Andie MacDowell Has Blood On Her Hands

Turbulence and overly aggressive rudder or something more sinister:

She married Milton George because he needed a green card — but now she’s set to get much more in return.

When George died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001, he was still legally married to Denise Valderrama, even though the union was a sham.

So Valderrama has a valid legal claim to the multimillion-dollar payout from American Airlines — much to the chagrin of another woman who claims she is the true surviving widow.

Yanet Dishmey Rosario De George says she married George in April 2001 — but offered no written proof other than photos of George along with a certificate he sent her declaring her “Sweetheart of the Year.”

Rosario De George says her husband told her he married Valderrama in New York in 1989 so that he could gain legal residency status in the U.S.

Valderrama, who lives in Puerto Rico, and George never lived together, and George was seeking a divorce when he died, said Rosario De George’s lawyer, Richard Schaden.

Safety Is Our Primary Concern

And a few more jobs wouldn’t hurt, either:

Responding to the deaths of two track workers, some Transport Workers Union officials want NYC Transit to adopt more stringent federal regulations, which require flag men positioned even on “dead” tracks while people are working there.

Tonight, A Proud City Celebrates The Great Public Service The Gristedes And Food Emporiums Of Our Community Offer

Wal-Mart finally decides that it can make boatloads of cash elsewhere without all the bullshit:

Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said yesterday, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”

H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of the nation’s largest retailer, said that trying to conduct business in New York was so expensive — and exasperating — that “I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”

Mr. Scott’s remarks, delivered at a meeting with editors and reporters of The New York Times, amounted to a surprising admission of defeat, given the company’s vigorous efforts to crack into urban markets and expand beyond its suburban base in much of the country. In recent years, Wal-Mart has encountered stout resistance to its plans to enter America’s bigger cities, which stand as its last domestic frontier.

Much of the opposition to Wal-Mart in cities like New York is led by unions. Organized labor, fearing that the retailer’s low prices and modest wages will undercut unionized stores, have built anti-Wal-Mart alliances with Democratic members of city councils.

And then there’s this:

Yesterday, labor leaders, upon learning of Wal-Mart’s apparent retreat from New York — or at the very least Manhattan — returned Mr. Scott’s sentiment.

“We don’t care if they’re never here,” said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council. “We don’t miss them. We have great supermarkets and great retail outlets in New York. We don’t need Wal-Mart.”

We do? Which ones? Oh yeah, the ones where you pay more for a box of cereal than you would for a movie ticket. Or the ones where a gallon of milk costs more than a gallon of gas — in France. Such paragons of public service. Thank god none of them have to worry about competition. I myself enjoy being gouged at the one bodega (doubtless unionized — yeah, right) that’s open in my neighborhood — and I can even somewhat afford to spend more to preserve my lousy small footprint. I’m sure those at the bottom of the economic feeding chain feel even better. There’s a reason the middle class is disappearing in the New York area and it’s only partly because of high housing costs.

Then again, I’m sure Bentonville will get a kick out of seeing the New York Times frame it like this:

. . . Wal-Mart, a cost-minded retailer known for its dowdy merchandise, and New York, a city of excesses known for cutting-edge style, have long had an uneasy relationship.

But really, Wal-Mart shouldn’t feel so bad because they’ve still got scoreboard. And that’s something even Philadelphia defied. New York City — frequently, often — is incredibly full of itself. Manhattan deserves all the Food Emporiums it gets.

Friends Helping Friends By Naming Things For Other Friends

Don’t feel too dumb if you don’t recognize the person who your street is now named for — the Brooklyn Paper explains that they’re mostly bureaucrats:

In the grand tradition of naming city streets after people no one has ever heard of, DUMBO’s own Main Street is slated to be co-named for former Department of Transportation assistant commissioner Dolores Barbieri.

Who?

What?

Huh?

The street co-naming would be the first for DUMBO, a distinction that puts it on the map — in the sense that the neighborhood now has enough residents to attract the attention of politicians who want to honor ex-colleagues.

Under the proposal, the block between Plymouth and Water streets would be co-named for Barbieri, who died last May. Barbieri — a Brooklyn native — was a Pratt Institute graduate and an assistant to former Borough President Howard Golden.

Her biggest achievement at the DOT was the reconstruction of both Staten Island Ferry terminals, neither of which is in Brooklyn.

Her connection to DUMBO? She was living on Main Street when she passed away.

“We nominated her for the street-naming because she had an outstanding record of public service,” said Evan Thies, spokesman for Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights).

Community Board 2’s transportation committee overwhelmingly approved the co-naming on Tuesday in advance of a full board vote on March 26.

And that’s OK with some DUMBO enthusiasts.

“Paying homage to people who devoted their lives to public service is always a good thing,” said Tucker Reed, executive director of the DUMBO Improvement District.

And yet everyone knows the real reason is to get people to stop thinking about the other great Barbieri:

In the past three and a half years, Lloyd Joseph has been in and out of hospitals, undergone multiple surgeries and struggled to make ends meet as the injuries he sustained in the October 15, 2003 ferry crash prevented him from working. On Monday, he rejoiced when he learned he can finally move ahead with a lawsuit against the city.

“I am very happy with that reaction; it’s been four years now and I am still suffering,” said Joseph. “I have another operation today. I have already taken three operations, and I still have one more to go. And it’s time for my wife and my kids to get some kind of closure on this.”

Joseph is one of dozens seeking damages from the crash of the Andrew J. Barbieri, which claimed the lives of 11 people and injured scores of others. The city wanted to use an old nautical law to cap civil claims to the cost of repairs to the ferry, at about $14 million.

But in a 25-page decision, Federal District Court Judge Edward Korman denied the city’s request, saying a rule requiring two pilots to be in the pilothouse at the same time was simply ignored at the time of the crash, leaving the city liable.

Korman’s ruling says, “enforcing the rule was cost free and the City’s failure to do so constituted a breach of the duty of care owed to the Barbieri’s passengers, who entrusted their safety to the city. This breach of duty was a substantial factor in causing the deaths and injuries suffered by the plaintiffs.”

Catching The Poop-etrators

Now that the bad guys terrorizing Flushing Meadows-Corona Park patrons have been caught, Parks police can go back to tending to the important details:

With the arrest of three suspects in a string of attacks — including the machete murder of Carlos Flores and the beating of Jae Woo Park who is still in a coma — the Parks Department has re-assigned its employees responsible for park safety to another task: counting how many people dispose of their dog’s waste.

These NYPD-deputized park cops, part of the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP), said that the police have almost disappeared from the park and the PEPs, rather than keeping a close watch on the park, have been keeping a tally on dog owners who clean up after their canines.

. . .

The Parks Dept. acknowledged the new task but said the park cops’ goal is to ultimately catch violators. “Beginning this February, plainclothes officers are stationed in five parks per borough to monitor and issue summonses for any canine violations,” the e-mail read.

The several PEP officers interviewed said the lack of surveillance, particularly in Flushing Meadows, fosters an environment that makes crime easy to commit.

For example, on a recent Sunday, two out of the three officers on duty in Queens were assigned to track people who cleaned up after their dogs in Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village and Mafera Park in Maspeth. No one was assigned to patrol Flushing Meadows, a PEP officer said.

Location Scout: Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.