State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens)

Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be New York State lawmakers.

The un-shocking news Tuesday that State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) was arrested on bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges makes him the 14th state lawmaker and the third State Senate leader facing the wrong side of the law in the past five years.

“Elected officials are called public servants because they are supposed to serve the people,” FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said after the arrest. “Public service is not supposed to be a shortcut to self-enrichment… At the very least, public officials should obey the law.”

Federal prosecutors accused Smith, a key Democratic member of the State Senate’s new bipartisan leadership, of using intermediaries—a cooperating witness and an FBI investigator posing as a political operative—to bribe Republican Party leaders into letting him run for New York City mayor on the GOP line. Also rounded up were Republican chairmen in Queens and the Bronx, as well as a city councilman, plus the Spring Valley mayor and his deputy—a scandal that rocked both the city and Albany.

“You pull this off,” Smith allegedly told the undercover agent last year, “you can have the house … I’ll be the tenant.” He is now denying the accusations.

Smith, the State Senate president during the Democrats’ 2008-2010 majority, was stripped Tuesday of his chairmanship of the Independent Democratic Conference—five Democratic senators that split from the rest—that joined with Republicans this winter to form a rare leadership coalition.

“The allegations outlined today involving Malcolm Smith are extremely troubling,” Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the chamber’s co-leader, said in a statement. “I concur with the swift decision made by Independent Democratic Leader Jeff Klein to strip him of his committee assignments and his conference leadership position.”

Skelos, who was the majority leader until the Republicans lost control of the State Senate in the November elections, succeeded Pedro Espada Jr., a former Democratic senate majority leader from the Bronx and ex-GOP senate majority leader Joe Bruno from upstate—both of whom were also charged federally.

Espada is awaiting sentencing after pleaded guilty to tax fraud in October and being convicted last May of stealing from a Bronx nonprofit he ran. Bruno is facing retrial after appealing his wire fraud conviction.

Shirley Huntley, a former Democratic state senator from Queens, pleaded guilty in Nassau County court two months ago to charges related to covering up her theft of taxpayer money from a nonprofit. She faces up to two years in prison when she’s sentenced Thursday in a related case.

Hiram Monserrate, a disgraced Democratic state senator from Queens, was sentenced in December to two years in prison for misusing $100,000 in taxpayer funds for his campaign. He had joined with Espada in a 2009 Senate coup and was expelled from the senate in 2010 after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.

Carl Kruger, an ex-Democratic state senator from Brooklyn, was also sentenced last year to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to taking $1 million in bribes from health care officials and a lobbyist.

Last summer saw retired Republican state senator Nicholas Spano of Yonkers, who was unseated seven years ago, be sentenced to more than a year in prison for tax evasion.

A year prior, State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mischief for attacking a New York Post photographer. He was re-elected in November, but was stripped of his then-title of majority whip.

Disgraced Democratic State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was also sentenced to 1-4 years in prison in 2011 for a pay-to-play scheme involving the state pension fund. He had resigned in 2006 after being caught using state employees to care for his sick wife. He was released from prison in December after serving 20 months.

In 2010, Efrain Gonzalez, another former Democratic state senator from the Bronx, was sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing more than $700,000 from two charities.

And in 2009 in the lower chamber, Assemb. Brian McLaughlin, another Democrat from Queens, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after the former labor leader had pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.

Perhaps the biggest corruption scandal in recent memory came five years ago when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer abruptly resigned after investigators found he was paying prostitutes for sex. He was never charged.

More recently, Assemb. Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) has refused calls to resign last year after former female staffers made sexual harassment accusations that resulted in Lopez being stripped of his title of Brooklyn Democratic chairman.

Although the Smith case doesn’t directly affect Long Island, it does hit close to home—his senate district abuts the Nassau-Queens line, as does the city council district of his alleged accomplice, Daniel Halloran. The councilman’s quotes allegedly caught on tape epitomized New York’s crime wave of political corruption.

“That’s politics, it’s all about how much,” Halloran told the undercover agent while discussing his need to raise money for his congressional campaign, according to the FBI. “Not whether or will, it’s about how much, and that’s our politicians in New York, they’re all like that….And they get like that because of the drive that the money does for everything else. You can’t do anything without the fucking money.”

That’s because the LIRR added four late-night eastbound trains from the transit hub across the street from the new venue to accomodate the 334-percent increase in ridership on the line since Barclays’ debut last September.

“Barclays Center has been every bit the draw we had anticipated it would be, creating a whole new customer stream for the LIRR,” LIRR President Helena Williams said in January.

The last train out of Brooklyn used to be at 11:55 p.m. but the LIRR added trains that ran through 12:41 p.m. after the center opened. Now, after the LIRR new schedule went into effect this week, the latest train from the Atlantic Terminal is 1:42 a.m. on weekends and 1:37 a.m. on weekdays.

That trains mark the restoration of service that was cut years prior during the MTA’s budget crunch. Four westbound trains to Brooklyn were also restored to the schedule.

The LIRR said in January that before the Barclays Center opened, an average of 990 riders to the train to the Atlantic Terminal on a typical Thursday evening and another 430 riders boarded trains leaving the station.

Those figures jumped to 3,135 and 3,835, respectively, on Thursday, Oct. 11, the first of two Barbra Streisand concerts at the center. The biggest night yet—4,852 riders to Brooklyn and 5,377 from—was Dec. 11, when the Nets hosted the Knicks for the first time as crosstown rivals.

Brooklyn-bound LIRR ridership is sure to continue to increase once the New York Islanders move to the Barclays Center from Nassau Coliseum. Big name acts on Barclays’ concert calendar next month include Alicia Keys, Green Day and Bob Seger.

Gary Council pleaded guilty Feb. 14 in Queens court to sex trafficking charges.

Prosecutors said the 22-year-old man forced the victim to have sex with men in exchange for money at a house in Ozone Park he and others were squatting in, then forced her to give him the cash for six days ending Feb. 11, 2012.

“This was a horrific case in which the victim, a young girl, managed to survive a nightmarish ordeal,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Fortunately…the victim will not have to testify at trial and relive her ordeal.”

Inside the Hidden World of Sex Trafficking on Long Island

When the victim tried to leave or take a shower, Council forced her to stay and prostitute herself through online ads.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Council told the victim, according to prosecutors. “You are going to stay here and make my money.”

The victim fled Feb. 12, 2012, when Council told the victim to go across the street and get him something from the store. She instead ran away and did not return.

Council was the ringleader of a group of men who were rounded up in the case.

Three other men, 24-year-old Junior Goldring, 22-year-old Omari Millington and 23-year-old Renardo Williams, all of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to raping the girl.

Andrea Furlonge, 22, of Queens, also pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in the case. Roy McMillan, 25, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to trespassing.

Goldring, Millington, Williams and Furlonge are scheduled to be sentenced next month. McMillan will be sentenced in April.

Lamont Pride

The North Carolina man who killed a New York City police officer from Long Island during a botched home invasion has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.

Brooklyn Judge Alan Marrus handed down the sentence Thursday to Lamont Pride, 28, who was convicted two weeks ago of murdering NYPD Officer Peter Figoski, a 47-year-old divorced father of four from West Babylon.

Pride fatally shot Figoski in December 2011 when officers caught him trying to rob a drug dealer. Figoski’s partner apprehended Pride shortly later.

Michael Velez, Pride’s 22-year-old alleged getaway driver, was tried before the same judge but a separate jury acquitted him. He was reportedly sentenced to two years in prison for a parole violation.

Two other suspects, 28-year-old Nelson Morales and 31-year-old Kevin Santos, both of Queens, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

A fifth man involved in the robbery, 23-year-old Ariel Tejada of Queens, had pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a lighter sentence.

The festival will also play host to the first NYC performance in 26 years of Greg Ginn’s iconic band Black Flag, featuring Jealous Again-era vocalist Ron Reyes. An additional taste of what’s to come includes Swans, Lambchop, Iceage, Son Volt, Rhys Chatham and Oneida (special collaboration), WHY?, Merchandise, Chelsea Wolfe, Twin Sister, The Soft Moon, Milk Music, Kisses, Lower, Destruction Unit, Good for You, Greg Ginn & the Royal We and many more. (Scroll down for full lineup)

Northside Music, June 13-16, will showcase nearly 350 bands creating what’s next in music.  For the first time ever during Northside, the two McCarren Park concerts, on Saturday and Sunday, will be free!  In addition to the 6,000-capacity McCarren Park space, there will be free music programming Saturday afternoon during Williamsburg Walks in the neighborhood epicenter, Bedford Avenue.  All day Bedford Ave. will be closed off to car traffic from Metropolitan Ave. to McCarren Park and transformed into a public space with art, live music, food, and more.

The festival kicks off with NExT: The Northside Entrepreneurship and Technology Expo. NExT has two major programs: a free, public innovation expo in McCarren Park, Brooklyn, to showcase NYC’s innovation community, and an entrepreneurship conference that takes place at a handful of venues in walking distance from the park.

In addition to more than 100 booths and presentations, NExT at McCarren Park will include the following:

The transformative Brooklyn startup Windowfarms will bring the “farm” to NExT in McCarren Park. Windowfarms will allow attendees to experience that salad grown in the window of a city apartment can taste like it’s straight from the big country farm. By building a “farm” using their innovative Windowfarm systems right in McCarren Park, attendees won’t just see what’s next, they will taste it too!

VOXON will unveil a sneak peek of the Voxiebox – the world’s first Volumetric Entertainment System – with never before seen voxel-based experiences for NExT attendees. Witness breakthrough volumetric display technology that leaves 2D pixel-based screens behind to mesmerize you with real 3D voxels visible with the naked eye. Remember when Makerbot was just an open source dream? Don’t miss this opportunity to get hands on with a Voxiebox before it takes the world by storm!

Fresh off its seed round led by Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss, Hukkster tracks selected products online and lets you know when they go on sale. It’s the ultimate deal finder and each user is their own curator. For the duration of NExT, participating attendees will be offered limited time offers to get special deals throughout Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Hourly.com, a New York based startup, is fundamentally changing the way freelancers and prospective employees connect. Hourly.com powers The Northside Festival’s volunteer program, and connects the festival management to top, local, event producers who make this amazing festival possible.

Premier partner GroupMe, the company that helps people enjoy their lives and experiences with friends, will offer access to early bird badges through Experiences from Friday, February 22 through Friday, March 1. GroupMe will also offer festival goers the opportunity to stay connected with their friends and receive important festival updates via the featured mobile messaging group, which they can start on GroupMe.com.

Northside will also be partnering with Red Bull Creation. Red Bull Creation is a national 72-hour themed innovation competition pitting six teams of makers, hackers and inventors against each other in a live-build format from June 12-16 at McCarren Park during NExT. In its third year, the annual maker competition will feature new technology to inspire creative submissions starting April 8. Check www.redbullusa.com/creation for a chance to show your inventive spirit amongst like-minded creatives from music, film, art and entrepreneurial backgrounds.

LINE UP

BLACK FLAG
(FIRST NYC PERFORMANCE IN 26 YEARS)
SWANS
ICEAGE
LAMPCHOP
SON VOLT
RHYS CHATHAM & ONEIDA (SPECIAL COLLABORATION)
WHY?
MERCHANDISE
CHELSEA WOLFE
TWIN SISTER
THE SOFT MOON
MILK MUSIC
KISSES
LOWER
DESTRUCTION UNIT
GOOD FOR YOU
GREGG GINN & THE ROYAL WE
& MANY MORE TBA!!!

For more information on Northside Festival visit www.NorthsideFestival.com

Long Island Rail Road

Taking the Long Island Rail Road further along into the 21^st century could transform Long Island and revitalize the region, says Nancy Rauch Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation, a civic-minded non-profit group which just released its latest Long Island Index report at an event held at Molloy College in Rockville Centre on Tuesday.

“The Long Island Rail Road is one of Long Island’s top assets,” Rauch told the audience, with “potential to be transformative.”

“Our goal is to look at the railroad differently,” she said.

For 10 years her foundation’s annual Long Island Indexes have been providing the Island’s “civic, academic, labor and business leaders” with “useful, unbiased information that will lead to greater community awareness of Long Island issues and to serve as a catalyst for action,” as the organization says on its website. Or as Rauch said from the stage of the college’s Madison Theatre: “Using the facts to think smart.”

This year the Index is called “The Long Island Rail Road: From Moving Commuters to Shaping the Next Economy.” During her presentation, Ann Golob, director of the Index, called the railroad “one of the great underutilized assets of Long Island.” As it is, she noted, the LIRR’s commuters to the city add an estimated $26 billion to Long Island’s economy, while taking more than 100,000 drivers off our major already congested arteries into Manhattan—which became a huge factor after Superstorm Sunday knocked the LIRR out of service for a week.

Making her case, Golob cited how Metro-North has helped transform White Plains from a blighted city in decline into a vital urban center, drawing almost as many reverse commuters from New York City each day as it sends to Manhattan. The railroad did that by building double-track capacity some 15 years ago. Long Island should follow their lead, she advised.

Among the conclusions raised by the Index is that upgrading the LIRR would not only spur improvements for commuters but help spark local economic development for all Long Islanders. With the East Side Access completed to Grand Central, now slated for 2019, the report found that Nassau and Suffolk residents would have better access to 560,000 high-paying jobs in Manhattan, and they’d reduce their commute by almost three quarters of an hour. More importantly, 400,000 homeowners in Nassau and Suffolk counties would see the value of their homes rise by an average of $7,300.

By expanding the Ronkonkoma line to two tracks east of Farmingdale and adding a third track to a 10-mile stretch of the main line from Floral Park to Hicksville—now a major choke point on the second largest commuter railroad in the United States—the region’s employers would have increased access to half a million potential workers in Nassau and Suffolk, unreliable service would vastly improve on the Ronkonkoma line, home values would rise near the stations, property tax pressure on individual residents might ease up and the overall economy would boom. Plus, young people who’ve fled Long Island for Brooklyn and points west might be tempted to move back if developers provided affordable housing within walking distance of the trains.

“We prefer to think of it as Long Island’s ‘fast track,’” said Golob, referring to the line upgrades. “This way we can catch up to our neighbors…. We have the potential to outpace them, but we’ve got to get moving fast.”

LIRR president Helena Williams, who spoke at a panel discussion after the Index presentation, said that restoring service in 2012 to the Port Washington line following drastic cuts previously imposed by the MTA’s budget problems “paid for itself” with increased ridership because those commuters could resume catching a train every half hour instead of once an hour. With the upgrades to the railroad, frequency up and down the line would increase, and the economy would benefit.

Left unanswered—for now—is where the money to finance the upgrades would come from. The East Side Access project alone costs some $8.2 billion, and New York State is rolling in debt. But the people behind the Index hope they can start moving the conversation in the right direction.