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Saturday, May 7, 2022
Bronx Chamber of Commerce - Bronx Business News You Can Use
AM Dinowitz Statement on Rent Guidelines Board Proposed Increase
Despite ongoing economic struggles for tenants stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rent Guidelines Board has proposed rent increases in the range of 2% to 6%.
On Thursday evening, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board voted to adopt proposed rent increases for rent stabilized apartments of between 2% - 4% for a one-year lease and 4% - 6% for a two-year lease. The proposed rent increases would apply to any rent stabilized lease that commences between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. The Board is expected to hold a final vote to decide the approved rent increases for rent stabilized tenants in June.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz has issued the following statement in response:
"Tens of thousands of New Yorkers are still struggling to make end meets as our city continues to experience the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of rent stabilized tenants were already severely rent burdened, paying more than half their income on rent alone. We cannot ignore the reality that landlords have rammed through rent increases for decades, particularly in the form of abuses of major capital improvement and individual apartment improvement increases prior to our 2019 reform of state housing law. Now is not the time to capitulate to the landlord lobby by approving an onerous rent increase that will only add to difficulty that New York’s rent stabilized tenants are experiencing.
"My top priority during the pandemic and before has been to help keep New Yorkers in their homes. That is why we passed my two laws, the Tenant Safe Harbor Act and the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act. That is why we added funds to the ERAP and LRAP programs in our state budget this year. I strongly urge the Rent Guidelines Board to reconsider their proposed increases and to instead approve a rent freeze so that people are not forced out onto the streets, in direct contradiction of the goals of rent stabilization."
NYS Office of the Comptroller DiNapoli: Syracuse City School District Teacher Pleads Guilty in Time Theft Scheme
Program Coordinator Submitted False Timecards
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and the Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick announced today that Jason Cecile of the Syracuse City School District’s (SCSD) After-School Twilight Program pleaded guilty to corrupting the government in the 3rd Degree, in connection with submitting false timecards to SCSD. As part of the plea, Cecile also agreed to resign from his employment at SCSD. This investigation was the result of the coordinated efforts of the New York State Comptroller’s Office and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.
“Abuse of public funds should never be tolerated, but is particularly egregious when an educator takes funds meant to improve students’ lives,” said Comptroller DiNapoli. “I thank District Attorney Fitzpatrick for his continuing partnership in combatting public corruption and for holding Mr. Cecile accountable.”
SCSD’s Twilight Program is an after-school credit recovery program located within Syracuse’s Henninger High School for students in need of support in order to graduate on time. SCSD teachers run the program and receive extra pay for teaching classes to Twilight participants.
As the program coordinator, Jason Cecile was in charge of the Twilight teaching schedule. From 2016-2018, he regularly left his job early but submitted timecards that inflated the number of hours he worked. He also directed certain Twilight teachers to submit false time sheets that stated they were at work. Cecile was arrested in May of 2021 along with SCSD teachers Nicole Murray and Tina DeCarlo. Murray and DeCarlo’s cases are still pending in court.
Cecile appeared before Judge Gordon J. Cuffy in Onondaga County Court. He is due back in court on June 3, 2022.
Attorney General James Calls for State Constitutional Amendment for Abortion
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued the following statement today in support of amending the New York State Constitution to ensure the right to abortion under the law:
“As we’ve seen this week, the right to safe, accessible abortions can be taken away in the blink of an eye. No matter what’s happening on the national level, New York must always be a safe haven for anyone seeking an abortion. I firmly support an amendment to the state constitution to protect access to this basic right in New York.”
BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 27 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON IN 2018 MURDER OF LISA MARIE VELASQUEZ
Victim’s Body Was Dismembered and Remains Dumped in Parks Defendant Found Guilty by Jury
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for the murder and dismemberment of Lisa Marie Velasquez in 2018.
District Attorney Clark said, “It was a horrifying series of acts against a woman who had come to the aid of her friend, who lived with the defendant. He mercilessly struck the victim with a hammer, then strangled her with a cord. The victim’s remains were placed in trash bags and the defendant and the friend Ms. Velasquez was trying to help dumped the bags in two Bronx parks. I send my condolences to the victim’s family and loved ones who have been waiting for justice, and hope today’s sentence gives them some measure of peace during this nightmare they are living.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Daquan Wheeler, 34, last of 1006 Longfellow Avenue, was sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy to 25 years to life in prison on second-degree Murder, two to four years for Tampering with Physical Evidence, to run consecutive to the Murder sentence; and two to four years for Concealment of a Human Corpse, to run concurrently. A jury found the defendant guilty of the charges on April 14, 2022.
According to the investigation, in the early morning of August 22, 2018, Lisa Marie Velasquez, 25, had gone to the apartment that the defendant shared with the mother of his child, co-defendant Ciara Martinez, at 1006 Longfellow Avenue, to help Martinez. The defendant hit Ms. Velasquez once in the head with a hammer. The victim fell to the floor and Martinez tried to convince the Defendant to get her medical attention. The defendant refused and got on top of Ms. Velasquez, straddled her, and struck her with the hammer at least 14 times. Wheeler then wrapped an electrical cord around her neck and strangled her to make sure she was dead. The defendant then dragged the victim’s body to the bathroom and placed her body in the bathtub.
According to the investigation, Wheeler and Martinez cleaned the bathroom and bedroom, and got rid of their clothes, the victim’s clothes and the towels used to clean up blood, in an effort to conceal the murder. Wheeler and Martinez then went to a hardware store and bought trash bags and a machete. Wheeler dismembered the victim’s body using the machete, placed her remains in trash bags, and Wheeler and Martinez left them in Crotona Park and in the water off Barretto Point Park. Wheeler and Martinez then went back to the apartment and cleaned and painted the residence.
On August 24, 2018, a city Parks Department worker found the bags containing Ms. Velasquez’s remains in Crotona Park and on August 28, 2018, people visiting Barretto Point Park discovered the bags containing the rest of her remains.
Martinez testified under a cooperation agreement and will be sentenced to time served on a misdemeanor charge of Conspiracy in the 5th Degree on May 10, 2022.
District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Detective Sasha Brugal and NYPD Detective Dominic Robinson of the Bronx Homicide Squad and the NYPD Crime Scene Unit for their work on the case.
Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Conduct Study on Payroll Servicing Industry In The Wake of MyPayrollHR Scandal
Legislation S.3577/A.7786 Requires the Department of Financial Services to Conduct a Study Regarding Third-Party Payroll Service Providers
Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation S.3577/A.7786 to require the Department of Financial Services to conduct a study on the payroll servicing industry, in the wake of the MyPayrollHR scandal which caused major financial disruptions for workers and small businesses. The Department of Financial Services, in consultation with the Department of Taxation, will conduct a study regarding insurance or other risk mitigation tools and third-party payroll servicers providing these services to ensure the health of the industry and the existence of sufficient consumer protections. The Superintendent of Financial Services will then submit a report of findings and recommendations to the Governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly.
“Workers and small business owners in New York were devastated by the collapse of MyPayrollHR and it's crucial we have all the information to understand what led to this crisis,” Governor Hochul said. “The first step in any process is gathering all the information on what’s occurring, and using that data to create a plan moving forward and that is exactly what this legislation will do.”
In 2019, federal authorities found that the President of upstate New York payroll management company, MyPayrollHR, redirected $26 million in payroll funds to his personal account. This led to MyPayrollHR accounts being frozen, and paychecks being distributed with funds that did not exist. These transactions were then reversed, resulting in heavy overdraft fees for the workers involved. This legislation will require the New York State Department of Financial Services to work with the Department of Taxation and Finance to conduct a study on the industry, a first step in reviewing this incident and seeing what possible prevention techniques may exist.
Assembly Member Benedetto and the Throggs Neck Business Improvement District Announce Funding For Security Cameras For East Tremont Commercial Corridor
As New York City grapples with a spike in major crimes, New York State Assembly Member Michael R. Benedetto announced today that he was able to secure a sizeable $320,000 grant to secure NYPD Argus cameras for the Throggs Neck Commercial Corridor. The monies came at the request of the Throggs Neck Business Improvement District as local merchants seek to safeguard their community and provide a pleasant shopping experience in a safe environment. This funding builds on Benedetto’s past safety efforts, funding cameras for both Westchester Square in 2009 and Co-op City in 2021.
The funding will provide for a number of cameras to be installed along East Tremont Avenue, between Bruckner Boulevard and Harding Avenue, where the Throggs Neck Business Improvement District operates. The cameras, called “Argus” from Greek mythology, referring to a giant with a hundred eyes. The technology will be installed and monitored by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The police will select locations based on crime patterns and statistics for the area. Due to the sensitive nature of the locations, they will not be publicly identified.
“I live off the Throggs Neck commercial strip and, of course, my district office where I do most of my work is on East Tremont Avenue,” said Assembly Member Benedetto. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen tremendous growth of our small businesses here, becoming the ‘Restaurant Row’ of the Bronx. Customers and business owners have a shared interest in public safety and I hope these cameras can provide peace of mind to patrons as they spend their money right here in our local economy,”
“One of New York’s, and our community’s, greatest concerns is public safety. Both Assembly Member Michael Benedetto and the Throggs Neck BID have acted vigorously to address this exceptional need. The BID identified anti-crime cameras as an effective means to improve the safety of the neighborhood. Assembly Member Benedetto responded rapidly to provide the full funding needed to accomplish this extraordinary project. Working together, we will make this area of NYC the safest place to live, shop, and do business,” said Bob Jaen, Executive Director, Throggs Neck Business Improvement District.
For Assembly Member Benedetto, this funding helps to address some of his constituents' longstanding concerns about public safety. He has long fought for a holistic criminal justice approach, funding CureViolence programs to tougher gun control laws to behavioral health and diversion programs giving young adults a second chance at life if they falter early on. He believes the cameras will go a long way to address safety in the area.
“I appreciate the job our 45th Precinct police officers do for us but they are historically under-resourced. We have a handful of police cars out patrolling the second-largest precinct in the entire City. That’s where these cameras will come in, they’ll provide another set of eyes on our well-trafficked areas and free up some of our police officers to address other outstanding community issues,” said Benedetto.
The Business Improvement District hopes that construction of the cameras will begin within the next year.