NEW YORK PRESS

Thanks to CAST (The Coalition Advertising Smart Transportation), NYC has hopped on the hug-the-world bandwagon with hybrid taxi cabs.
Fifteen months ago, The Taxi & Limousine Commission approved 10 hybrid-electric car models for use as taxicabs. Now cab owners, be they individuals or fleet operators, can cruise along in any one of a number of hybrids: the Honda Accord Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Highlander Hybrid, the Ford Escape Hybrid or the Lexus 400h. The last of these options is exactly what Samuel Pekoh and his colleague Clifford Hammon-Adler picked up: two shiny new hybrid RX400hs Lexuses (or Lexi?), each $52,000. Now, they’re the belles of the cabbie ball.

In these fancy new taxis that are popping up all over the city, drivers are able to choose between a partition or a still camera. In the old Crown Victorias, the partition was more popular because it's cheaper. But the sleek new hybrids have been encouraging medallion owners to splurge on the still camera so as not to upset the sexy design.

Mr. Pekoh told the NY Sun that his daily gas expenses have dropped to about $20 from $65 since he got his Lexus, but that the insurance costs him significantly more.

Last May, The Taxi & Limousine Commission increased the number of alternative fuel medallions it awards to 254 from 64 and Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he wants the commission to sell another 150 for cars that will be wheelchair accessible.

Photo courtesy of Rockershirt on Flickr

According to a new Rasmussen poll, 58% of the country thinks the Indianapolis Colts will defeat the Chicago Bears Sunday in Super Bowl XLI.

What do some of the City's political movers and shakers think about the game? Find out after the jump.

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Instead installing those Corian countertops in your East Village tenement, it's about time you included a gentrification history lesson in your weekend agenda. The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre gives a good dose of the past for all those NY newbies in Once There Was a Village at La MaMa.

The "ethno-opera" was inspired by the works of Yuri Kapralov, and the frenetic narrative encapsulates nearly 400 years of history in Lower Manhattan using found objects, puppets, song (the Hungry March Band play live on stage) and dance. Think gentrification is anything new: watch as the Dutch "clean up" the swamp where the Native Americans lived, and pigs (as in swine) are replaced by a "cleaner" city thanks to the English, and each successive generations brings a new wave of immigrants who add their own taste to the squalor of the East Village.

Maybe you remember Adam Purple and his Garden of Eden  before it was razed for  public housing.  But if not, it's all there. Of course, it's told through found objects like vacuum cleaners, piano viscera, ironing boards, hoses, mob buckets and all the rest of the junk that collects on the neighborhood's streets.

Maybe the world doesn't send it's tired, huddled masses to the city any longer. But their ghosts remain.

It seems a city audit has found not only are the subways full of crappy old equipment, but that crappy old equipment is putting riders at risk. After reviewing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's five-year capital plans, Comptroller William Thompson said yesterday that it will take decades before all of the necessary improvements are completed. Thompson also said that the capital programs, which began in the early 1980s, have been essentially screwing city residents while the commuters—yeah, commuters—reap all the benefits, since their railroads use most of the funds, not the local subways. But no biggie, according to Thompson, it will only take $700 million more to fix the ailing transit system. The MTA has yet to comment on that one.

Photo courtesy of absolutewade on Flickr

Cam Edwards of NRANews.com has a piece today on Mayor Mike Bloomberg's anti-gun crusade, arguing that Bloomberg is hijacking the role of the police when it come to illegal gun investigations and is actually putting cops in danger. Quote:

"But what happens when Bloomberg gets his hands on this information? Law enforcement investigations are put at risk. Last year, when Bloomberg used civilian private investigators to try and illegally purchase firearms in several states, he put as many as eighteen active law enforcement investigations at risk. And how did Bloomberg choose the gun dealers he targeted? ATF trace data from several years ago, before the law had changed. Bloomberg says he found evidence of illegal activity, but for months now has declined to share that evidence with ATF, the agency tasked with enforcing our federal gun laws. If the mayor is really serious about going after illegal activity, why isn’t he cooperating with law enforcement?"

Read more here.

Activists from NYC’s anti-foie gras campaign are all in a tizzy after Fairway Market hung a large sign at its Upper West Side store that insisted foie gras is not inhumane but is one of life's "greatest gustatory pleasures." The animal-lovers insisted the store remove the sign, and management did so in just a few days. But members of Farm Sanctuary, an animal rights group that was essential in banning the delicacy in California, won’t stop there. They plan to hand out leaflets in front of the store until the grocer stops stocking the liver altogether. Foie gras is considered inhumane because the ducks and geese that lend their liver so human tummies can be happier are forced fed and often kept in tiny cages to decrease the chance of exercise. Kind of sounds like a lot of Americans, no?

Photo courtesy of jurvetson on Flickr

Yesterday, the first day of Black History Month, Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie introduced a resolution asking New Yorkers never to use the "n-word." Obviously, Comrie and those who support him, including Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, haven’t much of a legal leg to stand on (what with freedom of speech and all) … but wouldn’t it be nice? Some activists held up a T-shirt with the racial slur printed three times (gasp, THREE times!) within a circle with a slash through it. At least, I think it was the "n-word"—it was blurred out. NY1 interviewed one Brooklyn black man, asking if he would stop using the offensive term. His response was, “Sure.” 

Meanwhile, Sen. Joe put-his-foot-in-his-mouth Biden made an appearance on Rev. Al Sharpton’s show yesterday in an attempt to repair some of the harm he’s done to his reputation in the African American community after making a well meaning, though inexplicably poorly worded statement about Barack Obama. It seems Biden had described the presidential hopeful as, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Yeash. Sharpton opened the show by informing Biden that he bathes daily. To make amends, Biden told Sharpton that he loved him. Hopefully, he hasn’t alienated the LGBT world now.

Last night, WNBC’s local news operation held its first ever Blogger Summit meeting.

How’d that turn out?

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On Sunday, a 43-year-old man contacted the Nassau Police 3rd Squad to report that his online sex partner was blackmailing him with videotapes of their raunchy encounters. Apparently, the unnamed victim met Shawn Payne, 34, (who, by the way is a woman—not that it matters) through Adult FriendFinder, an online dating Web site. After they had done the deed (a lot), Payne told the guy that she would give the tapes to his ex-wife unless he forked over $50G. So the poor dude had no choice but to call the cops and put an end to his online fun. Payne was arrested, but not before she accepted $210 as a down payment from the victim. Michael Largue, 45, a financial adviser from Franklin Square and Payne’s other lover, was also charged. The Daily News has more juiciness.

Photo courtesy of powerbooktrance on Flickr

The Department of Investigation announced yesterday that fourteen members of the Fire Department, including three battalion chiefs, used fake diplomas in the hopes of getting promotions. The fire department has credit requirements for those seeking to advance their positions and so a few especially resourceful firemen bought diplomas for between $500 and $800 from the fictional St. Regis College and its affiliates beginning in 2002. The New York Sun reports: The college described itself as an "online distance learning institution" accredited by the "Liberian Ministry of Education," according to a report by the Department of Investigation. A spokesman for the department, Deputy Commissioner Francis Gribbon, said the department stopped accepting diplomas from St. Regis in 2003 and is reviewing the Department of Investigation report to decide whether or not to take any disciplinary action. Apparently, battalion chief Daniel O'Gara was first to figure out the sneaky ploy and he then perverted several other members also seeking promotions. Now that’s what chiefs are for.

Photo courtesy of texas_mustang on Flickr

OK, I think I might've solved the mystery invasion of good-deed-doing New Yorkers. If people are being kinder to their fellow man, how do they vent all their pent-up hostility and contempt? On man’s best friend (that is, his best friend before man became man’s best friend). Yep, instead of snarling at other humans, it seems dogs are the new punching bag. Here’s the third incident in less than three weeks: A Brooklyn man totally lost it Tuesday when cops arrested him for starving one pooch to death and leaving eight others to die in his backyard. Matthew Woods, 22, is said to have punched and kicked cops and he even broke a window at the ASPCA's East 92 Street office when he was brought there for questioning regarding his no-good doggy deeds. It seems Woods and his girlfriend, Latoya Katon, 20, allowed their 3-year-old pit bull to die of starvation and dehydration outside their Bedford-Stuyvesant home, and failed to care for another canine and her seven puppies. Hopefully, doggy heaven is an all-you-can-eat buffet. On the one hand, that’s just awful. Just awful. But on the other—and not to be uncaring—think of what Woods might’ve done to an innocent Homo sapien.

Photo courtesy of laffy4k on Flickr

In the latest issue of Jane, we are offered a break from the typical "how to please your man" tripe that passes for serious journalism in a women's magazine and presented with the harrowing tale of one Lauren Gazzola, a member of Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty (SHAC) currently in prison for her actions with that group. The "government out of control" piece, written from the first person perspective, is titled "I'm in Prison for Being a Terrorist-And I Literally Wouldn't Hurt a Fly." (I cannot find a link to the story, but you can find Gazzola's website here.)

To hear Gazzola tell it, all she ever did was allegedly run SHAC's website. And while that website might have contained accounts of illegal activity done in SHAC's name, Gazzola insists that all she and her cohorts ever did was write about illegal activity, not condone it.

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Unless you were online before last night's farewell show at Northsix, you were left standing out in the cold. The club's website posted this comment:

**WE REGRET TO ANNOUNCE THAT, FOR REASONS BEYOND OUR CONTROL (ConEdison disconnected power to the building one day too early), TONIGHT'S FINAL NORTHSIX SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELED. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE TO THOSE WHO PURCHASED TICKETS AND, ESPECIALLY, TO THE BANDS THAT SO GRACIOUSLY AGREED TO PLAY OUR LAST SHOW.

So ConEd actually did something EARLY for once? The venue tried to (unsuccessfully) move the show next door to Galapagos. Oh well, sometimes you go out in a burst of glory, but usually this is the way a club ends: with a whimper.

Photo courtesy of Johnny Leather

First, a man threw his girlfriend’s puppy down the garbage chute. Now, a 32-year-old Long Island father has been accused of dumping his 1-month-old daughter down a garbage chute in the Bronx after beating and then strangling her. The victim’s mother, Maribel Caceres, 21, held the door to the chute open hile her boyfriend, Juan Rodriguez, threw Giovanna down. Caceres has been charged with unlawful disposal of a body. Police say that Rodriguez has confessed to the murder, which he apparently committed because Giovanna was crying. It seems she was killed in Hempstead and then brought to a Bronx building where Rodriguez has allegedly scored drugs in the past. Apparently, Rodriguez has 11 previous arrests in the past 15 years, mostly for drug possession or dealing. Mere hours after cops received the 911 call about the dead baby in the trash compactor, Rodriguez was found at his grandmother's apartment, claiming Giovanna had been kidnapped.

If you're not a regular listener, you might be surprised to learn that morning radio hosts Opie & Anthony have spent a considerable amount of time discussing politics, particularly the 2008 race for president.

Despite spending a lot of time debating the merits of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the two have decided that Delaware Senator Joseph Biden's campaign is not worth the effort. Calling him a "mushmouth," the two recalled Biden's alleged plagiarism scandal and his fresh Obama remarks and have concluded that his campaign is nothing more than a sideshow.

"It's a goof, just ignore it," said Opie of the Biden campaign.

There was quite a fuss made in Boston yesterday over a cartoon. That’s right, a cartoon. No, not some political caricature of Muhummad, just a little nameless dude sticking out his middle figure. It turns out, the 10 suspicious illuminated electronic devices that police found attached to bridges and other sensitive infrastructure areas around Bean Town were mere publicity for a show called "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on the Cartoon Network.

The devices were positioned in 10 American cities, including the Big Apple, by a New York marketing firm called Interference Inc., which is based in Greenwich Village. It was later discovered that the firm also posted video on YouTube showing people putting the magnetic signs up. Here, more than 40 of these devices were reportedly spotted, mostly in Brooklyn, and are now in the process of being removed. CBS 2's Brendan Keefe examined one of the signs himself and found four D batteries wrapped in black tape with wires connecting them to a circuit board.

In Boston, 28-year-old Peter Berdvosky, a Massachusetts College of Art student employed by the firm and one of the partners, Sean Steves, are expected to be arraigned for planting the devices. Authorities have not yet decided if Turner Broadcasting or any other companies involved should be criminally charged. But Boston officials say the two men could be held responsible for the costs of removing the devices, up to $500,000.

Photo courtesy of Fuzzy Gerdes on Flickr

Two weeks ago we had the puppy-beater, and now we have the puppy-tosser. What is with all the puppy abuse? Anthony Blow has thrown a poor pooch down the garbage chute while fighting with his girlfriend, Robin Hines. What’s worse than sending your pup on a wild ride down a seven story chute? Sending your DEAF pup on a wild ride down a seven story chute. Miraculously, cops rescued the poor guy relatively unscathed and are now adopting him. Officers from the 20th Precinct and Emergency Service Unit used heavy machinery to break into the trash compactor room to get the pup out, but he spent over an hour stuck in the basement of the Amsterdam Ave. building all alone, and cold, and alone, and ... smelly. Hines told police that she and Blow were arguing because she refused to let him stay at her place after he got out of jail. Yeah. And now Blow has been arrested again, on Monday, this time charged with torturing and injuring an animal, abandonment of a disabled animal and carrying an animal in a cruel manner. That last one might be a bit of a stretch, seeing as how it wasn't so much the carrying but the not carrying that could've give the canine a heart attack. Blow was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana to boot. Go figure. Nothing like a puppy-hater to give potheads a bad name.

Photo courtesy of breezyjay on Flickr

The New York State Health Department announced Monday that they will work with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study fatalities among workers who participated in the recovery and cleanup efforts at Ground Zero to determine what health issues were involved. A press release informs that the department hopes to treat responders by studying those who have already died …

Then yesterday, President Bush announced that the White House will budget $25 million to help ailing Ground Zero workers. Perhaps it’s purely coincidental, but this sudden act of generosity (and by sudden, I mean five years in the making) came less than 24 hours before Bush was to meet with Ceasar Borja Jr., the son of a cop who died after breathing the toxic air there for months.

Borja Jr. became the face of 9/11 last week when, mere hours after his 52-year-old father Cesar Borja died of lung disease, he attended the State of the Union address in hopes of drawing attention to sick 9/11 workers. Bush will meet Borja today in NYC—meanwhile, others suffering from 9/11 will be rallying at Ground Zero.

Advocates say $25 million will not cover treatment of the thousands of cops, firefighters, construction workers and volunteers who worked at Ground Zero and have now fallen ill.

Today at 3 p.m., Bronx Borough President Carrión will join parents from the Community Collaborative to Improve Bronx Schools in response to the dreary condition of middle schools in the area. And dreary they are: their’s is the lowest graduation rate in the city. 100 balloons will be released, 75 of which will be black to represent the percentage of students who don’t graduate with a regent diploma (why they got to be black?) and the rest will be red (I don’t know what that means). New York City is experiencing a bit of a middle school crisis—and we’re not talking about bus stops—but the Bronx is the worst of the worst. Apparently, only one out of four eighth graders can read at the state’s standard level, and eighth grade math results for the area show that three out of four students fail. Eash. Show up at the Bronx County Court House Steps (161st St. and Grand Concourse) to show support—or, if you’re skipping school and have nothing else to do.

Photo courtesyof gadjoboy on Flickr

Man oh man, we truly are our own worst enemy. Turns out, subway turnstiles—affectionately nicknamed “iron maidens” for their resemblance to medieval torture devices—would turn subway stations into death chambers in case of emergency due to the fact that they prevent people from evacuating swiftly. At a City Council hearing yesterday, council members called for the removal of these floor-to-ceiling revolving gates by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because they allow only one person to exit at a time.

The iron maiden is the cheapest way to keep turnstile jumpers at bay, but of course lives are more important than dollars. Public Safety Committee chairman Peter Vallone suggested, you guessed it, security cameras instead! And he basically claimed that the current turnstiles violate every fire code known to civilized man (really, here’s the quote from the NY Sun: “violated every fire code since people got together in civilized society”). There are currently more than 500 of these bad boys at stations throughout the city and, despite the minor issue of saving lives, MTA officials said that they will continue with their plans to install 66 more in 15 stations over the next year and a half. The NY Sun reports that NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton says that the recent addition of panic bars on emergency exits allow a large number of passengers to exit at once, so there is no good reason to remove the iron maidens. Good to know.

Photo courtesy of amatern on Flickr