By JOSEPH MODICA
Public transportation advocacy groups around the city on Thursday pushed for dual-door bus entry and other moves to streamline service, less than a week before the transit board was set to look into Metrocard replacement programs.
At a press conference in front of MTA headquarters transit unions, riders associations and other groups proposed changes like moving the fare box out of the bus and next to bus stops where riders can pay their fares beforehand, allowing the city to totally remove the paying process inside of buses and freeing up both front and back doors, and sensors that let rider “tap” their bank cards to pay fares. This move would reduce congestion and speed up wait times; buses spend 22 percent of their time at stops, says Rider’s Alliance, a New York based advocacy group.
Riders now enter through the front of the bus and pay while riders exit through the rear. Deputy Executive Director Tabitha Decker called this method “outdated” and said that the transit authority was slow to exploit modern technology. According to Decker, all-door boarding will not only result in more customers, but be safer for drivers, who often have to confront fare-beaters. The group also claims that streamlining the bus system would benefit communities where the subway doesn’t serve them.
“The subways are delayed, the buses are delayed it makes it very hard to get around the city” said New York State Senator Michael Gianaris. “[All-door boarding] will help riders, it will help workers,” he added and went to call this solution “common sense.”
Other cities have tried this system with some success.
In May 2016, Seattle transit authority fully released a 24/7 dual-door system and street-side fare boxes on specific bus lines, called RapidRide. Using sensor technology, a rider taps a bus card and simply walks in- or pay the fare street-side. This program extends the 2012 program, when dual-door boarding took place only between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Buses that used a dual-door system reduced idle time between 5 to 19 percent says a study done by McGill University in Montreal.
Organizers said that the new streamlined system would attract more riders and alleviate the cost of retrofitting the over 5700 buses in the the transit authority’s fleet with sensors and improvements.
The next board meeting was scheduled for Oct. 26
Photo by Joseph Modica
By AHMED JALLOW
The final witness on the Chelsea bomber trial gave a tearful account on Thursday as prosecutors in their closing argument said the bomber intended “to cause as much death and devastation as possible.”
Tsitsi Meritt describes her ordeal in the Manhattan Federal Court about that Saturday night on West 23rd Street as she was waiting at a red light when a bomb, allegedly set up by Ahmad Rahimi, 29, detonated and shattered the window of the car she was riding in.
Meritt, burst into tears as prosecutors showed jurors a video of the white Toyota Prius that Meritt, her son and a friend were in last year when the bomb went off causing the car to “jump” and shake.
“We were waiting at the traffic light then we heard a loud sound. We heard people running and screaming,” she said. “The back seat windows shattered onto [my son], some rear view mirror damaged. We didn’t really know what it was,” she recalled.
Meritt said she sought help for her son but no one came to their rescue until emergency responders arrived at the scene and rushed them to the hospital.
“I was going back and forth just trying to get somebody to help my son,” she said. “I picked him and at some point and emergency responder took him from me.”
In his closing argument that afternoon, assistant prosecutor Emil Bove said: “He [ the defendant] wanted to maximize the death, the devastation and the destruction, caused by the bombing.”
Bove, in the beginning of his three-hour argument, asked the jury “Who did these things?” and walked behind Rahimi’s chair pointing at him “this man did these things,” he yelled. “The defendant, Ahmad Rahimi conducted these bombings… with evil in his heart.”
The tense moment was broken off when Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Berman asked Bove to move away from Rahimi and return to the dais.
Rahimi is charged with eight counts in Manhattan Federal Court for his alleged Sept. 17, 2016, bombing on West 23rd Street that injured 30 people and for also placing a bomb which failed to explode few blocks away on West 27 Street that same evening.
The defense was set to give its closing argument on Friday.
By JOSEPH MODICA
Furious parents came out en masse on the steps of City Hall Thursday morning under rain and wind to give Mayor Bill de Blasio one message: we don’t want rubber room teachers!
An advocacy group made up of parents and community leaders called StudentsFirstNY voiced their complaints about de Blasio’s bringing back 400 teachers who were taken out of their daily teaching positions and placed into rooms to await hearings or for new positions, referred to as “rubber rooms.” Many of these teachers were placed there because of disciplinary problems, poor teaching records, or simply because they found themselves jobless after their schools closed.
Teachers who were rubber-roomed previously cost the city between $15 to $20 million and the recent move to redeploy them was designed to buttress the Department of Education budget. Teachers affected by this have little say where they will be placed, and principals will not be able to choose whom to hire as they did previously.
“We’re looking for qualified teachers, were looking for teachers doing the right thing.” said Gloria Alfinez, a Bronx parent said. “Get them either a severance pay or a nice ticket that says ba-bye.”
However, firing teachers is not as easy as that.
In 2005, former mayor Michael Bloomberg gave principals more flexibility to remove teachers from classrooms with a deal struck between him and the United Federation of Teachers during the mayor’s first term in office. Removed teachers were not fired however, but rather moved into a pool called the Absent Teacher Reserve. These teachers wait sometimes years for an available position, acting as a substitute teacher, but often made to sit in a room doing nothing. This has left de Blasio in a tight-spot, as teachers could not be fired, but not be allowed to continue to receive a full salary pay.
A DOE representative said in an email that the new policy is meant to better use the pool of teachers for a school’s needs and ensures parents that, “we simply won’t match any [Absent Teacher Reserve] teacher to a year-long vacancy if we have any concerns about their work history or performance.”
Cynthia Tibbs, a Manhattan parent, was not convinced and said that such teachers should not be placed in a “rubber room,” but not put back to teaching positions either. “Putting them back in a children’s environment is not conducive to children or anyone else.”
Photo by Joseph Modica
By JAME DELIZ
Representatives of the United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday against the Charter Schools Committee, accusing them of lowering certification standards for teachers.
According to a report issued by the UFT, SUNY Charter Schools are cutting down hours of instruction in teaching skills, from “250 hours of instruction” to “about 150 hours,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.
Charter schools will also provide only a week of practice instruction, and only one certification exam. Under these new regulations, charter schools “do not require a candidate to have completed a bachelor’s degree,” said the report.
Mulgrew argued that teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree and/or a master’s degree, as well as extensive supervised teaching experiences.
“This is a disgrace to our state’s education system,” said NYSUT President Andrew Pallotta.
Some charter school supporters say that a shortage of teachers necessitates reducing certification standard. But the UFT counters that 40 percent of charter school teachers quit, making it difficult to “maintain the required percentage of fully certified teachers on their faculties.”
“It’s not easy to become a fully certified teacher in New York, nor should it be,” said Mulgrew in the report. “All our kids deserve to be taught by teachers who have gone through a rigorous process, but the Charter Schools Committee has just approved a measure that would toss these standards aside for charters, all because some charter schools have trouble meeting them.”
Meanwhile, on the steps of City Hall, Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz said called the lawsuit unfair because “students of color” often don’t get the proper teaching because of the teacher shortage. “It’s unfortunate that they’re taking this away from them,” she said.
UFT representatives contend that the new certifications would deprive students of the education they need.
“It’s despicable what the charter schools did,” said Pallotta. “It’s about the children.”
Photo of Andrew Pallotta (r) and Michael Mulgrew by Jamie Deliz
By HERMIA JEAN-LOUIS
Glistening like ornaments under studio lights on Thursday the Rockettes “kicked” off a spirited rehearsal for their annual Christmas Spectacular.
Since their debut in 1933, the dance troupe of Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center has upheld the tradition of spreading Christmas cheer by performing highly synchronized, high-stepping dance routines that appear as smooth as silk, light as snowflakes and precise as surgery.
The rehearsal, where much of the glistening arose from beads of perspiration, the dancers showed all the hard work and preparation that goes into the shiny final product.
Choreographer Julie Branam, a former Rockette who considers herself a “mother hen” of the young women, described them as “athletic, strong and powerful.” The 80 dancers work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week for 6 weeks, clacking on high heels until the first show on Nov. 10. Rehearsals are strict in making sure that every toe is pointed and every smile is brighter than ever.
One Rockette, Hailey, 18, described the feeling as a “great time”, adding that the pain of the nonstop dancing doesn’t set in until they stop rehearsing.. “We’re dancing so much, and our energy is up all the time so we don’t really think about it,” Hailey said. At such a young age, Hailey knew she wanted to be a Rockette when she first saw the show in 2013. Landing a spot on the line was“pure surreal-ness.” She advised other aspiring Rockettes to “never stop trying, keep at it and stay true to your dreams.”
Branam said the show features something new every year.
“We are always trying to up our game at Radio City,” she said. This holiday season Radio City has added new technical elements that gives a more interactive show with the audience, with new LED screens to create a more vivid and sharper image,
The innovations, however, will not overshadow traditions such as the Nutcracker, New York at Christmas, wooden soldiers and the living nativity.
By JOSEPH MODICA
Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis called today for stiffer penalties for disruptive city school students, including bringing back five-day suspensions on students as early as kindergarten.
In front of Tweed Courthouse, headquarters of the Department of Education, Malliotakis slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio over what she portrayed as a “forgiving” approach to disciplining students, calling his policies as “too progressive and took it too far.”
Her plan for a tougher approach came less than two weeks after Abel Cedeno, 18, allegedly killed classmates Matthew McCree, 15, and critically wounded Arian LaBoy, 16, at the Urban Assembly of Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx. The killing has left a school shaken and created fresh doubts in parents’ minds that schools can keep their children safe. Since then, there have been 20 requests from parents to transfer their children out of the Bronx school.
She urged the school system to revert back to former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2012 reforms, the restoration of school survey questions that left out questions such as how safe do students feel in their school. She proposed that more counsellors and an emphasis of discussion over punishment, referred to as “restorative intervention,” should stay, but that talking out problems should be “complementing, not replacing” discipline. She recommended that teachers and principals be empowered to suspend children from kindergarten to second grade for mid-level offenses.
When pressed by reporters, Malliotakis defended her stance, saying that it should be handled on a case-by-case basis, and that Bloomberg’s 2012 reform lowered suspensions in school from 69,643 in 2011-12 school year to 37,647 by the 2015-16 school year said a study done by the Manhattan Institute. She remarked that the 10 day suspension on kindergartners as harsh, but “effective.”
She also said that de Blasio’s, “policies put in place an environment where a student can do anything in the class and get away with it.” She called these policies as “jumping through hoops” for school staff and that it impedes teacher’s and principal’s ability to remove uncooperative and violent students, and it puts staff and students in danger.
She pointed out that de Blasio’s 2015 removal of suspensions on first-time, low-level offenses and that the maximum suspension was reduced to five days to 10 days. The mayor implemented his sweeping discipline reform in 2015, aiming to continue the downward trend of suspensions, arrests and summons while easing the aggressive and unforgiving reforms that characterized Bloomberg’s 2012 school reform.
“Young people need to be taught to respect their teachers at an early age” Malliotakis concluded.
A spokesperson for the DOE was not available for comment.
Photo by Joseph Modica
By JAMIE DELIZ
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Thursday announced a new $450 million investment to help fund mortgages for affordable homes for veterans and single-parent families whose members died in the line of duty.
“It feels harder than ever to purchase a home,” said Stringer at a press conference in his office, “and that’s true for all of us. These challenges become tragedies for our veterans, our friends and neighbors who return from serving our countries overseas, to find themselves unable to afford a place to live.”
This initiative will create “tens of thousands” of sustainable and affordable homes citywide, according to Stringer, and, under the Department of Veterans Affairs, $5 million of this “first of its kind” investment will go directly towards the about 200,000 New York City veterans.
How this works is, “You go to the bank, and want to get this mortgage,” said Stringer, “we are backing up that mortgage.”
Through economically targeted investments, about 2 percent of the overall funds, the program works towards creating affordable housing for low to middle-income communities. The program also links with private banks, like the RBC Bank, to provide funding for up to 30-year mortgages, encouraging both public and private lenders to create “more affordable housing mortgages and promoting lower interest rates,” according to the comptroller’s report.
Some $300 million was previously invested into the fund.
“Again, we’re expanding our investment, we’re adding another $150 million,” said Stringer, aiding single-families making less than the 80 percent area median income, about $77,000 a year.
Stringer aide Brian Cook said that half of the loans will be made for families who make less than $77,000, and “about half are made for, up to, about $140,000.”
Recipients are eligible for a maximum loan of a $600,000 loan. The loans are backed by a federal agency, according to Cook. Mortgages are at a fixed rate, and after it is backed and insured by an agency, Cook said, “We come in, and we purchase the mortgages.”
Photo by Jamie Deliz
By BRIAN MORENO & MARLENE GOMEZ
The Bronx woman accused of butchering her pregnant friend in order to extract her unborn baby and claim the child as her own was found guilty of murder on Thursday after jurors deliberated less than one full day in the so-called “womb raider” trial.
The defendant Ashleigh Wade wept on hearing the guilt verdict of second-degree murder and kidnapping. The victim’s parents, Bishop William and Deborah Sutton, also broke down in tears.
In rendering the verdict against Wade, 24, the jury rejected defense attorney Amy Attias’s request that they reduce the charges to manslaughter, citing the defendant’s “extreme emotional disturbance” as a mitigating circumstance.
In her closing argument on Wednesday, Assistant DA Meredith Holzman branded the butchering of nine-month pregnant Angelikque Sutton, 22, as “calculated. This is murder, plain and simple.”
Friends and family members of Wade testified that she faked her pregnancy and described how she removed Sutton’s unborn child by using a three-inch knife to slash her throat, cut her abdomen and uterus and before stabbing her several times, all this on the day that she was scheduled to be married.
The child, Jenasis Bradley, 22 months old, survived the ordeal and lives with her father, Patrick.
According to medical witness, Dr. Eric Goldsmith, Wade suffered from a mental disorder called pseudocyesis, a condition that allowed her to falsely believe she was pregnant.
Before the jury began deliberations, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy replaced with an alternate a juror who fainted after observing gruesome photographs of Sutton’s mutilated body last week.
Before reaching the verdict the jury requested the Facebook and phone messages that were exchanged between Wade and Sutton and a through explanation of the definition mental condition offered by Goldsmith, leading courtroom observers to falsely conjecture that they were leaning toward a verdict of manslaughter
The jury also requested to know what time did Sutton arrived to Wade’s apartment as well to review the puncture wounds on Sutton’s neck.
Wade could face life in prison without parole.
Photo by Marlene Gomez of victim’s parent, jubilant after guilty verdict.
By MARLENE GOMEZ
A juror fainted and was sent to the hospital during a showing of gruesome autopsy photos at the so-called “Womb Raider” trial in a Bronx courthouse Thursday.
The juror suddenly passed out as the courtroom spectators viewed graphic images projected of the victim Angelikque Sutton’s heavily butchered lifeless body during testimony by a medical examiner.
Some of the disturbing images were of the victim removed uterus, placenta and umbilical cord and countless severe stab wounds to her neck, face, and hands allegedly inflicted by defendant Ashleigh Wade who is accused of butchering the pregnant woman on her wedding day. Prosecutors say the defendant wanted to keep the unborn child alive
According the medical examiner, many of Sutton’s injuries to her neck were fatal as blood supply to her vital structures were cut and enough to kill her before the baby was removed from Sutton’s body.
Judge Margaret L. Clancy noticed that the unidentified Juror 7 had her head down and called a recess. As the other jurors exited the courtroom the mature woman stayed in her seat, apparentlyunconscious. . A court officer rushed over to try to wake her, but she did not respond.
The courtroom was cleared out to allow medical attention to the juror and the trial was adjourned until Friday morning.
The alleged killer did not look at the photos as they were being shown. Wade was wearing a blue and white striped short sleeved shirt and khaki pants as she sat silently next to her attorney Amy Attias.
Wade is accused of the brutal act in her Bronx home on November 20, 2015 after inviting Sutton over supposedly to give her a wedding gift. Sutton was set to wed the child’s father on the same day
The child Jenasis, survived the ordeal and is now living with her father, Patrick Bradley.
Wade faces life in prison if found guilty.
