Daily Archives: October 25, 2018

Uptick seen in groups of teen robbers

Feb22 community council hellman

Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman, commanding officer of the 13th Precinct (Photos by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Robberies by roving groups of teens have been a problem, especially in local parks, for the last month, according to the 13th Precinct’s top cop.

Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman made the announcement regarding recent crime stats at the 13th Precinct Community Council’s monthly meeting last Tuesday.

“Grand larceny is usually the driving force in our crime, accounting for more than 70 percent of crime in the precinct, but there have been developing issues in other areas,” Hellman said. “We’ve identified and established a pattern of street robberies with groups of young males, especially in the parks in the neighborhood.”

Town & Village reported at the beginning of this month that three teens were arrested for a robbery that took place in Bellevue South Park and the same week, three other teenagers were caught for an assault at the Asser Levy playground. Both incidents were at the end of September.

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Friends and foes debate SBJSA

Supporters of the Small Business Jobs Survival Act rally prior to a long-awaited City Council hearing. (Photos by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

On Monday, the City Council chamber was packed with small business advocates, real estate professionals and others with an interest in the first step taken to move the now 32-year-old Small Business Jobs Survival Act in nearly a decade.

At a lengthy hearing, those in support of the bill, aimed at getting businesses an automatic 10-year lease renewal, through mediation and binding arbitration if necessary, carried signs that said things like “Pass Intact SBJSA Now” and “Evict REBNY.” Those against it wore blue caps that read, “Vote no commercial rent control.”

The hearing followed a rally in support of the SBJSA led by David Eisenbach, a Columbia professor who heads a group called the Friends of the SBJSA.

Eisenbach compared the fight for the bill’s passage to “a battle for the soul of New York. Will it be a New York of chains or a New York of Chinatown? It’s David against Goliath.”

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