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	<title>The City Desk</title>
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	<description>Fictional urbanism.</description>
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		<title>Mafia Slaying Site to Become Museum?</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2010/06/04/mafia-slaying-site-to-become-museum/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2010/06/04/mafia-slaying-site-to-become-museum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:25:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Furleigh Park]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[museums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=759</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On first glance, the house at 719 South Decator Street, in the Elwyn Heights section of the city, doesn&#8217;t seem to be all that remarkable. It&#8217;s just another in a string of large brick twin houses that populate the neighborhood. However, the mere mention of the address is apt to flip a switch in those with a longish memory of the seedier aspects of the City&#8217;s history. In 1979, organized crime boss Lorento &#8220;Lorry Boy&#8221; Scafia was slain on its marble steps while enjoying a glass of lemonade on a hot August evening. The ensuing mob war raged into the next decade, resulting in several more slayings and a couple of car bombings, finally calming down in late 1980. After the August 28 murder of &#8220;Lorry Boy,&#8221; Mrs. Scafia and their three children moved out of the house and the city, finally settling in Orlando, Florida. They retained ownership of the house, which was unoccupied for thirty years, except for a distant cousin who lived there briefly while attending Watson University in the mid-90s. When Mrs. Scafia passed away last June, the children decided it was finally time to sell the house. All in all, the slaying and its aftermath [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Friday Facts: Narnia, Math, Linguistics, Lascivious Radios</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/11/20/friday-facts-narnia-math-linguistics-lascivious-radios/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/11/20/friday-facts-narnia-math-linguistics-lascivious-radios/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:19:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[David Andrews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathan Morris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friday facts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ordinances]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=746</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[:: Median age of mathematics texts used in city public schools:  18 years :: Median tenure of mathematics teachers in city schools:  4.5 years :: Median SAT mathematics score, city schools (2008):  485 :: Percentage of 12th graders in city schools who know how ‘median’ differs from ‘average’:  38% :: A city ordinance passed in 1931 prohibited the hiring by city hospitals of any registered nurse “younger than nine years of age, regardless of experience or education.” State medical laws, which supersede municipal doctrine, mandate a minimum age of 21. :: The city’s official “Fictional Sister City” is Narnia, according to a 2001 mayoral edict. Prior to that, it had been Atlantis. :: Languages which have been banned within city limits over the years include, but are not limited to: French, Portuguese, Java, Tagalog, Mandarin, “variants of Basque,” English and “Anything even remotely Irish.” :: A Baltimore and Ohio Railroad “fight special” bearing more than a hundred boxing fans to the city for a series of welterweight title matches was met by special police at Central Depot on this day in 1927, to respond to complaints of illegal drink-mixing and gun sales on the Common Rate car. :: A short-lived [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>City&#8217;s First Subway Car Found</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/11/17/citys-first-subway-car-found/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/11/17/citys-first-subway-car-found/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:17:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[CSTA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Central Corridor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Downtown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ostahanoc River]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Upper Carsonhurst]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[old city hall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=738</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The second week of June 1901 saw the formal opening of the City&#8217;s first subway- what was to become today&#8217;s Brown Line- a modest straight line connecting the old Central Depot (across from Old City Hall, now Ludlow Plaza Station) and the Ostahanoc River, taking in the Downtown/Central Corridor areas, as well as the bustling Fifth and Second Wards. With a flourish and burst of a Champagne bottle, the very first car to travel the line was the &#8220;Jenny-Anne,&#8221; an elaborate ceremonial car outfitted with carpeting, electric chandeliers, upholstered seats and even a small wet bar. The car was constructed at the behest of L. Mathewson Burlsworth, whose Ostahanoc Valley Northeast Line railroad was a partner in the project. From this point on, throughout the expansion of the subway system in the early 20th cetury, the car was occasionally pulled into service for various heads of state and other dignitaries, including President Theodore Roosevelt (It can be presumed that, for certain reasons, President Taft was not offered a ride during his 1911 visit). In 1914, the &#8220;Jenny-Anne&#8221; (named after the daughter of Mayor Orson Winthrop) was decommissioned and put on display at the Commercial Museum (adjoining the Atlas Exhibition Hall), [...]]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>The Board of Trusts and the City&#8217;s Generous Dead</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/08/03/the-board-of-trusts-and-the-citys-generous-dead/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/08/03/the-board-of-trusts-and-the-citys-generous-dead/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:57:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=731</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The current economic situation has given our already cash-strapped City a rough go of it, especially with regard to any funds tied into the stock market. Its pension fund alone has lost millions over the last two years and now officials are scrambling to work on ways to patch the gaping hole. There is one other arm of the City government, though, that has also been affected, but has not received nearly the same amount of coverage. The Board of Trusts was established during a brief reform period in the early 1920s, in order to consolidate various funds that had been bequeathed to the City by residents over the years. Unlike such large, well-known privately overseen trusts, like those of Beatrice Nussbaum ["Lack Of Swimming; Hole In District," 10.20.08] or Navin Masters [benefactor of the Masters Preparatory School for Orphans, later Masters College], the Board of Trusts manages the disbursement of a host of smaller funds meant for the &#8220;public good,&#8221; some of which go to general municipal services and some of which come with rather specific requirements- :: Each year, Harper East Elementary School, in the Oak Lane neighborhood, receives $30.08 toward the &#8220;subscription of new periodicals of a [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Snapshots: Col. Barstow&#8217;s Private Police Force, 1910</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/31/snapshots-col-barstows-private-police-force-1910/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/31/snapshots-col-barstows-private-police-force-1910/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:16:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[snapshots]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=723</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[May 26, 1910- Caption from this Sun-Recorder photo: &#8220;Across from the Cathedral of St. Vitus on Lorimar Avenue, Col. Harrison Barstow demonstrates one of the new mechanical call boxes installed for his new police force, to begin operations Monday.&#8221; Colonel Harrison Barstow was a wealthy man who had distinguished himself in the Spanish-American War. Upon returning home, he became very involved in reform efforts, especially disgusted with the amount of graft and corruption in the City&#8217;s police department at the time. Unable to enact change- and finding a loophole in the city charter regarding law enforcement officers- he spent almost all of his family&#8217;s fortune in building up a separate police force, supposedly incorruptable. Two years later, the experiment failed, due to widespread charges of graft and corruption, violent fighting between his police force and the City&#8217;s ranks of official law enforcement officers and confusion as to the private officers&#8217; exact status, leading to many arrests and convictions being overturned. Many of the call boxes (including the one pictured here) remained in place, inactive, until at least the mid-1950s. The whole episode led to a tightening of rules at both the civic and state level regarding exactly who was allowed to enforce [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Friday Facts: The Honorable Harold Ramis, No Batmobiles</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/24/friday-facts-the-honorable-harold-ramis-no-batmobiles/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/24/friday-facts-the-honorable-harold-ramis-no-batmobiles/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:43:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Count Film-Ula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathan Morris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Ingraham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friday facts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[museums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=624</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[:: On this day in 1889, boxer John Lawrence Sullivan punched Mayor John Overholt&#8217;s wife directly in the face, knocking her out instantly. No reason was ever given for the assault, and neither the mayor nor Sullivan ever chose to speak of it again. :: A 1971 city ordinance prohibits the display of the Batmobile (from the famously campy 1960s Batman television show) at any promotional event within city limits. :: Chief City Health and Hygiene Inspector “Guy” Fenimore celebrates his 57th birthday this week, making him the oldest individual to ever hold that office and, in fact, the only sitting Chief Inspector to ever reach fifty-seven. :: Other birthdays this week include television meteorologist Howard Tidleiver (43), outspoken former city ombudsperson Claire Dolan (57) and former late-night television host Count Film-Ula (age estimated at either 93 or 97). :: In a local poll conducted earlier this week, sixteen percent of respondents admitted to participating in physical conflicts stemming from disagreements over the best local pizza restaurant. :: The Doig Museum of Natural Science was forced to cancel its upcoming exhibit &#8220;The Beauty Inside the Human Body,&#8221; which was to feature the plasticized remains of actual cadavers, posed artfully to [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The History of Barkay Bros. Funeral Home: Part II</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/13/the-history-of-barkay-bros-funeral-home-part-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/13/the-history-of-barkay-bros-funeral-home-part-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:28:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Count Film-Ula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Micshcoon Lake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Ingraham]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=617</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Joel and Isaac Barkay, proprietors of Barkay Bros. Funeral Home on East Folkim St., announced recently that they had accepted an undisclosed sell their business. The local funeral home had been run by the Barkay family for 72 years. Joel and Isaac, lifelong bachelors aged 69 and 67 respectively, agreed to sit for an interview with The City Desk to tell the story of the rise and fall of Barkay Bros., and to reminisce over the most memorable moments on the job. Part one may be found here. Building upon the success of their late father, Joel and Isaac Barkay’s Barkay Bros. Funeral Home became the trendiest place in the city to have your corpse embalmed. Barkay Bros., over the last 47 years, has filled nearby posh Elmwood Memorial Cemetery to near capacity with a veritable Who’s Who among the city’s dead. “The most important quality an undertaker can possess, aside from a strong stomach, is discretion,” insisted Joel Barkay in a recent interview with The City Desk. “We’ve buried all sorts of famous people here. I could tell you who had tattoos, false teeth, false hair and false limbs. I could tell you who had plastic surgery or breast [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The History of Barkay Bros. Funeral Home: Part I</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/06/the-history-of-barkay-bros-funeral-home-part-i/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/07/06/the-history-of-barkay-bros-funeral-home-part-i/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ray Ingraham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hoaxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=613</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Joel and Isaac Barkay, proprietors of Barkay Bros. Funeral Home on East Folkim St., announced last week that they had accepted an undisclosed offer from the giant mortuary services conglomerate ServLimited International to purchase their business. The local funeral home had been run by the Barkay family for 72 years. Joel and Isaac, lifelong bachelors aged 69 and 67 respectively, agreed to sit for an interview with The City Desk to tell the story of the rise and fall of Barkay Bros., and to reminisce over the most memorable moments on the job. “Dad was always able to make very shrewd decisions in his life,” began Joel. “He was working as an apprentice undertaker in Poland in 1932, and had the good sense to leave everything behind and move to America.” Benjamin Barkay found his way to the city in the summer of 1932, and rented a one bedroom apartment in the thriving Jewish community on 112th street. He spent his days working for a grocer and his evenings practicing his English and studying his preferred vocation. In 1937, Barkay finally saved enough money to open his own enterprise. He called it “Barker Funeral Home,” anglicizing his surname, fearing anti-Semitism [...]]]></description>
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		<title>A Bridge Too Far: Stimulus funds to destroy city landmark</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/06/29/a-bridge-too-far-stimulus-funds-to-destroy-city-landmark/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/06/29/a-bridge-too-far-stimulus-funds-to-destroy-city-landmark/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:19:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[David Andrews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ostahanoc River]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stimulus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[streets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=605</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The current economic downturn and an infusion of $14 million from the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus bill) passed by congress earlier this spring have brought back to life a controversial city project many believe should never be revived. Since 1988, access to the 19th Street Bridge over the Ostahanoc River has required drivers to make four ninety-degree turns, two entering and two exiting the span. This odd and inconvenient traffic pattern was necessitated when repair work on the original bridge caused it to collapse into the river. Rather than trying to rebuild the bridge in its original location, the city decided to save money by redesigning and reinforcing the parallel pedestrian bridge to handle vehicular traffic on one of the busiest roads in the county. Since the streets leading to the bridge could not be easily re-routed due to a thriving commercial district in the area, 19th Street was turned and extended parallel to the river, where it joined the reconfigured bridge some 15 yards to the north. In the first few months after the ‘new’ bridge was opened, traffic mishaps were frequent. But drivers eventually acclimated themselves to the demands of negotiating the four square [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Blotter: Shots, Sheep, Sno-Cones</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/06/25/the-blotter-shots-sheep-sno-cones/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/06/25/the-blotter-shots-sheep-sno-cones/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:24:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hoyt Schermerhorn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the blotter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=600</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a public service, The City Desk periodically offers up selected items culled from recent City police reports. (Note: More violent, standard items do not frequently show up here, as they are covered in the local papers with regularity.) 9:45 pm Corner of Simcoe and Newbury Streets: Officers from the 27th Precinct respond to reports of shots fired. Upon investigation, officers discovered that the sound was caused by a 1973 Ford Maverick owned by Edward Willis, 22, of 1785 W. 37th Street. Willis was issued $547 worth of tickets for safety violations. 2 am 1200 block of N. Merkel Street: A 20-year-old man was treated at Nilsson Hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg. Detectives were only able to locate the scene of the shooting based upon the victim&#8217;s blood trail. There has been no arrest and no motive given. 4:03 am 3800 block of Van Dam Street: Harbor Division officers arrest Summit Heights resident Hugo Allen, 34, for theft of services after attempting to walk out of the Harborfront Diner without paying for 3 cups of coffee, a cheese omelet, hash browns, four sausages, two stacks of pancakes, and four glasses of orange juice. Allen also had an [...]]]></description>
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