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Water rate rising another 7 percent
The cost of tap water, which has been rising year after year after year, will go up 7 percent in fiscal year 2013, which begins July 1. The city considers that an accomplishment because it had initially projected water rates would go up 9.3 percent. Water rates have been skyrocketing every year since fiscal 2007, often at double digits. Critics say the sharp increases are effectively tax hikes, given the necessity of water, putting the lie to the mayor’s frequent boasts that he keeps taxes down.
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Updated:
May 10
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Government,
Economy,
- Residents protest library budget cuts
- Updated: May 10, 2012 - 11:11 am
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It was a familiar sight — dozens of people standing on the steps outside the Flushing Library on Tuesday, waving signs and chanting to protest the mayor’s budget cuts to libraries in the city.
The mayor’s executive budget includes a $26.7 million, or 31 percent cut, to the Queens Library, beginning July 1. The system has sustained $48.5 million in reductions since 2008, according to library spokeswoman Joanne King.
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- Mayor ‘fires’ first shot in budget talks
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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The annual chess match-bar fight over the number of New York City fire companies kicked off last week when Mayor Bloomberg announced his $68.7 billion executive budget for fiscal year 2012-13.
Bloomberg once again is calling for the elimination of 20 FDNY companies, a request he has had since 2009.
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- Unions sue city to stop school closures
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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The United Federation of Teachers and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators filed a lawsuit this week to stop the city’s plan to shutter and restaff 24 city schools by next September, including seven in Queens, saying it amounts to “sham closings” and violates labor contracts.
The Panel for Educational Policy voted last week to approve Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to shut the schools at the end of June and reopen them when classes begin in September with new names, up to half the teachers replaced and possibly other principals.
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- Queens misses out on bike share plan
- Updated: May 11, 2012 - 6:17 pm
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Banking giant Citi will be sponsoring the city’s bike share program when it begins in July, with the bank’s logo going on the bicycles and the docking stations where they can be rented.
Mayor Bloomberg, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, other officials and Citi CEO Vikram Pandit announced the deal today at City Hall Plaza. The bicycles will be rolling advertisements for the company, also known as Citigroup or Citibank, whose logo will appear on the front and sides of each one. The $41 million program, which officials said will cost taxpayers nothing, is being called “Citi Bike.”
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- More minorities than ever take FDNY exam
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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A record-breaking number of minorities and women have taken the FDNY entrance exam this year, an increase the agency attributes to increased outreach efforts and dedication to diversity.
Some 42,161 people took the test including 19,260 minorities — a 130 percent increase from the last test, given in 2007. More women also took this year’s exam — 1,952, compared to 1,788 for the last three tests combined, according to the FDNY.
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- Burned body found in Woodhaven's Forest Park — NYPD
- Updated: May 14, 2012 - 7:35 pm
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Police reported finding an unidentified dead man atop a pile of burning garbage in Forest Park early Saturday morning.
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- South Queens: Woodhaven man dies in Ozone Park hit-and-run
- Updated: May 14, 2012 - 10:43 am
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A Woodhaven pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run in Ozone Park early Sunday morning, and police are continuing to look for the driver who fled the scene of the accident, according to the NYPD.
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- W. Queens: Bike share coming to LIC this year after all
- Updated: May 14, 2012 - 8:52 pm
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On May 11th, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer announced that New York City’s Bike Share Program, “Citi Bike” is coming to Queens. After working with the Department of Transportation, Council Member Van Bramer was able to secure 10 locations in Long Island City giving the borough of Queens the opportunity to be a part of the nation’s largest public bike share system. The 10 locations in Queens will add to New York City’s 600 bike docking stations.
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- SE Queens: Sanders to challenge Huntley for state Senate seat
- Updated: May 14, 2012 - 8:52 pm
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City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) plans to challenge state Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) for the 10th District seat, according to a political source.
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- Proposed ’13 budget cuts city arts deep
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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The mayor’s preliminary budget released on May 3 proposes to cut about $47 million from the Department of Cultural Affairs, the city agency that funds public and nonprofit cultural programs.
So the dance begins; these will not be the final numbers.
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- CDC health study comes to Queens
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting its annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in Queens from now through June 26 with an emphasis on youth fitness.
According to the CDC each person chosen has the chance to represent 65,000 other people who fit in their proper demographic group.
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- Ex-pol Monserrate pleads guilty to fraud
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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Hiram Monserrate, a former state senator and city councilman from western Queens, pleaded guilty on Friday to funneling more than $100,000 intended for a nonprofit to help fund his failed bid for the state Senate in 2006, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Monserrate, 44, who was elected to the state Senate in 2008 and then ousted in early 2010 after being convicted of misdemeanor assault for dragging his bleeding girlfriend through his apartment building in Jackson Heights, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges of conspiracy and mail fraud. He faces two years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 14, prosecutors said.
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- Qns. historic sites lag in competition
- Updated: May 10, 2012 - 3:25 pm
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by Josey BartlettAssociate Editor
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- Ex-hospital CEO gets 3 years for bribery
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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David Rosen, the former CEO of MediSys Health Network, a nonprofit corporation that runs Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital Medical Center, was sentenced Monday to three years in prison by a Manhattan federal court for bribery.
Rosen, 64, of upstate Harrison will also spend two years under supervised release following his prison term, and is required to pay a $500 special assessment fee.
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- Free wedding makeovers offered
- Posted: May 10, 2012
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Giorgios of Whitesone is offering at least three summer brides and their maids of honor a beauty makeover. To qualify, the brides (or a loved one) should write a letter describing why they deserve a day of beauty. The winners will be decided on June 3. Each will receive a haircut, blow dry, conditioning treatment, up-do, mini facial and makeup for the big day.
“We understand that in these difficult economic times, everyone has to tighten up a bit and be more conservative in their spending,” owner Stella Castriota said. “Having said that, we also understand that a woman’s wedding day is the most important day of her life, and no woman wants to have to skimp on beauty on this particular day.”
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- Our hometown heroes for 50 years
- Updated: May 10, 2012 - 2:04 pm
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After the miracle of 1969, the Mets stayed strong but were knocked out of playoff contention by untimely slumps in 1970 and ’71, and injuries in 1972. The next year they roared back into the World Series, but lost in seven games to the Oakland A’s.
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- Queenswide: Teachers' union files lawsuit to stop school closures
- Updated: May 07, 2012 - 6:15 pm
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The United Federation of Teachers and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators filed a lawsuit on Monday to stop the closures and restaffing of 24 schools in the city, including seven in Queens.
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- Southwest Queens: Rodriguez sentenced in Gibbons death
- Posted: May 07, 2012
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A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison on Monday for the hit-and-run accident that killed a popular Maspeth businessman on Oct. 15.
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- No bike share for Queens, despite Citi's sponsorship
- Updated: May 07, 2012 - 3:05 pm
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Banking giant Citi will be sponsoring the city's bike share program when it begins in July, with the bank's logo going on the bicycles and the docking stations where they can be rented.
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- City selects operator for Forest Park carousel
- Updated: May 05, 2012 - 2:33 pm
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The city Parks Department announced Friday that it has selected New York Carousel Entertainment to operate the Forest Park merry-go-round, thrilling residents who have been working for years to get the famed facility up and running again.
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- Ex-Queens pol Monserrate pleads guilty to fraud
- Updated: May 07, 2012 - 4:35 pm
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Hiram Monserrate, a former state senator and councilman from western Queens, pleaded guilty on Friday to funneling more than $100,000 intended for a nonprofit to help fund his failed bid for the state Senate in 2006, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
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- Queenswide: Water rate up another 7%
- Updated: May 07, 2012 - 4:34 pm
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The cost of tap water, which has been rising year after year after year, will go up 7 percent in fiscal year 2013, which begins July 1. The city considers that an accomplishment because it had initially projected water rates would go up 9.3 percent.
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- Queenswide: Bloomberg offers 2013 budget plan
- Updated: May 07, 2012 - 4:34 pm
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Mayor Bloomberg released his budget proposal today, May 3, setting off a familiar chain of events: The mayor boasts that his administration's economic prudence is keeping the city financially afloat, institutions whose budgets would be reduced decry any cuts in the amount of public funding they receive, and politicians tied to those groups echo the claims.
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