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The entrance to Penn Station at West 31st Street, Jan. 6, 2020. | Jose Martinez/THE CITY By Jose Martinez, The City This article was originally published on Jan 30 2:20pm EST by THE CITY NEW YORK - The MTA’s plans  to bring Metro-North trains to Penn Station and build four new stations in The Bronx are expected to be delayed by at least six to nine months, agency officials said Monday — blaming Amtrak, again. The slowdown on the $2.8 billion Penn Access mega-project was revealed just days after a mammoth Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) hub opened deep beneath Grand Central Terminal. The MTA also partially blamed that project’s delays and cost overruns on the federally funded national rail service. “This is the dynamic that got East Side Access [the LIRR project] into the hole,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and CEO said Monday during a meeting of the transit agency’s board members. “There’s probably a billion dollars of extra costs in East Side Access, m...

Mayor Eric Adams delivers his first State of the City address at Queens Theater on Thursday, January 26, 2023. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office   By Mayor Eric Adams Community Op Ed January 30, 2023 NEW YORK - Last week, in Queens — the borough I grew up in — I reported to New Yorkers on the state of our city. I outlined what we’ve accomplished in the year since I took office, and my vision for the future. We are going to build a city for working people, one that is more affordable, safer, cleaner, and more livable. We focused on four essential pillars: jobs, safety, housing, and care. Because without a strong working class, this city cannot survive. Working people need good jobs and pathways to get those jobs. And those jobs need to be able to support a home for New Yorkers and their families. That is why we are reimagining our workforce system, connecting 30,000 New Yorkers to apprenticeships through a new Apprenticeship Accelerator....

A cannabis shop advertised its goods in the Financial District, Jan. 12, 2023. | Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY By Stephon Johnson, The City This article was  originally published  on  Jan 18 8:37pm EST  by  THE CITY NEW YORK - Smoke shop robberies in New York City went up more than four times between the first and second years of cannabis legalization in New York state, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell testified at a City Council hearing Wednesday on the spread of the stores selling unlicensed cannabis or untaxed tobacco products. Since New York legalized recreational marijuana in March 2021, unlicensed and untaxed operations have openly sold the product while the state lagged in opening licensed storefronts. Chell reported 593 such smoke-shop robberies in 2022, way up from 137 in 2021. That comes to nearly one robbery for every two smoke shops, according to the NYPD’s count. The police department reports finding 428 of them in Brooklyn, 373 ...

Police are searching for this man in connection with a sex assault near the Empire State Building. By Dan Gesslein Manhattan Voice January 18, 2023 MANHATTAN - Cops are searching for a perv who sexually assaulted a woman on the street around the corner from the Empire State Building.  At around 7 pm on December 30, a 24-year-old woman was standing in the vicinity of 5th Avenue and West 32 Street around the corner from the Empire State Building. Unbeknownst to her, a man standing near her began masturbating on the street. He then walked up to her, grabbed her and ejaculated on her back. He then ran off.  Cops said the suspect was last spotted inside the Herald Square subway station. Subway surveillance cameras captured an image of the suspect. The suspect is described as a man with a dark complexion who is 5 foot 10 and weighs 165 pounds. He was last seen wearing a green hat, dark blue jacket, gray colored jeans and gray sneakers.   Anyone wit...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams presents his Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) preliminary budget. -Photo by: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office. By Mayor Eric Adams Community Op-Ed January 17, 2023   NEW YORK - Every year, the Mayor presents a budget to the people of New York City. This budget is about much more than what we are spending and what we are spending it on. It is a statement of values and a declaration of purpose: Creating a safer, more prosperous and equitable city for all. This is the city that our responsible and focused Fiscal Year 2024 Preliminary Budget continues to make possible. Since Day One, fiscal discipline has been the hallmark of this administration. We are focused on governing efficiently and getting results. Over the past year, we have made our city safer and continued our economic recovery. We have funded and will continue to support programs that benefit everyday New Yorkers — including public safety, affordable housing, and clean st...

By Dan Gesslein  Manhattan Voice January 12, 2023 MANHATTAN - A jewelry store across the street from Grand Central Terminal was robbed at gunpoint during a rush hour stick up. At around 5:20 pm on January 4, two men walked into Ray's Midtown Jewelry located at 459 Lexington Avenue and approached 53-year-old employee at the counter. One of the men pulled out a handgun and told the clerk that if he did not open the display case he would shoot him. The accomplice pulled out a can of pepper spray. The gunman used the firearm to smash open the display case as his partner hopped over the counter and started scooping up pieces of jewelry. Behind the counter the employee struggled with the thief and fought him off.    Both robbers fled the store. Cops say the thieves made off with about $1,000 worth of jewelry. The gunman is described as a man with a dark complexion and thin build. During the incident the individual was wearing a black face mask, a black hooded sw...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Keechant Sewell make a public safety-related announcement. One Police Plaza, New York, NY. Thursday, January 5, 2022. Photo Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office By Mayor Eric Adams Community Op-ed NEW YORK - When I came to office, I inherited a city with many crises, including increasing crime. And my top priority has always been public safety. From day one, I got to work with the Police Commissioner, our Deputy Mayor and our team to make our streets and subways safer.      And our public safety strategy is working. New York City is getting safer. 2022 ended with crime trending downward in New York City. In December, we saw major crimes go down by 11.6 % and in the fourth quarter of 2022, overall index crime dropped by 1.5%.    Last month, we saw murder...