Fauxgressive council cronies writes bill to cancel criminal background checks for renters

 

Queens Chronicle

A bill pending before the City Council woud ban landlords from conducting criminal background checks on prospective tenants.

Councilman Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn) and supporters say it is necessary and bans discrimination against ex-convicts who have turned their lives around. Many have trouble getting leases once their backgrounds are known. Advocates told the Daily News on Monday that the bill would ease homelessness and shelter overcrowding.

The bill reportedly has 27 co-sponsors — and the backing of Mayor de Blasio.

Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, represents thousands of landlords. He told the News on Monday the bill is problematic, and should be rewritten to allow exemptions.

He said landlords should have control over their properties, and have a right to prevent drug dealers, gun dealers and gang members from operating in their buildings. He also said the bill would expose landlords to unacceptable levels of potential liability. The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the next few weeks.

New Queens D.A. Melinda Katz promises less prosecution

NY Post

 Queens District Attorney-elect Melinda Katz announced Tuesday she will go softer on criminal defendants when she takes over as the borough’s chief prosecutor on Jan. 1.

Katz said she will make it easier for criminal defendants to have their cases heard by a grand jury within five days of an arrest, without losing their right to plea bargain.

The former borough president said defendants have a legal right to have a grand jury hearing within five days. But the current policy of the Queens DA’s office refuses to bargain with a defendant who does not wave his right to the five-day grand jury rule.

“Beginning with cases newly arraigned on January 1, 2020, the DA’s staff will at all times be open to discussions aimed at resolving cases and will not withhold plea offers from persons who choose to exercise this statutory right,” a press statement put out by Katz’s transition team said.

Likewise, Katz said the existing policy of refusing to engage in plea discussions with defendants who’ve been indicted by a grand jury “will also be abandoned.”

“The level of evidence necessary to secure a grand jury indictment is a ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that the person has committed the crime. Based on such a low standard of evidence, the rigid refusal to consider options other than a ‘top count’ guilty plea or trial is inconsistent with DA-elect Katz’s commitment to an open minded approach to case resolution that considers all possible dispositions of a case that will serve the ends of justice,” the statement said.

Katz said she made the changes to “foster a new spirit of cooperation” with all parties — including defendants — to seek justice.

Mayor de Blasio has a quid pro quo policy for criminals to return to court

 CBS NY

  There’s controversy ahead over new criminal justice reforms.

Cash bail will be eliminated Jan. 1 for hundreds of offenses, and some defendants could be let out earlier and given rewards to get them to show up to court, CBS2’s Lisa Rozner reported Monday.

State judges will no longer require cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies like selling drugs or burglarizing a home, and the state says nearly 900 city residents in jail now will be released starting mid-December.

Bail bondsman Ira Judelson said he’s already seeing fewer arrests.

“We’re going to have a major public safety issue on our hands,” he said. “It’s basically like going to school without a principal, without guidance counselors, without teachers and let students be in school and say ‘fend for yourself.'”

Republican Assemblyman Mike LiPetri said he expects around 500 inmates on Long Island to be freed.

“This is a travesty of justice,” said LiPetri. “These are criminals in our communities who have solicited sex from children. These are criminals who solicited drugs in our neighborhoods such as heroin, opioids, fentanyl.”

A law enforcement source told CBS2 a city program will offer those released incentives meant to encourage them to show up in court such as Mets baseball tickets, a subway pass or a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

A spokesperson for Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CBS2 he expects the reforms to be implemented appropriately, however the governor’s office doesn’t have any involvement with the city’s rewards program.

CBS NY

 On Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio came to the defense of a city program that critics say will reward criminal behavior.

The incentive program would give accused criminals – being released from jail under the city’s new cashless bail policy – things like New York Mets tickets and gift cards for showing up to court.

 New York City will be ringing in the New Year with a new set of criminal justice reforms to combat overcrowded jails.


About 900 accused criminals are expected to be released in January 2020. The city will be rewarding them with Mets tickets, movie passes, and store gift cards for making their scheduled court appearances.

Critics say the program rewards criminal behavior, but de Blasio is optimistic the plan will work.

“In a world where we want speedier trials and we want the justice system to work, if small incentives are part of what actually makes it work than that’s a smart policy.

Starting Jan. 1, the bail reform policy eliminates cash bail and pre-trial detention for misdemeanors and most low level felonies – with exceptions like murder conspiracy, domestic violence cases, and sex crimes.

How about this new Police Commissioner? Total flack. Something very, very rotten is going on here and it looks like it's all tied to the Rikers shutdown.