Results tagged “tomsuozzi”

Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence told reporters his officers "will be out in full force" this holiday weekend, monitoring for intoxicated drivers on the road. According to Newsday, "the summer stretch between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays" is referred to as the year's "hundred deadliest days" by police. Last Memorial Day weekend, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi posted the names, photos and addresses of anyone arrested for DWI on a "Wall of Shame" after a police officer was critically injured by a drunk driver. The wall has been somewhat modified, with only convicted drivers' information and photos posted. Suozzi said drunk driving-related deaths had decreased recently—17 in 2007, 13 in 2008—and called 2009's two fatalities a "completely unacceptable number."

The controversial gallery of people arrested for drunk driving in Nassau County is back online after some changes. Previously, the names, photos and addresses of arrestees were listed, but, after a judge ruled that the privacy of one alleged drunk driver was violated, now only the names and photos are posted. Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi told Newsday, "My objective has always been to get people to talk more about drunk driving, and to recognize that it's not a socially acceptable crime," but attorney Brian Griffin said, "Under current law in the state of New York, shaming is not a permissible punishment, either pre-conviction or post conviction." Suozzi, who created the "Wall of Shame" after a cop was seriously injured by a DWI driver after pulling over another DWI suspect in May, insists, "This is not about punishment. This is about educating people about drunk driving. This is all public information."

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi announced he was taking down photographs and information of DWI arrestees from the county website--known as the Wall of Shame-- but that the photos and names of people convicted would be posted. A judge ruled that the privacy of one woman, who sued over her mugshot and name being included, was violated by the allegedly drunk rogues gallery. State Supreme Court Justice William LaMarca felt that posting the claimant's info online could expose her to "limitless and eternal notoriety." Suozzi, created the Wall of Shame after a cop was seriously injured by a DWI driver after pulling over another DWI suspect, promised to appeal and feels the Wall was effective in making people reconsider driving while drunk. But one man who appeared on the Wall told Newsday, "I felt so bad because the people that I know - my family and friends - they know that I don't drink much. It's just a mistake. And everybody found out."

Besides talk of Rudy Giuliani being wooed to run for Governor of New York in 2010, there are a variety of outcomes from Governor David Paterson's campaign. The Daily News breaks down talk of how Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi (who ran against Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 Democratic primary) as a potential running mate for Paterson, and what that means for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (who quit the primary in 2002). But one Democratic insider said picking Suozzi isn't a sure thing, "David's people aren't going to make any decisions about what they want to do until they know what they're trying to do. If they run against an upstate businessman, they'll get an upstater. If they run against a woman, they'll get a woman. If they run against Rudy [Giuliani], they'll get someone with money."

Today, a 6-year-old boy will finally see his father, a Nassau County cop who was critically injured when a drunk driver rammed into his cruiser a month ago. Newsday reports little Christopher Baribault, who has been "plead[ing] to see his dad," will go to the hospital today.

Usually married people, when not fighting, are pretty supportive their spouses, but that's not the case with Congressman Gregory Meeks and his wife Simone-Marie Meeks. Rep. Meeks is backing his congressional aide, Brian Simon, instead of his wife for the City Council seat being vacated by Leroy Comrie because of term limits. The seat for the 27th District represents parts of southeast Queens and Comrie started the movement to ban the N-word and was threatened by Viola Plummer.

If you're a registered Democrat or Republican, get your primary shoes out. Here's a list of candidates (PDF), but the shortlist of primaries is:

Yesterday was the West Indian American Day Parade, and it was as festive as ever, especially with the gorgeous weather we had. Politicians were present - and who knew that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi had lived in Trinidad and Tobago years ago? Newsday reports he sang "Tiney Winey." But most of all, it was the parade marchers, dancers, and perfomers and all the spectators that made the event exciting. The parade was so moving that one tourist from North Carolina told the Daily News, "I love it. Now I want to move here. I love the vibe that is here."

If there's a city parade, you bet it's an opportunity for politicians to get out to press the flesh. And yesterday's West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn was no different, with the primary showdown over the Congressional seat being vacated by Major Owens coming up next week. As it happens, the crowd in the Wyckoff Gardens Houses weren't too happy to hear Mayor Bloomberg and candidate-City Councilman David Yassky announce that $600,000 worth of security cameras would be installed. Someone ended up throwing a frosted doughnut near the Mayor, causing his girlfriend Diana Taylor to take "cover beneath a concrete overhang," as the Times puts it. Which only made the Mayor joke, "Well, just another reason why we need cameras." Newsday reports that another man was loudly murmuring in the back of the crowd, prompting the mayor to say, "If we could have some quiet back there, sir, it would be appreciated, thank you; we can't hear." Of course, the NYPD investigated the tasty treat toss, but came to the conclusion, "Nothing was ascertained with certainty, but there is no indication it was directed at the mayor. It may have just been tossed out the window or dropped."

- On being President: Spitzer doesn't want to be, while Suozzi does (to which Spitzer cracked, "Good luck")There was also a supposed freak-out by Spitzer when he saw that Suozzi was going to bring notes on stage during the debate. Notes are not allowed, and Suozzi told reporters that Spitzer got "angrier and angrier and angrier" and accused him of "playing games," but let's face it, if notes weren't even allowed...

Hundreds of thousands of revelers enjoyed the beautiful weather and celebrated during yesterday's Puerto Rican Day Parade. And this year's theme was, "Boricuas...We count, We Vote!" Though Marc Anthony was the Grand Marshal, the real attraction was his wife, Jennifer Lopez. Mayor Bloomberg, who marched with the couple, said, "In the pictures tomorrow, I will be lucky if I am noticed at all." Anthony and Lopez ultimately needed the help of Guardian Angels to keep the paparazzi off them and keep moving along the parade route. And the couple was also there to promote their upcoming film, El Cantante, but the El Cantante float broke down towards the end of the route.

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, who lost the NY State Republican party's support to be the Republican nominee for the governor's race this fall, is being pressured to drop out of the race. Weld, who can still force a primary after earning more than a third of the NYS Republican party's votes, has lost support from both the current and former NY State Republican Party chairmen, who are urging him to quit, probably in order for John Faso to focus his efforts on defeating the looming favorite, Democratic nominee and current Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Buffed I Love You from Streetsy.

Matthew Long, the man who was seriously injured during last December's transit strike (a private bus hit him as he biked to the stationhouse), has finally been released from the hospital. He's had 15 operations in the past five months and was only given a 1% chance of surviving: A doctor said, "He should be dead. Even the nurses in the ER thought what we were doing was an act in futility.". Long now spends most of his time using a wheelchair, though he's been walking with crutches; Long used to compete in triathlons. Long is suing the Transport Workers Union as well as Bear Stearns (which chartered the private bus) and the private bus company.

- Turns out Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Governor Corzine teamed up to convince Pataki to rework any sort of Ground Zero proposal to Larry Silverstein. And re: the NY Times' mention of past NY-NJ spats, we wish we remembered how Mayor Koch "once symbolically boarded up the entrance to the Holland Tunnel over the loss of jobs to New Jersey."

The race for the Governorship is on, and from what we read the commercials are staring to show up around the state. We barely watch commercials at this point thanks to the Teeve so we kinda feel like we're not really in the best position to judge TV commercials anymore. To us they all just seem blah and overdone. So we've brought together three of the commercials from the Democrats here for you to check out.

After the LMDC announced it would go ahead with plans for the World Trade Center Memorial, a sister of a September 11 victim will be protesting at Ground Zero by sleeping on a sidewalk across the street. Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother Sean died, says that the memorial's subterranean design is disrepectful, used her brother's cold-weather gear (he was a marine) last night when she camped out last night. 1010 WINS says that Reverend Bill Minson, who had been a ground zero chaplain, would also stay there until the design changes. We'll see if LMDC head Stefan Pryor tries to speak with them directly.

- 13 year old dies after gym class at Manhattan public school

With Mayor Bloomberg's reelection spending at $46 million - and that's weeks before the actual election - it's hard not to feel bad for Fernando Ferrer, no matter how questionable he may be as a politician. It's this NY Times story about how Ferrer had to march after Bloomberg in yesterday's Bronx Columbus Day parade that lays out the disparity: Here Ferrer is, son of the Bronx, former Borough President, and he's waking in a sea Bloomberg posters. Clearly, the Bloomberg campaign knows how to emasculate a candidate on his home turf. And the Mayor's campaign is also trying to shame Ferrer into giving back thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from tobacco companies; we're not very convinced by Ferrer's reason for not wanting to do so (besides needing the money), as they just cited the party where there were people smoking around the Mayor but he claims no one was? Huh? But Ferrer may be able to spook Bloomberg, if the Mayor happens to decline an invitation from the Hispanic Federation to debate on October 27. The debate would be for Univision, and one would think the Mayor would want to snatch up the Hispanic voter base, but a debate on a Spanish language network would give Ferrer an unfair advantage in that he can speak the language, whereas the Mayor would stumble through it. Gothamist can't wait to see what excuse the Mayor gives this time!