By Tom Robino

A report is circulating that the New York City Council is working with a transportation consultant with the goal of drafting legislation aimed at discouraging cruising for rides by Uber and Lyft drivers in Manhattan’s central business district.

Crain’s New York Business cites unnamed sources who say respected transportation analyst Charles Komanoff has been drafting a study in concert with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. The result would an outline of the most effective way to control so-called trawling – searching for customers under 96th Street as they wait to be assigned a pickup. The aim is to cut down on traffic congestion.

“Komanoff, a longtime advocate for congestion pricing, testified before the council a year ago on ways to cut congestion, and he suggested a per-minute fee—or “time-based surcharges”—on Uber and Lyft rides within the central business district and on cruising. At that time, he was working as a consultant for a taxi company,” Crain’s reported. In fact, he went to work on ways to limit congestion in the central business district.”

Komanoff was “a prime mover in the campaign that passed a congestion pricing plan for New York City, both as creator of the spreadsheet model used by state government and transit advocates to evaluate different toll plans, and as proponent of balancing transit investment with traffic-pricing. He also directs the Carbon Tax Center, a clearinghouse for information, research and advocacy on behalf of robust and transparent carbon-emissions pricing to address the climate crisis. A math-and-economics graduate of Harvard and father of two grown sons, Komanoff lives with his wife in lower Manhattan,” according to his web site.

Traffic congestion is no mere annoyance. As DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg noted in a report several months ago, “Our roadways are more congested than ever. The number of cars entering Manhattan’s central business district continued to drop, but empty for-hire vehicles (FHVs) circling the area brought no relief from congestion. Meanwhile, vehicle registrations Citywide have increased, while freight traffic and home deliveries also continued to rise.”

It has also been the topic of wide discussion. According to a recent piece On Curbed New York, “You’re not imagining it: New York City’s streets are more congested, and slow-moving, than ever. That’s one of the results of the NYC Department of Transportation’s latest mobility survey, which looked at how New Yorkers are getting around the city—on foot, public transit, in cars, and more.

“One big takeaway: It’s taking longer than ever to get around Manhattan,” Curbed New York added. “Both citywide bus speeds and the average travel speed within the borough’s central business district (the area south of 60th Street) are the slowest they’ve been in decades Buses average 7.58 miles per hour—it was 8 miles per hour in 1990—while the travel speed in Manhattan is now just over 7 miles per hour, down from 9 miles per hour in 1990. (It’s even worse in the “Midtown Core,” where speeds average a paltry 4.9 miles per hour.)”

By: Rochelle Winzelberg

Not many people were impressed with Iran’s later Major Gen. Qassem Soleimani when he was alive. And now that he’s been blasted to smithereens, local jewelers say they aren’t very impressed with the ring that was found on his cold, dead finger.

“Dealers believe the distinctive ring worn by Soleimani is either a red carnelian stone — believed by some Middle East Muslims as able to bestow “blessings”– or possibly an inexpensive ruby that would cost a few hundred bucks,” according to The New York Post. “From the photo, it looks like it’s a carnelian stone — it’s not a ruby; it comes from Africa,” said Maykel Rieth, a professional cutter for R Gems Inc on West 48th Street.

“The ring is made out of silver,” he continued. “It could be white gold, but it looks like silver — and whoever made a stone like this is not going to put it in gold because it’s not an expensive piece.”

Another jeweler told the Post (for the full story, see https://nypost.com/2020/01/04/its-no-hope-diamond-nyc-jewelers-not-impressed-by-ring-that-ided-soleimanis-corpse/) that, “From the looks of it, it doesn’t look like an expensive ring because it’s made out of silver, it’s not gold. From the photo the color of the ruby is dark. The brighter the ruby the more expensive, so this ring here doesn’t look that expensive,” he said, “although it’s very difficult to get an exact price from a photo.”

Democrats were quick to side with Iran in blasting Trump for the attack that killed the general. But those without a political axe to grind were elated. According to nationalinterest.org, “Qassem Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any terrorist leader since Osama Bin Laden. No one should mourn his death. In Iran, however, and certainly without moral equivalence, he was a revered figure like former U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, a man who advocated for the troops and was not afraid to mix with them. Inside Iran, he pulled as the most popular or second most popular figure over the course of years. As successive U.S. administrations repeatedly dropped the ball on any informational strategy to accompany the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and military approach, he filled a vacuum which capitalized on Iranian nationalism.”

“Relatively unknown in Iran until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Soleimani’s popularity and mystique grew after American officials called for his killing. A decade and a half later, Soleimani had become Iran’s most recognizable battlefield commander, ignoring calls to enter politics but growing as powerful, if not more, than its civilian leadership,” reported AP.

“The warfront is mankind’s lost paradise,” Soleimani said in a 2009 interview with AP. “One type of paradise that is portrayed for mankind is streams, beautiful nymphs and greeneries. But there is another kind of paradise. … The warfront was the lost paradise of the human beings, indeed.”

Edited by: TJVNews.com

A 71-year-old man who was critically injured in last Saturday night’s anti-Semitic stabbing attack at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey might never fully recover, his family said, according to a Fox News report.

In a statement released by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, he doctors attending to Josef Neumann are not optimistic that he will regain consciousness, his family said. Five people were hospitalized for stab wounds, including Neumann.

Josef Neumann was one of five people hospitalized after a man used a large blade in a stabbing rampage in the Monsey home as hundreds gathered for a Chanukah celebration, according to the Fox News report.

JTA reported that the attacker’s knife penetrated Neumann’s skull and cut into his brain, according to the statement. Because of his condition, doctors have not been able to operate on his shattered right arm.

“Our father’s status is so dire that no surgery as yet been performed on his arm,” the family said.

Even if Neumann does recover partially, “doctors expect that he will have permanent damage to the brain; leaving him partially paralyzed and speech-impaired for the rest of his life,” according to the statement.

“We urge fellow Jews across the United States and around the globe to please share on social media their own experiences with anti-Semitism and add the hashtag #MeJew,” the family said. “We shall not let this terrible hate-driven attack be forgotten, and let us all work to eradicate all sorts of hate.”

Fox News reported that the family said Neumann has seven children, many grandchildren, a great-grandchild, as well as brothers and sisters.

At the home of suspected attacker Grafton Thomas, police has discovered handwritten journals expressing anti-Semitic views, including references to Adolf Hitler and “Nazi culture,” and drawings of a Star of David and a swastika. Police said that the suspect had used his phone to look up information about Hitler, hatred of Jews, and the location of nearby synagogues, according to the JTA report.

Federal authorities have indicted Thomas on hate crime charges this past Monday, just a day after he pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges filed locally.

Thomas’ family and attorney said this week that the Orange County man, who lives with his mother, has a “long history of mental illness,” and that he had no history of similar violent acts and no prior convictions.

In a related development, CNN reported that Rabbi Shmuel Gancz said that one of the survivors of the stabbing attack was hit in the side of the head by the suspect’s machete and doctors had to use three staples to close his wounds.

Shloime Rottenberg, the son of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, had just finished the ceremony of lighting the menorah at his father’s upstate New York home when the attack started, Gancz said.

“They are grateful for what they deem a minor injury considering where else the machete could have hit him, such as his eyes,” Gancz said of Rottenberg and his family.

By: Mike Mustiglione

Lev Parnas has been given the green light by a federal judge to hand over papers to Congress as part of the ongoing effort to impeach President Donald Trump.

Judge Paul Oetken of U.S. District Court in Manhattan said Lev Parnas – a one-time Rudy Giuliani associate — could hand seized data and assorted papers to the House intelligence committee.

“Parnas’ attorney said in a court filing he expected to receive the materials from the U.S. Justice Department this week,” Crain’s New York Business reported. “Parnas and Igor Fruman played key roles in efforts by Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, to launch a Ukrainian corruption investigation against Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Parnas and Fruman were indicted in October on federal campaign finance violations related to a $325,000 donation to a group supporting Trump’s re-election. They have pleaded not guilty.”

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee requested records from Parnas and Fruman in October 2019. “The two men are under indictment on allegations of campaign finance violations, and both reportedly played a key roles in assisting Giuliani in his efforts to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine. Both have pleaded not guilty,” reported ABC News.

On Monday, a lawyer for Parnas, Joseph Bondy, “wrote a letter to U.S. Judge J. Paul Oetken in New York asking the court’s permission to share records obtained by the government with House investigators pursuant to the subpoena,” ABC noted. “The records include “documents seized from Mr. Parnas’s home … and the complete extraction of Parnas’s iPhone 11, seized from Mr. Parnas upon his arrest on October 9, 2019,” Bondy wrote.”

Parnas was born in 1972 in Odessa, Ukraine, when it was still part of the USSR. His family brought him at the age of three to the U.S., first to Detroit, and then a year later to Brooklyn. He was a student at Brooklyn College, according to Wikipedia. He also worked at Kings Highway Realty, where he sold Trump Organization co-ops.

“In 1995, Parnas moved to Florida, where he worked in several businesses. He became a broker, working with such organizations as Euro-Atlantic Securities, Mammoth Bullion and Monolith Bullion, and founding his own company, Parnas Holdings. After being involved in a failed film project, he partnered with Igor Fruman in an energy related venture. The Miami Herald maintains he “left a long trail of debts in Florida and beyond,” the Wikipedia entry noted.

“In 2019, Parnas served as a translator for a legal case involving Dmytro Firtash, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarchs with self-admitted mob connections, who is fighting extradition to the U.S. to face bribery charges. Firtash has lived in Vienna for five years.”

By Pat Savage

The battle over who is responsible for the accidental death of Erica Tishman is shifting into high gear.

The architect and philanthropist was killed back on December 17, when part of a Times Square office building fell on her as she walked down the street.

That building’s owner has now reportedly taken a nearby landlord to court. The allegation is that the neighbor delayed repairs to the roof and façade that had been ordered by the city.

“The owner of 729 Seventh Ave., an LLC controlled by Himmel & Meringoff Properties, said in a lawsuit that prolonged negotiations with the owner of two adjacent properties have prevented it from complying with a Department of Buildings order to repair its roof and facade by Jan. 21,” reported Crain’s New York Business. “A spokesman for the company blamed repair delays on the neighboring owner’s refusal to grant access for repairs.”

Tishman was killed instantly around 10:45 am on Tuesday on 49th Street near Seventh Avenue, about 500 feet north of Times Square. She was declared dead at the scene. According to police, the incident occurred outside of a 104-year-old building at 729 Seventh Avenue, a 17-story building constructed in 1915.

In the wake of the accident, The New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects offered its condolences to the family in a statement. It reads: “AIA New York is deeply saddened by the news of architect and lifelong New Yorker Erica Tishman’s tragic death yesterday when debris fell from a 17-story building in Midtown. As architects, we know too well the dangers that arise from a lack of effective government oversight and proper maintenance by building owners. AIANY will continue to advocate for safer building conditions throughout our city. Our thoughts are with Erica Tishman’s family.”

Tishman “was well known in the New York real estate world, having been a founder of DeWitt Tishman Architects, which designed Jersey City’s Trump Plaza, and an associate at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners,” noted rew-online.com. “A licensed architect since 1983, Mrs Tishman was born and raised in New York, attending Riverdale Country School before Princeton University where she met the love of her life, Steven.

“The two moved to Boston so that Mrs Tishman could attend Harvard University where she obtained her Master’s in Architecture,” rew-online.com continued. “She enjoyed a long and successful career as an architect spanning over 30 years at Beyer Blinder Belle and ultimately as an owner at DeWitt Tishman Architects. More recently, she was vice president at Zubatkin. Despite her many professional achievements, Mrs Tishman’s life was defined by her service to others and her love of family. She served as the former chair of the board of directors at the Educational Alliance as well as serving on the boards of trustees at Riverdale Country School and at Central Synagogue.”

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Drivers in 2020 have been frustrated to find that parking meters all over NYC have not been accepting credit cards, according to an article by the NY Times. On January 2nd, the NYC DOT took to twitter to acknowledge the problem. “We’ve received reports across the city of parking meters not accepting credit cards. DOT crews are out fixing the issue. In the meantime, meters are still accepting coins & the free #ParkNYC app, available at https://t.co/iCQhX2wHF4, App Store, GooglePlay.”

The temporary problem is attributed to a glitch in the software. Remember the infamous bugs fears in anticipation of Y2K, where people were afraid that computers and software apps would not be able to recognize dates after 2000 and would glitch to the point of no return? Well, at least then people foresaw the problem and worked to resolve the issues beforehand. As reported by CNET, apparently, the French company, named Parkeon, which created the credit card payment system for the NYC parking meters, neglected to foresee that the meter software would need to recognize dates after 2020. “The software in the model of Parkeon meter used in New York City had established an end date of January 1, 2020, and had never been updated by the company,” the DOT said in a statement on Thursday.

This is what has been causing parking meters across the Big Apple to reject people’s credit and debit cards, causing a great inconvenience throughout. It’s been almost like traveling back in time to the days when car commuters needed to stock up on quarters to pay meters with. The machines are still accepting the coins, although the ParkNYC app is also a viable option and is still working. Officials have said that drivers who don’t pay will be ticketed.

Parkeon blamed the problem on an anti-fraud security setting which disabled their card payment system for any transactions made after the New Year. The company has provided the city DOT with a software fix, but the update must be manually installed into each meter. City workers have been dispatched and are trying to fix the issue. This may prove to be a big job, as the five boroughs of NYC encompass a total of 14,000 meters, covering roughly 85,000 spaces. By Friday night, 1,750 of the city’s meters were repaired, and the DOT said they are training and dispatching additional electricians throughout the weekend. The DOT said it expects all citywide repairs to be completed by Thursday evening, as per ABC7 News.

Flowbird Group, which owns Parkeon, issued a statement assuring it was only a glitch was with the software and not a breach of their system. “Yesterday, NYC DOT had muni meter issues city wide, affecting their ability to accept credit card payments and pre-paid parking cards,” the statement read. “The outage was caused by an anti fraud security setting that disabled card payment beyond Jan. 1 2020. Flowbird, the provider of the parking solution, has immediately provided a software upgrade fix. The solution is now under deployment in the field by DOT crews. Our investigation confirmed that there was no security breach of the system.”

By: Noah Robinson

The NYPD is kicking off a crackdown on abuse of city-issued parking placards with increased fines and violations starting this week. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson pitched the idea of tightened enforcement in November and, surprisingly, received majority support from the rest of the City Council.

Other units will be out specifically tracking for the misuse of placards, and enforcing two tickets to violators: one for illegal parking and the other for the misuse of the placard. The enforcement unit that cracks down on placards already have a list of almost three dozen areas where the worst abuse of placards occur, for example, around City Hall and the federal courthouse and jail. That list was shared with rank-and-file in an email sent out by police leaders this week.

The email notice from police brass to rank-and-file cops: “WARNING!! Due to new laws passed by the city council on placard abuse, multiple units are tasked to enforce and document the abusers by taking photos of cars, plates and placards to record and submit to [the Department of Investigation]. Can’t stress this enough for you to tell your personnel that this will commence Monday 1/6/2020! Be Safe!”

But what exactly does this new crackdown do for our city, for the people living in it? Does this new focus actually help New Yorkers in their daily life? Some would argue it does not:

“The whole thing is ridiculous. I think we have bigger things to worry about. You got bail reform. You got bad people on the street. They’re having a hate problem in the Jewish areas. Maybe they should be guarding the synagogues instead of going after parking placard problems. Maybe they should put more guys in Morningside Park. They should use their traffic cops,” a high-ranking police source stated, referring to antisemitic crimes in the city and the murder of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors.

Is the abuse of placards really so detrimental to our city’s life? Or are there other problems that need to be addressed first? A law enforcement source explained that the placards allow its holders to defy a few city parking regulations during their job duties, but cops sometimes use them to “park by their homes and when going places off duty,” such as Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and Bloomingdales. Some sources even expressed that cops should be allowed to continue bending this type of law.

By: Rusty Brooks

Thirty-five New Yorkers reported seeing Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in 2019; three times the twelve who reported such sightings the year before, The N.Y Post reported.

The data is from the National UFO Reporting Center, according to S.I Live.

Manhattan and Queens each had 12 sightings, followed by Brooklyn with eight, Staten Island with two and the Bronx with only one sighting.

In New York State, there was a 52% increase in UFO sightings from 108 in 2018 to 164 in 2019, according to the New York Post.

Some of the reports included people seeing “silver, cigar-shaped” space vehicles, and a “bright green orb”.

Staten Island Live reported the following:

According to the National UFO Reporting Center, a UFO was spotted on Staten Island on April 26 at approximately 10:30 p.m. The description of the report was a driver was on his or her way home to Queens on the West Shore Expressway when they saw four different shaped lights in the sky, which was recorded on a cell phone. When the driver reached the Belt Parkway, they saw a “big dark blue color light” in the sky.

Another UFO was spotted on Staten Island on Sept. 19 at about 9 p.m. The encounter was described as a bright round light moving across the sky, going straight up towards the stars and then disappeared as it got smaller.

“No blinking lights to identify as an airplane,” a UFO spotter said. “Moved slowly across the sky then turned in an upward position and just went straight up towards the stars. It disappeared into the night sky. There was no clouds.”

S.I. Live noted: The National UFO Reporting Center has been logging UFO sightings annually since 1930. The center is a privately-run organization with no ties to the U.S. government. It categorizes the sightings by year and month, asks for the date, time, city and state of the sighting; shape, duration of the sighting and asks for a summary of your experience.

The New York Post chronicled a sighting in Brooklyn on Sept. 20 at 3:30 p.m.

“I looked out my window … and saw a very clear trail of exhaust in the sky,” he said. “I happen to live in an area where airplanes regularly fly on a few set routes and I have gotten to know their pace/speed and general flight paths. … There are also frequently helicopters flying slightly lower in the sky than the planes. The craft [were] … moving at a remarkable speed.”

The entire state overall saw a 52 percent increase in UFO sightings to 164 last year, from 108 in 2018.

By: Ellen Cans

A former high-ranking New York City Education Department official, who interacted with the school chancellor daily, has been arrested. Federal prosecutors have charged David Arnold Hay alleging the use of a computer to facilitate a possible child sex crime, as per Neenah police.

As per the NY Daily News, Hay was arrested on Sunday by Neenah City investigators at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, in Wisconsin. The 39-year-old Brooklyn resident was charged with enticement of a minor and possession of child porn. When authorities searched his phone they found “sexually explicit photos” of a young male student at Tomah High School in Wisconsin, where Hay had been the principal from 2011 to 2014. The complaint noted, however, that the pictured teen was around 20 years old at the time, possibly lessening the strength of the charge.

The investigation against Hay began in July, when he began messaging undercover police Craig M. Hoffer, who was posing as a 14-year old boy named Colton. As reported by CNN, the two chatted for months, first on the dating app named Grindr, and later switched to text messaging via the TextNow app. According to the complaint, the chats became increasingly raunchy, despite the “teen” telling Hay that he couldn’t chat when his parents were around. Hay relayed that he was planning a trip to Wisconsin, and the undercover cop asked if they could stay together at a hotel with a hot tub. Hay agreed and made a reservation but then backed down citing family issues. According to the complaint, Hay also said he was “a bit scared” and referred to their age difference.

Hay’s attorney, Jonathan Smith, said that it’s significant to note that Hay cancelled the encounter. “I think it is important he never met with the person or attempted to meet with the person,” Smith said. “There’s certainly references to conversations he purportedly had with someone who was purporting to be someone who was underage, whether that was reasonable to believe or not is something we’ll have to explore,” added Smith.

On Friday, Hay was released on a recognizance bond in federal court. He is in home detention at his parent’s home, and must remain in Wisconsin. He is expected back in court on January 14 for the preliminary hearing. Should he be convicted on all counts, he could face up to 20 years in prison—10 years for the enticement charge and up to 10 years if convicted for child pornography.

At the time of his arrest, Hay was employed as deputy chief of staff to NYC schools chancellor Richard Carranza. He was fired shortly after news of the arrest. “Absolutely unacceptable. In my office we hold everyone including myself to a very high standard. We serve the children on New York City, and that’s why I immediately fired him. I also respect the judicial process, there is the assumption of innocence until proven guilty,” Carranza said Friday. “As a parent I would expect that my chancellor would fire someone charged with that sort of crime.”

Before joining the NY education department, Hay had been a teacher and a principal at two high schools in Wisconsin, where he has roots.

By: Noah Robinson

This E-Z Pass fee is taking a very high and demanding toll on drivers for little to no reason. A Brooklyn man claims the $6 annual change E-Z Pass adds to monthly paper statements is, simply put, against New York’s law.

Michael Rosenberg, who is suing the MTA and Port Authority, has stated that thousands of E-Z Pass customers still get mailed statements and are getting swindled for it. It is a fact that forcing customers to pay for wanting to get their bills in the mail, while providing digital options for no charge at all, is unfair to those who do not have access to the internet per say. This is according to the state Legislature established in 2011 in Michael Rosenberg’s November 12th class-action lawsuit filed in the city. Rosenberg wants the following: unspecified damages, restitution for himself and any other customers affected, and a court order restricting the annual fee.

However, a state source explained that the 2011 law (which bars charging customers for paper statements) doesn’t specifically apply to the government. “No person, partnership, corporation, association or other business entity shall charge a consumer an additional rate or fee … when the consumer chooses to pay by United States mail or receive a paper billing statement,” the law reads.

The Port Authority had declined to comment. But the MTA and Port Authority do offer emailed statements, as well as a bimonthly paper option free of charge. The MTA declined to comment on exactly how many customers get monthly statements in the mail and pay the fee. “This practice has been in place since 2001 for customers who want monthly paper statements to cover the cost of postage and processing,” spokeswoman Abbey Collins said. “As a rule we don’t comment on pending litigation.”

By: Hellen Zaboulani

On Sunday January 5th, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo spoke at the “No Hate No Fear Solidarity March” in in Manhattan’s Foley Square, in which a total of 25,000 people marched protesting the fearful spike in anti-Semitism. The governor announced the availability of $45 million to protect of New York’s religious-based institutions. He said the funds, which were originally apportioned in 2017 under New York’s Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes Grant Program, can be used by private schools, synagogues and cultural centers to prevent hate crimes. The aim is to strengthen security at nonprofits that are vulnerable due to differing beliefs and ideologies.

As reported by Hamodia, NYS Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein (D), the Hasidic lawmaker from Brooklyn whose district includes Borough Park and parts of Midwood, took to Twitter to divulge that this is not new funding but had already been passed in the last year’s budget. Eichenstein told community members that this is the very same $45 million but the governor is announcing it again. “Fool me once…@NYGovCuomo announced this same funding over and over as if it’s new,” Eichenstein said. “We need additional security funding for schools and houses of worship,” he added.

At Sunday’s NYC rally, Governor Cuomo also announced a new tip line created so New Yorkers can call to report bias or discrimination. That new number is 1-877-NO-HATE-NY. Also, he vowed that New York State Police will continue to provide more patrols and security in popular Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

“The recent rash of anti-Semitic and other hate-fueled attacks in New York and across the nation are understandably causing anxiety, but we will not be intimidated,” Governor Cuomo said. “In New York we stand up to those who try to sow division and fear, and this new funding will provide religious and cultural institutions the support they need to help protect themselves and keep people safe. We will not let the cancer of hate and intolerance weaken us — we will continue to stand up and denounce it every time it rears its ugly head.” Other high-profile New York politicians to attend the march included: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D).

The Budget’s New York State Division will continue to provide grants to organizations that apply and are eligible. Up to $50,000 in funding will be awarded per facility for security cameras, additional security training, door-hardening, improved lighting, state-of-the-art technology and other related security upgrades. Organizations that operate at more than one location can submit multiple applications, for a maximum of five applications. As per a statement by the governor’s office, over 500 projects have already been supported by $25 million in state funding since the program’s inception.

By: Rusty Brooks

New York political analysts are saying mayoral hopeful and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will have to explain his vote to not expel to girlfriend-beating former colleague from the state Senate, the N.Y Post reported.

The N.Y Post reported: the state Senate voted 53-8 to expel Sen. Hiram Monserrate in 2010 after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault for manhandling his girlfriend in an incident where he was caught on camera dragging her down a hallway while she was bleeding with cuts to her face.

“In a mayoral race, the Hiram Monserrate vote will come up. Adams is going to have to explain himself,” Baruch College public affairs professor Doug Muzzio told The Post

Adams was one of the eight senators who voted against expulsion — while also questioning cops’ “unusual handling” of the case and showing up to Monserrate’s sentencing, The Post reported.

Recently Adams made news when he promised an audit of NYPD facilities to make sure they are providing areas for NYPD women to privately nurse their infants.

Five police officers sued the NYPD in Brooklyn Federal Court last week, claiming the department had not provided them with clean and private spaces, as required by law. Instead, the women were forced to pump milk in front of colleagues, in filthy rooms, bathrooms and squad cars, the lawsuit alleges, The N.Y Daily News reported.

“The disturbing allegations in this lawsuit show that our City is failing working mothers,” Adams said before the announcement of an audit. “We cannot claim we are leading on gender equality when women cannot safely pump breast milk without facing ridicule or dangerous conditions.”

Adams has also recently supported the plan to hire 500 additional MTA cops in a Dec. 19 letter to MTA chairman Pat Foye and Gov. Andrew Cuomo batting back concerns from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other far leftists. that the move will exacerbate “over-policing” of poor people of color, The N.Y Post reported.

“As quality-of-life concerns among straphangers continue to rise, this is a critical step to ensure everyone feel safe while navigating our subway system….This uptick in misdemeanors contributes to a perception that our subway system is becoming less safe, undoubtedly causing many commuters to seek alternative modes of transportation”, Adams wrote in a letter which was recently published online

“I understand there are some who have criticized this move, claiming it will contribute to the over-policing of young black and brown men … but many do not remember what the city was like when I served on the police force in the 1980s and 1990s”, Adams concluded.