The city has paid out a $45,000 settlement to Trayvon Christian, a black man who sued the city for racial profiling after he was arrested for purchasing a $350 belt at Barneys in 2013, after receiving a paycheck for a work-study job. Mr. Christian later returned the belt, indignant at being stopped by plainclothes police officers a block away over reports he had used a fake card in the store. Barneys was ordered to pay $525,000 for racially profiling customers and has also had to hire an anti-profiling consultant. (Gothamist)
An anonymous caller alerted the New York Police Department early today that Marcus Shelton, a 36-year-old with addresses in Harlem and the Bronx, has threatened to kill police officers in the name of the Islamic State. According to the tipster, Mr. Shelton is armed and dangerous, although the NYPD says it does not have probable cause for an arrest at this point. Mr. Shelton is already wanted on other outstanding warrants. (New York Post)
CitiStorage founder Norman Brodsky is suing two companies that he alleges caused a fire at his storage facility in Williamsburg last winter. The companies—Citipostal and Recall Holdings—were tenants in the facility that Mr. Brodsky still owned after selling CitiStorage for $110 million in 2007. Mr. Brodsky is suing for $3 million in damages and $2 million in relocation costs brought on by the fire, which forced him to move. However, he may get $250 million if he sells the 11-acre property, although the area is slated to be turned into parkland. (DNAinfo)
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build new stables for horse-drawn carriages in a 160-year old building currently used by the Parks Department is under fire from New Yorkers for Parks. The group claims the plan—part of a broader effort to reduce the number of horse-drawn carriages in the city from 180 to 110 by December and ban horses from city streets—is utilizing public funds to aid private businesses, while also misusing the 160-year old facility to be renovated. The plan is still awaiting City Council approval. The horse-drawn carriage plan also threatens the livelihoods of pedicab drivers, who rely on similar clientele. (CBS New York)
Brooklyn’s Sunset Park has lost its “Little Norway” status. The area, now mainly Latino and Asian in population, is no longer a Scandinavian enclave in the city, but some residents fear that gentrification could strike the neighborhood next, as it has Williamsburg, Park Slope and Greenpoint immediately to the north. Still highly diverse by coastal Brooklyn standards, Sunset Park’s factory district is experiencing rapid development, increasing fears of gentrification and a loss of the diversity some residents prize. (New York Times)
