A day for talking about stop-and-frisk and a night for talking about crime
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. Azi Paybarah via flickr
8:30 am Aug. 7, 20121
Two different takes today based on the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk data:
The Times looks at the embarrassment and frustration felt by some of the 16,000 women who were stopped and frisked last year.
Meanwhile, the Post editorial page notes, as I did last week, that a reduction in stops has been accompanied by an uptick in reported crime. The Post editorial page says it's no coincidence, but doesn't get into other possible factors, like the significant reduction in police staffing over the past several years.
Related: Today is the official National Night Out Against Crime. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials will mark the occasion by meeting up with local police officers to talk about crime and crime fighting.
Quote
“It looks like this particular judge just hates us,”--John Catsimatidis
Events
10:30 a.m. Governor Andrew Cuomo makes an announcement, at 105 Harriman Hall on the University of Buffalo South Campus.
11 a.m. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer and others protest a planned 400-person homeless shelter at 95th St. and West End Ave.
11 a.m. City Councilman Danny Dromm, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, State Senator Jose Serrano, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, and others break ground on IS 297 (aka the IS230 Annex) at 74th Street and 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights.
11:30 a.m. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Rep. Joseph Crowley, State Senator Michael Gianaris, Assemblywoman Grace Meng, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Assemblyman David Weprin and others join Sikh community members, at Shri Guru Ravidass Temple of New York, at 61-01 Broadway in Woodside.
11:30 a.m. NY-11 Democratic candidate Mark Murphy and others speaks out against Rep. Michael Grimm's refusal to support middle class tax relief, at 203 Decker Ave. on Staten Island.
12:45 a.m. Cuomo makes an announcement, at the Senator John Hughes Office Building, on 333 East Washington St., in Syracuse.
1 p.m. Quinn joins City Councilman Brad Lander to discuss the city budget, at the Park Slope Senior Center, at 463 Seventh St. in Brooklyn.
3:30 p.m. Cuomo makes an announcement at his office, 633 3rd Ave. in Manhattan.
4 p.m. Meng and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer discuss job creation plans, on the steps of Queens Borough Hall, at 120-55 Queens Blvd.
5 p.m. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Quinn speaks at the 32nd Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at West 135th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and Frederick Douglas Blvd. in Manhattan.
5:45 p.m. Bloomberg speaks at the 40th Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at St. Ann's Ave. and East 146th St., in the Bronx.
6 p.m. Quinn speaks at the 84th Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at Brooklyn Borough Plaza, at Cadman Plaza West and Montague St. in Brooklyn.
6:30 p.m. Bloomberg speaks at the 113th Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at Baisley Pond Park, at 155th Street and Baisley Blvd. in Queens.
7 p.m. Quinn speaks at the 10thPolice Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at Penn South Park, at 26th Street between 8th Ave. and 9th Ave. in Manhattan.
7:15 p.m. Bloomberg speaks at the 73rd Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at Betsy Head Memorial Playground, at Thomas Boyland St. between Blake Ave and Dumont Ave. in Brooklyn.
8 p.m. Bloomberg speaks at the Staten Island Police Precinct National Night Out Against Crime, at Midland Beach Promenade, at Turtle Circle, at Father Capadanno Blvd., and Iroquiois Ave. on Staten Island
2012
Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long spoke to Tea Party members on Staten Island. [Timothy Harrison]
2013
To stop pedicab price gouging, City Councilman and comptroller candidate Dan Garodnick wants drivers to tell passengers the cost of the ride before pedaling. [Jennifer Fermino]
New York City
Sometimes, it's hard correcting inaccurate voter information (and reaching officials after 5 p.m.). [Brigid Bergin]
Stop-and-frisk went down, crime went up. [New York Post]
47,784 women were stopped by NYPD last year, and 16,000 were frisked. Those stops "can often involve an additional element of embarrassment" because they're usually conducted by men. [Wendy Ruderman]
The Paid Sick bill in the City Council would hurt small businesses and "also harm single mothers." [Nicole Gelinas]
Business leaders sent a letter to Quinn urging her to block the Paid Sick bill. Among the signatures: Tishman Speyer chairman Jerry Speyer, Partnership for NYC's CEO Kathy Wylde and prominent lobbyist Suri Kasirer. [Sally Goldenberg]
"We hope you will not concede to their pressure tactics," the letter says. [Erin Durkin]
Plans for a 200-bed homeless shelter on the Upper West Side is facing local resistance. [Andy Soltis and Helen Freund]
The city's first English-and-Chinese-language charter school may open in Queens. [Yoav Gonen]
Albany
Cuomo is seeking a federal waiver in order for the state to hold onto $10 billion it saved in order to bolster the state's Medicaid program. [Erik Kriss]
"It would include a half-billion dollar gift for the powerful health-care labor unions, which would see $125 million a year for four years for workforce recruitment, retention and training initiatives." [Ken Lovett]
"Didn’t Gov. Cuomo do away with member items? Well, that’s what he says." [New York Post]
Cuomo will unveil new state regulations that make it a violation to posses, sell or distribute synthetic pot. [Ken Lovett]
Cuomo is praised for protecting the Adrindacks from commercial development, but that work "is far from over." [New York Times]
From Capital
Why Andrew Cuomo isn't playing along with his party in 2012. [Steve Kornacki]
Senator Chuck Schumer explains why the Baileys--his important, fictitious suburban family--would side with Obama rather than Romney. [Reid Pilifant]
Gun control is important, but not exactly a litmus test for Bloomberg. [Dana Rubinstein]
New members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns explain why they recently joined the coalition. One answer: Fast and Furious. [Dana Rubinstein]
Rivals welcomed Melinda Katz into the race for Queens borough president. [Azi Paybarah]
Perhaps the most jarring anti-gun-violence radio ad ever. [Azi Paybarah]
Front Pages
Parkinson’s constitutional law: If New York cops can ignore the Fourth Amendment there, then other cops can -- and soon will -- ignore it anywhere. Stopping kids (about half of New York stops mean a frisk) on their way to school or home from sports practice is as about as far from Fourth Amendment acceptable practice as any police can get.
”The demographics of Teachers Preparatory High School in Brownsville are 99 percent black and Latino. It takes only five minutes to find a group of 14-year olds here who say they have been stopped by police two, three, even seven times.” “Last year, there were more than 120,000 stops of black and Latino children between 14 and 18. The total number of black and Latino boys that age in the entire city isn’t much more than that – about 177,000 …” http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2012/may/29/city-teenagers-say-st...
Males 15 to 34 who live in one Brownsville housing project are liable to be stopped on the average five times a year. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/nyregion/12frisk.html?_r=4&pagewanted=all
And for what? “The 13,200 stops the police made in this neighborhood last year resulted in arrests of 109 people. In the more than 50,000 stops since 2006, the police recovered 25 guns.” Police could find more criminal evidence – likely much more – kicking down 50,000 random doors without warrants. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/nyregion/12frisk.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
For what? 56 stops, 36 frisks in sector E of the 75th precinct on one day -- May 13, 2012 -- yielded no weapons, one arrest for transporting building materials without proof of ownership, one ticket for open container. http://www.bkbureau.org/one-day-life-stop-and-frisk
All for what? 2005 – 2009 violent crime fell nearly 20% across New York City – in the "assume the position" 73rd Precinct only 1.5%. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/07/11/nyregion/1247468422062/stop-an...
Before other American habitats emulate New York's mayor’s hyperactive stop-and-frisk habits, would do well to ponder too his concomitant, out of control mega-courthouse constructions. The late '60s, early '70s crime blowout overloaded Bronx County Courthouse – the architectural anchor of the Grand Concourse since 1933 (seen in home plate views from the old Yankee Stadium). To catch the overflow the city built a brand spanking new $120 million courthouse down the block in 1977.
Beginning in the '90s crime receded something like 4X across New York City. But Mad Mayor Bloomberg thought nothing of upping another $400 million for a mega-courthouse down the block from the old-new Bronx courthouse and the not-that-old landmark in 2005 (in the poorest congressional district in the country). Same year, same post-4X drop in crime, same Mayor "over-do everything for nothing" Bloomberg dumped another $670 million for a mega-courthouse in Brooklyn.
The “old”:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/resources/bronx_countycourt.shtml
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/resources/bronx_family.shtml
The new:
http://www.nycourts.gov/publications/benchmarks/issue5/mega-courthouse.s...
http://www.nycourts.gov/publications/benchmarks/issue2/largest.shtml
6X as many stops and frisks – inaugurated after -- New York crime dropped 4X = 24X as many stops and frisks per reported crime. All visited upon minorities who never possessed much more of this world's goods than their personal dignity (they used to possess that). Now San Francisco's Mayor Lee (and doubtless many local governments; Oakland's for one) is reported pondering what benefit imposing New York style Fourth Amendment nullification might do for his poorest neighborhoods. If it’s all pain and no gain for New York's minorities (nullifying the Fourth Amendment is not acceptable even if it does accomplish something), it’s no good for anybody, anywhere.