BROOKLYN

COUNCIL APPROVES RED HOOK IKEA

The City Council voted overwhelmingly yesterday to approve construction of the first Ikea furniture store in the five boroughs. The 50-to-1 rubber-stamp vote paves the way for the Swedish company to erect a 346,000-square-foot big-box store on a 22-acre parcel along the waterfront in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn,

The approval vote, which was all but guaranteed after the measure sailed through the council’s land use committee last week, did not come without community opposition. Critics of the plan argued that the store would clog Red Hook’s narrow streets with traffic and pollute the neighborhood around the store site. They also argued that using the space for commercial development, rather than park space or public-use purposes, was a squandered opportunity.

Proponents say the store will create 600 new jobs, with a hiring preference for local residents, and spur the economy.

Mayor Bloomberg supports the plan, but admitted last week that he might not have been keen on it if he lived in Red Hook. Construction on the project, which still needs federal approval, could begin by the end of the year.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

COUNCIL TO REQUIRE NURSES IN ALL SCHOOLS

The City Council voted yesterday to mandate that the city station nurses in all public and private schools with at least 200 students. Parents and teachers throughout the city, primarily in Staten Island and Queens, have been fighting for the nurses for the past two years. They said it was outrageous to have students with ailments such as diabetes or food allergies in schools without nurses.

Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden has argued against the measure at several council hearings. He said rotating nurses through smaller schools was adequate. Under Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, the nurse-to-student ratio was set at one nurse for every 755 students, rather than allocating a nurse for each school.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CIT Y SETTLES 41 FERRY CRASH LAWSUITS

A year after the Staten Island Ferry crash, the city has settled claims with 41 passengers for the relatively small sum of $1.89 million.

According to the comptroller’s office, the city has added 16 settlements to its list since July when it had made deals with 25 of the 180 passengers who were seeking a combined $3.3 billion. The settlements, which range from $1,500 to $1.13 million, do not include any of the wrongful-death actions filed by the 11 families whose relatives were killed when the ferry veered off course and slammed into a maintenance pier.

The wrongful death suits, along with two others filed by passengers who lost legs in the accident, will undoubtedly fetch the largest payouts.

“At this point, they haven’t put up nearly enough money to settle,” said attorney Derek Sells of The Cochran Firm. Mr. Sells represents Paul Esposito, who lost both of his lower legs and garnered widespread attention for his optimistic response. “We’ve had discussions, but they haven’t come back with anything that would legitimately settle these cases. It’s really a shame,” Mr. Sells said.

The 41 passengers who have settled claims were seeking a combined $160 million.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COUNCIL CHECKS NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND COMPLIANCE

With questions swirling about whether New York City students are getting the free tutoring and transfers they deserve under No Child Left Behind, federal, state, and local officials are set to testify today about the rules of the new law – and whether the city is complying.

The witnesses at the City Council hearing include a deputy secretary of education for the U.S. Department of Education, Eugene Hickok, an associate commissioner of the New York State Education Department, Sheila Evans-Tranumn, and the city’s deputy chancellor of operation, LaVerne Srinivasan.

Last year, New York City offered transfers from failing schools to all 26,395 students who requested transfers, according to information the education department provided to the City Council. A total of 6,823 decided to change schools.

This year, the city is capping transfers at the number of spaces available at successful schools. City Council Member Eva Moskowitz, who is convening today’s hearing, has said limiting transfers appears to be an attempt to “scuttle” the federal school choice law.

In the information it provided the council’s Committee on Education, the city said its plan complies with the law and was approved by both the State Education Department and the U.S. Department of Education.

The state has told The New York Sun that it only approved certain parts of the city’s plan, and federal officials said that it’s up to states to implement No Child Left Behind.

“We did not give NYC or anyone else a pass,” Susan Aspey, a federal education spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. Ms. Moskowitz said yesterday that parents should be notified about their options earlier and children should be able to transfer out of failing schools before November.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

MORE RESIGNATIONS IN WAKE OF VELELLA EARLY RELEASE NOD

Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday that he ousted three more members of the commission that voted to support the early release of Guy Velella, a former Republican state senator and Bronx party boss.

Mayor Bloomberg accepted the resignations of Local Conditional Release Commission members Jeanne Hammock, Irene Prager, and Amy Ianora yesterday. “It is time for new people to join this commission and we will announce new appointments as quickly as they are made,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement. The purge of the four-person panel comes just a day after Mr. Bloomberg accepted the resignation of Raul Russi, chairman of the Local Conditional Release Commission.

The commission was under fire for deciding to give Velella, 60, an early release after he was sentenced to a year at Rikers Island jail for charges stemming from a bribery scandal. He served a little more than three months of his sentence. Critics saw the release as cronyism for a political heavyweight. Mr. Bloomberg immediately denounced the release and called for an investigation. For several weeks he has been signaling that the commission members’ jobs were in peril.

The Department of Investigation commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, is investigating the matter. Mr. Bloomberg had asked Ms. Hearn to make sure no one in his administration had been involved, even tangentially, in the Velella decision.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

FOURTEEN CHARGED WITH DRUG, CIGARETTE TRAFFICKING

Federal prosecutors yesterday announced charges against 14 men accused of drug trafficking and distributing $5 million in counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes to bodegas, a fish gear shop, and other businesses in Greenpoint and Brighton Beach.

According to prosecutors, Azat “Ozzy” Oganessian, a 33-year-old Armenian immigrant, and a crew of 10 men purchased the fake Marlboros from a Chinese gang in Los Angeles. The men allegedly drove the cases of cigarettes east in stolen cars, stopping off at safe houses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to affix fake New York tax stamps to the packages. Law enforcement sources say Mr. Oganessian paid the Chinese gangsters $10 per carton and re-sold the cigarettes for $22 to $32 each. An FBI spokesman said the scheme cost New York $1 million in lost tax revenue.

Another crew allegedly under Mr. Oganessian’s leadership distributed methamphetamines and ecstasy. Investigators reportedly seized 15,000 ecstasy pills from the organization. Mr. Oganessian, who owns a restaurant called Ararat in Brooklyn, previously was charged with drug conspiracy. The cigarette charges were made public yesterday in the unsealed indictment. A lawyer for Mr. Oganessian said his client is “completely innocent – he is an honest family man.”

Mr. Oganessian, who is being held without bail, faces a possible life sentence if convicted. His brother, Grigor Oganessian, 38, of Los Angeles, was also charged yesterday in the cigarette conspiracy.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

DEAF SUICIDAL MAN SAVED BY ‘SIGNER’ DETECTIVE

A police detective who started studying sign language just two years ago “talked” a deaf man out of making a suicidal leap yesterday from the roof of a seven-story Coney Island housing project.

Dwayne Jones, 25, was despondent after a fight with his girlfriend and wanted to end his life from the roof of his building, said Detective Anita Golden of the 60th Precinct. Mr. Jones’ girlfriend, who also knows sign language, called police. Detective Golden found the distraught man with one leg swung over a fence at the roof’s edge. Detective Golden said she began by exchanging abbreviated “sign names” with Mr. Jones, engaging in a 10-minute conversation which required his full attention, because signers must look each at other while communicating.

“It definitely occupied his attention because he had to pay attention to me,” Detective Golden said. As Mr. Jones was signing with Detective Golden, Emergency Services Unit officers grabbed him off the fence. Mr. Jones was then taken to Coney Island Hospital for evaluation.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun