YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL’S KITCHEN
Photo by Yannic Rack
DOB Pledges Tough Action on Application Fraud BY EILEEN STUKANE In February 2015, NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters arrested 50 people who were indicted on bribery and corruption charges related to the city’s construction industry. Among those indicted property managers, contractors, building owners and “expediters” were a reported 16 NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) inspectors who were accused of taking bribes. Continued on page 4
Ceremony Celebrates a Sure Sign of the Phyllis Gonzalez Legacy BY YANNIC RACK It took years of effort by family, friends, elected officials and thousands of locals who singed the petition — but on July 18, the late Phyllis Gonzalez finally got her “Way.” At the northwest corner of 25th St. and Ninth Ave. — on the same block where she lived for over 30 years — a street renaming ceremony paid tribute to one of Chelsea’s most dedicated housing activists, with the official unveiling of Phyllis Gonzalez Way. “Phyllis worked on behalf of our neighborhood until the day she passed away, and she will be remembered for her
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unrelenting pursuit of better lives for people in the community that she loved,” said City Councilmember Corey Johnson, who led the ceremonial. Phyllis Gonzalez Way now runs past the Elliott-Chelsea Houses, from where Gonzalez set out — in a wheelchair in her later years — to tirelessly advocate on behalf of the residents of her community. A longtime tenant leader and affordable housing advocate, her career spanned four terms as the president of the
Continued on page 6 VOLUME 07, ISSUE 23 | JULY 23 - 29, 2015