http://gothamist.com/2008/02/05/get_out_your_pr.php...

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at 1 Broadway in Manhattan, a person under a train at the Queensboro Plaza station in Queens, and a child struck by a city bus on Parkside Ave. in Brooklyn. Thieves are targeting open houses across the Upper West Side--stealing personal possessions after gaining access to homes. Oddly, one of the two woman thieves is suspected to actually be a man in drag. Chants of "No......

Mayor Cory Booker unveiled new technology to help fight crime in Newark. The plan is called "Community Eye," and it will "marry audio gunshot-detection technology with a series of remote-control public surveillance cameras into a network," according to the Star-Ledger. Booker hopes to put 100 cameras and audio gunshot-detection machines to work, as the Newark Community Foundation has promised to raise $3.2 million for the effort. Booker said, "When all the cameras and gunshot......

Nineteen-year-old Natasha Aerial, who was the only survivor from Saturday night's shootings in a Newark schoolyard, managed to speak to police yesterday. While her brother and two friends died from being shot in the head, execution-style, Aerial survived a gunshot to the head. She is heavily sedated and under police guard. Still, Newark Police Director (and former NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations) Garry McCarthy said, "We're getting the story piecemeal from her. Based upon......

It's the future, now! The Daily Intelligencer posted this Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SWIM rendering of Freedom Tower's lobby, and finds out from SOM's TJ Gottesdiener that the lobby will shed "light into the memorial pool." Notice how the way light falls in Freedom Tower's lobby mimics how light would fall in the World Trade Center's lobby. It's wild to think there's a lobby rendering - remember when Freedom Tower was just redesign upon redesign?......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine told reporters that he will not use his e-mail anymore as NJ Republicans have filed a lawsuit demanding that Corzine's e-mails with ex-girlfriend and NJ union leader Carla Katz be made public. Corzine said, "We’ll go back to the 1920s, and have direct conversations with people." We'll guess his staff is also getting him books on Morse Code, smoke signals, and sending messages in bottles. Now that Corzine's getting healthy after......

Carla Katz is a smart lady. After, well, years of speculation about her relationship with NJ Governor Jon Corzine and the recent revelation that Corzine gave her a settlement worth $6 million after they broke up, Katz, an influential union leader, decided to talk. And she spoke to none other than the Post's Cindy Adams. Katz tells Adams that she and Corzine are still good friends and that she was not given a settlement because......

Plans for a World Trade Center memorial continue to crawl along, and WNBC has a story today about the personal donations that are funding the effort and the memorial itself. $300 million has been raised to build a set of reflecting pools and a museum at Ground Zero, much of that money coming from a fundraising drive over the last six months. The story includes a list of top donors, and we found it interesting......

The past few weeks, we've learned a lot about NJ Governor Jon Corzine. He doesn't wear a seatbelt, he wears track suits, and he paid his ex-girlfriend, who happened to be NJ's top union chief, a $6 million settlement after they broke up. Oh, yes: The NY Times has an extensive article about Corzine's relationship with Carla Katz, a union president. Though their relationship began and ended while Corzine was a senator, questions about conflicts......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine voluntarily paid the $46 fine for not buckling his seat belt in the crash that left him critically injured almost three weeks ago. Apparently state police superintendent Col. Joseph R. Fuentes was the one who issued the ticket, which included the fine and court costs. The spokesman for the state police told the Times, "It’s been a good amount of time since the superintendent issued a summons." Well, given that Fuentes......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine left Cooper University Hospital this afternoon, after spending over two weeks recovering from his April 12 car accident. Pushed out in a wheelchair by his children Jeff and Jennifer, the governor spoke to the crowd outside:Via the Star-Ledger: "I understand I set a very poor example for a lot of young people, a lot of people in general. I hope the state will forgive me." Via the NY Times: “I set......

Every so often, when we are tempted to bemoan the state of NY politics, we remember that at least we don't live in California and haven't been afflicted with Donald Trump's influence on matters of state, even though we can claim him as our own. Governor Spitzor may be the "Steamroller", but he hasn't been accused of accepting cash for appearances on "The Apprentice". Some questions are being raised about a $10,000 donation that billionaire......

When NJ Governor Jon Corzine was critically injured in a car accident two weeks ago, a commenter wrote, "Obviously, God wants Codey to be governor," referring to Richard Codey, the NJ Senate majority leader (pictured) who has served as acting governor under the three past NJ governors. And, apparently, so does Corzine himself: The NY Times has an article about how Corzine was often not in NJ before being injured.:In the 450 days between his......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine has been moved from intensive care as his condition improved to stable. The governor continues in his second week of recovery after a car crash on the Garden State Parkway which revealed his SUV (a state trooper was driving) was going 91 MPH while Corzine was not wearing a seat belt in the front passenger seat. However, the governor's chief of staff Tom Shea said that Corzine will not be getting......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting on St. Johns Pl. in Brooklyn, a collapse on Grant Ave. in the Bronx, and a barricaded emotionally disturbed person on 102nd St. in Queens. Like Robert Moses in reverse, Mayor Bloomberg wants highways to give way to housing by covering roads like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as well as rail yards, and constructing housing above them. New York's own Big Dig? Ricki Lake's documentary, which is......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine may taken off a ventilator that has been helping him breathe since his Thursday night car accident on the Garden State Parkway. Yesterday, doctors removed fluid from his lungs (considered a routine procedure) successfully, and today, they will be performing another surgery to continue to clean up wounds from his left leg - when the femur broke, it punctured his skin. Corzine remains in critical but stable condition. His family......

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We image Mayor Bloomberg had some talking-to with the new governor! A few days ago, Governor Eliot Spitzer dipped his toe into the dispute about how victims' names would be arrange at the World Trade Center Memorial. Spitzer said a "very public discussion" should be had to satisfy still-lingering unhappiness from some victims' families about the WTC Memorial Foundation's plans. The foundation, led by its chairman, Mayor Bloomberg, decided not to signify civilian victims' names......

Score: Gecko, 0, and People Tired of Ads, 1. Last week, it was announced that the Port Authority and Geico had worked out a $3.2 million deal for the insurance company to place signage and marketing goods at the George Washington Bridge toll plaza as well as at other Port Authority facilities and on other Port Authority collateral. Think costumed geckos at the bus station or Geico logos on Port Authority mailers. But now......

After months of negotiating and rumors and worries, it's official: The federal and NY State government will lease 1 million square feet in Freeom Tower. The NY Times reports Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NY Governor George Pataki and NJ Governor Jon Corzine will announce the "tentative" agreement for an anchor tenant to occupy 38% of the space today. Some interesting facts:- The agreement has agencies paying $59/square foot - Though the Port Authority is happy with......