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ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of Bronx-relevant topics -- a review in
Commonweal magazine of Dec. 5, 2003, opines that
"Predatory Bender... is as vivid an account of life in
the Bronx as you are likely to read" -- click here for
sample chapters, here for
an interactive map,
here
for fast ordering
and
delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’],"
by Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person accounts."
The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." The Pittsburgh
City Paper of Dec. 11, 2003, wrote that it "may, in fact,
be the first great American lending malfeasance novel" including
"low-level loan sharks, class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs,
hired muscle, corrupt politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall
Street analysts, reporters and one watchdog with a Web
site." And all in The Bronx! Click
here
for that
review; for more information, contact us.
See, in Nov 2021, Inner City Press' book "Belt and Roadkill,"
here
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 10 – Deron
Boone was
arrested in
1924 Webster
Avenue in The
Bronx on
February 14,
2023 for
having a gun -
in a safe -
while a
felon.
On
August 22,
2023 Boone
appeared
before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Paul G.
Gardephe.
He
pleaded not
guilty to the
indictment,
and was
seeking a
change of
counsel.
Judge
Gardephe, who
had asked the
day's CJA
counsel to be
present in the
gallery where
Inner City
Press also
was, explained
to Mr. Boone
that the state
and federal
systems work
differently.
Separate
sovereigns, he
said. Was
Boone sure he
wanted to
change
counsel?
After some
whispering, he
was not. He
said he just
wanted to go
home. He
already served
more than a
decade for a
gun-related
parole
violation.
He
was given
until
September 29
to make
motions - was
there probably
cause to
search his
safe? - and
Speedy Trial
Act was
excluded.
Jump
cut to
December 26,
when the US
submitted a
post-hearing
brief opposing
Boone's
counsel's
motion to
suppress. The
prosecutors
say the
housing
project
apartment's
leaseholder
Benjamin
Fortune had
authority to
let NYPD
search Boone's
room - and
that Boone
"did not
object to
Fortune's
authority to
consent to the
search."
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 11 – Following the death of a
one-year old baby by fentanyl, on September 19,
2023 the US Attorney for the Southern District
of New York charged Grei Mendez and Carlisto
Acevedo Brito.
On
September 25, with no notice and Inner City
Press initially the only person in the courtroom
gallery, the third man was brought in: Renny
Antonio Parra Paredes. Inner City Press live
tweeted, thread:
Judge
Wang: You are charged with conspiracy to
distribute narcotics. AUSA: We seek detention,
and they consent. Defense lawyer: Most of his
family is out of town. We consent.
On
January 23, Paredes' lawyer argued, and lost,
before the assigned District Judge Jed S.
Rakoff: "Minute Entry for proceedings held
before Judge Jed S. Rakoff: Oral Argument as to
Felix Herrera Garcia, Grei Mendez, Carlisto
Acevedo Brito, Renny Antonio Parra Paredes held
on 1/23/2024. The trial date is adjourned to
6/10/2024 and time is excluded in the interest
of justice, pursuant to Section 3161 of Title
18. Deft Paredes bail application is denied as a
risk of flight and danger to the community. All
deft's continued remanded."
On
February 12, Inner City Press went to a possible
change of counsel hearing on lead defendant
Felix Herrera Garcia - but soon Judge Rakoff
asked everyone but Herrera Garcia and his still
counsel to leave the courtroom, "even my
favorite reporter."
Once
back in, Judge Rakoff said the problem had been
fixed, for now, with a letter possible in two
weeks. On fingerprints he noted decisions by
Judge Pollack in his native Philadelphia, and
the Spain bombing fingerprint snafu. A Daubert
hearing on prints is possible.
On
March 21, Grei Mendez was brought into the
Magistrates Court to be arraigned on a
superseding indictment. Inner City Press was
there, thread:
Federal
Defender: Ms. Grei Mendez' mother and daughters
are here in the gallery. Judge: This is an
arraignment on a superseding indictment? AUSA:
Yes. This adds a count and changes the time
frame of the conspiracy.
Judge:
You are charged with conspiracy to distribute
fenanyl and an analog, and heroin, to September
2023, deadly. In Sept 2023 you and others
possessed with intent to distribute, resulting
in death. Count 3 charges serious bodily injury
to another individual
Judge:
How do you plead?
Grei Mendez: No culpable [Not guilty] AUSA: We to exclude time under the Speedy Trial Act. Judge: Any objection? Federal Defender: No. Judge: Granted.
Afterward
Ms Mendez barely looked at the courtroom gallery
as she was led back to the holding cell.
More
on Substack here
On
April 11 another defendant was added in an S2
indictment: Jean Carlo Amparo Herrera. He was
brought into the SDNY Magistrates Court, where
Inner City Press was the only media. His lawyer
argued that he wasn't charged as the others
were, and that she hadn't seen a video the
prosecutor mentioned. But he had driven a
co-defendant to Pennsylvania after the death,
and more. He was detained.
The
case is US v. Herrera Garcia et al., 23-cr-504
(Rakoff)
Watch
this site.
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 30 – Nick Laguna was arrested
in front of 751 Dawson Street in the South Bronx
in April 6, 2023 with a .25 caliber pistol.
He had
previously been convicted of, and was sentenced
to 16 years in prison for, manslaughter.
On August
24, 2023 Laguna was arraigned before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. Inner City
Press was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag
court.
A woman and an
8-year old girl were the only other people in
the Mag court gallery. Both waved at Laguna when
he was brought in by US Marshals, in the tan
jail uniform of the MDC in Brooklyn (where Sam
Bankman-Fried is also detained, although OK-ed
to leave daily to meet with his lawyers).
Laguna
pleaded not guilty; his Federal Defender did not
make or renew a bail application.
He was
scheduled to be seen by the assigned District
Judge Jennifer H. Rearden on September 7, the
AUSA said.
Inner City
Press attended on September 7. The Federal
Defender previewed motions, mention the Second
Amendment (the Bruen case?) and asking for a
trial date in May 2024. Judge Rearden set a next
conference for November 9, at 11:30 am.
At that time,
Judge Rearden set a trial date of May 7, 2024,
and motions in March.
And on March 30
Laguna's Federal Defenders reiterated his motion
to dismiss (and to suppress) citing the Supreme
Court's Bruen decision.
The case is US v. Laguna, 23-cr-436 (Rearden / Netburn)
***
Your support means
a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants
you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 27 – Ten defendants are charged with
conspiracy to kidnap a minor, following a
robbery of a marijuana business in The
Bronx. On March 27 they appeared,
most of them in custody, before U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain. Inner City Press
was there.
The
Assistant US Attorney said that some of the
phones have yet to be "cracked" for purposes of
discovery. A next conference was set for June 18
at 2:30 pm.
One
defense lawyer said there is an interest in a
co-defendants' meeting, but that he doubted
MDC-Brooklyn would agree to host it. Chief Judge
Swain asked the Marshals if it would be possible
in the courthouse.
By the proceeding's end, she was told that the
Marshals could try to arrange it, if given
advance notice.
The case is US v. Castillo, et al., 23-cr-279 (Swain)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 21 – Angel Villafane,
previously convicted of a felony, was arrested
for having a gun in incidents starting at 97th
Street and Second Avenue then 110th Street and
the FDR (long barrel firearm)
On May 20, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Victor
Marrero held a conference. Inner City Press
covered it, the only media there.
Jump
cut to March 6, 2024 - now it was grown to a 16
defendant indictment: "As alleged, day in and
day out, this crew distributed fentanyl, heroin,
and crack along several blocks on Valentine
Avenue."
Inner
City Press went to arraignments including that
of Christopher Meadows, who the prosecutor
described as an enforcer for the lead named
defendant (who was detained on consent).
Based on medical conditions named in court but
which Inner City Press will voluntarily not
report, he was ordered bailed on $50,000 bond to
his mother's residence in Soundview by
Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo. On the day
of appeal, the US agreed to release.
On
March 15, another co-defendant had a bail
hearing before Magistrate Judge Stewart D.
Aaron. Inner City Press was there, here
OK -
now at bail hearing in Bronx Valentine Ave 16
case - 10 supporters of detained defendant here.
Defense: My client could move out of The Bronx,
to his mother's on Staten Island, or to a
suretor's in Orange County. He's charged with
aiding & abetting the use or brandishing of
a firearm in connection with narcotics sales
AUSA:
We are appealing one order to release: we agreed
to release Meadows ["The Enforcer," Inner City
Press live tweeted that too]. Defense: My client
manages a musician, sells clothing at clubs. He
used to be a porter at Tracy Towers [in The
Bronx]
AUSA:
He possessed a loaded weapon, and sold fentanyl.
He faces 360 months to life in prison. Four
cooperating witnesses will testify against him,
one of them a rival. Another will testify to
selling him a gun.
AUSA:
He was arrested with a gun and hollow point
bullets, in a bedroom shared with a two year old
autistic child. He is a clear and present danger
to the community
Judge:
I'm focusing on danger to the community. A gun
was found at your residence. I'm ordering
detention.
On
March 20, co-defendant Damel Marcus asked for
release on bail, in Magistrates Court. Inner
City Press was there, thread
Late
in the day came notice that the defense has
appealed to Part I, for March 21. Inner City
Press was there, thread:
AUSA:
As we put on the record yesterday, there are
multiple cooperating witnesses that this
defendant was involved in drugs and guns. He
joined the crew in 2018. 3 will testify to 2
discharges [of a gun] He fired back at a rival,
and another time after a fight
Judge:
When was that?
AUSA:
2020. In a third incident, a crew member was
ambushed and knocked to the grounds. Metal
chains that had been heated on a space heater
were used to beat him. This defendant
participated, this beating with heated chains in
2021
Defense:
They didn't take that to the grand jury. So this
is hearsay, not thought sufficient to take to a
grand jury. Judge: The AUSA says they have
cooperating witnesses AUSA: For the VICAR
charges we seek, we need approval outside our
office
Defense:
This is ipsi dixit! Judge: We have a proffer
from the Government. Defense: 49 year olds
rarely cut their GPS bracelet, or those with
passport issues
Judge:
I am ordering him to continue to be detained. I
am concerned about the firearms discharge, and
the wielding of the chains, that he was present.
Adjourned
Watch
this site.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 15– Angel Villafane,
previously convicted of a felony, was arrested
for having a gun in incidents starting at 97th
Street and Second Avenue then 110th Street and
the FDR (long barrel firearm)
On May 20, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Victor
Marrero held a conference. Inner City Press
covered it, the only media there.
Jump
cut to March 6, 2024 - now it was grown to a 16
defendant indictment: "As alleged, day in and
day out, this crew distributed fentanyl, heroin,
and crack along several blocks on Valentine
Avenue."
Inner
City Press went to arraignments including that
of Christopher Meadows, who the prosecutor
described as an enforcer for the lead named
defendant (who was detained on consent).
Based on medical conditions named in court but
which Inner City Press will voluntarily not
report, he was ordered bailed on $50,000 bond to
his mother's residence in Soundview by
Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo. On the day
of appeal, the US agreed to release.
On
March 15, another co-defendant had a bail
hearing before Magistrate Judge Stewart D.
Aaron. Inner City Press was there, here
OK -
now at bail hearing in Bronx Valentine Ave 16
case - 10 supporters of detained defendant here.
Defense: My client could move out of The Bronx,
to his mother's on Staten Island, or to a
suretor's in Orange County. He's charged with
aiding & abetting the use or brandishing of
a firearm in connection with narcotics sales
AUSA:
We are appealing one order to release: we agreed
to release Meadows ["The Enforcer," Inner City
Press live tweeted that too]. Defense: My client
manages a musician, sells clothing at clubs. He
used to be a porter at Tracy Towers [in The
Bronx]
AUSA:
He possessed a loaded weapon, and sold fentanyl.
He faces 360 months to life in prison. Four
cooperating witnesses will testify against him,
one of them a rival. Another will testify to
selling him a gun.
AUSA:
He was arrested with a gun and hollow point
bullets, in a bedroom shared with a two year old
autistic child. He is a clear and present danger
to the community
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 7 – For days Inner City Press had heard
from its sources there would be a "takedown" on
February 6, each SDNY Magistrate Judge would
handle seven to 10 defendants.
Arrests
happen at 6 am. So at 5:55 am Inner City Press
tweeted it, first to X subscribers with the
spoiler alert: the expectation was that each of
the current or former NYCHA employees would be
released on bond the same day.
And
then hours later at 9:39 am the prosecutors
announced it. Media rushed around reporting
it. Inner City Press had it first, and
after discretely waiting, published it first.
Then this thread of presentments, here.
On
March 7, less than a month after the take-down,
the first guilty plea, by Michael Johnson for
taking at least $53,800 in bribes for no-bid
contracts worth $283,000.
The
case is US v. Johnson, 24-cr-135 (Furman)
Watch
this site - and these feeds: X
and X
for subscribers.
And
Substack here
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTROOM EXCLUSIVE, Feb 29 – Law enforcement
announced the arrest in The Bronx, NY of VIRGIL
WARDLOW for paying for sex with a minor with
fentanyl-laced pills, saying he "will be
presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge
Valerie Figueredo." Inner City
Press was there. Thread here:
Prosecutor
says defendant left fentanyl loose in 110 East
177 Street in the Bronx, used anonymized VOIP
TextPlus, killed a 19-year-old. Withdrew $40
from TD Bank with CashApp to "date" Victim-2,
also paying with (deadly) pills
Wardlow's
girlfriend Ms Casanova is here - his Federal
Defender says she works at Nordstrom in "asset
protection." They have a 7 year old daughter.
Also his mother, who work at the Post Office.
Federal
Defender says Wardlow has an entrepreneurial
spirit - but the deal for the 16 year old was
someone else's fault, "other people went to that
hotel."
Federal Defender asks for a photo of the minor,
says another john may be responsible.
AUSA:
The next one paid in cash. It's strict
liability, as long as they have contact...
Federal Defender: He could stay with his mother
in Brooklyn. Judge: Are there any children
there?
Seems
not. Stepfather also works for post office.
Federal Defender: He has pills because of 2 car
accidents. He wouldn't get therapy in jail.
Prosecutor: He sells drugs and buys sex in
wherever he lives. Federal Defender: It
was just tobacco leaves
19 year old died: 16 year old passed out but
revived. Judge has stepped out to
decide. Judge is back. Orders
detention, danger to community.
Jump
cut to October 19, 2023. The case was assigned
to District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who took
Wardlaw's guilty plea to Count 1. Inner City
Press was there, the only media in the
courtroom. Wardlaw's plea deal has a guideline
of 188 to 235 months; he has agreed to pay
restitution of $17,000 for the 19 year old's
funeral costs. Sentencing is set for March 13,
2024 at 11 am.
On
February 29, Wardlow's Federal Defender wrote in
saying a 60 month sentence is sought, that
Wardlow throught he had bought sex with an
eighteen year old, not a sixteen year old, and
that his pills did not have fentanyl. His father
was shot and killed in a robbery in 1998.
More
including
analysis on
Substack here
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 20 – A multi-defendant narcotics
conspiracy prosecution centered on the James
Monroe Houses in The Bronx now features charges
dropped due to a cooperating witness not
complying with his cooperation
agreement.
The
overall case is known as US v. Spencer, et al.
and Inner City Press has reported on it at every
stage, here
and here.
On
August 30, 2022 lead defendant Nyshiem Spencer
before Magistrate Judge Jennifer E. Willis pled
guilty to Count 1 of the S3 Superseding
Information, "Firearm Offense," with a control
date of March 7, 2023.
After
Inner City Press published the above, U.S.
Attorney Damian Williams said: “On October
31, 2017, Nyshiem Spencer opened fire in the
courtyard of the Soundview Houses and killed
Luis Vargas, who was 16 years old. Spencer
also shot and injured two other people in the
courtyard, including a 15-year old child.
Today’s guilty plea shows that we will
vigorously investigate and hold accountable
those who are responsible for shootings and acts
of gang violence in our community."
Back
on March 25 the U.S. Attorney's office for the
Southern District of New York wrote to SDNY
Judge Analisa Torres:
"In
light of evidence indicating that a cooperating
witness (“CW-1”) breached CW-1’s cooperation
agreement, the Government has determined that it
will not call CW-1 at trial in this case. The
Government will provide this evidence, including
notes of CW-1’s meetings with the Government, to
defense counsel by April 2, 2021.
"Given
the foregoing, the Government no longer intends
to proceed with respect to Counts Two and Three
of the 20 Cr. 78 (AT) Indictment. The Government
also no longer plans to proceed on Count Nine of
the Indictment with respect to Defendants
Nyshiem Spencer, Shalik Jenkins, Nasir Vincent,
Allan Gonzalez, and Jonell Danforth. With
respect to Defendants Malik Tunstall and Price
Tunstall, the Government intends to proceed on
Count Nine, but without seeking findings by the
jury with respect to drug weight. The Government
is evaluating whether there is sufficient
evidence to proceed at all with respect to
Defendant Shalik Jenkins."
Earlier
in the case, nearly a year ago on March 30,
2020, Inner City Press reported
that Assistant US Attorney Justin Rodriguez
repeatedly cited a video of which he wrote he
would "arrange with the Court's Chambers for the
transmission of an electronic version of the
video montage, rather than a physical copy." The
video was and is as of this writing not in the
case's docket on PACER. Judge
Torres relied on this video in denying bond,
finding a danger to the community. Minutes
later, she approved a switch to CJA lawyer James
Branden for co-defendant Lafone Eley.
On
October 20, 2021, Lafone Ely came to plead
guilty to a single count of attempted bank
fraud. When asked to allocute, he said he had
gotten the password to a bank account not his
own, raised the limit but still hadn't been able
to get the money. He got a plea deal with a
guideline of nine to 15 months, with a speedy
sentencing set for November 9.
On
June 7, 2022 Judge Torres imposed time served
sentences in the case on Shalik Jenkins and on
Ashanae McLaughlin, noting her past as "a
Bronx-born basketball star" and relatively
lesser role.
On
November 1, 2023, Eley got 180 months: "JUDGMENT
IN A CRIMINAL CASE as to Stefvon Eley (3). THE
DEFENDANT: pleaded guilty to counts lesser
included offenses of counts 5 and 7.
IMPRISONMENT: 180 months' imprisonment.
The Court recommends that the Defendant serve
his sentence at Federal Correctional Complex,
Butner (FCC Butner) in Butner, North Carolina."
On
November 17 Judge Torres authorized filming in
the courthouse: "ORDER as to Nyshiem Spencer:
The United States Marshal Service is hereby
directed to bring Defendant Nyshiem Spencer to
the United States Courthouse, located at 500
Pearl Street, New York, NY, 10007 for the
purpose of facilitating a meeting, which will be
recorded, with his mitigation expert, Katherine
Carter. Mr. Spencer shall be placed in a room
where Mr. Spencer can be recorded for at least
two hours, without any barriers between himself
and Ms. Carter. The date and time of this
meeting is to be coordinated with defense
counsel and the United States Marshal Service
within one week of the date of this order, and
shall take place before December 8,
2023.Katherine Carter will be allowed to enter
the United States Courthouse with the computer
and video equipment necessary to record Mr.
Spencer. This includes: 1. One backpack that
includes: a. One DSLR Camera; b. One small pouch
that includes two small lavalier microphones,
one small receiver microphone, and one audio aux
cable; c. Two small light panels; d. Two
batteries for camera; e. Two SD cards; f. One
pair of headphones; 2. One shoulder bag that
includes: a. One camera tripod; b. Two light
panel tripods; 3. One MacBook Air computer and
Velcro computer case. (Signed by Judge Analisa
Torres on 11/17/2023)."
Spencer's
father, in Sing Sing, has already been filmed.
BOP said filming will not be allowed in the MDC.
Hence, in SDNY at 500 Pearl...
On
February 6, the US Attorney's Office in a
sentencing submission that starts with photos of
the murdered Luis Angel Vargas asks for 25 years
on Spencer.
On
February 20, after Vargas' father spoke, Spencer
got 10 years, threadette:
Victim's
father: He was shot in the back of the head.
This heartless monster wears my son's death as a
badge of honor.
AUSA:
Ten years is not enough. Luis was going to play
Hamlet in the school play. He never will. Mr
Vargas also seeks $12,000 restitution.
Spencer:
None of this was supposed to happen. I'm not
that person. Luiz Vargas was not the target.
Judge:
You shot 6 bullets and hit 3 people including 16
year old Luiz Vargas... I sentence you to 10
years
Judge
Torres also congratulated Spencer for getting
his GED, noting he wants to work in the food
industry. She quoted SDNY Judges Oetken and
Furman (US v. Chavez) on prison conditions, and
Judge Rakoff on the youthful brain.
The
case is US v. Spencer, et al., 20-cr-78 (Torres)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 10 – The Bronx Conservatory of
Music has sued The Bronx School For Music and
Philip Kwoka for copyright violation.
In
a complaint filed on February 26 and dug up that
day in the docket by Inner City Press at the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York, Bronx Conservatory of Music says it
hred Kwoka as its Executive Director in October
2015.
He
left in the summer of 2020 with proprietary
information, according to the complaint.
This
included lists of people and donors who he then
contacted to set up a new School. The demand is
for return of the information, disgorgement and
injunction.
In
January 2024, the defendant's motion for summary
judgment was granted.
And
on February 9, the defendant wrote in seeking to
reopen the case on the issue of attorney's fees,
saying "this matter is a textbook example of bad
faith litigation."
The case is The Bronx Conservatory of Music, Inc. v. Philip Kwoka and The Bronx School for Music, Inc., 21-cv-1732 (Torres / Moses)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 6 – For days Inner City Press had heard from
its sources there would be a "takedown" on
February 6, each SDNY Magistrate Judge would
handle seven to 10 defendants.
Arrests
happen at 6 am. So at 5:55 am Inner City Press
tweeted it, first to X subscribers with the
spoiler alert: the expectation was that each of
the current or former NYCHA employees would be
released on bond the same day.
And
then hours later at 9:39 am the prosecutors
announced it. Media rushed around reporting
it. Inner City Press had it first, and
after discretely waiting, published it first.
Then this thread of presentments, here:
Lawyer
asks Inner City Press: Why weren't they allowed
to self-surrender? Another asks why they
couldn't / didn't go over the Complaints with
them at 26 Federal Plaza... Since no
presentments yet here, heading to another of the
6 courtrooms.
Now
in big courtrrom being used by Chief Magistrate
Judge, NYCHA 70 presentment of Vernon Chambers,
24-mj-405. Arrested 6:55 this morning [an hour
after Inner City Press broke the news of the
NYCHA70 mass arrest. Judge: You are
charged in 2 counts
AUSA:
We agree to release on $50,000 [unsecured] bond.
Defense: Can he travel to NJ as well? Judge:
Yes. No contact with. NYCHA contractors without
the presence of counsel. Adjourned.
The
rest of the #NYCHA70 cases here are moving down
to the regular Magistrates courtroom 5A. As will
Inner City Press. Thread will continue
Now
in Courtroom on 17, Orlando Pardo of #NYCHA70
with a former AUSA as his appointed lawyer, also
released today on $50,000 unsecured bond.
Now
in Courtroom on 18, Brett Owens of #NYCHA70 also
released today on $50,000 unsecured bond.
Another marvels at taking up all these
agents'time today.
Now
in Courtroom on 9 Charles Starks, 57, of
#NYCHA70 with a Big Law CJA lawyer argues for no
bond, release on own recognisance. He's accused
of $7000 in bribes over 3 years. He's already
fired. "This is not Bernie Madoff."
Judge: $50,000 bond; wife can co-sign
A
case is US v. Starks, et al., 24-mj-505 (Stein)
Watch
this site - and these feeds: X
and X
for subscribers.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
Exclusive, Jan 30 – Mohammed Kassim tried to
return marijuana he bought from a smoke shop at
1274 Castle Hill Avenue on March 13, 2023. They
refused to take it back.
He
returned on March 17 and lit the store on
fire.
On
November 17, 2023 Kassim was brought before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger to
plead guilty - to possession of marijuana. While
marijuana is now level at the New York State
level, it is not at the federal
level.
This
was the SDNY prosecutors' way to finesse the
arson charge. They indicated they will agree to
a sentence of six months in a halfway house, but
successfully opposed release on bond for the
holidays.
In
the gallery, along with Inner City Press, the
only people were Kassim parents, with
interpretation headphones on.
On
November 20, the US Attorney's Office put in a
letter asking for six months in a halfway house.
More
detail and analysis on Substack here
On
November 30, Judge Lehburger gave the time
served plus seven days so that the defendant can
be transferred from BOP to RRC by December 7.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 22 – On January 24 the SDNY US Attorney's
Office announced charges against Bronx-based
immigration attorney KOFI AMANKWAA and his son,
KOFI AMANKWAA, JR., for carrying out a
large-scale immigration fraud scheme exploiting
the Violence Against Women Act.
When the father was presented before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Chief Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, Inner
City Press was there, as were two or three of
the defendant's family members in the gallery.
The Assistant US Attorney agreed that he could
be released on $250,000 bond, secured by his
residence in New Jersey (the address was given
but we are not publishing it), and no contact
withou counsel present with clients or
employees, except he can talk with his son.
The
case is US v. Amankwaa, et al., 24-mj-230
(Netburn)
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 17 – A Bronx man out on supervised release
after serving 38 months in prison in a narcotics
conspiracy was arrested in The Bronx and charged
with gun possession on October 11, 2023. He had
been in Federal detention since October
13.
On November 24, his lawyer filed with U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
George B. Daniels a
link to an Instagram video of the arrest,
complete with an NYPD officer repeatedly
punching him in the face. Inner City Press found
the filing and followed the link.
On
December 29 for the lead named defendant in the
case, defense counsel recounted the death in a
fight by a Kennedy Fried Chicken on Webster
Avenue in The Bronx - the defendant shot his
friend Jason Parris, counsel says, trying to
save him from a gang beat-down. He is requesting
84 months.
On
January 12 the US Attorney's Office wrote in and
asked for 20 years for Goodman.
On
January 16, Goodman was sentenced to 12 years or
144 months in prison, with Otisville requested
and recommended.
The
case is US v. Goodman, et al., 20-cr-57
(Daniels)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 12 – Leandre
Barnett on
July 17, 2023
was indicted
for allegedly
robbing a
Dunkin Donuts
on 132nd
Street and
Bruckner
Boulevard in
The Bronx on
October 30,
2021. Inner
City Press is
covering the
case.
The
initial
complaints
recount that
Leandre was in
CC-1's phone
as "Dre" and
on the morning
of October 30,
2021 texted
CC-1 "Bouta
try some money
sh*t out real
quick trynna
find
something."
When
CC-1 replied,
"I was about
to rob Dunkin'
Donuts,"
Barnett
replied "I'm
wit it" and
later "Gotta
ski on u,"
which
prosecutors
says refers to
wearing a ski
mask.
They
say that
Barnett
delivered
contraband to
his inmate
brother in 1
Hallack
Street, The
Bronx on April
14, 2023 - and
there had his
phone seized
and searched,
unearthing the
evidence.
On
July 25,
Barnett
appeared
before SDNY
Magistrate
Judge Valerie
Figueredo and
was arraigned
- and ordered
released on
$100,000 bond
with father
and mother to
sign, to live
with his
grandmother in
Yonkers with
only a flip
phone, no
phone with
Internet
access.
"Defendant to
be detained
until all
conditions are
met" - with an
appearance
before Chief
Judge Laura
Taylor Swain
on August 1 at
11:30 am.
Inner
City Press
went. Chief
Judge Swain
solicited and
listened to
Barnett's
lawyer's
arguments,
including that
in fleeing the
police
precinct his
client had
panicked. (He
hastened to
add that he
was not
offering an
excuse).
The
Assistant US
Attorney said
that
Magistrate
Judge
Figueredo had
not been able
to see the
video(s) of
the Dunkin
Donut
incident.
(Neither has
the public).
An open case
in North
Carolina was
cited.
Judge
Swain told a
moment then
explained she
would detain
Barnett on
danger to the
community
groups. She
thanked
Barnett's
friends and
family in the
courtroom for
accepting it.
In
January 2024,
a guilty plea:
"Minute Entry
for
proceedings
held before
Judge Laura
Taylor Swain:
Change of Plea
Hearing as to
Leandre
Barnett (1)
held on
1/10/2024.
Defendant
sworn.
Defendant
waived reading
of the S1
Indictment and
entered a plea
of guilty as
to Count Three
(3) of the S1
Indictment.
PSI ordered.
Sentencing is
scheduled for
5/1/2024 at
11:00am.
Defendant
continued
remanded."
The case is US v. Barnett, 23-cr-353 (Swain / Figueredo)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 5 – There was a Federal criminal
proceeding publicly listed on PACER at 2:30 pm
on October 25, 2019 in the courtroom of Judge
Denise L. Cote of the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York.
Inner
City Press went to cover it - and was
immediately told to leave the courtroom. Then
the door was locked.
When US Assistant US Attorneys Maurene Comey and
Christopher Clore exited some 20 minutes later,
Inner City Press asked them if they knew the
basis for excluding the Press. Ms. Comey shook
her head.
Some seven hours later Inner City Press
reported: Maurene Comey then had only four cases
before Judge Cote. On only one of the four is
Christopher Clore her co-chair AUSA: the 20
defendant Bronx MacBallas case named from the
initial and lead defendant, US v. Xavier Holman,
18-cr-41 (Cote).
But Holman was already sentenced to 120 months.
Keenan McFarland and Sean Jones also got 120
months. Navone Dozier got 84 month. Jafari Jones
and Francisco Torres also got 84 months; Austin
Morrishow got 60 months, described in a
sentencing submission as "one of the gang's
'shooters.'" So who's left?
Not listed as "closed" are Bo Williams, 20 of
20, Deonte Morrison 15, Nathaniel Fludd 7 and
Toshnelle Foster 2, who while not sentenced has
a sentencing date in November.
Of
these, only Bo Williams does not have an
appearance by defense lawyer, although Inner
City Press on October 25 observed who his lawyer
is.
Virtually every
filing in 18-cr-41-DLC-20 from
May through September 2019 was listed as
"Sealed Document."
As
Inner City Press has explained to judges,
executive and prosecutors, it has full respect
for any legitimate sealing and / or safety
concern. But to simply order the Press out of a
Federal courtroom without given a reason does
not comply with the letter or spirit not only of
case law but of the principles behind it. More
on Patreon, here.
Jump
cut to July 11, 2023, when a defendant in the
Holman case showed up in the SDNY Mag court,
covered daily to Inner City Press. It was Lasyah
Palmer - and AUSA Clore was there, seeking
detention and citing threats to his girlfriend.
Judge Robert W. Lehrburger, who conducted a
sealed proceeding on July 10, agreed to
detention.
Jump
again to October 5, 2023, when the AUSA wrote in
about another co-defendant, Kevon Gaither, that
he was arrested in the Bronx in connection with
a robbery and faces sentencing on that on
November 2.
On
January 5, 2024 the AUSA wrote in again that
Gaither had been sentenced to 1.5 to 3 years in
state custody and is on Rikers Island,
"unavailable for pick up by the Marshals until
January 30" - and that a writ will be required.
A date in the week of February 26 was requested.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 27 – Timothy
Glover is
charged with
firing a gun
into the air,
three separate
times, in the
Bronx in
recent
months.
On
August 15,
2023 he was
before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge
Katharine H.
Parker. Inner
City Press was
there, the
only media in
the SDNY Mag
Court.
Glover's
Federal
Defender said
he should be
released on
bond. But
Glover laughed
when asked if
he felt OK.
The Defender
noted that a
prior charge
had been
dropped due to
incapacity.
Judge Parker
said Glover
must be
detained as a
danger to the
community.
Jump
cut to
December 27:
Glover
appeared
before the
assigned
District Judge
Naomi Reice
Buchwald for a
competency
hearing. When
asked to
speak, Glover
muttered and
Judge Buchwald
asked the
Federal
Defender to
translate. "He
said, 'I'm
flesh and
blood, that's
why I
translate
Scripture,'"
the Defender
said.
Glover was
again deemed
not competent.
But what next?
The
case is now US
v. Glover,
23-cr-438
(Buchwald /
Parker)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
FOLEY
SQUARE,
Dec 21 – As the United Federation of
Teachers announced a lawsuit against NYC Eric
Adams administration for funding cuts to schools
on December 21, Inner City Press asked the UFT's
Michael Mulgrew about the timing of the lawsuit.
Is the UFT, for example, seeking a temporary
restraining order? Video here.
Their
lawyer stepped forward to say it is a
declaratory injunction action, that no TRO is
being sought at this point.
Inner City Press asked what even a win would
entail, in terms of funding.
The
answer: Restore funding to the appropriate
levels required by law.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 12 – Two gentrifying buildings in the South
Bronx have been sued for failure to comply with
the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988.
On
December 12, 2023 before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York Judge Denise
L. Cote, the defendants disputed whether damages
can be awarded under the frustration of mission
theory of fair housing law that stretched back
to the Havens Realty case. Inner City Press was
there.
No decision was made, but a showdown may be
looming.
The buildings are at 25 Bruckner Boulevard in
Mott Haven; rents range from $2300 to $4300. The
claim is that the apartments are inaccessible to
disabled people. Defendants have apparently
offered to remediate in three or five years.
After the case was filed in 2019, COVID made it
difficult for the plaintiff's expert to access
the building.
But
now a mediation is scheduled for January 24, and
a status letter by January 26.
On
February 16, if the issue hasn't been settled
out in mediation, the plaintiffs are to present
case law justifying their request for damages
under the frustration of mission theory.
The case is Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc. v. Bruckner Tower LLC et al., 19-cv-8622 (Cote)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 7 – On
Cromwell
Avenue in The
Bronx on
November 5,
2020 Andrew
Done shot and
killed Angel
Barreiro.
Then
NYPD officer
Gina Mestre
helped him
evade capture
for the
murder,
according to
an indictment
unsealed on
August 15,
2023. Inner
City Press had
reported on
the Done case,
resulting in a
sentence of 35
years, and
covered her
arraignment
and release on
bail on August
16, the only
media in the
courtroom.
Before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Denise L.
Cote, Mestre
appeared in a
black hooded
sweatshirt, a
tattoo visible
on her arm.
Judge
Cote set a
January 2024
trial date.
The
SDNY
prosecutors
had already
agreed that
unlike many
defendants
down in the
Magistrates
Court, she
could be
released on
bail: a
$250,000 bond
with two
so-signers.
Judge Cote
proposed that
she be barred
from any
contact with
current or
former NYPD
officers
except in the
presence of
counsel.
On
November 9,
2023, Judge
Cote set the
schedule for a
January 9,
2024 trial.
On
November 10,
the
prosecution
wrote it to
say"plea
discussions
have
progressed to
the point
where a
framework for
a possible
plea is in
place."
Motions was
put off until
November 24 -
then on
November 21, a
sealed
document was
place in the
vault. No
motion
docketed
November 24...
On
December 1
Mestre's
lawyer wrote
in, "The
parties have
reached a
negotiated
disposition in
principle...
schedule a
change of plea
hearing for
December 7."
On
December 7,
Mestre's plea
was accepted -
and the plea
agreement, to
Count 4, is to
a 70 to 87
month
guideline,
with a 15 year
maximum. Plea
agreement on
Patreon here.
Previously
the prosecutor
asked for an
exception to
the
prohibition,
saying in open
court that
Mestre's
"partner" -
boyfriend - is
a former NYPD
officer. Inner
City Press has
already
tweeted that;
more
details and
name on
Substack
here.
The
case is US v.
Mestre,
23-cr-418
(Cote)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 28 – Akeba Palmer was arrested on November
22 and charged with selling a gun to a
confidential source in front of his building in
the Bronx, with a child with him.
On
November 27 he was brought before U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Saral L. Cave. Inner City Press
was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag
Court.
Palmer
had five supporters, including a girl, in the
gallery. The AUSA noted the defendants prior
convictions, including for armed robbery of a
food delivery person, back in the Aughts.
The CJA lawyer said that was a long time ago,
and that Palmer is himself a food delivery man
now. Judge Cave said Palmer could be
released but only after co-signers are vetted;
he cannot, she said, work as a food delivery
person.
The AUSA said his Office would be appealing to
the Part 1 Judge Victor Marrero.
Inner
City Press was there when the appeal was heard;
thread:
Defense:
This is not the most dangerous crime. If he's
jailed he will lose his apartment. Part 1
Judge
Victor Marrero: I revoke the bail package. This
involves a career criminal, allegedly selling a
gun.
Akeba
Palmer will be detained, apparently in MDC
Brooklyn.
Inner
City Press will continue to follow the case. It
is US v. Palmer, 23-mj-7289 (Cave / Marrero)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 24 – A Bronx man out on supervised release
after serving 38 months in prison in a narcotics
conspiracy was arrested in The Bronx and charged
with gun possession on October 11, 2023. He had
been in Federal detention since October
13.
On November 24, his lawyer filed with the judge
a link to an Instagram video of the arrest,
complete with an NYPD officer repeatedly
punching him in the face. Inner City Press found
the filing and followed the link.
The
request now is for release on $100,000; a
hearing is set for November 28 before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge George B. Daniels.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
Exclusive, Nov 17 – Mohammed Kassim tried to
return marijuana he bought from a smoke shop at
1274 Castle Hill Avenue on March 13, 2023. They
refused to take it back.
He
returned on March 17 and lit the store on
fire.
On
November 17, 2023 Kassim was brought before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger to
plead guilty - to possession of marijuana. While
marijuana is now level at the New York State
level, it is not at the federal
level.
This
was the SDNY prosecutors' way to finesse the
arson charge. They indicated they will agree to
a sentence of six months in a halfway house, but
successfully opposed release on bond for the
holidays.
In
the gallery, along with Inner City Press, the
only people were Kassim parents, with
interpretation headphones on.
More
detail and analysis on Substack here
The case is US v. Kassim, 23-cr-608 (Lehrburger)
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 9 – Tyriek Skyfield was arrested
and charged with being a felon in possession of
ammo, after a shooting in The Bronx. He has
demanded a Speedy Trial.
On
November 9, 2023 he appeared before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge Lewis J. Liman for a change of
counsel. Inner City Press was there.
The
first counsel said he would be unable to
represent Skyfield in any trial in the 70 days
of the Speedy Trial Act.
The
day's CJA lawyer said the same.
Judge Liman said his deputy will try to find a
CJA lawyer who can, and set a January 16, 2024
trial date.
After
first appearing to say that the AUSA requested
"wiggle room" was no ground to exclude time, he
nevertheless excluded time for a week, to find
another lawyer.
To some, it might appear that fights under the
Speedy Trial Act are contingent on being able to
pay for counsel.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 30 – Terrence Allen was arrested
and charged with shooting a gun 13 times in the
Melrose Houses in the South Bronx. In state
court he was released on $50,000 bail.
Then
the case was Federalized and he was arrested
again.
On
October 30 Allen appeared by U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York new
Magistrate Judge Stein Gary. Inner City Press
was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag court.
The AUSA emphasized 13 shots, and Allen's arrest
twice in the same silver Mercedes. The Federal
Defender said he works two jobs on Long Island
and could stay with his wife near the
Williamsburg Bridge.
Judge
Stein took a break to mull it, then returned and
said he had to detain Allen on danger grounds.
The preliminary hearing was set for the 14th
day.
The
case is US v. Allen, 23-mj-6928 (Stein)
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 24 –
Two men were
presented and
detained in
Manhattan
Federal court
on August 9,
2023 for a
shooting of an
11-month-old
baby in
January 2022.
The baby was
in the
courtroom -
and so was
Inner City
Press. Thread:
OK
- now
presentment of
AHMED ALTOREI
& SAMUEL
BAUTISTA after
a street
shooting on
Jan 19, 2022,
targeting a
rival drug
dealer but
shot an
11-month-old
baby in the
face.
Courtroom
filling.
Deputy:
Mr Lazzaro,
are you
consenting?
[To detention]
A:
Yes. [This
could be a
short one]
In
the gallery, a
couple with a
baby...
All rise!
Lance
Lazzaro, for
Ahmed Altorei
(he i$
retained)
Federal
Defender for
Samuel
Bautista, with
financial
affidavit.
Judge:
Cocaine base
aka crack
sales, using
guns,
brandished and
discharged.
Bautista is a
felon, with
.380
ammo
Judge:
Both consent
to detention
without
prejudice.
Medical order
as to Mr
Bautista.
AUSA: Next is
Sept 8 at 11
am in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York.
Afterward,
the couple and
the now older
than a year
baby went out
together down
the hall.
On
September 8,
the two were
back in court,
before SDNY
Chief Judge
Laura Taylor
Swain. Inner
City Press was
there. Beyond
setting the
next
conference for
Novemver 15 at
11:30 am,
Bautista asked
to be released
on bond.
The
AUSA responded
with a
narrative of
the background
to the
shooting: a
feud with
Tyrone Handley
a/k/a Smokey,
in and around
2860 Grand
Concourse and
198th Street
in The Bronx.
The baby's
parents spoke,
and urged that
detention be
continued. As
docketed on
September 12,
it was.
On
October 5,
docketed
October 6, a
superseding
indictment,
with Altorei,
Bautista and
Ronald Coradin
a/k/a
Scrappy...
On
October 19
Coradin got
his Rule 5(f)
order before
being detained
on consent and
Lance Lazzaro
asked to make
an application
for bail for
Altorei on
October 25,
citing six
friends who
would co-sign,
from Panda
Group and
Alabama
Chicken.
On
October 24,
the bail
hearing was
set for
November 1,
before Chief
Judge Swain:
"Request for
the
Opportunity to
Make a Bail
Application.
ENDORSEMENT:
The below
request is
granted. A
bail hearing
in this case
is scheduled
to proceed on
November 1,
2023, at 3:30
PM in
Courtroom
17C." Watch
this site.
Inner
City Press
will stay on
the
case(s).
The case is US v. Altorei, et al., 23-cr-407 (Swain / Gorenstein)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
EXCLUSIVE, Oct 20 – A NYPD officer who was on
modified duty for three years was arrested and
presented on October 20 in Federal court for
trying to selling kilo-weight fentanyl. Inner
City Press was there. She was released on
$100,000 bond.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge James L. Cott was
presiding. Inner City Press thread:
AUSA
Amanda Weingarten: Rosa Grace Baez worked in the
NYPD precinct in the East Village, this was her
side hustle. She had a kilo press with her
boyfriend Cesar Martines. She was placed on
modified duty 3 years ago. It is eggregious. She
resigned yesterday.
CJA:
She wants bail
Defense:
She owns a house in the Bronx, has 2 children.
Her father flew up from the Dominican Republic
today to be here. Don't put a now former police
officer in the MDC...
AUSA:
My understanding is that the investigation of
Baez 3 years ago was for consorting with gang
members and drug dealers. [Echo of US v Mestre
case Inner City Press first covered here
Judge:
I am setting bail for Ms Baez: $100,000 bond
with 2 co-signers. She can be released on her
own signature today, home detention in her Arnow
Ave home.
The
case is US v. Baez, 23-mj- 6893 (Cott)
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 12 – William Jones is on trial
for Conspiracy to Murder a Federal Informant To
Prevent Communication to Law Enforcement. Inner
City Press is covering the case, from 2021 into
2023 and beyond.
On September 23, 2021 U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo
Ramos held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Ramos asked if the capital decision had
been made. It has not. But the "Special Finding"
have been set forth.
The
killing was in Suffolk County, New York, after
abduction from The Bronx on December 28, 2019.
Jump
cut to June 28, 2023. In the SDNY Magistrates
Court, with Inner City Press the only media
there, Jones was arraigned on a superseding
indictment. He had three lawyers at the table.
His trial is set for October 2, 2023, and Speedy
Trial Act time was excluded until then by SDNY
Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. Inner City Press
intends to cover the trial.
On
September 7 the US filed an additional
protective order for 3500 material citing the
violent nature of the case. The defense is
seeking to keep out the autopsy photos of
Frederick Delacruz.
On
September 21, after yet another defendant in the
case passed through the Magistrates Court,
Genaro Castro was brought in after
self-surrender in the Western District of North
Carolina. He was nevertheless detained, on
danger grounds.
In
October 2023, the trial was on - and Inner City
Press went. Cooperators Castillo and Rivera were
on the stand, testifying as to the rules of
retaliation, hand signs, meetings and dues. The
prosecution wants a Detective Jiminez to testify
about what the decedent, his CI, told him.
The defense objects, as hearsay. But the
prosecution argues that Jones made the witness
unavailable. That's what we're hear for, to
decide, the defense lawyer said.
But
apparently that finding of Jones' role can be
made on a preponderance of the evidence, not
reasonable doubt.
On
October 10 Detective Jiminez was on the stand,
testifying about getting de la Cruz out of
trouble in NJ and then Connecticut. Played for
the jury was de la Cruz' last voice mail to
Jiminez, that "they are taking me out to Long
Island."
On
October 11 Jones' lawyer in closing argument
picked up a weapon from the prosecutors table
and said it was a cooperating witness who knew
more about it. He cited Judge Ramos' "lengthy by
well done" legal instruction. Next up: a
verdict.
It
came on October 12: "WILLIAM JONES, a/k/a
“Principe,” was convicted by a jury of
racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of
racketeering, and firearms offenses for his role
in the murder of Frederick Delacruz on December
28, 2019. The defendant was found guilty
on all counts following an eight-day jury trial
..murder through the use of a firearm, which
carries a maximum penalty of life in prison."
The case is US v. Jones, 21-cr-505 (Ramos / Willis)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 7 – Cristian Eustate Espinal and
three others were arrested in a residence in The
Bronx with 50 pounds of fentalyl and pill and
kilo presses.
Cristian,
late on October 6, 2023, was released on bond,
on his own signature, in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York. Inner
City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY
Magistrates Court.
Cristian's
Criminal Justice Act lawyer argued that he had
merely been present in the drug house, and not
tied to it. The Assistant US Attorney argued it
would have been impossible for him not to have
known it was a narcotics factory, what with the
garbage bags taped over the windows.
SDNY
Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron ordered
release on bond. But the AUSA said they would
appeal to the week's Part 1 District Judge, Arun
Subramanian.
Judge
Subramanian held the appeal in the Magistrates
courtroom. Again, Inner City Press was there.
After
detailed inquiry into where the drugs had been
found -- in an alcove of the bathroom, as shown
on the AUSA's phone -- Judge Subramanian upheld
Magistrate Judge Aaron's release order, adding
that the CJA lawyer must turn in Cristian's
Dominican passport by noon on Saturday or he
would be arrested.
The
CJA lawyer replied that she would be in the MDC
jail on Saturday, until 3 at the latest - and
that if she did not have the passport by then,
she would turn Cristian in to the Marshals.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 28– Following the death of a
one-year old baby by fentanyl, on September 19,
2023 the US Attorney for the Southern District
of New York charged Grei Mendez and Carlisto
Acevedo Brito.
On
September 25, with no notice and Inner City
Press initially the only person in the courtroom
gallery, the third man was brought in: Renny
Antonio Parra Paredes. Inner City Press live
tweeted, thread:
Renny
Antonio Parra Paredes is seated at defense table
with assigned lawyer and SPanish interpretation
headphones. Judge still not here but others
coming
All
rise! Mag Judge Ona T. Wang presiding. Arrest
just after midnight on Sept 23, Saturday and
waived speedy presentment. He is in a white
T-shirt. CJA defense lawyer is appointed.
Judge
Wang: You are charged with conspiracy to
distribute narcotics. AUSA: We seek detention,
and they consent. Defense lawyer: Most of his
family is out of town. We consent.
Parra
Paredes, in jean long shorts now without belt,
us led out.
His
lawyer asks,
MDC?
Yes.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 19 – Following the death of a
one-year old baby by fentanyl, on September 19,
2023 the US Attorney for the Southern District
of New York charged Grei Mendez and Carlisto
Acevedo Brito.
The
charge was and is narcotics possession with
intent to distribute resulting in death and
conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in
death in connection with the overdose of four
children under the age of three, one of whom
died, at a daycare facility in the Bronx on
September 15, 2023.
Inner City Press went to the SDNY press
conference and asked US Attorney Damian Williams
if his office would be seeking pre-trial
detention (yes) and if those upstream who sold
the fentanyl would be charged with the death. No
answer, at least not yet. Video here.
The duo was set to be presented in SDNY
Magistrates Court, to which Inner City Press
next turned. It was present there for hours.
Thread here:
Brito
is brought out, already in MDC tan
uniform.
Magistrate
Judge Jennifer Willis now presiding in US v
Brito
AUSA
Thompson: We seek detention. Defense: We consent
at this time.
Brito
is led back into the holding cell [and later to
MDC, where SBF is complaining about lack of
vegan meals and fast enough laptop. Brito, it
seems clear, will not be exempted from prisoner
count like Sam is]
OK -
now fentanyl daycare Ms Mendez has been brought
out. She is crying.
Federal
Defender: Ms Mendez is a 36 year old legal
resident. She worked in a restaurant. She is a
single custodial parent, now that her husband
has fled.
Judge:
I am going to detain you. Mendez: Aye, no!
[crying]
Federal
Defender goes back on the record to say she has
diabetes. Both sides agree: she will be in MDC
More
on Substack here
Watch
this site.
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 12 – A multi-defendant
case charging narcotics conspiracy and guns,
with phone data dumps and complaints from
Valhalla and Essex County jails landed in
Federal court.
On
February 5, 2021 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Katherine
Polk Failla held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Assistant
US Attorney Frank Balsamello described the range
of discovery, and a parallel state case.
Defendants
cut in, complaining of bad treatment. Judge
Failla supported the idea of a discovery
coordinator.
Jump cut to June 2022 when defendant Drilon
Haxhaj, according to his lawyer, has been
engaged in extensive plea negotiations - and
therefore asks that his May 2022 suppression
motion be held in abeyance. He pled guilty on
June 27.
On
July 21, 2022 Judge Failla held a proceeding
with remaining defendants and Inner City Press
went and attended, live tweeting here:
On
March 29, counsel for Shpendi Haxhaj filed a
reply memo to sever his case, citing the risks
of a joint trial. Dkt 161. In a garbled
footnote, "the defense does not concede that the
alleged statements made by the court-defendant
are true or that they were in fact made at all.
The defense argues that if the declaration
co-defenses t's statements were omitted as
evidence that regardless of their truth they
would prejudice the defendant."
On July 24, 2023,
counsel for Shpendi Haxhaj
filed another letter with
Judge Failla, that "we
informed Mr. Haxhaj that if he
is convicted at trial of
murder in aid of racketeering,
he would face a mandatory life
sentence... Mr. Haxhaj has
informed Counsel that he has
elected to proceed to trial."
On August
9, co-defendant Ivis Perdomo's
lawyer filed a
supplemental sentencing
memo complete with DD5s
and photos of a club
shooting, objecting to the
US seeking at least 240
months.
On
August 17 Jeremy Cedeno was
sentenced, at the top
of his guideline.
Inner City Press was
there, thread.
On
September 12, co-defendant
Boris Beltran was
on trial on
Courtroom 110 of
40 Foley Square.
The gallery behind
him
was nearly full;
the right side,
empty. A 49th
Precinct sergeant
was on the
witness stand,
identifying
the drugs
seized that
night. But on
cross she was
asked if she
knew if
Beltran lived
in the raided
apartment. She
did not.
On
September 13,
the cooperator
on the witness
stand was
cross-examined about, among
other things,
getting back
into drug
dealing the
day after he
was released
from prison,
then cutting
the cooperation deal. On
January 5,
2021 he pled guilty
to conspiracy
to distribute
5 kilos or
more of
cocaine, with
a ten year
minimum,
maximum life.
But on
cross he
acknowledged
he never planned for
five kilos -- "if
I'd
managed to
stay out I
might have gotten
there," he
said. Then
why, with only
three years
left on his
state
sentence, did
he agree to
this plea to
ten to life?
It also
emerged he couldn't
say it was Beltran
who put drugs
in the jacket
passed under
the table of a
restaurant on
Fordham
Road in The Bronx,
or into the
trunk of his
car outside.
On
September 14,
with defendant
Yeltsin
Beltran
greeting those
in the gallery
behind him,
the prosecutor
put an
NYPD detective
on the stand,
to describe
the victim Ramon
Encarnacion
bloody in Lincoln
Hospital, and
the afterhours
location on 149th
Street by
Courtlandt Avenue.
On
September 15,
Beltran's
lawyer was cross
examining a
member of the
police team
which made
undercover
drug buys. He
defined
"ghosting" and
admitted that
their CI was
himself
selling crack
and so was "deactivated."
The trial
continues.
The case is US v. Haxhaj et al., 21-cr-17 (Failla)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 6 – Kai Johnson of Soundview in
The Bronx is charged with the murder of Price
and Malik Tunstall on August 21,
2021.
On April 11, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J.
Liman held a proceeding. Inner City Press went
and covered it. Johnson was in an orange
WDOC jumpsuit and accompanied by two U.S.
Marshals.
It
is a capital case and the prosecutor said they
are preparing to make their recommendation to
Main Justice whether to seek the death
penalty.
For
that reason, Johnson's lawyer opposed setting a
trial date or even motion schedule, insteading
asking for another status conference in 90 days.
In
January 2023 Johnson pleaded guilty, with a plea
deal for a 40 year sentence.
On
September 6, 2023 the US Attorney's Office wrote
to Judge Liman that "a sentence of 40 years'
imprisonment is necessary to comply with the
goals of sentencing." The defense is asking
for... 30 years. Johnson is 28 years old.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 28 – Jonathan Laureano fired 11
shots at a crowd outside a Bronx nightclub on
September 10, 2022. He was up for sentencing on
August 28, 2023 before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York Judge Valerie
E. Caproni. Inner City Press is covering the
case, and went to the sentencing, which ended in
screaming from the gallery and in the hall.
The SDNY prosecutors wanted the top of the
guideline for felon in possession of ammunition:
87 months.
The defense wanted 48 months, citing Laureano's
history. They say his mother Milagros Carrero
was drug addicted and died when he was 16.
"His father re-established contact, and moved
into the family's apartment," then moved out,
abandoning Jonathan and his brother, Carlos.
"Carlos has not survived this trauma any better
than Jonathan; he is currently incarcerated in
New Jersey."
While
that is sourced to the Pre-Sentencing Report,
the defense objects to the PSR: "his unmentioned
sister, Mayling Carrero, is 30 and lives in
Connecticut. Also, one sister is named Taisha
Laureano, not Tisha, and is 38, not 41; and his
brother, John Cruz, is 41 or 42, not 40." The
PSR is, of course, sealed.
On
August 28, Inner City Press went to the
sentencing. In the gallery were relatives,
including the mother of Laureano's son. Judge
Caproni pointed out that the shooting happened
soon after his son's birth, and sentenced him to
87 months. His son's mother shouted and ran out
into the hall. Court Security Officers were
called; a person on the elevator said, This is
exciting.
The
case is US v. Laureano, 22-cr-670
(Caproni)
More,
from Endless Sentences on Substack here
***
Your support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access
to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here
to become a patron.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
EXCLUSIVE, Aug 24 – Rodney Spratley, while
robbing a Bronx bodega at 1665 Topping Avenue in
May, shot a man in the hip.
At
the time, the man was expected to survive. But
he was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital on 183rd
Street.
On August 24, 2023 Spratley was presented before
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. Inner
City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY
Mag court.
The
charge, now, included murder. The victim died,
and the case was entirely sealed until the
presentment, no announcement of which was
made.
At the time of arrest, Spratley's mother said
"He’s a good kid, maybe a little lost and
confused. I can’t say he’s had a perfect life.
None of us have. But I broke my back to give him
everything. He’s a little troubled now, I
guess.”
And
indicted for murder. The robbery yielded $1200.
The
case is US v. Spratley, 23-cr-283
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 16 – On
Cromwell
Avenue in The
Bronx on
November 5,
2020 Andrew
Done shot and
killed Angel
Barreiro.
Then
NYPD officer
Gina Mestre
helped him
evade capture
for the
murder,
according to
an indictment
unsealed on
August 15,
2023. Inner
City Press had
reported on
the Done case,
resulting in a
sentence of 35
years, and
covered her
arraignment
and release on
bail on August
16, the only
media in the
courtroom.
Before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Denise L.
Cote, Mestre
appeared in a
black hooded
sweatshirt, a
tattoo visible
on her arm.
Judge
Cote set a
January 2024
trial date.
The
SDNY
prosecutors
had already
agreed that
unlike many
defendants
down in the
Magistrates
Court, she
could be
released on
bail: a
$250,000 bond
with two
so-signers.
Judge Cote
proposed that
she be barred
from any
contact with
current or
former NYPD
officers
except in the
presence of
counsel.
The
prosecutor
asked for an
exception to
the
prohibition,
saying in open
court that
Mestre's
"partner" -
boyfriend - is
a former NYPD
officer. Inner
City Press has
already
tweeted that;
more
details and
name on
Substack
here.
The
case is US v.
Mestre,
23-cr-418
(Cote)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 8 – A young man detained as part
of a Bronx gang case asked in mid 2022 to be
released on bail. But the US Attorney's Office
opposed it, citing among other things rap
lyrics.
On
June 24, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S.
Rakoff held an in-person bond hearing. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
The
Assistant US Attorney, beyond describing bullets
in a backpack said the defendant has appeared in
videos on YouTube with lyrics such as "they call
me war" and "I'll empty my ten round clip...
hunt you down because you rat us out."
Judge
Rakoff found a danger to the community (and did
mention songs and videos, and much else). The
defendant remained detained.
Jump
cut to February 22, 2023 when after several
delays lead defendant Andrew Done was up for
sentencing. His submission noted, among many
other things, growing up next to the Dominican
Chernobyl. But "ANDREW DONE, a/k/a “Caballo,”
the leader of the “Shooting Boys” gang, was
sentenced today to 35 years in prison for the
November 5, 2020, murder of Angel Barreiro in
the Bronx and other racketeering offenses.
DONE previously pled guilty before United States
District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed the
sentence."
On
April 10, the US asked for 154 to 171 months
imprisonment for co-defendant Moises Fontanez,
describing his stealing a car, robbing a home in
New Jersey, and shooting into a crowd at 180th
Street and Grand Concourse in The Bronx on July
31, 2020.
On
May 2, Moises Fontanez was sentenced to 132
months.
On
August 8, Federal Defenders asked for a
custodial sentence of substantially less than 42
months for Malvin Restituyo, who they say has an
IQ of 69 and whose guilty plea Magistrate Judge
Barbara Moses referred back to Judge Rakoff
"given her concerns about his competence."
Restituyo
was shot in the head as a child. In The Bronx he
delivered food for a woman named Mangu on 176th
Street. He used the basement there to fix
motorbikes - and, it turned out, to let others -
Done - store guns and call him "Puto."
The
US Attorney's Office wrote in requesting 97 to
120 months.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 1 – Leandre
Barnett on
July 17, 2023
was indicted
for allegedly
robbing a
Dunkin Donuts
on 132nd
Street and
Bruckner
Boulevard in
The Bronx on
October 30,
2021. Inner
City Press is
covering the
case.
The
initial
complaints
recount that
Leandre was in
CC-1's phone
as "Dre" and
on the morning
of October 30,
2021 texted
CC-1 "Bouta
try some money
sh*t out real
quick trynna
find
something."
When
CC-1 replied,
"I was about
to rob Dunkin'
Donuts,"
Barnett
replied "I'm
wit it" and
later "Gotta
ski on u,"
which
prosecutors
says refers to
wearing a ski
mask.
They
say that
Barnett
delivered
contraband to
his inmate
brother in 1
Hallack
Street, The
Bronx on April
14, 2023 - and
there had his
phone seized
and searched,
unearthing the
evidence.
On
July 25,
Barnett
appeared
before SDNY
Magistrate
Judge Valerie
Figueredo and
was arraigned
- and ordered
released on
$100,000 bond
with father
and mother to
sign, to live
with his
grandmother in
Yonkers with
only a flip
phone, no
phone with
Internet
access.
"Defendant to
be detained
until all
conditions are
met" - with an
appearance
before Chief
Judge Laura
Taylor Swain
on August 1 at
11:30 am.
Inner
City Press
went. Chief
Judge Swain
solicited and
listened to
Barnett's
lawyer's
arguments,
including that
in fleeing the
police
precinct his
client had
panicked. (He
hastened to
add that he
was not
offering an
excuse).
The
Assistant US
Attorney said
that
Magistrate
Judge
Figueredo had
not been able
to see the
video(s) of
the Dunkin
Donut
incident.
(Neither has
the public).
An open case
in North
Carolina was
cited.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 28 – Daniel Spiegelman
absconded from the Bronx Reentry Center half-way
house -- on October 4, 2012, more than eight
years ago.
On
November 13 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge John P. Cronan held a
change of plea proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Spiegelman
said that back in 2012 he had a case of the
tremors and left the halfway house to get
medical attention. Then he never went back,
instead moving to Brooklyn. He had multiple
aliases.
Now
he had a Pimintel letter and awaited sentencing,
on February 19, 2021. Judge Cronan said he hoped
it would be in person.
It was not. But Inner City Press covered it -
and dug into it. While the 1999 SDNY case
against Speigelman is not a live link in PACER,
there's this: "In the spring of 1994, Daniel
Spiegelman shinnied up an abandoned book lift in
Columbia University's Butler Library, dismantled
a wall, stole books."
On
February 19 Spiegelman was sentenced to a year
and a day and then three years of supervised
release.
It
was on that supervised release that Spiegelman
sought to leave the US to renounce his
citizenship. On July 28, 2023, this was denied:
"ORDER as to Daniel Spiegelman is presently
serving concurrent five-year and three-year
terms of supervised release, the first of which
was imposed in No. 10 Cr. 339, following his
plea of guilty to three counts of bank fraud,
identity theft, and possession of false
identification documents. As a condition of each
term of supervised release, Mr. Kikabidze must
remain within the judicial district of his
residencein this case, the Southern District of
New York absent permission from the Court or
from his probation officer to leave it.
Therefore, Mr. Kikabidze's request to modify the
conditions of his supervised release imposed in
No. 10 Cr. 339 and No. 20 Cr. 609 to allow his
travel to Russia to relinquish his United States
citizenship is denied. The parties shall appear
for a status conference on August 16, 2023."
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
NYC
COURTHOUSE, July 21 – In
a Manhattan
Central
Booking
holding cell
on October 20,
2022, NYPD
then-Sergeant
Adrian DeJesus
grabbed a
detainee,
dragged him
across the
floor then hit
him in the
face.
He
was fired by
the NYPD - for
a separate
Staten Island
case.
On
July 21, 2023
Inner City
Press was in
New York
criminal court
at 100 Centre
Street to
cover DeJesus'
guilty plea
and
sentencing.
While
photos and
video were not
allowed by the
judge, Inner
City Press
live tweeted,
thread here:
We're
in NYC
Criminal Court
awaiting
appearance of
NYPD officer
charged with
assaulting a
detainee in a
holding cell.
After
wait, judge in
Desk
Appearance
Ticket court,
when Inner
City Press and
others apply,
says no photos
or videos in
the courtroom
this time. (We
got video of
arraignments
in illegal
contributions
to Adams
campaign
case). So,
will live
tweet
Defense lawyer
and arrested
NYPD (ex)
officer, with
glasses,
tattooed arms
and
sharp-lined
beard, are in
front row.
There is a
sign: Please
Do No Step
Over the Rail
- Use the
Chain.
Now
defense lawyer
is up, with
prosecutor, at
judge's bench.
Officer
DeJesus is
charged with,
in a precinct
holding cell,
pushing and
dragging and
hitting in the
face a
detainee. He
is being
charged with
falsifying
business
records and
attempted
assault - and
pleading
guilty, no
jail time
(he's been
fired by
NYPD)
Defense
lawyer: We
enter a plea
of
guilty.
Judge:
Mr. DeJesus,
do you wish to
plead guilty
to this Class
A Misdemeanor
and falsifying
business
record,
attempt
assault, class
B, conditional
discharge and
five week
anger
management
program by
Umbrella of
Hope Yes.
Judge:
If you are not
a US citizen,
this may have
negative
immigration
consequences.
Do you still
want to plead
guilty?
DeJesus:
Yes.
Assistant
DA: On October
30, 2022 you
were a
Sergeant at
central
booking at
110th Street,
yes?
DeJesus:
Yes.
ADA:
You pushed the
inmate,
dragged him
and struck him
in the face?
DeJesus
(after a
pause) Yes...
ADA:
You did not
complete any
paperwork,
causing the
omission of
the incident
from the
records of
NYPD?
DeJesus: Yes I
failed.
ADA:
The allocution
is
acceptable
Judge:
Conditional
discharge,
lead a law
abiding life
for one year.
Adjourned to
Part C. On
October 24
--
Defense:
He lives out
of state. May
I attend on
his behalf?
Judge:
There can be a
virtual
appearance.
Defense:
Awesome.
Judge:
You have to
pay a total of
$720.
Afterward,
Inner City
Press took a
photo of
DeJesus
scrolling
through his
phone by the
park on Bayard
Street. And
the beat goes
on
More
on Substack here
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- Scoop
- Credit
SDNY
COURTROOM EXCLUSIVE, July 12 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on August 4, a detention or release
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge
Katharine H. Parker on a defendant charged with
throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the front porch
of a house in The Bronx, and of being the driver
for a co-defendant who threw a Molotov cocktail
at a car.
The house-bomber, with a Federal Defender, was
released on $15,000 bond. The car-bomber, with
the day's Criminal Justice Act counsel, didn't
even ask for a bail hearing. At the end he was
led out asking, "So I'm staying in jail?" His
significant other in the gallery, where Inner
City Press was the only media as on the July 29
Azerbaijan AK-47 stalker of an Iranian dissident
(story here,
credited here).
On September 1, District Judge John P. Cronan
held arraignments and a status conference. Inner
City Press went and live tweeted it here:
Now
at arraignment of Molotov cocktail duo, both
sitting in jury box with US Marshals. Judge
Cronan mentions a Chowdhry civil case he has,
bandwidth sale.
Co-defendant
Mendez, incarcerated from Day 1, doesn't look
happy. COVID mask not covering nose. Pleads not
guilty as well.
Ukraine
Molotovs cited again. One placed under a dark
Acura in The Bronx on June 6, 2022. 2
supporters, on info and belief Bangladeshi or
South Asian, enter. Mendez' significant other
not here.
AUSA
Amanda Weingarten cites huge video tracking the
duo all over The Bronx. Federal Defender says
Chowdhry phone has exculpatory info on it. AUSA
says it was never seized.
Defendant
exchanging glances. Both in prison beige. Next
is Nov 2, 9:30 am. Adjourned.
Back
on August 24, the defendant who was released on
conditions including drug treatment was back for
a bail revocation, which it barely avoided.
Inner City Press was present and live tweeted here.
Here
is the blow by blow of the arson duo's first
proceeding, here.
On
January 19, 2023, it was docketed that Mendez
intends to plead guilty on January 25: "NOTICE
OF HEARING as to David Mendez: The change of
plea hearing for David Mendez is scheduled for
January 25, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. in Courtroom 12D
of 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007.
**Change of Plea Hearing set for 1/25/2023 at
03:30 PM before Judge John P. Cronan."
Inner
City Press went to the guilty plea on January
25. Mendez pleaded guilty, and the US Attorney's
Office unveiled an agreement to release him from
detention to Odyssey House and postpone
sentencing until October 31, 2023.
Then
they asked for the transcript and even
superceder to be sealed, because it seemed
Mendez might cooperate if Chowdhury goes to
trial in August. But the plea, and all that was
said, was in open court. Judge Cronan asked for
a status report in 60 days if it needs to be
kept sealed.
On
February 6 a status report was filed, but not to
unseal. Instead, Mendez' counsel from Skadden
Arps (CJA) wrote to say that Anchor House
rescinded Mendez' admission and he "remains
incarcerated in the MDC."
On
February 21, Chowdhury pled guilty to all four
counts: "Change of Plea Hearing as to Nayeem
Ahmed Chowdhury held on 2/21/2023. AUSA Amanda
Weingarten present. Defendant present with his
attorney, Matthew Myers. Defendant pleaded
guilty to Counts One, Two, Three and Four of the
Indictment. Sentencing set for May 30, 2023 at
2:00 p.m in Courtroom 12D of 500 Pearl Street,
New York, NY 10007."
And
on February 22, the Mendez plea transcript,
whose sealing Inner City Press noted and
questioned at the time, was belatedly and
correctly reversed: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to
Nayeem Ahmed Chowdhury, David Mendez re: [37]
Letter Unsealing... ENDORSEMENT: The request is
granted. The transcript from Defendant Mendez's
change of plea hearing shall be unsealed. SO
ORDERED. (Signed by Judge John P. Cronan on
2/22/23)."
But
on February 27, the bail modification was
rescinded and Mendez ordered to remain in
detention, due to a New Jersey warrant /
detainer: "ORDER as to (22-Cr-464-2) David
Mendez. On February 23, 2023, the Court modified
the conditions of Defendant David Mendez's bail
to allow him to complete in-patient alcohol
abuse treatment at a facility called
Serendipity. Dkt. 41. The Court ordered
Defendant to report to Serendipity by February
27, 2023. Id. On February 27, 2023, at
approximately 11:50 a.m., the Court was informed
by the United States Marshals Service that
Defendant has an outstanding warrant in New
Jersey that requires his extradition to New
Jersey in the event of his release from federal
custody, thereby precluding him from being able
to report to Serendipity. Because the
outstanding warrant and any attendant
extradition would prevent Defendant from
satisfying the condition of his bail that he
complete inpatient alcohol abuse treatment at
Serendipity, the bail conditions set on February
23, 2023 are revoked and Defendant is ordered
detained pending further order of the Court. SO
ORDERED. (Signed by Judge John P. Cronan on
2/27/2023)."
On
June 14, 2023, the US asked for a sentence for
Chowdhury at the high end of the 37 to 46 month
guideline, citing recorded prison calls for a
lack of acceptance of responsibility.
On
June 20, Judge Cronan docketed this: "Nayeem
Ahmed Chowdhury (1). Defendant present... the
Court sentenced Defendant principally to a term
of imprisonment of 72 months on each Count, to
run concurrently, to be followed by a 3-year
term of supervised release. $400 special
assessment imposed. The Court deferred issuing a
restitution order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §
3664(d)(5), until September 13, 2023."
On
June 23, Mendez' white shoe CJA counsel asked
for time served: 11 months.
On
July 12, Inner City Press went to Mendez'
sentencing, where he got 27 months (minus the 11
and with good time, perhaps a year more, Judge
Cronan said). Thread:
OK-
now at Molotov cocktail sentencing in US v
Mendez. US wants between 33 to 41 months. Victim
is here in the courtroom
Victim:
Two Molotovs were placed under my Acura. It was
12 feet from my row house. My son spotted it. It
has tarnished my reputation with my neighbors.
Mendez was just the hired goon. Who hired you,
David? I have a hunch. I had a property dispute
Victim:
My son says Mendez came with another and tried
to force your way into my house. Why has the
other not been charged?
Judge:
Thank you.
Defense:
Mendez is sorry. We have a mitigation report. He
dropped out of high school and began drinking
Defense asks for time served - citing EDNY
Mattis case that Inner City Press also covered.
AUSA:
That was about George Floyd. Mattis was a
lawyer. Mendez has a criminal record. Judge:
What about the weapons charge? Defense: Just a
switchblade and immitation gun.
Mendez:
I would like to return to society. Judge: I will
return with my decision. [Reading cases of
Mattis and another who threw a Molotov cocktail
into a bar that rejected him?] Feed will
continue
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE EXCLUSIVE, July 7 – Two
defendants
were brought
into the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York on
June 28, 2023
and got into a
fight, leaving
one of them in
a bloody
splattered
yellow
jumpsuit.
A
week later,
the incident
was not in
either
defendant's
docket.
But Inner City
Press wrote it
up
exclusively, here,
in the case of
US v. Gomez,
23-mj-4912:
"Shooting at
Police in The
Bronx was
Federalized As
Felon in
Possession now
Gomez SDNY
Fight - Two
defendants
were brought
into the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York on
June 28, 2023
and got into a
fight, leaving
one of them in
a bloody
splattered
yellow
jumpsuit.
Sources tell
Inner City
Press they
heard the
screams from
the holding
cell, and gave
the name of
the other
party: Franco,
and the docket
number." And
now, this
follow up.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTROOM EXCLUSIVE, July 1 – Two
defendants were brought into the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on June 28, 2023 and got into a fight,
leaving one of them in a bloody splattered
yellow jumpsuit. Sources tell Inner City Press
they heard the screams from the holding cell,
and gave the name of the other party: Franco,
and the docket number.
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 22 – Alberto Roman was charged
with armed robberies in The Bronx, on 138th
Street, Southern Boulevard, and 180th Street,
all in late 2020. Then he was ordered for
psychological tests.
In the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Roman pled guilty and on
February 19, 2022 was sentenced to 24 months in
prison.
In
late May 2023 Roman was arrested in Maine, and
(slowly transported back to the
SDNY.
The
District Judge, Valerie E. Caproni, ordered that
he receive medical care en route. On June 22
after an airlift Roman appeared before SDNY
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses and was
detained. Inner City Press was in the Mag court,
the only media there.
He
has an arraignment on June 29 at 11 am.
The
case is US v. Roman, 21-cr-135 (Caproni / Moses)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 9 – In The Bronx on March 13,
2020 two minors gained access to the Spuyten
Duyvil Bridge and then drowned. Now the railroad
is being sued.
On June 9, 2023, U.S. District Court of for the
Southern District Magistrate Judge Stewart D.
Aaron held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
As
issue was how to get photographs of the site.
Judge
Aaron said they are relevant - he noted that he
used to live on the Hudson Line - and even that
he could if appropriate take a phone call on any
live discovery dispute of the camera angles.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 9 – In The Bronx on March 13,
2020 two minors gained access to the Spuyten
Dyuvil Bridge and then drowned. Now the railroad
is being sued.
On June 9, 2023, U.S. District Court of for the
Southern District Magistrate Judge Stewart D.
Aaron held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
As
issue was how to get photographs of the site.
Judge
Aaron said they are relevant - he noted that he
used to live on the Hudson Line - and even that
he could if appropriate take a phone call on any
live discovery dispute of the camera angles.
He
indicated an expert might not be necessary on
this.
The
case is Flores et al v. The City Of New York ,
et al., 21-cv-5861 (Abrams / Aaron)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 2 – Joshua
Rodriguez has
three lawyers
for a murder
and marijuana
dealing trial
set to begin
on May 31. But
on May 30 for
the final
pre-trial
conference, he
was not
produced.
Inner City
Press was
there.
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Judge Jed S.
Rakoff said
that the
rulings on
motions in
limine would
have to wait
for May 31,
before jury
selection.
He
said he'd put
12 in the jury
box then
question and
allow
challenges.
Each
side wants 15
minutes for
opening
arguments.
The
murder in
question was
of Jaquan
Millien, in
the Webster
Houses in The
Bronx.
On
May 31, the US
put on the
stand a
witness who
found the
father dead
and the son
shot and
called 911.
The defense
pointed out
that he was
working off
the books.
Next
was Detective
Brian
MacMurray. He
authenticated
a photo of the
son's bleeding
arm with entry
and exit
wounds. There
was a gasp for
air in the
gallery, and
some people
walked out.
The defense
asked if he
really got any
evidence in
the hospitals,
including
Bronx Lebanon
where the
deceased was
on a bed -
another photo.
The AUSA held
up the bloody
shirt, now
brown and not
red.
On
June 1,
Millien's
then-girlfriend
Ms. Yanellie
Ramirez with
an immunity
order
testified that
she did not
tell the
police who
came to her
apartment door
about
Millien's
fight with
Joshua
Rodriguez, who
she called
"Suave" -
since Suave's
girlfriend
lived right
next to her
and could hear
everything.
A law
enforcement
source told
Inner City
Press that the
case was
"dead" until,
after three
years, many of
the witnesses
had moved away
and proved
willing to
talk.
On cross,
Rodriguez'
lawyer sought
to learn more
about another
man who had
fought in the
building, a
man known as
Cracker. The
lawyer
objected when,
on re-direct,
Ramirez was
allowed to
answer that
Cracker's
fight had not
been with
Millien.
On
June 2,
Rodriguez'
counsel
cross-examined
the
government's
witness who
testified
about rap
videos on
Rodriguez'
Facebook
page.
Then a medical
examiner now
in Fort
Pierce,
Florida, an
NYPD bullet
expert, and a
woman from the
NYC Human
Resources
Administration
about
Rodriguez' use
of his
benefits
cards. (He was
taking food
and cash
assistance
during this
time).
With the jury
out of the
room but Inner
City Press in
the gallery,
Rodriguez was
scrolling
through his
Facebook page,
pointing out
videos to one
of his
lawyers. At
day's end,
with the US
having only
two more
witnesses for
Monday, the
defense said
it may call a
witness about
the rap
videos. The US
will get a
hour and half
in summation,
the defense an
hour, with the
charging
conference
probably
Monday at the
lunch break.
More
on Substack,
from
forthcoming
Endless
Sentences, here
The
trial
continues.
The
case is US v.
Rodriguez,
22-cr-316
(Rakoff)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 26 –
James Garlick
faces trial on
June 5 as a
felon in
possession of
a firearm,
found with a
gun on 162nd
Street and
Jerome Avenue
by Yankee
Stadium in The
Bronx on
August 27,
2022.
In
2013 after a
trial, Garlick
was convicted
of
manslaughter.s
Now Garlick
wants to
represent
himself.
On
May 17, U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Valerie E.
Caproni held a
Faretta
hearing and
determined
that Garlick
can represent
himself. But
there is no
movement in
the date of
the trial,
which Inner
City Press
aims to cover.
On
May 19,
Federal
Defenders
wrote it
wanting out
even as
standby
counsel, their
relationship
having
"irreparable
broken down."
Judge Caproni
on May 19
ordered: "the
parties must
appear for a
status
conference on
Monday, May
22, 2023 at
11:00 A.M."
Inner
City Press,
after an 11 am
Magistrates
Court
proceeding,
ran to the
courtroom and
was helpfully
told that
Garlick will
proceed pro
per.
On
May 26, Inner
City Press
went to the
courtroom for
Garlick's bail
hearing. But
the door was
locked. Then
this: "ORDER
as to James
Garlick.
WHEREAS on May
23, 2023, Mr.
Garlick
requested a
bond hearing,
see Letter,
Dkt. 74;
WHEREAS the
Court
scheduled a
bond hearing
for May 26,
2023 at 10:45
A.M., see
Order, Dkt.
75; WHEREAS in
the early
morning of May
26, 2023, the
Court was
notified that
Mr. Garlick
refused to
come to Court
because of a
"religious
holiday" and
because of a
heart
condition; and
WHEREAS Mr.
Garlick was
medically
evaluated and
deemed fit for
Court; IT IS
HEREBY ORDERED
that the bail
hearing
scheduled for
May 26, 2023
at 10:45 A.M.
is hereby
CANCELLED. IT
IS FURTHER
ORDERED that
Mr. Garlick
must be
prepared at
the Final
Pre-Trial
Conference,
scheduled for
Wednesday, May
31, 2023 at
10:30 A.M.,
(a) to state
whether he is
withdrawing
his bail
motion, and
(b) to provide
the Court with
a list of the
names and
dates of all
religious
holidays he
wishes to
celebrate
between May
31, 2023, and
December 31,
2023. IT IS
FURTHER
ORDERED that
the Final
Pre-Trial
Conference
will take
place as
scheduled on
Wednesday, May
31, 2023 at
10:30 A.M. in
Courtroom 318
of the
Courthouse at
40 Foley
Square, New
York, NY
10007. Please
note that the
conference
will therefore
not take place
in the
Undersigned's
regular
courtroom. IT
IS FURTHER
ORDERED that
Mr. Garlick is
hereby
notified that
if he refuses
to attend the
proceeding on
Wednesday, May
31, 2023, or
any future
proceeding
without a
valid medical
excuse, the
Court will
find that he
has withdrawn
his request to
represent
himself, will
direct the
Federal
Defenders of
New York, Inc.
immediately to
resume
representation
of him, and
will consider
whether his
refusal to
come to Court
constitutes a
waiver of his
right to be
present at his
trial or
whether he
should be
forced to come
to Court. IT
IS FURTHER
ORDERED that
attached to
this Order are
draft voir
dire questions
for the
parties to
review ahead
of the Final
Pre-Trial
Conference. IT
IS FURTHER
ORDERED that
standby
counsel for
Mr. Garlick
will be
provided a
copy of this
Order and the
Court's draft
voir dire
questions in
Word format
that they must
cut and paste
into an email
to be sent to
Mr. Garlick
via Corrlinks
not later than
5:00 P.M. on
May 26, 2023.
SO ORDERED."
After
that, Federal
Defenders
wrote it that
CorrLinks says
"The
above-named
inmate has
chosen to
remove your
email address
from his/her
approved
contact list
and,
therefore,
cannot receive
or sent
messages to
your email
address."
The
case is US v.
Garlick,
22-cr-540
(Caproni)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 17 –
Back in March
2018 then US
Attorney
Geoffrey
Berman
announced that
"on March 17,
2018, Mario
Powell called
a livery cab
in the Bronx
then
threatened the
driver with a
gun and
demanded
cash.
The driver
handed over
$23 in
cash.
Powell exited
the cab and
then shot the
driver seven
times."
On May 16,
2023, Powell
was on trial
before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Paul A.
Engelmayer.
Inner City
Press was
there and
covered
it.
The
driver Jeffrey
Cisnero
Camacho, who
survived, was
on the witness
stand. He said
he had been
shot nine
times, and
still has two
bullets in his
leg. He said
the two police
officers who
helped him,
Jennifer and
Sean, were
"angels." He
cried.
In
the courtroom
gallery, his
relatives
including one
of his
daughters
listened. On
the other
side,
apparently
family members
of the
defendant.
On
May 17, on the
stand was
Mario Powell's
brother in
law, who
identified him
to police. In
the courtroom
gallery, ten
supporters of
Powell, who
barely looked
at the
exhibits on
the screen. No
sign of the
victim
(understandable),
nor of his
family. On
cross
examination
the brother in
law
acknowledged
he was only
linking the
person in the
surveillnance
video footage
to Mario
Powell, not
directly to
the shooting.
On
May 18 in
closing
arguments the
AUSA listed 11
reasons to
conclude Mario
Powell was the
robber and
shooter,
coming again
and again to
the bright
blue Air
Jordans with
the orange
Gatorade tag.
There were
PowerPoint
problems. The
defense
emphasized, No
gun, No DNA,
No prints.
After 5
pm, the
pre-sentence
investigation
report was
ordered up.
Docketed on
May 19: "JURY
VERDICT as to
Mario Powell
(1) Guilty on
Count 1s,2s."
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTROOM EXCLUSIVE, May 12 – Law enforcement
announced the arrest in The Bronx, NY of VIRGIL
WARDLOW for paying for sex with a minor with
fentanyl-laced pills, saying he "will be
presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge
Valerie Figueredo." Inner City
Press was there. Thread here:
Prosecutor
says defendant left fentanyl loose in 110 East
177 Street in the Bronx, used anonymized VOIP
TextPlus, killed a 19-year-old. Withdrew $40
from TD Bank with CashApp to "date" Victim-2,
also paying with (deadly) pills
Wardlow's
girlfriend Ms Casanova is here - his Federal
Defender says she works at Nordstrom in "asset
protection." They have a 7 year old daughter.
Also his mother, who work at the Post Office.
Federal
Defender says Wardlow has an entrepreneurial
spirit - but the deal for the 16 year old was
someone else's fault, "other people went to that
hotel."
Federal Defender asks for a photo of the minor,
says another john may be responsible.
AUSA:
The next one paid in cash. It's strict
liability, as long as they have contact...
Federal Defender: He could stay with his mother
in Brooklyn. Judge: Are there any children
there?
Seems
not. Stepfather also works for post office.
Federal Defender: He has pills because of 2 car
accidents. He wouldn't get therapy in jail.
Prosecutor: He sells drugs and buys sex in
wherever he lives. Federal Defender: It
was just tobacco leaves
19 year old died: 16 year old passed out but revived. Judge has stepped out to decide. Judge is back. Orders detention, danger to community.
More
including
analysis on
Substack here
Bronx
Park Motel May
13, 2023 video
here
(and fire
nearly on
189th and
Hughes Ave, here)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 28 – Alongside the
larger flame-out of Silicon
Valley Bank, Signature Bank
too failed, FOIA
story below.
Now the
slumlord buildings that Signature
Bank lent against in
NYC and beyond are up
for
sale through
Newmark. Some who also
whitewash
Barney
Frank out of
this predatory
story also claim
New York Community
Bank, which
bought most of the
rest of Signature,
did not buy the
real estate out
of some concern
for tenants. Given
NYCB's history,
that is
doubtful.
But who are
those bidding
on the
Signature
slumlord
portfolio?
They should be
named - and
shamed. Watch
this site.
On SVB, the Federal Reserve on
April 28 issues a report
downplaying
it failure(s) and
notably not mentioning
the lack of any
public comment or
Community
Reinvestment Act /
CBA review as SVB
was
handed over to
First
Citizens, and
Signature
to NYCB.
The Federal
Reserve in belated response to
Inner City Press' FOIA request
says it has no record
of reviewing Signature and crypto, nor any "record
reflecting any
review by the FRS of
Silvergate’s (and
Provident Bancorp
Inc.,
Metropolitan
Commercial Bank,
Signature Bank,
Customers
Bancorp Inc.) of the
banks’ connections
with crypto-currency firms."
Federal Reserve
letter
to Inner City
Press here
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 20 – Ruben
Dario Ramos
Hidaldo was
charged with
conspiracy to
distribute
heroin and
fentanyl.
He was
arrested in
the Dominican
Republic and
extradited to
the US; he had
been involved
in selling
narcotics into
The Bronx.
On April 20,
2023 U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Mary Kay
Vyskocil held
a change of
plea
proceeding.
Inner City
Press went,
and then
covered it.
Co-defendants
pled guilty in
another case,
US v. Lincoln
Acosta, before
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield.
On April 20,
Ramos
Hidalgo's
retained
lawyer
introduced, as
he had in a
prior
proceeding,
his "law
student
intern." Ramos
Hidaldo pled
guilty to the
lesser
included
offense. His
sentencing was
set for
September 14
at 11 am.
The case is US v. Hidalgo, 20-cr-156 (Vyskocil)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
EXCLUSIVE, April 19 – A
man charged
with firing a
gun seven
times on New
Years Eve in
The Bronx,
after having
previously
been convicted
of a felony,
was indicted
then ordered
released on
bond at 6 pm
on April
18.
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge Jennifer
E. Willis,
noting that
the prosecutor
had not argued
that defendant
Haljoubey
Dunlap is a
risk of
flight, said
he could be
released on
$50,000
unsecured
bond,
immediately.
The
Assistant US
Attorney after
for a 24 hour
stay of
release, to
take the
matter to the
assigned
District
Judge, Paul A.
Engelmayer.
Magistrate
Judge Willis
first said she
would stay her
release order
until 10 am on
April 19.
Then,
after Dunlap's
Federal
Defender said
this was not
the least
restrictive
condition
necessary to
reasonably
assure
Dunlap's
return to
court,
Magistrate
Judge Willis
said the stay
until 10 am
was
office.
The
AUSA called
Judge
Engelmayer's
chambers, from
the Magistrate
Courtroom
where Inner
City Press was
the only media
(the only
civilian, in
fact).
After
a 10 am
proceeding
before Judge
Engelmayer was
scheduled, it
being clear
there was no
stay, the AUSA
asked for a
one-hour stay
so that Judge
Engelmayer
could consider
overnight
detention, at
least on paper
arguments.
Judge Willis
granted a
"temporary
stay" to allow
Judge
Engelmayer to
rule,
"hopefully
within the
hour."
Later, much
later, Judge
Engelmayer
ordered that
"The Court,
having
reviewed the
parties'
submissions
this evening,
including the
account and
video
furnished by
the
Government,
reaffirms the
stay it
earlier
ordered of the
defendant's
release. The
defendant is
remanded
tonight."
Inner
City Press
went to Judge
Engelmayer's
courtroom at
10 am on April
19. The AUSA
repeated the
arguments,
adding
(including in
writing) that
Dunlap had not
made any
statements,
but alluding
to another
person present
denying being
the shooter.
Judge
Engelmayer
asked
question,
including, Is
183rd and
Webster Avenue
a residential
neighborhood?
Actually,
there was a
famous / in
famous
apartment
house fire
near there.
Dunlap is was
said is a
warehouse
supervisor
whose job is
waiting for
him.
Later
on April 19:
"Minute Entry
for
proceedings
held before
Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer:
Bond Hearing
as to
Haljoubey
Dunlap held on
4/19/2023.
Defendant
present with
Federal
Defender
Martin Cohen.
AUSA Aline
Flodr present
for the
Government.
BOND APPEAL.
BAIL
DISPOSITION:
$50,000
Personal
recognizance
bond; To be
cosigned by
two
financially
responsible
persons;
Travel
restricted to
SDNY/EDNY;
Surrender
travel
documents and
no new
applications;
Pretrial
supervision as
directed by
Pretrial
Services; Drug
testing and
treatment;
Curfew;
Electronic
monitoring;
Deft to
continue or
seek
employment;
Deft not to
possess
firearm,
destructive
device, other
weapon; Deft
to be released
on own
signature."
And the
signature is
in the docket
and the
defendant
released.
Inner City
Press remains
on the
case.
The
case is US v.
Dunlap,
23-cr-197
(Engelmayer /
Willis)
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 11 – Among
those suing
the NYPD for
being kettled
and abused in
Mott Haven in
The Bronx
during a June
4, 2020 George
Floyd protest,
Bryan Roman
and two others
had their case
removed to
Federal
court.
On
April 12,
2023, U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Mary Kay
Vyskocil held
a proceeding.
Inner City
Press went and
covered it.
Judge Vyskocil
asked the
City's lawyer
why discovery
had not been
produced.
A
lengthy answer
ranging from
records
"sealed under
160.50" to the
consolidated
cases ensued.
Judge
Vyskocil said
discovery is
set to close
on May 17 and
she is not
inclined to
extend the
deadline,
unless better
cause is
shown.
The
City wanted
mediation by
Rebecca Price;
the
plaintiff's
lawyer
preferred
Leslie
Salzman.
Judge
Vyskocil said
she would
speak with the
latter, and
asked the City
to docket a
letter on
April 13 if
they would
co-pay for
private
mediation.
Plaintiff's
counsel said
Bryan Roman
was uninsured
at the time
and so did not
seek medical
treatment but
was hit with a
baton; his
sister settled
with the City
for $47,000 on
less injuries,
he said.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 5 – Roberto Santos
Guzman worked as a live-in
building superintendent at 600
Trinity Avenue in The Bronx
until it was bought by Denali
Management Inc. and he was
fired. He sued, under the Fair
Labor Standards Act, on behalf
of himself and all others
similarly
situated.
On April
5, 2023 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge John G. Koeltl
held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Defense
counsel disputed whether two
individuals named, Jonathan
Wiener and David Tennenbaum,
should remain in the case.
Plaintiff's counsel said
Tennenbaum is listed on the
NYC real estate paper work for
many of the conglomerates buildings, but
can only be served in the
lobby of a building on West
27th Street.
An agreement to
consent to service was reached
- but a motion to dismiss is
coming, after an amended
complaint.
The case is
Santos Guzman v. Denali
Management Inc. et al.
22-cv-10996 (Koeltl)
***
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 31 – Darwin Columna
was arrested in Washington
Heights on April 26, 2016 and
charged with possessing a bag
of PCP which he says another
man, Batista, admitted were
his.
Colomna sued,
alleging that NYPD Officer
Gomez was retaliating against
him for a lawsuit.
On March
27, 2023 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Jennifer
L. Rochon began the trial.
Inner City Press went and
covered it.
Defense counsel said Columna
is trying to get paid for
having the bag of PCP.
The defense said
it plans three witnesses; the
plaintiff only one beyond
himself. The PCP will be
bought into the courthouse,
sealed in NYPD evidence
pouches.
On March
28, Columna was under cross examination.
He acknowledged that
Officer Gomez did not know
precisely who he was until
he showed his ID upon arrested; he
was questioned
about walking in the
rain from 181st
Street
down to a pharmacy in
the 140s. Did he
remember
everything
that he bought
that day? The
arrest
was in 2016.
On March
30, the jury
asked both
questions 1a
and 1b no: Has
plaintiff proved
by a
preponderance
of the
evidence that
Mr. Columna
was falsely
arrested? No -
"your
deliberations
are finished."
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 23 – In a multi-defendant Bronx gang case,
the language of the proposed protective order
has given rise to a dispute with briefing to
come.
On
March 23, 2023 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J.
Liman arraigned three of the defendants. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
All
three pleaded not guilty. One defense lawyer
disputed including in the protective order a
line about witnesses being under threat.
Judge
Liman pointed out that in bail proceedings,
Magistrate Judge often make such findings. He
directed counsel to a recent decision of his on
protective order, which he said should be on
Westlaw.
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 13 – Bronxite Virginia Stover
was in the Target story on West 225th Street on
December 15, 2021 when she says she was
assaulted by "a Hispanic male, allegedly off
duty law enforcement," while five Target
personnel looked on. She sued.
On March 13, 2023 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Jennifer E. Willis held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Target's lawyer pointed said they have a video
of the incident which they would like Magistrate
Judge Willis to watch.
She
replied that she has no motion pending before
her. Instead, she approved the case management
plan, with a provision that all discovery must
be completed "prior to settlement being
discussed."
The case is Stover v. Target Corporation et al., 22-cv-6970 (Koeltl / Willis)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 11 – Joseph
Sanders
charged with
the armed
robbery of a
tax
preparation
business on
183rd Street
and Grand
Avenue in The
Bronx on
November 2,
2022.
On March 6,
2023 U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Judge
Katherine Polk
Failla held a
proceeding.
Inner City
Press went and
covered it.
The complaint
has numerous
photographs
including of
the Getaway
Vehicle with
distinctive
damage to its
back corner
panel,
including
"tape lining
and holding
the panel."
The
is a photo of
the car's
license plate,
KRR 7852 -
registered to
Sanders. There
is also the
defendant, in
a New York
Yankees cap -
and a dread
locks
wig.
Sanders,
in detention,
was brought in
by US
Marshals.
His
Federal
Defender asked
for a month;
Judge Failla
set the next
proceeding for
April 4 at
2:30 pm.
The case is USA v. Sanders, 22-cr-697 (Failla)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 27 – Michael
Paschal is
charged with
sex
trafficking a
17 year old
girl from
North Carolina
to Brady
Avenue in The
Bronx.
He
was arrested,
and got a
white shoe law
firm as his
Criminal
Justice Act
counsel.
On
February 27,
2023 U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Vernon S.
Broderick has
a suppression
hearing
scheduled.
Inner City
Press is
covering the
case.
On
February 24,
the US
Attorney's
Office filed
to allow
"Officer-1" to
testify by
deposition.
The
US says
Officer-1 will
"soon be
taking a leave
of absence" -
followed by a
redaction.
They says
Officer-1
heard the
defendant say
he thought the
law
enforcement
search and
rescue to
recover a sex
trafficking
victim was
ridiculous
because the
victim was
turning 18
soon.
Trial
is scheduled
for May 1,
2023; the US
says Officer-1
may not have
even cell
phone access
at that time.
On
February 27,
Inner City
Press attended
the
proceeding.
The officer
was in the
plexiglass
witness box
used during
the Sayfullo
Saipov death
penalty trial.
Paschal's
Covington
defense
lawyer, under
the CJA,
grilled the
officer why he
hadn't written
down what he
claims Paschal
said. On
re-cross, he
asked about
his
unavailability
- with whom
would he be
working in
Urkaine?
"An NGO," was
the answer.
With a 23
hours train
ride from
Poland to the
capital, and
more time to
wherever he is
deployed.
The
case is US v.
Paschal,
21-cr-331
(Broderick)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 17 – Derrick
Parsons got
out of jail in
June 2022 but
felt immediate
danger to
himself and
his mother.
His brother
Davin has
testified as a
cooperating
witness in a
murder and
racketeering
case.
Derrick
Parsons got a
gun, and got
arrested.
On February
17, 2023 U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Jed S. Rakoff
held his
sentencing.
Inner City
Press went and
covered it, as
one of only
two people in
the courtroom
gallery. The
other was
Derrick's
mother.
Derrick
Parsons,
speaking for
himself, said
that when he
got out he
checked in
with Probation
within the
required 72
hours and
asked them to
relocate him
and his
months. He was
told, That
will take
time.
That's
why he got a
gun, he said.
Judge Rakoff
said the best
defense was
the one
asserted by
the defendent
himself. He
imposed a
sentence of 24
months, with
two years of
supervised
release to
follow with
the search
condition.
Derrick
Parson's
lawyer asked
that he not be
placed near
New York but
rather Memphis
and/or Atlanta
- and not
after the hard
jail time to
any halfway
house, but to
home
detention.
The
case is US v.
Parsons,
22-cr-516
(Rakoff)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 17– Melissa
Samuels was
working as a
teacher at a
charter school
in The Bronx,
Urban
Assembly, when
a hardball
thrown by a
student hit
her in the
head, injuring
her.
She had a
concussion
which
"impacted her
ability to
care for
herself."
She
said the
school and its
founder David
Noah told her
not to report
it to the
police,
"asking if she
really wanted
to get a kid
involved with
the criminal
justice
system."
When the
police report
was filed,
Samuels was
cut off from
the school's
email system,
allegedly so
she wouldn't
share student
information.
Noah
emailed
Samuels that
"you were not
assaulted.
[Student]
accidentally
hit you with a
nerf ball
while he was
throwing it at
[Student] in a
raucous
classroom."
Then she was
fired. She
sued.
The
complaint,
filed in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York on
February 17
when Inner
City Press
found it in
the dockets,
asserts a
dozen causes
of action.
Perhaps
ironic, Noah
is a Yale Law
School
graduate who
previously
"advised
clients on
employment and
labor
compliance
matters."
The case is Samuels v. The Urban Assembly, Inc., et al, 23-cv-1379 (Unassigned)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 8 – George
Marcial,
having been
convicted of a
felony in
2016, was
arrested in
July 3, 2021
after his wife
Ms. Sosa,
believe he had
stolen money
from her purse
and also
charging
domestic
violence, led
police on a
search of
their
apartment in
The Bronx.
A gun and
ammunition
were found,
and Marcial is
now on trial
as a felon in
possession.
After
jury selection
on February 6,
the trial and
witnesses
began on
February 7
before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Analisa
Torres. Inner
City Press was
there.
The
Assistant US
Attorney was
questioning
the law
enforcement
officer who
had searched
Marcial's and
Sosa's
apartment. On
the screen was
video of the
apartment, in
disarray, then
audio of Ms.
Sosa speaking.
She
said yes there
might be
syringes in
the rubble,
"he is a drug
addict."
Judge
Torres read a
limiting
instruction,
that this was
not offered
for the truth
of the matter
asserted but
only for Ms.
Sosa's state
of
mind.
On
February 8,
amid a flurry
of letters,
the Federal
Defenders
asked Judge
Torres to
"advise the
Government
that it may
not seek to
inflame the
passions of
the jurors"
with Sosa's
statements.
They opposed
any
instruction on
joint
possession at
2041 Watson
Avenue, Apt
#1B in The
Bronx, saying
that the
signed consent
form does not
change the
reality of the
relationship.
Judge Torres
also docketed
an order that
"The
Government is
precluded from
using the
specified
terms. The
Government
shall instead
use the term
"domestic
incident."
And, the Court
shall deliver
the following
limiting
instruction
when the
Wife's 911
call and the
Wife and
Daughter's
street corner
statements are
introduced
into evidence:
"You have
heard
recordings of
statements
that [the
Wife] made to
a 911
dispatcher and
statements
that [the
Wife] and her
daughter made
to responding
police
officers in
connection
with a
domestic
incident. Mr.
Marcial is
only charged
with
possession of
ammunition. He
is not charged
with any other
offense. It is
for you to
decide what
weight, if
any, to give
these
statements.
You may
consider the
statements
only for the
limited
purpose of
determining
whether Mr.
Marcial
knowingly
possessed
ammunition on
July 3,
2021.:Defendants
motion is
GRANTED. The
Government is
precluded from
using
thespecified
terms. The
Government
shall instead
use the term
domestic
incident. And,
the Courtshall
deliver the
following
limiting
instruction
when the Wifes
911 call and
the Wife
andDaughters
street corner
statements are
introduced
into evidence:
You have heard
recordings
ofstatements
that [the
Wife] made to
a 911
dispatcher and
statements
that [the
Wife] and
herdaughter
made to
responding
police
officers in
connection
with a
domestic
incident. Mr.
Marcialis only
charged with
possession of
ammunition. He
is not charged
with any other
offense. It
isfor you to
decide what
weight, if
any, to give
these
statements.
You may
consider the
statementsonly
for the
limited
purpose of
determining
whether Mr.
Marcial
knowingly
possessed
ammunition on
July 3, 2021."
The case is US v. Marcial, 22-cr-208 (Torres)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY
MAG COURT Exclusive, Feb 3 – The gun-point robbery
of a deli / bodega on East
180th Street in The Bronx
gave rise to a length bail
hearing on February 3, 2023
before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge
Jennifer E. Lewis.
Inner City
Press was there until the
7:30 pm end, when an order
to release the defendant
once he obtains the
signatures of three
co-signers on a $75,000
personal recognizance
bond.
NYPD Detective Matthew
Lombardo sat next to
Assistant US Attorney
Brandon Thompson, who began
by saying that release to
the apartment right across
180th Street, where the
defendant had been living,
would not be acceptable.
He
added that residence further
away might be acceptable to
the US Attorney's Office.
Beyond the robbery of the
180th Street store, which
was caught on video,
Thompson referred to
previous armed robberies
which the Bronx District
Attorney had charged and
then dismissed - due, he
said, to witnesses being too
afraid to testify.
Judge Willis said this
information could not be
relied on, and that on the
particular offense conduct
in the complaint, the
defendant could be released
but must stay at least ten
blocks away from the bodega.
More detail and analysis
on Substack here
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- Scoop
- Credit
SDNY
COURTROOM EXCLUSIVE, Jan 25 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on August 4, a detention or release
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge
Katharine H. Parker on a defendant charged with
throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the front porch
of a house in The Bronx, and of being the driver
for a co-defendant who threw a Molotov cocktail
at a car.
The house-bomber, with a Federal Defender, was
released on $15,000 bond. The car-bomber, with
the day's Criminal Justice Act counsel, didn't
even ask for a bail hearing. At the end he was
led out asking, "So I'm staying in jail?" His
significant other in the gallery, where Inner
City Press was the only media as on the July 29
Azerbaijan AK-47 stalker of an Iranian dissident
(story here,
credited here).
On September 1, District Judge John P. Cronan
held arraignments and a status conference. Inner
City Press went and live tweeted it here:
Now
at arraignment of Molotov cocktail duo, both
sitting in jury box with US Marshals. Judge
Cronan mentions a Chowdhry civil case he has,
bandwidth sale.
Co-defendant
Mendez, incarcerated from Day 1, doesn't look
happy. COVID mask not covering nose. Pleads not
guilty as well.
Ukraine
Molotovs cited again. One placed under a dark
Acura in The Bronx on June 6, 2022. 2
supporters, on info and belief Bangladeshi or
South Asian, enter. Mendez' significant other
not here.
AUSA
Amanda Weingarten cites huge video tracking the
duo all over The Bronx. Federal Defender says
Chowdhry phone has exculpatory info on it. AUSA
says it was never seized.
Defendant
exchanging glances. Both in prison beige. Next
is Nov 2, 9:30 am. Adjourned.
Back
on August 24, the defendant who was released on
conditions including drug treatment was back for
a bail revocation, which it barely avoided.
Inner City Press was present and live tweeted here.
Here
is the blow by blow of the arson duo's first
proceeding, here.
On
January 19, 2023, it was docketed that Mendez
intends to plead guilty on January 25: "NOTICE
OF HEARING as to David Mendez: The change of
plea hearing for David Mendez is scheduled for
January 25, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. in Courtroom 12D
of 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007.
**Change of Plea Hearing set for 1/25/2023 at
03:30 PM before Judge John P. Cronan."
Inner
City Press went to the guilty plea on January
25. Mendez pleaded guilty, and the US Attorney's
Office unveiled an agreement to release him from
detention to Odyssey House and postpone
sentencing until October 31, 2023.
Then
they asked for the transcript and even
superceder to be sealed, because it seemed
Mendez might cooperate if Chowdhury goes to
trial in August. But the plea, and all that was
said, was in open court. Judge Cronan asked for
a status report in 60 days if it needs to be
kept sealed.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Jan 20 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on January 20, a detention or bond
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Barbara
C. Moses on a 34-year old man charged for a role
in two armed robberies, one on Christmas Eve
(with a shotgun) and the second on December 26.
The defendant, Francis Shane, said through his
Federal Defender that he is or was slated to
begin a job at Bronx Lebanon Hospital on
February 10. Judge Moses quizzed the Assistant
US Attorney if the jacket she said was in the
surveillance video and in Shane's home when he
was arrested was, while distinctive, not bespoke
or unique. (The Federal Defender said it could
be bought on Canal Street today, as a
knock-off).
It was said Shane's mother would sign a $50,000
bond, with a NYC Board of Education pension.
Other co-signers were identified by name, unlike
what FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried is demanding.
Judge
Moses thanked both sides for that advocacy and
said that the defendant would be detained. As
she wrote up a medical order - on the new form,
the USMS number is required - Shane said that
his mother is a Jehovah's Witness and that "I
finished the program."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Jan 12 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on August 19, a bail review was held by
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses on a
defendant, Boss Terrell, charged with playing a
role in a murder and being caught on video
shooting a gun a month later in The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
Terrell had two lawyers - it being a death
penalty eligible case, he has Learned Counsel -
and his parents in the gallery. His father was
wearing a New York Giants jersey with [Lawrence]
Taylor written on it. Defense counsel said he
worked for the Housing Authority until a
co-worked dropped a refrigerator back on him.
Judge Moses expressed sympathy for the
parents, but declined to grant bail, on both the
danger to the community and the risk of flight
prongs. Time was allowed for the defendant to
tell his year-old son to remember him. Then he
was gone.
Afterward Inner City Press gleened that while
the change of being released had been very low,
at least this way the defense got some
discovery, for example learning about the video
of the July 2020 incident.
Jump
cut to December 14, when co-defendants were
presented in the Magistrates Court, before Mag
Judge James L. Cott. For detention, a pawnshop
robbery in Queens, violence including murder and
the use of social media and hip hop music to
brag about it were cited. It was too much:
detention was ordered, at least pending the next
proceeding before Judge Furman.
The
next proceeding took place on December 20, in
larger courtroom 23B. Inner City Press was
there, as were a number of family members and
supporters. Judge Furman inquired into three
defendants missing - two in custody, one not in
custody - and into the need for another Learned
Counsel on this murder case. The next proceeding
was set for March 28 at 2:30 pm. More on Patreon
here.
On
January 12, another co-defendant was presented
and detained, on consent: "Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Robert
W. Lehrburger: Initial Appearance on disposition
sheet as to Isaiah Thomas held on 1/12/2023 BAIL
DISPOSITION: Detention on consent without
prejudice. Defendant arraigned and pleads not
guilty."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 3 – Darrius Christopher and
Robert Wade were still on trial for a shoot-out
on October 25, 2019 by 2322 Ryer Avenue in The
Bronx. But it was at end game. And the issue of
"Theory of Defense."
On November 22, 2021 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Sidney H.
Stein held opening statements, and on November
23 the presentation of evidence from government
witnesses. Inner City Press went and covered
both days. And now the (guilty) verdicts:
"Verdict reached as follows: defendant
Christopher guilty as to Counts 1 and 3,
defendant Wade guilty as to Counts 2 and 3.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 10, 2022, at
4:30 p.m. Any post-trial motions are due 45 days
from today, the government's response is due 15
days after the motion is filed. Defendants
remain in custody."
Jump
cut to January 3, 2023, when the US Attorney's
Office filed a letter that "on November 29, 2022
the defendants' shared cell [in the MDC[ was
searched and a significant amount of contraband
was recovered.... 183 small bags of a leafy
green substance that field tested positive for
marijuana... a 1.5 inch scalpel... eight cell
phones" - that won't be relied on at sentencing.
Watch this site.
Previously, Detective Hearns was cross examined
about Smith & Wesson .40 caliber and 9mm
luger shell casings.
Once
he and the jurors, who appeared to be paying
close attention, left there were lawyers'
arguments about out of court statements and an
upcoming Wade hearing with an SDNY Probation
officer.
The
government objected to one of the defense's
opening statements, that a Mr. Orellana would
testify about (non) membership in a gang. The
AUSA said Orellana's lawyer said he'll invoke
the Fifth Amendment, if called to testify.
How
do I know that? the defense counsel answered.
On
November 26, the day after Thanksgiving, the US
Attorney's Office filed a letter and three
exhibits with Judge Stein arguing that DEA
agents and NYPD detectives may not be called for
an improper purpose.
Attached
were defense counsel's November 22 letter
pursuant to Touhy v. Regan, 340 U.S. 462 (1951)
for the testimony of DA agents Moises Walter,
Joseph Tamweber and David Brown, and a chain of
emails contesting them. Also at issue: four NYPD
detectives.
The
US Attorney's Office cites Judge Alison J.
Nathan's decision in US v. Ghislaine Maxwell to
bar the defense from eliciting testimony about
the use or non-use of certain investigative
technique as it "does not tend to show
defendant's innocence of the charges."
And
while the Maxwell circus has made it more
difficult to cover, we offered this Friday night
report. Darius Christopher wants an instruction
that while he was present on 183 and Ryer, but
being a knowing spectator is not enough. And if
the instruction is not taken?
On
Monday, December 6 Judge Stein issued this:
"ORDER as to Darrius Christopher, Robert Wade.
Ulysses Boyd appeared at the trial of this
action on November 30 and December 2, 2021,
without the jury present and under oath. While
Boyd sat in the witness stand, the Court stated
as follows:...[*** See this Order ***]... The
Court imposed the coercive civil sanction of a
$5,000 fine and then asked Boyd whether he would
"still refuse to answer questions under oath."
(Trial Tr. 1183.) Boyd responded "Yes." (Id.)
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 1.
Ulysses Boyd is a recalcitrant witness under 28
U.S.C. § 1826 and is in willful contempt of
court for his failure to comply with the
November 30, 2021 Court order that directed Boyd
to testify at this trial. 2. Ulysses Boyd shall
pay a coercive civil sanction of $5,000 due to
his continued civil contempt. That sanction, due
immediately, shall be made to: U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Attn: Cashiers Office, 500 Pearl Street, New
York, NY 10007. SO ORDERED: (Signed by Judge
Sidney H. Stein on 12/6/2021)."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Oct 14 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on October 13, three detention or bond
proceedings were held by Magistrate Judge
Katharine H. Parker. Inner City Press was there,
the only media in the Mag Court.
Defendant Andy Mercado, arrested with two others
after a month's wire-tapping and observation of
a drug stash house on Loring Place South in The
Bronx, asked to be released on bond. His lawyer
said the "Andy" on the wire taps might not be
him. But his passport was found in the drug
filled room.
He was detained, as were Nelson Olivo and lead /
named defendant Joel Cosme Figueroa, who the
AUSA linked to fake oxy pills being left for a
customer called "stupid chick."
The
three were formally indicted on October 26. On
December 29, Mercado's lawyer filed a more
formal request for a conference to (re) argue
for bail, arguing that his client was out of the
country, was not a squatter but a repairman, and
listing the annual incomes of proposed
co-signers of a $500,000 bond.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Dec 16 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on August 19, a bail review was held by
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses on a
defendant, Boss Terrell, charged with playing a
role in a murder and being caught on video
shooting a gun a month later in The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
Terrell had two lawyers - it being a death
penalty eligible case, he has Learned Counsel -
and his parents in the gallery. His father was
wearing a New York Giants jersey with [Lawrence]
Taylor written on it. Defense counsel said he
worked for the Housing Authority until a
co-worked dropped a refrigerator back on him.
Judge Moses expressed sympathy for the
parents, but declined to grant bail, on both the
danger to the community and the risk of flight
prongs. Time was allowed for the defendant to
tell his year-old son to remember him. Then he
was gone.
Afterward Inner City Press gleened that while
the change of being released had been very low,
at least this way the defense got some
discovery, for example learning about the video
of the July 2020 incident.
Jump
cut to December 14, when co-defendants were
presented in the Magistrates Court, before Mag
Judge James L. Cott. For detention, a pawnshop
robbery in Queens, violence including murder and
the use of social media and hip hop music to
brag about it were cited. It was too much:
detention was ordered, at least pending the next
proceeding before Judge Furman.
The
next proceeding took place on December 20, in
larger courtroom 23B. Inner City Press was
there, as were a number of family members and
supporters. Judge Furman inquired into three
defendants missing - two in custody, one not in
custody - and into the need for another Learned
Counsel on this murder case. The next proceeding
was set for March 28 at 2:30 pm. More on Patreon
here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Dec 14 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on August 19, a bail review was held by
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses on a
defendant, Boss Terrell, charged with playing a
role in a murder and being caught on video
shooting a gun a month later in The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
Terrell had two lawyers - it being a death
penalty eligible case, he has Learned Counsel -
and his parents in the gallery. His father was
wearing a New York Giants jersey with [Lawrence]
Taylor written on it. Defense counsel said he
worked for the Housing Authority until a
co-worked dropped a refrigerator back on him.
Judge Moses expressed sympathy for the
parents, but declined to grant bail, on both the
danger to the community and the risk of flight
prongs. Time was allowed for the defendant to
tell his year-old son to remember him. Then he
was gone.
Afterward Inner City Press gleened that while
the change of being released had been very low,
at least this way the defense got some
discovery, for example learning about the video
of the July 2020 incident.
Jump
cut to December 14, when co-defendants were
presented in the Magistrates Court, before Mag
Judge James L. Cott. For detention, a pawnshop
robbery in Queens, violence including murder and
the use of social media and hip hop music to
brag about it were cited. It was too much:
detention was ordered, at least pending the next
proceeding before Judge Furman. Inner City Press
will stay on the case(s).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
Mag
NYC,
Dec 12 – Historian
Robert Caro is working on his
fifth and final volume about
Lyndon Johnson, following his
seminal book about Robert
Moss, The Power Broker.
On December 12,
he spoke at the New York
Public Library in advance of
December 30 release of a
documentary, Turn Every
Page—The Adventures of Robert
Caro and Robert
Gottlieb.
In answering
questions, Caro repeated a
number of stories from his
book Working, about his and
Ina's apartment in The Bronx
(on December 12, he said he'd
hated it), and tracking down
the man who stole an early
election for LBJ.
New material
involved how Knopf binds his
books, and Gottlieb's
love-hate relationship with
the semi-colon.
One wondered if a
Caro-like book could or should
be written about a lesser but
sleazier figure: Antonio
Guterres, UN Secretary
General. Just as controlling,
to the point of having
critical Press roughed up and
banned from the UN -- but with
few to no accomplishments at
SG.
But a study would
illuminate the decay of
international relations, at
least of the UN. And maybe in
DC, too, where Guterres will
be on December 13, meeting
with three Senators. We'll
have more on that.
In the
interim, one related thanks to
but critique of the NY Public
Library. In the months after
Guterres had Inner City Press
thrown out of the UN, and
before it came to cover the
SDNY courthouse, it worked out
of the second floor of the
NYPL's Grand Central branch on
46th Street between Lexington
and Third Avenues.
It was great. And now it is gone -- NYPL has closed the branch, after not re-opening the second floor after the COVID shut down. Many people used that branch, and the reasoning for closing it was not made public or subject to public input. Still more democratic than Guterres' UN. Turn Every Page!
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
-
Vlog
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Dec 8 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on December 8, a detention or bond
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Valerie
Figueredo on a man flown in on a detained from
Arkansas, charged with transporting guns bought
there by straw men (or straw people) and
transporting them for sale and use in The Bronx.
Inner
City Press was present, the only media in the
Mag Court. Related
Mag Court live-tweeted thread (more on
Patreon here)
vlog here
The defendant was Adoudulaye Keita; his assigned
CJA lawyer asked for release on bond to his
father on Sheridan Avenue in The Bronx with his
mother in Arkansas co-signing a bond.
The Assistant US Attorney said that a recorded
jail call caught Keita directing another to look
into a co-defendant in the case, to see if they
were cooperating.
But
when Judge Figueredo asked if there was a
transcript of the call, she was told there was
an Excel spreadsheet of quotes from the call.
That was never brought to the Magistrates Court.
Perhaps,
then, to District Judge Loretta A. Preska. When
Keita was ordered released once the signatory
condition are met, the AUSA said they will be
appealing to Judge Preska. Inner City Press will
continue to follow the case(s).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 3 – Wilson
Galarza, a man
diagnosed with
bi-polar and
post-traumatic
stress
disorders, had
the police
called on him
on March 12,
2017 in his
apartment at
1635 East
174th Street
in The Bronx.
In a short
period of
time, he was
hit with a
taser, and
shot in the
eye. He sued.
On November
28, 2022, U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge
Katharine H.
Parker held a
proceeding.
Inner City
Press covered
it.
There was talk
of Monnell and
of
bifurcation.
Plaintiff's
counsel said
he did not
favor a trial
against the
individual
officers
happening
before and
separate from
a trial
against the
City. A jury
might in the
first instance
think the City
was more to
blame, then
the opposite
in the second
trial.
Judge
Parker ordered
that
Plaintiff's
expert report
on the extend
of eye damage
is due by
January 18.
The next
conference is
set for
January 26 at
2:30 pm.
The case is Galarza v. City of New York et al., 19-cv-10898 (Kaplan / Parker)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 24 – Justin Hampton
faces trial on November 28 -
or two trials, with the jury to be informed of the
final count only after
it deliberates on the
first four. Inner
City Press has been covering
the case and the counts and
will report on the
trial(s).
Counts 1
through 4 involve armed
robberies in The Bronx (a
pizzeria on Bruckner Boulevard
and a dollar store in
Soundview) as well as Brooklyn
and Queens. Count 5 is being a
felon in
possession.
On November 23,
2022, U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge John P. Cronan
ruled that "on November 28 the
Court will commence trial on
Counts One though Four without
notifying the jury that there
is a fifth count. Once the
first phase of the trial
concludes... the Court will
inform the jury of the
existence of Court Five and
proceed with a trial as to
that final count."
Inner City Press
will report on it.
The case is US v. Hampton, 21-cr-766 (Cronan)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Nov 14 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on November 10, a detention or bond
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Sarah L.
Cave on a 68 year old defendant charged with
twice recently shooting a gun on the streets of
The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
The
defendant Walter Moore, according to the
Assistant US Attorney, had fired a gun on June
14 by 4702 White Plains Road, under the elevated
train. A bullet shattered the door of a bodega.
It was three in the afternoon.
Then,
the AUSA said, Moore again fired a gun on
September 19 in front of the building where he
lives. He asked for detention.
The Federal Defenders emphasized his age, and
that he had just spent 10 years on New York
State probation, without reported incident.
Yes,
the AUSA said, after serving 25 years in prison
for hitting a woman with a pipe and throwing her
out the windows.
Judge
Cave said that once Moore got a co-signer, and
his house checked for installation of GPS
tracking, he could be released.
The
AUSA asked a stay, in order to appeal. At first
Judge Cave said a stay was unnecessary, since
Moore will lacked the co-signer and home visit.
But after some phone calls, the stayed was
extended.
On
November 14, District Judge Valerie E. Caproni
heard the appeal, and Inner City Press was
there. Two videos were shown of the June 2022
shooting - a young man went into the bodega,
words were exchange, Moore fired at him and
another young man who both ran down the sidewalk
toward City Lane Farmacia.
The Federal Defender, when asked why the two
were shot at, said the Moore "understands them
to have raped his girlfriend." Judge Caproni
said even if it were true, Moore can't hunt
people. She noted he spent $1600 on a gun, while
on a limited income. There was also the still
unexplained shooting at 740 Cranford Avenue
where he lives.
Judge Caproni ordered Moore detained, but issued
detailed medical instructions about his disks
and kidney.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Nov 10 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on November 10, a detention or bond
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Sarah L.
Cave on a 68 year old defendant charged with
twice recently shooting a gun on the streets of
The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
The
defendant Walter Moore, according to the
Assistant US Attorney, had fired a gun on June
14 by 4702 White Plains Road, under the elevated
train. A bullet shattered the door of a bodega.
It was three in the afternoon.
Then,
the AUSA said, Moore again fired a gun on
September 19 in front of the building where he
lives. He asked for detention.
The Federal Defenders emphasized his age, and
that he had just spent 10 years on New York
State probation, without reported incident.
Yes,
the AUSA said, after serving 25 years in prison
for hitting a woman with a pipe and throwing her
out the windows.
Judge
Cave said that once Moore got a co-signer, and
his house checked for installation of GPS
tracking, he could be released.
The
AUSA asked a stay, in order to appeal. At first
Judge Cave said a stay was unnecessary, since
Moore will lacked the co-signer and home visit.
But after some phone calls, the stayed was
extended.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 2 - In the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York on
November 2, defendant Williams Soto-Montanez was
up for sentencing in connection with bringing a
gun and fentanyl from Wisconsin to The Bronx.
The US Attorney's Office argued for 87 months
imprisonment; the defense lawyer, for a year and
a day.
District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil inquired into
the safety value, and emphasized the seriousness
of fentanyl, when one has to worry about even
kids at Halloween being impacted.
Soto-Montanez spoke for himself, and movingly.
He said he had made an enormous mistake, that
was unlike him. He described conditions in the
MDC. His employer BSM Transportation of West
Allis, Wisconsin had written a letter for him,
that they would hire him back and have him train
other employees.
Judge
Vyskocil took a break to collect her thoughts,
then reported to impose a sentence of 48 months
or four years. The defense lawyer requested a
facility near Milwaukee, with a GED program,
calling his client a deep thinker.
The
case is US v. Soto-Montanez, 21-cr-95 (Vyskocil)
The
defendant Malik Townsend was put into state
custody three days after the robbery, wearing a
Rolex Day-Date watch missing a diamond in a
certain location, "below where the 6:00 hour
marker would be located."
Citing the Hobbs Act, and the interstate sales
of the West 207th Street jewelry story, the
defendant was taken into Federal custody on
November 1 at 8:30 am.
Judge Moses asked if his CJA lawyer would be
asking for release on bond. He is already in
state custody, was the answer. "So it would do
much good." He was detained on consent.
The
case is US v. Townsend, 22-mj-6683 (Moses)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 18 – In the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on October 25, a Violation of
Supervised Release proceeding
was held by Magistrate Judge
Robert W. Lehrburger on a
defendant expressing concern
for his safety in certain
jails. Inner City Press was
there, the only media in the
Mag Court.
The
defendant, Alexander Melendez, was charged with
having a gun on October 18, and associating with
a known felon.
Now with a Criminal Justice Act lawyer from
Mayer Brown LLP, Melendez consented to detention
at least until an appearance before Judge Kaplan
on November 8 at 2:30 pm.
But
after consenting, his counsel asked Magistrate
Judge Lehrburger that Melendez be placed in the
Putnam or Essex County jails, "due to safety
concerns." Whether transport to Putnam would be
possible was unclear.
Melendez was and is part of a case the trial of which, before District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, Inner City Press previously reported on (Melendez' cross examination appears at the end of this report)
On
the second day of 2014 in The Bronx, New York
Shaquille Malcolm was repeatedly shot and killed
in a building in the Allerton section.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 21 – Eduar Vidal is
facing trial on bank fraud charges, for a scheme
in which the auto dealership he ran processed
faked auto loans.
On
May 27, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held
an in-person final pre-trial conference. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
Judge
Cote put on the record that the US Attorney's
Office offered Vidal a plea deal for 18 to 24
months, which he rejected.
The Assistant US Attorney took to the podium,
took off his mask and said if Vidal pleads
guilty before trial without a deal the
guidelines would be 41 to 51 months. If he goes
to trial and is found guilty, the AUSA said, it
would be 51 to 63 months - to some, a form of
penalty.
Judge Cote turned to motions in limine, whether
statements by those whose names were on the auto
loan applications will be admissible as
statements of conspirators.
Vidal
sought to keep them out, as well as his
immigration status and Dominican citizenship.
The statements are in, but immigration out.
Jump
cut to June 21: Judge Cote summoned the parties,
including the defendant, to appear at 9 am with
the charging conference. Then the closing
arguments - Vidal's able lawyer said only an
honest man would have consulted his lawyer,
Nelson Rosado - and then, at 4 pm, the verdict.
Inner
City Press was there, as were some 15 other
people, seemingly supporters of the defendant.
The verdict? Count 1: Guilty. Count 2: guilty.
Judge Cote thanked the jurors for their service.
And it was over, at least the trial phase.
On
October 21, the judgment was filed: 48 months in
prison, with Pennsylvania recommended: "FILED
JUDGMENT IN A CRIMINAL CASE as to Eduar Vidal
(1), Count(s) 1, 2 are dismissed on the motion
of the US. Found guilty to Count(s) 1s, 2s.
Imprisonment for a total term of 48 Months.
Supervised release for a term of 3 Years. The
court makes the following recommendations to the
Bureau of Prisons that the defendant be
designated to a facility close to Pennsylvania.
The defendant shall surrender for service of
sentence at the institution designated by the
Bureau of Prisons before 2pm on 12/21/2022."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 11 – Claudia Lucero and others
sued the Papa Hotel Corp. for FLSA violations,
alleging national origin
discrimination.
On
October 11, 2022, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo
Ramos held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The
defendant runs the Jetset Hotel and the Metro
Suites Hotel, located at 2327 Bathgate Avenue in
The Bronx. Plaintiffs allege they did not
receive minimum wage, nor overtime.
Judge
Ramos referred them to court-ordered mediation.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Oct 14 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on October 13, three detention or bond
proceedings were held by Magistrate Judge
Katharine H. Parker. Inner City Press was there,
the only media in the Mag Court.
Defendant Andy Mercado, arrested with two others
after a month's wire-tapping and observation of
a drug stash house on Loring Place South in The
Bronx, asked to be released on bond. His lawyer
said the "Andy" on the wire taps might not be
him. But his passport was found in the drug
filled room.
He was detained, as were Nelson Olivo and lead /
named defendant Joel Cosme Figueroa, who the
AUSA linked to fake oxy pills being left for a
customer called "stupid chick."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 6 – Dyquan Christopher was
charged with being a felon in possession of a
firearm.
On July 5, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein held a suppression hearing. Inner
City Press attended and covered it.
On the witness stand in person was an officer
who chased Christopher, and picked up a gun
after Christopher was tackled on the sidewalk in
front of the Bronx Academy for the Future on
Southern Boulevard between 174th and 173rd
Streets.
At
issue was whether the gun was found in the
pocket of Christopher's Moncler jacket or under
him, and whether he said "just take the gun and
let me go home."
Judge
Hellerstein asked the prosecutors why he was
leading the witness; there followed a sidebar
discussion, rare for a suppression hearing
without a jury.
At
the end on July 5, Judge Hellerstein denied the
motion to suppress. And on July 19,
Christopher's counsel wrote in that a plea offer
is being considered: "Your Honor scheduled a
pretrial conference for Wednesday, July 20,
2022, at 3:30 pm, with the caveat that the
parties inform the Court if it appeared that the
matter was going to be resolved short of trial.
We recently received a proposed plea agreement
and are scheduled to review it with our client
early next week."
And
on October 6 in the SDNY Magistrates Court, it
happened: "Minute Entry for proceedings held
before Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein:
Arraignment as to Dyquan Christopher (1) Count 1
held on 10/6/2022. Defendant present with
Lorraine Gauli-Rufo. A.U.S.A Ryan B. Finkel
present for Government. Defendant withdraws plea
of not guilty and enters a plea of guilty to
Count One of the Indictment. Magistrate Judge
Gorenstein recommends District Judge Hellerstein
accept the plea. No Court Reporter. PSI Ordered.
Detention continued. Sentencing date set for
1/5/2023." No court reporter - but Inner City
Press still on the case(s).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
Mag
EDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 30 – In a large courtroom in
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of New York, Anthony Zottola, Alfred Lopez and
Himen Ross are standing trial for the October 4,
2018 murder-for-hire of Mafia associate
Sylvester Zottola, a.k.a. “Sally Daz,” at a
McDonalds drive-through on Webster Avenue in The
Bronx.
Inner City Press, now covering the EDNY
courthouse albeit still not approve to bring in
phone and laptop, is covering the trial, before
District Judge Hector Gonzalez.
For
the entire week, FBI Special Agent Michael
Zoufal has been testifying on direct examination
about calls and text messages. Anthony Zottola
allegedly orchestrated and financed multiple
attacks on his father and Anthony’s brother
Salvatore Zottola prior to the
murder.
On
September 30, it finally turned to cross
examination. Defense lawyer Henry E. Mazurek,
whose SDNY work Inner City Press has covered in
a number of live-reported trial, asked Zoufal if
he thought the defendants were communicating in
code.
The
FBI agent resisted, saying that the texts spoke
for themselves.
Mazurek
shifted to analogies, about communications about
tacos, or one's mother. Each time the AUSA
objected, and Judge Gonzalez said, I'll allow
it.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 22 – In a multi-defendant drugs
and guns case there was to be, and was, a jury
trial in the fourth quarter of
2021.
On April 2, 2021 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Valerie E.
Caproni held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it - and the trial.
The case includes shootings on Willis Avenue in
the South Bronx. Judge Caproni said she would be
asking for a trial spot in the fourth quarter,
but couldn't yet know the date.
She
said she anticipated trying any remaining
defendants in a single trial, "to the extent
possible in light of the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic."
And
the solo defendant trial of Jose Caban ran
through October 19. But just before it,
the Bureau of Prisons moved Caban from the MCC
to the MDC - and declared he must be
quarantined.
On October 12 Judge Caproni formally
ordered that the defense attorney must be
allowed into the MDC with laptop to meet or
"anyone in the MDC who refuses to comply with
this Order must be prepared to be held in
contempt of court." That did not happen.
The case is US v. Caban, 19-cr-166 (Caproni)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 16 – Xavier Arau is charged
with selling crack with a gun near the Mitchell
Houses in the
Bronx.
On September 21, 2021 U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York Judge Mary Kay
Vyskocil held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The
complaint cites a Confidential Source-1 with
prior state convictions for robbery and
narcotics, and provides info for money.
On
September 21, 2021 there was talk of a cell
phone seized from the defendant.
Jump
cut to September 16, 2022: co-defendant Roberto
Espinosa was brought into the SDNY Magistrates
Court, the last presentment of the day. But the
CJA lawyer on duty might have a conflict of
interest. They went out into the hall, and when
they returned she was appointed only for
presentment. After detention on consent, there
was talk of re-doing the appoint of counsel next
week, as the next all-defendant proceeding (on
October 4 at 2 pm) would be too busy. We'll see.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Sept 9 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on September 9, a detention or bond
proceeding was held by Magistrate Ona T. Wang on
defendant Maurice Martinez.
Martinez
was on supervised release on August 21 when, the
AUSA said, he threatened a woman with a gun at
4:30 am in The Bronx - but had no gun when
arrested at 5:03 am.
Inner
City Press was there for the proceeding, the
only media in the Mag Court.
Martinez' new CJA lawyer, from Sidley Austin,
emphasized that no gun had been found at 5 am.
The prosecutor said in the intervening half
hour, Martinez could have driven anywhere in The
Bronx and thrown the gun out the car window -
and that he resisted arrest in the car.
Judge
Wang found that Martinez could be released on
$10,000 bond, with as co-signers one financial
responsible person and one for moral suasion,
pending a September 15 appearance before
District Judge Sidney H. Stein.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
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SDNY
EXCLUSIVE, Sept 1 - In the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York on
August 4, a detention or release proceeding was
held by Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker on
a defendant charged with throwing a Molotov
cocktail onto the front porch of a house in The
Bronx, and of being the driver for a
co-defendant who threw a Molotov cocktail at a
car.
The house-bomber, with a Federal Defender, was
released on $15,000 bond. The car-bomber, with
the day's Criminal Justice Act counsel, didn't
even ask for a bail hearing. At the end he was
led out asking, "So I'm staying in jail?" His
significant other in the gallery, where Inner
City Press was the only media as on the July 29
Azerbaijan AK-47 stalker of an Iranian dissident
(story here,
credited here).
On September 1, District Judge John P. Cronan
held arraignments and a status conference. Inner
City Press went and live tweeted it here:
Now
at arraignment of Molotov cocktail duo, both
sitting in jury box with US Marshals. Judge
Cronan mentions a Chowdhry civil case he has,
bandwidth sale.
Co-defendant
Mendez, incarcerated from Day 1, doesn't look
happy. COVID mask not covering nose. Pleads not
guilty as well.
Ukraine
Molotovs cited again. One placed under a dark
Acura in The Bronx on June 6, 2022. 2
supporters, on info and belief Bangladeshi or
South Asian, enter. Mendez' significant other
not here.
AUSA
Amanda Weingarten cites huge video tracking the
duo all over The Bronx. Federal Defender says
Chowdhry phone has exculpatory info on it. AUSA
says it was never seized.
Defendant
exchanging glances. Both in prison beige. Next
is Nov 2, 9:30 am. Adjourned.
Back
on August 24, the defendant who was released on
conditions including drug treatment was back for
a bail revocation, which it barely avoided.
Inner City Press was present and live tweeted here.
Here
is the blow by blow of the arson duo's first
proceeding, here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
Exclusive, August 26 – Purificacion
Cristobal is on trial for having run a clinic in
The Bronx at which she wrote prescriptions for
Oxocodone, Xanax and Adderall for patients she
never examined, many of whom turned around and
sold the drugs to other addicts.
One
such patient who re-sold drugs, Danilla
LoCicero, testified on the afternoon of August
26, 2022 in the trial before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge
Katharine Polk Failla. Inner City Press was
present in Courtroom 318 for the direct, cross
and re-direct examination.
Ms. LoCicero began by saying she has worked for
JP Morgan Chase for 17 years. She then said that
all of the Oxycodone she was prescribed by
"Doctor Cristobal" she gave to her common law
husband Peter Maisonave to re-sell for cash.
She said Maisonave was suffering some anxiety
and depression due to being out of work and
considering back surgury which he ultimately
had. The oxy he didn't sell, he crushed up
and snorted. LoCicero asked to be sent to a
pharmacy that provided the oxy in crushable
form.
Somehow, while still working for Chase Bank,
LoCicero began working in Cristobal's clinic,
resubmitted bills that had been rejected to
insurance companies. Her pay was in drugs
prescribed without any visit.
She
was offered a deal in which she will not be
prosecuted for possession of the drugs with
intent to distribute, and insurance fraud, as
long as she testifies truthfully against
Cristobal.
The
cross examination, while focusing on 2006 spine
MRIs to argue the drugs may have been necessary,
did not get into the insurance fraud or work at
JP Morgan Chase.
When
LoCicero left the witness stand and courtroom, a
man who appeared to be her lawyer followed her
out.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, August 18 - In the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York on August 19, a bail review was held by
Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses on a
defendant, Boss Terrell, charged with playing a
role in a murder and being caught on video
shooting a gun a month later in The Bronx.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in
the Mag Court.
Terrell had two lawyers - it being a death
penalty eligible case, he has Learned Counsel -
and his parents in the gallery. His father was
wearing a New York Giants jersey with [Lawrence]
Taylor written on it. Defense counsel said he
worked for the Housing Authority until a
co-worked dropped a refrigerator back on him.
Judge Moses expressed sympathy for the
parents, but declined to grant bail, on both the
danger to the community and the risk of flight
prongs. Time was allowed for the defendant to
tell his year-old son to remember him. Then he
was gone.
Afterward Inner City Press gleened that while
the change of being released had been very low,
at least this way the defense got some
discovery, for example learning about the video
of the July 2020 incident.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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Mag - VLOG
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 11 – Richard Rosario spend
twenty years in prison for the murder of Jorge
Collazo - and then had his conviction vacated
and was not re-tried. He sued.
On
July 19, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G.
Schofield held a final pre-trial conference,
before the jury trial set to begin on July 25.
Inner City Press is covering the case.
Rosario is suing for the violation of his
constitutional rights by Irwin Silverman, Gary
Whitaker, Richard Martinez and Charles Cruger,
who investigated the 1996 murder.
On
August 11, the jury awarded Rosario $5 million
against Officer Whitaker, jury verdict form on
Patreon here.
On August 8-9, the NYC Law Department filed with
Judge Schofield a complaint about threats it
attributed to Rosario at the courthouse bathroom
urinal, while saying they were not audio
recorded: "I am one of the attorneys assigned to
the defense of the above-referenced matter. I
write to inform the Court about an
incident that occurred in the men’s restroom
this afternoon during the brief
five-minute break between the cross examination
of Carl “Chip” Loewenson, Jr., and the
charge conference. During that five-minute
break, the undersigned went to the restroom and
upon entering, the plaintiff, who was
without a chaperone and using one of the
urinals, asked “who just walked in?”
Plaintiff then turned his head around to look at
who had entered, and, upon seeing the
undersigned, exclaimed “oh, you fucking punk.”
The undersigned remained silent and did
not engage with plaintiff, but plaintiff
nevertheless engaged in several minutes of
insulting the undersigned, primarily using
multiple iterations of the sentiment “fucking
punk.” During this monologue, plaintiff
also made comments to the effect of “we’ll see
if you can really fight,” and “you’re
lucky I’m still peeing because I’d throw your
ass through that fucking toilet.”1 In
fairness to plaintiff, as the undersigned
was walking out, the plaintiff claimed that he
was “talking to [his] p*nis, not [the
undersigned].” Although this incident was the
peak of plaintiff’s harassing and threatening
behavior towards defendants’ counsel
throughout this trial, it was not the first
instance of such. During today’s
mid-morning break, plaintiff was pacing in the
hallway and muttered “I smell a p*ssy” as
1 The undersigned did not audio record this
incident, so these quotes represent the best of
my recollection." *'s added by Inner City
Presss; letter on Patreon here.
On
the morning of August 9, before the jury
entered, Judge Schofield asked Rosario's lawyers
about the letter. They apologized, and said he
may not be present during deliberations. Judge
Schofield spoke of chaperoning while in the
courthouse, then conducted a non-public sidebar
with Rosario and one lawyer from each side.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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Mag - VLOG
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 4 – Richard Rosario spend
twenty years in prison for the murder of Jorge
Collazo - and then had his conviction vacated
and was not re-tried. He sued.
On
July 19, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G.
Schofield held a final pre-trial conference,
before the jury trial set to begin on July 25.
Inner City Pres is covering the case.
Rosario is suing for the violation of his
constitutional rights by Irwin Silverman, Gary
Whitaker, Richard Martinez and Charles Cruger,
who investigated the 1996 murder.
In a pre-trial memo, Rosario says he will
testify for four hours, and Whitaker and
Martinez for four to six hours each. Three
witnesses to the murder will be called, and
alibi witnesses that Rosario was in Florida at
the time of the murder.
One
possible witness, Lyamari Leon, is described as
testifying about an "alternative theory and
motive for the murder of Jorge Collazo."
The defense says it will call former ADA Jeanne
Patrauskas, for an hour. There will be DD5s and
crime scene photos, and Dateline interview
transcripts.
On
July 26, with Inner City Press in the gallery,
Rosario's lawyer and the NYC lawyer questioning
witness Ms. Ruiz and Inner City Press live
tweeted it here
and below.
Later
on July 26 the City filed a letter that is Dr.
Parker should be allowed to testify about
Rosario's allegedly "predatory" behavior
including Facebook posts and videos regarding
Defendant officers, and a 1994 rape charge. The
City argues that Rosario's "lack of remorse, in
general, is highly relevant as it is a
'hallmark' of an APSD diagnosis." Things are
getting nasty. City letter on Patreon here.
On
July 29, with Courtroom 110 still locked, things
got nastier still. The City wrote to Judge
Schofield emphasizing that Rosario's vacatur of
conviction had nothing to do with negligence by
the police officers, or innocence. They want to
tell the jury it was the criminal defense lawyer
who didn't investigate the alibis. But don't
police and prosecutors, and judges, have duties
to do justice? Supposedly it will resume on
August 1.
From
July 26 in court: Ok - now at Richard Rosario v
NYC after he spent 20 years in prison for Bronx
murder on 6/19/96 when 13 people swear he was in
Florida
Rosario's
lawyer, to 1 of 13, Ms Ruiz: Did the NYPD ever
reach out to you?
NYPD's
counsel: Objection!
Judge
Scholfield : Overruled.
Cross.
NYC lawyer: Good morning, Ms Ruiz. Did you ever
call the police?
Ruiz:
No. NYC lawyer: You never testified in the 1998
murder trial? Ruiz: I did not. NYC lawyer:
People smoke pot in your building then, right?
Ruiz: It was a social thing that people did.
NYC
lawyer: Why do you remember Richard Rosario
being there? Ruiz: Because of the crime. NYC
lawyer: But that's looking back. Did an
investigator for Rosario contact you in 2002?
Ruiz: Yes.
NYC
lawyer: Did Rosario's lawyers pay for your
travel, hotel and room service? Ruiz: Yes. NYC
lawyer: DId they prepare you for your 2019
deposition? Ruiz: Maybe. NYC lawyer: And you
spoke with them last night? Ruiz: Yes.
NYPD
lawyer: Isn't it true Rosario had a romantic
relationship with Denise Hernandez? Rosario's
lawyer: Objection! Ruiz: I don't know. NYPD
lawyer: But you know his wife, right?
Seated
NYC lawyer is passing Post It notes to colleague
who's cross examining Ruiz. Now she shows Ruiz
print outs of Rosario's text message to her,
that she can't testify unless she talks to the
lawyers 1st. And that the trial is "not for
peanuts."
On
August 1, investigating officer Whitaker was on
the witness stand, and was asked among other
things where he showed the "mug book" to hotdog
vendor Jose Diaz. Inner City Press live tweeted
here:
in
resumed trial of Rosario v NYC, Police Officer
Whitaker on witness stand is being asked why
part of the homocide investigation file was
withheld.
Rosario's
lawyer: Does this Polaroid of Richard Rosario
have the same number as the one shown to Mr
Davis in the mug book? Whitaker: Yes.
Q:
Wasn't that suggestive? Whitaker: That's
hypothetical.
Q:
The photo you showed of Mr Rosario was from 3
years earlier, when he was 17, right?
Whitaker:
I didn't do the math. But if you say so.
[Rosario
walks out of courtroom. Lawyer follows and asks,
You OK? ]
Now
on screen, DD-5 after interview of the hotdog
seller, Jose Diaz.
Q:
The shooter and his accomplice bought coffee
from him, right?
Whitaker:
That's what we heard.
On
August 2 with witness Torres testifying (again)
about Rosario being in his residence in Florida
at the time of the Bronx murder, the cross
examination again got into money for testimony,
this time zeroing in on his brother with whom
Torres says he does get along, here
in
resumed trial of Rosario v NYC, Torres on
witness stand is being asked by City why his
brother said he should get paid for his
testimony.
City:
In 2016 you said Richard Rosario slept in a car
on June 19 [1996], right? Torres: I was trying
to piece it together.
City's
lawyer: You said you worked at a toll booth. But
your wife said you were unemployed.
Torres:
I had a lot of odd jobs.
He'd said he said he was working at the toll
both to not seem like a loser.
On
August 3, the second / "sweeper" witness of the
murder was on the stand; Inner City Press live
tweeted here
now
in Rosario v NYC, then-sweeper shooting witness
on stand, says repeatedly, I don't remember.
Except he heard, You won't do it again.
Redirect.
Rosario's
lawyer: Mr Davis, the man who interviewed you in
your house, was he with Rosario's team?
NYC
lawyer: Objection!
Davis:
You don't to hear my answer!
Several
jurors laugh.
Davis:
May I say something? What he filmed in my house
shouldn't even have been in the show!
On
August 4, where was action in the courtroom and
outside of it. Thread here:
Ok-
now in Rosario v NYC, former NYPD detective is
being questioned by Rosario's lawyer about photo
array / line up.
Q:
all other 5 in his line up on July 9 [1996] were
more than 10 years older than Mr. Rosario,
correct?
Ex
detective; Yes. But I don't go by age. Now Ms
Leon - by deposition transcript.
Earlier
on August 4, Judge Schofield excludes from trial
Rosario's social media "postings about his
damages being comparable to a Holocaust
survivor," ruling that "any probative value is
outweighed by the potential for prejudice under
Federal Rule of Evidence 403"
Vlog here;
coverage will continue.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 29 – Martin Conception is on
trial for child sex
trafficking.
On July 27, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge J. Paul
Oetken was presiding over the trial. Inner City
Press went and covered it.
On
the stand was a Ms. Rodriguez, who testified she
was 16 years old when she was prostituted out by
a trio including Concepcion a/k/a Tito.
Judge
Oekten admonished some of those in the courtroom
gallery for gesticulating during the testimony
and said if it continued, they would be
removed.
The
events described took place in The Bronx around
184th Street and Creston Avenue, and Valentine
Avenue. Tito got shot, but did not go to the
hospital, at least not immediately.
Concepcion's defense counsel repeatedly asked
Rodriguez about her previous prostitution, and
how many months she had been missing.
A
long sidebar in the robing room ensued.
On
July 28, things had already reached the charging
conference. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here:
now
the jury charge conference. In the same 40 Foley
Square #GhislaineMaxwell was convicted in, for
this graphic trafficking trial there are only 7
people in the gallery: 4 supporters of
defendant, 2 Court Security Officers watching
over them, and Inner City Press. Judge cites
strict liability
Judge:
Jury must find if defendant rectuited for or
benefited from trafficking
Defendant,
in a re-used prison suit though jury's not here
for charging conference, is reading the draft
charge over his appointed lawyer's shoulder.
Charge is agreed.
On
July 29, the closing arguments, including this
rebuttal summation, here:
AUSA
David Robles says all defense did was blame the
victim, Camila. Thread below AUSA: Bigga texted
the defendant and told him to lie low after the
FBI raid on his apartment. He put Camila's
photos in an ad online, then was in the
apartment with a gun.
AUSA:
He was a pimp. Rico, the cooperator, shuts the
door. Yes he committed terrible crimes agsinst
Camila. He gets 20 years if he lies.
AUSA:
Camila was 16. You have her passport. Defendant
trafficked her. Find him guilty. Thank you.
But
it wasn't that simple. At 4 pm on July 29, there
was note. Inner City Press live tweeted here
All
rise! Judge Oetken: The jury has asked for
Camila's testimony, and if they can rely on
Camila's passport for her age.
Jury
entering! Judge Oetken: We'll answer your
questions Monday. Don't read about the case over
the weekend. A juror: Can we take the
instructions home? Judge: Please leave your
notes and the instructions here. [Jurors leave]
Judge:
On the passport, write me or we'll talk Monday
morning.
Defense
lawyer: I have an EDNY video arraignment Monday
9 am.
But
answers will be given to the jurors, and
deliberations will proceed...
Meanwhile
we have heard from a family member but are
waiting to hear more.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 22 – Richard Rosario spend
twenty years in prison for the murder of Jorge
Collazo - and then had his conviction vacated
and was not re-tried. He sued.
On
July 19, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G.
Schofield held a final pre-trial conference,
before the jury trial set to begin on July 25.
Inner City Pres is covering the case.
Rosario is suing for the violation of his
constitutional rights by Irwin Silverman, Gary
Whitaker, Richard Martinez and Charles Cruger,
who investigated the 1996 murder.
In a pre-trial memo, Rosario says he will
testify for four hours, and Whitaker and
Martinez for four to six hours each. Three
witnesses to the murder will be called, and
alibi witnesses that Rosario was in Florida at
the time of the murder.
One
possible witness, Lyamari Leon, is described as
testifying about an "alternative theory and
motive for the murder of Jorge Collazo."
The defense says it will call former ADA Jeanne
Patrauskas, for an hour. There will be DD5s and
crime scene photos, and Dateline interview
transcripts.
The
case is Rosario v. City of New York, et al.,
18-cr-4023 (Schofield)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, July 15 - In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on July 15, a detention or release
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge James L.
Cott on a defendant charged with trafficking 20
guns into New York City. Inner City Press was
there.
The US Attorney's Office had announced: "BRANDY
ARIAS was charged with firearms trafficking and
traveling interstate with intent to engage in
firearms trafficking, in connection with her
illegally selling firearms in the Bronx, New
York. ARIAS was arrested yesterday and
will be presented today before Magistrate Judge
James L. Cott in Manhattan federal court."
During
the proceeding, with Inner City Press the only
media present, the Assistant US Attorney
emphasized Arias' trips to Florida and the
Dominican Republic. Judge Cott was not
convinced, and took the AUSA to task for
interrupting or seeking to interrupt his ruling.
Whatever was late proffered was not considered,
and it does not appear that any appeal has been
taken.
The
US Attorney's Office says, " From about March
2022 to July 2022, BRANDY ARIAS illegally sold
twenty firearms, as well as ammunition and
magazines, to an undercover law enforcement
officer in the Bronx, New York. These
sales occurred on eight different occasions,
including in the middle of the day near a
residential building and outside of a fast-food
restaurant. As
part of the scheme, in or about June 2022 and
July 2022, ARIAS traveled between New York and
Florida for the purpose of obtaining firearms to
illegally resell in New York. On at least
two occasions shortly after traveling to
Florida, ARIAS sold firearms to the UC in the
Bronx. On July 14, 2022,
ARIAS met the UC outside of a fast-food
restaurant in the Bronx with the intent to sell
the UC an additional firearm. At that
time, ARIAS was arrested."
There
followed in the Mag Court after Ms. Arias
another defendant for whom the AUSA requested,
and got, the entire proceeding and docket
sealed, "to leave things open." We'll have more
on this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 4 – Rebecca Margolies while
doing jail support at a George Floyd protest in
Mott Haven in The Bronx on June 4, 2020 was
arrested. Now she has sued.
On July 1, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin
Castel held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge
Castel reminded the parties he has ruled on
several of these 2020 policing cases.
He
offered the plaintiff the chance to amend the
complaint but the offer was declined.
He
said the defendants have until July 19 to move
to dismiss, and does a conference for November 4
at 10:30 am.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 28 – A young man detained
as part of a Bronx gang case asked lastweek to
be released on bail. But the US Attorney's
Office opposed it, citing among other things rap
lyrics.
On
June 24, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S.
Rakoff held an in-person bond hearing. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
The
Assistant US Attorney, beyond describing bullets
in a backpack said the defendant has appeared in
videos on YouTube with lyrics such as "they call
me war" and "I'll empty my ten round clip...
hunt you down because you rat us out."
Judge
Rakoff found a danger to the community (and did
mention songs and videos, and much else). The
defendant remains detained.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
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Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 21 – Eduar Vidal is
facing trial on bank fraud charges, for a scheme
in which the auto dealership he ran processed
faked auto loans.
On
May 27, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held
an in-person final pre-trial conference. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
Judge
Cote put on the record that the US Attorney's
Office offered Vidal a plea deal for 18 to 24
months, which he rejected.
The Assistant US Attorney took to the podium,
took off his mask and said if Vidal pleads
guilty before trial without a deal the
guidelines would be 41 to 51 months. If he goes
to trial and is found guilty, the AUSA said, it
would be 51 to 63 months - to some, a form of
penalty.
Judge Cote turned to motions in limine, whether
statements by those whose names were on the auto
loan applications will be admissible as
statements of conspirators.
Vidal
sought to keep them out, as well as his
immigration status and Dominican citizenship.
The statements are in, but immigration out.
Jump
cut to June 21: Judge Cote summoned the parties,
including the defendant, to appear at 9 am with
the charging conference. Then the closing
arguments - Vidal's able lawyer said only an
honest man would have consulted his lawyer,
Nelson Rosado - and then, at 4 pm, the verdict.
Inner
City Press was there, as were some 15 other
people, seemingly supporters of the defendant.
The verdict? Count 1: Guilty. Count 2: guilty.
Judge Cote thanked the jurors for their service.
And it was cover, at least the trial phase.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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UK - Honduras
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 17 – Dionisio Castillo and
others sued 169th Street Parking Corporation,
Bishop Joseph Alexander and Raymond Lopez for
not paying minimum wage or overtime.
On
June 17, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Katharine H. Parker held a proceeding. Inner
City Press covered it.
The defense's lawyer disputed if the named
plaintiff ever worked for the Parking
Corporation.
He
said they might have been brought up by Ray
Lopez. He was asked, don't you keep records?
Apparently not enough.
Judge
Parker told the defense to conduct a reasonable
seach for responsive records; there will be a
settlement conference on August 24 at 10 am.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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UK - Honduras
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Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 10 – An NYC public housing
tenant who says she cannot sleep in her
apartment in the Linden Houses sued for the
right to move elsewhere. But the City says such
moves can take up to one year, even in cases of
domestic violence.
On June 10, 2022 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J.
Liman held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge
Liman inquired into the various types of
vouchers, and into an apartment in Sheepsheads
Bay which doesn't have an oven. The Bronx was in
the air.
Also
in the air was whether this Jane Doe is "jumping
the line" of some more urgently needing to
transfer within NYCHA.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 3 – The Fair Housing
Justice Center sued Bruckner Tower a/k/a the
Crescendo, the Staccato and the Legato at 25
Bruckner Boulevard for failure to comply with
the Americans With Disabilities Act. Then, amid
COVID, they needed a new expert.
On
June 3, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held a
proceeding. Inner City Press went and covered
it.
The
complaint says among other things the property's
"doors were not designed to allow passage into
and within all premises by peple in
wheelchairs."
Judge
Cote asked why the request about the new expert
came so late. She was told that the expert went
to work for the firm of the defendant's expert.
Judge Cote gave until June 24 to find the next
expert.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 27 – Eduar Vidal is
facing trial on bank fraud charges, for a scheme
in which the auto dealership he ran processed
faked auto loans.
On
May 27, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held
an in-person final pre-trial conference. Inner
City Press went and covered it.
Judge
Cote put on the record that the US Attorney's
Office offered Vidal a plea deal for 18 to 24
months, which he rejected.
The Assistant US Attorney took to the podium,
took off his mask and said if Vidal pleads
guilty before trial without a deal the
guidelines would be 41 to 51 months. If he goes
to trial and is found guilty, the AUSA said, it
would be 51 to 63 months - to some, a form of
penalty.
Judge Cote turned to motions in limine, whether
statements by those whose names were on the auto
loan applications will be admissible as
statements of conspirators.
Vidal
sought to keep them out, as well as his
immigration status and Dominican citizenship.
The statements are in, but immigration out.
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras - ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 17 – Elvis Peralta sued
the City of New York and police officers for
arresting him in an apartment in 1141 Tiffany
Street in The Bronx on July 13,
2017.
On May 17, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl held a
conference. Inner City Press covered
it.
The City
is arguing that Peralta signed a general release
which precludes the lawsuit. Judge Koeltl gave
the City until June 17 to file a motion for
summary judgment, and stayed discovery pending
his ruling on that motion.
The case is Peralta v. City of New York et al., 19-cv-7565 (Koeltl)
***
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By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 1 – Christina Charles of 1317
Boston Road in The Bronx slipped and fell in the
Family Dollar store at 1345 Boston Road and
sued. Family Dollar removed the case to Federal
court.
On April 29, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge John G.
Koeltl held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Koeltl denied Family Dollar's motion for
summary judgment and directed the plaintiff to
make a demand by May 4.
Next
up is a joint pre-trial order by May 20, with
the parties to be ready on 48 hours notice for a
trial starting June 17.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 28 – Jose Cabrera was filmed
in the course of an armed robbery of a
laundromat in The Bronx on March 12, 2021.
On
April 28, 2022, in a yellow prison jumpsuit, he
came to plead guilty.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge John P. Cronan held the in-person
change of plea proceeding. Inner City Press went
to cover it.
In response to each questions, Cabrera said, Yes
sir, Yes Your Honor. He said he had gotten
$1500.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 18 – Target in The
Bronx was robbed of $215,000 on March 26, 2018.
The robber Tsani Russell was caught and
sentenced to 40 months.
His
co-defendant who worked at Target and gave him
the key because a
cooperator.
On April 18, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Naomi Reice
Buchwald held a sentencing proceeding. Inner
City Press covered it, as the only
media.
Judge Buchwald began by asking each person on
the call to identify themselves. Inner City
Press did. After the Federal Defender began
recounting how his client was pressured and
received only $1500, Judge Buchwald said she
would give a time served sentence but had
questions about supervision - and emphasized
there can be no drug use (including marijuana,
which remains under Federal prohibition).
Judge
Buchwald indicated that some of the money should
be paid back. The Federal Defender cited a
Second Circuit case against that, and will put
in a letter, as will the AUSA. Inner City Press
may continue to cover this legal issue.
The
cooperating defendant spoke for herself,
apologizing to those working at Target who were
there during the robbery and saying she was
making bad decisions at the time. She said she
has lost 50 pounds and been vegan for the past
two years.
She said she is renting a room in Hamilton
Heights in Upper Manhattan for $1200 a month -
she is thinking of moving (back) to the Bronx.
She said she did not want this following her
forever, nor her current company to know.
While
Judge Buchwald acknowledged that the felony
conviction cannot be erased, Inner City Press
has chosen to not here report the name.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC-Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN NY
Mag
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 14 – William Scott
is on trial in connection with the firing of a
gun outside East 183rd Street in The Bronx on
June 23, 2020.
Inner
City Press is covering this felon in possession
of a firearm case in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York before Judge
Analisa Torres.
On
April 11 the prosecution painstaking showed
security video of gunfire by a man in red
shorts, a white T-shirt and running shoes they
said was William Scott, whom they a/k/a as "Ill
Will."
The
defense - Scott has two separate CJA counsel,
after earlier in the case having the Milbank law
firm - introduced other camera angles.
SDNY
US Attorney Damian Williams came in for a bit,
as Inner City Press also noted
he did during the recent US v. Eric Spencer /
Soho Chanel store robbery trial.
His
Assistant US Attorney complained that the
defense is not sharing its exhibits in advance.
On
April 12, another of Scott's CJA lawyers cross
examined a witness, demanding to know "if you
said 'pop'!" There were fewer people in the
courtroom. The AUSA's request to for a brief
re-cross was denied. The US is arguing that
Witness B's sale of ecstasy to Scott and others
should not come in, or at least not be the
subject of cross examination.
On
April 13, at the end, Scott's Rule 29 motion was
denied by Judge Torres, after the AUSA insisted
that they had presented enough evidence, with
video and live witnesses and the ATF testimony
about inter-state transport.
On
April 14 before 2 pm, Judge Torres gave her
legal instructions to the jurors. By 3:30 pm,
they had returned: guilty.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, April 7- In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on April 7, a series detention or release
proceedings were held until 8 pm by new
Magistrate Judge Jennifer Willis after an early
morning police raid on a fentanyl mill on the
fourth floor of 15 East 196th Street in The
Bronx.
One of the final two defendants had sold a kilo
and a half of fentanyl to an undercover agent,
the Assistant US Attorney told Judge Willis. The
other had fled out of the drug mill apartment
upon the arrival of the police by kicking out
the airconditioner and going up the fire escape
to an apartment on the fifth floor. He entered
by kicking in the airconditioner.
The Criminal Justice Act lawyer for the
defendant charged with selling the fentanyl said
that his client's father, an Uber driver, was
downstairs in the courthouse. He asked for
permission to go down and get him, which was
granted.
But
15 minutes later, the lawyer had not returned,
and it was nearing 8 pm.
Inner City
Press covers the SDNY
Magistrates Court as it has
The Bronx, sometimes
as the only media in
the gallery, as it was on April 7. It left and
sent to find the lawyer and
the defenant's
father, ultimately finding them
by the metal detectors
at the 200 Worth Street
entrance.
Back up
on the Magistrates
Court, Judge Willis
said that the fentanyl
seller
could be
released upon
the signature
of his father
as moral
suasion. But
the defendant
who fled, and
who is not a
US citizens,
would have to
have a GPS bracelet
installed. It
being too late
to accomplish
that, he was
ordered detained
overnight.
His passport
was not
seized in the
drug mill
apartment. His
CJA lawyer
said his
client's
brother has
the passport
but his client
does not
know his brother's
number, it is
saved in the
contacts of
his phone the
police seized.
Judge
Willis said
the passport
should be
turned in as
soon and
possible, and with
the GPS the defendant
should not go near
an airport.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, April 1- In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on March 31, a detention or release
proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Sarah L.
Cave on a short man arrested that morning in a
multi-defendant drug gang sweep in The Bronx.
Inner City
Press covers the SDNY
Magistrates Court as it has
The Bronx, sometimes alone in
the gallery, as it was on
March 31. Story here.
The man, Joseph Rivera, was aka-ed in the
unsealed complaint as "Shorty." Most of his
co-defendants got detained, but the Assistant US
Attorney in this case said Rivera could be
released on his own signature, with two weeks to
find two co-signers for a $75,000 bond (and to
come back on April 1 for a GPS bracelet).
The
reason? Rivera is the sole caretaker for his
mother, who has dementia. Judge Cave thanked the
parties for their compassion.
On April 1, another co-defendant was present,
also named in Counts 14 and 15. He was detained
- on consent, with time excluded until May 2.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 23 – Back in December 2020,
with a legal filing full of misspellings asking
to enjoin an election or its results, a dozen
constituents of ousted New York City Council
member Andy King asked a Federal judge for a
restraining order. It was denied.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge Valerie E. Caproni, in a
proceeding covered by Inner City Press, asked
how the plaintiffs had standing. (King's own
lawsuit against the City Council for ousting him
48-2 for misconduct had already failed).
Judge Caproni declined to issue a preliminary
injunction in Marchant et al v. De Blasio et
al., 20-cv-10544 (Caproni).
Then on April 12, fellow SDNY Judge
Paul A. Crotty held a proceeding in the case King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty). He gave King's lawyer Pamela
Hayes two weeks to file more papers. She asked for three.
Judge Crotty said he was not inclined, but
then relented. He gave three weeks but said if the papers are
not in, he will dismiss the case. That case is King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty).
On May 27, SDNY Judge Edgardo Ramos held a
proceeding in a case against King, by former staffer Shana
Melius for retaliation. The NYC City Council was refusing to
produce documents unless ordered by a court. So ordered.
On October 28, 2021 Judge Ramos held another
proceeding in this case. He was amazed that some discovery
remained to be done, but gave a brief extension for it to
happen.
Jump cut to March 23, 2022 when Judge Ramos
held another conference. Inner City Press again covered it.
The defense argued that ordering Melius to report to work in
the North Bronx and not 250 Broadway was not an adverse
employment action. Her lawyer said it added two and a half
hours to her commute, and precluded IVF. The defense argued
she'd like on her application for employment and so lost
rights to sue. Judge Ramos disagreed and said he doubted he
would grant these motions. So the case proceeds.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 15 – Desmond Chin
Sued Central Transport LLC for a vehicle crash
on the Major Deegan Expressway in The Bronx on
May 5, 2020.
On March 15, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
James L. Cott held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Judge
Cott thanked the plaintiff for filing the
removed complaint into the docket. Counsel noted
other events in July including vacation; Judge
Cott said he'll aim for late June mediation with
a joint letter seven days after.
If
unsuccessful, motions are due by December 5.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTROOM Exclusive, March 10 – A Bronx man who
served 51 months in prison for shooting at a man
on Brook Avenue after a car accident has been
arrested and detained again, for menacing two
women in an apartment building in the South
Bronx.
On March 10, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a detention proceeding. Inner
City Press covered it, the only media in the Mag
Court.
In the gallery were the man's girlfriend and her
three young children. His Criminal Justice Act
lawyer told Judge Netburn that the ammunition
found in the apartment he had been living in may
not have been his.
The
apartment, she said, is under the name of the
mother of his ex-girlfriend, who the lawyer said
is a cocaine addict and "sleeps with a variety
of men" to feed her habit.
The CJA lawyer said that for the armed menacing,
the Bronx District Attorney has decided not to
prosecute.
But the standard of proof in Federal Violation
of Supervised Release proceedings is lower.
Judge
Netburn said that along with other SDNY judges
she has inquired and found there is no
requirement for arraignment on
VOSRs. She also said it was sad that
the children were in court to hear this, that
they were "a little young."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 2 – A crack cocaine conspiracy
with then only one defendant was alleged in
December 2019 to be taking place around 168th
Street and Fulton Avenue in The Bronx. Jose L.
Irizzary was charged in the Complaint, but it
was Destiny Romero and Mikal Tariq Leahr who
were arrested.
On January 6, 2020 Judge Sidney H. Stein of the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York held a conference with both of those
arrested. He said, "We have somebody that is a
fugitive here; Mr. Ross,
correct?"
Assistant
US Attorney Jacob R. Fiddelman replied, "That's
correct. Mr. Ross has not yet been
apprended."
On
February 12, 2020 in the SDNY Magistrates Court,
with Inner City Press the only media present,
Martin Ross was brought in shackled, and left
the same way.
Magistrate
Judge Robert W. Lehrburger confirmed that he was
being "remanded on consent," and would appear
with the others at a conference before District
Judge Stein.
Jump cut to nearly a full year later, on
February 20, 2021: "The trial is adjourned to
May 17, 2021."
In
March 2021, more delay: "ORDER as to Martin
Ross: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 1. The final
pretrial conference scheduled for April 19 is
adjourned to August 16, 2021, at 10:00 a.m.; 2.
The dates in the endorsed letter [Doc. No. 61]
are adjourned as follows: proposed jury charges,
proposed voir dire, and any motions in limine,
are due by July 30, 2021, responses to any
motions in limine are due by August 6, 2021; 3.
The trial of this action is adjourned to August
30, 2021, at 9:30 a.m.; 4. The parties should be
aware that although the Court is submitting the
jury request for this trial to begin on August
30, 2021, the trial date may be rescheduled by
the Court's Ad Hoc Committee on the Resumption
of Jury Trials to another date in the third
quarter of 2021. The Court will notify the
parties as soon as the third quarter trial
calendar has been established for trials."
In
March 2022, after a guilty plea, 96 months:
"Defendant Martin Ross (1) pleaded guilty to
Count(s) 1s (Count One in the (S1) Indictment).
Count(s) Underlying Indictment is dismissed on
the motion of the United States. IMPRISONMENT:
96 months. The court makes the following
recommendations to the Bureau of Prisons: 1.
That defendant be transferred from the MDC to a
facility that can afford defendant with greater
educational and vocational programs and
exercising programs. 2. That defendant be
incarcerated in the tri state area in order to
facilitate visits with his family. SUPERVISED
RELEASE: Five years. Standard Conditions of
Supervision (See page 4 of Judgment). Special
Conditions of Supervision (See page 5 of
Judgment). ASSESSMENT: $100.00, due immediately.
The defendant shall forfeit the defendant's
interest in the following property to the United
States: $16,450.00 in U.S. currency."
By
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 24 – Hazanae Kirby
was on supervised release when a .45 caliber
Smith & Wesson pistol was found in his
apartment in The Bronx.
On February 23, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Alison J.
Nathan held his sentencing. Inner City Press
covered it.
The
gun had been stolen from the West Virginia State
Police in 2015. The US Attorney's Office wanted
70 to 87 months.
With
an eye toward the supervised release sentencing
to be held the next day, Judge Nathan imposed a
sentence of 52 months and three more years of
supervised release.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 17 – Alfredo
Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 months in 2018 for
being part of a drug dealing gang in The Bronx.
Then he was charged with a
death.
On February 17, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Loretta A.
Preska held a change of plea proceeding. Inner
City Press covered it.
Rodriguez was pleading guilty when the Assistant
US Attorney asked him to confirm he was
admitting guilt as "Martinez' death."
The
affirmative answer was apparently enough.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 11 – Johnny De Los Santos was
arrested in December 2020 and Federally charged
as a felon in possession of a firearm, after
dispute in a grocery store on Teller Avenue in
the South Bronx.
With a retained lawyer, De Los Santos in August
2021 was informed that he faced trial on
February 14, 2022, before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul
G. Gardephe.
Days before trial, a proceeding listed as change
of plea (to guilty) was listed in the docket and
a proceeding scheduled for 3 pm on February 10.
Inner City Press covered it.
But De Los Santos did not want to plead guilty.
He wanted to fire his lawyer, who he said he
told him he would be getting a 5K1 cooperator's
letter from the US Attorney's Office.
The AUSA said the Office does not want or need
De Los Santos as a cooperator; there will be no
motion Section 5K1. Now what?
Judge
Gardephe said that while he understood, he could
not allow De Los Santos to manipulate his trial
calendar, particularly given COVID related
restrictions in the courthouse. These are the
courts amid COVID.
De
Los Santos said he had spoken to another
lawyer.
Who,
Judge Gardephe asked.
De Los Santos spelled a name out, in Spanish.
(Inner City Press noticed that several of the
letters were off.) Judge Gardephe said he could
not find this lawyer on the Internet. De Los
Santos said, But I found him on Google!
Finally
the Long Island based firm was identified. Judge
Gardephe asked that the proprietor be on another
conference about the case on February 11.
Inner City Press was there on February 11 and
live tweeted, here:
Judge
Gardephe: It has become clear that Mr. De Los
Santos will not be receiving a cooperation deal.
He must prepare for trial. We have only five or
so COVID-compliant courtrooms available for 30
plus judges.
Judge
Gardephe: It is incredibly disruptive for a
defendant to tell me, three days before trial,
that he wants a different lawyer. Mr. Perini,
what is your status with Mr. De Los Santos?
Perini:
I met with him on Feb 9, we met about his case.
No way I can prepare in 3 days
Judge
Gardephe: So the only obstacle for you in the
trial date? It's a one-count felon in possession
case - how long would you need?
Perini:
Two weeks to a month.
Judge
Gardephe: The reservations have been made for
the first quarter of this year. I'll have to ask
the Committee. I have a civil trial April 4 - we
could try that date. I'll adjourn until that to
permit Mr. Perini to come in. Adjourned.
Inner
City Press will continue to cover the case.
By
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 3 – Kavon Williams sued the City
of New York after NYPD officers threw him on the
ground and arrested him near his mother's house
at 1864 Banyer Place in The Bronx on June 1,
2020.
On February 3, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Gregory H.
Woods held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Now depositions are due by May 6, expert
discovery by September 23 with a conference on
October 6. A jury trial is requested.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 26 – A defendant charged in a
drug conspiracy in the Bronx is having Facebook
videos used against him.
On
March 29, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Loretta A. Preska
held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
The
Assistant US Attorney said it didn't matter who
had uploaded the video, it showed the defendant.
They
have produced a message, "Sometimes I Be Wanting
to Rob Mfers, But Iono What Ima Say When I Up
the Glock."
DOJ
also cites his rap lyrics against him, quoting
"13 I was selling packs, 15 I was in the trap,
17 I clapped my first, touchy I been doing
that." Do they really need to use songs?
The question is raised in proposed law
pending in the NYS Senate.
On
April 12, Judge Preska held another proceeding
in the case, on CourtCall. Another defendant in
the case has, as CJA counsel, the Kramer Levin
firm.
On
January 26, 2022 another co-defendant,
Christopher Butler, was sentenced to 108 months:
"Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge
Loretta A. Preska: Sentencing held on 1/26/2022
for Christopher Butler (6) Count 10. . The
defendant is sentenced to: 108 months followed
by 5 years of supervised release. All standard
terms and conditions of supervised release with
the special conditions of: searches, substance
abuse treatment, mental health treatment,
vocational/educational training, no contact with
any gang members. Special assessment in the
amount of $100 to be paid promptly. Open counts
dismissed."
The case is US v. Lewis, et al., 20-cr-234 (Preska)
***
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 17 – A Federal civil rights
investigation into the police department in
Mount Vernon, New York, including for
falsification of evidence, was announced in a
December 3 press conference by Damian Williams,
the new US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York and Kristen Clarke,
Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Civil
Rights Division.
Inner City Press, which has reported on the
SDNY's cases in Mount Vernon, including a murder
case that after a change of counsel and
ostensibly guilty plea simply disappeared from
the docket, went to cover the press
conference.
After
a presentation including ways for the public to
have input into the investigation, Inner City
Press asked US Attorney Williams, Will this
impact your Office's prosecutions and even
convictions?
Will
your Office treat information from the MVPD
differently during the pendency of the
investigation?
US
Attorney Williams said that is a question for
another day. Fair enough. But this may be one of
the days.
On January 17, 2022 - Martin Luther King Day -
another civil rights lawsuit was filed in SDNY,
where Inner City Press found it in the docket.
Ronald Jones was arrested in the Levistre Towers
housing project on November 14, 2018 when, he
says, he was falsely charged with a gun and
gravity knife. On February 11, 2020, Judge David
S. Zuckerman of the NYS Supreme Court,
Westchester County, ruled that the MVPD's
pursuit of Jones was unlawful.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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BRONX
/ SDNY COURT, Jan 10 – In the aftermath of the
deadly Bronx fire, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer on
January 11 scheduled a Zoom appearance for
media.
Inner City Press RSVP-ed and called in from the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York.
Sen.
Schumer has written to HUD Secretary Marcia
Fudge, noting that he helped rapidly confirm her
and that
"Twin
Parks North West, Where Bronx Fire Occurred, Has
120 Housing Units; 90 Have Federal Housing
Vouchers Attached To Their
Rents Senator Says ALL
90 Are Eligible To Move To ANY Eligible Building
That Accepts Housing Vouchers As Payment."
Good. But what about the other thirty families,
without Federal housing vouchers? The Office of
Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson has
sent the Press these links, here
and here.
In other DC confirmation news, while it is
unclear when Senator Schumer's nominee for the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals Alison J. Nathan
will be considered by the full Senate, issues of
public access to proceedings and filings in the
recent US v. Ghislaine
Maxwell trial, now called into question by
lack of transparency in jury selection, will be
the subject of another story.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 3 – Patience Ejoh slipped and
fell in the Target store at 815 East Hutchinson
River Parkway in The Bronx on October 10, 2018
and sued.
On January 3, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Paul
A. Engelmayer held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Judge Engelmayer asked if there was video of the
conditions on the aisle, and the fall.
The
defense lawyer said he was not sure, adding that
many of the domes in the Target stores are
"dummies" - meaning, intended to fool people
that they are in fact being filmed when there is
no camera in the dome.
Judge
Engelmayer said, We have no court reporter, so
your secret is safe with me. But Inner City
Press reports it here. The store manager is said
to still be in the employ of Target.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 26 – Tony Pritchette is
charged with not reporting to the Bronx
Residential Re-Entry Center at 2532 Creston
Avenue after being released from FCI
Hazelton.
On December 22, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis
J. Liman held an arraignment. Inner City Press
covered it.
Pritchette
had been convicted of Hobbs Act robbery in 2017
and sentenced to 40 months. The tail end was to
be athte Bronx RRC.
Pritchette
pleaded not guilty. Judge Liman set the next
conference for February 17.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 23 – A Federal civil rights
investigation into the police department in
Mount Vernon, New York, including for
falsification of evidence, was announced in a
December 3 press conference by Damian Williams,
the new US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York and Kristen Clarke,
Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Civil
Rights Division.
Inner City Press, which has reported on the
SDNY's cases in Mount Vernon, including a murder
case that after a change of counsel and
ostensibly guilty plea simply disappeared from
the docket, went to cover the press
conference.
After
a presentation including ways for the public to
have input into the investigation, Inner City
Press asked US Attorney Williams, Will this
impact your Office's prosecutions and even
convictions?
Will
your Office treat information from the MVPD
differently during the pendency of the
investigation?
US
Attorney Williams said that is a question for
another day. Fair enough. But this may be one of
the days.
A civil case against the MVPD and particular
officers is coming to trial, and Inner City
Press is digging into it. Names officers include
Detective Sergeant Sean Fegan, Detective Camilo
Antonini, PO Robert Puff, PO Patrick King, and
PO "John" Valente. The complaint has the shield
numbers. Now, on what SDNY federal cases have
they worked, and what review is being conducted?
That
civil case is Govan v. City of Mount Vernon, et
al., 19-cv-8830 (Halpern)
Later
in December Inner City Press identified at least
three more civil cases concerning such abuses in
the MVPD: false searches of cars and houses,
abuse in detention. The same names show up again
and again. So what are the SDNY prosecutors
doing to review their prosecutions and
convictions? Hasn't that "other day" arrived?
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 18 – A Federal civil rights
investigation into the police department in
Mount Vernon, New York, including for
falsification of evidence, was announced in a
December 3 press conference by Damian Williams,
the new US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York and Kristen Clarke,
Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Civil
Rights Division.
Inner City Press, which has reported on the
SDNY's cases in Mount Vernon, including a murder
case that after a change of counsel and
ostensibly guilty plea simply disappeared from
the docket, went to cover the press
conference.
After
a presentation including ways for the public to
have input into the investigation, Inner City
Press asked US Attorney Williams, Will this
impact your Office's prosecutions and even
convictions?
Will
your Office treat information from the MVPD
differently during the pendency of the
investigation?
US
Attorney Williams said that is a question for
another day. Fair enough. But this may be one of
the days.
A civil case against the MVPD and particular
officers is coming to trial, and Inner City
Press is digging into it. Names officers include
Detective Sergeant Sean Fegan, Detective Camilo
Antonini, PO Robert Puff, PO Patrick King, and
PO "John" Valente. The complaint has the shield
numbers. Now, on what SDNY federal cases have
they worked, and what review is being conducted?
That
civil case is Govan v. City of Mount Vernon, et
al., 19-cv-8830 (Halpern)
Later
in December Inner City Press identified at least
three more civil cases concerning such abuses in
the MVPD: false searches of cars and houses,
abuse in detention. The same names show up again
and again. So what are the SDNY prosecutors
doing to review their prosecutions and
convictions? Hasn't that "other day" arrived?
What this site.
Or
this one: on November 24, 2020 Inner City Press
reported Raheem Jones was charged with aiding
and abetting a murder in Mount Vernon. He was
assigned a Criminal Justice Act lawyer, Mark S.
Demarco.
On May 17, 2019 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Nelson
Stephen Roman relieved DeMarco and appointed
Donna R. Newman as CJA counsel.
On November 24, Jones pleaded guilty to
racketeering, and to the aiding and abetting
murder, with a guidelines sentence of 300 months
or 25 years. Inner City Press covered the
change of plea proceeding.
During the proceeding Ms. Newman referred to an
earlier version of the plea agreement which
referred to Jones as a career offender.
AUSA
Andew Fong Chow quickly pointed out that was
never filed with the court.
Jones, who said his first name was Lonzo, was
read his newly-explicit Brady rights under the
Due Process Protection Act - and then, as part
of this plea, appeared to waive any Brady
violation.
Ms.
Newman added she was not aware of any such
violations in his case.
Sentencing was set before Judge Roman for either
February 25, or March 4, at 10:30 am.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 9 – Shantay Lynch sued Rikers
Island corrections officers for detaining her
and sending her children to ACS after falsely
accusing her of smuggling into the jail K2
synthetic marijuana on her children's Christmas
cards and
diapers.
On December 9, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Denise L.
Cote held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Lynch's
case was intially before SDNY Judge John G.
Koeltl, but NYC's Corporation Counsel
successfully argued that is is related to three
cases Judge Cote has said: Williams, Camacho and
Gusman.
Judge
Cote on December 9 said that following the
transfer to her she would try to have it also
transferred to Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang -
then was told, that's already done.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 3 – A Federal civil
rights investigation into the police department
in Mount Vernon, New York, including for
falsification of evidence, was announced in a
December 3 press conference by Damian Williams,
the new US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York and Kristen Clarke,
Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Civil
Rights Division.
Inner City Press, which has reported on the
SDNY's cases in Mount Vernon, including a murder
case that after a change of counsel and
ostensibly guilty plea simply disappeared from
the docket, went to cover the press
conference.
After
a presentation including ways for the public to
have imput into the investigation
(community.mvpd [at] usdoj [dot] gov and
866-985-1378), Inner City Press asked US
Attorney Williams, Will this impact your
Office's prosecutions and even convictions?
Will
your Office treat information from the MVPD
differently during the pendency of the
investigation?
US
Attorney Williams said that is a question for
another day. Fair enough. But may this begins
the day.
Or
this one: on November 24, 2020 Inner City Press
reported Raheem Jones was charged with aiding
and abetting a murder in Mount Vernon. He was
assigned a Criminal Justice Act lawyer, Mark S.
Demarco.
On May 17, 2019 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Nelson
Stephen Roman relieved DeMarco and appointed
Donna R. Newman as CJA counsel.
On November 24, Jones pleaded guilty to
racketeering, and to the aiding and abetting
murder, with a guidelines sentence of 300 months
or 25 years. Inner City Press covered the
change of plea proceeding.
During the proceeding Ms. Newman referred to an
earlier version of the plea agreement which
referred to Jones as a career offender.
AUSA
Andew Fong Chow quickly pointed out that was
never filed with the court.
Jones, who said his first name was Lonzo, was
read his newly-explicit Brady rights under the
Due Process Protection Act - and then, as part
of this plea, appeared to waive any Brady
violation.
Ms.
Newman added she was not aware of any such
violations in his case.
Sentencing was set before Judge Roman for either
February 25, or March 4, at 10:30 am.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 26 – The United Nations under
Secretary General Antonio Guterres has become a
place of corruption and self-dealing, lack of
transparency and censorship.
Forget
that Guterres has only made worse the conflicts
and coups in Yemen, Cameroon, Libya, Burma,
Nigeria and elsewhere.
He
takes the public's money for his person trips to
Lisbon, from which his wife Catarina Vaz Pinto
has yet to join him in his publicly-funded
mansion in New York.
When
Inner City Press asks his spokespeople Stephane
Dujarric and Melissa Fleming how much this
costs, in person than in writing after Guterres
had Inner City Press thrown
out, there is no answer.
Catarina Vaz Pinto has shown up in photos from
Guterres' self-congratulatory junket to
Colombia. See here.
It
gets worse - while in Colombia she pontificated
on Instagram about "El Bronx," described as a
once drug riddled neighborhood.
For
years residents of the real Bronx, in New York
City, have asked others not to call their most
violent and poorest (or darkest) communities
"The Bronx."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 14 – Tiasha George sued the City
for false arrest on 136th Street and Brook
Avenue in The Bronx on June 4,
2020.
On November 12, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The
talk was of sending it to the SDNY mediation
panel, a/k/a the Section 1983 Plan.
The
plan review is due by February 22, 2022.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 4 – Moshe Wagh sued the
Secretary of Veteran Affairs, says that at the
Bronx V.A. Hospital he was paid disparate ages
"on account of the fact that he is an Orthodox
Jew."
On November 2 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Robert W. Lehrburger began a jury trial. Inner
City Press went up to the 26th floor to cover
it.
Wagh
was in the plexiglass witness box, explaining on
direct examination what the Sabbath is, and his
two years of medical school in Mexico, two in
Santo Domingo.
Judge
Lehrburger, after he let the jurors go, asked
why he had not been told during summary judgment
briefing of another doctor at the Bronx VA who
is an Orthodox Jew. Wagh's lawyer said he
dispute that the other is, in fact, an Orthodox
Jew.
The
Assistant US Attorney said if she had been on
the case earlier, she would have made Judge
Lehrburger aware.
At
the end on November 3, with Doctor Schwartz
leaving the stand, Judge Lehrburger suggested to
the parties that they avoid cumulative
presentation. Plaintiff's counsel asked to end
on Friday at 4, for this client's religious
observance. That's what the case is about.
On
November 4 mid-day, Judge Lehrburger asked the
lawyers about the pay scale. It emerged it
imposes a maximum payout cap of $400,000 a year.
To be less than the U.S. President? Judge
Lehrburger pointed out that something can be
considered, as required, but then rejected in
full. Then he called the lawyers' lunch break.
The
case is Wagh v. Wilkie, 18-cv-7726
(Lehrburger)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 28 – Back in December 2020, with
a legal filing full of misspellings asking to
enjoin an election or its results, a dozen
constituents of ousted New York City Council
member Andy King asked a Federal judge for a
restraining order. It was denied.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge Valerie E. Caproni, in a
proceeding covered by Inner City Press, asked
how the plaintiffs had standing. (King's own
lawsuit against the City Council for ousting him
48-2 for misconduct had already failed).
Judge Caproni declined to issue a preliminary
injunction in Marchant et al v. De Blasio et
al., 20-cv-10544 (Caproni).
Then on April 12, fellow SDNY Judge
Paul A. Crotty held a proceeding in the case King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty). He gave King's lawyer Pamela
Hayes two weeks to file more papers. She asked for three.
Judge Crotty said he was not inclined, but
then relented. He gave three weeks but said if the papers are
not in, he will dismiss the case. That case is King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty).
On May 27, SDNY Judge Edgardo Ramos held a
proceeding in a case against King, by former staffer Shana
Melius for retaliation. The NYC City Council was refusing to
produce documents unless ordered by a court. So ordered.
On October 28, Judge Ramos held another
proceeding in this case. He was amazed that some discovery
remained to be done, but gave a brief extension for it to
happen..
This case is Melius v. New York City Council
et al., 20-cv-5237 (Ramos)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon UN
censors
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
NEW
YORK, SDNY & EDNY, Oct 15 – The difference
between retail and wholesale politics was again
on display on August 27 and again October 15, in
town halls to The Bronx and Queens.
On
August 27 Inner City Press asked if the
Biden Administration is yet doing enough about
bank redlining, and got an answer, below.
On
October 15 Inner City Press asked about the
Pandora Papers, US trusts and the United
Nations, and did not. Inner City Press asked:
"AOC
cited the Pro Publica Papers and Rep Huffman
said the Pandora Papers don't show US
billionaires going offshore. But they DO show
foreign deposits using trusts in US states:
South Dakota was home to 81 trusts being used by
those studies; another 37 were in Florida, and
33 were located in Delaware. What do the Reps
think should and can be done at this, at not
only the state but also Federal level. And, if
possible, what is their view / understanding of
the nomination of Saule Omarova to head the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? What
are her views / history on Community
Reinvestment Act, and what SHOULD she do?
Thanks, -Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 6 – Manuel Peralta had finished
his shift at a Bronx deli when at 4 a.m. in
front of his building he was assaulted then
arrested by undercover NYPD officers, he says.
He
sued.
On October 6 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Gregory H.
Woods held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Peralta
says "it is clear that the video of the running
body-worn camera was destroyed, or cut off,
damaged, and purposely, to spoliation of the
evidence to prevent access to the court."
Judge
Woods inquired into the failure to train
allegation.
The case is Peralta v. Vasquez et al., 21-cv-605 (Woods)
***
By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Song I, II, III Pod Vlog
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 1 – Delowar Mohammed Hossain is
on trial for attempted material support to the
Taliban. The trial began on September 29, weeks
after the Taliban again took over Kabul in
Afghanistan. From the July 2019 Complaint:
HOSSAIN:
"Pakistan is a country that support jihad...
Pakistan has a good relationship with the
Taliban of Afghanistan. If we look over there
once we go there..."
Then Hossain was arrested at JFK airport. He has
been out on home detention and on the eve of
trial asked to delay it based on racial
disparities in the jury, because inactive voters
were removed from the jury pool. Inner City
Press will be reporting on the trial. On
September 29 it began, not without
difficulty, with the opening statements, live
tweeting them here
(podcast here,
vlog
I)
On September 30, Inner City Press was told it
could not be in the courtroom to see Cooperating
Witness Number 1, but could listen in an
overflow room two floors above.
This
continued on October 1, concluding in this, live
tweeted here:
Federal
Defender Dalack: This is a message from Delowar
[Hossain] to me, on the day he met you in the
mosque in The Bronx? Long interpretation. FD
asks to show it to jurors. Suhair: This is the
2nd mosque. FD Dalack: Let me take a step back.
Based on your direct
AUSA:
Objection. Misstates the testimony. Judge Stein:
What day was it? Was it the first day you met
the defendant? April 20, 2018? Suhail: I believe
it was a different day. FD Dalack: You went to
the mosque looking for someone at the request of
the FBI, correct?
Suhail:
Yes. FD Dalack: And that the first time you met
Delowar, correct? Suhail: We met at the first
mosque. Then he sent me the address of the 2d
mosque. FD Dalack: He texted you, correct?
Suhail: No.
[It's
like, Who's on the first mosque?] Judge Stein:
Approximately how many days between when you met
him and Gov Ex 505 on the screen? Suhail:
Perhaps uh, two weeks, three weeks, a little
more or less. Suhail: Three week or more.
Maybe less. FD Dalack: The Arabic there says El
Yom, which means today, right? Judge Stein: It
says today? AUSA: Mr Dalack can't translate
Arabic for us. Judge Stein: Just circle the
areas.
Suhail:
It is possible I took a snap shot of this
message to send it over to the FBI, like they
asked. FD Dalack: Do you know how iMessage
works? Suhali: What's iMessage? FD Dalack: It's
the application we're looking at. AUSA:
Objection.
FD
Dalack: So this invites you to the mosque on
Ward Avenue in The Bronx, right? AUSA:
Objection. Judge Stein: I'll allow it.
Interpreter: Could the court reporter read the
question back? FD Dalack: Look at what I've
circled
FD
Dalack: Wasn't this the time of Friday prayers?
Suhail: Could be. FD: What number did you text
from? Suhail: Later on the provided me another
phone, just to text with him. Not use personal
phone. Use work phone, they tell me. FD: 9916
was your personal phone
Judge
Stein: Look away from the document. Is your
recollection refreshed? Suhial: No. FD Dalack:
OK. Judge Stein: Take the exhibit down.
FD
Dalack: He wanted you to wake him from a nap
when you got to the mosque? AUSA: Objection.
Judge Stein: How much longer? FD: Several hours.
FD
Dalack: You goal was to find him when you got
the mosque, right, and wake him? Suhail: Yes. FD
Dallack: You told the FBI about it? Suhail: Yes.
FD: But they didn't pay you? Suhail: Not for
this.
FD:
You called Delowar on May 17, 2018, right?
Suhail: Maybe. FD: You wanted info for the FBI?
[It's 5:03]
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 22 – Christopher Savinon was
charged with selling crack, heroin, fentanyl and
other narcotics on the Bronx' Belmont Avenue
between East Tremont Avenue and East 179th
Street.
On September 22 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J.
Liman held a sentencing proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Judge
Liman or his deputy asked if Savinon has been
vaccinated against COVID-19. No, was the answer.
The
Federal Defender said her office has a list of
those not vaccinated, presumably waiting.
The
guideline sentence was 70 to 87 months.
With
the conditions of confinement amid COVID cited,
Judge Liman imposed a sentence of 56 months, to
be followed by fully five years of Supervised
Release.
The case is US v. Savinon, 21-cr-233 (Liman)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 17 – Nicholas Joseph is charged
with narcotics conspiracy in The Bronx, with a
jury trial now ongoing on September 17.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge P. Kevin Castel is managing the
proceeding, which Inner City Press is
covering.
The
US Attorney's Office on July 23 filed a motion
in limine seeking to show the jury some of
Joseph's rap videos including "gang signs, gang
colors and firearms" - and his lyrics.
Given
the First Amendment, is this really necessary?
On
August 24 a proceeding was held and Inner City
Press covered it. Joseph wants a 2 to 3 week
delay, citing the difficulty of access at Essex.
The US Attorney's Office opposed.
On
September 17, a cooperator Cruz was in the
witness box, describing being arrested in Maine
in 2019 and becoming a cooperator to try to get
a time served sentence. The US Attorney's Office
did play a rap video - which led the defense to
argue to get into evidence the fact that the
defendant got $21,525 in settlement money from
the City. Judge Castel told the prosecutors to
reach a stipulation to let this in. The trial
will continue. Was the rap showing necessary?
The case is US v. Joseph, 20-cr-603 (Castel)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTROOM Exclusive, Sept 9 – In the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York on September 9, a detention hearing was
held by Magistrate Judge Steward D. Aaron on a
former Bronx school teacher charges with sexual
abusing girls from ten to thirteen years old.
Jesus Concepcion was arrested on August 7 in the
Western District of North Carolina on a
then-sealed indictment. In the month since,
Concepcion has retained his own New York defense
lawyer, affiliated at least in the docket with a
private investigation firm.
The
indictment says Concepcion "a/k/a Mr. C singled
out the Minor Victims for personal attention, he
gave them money, clothing, jewelry and other
gifts, and he provided them with alcohol...
inducing several of the Minor Victims to engage
in sexual activity with him."
But
no press release was put out about this case.
Judge
Aaron returned from a session with Pre Trial
Services and said he would release Conception on
a $1,000,000 bond, with travel restricted to
SDNY, EDNY and Carolina.
This case is US v. Concepcion, 21-cr-479 (Preska / Aaron).
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, September 1 – Eliezer Lopez sued
NYPD officers of the 42nd Precinct in The Bronx
for excessive force.
He
was chased, he says, by police who did not show
badges in Crotona Park North and Arthur Avenue.
He was pushed after being told, "this is what
happens when you run from the
cops."
On September 1 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Loretta A.
Preska held a final pre-trial conference. Inner
City Press covered it.
Judge
Preska described how trial work during the time
of COVID, saying that this one will be in large
Courtroom 26B. She was asked, Is that where you
did the Donziger trial?
The
municipal defendants asked questions like, Can
we leave the drugs seized from plaintiff with
the Marshals overnight during the trial? It is
said the trial will begin on September 15.
The case is Laureano v. City of New York et al., 17-cv-181 (Preska)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 24 – Nicholas Joseph is
charged with narcotics conspiracy in The Bronx,
with a jury trial set for September 7.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge P. Kevin Castel is managing the
proceeding, which Inner City Press is
covering.
The
US Attorney's Office on July 23 filed a motion
in limine seeking to show the jury some of
Joseph's rap videos including "gang signs, gang
colors and firearms" - and his lyrics.
Given
the First Amendment, is this really necessary?
On
August 24 a proceeding was held and Inner City
Press covered it. Joseph wants a 2 to 3 week
delay, citing the difficulty of access at Essex.
The US Attorney's Office opposed, and Judge
Castel told the parties that he has presided
over five jury trials since September 2020. (In
that he's neck and neck with Judge Jed Rakoff;
Judge Caproni is holding another jury trial,
this week).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 17 – In the ongoing NYC
homeless class action Butler v. City of New
York, the plaintiffs have moved for a
preliminary injunctions against the involuntary
movement of any class member from a
de-densification hotel until notice and meetings
and reasonable
accommodations.
On August 17, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Valerie E.
Caproni held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
In
the plaintiffs' papers, they give the example of
"AG" and say "he was scheduled to transfer to
Queens despite an RA request for a facility
closer to his medical providers in The Bronx,
but was told by shelter staff he would have to
appeal once he arrived at the new
shelter."
In
person, the plaintiffs' counsel gave more
examples of a lack continuity in communication
from social workers.
Judge Caproni remarked, I'm sorry to say but
that's below my paygrade... Nothing in the
settlement requires this level of hand-holding.
But
still she inquired, into what percentage of
shelter residents show up for the offered
meetings (over 70%).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 12 – Edward Rosado was
standing in front of a Footlocker on Fordham
Road in The Bronx when he was grabbed by the
throat by an officer of the NYPD and arrested.
The Bronx DA declined to prosecute.
Jump
Cut 1 to June 26, 2020 when U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge
Ronnie Abrams held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Judge Abrams granted the defendants summary
judgment on municipal liability / qualified
immunity and false arrest - but not on excessive
force.
Whereupon
Rosado's lawyer said it was time to go to a
jury, given he said the "George Floyd jury
effect."
He
also said he might ask for reconsideration on
the judicially created doctrine of qualified
immunity - he cited Clarence Thomas.
Judge
Abrams said the issue is settled in the Second
Circuit, perhaps one for appeal but not one to
further delay trial in this matter.
Jump
Cut 2 to August 10, 2021 when Judge Abrams held
another conference on the eve of trial. Inner
City Press covered it again. Rosado's lawyer
said he has a witness flying in from Florida; he
asked if he could email case law.
Judge
Abrams to her credit said she aims to have a
transparent docket, so to file all submissions
there.
On
August 12 Rosado was on the witness stand, and
Inner City Press covered it. Rosado described
being in a bus stop, then having his head
slammed against a metal machine, and being
choked with two hands. To assess the size of the
bus shelter, his lawyer compared it to the jury
box, drawing an election what was sustained. But
the point was made.
The case is Rosado v. Soriano et al., 16-cv-3310 (Abrams).
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Song
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 6 – Defendant Sidney Scales
has been on trial this month, now resulting in a
jury verdict of guilty on five counts. He was
charged on seven counts. His former co-defendant
Ernest Horge back on February 27, 2020 said in
open court that it is unfair he is in the same
case as Scales, charged with conspiracy to
commit murder for hire.
On
November 11, 2020, Veterans Day, the US
Attorney's Office announced a superseding
indictment that formally charges Scales with
murder, and keeps Horge linked to him: "In the
Superseding Indictment, SCALES is charged with
causing another person to shoot at rival drug
dealers on June 9, 2017, in the vicinity of 1135
East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, New York,
causing the death of Joshua Lopez. SCALES
and HORGE are also charged in the Superseding
Indictment with engaging in multiple specific
drug sales between November 2018 and February
2019, in addition to the narcotics conspiracy
charged in the initial indictment." The case was
reassigned to Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
Now:
"SYDNEY SCALES, a/k/a “Moe Black,” a/k/a “Sid,”
has been found guilty on five counts in a
Superseding Indictment, including charges of
murder-for-hire conspiracy, narcotics
conspiracy, a firearms offense, and two counts
of distributing crack cocaine."
Note:
the jury found Scales not guilty of murder while
engaged in a narcotics conspiracy, and murder
through use of a firearm.
SCALES is scheduled to be sentenced on November
18, 2021... Between in or about 2016 and in or
about 2019, SCALES participated in a conspiracy
to distribute crack cocaine, powder cocaine,
heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana in the Bronx and
elsewhere. SCALES also used, carried, and
possessed firearms, which were brandished and
discharged, in connection with the narcotics
conspiracy, and aided and abetted such firearms
offenses. For example, the Government
offered evidence that on December 1, 2016,
SCALES caused a shooting at rival drug dealers
standing in front of a convenience store located
next to the entrance of the West Farms subway
station. In addition, in
or about June 2017, SCALES conspired to commit
murder for hire, agreeing to compensate another
individual in return for locating and killing at
least one rival drug dealer." There were seven
counts in the superseding indictment.
The
process: July 20, Judge Rakoff held a proceeding
and ruled on a series of motions in limine. He
also endorsed the defense's request that John
Doe who had proffered with the government but
now cites the Fifth Amendment be deemed
unavailable for trial.
Judge
Rakoff told the lawyers to appeal on July 22 at
9 am in Courtroom 24B, with the jury to arrive
at 9:45 for opening statements.
On
July 22, the defense told the jury that while
Scales did sell some crack that they will see,
he did not order or commit a murder. Then the
evidence began, with a crime scene unit police
officer, describing beach chairs and blood on
East Tremont Avenue.
On
July 23, the prosecution put on the stand a
transit police officer who covered the 2 and 5
line, from Intervale Avenue to 180th Street. He
described hearing gun shots and coming down, and
a chase down 178th Street. A cooperator
described going to Hunts Point with a gun to
collect money.
Another cooperator, a woman, acknowledged that
in connection with her testimony, the US
Attorney's Office paid for her and her child's
travel. Judge Rakoff inquired into whether the
victim's text messages are hearsay; he asked
counsel to answer his questions and not
volunteer information.
On
July 26, a cooperator testified at length, about
losing confidences in Sid, after starting
dealing drugs at the age of 10, joining Nine
Trey and going to GEO (trajectory of Tekashi
#6ix9ine who is already out), then to Putnam. In
the beween, Hoffman between 189 and Fordham Road
in The Bronx. There were multiple objections,
most of them overruled by Judge Rakoff.
On
July 27, the defense cross-examined this
witness, at length. He was asked about a written
history of the gang, and the name of his
Instagram account, now and then. Judge Rakoff,
during a break, told defense counsel this was
straining relevance. But as always he closely
considered the proffered exhibits. But might the
exhibits, at least those admitted into evidence,
be placed on a publicly available platform or be
otherwise made available, as ordered
in the Weigand trial?
On
July 28, the witness (Santiago) was still being
cross examined, culminating in the defense
getting admitted, over the government's
objection, a recorded jail call of him saying
he'd need a gun when he got out. There followed
some re-direct, showing that Santiago was
nonetheless sometimes broke, and helped out by a
former girlfriend's mother who would bring
groceries to Hoffman Avenue in The Bronx when
she got off work at JFK.
On
July 29, the prosecution apologized for errors
in the binders and was told that coming up with
a new chart of phone calls and introducing it
without enough notice to the defense is not the
way to proceed. There's also this: ORDER as to
Sydney Scales: The C.J.A. attorney assigned to
receive cases on this day, Bennett Epstein, is
hereby ordered to assume representation of the
witness Antanaron Demery in the above captioned
matter. (Signed by Judge Jed S. Rakoff). Watch
this site.
On
Friday July 30 the defense on cross-examination
asked the witness about lapses in memory, after
all this time, and about how he was recruited as
a cooperator. Then the defense asked for the
weekend to make a written submission.
On
Monday August 2, yet another cooperator was
cross examined about how much time he spent with
Sidney Scales, and how much with "Ern." The AUSA
objected. The day ended with the charging
conference, broken up by two unrelated bond
hearings by Judge Rakoff, which Inner City Press
also covered, here.
On the morning of August 3, the US questioned a
witness who used Google Earth and StreetView to
describe the cell phone towers of West Farms,
then captured calling patterns.
On
August 4, the government described Scales using
an innocent women to drive his shooters to
Kingsbrige from West Farms via the Cross Bronx,
and said he is responsible for the death of
Joshua Lopez [DN,
News12].
The defense said Jose Santiago framed him. Next,
the instructions of law - then the verdict of
guilty on five counts. Watch this site.
The case is US v. Scales, 19-cr-96 (Rakoff).
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 25 – Nicholas Joseph is charged
with narcotics conspiracy in The Bronx, with a
jury trial set for September 7.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge P. Kevin Castel is managing the
proceeding, which Inner City Press is
covering.
The
US Attorney's Office on July 23 filed a motion
in limine seeking to show the jury some of
Joseph's rap videos including "gang signs, gang
colors and firearms" - and his lyrics.
Given
the First Amendment, is this really necessary?
The case is US v. Joseph, 20-cr-603 (Castel)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 22 – Parrilla Latina restaurant
at 2501 Webster Avenue in The Bronx has been
sued for not paying
overtime.
On July 22, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Magistrate Judge Kevin N.
Fox held proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
A
previous conference on July 20 had been
adjourned for failure to attend. This time all
counsel were present.
Judge
Fox said if they wanted another conference it
would have to wait to September as he is fully
booked.
Back
in March it was said that discovery would be
complete by August 23.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Story
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL
COURT / S Bronx, July 24 – Whether or not the
U.S. Community Reinvestment Act will be again
enforced until the new Administration and its
regulators is an open question. And the proposed
acquisition by disparate lending Valley National
Bank of The Westchester Bank in New York will be
a litmus test, for the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency.
On
July 24, Fair Finance Watch (with Inner City
Press on the FOIA) filed the below with the OCC:
This
is a timely first comment opposing and
requesting an extension of the OCC's public
comment period on the Applications by Valley
National Bank to acquire The Westchester
Bank.
The
applicant Valley National Bank in 2020 in New
York State based on its disparate marketing made
1080 mortgage loans to whites, with 83 denials
to whites -- while making only 51 loans to
African Americans, with seven denials. This is
far out of keeping with the demographics, and
others lenders, in NYS - this is outrageous.
This
is a pattern. The applicant Valley National Bank
in 2020 in Florida based on its disparate
marketing made 859 mortgage loans to whites,
with 119 denials to whites -- while making only
45 loans to African Americans, with eight
denials. This is far out of keeping with the
demographics, and others lenders, Florida - this
is outrageous.
Beyond
its lending disparities, Valley National Bank is
being sued for mis-categorizing and underpaying
those who work for it. See, e.g., PALERMO v.
VALLEY NATIONAL BANCORP (D.N.J. 2020) -
submitted for the record, and in light of the
new merger review Executive Order.
There is no public benefit to this
proposal.
Valley
National Bank should be precluded from acquiring
these branches: Yonkers 1900 Central Park
Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10710 Corporate
Headquarters 12 Water Street, White Plains,
NY Mamaroneck Store Front Mamaroneck
305 Mamaroneck Avenue, Mamaroneck, NY
10543 Mount Kisco storefront Mount
Kisco 51 South Moger Avenue, Mount Kisco, NY
10549 Ossining, 240 S.
Highland Avenue Ossining 240 S. Highland Avenue,
Ossining, NY Brook Storefront Rye
Brook 800 Westchester Ave, Rye Brook, NY
10573 Thornwood storefront Thornwood
994 Broadway, Thornwood, NY 10594
White Plains storefront White Plains 464
Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY
10605
FFW and Inner City Press have been deeply
concerned about the rush by the OCC's penchant
to rubberstamp mergers by redliners,
particularly during the pandemic. We timely
request public hearings.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 5 – Michael Castillo is accused
of murder for hire, of Hector Arias in 712 East
Gun Hill Road on March 10, 2011.
The
complaint says Castillo and Arias were rivals
selling marijuana around 193rd Street and
Broadway. The government argues that his
conviction for marijuana possession is
admissible as 404(b) evidence.
On
July 5, 2021, Inner City Press reported
that a trial
approaches on July 19 before
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge John G. Koeltl. Inner
City Press is following the
case.
Now
on July 9, ten days before trial, MICHAEL
CASTILLO, a/k/a “Squirrel,” pled guilty today in
Manhattan federal court in connection with the
March 10, 2011, murder of Hector Arias in the
Bronx, New York. U.S. District Judge John
G. Koeltl accepted the defendant’s guilty
plea. CASTILLO is scheduled to be
sentenced before Judge Koeltl on October 15,
2021, at 10:00 am.
The case is US v. Torres, 19-cr-428 (Koeltl)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 29 – Zaro's Bake Shop's
union are trying to get money they are
owed.
On
June 29, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Lewis J. Liman held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Talk
focused on Zaro's trying to sell a large
property in The Bronx; it was said if the sale
goes through, the union pension funds may get
paid.
Judge
Liman wished the parties luck, and set another
conference for November 5 at 10 am.
The case is Bakery and Confectionery Union and
Industry International Pension Fund et al v.
Zaro Bake Shop, Inc. et al., 20-cv-9894 (Liman)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 19 – Niurka Feliciano was hit by
a Ryder truck on 165th Street and Gerard Avenue
in The Bronx on November 12, 2019. She sued in
state court. It was removed to Federal
court.
On
June 21, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Before
Judge Koeltl began, one of the counsel asked
what this was, that a paralegal had just told
him to call in. He asked, "Is this Federal
court?" Then, the two counsel agreed, We can get
through this.
Judge
Koeltl asked about a deficiency in the pleadings
for removal, which didn't say where the parties
are domiciled. Still, the case will continue,
with discovery running to December 17.
The case is Feliciano v. Corchado et al., 21-cv-3342 (Koeltl)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 17 – John Bland is charged with
being a felon in possession of a firearm, to
wit, a 9 millimeter caliber Glock 26 handgun.
Parole
officers found it, they say, in a search of his
apartment on Frisby Avenue in The Bronx on
February 11,
2021.
On June 17, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Richard M. Berman
held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Bland's Federal Defender said his client is
nearing a guilty plea. He would like it in
person.
At
first the Federal Defender said the new Standing
Order prohibited virtual plea proceedings, then
he acknowledge they are still possible.
But
still this will be in person, set for July 6,
the next proceeding at least.
The case is USA v. Bland, 21-cr-267 (Berman)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 8 – Fred Donnelly was driving
to his workplace at Hunts Point Auto Sales &
Service in The Bronx on March 28, 2016 when his
Buick LeSabre was hit by a truck from American
Carbonation Corporation, driven by Ricky Sherer
of Kunkletown, Pennsylvania.
Donnelly
sued, in Bronx County Supreme Court. It got
removed.
On
June 8, U.S. District Court for the South
District of New York Magistrate Judge Katharine
H. Parker began a jury trial with seven jurors,
in one of the large courtrooms on the 23rd floor
of 500 Pearl Street. Inner City Press went up
and covered it.
Donnelly
was questioned by his lawyer about the minutes
before the crash. He had stopped at a church,
and was in no rush to get to work. He said he
didn't try to pass the truck, that he respects
trucks.
The cross examination was largely about which
way the streets run, and Longfellow Avenue
intervening.
As
thunder began outside, Judge Parker let the
juror do for the day. She had held a settlement
conference in the matter, on July 28,
2020.
On
June 9 was the charging conference, and closing
arguments. And the jury delivered a nuances
verdict: Defendants 52% liable and Plaintiff 48%
liable. Judge Parker "respectfully directed the
Clerk of Court to upload to ECF the Court
Exhibits from trial... the Voir Dire
Questionnaire, the Jury Charge and the Verdict
Form." But the links in the docket are not live,
at least as of the evening of June 10.
The case is Donnelly v. American Carbonation Corporation et al., 19-cv-6030 (Parker).
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 2 – Christian Gonzalez is
charged, with four others, with robbing bodegas
and other commercial establishments in The Bronx
and Manhattan.
On June 2, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Richard M. Berman
held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Berman noted that another co-defendant was
only recently arrested.
When
the request for release on bail, prospectively,
was raised for Gonzalez, Judge Berman suggested
the request and information should go in the
first instance to Magistrate Judge Robert W.
Lehrburger, and only if still needed, to him.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 27 – Back in December 2020, with
a legal filing full of misspellings asking to
enjoin an election or its results, a dozen
constituents of ousted New York City Council
member Andy King asked a Federal judge for a
restraining order. It was denied.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge Valerie E. Caproni, in a
proceeding covered by Inner City Press, asked
how the plaintiffs had standing. (King's own
lawsuit against the City Council for ousting him
48-2 for misconduct had already failed).
Judge Caproni declined to issue a preliminary
injunction in Marchant et al v. De Blasio et
al., 20-cv-10544 (Caproni).
Then on April 12, fellow SDNY Judge
Paul A. Crotty held a proceeding in the case King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty). He gave King's lawyer Pamela
Hayes two weeks to file more papers. She asked for three.
Judge Crotty said he was not inclined, but
then relented. He gave three weeks but said if the papers are
not in, he will dismiss the case. That case is King v. City of
New York, 20-cv-8283 (Crotty).
Now on May 27, SDNY Judge Edgardo Ramos held
a proceeding in a case against King, by former staffer Shana
Melius for retaliation. The NYC City Council was refusing to
produce documents unless ordered by a court. So ordered. This
case is Melius v. New York City Council et al., 20-cv-5237
(Ramos)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 18 – On the second
day of 2014 in The Bronx, New York Shaquille
Malcolm was repeatedly shot and killed in a
building in the Allerton section.
In
arraignments that followed, Inner City Press reported
that the death penalty was on the table,
including as to a co-defendant who plead guilty
to a superseding indictment, Gyancarlos Espinal.
He was never given immunity to testify at the
trial, and on May 18, 2021 he was sentenced to
15 years, see below.
On
December 4, 2019 the two remaining co-defendants
Arius Hopkins and Theryn Jones a/k/a Old Man Ty
were on trial before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A.
Kaplan.
On
December 12 the government gave its summary,
with many ASUAs in the
courtroom. They left
before Arius Hopkins'
lawyer Glenn
A. Garber
delivered his
folksy or
colloquial
closing,
asking the
jurors to
think about
the Instagram
post, the rap
song, and
especially the
crime scene.
Garber did a
highly
creditable
job; those too
few who saw
the trial had
nothing but
positive
reviews. But
it closed with
a whimper and
not a bang.
And now on May
18, 2021,
Espinal came
up for
sentencing,
in-person.
Inner City
Press went to
the courtroom,
where it
witnessed the
trial. In the
gallery were a
half dozen
people,
socially
distanced.
Espinal was in
a yellow jump
suit.
AUSA
Krouse said
the government
urged the
guideline
sentence,
while
acknowledging
contrition.
Judge Kaplan
said he also
believed the
remorse
Espinal
expressed. But
Shaquille
Malcolm was
killed,
"brutally
murdered for
no good
reason."
He alluded to
a Supreme
Court decision
he said he'd
read earlier
in the day for
another
reason, that
defendants
have to be
viewed
individually
at sentencing.
He said
Espinal had a
terrible
childhood, and
he been 19
years old at
the time of
the crime.
Judge Kaplan,
after saying
he largely
agrees with
Judge
McMahon's
criticism of
how the MCC
and MDC have
dealt with
COVID (he said
he's not sure
we're out of
the middle
part of the
pandemic, that
he hopes so),
paused and
imposed on
Espinal a
sentence of
180 months, to
be followed by
three years
supervised
release.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 5 – Peter Thomson has sued CRF -
Cluster Model Program LLC about mistreatment in
the homeless shelter at 1815 University Avenue
in The Bronx.
On May 5, On May 5, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Katherine
Polk Failla held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Much
of the proceeding involved trying to identify a
particular former employee at the shelter, who
Thomas called "Mister G" and defense counsel
said might be one Antonio Gonzalez.
Thomson
started describing him - five foot seven,
Hispanic - when Judge Failla said defense
counsel had never in fact seen him.
The
case management plan deadlines have been stayed
pending a further order.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 5 – Thirty two days after James
Felton was found guilty after a jury trial
including video of him shooting Marvin Harris to
death on East 175th Street in the Bronx, his son
James "Chunky" Diaz in October 2019 asked the
government to stop withholding evidence.
On
April 29, 2021, Felton's appeal was heard by a
Second Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge
panel. The less than ten minutes argument
focused on whether, in voir dire examination of
juror, they should have explicitly been asked
about unconscious racial bias.
Assistant US Attorney Frank Balsamello
argued that is not required.
This while defendant Michael
Avenatti is arguing that the
media should be barred from
all voir dire sidebars in his
case, and Inner City Press is
opposing it, here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 27 – A 27 year old man, Eugene
Castelle, reportedly related to the Luchese
family on Staten Island died while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on November 8, 2016. There are
photos which his lawyer calls bad, and there is
as Inner City Press first and exclusively
reported on February 2 a missing video.
There
was a demand for $2 million, by the plaintiff,
it emerged on February 2, but the demand may go
higher if and when the missing video is found or
produced. Discovery document on Patreon here.
Inner City Press' reporting has gleaned stories
of Eugene Castelle seeking detox but being
provided with dubious methadone and convulsing.
It is said that other prisoners dragged him down
to the guards' Bubble for help, but were
rebuffed. He died, and now the video is missing.
On February 2, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a discovery conference. Inner
City Press alone covered
it.
Jump-cut to March 17, when Judge Netburn held
another proceeding. This time, the City's lawyer
demanded to know who else was on the line. Judge
Netburn correctly said she does not ask the
press to identify itself.
Now
on April 27, a request to extend the time to
complete discovery, along with a request in the
alternative to sanction the defendants. The
requests includes an email stating that "the
Bronx DA will not accept a subpoena. They locked
their doors and cannot be served. They are part
of the CitySo that are within your custody and
control.... request for documents related to
their investigation."
The
video has still not been produced, but both
sides said that settlement is possible. It was
said that there may be a non-public settlement
conference in May.
And
now there is, filed on April 7: "SETTLEMENT
CONFERENCE ORDER: A settlement conference is
scheduled for Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at 10:00
a.m. and will be held telephonically. The Court
will provide dial-in information by email before
the conference. The parties and any non-parties
participating in the conference are directed to
review and comply with the Procedures for Cases
Referred for Settlement."
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian
UK - Honduras - The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 22 – Shaquille Perkins faces
trial on felon in possession of a firearm
charges. But not so fast.
On August 11
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge William H. Pauley III held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
First,
Judge Pauley asked Perkins or rather his Federal
Defender about alleged violations of supervised
release including unscheduled stops at 803
Crotona Park North in The Bronx. "What's the
attraction to that building?" Judge Pauley
asked.
There was
no real answer, other that it is on the route to
treatment. Judge Pauley delivered an admonition
about address and about Fordham Road, then asked
about the trial date.
He
explained that an October jury trial date was
unlikely and proposed November 16 or November
30. He said space even in the large courtrooms
will be limited and might require an overflow
room with video.
Federal
Defenders asked for time to confer with Perkins
and that they would then e-mail Judge Pauley's
deputy or clerk.
On
September 17, the case was transferred to SDNY
Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who on October 8 scheduled
a proceeding which Inner City Press also
covered.
The
Assistant US Attorney announced that they had
found that a witness in the case had been
represented previously by Federal Defenders.
Judge
Rakoff did not seem pleased. But he signed an
order removing Federal Defenders from the case
and assigning Perkins a new CJA lawyer, Inga L.
Parsons.
On October 16 Parsons appeared again, by
phone, urging with the consent of the AUSA a
modification of conditions of release to allow
going out to work. CVS was referred to; "all
other bail conditions shall remain in place and
binding."
Now on April
22, 2021, Perkins appeared before Judge Rakoff
to plead guilty. Inner City Press again covered
it. Judge Rakoff began by saying only two poets
in the English language still write in rhymes -
Inga Parsons and Jed
Rakoff. (But see (DC)
and here (SDNY)
and now here
(Ghislaine Maxwell). The plea was taken.
The case is US v. Perkins, 19-cr-705 (Rakoff)
***
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April 19, 2021By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 14 – ATAX, a tax preparer at
5536 Broadway in Marble Hill, The Bronx, and
Rafael Alvarez have been sued by the
government.
On
April 14, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
The US says 90% of ATAX' customers claim
refunds, using head of household fraud and other
tricks it ascribes to Alvarez.
Judge
Rakoff ordered depositions to end by August 6,
with a final pre-trial conference set for August
27.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 6 – Five Brothers Auto Spa and
Lube Corporation of 3327 Connor Street in The
Bronx has been sued for not paying overtime and
minimum wage.
On
April 6, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Mary Kay
Vyskocil held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge
Vykocil ruled that deposition are due June 30,
and motions by July 5. After that, there may be
summary judgment motions.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
NEW
YORK, SDNY & EDNY, March 31 – The difference
between retail and wholesale politics was again
on display Wednesday night, in a town hall to
The Bronx and Queens, with SDNY and EDNY
questions not yet answered.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a Zoom town
hall from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, at which she took
constituent questions including from an seven
year old who asked, What do you do if people
don't like you? To thine own self be true was
the answer, along with references to a desired
ramp at the Jackson Heights Post Office,
possible earmarks for City Island, and a
shout-out to the Amazon workers in Alabama.
There
was not much on international affairs (for
example Tuesday's life sentence for Honduras'
president's brother for narco-trafficking, on
which Inner City Press was interviewed on UNeTV,
here
and here
from 3:10), much less the United Nations, which
continues to ban
Bronx-based Inner City Press. Time for a
Constitutional constituent inquiry, despite
impunity?
Then there was a press gaggle, also on Zoom.
Inner City Press was told to ask its questions
there, and submitted: "On the PPP program, in
the first round(s) only 12% of NYC small
businesses got PPP loans, versus 24% in
Nebraska. And in The Bronx, the rate of PPP
lending was every lower. What is being done to
make the program and banks more
accountable? And, if you have any
thoughts on Sen Schumer's recent nominations to
head the US Attorney's Offices in SDNY and
EDNY."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 26 – A multi-defendant
narcotics conspiracy prosecution centered on the
James Monroe Houses in The Bronx now features
charges dropped due to a cooperating witness not
complying with his cooperation
agreement.
The
overall case is known as US v. Spencer, et al.
and Inner City Press has reported on it at every
stage, here
and here.
Now
on March 25 the U.S. Attorney's office for the
Southern District of New York has written to
SDNY Judge Analisa Torres:
"In
light of evidence indicating that a cooperating
witness (“CW-1”) breached CW-1’s cooperation
agreement, the Government has determined that it
will not call CW-1 at trial in this case. The
Government will provide this evidence, including
notes of CW-1’s meetings with the Government, to
defense counsel by April 2, 2021.
"Given
the foregoing, the Government no longer intends
to proceed with respect to Counts Two and Three
of the 20 Cr. 78 (AT) Indictment. The Government
also no longer plans to proceed on Count Nine of
the Indictment with respect to Defendants
Nyshiem Spencer, Shalik Jenkins, Nasir Vincent,
Allan Gonzalez, and Jonell Danforth. With
respect to Defendants Malik Tunstall and Price
Tunstall, the Government intends to proceed on
Count Nine, but without seeking findings by the
jury with respect to drug weight. The Government
is evaluating whether there is sufficient
evidence to proceed at all with respect to
Defendant Shalik Jenkins."
We
aim to have more on this.
Earlier
in the case, nearly a year ago on March 30,
2020, Inner City Press reported
that Assistant US Attorney Justin Rodriguez
repeatedly cited a video of which he wrote he
would "arrange with the Court's Chambers for the
transmission of an electronic version of the
video montage, rather than a physical copy." The
video was and is as of this writing not in the
case's docket on PACER. Judge
Torres relied on this video is denying bond,
finding a danger to the community. Minutes
later, she approved a switch to CJA lawyer James
Branden for co-defendant Lafone Eley."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 16 – Damon Bailey was charged
with robbery and assault on July 27, 2016, but
then the charges were dropped. He
sued.
On March 16, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Mary Kay
Vyskocil held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Bailey is having a hard time finding a (new)
lawyer. His mother was on the line. But, not a
lawyer, she cannot represent her son. Could she
be appointed guardian ad litem?
She
would still have to find a lawyer. She said she
works in the court system. It was suggested that
perhaps the claim is against the initial lawyer.
The
next conference is on April 20.
The
case is Bailey v. City of New York, et al.,
19-cv-1488 (Vyskocil)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 11 – Freddie Mac is trying to
foreclose on 1056, 1060 and 1064 Findlay Avenue
in The Bronx.
On
March 11, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The
defendant has fired back saying the complaint is
barred by the doctrines of waiver, unclean hands
and estoppel.
Judge
Engelmayer referred it for settlement to
Magistrate Sarah Netburn.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 3 – Davonte Garcia faced a
guideline sentence of 70 to 87 months on
narcotics conspiracy charges.
On
March 3, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge J. Paul Oetken held a
sentencing proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Garcia's
lawyer said he had gotten COVID, and that he is
a good writer. Family ties were emphasized.
Judge
Oetken, showing mercy, said the five year
mandatory minimum would be enough.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 19 – A 27 year old man, Eugene
Castelle, reportedly related to the Luchese
family on Staten Island died while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on November 8, 2016. There are
photos which his lawyer calls bad, and there is
as Inner City Press first and exclusively
reported on February 2 a missing video.
There
was a demand for $2 million, by the plaintiff,
it emerged on February 2, but the demand may go
higher if and when the missing video is found or
produced. Discovery document on Patreon here.
Inner City Press' reporting has gleaned stories
of Eugene Castelle seeking detox but being
provided with dubious methadone and convulsing.
It is said that other prisoners dragged him down
to the guards' Bubble for help, but were
rebuffed. He died, and now the video is missing.
On February 2, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a discovery conference. Inner
City Press alone covered
it.
Judge
Netburn expressed skepticism that the City does
not have deposition transcripts computerized,
and urged an inquiry into the video.
Inner City Press now asks, Inquiry by whom? This
is more than a private lawsuit. So Inner City
Press filed a Freedom of Information Law request
and now, on February 9, publishes the following
the moment it hit the docket: "We represent
Lucille Tirado, as the administratrix of the
estate of Eugene Castelle, in this civil rights
case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, regarding
Castelle’s death at Riker’s Island. We write to
clarify the record. Following one of the
numerous meet and confers with defense counsel,
I realized that I may have given the wrong
impression as to what security footage was and
was not produced in the prior litigation.
Defense counsel was concerned about a blog post
by an independent journalist regarding the
missing footage, which made me realize that I
may have misspoken. I called to explain it to
him, and in that call he requested a
clarification for the record.
"I
agreed: People housed in the dorm discovered Mr.
Castelle was non-responsive at 8:20 a.m. For
three of the available camera angles, the
footage stops at or about 8:20 a.m. One camera
angle has the footage removed starting at around
8:20 a.m., but then it skips to about an hour
later. Two angles, which are nearly identical,
do show the medical staff coming to attempt to
resuscitate Mr. Castelle, but several people
obscuring Mr. Castelle, and we cannot see his
face in several places or account for the reason
that later photographs show a substantial amount
of blood, which is not visible on this footage.
We also cannot see what the officers are doing
near the “bubble” area where Defendant Dacruz is
stationed. This footage is still missing, and
defense counsel is working to produce it."
The
clarification is appreciated, and was
immediately published in full, in this "blog
post by an independent journalist."
On
February 19 the City's law firm, with its
concerned, filed another letter, acknowledging
that "while most of the interview files are
viable and play fine, two of them,
unfortunately, cannot be played... Video #3, we
have been told, starts and stops at times, but
plays appropriately by the end." By the end.
Now
on February 22, more delay is requested:
"Plaintiff discovered that there was an
investigation by the Bronx District Attorney's
Office." We aim to have more on this.
On
February 10, this order from Judge Netburn
(while SDNY Pacer was down) - "ORDER: The
parties shall file a joint letter by Friday,
February 19, 2021, detailing the status of
discovery. A discovery conference will be held
on Monday, March 1, 2021 (Signed by Magistrate
Judge Sarah Netburn on 2/10/2021) (ras)." We'll
have more on this.
The
defense lawyer blurted out that there had been a
$2 million demand.
The
plaintiff's lawyer replied that was the demand
BEFORE he learned how bad things were. He said
he could not advise settlement until seeing the
video.
Judge Netburn offered a settlement conference in
March, or if not taken soon, in May.
Now on February 5 Judge Netburn has issued an
order that "The Court finds that the interest of
justice significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on 2/5/2021)."
As
Inner City Press also first reported, Judge
Netburn issued a separate February 5 order
directing the City to file a status letter by
February 9 "describing the progress made on
numerous discovery issues, which include
locating the missing video footage of Mr.
Castelle's death and identifying custodians for
electronically stored information."
Now Inner City Press has filed a Freedom of
Information Law request: "Department of
Correction Legal Division Laura Mello Records
Access Officer New York City 75-20 Astoria Blvd
East Elmhurst, New York 11370 Re:
FOIL Request regarding death in DOC custody of
Eugene Castelle and for related records, please
confirm receipt and provide records on an
expedited basis Dear Ms. Mello / DOC FOIL
Officer: On behalf of Inner
City Press and in my personal capacity, as a
journalist and New Yorker, this is a FOIL
request for records concerning the death in DOC
custody of Eugene Castelle while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on or about November 8,
2016. For
Inner City Press I have been reporting on a
Federal lawsuit in which the City has been
required to collect and produce information
concerning and related to this death; the judge
has explicitly said that the public interest
outweigh the various claims for withholding (see
below).
While not required, but in order to be specific
about what information is hereby requested (on
an expedited basis), Inner City Press' reporting
has gleaned stories of Eugene Castelle seeking
detox but being provided with dubious methadone
and convulsing. It is said that other prisoners
dragged him down to the guards' Bubble for help,
but were rebuffed. He died, and now the video is
missing. On February 2,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn held a
discovery conference. Inner City Press alone
covered it. Judge Netburn expressed skepticism
that the City does not have deposition
transcripts computerized, and urged that an
inquiry into how the video of the time of death
was altered. This is a
request for the video(s) of that night and
incident, and all record concerning the video
and any alleged alteration(s) of
it. This is also a request for
the information already compiled regarding other
deaths in custody, produced in the case Tirado
v. City of New York et al., 19-cv-10377
(SDNY). On February 5
Judge Netburn has issued an order that "The
Court finds that the interest of justice
significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on
2/5/2021)." That applies
to your FOIL response to this request, which
should be on an expedited basis."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 19 – A 27 year old man, Eugene
Castelle, reportedly related to the Luchese
family on Staten Island died while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on November 8, 2016. There are
photos which his lawyer calls bad, and there is
as Inner City Press first and exclusively
reported on February 2 a missing video.
There
was a demand for $2 million, by the plaintiff,
it emerged on February 2, but the demand may go
higher if and when the missing video is found or
produced. Discovery document on Patreon here.
Inner City Press' reporting has gleaned stories
of Eugene Castelle seeking detox but being
provided with dubious methadone and convulsing.
It is said that other prisoners dragged him down
to the guards' Bubble for help, but were
rebuffed. He died, and now the video is missing.
On February 2, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a discovery conference. Inner
City Press alone covered
it.
Judge
Netburn expressed skepticism that the City does
not have deposition transcripts computerized,
and urged an inquiry into the video.
Inner City Press now asks, Inquiry by whom? This
is more than a private lawsuit. So Inner City
Press filed a Freedom of Information Law request
and now, on February 9, publishes the following
the moment it hit the docket: "We represent
Lucille Tirado, as the administratrix of the
estate of Eugene Castelle, in this civil rights
case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, regarding
Castelle’s death at Riker’s Island. We write to
clarify the record. Following one of the
numerous meet and confers with defense counsel,
I realized that I may have given the wrong
impression as to what security footage was and
was not produced in the prior litigation.
Defense counsel was concerned about a blog post
by an independent journalist regarding the
missing footage, which made me realize that I
may have misspoken. I called to explain it to
him, and in that call he requested a
clarification for the record.
"I
agreed: People housed in the dorm discovered Mr.
Castelle was non-responsive at 8:20 a.m. For
three of the available camera angles, the
footage stops at or about 8:20 a.m. One camera
angle has the footage removed starting at around
8:20 a.m., but then it skips to about an hour
later. Two angles, which are nearly identical,
do show the medical staff coming to attempt to
resuscitate Mr. Castelle, but several people
obscuring Mr. Castelle, and we cannot see his
face in several places or account for the reason
that later photographs show a substantial amount
of blood, which is not visible on this footage.
We also cannot see what the officers are doing
near the “bubble” area where Defendant Dacruz is
stationed. This footage is still missing, and
defense counsel is working to produce it."
The
clarification is appreciated, and was
immediately published in full, in this "blog
post by an independent journalist."
Now
this, on February 19 the City's law firm, with
its concerned, filed another letter,
acknowledging that "while most of the interview
files are viable and play fine, two of them,
unfortunately, cannot be played... Video #3, we
have been told, starts and stops at times, but
plays appropriately by the end." By the end. We
aim to have more on this.
On
February 10, this order from Judge Netburn
(while SDNY Pacer was down) - "ORDER: The
parties shall file a joint letter by Friday,
February 19, 2021, detailing the status of
discovery. A discovery conference will be held
on Monday, March 1, 2021 (Signed by Magistrate
Judge Sarah Netburn on 2/10/2021) (ras)." We'll
have more on this.
The
defense lawyer blurted out that there had been a
$2 million demand.
The
plaintiff's lawyer replied that was the demand
BEFORE he learned how bad things were. He said
he could not advise settlement until seeing the
video.
Judge Netburn offered a settlement conference in
March, or if not taken soon, in May.
Now on February 5 Judge Netburn has issued an
order that "The Court finds that the interest of
justice significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on 2/5/2021)."
As
Inner City Press also first reported, Judge
Netburn issued a separate February 5 order
directing the City to file a status letter by
February 9 "describing the progress made on
numerous discovery issues, which include
locating the missing video footage of Mr.
Castelle's death and identifying custodians for
electronically stored information."
Now Inner City Press has filed a Freedom of
Information Law request: "Department of
Correction Legal Division Laura Mello Records
Access Officer New York City 75-20 Astoria Blvd
East Elmhurst, New York 11370 Re:
FOIL Request regarding death in DOC custody of
Eugene Castelle and for related records, please
confirm receipt and provide records on an
expedited basis Dear Ms. Mello / DOC FOIL
Officer: On behalf of Inner
City Press and in my personal capacity, as a
journalist and New Yorker, this is a FOIL
request for records concerning the death in DOC
custody of Eugene Castelle while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on or about November 8,
2016. For
Inner City Press I have been reporting on a
Federal lawsuit in which the City has been
required to collect and produce information
concerning and related to this death; the judge
has explicitly said that the public interest
outweigh the various claims for withholding (see
below).
While not required, but in order to be specific
about what information is hereby requested (on
an expedited basis), Inner City Press' reporting
has gleaned stories of Eugene Castelle seeking
detox but being provided with dubious methadone
and convulsing. It is said that other prisoners
dragged him down to the guards' Bubble for help,
but were rebuffed. He died, and now the video is
missing. On February 2,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn held a
discovery conference. Inner City Press alone
covered it. Judge Netburn expressed skepticism
that the City does not have deposition
transcripts computerized, and urged that an
inquiry into how the video of the time of death
was altered. This is a
request for the video(s) of that night and
incident, and all record concerning the video
and any alleged alteration(s) of
it. This is also a request for
the information already compiled regarding other
deaths in custody, produced in the case Tirado
v. City of New York et al., 19-cv-10377
(SDNY). On February 5
Judge Netburn has issued an order that "The
Court finds that the interest of justice
significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on
2/5/2021)." That applies
to your FOIL response to this request, which
should be on an expedited basis."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 8 – Lawrence Peebles sued
Concourse Village in the Bronx, on behalf of
himself and others similarly situated.
But
Concourse Village has resisted responding to
class discovery requests.
On
February 8, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Gregory H. Woods held
a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Judge Wood, in a proceeding shorter than most he
holds, informed defense counsel that extension
of time was to provide discovery on the class or
collective issues, not just the one initial
plaintiff.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 6 – A 27 year old man, Eugene
Castelle, reportedly related to the Luchese
family on Staten Island died while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on November 8, 2016. There are
photos which his lawyer calls bad, and there is
as Inner City Press first and exclusively
reported on February 2 a missing video.
There
was a demand for $2 million, by the plaintiff,
it emerged on February 2, but the demand may go
higher if and when the missing video is found or
produced. Discovery document on Patreon here.
Inner City Press' reporting has gleaned stories
of Eugene Castelle seeking detox but being
provided with dubious methadone and convulsing.
It is said that other prisoners dragged him down
to the guards' Bubble for help, but were
rebuffed. He died, and now the video is missing.
On February 2, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a discovery conference. Inner
City Press alone covered
it.
Judge
Netburn expressed skepticism that the City does
not have deposition transcripts computerized,
and urged that an inquiry into how the video of
the time of death was altered.
Inner City Press now asks, Inquiry by whom? This
is more than a private lawsuit - it is a
scandal.
The
defense lawyer blurted out that there had been a
$2 million demand.
The
plaintiff's lawyer replied that was the demand
BEFORE he learned how bad things were. He said
he could not advise settlement until seeing the
video.
Judge Netburn offered a settlement conference in
March, or if not taken soon, in May.
Now on February 5 Judge Netburn has issued an
order that "The Court finds that the interest of
justice significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on 2/5/2021)."
As
Inner City Press also first reported, Judge
Netburn issued a separate February 5 order
directing the City to file a status letter by
February 9 "describing the progress made on
numerous discovery issues, which include
locating the missing video footage of Mr.
Castelle's death and identifying custodians for
electronically stored information."
Now Inner City Press has filed a Freedom of
Information Law request: "Department of
Correction Legal Division Laura Mello Records
Access Officer New York City 75-20 Astoria Blvd
East Elmhurst, New York 11370 Re:
FOIL Request regarding death in DOC custody of
Eugene Castelle and for related records, please
confirm receipt and provide records on an
expedited basis Dear Ms. Mello / DOC FOIL
Officer: On behalf of Inner
City Press and in my personal capacity, as a
journalist and New Yorker, this is a FOIL
request for records concerning the death in DOC
custody of Eugene Castelle while imprisoned on
Riker's Island on or about November 8,
2016. For
Inner City Press I have been reporting on a
Federal lawsuit in which the City has been
required to collect and produce information
concerning and related to this death; the judge
has explicitly said that the public interest
outweigh the various claims for withholding (see
below).
While not required, but in order to be specific
about what information is hereby requested (on
an expedited basis), Inner City Press' reporting
has gleaned stories of Eugene Castelle seeking
detox but being provided with dubious methadone
and convulsing. It is said that other prisoners
dragged him down to the guards' Bubble for help,
but were rebuffed. He died, and now the video is
missing. On February 2,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn held a
discovery conference. Inner City Press alone
covered it. Judge Netburn expressed skepticism
that the City does not have deposition
transcripts computerized, and urged that an
inquiry into how the video of the time of death
was altered. This is a
request for the video(s) of that night and
incident, and all record concerning the video
and any alleged alteration(s) of
it. This is also a request for
the information already compiled regarding other
deaths in custody, produced in the case Tirado
v. City of New York et al., 19-cv-10377
(SDNY). On February 5
Judge Netburn has issued an order that "The
Court finds that the interest of justice
significantly outweighs the need for
confidentiality and ORDERS the Commission to
produce the relevant records to the parties in
this case. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.13(c)(1)
(McKinney 2020). (Signed by Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn on
2/5/2021)." That applies
to your FOIL response to this request, which
should be on an expedited basis."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 28 – Oscar Palmer is charged
with a cocaine and guns conspiracy resulting in
the death on 169th Street and Franklin Avenue in
The Bronx of Andrew Balcarran in 2002.
Palmer was brought into custody 18 years later
in September 2020. Now his lawyer David Anders
is raising Speedy Trial Act issues.
On January 28, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Paul G.
Gardephe held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge
Gardephe has set a briefing schedule for
Palmer's motion to dismiss. The motion is due
February 19, opposition March 12 and reply if
any March 19.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 22 – NYC Mayoral candidate
Andrew Yang is suggesting cold storage of
COVID-19 vaccine in under-used refrigerators in
bars and restaurants, and even ice cream
trucks.
Yang
held a press conference on January 22, along
with Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres and Queens
Assemblymember Ron Kim and others.
Inner City Press asked Yang how his wider
COVID-19 plan would apply to courts and prisons.
Yang
acknowledged the problem(s), and urge increased
pre-trial detention. Video here,
from Minute 36:23.
Ron
Kim spoke moving about his elderly father who
had a kidney removed for cancer still not being
able to get on any list for the COVID vaccine.
This
while, for example, UN Secretary General is
bragging about being poised to get his
vaccination all the while saying he is not
getting special treatment.
Inner City Press has asked, but has gotten no response from UN spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming. See Inner City Press Periscope video here, and watch this site.
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 7 – Nicholas Joseph is charged
as part of Bronx drug conspiracy that had a
shoot-out in a playground in Castle Hill in
which a 12-year old was injured.
On January 4 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin
Castel held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Joseph wanted to be released on $250,000 bond,
to his mother's house in Pennsylvania. Judge
Castel declined, but set a next conference for
March 3.
Now
on January 7, AUSA Andrew Chan has written to
Judge Castel that "earlier today a grand jury
returned a superseding indictment which includes
a second count of being a felon in possession of
a firearm and ammunition." They want Joseph to
be arraigned on this new charge on March 3,
saying that "defense counsel previously voiced
no objection to the exclusion of time [under the
Speedy Trial Act] until March 3."
The case is US v. Joseph, 20-cr-603 (Castel)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 6 – Bronx resident Virgilio
Guerrero was hit and injured by a vehicle owned
by Grenada's Mission to the United Nations in
2018, on 42nd Street.
He sued in state court, but the UN Mission of
Grenada removed it to Federal court.
On
January 6, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York e Judge John G. Koeltl held
a proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Guerrero,
it turns out, has had to have surgury. The
Grenada UN Mission's venicle was being driving
by Tyrone Samuel.
But
as Inner City Press has reported with regard to
the UN Mission of Nigeria delaying a similar
case in the SDNY, diplomatic immunity or
impunity is a mind-set pervasive in and around
the UN on 42nd Street.
This
case is being referred to mediation, which is
not public.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
/ BRONX, Dec 29 – As 2020 comes to a close in
New York City, its mayor Bill de Blasio on
December 29 held a press conference urging that
anyone traveling back into the city test and
quarantine for COVID-19.
But what of the UN diplomats and bureaucrats
whom the city hosts, notably UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres who left his
public-funded mansion on Sutton Place to
vacation in Portugal, and said he may also visit
the United Kingdom?
Inner
City Press sought to ask the question at de
Blasio's press conference, video here,
but did not get the question in via WebEx as PIX
11, the Daily News and a self-described atheist
from WBAI were called on. (De Blasio said,
"Whatever works for you, God bless.")
So Inner City Press submitted the question
through the WebEx platform chat to panelist
Doctor Dave A. Chokshi the Commissioner of the
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
We'll see.
In
even more local NYC news, Inner City Press on
December 28 covered the online Town Hall meeting
at which Bronx Assembly-member Michael A. Blake
passed the baton to his successor, Chantel
Jackson who spoke of her Belize-born mother
working for a union, and her desire to carry the
voice of Bronxite to Albany. Again, we'll see.
The long-abandoned courthouse on Third Avenue by the 42nd Precinct was discussed, as well as how and whether truly small businesses can access future Paycheck Protection Program loans, as issue Inner City Press covers along with the Fair Finance Watch. Watch this site.
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 22 – Leonardo Fernandez is
classified as a career criminal. In four months
in 2018 and 2019, in the Claremont neighborhood
of The Bronx, he sold six grams of crack to
undercover officers.
On December 22, 2020 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge John G.
Koeltl held his sentencing. Inner City Press
covered it.
Assistant
US Attorney Andrew Chan said that Fernandez had
set up his own open air drug market in
Claremont.
Judge
Koeltl asked how much crack was at issue.
Six grams was the answer.
And
what would be the offense level if it were
powder cocaine, versus crack? The difference was
12 for powder, 16 for crack.
The
guideline sentence started at 151 months. Judge
Koeltl sentence Fernandex to 72 months or six
years.
The case is US v. Fernandez, 19-cr-267 (Koeltl)
***
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By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
NEW
YORK, SDNY & EDNY, Dec 17 – The difference
between retail and wholesale politics was on
display Thursday night, on calls on Zoom and
video, DC, The Bronx and Queens.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a Zoom town
hall from 7:30 to 8:30 pm, at which she took
constituent and three media questions, focused
on the stimulus negotiations but the Paycheck
Protection Program or bank re-regulation aspects
of it.
But as DC based sources report, there was a
video call to vote on contested seats on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee, where
Democratic leadership set up a vote between
Ocasio-Cortez and Long Island former prosecutor
Kathleen Rice, which as set up the latter won,
46-13.
Surprisingly, this showdown did not
come up in the questions selected in the
questions picked on Thursday night, except
perhaps indirectly.
A
constituent in the Bronx' Parkchester housing
development asked about how the Green New Deal
deals with such issues as pollution from trucks
on the nearby Cross Bronx
Expressway.
Ocasio-Cortez
replied among other things that corporations are
given tax breaks to come into the Bronx
and then pollute it; she spoke about health
problems caused by older housing stock like
Parkchester.
She also said that earmarks are in the past, and
that Federal Congresspeople have to work on
nationwide issues.
As an example, a constituent from Astoria,
Queens was given an update on negotiations on
PPP and other stimulus (but again, not the bank
regulatory aspect of PPP).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 18 – With a legal filing full of
misspellings asking to enjoin an election or its
results, a dozen constituents of ousted New York
City Council member Andy King on Friday asked a
Federal judge for a restraining order. It was
denied.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge Valerie E. Caproni, in a
proceeding covered by Inner City Press, asked
how the plaintiffs had standing. (King's own
lawsuit against the City Council for ousting him
48-2 for misconduct had already failed).
The plaintiffs' Queens-based lawyer said these
voters had a right to pick their representative.
He said he has already put 40 hours into the
case.
The complaint, which referred to Andy Young
before the last name was stricken to King, asked
for the "stooing" of the election to replace
King.
Judge Caproni declined to issue a preliminary
injunction, and gave the City defendants until
February 5 to answer or move to dismiss the
complaint.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 8 – Dawn Rivera was injured in a
Dollar Tree store in The Bronx in November
2016.
On
December 8 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Magistrate Judge Kevin N.
Fox held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Dollar Tree was proposing that any disclosure of
information it put under its "protective order"
should result in a finding of contempt.
Judge
Fox nixed that, saying that it was the word
sanctions that should be used.
He
specified other problems with the proposed
protective order. A new one must be filed this
week.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Song
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 4 – A man in a surgical mask
robbed a gas station on City Island in The Bronx
on July 28, 2020.
There
was a security video, and on it he briefly took
down his mask.
Soon a Wanted poster yielded two anonymous tip
to the police, with the perpetrator's name
Michael O'Neill being given and even his
address.
By
August 25 a Federal complaint for Hobbs Act
robbery was sworn out and he was arrested.
On
December 4, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held a
change of plea proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
O'Neill,
with a Federal Defender, was admitting to
robbery but saying that it was not a gun he
used, but rather an unidentified "tool."
Likewise,
the theft of the gas station attendant's cell
phone which was in the Complaint was no longer
mentioned. So he faces up to 41 months.
Here is this reporter's Dec 5 song based
(loosely) off this, called CourtCall, here.
The
sentencing is set for March 5 at noon.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 15 – Pastor Nestor
Victor, a sandwich maker, sued Sam's Deli of 7
East 170th Street in The Bronx for not paying
overtime.
On November 13 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Valerie E.
Caproni held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Earlier, Judge Caproni had reminded the parties
they cannot drop the suit without filing a
settlement agreement or Department of Labor
document.
The
question arose on November 13 there were really
was a settlement, or cold feet. It was referred
to the Magistrate Judge, Sarah L. Cave. The
parties said they thought that had already
happened.
On
November 24 Magistrate Judge Cave held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it; to her
credit, Judge Cave kept it open throughout.
Judge
Cave, noting that one of the parties was still
resisting signing, said she is loathe to
pressure parties to settle. But, she said, if
the skittish party would be willing to speak
with her, he has nothing to worry about.
It appears there will be another call; it is
unclear if it would be public, or docketed.
Elsewhere in SDNY on November 24, another
proceeding described as about issues with a
settlement agreement that had been reached was
abruptly deemed closed. There is a lack of
transparency to the press and public, some
perhaps understandable. We'll continue on this.
The
case is Nestor Victor et al v. Sams Deli Grocery
Corp. et al., 19-cv-2965 (Caproni / Cave)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 17– Hafeez Shaheed was
driving on Boston Road in The Bronx on December
12, 2015 when he was pulled over by police.
He
was ordered out of his car, was tightly
handcuffed and taken into detention in the 47th
Police Precinct. He was denied medical
treatment. The criminal court summons filed
against him was dismissed and sealed on February
10, 2016.
In 2017, Hafeez Saheed sued the City of New York
and the police officers.
On
May 5, 2020, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Katherine
Polk Failla in a public telephone conference
which Inner City Press covered as it does others
asked Hafeez Shaheed if he would be willing to
settle for less than $100,000.
Yes, he said.
Judge
Failla asked, Less than $50,000?
Hafeez Saheed said No.
Melissa Wachs of the NYC Law Department,
representing the City and Officers Kevin Kenny,
Ou Wu and William Nakelski, said she did not
have authority to go above or to $50,000.
And so a tentative jury trial date of December
7, 2020 was set. Judge Failla genially said she
has already had to postpone a June jury trial,
so even December is not entirely sure.
Now in November 2020, another conference was
held in the case, and Inner City Press again
covered it. Since May another conference was
adjourned; the plaintiff's motion to file an
amended complaint was denied. In August the
trial was adjourned sine die. Now the talk is of
May, June or July 2021. On November 17 it was
said, see you in January.
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 5 – In a Perishable Agricultural
Commodities Act case, Custom Pak Brokerage has
sued Bronx-based JA Blurr Farms for non-payment
for wholesale produce.
On
November 5 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil
held a default judgment hearing. Inner City
Press covered it.
It
emerged that counsel for Custom Pak has not
propertly served the defendants.
Judge
Vyskocil said she would issue an order, to be
served on JA Blurr Farms and Shamar T. Hyatt of
Katonah Avenue in The Bronx, to be responded to
by November 1.
If
not, a November 18 hearing will be canceled and
default judgment entered.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 4 – Steven Bernstein was a
physical education teach at Middle School 390 in
The Bronx until November 26, 2018, when he was
constructively terminated. He says it was due to
his age, and he sued.
On
November 4 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Lewis J. Liman held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Bernstein blames principal Robert Mercedes, who
he says pushed out several white and black older
teachers like 64 year old Linda White, George
Swander, Myrna Kinkle, Meaghan Canavan, Susan
Carr-Lagomarsini, Eileen Kojes, Darryl McKnight,
Juanita Murray, Harriet Harewood, and Claire
Scenney-Lundahl, all named in the
complaint.
The
parties propose to complete discovery by
December 21, 2020, requesting a post-discovery
state conference on that day.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 27 -- Near 751 East 161st Street
in the South Bronx on June 21, 2000, Caprice
Jones was shot and killed.
On January 30, 2020 - twenty years later - a
sealed indictment was signed by U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge James L. Cott, for the arrest
of Frank Lopez and Ralph Berry on capital murder
charges for the death of Caprice Jones, in
connection with both men's alleged crack sales.
On
February 7 in Texas, Frank Lopez was arrested.
And four full weeks later on March 4, Frank
Lopez was presented and arraigned in SDNY
Magistrates Court, with Inner City Press the
only media present.
Lopez was brought in by U.S. Marshals; his
assigned counsel said he has high blood pressure
and acid reflux. He also displayed heavy
tattoos.
Assistant
US Attorney Domenic Gentile said the government
sought detention, in which Lopez' assigned
counsel consented without prejudice.
Now on October 27, Judge Alison J. Nathan held a
proceeding with Lopez and his co-defendant Ralph
Berry on the line. Judge Nathan told AUSA
Gentile to get Main Justice's capital decision
within 30 days.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 23 – While many even most cases
in the Magistrates Court of the
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed, on
June 13, 2019
then-US
Attorney Geoffrey
L. Berman
announced the
arrest and
presentment of
two middle
aged men for
murder for hire, and
said they had
already been
presented in
the Magistrates
Court.
But even an
hour later,
the case file
or docket for
19-cr-395 said
"This case is
under seal." Inner
City Press asked,
as to this and
other murky
Mag Court
cases, Why? Then on
July 26 Ramon
Ramirez was
denied bail by
District Judge
P. Kevin
Castel, pending
trial.
On
October
15, 2020 as
the first
criminal jury
trial in the
SDNY after
months of COVID-19
modifications
and CourtCalls, the
trial began.
Inner City
Press live
tweeted Day 1 here and
below.
On
October 19,
day 3, there
was more
testimony from
killers and a
final
stipulation
about
Santeria, religion
from Nigeria
to Cuba, after
evidence of
gun without
pin found in
defendant's
home. Inner City
Press went out
to the
courtroom,
which while
hardly full
had the Press
behind the jury
box fence as
defense
lawyers
questioned form
plexiglass
box and
AUSA
Balsamello sat in
the bench in
the back.
It ended in
verdicts
of guilty,
guilty,
guilty. Judge
Castel set the
sentencings
for February
10.
Watch
this site.
On
Day 2,
October 16, here:
Defense
lawyer Kluger:
So you were
committing a
crime wave in
Pittsfield,
Massachusetts,
correct?
CW1:
Please
rephrase the
question.
Defense
lawyer Kluger;
I'll withdraw
it. Count 9
was drug sale,
280 grams of
crack? CW1:
That's what it
says.
Now
co-defendant
Vance Collins'
lawyer Eric
Breslin, of
Duane Morris:
Where did you
meet my
client?
CW1: In
the Bronx.
Breslin: Did
he introduce
you to
Santeria? CW1:
Yes.
Breslin:
Do you smoke
pot in Orange
County Jail?
CW1: Yes. But
I never got
caught.
Breslin:
And you mixed
crack and
marijuana in a
cigar? CW1: In
a blunt.
Breslin: Tell
the jury what
a blunt is.
CW1: A cigar.
Breslin:
So you've been
selling drugs
for 20 years?
CW1:
Yes.
Breslin:
Did you
cooperate with
the Bronx DA?
CW1:
Yes. But this
is my first
time with the
Feds. I don't
know how it
works. I need
that 5K
letter.
Breslin:
How long has
it been since
you saw your
mother?
CW1:
Two years.
Breslin: Does
you wife come
to prison?
CW1
(voice rising)
NOBODY COMES
TO VISIT ME IN
PRISON.
Breslin:
No further
questions.
Then
testimony
turned dry, to
cell site records
in The Bronx
(Barnes
Avenue and
Boston Road),
Queens and
Yonkers. The trial
will continue
and probably
wrap up next
week.
From
Day 1, October
15:
The US
Attorney's
Office's
witness is
rattling off
the crimes
he's been in
jail for since
October 29,
2018 - drugs
in the Bronx,
firearms.
He has
describing
*trying* to
commit a
murder for
hire in
Queens. But
the
prospective
victim would
not leave his
house
The
government's
cooperating
witness says
of course he's
trying to get
a lighter
sentence. Now
he's up for
cross
examination.
First
up is Ramirez'
lawyer Matthew
Kluger: Who
decides if
you're telling
the truth?
Cooperating
witness
(CW-1): I do
Note:
Inner City
Press in
covering the
case reported
"Ramirez came
from Nicaragua
in 1996 and
does not have
a passport
now- but has
an HVAC
business, E
& R
Refrigeration
Services." Now
Kluger is
asking about
the
business.
CW-1
called
co-defendant
Collins
"Big-AK"
Kluger: You're
not taking
about David
Green, you
sold drugs
with, but the
David you shot
in the head,
right? CW1:
Right.
Kluger:
Sometimes you
had a knife
with you,
because a gun
would make too
much noise?
CW1: That is
correct.
Kluger:
You claim you
were being
extorted, but
you were the
Big Homie,
right?
CW1:
Not in Mount
Vernon. I was
just a regular
drug dealer
there. He
wanted to get
free marijuana
from, and
money. He
disrespected
me. Kluger:
That made you
angry, right?
CW1:
Right.
CW1: I
wouldn't call
myself the
victim. But I
was
victimized.
Kluger:
They put you
back in jail,
right? You
told the judge
you changed
your life,
right? And he
believed you,
you were
convincing,
right?
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 19 – Antonio Perez, originally
of Mexico and now of The Bronx, worked for 666
LLC in the building at 666 East 181st Street in
The Bronx.
He was not paid overtime and he turned down a
$5000 offer, he was told if he "ever sued
Defendants in Court, Defendants would hire
someone to kill Plaintiff."
On
October 19 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl held a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Perez'
lawyer, when asked about this "intentional
infliction of emotional distress" claim / murder
threat, said that because his client is from
Mexico, he took it seriously.
Judge
Koeltl said if true, the police should be
called. But Perez' lawyer, during the
proceeding, agreed to drop the murder threat
from the FSLA complaint - "without prejudice."
The case is Perez v. 666 LLC et al., 20-cv-5636 (Koeltl)
October 19, 2020
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 16 – While many even most cases
in the Magistrates Court of the
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed, on
June 13, 2019
then-US
Attorney Geoffrey
L. Berman
announced the
arrest and
presentment of
two middle
aged men for
murder for hire, and
said they had
already been
presented in
the Magistrates
Court.
But even an
hour later,
the case file
or docket for
19-cr-395 said
"This case is
under seal." Inner
City Press asked,
as to this and
other murky
Mag Court
cases, Why? Then on
July 26 Ramon
Ramirez was
denied bail by
District Judge
P. Kevin
Castel, pending
trial.
On
October
15, 2020 as
the first
criminal jury
trial in the
SDNY after
months of COVID-19
modifications
and CourtCalls, the
trial began.
Inner City
Press live
tweeted Day 1 here and
below.
And on
Day 2,
October 16, here:
Defense
lawyer Kluger:
So you were
committing a
crime wave in
Pittsfield,
Massachusetts,
correct?
CW1:
Please
rephrase the
question.
Defense
lawyer Kluger;
I'll withdraw
it. Count 9
was drug sale,
280 grams of
crack? CW1:
That's what it
says.
Now
co-defendant
Vance Collins'
lawyer Eric
Breslin, of
Duane Morris:
Where did you
meet my
client?
CW1: In
the Bronx.
Breslin: Did
he introduce
you to
Santeria? CW1:
Yes.
Breslin:
Do you smoke
pot in Orange
County Jail?
CW1: Yes. But
I never got
caught.
Breslin:
And you mixed
crack and
marijuana in a
cigar? CW1: In
a blunt.
Breslin: Tell
the jury what
a blunt is.
CW1: A cigar.
Breslin:
So you've been
selling drugs
for 20 years?
CW1:
Yes.
Breslin:
Did you
cooperate with
the Bronx DA?
CW1:
Yes. But this
is my first
time with the
Feds. I don't
know how it
works. I need
that 5K
letter.
Breslin:
How long has
it been since
you saw your
mother?
CW1:
Two years.
Breslin: Does
you wife come
to prison?
CW1
(voice rising)
NOBODY COMES
TO VISIT ME IN
PRISON.
Breslin:
No further
questions.
Then
testimony
turned dry, to
cell site records
in The Bronx
(Barnes
Avenue and
Boston Road),
Queens and
Yonkers. The trial
will continue
and probably
wrap up next
week.
From
Day 1, October
15:
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 6 – Back on September 3 SDNY
prosecutors announced that "DANIEL KAMENSKY, the
founder and manager of New York-based hedge fund
Marble Ridge Capital (“Marble Ridge”), was
charged in a Complaint in Manhattan federal
court with securities fraud, wire fraud,
extortion, and obstruction of justice."
Then
they agreed that Kamensky could be released the
same day on $250,000 bond.
That
same day in the same Magistrates Court, a man
named Jamel Porter was charged with shooting a
gun in The Bronx, and with claustrophobia, was
ordered detained.
Inner
City Press could not live tweet that one, being
in a collective stake out of Kamensky- but noted
that it would "write a story later despite the
prosecutors not publicizing the case and the
docket number not being given."
And
now here it is: on October 6 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge
Richard M. Berman held a bail hearing on Jamel
Porter. Inner City Press again covered it.
Since
September 3 Porter has been in Essex County Jail
in New Jersey, at first in lockdown 23 hours a
day. The US Attorney's Office sought continued
detention, citing a shooting on 165th Street and
Bryant Avenue in the Bronx. The Office said that
"GX-1 is one of the surveillance videos showing
the defendant committing the
shooting."
Judge
Berman ordered continued remand but asked
Federal Defenders to submit a proposed order on
medication. The next conference was set for
December 10 and Speedy Trial Act time was
excluded.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 30 – Raymer Casilla a/k/a Ray
Savage was indicted as part of a narcotics
conspiracy in The Bronx.
On September 30, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Sidney H.
Stein held a change of plea proceeding. Inner
City Press covered it.
After retiring several times to a separately
virtual room, Casilla emerged and allocuted to
both possessing and having the intent to
distribute.
Judge Stein remarked that while he had been
using the Spanish pronunciation Cas-ee-ya, the
CJA defense lawyer Anglicized it to Cas-ill-a.
He asked, Which do you prefer?
Either
one is OK, the defendant said. His sentencing
was set for January 5, 2021.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - ESPN - The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 25 – A 20-year old
Bronx rapper on the run from Federal law
enforcement since April has been captured after
posting to Facebook from a newly bought cell
phone.
On
September 25 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn held a detention proceeding. Inner
City Press exclusively covered it.
Assistant
US Attorney Adam Hobson recounted how Count
Cooks was named in a multi-defendant drug
conspiracy indictment in April, and on the run
since then. He made a point of quoting Cooks'
lyrics from a recent song: "I'm a fugitive, but
I'm still doin' sh*t." More on Patreon here.
Cooks'
assigned Criminal Justice Act lawyer from Kramer
Levin, who had just consented to the detention
of other assigned clients named Hill and Martinez,
made an application for bail.
He
said later in the case there could be
consideration of the evidentiary weight of rap
lyrics, a topic Inner City Press has written and
been quoted on (here
on the SDNY trial with Tekashi69 in The New
Yorker).
But in this case, Judge Netburn concluded that
there were not set of condition that could
assure the safety of the community.
Cooks
was detained, and there is no listed court
appearance until November. In the indictment he
is a/k/a CJay. Inner City Press will stay on
this and other cases in the SDNY.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - ESPN - Doe
Podcast
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 17 – Annie Doe - not her real
name - while a student at the College of Mount
Saint Vincent in Riverdale in the North Bronx
posted on Instagram criticism of protests to the
alleged murder of George Floyd.
She
wrote, "Just because one black guy dies doesn't
mean the entire world should act like untamed
apes." More on Patreon, here.
She
was charged with harassment, and issued a two
year suspension and a referral to a homeless
shelter.
She
sued - and "has not left the premises."
On
September 17 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Valerie E.
Caproni held a lengthy proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it - and ended up live tweeting, here.
Annie
Doe's lawyer conceded it is not a First
Amendment case, since College of Mount Saint
Vincent is a private school. But he attacked the
disciplinary process Annie Doe was put
through.
His
complaint noted Annie Doe's support of Trump and
MAGA, and the negative reactions these drew from
other CMSV students. He sued for sex
discrimination, retaliation and most
intriguingly, breach of contract. The
College of Mount Saint Vincent lawyer said "the
optics are bad," parents who pay tuition are
asking why Annie Doe is still on campus. Her
"electronic card access to the front door has
been canceled" - but she has not left.
Judge
Caproni, past 5 pm, asked about dog whistles.
Inner City Press, three hours into the hearing,
began live
tweeting.
At 6
pm, Judge Caproni denied Annie Doe's requested
injunction. She told the CMSV lawyer he has
until October 2 to oppose - presumably, to make
a motion to dismiss.
She offered the services of SDNY Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron, if both parties want it. There is a related case - Inner City Press will continue to follow and report on this, watch this site. More on Patreon, here.
***
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innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Song
Radio
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 10 – When after three days of
jury selection the trial of Michael Avenatti for
allegedly extorting Nike began on January 29,
Assistant US Attorney Robert Sobelman told the
selected jurors that Avenatti was supposed to
look out for the interests of his client, but he
did not - he had a weapon, social media.
More on 1st day on Patreon here.
On
August 7 in the Stormy Daniels case, Avenatti
had motions heard by U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jesse M.
Furman. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here.
On August 27, Inner City Press filed a formal request that documents in the case not be sealed, full filing on Patreon here.
On August 28 Judge Furman entered an order: "The
Court received the attached communication from
Matthew Lee of Inner City Press “seeking leave
to be heard and for the unsealing of the CJA
Form 23, affidavit, and all associated
documents” relating to this litigation. To the
extent that Mr. Lee (who is admitted to the bar
of the Southern District of New York) seeks
leave to be heard, his application is GRANTED.
The Court reserves judgment on the question of
whether Defendant’s CJA Form 23 and related
documents should be unsealed. SO ORDERED. Dated:
August 28, 2020 New York, New York JESSE M.
FURMAN." Docket No. 85, on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud, here.
On September 2 Federal Defenders, rather than
attempt to explain why they routinely divulge
and put in the public record the financial
information of less high profile and lower
income clients, stating in Magistrates Court
exactly how much their clients make and where
they and even their spouses work, has written in
this: "The defense acknowledges that the Court
granted Matthew Lee, a representative of “Inner
City Press,” leave to be heard on this matter.
The defense requests leave to respond to Mr. Lee
one week from the timely filing of any
substantive brief or letter. For now, it bears
emphasizing that the Court’s measures requiring
the Federal Defenders to keep an accurate record
of the hours spent on Mr. Avenatti’s defense,
and also requiring Mr. Avenatti to regularly
update the Court on his finances, are sufficient
to protect the public fisc and to ensure that
funds for court-appointed counsel are being
properly spent. Further, “neither the First
Amendment nor the common law provides a right of
access to financial documents submitted with an
initial application to demonstrate a defendant’s
eligibility for CJA assistance.” In re Boston
Herald, Inc., 321 F.3d 174, 191 (1st Cir. 2003).
And “even if there were a common law presumption
of access, then it would be outweighed here … by
[Avenatti’s] countervailing privacy interests”
and rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
Id." Full letter on Patreon here.
It is UNacceptable -- the public's and press'
right of access is not limited to the public
fisc, it is based on the FIRST Amendment.
Hearing nothing more, but continuing to closely
cover all things SDNY, on September 8 Inner City
Press filed again: "Re: US v. Avenatti,
19-cr-374 (JMF) - Further on the need to unseal
CJA Form 23 and associated documents including
affidavit
Dear
Judge Furman: Pursuant
to this Court's August 28, 2020 Order granting
leave to be heard, and in response to Federal
Defenders' September 2 (footnote) response),
this is a further argument for the unsealing of
the CJA Form 23, affidavit and all associated
documents in US v. Avenatti, 19-cr-374
(JMF).
Before citing case law, Inner City Press which
closely covers SDNY criminal proceedings notes
that just today, before SDNY Magistrate Judge
Barbara Moses, the financial situation of
defendant Jonathan Smith was fully disclosed on
the record.
To
obtain CJA counsel it was disclosed that Mr.
Smith of The Bronx received $471 a week in
unemployment, and pays $150 to $200 a month in
child support of each of his three children, and
$65 a month for cell phone service. See, US
v. Smith, 20-cr-317 (Swain /
Moses).
We
again ask, why should lower income and less high
profile defendants in the SDNY have their
financial information so disclosed while
Avenatti's information is sealed in its
entirety?
Avenatti in his other SDNY case, in which he was
convicted by a jury, has requested another
adjournment of sentencing, to
December.
On
September 10, Federal Defenders responded,
saying that the disclosure of the Bronxite and Massachusetts
drug defendants' information is somehow
different than for Avenatti, who is apparently
in their view due great privacy and protection.
Then they threaten to appeal if Judge Furman
rules for transparency: "RE: United States v.
Michael Avenatti 19 Cr. 374 (JMF) Dear Judge
Furman: We write to briefly respond to the
letter submitted on behalf of Inner City Press
by Matthew R. Lee requesting the unsealing of
Michael Avenatti’s CJA 23 Form and accompanying
affidavit. See Dkt. No. 90. Neither the public
nor the media have a presumptive right to access
the financial documents of a defendant who seeks
court-appointed counsel under the Sixth
Amendment. In re Boston Herald, Inc., 321 F.3d
174, 191 (1st Cir. 2003) (“[N]either the First
Amendment nor the common law provides a right of
access to financial documents submitted with an
initial application to demonstrate a defendant’s
eligibility for CJA assistance.”). And as
discussed more thoroughly in Mr. Avenatti’s
previous letters, any such common law or First
Amendment interest is trumped by the real and
appreciable risk of self-incrimination Mr.
Avenatti faces should his sworn statements about
his financial condition be made available to the
government or publicly.1 1 As set forth in
Mr. Avenatti’s reply to the government’s
response in opposition to keeping his sworn
financial statements sealed, the court in the
Central District of California presiding over a
different case against him has sealed Mr.
Avenatti’s application for court-appointed
counsel under Ninth Circuit precedent and local
rules. Accordingly, Mr. Avenatti respectfully
requests that the Court stay any order to unseal
those same documents in this case so that he may
pursue appropriate appellate relief."
We'll
have more on this, once the situation becomes
clearer - it is not clear if Inner City Press is
permitted to surreply to this. It should not be
necessary. The courts should be transparent, and
defendants should be treated equally.
And
later the US Attorney's Office said, " in light
of the presumption of openness in criminal
proceedings and the approach favored by the
Second Circuit, the defendant has failed to
provide a legally sufficient basis for wholesale
and indefinite sealing of the CJA 23 Form and
supporting affidavit." Full letter on Patreon here.
Now we await Avenatti's / his Federal Defenders'
reply. Watch this site.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 9 – Solomon Appiah was
in his car in front of 1180 Webster Avenue in
The Bronx on March 22, 2018 when his car was hit
by a truck with New Jersey plates, owned by
World Import of Livingston Avenue, LLC. Appiah
sued.
He
filed suit in state court, in The Bronx. But the
NJ-based defendant removed it to Federal court.
On September 9 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
James L. Cott held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
One
of the lawyer said that he would not long remain
as counsel of record. Judge Cott pointed out
that this could result in a new lawyer
disagreeing with the schedule to be set that
day.
He
also said that 90 days to amend the complaint in
this case was too long. "This is not rocket
science," he said.
Only
last week, Judge Cott was handling criminal case
after criminal case in the Magistrates Court.
But the (federal / diversity) law covers car
crashes, too.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 3 – At 1:22 pm on
September 3 SDNY prosecutors announced
"that
DANIEL KAMENSKY, the founder and manager of New
York-based hedge fund Marble Ridge Capital
(“Marble Ridge”), was charged in a Complaint in
Manhattan federal court with securities fraud,
wire fraud, extortion, and obstruction of
justice. KAMENSKY’s alleged criminal acts
occurred in connection with his scheme to
pressure a rival bidder to abandon its higher
bid for assets in connection with Neiman
Marcus’s bankruptcy proceedings so that Marble
Ridge could obtain those assets for a lower
price. KAMENSKY then attempted to persuade
the rival bidder to cover up the scheme.
KAMENSKY was arrested today and is expected to
be presented before Magistrate Judge James L.
Cott this afternoon."
Inner City Press live tweeted the presentment,
about two hours later, below. The prosecutors
agreed that Kamensky could be released the same
day on $250,000 bond.
But
while Inner City Press and at least three others
waited from the time of presentment until 7 pm
for Kamensky to come out of the SDNY courthouse,
covering both the Pearl Street and Worth Street
doors, he apparently did not appear.
Meanwhile
in the same Magistrates Court, a man charged
with shooting a gun in The Bronx, and with
claustrophobia, was ordered detained.
Inner
City Press could not live tweet that one, being
in a collective stake out - but will write a
story later despite the prosecutors not
publicizing the case and the docket number not
being give. Here's from the Kamensky's
proceeding:
AUSA:
Surrender all travel documents, restricted to
SDNY, EDNY, NDNY and South Florida with
pre-approval. No contact with witnesses outside
of Marble Ridge except in presence of counsel,
and with those inside, nothing about this case
AUSA:
Kamensky to be released today, with co-signers
to be interviewed by Sept 10. $250,000 bond
(half of that required yesterday for UN rapist
Elkorany).
Judge
Cott: Preliminary hearing?
Retained
counsel: Waive to 30th day.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Song
Radio
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 29 – When after three days of
jury selection the trial of Michael Avenatti for
allegedly extorting Nike began on January 29,
Assistant US Attorney Robert Sobelman told the
selected jurors that Avenatti was supposed to
look out for the interests of his client, but he
did not - he had a weapon, social media.
More on 1st day on Patreon here.
On
August 7 in the Stormy Daniels case, Avenatti
had motions heard by U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jesse M.
Furman. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here.
On
August 27, Inner City Press filed a formal
request that documents in the case not be
sealed, full filing on Patreon here:
"Only this month in SDNY Magistrates Court the
content of CJA Form 23s have been read out in
the public record, including for the appointment
of Federal Defenders. See, e.g., US v. Castro,
et al., 20-mj-8994 (Freeman) & here.
Those
and other defendants whose CJA Form 23 and
financial information have been disclosed
including in Magistrates Court this month had
the same arguments as made by Federal Defenders
in their August 21, 2020 letter, that the
information might be used against them. And yet
the other defendants' information was disclosed.
Here, the sealing(s) and withholding of the CJA
Form 23 and affidavit in their entirety go
beyond those requested even in the CIA trial
before Judge Crotty, US v. Schulte, 17 Cr.
548.
In
that case, Inner City Press vindicated the
public's right to know, in the docket, see here
and here.
Inner City Press recently got even more
sensitive filings unsealed in a North Korea
sanctions case before Judge Castel, US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15 (PKC), Docket No. 33 (LETTER
by EMAIL as to Virgil Griffith addressed to
Judge P. Kevin Castel from Matthew Russell Lee,
Inner City Press, dated 5/18/2020, re: Press
Access to documents in US v. Griffith,
20-cr-15), 40 (order to unseal) and 41 unsealed
filings). See also Inner City Press' May 9,
2020, filing to this Court for openness in US v.
Randall, 19-cr-131, No. 343.
The
U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that reporting
by the news media allows members of the public
to monitor the criminal justice system without
attending proceedings in person. Richmond
Newspapers, Inc. v Virginia, 448 U.S. at
572-73 (1980). By attending and reporting
on court proceedings, members of the press
"function[] as surrogates for the public." Id.
at 573. Inner City Press has covered
the case(s) against Mr. Avenatti for some time,
see e.g., May 13, 2020, ESPN Louisville Sports
Live, "On this episode of LSL, the guys speak
with court reporter, Matthew Russell Lee about
the lack of fallout from the evidence exposed
about Nike in the Michael Avenatti trial," for
example on radio here.
Inner City Press and I are submitting this a day
early in part because we are unsure if the US
Attorney's Office will be pushing for openness
to the public. In another pending case, US v.
Edwards, 19-cr-64 (GHW), the Office had
initially said that documents submitted by the
defendant (described as the leaker of Paul
Manafort's Suspicious Activity Reports) should
be put in the public docket. Then, while Inner
City Press is pursuing
that, the US Attorney's Office has stopped
pushing. So, just to preview, we may seek leave
to sur-reply depending on what not only the
defendants / Federal Defenders but also the US
Attorney's Office have to say.
Respectfully
submitted, /s/ Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City
Press."
On August 28 Judge Furman entered an order: "The
Court received the attached communication from
Matthew Lee of Inner City Press “seeking leave
to be heard and for the unsealing of the CJA
Form 23, affidavit, and all associated
documents” relating to this litigation. To the
extent that Mr. Lee (who is admitted to the bar
of the Southern District of New York) seeks
leave to be heard, his application is GRANTED.
The Court reserves judgment on the question of
whether Defendant’s CJA Form 23 and related
documents should be unsealed. SO ORDERED. Dated:
August 28, 2020 New York, New York JESSE M.
FURMAN." Docket No. 85, on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud, here.
And
later the US Attorney's Office said, " in light
of the presumption of openness in criminal
proceedings and the approach favored by the
Second Circuit, the defendant has failed to
provide a legally sufficient basis for wholesale
and indefinite sealing of the CJA 23 Form and
supporting affidavit." Full letter on Patreon here.
Now we await Avenatti's / his Federal Defenders'
reply. Watch this site.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 26 – Abraham Cano and Welynton
Garcia de la Cruz are charged with conspiracy to
send dozens of kilograms of cocaine from Puerto
Rico into the United States, including to an
address on White Plains Road in The
Bronx.
On
August 25 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Magistrate Judge Debra C.
Freeman held back to back presentments of the
two co-defendants. Inner City Press covered
it.
Both
had retained counsel. Cano's lawyer said he
consented to detention without prejudice to a
later application for release. Mr Cano was let
off the call.
Then
his co-defendants was offered a bail package by
the US Attorney's Office: $50,000 bond co-signed
by two financial responsible persons and
electronic monitoring.
Assistant
US Attorney Benjamin Schrier explained the
insistence on GPS, mentioning up to 60 kilos of
cocaine.
He
did not say if his Office would have offered the
same conditions of release to Cano and if not,
why not.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 21 – Police, Fire and other
unions sued to block the release of complaints
against their members now the New York Civil
Rights Act Section 50-a has been repealed.
The
case was removed to Federal court by the City.
On July 28 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla
held a proceeding. Inner City Press live tweeted
some of it, below.
On
August 21 Judge Failla convened the parties and
amici and read her decision. Inner City Press
tweeted only a part of it. She denied the
preliminary injunction with one small exception,
and stayed her decision until Monday at 2 pm.
Just after she adjourned, someone of the call
said, "Take that, b*tches." Here's a bit
more (the Order will go online) --
Judge
Failla says, at the outset, with certain very
limited exceptions for information covered by
collective bargaining agreements, I am denying
the plaintiffs' [the police unions'] motion for
a preliminary injunctions.
Judge
Failla: ....on the specific issue of doxxing,
plaintiffs have not shown examples of doxxing
with this data. I have not found irreparable
harm.
Judge
Failla: Things that can be expunged, under the
CBAs, are different. On these, I think it has to
be arbitrated. "Schedule A Command Violations
heard in trial room.. that could be subject to a
request for expungment."
As
Judge Failla continues reading her decision,
someone's Hold music surges on. She pauses until
it is turned off.
Judge
Failla is staying her decision until Monday at 2
pm to allow the possibility of appeal to the 2d
Circuit.
After
Judge Failla adjourns, but before call is over,
someone on the call says, "Take that, b*tches."
Proceeding
begins with accusation that CCRB "conspired"
with the NYCLU because the City knew a TRO was
coming - and responded to its FOIL request very
quickly. [Judge Failla is calling it "NY-CLUE;"
she quotes the old saw about horseshoes and hand
grenades]
The
question on the FOIL response is whether CCRB
was acting "in concert" with NYCLU.
Judge
Failla: But there was no court order yet.
Answer: They got info on an expedited basis, for
the City to evade its legal obligation to keep
this information confidential.
CCRB
responded to 71 FOIL request - all in a matter
of days, Judge Failla is told.
Anthony
Coles of DLA Piper: The City and NYCLU were
working in concert to reveal information
protected by collective bargaining and the
Constitution.
Currently
stayed: publication of these CCRB records. If
and when they are released, will be text
searchable.
Since
July 15 - since the TRO? - NYCLU has received a
"dictionary" from the CCRB
Judge
Failla: I've learned from no less than Judge
Hand that I cannot enjoin the world at large.
But I can enjoin a party acting in concert,
here, with NYC. I can't reach back in time. Were
they acting in concert to violate an existing
court order? Not at the time
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 14 – Dave Minter was arrested
for shooting and having a gun in The Bronx, as a
felon. On August 14 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge John G.
Koeltl held his arraignment. Inner City Press
covered it.
Minter said he hadn't seen the indictment. His
lawyer quickly said they had discussed it and
that Minter was understandably frustrated.
The AUSA said they have video, from ShotSpotter
and the apartment building lobby.
He
said that a gun found with Minter had only one
bullet in its six chambers "confirmed" he had
shot the five shots.
The
complaint has photos of Minter in an Under
Armour sweatshirt, and on lobby video.
Judge Koeltl set the matter down for November 4.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Aug 4 -- Back on March 14, 2019 a
couple was found dead of a drug overdose in an
apartment on Lafayette Avenue in The Bronx. The
next day the New York City authorities
attributed the deaths to cocaine and fentanyl.
An investigation ensued, included described
controlled drug buys leading to a February 3,
2020 complaint against four people including
Bobby Ramos and Tyrone Howard.
These two, after arrest, was scheduled for
arraignment on March 9 before U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Judge Valerie E. Caproni. But, "[d]ue to an
error by the Government's clerk's office, Mr.
Howard and Mr. Ramos were not ordered produced
for the scheduled arraignment." Assistant US
Attorney Juliana N. Murray wrote to Judge
Caproni to request a new date on March 11.
Inner
City Press, already in 40 Foley Square to cover
a sex trafficking trial before Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer, ran to cover the arraignment. Judge
Caproni moves fast.
But
even at 3:05 pm she was naming April 30 for the
next conference, at which she said she aims to
name a trial date. A defense lawyer said he'd
write to the court about discovery - including
the extraction of seized smart phones - on April
28.
Now on August 4, moving fast again, Judge
Caproni has ordered that all pre-trial motions
are due on or before October 15 and replies by
November 19. Time has been excluded.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 31 – Timothy Mitchell came to
plead guilty to being a felon in possession of a
firearm before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge John G.
Koeltl on July 31. Inner City Press covered it.
The change of plea proceeding was moving along
according to the ritual until Judge Koeltl asked
AUSA Andrew Chan what evidence he would have
presented at trial.
Chan
said there is video of Mitchell shooting a gun
on Park Avenue in The Bronx. The court reporter
asked, Park Avenue?
Mitchell asked to speak. He was advised,
strongly, to speak with his lawyer.
Ultimately
the plea got back on track. Mitchell was only
pleading guilty to having a gun, not shooting
it. But that got into the transcript.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 21 – The Plaza Rehabilitation
& Nursing Center at 100 West Kingbridge Road
in The Bronx has been sued for failure to
provide American Sign Language interpreters.
On
July 21, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Magistrate Judge Ona T.
Wang held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered
it.
Despite
high minded public interest language in the
Complaint, when Judge Wang proposed the next
step being a "pre-settlement conference"
scheduling conference from which the public and
press would be excluded, plaintiff's counsel
said that would be fine.
To
be fair, while Magistrate Judge Wang urge the
parties to consent to assigning her the case for
"all purposes," she noted that she is paid the
same regardless.
This
dubiously confidential pre-settlement conference
scheduling conference was set for Thursday,
October 1, at 3:30 pm.
It's
one thing for actual settlement conference
before Magistrate Judges to be closed to the
public and press. But "pre-settlement conference
scheduling conferences"?
This case is Nieves v. The Plaza Rehabilitation & Nursing Center et al., 20-cv-1191 (Gardephe / Wang)
July 20, 2020By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 15 – Victor Rodriguez is
charged with murder in connection with a drug
deal in front of 808 East 175th Street in The
Bronx on April 18, 2020.
His
case is being considered for the death penalty.
On
July 15 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel held
a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Rodriguez
pled not guilty, but the main issue in the
proceeding was whether Judge Castel will replace
the Criminal Justice Act lawyer initially
assigned to Rodriguez, Matthew Kluger of 888
Grand Concourse, with a "learned counsel" lawyer
on the death penalty panel, Elizabeth
Macedonio.
Rodriguez
told Judge Castel he is getting along well with
Kluger and would like to continue with him.
Judge Castel indicated that Macedonio will hold
a separate legal call with Rodriguez this Friday
or on Monday.
After
that a third lawyer, Peter Quijano, will report
to Judge Castel under seal "defendant's wishes
as to whether Mr. Kluger or Ms. Macedonio
continue as his lead counsel."
The
entire case was pushed back to October 8, for
the next conference.
The case is US v. Rodriguez, 20-cr-301 (Castel)
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 10 – Justin Sanjurjo was
arrested in The Bronx on June 1 with a gun.
Since he had a prior felony conviction, the case
was Federalized.
On July 10 he appeared, from the Metropolitan
Correctional Center, before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge
Edgardo Ramos. Inner City Press covered
it.
While
this initial conference was in some ways routine
- discovery was described, including a seized
cell phone - in the interstices of the
proceeding the current state of play in criminal
cases in the SDNY was illuminated.
The
Assistant US Attorney said that at first the
Office only asked those AUSAs who live within
walking distance of One Saint Andrews Plaza to
come in on a volunteer basis.
The
Federal Defender on the case said that his
office is still closed, with David Patton saying
thing will only re-open in late August or early
September, and then only in shifts.
Judge
Ramos asked about speaking with inmates.
The
Federal Defender said there is a daily window
for calls, usually between 1 and 3:30 pm, thirty
minutes per call. It was said that sometimes the
calls are abruptly ended.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 29 – After New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an Executive Order
suspending some eviction cases, Westchester
County based landlord Elmsforth Apartment
Associates, LLC filed a Constitutional lawsuit
in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
Some
time later they sought a Temporary Restraining
Order.
The
case was assigned to SDNY Chief Judge Colleen
McMahon who held a proceeding on June 5. Inner
City Press covered it, see below.
On June 24 Chief Judge
McMahon held an oral argument,
at which the First Amendment
played an unexpectedly large
role. Plaintiff's counsel Mark
A. Guterman said he is more of
a landlord - tenant lawyer.
Judge McMahon replied that in
the past she had been such a
lawyer, albeit in the
commercial context, and got to
know the metropolis. She said,
if you represent a landlord
and he or she has a
Constitutional claim, you
pursue it.
Judge McMahon peppered
Guterman with questions, about
being able to recoup past
rent, about security deposits,
about limiting his arguments
to the Governor's executive
order, not decisions of the
NYS courts. Ultimately she
asked both sides for letter
briefs on the First Amendment
issues. Inner City Press will
continue to cover this case.
Back
on June 5 Chief Judge McMahon started by saying
she would not be issuing a Temporary
Restraining Order, asks why the landlords waited
4 weeks. Judge McMahon suggested
converting the motion for a TRO into a motion
for summary judgment.
And
now on June 29, Judge McMahon's ruling starting:
"At issue here is the Governor’s Executive Order
202.28, “Continuing Temporary Suspension and
Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster
Emergency,” issued May 7, 2020 (the “Order” or
“EO 202.28”)... Three residential landlords –
Plaintiffs Elmsford Apartment Associates, LLC;
36 Apartment Associates, LLC; and 66 Apartment
Associates, J.V. (“Plaintiffs”) – ask this Court
to enjoin EO 202.28 on the grounds that the
Order violates their rights under the US
Constitution’s Contracts Clause, Takings Clause,
Due Process Clause and Petition Clause.
While the Plaintiffs initially sought only a
temporary restraining order and preliminary
injunction, the parties agreed that Plaintiffs’
challenge turns entirely on legal issues that
required no discovery and could be resolved on
cross-motions for summary judgment. After an
expedited briefing schedule, the Court heard
oral argument via telephone conference on June
24, 2020. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’
motion for summary judgment is denied, and
Defendant’s motion for summary judgment
dismissing this action is granted."
The case is Elmsford Apartment Associates, LLC et al. v. Cuomo, 20-cv-4062 (McMahon).
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 26 – Edward Rosado was standing
in front of a Footlocker on Fordham Road in The
Bronx when he was grabbed by the throat by an
officer of the NYPD and arrested. The Bronx DA
declined to prosecute.
Jump
cut to June 26 when U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Ronnie
Abrams held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Abrams granted the defendants summary
judgment on municipal liability / qualified
immunity and false arrest - but not on excessive
force.
Whereupon
Rosado's lawyer said it was time to go to a
jury, given he said the "George Floyd jury
effect."
He
also said he might ask for reconsideration on
the judicially created doctrine of qualified
immunity - he cited Clarence Thomas.
Judge
Abrams said the issue is settled in the Second
Circuit, perhaps one for appeal but not one to
further delay trial in this matter.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 18 – The Bronx housing
development Parkchester has a Department of
Public Safety and it is settling a class action
about not paying overtime. But one of the
workers appeared to oppose it - then asked to
not be named.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge John G. Koeltl to his credit
suggested that the settlement order should not
pay tribute to the class action lawyers, who are
in line for one third of the settlement, some
$234,000. When asked how much a class member
gets, there was no answer.
The
objector, after being rebuffed, asked to not be
named in the order.
"She
doesn't need the publicity," her lawyer said.
But
she has another public case against Parkchester,
"ANNAMARIE HOLZKNECHT, Plaintiff, v. PARKCHESTER
PRESERVATION MANAGEMENT LLC et al., Defendants.
No. 19-cv-6006 (JGK)," here.
And that and this case were public: Inner
City Press was as always reporting on public
proceedings.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 17 – At 1:40 pm back on January
13, 2019 at Tinton Avenue and East 166th Street
in The Bronx, there was a shoot-out recorded by
an NYPD Shot Spotter device.
Eric
Rodriguez, then under Federal supervision, went
to St. Barnabas Hospital with a gunshot wound in
the back; another man went to Lincoln Hospital.
On June 17 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Sidney H. Stein held
a proceeding in the case. Inner City Press
covered it.
Rodriguez' lawyer Andrew G. Patel said he lives
near the jail and will be able to go in with a
laptop, unlike in MCC and MDC.
Judge Stein said, It sounds like if you have to
be somewhere, the Westchester County Jail is the
place to be.
Defense
lawyer Patel replied, Other than there not being
a coffee machine, you can review discovery at
your heart's content.
Judge Stein said, Let's set a conference for
July 28, hopefully in the courthouse but we'll
just have to see. And trial September 29.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 13 – How U.S. Federal courts
have continued during the COVID-19 pandemic
looks or sounds different from the press room
than from the bench.
The
U.S. District Court for the South District of
New York has issued more written orders per week
since it went virtual than before. This is
perhaps a function of judges having more time,
ruling from their homes, or of more lawyers in
civil cases asking for decisions on the papers,
without oral arguments.
SDNY
Judge Jed S. Rakoff has mourned the inability to
see and send visual signals to the lawyers
making oral arguments before him, and the cases
in which lawyers forego oral argument by phone.
Things sound different from the press room and
this is the beginning of that story.
Inner City Press has been covering or listening
in on up to 16 proceedings a day, sometimes
three at a time, from the PACER terminal in the
SDNY Press Room since mid-March. At first it was
mostly emergency motions for compassionate
release or release on bond to escape the spread
of COVID-19 in the prisons.
Each
prison has a difference record: the MCC just
across Pearl Street, the MDC in Brooklyn already
famous for its lack of heat, and the
cooperators' GEO private prison in Queens, here
and picked-up here.
Then
there are the state facilities used by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, like those in
Valhalla in Westchester County and the Newark's
Essex Country Correctional Facility where, Inner
City Press reported,
visiting lawyers were made to use a shared oral
thermometer to be checked. Further north there's
the Auburn Correction Facility where Judge
Katherine Polk Failla to her credit has inquired
into the lack of a DVD player for an inmate to
review video of alleged abuse by law
enforcement.
Soon, though, civil litigation started back up.
Some were as mundate or telling as cases against
restaurants closed down by COVID, some never to
reopen and those losing jurisdiction. Others
were habeus and immigration petitions, with
detainees being sent back to countries with less
known COVID conditions.
Inmates' medical conditions, for obvious
reasons, are often redacted in the public PACER
docket. But there seems to be an increase in
unilateral requests to withhold whole filings
and issues, some overturned when challenged by
the Press, some upheld.
Subpoenas
about North Korea's United Nations Mission's
e-mail account, originally "ex parte and in
camera," where ordered unsealed by SDNY Judge P.
Kevin Castel when Inner City Press requested.
But information on CJA lawyer Lisa Scholari's
conflict of interest with regarding to a Takashi
#6ix9ine co-defendant was, for now, been
entirely withheld,
while another perhaps related "sealed
proceeding" was held.
To
their credit, SDNY Judges Ronnie Abrams in 40
Foley Square for the sentencing
of "meth
warlord" and wanna-be Bitcoin
miner Paul Leroux and from the White Plains
Federal Courthouse Judge Cathy Seibel in a racketeering
case have sua sponte suggested that
filings should be unredacted.
As with Judge Rakoff's run in with an unmuted
listener who opined, "This is so boring,"
live-tweeted by Inner City Press and then
reported elsewhere, there have been hiccups.
There
was the supervisee who mid-rant asked, "Berman,
you sound differen than usual, is that you?"
This drew a typically good-natured response from
SDNY Judge Richard H. Berman.
There
was the Bronx immigration attorney who talked
over SDNY Judge William H. Pauley III to say
that she could not or would not submit a brief
on the schedule he suggested. (Judge Pauley has
been telling a joke about lawyers resisting
agreeing to briefing schedules by saying their
electronics had been taken by the Court Security
Officers downstairs, an excuse not available
from home. As an aside, starting June 15 those
phones will be taken in single-use
plastic bags).
Some judges and their deputies make a point of
asking, Who is on the line? This led, in at
least some proceeding listed as open to the
public, to Inner City Press being asked to "bow
out," by SNDY Magistrate Judge Robert W.
Lehrburger, still unexplained.
District
Judge Gregory H. Woods makes a point of a
saying, I am not monitoring who is on this call,
it is up to the lawyers to understand that this
is an open proceeding.
Some lawyers still don't understand, or
pretend that they don't, including one who wrote
to an SDNY judge complaining about Press
coverage of their own discussion, in "open
court," of settlement numbers. While litigants
can and somtimes due threaten each other with
sanctions for frivolous threats, the media has
less recourse and such threats or even filings
could lead to self-censorship or simply not
calling in.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon, as she does when in
her courtroom, makes a point of welcoming family
members to a sentencing, even if only over the
phone.
But
on the CourtCall platform, they cannot thank her
back. Some judges has taken to Skype for
Business, sometimes without listing the call-in
number for the press and public, at least not on
PACER.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield schedules back to back
status conferences in civil cases, and moves
from one to the other with aplomb. Other judges
use a single AT&T toll free line such that
lawyers from the next case sign or beep into the
last one, and hear what is going on.
Covering
Magistrates Court presentments as more hit and
miss than in person. Inner City Press cannot
simple go to Courtroom 5A and sit in the back,
trading stories about The Bronx as one charge of
plea follow another under a just-detained
defendant is brought out.
There
seems to be no way to know when the CourtCall
line is in use. The press officer of the U.S.
Attorney for the EDNY announces many of these
presentment, not only in the Molotov
cocktail cases that went to the Second
Circuit but even more day to day crimes.
His SDNY counterparts sometimes mention
presentments only after they have
happened.
As
some of these proceedings go back to being in
person, what will change, and what will remain?
Big picture, Judge Alison J. Nathan's rulings to
move and cleanse
courtrooms and then allowing for a virtual juror
may be a harbinger, although the Iranian
banker's guilty verdict it resulted in has been
walked away from amid controversy by the U.S.
Attorney for Brady
violations.
Inner
City Press hopes that, given public areas in
courtrooms reduced by social distancing
remodeling and rules, call-in lines remain
including for trials. (One difficulty, as
opposed to the very few trials with in-house
live-feeds, will be knowing who is speaking).
Judge Rakoff is right that forgoing oral
arguments is a loss, not only for judge who want
to ask questions but also journalists who want
to report them to the public.
One
innovation is forthcoming from the Central
District of California: a deposition, albeit in
the criminal case against Michael Avenati, made
available live by phone to the public and press.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 10 – Bronxite Iris Inoa
was sued by Midland Funding of Delaware, LCC,
which was represented by Pressley, Felt &
Warshaw, LLP, which then entered judgment in
2009.
The
problem was, Inoa never knew about it. On June
10, 2020, U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl had a
proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
Inoa
said she "does remember having credit card
problems in 2005... She learned of the restaint
form an email from Chase. The amount restrained,
$22,496.08, was more money that she had seen in
her life."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Soundcloud
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, June 5 – Amid protests about
the murder of George Floyd, late on May 30 the
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New
York got a complaint signed by Magistrate
Judge Sanket J. Bulsara about a Molotov cocktail
attack on an NYPD vehicle. Inner City Press,
which covered the protested in Foley Square and
at One Police Plaza on May 29 (video here
and edited here),
and aftermath
on Fifth Avenue on May
30, publishes the complaint (later-written
song on Soundcloud).
On
June 5 the
Second Circuit
Court of Appeals heard
the
government's
appeal of the
release of
Mattis and
Rahman. Inner
City Press
live tweeted
it, here,
and noted even
that
that the
forthcoming decision
might turn on
EDNY District
Judge Brodie's
failure to
mention the
applicable
presumption.
Now
after 5 pm on
June 5, this
remand: "The
Government
moves for a
stay, pending
appeal, of the
district
court’s order
releasing
Defendants-Appellees
on bond,
subject to
conditions
including home
detention and
electronic
monitoring. It
is hereby
ORDERED that
the stay
motion is
GRANTED.
Whether to
grant a stay
is “an
exercise of
judicial
discretion”
that requires
consideration
of the
relevant
factors,
including,
most
critically,
the likelihood
of success on
the merits and
irreparable
harm to the
movant absent
a stay. Nken
v. Holder, 556
U.S. 418,
433–34 (2009)
(quoting
Virginian Ry.
Co. v. United
States, 272
U.S. 658, 672
(1926)). The
United States
Marshals are
directed to
take
Defendants
into custody
forthwith.
Defendants
shall be
detained
pending
further order
of this Court.
It is further
ORDERED that
the appeal
shall be
expedited. The
Government
shall file its
opening brief
no later than
11:59pm on
June 10, 2020;
Defendants-Appellees
shall file
their
responsive
briefs no
later than
11:59pm on
June 16, 2020;
and the
Government
shall file any
reply brief no
2 later than
11:59pm on
June 18, 2020.
The Clerk is
directed to
calendar the
appeal with
the first
available
panel
thereafter."
Full order on
Patreon here.
Watch
this site.
On the
afternoon of June
1, the defendants
were presented
before EDNY
Magistrate
Judge Steven
M. Gold."
Inner City
Press covered and live
tweeted it, here.
Samantha
Shader did not
seek bail, and
is detained. Both Rahman
and Mattis
were ordered
released on
$250,000 bond
- but the US
Attorney
sought and got
a stay of
release,
pending appeal
to the Part 1
Judge,
District Judge
Margo K.
Brodie.
Inner City
Press live tweeted
that
proceeding at
as well,
here. Judge
Brodie upheld
Magistrist
Judge Gold's
order of
release. At the
end, she denied
Assistant
US Attorney
Ian
Richardson's
request for a
24 hour stay
in order to
confer with
the Solicitor
General for an
appeal to the
Second Circuit
Court
of Appeals.
It was
confirmed that
the "U.S.
Attorney’s
Office intends
to appeal
Judge Brodie’s
decision to
the Second
Circuit," per
Office's
Public
Information
Officer John
Marzulli.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Soundcloud
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, May 30 – Amid protests about the murder of George Floyd, late on May 30 the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York got a complaint signed by Magistrate Judge Sanket J. Bulsara about a Molotov cocktail attack on any NYPD vehicle. Inner City Press, which covered the protested in Foley Square and at One Police Plaza on May 29 (video here and edited here), and aftermath on Fifth Avenue on May 30, publishes the complaint (later-written song on Soundcloud).
"ELAINE
SILADI, being duly sworn, deposes and states
that she is a Special Agent with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, duly appointed
according to law and acting as such.
Causing Damage by Fire and Explosives – Police
Vehicle On or about May 30, 2020, within
the Eastern District of New York, the
defendant SAMANTHA SHADER did knowingly,
intentionally and maliciously damage, and
attempt to damage and destroy, by means of fire
and one or more explosives, a vehicle and
other real property used in interstate and
foreign commerce and in an activity
affecting interstate and foreign commerce,
to wit: a New York City Police Department
vehicle in Brooklyn, New York.
(Title 18, United States Code, Section
844(i)) 2 The source of your
deponent’s information and the grounds for her
belief are as follows:
On or about May 30, 2020 at approximately 1:12
a.m., an individual, later identified as
the defendant SAMANTHA SHADER, approached a New
York City Police Department (“NYPD”)
vehicle parked in the vicinity of Eastern
Parkway and Washington Avenue in Crown
Heights, Brooklyn. A video provided to law
enforcement from a witness captured the
events.
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian
UK - Honduras - The
Source
NYC
COURTHOUSES, May 25 – The filing of
lawsuit was re-opened after the Coronavirus shut
down on May 25 - Memorial Day - and in the first
four hours here was the scorecard in the five
boroughs of New York City, as compiled by Inner
City Press:
Manhattan: 29
lawsuits; Bronx: 24 suits; Queens: eight new
cases; Staten Island: two suits; and the leader,
Brooklyn, with 44 new cases.
On May
22, NYS Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K.
Marks announced in a memo: "This expanded use of
NYSCEF will permit a significant broadening of
civil litigation in a manner that continues to
ensure the highest measure of health and safety
to judges, court personnel, and the public."
Inner
City Press will be covering these, and the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York it is based in.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 15 – In a challenge in the Bronx
- Queens Congressional District represented
by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Scherie
Murray sued the New York State Board of
Elections for cutting the time to gather
signatures to appear on the ballot.
On
May 15 U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil
held a hearing. Inner City Press covered
it.
Judge
Vyskocil asked New York State's lawyer, Do you
agree that the Constitutional issues could not
have been raised in the state court
proceeding? The NYS lawyer
said no, and cited a Second Circuit case, "on res
judicada grounds."
Judge Vyskocil continued, She's saying her right
to be on the ballot has been burdened... They
are asking me to direct that she be included on
the ballot.
Another defense lawyer said, I don't think
there's any basis for that, when they collected
zero valid signatures here. Given the COVID
pandemic, the signature requirement was
changed.
Judge Vyskocil asked, Why not just eliminate the
need for wet signatures?
The defense lawyer replied, The Executive Order
was in March, I don't know if electronic
signatures were available then... They sat on
their rights. The claim is barred - he cited a
Discover Bank case from 2009 about when cases
can't be removed from state court.
Next Judge Vyskocil was told how difficult it
would be to include Murray on the ballot, that
testing will begin May 18. "We have to test the
ballot scanners, for this district, in the Bronx
and Queens, 10 or 15 sites."
Murray's lawyer said, We did not raise any
Constitutional issue in our complaint, only in
our memo of law, to let the state court know we
were going to go Federal.... The decision wasn't
based on the subscribing witness being of
another party.
Judge Vyskocil said, I am going to rule now.
Long standing principles of preclusion may be at
issue in this case. But that's for another
day... The government's minimizing contact, by
shortening time for collecting signatures, was
reasonable, and narrowly tailored. All of her
signatures were invalidated for reasons upheld
by Justice Carter in the state court proceeding.
The Court also observes that the timing of this
application belies any claim of urgency, needed
for a TRO. So the motion for a TRO is denied.
We'll follow this with a written ruling. If
anyone orders the transcript, please file it on
the docket.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 5– Hafeez Shaheed was
driving on Boston Road in The Bronx on December
12, 2015 when he was pulled over by police.
He
was ordered out of his car, was tightly
handcuffed and taken into detention in the 47th
Police Precinct. He was denied medical
treatment. The criminal court summons filed
against him was dismissed and sealed on February
10, 2016.
In 2017, Hafeez Saheed sued the City of New York
and the police officers.
On
May 5, 2020, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Katherine
Polk Failla in a public telephone conference
which Inner City Press covered as it does others
asked Hafeez Shaheed if he would be willing to
settle for less than $100,000.
Yes, he said.
Judge
Failla asked, Less than $50,000?
Hafeez Saheed said No.
Melissa Wachs of the NYC Law Department,
representing the City and Officers Kevin Kenny,
Ou Wu and William Nakelski, said she did not
have authority to go above or to $50,000.
And so a tentative jury trial date of December
7, 2020 was set. Judge Failla genially said she
has already had to postpone a June jury trial,
so even December is not entirely sure.
Hafeez Saheed indicated he would like to amend
his complaint, that "NYLAG" told him he could
ask the Judge later do to it. That is not so
clear, after his complaint survived summary
judgment.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 1 – Shawn Olszewski sought
compassionate release from the Metropolitan
Correctional Center on May 1 citing COVID-19 and
his thyroid, before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge William H.
Pauley III. Inner City Press covered it.
The defense lawyer says she'd heard that MCC
"just some new tests."
Judge Pauley asked, Why is your client
particularly at risk, more than others, from
COVID-19?
The defense lawyer replied, If his thyroid
medicines not functioning. And some healthy
people suffer bad bouts and die... All 26 people
in his unit share a single toilet, a single
urinal and a single sink. The temperature checks
have stopped. Staff work 12 hours shifts because
others are out sick. I could not visit
him.
Judge Pauley asked, You can avail yourself of
video or audio calls by signing up, no?
The defense lawyer said, I heard today they are
finally making video calls available.
Judge Pauley asked, Has the Warden responded to
your compassionate release response?
The defense lawyer answered, No, not that I'm
aware of.
Assistant US Attorney Sidhardha Kamaraju said,
The defendant does not have any unique medical
situation with respect to COVID-19. The statute
requires extraordinary and compelling reasons.
The MCC has begun to implement procedures.
AUSA Kamarathu zeroed in on the defendant and
applicant: He's back in MCC because he fled from
the residential re-entry center. The motion
should be denied.
Judge Pauley asked, Hasn't he served 46 of 48
months? So why is his release date in March
2021?
A second AUSA, Justin Rodriguez, answered: I'm
not sure he's served 46 months.
The defense lawyer said, Because he fled, he
lost credit for the RDAP program.
Judge
Pauley continued, Didn't he pick up another
charge in Ilinois? The defense
lawyer acknowledged, Yes, that did happen. He's
made strides... We have a facility 50% over
capacity. We need to decarcerate.
Judge Pauley said, I'm going to have to think
about this. I'm reserving decision. I'm asking
the government to ensure blood testing for his
thyroid condition, if BOP deems appropriate, and
to report on Tuesday.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 18 – Amid the
Coronavirus pandemic, and as first reported
by Inner City Press prior to promulgation, a
procotol for video conferencing with New York
prisons of the MCC, the MDC in Brooklyn and the
GEO / cooperators' private prison in Queens has
emerged.
It does not
yet provide for press and public access to
video feeds of court proceedings under the CARES
Act. Inner City Press is publishing it here:
"all
three facilities shall establish dedicated hours
to allow court appearances by telephone and
video capability (hereinafter referred to as
“videophone”).
It
is understood that both MCC and MDC are
currently working to increase videophone
capability, but that access to inmates is needed
immediately. Therefore, this protocol sets
forth for each facility one plan to begin
immediately, and another plan to begin once the
videophone equipment is expanded.
a.
In the MDC: MDC shall accommodate up to
three one-hour court appearances in the morning
and at least six half-hour attorney calls or
calls with Pretrial or Probation in the
afternoon and evening per floor. Prior to
the expansion of videophone capability, between
the hours of 9 AM and 12 noon Monday through
Friday one telephone per floor of MDC shall be
dedicated for inmates to appear in court
proceedings. Between the hours of 1 PM and 3:30
PM, two telephones per floor will be used for
Probation and Pretrial interviews and for
attorney calls. After the expansion of
videophone capability, each of the floors will
be equipped with videophone equipment, which
will be used for the court appearances and
non-court calls, as discussed above. The
MDC will ensure that the female inmates, who are
housed in a separate building, either have a
dedicated videophone or can be regularly brought
to elsewhere in the institution for court
proceedings and non-court calls. Inmates
in the SHU will have the telephone brought to
their cells, or they will be brought to the SHU
videoconferencing room, for court proceedings
and for non-court calls.
b.
In the MCC: Prior to the expansion of
videophone capability, the telephone in the unit
manager’s office in each unit shall be dedicated
for inmates to participate in three one
hour court proceedings in the morning and up to
four half-hour attorney calls and
Probation and Pretrial interviews in the
afternoon between 1 PM and 3:30 PM. There
is a unit manager’s office equipped with a
telephone inside each of the ten housing units
at MCC. After the expansion of videophone
capability, eight of the units that have a
social visiting room attached to them (which is
all of the units except Unit 3, which is
currently housing inmates in isolation, and the
women’s unit) shall receive a videophone that
will be used for court proceedings during the
morning and for Probation and Pretrial
interviews and attorney calls in the
afternoon. MCC shall accommodate up to
three one-hour court appearances in the morning
in each room and up to four half-hour attorney
calls or calls with Pretrial or Probation in the
afternoon in each room. The MCC will
either place a dedicated videophone on the
women’s unit or ensure that the female inmates
have regular access to another videophone in the
institution for court proceedings and non-court
calls. Inmates in the SHU will have a
telephone brought to their cells or be brought
to the counselor’s office so that they can
participate in court proceedings and have
scheduled non-court calls.
c.
In GEO: The GEO facility already has two
videoconferencing rooms that it can dedicate to
remote court appearances in the morning and
attorney calls and Probation and Pretrial
interviews in the afternoon. GEO is not
expecting to receive additional video conference
devices. At this time, this equipment
appears to be sufficient to meet the needs of
court and counsel, but this is subject to
further review. d. MDC, MCC, and GEO shall keep
a log that tracks all attorney calls and
Probation and Pretrial interviews, including
when the call was requested, when the call was
approved, whether the call was attempted,
whether the call connected, and the approximate
length of each call.
4.
After the expansion of videoconference
capability at the MCC and MDC, a private room on
each floor must be equipped with a telephone,
and a videophone to the maximum extent possible,
in order to connect to an AT&T Conference
Call or other Court provided conference call
number and to the Court’s Cisco Videoconference
Bridge. Assuming the technical details can
be worked out, the videophone will be used so
that court appearances can be facilitated
through CourtCall or Cisco Jabber. To the
extent possible, the court conference will be
conducted pursuant to a conference call platform
that has the ability to provide for both (i)
communication between the inmate, the inmate’s
counsel, the court, the United States Attorney,
the Defendant, and interpreter (if needed) and a
court reporter; and (ii) private “breakout
sessions” between the inmate and the inmate’s
counsel. Should the platform not have that
capability, the telephone must be used to
provide private breakout sessions between the
inmate and counsel.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightRead - Honduras
-
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 15 – Citing the
COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Gonzalez on April 15
asked U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Patherine Polk Failla
for release from the MCC jail.
His lawyers complained they can't reach him;
Judge Failla says she might tell SDNY Chief
Judge Colleen McMahon and
others. Gonzelez'
lawyers argued, "His unit is supposed to receive
one clean mop head and one shower curtain every
two weeks but this is only provided when
available... inmates do not receive disinfectant
wipes or cleaning supplies... As corrections
officers from other facilities were conducted
searches, inmates were moved. Mr. Gonzalez still
has not received his property from his prior
bunk, including clothing, food and a
radio."
Peter
Gonzalez' lawyer said his client has since
Saturday lost his sense of taste and smell, said
this indicates a positive test coming. He
offered to have his father pick him up from MCC
in a car, with gloves, and do all grocery
shopping for him.
The defense lawyer complained that for all the
MCC inmates who want to speak with their lawyers
there are only four slots a day "under his new
procedure" [that Inner City Press first reported
on, from SDNY Attorneys Lounge, here.]
Judge Failla asked, Does the statement that the
defendant has lost his sense of smell and taste
change your position on releasing him?
AUSA Jason Swergold replied, No it doesn't, your
Honor. We ask BOP to look into allegations like
this. And we are not recommending time
served.
Judge
Failla concluded: the Pre-Sentencing Report
gives me concern about safety of the community.
He kept up with the Taylor Crew despite earlier
interactions with law enforcement. In Paragraph
51, another shooting incident. I am denying the
request for bail. That said, later this morning
I'll write to Nicole McFarland at the MCC, about
medical care and access to counsel.
Gonzalez' lawyer asked, If further loss of taste
and smell, can I come back to you?
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon and song
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 7 – Edwin Alamo, a 25-year old
Bronxite with asthma incarcerated in lower
Manhattan in the Metropolitan Correctional
Center amid the Coronavirus pandemic, had an
hour-long bail hearing on April 7 before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge Richard M. Berman.
Alamo could not easily have been before a more
sympathetic judge. After one of his relatives
described Alamo trying to get treatment for
asthma at Einstein Hospital in The Bronx in
February 2019, Judge Berman called the whole
situation heartbreaking and tragic.
But unlike for example cooperator Daniel
Hernandez a/k/a Tekashi #6ix9ine, also with
asthma, and unlike convicted OneCoin money
launderer Mark Scott, Edwin Alamo was not
released.
After Assistant US Attorney Daniel Wolf
questioned the relative about the walk-up
apartment building in which Alamo would be
staying, and his failure to fill his
prescription for an asthma pump (the relative
said he has not health insurance), the legal
standard was not met.
Judge
Berman found both that Alamo if released would
present a danger to the community, and a risk of
flight given the amount of time he faces on drug
courier and other charges. Recidivism
also, in fairness, was an issue, perhaps the
dispostive one.
***
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 3 – Michael Smith was arrested
on February 6 on charged of robbing a Bronx
barbershop on New Years Eve. He has been in the
Metropolitan Correctional Center
since.
Now
amid the Coronavirus pandemic he has been
identified as an at-risk inmate, due to asthma,
and on April 3 his request for release was heard
by U.S. District Court for the Southern District
of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
Judge
Rakoff said this was his eight bail hearing
since the Coronavirus problem arose. Inner City
Press, the only media to cover this one, has
previous noted Judge Rakoff's amenability to
releasing defendant said to be flight risks, but
not dangers to the community.
Here,
with the armed robbery charge, Judge Rakoff said
he could either deny the application or allow
time for more argument, this coming Wednesday
after what he called an all day hearing on
Tuesday.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 24 -- Even amid the
Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis, on March 17 Inner
City Press reported
that for a large Bronx gang "take-down" the
Magistrates Court was being moved in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York, to a large courtroom on the 24th
floor.
The move
came after complaints about group arraignments
by defense lawyers, and calls for social
distancing. Inner City Press covered seven
proceedings in Courtroom 24B on March 17, on narcotics,
immigration
and "hoaxes."
On March
24, co-defendant Edgardo Baranco through counsel
applied for and received release, albeit on
conditions including no use of social media or
the Internet. AUSA Andrew K. Chan opposed the
release, but without success. The case is headed
to SDNY District Judge Jesse Furman on May 4. It
is US v. Arguedas, et al., 20-cr-135 (Furman).
Back on
the afternoon of March 18, from the US
Attorney's Office Press Office, the other shoe
dropped, see below. And on March 20 another
defendant was brought in, on drugs and gun
charges: Davonte Brown.
Assistant US Attorney Andrew K. Chan said, "The
government seeks detention." He attributed a gun
in a car Brown was stopped in to Brown, and
emphasized that Brown had posted on social media
the names of co-defendants in the case.
Defense
lawyer Sabrina Shroff, representing Brown in the
proceeding, said that while she doubt if Brown
was reading the US Attorney's Office press
release, he might have been reading "Inner
City Press reporting who was detained an who was
released."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 20 -- Even amid the
Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis, on March 17 Inner
City Press reported
that for a large Bronx gang "take-down" the
Magistrates Court was being moved in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York, to a large courtroom on the 24th
floor.
The move
came after complaints about group arraignments
by defense lawyers, and calls for social
distancing. Inner City Press covered seven
proceedings in Courtroom 24B on March 17, on narcotics,
immigration
and "hoaxes."
On the
afternoon of March 18, from the US Attorney's
Office Press Office, the other shoe dropped, see
below. And on March 20 another defendant was
brought in, on drugs and gun charges: Davonte
Brown.
Assistant US Attorney Andrew K. Chan said, "The
government seeks detention." He attributed a gun
in a car Brown was stopped in to Brown, and
emphasized that Brown had posted on social media
the names of co-defendants in the case.
Defense
lawyer Sabrina Shroff, representing Brown in the
proceeding, said that while she doubt if Brown
was reading the US Attorney's Office press
release, he might have been reading "Inner
City Press reporting who was detained an who was
released."
SDNY Chief Magistrate Judge Gabriel W.
Gorenstein, citing as he had throughout the day
the Coronavirus crisis and new Pre Trial
Services directive, offered Brown conditions of
release. These included $75,000 bond, GPS
location monitoring, and informing pre trial
services of any elevated temperatures, fevers or
sickness in the home. This is a new era and
Inner City Press will continue to cover it. This
case is US v. Brown, 20-cr-135 (Furman /
Gorenstein).
Back on
March 18 US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman came in
to watch, conferring briefly with his Assistant
US Attorney Danielle Sassoon. (Downstairs in 5A,
which US Attorney Berman also visited, his
Office's request for a stay of a Dominican
extraditee was denied by the presiding
Magistrate Judge and appealed to Part 1).
The
legal issues in 24B were not confined to group
presentments. For defendant Matthew Nieves,
Berman's AUSA proposed release on the condition
he not move back into 3063 Hull Avenue.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 6 -- A defendant named Luis
Rivera charged with shooting a man in a
nightclub in The Bronx was the last case of the
work week on Friday, March 6 before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Kevin N. Fox.
Rivera was described as brandishing and firing a
gun in the VIP room of the nigthclub, grazing
the victim's neck. The US asked for detention.
Rivera's Federal Defender countered that Rivera
works as a tow truck driver in Brooklyn, and had
five female supporters in the Mag Court gallery
where Inner City Press was the only media. She
also said that when arrested on March 4, Rivera
was beating by police officers.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 5 -- It was more than eight
years ago on January 18, 2012 that Tiffany
Guerrero was arrested near the Pelham Parkway
elevated train stop on charges of robbery.
On
February 25, 2020 she was in Manhattan Federal
court suing NYPD Officer David Revans for the
arrest, with City lawyers trying to keep
information sealed.
Inner
City Press was the only one in the gallery of
the courtroom of Judge Vernon S. Broderick of
the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
And now on March 5, Inner City Press alone
reports that this trial ended in a finding that
Guerrero did not prove her case by a
preponderance of the evidence: a single X on the
verdict sheet. This after a deliberation past 6
pm, a police officer who came without his memo
book, and a team of four representing the City.
On March 3 to 6:30 pm with Inner City Press the
only media present, the jury sent back questions
such as, who was responsible for sending the
case to the District Attorney for prosecution?
After much back and forth, Judge
Broderick sent the jury back into their room to
clarify their question. This resulted in a more
pro-defense formulation: did the officer have
any ability to stop the referral to the DA?
Inner City Press will have more on this.
Back
on February 25 when the eight jurors - six for
real and two alternates - went out, Judge
Broderick asked the four City lawyers if they
had listed the alleged victim in their discovery
productions. The City lawyers
named her, and Inner City Press heard the name.
Then they said they would redacted the
transcript to take it out, and leave only the
initials (I.T.).
They
also read out the phone numbers of
witnesses. Sergeant Richard Alvarado said
repeatedly he did not remember anything about
the incident beyond what was in his memo book,
which he did not bring to court.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 25 -- It was more than eight
years ago on January 18, 2012 that Tiffany
Guerrero was arrested near the Pelham Parkway
elevated train stop on charges of robbery.
On
February 25, 2020 she was in Manhattan Federal
court suing NYPD Officer David Revans for the
arrest, with City lawyers trying to keep
information sealed.
Inner
City Press was the only one in the gallery of
the courtroom of Judge Vernon S. Broderick of
the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
When
the eight jurors - six for real and two
alternates - went out, Judge Broderick asked the
four City lawyers if they had listed the alleged
victim in their discovery
productions. The City lawyers
named her, and Inner City Press heard the name.
Then they said they would redacted the
transcript to take it out, and leave only the
initials (I.T.).
They
also read out the phone numbers of
witnesses. Sergeant Richard Alvarado said
repeatedly he did not remember anything about
the incident beyond what was in his memo book,
which he did not bring to court.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive,
Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 22 – Racism in federal law
enforcement in the Southern District of New York
was alleged and argued on October 31, with five
defendants in shackles and Inner City Press the
only media in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Jed S.
Rakoff. Only Inner City Press reported it at
that time, here.
On December 14, 2019 another media reported on
the case, here,
amid the daily drum beat of other prosecutions
and guilty pleas untouched by this one case.
And now, typically, the collapse of the systemic
challenge and the drum-beat of guilty pleas is
hardly covered, with only Inner City Press at
two guilty pleas in the case in the past week, here
(Amaurys Hernandez) and here
(the halting plea of Angel Crispin).
Here's how the challenged died, in a February 3
Order: " JED S. RAKOFF, U.S.D.J. 19-cr-32 3 (
JSR) ORDER In an unsolicited letter dated
January 24, 2020, the defendants in the
above-captioned case, rather than submitting a
motion addressed to selective enforcement as
required by that date, instead sought further
discovery. Essentially for the reasons stated in
the Government's responsive letter, dated
January 31, 2020 (to be docketed along with this
order), the defendants' requests are denied. If
defendants still wish to file a motion based on
their claim of selective enforcement, they must
now do so by February 10, 2020, a deadline that
will not be extended for any reason. The
Government's answer to any such motion will be
due February 17, and any reply papers from the
defendants must be filed by February 20. The
Court will decide any such motion prior to the
March 2 trial date, which remains firmly in
place." Now the guilty pleas.
A serious issue was raised with little coverage
other than Inner City Press, taken up by others,
then collapsed without a word from the
proponents, back to business as usual, long
sentences. We'll have more on this.
We'll have more on this.
In
the issue and statistics in that multi-defendant
case is an asserted disparity by race in the
targeting by law enforcement in the SDNY of
reverse sting operations.
On November 5 in yet another sting operation
Robert Adriano Pena pled guilty to conspiracy to
commit Hobbs Act robbery before SDNY Judge
Edgardo Ramos. In the briefing plea allocution
there was mention of the case or issues before
Judge Rakoff. It seems Pena did not get a plea
deal, because pleading only to count 1,
conspiracy. The case is US v. Pena, 18-cr-844-1
(Ramos).
Pena's
alleged co-conspirator Jose Martinez-Rentas
already pled guilty. He then replead in light of
the Supreme Court's decision in US v. Davis. But
again, no mention of the case before Judge
Rakoff.
Is the assertion and litigation of the disparity
a windfall, potentially, for some defendants but
not others? Inner City Press will continue to
cover these cases - and these issues.
Back on October 31, Judge Rakoff asked lead
attorney Christopher Flood whether the racial
disparities he and his colleague are alleging
are, in fact, statistically significant.
Passed to Judge Rakoff via his deputy was the
declaration of Profession Crystal S. Yang
asserting "the racial composition of targeted
individuals in DEA reverse-sting stash house
cases brought in the SDNY" for the past ten
years: "46 operations targeted 179 individuals
of whom zero are White, two are Asian and 177
are Latino or Black." This is followed by
regression analysis.
Assistant US Attorney Domenic Gentile, alone at
the prosecutor's table, doggedly returned to
these particular defendants wearing face masks,
and having been recruited through the lead
defendant, Flood's client.
Judge Rakoff said it was interesting, but how
was it relevant? He committed to issuing an
order on Flood et al's discovery motion
by November 12, if only in bottom-line form, in
advance of a March 2020 trial. The other defense
attorneys on the discovery
motion include Jennifer Luo,
Michael Tremonte, John Diaz,
Stephanie Carvlin, Xavier
Donaldson, Dawn Cardi, and the
omnipresent Calvin Scholar.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Feb 10 – A Bronx based gang
racketeering conspiracy was the subject of a
sealed complaint against five defendants signed
on November 9, 2016 by Magistrate Judge Sarah J.
Netburn of the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York.
Later
the indictment grew to nine defendants - and on
February 6, 2020 opening arguments began in the
trail of three of the defendants, the last three
standing so to speak: Randy Torres, Charles
Ventura and Walston Owen, each with an a/k/a
nickname and soon to be on a Facebook.
Inner City Press was the only media in the
courtroom of SDNY Judge Victor Marrero as he
instructed the jury, first telling them he
wanted to begin at 8 am then saying it was not
possible due to another higher profile case in
the SDNY (US v. Schulte, the CIA leaks case
Inner City Press is also covering).
On
February 10 an issue arose in the trial
concerning a juror who spoke, alone, to Judge
Marrero at the end of the day. Judge Marrero
proceed to call all counsel forward for a
whispered sidebar that has yet to be explained.
Before that, defense counsel was cross examining
a cooperator named Nathaniel Rodriguez, and says
there will be a full day of same on February 11.
Meanwhile the prosecution in push for admission
of their Social Media Exhibits. Inner City Press
will stay on this.
Back
on February 6 Assistant US Attorney Jacqueline
Kelly pointed at each of the three defendants,
and described crimes including at a September
2015 "rap video shoot." Then there was a witness
from Facebook, Michele Ilich Daubas,
authenticating a defendant's Facebook page.
Inner City Press will at much as possible follow
the case, including a who's-who of the CJA bar.
The case is US v. Torres, et al., 16-cr-809
(Marrero).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 3 – Bronxite Ashanae McLaughlin
was the New York Daily News female high school
basketball player
of the year in 2014. She is or was set for
a full scholarship to Seton
Hall.
Then she was named in a federal racketeering
indictment, and counts of bank fraud and
aggravated identity theft.
On
February 3 McLaughlin was brought in by US
Marshals before US District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn.
In
the gallery along with Inner City Press as the
only media was McLaughlin's mother, to whom
Judge Netburn spoke during the
proceeding. Assistant US Attorney
Justin Rodriguez asked that the Soundview area
of The Bronx be declared an "exclusion zone" as
a condition of McLaughlin being released. But
her mother and grandmother live there.
Judge
Netburn declined to impose the condition, but
asked the mother to try to arrange to meet her
daughter outside of the area.
Judge Netburn told McLaughlin she might be
eligible for the SDNY Young Adult Opportunity
Program she co-runs with District Judge Ronnie
Abrams, and that Inner City Press has previously
covered, here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 3 – Shelly Washington, a 26-year
old mother of three charged with an armed
car-jacking in The Bronx, was brought in
shackles into the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Magistrates Court
on January 31. She was the last case of the day,
and Inner City Press was the only media
present.
Assistant
US Attorney David Robles said that she should be
detained, that surveillance video showed the car
jacking and that her co-conspirator is still at
liberty.
Federal
Defender Julia Gatto emphasized that her client
does not appear on the surveillance video, which
covered only the driver's seat. She said
Washington lives in Far Rockaway with her mother
who has legal custody, by the family's choice,
over her three children. Washington "does hair"
in their residence, and would consent to home
detention.
Magistrate Judge James L. Cott
retired to his robing room to confer with Pre
Trial Services. He emerged some 15 minutes later
to ask about the children's custody arrangement,
then took a shorter recess.
When
he returned, Judge Cott said he is sympathetic
to any mother of three, and is not prejudging
the merits of the prosecution. But he could not
see a set of conditions on which Washington
could be released.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 22 – Christopher Montanez
has been detained pending trial on charges of
brandishing a gun to rob a bank at 706 Allerton
Avenue in the Bronx on January 21. But there is
more to the story. The complaint on
which Montanez is detained alleged that on
January 16, Montanez "displayed a firearm in his
waistband" to rob a cell phone store at 738
Allerton Avenue of $300.
The NYPD put up a flier, and then Confidential
Source-1 contacted them and said that the person
in the flier had been arrest approximately one
year ago "after his participation in a fight at
a bodega on Allerton Avenue."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 10 – Orlando Mercado, charged
with providing a pistol to another man named
Gonzalez who shot at the owner of a parking lot
in the Bronx where the duo allegedly sold drugs,
argued for bail on January 10 before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Magistrate Judge Barbra Freeman.
It was a presumption case, given the charge of
weapons in connection with drugs. But Mercado's
assigned Criminal Justice Act panel lawyer
Sabrina Shroff argued that Mercado is a drug
addict and should be bailed to a residential
drug program.
Shroff
also contested the strength of the evidence,
stating that one of the witnesses is a
cooperator and that the pistol at issue was a
b.b. gun.
When Assistant US Attorney Domenic Gentile
replied that Mercado had been breaking into cars
in his Bronx neighborhood to steal things to
sell to feed his drug habit, Judge Freeman asked
it might not be that he broken into cars to
sleep in them.
For
a moment it looked like Mercado might be bailed
out. But ultimately Judge Freeman said she had
no idea where Mercado would live, if he would
return to court and that he was not, in fact, a
danger to the community.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 8 – A car owned by the Ivory
Coast Mission to the United Nations ran over
pedestian Donald Lewis in The Bronx on November
24, 2018. Beyond no-fault insurance, asserting
the Ivorian Mission's negigence, Lewis sued in
state court in the Bronx.
Nearly immediately, the Mission snatched the
case away from the Bronx state court and removed
it to the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York. In its notice of removal,
the Mission's lawyers wrote that "for reference,
Cote d'Ivoire is also known as the Ivory Coast,
which is a country located on the south coast of
West Africa."
They did not mention French colonialism, or
Laurent Gbagbo, or now the president installed
after him trying to stay in power, a question on
which the UN has refused to answer written
questions from Inner City Press.
The notice of removal included a letter from
Ivorian Deputy Permanent Representative Desire
G. Wulfran, that Mission staffer Diarra ADAMA
was in fact driving the car, diplomatic license
plate 0126ACD, on November 24, 2018.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 2 – In August 2017 Wilson Perez
and two others kidnapped a person they believe
tricked them about robbing a van full of drugs
in The Bronx. They pistol-whipped the person,
the gun went off and the person jumped out of
the car onto the Major Deegan Expressway.
Perez was sentenced to five years, on a
Guideline of 135 to 168 months, but like many
defendants the Supreme Court's decision in US
v. Davis put him up for re-sentencing.
This took place on January 2 before U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge Analisa Torres, with only Perez'
family and Inner City Press in the gallery.
Perez' lawyer Sarah Kunstler argued that Torres
has been working as a barber while in prison,
where he was assaulted twice breaking his jaw
and bones around his eye socket. When the power
went off in the MDC in Brooklyn, the titanium
screws in him caused extra pain.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
NYC
CRIMINAL COURT, Dec 27 – Sean Fogarty waited in
the front row of Manhattan Criminal Court
arraignments part on December 27, waiting with
his lawyer to get the deal of his life, a deal
not afforded to most defendants.
As a detective with the Yonkers Police
Department, and member of a task force executing
a warrant at 3410 Barker Avenue in The Bronx in
April 2018, Fogarty outright lied as to where he
had searched and found drugs.
The warrant covered only the first
and second floor, but Fogarty illegal searched
the third floor, and then lied that the drugs he
found were come from the floors
below.
Calvin
Powell spent five months in jail after Fogarty's
perjured grand jury testimony. He had been on
federal Supervised Release. Now he is suing.
Inner City Press, which was in the arraignment
part for Fogerty's plead-down to a misdemeanor
with no jail time, live streamed his exit from
the courtroom in the imprompty media pen set up
in the lobby, here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 19 – Defendant Ernest Horge on
December 19 said in open court that there are
stabbings in the Metropolitan Correctional
Center.
His
court appointed lawyer Matthew D. Myers
described non-functional computers to review
discovery in the MCC, requiring him to print out
nine inches of documents from a hard drive the
US Attorney's Office provided him.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
New York Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who has also
received handwritten letters from Horge's family
members and filed them in the docket after
redacting children's names, patiently asked
Horge about his medication.
But Horge had more to say. He insisted that the
gun was found in someone else's room, in someone
else's apartment.
He said the prosecutors, here represented by
AUSA Frank Balsamello, were just "using 924(c)
as a bargaining tool." He said everybody loves
him, he has a great sense of humor. He rhymed
Prosecutors lying and kids crying, and called
the whole situation a "Star Spangled Banner
blueprint for genocide."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 11 – On the second
day of 2014 in The Bronx, New York Shaquille
Malcolm was repeatedly shot and killed in a
building in the Allerton section.
In
arraignments that followed, Inner City Press reported
that the death penalty was on the table,
including as to a co-defendant who has since
pled guilty to a superseding indictment,
Gyancarlos Espinal.
On
December 4 the two remaining co-defendants Arius
Hopkins and Theryn Jones a/k/a Old Man Ty were
on trial before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A.
Kaplan.
On December 11
the trial culminated with
Arius Hopkins taking the
witness stand to testify on
his own behalf.
He
was cross examined by Assistant US Attorney
Danielle Sassoon, with other AUSAs and US
Attorney Geoffrey Berman himself in the gallery
along with, as the only media, Inner City Press.
(The US Attorney's Office has thrice declined
Inner City Press' request they make available
their admitted exhibits for this trial and for
the OneCoin trial, still withheld).
AUSA Sassoon hammered away at Arius a/k/a
Scrappy: doesn't his gang have rules?
He
asked, like what kind of rules?
Does it have rules, yes or no?
Not
necessarily.
Judge Kaplan admonished Hopkins, but it's his
life, and if he is found guilty, it will be his
sentence.
After the cross examination, in the hall Inner
City Press remarked to US Attorney Berman on
Sassoon's appellate argument earlier in the day,
which it also covered,
defending one of Judge Kaplan's sentencings, in
a brothel finance case.
"Ten
a.m.," he said, clearly aware.
Inner City Press waited for the next elevator. On December 12 the government may or may not put on a final rebuttal witness. Then the closings, no jury on Friday - and then, one imagines, a verdict. Inner City Press will request notice, and report on it. Watch this site.
On December 10 the lawyer for Arius Hopkins
a/k/a Scrappy wrote to Judge Kaplan why his
Instagram expert should be allowed, despite or
because of Facebook refusing to even answer
about it customer: "I write to provide an offer
of proof regarding testimony about Instagram.
The proof is that Arius Hopkins held himself out
and/or was known as a MacBalla before the murder
of Shaquille Malcolm. This proof refutes the
government’s contention (advanced through
witness testimony) that Ty Jones made Hopkins a
MacBalla as a reward for the killing of Malcolm.
It is therefore relevant under FRE 401. The
testimony is also admissible under FREs 701 and
702. If Justin Cuomo the witness discussed in
court today testifies, he will say that he is a
senior analyst at John Cutter Investigations
Inc. (“Cutter),” a licensed private
investigations company bonded in New York and
elsewhere. Part of the investigatory work of
Cutter is searching and analyzing communications
and posts on social media and the use and
operation of different platforms, including
Instagram. Mr. Cuomo was taken seminars on
social media, including Instagram, and has
conducted research about Instagram’s operation
and functionality. He is also an Instagram user
and has been so for the past seven years. He
thus has practical knowledge about how it works.
Notably, Hopkins opened his Instagram account on
7/28/2013, less than seven years ago. See AH DX
P (subscriber information about Hopkins’ account
provided by the government in discovery). Mr.
Cuomo would further state that: • “scrappyballa”
is an active Instagram account • Anyone can log
in and search the account • A post with a
photograph was made of Hopkins on 9/10/13 and
the username “scrappyballa” appears (AH DX Q) o
Under the photo it says: “scrappyballa OUT HERE
LATE NIGHT ! MACCIN WIT THA GOONS” • Associated
with the 9/10/13 post is a comment that reads:
rebeccaxmariex3 @scrappyballa uncle arius don’t
make me f*ck you up!!!!”
Under
the comment is a reference “325w”, which means
the comment was made 325 weeks ago1 Mr. Cuomo
would also testify that the reference or tag
@scrappyballa contained in the comment is a
static thing and that it was made 326 weeks ago.
It does not change, and even if the username was
changed or created after the post and comment
(which the defense does not believe to be the
case) any change is unrelated to the
@scrappyballa reference or tag in the comment,
and cannot cause the reference to or tag to
change. Consequently, as of 326 weeks ago around
the time of the posting on 9/10/13 Hopkins was
going by or being referred to as scrappyballs on
Instagram. In addition, the Instagram user
information indicating that Hopkins opened the
account on 7/28/13 (Ex. A), also suggests that
Hopkins opened the account with username
scrappyballa. .However, we have not been able to
confirm this fact through Facebook/Instagram.
Two subpoenas were served on them – returnable
12/5/19 and 12/10/19 – and Facebook/Instagram
failed to comply both times in violation of the
subpoenas. It was the expectation that in
addition to explaining the user information
document, a representative of Facebook/Instagram
could also have explained the @scrappyballa
reference or tag in the rebeccaxmariex3
comment." Inner City Press will continue to
cover this.
Earlier
on December 10, after cooperator Costello
described his non prosecution agreement for
crimes in the Courtlandt Avenue area he said
that defendant Old Man Ty (Jones) told him that
Scrappy (Hopkins) was "the young 'un that
handled that for me." The "that" being the
killing of Shaquille Malcolm.
There
were several rounds of lawyers' arguments, with
Judge Kaplan denied Article 29 motions and
recounting stories from previous trials. He
recalled a long gun being pointed at the jury
and, when he said don't point there, at him. He
quoted Judge Rifkin, When you're ahead, get out
of the courtroom.
But he was delayed by several "just one
more thing" interventions by lawyers. There were
jury notes asking why El Dorado and Fat Boy were
not subpoened and made to testify; there were
medical procedures for jurors and alternates. On
December 11 the trial doesn't start until 10:45
am, so that AUSA Sassoon can argue before the
Second Circuit, an appeal from Judge Kaplan no
less. Watch this site.
December
9 saw the testimony of the cooperator whom
shooter Alexander Melendez recruited to make a
call to police to sent them elsewhere in the
neighborhood looking for a gun. He didn't make
the call. But on March 9 he was played his jail
house call with Arius Hopkins and said because
it was recorded he spoke in "subliminals."
Later came a medical examiner, though not the
one who conducted the autopsy. The prosecution
insisted that the defense say on the record they
had waived their confrontation rights, something
they declined to do beyond noting they had not
objected to the witness. She said the wounds on
Shaquille Malcolm's forehead were most probably
gazing wounds.
A women who found Shaquille Malcolm in his
building's lobby said when she called 9-1-1 they
told her to kick the body to see if it moved.
She did not do so.
Testifying against the two defendants has been
cooperator Alexander Melendez. On December 4 he
described using a .22 to shoot and kill
Shaquille Malcolm, with orders and firepower
given by the two men with six lawyers sitting at
the defense table.
On
December 5 Arius Hopkins' lawyer Glenn A. Garber
prepared stacks of transcripts and other
documents in order to cross examine Melendez.
But to question after question, Melendez said "I
don't remember." He didn't remember what he had
said in proffer sessions.
This resulted in a Q&A straight out of
Becket:
Garber:
"You remember you said you didn't remember?"
Melendez:
"I don't remember that."
One thing Melendez did remember was what prisons
he has been in. After state prison in Elmira,
where those who allegedly ordered him to commit
murder put money in his commissary for food and
clothing and he apparently had a television set
stolen, he's been in the MCC, MDC and GEO, which
he said is in Queens.
Melendez is represented by CJA lawyer Matthew
Kluger, who has been in the gallery throughout
his testimony, sometimes behind Inner City
Press, sometimes on the other side. Judge Kaplan
asked those in the back of the courtroom not to
remonstrate; regardless, Melendez kept glancing
back at them. In the hall, some said, "That
[N-word] be lying." We'll have more on this.
And
on this: early on December 5 Inner City Press
asked the US Attorney's Office press department
to make available its exhibits in this case, and
in the completed OneCoin
/ US v. Mark Scott trial, as they have in other
Mafia, rapper and other cases. At day's end, no
exhibits, not even a response. We'll have much
more on this.
An issue is the use of a rap or hip-hop song as
evidence. Arius Hopkins' lawyer Glenn A. Garber
had asked that prospective jurors be asked if
they were familiar with "the genre of music
called gansta rap."
On
December 4, Assistant US Attorney Danielle R.
Sassoon argued that questions about the song - a
copy of which does not appear to have been
uploaded by the US Attorney's Office unlike with
GUMMO and Billy in the #6ix9ine
trial also known as US v. Jones -
should be limited.
Such songs and lyrics are also being used by the US Attorney's Office in another SDNY case Inner City Press has covered, US v. Darrell Lawrence, et al., 19-cr-761 (Oetken). It is an emerging and accelerating First (and Fifth) Amendment issue, leading Inner City Press to raise folk-type song SDNY questions.
Judge Kaplan reserved judgment on what he will allow on cross-examination. This case is US v. Jones, et al., 17-cr-791 (Kaplan).
December 9, 2019By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 5 – On the second
day of 2014 in The Bronx, New York Shaquille
Malcolm was repeatedly shot and killed in a
building in the Allerton section.
In
arraignments that followed, Inner City Press reported
that the death penalty was on the table,
including as to a co-defendant who has since
pled guilty to a superseding indictment,
Gyancarlos Espinal.
On
December 4 the two remaining co-defendants Arius
Hopkins and Theryn Jones a/k/a Old Man Ty were
on trial before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A.
Kaplan.
Testifying against them was now cooperating
co-defendant Alexander Melendez. On December 4
he described using a .22 to shoot and kill
Shaquille Malcolm, with orders and firepower
given by the two mean with six lawyers sitting
at the defense table.
On
December 5 Arius Hopkins' lawyer Glenn A. Garber
prepared stacks of transcripts and other
documents in order to cross examine Melendez.
But to question after question, Melendez said "I
don't remember." He didn't remember what he had
said in proffer sessions.
This resulted in a Q&A straight out of
Becket:
Garber:
"You remember you said you didn't remember?"
Melendez:
"I don't remember that."
One thing Melendez did remember was what prisons
he has been in. After state prison in Elmira,
where those who allegedly ordered him to commit
murder put money in his commissary for food and
clothing and he apparently had a television set
stolen, he's been in the MCC, MDC and GEO, which
he said is in Queens.
Melendez is represented by CJA lawyer Matthew
Kluger, who has been in the gallery throughout
his testimony, sometimes behind Inner City
Press, sometimes on the other side. Judge Kaplan
asked those in the back of the courtroom not to
remonstrate; regardless, Melendez kept glancing
back at them. In the hall, some said, "That
[N-word] be lying." We'll have more on this.
And
on this: early on December 5 Inner City Press
asked the US Attorney's Office press department
to make available its exhibits in this case, and
in the completed OneCoin
/ US v. Mark Scott trial, as they have in other
Mafia, rapper and other cases. At day's end, no
exhibits, not even a response. We'll have much
more on this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
The
Times (UK) Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 26 – In
December 2016 in The Bronx Edwin Romero robbed a
drug dealer who worked for a rival gang. The
leader of that gang, James Felton, came to 175th
Street and Weeks Avenue and shot Romero four
times, causing Romero to lose his right eye.
This injury, and the US Attorney's sentencing
memorandum in Felton's case
which described Romero "turn[ing] to walk away"
before Felton shot him, were raised by Romero's
defense lawyer Michael K. Bachrach at Romero's
sentencing on November 26 before U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Judge Loretta A. Preska.
The problem was, Romero in pleading guilty a
year ago to conspiracy to distribute 280 grams
or more of crack cocaine also stipulated to
having shot and killed Jose Montalvo on May 13,
2004, also on 175th Street, this at the corner
of Monroe Avenue, and to a series of crime
since.
At the sentencing Assistant US Attorney Frank J.
Balsamello describe Romero has having thrown a
loaded gun into a taxi with his then-pregnant
girlfriend, and having recruited a generation of
young men on Weeks Avenue to sell crack.
Bachbach, in a stretch, asked Judge Preska for
the 10 year minimum sentence, closing with the
concept that mitigation is not making an
excuse. Judge Preska, after
reciting Romero's crimes which led to quiet
groaning and even some tears in the courtroom
gallery where Inner City Press was the only
media, imposed a sentence of 420 months or 35
years, to be followed by five years of
supervised release. (Romero would be 72 years
old by then).
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
The
Times (UK) Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 22 – A actor with a
speaking role in the Bad Boys 2 movie with Will
Smith and Martin Lawrence was arrested for
selling crack and was presented in U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Magistrates Court past 5 pm on November 22 with
Inner City Press the only media in the
courtroom. This is an exclusive report.
The defendant is Dennis McDonald; his father who
is a maintenance supervisors at a Key Foods
supermarket in Manhattan was in the Magistrates
Court gallery along with Inner City
Press. The father's offer to
sign a $100,000 bond did not result in his
actor-son's release.
Instead,
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ordered McDonald
detained, while advising his lawyer to try to
find a 90-day drug treatment program outside of
New York City then to re-apply for bail.
The charge is of conspiracy to distribute and
possess with the intent to distribute 280 grams
and more of cocaine base a/k/a crack.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Honduras
BBC
The
Times (UK)
The
Source
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 16 – Bubacarr Camara came
to The Bronx from The Gambia, hoping to bring
his wife and son to join him. Every day he woke
up and went to work in the BNC General
Merchandise T-shirt Spot on Manhattan's Upper
West Side, on Amsterdam Avenue near 104th
Street.
Then in the middle of the day on June 18, 2015
he was shot and killed by robbers. Along with
the $279 they stole from Bubacarr Camara, they
also took the store's rudimentary video
surveillance camera. They threw the camera
and storage device, but not the money, into the
river.
Four and a half years later on November 15, 2019
a man who pled guilty to the murder of Bubacarr
Camara came up for sentencing in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York before Judge Paul G. Gardephe.
In the gallery where Inner City Press was the
only media, there were a number of Assistant US
Attorneys but no family member or friend of
Bubacarr Camara while he had been
alive. AUSA Jessica Feinstein,
signing for US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, had
a week before written to Judge Gardephe that "we
have been unsuccessful at contacting the family
members of murder victim Bubacarr Camara."
Of course, this can happen when sentencing takes
place long after the murder and also long after
the guilty plea. The government's letter gives
no indication of any attempt to reach Bubacarr's
friends or co-workers such as Dong Kun Cho, or
his many family members in The Gambia.
Why in the courtroom's gallery along with Inner
City Press were there detectives and Assistant
US Attorneys? Was it to avenge Bubacarr Camara
or avenge his distant family and still-young
son?
No.
It's that this defendant had, after the murder,
agreed to cooperate with the US Attorney's
office.
Now he was asking to be released for "time
served," and the US Attorney's office in context
supported the request in their 5K1
letter. Despite having
covered the trial in which this defendant
testified, Inner City Press is choosing here not
to publish his name.
His lawyer, whom we will also leave unnamed,
argued that he will be in danger (though not as
much, it must be noted, as Bubacarr Camara was
at midday on the Upper West Side of Manhattan).
AUSA Feinstein requested, and Judge Gardephe
granted, the sealing of the transcript of the
sentencing and most documents connected to it.
The court docket is left with an indictment,
under then US Attorney Preet Bharara, that did
not even name the victim and decedent, Bubacarr
Camara, and got the address of his place of work
and place of death wrong, listing it as 2251
Seventh Avenue, Manhattan.
While the US Sentencing Guidelines in this case
of murder called for a life sentence - plus 15
years - Judge Gardephe imposed a sentence of
seven years, which minus the 52 months to
defendant has already served while cooperating
with the government comes to 32 additional
months, or two years and eight months.
Seven years for a human life should be subject
to scrutiny and public debate; certainly the
victim's family, friends and community have a
right to know, denied to them by the sealing of
these records. It could have been worse, or more
lenient: recently a man who bribed the United
Nations, Francis Lorenzo, got time served at the
urging of SDNY prosecutors, here.
Inner City Press will have more on this. It is
also covering at least three recent trials in
which cooperating witnesses were used in
exchange for 5K1 letters and requests for time
served, starting with Daniel Hernandex a/k/a
Tekashi 6ix9ine (who the US Attorney's Office
also called a model cooperator), to be sentenced
by SDNY Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on December 18.
Inner City Press will live-tweet the proceeding
if it can.
Then there are those who took greater risk in
testifying against the brother of Honduras'
current president. One, Magdaleno, whose
notebooks were introduced at trial before SDNY
Judge P. Kevin Castel has since been
assassinated in a supposedly maximum security
prison in Honduras.
It is unclear if the SDNY US Attorney's Office
or DOJ have done anything about this
crime which is presumptively traceable to the
president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Most recently Inner City Press has been covering
the cooperation of OneCoin found Ruja Ignatova's
brother Konstantin Ignatov, part of a $4 billion
fraud. Inner City Press' coverage has been
credited by the BBC,
The
Times (UK),
Daily
Mail,
and in the crypto-currency
media.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Scope
Thread
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - Vibe,
etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Nov 7 – Video
of the car-jacking of Tekashi 6ix9ine shown as
evidence in the trial of Aljermiah "Nuke" Mack
and Anthony "Harv" Ellison which Inner City
Press put online on YouTube (here
with 83,000 views) has been subject of a
complaint, YouTube informed Inner City Press on
October 19.
And in further digging Inner City Press has
learned that at least two weeks before the
December 18 re-scheduled sentencing of 6ix9ine /
Daniel Hernandez, he is required by his plea
agreement to file amendment tax returns and to
pay or agree to pay. (This while others' plea
deals, like OneCoin's Konstantin Ignatov, are
withheld). Inner City Press will stay on these
cases.
Many legal questions are raised here. If a song
is playing when a crime is committed, on video -
as here in the car of 69's drive Jorge Rivera,
can the video be played? Or censored, even
partially or temporally - as for now seems to be
happening with sentencing that have followed the
guilty verdicts on Harv Ellison and Nuke Mack,
leading up to 6ix9ine's in December?
The
jury on October 3 returned a mixed verdict, see
below. Daniel Hernandez / Tekashi 6ix9ine who
testified for three days against them is now set
to be sentenced on December 18 at 10 am, with
the government's submission including under
Section 5K1 due on December 11 or before.
Inner City Press
tweeted the order here,
and the underlying submission
rules here.
On
October 17 co-defendant
Jamel Jones was set to
be sentenced, initially at 2:30
pm, then 9:45 am. Inner City Press
inquired into having a
live feed into the
SDNY Press Room, as
was the case for the
sentencing of Roland
Martin. But it was
not done.
At 9:45 am Jamel
Jones' family
members were in
Judge Engelmayer's
courtroom, but
not Jamel
Jones himself.
Later he was
brought in by
Marshals and
the proceeding
began. It
turned out he and his
lawyer had not
been given an
opportunity
to in writing
address what
the US
Attorney's
letter said was
shown at
trial, that
Jim Jones spoke
of "violating"
6ix9ine and
Jamel Jones
said "super
violate."
Inner
City Press tweeted,
as it did
during the
trial and the
Roland Martin
sentencing, here.
Then Judge
Engelmayer
said, Mr Smallman
tells me
someone is tweeting.
Who is it?
Inner City
Press
immediately
said, Me,
adding that
it had asked
for a live
feed into the
Press Room.
Judge Engelmayer
said that if
request
for live feed
are made they
are granted.
But it wasn't
in this
case. Inner
City Press
immediately
shut down its
phone,
power off. An
Assistant US
Attorney came
in and started
using her
phone, as has
always been
the case. She
was told to
turn it off.
Now will less
detailed
information we
report that
Judge Engelmayer
told Jamel Jones
that he,
unlike Roland
Martin, had
not renounced
Nine Trey.
That it was
too late in
life to use
lack of a
father figure
as an excuse.
(In fairness,
Judge Englemayer
later called
out the father
in the
gallery.)
Ultimately
Judge
Engelmayer
imposed a full
135 month sentence
on Jamel Jones,
more than 11 years.
While
some might not
like it
compared, many
white collar
criminals in
the SDNY are
given light or
time served sentences.
This is one of
the many reasons
that detailed,
real time
reporting of
these
sentencing
should be
encouraged,
not stopped
and penalized.
As Inner City
Press left the
courtroom, it
was asked for
its name and
business card
and was told
that an
"incident
report" will
be made. We'll
have more on
this.
More here.#Periscope outside #SDNY in #6ix9ine case Judge Engelmayer guves 135 months Jamel Jones, press freedom issues @SDNYLIVE https://t.co/Oya4nViHqg
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 17, 2019
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive,
Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 31 – Racism in federal law
enforcement in the Southern District of New York
was alleged and argued on October 31, with five
defendants in shackles and Inner City Press the
only media in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Jed S.
Rakoff.
Judge Rakoff asked lead attorney Christopher
Flood whether the racial disparities he and his
colleague are alleging are, in fact,
statistically significant.
Passed to Judge Rakoff via his deputy was the
declaration of Profession Crystal S. Yang
asserting "the racial composition of targeted
individuals in DEA reverse-sting stash house
cases brought in the SDNY" for the past ten
years: "46 operations targeted 179 individuals
of whom zero are White, two are Asian and 177
are Latino or Black." This is followed by
regression analysis.
Assistant US Attorney Domenic Gentile, alone at
the prosecutor's table, doggedly returned to
these particular defendants wearing face masks,
and having been recruited through the lead
defendant, Flood's client.
Judge Rakoff said it was interesting, but how
was it relevant? He committed to issuing an
order on Flood et al's discovery motion
by November 12, if only in bottom-line form, in
advance of a March 2020 trial. The other defense
attorneys on the discovery
motion include Jennifer Luo,
Michael Tremonte, John Diaz,
Stephanie Carvlin, Xavier
Donaldson, Dawn Cardi, and the
omnipresent Calvin Scholar.
The case is USA v. Lopez et al., 19-cr-323 (Rakoff). Inner City Press will continue to report on this case, and on these issues.
October 28, 2019By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive,
Patreon
Honduras
- The
Source - The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 25 – There was a Federal
criminal proceeding publicly listed on PACER at
2:30 pm on October 25 in the courtroom of Judge
Denise L. Cote of the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York.
Inner
City Press went to cover it - and was
immediately told to leave the courtroom. Then
the door was locked.
When US Assistant US Attorneys Maurene Comey and
Christopher Clore exited some 20 minutes later,
Inner City Press asked them if they knew the
basis for excluding the Press. Ms. Comey shook
her head.
Now some seven hours later Inner City Press can
report: Maurene Comey has only four cases before
Judge Cote. On only one of the four is
Christopher Clore her co-chair AUSA: the 20
defendant Bronx MacBallas case named from the
initial and lead defendant, US v. Xavier Holman,
18-cr-41 (Cote).
But Holman was already sentenced to 120 months.
Keenan McFarland and Sean Jones also got 120
months. Navone Dozier got 84 month. Jafari Jones
and Francisco Torres also got 84 months; Austin
Morrishow got 60 months, described in a
sentencing submission as "one of the gang's
'shooters.'" So who's left?
Not listed as "closed" are Bo Williams, 20 of
20, Deonte Morrison 15, Nathaniel Fludd 7 and
Toshnelle Foster 2, who while not sentenced has
a sentencing date in November.
Of
these, only Bo Williams does not have an
appearance by defense lawyer, although Inner
City Press on October 25 observed who his lawyer
is.
Virtually every
filing in 18-cr-41-DLC-20 from
May through September 2019 is
listed as "Sealed Document."
As
Inner City Press has explained to judges,
executive and prosecutors, it has full respect
for any legitimate sealing and / or safety
concern. But to simply order the Press out of a
Federal courtroom without given a reason does
not comply with the letter or spirit not only of
case law but of the principles behind it. More
on Patreon, here.
And
the US Attorney's Office, so solicitous to some,
has not even responded to Press requests they
put online their exhibits in US v. Michael
Jones, for example, a case where they seek 20
years against an emo rapper with bad luck with
heroin, while allowing another in suburban
Rockland County off on 27 months for the same
conduct. Watch this site.
Inner City Press had, as it exited as ordered
without asking any questions in order not to be
disruptive (or have its other access for
reporting disrupted), asked Judge Cote's
courtroom deputy what the basis of asking it to
leave, without the on the record finding that
are required by applicable Second Circuit Court
of Appeals case law, was.
The Deputy said, I'll ask the Judge if she wants
to say. But the Deputy did not re-emerge, even
after AUSA Comey left. To their credit, staff of
the Office of the District Executive when
informed arrived on the scene and, using their
key, went into the abruptly locked
courtroom.
Minutes later this explanation was given: the
proceeding involved a cooperator. The AUSA had
either not sought or had not obtained permission
from "main Justice" in Washington to request the
sealing of the courtroom.
So the Judge, a former prosecutor as others have
noted to Inner City Press - in fact, the first
woman to serve as SDNY Criminal Division Chief,
to her credit - had done it sua sponte.
She called the lawyers to a sidebar moments
after Inner City Press entered the courtroom,
then emerged from the sidebar to order the
courtroom sealed and the door locked.
Inner City Press, in-house media in the SDNY
working from front cubicle in the Press Room has
suggested, to increase transparency, that such
proceedings be sealed in advance, rather than on
an ad hoc basis when the press walks into an
open courtroom. That was an opporunity to be
heard, in advance, would be possible. It is also
advocating for more opportunities for real-time
reporting from the SDNY, as recently on the
#6ix9ine and Honduras trials and in 10 days on
OneCoin / US v. Scott. The responses
have largely been promising.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Scope
Thread
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - Vibe,
etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 19 – Video
of the car-jacking of Tekashi 6ix9ine shown as
evidence in the trial of Aljermiah "Nuke" Mack
and Anthony "Harv" Ellison which Inner City
Press put online on YouTube (here
with 83,000 views) has now been subject of a
complaint, YouTube informed Inner City Press on
October 19. Photo here.
Many legal questions are raised here. If a song
is playing when a crime is committed, on video -
as here in the car of 69's drive Jorge Rivera,
can the video be played? Or censored, even
partially or temporally - as for now seems to be
happening with sentencing that have followed the
guilty verdicts on Harv Ellison and Nuke Mack,
leading up to 6ix9ine's in December?
The
jury on October 3 returned a mixed verdict, see
below. Daniel Hernandez / Tekashi 6ix9ine who
testified for three days against them is now set
to be sentenced on December 18 at 10 am, with
the government's submission including under
Section 5K1 due on December 11 or before.
Inner City Press
tweeted the order here,
and the underlying submission
rules here.
On
October 17 co-defendant
Jamel Jones was set to
be sentenced, initially at 2:30
pm, then 9:45 am. Inner City Press
inquired into having a
live feed into the
SDNY Press Room, as
was the case for the
sentencing of Roland
Martin. But it was
not done.
At 9:45 am Jamel
Jones' family
members were in
Judge Engelmayer's
courtroom, but
not Jamel
Jones himself.
Later he was
brought in by
Marshals and
the proceeding
began. It
turned out he and his
lawyer had not
been given an
opportunity
to in writing
address what
the US
Attorney's
letter said was
shown at
trial, that
Jim Jones spoke
of "violating"
6ix9ine and
Jamel Jones
said "super
violate."
Inner
City Press tweeted,
as it did
during the
trial and the
Roland Martin
sentencing, here.
Then Judge
Engelmayer
said, Mr Smallman
tells me
someone is tweeting.
Who is it?
Inner City
Press
immediately
said, Me,
adding that
it had asked
for a live
feed into the
Press Room.
Judge Engelmayer
said that if
request
for live feed
are made they
are granted.
But it wasn't
in this
case. Inner
City Press
immediately
shut down its
phone,
power off. An
Assistant US
Attorney came
in and started
using her
phone, as has
always been
the case. She
was told to
turn it off.
Now will less
detailed
information we
report that
Judge Engelmayer
told Jamel Jones
that he,
unlike Roland
Martin, had
not renounced
Nine Trey.
That it was
too late in
life to use
lack of a
father figure
as an excuse.
(In fairness,
Judge Englemayer
later called
out the father
in the
gallery.)
Ultimately
Judge
Engelmayer
imposed a full
135 month sentence
on Jamel Jones,
more than 11 years.
While
some might not
like it
compared, many
white collar
criminals in
the SDNY are
given light or
time served sentences.
This is one of
the many reasons
that detailed,
real time
reporting of
these
sentencing
should be
encouraged,
not stopped
and penalized.
As Inner City
Press left the
courtroom, it
was asked for
its name and
business card
and was told
that an
"incident
report" will
be made. We'll
have more on
this.
#Periscope outside #SDNY in #6ix9ine case Judge Engelmayer guves 135 months Jamel Jones, press freedom issues @SDNYLIVE https://t.co/Oya4nViHqg
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 17, 2019
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Audio Thread
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - Vibe,
etc
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 10 – In the case of US against Aljermiah Mack and Anthony Ellison, the jury on October 3 returned a mixed verdict, see below. Daniel Hernandez / Tekashi 6ix9ine who testified for three days against them is now set to be sentenced on December 18 at 10 am, with the government's submission including under Section 5K1 due on December 11 or before. Inner City Press tweeted the order here, and the underlying submission rules here.
On October 10 co-defendant Roland Martin a/k/a
Ro Murda was sentenced by Judge Paul Engelmayer.
The sentencing guideline specified in his plea
agreement was 77 to 96 months; the government
recommended 60 months.
After back and forth which Inner City Press live tweeted, below, Judge Engelmayer said he would have sentenced Ro Murda to 90 months, but because he was stabbed in the MDC after renouncing the gang, he gave him 66 months.
Since he has already served 10 months, it will be 56 more months; his request is in Fort Dix.By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
Audio Thread
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - Vibe,
etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Oct 3 – In the case of US against
Aljermiah Mack and Anthony Ellison, the jury on
October 3 returned a mixed verdict, see below.
Daniel Hernandez / Tekashi 6ix9ine who testified
for three days against them said he was robbed
of his jewelry. But while the jury found Ellison
guilty of kidnapping 69, in Count 2, it found
Ellison not guilty of gunpoint robbery, Count
3. Text tweeted by Inner City Press here.
In the video the government put into evidence
and Inner City Press put online here,
driver Jorge Rivera said it had been "two guys
with guns." Video
at 7:40.
So
did the jury disbelieve Rivera, cooperating to
get out of an immigration charge and hoping for
a 5K1 letter like 6ix9ine? Or more fundamentally
did they disbelieve the robbery, after 6ix9ine
on Instagram invited the robbery of his jewelry
to promote his then-upcoming music release?
Inner City Press will have more on this.
6ixNine
is set to be sentenced on January 24, 2020,
hoping to get "time served" for his cooperation.
Inner City Press tweeted the schedule here
and will continue to report on this in detail.
Along with guilty findings on racketeer, Count
1, and Counts 2, 5, 6 and 7, it issued "Not
Guilty" rulings on Ellison Counts 3 and 4 and
with regard to Nuke Mack and guns, Count 7.
After more than an hour, got and published it:
Count
1 Racketeering - Guilty
Count 2 Kidnapping - GUILTY
Counts 3 & 4 Ellison gun - Not guilty
Count 5 (maiming) - Guilty
Count 6 narcotics - Guilty
Court 7 Mack firearm - Not Guilty
What the verdict may mean for 6ix9ine's bid for
both a 5K1 cooperator's letter and "time served"
instead of the 47 year mandatory minimum he
would otherwise face is not yet known.
On
October 2 the jury while deliberating on a
verdict asked for information including the
testimony of Ellison's then girlfriend Ms.
Ramirez and a laptop full of phone records. They
will resume deliberating on Thursday October 3
but if they do not reach a verdict that day will
return only on Monday. Meanwhile there were
thirty in the courtroom and thirty in the hall.
Ellison's
defense lawyer Deveraux Cannick told the jury to
closely review #6ix9ine's testimony, says he was
prepared for hours and hours by the government
and still there are holes in his story.
Cannick
emphasizes that #6ix9ine said he only made one
call, a Facetime to his daughter. Turns to Cruz
claiming he's worthy of your belief. "Ladies and
gentlemen, I don't buy it." Cannick is
saying sometimes the government should tear up
the 5K1 letter, but doesn't. Here's Inner City
Press on a cooperator who after the deal
smuggled drugs into private prison and sold
them. Judge Gardephe was outraged, gave
4 years
Government
objects to Cannick saying a Kristian Cruz call
was in the last six weeks. Judge Engelmayer
doesn't rule, tells jury that their recollection
will control. Cannick going back and forth
between references to #6ix9ine and Cruz
Cannick:
Cruz has no familiarity with Harv. He said,
"Harv is not a thief" only in order to prime the
pump and get Mel Murda to talk. But where did
Mel Murda get his info from? Shotti. But
#6ix9ine said "Shotti is a liar. Shotti is a
fraud."
Cannick
asked why the government didn't take at face
value their witness #6ix9ine's view that Shotti
was a liar. Says of course Mel Murda
told Cruz whatever he wanted- he needed Cruz'
drugs and money. More here.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon,
Audio
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - Vibe,
etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 26 – In the case of US against
Aljermiah Mack and Anthony Ellison, after having
for three days used the testimony of Daniel
Hernandez / Tekashi 6ix9ine, the government told
the jury to believe him because he would be
insane to lie: it could get him the mandatory
minimum of 47 years.
Ellison's lawyer Deveraux Cannick, in his
closing argument, repeated that 6ix9ine was
trying to promote his song with Nicki Minaj when
he faked the car jack and robbery. Why didn't he
call Sara, Cannick asked, and say that he'd been
robbed?
In
rebuttal, AUSA Longyear did not address this
argument. The jury will wait five days to return
and be charge and begin deliberating. More on
Patreon
here.
Here's
the beginning of who it went on September
26: "AUSA Warren starts with Gov Exhibit
of Harv Ellison saying "they don't want war with
Billy, we big behind the wall. They just NYC.
Billy, we worldwide." US Attorney's point: Nine
Trey is a conspiracy
AUSA
Warren quotes Harv Ellison telling #6ix9ine "not
to be a poseur" (Warren's words), not to choose
when the f*ck to show up Inner City Press
@innercitypress · 6h AUSA Warren tells jury,
"Look at what Ellison does not say. He does not
say, 'What do you mean? I am not a gangster.
What do you mean, "Blood"?'" Yeah,
he didn't say that.
AUSA
Warren quotes Ellison that "you can't pick and
choose when to be a gangster," says he's guilty
of Count 1. Turns to October slashing of the
witness who had a compulsion order to testify
yesterday but in the end wasn't called
Note: there is a photo of the slashed face in
evidence; Inner City Press has not published it
out of respect. (Also, would non-responsive
Twitter call it impermissible content even
though it's evidence in a Federal trial?
Questions, questions)
AUSA
Warren: Harv was going to see Ms. Ramirez on at
the Ludlow Street hotel the night of the
slashing, but that all hell broke loose in and
around Smurf Village. Harv drove from the West
Side to Brooklyn, sending video from Battery
Tunnel...
Now
yesterday's cell site records are coming in -
showing Harv on the move to Brooklyn. "Remember
Ms. Ramirez testified that on Fulton and Utica
she met Mr. Ellison and his friends" - and that
he left her with them. AUSA: "That is frantic
behavior."
Now
AUSA Warren turns to "robbery and kidnapping of
Daniel Hernandez," Tekashi #6ix9ine. He says it
was NOT staged.
Now
US Attorney is playing audio that driver Jorge
Rivera, cooperating with government after picked
up on immigration charges, recorded of Shotti
telling #6ix9ine, we got to kill somebody, I
drive around with a semi-automatic rifle
In
the recording (by Jorge Rivera), Shotti says he
shot five people in one night for Mel Murda.
Shotti: "I earned my stripes."
AUSA
Warren asks jury if they think #6ix9ine's career
would be helped by being seen beaten up and
chain stolen. Shows photo of his swollen face.
AUSA Warren tells jury, Remember that the driver
Jorge Rivera was also robbed. He had a gun
pointed at his head and they took his cell
phone.
AUSA
Warren quotes Mr. Ramirez that Harv bragged to
her that he still had some of #6ix9ine's chains,
months after the robbery.
Warren
quotes Nuke Mack that you gotta either be the
shooting or the grinder, selling drugs, you
can't be both at once. Division of labor.
By
Matthew Russell Lee,
Patreon, Thread
III
The
Source - XXL
- The
Root - etc
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 19 – When
Daniel
Hernandez,
better known
as rapper
Tekashi
6ix9ine,
finished three
days of
cooperating
testimony for
the government
against his
former
partners in
the Nine Trey
Bloods gang,
conviction
seemed likely
for defendants
Aljermiah
"Nuke" Mack
and Anthony
"Harv"
Elisson.
Harv was
caught on
video
apparently
car-jacking
Hernandez and
his driver
Jorge Rivera.
Video here.
But
then Harv's
lawyer
Deveraux
Cannick began
the question
the timing and
specifics of
the carjacking
and
kidnapping. It
coincided with
the release of
one of
6ixNine's
songs; Cannick
asked again
and again if
the rapper had
specified the
dozens of
punches he now
claimed while
in proffer
sessions with
the
prosecution.
Hernandez
wants the all
important 5K1
cooperation
letter.
Without it he
faces a
minimum of 47
years and
maximum of
life. But what
will not only
insulting the
Bloods but
also linking
other rappers
like Trippie
Redd to the
gang, things
may be
difficult in
or out of
jail.
On the third
day of the
trial it
emerged that
audio had been
recorded of
the begining
of Hernandez'
direct
examination,
apparently
from inside
the courtroom.
Judge
Engelmayer
prohibited any
further entry
of phones or
other
electronics.
The
government's
initial
estimate of a
two to three
week trial now
seemed too
long.
Prosecutor
Michael
Longyear told
Judge
Engelmayer the
government
might complete
its case by
Wednesday,
September 25.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 12 – Jerome Jackson conducted a
drive-by shooting on Freeman Street and Prospect
Avenue in the South Bronx on September 26, 2018.
On September 12, 2019 he was sentenced to 60
months in prison, have been allowed to plead
down to possession of ammunition. The drive-by,
with three bullets, actually hit the target.
Life is cheap, it seems, in The Bronx.
U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge P. Kevin Castel, who when he has
discretion is creative in sentencing, here had
none. He recited the facts of the shooting, and
of the plea.
By
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 4 – Chance McCurdy was
in
prison on Riker's Island on
February 19, 2015 when someone
was slashed by the commissary,
with a surgical blade. McCurdy ended
up beaten and his lawsuit against the City
of New York finally
reached trial
on September 4
before U.S. District
Court for the
Southern District of
New York Judge
Gregory H.
Woods.
The
courtroom was
almost empty.
In fact plaintiff
McCurdy wasn't
there, not
produced from
the MCC.
Instead on the
stand was
Captain Cheryl
Bell, being
questioned by
McCurdy's
lawyer Fred
Lichtmacher about
the
three prior
disciplinary
actions
against her
for excessive
force
and failure to
supervise the
use of force.
In
response
she called
the plaintiff
a member of
the Bloods street
gang, who had
to be housed
in a special
Bloods unit on
Riker's
Island in the
Anna M. Kross
Center or
AMKC.
The
City's lawyer
described McCurdy, when
facing
a strip search
to find the
missing blade,
as yelling
"I'm not
stripping...
F.U... It's
lit."
Inner City Press
has asked to
be informed when
the six-member
jury comes
back with a
verdict. Watch this
site.
Earlier
this year in the SDNY Johnny
Morgan was suing the
United States for a rectal search he endured
in the Metropolitan Correctional
Center at 150 Park Row, right next to
the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern District of
New York. On
April 4 before
SDNY
Magistrate
Judge Debra
Freeman, the
government
presented an
expert Roy
Lubit who said
that Morgan is
a "malingerer" and blamed
his pain on
abuse suffered
earlier at the
hand of
his own mother. But
even
government
expert Lubit
said that the
rectal entry
should not
have happened.
It is,
in fact, an outrage. While
some might
question
taxpayer money
going to pay damages for
what happened
to Mr. Morgan,
what about
public money
for an expert
witness to
insult the
torturee?
We'll have
more on this.
The
Federal
Defenders
scored a big
win in a
misdemeanor
proceeding
that only
Inner City
Press attended
and covered on
April 2. They
defeated the
U.S.
Attorney's Office
which argued
that the
simple assault
they agreed to
on a dispute
on a cruise
ship required
allocution to
actual
physical
conflict.
There was case law on
the Federal
Defenders'
side, and a
plea to making
a threat on
the cruise
ship - in
"international
waters" -- was
found
sufficient.
The case was United
States v.
Batista, 18
Cr. 730 (NRB). The
Federal
Defenders
lawyer was
Sabrina P.
Shroff, whom
Inner City
Press has
previously
covered in the
UN bribery
cases of
Patrick Ho
(new Hong
Kong documentary
here),
getting
bail for Cheikh Gadio, and
of Ng Lap
Seng,
representing
hapless Jeff Yin. The
issue in
Batista was whether
simple assault
requires the
defendant to
"strike or
choke." Ms.
Shroff cited
the US v
Denis and US v
Chestaro
cases, and the
matter was
quickly
disposed by
Judge Naomi
Reice Buchwald in her
relatively
small
courtroom on
the 21st floor
of 500 Pearl
Street. The question
is why the
U.S.
Attorney's Office
in this case
had not
researched basic
case law - and
whether the
defendant
Carlos Batista, Junior,
from the Dominican
Republic, must
now be deported.
We hope to
have more on
this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
August 26 – Miguel Ramirez was sentenced to 218
months or more than 18 years in prison on August
26, for his leadership role in an armed drug
conspiracy in Hunts Point, The Bronx. US
District Court for the Southern District of New
York Judge Gregory H. Woods during his
sentencing recounted Ramirez as a child living
with 12 others with a "managerie of animals,"
then in jail on Rikers Island as a child,
Woods said.
The
government asked for 262 to 327 months,
emphasizing that Ramirez stored ammunition in
the apartment he shared with his partner and
their baby, who now a toddler toddled around the
courtroom on August 26. Ramirez' lawyer
emphasized society's racism - then turned 180
degrees and implied that Ramirez' co-defendant
Hector Palermo, who steered clear of the guns,
was not also a victim.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 23 – Two grocery stores on
Ogden Avenue in the Bronx are being sued for
overtime violations by the law firm of Katz
Malinger PLLC on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. On
August 23 facing default on the lawsuit a lawyer
for one defendant showed up before U.S. District
Court for the Southern District Court of New
York Judge Valerie Caproni.
But he was not admitted to the SDNY.
Judge Caproni advised the attorney, Adeyinka A.
Ojo of 87 East 116th Street, to get himself
admitted pro hac vice. Then she asked Inner City
Press, the only media in her courtroom, What are
you covering here?
Inner City Press replied, I came for the
OneCoin, but stayed for the deli.
Judge Caproni joked, If you are covering the
deli it must be a slow news day. (Inner City
Press did cover the Trump subpoena argument,
which didn't begin until 11 am, here).
But there are no small stories, only small
journalists. In this case, Ojo asserts that at
least one of the plaintiffs only worked at the
deli for one day...
With OneCoin the subject of criminal prosecution
a civil case against it was ordered stayed on
August 23 by U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Valerie
Caproni.
While Konstantin Ignatov's lawyer Jeffrey
Einhorn's basis for the stay was "corresponding
criminal prosecution," Judge Caproni also chided
plaintiffs' lawyers at Levi & Kosinsky for
failing to serve or show service on some of the
defendants.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 16 – In sentencing a Kenyan
drug lord to 25 years on the morning of August
16, U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Victor Marrero said
that later in
the day he had
on his
docket a Bronx
gang member facing
27 years for
murder.
Before
5 pm, Judge Marrero
sentenced the
man, Richard
Feliz, to
32 years.
While Feliz'
guilty plea was to
narcotics
conspiracy and
firearms,
the
government's
sentencing
submission
recites that
on March 25,
2015 Feliz
was pursuing an
opposing gang
member. When
this
"opp" exited the
50 50 Deli at
1278 Morrison
Avenue in
The Bronx,
"Feliz pointed
the .40 gun
down a crowded
street and
fired multiple
times. His
bullets
missed... Instead,
one of Feliz'
bullets hit an
innocent bystander,
Victor Chafla, in
the head."
On
August 16, one of
Chafla's
daughter gave a
victim's
impact
statement in
court. She
spoke of her six
other
siblings, how
their father
came to the US
from Ecuador
to work to
support them,
how
their father
came to the US
from Ecuador
to support
them, their
pain, and that
they wanted
justice.
There
were two Court
Security
Officers
standing around
Feliz'
friends and
family. Inner
City Press was
the only media
present.
Judge Marrero
cited US v. Booker
for the
proposition
that he did
not have to
stick with the
guidelines,
but he did:
240 months on
Count
1, 84 months
consecutive
on Count 2,
for
total of 32
years in
prison. Feliz
requested Otisville;
Judge
Marrero said
he would
recommend it
and said good
day.
Kenya drug trafficker Baktash
Akasha Abdalla
faced a
life sentence
including for
the use of
machine guns,
but got 25
years in jail
on August 16
from U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Victor
Marrero.
Judge Marrero
emphasized that the US Drug
Enforcement Agency had played an
entrapping or suggesting
role.
He likened
it to attempted
murder, and
contrasted it
to a Bronx
gang leader to
be sentenced
later in the
day who really
killed
someone, but
faces a guideline
sentence of 27
years. Citing
the need to
avoid
unwarranted
sentencing
disparities he
imposed 25 years
and a fine of $100,000.
More on Patreon,
here.
Back
on July 26, murder
in Amsterdam and the
possibility of
execution in India
all came up in an
ill-attended
Fatico hearing
before
Judge Marrero,
including
questions about
the
credibility of
government witness Mr.
Vicky Goswami,
whom the
government
describes as
"the Akashas'
trusted
co-conspirator [who]
after he was
released from
a long prison
sentence in
Dubai
moved to Kenya
and worked in
partnership
with Baktash,
Ibrahmi and others on
their drugs
and violence."
Baktash's
lawyer George
Robert Goltzer
on July
26 mocked the
government's
reliance on Goswami, pointing
at inconsistencies
in the 3500
material
turned over.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, August 3 – Jamarr Fowler says that
New York City Police Department officers from
the 52nd Precinct in The Bronx entered his
resident without permission, roughed him up and
then $3000 were missing. His handwritten Federal
lawsuit is dated April 26, 2019 but was not
logged in by the pro-se unit of the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York until
May 21, after
apparently
being mailed
from New York,
New York on
May 14.
On
August 6 SDNY
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield told
Fowler that
his claim was
probably time
barred. He
asked how his
lawsuit could
be post-marked
New York, New
York if he
lives and
seemingly
mailed it from
The Bronx.
Judge
Schofield
replied that
she does not
speak for the
Postal
Service, and
set a schedule
for the City
of New York to
file its
motion to
dismiss.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video, pics
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 24 – When Wesley Monge came up
for sentencing for using a firearm during an
assault with a deadly weapon around the Bronx'
Mill Brook Houses, he may not have known the
history of sentencing Judge Analisa Torres of the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York.
While imposing
the mandatory
minimum five
years, Judge
Torres with no
other media in
the courtroom
beyond Inner
City Press
hearkened back
to Hunts Point
in the 1950s.
She said her
parents were
involved in
fighting for
better
housing,
resulting in
part in the
opening of the
Mill Brook
Houses in
1957, two
years before
she was born.
Judge Torres'
sister Pamela
C. Torres died
of lukemia and
the day care
center in the
Mill Brook
Houses was
named for her.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video, pics
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 24 – The dark web was a theme
in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York on July
24. But after
two cases a
more local
guilty plea
was taken in
SDNY
courtroom of
Judge Denise
Cote. Kevin
Mora, 21, pled
guilty to
crack and marijuana
sales in The Bronx.
He has expressed
some doubt
about his
first CJA lawyer
and so was temporarily
given a
second, to
confer. At the
sentencing he
spoke
softly, saying
that both lawyers had
read him the
plea agreement
he signed. At
one point
Judge Cote asked,
Do you
want me to
describe
again, the
terms of the
plea agreement?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, July 17 – Hours after ordering the
release of the Michael Cohen search warrant
materials, US District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge William
H. Pauley III conducted a sentencing proceeding
for Jamel Johnson for drug dealing and
possession and use of a firearm in the Edenwald
Houses in The Bronx. Judge Pauley who recently
presided over the graphic trial of James Felton
for murder in The Bronx was admonishing Jamel
Johnson to try to do better upon his release for
his family. Right then Johnson was turned back
toward his family in the gallery where Inner
City Press was the only media. Johnson was
gesticulating, in a way that connoted
disinterest at least in the eight year sentence
being imposed.
Judge Pauley said, "You look at me when I'm
imposing sentence. Show some respect for the
Court or I'll change the sentence right now."
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon,
thread
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 20 – With Jeffrey Epstein
remanded on child sex trafficking charges to the
Metropolitan Correctional Center, his associate
Ghislaine Maxwell has closed down her TerraMar
Project which had been welcomed in the United
Nations in the Secretary General's press
briefing room, before UNSG Antonio
Guterres had Inner City Press thrown
out.
On 25 June 2013 Ghislaine Maxwell
appeared in the UN briefing
room pitching TerraMar. Inner
City Press asked
questions, for example on this
video from 7:12. Then this:
From: G Max <ghislaine@theterramarproject.org>
Date: Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at
9:38 AM
Subject: The TerraMar
Project To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com
Dear Matthew, It was a
pleasure to meet you. As
promised, here is some
information on the
TerraMar Project – you can
see all the latest press
if you go to
http://theterramarproject.org/thedailycatch/category/press/
- the UN talk, Bloomberg
and CNN being the latest.
Don’t forget to apply for
your passport at
theterramarproject.org –
your citizenship is
pre-approved! Best,
Ghislaine
Inner
City Press has
been on Terramar's mailing
list since. As recently as
July 11, 2019 TerraMar sent
out an email about clownfish.
But now its website says "The
TerraMar Project is sad to
announce that it will cease
all operations. The web site
will be closed."
As so
often at the UN under
Guterres, corruption once
exposed just tries to slink
away. Guterres is financially
linked to CEFC China Energy.
When CEFC's Patrick Ho was
indicted and convicted for UN
bribery, Guterres never
started any audit but instead
has Inner City Press which
asked roughed up and and
thrown out, 382 days now. But
the net is tightening. And there are others
connected; more on Patreon here.
Watch
that and this site.
Epstein
had his bail application denied on July 18 and
will remain in the Metropolitan Correctional
Center. His next court appearance is July 31.
Judge Richard M. Berman of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York gave
a summary of
his
forthcoming
written order,
saying that
Epstein is a
danger to the
community
and citing the
July 15 testimony of
victims Annie
Farmer and
Courtney Wild.
He called the
proposed bail
package
woefully inadequate
and added his
view that no
package would
have outweighed the
danger to the
community. The
public's
interest in a
speedy trial was
outweighed by
the need
to prevent any
miscarriage of
justice.
Meanwhile
the SDNY
prosecutors more quietly cut a
cooperation
agreement with
another child
sex
trafficking
Anthony Darby.
Inner City
Press had gone to
the SDNY
courtroom of
Judge Paul
Engelmayer to
cover another
matter. But
inside the
courtroom a shackled
man was
pleading guilty.
The courtroom
deputy came
over to say
this was not
the case Inner
City Press had
come to cover.
But Inner
City Press
stayed to
cover it. Soon
Assistant US
Attorney
Wolf requested
a sidebar with
Judge Engelmayer.
The reason quickly
became
clear. Darby
was pleading guilty
to 14 counts,
sex trafficking
of minor
and conspiracy,
in exchange
for
cooperation he
would get a
5K1.1 letter -
in April 2020.
Judge Engelmayer
to his credit,
unlike at
least two
other SDNY Judges,
did not
lawlessly order
the Press to leave.
And for
that reason
for now Inner
City Press is
reporting only
these bare
bones facts: that
amid criticism
of the
Jeffrey
Epstein non prosecution
agreement, this
Darby deal is
taking place
in the SDNY.
Is it a good
deal? We'll
have more on this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 12 – After a long trial of two
defendants involving the Bronx murders of Alex
Ventura and Aneudis Almonte 22 years ago on 22
December 1997 before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Kevin
Castel, on March 29 the jury returned nine
guilty verdicts on 12 counts. For Defendant
Robert Acosta it was guilty on Counts 1 through
5 but non guilty on Count 6. For Defendant Jose
Diaz it was non guilty on Counts 1 and 2, but
guilty on Counts three through six. See Inner
City Press' 29 March 2019 story here.
The three not-guilty verdicts made no
difference. On July 12 Inner City Press was
again present when Judge Castel imposed life
sentences on both men, adding for each five
years of Supervised Released which he said he
hoped will never be relevant. He urged them to
apologize to the members of the victims'
families, one of whom said in Spanish "estoy
conforme," translated as "I am at peace,"
i.e. in that the defendants will have a long
time to think about it. Judge Castel wished them
both a long life to do just that: to contemplate
what they did.
Judge
Castel said, I am here as the representative of
society. He also spoke for the legal system and
even the Constitution when he thanked the
defense lawyers for doing their jobs. They are
not hear to be make the judge happy, he said, or
to make the prosecutors happy. They are here
under the canons of their profession and the
Constitution to zealously represent their
clients.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon Scope
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, July 3 – While many even
most cases in the Magistrates
Court of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed or have
no case number
given, on July 3
before
Magistrate
Judge Barbara
Moses
things hit a
new level of
murkiness.
A defendant
was brought in
shackled at 6
pm. But after
his Federal
Defender and
the Assistant
US
Attorney
had what
seemed to be a
routine
conversation,
Judge Moses
started
summoning them to to
office outside of
the courtroom.
It happened
three times,
with Pre-Trial
Services
invited in as
well.
Finally
the Courtroom
Deputy said
that the case
wouldn't be
called until 8
pm. While
Inner City
Press went to
retrieve its
laptop to
report that perhaps
this was
pre-July 4
weekend
solicitude, to
either bail
this defendant
or find him
the right
place, the
proceeding
whatever it
was, was done.
The Mag court
was locked
without any
name or case
number being
given, and no
questions
allowed.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 26 – While many even
most cases in the Magistrates
Court of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed, on
June 26
before
Magistrate
Judge Sarah
Netburn a complait was
described on
the record
has having
just been
unsealed.
Inner City
Press asked
the Assistant
U.S. Attorney
for the case
number and was
given one. It
was 19-mj-280...
in the Eastern
District of
Virginia,
Arlington.
There,
Bronxite Sandy
Susoho is
charged
with
"knowingly
conspir[ing] to
misuse a
passport, and
to furnish,
dispose of,
and deliver a
passport to
another person
for use by
another than
the person for
whose use the
passport was
originally
issued and
designed."It
involves a
passport
Susoho ordered
using a Jesup
Avenue, Bronx
address - then
let a person
from Ghana use
to come into
the country.
Susoho was
released but
told to show
up on July 5 -
seemingly a
holiday in the
SDNY - down in
the Eastern
District of
Virginia
before Judge
Davis. The
Federal
Defenders said
they will make
sure of
attendance. So
perhaps it is
not a
holiday.... u
On June
25 Magistrate
Judge Robert
Lehrburger
ordered
detained a
defendant named
Martinez charged
with 33
kilograms of
cocaine, a
first name -
Eliot - and
a case number
were provided:
19-mj-5950.
But by 5 pm,
even after Judge
Lehrburger
had detained
Mr. Martinez
and set a July
8 hearing,
PACER said
"Cannot find
case
19-mj-5950."
So Inner City
Press reports:
Judge
Lehrburger
said he did
not find a
risk of
flight, but
given the
heavy weight
of coke, and
that Martinez
violated the
terms of his
probation in
New Jersey, he
would be
detained. This
came four
hours after an
appearance
before Judge
Castel of a
defendant
accused of offenses
against
children, a
defendant who
unlike
Martinez was
allowed free
on bond, to
his mother's
house in
Freehold, New
Jersey...
O
Hector
Lebron was sent to
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York in
April by
Northern
District of
Ohio Judge
James G. Carr
- and then was
forgotten for
more than two
months in the
Metropolitan
Correctional
Center in
lower
Manhattan.
On SDNY Magistrate
Judge Sarah
Netburn began what
her Deputy
said was the
last case of
the day by
asking when the
defendant
before her
came into SDNY
custody. The
answer
was
surprising:
Lebron was "writted over"
on April 24, from
a
Federal court
in Ohio, had
been forgotten
since then and
now should
have a hearing
before SDNY
District
Judge Alison
Nathan, date
not yet set.
Inner
City Press was
the only media
in the
Magistrates
Court and strained
forward to
hear the
number of the
case, but none
was given.
Only afterward
was it
able on the
PACER terminal in
the SDNY Press
Room to
find a Judge
Nathan case
involving
Hector Lebron.
But this once
dated back to
February 2014,
with Lebron on
Supervised
Release until
October 31,
2018, signed
by then SDNY
Judge Mary M.
Lisi and
Magistrate
Ronald L.
Ellis.
Further
research by
Inner City
Press found an
April 6, 2019
order by Judge
James G. Carr
Sr. of the
U.S. District
Court for the
Northern
District of
Ohio that
Lebron by
remanded to
the custody of
the U.S.
Marshall and transferred
to a "facility
as close to
New York as
possible."
The MCC
is right next
to the SDNY
courthouses
and the U.S.
Attorney's
Office. But no
one knew Lebron was
there for two
months. On
June 21 in the
empty Mag
Court the
Assistant U.S.
Attorney said
his colleague,
on trial, had
only seen
the e-mail the
night before.
Judge Netburn
said she would
investigate it,
and told Mr.
Lebron she wasn't
sure it was
her apology to
make...
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video, pics
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 21 – A defendant who pled
guilty to armed robbery of a number of stores
including a bodega in The Bronx was sentenced to
97 months in prison on June 21 by
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Andrew L. Carter.
After
imposing
sentence,
Judge Carter
said he hoped the
defendant
David
Richardson seeks
mental
health care
when he is
released. He also
said he had
taken into
account, and
sentenced at
the lower edge of
the guidelines
due to, what Richardson
had suffered as a child.
From the government's sentencing submission, by Assistant US Attorney Elinor Tarlow: "On May 23, 2018, the fourth robbery occurred at a bodega located in the Bronx. At approximately 11:10 p.m., two males, later identified as Richardson and Burton, entered the bodega. Richardson, who possessed a firearm and was wearing a black mask, which covered a portion of his face, ordered the employee of the store to open the cash register. Burton acted as a lookout by the front of the bodega. Richardson and Burton then removed approximately $450 from the register and fled the location. (PSR ¶ 28)."
In
the same SDNY courthouse a mere two stories
down, on June 17 a sentencing of a defendant
seeking time served, seemingly for cooperation
with the government, was abruptly declared
"sealed" by SDNY
Judge Lorna G. Schofield.
She said she was
going to seal the transcript,
but that once this reporter
walked into her open courtroom
1106 in 40 Foley Square, she
moved the entire proceeding
into her robing room, closed
to the Press and public.
Now
on June 18 Inner City Press
has requested the
name and number
of the case, and that all
portions that do not need
to be redacted or sealed
be provided or placed in
the docket, citing in
support this its
requests: sentencing
proceedings are
presumptively open in the
Second Circuit. See
United States v.
Alcantara, 396 F.3d
189, 196 (2d Cir. 2005)
("There is little doubt
that the First Amendment
right of access extends to
sentencing
proceedings.").
Before closing a
proceeding to which the
First Amendment right of
access attaches, the judge
should make specific, on
the record findings
demonstrate that closure
is essential to preserve
higher values and is
narrowly tailored to serve
that interest. See United
States v. Haller,
837 F.2d 84, 87 (2d Cir.
1988). United States
v. Cojab
specifically dealt with
hearings (in that case, a
pretrial hearing)
conducted in the robing
room.
Inner
City Press is pursuing
this because it is a
precedent and trend. On
June 18 affable
SDNY
Magistrate Judge
Sarah Netburn
declared a
proceeding in
Courtroom 5A
sealed with "delayed
docketing;"
in her two
days in the
Magistrates
Court this
week not a
single filing
has been made
available
on PACER.
There's more - watch
this site.
On June 17
when Judge Schofield,
her Courtroom Deputy
James Street
and the shackled defendant,
Assistant US Attorneys and US
Marshals emerged twenty
minutes later, Judge Schofield
said only, "We're adjourned."
There was no disclosure of the
outcome of the proceeding - as
Inner City Press walked in,
the defendant's lawyer was
asking for time served."
Then Judge
Schofield said she wanted to
"shake hands with our
visitors" and proceeded to do
just that with the two other
people in the gallery. Inner
City Press left.
No one
where on the electronic board
in the SDNY lobby at 500 Pearl
Street was any proceeding
before Judge Schofield at that
time list. Nor in the day's
PACER calendar.
So it is
both a confidential
sentencing, and a confidential
case?
Judge Schofield's
Rules for Criminal Cases,
ironically, provide that there
is a presumption that all
sentencing submissions are
public, and that if anything
is redacted only those pages
with redactions can be
withheld from the public
docket.
But no
such distinction is possible
when an entire proceeding is
moved into the judge's robing
room barred to the press and
public, with no notice or
opportunity to be heard. Inner
City Press will have more on
this - see also @InnerCityPress
and the new @SDNYLIVE.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 14 – In the trial of James
Felton, accused among other things of killing
Marvin Harris on the corner of 175th Street and
Monroe Avenue in The Bronx on June 11, 2016, the
jury on June 12, 2019 - three years and one day
later - was shown a grainy video of the lead up
to that shooting, then of another one in
December 2016.
In
the run-up to the trial James Felton's lawyer
Lloyd Epstein told the government and
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District Judge
William H.
Pauley III
that "we're
dealing with a
neighborhood
here where
people are
talking about
people getting
killed, that
in
neighborhoods
where some of
us live, we
might talk
about how
Johnny was
accepted at
Yale or, you
know,
generally is
going on to
social work
school, but
here, this is
what people
talk about."
But Epstein's
point at the
final
pre-trial
conference on
22 February
2019, beyond
trashing the
Mount Hope
neighborhood,
was to try to
exclude the
introduction
into evidence
of some prison
phone calls.
He said, "They
talk about the
cookouts at
Rikers Island,
they talk
about the NBA,
they talk
about getting
sneakers for
little kids."
Yes, that too.
Though it is
not what is
being heard in
the SDNY
trial. Watch
this site.
On
June 14 cooperating witness Andre Felton
described how James Felton told him he had shot
Benny White, and how he took the two guns and
threw them in a river. When James Felton
returned from Massachusetts, Andre Felton let
him stay in his apartment in 2228 Adams Place.
The government put into evidence photographs of
that apartment, with vacuum sealed bags for
selling marijuana, a heroin spoon and bags, a
digital scale and a gun (which Andre Felton
showed to James Felton, offering that he could
use it.)
Andre Felton said that alongside selling drugs
he was working as a concierge at a building in
Manhattan - full time - until in a traffic stop
he was found with 10 grams of cocaine. Now he is
cooperating.
The government said they may have another
cooperating witness on Monday, and may close
their case then or on Tuesday. The defense may
recall witness Ezekiel Burley for some questions
then put on a "short case" "probably" not
including James Felton taking the stand.
Judge Pauley said he will send them a draft jury
charge later on June 14, and asked the
government to submit a proposed jury form. Judge
Pauley does not send the exhibits into the jury
room but only a list, from which the jurors can
make requests.
Just before the jury was released for the
weekend there was a sidebar and instruction. As
the government asked Andre Felton about his
offer to help get James Felton a lawyer, the
defense asked to speak drowned out by white
noise. Afterward Judge Pauley told the jury that
James Felton's lawyers are court appointed and
are paid by the United States. If there was any
doubt.
On June 13 another cooperating witness,
Gonzalez, was cross examined about his question
for a 5K letter from the prosecution and how far
he would go to get out from under the otherwise
applicable 45 year minimum sentence. Gonzalez
sold crack in the area; when his testimony was
over he was led back into the cell block by two
US Marshals.
The jury filed out and those in the gallery
including Inner City Press, some neighborhood
resident including one with a small child and
some from the prosecutor's office were told to
wait in the courtroom until they all went down
on the elevator.
In the lull Felton's lawyers argued for the
admissibility for jailhouse recorded calls
showing that Felton had gotten a construction
job. Judge
Pauley said he
would think
about it
overnight, but
that it seemed
clear Felton
knew he was
being
recorded,
impacting
reliability.
Felton's
lawyer said
those on the
call talked
about
"everything."
Judge Pauley
noted that
they also sold
drugs under
the eye of
multiple pole
cameras. The
trial will
continue on
Friday from
9:30 am to
1:30 pm then
break for the
weekend. Inner
City Press has
requested
exhibits.
Watch this
site.
Earlier
on June 13 the prosecution put on the witness
stand a video expert who has enhanced and audio
synched the videos, with the gunshots audible. A
man already dying on the sidewalk was shot,
again, and spasmed. The jury leaned forward.
Next up was a witness from T-Mobile law
enforcement relations, about responding to a
warrant.
It is not only emails and text messages that
trip up today's defendants, as in the USA
v. Ahuja and Shor trial across Pearl
Street. Now there are so many surveillance
cameras that shootings like this are captured
from multiple angles, and can be enhanced. The
jury can identify with those on the sidewalk
running for cover.
Overnight
the prosecution wrote to Judge
Pauley to
suggest a jury
instruction
that "the
death penalty
is not a
potential
punishment for
the defendant
in this case."
It's come to
that.
Back
on June 12
there was the
testimony by
Ezekiel
Burley, hoping
for a 5K
letter for
cooperating,
turned to the
shooting of
Benny White
and another in
December 2016
in the same
neighborhood.
The dispute
about about
who was
robbing the
drug sales
workers.
A
girlfriend was
left to "clean
up" the
apartment of
drugs and
baggies and a
gun, which
Burley said he
"threw in a
lake by my
house."
Burley in
early 2017 got
shot himself
in a
barbershop on
175th and
Morris Avenue.
He was
interviewed by
police while
on morphine,
he told the
jury. He told
only what he
thought they
had on video.
Later he
proffered by
only
partially.
Finally he
told the
prosecutors he
gave the gun
to Felton in
June 2016. Now
his faces life
in prison - or
as he said
under the "new
law," only 70
years. But he
could get less
for
cooperation.
What will the
jury think?
Felton's
defense team
later on June
12 asked
Burley if
Felton hadn't
in fact tried
to tell Chunky
to reach a
deal rather
than fight,
and hadn't had
concerns
beyond drug
sales.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, May 23 Periscope here
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, June 8 – Less than an hour after
witnessing Peter Bright presented in shackled in
front of his wife in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York's Magistrates Court
on May 23,
Inner City
Press published
into Google
News a
story about it,
including
Bright's
statement
that he was
training an 11
year told girl in The
Bronx.
Also Periscope
video here,
round
up tweet.
Inner
City Press reported
that Bright's Federal
Defenders
lawyer argued
that a video
camera in
Bright's
Brooklyn
apartment building militates
for his
release on
bond. He was
not released.
Two weeks
later the Daily
Dot's Claire
Goforth from Florida
published a
story about
Bright's
arrest based
off the
complaint on the
PACER document
system. This
has been picked up, with
and without
more. But why
is there no
document in
PACER about
the proceeding
that was due
on June 6? On
any renewed
bid for bail
by the Federal Defenders,
who since that
as reported by
Inner City
Press got
another accused
pedophile
Byran Pivnick
released?
Inner City Press which first
reported
this case will
continue on
it. Watch this
site, @InnerCityPress
and the new @SDNYLIVE.
See Inner City
Press' May 23
Periscope
round up, at
1:10 on
this pedophile
presentment, here
#Periscope just out of #SDNY after death penalty sought in same room banker Calk released from, Mag Ct madness, UN fails https://t.co/LaV31rIKT5
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 24, 2019
From Inner
City Press'
exclusive May
23 report: "A
dual British -
US citizen
living in
Brooklyn but
reaching out
for underage
sex was
presented, with
his wife in
the courtroom
by that
time only with
Inner City
Press. Federal
Defender Amy
Gallichio
argued that
Peter Bright
should be
released, since
his building
in Brooklyn
has a video
surveillance
system.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 31 – Lenny Oquendo
pled guilty to an
armed stick up of
a Bronx pawn shop before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge James L.
Cott on May
31. Judge Cott
noted that
while the
robbery was on
1 September
2018, the plea
agreement was
dated 20 March
2018, then
(half)
corrected to
20 May, still
2018.
Assistant US
Attorney Kyle
A. Wirshba
genially
apologized. In
the underlying
complaint,
Oquendo and
his
co-defendant
Denise
Sanchez,
represented by
Gary Becker,
are described
as tying the
pawn shop
victim up with
duct tape and
making off
with $2
million in
jewels. That
is crossed out
and,
handwritten
in,
$200,000.
The victim in
fact
recognized
Oquendo and
Sanchez as
having used
the pawn shop
for two years.
On
March 24, AUSA
Wirshba wrote
to District
Judge Paul G.
Gardephe, who
will be doing
the sentencing
at a date yet
to be
determined,
with a stated
mandatory
minimum of 84
months in
prison, to
apologize for
having
"inadvertently
failed to
request that
Mr. Oquendo be
produced for
Monday's
conference."
It's Hobbs Act
robbery and a
comedy, or
tragedy, of
errors. The
case is US v.
Lenny Oquendo,
18-cr-790.
Back
on May 20 when
Frederick Lee Burgos came up
for sentencing he faced a
guideline sentence of 100 to
125 months in prison, and an
additional 120 month mandatory
minimum, as part of a gang
that sold crack in Hunts Point
in The Bronx.
After a
proceeding in which his Jenner
& Block lawyer asked Inner
City Press why it was in the
courtroom, what it's interest
is, Burgos received a sentence
of time served. Then there was
an order to seal the
transcript of the proceeding.
This was in the
courtroom of SDNY
Judge Gregory
Woods, who has
imposed other
sentences in
the wider USA
v. Palermo et
al. case.
On
April 15 Inner
City Press
covered the sentencing
of another
members
of the conspiracy,
Felix Cordero
Senior,
also
described as
low level but who
did not
cooperate, to
120 months:
ten years.
If the goal is
to send
the message
the the U.S.
Attorney's
Office will minimize
the gun-play
and crack
sales of
cooperators,
why seal
the
transcript?
Why try to
pressure the
Press to leave
the courtroom,
or to not
report on it?
By
Matthew Russell Lee, CEFC
Video, Scope
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 24 – The New York State Board of
Elections has been sued for declaring voters
inactive too quickly, without enough notice and
leaving them "relegated to casting an affidavit
ballot." The Board of Elections' response? To
argue that those raising the issue have no
standing.
This argument was made in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
courtroom of
Judge Alison
J. Nathan on
May 24, with
Inner City
Press the only
media in the
courtroom.
Judge Nathan
counseled the
Board of
Elections
three lawyers
to hold off
from motion
practice and
wait for the
bench trial
which she set
for mid
October, with
an eye toward
the NYS
primary among
the Democratic
Party
candidates for
president on
April 28,
2020.
By
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 23 – In the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York's Magistrates Court
in the hours
after banker
Stephen Calk
was freed by
Judge Debra
Freeman on
$5 million
bond with no co-signer,
other
SDNY cases
continued.
A dual British -
US citizen
living in
Brooklyn but
reaching out
for underage
sex was
presented, with
his wife in
the courtroom
by that
time only with
Inner City
Press. Federal
Defender Amy
Gallichio
argued that
Peter Bright
should be
released, since
his building
in Brooklyn
has a video
surveillance
system.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, More on Patreon
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 15 – A taxi driver who pled
guilty to involvement in a narcotics conspiracy
in the Bronx was sentenced on May 15 to time
served,
Then
he had the entire sentencing proceedings
purportedly sealed, to conceal his role as a
cooperating witness.
But the sentencing took place in open court,
before U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Naomi
Reice Buchwald.
And the
cabbie, Roberto
Lizardo,
testified at
trial on
March 23, 2018,
including
about his
cooperation
agreement. Could
this be
retroactively
sealed, too?
Lizardo's
lawyer argued
that his
client may be
subject to a
removal
order to the Dominican
Republic
where, he
said, they do
not like
informants.
Assistant
U.S. Attorney
Nathan Wren said
he and
presumably his
office had no
problem with
sealing
everything. He
said that Lizardo's
cooperation
had not only
help convict Lizardo's
co-defendant Roberto
Arce but had
convinced
Daniel Monsanto Lopez
to not pursue a so-called
Fatico hearing
to try to
to show he is
or was
eligible for a First
Step Act
"safety valve" and
thus a lesser
sentence.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope video
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 6 – On Walton Avenue and 182nd
Street in The Bronx on September 11, 2018
Richard Rolon fired a gun, twice, at a man he
said had threatened his mother. On May 6, Rolon
appeared for sentencing before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Ronnie Abrams, represented not
only by the Federal Defenders
but also Tobias Fischer of
Allen & Overy LLP, argued
for a sentence of 18 months.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope video
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, May 3 – Jordan McDonald came to be
sentenced on May 3 for robbing two businesses in
The Bronx at gun point, a separate case of which
he is already serving 61 months in prison for.
But while in the Metropolitan Correctional
Center he was stabbed, he said in courtroom
otherwise empty but for Inner City Press of U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Laura Taylor Swain.
Troublingly, this being
stabbed while in jail was not
in the Pre Sentencing Report.
While the judge made a point
of adding it, as part of
Paragraph 110, she also said
that the PSR will be sealed.
Could this be called the cover
up of human rights violations,
in this case of a prisoner?
The case is USA v McDonald,
16-cr-00826-LTS-11.
McDonald's father was a drug
addict often in jail; his
mother was murdered when he
was a teenager. He has a
daughter he has not met, since
being in jail. He pleaded on
May 3 for a second chance, and
after a time received an
additional 24 months tacked on
to the 61 months he is already
serving.
He asked
that he be allowed to serve it
not close to New York, as so
many in the SDNY request, but
rather at a Federal prison in
Kentucky, where he was been
taking job training for
construction work in concrete.
Judge
Laura Taylor
Swain gave him
best wish and
said,
understandably,
that she hoped
to never see
him again.
Two
days earlier on the other side of Pearl Street
in 40 Foley Square, defendant Jesus Lopez walked
into the SDNY courtroom of Judge Valerie E.
Caproni to be sentenced on May 1 for driving 10
kilograms of cocaine from California to New
York.
He was wearing a suit; he had been allowed out
on bond while awaiting sentencing due to his
mother having Stage Four cancer. Before the
sentencing he uploaded a video directed at Judge
Caproni but still online as of this writing on
Vimeo, here.
The courtroom was full, with two U.S. Marshals
in the back row, and the two front rows, Inner
City Press was later informed by a participant
in the proceeding, filled by judges from China.
Lopez' lawyer Jeff Greco argued in his
sentencing submission for time served,
essentially one month.
But Judge Caproni, after asking Assistant U.S.
Attorney Nathan Rhen why the government wasn't
seeking forfeiture of the truck Lopez used to
drive the drugs - "there's a lot of equity in
there," she said -- looked sternly at Lopez.
Judge Caproni was not impressed by Lopez'
statement that he took drugs because he was
bored, that boredom was one of his triggers. She
said she did not believe that he had only agreed
to drive the drugs in order to feed his own
habit. First she sentenced him to 60 month, five
years, in prison.
Then as the U.S. Marshals rustled in the row
behind Inner City Press, she said she would be
remanding Lopex into custody today. Right now.
Her courtroom deputy handed the Marshals an
order to that effect.
Defense attorney Greco said that Lopez' mother
could die at any time, and that the Bureau of
Prisons would be unlikely to let him out to
attend her funeral. Judge Caproni said there was
no way to know when his mother would die, and
that she had allowed him to remain out on bond
pending sentencing so he could spent time with
her. The Chinese judges sat as Jesus Lopez took
his wallet out of his pants and put his hands
out for shackling.
A well
known courtroom artist in the
SDNY has told Inner City Press
about the time she managed to
sketch a similar remand of a
higher profile defendant,
Bernie Madoff. But there was
no artist
present for the remand of
Jesus Lopez, and cameras are
not allowed - only this
article. The case is U.S.
v. Lopez, part of the
larger conspiracy prosecution
U.S. v. Soto et al.,
18-cr-00282 (Caproni).
Notably
one floor above in 40 Foley
Square, a man who pled guilty
to stealing $7 million in
Medicare and Medicaid fraud
has had his sentencing delayed
for a year already, and
perhaps another year, so that
his wife can finish a medical
residency program. That case
is U.S v. Javed,
16-cr-00601-VSB. Unlike the
unpublicized case of Jesus Lopez, the
Office of the US Attorney for
the SDNY announced the Javed
sentencing to the press (but
not its subsequent deferral).
Click here
for that story.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, Periscope
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 24 – Roberto Sanchez pled
guilty to narcotics offensed in the U.S.
District Court for the Central District of
Pennsylvania in 2017 and was to appeared to
sentenced, with a mandatory five year minimum.
Then he disappeared.
On April 24 he reappeared in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
arraignments
courtroom,
presided over
by this
week by retiring
Magistrate
Judge Henry Pitman.
Unlike
most here,
including
Michael
Avenatti, he
was not asking
for a free
lawyer. His retained
counsel Angelo
Antonio
Castro III
told Judge Pitman
that Sanchez is
supporting
three children
in The Bronx
and had never,
in reality,
fled.
Judge Pitman
said that one
can as surely
flee in a
metropolitan area
as to
Timbuktu, and
that in any
event, remand
to the MCC was
mandatory.
But
Sanchez'
lawyer simply
would not give
up, insisted
first that the
Pennsylvania
plea was been
based on
coersion -
Judge Pitman
said the
warrant was
valid on its
face - then
finally asking
that under
Rule 20 of the
Federal
Rules of Civil
Procedure
the delayed
sentencing now
be moved to
the SDNY.
Chaos ensued.
By
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 18 – A doctor facing
an NYPD parking ticket and reportedly saying
"I'm the hero" back in 2016 resurfaced on Tax
Day 2019 in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York, as a
police
brutality jury
trial. Rachel
Wellner was at
the
plaintiff's
table and NYPD
officer Vega
was on the
stand, getting
asked Didn't
you touch near
her breast?
Wellner was a
breast surgeon
at Montefiore
Hospital in
The Bronx but
got fired
after what the
tabloids
called her
"cop ram"
incident. On
April 18,
Wellner took
the stand and
made a point
of immediately
telling the
jury that she
organized
medical
missions to
Nicaragua and
that along
with his
$450,000
salary at
Montefiore she
was able to be
back with the
Latino
community she
feel in love
with. The
government /
defense did
not object.
Across the
hall an
insider
trading
prosecution
got interesting
- but Inner
City Press
will return to
the Wellner
case.
Back on April
16, the second
day of the
trial, Vega's
partner
Nicolett
Davodian was
on the stand
and her
deposition and
previously
filed reports
were being
used against
her. When did
she start
saying that
Vega's knees
were swollen?
That Wellner
had allegedly
called all
female NYPD
officer a
derogatory
word for
lesbian? And
the now
somewhat
famous, "I'm
the hero, the
cops are not
heroes"? There
were many I
can't recalls.
Coming next is
the two
officers'
supervisor,
who allegedly
reprimanded
Davodian for
gloating to
Wellner upon
subsequent
full arrest,
Are you happy
now you crazy
f*cking b*tch?
Inner City
Press will be
there - watch
this site.
By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 16 – An inmate named Ronald Seaver came to plead guilty to escaping from a Bronx halfway house - for a mental health appointment, no less -- appeared on April 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York courtroom of Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, where earlier this year hedge funder Martin Huberfeld was sentenced. The contrast could hardly be more stark: for this halfway house defendant, later found living on a bench in Penn Station, Inner City Press was the only media present. The accused said "Yes, Your Honor" again and again while rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. He said he had PTSD, depression, ADHD and anxiety. He completed one year at Westmoreland Community College. He has a 28 year old daughter. He had the required pass to leave the Bronx Residential Re-entry Center for a mental health appointment but did not return on time. He faces 15 to 21 months for this; no plea agreement was presented. Inner City Press will continue to cover this case.By
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, April 10 – An ICE officer was bitten
in the Bronx on March 3, it was alleged on April
10 in Courtroom 5A of the
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern District of
New York.
Defendant
Christopher
Santos Felix
was led into the
courtroom
in shackles. He
was asked if
he, like so many
others, waived
the public
reading of the
charges against him.
But he said
no, and so they were
read out.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope
video, II
III
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, March 29 – After a long trial of two
defendants involving the Bronx murders of Alex
Ventura and Aneudis Almonte 22 years ago on 22
December 1997 before U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Kevin
Castel, on March 29 the jury returned nine
guilty verdicts on 12 counts. For Defendant
Robert Acosta it was guilty on Counts 1 through
5 but non guilty on Count 6. For Defendant Jose
Diaz it was non guilty on Counts 1 and 2, but
guilty on Counts three through six. Substantial
jail sentenced will be imposed, and Inner City
Press will be there to report on the sentencing.
The case is United States v. Robert Acosta and
Jose Diaz, 18 Cr. 80 (PKC).
On
March 27 after the jury went into their room,
with marshal in the hall outside, Judge Castel
told the seven lawyers they were all welcome to
come back and appear before him. That would be,
for the government, Laurie Korenbaum, Michael
Krouse and Nicholas Chiuchiolo; for Jose
Diaz, Susan Katherine Marcus and Florian Miedel,
and for Robert Acosta Bruce D. Koffsky and Barry
A. Weinstein.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Photos
By
Matthew Russell Lee
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope
video
NEW
YORK CITY, February 8 – Before Norman Seabrook,
former head of the NYC Corrections Officers
union, was sentenced on February 8 by the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New
York to 58 months in prison, a victim's
statement to the court cited what it called
Seabrook's racist rant on YouTube.
Afterward on Worth Street Inner City Press asked
Seabrook about the YouTube video - actually, an
audio file with an array of still
photographs. Seabrook told Inner City
Press they doctored it to make him look bad. His
(actual) answer on Periscope here
- and here
now audio file on YouTube, here.
In the SDNY courtroom it was cognitive
dissonance: Norman Seabrook who rose from
poverty to head of a union with 10,000 members,
who endorsed Michael Bloomberg; Norman Seabrook
who asked for tens of thousands of dollars to
steer union money into a Cayman Islands hedge
fund which failed.
Prosecutor Martin Bell referred to a Ferragamo
bag visible in Seabrook's house for months. When
Seabrook spoke he said it was a gift with
cigars, taking a cigar out of his suit jacket.
Seabrook's
lawyer Paul Shechtman cited
Seabrook's work on the
so-called feces bill to make
throwing excrement at a
corrections officer a felony.
On the hand Seabrook was
accused of threatening his
board members with returning
to work in a prison as
punishment, and of going after
anyone who dared run against
or otherwise oppose him.
Seabrook felt that it was his
time to get paid, that he was
bigger than the cause he began
fighting for, Bell said.
Shechtman
also spoke after the sentencing. Inner City
Press asked him about Judge
Alvin K.
Hellerstein's
seeming
reversal of an initial position that it would be
hard to leave Seabrook out on bail pending
appeal. Shechtman replied affably that he had to
win something, after the 58 month
sentence. Video
here.
An issue on a appeal will be whether Seabrook's
second jury should have heard about the $19
million loss.
Inner
City Press asked Shechtman about the
restitution, how much would be paid by hedge
funders Murray Huberfeld, Jona Rechnitz
and perhaps (Judge Hellerstein
indicated)
Jeremy Reichberg. Shechtman told Inner City
Press, If Norman wins $19 million in the
lottery, we'll have about that. For now, $2500
is due in 60 days, through the SDNY Clerk, for
the union. We'll have more on this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee
NEW
YORK CITY, February 1 – A Bronx man who pled
guilty to conspiracy leading to the burning down
of a convenience store in the Bronx on 11
September 2016 was sentenced to 28 months in
prison on February 1 by Judge William H. Pauley
III in the US District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
Arson and The Bronx were for a time synonymous,
though few of the perpetrators were caught much
less sentenced. Times have changed. Present at
Friday afternoon's sentencing on the 20th floor
of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse
were only the defendant Richard Sanchez and his
lawyer, a lone prosecutor, three family members
and Inner City Press. Yet the tale was
heartbreaking, in its way.
Sanchez' lawyer Patrick Brackley recounted that
he had prior run-ins with the law, citing an
incident with a dirt bike. But, he said, Sanchez
had used his time out free on bail to re-build
his life. Sanchez himself read what he called an
open letter to Judge Pawley, speaking about his
ten year old daughter, a business he was
starting and his brand.
Judge Pauley said he took note of these but
found it inexplicable that someone would, for
$500, agree to find people to burn down a store
in their own neighborhood. Sanchez was
contracted by the owner of one deli to burn
down a nearly-open competitor; both stores
were across the street from where Sanchez lived.
Judge Pauley told Sanchez he was lucky no one
had been injured or killed, alluding to the
felony murder rule which would have held Sanchez
liable.
While the prosecution via Assistant U.S.
Attorney Adam S. Hobson sought a sentence of
from 46 to 57 months, Pauley imposed 28 months
in prison to be followed by three years of
supervised release, at a prison as near to New
York City as possible.
Restitution of $50,000 was ordered, and the same
standard $100 mandatory special assessment that
SDNY Judge Edgar Ramos had imposed the day
before on former NYPD Lieutenant Paul Dean for
his admitted role in gun permits for cash scam
(see Inner City Press' story here).
That sentencing drew a gaggle; that of Richard
Sanchez for his role in the arson of a store in
the Bronx did not. Pauley said to his mostly
empty courtroom, The public must understand that
people can't be going around burning down stores
in their own neighborhood.
The
case: United States v. Richard Sanchez,
18 Cr. 26 (WHP)
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
CJR Letter
PFT
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, January 25 – When Amazon scheduled a
screeing of its Amazon Studios' movie "Beautiful Boy"
with Steve Carell on January 23, Inner City Press was
invited and was told to come pick up its ticket in a
United Nations Development Program building before six
pm. It arrived and a handler in a black suit confirmed
Inner City Press was on the list - but said that the
actual ticket couldn't be found. Another Amazon
production rep same and said "UN Security" was behind
the disappearance of the ticket. Then Security grabbed
Inner City Press' phone to stop it from
live-streaming (to not give in to censorship,
interviews continued outside.)
Now
on January 25, YouTube has reversed its
seemingly automatic de-monetization of Inner
City Press' video of the UN guard grabbing
its
phone to stop filming: "Hi Inner
City Press, Great news! After
manually reviewing your video,
we’ve determined that it is
suitable for all
advertisers: "Amazon
Bans Press From Beautiful Boy
Screening in UN Has Guard Grab
Phone To Stop Recording"
Thanks,
The YouTube team." So
which were the advertisers it
was not, initially and automatically, appropriate for -
Guterres'
Gulbenkian
Foundation?
CEFC China
Energy? Then
there's the longer video
of interviews of attendees ("What
do you think of the UN?" "Not
much") here.
On
January 24 Inner City Press in writing
asked UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, his Under SG for Global
Communications Alison Smale,
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq and lead
spokesman
Stephane Dujarric
some questions, including:
"January 24-2: On last night's
Amazon Studios film screening that
you promoted in yesterday's
briefing, please immediately state
who in the UN approved the use of
UN premises for a for-profit
company's for-profit film, any and
all transfers of funds in
connection with the event, the
basis on which despite an accepted
invitation Inner City Press are
barred from the screening, and the
specifics of the security in the
lobby of DC1, one of whom grabbed
Inner City Press' phone and
stopped it from filming. Are these
guards employed by the UN? Are
they trained by the UN, since they
are the face of the UN / UNDP
there? Do they have immunity? On
deadline."
But three hours later there
were no answers at
all. The UN has
become entire
corrupt, roughing
up and censoring
journalists and
refusing to answer
Press questions about
it. Today's
UN should
not be partnered
with,
particular by
those claiming
to care about
freedom of the
press and of
expression.
Inner City Press
asked the basis, noting that Amazon and Jeff Bezos
either shouldn't be involved in censorship or should at
least explain it. The Amazon rep went out on the
sidewalk to make a call; the rep in the black suit
whispered to others that Inner City Press had started
recording, which it had, openly.
Other tickets were given
out, including to people not on the list, to one
Elizabeth Dujarric, to another UN correspondent. Finally
the Amazon rep came in front the sidewalk and said she
had nothing to add, no
explanation.
A guard came over
and grabbed Inner City Press' phone, stopping it from
filming, turning it dark. Who do you work for, I asked.
The guard refused to answer. Video here.
Another blue shirted UN Department of Safety and
Security officer refused to answer if those guarding
UNDP work for the UN, or some outside firm. The handlers
came over, once the camera had been stopped by the
guard, to insist they were not from Amazon but Amazon's
production company. Is that better?
By
Matthew R. Lee, Video,
story,
FOIA
docs
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A
UNITED NATIONS GATE, January 9 – How arrogant is the UN, when it comes to Haiti like as to Cameroon and elsewhere? Just as the UN of Antonio Guterres didn't even send anyone one to the SDNY Federal court in December to monitor the UN bribery trial of Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee, now it seems the UN has no monitor or response when in the case challenging the impending end of Temporary Protected Status in the US for Haitians - even as the judge in the case on January 8 referred to Haiti cholera "exacerbated by if not introduced by UN peacekeepers." [h/t Beatrice Lindstrom of IJDH.] When Haiti's President Jovenel Moďse spoke in the UN General Assembly on September 27 he referred clearly to "le cholera introduit par la MINUSTAH" - the cholera introduced by MINUSTAH, the UN Mission in Haiti, here. But when the UN of Antonio Guterres put on its website a purported summary of Moise's speech, it contained no mention at all of cholera, here. Why not? This week in Federal court in Brooklyn there is the continuation of a case - the trial began January 7 - charging Donald Trump and DHS with not only arbitrarily ending TPS status for Haitian - but also being motivated by racism. The UN of course can't be charged - only before they assert total immunity and impunity. Call it the ultimate white-wash under Guterres, who has also banned from UNGA, and from the UN as a whole apparently for life, Inner City Press which accompanied and covered the UN Security Council's most recent trip to Haiti and interviewed some of the many victims of the UN. Inner City Press emphasized Guterres' failure on accountability for bringing cholera to Haiti to the Sept 23 New York Post, here. January 7, 2019By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
I II
III
RS
HK
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
I II
III
RS
HK
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post
UNITED NATIONS, December 11 – The UN under Antonio Guterres has a non-public "BARRED" list which includes political activists, according to Guterres' own UN Security, audio link below. But when Inner City Press whom Guterres put on the list for asking him about corruption submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the NYC Police Department, NYPD first called UN Security insider Matthew Sullivan, then claimed they have no records or information. This is a scam. Inner City Press submitted an appeal, below. And on December 10 the NYPD replied, repeating exactly what the UN's Sullivan said: "Upon conferral with the NYPD Intelligence Division, it was confirmed by UN security that the list of “banned” individuals to which you refer in your request is an internal UN record that is not shared with this agency." But the rest of the response show how in bad faith the initial claim of no responsive documents was: "As it pertains to your request for records related to the “review, suspension or revocation of pistol permits for UN personnel”, the appeal is denied, first, because the records that you have described are exempt from disclosure under FOIL law; first, in that they are inter-agency or intra- agency records that do not contain: i.) statistical or factual tabulations or data; ii). instructions to staff that affect the public; iii.) final agency policy or determinations; or, iv.) external audits [Public Officers Law §87(2)(g)]. Additionally, the disclosure of any records related to the “review, suspension or revocation” of a firearms license would reveal non-routine criminal investigative techniques or procedures [§87(2)(e)(iv)]; would constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the license-holder(s) [§87(2)(b)]; and could endanger the life or safety of that person [§87(2)(f)]."
But that means they HAVE responsive records, but
are seeking to withhold all of them. To say, No
records, is in bad faith. The NYPD ended, for
now "Finally, to the extent that you seek
information related to the Complaint Report
filed with the 17th Precinct on July 4, 2018,
enclosed herein please find the requested
Complaint Report." On December 11 Inner City
Press wrote again to NYPD and New York
authorities: " This
concerns NYPD's December 10 response “denying”
Inner City Press' and my appeal under FOIL of
the NYPD's 4 December 2018 denial of my FOIL
request acknowledged 15 October 2018 and quoted
below, which was submitted on behalf of Inner
City Press and in my personal capacity.
I am concerned that while the FOIL
request was initially denied with the statement
“The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has
closed your FOIL request FOIL-2018-056-10172 for
the following reasons: In regard to the
document(s) which you requested, this unit is
unable to locate records responsive to your
request based on the information you provided.”
But now it turns out that wasn't true.
For example, the NYPD *does* have records
concerning the pistol permits of and
disciplining of UN Security personnel - it's
that, on appeal, you've come up with an argument
that you think it can be withheld.
This should have been disclosed in the
already delayed Dec 4 response. Now you leave no
opportunity for an administrative appeal of the
total withholding. The normal decision then
decision on appeal process allows requesters to
pursue their rights before having to resort to
expensive litigation.
So this is a request for a COOG advisory
opinion on the now dubious Dec 4 denial stating
there are no records. Even on the UN's barred
list and any NYPD records related thereto, the
fact that NYPD called the UN about it calls into
question whether NYPD has no records. The
argument that they are records of another agency
or organization is a different argument.
Also, NYPD had the complaint information - with
the name of the harasser mis-spelled. (It is
Ronald E. Dobbins, not "Dobbing"). So why was I
told, there are no record?
Please explain, confirm that
a substantive administrative appeal can be
filed. And we will separately await an advisory
opinion from the COOG so that does not keep
happening. We want the requested records and the
NYPD should not be protecting or running
interference for the UN." We'll have more on
this - the UN scam continues - as Guterres BARS
Inner City Press in retaliation and to cover up
his corruption. This was the appeal: "To
NYPD's FOIL Appeals Officer, and NYS Committee
on Open Government, et al:
This is an appeal under FOIL of the NYPD's 4
December 2018 denial of my FOIL request
acknowledged 15 October 2018 and quoted below,
on behalf of Inner City Press and in my personal
capacity.
In short, I believe the NYPD's denial is not
only erroneous but is in bad faith in its claim
the NYPD is “unable to locate records responsive
to your request.”
The request involved not only the processing of
a complaint I filed against abuse and harassment
by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and others
with the 17th Precinct on 3 July 2018 (report
number #2018-017-2848) but also NYPD record
about the pistol permits of UN Security officers
and knowledge of the UN's “barred” list which
includes, according to the UN, “political
activists” - and me, confirmed by UN Office of
the High Commissioner of Human Rights email to
me also pasted below and made part of this
appeal.
Most troubling, and the reason for the cc, UN
Security official Matthew Sullivan told me on
camera on October 24, nine days after my FOIL
request to the NYPD, that “NYPD called us, we
called them also. 'Cuz it's an internal
document.” See, from Minute 8:34, this
video.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
I II
III
RS
HK
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
I II
III
RS
HK
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Q&A, NY Post
UNITED
NATIONS GATE, NOVEMBER 19 -- As Inner City
Press moved forward with its investigative
reporting about the UN including its
Secretary General Antonio Guterres, his
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on 20 June 2018 said
that “things will soon be getting worse” for
Inner City Press' reporter. Inner City Press has
now been banned from the UN for 138 days and
Dujarric is providing his and his boss' pretext,
as purported background, to some of those asking
questions, at least if they come from Europe,
see below. But on November 19 Dujarric's former
boss at UNDP Helen Clark, answering Inner City
Press' question across First Avenue from the UN,
pointedly called out "the exclusion of
journalists across the road." Vine;
longer version here.
One might think this would be jarring for
Dujarric. One might question if ANY of the other
candidates for Secretary General would have been
the censor Guterres has been for 138 days,
enabled by Dujarric. Inner City Press at noon on
November 19, before questioning Clark, asked in
writing Guterres and Dujarric: "Now that the
Trump Administration has given CNN time (44
hours) to response to their re-suspension,
please explain why the UN did not nad has not
provided even that amount of time or due process
- and immediately provide it, readmitting Inner
City Press in the interim to the noon briefing
and SG and GA proceedings.
More specifically, please immediately explain
how Mr. Dujarric's statement that “press
credentials to work at the UN, just like any
other institution, is a 'privilege'” is
different in any way that the position taken by
the Trump Administration in response to the CNN
lawsuit. Now that the Federal judiciary has
ruled that access to the White House is not, as
OSSG Dujarric has claimed, a privilege but a
right, this is a FORMAL REQUEST THAT THE SG LIFT
MIS-USED LEGAL IMMUNITY IN THIS CASE." Eight
hours later, no answer to this or any other
question submitted, on DRC, Cameroon, Mali.
Guterres' UN is corrupt, and Dujarric is a
corrupter. We'll have more on this.
The
pretexts of Dujarric for Guterres are lies - now
that they are becoming public, the ban is more
disgusting and should be UNtenable.
Two days after Dujarric's threat this reporter was pushed out of the General Assembly lobby during a speech by Guterres by UN Security Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, who did it again more violently on July 3. Since then Inner City Press has been banned from entering the UN, and Guterres even tried to get Inner City Press ousted from Park East Synagogue twenty blocks north of the UN on October 31.
As many online have questioned this no due
process ouster, including from Cameroon,
Japan,
the UK,
Italy
and other places in Europe, we can now report
that Dujarric while refusing to answer Inner
City Press' and a UN
Expert's written questions about how to
appeal this lifetime ban has reached out to try
to quiet some critics.
Tellingly,
while he has entirely ignored for example
Anglophone Cameroonian critics regardless of how
polite or articulate they are, or how many
social media followers they have, Dujarric has
reached out to European critics. What does he
tell them?
To give the UN its best chance, Inner City Press
on the morning of November 8 emailed questions
to Guterres, his Deputy Amina Mohammed, Alison
Smale, Dujarric and his Deputy Farhan Haq
including: "November 8-2: I am informed that the
SG's spokesman has selectively contacted those
(from Europe) raising questions about the UN 3
July 2018 Press ouster and ban since, including
stating that unnamed UN staff members or
officials demand a lifetime ban in order to feel
“safe.” Given the lack of due process, please
name which officials or safe claim to feel
unsafe in order to justify censorship, and the
basis for your claims. Also, again, answer UNSR
David Kaye's and others' question: what is the
appeals process for a unilateral no due process
physical ouster and banning by the UN of a
journalist?" But seven hour later, no answer to
any of the questions.
So, for now due to the UN's constant threat of
retaliation even against those it has
unilaterally chosen to reach out to with dirt
that cannot stand the light of day, this is a
composite:
Dujarric
claims that Inner City Press made "diplomats"
feel unsafe. But he has yet to provide the name
of a single diplomat, other than the false
Morocco Mission complaint in USG Alison Smale's
17 August 2018 ban letter.
Dujarric
claims that his staff didn't like having the
movement reported on. This seems to refer to
Inner City Press, once it had no office to use,
working on a bench in the Secretariat lobby and
noting when spokespeople who refused to even
acknowledge formal questions went out to lunch.
This is not a basis to ban a journalist for
life.
Dujarric
goes low and says that unnamed female reporters
didn't want to see Inner City Press doing
stand-up Periscope broadcasts. But the purpose
of these -- filming on the fourth floor was
permitted without an escort, Inner City Press
was told by Media Accreditation -- was to show
EMPTY offices, for example Morocco state media,
while Inner City Press had nowhere to work. In
fact, Inner City Press went out of its way not
to speak with or engage in any way with
Dujarric's coterie of pro UN correspondents -
that why it left the building after work through
the garage, which was later used against it.
There is more, and we will have more. But it is
clear these are pretexts. And even if Antonio
"The Censor" Guterres, who believes it is
impermissible for a journalist to do a critical
stand up on the public sidewalk across two lanes
of traffic from the $15 million publicly funded
mansion he (sometimes) lives in believes these
pretexts, an interim solution was and is clear.
Simply
allow Inner City Press in to go to the noon
briefing and asked question - unless that is
what they are afraid of - and to cover UNSC
stakeouts and Budget Committee meetings. It is
pathetic that a UN and Secretary General that be
focused on "conflict prevention" can't find a
solution other than violent ouster and banning
for a critical journalist. We'll have more on
this.
This is how any dictatorship would try to justifying physically assaulting and banning a reporter - say that the journalist's reporting made unnamed people feel unsafe in unspecified ways.
Yes, Inner City Press named UN officials who took money from now convicted briber Ng Lap Seng, including to provide Ng with falsified General Assembly documents. Is it legitimate for Guterres' UN to oust and ban a media for making briber-takers feel unsafe? There are others: the Patrick Ho trial starts this week.By
Matthew R. Lee, Video,
story,
FOIA
docs
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Audio,
Video,
Alamy
photos
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A
UNITED
NATIONS, October 26 – There is in The Bronx an
exhibition of photographs from Liberia by two
martyred journalists, Tim Hetherington and Chris
Hondros. Inner City Press went to see it - and
an exhibition opening speech by senior UN
official Amina J. Mohammed. Video here.
This is, therefore, a hybrid review - but we'll
start with the photographs. They are stunning.
Child soldiers, internally displaced people in a
former Masonic Lodge in Monrovia, US Marines
guarding the port.
Any
positive UN role at the time of the photographs
is harder to find. But people assume that the UN
is good, or project on it all of their good
feeling. And so Deputy Secretary General
Mohammed, arriving characteristically later
accompanied by unneeded security guards
whispering into microphones that a question
might be asked - was the keynote speaker,
pitching her Nigerian government's role in all
these West African conflicts. But what about
Biafra? What about Mohammed herself remaining
silent less than a year ago about her Nigerian
government illegally
detained and sent to Cameroon
UN-registered refugees, Ayuk Tabe and 46 others?
This was beyond the scope of the (excellent)
exhibit.
In full disclosure, Inner City Press has in the past known the organizer, Michael Kamber, when he photographed the Inner City Press homesteaders fixing abandoned buildings in the Crotona Park East area of the South Bronx for the now defunct Village Voice. Inner City Press made point of telling him afterward, I'm going to praise the exhibit but tell the truth about the UN. He said he understood, that is Inner City Press' way. And so:
In 2017 it emerged that Amina Mohammed, just
before she left her position as Nigeria's
Minster of Environment, signed thousands of back
date certificates for illegally
exported rosewood sent to China from
Nigeria and Cameroon. Inner City Press, then in
the UN, sought to question her about it. Soon
Inner City Press was roughed up by UN Security
and thrown out onto First Avenue on 3 July 2018,
video here,
and banned
since.
In fact the UN of Mohammed and SG Antonio
Guterres who nominated her - and whose son Pedro
does UNdisclosed
business in Angola, Namibia, Sao Tome and
Cabo Verde - have a secret
banned from the UN list, on which they
have put Inner City Press amid its questions,
and which their Security official Matthew
Sullivan is telling
NYPD not to disclose. No self respecting
Bronxite would put up with such a scam, and
Inner City Press is not different. As we told
Amina Mohammed as she fast-toured the exhibition
after her speech, the UN should belatedly take
action on the slaughter of Anglophones in
Cameroon, and UN Censorship must end. She could
end it - but will she? The request is in. These
questions might seem aggressive. But that is
journalism. The UN cannot be allowed to rough up
and ban the Press that asks the questions.
There was a speaker from the Office of the Mayor
- which, when Inner City Press asked under the
Freedom of Information Law for its knowledge of
the UN's secret banned list which includes "political
activists" conferred with the UN and then
seeks to delay
response to 2019.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Audio
UNITED
NATIONS, October 11 – The UN maintains a secret
list of people banned from entering its
premises. Even the Security officers who enforce
the ban are not told the reason why a person is
on the list: whether it was for actual violence,
or writing articles questioning the Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' misuse
of public funds, for example. One told Inner
City Press the secret list includes
"demonstrators" and "political activists," audio
here.
Guterres or apparently his head of Global Communications Alison Smale, if only as a proxy, can put a journalist on the list without any review, any notice, any appeal. It is a dictator's dream come true.
Inner City Press was physically ousted twice by Guterres' UN Security this summer as it reported on his now-15 flights to his home in Lisbon with public funds, his trading away of Cameroon human rights abuses for favors in the Budget Committee, and now his son Pedro's undisclosed business links in Africa. Smale on August 17, without once speaking to me covering the UN for Inner City Press for 11 years, withdrew my media accreditation.
But it's gone further than that. For example, on October 11 I showed up for a film screening about sex trafficking, “Love Sonia,” to which I had been invited by the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes. UNODC's New York director personally put me on the list for a post screening reception and came and met me and took me to the UN gate to sign me in, since my ticket - which she said she'd seen - mysteriously disappeared.
UN Security refused to allow the NY director of
UNODC to sign me in. “Even if he had a ticket
we'd have to check,” one officer said. I was
told that a supervisor would come out, and that
UNODC would speak to them. But after one hour it
never happened. Guterres' chief of staff Maria
Luiza Viotti left the building and I audibly
told her, I'm invited but I'm being blocked. She
did not even break stride.
The UN has given me nothing in writing that I am
banned. Guterres' spokesman has stated it as a
fact, without explanation or rationale, on October 9
and 11, while refusing to answer my e-mailed
questions despite Smale's promise they would be
answered to supposedly respect my "journalistic
endeavours."
Another UN Security officer told me, No one is
going to help you. You are on the list. I asked
him, who else is on the list? He mentioned
“demonstrators” and "political activists" and
others. Audio here.
Tellingly, NOT on Guterres' banned list are
those who pleaded guilty to UN bribery for example
in the Ng Lap Seng - John Ashe case. They are
not banned by Guterres, UNlike the journalist
who most closely covered those convictions, and
the current
UN bribery case of Patrick Ho and the China
Energy Fund Committee. Guterres is fine with
bribery, but bans those who investigate and
expose it.
UNSG Guterres thinks he can ban people without no notice, no due process, no review? And that it won't be noticed or reviewed? Watch this site.
October 8, 2018By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Q&A,
HK here
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFTracker
UNITED NATIONS GATE, September 17 – How arrogant and counter-factual a self-styled world leader is has been revealed in the Leader's contemptuous approach to freedom of the press and whose who even gently chide him on it, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner. No, this is not a reference to Donald Trump, but to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. On August 27 Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric answered a question on camera about Guterres banning of Inner City Press by saying that "the revocation of Mr. Lee's credential has to do with creating a hostile environment for diplomats." Vine video with over 1270 views here. But on September 17 Dujarric after trying to avoid or intimidate a question on the same topic said that the decision was by Guterres' Secretariat "without any input from any member state." Video here. So how did Guterres and Smale "know" that diplomats felt a hostile environment? Or was it Guterres who didn't like questions and coverage about his mis use of public funds for junkets to Lisbon, his silence on the slaughter in Cameroon and his son's now exposed business links in Africa? Someone is lying. We'll have more on this. The Nobel Peace Prize winner who has sought the reversal of Guterres' outrageous 56 day and counting ban on Inner City Press even entering the UN is Jose Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, still serving Guterres' UN, who told Inner City Press on August 27, "Dear Matthew I did reach the very inner sanctum of the UN system reporting on your case to no avail. Apologies but I don't know what else I can do." Later on August 27 an independent journalist asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric why things are not fixed with Inner City Press' access, since it "looks bad" given other attacks on press freedom. Video here. Dujarric tried to cut the journlist off, insisting to say this is about freedom of the press would be wrong. (Then why is it in the Press Freedom Tracker, here, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among others for example in the UK, Japan, Italy and Cameroon?) Dujarric changed the earlier reference to Inner City Press being in a "garage ramp" - something Guterres' Grand Inquisitor Alison Smale never asked Inner City Press about - to being in the "parking lot." (Inner City Press' pass worked to get there, many use it as a way to exit, and several senior UN official, anti-Guterres sources of Inner City Press ask to meet it and give it documents there. Maybe that's the reason.) Dujarric then said that Inner City Press creates a "hostile environment" for the diplomats, some times correspondents and always UN officials it covers. Seems clear the ban is entirely about freedom of the Press, freedom to question, and a Secretary General and vindictive team of holdovers who seek to retaliate against questions and coverage, including live streamed covering, with a lifetime ban with no appeal. Here is an example of Inner City Press' August 28 questioning at the Delegates Entrance, since Guterres and Alison Smale have banned it from the Security Council stakeout. Is this hostile? Would Guterres, former NYT bureau chief Smale and former former Dujarric like to write Inner City Press' questions? Its articles? Perhaps to omit all refernce to Cameroon and what Guterres did and didn't do?September 17, 2018By
Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFTracker Scope
UNITED
NATIONS, September 14 – In US politics, the
upset in June by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Joe
Crowley for a House of Representatives seat in
The Bronx and bits of Queens sent many to
Wikipedia or Google to look up “Democratic
Socialism.” On September 13 Ocasio-Cortez
campaigned in The Bronx at least in some places
for and with Alessandra Biaggi, taking on Jeff
Klein for a State Senate.A flier supporting her
said "Klein Vendio a los Neoyorquinos" on the
"Ley de Votcion Temprana." Inner City Press,
banned by the UN for the 72d day in a row, went
to the Bronx intersection of Pelham Parkway and
White Plains Road to cover Biaggi's campaigning,
video here.
And hours later Biaggi declared victory, 55-45,
at the Bronx Ale House. She said, “This is
because of every single one of you who were
courageous, who saw a vision as well, who knew
that we could not tolerate Democrats who would
be empowering Republicans, that that was
intolerable,” she said. “And we have now cut the
head off the IDC snake.” Klein spent over $2
million in the race, while Biaggi had spent only
$244,000 through the end of August, pursuant to
state Board of Elections campaign finance
disclosures.
Earlier, Ocasio-Cortez' press list was told to expect her at Pelham Parkway between 4:30 and 5 pm. Inner City Press went, banned from the UN now for the 72d day in a row for covering the corruption on Cameroon and elsewhere of Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Up on under the El train on White Plains Road the reviews of the UN and also the US Mission to the UN weren't very positive. But where was Ocasio-Cortez?
Biaggi's volunteers handed out her laminated
flier at the stairs up to the 2 and 5 train
tracks. A couple arrived in a car with a small
sound system. But still no Ocasio-Cortez.
Finally Biaggi appears, speaking with people on
the sidewalk and heading south toward Lydig
Avenue.
Inner
City Press did too, launching the Periscope live-stream
which the UN cited in banning it for life, and
on which the US Mission's Nikki
Haley, a one time governor of South
Carolina and seeming to want more, refuses
to answer.
One hopes those who now represent not only this
district but areas like it can push to get from
the UN less corruption, or at least an end to
censorship. Politics retail and wholesale,
immunity by the pound. At Tacos El Bronco II
they serve them for two dollars, with big green
onions. They get this reporter's vote. Watch
this site
This
was Ocasio-Cortez' schedule:
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Letter
PFT Q&A Haley
UNITED
NATIONS GATE, September 6 – How arrogant or out
of touch a self-styled world leader is has been
revealed in the Leader's contemptuous approach
to freedom of the press and whose who even
gently chide him on it, including a Nobel Peace
Prize winner. No, this is not a reference to
Donald Trump, but to UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, including as represented by
his Franco-American spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
And now Inner City Press is told that Guterres
is cynically trying to recast his 65 days of censorship
as being based on a request FROM the Trump
Administration, or at least Trump's UN Mission
to the UN and its ally, the UK. A UN
Correspondent who sought as many
have to get the ban on Inner City Press lifted
at least from the upcoming General Assembly week
has said, in writing: "I spoke with Stephane the
other day and unfortunately your situation
remains unchanged. The case against you is based
on complaints from the US & UK Missions... I
have tried to get you a waiver for the UNGA week
but Security remains firm in their refusal." So,
the answer is that Guterres ban on Inner City
Press -- which began on July 3 right after I
spoke with Cameroon's Ambassador -- is now based
on questions I have asked the US Mission's
Deputy Ambassadors including Jonathan Cohen and
UK Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen at the
Delegates' Entrance AFTER I was already banned.
There was also serial questioning of Guterres
and UK Permanent Representative Karen Pierce in
front of IPI on July 20, Periscope video here.
In fact, all of my questioning of the US and UK
Missions, and all other Mission, is online on
Periscope, full archive here.
It is no different that the questions hurled at
Trump. But there, the First Amendment applies.
At the UN, it seems, an already censoring
Secretary General can claim to get subsequent
support from... Trump and his Mission. See 6 September
2018 question put to US
Ambassador Nikki Haley, here.
Inner
City Press had already submitted a Freedom of
Information Act request to the UK
government, after statements by UN (British)
Under Secretary General Alison Smale. Now today
a US FOIA request has been filed to the US State
Department in Washington:
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, CJR Letter
PFT, Video
UNITED
NATIONS GATE, August 31 – Before Inner City
Press was roughed up by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' Security on June 22
and July
3, 2018 and under a ban on entry since
then, made "permanent" by Guterres head of
Global Communications or censorship Alison Smale
on August 17, it insistently asked about
Guterres' conflicts of interest, for example
with murderous
Cameroon chairing the UN Budget Committee where
Guterres sought support or with the business
interests of his family, as for disclosure of
how many of Guterres' publicly funded trip took
him through his real home, Lisbon. (The answer,
with no UN help, is at least 14.) Now on August
31 Inner City Press has been informed of some of
the intentional mis-information Guterres and
Smale are trying to use to justify their
censorship of the critical Press. Two senior UN
officials who are privately outraged at what
Guterres is doing, one calling Guterres
"arrogant" and the other "abusive," both recount
hat supporters of Guterres are spreading
the rumor that Inner City Press "went to the
apartment of Alison Smale and shouted at her."
We've heard that from others as well. It is an
outright lie, not nearly the first by the team
of Guterres, Smale and Dujaric. First, Inner
City Press doesn't even know, or want to know,
where Smale lives. Second, while Inner City
Press several times tried to explain to Smale
that her total failure to implement content
neutral accreditation and access rules (and
rather hob-nobbing with now retired
correspondents of or before her era) would lead
and has led to shameful censorship, Inner City
Press never raised its voice, even when at the
Russian Mission to the UN Smale's pianist
husband Sergei Dreznin told Inner City Press it
would always be targeted until it wore a suit.
(For now, he will presumably have access during
GA week to the UN, where he played
back up piano, while Guterres through Smale bans
Inner City Press which actually covers the UN,
Yemen, Myanmar and (Guterres wishes it wasn't
so) Cameroon.. So the UN of Smale and Guterres,
now on his way to China after refusing to answer
why Inner City Press is banned, is powered by
lies - is it any wonder that no conflicts have
been prevented? In fact, Guterres poured gas on
Biya's killings in Cameroon, staying quiet for
his reasons(s) and sending the envoy Francois
Lounceny Fall who equated separatists with
extremists? We'll have more on this. Despite
Smale's assuarces, Inner City Press' questions
are not
being answered by Spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
and Guterres has had Inner City Press banned
from the UN for life, by his Global Communicator
Alison Smale who has failed
to make even the minimal public financial
disclosure called for under Guterres'
predecessor Ban Ki-moon. Guterres' forms do not
include the business interests of his direct
children - but they should, see below.
On
August 31, the 59th day Inner City Press has
been banned from the UN by Guterres, there was
nothing listed on Guterres' schedule until 4:30
pm: grip and grin photo op with the new
Ambassadors on Armenia, Costa Rica, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Sidhartha Francisco Marin Aráuz
of Nicaragua. But at 1:10 pm some of Guterres
many guards -- one, Lt Ronald E Dobbins, twice
roughed up Inner City Press on June 22 (which
Inner City Press wrote to Guterres about on June
25) and more so on July 3 - showed up telling
other cars including diplomats' cars where they
could and couldn't park on 46th Street. Soon
fully three black 4x4s pulled up in front of the
restaurant Aretsky's Patroon, which recently
hosted Hillary Clinton. Out stepped Guterres and
UN President of the General Assembly Miroslav
Lajcak, who disclosed
a 1:15 pm appointment with Guterres. First
(silent) video here.
An hour and a half later, Guterres emerged with
his chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti and with
Miguel Graca. Inner City Press asked, calmly but
audibly, why Guterres is banning it from
entering to cover the General Assembly Week,
which is has covered for 11 years, about what he
has (not) done on Cameroon and on conflicts of
interest related to his son's business links,
first reported by Inner City Press. As is the
Guterres way, he got into his limosine. Video here.
By contrast the President of the General
Assembly Miroslav Lajcak listened when Inner
City Press asked about access to the GA and
seemed... well, we'll see and report.
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFTracker
UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 24 – After having covered the UN since 2005 for Inner City Press, and pursued stories of UN under-performance from Sri Lanka to Darfur and Haiti to Yemen and most recently Secretary General Antonio Guterres' failure and conflict of interest on Cameroon, at 4 pm on Friday August 17 I got a four page letter from Under Secretary General Alison Smale, formerly the New York Times' Berlin bureau chief. We've put the letter on Scribd here, Patreon download here.
The letter
informed me, without a
single opportunity to
be heard and offer
rebuttal, that “your
accreditation is
hereby withdrawn
pursuant to the
Guidelines.” It cited
what
it called three
previous warnings.
But on further
inspection there
is no there,
there. See
below. It also
claimed that
Guterres'
spokesmen
would answer
Inner City
Press' e-mailed
questions. But
this it
false. Of the
fourteen
question Inner
City
Press e-mailed
to them,
and Smale,
and Deputy
SG Amina
J. Mohammed
and others on
August 23 and
24, not one
was answered.
Not one.
Including:
"August 24-3:
Given that
Deputy
Spokesman Haq
told
IPS “we
respect his
press rights,
but we also
want to
respect
other’s press
rights. And
some
journalists
feel their
press rights
have been
impeded by his
actions” -
state, since
this is the
basis of me
being banned,
who these are,
and how they
feel their
press rights
have been
impeded by my
actions. Also
all video and
other evidence
that Haq
alluded to to
IPS should be
produced,
today, since
it is the
basis of my
being banned."
Nothing has
been provided,
eight
hours later, by Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric who was
drawing pay all
day
after having
essentially
ordered or
passed on from his
boss the
order to rough up
Inner
City Press.
From the IPS
article: "Lee
has been known
for asking
thought-provoking
questions
during daily
briefings and
at press
stakeouts. He
has reported
on global
conflicts such
as those in
Sri Lanka,
Congo,
Somalia, and
others... However,
the incidents
with Lee
started back
in 2012, when
he was warned
by the DPI to
treat his
fellow
journalists
with respect."
That's not the
case. In 2012, the
President of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
Giampaolo
Pioli, who had
rented one
of him Manhattan
apartments
to one Palitha
Kahona then unilaterally
granted his
request or
demand for an
UNCA screening
of the war
crimes denial
film of the Sri Lanka
government he
represented at
the UN,
ordered Inner
City Press to
remove from the
Internet its
article about
the conflict
of interest.
Inner City Press
declined but offered
to publish any
response, at any
length. Pioli
and the UNCA
board demanded
removal of the
article, and
ultimately
Inner City Press quit UNCA
and
co-founded
FUNCA, the
Free UN Coalition for
Access. The UN claimed it
was uninvolved
- instead,
then head of
Accreditation
Stephane
Dujarric tried
to condition
Inner City Press'
re-accreditation as a
resident
correspondent
on more
positive
coverage of
the Secretariat,
specifically
his fellow Frenchman
Herve
Ladsous, the
head of Peacekeeping who
famously said peacekeepers
would rape less
if they had
more
"R&R." So
from 2012 it
was the UN
trying to
strong arm
positive
coverage of
its officials,
and using the aura of
"other correspondents"
in UNCA as the
leverage -
making UN the
UN Censorship
Alliance.
The article
continues:
"wo years ago,
things
changed: he
was in an
interpreter’s
booth
recording a
closed-door
meeting of UN
correspondents,
without their
consent. Then,
DPI’s Media
and Liaison
Unit (MALU)
made the
decision to
downgrade his
accreditation
from “resident
correspondent”
to
“non-resident
correspondent”,
which means he
was deprived
of his own
office space,
barred from
going to the
UN on weekends
and prevented
from staying
late hours and
restricted
from some
areas in the
building. Although
Lee believes
this was
“bogus reason”
for the
treatment he
received,
Farhan Haq,
Deputy
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary
General, told
IPS: 'Matthew
has come up
with his own
version on his
website. But
in that case I
know to be
true what I
saw with my
eyes.'"
What the IPS
article -
which we are appreciative of,
including
for getting these
quotes -
omits is that this
supposedly
closed meeting
was in the UN Press
Briefing Room,
open to all
journalists.
And Haq, when he
followed Dujarric
in, reflexively
took the side
of the UN
Censorship
Alliance, saying
of Inner City
Press,
"He lies a lot."
Video here.
Is that
appropriate,
under Smale's
rules of
procedure?
IPS continues,
" It seemed
that the
change in his
accreditation
pass had no
effect. “After
that, the
problems with
his behavior
did not
subside”, said
Haq.
[That is,
the goal is
taking Inner
City Press'
work space and
giving it to no-show,
no question
Egyptian state
media Akhbar al
Yom's Sanaa
Yousseff was
to make Inner
City Press behavior
or reporting
"subside." Note as
the article
didn't and perhaps
didn't have to
that
Farhan Haq previously
worked for IPS
- that and his
father are how
he got his UN
job - and presumably
was a member
of UNCA.
We'd asked but
wouldn't get
an answer, if
the past is
any guide.]
IPS: "On
June 22nd, Lee
had to be
removed from
the UN
premises as he
stayed long
after his
accreditation
permitted him,
and on July
3rd, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
As
Inner City
Press has told
IPS, "noted
for the record
I'm
appreciative
of the
detailed
article, but
for the
record: "On
June 22nd, Lee
had to be
removed from
the UN
premises as he
stayed long
after his
accreditation
permitted
him." It was
7:15 pm,
Antonio
Guterres had
just given a
speech, video here;
and
... "on July
3, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
There is
video, and an
NYPD criminal
report (UN
hasn't waived
immunity), "
video
here;
and finally
(for now)
... "on July
3, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
There is video,
and an NYPD
criminal
report (UN
hasn't waived
immunity).
And
so it goes at
the UN -
there's more but
that's it for
now. On
August
20, when the
PressFreedomTracker.us
belatedly
listed
Guterres' and
Smale's
roughing up
and banning of
Inner City
Press, here,
Guterres'
spokesman
Dujarric made
it clear it is
all about
content.
While
insisting it
is not about
Inner City Press'
"writing," he
specifically cited
Periscope
broadcasts as
a basis for
the lifetime
ban. That is
censorship.
UN transcript
here and
below.
But on closely
inspection
Smale's letter
is even more
ghoulish.
After she for
Guterres banned
Inner City
Press from entry from
July 3 onward,
in order to report
on the UN
Inner City
Press had to
seek answers
other than at
the UN Noon
Briefing and UN
Security
Council
stakeout
position, from
which Guterres
and Smale also banned
it. Inner
City Press
asks question
in front of
the UN
Delegates
Entrance, and
has gotten
about put
online
responses
from, among
others,
outgoing UN
Human Rights
Commissioner
Zeid,
Burundi's
Ambassador,
and on August
20, for
example, a diplomat
on the North
Korea
sanctions committee (whose
chair Karel
van Oosterom refused to comment) and UK Mission
political
coordinator
Stephen Hickey
(whose Deputy
Ambassador
Jonathan Allen
also recently
refused
to comment.)
This
stakeout
is where Inner
City Press asks
questions only because
Guterres and
Smale have
banned it since
July 3. But in
her August 17
letter, Smale
justifies the
ban
imposed July 3
with this
post-July 3
interviews,
and says that
UNnamed
member states -
and somehow
correspondents -
have
complained.
By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter The Hill
UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 17 -- After having covered the UN since 2005 for Inner City Press, and pursued stories of UN under-performance from Sri Lanka to Darfur and Haiti to Yemen and Cameroon, at 4 pm on Friday August 17 I got a four page letter from Under Secretary General Alison Smale, formerly the New York Times' Berlin bureau chief. We've put the letter on Scribd here, Patreon download here.
The letter informed me, without a single opportunity to be heard and offer rebuttal, that “your accreditation is hereby withdrawn pursuant to the Guidelines.” Inner City Press had informed Smale, and Secretary General Antonio Guterres who is ultimately responsible for this, that Smale must recuse herself.
As part of its coverage of the UN in the past year I have heard from whistleblowers in Smale's Department of Public Information that she diverted funds intended for Swahili programming to her avowed focused, getting better coverage for Guterres particularly on social media.
But Smale did not recuse herself, and Guterres who refused my polite question to him on July 20 why this censorship was taking place and why he had been so silent as Cameroon killed Anglophones in the North-West and South-West regions of the country, did not make her recuse. Nor did he recuse himself, despite my timely request that the President of the General Assembly, and not the obviously conflicted Guterres and Smale, take charge of any review deemed necessary.
What is most troubling about the UN's August 17 dis-accreditation letter is how vague it is, and inaccurate the few times it gets specific.
The
UN claims that on 3 July 2018
I “attempted to gain
unauthorized access to a
locked area of the UN.” But as
I reported at the the time,
and my Periscope video
subsequently used by Fox
News and The UK
Independent shows, I was
in the UN's much traveled
Vienna Cafe. (Guterres' Assistant Secretary General Christian Saunders,
whose involvement in a
UN procurement
scandal I
previously reported,
was also
there: he
oversaw the
assault and
the next day
told me he
doesn't like
my articles.)
On July 3 I was staking out -- that is, standing outside of - the UN Budget Committee meetings. In fact, I had been informed of the meetings by UN personnel and diplomats had invited me down in order to tell me, as a reported, what was going on.
Ironically it was with Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe that I had just spoken when UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and another officer who had still been identified by the UN approached me from behind, grabbed and twisted my arm, grabbed and damaged my laptop computer and tore my shirt. I recoiled and said, loudly, “I am a journalist, covering a meeting!” To Smale, this is incivility, enough to be permanently banned from the UN for.
Next, at the top of page 3 of the letter, Smale runs through a litany of supposed violations without providing any details, nor acknowledging that other correspondents more friendly to Guterres and her are allowed to do these things routinely. Smale pillories my “presence on UN premises outside authorized time periods as stipulated in the Guidelines.”
But those Guidelines, even as selectively quoted by Smale at the top of page 2 of her letter, make clear that I was permitted past 7 pm to cover an advised meeting - such as the July 3 UN Budget Committee meeting considering a $6.7 billion expenditure of public funds or the June 22 event in the UN General Assembly lobby featuring a speech in which Guterres bragged about fasting in Mali.
On
June 22, not mentioned in
Smale's August 17 letter but
alleged as a “repeat
violation” by Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq in a July
5 article, the same Lieutenant
Dobbins and four Emergency
Response Unit officers he
summoned and then told not to
give their names, pushed me
out of the UN even as other
non resident correspondents
were allowed to remain in.
There is video, here.
Days before that first roughing up of Inner City Press by UN Security but clearly green-lighted from higher up, Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a person who tried to speak with him on my behalf to get the UN to stop requiring me to have a minder or escort as they have since February 2016 that things would be getting worse for me. It seems clear Dujarric knew about or had already ordered the physical targeting of Inner City Press any time after 7 pm, even if an advised meeting or Guterres speech was taking place.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, CJR,
7/3 Video,
Filing
I II
III
UNITED
NATIONS, August 11 – Inner City Press on July 5
was told at the UN gate that it was banned from
entering any UN premises, the day after it filed
a criminal complaint against UN Security
Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another for
physically removing
it from covering the July 3 meeting about the
UN's $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget, as
witnessed and essentially cheered on by
Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Assistant SG
Christian Saunders, tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and intentionally twisting his
arm and slamming shut and damaging his laptop.
Video here.
Columbia Journalism Review here.
Now
on August 11, amid a 39 day ongoing “review” of
Inner City Press that has shifted from the
initial charge of being in the building too long
on July 3 covering the Budget Committee meeting
to undefined “harassment” of unnamed off the
record correspondents, Guterres' spokesman
Farhan Haq has told Fox
News: “there have been a number of
allegations from fellow journalists that Lee has
harassed them over the years. 'A lot of
journalists have not just been harassed but
threatened by him and that’s a problem,' Haq said.”
That last line is extraordinary. Without
identifying a single one of these "lot of
journalists," Haq declares their anonymous
allegations to be true: "HAVE not just been
harassed but threatened me him." This stands in
contrast to the UN not accepting - in the case
of Alison Smale and Stephane Dujarric, trying to
not even acknowledge receiving - Inner City
Press' written, on the record allegations
complete with exhibits. It's called favoritism,
and censorship.
This same Farhan Haq recently answered one of
Inner City Press' written questions, about why
Guterres had taken no action on its documented
exclusive May 24 report
for which it received threats (and subsequent letter
to Guterres and Smale) that through presumptive
nepotism, management of the UN Security
Council's website had been given to John van
Rosendaal, the
photographer husband of Kyoko Shiotani, the
chief of staff of Guterres' Under Secretary
General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo,
previously US Deputy Ambassador to the UN under
Susan Rice and Samantha Power. Haq responded,
"If there are
allegations of misconduct they should be taken
to the internal oversight offices and
mechanisms. Unfounded allegations do not
constitute a formal complaint." So how does Haq
for the UN now deem anonymous allegations
against Inner City Press not only as formal
complaints, and as true?
This is Kafkaesque. Inner City Press quit the UN Correspondents Association after finding it to be corrupt. Its president after having rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, who as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN accused of a role in the White Flag Killings, unilaterally granted Kohona's request to him to screen a Sri Lanka government war crimes denial film as an UNCA event, in the Dag Hammarskjold Library auditorium. This was done without approval of or even notice to all Executive Committee members of which Inner City Press was one. When Inner City Press reported on it, not only the UNCA president but only Committee members from Reuters, AFP and other outlets demanded that it take the article offline. Inner City Press offered the UNCA president as much space on Inner City Press as he'd want to reply, but he and UNCA wanted censorship, then as now.
After Inner City Press quit UNCA, and faced counterfeit troll Twitter accounts and anonymous (but leaked) complaints to Guterres' now lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric from Lou Charbonneau of Reuters (now Human Rights Watch) here and censored from Google with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act here and Voice of America, here as obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, it has not spoken to these individuals since.
Whatever claimed harassment or threatens they are claiming to or for the UN is not based on any actual interaction, only Inner City Press' articles and, it seems, equally First Amendment protected Periscope broadcasts, even one that was inadvertent and deleted but ghoulishly monitored and captured by or for the UN. (More on this soon).
The simple point: it is illegitimate to rough up a journalist for covering a Budget Committee meeting then ban him from his beat pending a review of the incident - then invent new charges, with unnamed accusers and not opportunity to respond with an eye toward continuing the ban. So what's next? Watch this site.August 6, 2018By
Matthew Russell Lee, CJR,
6/19
Video,
Duj F-bomb
UNITED
NATIONS, August 3 – Inner City Press on July 5
was told it was banned from entering the UN, the
day after it filed a criminal complaint against
UN Security Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and
another for physically removing it from covering
the July 3 meeting about the UN's $6.7 billion
peacekeeping budget, as witnessed and
essentially cheered on by Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' Assistant SG Christian
Saunders, tearing its reporter's shirt,
painfully and intentionally twisting his arm and
slamming shut and damaging his laptop. Video here.
Columbia Journalism Review here.
Now on August 3, Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq replied to the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press a week after
RCFP called the vacationing Guterres' chief of
staff Maria Luiza Viotti to express concern at
the ban and to offer to facilitate the
restoration of Inner City Press' access (that
call was returned by lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, also now on vacation). Haq on August 3
said that the UN's "review" is nearly done, and
he promised that Inner City Press will get
notice of the results in the "coming days," with
a reference to a "summary of the findings."
But findings on what? For this investigation,
Inner City Press in the 31 days has been
contacted only once, for a Kafkaesque
"interview" by two UN Security officers in a
windowless room in the basement of the UNITAR
building across from the UN. The officers
refused to write down even Inner City Press
assertion that Dobbins has animus, given an
investigative piece Inner City Press had
published using documents leaked to it showing
irregularities in promotions in UN Security,
including but not limited to Dobbins'.
Since then, Dujarric who had initially said Inner City Press' reporter would be talking to various parts of the UN system shifted down to saying the investigation is only by the Department of Public Information. That means no investigation of or accountability for UN Security roughing up Inner City Press. It also involved a Department whose leadership Inner City Press has questioned for its lack of content neutral accreditation and access rules essentially investigating itself, without even the pretense of due process for Inner City Press which has not been contacted.
Who is conducting the review? DPI chief Alison
Smale, who has ignored Inner City Press' emails
and 5000+ signature petition since she took
office 11 months ago, is on vacation. The
Officer in Charge is Hua Jiang, who work for the
UN in Sudan where Orwellian investigations are
the rule; Ms. Jiang refused to answer Inner City
Press' questions, What am I being investigated
for? Ms Jiang also previously
threatened Inner City Press' accreditation if it
did not take down a sign for the alternative
Free UN Coalition for Access off the door of the
office she and DPI evicted Inner City Press from
in 2016, awarding it to an Egyptian state media
whose essentially retired correspondent rarely
comes into the UN and hasn't asked the UN a
question in a decade. (But no investigation of
that.)
What could DPI be investigating?
Haq said Inner City Press was charged with two
offenses, being in the UN on June 22 and July 3.
But why was Inner City Press in the General
Assembly Lobby on June 22 at 7:15 pm? There was
an event listed in the UN Media Alert at
beginning at 6 pm. But Antonio Guterres did not
arrive until 6:45 pm for this speech. The Access
Guidelines
say non resident correspondents can remain
in past 7 for an advised meeting and one hour
after. So Dobbins had no right to push Inner
City Press out on June 22. But he did, and
Guterres and DPI's Alison Smale and the others
Inner City Press wrote to on June 25 did nothing
about it.
Why did Dobbins and his unnamed colleague use
force, before talking, on July 3?
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
Petition
Q&A
2d, Q&A2
UNITED
NATIONS, July 27 – Two
weeks after banning
Inner City Press
from entering the
United Nations,
which has closely
and critically
covered for a
decade, UN Under
Secretary General
Alison Smale for the
first time deigned
to explain in
writing her basis
for the ban, or
suspension of
privileges,
see below.
She alludes to "relevant
facts" without
detailing any
of them, and
ghoulishly
claims that
to say loudly
"I am a journalist"
when a UN
Security officer is
twisting
one's arm is
uncivil.
After
writing them
she set off on
a three week vacation.
On July 25 Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric was
asked, on camera,
"Any update on
the status of
Matthew?"
Dujarric replied,
"Nope.
When there is,
he will know
and you will
know. On
that note, au
revoir."
But since a
single Kafkaesque interview
by UN Security
officers
Raughn Perry
and Valentin
Stancu 17
days ago,
Inner City
Press has
heard nothing.
On
July 26 Dujarric said the
"investigation"
is by the Department
of Public
Information -
that is, that
the UN is not
even
PRETENDING to
look into its
UN Security
officers' assault on
Inner City
Press. From
the UN transcript:
"regarding the
investigation
of Inner City
Press.
What I'd like
to know is,
who is going
to make the
final, final
decision on
the
disposition of
that
case? Is
it going to go
up… all the
way up to the
Secretary-General,
to the head of
global
communications,
head of
security?
Can you tell
us?"
Spokesman:
"It's an issue
of press
accreditation,
and it is
being handled
by the
Department of
Public
Information." This is
a cover
up. A
call went
in to Guterres' chief
of staff Maria
Luiza Viotti from
media freedom advocates - and
was
returned by
Dujarric (we'll
have more on
this). On July
27, Dujarric
was asked
again. From the
transcript:
Question:
You mentioned
an Inner City
Press
investigation
going on
under… through
the
system.
Is there a
separate
investigation
going on from
the point of
view of the
accusations
of… of a
member of the
UN press corps
being roughed
up or is that
all under
the…?
Spokesman:
That’s all
being…
everything is
being looked
at as one.
Question:
Sorry, can I
just… do you
expect that to
be wrapped up
by the General
Assembly
debate?
Spokesman:
I would very
much hope so.
Question:
[Inaudible]
Spokesman:
No, I’m
waiting for
words to be
given to me
and then…" Dujarric,
like Guterres for
two weeks and
Smale for
three, is
going on vacation,
leaving
the Press in
the street. Watch
this site.
Smale
wrote: “On two
recent occasions,
Mr. Lee violated
th[e] Media
Guidelines by
attempting to access
United Nations
premises beyond the
scope of his
non-resident
correspondent status
and by
confrontations with
United Nations
Security and Safety
officials. While you
have characterized
these confrontations
as being unprovoked,
the relevant facts
do not support that
characterization.
Furthermore,
according to the
above-mentioned
Media Guidelines:
'Where unexpected circumstances arise, the approach will be to avoid confrontation, maintain civility and find the fastest, safest and most secure acceptable solution. Those Correspondents who violate the ground rules governing access, including the abovementioned standards of ethical behavior may have their accreditation withdrawn or suspended by the United Nations.'
As a result of Mr. Lee's recent actions in violation of the Media Guidelines and his unacceptable comportment when dealing with United Nations Security and Safety officials, Mr. Lee's privileges of access to the premises of the United Nations as a non-resident correspondent have been suspended. These privileges of access will remain suspended pending a review of this matter to determine what further action, if any, should be be taken with respect to such privileges.”
With the ban on Inner City Press now hitting three weeks, and Smale having left on a three week vacation, there is much to be said about her reasons. First, in other of the two occasions, Inner City Press was within the Guidelines, which state that “Non-Resident Correspondents can access UNHQ through the Visitors’ Entrance at 46th Street and 1st Avenue between 0800-1900 hours from Monday through Friday. Non-resident Correspondents only have access to UNHQ on weekends or after hours accompanied by a resident correspondent or when a meeting is advised as taking place. Entry will be allowed two hours prior to the start of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, the non-Resident correspondent must exit the premises within an hour, unless accompanied by a resident correspondent.”
On June 22 Inner City Press was pushed out of the UN by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, irregularities in whose promotion Inner City Press has reported on in a previous years, based on a UN Security e-email leaked to it, through the General Assembly lobby in which it was covering an event, listened in Smale's Department's Media Alert, which featured a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Dobbins called in four Emergency Response Unit officers who refused to give their names when Inner City Press asked.
On July 3 - after Inner City Press has complained in writing to Guterres about its improper ouster on June 22 including Dobbins' animus and the ERU officers' refusals to give their names - Dobbins and other still unnamed officer assaulted Inner City Press as it was covering a UN Budget Committee meeting, announced or advised to it by the UN Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly. The meeting concerned Guterres' $6.7 billion budget and proposed moving of UN jobs from New York to Mexico City, Uganda to Kenya and Geneva to Budapest. Inner City Press' reporter's laptop was smashed into his backpack, damaging it. His shirt was torn and his arm was pulled, then twisted.
Most ghoulishly, Smale's July 19 explanation to the Government Accountability Project claims that if a person being thus assaulted by UN Security speaks up, saying loudly “I am a journalist!” they are being uncivil, justifying a suspension of entry for three weeks and counting.
The “review” that Smale cites has included in these three weeks, as to Inner City Press, a single one hour interrogation on July 10 in a basement room across from the UN by UN Security officers Raughn Perry and Valentin Stancu. Perry asked questions, only about the July 3 ouster and refused to include in his write-up Inner City Press allegation of retaliatory animus by UN Lieutenant Dobbins or that Inner City Press had informed Guterres (and Smale) of it on June 25 before the July 3, making each of them partially responsible.
In the two weeks since that “interview” by UN Security, nothing, and not only Smale but also Guterres has gone on vacation, with his Spokesman now three times refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions as to where, and how much the public is paying.
July 23, 2018By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
Petition
2d, Q&A2
SG
UNITED
NATIONS, July 20 – Inner City Press on July 5
and since was banned by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres from entering the UN, the day
after it filed a criminal complaint against UN
Security Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another
for physically removing it from covering the
July 3 meeting about the UN's $6.7 billion
peacekeeping budget, as witnessed and
essentially cheered on by Guterres' Assistant SG
Christian Saunders, tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and intentionally twisting his
arm and slamming shut and damaging his laptop.
Video here.
Now Guterres, with Inner City Press still banned
pending a Kafkaesque investigation of his own
guards' abuse of the press, has set off one a
two week vacation, while his chief of censorship
Alison Smale has left for three weeks. This is
today's UN.
Guterres, it must now be noted, is the most
elitist and abusive and even corrupt UN
Secretary General in recent memory. Kofi Annan
had many critics in the press, including Inner
City Press at the end but for example James Bone
longer term. But Annan never tried to use UN
Security guards to beat up or evict James Bone.
Ban Ki-moon evicted Inner City Press from its
office for covering the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
UN bribery case - but quickly offered a
non-resident correspondent
pass. Ban started an audit of Ng, which
Guterres has refused
to do of the more extensive and ongoing UN
bribery of the China Energy Fund Committee.
It
took Antonio Guterres to intentionally
use UN Security to rough up the Press, twice
in 11 days, and ignore a written plea
for protection which Inner City Press e-mailed
to him, his chief of staff, deputy and censor
Smale on June 25. He doubled down, having the
same UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and an
UNnamed thug on July 3, right outside the Budget
Committee meeting on his illusory reforms, break
Inner City Press' laptop, tear its shift and
twist its arm. Then Guterres and Smale cites a
vague rule negotiated with their UN Censorship
Alliance to say that Inner City Press insisting
"I am a journalist!" constitutes incivility
justifying a ban from the UN while they take two
and three week vacations. It is disgusting; we
will have more on this.
On
July 20, with Inner City Press still banned from
the UN after 17 days with no end in sight,
prohibited from attending the day's US Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador Nikki Haley
press encounter because it was in the UN, Inner
City Press waited and politely asked Guterres
and his chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti why it
is still banned after 17 days, for being roughed
up twice by Guterres' Security. (After the first
physical ouster on June 22, Inner City Press on
June 25 notified Guterres, his chief of staff,
Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed and Global
Communications chief Alison Smale that it was
being targeted by Lt. Dobbins; they did
nothing.) On July 20, despite the quite audible
questions including about related inaction on
the slaughter in Cameroon which Inner City Press
has asked about, Guterres got in his limousine
and did not answer, as did UK Ambassador Karen
Pierce. Video here.
The
lack of accountability for censorship is
growing: Guterres told his lunch companions
"bonne vacances" and Smale has left on a three
week vacation, bouncing back all e-mails with:
"I am out of the office from 1.00 p.m. on
Thursday, 19 July through Thursday, 9 August
2018. During my absence, the Officer-in-Charge
of the Department of Public Information will be
as follows: 19-25 July - Mr. Janos Tisovszky....
26 July through 1 August - Mr. Ramu Damodaran...
2-9 August - Ms. Hua JIang" [sic]." We'll have
more on this. On July 18, Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq was asked by two
journalists about the status of what he and lead
spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the
investigation of the "incidents" of July 3, and
apparently not now of June 22. Video here,
from the UN transcript:
a follow-up to one that’s been asked here last
week and the week before, and that’s a report on
the current status of the investigation into the
events on 3 July leading, ultimately, to the
ouster, at least temporary ouster, of Inner City
Press. And did the Secretary-General
receive any communications from any
non-governmental organization (NGO) on… on this
subject? For example, I think it’s called
the Global Accountability Project or something
like that.
Deputy Spokesman: The UN has received a
letter from the Government Accountability
Project, and I believe we’ll be responding to
them in due course.
Question: And… and the status of the
investigation? Could you…
Deputy Spokesman: It’s ongoing... 2d
Questioner: regarding Inner City Press, you said
it’s ongoing. Is there an idea of when… is
there a date… any idea of when it’s actually
going to come out and have a result?
Deputy Spokesman: No. I mean, once
we’ve come to a decision, he’ll be informed of
the decision." On what - the excessive use of
force by UN Security? This is Kafkaesque - or
now, Guterresian....
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
Petition
Q&A
2d, Q&A2
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Petition,
Q&A,
2d Video
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
UNITED
NATIONS, June 29 – Eight
months after
the UN bribery
conviction of
Macau-based
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, on March
30 the prosecution
asked for a
jail term of
over six years
and a $2
million fine.
On May
11 Ng was
sentenced to
four years in
jail, and ironically
to pay the legal
fees of the
UN, which even
under the
prosecutors'
press release
he corrupted. At
the UN, Carlos
Garcia
who
facilitated
Ng's bribes
to Francis
Lorenzo's family
in the
Dominican
Republic was
at the General
Assembly stakeout at
this month as
exclusively
reported by
Inner City
Press. Ng even
after
sentencing is
still under
house arrest,
but that may
end. After
an oral
argument on
June 26 in the
Second Circuit
Court of Appeals,
Ng's bid to
remain even
longer in his
apartment
on 47th Street
was
denied. “It is
hereby ordered
that
appellant’s
motion is
DENIED,
because he has
failed to show
that the
district court
clearly erred
in its risk of
flight
determination,”
the court’s
order sys,
and “It
is further
ordered that
the appeal is
expedited.” Ng's
lawyer Paul
Clement of
Kirkland &
Ellis claims
that the UN
is not the
kind of
"organization"
Congress was
talking about
in the law
prohibiting
bribery
connected to
organizations
that receive
federal funds.
So the UN can
be bribed at
will? The UN
has no law
against it,
and current SG
Guterres does
not even order
an audit of China
Energy Fund
Committee, the
second UN
bribery case
which seems linked to
the first - CEFC
invited John
Ashe to China
as well. We'll
have more on
this.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
YouTube
UNITED
NATIONS, June 23 – The day after UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' guard physically
ousted Inner City Press which was covering
Guterres' Eid speech and his failures in Cameroon,
corruption
and reform,
Guterres appeared in Washington for a Portuguese
luncheon and to meet Mike Pompeo. As of 5 pm the
UN still had not put out a read-out, as is
Guterres' untransparent way. Before 2 pm, the US
State Department put this out: "The below is
attributable to Spokesperson Heather Nauert:
Secretary Pompeo met today with United Nations
Secretary-General António Guterres in
Washington, D.C. The Secretary and the
Secretary-General discussed the success of the
Singapore Summit, efforts to denuclearize the
Korean Peninsula, Libya, peace in the Middle
East, and the Secretary-General’s recent trip to
Mali. The two agreed on the need to
prioritize humanitarian aid in Yemen and Syria."
On Mali, just as when Guterres was bragging
about it at an Eid event his security physically
evicted the Press from, it is unlike Guterres
raised in DC since he didn't in Mali the UN
child rape there, and now the finding of
mass graves attributable to the Malian military
the UN supports. It seems Guterres is a corrupt
censor. Five UN Security officers, most with
automatic weapons, pushed Inner City Press'
reporter out of the UN on June 22 as it was
filming and preparing to write about Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' claims about his visit
to Mali, where he didn't even inquire into a
recent case child rape by a UN Peacekeeper. With
the event still ongoing, Inner City Press was
approached by UN Lieutenant Dobbins and told
that since it was just past 7 pm it had to leave
the building.
That
is not the rule, nor the practice; in any event,
the Guterres Eid al -Fitr event listed in the UN
Department of Public Information was still
ongoing, making it unquestionable that Inner
City Press had a right to be in the UN and cover
it.
But even as Inner City Press dialed DPI's Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit, getting only
voice mail, Dobbins made a call and UN
“Emergency Response Unit” officers arrived, with
barely concealed automatic weapons. One of them
repeatedly pushed Inner City Press' reporter in
the back, forcing him through the General
Assembly lobby toward the exit. Periscope video
here.
Longer YouTube (40 min) here.
UN Under Secretary General Catherine Pollard was told the ouster and did nothing, as was a Moroccan diplomat. The heavily armed UN Security officers refused to give their names when asked. Lieutenant Dobbins, with no name plate on his uniform, refused to spell his name. He said, I have my orders. From who - Guterres? His Deputy SG or chief of staff, both of whom were at the event? DSS chief Drennan? DPI chief Alison Smale?
Inner City Press repeatedly asked to be able to
get its laptop computer, which was upstairs -
there was no way to have known it would be
ousted during Guterres' event.
But Dobbins and the others refused, as did the
UN Security officers at the gate. Inner City
Press remained there, with dwindling cell phone
battery, raising the issue online to Smale,
under whose watch Inner City Press has remained
in the non-resident correspondent status it was
reduced to for pursuing the Ng Lp Seng UN
bribery case into the UN press briefing room
where Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric
ordered it out, then had it evicted. A DPI
representative, whom Inner City Press asked to
call Smale, was unable or unwilling to even let
Inner City Press go in escorted to get its
laptop.
Just in the past week, when Inner City Press complained of Dujarric providing only to Al Jazeera the response of Antonio Guterres to the US leaving the UN Human Rights Council, Dujarric and the Al Jazeera trio claimed to MALU that the coverage was “too aggressive.” Journalism is not a crime? Next week, Antonio Guterres is set to give remarks, to which Inner City Press has requested the right to cover response, to the UN Correspondents Association, which not only has not acted on this censorship, but has fueled it.
Inside the UN the Eid event continued, alongside
a liquor fueled barbeque thrown by UN Security.
This DSS sold tickets to non resident
correspondents, and allowed in people who had
nothing to do with the UN, including some
seeming underage. When Inner City Press audibly
raised the issue to UN Safety and Security
Service chief Mick Brown, he did nothing.
The Moroccan diplomat emerged and
chided Inner City Press for even telling him of
the ouster, claiming that “25% of what you write
is about Morocco.” Pakistan's Permanent
Representative, who hosted the Eid event, said
she would look into it. Sweden's spokesperson
asked whom to call in DPI and when Inner City
Press said, Alison Smale, responded, Who is
Alison Smale? Indeed.
Smale has refused to respond in any way, in the eight months she has been Guterres' “Global Communications” chief, to a 5000 signature petition to restore Inner City Press to its unused office S-303 and to adopt content neutral media access rules going forward. That, and appropriate action on Lt. Dobbins and the others, must be among the next steps. Watch this site.
June 18, 2018By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Sweden,
1st
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video here
&
here
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
UNITED
NATIONS, June 2 – Antonio
Guterres has held the position of UN Secretary
General for seventeen months, amid few
accomplished reforms or political conflicts
solved, and ongoing censorship / restriction
of the Press. He will, however, be in Moscow to
watch his team, Portugal, play against Morocco
on June 20. He said this on June 2 and then took
some softball questions. Video here.
This while he refuses Press questions on what's
called his reform of the UN development system.
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
UNITED
NATIONS, May 23 – After Inner City Press asked
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric at noon on May 23
questions about Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' failure to even start an audit of the
Patrick Ho / China Energy Fund Committee UN
bribery case pending
in the US District Court for the Southern
District of New York, and his role in the cover
up of sexual harassment by the
International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy in
charge of the Iran Deal, it was stopped from
re-entering the UN from 7 pm until 7:55 pm.
Then it was escorted in by a UN Security officer who stood over it as it packed up the laptop on which it was writing up the Spokesman's evasive answers.
Since the UN evicted Inner City Press from its
long time UN work space for pursuing the first
UN bribery case, that of Ng Lap Seng, John Ashe
and Chau
Chak Wing, it has been under a 7 pm curfew. This
has been maintained, without explanation or
response to 5000+ signature petition
by Guterres' “Global Communicator” Alison Smale.
Inner City Press must get back by that time to
be allowed in.
But on May 23, First Avenue all around the UN was locked down for the visit of US President Donald Trump. Inner City Press would have been back by 6:45 pm but it was blocked for 15 minutes at 50th Street and First Avenue. Tweeted Periscope video here. Coming the other way, just before the blockage, was UN official Hua Jiang, a Smale subordinate who has defended the restrictions on Inner City Press. At 7:01 pm, the UN's gate on 46st was still open. But a UN Security officer told Inner City Press, Go to 42nd Street entrance, they'll let you in no problem.
They did not. One officer said, No way we're letting you in. Another, characterizing it as a favor, called the Department of Safety and Security office. Whoever first answered there said No, do no let him in. Inner City Press has previously reported on DSS chief Drennan “burying” a report about Irina Bokova - who has Inner City Press exclusively reported this week has quietly been retained on a “dollar a year” contract with immunity by UNESCO.
Inner City Press began a short Periscope broadcast. The Under Secretary General for Sexual Violence in Conflict expressed sympathy. The Under Secretary General for General Assembly and Conference Management Catherine Polland laughed. A corporate wire service journalist said she would go get Inner City Press' laptop but she was late to an event. A sometimes Morocco state media journalist, sometime UN staff member, expressed sympathy, but...
Inner City Press' phone battery went critically
low and it ended the Periscope broadcast. The UN
Security officers let into the building people
without checking their IDs, for some event.
After fifty minutes another officer came. He
would escort Inner City Press in and stand over
it while it collected its computer, and then
ensure that it left. Inner City Press complied,
set up in the park across from the UN and wrote
this article.
Here's
an absurdity -
even when
Metro North in
The Bronx, the
Harlem line,
is running 25
minutes late
they still
tell you that
you cannot
board the
"red" Metro
North train to
Grand Central,
even when it
stops with no
other train
coming for 24
minutes. Inner
City Press
raised this to
the MTA but
the absurdity
is still in
place...
May
14, 2018
UN
Guterres
Banned Press
From His Al
Sharpton
Meeting,
Dujarric
Refuses Read
Out
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 – Eight months after the UN bribery conviction of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, on March 30 the prosecution asked for a jail term of over six years and a $2 million fine. Today on May 11 Ng was sentenced to four years in jail, and ironically to pay the legal fees of the UN, which even under the prosecutors' press release he corrupted? The UN, which evicted and still restricts Inner City Press for pursuing the extend of Ng's bribery in the UN, including his payments through South South News to the UN Correspondents Association, gave its UN Censorship Alliance scribes a statement that In a statement after the verdict, the UN said it “had cooperated extensively to facilitate the proper administration of justice in this case, by disclosing thousands of documents and waiving the immunity of officials to allow them to testify at trial." This statement, and the UNCA scribes, ignore that the UN is already embroiled in another bribery scandal, that of Patrick Ho and CEFC. Nothing has been reformed; Secretary General Antonio Guterress hasn't even ordered an audit. The prosecutors said Ng "was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a scheme to bribe United Nations ambassadors to obtain support to build a conference center in Macau that would host, among other events, the annual United Nations Global South-South Development Expo. NG was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick. NG was convicted on July 27, 2017, after a five-week trial, of two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one count of paying bribes and gratuities, one count of money laundering, and two counts of conspiracy. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Billionaire Ng Lap Seng corrupted the highest levels of the United Nations in pursuit of a multibillion-dollar real estate deal in Macau. Ng exploited a center for international diplomacy as an instrument for his greedy intentions. This Office is committed to policing official corruption wherever it may be found.” Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan said: “Corruption at any level of government undermines the rule of law and cannot be tolerated. But corruption is especially corrosive when it occurs at an international body like the United Nations. By paying bribes to two U.N. ambassadors to advance his interest in obtaining formal support for the Macau conference center project, Ng Lap Seng tried to manipulate the functions of the United Nations. The sentence handed down today demonstrates that those who engage in corruption will pay a heavy price and serves as a reminder that no one stands above the law.” The day before, Judge Vernon Broderick denied Ng's request for a new trial and for an investigation of alleged perjury by former South South News chief Francis Lorenzo (who was seen on First Avenue by the UN just days ago). Broderick filed it under seal: "On September 26, 2017, Defendant Ng Lap Seng (“Defendant” or “Ng”) filed a motion for a new trial under Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. (Doc. 653.) Ng also requested that I direct the Government to conduct an independent investigation into Defendant Francis Lorenzo’s (“Lorenzo”) alleged perjury during trial, or in the alternative, to permit Ng to issue a defense subpoena under Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. (Id.) Ng has not established a basis for a new trial or for me to direct the Government to conduct an investigation into Lorenzo’s alleged perjury or authorize a defense subpoena. Accordingly, Ng’sMay 7,
2018
UN
Bribery
Indictee
Patrick Ho
Fails To Get
Bail, Said
China's Belt
and Road, CEFC
On Trial
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Q&A,
HK here
April
30, 2018
The
shutting down
of the 4 train
from Manhattan
to The Bronx
on the weekend
is an outrage.
The 6 train
conductors
play coy in
their
announcement;
the scene at
138th Street
and Third
Avenue for the
"free shuttle
bus" is a
madhouse. The
delay adds up
to more than
an hour.
Taking the Bx
15 up Third
Avenue you'll
witness the
new windows on
the long
abandoned
courthouse on
159th Street,
and a house
and church
being
demolished on
the
intersection
with Boston
Road. The past
is erased;
Krinos Foods
is not only on
Northern
Boulevard,
it's by the
Cross Bronx
Expressway.
But who gets
the jobs? To
be continued.
April
23, 2018
UN
Briber Patrick
Ho of CEFC
Asserts "Blame
HSBC" Defense,
Could Have
Wired Other
Ways
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Q&A,
HK here
April
16, 2018
On
Cameroon,
Inner City
Press Asked
US State Dep't
of 47
Illegally
Deported By
Nigeria, US
Statement Here
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope,
Video
WASHINGTON,
April 12 – As Cameroon's 36 year president Paul
Biya has cracked down on Anglophones, the UN has
largely stayed quiet. UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres stopped by in October 2017 and
smiled, accepting from Biya a golden statue. His
Deputy Amina J. Mohammed was in Abuja when
Nigeria illegally refouled 47 people to
Cameroon and said nothing. On April
10 Inner City Press went to the US State
Department briefing and asked spokesperson
Heather Nauert about it. Video here
from 32:59. She said, I'll take your
question and get back to you. And UNlike so
often the United Nations, she did. On April 12,
this response arrived, from a State Department
official:
"With respect to your question from the State
Department press briefing on Tuesday, the
following is attributable to a State Department
official: 'On February 5, the Department of
State issued a press statement on Cameroonian
Anglophone Detainees, in which the United States
condemned the ongoing violence in Cameroon’s
Anglophone regions. We called on the
Government of Cameroon to respect the human
rights, including due process, of the 47
Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigerian
custody to the Cameroonian authorities on
January 26. Many of those forcibly
repatriated had reportedly submitted asylum
claims in Nigeria. We continue to urge the
Governments of Cameroon and Nigeria to adhere to
their obligations under international law to
refrain from forcible repatriation of
asylum-seekers back to their countries of
origin. We expect the Cameroonian government to
afford these, and other individuals previously
detained, all the rights and protections
enshrined in Cameroon’s constitution, consistent
with the nation’s international obligations and
commitments. We regularly engage with the
Cameroonian government regarding our concerns
about the protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, and we urge all sides in
the conflict to act with restraint in response
to acts of violence when they occur. We
also continue to appeal to all sides to enter
into meaningful, broad-based dialogue as the
only path toward a resolution of legitimate
grievances.'" On April 12, Inner City
Press asked Amnesty Interntional about those of
the refoulees facing treason charges being
subject to the death penalty. But that's another
story. Again, the April 10 video:
From the US' April 10 transcript:
Inner City Press: Matthew Russell Lee.
MS NAUERT: Okay.
Inner City Press: Yeah. So I wanted
--
MS NAUERT: Nice to meet you.
Inner City Press: it’s something that I haven’t
seen the Department comment on. Maybe
you’ll have – maybe it’s in your binder, or
maybe it isn’t. But there’s been 47
Cameroonians were in Nigeria and they were
picked up and sort of illegally returned, or
refouled, back to Cameroon. And it’s been
– it’s been months that people haven’t seen
them. And I’m wondering: Is the U.S.
aware of this? Are they aware of this
conflict, the conflict or tensions in the
Anglophone zones of Cameroon, and what do they
intend to do about it?
MS NAUERT: I’ll have to take your question
on that and get back with you. And there
are things that are not contained in the binder
that we are aware of as well.
At least some response, hopefully with more to come - on the same day, the UN refused to answer a single one of Inner City Press' three questions, after having evicted and still restricting Inner City Press. We will continue to cover this. For now, this Periscope video just after the State Department briefing. Watch this site.
April
9, 2018
In
1st UN Bribery
Case, Vivi
Wang Pleads
Guilty,
Cooperation
Deal, UN
Corruption
Continues
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Q&A,
HK here
April
1, 2018
In
1st UN Bribery
Case, US Wants
6 Years and
$2M From Ng
Lap Seng, UN
Corruption
Continues
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
Q&A,
HK here
March
26, 2018
On Cholera In
Haiti, Sen Leahy Calls UN Reckless, $10M in
Omnibus Budget, UN Silent
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Photos
March
19, 2018
Gentrification
watch:
In January
2018 "The
Bronx saw a 23
percent
increase in
building
volume, but
dollar and
transaction
volume dropped
by 33 and 22
percent,
respectively.
There were
seven
transactions
in the borough
across 16
properties in
January for
$49.3 million
overall. The
largest was
PRB Realty
Corp’s $14.14
million sale
of a
six-building
portfolio...
Queens
saw just four
transactions
across eight
buildings for
$69.4 million.
Building
volume dropped
by 33 percent,
while
transaction
volume dropped
by 47 percent.
However,
dollar volume
ticked up by
11 percent to
$69.35
million, as
three of the
four
transactions
across eight
buildings were
for more than
$20 million,
including
Steelpoint
Property
Group’s
purchase of
34-04 34th
Avenue, 30-44
32nd Street
and 31-36 32nd
Street for
$22.7
million."
March
12, 2018
UN's
Ex-Gender
Adviser
Mayanja Is
"Slumlord,"
Tenants Say,
Inner City
Press Asks UN
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photos
March
5, 2018
On
Haiti Cholera,
UN Tells ICP
"Transformation
Retreat"
Canceled,
Dinner Photo
Gone
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Photos
February
26, 2018
HBO
has for "The
Deuce" leased
780 E. 135th
Street - can
you say,
Wedtech?
February
19, 2018
In
UN, Weapons
Advertised
After Florida
Shooting,
Inner City
Press Asked,
UN Takes Down
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope
I, II,
III
February
12, 2018
Dwayne
Pritchett, 48,
was pronounced
dead at New
York-Presbyterian
The Allen
Hospital after
police say he
lost
consciousness
in their
custody on
Jan. 28.
The NYPD says
its Force
Investigation
Division is
also looking
into the
incident.
Lawyers for
Alotisia
Stevens, the
mother of
Pritchett's
3-year-old
son, are
praising the
independent
investigation.
Police had
responded to a
2767 Reservoir
Ave. home
around 4:50
p.m..
February
5, 2018
The trial of police officer Hugh Barry for fatally shooting 66-year-old Deborah Danner, a woman known in the neighborhood as having schizophrenia, inside her bedroom on Oct. 18, 2016 at 630 Puglsey Avenue is full of echoes of Eleanor Bumpurs...
January
29, 2018
From
the courts: On
January 25,
2018, at
approximately
10:00 a.m.,
HYLTON entered
a bank in the
Bronx, gained
access to the
secure teller
area, and
approached a
bank
teller.
HYLTON
brandished
what appeared
to be a
shotgun and
demanded that
the teller
give him the
money the
teller was
holding.
HYLTON took
from the
teller over
$7,000 in
United States
currency.
HYLTON then
fled and was
later
apprehended
and arrested.
Ok - but what
about the
banks robbing
The Bronx?
January
22, 2018
Portraits
of
de-industrialization:
"Location: The
site is
located in an
urban area at
414 Gerard
Avenue in the
Mott Haven
neighborhood
of the Bronx.
The about
12,600-square-foot
lot is
situated on
the
southwestern
corner of the
block bound by
East 146th
Street to the
north, Walton
Avenue to the
east, East
144th Street
to the south,
and Gerard
Avenue to the
west. Site
Features: The
12,600-square-foot
(0.29 acres)
site is
developed with
a vacant,
one-story
manufacturing
building with
a partial
cellar. A
3,000-gallon
No. 2 fuel oil
aboveground
storage tank
(AST) was
installed in
the partial
cellar in 1953
(New York
State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
[NYSDEC]
Petroleum Bulk
Storage [PBS]
Site No.
2-207209).
Current Zoning
and Land Use:
According to
the New York
City Planning
Commission
Zoning Map 6a,
the site is
located within
the Lower
Concourse
Special Mixed
Use Paired
District
(M1-4/R8A).
This paired
district
promotes
development
and expansion
of the
longstanding
mix of
residential,
commercial,
industrial,
and cultural
use throughout
the area. M1
districts
typically
include light
industrial
uses such as
woodworking
shops, repair
shops, and
wholesale
service and
storage
facilities,
and R8
districts
promote
residential
development.
Zoning is
consistent
with the
proposed
mixed-use
development.
The
surrounding
area is
primarily
commercial and
industrial,
but also
includes
residential
buildings,
public parks,
day care
centers, and
schools. As
part of the
June 2009
Lower
Concourse
Rezoning, the
site was
E-Designated
for hazardous
materials and
noise (E-227
and City
Environmental
Quality Review
[CEQR] No.
08DCP071X).
Past Use of
the Site: The
site was an
undeveloped
vacant lot
until at least
1928. A diner
was located in
the southern
portion from
1935 to 1944;
however, the
site again
appears vacant
from 1946 to
1951. The
existing
on-site
building was
constructed in
the early
1950s, and the
site
historically
operated as a
jewelry box
manufacturer
(Rocket
Jewelry) from
at least 1954
to 2016. From
the 1950s
through the
1970s, Rocket
Jewelry
manufactured
jewelry
packaging
(including
decorative
boxes and
textile
covered metal
boxes) and
displays.
During this
time period,
metal jewelry
boxes were
typically
constructed
using a
mixture of
metals
including
cadmium,
copper, lead,
nickel, and
zinc.
Lead-based
paint may also
have been used
to decorate
the outside of
the jewelry
boxes.
Evidence of
heavy
machinery and
nearby drains
was observed
throughout the
first floor
and partial
cellar. In the
1980s, Rocket
Jewelry moved
the
manufacturing
processes
overseas and
maintained the
Bronx-based
warehouse for
packaging and
distribution
until 2016"...
January
15, 2018
RIP
Tim Rollins,
dead at 62,
too young.
January
8, 2018
Hero,
from Ghana to
The Bronx -
and still the
UN has said
and done
nothing:
"Private First
Class Emmanuel
Mensah, who
was tragically
killed while
rescuing four
individuals
from the
massive
apartment fire
in the Bronx.
Pfc. Mensah’s
family
emigrated from
Ghana and was
a permanent
legal resident
who enlisted
in the New
York Army
National Guard
in 2016.
According to
reports, Pfc.
Mensah
successfully
evacuated a
family of six
and ran back
into the
inferno four
times to save
the lives of
others."
January
1, 2018
In The
Bronx, As
Dozen Killed
By Fire On
Prospect Ave,
Of Happy Land
&
Woodycrest,
Blame-Games
By
Matthew Russell Lee
BRONX,
NY , December 28 – The Bronx has suffered
another tragedy, a December 28 fire on Prospect
Avenue near 187th Street which killed at least
twelve people, including a one-year old. 2363
Prospect Avenue was like any other building in
the neighborhood; newspapers search NYC housing
databases trying to find in code violations an
explanation, someone to blame. This is the
pattern.
December
25, 2017
Bronx apartment: "OLIVER SOHNGEN, a/k/a “Helmuth Moss,” a/k/a “Stephan Weierbach,” was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for sex trafficking of minors. SOHNGEN pled guilty on August 10, 2017, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “Oliver Sohngen, a teacher at a music school for children, was a sexual predator. He paid to have sex with minor girls at least twice, and attempted to engage in sex trafficking of girls under the age of 14. His significant sentence will ensure that he is no longer a threat to our community, in particular, our children. We remain committed to prosecuting all those who, like Sohngen, prey on our most innocent and vulnerable victims.” Between March 2013 and November 2013, SOHNGEN exchanged text messages with a co-conspirator to arrange paid sexual encounters with minor girls ranging in age from 8 to 17. On at least two occasions, SOHNGEN engaged in sexual contact with minor girls at the co-conspirator’s apartment in the Bronx, New York."
Decemeber
18, 2017
477
Gerard Avenue:
"The site was
developed with
commercial and
industrial
uses since at
least 1908.
Specific past
uses include a
lumberyard, a
sign frame
company, auto
junkyard, and
auto repair
facility. "
December
11, 2017
Trials
we're
watching: U.S.
v. Kevin
Walker – the
defendant is
charged with
participating
in a series of
armed
robberies of
employees at
commercial
establishments
in the Bronx
December
4, 2017
On UN
Bribery,
Patrick Ho Is
Denied Bail,
CEFC Bribes
Cited, Entries
Into UN
Questioned
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video,
letter;
ICP in HK, here
November
27, 2017
In UN
Bribery Case,
Senegal's
Gadio Seeks
Bail But
Fails,
Thanksgiving
in MCC Jail
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
Noember
20, 2017
Rest in Peace Mel Rosenthal, who took some of the best photos ever of The Bronx. Presente!
November
13, 2017
On
UN Reform, SG
With Rosewood
Scandal DSG, Press
Confined to
Minders
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Photos
November
6, 2017
At
UN $50,000
Charge For
Biden Talk,
Guterres To Be
Sold on Wall
St, Public
Funds to
Lisbon
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Photos
October
30, 2017
ICP
Asked David
Kaye About a
FOIA for UN,
Smale's Threat to ICP, Then
Asks UN Which
Dodges
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Photos
UNITED
NATIONS, October 25 – When UN Special Rapporteur
David A. Kaye held a short press conference at
the UN on October 25, he called for the UN to
institute an access to information policy. Inner
City Press asked him to specify what the UN
Secretariat of Antonio Guterres can and should
do on its own, without waiting for or blaming
the General Assembly. Inner City Press also
asked him about the UN new October 20 threat
to review its accreditation, including for
ill-defined violations on an unspecified date on
the UN's 38th floor. Video here.
Kaye
said the Secretariat can act on FOIA, while
educating and bringing the General Assembly
along. He called unsatisfactory the UN's
previous response
to his inquiry
about the eviction of Inner City Press (for
covering an event in the same UN Press Briefing
Room Kaye spoke in). Two hours later, Inner City
Press asked UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about
both issues. From the UN
transcript: regarding the freedom of
information access, this is something that we've
been exploring for some years. There
continues to be input from various different
departments, including those dealing with our
archives and those dealing with legal affairs,
to look into the situation. And so we'll
be in touch with the Member States. So,
that is something that is a work in progress
that, as time goes on, we always try to
reinvigorate and revamp our processes for
dealing with situations, and we'll do that in
this case, as well. Inner City Press: Same
topic? Yeah, he seemed to say that… that
it's as simple as set… it's not about
archives. It's as simple as setting up a
procedure in which, rather than just the inform…
the UN choosing which information to push
forward, that it's set up a procedure in which,
based on a re… a request by the press or the
public, there's some responsibility on the
Secretariat to provide information. And he
said that that can be done… although it would be
good to bring Member States along and to get
buy-in from the General Assembly that, although
it's been said here many times, it doesn't
require the General Assembly to… to authorise
the Secretariat to make financial and other
information available to the public upon
request, not just as it's put out. So, I'm
just… I want to be very specific. It's not
about archives or Member States. Will
António Guterres establish, during his… I don't
know… in the next three months, six months, a
procedure in which requests for information can
be made and will be answered as required not
voluntarily or by discretion? Deputy
Spokesman: Well, with respect for the
envoy's… the Special Rapporteur's views, those
are his views. And we do have, like I
said, a process in place, which does include
involvement with the Member States, and so we'll
continue on that track. Inner City Press: He
also called a previous response to one of his
inquiries to the UN unsatisfactory. I
don't know if you've seen the press conference,
and I don’t want to actually… I'm pretty sure
what you'd say if I… so, I'm wondering, you say
there's as process, but doesn't the UN encourage
Member States to respond to Special Rapporteurs
and probably to take into account if the Special
Rapporteur who made the inquiry calls the
response unsatisfactory maybe to do another
response or figure out why it's unsatisfactory?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, we do. And,
of course, we'll continue to be in dialogue with
Special Rapporteurs. We want to make sure
that their various concerns are addressed.
But this is, as I mentioned, a topic on which
we've been doing work, and we'll continue."
We'll see. Kaye said he looks forward to
speaking with new (seven week) head of the
Department of Public Information Alison Smale.
October
23, 2017
UN
Threatens
Review of ICP's Accreditation
For Audio
Report While
Staking Out on
Cameroon
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, October 20 – The UN delivered a threat
to Inner City Press to “review” it accreditation
on Friday afternoon at 5 pm. The UN official who
signed the letter,
when Inner City Press went to ask about the
undefined violation of live-streaming Periscope
video at a photo op by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, had already left, minutes
after sending the threat. This comes two days
after Inner City Press asked
Guterres about the UN inaction on threatened
genocide in Cameroon, and the UN claimed
Guterres hadn't heard the 15-second long
question.
It also comes after Alison Smale the head of the
Department of Public Information which would
“review” Inner City Press' accreditation has
ignored three
separate
petitions
from Inner City Press in the six weeks she has
been in the job, urging her to remove
restrictions on Inner City Press' reporting
which hinder its coverage of the UN's
performance in such crises as Yemen,
Kenya,
Myanmar,
and the Central African Republic where Guterres
travels next week, with Smale's DPI saying its
coverage of the trip will be a test of its
public relations ability. But the UN official
who triggered the complaint is Maher Nasser, who
filled in for Smale before she arrived.
UN's Letter Threatening to Review Inner City Press' Accreditation for Audio Report While Staking Out on Cam... by Matthew Russell Lee on Scribd
His complaint is that audio of what he said to
Inner City Press as it staked out the elevators
in the UN lobby openly recording, as it has for
example
with Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe, here,
was similarly published.
October
16, 2017
Bronx
(Zoo) kills in
the Congo: A
Batwa man has
complained to
the
organization
which runs New
York’s Bronx
Zoo, after his
17-year-old
son was shot
dead by a park
guard. The boy
was gathering
medicinal
plants with
his father,
Mobutu
Nakulire
Munganga, in
Kahuzi-Biega
National Park
in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo (DRC) on
August 26. An
anti-poaching
squad opened
fire on them.
The guards
receive
logistical
support,
funding and
training from
the Wildlife
Conservation
Society (WCS),
a big
conservation
body which is
the parent
organization
of New York’s
Bronx zoo. WCS
was co-founded
by notorious
eugenicist
Madison Grant.
WCS has been
funding the
management of
Kahuzi-Biega
for over 20
years.
According to
international
law and WCS’s
own human
rights policy,
indigenous
peoples’
consent is
required for
conservation
projects on
their land...
The Bronx Zoo
was also
involved in
giving an
award to
Gabon's Ali
Bongo...
October
9, 2017
In Puerto Rico, Disparate Bank Lending, Predatory Investors, UN's Maria Photo Ops
By Matthew Russell Lee
PUERTO RICO, October 3 – The UN system's International Monetary Fund has yet to announce any debt moratorium for countries impacted by the recent hurricanes, and despite photo op trips by those who could speak to and of the IMF, nothing is changing. Most holders of Puerto Rico's debt are doing nothing to help. Even in 2016 before Hurricane Maria, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data just released, Banco Santander Puerto Rico made 88 conventional home purchase loans in upper income tracts in the San Juan MSA, 50 in middle income tracts, seven in moderate income tracts and NONE in low-income census tracts. Citibank made a single large loans in San Juan, for a multi-family apartment building. The UNironically named Whitebox Advisors, which has sued on Puerto Rico debt, has "a policy of not discussing Puerto Rico." We don't. Watch this site. Back on September 18 UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric gave the press a mere three minutes to sign up to attend the UN's meeting about Irma, see below. As the meeting began, Inner City Press asked not Dujarric but the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly for the PGA's view of the IMF's position on (no) debt moratorium. From the PGA Office's summary: "Asked for the President’s reaction to comments by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official, in which the official allegedly said that the IMF would not be open to instituting a debt moratorium for hurricane-hit Antigua and Barbuda, the Spokesperson replied that the President would not want to second-guess the comments of an IMF official in an area of the IMF’s expertise. The Spokesperson reiterated that the President was committed to the recovery of Antigua and Barbuda, which is why he had convened the high-level meeting on Hurricane Irma and invited the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to speak there." In the meeting, Achim Steiner of UNDP told even Caribbean nations they could not speak, so that Robert De Niro could. You talkin' to me? When the IMF re-started its biweekly embargoed press briefings on September 14, Inner City Press submitted a question about Hurricane Irma and moratoria: "On Antigua and Barbuda, and Hurricane Irma impacted countries more generally... will there be no moratoria? What is the IMF doing?" IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said, "There's a question from Matthew Lee on moratorium... on that, I would refer to what Mme Lagarde said a few days ago, of course the IMF has tremendous sympathy. She also said we stand ready to help. There are a number of options we can look at in that context. At the moment we are still trying to make an assessment. As a factual member, none of our members including Antigua and Barbuda have formally requested assistance from the Fund." Oh. On September 15, when Inner City Press at the UN asked Patti Smith about it, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric cut off the question saying he would answer it at his forthcoming briefing. He did not.October
2, 2017
The
Bronx hosted a
donation drive
to help the
victims of
Hurricane
Maria in
Puerto Rico
and the
earthquake in
Mexico City on
Saturday,
September 30,
2017, at the
corner of
Southern
Boulevard and
Aldus Street.
Donations
includedi
clothing,
non-perishable
food and other
goods.
Inner
City Press
Asked Trudeau
of Canada Arms
Sales to
Saudi, He
Called The
Question Bad
Behavior
By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope; Video
UNITED NATIONS, September 21 – While Canada joins The Netherlands at the UN in Geneva in calling for an investigation of possible war crimes in Yemen including the Saudi-led coalition's killing of civilians, Canada has continued a $15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a press conference at the UN on September 21, Inner City Press went early, intending to ask him to explain this incongruity or seeming hypocrisy. Trudeau's spokesman announced that the questioners had been “pre-determined,” but did not explain how. So in a lull after what the spokesman called the last question - would Trudeau be a mediator on Venezuela - Inner City Press asked about Canadian arms sales to Saudi while calling for a probe. At first Trudeau said he was happy to answer the question. Then he said no, he would not reward “bad behavior,” and instead reached out for question in French about day care. (Inner City Press notes that pre-determining questioners is bad behavior. Apparently the CBC journalist who was given the first question agreed to it; the organization only the day before sent an Egyptian state media correspondent as the lone “pooler” in Secretary General Antonio Guterres' meeting with General Sisi.)September
18, 2017
It's UN General Assembly week in New York City...
UN
General Assembly Week Bans Press on Day One on Refugees, UNprepared
& UNfair DPI of Smale
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
September
11, 2017
UN
Encourages
Hecklers of
Haiti Cholera,
Corruption and
Censorship Qs
in UN
Bookstore
Event
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
UNITED
NATIONS, September 7 – For weeks the UN had
promoted its book event about New York City and
the UN, featuring author Pamela Hanlon.
But
when Inner City Press went and asked about the
UN having brought cholera to Haiti and paid
nothing, and whether Haitians in Brooklyn had
been able to get any accountability from the UN,
there was no answer.
A
heckler in the audience said loudly that the
question was not appropriate. Video here.
So Inner City Press followed up on Ms. Hanlon's
statement that the land under the UN is still US
territory. If so, what of John Ashe selling
diplomatic posts from inside his UN General
Assembly President's office, and Inner City
Press for covering the scandal being thrown out
onto First Avenue by eight UN Security officers?
Audio here.
(NYPD told Inner City Press it has no
jurisdiction to take criminal complaints, even
for assault, for anything east of the First
Avenue curb.)
That question wasn't answered, either, including
by Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s Office for International Affairs.
September
4, 2017
From
the US State
Department
last week: Q:
can you
confirm in New
York that the
facility you
are closing,
you’re
ordering
closed, is in
the Bronx?
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: I
can’t – I have
to say I’m not
a New Yorker.
I have no idea
where these –
where the
property is.
You’re asking
the wrong
person.
And that's how they left it..
August
28, 2017
At NYC City Hall,
de Blasio
Talks Lisbon &
SDGs With Guterres, Mark-Viverito on Columbus
By
Matthew Russell Lee,
Photos
UNITED
NATIONS, August 24 – After UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' spokesman met New York City's
incumbent / candidate for Mayor Bill de Blasio
for half an hour on August 24, there was a
three-minute photo opportunity at which de
Blasio spoke twice. Photos on Alamy, here.
Both mentioned climate change; de Blasio noted
that Guterres' wife is the deputy mayor of
Lisbon. Afterward in the parking lot, City
Council Speak Melissa Mark-Viverito was asked
about the idea of removing the Colombus statue
from 59th Street (she said, ask my press
office.) As one Free UN
Coalition for Access wag
noted, the UN has at least two
portraits on its walls of Kurt
Waldheim. The subway from
Grand Central to City Hall
was, predictably, delayed by a
stalled train. At
the UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked
what seemed an obvious question. Will Guterres
be meeting or at least reaching out to de
Blasio's debate opponent of the night before,
Sal Albanese? The spokesman, Stephane Dujarric,
said no. Apparently like in Kenya, Guterres' UN
sides with incumbents whether during or just
after contested campaigns, with dubious results.
More on this to follow. With the UN being asked
to take action to ban killer robots, Inner City
Press on August 23 asked the UN for Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' view of killer robots.
Video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Elon Musk and other
high-profile, high-tech people have written an
open letter to the UN saying that the, what's
called killer robots, automated killing machines
for the use in war, should be prohibited in some
way by the UN. Does the Secretary-General
have any view on the appropriateness of killer
robots? Spokesman: I think it would be
easy to say that killer robots are not
appropriate, but I think, on, on a broader
point, and I think our head of disarmament made
that point in a recent speech, is that it's
clear that the regulatory framework that exists,
the global regulatory framework on weapons, has
not caught up with the technology as it exists
today. And it's a discussion that needs to
be had at an international, within a
multilateral setting. Inner City Press: And,
just finally, there was a, there was a swearing
in of three officials this morning, including an
Under-Secretary-General of DESA. And,
previously, those type of events have been open
for… have been photo ops for non-UN photo
press. Today, it wasn't. What
changed between July 11th when an identical…
Spokesman: If you are in need of photos,
we can provide them free of charge. Inner City
Press:
But what happened? Are we going backwards in
terms of access? Spokesman: We're always
going forward.
August
21, 2017
This,
in the Bronx,
was wrong,
https://youtu.be/Dg6cFUjiXhU
just as this
south in the
UN was and is
wrong:
After
Ng Bribery
Conviction, ICP Asks
Of UN Rewarding
Ng For SSN
Coverage of
Ban Trip
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video
and audio
August
14, 2017
In
UN Guinea
Bissau Holds Night
Event With
Chinese Art,
MOU With UNCG,
Ng Echo
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 12 – In the UN on August 11, the Ambassador of Guinea Bissau gave a speech in front of a curved wall of painting by a Chinese artist, praising a Memorandum of Understanding reached between his country and something called “UNCG,” which he did not define.In UN tonight, event with #GuineaBissau, speaker(s) translated from Chinese, echoes of the Southern District https://t.co/Mjpybp4CDx
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) August 11, 2017
August
7, 2017
UN
Allows
Censorship by
N Korea of Art
Show,
Leaves
It & Press
Restrictions
UNexplained
By
Matthew Russell Lee, video here
UNITED
NATIONS, August 5 – The day after an art exhibit
in the UN had four paintings removed by North
Korea, the acting head of "Global
Communications" for the UN declined address the
UN's role in this and other censorship. Maher
Nasser who took over on April 1 from Department
of Public Information chief Cristina Gallach,
named in the UN's own pre-guilty verdict audit
of Ng Lap Seng's lawless purchase of another art
show in the UN, was asked about continuing
Gallach's restrictions on Inner City Press, and
about North Korea banning the paintings.
He did not even purport to respond on the later,
and dissembled on the restrictions on Inner City
Press. First he said
"You have same access for accredited media." But
this is false: for example, the Egyptian state
correspondent Sanaa Youssef his DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' long time office to could
stake-out General Assembly meetings without
having the minder Inner City Press is now
required to be accompanied by (this also cuts
into what questions can be and are asked, the
purpose of minders.) Youssef, purportedly
representing Sisi's Akhbar al Yom, didn't even
come in for Egypt's August 2 press conference,
nor the August 5 Security Council meeting under
Egypt's presidency. It is a fraud. While Nasser
cited a policy about the UN Bookstore - where
numerous dubious pro-UN books are for sale - he
refused to state what "policy" results in a
critical media present and asking questions
after day being restricted, without hearing or
appeal, and a no-show state media that asks no
questions having its office and full access.
Youssef is a former president of the pro-UN (and
Ng Lap Seng funded) UN Correspondents
Association; another former UNCA president Giampaolo
Pioli hosted Nasser at his Hamptons
shindig. Earlier on August 5 Nasser lavished
praise on a pro-UN piece by yet another former
UNCA president, here. So Nassar hob-nobs with
people who vowed to get Inner City Press evicted
for its coverage, while continuing the
restrictions on Inner City Press. Global
Communications, indeed. We'll have more on this.
The show that opened in the UN Delegates
Entrance on Friday night promised to have four
paintings by North Korean artists, without the
approval of their government, set
for further sanctions the next day. But when
Inner City Press attended the show, all four
paintings were gone and pages 49 through 52 had
been ripped out of the show program it picked
up.
July
31, 2017
The scam continues, in the DNA: "The Crescendo is being billed by Carnegie Management as 'a residential complex built to commemorate the history of an area once filled with musical references.' In October 2015, a billboard went up near the Third Avenue Bridge declaring Port Morris to be the Piano District. The sign was installed by Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group, the developers that joined together to buy two properties along the Harlem River, at 2401 Third Ave. and 101 Lincoln Ave., for $58 million with plans to turn them into a residential community featuring retail. The backlash was swift, spurring use of the hashtag #WhatPianoDistrict on social media."
July
24, 2017
The
New York State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
(DEC) has
received
Brownfield
Cleanup
Program (BCP)
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans and
Final
Investigation
Reports from
Concourse
Village West
Owner LLC for
the following
sites:
Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
North, site ID
#C203091. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 180
East 156th
Street.
Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
South, site ID
#C203092. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 741
Concourse
Village and
702 Grand
Concourse.
Copies of the
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans, Final
Investigation
Reports and
other relevant
documents are
available at
the document
repositories
located at NY
Public Library
– Melrose
Branch, 910
Morris Ave,
Bronx, 10451
and Bronx
Community
Board 4, 1650
Selwyn Ave,
Suite 11A,
Bronx, 10457.
As Reuters Live-streams Spicer's House, Got Press Evicted From UN For Streaming Formal Meeting
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 21 – With Reuters getting trashed from the right and left for live-streaming Sean Spicer's family residence in Virginia, it's the hypocrisy that jumps out to the Press. At the UN, Reuters and the UN Correspondents Association on which it has a permanent seat got Inner City Press evicted from the UN Press Briefing Room and UN for live streaming a formal meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room, see here and here. Reuters later got the UN Spokesperson's office to allow it to deny corruption on UNTV. Now Reuters live-streams a private residence. Hypocrisy much? On July 16 Reuters reported a letter to FIFA from what it called the "boycott states" demanding that Qatar be stripped of the 2022 World Cup. There's only one problem: FIFA denies receiving the letter, and Reuters doesn't even claim to have "seen" it. This is the same Reuters which for example at the UN has used its "Palais" (insider) status to lobby to get smaller investigative Press thrown out. Here was a message with Reuters signature block to the UN's Stephane Dujarric, which Inner City Press not only saw but published, only to have Google grant a frivolous Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint (that an anti-Press email could be copyrighted) and banned from Search. The complainant's successor has continued the campaign, using Reuters' permanent seat on the board of the UN Correspondents Association, and followed up with a false complaint to UN Security, which subsequently ousted Inner City Press. We'll have more on this.July
17, 2017
Bronx
shelters, per
Daily News: "A
caseworker at
a Bronx
homeless
shelter faces
sex abuse
charges after
befriending a
family and
molesting
their
10-year-old
son,
authorities
said
Thursday.Amin
Laboriel, 37,
was
apprehended
last month in
Miami as he
tried to flee
the country,
prosecutors
said. He had a
one-way ticket
to Honduras on
him when he
was put in
handcuffs.
Prosecutors
said he met
his victim’s
mother at his
job at the
Bridge Haven
Family
Transitional
Residence and
quickly gained
the family’s
trust. On June
2, he offered
to take her
10-year-old
boy to his
Jackson
Heights,
Queens, home
for a night.
During the
sleepover,
Laboriel
sexually
abused and
sodomized the
child,
prosecutors
said. Police
were alerted
to the crime a
few weeks
later — just
as Laboriel
was about to
fly out of
Miami
International
Airport."
July
10, 2017
NYC
court beat: In 1st
UN
Bribery Case, Lorenzo
Admits
$20,000 a
Month from Ng's
South South
News, in UNTV
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 7 – In the UN bribery case against Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, for which jury selection ran from June 26 through June 28 (Periscope here), on July 6 former Dominican Republic Deputy Ambassador and South South News chief Francis Lorenzo started to describe the corruption at the United Nations. He was making $72,000 a year from his country, when Ng Lap Seng started paying him $20,000 a month and put him in charge of South South News despite, Lorenzo testified, having never done journalism in his life. (The UN Department of Public Information, with now-spokesman Stephane Duajrric in charge of television, put Ng's and Lorenzo's South South News' content in the UNTV archives; Dujarric repeatedly refused to explain to Inner City Press how this happened.) Lorenzo described how UN General Assembly President John Ashe, since mysteriously killed by his own barbell, became part of the push for Ng's company Sun Kian Ip Group to procure UN Secretariat documents to build a multi-billion dollar convention center in Macau. Ng's lawyers, who are preparing to cross-examine Lorenzo, have said they may use in his defense some UN documents which they have not yet specified. The prosecution has argued "defense counsel stated, 'We also have another document that is from the UN that we are going to introduce which is the secretary delegation members list.” (Tr. 138.) In addition, when sharing proposed opening slides, the Government learned that the defendant had printed out or downloaded two excerpts from UNOSSC websites that have never been produced or identified to the Government, but that the defendant asserted he intends to introduce at trial. The Government does not have a copy of the pertinent webpages, nor does it know whether the website from which they came is currently available or whether, in any event, the excerpts fairly and accurately capture the website." Inner City Press which has covered this inside the UN (and been thrown out by the UN for seeking to cover, in the UN Press Briefing Room, an event by a group funded by Ng's South South News, which will now host Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy Amina J. Mohammed) notes that the Office of South South Cooperation has refused to hold a press conference. On July 6, Inner City Press asked UN holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about, video here, UN transcript hereJuly
3, 2017
At
Bronx Lebanon
Hospital,
Henry Bello
shot and
killed
32-year-old
Dr. Tracy
Sin-Yee Tam,
who grew up in
Queens...
June
26, 2017
We
agree: bring
bike-share to
The Bronx.
"The Bronx
currently
suffers from
the worst
health
outcomes in
New York
State, and
initiatives
that support
active
transportation,
such as Citi
Bike, should
be made
available to
all residents
of the
borough. As it
improves
access to
farmers
markets,
shopping
districts and
other forms of
transit, our
communities
deserve the
same access to
Citi Bike as
other parts of
the city. We
call on Mayor
De Blasio to
extend this
valuable city
resource to
the Bronx
now." - Father
Ricardo
Fajardo,
Pastor, Holy
Spirit Church.
June
19, 2017
A
brownfield at
1888 Bathgate
Ave is slated
for
redevelopment
- with Low
Income Housing
Tax Credits,
recently
scrutinized by
Frontline and
NPR. So, two
things to look
at...
June
12, 2017
If
you're going
to replace the
Sheridan
Expressway, it
should be with
parks, not
another truck
road...
June 5, 2017
MetroNorth's
service to The
Bronx gets
worse and
worse. On June
3 the 2:54 pm
train stopped
for more than
20 minutes at
125th Street,
with
misleading
announcements
about a delay
of 5 to 10
minutes, then
a blaming of
“congestion”
in The Bronx.
We'll have
more on this.
May
29, 2017
Just
south of the
Bronx:
At Cameroon "National" Day, UN DSG & CdC, French Delattre, Toasts to Biya's Wife, No Internet
By
Matthew Russell Lee, New
Platform
UNITED
NATIONS, May 24 – While the UN Security Council
visited Cameroon during the 94 day Internet cut
off and said nothing publicly about it (but see
below), Inner City Press has obtained and has
exclusively published
on Patreon and now Scribd,
here Cameroon's "Urgent and Confidential"
letter to the UN Security Council, about
weapons. On May 23, Inner City Press went to the
New York event for Cameroon's "National" Day,
which was boycotted in the Anglophone regions of
the country. In New York, however, UN Deputy
Secretary General Amina J. Mohammad and Antonio
Guterres' Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro
Viotti attended, along with French Permanent
Representative to the UN Francois Delattre,
Burundi's Albert Shingiro and others. Video here.
May
22, 2017
UN
Credit Union
Solicits N
Korean &
UNA-USA Funds,
After NK
Missile, Nikki
Haley Says
Tighten Screws
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive follow up
UNITED
NATIONS, May 14 – The UN Federal Credit Union,
regulated by the US National Credit Union
Administration, openly solicits the business of
both North Korean employees of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea's mission to the UN
and the members of the UN Association of the USA
(UNA-USA), amid questions of immunity and a
previous UNFCU settlement for sanctions
violations.
UNFCU's
website lists
under “Missions to the UN in New York eligible
to join UNFCU” that of “North Korea (DPRK).”
Now, after the latest North Korean launch, US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on May 14 told
ABC's This Week that the screws will be
tightened on North Korea, to isolate them. So,
at the UN, what about the (US regulated) UN
Federal Credit Union?
Inner
City Press asked UNFCU's Senior Manager of Media
Relations Elisabeth Philippe questions including
“why some UN member states' missions to the UN
are eligible to join UNFCU, including the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and
others are not, why members of UNA-USA became
eligible to join UNFCU, what regulatory filings
in any UNFCU made for this change in field of
membership, and any restrictions on the use of
these UNA-USA members' funds, and what services
UNFCU offers to UN agencies and country teams,
in which countries, and if there are any
restrictions or safeguards.”
May
15, 2017
Not
good: the
beating of
Souleymane
Porgo of
Burkina Faso,
on the Grand
Concourse -
even the US
Embassy in
Burkina has
had to
apologize...
At UN, Press Coverage
of Biz Event Praising Goldman Sachs Hindered
by DPI Censorship
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 11 – When the UN hosted an event
and press conference about small businesses,
they made it nearly impossible for Inner City
Press which actually covers the topic, to access
the speeches which praised, among others,
Goldman Sachs and Facebook. (A surreal tango
reception, however, was accessible as Inner City
Press was invited and DPI wasn't around to
exclude it: Periscope here.)
The event was in the ECOSOC Chamber, which Inner
City Press cannot access, unlike other
correspondents who didn't bother to cover the
issue, or even to come in to the UN. More than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN. Audio
here.
May 8,
2017
At UN's
World Press
Freedom Event,
ICP Asks of UN
Censorship,
WIPO &
FAO, 1-Line
Response
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Video here
UNITED
NATIONS, May 4 – At the UN's World Press Freedom
Day event, the hypocrisy of the UN was on
display. After a UN panel gave speeches praising
the UN's work, the floor was opened for
questions. Inner City Press raised its hand
throughout. First the Department of Public
Information's Margaret Novicki called on a non
governmental organization; then she switched to
pre-selected questioners. A DPI staffer told
Inner City Press Novicki erred in calling on the
NGO, but to keep its hand raised. Inner City
Press waited and then asked about the UN's own
commitment to press freedom, using as examples
the World Intellectual Property Organization's
use of criminal defamation laws against a Swiss
radio station, FAO going after a website for
reporting on corruption, and the UN's lack of
due process protections for journalists. All
Novicki said, to the three questions, was that
"as you know," DPI is committed to freedom of
the press. Video here.
Really?
Contrary to Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling
for an end to crackdowns on the press, more than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN. Audio
here.
May 1,
2017
History in the soil, 198 East 135th Street: "Prior site uses include a railroad freight yard, coal yard, warehousing, and various industrial uses (some of which included oil storage). Historic fill is also present at the site. "
April
24, 2017
At UN, DPI Prejudice Against
Critical Press
UNanswered,
Bello Wiffs on
Haiti and Roma
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 21 – The UN which evicted Inner City Press
14 months ago after it sought to covering UN
corruption in the UN Press Briefing Room has on
April 20 responded
that it is fine to continue to confine it to
minders, while giving much more access to pro-UN
or state media like Akhbar al Yom and others
which never ask questions, or challenge
incompetence. This mendacious answer continued,
by default, at an event in the UN Bookstore on
April 21, video
here.
April
17, 2017
At UN,
Request
To Explain
Censorship of
Press Yields
1-Line, Spox
Says Criticism
Is Harassment
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 13 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone
from the UN's unaccountable Department of Public
Information. A formal request
for reversal, below, was filed 13 days ago. So
far only a Kafka-esque one line response,
followed by an accusation by the UN's lead
spokesman Stephane Dujarric that Inner City
Press' criticism of the UN and some of its
officials is "harassment." Video
here. When Dujarric was in charge of media
accreditation at the UN, he summoned Inner City
Press about a mere tweet, here.
This, then, is censorship. And those who took
over accreditation after Dujarric, in what's
being revealed as the DPI of UN bribery indicted
Ng Lap Seng can't even explain the basis of
minders and metal detectors for Inner City Press
while, for example, Egyptian state media Akhbar
al Yom was nowhere to be seen, hasn't asked a
single question in ten months. The
UN is Corrupt - we'll have more on this.
Having no response other than a forward to yet
more UN DPI officials, Inner City Press asked
and was told, Didn't [a particular] DPI official
talk to you? Well, no.
April
10, 2017
The fight for
freedom of the
Press, from
the Bronx has
spread south
to Manhattan's
Turtle Bay,
with this
filed: "
At UN, Formal
Request Made To End Restrictions on Press, Is
Officer in Charge, In Charge?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 5 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone.
(A formal request for reversal, below, as been
filed). After the UN's head of Communications
Cristina Gallach was given a strange farewell
toast on March 30, the UN told Inner City Press
that the "position will be filled by
an Officer-in-Charge... while
the process to find a new
Under-Secretary-General for
Public Information continues."
On
April 3, Inner City Press
wrote to this Officer in
Charge, who copied the
request to several others to
be named:
"Four
hundred and five days ago, without any hearing or
opportunity to be heard, I was ordered out of the
United Nations for having sought to covering a
meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room that was
nowhere listed as closed to some journalists and not
others. Inner City Press, still without any hearing
and no appeal since, was then evicted from its
shared office S-303 which has sat largely unused
since. I have been forced, for more than a year, to
only enter through the metal detectors at the
Visitors Entrance, and my pass has not worked on the
second floor turnstile, precluding me from covering
events on the second floor as other correspondents
could. There are other restrictions and double
standards, hindering reporting, of which DPI has
been made aware.
Yesterday was the last day atop DPI for the official who without speaking to me once signed the February 19, 2016 letter, and for the April 2016 eviction. The Deputy Spokesperson told me yesterday, in a noon briefing where I asked six questions (earlier the week there was a noon briefing where from the entire rest of the accredited press corps there were only three questioners), I was told that you are the Officer in Charge of DPI. In that capacity, this is a formal request that Inner City Press be restored to the office it was ousted from without due process... and that I be restored to Resident Correspondent accreditation immediately... I also incorporate this link to the Special Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders letter: and, again, this petition."
Days later, no ruling, attempted jokes while Inner City Press worked to write up the Syria UN Security Council meeting from a bench in the UN lobby. We'll have more on this. On March
28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press,
this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in
honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI,
Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at
5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN
Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine
will be served. Please join us for a farewell
toast!" Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with
no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng
Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own audit
at Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press
without
any hearing or appeal? The decline in
media access? On March 29, Inner City Press
asked among other things, "yesterday your Office
replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will
announce arrivals and departures as they occur.'
Now that your partner has arranged a farewell
for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale
for your Office refusing to confirm her
departure and the status of recruiting a
replacement?" The UN spokesman replied,
"Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina
Gallach, her position will be filled by an
Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the
process to find a new Under-Secretary-General
for Public Information continues." We'll have
more on this.
In early 2016, covering the UN corruption
scandals which have resulted in two sets of
indictments for bribery involving the UN, Inner
City Press was ordered to leave the UN Press
Briefing Room by then Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
April
3, 2017
Gentrification watch: Treetop Development has announced plans for a $160 million, dual-tower development in the South Bronx. The 12-story rental towers will be part of a mixed-use project of roughly 360,000 square feet. The developer is also planning a 260,000-square-foot residential project with retail on the ground floor, as well as a 100,000-square-foot rental development, nearby....
March
27, 2017
There's a fight-back against closing Junior High School 145 in Morrisania. In the 2015-2016 school year, only eight percent of students at JHS 145 passed state reading exams, and only three percent passed state math tests....
March
20, 2017
The (lack of)
respect for
the Bronx was
exemplified by
the stairs
down to the D
Train on
Tremont during
and after the
snow storm...
March 13, 2017
Excess
and
gentrification
to come:
Chetrit Group
and Somerset
Partners are
laying out
their vision
for the future
buildings at
101 Lincoln
Ave. and 2401
Third Ave....
March
6, 2017
Last
week, Bronx
Borough
President Diaz
said he
supports
Queens
Assembly
Member Andrew
Hevesi's Home
Stability
Support plan,
which would
give rent
subsidies to
those in
danger of
losing their
homes...
February
27, 2017
When an Amber
alert went off
all over New
York on
February 24,
it mentioned
The Bronx.
Afterward,
this: "Cops
initially
tracked
Hernandez to
Louis Nine
Blvd. in the
Foxhurst
section of the
Bronx — about
53 miles from
Bridgeport —
after
Hernandez was
spotted in the
area, and his
cell phone
pinged there."
Who
calls that
Foxhurst? Call
it Hagstrom
hangover.
February 20,
2017
Slumlord or vivero? "details are being released about the victims who contracted a rare disease transmitted by rat urine, including a link to a Bronx business just a block away from the building that has become the main target of both tenants and the city. In the last two months, three people along a single block have contracted leptospirosis, a rare bacterial infection. Two of the victims, including one man in his 30s who died last year, at one point worked at a nearby live poultry shop."
February
13, 2017
Bronx
Catholic
schools hit
hard: The
Archdiocese of
New York
has
announced that
St. Ann School
in Norwood,
Visitation
School in
Kingsbridge
and St. Mary
School in
Wakefield will
close, along
with St.
Gregory the
Great School
on the Upper
West Side and
St. Peter's
Regional
School in
Sullivan
County. Sts.
Peter and Paul
School in
Morrisania
will turn into
a universal
pre-K program
starting in
September...
February
6, 2017
Electeds
to the
Postmaster:
"Since
late November,
the Bronx Post
Office has
been removing
mailboxes all
throughout the
borough in
order to
replace them
with new boxes
that will
prevent mail
fishing. We
appreciate the
post office’s
concern with
the safety of
our
constituent’s
mail and are
pleased to see
them taking a
proactive
approach to
combatting
this issue.
However, most
of the
mailboxes that
have been
removed still
have not been
replaced, and
the Bronx Post
Office has
either been
incapable or
unwilling to
give us a
timeline as to
when these new
mailboxes will
be installed.
We represent a
large
constituency
of people who
are elderly
and living in
apartment
buildings that
are not easily
accessible to
our local post
office
branches.
These people
rely on the
mailboxes on
their block to
pay their
bills and send
their
correspondences.
After more
than 2 months
of these
mailboxes
missing, we
find it
completely
unacceptable
that the Bronx
Post Office
still has not
replaced them
and cannot
give us an
answer as to
when, if ever,
they will all
be replaced.
We would
appreciate it
if your office
would look
into this
matter
immediately
and provide
any possible
assistance to
help resolve
the problem.
The USPS
should also
consider
dispatching
mobile
collection
units in the
affected
communities as
a temporary
measure."
January
30, 2017
RIP
Wayne Barrett
- and ex-Rep
Bobby
Garcia...
January
23, 2017
UN
Again
Bans
Staff From
Women's March,
ICP
Questions,
Gallach at
Power's Elex
Party
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 21 – UN system officials told
their staff not to attend the "Global Women's
March" on Saturday, January 21. From the NYC
march, Periscope
I and II,
photos
here, here
and here.
After
Inner City Press asked, the directive was
reversed - then reinstated at 6 pm the night
before the march. Below is UN email first
published by Inner City Press. Meanwhile senior
UN officials like Under Secretary General
Cristina Gallach violate the stated UN rules.
Below is an email from the UN World Food
Program.
After Inner City Press published and Periscoped
about it and asked four WFP spokespeople about
it, by email and phone, UN deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq at the January 20 noon briefing
answered Inner City Press that WFP's Ertharin
Cousin, from Chicago, reversed her agency's
Ethics Officer and said staff can march. YouTube
video here.
But
then just before 6 pm on January 20, the eve of
the March, another UN "Broadcast" email went
out, further muddying the waters before the
Women's March and showing again that Cristina
Gallach (and some other USGs) have violated the
UN's rules. That email is below; here are the
questions Inner City Press has submitted to the
UN's top three spokespeople for clarification:
"These
are two Press questions asked before the Women's
March (in DC, and in front of the UN, as well as
elsewhere) starts, in light of the unsigned,
unclear Ethics Office broadcast email below sent
out yesterday evening after, and contradicting,
the answer given to my question at the noon
briefing about the UN's position on the March.
Given that, and many questions Inner City Press
has received from confused (and angry) UN staff
- and the unprecedented request for the
extradition of the just-former Secretary
General's brother - these questions should be
responded to immediately:
Who is responsible for the Ethics Office
broadcast email below? Is Elia Armstrong still
the head of / involved in the Ethics Office?
Why is it unsigned? Who is accountable for it?
Was it cleared with the Office of Legal Affairs?
Are there two different instructions for
Secretariat staff and Ertharin Cousin's WFP
staff?
Separately, please comment on the US government
formal request to South Korea to extradite Ban
Ki Sang, and again, was the UN ever contacted by
prosecutors about Ban Ki-moon or his family
members?
There are still the majority of the
questions below [only two and a half of 22 have
been answered.] On deadline." Watch this site.
The
UN's 6 pm, January 20 email:
"To:
OAH, DPKO, UN Funds Programs & Tribunals, HQ
NY Secretariat
From: BROADCAST-UNHQ/NY/UNO
Date: 01/20/2017 05:57PM
Subject: Message from the Ethics Office: Public
Pronouncements and Political Activities
Recently, there have been a number of questions
regarding public pronouncements including
participating in political activities and social
media discussions. The questions include
participation in tomorrow’s Women’s March on
Washington. Are such activities in line with our
status as international civil servants?
In this respect, we would like to remind staff
of their obligations as international civil
servants.
The private activities of UN staff members must
remain within the limits of the Organization’s
core values as reflected in Staff Regulation 1.2
and Staff Rule 1.2. While the Organization
respects the inviolability of your personal
views and convictions, including your political
and religious convictions, as well as your right
to freedom of expression, we must ensure that
the expression of those views and convictions do
not adversely reflect on our status, or on the
integrity, independence and impartiality that
are required by that status.
As international civil servants, we are called
upon to uphold and respect the principles set
out in the Charter, including faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women. Nonetheless, as
international civil servants, our Standards of
Conduct (para 9 and 33) make clear that we do
not have the freedom of private persons to take
sides or to express our beliefs publicly on
sensitive political matters, either individually
or as members of a group nor can we criticize or
try to discredit a Government.
Public pronouncements, which could have an
impact on our independence and impartiality as
international civil servants, come in many forms
including but not limited to:
-marches,
protests, demonstrations;
-online petitions:
-social media activity:
-group walks/activities.
Accordingly, participating in certain
activities, especially those with political
overtones, may be viewed as incompatible with
our status as international civil servants."
January
16, 2017
ICP
Asks Samantha
Power of Ban
Ki-moon's
Family
Indicted, She
Says
Doesn't
Involve UN
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 13 – There are those in the UN
who like Samantha Power for what they think she
stands for. By the same token, Power and the
Obama administration were unrelentingly
defenders of the UN for what they said it stood
for. But were either right?
On January 13 Samantha Power took up the UN
Press Briefing Room for more than an hour to
extol her and Obama's virtues. Her outgoing
spokesman called early on two US Voice of
America affiliates.
Between
questions, Inner City Press asked, What about
the indictment of Ban Ki-moon's brother and
nephew? Tweeted
video here.
Power looked over and said, “I don't have any
comment. It's not something that involves the
UN.”
Well, no. The indictment by the US Attorney's
Office says Ban's nephew repeatedly cited his
family's access to the Amir of Qatar to help
selling a building in Vietnam. Ban knew of this
for at least a year and a half. Any UN OIOS
investigation? But Samantha Power was never
about reforming the UN.
Inner City Press asked, What about Haiti
cholera? Power smirked / shrugged, and her
spokesman moved on. So the UN bringing cholera
to Haiti and killing 10,000 people, not paying a
penny - that "is not something that involves the
UN?" We'll have more on this.
ICP asked @AmbassadorPower about indictment Ban Ki-moon's family. She: doesn't “involve UN.” Smirked at UN's #Haiti cholera pic.twitter.com/VwjH9rVMxT
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 14, 2017
When the UN killed 10,000 plus people in Haiti by bringing cholera, what did the Obama administration do? The issue wasn't even mentioned in Power's 8000 plus word Exit Memo. Nor was Burundi or Yemen, where US-made cluster bombs have been dropped on schools and hospitals. A problem from hell, indeed.
Power and her Deputy Permanent Representative
for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman have
said nothing about the indictment for bribery of
Ban Ki-moon's brother and nephew for using the
UN, nor about the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng UN
briefing case about to come to trial.
January
9, 2017
So
what will be
the
displacement
impacts of the
NY Times
calling the
South Korea a
must-visit
place for
tourists?
January
2, 2017
So Ban Ki-moon
dropped the
ball, one last
time, over
Times Squares
on New Year's
Eve, promoting
Planet
Fitness...
Ban
Ki-moon Used
UN to Run For
S Korea Prez
As Early at
2010
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Seventeenth in a Series
UNITED
NATIONS, December 31 -- In the final
days of Ban Ki-moon's decade as UN
Secretary General, covering up
genocides in Sri
Lanka, Burundi
and Yemen
and evicting
the Press which asked about (t)his
corruption, Inner City Press is
reviewing Ban's end, year by year. See
also this
Twitter Moment.
In 2009,
Ban misspoke about his history in Sri
Lanka, the mass killing in which he
ignored to attend his son Woo-hyun's
wedding, and where his
son in law Siddharth Chatterjee had
previously played an active, killing
role.
While Ban
would later evict
and still restrict Inner City Press,
in 2009 his strategy was to get it
removed from Google News - and it
happened (though it was later
reversed). Here's Inner City Press' report from
June 3, 2009.
And
now Ban threatens
to sue, for ambition.
Ban hyped up his appearance in Times Square - where he only stood with De Blasio like a sidekick, waving inanely and promoting a corporation, Planet Fitness. It was a fit ending.
December
26, 2016
Brownfield,
198 E 135
Street "is
vacant and
used to store
vehicles
associated
with a
storage/moving
company
located
adjacent to
the property.
The Harlem
River is
located
approximately
600 feet to
the southwest.
Current Zoning
and Land Use:
The site is
currently
inactive, and
is zoned for
mixed-use
high-density
residential
and commercial
use. Past Use
of the Site:
Prior site
uses that
appear to have
led to site
contamination
are railroad
freight yard,
coal yard,
warehousing,
and various
industrial
uses (some of
which included
oil storage).
The site also
appears to be
contaminated
with historic
fill." We'll
have more on
this.
December
19, 2016
UN
Thugs Attack
ICP Outside
Ban Ki-moon's
$1200 Wall
Street Event,
Throw Phone
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
17 --
Outgoing
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
headlined a
$1200 a ticket
event on Wall
Street on
Friday night.
Inner City
Press went to
cover the
event, and
while
live-streaming
Periscope
video outside
was physically
attacked by
thugs exiting
the UN event.
Video
here. This
is what the UN
has come to.
Shortly
before, Inner
City Press
spoke with Ban
Ki-moon, now
Antonio
Guterres
official
Kyung-wha
Kang. She
said, of Inner
City Press'
eviction from
the UN and
nine months
and counting
of minders,
“There must be
a process.”
But there is
no process, no
rule, no
appeal right.
And, it is now
confirmed,
there are
thugs.
Call it, now,
the Dark Side
of the Moon (music).
Outgoing
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson, who
has received a
petition on
the matter, to
his credit
came over and
greeted Inner
City Press --
before the
attack.
Representatives
of the US
Mission to the
UN, who did
nothing about
the earlier
eviction
despite a request
by the
Government
Accountability
Project,
did not.
Not seen was
UN Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, who
by her no due
process
eviction, audio
here, and
allowing UNCA
chief Pioli to
at the
televised UN
Security
Council
stakeout call
Inner City
Press a*hole,
audio
here, created
this
atmosphere.
But where is
the Committee
to Protect
Journalists,
ostensibly now
concerned
about press
freedom inside
the
terroritorial
United States?
Where is Human
Rights Watch,
whose UN
representative
in fact tried
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN, here,
then got
Google to
censor from
Search his
request,
misusing the
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act?
The only
solution is,
at a minimum,
to restore
Inner City
Press to where
it was before
the no due
process
eviction. Then
to work from
there. Watch
this site.December
12, 2016
After
NYC Praises
UN, ICP Asks
Ban's Spox of
Gallach's
Violations of
Free Press
& Due
Process
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 7 -- When Mayor Bill
de Blasio's Commissioner for
International Affairs Penny
Abeywardena took
questions about the United
Nations' impact on New York City, she
answered Inner City Press' question
about Legionaires disease by saying
the UN works with the City to comply
with applicable local laws.
On December
7, Inner City Press asked the UN's
deputy spokesman if this compliance
extends to the US First Amendment and
due process guarantes, both of which
Abeywardena's co-panelist Cristina
Gallach of the UN appears ot have
violated. From
the UN transcript:
Deputy
Spokesman: I would refer you back to
what Penny Abeywardena said yesterday
in her role as the New York City
Commissioner for International Affairs
about the more than $3.3 billion, I
believe it was…
Inner City
Press: I asked her whether the UN is
subject to New York City health rules
like on Legionnaires' disease and on
self-inspection, and she sort of said,
oh, we work very closely, the UN
basically kind of philosophically
accepts all of these things even if
it's not legally required.
So I'd wanted to know, one, things
like the First Amendment, as to the
freedom of the press or due process,
is there… can you say that the UN is…
is… is accepting, in the same way she
described as Legionnaires' disease and
health regulations, of freedom of the
press and due process provisions of
its host country?
Deputy Spokesman: It's not about
the laws of the host country. Of
course, the UN also upholds the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and as you know, that includes the
freedom of the media, freedom of
expression, freedom of assembly and
many other key rights.
Then
how could the UN's Gallach order Inner
City Press out of the UN, for seeking
to cover an event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, without once speaking
to it - i.e. providing any due process
at the time, with no right to appeal
in the nine months since?
Gallach has
been written
to by the UN's own Special
Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression
and Human Rights Defenders and,
after a three month day, misled
them about a non-existent
"altercation." The UN and
Gallach do not comply with
locally-applicable laws.
On
December 6, there was an initial joke
about parking tickets, as if that
would be the extent of issues New
Yorkers might care about.
But while the City's study enumerates people directly employed by the UN Community, their lack of labor and other rights due to immunity was not acknowledged in the study.
Inner City Press covers both the UN
and its headquarters city, New York,
and routinely receives complaints from
diplomats' domestic workers and
drivers about work place abuse and
lack of benefits, and the lack of any
recourse. Due to immunity, not only
defrauded workers but those subject to
physical abuse are left without
rights.
Inner City Press asked Abeywardena
what the de Blasio administration
proposes to do about that - for
example, diplomat Joachim Haubrichs punched
his wife Henna Johnson, 35, in the
face and was not subject to arrest
at all. Abeywardena said, in
essence, that Johnson could get
counseling. Video
here.
What about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed 10,000 people, leaving sorrow and economic harm in many New York City communities - does the de Blasio administration have a position on that? Abeywardena did not answer, leaving the question for the UN moderator Cristina Gallach.
But Gallach,
as mentioned even in the New York
Times, is responsible for the
ouster and eviction of the
investigative Press from the UN, and
its confinement to minders to cover
events on the UN's second floor for
the past nine months and for the
foreseeable future.
Gallach is giving Inner City Press' longtime shared UN office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom, which rarely comes into the UN and never asks any questions.
@globalnyc @PAbeywardena at UN presser; ICP has questions on security, impunity, UN censorship: https://t.co/bDyNnnlkgW pic.twitter.com/bFkuOA5DF9
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) December 6, 2016
Abeywardena answered Inner City Press'
second round of questions by saying
the City works with the UN on such
issues as testing for Legionnaires
Disease - something legally required
for (other) buildings in New
York.
We question
whether the City administration is
doing or should do anything to ensure
that the UN lives up to the basic
principles, applicable right outside
the UN's gates, of press freedom and
due process.
Gallach's
pretext for throwing Inner City Press
out and restricting it since was Inner
City Press' attempt to cover an event
in the same UN Press Briefing Room on
January 29, as part of its coverage of
the ongoing Ng Lap Seng UN bribery
case set for trial in the US District
Court for the Southern District of New
York in January 2017.
Inner City
Press left the briefing room - which
had no “closed” sign on it - as soon
as a single UN Security officer said
to, at the request of UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric. But three weeks later,
without once speaking with Inner City
Press, Gallach
ordered it out on two hours
notice.
December
5, 2016
We're
for public
access to
North Brother
Island - and
Hart Island,
too....
November
28, 2016
Sin
City fall out:
http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/pdf/2016-11-21-odell-beckham-letter.pdf
November
21, 2016
Ban Ki-moon NYU Speech Has Prerequisites While $100,000 Speech Withheld
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Follow
Up on Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, November 18 -- As
Ban Ki-moon's time at the
UN winds down and he prepares
coyly to run for
President in South
Korea, his packaging of
his legacy has become a
vanity amateur operation,
see below.
It
is now even worse that we
thought. While Ban Ki-moon
on October 14 gave a
speech in Washington DC
for which $100,000
sponsorships were sought
but a copy of which was
never released, now for a
speech at New York
University, an Inner City
Press request, twice, to
cover it has been
rebuffed.
There
are, it seems,
prerequisites to cover
this Ban Ki-moon speech.
The solicitation stated:
"In
his final weeks as UN
secretary-general, Ban
will deliver a keynote
address [at] NYU School of
Professional Studies
(NYUSPS) Center for Global
Affairs (CGA)... If you
are a member of the press
who wishes to cover it,
please contact Cheryl
Feliciano."
And so, covering Ban
Ki-moon closely, and his
promoted son in law at the
UN in Kenya, and brother
Ki-ho mining in Myanmar,
Inner City Press wrote to
NYU's Feliciano: "Hi, I
cover the UN and would
like to cover Ban
Ki-moon's Nov 22 speech.
This is my RSVP. Please
confirm."
But what came back was a
strange request: "Hi
Matthew, Do you have an
official UN press
credential?"
Inner City Press replied,
cc-ing the Free UN
Coalition for Access
(FUNCA), that "I do. But
why would that be a
prerequisite to cover a
speech by Ban Ki-moon not
inside the UN? Please let
me know."
It is particularly strange
given that in Washington,
at least on October 14,
for nothing but money one
could hear Ban Ki-moon
speak.
NYU's response came from
its director of Media
Relations Christopher
James:
"The
prereq. Is NYPD press
Creds or UN press creds.
Security being what it is,
these are the ONLY
acceptable forms of I.D.
for journalists. If you
are on assignment, please
have you editor email us
to this effect."
That is, yet another prerequisite to hear this sure to be groundbreaking speech by Ban "$100,000" Ki-moon... Other attendees include Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu and Kim Won-soo a/k/a Ban's Brain or now, shaman. To this has the end of the Ban Ki-moon era at the UN sunk.
November 14, 2016
In The Bronx, it seems on November 8 in Assembly District 84, ED 79 (Mott Haven-Port Morris) only 2 votes were cast: 1 for Clinton and 1 for Trump...
November 7, 2016Call it read-lining: Barnes & Noble is closing its store in The Bronx...
October
31, 2016
Gentrification:
"the South
Bronx’s
Melrose/Morrisania
co-ops jumped
17 percent to
$236,000.
Nearby in Mott
Haven/Port
Morris/Hunts
Point,
one-to-three
family home
prices jumped
70 percent to
$520,000." REBNY
report
October
24, 2016
On the killing of Deborah Danner, where is the UN and its human rights Special Rapporteurs?
October
17, 2016
Tour
de Bronx,
October 23: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tour-de-bronx-2016-tickets-26789955478
October
10, 2016
We
agree: "Since
1981, the
Belmont
Library has
sat adjacent
to Arthur
Avenue,
offering key
services to
the vibrant
community
while enjoying
the energy,
uniqueness,
and spirit of
the Bronx's
own Little
Italy," said
New York
Public Library
Chief
Operating
Officer Iris
Weinshall.
"The dedicated
staff at this
branch can
certainly
attest to the
greatness of
this storied
street and the
people that
bring it to
life."
October
3, 2016
Rare
Bronx - UN
connection:
the head of
the Clay
Avenue Tenants
Association is
headed to
Quito
for the
HABITAT
conference. We
hope to have
more on this.
September
26, 2016
South
Bronx
gentrifying http://furmancenter.org/thestoop/entry/new-report-analyzes-new-york-citys-gentrifying-neighborhoods-and-finds-dram
September
19, 2016
While
the UN
General
Assembly
meets, click
here for that,
there's this
(Maduro) in
The Bronx:
Thursday
September 22,
2016
6:00 p.m.
Location:
Latino
Pastoral
Action Center
14 West 170th
Street Bronx
NY, 10452
September
12, 2016
This
footage of
the killing of
Reynaldo
Cuevas is
troubling...
September
5, 2016
Glad
to see LinkNYC
wi-fi coming
into The
Bronx: "The
program has so
far installed
25 kiosks in
The Bronx,
although nine
do not have
wireless
access yet,
and the
borough will
see a total of
more than 700
kiosks
installed over
the next few
years."
August
29, 2016
Old school: "The papers were apparently left by workers at the Langston Hughes Young Explorers Academy, also called PS 236. They are from the 2007-2008 school year, but many contain up to date addresses and phone numbers of students and parents, and potentially embarrassing medical information along with social security numbers."
August
22, 2016
Last
week, Inner
City Press /
Fair Finance
Watch
challenged
People's
United -
Suffolk County
National Bank.
Now:
"Elizabeth
Montgomery, a
People’s
United
spokeswoman,
said the bank
does not
comment on
pending
litigation,
but noted that
it feels
“comfortable”
with its
lending
practices.
“We’re a
highly
regulated
institution
and we’re very
proud of our
history of
residential
lending and
we’re
comfortable
with our
practices,”
she said.
Suffolk did
not return a
call for
comment."
Comfortable?
In the
the New York
City MSA in
2014, the most
recent year
for which Home
Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data is
publicly
available,
People's
United made 82
home purchase
loans to
whites and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos.
That's NONE.
We'll have
more on this.
August
15, 2016
Another
Inner City
Press nominee
for the Bronx
(and Brooklyn
and Queens and
Harlem and
Washington
Heights) Hall
of Shame:
People's
United. ICP
has filed: "
in
the the New
York City MSA
in 2014, the
most recent
year for which
Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data is
publicly
available,
People's
United made 82
home purchase
loans to
whites and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos. This
is redlining;
this proposed
acquisition
could not
legitimately
be approved
and People's
United should
be referred
for
prosecution
for redlining
by the
Department of
Justice and
CFPB.
For refinance
loans in the
New York City
MSA in 2013,
People's
United made 24
loans to
whites, 1 to
an African
American and
four to
Hispanics. For
home
improvement
loans in the
New York City
MSA in 2013,
People's
United made
eight loans to
whites, and
NONE to
African
Americans or
Latinos."
August
8, 2016
We
favor
forward-looking
relief - and
standing - in
Trowbridge v.
Cuomo,
16-cv-3455,
about the
unacceptable
delays in
Bronx Criminal
Court...
August
1, 2016
So an 8-story building will replace the church at 1017 Home Street... We remember when they tore down 975-981 Home Street... The History Channel billboard is out, iHeart radio is in. With heart?
July
25, 2016
Gentrification proceeds: Developer Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners has purchased a 16,000-square-foot warehouse at 9 Bruckner Boulevard for $7.5 million and says he intends to create a "Gansevoort Market-style food hall called Bruckner Market." We'll see...
After Press
Is Banned From Covering UN HLPF, Ban
Says That's How Security Works
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 22 -- When Inner
City Press went to cover the UN
conclusion of the High Level Political
Forum on July 20, it was told by a UN
Security official it could only do so
with an escort, or minder, from UN
Media Accreditation. There was no one
in that office - but when the
supervisor of it asked the UN Security
official to let Inner City Press
through the turnstile, he said only if
someone stayed with Inner City Press
the whole time -- that is, a minder.
The supervisor could not. And that was
it: censorship.
On July 22, Inner City Press asked Ban
Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq
why the Press was Banned, Video
here, UN
Transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask a
media access question and it doesn’t
only… it would presumably impact the
majority of journalists being
accredited here. There was a
meeting of the High-Level Political
Forum on the SDGs (Sustainable
Development Goals) on Wednesday and it
was listed in the journal as
concluding at 6:30 to 7:00, so I went
to cover it but was unable to stake it
out and speak to anyone, because there
was no one in MALU (Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit) and
the guards refused to let me through
the turnstile, which I want to clarify
to you… which doesn't work for green
‘P’ passes, which is the majority of
what the journalists have here.
So I wanted to know, it's not a
question of beating up on MALU for not
being present at 6:30, although the
meeting was listed, but what can be
done? What is the policy?
Does this mean the majority of
journalists can't stake out such
meetings, or should there be a policy,
when there is an official meeting at
that level at 6:30 that the
journalists can go through and speak
to diplomats about it?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we
certainly try to make sure that access
is there for all meeting and MALU
tries… you know, the Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit tries
to be present as much as it can.
Obviously, for later scheduled
meetings, it's hard to have escorts
for all of these, but we have been in
touch with the media accreditation
people and they have assured us of
their constant efforts to try and be
there as escorts for you. And
with that…
ICP Question: Why don’t you tell
security to let people through?
If there is no escort you can't cover
it.
Deputy Spokesman: No. That
is not how security works.
That's not how BAN's security
and minder work...
July
18, 2016
As
YouTube
Hinders
Publication of
UN Q&As,
Censorship
Questions
UNveiled
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
15 -- Like
many
independent
media, Inner
City Press
publishes its
coverage not
only on its
website but on
a number of
third party
platforms like
YouTube,
Twitter,
Scribd and
SoundCloud.
YouTube is
owned by
Google, and
like its
parent allows
publishes to
monetize their
material with
advertisements.
But do YouTube
and Google
behind it
engage in
censorship?
This week, in
the midst of
Inner City
Press' fight
against the
eviction of
its shared
office in the
United Nations
while it is
asking
questions
about the Ng
Lap Seng UN
bribery case
as relates not
only to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon but
also Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
Cristina
Gallach, Inner
City Press
received
emails from
YouTube that
its videos
could no
longer be
monetized.
The emails
said “We
didn't approve
your video(s)
for
monetization
because the
content in
your video(s)
or video
details may
not be
advertiser-friendly....
Controversial
or sensitive
subjects and
events,
including
subjects
related to
war, political
conflicts,
natural
disasters and
tragedies,
even if
graphic
imagery is not
shown... We
depend on our
user community
to flag
inappropriate
videos to us
for our
review.”
But
they are video
of questions
and answers
(sometimes) at
the UN, of
protests in
the streets of
New York, etc.
Inner City
Press has
written, more
than 24 hours
ago, from to
Monetization
then to Press
[at]
YouTube.com:
“The videos
you are saying
are “not
advertiser-friendly”
are videos of
media
questions and
answers with
United Nations
spokespeople
and diplomats.
They are news.
The message
sent yesterday
and today said
“you can
request an
additional
review below”
- this is a
request for
review. Look
at the videos:
they are
Q&As in
the UN Press
Briefing Room.
This is also a
request to be
informed if it
was any
complaint to
YouTube /
Google which
triggered this
denial of
monetization,
and if so if
it came from
the UN or
any[one else.]
I note that
Reuters, got
one of its
anti-Press
emails to the
UN banned from
Google Search
with a
frivolous DMCA
filing: https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1457339#
now [HRW] https://lumendatabase.org/notices/1457339#
Please confirm
receipt and
review the
above and
restore
monetization,
answering the
question.
Google and
YouTube should
not be
involved in
any form of
censorship,
including the
denial of
monetization
of news
footage.
Here are some
of the video
now denied
monetization:
July
11, 2016
ICP
Asked UN About
Philando
Castile &
Alton
Sterling,
Working Group
Condemns
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 8 --
After the police killings in
the U.S. of Philando
Castile outside St. Paul,
Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, the UN
said nothing. So Inner City
Press on July 7 asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about the killings, and
pattern. And on July 8, more
came from the UN in Geneva.
Here's the July 7
transcript:Video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner
City Press: a US question.
Over the holiday or in the last
48 hours. two African-Americans
have been, in a very
high-profile way, killed,
Philando Castile in Minnesota
and Alton Sterling in
Louisiana. One was
captured on film, the whole
incident. And I wanted to
know, although these might seem
to be disparate incidents, does
the… what does the
Secretary-General think, if the
United States has enough
protections for particularly
members of minority or other
groups… being shot by the
police?
Spokesman: First of all,
our condolences go to the
families of the victims involved
in both shootings. I think
anybody who’s seen the videos,
they are extremely disturbing,
to say the least, and we would
hope that each of these cases
are investigated thoroughly in
order to find out what happened
and also to establish if there
is, in fact, any pattern.
From
the UN in Geneva on July 8:
Human
rights expert Ricardo A. Sunga
III, who currently Chairs the
United Nations Working Group of
Experts on People of African
Descent, issued the following
statement after this week’s
deaths of Philando Castile in
Minnesota and Alton Sterling in
Louisiana at the hands of the
police, and Thursday’s killing
of five police officers in
downtown Dallas.
“The Working Group is outraged
and strongly condemns the new
police killings of two African-
American men. These killings
which were captured on video
cannot be ignored. We call for
prompt independent
investigations to ensure the
perpetrators are prosecuted and
punished.
We also condemn the attacks on
police officers in Dallas and
call for the perpetrators to be
held accountable.
Excessive use of force by the
police against African Americans
in the United States is a
regular occurrence. African
Americans are reportedly shot at
more than twice the rate of
white people.
The Working Group is monitoring
the situation and has repeatedly
expressed its concern to the
United States Government about
police killings of African
Americans and called for
justice. The Working Group is
convinced that the root of the
problem lies in the lack of
accountability for perpetrators
of such killings despite the
evidence.
The killings also demonstrate a
high level of structural and
institutional racism. The United
States is far from recognizing
the same rights for all its
citizens. Existing measures to
address racist crimes motivated
by prejudice are insufficient
and have failed to stop the
killings.
It is time, now, for the US
Government to strongly assert
that Black lives matter and
prevent any further killings as
a matter of national priority.”
When the US State Department belatedly bragged on July 6 of some victories at the UN Human Rights Council's 32nd session which ended or was suspended on July 1, it did not mention Burundi or Sri Lanka, much less an attack on freedom of expression not only at but by the UN, on which it had done nothing but UN Special Rapporteurs David Kaye and Michel Forst had inquired with the UN.
Of course among the myriad of
issues, victories can be pointed
at. State Department humble-brag
here. But what about
Burundi, on which the US has been
reduced to calling for inclusive
talks, now postponed, while the UN
continues to pay Pierre Nkurunziza
for troops in Central African
Republic who are accused of rape?
On Yemen where the US stood silent
while its partner Saudi Arabia
paid to get its way off the UN's
Children and Armed Conflict
blacklist? Where is the follow
through on Sri Lanka? On freedom
of expression?
July 4,
2016
This, we
like: "July 10
show from
hip-hop
pioneer DJ
Kool Herc at 7
p.m. in
Crotona Park"
June
27, 2016
Pulling
the rug out:
"ABC Carpet
& Home is
closing its
warehouse
outlet in The
Bronx in
September.
70-plus people
will be laid
off and some
lost their
jobs last
week,
according to a
WARN notice
filed with the
NYS Department
of Labor. ABC
said it was no
longer
“strategically
viable” to
operate the
warehouse."
Why not?
June
20, 2016
We urge
investigation
of the attack
on Mohammed
Atique Ashraf
on June
16 on his way
to
the mosque on
McGraw Ave. in
Parkchester...
June
13, 2016
This,
we agree with:
roll
back the rent.
Thursday
June 16, 5 - 8 PM
Bronx Museum
of Art
Lower
Gallery
1040
Grand
Concourse
Bronx, NY
10456
RSVP
Here
June 6,
2016
Comment
is open
through July 3
on 600 East
156 "Draft
Investigation
Work Plan for
Brownfield
Site":
"The property
was occupied
by Zola Garage
Corp. in 1927
to 1940. By
1935, a garage
with 120 car
capacity was
located on the
eastern
portion of the
property which
also contained two
550-gallon
gasoline tanks
buried beneath
the
foundation;
and furniture
storage and a
warehouse were
located in the
middle portion
of the
Property.
Arvic Garage
Corp. operated
onsite from
1940 to 1947;
Ebling
Brewery, 1947
- 1951; and
Naparaco
Erection Corp.
and National
Steel
Partition Company,
Inc., 1956 -
1965. In 1965,
Bantam
Travelware
Corp. was located
on-site.'
Ah
Ebling
Brewery...
May 30,
2016
Ugh: for 221
East 138th
Street, Anthony
Gurino, of
Tahoe
Development,
has decided to
make the
project in
Mott Haven
entirely
market-rate.
Can you say,
gentrification?
May 23,
2016
This,
we like
Something
Happened On
The Way To
West Africa!
Seyi Adebanjo
-
Director/Producer/Editor
Yoruba Richen
- Executive
Producer
The Girls of
Daraja
Film 1: Girls
of Daraja
Film 3: Daraja
Girls:
Powerful
Beyond Measure
Barbara Rick -
Director/Producer
Deborah
Santana -
Executive
Producer
7:00-9:00PM
Friday, May
27th, 2016
at The Bronx
Music Heritage
Center
1303 Louis
Nine Blvd
May 16,
2016
Here
is
unqualified,
un self
conscious
praise of gentrification:
http://www.amny.com/real-estate/city-living/bronx/mott-haven-sees-more-development-as-young-professionals-move-in-1.11792445
May 9,
2016
Rent
Guidelines
Board, be
there: Bronx
Public
Hearing:
Thursday, June
16, 5 - 8 PM:
Bronx Museum
of Art, Lower
Gallery (1040
Grand
Concourse
Bronx, NY
10456)
May 2,
2016
Et
tu, Amazon?
the Bronx is
the only
borough with
no same-day
delivery
coverage from
Amazon...
April
18, 2016
Coming
(back) to the
Bronx:
Ban
Ki-moon Has
ICP's Files
Thrown Onto
1st Av,
Bribery Audit
Names His
Gallach
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
16 -- Contrary
to what the UN
says about
freedom of the
press, and
despite a petition
signed by 1300
people and
opposition
from the
Government
Accountability
Project and
several
Permanent
Representatives
at the UN and
members of
Congress in
DC, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
April 16 threw
five boxes of
Inner City
Press'
journalistic
files out onto
First Avenue.
Photo
here;
video here.
This
followed eight
of Ban's
guards, at the
direction of
his "Public
Information"
chief Cristina
Gallach,
physically
throwing Inner
City Press
onto First
Avenue, and
its laptop on
the sidewalk,
on February
19. Audio
here.
In the
case of
Gallach and
ultimately Ban
Ki-moon, this
is retaliation
for Inner City
Press'
critical
coverage of
the UN
including
each's
involvement in
the bribery
scandal which
so far was
resulted in
four guilty
pleas.
As the
UN bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation
(GSF), David
Ng Lap Seng's
Sun Kian Ip
Group and its
affiliates
including the
"World Harmony
Foundation"
and South
South News,
among others.
The
audit,
completed
early this
year but first
put online
by Inner City
Press,
directly
criticizes
Cristina
Gallach, the
Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information,
for example in
Paragraphs
20(b) and
37-40. She
should have
recused
herself.
Instead
Gallach has
ordered the
search and
eviction of
Inner City
Press' files,
on April 16.
She has
misrepresented
it to UN
Ambassadors of
major
countries
including
South Africa
and to Nobel
Prize winner
Jose Ramos
Horta.
She and / or
Ban Ki-moon
above her are
so intent on
permanently
restriction
Inner City
Press' ability
to cover
corruption at
the UN that
they had there
functionary
head of MALU
write to Inner
City Press at
1:30 AM on the
morning of the
eviction,
limiting the
Press' ability
to document
the seizure of
its files:
From: Tal
Mekel
at
UN.org
Date:
Sat, Apr 16,
2016 at 1:30
AM
Subject:
Saturday
access
To:
matthew.lee@innercitypress.com
Dear Matthew,
Access on Saturday is 'exceptional' in nature (as Green Ps do not have access to UNHQ on weekends save for an official event being convened e/g. emergency SC meeting) and is solely for the purpose of over sighting the removal of your belongings.
You may bring with you one (1) individual, again on a exceptional basis.
Best, Tal
------------------------------
Tal Mekel
Acting Chief
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit
United Nations - S-250
New York, NY 10017
April 11,
2016
So at the Apollo Theater on April 11, Bernie Sanders said, we don't need to see 1 in 4 kids in the South Bronx have asthma... No, we don't.
April 4,
2016
20,000 people in St.
Mary's Park?
Meanwhile, insiders
doing nothing on this:
ICP from UN to the
Bronx? http://thebronxchronicle.com/2016/03/20/op-ed-un-ousted-uncovering-corruption/
March 28, 2016
Troubling:
"Among those deals was
Treetop Development’s
$6M pickup of a
development site at
121-129 East 144th St
that’s zoned for up to
91k BSF if affordable
housing is included in
the plans. Vic was on
the team that repped
the seller on that
deal. "
March 21,
2016
After
Ousting Press,
Ban Tells
Bronxites To
Rise Up For
Rights,
Hypocrisy
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
17 -- With the
UN embroiled
in a
corruption
scandal, a guilty
plea entered
in the
Southern
District of
New York on
March 16 for
bribery in the
UN,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon spoke
at Lehman
College in The
Bronx on March
17.
Many of
the claims Ban
made were
false or
incomplete. He
repeatedly
claimed credit
for
unprecedented
hiring and
high placement
of women. But
only the day
before in the
UN
Press Briefing
Room his
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric threw
Inner City
Press out of,
Ban was
criticized for
his male
envoys on
Syria, Libya
and Yemen.
The UN
used to have a
female chief
of staff and a
female Deputy
Secretary
General; both
position are
now held by
men.
Ban
told those at
Lehman they
should demand
sustainable
products. But
in Ban's UN,
the same day
Dujarric threw
Inner City
Press out of
the Press
Briefing Room,
Inner City
Press showed
Ban's climate
adviser that
the recycling
on the UN's
press floor is
false.
Though
the top of the
garbage can
says Cans,
Paper and
Waste, it all
goes into the
same bag,
right in front
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
Ban partners
with.
Ban
made a few
ham-handed
references to
The Bronx, the
cliches about
the Yankees
and about "new
restaurants"
on Arthur
Avenue. He did
not, it goes
without
saying,
address his
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
having throw
out Inner City
Press, Banned
it from its
long time
office and cut
its
accreditation
and access.
Inner
City Press
expected that
Ban would take
questions, as
he did in a recent
appearance in
London,
for example.
But an inquiry
with Media
Relations at
Lehman College
yielded that
there will be
no press
opportunities.
Then a few
canned and
pre-screened
questions were
"asked."
When
Inner City
Press asked on
Twitter, Why
not, one of
the anti-Press
troll accounts
set up since Ban's
UN ousted
Inner City
Press on
February 19
came to Ban's
defense, that
it's lecture,
no reason for
Q&A.
Really? Is The
Bronx less
worthy than
London? Is
there not more
interest in
Ban, given
Frank
Lorenzo's
guilty plea on
March 16?
Ban not know
it (yet), but
the person he
gave the UN's
top
Communications
job to has so
blatantly
engaged in
censorship and
retaliation
that the
chickens, as
they say, are
ever closer to
coming home to
roost. Watch
this site.
March
14, 2016
So HPD
Commish Vicki Bee will
speak in the South
Bronx, 555 Bergen Ave,
on Wednesday, March
16, 2016. We'll see...
March 7,
2016
This we
like: South Bronx Love
Letter will take place
from 6 to 8 p.m. on
March 12 at 1303 Louis
Nińé Blvd
February
29, 2016
Street
names we like:
"Recognizing the Bronx
block that houses 1520
Sedgwick Avenue as
'Hip Hop Boulevard'
demonstrates reverence
and hometown pride for
the artistic and
cultural phenomenon
that DJ Kool Herc,
Cindy Campbell, the
building and
surrounding
neighborhood helped
create."
February
22, 2016
What does
it say when a
tacqueria is forced to
close due to high
rents in the South
Bronx, only to reopen
in Brooklyn?
"Denisse Lina Chavez, Pueblan champion of central-Mexican cooking at El Atoradero (708 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn), is definitely not in the South Bronx anymore. Having been forced to close Carnitas El Atoradero last summer following a rent spike, the intrepid chef reopened her flagship along Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights in December."
February
15, 2016
You
wanna know what
large and wanna
be larger
bank has no branches
in the South
Bronx? It's
initials are NYCB...
February 8,
2016
It's sad when you see it: the Chase branch on Arthur Avenue, on a recent visit after Inner City Press received complains, now has three teller windows covered over and no more desk in the lobby, a line of more than a dozen customers waiting for a single teller on a Saturday. Are they moving to close this branch? A staffer said no, they needed the space for ATMs. But there is more than enough space...
February 1, 2016So Bill de Blasio will be giving his State of the City speech at Lehman College on Thursday, with press in the upper deck...
January
25, 2016
This we
like, at Longwood at
Hostos, Feb 3, 5:00
- 9:00 pm: The
BRONX:AFRICA exhibit
featuring Seyi
Adebanjo, Laylah
Amatullah Barrayn,
Howard Cash, Elvira
Clayton, Dennis
RedMoon Darkeem,
Lisa DuBois, Nicky
Enright, Janet
Goldner, Ijeoma
Iheanacho, Imo Imeh,
Hakim Inniss,
Natasha Johnson,
Ahmed Tijay
Mohammed,
Nontsikelelo Mutiti,
Ibou Ndoye, Eric
Orr, Eto Otitigbe,
Thurston Randall,
Ibrahima Thiam,
Osaretin Ugiagbe,
Misra Walker and
Tammy Wofsey; and
online Olaniyi
Akindiya, Kenneth
Anderson and Ray
Felix.
January
18, 2016
Like so
many things, from
Long Island City to
The Bronx:
"Silvercup North
Studios says it has
converted a
115,000-square-foot
complex at 295
Locust Ave. in Port
Morris for film and
television
productions. It will
open in June." Good
or bad?
January
11, 2016
No room at the Inn? The South Bronx, at least Gerard and Exterior Streets, set to become like Long Island City with hotels: a Hamptons Inn, a Holiday Inn Express. But what's the future for the residents of the South Bronx?
January
4, 2016
In
2016, among many
other things, we
will be looking for
The Get Down, Baz
Luhrman's musical
drama set in the S
BX in the 70s
starring Herizen
Guardiola...
December
28, 2015
Et tu,
Zaro's? The bakery
is closing its
Parkchester retail
location, even as it
pitches its
"cretzel" in Grand
Central...
December
21, 2015
Whose
Streets? NYPD
Officer Paid
by Deutsche
Bank To Empty
Atrium Early
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 15 --
In the 60 Wall
Street atrium,
where Occupy
Wall Street
used to meet,
uniformed New
York City
police
officers order
people to
leave at 9:30
pm, despite a
sign on the
glass windows
saying “Open
to the Public”
until 10 pm.
Inner
City Press,
using the
atrium on
December 14 as
before as a
newsroom --
this time
covering a
glitzy and
historically
corruption UN
Correspondents
Association
event at
Cipriani
across the
Street -- was
told by an
NYPD officer
to leave, at
9:30 pm on the
dot.
When
Inner City
Press pointed
to the Open to
the Public
until 10 pm,
the NYPD
officer
insisted; a
group of other
guards
assembled.
They said to
calls the
number of the
sign
(212-250-2000,
DBAB LCC) but
insisted it be
done from
outside. All
other having
been using the
atrium just
minutes before
had left, some
on the
sidewalk of
Wall Street
outside.
After
several
threats by the
NYPD officer,
and needing to
continue to
file stories
and photos
about the UN
Corruption
Association
event, Inner
City Press
went out onto
the sidewalk.
Some of those
who'd left
said this
happens every
night.
Inner
City Press
asked the NYPD
officer for
her name and
badge number,
but she rushed
away. Another
guard said
“the precinct
knows about
it,” also
adding that
the officer
“makes extra
money.”
So NYPD
officers, or
at least this
one, are paid
extra by
Deutsche Bank
to throw
people out of
a public
atrium they
are required,
due to zoning
variances, to
have? We'll
have more on
this.
Across
Wall Street:
With the UN
embroiled in
scandals
including the
indictments of
the former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe and Macau
businessman Ng
Lap Seng
and the
founder of
South South
News, on
December 14
the UN
Correspondents
Association
sold seats
with Ban
Ki-moon at
Cipriani at 55
Wall Street
for $6000.
UN corruption,
never
reformed,
rises from the
Ashes,
courtesy of
UNCA, now the
UN Corruption
Association.
And
yet, from
inside
Cipriani Wall
Street, one of
the musicians
paid to play
has an open
mind, and when
shown
reporting on
UN corruption
asks, Should
I make a
scene? Tweet
here.
Just
ask, who here
paid $6000 as
solicited by
UNCA to sit
with Ban
Ki-moon. And
why pay it?
With Ng Lap
Seng, it's
clear.
December
14, 2015
We are
following the
Queens-based Sunrise
Coop and its
proposal relocation
to 1080 Leggett
Avenue in Hunts
Point, the Bronx...
December
7, 2015
Anything
for a hotel: "The
New York State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
(NYSDEC) has
determined that the
cleanup requirements
to address
contamination
related to the 2477
Third Avenue
Property site
(“site”) located at
2477 Third Avenue,
Bronx, NY under New
York State's
Brownfield Cleanup
Program (BCP) have
been or will be
met."
November
30, 2015
NYT:
"According to the
Census Bureau, more
than 16 African
languages are spoken
in the Bronx, a
number that is quite
likely far lower
than what is
actually spoken in
homes in the
borough, linguists
say. In West Africa
alone there are more
than 800 languages.
But no matter
whether Wolof,
Diula, Efik or Gur
are spoken here, the
impact is clear."
Inner
City Press asks
again: why doesn't
the United Nations,
headquartered in
NYC, do more in The
Bronx?
November 23, 2015
This,
we like: "The
Committee for
Hispanic Children
and Families
partners with PS/MS
279 the Captain
Manuel Rivera
School, and together
are hosting a
Community Soup
Kitchen to provide
the community with a
very special
Thanksgiving Dinner.
City Councilmember
Fernando Cabrera is
confirmed to attend:
Tuesday, November
24, 2015 from 5 –
7pm, PS/MS 279, 2100
Walton Ave.'
November
16, 2015
Improvement,
but for whom? Local
news gushed about
the bike path to
Randall's Island -
as, for example,
Calientito
restaurant nearly on
Lincoln Avenue was
evicted.
Gentrification...
November
9, 2015
From
rip off to rip off -
at the
gentrification fest
just before
Halloween was one
Adrien Brody who
"attended Lucien
Smith's
controversial art
installation/Halloween
party in the South
Bronx, hosted by art
dealer Jeanne
Greenberg Rohatyn of
Salon 94." We note
he was in a hype
movie which
purported he lived
in a building on
Third Avenue around
160th Street. Use
that Bronx, why
doncha...
November
2, 2015
Back
on September 14,
below, Inner City
Press reported that
"There will be a
gentrifiers ball on
the coast of the
South Bronx on
Halloween, people
who own real estate,
spending $2
million." Now it has
happened: "It was
just after 11 p.m.
when a freight train
rumbled by Keith
Rubenstein’s South
Bronx development
site, momentarily
drowning out the
sweet hum of a grand
piano outside the
low-slung warehouse.
Kendall Jenner,
Carmelo Anthony and
their A-list pals
barely noticed.
Hosted by
Rubenstein, head of
Somerset Partners,
and Jeanne Greenberg
Rohatyn, founder of
the art gallery
Salon 94, the
Thursday night
affair was designed
to generate buzz for
the Mott Haven
neighborhood that
has become a
veritable hotbed for
real estate players.
It’s where
Rubenstein and
co-developer Joseph
Chetrit are planning
a sprawling
residential complex
they say will herald
in the new Soho, in
SoBro."
Disgusting.
October 26, 2015
Storytellers
take note: Bronx
Museum, Friday,
October 30, 7:00pm
to 10:00pm The Moth
StorySlam "Join us
for a Bronx
StorySLAM hosted by
The Moth. Arrive by
7pm for the
opportunity to put
your name in The
Moth “hat.” Later,
names are picked,
and one by one,
storytellers take
the stage. Of the
ten featured
storytellers, one
winner is
chosen. The
theme of the evening
will be A FINE MESS.
Prepare a
five-minute story
about the rubble
resulting from
entangled affairs.
Crossed wires,
over-ambitious
projects" - be
there.
October
19, 2015
We too
are encouraging
cyclists from all
over the region to
register for the
21st Annual Tour de
Bronx, on October 25
-- do it.
October
12, 2015
While
new MetroNorth
stations in Co-op
City, Morris Park,
Parkchester/Van Nest
and Hunts Point is a
good thing, the
implicit racism of
MetroNorth from
Connecticut refusing
to pick up
passengers at
Fordham Road must be
addressed.
October
5, 2015
Very
Bronxy: "El Maestro
Inc., as October's
Place of the Month.
At age 17, Laspina
was recruited into
an area-based
fighting gang known
as the Savage
Skulls. After being
convicted of
stealing money from
a local jewelry
store, he and
several others spent
a year on Riker's
Island, and another
year in the Elmira
Correctional
Facility upstate.
Upon returning from
Elmira to the South
Bronx, Ponce first
founded Caribe
Village Latin
Dialogue Program, a
support organization
for the friends he
left behind in
Elmira, and later
created The
Patriotas, a
non-profit softball
team that continues
to engaged at-risk
teens in athletics
and volunteerism,
and a still-extant
athletic club, the
Roberto Clemente
Softball League,
named for the
humanitarian
baseball player. The
main mission of
these programs has
been to keep young
people out of gangs,
and better connect
them with their
community.
In 2003, he opened
El Maestro boxing
gym in Morrisania
toward the same
goals. Now located
in a former
commercial building
at 1300 Southern
Boulevard near the
Freeman Street
subway station, its
regulation boxing
ring has been with
Laspina for 14
years, and many of
the coaches have
been with him for
longer. All are
volunteers, and
although morale is
high, money is
tight. "Sometimes we
do fundraisers on
the weekends," Ponce
says, " like
raffles, or we hold
a dance or concert,
any type of event
where we can raise
funds. Most of the
donations are
in-kind, and my
family does the
cooking."
The majority of El
Maestro's boxers are
neighborhood
residents. Many come
seeking guidance
beyond the ring, as
Ponce notes, "they
know about the
things I went
through, that I had
to fight in school,
for myself or for
other kids, and.
They know that I was
still fighting in
jail, but for the
T.V. when we wanted
a bilingual program,
and when we needed a
bilingual teacher. I
tell them about the
things that I went
through so they
don't make the same
mistakes. I'm very
straight with them
about that. I don't
hide my past. I
don't hide that I
was in gangs or in
jail. I explain and
give them an
alternative." A
Bronx civil court
judge also sends
juvenile defendants
to El Maestro. "It's
a high
recommendation,"
Laspina says.
El Maestro, Inc. is
named in honor of
Dr. Pedro Albizu
Campos, a Ponce
native and leading
figure in the
development of
Puerto Rican
identity and
consciousness. "
September
28, 2015
Must
say: this
NYT "South Bronx
Beckons"
article was and is
despicable...
September
21, 2015
UNacceptable:
New data released by
the U.S. Census
Bureau indicates
that The Bronx has a
poverty rate of 32
percent and a child
poverty rate of 43
percent.
September 14, 2015
There will be a gentrifiers ball on the coast of the South Bronx on Halloween, people who own real estate, spending $2 million. Watch this space.
September 7, 2015With legionella re-appearing at the Melrose Houses in The Bronx, we ask again: how can the United Nations, with its cooling towers and fountain, say it is entirely exempt from New York laws? The UN's spokesman told Inner City Press, “As you all know, we do not fall under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Buildings or the municipal jurisdiction, and we’re not required to register our cooling towers.” We'll have more on this.
August 31, 2015Check it out on Sept 10 - or, we hope it will be Periscoped -- at 1040 Grand Concourse: “In the early morning hours of July 14th 1970, the Young Lords occupied Lincoln Hospital’s major administrative building in response to the city’s indifference to the health needs of Puerto Ricans and African Americans in the South Bronx and the deplorable conditions of health care delivery at Lincoln Hospital.This panel will consider the prominence of health issues in the activism of the Young Lords, and the relevance of these historical struggles to contemporary health care debates. In conjunction with the exhibition ˇPresente! The Young Lords in New York. Featuring panelists Walter Bosque, Felipe Luciano, Daniel Meyers, Carlito Rovira, and Cleo Silver, and hosted by Johanna Fernández.”
August 24, 2015From the video released last week, we link to this
the Bronx Brewery... August 17, 2015
That
a federal judge, Katherine
Polk Failla, opined that New
York City's Responsible
Banking Act was preempted by
the US and NYS Community
Reinvestment Act is not
surprising. But will the De
Blasio administration appeal?
Amid
Legionnaire's Disease, UN Says It Is
Exempt From NY Laws, Drains Fountain
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 13 -- Amid the spread
of Legionnaire's Disease in New
York, beginning from the South Bronx,
Inner City Press on August 12 asked
seven questions on how the United
Nations, which refused to accept
responsibility or to reform after
bringing cholera to Haiti, is
responding.
On
August 13, Pressed, UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric asserted that the UN
is "exempt" from all local rules
concerning cooling towers and
legionella. Transcript
below. It is reminiscent of the UN
bringing cholera into Haiti.
Inner City Press, which has covered
the UN's role in cholera in Haiti,
impunity and South Bronx, had the
following questions for the UN on
August 12 - but UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric did not allow them to be
asked at the August 12 briefing,
cutting the questions off and promises
a "responsive" statement, see below.
First, here are the questions Inner
City Press submitted in writing to the
UN:
Here
is the full text of the UN's (first)
response, from its spokesman:
"Matthew,
As per your question
Cooling Towers.
The cooling
towers have biocide chemical supplies.
We circulate the water twice weekly to
keep it moving and to let the water
draw more biocides as necessary from
the system. We have HVAC technicians
on staff who are certified on these
systems and with these chemicals.
Main Fountain and Staff Memorial Pool
Normally we
drain and clean these monthly. But we
have increased the frequency because
of the legionnaires outbreak. Last
weekend we drained and refilled the
main fountain. It will be drained
again this coming weekend to allow CMP
to perform work which is scheduled to
take a week. That work will include
the installation of UV lights that
will treat the water. We will maintain
increased frequency of draining
cleaning and replacing during this
period of heightened concern.
Slavery Memorial
The water
feature in this is out of service
since the faulty installation failed
and leaked some months back causing
damage to office space below. It is
still drained and not in service.
We have no other standing water
features or systems."
But
is the UN claiming immunity from local
health regulations?
On August
13 Inner City Press asked
Dujarric again:
Inner City
Press: I wanted to ask you about
Legionnaire’s disease, which is
obviously becoming, at least in New
York City treating it quite seriously,
and they’ve required all buildings
with cooling towers to register and to
be tested. Now, I got your
response yesterday, but I wrote back
to you to ask, is — one, is the UN
registering with the city pursuant to
this order? Two, have the
towers… you said something about bio
something. How…
Spokesman: Let me…
Question: Please.
Spokesman: Let me tell you and,
I think, those, after all, we’re all
residents of New York City, so I think
everybody has an interest in
this. The cooling towers that
the UN has have biocide chemical
supplies, which is a chemical
substance which can deter, render
harmless, or exert a controlling
effect on any harmful organism by
chemical or biological means. We
circulate the water twice a week to
keep it moving and let the water draw
more biocides as necessary from the
system. We have technicians on
staff. We’re certified for these
systems and with these
chemicals. So that’s one way we
keep the cooling towers safe. I
am aware that there are regulations, I
think, in front of the New York City
Council requiring registration and
inspection. As you all know, we
do not fall under the jurisdiction of
the New York City Department of
Buildings or the municipal
jurisdiction, and we’re not required
to register our cooling towers.
However, we do have an arrangement in
place with both the Department of
Buildings and the FDNY, and we invite
them… we invite them into the
building, as well as other inspectors,
as appropriate. They give us
opinions and make recommendations, but
we’re not subject to their
jurisdiction. I think the
important thing is that we do reach
out to them. We make every
effort to abide by the high standards
to keep the staff safe, the delegates
safe, even the press safe, and all the
visitors that come through the
building.
Question: Right. But I
guess… I understand that. This
commissioner’s order, whether you view
yourself as subject to it or not, it
requires… it requires all buildings in
New York to be, to be consistent with
industry standards and it lists the
American Society of—
Spokesman: What I’m—
[inaudible]
Spokesman: What I’m saying to
you is that the technicians we have on
staff are certified to the highest
standards. Obviously, we want to
keep everybody safe, and we will
invite the Department of Buildings and
the FDNY as the FDNY sometimes come
into our building at our invitation to
make sure everybody is safe.
Question: But are they going to
comply with the standards…
Spokesman: I think — I’ve used a
lot of words. We are… We will go
to the highest possible standards, and
we will work at our invitation with
the Department of Buildings and the
FDNY. And I will continue to
take deep breath and breathe the air
in this building.
So,
by the end of August 13, among the
UNanswered questions:
Has the UN
tested for legionella already? (seems
not)
Will they test by August 20th?
If they do finally test, will they
release the results, to NYC and to the
public?
August 10, 2015
And the City's
August 7 update:
"Individuals with
Legionnaires’ deceased:
10
-All deceased
individuals were adults
with underlying medical
conditions.
-These patients are
connected to the current
cluster.
-Reported individuals
with Legionnaires’: 101
-Individuals with
Legionnaires’
hospitalized: 94"
August 3, 2015
Here from the
City is the Bronx
Legionnaires’ Disease
Cluster Updated
Fact-Sheet 8/1/15
--22 buildings
visited in the cluster
area and 17 were
identified to have
cooling towers
-All 17 have been tested
and all results have
returned
-5 buildings have tested
positive
-A Verizon office
building is the 4th
location to test
positively for
legionella
-Streamline Plastic Co.
is the 5th location to
test positively for
legionella
-Remediation is complete
at 4 of the 5 locations,
and has begun at the 5th
location
- Lincoln Hospital
remediation is completed
-Concourse Plaza
remediation is completed
-Opera House Hotel
remediation is completed
-Verizon remediation is
completed
-Streamline Plastic Co.
began remediation and is
expected to complete
remediation this
afternoon
-All sites will submit
long-term plans as to
how they will maintain
the cooling towers to
protect against any
future growth of
legionella -
But who can see
the plans?
July 27, 2015
Best part
about "Women of the
Young Lords" with Iris
Morales,
Denise Oliver,
Olguie Robles,
Gloria
Rodriguez, and
Minerva Solla
on
July 23? It was on Periscope. @InnerCityPress is on that, too....
July 20, 2015
This, we
like: "The $10 million
dollar investment that
we are making in free,
high-speed Internet
access in NYCHA
developments across the
city is part of that
commitment, is part of
building out a city
where there is truly
broadband access for
all. That’s going to be
here, at Mott Haven
Houses, where 2,500
residents will be
connected to Internet at
no cost – for
free.. So,
Internet access for free
– not only here, at Mott
Haven Houses –at
Queensbridge Houses, the
largest public housing
development in North
America; at Red Hook
Houses. This is going to
be a game changer – I
know you like that."
July 13, 2015
That the Bronx
is multi-cultural will
be on display on July 18
on Allerton Avenue from
Boston Road - go
especially when it's
free, noon to 1 pm...
July 6, 2015
As UN Food
Workers Face Layoff, IDNYC Pop-Up Not
For Them?
By Matthew Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June 30 -- When the UN hosted a
new “pop-up” enrollment site for the New
York City ID card, launching it with
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon getting an ID card,
Inner City Press went because it wanted
to ask if this site was for regular New
Yorkers, or only for UN staff and
diplomats, who have immunity.
But no questions were taken. Inner City Press had in mind, for example, those who work in food service inside the UN, who have approached it saying they face lay offs due in part to NYC's refusal to close down a lane of the FDR Drive off-ramp, deemed a threat to the cafeteria and closing it.
So
later on June 30 Inner City Press put
both questions to UN deputy
spokesperson Farhan Haq, video
here:
Inner City Press: Two maybe inter-related questions. One, on this idNYC pop-up shop, is it exclusively limited to diplomats and UN staff, or are other New Yorkers who are in the building able to use it?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: I believe the City of New York has a press release on this that we can share with you that's got the various details.
Inner City Press: And I wanted to ask you, also, the people that work for, I guess, Culinary in both the Delegates' Dining Room and the cafeteria…
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Culinart?
Inner City
Press: Culinart. Basically,
they say many of them are going to be
out of a job beginning 13 July.
They say the Delegates' Dining Room will
be closing for at least the rest of the
summer, and the large cafeteria will be
moved to other locations, and they're
not sure if there will be as many
jobs. Can you… what is the impact
on actual… the people that work in the
building of these two moves?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we… I don't speak for Culinart. Ultimately, they're the ones who make the decision on who is deployed where. We have a contract with them to provide services. I do know that there have been other summers, such as last summer under the previous holder of the contract, where, during the slow period in August, there's a shutdown in some of the facilities. We hope that whatever decisions Culinart takes it will be short-lived and they'll make appropriate decisions so that staff are treated responsibly.
Inner City Press: They basically won't have health insurance for the summer. I wonder, although they're your contractor, is there any practice you're holding them to in this regard?
Deputy
Spokesman: We have contracts that
we negotiate with contractors. And
if they don't meet the terms of the
contract, then that's a problem for
them. But, ultimately, you know,
for things like labour conditions,
you're going to have to talk to
Culinart.
Does the UN take the same
approach to contractors as far away
companies whose clothes are made in
Dhaka, for example? And what of the FDR
exit ramp in all this?
Why a
pop-up IDNYC site for diplomats, who not
only rarely face issues with the police
(Inner City Press covered one exception
with St Vincent and the Grenadines) but
have immunity such that accused war
criminals like Sri Lanka's Shavendra
Silva and Palitha Kohona, to whom the
current president
of the UN Correspondents Association
rented an expensive Manhattan
apartment, and not for more common
people who really need the ID cards?
The new Free UN Coalition for Access, as well as Inner City Press, will have more on all this.
June 29, 2015
ICP's
UN Bed Bugs Scoop Pilfered by amNewYork, Haq Spin,
Vox & HuffPo Credit
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
series
UNITED
NATIONS, June 25 -- It's a small story uncovered
by Inner City Press, bed bugs on the UN's 34th
floor -- but how the UN Spokesperson's Office and
scribes dealt with it is telling.
On June 23 Inner City Press exclusively
reported on the bed bugs, based on being
contacted by whistleblowing UN staff angry that
the UN had said nothing.
After publishing, Inner City Press at the June 23
noon briefing asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujurric, who said he hadn't heard of it. Inner
City Press obtained,
again from whistleblowing staff, a subsequently
blast email confirming the bed bugs.
Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq provided not only
this email, but then updates, to media which had
not asked at the briefing about it, but NOT to
Inner City Press. Inner City Press asked again at
the June 23 noon briefing - and then again at the
June 24 briefing, transcript
here:
Inner
City Press: it’s more mundane or at least smaller
and it’s about bed bugs. On Tuesday, I’d
asked you about what I understand the fumigation
had happened over the weekend, and there was an
answer later in the day. But I’ve since seen
that like, whatever, other answers have been
provided to other media that wasn’t provided,
including one that says, Huffington Post says they
were given the e-mail and they were told that
everyone will be back on Thursday. So since
I haven’t seen that in writing, I wanted to ask
you, is that the case? And can you provide
an update? I also understand that there’s
going to be a re-inspection two weeks from the
first infestation. Is that true? And
when are you calculating that from? Last
weekend or Tuesday or Thursday or when?
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq: There is meant
to be re-inspection. That’s the standard
process by which fumigation processes occur.
It’s up to the experts to determine when that will
happen. But, yes, except for a small number
of people near the affected cubicles, staff were
returning to the 34th floor to their offices
yesterday, which is to say Wednesday, and then the
ones in the affected area are to return today,
Thursday. And, of course, as for different
answers, you know, different reporters come in at
different times and ask different questions.
Inner City Press: I’d like to make it
ongoing, since, having asked about it, I would
like to know until…
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Matthew, no one gets
to reserve a whole set of answers in
perpetuity. I mean, you come and ask
questions. You get answers. That’s the
way the system works.
Inner City Press: Okay. Then don’t be
surprised; I’m going to ask again.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Okay.
The background: Gothamist and Vox published
pieces, both citing Inner City Press. But the
Huffington Post published
a piece saying the the UN's Haq had sent
them the email -- no credit, or explanation of why
Haq would have sent them this email. ICP noted
it, and this:
It is claimed that the Huffington Post has a
correspondent at the UN - but that person asked no
questions, rather repeatedly claiming the first
question at press conferences in the name of the
UN Correspondents Association.
Inner City Press quit UNCA, after some of its
board members tried to censor it for reporting
on Sri Lanka and DPKO's Ladsous, or get it
expelled from the UN. But before quitting UNCA
(and co-founding the Free UN Coalition
for Access, FUNCA) Inner City Press urged
UNCA's board to vote on best practices in
crediting other media's exclusives. They refused
- including the former media of the now
HuffPo contributor. This is the UN's Censorship
Alliance - most recently become little more than
an Italian book club.
After this was raised, HuffPost to its credit
added a hat-tip to Inner City Press, as have
others. But amNewYork,
we note, tries to rely only on Haq, with Caroline
Linton (mis?) quoting Haq: "The bedbugs were found
in two cubicles manned by one person on the 34th
floor of the U.N. headquarters on Tuesday, Farhan
said."
June 22, 2015
Talk about phoning it in. The Fed on June 15 wrote or ruled, on an application where Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch was the commenter:
The Board received two comments from a single commenter who objected to the proposal principally on the basis of Sterling Bank’s record of extending home mortgage credit to minority individuals in the New York-Wayne-White Plains, New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Division (“New York City MSA”) and the NassauSuffolk Metropolitan Division (“Nassau-Suffolk MD”), as reflected in data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (“HMDA”)17 for 2013. The commenter expressed concerns that, based on 2013 HMDA data, Sterling Bank was not meeting th credit needs of minority individuals in the communities served by the bank.18 The commenter also contended that Sterling Bank’s HMDA data are “irregular.” The commenter noted that the bank reported three withdrawn and three incomplete applications for refinance loans to African Americans in the New York City MSA and no denials, suggesting that the bank is prescreening minority borrowers.
Fn 18: Sterling represented that Hudson Valley Bank is primarily a commercial lender and does not have a material mortgage program. Mortgage loans represented approximately 14 percent of the bank’s overall lending portfolio as of December 31, 2014.”
FN 19: Sterling asserted that three loan applications were withdrawn at the prospective borrowers’ request because they did not wish to continue the transaction and that the three other applications were deemed incomplete because the prospective borrowers did not provide the requested property, asset, or income documentation needed by the bank to make a lending decision.”
So the Fed accepts 14% as “not material”? And that all people of color “requested” to withdraw their applications is acceptable? This vague commitment does not make up for it:
Sterling Bank has determined to increase its marketing and outreach efforts to better serve the needs of its communities and has adopted its revised CRA Plan. Although the bank intends to remain primarily a commercial lender, it expects to increase its outreach efforts for residential mortgages. Sterling Bank also stated that it will continue pursuing the other community development and CRA-related initiatives set forth in its revised CRA Plan. Sterling plans to reassess the goals and objectives in its CRA Plan to determine if any adjustments are necessary to reflect the acquisition of Hudson Valley.”
We'll have more on this. And this - on another application ICP has commented on, this was reported:
“In a statement today, Hal Wentworth, Community's senior vice president for retail banking, said that Inner City Press is not a local group and pointed out that letter was the only one filed on the Oneida deal. 'This activist does not do business with either Oneida or Community Bank, but nonetheless made vague allegations regarding Community,' Wentworth said. 'These allegations were entirely without merit and will be fully addressed by Community Bank and Oneida Savings in the application process.'”
If it would be illegal for CBSI to so disclose information, for its own purposes, about those who have accounts with it, how is this not illegal too? And from a human rights perspective, what a pathetic and telling response. We'll have more on this.
June 15, 2015:We
note and support the
protest against the
homeless shelter(s) of Aguila
Inc., like 976
Tinton Avenue...
June
6, 2015:
River
talk: "Community
Visioning Session 3 of 4
for the development of
the Port Morris - Harlem
River Brownfield
Opportunity Area
(BOA). The report
for what can be done has been released -
now the community will
have a voice in how the waterfront will be shaped
and assist in
determining what will occupy 1.4 miles of Bronx shoreline. Community
Visioning Session 3
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Betances Community Center
547 East 146th Street
Bronx, New York 10455
6:30pm-8:30pm
June 1, 2015
So Monday June 15 will be “Bronx Day in Albany,” at The Egg...
May 25, 2015At a press conference in Staten Island, Bill de Blasio said he hate the Cross BRONX Expressway. Some laugh; we're waiting for clarification.
May 18, 2015
When New York Fed
president William Dudley
read a prepared speech
to the Bronx Bankers
earlier this month, he
had a lot of canned
advice on how to help
the borough. He didn't
say what he would do to
actually enforce the
Community Reinvestment
Act and resist
regulatory capture by
Citi, Chase and Goldman
Sachs...
May
11, 2015
When
President Obama got to
Lehman College from Harris
Field for My Brother's
Keeper, the White House
pool named these pols in
the crowd: "Cong. Gregory
Meeks (D-NY), Cong. Jose
Serrano (D-NY), Lehman
graduate; Cong. Yvette
Clarke (D-NY); Cong. Eliot
Engel (D-NY), a graduate
of Lehman College." Surely
there were more...
May
4, 2015
Local to global: on May 3, Tish James was scheduled at the “Cinco de Mayo” celebration, in front of C-Town on 668 Crescent Ave - then Monday, Obama at Lehman College (before DNC fundraisers).
April
27, 2015
So
May 3 at the Bronx General
Post Office, the kick off
of Bronx Week, with DJ
etcetera... It's sponsored
by YoungWoo. Who? They are
(re) developing the Post
Office. We'll have more on
this.
April
20, 2015
Annals
of gentrification from
"The Real Deal" -- "What’s
more, the menus of a
burgeoning restaurant
scene along Bruckner
Boulevard provide hints to
the changing nature of the
neighborhood. At the Mott
Haven Bar & Grill,
specialties include quinoa
black bean burgers and
Israeli salads; a
restaurant called Ceetay
offers Asian fusion food;
and a soon-to-open coffee
shop nearby will double as
a tapas bar.
“I think Mott Haven has
all the makings of the
next Williamsburg,” said
Marlene Cintron, president
of the Bronx Overall
Economic Development Corp.
'There are new
developments, restaurants,
rehabbed buildings and an
easy commute to
Manhattan.'" We'll have
more on this.
April 13, 2015
In terms on the digital divide in The Bronx, let's see what the new Broadband Taskforce and Maya Wiley come up with...
April 6, 2015Priorities: “The new Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, which opened this week, used nearly $230 million in public funds, making it the most expensive municipal golf course in the nation.”
March 30, 2015Number of the week: State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. held press conference about more than $244 million in unclaimed funds owed to Bronx residents...
March 23, 2015This is gentrification: Joseph Chetrit’s Chetrit Group and Keith Rubenstein’s Somerset Partners reportedly paid $58 million for two South Bronx sites, 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue...
March 16, 2015What will happen with the proposed re-zoning along Jerome Avenue? Would it be like Greenpoint or Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn? Why did City Planning start nosing around, some say, before any public announcement? We'll have more on this.
March 9, 2015Now that NYC Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver has heard all these ideas for the parks in The Bronx, what will he and the Department do? We'll be following this.
March 2, 2015Duly noted:
"Bronx Borough President
Ruben Diaz Jr. has
issued a letter to the
United States Congress
proposing that the
United States Post
Office’s Morrisania
branch, located at 442
East 167th Street,
Bronx, NY, 10456, be
renamed in honor of
former U.S. Congressman
and Bronx Borough
President Herman
Badillo, who passed away
last year."
February
23, 2015
City's
climate plan says it
includes "over $15
million in natural
infrastructure
resiliency projects
funded by the Department
of Interior in Jamaica
Bay, the Bronx River,
and elsewhere [and]
Hunts Point
Lifelines—food
distribution center
investments in coastal
protection, waterfront
access, and energy
resiliency." We'll
see...
February 16, 2015
So why is the City “respectfully” opposing Intro 495, the "waste equity" bill to cut waste shipped and stored in north Brooklyn, southeast Queens and the South Bronx by 18 percent and distribute it more evenly throughout the city?
February 9, 2015This, we like: on Feb 5 BP Diaz “hosted the first meeting of his office’s African Advisory Council of 2015. The agenda included a dialogue with African community groups and their respective leaders sharing their priorities for the upcoming year, while also discussing possible collaboration opportunities on a variety of issues. 'This council was created to serve the needs of the growing African community in The Bronx, and it plays a very important function in addressing the issues and concerns of this growing population. It makes me proud to know that this council is able to both handle business here at home in The Bronx while also helping to develop a larger agenda for the entire city.'” It's a big world.
February 2, 2015This, we like: the transfer of the Fulton Correctional Facility fronting on Crotona Park to the Osborne Association, to help re-integrate former prisoners into society...
January 26, 2015In the Obama / First Lady box last week: “Anthony Mendez (Bronx, NY) Student, “Reach Higher” Initiative Growing up in the South Bronx with his mother and three siblings, Anthony Mendez names two experiences from his formative high school years. In ninth grade, his best friend was murdered in his neighborhood, and the next year his family was evicted from their home and moved into a homeless shelter. Living two hours away from school, for six months Anthony had to wake up at 4:30AM to continue his education.” See Inner City Press coverage here.
VOCs in the Bronx: “The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has determined that the cleanup requirements to address contamination related to the Former Nessen Lamps (aka PS 51X) site (“site”) located at 3200 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx under New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Program have been or will be met. The cleanup activities were performed by The Rinzler Family Limited Partnership ("Volunteer") with oversight provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). NYSDEC has approved a Final Engineering Report and issued a Certificate of Completion for the site.... Injection of chemical oxidant into the groundwater table to treat volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater (known as in-situ chemical oxidation); Construction and maintenance of a cover system consisting of the existing building slab and the restored building slab in all excavated areas...
January 19, 2015
This, we had to announce: distribution of backpacks with “a secure place for displaced citizens to hold their belongings, and feature a spacious main compartment for a large amount of items, a hide-away poncho designed to keep both the bag and its wearer dry, a ballistic nylon outer shell strong enough to combat the elements, a synch-top closure for extra waterproofing and anti-theft measures” in these Bronx locations:
Wednesday, February 11 10am - 2pm Distribution at The Relief Bus servicing Bronx-Courtland Outreach (152nd Street and Courtlandt Ave. Bronx, NY 10455)
Saturday, February 14 10am-2pm – Distribution at The Relief Bus servicing Brook Ave Outreach (148th Street and Brook Ave. Bronx, NY 10455)
Wednesday, February 18 10am - 2pm Distribution at The Relief Bus servicing Bronx-Courtland Outreach (152nd Street and Courtlandt Ave. Bronx, NY 10455)
Saturday, February 21 10am-2pm – Distribution at The Relief Bus servicing Brook Ave Outreach (148th Street and Brook Ave. Bronx, NY 10455)
January 12, 2015Much needed: the second annual Bronx Gentrification Conference, set for January 17...
January 5, 2015Community Reinvestment Act enforcement in New York is undermined by the NYS Department of Financial Services having a non-functioning email contact on its website for comment – and despite a Press complain, it has yet to be fixed...
December 29, 2014After Killings of
Police in NYC & Calls to Curb
Protests, "Complex Politics"
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 22 -- After NYPD
officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos
were killed in Brooklyn on December 20,
organizations active in protesting the
non-indictments in the cases of Michael
Brown and Eric Garner expressed both
sorry and caution.
After Mayor Bill de Blasio's comment on
December 22 that protests should cease
until after the funeral, alongside
similar comments by Police Commission
William Bratton, Ferguson Action and a
dozen other non-governmental
organizations issued a statement that
asked de Blasio to condemn Bratton
(which seems unlikely) --
"Commissioner
Bratton must also immediately end his
shameful attempts to use the deaths of
these officers to attack democracy by
advancing unfounded claims to connect
this tragedy to protests. A troubled
young man who began his day by
attempting to kill his ex-partner, shot
two officers and then killed himself has
nothing to do with a broad non-violent
movement for change. The NYPD is
conveniently ignoring the facts
surrounding this tragedy in order to
score cheap political points.... Mayor
DeBlasio and other elected officials
should condemn these opportunistic
distractions that attempt to avoid
meaningful reform."
But
what about what de Blasio said? Ah,
there goes the press, trying to
stir things up.
On December 21, US President Barack
Obama called NYPD Commissioner William
Bratton.
At the
UN on December 22, Inner City Press
asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban, who
belatedly commented on the cases of both
Michael Brown and Eric Garner, had any
comment.
Dujarric said Ban would "not get into
the complex politics of New York City,"
only to express condolences to the
families, colleagues and the people of
the City of New York.
Meanwhile Dujarric was asked, not without irony, about a person "brought in by a member of the UN press" on December 19 told to remove a Black Lives Matter patch from her coat.
Among the ironies is that the questioner has effectively censored his own anti-Press complaint to Dujarric from Google's Search, here, by a dubious filing under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, calling his "for the record" complaint a private email (even, book) never meant for publication, here.
Dujarric said
it was almost the first time he'd heard
of it and said he would look into it.
Inner City Press days ago asked Dujarric
about the UN secretariat for the Climate
Change Summit in Lima, Peru telling
non-governmental organization what their
signs could and could not say. Inner
City Press on December 22 asked Dujarric
again about this, and about the UN's
supposed self-investigation for shooting
at unarmed protesters in Haiti - he had
information on neither. Ironies.
Color
of Change, for example, said its
community was "saddened to learn about
the killing of two NYPD officers in
Brooklyn and the attempted killing of
the shooter’s ex-girlfriend... We
condemn any and all forms of violence,
including violence perpetrated by and
against police officers." It added, "“We
urge the media to push back against
claims not rooted in facts."
Ferguson Action spelled this out: "It is
irresponsible to draw connections
between this movement and the actions of
a troubled man who took the lives of
these officers and attempted to take the
life of his ex-partner, before
ultimately taking his own. Today's
events are a tragedy in their own right.
To conflate them with the brave activism
of millions of people across the country
is nothing short of cheap political
punditry."
The NAACP
Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights under Law
added, "While some may suggest a causal
link between these killings and the
recent protests and activism focused on
the serious issue of police violence
against unarmed African Americans, we
caution against escalating an already
tense national state through rumor and
conjecture. Whatever motivation lay in
the apparently troubled mind of the now
deceased shooter of these officers,
there is no connection between the
peaceful protests of thousands of people
of all races all over the country and,
indeed, around the world, and this
hideous act of violence."
Likewise, #BlackLivesMatter said, "our
hearts grieve with New York, a community
already reeling from the losses of Eric
Garner, Ramarley Graham, Kimani Gray,
Akai Gurley, Islan Nettles and many
more. An eye for an eye is not our
vision of justice."
Inner
City Press, which repeatedly asked
United Nations officials about the
Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases (and
Trayvon Martin and others before), was
struck not only by the silence so far of
the UN system itself, but also by the
silence of countries' representatives to
the UN, who routinely tweet photos of
the NYC skyline, farmer's markets and
museum. This is a major event in New
York, the kind requiring diplomacy or at
least articulate analysis. Where are the
diplomats? Afraid of making gaffes, some
say. Would they be faster to speak in
other diplomatic postings?
And
what of the UN's chief himself, Ban
Ki-moon? He spoke, at least through his
spokesman, on the Michael Brown and Eric
Garner cases. On December 22 it is
announced that Ban will take questions.
But will this be addressed? Can it be?
As Inner City Press and the Free UN
Coalition for Access asked and
reported on last week, it appears Ban
requests and gets
his questions in advance, click here
for that.
We'll stay on this.
On
December 13 a march for justice for Eric
Garner, and Mike Brown, and Trayvon
Martin, and others, set out north from
Washington Square Park. Inner City Press
Vine
here, photos here,
here
and here.
December 22, 2014
Brownfield: “The site is located at 500 Exterior Street, Bronx, NY on the northwest corner of the intersection of East 146th Street and Gerard Avenue . The site (Lot B) is bounded by the street above, Exterior Street and East 149th Street. The site is approximately 0.37 acres in size. Site Features: The main site features on Lot B include a small wooden shack and staged construction materials. Current Zoning and Land Use: The site (Lot B) is currently vacant with a stalled hotel project adjacent to it (Lot A). The site is zoned M1-4/R8A as a special mixed-use district meant to enhance the vitality of existing neighborhoods with mixed residential and industrial uses. The future use of the site is planned as a mixed-use building consisting of housing and commercia retail with a 25% affordable housing component.” We'll see...
December 15, 2014After Eric Garner & Mike
Brown, Marching in the Streets, UN on the
Margin
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 13 -- Nine days after
Missouri police officer was not indicted
for killing African American teenager
Michael Brown in Ferguson, in New York
City on December 3 a Staten Island grand
jury declined to return any indictment
for the killing
of Eric Garner, which was caught on
video, here.
On
December 13 a march for justice for Eric
Garner, and Mike Brown, and Trayvon
Martin, and others, set out north from
Washington Square Park. Inner City Press
Vine
here, photos here,
here
and here.
At UN
on December 10, Inner City Press asked
two members of the UN's Working Group on
People of African Descent about the
cases or non-indictments, and if they
make it more likely the Working Group
will return to the US to conduct a
mission. Video
here, and embedded below.
Working Group member Verene Shepherd
said that the Working Group has the
right to return for up to five years, to
follow up. Video
here (after this video, she also
mentioned Trayvon Martin).
The chair of the working group Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France spoke of systematic marginalization of people of color, by banks and social services. Inner City Press asked her about the Working Group's report on Sweden, which found "segregated neighborhoods and reports that health clinics, banks and other essential services are being pulled out of some ethnic neighborhoods.” She said this is a worldwide phenomenon.
December
8, 2014
After Eric Garner Non-Indictment,
ICP Asks, UN on Accountability, Holder
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 4 -- Nine days after
Missouri police officer was not indicted
for killing Michael Brown in Ferguson,
in New York City on December 3 a Staten
Island grand jury declined to return any
indictment for the killing
of Eric Garner, which was caught on
video, here.
On
December 4, Inner City Press asked
the UN Spokesman for comment:
Inner City
Press: first I wanted to ask you about
what's big news here in New York City,
and I was wondering if the
Secretary-General has any comment on the
refusal to indict the police officer who
killed Eric Garner on video, not
resisting and unarmed and the protests
that are taking place.
Spokesman Dujarric: Sure.
We're obviously aware of what's going on
here in our own backyard. I think
the Secretary-General's thoughts are
obviously with the family of Mr. Garner
following that decision and the people
of New York. I think the case is
again focusing attention on the issue of
accountability of law enforcement
officials, and the Secretary-General
urges all competent authorities in the
United States to do everything possible
to respond to the demands for greater
accountability. And he also
welcomes the announcement, I think by
the US Justice Department, of an opening
of a civil rights investigation in the
case. And I think I would just add
that we've seen a lot of demonstrations
here in New York. He would urge
the demonstrators to demonstrate
peacefully and for the authorities to
respect the right of those demonstrators
to do so peacefully.
Inner City Press: recently, the UN-Women
offered some kind of a partnership with
the City, it seems to be like technical
assistance, maybe going both ways but
certainly UN helping. Is there
anything that the UN system has, given
what now seems as kind of a trend of
killing of unarmed African-Americans and
failure to bring accountability?
Is there anything that the UN system is
offering to the United States?
Spokesman: Not in terms of
technical assistance that I'm aware
of. Obviously, there would have to
be a request from the US
authorities. The UN system writ
large, as you saw, there was a report on
the UN Committee on Torture, if I'm not
mistaken, that was released some time
ago. So, that's where it stands.
Back on
the evening of December 3 in midtown
Manhattan, the chant was "Justice for
Eric Garner" and "I can't breathe,"
which he'd said as he was choked. Marchers
headed from Times Square east to
Sixth Avenue but were blocked from
heading north to Rockefeller Plaza and
the tree lighting ceremony. Short Inner
City Press YouTube
video here.
And so
to Fifth Avenue -- again process north
was blocked, this time with orange
kettling netting -- and down to 42nd
Street. Police closed the doors to Grand
Central, no more dying-in. The march passed
Cipriani in the old bank space,
venue of the UN
Censorship Alliance Ball. And they
passed
Pfizer, with the UN on the
horizon, see below.
Earlier
on December 3, New York Congresspeople
spoke out, with Bronx Rep. Jose Serrano
say that Garner's death "was not an
accident, it was homicide," for all to
see.
Brooklyn Representative Nydia Velazquez
linked the Garner non-indictment to
12-year old Tamir Rice being killed in
Cleveland. Representative Hakeem
Jeffries recalled peaceful protests
after the killing, in The Bronx, of
Amadou Diallo.
Later
Mayor Bill De Blasio spoke but unlike
the Congresspeople took no questions, as
his Commissioner for International
Affairs Penny Abeywardena recently came
to the UN without
openly taking questions, either, here.
The UN
in Geneva for days refused
to release to US-based media without
paid correspondents in Switzerland
the UN Committee on Torture's concluding
remarks on the US.
When they went online on November 28, on police brutality they discussed Chicago but not Ferguson, Missouri, from which the family and supporters of Michael Brown, killed by police officer Darren Wilson, even traveled to Geneva. The report was belatedly put online here.
December 1, 2014
Wi-fi over payphones? Here's what the BP says: “The Bronx has 636 payphones and the Wi-Fi range of Respondent’s kiosks will be 150 feet. Consequently, certain payphones will be consolidated to reduce redundancy and new sites for kiosks will be identified. DoITT has communicated to this office it will decommission some of the existing 636 and create 100 additional sites. What are the metrics and factors DoITT will use to decide which payphones will be disconnected and where the new sites will be located, and how will they be weighed? How did DoITT come up with the number of 100? Why not 150? Is it an arbitrary number? This issue merits greater transparency.”
November 24, 2014Ebola talk in the Bronx, November 23: The NYC Department of Health, Councilman Andy King and New Covenant Christian Church co-host a forum to address issues regarding the spread of Ebola in African nations, New Covenant Christian Church, 3601 Baychester Avenue, Bronx.
The spread is now into Mali: http://www.innercitypress.com/ebola2mali112114.html
November 17, 2014Feels like starting over: Now the Bronx BP is seeking applications for press secretary and deputy press secretary, by December 12: http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/jobs.html
November 10, 2014Brownfield: 1899 West Farms Road portion of the site operated as a dry-cleaning facility from 1977-1996 and a towing/collision company from 1999-2001. The 1903-1905 West Farms Road portion operated as an auto repair garage from 1924-1986 and as a steel door manufacturing facility from 1989-2005. Most recently, the building was leased by a construction company for construction supply storage and a janitorial supply company for soap and paper product storage. The undeveloped section of the property was recently used as an outdoor storage area for dumpsters and waste drums...In the portion of the site that once housed a drycleaner, perchloroethylene (PCE) was detected at 20 parts per billion.”
November 3, 2014It begins: November 5 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, “a free coquito tasting. As part of the 12th Annual Coquito Masters competition, contestants bring in their version of coquito, a traditional Puerto Rican holiday drink reminiscent of eggnog, and you become the judge to see who goes on to the New York finals! Presented by the Bronx Museum’s Community Advisory Council and International Coquito Tasting Federation. The event will also feature live painting demonstrations by artists Nikolai Kahn and Lexi Bela.”
October 27, 2014:Last week Rep. Engel said, "Barnes & Noble is the last brick and mortar bookstore in The Bronx." Is that true?
October 20,
2014:
So on
Monday, Oct 20, BP
Diaz will be at
Casita Maria’s 80th
Anniversary gala at
the Plaza Hotel -
768 5th Avenue,
Manhattan. Who knew?
Elouise. Meanwhile,
since Casita Maria
is taking it to
Manhattan, we like
this, on the Lower
East Side:
Councilwoman Rosie
Mendez at a street
co-naming ceremony
in honor of former
Councilwoman Miriam
Friedlander,
southeast corner of
East 6th Street and
2nd Avenue. Right
one.
October 13, 2014
It's time to stop Stericycle from amending or renewing its DEC waste transfer station permit for 910 East 138th Street and Locust Avenue to allow for the transfer of hazardous wastes like fixer and developer solutions that come from X-ray processing.
October 6, 2014Lawsuit: More than 25 tenants of 1460 Washington Avenue in the Morris Houses went on September 29 to Bronx Housing Court for their first appearance in a lawsuit against NYCHA. The Group HP lawsuit aims to force the public housing authority to make necessary repairs to the building’s uninhabitable conditions including water leaks, severe mold, broken doors and windows, and peeling paint on the walls. The residents have also struggled with inadequate and inconsistent heat and hot water for the past two decades. Morris Houses is home to over 3,000 residents who live under these conditions...
September 29, 2014
This, we want to hear more about: “State Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson and New York City Councilman Andy King and others hold a press conference to advocate for open, early and automatic delivery of evidence through the repeal of criminal procedure law 240, Bronx Civil Court, 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx.”
We note this, Brownfields application for “Webster Avenue Residences, site ID #C203075. This site is located in the Borough of Bronx, within the County of Bronx, and is located at 1960-1982 Webster Ave. and 4269 Park Ave.”
September
22, 2014
Constance Malcolm – the mother of Ramarley – said last week: “We are encouraged that the Department of Justice has opened a full investigation into the killing of our son Ramarley. We believe clear and sufficient evidence of civil rights violations exists for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to bring charges against the NYPD officers responsible. Police officers cannot bust into a house without a warrant and shoot an unarmed civilian in front of their grandmother and 6-year-old brother, as NYPD officers did to Ramarley, without legal repercussions."
September 15, 2014
On the one-year anniversary vigil for Bradley Ballard “who passed away on September 11th, 2013 after staff at Rikers Island refused to provide medical care when he was found unresponsive in his jail cell after spending seven days isolated there. Residents will call on Bronx County District Attorney Robert Johnson to prosecute the staff responsible for Mr. Ballard’s death. No one has been held accountable for his death although it was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner. On Wednesday, Mr.Ballard’s family filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the city, correction officials, and a medical services contractor.”
September 8, 2014Two Bronxites were awarded Shawn Carter/Gilman International Scholarships, the US State Department announced last week:
Jazmin Gonzalez, a first-generation college student from the Bronx, New York, studying history and Arabic languages and literature at Bard College, studied in Rabat, Morocco, this summer.
Clinton Langston Jr., a first-generation college student from the Bronx, New York, who is an arts student at City University of New York, Hostos Community College, studied in Paris, France, this summer.
September 1, 2014We recommend: The Bronx Documentary Center family and RISC (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues) are devastated by the loss of James Foley, who was killed this week in Syria by his captors. James had attended the RISC course at the BDC...
On Sept. 6th at 8:15pm, the BDC will host a fundraiser to honor his memory. Rachel Beth Anderson and Tim Grucza, RISC colleagues of James, will show their film First to Fall. All proceeds will go to honoring James Foley’s memory as his family finds appropriate.
An intimate story of friendship, sacrifice and the madness of war. It bears witness to the irreversible transformation of two friends, Tarek and Hamid, and the price they pay for their conviction. Q&A with director Rachel Beth Anderson and co-director Tim Grucza. Moderated by Lydia Polgreen of the NYT. 614 Courtlandt Avenue (@ 151st St.) Bronx
Inner City Press has covered the aftermath of Foley's murder here and here.
August 25, 2014Appearing in the Bronx for the NY Botanical Society Photographic Society on September 6 is Essdras Suarez of the Rocky Mountain News and currently the Boston Globe. He’s covered news in over 30 countries including the Iraq War, Haiti, and the Japanese Tsunami. Domestic assignments included covering the Columbine shooting and the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. Check it out...
August 18, 2014 NYC Protest
of Missouri Police Abuse Closes 42nd
Street, "Don't Shoot"
By Matthew Russell Lee
MANHATTAN,
August 14, updated -- In the Manhattan
version of National Moment of Silence
for the killing of Michael Brown and
police crackdown in Ferguson, Missouri,
42nd
Street between 8th and 9th Avenue
was cordoned
off by NYPD and protesters told to
leave or be
arrested.
Inner City Press was on the scene,
repeatedly told to back away by the
police, brandishing handcuffs.
Protesters had hands raised, saying "Don't
shoot." It being near Times
Square, tourists on the way asked,
"Where is St. Louis?" Where indeed.
Update: And
hours later, though the protest was a
block from the headquarters of the New
York Times, nothing on its webpage or
Twitter feed. The revolution will not
be....
At the
UN on August 13 Inner City Press asked
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the
killing and crackdown. Video
here.
Dujarric began by saying that Ban and
the UN have "no particular comment,"
then added that "as in all cases, the
right to demonstrate peacefully needs to
be respected, and investigations need to
be conducted." Okay, then.
On
August 14, Inner City Press asked
again:
Inner City
Press: I wanted to ask you again about
these incidents in Ferguson,
Missouri. And the reason being
that they’ve become, even they’ve
basically been covered by all
international media now.
Journalists have been arrested.
Tear gas was used on camera on unarmed
protesters. So, I’m just
wondering, beyond the general statements
of yesterday, does anyone in the UN
system intend to contact either local
authorities — do you think…?
Spokesman: At this point, I have
nothing to add to what I said yesterday.
Well. There have been reports mentioned the financial institutions in the area, including nationwide lenders Bank of America, US Bank and Fifth Third.
Inner City
Press and Fair Finance Watch reviewed
the demographics of mortgage lending by
these three in the area in the most
recent year for which data is publicly
available, 2012.
In the St. Louis Metropolitan
Statistical Area in 2012, Bank of
America denied the conventional home
purchase mortgage applications of
African Americans 1.81 times more
frequently then those of whites.
Fair Finance Watch has previously
objected
to US Bank's stealth branch closings,
including in Chicago, here and
here. The US Community Reinvestment Act
requires banks to lend fairly in all of
their communities, but is not
sufficiently enforced, FFW has shown.
For US Bank,
the disparities was 1.6 to 1; for Fifth
Third Mortgage, that company's lender,
it was a whopping 4.95 to 1: African
American applicants were denied 4.95
times more frequently than whites, worse
that the aggregate (all lenders).
Troublingly, for all lenders Latinos were denied 3.1 times more frequently than than whites. So where is the US headed? And why has the UN had nothing to say so far? Watch this site.
August 11, 2014
Nice day: August 9 in Crotona Park, the fifth annual Ghana Parade and Festival.
August 4, 2014There are now protests for Bradley Ballard who died “on September 11th, 2013 after staff at Rikers Island refused to provide medical care when he was found unresponsive in his jail cell after spending seven days isolated there.”
July 28, 2014NYS Department of Labor statistics show “unemployment in New York City boroughs Queens and the Bronx show higher-than-average unemployment... highest in the Bronx, with a rate of 10 percent.”
Meanwhile, DoT promoted “The Boogie Down Booth, a temporary resting spot underneath the Freeman Street subway station” -- nice touch, but it's the people evicted, for example on Home Street and Hoe Avenue, that should be remembered...
July 21, 2014The killing by police choke-hold of Eric Garner on Staten Island, beginning to be acted on because filmed, here, echoes the killing in the Bronx by Anthony Baez while he was throwing a football back and forth with his brothers. What will be done?
July 14, 2014So property owners are being urged to sign up for NYC's “graffiti removal program, Graffiti Free NYC (GFNYC). GFNYC is the City’s first ever, full-time, street-by-street graffiti removal program and is a service provided by NYC Economic Development Corporation.”
Question: how would this have applied to, say Five Pointz in Queens or many landmarks in The Bronx? Is there no carve-out?
July 7, 2014When Mayor De Blasio announced new funding for arts in the schools at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on July 1, he thanked the chair of the City Council Cultural Affairs Committee, Jimmy Van Bramer and cited “Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music” as “one of the nation’s premier music high schools.” Oye! Now how about something in New York City and The Bronx in honor of Ismael Rivera? Ya es tiempo.
June 30, 2014How can it be that MetroNorth can get away with having suburban Connecticut trains stop at Fordham Road in The Bronx and REFUSES to pick up ticket-holding Bronxites? The conductors say, “discharge only,” and falsely claim, “There's a Harlem Line train right behind.” They know it's as much as 20 minutes behind. This is redlining, literally.
Some think that Community Reinvestment Act officers are progressive. But here in New York City, where new Mayor Bill De Blasio appointed the CRA Officer of M&T Bank -- apparently without knowing much about him or M&T -- to the Rent Guidelines Board, the banker blocked a rent freeze that his appointer De Blasio favored. Afterward De Blasio said, “From everything I’ve heard of him, he’s a person of integrity.” Heard?
June 23, 2014The new bill that passed the NY State Senate Wednesday would direct the New York State Department of Health to study and prepare a plan for dealing with the high incidents of asthma in the Bronx. It now moves to the State Assembly for a vote...
For
rent increase freeze:
Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito and Council
members Margaret Chin
(D-1st), Corey Johnson
(D-3rd), Mark Levine
(D-7th), Ydanis Rodriguez
(D-10th), and Helen
Rosenthal (D-6th)
- taking note.
And this: the push for a
fence in Starlight Park
after the drowning there
of 13-year-old Erickson
Villa on June 20...
In NYC, Foreclosure Wave by Mega-Banks, Redlining Valley National
By Matthew R. Lee
NEW YORK, June 9 -- Lower income communities of color have the most mortgage foreclosures, and the fewest bank branches, new studies of New York City demonstrate. There are 29,729 pre-foreclosures in New York City according to May 5, 2014 data purchased from RealtyTrak.com...
Citywide, 80% of these foreclosures are in communities of color. In The Bronx and Queens the percentage or targeting rises to 93%.
The lenders
with the most pre-foreclosures in New
York City are Wells Fargo with 1,273; US
Bank with 1,116; JP Morgan Chase with
1,043; Deutsche Bank with 760; and HSBC
with 741. Where is the Federal Reserve
in all this: asleep at the switch again?
Meanwhile while these big banks move to close branches -- the most recent example is US Bank closing 13 branches of 93 acquired from Royal Bank of Scotland, on which Inner City Press reported here -- midsized institutions simply bypass lower income communities of color.
Inner City Press and Fair Finance Watch, along with other NCRC members, is looking into Valley National Bank's proposed acquisition of 1st United in Florida. Fair Finance Watch has filed two comments to date with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, first with this lending pattern:
In 2012 in the New York City MSA for refinance loans, Valley National made 2152 such loans to whites and only 38 to African Americans -- entirely of keeping with the demographics and demographics of home ownership in the New York City MSA. Valley National denied 67% of such applications from African Americans, versus only 34.5% of such application from white.
For home purchase loans in the NYC MSA in 2012, Valley National made 69 such loans to whites, only one to an African American and only two to Latinos, for which it had a denial rate of 62.5% versus only 36.6% for whites.
For home improvement loans in the NYC MSA, Valley National made 26 such loans to whites, only one to an African American and only two to Latinos, for which it had a denial rate of 50% versus only 21.9% for whites.
On June 8, Fair Finance Watch filed a second comment, including that:
Valley
National has branches only below 88th
Street in Manhattan (in which,
intriguingly, a "Yellowbrick Real Estate
Capital" breaks into the top five in
pre-foreclosures).
Valley National has no branches in Harlem, Washington Heights or The Bronx, predominantly African American and Latinos, low and moderate income areas.
In Queens, it's Middle Village and Kew Gardens. In Brooklyn, Valley National's branches are along Ocean Parkway and in Bay Ridge. What about East New York, Brownsville, Bushwick and Bedford Stuyvesant?
Meanwhile we
are sorry to say, the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, rather than
provide the documents Inner City Press
requested under the Freedom of
Information Act, tried to cancel the
entire FOIA request by claiming to
mis-understand one part of it, as stated
in a June 5 telephone call with the
OCC's Rosalye Settles.
Inner City Press has not yet received a single one of the requested documents, all of which should be provided during the comment period (set to expire on June 20).
On June 11, Inner City Press went to a Valley National Bank in Manhattan to seek its CRA Assessment Area / Statement. At the VNB branch at 350 Park Avenue, Branch Service Manager Daniel Solomon when asked about the CAR Assessment Area at first tried to give Inner City Press a CD-ROM of the bank's 2013 Annual Report. Then after much back and forth he emerged with a binder that did not include the assessment area, directing the public elsewhere -- with the wrong address -- for that.
This is indicative of Valley National Bank's approach and attitude to CRA. There should be public hearings and on the current record, Valley National Bank's application should be denied.
June 9, 2014
Last week say the delivery of “petitions with more than 600 signatures demanding that Senate co-Majority Leader Sen. Jeff Klein, candidates and other elected officials pass the NY State DREAM Act. Earlier in the year, Sen. Jeff Klein's majority coalition with Senate Republicans failed in an attempt to pass the legislation, leading to calls for Klein to rejoin the Democratic caucus to improve prospects for passage.”
June 2, 2014Is there such a thing as hotel gentrification? Or gentrification triggering new hotels, as in Long Island City, Queens? In Melrose, the Umbrella Hotel at 681 Elton Avenue between E 153rd and 154th Streets will have rates from $129 – $159 per night, according to Manny Chadha of AMG Elton LLC. “There’s a lot going on in Melrose, with green construction and developments like Via Verde,” he says. Yeah.
May 26, 2014
Belmont in the news: An
Italo-Swiss tourist
punched and killed on
Washington Avenue, a
teenager pushed through
the window of the Hookah
Spot on Arthur Avenue --
by a police officer....
Opening May 30 at 305 East 140th Street is “Terroir.... a group exhibition that endeavors to investigate and rekindle our relationship with the land. War, hunger and inequality are all social conflicts that have historically influenced the issues of rights and ownership of land in order to benefit the few.” Can you say, homesteading?
May 19, 2014This we like, May 22, 2014:
Bobby
Sanabria
- Diana Gitesha
Hernández
- H+ | The Hip-Hop
Dance Conservatory
- Not4Prophet
As the City
Lore Gallery. 56 E
1st St
May 12, 2014
This we like: Bronx World Film Cycle, on June 1 at “La Nacional” in Manhattan, holds its first summer screening event including a “3-d Graffiti” exhibit and a World Music concert, and
Patricia Chica “Chicatronica” - a Salvadoran/Canadian master of the psychological thriller.
• DJ Neva Wartell, New York media personality, ethnomusicologist and activist spins World Music!
• Z.S. Rosenfeld. A short, poetic film tribute to Europe’s abandoned synagogues by filmmaker/photographer Rosenfeld. Set to an evocative score by Elie Massias. (World Premier).
• Lara Bello. The multi-talented World Music recording artist, dancer, writer and designer from Granada, Spain...
• Elie Massias, expert in the music of Andalucía in the Middle Ages
• James Lovell and Lucy Blanco. Garífuna composers, singers, Cultural Ambassadors and Masters of Caribbean Maroon music
• Óscar Berrío. Avant garde filmmaker, photographer, writer and faithful collaborator shares his latest puzzle-like videopoems
We like videopoems...
May 5, 2014Bronx Week runs May 8-18, preliminary schedule here http://ilovethebronx.com/images/stories/BW14/2014%20calendar%20online.pdf
April 28, 2014With Bronx day in Albany hyping up "Don Coqui," presumably the one on City Island, we have to ask: what is its relation to one in Astoria?
April 21, 2014Here is disparate impact: the US Postal Service, to open a Post Office box, requires an application to have either a "current lease, mortgage or dead of trust" or a "voter or vehicle registration card" or a "home or vehicle insurance policy."
So you have to either own a car or a home or be the one listed on a rental lease. Inner City Press looked into it and asked, So a homeless person cannot get a post office box?
No, was the answer. Disparate impact #1.
But even people who live in a rented apartment often are not on the lease. So if that case, you HAVE to register to vote? Inner City Press asked, what about an anarchist? What happened to land of the free, home of the brave? How is this legal? We'll have more on this.
April 14, 2014This we like, with a Bronx connection:
STYLE WARS is regarded as the indispensable document of NY street culture and subway graffiti art of the early '80s, the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis. It won the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the 1983 Sundance Film Festival and continues to gain a following. 30 years later, Veli and Amos, two Style Wars fans from Europe, travel through today's graffiti and street art scene. The journey takes them from Europe to New York and ends in the Middle East. Style Wars 2 features encounters with graffiti artists and explores the idea of "doing the wrong thing." Thursday, April 17th at 7pm to watch a double feature screening of Style Wars I & II, and participate in conversation with Producer, Henry Chalfant, and a graffiti writer featured in the film.
When:
Thursday, April 17th,
doors at 6:30pm, Screening
at 7:00pm
Where: The City Lore
Gallery, 56 E 1st St. New
York, NY 10003
Here's a question: what are the environmental justice implications of moving the auto shops from Queens to Hunts Point in the South Bronx? The City says, "the relocation of the Sunrise Co-op to their new facility is an as-of-right transaction between two private parties." But what about EJ? Watch this site.
March 31, 2014Rights Applied to NY City Council, Haiti Cholera Test, Bronx Scores Low
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 25, updated -- If it's true that all politics are local, then why not from the New York-based UN, embroiled in such questions as war crimes in Sri Lanka and France leaving Muslims at risk of attack in the Central African Republic, consider the records of New York City Councilmembers?
The Urban
Justice Center today releases a report
card on the Council, assigning grade
from A+ down to a C and C- in Staten
Island to members of the NYC City
Council.
The report "revisits two recent land-use projects -- Willets Point in Queens and Seward Park Extension Urban Park Renewal Area in Manhattan, which impact New Yorkers' housing, workers' and government accountability rights. It also discusses the human rights implications of waterfront redevelopment projects in Mill Basin, Brooklyn and St. George, Staten Island in post Hurricane Sandy New York City."
The UN famously failed during Super Storm Sandy, neglecting to inform Ambassadors when it would be closed and when their cars, with diplomatic plates, could be removed from the UN's underground garages, as Inner City Press reported.
In Haiti, the
UN thumbs its nose at principles of
accountability, refusing
to even acknowledge service of process
of legal papers in court cases from
bringing cholera to the Island.
But former Mayor Bloomberg is now a UN official, on climate change; Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was going to meet with Mayor Bill De Blasio until it got canceled on the day of the East Harlem gas explosion.
The Free UN Coalition for Access asked why it was not on Ban's public schedule, but UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said since it got canceled, this did not have to be answered. Isn't the right to information also a human right?
The Bronx
scored low.
The
top eight in the rankings are all from
Manhattan or Brooklyn; the top Bronxite
after that represent Riverdale. Have any
Councilmembers joined the call on the US
Mission to the UN, or State Department
in DC, to hold the UN accountable for
cholera in Haiti? If all politics are
local, they should.
Updated: the
above was published at the March 24-25
midnight embargo time. But on the
afternoon of March 25, Inner City Press
asked UJC's Research and Policy
Coordinator Nicole Bramsted if the
reports considered Council members' work
on such issues as holding the UN
accountable for cholera in Haiti -- or,
one might add, extending a human rights
monitoring mandate to the UN mission in
Western Sahara. Inner City Press also
ask for any comment on there being no
Bronx (or Queens) Council members in the
top eight ranked members.
Bramsted and her colleague replied that such work is included in the narrative portion of the surveys, for example resolutions for the Senate to ratify CEDAW; low scoring geographies, it was said, could be held up in the spotlight. Watch this site.
March 24, 2014
Saddest thing from the March 21 day book:
12 p.m. – State, city and community officials hold a press conference in remembrance of the victims of the Happy Land Social Club Fire, Happy Land Memorial Monument, East Tremont Avenue and Southern Boulevard, Bronx.
March 17, 2014Too late to see (March 16) but too important not to note: screening of "Yuri Kochiyama: Passion For Justice" by Pat Saunders and Rea Tajiri, (1994) and panel including Cleo Silvers is a former member of both the Young Lords Party and the New York State Chapter of the Black Panther Party who worked with their medical cadre as a Community Mental Health Worker at Lincoln Hospital and served as co-chairperson of the Health Revolutionary Unity Movement (HRUM). She helped organize two militant takeovers of Lincoln Hospital which led to the formation of the Lincoln Detox Center. Those were some days...
March 10, 2014The NYT's March 7 piece about the South Bronx waterfront quotes a restaurant owner who acts as if he didn't consider the location before signing at 20 year lease. It's not believable.
March 3, 2014Sushi shootout: Police say a gun-wielding man was shot by police outside of an affordable Japanese restaurant on East 187th Street on March 1. Officers inside the Sake II restaurant heard a commotion outside just after 7:30 p.m. They say they found 22-year-old Jayson Ramos outside holding up a gun and threatening to shoot three people. The officers ordered Ramos to drop the gun. Instead, he fled on foot down Beaumont Avenue, prompting the officers to give chase. As they were chasing Ramos down the street, he allegedly turned around and pointed a 9mm pistol at them. One officer took action and shot him in the leg. Ramos was taken into custody and taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital. He now faces charges including criminal possession of a weapon with intent to use and reckless endangerment. Bento box...
February 24, 2014From BP Diaz' February 20 "State of the Borough" speech: "If a politician in Paris decides to use our hometown to make a cheap political point, or a tour operator twists facts to make a quick buck, we will set the record straight." We too.
February 17, 2014On Feb 13, Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Department of Sanitation garage at 800 E. 176th St to give an update on the winter storm...
February 10, 2014On Feb. 6 it was a tale of two Bronxes: at 11:30 a rally to protect Girls Prep Bronx Charter School, Girls Prep Bronx Charter School on Kelly Street; at 2 pm, de Blasio speaking at the Osborne Association...
February 3, 2014So Melissa Mark-Viverito holds her inauguration ceremony at Hostos Community College; 187th Street saw a fundraiser for Victor Pichardo at "Arthur Avenue Floral's Amazing Space," and BP Diaz' "State of the Boro" will be on Feb. 20. Click here for Inner City Press on the State of the Union: http://www.innercitypress.com/sotu1noun012814.html
January 27, 2014FOX's show "the following" will be gumming up the streets of Belmont this week, on January 28 on Hughes and Crescent and Arthur Avenues. The flier they put up says they are working with "the individual towns and villages" -- nice...
January 20, 2014Fire sale: now the US Postal Service says it wants to just sell off the Bronx General Post Office at 149th Street and Grand Concourse. To the highest bidder?
"Outgoing Metro-North President Howard Permut says the December derailment in the Bronx will affect him for the rest of his life" - is that why under his watch, trains in from the suburbs in Connecticut stop to unload passengers at Fordham Road but refuse to take any passengers on, even those who've already paid?
January 13, 2014Maybe malls aren't the way to go, at least in The Bronx: the Concourse Plaza is half empty, and "The Crossings" slated for Southern Boulevard and 163rd Street won't in fact have any housing, just a big Red Lobster. Just what's needed in Hunt's Point...
January 6, 2014As we reported in advance last week, at the De Blasio inauguration, Bronxite Lissette Ortiz introduced Bill Clinton, who introduced "Big Bill." The next day his chancellor of eduction Farina visited M.S. 223, The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology, at 360 E. 145 St in the Bronx. Back on December 30, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito had been sworn in at the Millbrook Houses not far away on St. Ann’s Avenue. How will they all do? Watch this site.
December 30, 2013So for the De Blasio inauguration on January 1, the first introduction will be by a Bronxite, Lissette Ortiz, a senior at Medgar Evers College originally from the DR. Vamos!
Meanwhile, 753 Melrose Avenue: "The site was historically operated as a dry cleaner in the 1950's, and had solvent tanks in the rear of the property. Soil vapor and groundwater at the site are contaminated with chlorinated solvents, primarily tetrachloroethene (PCE) and its breakdown products. Due to the concentrations of PCE detected in groundwater and soil vapor, in conjunction with the proximity of occupied buildings to the site, further investigation to evaluate the nature and extent of contamination and the potential for exposures to contamination from the site is warranted."
December 23, 2013Strange to be seeing outgoing Mayor Bloomberg taking credit for hot sheet motels in the Bronx. Last week he bragged of The Bronx "six new hotels have opened since 2002 – with another three under development."
December 16, 2013So the Abu Dhabi sheiks including Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan and First Gulf Bank behind Manchester City football club now want NYC bonds to move a business from the Bronx and build a 28,000 soccer stadium?
For a "28,000-seat stadium in The Bronx just south of Yankee Stadium... the New York City Football Club — majority owned by the Manchester City Football Club of the Premier League in the UK — is “very, very close” to inking a deal with GAL Manufacturing, an elevator parts company, sources close to the deal said.
The deal with the soccer club, which is 20 percent owned by the Yankees, will also include the not-for-profit Bronx Parking Development Company.
The $400 million stadium will be located on what now is an empty lot between the Major Deegan and East 153rd Street, a source following the situation said.
Mayor Bloomberg has blessed the pact.
However, the team will not move forward without mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s blessing, and he has not yet reviewed the deal"
Watch this site.
December 9, 2013Against the machine: Vincent Marchiselli, Bronx Assemblyman in the 80s standing up to Stanley Friedman, Stanley Simon et al, has died. He was a storefront politician, leaning right but recto as they say. RIP.
December 2, 2013We're all for promoting the Bronx. But to blithely celebrate "Bronx Brewery Featured in a Chase Bank Commercial, CONGRATULATIONS DAMIAN BROWN & CHRISTOPHER GALLANT" seems to ignore the recent worldwide flame-out of #AskJPM...
November 25, 2013Look at http://mappingbronxstories.com/ -- in the South Bronx, there's Don Delillo (NOT by the pastry shop), Martin Scorsese, Herman Wouk and Theodore Dreiser. OK - but what about SINCE then?
November 18, 2013Friday at Family Dollar: "Police are looking for a man they say shot two people in the Bronx. The shooting happened shortly after 5 p.m. Police say the man chased two people across East 149th Street in Mott Haven and shot them in front of a Family Dollar Store. There are three different schools within two blocks of where the incident took place."
November 11, 2013This, we're looking forward to:
Daily News: Tell me about your new venture, a museum of hip hop culture you’re launching with Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Wizard Theodore.
Melle Mel: Us, as the fathers, the pioneers of hip hop, we have a responsibility to the art form. The “Windows of Hip Hop,” it’s a campus for hip hop.
Caz: There’s a lot of empty land in the Bronx, and any institution dedicated to hip hop has to be in the Bronx. We’re trying to make that a reality. This is a big year for the culture, 40 years strong. Look how far we’ve come.
Melle Mel: We’re going to see this become a reality. It’s a celebration of what we did in the past, as well as the present and what we can do in the future. It’ll help tourism in the Bronx expeditiously. It’ll be another feather in the cap of the most underrated borough.
November 4, 2013So Goldman Sachs' bank has been given an "Outstanding" CRA rating, trumpeted in the Wall Street Journal. GS is given CRA credit for lending to the CitiBank program. But since the bike racks are all below 60th Street in Manhattan and in gentrified or gentrifying parts of Brooklyn -- a veritable redlining map, nothing in The Bronx -- why does this get CRA credit? It's a scam...
How can this be?Citizens Union 2013 General Election Candidate Endorsements
Bronx Endorsements
No races evaluated
None??October 21, 2013
This week we travel one borough away, on a topic much associated with The Bronx: excellent grafitti art. In Long Island City, Queens, the 5Pointz at 45-46 Davis Street which one sees when the 7 train comes overground is threatened with demolition to build, what else, another condominium building. The neighborhood there is being overrun, first with hotels and now luxury housing. Citigroup can be thanked for the gentrification. But this one is too much. A lawsuit has been filed, asserting violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) and copyright law, and asking the Eastern District to issue an injunction to prevent the destruction of 5Pointz pending the outcome of the lawsuit. It is Cohen, et al. v. G & M Realty L.P., et al. (Index No. CV13-5612) and we're rooting for it.
October 14, 2013It's the 30th anniversary of "Wild Style," and there is a photographic Then and Now comparison we recommend, here: http://www.complex.com/city-guide/2013/09/wild-style-now-and-then-photos/fantastic-five
October 7, 2013The gunning down in Washington of a seemingly emotionally disturbed person made us think back, in The Bronx, to Eleanor Bumpers, killed by police in her apartment. There has to be a better way.
September 30, 2013This, we suppport: November 21: "Every year, as Thanksgiving rolls around, the media suddenly remembers that people are homeless and hungry in New York City. Picture the Homeless knows that homeless folks are hungry all year round. For food, and for justice. And for a good party!"
September 23, 2013As if in honor of General Debate week at the UN, on Thursday September 26 in the Bronx Boro Hall Rotunda they are feting Ecuador - be there!
September 16, 2013How can it be that two days after last Tuesday's election, "the New York City Board of Elections still had not counted any votes in 48 election precincts, most of them in the South Bronx"?
Then again in Buffalo, population 261,000, only14,000 people voted in the primaries....
September 9, 2013
On Syria, UN Censors Try to Cut Off Questions, Ask Who the Questioner Works For
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- On Syria during Wednesday's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq to respond to Syria's August 31 statement that the US, France and UK lobbied for the UN to NOT look into WHO used chemical weapons at Khan al Asal.
Haq
repeated Ban's statement from the day
before in his
two-question press conference:
that Ban made the decision.
Inner City Press asked if Ban agrees
with his predecessor Kofi Annan,
speaking for The Elders, that member
states should await the UN report
before reaching conclusions and
deciding on action, as is taking place
in the US Congress.
Haq said Ban would have
no comment, citing sovereignty.
Another journalist, accredited with a Pacifica radio station and a member of the Free UN Coalition for Access, asked about depleted uranium and about the story by the former AP string based on interviews, that the chemical weapons in Ghouta came through Saudi sources.
Before Haq could answer, another journalist in the front row who often speaks for the UN Correspondents Association tried to cut the question off. She was (and is) at the left hand of UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS. FUNCA says this is not how it is supposed to work, establishment scribes silencing or purporting to answer the questions of others.
Worse, as soon as the briefing was over this UNCA spokesperson immediately went to UN spokesperson Haq demanding to know, "Who does she work for?"
This is
how it works with the
UN's Censorship Alliance, which held
a faux "UN briefing" with
Saudi backed Syria rebel boss Jarba
which the UN
is still not answering Press
questions about. Beyond trying
to get the investigative Press thrown
out of the UN, they try to cut off
others' questioning.
The Pacifica reporter, referring to a history with this Reuters "retiree," inquired with Haq but got no satisfaction. He or the Department of Public Information through which Ban "partners" with this UN Censorship Alliance should at a minimum remind these insiders that all journalists have a right to ask their questions, and get answers from the UN spokesperson, not insider scribes. Watch this site.
It sure looks innovative:
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced proposed Slumlord Prevention Guidelines (SPG). The guidelines include new Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations from the Department of Financial Services (DFS)and Benjamin M. Lawsky, Superintendent of Financial Services that incentivize banks -- but how, without meaningful comment periods and processing on mergers?
This NY Dep't of Financial Services, so far, is LESS open to CRA comments that its predecessor. Watch this site.
September 2, 2013Now begins the hype: the "60-room Opera House Hotel, run by the Empire Hotel Group, opened in the South Bronx... For rates that start as low as $100 a night, guests get a fairly spacious guest room, complimentary continental breakfast, free WiFi, and (as of April 2014) complimentary access to a Crunch Gym next door. Before you gripe about the location, consider this: the 3rd Avenue subway station is next door and gets you to Midtown in about 20 minutes on the 2 and 5 Trains. If we were visiting NYC, we'd be tempted to stay in the Bronx for rates like that." Gripe.
August 26, 2013Last week tenants of 888 Grand Concourse filed a contempt case in Bronx Housing Court against the building’s landlord, Louis Bombart, ranked #4 worst landlord in the city according to the Public Advocate’s “Worst Landlords Watchlist.” The lawsuit responds to Bombart’s refusal to comply with court orders to repair more than 342 violations....
August 19, 2013Amazing - now MetroNorth simply shuts down the Tremont Station, already under-served, for an infrequent shuttle bus to Fordham. For Melrose? They advise going to Yankee Stadium 153 Street on the other line...
August 12, 2013"I am more than outraged," said Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham. “Richard Haste broke into our home and killed my son in cold blood. The criminal justice system has failed us... This past May, Judge Steven Barrett dismissed the indictment due to an error made by Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko when instructing jurors... "In the immediate we are demanding a federal investigation into this case,” said Loyda Colon, Co-Director of the Justice Committee. “In the long-term, if District Attorneys cannot do their jobs correctly, we need another solution. Too often, DAs handle the investigations and prosecutions of police officers who have killed New Yorkers poorly. The failure to indict Haste and other officers who have taken lives proves that we need a special prosecutor for cases of police killings.”
August 5, 2013So a publicist hyped to Inner City Press that "Chuck Hughes, the celebrity chef from Cooking Channels' Chuck's Eat The Street" will be on Arthur Avenue on August 8 and 9. But the pitch for this season of "Eat the Street" -- it's Wall Street that eats you -- barely mentions The Bronx, saying "Other cities include Washington, D.C.; Charleston, S.C.; The Bronx, N.Y.; and Detroit, Mich. This season also takes Chuck on a journey to explore some of the best streets beyond the country, as he visits St. John's, Newfoundlandand San Juan, Puerto Rico." Well there's that.
July 29, 2013And so it was said: Del Blasio would on July 28 "Walk in the Bronx Dominican Parade with Chirlane McCray and Dante de Blasio." SOBRO bragged that its "South Bronx Leadership Forum Summer 2013" speaker, all the way on August 12, would be Christine Quinn. Whither Weiner?
July 22, 2013Gentrification, yes - but have to admit, looking forward to Bronx Brewery at on E 136 between the Cypress Avenue 6 train stop and the East River - and the promised fancy barrels, including tequila...
July 15, 2013This week for whatever reason we went back and watched the old Bill Moyers report on the South Bronx, “The Fire Next Door.” It had a lot of human detail, but missed the issue of redlining. Too bad...
July 8, 2013
Locust
Ave and 140th
Street: “prior uses that appear to
have led to site contamination
include a manufactured gas plant,
a gas holder, industrial storage,
petroleum/diesel stations, and
automotive service stations.” More
here.
Next bill we're watching: Intro. 1036, which would give parents and staff prompt notice of any environmental assessment of a public school or prospective school site; provide the public with easily accessible information about environmental risks and remedial plans; and empower parents and staff to evaluate and monitor City efforts to protect children....
June 24, 2013We're watching two bills - the End NYPD Discriminatory Profiling Bill (Intro 1080) and the NYPD Oversight Act (Intro 1079) - and who's not supporting them...
June 17, 2013We're looking at "Bronx Day in Albany," set for Tuesday, June 18, at The Egg, Empire State Plaza, in Albany. They say, "corporate sponsorships are available for the luncheon and reception." Watch this site.
June 10, 2013On February 2, 2012, NYPD Officer Richard Haste followed 18-year old Ramarley Graham home, broke down the front door and shot and killed him in the bathroom. Haste claims he believed Graham had a gun, yet no gun was found at the scene. A Bronx grand jury indicted Haste on two counts of manslaughter; the first indictment of an NYPD officer for killing a civilian since 2007.
On May 15, Judge Steven Barrett, the judge presiding over the Haste case, dismissed the indictment due to what Haste’s attorney referred to as “sloppy wording” in the instructions given to jurors by Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko. Now what?
June 3, 2013Carpet bagger? A Bronx man has been arrested in connection with what the New York Police Department thinks may be more than 30 cases of rug theft from JPMorgan Chase ATM locations around the city.
May 27, 2013Another event we recommend, on Friday, May 31, 6:30pm to 9:00pm at the Bronx Museum of the Arts at 1040 Grand Concourse: Puerto Rican History, honoring the Young Lords with free music, poetry, food and spirits. Be there!
May 20, 2013Ah, the arrogance: North Forker returns, per SNL Financial: "BankUnited Inc. Chairman, President and CEO John Kanas said he believes the bank's new expansion will yield an annual organic growth rate of $2 billion after a year of operation." Let's see...
May 13, 2013From White House pool report: "Among those singled out by President Obama was Detective Ivan Marcano, who was off duty when he saw two muggers attacking a cab driver in the Bronx. Marcano got out of his girlfriend's car to stop them, when he was shot in the chest. As his girlfriend drove Marcano to the hospital, they randomly ran into the getaway car — at which point Marcano, holding his chest, ran after the suspects and caught them, Obama said. 'This was date night!' the president exclaimed to laughter, asking the woman in the audience to stand and be recognized."
What does it mean, that "they randomly ran into the getaway car"? But hats off...
May 6, 2013Sometimes, we're happy to promote: like, the 3rd Annual Bronx Week Film Festival featuring films made in the Bronx or by Bronx film makers. Free screenings will begin on Saturday with a ribbon-cutting and will culminate with a wrap party on May 13th. See schedule at www.bronxweekfilmfestival.com
April 29, 2013After a man from Bangladesh was beaten by Applebee's in The Bronx, Bangladeshis gathered at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church on Bainbridge Avenue in support of war crimes tribunal in their country. Other Bangladeshis have protests against the court, down by the UN.
New York City has the highest Bangladeshi population in the UN: over 57,000. Per the latest American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau, Parkchester has the higest Bangladeshi population in the Bronx, with an estimated 2,642 people. The only neighborhoods more populated with Bengalis are Kensington in Brooklyn (2,671) and Jamaica Hills, Queens (4,104). What about Astoria?
April 22, 2013Bill de Blasio blows horn in The Bronx: on April 20, trumpets endorsement of State Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson; April 21, Parkchester with Assemblymember Luis Sepulveda. Where's Liu and the others?
April 15, 2013So in The Bronx in 2012, Citigroup denied the mortgage applications of African American 2.4 times more frequently then whites. In Manhattan, Citi's disparity at 2.63. And to the two groups, Citigroup made TEN TIMES as many loans in Manhattan as in The Bronx...
April 8, 2013And now the US Postal Service, despite opposition, moves to sell the main Bronx post office at 588 Grand Concourse. For shame.
April 1, 2013This coming Friday April 5 we recommend, at the Bronx Museum of the Arts at 6 pm, the film “Havana, Havana!” blurbed as follows: “Cuban musician Raul Paz brings together fellow musical stars Descemer Bueno, Kelvis Ochoa and David Torrens for a concert in Havana. All of them left Cuba years ago, and their decision to return has injected a new spirit into Cuban music. Mirroring Cuba’s growing relationship with the world, Havana, Havana! highlights how the country’s musical expression is evolving in the 21st century.” Baila!
March 25, 2013Who knew that the chairman of the FDIC was a Bronxite, who for a time worked for then Congressman Bingham and spent a week a month up in the Northwest Bronx? He knows all the NWBCCC big wigs; he tells a touching story.
But when asked, in writing, what he and FDIC think of the proposal to seize deposits in Cyprus as part of a bailout, no answer's been received. Maybe if the question about about Cypress Avenue in the Bronx? Watch this site.
March 18, 2013Oh, Operation Clean Halls: Jay Victorino was outside of his mother's apartment when NYPD nearly arrested him for trespassing, if his mother hadn't rescued him...
Rare UN Link to NYC, Police Shooting Raised by ICP, LA Mayor Responds
By
Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press asked the panel about police brutality, and about the death of Kimani Gray. It was LA Mayor Villaraigosa who answered, speaking in favor of civilian review and control of the police, and noting that the preamble of the Network's “outcome document” refers to civil and human rights.
The panel was asked about the use of drones, which witnesses in East Flatbush say the New York Police Department deployed Wednesday night, along with spotlighted helicopters.
Generally, though, it was a typical UN rah-rah session, with hat tips to gender violence, tolerance and urban planning. Habitat director Joan Clos cited Jane Jacobs; the mayor of Bogota spoke of harm reduction, even the de-criminalization of drugs. The UN's Narcotics Control Board's position is rigidly against this, opposing the program in for example Vancouver.
The initiative was extra-UN in another way as well: typical in that the participants want money in a trust fund, untypical in that the disbursement, not yet agreed, would avoid national governments and go directly to cities.
An official from Cote d'Ivoire was asked how a divided city like Abidjan can be kept together. He answered by referring to mayors in the West of the country, reportedly still under-served as a retaliation against those who supported former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is now waiting trial on war crimes charges in The Hague. Now that's a city.... Watch this site.
Footnote:
Inner City Press thanked the mayors for the briefing,
but didn't spell out: for the Free UN Coalition for
Access. That's because there was no mention of
UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance.
There is no need to brand these briefing. But when it's done, FUNCA will respond, to resist favoritism for UNCA, an organization which tried and tries to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN. Just like cities and police departments, the UN too needs rules.
March 11, 2013
This week, we go arty - and angry. Downtown at the The New Museum there's a collection of art works produced in New York in the year 1993. Most are from Manhattan - the only mention of The Bronx is Pepon Osorio’s “The Scene of the Crime” -- alife-size diorama of an apartment complete with a woman’s body under a bloody cloth. Spanish radio plays ads for detergent and the chairs are draped in Puerto Rican flags. Talk about a cliche...
March 4, 2013
The Hunger Action Network NYS says “the South Bronx Congressional District represented by Congressmember Serrano continued to have the highest rate of food insecurity in the Country.” That can't be good..
February 25, 2013
Just what The Bronx needs: more clowns. “Twelve clowns on a two week international tour of the U.S. and Malaysia will stop at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore to entertain children with juggling, acrobatics and magic to cheer them up and brighten their hospital stay.” Nice...
February 18, 2013
The two toughest neighborhoods in New York City to be a kid are both in the South Bronx. “Hunts Point was ranked the toughest place for the city’s kids, with a 49 % child poverty rate and just 28% of elementary and middle school students meeting state reading standards in 2011. Mott Haven was ranked second toughest, with 99 cases of reported child abuse or neglect per 1,000 kids in 2010.”
February 11, 2013
Here's a show we support, and so to which we devote this week's update: “SEIS DEL SURDispatches from home by six Boricua photographers – at the Bronx Documentary Center” - go check it out.
February 4, 2013
From the serious to the culinary loss: Saturday saw a vigil for the one year anniversary of the shooting death of Ramarley Graham by police officer Richard Haste...
On Arthur Avenue, Umberto's Clam House is no more. No explanation given; spin from Mike's Deli. In Manhattan, Umberto's remains open. Why not in The Bronx?
January 28, 2013
Now it's been decided: slated for closure in June are • Holy Spirit School, 1940 University Ave., The Bronx;
• Our Lady of Angels School, 2865 Claflin Ave., The Bronx;
• Our Lady of Mercy School, 2512 Marion Ave., The Bronx;
• Blessed Sacrament School, 1160 Beach Ave, The Bronx;
• St. Anthony School, 1776 Mansion St., The Bronx;
• St. Mary Star of the Sea School, 580 Minneford Ave., The Bronx;
• St. Jerome School, 222 Alexander Ave., The Bronx.
This is an outrage - watch this site.
January 21, 2013
After the MTA's hype about Select Bus service, for example along Fordham Road in The Bronx, recently Inner City Press was told when a bus without the signature blinking blue lights rushed by the regular bus stop and to the select, that "a lawsuit means we can't use the lights anymore."
So riders can't see which bus is which, and don't have time to get the paper ticket required on the Select. Good job, MTA...
January 14, 2013
Bronxites -- and Inner City Press -- are asking Timothy Cardinal Dolan to keep the doors open at St. Jerome School, at 222 Alexander Avenue in Mott Haven. The threat is to close it in 2013; one theory is to sell off the land. Give them a chance!
January 7, 2013
Is it clean? "The Site is an irregularly-shaped parcel approximately 0.36 acre in size and is bounded on the west by Prospect Avenue and on the east by Reverend James A. Polite Boulevard. Historically, the site was utilized for automotive repair/oil change and was a former gasoline filling station. These uses resulted in contamination to soil, groundwater and soil vapor. The primary contaminants of concern were petroleum-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Site is currently undergoing redevelopment activities associated with the construction of a new rental apartment building." But is it really clean?
December 31, 2012
$150 million for a 150 foot high bridge to City Island? Too high. We're against it.
December 24, 2012
Let's compare to the low number of banks: in The Bronx, McDonald’s has 44 stores, Dunkin Donuts leads with 68. Subway, up two, is now at 55...
December 17, 2012
"FreshDirect is scaling back its footprint in the South Bronx, where it plans to relocate in several years, and where it is being sued by a community group that opposes its development plan. The Long Island City-based grocer filed court papers on Thursday indicating that it would give up about three acres of land by the Harlem River that would have served as a parking facility for its fleet of delivery trucks. 'We are now going to incorporate our trucking operations into the parcel of land that will house our main facility," the company said in a statement. "This will have the benefit of addressing a number of concerns expressed by residents arising from the proximity of our trucks.'"
Not enough...
December 10, 2012
A 38-year-old construction worker from the Philippines, Michael Tristan Mananghaya was killed when a 40-foot-long industrial cooling unit fell from a crane and crushed him to death in The Bronx last week. Mananghaya was guiding the crane operator who was hoisting the air-conditioning unit at a construction site at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, when a chain that linked the massive air-conditioning unit to the crane allegedly snapped, dropping several feet, clipped the edge of a trailer and flipped onto its side on the sidewalk, pinning Mananghaya. Mananghaya’s employer C&L Towing in New Jersey, as well as Agrekko -- the air conditioning company -- are not commenting so far...
December 3, 2012
Bagel nosh: OSHA fined Bronx-based Zaro's $118,000 for whizzing machine parts weren’t covered, and a lack of locks to prevent machines from starting while workers were cleaning them, and exit doors locked or blocked -- sounds like Happy Land, but the union's being quiet...
Hurricane Sandy's impact: the New York Department of Finance Services went weeks without issuing a Weekly Bulletin of merger applications. So the Apple - Emigrant comment period must still be open, right? Especially since the Department only now acknowleged receipt of Inner City Press' Freedom of Information Law request for a copy of the application, and STILL hasn't provided it...
November 26, 2012
So when MetroNorth has "third rail" trouble, who pays the price? If you bought a vaunted "City-Pass," you got no refund in any meaningful way. From Fordham Road, they told you, you could ride north to Wakefield and then south again. But the next train north was an hour off, and no new trains were scheduled or stopped.
And still, the red "Connecticut" MetroNorth trains stops at Fordham Road, but refuse to pick up fare paying riders. Does this fall along racial lines a la disparate impact? It does. Watch this site.
November 19, 2012
On Fordham Road, "Candy's" is closed: a glimpse into its open door found a garbage strewn hall. What gives?
Ruling: New York City violated State environmental law when it built a Bronx school complex on contaminated land without making public a detailed long-term monitoring plan before construction, the state’s Court of Appeals has ruled, against the City’s Education Department and School Construction Authority. If the city wants to build a school on a polluted site, state law requires it to present in-depth remediation and monitoring plans to the public during the initial environmental review process....
November 12, 2012
Who knew that the
Bruckner Bar & Grill had 23 employees? Until Super
Storm Sandy hit, that is... See also, At
UN as Ban Takes States' Questions on Sandy Email Failures,
Press Ordered Out
November 5, 2012
So Tony's Pier is no more. What a view, from the parking lot. What smelts. Johnny's Reef remains... See, As Sandy Silences UN Worldwide, Bloomberg Chats with Geithner, Disses Bronx
October 29, 2012
Bronx redlined: BankUnited in Florida has applied to open four branches in New York: three in the most affluent parts of Manhattan, and one in suburban Suffolk County. Not only is this redlining, it also jumps the gun: due to a non-compete clause and settlement, the branches couldn't even be opened until February of 2013. Inner City Press has commented - receipt confirmed - asking for the applications to be suspended or withdrawn pending among other things a review Florida NCRC members have requested. We'll have more on this.
October 22, 2012
So Metro-North is pitching its "Penn Station Access environmental assessment," including four proposed stations in Morris Park, Co-op City, Hunts Point and Parkchester to provide connections to Penn Station, Westchester & Connecticut...
October 15, 2012
Apple Bank is seeking to acquire nearly all the branches of Emigrant Savings Bank in New York. When ICP comments were submitted to the New York State Financial Services Department as well as the FDIC, only the FDIC has so far responded.
The comment noted that in the NYC Metropolitan Statistical Area, Apple in 2011 made 13 conventional home purchase loans to whites, and NONE to either African Americans or Latinos.
Apple collects deposits in, for example, the South Bronx -- but look at its lending record. It should not on this record be allowed to acquire Emigrant's deposits and similarly redline with them.
For refinance loans in the NYC MSA in 2011, Apple made 27 loans to whites, only one to an African American applicant (while denying another), and NONE to Latinos.
Apple's "Chairman, President and CEO" Alan Shamoon, despite his bank's lack of visibility and weak community lending record, submitted a short response under his own signature, calling the mortgage lending analysis "disparagement" and "devoid of substance," to be "dismissed." Takes one to know one. Watch this site.
October 8, 2012
So, "the mean age of pending felonies in the Bronx was 408 days, compared to only 237 days for Manhattan." Is that fair? Will the court's un-merger fix it?
We covered Mayor Bloomberg at the UN last week, click here http://www.innercitypress.com/nyc1bloomdg100212.html
October 1, 2012
Slated for October 10 in the NYC City Council are hearings on Bronx-relevant
· Intro 799 concerning the unlawful searches that those subjected to stop-and-frisk often experience;
· Intro 800 concerning profiling by the NYPD, expanding protections against profiling based on age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, housing status, language and disability, in addition to race, religion or ethnicity; and
· Intro 801 that requires NYPD officers to identify themselves and explain their actions.
Seems simple enough, no?
September 24, 2012
So Occupy Wall Street did celebrate its first birthday or anniversary in lower Manhattan, and Inner City Press was there -- click here.
September 17, 2012
It was good to see Occupty back in the streets on September 15, see Inner City Press story here, and video here.
September 10, 2012
The killing of Reynaldo Cuevas just outside the Franklin Avenue bodega where he worked deserves a full investigation...
September 3, 2012
Quoth El Raven: Edgar Allan Poe, who lived unhappily in Kingsbridge and what is now Fordham University, will be the topic September 8, 7:30pm–9:30pm at the Bronx Documentary Center near Inner City Press' old stomping grounds, 614 Courtlandt Avenue (ICP was 680). There'll be music by drummer Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché. Nunca mas, nunca mas!
August 27, 2012
Seems The Bronx has the least free wi-fi in NYC, despite needing it the most, with only Hunts Point Riverside Park, the north playground of Joyce Kilmer Park, and Devoe Park on West Fordham Road and University Avenue. What about Crotona Park?
August 20, 2012
The absurdity of using
government subsidy, especially at this time, for a
Trump golf course in the Bronx hasn't yet been
enough to stop it. Yet.
Meanwhile the New York State Department of Financial Services quickly filed and settled charges against Standard Chartered Bank for laundering money for Iran to evade sanctions against that country, the same NYSDFS has been remiss in its more local duties.
A major New York bank franchise, Emigrant Bank, is up for sale to Apple Bank for Savings, but the NYSDFS appears asleep at the switch. The NYSDFS is rubbing stamping mergers and branch closings, and not responding to comments from the public.
On August 6, Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch
submitted a timely challenge to the NYSDFS against a
pre-merger branch closing by Emigrant. While not responding,
the NYSDFS
then provided notice of a merger application filed August
8, saying the comment period expired August 6 - click here
to view.
The NYSDFS has not explained this either. Can you say Kafka?
August 13, 2012
Now there is a call on the City's DOT to begin the formal public input process regarding the scheduled construction of the new City Island Bridge, slated for next year, through ULURP as soon as possible. The bridge construction is required to undergo a ULURP review through the Department of City Planning, as stated in the DOT’s own document released in March 2007. See, http://on.nyc.gov/PztDzh
August 6, 2012
Be there: South Bronx residents will receive information about their legal rights during police encounters and document police misconduct and to pass the Community Safety Act, which would ban discriminatory profiling by the NYPD; protect New Yorkers against unlawful searches; require officers to identify and explain themselves to the public; and establish an NYPD Inspector General Office.
Monday, August 6th, 6 PM at Hostos Community College, Savoy Multipurpose Room, 120 Walton Avenue, 2nd Floor
And right by there is a billboard: you are allowed to film the police. And what about Tony Baloney?
July 30, 2012
Check it out: the NYC Districting Commission
will hold a public hearing in The Bronx on August 23,
2012. These hearings are open to the public. The
purpose of these hearings is for the NYC Districting
Commission to hear testimony from the public
concerning the initial phases of its work in drafting
a new districting plan for the New York City Council.
BRONX: Thursday, August 23rd, 5PM-9PM, Hostos
Community College, Savoy D Building, 120 E.149th
Street, Bronx, NY 10451
So if Metro North's machines are broken and the
lines absurdly long and you get on the train from
Grand Central to Fordham (or the other way around),
they over-charge you to the tune of TWELVE DOLLARS for
the ride...
July 23, 2012
On July 18, there was this: "Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, Health Commissioner Tom Farley, and Human Resources Administration Commissioner Robert Doar announce new anti-obesity initiatives, C-Town, 668 Crescent Ave., Bronx." Much needed there, with the Polaroids of shoplifters..
July 16, 2012
The New York Times really feels for The Bronx:
"The Bronx’s inability to catch up with the rest of the city’s phenomenal economic growth has been disconcerting. In the early 1970s, the Bronx and Brooklyn had similar average household incomes. Since then, though, the gap has grown significantly. The average Brooklyn resident is now around 23 percent richer than the average Bronxite; people in Queens are roughly 32 percent richer. (Manhattan residents are 265 percent wealthier; Staten Island residents, by the way, are 55 percent richer.)"
The thing is, usually what the New York Times suggests is increased gentrification.... And so: crocodile tears.
July 9, 2012
Talk about sleazy: Queens-based Triangle Equities has defaulted on its deal to build two buildings with retail space, office space, a supermarket and a school on city-owned lots in the Hub shopping district. Triangle was supposed to close on the parcels in May but didn't. Now Triangle is demanding public subsidies and wants the administration to slash the price of the property from $6.2 million to $2.2 million, allegedly because a charter school slated for one of the buildings backed out. Yeah, right.
July 2, 2012
The Bronx District Attorney's Office last week tried to shift the focus from Bronx ticket fixing beyond, saying it has had discussions with four DAs and two US attorneys about "questionable conduct" uncovered during a two-year investigation, though nothing matched the level of the abuse alleged in the Bronx. "During the course of our investigation, we became aware of questionable conduct by officers from seven other police agencies," spokesman Steven Reed said-in-a-statement. The probe so far has resulted in 22 indictments—including five of civilians—for more than 1,600 crimes. The Bronx District Attorney's Office says it has a list of 500 officers across the city accused of ticket fixing, and many are likely to face departmental charges. And it started in The Bronx!
June 25, 2012
Metro North, especially its Connecticut line, is still discriminating against The Bronx. On June 23, even with a City Ticket, Bronxites were not allowed on the red Connecticut train on its route into Grand Central from Fordham Road. Two tier system.
We note and support the fight of the tenants at 1511-1521 Sheridan Avenue against their slumlord, Normandy Real Estate Partners...
June 18, 2012
South Bronx residents filed suit last week to stop Fresh Direct's relocation from Long Island City to the Harlem River Yards. The suit asks for a full environmental review of the project, which critics say would add thousands of diesel truck and car trips to an already over-polluted community. "It's not about do we want jobs or don't we want jobs. It's about if you're going to do something like this in the South Bronx, if you're going to bring in a pollution, potentially pollution-intensive project. You got to study it," said NYLPI.
June 11, 2012
That MetroNorth conductors reacted to being exposed reading the newspaper while driving the train by covering up their windows is typical. This is the rail line that stops to let suburbanites OFF at Fordham Road, but does not allow those there, disproportionately riders of color, to get on the train, even with tickets. For shame....
June 4, 2012
In the Bronx, the National Labor Relations Board has now set June 28th as the election date for 172 Cablevision technicians. Back in January, 282 Brooklyn technicians became the first Cablevision technicians to join a union...
May 29, 2012
"Tenants from Patterson Houses and Mott Haven Houses began organizing last year, and met with Assistant Commissioner Lopez in December to ask for help, but no repair work has been done and the Commissioner has failed to respond to any correspondence. In February, NYCHA received $10 million from the City Council for repairs to be made in 2013, but tenants say they can’t afford to wait. Recent news that NYCHA commissioned a $10 million report that it refuses to make public have raised new concerns about the agency’s priorities and transparency."
May 21, 2012
Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch was asked by the NYC Responsible Banking act:
The growing movement to local Community Reinvestment ordinances is a response to the Federal regulators' lack of commitment to enforcing the CRA of 1977. Also, that law is enforced if at all only in connection with bank mergers, of which there have been many fewer since the subprime financial meltdown. So activists have had to look elsewhere.
Whether municipal authorities will ever have enough independence from corporate interests to bar a major bank from business with the city remains to be seen.
Cleveland, for example, has been seeking its own agreements with banks for some years. But one of its two major banks was acquired and moved its headquarters away. As with CRA challenges, there will be a need for activists in different cities to work together.
May 14, 2012
In an echo of the critique of the Harlem River Rail Yards sweet heart 99 year lease by Inner City Press and others, now two months after the City approved $82 million in subsidies for the company to move to the South Bronx, the Cuomo administration has been asked to halt the deal. The city, state and the Bronx have already committed about $120 million to FD but the Empire State Development Corp. has yet to approve an additional $9 million. It expects to vote on the grant this summer. When Harlem River Yard Ventures leased the site from the state DOT in 1991, the company vowed to develop a new rail system that would reduce local truck traffic. But it has signed subleases with heavy truck users such as FedEx, the New York Post and now FreshDirect. It collects about $500,000 per month from its subleases but pays just $43,000 per month in rent to the state. The city Industrial Development Agency relied on an outdated environment impact statement when it judged the FreshDirect plan. The 1993 statement was put together before rezonings that generated new housing and made the neighborhood less suitable for industry.
Hey - we told ya so...
May 7, 2012:
So what's wrong with the NYS Department of Financial Services? Why did they have a (much) shorted comment period that the FDIC on New York Community Bank's proposal to acquire over $2 billion from Lehman Brothers' predatory Aurora Bank? And why, when the FDIC replied formally to ICP on May 2, has the NYSDFS still had nothing to say?
On behalf of Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch and its members and affiliates (collectively, "ICP"), this is a comment opposing and requesting public hearings on the application by New York Community Bank to acquire substantially all of the assets, and $2.3 billion of deposits of Aurora Bank FSB.
Aurora is a subprime, some say predatory, lending unit of the scandal wracked Lehman Brothers. For the record:
"Aurora had become one of the largest players in that market, originating $25-billion worth of loans in 2006. It was also the biggest supplier of loans to Lehman for securitization. Lehman had acquired a stake in Aurora in 1998 and had taken control in 2003. By May, 2006, some people inside Lehman were becoming worried about Aurora's lending practices."
NYCB is a bank which has sought to fly under the radar -- for example, a recent search of the FFIEC HMDA data back for "New York Community Bank" reveals only one HMDA reporter, 0000016022-3, reporting geography specific data in only three MSAs.
In these MSA, NYCB is decidedly disparate in its marketing and lending.
In the Phoenix MSA in 2010, the most recent year for which data is publicly available, NYCB made 292 conventional home purchase loans to whites and NO such loans to African Americans. Based on its disparate marketing, NYCB received only four such applications from African Americans, and denied three of them. To Latinos, NYCB more only 14 such loans, compared to the 292 to whites.
In the Fort Lauderdale MSA in 2010, NYCB made 38 conventional home purchase loans to whites, and NO such loans to African Americans.
In the West Palm Beach MSA in 2010, NYCB made 83 refinance loans to whites and only ONE such loan to an African American applicant, and only seven to Latinos.
The NYSDFS
should require answers, extend the comment period and hold
public hearings.
April 30, 2012
Where the van fell into the Bronx Zoo on Sunday was the same place five people died in 2006. And it was NYC's deadliest vehicle crash since March 2011, when 14 died after a "Chinatown bus" coming back from Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino split in two on Interstate 95 in the Bronx. So what is it about the Bronx, including the Happy Land?
April 23, 2012
This is too much: Police are investigating the death of a 16-year-old boy who was found with trauma to the face at Melrose Houses in the Bronx. Officers responded to a report of an assault last Monday night and found Moises Lora with facial wounds. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Sources say there was an argument between Lora and group of people that escalated into a fight. They say the group surrounded Lora and hit him on the head, causing him to collapse.
Hit him on the head with what? Where ARE we? Well, could be Koreatown, too: a man 27 years of age died last week after being found bleeding from the mouth beside a second-floor entrance inside District 36 on West 36th Street near Fifth Avenue around 3 a.m. The victim's teeth had been knocked out, causing the bleeding. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died over an hour later...
April 16, 2012
In a South Bronx gentrification we predict the New York Times will soon mimic, a restaurant called Ceetay will begin serving "Asian fusion" on Alexander Avenue in Port Morris. Over on Bruckner Blfd, the Clock Café and Martini Bar opened a montn ago and now serves up cheese plates and tapas, alongside cucumber-mint martinis and grapefruit margaritas. Yep, gentrification...
April 9, 2012
Belatedly there is coverage of the police killing of Ramarley Graham in February in the Bronx, followed by protests at the 47th precinct. We'll have more on this.
April 2,
2012: In the first study of the
just-released 2011 mortgage lending data, Inner City
Press and Bronx-based Fair Finance Watch have found
that Citigroup continued with high cost loans and
disparities by race and ethnicity in denials and
higher-cost lending.
2011 is the eighth year in which the data distinguishes which loans are higher cost, over a federally-defined rate spread of 1.5 percent over Treasury bill yields.
Citigroup confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 3.38 times more frequently than whites in 2011; Citi confined Latinos to higher-cost loans above the rate spread 2.42 times more frequently than whites in 2011, worse that its 1.72 disparity in 2009, the data show. For JPMorgan Chase, the disparity for African Americans in 2011 was 2.21....
March 26, 2012
This we like to see: Bronx Foreclosure Auction Blockade, Fountain in Joyce Kilmer Park, Monday, March 26, 12:30pm - Occupy Homes and Organizing for Occupation sing in a moratorium on foreclosures. Bronx Supreme Civil Court at 2pm...
March 19, 2012
Police
Push Occupy Wall Street Out of Zuccotti Park Again, American
Spring?
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March 17 -- When Occupy Wall Street rallied Saturday
night in Zuccotti Park, police began to assemble on Broadway and
Liberty Street. In the part, a small green tent went up, no more
than a tarp hung on a line between two trees.
There was chants about an "American Spring," and against banks: "hit the road, banks, and don't ya come back no more." Then the police moved in.
First they surged in from Broadway, pushing
the crowd back. Some were arrested and pulled up to Broadway
where a paddy wagon was filled.
To the south of the park, a march arrived
with a band playing Irish music on bagpipes, on this St.
Patrick's Day. The police shut that down too. An MTA bus
showed up, "Not in Service," to be filled with other arrestees.
From inside an arrested tweeted there were 16 others; it was Bus
Number 6694.
A woman
flopped on the sidewalk; people said she had a seizure. Photos
on www.twitter.com/innercitypress;
video here
and below.
While the crowd was focused on that, police and security from Brookfield Properties, the owner of the prviate public public, rushed in with metal barricades to close off the park again. Meanwhile more NYPD vehicles showed up.
As Inner City Press sought information about the
woman with the seizure, a three wheel police scooter drove up
fast and did not stop. It was Vehicle Number 3530, in from the
78th Precinct.
Soon a wall of police was pushing the
crowd south on Broadway to Thames Street. The police pushed, and
some people fell down. But the police kept pushing foward.
Who ordered this
crackdown, several in the crowd asked. There was some ugly back
and forth. Buzz went through the crowd of more arrests, further
north, and a march set off. American Spring? One hopes the focus
remains on the banks, which continue to get over. We'll see.
Meanwhile in The Bronx, Bloomberg appeared with Roberto
of Roberto's, at his pizzeria on Arthur Avenue: for shame.
March 12, 2012
Subsidized gentrification? At Via Verde on Brook and 156 Street, apartment are going for $146,000 and sales are being handled in-house, "income restrictions vary from $54,000 to $145,000." This is in the South Bronx...
March 5, 2012
This went in to court, ostensibly on behalf of "all 1.4 million residents of the Bronx" --
Judge Roann
L. Mann
United States District Court
Eastern District of New York
22 Cadman Plaza East
Brooklyn, NY 1 1201
Dear Judge Mann:
This letter is to alert you to our concerns, and the concerns of all 1.4 million residents of the Bronx, regarding any proposed Congressional redistricting proposal that would dilute the Bronx’s representation in the United States Congress.
As per the 2010 Census, the Bronx has seen significant growth in its population, especially among our Black and Latino populations. Given that, it would be appropriate-if not expected- that the Bronx would see its representation in the United States Congress expanded, rather than diminished.
However, various discussions on new Congressional lines have focused on carving up the Bronx into multiple smaller pieces, in order to benefit the political leadership of any other county.
Over the past few years, the elected leadership of the Bronx has been united as never before, and we remain united on the issue of redistricting. lt is unacceptable that the population of the Bronx would be potentially split among two new districts in an effort to make up for population losses among Voting Rights Act affected communities in other counties.
With that in rnind, our current Voting Rights Act district, represented by Rep. Jose Serrano, must be respected and remain wholly within the Bronx. In addition, both Rep. Serrano and Rep. Eliot Engel are lifelong Bronxites who have represented parts of our borough for their entire careers. If the Bronx were to lose their collective seniority in Washington-and the clout that comes with would do our borough tremendous harm.
Pero que dice Willy Colon?
February 27, 2012
In the Bronx, signs of the times: just as the Wodka vodka sign in Hunts Points -- "escort quality, hooker pricing" -- is coming this, there's this one going up: "Storage Post recently erected a massive LED digital billboard at their facility in the Bronx. The sign measures eleven and-a-half feet high by seventeen and-a-half long. It is capable of 144 quadrillion colors and has a brightness of 8,400 nits. That’s a lot of color and light! (A nit is a measure of light -- or luminance -- emitted per unit area. Computer desktop monitors have a luminance of 200 to 300. This sign is over 20 times brighter than a typical monitor.) The display animation can easily be changed to show a variety of messages, monthly specials, and animations." What kind of pricing?
February 20, 2012
Just another Friday in the Bronx: baby stabbed with a pen, man shot, both to Lincoln Hospital -- while Yemen's dictator Ali Saleh, ostensibly let into the US only for medical care, chilled at the Ritz Carlton down on Central Park South.
February 13, 2012
So the lawyers for Jateik Reed, beaten by police, have told the Bronx DA's office he won't sign an agreement requiring him to give sworn statements about the charges against him (reportedly the DA is refusing to conduct an investigation into police brutality allegations unless Reed signs this agreement.) Here's why Reed's attorney, Gideon Oliver, is advising Reed not to cooperate:
The DA explained to the court that they wanted our client to sign an excessive force investigation agreement which, among other things, would require Reed to give a sworn and recorded statement on the crimes with which he is charged and the allegations of excessive force. It would also require him to testify in front of a grand jury and waive physician-patient privilege.
But given the fact that the DA is prosecuting Jateik—and, more importantly, the symbiotic relationship between the DA and police department—we do not believe the DA is capable of conducting a fair and honest investigation. And it would be irresponsible for me to advise a client to provide several sets of sworn and recorded statements while he has criminal charges pending.
Seems obvious, right? But not apparently in The Bronx. The Bronx DA's office says, 'We believe that at the end of the day, they will be comfortable with our ability to fairly handle this matter." We'll see -- watch this site.
February 6, 2012
This is much
belated fight back - 13 years after Amadou was shot down
in Soundview, protesters take, how ever temporarily, 149th
and Third Avenue. Video here
January 30, 2012
The NY Police Department conducted 451,000 warrantless stops during the first three quarters of 2011, per a November report in November by the New York Civil Liberties Union. And so, a protest on Friday at the 42nd precinct. According to the report, eighty five percent of people stopped were African American or Latino; 88% of stops did not result in arrests or tickets. For shame...
January 23, 2012
So they asked the Bronx Brewery why they opened in The Bronx, and were told:
"We chose the South Bronx for a few reasons: It has an abundance of warehouse space for a good price; it’s perfect for distribution, allowing easy access to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, and New Jersey; it’s an easy commute for people coming from other parts of the city; [and] we love the energy of the area and are excited to be part of a community focused on revitalization!"
Could have noted the South Bronx' history with beer, for example the Ebling and other breweries. The one front on St. Ann's Avenue at 156th Street, until it was demolished, still had a dark and fertile basement, in which mushrooms were grown during Prohibition. Car scavengers took it over in the 90s; then absent a landmark status it was demolished...
South Bronx clean up of
"The site lies on the Hunts Point peninsula in the South Bronx. It was the former location of the Con Edison Hunts Point Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP), also known as the Hunts Point Coking Station. The initial coke oven plant at the facility was constructed over the period from 1924 through 1926 and had a capacity of 20 million cubic feet of gas per day. The gas produced was used as a primary source of energy for lighting and heating. Another battery of coke ovens was installed in 1931, increasing gas production capacity by 10 million cubic feet per day. The MGP included 46 buildings or structures and was devoted entirely to the manufacture of gas and its associated by- products, including coal tars, cyanide-contaminated purifier waste, sludge, and oils. The structures included two gas holders. The MGP operated into the 1950s."
January 16, 2012
It was only last month we received a notice from
the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation’s (“NYSDEC”) Brownfield Cleanup Program
(“BCP”), specifically about its draft Final Engineering
Report (FER) for the remedial actions performed at the
1800 Southern Boulevard Site....The Site is currently
being developed with a new ten (10) story mixed-use
building that will provide affordable housing to 68
moderate income households, as well as 12,579 square feet
of commercial space and 4,922 square feet of community
facility space. Historically the Site has been used as a
filling station, auto repair facility and car wash
beginning sometime between 1927 and 1940. The car wash
operation closed in 1993 and the service station closed in
2003. BP-Amoco was operating the station at the time of
closure in 2003.Removal of
(17) 550-gallon underground storage tanks
Unstated was that this is where the gas was bought for the Happy Land Social Club mass murder... And now, dated January 13, comes a DEC announcement "that cleanup requirements have been achieved to address contamination related to the 1800 Southern Boulevard Site #C203046 (Bronx), under New York's Brownfield Cleanup Program." That was fast...
January 9, 2012
For comment by February 3: "The Former Nessen Lamps Site is located at 3200 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. It is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Jerome Avenue and Van Cortlandt Avenue East. The site is identified as Block 3323, Lot 36 on the Bronx County Tax Map. Site Features: The site consists of a triangular-shaped, approximately 11,500-square foot property that is fully occupied by an approximately 18,200 sf, 2-story building. The building is currently vacant. Current Zoning: The site is currently zoned C8-2 (commercial district). Until summer of 2011, the building had been occupied by PS 51X (The Bronx New School), an elementary school serving Kindergarten through 5th grade. Until that time the site had been leased by the New York City School Construction Authority for the school since 1993. Historical Uses: Historical uses included automotive-related usage as a garage between 1928 and 1956, and for manufacturing between 1957 and 1988, including a Nessen Lamps Inc. factory from 1971 through 1988. Four 550-gallon buried gasoline tanks noted at the site between 1945 and 1992 prior to its use as a school. The site was also a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Non-Generator for the generation of unknown wastes between 1982 and 1987. Site Geology and Hydrogeology: Bedrock is approximately 20 feet below grade in the vicinity of the site and consists of pre-Cambrian rocks. Groundwater is approximately 12 to 16 feet below grade and is expected to flow in a westerly direction towards Jerome Park Resevoir."
Annals of the Bronx: 17 year old shoots 11 year old through the door of his apartment: "Kijana Jenkins, 17, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, assault, and reckless endangerment. Police officials say he made statements incriminating himself. Sources say the boy was playing video games in his apartment on Creston Avenue in Fordham Thursday night when he heard the doorbell ring. When he went to answer it, he was shot through the door. The boy does not appear to have been the intended target."
January 2, 2012
Before Rutgers beat Iowa State on December 30 at the Bronx' Yankee Stadium, Iowa State players were lounging around the Sheraton Hotel down on 53rd Street, while union 32BJ was nearing the tentative contract which averted a strike. It was less than dramatic there: a promised December 28 demonstration was small, and van transportation related to the football game for elderly and youth was canceled. Manhattan, meanwhile, was chock a block with tourists, a real Bloomberg New York...
December 26, 2011
Wiener of the week: Jonathan Wiener of Chestnut Holdings, slumlord of 1520 Sheridan Ave: no cooking gas from August...
Echoes of the Congo: the City Board of Election was told of a potential voting system problem on October 6, 2011 (and the State Board on October 7), urging that the problem should be investigated before the machines used at P.S. 65 in the Bronx in 2010 were used again. But neither the City nor the State has indicated these machines would not be used again: for shame....
December 19, 2011
RIP, Books in the Hood: "LaVerne Harris
opened it at 815 Westchester Avenues in Longwood in
February 2007.. [she] worked overtime to pay the store's
$2,500 a month rent. Then she retired in June 2010, with
the business making only $900 a month." And now, RIP...
After Arrests, OWS Testifies in Times Square, B of A, Occupy Won't Go Away
By Matthew Russell Lee
TIMES SQUARE, December 16 -- After dozens of arrests in Duarte Square followed by a march north shadowed by police, Occupy Wall Street descended on Times Square again, chanting and testifying in a sea of tourists.
"Christmas is canceled!" a marcher yelled into the crowd. "Bloomberg arrested Santa Claus!"
The march stalled on 44th Street, with police on horses on either side. Where to go next? One long time Occupier complained to Inner City Press, "I came to occupy Wall Street, not entertain tourists." A decision was taken to proceed north to the red staircase.
There testimonials through the people's mic began, each starting with "I occupy because." There was a surfeit of idealism: occupying for starving children overseas and in the United States, for unborn children, for Egyptians blinded by pepper spray made in Pennsylvania.
A woman said she'd come from unemployed Spain to occupy Wall Street, where the global problem started. As she spoke a passing tourist shouted, "Get a job!"
They were parallel universes. Speaker after speaker denounced
the neon advertisements towering above them. "This is no
beauty," said one. "I hate light pollution said another," from
Buffalo by way of Oregon.
photos at www.twitter.com/innercitypress
Finally things turned back to financial institutions. A chant begna, "Morgan Stanley, B of A, Occupy won't go away." Here's hoping. Watch this site.
December 12,
2011
The crackdown on Occupy Wall Street extended to The Bronx, during the relatively small protest to re-open the closed down garden by 149th Street and Third Avenue. The police deployed there were not, of course, fighting the actual crime in The Bronx...
December 5, 2011
When we saw the Jennifer Lopez' Fiat ad wasn't even filmed in The Bronx, it seemed like typical exploitation. Then came the complaint by, and settlement with, Tats Cru, for use of a graffiti mural that's copyrighted. One quibble: it is really a copyright case, or the use for commercial gain?
Last week we received a notice from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (“NYSDEC”) Brownfield Cleanup Program (“BCP”), specifically about its draft Final Engineering Report (FER) for the remedial actions performed at the 1800 Southern Boulevard Site....The Site is currently being developed with a new ten (10) story mixed-use building that will provide affordable housing to 68 moderate income households, as well as 12,579 square feet of commercial space and 4,922 square feet of community facility space. Historically the Site has been used as a filling station, auto repair facility and car wash beginning sometime between 1927 and 1940. The car wash operation closed in 1993 and the service station closed in 2003. BP-Amoco was operating the station at the time of closure in 2003.
• Removal of (17) 550-gallon underground storage tanks; and
Unstated: this is where the gas was bought for the Happy Land Social Club mass murder...
November 28, 2011
Protests have begun in The Bronx, where 17 of the
29 New York City post offices that are being considered
for closure are. The 2006 Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act, which requires the post office to make
payments toward its employees future health benefits for
10 years, until 2017. The non-profit Congressional
Research Service determined in 2009 that the payments were
costing the postal service roughly $5 billion per year and
are having a “considerable” impact on the post office’s
profitability. And now this...
Even
on Thanksgiving, Police Threaten Arrest at Occupy Wall Street,
Egypt Protest
By Matthew Russell Lee
LOWER
MANHATTAN, November 24, updated with video -- As Occupy Wall
Street celebrated Thanksgiving amid guitars and turkey dinners,
police arrived and threatened arrests for criminal trespass due
to noise. Video here
Some called it cliche and other, "police state," as drumming was brought to a close. The drummers consented -- "just for today," one said -- and other protests were announced, including at the Egyptian embassy in support of those protesting in Tahrir Square.
In the crowd was "White Hat," who earlier in the week proposed canceling the Occupy Wall Street observation mission to Cairo and returning the $29,000 allocated to the General Assembly. As reported by Inner City Press, that proposal failed. But the mission has not gone.
Now
another stop might be Sana'a in Yemen, where democracy and
accountability activists are being shot for opposing the
immunity deal given to strongman Ali Saleh, in a deal crafted by
the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia and the Obama
administration behind them. Click
here for Inner City Press' story on the deal.
#OccupyThanksgiving,
Nov 24, 2011 (c) MRLee
After the standoff on Thanksgiving, under the watchful panopticon eye of the NY Police Department watchtower over Liberty Square, many in the crowd suggested celebrating in peace. Occu-Pumpkin-Pie, one of them called out. Marching on the banks will have to wait another day. Watch this site.
Footnote: also in the crowd was former Philadelphia police department Captain Ray Lewis, in uniform, who told the Press that NYPD "white shirts" should not be involved in tussles with protesters, and that the tear gassing of a sit-in at University of California - Davis was indicative of mismanagement. He got a good reception.
November 21, 2011
At the Occupy Wall Street (in exile) General Assembly in Brooklyn on October 17, a report was given on the Bronx contingent, 50 people on the Grand Concourse then on the subway. C'mon Bronx, we can do better!
November 14, 2011
Now the Bronx stands to lose Cibao Meat Products and its factory and more than 50 jobs on St. Ann's Ave. Without responsiveness in The Bronx, despite all the talk of economic development, it plans a factory in Paterson, N.J. "We would like to stay in the Bronx because all the people who work for us are from the neighborhood... We need to find a new location because we want to go into distribution and we need more space," said Julio Isidor, Cibao general manager. "We are looking at Newark as well as Paterson." Ah, the Bronx...
November 7, 2011
Either way it's unacceptable: 59-year-old Bengali "Bimal Chanda died Wednesday from severe injuries he sustained during an assault in his apartment building at 30 W. 190th St. in the Fordham section of the Bronx last Saturday... Police say they have no reason to believe it's a hate crime, but Chanda's widow wonders why two people would beat her husband so savagely and still leave his wallet filled with credit cards and $90 in cash intact. 'I've been hearing things, from other family, friends and relatives, other Bengali people, they've been getting mugged on a daily basis, and it's really not acceptable,' said one family member." It is important that the family's claims be investigated.
October 31, 2011
Just get it
done: it's time for Amtrak and the state Department of
Transportation to resolve a problem related to the Bronx
River. They've bickered for years over a segment of the
Bronx River Greenway, a new walking and bicycling route
that must cross an Amtrak rail line. The Obama
administration has yet to commit funds to the restoration
of the Bronx River... Click
here for this week's Occupy Wall Street coverage.
October 24, 2011
Regarding an increase in shootings in NYC, a police source is quoted that "normally the task force is used in high-crime neighborhoods where you have a lot of shootings and robberies. But instead of being sent to Jamaica, Brownsville and the South Bronx, they are in Wall Street." Don't blame this on Occupy Wall Street -- mostly days, there is no rationale at all for the number of police lazing around down there. See this week's Inner City Press Bank Beat report for story of the October 22 General Assembly, upcoming "trial" of Goldman Sachs.
October 17, 2011
At Occupy Wall Street in
Washington Square Park on October 15, there were Bronx
doctors talking, with mic check, about health care being
a human right. It was good to see --
In
Times Square, Riot Police Deploy Horses Against Occupy Wall
Street Protest
By Matthew Russell Lee
TIMES SQUARE, October 15 -- When the Occupy Wall Street protesters came to Times Square on Saturday, the police confined them to pens on both sides of the street then paraded those arrested down the broad "perp-walk" in the middle.
While some of the protesters still insisted that not only "we are the 99 percent" but also "so are you," others booed the police, saying "they'll take your pension too."
Police horses were deployed. Inner City Press witnessed one
police horse being hit by a taxi, leading the crowd to blame the
police for using horses for no reason. Up on 46th Street the
horses remained stationed, along with riot police in helmets
with visors.
A chant went up, "Who are you protecting?" There was also invective directed at Ray Kelly, the Police Commissioner who would be mayor.
Similarly, while cheers went up when those atop tourist busses gave a thumbs up, a number of stretch limousines were booed, with called of "there goes the one percent." But maybe it's a wedding, or a prom.
On
47th Street, however, the police were letting tourists through
the barricades but not New Yorkers, including the Press.
Video here. And later
when questioned why, they threatened to arrest Inner City Press.
Via
Twitter a call went out for a General Assembly in Washington
Square Park downtown at 9 pm. And down at the
arch in Washington Square Park, more police were massed.
October 10,
2011
Typical -- the New York Times tours Amanda Burden around Melrose Commons preaching the benefits of gentrification, leading to this gushing letter to the Times:
"I'm extremely encouraged by Mayor Bloomberg's vision and Amanda Burden's efforts in building a better South Bronx. In 2007, I moved to Mott Haven from Greenwich, CT (two polar opposite communities) and restored a brownstone. The South Bronx has definitely changed for the better, but I’m often discouraged by the filth. Most dog owners are irresponsible and don't pick up after their dogs, sidewalks and parking lots (including the 40th precinct police parking lot!) are strewn with litter (and dog feces), illegal dumping is prevalent and graffiti is tolerated. The sanitation department does an amazing job, but the apathy and sheer lack of pride by many of the residents hampers their efforts. Now it's up to the inhabitants to "build" a sense of pride in their revitalized neighborhood and community - keep it clean and graffiti free!"
This is, to put it mildly, not a common view in the South Bronx. But it's what the New York Times prints....
September 26, 2011
Beyond historic concerns about the digital divide in the South Bronx and areas like it, now the concern is profiling: a name "associated with “Need Cash” generated ads for 'Selling Your Settlement' on the Upper West Side while associated ads with her name generated only payday lending and similar options in the South Bronx." Do algorithm generated ad differ by geography? It seems they do. We'll have more on this.
September 19, 2011
Conflux of The Bronx and UN, from the White House September 15 briefing (and UN this week) --
Q Congressman Eliot Engel said that President Obama has a problem with Jewish voters in his Bronx, New York district. Why do you think -- or why does the administration think there's a perception problem?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I would disagree with that. I don't know about the congressman's district itself. I think as recently as last week or the week before, the Prime Minister of Israel made an incredibly strong statement about the remarkable commitment, unshakeable commitment, that this President has to Israel's security, and the unprecedented assistance that this President has provided Israel. Both -- he has said this when I was with the Vice President in Israel and visiting with the Prime Minister, with regards to our overall -- this administration's overall efforts and commitment to Israeli security, and he said it again just in recent days with regard to President Obama's specific assistance to the Prime Minister of late.
So this President's absolute commitment to Israel's security is, I think, demonstrated and unshakeable. The fact is that he is committed to the process of trying to get the two parties to negotiate, get the two parties to go back to direct talks, because he believes it's in the interest of Israel and in the interests of the Palestinian people for them to reach peace in a way that ensures Israel's security and allows them to resolve their issues. That, in the end, will ensure that the Jewish state of Israel survives and prospers.
Q Is the administration concerned that you've let it get to this point, that we're on the cusp of UNGA and they may be facing a statehood vote?
MR. CARNEY: Well, we've been talking about this off and on for weeks and months that -- if this problem were not complex and difficult it would have been solved a long time ago. Many administrations have made significant efforts to deal with it. And we are completely focused on it, committed to it. And we are convinced that the only way that Israelis and Palestinians can reach the goal that they share is through direct negotiations. So we will keep on that.
We'll have more from the UN this week, on www.InnerCityPress.com
September 12, 2011
Among commenters SUPPORTING Capital One - ING Direct are groups in New York City, some purporting to serve The Bronx. We'll have more on this.
September 5, 2011
A little Bronx history: while Kosovar Albanians now expand, there was a time in the early 1990s when a shadowy Serbia-based group called the Black Hand patrolled Belmont, with the help of some "turncoat" Albanians from Montenegro. Have they now given up?
August 29, 2011
Amid much Hurricane Irene hype, it arose there was no plan to evacuate Rikers Island. Mayor Bloomberg was asked about it, and quickly replied that it is higher than the rest of "Zone A." But of course people can't move. They are just lucky...
August 22, 2011
It all started with this: five years ago, "California-based real-estate firm Milbank announced the Bronx 'one of the last boroughs to offer affordable rent, which would also be positioned to undergo significant gentrification.'" Then the carcass of the overpriced buildings was picked over by Deutsche Bank and Bank of America. Now, going forward, the fight back...
August 15, 2011
The vacant site of the former Stella D’oro factory will likely have a new owner any day now, it's reported. Current owner Brynwood Partners and purchasers Metropolitan Realty Associates, along with Angelo, Gordon and Company are set to close on the 184 W. 237th St. site this week...Where the empty factory currently stands, Metropolitan and Angelo, Gordon and Co. are planning Riverdale Crossing, a shopping center anchored by big box retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club. According to a May report by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., non-managerial workers at the Bronx Gateway Mall, which houses the South Bronx BJ’s location, pay an average starting wage of $8.80 per hour.
That's low....
August 8, 2011
How can it be that of 34 proposed Post Office closings in all of New York City, fully 17 would be in The Bronx? This is compared with only Manhattan with six, then Brooklyn and Queens with five each and Staten Island with just one. Per USPS.com the proposed Bronx closures are
HUNTS POINT BRONX 10474
MELCOURT BRONX 10451
MORRISANIA BRONX 10456
STADIUM BRONX 10452
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS BRONX 10452
WEST FARMS BRONX 10460
BOTANICAL BRONX 10458
CRANFORD BRONX 10470
FIELDSTON BRONX 10463
SPUYTEN DUYVIL BRONX 10463
VAN COTT BRONX 10467
CASTLE HILL BRONX 10462
CLASON POINT BRONX 10473
DREISER LOOP BRONX 10475
EINSTEIN BRONX 10475
ESPLANADE BRONX 10469
HILLSIDE BRONX 10469
We'll have more on this.
August 1, 2011
So just in the run-up to the weekend in The Bronx, there was a five year old shot outside a bodega in Bronxdale, and a four year old girl bitten by a pit bull on 170th and Third Avenue. What was that, about New York getting better? For whom?
July 25, 2011
The five borough comparison in the New York Post of July 24, while interesting, overfocused on the income of those employed in the private sector. Through this prism, the Bronx came out ahead of Brooklyn and even Staten Island. But viewing the more important median household income, Staten Island nearly doubles the Bronx. Why? The first prism exclude the unemployed, and public employees. Staten Island the home of New York Strongest...
July 18, 2011
Without once using the word gentrification, the Daily News reports that
“As in DUMBO and Williamsburg, empty warehouses and factories are converting into affordable apartments and studios. The Clock Tower boasts two-bedroom rentals with new appliances, rooftop access and a gym for $1,850... The economic downturn hit the South Bronx art community hard, with some galleries closing recently... Mary Brimage hawks novelties from porcelain Rosenthal teacups and a $2,500 polished oak wardrobe.”
$1800 apartments? $2500 wardrobes?
July 11, 2011
From the comparison of the Congressional districts represented by Jose Serrano (NY 16) and Carolyn Maloney (NY 14), we see 10 visits by Bloomberg to the former, 42 to the latter.... And 90 Starbucks on the Upper East Side, 1 in the South Bronx. Is that what Bloomberg's looking for?
July 4, 2011
What a waste: confiscated fireworks blasted off July 1 at Rodman's Neck
Slated to close: Fulton Work Release, in front of Crotona Park...
Sleazy is as sleazy does: now the Upper East Side of Manhattan is arguing that IT is a environmental justice community, because it has a housing project:
“'I have nightmares just thinking that there’s a possibility that they might come back,' said Ms. Johnson, 66, a disabled resident of the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses, at 94th Street and First Avenue. The proximity of public housing figures prominently in a battle by Upper East Side residents to derail a city plan to reactivate a waste transfer station on the East River at 91st Street. In lawsuits, rallies and lobbying in the State Legislature, they argue that economically disadvantaged residents, already struggling, should not be saddled with additional problems. 'How can you ignore the fact that the closest community is 80 percent minority?' said Anthony Ard, president of the Gracie Point Community Council, a neighborhood group that was founded to fight the plan.”
This argument is made in order to jam the waste transfer station back to the South Bronx. For shame.
June 27, 2011
From the Daily News
“In a time when most public schools in the Bronx don't have a gym or auditorium and have to share diminishing space, a new charter school is bulldozing a parking lot, garage and defunct social club in the South Bronx to make way for a new building.”
Defunct?
“Lighthouse's elementary school, which currently houses about 420 students, is surrounded by a mixture of charters and public schools like Banana Kelly High School on Longwood Ave., which is slated for 'restart' by the city Department of Education.”
Restart?
“The red-and-gray elementary school is in bright contrast to the dull, brown apartment buildings and parking lots dotting the wide street.”
A lot of government money's been spent on “dull” buildings on Intervale Avenue....
June 20, 2011
So atattoo shop owner in Altoona, PA, sees fit to trash The Bronx:
Several business leaders in Ivyside Plaza near the Penn State Altoona Campus say they are not sorry to see the the Varsity Cafe, located at 535 E. 25th Ave., shut down this past weekend because, they say, the bath salt Blizzard was being distributed from there and was causing havoc with their businesses. Blizzard, although called a bath salt, is used as a drug by many to give the user a cocaine or methaphetamine-like high.
Robert Hecker, the owner of the tattoo company, joined Patel outside the now-closed cafe to talk about the problems of the past four or so months. He said people looking for Blizzard would come to the plaza and, not knowing exactly where to go, would end up at his tattoo shop. Hecker said he wants nothing to do with the drug scene, and he posted a sign on the door stating succinctly, "We don't sell Blizzard." He said people would get the Blizzard and come to an area near the shop where they would sniff the Blizzard or shoot it up. "We had to physically remove a couple of people," he said. He said police were called by other business people several times because of the problems. Hecker said shop owner sent emails explaining the situation to the plaza's owners, The Blair Companies. "I'm glad they are out of this place," he said of Varsity. He said the Varsity location not long ago was a good place to get sandwiches. Then it became a type of coffee shop. He said the sale of Blizzard started several months ago. "It turned into the South Bronx overnight," he said.
Thanks, tattoo man...
June 13, 2011
So the City and AT&T plan to put free wi-fi this summer in 20 parks in the five boroughs. Some thought that would by the math, 20 divided by five, mean four for The Bronx, or more given Staten Island's low population and that Bronxites might be more in need of free wireless than others.
But no - only three of the 20 NYC sites are in The Bronx. Why not Crotona Park, for example? Why indeed.
June 6, 2011
So the so-called Bronx Brewery of MIT's Chris Gallant is in fact producing its suds not in The Bronx, but with a “Connecticut contract brewer.” So it's not “Bronx pale ale” but rather “Metro North Malty.” Typical.
May 30, 2011
The US Postal Service is trying to move mail sorting out of 149th Street and Grand Concourse to Manhattan - but it is being opposed.
May 23, 2011
Tale of two 140s: amid a photo show and “VIP” session by Jonas Broncks Beer on 141st Street and Courtlandt Avenue -- we wish we'd made it there but couldn't -- the police blotter of May 19 describes a scene on nearly 144th and Third Avenue, man beating a woman while shouting “You're interfering with me making money, I'm a hustler!”
Was the woman asking him to stop selling the crack he was arrested with? Or was she just asking for her cell phone back?
May 16, 2011
Goodbye, jobs:
“A.L. Bazzini Co., which makes peanuts, among other products, announced last month that it was moving its manufacturing plant from the Bronx to Pennsylvania. Other food manufacturing companies that have left the city in the past two years include Stella D'oro, hummus maker Sabra and Old London, manufacturer of Melba Toast. The Hunts Point wholesale produce market in the South Bronx is also contemplating a move to New Jersey.”
And what do our elected official have to say?
May 9, 2011
So why DID Bloomberg select the Nissan NV over the Turkish firm which proposed to build the Taxi of the Future in New York City? If it was because the Turkish firm didn't have enough experience, why were they allowed to be on of three finalists? Something doesn't smell right -- and the selection process has been sued...
May 2, 2011
Now the Wall Street Journal joins the New York Times in bemoaning the slow down of gentrification in the South Bronx:
The dynamics that initially inspired what some called gentrification in the South Bronx were similar to what triggered rapid development in neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Long Island City in the '90s: a steady influx of artists looking for affordable studios and loft spaces. While this trend continues in Mott Haven today, albeit to a lesser extent, the arts scene in the area has also suffered in recent years, according to local artists.
"At one point in 2006 there were at least half a dozen galleries here and now there are one or two left," said area resident Barry Kostrinksy, whose gallery Haven Arts closed in 2009 after a six-year run due to a lack of funding. "Most people don't think of South Bronx as a place to buy art; well-heeled collectors go to Chelsea, maybe Brooklyn."
Long-held attitudes about the rough-and-tumble character of the neighborhood are difficult to shake off, given the landscape of industrial lots and housing projects. The economic downturn also hit the borough particularly hard compared with Manhattan and Brooklyn, locals say. Unemployment in the Bronx stood at 11.7% in March, the highest county jobless rate in the state and well above 8.4% for New York City as a whole.
"I saw a lot of people lose their jobs and go from being food connoisseurs to not being able to afford a cup of coffee; from treating their friends to lunches and dinners to losing their homes and moving back to the states they came from," said Chris Dimitriyado, owner of Alexander's Café, which also opened in the area in 2006.
The latest development to go up in the neighborhood, Bruckner by the Bridge, is a low-income housing project with 419 rental units in three buildings.
Actually, it's NOT entirely low income housing affordable to those who live in the area -- which is why they'll have to reach beyond Community Board 1 to fill it...
April 25, 2011
Bloomberg talks of a new New York. And in midtown the tourists throng. But in just the past few days in the South Bronx, a 17 year old was killed for $10, and a couple stomped a 61 year old man to death. New New York?
April 18, 2011
The NYT reports “half the apartments at Bruckner by the Bridge are reserved for residents of the borough’s Community Board 1, the minimum salary required to qualify to live there — about $35,000 for a family of four — is far too steep for the area.”
Inner City Press: Why not require that half the apartments go to area residents, and make the rents have to come down to meet this threshold?
Those criticizing the NYC Housing Authority will expand, we hear, to include South Bronx Churches. There is a concern that the City may retaliate on the Nehemiah funding they receive. We'll see.
April 11, 2011
Inner City Press has long criticized the Community Reinvestment Act record of New York Community Bank, which for example insisted on providing its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data in paper form, to evade review of its fair lending record.
More recent opponents on April 8 came to Bryant Avenue in The Bronx and “called on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to force New York Community Bank to evaluate the finances and living conditions at 34 rundown Bronx buildings in foreclosure, and then disclose information on building repairs that are needed. The move to pressure the FDIC to get involved is the latest salvo in a three-year campaign by officials and advocates to hold banks responsible for loans they made on multi-family properties that ended up falling into a state of disrepair. An amendment inserted in last year's Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act gives the FDIC the power to intervene. Tenants in the Bryant Avenue building are contending with dangerous conditions, officials said. Problems include a broken elevator, toxic mold and a carbon monoxide leak from the boiler.”
Yeah, that's NYCB...
April 4, 2011
So “The family of a Bronx third-grader who was handcuffed by police after a classroom fight is suing the NYPD. Sofia Bautista, who was a third-grader at Public School 132 in Morrisania last April, was arrested by police after she got into a fight with a classmate. 'They arrested me and they shouldn’t have arrested me,' Bautista said. In the lawsuit, the family claims she was taken into a squad car, handcuffed to a bench for nearly three hours at the 42nd Precinct in the South Bronx, interrogated without either of her parents present, and threatened with jail. Cops allegedly refused to allow her mother, Amarilis Bautista, to see her. 'Sofia was screaming for me, but there was nothing I could do. My daughter feels afraid all the time now.'” Great job, NYPD.
March 28, 2011
Geraldine Ferraro was born in the South Bronx, but the news of her passing repeatedly said she was "from" Queens. Even there, P.S. 85 under the El where she taught second grade is now named for one of the Vallone clan. Inner City Press suggestion: why not rename it for her, since the Bridge was given to Ed Koch?
Passed away in Belmont: the empanadas place on Hughes and 187, with healthy juice: now store for rent. And laundromat 189. Academic gentrification?
What a scam: NYC Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget calls for postponing the construction of new marine transfer stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn until 2016-19 -- leaving the burden on the South Bronx. Some environmental (in) justice...
March 21, 2011 - an Inner City Press scoop from last week:
Bloomberg Plans to Double City Gym Fees Despite Health Ad Campaigns
NEW YORK CITY, March 13 -- The Bloomberg administration is trying to double fees at NYC Parks Department gyms by June, despite its loud campaigns against obesity and for public health, Inner City Press has learned.
City gym staff told Inner City Press that the annual usage fee will rise from $75 to $150 in June. Similarly, the annual fee to use City tennis courts will double from $100 to $200.
While both are for now relatively affordable, a 100% increase would drive future usage down. Meanwhile the MTA subways are full of ads with graphic depiction of heart disease caused by, among other things, sugared soda and lack of exercise.
Another
public
health
campaign, to require grocery stores which sell
cigarettes to feature graphic posters of rotten
teeth, has reportedly been put on hold by
litigation.
A bodegera told Inner City Press on March 13 that a District Court injunction now posted on her Plexiglass replaces the rotting tooth posters. Asked who was behind the lawsuit, she said “the people from Newport.” Watch this site.
March 14, 2011
Pure sleaze: “New York Community Bank has sold the mortgage on eight dilapidated buildings in the Bronx, bank officials said Thursday, disposing of its interests in properties that have attracted tenant protests. The purchaser bought the mortgage, which had a $16 million balance, at a discount. The bank declined to identify the buyer or to say how much the buyer paid.”
The buildings include 2345 Crotona Avenue and 735 Bryant Avenue..
"We received several offers on the note," said Ilene Angarola, a spokeswoman with New York Community Bancorp, the bank holding company. "We feel that this party has the experience and capacity to properly care for and manage the properties."
Yeah then why not say who they are?
March 7, 2011
So, what would be accomplished for the residents of the South Bronx and other low income neighborhoods by NYC “Int. No. 485 - A Local Law to amend the New York City charter, in relation to classification of depository banks” ? We'll have something to say soon.
February 28, 2011
So the police beat up 19 year old Jorge Cartagena for riding a bike on the sidewalk, and put him through the system for a day and a half -- and then exonerated themselves...
February 21, 2011
So now the Hunts Point Market is openly threatening to move to New Jersey when its lease expires in May. How did it come to this?
February 14, 2011
If you forgive the screaming capital letters, this is the type of protest we don't see enough of in The Bronx:
“The UNITED NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY RESIDENTS of the 36th Senatorial District will hold an early afternoon candlelight vigil for all the fallen victims of violence in our combined NYCHA residences. UNR will be holding a press conference in support of our poor and working families of NYCHA residences, who DEMANDS more security and immediate installation of Close[d] Circuit TV (CCTV) Security Cameras Promised to the residents. Our Children and Seniors are DYING! We MUST have more security NOW!”
February 7, 2011
When Bronxite Ilia Lopez was killed by a hit and run livery cab at 4 am on February 4, the Post reported that she on her way to a methadone clinic on 121st Street and 2nd Avenue “that she typically visited at 4 a.m. daily for her dose” -- from Norwood in The Bronx.
Beyond the tragedy, some want to know why a methadone clinic is open at 4 a.m., drawing patients from the North Bronx. Lawsuit?
January 31, 2011
When Inner City Press on January 27 received an “urgent” press release about a $20,000 college scholarship program in The Bronx, it was opened with anticipation. Strangely, thought, SoBro was urgently requesting that local media cover a small-in-context grant from right-leaning media colossus News Corp, parent of the New York Post and Fox News. Why don't THEY urgently cover it?
And why didn't SoBro appear and give a quote in amNY's piece last week detailed failed attempts to gentrify the South South Bronx?
January 24, 2011
In the New York Times' demographic map page on January 23, The Bronx' census tracts are mostly dominated by US-born Hispanics, except for a track in the West Bronx that is mostly Caribbean immigrants. The only notation the Times makes is a tract with the “largest concentration of US born Hispanics (93%)” -- which it labels “Morrisania.” Looks more like Longwood, Simpson or Freeman Street....
January 17, 2011
We must comment, negatively, on the Daily News' decision to re-assign long time Bronx reporter Bob Kappstatter to lower Manhattan, even if on the police beat. One praiseworthy feature of the Daily News was its pages on The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. And now?
January 10, 2011
Hats for sale, baby pit bulls and cell phone companies working on commission: welcome to Fordham Road!
The proposal to merge the New York Banking and Insurance Departments, made by new governor Andrew Cuomo, is not only about the alleged convergence of the industries, but about the marginalization of the NY Banking Department.
One after one, large New York based banks switches from state to national regulation as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency offered preemption of all state laws. Citibank NA -- national association -- was followed by JPMorgan Chase and HSBC all switching to national charters.
The result was a Banking Department largely concerned with small mortgage companies and even check cashiers. Now comes Andrew Cuomo, proposing to put behemoths like AIG under the NYBD's jurisdiction. We're ready.
January 3, 2011
When massive amounts of public and private money were spent building a replica Yankee Stadium on the north side of 161st Street, it was said it would help the area, including with restaurants open all year round. A recent visit to the Hard Rock Cafe in the base of the new Yankee Stadium found it almost entirely empty -- two tables out of dozens had customers. A bartender explained that it is open when there are tours of the Stadium, and that they would be closing early that night. Big improvement for the neighborhood...
December 27, 2010
From the NYT last week: the NYPD “will begin videotaping interrogations. Investigators will be able to use cameras to videotape suspects as part of a pilot program in two precincts: The 67th Precinct in Brooklyn and the 48th Precinct in the Bronx, a police official said. 'In one squad, the camera will be obvious,' said the official, Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne. 'In the other, the camera will not be obvious.' He declined to say which camera would be in plain sight and which would be hidden, but he said that part of the pilot program’s aim was to establish how cameras make a difference when detectives interrogate people. At all times, he said, the police must disclose if a camera is present if someone under questioning asks questions about it, Mr. Browne said.”
But if the camera is not visible, why would a person ask about it?
December 20, 2010
East Tremont has been rebuilt at a higher density than the rest of the South Bronx. It started with a six story building on Washington Avenue, now mirrored by one on Third Avenue between the Cross Bronx and East Tremont. And above East Tremont, another one. They are relatively faceless and there has not been an increase in the number of stores. Yet.
December 13, 2010
Better late than never? Now Nadine Panton faces up to 25 years to life for the gruesome 2003 robbery and slaying of Nellie Hocutt. Her accomplice, Sparkle Daniel, was convicted in October. "After seven long years, both killers are finally going away," said Hocutt's 43-year-old grandson, Omar Whitfield.
But why did it TAKE seven years? In 2007, a person the two had confessed or bragged to turned them in, after a seemingly deceptive Daily News article said that new leads had emerged.
But why did the TRIAL take three years?
December
6, 2010
At Gracie Mansion, Jokes of Cathie Black & Bloomberg, Moses History & Onion Tart
By Matthew Russell Lee
GRACIE MANSION NYC, December 3 -- At Mayor Michael Bloomberg's holiday party for the press on December 2, the jokes were about Cathie Black and her lack of background in pedagogy. Bloomberg was given as a present a box of Nilla Wafers, said to be from a 99 cent store on Chambers Street, which on the back said Vanilla Waivers.
More interesting was a tour of the upstairs of Gracie Mansion. The guide, who will remain in the shadows for reasons that will become clear, began with what he called the master bedroom. Until Bloomberg, he said, it was called the Mayor's bedroom, as all New York City mayor's from LaGuardia to Giuliani slept there.
Next came the room of the the wife of Mayor Wagner, who raised some $800,000 dollars to build a new wing on Gracie Mansion, where downstairs Bloomberg was working the crowd of reporters, who nibbled on onion tarts with the ubiquitous balsamic vinegar and passable holiday cookies.
Facing the East River, across which British cannons in Queens fired at George Washington's artillery set up on this spot during the Revolutionary War, is a guest room which has hosted, among others, Nelson Mandela, Menachem Begin and Desmond Tutu. Guiliani's daughter's room was converted by Bloomberg's personal interior decorator Jaime Drake into an “old country” bedroom complete with long armed bed warmer in the fireplace.
By the staircase to get back down is a sign board with the names of contributors to the Gracie Mansion Conservancy. Inner City Press asked if companies which do buiness with the City can give money to the Conservancy.
The Conservancy is separate from the City, Inner City Press was told. We will have more on this. Quickly a higher up in the Conservancy approached. The tour would have to be called off, Inner City Press was told. Any such questions should be directed to the press office, not to the “docent.” It was implied that Inner City Press would somehow need the press office's permission to write this article.
Downstairs the drinking and eating continued, the latter
largely from the kosher table. There is an oil painting of
Mrs. Wagner, and a breakfast room where, among others, the
Russian oligarch owner of the Nets was hosted. Ah, Brooklyn
real estate. In the room there is a convex mirror, too high
to see your face in, meant to spread light.
The history of the Gracie Mansion was finally explained. Gracie was a Scottish businessman -- he might have owned the Nets or Knicks of his day -- who looked for a place “uptown in the country” to do his entertaining. He chose the site from which George Washington was routed.
His business failed, and the house passed from hand to hand, finally ending up abandoned when it was taken by the City under eminent domain to build what's now the FDR Drive. During construction, New York's “Master Builder” Robert Moses had the lawn raises so the highway would go undernearth.
No such delicacy was used by Moses in the Bronx, where tenements and bus depots were mowed down for the Cross Bronx Expressway. Ironically, in one of Gracie Mansion's downstairs rooms on Thursday night, a flat screen TV played images of the South Bronx in the 1970s, the burned out blocks of Charlotte Street and graffitied Number Five train over Southern Boulevard and Boston Road. It played without the sound on.
LaGuardia, originator of Public Markets in the Bronx and Essex Street, was offered two mansions as possible homes: one on 75th and Riverside deemed “too fancy” by the Little Flower, and Gracie Mansion, which he okayed. Moses had the Mansion renovated -- it had become a public restroom, a storehouse for the Parks Department and purveyor of Italian ices -- and LaGuardia moved in. All mayors since, until Bloomberg, lived here.
The reporters talk turned to Bloomberg, how he bought a floor of the townhouse next to his on 79th Street in order to extend his living room, how he serves popcorn and hotdogs on expensive china, how an SUV drives him to the express IRT stop on 59th Street for his subway ride downtown. It was time to go.
November 29, 2010
We recommend 80 Blocks From Tiffany's, shot in the Bronx in 1979. Released only as an educational VHS in 1985, it's now out on DVD. It's based on a 1977 Esquire piece by Jon Bradshaw about the Savage Skulls and the Savage Nomads...
November 22, 2010
From last Sunday's Times on Hunts Point: “Although developers say that tight credit has put the brakes on additional co-op construction, and although prostitution is a problem in Hunts Point, the area has nonetheless stabilized.” Tight credit...
November 22, 2010
From last Sunday's Times on Hunts Point: “Although developers say that tight credit has put the brakes on additional co-op construction, and although prostitution is a problem in Hunts Point, the area has nonetheless stabilized.” Tight credit...
November
15, 2010
In the windows of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 40th Street in Manhattan there are photos of The Bronx by Lisa Kahane, of holes in cinder block sealed buildings, a building on fire, a garden in a lot surrounded by abandoned buildings. Three blocks away on 6th Avenue and 43rd Street in the International Center of Photography there is an exhibit, reviewed below, which includes similar photographs of Madrid after Franco's bombing...
In NY, Spanish Civil War Photos Scream of Propaganda, Echo Sudan & Sri Lanka
By Matthew Russell Lee
NEW YORK, November 13 -- Even undoctored photographs can serve as propaganda. The Spanish Civil War photographs of Robert Capa, Chim (David “Seymour” Szymin) and Gerda Taro on display in Manhattan's International Center of Photograph through January 9 show heroic Republicans fighting Franco's fascists, shot for Leftist magazines in France, the UK and even Germany.
The captions make clear how the photos were intended. Chim shot a series about Republicans trying to save Spanish and Catholic art words from fascist attacks -- to counter the idea, the caption says, that the Republicans were anti-Catholic, barbarians who would destroy Spain's cultural patrimony.
Taro, in the battle of Brunete she would die in, took photos to show Republican victories “when written reports were discredited.” But did people, even then, believe their eyes?
Chim took a photograph of a woman breastfeeding her baby, looking up at the sky. Later a magazine called Madrid published it with airplanes arranged above, and it became known as a photo of a air raid. But it was not.
The
French weekly Regards sent a letter of
introduction for Capa, saying “you know our
magazine, we will use this to serve the Spanish
people.” One imagines applications today to the
government of Sudan to cover the war in Darfur, or
to Sri Lanka to cover the shattered Tamil areas.
“Our photos can help you” -- but will they?
Capa documented French run camps for refugee Republicans on their way to Mexico. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers, like the internment camps for Tamils at Vavuniya in Sri Lanka. There, the government barred journalists for months, as it has now denied visas to media which showed pictures of the dead.
The exhibit is called “The Mexican Suitcase” -- in which the three photographers' 4500 negatives were found in 2007 -- and runs through January 9, the day scheduled for the South Sudan referendum. There are photos, too, from there. Plus ca change.
November 8, 2010
In the Sheraton's ballroom on the night of November 2, the press assembled hours early as Democratic staffers tested the sound system. And now! Our Governor elect! Androooooo Cuomo! Mario and Matilda. Waiters came out and put bags of chips and popcorn on the tables then withdrew them. A cash bar was set up, fully $16 for “premium” liquor. But just outside the ballroom was a sign, Union Members Only. Inside were tables piled with good. Membership has its privileges, apparently. Thompson was interviews with Fios-1, and left without bodyguards. Inner City Press left too, to monitor the evening's wider results.
From
Soho to Brooklyn, Must Alternative Arts Just
Mean Gentrification? Of Fashion MODA
By Matthew Russell Lee
BRONX,
October 29 -- How do independent artists try to
avoid being stalking horses for real estate
development? What is alternative art?
The questions were raised on October 29 in a self styled alternative space on Tenth Avenue in the West 30s, when Stefan Eins of Fashion Moda previously in the South Bronx (and now in Harlem) spoke, along with Beka Economopoulos of the Not an Alternative space in Williamsburg.
Inner City Press asked each of them, and the other panelists who appeared along with Beka, about gentrification and the limits of good intentions. Avram Finkelstein, designer of the Silence = Death anti-AIDS logo, said one has to consider ownership, not only of property but also ideas. He recounted how AmFAR edited from a poster any reference to corporate greed.
Earlier in the panel discussion at Exit Art, tales were told of alternative spaces on Greene Street and Bleecker and Bowery, all locations now firmly gentrified. The Asian American Arts Center has, in a sense, been gentrified out of existence. It has retreated from a McDonalds invaded building on the Bowery to a smaller space on Norfolk, seeking grants to digitize photos of its former exhibitions.
To Inner City Press' question about how artists can avoid being the vanguard of gentrification, Exit Art founder Jeannette Ingberman whispered an answer about capitalism. Earlier, NYU academic Melissa Bachleff Burtt had recounted stories of Yoko Ono's loft on Chambers Street, and the 10th Street co-op scene.
Alanna Heiss of P.S. 1 and the
Clocktower Gallery, among other great stories told
about the Crown Heights Police Station, saying it
“made Fort Apache [The Bronx] look like a garden
party, with artists' studios in holding cells and
a commander, Adam Butcher, who spoke of poets,
painters and policemen. And now, it's
condominiums.
Stefan Eins of Fashion Moda told Inner City Press that although his iconic space on Third Avenue and 147th Street closed, he moved to a brownstone in Harlem, and has traveled as far as Osh in Kyrgyzstan to present about Fashion Moda. That never triggered gentrification, perhaps because it closed. Or could that be why it closed?
In Exit Art, many alternative spaces were memorialized in cardboard boxes: the Longwood Arts Project in the Bronx, Gran Fury and others. (The Fashion Moda box contain, along with photos of Ahearn murals, a photo book by On the wall were posters of the Real Estate Show held on Delancey Street in 1980, and a photo of Elenor Holmes Norton when she was with the Studio Museum in Harlem. The show, and the boxes, are worth seeing.
October 25, 2010
Let's compare the J train over Broadway in Brooklyn to the El trains in The Bronx. Those over Jerome and Westchester Avenues in The Bronx are sturdier, were built as fancy suburban trains. East New York, from whence the J train comes, seems to have been working class for some time. Walk it to Myrtle, where you'll find the Kiwi Market, an amalgam of Asian vegetables, yuppie staples like goat cheese, and a largely Mexican clientele. Across Broadway is a good take-out Chinese, photo of a tranquil lake above a bulletproof Plexiglass counter. A man comes in repeatedly asking for “two quarters.” There are no takers.
October 18, 2010
Up on Gun Hill Road, on October 16 there was a fish fry to raise money to build a church's community center: red snapper! The Jamaican health food store sold carrot and sorrel juice, some with Tiger Bone (some wag asked, Tiger Woods?) and sour sop. In the housing project an FDNY truck spoke loudly to children, incongruously with a British accent. Some of the Bronx is changing but some is not.
October 11, 2010
Oops-- After all the money spent, a typo on a sign along the Willis Avenue Bridge is confusing commuters. The northbound exit sign alerts drivers to Interstate 287, instead of the correct Interstate 278. The NYC Department of Transportation confirmed the error. The sign will be fixed by the weekend, according to DOT press secretary Scott Gastel...
October 4, 2010
We have written before of the fall off in service in the Mount Carmel Post Office in the Bronx on Saturdays. But on October 2 things hit a new and comical low. Behind the counter two weekend fill ins were joking, about serving time in jail, fighting with customers. A man came in and asked, “Could you give me a money order for $150?”
“I don't know about giving it to you,” the fill in joker said. “If you pay for it, maybe.”
Next up was a Caribbean woman who asked how much it cost to send registered mail.
“That's for stocks and bonds and jewelry,” the fill in joker said. “Do you have those?”
“Are you supposed to ask me what I'm sending?”
“I'm supposed to inform you about the product if you don't understand it.”
“What makes you think I don't understand it?”
Joker 1 paused then said, “I'll step away from the window and you can continue with my man here.” And then he did.
But the Caribbean women said, “What was that man's name?”
“Mister Harris.”
She continued, “because he needs to be reported.”
September 27, 2010
In the wake of the murder last week in the Bronx of Nicaraguan consular official Cesar Mercado, many at the UN and elsewhere have been asking why Mercado was living on the Grand Concourse and 180th Street, given his diplomatic salary. Inner City Press is told that he received a lump sum for housing costs, and was allowed to keep -- and send back to Nicaragua -- anything he didn't spend... Sources also tell Inner City Press that the person who discovered his body was not his “driver,” as has been reported, but another employee of the Nicaraguan Consulate. Mercado was always on time, so when he was late, the employee was sent uptown to look into it. The superintendent let the employee into the building, the sources say, but Mercado's apartment door was open. It's said that it was unlikely the killer was a stranger. We'll see.
September 20, 2010
From the News: “Cops recently dismantled a huge, entrenched heroin ring that had hundreds of customers lining up on Valentine [Avenue]. The Rev. John Jenik, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Church on Bainbridge Ave., has been fighting the blight for nearly 30 years. He took National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske for a tour of Valentine on June 7, when Kerlikowske was in the Bronx to launch an anti-drug campaign for teens... E. 194th St. is a bustling commercial strip with a pizza place, hardware store, fruit market, video shop. Against this backdrop, on Valentine between E. 194th to E. 196th, the La Perla organization ran a $40,000-a-day heroin enterprise.” This is not the only place in The Bronx...
September 13, 2010
The night before Ferragosto, the Arthur Avenue Trattoria re-opened after more than a week of renovations. Gone were the posters of Casablanca, replaced by exposed brick. Still, a half carafe of Orvieto was only $12, as was a bento box of antipasto. The chef, now nearly a year on the job, said that even while the place was closed, they worked up dishes for the Ferragosto. But his wife and not he would serve them: he had catering to do.
September 6, 2010With the Bronx Bombers in first place in the AL East, the Staten Island Yankees ended their season on September 5 below .500, with another loss to the Vermont Lake Monsters. It was a brilliant sunny day but the stadium, with its views of the harbor and Lower Manhattan, was half full, even with an all you can eat promotion. This turned out to be a scam, offering only one item at a time: a dry cheeseburger, thrown through the air from one attendant to another; Sierra Mist free but Tropicana Twister now, somehow deemed premium.
The Baby Bombers' starting pitcher gave up three early runs on a series of doubles. The Yankees cut it to 3-2 before a reliever came in and gave up a bases loaded triple. Game over, though in the bottom of the ninth with two outs the Yankees got a two run homer to at least cut the lead.
There are red capped Marines prominently in the stands and on the field. An award was given to a recruiter of soldiers to fight in Iraq. At game's end, kids -- some of them overgrown -- were allowed to run the bases. “See you next year,” the announcer said. We sure hope so.
August 30, 2010... Entering the Bronx over the soon to be demolished Willis Avenue bridge on the Bx 15 bus, the new building on Bruckner Boulevard blots out the view now. The bridge's walkway runs right by the buildings windows. One wonders how they have not yet be broken, or will not in the future be.
Jump cut to the stretch above 163rd Street, new buildings on each side and still the Franklin Avenue Armory looming on the hill. To jam hundreds of family into this sullen stretch - the construction clearly has nothing to do with the market or any organic growth, simply the availability of subsidy at some time in the past. New empires being built, which will someday collapse...
August 23, 2010In Near Empty UN, Four Yankees Shine Light on Sierra Leone and Refugee, GM Cashman on Sox, Rays and AL Headaches
UNITED NATIONS, August 18 -- It was a slow August day at the UN when four players of the New York Yankees plus the team's general manager arrived with 17 year old refugee from Sierra Leone Mohamed Kamara, set to meet his country's ambassador to the UN in the Indonesia Lounge next to the General Assembly.
It was described to the UN press corps as a photo op. Some 15 correspondents showed up, Inner City Press among them. UN Protocol and security officials scurried around. Finally up the escalator came Derek Jeter and C.C. Sabathia, with Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames. They stood for a photograph then went in for what was described as a meeting.
Syria's
Ambassador to the UN ran in after them. One reporter
joked, is he looking for an autograph? Another came up
with a phrase: the Damascus Destroyer chases the Bronx
Bombers.
When it
was over, general manager Brian Cashman took three
questions. One was baseball related: what does he think
of the Tampa Bay Rays? Cashman said not only the Rays
are tough, there's also Boston , Texas and Minnesota,
all of them headaches.
August 16, 2010
While some restaurant in Belmont like Roberto's just get more and more expensive, the Arthur Avenue Trattoria sprang up this year, converted from a dessert place, and began serving antipasto and pasta at $14, with $18 carafes of homemade wine. It's a hit, with the obligatory posters of the Sopranos and Good Fellas but also Casablanca on the walls. The antipasto comes in what looks like a Japanese bento box. They are not yet so arrogant they think the customer should be grateful to be there. On a recent visit, the linguine with walnuts was superb, as was the service. Mid-meal, the face of Mike's Deli across the street came in, glad handing. Later passing through the Market, he asked, “so how'd you like it?” while passing out the trattoria's business card to his salami customers. So there might be some connection there...
Also opening on Arthur Avenue is a place called Gerbasi. On August 14, they were painting the place and passing out their glossy business cards. It is in the space that previously had karaoke. We wish them luck.
August 9, 2010In NYC's Central Park, The xx and Chairlift Raise Hipsters' Spirits, Bronx Death Continues
CENTRAL PARK, NYC, August 8 -- A surprise free show by The xx in Central Park's Summer Stage drew a crowd that could not fit in the venue. Also drawn by Brooklyn based Chairlift, hipsters filled the park's hills and rock formations, chased by security guards as they surged closer to hear the music.
One had to move close to hear The xx, especially at the beginning. The set began with only bass. Inner City Press saw several less than committed hipsters get up and leave, muttering “Just play the songs!”
But The xx did. By the time they reached Basic Space, the crowd inside the Summerstage and out on the grass was roaring. Because of the stripped down arrangements, the bands sounds as good or better live as on recording.
When they played “Shelter,” with the all purpose lyrics about if I said something wrong, let me make it right with the light turned on, several in the crowd were crying.
Meanwhile
a security guard chased listeners down the hill by the
Park's 72nd Street entrance. He shouted, “They're not
letting anyone else in!” But The xx won't play in New
York for some time.
There
was the smell of marijuana; there were Brazilian drums
from elsewhere in the Park. One imagines Mayor
Bloomberg taking credit even for this, as he did for
the Dumpster swimming pools on Park Avenue and 40th
Street on Saturday, saying the publicity draws more
tourists.
In the outer boroughs, the Bronx and eastern Brooklyn, people are being shot like dogs. But in Central Park and by Grand Central, hipsters and tourists are doing just fine. That is Bloomberg's New York. But after him, will it be more democratic? Watch this site.
August 2, 2010
Now, following the New York Times, it's the NY Post pitching Bronx real estate, describing rising prices as an unmitigated good, no mention of affordability or displacement:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/urban_FChwSDV9KlSI0972nTq7XK
July 26, 2010Hector Nazario, famed South Bronx graffiti artist with TATs Cru, has suffered a tragedy: the shooting death of his son Bleu. Rather than a mural, he is establishing a fund for other parents who suffer this bereavement. We urge support -- and accountability.
July 19, 2010Oh how the South Bronx is used. Al Pacino, selling out to do an ad for an Australian coffee company, says “Those cold mornings in the South Bronx, granddad would go into the kitchen, heat up some coffee and there I was, little Al, and he would just give me a little sip.”
And of George Steinbrenner, may he RIP, Ray Negron says Steinbrenner “made the Bronx more beautiful.” He did many things -- but that?
There is a street fair in Belmont, complete with free refills of pina coladas right in front of the church.
July 12, 2010The NY Times' July 7 breathless story about Belmont shifting from Italian to Mexican is both too late and too superficial. One thing is misses is that Latinos overtook Italians in the neighborhood some time ago, are are the political power at present. Amazingly, the article contains no quote from or question to the Rivera dynasty, nor much mention of the Kosovar and Albanian presence. The Times covers The Bronx so infrequently and so superficially, there is no continuity...
July 5, 2010In NYC, Fireworks Are For Tourists, Afghan Iraq Echoes, Illegal Bronx Fight Back
UNITED NATIONS/Bronx, July 4 -- New York City's fireworks on the Fourth of July were top heavy with tourists, marveling at the pyrotechnics, the history and present of war on the Sunday's agenda. Days after the U.S. had to switch generals in Afghanistan, bringing in its Iraq hero, the significance of the aerial display seemed lost on Brazilian and PIGS -- Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain -- tourists reveling by the Hudson River.
The route to the fireworks led through a tourist packed Times Square, and an extension of Little Brazil from 46th to 48th Street. While Mexican immigrants are to be cross examined in Arizona, more affluent South American tourists preened in front of the Marriott Marquis.
“Give us
your decadent, your tourists with thousand dollar
cameras, we'll will fleece them in theme park
restaurants” -- was THIS was America was about?
Earlier on July 4, Obama played golf, as his chief of staff mocked BP's executive for going on a yacht. The throngs moved east on 49th and 48th Street, past the UN's temporary peacekeeping office on Madison Avenue.
In the Congo, over 200 died in an oil tanker crash, buried in mass graves. In Times Square, decadent European tourists argued about frozen yoghurt. The UN was dark, the world without direction.
But up
in The Bronx, the fire crackers were illegal, the fire
hydrants were open, the summer was beginning...
Footnote: Vicious circle -- The “Play Me, I'm Yours” public arts project people put only four pianos in the Bronx, unlike other boroughs. Then, or and so, two of the four got broken, including the one at Fordham Road....
June 28, 2010
It's World Cup season in Belmont. On June 26 when the US scored its one goal versus Ghana, albeit by penalty kick, the vuvuzelas were blown, and several social clubs erupted in cheers. When Mexico got blown out by Argentina the next day, an air of depression fell over the area.
June 21, 2010Change change change in Belmont. The landmark Pete's Cafe, following the death of founder Pete on February 2 of this year, has turned into something of shrine, with his image everywhere. It's touching. And there's there the World Cup on a small screen television, on which on June 20 Italy got tied by New Zealand. Que verguenza!
And on 188th Street, the group previously known as "Federation for European American Rights" -- that's right, FEAR --- is now SACO. Good name change. The FEAR is gone.
June 14, 2010Strange that the publisher's summary and an NYC review of the book "The Fires" focused on the RAND Corporation's role in the destruction of the South Bronx, with nary a mention of redlining by banks and insurance companies, which sped up the incentive for arson...
June 7, 2010Gil Kerlikowske, who as director for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy has scoffed at even the idea of legalization, will be photo-opping at The Bronx's Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center on June 7. The Center was the site of a murder last November. The response eight months later is to poll teens about what "influences" them. Kerlikowske's web page for New York State speaks about New Mexico. As of June 6 it says "For more information about drug-related data and responses to drugs and crime in New Mexico visit these sites." Under the influence?
May 31, 2010In Belmont there's new
sushi, in the wake of Sake II. A fancier place on Arthur,
with ball bearings on strings as curtains, where Italian
Frank's once was. On a recent visit, no one else was
there. The Age Tofu came in liquid with a Halloween like
sauce. But the bento boxes, with curried pork chop and
salmon, hit the spot. At the end, fried Oreos on the
house. We wish them well.
Last week the story was teenagers killed in Bronx street. This week it's gone indoors, inside the Melrose Houses, where 14 year old Emonee Williams was stabbed 20 times by her sister's father / mother's ex boyfriend. A Bronx web site calls him a "pseudo boyfriend" -- hindsight is 20-20. The Wall Street Journal, in its new cover the New York waterfront iteration, chimed in on the story, with some details others didn't have. A sad, sad story.
May 17, 2010
Last Sunday two teenagers, Quanisha Wright and Marvin Wiggins, were shot and killed in the lobby of a building in Mount Hope. Saturday their parents and others rallied in Claremont Park against gun violence. But that night on Gun Hill Road, 15 year old Jeffrey Delmore was killed -- with a knife...
May 10, 2010
So has Belmont become entirely gentrified? On May 7, 187th Street was flush with Fordham students, a party on Crotona Avenue got out of hand. Just a few years ago, you wouldn't see this number of students on 187th Street all year. Is it the safety? Is it the rising rents?
And at Roberto's, which began as a small Italian restaurant with broccoli rabe and a piano, they now have thousand dollar bottles of wine, and few Bronxites inside. This is progress?
May 3, 2010
Bronx action of the month of April is the lawsuit against Wells Fargo for failure to maintain ten apartment buildings it is foreclosing on, including 3018 Heath Avenue. The case involves over 500 families, tenants of Millbank Real Estate before it defaulted on its $35 million mortgage. Then Wells Wargo and LNR Partners moved in. Alongside the lawsuit, Wells Fargo was hit by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Junior and the local Councilman Fernando Cabrera.
On Cablevision's News 12 The Bronx, BP Diaz fielded calls from constituents, telling most of them to call his office of constituent services, including about potholes in Moshulu. But when another caller said that the City's 311 call in provided faster service, Diaz said you could call them to. The exchange exemplified that the Borough President's Office right now don't have much function. Cabrera, a long time Pentacostal pastor in the area, also protested the planned move of a NYC high school from near Bronx Community College down to the South Bronx High School site. Our question:is it that BCC is too full, or that SBHS needs a tenant? Watch this site.
April 26, 2010
There's a controversy, in the NYC parks and open space community at least, about the appointment of Lee Stuart as head of "New Yorkers for Parks." The reason? Ms. Stuart pushed for Nehemiah Homes in the South Bronx, displacing parks, leading to arrests. We of Inner City Press were there, and can testify to the hard ball politics of the era.
Meanwhile, on
the day before Earth Day, the Friends of Dag Hammarskjold
Plaza had Colombian -- or was it Venezuelan? -- flutists,
cheese cubes and coffee in the park across from the UN.
There's a one day a week Green Market, diplomats munching
vegetable tart. A short distance but a long way from the
South Bronx... So's this:
April 26, 2010 - click here for BloggingHeads.tv debate on Afghanistan cover up, Bhutto, Iran, Sudan and the UN's Love Boat in Haiti, by Inner City Press
April 19, 2010
We have reported on the banks which left The Bronx, snooping for example around old Chase Manhattan branches turned into churches. But it's time to mention Melrose Credit Union, which runs radio advertisements during Yankee games. Perhaps you've seen their sign, if you drive to or from JFK airport. The institution says, right on its website, that
"since 1922. Melrose was initially established to provide financial resources for individuals and small business owners from the Bronx, NY. Through the Credit Union, community residents were afforded the means to pursue their American Dreams. The success of Melrose Credit Union has not diminished its original mission statement: Empower the community by offering affordable financial products and services. Today that community commitment has helped transform Melrose into an over $1 billion credit union with over 20,000 members residing across the country and around the world."
Melrose is a neighborhood in the South Bronx, which this "successful" credit union left behind. It has no branch in The Bronx; it left the borough but speaks about empowerment of (presumably other) neighbhorhoods. What was that again, about there being no need for a Community Reinvestment Act on credit unions?
Speaking of baseball, not the Yanks by the Mets, after 20 inning game on April 17, which the Mets won 2 to 1 after St. Louis started pitching outfielders, NPR radio the next morning reported on the marathon game, but said that St Louis had won 2 to 1. Talk about getting no respect. Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya as Rodney Dangerfield?
April 12, 2010
The New York Times' coverage of the Bronx has hit a new low. Earlier this month, under the headline "On the Cross Bronx, Torture. On the Stoop, Entertainment," the Times devoted over 1000 words to portraying Bronxites as grateful to this destructive and polluting highway. There was something of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" to the article, and no mention of asthma or displacement caused by the highway and the continuing reverberations. Times on Bronx? No Thonx.
April 5, 2010
For some weeks we've somewhat coasted in this Bronx Report, reviewing Albanian groceries and juice and salad bars. But this week we sampled a place so surreal, so in a sense revealing, that we must remain on the theme. It's "Dolce Amaro" on Arthur Avenue, sporting signs of Karaoke and Internet Cafe, "BYOB" Bring Your Own Booze. There is only one problem -- they charge five dollars for you to "bring your own booze." This after offering to sell you bootleg wine. We mention this because they also, while purporting to take credit cards, tell you that the tip must be in cash -- then impose an extra five dollars on credit cards anyway. The karaoke, on Friday April 2, consisted on five people in a red painted basement, one of them asleep in a LaZboy reclining chair in front of a Good Fellas poster. In the front were two Roman statues, in the base an Asian family reading the lyrics on the screen.
Upstairs the main waiter couldn't recite the list of special. "The book they write them in," he said, "got wet." He brought the sandwich board in from the sidewalk, then charged five dollars more than listed for the ravioli with shrimp pesto. The ravioli, he said when asked, came from Restaurant Supply. Why not from Borgatti's?
In the middle of the meal, an Asian woman came in selling bootleg DVDs. She had the Hurt Locker, Green Zone and Brooklyn's Finest. An offer to break bread was ignored. It was surreal.
The cold antipasto, we must say in fairness, was not bad. It's not difficult, in a neighborhood full of fresh mozzarella and sausage. But there was also shredded eggplant, and small but tasty olives. We suggest that dish, and bringing your own booze and glasses, to protest any extra five dollar charge.
March 29, 2010
Well, we have to reverse course and return to last week's praise along Hughes Avenue. On a colder Saturday, Quick Fresh's glass doors were closed to keep the wind out. A salad that's five dollars in Manhattan cost eight. Chicken soup, albeit fresh, was nearly four dollars for a small cup. This is their second store, after upper Manhattan. But will The Bronx, even Belmont, bear these prices?
At the new Albanian grocery, there are limitations too. The smallest container of goat cheese -- all from Bulgaria -- costs $9.50. Tourists walk in speaking German. Is this even The Bronx?
March 22, 2010
There are at least three new additions on Hughes Avenue in Belmont. Where the fancy empanadas place closed down, a juice and salad bar also with empanadas has emerged: Quick Fresh. An early test finds many of the fruits for juices missing, and a switch to chicken and corn empanadas without consent. But the place has promise: a juice bar with mamey, pastrami empanadas, the salad not bad.
Next door in the spot that used to sell eggs creams, a luncheonette has opened, with newly orange walls, salsa playing and a menu filled with mis-spellings (fires for fries, garbled nuggsts and cheeseseteak). While "eggs any style" are on the menu, a request for poached eggs resulted in a "what's that"? The coffee is good. And the eggs, fried, are not bad!
Two block south on Hughes is a new Albanian grocery, Vjolca-European Market. It is full of Bulgarian cheese, orange soda from Pristina and sausages. Unlike similar markets nearby, it does not feel like a social club, but a market. We wish them luck.
March 15, 2010
The Bronx According to the Sunday New York Times of March 14: suburban City Island, a Bronx cheer unrelated to the borough, obesity and a man killed by a freight train. That's it?
March 8, 2010
Yes, Serafin Mariel is the banker who took the money from the Yankees' scam community benefits agreement and put it in "his" bank at no interest, causing him to be sued for mismanaging the fund. But while the sign on the bank still says "New York National Bank," it is now owned by the already questionable Hudson Valley Bank...
March 1, 2010
The Daily News' real estate section of February 26, under the heading "A New Bronx Tale," touts gentrification in Belmont. It quotes one long time, locked jaw Belmontian as promoting gentrification: "This is not gentrification like Park Slope or the upper West Side. We're turning a corner." The article says, "maybe this has a change of becoming a new Williamsburg?" We hope not. People need to be able to afford to live here. And those who sell that out are not friends.
Yes, the Bronx has been named the least healthy place in all of New York State. The ranking's based on longevity, baby weight and how residents feel physically and mentally. Researchers also ranked smoking, exercise, access to parks and number of doctors available. Correlation to income? To political corruption?
February 22, 2009
So when the New York Times of February 20 mentioned the South Bronx, we wondered: what would it be about? Turned out it was only a suburbanite passing through on Metro North commuter rail, learning via an iPhone app -- Foursquare, partner of the NYT which was promoting it -- of a single Bronx location in the area they keep trying to gentrify, the Bruckner Bar & Grill. Typical...
February 15, 2010
The street scape of Belmont is changing, the sign scape, the storefronts. On the corner of Hughes and 187, the empanadas place is being reconfigured, the yellow sign is done. Next door the old newsstand has now been painted inside, it is Roma Bagel, the egg cream crowd seems gone. And what of the juice bar, naturelle juice, that only recently opened on 187 between Arthur and Hoffman? On February 13 is was closed in the afternoon, never a good sign. They are "pulling a Belmont Cafe," as one observer put it. And so it goes.
February 8, 2010
The New York State Department of Labor recently reported that the unemployment rate in the Bronx was at 13.9 percent, making Bronx the county with the state's highest unemployment rate.
Click HERE
for
an InnerCityPress.com article last week about Henry
Paulson's book.
February 1, 2010
In the run up
to soccer's World Cup in South Africa, German (and former
New York Cosmos) star Franz Beckenbauer told AFP, "If you
are alone in Soweto at night, then you could be in
trouble, but then you would not walk into the South Bronx
of New York alone at night." He was defending FIFA's
decision to award the 2010 World Cup to South Africa after
Bayern Munich boss Uli Hoeness said, "I was never a fan of
the World Cup being held in South Africa, or anywhere on
the African continent, as long as safety aspects are not
clarified 100 percent," the Bayern boss had said. So in
purporting to be progressive, Beckenbauer trashed the
South Bronx. How... Cosmopolitan.
January 25, 2010
Now green --
NYC, rather than closing ALL of Alfred E. Smith Career and
Technical Education High School in the Bronx, is only
phasing out carpentry, plumbing, electrical and other
trade programs, leaving open only automotive... What was
that about green jobs again?
Inner
City Press on BloggingHeads.tv about Haiti, Sri Lanka,
Afghanistan... and Massachusetts, here.
January 18, 2010
The owner of the American Diner on E. 204th Street paid $2,000 to have it burned down just before Christmas, it is now alleged. Arson is back... And so is slander: In Australia,
"Liep Gony, a 19-year-old refugee from Sudan, was brutally murdered in Melbourne on September 26, 2007. The killing became a pretext for an outpouring of racially-charged statements from politicians and media commentators about the involvement of African-Australian youth in violent crime, despite the fact that the only African involved in this crime was the innocent victim. On December 18, Clinton Rintoull was sentenced to 16 years for the killing. In passing sentence, Justice Elizabeth Curtain described the murder as “vicious, brutal and unprovoked”, according to the Herald Sun that day. She described how Rintoull was seen day with the metal pole he used in the crime shouting, 'These blacks are turning the town into the Bronx. I am looking to take my town back.'"
January 11, 2010
Pop quiz: so what's more "shocking" -- that two Bronx bodegas were pegged by a tabloid to be selling vodka to minors, that Stoli gushed on Twitter about it, or that the State Liquor Authority has eleven investigators for the five boroughs?
January 4, 2010
"NYPD Sgt. Reginald McReynolds, who is African-American, said he was a victim of racial profiling when he was stopped by two fellow police officers while in his girlfriend's apartment building in the Bronx on October 26. According to the official police report, the officers were responding to a domestic abuse call in the same building and mistook McReynolds for the suspect, handcuffing him."
Ask yourself -- if in the suburbs police were responding to a domestic abuse call in one house, would they handcuff a neighbor who was coming home?
December 28, 2009
In the storefront that housed the ill fate Belmont Cafe, a Japanese restaurant has opened. It's Sake II, advertising both sushi and hibachi. They don't have a liquor license yet, and the food is cheap, at least at lunch. Six dollars for hibachi chicken, with fried rice, vegetables, miso soup and the ubiquitous salad with thousand island dressing. The chicken is cooked on the griddle -- is it the one belonging to the Belmont Cafe? -- and for there there is 20 percent off. Whether this area of the Bronx is ready for a Japanese-only restaurant is not clear. We will continue to cover this.
December 21, 2009
From the Montreal Gazette of December 17, 2009 : "Although Montreal North might be 'bad' by Montreal standards, it's nothing at all like the South Bronx. I grew up in New York City and have been living in Montreal for five years. The officer who said 'Montreal North is like the Bronx' (Dec. 4) has obviously never been there." This is a double whammy: a Canadian cop compares a neighborhood to The Bronx, a reader says that the Bronx is worse...
December 14,
2009
As
Bloomberg Jokes of Media's Death, UN's Ban Lives It,
Asbestos Links the Two
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- Both the UN and New York's City Hall are covered by fewer and fewer mainstream journalists. At a December 10 event at Gracie Mansion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joked that there were gatecrashers like at the White House, the proof being that they said they were with the New York Times Metro section, "clearly fake."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, at a similar event on December 4, did not joke about the increasing flight of the press from the UN. That was left for master of ceremonies Richard Roth of CNN, who joked that soon the UN would only be covered by "the bearded blogger."
At the Gracie Mansion event, the joke by the New York Post's David Seifman was that there were only eight reporters present, the rest being publicists. Inner City Press, which attended both events because it covers both beats, was pitched even during Bloomberg's jokes by a promoter of hotels, from Crosby Street to Eighth Avenue and 44th Street and even the Bronx' City Island.
A
running joke throughout the December 4 event was that
the already begun gut rehabilitation of the UN
building is releasing not only rodents but asbestos.
As it happened, by December 10 the UN's contractor was
furiously testing for asbestos release right by the
UN's gift shop, which is open to the public.
Bloomberg's sister, the City's liaison to the UN, has already barred public school children from touring the UN's Conference Building. One wonders if she knows of the suspected release by the UN gift shop: some gift.
CNN's
Roth got laughs, for example by suggesting that
outgoing spokesperson Michele Montas go on a vacation
to Club Med in Sri
Lanka with this publication.
Seifman's
jokes at Bloomberg included a Bronx reference, a gift
certificate for Kingsbridge Armory which he called the
Ruben Diaz Junior Mall. Seifman said Bloomberg would
need the Bronx Democrats' American Express, available
from Reverend Ruben Diaz Senior.
While
at the UN there is discussion of a law
pending in Uganda which would criminalize
homosexuality, one wonders what the Reverend Diaz
thinks of it. Inner City Press asked for Ban
Ki-moon's position, and the first line was, "we
have no specific opinion about domestic legislation" --
not true in the case of the cap and trade climate change
proposals in the U.S. Congress. We will have more on
this.
While Mr. Ban stood next to a blinking disco ball and used a TV screen, Bloomberg handed out gifts, for example a "Spanish by Bloomberg" dictionary and a City University of New York football helmet for a reporter heading into academia at CUNY. Ban joked that as his spokesperson he has wanted this reporter, but ended up with Martin Nesirky.
Nesirky,
during
his speech, said he had brought a gift from Austria:
Mozart's golden balls, which he awarded to your truth
for having, well, balls. Bloomberg's spokesman Stu
Loeser joked that both his boss and Sarah Palin said
that if God hadn't wanted people to eat animals, He
wouldn't have made them out of meat.
As he handed out gifts, Bloomberg joked that he can buy anything -- read, the election. Afterwards, a UN official to whom Inner City Press compared the two events noted that Bloomberg is a billionaire. Perhaps the jokes too were bought.
The
Gracie Mansion event avoided at least one obvious
topic, Dominick Carter. Until recently the go-to TV
show for NY politicians, now with the host convicted
of
domestic violence / attempted assault, there's a
pothole on the Road to City Hall. Why no reference?
Why no jokes? We will try to find out, watch this
site.
Whatever the dished being offered are, you can't see them through the steamed up glass.
Inner City Press, in candor, ordered a chicken empanada. While only one dollar, it was cold, strangely red inside, and an hour later there was a stomach ache. Calling the Department of Health....
December 7, 2009
In the
Philippines, a denial
that the Mindinao massacre shows a "culture impunity"
contains the snark that "such a generalization by
the international media is unfair, considering the culture
of impunity prevalent in... the Bronx, Somalia, etc."
Click here
for
Inner City Press' coverage of the Somali Mission to the
UN.
The FDIC's
study of the un- and under-banked, released last week, was
heard around the world, including with Inner City
Press about The Bronx, via the Financial
Times, here.
November 30, 2009
One in every 1,767 homes in Bronx County received a foreclosure filing in September 2009, according to RealtyTrac.com ...
Thanksgiving question "what about the 150 workers at the Stella D'Oro cookie factory in the Bronx? They lost their jobs and their healthcare when a company owned in part by Goldman Sachs bought Stella D'Oro and closed the factory down."
November 23, 2009
What's called the Little Italy of The Bronx, Arthur Avenue between 188th and 183rd Street, is now festooned with red and black Albanian flags. They appeared suddenly on lamp poles. Actual Italian residents of Belmont have been in decline for years, residentially replaced primarily by Latinos, and by Balkan social clubs. Still, are the Albanian flags a turning point? So far, none of the Italian push back that would have followed any Hispanic nations' flags going up on the Little Italy strip...
November 16, 2009
The NYS Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) on November 9 held a public hearing at Hostos Community College on its plan to use eminent domain to widen the Major Deegan Expressway by two lanes between E. 138th Street and the Macombs Dam Bridge. Despite pollution and the displacement of small businesses, they aim to push it through. We'll see.
November 9, 2009
Bronx-based foster care agency Family Support Systems is closing and laying off 92 staffers. The move comes aside funding cuts from the NYC Administration for Children's Services, according to a filing with the New York State Department of Labor. It's called the WARN Act. But what more does it portend?
November 2, 2009
October 31 in the Bronx has full of kids and screams, stores handing out candy from joint compound buckets, horror masks marked down by 20% on the day itself. There were Barack Obama masks, and downtown Richard Nixon. Lazy revelers just got orange prison overalls.
October 26, 2009
The New York Times' foray last week into West Africans in Claremont / Webster Avenue not only mistakenly said French is spoken in The Gambia (the Francophonies could only wish) -- it also missed the African - Caribbean dynamic. Why, is not clear, since the article itself reports that there are more Latino than African residents in Claremont. Could it be because the two groups get along? Take the stretch of Webster, referred to in the article, with African videos on the east side, Spanish (and African) restaurants on the west: the two co-exist, competing only for parking spots. But that's not news...
Also on the restaurant front, we must now report that the innovative but short lived Belmont Cafe has gone belly up, a For Rent sign on its rolling metal gate. It had cheap burgers and fries and bubble tea, and an order-in-advance African chicken dish. But it never stuck to its hours, and ultimately no one could count on it. And now it is gone...
October 19,
2009
From
Fordham, according to Douglas S. Massey, Ph.D., a
new sort of separation is taking its place, with money
taking the place of skin color. Massey, the Henry G.
Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at
Princeton University, presented “The Changing Bases of
American Segregation” at Fordham's Rose Hill campus on
Wednesday, Oct. 14. His lecture was the first annual
urban studies lecture, and coincides with the
inauguration of Fordham’s Urban Studies Master’s
program."
But right on Rose Hill on October 17,
on Fordham's Bronx campus snaked a line of nearly
entirely people of color, as nearly all white students
walked by. Segregation indeed...
This week, again a new restaurant review. Michael Angelo's has opened in what used to be a bakery, on the now college claimed corner of 189th and Arthur. Its sign advertises wood burning stove pizza, but once inside the prices are decidedly upscale, in light with Roberto's and its wood burning affiliate with the little clown car in front, but still not authentic enough to justify it. It remains Italian American food, even with the "candle lit wine cellar" and Italian pop music. They either have to take the level of the food up, or drop the prices, a better plan given the location. We'll see.
October 12, 2009
From a comic book review: "the Bronx no longer looks the way it’s shown briefly in the comic. I’m not offended. It just made me chuckle that the creative team portrayed the Bronx the way it looked in the 1970s and not the way it looks now. I still wouldn’t raise my kids there, but it has gotten better." Thanks...
October 5, 2009
The U.S. Post Service, in the Bronx, is looking to close seven branches: Botanical, Clason Point, Crotona Park, Hillside, Melcourt, Oak Point and Van Nest. These are 17% of the Bronx' post offices and six of the seven are a full half mile from the "replacement" branches. If a bank make these cuts, one could protest to federal regulators. But when the Fed's themselves are cutting?
September 28, 2009
The Hartford Courant, writing about New Britain, jibed that "the two sagging old houses along South Main look like a little slice of the South Bronx." Thanks, guys...
September 21, 2009
From the police blotter:
THURS, AUG. 27th, 11:40 p.m. – Belmont Ave. and East 189 St. Officials indicated that no one was injured as results of shots being fired in the Belmont community. Responding police officers checked the area, but were unable to local any victims. Police did recover evidence that supported the original report.
We wuz there -- the Emergency Services police pulled up the sewer grate while a mother with a baby in a stroller jaw boned the officers....
September 14, 2009
A recent trip down Southern Boulevard and across 149th Street found continuity -- for example the still abandoned building on Jackson Avenue just below 149th -- amid change, the proliferation of Children's Aid Society offices along Southern Boulevard around Jennings Street. The Gaseteria where Southern meet 149 is still vacant and burned out. Just north there's a coffee shop with a sign, "SUNKIN DONUTS," in a strangely familiar font...
September 7, 2009
What kind of New Yorker is "The New Yorker" (for)? In recent weeks, they've run a near 100% pro Bloomberg profile, and now a hit job on the teachers' union. On national politics, the r/mag is knee jerk liberal. But in New York?
Smaller picture in Belmont, The Bronx, we can report the inclusion of Salvadoran arepas on the menu of the Empanada Company on Hughes and 187. Meanwhile the Ecuadorean restaurant on Hughes and Crescent appears to have done belly-up. Maybe having a menu would have helped....
August 31, 2009
From the Department of "A Plague
on Both Their Houses," we have this from Kingsbridge: some are
pushing for a Community Benefits Agreement with the Related
Companies for the Kingsbridge Armory which would prohibit a
supermarket from going into the site. This is clearly to protect
the smaller supermarkets on Jerome and Kingsbridge and Fordham.
Then again, the Related Companies displaced many small
businesses further south at the Bronx Terminal Market, inking
like the Yankees a weak fig leaf of a Community Benefits
Agreement. What's worse?
Click here
for this week's CRA report:
on Obama and Bernanke at the Federal
Reserve
August 24,
2009 --On Iran
and Vendex, Sudan to No Bid Contracts, NYC Comptroller
Candidates Square Off
NEW YORK, August 19 -- Veering from issues of no bid contracts and corporate background checks, four candidates New York City Comptroller were asked by Inner City Press on Thursday morning if in investing City funds they would bar or penalize companies engaged in predatory lending, or which do business in Sudan, Sri Lanka, Burma or Iran. This being NYC, and all four candidates Democratic members of the City Council, the answers ranged from "yes" to "of course," with a few differences.
Melinda Katz said that seven years ago, she proposed such a ban on companies "having anything to do with Hamas or Hezbollah." She added that when current Comptrollers Thompson and DiNapoli proposed divestment regarding Sudan and Iran, she applauded them. All four which she named are Islamic, unlike Burma and Sri Lanka were which asked about but ignored.
John Liu also avoided mentioning the two Asian countries, along he answered generically about human rights violators. He expanded the question to companies with abusive human resources practices, and those which took Federal bailout funds and still pay huge bonuses to their executives.
David
Weprin
said he was an early proponent of divestment in Sudan
and Iran, based on genocide and terrorism
respectively. He cited the precedent of the campaign
against apartheid. He also reminded the audience that
under Mario Cuomo he was a deputy superintendent of
banks for New York State, and required in-state checks
to clear in three days.
David
Yassky,
who began the morning's debate by touting his
endorsement by Felix Rohatyn, said he sponsored a ban
on Sudan, and co-sponsored one on Iran. He said that
the City should invest in companies whose
profitability came from such places. As such, at least
he admitted all moral decisions cannot be defended as
economically best as well. Similarly, to an audience
of human services professionals, he said that he is
against member items in which Council members direct
funds to specific groups.
The event, held in the auditorium of PricewaterhouseCoopers on Madison Avenue, was co-sponsored by the United Way and the Human Services Council, and the other questions were focused on how slow the City is to disburse contract awards to non-profits and how burdensome the City's VENDEX background check is. John Liu joked that the audience seemed tired because they'll stayed up the night before filling out VENDEX forms. There was polite laughter and then the event was over.
Footnote: back in December 2007, Inner City Press put a similar question to Adolf Carrion, who had just announced he would run not for Mayor but Comptroller. Carrion said he would "also take into consideration the return for pensioners" -- click here for that story.
August 17, 2009
The USPS wants to close eight post offices in the Bronx: HUB -- Inner City Press' first PO Box in The Bronx -- Clason Point, Crotona Park, Hillside, Melcourt, Oak Point, Van Next and Botanical. The last of these is being fought, by senior who face walking from 200 to 188 Street. Click here for Inner City Press story about foreseeable closing of Post Office in the United Nations, and associated transit disparities.
A block south on 187, there is a new juice bar between Arthur and Hoffman -- we recommend the smoothie de mamey -- and the Empanada Factory on Hughes is coming along, with the manager cranking out new dishes while bragging of his 15 years in fine dining, mixing it with cheese steak flavor to bring the Fordham students in. He says they'll offer online ordering soon...
August 10,
2009
Once again, a new restaurant in Belmont, on 186th between the library at Hughes Avenue and Belmont Avenue: La Casita Poblana. The space used to be a garage. Now it has four tables, and a cooler full of Mexican sodas. There are Arabe tacos for $2.50, sopes and gorditas, a fine avocado salad for $4.50. The demographics of Belmont are changing, and the food along with it.
August 3, 2009
After the weekend's shootout between police and Sevilla Moran's on Southern Boulevard, the police "recovered a handgun near his body. 'This is as clean as it gets,' said a police source at the scene." Yeah -- except for all the blood...
July 27, 2009
The old and new Bronx coexist in Belmont. Example of the former is the fire in the building on the corner of 187 and Cambrelleng, apartment windows boarded up with plywood, Albanian grocery in the storefront closed down, at least for now. Meanwhile a much more expensive storefront is opening, out on Third Avenue and 189 -- the chain Applebee's has a spot in Fordham Plaza, and has a hiring center, but only for grill cooks with two years experience. So much for helping the neighborhood....
July 20, 2009
On 187th Street, there's the second street fair of the summer, complete with a ride called the Berry Go Round and a stand handing out Right to Life literature of the type found, in every season, in Borgatti's Ravioli. A new entry on Arthur Avenue is "Frankie's Franks," which serves up dogs on Addeo's pizza bread -- i.e. the loaf shaped like a donut -- with peppers, onions and potatos, all for less then four dollars, the price of eggs, toast, potatoes and coffee, all day long. We wish them well.
July 13, 2009
The asphalt playground and handball court on 188th Street and Bathgate Avenue has been padlocked in the middle of the summer as a crew of only four workmen slowly jackhammer holes in it. The park is usually daily used by both adults and children, from a youth club on 189th Street. Why the City scheduled this work at the height of summer, and chose a company that is sending such a small crew -- making the job take longer -- is not clear...
July 6, 2009
Last week the City Council rubber stamped a 30-block rezoning of the lower Grand Concourse in the Bronx, claiming it will bring as much as 841,000 square feet of new commercial uses and "facilitate the development of 3,100 new housing units, 520 of which will be affordable." -- a far too low a percentage of affordable housing for a development in the South Bronx. It it (and the nabe?) LoCo...
June 29, 2009
When Mayor Mike Bloomberg rolled up to the park across First Avenue from the UN on June 23, he had climate change on his mind. But the Press questions quickly turned not only to the lack of safety in the UN's buildings and their fix-up, but also to the Bronx. Inner City Press asked for his response to the declining business of Bronx merchants near Yankee Stadium, despite the massive city subsidy to the facility. Bloomberg said that they might want to start selling other merchandise. Just another modality of gentrification?
June 21, 2009
Not only is the new Yankee Stadium too expensive for Bronxites (and others), not only have they failed to replace the park land they took away -- now the small promises of small business benefits are turning out to be false. Store owners around the stadium complain that they get fewer customers than last year. The Yankees try to lure them into their branded maw of Hard Rock Cafe and "official" merchandise. Few venture even a half block south of 161st Street. Who will be held accountable?
June 15, 2009
Despite the rainy weather, the sign that summer has arrived in Belmont, The Bronx is the St. Anthony Street Fair. In the drizzle on June 13, a band played while from plywood stands in front of Mount Carmel church frozen drinks were sold, zeppoles topped with powdered sugar, goldfish could be won. Who can know who will come each year to this "Feast"? On the corner of Hughes Avenue, the Albanian restaurant has closed, replaced by Mexican, the New York Empanada Factory. It looked empty and forlorn behind its "Grand Opening" plastic banner, but we predict that won't be for long. Unless they're too white bread. In the Bronx, you can forget the cross-over audience. Make your business on your people -- other than the Chinese, of course. If others come, it's a bonus.
June 8, 2009
In Washington, in the wake of the predatory lending meltdown, there is a Community Reinvestment Act modernization bill. And in the Bronx, there are thos who woder why Eliot Engel is not listed as a sponsor....
June 1, 2009
The "South Bronx" was all over the news last week, not only because of the Yankees, but in the flurry of coverage of the nomination to the Supreme Court of Sonia Sotomayor, described as growing up in "a housing project in the South Bronx." Some here, however, note that the Bronxdale Houses are not in the South Bronx as it is often defined, as Community Planning Districts 1-6, stopping on the Western shore of the Bronx River. The Bronxdale Houses are on the other side of the river. But that's an inconvenient fact, and therefore ignored...
May 25, 2009
The Cross-Bronx Expressway, despite the local damage it has caused it apparently here to stay. But the fight to demolish the Sheridan Expressway is gathering force, and appears in PBS' "Road to the Future" show along with bicycle issues. Inner City Press, passing through Copenhagen, Denmark, finds the comparison with the Bronx and New York City striking. In Copenhagen there are bikes everywhere, and people even leave them unlocked. There are bike lanes that are respected. In the Bronx, Inner City Press has been harassed by police for momentarily riding a bike on an otherwise empty sidewalk. In Denmark, it's bikes that have the right of way....
May 18, 2009
In the run-up to reviewing the Yankees' new monument to greed, Inner City Press last week ventured to Citi – or TARP – Field in Queens, for the Mets against the Braves. Best is that you can stand behind home plate, even if your ticket's in the upper deck. The hot dogs are pricey, but the onions and sauerkraut are hot. From above right field you can see Manhattan. Soon we will compare the Yankees.
For now in the Bronx, there's a new Mexican restaurant on 186th Street by Hughes, in a former mechanics garage. Go, Puebla
May 11, 2009
This week again a restaurant review: the Belmont Cafe on 187th and Beaumont has dollar fifty burger (well, mini-burgers) and, a first for Belmont, bubble tea. It promises African style chicken, but twice as failed to have it. It has photographs of Fordham, including when the Third Avenue El was still standing. It's well worth it, for a dollar fifty...
May 4, 2009
This week, a poem on immigration, datelined not the Bronx but across the river(s) in Astoria Heights:
Breakfast
of Champions
by Matthew Lee, (c) 2009
In
front
of the paint store
two blocks east of Steinway
two dozen Mexican men with backpacks
stand waiting for work
Some
are
old and some are beaten
still when they order tamales
at Casilda's taco stand
the girl calls them “campeon” --
Champion,
is what it means, champion of immigration
who braved the freight trains from Oaxaca
the muggers and rapists of Juarez and Chihuahua
arriving here in Queens to stand again and wait
The city's hardly building
the yuppies all tapped out
and so the wait is longer
and the tacos more expensive
April 27, 2009
We need an explanation: the 4 train, usually local late at night, says it's going express. But in The Bronx, it jumps from 149 Grand Concourse to Burnside -- then all the way to Woodlawn. What happened to Fordham Road?
And a citywide MTA beef: using an unlimited MetroCard, you're prohibited from using it in less than 18 minutes.But if you rode one stop, you could easily need to use the card again within 18 minutes. What gives?
April 20, 2009
Spin war: "We're surprised and disappointed that Curtis Sliwa is attempting to sell tours that capitalize on the worst stereotypes about the Bronx," said Rafael Salaberrios, chairman of the Bronx Tourism Council. Salaberrios said tourists should instead be pointed to attractions such as the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden and Yankee Stadium, as well as the borough's lesser-known museums, galleries and restaurants.
The Bronx Zoo closed down its tram service. Yankee Stadium is wildly overpriced and stole parkland -- but Yankee fans about to see them lose by twenty runs on April 18 poured mucho dinero into dining on Arthur Avenue before and after the game. Trattoria Zero Otto Nove, the Roberto's spin-off in what used to be McDonald's is, upon review, amazing, with a faux Italian street scene in the back complete with fake windows and brick arches with intentionally peeling stucco. Fusilli, rabbit and carafes of wine: what could be better? But very few local people go.
April 13, 2009
Let's compare, this week, the Bronx and Bushwick, Brooklyn. A recent visit to the latter found the previously burned-down Broadway still rough and tumble, from Fat Albert's on Flushing to cuchifritos further out on Myrtle. But two blocks north of Broadway are knitware factories turned into lofts. On Broadway itself, a white hipster with dreadlocks was ridiculed by local teens.
Back in the Bronx, other than in Mott Haven, no such influx has taken place. Is it the distance from Manhattan, or the reputation for higher crime? Do Bushwick's long-time residents benefit from the lofts, or only see their rents raised? We will continue to compare.
April 6, 2009
Facing
off in debate for Bronx Borough Presidency at 1200 Waters
Place on April 8 at 7 pm are Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr.
and Anthony Ribustello...
March
30, 2009 -- annals of environmental justice: the
president of the Sierra Club wrote in the New York Times, March
26, that "We
offer at-risk young people in the Bronx their first wilderness
experience." No, we have some wilderness right here in The
Bronx...
March
23, 2009
We
take note this week of the re-start of Columbia Journalism
School's Bronx Beat publication. Before even getting to a
substantive critique -- we'll get there, rest assured --
something seems to be wrong. From their
website, clicking on an article seemingly about
foreclosures leads to a page
of ads hosted by Go Daddy
March 16, 2009
For a Bronx study by ICP Fair Finance Watch, see http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/03/09/2009-03-09_the_south_bronx_is_a_banking_wasteland.html
See also the readers' comments on that page. There's a
need for work on and under the Community Reinvestment Act, and
about JPM Chase's moves to close former Washington Mutual
branches...
Click here for an
Inner City Press debate last week from Washington, here
about AIG's secret bailout beneficiaries...
March
9, 2009
Some neighbor -- the Botanical Garden, which previously
sued saying that a radio town across Southern Boulevant from it
was an eyesore, now owns an eyesore of its own, a vacant lot on
Webster and Bedford Park Avenues on which it said it would build
a parking lot. But now the funding's in doubt, and the lot is
sitting there. The Garden asks for understanding. But did the
Garden show it?
March 2, 2009
Lies, damn lies and statistics: from the suburbs to the North, "Frederick Arnold, a resident of the Town of Mamaroneck since 1995, is a “numbers guy” and the newly elected president of the board of RAINN (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation’s largest organization working to prevent sexual assault and help victims of this crime. 'the incidence of crime is as high in Larchmont, per capita as it is in the South Bronx,'" he said. Some "numbers guy"...
Oh really? It's reported that "there were cheers in the South Bronx, where there is hardly an Indian-American to be seen, when Slumdog Millionaire won the best-picture Oscar." Funny, we didn't hear them...
February 23, 2009
Months ago we wrote
on a practice of Metro North Railroad
At
a public meeting of the MTA in its headquarters on Madison
Avenue in March 2008, Inner City Press informed the board of
directors of the policy, and of its impact on Bronx residents.
Some members laughed, others expressed surprise. Then-chief
Peter Cannito explained the practice in financial terms: the
State of Connecticut pays 60% of the cost of the red New Haven
line trains. Apparently, even within the MTA, they had and have
found no way to transfer money from the New York State Harlem
line, which also stops at the Fordham Station, and the
Connecticut New Haven Line.
With
even some of his board members shaking their heads at this
inefficiency, Cannito told Inner City Press things were not as
bad as its testimony described. You can get on the train, he
said, and just pay the extra fare between Fordham and the
previous stop on the New Haven line, Mount Vernon East. Inner
City Press bought a ticket for just this purpose.
On February 20, with the 9:16 Harlem line train running
late, a red New Haven line train pulled into Fordham Station.
Inner City Press got on. The conductor announced over the public
address system, "This train takes no passengers." Those in the
bar car in which Inner City Press had sat down rolled their
eyes. Inner City Press started walking toward the front car with
the conductor in it, but the train pulled out of the station.
Inner City Press returned to the bar car.
The
conductor came through the train and said, "I told you to get
off." Inner City Press explained what the head of the MTA said
at the public meeting. "Do you got that in writing?" the
conductor demanded. No, the head of the company said it. "What
was his name?" The last Metro North
chief, the Italian guy.
"Well
this Italian guy never heard of that order. What is my job?"
Inner
City Press waited to hear. Several others in the car looked
concerned.
"I'm
the conductor. I'm supposed to enforce the rules. If I don't
they crack down on me. I was out on the street for twenty days,
supposedly assaulting a customer. They give us these hand held
computers that freeze up all the time, then write us up if we
don't collect fares with them, even when they're not working."
He paused, looking like he might throw the hand-held computer,
somehow reminiscent of the model in the NYC Parking Violations
Bureau scandal, also with Bronx connections, years ago. "You
tell me the big shots said you could do this. Do you have a
letter that says that?"
It
seemed fair to assume that what the head of Metro North said was
the policy was in fact the policy.
"Yeah
right," the conductor said. "What was his name, then, this
Italian guy?"
"Peter,
something. Peter C--"
"Oh,
Cannito. His son in law made this software for this stupid
computer that freezes up all the time. Great. Cannito told you."
The conductor stormed out of the car. Welcome to Metro North.
Footnote: while a half
dozen people in the car spoke against the Metro North practice,
after the conductor left, one working man pointed out, you put
him in a tough spot, you should have gotten off the train and
put in for a refund, or get a letter from Metro North.
Suggestions and reactions welcome.
February 16, 2009
At
Inner City Press, we usually review restaurant on the affordable
or even sidewalk side. But we're compelled to note Zero Otto
Nove, a so-called trattoria on Arthur Avenue where the ill-fated
McDonald's used to be. For some months, seeing a near-empty bar
in the front behind a light blue clown car on the street
outside, one assumed the restaurant was having trouble. Dead
wrong. Inside, down a long
corridor, is what resembles a side street in an Italian village,
complete with fake windows and perspectives, a staircase up to a
second floor, all under a skylight. At night candle come out,
adding to the flicker from the wood pizza oven. There's
light-fried zucchini, pasta with chick peas and bread crumbs,
rabbit stew and more. Beware of what they call a carafe of wine:
it's really a pitcher, costs $25 and leaves one staggering out
afterwards. The lemon sherbet is tart, the coffee strong,
Roberto's restaurant a success. The main thing lacking was
Bronxites, something we hereby try to address.
Nearly,
on February 1st:
2-1, 12:30 a.m. –
2407 Beaumont Ave. Police were alerted that a man had been shot
numerous times. The unidentified victim was admitted to St.
Barnabas Hospital in stable condition. Local sleuths will conduct
the inquiry.
2-1, 1:35 p.m. – 922 East Tremont Ave. A search was conducted for
a middle aged Hispanic male. Victims believe that the male Latino
is in his 50’s who robbed a store at gunpoint. An unknown amount
of money was taken, but no injuries were reported.
February 9, 2009
As
the Bronx Zoo opens a Madagascar-themed exhibit, in the real
Madagascar, security forces fired into crowds of protesters,
killing 25... And the Skyfari has been discontinued forever.
New
York Magazine reviews city restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn
and Queens -- only.
February 2, 2009
The
Bronx makes
an appearance in Kuala Lumpur: Posh Condominiums In Slum
Area?
"You nak
buat kondo di slum area?" (You want to build condominiums
in a slum area?). Raised eyebrows accompanied those words when
real-estate developer Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohd Ibrahim told a
friend of his plans to build a block of condominiums in Kampung
Baru, a Malay settlement located at the heart of the city...
Abdul Rahim's friends had labeled Kampung Baru in the same mould
as Bronx, a slum area in the north of New York populated mostly
by the colored communities and they were skeptical whether there
would be buyers for the condominiums. Today, they have to eat
their words as the condominium units are selling like hot cakes.
The public knows that Kampung Baru is not a squatter settlement
as the area was carved out as a Malay settlement in 1899 and
known as the Malay Agriculture Settlement."
As we reported last spring, Key Food, in the mall at Bruckner Blvd. and White Plains Road, announced that landlord Vornado Realty was increasing its rent. DN: "The rent increase was scheduled to take effect in December, when the lease expired. But Vornado has not begun any eviction action, which Purcell and others speculate is because of the souring rental market." Yep...
January 26, 2009
In
the wake of the US Air flight from LaGuardia to Charlotte
driving into the Hudson River by a flock of geese, the Bronx
connection slowly becomes clear. The day of the crash, a girl
from Belmont in The Bronx called in to say she'd seen the
plane's engines explode. It seemed incongruous, since the plane
landed off the shore of midtown Manhattan. But later it emerged
that as the plane curved over The Bronx, reported over the Zoo,
it hit a flock of geese and began falling. There's been talk of
hunting down geese in the area to avoid a repetition.
On
Saturday, January 24 on Fordham University's grass circle a
flock of geese lazed around on the snow, with nary a hunter in
sight....
JPMorgan
Chase will be closing a slew of Washington Mutual branches,
click here
for Inner City Press' January 23 article...
January
19, 2009
Here
are
properties
in The Bronx on which Wells Fargo
has foreclosed:
2096
RYER
AVE
BRONX 2862 Multi-family $374,900 N
5730
POST
ROAD
BRONX 1809 Multi-family $599,000 N
605
WALES
AVE
BRONX 2700 Duplex TBD N
2194
WASHINGTON
AVE BRONX 2403 Multi-family $325,000 N
4027
EDSON
AVE
UNIT 1 & 2 BRONX 1848 Duplex $339,900 N
2782
CRESTON
AVE BRONX 2000 Multi-family TBD N
The
new pizzeria on lower Arthur Avenue, with the garlic knots and
free Internet, has already failed. In its place is a sign to
look out for Frankie's Frank, the "Italian" hot dog. Will it fare any better?
Meanwhile
in the same nabe, a recent arrival asked in the Mount Carmel
post office on January 17 how to get his mail. Go to Tremont, he
was told. Where's that? And the person working at the window,
and the supervisor on duty, said they didn't know. Welcome to
The Bronx...
January
12, 2009
As
the Bloomberg Administration tries to gentrify the South Bronx,
a recent visit to Bushwick in Brooklyn found both the brutality
and banality of what has happened in the often similar place.
Take the L train seven stop in, to Jefferson and Wyckoff.
Competing the restaurants like Las Palmas on the corner of Starr are chic cafes like the North
East Kingdom -- apparently named after the top part of Vermont
-- and a music venue known as the Bushwick Starr, in the second
floor of a former factory building at 207 Starr Street. Inside
on a black-painted stage four youth men are thrashing; the band
is called Drew and the Medicinal Pen. In front an entirely white
crowd of young twenty-somethings jump up and down. Generally,
their rents are paid by parents. Perhaps some of them will be
artists, many however will not. But the impact on rent levels,
on the economist ecosystem of Bushwick, will stay long after
they leave. To Bloomberg, this may be progress. To locals it is
harmful, it is unfair, it is reason against a third term.
Going
forward,
we look back to the Bronx and elsewhere in the city...
January
5, 2009
This
week
Mayor
Bloomberg said that if someone attacked you or your family, he'd
want the NYPD to respond with everything they had. While in the
South Bronx, NYPD officers beat up the Serrano family on Brook
Avenue, Bloomberg flew to the Middle East in a "show of
solidarity." Click here
for Inner City Press' January 3 coverage of that region.
Click here for Inner City
Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
December
29, 2008
Annals
of New York's Strongest --
WED, DEC. 10th, 9:00 a.m. – 1003 Woodycrest Ave. In the Highbridge section, local police arrested a city worker. A sanitation worker was taken into custody after a civilian informed officers that the city worker struck the victim with a stick after they had a verbal dispute.
TUES, DEC. 16th, 11:00 a.m. – Tiebout Ave. and
East 183 St. Another city worker was taken into custody by patrol
officers. This time a city Sanitation employee was arrested and
charged with driving while intoxicated.
December
22, 2008
We've
done
it before, and we'll do it again -- the Ecuadorian restaurant on
Hughes Ave and 186th Street stands alone, both for refusing to
have a menu, and for ultimately serving up cooking that makes up
for it. Most recently the dish of the day was bistek with
papers, yellow rice with a friend egg on top, and French fries.
The quesadillas were spicy, with chicken. The "sopa de bolas"
was, in fact, dominated by a ball made of green plantains, peas
and boiled egg, sort of like a stew made of pastelles. Outside,
they sold steaming tamales on the icy sidewalk.
Of
Bronx and NYC housing officials slated to move on to DC, we'll
have more over the holiday. Happy holidays!
Viva Ecuador!
Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards
December 15, 2008
St. Barnabas
Hospital is bragging that even in the face of the financial
meltdown, it still plans to spend $30 million building a parking
garage. Of course, in the past this project was blocked because
St. Barnabas could not even spring for lights for kids who use
the sports fields on Quarry Road behind the hospital. But the
activist who led that community fight-back has since passed
away, and now St. Barnabas says it's ready to move forward.
We'll see.
In
the political orbit, Carrion's
gun-jumping speech that he was offered the HUD head job is
disproved by the Shaun Donovan news. Beyond Prudential, Donovan
has something of a sidelight in the evictions trade -- more on
this anon.
December
8, 2008
Given
the
difficulty
that long-time South Bronx residents are facing in keeping up
with rising rents, how could an executive of a non-profit
purportedly working for the interest of such people offer
unqualified praise for "upscale" real estate investment in area?
Oh but it has happened, in the December 5 Daily News: "Peter
Cantillo, president of SEBCO Development, a group that has been
building affordable housing in the neighborhood since 1968
[said] 'The Bank Note is exactly the kind of upscale draw this
neighborhood has worked toward.'" Speak for yourself...
December
1, 2008
Metro
North
spokeswoman
Marjorie Anders was quoted
last week that "Metro-North would love to run some of its Hudson
Line trains across the Spuyten Duyvil and down the Amtrak rails
on the West Side to Penn Station, not to mention running some
New Haven Line trains on Amtrak rails through the underserved
East Bronx to Penn Station... Metro-North has had a feasibility
study for such a project partly done for some time."
Hey,
if Metro North so badly wants to serve the "underserved" Bronx,
why does it persist in having its New Haven Line trains stop at
Fordham Road only to discharge but not pick up passengers? This
outrage continues, the book-keeping and other excuses have not
been addressed...
Two
other
'Net
notes: the Detroit "Campus Martius conservancyhired
Egan Acres Farms in the Bronx, which specializes in
jumbos. The tree is donated from a private home in New Paltz,
N.Y. near Poughkeepsie." So what, a
Bronx-business providing Poughkeepsie trees to Michigan?
An Ethnic Food Examiner
says "Bronx: in all fairness, I don't think I've been to the
Bronx more than 10 times. It's got a fabulous zoo. (is that considered
ethnic?). According to my sources, you can hit a double in the
Tremont area of the Bronx: Ecuadorian
(and other Hispanics), and Ghanan."
But the link
to Ghanian is hardly limited to that country; the link
to Ecuador is in fact about bachata, and says of
Claridad Restaurant, 373 E. 188th St.Bronx, NY, "Occasional local
acts; call to find out; seedy atmosphere." Seedy is in the
eye of the beholder...
November
24, 2008
The
New
York Times of November 18, aiming now at the commercial
gentrification of Port Morris in the South Bronx, reported that
"part of the area’s appeal is its access
to transportation. Neil Pariser, a senior vice president of the
South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, a
nonprofit group that has renovated factories and apartment
buildings in the area, said, 'Port Morris has unusually
excellent vehicular access for trucks and even good mass
transit' — the No. 6 and No. 2 subways." But
the Number 2, a West Side train, hardly serves Port Morris...
November
10, 2008
Every
single
Bronx Councilmember voted to roll back the twice
publicly-enacted term limits...
It's
not
just
that the New York Times promotes gentrification -- it's that
they don't even mention that it exists. That is, they just don't
care, even about basic journalistic balance. From last Sunday's
Times:
Leila
Abdoulaye
sublets a friend's loft in an old piano factory in the South
Bronx, and she need never worry about repairs. Her building,
called the Clock Tower, has a 24-hour superintendent.
Ms.
Abdoulaye, a 25-year-old student and model who also works as a
restaurant office manager, pays $700 a month for her room. She
shares the apartment with a rotating stream of models. Ms.
Abdoulaye minds the store, as it were, between work and classes.
''It's
the
quality of the place, the price of the apartment, and the social
life,'' Ms. Abdoulaye says. ''It's a nice place to live. A happy
place to live.''
Daniel
Lundby,
32, an out-of-work designer from Iowa, also lives in the Clock
Tower, sharing a bright, open space with a roommate.
When
he
moved to New York City, he lived in a tiny sublet on the Upper
East Side. ''Now,'' Mr. Lundby said, ''I have three times the
space for the same price.'' His rent has risen about $100 a year
since he moved in more than four years ago, but he says he is
satisfied. ''I think I'm still getting a decent deal.
Not
for
long...
And the November 9 Times mentions The Bronx, a county of over 1
million people in the Times' home city, only 11 times, and even
these are oblique: mentions in Mount Vernon, from "Snarky Gulch"
and Riverdale. For shame...
November
3, 2008
As
New York City set up for the Marathon on November 2, cars along
First Avenue in East Harlem were getting towed, and the Bx 15
bus to the Bronx was radically re-routed, turning north on Lenox
and leaving Park, Lexington and Avenidas Tres, Dos y Uno
unserviced. The runners barely
touched The Bronx, despite all the hype about its fix-up.
Meanwhile
in
Belmont,
we
return
against
to
Estrellita
Poblana
III
on
lower
Arthur
Ave,
where
the
caldo
de
chivo,
goat
soup,
is
well-worth
its
six
dollar
price.
The
tortillas
are
hot
and
at
noon
on
the
day
of
the
marathon,
it
was
full
of
duos
of
Mexican
men
in
their
Sunday
best,
some
drinking
Tecate
and
others
Mexican
Coca-Cola,
with
the
pure
cane
sugar,
taking
digital
photos
of
each
other
to send back south of the border. Look, mama, I'm making it in
New York. Even during the financial crisis...
And see Inner City
Press' interview with Joseph Stiglitz, in this week's CRA
Report, www.innercitypress.org/crreport.html
October
27, 2008
Staying
small
bore
but
indicative,
on
Belmont
above
189th
a
new
store
has
opened,
with
baseball
caps
including
multicolored
camouflage,
hip
hop
T-shirts
and,
as
one
Inner
City
Press
source
puts
it,
Ed
Hardy
hoodies
for
women
and
for
men.
The
owners,
who
wear
the
caps
they
sell,
built
all
contents
of
the
storefront,
but
for
the
glass
display.
It's
called
E
&
J's,
and
just
before
a
recent
midnight,
both
E and J were there. We wish them well.
October
20, 2008
In
the Bronx we traipse around, for example on October 18 and 19,
from the 4 train at Yankee Stadium over to the D, and thereafter
north under the Concourse.
Never
say
we
don't follow-up: Angel's Ecuadorian Restaurant on Hughes Avenue
and 184th has continued to improve, now with grilled tuna with
platanos and avocado salad. Still no menu, and Angel hard of
hearing -- but plaintains and tuna like this is not to be found
elsewhere.
And see this Oct 17 (UN) debate, including Musing
of One-Term Limit for Ban by Obama, at http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/15262#
October
13, 2008
We return because we must to the
New York Times' misrepresentation of The Bronx. The October 12
Sunday paper mentions the Bronx 18 times, but entirely from the
perceived POV of Times readers: Riverdale real estate, sculpture
and cider in the Botanical Garden, two obituaries, "Kosher
Wars," and oh yeah, a reference to hip hop. That's
keeping it real...
Click
here for Inner
City Press in Wash Post and Miami
October
6, 2008
There
were
Wanted
posters up along East Tremont and Bathgate Avenues on October 4,
about an armed robbery in Harrison, New York, offering $15,000.
Some of the posters were torn down, but other were there. By
Webster Avenue, there were no more. Call it narrow-casting.
Also
in
terms
of insular communities, now the "Bangladesh Plaza" neighborhood
in Queens is echoed on a corner of The Bronx, 158 and Melrose,
the Dkaka Discount, with the "Lotto" on the sign crossed out...
The
closing
of
R&S Strauss, we now surmise is related to the loss of
parking created by the mad "Bx 12 Select" bus plan.
Finally,
new and second-time-around restaurant reviews: the new Arthur
Avenue Pizza Co between 186 and 184 has high ceiling and free
Internet but doesn't have beef patties...
Meanwhile,
a
second
visit
to
Angel's
Ecuadorian
restaurant
on
Hughes
Avenue
and
184th
Street
found
the
food
still
excellent,
if
not
better,
juice
goat
and
rice,
ceviche,
tamales
Ecuadorian
style
in
a
banana
leaf
--
but
still
no
menu,
and
major
communications
problems.
There
few
things
more
striking
in
a
restaurant
than
one
that
doesn't
produce
the
food
you
order,
or
that
refuses
to
take
an
order,
both
of
which
happened
here. A co-reviewer is hoping it's just a communications
problem. Time will tell. But better goat and rice cannot be
found in the Bronx...
September
29, 2008
Here's a crime that needs to be
solved:
Fengwang
Chen, 31, was ambushed as he tried to deliver a $22 order on E.
229th St. Saturday - what was supposed to have been his last day
as a deliveryman for New China Garden, his wife said Sunday.
"He
never picks a fight with anyone," Chen's wife, Yan Dong, said
through an interpreter at Jacobi Medical Center, where he
remains in critical condition.
The
bullet that hit Chen, a father of two young children, entered
behind his ear and lodged in his jaw. He is expected to survive.
September
22, 2008
More
annals of Fordham Road -- while still awaiting local powers'
spin on the closing of R & S Strauss, a reporter's recent
pass-through the White Castle found, far from fast food, no one
talking orders for foot traffic. Everything is directed at the
drive-through customers. Some suburb...
September
15, 2008
For
some
years,
Inner City Press has noted the lack of a Fed Ex / Kinko's in the
Bronx. Now last week, it was explained, thusly: "The primary
factor in choosing locations is customer demand," said FedEx
Office spokeswoman Jenny Robertson. "We look at the density of
small and medium-size businesses. And there's never been a
'ruling out' of the Bronx. We are just looking at those
communities that have greater customer penetration." So, over 1
million people is not dense enough?
At
deadline, we're told there is an explanation for, and even
controversy around, the closing of the R & S Strauss auto
parts on Fordham Road. If received, we will run it on this site.
September 8, 2008
This
year's Ferragosto street fair on Arthur Avenue had, as before,
peaches and red wine, plums and white wine, $1.50 Italian ices
from Artusos, free samples of
mozzerella -- and a cheesy and probably fraudulent presentation
of "Florida Properties" complete with cartoon depictions of
swampland. Like something out of the 1950s...
Click
here for new
debate
September
1, 2008
An
Ecuadorian restaurant has opened on Crescent Avenue in The
Bronx, with ceviche, goat and rice and that country's apple
soda. The owner used to work for Arthur Avenue Catering and
saved up cash. He's dubious about President Correa but attentive
to the customers in his five-table storefront.
To chicken soup he'll add white rice to thicken it. The
hot sauce is made of radishes and there is not yet a menu. But
we are wishing them well.
Meanwhile,
gone from Fordham Road is the R & S Strauss auto parts
store. What happened?
August 25, 2008
On the corner of Webster and 188th, there are flowers and
prayers surrounding a street lamp, marking where a driver with
crumbling brakes crashed and killed a pregnant woman and, days
later, her child who had initially been saved. There is a music
store and a playground. Another area resident was nearly beaten
to death by the side of this playground, in the course of a
robbery. One block up there is a Carvel's ice cream store, and
then the under renovation and expansion Sears.
Life, death and development continue in The Bronx.
Watch this site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and this, on
Russia-Georgia
August
18, 2008
Talk
about nitty-gritty. The MTA has announced, regarding the 149th
Street Hub, that
The
Bx55 will have a new turnaround when changing from southbound to
northbound: traveling south on 3rd Avenue, east on East 146th
Street, north on Willis Avenue, and then north on 3rd Avenue.
This will eliminate the bus stop on Willis Avenue at the far
side of East 148th Street and replace it with a new stop on 3rd
Avenue at the near side of East 149th Street. All other stops
remain the same.
The
Bx15 northbound will remain on the current route to Willis
Avenue, then travel north on 3rd Avenue and return to the
current route. Southbound, it will travel south on 3rd Avenue
(passing 148th Street), then east on East 146th Street, south on
Willis Avenue and onto the current route.
The
Bx41 will leave its terminal on East 147th Street traveling
west, head north on 3rd Avenue, west on East 152nd Street, north
on Melrose Avenue, then resume the current route. Southbound,
the bus will travel south on Melrose Avenue, east on East 154th
Street, south on Elton Avenue, then south on 3rd Avenue and
continue on its current route.
So
what, no more Third-to-Melrose crosscutting by the Bx 41? How
'bout having the busses run on time?
August
11, 2008
So
the NY Times has whipped up dissatisfaction with how Hunts
Point is described in WikiPedia
August
4, 2008
The
pizzeria that opened earlier this year on Fordham Road across
from White Castle, in a space formerly occupied by a club that
was closed for under-aged drink, has itself already been
shuttered. We hardly knew ye...
July
28, 2008
Sadly
we
report
that the oddly-placed Argentine coffee shop on Webster Avenue
just north of the Cross Bronx Expressway has gone under, cut its
name off the fabric awning, no more beef sandwiches...
Now
the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation "is
inviting public comments" on
The
New York Organic Fertilizer Company's plant began operations in
1993. Over the years, repeated complaints have been made about
odors emanating from the facility. It has been the subject of
two major DEC enforcement actions during that period. In recent
months, DEC has developed a new strategy to address the odor
issues associated with the plant, and it is inviting public
comments on its plans.
Want
a
comment?
Shut it down...
July 21, 2008 A Bronx Juror's Eye View: Gypsy
Cab Whip Lash Crash 9 Years Ago Gets 1-Day Trial
The word now in the jurors' waiting room in The Bronx is
that things are getting worse: the duty more frequent and each
time for more days. There are at least two reasons, those who
work there say. First, more and more cases are filed in The
Bronx, because the county perceived as having poor and angry
residents who award big damages. So for example when McDonald's
was sued for making people obese -- and there are obese people
all over -- The Bronx was chosen as the venue. Second, you have
to be citizen and speak English to serve on a jury. These two
characteristics have become less prevalent in The Bronx, as a
clerk diplomatically puts it, even as the population has grown
in the last decade.
Put these two together, and those eligible for it have
jury duty more often, and for more days. Unless you luck out,
and can get selected for the jury in one of the new one-day
trials.
On
a recent morning, this option was offered to early arrivals, and
a long line quickly formed. Twenty two people were selected, and
shuttled into a side room to fill out questionnaires. Have you ever sued anyone? Have you or
a family member ever worked in a law office? Then the 22 took
elevators upstairs to Justice Yvonne Gonzalez' courtroom on the
fourth floor. They sat on one side of the courtroom, reading,
lounging, complaining about the too-strong air conditioning even
on this hot day. Ms. Gonzalez came
in and smiled, went into the back. Five minutes later she
re-emerged as a Justice, in black robe wearing glasses. "All
rise!" the court officer said.
"You don't have too," Justice Gonzalez said. "We're going
to pick 12 of you and ask you some questions. The rest of you
can wait."
The
first
12
were selected. Your witness was not, and cursed his luck. The
questions got personal. What do you do, for work? What does your
wife do? What exactly is a nutritional consultant? You choose
patients' menus? Have the patients filed lawsuits? Do they talk
to you about them?
Two
of
the twelve admit they want to go to law school. They will not be
chosen. An Asian woman tells a long story about a customer in
the nail salon where she works, who hurt her shoulder in a car
accident and constantly complains about it. She too will be
asked to leave, as this case is about a car crash, which injured
a Ms. Filartiga -- not her real name.
Now
the
two lawyers are getting to ask the questions. Really, they are
trying to put ideas in potential jurors' minds, things they
couldn't say once the trial begins. If a person doesn't look
injured, can you accept that they are still in a lot of pain? I
guess so. Good, because that's Ms.
Filartiga over there, and she's in pain. It's a sad looking old
woman on the far side of the courtroom. "She's
doesn't speak English," we're told. They why do we have to? Even
if you speak Spanish, you have to focus on what the interpreter
says. And in this one-day trial, to save money no court recorder
is present. There will only be your memory, and that should be
focused on the interpreter.
As
jurors are stricken, your witness is called into the jury box.
Questions are asked, to catch up with the others. Potential
grounds for being stricken are disclosed. But the witness makes
it, as Juror Number Seven, the alternate. The others are thanked
for their service, and return to the jurors' waiting room for
four more days of limbo. Those
lucky seven of the 22 who remain are told to order lunch, to be
paid for by the court system. The alternate may or may not get
fed, therefore the dollar tip does not have to be paid at this
time.
Triple decked roast beef and a diet Coke. Pickles? Why
not. But how was the diner that gets all these court house
orders selected? Was this to low bidder? The case begins, with
opening statements. A taxi has been hit from behind, at
University Avenue and McCombs Dam Road. The plaintiff was
wearing a seat belt, but still be whipped back and forth. She
has lost work since then, she has gone to many doctors. She will
never be the same. She needs money.
That's
the plaintiff's lawyer's story. The defense lawyer, for two New
Jerseyites who are not here, tells a counter tale. The plaintiff
knew the cab driver, that's why he hasn't been sued. The cabby
stopped short and with no notice, causing the crash. The
plaintiff's own doctors reports, which will be distributed at
the end, will show that her injuries are not serious. Okay,
let's get it on.
There
is
only one witness, Ms. Filartiga the plaintiff. It looks like she
hasn't been prepared. She keeps interrupting her lawyer, staring
off into space. Unprompted, she says she wasn't in fact wearing seat belt. Does
that make her negligent? Let's at
least quantify and get some damages, her lawyers seems to
decide. When did she work, after the accident? There was the
perfume factory... But only in the summers... She's not sure.
But after March 1999, when did she work?
That's
how
it
emerges,
that
this
terrible
important
fender-bender
took
place
more
than
nine
years
ago,
and
is
only
getting
its
one-day
trial
now.
Why?
How
can
it
take
nine
years
to
hear
this
meager
evidence?
Did
the
defendants
delay
things
hope
Filartiga
would
die
or
move
back
to
Santo
Domingo?
Did
the
plaintiffs'
lawyer
put
the
case
to
the
back
of
the
line
as
a
small
damages
dog?
The
jury is never told. But no wonder no one can remember what
happened that day, or afterwards.
The
lunch
has
arrived,
and
the
case
is
still
not
over.
Juror
Seven
will
have
roast
beef
after
all.
The
seven
are
led
up
a
staircase
to
a
room
with
peeling
paint.
"Don't
talk
about
the
case,"
they're
told.
"Sports
or
fashion
is
okay."
Out
the
window
is
Yankee
Stadium,
where
the
All-Star
Game's
Home
Run
Derby
is
to
be
held
that
night.
The
youngest
juror,
now
wildly
thumbing
his Sidekick, says even the tickets to Home Run Derby are
expensive. The sandwich, though free, is not good. Perhaps they
really were the low bidders. A Hispanic woman, maybe in her 50s,
calls her boss and says she'll be back at work tomorrow, she
lucked into the one-day trial. After that the silence is
deafening. The one African-American
on the jury, a large woman, gets up to go to the bathroom.
Juror
Seven,
to
pass
the
time
and
drown
out
the
sound
of
flushing,
says
Major
League
Baseball
is
screwing
The
Bronx
by
having
the
parade
in
Manhattan,
and
the
memorabilia
show
too.
There's
no
response.
Oh
really.
He
tries
again,
saying
how
in
his
jury
pool,
everyone
one
wanted
to
get
on
the
jury.
In
most
cases,
people
are
trying
to
get
off,
saying,
"I
can't
be
fair"
or
"I hate the police." There are a
few nods. Okay then, read the newspaper. In the corner of the
room there's a stack of police accident reports, with drawings
of automobiles and arrows for direction of impact. Could
Filartiga's be in there?
Okay
it
must
be time to go back down. No, says a large woman who used to be a
school principal. "They come up and
get us, I know this, I've done it before." She is white, and
almost everyone else is Hispanic. She is ignored. Six of the
seven creep down the stairs, where have metal mesh because
criminal defendants are led this way too. They
peer into the empty courtroom. Hey,
the security officer says. "Go back upstairs."
The principal was right, looks vindicated. Are they
settling the case? Ten more minutes pass.
Finally
they are led back into the courtroom, Juror Seven told to pick a
spot in the second row. This is easy, this is fun. It will end
today, they've said. The jury is
told the Ms. Filartiga was 53 when the crash happened. She's 62
now and it is estimated that she will live to 84. "That's an
average, of course," the plaintiff's lawyer said, adding the
word "actuarial." She says, "You
can decided how much each of her years will be worth." But can
we? How?
The
plaintiff's
lawyer
has
forgotten
to
make
photocopies
of
her
exhibits.
There
will
be
only
one
copy
in
the
deliberations
room.
The
defense
has
copies,
which
are
passed
out
to
each
juror
including
Number
Seven.
The
exhibits
are
pretty
damning.
A
doctor
says
the
pain
is
fake.
The
police
report
on
the
accident
says
the
taxi
stopped
too
fast.
Then
again,
that
was
only
what
the
Jerseyites
said.
But
only
they
spoke with the police. Why hasn't the cabby come to the trial to
testify? Why didn't the plaintiff's lawyer try to address this
hole in her case? Is the hope
simply that six Bronx jurors, told a tale of a possible-hurt
factory worker, will award millions of dollars?
Why
didn't
someone
-- say for example, the Jerseyites' insurance company -- simply
give Ms. Filartiga 40 or 50 thousand dollars, back nine years
ago, and leave it at that? Did Filartiga ask for more? Did the
insurers refuse to pay, then made her wait nine years? This is
the background we need, to weight the equities. But none of the
jurors get that information, much less the Alternate, your
witness, who is now told to go. There is no closure, as in real
life. Good luck Ms. Filartiga, hope you make it to 84 or more.
We devote our Bronx Watch footnote this week to
an anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation win, NWBCCC
vindicated against landlords which claimed that tenant organizers
interfered with their relationships with Washington Mutual bank.
On July 7, Justice Sallie Manzanet denied the landlords' claim,
triggering 11 days later a press release by the victorious
lawyers. Hats off. But the press release doesn't saying anything
about legal fees and costs...
July
14, 2008
With
the
hype
starting to swirl around the July 15 All-Star game at Yankee
Stadium, Major League Baseball did not respond to repeated
inquiries from South Bronx media about covering the game. Of course, the parade, concert and other
events are all in Manhattan...
In
front of Mount Carmel Church on July 13, the John Duke / Newark
Symphonic Band played tuba music as a priest led a march down
187th Street past frying sausages and bubble tea.
July
7, 2008
In
Belmont, now it's the Dolce Amaro restaurant, next to Modern's
supermarket, that's been closed by inspectors, health and mental
hygiene. The previously but only briefly closed Arthur Avenue
Bakery is back open, this time seemingly legal, with a new
inspection report in the window.
Of the new BX 12 "Select"
service, these negative reviews: the moving of the Local stops
in fact makes trips longer for many riders, as they can no
longer take local or Select, whichever one comes first. Some
local stops have muddy sidewalks, and no disabled access.
Lawsuit, anyone?
And
then
there
is the case of the hijacked banana trucks, stolen from Delaware
and dumped, fruitless, in The Bronx...
June
30, 2008
The
Empowerment
Zone last week announced 11 awards, eight in Manhattan and three
in The Bronx:
* $200,000 loan
and a $50,000 grant to help Project Enterprise Inc. establish a
micro-loan program in the Bronx Empowerment Zone. Since its
creation in 1996 as a US Tressury-certified Community Development
Financial Institution, Project Enterprise has served more than
1,300 entrepreneurs, disbursing more than 350 loans totaling over
$1.2 million.
* $250,000 grant to help Rocking The Boat Inc.'s $960,000 project
to consolidate and renovate its educational facilities. The
project will help the company establish its first permanent home
at 812 Edgewater Road in the Bronx. Rocking the Boat used
traditional wooden boatbuilding and on-water education to help
middle- and high school-age youth develop into empowered and
responsible adults. Its programs serve nearly 2,000 students and
community members, mostly from the south
Bronx.
* $150,200 grant to help the New York Gauchos and Teamwork
Foundation renovate its main gymnasium and entranceway at 478
Gerard Avenue in the Bronx. The Teamwork Foundation, founded 40
years ago, serves as the general business administrator of the New
York Gauchos basketball program that has served approximately
11,000 young people ranging in age from 5 through 18. Fifteen
Gaucho alumni have played in the National Basketball Association
(including Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks).
So is that a Brooklyn (or Coney Island) grant?
Nomination
for worst bus line in the city: the Bx 41 along Webster Avenue.
A recent evening at 149th Street, people waited for an hour.
Later, up the line, the schedule was ignored, all busses stopped
at Fordham Road, leaving those heading further north stranded
again.
On global issues, click here for hour-long debate...
June 23, 2008
The
week of the City's announcement of plans for "Third Avenue /
Melrose Commons" on the real Third Avenue and 157th Street,
Flynn Playground was entirely ripped up, while overpriced
"luxury condos" were advertised between 156th and 157ths. Is
this serving actual Bronx residents? Further south on Willis, at
145th, Peter Goodwine founded Fort Motte Baptist, and on 142nd
there is Abraham House. More gentrification on Lincoln Avenue,
beyond the Clocktower at 112, a whole new crowd. Again, is this
helping those who've long lived in The Bronx?
June
16, 2008
It's
street
fair
time again in The Bronx. On a rainy Saturday night on 187th
Street, an old grinding machine sounding like African drumming
chewed through sugar cane fed in by a man in a skull cap, in his
pickup truck, sign calling it Bahar Fruit Juices. On Arthur Avenue in a Parks Department
trailer, the band Streets of the Bronx played on, for only those
under Palumbo's Caffe's awning.
The
blues
they
played could be for the Hunts Point Market, which is threatening
to move to New Jersey, just after the City moved the Fulton
Street Fish Market up near it. Great planning...
Trolling
the Federal Register, we learn that DOJ has sued and settled
about illegal underground storage tanks, for gas, at 1303
Webster Avenue and 4090 Boston Road in the Bronx...
June
9, 2008
Leave
it
to the New
York Times to gush about gentrification of the South Bronx
June 2, 2008
This
week, media-watch at home and abroad.
Now is The
Independent of London of May 27
May
26, 2008
Now
it's
become
clear that the parkland promised in exchange for that taken for
the new Yankee Stadium will open, if ever, long after at the
stadium does. So who's to blame? The Parks Commissioner won't
talk, and the local pols who supported the deal continue to
claim, against all evidence, that it is on track. And now it
looks like the news stadium won't get an outdoor hockey game,
either.
Meanwhile,
MLB.com has placed the East Harlem restaurant Rao's north in...
the Bronx. Click here
Welcome
to pander-ville: Bronx pol Jeff Klein took to the airwaves to
brag about his proposal to provide
a gas-use tax credit, and to eliminate tolls on holidays
May
19, 2008
From the department of
"It Don't Mean a Think If It Ain't Got that Swing" --
We agree it's ridiculous that the renovated playground
of Public School 138 in Soundview has no swings. According to
the Daily News, the explanation
is that NYC recently paid $3.5 million to settle a
case brought by a woman named Daisey Vega who was injured in a
swing accident in 1999 at Noble Park in the Bronx." Mayor
Bloomberg is quoted that "you have one accident,
everybody screams, 'More safety, another level of backup,' and
then somebody sues. A lot of the old things that we did because
there are some risks involved and people have sued . . . are no
longer things that we do. Sad, I mean . . . you know . . .
anyways." This in the same month he told a reporter asking about
Sean Bell, "some nerve.. talk to my press secretary." And so it
goes.
We are
back on the Bronx-watch including watching how the term is used.
No less than the BCC (okay, its Welsh service) used "South
Bronx" as a generic insult in an article, here,
about biking. Also in the UK, the Andover Advertiser of May 16
quotes a local pol that "We are in danger of scoring an own goal
because the way we talk Tidworth is like living in the Bronx." And what's wrong with living in
the Bronx?
May
12, 2008
While
the
Bloomberg
Administration
loudly
claims
concern
for
the
lack
of
supermarkets
and
fruits
and
vegetables
in
lower
income
neighborhoods,
the
gentrification
it
has
fueled
is
part
of
the
problem.
In
an
example
of
commercial
gentrification,
Vornado
Realty
Trust
is
jacking
up
Key
Foods'
rent
500%
on
Bruckner
Boulevard
and
White
Plains
Road,
driving
out
the
store
in
order
to
demolish
it
and
leave
residents
of
high-rises
with
a
ten
block
walk
to the store. Only in New York...
May
5, 2008
Cinco de Mayo was celebrated on 187th Street and Crescent
Avenue on May 3, with no even as much fanfare as last year. The
sponsor was Health Plus, which ran nearly every booth. Even by
five o'clock, there were no tacos, no Mexican sodas, nothing. Que pasa?
The next day, May 4, six police cars, a fire department 4
by 4 and two ambulance converged on the same corner. Police
engaged in a manhunt, while people stood in front of the
mostly-Albanian social clubs gawking. A social club on 186th
Street has a sign, Welcome Home, Ramush. But were the police
working for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia?
Finally
the scandal of the 700 teachers in NY Board of Education "rubber
rooms" has hit the tabloids, with the Daily News following-up on
filmmakers' work, and saying it costs the City $65 million a
year. But what of the scandal of "District 75," to which a mix
of violent and learning disabled kids are sent, without notice
or due process?
April
28, 2008
Spring has sprung in The Bronx, and the buildings are coming down. On 163rd Street and Third Avenue, the Powerhouse Church is down. The second courthouse has disappeared; there is a sign by Procida Construction advertising the chance to "join Dunkin Donuts and Popeyes" in a strip mall on the site. Whole streets are closed off to traffic. But we're back looking into it -- watch this site, and, on international issues, this streaming video http://www.bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/10560#
April
21, 2008
On
the sidelines of Inner City Press' first-hand coverage of the
Pope's visit to the United Nations on April 18 -- click here
Arthur
Avenue Bakery update: even with two governmental "Closed" signs
on the window, the bakery is still stocked, and a handwritten
sign promises wholesale bread as special prices. Neighbors often
wondered what took place in the half-finished cinderblock
building above the bakery...
And
now, a new restaurant review in the form of a cautionary tale.
On Fordham Road across from White Castle, in the storefront
formerly occupied by a bar that got closed for serving
under-aged drinkers, the "Il Ponte Vecchio Pizza Restaurant" has
opened. The space is long and
narrow, like a railroad flat. On a recent visit, two reviewers
walked through to sit in the back, next to an open door. The
back yard has green Astro-turf, making it seem like a place to
sit. But in fact there is a large refrigerator in the yard, into
which restaurant staff disappeared several times during the 20
minute wait for fried calamari. One, the manager, reappeared
carrying a head of lettuce in ungloved hands. "Sorry for the
wait," he said. "It's that we make everything fresh." The next,
a cook, came out with vegetables. On the menu, one can design a
salad: walnuts 50 cents, cheddar cheeses 75 cents and the like.
It is confusing and could, it appears, result in a $22 dollar
salad.
There are pipes across the ceiling. One is for sprinklers
-- safety is always a plus -- but the other pipe made noise
during the visit. The decor includes vaguely Roman tiles, an
incongruous chicken, and witch hats. There is a hole in the
ceiling next to the light fixture, and another in the brick
wall.
On the positive side, the Cuban panini came with
fresh-made potato chips. "Those only come with the panini," the
manager said. Oh well. He said they own nine other restaurants.
These, we gotta see...
To be constructive, this restaurant can make money from
Fordham students. But it will need to stay open later than 9
p.m., and otherwise raise its game, and/or lower its prices. The
catering has promise, the hot chips should remain. And maybe the
fridge should come in from the back yard...
April 14, 2008
Belmont journal: what do you say about a public library -- say, one on the corner of 186th Street and Hughes Avenue -- that doesn't have tax forms in the week that taxes are due? Why is yet another small grocery store opening up on 187th Street, between Beaumont and Cambrelleng, making it a total of eight in a three-block strip? Three of these are open 24-hours a day; whether the new one will be is not yet known. If you combined these eight, you could have a good-sized supermarket... This are back to morning, post unilateral declaration of independence in Kosovo, at the Albanian social clubs in the area. A strangely flashy place named Planet Wings has opened up in the same stretch, already offering franchise opportunities along with slightly overpriced wings. Cheapest item is a taco, at $2.16, but it is cold, cannot hold a candle to the little stands that have cropped up in Belmont. The sign says, best wings in the Hudson Valley. But this is The Bronx.. The area was filled with police this week, searching for suspects, throwing people up against the pharmacy's rolling metal gate. But the only "raid" that got publicized was of the Arthur Avenue Bakery, click here for that. Welcome to Belmont...
April 7, 20
Metro-North
follow-up: a week after defending his railroad's exclusion of
riders at Fordham Station in The Bronx, and saying inaccurately
that a center platform could be built for more express trains to
stop at Fordham, Metro-North president Peter A. Cannito was quoted in a press
release about a center platform -- for Yankee Stadium. It's a
$91 million project, and according to Cannito, "Everyone is
pushing to get it open as close to opening day 2009 as is safely
possible." The press release continued, "The four tracks of
Metro-North's Hudson Line pass just west of the stadium. The
tracks are being relocated about 50 feet west to allow for
construction of two center-island platforms." It's all where
your priorities are...
In
2007 in its headquarters
Metropolitan Statistical Area of New York City, Citigroup
confined Americans to higher-cost loans above the rate spread
2.61 times more frequently than whites. Citigroup's disparity to
Latinos was 1.90.
JPMorgan Chase, in what is also its headquarters MSA of
New York City, was even more disparate, confining African
Americans to higher-cost loans above the rate spread 2.92 times
more frequently than whites. Chase's disparity to Latinos was
2.50. More here.
And
now predatory lending has slowed the market: home sales volume in Queens dropped by 25
percent from February 2007 to February 2008, 31 percent in
Brooklyn, 36 percent on Staten Island -- but fully 50 percent in
the Bronx...
March 31, 2008 -- see, www.innercitypress.com/ic1mtamnrr033008.html
Bronxites Are
Excluded from Metro-North Trains, As Congestion Pricing Looms
Byline:
Matthew R. Lee of Inner City Press in the Bronx: News
Analysis
BRONX, N.Y., March 30 -- As
New York government officials consider imposing a tax for
driving into lower Manhattan, many of the Metro-North Railroad
trains which stop to let off suburban riders in the Bronx
refuse to take Bronx passengers on board for the last leg of
the trip into Grand Central Station. When these trains stop at
the Fordham Road station in the Bronx, the public address
system announces that they are "discharge only" and that
anyone who insists on getting on will be charged the highest
possible fare. Among those excluded or over-charged are
Bronxites who have paid over $140 for a monthly pass from
Fordham to Grand Central.
This longstanding policy was questioned on March 26 at
a public hearing of the Metro-North Railroad president Peter
Cannito. Along with questions about allowing more bicycles on
the MNRR trains and better policing late-night drunken riders,
Inner City Press asked Mr. Cannito to explain why the company
he runs, at least until later this year, denies its services
to pre-paid customers in the Bronx. While several of the other
MNRR board members present seem surprised that this takes
place, Cannito said it is a product of an operating agreement
between the states of Connecticut and New York. He said that
since Connecticut pays 65% of the New Haven line's costs, they
have requested that no passengers be allowed on the New Haven
lines trains which stop to discharge passengers in the Bronx.
When Inner City Press questioned the social, racial and
environmental justice logic of keeping paying customers from
The Bronx from riding the suburban commuter trains even when
they have paid, Cannito said, even if "you don't accept it,"
he had explained it. Another board member interjected that
what Inner City Press had raised showed the "regionality of
service" which is "something we are keenly aware of and
working toward."
Further inquiry by Inner City Press has revealed as an
explanation of the exclusion of Bronxites that the Connecticut
and New York lines of the Metro-North system don't have in
place a system to invoice each other for riders like Bronxites
riding New Haven line trains south into Manhattan. The
bureaucratic fix appears simple, unless an implicit
selling-point of the New Haven line is the exclusion of more
"urban" riders. While some intrepid Bronxites
have found a way around the MNRR's policy of exclusion
-- by buying a holding a ticket from Westchester to Grand
Central, as if they had gotten on further north -- these games
are not accessible to everyone, cost more and should not be
necessary, particularly with congestion pricing looming.
Cannito offered a single, illusory concession. He said
that MNRR is considering whether having a middle platform at
the Fordham station would allow additional express trains from
White Plains to stop at Fordham. But a cursory visit to the
station shows that there is no room for a middle platform, and
little chance of expanding the station outward, either into
Fordham University where a dorm is being constructed, or out
onto Webster Avenue.
Also at the hearing, a bicycle enthusiast derided late
night drunken riders who, he said, often vomit in the cars.
Just as a designated quiet car had been proposed, he suggested
what he called a "designated pukers car."
March 24, 2008
Bronx news watch medley -- note to News 12: the Latin music legend who just died was named Cha-chow, not Cock-Hayo... And to report at length about the fight-back of a Bronx high school football coach without even mentioning why the principal banned him from the campus is not respectful, it's mystifying...
Last week in honor or search of La Francophonie, Inner City Press had to venture beyond the Bronx, first to DC then Manhattan then finally the Borough of Kings. Monday in DC, the Press' travails with the UN and Google were discussed. Monday night at the CUNY Graduate Center on Fifth Ave, an eclectic band played, saxophonist from Quebec, bass from Mali, keyboards from Japan. The M de C Paul Holdergraber from the NY Public Library is, despite his name, French. Who knew? The week was capped, however, by the surreal performance of a quintet called La Laque at the Luna Lounge west of Bedford, east of Lorimer in Brooklyn. Energetic drums, ethereal singing in French, vaguely Germanic keyboards. One of the few song-explanation said that Tuesday is French for weekend. "C'mon, that's funny," the singer deadpanned. Mardi, get it?
And while not French at all, we're compelled to note, across the street from Luna Lounge, the upscale-downscale meat emporium Fette Sau, faux Southern pork shoulder $15 a pound, we recommend the broccoli salad and sweet black chili sauce...
March 17, 2008 WashPost - Guardian (UK)
The day after news of the Federal Reserve's murky bailout of Bear Stearns through JPMorgan Chase, Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch filed with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a petition, complaint and series of requests, portions of which are available by clicking here. ICP has now made a similar filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, it's reported that Bear Stearns' CEO recently paid cash to buy two apartment in the former Plaza Hotel in New York, without a mortgage...
So how did Eliot Spitzer get caught? North Fork Bank, recently re-branded Capital One, filed a Suspicious Activity Report last July. Like most SARs, it went nowhere. Until HSBC filed its own, about transactions with shell companies QAT International and QAT Consulting Group, connected to Emperor's Club VIP. Now investigators took an interest, tracing back to Spitzer. Why was he banking with North Fork, of all places?
Goodwin, a 25-pound pygmy goat found last week wandering near the intersection of 141st Street and St. Ann's Avenue in the Bronx, was shipped last week to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen in upstate New York. "I don't know for sure, but my best guess is that he escaped from a slaughterhouse," said Richard Gentles, spokesman for the Animal Care & Control Center of New York City. "We are excited to welcome this tiny, yet very brave, goat to our shelter," Susie Coston, Farm Sanctuary's national shelter director, said in a statement. "By running for his life, very likely from one of New York City's many live markets and slaughterhouses, Goodwin escaped a fate that no animal deserves and will now receive lifelong refuge and all the health care and affection he needs to really thrive. He will also become an ambassador for farm animals everywhere, educating the public about the horrors animals like him endure every day."March 10, 2008
So why is the courthouse at 161st and 3rd being given to Imagine Schools, which in 2005 lost its charter for a Syracuse elementary school for having low test scores and high turnover among students and staff members?
Foreclosure tale from New York, by a charter-bus driver in the East Bronx who has a mortgage payment that went from $2,482 to $3,500 a month. I had a two-year teaser rate, now going up every six months to a maximum of 13.2 percent, "I spoke to Wells Fargo. I tried to get them to keep the rate at the teaser rate, 6.8 percent... I'm in a home that cost us $35,000 in the sixties. We refinanced three times, and we owe $400,000."
It appears that the UN is considering relocating some of its trees, including gifts from the Japanese mission, to keep them safe during construction. Inner City Press asked Capital Master Plan spokesman Werner Schmidt if he could confirm that the Bronx-based NY Botanical Garden, where the CMP's Michael Adlerstein used to work, is coming to check out and even price relocation of the trees. "There are tree issues," Schmidt replied. "We are talking to a number" of entities, "including the Botanical Garden." Watch this site. And see, on Inner City Press and free speech, www.bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/9329#
March 3, 2008
As you cruise past Cardinal Hayes High School, let's say on MetroNorth watching a new building rising where once the Police Academy was to have been, who would have guessed what the principal had on his hard drive -- or would that be his zip(per) drive? Also on the porn front, Inner City Press last week ran a three-story series that CUlMinated in the quiet removal of Smooth and King, replaced by Elle and Vogue. Click here. And now, to the Bronx...
February 25, 2008
A snowy Saturday night in Tremont, club-goers line up in front of the Jet Set Cafe on Webster, across from the deadly White Castle outlet, just south of where Popeye's Fried Chicken has moved in. If you need a selection of hundreds of hubcaps and rims, this is your area.
Across the world but related, In Kazakhstan, Ministry of Emergencies head Vladimir Bozhko last week warned ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel company, that it could be forced to close one of its coal mines it if does not improve safety conditions after an explosion last month killed 30 people. The company was given one month to draw up a plan to introduce 41 safety reforms at the Abaiskaya mine in central Kazakhstan. ArcelorMittal is making steel for New York's Freedom Tower...
Also high in the New York City sky is the multi-million dollar penthouse owned by Lichtenstein, on 40th Street and 2nd Avenue. It was put into a different light by the story this week of Germany's payment for a CD-ROM of its citizens with money in Lichtenstein. Enabling tax evasions as an act of war? Also about the UN, see this sample editorial.
Meanwhile, the NY Attorney General's office last week sent Inner City Press a letter about a years-old Freedom of Information Law request about predatory lending, responsive documents to which have still not been provided...
February 18, 2008
In the streets of the Belmont neighborhood in the Bronx, lined with Kososar social clubs selling burek, cars honked their horns, flying red flags emblazoned with the Albanian black eagle. "Times Square one o'clock," a men in front of one of the social clubs told cars that slowed as they passed. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting for 1 p.m. as well, announced to the press not by the UN but by the French mission. What could the Security Council accomplish? Click here for Inner City Press' story from the UN on Kosovo, and also on " Death on UN Lawn Leaves Questions Unanswered, Photos Unexplained."
February 11, 2008
By Fordham Plaza, where every morning now a long time snakes down the sidewalk, patrolled by guards who cause a break in the line for certain overpriced storefronts, the environmental outrage recently occurred. The tall trees fronting the Metro North railroad tracks were unceremonious cut down. In any other borough, this would have triggered protest, probably before, and saving the trees. But this is the Bronx, where institutions do whatever they want and the people are made to wait endlessly in line...
Meanwhile looking south to Manhattan, Wall Street's Merrill Lynch has announced losses of almost $10 billion in the last three months of 2007, forcing the sale pieces of the company to foreign investors.This hasn't stopped Merrill from promoting itself with a page on the program of the mis-conceived Gucci / Madonna event held February 6 on the North Lawn of the UN, the over-commercialization of which was reported as far away as Australia, click here to view (cites Inner City Press, and see this, which links in Deutsche Bank). And so it goes...
February 4, 2008
Last week, Hudson Valley Bank's CEO said in a press release that Bronx landlord Barry Levites has been named to the board of New York National Bank, which sold out to Hudson Valley Bank. The press release mentions, only once, Hudson Valley Bank's Business Development Board, and that Levites was already serving on it. So Hudson Valley Bank's impact on NYNB has been to name a controversial Bronx landlord to its board. The missed j.a. lobbia wrote in the Voice during the 2001 mayoral campaign of donations from "Levites Realty, which has made headlines for its decrepit Bronx buildings, including one that had to be vacated in 1994 after the walls began to shake and crack." Welcome to the new New York National Bank...
At the UN, George Clooney Says that in Lockheed Martin's Sole Source Darfur Deal, Mistakes Were Made; click here for video debate.
January 28, 2008
Now this was innovative-- Luis Fernandez, 30, was arraigned last week on charges that he sold illegal drugs while making deliveries for Schmuger's Hardware Store on Third Avenue, including a sale last month to an undercover cop near E. 178th St and Third Ave...
January 21, 2008
Bloomberg's state of the city speech last week, delivered while still toying with a presidential run, took credit for rezoning the South Bronx, but not for closing schools and daycare centers, and presiding over the increasing unaffordability of housing to people who have long lived in The Bronx. Then in his canned radio address, Bloomberg equated fighting poverty with monitoring those getting out of prison, while saying that "another key priority of my second term [is] fighting poverty." We'll see.
From an Inner City Press correspondent in the North Bronx we have this -- Saturday January 19 near 241st Street, on an elevated train stopped between stations, police lay in wait to issue tickets to riders who walked between cars. Feeling it was a set-up, our intrepid correspondent got off at the next stop and stood telling entrants what the police were up to. And soon enough, the police left...
January 14, 2008
As protests continue of Bloomberg's closing of the day care center on 140th Street between Willis and Alexander Avenues, now the state Office of Children and Family Services is moving to shutter the Pyramid Reception Center in the Bronx.
Now slated for the Bathgate Industrial Park, which has had a weedy lot just below the Cross Bronx Expressway for more than a decade, is a warehouse for Pearlgreen Hardware, which claims it will add about 60 new jobs in addition to the 60 workers Pearlgreen currently employs. We'll see..
Dion DiMucci, formerly of the Belmonts, is moving back to New York, to... Wall Street.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has filed an administrative action against Rosenthal & Klein Inc., Bronx, N.Y. The action alleges that the company committed willful, repeated, and flagrant violations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA). In the action, it is alleged that the company failed to make full payment promptly to 16 sellers of the agreed purchase prices, in the total amount of $927,459.76 for 208 lots of perishable agricultural commodities. Food wars...
January 7, 2008
While trying to create buzz for a presidential run, Mayor Bloomberg is moving to close the Lucille Murray Child Development Center in the South Bronx by January 11. Not only is the Center being de-funded -- the building will no longer offer daycare of any kind. Great...
On the fight against the proposed take-over of Commerce Bank, including its drive-thru branch on Fordham Road, see, e.g., "Activist fights TD-Commerce Bancorp deal, citing racial gap," by Richard Newman, Bergen Record, Jan. 1, 2008, Pg. L7
December 31, 2007
In the Daily News' December 28 Pollyanna piece about crime drops in The Bronx, there's a quote from Augie Aloia, a professor of criminal justice at Monroe College in the Bronx, the "the new numbers as a sign that the Bronx is 'turning the corner...Because of the demographics, the Bronx is a tough borough and it always has been.'" But what demographics does he mean? If the reference is to income, that should be spelled out. By the way, grand larceny is up, and shootings and injuries have not declined as much as homicides: meaning that the decrease may largely be attributable to advances in emergency medicine...
Click here for Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch's challenge to the proposed take-over of Commerce Bank by Toronto Dominion. In the New York City MSA, TD Banknorth strikingly excluded African Americans from its marketing, outreach and lending. For home improvement loans, of which TD Banknorth made 126 loans to whites based on 266 applications of which it denied 115 (43.2%), TD Banknorth processed only 46 applications from African Americans, denied 35 of them (76.1%). For refinance loans, of which TD Banknorth made 10 loans to whites, TD Banknorth received nine applications from African Americans, and denied ALL of them. While strikingly excluding people of color from its offers of normally-priced, prime credit, TD's Banknorth has continued funding and enabling predatory / fringe financiers such as high-cost pawnshops... And see, "Advocacy group in challenge of TDBank-Commerce Bancorp deal," by Carrie Tait, National Post (Canada), December 29, 2007; "Advocates for poor protest bid to buy Commerce," by Harold Brubaker, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 29, 2007
December 24, 2007
Christmas in Belmont is not the same this year. What's missing? Well, the farm animals and horse-drawn carriage ride, from in front of Mount Carmel Pharmacy. There's said to a sickness in the family, so this year there's only a Santa in front, $5 a picture, small candy bars handed out free. To the side of Santa on Sunday, the neighborhood's ghost-like bootleg DVD seller greeted an African-American teen with an off-color salutation. "What'd you say, man?"
"I said, How's it going, buddy."
"That's not what you said."
"Okay, I called you cracker. Are you white?"
"No." And that the conversation shifted...
December 17, 2007
As Carrion Downshifts to Race for NYC Comptroller, Human Rights Disinvestment Balanced by Returns
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee: News Analysis
BRONX, NY, December 13 -- As Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion spoke at the Grand Hyatt Thursday morning, quoting from James Joyce and Emma Lazarus' poems on the base of the Statue of Liberty, he seemed inexorably to be moving to declaring himself a candidate for Mayor. In the audience were generations of Bronx elected officials, Jose and Joel Rivera, the Yankees' Randy Levine and a table bought by the Bronx Zoo, Herman Badillo at a table of lobbying firm Tonio Burgos and Associates. The real estate industry was making introductions, and filling the ballroom. There was no talk of rising rents, only of rising hopes. And then Carrion declared for... Comptroller.
In the media scrum that immediately followed, he was asked "why not run for Mayor?" His answer was "I've got kids," and that there are other young talents running for Mayor, two on whom he said he would call with the news: Christine (Quinn) and Anthony (Weiner). He shifted to say that New York's economy is doing well, even with the subprime lending crisis. He said there are "ten to twelve thousand families with subprime mortgages," an estimate that readily-available Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data calls into question. But he's not yet Comptroller.
Looking ahead, Inner City Press asked Carrion for his views on using the city's pension fund and investment to advance human rights. "It's one of the strongest instruments municipalities have," Carrion said, "to go to enterprises, to multinational corporations or funds, and say we are uncomfortable with practices in parts of the company, in countries, the treatment of workers."
Inner City Press asked if he would divest from specific countries, and from companies doing business in them, using as examples what other government subdivisions have targets, Sudan and Syria. "Anywhere human or workers rights are violated, we need to rethink strategy," Carrion said. He went on to say he would "also take into consideration the return for pensioners." So if human rights violators are profitable? We'll see.
Footnotes: A study cited last week found that in Jamaica, Queens, a mainly black suburb of New York with a median income of $45,000, 46 per cent of mortgages were sold by sub-prime lenders; while in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a mostly white area with a median income of $50,000, 4 per cent of mortgages originated from sub-prime lenders... With Citigroup giving its CEO and chairman jobs to investment banker, now pundits speculate that the branch bank may be sold, saying Citi's "share in New York is way down from five years ago, when it had nearly 21% market share and 375 branches, because it moved a large amount of deposits from New York City to Nevada." Is that why Citi has felt comfortable doing less and less under the Community Reinvestment Act?
December 10, 2007
So Mayor Bloomberg, preparing to fly to Beijing and to Bali, announces without consultations that P.S. 220 in the Bronx will be closed. His canned quote was "We just can't sit here and let a school that does not do what it's supposed to do continue on its merry way" -- he said as he headed on his merry way to cut ribbons in China with Hank Paulson, and to resorts in Indonesia...
December 3, 2007
A Bronx tale, from last week's New York Sun, about Gloria Davis' successor Michael Benjamin: "He first saw her when he stopped by the William Hodson Senior Center on Webster Avenue... by his third visit to the center, he won a date with Ms. Benjamin, who accepted a lunch invitation at a nearby Albanian-run Italian restaurant." Okay, that'd be on Arthur Avenue. But which one? Noticed on Cambrelleng: a 4 by 4 with diplomatic plates, "Consul." Albania, anyone? In the run-up to the December 10th Kosovo (non) decision?
From the mailbag:
Subj: Belmont and
e187th incessant Xmas music
From: Distracted
To: mlee [at] innercitypress.org
Date: 11/27/2007 5:51:50 PM Eastern Standard Time
Matthew: Do you have any idea who is controlling the two speakers on the pole next to Mt. Carmel Church on the corner of Belmont and 187th street. Xmas music is constantly blaring and the church says it is not them that does this? The music runs until 11pm at night - we need to sleep sometime. Thanks.
November 26, 2007
BRONX, November 24 -- "American Gangster" by Ridley Scott spent much money getting the visuals of 1970s New York, including The Bronx, down pat. There's a canyon of abandoned buildings, a foray to the Bronx under the elevated train (flash of a 176th Street Station sign), and incongruous street scenes on the Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge. There are wide-windowed breakfast spots in Harlem, and housing projects like jails, with fencing on their breezeways. There is the growing heroin empire, and the dogged cop on its trail. No judgment is passed, no conclusion offered. It seems like a waste of money -- and, concretely, the Chelsea Clearview, after taking in $12 a ticket, makes sure that no other movies can be seen. Boo hiss.
We like the good news on South Brother Island, click here.
November 19, 2007
Bloomberg Repeats Threat to Cease School Visits as UN Backslides on Fix-Up Commitments -- Does Real Estate Explain? Bronx Footnote
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- While the UN on Tuesday claimed that it had agreed to New York City Mayor Bloomberg's timeline for minimum safety repairs of the UN Headquarters building, the City's response to the UN notes two items as "not satisfactory," and reiterates the threat to prohibit public school visits to the UN. The City's letter, obtained by Inner City Press and put online here, accuses the UN of backsliding on previous timeliness for "compartmentalization" and for installation of smoke detectors.
"Building separation" was to have begun on January 8, a date that the UN's November 5 letter ignores. The City's Commissioner for the UN, Consular Corps and Protocol, Marjorie B. Tiven -- who is also Mayor Bloomberg's sister -- writes that "in previous meeting with the UN we had been told these dates were attainable. Your letter states only that a contract will be awarded by mid-December... That is not satisfactory."
On smoke detectors, the City required that 50% be installed by January 8 "and 100% by March 31, 2008, dates the UN had previously agreed were achievable." Commissioner Tiven writes that the UN's November 5 letter "states that the contract would be signed by the end of November 2007 and work completed 24 months after the signing of the contract. That is not satisfactory." Then Commissioner Tiven reiterates the threat: if the deadlines, including those listed above, are not met, "the City will have not choice but to direct the cessation of all public school visits to the United Nations, and if warranted, the City will take additional action as well." The letter is copied to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Mayor.
How then to explain the following statements, questions by Inner City Press, at Tuesday UN noon briefing? From the transcript:
Deputy Spokesperson: The Secretary-General and the Head of the Department of Management, Alicia Barcena, are in complete agreement with the Mayor in terms of concerns for the safety of visitors and staff and others who occupy this building, which I mentioned to you yesterday... I think we are moving along, and the city and UN continue to address these measures as expeditiously as possible.
Inner City Press: Yes, one follow-up on that. There seemed to be this very concrete issue of compartmentalization, which I guess means fire doors and also something to do with the fan system, which the city seems to think should be repaired by January. Is this...
Deputy Spokesperson: There is a benchmark date set for that and we've agreed to that. [Video here]
But the City's letter notes that the UN has not agreed to the benchmark dates, has in fact backed away from previous commitments. How these problems develop will be reported on this site.
News analysis: It would be important for the UN to stand by its commitments, and if for some reason backing away from commitments is seen as necessary, to be transparent, including to the press, about such changes. The earlier City letter was reported in the Washington Times of November 12, and New York Sun of November 13. Did the UN think that the City's November 13 letter wouldn't become public? This same pattern, with larger financial stakes, has taken place in connection with the UN's no-bid $250 million contract to Lockheed Martin for Darfur peacekeeping infrastructure: the UN said it had to go "sole source" following the Security Council's July 31 resolution on Darfur, but then a memo emerged, obtained and published by Inner City Press, showing the move to sole source as early as April 2007. Each time, the UN's response seem to be to try to track down the leak, to go after whistleblowers. But the City is free to release its letters.
It might also be attributable to not knowing or having been told of the letter -- also on Tuesday, receipt of a letter from biofuels trade associations could not be confirmed, and a question earlier in the week about submission of evidence of alleged corruption in UN's Kosovo mission UNMIK has still not been answered. Still...
On the UN side, some real estate-minded pundits speculate that beyond a concern for safety, the Bloomberg Administration may also be seeking to gain some leverage and influence over upcoming UN decisions that can impact the City's economy. Pending General Assembly approval, the UN will eventually be moving thousands of employees out of its headquarters to repair it. Where these employees go will impact local real estate markets. The City is also said to have its eye on the two building across First Avenue from the Headquarters, thrown up by the UN Development Corporation (UNDC). Could the UN help stoke up real estate values in Long Island City, Queens? Inner City Press asked the chief of the UN's rehabilitation project, Michael Adlerstein, who the UN's real estate broker is. After some hesitation, in halting transparency, he answered: Newmark. In New York, real estate is a major game in town.
Question: has the UN ever placed anything in the Bronx? (There was a half-ass link between UNDC and Melrose Commons). Has the UN ever done anything for the Bronx?
There is, upon reflection, at least one further angle. If Bloomberg does through his hat and money into the Presidential ring, without having a foreign policy beyond a private jet, having publicly tiffed with the UN could be of use. This is not lost on the November 14 New York Post, nor in the release of the second letter to CBS and others. Watch this site.
November 12, 2007
As the administration hires PR firms to drum up support for congestion pricing in the Bronx, already underserved by mass transit, downtown the diplomats are making sure they wouldn't have to be the "congestion tax."
UN Diplomats Contest Congestion Pricing, Cuba Out of Princeton, Ticket Number Down
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: Off the Racks
UNITED NATIONS, November 8 -- If New York drivers find themselves paying tolls to enter midtown Manhattan, under Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing scheme, guess who will not pay them? UN diplomats. A little-noticed section of the barely-read "Report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country," recounts that the representatives of Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia all expressed "concerns" about "the 'congestion tax' plan recently announced by the Mayor and whether it was intended to apply to the diplomatic community." The representative of the United States replied that "the actual wording was 'congestion pricing'... it was too early to discuss the matter as it was unclear whether the plan, which had yet to be finalized, would receive approval in Albany."
Forget for a moment the centrality of Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver. The U.S. representative's deferral on the question does not take into account that the U.S. State Department, in London where congestion pricing is already in place, argues not to pay it.
So here in New York, Ambassadors and their staffs even from oil rich countries will cross on bridges and in tunnels without paying. But only from some countries -- the report also contains the complaints of delegations from Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Sudan and Russia, about being barred from traveling more than 25 miles away from Columbus Circle. Wanting to attend a meeting at Princeton about the UN International Criminal Court, two delegates from Cuba were refused permission to travel that far south, whether by car or New Jersey Transit. The U.S. responded that its "obligations as host country" of the UN "arose only in respect of official UN meetings." Sometimes restrictions are tighter than 25 miles. When Radovan Karadzic came to the UN, he was limited to 42nd Street, between First Avenue and the Grand Hyatt on Lexington. No need to pay congestion pricing for that commute...
On parking tickets, the one topic in the Host Country Report that is periodically covered, Mayor Bloomberg's sister Marjorie Tiven, NYC Commissioner for the UN, recounted that "between October 2006 and January 2007, 2400 civilian vehicles had been summoned and 79 towed... Civilian vehicles received seven times more summonses than those of diplomats." The report says Ms. Tiven "announced that... a new telephone line had been established which was available 24 hours a day, 7 days a wekk, for diplomats to address their parking problems: 718-383-7596." There's only one problem: the number has been disconnected, and no further information is available about it...
November 5, 2007
Visions of the Bronx while leaving New York by Amtrak heading north -- over Randall's Island and the Bronx Kills, east past Murray Feiss with glimpses of the Brother Islands, Typhoid Mary's prison. Still mountains of rubble at 149th Street, Oakpoint Yards and the scam of Brite Star Homes, never cleaned. Hunts Point cross streets, Garrison and 156. Parkchester and Sizzler, from whence the DMV was relocated to Belmont. Soon Coop City and the bridge to City Island. High rise condos of New Rochelle and then you're gone...
October 29, 2007
From last Thursday's New York Times, a double South Bronx screw-up: "An article on Sunday about environmental and economic development projects in the South Bronx financed by Citgo Petroleum, the American subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, gave an incorrect amount in some editions for discounted heating oil delivered to Americans last winter, and the amount it expects to deliver this winter. It delivered 100 million gallons, not 100,000, last winter, and plans to deliver 110 million gallons, not 110,000, this winter. Picture captions in one edition misidentified a man shown watering a rooftop garden in the South Bronx and standing with other members of a community group that received financing from Citgo Petroleum. He is Stephen Oliveira, not Henry Lajara." Off by a power of a thousand, and wrong caption in photo. What's next?
Well in the Sunday Times of October 28, the word Bronx was listed only 14 times, including "Bronx cheer." The substantive stories involved the autopsy of the 7 year old who died in P.S. 205 on Southern Boulevard, a piece on the Kingsbridge Armory, a review of the Bronx Museum on the Arts, and a breezy Halloween piece mentioning Pelham Bay and Riverdale. Typical...
October 22, 2007
The Hillary Clinton "where are the donors" story last week had at least two Bronx referents: a "one-table" Chinese restaurant (we call that a take-out, here, what the Brits call a talk-away), and "a man named Liang Zheng was listed as having contributed $1,000. The address given was a large apartment building on East 194th Street in the Bronx, but no one by that name could be located Census figures for 2000 show the median family income for the area was less than $21,000. About 45% of the population was living below the poverty line, more than double the city."
The Chronicle of Higher Education of October 19, reporting on possible merger of NYU and Polytechnic, mentions a professor "at NYU's Bronx campus when the university closed it and the engineering school in 1973." As we've previously dug into, still without satisfaction, NYU then sold the campus to the City at an inflated price for what is now Bronx Community College...
October 15, 2007
This week, Bronx and books. On Arthur Avenue, the long-delaying opening of the trattoria to replace the fake-Italian McDonald's that rented half of Teitel Brothers and caused a merchants' rift is now finally at hand. Workmen putting in final touches on Roberto Paciullo's Zero Otto Nove on October 13 said if not Monday, Tuesday it should open up. We'll have a review. Sooner or later. Further east on 187th Street, where the Korean liquor store closed down, a chicken wings place is moving in, claiming to have the best wings in the Hudson Valley. But this is The Bronx...
Downtown in Manhattan, on the Mexican tip, ex-president Vicente Fox was bloviating about his book "Revolution of Hope" and about Jesus at Barnes and Nobles in Union Square when he got asked a question about the murderous crackdown in Oaxaca. The questioners were hustled by security out of B&N, while Fox offered faint protest about freedom of expression. So now a bookstore chain is ejecting those who ask public policy questions...
October 8, 2007
Grant and rants: On October 4, the Bloomberg administration made much of a grant to, among others, Hendrickson Custom Cabinetry, a custom cabinetry and architectural millwork manufacturing firm located in the South Bronx. Bloomberg said-in-a-state that "We should spend our money helping those that have committed to job creation and promotion to train their entry level workers, instead of simply training New Yorkers with the hopes that jobs that match those skills will be available." Meanwhile, responding to sex discrimination case case against Bloomberg L.P., on which he has spoken with the company, Bloomberg at a South Bronx news conference said, “I am the majority owner, and I’m absolutely entitled to talk to the senior people and am entitled to know what’s going on." So if you know what's going on, you're responsible, right?
Click here for Inner City Press' October 5 encounter with ex-Governor Pataki at the UN.
For the NYC street food vendor award, there were four finalists -- four in Manhattan and only one in the "outer boroughs." To this location, Inner City Press ventured last week. On 30th Street and Broadway in Astoria, one block from the elevated train, you'll find the stand of Farez "Freddy" Zeideia, the King of Falafel. Meats are frying on the griddle, customers sit in white plastic chairs just inside the parking lot of a C-Town supermarket. The falafel sandwich, at three dollars, is crisp and saucy. Halfway through, Inner City Press interviewed Zeideia. The subject of the competitor brought a quick response. "The judges were all from Manhattan," Zeideia said. "So of course they picked a winner from Manhattan" -- in this case, dosa in the West Village. Zeideia, a 42-year old Palestinian, brings his cart every morning from Woodside, Queens. During the blackout, he and his generator kept serving shawarma and spiced chicken, without raising their prices. Nearby on Steinway Street in the hookah smoke-filled storefront of Cafe Beirut and others, the falafel is six dollars and not as juicy. Then again, they have backgammon boards and Arabic satellite TV. Le roi est mort, long live the King (of falafel).
October 1, 2007
This week, from dry to wet and wag-like. Who makes money off supposedly middle-income housing in the current NYC? Bear Stearns and Citigroup, both involved in predatory mortgage lending against this same population. From The Bond Buyer: the NYC "Housing Development Corp. last week began pricing $60.3 million of federally taxable and tax-exempt bonds to finance the construction of and permanent mortgages for four buildings in one development. HDC anticipates that the deal will close on Friday. Boricua Village will feature 452 apartments reserved for low- and middle-income families in the Melrose section of the South Bronx.... Bear, Stearns & Co. is underwriting the bonds and Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP is bond counsel. The two stand-alone bond series are backed by project revenue and are secured by a letter of credit from Citi."
A politically-incorrect wag on a recent stroll down Arthur Avenue remarked, "These days in Belmont you can't tell the different between the prostitutes and the college students. To whit, the crowds on 189th Street in front of Mug-Z's and Howl at the Moon, mini-skirts and cell phones ablaze, compared to the streetwalkers further east toward the Zoo -- what's the difference?" But their trajectories diverge, in the woods of the Botanical Gardens and elsewhere...
Click here for Inner City Press' coverage of the UN General Assembly's General Debate...
September 24, 2007
The Mayor's Management Report acknowledges that only in The Bronx did response time to fires get worse:
"Citywide response time to structural fires was 3 seconds faster in Fiscal 2007, continuing a downward trend that began in the second half of Fiscal 2006. Structural fire response time improved in four of the five boroughs and increased by 1 second in the Bronx."
And now a review of a diner that calls itself the best in the city, just over the Triborough Bridge in Astoria. It's too fancy for its own good: it's a diner with a bar, which doesn't allow customers to sit at a table and have only a coffee and a bagel -- while charging over three dollars for a bagel. On the other hand the bagel is good, and the view can't be beat. Cheaper and funnier are the bagels doled out at Fordham Plaza, like out of a skit on Mad TV....
September 17, 2007 - As Fed Releases Mortgage Study, Subprime Disparities Worsen at Citigroup, HSBC, Wells
Last week the centennial of Engine Company 82 and Ladder Company 31 was celebrated at a ceremony at the headquarters on Intervale Avenue. We note the prose stylings of John Ficayune in a preview of "When the Bronx Burned"--
"Luke and Jimbo, dragging their lengths of hose, were on their way to the building when they were joined by Mulligan, Juan, Lt. Bannon, Copper, and Bull. A hostile voice from a nearby group of young militant types shouted at them, 'Kiss my black ass, you white asses.'"
Something about that quote lacks verisimilitude. Still, should be interesting. As summer nears its end, we venture over the Triborough Bridge to Astoria, specifically to the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden on 24th Avenue. The sound of the elevated N train competes with oom-pa music, Czech pilsners flow, to a crowd increasingly of hipsters. There are tall trees and sausages, a dance floor, mediaeval tall swinging doors as if this were a walled city. What of the neighbors? And isn't there a beer garden like this in Throggs Neck?
September 10, 2007
This year's Ferragosto on Arthur Avenue had less freebies than usual. Calandra's Cheese, for example, which previously had a stand making and giving samples of mozzarella (even if they did glare at you if you came back too many times) this year had no stand outside, at least not at the 4:30 p.m. peak when "The Streets of the Bronx" launched laboriously into their rendition of "Good Love" and on Hughes and 186 Italian folk musicians played mandolin for an older crowd. There were the masked clowns and the roasting pig, sure, and the new restaurant on the block, Dolce Amaro, had a half dozen oversized motorcycles in front, including a three-wheeled named "Boss Hog." The police barricades were up on Hoffman and Belmont, 188 to 186. Mount Carmel Church had its stand and the library sold bags of book for two dollars, made to look like two hundred (200) on the sign in front. All in all a groovy time, as summer comes to a close...
In potentially less positive New York news, the New York State Banking Department has named as its new first deputy superintendent of banks hired Patricia Meadow, who has held positions at HSBC Holdings PLC and Citigroup -- both of which have settled governmental charges of predatory lending...
September 3, 2007
Could Michael Bloomberg -- "Mayor Mike" with the give-away, one-station-only radios given out during his campaign -- be to the right of George W. Bush? On predatory lending and credit discrimination, he appears to be, if last Friday is any guide. While Bush in Washington outlined some few reforms to help homeowners facing foreclosure, Bloomberg implied that lending discrimination cases are a perversion of justice, and that borrowers are to blame for being defrauded.
During his weekly radio address, Bloomberg said that "what happened here is a bunch of people who really didn't have the wherewithal to get mortgages got mortgages. If they didn't have access to those mortgages, the elected officials would scream you're discriminating against them. Some of them lied about their incomes," he added. "Now they said the salesman convinced them to do it. OK. But we live in a world where, when you put your signature down, you're supposed to know what you're signing, and we have to take responsibility."
The most offensive aspect, from our point of view, is bringing in the specter that "elected officials would scream you're discriminating against them." Who exactly is Bloomberg playing to with this screed? So, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its enforcement are to blame for predatory lending?
August 27, 2007
This week we look north to Mount Vernon, just over the Westchester line. Mayor Ernest Davis, nothing if not a hipster, may also be more than that. Sources say that during his mayoralty, his income has soared -- there's a talk of Bentley luxury automobile, and of Davis wearing an ankle bracelet transponding to law enforcement. Mount Vernon, then, is above The Bronx, but just like it...
Also Bronx-like is the park in Red Hook were tacos and Salvadoran pupusas are sold. First the Parks Department said they'd put the concessions up for bid; now the Health Department says the vendors can't bring home-cooked food for sale anymore. But home-cooked is part of the point. And what about those selling tamales out of coolers, and corn on the cob with mayonnaise and grated parmesan cheese? Note to City: just leave these people alone...
Rather, the City should be looking into real hazards, such as in Belmont, the slap-dash leaving of a hole in the street at Third Avenue and 183rd Street by "SMC," which left metal plates so loose that a car, or bicycle, could easily fall into the hole in the pavement beneath...
August 20, 2007
On a Cablevision "public interest" show, Bronx BP Carrion said he aims to become a Met fan in 2009, for now he's just trying to "create a conversation with New York." But when asked about whether all Bronxites really benefit from these developments, many of which are unaffordable, Carrion was dismissive, saying that all projects have critics, "just like Westway." No, taking a public park, and displacing Bronx businesses for a subsidized mall, we are not fish but Bronxites....
August 13, 2007
This week, why doesn't the Bronx have venues like this? Traveling Saturday to the Africa Fest in Prospect Park, the 2 train for a full hour to Grand Army Plaza then the walk, one first came up Panamanian music on a hill behind the Brooklyn Public Library. A man stood rapping in front of a wall of speakers, a crowd undulated and clapped and food was for sale under at least a dozen awnings. A half-mile away, fronting Park Slope, a more formal stage with ads for Bud Light and the Village Voice, and on stage the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, celebrating the day of that country's landmark election. The mix, one undulator mused, was surprisingly heavy with reggae. The left-handed lead guitarist played fast and high-pitched West African riffs, and sang accompanied only by drums. The suggested contribution to enter was three dollars. Why doesn't the Bronx have venues like this?
In UN - Bloomberg Fire Safety Stand-Off, Freedom of Information Is Lacking
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- As New York City's Bloomberg administration ratchets up pressure on the UN to fix the 866 violation found in the most recent inspection, Bloomberg's Fire Department has denied access to the report of inspection, even to accredited media who work in the UN headquarters.
Bloomberg's sister and commissioner for the UN, Marjorie B. Tiven, has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he is "putting at risk the lives of the people who work and visit the United Nations."
But when a formal request for the list of violations was made by Inner City Press under New York's Freedom of Information Law, it was denied in full, ostensibly because releasing the report could endanger the safety of persons.
This correspondent filed an appeal, emphasizing in part that as a person working inside the UN, knowing and reporting the specifics of the violations could help promote, and not endanger, safety. In this case, ignorance is not bliss -- it simply compounds the danger.
On August 8 the Fire Department's FOIL appeal official informed Inner City Press that no portion of the inspection report will be provided. Asked for the basis of the denial, the official said it's contained in a formal ruling which has yet to be received (but will be sent to the NYS Committee on Open Government).
While Inner City Press may challenge the withholding of the UN report in New York Supreme Court, which it has previously prevail in other FOIL litigation, one should not have to sue to get access to the City's safety inspections, particularly when the City is making loud claims about the reports.
The Bloomberg administration previously sought to withhold safety information about the 9/11/01 attacks, until sued by the media and families of the victims. One hopes that is not necessary here.
In recent days, UN fire team personnel have been much more visible in the headquarters building. Patrols by themselves, however, do not resolve the safety problems. Trying to explain the UN's basis for leaving violations, the Department of Management's Lena Dissin told the Washington Post, "If we install a fire sprinkler system in the entire building and they will have to be torn out, this is not something the members states will be happy about."
But earlier this year, knowing even then of the UN Capital Master Plan for gut rehabilitation, the UN paid over $130,000, begrudgingly disclosed to Inner City Press, to install over its basement Vienna Cafe a ventilation system to remove cigarette smoke. (Since the UN is on international territory, it is argued that Mayor Bloomberg's anti-smoking ordinance do not apply in the UN.)
Ms. Dissin's boss, Under Secretary General for Management Alicia Barcena, has three times this year said that the UN will be enacting a Freedom of Information procedure, if not law. If these promises had been carried out, the inspection report could be requested and obtained from the UN itself.
In higher profile safety and secrecy news, on August 10 Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office to confirm or deny that in connection with the UN's plan to expand in Iraq, the Secretariat told the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that it wants to spend $130 million on a new UN headquarters in Baghdad, and that ACABQ responded negatively. Video here, from Minute 9:27.
The Associate Spokesman said he did not think any dollar figure had been made public. Now could he say what the UN will do to dispose of such Iraq-related items as a Scud missile engine and target-seeking gyroscopes, held on 48th Street and First Avenue, click here for that Inner City Press story.
Beyond "a plague on both your houses" for withholding information, those most impacted by lack of safety precautions should not be kept in the dark. Safety in Iraq may be a long way off, but on the East Side of Bloomberg's Manhattan, safety and the public release of information about safety should be the rule. Watch this site.
August 6, 2007
As reported by the Daily News, "The state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services was about to sign a lease to temporarily move the Mount Sinai Narcotics Rehabilitation Center to 105A Bruckner Blvd. while the clinic's Harlem site was being renovated. Borough President Adolfo Carrion and Community Board 1 requested the plan be ditched because the area, already home to six clinics, is overburdened by drug treatment centers. OASAS has agreed to find a location outside the Bronx. The methadone clinic 'would not be economically, environmentally or socially compatible with the surrounding community,'" wrote Carrion -- who, Inner City Press notes, used to work for OASAS-licensed drug treatment center PROMESA....
July 30, 2007
This week we report a Bronxy business opening. Tuff City Tattoos has hooked up the previously-cursed storefront on Belmont Ave. and Fordham Road with mock subway cars, in which tattooing is performed in private. There's graffiti on the wall, behind a chain link fence. While for-profit, it's reminiscent of the defunct Fashion Moda gallery on 146th Street, reborn in 2007 as body art. Also reflecting the incipient gentrification and suburbanization of The Bronx, Tuff City is across the street from a low-rise Commerce Bank branch, complete with parking lot and lawn and sprinkler system on timer. Tattoo-seekers, watch out for those automatic sprinklers -- they turn on at 2 a.m....
From the Department of No Sleight Is Too Small, we point to this, a bike shop closing its (North) Bronx location, on the rationale that "to better serve our customers, we've decided to consolidate all our efforts on the Manhattan location." Sounds like a bank...
July 23, 2007
Below is Inner City Press' piece about the steam pipe explosion, reported from the UN, with a Bronx quesion later answered, at the bottom, with an update:
From the UN, the World's Most Famous Steam Pipe Incident Raises Underlying Questions
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, July 19 -- As far East as First Avenue, in front of the UN, the sidewalks were full of people, pointing their cell phone cameras down 42nd Street at the smoke. Rumors circulated. A building had collapsed. Grand Central had been attacked. And, of course, terrorism.
Inside the UN, the loudspeaker system carried a security announcement, "Avoid 42nd Street, there has been an incident." It was reminiscent of the crash of the small plane, with the Yankees pitcher aboard, on the Upper East Side. World news because it happens in Manhattan. Some international correspondents ran into the street, flashing police press passes to get ever closer. Finally a police woman on 3rd Avenue said, "Get the hell back!"
Because it was a steam pipe, it led the turned-back UN correspondents to muse about what lies beneath... the UN. It has been confirmed to Inner City Press by a well-placed (that is, low down) source that beyond the publicly-reported three sub-basements, there are two more floors underground. There are pipes, there are leaking boilers, and yes there is asbestos. If a similar incident occurred on the UN's campus, which is international territory, how would the City's access be? The City for now denies those who work at the UN access to records about their own safety. And the UN, of course, is not talking...
Wednesday at dusk, traffic was turned away at 35th Street, Second Avenue was jammed. Later, after dusk, Mike Bloomberg and entourage showed up to hold a press conference amid the sirens. Each of his commissioners addressed him as, "Yes, Mayor," "thanks, Mayor," not a Mister Mayor was said. Clearly an internal order. Would this be his Giuliani moment?
The commission for busses and subways referred to Woodlawn Road in The Bronx. Con Ed's man contradicted the Mayor's 24 inch pipe with a twenty. There was questions about asbestos. "Take precautions," people were told. But what precautions?
The City later bragged that "three NYPD helicopters monitored the incident, including one with FD personnel on board providing live TV feeds to operations on the ground."
On cable television's NY1, a hype poll was held. Would you stay in New York if there were another terrorist incident? Yes -- but not if steam pipes keep breaking. Although a woman died, of a heart attack, some calling in to NY1 joked. "I was so scared," a woman began," that I had to scream... let's go Mets!"
By 1:30 a.m., still access to Grand Central was blocked except from the north, from 45th Street through the Met Life building. To its credit, Metro-North railroad was running, after having been subject to delays all morning due to rain. (A flier left on train seats said that three of the four tracks running through Fordham Station in The Bronx had been flooded. Why was not clear -- see below)
At three in the morning, Team Bloomberg announced that
"sidewalk sheds must be installed before the sidewalks are reopened to the public. The addresses of the buildings are 360 Lexington Avenue, 369 Lexington Avenue, 370 Lexington Avenue, and 380 Lexington Avenue. Buildings forensic engineers have determined water collected in the basements of two nearby buildings will need to be removed. The addresses of these buildings are 369 Lexington Avenue and 375 Lexington Avenue."
Oh, plywood. The e-mail press release, repeated at 6:30 a.m., instructed the media to "emphasize to their viewers, listeners, or readers that people who work between 40th and 43rd Streets and between Vanderbilt Avenue to Third Avenue zone will not be permitted to enter the area on Thursday morning."
Consider it done. Turning full circle to the UN, staffers along First Avenue wondered if their colleagues in the Chrysler Building, UNFPA and UNOPS and others, would get or take the day off. One mused that today's logistics is the kind in UNOPS' mandate, an opportunity missed, again.
July 22 update -- Only in Connecticut to suburbites did Metro-North explain itself:
"Metro-North Railroad officials noticed the flooding at about 7:15 a.m. at the Fordham, N.Y., station, which services the New Haven and Harlem lines, railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. 'There was water running over the rails on the two outside tracks at Fordham,' Anders said. 'So we couldn't make any stops at Bronx stations.'"
Inner City Press annotation: what then about those metal walk-ways that reach to the middle tracks? They chose not to stop at Bronx stations...
"The flooding caused a bottleneck, forcing all morning rush-hour trains into Grand Central to run on two of the railroad's four available tracks, Anders said. While the railroad waited for the flooding to recede on the other two tracks, it suspended service out of Grand Central for about an hour, affecting mainly reverse commuters, Anders added."
Like the ones in The Bronx, trying to get to jobs in Westchester. And what about the red Connecticut trains which stop in The Bronx, but don't allow on any passengers -- even if, due to Metro-North, the commuters are already half an hour later? To be continued.
Another update: the Vincent Ciccarone playground at 188th and Arthur Avenue, which was fenced and locked up all last summer and all of this spring, finally re-opened. The handball and basketball courts are gone. But little kids like it. Was the year and a half closure worth it? Most people say no. There's a small grassy knoll, with a sprinkler on it. What's done is done...
July 16, 2007
Next in a series, 'cause summer only comes once a year: in the current street fair on 187th Street in The Bronx, there's the three story high Monkey Maze, between Belmont and Cambrelleng Avenues. Further west, there's been a fire, at Lucy's Zeppoles. Some wondered: the outbreak of a pastry war? Bad karma from doling out cold zeppoles even as hot ones come out of the grease? The investigation continues.
More seriously, long-time Bronx (and Chilean) activist Victor Toro, founder in 1987 of La Pena del Bronx, was recently detained by immigration in upstate Rochester. As they say in Soundview (and elsewhere), "let the brother go! Let the brother go!"
For Inner City Press' reporting on Somalia, see Reuters AlertNet 7/14/07
July 9, 2007
Summertime, summertime. This week let's compare downtown Brooklyn and environs at night with the midnight streetscape of The Bronx. Just off Fort Greene Park there is Habana Outpost, a lot with tables and lights and even movies, near restaurant of South Africa and Senegal, and even New Orleans. Bluppy, is a word that comes to mind. What's to compare in The Bronx? Take the D train for an hour from DeKalb to Tremont and look: old men in beach chairs with dominos, the sirens screen, the hip hop club on Webster is closed, the jumping-est corner now is 180 and Third, dueling clubs with drunken patrons smashing bottles in the street. On Fordham Road summer session means that bars are once again open. But there are no outdoor movies, or Senegalese restaurants, anywhere in sight...
Tales of the City Hall press corps, we report, you decide: l'affaire Viola Plumber, her assassination threat, might have gone unreported. After the Sonny Carson-Gate(s) vote, Ms. Plumber made the comment in front of three reporters: Rivera of the Times, Newsday and the Staten Island Advance. The Times, which elsewhere named a whistleblower without notice or consent, decided to not report Ms. Plumber's comment. But the reporter from Staten Island told an Observer blogger, who put the item online, where Murdoch's Post picked it up. What were the ethics, of reporting or not reporting? Discuss...
July 2, 2007
Last week we headed south (see letter below). This week, north -- bike up Southern Boulevard and past French Charlie Park, where the Millennium Little League plays and cocito is sold, barbeques fry and motorcycles fly by. Bike up to Gun Hill Road, where there's an impromptu Nascar-like track for remote controlled cars. There's also, up on 212th Street, a Jamaica health food store with sweet carrot juice for four dollars, on the expensive side but good. Summer's here...
From the mailbag--
Thanks ! The Gardens down here from East 152 - 161st street are but a memory to those of us that held them. Once a gardener myself. I remember the Bradleys proposal back when it came in to Planning Board #1. This was in the Land Use Committee and then-Senator David Rosado fielded the meeting. The District Manager then Bob (Robert) Crespo said the Senator got furious with the reps from Bradley and kicked them Out, telling them to never return (he was very irate) apparently they tried to blow off the Stipulated Requirement to hire a percentage of Local Bronx Residents stating they bring their own staff & employees with them., well that wouldn't do - and thus we have a Staples, et al there today instead. Thanks again for your news reports and continued interest in The Bronx - It's fun & refreshing reading ...
June 25, 2007
From emptiness to overbuilt, Third Avenue south from 180th Street, gardens gone between 178 and 179, Mastermind's office space waiting, even as the Dunkin Donuts is hardly ever in use. Across from the police station which stood in for Fort Apache, another building looms. Where once Bradley's was promised, there's a sign for Forman Mills. Even a Staples. The Bronx, they say, is back. Copy and print...
June 18, 2007
An inconvenient question that it seems no one has asked: with private businesses including Ridgewood Savings Bank and (Capital One's) North Fork Bank paying for TV ads which feature the sitting borough president, who aim to run for mayor, aren't these in essence campaign contributions?
More fireworks: Police seized 3 1/2 tons of illegal fireworks worth $50,000 last week. They pulled over an 18-foot rig containing more than 7,000 pounds of fireworks at East 181st Street and Belmont Avenue. Meanwhile six blocks north, the street fair goes on...
June 11, 2007
Summer has arrived, and with it, street fairs. On June 9, 187th Street between Arthur and Cambrelleng was jammed with celebrants. There was Whack a Mole and nuns selling popcorn. There were old school rocking cover bands by Arthur, and merengue-fueled "Dunk the Freak" on Belmont. There were spice sausages and calzone, but also tacos and corn on the cob. The playground on Arthur and 188 was still closed; throughout the week a handful of workers putter around. Thanks, Parks Department, this "improvement" project has really been working for us...
Filed with the New York Banking Department:
Dear Superintendent Neiman:
On behalf of the Fair Finance Watch and its affiliates (collectively, "FFW"), this is a timely comment opposing and requesting public hearing on, and complete copy of, the applications by New York Commercial Bank to acquire 11 branches of Doral Financial. Notice was published in the Weekly Bulletin of May 18, with comment period to June 18, and this is still the notice, as of this submission, on http://www.banking.state.ny.us/wbemail.htm
Weekly Bulletin of May 18, 2007
Comment Period expires June 18, 2007
May 18, 2007 (CB-CRB)
NEW YORK COMMERCIAL BANK
1601 Veterans Highway, Islandia, N.Y. 11749
Application pursuant to Section 601-a of the Banking Law, for the prior approval of the Superintendent, to acquire certain assets and assume certain liabilities of Doral Bank, to acquire First Republic Bank, R1-2007-0134.
FFW is puzzled to see, and hereby requests a detailed explanation of, the fact that the NYBD at some subsequent time tried to partially change the comment period -- in a notice which Inner City Press has only now seen, and which even when partially posted, provided less than 10 days.
The result of this unexplained is to try to exclude public comment on this proposed acquisition. In any event, this comment must be considered timely.
The 2005 HMDA data of New York Community Bank for the New York City MSA shows, for conventional home purchase loans, 17 loans to whites, and only one to an African American. For refinance loans, 49 to whites and only five to African Americans; 3 of 9 applications denied for African Americans, versus only 10 of 70 from whites. FFW is requesting public hearings on these disparities.
It is particularly important that NYCB's data be subject to public scrutiny in that NYCB has previously sought to make its own HMDA data unanalyzable by providing it only in pdf format. See, on this topic, American Banker of April 11, 2005
There is more to say, including on NYCB's multi-family lending and on Doral's situation, but FFW is filing this as soon as it saw the changed comment period date, and well within the comment period of the initial, accurate notice (and still the comment period leading to the comment form). FFW requests an explanation as quickly as possible.
Developing.
June 4, 2007
While we're fans of the library, we also
report: Susan Kent has resigned as
director and chief executive of the Branch Libraries at the
NYPL. This was announced by email to staff on May 2 from
NYPL president Paul LeClerc and Kent herself, with no reason
given. We remember the hoopla when she was hired from LA, and
when the Bronx Library Center on Kingsbridge Road, opened in
January 2006. David Ferriero, head of the Research Libraries,
will oversee the branches on an interim basis. LJ says she and
NYPL execs have been criticized by union officials for cutting
tuition assistance; a grievance is ongoing. Oh yeah, reading is
good for you...
May 28, 2007
Here's a question for Metro-North Railroad President Peter A. Cannito: why do so many of the trains that stop at Fordham Road not take on passengers? Bronxites pay good money to get faster to Grand Central. Then they are not allowed to get on trains that their money helps pay for. On some trains, they threaten that if you do you on, you'll have to pay as if you got on at the beginning of the run -- even after you've paid MetroNorth for the Fordham - Grand Central run. So what's the answer, Mr. Cannito? Or maybe Dan Doctoroff, who shared a press release last week with Cannito, about a planned new Yankee Stadium stop, can answer it...
The killing of Fermin Arzu has given rise to protests, but still very little has been said by the police.
May 21, 2007
On May 18, a 40-something man stole a chair and crucifix from Dreams jewelry store at 651 Elton Avenue, rode on a bike west on 153rd Street and got hit by a bus. As he lay dying on Melrose Avenue, someone stole the chain from him. The jewelry store owner Lakhwinder Singh still called the bus-hit "justice".... Despite the too-expensive Melrose Commons development, the neighborhood was also the scene on May 13 of the kicking to death of Fernando Maldonado outside the Melrose Houses on 154th Street...
May 14, 2007
The speaker slated for Bronx Community College's June 1 graduation has reminisced about Dr. Richard Izquierdo in the South Bronx: "Often my mother or grandmother did not have the money to pay him for his services, but he never turned us away and on more than one occasion accepted arroz con pollo instead of cash."
Not so the head of Bronx Lebanon, Miguel Fuentes, who beyond the $485,274 a year previously disclosed to the Daily News makes more....
May 7, 2007
Now that it has warmed up, the outrage on Arthur Avenue has grown worse. All of last summer, and now into this Spring, the Vincent Ciccarone playground on 188th Street has been fenced off and unusable. With much fanfare, the City announced that the playground, which was fine and much used, would be fixed. One whole summer of use was lost, and now with Spring here, still it is fenced. Weekdays, there are a handful of workers putting in paving stones and puttering around. It seems the City gave the contract to a company too small or too distracted to do it. And of course this was called an improvement for the neighborhood -- a playground of a use for more than a year, for an unneeded fix up. The contact is # X102-105M and the contractor if Total Construction of Brooklyn...
In happier news from the same neighborhood, Saturday saw a Cinco de Mayo shindig on Crescent Avenue and 186th Street, at which Goya Foods gave out free tostadas, Le Fe gave out peace and guava nectar, and a domino set was auctioned off. Springtime is here (except in the playground, of course).
An update to last week item about concerns about the fair lending record of Ridgewood Savings Bank, which seeks to acquire City & Suburban's branches in The Bronx and elsewhere: on May 3, Ridgewood's CRA officer sent a letter to regulators saying that Ridgewood "shares the concerns of FFW for fair lending." But then Ridgewood has not a word to say about the disparities in its 2006 lending data....
April 30, 2007
There is a local
bank merger proposed that ICP Fair Finance Watch has just opposed
-- the applications by Ridgewood Saving Bank to acquire City &
Suburban Federal Savings Bank. FFW has received the 2006 and 2005
HMDA LARs of both institutions. Ridgewood, the proposed acquirer,
orginates many more mortgage loans, but in a seemingly disparate
manner. In 2006, Ridgewood originated 618 loans to whites, and
only 21 to African Americans and only 20 to
Latinos. Ridgewood’s denial rate for Latinos (30.8%) was more than
double its denial rate for whites (14.6%); for African Americans,
Ridgewood’s denial rate was 23.7%.
City & Suburban makes almost no
mortgage loans. As Ridgewood has acknowledged to FFW, “there are
only 21 files for 2005 and 19 for
2006.” The LARs provided show no loans to African Ameicans or
Latinos.
Comparing Ridgewood in 2006 to 2005, its record got
worse. While its overall mortgage origination volume declined, it
declined more for African Americans than for whites, and more for
Latinos than for whites. On the current record, FFW has requested
that Ridgewood’s applications be denied
April 23, 2007
From the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, Inner City Press on April 21 received a copy of Bank of New York's heavily redacted application to acquire Mellon. BONY revised its still-too-extensive redactions to its application on April 16; ICP has a right to comment on this material. BONY, which initially did not respond as other banks did to FFW's request for 2006 HMDA data, finally provided its data on April 20.
In the most recent year for which HMDA data is (now) available, 2006, Bank of New York confined residents of The Bronx, the most predominantly minority county in New York State, to higher cost loans over the Federal Reserve-determined rate spread TWENTY FIVE times more frequently than residents of Manhattan, and 2.92 times more frequently than residents of Westchester County. As the FRB will remember, Bank of New York initially fought to exclude The Bronx from its CRA assessment area. Now BONY has a disparate lending record in The Bronx -- and Brooklyn too, where BONY in 2006 confined borrowers to rate spread loans 10.7 times more frequently than Manhattan.
This is much worse, particularly in The Bronx, than in 2005, when BONY confined its Bronx borrowers to higher cost loans over the rate spread 7.87 times more frequently than in more affluent and less minority Manhattan. Bank of New York's disparity-ratio between borrowers in Brooklyn and Manhattan was 6.5. Both got worse in 2006. FFW demands public hearings, including on BONY's multi-faceted enabling of other predatory lenders, its admissions of money laundering, its secretiveness and anti-competitive effects. ICP contends that this proposed combination would be anti-competitive. BONY apparently disagreed, but the bases of its argument are still being hidden, with entire pages of its antitrust memo blacked-out. BONY repeatedly cites the case Inner City Press v. FRB, then redacts even portions of its argument. FFW has contested these redactions and withholdings, and requested an extension of the comment period until the information to which FFW and the public have a right is released.
Click here for ICP from Carnegie Hall last week...
April 16, 2007
Downtown --
Investment banks on Wall Street have been facilitators of the shady loans that have the subprime lending industry in crisis. This message was delivered on Wednesday April 11 by the ex- Wall Street banker nominated as Superintendent of the New York Banking Department, Richard Neiman.
Delivering his first speech in that capacity, Mr. Neiman had comparisons to the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, and harkened back to the 1970s for the lending discrimination called redlining, which he implied was a thing of the past. Now, he said, there is reserve redlining, in which African Americans and Latinos are targeted for high cost loans.
Eliot Spitzer, now hitting his 100th day as New York's governor, picked as his Banking Superintendent a long-time bank lawyer with Citigroup and more recently part of the Toronto Dominion conglomerate. Some community representatives who spoke to Inner City Press on condition of anonymity, because they have to deal with the Banking Department, expressed concern that despite the speech Mr. Neiman may based on his resume be too close to industry, or unwilling to consider that his previous employers have engaged in abusive lending practices. Citigroup, for example, is noteworthy for having twice settled predatory lending charges, with the Federal Trade Commission for $240 million and with the Federal Reserve Board for $75 million in 2004.
More recently, just-released 2006 data distinguishing which loans are over a federally-defined rate spread of three percent over the yield on Treasury securities of comparable duration on first lien loans, five percent on subordinate liens show that Citigroup in its headquarters Metropolitan Statistical Area of New York City, confined African Americans to higher-cost loans above this rate spread 4.41 times more frequently than whites. Toronto Dominion's U.S. mortgage data in 2006, while generally not subprime, reflect that African Americans were confined to higher cost loans over the rate spread 16 times more frequently than whites, and Latinos 12 times more frequently than whites.
Perhaps because of his background, or also because his nomination still awaits action by the State Senate, Mr. Neiman on Wednesday thanked the many industry representatives in NYU's Lubin Auditorium, as well as other regulators. Click here for more.
Promesa Inc., Bronx non-profit whose bookkeeper was killed execution-style in the 1990s, is now embroiled in a dispute with its staff. A work stoppage was planned for April 10, following an earlier one-day stoppage on March 28. The dispute concerns among other things Promesa's insistence in paying 5% of workers' salaries into a 401(k) plan rather than 6.65% into a pension in the style of Local 1199. Following the March 28 walk-out, the parties met at the office of Bronx Borough President Carrion, who used to work for Promesa. According to sources, a schedule for further negotiations was set, but has not been kept to. Promesa CEO Ruben Medina has mysteriously been in Florida, which Promesa previously lent its non-profit status to a local politician who wanted to develop a for-profit mall. These sources also say that there are once again bookkeeping irregularities within Promesa -- on paper, millions of dollars in the black, in reality, the red is flowing.
In what some Promesa staff find a creepy (non) coincidence, Louie Morales, a SEIU union organization at Promesa died in November 2006, by a rare two-shot suicide. Click here for more. We'll be following both of these items.
April 9, 2007
Consider Westchester Avenue, from Jackson to 149th. The elevated stop at Jackson was closed to train traffic from 10:30 to 3 on Good Friday, with no real replacement, just the regular 4 bus. A crowd gathered in front of the token booth. The turnstiles all said, "No Entry." Some passengers stood halfway down the stairs, to see which would come first, the first post-3 p.m. train, or the jammed-full Number 4 bus. There has to be a better way...
Meanwhile in The Hub, the hot dog vendors are out, including the couple who stake out Westchester and 3rd. They've upgraded their van, to a white one with a sign on the side, "Hot Dog Vendor," Parkside Place, Bronx NY. We wish them luck.
Last week's scaffold collapse on Southern Boulevard and Home Street, on the other hand, is the result of bad karma...
4/4/07-- "Banks Prone to Sell Minorities Pricy Loans," Reuters / Washington Post
Citigroup was most disparate in the lowest-income borough its headquarters city. Citigroup in 2006 confined borrowers in Bronx County to higher cost loans 19.6 times more frequently than borrowers in Manhattan. The disparity between Manhattan and Brooklyn at Citigroup in 2006 was 14.77.
April 2, 2007
Parts of the old Sears on Fordham Road and Webster are now being demolished. The largest part of the building has been swathed in black netting. A sign has gone on top, Fordham Place, with telephone numbers to call to lease space in the new building. Across the street at Planchette, in the morning even for breakfast they serve crushed plantain mangu, with onions on top, and fried cheese. Later at night, psycho bus drivers rule. Three teens got on, saying they had no money. For at least five minutes the driver bantered with them. Sensing he was going to go Bernard Goetz, some riders started getting off. Big money maker for the MTA...
Continuing on the Bronx transit theme, who among us hasn't taken MetroNorth from Grand Central and fallen asleep, only to wake up at Mount Vernon West at past 2 a.m., no gypsy cabs in sight, and walked back along the Bronx River to the sleepy last outpost of the Bronx, end of the 2 train, 241 Street where the homeless sleep in trains until at 3 am they head south? Who?
March 26, 2007
Late Saturday March 24, a four train rolled into 149th and Grand Concourse and announced it would now go express up to Burnside. It opened its doors to let passengers off -- on the wrong side. An announcement urged people to get back on the train and wait for the doors on the other side to open. When the did, people missed the next train, by ten or fifteen seconds. Thanks, MTA...
March 19, 2007
Now St. Barnabas Hospital is trying to track down 300 people it exposed to tuberculosis. The city Health Departemnt's Dr. Sonal Munsiff said that "People who have been near the hospital do not need to worry about it. Only the people we have identified need to be evaluated." So you and St. Barney's screwed up and allowed exposure, and now people are supposed to believe your statement that those " near the hospital do not need to worry about it." Why not?
Bronx schools added to the SURR school list, in danger of being closed: Intermediate School 232; I.S. 339; J.H.S. 22 ; and Middle School 203 in Mott Haven.
In the New York media scene, Channel 7's embattled Steve Bartelstein has been cut loose, this time for sleeping through an assignment of covering the aftermath of the fire on Woodycrest Avenue.
March 12, 2007
This week, it's film, from a Bronxite and downtown. Former police officer Billy Lappe shot "Even Steven" for $4000 in Tremont and Pelham Bay. It is a revenge fantasy, in which a cop turns a child molester over to the parents of the child-victim. Lappe now wants to make a full-length version. Perhaps the below is a cautionary tale:
Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako's ''Bamako" was gushed over in the New York Times of Feb. 14, and a month later was still playing at the Film Forum on West Houston Street in Manhattan, "held over" as they say. Arriving from the United Nations at 9:45 for the 9:40 screening, the ticket-taker said, "Don't worry, the first ten minutes is just a court proceeding." She could have said, the whole movie is a mock court proceeding. From speeches about the World Bank delivered in a courtyard with stand-up electric fans, the film cuts into a parody of spaghetti westerns, this one starring Danny Glover. People sit fanning themselves, listening to the trial over loudspeakers. Review: one wants to like the concept, and it would work for 15, maybe 30 minutes. But as a feature length film?
March 5, 2007
The Bronx Borough President has said there's a plan and even negotiations afoot to put a cultural center in an existing "historical" building on the Grand Concourse "somewhere in the 160s." Very cloak-and-dagger...
Downtown, much of the UN press corps has been in a frenzy tracking the foreign minister of the Kim Jong Il government of North Korea, from San Francisco to New York, where he's slated to meet with Christopher Hill at the U.S. Mission. In San Francisco, Japan's NHK television is said to have rented five motorcycles to try to find Minister Kim. In New York, reporters flocked out to the airport, awaiting a certain (or uncertain) United Airlines flight, and then camped out in front of the Millennium Plaza hotel, in the same structure at UNDP, and awaited him. They got a wave, and not much more. Inner City Press, meanwhile, reported on UNDP's suspension of operation in North Korea - click here to view.
February 26, 2007
Entry of the insiders? On Feb. 21, NYS governor Spitzer announced his pick to head the NY Banking Department. Might it be a consumer advocate, or public interest lawyer, or even a bank banker? No, an executive from Toronto Dominion Banknorth's TD Bank and Citibank before that, Richard H. Neiman. During his tenure at TD, the bank tried to claim that -- five b's alert -- buying bonds backed by Battery Park City satisfied the Community Reinvestment Act's requirement of low- and moderate-income lending. Battery Park City, low-income? That was some lawyering. Of Citigroup, click here.
At Inner City Press, we try to be judicious in our use of the authenticity and / or nativist cards. In the Belmont neighborhood of The Bronx, there used to be an ad hoc group called "Quality of Life." It met in the library on 186th and Hughes and discussed such things as street crime. Maybe the groups is still around. A new Qualify of Life issue has emerged: the glut of talkative tourists who fill the neighborhood and its stores on weekends. It's fine to drive in from Westchester or Long Island for bread and ravioli. Just decide in advance what you want, and then buy it. Don't stand around asking questions, compare, luxuriating in the "old world charm" of what for locals is just a store. This is not a mall, not a theme park...
Webster - Fordham update: behind the now-closed Sears, a fence is going up, jutting far out into Fordham Plaza. Whose sidewalk? Their sidewalk, apparently...
February 19, 2007
The Bronx is frozen, and the Sears on Fordham Road is boarded up. The "Store Closing" signs are gone. The store is now closed. This week, two reviews: Las Orquideas and the re-begun Bronx Beat.
Opening recently is a new Latin restaurant on 187th Street, between Beaumont and Cambrelleng Avenues. We say Latin because, despite the awning referring only to Mexican food, inside there are alcapurias and pastelillos, and the jukebox is top-heavy with salsa. Inside, the brick walls are lacquered and plastic curtains swing in the back of the storefront. Order tacos, chicken and beef, and take a seat. At least in this early period of Las Orquideas, many of those who enter are unsure what to expect. One a recent Sunday -- okay, Feb. 18 -- a family came in, looked around for menu and couldn't find one. They went back outside. The grill man followed, then said in a bitter tone, "They've crossed the street." The sing-song lure of takeout Chinese food. But for those who stayed, the tacos were quite good, if dry. Ask for crčma to be brought. It comes, in small quantities, on a glass sauce bowl. The tacos cost $2.50 each. We suggest adding a menu on the wall, and making clear from outside that Puerto Rican food is also sold. With these slight changes, we think Orquideas can make it.
The Bronx Beat is a 12-page weekly published each spring by the Columbia School of Journalism. It has often been suggested to the Beat that more follow-ups could benefit the Bronx. Unavoidably, each spring has new student-reporters. But do they reach the last years' issues? The recent first edition of 2007 has color photos on four of the 12 pages. The front page story, on Bronx politics, has no balance at all. No opponents were sought out. The other page 1 story derived from the 12 worst slumlord story already done by all the dailies. On the positive side, an article following up on a business displaced from Bronx Terminal Market was something not seen elsewhere. Follow up is king. To be continued.
Click here for Inner City Press daily reporting, mostly from the UN.
February 12, 2007
From the New York Post of February 6: "During the recession of 1991, The Bronx recorded just 22 residential housing permits. Last year, it registered more than 200 times as many... Carrion noted that property values in his borough spurted 75 percent in five years. 'It's a little scary,' he said. But he added: 'The positives far outweigh the negatives.'" That's a cost-benefit analysis that we'd like to see, and see debated, from the perspective of most Bronxites, who are renters...
We're glad to see that even the tabloids could see the scam of FedEx's "groundbreaking" on 132nd Street and St. Ann's Avenue. In exchange for traffic and fumes, FedEx will bring employees from its Manhattan location. What's in it for The Bronx? A sidebar to the story: as Inner City Press was first to report, FedEx has previously dissed The Bronx, by closing its location in Fordham Plaza and leaving central Bronxites with nowhere to send from...
No job too small: Cablevision's News 12 The Bronx went back this week to the scene of a storefront fire on 183rd Street, reporting breathlessly that the 99 Cent store was still closed and quoting an unnamed neighborhood resident that this was no big deal, "there are a lot of other dollar stores two blocks away." Breaking news, that...
Last week HSBC issued a profit warning heard 'round the world. Its purchase of the predatory lender Household International is now bringing the whole company down. The Times of London called Inner City Press to say, "Guess you guys were right, when you wrote to the HSBC board of director that Household was unsafe and unsound." Yep... See, e.g., "Sub-prime lenders fear defaults after costly HSBC fallout," Times of London, Feb. 10, 2007.
February 5, 2007
In the wake of last week's City Council report on the rent-to-own industry, we're reminded of when LISC wanted to locate a Rent-a-Center in its subsidized mall on 174th Street, click here for that, and on more recent fringe finance issues, see "Protest filed against BofA's deal for U.S. Trust," by Rick Rothacker, Charlotte Observer, Jan. 27, 2007
Speaking of reports, according to the Daily News, Weiner's says that "The Bronx has the highest density of registered sex offenders. Its Morrisania and Tremont neighborhoods also have the highest percentage of offenders living within a tenth of a mile of a school, followed by Bushwick, Brooklyn." The News then quotes a canned expert, "It is unfortunate but unsurprising that poorer neighborhoods have the most sex offenders because that's where the cheapest housing is." So there *is* at least one benefit of the continuing attempt, including by elected officials, to gentrify The Bronx...
From last week's Newsday: "Wrigley Field also blows away Yankee Stadium, especially if you compare the neighborhoods that surround both ballparks." And the solution is to spend over one billion dollars to build a new, unneeded stadium?
Bee-line we have awaited thee: the bus line, with routes in Westchester County and the Bronx, says it will start accepting MetroCards on April 1. Mount Vernon here we come!
January 29, 2007
This week we review... The Bronx on the web. In Georgia, they don't think much of the Bronx -- "the Bronx, it was like, 'Oh. Oh. Watch out.'" But in Minneapolis, they like the Bronx' Afrika Bambaataa. On Long Island, they raise funds from Bronxites in a shelter that's run by the ex-Ramon Velez empire. And in Greenburgh, NY, a Bronx-based cop is caught trolling for troubling on, where else, the Internet.
Also on the 'Net, Inner City Press' Fair Finance Watch has filed a timely challenge to Bank of America's application to acquire U.S. Trust, click here for Charlotte Observer article...
January 22, 2007
The public radio station WNYC is the outlet for, among other things, On the Media and BBC Radio. [Click here for a recent BBC piece on Inner City Press' reporting from the United Nations.] But on Jan. 17, WNYC ran a report, about there being too many bank branches in New York, which exposed its various biases, including as regards The Bronx. Correspondent Lisa Chow joked that in New York -- she didn't say, Manhattan -- there are bank branches on every corner, too many of them.
Note to Ms. Chow and to WNYC: come for example to the neighborhoods around the Morris Houses projects in the Bronx. Around the perimeter there are pawn shops, check cashers and the like. But there is not a single bank branch. Rather than take a single two dollar train ride, WNYC gave air time to the head of North Fork Bank, recently cashed-out as a multi-millionaire to the subprime Capital One, who agreed there are branches "everywhere" in New York City. He is a confirmed redliner, so the spin is less surprising. But from public radio?
January 14, 2007
What is progress? Much has been made of property values in The Bronx rising 28%. Has this helped most Bronxites? Most here are renters. Deals are announced: an overseas group buying 372 apartment in The Bronx, a mall is sold to a real estate conglomerate for $165 milllion, a Limited Liability Company selling a South Bronx building for $64,000 per unit. What's in it for Bronxites, other than higher rents? And yet it's described without equivocation as progress. But for whom?
January 8, 2007
Chicken war mysteries: last week's arson of Twin Donuts in Hunts Point by the owner of the Kennedy Fried Chicken next door gave rise to coverage on News 12 then the Daily News, which said of suspect Kabeer Ahmad, 32, that his "court-appointed attorney, Timothy Bennett, could not be reached for comment." Why would the owner of a fried chicken franchise have a court-appointed lawyer? Unless Twin Donut's chicken pricing really was undercutting Ahmad's shop...
Bad Gateway karma: last week construction worker Carlos Reinoso from Ecuador was killed during the ongoing demolition of the Bronx House of Detention, to be given away for mall construction.
Big picture, small picture: in the week of multiple bi-coastal funeral of ex-president Gerald Ford, in the Bronx on the sidewalk of Kingsbridge Road across from the Edward Allan Poe cottage there was a small funereal shrine, plastic milk crate and candles. Doctor Leandro Lozada was killed in his suburban home. Which memorial was more heartfelt?
At Inner City Press we're not always big fans of elite media. But this week's New Yorker magazine has a simile we're compelled to note, that the "new" New York is like a lover whose facelift leaves them unrecognizable. Hat's off. Or, heads off -- because in some sections of The Bronx, it's been more than a facelift, it's been a decapitation...
January 1, 2007
In the week between Christmas and New Years, a visit to West Farms Square found not only screeching birds and trains but the excellent garden on the banks of the Bronx River. A duck looked out through the fence. Down in the river, three ducks dove to eat bananas and, troubling, a frozen chicken someone had thrown over the fence. Bronxites, many waiting for the Q44 to Queens, watched in horror. Ducks eating chicken?
On Southern Boulevard and 182nd Street, police hang around for apparently no reason. Perhaps to protect the holiday Zoo visitors?
Scenes from a funeral: during the viewing of James Brown at the Apollo Theater, people lined up outside to be sure to get a view. Ever entrepreneurial, some ran to McDonalds and bought slews of Dollar Burgers, returning to sell them (congealing, to be sure) to this captive audience for three dollars apiece.
December 25, 2006
New York 1's end-of-the-year Bronx round-up praises the sell-off of Highbridge, then notes that some are angry at the forces allowed to " rip up and build on Maccombs Damn Park." Damn, that's mis-spellings in two consecutive words...
While still 50 degrees outside, the annual miniature ponies showed up in Belmont, and the sleigh-like horse-drawn cart. Speaking of wheels, the new bike lanes on Park Avenue in The Bronx are appreciated, but there are serious pot holes and deep gashes in the asphalt in the bike lane, for example in front of the 48th Precinct, just under the Cross Bronx Expressway...
December 18, 2006
Bronxites were surprised to see the big "Store Closing" signs go up on the Sears at Fordham Road and Webster. Not long ago it was announced that the building would be rehabbed, with Sears staying as a tenant. Without fetishizing commerce, the site has some history, back to Rodger's Department Store, and the pharmacist's symbol on the corners of the building, with wings and snakes. Though time the store got rundown. Most recently there has been no changing room to even try-on clothes. Still people went to the basement to buy Craftsman tools and overpriced big-screen TVs. And now the end is near. Despite the hype about Fordham Road as retailer heaven, the biggest store on the strip is closing. Where are the politicians now?
A Bronx tale: a newborn baby with the umbilical cord still attached was found dead outside the Eastchester Gardens housing complex. The 14 year old mother was then arrested at her JUNIOR high school...
While it's still 50 degrees outside, the annual miniature ponies have shown up in Belmont, and the sleigh-like horse-drawn cart. Speaking of wheels, the new bike lanes on Park Avenue in The Bronx are appreciated, but there are serious pot holes and deep gashes in the asphalt in the bike lane, for example in front of the 48th Precinct, just under the Cross Bronx Expressway...
December 11, 2006
Predatory lending takes place on a nation- and worldwide scope. Just from last week, ACC, the parent of Ameriquest and Argent which paid a $325 million fine for predatory lending, , announced a plan to sell its subprime auto lender Long Beach Acceptance Corp. for $282.5 million to AmeriCredit.
From Singapore, consider the recent case of helpless car buyers caught between dealers and financiers. A company repossessed five cars from people who did not buy the vehicles from the company and had not defaulted on repayments. GE Money financed two car buyers, who found - to their horror - that their cars had been towed away by Kenso Leasing in October. These buyers thought they had no relationship with Kenso. But as elsewhere with GE Money, the consumer is left in the dark until they get foreclosed on...
And in the Bronx, according to statistics compiled by SheriffSalesOnline.com, the number of lis pendens filed in the Bronx has risen 21% -- from 1569 in the first 10 months of 2005, to 1891 in the first 10 months of 2006.
Died last week in Taji, Iraq -- Jeannette T. Dunn, 44, of the Bronx, who was assigned to the 15th Sustainment Brigade, 1stCavalry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas. R.I.P....
December 4, 2006
According to last Sunday's Daily News, a "proposal picking up support involves building low-income homes above aging public libraries. 'Up until now, we had plenty of housing sites in New York, so no one had the impetus to look at libraries,' said Kirk Goodrich of Enterprise Community Investment. The group has earmarked a handful of libraries in each borough that could be rebuilt with housing above them, such as the Grand Concourse branch in the Bronx."
Around that branch, you already have the high-rise for Bronx Lebanon's nurses' housing. But how about the library on Washington Avenue on 176th Street? Or above Erico Fermi on 186 and Hughes, where yuppies increasingly tread? Or is the idea to let developers make market rate housing, in exchange for rehabbing the libraries?
Unlike the usual police blotter, here's a business (shipping) skel: For alleged violations of the Shipping Act, the Federal Maritime Commission last week fined Willy Express Shipping, NVO, Bronx, N.Y. $20,000 for allegedly operating without license, tariff or proof of financial responsibility...
Here's another New York crime story that has it all, at least from our point of view. Last week police found that "a Citigroup executive turned his fancy 38th-floor penthouse apartment overlooking the United Nations into a crystal meth lab... [Named] was Michael Knibb, a vice president for information technology for Citigroup. He was tracked ordering 100 grams of meth's component chemical, court papers allege. When the feds checked his penthouse on E. 39th St., they discovered beakers, solvents and heating elements in his living room and bedroom." And no sale scripts for predatory loans?
November 27, 2006
Years ago, it was, that the Melrose Commons plan threw its shadow over Melrose. A recent visit finds boarded-up buildings that once were vibrant, empty and awaiting demolition. From the corner of 163rd, the old COGIC church is busted, at 3233 Third. Then the two auto parts, once late-night staples, now empty. The apartment building at 3221 is still occupied -- but for how long? ACE Mechanics, 515 East 162, now has plywood on the windows. Tracey's Body Building Gym is no more. The long-abandoned courthouse now has three windows, after being sold thrice at auction. The piano store across from the precinct is gone. There, they're building. While they've spread blight further north...
November 20, 2006
The famous Fordham Foot Locker fire of some weeks ago is still the main presence on the corner of Valentine and Fordham. Jimmy Jazz and Child World are still closed. On a recent morning the plywood door of Foot Locker was open and the smell of charred wood and plastic wafted out of the darkness inside. A stapled-on flier advised sneaker-seekers to "go around the corner" to "Foot Action!!!" which was said to be "the same store!" Then why a different name?
Going beyond the Bronx, quite slowly, by bus -- the Q44 runs from West Farms Square to Flushing, Queens. When you get there, at the corner of Main Street and 41st Avenue, you'll see smoke wafting from the side street, a cart called Traditional Xinjiang Barbeque, with lamb kebabs for one dollar and a generator humming on the sidewalk. The more traditional venders, with rolling carts and Sabrett's umbrellas, charge $1.75 for beef kebabs not nearly as good. Under the Long Island Rail Road overpass you'll find a watch repair, and another food stall, with scallion pancakes for a dollar, with pork skin and white radish and a hawker pitching "arroz! Arroz frito!"
On Northern Boulevard and Union you'll find the CyberLand loft, where most of the users are gamers, but where immigrant men speak by video Internet hookup to their wives and families in China for three dollars an hour. "No food," the signs say, but all you hear are corn chips being crunched...
Last week Inner City Press sat down for an interview with the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkady Ghoukasyan, and asked him about the fires, about the United Nations and other matters. Click here for the footage, on Google Video.
November 13, 2006
The Bronx is up and the Battery's down, as the song goes. But how to get from one to the other? On a recent Saturday morning, every subway station around Battery Park was shut down. No 1 train by the ferry. Up by the bankruptcy court, which houses the National Museum of the Native American since it decamped from Harlem, the 4 and 5 trains were shut down. There was talk of a shuttle bus, but no signs to say where to catch it. "It's open at City Hall," a construction worker said. And so north on Broadway, where signs in the sidewalk remember those who've been paraded. Astronauts and dictators of African countries, largely. Several signs are obstructed by yet more construction fencing. New York is being rebuilt. But for who?
An example in The Bronx, which we've written on before, is the playground on Arthur Avenue and 188th Street. Month ago Inner City Press skewered the absurdity of closing the playground for all of the summer. Now the New York Times wades in, with a different critique, comparing 188th and Arthur "Playground and Belmont Playground a[s] four blocks and a world apart" (Nov. 5). In the Times article, the head of Community Board 6 says the elimination of handball is racist. Could be, rabbit. At the same time, there are largest and better handball courts just two blocks west on 188th Street. And is CB6's district manager saying the board had no imput into the Parks Department's work?
In Manhattan
this week Deutsche Bank announced it has hired outgoing UN Under Secretary of Management Chris Burnham. Wednesday Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman whether any post-employment restrictions apply to Mr. Burnham and now Deutsche Bank, and to address the issues raised by a senior UN official going to the main private banker of the leader of Turkmenistan, portrayed as a human rights abuser in a recent UN report. This report describes the "gross and systematic violations of human rights continu[ing] in the country." A/61/489.
Policies are being "elaborated on," the spokesman vaguely said. Inner City Press has obtained a copy of the draft post-employment policy. It proposes that "a former staff member of the [UN], at the Assistant Secretary-General level or above is prohibited from making, with the intent to influence, a communication to or appearance before any staff member [for] two years."
Strikingly, the only "sanction for violation" of this proposed policy would be to "have a note placed in the individual's official status file indicating the nature of the violation and the recommendation against any future employment by the Organization."
And this was the "gold standard" of post-employment restrictions? And as to Mr. Burnham new master, Deutsche Bank - Turkmenbashi, what about the "mainstreaming of human rights" which Kofi Annan has called for?
November 6, 2006
He's baaack. A week after the New York Post predicted that Fernando Ferrer is now in line for a job in Albany, he cashed out to lobbying firm Fleishman-Hillard, which WCBS notes works for many Republicans. Sort of like John Kerry?
More seriously, Ferrer faces bribe-taking allegations, in connection with the Oak Point yards. Where, informed sources wondered, did the files left in the burned dentist's office over Claremont Parkway and Third Avenue get to?
October 30, 2006
Last week's studies put the Bronx's Bx41 bus line among the least reliable, 24% off-schedule. Actually the percentage feels higher. People wait for up to a half an hour, then three Bx41 busses come in a cluster...
Speaking of delay, during Friday night's rain storm, an Inner City Press correspondent sought for nearly an hour the Bx19 or Bx17 bus on 149th Street and Southern Boulevard. There's now a Popeyes Fried Chicken across from the long-there White Castle. But there were no busses...
Back to the Bx41, which plies up and down Webster Avenue -- a new entrance on Webster, just north of 173rd Street and across from the taxi driver-populated B.B. Restaurant, is West Africa Movies, offering DVD burning under a Ghanaian flag. Good luck!
October 23, 2006
Now that the 145th Maintenance Company is moving out of the Kingsbridge Armory two hours south to Staten Island, it's time for an experiential review of the area around Jerome and Kingsbridge Road, where the 4 train roars and the 9 and 22 busses roam. The Dunkin Donuts on the corner charges a whopping $1.61 for a medium sized tea. Regardless of their witty ads, this is too much for tea. The Associated supermarket is large, but was mysteriously closed down for an entire day recently. Both bus lines sit idle, as if to recalibrate their schedules, on the east side of the Concourse. Monroe College has spread, now butting up against Lehman. It's education central and one hopes the Armory is put to good use...
Our ongoing watch for dissing mis-uses of the word "Bronx" usually takes us to the UK and Australia. But this week, to New England, where Rep. Bernie Sanders' Brooklyn roots gave rise to a gratuitous potshot at The Bronx: "Bernie Sanders and his Sandernistas can go back to taxi-driving in the Bronx of New York City where they came from," Rep. Charles Bass said at a Republican event in Fairlee, Vermont. Sandernistas? Until next report, for or with more information, contact us.
October 16, 2006
The Oct. 11 fire on Valentine Avenue and Fordham Road, that destroyed Foot Locker and smoked out Jimmy Jazz, was noteworthy not only for the noxious smoke it produced, but also for the decision by the Fire Department to fight it only from outside. This appears related to the deaths in late August of two firefighters in a similar fire on Jerome Avenue. In that fire, there was dark talk of indicting the building's owner. While that seemed opportunistic, one wonders why not Foot Locker?
On the transportation beat, some Bronxites try to use Metro North to commute into Manhattan. The off-peak fare of $4.75 from Fordham Road to Grand Central is more than double the cost on the subway. But the ride is shorter and one can get more work done on it.
But waiting at the Fordham stop one can't help but notice that a number of trains stop at the station, discharging suburbanite when the conductor announces, "No passengers, wait for the Harlem line." This is absurd. The train has already stopped at the station. It does not further delay the suburbanites within to allow the handful of Bronxites to board the train.
Worse still, sometimes a Fordham student will talk to the conductor and be let on the train, while everyday working Bronxites remain on the platform, told "no passengers."
It's time that passengers be allowed on trains, if they stop at the station. No?
October 9, 2006
Heard on the Bx 15 bus, one homeless shelter guard to another: "Yo, at Wards Island they pay ten dollars an hour, but it's only 37 and a half hours a week. You can bug out all day, though. It's DHS that does all the screening. One crazy f*ck last week jumped up and humped on a female guard. DHS beat that sucker down. Ya take the bus on 125 over to the shelter. It's a good gig, bro. You should transfer."
At the cusp of two beats -- Bronx gentrification and NY Times misreporting -- we note the October 8 Real Estate Postings column, 500 words in length, which calls "forlorn" the neighborhood of Longwood, previously described as revitalized, vibrant, lucrative...
October 2, 2006
Now let us curse the MTA. Try traveling out from The Bronx on a weekend. Under the Grand Concourse you'll find that the downtown D train is bypassing many stops. So continue west to Jerome, past El Rincon food cart, to Mount Eden on the 4 line. Where you'll wait for nearly an hour for the next train to come. Then past the hole in the ground for the unneeded new Yankee Stadium, stall at the hardly-used stop at 138th and Third Avenue. More than an hour, and hardly out of The Bronx...
We note the passing, or at least the covering-over of the sign, of Kosovo Grocery on Third Avenue between 169 and 170 Street. Former Yugoslavia indeed...
September 25, 2006
From the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's craven September 15 approval of JPMorgan Chase Bank's application to acquire branches of Bank of New York: Fair Finance Watch
"noted, regarding JPMCB's lending in the NYC area, that 10.78% of borrowers in the Bronx received higher cost loans, while in Manhattan, only .73% of borrowers received higher cost loans."
And what did the OCC or JPM Chase do about this injustice? Nothing...
During the United Nations' General Debate last week, The Bronx came up at the Wednesday press conference of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez -- raised by, you guessed it, Inner City Press. Video here, Minutes 39 to 43.
September 18, 2006
Just east of Bronx Park, across wide Pelham Parkway and highway ramps paved with broken glass, the White Plains Road shopping strip is jumping with business. There are shoes for $20 -- only the old timers remember the multiple murder in a shoe store here by a kid who turned out to be crazy -- and there are now DVDs, both legitimate and pirate. Here's a Hallal food cart with pictures of falafel, if no chick pea nuggets in the flier. Just off the strip is a sit-down Hallal place, with lamb and chicken curry and musicals from India on a big screen TV. The subway stop is bleak and under repair, but under it Ganzo's is still open through the night, along with the Papi Nice bar and El Compai restaurant. The vibrancy is not due to gentrification. We live here, we persist. And on a sunny Fall day, the beauty of it is clear.
So too in Belmont, from which we offer this up-to-the-moment update: on the door and windows of the Europa Cafe on 187th between Belmont and Cambrelleng there are signs, Closed by Order of the Department of Health. But the cafe remains open...
Down Belmont Ave at 186th, in the Moonlight Cafe on Sunday afternoon, women in white head scarves met. Up Crescent, what was once a cheesy sports bar for students is now a church. And on 184th across from St. Barnabas, there's a Jamaican restaurant just about to open. We guess we'll wait until then to review it...
In Bronx-related business news, After a U.S. Labor Department investigation, Cablevision has agreed to pay $400,000 in back wages to settle claims that the Bethpage company failed to pay nearly 2,400 temporary call-center workers for all the time they worked, the department said last week.
Cablevision, which has the cable monopoly in The Bronx, provides truly horrendous service. "Free" on demand is intermittently turned off. Telephone calls result in circular madness. It's time for the contract to be re-bid...
The Times of London of September 11, 2006, reported on the Manchester neighborhood "Moss Side's regeneration. The inner city suburb became notorious in the early 1990s as Britain's Bronx, a place of lawlessness and gun violence. Its reputation was responsible for Manchester's "Gunchester" image... But the death of 14-year-old Benji Stanley 13 years ago, as he stood in a queue outside a fast-food takeway, galvanised central and local government, community leaders and residents. It brought about the most dramatic change to Moss Side and Hulme since the slum clearances of the late 1960s and early 1970s.The Alexandra Park estate, where Jessie's family live, was remodelled a decade ago. The redevelopment of the site of Manchester City's old Maine Road stadium, now in its final planning stages, promises 500 new homes for sale."
A little Melrose Commons... Until next report, for or with more information, contact us.
September 11, 2006
We're compelled to review this year's Ferragosto, which took place September 10 on Arthur Avenue and two blocks of 187th Street. By 11 a.m. there were tacos dorados for sale in front of Mount Carmel Church. In the library on Hughes and 186 there were photos of a fire at the church... back in 1936. On 186 and Arthur was the best deal of the feast, courtesy of Teitel Brothers, still remembered for renting their space to McDonald's. Perhaps still in penance, Teitel offered eggplant sandwiches for a dollar, along with free fresh mozzarella. Calandra Cheese further south on Arthur also had free cheese, though smaller and drier. Note to Calandra: you have to spend money to make money. Whole pigs were roasting, and clowns frightened kids up and down the street. A dressed-up sausage like the ones in Milwaukee handed out free samples. We at Inner City Press know the name of the one inside the sausage, but given his age, 15, we'll hold off on naming him here, except to say: well done! An artistic highpoint was the musical group I Guillari di Piazza, together 26 years to preserve southern Italian culture. The self-declared leader, Alessandra Belloni, quickly introduced the group, including guitarist Ivan Thomson. And then they played, violin and guitar and two singers, and later dancers too. Politics reared its head, with Joe Ciucciu introducing candidate Savino, who came in his bus with t-shirts. Is it proper? Who knows. All in all, one of the best Ferragostos in years. Hats off!
Now back to a wider Bronx-watch. From London's Mail on Sunday of the same September 10, this headline and lede:
"BMX BOY, 15, SHOT
DEAD IN THE BRONX OF BRITAIN
"A 15-YEAR-OLD schoolboy died in a hail of bullets yesterday after
being ambushed as he cycled home from a party. Police said
Jesse James ń who shares the same name as the American outlaw
gunned down in 1882 ń was deliberately targeted in Manchester's
Moss Side area, dubbed 'The Bronx of Britain.'"
The Bronx of Britain? You wish... Closer to home, the New York Post's September 5 "expose" of homeless shelters with "kill neighborhoods" included two in the Bronx, 1218 Hoe Ave. and the Webster Hotel, 1930 Webster Ave., which have been here for years -- until of course they were discovered by the New York Post...
Click here for Inner City Press' weekday news reports, from the United Nations and elsewhere.
September 4, 2006
Voting rights, anyone? It has been announced that for the September 12 primary and November 7 general elections, some Ballot Marking Devices will be deployed in all five boroughs. There will be a total of four BMD machines in The Bronx, all in 1780 Grand Concourse. Meanwhile less diverse Staten Island, when well less then 75% of The Bronx' population, will have three BMD machines. And they say the purpose is to comply with the Voting Rights Act...
Our review of last month of Palombo's Caffe on Arthur and 187th, we must in fairness amend. On two recent visits, the service left much to be desired. In one case, servers flocked around the head priest from Mt. Carmel. But during another, disinterest had set in. After a senseless wait, head one block east to Egidio's, now emptier than before, where they greet you and ask what you want. Ah, competition. There yet another similar place opening on Arthur Avenue. As with the cluster of three primarily Albanian clubs on 187th between Belmont and Cambrelleng, when it rains it pours.
August 28, 2006
While it's been the New York Times leading the unqualified praise of gentrification in The Bronx, now the smaller New York Sun has jumped on board. An August 24 article contained not a single cautionary voice, even while covering developments that have been protested. As if to replace those voices, the head of Phipps Community Development Corporation is quoted, bragging about his CDC's thousands of units in the pipeline. CDCs, of course, don't represent the interests of the people who actually live here: this one is a developer first, and secondly... whatever.
The article's of interest, however, in re-reporting Boricua College's ongoing 161st plan, without specifying if the two abandoned courthouses are involved. A hotel plan is noted: "McSam Hotel, is planning to construct a five-story, 80-room Comfort Inn Motel at 3070 Webster Ave. between 202nd an 203rd streets. McSam purchased the former 5,500-square-foot warehouse last year for $550,000." And why, unlike on Jerome Avenue and further out on Boston Road, is there no "hot sheet motel" allegations? While waiting to see, we recommend the Hallal restaurant south of there on Webster, between 200th and Fordham Road, which has African food on a steam table, and French TV playing in the half-light. Bonne sante!
More micro-praise: the repaving of Fordham Road around Crotona Avenue has finally smoothed over the old waves of asphalt in the uptown side of the street, long a bane to bikers...
August 21, 2006
From last week's breathless press release about Bronx Terminal Market, this: the "center's tenants will include Target." When Target opened on 225th Street, it was said it would bring great jobs to Bronxites. But those employed speak of shoddy treatment, shifts that end just after the BX9 bus leaves, no benefits, harassment and arrest of employees on trumped on charges. And in Bronx Terminal Markets? We'll see.
On 187th Street and Arthur Avenue, in the large storefront recently vacated by an eyeglasses and eye-checking business, Palombo's Caffe has opened. The proprietor notes that they have other locations, including in Allerton, as he scoops chocolate Italian ice and invites customers to return. Already the place is filled. Can the area bear another business of this kind? Apparently yes...
Random grassroots transit review: moving south on Jerome on the BX 32 bus is surprisingly slow. But with the Burnside Avenue 4 train stop closed, if you're going to Burnside, hop on that bus. Between 182 and Buchanon you'll see a live poultry place with a painting of the World Trade Towers in front. It's unclear if it was painted before or after 9/11/01. On Burnside just west of Jerome, a re-opened African restaurant, and a Spanish restaurant specializing in hot bread and butter - $1 for a bread, $1.80 with butter, that's some expensive butter, one wag was heard to say. Back east on Webster Avenue just north of 173rd Street in the cuchifritos, you'll find truck drivers at 10 a.m. having sancocho soup with lime, while their rigs idle outside. Only in The Bronx...
In a parallel universe, we concur with the calls to close down the New York Organic Fertilizer (NYOFCO) plant in Hunts Point for repeated violations of its solid waste permit. See this week's Global Inner Cities report for information on ship-breaking, particularly in Bangladesh....
August 14, 2006
On August 9, the lights went off at Fordham University in The Bronx from two to six p.m.. They closed down the library and did not reopen it that night. Meanwhile, the bodega on 187th Street and Cambrelleng Avenue complained that its power's been so low it had to throw out crates of ice cream and ice.
We're staying experiential. Take for example the grueling stakeout at 149th and Grand Concourse, where passengers try to see which will come first, the 5 train downstairs or the 4 on the upper level? It's impossible to see both platforms at once, so one relies on the body language of other passengers. The metal in the station is rotting - Mott Avenue, indeed...
August 7, 2006
In last week's heat wave, MTA "Limited" busses continued to drive by local stops, even if those waiting were senior citizens who could not, if they wanted to, walk to the next express or Limited stop. It seems simple enough to change this policy...
Downtown at the UN, on Friday at 4 p.m., the new president of the Security Council emerged. He apologized for not summarizing the meeting, saying he feels a need to tell the other Council members before telling the press. He mentioned he lived in Westchester and Inner City Press asked, where? New Rochelle. Do you go to New Roc City? With a look of surprise he said yes, "I am a New York boy."
July 31, 2006
South Bronx, from Hollywood to the real. Variety last week reviewed the U.S.-Italian documentary Urbanscapes, quoting photographer Mel Rosenthal that he remembers seeing wild dogs running through the streets of the South Bronx, pursued by men brandishing lassos. Rosenthal found himself thinking: "Could this really be a city in the United States?" Yes -- and Inner City Press was there.
Flash forward, gentrification watch, on NPR's News and Notes with Ed Gordon on July 25, this was Mary Frances Berry:
Prof. BERRY: I think that since Clinton moved to Harlem and these prices have gone up as a second option, what he should now do is move to the Bronx. And he should go move into different neighborhoods so that they can become gentrified in his wake. I may suggest that to him.
Please don't.
With the Burnside Avenue station on the 4 train line closed down, Bronxites find themselves walking, from Mount Eden and Jerome, or up to the D train Tremont station on the Concourse. Commercial rents have risen and spaces are more flashy. Not necessarily better, but more flashy. Case in point is the new fried chicken joint on 173rd and Clay Avenue. Every chicken dish comes with a generic roll. Two chicken wings recently sold for a dollar. Cheap, but...
July 24, 2006 - Click here for ICP Fair Finance Watch's challenge to Wachovia - Golden West
With belated media focus in New York falling on the failure to restore electrical power to neighborhoods in Queens, Inner City Press offers this first-hand account of power loss on Webster Avenue in The Bronx. It was, as they say, a rainy night. The BX 41 bus was lumbering up Webster Avenue when, between 169th and 170th Street, there was the sound of an explosion, and smoke pouring out of a grate in the street. Soon the lights in housing projects were out, and the street filled with the sirens of fire trucks and police. The bus and other traffic was not allowed to proceed. The darkened housing project tower was silhouetted against a sky lit by lightening. Across the street the all night groceries blinked.
Later in the week, digging went on as thick cabled snaked over the sidewalk toward the project. Step on one of those and it's sayonara, said a passerby...
Always on the lookout for slanders of The Bronx, we offer this, from Australia's Gold Coast Bulletin of July 20, 2006:
Burleigh the next
Bronx
BURLEIGH Heads residents say the beautiful beachside suburb is
becoming a 'Bronx' as teenage gangs continue to rampage through
the area on violent drunken sprees. The Caltex service
station and McDonald's food outlet, both along the Gold Coast
highway, were forced to lock down over the weekend as violent
gangs spilled into the shops. On Friday night, more than 50
youths, who were fighting in the McDonald's car park, spilled into
the building after a customer accidentally opened the
doors. The youths returned on Saturday night to the Caltex
service station which was forced to close for several hours until
they had moved on.
One resident compared it to the Bronx, the New York borough noted for its historically high crime rate. Fifth Avenue resident Jenny Hammersley, who lives across from the McDonald's, said teenagers regularly congregated there. 'Every Friday and Saturday night between 11pm and 3am angry, out-of-control teenagers are harassing and verbally abusing residents, traffic and anyone walking past,' she said. 'It is frightening listening to the vicious behaviour and abuse, while hoping no innocent person is injured or property and cars wrecked.' Ms Hammersley said the teenagers also appeared to be using drugs stronger than alcohol. 'It really is an explosive situation as these hooligans are charged with something stronger and more mind-blowing than alcohol, they sound as if they are delusional,' she said. 'It is like living in the Bronx and needs attention now.'
Hmm... Y que viva la salsa, on the Bronx's Orchard Beach. For planning purposes only, as they say":
August 5: Ricky Castro, Benny y Sabel, Fragancia and Raulin Rosendo, and dominos (which we hope will not be filmed for any reality TV show);
August 13: Jimmy Delgado and his orchestra, Giovanny Hidalgo; and
August 20: salsa with Los Hermanos Colon, Orchestra Elegante, and more.
these events will reportedly take place at Orchard Beach in August, from noon to 5 -- officials are still running scares from the dust-up in 2002, so you never knew...
July 17, 2006
It's mid-July, it's 90 degrees, it's time for street fair reviews. The fair on Clay Avenue and Webster on Bronx Dominican Day was booming, filling to standing-room-only the McDonald's park lot and slowing Webster Avenue traffic as dusk fell on The Bronx. Since that's the slowest McDonalds in the city, taking a recent thirteen minutes to prepare a "take out" premium iced coffee, that's saying something....
Fifteen blocks north, the fair on 187th Street is rather lame this time. The Knight of Columbus are selling religious items; there are air brush tattoos on the corner of Hughes. Still the police keep the barricades up until 2 a.m.. We note again that the strange decision to tear up and render useless the 188 and Arthur playground in the middle of the summer. These are improvements for The Bronx?
Construction, however, goes on apace. The parking lot on the corner of Washington and Tremont Avenue has been torn up for construction. The old Jaritza's Bar on 167 and Webster is now being stucco-ed. On July 15, a scaffolding allowed less than a foot's passage space in front of the bus shelter. Still people tried...
July 10, 2006
Barrio to barrio: this week's Bronx Report travels some 12 miles south to another historically salsa neighborhood, the Lower East Side. How much has changed. First, what's the same: the band Latin Vibe played Friday night in the Parkside Lounge on Houston Street between Avenues B and C. It's a sextet, or septet if you count the lady shaking maracas. The vibes player, it's said, is not Latin but rather Irish. But he rocks, from Manteca onward. At five bucks for three sets, you can't beat it. They'll be at Brooklyn's Prospect Park on July 29.
Outside, gentrification's run wild. On 2nd and C, where The World club used to be, there are condos. On 4th Street all the way to D, the vacant lots have been built one, expensive housing all. Nightclubs line Avenue C, Avenida Loisaida. One positive addition is a cheap falafel restaurant on 14th Street called Chickpea. When asked if they'll open in The Bronx, they answered about the West Side. Of Manhattan.
Returning to The Bronx these days is a nightmare. Friday at midnight the 5 train stops, at least at 14th Street. The transfer at 149th and the Concourse, broken up last week by death, this time involved a forty minute delay. The Bronx as Bantustan. And then the long wait for the bus.
Daytime travel reveals that not only is the ex-Jaritza's Bar on 167 and Webster gutted out -- so to the diner south of 167th. Dumpsters everywhere, and Bronxites on the run. It's a different kind of displacement, not necessarily yuppies but for those who're priced out, it's a distinction without a difference. Who will speak for the poor, for the real longtime Bronxites? That remains to be seen.
Sunday evening after Italy won the World Cup in Berlin, cars drove in circles around Belmont honking their horns and waving Italian flags. In front of Mount Carmel Church, the priest smiled broadly, standing next to a 4x4 with the license plate "KOSOVA 1." From a third floor apartment window across 187th Street, a Mexican teen waved his flag, very Italian except for the center of the band of white in the middle. Arthur Avenue had more foot cops from the 48th Precinct than usual, observing the traffic and the honking. Speaking of the 4-8, they've been asked to at least protect children from a church on 188, put at risk by having been used by the police as witnesses to a stabbing, without their parents' knowledge or consent. The call now is to at least provide protection. We'll see.
July 3, 2006
This week we stay experiential. Returning to The Bronx on Friday, June 30, at 149 and the Concourse a crowd gathered underground. "The Two and Five are out," a uniformed cop announced. "A guy got hit by the train and they turned the power off."
A teenager, bandana tied on his head, demanded his two dollars back. The cop said no, hand now on his gun. The crowded backed up. "There's no shuttle bus?" No. A gaggle set off walking east on 149, over the MetroNorth train tracks and up to Morris Avenue. These days, or night, the homeless sleep in front of Lincoln Hospital. Up ahead on the corner of Third and Melrose, there were police and fire truck sirens. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, one in the gaggle said. Hours to get home, through all this madness.
Meanwhile in daytime, sweating on the platform under 149 and Third, one wonders why the Four, Five and Six under Grand Central has air conditioning, but not the stations in The Bronx...
And the Daily News of June 29 praised without analysis overpriced condos on 156th Street. How many South Bronxites can afford them? Click here for Inner City Press' report on late night June 30 action at the United Nations, including interview of John Bolton before late night Bronx train action...
June 26, 2006
This week we sing the Bronx' grassroots song, Webster's spine from Bedford Park to 149. In the south-most storefront of Botanical Square there's the Daddy Style barber, where reggaeton blared from Monrovia-like speakers. Two blocks down there's the dim-lit Webster Hallal, with a big screen French TV and rice with meat and fish on a steam table whose lights are turned on only when guests arrived.
"Vous parlez le Francais?" the proprietor was asked.
"Un peu," he answered. So why Canal 5, the French language TV? Only for the World Cup.
On Fordham Road the cocito is still for fifty cents. The ancient Sears, once Rogers, stands tall, soon to be encased in glass and expanded. Carvel's, too, has a 1950s feel. Further down on Tremont, night clubs proliferate, culminating in the Jet Set Café, previously of 180 and Third, in front of which Llego La Loca sells her chimichuri wares.
The real estate sleaze of Kathy Z. has risen, announcing itself across from the housing project just south of Claremont. There are empty storefronts and lots where cars are sold. A vivero with live chicken, the closed down Jaritza's bar where the cops shot dead a man. The old milk plant is now a smaller self-storage, its smokestack like an amputated limb, gone but not gone. How the housing towers over the MetroNorth lines stand is a marvel of science. The vacant lots of Melrose have been getting cleaned by hand, perhaps as community service. The BX 41 goes two blocks past 161 before it will stop. Always those getting off scream out, hey don't forget my stop. There's a mis-numbered storefront where se busca y renta cuartos. There's the enormous Cookies now echoes even larger on Fordham. On 149 there are cheap electronics, subject to the hard sell, but a serviceable MP3 player for less than thirty bucks. From there through dark tunnels to Manhattan...
Click here for Inner City Press' expose of the United Nations Development Programme's undisclosed involvement in Uganda disarmament abuse.
June 19, 2006
While the print press barely touched it, News 12 covered the arrest of two dozen people in a "crack house" at 1182 Fox Street in Community Planning District Three. News 12 reported that police said the warrant and arrests were based on "complaints by neighbors." Why say that? Since it's a block of small homes, this seems to violate the anonymity the NYPD promises...
In macro-economic news, reported unemployment in Bronx County stands at 6%, higher than the NYC-wide 4.1% and the NYS- and nationwide percentage of 4.6%... In micro-economic (and party) news, Artuso's Pastry of 187th Street and Crescent Avenue is celebrating its 60th anniversary on June 19, check it out...
Media-hype note: in the documentary "Street Fight," candidate Booker says that Newark has a murder rate "two times The Bronx"...
Oh, press releases. This one's from June 13:
"Parallel Products announced today the purchase of Container Recycling Alliance, L.P.'s (CRA) beverage container recycling business located in Bronx, New York. CRA's Bronx facility is a great addition to Parallel Products' network, since both excel in secure processing of empty and full beverage containers, recovery of aluminum, PET, HDPE, cardboard and glass commodities; and logistics management. The existing management team and staff in the Bronx facility will continue to operate the business as employees of Parallel Products. Parallel Products President and CEO Gene Kiesel stated, 'The strategic acquisition of CRA's Bronx facility will enable us to offer Parallel's trusted and secure recycling services to our East Coast and Mid-Atlantic customers in a more cost-effective manner.' Parallel Products, Inc. provides environmentally friendly brand protection and commodity recovery services to the beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. These services include secure destruction of pre-consumer products; management of post-consumer beverage containers. Parallel has traditionally produced ethanol from sugar and alcohol waste streams; and managed glass, aluminum, and plastic commodities. Parallel Products holds bonds as a brewery, winery and distilled spirits producer, and is authorized to claim tax refunds for unsaleable alcoholic beverages from the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB, formerly ATF). According to Joe Gries, Director of Alcohol Operations, 'Parallel Products converts sugar-based and/or alcohol-based consumer and industrial waste streams, that would otherwise be destined for landfills, incinerators or waste treatment facilities, into ethanol for automotive fuel and industrial markets. Therefore, Parallel Products provides an environmentally friendly recycling solution that produces a useful product from waste.'"
While in the big picture this may be environmental, its effect on The Bronx is less certain... Finally for this week, with rumors growing that Wal-Mart will try to come into The Bronx, see this Inner City Press report. www.innercitypress.org/wal-mart.html
June 12, 2006
With the World Cup now begun, and the local papers running copycat stories with interviews of partisans in bars, we're compelled to praise Mount Carmel Pharmacy for placing a big screen TV in its window in front of white plastic chairs, selling hot dogs and espresso for a dollar, and national T-shirts for five. A proprietor is headed to Germany once group play is over. He foresees some ups and down in attendance on 187th Street, with spikes for the games of Mexico, Italy and perhaps the USA. In '94 in Belmont, Mexicans and Italians each held parades during their match. Now the demographics have further changed. Who will fill the white chairs remains to be seen.
The New York Times' June 6 story about the abandoned courthouse on Third Avenue and 138th Street strangely missed a prior fight that even the Gray Lady covered: the attempt by Nos Quedamos to get the building, turned back by the City which said it would cost $42 million to fix. That was in the 90s. What is the price tag now? And how could a charter school afford it? The paper of record reports without question that the rehab, years after the City's $42 million estimate, will cost $20 to $30 million, for a gym, and auditorium and a green roof. We'll see. The article mentions in passing that the proposed renters still require state approval for a charter school. Somebody has an active public relations department, to get this type of story in the paper...
June 5, 2006
When last Saturday night we noticed holes in the sidewalk around the Arthur Avenue playground, we wondered: who would fence off a park right at the beginning of summer? The question was answered in a midweek press release, announcing the renovation of Ciccarone playground. By then the asphalt was being broken and the fence was up, including around the basketball court, the chess tables and where the sprinkler is in summer. The city's given the job to Total Construction; the sign says it will be completed in Spring 2007. There's one major problem. This playground did not need renovation. It already has rubber flooring by the swings, and a much-used sprinkler to cool off. While we at Inner City Press love to see investment in The Bronx, in this case the money's being wasted. It seems that the blood money that's supposed to replace the parkland being eliminated for the new Yankee stadium has to be spread around, even if the playgrounds being fixed don't need it, and the fixing itself will make for a hotter, more explosive neighborhood this summer. To paraphrase, no Thonx...
Our first (one-line) street fair review of the season: there's zeppole on 187th Street, a bit soggy, but long-awaited as the summer begins.
Click here for Inner City Press' reporting from last week's AIDS conference at the United Nations Headquarters on 42nd Street.
May 29, 2006
The Afghan - Bronx fried chicken connection: last Saturday night on 149th Street, in front of the Lincoln Fried Chicken that he co-owned, Rehmatullah Azezollah was drenched with lye and later died. Mr. Azezollah's ex-partner in Florida Fried Chicken further south on Willis Avenue, also an Afghan, opined that Azezollah's temper and "smart mouth" with women customers may have led to his demise. Azezollah had moved out of his family's house in Flushing, and was preparing to take on a new wife in Afghanistan. And so the chicken money flows. (Although, one Belmont note: the Kennedy Fried Chicken on 187th Street between Belmont and Cambrelleng has now been closed for weeks, with a sign about a renovation that never seems to start).
Bronx Media Watch: A line that caught our eye, in the New York Observer's May 29 article about ex-Timesman Al Siegal: " in the 70s, he moved from editing to reporting, covering the Bronx during one of the paper's 'periodic cyclical rediscoveries of the boroughs,' he said." Might be time for just such a rediscovery - don't even try claiming that such a rediscovery is underway, as to The Bronx. The NYT's May 22 send-up of NYC-TV, Channel 25, made it sound like the station covers all of New York. But the Bronx is rarely seen, and when it is, it's rushed and disjointed. In the series "Cool in your Code," zip codes in Manhattan and Brooklyn just across the river are given whole episodes. A recent Bronx "cool in your code" said it was about City Island, but then inter-cut footage of fancy stores in Manhattan, and jumped to Hunts Point and elsewhere, as if no zip code in The Bronx could merit 30 minutes. We beg to differ, starting with 10455. Or 10458. NYC-TV indeed...
Turning beyond The Bronx, but still in NYC, we were asked to look at JPMorgan Chase's lending in Brooklyn and so we have. In 2005 in Brooklyn, JPMorgan Chase confined African Americans 3.32 times more frequently than whites to higher cost loans over the federally-defined rate spread of 3% over Treasury securities on a first lien, 5% on subordinate liens. JPM Chase confined Latinos 2.84 times more frequently than whites to loans over the rate spread.
Also in Brooklyn in 2005, JPMorgan Chase denied 42.14% of mortgage applications of African Americans, and 36.78% of applications from Latinos, compared to only 29% of applications from whites.
Simultaneously JPM Chase seeks to buy 338 branches from Bank of New York and close 50 of them, including at least four in low- or moderate-income census tracts in NYC, without even disclosing at this stage the locations of the branches.
May 22, 2006
The lack of follow-up on the late-ambulance scandal of May 17 is striking. The Daily News' May 18 article on the shooting death of 16 year old Dominick Hanley says only, "It was unclear if Dominick was the shooter's intended target. Police sources said witnesses were being uncooperative." At the scene on Prospect Avenue that night, dozens of people were talking about the crime, then about the failure of an ambulance to come. The gap between the city's claim -- seven minutes from call to arrival -- and witnesses' accounts has not been bridged. Elsewhere in the city things would not play out like this -- nor in difficult circumstances. Case in point, exactly four days after the shooting and late-ambulance events on 183rd Street:
On Sunday, May 21 at 6: 40 p.m., a police officer took off on foot from the corner of Webster and Tremont Avenues, chasing an African American man in a blue t-shirt north on Webster. The officer's partner in the squad car turned north as well, and soon the lights of other police cars and vans could be seen both ways on Webster. They converged in front of the five story building at 1938 Webster, into which the suspect had run. In less than four minutes there were not only ten police cars, but also two ambulances: one FDNY, the other Bronx Lebanon Hospital. Presumably, these were in case an officer got hurt. At 6:47, the man in blue was brought out in cuffs, complainting: "My arms! My arms!" He was loaded in the back of police car 1853, and driven south on Webster, east on Tremont, and south again on Washington to the 48th precinct.
Since this was the same time of time as the shooting of Dominick Hanley, it is striking that in the latter case, two ambulances were on-scene in less than five minutes. What happened on Prospect? Did the first officers on the scene not call for an ambulance? Or do they show up automatically if they think officers are at risk? These questions should be answered.
In the NYC Parks Department announcement last week about wireless internet services in (some) parks, the Bronx locations are north of Fordham Road: Van Cortlandt, Pelham Bay and Orchard Beach. What about Crotona Park? What about St. Mary's?
Conde Nasty? In the May 15th New Yorker magazine, film critic Anthony Lane opines of Mission Impossible III, "And the grand finale? A fistfight, after which somebody gets run over. Listen, if I want to see that kind of action, I don't go to Shanghai. I don't even go to the movies. I go to the South Bronx and stand outside a bar." Inner City Press wants to know: exactly what South Bronx bar is it that Anthony Lane stands outside of?
May 18, 2006 - Inner City Press midweek exclusive
Prospect Avenue Ambulance Was Slow, and Chase to Close Four Branches in Low and Moderate Income Tracts
On Prospect Avenue just south of 183r
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