Cell phone thief takes victim for a ride

Mugs rider on bus

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 19- Police are asking for the public's help in trying to catch the latest group of cell phone thieves who struck on the street and on a city bus. Investigators released surveillance video and photos in an attempt to catch the thieves.

The first mugging took place at around 1 a.m. on June 30. A 31-year-old man was walking down Starling Avenue when he was attacked by two men. The muggers threatened the man with a knife and made off with his iPhone and cash.

Cops arrested one of the suspects but there is still one at large. They released video of the mugging in the hopes of caching the second suspect who is 5 foot 10 and was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and shorts.

Another brazen thief struck on a city bus in broad daylight. At around 4:30 p.m. on July 5, the victim was riding the northbound MTA BX19 bus along Southern Boulevard. As the suspect was walking toward the back of the bus he snatched the cell phone out of the victim's hand. The thief dashed out of the back exit at the East 156th Street stop.

Police released photos of the suspect while he was riding on the bus and when he was running down the street during his escape.

Anyone with information should call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS.

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto Crime Stoppers' website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Library to pay $105G In questionable taxes

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Library to pay $105G In questionable taxes: By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- The New York Public Library will pay $105,000 in disputed charges for real-estate-tax paymen...

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Contract voted down

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Contract voted down: Electric company here to continue Installations without board approval By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- The Southside ...

Contract voted down

Electric company here to continue
Installations without board approval

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- The Southside Electric Company, which has been doing work here without having a contract approved by the Riverbay board, will continue to oversee the installation of smoke detectors and GFI receptacles even though the board, last week, rejected a contact for the company.

Riverbay president William Gordon said, this week, that the installation work, which was started without a board-approved contract for the Southside company, will, nevertheless, continue under the electric company’s supervision.

The matter of a board-approved contract for the Southside company was submitted for the consideration of board members after some of them voiced concern that they had been kept out of the process.

Gordon said, this week, “We will continue to use Southside’s license so that the installation work can continue. We’re going to have some of the work done by Southside’s workers and some done by Riverbay workers to see which option works out better.”

Commenting this week, Riverbay board member Daryl Johnson said that it’s outrageous that members of the board, until last Wednesday night, had never discussed a possible contract with the Southside Electric Company.

“We should have been involved in the process in the first place,” Johnson stressed this week. “It’s outrageous that Southside got a contract to do work here without the board’s approval. Having them work here and then having the board consider a contract is as lame as lame can be. It’s putting the cart before the horse. It’s no way to do business, but it is the way the Riverbay Corporation does business.”

The installation of smoke detectors and GFI receptacles in every apartment here is a requirement of Co-op City’s $621.5-million, HUD-insured mortgage.

Library to pay $105G In questionable taxes

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- The New York Public Library will pay $105,000 in disputed charges for real-estate-tax payments as a condition for a new lease for its space adjacent to the Bartow Avenue Shopping Center.

Library official had previously balked at making these payments, saying that bills for them were not submitted in a timely manner and that the bills weren’t properly documented.

The Baychester Library, which reopened this week, had been closed for a week because its air-conditioning unit wasn’t working.

A spokeswoman for the New York Public Library said, this week, that the library system looked forward to a cooperative relationship with the Riverbay Corporation and the Co-op City community in the years to come.

With the public library paying its real-estate-tax debts, the controversy over commercial real estate taxes for Co-op City and its merchants has yet to be resolved even though the matter was on the front burner of community concerns several months ago.

Management officials have taken pains to avoid the issue in recent months, and so have merchants, some of whom have refused to pay the taxes.

Other merchants have agreed to pay modest increases in taxes, seeming to be relieved that threats of tax increases of up to 1,200 percent, which has been threatened several months ago, were on the back burner for now.

The Baychester Branch of the New York Public Library has been a mainstay in Co-op City since the community’s earliest days.

In the 1970s, the local library, which remains one of the city’s most heavily utilized branch libraries, had been threatened with closing during a budget crunch that brought the city to the edge of bankruptcy.

A major community effort, at that time, played a key role in the decision to keep the local library open.

Push-in robbers attack elderly woman

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- Police are on the lookout for a pair of women who pushed their way into an elderly Baychester woman's home.

Cops released surveillance video of the suspects wanted in connection with he robbery. At around 3:10 p.m. On June 27, two women broke the lock to the front door to the house on Burke Avenue and Eastchester Road. The women pushed their way inside and waved a handgun at the 78-year-old victim. The thieves rummaged through the senior's belongings. The pair grabbed the victim's purse and fled in a two-door silver sedan.

The elderly victim was not injured during he stickup.

The robbers are described as black women between the ages of 20 and 25, 170 to 180 pounds and are around 5 foot 10.

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS.The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Parkchester robbers strike again

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 18- Two members of a robbery crew that struck Parkchester are being sought for two stickups on the west side of the borough.

Cops say a man and a woman from the crew stuck up two woman in two different neighborhoods during a one-hour period. At around 6:50 a.m. on June 27,the couple robbed a 49-year-old woman at gunpoint near Jerome Park. An hour later the pair robbed a 22-year-old woman at gunpoint in Mount Eden.

Cops released a photo of a grey sedan they believed was used in the robberies.

Investigators said the couple was part of a five member robbery crew that robbed a woman at gunpoint in Parkchester. At around 9:24 a.m. on June 21, cops say the crew robbed a woman at gunpoint on a Parkchester street. The 40-year-old was walking down the street when a man approached her and pointed a gun at her head. As the gunman removed the victim's purse from her shoulder, a man and a woman acted as lookouts. They made off with the victim's purse but not before their images were captured in surveillance video.

Cops got a break when the fifth member of the crew used the victim's credit card. Her image was captured on a store's surveillance video. Police released images from the videos in the hopes of capturing the crew.

The gunman is described as a black male, six feet tall. He has a slim build and was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt, dark pants, sunglasses a red hat and was carrying a firearm. The crew member suspected of using the stolen credit card is a black woman in her mid 40s. She was last seen wearing a white short sleeve shirt, white hat,and sunglasses.

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS.The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.