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Dec 18
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Queens Activist Is Shot Dead

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December 18, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and JOHN MARZULLI, Daily News Staff Writers

A Queens community activist who collected teddy bears for homeless kids and helped start a volunteer ambulance service was found slain in his printing shop last night, the victim of a possible robbery.

Richard Trupkin, 64, had been shot several times in the head and body, police said.

A neighbor discovered him about 5 p.m. in the basement of the Lamarr Printing and Offset Co., on Roosevelt Ave., near 57th St. in Woodside.

Trupkin, of Valley Stream, L.I., had owned the business since 1966 and had been a major fixture in the community.

City Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside) said he knew Trupkin for more than 20 years and described him as a “really sweet guy.”

“Any time anything had to be done in the neighborhood, Rich was always there, Johnny on the spot,” McCaffrey said.

“This is a tremendous loss,” said Witold Rak, president of the Woodside chapter of the Kiwanis Club. “He gave his time and energy to make Woodside special.”

Rak said Trupkin, a former president of the club, had recently helped organize a raffle to raise money for community projects such as purchasing food for the needy.

Trupkin had sold the winning raffle ticket and had just received $5,000 to hand over to the winner yesterday.

Police were trying to determine if Trupkin was targeted for the winnings, said a source familiar with the investigation. Detectives found the $5,000 in Trupkin’s desk, but a petty cash box on the first-floor apparently had been rifled, sources said.

Trupkin usually kept the front door of his printing shop locked while he worked in the basement. The neighbor became suspicious when she found the door unlocked but Trupkin was not upstairs.

In a 1993 Daily News profile, Trupkin said the best part of his job as an activist was “seeing the fruits of volunteer labor.”

Trupkin, who published a monthly local paper called The Woodsider, was a former member of Community Planning Board 2 in Queens and was founder of a safe haven program for youngsters among merchants in the area.

Ed Fowley, the “unofficial mayor of Woodside” and fellow community activist, said Trupkin had recently collected about two dozen teddy bears for homeless children at Bellevue Hospital.

“Rich will be sorely missed, ” he said.

Original Story Date: 12/18/96

Dec 12
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Normal City? Are You Nuts?

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December 12, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and JANE FURSE, Daily News Staff Writers

New York ain’t normal, according to a new book — whereas Orange County, Calif., is.

That’s Orange County as in Disneyland and the biggest municipal bankruptcy in history.

Whaddaya mean New York is the “most abnormal” of American cities?

Merely a statistical term, Places Rated Almanac co-author David Savageau hastened to explain yesterday.

“New York is top-notch in the arts, in higher education and in transportation, but bottom-of-the deck in crime, cost of living and jobs,” he said. “So you see, it’s either hot or cold — nothing in the middle.”

Take yer book and toss it, suggested Mayor Giuliani after he heard about this volume.

“They’re screwy,” said Giuliani, who disputed the MacMillan-published almanac’s charge that Atlanta, Detroit, Newark, St. Louis, New Orleans and Los Angeles are all safer than New York.

FBI numbers say otherwise, the mayor noted. “Big experts on crime, right, MacMillan,” Giuliani scoffed. “I will take this report and say it comes from amateurs. They don’t know what they are talking about.”

Giuliani’s opinions notwithstanding, said Savageau, Orange County really is the best of the 351 metropolitan areas surveyed by the almanac.

“The climate is good, it has a very rosy outlook for jobs and, because of the drop in housing prices, it’s more affordable,” he said. “It’s an amazing place.”

Joining Orange County on the book’s list of top 10 metropolitan areas are Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.; Houston; Washington, D.C.; Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Atlanta; Tampa-St.-Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.; San Diego, and Philadelphia.

As for life here in abnormal New York City, Long Islander Pamela Barrow was feeling just fine as she got off the train at madhouse Penn Station yesterday.

“Personally, I come here to feel normal again,” she said.

Original Story Date: 12/12/96

Dec 12
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Rudy Going on ‘Cos’

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December 12, 1996
by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer
Mayor Giuliani will dust off his acting skills today when he tapes an episode of “Cosby,” guest-starring as himself on the CBS sitcom.

Is Shakespeare in the Park next?

Giuliani laughed when asked if his latest acting foray was a sign of things to come when he leaves office.

“The old adage about being mayor was there’s no place to go from there. It ruins your career,” he quipped.

Using the TV appearance to poke fun at predecessors David Dinkins and Ed Koch, Giuliani said, “it seems to me the only future career you have as a former mayor of New York City is as radio talk-show host, giving a very hard time to whoever the incumbent mayor is.”

Giuliani is no acting novice. He appeared in Whoopi Goldberg’s movie “Eddie,” and he twice appeared onstage at Metropolitan Opera New Year’s Eve productions of “Die Fledermaus” to belt out “O Sole Mio.”

He also has been a repeat guest on “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Bill Cosby, a friend of Dinkins’, wasn’t particularly complimentary of Giuliani at a 1993 Dinkins fund-raiser. Giuliani said he agreed to appear on Cosby’s popular show because it’s good for the city.

The TV episode focuses on a visit by Giuliani to the Astoria, Queens, home of Cosby’s character, Hilton Lucas. Lucas, a laid-off airline employe, expects a high-profile dinner guest — President Clinton.

When Giuliani arrives and samples appetizers, Lucas has him take care of filling neighborhood potholes.

Original Story Date: 121296

Dec 07
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Warning: Lead Paint Disclosure required

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December 7, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

New Yorkers will now have to be told whether the home they are about to buy or rent contains lead paint, according to a federal rule that went into effect yesterday.

Advocates for children and low and moderate-income families hailed the new disclosure law.

“We are talking about million of units in the city that potentially would be affected by this,” said Kenny Schaeffer, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, a tenants rights union.

The new Environmental Protection Agency regulation requires that potential buyers and renters be given a pamphlet outlining the health dangers of lead-based paint and be informed whether the dwelling has such paint.

Sellers and real estate agents could face fines up to $10,000 and as much as a year in jail if the presence of known lead-based paint is not disclosed.

“The reason this is important,” Schaeffer said, “is that it’s been proven that if a baby eats even one chip of paint that has lead content, it’s enough to cause permanent and irreversible brain damage.

“We have worked with families who have had children hospitalized to have all their blood removed and cleansed of this poison.”

New York has a high incidence of lead contamination because its housing stock is very old. As much as 75% of New York State’s housing was built before 1978, when lead paint was banned, according to the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

“This will greatly contribute to our efforts to prevent and eliminate the incidence of childhood lead poisoning nationwide,” EPA Administrator Carol Browner said.

Dec 06
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Free Parking Bill Is Meter Made

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December 6, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer
The City Council wants to give you something for nothing: 10 free minutes at parking meters everywhere except midtown Manhattan.

But there’s a catch. As the city giveth, it taketh away: A quarter in that same meter would then get you only 20 minutes more.

The free meter plan was introduced yesterday by Bronx Councilman Michael DeMarco as a way to ease motorists’ pain when they stop to make a fast phone call or grab a cup of coffee.

Instead of double-parking, drivers could pull into a legal space without fishing for change to feed the meter.

“All they have to do is flip the meter and get 10 minutes,” DeMarco said.

But for somebody who wants to stick around longer, pumping in a quarter will push the meter up only an additional 20 minutes — 10 minutes less than what a quarter usually gets.

If you put a quarter in without flipping, you’ll still get 30 minutes.

Still, business leaders and drivers said they’ll take what they can get.

“The impact on business will be favorable,” said John Dell’Olio, president of the Westchester Square Merchants Association in the Bronx. “The meter will not be an enemy to the motorists.”

“Motorists shouldn’t have to pay just to run in to get a cup of coffee or pick up their dry cleaning,” agreed Marta Genovese of the New York chapter of the American Automobile Associaton.

Randy Barretto of Brooklyn said he could have used the plan yesterday, as he stopped in lower Manhattan to make a quick phone call.

He waved to an approaching police officer, miming that he was moments away from moving his car.

“I’m an outside salesman,” Barretto said. “I constantly have to stop and make quick phone calls, and I’m always pleading with police officers and meter maids not to give me tickets.”

This time, he was successful.

Typical of the city, the meter plan actually is geared toward making money.

DeMarco said it has been so successful in Yonkers and other municipalities that it has increased parking revenues 25%.

But Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said it’s an interesting idea whose time may have passed.

In three years, the city will have phased out its mechanical meters, switching to electronic devices. You won’t be able to flip for the free 10 on them.

“Technology is changing so quickly it may be impossible to go this route, even if everyone agrees,” Mastro said.

About 20% of the city’s 68,000 meters are already electronic, he added.

Meanwhile, Staten Island Councilman Jerome O’Donovan wants to give freebies to commuters from his borough. In a new bill, he called for free ferry fares for passengers transferring from a bus or subway.

It will be up to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city to approve free transfers.

The MTA will have free transfers between buses and subways, starting in July.

Original Story Date: 12/06/96

Dec 04
Love0

City Gets Needled Over Tattoos

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December 4, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

Hiding cobras, birds, flowers and mythical creatures under their clothes, dozens of people went to City Hall yesterday to urge that a decades-old ban on tattoo parlors be lifted.

Andrea Tasha, 31, a tattoo-artist apprentice at the Rising Dragon tattoo shop in Chelsea, told the city Council’s Health Committee that the ban, enacted during a 1961 hepatitis scare, is no longer necessary.

“If we are talking about health, the professional tattooing industry has been self-regulating,” she said. “The proof of that is there hasn’t been an outbreak of disease in the city.” Tasha added that the city is a mecca for tattoo artists.

Councilwoman Kathryn Freed (D-Manhattan), sponsor of a bill to regulate the industry, said, “It’s a very popular form of body decorating, and a lot of kids do it.”

“That’s one of the things that this bill would do, make it so that minors cannot get it without their parents’ or guardians’ consent,” Freed said.

The bill would create an advisory board of health professionals and tattoo artists to oversee the industry. Artists would have to get permits expected to cost about $200, and fill out forms for each client they tattoo.
The hundreds of parlors operating in the city do so illegally, in defiance of the ban.

The city Health Department, which would inspect the establishments and generally oversee enforcement, favors lifting the ban while offering mandatory courses on infectious disease prevention, said department spokesman Fred Winters.

“We agree that there is not a sufficient public health threat to keep tattoo parlors illegal,” Winters said.

Carlo, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he already sterilizes equipment used in his three city parlors.

Needles are used once and thrown away, he said. Dyes are poured into single-service caps that are discarded after each use.

Once the province of sailors, bikers and convicts, tattooing has moved into the mainstream in a big way.Carlo said half his customers are women and nine out of 10 customers are professionals such as lawyers, doctors and stockbrokers. “What else can you buy that lasts you a lifetime,” he said.

Nov 27
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Rudy, Merchants In Mega Food Fight

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November 27, 1996

by BOB LIFF and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani and opponents of the city’s megastore plan yesterday accused each other of failing to talk turkey on Thanksgiving food prices.

Merchants fighting the plan said the city Department of Consumer Affairs used bogus prices for a survey that found New Yorkers would save 30% on Thanksgiving fixings if they shopped in a food superstore instead of small, neighborhood markets.

The survey, released by Giuliani on Sunday, showed a basket of seven holiday food items cost $23.25 in small city markets — compared with $18.96 in a suburban supermarket and $18.27 in a city food superstore.

“The price of not only turkeys but all of the items that are in the Thanksgiving basket at independent supermarkets in the City of New York are substantially lower than the mayor’s press release would indicate,” said Howard Tisch, president of the Metropolitan Food Council.

Giuliani, however, claimed the survey prodded city grocers to slash prices by up to 16% since Sunday.

“Finally, these places were exposed for gouging people in New York City, and what happened is some of them reduced their prices,” Giuliani said.

“For the mayor to claim that he has reduced the prices further would require a feat of legerdemain that no wizard could ever perform,” shot back Tisch, who insisted the prices were set two weeks ago and haven’t changed.

The dispute escalated the fight over Giuliani’s plan to allow megastores of up to 200,000 square feet in manufacturing zones without approval by community boards or the City Council. Forcing stores to undergo time-consuming zoning and community reviews discourage developers from locating in the city, administration officials say.

City Council members, who are expected to vote on the issue next month, have said they will reject the plan unless megastores are subject to some reviews.

Original Story Date: 11/27/96

Nov 15
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Fifth May Hafta Stand Kiosks

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November 15, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

Step aside, Saks Fifth Avenue. Move over, Bergdorf Goodman. And Tiffany’s, watch out. Newsstands may soon be coming to New York’s ritziest real estate.

The city plans to add 100 stands to the 330 already operating around Manhattan. And officials of the Municipal Arts Society said Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter told them that Fifth Ave. — home of some of the city’s toniest shops — won’t be held “sacred” when locations are picked.

Fifth Ave. merchants and esthetics experts look askance at the prospect of stands that might further congest the already heavily crowded sidewalks.

“We feel it’s inappropriate. Fifth Ave. has always been free of bus shelters and newspaper stands,” said Vanessa Gruen, special projects director for the Municipal Arts Society.

“My advice to the administration is not to go down that path,” agreed Tom Cusick, president of the Fifth Avenue Association.

Merchants along the avenue have traditionally resisted any sidewalk vendors. Their combined opposition — and heavyweight political clout — blocked any newsstands from springing up along Fifth Ave. between 42d St. and 57th Sts.

But the plan eyed by Mayor Giuliani’s administration and the City Council would replace the existing newsstands and open the new sites as part of a broader effort to open 30 automatic public toilets and 3,500 bus shelters.

City officials said all of the new fixtures would be carefully designed kiosks, probably with ads on the sides to help pay for installation and maintenance.

“We think it is going to be beautiful,” said Reiter, stressing that no locations have yet been selected.

In a bow to merchants’ fears, Reiter said any kiosks eventually designed for Fifth Ave. might be smaller, cylindrical structures that would take up less sidewalk.

The merchants weren’t appeased.

“Whether it is a square or rectangle or round shape, we don’t believe that newsstands makes sense,” complained Cusick.

But a sampling of Fifth Ave. strollers yesterday found support for the city plan. “I don’t think it will hurt if they regulate them — maybe keep them two blocks apart,” said James Morrison, 25, of Astoria, Queens.

Nov 11
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Rudy Hopes O’C Stays in Pulpit

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November 11, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and LAWRENCE GOODMAN, Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani said yesterday he would like Cardinal O’Connor to stick around awhile longer — and refused to place bets on who would be the next to lead the Archdiocese of New York.

“I better not start rating the possible successor to Cardinal O’Connor,” Giuliani said. “Cardinal O’Connor, hopefully, will continue to be with us for a long time. Maybe there’ll be an extension again of his term.”

O’Connor, 77, handed in his retirement papers to Pope John Paul almost two years ago but was told to stay put.

Yesterday’s Daily News reported that O’Connor (left) will probably stay on the job until Easter, and four possible successors are being considered: Bishop Henry Mansell of Buffalo, Bishop Edwin O’Brien of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark and Bishop James McHugh of Camden, N.J.

The faithful at Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral had mixed reactions to O’Connor’s leaving.

Some demanded the Vatican find a successor quickly, and many said they were looking for someone with more liberal positions than O’Connor has.

“It’s time to change,” said Dorothy Chiozzi, 72, who frequently comes in from Medford, Mass., to attend services at the cathedral. “Women should be allowed to be priests. We need someone who is a little more liberal.”

O’Connor was in Rome yesterday attending celebrations of the Pope’s 50th anniversary as a priest and was unavailable for comment.

The archdiocese’s spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said any discussion of a successor is premature.

“Cardinal O’Connor is the archbishop of New York,” Zwilling said. “He will remain the archbishop until he dies or the Pope tells him otherwise. It’s a waste of time for all this attention to be paid to something that might not happen for several more years.”

Henry Kielkucki, president of the teachers union at the archdiocese’s schools, said O’Connor has failed to connect with Catholic youth.

“O’Connor is far too conservative,” Kielkucki said. “The Church has to appeal more to young people. The kids, especially girls, are not really in tune to religion. The Church has turned its back on women.”

But Lisa Marrero, 29, a doctor from Manhattan, said she’ll be sorry to see O’Connor leave.

“He’s never afraid to defend Catholic teaching and he’s never afraid to apologize,” she said. “Nobody will ever replace him in my heart. I’ve grown up with him.”

Original Story Date: 11/11/96

Nov 09
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Teachers, Principals Eye Edition Additions

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November 9, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and LAURA WILLIAMS, Daily News Staff Writers

City teachers and principals yesterday were drawing up shopping lists to spend $70 million promised by Mayor Giuliani for new textbooks.

“I already have my orders worked up,” said Yve Douglass, principal of Public School 3 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

“At the top of the list is to buy new social studies books,” she said. “Then I will buy reading materials. Then I will buy grammar books. I don’t have to worry too much about math books; math doesn’t change too much.”

The mayor yesterday confirmed that he’s earmarked tax revenue from a Wall Street boom to buy books for public schools.

The $70 million comes on top of $69 million already in the schools budget for texts this year.

“The infusion of money is for the purpose of curing what is reported to be a problem for some time — that some of the textbooks are 15, 20, 25 years old, out of date,” Giuliani said yesterday at PS 191 on W. 61st St. in Manhattan.

The Board of Education has begun assessing schools to determine which have the greatest need, said spokesman David Golub.

The money should be available within six months, Giuliani said.

School administrators said the money will help fill a gaping need.

State funding for textbooks allows for about $35 a year per student, well short of meeting demand, administrators said.

“One good social studies book is $35,” Douglass said.

“We have social studies books from six, seven years ago,” said Sheryl Moye, principal of PS 97 on E. Houston St. “In this world, things are changing as we’re talking. Look at Eastern Europe.”

Administrators said they see the funds as a sign that relations between City Hall and Livingston St. have warmed.

Nov 09
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Rudy Sez He’s Tops, And Dems Are Flops

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November 9, 1996

by DAVID L. LEWIS and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani fired the opening salvo of the 1997 mayoral battle yesterday, slamming potential challengers as inexperienced, extremist or “machine politicians.”

While insisting he hasn’t decided to seek a second term, the Republican mayor for the first time dropped his strategic refusal to rate the chances of possible opponents.

Giuliani also touted his own political strengths, saying any reelection campaign would focus on double-digit decreases in city crime rates during his tenure.

“When I say it’s the capital of the world, which I began saying in my inaugural speech, people now accept it,” the mayor said in an interview set to air tomorrow on WCBS-TV’s “Sunday Edition.”

Giuliani criticized six possible Democratic challengers who were listed in a recent Quinnipiac College poll. Several responded with sharp return attacks. Among his exchanges:

He tabbed Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger as the Democratic front-runner, and said: “Democratic primaries are won by the most extreme candidate and, ideologically, she is the most extreme of that group.”

Messinger spokesman Leland Jones voiced surprise at the sharpness of the attack just 72 hours after Election Day, saying, “It is a little surprising that the campaign hasn’t even started, and the mayor has already decided to go negative.”

Giuliani accused City Controller Alan Hevesi of politicizing his office and labeled the Queens Democrat “very much an old-fashioned machine partisan politician.”

Hevesi shrugged off the Giuliani attack. “He is simply trying to start another personal fight,” Hevesi said.

Giuliani labeled Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer as “very much the product of Bronx machine politics.” The mayor noted that Ferrer succeeded Stanley Simon, who went to prison for his conviction in a racketeering case prosecuted by Giuliani.

Ferrer did not respond to a request for comment.

Giuliani said former Police Commissioner William Bratton would be a weak mayoral candidate because of “inexperience in many, many other areas of government.” Bratton could not be reached for comment.

The mayor said two other candidates — City Councilman Sal Albanese (D-Brooklyn) and the Rev. Al Sharpton — wouldn’t stand a chance in a Democratic primary, much less against him.

Sharpton dismissed the attack and Albanese argued he was more qualified to be mayor than Giuliani.

Original Story Date: 11/09/96

Nov 07
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89 + 77 = 1 HAPPY TWOSOME

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Thursday, November 07, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

He’s 89. She’s 77. For more than a decade, they lived across the street from each other, strangers in their Brooklyn neighborhood.

Yesterday, 14 years after chance brought them together on a bus trip, they tied the knot at City Hall.

And a beaming Mayor Giuliani did the honors.

“I don’t believe this am I dreaming this?” asked an overjoyed Mildred Sussman, choking back tears of joy as she kissed new hubby Al Satloff.

“She is just a very beautiful, very kind lady,” said Satloff.

The storybook courtship took root and flourished at the Trump Houses in Coney Island. Sussman lived in one building, Satloff in another.

In 1982, both signed up for the same bus trip to the Catskills.

Satloff was in the front seat when he saw Sussman struggling with her valise. Ever the gentleman, the Brooklyn retiree helped her with the bag and played Fred to her Ginger during the four-day trip.

Both were alone. His wife had died after 53 years of marriage. And she had lost her husband of 44 years.

After the trip and several dates, they became a happy couple.

“He’s a great dancer, a good lover, everything a girl could dream of,” Sussman said yesterday, recounting how friendship turned to romance.

After living apart, the couple decided to make the relationship official.

Michele Heitzner, a former Coney Island district leader who is a friend of the couple, and Giuliani arranged for the wedding ceremony in the City Hall Blue Room.

Sussman wore a periwinkle blue dress with handkerchief bottom. Satloff sported a blue, pinstriped suit.

The bride’s son, Mark, 52, his wife, Marilyn, and other relatives and friends witnessed the nuptials. Giuliani pronounced himself honored to formalize their union, then pronounced the happy couple husband and wife.

GRAPHIC: THOMAS MONASTER DAILY NEWS PIECE O’ CAKE: Newlyweds Al Satloff, 89, and Mildred Sussman, 77, dig in after City Hall nuptials yesterday. Mayor Giuliani officiated at the wedding.