CITYWIDE

COUNCIL COMMITTEE ALLOWS TENANTS PET PRIVILEGES

A City Council committee passed a bill yesterday to allow tenants to get new pets if theirs die, but the hearing turned ugly and the vote passed by a slim margin. The legislation extends pet waivers for those who live in “no-pet” buildings for the duration of the tenant’s stay in the building, rather than simply the life of the pet.

Council Member Melinda Katz, the lead sponsor of the legislation, called it a “people bill,” saying that the pets serve as important companions to many New Yorkers. Animal rights activists testified in support of the measure, but opponents argued that co-ops and other residential buildings should be able to make their own rules. The measure passed 7 to 4. Under current law, landlords in no-pet buildings can evict a tenant for up to three months after a pet dies if a new pet moves in. The full Council will vote on the bill today. The committee of Housing and Buildings also voted to increase fines on buildings that fail to provide tenants with adequate heat and hot water.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COMPTROLLER WARNS AGAINST RISKS OF OVERSPENDING

The Comptroller’s office identified $165 million in risks in the city’s fiscal 2005 budget because the city continues to underestimate the amount it spends on overtime pay, while bills for health insurance, Medicaid, debt service, and pension expenses continue to spiral, according to a report released yesterday. The city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said that while Mayor Bloomberg has managed to bring the budget into balance this year, going forward the city will struggle under multibillion dollar deficits. Despite increasing the 2005 Budget Stabilization Account, which is used to help reduce out-year deficits by $354 million to $574 million, the city faces a projected deficit of $2.97 billion in fiscal year 2006, he said. The projected gap grows to $4.18 billion in fiscal 2007 before narrowing to $3.35 billion in fiscal 2008.

The comptroller also worried about longer-term risks associated with certain gap-closing measures proposed by the city. In particular, he was concerned about the city’s decision to end the pay-as-you-go capital spending for school construction to save $200 million a year, the report said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

STREETS NEAR WTC SITE TRANSFERRED TO CITY

The director of the city’s office of Economic Development and Rebuilding testified at a City Council hearing yesterday that streets around the World Trade Center site would be transferred to the city from the Port Authority. Joshua Sirefman, who is also chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, told the council’s Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment that a deal had been reached on the land transfer. The agreements were reached between the city, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Silverstein Properties, headed by the site’s leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, Mr. Sirefman said. The deal will give the city a greater role in the redevelopment of the site as well as ownership of all the “re-established” streets around and within the site.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

HOSPITALS PROMISE TO HIRE MORE LATINOS AFTER REPORT

Hospital officials in New York City are promising to bring more minorities into their leadership after a civil rights group found a shortage of Latinos among their trustees and top managers. Of the 13 hospitals surveyed by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, all of which serve minority neighborhoods, 12 had no Latinos as chief executive or senior vice president, and six had no Latinos on their boards. Overall, 3.6% of the trustees and 1.5% of their top administrators were Latino, compared to 27% of New York City’s overall population.

The major exception was the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, where nine of the 15 trustees and three of the 10 top managers were Latino. The president and general counsel of the fund, Cesar Perales, called the numbers “shocking.” Mr. Perales said the report gives him grounds to file a civil rights complaint, since the hospitals receive funding from the federal government, but he would give them time to act voluntarily. In response, the Greater New York Hospital Association announced it was forming a task force “to guide hospitals in their efforts to increase racial and ethnic group representation” in their leadership. The group is to be headed by a former chairwoman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Ida Castro.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

TRANSIT WORKER STRUCK AND KILLED BY TRAIN

A transit worker was struck and killed by a train yesterday afternoon while performing routine maintenance work on the tracks in a Kensington Subway station, police said. The 54-year-old worker, whom police identified as Harold Dozier of Brooklyn, was struck by a northbound 2 train in the Newkirk Avenue subway station at about 2:50 p.m. He was taken to Kings County Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival, police said.

Also yesterday, an unidentified man was discovered dead on the tracks of the northbound G and R lines in Astoria, Queens. The man’s body was discovered about 100 feet down the tunnel from the Steinway Street station, police said.

Police do not suspect criminality in either death.

– Special to the Sun

CONVICTED MURDERED SENTENCED

The convicted murderer in a 1996 drive-by shooting at the Sikh community of Richmond Hill was sentenced at Queens Supreme Court yesterday. Tejpal Singh, 30, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for shooting two Sikh men, one fatally, before fleeing to Canada, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Tejpal was convicted of killing Kamaljit Singh, 24, and wounding Ramjit Singh, 28, in August 1996 in front of Ramjit’s house at 97th Avenue. Tejpal was the passenger in a black Chevy Blazer that pulled up to the house as family members gathered outside. Tejpal pulled out a handgun and shot both the victims in their backs, mortally wounding Kamaljit and seriously wounding Ramjit.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WORK CREW FINDS HUMAN REMAINS

On a quiet stretch of road in north Brooklyn, a cleanup crew on a routine job stumbled upon a set of human remains yesterday morning, police officials said. The remnants have yet to be identified, but the secluded area just one block south of Evergreen Cemetery is home to a large homeless population, said police. The medical examiner is currently trying to determine the cause of death.

– Special to the Sun