Tom Brokaw, Wife Escape Injury While Other Driver Dies... Suejaes Estrada

Tom Brokaw, wife involved in tragic Bronx car accident that left one woman dead


A three-vehicle accident involving a car driven by Tom Brokaw sent a woman flying out of her SUV and off a Bronx expressway to her death, police sources said.

Suejaes Estrada, 30, fell 40 feet from the Bruckner Expressway near Amtrak train tracks in Hunts Point.

Brokaw and his wife, Meredith, escaped injury in the wreck.

"Neither Tom nor Meredith were injured, but tragically the driver of the SUV was thrown from her vehicle and killed," the former NBC anchor said in a statement.

"Tom and Meredith are greatly saddened by this loss of life."

The 1 p.m. crash was set in motion when Estrada tried to avoid debris on the northbound lanes, lost control and careened into the middle lane - sending a U.S. Postal Service mail truck swerving into Brokaw's lane.

"Tom hit the brakes hard and skidded along the median," his statement said. "When the mail truck catapulted the median, the Brokaw vehicle slid into it."

The postal driver, who was not identified, was treated for trauma. Brokaw, 69, and his wife were not hospitalized.

The crash tied up traffic for miles. Six Amtrak trains that run along the Northeast Corridor to Boston were out of service for more than an hour after Estrada landed on the tracks, a spokesman said.

A police source said Estrada, of the Bronx, was speeding. It was unclear whether she was wearing a seat belt.

No one was was charged, police said. Friends said Estrada, who worked as a dispatcher for a car service, was making a quick run to buy a gift for her boyfriend, Martin Pacheco.

"She had stepped out to go buy him a shirt," said Angel Rivera, 44, owner of the car service. "But she never made it home."

"It's heartbreaking. She's a sweetheart," said Lissa Rivera, 42, a fellow dispatcher. "She was supposed to work tonight."

Pacheco, peering over the railing and onto the tracks where his girlfriend died, was inconsolable yesterday. Neighbors described the couple as inseparable.

"They were good to each other," said Moises Cornelius. "She was kind and friendly," Cornelius, 17, added. "She always gave you a smile."With Richard Huff



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Sources: NY Daily News, Google Maps

Charlotte City Council Passes Limited Landlord Registration Ordinance...Slum Landlords & More Taxes

City of Charlotte won't require all Landlords to Register


After nearly two hours of debate, the Charlotte City Council passed a limited landlord registration ordinance Monday night, which requires only property owners of the most crime-ridden properties to identify themselves to the police.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police proposed more than a year ago that all landlords register with the city, and be subject to fines if their rental units don't improve.

Police have said it's often difficult to identify problem landlords because property records list corporations or don't have current addresses.

The proposal was based on similar measures in cities such as Raleigh, Minneapolis and Houston.

But a number of landlords, as well as industry groups, such as the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, opposed the blanket registration. The compromise approved Monday requires only landlords who are in the top 4 percent of highest crime calls to register.

"We think we are targeting crime," said Elizabeth Barnhardt of the Charlotte Regional Realtors Association. "We think it holds landlords accountable."

The vote was 7-3. Mayor-elect Anthony Foxx and council members Michael Barnes and Warren Turner, all Democrats, voted against it. They wanted to expand the ordinance to require all landlords to register.

Council member James Mitchell was absent.

Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess, and Democratic colleagues Nancy Carter and Patsy Kinsey, joined the Republican minority in supporting the 4 percent compromise.

Council member Warren Cooksey, a Republican, said requiring all landlords to register would be like holding a principal accountable for a crime a student committed on school property.

But there were dozens of residents who attended Monday's debate, holding "FULL REGISTRATION" signs.

One was John Autry of the Coventry Woods homeowner's association in east Charlotte. He said his neighborhood is plagued by crime at nearby apartments, and said it made sense to give police the most accurate information.

"How can police chase all that down?" Autry said, referring to following a paper trail to identify a property owner. "There is no need to put a partial ordinance in place."

The ordinance calls for police to set up meetings with problem landlords to develop plans to improve their properties.

Failure to comply could result in fines of $50 a day for the first 30 days, $100 a day for the next 30 days and $500 a day for each subsequent day.

The ultimate penalty would be the city moving to revoke the landlord's ability to rent the property and collect rent.






City of Charlotte's Landlord Registry could be a useful tool


Most landlords aren't, but let's face it, some are do-nothing slobs. They don't care if tenants are nuisances or drug dealers or criminals who make the neighborhood a miserable place to live. Sometimes, especially if the property owner is an out-of-state corporation, a responsible party is tough to find and slow to act.

So the city's on the right track in studying a proposal to register landlords, so that police can find them more quickly and easily, set deadlines for improvement and issue fines if landlords don't clean up their act. The City Council heard a briefing on the proposal Monday.

Several council members were forthrightly in favor of such a measure, but others expressed concerns.

To be sure, there is reason to move carefully. For instance, the final ordinance should take care not to be punitive against landlords for crimes or police calls that occur on public sidewalks or streets that happen to be in front of, but not part of, a rental property in a high-traffic area. It's in no one's interest if the result is closing down – instead of cleaning up – affordable housing options for low-income Charlotteans.

Some question whether registering all landlords is needed, since only a small proportion cause problems. Mayor Pat McCrory said he wants to make sure the new registry is truly needed and that ownership information isn't already easily available through online databases. While that's a fair point, we suspect police investigators and attorneys have already checked that out. Certainly, it's not hard to find neighborhood activists all over the city to vouch for how hard it can be to find a property owner who doesn't want to be found.

Council members have rightly said they want more information from cities such as Houston, Raleigh and Pittsburgh that have successfully used the registries to reduce crime and disorder at rental properties.

But in the end, it's important, in dealing with multiple concerns from council members, not to let the proposal be so watered down that it becomes ineffectual.

Charlotte's had problems with rental housing for years. This ordinance won't be a silver bullet to vanquish all those problems. But, if crafted smartly, it could become an important weapon to help the city make a positive difference.






Desperate tenants living without heat in Bronx put out banners begging for help

Bronx tenants who haven't had heat or hot water for three months took the dramatic step of hanging giant banners out of their windows this week, begging for relief.

The residents of 2285 Sedgwick Ave. are forced to use crock pots to heat bathing water, shiver beside space heaters and face sky-high electric bills since a July fire knocked out their gas service.

"I don't know if I can keep taking it," said Jonathan Rodriguez, 26, who is wheelchair-bound and needs hours to get ready in the morning because of the lack of heat.

Tenants of the 54-unit building have repeatedly called the city's 311 hotline to report the problem, but gas service cannot be restored until the gas line to the building's boiler and hot water heater is repaired.

Following a tenants' press conference on Tuesday, the city Department of Housing and Preservation Development now has a contractor working to run a new gas line to the boiler. A spokesman said the Department of Buildings and Con Edison will need to inspect the repair before turning the gas back on.

"HPD will work to help expedite that process," a spokesman said in a statement.

Residents said the building's owner has had friends try to make the repairs, but their attempts haven't been successful. Phone numbers for Juan Romero, president of 2285 Sedgwick Realty Corp., which owns the building, had been disconnected.

State Sen. Pedro Espada (D-West Bronx) came to the building to support the tenants, who made sure their banners - including ones that read, "No Heat For Our Children. No Thanksgiving This Year" - can be seen by motorists speeding past on the nearby Major Deegan Expressway.

"I want to have a Thanksgiving dinner with all of you and all your families," Espada told them.

Socorro Ramos, 63, a recent widow who has lived in 2285 Sedgwick for 30 years, is one of the many residents hoping for a resolution - and quickly.

"You complain, you complain, you complain," she said, exasperated.

Miriam Agostini, 54, has lived in the building for 35 years and cares for her husband, who is diabetic and in remission for cancer. Without her stove, she struggles to cook healthy meals for him.

"It's pretty hard right now," she said. "I'm stressed."

Agostini keeps two crock pots going all the time to boil water for baths and dishwashing. She also frequently uses her George Foreman grill and hot plate, pushing her monthly electric bill to $700, she said.

"Sometimes I just go out and buy Chinese," she acknowledged.

Other problems in 2285 Sedgwick, including a broken elevator, predate the fire. According to HPD, 320 complaints have been made about the building in the past year.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, NY Daily News, Huffington Post, Google Maps

Four Popular NYC Child Care Centers Closing Due To Recession Woes

NY Daily News----

Bronx day care centers - and the working parents who need them - face an uncertain future under a city plan to cut classrooms and funding in September.

The city's Administration for Children's Services said last week that four Bronx day cares will lose classroom openings and all 5-year-olds in ACS day care must move to regular school kindergartens starting in September.

Day care directors and municipal union representatives say they fear the changes will mean layoffs and possible closings.

Cheryl Dewitt, 45, executive director at Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Education, said unionized salaries depend on the number of day care classrooms, and that the cuts could also affect part-time aides and cooking staff.

The shift to kindergartens is in response to a $62 million ACS deficit, which will affect thousands of children in the Bronx alone, many from underprivileged, working class families.

Under the new plan, ACS day care slots will be available only to those who can't be enrolled in kindergartens. The number of classrooms will be cut based on enrollment.

Day cares unable to maintain a 92% enrollment rate over the last 12-month period will lose openings this fall.

In the Bronx, Anna Lefkowitz Day Care Center, Fulton Avenue Day Care Center, High Bridge Advisory Council, and Promesa Multicultural Day Care Center will all be shorted one classroom.

Many are concerned about what the new ACS policy will mean for working class parents who rely on day care instead of kindergarten because they cannot get away from work at regular school dismissal time.

"I'm not happy. Not at all," said Primrose Griffiths, 30, a worker in the Valhalla jail system, and mother of Christina Frimpong, 5, who will have to leave Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Education in the fall. "Day care helps because I don't have to pay for a baby-sitter."

Because of the ACS day care closures, union officials say city schools can expect a flood of more than 3,000 new kindergartners, pushing average class sizes to 25.

Parents trying to preregister their children at local schools are reporting heavy waiting lists, even for needed afterschool programs.

"The impact of closing classrooms in day care centers will be traumatic to families and neighborhoods in the Bronx and the other boroughs," said Raglan George, executive director of District Council 1707. "At a time when more New York families need all the support they can get, the mayor is creating greater stress on children and parents by cutting early childhood services."


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Sources: NY Daily News, Google Maps

In Weekly Address Pres. Obama Boldly Stands By Sotomayor As His SCOTUS Pick

President Obama:
"This week, I nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals to replace Justice David Souter, who is retiring after nearly two decades on the Supreme Court. After reviewing many terrific candidates, I am certain that she is the right choice. In fact, there has not been a nominee in several generations who has brought the depth of judicial experience to this job that she offers."

"Judge Sotomayor’s career began when she served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York, prosecuting violent crimes in America’s largest city. After leaving the DA’s office, she became a litigator, representing clients in complex international legal disputes. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court, serving six years as a trial judge where she presided over hundreds of cases. And most recently, she has spent eleven years on the U.S. Court of Appeals, our nation’s second highest court, grappling with some of the most difficult constitutional and legal issues we face as a nation. She has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the past 100 years. Quite simply, Judge Sotomayor has a deep familiarity with our judicial system from almost every angle."

"And her achievements are all the more impressive when you consider what she had to overcome in order to achieve them. Judge Sotomayor grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx; her parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. Her father was a factory worker with a third grade education; when she was just nine years old, he passed away. Her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to provide for her and her brother, buying the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood and sending her children to Catholic school. That’s what made it possible for Judge Sotomayor to attend two of America’s leading universities, graduating at the top of her class at Princeton University, and studying at Yale Law School where she won a prestigious post as an editor of the school’s Law Journal."

"These many years later, it was hard not to be moved by Judge Sotomayor’s mother, sitting in the front row at the White House, her eyes welling with tears, as her daughter – who had come so far, for whom she sacrificed so much – was nominated to the highest court in the land."

"And this is what makes Judge Sotomayor so extraordinary. Even as she has reached the heights of her profession, she has never forgotten where she began. She has faced down barriers, overcome difficult odds, and lived the American dream. As a Justice of the Supreme Court, she will bring not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated over the course of an extraordinary journey – a journey defined by hard work, fierce intelligence, and the enduring faith that, in America, all things are possible."

"It is her experience in life and her achievements in the legal profession that have earned Judge Sotomayor respect across party lines and ideological divides. She was originally named to the U.S. District Court by the first President Bush, a Republican. She was appointed to the federal Court of Appeals by President Clinton, a Democrat. She twice has been overwhelmingly confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And I am gratified by the support for this nomination voiced by members of the legal community who represent views from across the political spectrum."

"There are, of course, some in Washington who are attempting to draw old battle lines and playing the usual political games, pulling a few comments out of context to paint a distorted picture of Judge Sotomayor’s record. But I am confident that these efforts will fail; because Judge Sotomayor’s seventeen-year record on the bench – hundreds of judicial decisions that every American can read for him or herself – speak far louder than any attack; her record makes clear that she is fair, unbiased, and dedicated to the rule of law. As a fellow judge on her court, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said recently, "I don’t think I’d go as far as to classify her in one camp or another. I think she just deserves the classification of outstanding judge."

"Congress returns this week and I hope the confirmation process will begin without delay. No nominee should be seated without rigorous evaluation and hearing; I expect nothing less. But what I hope is that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this process, and Congress, in the past. Judge Sotomayor ought to be on the bench when the Supreme Court decides what cases to hear this year and I’m calling on Democrats and Republicans to be thorough, and timely in dealing with this nomination."

"As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice. The members of our highest court are granted life tenure. They are charged with applying principles put to paper more than two centuries ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time. And the impact of their decisions extends beyond an administration, but for generations to come."

"This is a decision that I have not taken lightly and it is one that I am proud to have made. I know that Justice Sotomayor will serve this nation with distinction. And when she ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the Supreme Court, bringing a lifetime of experience on and off the bench, America will have taken another important step toward realizing the ideal that is chiseled above its entrance: Equal justice under the law."

"Thanks."


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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Day Life, Reuters, Google Maps