CITYWIDE

LIVERY CAR CRASHES THROUGH FENCE INTO HUDSON RIVER

A livery car crashed through a fence and plunged off a pier into the Hudson River yesterday afternoon, but police were unable to find the driver or the car in the icy current after an extensive search, police said. Scuba divers called off their search because of darkness and plan to resume today at 8 a.m., police said. The car was a black sedan with New Jersey plates.

– Special to the Sun

SUBWAY RUSH-HOUR PERFORMANCE, RIDERSHIP DROPS

October was a bad month for the city’s subways and buses: The on-time rush hour performance for subways and buses dropped 2.6% compared to this time last year and the average number of weekday riders plummeted 3% for the month as compared to a year ago, according to statistics New York City Transit is expected to release today. After reaching record levels of ridership on the city’s subways and buses in September, the sharp decline was attributed primarily to heavy rains, and to fewer workdays because of the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur. A higher incidence of track fires caused most of the delays for the month. The percentage of trains that arrive at the end of the line on time has dropped so far this year to 94.7%, compared to 96.8% this time last year.

– Special to the Sun

COUNCIL TO PASS RESOLUTION CONDEMNING BUSH TAX REFORM PROPOSAL

The City Council is planning to pass a resolution condemning the proposal of President Bush’s advisory panel on tax reform to abolish the federal deduction for state and local income taxes and limit the deduction for home mortgages. Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat, joined the Council Member who introduced the resolution, David Weprin, yesterday in criticizing the proposal, as did the speaker of the council, Gifford Miller. They said that the proposed elimination would harm high taxpaying states like New York and California.

The lawmakers said that the proposed tax reforms would increase the amount of money New York City sends to the federal government by $10 billion to $74.3 billion from $64.3 billion. New York already sends $13 billion more than it gets back, they said. Mr. Rangel said he thought it unlikely that the changes would be adopted, though Mr. Weprin cautioned that opposition was still necessary. “It will only not pass if there’s a real fight against it,” he told The New York Sun.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BLOOMBERG TEAMS UP WITH KLUM TO AID FASHION INDUSTRY

Mayor Bloomberg is partnering with a supermodel to try to aid the city’s garment and fashion industry. Appearing together with city officials at the Parsons School for Design, Mr. Bloomberg and Heidi Klum yesterday announced that a garment industry nonprofit organization would receive half the proceeds from an auction of dresses designed for Ms. Klum’s Bravo television show, “Project Runway.” The Garment Industry Development Corporation also is getting a $244,000 grant from the city to train and bolster the job skills of garment workers. The organization said the money would go to training more than 300 machine operators and supervisors at eight city manufacturers.

– Special to the Sun

TRISTATE

PRICE TAG FOR GIANTS-JETS STADIUM SURPASSES $1B

The cost of the new football stadium the New York Giants and New York Jets will jointly build in the Meadowlands will likely top $1 billion, team officials said yesterday. Owners of both teams filed preliminary site plans yesterday for the new 81,000-seat stadium, to be built between the existing Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack. The teams are still working on design details, and they have yet to determine whether a retractable roof will be part of the plan. The stadium, which will be paid for by the teams is the first in NFL history to be jointly built by two teams, and is due to be ready for the 2010 season. Both teams currently use Giants Stadium. The new stadium will be served by an NJ Transit rail station connected to the Secaucus Transfer Station, potentially bringing 10,000 fans per hour into the stadium by train. The state is not contributing to the cost of the stadium, but is kicking in about $225 million worth of infrastructure improvements.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

SILVERSTEIN TO WAIT UNTIL JANUARY FOR WORD ON $3.5B LIBERTY BONDS

Developer Larry Silverstein will have to wait until at least January for a city vote on about $3.5 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds that will be used to finance the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Yesterday evening, the president of the Industrial Development Agency, the city board that will vote on the bond allocation, Andrew Alper, said Mr. Silverstein withdrew his request that the application be voted on today, pending further negotiations.

“Despite negotiation over the weekend, there remain a number of unresolved issues regarding Silverstein Properties application for $3.5 billion in bonds,” Mr. Alper said. “We remain optimistic that we will reach agreement on all the outstanding issues so that the application can be presented to the IDA board in the near future.” The next IDA board meeting is January 10. The city and Mr. Silverstein have been negotiating the terms and conditions of the bond issue, including the amount of Mr. Silverstein’s developer’s fee and the construction timetable.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun