Morning View - On The Triboro Bridge

Kickin' Down The Cobblestones

New York City has officially renamed the Queensboro/59th Street Bridge after its most famous closet case, former Mayor Ed Koch, who still coyly refuses to come out at the age of 86. I really hate the renaming of iconic century-old landmarks, particularly when that person had nothing to do with its construction. Coming up next, the Bloomberg Midtown Tunnel?

QUEENS: Party Crashers Beat Teen To Death While Shouting Anti-Gay Slurs

Four New York City teenagers have been charged with manslaughter after they crashed a party in Queens and stomped 18 year-old Anthony Colloa to death while shouting anti-gay epithets. One of Colloa's attackers also beat him with a metal pipe.

It's not clear why Collao was targeted. Friends said he had a girlfriend and was not gay - though the two men who threw the party are openly gay. Four suspects - Alex Velez, 16, of the Bronx, and Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada and Luis Tabales, all 17 and from Queens - were arrested soon after the Saturday incident. Lozada was wearing the victim's Atlanta Braves baseball cap, and the others were covered in blood, sources said. They were arraigned Monday night on charges of manslaughter and assault in Queens Criminal Court and were each held on bail of $100,000 to $200,000. They came uninvited to the Woodhaven party - advertised on Facebook - and refused to pay a $7 cover charge. They stormed the 90th St. home, busting windows and picking fights, witnesses said. The party was held in an abandoned home without electricity, lawyers for the suspects said. The crashers flashed gang signs, yelled anti-gay slurs and scrawled epithets in red marker on the walls, the two party hosts said.

This morning NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn issued this statement: "We condemn this violent act of intolerance and ignorance in the strongest possible terms. The Council is in communication with the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit about this incident and we thank the NYPD for their swift action making four arrests over the weekend. I am confident that law enforcement officials will aggressively prosecute those responsible for this hateful act."

SENTENCED: 12 Years In Prison For Queens Gay-Basher Daniel Rodriguez

Daniel Rodriguez, 22, was yesterday sentenced to twelve years in prison for the brutal October 2009 gay bashing of Queens resident Jack Price, who spent days in a medically-induced coma after suffering two collapsed lungs, multiple broken ribs, spleen and liver damage. Rodriguez and his accomplice Daniel Aleman, 27, were captured on security cameras as they beat and kicked Price while shouting anti-gay slurs. Last month Aleman was sentenced to eight years in prison. Both men were convicted on hate crimes charges.

NEW YORK CITY: Guilty Pleas In Hate Crime Bashing Of Queens Gay Man

Two men charged in the brutal October 2009 gay-bashing of Queens resident Jack Price have pleaded guilty to hate crimes. Price, 49, spent days in a medically-induced coma after the attack left him with collapsed lungs, multiple broken ribs, and liver and spleen damage.

Daniel Rodriguez, 22, of 502 115th St. in College Point, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of first-degree robbery as a hate crime for the Oct. 8, 2009, robbery of Jack Price, 50, after he exited a neighborhood deli, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Today’s guilty plea ensures that the victim of a crime motivated by hate will receive justice,” Brown said. “The defendant is expected to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that will serve as both a punishment for his actions and a deterrent to those who would commit hate crimes, whether they be motivated by gender, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity.” In exchange for the plea, Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron promised Rodriguez a sentence of between eight and 12 years in prison and post-release supervision. Rodriguez’s co-defendant, Daniel Aleman, 27, of 18-04 College Point Blvd. in College Point, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery as a hate crime Nov. 23. He is expected to be sentenced to eight years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision Dec. 13. Rodriguez is slated to be sentenced Jan. 21.

Readers of this blog may recall that when we attended the vigil for Price at the scene of the attack in Queens, we were dumbfounded to be faced down by a chanting pro-hate crimes group of local thugs, some of whom found JMG postings about the attack and left threatening comments. I'm not crazy about a plea deal in which these losers get a mere eight years in prison for an attack that put somebody on life support, but today we do have some justice for Jack Price.

VIDEO: It's very hard to watch, but here's the security video that closed the prison doors on these two scumbags.

Morning View - Shawn Carter

Dude, Those Were Totally Tornadoes

The National Weather Service has decided that NYC actually got hit by two confirmed tornadoes on Thursday evening. The city is applying to FEMA for disaster relief for parts of Queens and Brooklyn. About 15,000 residents are still without power more than a day later.

NEW YORK CITY: Homeless LGBT Youth Shelter Defaced With Anti-Gay Graffiti

A just-opened Queens residence for clients of the Ali Forney Center, which serves the city's homeless LGBT youth, was defaced with anti-gay graffiti yesterday. Via press release:

The Ali Forney Center’s newly opened shelter for homeless LGBT youth in Astoria Queens was defaced last night with anti-gay graffiti. At 6am this morning, two of the residents of the shelter discovered the slurs which included; "We don't want gay people here" written on the exterior of the shelter, and "Gay Shelter" written on the site’s door (see attached JPG). "I am infuriated that someone would target our kids in this cowardly way" says Carl Siciliano, Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization serving homeless LGBT youth. "The young people who come to us for help and shelter have already experienced terrible hardship, and I will not stand for them to be further abused." The Ali Forney Center (AFC) is working with the New York City Anti-Violence Project, with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and with local Councilmember Peter Vallone on devising strategies to protect its residents from further attacks. AFC has also reached out to the local police precinct and the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force who are now conducting an investigation into the incident.

Both the NYC Anti-Violence Project and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have issued statements denouncing the incident. The Astoria, Queens shelter is in a church building provided at low cost to the Ali Forney Center by the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

RELATED: A previously scheduled rally in support of NYC's homeless LGBT youth will take place this Monday at 6:30pm in Union Square. Please consider attending.

VIDEO: Activists Crash Fundraiser Of Traitorous NY Dem Sen. Joe Addabbo

The Accents Of NYC's Five Boroughs

Some folks say there's no difference between the outer borough accents of NYC, but this audio guide seems to prove otherwise. They all sound dead-on to ME.

(Via - Gothamist)

Gay Activist Wayne Mahlke Busted In Ugly Confrontation With NYPD

Wayne Mahlke, the former vice president and co-founder of the Lesbian & Gay Democratic Club of Queens, faces seven years in prison over a nasty and seemingly unprovoked confrontation with a female NYC cop.

A foul-mouthed former aide to disgraced ex-Sen. Hiram Monserrate cussed out a city cop and tried to bully his way out of an arrest by flashing a fake police placard, prosecutors said Tuesday. Wayne Mahlke, 48, was stopped at a red light near the Queensboro Bridge just after 9 a.m. when he saw NYPD Officer Denise McDonald on patrol. "Why don't you do your job, you fat bitch!" Mahlke shouted in what prosecutors said was an unprovoked verbal onslaught Sunday. When the 19-year NYPD veteran asked for his license, Mahlke tried to maneuver his 2009 Honda Civic past her but she stopped him by stepping in front of his car, prosecutors said. Mahlke then pulled out an official state Senate business placard and a forged police placard, trying to pull rank, they said. "You don't know who I am," Mahlke reportedly told her. "I'm higher ranking than you. I work for Mayor Bloomberg." She was having none of it. Mahlke was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct, failing to obey directions of a police officer, and not producing a valid license.

Mahlke has never worked for Mayor Bloomberg.