Neighborhood News Check
Groups Propose Park Over the M.T.S.
Activists on the Upper East Side have begun to rally behind an idea of transforming the design of the East 91st Street marine waste transfer station to accommodate more neighborhood demands, the Daily News reported. Groups who have fought against the transfer station would like to see the station used for residents' benefits, by building a park and outdoor recreation area similar to the High Line. The proposal suggests that the roof of the transfer station would be a park with a looping walk way into the park areas. The design does require, however, that a ramp for trucks to transport the waste to be relocated, a move which the city so far has not signalled it will consider. Daily News
Court: Hoffman didn't want 'trust fund' kids
Court documents show Philip Seymour Hoffman rejected his accountant's suggestion that he set aside money for his three children because he didn't want them to be "trust fund" kids.
The New York Post says the children's court-appointed lawyer recently interviewed the actor's accountant, David Friedman.
In a July 18 filing in Manhattan Surrogate Court, Friedman recalled conversations with Hoffman where the topic of a trust for his children was raised. He said Hoffman wanted his estimated $35 million fortune to go his longtime partner and the children's mother, Mimi O'Donnell.
According to the filing, Friedman said Hoffman treated O'Donnell "in the same manner as if she were a spouse."
The court-appointed attorney says the actor's will should be approved by the court because there isn't anything suspicious about it. AP
Mentally Ill attacker sentenced to 12 years in prison
Curtis Forteau, the mentally ill man who stabbed a woman on the Upper East Side in 2012, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the Daily News reported. Forteau has had a history of mental illness, going in and out of psychiatric care since his teenage years. The assault on Sabatha Tirado, who worked in a salon near East 86th Street where she was attacked, was random. Forteau said that voices he heard had pushed him to do it. Forteau suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and the judge urged him to get psychiatric help while serving his sentence. Daily News
NYPD: Man stole a dozen laptops, bottle of bourbon
Police say they've arrested a man in a three-month string of thefts in Manhattan than netted a dozen laptop computers, cash and even a bottle of bourbon. Officers arrested Darnell Lawson early Friday as he tried breaking into a midtown building.
The 50-year-old Manhattan man is charged in connection with 11 burglaries in April, May and June. He's also facing attempted burglary and trespass charges.
Police say the thefts all happened after closing at businesses between 23rd and 38th streets, including some near the Empire State Building. Each incident involved a suspect wearing a "Brooklyn" ball cap forcibly entering businesses in the technology and marketing fields and scooping up as many as five laptops at a time. Information on Lawson's lawyer wasn't immediately available. AP