Cindy Rodriguez

New York, NY —

Florencia Vasquez faces murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. Police say the 36-year-old gave a videotaped statement and admitted to striking the child. Her court appointed attorney Anthony Baratta says the girl did not die at the hands of her mother, but rather from ...

New York, NY —

Poor school districts fare far worse than more affluent ones. The Center for New York City Affairs authored the report and held a panel discussion on the issue.

Principal Luis Torres from PS 55 in the Bronx participated on the panel. He says students miss school ...

New York, NY —

The city has decided to end five contracts with nonprofits that provide more than $2 million in outreach services to homeless people with AIDS.

The Department of Health has decided instead to use that money to operate more than 300 new apartments being built for homeless ...

New York, NY —

A local nonprofit says the credit crisis created a slow down in the number of subsidized apartments bought by developers and converted into market rate apartments.

Each year the Community Service Society puts out an annual tally of how many low rent subsidized apartments were lost. ...

New York, NY —

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says his office began looking into safety issues after a 5-year-old boy fell to his death while trying to leave a stalled elevator at a Housing Authority development.

STRINGER: We looked at 87,000 records in total and what we found was ...

New York, NY —

Unless a last minute offer comes in today, there are two potential buyers for Brooklyn's Starrett City. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has on the sale of the largest subsidized housing complex in the country.

REPORTER: The first time owners attempted to sell the property the winning bid ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration is coming under pressure for failing to meet its goal of reducing homelessness by more than 60 percent by 2009. So far, shelter numbers have dropped 9 percent - that's less than 4,000 people. During a hearing yesterday, City Councilman Bill de ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration is still struggling to reduce the number of poor families who need shelter. After four years of trying to reform the system and bring down the numbers, there's only been a 2 percent drop. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: A progress report issued ...

New York, NY —

City officials continue to try to sweeten the deal for Crown Heights residents who don't want a homeless intake center in their community.

REPORTER: The city wants to turn the Bedford-Atlantic Armory from a men's shelter into a central processing spot for homeless men. During an ...

New York, NY —

The 25-year fight over how the city deals with homeless families has finally ended. Yesterday, the Legal Aid Society and the City of New York reached a settlement in the drawn out case that produced dozens of court orders. The city says it's earned the ...

New York, NY —

This summer the Rent Guidelines Board took the unusual step of approving higher increases for tenants who've lived in their rent-regulated apartments a long time and who pay some of the lowest rents. But a recent lawsuit challenges that decision. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: This ...

New York, NY —

Tishman Speyer and BlackRock realty paid $5.4 billion to purchase Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan’s East Side. The deal was touted as the most expensive real estate deal in American History and two year later it’s looking like a money loser. One ...

New York, NY —

Twenty-five years of court oversight has ended for the city's Department of Homeless Services. The city has reached a settlement with the Legal Aid Society, which sued during the Koch Administration in 1983 over the way the city treats its homeless families seeking shelter for ...

New York, NY —

The MTA is banking on a federal transportation bill that could bring $237 million to New York State.

REPORTER: The majority would go to New York City. The House has already passed the measure. It's intended to bring relief to commuters who've switched to mass transit ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city is still working out logistics for this Thursday's visit from presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain. The candidates have pledged to suspend campaigning while they take part in September 11th ceremonies. The Mayor says that's a good idea.

BLOOMBERG: ...

New York, NY —

A construction worker was killed Thursday after falling 40 stories from a skyscraper on Manhattan's far west side. Anthony Esposito was part of a crew dismantling a tower crane. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the worker lost his footing after the platform he was on tilted:

BLOOMBERG: ...

New York, NY —

Residents fed up with the living conditions at their dilapidated building in the Bronx are suing their landlord and asking a judge to take the building away from him.

Tenants say the 43 unit building on 175th Street near Crotona Park has been falling apart for ...

New York, NY —

A few dozen New York City kids got the chance to swim with 14-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps Thursday. The star athlete was in Manhattan promoting a swimming program at the YMCA in Chelsea. Phelps is on a mission to make swimming more accessible ...

New York, NY —

Just back from the Olympics, Michael Phelps showed up in Manhattan Thursday. The star swimmer says he's glad to be back on American soil after winning 8 Olympic gold medals in Beijing.

Last night he spent some time with golf star Tiger Woods. Today, his portrait ...

New York, NY —

New numbers released by the Census Bureau show poverty in New York City dipped slightly in 2007.

The federal data show the drop is less than one percent, or about 39,000 people.

Citywide, about 1.5 million people live below the poverty line. Pete Jones, who lives at ...