The local paper for the Upper er East Side WEE WEEK OF JANUARY
SITTING NG DOWN WITH THE D.A.
15-21
YOUR FIFTEEN FTEEN MINUTES, S, P.22 >
2015
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THE COST OF THE POLICE SLOWDOWN NEWS Though the reduction in ticketing and summonses seems to be easing, its fallout was most felt in areas with traffic-safety problems BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
While Police Commissioner William Bratton appears to have put an end to the NYPD’s two-week-long reduction
In Brief IN MANHATTAN, HUNDREDS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF FRANCE
in summons activity, the slowdown seems to have been steepest in the area of Vision Zero enforcement. The initiative is being driven by Mayor Bill de Blasio, and is already credited with having saved lives by reducing the speed limit citywide to 25 miles per hour and putting in place a host of traffic safety improvements, as well as enacting legislation
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TURNING GRIEF INTO ACTION NEWS Traffic victims and families press D.A.’s to prosecute drivers in pedestrian fatalities BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
Families for Safe Streets staged a rally Sunday calling on New York district attorneys to take more seriously cases where reckless drivers kill or injure pedestrians. Photo by Daniel Fitzsimmons
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Emma Blumstein. Seth Kahn. Kelly Gordon. Ella Bendes. Sammy Cohen. Cooper Stock. Their faces peered out from pictures held by family members who gathered Sunday on the steps of City Hall. Those holding the pictures were all members of Families for Safe Streets, and all have lost their loved ones
to collisions with vehicles on the streets of New York. Many held another sign that read “No Charges Filed,” a statement that’s become a rallying cry in the effort to get the five New York district attorneys to prosecute drivers that, due to negligence or recklessness, kill or seriously injure a pedestrian. “Crashes caused by aggressive driving are not accidents. When drivers make turns at full speed without even looking, or speed through intersections and kill people, D.A.s never press charges,” said Amy Cohen, a founding
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Hundreds of mostly Frenchspeaking New Yorkers held pens aloft at a rally Saturday to insist on freedom of expression while decrying a deadly terror attack on a Paris satirical publication. The demonstrators braved below-freezing temperatures in Washington Square Park, where a leather-clad pole dancer gyrated in a provocative display meant to reflect the over-the-top cartoons in the magazine Charlie Hebdo. The dancer’s live soundtrack came from a concert grand piano hauled into the Manhattan square for the occasion as she twirled under a sign that read “Je suis Charlie.” French for “I am Charlie,” the words have emerged as a global rallying cry since two gunmen with assault rifles killed 12 people last Wednesday at the Paris headquarters of the magazine. New York organizers said they were showing solidarity with the French after three days of violence that, all told, left 20 dead, including three gunmen. Olivier Souchard, a French-born New York resident who brought his family and friends, explained the fierce support for freedom of expression that drove Charlie Hebdo’s images of the prophet Mohammed. He said he’s been in touch with his friend Philippe Lancon, a Charlie Hebdo columnist who is recovering from surgery after being shot in the face in the attack.
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday January 16 - 4:36 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.