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Friday, July 22, 2022
Vol. 10, No. 29
SUMMER DINING
BLAKEMAN DEFENDS CRIME STATS
HILLARY CLINTON ENDORSES ZIMMERMAN
PAGES 23-26
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
Nassau officials united in LIRR criticism Blast MTA for proposed changes to Port line as part of East Side Access BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
PHOTO BY ROBERT PELAEZ
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman criticized the proposed schedule changes for the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington branch on Tuesday.
Elected officials throughout the Great Neck peninsula, Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County made a unified call to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reinstate express service on the Port Washington line of the Long Island Rail Road on Tuesday. The bipartisan call to action was made following the MTA outlining the proposed schedule changes in June as part of the agency’s $11.2 billion East Side Access Project. The proposed changes, residents and officials said, are providing commuters on the Port Washington branch of the LIRR
with a decrease in express service. “Every day, thousands of Nassau County residents depend on the Long Island Rail Road to commute to work and come home,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said during a Tuesday press conference. “Their new schedule plan makes it much harder for people to plan their schedule. In effect, they’re cutting service.” Stops on the Port Washington Line, which also includes the Great Neck, Manhasset and Plandome stations, would increase by more than 20% during morning peak hours, according to the schedule. While Long Island Rail Road ofContinued on Page 38
Blakeman, Ryder warn Jersey car thieves BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said 75% of stolen cars throughout Nassau this year were done so by Newark residents during a press conference on Thursday. From Jan. 1- March 31 of this year, more than 300 stolen vehicle reports were filed to the county’s police department, a 255% increase from
the same time frame last year, according to statistics. Ryder and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman criticized New York’s bail reform and Raise the Age laws, saying they are putting the safety of New Yorkers at risk. “Because of laws like cashless bail and Raise the Age, people in the whole state have been less safe,” Blakeman said. “We have people who commit crime after crime in New York. They
steal a car, they’re out the same day. The next day they steal a car, they’re out the next day.” In 2017, New York raised the age of criminal responsibility to individuals who are at least 18 years old. Ryder said crime rings throughout Newark are sending younger individuals to steal cars since they will not be prosecuted as adults. “You can’t keep letting people out of jail,” Ryder said. “They know if they
come here, they will not get arrested, but still, they also apply to Raise the Age. They send 15 and 16 and 17-year-old kids to do these acts and they know if they get caught… they’re going to get out.” Blakeman signed an executive order earlier this year which cites a need to “increase transparency by disclosing in daily reports the pending criminal case data and bail status of those rearrested” by the Police Department.
He said the reports will be made available online. Officials said nearly 90 percent of the 11,000 people arrested in the county in 2021 were released without bail. More than 300 of those individuals were released without bail following a weapons-related offense, according to officials. Ryder referred to an April incident where five police officers were injured Continued on Page 39
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