CITYWIDE

CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS CRITICIZE MTA FOR PROPERTY CONDITIONS

City Council members say they’ve got the dirt on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In a report titled “The Eyesore Next Door,” members of the City Council said the MTA’s properties were poorly maintained, graffiti was rampant, and illegal dumping was common. “The MTA is a bad neighbor and we’re demanding they clean up their act,” a council member, Eric Gioia, said yesterday after a news conference held to discuss the report’s findings.

– Associated Press

MAYOR INCREASES PRESSURE ON LAWMAKERS FOR EDUCATION MONEY

Mayor Bloomberg is ratcheting up the pressure on Albany lawmakers to come up with more education money for city schools, pitching it as an apolitical issue that boils down to fairness. Yesterday he shared his weekly radio show with the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, and told listeners that the city’s ability to improve education further in public schools students is “hanging in the balance,” because of the “failure of state leaders to meet their responsibilities to our children.” He defended his strategy to push for $6.5 billion in capital money from Albany rather than pressing Governor Pataki to resolve the lawsuit that requires the state to also deliver $5.6 billion in operating funding.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

BLOOMBERG PERFORMS WITH CAST OF ‘SPAMALOT’

Mayor Bloomberg checked his tuxedo Saturday night and put on a white robe and gold-colored crown to perform with the cast of the Broadway hit “Spamalot.” During a performance at the annual City Hall press corps gala at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Mr. Bloomberg recreated the musical as “Spendalot” and played King Michael on a quest to overcome low poll numbers and win re-election. With actor David Hyde Pierce by his side, the mayor poked fun at his $84 million re-election campaign; joked about an endorsement from “Wenches for Bloomberg,” and, as he dismounted an imaginary horse, said riding could be a good solution to the next transit strike.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING STRUGGLES TO RENT OUT OFFICE SPACE

The Empire State Building, the iconic Midtown skyscraper that draws nearly 4 million tourists each year, is struggling to rent out its office space, according to a report today in Crain’s. The 107-story building’s vacancy rate has climbed to 18.2% this quarter from a low of 1.7% in the second quarter of 2000. Its asking rent is $37 a square foot, compared to the average Midtown commercial rent of $48 a square foot. By comparison, the Chrysler Building, on East 42nd Street, rents for up to $80 a square foot.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

IN THE COURTS

INDICTED NYPD COPS, HIGH-PROFILE LAWYERS ASSEMBLE AT TRIAL

It’s a true crime story that begs for a best seller: A pair of oft-decorated NYPD detectives allegedly lead a double life, joining the mob’s payroll. They go on a crime spree, leave a trail of dead bodies, and retire to a life as Las Vegas high rollers. But who to write this tale? Perhaps ex-detective turned defendant Louis Eppolito, the author of an autobiography titled “Mafia Cop”? Or his attorney Bruce Cutler, whose “Closing Argument” covered a career that includes defending mob boss John Gotti? Or Mr. Cutler’s co-counsel, Edward Hayes, whose memoir “Mouthpiece” just hit stores last month? Talent both literary and legal will assemble today at the defense table when the so-called “Mafia Cops” – Mr. Eppolito and former partner Stephen Caracappa – arrive for opening statements in their racketeering and murder trial.

– Associated Press

FLORIDA GARDENER DEPOSES NEW YORK ATTORNEY IN ‘LAWNMOWER WAR’

New legal turf will be cut next week when a Florida gardener deposes one of New York’s leading attorneys as part of an ongoing lawsuit in Florida known as the “lawnmower war.” The West Palm Beach gardener, Scott Lewis, is scheduled on March 22 to question attorney David Boies in New York about whether any personal motives prompted Mr. Boies to put his firm, Boies Schiller & Flexner, at the disposal of a competing landscaping firm in an ongoing dispute with Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis has battled with Mr. Boies’s firm in a lawsuit that has gone before dozens of judges, and through state and federal courts. The case started as a simple contract dispute over a claim that Mr. Lewis had broken contract when he continued doing landscaping work in West Palm Beach after he sold his gardening firm in 1996.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TRISTATE

BOY DIES, FOUR OTHERS INJURED IN NEW JERSEY HOUSE FIRE

BRIDGETON, N.J. – Officials in this rural south Jersey community yesterday were investigating an early morning fire that killed a 12-year-old New York boy who was visiting relatives, authorities said. The boy’s 15-year-old female cousin, as well as an adult couple and their 8-year-old son were also injured in the blaze, a Bridgeton police lieutenant, Mike Gaimari, said.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

EDUCATION EMPLOYEE ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING HOME ATTENDANT

A Department of Education employee was arrested Saturday in Brooklyn after police said she assaulted her father’s home attendant. According to police, Marcella Lenniewr, 45, was visiting her father, along with her brother and sister, when she punched the attendant in the face after the attendant tried to come inside while the family was having a private discussion. Ms. Lenniewr was charged with third-degree assault, police said. The Department of Education has reassigned Ms. Lenniewr pending the outcome of the police investigation, a spokeswoman said.

– Special to the Sun