New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

BRONX
LATE PUSH TO BLOCK WATER FILTRATION PLANT
In a last-ditch attempt to block approval of a planned $1.3 billion water filtration plant in the Bronx, opponents called on City Council members yesterday to vote against the project tomorrow. Rep. Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Bronx community activists held a news conference at Van Cortlandt Park, site of the proposed plant, to argue that the project would mean years of traffic and pollution for residents who live nearby.
The project, to be built under the Mosholu Golf Course in the park, is expected to win approval from the full council tomorrow. The city is under court order to build a new plant for its Croton water supply system, which provides 10% of the city’s water. The plan was brokered by state legislators in Albany and signed by Mayor Bloomberg. In exchange, the Bronx would get $200 million for other parks in the borough. an Cortlandt Park would get an additional $19.3 million. Opponents have been pushing to have the plant built in Westchester in a less densely populated area. Doing so, they said, would cost about the same.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
CITYWIDE
SCHUMER PUSHES REFORM ON STUDENT DEBT
The $1.9 billion in debt carried by New York college students is due to misleading and heavy-handed marketing practices by credit card companies, Senator Schumer said yesterday. He unveiled a series of reforms including clearer disclosure, advance knowledge of rate hikes, and parental consent for dependent students to address the growing problem.
The percentage of college students with credit cards and credit-card debt skyrockets over the four years of school, according to the nationwide loan center Nellie May. Ninety-two percent of second-year college students carry a credit card compared to 54% of entering students, with an average student carrying four cards. Between entering and leaving school, debt more than doubles on average, from $1,533 for a first-year student to $3,262 for a fourth year.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
HIRSCHFELD THROWS HAT INTO THE SENATE RING
Parking-garage and real-estate tycoon Abe Hirschfeld is running for the Senate again, this time as the candidate of the hastily assembled Builders Party.
The run for office is hardly the first for the 84-year-old builder. Since becoming an American citizen in 1959, he has run for New York lieutenant governor, Manhattan borough president, City Council president, and, in a previous try, for a Senate seat. With a motto of “We Need A Builder,” Mr. Hirschfeld believes he can build a Second Avenue subway in four to six years and construct a full-sized Olympic Stadium on the West Side for $475 million less than the $1.4 billion currently proposed for the project. Hirschfeld has also said that as long as he’s on the job, in just three short months he will make city children more respectful of their parents. Mr. Hirschfeld secured himself a spot on November’s general election ballot by gathering 27,000 signatures.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
CITY NONPROFIT EXECS AMONG TOP NATIONAL EARNERS
Nonprofit executives in New York command some of the highest salaries in their fields nationwide.
A survey published today by the Chronicle of Philanthropy rounds up executive compensation for 309 of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations, including hospitals, foundations, and museums.
The top earners on the survey are in health-care management. The chief executive of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Harold Varmus, made $1,693,710 in 2003. At New ork-Presbyterian – ranked consistently as one of the top 10 hospitals nationwide – Dr. Herbert Pardes made $1,260,348. Executives at arts organizations were also well compensated. Running the Metropolitan Opera Association earned Joseph Volpe $785,000 last year. eading MoMA through a major expansion, Glenn Lowry made $619,663. Coming in at about the same level was the job of running a major university in the city. The president of New York University, John Sexton, made $740,504 in 2003; Columbia University’s president, Lee Bollinger, made $600,000.
Executives at private foundations also earned more than half a million a year. At the Ford Foundation, Susan Berresford received $673,426 in compensation. he salary of Gordon Conway at the Rockefeller Foundation was $596,500. The head of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, artan Gregorian, made $531,301.
The leaders of local nonprofits focused on social services were among the lowest paid on the survey. he head of United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York made $357,000. And before retiring, Ralph Dickerson Jr. made $440,000 running the United Way of New York City.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
POLICE BLOTTER
THREE MEN HOSPITALIZED AFTER BRONX SHOOTING
Three men were gunned down during a dispute in the Eastchester section of the Bronx last night, and police were seeking suspects. Police said the triple-victim shooting started after a group of about six men went behind a building at 844 E. 320 St. at 7:28 p.m. The group got into a dispute with others. Shots rang out, leaving three victims injured.
A 35-year-old victim was shot in the face and taken to Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, police said. His condition was stable. 49-year-old victim was shot four times in the torso and once in the shoulder, and was taken to Jacobi Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. 31-year-old victim was critically injured when he was shot in the left side of the rib cage, and he was taken to Jacobi Hospital. here were no arrests. Police said suspects were seen fleeing the area in two sport utility vehicles, one red and one silver.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
POLICE SHOOT, WOUND, ARREST SUSPECTED GUNMAN
Police officers shot and wounded a suspected gunman in Astoria yesterday, and the suspect is accused of trying to kill the officers, police said.
Jelon Smith, 19, of Astoria, was shot in the left knee and charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment, menacing, and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. At 1:07 a.m. yesterday at 14th Street and 30th Avenue, police officers responded to a 911 call of a dispute between two men. As the officers arrived on the scene, they saw Mr. Smith with a gun, and shots were exchanged between the suspect and the officers, police said. Mr. Smith was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the knee. The officers were treated for trauma at Booth Memorial Hospital, a standard procedure for officers involved in shootings. A 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene.
Mr. Smith was charged after a witness said he heard a volley of shots and saw the suspect running eastbound on Astoria Boulevard, while pointing a firearm in the direction of two officers who were running after him, according to police.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
IMMIGRANT STABBED TO DEATH ON SUBWAY
An unidentified man was stabbed to death on a subway in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, a neighborhood not known for its murders, and police were seeking the killer.
At 4:40 a.m. yesterday, a heavily bleeding Hispanic man stumbled off the northbound “N” train after it pulled into the Rector Street stop, and collapsed near the turnstile, ccording to police. he victim, ho was stabbed multiple times in the chest and back, was taken to Beekman Hospital, where he was pronounced dead 20 minutes after the incident. Police said that the identity of the victim was yet to be determined. he victim, believed to be about 45 years old, could be an illegal immigrant, because he was carrying an alien card that appeared to be a forgery, olice said. here have been no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun