New York Times
From March 1 to Dec. 12, the city performed 1,077 cleanups, compared with 543 during the same period in 2019. The statistic was released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit whose Safety Net Project helps homeless people.AM NY
A lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority alleges that rules adopted by the agency to clear stations and trains of homeless men and women are discriminatory, namely by restricting people from remaining in stations for over an hour at a time. Urban Justice Center (Safety Net Project) and Picture the Homeless file the Article 78 petition in New York County Supreme Court on Thursday and the MTA is not backing downNew York Times
But the rules exempt so many activities from the one-hour limit — including public speaking, campaigning, leafleting, artistic performances and collecting money for religious or political causes — as to make it “clearly apparent” that their real purpose is to exclude homeless people from the subways, the suit says. The lawsuit was filed by the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project on behalf of Picture the Homeless and a homeless man named Barry Simon.Gothamist
"The rules are not about 'safeguarding public health' and ensuring that essential workers are 'able to maintain social distancing,' but rather are about permanently excluding homeless persons from the subway system," the lawsuit states.The complaint was filed by the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, Picture the Homeless, and Barry Simon, a disabled homeless shelter resident who has been ejected from subway stations because of the new rules.Courthouse News
In September, the transit authority made those rules permanent — a move that advocacy groups Picture the Homeless and Urban Justice Center say effectively bans homeless people from the city’s subway system.NY Daily News
The rules were instituted as part of the MTA’s response to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the MTA made the rules permanent — effectively banning homeless people from the trains, says the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court by Picture the Homeless, Inc. and Urban Justice Center, advocates for the homeless.La Calle TV
Varias organizaciones se han unido para bridarle un apoyo financiero a los miles de vendedores ambulantes de la ciudad de Nueva York. La firma de inversión y de servicios financieros, Morgan Stanley y la fundación Robin Hood establecieron una alianza con la Street Vendor Project de Urban Justice Center para donar miles de dólares a los vendedores ambulantes, según reseña Telemundo47.Queens Daily Eagle
I’ve been incarcerated in the jails on Rikers, and in the Queens jail before it was closed. All of them are decrepit dungeons unfit for human beings. As a member of Freedom Agenda and leader in the movement to close Rikers, I have fought to reduce incarceration in every way possible.Bloomberg CityLab
There’s still more work to be done for vendors, according to Matthew Shapiro, legal director for the Street Vendor Project, part of the nonprofit Urban Justice Center.Grub Street
The current cap (2,900 citywide vendors and 5,100 total permits) is also far less than the number of vendors working today, and the Street Vendor Project, a union and workers’ center that is part of the Urban Justice Center, estimates there are between 10,000 and 20,000 unlicensed vendors.
