Queens Pol Raps Mayor on Water Bill Hike

By Rob Abruzzese and Chris Smoudianis

The chairman of the City Council Environmental Committee blasted Mayor Bloomberg at a Water Board hearing in Queens today for shooting down a plan that would have lowered a proposed 14.5 percent water rate hike.

The move would have lowered the rate hike by five percent and saved some 825,000 city residents nearly $122 million in fiscal year 2009, officials said.

The Bloomberg administration has diverted funds from the water bills to fund projects unrelated to the city’s water and sewer system, charged Councilman James Gennaro, Democrat of Queens.

Each year, the Water Board is required to raise enough revenue to cover its operational and bonding costs and also must make a payment on 15 percent of its debt service. But Gennaro says those additional payments are pinching the pockets of middle class families.

“This is an out of control situation that’s just going to get worse over time,” said Gennaro. “The Bloomberg administration should get its hands out of the pockets of water bill-paying New Yorkers and commit to using the revenues collected from water bills for water and sewer projects only.”

The current rate hike exceeds the 11.5 percent increase projected a year ago. It is especially high since the city began cracking down on property owners who were delinquent to make their water bill payments and lessen the burden of future rate increases.

Gennaro said the rate increase should be around a five and a half percent instead of 14.5 percent. He also says these rate increases set bad precedents which will cause them to continue to rise every year and he estimated they would surpass $300 million by the fiscal year 2015.

The Mayor had another view.

“They spend the money on real projects which we need,” Bloomberg said Monday. “From what I can tell, they do it reasonably efficiently, and this seems to me to be brouhaha about nothing from a couple of people who want to run for higher office.”

“We have to keep the king’s cotton picking hands off water and sewer money,” retorted Gennaro. “This is what has to be done to avoid outrageous water rate increases every year.”

The city proposed another increase in December of 18 percent, citing lower than expected revenues. That proposal did not go through when the city agreed to crack down on delinquent payments.

Rangers Retool For Game 4

The Rangers are being forced to adjust going into game four in a series against the Penguins which has been just short of a disaster.

Sean Avery and Blair Betts will not be playing in game four. Avery is still in intensive care as of Thursday morning being treated for a lacerated spleen. Betts is recovering from a concussion after taking a puck to the face during game three. He will also be undergoing surgery on the fractured orbital bone near his left eye this weekend.

A familiar face in Petr Prucha will likely get playing time in the absence of Avery, but it will be a new face to replace Betts in Lauri Korpikoski. Korpikoski was the Ranger's nineteenth overall pick in the 2004 draft. In 79 games this season he scored 23 goals and added 27 assists.

Chris Drury is also questionable for tonights game. He injured his ribs during game three and finished the game so if you're betting, bet that he'll be in this one tonight. If he isn't than both Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr will be in the lineup tonight. It is possible that they will both be in the lineup regardless if Prucha is a scratch.

Another move the Rangers are making is removing Christian Backman from the lineup. The slow Backman has been largely ineffective against the speedy Penguins lineup. He is plus-one during the series, but the defense has played poorly during two games and Tom Renney must think that having the slightly faster Jason Strudwick will benefit the team. He will be teamed up with Paul Mara according to Steve Zipay's blog.

The Rangers are also going to have to focus on killing off penalties better. In three games the Pens have scored three powerplay goals and they have each been the difference in the games.

In game one Evgeni Malkin's powerplay goal, or should I say the puck that bounced off Malkin, turned out to be the game winner. In game two Jordan Staal was the only player to score on a goalie during a second period power play. And it was Malkin again scoring the game winner in game three on the power play.

To do this the Rangers desperately need to stay out of the penalty box. They have received 46 penalty minutes over three games and the only chance they've got to win this series is to half that over the next four. If they are that lucky.

The Rangers are not only a slower team than the Penguins with less offensive weapons, but they are now battered and beaten. While they can still win this series, it will take nothing short of a miracle for them to move on.

In The Dirt's projected lineup:
Straka – Dubinsky - Jagr
Shanahan - Gomez - Callahan
Dawes – Drury - Prucha
Hollweg – Korpitoski - Sjostrom

Brooklyn Assemblywoman Convicted of Bribe-taking

By Robert Abruzzese and Eric Faynberg

New York State Assemblywoman Diane Gordon was convicted of bribe-receiving in the third degree today in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The representative of the East New York neighborhood was stripped of her position as a result.

“The verdict was not what we call repugnant,” said Bernard Udell, one of Gordon’s attorneys after the jury decided on the lesser of two charges. “We believe we had a strong case. The jury did their best. This is the first round; we hope she will be vindicated.”

The attorneys indicated they would appeal the verdict.

Caught on hidden camera arranging a deal with a local land developer, Gordon was to receive a $500,000 house in a planned gated community in exchange for her promise to help the developer, Ranjan Batheja, acquire a valuable piece of land in her district.

Gordon, who must pay a bail fee of $35,000 by tomorrow, faces up to 10 years in prison, or as little as probation and a $5,000 fine. The sentencing hearing was scheduled for May 20^th.

“We’re going to do our best to see that the sentence is probation or less,” Udell said.

Assistant DA Michel Spinakos said he was pleased with the result after the jury also found Gordon guilty of seven lesser charges involving official misconduct.

“We got eight out of nine convictions,” he said. “She is no longer a member of the assembly as of right now. I think it sends a message about corruption in Brooklyn.”

The Road to Congestion Pricing Plan Less Jammed

By Yesenia Escobar, Amber Gardner, and Robert Abruzzese

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn continued today to press for congestion pricing to be approved by Albany after the measure passed the City Council yesterday.

“Every step that Albany has asked us to take we have taken,” Mayor Bloomberg said at a press conference in Brooklyn.

Mayor Bloomberg also said, “Most of the 30 council members weren’t hard to convince” to approve the congestion pricing plan.

With the approval of congestion pricing, Mayor Bloomberg intends to cut traffic in the Manhattan’s congested areas, decrease air pollution, and improve mass transit.

“A lot of these people understand that if we want mass transit we have to pay for it,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “`I want more things but I don’t want to have to pay for it’ is not realistic.”

At City Hall Council Speaker Quinn seconded the Mayor’s remarks.

“I believe the city of New York desperately needs a continuous revenue stream that will allow us to improve mass transit,” she said.

“Why do we need to improve mass transit?” she asked. “Because we have to get cars off the street because the level of traffic we have is impacting our ability to be the business capital of the world.”

With the City Council voting narrowly in favor of congestion pricing, Mayor Bloomberg said his administration has every right to be optimistic.

“These council members sent a message yesterday. A message from mass transit, a message for air quality, a message to get cars off our streets, and that is a message that New Yorkers should be proud of,” Quinn said.

The congestion pricing plan must get approval from the State Legislature by April 7 in order to receive $354 million in federal funding.

Nixzmary’s Stepfather Convicted of Manslaughter

By Victoria Gaponski & Robeert Abruzzese

A Brooklyn jury today convicted the stepfather of first-degree manslaughter in the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown whose horrific story of abuse led to reforms in the city approach to protecting children.

Cesar Rodriguez, 29, who faced life in prison on murder charges, now faced a 25-year maximum sentence.

After the verdict friends and family were upset that the penalty was not stiffer.

“I expected them to charge him with second degree murder,” said a weeping Welda Cordeo, a family friend who occasionally baby-sat Nixzmary. “He didn’t get it. Eventually he’ll pay for it; his guilt is going to kill him.”

The jury reached a verdict on the fourth day of deliberations. After the third day the jurors asked Justice L. Priscilla Hall to repeat legal definitions for second and first-degree manslaughter and then second-degree murder charges, leading courtroom observers to speculate that he would be found guilty of the greater charge.

“A jury has spoken,” said a disappointed Assistant District Attorney Alma Dwimoh who portrayed the defendant at trial as a cruel taskmaster who got angry when the 36-pound girl “stole” a cup of yogurt. “I’ll always respect the voice of the jury. I’m grateful that at least they are holding him accountable. He did kill her.”

Rodriguez’s attorney Jeffrey T. Schwartz had contended that while Rodriguez beat his stepdaughter it was the mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, who dealt the deathblow. Santiago is being tried separately on murder charges.

“Nixzaliz is the crazy one,” Schwartz said in response to the verdict. “She should be charged with second-degree murder.”

The night of Nixzmary’s death, January 11, 2006, Rodriguez admitted that he punished the girl when he stuck her head under a running bathtub faucet, but denied killing her. Investigators claim that the child’s head was probably smashed against the faucet which killed her.

The defense also tried to focus the jury’s attention on a witness who was supposedly going to corroborate their story that
Santiago acted alone in the death of her daughter. But during the trial the witness testified that
Santiago claimed they acted together.

During the nine-week trial, Schwartz had repeatedly asked for a mistrial since the prosecution delayed handing over testimony, specifically psychiatric analysis’, which the defense claims weakened their case.

“If we were given the material on time, the sentencing might have been lower,” said Schwartz. “We get our butts whipped most of the time because the system is broken and needs to be fixed.”

Rodriguez was also convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon. The weapons charge stemmed from his use of a belt to beat her and a bungee cord he used to tie her to a chair.

In response to this case, city officials have increased the numbers of caseworkers investigating child abuse cases. Also Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno pushed through ‘Nixzmary’s Law’ in January 2006 which allows prosecutors to charge parents with first-degree murder as the result of child abuse.

Since the law has been passed state officials say that there is a greater public awareness of child abuse.