The local paper for the Upper er East Side WEEK OF DECEMBER A MODERN MADAME OF ART, CITY ARTS P. 12 >
4-10 2014
OURTOWNNY.COM
OurTownEastSide @OurTownNYC
A NEW TACK IN THE FIGHT OVER TRASH STATION
In Brief MAYOR HIGHLIGHTS LATEST CRIME STATS
NEWS The battle has shifted from killing the project to moving its access ramp BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
UPPER EAST SIDE Asphalt Green this week launched two high-profile ads targeting Mayor Bill de Blasio over his position on the E. 91st St. marine transfer station. The ads – a full-page color spread in The New York Times and a 30-second TV spot – are not seeking to stop the MTS outright. Rather, they implore the mayor to agree to a plan that moves the ramp for dump trucks going to and from the MTS one block north to 92nd St. The campaign is the most tangible sign yet that opponents of the plan are facing the reality that the MTS will be built, and are shifting their focus to mitigating its impact on the community. Asphalt Green, a sports complex on the Hudson River, is at the epicenter of construction surrounding the MTS. The current access ramp runs right through the facility, bisecting the main complex and nearby soccer fields. The athletic complex hired engineer Sam Schwartz, who formerly held a position in the DOT and still does some consulting work for the city, to identify other locations where the ramp could go. His firm came up with E. 92nd St. as an alternative, and Asphalt Green and Schwartz have spent the past few weeks trying to convince the city to agree to their plan. They say they’ve been successful in getting their idea across to officials at the DOT and the Dept. of Design and Construction, but have so far not received an answer as to whether the city will move the ramp a block north. “These meetings are quite frequent,”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 23
THE TRAGEDY AFTER INVESTIGATION As many as 260 pedestrians are expected to die this year on New York City streets. But almost none of the drivers involved in those cases will be prosecuted -- adding to the nightmare for the families of the victims.
BY JILL ABRAMSON ofia Russo was 45 minutes late for her appointment with justice. But she didn’t miss much. On Nov. 20, Judge Gregory Carro swiftly pushed off until January the sentencing of Franklin Reyes, the teenager who ran over and killed Russo’s 4-year-old daughter, Ariel. So, as she did on this day, Russo, a teacher, will find someone to cover for her class next month when she returns to court again, hoping to
S
see Reyes punished for Ariel’s death, now more than a year and a half ago, in June 2013. Russo said in an interview that she finds cruel irony in the fact that she teaches history to boys the same age as Reyes, who was 17 when he ran over Ariel and her grandmother in a Nissan Frontier SUV in front of the little girl’s preschool on the Upper West Side. This is why she initially sympathized with Reyes. “The majority of my kids are 16 and 17, including a lot of troubled boys. This could have been one of my students,” she said. But empathy has hardened into rage in the months since the accident. Although Reyes had tried to flee the scene, backing up so violently he pinned Ariel and her grandmother to a nearby restaurant’s metal grating, he was treated leniently, charged as a minor and freed on bail. This despite the fact that the crash that killed Ariel was the result of another crime: Reyes was driving without a license, speeding up Am-
sterdam Avenue in an attempt to flee from cops who had seen him driving erratically and ordered him to pull over. The chase ended with the fatal crash on 97th Street. Originally, by giving him bail and charging him as a minor, Judge Carro was giving Reyes a chance to avoid having a public criminal record. But on Sept. 3, Reyes was again stopped for driving recklessly, without a license. This time, in speeding away, Reyes dragged the cop 100 feet and then led police on another chase, hitting a car and almost injuring a parking attendant before he was arrested. This time, he was sent to Rikers Island, where he has been ever since, except for a visit to a city hospital for chest pains, after which he again ran away from the police and had to be chased down. (In the months before that arrest, Reyes was charged with petty larceny for stealing from an apartment building where his father was the super.)
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bratton announced the city’s latest crime numbers and outlined the administration’s work this year to strengthen the relationship between police and community. Be Blasio pointed out as an example that lowlevel marijuana arrests—which disproportionately affect young men of color—have decreased by 61.2 percent since the new policy launched by the de Blasio administration last month. De Blasio and Bratton also announced that the NYPD body camera pilot program will begin this week, starting with the training of three commands where stop-and-frisk rates have been the highest: PSA 2, 40 Precinct, and the 120 Precinct. “Thanks to the NYPD and the leadership of Police Commissioner Bratton, crime in New York City is at historic lows,” said de Blasio. “But this administration doesn’t rest on its laurels—we will continue to build on our efforts to strengthen the bond between our police officers and communities they service, working to keep New York the safest big city in the nation.” The mayor announced that the overall index crime is down 4.4 percent at the end of November, and that homicides in New York City have decreased by 6.8 percent; robbery is down 14.4 percent; and rape is down 2.9 percent from already historically low numbers. The four month period of August through November has had the lowest number of shooting incidents and homicides compared to prior August through November periods since 1993.
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candle every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday December 5 – 4:11 pm For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.