An effort to get more fresh fruit and vegetables into the hands of poorer and allegedly under-served communities is being fought today by bodega and supermarket owners, who feel that a proposed 1,500 new street vendor licenses will cut into their business. Backers of the new licenses include City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg, who cooperated in introducing the "Green Cart" plan, which will issue licenses to vendors who commit to serving fresh fruit and vegetables in poorer communities. more ›

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• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a train at 14th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Houston St. in Manhattan.
• Yet another reason to celebrate: today is the 110th anniversary of Richmond County joining us as the 5th borough of NYC. The Staten Island Advance features a picture of a general store with a wooden Indian in front of it to remind readers what the county was like at the time.
• Queens Crap hands out its annual overdevelopment award. Crappy New Year Councilman John Liu!

With the approval of its budget yesterday, the MTA officially raised the rates on subways and buses, MTA bridges and tunnels, and commuter rails. While the increase in fare was inevitable after both Governor Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg approved of them, the big news today is how the MTA is actually going to bring in extra money with the bonus scheme on the pay-per-ride Metrocard for subways and buses. The base fare for a ride remains at $2, but starting March 2nd, 2008 bonuses will be 15% instead of the current 20%. more ›

The LA Times invaded the Big Apple to investigate the amazing fund-raising power of Hillary Clinton in Chinatown. The leading 2008 Democratic contender was able to raise $380,000 during one April fund-raiser - and back in 2004, John Kerry was only able to raise $24,000. more ›

The hilarity never ends when talking about cell phone service in the subways. The City Council spoke to the MTA about the agency's upcoming cell phone service plans, and apparently some members suggested that there should be "quiet cars" on the subway. We cannot stop laughing! more ›

You'd imagine that Kevin Burke, the chairman, president, and CEO of Con Ed, would want to attend at City Council meeting about the steam pipe explosion on July 18. But, no, Burke isn't showing up, which annoys many Council members. The Sun has a good look at the head of the city's essential and currently reviled utility. more ›

Gov. Spitzer ordered the immediate inspection of the 49 deck truss bridges in New York similar to the Minnesota bridge that collapsed earlier this week, but city politicians are stressing that New Yorkers have nothing to fear from their bridges. Despite the fact that the majority of the city's bridges were ranked only fair to poor in their most recent survey, Mayor Bloomberg insisted that they are perfectly safe. In a radio address, the mayor actually pointed out that the condition of city bridges was improved from just a few years ago. "We used to have - about 10 years ago - we had 40 bridges that were rated poor. That is down to three." He also emphasized that the Brooklyn Bridge––the only major crossing to receive a ranking of poor––was only in need of work on its ramps and that the suspension bridge itself was in perfect condition. more ›

Because September 8, 2009 is 776 days away, let's talk the 2009 mayoral race. more ›

There's a fantastic look at a cross-section of Queens residents in the Times today. There's a feature about a Wednesday night class at the James A. Bland Houses in Flushing, where a group of curious and determined residents are learning Mandarin. There's an Italian-American woman who explains, "Kind of like, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,'" a few people who simply want to communicate with their neighbors, and an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who knows seven other languages. The latter student, Frank Sygal, totally inspires us:

Mr. Sygal grew up outside Krakow and lost his parents on an August day in 1942 when German soldiers rounded up Jews, stripped off their jewelry and machine-gunned them. His facility with languages helped him survive: He spoke Russian with the Russian soldiers, Ukrainian with the Ukrainians and German with the Germans, reserving Hebrew for private spaces. Once he arrived in New York in 1949, there were two more languages to learn — English and Spanish. more ›

After last week's revelation that a Bronx Chinese restaurant allegedly refused a diner's payment of $2.75 when it included 10 pennies and the ensuing media spectacle, the Daily News decided to send one of its reporters to test the penny tolerance of various fast food establishments. Reporter Ethan Rouen traveled to five eateries, including Jesus Taco and McDonald's. more ›

Woe to the Segway commuter: A Brooklyn man who commutes from Brighton Beach to Midtown Manhattan has failed in his attempts to fight a $90 ticket he received while riding the contraption. Jonathan Gleich told the Post, "New York City wants to be green, but to me they're being mean. For me to get to work costs 15 cents instead of two bucks to take the subway. There are never delays, there are never strikes. There's nothing to stop me but rain and snow." more ›

Though the Department of Transportation is touting the fact that pedestrian deaths have dropped from 366 in 1990 to 161 last year, many still think the DOT has a lot of work to do. During a City Council hearing about pedestrian safety issues, amNew York reported that the grandfather of 3-year-old James Jaccaricce, who was killed by a Hummer in Brooklyn, asked, "If the DOT is really concerned about pedestrian safety, why aren't the improvements being made?" The corner where Jaccaricce died had been studied by the DOT after two other children were killed there in 2003; the DOT even came up with a recommendation. more ›

- Affordable rent and health insurance are big challenges for the middle class

As the City Council debated a bill that would open 10 taxi stands in the outer boroughs, the Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Matthew Daus said cabbies wouldn't be interested. Daus says that only 8% of cab rides outside of Manhattan are for non-airport destinations. In fact, his words were actually: "When there's an ocean of water to drink in Manhattan, why would they go for a puddle in the outer reaches of the city?" more ›

Nineteen-year-old Kevin Brown was senteced to 3 1/2 years in prison for his brutal attack on two Chinese teenagers in Queens. Last summer, Brown and a friend, Paul Heavey, drove up next to a Lexus driven by Raymond Liang, John Lu and other Chinese friends. Brown and Heavey shouted slurs at them and rammed their car into the Lexus. more ›

City officials met with the police, fire department, and MTA to discuss subway evacuation plans yesterday. The FDNY said that it is "much more prepared today than we had been back in 2001" and cited special phone jacks firefighters can use in radio dead zones. But the City Council was skeptical. amNew York reports that transportation committee chairman Councilman John Liu wondered why there was so much focus on "extreme disaster situations" when track fires are much more common. more ›

Barbed, by abmarfia. more ›

Feeling the sting of controversy - and perhaps wanting to keep relations with Chinese-Americans warm - after disqualifying a newborn Chinese-American baby born to non-legal U.S. residents in a New Year's scholarship contest, Toys R Us has decided to give all three babies in the drawing $25,000 scholarships. Here's the toy retailer's statement:

"We love all babies. We deeply regret that this sweepstakes became a point of controversy. As a result, we have decided to award all three babies in the grand prize pool a $25,000 savings bond."

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun. more ›

A week after her spectacularly failed attempt at the Chinese language, Rosie O'Donnell apologized for reducing Chinese to "ching chong" on The View this morning. From People:

After running a clip of the offending segment, which originally ran Dec. 5, she said, "This apparently was very offensive to a lot of Asian people. So I asked Judy, who's Asian and works here in our hair and makeup department. I said, 'Was it offensive to you?' And she said, 'Well, kinda. When I was a kid people did tease me by saying ching-chong.' more ›

is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuTspbPmV_g. more ›

Today, there's an interesting NY Times feature on City Councilman John Liu which focuses on his zealous ability to have press conferences and issue press releases. Which is exactly what our readers noted when he got into the fight with DJ Star/Troi Torain over Torain's remarks on Hot 97 and when he held a press conference for three of the victims in the Queens hate crime incident last week. In fact, Liu's aggressive or pro-active media stance, which includes holding press conferences in districts outside his own (Flushing), seems to have alienated other City Concil members. Which we can understand - he is all over the TV during electrified plate incidents, Asian racism incidents, transportation issues. And even though the article says he gets up at 4AM and goes home at 10PM, his office still sends out press releases late! Interesting facts: His dad was convicted of bank fraud, his Chinese name is slang for toilet, and he can't speak Chinese. Read it if you're interested in knowing more about someone who very clearly wants to run for Mayor some day. more ›

Ah, we were wondering when we'd hear more of Troi Torain, aka DJ Star, the former morning show DJ who threatened to molest and urinate on the 4 year old daughter of a radio rival. Last week, it was announced that child endangerment charges against him would be dropped if Torain performed community service, and it seemed like Torain had settled with his rival DJ Envy's family. But now Torain is filing a $55 million lawsuit against City Councilman John Liu for defamation. Or $5 million - the number includes "5" and "million." Torain says that Liu's actions were prompted by "self-promotion and aggrandizement" (from a politician? No!) led to Torain getting fired from his $4 million a year job at Power 105 and getting arrested. more ›

Remember DJ Star? In May, he had threatened his morning radio DJ rival DJ Envy's wife and 4 year old daughter with racial slurs and sexual molestation - even offering a reward for where the child went to school. Well, after being fired from Power 105, getting arrested for the threats, and claiming that the hurtful words of other DJs led him to make those comments, a judge dismissed charges against him if he performs community service (three days only!) and doesn't communicate with DJ Envy's family for six months. Though a lawyer for DJ Envy's wife Gia Casey, who DJ Star called a "slanty eyed whore," says the matter was resolved for them (apparently they didn't want the child to be featured in the case anymore), City Councilman John Liu told the NY Times he wished DJ Star was punished more severely because the issue was "whether someone listening on the public airwaves would have somehow gotten it into their head that they were going to get a cash reward” for information about a 4 year old. DJ Star continued to emphasize he was a victim, from disses by other DJs, adding "But I didn't go running off to the police to sign a complaint." Well, there's a difference between trashtalking between adults and telling your listeners you'll give them money to locate a child so you can abuse her. more ›

City Councilman John Liu, who heads the the Council's Transportation Committee, thinks the city should install the countdown signs at traffic lights - you know, the ones that tell you how much time there is until the light changes to red. But the counterargument would be that people underestimate the time it takes to walk across the street. Is that because people think their strides are longer than they really are? more ›

Residents and politicians are up in arms over what seems like the latest stupidity from Con Ed: A 9 year old boy got an electrical shock while crossing the street at 127th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard yesterday afternoon. Con Ed did not find any stray voltage at the metal plate (you know, the ones that are on the road because there are potholes or massive digs below), though the original complaint called into Con Ed said there was smoke coming from the plate. City Councilman John Liu told reporters on the scene, "Stray voltage is not something that stays constant. Stray voltage is unpredictable, it's erratic..it just pops up. This is testimony that we received two years ago," (probably during the Jodie Lane electrical shock death investigation). Liu is now convening a special meeting this morning at 10AM to discuss the issue with Con Ed and the Department of Transportation. The boy is recovering at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and area residents are trying to avoid walking on metal plates. more ›

Over the weekend, the NY Times had a story about immigration officials trying to deport a 7 year-old Canadian-born boy back to Canada - even though his mother is an American citizen (and after seeing the article, immigration officials decided to let him stay). Today, there's a story about a Chinese woman that immigration officials are trying to deport - and how their treatment of her could have caused her to miscarry her twins. Backstory: Zhenxing Jiang and her husband Tien Xiao Zhang live in Philadelphia with their two American-born sons and have run a restaurant there for ten years; Jiang was denied political asylum in the U.S. (claiming China's one-child policy was too strict), but her husband's case is still on appeal. According to Jiang's lawyer, last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers drove her from their Philadelphia office - where her husband and sons were waiting in the lobby - to JFK Airport. Without telling her husband and kids. Allegedly, they did not give her any food and ignored her complaints that she wasn't feeling well. Once at the airport, she finally got medical attention (perhaps because she was in a public area?) and found out at a hospital that the two fetuses she was carrying had died. The Times reports that there will be protests today in Philadelphia and New York about the ICE's treatment of Jiang, and City Councilman John Liu spoke out against the ICE. Where will conservatives stand on this one? Which issue will they stand for, the loss of human life or deporting all immigrants? But this cannot be good for the feds - trying to deport little children, making women miscarry. For shame! more ›

The MTA says their current offer is their "final offer" to the Transit Workers Union. And what's the offer? Three percent each year over a three year contract; the union wants 8% more. And benefits-wise, the MTA would ask new hires to pay 1% of their pay to go towards their health plans (workers do not do this now). Finally, the MTA wants to increase the retirement age from 55 to 62 after 30 years of service, whereas the TWU wants to lower the age to 50 after 20 years of service, for new hires; the TWU says there would be "two tiers" employees, which they don't want. (Here are some more of the union's demands, which include child care and the MTA's excessive challenges to the TWU's arbitration.) more ›

Mark your calendar for December 1. That's when the City Council will have a public hearing for commuters to complain about the insanity of weekend subway diversions (especially the ones on the L!). City Councilman John Liu, who heads the Council's Transportation Committee says, "We want the MTA to do whatever repair work is required...but the disruptions are so numerous and pervasive that there's serious lack of accountability." True, but will the NYC subway-riding public find doing repair work at night, causing even more evening disruptions, palatable? Don't get us wrong - Gothamist is very thankful for the subways, as much as we gripe. We'd just like to get from one place to another less confusion. more ›