Results tagged “thecoalition”

Clothing retailer Yellow Rat Bastard has been ordered to pay $1.4 million as part of a settlement related to underpaid wages and overtime.

Continue reading "Extra, Extra"

The city is changing its policy to let homeless people in its shelters, a move that worries advocates. Starting Friday, anyone arriving at the Bronx intake shelter after 5PM who has had their living situations investigated (many people been investigated when they apply for long-term housing) and were deemed ineligible for housing will be questioned again and turned away if nothing has changed. The city views this as a way to close a loophole that has been abused by families who may have other options, like staying with a friend or relative. From the NY Times:

The city had allowed families who had been ruled ineligible to be given shelter for one night if they reapplied after 5 p.m. Some families using this emergency provision would keep their belongings with them and repeat the process [see this earlier Times article], moving to a new shelter the next day, often late at night, the city said.

Continue reading "City Changes Homeless Policy, Critics Dismayed"

Time Out NY has a list of PETA's most wanted in the city. The organization has 25,000 of its 1.6 million members based right here, and while we wish they'd have a crack team of those members targeting folks like Brooklyn's Cruella DeVil, here are some of the big offenders.

James Williams, the drummer who was accompanying the break-dancing group Two Steps Away at the southeast corner of Central Park yesterday, denies that he deliberately spooked Smoothie, the carriage horse who apparently bolted at the loud noise of a snare drum and eventually died from shock after ramming into a tree. The drummer denied doing anything malicious and said that intentionally spooking a horse could have results more dire than even Friday's tragedy. The New York Times quoted him saying "Spooking a horse right here could mean a baby carriage getting run over, or a person hurt.” Williams told The Daily News that he doesn't even like to kill flies or roaches, and would never intentionally hurt a horse.

ART: It's Dumbo First Thursday. The Gallery Walk will not only bring you to galleries, but also to artists' studios. "Gallery receptions, neighborhood dining and bars, and live music add to the evening’s festivities." Check out Space Invader's art while you're in the neighborhood.

Earlier this week, the Coalition for the Homeless released its State of the Homeless report. The report showed increases in the number of homeless in shelters (up 11.1%), number of homeless families in shelters (up 17.6%) and number of homeless children (up 18.1%). The Coalition said, "From the beginning we have supported Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of ending chronic homelessness as well as his emphasis on permanent housing over temporary shelter for homeless families. But these numbers make it clear that the Mayor’s five year plan needs a mid-course correction."

Mayor Bloomberg went to Albany yesterday to complain about the new NY State budget for 2006 since Governor Pataki gave the ol' F-U to the city. However, something that the Mayor and the Governor can both be blamed for might very well be the state of the homeless situation in the city. The Coalition for the Homeless released their 2006 State of the Homeless Report which says homelessness has reached new highs since the 1980s:

Throughout the first half of the decade, an average of 32,609 New Yorkers slept in homeless shelters each night compared to an average of 23,295 in the 1980’s. In the same period, the number of homeless families in city shelters each night has nearly doubled from an average of 3,947 families in the 1980’s to a mid-decade average of 7,640 families in 2005. The most drastic increase came in the number of children seeking shelter. This decade - through 2005 - an average of 13,616 children are in New York City shelters each night, a 55 percent increase on the number of children who used city shelters on average throughout the 1990’s.

The Coalition of the Homeless goes on to say there are flaws with the mayor's homeless rent subsidy and that the lack of funding from city, state and federal resources to make housing affordable have been causing this problem to grow.