The local paper for Downtown wn ROAD TESTS FOR TAXIS? < OP-ED, P.8
TRAFFIC-SAFETY GROUP HOLDS FIRST MEETING WITH D.A. NEWS Signs of progress in reducing tensions between Vance and family members BY KYLE POPE
A group of family members who have lost loved ones in traffic deaths have spent the last month painting Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. as a big part of the problem. Members of the group, called Families for Safe Streets, have targeted Vance at press conferences, held at rally at City Hall to protest his approach to traffic fatalities, even shouted him down at a business breakfast. All, they say, because of an unusually low number of prosecutions of traffic-death cases, when compared to other cities around the country. Now, the tension finally appears to be easing. Last week, for the first time, Vance met with members of the group as well as some elected officials in his Manhattan office – and family members say they emerged cautiously optimistic that progress is possible. “He was engaged,” said Amy Cohen, a Families for Safe Streets member whose 8-year-old son was killed in October 2013 after chasing a soccer ball out into the street near Prospect Park. “They were interested in doing more.” Members of the families group were joined at the meeting by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, a staff
RALLYING SUPPORT FOR FASHION WEEK NEWS Local elected officials and city agencies praise the economic benefits of Fashion Week, as the event looks for a new home after its final turn at Lincoln Center BY MEGAN BUNGEROTH
As thousands of the world’s most
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stylish people flock to the city in preparation for Fashion Week, organizers of the iconic event are quietly searching for their next home, while city officials rouse support for the event. Fashion Week, which is currently sponsored by Mercedes Benz but will lose that sponsorship by the spring shows in September, has been ousted from two public parks in the past several years. After
leaving Bryant Park on the heels of neighborhood complaints about the traffic, noise and crowding, Fashion Week pitched its tents in Damrosch Park, on the campus of and operated by Lincoln Center but still a public space, in 2011. At the beginning of this year, neighborhood activists won a long battle to remove Fashion Week from Damrosch Park, reaching a settlement with Lincoln Center and the city acknowledging that the event should never have been allowed to take over park land and block public access. Starting February 12, models will make their final walks down Lincoln Center runways, and when Fashion Week returns this fall, it will be at a yet-unknown location. Producer IMG has said that they’re searching for a space (or spaces) downtown; by 2018 the event will have a permanent home in Hudson Yards in a venue called Culture Shed. While Fashion Week was originally contracted to remain at Lincoln Center until 2020, a spokesperson told the New York Post when the settlement was reached that “IMG has been actively looking for a new home that gives our designers and partners the best possible environment to share their creative visions.” This year, there are shows and events in the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, Soho, Wall Street, the West Village, even midtown and 5th Avenue.
WEEK OF FEBRUARY
12-18 2015
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In Brief CRACKDOWN ON BUILDING-PERMIT BRIBES In a scene reminiscent of 1970s New York, dozens of building inspectors and private landlords -- some suspected of mob affiliations -- were taken into custody on Tuesday on bribery charges. The Manhattan D.A.’s office and the city Department of Investigation said more than 50 people had been arrested, hauled before cameras in lower Manhattan. The defendants were accused of accepting bribes in exchanging for granting building permits. Some of the buildings were given a pass, investigators said, even though they continued to have serious code violations. The sting, first reported by the Daily News, snagged eight building inspectors, two Buildings Department supervisors, an employee of the Department of Small Business Services, as well as other owners and managers. Investigators said the bribetaking has implicated more than 100 buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and could lead to reinspections across the city. While full details of the scams aren’t yet available, inspectors say they no doubt were fed by a building boom in the city, and a rush to speed up city approval processes. In the last year alone, demand for new building permits has risen 35%, according to city records. That pace will likely only increase as a plan by Mayor Bill de Blasio to amp up the city’s housing stock takes effect.
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