cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19889325

Money that was supposed to fund educational trips for children without homes instead paid for vacations that New York schools staffers took with their families around the country, including a visit to Disney World, according to a recently released investigative report.

Investigators recommended firing employees after finding that the head of the Queens Students in Temporary Housing (STH) program, meant to reward hardworking unhoused students with educational excursions, was telling her staff they could bring their families instead. (Temporary housing status is for students living in shelters, cars, parks or abandoned buildings, according to the New York City Public Schools website.)

Staff families weren’t joining the trips under a misunderstanding of the rules, independent investigators wrote. In one instance, STH Queens regional manager Linda Wilson allegedly told her staff: “What happens here stays with us.” She denies saying it. ...

Last spring, New York City police officers stopped a 19-year-old on the subway during her commute. She was eligible for a free transfer from the bus to the subway, but the transfer failed to register at the turnstile, so she and a friend entered through the platform emergency exit door.

Police stopped them, took their names, and let her friend go. Officers told the 19-year-old she had a prior arrest — from 2018, when she was in her early teens — and began to question her.

The cops should not have known about that past arrest. A New York state law protects juvenile records in cases without any finding of guilt from access by anyone, including law enforcement, without a court order.

The young woman is one of three plaintiffs who filed a class-action suit in July against the city and NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban for what they said was a practice of illegally accessing, using, and leaking sealed youth records. The suit, which was unsealed Thursday, alleges that officials routinely share those sealed records with prosecutors and the media — specifically with pro-cop tabloids that regularly publish juvenile arrest information sourced from police.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18960282

In June, Governor Kathy Hochul made the bombshell announcement that she had ordered the MTA to indefinitely pause New York City’s congestion-pricing program, just weeks before it was set to begin. The governor had once been a major proponent of the first-in-the-nation plan to charge fees to drivers traveling at or below 60th Street, but when she announced the pause, she cited concerns about the $15 toll being too much of a financial burden for everyday New Yorkers. This week, Hochul is indicating that a replacement plan could soon be on the horizon.

The New York Post reported on Sunday that Hochul is mulling significant changes to congestion pricing, including a lower toll and potentially adding new exemptions to the fee. A source told the outlet that the governor is considering excluding teachers, police officers, and firefighters who commute from paying the toll. In July, the New York Times reported that state lawmakers, who would have to sign off on a new plan, were pushing for Hochul to consider a lower toll

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NYC Council approved a rezoning plan near four new MetroNorth Stations that will produce nearly 7,000 housing units in the East Bronx

https://archive.is/xliQe#selection-683.4-683.187

@nyc

NYC Launches "Ur in Luck," a new effort to expand New Yorkers’ access to public restrooms across all five boroughs, including in Flushing. A new Google Maps layer is also being added that New Yorkers can activate on their phones to easily find the locations of every public restroom.

https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/441-24/mayor-adams-launches-ur-luck-new-effort-make-nyc-public-restrooms-more-accessible-#/0

@nyc

New Renderings Revealed For 'The Coney': a casino, hotel, and entertainment complex proposed for Coney Island

https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/05/new-renderings-revealed-for-the-coney-casino-master-plan-in-coney-island-brooklyn.html

@nyc

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15642866

In a statement, Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler pointed to the contrast between the dcpi’s staffing surge and Mayor Eric Adams’s cuts to other city services, including hundreds of layoffs in the Department of Buildings. “It’s stunning to see the nypd Communications Department more than double to 86 staff while so many of our City agencies are struggling to fulfill their mandates without workers.”

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240521114200/https://nysfocus.com/2024/05/14/nypd-dcpi-tarik-sheppard-protests-pr

MTA Reports Details of Nearly $300 Million in Capital Savings

https://new.mta.info/press-release/mta-reports-details-of-nearly-300-million-capital-savings

@nyc

New York State’s largest solar + storage carport breaks ground at JFK airport

https://electrek.co/2024/04/24/new-york-state-largest-solar-storage-carport-jfk-airport/

@nyc

City Council Approves "Willets Point" Development, Bringing Largest All-Affordable Housing Project in 40 Years, As Well As City's First Soccer-Specific Stadium for NYCFC

https://www.6sqft.com/council-approves-nycs-first-ever-pro-soccer-stadium-in-queens/

@nyc

BIG unveils a 4 tower megaproject next to the UN. 2 of the towers will be residential, with 40% of units designated as income-restricted units. The other 2 connected towers will be hotels, retail, restaurants, and a ground level casino.

https://www.archpaper.com/2024/02/big-unveils-freedom-plaza-megaproject-un-condos-hotel-casino-museum/

@nyc

The before and after of NYC's upcoming overhaul of the Port Authority Bus Terminal

https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/02/renderings-revealed-for-port-authority-bus-terminal-overhaul-in-midtown-manhattan.html

@nyc

I've been here since the 00's and this tracks

Two NYPD officers who drove their SUVs into a crowd of protesters blocking a Brooklyn street at the height of the George Floyd protests in late May 2020 have been cleared of wrongdoing by police commissioner Edward Caban, Civilian Complaint Review Board officials confirmed Friday.

Caban endorsed an NYPD administrative trial judge’s recommendation that officer Andrey Samusev be found not guilty of multiple charges of improper use of force with a vehicle and reversed the same judge’s recommended finding of guilt against officer Daniel Alvarez.

The outcomes were posted early Friday on the website 50-a.org, which combs through public law enforcement databases for information on police disciplinary cases.

The charges were brought by the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) after an internal NYPD probe exonerated both officers of wrongdoing stemming from the incident on May 30, 2020 in Prospect Heights.

During an administrative trial in December 2022, CCRB prosecutors had sought termination for Samusev and a one-year probation for Alvarez, during which any additional infraction could prompt termination, along with other penalties. 

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/9271617

NYT Article and another video