JFK station attack emphasizes Mayor Adams transit safety policy failure

 

Eyewitness News 

 

Glendale warehouse homeless shelter continues to be a pit of despair and violence

 

CBS New York 

 The rough conditions inside a Queens congregate men's shelter with about 180 residents have sparked a city investigation.

It comes after a 27-year-old man experiencing homelessness became a whistleblower, sharing photos, videos and his personal ordeal exclusively with CBS2's Dave Carlin.

"I never saw myself in a position like this, ever a day in my life, no," said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.

He moved to New York from Texas a year ago, landed a job in hospitality working fancy events, but the very opposite of that is where he's been sleeping.

"I make about $27 an hour with that company alone," the man said.

"And it's still too hard to find a place?" Carlin asked

"Yep," the man said.

So, he is experiencing homelessness, surrounded by apparent squalor, drug use and violence inside Glendale's Cooper Rapid Rehousing Center with a population of more than 180 men.

He started taking videos and photos of what goes on inside after being harassed and attacked.

"I do identify as queer," the man said. "I was assaulted multiple times. The police came out, they said it wasn't really their issue, it's something that has to be dealt with internally." 

He says he can confirm what many neighbors are claiming about crime spilling out of the shelter and into the community. 

"A lot of drug dealing happening around the area, people doing sexual activity over by the school right behind the shelter, and I've seen this all first hand," the man said. "I did my due diligence in finding my local city councilman and I reached out to him."

On Wednesday, Councilman Robert Holden made sure the young man was reassigned elsewhere to a hotel room.

"He's talented. We want to help him. He did a service to everyone in New York City, showing the conditions of the shelters," Holden said. "Get him an apartment, that's my goal, to get him an apartment."

"I know that something good will end up coming out of this," the man said.

Something good, according to Holden, is the city shutting down the Cooper Center.

"The mayor is looking at it. So is [New York City Department of Homeless Services] Commissioner [Gary] Jenkins," Holden said.

"This is supposed to be a working men's shelter, but time and time again, we have people that have severe mental illness ... that really don't fit with what the shelter was for," Glendale resident Dawn Scala said.

Holden favors facilities with smaller groups of residents so their needs can be handled more effectively.

"It's a de Blasio leftover. We need to change it ... I don't believe that we should put 200 men in one location," Holden said.

Guns n' students

CBS News 

 There was a shocking discovery after metal detectors were sent to a Queens high school one day after a brazen daylight shooting that left three teenagers injured.

Now, Mayor Eric Adams is taking action, ordering his precinct commanders and top NYPD brass to attend an unusual weekend meeting, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Thursday.

One top NYPD official described the meeting at police headquarters this Saturday as a "beat down." The mayor's spokesman told Kramer only that his boss regards himself as a general who intends to lead from the front.

But for many of us, the number of weapons found at Francis Lewis High School on Thursday was astounding.

"The weapons count went to over 20 and they're still counting. I know they have a stun gun and pepper spray from one student, have a lot of knives," Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd said.

Students at Francis Lewis High in Fresh Meadows had to wait on long lines and take directions from school safety agents on Thursday, following the stunning daylight shooting that left three students wounded, including a 14-year-old Asian girl who was shot in the neck, has a bullet lodged in her spine, and still hasn't regained consciousness.

Police sources said a group of students, many from Francis Lewis High, were walking home on 188th Street. The occupant of a silver sedan began shouting at the kids, police say, and then a man got out of the car and opened fire.

"It's not happening in the middle of the night. It's happening in the afternoon, on a busy street, in a busy area where kids congregate after school," Fresh Meadows parent George Douveas said.

The mayor was outraged both about the shooting and the cache of weapons found at the school.

"There should be no doubt that keeping New York City safe is my top priority," he told CBS2, adding, "It is unacceptable for prohibited items to be taken to school."

Queens Chronicle

Three teens were shot walking on 188th Street near 64th Avenue at approximately 4:10 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

The three victims — a 14-year-old girl and two 18-year-old boys — were walking in a group of 10 to 12 other teenagers, Deputy Inspector Kevin Chan of the 107th Precinct estimated, when the shooter, who had been double parked on the block, approached the group. An argument ensued, and shots were fired at the teens. The 14-year-old was shot in the neck, one of the 18-year-olds in the right hip and the other in the right calf, Chan said.

According to the NYPD press office, the girl is stable but critical and the two boys are stable. Chan, the precinct’s commander, said all are expected to survive.

Wednesday’s incident comes amid a recent uptick in crime in northeastern Queens — generally among the safer parts of the borough. In late March, northeast Queens saw two shooting incidents within the span of a week: one outside a party at a foreclosed house in Bayside, which squatters had been renting out on Airbnb, the other near Cardozo High School, and just days later. The latter involved at least three Cardozo students. On April 16, a woman was robbed and assaulted in the parking lot of the Oakland Gardens Key Food. The shooting Wednesday is the second the 107th Precinct has had this year; it had five all of last year. 

At this time, little is known about the perpetrator. Chan said that his age is not known and that he fled the scene in a gray BMW; the motive is unknown. It is also unclear whether the teens who were shot are the same ones who argued with the shooter, nor  if the group were all walking together, or if they just happened to be in the same place at the same time.

“It’s still early,” Chan said. “We’re trying to do our interviews, trying to, obviously, interview everyone that was there.”

Both Chan and Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows), however, were able to confirm that two of the victims — the 14-year-old and one of the 18-year-olds — attend Francis Lewis High School, a 12-minute walk from the scene.

Thursday afternoon, two school safety vehicles were parked outside the main entrance on Utopia Parkway, and students could be seen lined up outside the school; Rozic said that was because their bags were being searched as they entered the building.

Rozic, Councilmember Linda Lee (D-Oakland Gardens) and Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Hillcrest) issued a joint statement on the incident late Wednesday evening. In addition to wishing the victims a speedy recovery and thanking the first responders on the scene, the group emphasized the need to take on gun violence. 

“Given recent events including shootings and assaults in neighboring communities, we understand the growing concerns about public safety in Northeast Queens and are calling for a renewed commitment from all levels of government to tackle the rising gun violence across New York City,” the statement reads.

Big Trouble In Little Guyana

 

Impunity City 

 So this happened on a Sunday in broad daylight on the first day of Spring in New York City. Two men causing a ruckus on a street corner at Lefferts Blvd. and Liberty Ave yelling at each other about a money dispute that nearly got even more violent and bloody when one man pulled out what looked like a 24 inch bike chain and the other man retaliated by whipping out a very polished and sharpened meat cleaver in an attempt to defeat his foe and stain it and the pavement with his blood.

Five men arrested during riotous protest in Middle Village

  

NY Post

Mayor-elect Eric Adams condemned an angry mob that wreaked havoc on a sleepy middle-class Queens community as they protested Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal.

“It’s one thing to protest at any elected official’s office … but to come to a neighborhood and openly destroy property, be disruptive and throw objects at the residents of the neighborhood — that is unacceptable in our city,” fumed Adams during a Saturday news conference in Middle Village.

He was joined by Councilman Robert Holden, who represents the neighborhood, and other pols in condemning Friday night’s incident in Middle Village, where about 40 mostly masked rabble rousers terrorized the neighborhood by destroying cars, American flags and attacking a cop.

Five were arrested and charged with rioting, including Kyrk Freeman, 22, Daniel Wattley, 28; Alex Davis, 33; Charles Edmonds, 37; and Jonathan Lefkowitz, 38 who was also allegedly caught with the hatchet and hammer and faces an additional charge of criminal possession of a weapon.

Adams, according to Holden, called to arrange the news conference, offering a glimpse into how different his administration could be compared to City Hall under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Holden, a moderate Democrat, is routinely at odds with the far-left-leaning de Blasio and one of his toughest critics. The councilman accused him Friday of adding “gasoline to the fire” by tweeting “We can’t let this go” in response to the Rittenhouse acquittal — even as the NYPD was on alert for potential protests.

“This guy has turned his back on white, middle class neighborhoods throughout the city,” Holden later told The Post. “To have Eric Adams come out here before he’s even in office and show he has our backs is very refreshing.”

However, the mayor-elect refused to say whether he actually believed de Blasio incited any riots.

“I believe the real crisis is that a 17-year-old was legally able to carry a gun…” said Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a retired NYPD captain. “This is not about Mayor de Blasio. This is about the future of our city, and that is my primary focus.”

The Washington Square Park autonomous zone

Impunity City  

 Washington Square Park, a green space of historic societal and cultural events and a pleasant environment to sit in solitude or socialize. A place where the likes of Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsburg hung out on the regular, nurturing the scenes of the nascent folk phenomenon and the beat poet movement that would change and influence music and literature forever. WSP would continue for decades to be a destination for all kinds of progressive demonstrations and protests, a place to play an intense game of chess and a convenient place to score a bag of weed, which continues to this very day.

 

 But with the pandemic seemingly fading into the past after a year of collective seclusion and restrictive guidelines, a new history in a very short amount of time has unfolded and it’s one of upheaval and civil unrest and societal decay, with hard drug abuse being consumed in broad daylight and DJ ragers late at night even after the parks closing time.

 

 

 

 

New Bad Days 83: The Ides Of March bring more violent hate towards Asians and gun, gang and subway violence to NYC

  

Impunity City

 Has de Blasio, Speaker Cojo and the NY Council fauxgressive cronies ever given the thought that the reason Rikers is making C.O.’s work triple shifts is because solitary confinement has been cancelled and the only way to tamp down violence and keep order is to keep C.O.’s on duty for every minute and second that way they can justify these new supposed progressive policies? Even though it’s clearly not working? Even Jeff Bezos lets his Amazon FFC employees go home.

And while this FUBAR management is going on at Rikers, where is the NYC Jails Commissioner? Whose conspicuous absence after de Blasio put her on medical leave following the release of a fugitive killer that’s still on the loose has made her virtually unobtainable for comment?

Chirlane McCray wants you to get your ass kicked or killed for THRIVE

 Impunity City

 Looks like Chirlane McCray de Blasio as a major problem. In the umpteenth pathetic attempt to justify the existence of the city’s THRIVE mental health program and administrative office, Chirlie’s idiot husband has decided to draw back the NYPD from responding to emergency complaints regarding people having dangerous mental episodes replace them with “violence interrupter” social workers and counselors to quell these situations. Just one problem, the city is having trouble hiring people to take this job, even with the decent government salary and guaranteed health insurance.

Well, Chirlie’s got an answer to that little conundrum and has decided to add another mission to her program by also having people interrupt violent outcomes from racial and xenophobic bias attacks. Apparently, because of the low interest to work for THRIVE, she is outsourcing these tasks to citizens and gave a brief orientation on her government twitter account. Sourcing instructions from some account she follows, she lays out 5 D’s in what to do when the situation arises as you are commuting to work, waiting for your train on the subway or hanging out on the street or park.

Woke whites behaving badly

From the NY Post:

A Black Lives Matter march through Midtown Manhattan turned violent Friday night, with 11 protesters arrested.

The NYPD reported that two officers suffered minor injuries during the protest, which was attended by about 100 marchers; officials could not immediately say how the cops were hurt.

At least some of those arrested were accused of attacking Daily News photographer Sam Costanza at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in the mistaken belief that he was a cop, sources said.

About a dozen people surrounded the photog, shoving him and beating him with their fists and other objects, sources said.

The NYPD confirmed the attack, telling The Post “a member of the media” was assaulted, and police made “a number of arrests.”

The photographer, who suffered a bloody nose, was not seriously injured and declined medical attention, police said.

Flushing Street Fighter

  

Flushing Post

 A man has been arrested on assault charges after getting into a fight over a parking space in Flushing yesterday.

Joe Zou, 24, allegedly got into an argument over a parking spot on Kissena Boulevard near Barclay Avenue at around 4 p.m. Monday, police said.

Zou, who was driving a white Audi, got out of his vehicle and punched a 35-year-man in the face. The victim was vying for the same spot.

A man came to the defense of the victim only to be struck by Jonathan Zhang, 34, who was also with Zou.

The pair then got into the Audi and tried to ram their vehicle into the two victims. The car jumped the curb and smashed into a bakery at 41-39 Kissena Blvd. The duo were then apprehended by officers from the 109th Precinct.

Schools Chancellor Carranza walks out on town hall following complaints to his face from parents with kids being bullied in his schools

NY Post

 Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza was jeered off the stage at a packed town hall meeting at a Queens middle school Thursday as anger over school safety boiled over.
 
The Department of Education boss faced the wrath of more than 500 parents at MS 74 Nathaniel Hawthorne in Oakland Gardens.

“What is happening here?” parent Katty Sterling yelled at Carranza. “We’re not getting answers! Nobody is giving answers!”

Exasperated, Sterling told school officials how her daughter had twice allegedly been assaulted by a female classmate at MS 158 Marie Curie in Bayside and is now too afraid to return to school.
 
Her daughter’s tormentor was never suspended and remains in class, according to Sterling.

“The other student is sitting in school getting all the privileges and what is my daughter doing? Sitting at home, sick, getting traumatized!” Sterling screamed at the dais just feet from Carranza.
MS 158, one of the district’s highly regarded schools, has been hit with a string of ugly incidents in recent months, including a vicious lunchroom fight last week and a classroom sexual assault last month. Both incidents resulted in arrests.

Tired of an attempt at reassurance by School District 26 Superintendent Danielle Giunta, Sterling had approached the dais to give Carranza and other officials a piece of her mind.
As she vented her frustrations, others in the audience joined in.

After several unsuccessful attempts to quiet the crowd, Carranza rose and exited the stage as the hooting continued.
Earlier in the meeting, after the superintendent spoke, a school dad whose daughter was allegedly forcibly touched in an MS 158 classroom in November, tried to address the panel.

But panel members told him they were answering only questions that had been submitted in writing before the meeting — and that he was out of order.

NY Post

A mom whose daughter was seen in a viral video being beaten at a Queens school and who tried to confront schools Chancellor Richard Carranza about it at a meeting Thursday ripped him for abruptly walking out while she and others were trying to get answers.

“I will be honest with you,” said Katty Sterling, whose daughter was attacked in a cafeteria by a bully at MS 158 in Bayside last week. “I really don’t think he cares. He didn’t say a word, he just sat there. He had no answers for what the parents were asking. And then he left.”

A crowd of more than 500 parents and teachers swarmed the meeting of Community Education Council 26 Thursday night to address concerns over what they say are spiraling classroom conditions.

Crime infested homeless shelters discourages people that need them to use them

THE CITY

The night Jeffrey Wolford came in off the frigid sidewalk seeking warmth in Manhattan’s 30th Street Men’s Shelter last winter, it was too late to get a bed.

He was assigned a plastic chair, alongside 20 other men already dozing in the city’s biggest shelter, a major intake center for homeless people.

Just as he was nodding off, he looked down and saw a man rifling through his backpack, trying to steal his phone.

The two were wrestling on the floor when a shelter supervisor intervened. Wolford says he explained the attempted phone theft. But the supervisor told the thief to take a seat — and ordered Wolford back out into the cold.

Disgusted, he grabbed his belongings and ventured back out into the pre-dawn Arctic chill.

“Sleeping in the streets is preferable to that,” said Wolford, 33.

City Hall’s last official count in January found more than 3,500 homeless people on sidewalks or in the subways on a night when the temperature plummeted to 28 degrees.

 Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to train 18,000 city workers to call 311 when they see a homeless person to get more folks into city shelters, which house about 60,000 New Yorkers.

“The problem here is not (that) we don’t have a place to get someone that’s safe and where we can get them mental health services and substance misuse services, we have that,” he said. “It’s getting people to come in.”

But as winter approaches, homeless people living on the streets, in interview after interview, told THE CITY they’d rather take their chances on trains or sidewalks.

The myriad dangers facing them are underscored by a recent spate of killings of homeless people. That includes the Oct. 5 beating deaths of four men sleeping on the streets of Chinatown — allegedly by a man twice arrested for committing crimes inside city shelters.

On Nov. 5, a homeless man allegedly fatally stabbed another homeless man outside an East Elmhurst, Queens, shelter. Four days later, a similar killing took place inside an Upper West Side shelter.

 Amid this violent landscape, THE CITY zeroed in on the shelter where Wolford says he was accosted and is often cited by homeless people as a place to avoid: the 30th Street Men’s Shelter in Kips Bay.

Our review of nearly 3,000 pages of internal records of dangerous and criminal activity inside 30th Street in 2017 and 2018 found:

• Serious incidents — such as assaults, death threats and possession of significant quantities of drugs — won’t necessarily get someone arrested or even kicked out.

• Violations of shelter rules often go without punishment.

• Repeat offenders have no trouble bedding down for the night in a shelter, even after multiple incidents in various city-run facilities. That was the case with the man accused of the Chinatown killings.

de Blasio's and Banks' DHS covers up the severity of violence and drug dealing in city shelters

NY Post


City officials covered up nearly 120 “serious incidents” at homeless shelters by downgrading their severity so they wouldn’t have to be disclosed to state regulators, according to the city Department of Investigation.

The DOI conducted a yearlong probe into allegations that the Department of Homeless Services wasn’t “adequately” reporting arrests and other problems to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which is responsible for ensuring that shelters are safe.

The investigation revealed that DHS created its own “priority codes” that minimized “life-threatening injuries,” mental-health emergencies and some arrests of residents, visitors or staffers, according to an April 8 DOI memo obtained by The Post.

There were “approximately 117 internal reports” from January through June 2017 that contained information that should have been reported, the memo said.
City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), who tipped off DOI to the situation, told The Post, 

“There’s only one word for the conduct of DHS: inexcusable.”

“DHS adopted a dubious definition of serious incidents that it knew would lead to the under-reporting of incidents consisting of serious injuries, mental health emergencies, arrests and situations affecting the safety of its own residents and staff,” Torres said.

NY Post 

 Security at the city’s homeless shelters is so shoddy that one Harlem facility had its own in-house heroin dealer, according to records and fed-up workers.

Parkview Inn resident Alice Cuesta, 52, was finally busted last month with 60 glassines of heroin after clumsily dropping them right in front of an NYPD sergeant inside the elevator at the West 110th Street shelter, prosecutors said court papers.

Before her fateful fumble, Cuesta had held free rein at the shelter “for a long time,” law-enforcement and DHS sources told The Post — adding that the situation is similar at shelters across the city.

Security gaps, as well as overworked DHS officers who simply don’t have the time, training or help to conduct thorough investigations, have left some residents wondering if they wouldn’t be better off taking their chances on the street.

Bipolar homeless man attacked a child in front of his house

NY Post

 A homeless man with a history of mental illness randomly attacked a 6-year-old boy in front of his grandparent’s house in Queens on Thursday afternoon, seriously injuring the boy, police and sources said.

The child was sitting on the steps of his grandparent’s house on Metropolitan Avenue near 123rd Street in Kew Gardens at about 5 p.m. when the vagrant walked into their driveway, said Rabbi Naftali Portnoy, the boy’s grandfather.

The 35-year-old vagrant then grabbed the child, picked him up and threw him to the concrete, slamming his face on the ground, police said.

His brother rushed into the house and told his grandfather about the attack.

Portnoy called 911 and tailed the vagrant, who was shirtless, while he walked away from the scene down Metropolitan Avenue.

Cops arrived soon after and arrested the suspect, who sat down on the street and said, “I’m bipolar,” the grandfather explained.

The kid was rushed to Cohen Children’s Medical Center and treated for hemorrhaging to the brain and facial contusions, a source said.

Quick First Lady McCray, send some simps to hand out Thrive pamphlets on Metropolitan Ave.

Pam's Place is a hellhole

"From July 11 through July 25, 2018 the Dutch Kills community was forced to endure three completely unacceptable incidents directly related to clients at “Pam’s Place,” a shelter for homeless women at the former Verve Hotel at 40-03 29th Street in Long Island City.

• At 10:30 p.m. on July 11th, shelter client Yaremis Perdomo, 33, became enraged and set her 51-year-old roommate on fire. Perdomo has since been arrested and is being held on attempted murder and other charges related to the attack. The roommate remains in critical condition at the New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Cornell Burn Unit with third-degree burns to her face, arms and hands.

• An unidentified shelter client stood in the center of the intersection at 29th Street and 39th Avenue at about 5 p.m. on July 23rd, tossing loose change into open windows of passing vehicles – snarling traffic, alarming motorists and creating serious safety concerns for pedestrians. Eyewitnesses told police that the shelter client backed off when she spotted police pulling up to the scene, making it impossible for the officers to observe her actions. This unfortunately made it impossible for the officers to charge or summons the woman. The best they could do under current law was to tell the woman to stop, which she promptly did.

• A shelter client viciously, and without provocation, attacked a local woman who was walking on 29th Street near 40th Avenue on July 24th. The unidentified assailant approached the woman, punched her in the mouth and fled. The attack was not reported to police at the 114th Precinct, an NYPD spokesperson said.

I have requested Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer’s chief of staff, Matt Wallace, to call an Emergency Meeting of the Community Advisory Board of “Pam’s Place.”

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss ongoing violent and/or dangerous conditions that spill from the shelter into the Dutch Kills community. These conditions result in a fearful, dangerous environment that substantially affects our residents’, business and quality of life.

The Dutch Kills Civic Association has requested that this meeting to be scheduled for a Tuesday or Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Wallace has assured us that such meeting will take place in the near future.

The following is a portion of our agenda for this upcoming meeting. We are requesting:

• A listing of all incidents reported to the 114th Precinct regarding Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter – including a client assault on a 114th Precinct officer.

• A complete breakdown of responses by FDNY and other ambulance crews relevant clients at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter.

• A complete listing of 911 and 311 calls seeking response to conditions at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter, from October 2016 current to the date of the upcoming meeting.

• A comprehensive report of all disciplinary actions taken by the operators and managers of Pam’s Place regarding troubled or combative shelter clients, from October 2016 current to the date of the upcoming meeting.

• A complete breakdown from the Department of Homeless Services and Sena Security of all incidents related to clients at Pam’s Place, both inside and outside the shelter.

Lastly, in order to ensure an open, transparent dialogue of issues surrounding Pam’s Placer Shelter for Homeless Women, we strongly urge that members of the press be informed and invited to provide coverage of the upcoming meeting.

George L. Stamatiades,
President
Dutch Kills Civic Association of
Long Island City

World's quickest takedown?

Click here for the explosive story.

Breaking News: 4 women are said to have accused New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, of assault. He had long cast himself as a champion of women. https://t.co/AvFzL5EVfH

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 7, 2018

Rikers closure a land grab: union head

From the NY Post:

The union head who represents Rikers Island corrections officers slammed plans to close the jail complex as nothing more than a “political con game” and a “land grab” that would enrich well-connected real estate developers.

Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said Sunday the closure plan has nothing to do with helping blacks and Latinos as some have argued, but “everything to do with business.”

The union big honed in on a report overseen by former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman that called for the closing of Rikers within ten years — noting its claim that the city and state stand to gain $17 billion if the island is repurposed for use by LaGuardia Airport.

“It has everything to do with business,” Husamudeen said Sunday during an interview on John Catsimatidis’ 970 AM radio show. “There’s so much wrong with this. This is such a political con game.”\

Husamudeen pointed to the make-up of the Lippman commission, charging that only two people on it have experience with jails.

“The majority of the people on your committee are real estate developers,” he said, referring to Lippman’s commission. “This is really a sham, it really is. It’s a land grab.”

Husmudeen argued that politicians should be more focused on the safety of corrections officers, citing more than 2,000 assaults against union members since de Blasio became mayor.

“My thing is: take your island, take your jail, take the island. We don’t care. Make the jails safe,” he said.

How we're clearing out Rikers

From NBC:

Two teens accused of cutting off a cab driver's thumb and slashing several other people in the Bronx are out on $200 bail, and that's not sitting well with one of their alleged victims.

Queens County dynasty freakout, Crowley edition

"This weekend I was canvassing in #Woodhaven with my volunteers, Milly and Sally, when Council Member Crowley and her son Owen showed up. (They’ve been following us lately.) Elizabeth proceeded to shove Sally for no reason. If she wants to be paranoid and stalk me, that’s politics, but going after my volunteers is simply unacceptable."

"After being caught on video shoving my volunteer, instead of apologizing, Council Member Crowley for some reason pulled out her camera to film us. Is this the type of person that the district wants representing them for 4 more years?" - Robert Holden

School violence may not be down as reported

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio claims city schools are the safest they’ve been in two decades — but not everyone believes the miracle.

Along with Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, de Blasio said Tuesday that ­major school crimes last year hit their lowest point since 1998 and have tumbled 18 percent since 2015.

Officials said there were a ­total of 503 serious crimes — ­including felony assault and robbery — in city schools last year. That’s down from 532 the previous year and 613 in 2015, according to the NYPD.

But Families for Excellent Schools, a charter-school advocacy group, issued a report Tuesday claiming city officials lowballed serious misconduct in 2015-2016 — and that the latest figures should be viewed skeptically.

That school year, the state recorded roughly 10,000 more school incidents than the NYPD, according to FES. The state’s 2016-2017 figures aren’t yet available for a comparison with the latest NYPD data.

According to FES, the state counted 16,851 overall incidents that year while the NYPD tallied only 6,843. The group said the discrepancy suggests that City Hall is cooking the books.