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☆ Robot Dog’s Work in Garage Collapse Should Quiet Critics, Adams Suggests
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ed Shanahan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was, according to its maker, the first U.S. use for the robot in such real-world circumstances. On the day of the collapse, Mayor Eric Adams hailed the digidog, which was dispatched with several drones to hunt for victims and bodies, saying it had enabled the search operation to proceed safely. On Tuesday, he cited its performance again, reiterating his commitment to using futuristic gadgets for public safety, despite critics’ concerns. “Some people call them toys,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference. And this is an administration that is not going to be fearful of using everything possible to save the lives of New Yorkers and to save the lives of first responders.”

☆ Governors Island to Be Site of $700 Million Climate Campus
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the two decades since the federal government turned over control of Governors Island to New York City, city officials have sought an innovative way to use the 172-acre patch of land with stunning views of Lower Manhattan. On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams plans to announce a $700 million campus dedicated to finding solutions to address the climate crisis. The city chose a consortium led by Stony Brook University to transform one of the island’s last big chunks of developable land into a 400,000-square-foot hub called the “New York Climate Exchange.” The campus, which will focus on researching climate solutions and training for green jobs, is expected to open in 2028. The climate hub will serve as a “living laboratory” that features resilient design, with renderings showing shiny sloped buildings covered in vegetation that are intended to evoke the hills of Governors Island. It will include two newly constructed classroom and research buildings on three acres of land that are currently undeveloped and will also make use of some historic buildings on the island.

☆ New York City Has Two Million Rats and One New Rat Czar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kathleen Corradi ’s anti-rat bona fides date to grade school, when she organized a petition drive to have her Long Island town do something about an infestation behind her house. Now, she has been crowned New York City’s rat czar. The 34-year-old beat out 900 other applicants for a position that, the job posting said, requires a “swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor, and general aura of badassery.” Mayor Eric Adams , who announced it last week, has been vocal about his hatred of a rodent thought to number around two million in New York.

☆ Should New York City Have Free Buses?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Winnie Hu | Asmaa Elkeurti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Free bus service could come to 10 bus routes in New York City under a proposal by state lawmakers to lure more riders to the city’s struggling transit system and help those who cannot afford to pay the $2.75 fare. Two bus routes in each of the city’s five boroughs would be designated for a free bus pilot program, according to the proposal, which is being pushed by state legislative leaders in budget negotiations. Though the routes have not yet been chosen, one in each borough has to serve a low-income community and the other a commercial corridor. On Tuesday morning, Mayor Eric Adams voiced his approval of the pilot program in a video posted on Twitter and Instagram by Assemblyman Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a Queens Democrat and a sponsor of the proposal.

☆ New York City parking garage collapses, some believed trapped
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 18 (Reuters) - A parking garage collapse in New York City's lower Manhattan caused several injuries on Tuesday, local emergency officials and media reported, adding that some victims may have been trapped in the fallen structure. The second floor of the garage collapsed onto the first, CBS News reported, citing New York City emergency officials. But firefighters responding to the collapse were pulled back from the immediate scene "out of concerns about the structural stability of the building," the New York City Fire Department said in a statement. In the meantime, emergency personnel were doing their best to account for anyone who may have been trapped, the department said. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was briefed on the collapse and was be heading to the scene to survey the damage, his spokesperson said on Twitter.

CNN —A parking garage collapsed in lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, killing one person and injuring five others, the New York Fire Department’s operations chief said. The parking garage was a four-story building that “pancaked…all the way to the cellar floor,” NYC Department of Buildings Acting Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said. After he left his dorm, Powers said, he saw two people laying on the ground across the street from where the collapse occurred. Video taken by Powers from his dorm, which is located on the 7th floor, shows the collapsed garage with multiple damaged vehicles. At least one worker in the building was trapped on one of the upper floors of the parking garage and while he was conscious and alert, he couldn’t evacuate to a lower floor.

☆ As NYC's first-ever rat czar gets to work, cities like Boston and Chicago are looking for inspiration to fix their own rodent problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed a "rat czar" to help eliminate rodents in the city. One Boston city official says the Massachusetts city should follow suit and hire a rat slayer of their own. Days later, Boston City Council President Ed Flynn recommended the Massachusetts city hire someone in a similar position ""to hopefully one day eliminate rats in Boston," the Boston Herald reported. In 2022, Chicago was named the number one "rattiest" city in the US over both New York City and Boston. "You can hear them screaming — ee, ee, ee, ee!"

☆ Why retail crime rings target cheap goods at Walmart and CVS and skip luxury stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Only 11% of organized retail crime groups target luxury goods, per a recent NRF report. Items most targeted for organized retail crime include apparel and health and beauty products. In fact, luxury goods like jewelry and watches are rarely targeted by criminals. This is due to luxury items being sold in stores with enhanced security measures, the report said. Organized retail crime instead often targets more of the everyday goods available at stores like Walmart, CVS, and Target with less security protecting it.

☆ NYPD's robot dogs are back after backlash. NYC Mayor Eric Adams says 'we cannot be afraid' of the technology.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The NYPD's robotic dogs are "out of the pound" again, mayor Eric Adams announced earlier this week. Adams announced during a press conference earlier this week that the city spent $750,000 on two robotic canines the NYPD calls "Digidogs. " He said the dogs can "save lives" in situations where "you can't have police officers going inside because it's dangerous." The announcement comes just two years after the NYPD halted an experiment with the robotic dogs. In addition to the robot dogs, the NYPD will begin testing the StarChase pilot, a device that shoots a GPS-tracker to a stolen car, and the K5 ASR, an outdoor security robot, Adams said during the press conference.

☆ Rodents beware: New York City hires first 'rat czar'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A rat jumps into a puddle in the snow in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 2, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoApril 12 (Reuters) - New York City's unending war on rats has a new commanding general. Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced that Kathleen Corradi, an education department employee, has been appointed New York’s first-ever "rat czar," part of Adams’ effort to combat a growing rodent population in the county’s most populous city. She previously oversaw rat mitigation efforts in the city’s public schools. The size of the city’s rat population is unknown.

☆ Amazon Union President Chris Smalls Seen Fighting Worker in Video
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

On the night of December 5, the president of the Amazon Labor Union pummeled another union member. Some longtime Amazon Labor Union organizers decided to begin organizing on their own, without Smalls. All three said they believe in Smalls' mission and support the goals of the Amazon Labor Union, but worry about Smalls' ability to lead. Amazon Labor Union members consoled each other after the union lost the vote at its second warehouse, LDJ5, last April. One purpose of the organization appears to be to raise funds for the Amazon Labor Union, according to its certificate of incorporation.

☆ The Targeting of Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Daniel Henninger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When New York Mayor Eric Adams heard that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was coming to the city for Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg ’s arraignment of former U.S. President Donald Trump, he said: “Control yourselves. New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger.” Where’s he been? For Manhattan’s professional progressives, the indictment of Mr. Trump was just another day at the playground. Politics as the American left’s personal playpen probably began with the Occupy movement in 2011. Who today remembers what its point was? For nearly 60 days, the Occupy Wall Street movement took over Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene compared New York to Gotham City and said it 'smells bad' after she had to wade through a crowd of hecklers in Manhattan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bashed New York City on Wednesday, calling it 'filthy' and 'terrible.' The Georgia lawmaker was heckled on Tuesday at a pro-Trump rally in Manhattan. Greene was in New York to hold a mini protest for Trump, who was arrested and charged in court on Tuesday afternoon. Before the protest, New York Mayor Eric Adams singled out Greene by name when he called for calm in the run-up to Trump's surrender in New York. "People like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech.

☆ NYC mayor warns Trump supporters ahead of arraignment: 'Be on your best behavior'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jeenah MoonApril 3 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams addressed Donald Trump supporters directly Monday, saying city authorities would not hesitate to arrest and charge anyone who breaks the law in protest over the former president's upcoming arraignment on state charges. Trump was heading to New York on Monday and was due to surrender to prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday. Adams warned Trump supporters against turning to violence on Tuesday, saying the city was "not a playground for ... misplaced anger." While you're in town, be on your best behavior," said the Democratic mayor. The actress has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.

☆ Hyundai and Kia thefts trend reached New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Spikes in car thefts of certain Hyundai and Kia models, a trend that began in the American midwest and was spread by how-to videos on social media, has reached America’s biggest city. About 100 of these particularly vulnerable Hyundai and Kia vehicles were stolen in the month of December alone in New York City, according to New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. Joy rides on Tik TokThese models became the subject of a viral social media trend in which thieves filmed themselves and others stealing Hyundai and Kia vehicles and taking them for a drive. The New York thefts first began to be noticed in The Bronx, the commissioner said, but soon were also happening in other parts of the city. Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia, and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.

☆ US lawmaker says FBI briefed him on Trump's rhetoric over New York probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Senator Mark Warner said on Sunday he was briefed by the FBI on Donald Trump's rhetoric after the former president verbally lashed out at a New York prosecutor overseeing a grand jury investigation into alleged hush-money payments. "They have seen no specific threats but the level of rhetoric on some of these right-wing sites has increased." Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said on Sunday that some of Trump's online attacks against Bragg were ill-advised. "I'm not his social media consultant. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also said on Sunday the city was prepared for any fallout from a potential Trump indictment.

☆ NYC appears poised to pass a bill banning size discrimination — making height and weight a protected class. Some states are also looking into the issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The New York City Council appears prepared to pass a bill banning weight and height discrimination. The bill would apply to employment opportunities, housing, and public accommodations. Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, and New York state might enact similar policies, per The Washington Post. "This was long overdue as a civil rights issue," Abreu told The Washington Post. If someone looks a certain way, if someone is of a different body size or has higher weight, who cares?"

☆ Sunlight in your bedroom could become a luxury as cities debate allowing landlords to rent windowless rooms in former office buildings to alleviate the housing crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Housing advocates are debating whether windowless bedrooms are the solution to the housing crisis. Enter windowless bedrooms. Journalist Matt Yglesias argued last year that windowless bedrooms would "save downtowns" by facilitating the mass retrofitting of office buildings into apartments. Supporters argue that building apartments with windowless bedrooms could both help alleviate the severe housing shortage and affordability crisis and repopulate urban business districts. But in recent years, windowless bedrooms have become somewhat normalized on college campuses.

A case would be a historic first as no current or former U.S. president has ever been criminally charged. Officials are meeting at New York Police Department headquarters to plan for the indictment, according to an unnamed person involved in the planning, Politico reported. "We’ll be discussing how we bring Trump in," the person involved in the planning was quoted as saying. Trump has denied the affair happened and called the investigation by Bragg, a Democrat, a witch hunt. The New York probe is one of several legal inquiries Trump faces.

☆ New York City Mayor Eric Adams: We're trending in the right direction and the city is coming back
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNew York City Mayor Eric Adams: We're trending in the right direction and the city is coming backNew York City Mayor Eric Adams and Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, join 'Squawk Box' to discuss New York City's post-pandemic economy, what Adams is hearing from regional bank CEOs and Kathryn's partnership companies.

A grand jury was expected to indict Trump late on Monday or on Wednesday, Politico reported, for arranging payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the White House again in 2024, had predicted he would be arrested on Tuesday. But on Monday, the grand jury still appeared to be collecting evidence before deciding whether charges were warranted. New York Mayor Eric Adams told reporters police were monitoring social media and keeping an eye out for "inappropriate actions" in the city. Trump faces two civil trials involving former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, who claims that Trump defamed her by denying he raped her.

So You Want to Turn an Office Building Into a Home? There’s an appealing simplicity to the idea of converting office buildings into housing. Basically, they did this:How to Turn a 26-story Office Building Into a 30-story Apartment Building Cut a hole through 23 floors of the building. How to Turn a 26-story Office Building Into a 30-story Apartment Building Cut a hole through 23 floors of the building. That could change with tax abatements and subsidy programs, or if outdated office buildings lose so much value that the cost of acquiring them plummets.

Many of the arrivals abandoned plans to seek asylum in the United States, deterred by long processing times and restrictive definitions for asylum, according to aid officials and interviews with asylum seekers. "We want to help asylum seekers stabilize their lives whether in New York City or elsewhere." REUTERS/Christinne Muschi Acquire Licensing RightsThe Quebec government has said the increase in asylum seekers is straining its capacity to house people and provide basic services. The federal government said it has relocated more than 5,500 asylum seekers to other provinces since June, the first time it has done so. Immigration experts said closing off the border to asylum seekers could push migrants to take even riskier routes.

Persons: Zulema Diaz, Maryangel Diaz, Carlos Osorio, Diaz, Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, Sean Fraser, Alejandro Mayorkas, Trudeau, Biden, Zulema, Eric Adams, Kate Smart, Fabien Levy, Smart, Ilze Thielmann, Raymond Theriault, Theriault, Christinne, Pierre, Luc Bouchard, You’re, Jamie Chai Yun Liew, Anna Mehler Paperny, Ted Hesson, Denny Thomas, Suzanne Goldenberg Organizations: REUTERS, New, . Homeland, Washington , D.C, Ottawa, New York City, Department of Homeless Services, U.S . Department of Homeland Security, Reuters Graphics Canada, United, Colombian, Immigration, Refugee Board, Canadian, Reuters, U.S, . Citizenship, Immigration Services, TLC, Border Patrol, University of Ottawa, Thomson Locations: U.S, Quebec, Niagara Falls , Ontario, Canada, CHAMPLAIN , New York, WASHINGTON, Peru, United States, New York City, Plattsburgh, Washington ,, New York State, New York, Haitian, Syracuse, El Paso, West Virginia, Niagara Falls, Guatemala, Champlain , New York, Montreal, Canada's province, Manitoba, Washington

[1/5] Asylum seekers board a bus after crossing into Canada from the U.S. in Champlain, New York, U.S., February 28, 2023. Many of the arrivals abandoned plans to seek asylum in the United States, deterred by long processing times and restrictive definitions for asylum, according to aid officials and interviews with asylum seekers. "We want to help asylum seekers stabilize their lives whether in New York City or elsewhere." The Quebec government has said the increase in asylum seekers is straining its capacity to house people and provide basic services. Immigration experts said closing off the border to asylum seekers could push migrants to take even riskier routes.

☆ New York mayor says retailers must force shoppers to remove masks when entering stores to prevent crime. 'It's not about being fearful of a pandemic.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

NYC Mayor Eric Adams said face masks obstruct stores from identifying potential shoplifters. "Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face masks," he told a local radio station. "Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face masks," Adams told a local radio station Monday. He added that once in the store, shoppers can feel free to wear face masks. Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon said in December 2022 that stores would close and prices would rise if theft levels did not drop.

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