Curtis Sliwa, head of the Guardian Angels, a citizen safety group, on a patrol in the Jewish neighborhood of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York where ant-Semitic violence has been rampant. Sliwa started the group in 1979 as a response to the out-of-control crime in the New York City subway. The group now has branches in over 130 cities and 13 countries worldwide. Older Jewish residents of Crown Heights remember the Guardian Angels’ presence during the 1991 Crown Heights riots, when the police largely let widespread violence against Jews go unanswered. (Photo: video screenshot)
Curtis Sliwa, who founded Guardian Angels in New York City in 1979, said that patrols would start in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, and expand to Williamsburg and Borough Park.
Edited by: Fern Sidman
A private, volunteer-based and unarmed crime-prevention group said it would start patrolling parts of Brooklyn on Sunday following a string of anti-Semitic attacks in the borough.
Curtis Sliwa, who founded Guardian Angels in New York City in 1979, said patrols would start in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and expand to Williamsburg and Borough Park later in the day.
Hours earlier, on Saturday night, five people were stabbed in an attack at a Hanukkah event in Monsey, N.Y., upstate in Rockland County.
There has been a total of eight attacks on Jews in Brooklyn since Dec. 13, according to police. On Friday, a woman slapped three females in Brooklyn and told police officers that it was because they were Jewish.
For the second time in three days, a woman in Brooklyn has been freed without bail on a charge of assaulting three females in Brooklyn and told police officers that it was because they were Jewish.
The woman is identified as 30-year-old Tiffany Harris. She was accused of carrying out “a hate crime assault” against the three Jewish women outside Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights. On Sunday, she was arrested for allegedly attacking a 35-year-old woman in Prospect Heights for no apparent reason, according to a WIN report.
“Exasperated prosecutors asked Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Archana Rao to impose some kind of monitoring on Harris while she awaits trial,” said the Daily News.
“We’re here two days after the defendant was here on another case,” said an assistant district attorney in court after the second arrest, according to the newspaper, adding that “we do think the highest level of supervision available would be appropriate.”
Despite the request, the judge released Harris again without bail, according to the report. Harris was simply warned not to be arrested again while the matter is pending in court, said the Daily News.
World Israel News reported that critics are blaming the de Blasio administration’s new ‘bail reform’ legislation, which calls for freeing suspects that don’t cause physical harm (outside of sexual assaults).
Other incidents involved victims being hit in the face, the head and the back of the head, as well as at least one having a beverage thrown at them, said police.
Sliwa said, “We’re a visual deterrence in our red berets and our red satin jackets. Nobody’s going to commit an attack when we’re around.” If they do, he added, “We’ll physically restrain the persons responsible, make a citizen’s arrest and hold them until the police arrive.”
“These attacks are taking place, and the cops have not been proactive at all,” said Sliwa on Saturday. “It comes from City Hall and the mayor. He’s been just apathetic.”
The Guardian Angels first appeared on the New York City scene in the late 1970s when the violent crime rate in the city was literally spiraling out of control. They are a private, unarmed crime-prevention group.
Under the leadership of Brooklyn-born Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels ended up patrolling subways, streets and other high-risk public venues. Their conscientious attempts at significantly diminishing the crime rate in New York were quite successful but Sliwa always met with constant opposition from former Mayor Edward I Koch, who dismissed the group as ragtag vigilantes and wanted the NYPD to exclusively deal with criminal matters throughout the city.
Known for their red silk jackets that bear their Guardian Angels logo on the back and their bright red berets, the youthful cadre of devoted Guardian Angel volunteers were a ubiquitous site around the five boroughs of the city in the early 1980s. They served as both a comfort and reassurance to those New Yorkers who felt severely threatened by the soaring crime rate at the time and were becoming increasingly frustrated by the inability or unwillingness of the NYPD to do anything about it.
When the now infamous Crown Heights riots erupted in the summer of 1991, Sliwa and his Guardian Angels were called upon to keep the peace after yeshiva student Yankel Rosenbaum from Australia was brutally murdered by African American rioters. All of Crown Heights has morphed into a tinderbox of sorts as former Mayor David Dinkins did nothing to quell the riots and for several days the streets of Crown Heights were ablaze in violence.
The Guardian Angels dealt with the likes of race baiter and virulent anti-Semite, Al Sharpton and stayed in the neighborhood for three months to ensure the safety of the Orthodox Jewish residents.
Fast forward to 2019. Sliwa told NBC News that the patrols would start on Sunday, first at noon in Crown Heights and later in the day also in Williamsburg and Borough Park, according to the JTA web site.
Sliwa told the media that local leaders of the Crown Heights based Chabad-Lubavitch movement asked for his group’s help by maintaining a presence in the area, due to the dramatic increase in anti-Semitic attacks. He also said that his group’s assistance was requested by the Satmar Chassidim of Williamsburg and the Bobov sect of Chassidus in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
“We’re a visual deterrence in our red berets and our red satin jackets,” he said. “Nobody’s going to commit an attack when we’re around.”
“These attacks are taking place, and the cops have not been proactive at all,” Sliwa added. “It comes from City Hall and the mayor. He’s been just apathetic.”
Two years have passed since Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, were found strangled in their home in Toronto. The Sherman family had sprung into action, launching a private investigation and offering over $7.5 million as reward for information leading to an arrest. Now, with the truth still a chilling mystery, the family has decided to close the private investigation into the murder, as per the NY Post.
By Hellen Zaboulani
Bernard Sherman, dead at 75, was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist with an estimated net worth of US$3.2 billion at the time of his death, as per Forbes. He was the 12th-wealthiest Canadian. He worked as chairman and CEO of Apotex Inc., a large pharmaceutical company. Both he and his wife were Jewish, and had donated a record $50 million to the United Jewish Appeal and to other Jewish and secular charities. The Apotex Foundation had also sent over $50 million worth of medicine to disaster zones around the world since 2007.
With belts around their necks and their hands tied behind their backs Barry and Honey Sherman were both found dead on December 15, 2017 by realtors showing the house to prospective buyers two days after their deaths. The cause of both deaths was decided as ligature strangulation caused by binding or tying, according to their post-mortem examinations. The Toronto Police Service previously said there was no indication of forced entry into the Sherman home. Friends had said that the house had nine entrances and both Barry and Honey may have been likely to open the door for someone who asked for help, even at night, and even if it was a complete stranger or someone they barely knew.
The Sherman children hired private investigators, and conducted another autopsy. Still, no suspects or persons of interest have yet been publicly identified, although detectives obtained a total of 28 search warrants by September 2018. At the end of October 2018, the family publicly offered a 10 million in Canadian dollars as reward, in connection to the couple’s murder investigation for any information leading to an arrest and prosecution of a suspect. Still, the investigations has come up empty.
“When you offer a 10m [Canadian dollars] reward and nothing has happened, you can see that the people who are involved either don’t need the money or fear that if they come up with the answer, they’ll be eliminated,” Murray Rubin, a longtime friend and business associate of Barry Sherman told The Sunday Times of London.
The case is closed, but speculation about the murderer is still at a peak. All that is known about the assailants is their sly expertise. Speculators had a long list of possible suspects, being that Mr. Sherman was in the high-profile business of generic drugs. Sherman also had a long list of open litigations, many of which may have wanted him dead.
“No investigation is perfect…but I will say that the homicide squad from
DNA evidence has moved to the fore, as law enforcement investigators work to put together a winning case against those charged with murdering Barnard College student Tessa Majors. Photo Credit: Tessa Majors Instagram
DNA evidence has moved to the fore, as law enforcement investigators work to put together a winning case against those charged with murdering Barnard College student Tessa Majors.
By: Millie Ciccese
Majors, of course, was stabbed to death in a park mugging in Manhattan early this month.
“The push for conclusive evidence comes a day after detectives detained and then released a 14-year-old believed to have wielded the knife that killed Ms. Majors,” the New York Times reported. “An official with knowledge of the investigation said the police were banking on pending DNA results they hoped would allow prosecutors to charge all three of the minors suspected of attacking Ms. Majors on Dec. 11 in Morningside Park, near the Columbia University campus.”
According to police, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after Majors was killed and is being held on charges that include second-degree murder. A pair of 14-year-old boys have been questioned and released by police, according to the New York City Police Department. One of the teens is said to be black.
An odd and disturbing sidebar to the case turned up recently, when several Barnard College faculty and staff members claimed to have received racist robocalls from a white supremacist group in the wake of first-year student Tessa Majors’ slaying.
“We have become aware that robocall messages from a white supremacist group were received on many faculty and staff landlines at Barnard and may have been received by a small number of Columbia faculty and staff as well,” a statement from university officials said. Majors attended Barnard, a women’s college affiliated with Columbia University. “The contents of this message, related to Tess Majors’ recent death, are abhorrent and viciously racist.”
The robocall was sent to multiple Barnard and Columbia faculty on Christmas Day. According to audio obtained and verified by the New York Times, the recording featured racist epithets by an unidentified caller who criticizes Majors’ parents for allowing her to associate with black people.
“The Office of University Life said that the calls were placed to landlines at both schools and that no students were believed to have received them. The statement refers anyone who has received a similar call to Columbia Public Safety,” reported columbiaspectator.com. “We condemn this racist, anti-black act in the strongest possible terms and have referred it to the N.Y.P.D.,” a Barnard spokeswoman said in a statement to the Times. “Our community stands together against hate.”
“Buildings like One Beacon Court, One57 and Trump Park Avenue contained units that sold for millions of dollars below their initial asking prices in 2019.” Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Will Rogers famously advised anyone who would listen to “buy real estate – they ain’t makin’ any more.”
But people still lose money on real estate, as the New York Post recently pointed out.
Jennifer Gould Keil, who follows the real estate market for the Post, brought 2019 to a close by chronicling what she called “the biggest losers in New York real estate.”
By John Littlejohn
As she points out, “buildings like One Beacon Court, One57 and Trump Park Avenue contained units that sold for millions of dollars below their initial asking prices in 2019.”
Among the Big Apple homes that sold for the greatest discounts, Keil said, were these:
* Trump Park Avenue (Percent off: 36). “A home inside Trump Park Avenue, at 502 Park Ave., is 2019’s biggest loser. A 19th-floor unit asking as much as $10.5 million closed for $6.72 million in June,” the Post noted. “That’s a 36 percent discount off the original asking price — and far less than the $9.41 million that it sold for in 2015, according to city property records. The three-bedroom, 3,211-square-foot pad at 59th Street and Park Avenue was last repped by Michael Balanevsky, David Florentin and Arthur Fruman, of Accent Holdings, LLC.”
* One Beacon Court (Percent off: 31.7). The building, located at 151 E. 58th St. near the old Le Cirque location and Bloomingdale’s, “is also turning out to be a stinker,” according to Keil. “There, a 46th-floor combination unit sold for $17 million in May — far from its most recent $24.9 million asking price. That’s a 31.7 percent discount. The Tony Ingrao-designed spread is 5,782 square feet and comes with four bedrooms. The listing broker was Corcoran’s Deborah Grubman.”
Actually, she added, the building “is no stranger to prominent discounts, as it’s home to hedge-funder and new Mets owner Steven Cohen’s long-suffering penthouse. In 2013, he put the home on the market for $115 million. The 9,000-square-foot behemoth is now asking $34 million, meaning a whopping $81 million (more than 70 percent!) off the original price.”
* 42 Crosby St. (Percent off: 23.6). According to Keil, the Soho penthouse “finally sold for $19.1 million after it first listed for $25 million. The unit, at 42 Crosby St., most recently asked $24.99 million in March, meaning it sold for a 23.6 percent discount. The 5,852-square-foot spread has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors with panoramic city views. The building was designed by respected modern architect Annabelle Selldorf.”
It seems that despite the wreckage that Hurricane Irma wrought in 2017 on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, this year, billionaires from across the globe are flocking there in record numbers to ring in the new year and the new decade in high style. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
It seems that despite the wreckage that Hurricane Irma wrought in 2017 on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, this year, billionaires from across the globe are flocking there in record numbers to ring in the new year and the new decade in high style.
Edited by: TJV News
The New York Post has reported that Roman Abramovich, the owner of the Chelsea FC soccer team, will be holding his annual New Year’s Eve soiree on his $500 million yacht. The over the top yacht is known as the Eclipse and apparently it is “The” place to be on the glitzy island on New Years Eve. The Post reported that the yacht comes with hot tubs, swimming pools and even helipads for efficient arrivals and departures.
This is a new party venue for Abramovich as in previous years his New Years Eve shindigs were held at his mansion. Such parties drew such top named celebrities and performers such as Calvin Klein, Paul McCartney, Prince, Jimmy Buffett and Josh Kushner’s wife, model Karlie Kloss. With that said, it is clear that New Years Eve is not complete on St Barts without these expensive bashes.
The New York Post has reported that Roman Abramovich, the owner of the Chelsea FC soccer team, will be holding his annual New Year’s Eve soiree on his $500 million yacht.
The Post also reported that according to a Forbes report, other celebrity yacht sightings have been made on St Barts this year. They include casino magnate Steve Wynn’s Aquarius, the Rising Sun yacht, owned by Hollywood bigwig David Geffen and Barry Diller’s Eos, to name a few. We would imagine that the rich and famous have their choice of hot spots to be seen at.
Other celeb sightings on the island this holiday season include the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, better known as Pippa Middleton, veteran actor and social activist Sean Penn, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his love interest, Lauren Sanchez. Other jet setters seen on the Caribbean island were Kris Jenner and boyfriend Corey Gamble, CNN’s Don Lemon, TV producer Lorne Michaels, investor Ronald Perelman and billionaire businessman Jon Tisch and his wife Lizzie, according to the Post report.
Right before Thanksgiving, it was reported that the luxury hotel Eden Rock reopened on the island as well, which should be a major draw, in and of itself. The Eden Rock is allegedly owned by the family of Pippa Middleton’s husband, James Matthews. Those Middleton women sure know how to choose the right men in their lives.
Last year, those who traveled to St Barts to ring in 2019 included the former head of CBS and now-disgraced Les Moonves. He was joined by a couple other companions out on the waters and in the sun on a yacht over the new year, according to the New York Post.
Brett Ratner and Silicon Valley investor Shervin Pishevar were also down in St. Barts with Moonves to ring in 2019 and to check out the sights from atop a yacht in the popular island getaway where Harvey Weinstein even used to spend some time vacationing.
Pippa Middleton and her husband James Matthews were there in 2019 to celebrate the holidays and enjoyed some time in the water at the beach. They recently had a son and were at Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October of 2019.
Also making an appearance in St Barts to ring in 2019 were Beyonce and Jay-Z along with Gwen Stefani. They loved it so much that they were in no rush to leave once the ball dropped back in Times Square.
MSN reported about an infamous 2015 event in which Leonardo DiCaprio had bikini-clad women surrounding him down at St. Barts, but the island is still considered to have great “accessibility” for everyone. It still can cost about $1,300 a night to stay in a villa, but it’s not a place only meant for celebrities, although it is a place that’s very popular with the rich and famous.
There’s even a Chabad of St. Barts that can handle the needs of any Jew looking to enjoy some time away from work and soak up the sun while still being observant.
Over the years St Barts has attracted such folks as Julie Chen, Leonard Lauder, Cablevision/MSG boss Jim Dolan, Stephanie Winston Wolcott, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, TV producer Marci Klein, Fox News contributor John Stossel, power lawyer Allen Grubman and his daughter, power publicist Lizzie Grubman, and Viceroy owner Barry Sternlicht.
Other previous year sightings include Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, Rachel Zoe, Jon Bon Jovi, along with Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict.
The Hachnosas Sefer Torah that took place in Monsey on Sunday afternoon represented the power of resilience, strength, unity and sheer determination that is entrenched in the Jewish DNA to continue to serve Hashem with joy and alacrity, even in the face of painful adversity. The procession stopped in front of Rabbi Rottenberg’s house on Forshay Road and he and others joined in the lively festivities that celebrates the Torah HaKedosha of the Hashem. Photo Credit: Jewish Voice Photography
By: Fern Sidman
Law enforcement authorities on Monday uncovered evidence that Grafton E. Thomas, 37, (who was charged with committing the stabbing attack of five Chassidic Jews in the Monsey home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, on Saturday night) was driven to violence because of virulent anti-Semitism that he was imbibing on a regular basis on pro-Nazi web sites that he visited quite frequently, according to an Israel National News report. Federal prosecutors indicted him for a “hate crime”, reported Mako News.
The stabbings on the seventh night of Chanukah come amid a series of violent attacks targeting Jews in the region that have led to increased security, particularly around religious gatherings, according to an AP report.
Isaac Bernath, Ari Weiss, Anthony Mele, Rabbi Aron Lankry and Shlomo Reichberg all served in the IDF combat unit Gedud Netzach Yehuda Nachel Chareidi. On the far right is David Ben Hooren, former IDF solider and publisher of the Jewish Voice. Photo Credit: Jewish Voice Photography
INN reported that officials examining his cell phone found that Grafton was looking for information on Nazi culture, swastikas, anti-Semitic ideas, locations of Jewish synagogues around him, and also asked the question: “Why did Hitler hate the Jews?”
On Sunday it was reported by INN that Grafton denied the charges against him. The court decided on a $5 million bail, and another hearing will be held Friday. In the meantime, security in Jewish neighborhoods in New York was beefed up for now.
Thomas, who lives in Greenwood Lake, New York which is located about 20 minutes from Monsey, is expected to appear in federal court in White Plains on Friday to face five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon and causing injuries in the Saturday night attack, according to the AP report.
In the wake of the horrifying machete attack in Monsey, the New York Post is reporting that police are checking into whether Grafton Thomas may have been part of an earlier antisemitic attack.
According to the Journal News, a November 20 attack in Monsey saw a Jewish man beaten and stabbed on his way to early morning services at the Mosdos Meharam Brisk Tashnad religious center. The victim of the attack is said to be a father of four. His injuries were so grievous that police initially reported that he had been run over by an automobile.
Journal News quoted Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel as saying that the victim had been “approached from behind by one or more individuals,” The weapon used in the attack was not identified, not recovered at the scene.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a news conference in his Manhattan office with religious leaders in response to the attack on Orthodox Jews in Monsey, New York on December 30, 2019 in New York City. Schumer discussed a federal plan to better respond the rising number of hate crimes in America. Some of these proposals include security grants for places of worship and increased support for programs that fight hate. Americans of all faith are still looking for answers after five Chassidic Jews were injured in a knife attack during a Hanukkah party at a rabbi’s house in Monsey on Saturday night. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Reaction to the most recent attack by local officials was immediate. “Orthodox Jews are being regularly assaulted, menaced, stabbed and murdered in increasing numbers,” says a letter that was signed by NYC councilmen Chaim Deutsch and Kalman Yeger, plus state Sen. Simcha Felder and Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein. It was delivered to Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday morning. “Simply stated,” it continued, “it is no longer safe to be identifiable Orthodox in the State of New York. We cannot shop, walk down a street, send our children to school, or even worship in peace.”
“With respect to the local DAs, what they are doing isn’t helping,” Deutsch told The New York Post, a reference to changes to the bail laws that are allowing those arrested for antisemitic and other crimes to walk free without bail. “When anti-Semitic attackers are released just hours after they are arrested, it sends a message that New York City doesn’t take hate crimes seriously. With no visible consequences, what’s preventing others from attacking us?”
Fox News reported that New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday night’s attack was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since Dec. 8 and endemic of “an American cancer on the body politic.”
“This is violence spurred by hate, it is mass violence and I consider this an act of domestic terrorism,” Cuomo said. “Let’s call it what it is.”
Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said it was unclear why the rabbi’s house was targeted or if a specific ideology motivated the suspect.
Law enforcement authorities on Monday uncovered evidence that Grafton E. Thomas, 37, (who was charged with committing the stabbing attack of five Chassidic Jews in the Monsey home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, on Saturday night) was driven to violence because of virulent anti-Semitism that he was imbibing on a regular basis on pro-Nazi web sites that he visited quite frequently. Photo Credit: YouTube
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the FBI to investigate possible links between the Monsey stabbing spree and other recent attacks. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said it wants the FBI to create a special task force.
“Enough talk, it is time for action to deter those who propagate this hatred,” Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said.
In a video posted on the Voz Is Neias website, Yosef Eli Glick recounted: “I grabbed a small coffee table that was by the door. I threw it at him. I kept on screaming, ‘He’s coming! Run away! Run away, everybody! He’s coming! He’s coming!’ He said, ‘Hey you, I’ll get you!’”
Glick noted: “He came into the front room, the coat room, and I was in the dining room, on the left side. And the guy came in with a big machete or a sword, and he started swinging, back and forth, to try to hit people. And I started pushing out people. We all started to run out.”
He added: “I saw an old guy, bleeding from his head. I said, ‘Come out.’ He said, ‘I’m bleeding, I can’t.’”
On Saturday night it was reported that the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council said the five stabbing victims were transported to local hospitals with varying wounds. Yossi Gestetner, a co-founder of the OJPAC for the Hudson Valley region told the New York Times that one of the victims was the son of the rabbi. “The house had many dozens of people in there, Gestetner said. “It was a Chanukah celebration.”
According to the Matzav.com web site, eyewitnesses at the scene say that a masked African-American man (now identified at Grafton Thomas of Greenwood Lake) drove up to the rebbe‘s home in a silver car as the rebbe finished lighting the Chanukah menorah. The report added that man pulled out a machete knife from a holder and began stabbing people who were leaving the rebbe‘s house to go next door to a melava malka at the shul.
Rabbi Chaim Leibush Rottenberg of Monsey, New York. It was at his home on Forshay Road on Saturday night that Grafton E. Thomas illegally entered and began stabbing people with a machete. In the end, he stabbed five people and then fled the scene. Photo Credit: YWN
Thomas then tried entering the shul, but was stopped because the door was locked, according to the Matzav web site. Thomas was able to escape in a getaway car on Orchard Hill Road, reportedly assisted by an accomplice. The car was a Nissan Sentra with plate number HPT 5747.
Subsequent to the attack, the Times of Israel reported that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that he was “shocked and outraged by the terrible attack in New York. We are praying for the rapid recovery of those injured. The rise of anti-Semitism is not just a Jewish problem, and certainly not just the State of Israel’s problem. We must work together to confront this evil, which is raising it head again and is a genuine threat around the world.”
Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, stated, “It is frightening that during Chanukah, a holiday which symbolizes the victory of good over evil we are sadly experiencing a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate. This is the eighth reported attack over Chanukah this year. These anti-Semitic hate crimes are in direct opposite of what we as Americans stand for and believe in namely freedom, liberty and respect.
“We need to move beyond condemnations by elected officials and law enforcement, and see action to prevent these recurring anti-Semitic attacks. It is important that all political, law enforcement and religious officials condemn these attacks, but that is only the beginning. As a society, we must use every resource to combat these vicious and vulgar anti-Semitic hate crimes, both through prevention and punishment.”
On Sunday, hundreds of Jews gathered in Monsey to participate in a very special Hachnosas Sefer Torah that was sponsored by Suffern residents, Lazer Scheiner and his wife, Heather. The celebratory procession which included lively singing and dancing took place at 1 pm, beginning at the Scheiner residence and traveled to Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in the Forshay district of Monsey.
The Hachnosas Sefer Torah represents the power of resilience, strength, unity and sheer determination that is entrenched in the Jewish DNA to continue to serve Hashem with joy and alacrity, even in the face of painful adversity. The procession stopped in front of Rabbi Rottenberg’s house on Forshay Road and he and others joined in the lively festivities that celebrates the Torah HaKedosha of the Hashem.
Said one participant in the Hachnosas Sefer Torah: “The truth is when anti-Semites strike, they want to wipe out the people who serve Hashem and who spend every single moment of every single day immersed in His Holy Torah. That is really what the anti-Semites want obliterated from the world,” he said. “They want to eradicate Torah and the way they believe they can do that is by murdering Jews. Today, we have showed them that our deep love and honor for Hashem’s Torah is never ending, as the Torah is our roadmap to life, the blueprint of the world and it represents our existence as a people. Of the Torah it is said: ‘Its ways are ways of pleasantness and its paths are paths of peace.’ That can never be murdered.”
On Monday, INN reported that former Brooklyn Assemblyman, former Jewish Defense League leader and President of Americans Against Anti-Semitism, Dov Hikind assigned blame to the political left for the horrifying escalation of anti-Semitic attacks in New York and the surrounding areas.
“There is a cost for hate speech,” Hikind told Fox and Friends on Monday morning, according to the INN report. “When you have the Farrakhans of the world, when you have members of the United States Congress, Tlaib, Oman, AOC, when you have them indulging in hate speech themselves–and they get away with it.”
“There’s a new standard. One is for anti-Semitism and one is for other types of hate, Unfortunately, people within my party–I’m a Democrat–within the Democratic party, there’s a double standard. The hate, the anti-Semitism that emanates from within the left, you don’t hear anything.”
“Even the Mayor of New York has continued to call the hate as coming from the right. All the hate in New York is coming from the left, said the former Jewish Defense League leader.
“Mr. Mayor, you’re responsible. You’re the leader of this city. The acts of anti-Semitism that have happened in New York have nothing to do with the right, have nothing to do with the president. Take responsibility and deal with it instead of blaming Washington,” Hikind also told Fox News, as was reported by INN. President Trump agreed with Hikind on Twitter and thanked him for his stalwart support.
“Thank you to highly respected Jewish leader Dov Hikind for his wonderful statements about me this morning on @foxandfriends,” the president wrote.
On Sunday, JTA reported that the street patrol crime fighting organization known as the “Guardian Angels” said it would begin patrolling in Brooklyn after an increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the area. The Guardian Angels first appeared on the New York City scene in the late 1970s when the violent crime rate in the city was literally spiraling out of control. They are a private, unarmed crime-prevention group.
Under the leadership of Brooklyn-born Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels ended up patrolling subways, streets and other high-risk public venues. Their conscientious attempts at significantly diminishing the crime rate in New York were quite successful but Sliwa always met with constant opposition from former Mayor Edward I Koch, who dismissed the group as ragtag vigilantes and wanted the NYPD to exclusively deal with criminal matters throughout the city.
Known for their red silk jackets that bear their Guardian Angels logo on the back and their bright red berets, the youthful cadre of devoted Guardian Angel volunteers were a ubiquitous site around the five boroughs of the city. They served as both a comfort and reassurance to those New Yorkers who felt severely threatened by the soaring crime rate at the time and were becoming increasingly frustrated by the inability or unwillingness of the NYPD to do anything about it.
Sliwa told NBC News that the patrols would start on Sunday, first at noon in Crown Heights and later in the day also in Williamsburg and Borough Park, according to the JTA web site.
Sliwa told the media that local leaders of the Crown Heights based Chabad-Lubavitch movement asked for his group’s help by maintaining a presence in the area, due to the dramatic increase in anti-Semitic attacks. He also said that his group’s assistance was requested by the Satmar Chassidim of Williamsburg and the Bobov sect of Chassidus in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
“We’re a visual deterrence in our red berets and our red satin jackets,” he said. “Nobody’s going to commit an attack when we’re around.”
“These attacks are taking place, and the cops have not been proactive at all,” Sliwa added. “It comes from City Hall and the mayor. He’s been just apathetic.”
In the wake of the attacks, Mayor DeBlasio has pledged to boost police presence in Jewish neighborhoods, according to a report on Breitbart.
Besides making officers more visible in Borough Park, Crown Heights, and Williamsburg, police will boost visits to houses of worship and some other places, the mayor tweeted, as was reported by Breitbart.
“I feel pained that in this society, a place that is supposed to be of respect for everybody, a season when we’re supposed to be respecting everybody, we see hate rearing its very ugly head. We will not accept it,” the mayor said during a visit later Friday to Crown Heights, where he met with some representatives of the local Jewish community.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday the creation of new multi-ethnic interfaith Neighborhood Safety Coalitions, increased NYPD presence, and new Department of Education lesson plans and curriculum as part of the City’s commitment to the prevention of hate crimes and anti-Semitic attacks. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com
City launching new Neighborhood Safety Coalitions based on a successful model used to drive down gun violence
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday the creation of new multi-ethnic interfaith Neighborhood Safety Coalitions, increased NYPD presence, and new Department of Education lesson plans and curriculum as part of the City’s commitment to the prevention of hate crimes and anti-Semitic attacks. In addition to an immediate increased NYPD presence, the new Neighborhood Safety Coalitions will have physical presences in the community with neighborhood safety walks and corner watches. They will also offer ongoing programming designed to promote tolerance and break down stereotypes.
“Fearing the next act of terror will not become the new normal for our Jewish neighbors. In New York City, diversity is our strength and we respect the traditions of all who call New York City home. Intolerance will never take hold here,” said Mayor de Blasio.
Increased NYPD Patrols and Safety Measures
The NYPD will increase resources and patrols to precincts in Borough Park, Midwood, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Williamsburg. Each precinct will have an additional 4 to 6 officers per tour. In addition to an increased NYPD presence at houses of worship and during local events, six new light towers will be posted in Borough Park and additional security cameras will be installed throughout these neighborhoods. 15 light towers have already been installed this month.
Neighborhood Safety Coalitions
Neighborhood Safety Coalitions will launch in Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Borough Park, and will be overseen by the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. These individual coalitions will identify and address issues that drive hate-based crimes, bringing together stakeholders from across their communities. They will meet community members where they are — in schools, on street corners, in religious institutions — to be a regular presence to deter acts of hate.
Each coalition will gather regularly to strategize about ways to interrupt hate acts before they happen. The coalitions will identify and offer programming within their neighborhoods that foster community and connect directly with local youth in and after school hours.
The coalitions are based on a successful model already used by residents in East Flatbush and Williamsburg/Bushwick through the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence, in which community groups, neighborhood leaders, and clergy have worked together with local police precincts to dramatically reduce gun violence in their communities.
DOE Curriculum
The DOE is committed to ensuring schools are welcoming, inclusive environments for all students and will be implementing hate crime awareness programming next month for middle and high schools in Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park, including workshops with community partners and leveraging existing social studies curricula and resources. Curriculum on hate crimes will be launched at middle and high schools in these neighborhoods beginning in the 2020-21 school year. These curriculum resources will also be available to middle and high schools citywide.
Citywide, the DOE will distribute resources to facilitate important conversations in the classroom in January, and the annual Respect for All week in February will focus on preventing and addressing hate crimes. Schools are encouraged to develop opportunities for students to discuss what discrimination and religious intolerance might look like in a school and collectively explore the positive actions they can take to promote acceptance, inclusion, and the diversity of their communities.
Suspect who harassed a Jewish college student on the New York subway. (screenshot)
A 20-year-old college student wearing a yarmulke was attacked on the New York City Subway on Dec. 29.
By: Joseph Wolkin
Yonatan Herzfeld was taking the S train from Grand Central Station to Times Square at approximately 3:30 p.m. when he was chased off the subway car by an African-American male.
The middle-aged man was “shouting about my kippa and drawing a circle, referring to my kippa [skullcap] saying, ‘what’s that you got on your head,’” Herzfeld said.
As the situation escalated and the assailant shouted more slurs, Herzfeld took out his phone to record the anti-Semitic incident.
“I wanted to have evidence for whatever he was about to do,” said Herzfeld, a student at Stony Brook University. “He then chased me off the train so fast I couldn’t even grab my suitcase and I had to circle back into the train to get it. The train closed and I stood as far from him as I could.”
Herzfeld ran away from the suspect, shouting for help on the subway platform in the middle of one of New York City’s busiest stations. However, no one attempted to help him. In videos posted on Facebook, witnesses are seen staring at the student while he runs across the platform.
“No one did anything when I was screaming for help,” he said. “Many were yelling at me to stop filming him, telling me that I brought the incident upon myself.”
Herzfeld believes the man was simply set off by the fact that he was wearing a yarmulke.
“When the train pulled up to Times Square, he was in the car ahead of me, and the only way out was to get past him,” Herzfeld explained. “But he kept coming closer towards me, so I was backing up closer and closer to the wall until there was no more room.
“I screamed ‘help’ several times at the top of my lungs, and that startled him for a few seconds, which gave me enough time to use my suitcase as a shield and push past the mobs of people. They all stood frozen.”
Herzfeld filed a complaint to the New York City Police Department shortly after the incident. Anyone with information about the suspect is encouraged to call the NYPD hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
This is the latest in a series of anti-Semitic incidents during Chanukah. On Saturday evening, a man attacked a Hasidic Chanukah celebration in Monsey, New York, just north of New York City. The suspect, Grafton E. Thomas, pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and a count of burglary.
President Donald Trump condemned the “horrific” attack, saying in a tweet Sunday, “We must all come together to fight, confront and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism.”
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, said the incident should be considered a form of domestic terrorism.
“I believe the situation has gotten so bad, frankly, that we need to increase our legal enforcement,” Cuomo said. “Anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate of any kind are repugnant to our values and will not be tolerated in our state.”
Overall, there were at least 13 reported incidents of anti-Semitism in New York throughout December.
Tiffany Harris, 30, was charged with slapping and cursing three Orthodox Jewish women in Crown Heights. Photo Credit: JNS.org
By: Robert McCoy
On Saturday, a woman accused of slapping three Orthodox Jewish women in another anti-Semitic attack in New York City was charged with attempted assault as a hate crime, according to a report on the Vois Es Nais web site.
Tiffany Harris, 30, was released without bail following her arraignment before a Brooklyn judge on 21 menacing, harassment and attempted assault charges.
Police said Harris slapped, punched and cursed the three Jewish women, ages 22, 26 and 31 in the face and head on Friday after encountering them on a corner in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights area, according to the Vois Es Nais report. The victims sustained minor injuries.
According to a New York Post report, Harris shouted at the victims “F-U, Jews!” “Yes, I was there,” Harris later admitted to cops, according to the criminal complaint against her. “Yes, I slapped them. I cursed them out. I said ‘F-U, Jews.”
The Post reported that Harris has a criminal record as she still has an open harassment and assault case on the Brooklyn docket from November 2018. Moreover, the Post reported that Harris was sentenced last month to no jail time for felony criminal mischief in Manhattan, court records show — a case for which she had repeatedly failed to make court appearances.
The new bail reform law which was approved in April does not take effect until January 1st, however prosecutors in Brooklyn did not request bail of Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson.
“So I’m releasing her on consent and also because it will be required under the statute in just a few days,” the judge said.
“Ms. Harris you’re being released on your own recognizance.”
The legislation requires arraignment judges to set free suspects in any non-sexual assault that doesn’t actually cause a physical injury, even in cases of hate crime attacks, according to the NY Post report.
“The de Blasio administration has made it clear that we all need to get into compliance with bail reform now,” said a law enforcement source, according to the Post report. “If prosecutors had asked for bail, corrections would release them immediately,” or they would be sprung on Jan. 1, the source said.
“You have to beat the hell out of somebody — or murder them — for there to be any consequences,” said former state lawmaker Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Anti-Semitism. “Otherwise, you are set free.”
He continued: “It’s open season in New York — open season on innocent people. On Jews, on Muslims, on gay people. It applies to anybody. But it’s the Jewish people in particular who have been targeted.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that police presence would increase in Crown Heights and two other Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish populations, according to the Vois Es Nais report.
In New York City last week, eight anti-Semitic attacks were reported and one of them resulted in an actual physical injury. A 65-year-old Jewish man was brutally punched and kicked on Monday morning at East 41st Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan, according to the Post report. The victim of the midtown Manhattan attack told the NYPD that his attacker shouted, “F–k you, Jew bastard!” The victim was checking his cell phone when the attacked occurred.
A suspect was apprehended by police in the hours subsequent to the attack. The suspect was identified as Steven Jorge, 28, from Miami, Florida. He was arrested with no bail pending, according to the Post report, pending a psychological examination.
“I’ve talked to the mayor. He doesn’t know what to do,” Hikind said. “We’ve presented a plan to the mayor. Right now, anti-Semitism, it’s not being dealt with. ‘You condemn, you move on, you condemn the next one.’ I wanted the mayor to declare a state of emergency because of these hate crimes.”
The NYPD reported 166 anti-Semitic incidents from January through September this year, according to a CNN report. The vast majority of the crimes do not involve assault, but rather acts of vandalism, with graffiti or swastikas being scrawled on places that include synagogues, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in September, when he was the department’s chief of detectives.
State Senator Brad Hoylman introduced the Adult Survivors Act in October. The legislation would create a one-year window for the revival of time-barred civil lawsuits based on sex crimes committed against individuals who were 18 years of age or older. (Photo Credit: NY State Senate)
By Tom Roberts
If there is anything that government must do, it is to stand up for those who are the most vulnerable.
And State Senator Brad Hoylman (D/WF-Manhattan) is helping to do just that.
Hoylman introduced the Adult Survivors Act in October. The legislation would create a one-year window for the revival of time-barred civil lawsuits based on sex crimes committed against individuals who were 18 years of age or older.
The Adult Survivors Act creates a one-year window, beginning six months after the bill is signed into law, for the revival of time-barred civil lawsuits for claims arising from conduct that constitutes certain sex offenses that were committed against a person who was 18 or older at the time. To ensure legal proceedings do not drag on and to avoid case backlogs, the bill also includes provisions to give statutory trial preference to revived claims and directs the court system to enact rules for the timely adjudication of revived actions. Legislation from Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Assembly Member Aravella Simotas (S6574/A8412) prospectively extended the civil and criminal statutes of limitations for future sex crimes. The Adult Survivors Act would build on these legislative successes by giving past survivors similar legal options.
Said Hoylman upon unveiling the bill, “For too long, justice has been out of reach for adult survivors of sexual crimes. Survivors have experienced horrific trauma and abuse, and many do not immediately come forward—they deserve our support whenever they decide they are ready to pursue justice. The New York State Legislature has already made historic strides to protect survivors by passing the Child Victims Act and prospectively extending the criminal and civil statute of limitations. Now, we must stand with survivors who have been failed in the past by our state’s insufficient laws, pass the Adult Survivors Act, and give these individuals their day in court.”
Hoylman introduced the Adult Survivors Act after successfully passing the long-awaited Child Victims Act (S2440/A2683) through the State Legislature earlier this year alongside Assembly co-sponsor Linda B. Rosenthal; Governor Cuomo signed this bill into law in February 2019. The Adult Survivors Act institutes a similar one-year look-back window for survivors of sex crimes who were 18 years of age or older at the time these crimes were committed.
“For women who survived Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific sex crimes as adults the Adult Survivors Act would be an especially important mechanism for restorative justice,” Hoylman’s office said in a statement. “Epstein’s underage victims will already be able to pursue justice under the Child Victims Act, but multiple survivors who were 18 or older at the time of their abuse currently have limited legal remedies. The Adult Survivors Act would rectify this injustice by providing these survivors with a shot at justice they were previously denied.
DNA evidence has moved to the fore, as law enforcement investigators work to put together a winning case against those charged with murdering Barnard College student Tessa Majors. Photo Credit: Tessa Majors Instagram
By: Millie Ciccese
DNA evidence has moved to the fore, as law enforcement investigators work to put together a winning case against those charged with murdering Barnard College student Tessa Majors.
Majors, of course, was stabbed to death in a park mugging in Manhattan early this month.
“The push for conclusive evidence comes a day after detectives detained and then released a 14-year-old believed to have wielded the knife that killed Ms. Majors,” the New York Times reported. “An official with knowledge of the investigation said the police were banking on pending DNA results they hoped would allow prosecutors to charge all three of the minors suspected of attacking Ms. Majors on Dec. 11 in Morningside Park, near the Columbia University campus.”
According to police, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after Majors was killed and is being held on charges that include second-degree murder. A pair of 14-year-old boys have been questioned and released by police, according to the New York City Police Department. One of the teens is said to be black.
An odd and disturbing sidebar to the case turned up recently, when several Barnard College faculty and staff members claimed to have received racist robocalls from a white supremacist group in the wake of first-year student Tessa Majors’ slaying.
“We have become aware that robocall messages from a white supremacist group were received on many faculty and staff landlines at Barnard and may have been received by a small number of Columbia faculty and staff as well,” a statement from university officials said. Majors attended Barnard, a women’s college affiliated with Columbia University. “The contents of this message, related to Tess Majors’ recent death, are abhorrent and viciously racist.”
The robocall was sent to multiple Barnard and Columbia faculty on Christmas Day. According to audio obtained and verified by the New York Times, the recording featured racist epithets by an unidentified caller who criticizes Majors’ parents for allowing her to associate with black people.
“The Office of University Life said that the calls were placed to landlines at both schools and that no students were believed to have received them. The statement refers anyone who has received a similar call to Columbia Public Safety,” reported columbiaspectator.com. “We condemn this racist, anti-black act in the strongest possible terms and have referred it to the N.Y.P.D.,” a Barnard spokeswoman said in a statement to the Times. “Our community stands together against hate.”
Ghislaine Maxwell attends day 1 of the 4th Annual WIE Symposium at Center 548 in New York City, September 20, 2013. (Laura Cavanaugh/GETTY IMAGES)
By: Anastasia Hernandez
On Friday December 27, the NY Post revealed that Ghislaine Maxwell is under investigation by the FBI for her association with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was 66 in August, when he committed suicide in a Manhattan jail, a month after being arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell, a British socialite, has somehow managed to stay out of the lime-light since 2016 despite having been long been accused of procuring and grooming women for Epstein and his well-heeled clientele. Now that Epstein will not be going on trial, several other “people who facilitated” the dead pedophile’s alleged long-term sexual abuse of women and child trafficking of girls as young as 14, will be probed. Maxwell is said to be the FBI’s main focus now, as per Reuters. One sources said the probe is in its early stages, following leads attained from women who asserted they were victimized by Epstein.
Maxwell is the youngest child of publishing and media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who was later branded a fraudster. She had vast connections among the international elite. A source who knew Ghislaine for over 15 years told Town and Country magazine that she was a chatty, chic brunette in the social circle with Epstein. “But the thing is, to hang around those billionaire guys, you either have to be sleeping with them or you’re finding them girls. There is no in-between when you’re in that crowd,” said the source, referring not to Ghislaine alone, but to the dark circle.
While Maxwell is not being criminally charged, she has already been named in several civil suits. Most vocally, by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged that Ghislaine acted as a “madame” for Epstein and his rich pals. Two other Epstein accusers, Sarah Ransone and Maria Farmer, also speak of Maxwell in their sworn affidavits. Ransone alleged that Maxwell “recruited” young women to fly to Epstein’s private estate in the Virgin Islands. “Once they were there, [Ghislaine] appeared to be in charge of their activities, including what they did, who they did it with, and how they were supposed to stay in line,” Ransone said. These allegations dating as far back as 2011, have been previously denied by Maxwell. “It is well known that certain newspapers live by the adage, ‘Why let the truth get in the way of a good story.’ However, the allegations made against me are abhorrent and entirely untrue and I ask that they stop,” Maxwell had said.
Britain’s Prince Andrew, 59, has also been disgraced by association with Epstein and allegations that he slept with Giuffre. He has denied her allegations and has apologized for his “ill-judged” association with the multi-millionaire. He has been forced to step down from public duties as of November, but for now, the FBI does not have plans to interview Prince Andrew.
In August, Attorney General William Barr vowed to pursue anyone who helped Epstein, the billionaire financier, commit crimes. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy,” Barr said.
Neither the FBI, nor lawyers for Maxwell responded to requests for comment.
Two years have passed since Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, were found strangled in their home in Toronto. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
By Hellen Zaboulani
Two years have passed since Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, were found strangled in their home in Toronto. The Sherman family had sprung into action, launching a private investigation and offering over $7.5 million as reward for information leading to an arrest. Now, with the truth still a chilling mystery, the family has decided to close the private investigation into the murder, as per the NY Post.
Bernard Sherman, dead at 75, was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist with an estimated net worth of US$3.2 billion at the time of his death, as per Forbes. He was the 12th-wealthiest Canadian. He worked as chairman and CEO of Apotex Inc., a large pharmaceutical company. Both he and his wife were Jewish, and had donated a record $50 million to the United Jewish Appeal and to other Jewish and secular charities. The Apotex Foundation had also sent over $50 million worth of medicine to disaster zones around the world since 2007.
With belts around their necks and their hands tied behind their backs Barry and Honey Sherman were both found dead on December 15, 2017 by realtors showing the house to prospective buyers two days after their deaths. The cause of both deaths was decided as ligature strangulation caused by binding or tying, according to their post-mortem examinations. The Toronto Police Service previously said there was no indication of forced entry into the Sherman home. Friends had said that the house had nine entrances and both Barry and Honey may have been likely to open the door for someone who asked for help, even at night, and even if it was a complete stranger or someone they barely knew.
The Sherman children hired private investigators, and conducted another autopsy. Still, no suspects or persons of interest have yet been publicly identified, although detectives obtained a total of 28 search warrants by September 2018. At the end of October 2018, the family publicly offered a 10 million in Canadian dollars as reward, in connection to the couple’s murder investigation for any information leading to an arrest and prosecution of a suspect. Still, the investigations has come up empty.
“When you offer a 10m [Canadian dollars] reward and nothing has happened, you can see that the people who are involved either don’t need the money or fear that if they come up with the answer, they’ll be eliminated,” Murray Rubin, a longtime friend and business associate of Barry Sherman told The Sunday Times of London.
The case is closed, but speculation about the murderer is still at a peak. All that is known about the assailants is their sly expertise. Speculators had a long list of possible suspects, being that Mr. Sherman was in the high-profile business of generic drugs. Sherman also had a long list of open litigations, many of which may have wanted him dead.
“No investigation is perfect…but I will say that the homicide squad from
Barneys New York, once an esteemed department store that vendors fought to be displayed in, is still severely underwater. Despite being purchased by Authentic Brands Group for $271 million last month, the department store chain is still “massively” insolvent, angry vendors divulged in court papers filed this month. Photo Credit: Barneys.com
By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Barneys New York, once an esteemed department store that vendors fought to be displayed in, is still severely underwater. Despite being purchased by Authentic Brands Group for $271 million last month, the department store chain is still “massively” insolvent, angry vendors divulged in court papers filed this month. As reported by the NY Post, court documents show that Barneys still suffers from cash flow luxury goods that it is currently selling at deep discounts at its closing sales.
The woeful vendors include top-notch names like Prada, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Celine and Balenciaga. The luxury suppliers will probably get back nothing at all for the goods that Barneys had in its stores right before it filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 6, according to court documents. The vendors expect to get back just 40 cents on the dollar for goods sent to the NYC-based chain after it filed for bankruptcy. “The vendors won’t get anything back on the merchandise that was in the stores on the day they filed,” explained Adam Stein-Sapir, an expert on distressed debt.
“People who are shopping at Barneys now are helping the liquidators and not the vendors who supplied Barneys, many of whom will suffer a meaningful haircut as the company winds down,” added Bradford Sandler of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, who is representing the creditor’s committee.
Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga are poised to lose $2.2 million each. Another $1.8 million is owed to Gucci, and $1.6 million to Prada, court papers show. Vendors are not even the only ones ailing. Fedex, the delivery giant, is owed over $1 million since the bankruptcy filing, and over $2.3 million in pre-bankruptcy claims. Barneys “became deeply administratively insolvent in a short period of time,” said lawyers for FedEx, which may be forced to take a complete loss on the pre-filing debt.
Vexed vendors are now opposing Barneys’ plan to wind down its business and exit bankruptcy, claiming there isn’t enough money to pay them what’s due under bankruptcy law. Most of the $244 million in financing that Barneys received to continue operations, will go to paying off big name lawyers and financial advisers, who charge more than $1000 per hour.
Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm representing Barneys, did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.
“It’s unfortunate that a marquee brand worth almost $1 billion in sales wasn’t able to pay anything to the vendors who made Barneys the brand that it was,” Stein-Sapir said.
ConEd has proposed rate hikes starting January 1, with additional increases in 2021 and 2022. On average, electric rates will go up by 13 and a half percent in that time. Electric bills will increase 4.2 percent this coming year, then 4.7 percent the following year and another four percent in 2022. Photo Credit: NY1.com
By: David Katzenberg
Later this month, the NYS Public Service Commission is expected to vote on whether to approve a proposed rate increase by Con Edison which would go into effect in the coming year.
Brooklyn Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, denounced Con Edison’s request declaring that: “Perhaps Con Edison should first demonstrate that its capable of upgrading its services before we consider their proposed rate increase which hard working New Yorkers cannot afford right now.”
In a letter penned by Assemblyman Eichenstein (who represents the 48th assembly district in Brooklyn) and sent to John B. Rhodes, Chairman of the New York State Public Service Commission, Mr. Eichenstein said: “I know firsthand how my constituents are struggling to pay their utility bills, which are already the highest in the country. Most New Yorkers are low to middle income city residents who pay their utility bills with great difficulty. My office receives countless calls from constituents that are barely making their payments and are reaching out to us for help. Adding this unjustified and costly increase in delivery rates would be a disaster for them, I cannot imagine how they will survive it.”
According to a December 9th article on NY1.com, it indicated that ConEd has proposed rate hikes starting January 1, with additional increases in 2021 and 2022. On average, electric rates will go up by 13 and a half percent in that time. Electric bills will increase 4.2 percent this coming year, then 4.7 percent the following year and another four percent in 2022.
Gas rate hikes will be even larger with a 7.5 percent bump in 2020, then 8.8 and 7.2 percent in the two years after.
That’s a 25 percent increase in total.
The NY Daily News reported in early December that exactly how much one pays Con Ed on a monthly basis depends on how much electricity they use. Under the proposal, someone living in a New York City apartment who uses 300 kilowatt hours per month will see their bill rise 3.9% next year, to $76.43. A 300 kilowatt hour bill would jump 4.5% in 2021 to $79.83, and 3.8% to $82.86 in 2022.
NY1.com reported that groups like AARP are voicing strong opposition for these changes and are urging the governor and public service commission to reject them.
The question is how the increases will affect low and middle-income customers.
“I think it’s very hard for middle class people to live in New York City. You can’t find apartments, you can’t find space, food is more expensive,” said one New Yorker.
It’s awful. We need pay raises in order to pay for these high prices of electricity,” said another New Yorker.
Ten percent of Con Ed customers are already roughly 60 days behind on paying their bills.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have allowed electric bike and scooter rentals statewide. Photo Credit: YouTube
By: Mike Mustiglione
Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have allowed electric bike and scooter rentals statewide.
The reason: a lack of safety measures such as a helmet requirement, according to Cuomo’s office.
“Failure to include these basic measures renders this legislation fatally flawed,” he said. “There is no need for us to choose between legalizing e-bikes and safety, and I will propose a bill that does both on January 8,” he added in a Twitter message.
“E-bikes and e-scooters carry the potential to be a useful tool in changing the way we travel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Cuomo wrote in explaining the veto. “They do, however, carry significant safety concerns. A number of recent accidents, including the tragic death of a 16-year-old boy in Elizabeth, N.J., demonstrate clearly that e-bikes and e-scooters must be carefully and responsibly regulated. As such, I am constrained to veto this bill.”
“Lawmakers may try to pass a bill with more safety measures next year. Cuomo said electric bikes and scooters must be regulated to protect public safety and said he looks forward to working with lawmakers on the issue in 2020,” reported Crain’s New York Business. “Cuomo had publicly expressed concerns about protecting pedestrians from e-bikes earlier this year. His veto message cites a 16-year-old boy who died in November after being hit by a tow truck while riding an e-scooter.”
Cuomo’s veto was “a blow to several constituencies: scooter companies that operate in dozens of cities in the United States and abroad and see New York as a lucrative, untapped market; delivery workers who rely on an illegal form of transportation to earn a living; and those pressing for ways to ease congestion on New York City’s traffic-choked streets,” reported The New York Times. “In rejecting the legislation, Mr. Cuomo cited safety measures he said that he had sought in his proposed 2019 budget but that had been “inexplicably omitted” from the bill that cleared both houses of the State Legislature by overwhelming margins.”
There is no shortage of disappointment in the wake of the decision. The bill “drew strong interest across the state but also uncertainty over what Cuomo would do as the industry has been eager to enter New York, particularly millions of new customers in the New York City market,” according to USA Today. “In fact, e-scooter companies – including Lime, Bird, Bolt, Jump, Spin and Skip – were spending more than $145,000 a month to lobbyists in Albany and Manhattan to get a bill into law, the USA TODAY Network New York found in April.”
