Brewer Threatens de Blasio with Lawsuit
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has threatened to sue Mayor Bill de Blasio over his plan for the Holmes Towers.
The mayor is currently planning to bring in a private developer to put together a mixed-income housing project on First Avenue and 97th Street, without going through the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP). Brewer released a statement yesterday saying that de Blasio needs to renege on these plans or risk legal action.
“There are many things wrong with the Mayor’s proposal, all of which can be rectified through robust public review,” said Brewer. “Everybody knows that I’m always supportive of efforts to increase affordable housing, but I have serious concerns.”
Levine Says It’s Time to Give Our Subways Sliding Platform Doors
After hearing about a tragic incident in which a man was dragged to death in Grand Central station, City Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan Valley, Manhattanville) said the incident was a symptom of a major problem with New York City transit – our failure to implement sliding platform doors.
Earlier this week, Vicente Alatorre, 39, met an untimely end when a subway car somehow snagged him off of the platform and pulled him into the tunnel as the train departed. The exact details of the incident are still unclear; it was originally hypothesized that Alatorre’s bag got caught in the subway doors, but this was later proven to be false.
“We’re still learning exactly what happened in this tragic incident,” Levine said in a tweet. “But there’s no doubt that if NYC followed the lead of other subway systems (and our own AirTrain) and put in sliding platform door we could prevent many such deaths. Experts have been calling the idea of platform safety doors in NYC ‘way past due’ for years.”
Hoylman Seeks to Decriminalize “Walking While Trans”
State Senator Brad Hoylman is sponsoringa new piece of legislation that seeks to decriminalize loitering for the purpose of prostitution.
State Senate Bill S2253 will repeal Section 240.37 of the penal code, which relates to loitering for the purpose of sex work. According to Hoylman, the law is often used to profile women from marginalized groups – particularly trans women – who are at greater risk for sex trafficking and other forms of abuse.
A press conference about the new bill will be held on Monday, Feb. 25 at 12 p.m. Location TBD.
