CITYWIDE

Bloomberg Says He Will Make 9/11 Memorial Names Decision

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that “less is more” when it comes to the sensitive issue of how victims should be identified on the September 11 memorial. “None of us can feel what a relative feels, of somebody lost, but the memorial is for the country, it is for the world, it is for all New Yorkers,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “We’ll have to come to some resolution and if the parties can’t resolve it, then I, then the decision maker, the decision has to be made and it will be made.” Many family members, supported by city fire and police unions, have lobbied for two years to group names of the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001, by where they worked and died, and to list their ages, the company they worked for or the plane they were on next to their names. Mr. Bloomberg said memorial architect Michael Arad’s design may support a more minimalist approach. Mr. Arad has proposed listing the victims randomly to show the chaos of the day, but has said he was open to further discussion. Officials hope to open the memorial in 2009.

— Associated Press

Council May Seal City’s Hudson Yards Deal Today

The City Council is expected today to approve revisions to its Hudson Yards financing resolution, which will allow the Bloomberg administration to move forward with plans to develop the far West Side.Yesterday, at a City Council hearing, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said the pending approval would clear the way for finalizing City Hall’s recent deal with the MTA. That agreement will give the city control of future development above portions of the MTA’s rail yards. The Hudson Yards financing scheme would allow the city to issue $3 billion in bonds, and use the proceeds to pay for the extension of the number 7 subway line and other infrastructure improvements that it says will attract businesses and residents to the underdeveloped area roughly west of Eighth Avenue, between 30th and 42nd streets. The bond debt would be paid back over 30 years initially with city funds, and as they area grows, with payments in lieu of taxes from developers that build within the designated Hudson Yards district.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Tower for Sale

Lower Manhattan’s Standard Oil Building, a Renaissance-style landmark built in the 1920s by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, is up for sale by New York’s Koeppel family, which is reducing its holdings. Koeppel Companies hired CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., to market the building, said Meyer Last, an attorney who represents the family. The 750,000 square-foot tower could sell for more than $225 million, or $300 a square foot, said David Noonan, an agent with Newmark Knight Frank, a rival brokerage. Though many older Lower Manhattan office towers have been converted to luxury condominiums, “for the immediate future, it’s probably an office building,” said William Shanahan, who is co-heading the marketing team. “There could be a point in time where it could be a great hotel, or even luxury residential.”

— Bloomberg News

Police Search for Boy Left in Stolen SUV

An 8-year-old boy left sleeping in the back seat of an SUV while his mother went to a hair salon was missing yesterday after a woman jumped in the vehicle and drove away, police said. The boy’s mother got out of the sport utility vehicle, a dark green Nissan Pathfinder, and went into a salon in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan, leaving him asleep in the back, police said. She came out a few minutes later and saw a woman get in and drive off, they said. The boy was described as Hispanic, about 60 pounds and 4 feet tall. He was wearing green pants, an orange shirt and black sneakers. His name was not released.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Lawmakers Pass Resolution To Delay Fire Patrol’s Closing

City lawmakers hoping to preserve the city’s Fire Patrol are appealing to the Bloomberg administration for help in delaying its dissolution. In a resolution passed yesterday, they called on insurance companies to reconsider a decision to dissolve the 203-year-old salvage corps on October 15. They also sought support from Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta in extending the patrol’s operations through the end of the year. “I think it’s the only thing we can do at this point,” Council Member Tony Avella, who drafted the resolution, said. A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment on the resolution, while representatives of the insurance industry said the companies were not likely to budge. “I don’t think it’s up to the New York City Council,” a vice president of the New York Insurance Association, Ellen Melchionni, said. The $8.5 million to support the patrol exceeds savings by patrol, she said.

— Special to the Sun

Two Fatal Accidents On Upper West Side

A man and a woman were killed yesterday in two separate motor vehicle accidents on the Upper West Side, police said. The accidents occurred blocks away from each other within the span of two hours, officials said. In the first, which occurred at 4:10 p.m., police said a 66-year-old man was hit by a city bus at the intersection of Broadway and West 73rd Street. The victim, who was not immediately identified, was pronounced dead on the scene. According to a spokeswoman for the Transit Authority, the M104 bus was making a right turn onto Broadway when the man fell from the curb under the bus. In the second accident, at 5:50 p.m., police said a truck hit a woman at the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and West 74th Street. EMS pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Both investigations are ongoing, police said.

— Special to the Sun