MTA Rolls Out More Rented Guards to Beat Fare Evasion
The MTA has doubled the ranks of private security guards posted near subway station emergency exits that officials call the “superhighway of fare evasion.”
Budget documents show that the MTA expects to spend more than $35 million through next year on increasing to 1,000 the number of unarmed security guards whose mere presence at the gates is intended to slow the stream of fare-beaters who use them as free entrances.
The MTA estimates that it takes a $700 to $800 million hit annually from nonpayment in the subways, buses and commuter railroads, as well as at its tolled bridges and tunnels…
Bike Lanes and Safety Changes Proposed for School-Filled Blocks in Brooklyn
The perennial debate about adding bike lanes in the city has returned, this time in a school-saturated area of central Brooklyn where drag racing is common and protected bike lanes do not yet exist.
At issue is a proposal from the city Department of Transportation that aims to transform an area on the border of Crown Heights and East Flatbush long known for speeding vehicles, crashes and injuries. The plan includes creating protected bike lanes that would narrow the roadways, as well as curb extensions and pedestrian islands.
During an unofficial video conference call about the project arranged by Brooklyn’s Community Board 9’s transportation committee this week, locals aired concerns over safety, congestion and of course, parking…
Botanic Garden Backers and Developers Face Off, Again, Over Shady Tower
The developer of a controversial proposed high-rise housing development alongside the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is making a second try at obtaining city approval — but still facing uproar, even after cutting the project down to less than half its former height.
The push by Continuum Company, a development firm with bases in New York and Florida, to develop the site of a former spice factory on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn met with a crowd of opponents at a Brooklyn Borough Hall hearing Tuesday night, many of them wearing black and yellow “fight for sunlight” T-shirts warning of harm to the garden even at the shrunken size.
Continuum’s project, now at 14 stories and 475 apartments in one tower — down from 32 floors and 1,600 units in two buildings — is going through a new land use review after the City Planning Commission made a rare rejection of its rezoning proposal in 2021, asserting that the developers had failed to minimize shadows the towers would be cast onto sensitive sections of the garden…
Vending Tickets in Parks Climb Steadily as New Arrivals Face Ramped Up Enforcement
Earlier this month, as pre-summer heat marked the beginning of a busy season for the city’s street vendors, a video already going viral on social media began to make its rounds among those selling fruit, hats and souvenirs at Battery Park.
Officers from NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol and the New York City Police Department had attempted to arrest a 32-year-old migrant fruit vendor and her 14-year-old daughter at the Lower Manhattan park, the video taken by a passerby showed. The chaotic and physical confrontation outraged vendor advocates and supporters.
“What are you fucking doing?” one person shouted as a Parks officer attempted to restrain the young girl in distress — her right hand already visibly handcuffed by the officer. “Let her go,” another pedestrian urged, before the officer and the girl tumbled onto the ground.
In the end, onlookers aided the girl and led her away from the officer. But the vendor received a criminal desk appearance ticket and the teenager received a juvenile report — a deterrent tactic that vendor advocates lament is far too common…
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