MTA TO RAISE FARES
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously voted to raise fares on the city’s trains, buses, bridges and tunnels last Wednesday, Dec. 19. The new rates, which will go into effect in March, include a 25-cent increase on base subway and bus fares (up to $2.50), an $8 spike on 30-day MetroCards (to $112) and an extra $1 for a seven day pass (to $30).

Bridge and tunnel tolls all will increase, many by 53 cents to $5.33 for E-ZPass holders and by $1 to $7.50 for cash users. Metro-North and Long Island Railroad fares, which vary by time and distance, will go up on average 8.19 to 9.31 percent per ticket.

The bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards also will decrease to 5 percent from 7 percent. A bonus will be applied to purchases of $5 or more, however, instead of the current $10 minimum.

To determine the fare changes, MTA accepted feedback from customers on four different proposals for increases earlier in the year. The price hike is the authority’s fourth in five years, and it is expected to generate $450 million annually.

CITY SEEKS TO EXTEND EAST RIVER FERRY SERVICE
Major Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and NYC Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky announced their search for a long-term operator for the East River Ferry service. Launched in June 2011, the ferry this year already surpassed its projected 1.3 million passengers for the entirety of its three-year pilot program.

According to Bloomberg, “We now have the opportunity to build upon this success and sustain this essential part of our transportation vision well into the future. Expanding transportation options along the waterfront will better serve communities and spur new housing and economic development.”

A major success of this service was proven in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in that it was one of the first forms of mass transportation that got back on its feet.

“This ferry has not only proved to be a reliable and efficient form of transportation in a time of crisis, but New Yorkers also really love taking it the rest of the year,” Quinn said.

BillyBey Ferry Co. operated the ferry for the pilot program, which will expire in June 2014. The new Request for Proposals seeks an operator to maintain, improve and possibly expand this system for the following five years. Responses to the request will be collected through March 2013.

KRUEGER ENDORSES LAPPIN FOR BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Last week, state Sen. Liz Krueger has announced her endorsement of Jessica Lappin in the Democratic primary of Manhattan borough president for next year. Krueger, who noted that she had worked with Lappin for almost 10 years, said she had no doubt about Lappin’s ability to lead and make a difference.

“She shares my commitment to reform and has a proven record getting results for all New Yorkers,” Krueger said, listing results such as limited power of big money, three new Manhattan waterfronts, regulation of crisis pregnancy centers and the building of additional schools.

Lappin, in turn, praised Krueger for her tenacity. “I am equal parts excited and honored to have Liz’s support in my campaign for borough president,” she said. “No one has done more to advance the cause of reform and good government in New York over the past decade than she has.”

RED HOOK WORKERS STAFF NEW FAIRWAY IN KIPS BAY
Workers from the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged branch of Fairway Market in Red Hook relocated to Manhattan last week to staff the company’s newly opened grocery store in Kips Bay. The Red Hook branch, which is right on the water in Brooklyn, remains temporarily closed, and the company has been working to place workers in its other locations and provide free shuttle services to transport them there. The new 40,119-square-foot branch, located in the Kips Bay Shopping Center at 550 Second Ave. (at East 30th Street), is the market’s fourth Manhattan store, and 12th overall. The market has opened nine of its locations in the past six years.

Bridge and tunnel tolls all will increase, many by 53 cents to $5.33 for E-ZPass holders and by $1 to $7.50 for cash users. Metro-North and Long Island Railroad fares, which vary by time and distance, will go up on average 8.19 to 9.31 percent per ticket.

The bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards also will decrease to 5 percent from 7 percent. A bonus will be applied to purchases of $5 or more, however, instead of the current $10 minimum.
To determine the fare changes, MTA accepted feedback from customers on four different proposals for increases earlier in the year. The price hike is the authority’s fourth in five years, and it is expected to generate $450 million annually.

CATHOLIC-SCHOOL PARENTS HOPE TO PREVENT CLOSURE
The parents of students at the Holy Name of Jesus school have begun a petition to prevent the school’s closure next year. The elementary school, located at 202 W. 97th St., was one of 27 parochial schools that the Archdiocese of New York recently announced could be closed after the academic year is completed in June, due to diminishing enrollments and financial deficits.

The Archdiocese has given its schools until early January to propose a plan to recoup losses, so Holy Name’s parents are soliciting petitions from alumni and neighborhood residents to save the school, as well as trying to raise funds to cover the $400,000 needed to keep the school open for another year.

“It’s sad to see the archdiocese close its doors on a school that has been around for over 100 years,” said Venus Trujillo, a mother of two children in the school. “Generations and generations of children have come here. Parents travel to bring their children here from the Bronx, Westchester, Queens and even New Jersey because they themselves came here and they want a good education for their children as well.”

She added, “Many parents are around during the morning and after school just trying to figure out what else we can do.”

Students at the school recently staged a holiday play called “Santa’s Elf Esteem,” and held their annual Christmas pageant last week.

RIVERSIDE DEVELOPMENT DETAILS ANNOUNCED
A development along Riverside Boulevard that will include apartments, a school, a movie theater and office and retail space broke ground earlier this month, and last week developer the Dermot Company released early details about the development’s first building on West 61st Street.

The 43-story building, whose address will be 21 W. End Ave., will house the development’s school along with 616 rental apartments and 23,725 square feet of retail space. The four-story school will educate students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, and will include a gym, science laboratory and library.

According to the announcement, residents in the building’s luxury apartments will have access to “a 60-foot, custom-shaped swimming pool and separate hot tub, a 21,000-square-foot fitness center, a yoga and dance room, a private wine bar and lounge, a children’s play area, a hobby room [and] a dog grooming area.” The apartments will have floor-to-ceiling windows.

In compliance with the New York State Housing Finance Agency’s 80/20 program, 127 (20 percent) of the building’s apartments will be low-income units.

The developer expects the building to be completed in June 2015. The school, which is public, will open in 2016.

Due to the recent development boom, especially in large residential buildings, there has been a substantial increase in school-aged children on the Upper West Side. The school system, however, has yet to experience the same level of expansion. CB 7 and local parents have been pushing to make sure that the new school can accommodate as many children as possible.

“While this agreement will not immediately resolve the area’s school overcrowding crisis, it is an affirmation of the community’s long-stated contention that we need more seats,” said State Sen. Tom Duane in a statement.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONTEST
A group of Upper West Siders is launching a new initiative to get people engaged in fighting climate change. Called the Carbon Squeeze, the program is a series of talks and contests that will pit neighbor against neighbor in challenging people to lower their carbon footprint. The first talk will be Monday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave.

Environmentalist Paul Reale, from The Climate Change Project, will give a talk, “Climate Reality: The Truth We Pretend Not to Know,” accompanied by images, on how climate change is affecting the planet and what people can do now to change it. The group will also debut the Carbon Squeeze challenge at the talk. Future events are planned with Mark Gorton, founder of Open Plans and the NYC Streets Renaissance, and Colin Beavan, of No Impact Man book and film fame.
CITY TO MONITOR SEWER OVERFLOWS IN REAL TIME
Last summer, Upper West Siders panicked when an emergency fire forced the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Hudson to dump 200 million gallons of untreated sewage into the river, and some local officials were not pleased with the Department of Environmental Protection’s response time in warning residents of the potential dangers. The incident also raised questions about how much untreated sewage is entering the waterways on a regular basis as a result of combined sewer overflows that occur when it rains. Now, the DEP has announced that they will be monitoring these sources in real time with new sensors at five locations and is planning to bring the same monitoring system to the Hudson River in the near future.

Compiled by Megan Bungeroth & Grace Ragi

“They need to correct this right away because parents shouldn’t be put through this,” Kellner said. “You want to be able to go register your child and have peace of mind.”

The deadline for kindergarten enrollment is March 2, and though 311 is still relying on the old maps, the DOE’s website has updated information and says that they are working to update 311. P.S. 158 and P.S. 290 are also affected by the misinformation, so parents are encouraged to call schools directly to make sure that they are enrolling in the correct zone.

Legal Battles Become Book Fodder
Local attorney Eric Dinnocenzo has turned his experiences working in housing court and providing pro bono legal assistance to tenants into a new novel, The Tenant Lawyer. We asked the Upper East Sider about his new book.

How did you craft your main character?
The character was loosely based on my experiences working as a legal services attorney straight out of law school in the early 2000s. I wanted to create a protagonist who struggled with insecurities and self-doubt along with anxiety about career and success. I also wanted him to have a complex relationship with both the more blue-collar town he grew up in [Worcester] and the more sophisticated place he ended up [the Back Bay in Boston, working for a high-powered law firm].

How were you influenced by your work as an attorney in writing this book?
Without that experience, I couldn’t have written this book. I would have had no insight into what goes on in the housing court [or the] one-strike law that propels one of the plotlines. [That law] allows innocent tenants to be evicted from public housing if a family member or guest engages in illegal drug activity, whether the tenant knew about it and whether it was on or off the property. It shows how courts will harshly penalize low- and middle-class people but bend over backward to assist and enable the powerful.

Free Screening of Gasland
Nonprofit advocacy group Food & Water Watch is hosting a free screening of the Academy Award-nominated film Gasland, a documentary by Josh Fox about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on surrounding water supplies, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. at Lenox Hill Hospital, 100 E. 77th St., Einhorn Auditorium. Reserve a spot at foodandwaterwatch.org or call Assembly Member Micah Kellner’s office at 212-860-4906.