PRESS POINTS

Cheaper Metro-North, LIRR trains on the way?

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Getting from Riverdale to Grand Central Terminal could take less than 30 minutes on Metro-North (compared to a lot longer via bus and subway). But the cost isn’t that great — $6.75, off-peak. Or even worse, $9.25 at peak.

City comptroller Scott Stringer is calling for an end to such prices, and instead wants traveling inside the five boroughs to cost the same as a subway — whether it’s on a Metro-North train or the Long Island Railroad.

“New York City’s transit system is in crisis,” Stringer said, in a release. “While commuter rail tracks care through the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, working New Yorkers are stuck behind an unacceptable paywall, forced to pay an exhorbitant amount, or spend extra hours stuck on overcrowded subways and buses.

“Affordable Metro-North and LIRR service would give New Yorkers more time with their family and friends, cut congestion on our streets and in our subways, and expand economic accessibility for hundreds of thousands of people.”

While Metro-North could get someone from Riverdale to Grand Central in 30 minutes — the same trip by bus and subway could take up to 90 minutes, Stringer said.

Even worse, many of the Metro-North and LIRR trains are nowhere near full capacity, even at peak times, leaving a lot of empty seats that could have otherwise been filled.

The price tag for such a venture would cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority some $50 million a year, according to Stringer. However, that’s just a fraction of the $7 billion it cost to open four new stations along Second Avenue and Hudson Yards.

Stringer’s proposal comes as MTA plans a Metro-North expansion into the eastern side of the Bronx, with stops in development for Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-op City.

 

Verdi wins lawsuit round over former school job

A lawsuit a former assistant principal levied against the city’s education department has ended in a settlement worth $230,000.

Manny Verdi, a former assistant principal at P.S. 24 Spuyten Duyvil, had sued the city claiming he was targeted for being a whistleblower, after making claims Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz was interfering with the school’s admissions process. Although the case has been ongoing since 2016, education department officials decided the best course of action was to settle, according to the New York Post.

Verdi’s defamation lawsuit against Dinowitz will apparently continue. The former school administrator said the lawmaker blamed him for the school losing annex space nearby.

Councilman Andrew Cohen has been pulled into that particular lawsuit following a letter to the editor published in The Riverdale Press, according to the Post.

Verdi first cried foul in 2016 over Dinowitz sending his then chief of staff, Randi Martos, to oversee kindergarten registration at the school. Verdi has claimed this was designed to ensure students from other parts of the district were rejected — a claim that Dinowitz has denied.

Metro-North, Scott Stringer, MTA, LIRR, Michael Hinman, Manny Verdi, P.S. 24 Spuyten Duyvil, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Randi Martos,

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