Everybody knows that you aren't supposed to walk between subway cars (in fact, it is a crime and a $75 fine). But sometimes—when a fight breaks out, say, or that guy with the incredible BO keeps following you down the car—you have to. Which is why city councilwoman Letitia James is demanding that the MTA start unlocking those doors. more ›

Back in 2007, the city thought it could save $60 million by installing biometric scanners to keep track of employees' time (CityTime, they called it). But years later the city has spent $722 million extra because the project is, well, a huge mess of bloated salaries to consultants and overruns ("an endless money pit," Comptroller John Liu called it). And now an already embarrassing situation has gotten distinctly worse. Four consultants hired to run quality assurance have been accused of taking $80 million in "an elaborate fraud and kickback scheme" that involved faked time sheets (ha!) and a series of shell companies. According to the suit the suspected ringleader even got his mom and his wife in on the scheme! more ›

Seven years after it was supposed to be completed, CityTime has cost NYC $722 million more than its projected price, and still the city continues to sign fat checks to consultants for the now-notorious biometric timecard system. Mayor Blooomberg went so far as to call CityTime a “disaster,” city Comptroller John Liu labeled it a “money pit” and enraged Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James demanded an immediate investigation, according to the Daily News. "The city should get a partial refund because they were overbilled," she said. But it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon. more ›

Councilwoman Letitia "Tish" James (D-Fort Greene) is suing a day laborer for causing "serious, severe and permanent [injuries] to her limbs and body" after she walked into a four-inch trailer hitch protruding from the back of his parked car. According to court documents cited in the Brooklyn Paper, James says she suffered "great physical and mental pain" when she brushed against the hitch and cut her leg in Fort Greene last July. more ›

City Councilwoman Letitia James won't stop til she gets enough ... rejection from the MTA? She's still lobbying for the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station to be named after the late King of Pop, or for a plaque to go up recognizing he filmed his video for "Bad" there. She told the Daily News, "The Transit Authority has already said, 'Beat it,' literally" since MTA guidelines prohibit plaques and memorials in subway stations for some reason. As for renaming the station, the organization is still developing the guidelines for station naming rights. Earlier this year, however, the MTA agreed to sell naming rights at Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street to Bruce Ratner for $4 million (over 20 years). So James wonders, "if the Michael Jackson foundation offered them $10 million for naming rights they'd consider listening." Not that the foundation has offered that, but if they were the MTA should definitely consider it. In the meantime, James is starting a petition drive at the singer's 51st birthday celebration. If you've never seen the full 16-minute version of the Martin Scorsese-directed video, you can watch it here (part 1) and here (part 2). more ›

In what is considered an unusual move in cases involving a shooting by the police, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly invited the family of Shem Walker down to his offices at police headquarters. Walker was the man fatally shot by an undercover cop last month after an altercation where Walker tried to chase the plainclothes officer away from his mother's stoop in Clinton Hill. Despite Kelly's attempt to reach out, Walker's family was not pleased with the results. A spokesman said, "This family has walked into this meeting with high hopes of getting some answers and walked out of this meeting highly disappointed...The story the commissioner was presented with has as many holes as Swiss cheese. It has not answered the fundamental question about why the police when asked to leave private property did not do so." The Brooklyn DA's office continues to investigate the shooting, but there has been no indication whether it will be submitted to a grand jury. Councilwoman Letitia James said, "We're dissatisfied with version of the facts as reported by Commissioner Kelly. They belie the truth as we know it. They belie common sense. And they belie the community." more ›

Just over a week after an undercover NYPD officer fatally shot 49-year-old Shem Walker, loved ones and community leaders gathered around his mother's Clinton Hill stoop, the site of the deadly altercation in which the details still remain unclear. Bitterness over the incident was clearly in the air yesterday with the harshest words coming from Councilwoman Letitia James, who said, “I say to the NYPD, get your lies straight." The Brooklyn DA's office is currently investigating the shooting as the identity of the officer remains unknown—just that he is a seven-year NYPD veteran and is also black. A minister at the vigil yesterday said, "Police officers are paid to protect and serve, but they are also paid for their judgment. Too often it is the case that their judgment is off with people of color." Tonight a funeral will be held for Walker at Full Gospel Assembly of God with Reverend Al Sharpton delivering the eulogy. more ›

It's been over a day since news first broke that a man had been fatally shot outside his mother's Clinton Hill home by an undercover cop and there are still many more questions than answers. We know that 49-year-old Shem Walker stepped outside his mother's brownstone on Lafayette Avenue for a cigarette and discovered a plain clothes cop sitting on her steps. A witness says that he heard Walker shout, "Get out of here or I'll move you myself!" and that the two then tumbled down the steps. Walker is said to have had a reputation of shooing people off the family's steps with success. more ›

Tomorrow afternoon Council Member Letitia James and schools within the JHS 117 /Francis Scott Key Building will hold a press conference on Student Safety Issues following incidents of harassment/violence that have become a common occurrence for students attending school at 300 Willoughby Avenue. Over the years students have become "victims of consistent harassment, jumping, and robberies, as they travel to and from the school building towards the G-train subway stop at Classon and Lafayette Avenues, as well as when taking surrounding buses," according to the press release. On April 30th, one student was jumped and when two fellow students defended him they were all attacked by nearly a dozen neighborhood residents. The assailants then followed the students into the school, resulting in school staff and school safety injuries, as well as broken glass doors. Hopefully the meeting can lead towards creating what they call a "safe corridor" for the students to travel to and from school. more ›

PolitickerNY caught a seriously awkward moment at a City Council budget hearing between Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) and city budget director Mark Page: "Letitia James: Mr. Page, how was your Mother’s Day? And how is your mother? Mark Page: You know, my mother has been dead and buried for 10 years, and if you get off that subject, that would be more polite. James: So, I assume your Mother’s Day was a fine day. Page: It was what it was." Yikes! You can also see the video here. James's and Page's apparent animosity may stem from a March exchange; the Post reported, "sparks flew as the discussion about tax policy grew testy, eventually devolving into all-out class warfare." (James said changes to day-care funding would impact single-parent households; she "demanded to know if Page came from a single-family home, as she did, he threatened to leave.") At today's hearing, Page was also grilled on the Bloomberg administration's proposal to re-institute the tax on clothing and shoes under $110. more ›

Magic Johnson is sure to be in the spotlight this weekend, with his alma mater Michigan State's place in the Final Four falling on the 30th anniversary of his legendary National Championship with the Spartans. So some Brooklyn union workers are using the extra attention to point out some of the basketball star-turned-entrepreneur's shady business practices. At a rally this week, City Councilwoman Letitia James said, "Magic Johnson should be ashamed of himself. here is nothing magic about what he does. What he does is prey upon poor people." Magic and his business partners have not unionized One Hanson Place, despite 90% of other luxury buildings hiring union workers. Johnson is also a spokesman for Jackson Hewitt and Rent-A-Center, both of which have been accused of predatory business practices. One local union rep said, "It's a disgrace to see Johnson actively promoting businesses that we believe hurt low-income communities." more ›

Community members and lawmakers asked the NYPD to increase its presence in Fort Greene after a doctor was raped on Thursday morning. City Councilwoman Letitia James said more foot patrols are needed in the community and added that more recruits should be sent to the "understaffed 88th Precinct." James also said, "We will find this criminal." more ›

Yesterday, The Daily News printed an article that began, "A cop-bashing art exhibit at a taxpayer-funded museum in Brooklyn portrays the city's Finest as trigger-happy racists who have put bull's-eyes on the backs of black New Yorkers." more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals. more ›

Yesterday morning, a 200-foot long chunk of a rooftop parapet on a Brooklyn building collapsed onto the street. While this would be news no matter what or where it happened, the building is the Ward Bread Bakery, which happens to be one of many buildings that are being demolished for the massive Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. The Department of Buildings is inspecting neighboring buildings and 350 people, including those living in a shelter next door, were evacuated as a precaution. more ›

Yesterday, officials welcomed Barclays as the winner in the $400 million naming rights derby for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. The NY Times reports that the Nets looked at various entities to pitch the idea of becoming lucky one to pay lots of money to have its name on the Frank Gehry-designed arena and decided Barclays Bank "needed a game changer, that they don’t have as big a presence or brand recognition here as in the U.K." As they say, a sucker is born every minute! more ›

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The hard-hitting polemical film, , lucidly articulates and amplifies the movement to stop Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan. Directed and produced by Isabel Hill, the film portrays the AY project as an outrageous scam to be perpetrated upon hoodwinked Brooklynites. Numerous interviews with critical residents, planners, critics, and elected officials portray a scenario in which a cynical developer and corrupt State agencies have hired gullible community allies and a star architect to conceal their true motives. The politics of the Brooklyn-based coalition, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), are evident in the film, although the work was independently created and funded by Hill, a former city planner. more ›

It had been a few days since anyone had seen Haydee Soto or her children, 13 year old Valerie Rivera and 15 year old John James Bordoy at the Walt Whitman Houses in Fort Greene. A smell had been coming from the family's apartment, so neighbors and relatives asked the police to open the door, only to find a grim scene. The dead bodies of Soto, Rivera, and Bordoy, as well as Hector Viera, in different rooms. Police believe Viera killed the three with a baseball bat and then committed suicide by overdosing (a hypodermic needle was found in his arm). The bodies were so badly beaten that the NY Times says that "it made it unclear what had caused their deaths," but City Councilwoman Letitia James said, "All indications are that it was a murder-suicide." The Post on the crime:

Cops theorized that Viera first killed the mom in the living room while her children were at school, then dragged her body into her bed to make it seem as if she were sleeping. They suspect he then separately killed each of the children as they arrived home.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will introduce a bill that will restrict the 421a tax abatement many developers have been using to build their new properties. The 421a tax abatement program was originally designed to, in the city's words, "promote multi-family residential construction by providing a declining exemption on the new value that is created by the improvement." Create low-income housing, you'll get a tax break. more ›

Sergeant James Rector had just left work at a police recruiting office near the Walt Whitman Houses in Fort Greene when he saw a teenager pointing a gun execution-style at a man on the street. Rector yelled for 17 year old Eric Hines to stop and identified himself as a police officer, but Hines shot him twice. Rector, while hit in the ankle and butt, managed to shoot 11 rounds at Hines, hitting him in the leg and on the right side. Rector is recovering from his wounds while Hines died from his injuries. Hines's initial target was treated for a shot in the leg and was also questioned by police. more ›

People are wondering why City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is so quiet about the Atlantic Yards project. The Observer points out that Quinn was instrumental in leading City Hall opposition to the West Side Stadium, with the suggestion being that Quinn is thinking about running for Mayor and will need to keep certain people happy. Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Daniel Goldstein tells the Observer, "It would not be a principled position for her to support it as it is currently proposed," while City Councilwoman Letitia James, whose district will be affected by the project, says, "We’re still negotiating with the Speaker’s office. She definitely remembers that I was there for Hudson Yards.” Oh, yeah, Hudson Yards - that's what the West Side project was called. more ›

Robyn Moreno & Michelle Herrera Mulligan, Authors more ›

For more information about the proposed arena, check out Bring Basketball to Brooklyn!. more ›