Bronx Archives - Page 2 of 2 - MICHAEL O. ALLEN

Free Parking Bill Is Meter Made

By michael o. allenHomepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

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

December 6, 1996

Love0

Rudy Sez He’s Tops, And Dems Are Flops

By michael o. allenHomepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

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

November 9, 1996

Love0

ROBBERY VICTIM PURSUES SUSPECTS

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, January 5, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

There was no smooth getaway for two Bronx men Saturday afternoon when they encountered a jeweler who chased them after the pair held up his store at gunpoint, Police Chief William Luciano said.

Officer Emma Jackson was patrolling the business district about 3 p.m. when she saw the owner of Goldfinger Jewelry Store running after two men on West Palisade Avenue.

“They just robbed my store, at gunpoint,” said the owner, whom police declined to identify. Jackson radioed headquarters for backup and followed the men in her patrol car.

Eight patrol cars raced to the area and chased the pair through McKay Park, into a nearby brook, and through back yards on Elmore Avenue, where police arrested them, Luciano said.

James Cornick and Lamonte Hampton were being held in the Englewood Police Department lockup Saturday night, awaiting a bail hearing, he said.

They were charged with armed robbery and illegal possession of handguns for unlawful purpose.

“You know the old saying: `You can run but you can’t hide’?” a jubilant Luciano asked later. “Too many blue uniforms, too many cops for them to get away. ”

For Jackson, a 16-year veteran of the department, it was the second chase in about two weeks. A robbery victim stopped Jackson’s car as she drove past a bar on West Street and, gesturing because he could not speak English, told her to follow a car occupied by four men he claimed had just robbed him.

The suspects abandoned the car and escaped on foot after crashing into Jackson’s patrol car at a traffic light.

Saturday’s suspects were not so lucky, Luciano said. Patrolman Timothy Torell chased Cornick, who was seen coming out of the window of a home on Elmore Avenue, in the direction of Lt. James Crowley, who arrested him.

Patrolman Joseph Archer saw Hampton about 100 feet down the street, walking at a leisurely pace, Luciano said. The store owner identified him later as one of the men who came into his store and robbed him and his wife, the chief said.

January 5, 1992

Love0