Real estate brokers and developers love manufacturing "trendy" new neighborhood names like SoBro (the South Bronx), SoHa (South Harlem) and BrownEa (Brownsville/East New York). Okay, we made that last one up, but in a town were brokers are pushing apartments in the hot new neighborhood of ProCro (Prospect Heights/Crown Heights), it's not that far-fetched. And one brave lawmaker is so fed up with the fanciful names he's introducing legislation that would punish real estate agents who advertise a property in a neighborhood with a contrived name. more ›

In the wake of the death of Sarah Coit, three New York State legislators are again pushing forward with a bill that would create a Domestic Violence Offender Database. Though the idea of creating a domestic abuse registry similar to the one already extant for child abusers has been around for a while, the death of 23-year-old Coit allegedly at the hands of Raul Barrera (who had multiple previous instances of abuse on the record), is being used by State Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn), Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx), and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) to help move the law forward. A similar bill didn't cut it in the Ledge last year. more ›

Following allegations that a top aide to Governor Paterson bullied an ex-girlfriend into dropping domestic abuse charges with the help of state troopers, two politicians want to keep law enforcement officials from straying again. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Eric Adams have proposed the creation of an investigative commission for "systemic misconduct, abuse of power and inappropriate political intervention" with state police. According to Adams, the problem isn't the officers but politicians who abuse their influence. "Many of our state police officers are merely trying to do their jobs. And we want to create an atmosphere where they can do their job free from intimidation, free from any political maneuvering," he said. more ›

NY1 reports that State Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) introduced legislation preventing "city officials from running for a third term without the approval of voters." He said, "To brazenly push them aside and attempt to silence their voices is not what we should do as elected officials. For this, I am sponsoring a bill on the state level that will change term limits for the entire state." Last week, Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries also introduced a bill that would require a public referendum fora term limits extension; Jeffries' stance: "A few dozen politicians should not determine the fate of term limits in a city of eight million when the public has spoken – not once but twice." more ›