In the News: Tribecan Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver

••• Niklas Ahern, 29, of Tribeca was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Queens. Condolences to his family and friends, and let’s hope the driver is caught. —New York Post (UPDATE: The New York Daily News has more on Ahern.)

••• Aisling McDonagh moved from Independence Plaza to Gateway Plaza in Battery Park City. —New York Times 

••• The New York Post caught wind of Community Board 1’s vote against an honorary street-naming for an NYPD officer who was killed while on duty for the Army Reserve in Iraq. And the Broadsheet has quotes from CB1 members during the discussion.

••• There’s a nasty legal battle inside the Ponte family, which owns much of Northwest Tribeca: “When [Joseph [Ponte’s] daughter Marguerite Colazzo died unexpectedly in 2013 at the age of 47, it set up a bitter showdown between the surviving Pontes and Marguerite’s husband, Tonino Colazzo, and two kids, who claim they’re being shut out of the family fortune. And when Vincent Ponte, Marguerite’s brother, found out Tonino Colazzo had begun dating again, he promptly had the Colazzo name on Marguerite’s then-temporary headstone removed, court papers say. He was able to do this by allegedly lying to the cemetery that the couple had divorced. Tonino was able to change it back, the husband says in the legal filing. While other members of the Ponte clan raked in $10,000 a month in profits from the family’s ventures, including real estate and several recycling companies, Marguerite’s husband and kids were told funds had dried up, they allege in court papers.” —New York Post

••• A Wall Street Journal on P.S. 150’s lease not being renewed by the owners of Independence Plaza, so they can turn it into a gym for residents, includes this: “City data shows the lease for P.S. 150 cost $791,509 in the 2016-17 year, or $4,255 per child, far higher than the citywide average.” Would it have killed the WSJ to say what the average is?

 

5 Comments

  1. Re: “City data shows the lease for P.S. 150 cost $791,509 in the 2016-17 year, or $4,255 per child, far higher than the citywide average.” Would it have killed the WSJ to say what the average is?

    1.) The citywide average is miscalculated in the city data. Most schools are NOT leased. Despite that, the city data divides the total systemwide lease expense by the total systemwide number of students (apparently in both city owned and city leased schools) to come up with a $186 lease expenditure per student amount. If the numerator and the denominator do not match, then the average per student number is meaningless.

    2.) Even calculated correctly, a citywide average would be irrelevant IMO. Unless one is going to bus all these public school students to locations throughout NYC, why would one compare a Tribeca school lease rent to the citywide average?

    3.) If one looks at nearby leased schools on a per student basis, perhaps this school lease does not look unreasonable, hence the desire not to renew or extend the lease. Leased high schools per city data in downtown Manhattan ranged between $5,100 and $9,600 per students, more than the $4,255 figure.

    https://infohub.nyced.org/reports-and-policies/financial-reports/financial-data-and-reports/school-based-expenditure-reports

    • James, thank you for your comment about PS150, great idea to cite the high school numbers. The group of parents fighting this move are doing more research into the overall legal and financial picture and would love to touch base with you. The group can be reached at coreteam@ps150pta.com. Thank again for your comment!

  2. Re:WSJ Talk about biased reporting and not including any referenced stats for comparison. Makes you wonder…

    • Personally it strikes me more as being lazy, uninformed reporting, and lacking in skepticism, than being outright biased. That is more insidious than mere bias IMO.

  3. Stop the presses! Community Board 1 shame on you! Really, one gesture of compassion for a fallen soldier and local police officer to co-name a street he worked on for years and you couldn’t muster up the decency to help his family and police community honor him. This liberal, not anti-cop local is so ashamed of you 21. I am seething. If the family try again with you lot I think they will need more #’s to persuade you to confront your indifference and insensitivity. We lefties have loud voices you jerks!

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