CITYWIDE

PORT AUTHORITY: FOURTH BIG AIRPORT MAY BE NEEDED

The head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said yesterday that the metropolitan region may need a fourth major airport to meet the great demand for air travel.

“At some point someone thought of building the George Washington Bridge and eventually built it,” Anthony Coscia, the Port Authority chairman, told reporters after testifying to lawmakers. “We have an obligation to ourselves and to the future to be able to build for that growth.”

Mr. Coscia, who testified before a state Senate committee, also said his agency has asked federal regulators to reduce flights in and out of Teterboro Airport, where two planes have skidded off runways and a third crashed while landing this year. Located in a densely populated area, Teterboro has grown into one of the nation’s busiest small airports. It had 202,720 arrivals and departures in 2004, a 4% increase from 2003.The airport has been a longtime sore spot for neighboring residents, who have complained of aircraft noise and exhaust odors.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

FRENCH EMPLOYEES OF ’21’ CLUB FILE DISCRIMINATION SUITS

Three former waiters at Manhattan’s renowned “21” club have sued the posh eatery for more than $5.3 million, saying they were fired because of their ages and because they are French.

Rene Bordet, 68, and Jean Claude Lesbre, 63, worked at “21” as waiters and floor captains for 10 years until they were fired in 2004, and Yves Thepault, 68, was a waiter at the restaurant for 14 years until he was sacked in 2005, court papers say.

“In 2004 and 2005, defendants engaged in a concerted and egregious course of action to rid defendant 21 club Inc. of its older and long-term employees of French national origin,” the three say in papers filed Friday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court. Court papers say “21,” which was a 1920s-era speakeasy, fired Messrs. Bordet and Lesbre after “fabricated and false allegations of drinking on the job,” while Mr. Thepault was let go for “gross insubordination” after an argument with a chef.

The restaurant’s public relations manager, Diana Biederman, denied that the club was biased. “We are an equal-opportunity employer, treat everyone fairly, and do not discriminate against our employees,” she said. She declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit.

– Associated Press

WEINER SAYS MAYOR FAVORS PUBLIC SCHOOLS OVER PAROCHIAL

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democratic candidate for Mayor, told an audience of about 50 at the CUNY Graduate Center yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg was favoring public schools over parochial schools when he failed to protest the recent closing of 22 Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. “I called it a crisis,” Mr. Weiner said in his speech. “Rather than jump into action, the mayor seemed to cheer their demise.”

Stuart Loeser, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign spokesman, called the assertions by the Weiner campaign inaccurate. “Since he can’t compete with Mike Bloomberg’s record bringing New Yorkers together, Weiner has resorted to crazy allegations and pitting one group against another in his strangest attempt yet to salvage his relevance,” Mr. Loeser said.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN CHARGED AFTER CAUSING SCHOOL BUS CRASH IN CORONA

A man was arrested on charges of drunk driving and reckless endangerment yesterday after causing a school bus full of middle-school children to crash into a bodega storefront in Queens, police said. Ten people, including eight children, were taken to Elmhurst Hospital for minor injuries, police said. The driver, identified by as Julio Quezada, 42, struck the bus early yesterday morning, causing the bus driver to lose control and crash into the Latino Supermarket on the corner of 107th Street and 37th Avenue in Corona. The bus was on its way to I.S. 230 in Jackson Heights. The crash caused the bodega’s metal awning to collapse, police said. Officials evacuated the apartments above the storefront until the soundness of the structure could be determined, police said. Mr. Quezada could not be reached for comment yesterday.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE SHOOT BENSONHURST MAN WHO LUNGED AT THEM

Responding to a 911 call about a domestic dispute in an apartment on 62nd Street in Bensonhurst yesterday, a police officer shot a man in the stomach after he allegedly lunged at him and a fellow officer with a pair of knives, police said.

Paramedics took the alleged assailant, identified by police as Sze Deng, 53, to Lutheran Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition. Two kitchen knives were recovered from the apartment, police said. Police are using interpreters to investigate the reason for the 911 call, police said. Charges against Mr. Deng are pending, police said. According to police, Mr. Deng has a history of mental illness, and has spent time in psychiatric institutions twice in the last three years.

– Special to the Sun

TEENAGER FALLS OFF RAFT, SWEPT AWAY IN THE BRONX RIVER

Police were still searching late last night for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared in the Bronx River after falling from a makeshift raft, police said. Around 8 p.m. yesterday, at least seven teenagers were playing on a raft they had made themselves when a few ended up in the cold water, police said. The 14-year-old, Joseph Johnson, panicked because he could not swim. Friends tried to help, but said they could not grab hold of him. Marta Quinones, 42, who lives near the river, said after she saw a waving arm in the water she swam out to rescue Mr. Johnson, but she could not find him.

Neighbor Debbie Marero said she had heard from family members that Mr. Johnson and his friends talked about this part of the river as a secluded hideout. Mr. Johnson, who lived west of the river near Crotona Park, was likely swept north by the river’s strong current, police said.

– Special to the Sun