The NYPD has just started a new effort to crack down on delivery workers who violate bicycle laws while on duty carting food to starving New Yorkers, and

They're starting in Hell's Kitchen, where a restaurant boom has resulted in an influx of delivery workers on bicycles, in turn incensing the community. The workers, residents complain, ride the wrong way down one-way streets, ride on the sidewalk, endangering pedestrians, and do not obey traffic signals. According to New York law, bicyclists are afforded all the "duties and responsibilities" as motor vehicle operators.

More »

Though I've seen my fair share of strange incidents caught on video camera and phone, this one is actually warms my (cold, brittle, feminist) heart a bit.

The video, taken at 9:30 pm on Friday night at the Lorimer Street L station, shows the inside of a subway car just as an altercation breaks out -- a woman accuses a young man, yelling, "he touched me," and another man comes to her aid, dragging the assailant off the train in order to wait for the police.

More »

Eighty of New York's most crime-ridden housing developments will be fitted with security cameras over the next year and a half, to deter shootings and theft.

This decision occurred after the New York Daily News reported that while the city council had earmarked tens of millions of dollars for the purpose, but the New York City Housing Authority has been sitting on the money without taking action for several years.

Residents of the worst buildings said that the lack of cameras makes them prisoners in their own homes after dark. Meanwhile, NYCHA Chairman John Rhea, the man in charge of making sure that the money gets to where it needs to go, lives in a newly-built condo in Harlem with a 24-hour virtual doorman.

More »

Disgraced politician Anthony Weiner may be considering a return to politics, according to the New York Post. Sources close to Weiner told the Post that the former congressman, who resigned from office after tweeting a lewd pic at a young lady who was not his wife, is "desperate" to return to politics, and is considering a run for public advocate or mayor.

Although Weiner's resignation occurred amid speculation that his political career was effectively over, it appears that in America you have to commit more than a passing infidelity in order to be shut out of politics.

The Post reports that Weiner is still sitting on $4.5 million in campaign funds, and continues to pay rent on a campaign office in Midtown. While Weiner's official spokesperson declined to comment, the Post's story quotes an anonymous source "with ties to Weiner" on the matter:

More »

Just when you thought the New York City school system couldn't get any crazier, a judge has ruled that city taxpayers might be on the hook for one girl's $40,000 private school tuition.

The 12-year-old girl, who attended PS 6 on the Upper East Side (one of the city's higher-rated schools), has a learning disability and, according to her parents, was tormented in class constantly. When the school did nothing about it, her parents pulled her out of the public school and sent her to the Summit School in Queens, a state-approved private school.

Now, they have asked the Department of Education to reimburse them for the $40,000 they spent on Summit, and Brooklyn federal Judge Jack Weinstein agreed with them. He ruled that the girl's "educational rights" were violated, and that the city should be on the hook for the girl's private school education.

More »

In case the gigantic rainbow flags and scantily-clad men did not already tip you off, it's Pride weekend in New York City. Happy Pride! I'm stuck inside blogging so I can't go to the parade, but there are some great Pride-related things on the internet that you should definitely read and/or watch once you're back inside the comfort of your own home, slightly sunburned and covered in glitter.

Here is a great video about Vogue, the dance style popularized by Madonna that had its beginnings in underground gay clubs in New York. This accompanying article from DNAinfo has more background.

While not technically connected to Pride, Coney Island's Mermaid Parade was yesterday, and some of the photos are about as gay as you can get.

Robert Ziegler of the West Village Coalition thinks that Christopher Street should receive landmark status for its historical significance and proximity to the Stonewall Inn.

More »

In a somewhat strange turn of events, the former leader (that's "Grand Wizard" to you) of the Ku Klux Klan has deemed it fitting to endorse New York's City Councilman Charles Barron in his race for a national Congressional seat.

In the endorsement video (if you can manage to get through all 8.5 minutes of it, which I do not recommend for the sake of your mental health), Duke points out that while he does disagree with Barron on a number of issues (such as Barron's support of affirmative action, and oh, I don't know, the fact that he is African-American), the Zionist conspiracy facing the United States is of such great importance to Duke that he's willing to overlook these trivial issues and throw his support to Barron.

He calls Barron's opponent in the race, Hakeem Jeffries, a "complete zionist sellout, both to the black people, and all the people of America" (because it totally makes sense for a former member of the KKK to judge who's selling out African-Americans), and takes the time to set up a grand conspiracy theory unlike any we've seen before. Apparently, Jews in Hollywood (or the "Zio-media," since Duke is really fond of sticking "zio" in front of any word to make it sound scarier) are conspiring to use movies and media to ensure that "Blacks" and "European-Americans" constantly fight over race. Then they can take over the world. Or something. We're a bit fuzzy on the logic, to be honest.

More »

When I first started apartment hunting in New York, a dear friend warned me that it wasn't possible to find a place in Manhattan with cheap rent, decent closet space, and privacy. (He was right. I moved to Brooklyn.)

Everyone who lives in this city has had a similar experience, and many of them have settled for paying exorbitant rents on studio apartments in the East Village. But! One man in SoHo has figured out how to solve the space conundrum with magical folding furniture (see the link for a video). Manhattanites, rejoice, for in the future, your single-room apartments will be able to transform into ten (twenty? thirty?) different setups, including a fancy dining room!

More »

Not satisfied with merely swindling ordinary Americans out of their money in the stock market, some of New York's Wall Street types also find it necessary to cheat their way through business school as well.

The New York Post reports that a "culture of cheating" is so pervasive at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business, and concern about the issue is so nonexistent, that four former students have resorted to suing the school instead of attempting to go through university channels to address the problem.

The students (accountants Stacy Morton and Omo Isenalumhe, financier Daniel Carr, and studio manager Yana Nibelitsky) said that graduate students openly cheated on tests by looking at other people's papers, and professors would sometimes hand out answers during exams.

More »

NY Daily News

Michael Daragjati, 32

Disgraced Staten Island cop Michael Daragjati, 32, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Friday, after a sentencing hearing filled with so much racist doublespeak that it would make any decent human being cringe.

Daragjati was charged after being caught on a FBI wiretap bragging about how he had "fried another n-----" after falsely arresting a black man, a move that finally put an end to an NYPD career plagued with racism and poor conduct. Daragjati pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Kenrick Gray, who complained about rough treatment during a routine stop-and-frisk and was then arrested.

Daragjati was somehow still employed as one of New York's Finest despite being the subject of three previous civil rights lawsuits and a racially-charged CCRB complaint.

During sentencing, Daragjati tried to argue that his use of the N-word was merely a reference to any person who breaks the law, not a racially-charged slur. (An absurd claim, since last time we checked, it wasn't actually possible to change the collectively agreed-upon meaning of a word whenever you feel like it.)

Daragjati's sentencing happened just as Stop-and-Frisk is becoming a hot issue in the city, a phenomenon that the disgraced cop attempted to twist to his advantage. He told Judge William Kuntz that spending time in prison had opened his eyes to the realities of racial profiling:

More »