STATEN ISLAND

FIREMAN IS ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY MAKING LEWD GESTURES TO GIRLS

A lieutenant in the fire department who is also a former New York police officer was arrested yesterday for making lewd gestures to a group of high school teenagers outside a public high school in Staten Island, law enforcement officials said.

On Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., the firefighter, David Leandro, 34, allegedly approached a group of four teenage females, ranging from 15 to 17 years in age, as they were walking to class at Susan Wagner High School.

As he approached the girls, Mr. Leandro, who was driving a gray-colored van, began exposing himself. He then drove around the block two additional times, law enforcement officials said, exposing himself in a similar manner, and then parking his van near the school. The girls, who law enforcement officials said all live together in a group home, ducked into school and registered a complaint with police.

Mr. Leandro has been suspended without pay, a spokesman for the fire department, Paul Iannizzotto, said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

FIRE COMMISSIONER SAYS UNION’S RED LIGHT POLICY SLOWS RESPONSES

The fire department commissioner said in a letter yesterday that firefighter response times have slowed because union leaders have advised members to stop before going through red lights or stop signs.

A union president called the commissioner’s accusation “foolish.”

In a letter to fire union presidents Peter Gorman and Stephen Cassidy, Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said Mr. Gorman has “repeatedly directed officers to disregard department rules and regulations” by advising them to stop before running red lights or stop signs on the job.

The fire department’s policy allows fire trucks responding to emergencies to go through red lights or stop signs “after slowing down as may be necessary for safe operation.” It also states that the provision “shall not relieve the driver from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons, nor shall this protect the driver from the consequences of reckless disregard for the safety of others.”

Mr. Scoppetta cited several examples in which Mr. Gorman allegedly told union members to stop before going through intersections.

Mr. Cassidy said they were telling members to drive safely and to read the policy.

– Associated Press

MOSKOWITZ: DIPLOMA IMBALANCE SLIGHTS BLACK, HISPANIC STUDENTS

City Council member Eva Moskowitz said yesterday that New York has a segregated system of diplomas, with white and Asian students receiving Regents diplomas and black and Hispanic students receiving local high school diplomas, which are easier to achieve and worth less in the real world.

“New York State doesn’t issue black and white diplomas, but that is the message this data sends, loud and clear,” she said. “We must not lower standards in order to hide the harsh truth that we are failing to tackle this profound civil rights issue.”

According to Department of Education data, only 18% of high school students receive Regents diplomas. White and Asian students are about three times as likely to receive a Regents diploma than black and Hispanic students. About 36% of White and Asian students receive the Regents diplomas, versus about 9.5% of black and Hispanic students.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education, Michele McManus Higgins, said the department agrees that the issue is a problem.

“The Chancellor has made this point on numerous occasions and in many forums, including in his speech at the Schomburg Center almost a year and a half ago,” she said. “Those results are a critical reason why the Department of Education has embarked upon the most comprehensive school reform this city has ever seen. We are not just talking about this issue; we are doing something about it.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

RATNER BUYS 66 APARTMENTS THREATENED BY EMINENT DOMAIN

Developer Bruce Ratner, who is seeking to build a 21 acre, $3.5 billion development over the Atlantic Yards that would include an arena for the relocated New Jersey Nets NBA team, announced that his company has entered into agreements to purchase 66 of the 73 apartments which were threatened to be taken over by eminent domain.

The buying spree is one reason the cost of the project has risen by a billion dollars, to $3.5 billion in the last year, and continues the efforts of Forest City Ratner Companies to win over a skeptical public. Last week, Mr. Ratner’s firm announced its intention to reserve half of the 4,500 apartments for residents with incomes of less than $100,000 a year.

The acquisition of the eminent domain apartments represents a blow to opponents of the plan, who have tried to create an alternative development over the rail yards owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and have depicted the use of eminent domain as a political risk. An executive of Forest City Ratner Companies, James Stuckey, said the deal represented the firm’s efforts to give owners fair market value for their homes. Mr. Stuckey spoke at the first City Council hearing on the contentious development that opponents say will create a towering eyesore, cutting off the rest of Prospect Heights and adding to traffic congestion.

Mr. Stuckey also called an earlier Forest City Ratner Companies’ development – the Atlantic Center – a mistake, saying the design of the retail complex adjacent to the Atlantic Yards was better served for large retailers than for people shopping at the complex.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

PORT AUTHORITY FINANCES EXTENDED STORAGE OF 9/11 ARTIFACTS

The bistate agency that operates the site of the former World Trade Center announced yesterday that it would authorize an additional $4.9 million to continue storing artifacts recovered from the World Trade Center site after the September 11, 2001, attacks, supplementing the $5.75 million already authorized for this purpose.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has already salvaged the last steel column removed from the site, burned-out fire trucks, 18 sections of the World Trade Center antenna, and two PATH train cars pulled from the rubble. All of these items are stored at Hangar 17 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens. The collection, which is the largest of World Trade Center artifacts, represents less than 1% of all the debris removed from the site. Some of the artifacts will return to the World Trade Center site and become part of a memorial. Others will be provided to museums and various institutions that will allow for public viewing of the objects.

– Special to the Sun