Matthew Schuerman

New York, NY —

Former mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer will join opponents of the Willets Point redevelopment plan at a public hearing in Queens this morning.

But his involvement comes with a catch: he will be getting paid for it. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

In the battle over these 60 ...

New York, NY —

Negotiations between concrete producers and truck drivers resumed today after they broke down last week. In a joint statement, the concrete companies and the union said they "remain committed to reaching a fair and equitable agreement for all concerned."

More than 400 drivers, who are members ...

New York, NY —

A new ferry service for commuters to Manhattan started in Rockaway, Queens, in mid-May. It is the first of several ferry routes that Mayor Bloomberg has pledged to subsidize with city taxpayer funds. WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman looks at how it's been going.

New York, NY —

A Queens community board narrowly voted in favor of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to redevelop Willets Point. The roll call was 21 to 15 and came after midnight this morning. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman was there to witness it. He joins us this morning.

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration's proposal to redevelop Willets Point cleared its first hurdle - but just barely. After almost 50 people spoke at a public hearing, and by a vote of 21 to 15, the local community board voted in favor after a six-and-a-half hour meeting ...

New York, NY —

After months of excavation delays and fines, the Port Authority finally conceded that its property, the World Trade Center site, is seriously behind schedule. So much so, that the agency is throwing out a schedule it announced less than two years ago.

At that time, the ...

New York, NY —

The rebuilding of Ground Zero is not going to get done any time soon.

That's the message today from the Port Authority, which owns the site. It was two years ago when the agency promised to finish the World Trade Center memorial and the transit hub ...

New York, NY —

The state official in charge of taking down the former Deutsche Bank tower says the structure is likely to remain standing into next year.

Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, estimated in January that the contaminated building would be dismantled by the end ...

New York, NY —

The Domino Sugar sign will be saved. That is what the developer of the Domino Sugar refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is promising.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission today approved a proposal to turn the refinery into apartments.

The commission rejected an earlier design. This time, the developer reduced ...

New York, NY —

The MTA Board voted unanimously to take back the lifetime free EZ Passes from former board members after pressure from the governor, mayor and the attorney general.

REPORTER: However, they did so reluctantly. MTA chief executive Lee Sander says the free EZ Passes and commuter rail ...

New York, NY —

Special express buses will still start running in the Bronx later this month, but they will be slower than anticipated.

That's because a state Assembly committee blocked a bill to install cameras that would catch cars that illegally use the bus lanes.

The committee's chairman, David Gantt ...

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson says no more free rides for Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members.

Paterson stepped in today to try and quell a rebellion by some board members who wanted to hold onto passes that gave them free unlimited use of the road toll system — ...

New York, NY —

State legislators from Brooklyn are pushing for a new community advisory board to help oversee the troubled Atlantic Yards project.

The state economic development agency had promised to involve local politicians a year ago. But Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries says those efforts have failed.

JEFFRIES: This developer has ...

New York, NY —

The City Council is poised to pass the first two bills to reform the Buildings Department this afternoon. One of them requires the department to report on its website the addresses of construction sites where injuries and fatalities occur.

The chairman of the Council's Buildings Committee, ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration is trying to get the Internal Revenue Service to change a rule that prevents privately owned sports teams from issuing tax-exempt bonds. Hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks are at stake. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

REPORTER: The IRS imposed the ...

New York, NY —

Another delay in the rebuilding effort at the World Trade Center site, and more fines for the site's owner, the Port Authority.

The agency says it will pay developer Larry Silverstein between $9 and $18 million, because it will not meet a June 30 deadline to ...

New York, NY —

Columbia University has made a deal with one of the last owners of private property in the neighborhood where it wants to create a new campus.

The school says it will trade land it owns in Washington Heights for a six-story warehouse in West Harlem now ...

New York, NY —

Police commissioner Ray Kelly says officers should start using TASER stun guns in cases where a firearm isn't necessary. The recommendations came after the RAND Corporation released a study of 455 police shootings from 2002 to 2006.

REPORTER: In 25 of those cases, according to the ...

New York, NY —

A high-ranking crane inspector was arrested for allegedly receiving bribes from a crane company.

The Department of Investigation says that James DeLayo, the assistant chief crane inspector at the city's Department of Buildings collected thousands of dollars worth of bribes for falsely certifying that cranes from ...

New York, NY —

An estimated 3,500 people turned out for a rally in support of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Many of them were union construction workers who took time off nearby jobs. They said they felt the project, which will be union-built, was being threatened by ...