January 22, 2012 12:54pm | By Tom Liddy, DNAinfo News Editor

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A taxi (Flickr/Alex E. Proimos)

MANHATTAN — Ten people were injured in a smashup between a cab and another car in Midtown Sunday morning, authorities said.

The two-car accident unfolded at Park Avenue and 42nd Street just before noon, according to the FDNY.

All of the injuries were considered minor.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

 

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October 12, 2011 12:30PM

114 East 34th Street

Real estate investment firm Petra Capital Management is expected to take control of the unfinished Ismael Levya-designed condominium conversion in Murray Hill at 114 East 32nd Street at a foreclosure auction today, Crain’s reported. Petra loaned $95 million to developer and Harch Group founder Harry Jeremias for the conversion, but later filed to foreclose in 2009.

As The Real Deal previously reported, Jeremias, who is also president of PHH Realty, originally purchased the former office building from Parklex Associates in May 2006 for $53 million. He then borrowed $93.75 million from Petra Mortgage Capital in February 2007.

Todd Soloway, a partner at law firm Pryor Cashman, said it was likely that Petra would use its credit to bid on the project. The company has reportedly already hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the building.

Jeremias is one of several developers who fell victim to the credit crunch. He faced a foreclosure suit for allegedly defaulting on a $55 million loan to develop a high-end condo at 15 Renwick Street in Soho.[Crain's]

Livid Councilwoman Blasts NYPD For Conduct At Gay Pride Parade

 From:The Gothamist.com

Gale Brewer (Wikipedia).

City Councilman Jumaane Williams isn’t the only City Councilperson to have a run in with the NYPD at a parade this year. Though his arrest at the West Indian Parade was definitely worse, what with the whole arrested thing, UWS Councilwoman Gale Brewer apparently had her own tough time with the police at the Gay Pride Parade this year, and she’sdecided to talk about it. Capital’s Azi Paybarah gothis hands on a scathing letter from Brewer to commissioner Ray Kelly in which she recounts her experience. Spoiler alert: She is not a fan of the NYPD these days! 

Basically, Brewer misread her instructions on the day of the parade and found herself blocks from the rest of the City Council. Because of the crowds (gay marriage had just been made legal, after all) she found it impossible to move on the sidewalk and tried to walk down the parade route as the parade had yet to start. It did not go very well!

Because the crowd behind me in the side street was immense, I produced my Council ID, explained the situation to the patrolman on duty at the barricade, and asked him to let me through so that I could walk along the parade route to the meeting place. The parade had not yet begun. He not only refused, but immediately adopted a belligerent attitude, hooking his thumbs in his belt, puffing up his chest, and acting as though he felt he was under threat. When an African-American woman also peaceably approached the barricade with a similar request, he grabbed her and pushed her backward. None of this was called for.By cell phone, I contacted the Council Speaker’s staff, one of whom was behind a barricade on the west side of Fifth Avenue, but they too were unable to persuade any NYPD officer to release us from behind the barricades. I asked repeatedly for a supervisor. Soon a Sergeant appeared and I explained the situation to him. After a brief word with the patrolman, he refused to assist me, was also angry and rude, and clenched his fist and swung his arm upward in a little arc—a universal gesture that needed no translation. Then he and the patrolman had a good laugh.

 

Eventually, after an hour and a half, Brewer was able to join the parade, but she was beyond not amused at that point. “The issue in all these instances is not whether there are rules,” she wrote to Kelly. “It is the abuse of discretion, a pattern of needless and angry over-reaction, an attitude of contempt and insult toward both elected officials and private citizens, and an apparent license among the rank and file of the NYPD to act inappropriately and insultingly whenever they choose. If officers feared being disciplined, they would not behave in these ways.“

Brewer initially didn’t plan on even mentioning the incident until Williams was arrested and says that “In my own case I refrained from making a public matter of the way in which I was treated, but after the incident with Council Member Williams, perhaps I should have spoken up earlier.” Perhaps she should have, but better late than never.

October 4, 2011 10:27am | By Olivia Scheck, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

Suspects Sought in Midtown East Burglary

One of the suspects believed to have robbed a townhouse apartment in Turtle Bay. (NYPD)

MANHATTAN — Three men were tied up and robbed at gunpoint inside an upscale Turtle Bay apartment, according to police.

The broad daylight heist took place on East 51st Street shortly before 3 p.m. Monday afternoon, when police say two men — one with a semi-automatic weapon —  entered the townhouse demanding cash and other valuables.

The burglars tied up their victims using twine, and then one of them headed directly to a safe inside a bedroom, the NYPD said.

They later fled on foot, making off with unspecified property from inside the safe in addition to cell phones and wallets that were on the victims, according to the department.

Police are hunting two suspects, who were captured on surveillance cameras which were outside the apartment, as well as one that was fitted inside one of the bedrooms.

The suspects are both described as black men between 25 and 30-years-old.

One of two suspects believed to have burgled a Turtle Bay apartment, tying up and robbing three victims and stealing property from a safe. (NYPD)

One is thought to be about six-feet-two, between 250 and 300 lbs., with a beard. He was wearing a Yankees hat, a blue and white striped shirt with a blue vest, and carrying a black semi-automatic gun at the time of the burglary.

The second suspect is believed to be about six foot tall, 180 lbs., and was wearing a grayish-blue hoodie at the time of the heist.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.

The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website or texting by texting 274637(CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.

The Turtle Bay building where three men were tied up and robbed. (DNAinfo/Olivia Scheck)

All calls are strictly confidential.

By Olivia Scheck, DNAinfo.com

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20111004/midtown/three-e 

from this building and the terrace of 3A and this window has an air conditioning unit.The new
tenants, are two young boys(looks like their first apt away from home) persist on smoking in their underwear,

bare chested and usually on a cell phone on their terrace.

Ones name is Malavazi and I have asked them not to smoke on the terrace but inside their apt and have gotten no where.

Their building management does not return calls. I am highly allergic to second hand smoke. Anybody got any advice for me?

I took a pill closed the shutters and finally fell asleep.

The next morning I saw the same car still there so I decided to write a note. I wrote the note and planned to put on the windshield so if this person every parks again on the block. When I went to the car there was a broken passenger window. There was also a lock on the steering wheel and eggs all over the windshield.

My theory is that no one broke into the car, someone just got so infuriated with the noise and crashed the window as payback.

Sure enough, on Sunday early evening, I see a police car near the car. I went down to talk with them as they should not report as a burglary but a nuisance.   They had my note and thought I had broken the window and left a note. The owner ,a woman, who lives at 244 Madison Avenue, which is on the corner was away photo copying the note of the “supposed perp”. I explained the situation to the police and they realized what had transpired.

I do not know if that lady learned her lesson with her alarm. A smashed window and the person who did it knew how to disarm the alarm and did destroy the dashboard also plus the door edge. I would say at least a couple of thousand dollars in repair.

I think they should have given her a ticket for disturbing the peace of 100′s of people.

My lesson to her don’t put your alarm on if you are not in hearing distance of your car.

I called #311 as I did not think it was a dire emergency. When I told the operator there was an abandoned car in disrepair illegally parked on 38th between Madison and Park. They said suspicious cars were the jurisdiction of #911 and she transferrred me to them. I had a woman operator that started to grill me and ask me why i thought it was in disrepair, why i called an endless amount of questions. If it really was a real danger she would have delayed any action. I finally got so frustrated I hung up. Say some thing….I tried but I was treated with an inquisition. That operator should be fired!

I left for the day and when I returned the car was there without even a ticket, and this was 6 hours later. When I came out at 8:00pm they finally had ticketed the car but it was never towed. What happened to security in the 17th precinct? I did not see who eventually drove the car off but eventually it wasn’t there.

I think enforcement in this city stinks. Nobody is doing their jobs.

“One of the advantages of having a lot of businesses around is having a lot of eyes at all hours,” said Byrnes, who has been with the partnership for almost 10 years.

Byrnes said his organization employs a security force that keeps about six or seven officers patrolling the area during business hours. Although that security team has no real authority, Byrnes said it can act as a deterrent.

Over the years, Byrnes said that laptop thefts and car break-ins have cropped up, and the partnership has worked closely with the 17th Precinct, tracking down surveillance tapes or reporting criminal activity to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

“It’s part of human society, so there’s always going to be a criminal here and there,” said Byrnes. “[But] I think the businesses feel very safe.”

A few blocks south, the Murray Hill and Gramercy neighborhoods have seen a slightly higher rate of violent crime, with three murders and 21 rapes in 2010 — although the area still ranks 15th safest in all five boroughs for violent offenses.

But NYPD statistics indicate that there were more than 2,200 grand larcenies in the 13th and 17th precincts, both of which patrol portions of the neighborhoods, in 2010. Those figures, which equate to 154 property crimes per 10,000 residents, plunge the area’s overall safety ranking to 64th out of 69 New York City neighborhoods.

Despite the prevalence of high-dollar thefts, the area has seen an overall decrease in crime. Burglaries in the 17th Precinct are down 42 percent from 2008, and robberies in the precinct dropped 33 percent in the same period. In the 13th Precinct, instances of robbery fell 18 percent from 2008 to 2010.

The high rate of property crime has also trickled into the Flatiron neighborhood, which falls into the 13th Precinct.

The area, known for its signature Flatiron building and its popularity among new technology companies, had three murders in 2010, up from just one in 2009. Rapes increased 30 percent, from 9 to 13. Those statistics earned the neighborhood a spot as 29th safest in the city for violent crime, and overall crime in the area decreased 70 percent from 1993 to 2010, according to the data.

But the neighborhood still ranked 67th out of 69 neighborhoods for property crimes, with an above-average rate of burglaries and about 158 grand larcenies per 10,000 people.

Mark Thompson, chair of Community Board 6, which spans from East 14th to East 59th streets, said he was happy to hear that crime in the area had decreased overall, especially considering the state of the economy over the past several years.

As for the prevalence of property crime, Thompson theorized that an overall sense of safety might be leaving residents feeling too comfortable, too apt to leave a laptop resting unattended, for example.

“People aren’t as careful as they were in the past,” he said. “We still need to be vigilant.”

Residents and businesses in the area that falls under the 13th and 17th precincts have complained of vandalism or people loitering or drunken fighting in bars, but the police have ramped up their street presence in recent years, he said.

“Both the precincts have been cracking down on quality of life stuff,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he can remember a time in New York City when people avoided certain seedy streets and avenues. A longtime resident of Stuyvesant Town, he said First Avenue was once best avoided. Now, an influx of people, along with restaurants and bars that stay open late, have led to safer streets.

“Now I feel like I can walk down any street and not worry about something happening,” he said. “It’s a different world, really.”

To read the full report, visit www.dnainfo.com/crime-safety-report.
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