Ben Morea is going to be onhand tonight at 7 at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) for a discussion and screening of "Armed Love," Sean Stewart's short documentary profile of his time in the Lower East Side in the late 1960s.
In the film, Morea charts the evolution of Up Against the Wall/Motherfucker — the network of action-oriented radicals, freaks and street fighters who emerged out of the group surrounding the journal Black Mask during the late 1960s in New York City.
Under the terms of the Consent Order (stipulation and judgement) being submitted to the Court, Toledano’s real estate business will be supervised by an Independent Monitor, who will ensure that Toledano ceases to engage in fraud and tenant harassment. Toledano will not be allowed to have any direct contact with tenants, and will be required to hire an independent management company for any of his properties.
In addition, Toledano has agreed to pay $3 million in damages and penalties. If Toledano violates the terms of his agreement, then Attorney General James will seek a lifetime bar against any further participation in the real estate industry, as well as a suspended judgment of $10 million.
Attorney General James and Governor Cuomo’s Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) within New York State Homes and Community Renewal began investigating Toledano after receiving complaints from tenants and community advocates about his use of harassment, unsafe construction, and other illegal conduct to push tenants out of their rent-stabilized homes.
As set forth in the Complaint filed in New York Supreme Court, Attorney General James’ investigation established that Toledano engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and illegal conduct throughout his work as a landlord and real-estate developer.
He harassed tenants through coercive buyouts, illegal construction practices and failed to provide his rent-regulated tenants with utilities, repairs, and other necessary services. Toledano also engaged in deceptive business practices in his real-estate transactions, including repeatedly and persistently misrepresenting himself as a lawyer and advertising apartments with 3 or 4 bedrooms, when legally the apartment could only have 1 or 2 bedrooms.
“I can only hope one day the New York State criminal justice system will allow me to rejoin my family,” Verdi said.
“Never!” one critic said behind him.
“You’re the devil!” another chimed in.
Join us at Albert’s Garden to celebrate the Summer Solstice!
We welcome back Just (Jazz) Friends with Sarie Teichman, a New York City-based ensemble playing vocal and instrumental jazz standards focused on the American Songbook, with occasional forays into Pop/R&B classics from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Date: Friday, June 21
Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: 16 E. Second St., between the Bowery and Second Avenue.
The MTA says it will seek more vending machines from other companies, during this pilot. The transit agency gets a percentage of every purchase, but declined to say how much.
The boxy machines offer a variety of products for New Yorkers on the go. Some of them, like ibuprofen and ear plugs, are especially suited for subway travel.
The MTA is testing the machines as a response to a reduction in subway newsstands, the result in part of declining magazine and newspaper sales. A third of the 248 retail spaces in the subway system are shuttered — most of those closed outposts are newsstands.
The MTA will test the vending machines for two years. In some cases, the locations competing with subway storefronts like one at Union Square, are just beyond the turnstile.
