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Advocates say all parks not treated equally
When the first section of Brooklyn Bridge Park opens next month, it will have nine full-time Parks Enforcement Police patrol officers for 13 acres, about as many as the entire borough of the Bronx.Advocates say that’s a glaring example of a two-tiered system in which wealthier areas get more protection.
The officers – city workers paid with funds raised from nearby property owners - will work in three shifts to provide 24-hour coverage, a level of security other parks don’t get.
“I would like to see the same coverage in the rest of the borough because Brooklyn is severely undermanned,” said Joe Puleo, vice president of DC 37 Local 983, which represents the officers.
A handful of parks –all of which are in Manhattan except for Brooklyn Bridge – have dedicated, full-time patrol officers, paid for by donors or property owners. All other parks share roaming patrols, paid for by the city
Geoffrey Croft, head of New York City Park Advocates, said there is an “enormous disparity between the publicly funded parks and the ones which receive private funding.”
Brooklyn has 15 dedicated city-funded patrol officers covering the rest of its 4,300 acres of parks. In Queens, 14 patrol officers handle more than 7,000 acres and in the Bronx, there are 10 for about 7,000 acres, according to the Park Advocates.
“This is a civil rights issue,” Croft said. “All communities deserve safe, well maintained parks, not just those in wealthy neighborhoods.”
The 35-acre Battery Park City, for example, has 36 full-time dedicated patrol officers, three times as many as cover the 7,400 acres of parks in Staten Island, the group said.
Parks Department spokesman Philip Abramson said focusing only on full-time patrol officers misses the point. He said that including Urban Park Rangers - who like patrol officers can write summonses and make arrests – and seasonal aides, who do not have police powers but wear uniforms, the city has some 700 people doing “security-related tasks.”
Samantha Bux, 27, of Harlem, who was in Prospect Park on a recent afternoon, called the number of patrol officers there “ridiculous.”
“I think they should up that number,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the Empire State Development Corp., which until recently shared responsibility for building the park with the city, said the security arrangement reflects the park’s “special need with respect to its isolated location on the waterfront.”
Annette Leach, 49, of Fort Greene, agreed.
“It's a small park,” she said. “The property value is very high and there are a lot of homeless people. I think they have to patrol that area more.”
Taneish Hamilton contributed to this story.
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Top cop comes to aid of woman hit by bike
The city’s top cop was a first responder before he was a grand marshal at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Wednesday morning.
For the second time in two weeks, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly turned into a emergency worker, helping a woman hit by a bicyclist on the Upper East Side.
Kelly was on his way from a breakfast at Gracie Mansion to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral around 8:30 a.m. when he saw a woman lying unconscious and bleeding from the head in the crosswalk at 84th Street and Fifth Avenue, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
Kelly’s driver pulled over and he got out of his SUV to offer help.
“The police commissioner used her scarf as a compress to stop the bleeding,” Browne said. “While they assisted her, another detective called an ambulance.”
The woman was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and was in stable condition yesterday with what was believed to be a fractured skull, said Browne.
The bicyclist who allegedly hit her, 24-year-old Jose Segarra, of Manhattan, stayed at the scene after the accident and was issued summonses for improper brakes, no reflectors and no lights.
On March 2, Kelly came to the aide of a woman near City Hall who had sprained her ankle and fallen in the street.
Wednesday's incident caused Kelly to show up late for Mass. During the service, Archbishop Timothy Dolan joked that Kelly was late because he was caught speeding, Browne said.
“It was a little embarrassing for someone who grew up Catholic on the West Side to be late for Mass,” Browne said.
Kelly, however, made it to the parade on time.
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City set to post letter grades for sanitation in restaurant windows
New York City follows in the footsteps of Los Angeles, above, which has used a letter-grading system in its restaurants for more than a decade. (Photo: Los Angeles Times)
City restaurants soon won’t be able to hide their report cards.
Beginning in July, large sanitation-letter grades will be posted in restaurant windows, upsetting owners who call the placards misleading scarlet letters.
Customers will find any of three grades in the window: a favorable “A,” passing “B” or disastrous “C.”
“Giving consumers more information will help make our restaurants safer and cleaner,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city health department. The board of heath Tuesday approved the system.
Poorly performing eateries have a chance to appeal before getting stuck with a B or C. They can put up a “grade pending” sign while they contest their results, and they can expect follow-up inspections within weeks. They must then post their new grades — good or bad.
The New York State Restaurant Association blasted the letter grades as a “snapshot in time” that shames eateries and misinforms diners.
“This is not to educate the public at all. It makes a fool out of them,” said Marc Murphy, the association’s vice president and owner of the Manhattan restaurants Landmarc and Ditch Plains. “A rodent violation can be two flies. Tell me who in the city hasn’t seen two flies?”
The policy has been more than a year in the making, with the health department seeking public comments and finding broad support among New Yorkers.
Park Slope foodie Joe Ferris on Tuesday said he wouldn’t dine at even his favorite restaurant if it received anything less than an “A.”
“We don’t know what’s going on in the kitchen,” said Ferris, 33. “They’re going to look at things we can’t see, things we’re not privy to.”
Health officials are tweaking the criteria to ensure restaurants will be graded on sanitation rather than less relevant blunders such as permit violations. About one-third of the city’s eateries would currently earn an “A,” but officials hope the system will improve that rate and encourage businesses to be more careful.
Los Angeles, which has used a similar evaluation method for more than a decade, has seen a 13 percent decline in food-borne illnesses.
A recent Zagat poll found 83 percent of New Yorkers back a letter-grading system.
“In the long term, it’s good for the restaurant industry,” said Tim Zagat, cofounder of Zagat Survey. “The health department is not trying to hurt restaurants, it’s just trying to make sure that everyone has a healthy experience.”emily.ngo@am-ny.com
*****The L.A. way
New York is letter-grading rookie compared to Los Angeles, which has been grading its restaurants since 1997.Back then, about 40 percent of its eateries earned an “A” in sanitation. Within 10 years, however, compliance has skyrocketed and more than 82 percent of restaurants boast the top mark.
“It has been a very big successful and it empowers consumers as well,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the L.A. health department. “If it’s done in objective manner, it will work in New York. In many ways it’s a gift to consumers.”
(Emily Ngo)
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Peralta beats Monserrate in Queens state senate race
State Assemb. Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) won a commanding victory Tuesday night for the state senate seat once held by Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled following a domestic violence conviction.Peralta, who ran with the backing of the Democratic Party, had 64 percent of the vote, with 84 percent of precincts reporting, while Monserrate - trying to regain his job about a month after his colleague kicked him out - earned 29 percent.
Republican Robert Beltrani got 7 percent.
"Tonight we put an end to dysfunction, to divisiveness to disappointment," Peralta told supporters Tuesday night. "We finally have our community back."
Peralta, who could be sworn in as early as Wednesday, provides Democrats with a crucial 32nd vote in the 62-member senate, giving the party control over both houses of the Legislature as try to close a $9 billion budget gap by April 1.
Monserrate, who ran on the slogan "Yes We Can" has indicated he may run for office again, perhaps for Peralta's soon-to-be-vacant Assembly seat. He told supporters last night he would "not rule out any future races or political ambitions."
"In 30 days we created a new party here in Queens, New York," he said. "This is not the last time we have heard from the Yes We Can party."
The Democratic National Committee had asked Monserrate not to use the slogan, which President Barack Obama made famous in 2008.
The special election to fill the seat turned particularly nasty in recent weeks, with Peralta's campaign repeatedly invoking Monserrate's December 2008 conviction for dragging his girlfriend through his apartment building's hallway, and Monserrate accusing his rival of racism.
The two also sparred on same sex marriage, with Monserrate opposed and Peralta in favor.
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Advocates: Illegal swipes could invade subways with fewer personnel
A straphanger swipes their MetroCard at the Utica station in Brooklyn. (Photo by Lauren A. Smith/amNY)
Small-time criminals illegally selling MetroCard swipes and jamming vending machines are on the loose, and union officials and transit advocates predict the scourge will get worse when the MTA lays off personnel overseeing the stations.
“New York is not a place you can go on the honor system. This isn’t Canada,” said Maurice Jenkins, union vice president for stations.
Since the MetroCard debuted in 1994, crooks have illegally sold swipes to straphangers by using unlimited cards or bending them in a way to provide free rides. The MTA installed anti-tampering software in its turnstiles to stymie the swindlers, but the NYPD still arrests about 20 people a month for selling swipes from the doctored cards, according to agency figures. About another 80 are caught hawking rides from un-doctored cards.
“It’s a safety issue,” said Carol Labozzetta, 42, an Astoria rider. “What else could they be doing illegally?”
Two hot spots for the crooks, also known as “trolls,” are the 111th Street station on the No. 7 and the 49th Street stop on the N, where they targeted unsuspecting tourists, union officials and workers said. Those caught selling or buying the swipes are fined $100.
But the crooks inconvenience all riders, as they often jam the bill dispensers in MetroCard machines with a toothpick or a straw to force straphangers to buy from them instead. A machine at the 66th Street station on the No. 1, for example, was recently jammed for days, union officials said.
“They coerce people to buying swipes. It worries my greatly,” said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign.
Arrests for selling swipes have fallen in recent years, with police nabbing 1,200 offenders last year, an NYPD spokeswoman said. But advocates predict the crime could grow in May when the MTA eliminates 600 station agents, who call police when they see people selling swipes.
“We will, as we always do, consult and work with (police) to combat” the illegal swiping, NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said.
At the Utica Avenue station on the No. 4, a man was recently seen selling swipes for the discounted price of $1.50. When he was questioned by a reporter, he said it was “so that (he) could get something to eat.”
Nicholas Klopsis contributed to this story.
Tags: mta, new york city, transit
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MTA not amused by spoof service announcement posters
Fake subway service alert posters that take jabs at the MTA’s plans to cut service are no laughing matter, the agency said Tuesday.
The orange posters replicate the NYC Transit signs down to the Helvetica font and “GREED” typed out in circular train letters.
“We are making service cuts because we can screw you over and keep you thinking there’s nothing you can do about it,” state the posters, which were spotted in the West 4th Street and 34th Street stations late Monday night.
NYC Transit spokesman, Charles Seaton said that transit workers will rip down the signs and report anyone hanging them up to the cops.
The signs are affiliated with a mock agency Web site called “the New MTA: State of Decay,” which features “press releases” about the agency’s need to outfit the homeless with security cameras in place of station agents.
“This will turn almost every single homeless person into a walking, breathing, living surveillance camera where we can track commuters and potentially fight crime,” the site states in tongue-in-cheek fashion.
The prankster behind the posters did not respond to an e-mail sent through their newMTA.info Website.
Tags: mta, new york city, transit
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Creating the perfect cheese platter
It would be an understatement to say that Terrance Brennan loves cheese.
When asked to choose his favorite cheese, the chef and owner of Artisanal quipped, “That’s like asking who your favorite child is!”
In 2001, Brennan opened his homage to cheese, Artisanal, in midtown, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“I started with a cheese cart, went on to open the city’s first cheese cave and just kept pushing the envelope,” said Brennan. We asked him how to create the perfect cheese platter, complete with sides.
Cheeses:
1. Uplands Pleasant Ridge: Wisconsin’s Mike Gingrich makes one of America’s most remarkable farmstead cheeses. It has a rich, nutty flavor and milky finish, evidence of the high-quality cow’s milk. Firm in consistency, this cheese can be paired with many wines, including merlot, albariño and zinfandel.2. Humboldt Fog: This goat’s milk cheese, produced by Mary Keens at Cypress Grove Chevre in Mckinleyville, Calif., is sprinkled with vegetable ash. Its soft and moist texture and clean lemony flavor can be enjoyed with sauvignon blanc and muscat.
3. Monte Enebro: Handmade by renowned cheesemaker Rafael Baez and his daughter, Paloma, this goat’s milk cheese has a distinct appearance. As this soft cheese ages, it becomes denser and also acquires an intense and pungent flavor. Sauterne or Spanish desert wines can be paired with this cheese.
4. Epoisses: This strong-smelling cow’s milk cheese originated in the small town of Epoisses, Burgundy in the late 1700s. Washing it with brine and then with wine or brandy develops the Epoisse’s characteristic ruddy rind. Continued washing with Burgundy brandy, deepens the flavor and promises a silky paste. Pair Chardonnay with Epoisse.
5. Pecorino Toscano: This famous sheep’s milk cheese from Tuscany is sturdy, nutty and slightly salty. Pecorino’s pleasant flavor can be complemented with olives, Italian cured meats and Italian wines like Prosecco and Muscat.
6. Crater Lake Blue: This robust cow’s milk blue — not for the finicky cheese eater — hails from Oregon’s Rogue River Creamery. It’s firm but moist and creamy and pairs well with Claret, Syrah, Chardonnay, Port or beer.
Condiments:
For a more elaborate presentation, condiments such as fruits, nuts, quince paste, dried fig cakes, medjool dates, chutney or crackers can be used to accent the various cheese flavors.
Classic combinations include:
Quince paste and sheep’s milk cheeses, Asian pears and blue cheese, onion-raisin chutney and cheddar cheese, and grapes and Epoisse. The neutral taste of crackers and earthy flavor of dried fig cakes make them great accompaniments for all types of cheese.
Tips for creating your platter:
1. When selecting cheeses make sure they vary in color, texture, milk type, and flavor.
2. A cheese platter’s flavor profile should range from mildest to strongest, with the mildest placed at 6 or 12 o’clock on the platter (you’ll want to start with those). Eating the strongest cheese first masks the flavor of the milder cheeses.
3. Try and keep the temperature between 70 and 72 degrees to enhance the flavor of the cheese. When it is too cold, the cheese’s full flavor doesn’t come out.
4.Use separate cutlery for the various types of cheese. For instance, a spoon for soft cheese and a sharp chef’s knife for semi-soft to hard cheeses.
5. A rustic board, earthy marble or stone can be used as a platter with a full round cheese in the middle. Around it, arrange the remaining cheeses, all cut in different shapes, to add visual appeal.
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Q&A: The mind-set of a cold, calculating NCAA tournament bracket picker
Tom Federico met his mathematician and computer scientist partners as a freshman engineering student at Stanford. TeamRankings.com, the statistically rigorous Web site the trio founded in 2005, offers bracketeers paid access to a world of predictive data through its BracketBrains.com spin-off.
Speaking with amNY this week, Federico advised pickers to focus on the NCAA tournament matchups whose outcomes the office-pool competition may be guessing wrong.
How does your site work? We run our predictive models and ... see where there might be inefficiencies in how the public is predicting teams versus what the real data-driven odds are saying.What is an ‘inefficiency’? The NCAA tournament — sort of a financial analogy — is a marketplace, and your job is to find inefficiencies in the market. Our job is to help you know when is a favorite really a favorite, and when is there an underdog that the public is not giving enough credit to in terms of their actual odds to win.
Where could the public go wrong? You might see that 25 percent of the public is picking Kentucky to win the NCAA tournament, but their actual algorithmic win odds are only 10 percent. ... It gives you the data you need to make a decision that says, hey, I can optimize my win odds to win if I don’t pick Kentucky to win because it’s a negative-value pick, if you will.
Which team would be a positive-value pick two win the national title? We’re still getting the public data in, but right now I would say for the national title, Kansas is definitely the odds-on favorite. We still think they’re being a little bit overvalued by the public. ... Especially in a bigger bracket pool, Duke is looking like a good value pick to win the tournament. If you want to get even more wild and crazy, a couple ones we picked out are Kansas State, Baylor, and even Maryland and Wisconsin. ... Their odds of winning the tournament are clearly very slim, but ... you’d do better to just pick, say, Wisconsin to win the tournament if you were competing against a million people. By the freak chance that they actually do pull it out, you’ll almost certainly finish out in the top one or two or three.
What makes these models so complex? They were developed by my partner, Mike Greenfield, who’s a Stanford mathematical computer scientist major, about 10 years ago, and we’ve been refining them every year since. ... We take into account betting odds for games, statistics for teams, how teams have played historically in similar situations. Much more than a human mind could ever process on its own, obviously. And then it’s just the sophistication of all the modeling ... It’s really done at a scientist level, versus ... people building their own Excel spreadsheets.
How do you account for a star coach or player? Obviously, there are a bunch of intangibles that are difficult to model with just hard data. Things like morale or a ... coach who’s historically performed really well in the tournament. ... It might not really be the isolated effect of the coach’s ability. There could be a million other factors that went in there. ... Typically, rather than looking at personal matchups of players or a coach’s history, the vast majority of our analysis is driven on hard data: How did the team perform this year; what were their margins of victory against various opponents; what was their schedule strength.
Tags: TeamRankings.com, BracketBrains.com, Tom Federico, sports, NCAA tournament, March Madness
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Smart fantasy baseball drafting, round by carefully planned round
Most fantasy baseball drafts last 15-plus rounds, but your team’s destiny will be determined during the first eight. Here is a round-by-round strategy assuming a 12-team, standard-scoring system:
Round 1
The strategy is simple: Select the best position player. Your first rounder sets the tone for your offense, so prioritize a HR/RBI machine who can hit for average. Mark Teixeira or speedster Carl Crawford are fine late-round choices.Round 2
This year’s second rounders don’t lag far behind the first rounders, so employ a similar strategy. Opting for the best position player rather than fretting over position scarcity should be your main concern. Hurlers such as Tim Lincecum or Roy Halladay also work.Round 3
Now is the time to form balance in your lineup. If you opt for a position player, choose one who offers a different set of skills from the first one or two you drafted. Keep in mind the top five shortstops likely won’t last past this round.Round 4
A run of second- and third-tier outfielders could start here, so grab one who projects for double-digit homers and steals, such as Grady Sizemore. If you haven’t selected a pitcher, it would be more sensible to wait and pursue another position player for depth.Round 5
Time to snag a high-end starter, such as Cliff Lee or Adam Wainwright, if you haven’t already. Opting for arms rather than bats in the next couple rounds is practical; just don’t be the person to pick a closer this early.Round 6
This could be your last chance to grab a top-notch second baseman. Aaron Hill, Brandon Phillips and Ben Zobrist won’t last long if they’re still available. Round 6 is your chance to select one of the few elite catchers, too.Round 7
It’s vital to choose a second starter. While building your offense is paramount, ensuring you have three reliable starters adds team balance. Go for a third in Round 8 or 9. An alternative here is a value pick at first base, such as Kendry Morales.Round 8
Consider yourself in great position if you select a sixth position player with two high-end starting pitchers in tow. You’re armed and dangerous if you have two statistically versatile outfielders, power at the corner infield positions and batting average and speed locked up at the middle infield positions.Tags: Fantasy baseball, draft, Teixeira, Carl Crawford, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Adam Wainwright, Aaron Hill, Brandon Phillips, Ben Zobrist, sports
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NCAA tournament: 2 sleepers and 2 run-makers
Midwest region
Don’t Sleep On: San Diego State (25-8, 11-5)
Every NCAA season, one mid-major conference tends to emerge as a formidable competitor to the “Power Six” conferences. In 2006, it was the Missouri Valley; in 2007, the Horizon; and in 2008 and 2009, the Atlantic 10.
These conferences typically post .500 records in the NCAA Tournament, and usually send a team to the Sweet 16. This season, the Mountain West has shed its “mid” status, placing four teams into the field of 65. The hottest team in this conference is San Diego State, winners of five in a row (en route to the conference championship) and nine of their last 10.
The Aztecs boast three wins against top 25 teams – two against New Mexico and one against UNLV. They outrebound opponents by 6.4 a game, and shoot a solid 47.6 percent. This bodes well against their first round opponent, Tennessee, which lacks the size to win the battle of the boards. If San Diego State can protect the basketball (forcing turnovers is Tennessee’s strength), it has a good chance of representing the Mountain West in the second round.East Region
Poised for a Run: Marquette (22-11, 11-7)
If the Big East Tournament proved one thing, it’s that not much separates the conference’s top eight teams.
After disposing of St. John’s, Marquette outlasted Villanova (an NCAA No. 2 seed) before getting stomped by Georgetown (an NCAA No. 3 seed). The small and scrappy Golden Eagles thrive on forcing turnovers (+4.1 per game) and shooting the three (40.6 percent), but tend to struggle against bigger, stronger teams. Fortunately for Marquette, its first and likely second round opponents are similar in stature and style.
First-round draw Washington sports a small lineup that wins by forcing turnovers, while potential second round opponent New Mexico also lacks size but thrives on shooting threes. Winning these two games could potentially force a Big East rematch against West Virginia, except rather than Morgantown, the venue would be the Mountaineer-unfriendly Carrier Dome.South Region
Poised for a Run: Baylor (25-7, 11-5)
The Big 12 was arguably the toughest conference in the country, and much of the media attention went to Kansas, Texas, and Kansas State. Lost amidst the hype was Baylor, the freakishly athletic team that tied for second in the conference. The Bears’ backcourt features the conference’s leading free throw maker (86 percent), 3-point shooter (3.3 made per game), and second leading scorer (19.4 ppg) in LaceDarius Dunn, as well as the Big 12 leader in assists (6.1) in Tweety Carter. Their frontcourt is anchored by 6-foot-10 forward-center Ekpe Udoh, whose 124 blocked shots set a conference record. He’s joined by 7-foot center Josh Lomers. Forward Quincy Acy provides energy off the bench, and is often the finisher of inbounds alley-oop pass plays drawn up by coach Scott Drew. If they can control their two main weaknesses – turnovers and foul trouble – the Bears could sneak up on potential opponents Villanova and Duke, who Baylor would face not far from home in Houston.West Region
Don’t Sleep On: Murray State (30-4, 17-1)
The Racers live up to their name – they play a fast-paced game (77.5 ppg, +17.0 scoring margin), force turnovers (10.0 spg), move the ball effectively (15.6 apg), and shoot well (50.3 percent).
All of these averages were tops in the Ohio Valley Conference, but therein lies the problem: the Racers have yet to be tested by a power conference team. First round opponent Vanderbilt may provide a favorable opportunity. For starters, the Commodores are turnover-prone, coughing up the ball 13.7 times a game.
Moreover, while Vandy is used to playing in a conference that calls for shutting down one or two main scorers a night, Murray State has six players averaging 9.5 ppg or more to contend with. Vanderbilt has the size advantage, but if Murray State’s pressure defense can prevent Vandy from running its offensive sets effectively, the Racers could cruise into round two.Tags: San Diego State, Marquette, Baylor, Murray State
