Arrests of peddlers and panhandlers in the subway have more than tripled over the past two months, compared to the same period last year. Officers have made 274 arrests. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton included the reduction of panhandling in the subway as a top priority in his inauguration speech. In a similar fashion, arrests at public housing for such violations as drinking beer in public and riding a bike on the sidewalk have increased to 21 percent from the same period last year. Such data is now available under Bratton, and was kept under wraps by the previous commissioner. Bratton sees the crackdown on low-level offenses as a way to deter more serious ones. Stop-and-frisks in the transit system, however, have dropped 96 percent.
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>The city will drop a lawsuit challenging the new law making it easier to bring racial profiling cases against police officers, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced yesterday. The suit was initiated by the Bloomberg Administration. The move is expected to be made officially on Monday. Last month de Blasio also withdrew Bloomberg's challenge to court ordered reforms of stop-and-frisk practices. The police unions supported the Bloomberg challenge, and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association filed its own suit. Union officials will use the suit as a bargaining tool in contract negotiations.
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>Seperated by a few city blocks, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke yesterday at dueling education rallies in Albany. De Blasio addressed about 1,000 supporters, mostly union members, to push for his tax on the wealthy for pre-K and after-school programs. Meanwhile, Cuomo committed to supporting charter schools in front of around 7,000 charter-school parents, teachers, and students. He didn't mention de Blasio by name, but charter supporters are upset the mayor revoked $200 million in funding for charters and denied three charters space in public school buildings. Many at the charter rally said they support de Blasio's tax plan. And more than 30 charter school leaders boycotted the charter rally. Afterwards, the mayor and governor met privately and characterized their discussion as productive, but leading to no changes on their stances about the pre-K tax. De Blasio said he'd support Cuomo for re-election either way. The mayor also faces resistance on the charter-school front from two allies. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito and Public Advocate Letitia James, unhappy the mayor allowed most charters to move into public schools, are pressing ahead with a lawsuit to block them.
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