By: Veronica Kordmany

One of Banana Republic and Gap’s greedy customers has reportedly stolen almost $10,000 worth of merchandise from the two companies in Manhattan. According to police, at least eight stores, all located in Midtown Manhattan, have been hit since January. The thief apparently stole some purses from an Italian store as well.

The Gap, at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, initially reported the thief on Jan. 10 around 5:50pm. The culprit ran out of there with approximately $1,600 worth of jeans, the NYPD reports. Following this stint were the same instances each time, with the culprit always escaping, his arms struggling to keep his hold on the collective total $9,743 worth of jeans.

On Jan. 20, at about 6:25pm, the suspect was finally identified on surveillance footage as he ventured into a Furla store on Fifth Avenue at 51st Street. He left shortly after with almost $800 worth of purses, the footage shows.

The thief’s most recent attack was on Jan. 29 at around 6pm. In every crime scene, with the exception of one, the thief was donning a black jacket with the words “Black Diamond Avalanche Watch” written on it, along with the logo “Protocol Search + Rescue”

Police have stated that the incidents took place between the January 10 and 29, 2020.

The police believe the incidents spanned a eight-day period, in which the same person robbed one Banana Republic store, three Gap stores, and a Furla store. ABC reports that the jeans were stolen from the stores’ display windows.

In November 2019 the CEO of Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic, Art Peck, announced that he would be stepping down from his position. After his announcement the company’s stock plummeted 7%. Robert J. Fisher, the son of Gap co-founders Doris and Donald F. Fisher, immediately stepped up as interim president and CEO in the wake of the vacated role. The decision came after the companies merged into two entities: One comprised of Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, Intermix and Hill City; the other comprised of Old Navy.

Gap in particular has shown a struggle in adapting to the times; according to The San Diego Tribune, while the company had once “…defined casual dressing in the 1990s”, it has since “…failed to stand out from that of its rivals.”

Media representatives from Gap, Inc. — which owns both Gap and the Banana Republic — were not immediately available for comment.

Police are looking for answers on this Gap wearing bandit. They ask all potential information regarding the suspect be reported to the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

By: Jared Evan

With the rapid rise of radical socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democrat primaries, most New Yorkers see President Trump getting elected once more in November, a recent poll discovered.

According to a recent Sienna poll, 62% of New York voters predict Trump will get re-elected.

The New York Post reported: “62 % predict Trump will get re-elected, while only 29 percent said they think he will lose his re-election in November, the Siena College survey found.

“Not surprisingly, 81 percent of Republicans were bullish on Trump’s re-election prospects as were 73 percent of independents”, the Post summarized

“But even a plurality of Democrats — 48 percent — think he will win a second term, the poll found. 41% of Democrats think he will lose the election” the Post pointed out

It would appear most New Yorkers do not see Bernie Sanders, who by most measures seems most likely to be the Democratic nominee, as a strong candidate to defeat Trump.

Bernie Sanders scored a commanding victory in Nevada’s presidential caucuses on Saturday, cementing his status as the Democrats’ national front-runner but escalating tensions over whether he’s too liberal to defeat President Donald Trump, AP reported

As Sanders celebrated, Joe Biden was in second place with votes still being counted. Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren trailed further behind. They were all seeking any possible momentum heading into next-up South Carolina and then Super Tuesday on March 3.

According to poll averages measured by Real Clear Politics, Sanders has leads in 2 major contests scheduled for Super Tuesday on March 3rd, Texas and California. According to RCP Sanders has an 11 -point lead in California over Joe Biden and billionaire late entry Michael Bloomberg. In Texas Sanders, has a 2.5-point lead over Joe Biden. The radical Jew from Brooklyn also has narrow lead in North Carolina, another state scheduled for Super Tuesday, according to the averages measured by RCP.

Many political pundits do not believe Sanders will fare well against Trump head to head. Several prominent liberals such as MSNBC host Chris Matthews have been assailing Bernie Sanders on a nightly basis on Cable TV.

Sanders is the furthest left-wing candidate to ever come this far in the primary race. Many are recalling Senator George Mc Govern, a far leftist who got destroyed against Nixon in 1972 winning only 17 electoral votes. Sanders is further to the left than Mc Govern.

Sander’s socialist policy of nationalizing health care, vehement anti- Israel policies and rantings, calls for giant tax increases and campaigning with communist bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hamas sympathizer Ilan Omar, have spooked even the most strident New York liberals, yet according to RCP Sanders has a national lead of 29% to 17% over the closest competitor Joe Biden. The communist, according to the polls has a clear path to the nomination, according to most number crunching.

Sanders is running a campaign of big ideas yet with little specifics. While this may attract young socialist college students and low information voters, more informed and knowledgeable Americans are repelled by the foaming at the mouth radical Sanders.

By Pat Savage

A brand new revival of the classic musical West Side Story debut than the Broadway Theatre last week. And since this is America in the 21st century, it was accompanied by what else — protests.

At least 100 protesters outside we’re insisting the cast member Amar Ramasar be dropped from the show. He had previously been fired, then rehired, in the wake of a controversy while he was dancing for the New York City Ballet about nude photos and sexually explicit texts.

Yelling ‘Hey hey ho ho, Amar Ramasar has got to go,’ the protesters could barely be heard above cheers for the show, and the arrival of celebrities such as Andrea Martin, director Julie Taymor, Vanessa Hudgens, Alec Baldwin and Iman.

Alexandra Waterbury, a former student with the City Ballet’s affiliated school, the School of American Ballet, “alleged in 2018 that Ramasar and two other men shared nude photos of her, taken without her knowledge, with other men in the company,” ABC News reported. “Since, then, there’s been a petition to remove Ramasar from “West Side Story,” where he plays Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. Producers in a statement last week backed the actor, noting that the incident took place in a different workplace and “has been both fully adjudicated and definitively concluded according to the specific rules of that workplace.”

“There is zero consideration being given to his potentially being terminated from this workplace, as there has been no transgression of any kind, ever, in this workplace,” the statement read.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Actors Equity said it has been monitoring the situation at the production. “Everyone at ‘West Side Story’ should be able to go to work and perform feeling safe and protected in their workplace. Equity has been in communication with the general manager and the members of the show. As a union, Equity’s role is to ensure that our members are protected in the workplace and we take that responsibility very seriously,” Actors’ Equity Association Executive Director Mary McColl said in the statement.

“As protests have been growing, the producers of “West Side Story” have stuck by Ramasar, saying last week that there was “zero consideration being given to his potentially being terminated from this workplace, as there has been no transgression of any kind, ever, in this workplace,” wrote broadwaynews.com. The production had previously spoken to Ramasar’s “good standing” within Equity and the union’s support of his “employment eligibility.” However, Equity has said it plays no part in hiring decisions and was not aware of Ramasar’s casting before it was announced.”

By Ilana Siyance

The once iconic high-end fashion retailer has shuttered its doors for the final time.

Barneys New York, established in 1923, has officially closed operations on Sunday, February 23rd at its flagship store on Madison Avenue, its Chelsea location and its outlet at Woodbury Common in Central Valley. As reported by NBC NY, throughout the three locations , over 700 employees were slated to lose their jobs. Barney’s other remaining locations outside of NY were also closed simultaneously, including the stores in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, California. Barneys has undergone a slow and agonizing months-long going-out-of-business sale, but it is finally over.

Last November, amid bankruptcy woes, the 97-year-old luxury brand was purchased by fashion licensing company Authentic Brands Group and financial firm B. Riley for $271.4 million. Last year, Authentic Brands had announced that it planned to convert the Madison Avenue store into a centralized spot for pop-up businesses, fusing together a collection of boutiques as well as art and cultural exhibits and entertainment. Authentic Brands, which holds a massive portfolio of more than 50 brands, said it will license the Barney’s New York name to Saks Fifth Avenue with plans for “preserving the legacy of Barneys New York while positioning it for long term growth through key partnerships that will expand its global presence as a lifestyle brand and luxury retail experience”, as per a company press release.

ABG will recreate the Barneys New York brand on Saks Fifth Avenue’s fifth floor in Saks’ newly renovated flagship store. Saks will in the future also unveil Barneys New York shops in several other stores in well-preforming markets across the United States and Canada, as per the Associated Press. Saks, which has been owned since 2013 by the oldest commercial corporation in North America, the Hudson’s Bay Company, will also have exclusive rights to the Barneys NY name as an ecommerce partner on both Barneys.com and BarneysWarehouse.com. Already, the Barney’s websites are redirecting to Saks webpages entitled Barneys-at-Saks, offering high-end brand names for sale.

ABG had said it is excited to partner with the Saks Fifth Avenue management team to learn what clients of the legendary trend-setting store had loved about Barneys, and to give new life to that evolving it into something truly relevant to today’s luxury shoppers.

The acquisition of Barneys still maintains the licensing agreement between Barneys New York and Seven & i Holdings, which will continue to operate 12 Barneys New York retail stores in Japan without interruption or change of ownership.

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Apple Inc. has signed a lease for office space at 11 Penn Plaza. As reported by the NY Post, the 220,000 square foot space leased has long served as home for Macy’s corporate offices. The art-deco building is situated on entire eastern block-front in Midtown Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue between West 31st and 32nd streets, near Madison Square Garden. Apple will move into the middle of the 1.15-million-square-foot building—floors 11 through 14. It has options to lease additional space on the 9th floor. The lease is being closed directly with the building owner, Vornado Realty Trust, for some of the space being leased by Macy’s.

Back in January, the Post had reported that the Vornado 1923-era building has 638,921 square feet available from the fourth through 14th floors available for lease as a sublease from Macy’s. Macy’s is moving its headquarters to Long Island City. Macy’s still holds a lease for the remaining 300,000 square feet of space, which it is also trying to sublease, with a price tag of roughly $65 per foot. As part of its reorganization, in January, Macy’s had signed a lease to take the entire 22 floors of the east tower, dubbed One Jackson, of the two-building office project at 28-07 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, along with the third and fourth base floors there.

As per the Post, Apple has signed only a five-year deal with an option to extend at 11 Penn Plaza. Macy’s original lease extends till 2035, and sources say the department store will still be responsible for the entire duration of that lease. Apple is reportedly still searching for a more permanent location to call home, preferring one with big floorplates. “Although it has a beautiful modern headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., and had toured the new buildings around Hudson Yards, Apple fell in love with 11 Penn,” a source told the Post.

Apple currently fills 52,000 square feet, for its marketing division and commercial software applications unit, at 100-104 Fifth Ave. in the Flatiron District. That space is said to be not nearly large enough to meet its needs. The IPhone maker has been looking for office space for more than a year. Apple Inc. reportedly was eyeing space at the nearby Farley Building, on top of the Post Office. Vornado also owns that historic building at 390 Ninth Ave, and has completed extensive renovations there. Apple first wanted to lease a few hundred thousand feet there, but it lost out to Facebook who agreed to take all 740,000 square feet. Facebook is still negotiating the lease in that deal.

None of the parties named agreed to comment.

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

On Monday February 24th, the City Council released a report divulging its solution to the crumbling state of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. The proposed bid is an $11 billion plan which would tear down the BQE and replace it with a 3 mile underground tunnel. The proposal is being back by Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who told The New York Times that the effort marks “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build the city we deserve and need in the future.”

The city deserves better than the “poor air quality, divided communities, traffic violence, visual blight, and noise pollution” the highway delivers its neighborhoods, reads the report’s opening statements. Urban design firm ARUP, was commissioned by the council to report on the topic, and came up with the tunnel as one of two options. As reported by Crain’s NY, the second option proposed in the report, would be to reconstruct the three-tiered structure of the highway with a single level, then deck over that level with an expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Currently, the 1.5 mile stretch built more than 70-years-ago in the Robert-Moses-era is traveled by more than 153,000 cars every day. Most of those are private vehicles, with only about 10 to 13 percent of the traffic being trucks. Johnson, a 2021 Mayoral hopeful, argues that vehicles on highways contribute to roughly 30 percent of NYC’s total carbon emissions, and that 83 percent of that is from private cars. “That should keep you up at night. If you believe in science — and you believe that climate change is real — join me in this fight. Let’s get people out of private cars,” said Johnson. “The Lexington Avenue subway line carries more passengers than [the BQE] in a morning rush hour,” he added. “The city should study alternatives … including the removal of the BQE in its entirety.”

The proposal detailed in the engineering report includes a 57-foot tunnel that would run from Gowanus to Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg. Arup says the tunnel’s construction would probably take about 7 to 10 years. The study suggests the tunnel be built using automated tunnel boring machines, which would both reduce costs and limit above-ground disturbances. Those same machines were utilized for the delayed 7-line expansion and the upcoming East Side Access project.

As reported by Crain’s NY, the idea to replace the roadway with a tunnel has already been suggested and simultaneously rejected. “DOT studied digging a tunnel in 2016 finding many routes were impossible due to infrastructure including subways & water tunnels,” tweeted De Blasio’s Department of Transportation in September 2018. “Huge risks when building underneath some of the most historic neighborhoods in the city,” the DOT added in another previous tweet. The Arup report too concedes the plan may be imperfect, “beyond the issues of governance and cost, the potential largest hurdle to this plan would be the possible need for taking of private property at the tunnel portals and emergency egress shafts.”

The plan would need approval from Mayor de Blasio’s administration. At the end of 2018, his office decided to go with a $3.6 billion plan to rebuild the highway while diverting traffic to a temporary roadway built above the BQE. In April, following opposition, the Mayor said that an “expert panel” would further review the issue. Last month, that panel suggested reducing the size of the highway from six lanes to four lanes. Also, the Mayor had said the NYPD would do more to curb overweight trucks from using the highway.

The City Council will hold an oversight hearing on the BQE Tuesday at 10 A.M. on “The Future of the BQE”. “We still have a fight on our hands over the future of the highway and how to transform our neighborhood and the entire corridor for the better,” wrote the Brooklyn Heights Association who will provide testimony, along with other community groups, at the public hearing.

By: Veronica Kordmany

There have been recent reports of Amazon consuming the Fifth Avenue Lord and Taylor building, which is currently owned by WeWork, an American real estate company that caters to technology companies. The e-commerce titan has been in talks of securing this acquisition, which sources say is a deal worth almost $1 billion. However, the deal is still in the preliminary stages, and is long away from solidifying.

Neither Amazon nor WeWork gave the press a comment on the news.

Amazon’s success on this acquisition would result in significant implications, not just for the online-shopping mogul, but for both parties. It would be Amazon’s largest real estate purchase, which is what WeWork’s purpose is.

Just last summer, the pair were planning for Amazon to lease the Lord and Taylor business. The deal apparently fell through, after Amazon leased both office and warehouse spaces in another part of New York City. In December, it was a 335,000-square-foot lease at SL Green Realty, located at 410 10th Avenue on the Far West Side of Manhattan. The tech giant is also negotiating the possibility of leasing RXR Realty, and LBA Logistic’s 770,000-square-foot center in Maspeth, Queens.

This purchase would make up for Amazon’s famous failure in February 2019, when it was forcibly revoked from New York after its Long Island City headquarters fell apart.

While Amazon is throwing money in every direction, this building proves to be sentimental for WeWork, as it commemorates one of the last big-spends orchestrated by former CEO Adam Neumann. They need this sale to generate some much-needed capital, after WeWork was taken over by SoftBank, the company’s biggest backer.

WeWork is currently shelling out $200 million to renovate the 10-story, 106-year-old building. The renovation would be another gesture for Amazon’s potential purchase, according to some sources. Despite it’s best efforts, several employees of WeWork went public with their concern over the deal’s astronomical price and the perceived conflicts of interest, one of which being that a board member held interests interests in the buyer, seller, and tenant.

Furthermore, the negotiations became more difficult to close when WeWork was forced to agree to lease the entire building, in order to satisfy the wants of its lenders, after its everlasting occupant Lord and Taylor ditched their space. The disruption raised eyebrows at spectators, who watched as WeWork’s real estate team went head-to-head with ARK over the leasing price, many of which believed to be too high.

By: Veronica Kordmany

An invasive species of abandoned pet turtles is making its way back into society by invading New York City’s many parks. The population of red-eared sliders has been spotted in Central Park and at Harlem’s Morningside Pond, where they’ve been snapping up leftover scraps of food, and hogging the turf from native turtles.

While it may seem absurd, and even humorous, to some, officials say there may be cause for alarm. Experts such as Allen Salzberg of the nonprofit New York Turtle and Tortoise Society, say the turtles could be potentially exposing visitors to salmonella. Salzberg also said that the turtles were dumped in ponds across the city by their irresponsible pet owners.

Red-eared slider turtles are originally from the Gulf of Mexico, and are the most popular turtle in the American pet trade industry. Their name comes from the red marks on the sides of their ears, which bear a resemblance to ears. The International Union for Conservation of Nature labeled them as “among the world’s hundred worst invasive species”

According to the New York Post, more than 52 million red-eared sliders were legally exported from the United States between 1989 and 1997, many of them to China. The expulsion from the native land was initially documented by National Geographic, which first reported New York’s turtle invasion. However, those are just the official numbers. There are undocumented turtles also being sold on the black market via the Internet, as well as private transactions via street vendors.

On Sunday Feb. 23, city officials were called upon to aid in the city-wide effort to rescue the turtles, before they caused any more harm to themselves or others.

“Someone should be controlling this,” said Mark Zouiyen of the Upper East Side. “There’s an ecosystem here and you can’t disrupt it.” Another park visitor, who was walking through with his two basset hounds, couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the turtles scattered all over the place. “It’s a strange thing. It’s like the iguanas in Florida — they’ve taken over.”

The Parks Department asked for visitors to refrain from dumping unwanted pets in the park, citing this incident as an example of how dangerous the situation can become if not handled soon enough.

Allen agreed, saying that the mentality is, “I don’t have to feel guilty, I’ll put them in the wild”, but made it clear that “but unfortunately there’s no such thing as wild pond in Central Park”.