Co-op City Times 10/26/13

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Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2013 Co-op City Times

Warm October weather brings spike in arrests in Co-op City Vol. 48 No. 43

BY BILL STUTTIG This October has been one of the most pleasant in recent memory with seasonably warm temperatures, little rain and on most days, brilliant sunshine, expanding the opportunity for outdoor activities a few weeks past the norm. Unfortunately, the pleasant weather can also have some unpleasant side effects, as Public Safety reported this week that the number of arrests in Co-op City have spiked over the past three weeks with a total of 26 arrests reported in a period between October 1st and October 22nd. Public Safety reported to the Co-op City Times that half or 12 of the 26 arrests were for the public consumption of alcohol. Of the other 14, four were for trespassing or unauthorized access to Co-op City buildings, 5 were for assault, 2 for disorderly conduct and 1 each for criminal mischief, resisting arrest and public urination. In some of these cases, the suspects were also found to be in possession of small amounts of marijuana. “The arrests are just an example of how hard our officers work to keep this community safe,” said Chief Frank Apollo, Commanding Officer of Riverbay’s Public Safety Department.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

“I applaud the efforts of our veteran officers and our newly hired officers for their dedication and commitment to the Co-op City community.” A disturbing trend in the last three weeks is that many of the arrests involved young people or minors. Among the most serious of the violent incidents involved an assault on a MTA bus in Section 5 shortly after 7 a.m. on Friday, October 11th. A woman attempting to board the bus on Earhart Lane was reportedly elbowed violently, had her hair pulled, and then was struck by an umbrella several times, causing swelling and injuries to her face, hands and leg. Public Safety officers were patrolling near the area, observed the commotion and after interviewing witnesses, arrested the alleged attacker who was charged with assault in the first degree and disorderly conduct. The victim was transported to Jacobi Medical Center for treatment of her injuries. Both the victim and her alleged attacker were Section 5 residents. Approximately a week later, on October 17th, two Public Safety officers on patrol late in the evening, shortly (Continued on page 4)

Co-op City meeting on casino gambling legalization on Tuesday BY BILL STUTTIG Proponents of an amendment to the New York State constitution to legalize casino gambling in New York State will speak in the Dreiser auditorium this Tuesday evening, October 29, at 7 p.m. as part of a forum on the issue to be hosted by State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto. Benedetto, who only will briefly introduce the speakers, added that he has also reached out to opponents of legalized gambling to allow them to argue their case as well at Tuesday evening’s meeting. The entire forum is expected to last an hour. The proposed amendment to legalize casino gambling in New York State on a limited, controlled basis will be on the ballot next month, one of six amendment proposals New York State voters will decide on this Election Day. According to Benedetto, the speakers at Tuesday evening’s forum will be representatives of developers wishing to establish a new casino resort in the Catskills region of the state in order to revive tourism in that region. Once a thriving resort region, the Catskills and its historic vacation resorts fell on hard times decades ago as air travel to other areas of the nation became quicker and more reason-

ably priced. That tourism region is just a shell of what it once was and it has been long thought that legalized gambling would be the only chance for reviving that region’s tourism economy to its past glory. According to Benedetto, Governor Andrew Cuomo, a proponent of the legalized gambling amendment, sees the legalization of “Las Vegas-style” casinos in certain areas of the state as a way of not only increasing tax revenues for New York State, but, more importantly, as a way to create jobs and revive tourism in the state and greatly improve the economies of some long-depressed areas of the state like the Catskills. In most modern-day style gambling resorts, gambling accounts for less than half the revenue generated by the establishment as the non-gamblers or minimal gamblers are also attracted to the sleekstyle venues for their entertainment, restaurants, night clubs, and other amenities such as pools, spas and golf courses. If passed, the amendment will call for the creation of four new casino resorts in New York State – two in the Catskills (Continued on page 4)

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Benedetto calls on state and city governments to work together on Bay Plaza traffic improvements BY BILL STUTTIG Assemblyman Mike Benedetto said this week that he is planning on getting the new Mayor’s administration directly involved in immediately improving access and egress to the new Mall at Bay Plaza, which is expected to open later in 2014. Benedetto recently worked with State Senator Jeff Klein and City Councilman James Vacca — two elected officials that also represent surrounding communities near the new planned mega mall — in bringing representatives from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office into a recent meeting with New York State Department of Transportation and the Thruway Authority regarding plans to handle the increased traffic into the new mall and also other major commercial development projects due to open in the east Bronx within the next year. Co-op City’s Assemblyman said that he is calling for a follow-up meeting in January, after the new Mayor is sworn in, to get both the Mayor’s Office and the Governor’s Office working together to put increased pressure on the involved transportation agencies to come up with a plan to alleviate some of the traffic before the Mall, and other developments, open later in the year. Benedetto added that he has also been in touch with representatives of the new Mall’s developers, Prestige Properties, to get them directly

involved in the talks to handle the increased traffic to the new mall, which will double the size of the already existing Bay Plaza. “At this point, we might have to call on the city’s Department of Transportation to make improvements to local streets as we wait for more long-term improvements to take shape,” Benedetto said. Earlier this year, the city Department of Transportation completed work on the one improvement that helped alleviate some of the existing Bay Plaza traffic which regularly backs up at the intersection of Bartow and Baychester Avenues. The city DOT created a new traffic island and two dedicated left turning lanes to help direct some Bay Plaza traffic away from Co-op City and onto the southbound I-95 more quickly. In the next few weeks, the state Thruway Authority will begin work on expanding the exit off of the northbound I-95 adjacent to the main entrance to the existing Bay Plaza. The plan, for the improved access from I-95 as presented at a meeting held in Co-op City this past spring, calls for the widening of the exit which will bring traffic from the northbound I-95 into the mall. Two additional lanes will be created at the exit, and Baychester Avenue will be widened to (Continued on page 2)

Bay Plaza Mall

Steady progress on the construction of the massive new Mall at Bay Plaza grows more apparent with each passing day. On the other hand, progress on road improvements to handle the anticipated amount of additional traffic that will begin coming to the mall and the general Co-op City area some time in 2014 is non-existent. Photo by Bill Stuttig


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