park clean and beautiful all year long.

“The new restaurant will activate the concrete plaza below the High Line, providing a new, welcoming space for people to share a meal while also supporting the park itself,” said Robert Hammond. “We look forward to opening a restaurant that is as unique and special as the High Line.”

All proposals must be submitted no later than Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 3:00 PM.

Read More:

Friends Of High Line Concession Revenue Keeping Scheme Finally Approved

A Walk In The Park - March 18, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft

City Releases Wetlands Strategy Draft

City-Wide

This draft wetlands strategy is written in accordance with Local Law 31 of 2009 (see Appendix C). Signed by Mayor Bloomberg on May 26, 2009, this law requires the City to create a strategy with the overall goals to conserve, protect, enhance, stabilize, restore, and expand wetlands and associated buffer areas in the city. The law also calls for a strategy to avoid and minimize wetlands losses and achieve no net loss of wetlands in the city; standardize and improve the management of wetlands and associated buffer areas; and balance the needs for wetlands protection with other, competing land uses that are in the public interest.

In particular, Local Law 31 and this draft wetlands strategy focus on the question of how to better protect small vulnerable wetlands parcels. New York City Wetlands: Regulatory Gaps and Other Threats found that existing Federal and State regulations protect New York City’s tidal wetlands and its large freshwater wetlands from threats related to land use and development. However, freshwater wetlands smaller than 12.4 acres are not protected by State law and are vulnerable to determinations that they are outside of the scope of Federal protection. This draft strategy advances the City’s understanding of the quantity and ownership of these vulnerable wetlands and proposes strategies that will enhance protection.

This draft wetlands strategy has been released to the public on January 18, 2012. The City will accept public comments on this draft strategy through February 18, 2012 at planyc@cityhall.nyc.gov.

Read More:

NEW YORK CITY WETLANDS STRATEGY DRAFT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

Park Safety City Council Hearing Rescheduled

On Monday, January 30th at 10:00 am, the New York City Council's Parks & Recreation Committee will hold a joint hearing regarding safety issues in our city's parks. The hearing will be held jointly with the Committee on Public Safety, and will take place in the 16th Floor Committee Room at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

Last year, the Parks Committee held an oversight hearing regarding the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) program. This hearing raised a number of additional questions about crime in parks and the extent to which the NYPD works with PEP officers to deal with criminal activity. We expect representatives from both the Parks Department and NYPD to testify at this hearing.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 15th but the Police Department pulled out.

Public safety, community members, and park advocates have been pushing for the hearing to highlight the city's severe under reporting of crime in city parks. The hearing was supposed to examine the city's compliance with local Law 114 of 2005 which mandates the tracking and reporting of crime in parks. By 2008 the city was supposed to compile this data for all parks and playgrounds one acre in size and larger which they are not doing.

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

CITY COUNCIL TO HOLD HEARING ON SAFETY

IN PARKS

On Monday, January 30, 2012, the Committee on Parks and Recreation, chaired by Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, and the Committee on Public Safety, chaired by Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., and will hold a joint oversight hearing entitled, “A Walk in the Park…or is it? – Examining Safety in NYC Parks.”

WHAT: Committees on Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Hold Joint Oversight

Hearing on Safety in NYC Parks

WHEN: Monday, January 31, 2012 at 10:00 am

WHERE: 250 Broadway, Committee Rm. 16th Floor

It is a statistical fact that NYC Parks are becoming more dangerous. Since 2009, over 850 major felonies have taken place in 31 of the City’s largest parks. These include (1) Central Park, where the total major felony crimes rose by almost 50 percent, from 65 incidents in 2009 to 98 in 2010 with more theft, rape, and drug arrests; (2) Flushing Meadows, where robberies increased from 2 to 10; (3) Prospect Park, where grand larceny nearly doubled from 4 to 7; (3) Riverside Park, where felony assaults increased from 1 to 9; and (4) Crotona Park, where major felony crimes increased by over 400%. As of October 1, 2011 there were 259 major felony crimes in the City’s 31 largest parks for calendar year 2011, with 3^rd Quarter of 2011 having 134 major felony crimes – the highest single quarter total since 2008.

"The safety of our parks is of paramount concern," said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, Chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee. "Both residents and tourists consider our parks to be one of our City's greatest resources. We must do all that we can to ensure that everyone can enjoy these spaces without the threat of being assaulted. The Committee on Parks and Recreation and the Committee on Public Safety plan on doing our very best to get to the bottom of this surge in crime. I certainly believe that budget cuts to vital city services and agencies are part of the problem, but there may be additional causes. I will wait to hear from those on the ground before coming to any final conclusions."

“Our parks offer an oasis for our residents – they allow for sanctuary and an escape from crowds. But that same solitude may place people at risk. It’s unacceptable that we’ve had as few as two PEP officers in certain boroughs, and these statistics prove beyond all doubt that we need more,” said Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr., Chair of the Public Safety Committee.

The goal of the joint oversight hearing is to learn more about the possible causes for these increases and discuss what can be done to reverse the upward trend. In past hearings, it has been suggested that the decline in the number of Park Enforcement Patrol (“PEP”) officers has contributed to the rise in crime. The total number has significantly decreased over the last five years as a result of budget cuts, and it creates difficulties in adequately responding to public complaints and ensuring pedestrian safety in parks. The committees will review this assessment, as well as discuss the cooperation and coordination between the NYPD and Department of Parks and Recreation and the strategies and tactics each agency is utilizing, and plans to utilize, to make sure the crime rate in parks reverses course and begins to see a downward trend.

The Committees expect to hear testimony from representatives of the NYPD and the City Department of Parks and Recreation, advocacy groups, and members of the community.

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Read More:

Hearing on Safety in Parks to Be Held Next Monday 1/30

Hearing On Public Safety in City Parks Cancelled

A Walk In The Park - November 13, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft

City Employees Fined For Accepting Gifts From High Line Contractor

The High Line contractor - Kiska Construction Corporation - lavished gifts on three government officials overseeing the project. In September 2008, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) leveled more than $14,000 in fines against three city employees including two from the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and one from the Parks Department (DPR) for accepting gifts from the construction company building the High Line. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Nazir Mir, the former Vice President of Capital Programs for EDC was fined $ 11,500 accepting gifts for a portion of his son's honeymoon trip for Istanbul, Turkey valued at $4,000 and two meals at New York City restaurants, valued collectively in excess of $50.00, from Kiska Construction, a firm doing business with EDC and the Department of Parks and Recreation. Kiska had been awarded three major contracts by EDC and Parks related to construction at the High Line. Mr. Mir supervised the Project Manager of the High Line project.

Leonard Greco, Vice President for the New York City Economic and lead Project Manager for the High Line was fined $2,000.00 for four meals. Michael Bradley Administrative Project Manager for the DPR who served as the Project Administrator for the High Line accepted two meals and was fined $600.00.

They all admitted violating the City 's conflict of interest law which prohibits a public servant from accepting a valuable gift defined by Board Rules as anything which has a value of $50.00 or more. - Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

Free dinners, free luncheons and barbecues, even a free $4,000 honeymoon in Istanbul – three city officials overseeing construction of Manhattan’s High Line received these and more from the chief contractor on the project, according the New York World.

The company, Kiska Construction Corporation, had more than $60 million in contracts with the city’s Economic Development Corporation to “pretty much build 75 percent of the High Line,” Kiska vice president Alp Baysal told The New York World, “from the structure holding it all up to the finishing touches on the rails.”

In 2008, the officials who took those goodies from Kiska received something else in addition to full stomachs and a hotel room: thousands of dollars in fines from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB).

City employees are barred from receiving gifts in excess of $50. Yet the arm of the city’s ethics law does not reach to private citizens, developers, contractors and companies, like Kiska, which repeatedly induce city officials to commit ethics violations. Kiska continues to be eligible to serve as a contractor on city projects, including the future third phase of the High Line, to be built north of 30th Street. Planning for that final section of the elevated park is now underway.

According to Baysal, Kiska carried out its work on the High Line until last year, when the second section of the park, from 20th to 30th streets, opened to the public. It also went on to garner almost $80 million in contracts with the state Department of Transportation, one of which is still in effect.

As to whether Kiska should have been allowed to maintain and gain city and state contracts back when the violations occurred, Baysal responded, “Of course it would not have been okay with me if I had been in power then as vice president.” Reminded that he had assumed the vice president position in 2007, before the High Line gifts, the executive had no response save to emphasize that Kiska’s “internal code of conduct is more strict than anything the laws can come up with.”

“It’s not infrequent that someone or a vendor repeatedly induces or causes a public employee to violate the gift law but then goes on to suffer no penalties,” said Mark Davies, executive director of the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. “It’s unfair, and a loophole in the current laws that we’re trying to close.” Davies stresses that many cases never come to the conflicts board’s attention it the first place.

In the wake of the fines for the three city officials who fell for Kiska’s enticements, as well as similar incidents involving others doing business with the city, in 2009 the Conflicts of Interest Boardproposed changes to the city’s ethics rules that would, for the first time, give the board the power to penalize and even blacklist companies that have repeatedly been tied to improper transactions with city employees.

The proposals would require changes to the City Charter, which can only be altered through public referendum, a special vote by state or local legislators. The city’s Law Department is still determining which course to pursue.

“Cases like Kiska are exactly the reason why we’ve proposed amendments,” said Davies.

Ross Sandler, professor at New York Law School and publisher of CityLaw, a bimonthly journal on the city’s regulations and their enforcement, says there are no legal reasons the city can’t penalize or ban companies that ply city workers with gifts even as they do business with the city. Under state and federal laws prohibiting bribery, said Sandler, the city “has authority not to contract with those who don’t follow the rules,” but that “there certainly is a gap” in existing regulations, especially for cases that do not warrant criminal prosecution but require COIB enforcement.

As of now, the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services only provides a loose warning about past improprieties by a company. Its VENDEX computer system lists “caution” items, but city agencies are free to disregard the information provided there.

In the case of Kiska Construction, the company’s VENDEX file includes three notes indicating that federal agents and the New York City Department of Investigation investigated the company in 2008, regarding union payroll records and gift giving to city employees, respectively.

The file also notes that a Kiska foreman on a Goethals Bridge project was also brought before a grand jury in New Jersey four years ago. He is still in federal court fighting accusations of engaging in wire fraud to provide no-show or low-show jobs.

Baysal said that no action had been taken by the city Department of Investigation, after Kiska adopted a new code of conduct for its employees that established a “zero-tolerance” policy toward gift giving.

“If the investigators had really thought that Kiska was guilty, they would have done something, but questions were asked, we co-operated, and it was all dismissed after,” said Baysal. Asked if it was fair to only have public officials penalized, he insisted that Kiska had suffered sufficiently by having been investigated, and added, “Obviously those people in EDC were also involved.”

The Economic Development Corporation did not respond to inquiries sent last week by The New York World.

Read More:

High Line builder showered city officials with forbidden gifts – and pays no price

New York World - January 20, 2011 - By Pei Shan Hoe

$12 Million Park Planned For Columbia Street Waterfront District In Carroll Gardens

Park With Changing Views. Rendering of proposed Columbia Street Waterfront District park between Degraw and Kane Streets in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn. The Department of Transportation ownes the two-acre property. The new park would feature ever changing views of shipping containers from the adjasent piers and port and the Manhattan skyline. (Image: Rogers Marvel Architects)

"Carroll Gardens West" was cut off from the adjacent Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill to the east the late 1950s by the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Brooklyn

Old Brooklyn, meet new Brooklyn.

A plush $12 million riverside park planned for the isolated Columbia Street Waterfront District will feature views of the Manhattan skyline — and massive shipping containers, according to the New York Post.

Renderings released this week show a dingy, city-owned storage lot — running from DeGraw to Kane streets on Columbia Street — being transformed into a 2-acre park behind industrial containers and towering cranes.

For the area’s growing hipster and yuppie crowds, it’ll include a dog run, tree-lined paths and a hilly lawn that officials said could be used to host small concerts and other shows.

Columbia Street Waterfront Park would also be part of a massive bike lane connecting to nearby Brooklyn Bridge Park and eventually other waterfront neighborhoods.

"The goal is to make this park a destination for the neighborhood," said Robert Pirani, a vice president at Regional Plan Association, which is overseeing the project’s design phase with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

He envisions the park becoming a smaller version of Manhattan’s Bryant Park, adding that it could spur takeout business at Columbia Street’s many eateries — such as Alma Restaurant and Margaret Palca Bakes — by providing a serene spot to chow down.

The project, however, can’t break ground just yet.

The city’s Department of Transportation needs the lot for at least another year to store equipment for nearby street-repair projects, and then the city will have to raise money to build the park.

But Councilman Brad Lander, who represents the area, said he believes it won’t be too difficult to raise money through the public and private sector. He said there is "overwhelming community support for it."

Once a vibrant community, the Columbia Street Waterfront District — often referred to as "Carroll Gardens West" — fell on hard times in the late 1950s after being cut off from adjacent Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill to the east by the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Frank Buffa, owner of the 108-year-old Ferdinando’s Focacceria on Union Street between Columbia and Hicks streets, hopes the park "finally gets people to cross the BQE" and into the neighborhood.

"If they come to walk their dogs, maybe they’ll see our shops and come in," he said. "Many of my loyal customers live far away, but there’s people a block away [in Carroll Gardens] who don’t even know we’re here because they don’t walk past the highway."

The Bloomberg administration previously wanted to revive the neighborhood by pushing the shipping terminal out in favor of new housing, a conference center, cruise terminal and beer garden along Piers 7-10 and the lot. But in 2008, the Port Authority, which owns the piers, ultimately opted to keep a working port.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood has been hurt the past eight years by a series of street-repair projects of aging infrastructure along Columbia and Van Brunt streets that has made things difficult for existing businesses.

Read More:

‘Craning’ for view in B’klyn Waterfront park plan

By Rich Calder - January 20, 2012