Results tagged “retired”

In this case, double-dipping doesn't refer to a George Costanza-like social faux pas—it's the more serious instance of a retired city worker who collects his/her pension PLUS pay from a new public job! The Daily News reports, "New city audits have found 39 city retirees double-dipping with new public jobs - and pulling in some $600,000 in improper pension payments," such as "a retired assistant district attorney collecting a $69,660 pension on top of a $99,100 consulting contract for the state courts... a retired police captain who earned $51,246 as a city teacher on top of a $55,622 pension and a retired teacher with a $55,882 pension who also worked an FDNY office job for $76,490." Nice work if you can get it! The News further explains that retired city employees cannot receive pension payments if they take "another city or state job, though some are allowed to do so if they obtain waivers." City Comptroller William Thompson said, "Immediate action ... is needed to investigate and recoup, if appropriate, any improper payments made to these retirees identified as possible 'double-dippers.'"

So it looks like detectives' theory that an ex-cop's bank robbery "appears to be economically motivated" is right on the money. Retired NYPD sergeant Thomas Feeney, who was arrested just minutes after robbing a Long Island bank at gunpoint Tuesday, is in major debt because of an ambitious landscaping project on the grounds of his Smithtown, LI, home, which included a new lining for his swimming pool. A neighbor tells the Post, in an article headlined "Poolhardy Choices By Heist Cop," that the pool upgrade was "a luxury item, so it didn't look like he was having any money problems." But an associate of Feeney blames his financial woes on his ex-wife, saying she "cleaned him out" after their divorce. And now she's going to try and get full custody of their daughters, which sucks for them, because their dad was probably just about to open the pool for the summer. Suffolk County Detective Sgt. Robert Doyle says Feeney's credit card debt is "well over $100,000."

Subway cars that spent their lifespan serving New Yorkers often retire at the bottom of a watery grave in Delaware and New Jersey, creating artificial barrier reefs. Why not dump the old cars in our own rivers and waterways? Technically, it's not allowed under current environmental codes, but just because the fish in the Gowanus canal likely have gonohorrea, doesn't mean they don't deserve a little reef love as well! NY1 reports that "Congressman Anthony Weiner held a news conference yesterday to call on the state to revise environmental codes to allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to dump retired subway cars into city waters." Not only will it help our marine life, but the MTA will save money, you know, the opposite of what they've been doing. Wiener says "the agency has spent more than $6 million to ship more than 2,000 retired cars" out-of-state. Currently the State Department of Environmental Conservation is taking his suggestion under consideration.

Retired school principal Elizabeth Mulvihill moved from Long Island to South Williamsburg a couple years ago because she's old and doesn't want to drive anymore. So she dropped $1,040,000 on a two-bedroom apartment in Schaefer Landing, a development on the East River that opened in 2006. At first life was grand, with the New York Water Taxi whisking her away to Manhattan for doctor appointments in 15 minutes. But then the boats stopped running in the winter because the line wasn't profitable. And with the L train a mile away, Mulvihill says she's "stranded" and "depressed." Other tenants at Schaefer Landing are deciding against renewing their leases because of the lack of transportation, and with Depression 2.0 well underway, many are wondering what ever will become of all these optimistic new condos. New York Water Taxi wants a subsidy from the city to keep the South Williamsburg line afloat, and Mulvihill just wants an easy way to get to the doctor. She tells the Times, “I thought this was a safe investment, given the stock market.”

After over three decades at The Post and a 55-year-long career, right-wing "populist" reporter Steve Dunleavy bowed out today, explaining to readers that "when the bones get a bit creaky, you can't stay at the dance too long...I never spent a single hour at Columbia School of Journalism, except when I gave a lecture to journalism students - and I was about as popular as a fire hydrant at the Westchester dog show...Oh, yeah, I will miss those great cops and firefighters, the nutty judges and politicians and the criminal lawyers who were more colorful than an explosion in a paint factory." Here's video of Dunleavy telling the famous story of slashing his dad's tires to get a scoop.