PolitickerNY

When Erica Lefevre took the microphone outside One Police Plaza at a press conference shortly after noon today, the clearly stricken woman spoke first about what a talented artist her son had been, and how he had left his native Canada to make an impact on the art world of New York City.

“His work is in museums in Toronto and his native home of Montreal,” she said, her voice trembling with a mix of pride and sadness, knowing he would never paint again.

While riding his bicycle home from his studio last Wednesday night, 30-year-old Mathieu Lefevre was struck by a truck and killed on the corner of Meserole Street and Morgan Avenue in Bushwick. The driver, who apparently claims not to have seen or known what was happening and will not be charged in Lefevre’s death.

Other than that sketchy information, Lefevre’s parents and his ex-wife Juliana Berger, have no knowledge of what occurred, and after a week of questions to the NYPD they have had no further answers, or solace.

“What compounds this tragedy is a failure to get information from the police about what happened to our son,” said Ms. Lefevre. Read More

In a Hollywood–meets Albany–meets social media story, actor (and possible future mayoral candidate) Alec Baldwin has engaged in a war of words with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

The battle began when Mr, Skelos, speaking on the Capital Press Room, made an argument against the extension of the so-called “millionaire’s tax,” saying “We can’t be influenced by the Alec Baldwins of the world,” and noting that the actor just bought an $11 million Tribeca condo. Read More

Longtime Assemblyman and Kings County Democratic leader Vito Lopez married the Brooklyn Democratic Party with the Occupy Wall Street protests yesterday, leading a delegation of supporters, political allies, unions and community groups over the Brooklyn Bridge to make common cause with the demonstrations. Read More

Education startups aren't the only ones trying to disrupt the system. New York City itself is borrowing some of the principles from the startup world-- like user-centric design, innovation labs, beta testing--to see if the can change the lagging system from within.

The challenge of the Innovation Zone, or iZone project is think beyond the status quo. Since the project has more meaningful problems to contend, we'll try not to harp on the derivative nickname. Read More