 |
 |
||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Metro Briefs.Navigation: Main page Author: Unknown
RENT INCREASE MOVES FORWARD New York's Rent Guidelines Board, which establishes rents for the city's one million rent-stabilized apartments, voted on Monday to authorize a plan that could hike the price tenants pay to live in these places. In a close 5-to-4 decision, the board settled on a possible 3 percent to 6.5 percent increase for one-year leases and a 5 percent to 8.5 percent increase for two-year leases, the highest boost in 15 years for the latter, according to one report. Pro-increase landlords claim the costs of apartment maintenance have skyrocketed due to an elevation in real estate taxes and gas prices, and tenants should help to absorb the new fees. But angry tenants voiced frustration at the annual rent rise. "We do this every single year," said tenant Adele Bender in one report. "We come down here, we yell, we scream, we write letters, we go to Albany. What do we have to have an insurrection?" A trio of public hearings will go on between now and June 27th, when the board will take a concluding vote. HIDE-AND-SEEK BEHAVIOR ANGERS BRONX COPSIn an effort to meet a ticket-writing quota, Bronx police officers say they have to go undercover in city subway stations to catch people jumping turnstiles and breaking other laws. At some subway stops, such as those in the proximity of Yankee Stadium, reportedly transit cops even duck away in hidden rooms to peep wrongdoers in the act. While the system may result in a few more arrests, the officers are upset at pressure from Captain Johnny Cardona to meet the quota or have their overtime hours docked. NYPD spokespeople deny allegations about Cardona's request and reaffirm his commitment to enhancing force performance. But the police union says the order actually obstructs officers' capacity to tackle serious crime and distances the force from the communities it means to serve. NEW CHANGES IN VEHICLE ACCESS FOR CENTRAL AND PROSPECT PARKSOn Monday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new trial plan to restrict the access motor vehicles have to Manhattan's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park during certain hours. He hopes the program will help to keep the parks cleaner and safer for visitors and drivers. The new regulations will expand current off-limits periods, which now close both parks to traffic on the weekends and overnight, and will run from early June until mid-November. Once in place, the program will close Central Park's East Side Drive north of 72nd Street during mornings and West Side Drive during afternoons. The portion of the East Side Drive that runs south along Sixth Avenue from 72nd Street to 57th Street will stay open throughout the day. In Prospect Park, vehicle access along the East Drive will be granted between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., and both the East and West Drives will remain open to drivers between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. ~~~~~~~~ Compiled by Ashley Tusan Joyner in the Fair Use guidelines of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act. info [at] singlearticles.com Powered by CommonSense |
THIS MONTH IN HISTORY. Untangling the Bear Stearns China Buy-in. Money 50. |
||||||
 |
 |
||||||