By: Jim Rickshauer

Controversy continues to swirl around a New York City surgeon involved in what some claim is a Medicare fraud scandal for double-booking operations.

Dr. David Samadi, a prostate cancer specialist and one of the top-earning doctors in the city, “is billed as a men’s health specialist at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn. He left Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan in June, where he had been paid $2 million a year with an annual bonus of up to $5 million,” reported the New York Post. “Lenox Hill and parent company Northwell Health agreed earlier this month to pay $12.3 million to settle federal claims that it fraudulently billed Medicare for Samadi’s overlapping surgeries and unnecessary procedures.”

Northwell Health of New York has said it will pay $12.3 million to settle “a claim by the federal government and three whistle-blowers that Dr. David Samadi, a former urologist at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, allowed trainees to perform surgery without proper supervision while he operated on patients in another room,” according to bostonglobe.com. “The suit charges that Northwell illegally billed Medicare for operations performed by the trainees.”

The allegations, the news site continued, “reflect the “egregious monetization of human maladies, which is all too common in health care delivery today,” said Reuben Guttman, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for the whistle-blowers.”

“I think we exposed these medical practices that are not just violations of Medicare laws, they violate patient rights,” said Joseph Lanni, the lawyer representing the whistleblowers, in an interview with the Post’s Melissa Klein. “It puts patient safety at risk.”

Samadi must now deal with another federal Medicare fraud claim, Klein continued, “brought by the same two whistleblowers, one a former patient and the other representing his late father who was a patient. He is also named in eight malpractice suits in state court.” (For the full story, see https://nypost.com/2019/11/23/embattled-surgeon-dr-david-samadi-has-a-new-gig-on-long-island/)

Samadi has long been a high-profile physician. He describes himself on his Robotic Oncology web site as “one of the most successful Urologic Oncology Experts and Robotic Surgeons in New York City. Currently, he acts as Director of Men’s Health at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, NY. He is one of the very few urologic surgeons in the United States trained in oncology, open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery–as such, many regard him as the best prostate surgeon.”

Most recently, he has been reaching out to the public by noting that “November or No shave month recognized annually during November, promotes awareness of health challenges men face yet are rarely talked about. Part of spreading the word of “changing the face” of men’s health is encouraging men to grow a mustache during November.”

By: Renaldo Kotkin

“Caution, bus is turning” a robotic voice warns pedestrians whenever NYC Transit vehicles make a left- or right-hand turn, and Upper West Side residents can’t take it anymore!!

“It’s noise pollution, and our quality of life is deteriorating because of this,” fumed Jeff Weissman of West 72nd Street, who charges 72nd and West End is “ground zero” for the “24/7” safety messages that are “making life miserable”, the New York Post quoted in a recent article.

NYC Transit first implemented the Pedestrian Turn Warnings in December 2016 as part of a pilot program in support of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” initiative, aimed at reducing traffic deaths. Approximately 1,200 of the 5,700 buses are equipped with the new technology, which cost $20 million, according to the N.Y Post.

The annoyed elitist Jeff Weismann plastered “Help us … (or else)” flyers on neighborhood bus shelters and light poles imploring residents to call their community board and City Council member. “We can stop it now before they install it on every bus!” the flyer reads.

The average price of a co-op in the UWS is $1,288,300 according to Zillow. The median list price per square foot in Upper West Side is $1,463, which is higher than the New York average of $673.

The N.Y Post reported: “Sleep and quietude are essential to our well-being,” chimed in Weissman’s neighbor, Alice, a meditation and yoga instructor, who added their building has “a number of new parents” who are already “sleep-deprived.” She suggested the city “explore other solutions.”

According to the Post, who sent out a reporter to the area, he camped out at the Columbus Avenue corner Wednesday afternoon could barely hear the alert, which did not always go off.

Meanwhile the popular blog called “West side rag” reported that community members of the UWS are debating over free parking spaces in the area. The blog reported Community Board 7 Transportation Committee are convinced that allowing people to park at the curb for free is a bad use of public space.

The blog continued: “As a follow up to October’s controversial forum on curbside use, the committee revisited a resolution they passed earlier this year, which called for the city to “discontinue the policy of providing free parking for private cars,” in consideration of “more productive and equitable uses of curbside space”

There seems to be disagreements among the wealthy UWS populous regarding this resolution. The resolution was amended to requests that the city “assess and analyze the policy of providing free parking for private cars,” (as opposed to discontinuing the practice outright), “and consider whether there are more productive and equitable uses of curbside space,” (as opposed to suggesting that all alternative curbside uses are inherently more productive than free parking).

By: Justin Credible

Mayor Bill de Blasio, during a radio interview last Friday, announced that a pedestrian zone would be created around Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall by temporarily closing all or part of several blocks to traffic at certain hours, starting the day after Thanksgiving and ending in January, the N.Y Times reported.

Both the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the N.Y Fire Department are objecting to this plan.

Every year millions upon millions of tourists come to this area to see the giant Rockefeller Christmas tree and watch the world-famous Radio City Rockettes.

“The move to increase ‘pedestrian space’ surrounding Rockefeller Center is misguided and makes this city less safe — plain and simple,” said FDNY union president Gerard Fitzgerald in a statement. “As it is, traffic is interfering with our firefighters’ abilities to reach the scene of a fire, but this new plan will have wide-felt repercussions in the form of traffic from river to river.”

Fitzgerald said the closures — scheduled for 49th and 50th streets between Fifth and Sixth avenues from 2 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to midnight on Friday and 10 a.m. to midnight on the weekends — will interfere with emergency vehicle traffic and will prohibit smoke eaters and other first responders from reaching emergency scenes, The N.Y Post reported.

“We are disappointed that the plan put forward by the mayor gives no priority to M.T.A. buses and ignores the needs of bus customers,” Andy Byford, who oversees buses for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told the N.Y times. He added that the “unilateral decision flies in the face of the work that the M.T.A. has done” with city transportation officials to speed up bus times and increase ridership. M.T.A. officials said they were not consulted about the plan, which city officials disputed.

Meanwhile NYC Streets-Blog reported that a mayoral spokesman quickly rebuked Byford’s claim, saying that City Hall had been in weeks-long discussions with MTA bigwigs and their last-minute suggestion to better accommodate the buses would actually have eliminated pedestrian space since it would require carving out room for bus stops on the expanded sidewalk.

The spokesman, William Baskin-Gertwitz added that diverting bus service on those blocks during the holiday season is nothing new since the city has been doing it for years.

“We’ve discussed this plan with them numerous times over the last few weeks and only in the 11th hour did they raise the idea of a dedicated bus lane,” Baskin-Gerwitz told Streetsblog on Friday at 3:34 p.m. “Unfortunately, the MTA’s proposal would have reduced pedestrian space — the exact opposite of our shared goal.”

Fifth Avenue, a one-way street heading south, has four traffic lanes, including two that are dedicated to the 1,300 express and local buses that run every weekday. The city’s plan would close one of those bus lanes, forcing buses into the one remaining lane and slowing down even more buses that already crawl along during the holidays, according to The NY Times.

In addition, parts of 49th and 50th Streets that are used by a crosstown bus route would be closed for the pedestrian zone, requiring dozens of buses to be reroute, the NY Times discovered.

By: Harvey Wassenstein

An exhibit, titled “JD Salinger,” is running through January 19th at the historic Fifth Avenue branch of the New York Public Library in Manhattan. The iconic writer died in 2010 and avoided publicity and media most of his life, A.P reported.

The N.Y Post reported, all cell phones will be banned at this exhibit so nobody can capture any pictures of these rarely seen Salinger artifacts.

Library workers are stationed outside the gallery where more than 200 of Salinger’s artifacts are on display, telling patrons they have to check their coats and bags — and tuck their phones inside.

His literary estate approved new print editions for the first time in decades of the four books he allowed to come out in his lifetime — “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Franny and Zooey,” “Nine Stories” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.” And for the first time ever, the literary estate authorized e-book editions.

Visitors can se an actual manuscript of “Catcher In The Rye”.

Salinger’s estate is overseen in part by his son, Matt Salinger, who has also said that readers will, at some point, see the books his father worked on after he stopped publishing in the 1960s. In announcing the exhibit last week, the younger Salinger cited the public’s lasting curiosity, A.P reported.

“When my father’s longtime publisher, Little, Brown and Co., first approached me with plans for his centennial year, my immediate reaction was that he would not like the attention,” Matt Salinger wrote. “He was a famously private man who shared his work with millions, but his life and nonpublished thoughts with less than a handful of people, including me. But I’ve learned that while he may have only fathered two children there are a great, great many readers out there who have their own rather profound relationships with him, through his work, and who have long wanted an opportunity to get to know him better.”

Salinger published several short stories in Story magazine in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” appeared in The New Yorker, which became home to much of his later work.

The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951 and became an immediate popular success. Salinger’s depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel was widely read and controversial.

In the 1970s, several U.S. high school teachers who assigned the book were fired or forced to resign. A 1979 study of censorship noted that The Catcher in the Rye “had the dubious distinction of being at once the most frequently censored book across the nation and the second-most frequently taught novel in public high schools” The book remains widely read; in 2004, the novel was selling about 250,000 copies per year, “with total worldwide sales over 10 million copies, Washington Post explained.

By Tom Roberts

In the wake of 9/11, New York City passed a law requiring the installation of fire-safety sprinklers in office buildings. It was a good idea – property owners even had 15 years in which to comply. And yet to date, under 30% of buildings have complied.

City Councilman Barry Grodenchik made it clear at the hearing on Wednesday that this state of affairs is not acceptable. “I think we would all agree that is, to be generous, a disappointment. Tragically, many of the victims of fire fatalities are children,” he noted. “Smoke detectors and even fire alarms are not enough. We need sprinkler systems to save lives.”

The law, which was passed in 2004, “gave owners of commercial buildings 100-feet and taller 15 years to install fire sprinklers. City code has required new office towers include sprinklers systems since 1984, but there are 1,308 buildings in the city built before that point that the law targeted,” Crain’s New York Business reported.

“The deadline for those buildings to comply passed July 1,” the Crain’s piece continued, “but just 368 have certified that they have installed the sprinklers with the Department of Buildings, Commissioner Melanie La Rocca testified to City Council Wednesday. La Rocca said another 198 buildings have submitted proof of sprinkler installation but are not yet certified. Building inspectors have issued 1,088 violations to landlords related to sprinklers since the deadline passed, but have not imposed any fines.”

The pain for landlords is set to commence on the first day of December, when they will be hit in the wallet. Property owners will have 60 days in which to get in line with the law, or face even steeper fines – maxing out at a whopping $50,000 annually.

Grodenchik was flanked at City Hall by, among others, Councilman Robert E. Cornegy Jr., who co-sponsored the bill, he added, “Fires, especially those that break out hundreds or thousands of feet above street level, require more than passive solutions like smoke detectors and fireproof construction. Sprinkler systems represent an active solution to life-endangering fires in large residential buildings. It is time we bring the law up to date to protect New York citizens.”

“Studies have shown that properly installed and maintained fire sprinklers are effective at controlling a fire 96 percent of the time,” Tony Saporito of the New York Fire Sprinkler Council, a division of the Mechanical Contractors Association of New York, told qns.com. “By simply requiring that owners of older multi-family homes install and maintain the same fire sprinkler systems that keep office workers and residents of newer buildings safe today, Intro 1146-A will save lives.”

By Howard M. Riell

Electric bikes will be back this winter, says Citi Bike.

“We know our riders love pedal-assist electric bikes — and we love them too. You’ve been patiently waiting for their return, and today we want to let you know that will happen this winter,” the company is telling New Yorkers on its web site. “While we hoped to have them back this fall, we are taking extra time to make sure they’re safe and ready for New York City streets.”

Earlier this year, the company removed its ebikes after some riders experienced stronger-than-expected braking force on the front wheel,” said a release. “Several months after that, we also experienced challenges with batteries on our ebikes in the Bay Area. Those issues led us to work with a new battery supplier while we simultaneously redesigned the bike’s brake setup.”

Company officials acknowledged that it has taken longer than anticipated to get all the necessary components for the new bikes and complete safety testing, “but we’re making progress. We expect to initially launch several hundred ebikes this winter and will gradually ramp up to a larger fleet. We’re sorry for the delay and appreciate your patience. While we know you’ve been missing ebikes, you’ve been riding classic bikes more than ever — we’ve had record ridership all summer and fall.”

Even before the braking issue, Citi Bike announced that it planned to implement a $2 charge on every ebike ride to help it keep up with the costs of keeping ebikes powered and available, the firm pointed out. “We heard your feedback. Members told us they did not want to pay a flat charge every time they chose an ebike. We’ve landed on new pricing: a $0.10 per minute charge for annual Citi Bike members, and a $0.15 per minute charge for non-members when choosing an ebike. Now you’ll pay only for the length of time you ride instead of a flat fee no matter how far you’re going.”

Executives have “done the math,” they said in the statement, noting that the majority of riders will pay less for ebike rides with per minute pricing.

“When ebikes were in service, 80% of member ebike rides were under 20 minutes,” according to the release. “Members’ ebike charges will also be capped at $2 for rides 45 minutes or less beginning and/or ending outside Manhattan and we’re removing the two-minute wait period between rides, so riders can quickly swap from an ebike to a classic (and vice versa) during a trip. We know ebikes are great for crossing steep bridges, and we want to help riders farther from Manhattan commute across the East River conveniently and affordably. We’ll also continue to offer a strong equity program, with Reduced Fare Bike Share members paying only $0.05 per minute if they choose an electric bike.”

By: Edward Andrews

StreetEasy’s October 2019 Market Reports show landlords offering considerably fewer discounts than in years past.

“Renters are facing an unusually competitive fall rental season, with fewer discounts offered by landlords and rent growth continuing to increase at record paces, according to StreetEasy’s October 2019 Market Reports,” wrote Emily McDonald in the report, which is published on the company’s web site, streeteasy.com. “The latest data shows landlords know that would-be buyers are waiting for home prices to come down and are choosing to rent in the meantime, allowing landlords to offer fewer discounts than they normally would this time of year.”

According to StreetEasy’s data, “the share of rent cuts typically peaks this time of year — and while October did bring the highest share of discounts of 2019, we have not seen percentages this low in the month of October since 2015. Landlords in Brooklyn offered the fewest discounts, with only 17% of rentals getting a cut, a decrease of 3.1 percentage points from last October. In Queens, this figure fell to 18.1%, down 1.9 percentage points from a year prior. In Manhattan, 23.4% of rentals were discounted, down just slightly from last year (less than a percentage point).”

Rent prices were directly correlated with the lack of discounts — in all three boroughs analyzed, rents reached new record highs. The StreetEasy Rent Index increased the most in Brooklyn, rising 4.3% to $2,720. Queens and Manhattan were not far behind, with increases of 3.4% and 3.1%, reaching record highs of $2,202 and $3,315, respectively.

“The spike in demand for rentals we’re seeing this year means that landlords don’t have to work as hard to attract a tenant this winter season,” noted StreetEasy Economist Nancy Wu. “New Yorkers looking to sign a new lease this winter should expect tougher negotiations and fewer concessions, and should be prepared to move when they find the right apartment.”

For Manhattan, StreetEasy’s October 2019 findings include:

Rents reached an all-time high. The StreetEasy Manhattan Rent Index jumped 3.1% to $3,315 in Manhattan.

Rents rose the most in the Upper West Side submarket, reaching $3,415 — an increase of 3.0%.

The share of rent cuts was the highest in the city, though it remained flat over last year at 23.4%.

In Brooklyn:

Rents rose at their fastest pace since 2015. The StreetEasy Brooklyn Rent Index jumped 4.3% to $2,720 — the fastest pace of growth in the city.

Rents in North Brooklyn rose the most, as the area rebounded from the canceled L-train shutdown, up 4.3% from last year to $3,208.

The fewest rent cuts were offered by landlords. The share of rent cuts dropped 3.1 percentage points in the borough, down to 17.0% — the lowest share of the boroughs analyzed.

(For additional information, go to https://streeteasy.com/blog/october-2019-market-reports/)

By: Rusty Brooks

Michael Lichtenstein president of Heritage Equity Partners has filed bankruptcy for a Williamsburg apartment but will withdraw the application shortly, Real Deal reports.

The property has between $10 million and $50 million worth of assets and $1 million to $10 million worth of liabilities on it, the filing states. It contains 41 residential units across five stories, with rents ranging from about $1,700 to $4,800 per month, according to StreetEasy.

Lichtenstein, the president of Heritage Equity Partners and a frequent partner of developer Toby Moskovits, filed the claim for 227 Grand Avenue.

Moskovitz has become a force to recon with and is known for her office space properties in Brooklyn. The Orthodox mother and former Tel Aviv venture capitalist has several large commercial property projects in Williamsburg, including The Williamsburg Generator.

The bankruptcy filing, made Nov. 6, lists five creditors with unsecured claims on the property, the largest being the architect Karl Fischer at $50,000. Fischer passed away earlier this year, but his company Fischer + Makooi Architects remains active.

The other creditors on the property have claims of between $5,000 and $30,000. Lichtenstein’s LLC has a stake in the property worth $12.8 million, according to court documents, Real Deal reported.

S&B Monsey LLC, an entity linked to Moshe Dov Schweid, also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the same address on the same day, court documents show. That filing lists four creditors with about $250,000 in unsecured claims on the property and says that Schweid’s LLC has an interest in the building worth $13.2 million.

In 2017 Moskovits, Schweid and Lichtenstein’s LLC filed a lawsuit accusing Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management of stealing funds from 227 Grand Street and operating the building without authorization. Lichtenstein said in a statement that he recently reached a settlement with Goldman over these accusations that should render the bankruptcy filings unnecessary.

“I am pleased that we have come to an amicable out-of-court agreement with Yoel Goldman that settles all litigation related to a dispute over the property at 227 Grand,” Lichtenstein said. “We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Goldman for working with us to resolve this in a friendly manner. As part of this settlement, all open litigation concerning this matter is being withdrawn.”

By: Carol Icksley

According to a recent Vanity Fair bombshell report, it appears that President Trump’s son-in-law and chief advisor, Jared Kushner had some hands on assistance in crafting the enigmatic plan for the Middle East peace. The peace plan, which ostensibly focuses on having the Israelis and the Palestinians reach a permanent accord for long range serenity between the warring factions has not been rolled out, as of yet.

The delay is due, is no small part, to the fact that no new government in Israel has been cobbled together after two elections within the span of a year. A third election is in the works as longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criminal charges in a recently handed down indictment from Israel’s attorney general.

Vanity Fair has reported that the person who has purportedly been working with Kushner is none other than former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. Earlier this year, Neumann was forced out of the company he built up that was valued by investors at $47 million. He left with a $1.7 billion golden parachute after WeWork faced bankruptcy. Vanity Fair reported that sources told the reporter that Neumann’s “egomaniacal glamour and millennial mysticism” led the former CEO to believe that he could solve “the world’s thorniest problems,” such as the protracted hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians.

In related matters, new executives and a hopeful, just-released five-year plan are designed to put smiles on the faces of those who have invested in WeWork.

Top management at the work-share company said they expect the firm to begin turning a profit in 2023, according to an insider report.

Newly named leaders include Maurice Levy, the one-time chief executive and chairman of Publicis Groupe SA, who takes over in the role of interim chief marketing and communications officer. A pair of execs from SoftBank Group Corp. — Ralf Wenzel and Mike Bucy come aboard as chief product officer and chief transformation officer, respectively.

“Marcelo Claure, the executive chairman, told employees that the current pair of co-chief executive officers, Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, will stay on,” Crain’s New York Business reported. “In an apparent acknowledgment of the all-male group of leaders, Claure reiterated that the company would take diversity into account and add a female board member in the future. A spokeswoman for WeWork parent We Co. declined to comment.”

The company has shed management over the past several months, as its IPO became the butt of jokes. “The New York-based company received a rescue package from SoftBank, which will get a majority stake, and is in the process of cutting 2,400 jobs globally,” Crain’s added.

The WeWork story has proven a slow-motion train wreck that verges on low comedy. “The rise and catastrophic downfall of WeWork founder and former CEO Adam Neumann has been chronicled in gleeful detail across the international financial press in the wake of his company’s ill-fated attempt at a public offering — which resulted in disastrous revelations about the company’s mismanagement, its devaluation and, ultimately, Neumann’s resignation,” according to haaretz.com.

“But a new Vanity Fair article by Gabriel Sherman, titled “Inside the Fall of WeWork,” asserts that Neumann’s “millennial entitlement gone insane” and guru-like “egomaniacal glamour” extended beyond the business world and into the world of Middle East diplomacy,” the piece continued.

The company’s decline has even become grist for the mill of desperate presidential hopefuls. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “has blasted Adam Neumann’s $1.7 billion golden parachute, criticizing the WeWork cofounder and former CEO’s lavish leaving package as the troubled coworking startup prepares to slash its global headcount by about a fifth,” reported businessinsider.com. “WeWork is laying off 2,400 employees — while its founder walks away with a massive $1.7 billion golden parachute,” the Democratic presidential candidate tweeted on Friday. “This is another example of a rigged and corrupt system.”

By: Skylar Mulrooney

Strong winds may ground the much-beloved balloons at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The National Weather Service is calling for sustained winds of 22 mph and wind gusts of 39 mph during the parade.

“The sustained winds do not exceed the regulations, but the gusts do. Officials will have to monitor wind conditions and decide whether to allow the balloons to be flown,” CNN reported. “They’ll likely have to make that call on Thursday, as wind conditions can quickly change. The last time the parade’s balloons were grounded due to inclement weather was 1971, according to the New York Times. The good news is this year will be much warmer than last year’s parade. The National Weather Service confirmed a low of 19°F that morning, which made it the second-coldest Thanksgiving Day in the city’s history. This year, it’s forecast to be 44-47°F.”

Macy’s spokesman Orlando Veras said it’s too early to make a decision regarding the balloons. “On Parade morning, Macy’s works closely with the NYPD, who, based on the current weather data and the official regulations, determine if the balloons will fly and at what heights,” Veras said in a statement. “Each is designed to fly at different heights and angles based on their shape and scale and the exact wind conditions along the route. The decision on adding the balloons to the lineup is made by NYPD and Macy’s officials just prior to the start of the Parade.”

The regulation was passed “after a windy Thanksgiving in 1997 when a Cat in the Hat balloon knocked down a lighting pole, injuring four people, according to northjersey.com. “The balloons were tested earlier in the month in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Balloons are flown there to make sure the new ones can fly safety.”

In an effort to help America’s cause, the rubber used to make the Macy’s Day Parade floats were donated to the American military. More than two million people attended the 1945 Macy’s Day Parade, and this popular New York City event has continued to grow ever since.

Due to rubber and helium shortages, Macy’s canceled the parade from 1942 to 1944. The parade returned in 1945, and in 1946 got a new route, which started at 77th Street and Central Park West and ended at 34th Street—half the length of the previous route.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Route begins on 77th Street and Central Park West at 9am sharp and it runs until about noon. It is recommended that parade-goers arrive at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade no later than 6:30am to get the best viewing spots available.