LAURELS & DARTS-Opinion from the Editors:Wednesday, November 13

LAURELS & DARTS
Opinion from the Editors

DART to the THIEF who swiped a Brooklyn woman’s emotional support dog outside a McDonald’s in Bushwick on Nov. 7. “I’m really bonded with him,” Nicole Polsinelli, the dog’s owner, told NBC 4 News. Polsinelli’s boyfriend took both dogs along when he went to get something to eat at around 10 p.m. and left them tied up to a pole outside the fast food joint on Broadway near Gates Avenue. Surveillance video from outside the restaurant captured footage of a man untying Havoc, Polsinelli’s pit bull, and running from the scene with the dog at his side. The other dog, Rogue, was left tied to the pole, but according to Polsinelli, was badly shaken up when her boyfriend returned. “He was taking my baby. I don’t know why anyone would do it,” she said. 

LAUREL to GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, for pledging to revoke National Grid’s license if the utility doesn’t restore gas service for shut out New York City and Long Island customers in the next 14 days. National Grid has said it will not be able to meet demand for gas in the region without building the Williams Pipeline, a 23-mile extension of existing pipeline that would run from New Jersey into the Rockaways. The proposal has been rejected twice on environmental grounds, and state lawmakers have said the utility has failed to demonstrate the pipeline is a necessity. “They are playing a game … where they’re trying to extort New Yorkers to get their pipeline built and this is not going to be a matter of extortion,” Cuomo said. 

DART to INK PROPERTY GROUP, whose negligence and subsequent illegal renovations have pushed residents of a Bushwick building out of their apartments and into hotels across the borough. In August, tenants sued the landlord and owner of 1549 Dekalb Ave., requesting a court-appointed building administrator. The tenants cited rodents, water leaks, mold and ongoing electrical problems in the suit. A Department of Buildings inspection found four instances of renovations to the building that were being performed without the required permits, including electrical and plumbing projects. For almost two months, residents have been staying in hotels while INK secures the proper work permits. In 2017, housing advocacy group Stabilizing NYC named INK one of the city’s ten most predatory equity landlords. 

LAUREL to State Assemblymember NILY ROZIC, a Queens legislator who sponsored a package of bills to help veterans which was signed by Gov. Cuomo this week. The first bill expands Operation Recognition, which awards high school diplomas retroactively to veterans. Rozic’s bill extends the program to include vets who served in all wars after Vietnam, including Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Approximately 838,000 veterans in New York state will now qualify for Operation Recognition, Rozic’s office estimates. The second bill directs state agencies to collect data on the number of homeless veterans in the state, and to provide recommendations to local governments to address the growing problem. The bills passed in the Assembly and the Senate with bipartisan support. According to the Veterans Alliance, on a single night in 2018, there were 37,878 homeless veterans nationwide.