Weinberg sets sights on Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC
The last time state Sen. Loretta Weinberg began confronting Port Authority officials, she wanted answers about lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, a traffic-snarling debacle that is now the subject of state and federal investigations. Weinberg (D-Bergen), now the co-chairwoman of a joint legislative panel that brought much of the scandal to light, plans to press the agency at its monthly board meeting on what she says is the failure to address delays, discomfort, pollution, financial waste and other problems at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. (Strunsky/The Star-Ledger)
Obesity up 25 percent in NYC
By Carl Campanile
September 30, 2013 | 3:40am
Reduce the obesity rate in New York City? Fat chance!
More New Yorkers than ever are living large, despite Nanny Bloomberg’s war on sugary drinks and fast foods, statistics obtained by The Post reveal.
The city’s obesity rate among adults has skyrocketed 25 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002, city Health Department figures show.
That year, nearly one in five New Yorkers was considered obese. Now almost one in four is.
The figures are surprising given Gotham’s residents are doing better according to other health indicators.
For example, the percentage of adults who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day dropped to 28 percent last year from 36 percent in 2007, says the Health Department’s Take Care New York 2012 report.
NYC Taxpayers Help Sponsor Bloomberg’s Gun Control Group
8:06 AM, Jun 22, 2013 • By JIM SWIF
Reports surfaced earlier this week that the webpage of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) appears to have been purchased and hosted by City of New York.
The group was co-founded by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino to “share best practices, develop innovative policies, and support legislation at the national, state, and local levels that will help law enforcement target illegal guns.”
In a phone call with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Mayor Bloomberg’s press secretary Marc La Vorgna confirmed the City of New York’s involvement with the domain’s purchase and hosting.
When asked whether the purchase and subsequent hosting of the domain by New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications was accidental or intentional, La Vorgna replied that the purchase had “definitely been vetted.”
NYC Mayor Bloomberg: Government has right to ‘infringe on your freedom’
By Cheryl K. Chumley
The Washington Times
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Sunday: Sometimes government does know best. And in those cases, Americans should just cede their rights.
“I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom,” Mr. Bloomberg said, during an appearance on NBC. He made the statement during discussion of his soda ban — just shot down by the courts — and insistence that his fight to control sugary drink portion sizes in the city would go forth.
Fight Breaks out on Northbound Bergen/Port Jervis Line Train
March 17,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , A New Jersey Transit train Bergen/ Port Jervis line was forced to make an unscheduled stop on Saturday after a large brawl broke out inside one of the rail cars, leading to the ejection of several passengers.
No details are available as to what sparked the fight, or weather the fight was or was not St.Patrick’s day parade related . The fight broke out shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday on a northbound Bergen/Port Jervis line train. NTJ had previously banned alcohol for the parade of Saturday.
NJ Transit spokesman John Durso Jr. told the The Star-Ledger of Newark that the fight began about 10 minutes after the train departed from Secaucus , forcing the the train to make an unscheduled stop in East Rutherford, where authorities broke up the brawl.
Sixteen people were finally ordered off the train,while two were issued summons for disorderly conduct and one person was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The train resumed service after a 20 minutes delay. Bergen/ Port Jervis line also stop at Ridgewood Train Station.
NYC beckons new parents as North Jersey suburbs no longer seen as only place to raise kids
Sunday February 17, 2013, 12:35 AM
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITER
The Record
In a striking reversal, growing numbers of young parents are choosing the bustle of New York City over the calm of suburban life as a place to live, a trend that is already changing the face of some neighborhoods across North Jersey and could have long-term implications for schools, the housing market and beyond.
The number of children under the age of 5 has fallen 20 to 40 percent in many wealthy communities, with an overall drop of 12 percent across Bergen and Passaic counties since 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. At the same time, middle- and upper-income areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn have seen virtually the opposite shift in both the number of young adults as well as preschool children, an analysis of the data by The Record found.
The trend, a break in a pattern that has held since before World War II, has left Bergen County with 6,000 fewer children younger than 5 years old than it had in 2000. Passaic’s figure, meanwhile, has slid by about 6,000 since 2005. Similar declines have appeared in suburban Westchester and Nassau counties in New York, the analysis found.
The Port Authority announces PATH to resume between Newark and 33rd Street in NYC Monday
Ridgewood NJ , PATH service will resume at 5 a.m. Monday morning at the Newark Penn and Harrison stations in New Jersey to Manhattan, Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday.PATH Trains will run in both directions until 10 p.m. between Newark Penn, New Jersey and 33rd Street in New York, according to the release.
The temporary line also will include stops at Journal Square, Grove Street and Newport stations in New Jersey and at the 14th, 23rd and 33rd Street stations in Manhattan.
Trains will bypass both Christopher and 9th streets in New York, and disabled passengers will only have access to the platforms at Newark, Journal Square and 33rd Street.
PATH still remains suspended at the Hoboken, Exchange Place and the World Trade Center stations due to significant damage from flooding during superstorm Sandy.
The Port Authority estimates that it will be several weeks before service is reinstated on the Newark-World Trade Center line and the lines to and from Hoboken station. Port Authority officials said passengers may experience extended waits until service returns to normal.
The Port Authority and New Jersey Transit also will begin operating a new ferry service from the Hoboken Ferry Terminal on Monday. NJ Transit customers can take a bus to the Hoboken Ferry Terminal and then transfer to a ferry that will take passengers to Pier 79 at 39th Street in Manhattan. The fare is $5 and ferries will run back and forth between Hoboken and Manhattan from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Free shuttle buses will be provided from Pier 79 to midtown Manhattan.
Bloomberg Diverts Food, Generators from Devastated Staten Island to NYC Marathon
by Michael Patrick Leahy 1 Nov 2012
Fresh off his “climate disruption”-driven endorsement of President Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has chosen to divert critical food supplies and power generators from desperate residents of Staten Island to Sunday’s New York City Marathon. Gothamist reports:
[T]hose urging the city to halt the run believe that the thousands of Marathon volunteers could direct their efforts towards post-Sandy relief and cleanup, “and they also argue that the event will divert thousands of police from important hurricane-related duties.” But despite petitions circulating, work started up again yesterday on the Marathon route.
A tipster, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us there were lots of workers in and out of the park today, who had “started before the storm and then came back starting yesterday.” Trailers are lined up from around 71st to 66th Streets on Central Park West, a food truck was set up today, and “generators have been sitting there at least a week.” The tents that were taken down prior to the storm have also been set back up, and there is a stage set up near 73rd Street.
Considering all the volunteer help and NYPD attention that’s already being diverted to the Marathon, the added sight of generators and food being channeled to the event is probably going to strike some New Yorkers as a little misplaced—we’re thinking of the ones who are currently lined up waiting for the National Guard to ration out MREs and bottles of water.
Staten Island residents are frantically calling for help, ABC News reported on Thursday:
The residents of Staten Island are pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing three days after Sandy slammed the New York City borough.
“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”
Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power. Many are homeless, and at least 19 people died on Staten Island because of the storm.
Christie fights gambling in NYC shadow as Atlantic City sputters
Once a week, New Jersey resident Joe Coleman drives 20 minutes into Pennsylvania to play slots at the Parx Casino in Bensalem. While it doesn’t have the beach or glitz of Atlantic City — an hour and a half the other way in his home state — it costs him less in gas and tolls.
“I’d never come here if it wasn’t so close,” Coleman, 48, an unemployed plant manager from Bordentown, said in front of Parx at 11 p.m. on a Sunday, up $20 after a night of slots.
New gambling halls including Parx have walloped the industry in New Jersey. Its casinos, all in Atlantic City near the state’s southern end, reported $3.3 billion in revenue last year. That’s down 37 percent from a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006, the same year Pennsylvania’s first slots parlor opened. Last year, that state’s gambling revenue jumped 10 percent to $3.14 billion after it introduced table games in 2010. (Dopp, Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-26/christie-fights-gambling-in-nyc-shadow-as-atlantic-city-sputters.html
Under new N.J. bill, personal injury lawyers would have to wait 30 days before contacting accident victims
State lawmakers want to give accident victims a head start over ambulance chasers with a bill that would punish lawyers and other professionals who write to them within 30 days of an accident.
The measure (A4430) was approved 6-0 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee today and is expected to be taken up by the full Senate and Assembly on Monday.
Currently, lawyers, doctors, chiropractors and other health care workers are barred from soliciting victims in person, by phone or online for 30 days — although the bill’s sponsors say the law is largely unenforced, if at all. (Friedman, The Star-Ledger)
