Sad To Say That Tort Reform Would Deny Us All This Fun

The Daily News reports that the homeless man who successfully sued a New Jersey town is now setting his sights on Amtrak:

A scruffy homeless man who cleaned up by filing discrimination lawsuits in New Jersey is now a regular on this side of the Hudson River — and trouble is brewing at Penn Station.

Fifteen years ago, Richard Kreimer got national attention when he won $230,000 from the Morristown, N.J., library and local cops who wrongly booted him from the library because of his horrible hygiene.

But all that money is now gone, and Kreimer, 56, spends several nights a week alongside other homeless men and women in a waiting area for Amtrak and NJTransit ticket holders.

Kreimer says he always has a ticket — but charges that hasn’t stopped Amtrak officials and cops from trying to eject him from the waiting area. “If they keep pushing me, I’ll probably speak to a lawyer about it,” he told the Daily News early yesterday inside Penn Station. “If push comes to shove, I’ll probably file a lawsuit against them, and I’ll include the other homeless, too.”

Kreimer’s allegations against Amtrak were echoed by other homeless who say they — and people who appear to be vagrants — are targeted during purges of the waiting area.

Kreimer calls it “homeless profiling” and clear discrimination — a charge Amtrak denied.

“Nobody discriminates or singles out the homeless,” said station master Norma Diggs.

Diggs said travelers can use the waiting room for up to two hours, and can stay longer only if the next train to their destination isn’t scheduled to depart during the two-hour window. Anyone in the waiting area beyond their allotted time is asked to leave, she said.

But two Amtrak workers, who asked not to be identified, charged that a station master ordered a clerk in the waiting area to “throw the bums out” about a week ago, which Diggs disputed.

Questions include but are not limited to:

• How do you blow a quarter of a million dollars when you’re homeless?
• What lawyer takes this case and do they take their customary third of the settlement?
• Can an Amtrak employee on the inside collude with the man to get some of the earnings kicked back
• If so, how can others contact the man to get on board?

Just asking . . .

Just Think How Low The Monthly Maintenance Will Go If We Get Whole Foods As The Tenant!

Only in New York, Kids, only in New York:

By almost any measure, the Brooklyn House of Detention, 10 stories of razor wire and wire-mesh windows in Boerum Hill, is a repellent sight.

But, the city reasons, it need not be so. So, to attract people other than criminal suspects to the 760-bed jail, the Correction Department has decided to convert part of the complex into 24,000 square feet of retail shopping space.

“The site is going to be redeveloped,” Martin F. Horn, the correction commissioner, said in an interview this week. “One way or another, retail is going to be there.”

Under Mr. Horn’s jail-with-retail plan, three sides of the block that the jail now occupies, along Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place, would be converted to one-story retail space beginning this summer. The jail entrance, now on Atlantic, would be moved to the fourth side of the block, along State Street.

. . .

Which retailers would be asked, or be willing, to open a shop on jail property remains to be seen, several city and local elected officials said. But Mr. Horn and several elected officials in Brooklyn, including Marty Markowitz, the borough president, and David Yassky, a city councilman from Brooklyn Heights, floated a few ideas this week.

An upscale food market, Mr. Horn suggested; a children’s clothing store, Mr. Yassky offered; law offices, Mr. Markowitz mentioned.

Mr. Markowitz, who is known to gush about how great Brooklyn is, said that even a boutique hotel on jail grounds would be nice — but only if the city razed the existing structure and rebuilt it from scratch.

“If it’s designed in such a way that the guests feel totally comfortable,” he said yesterday, “why not?”

Mr. Markowitz added that although he would prefer to see the jail closed permanently, if it is to be open it should also have retail and, preferably, residential space.

Karen Hughes, Call Your Office

The world thinks America doesn’t welcome Muslims? They are so wrong:

Some TriBeCa residents are glad they found the neighborhood mosque — not because of an interest in Islam, but because it’s given them a way to shut down bars and restaurants in the neighborhood.

State Liquor Authority agents have issued summonses against the Bubble Lounge and the Cercle Rouge restaurant, saying their owners should have known it was illegal for them to sell hard liquor within 200 feet of a house of worship — in this case the Masjid al Farah, a Sufi mosque on West Broadway.

Yet Another Reason Why College Was The Best Place Ever

I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this:

Students ready to embrace the holiday weight they put on, but not shed any cash to fund a new wardrobe, can swap jeans with other students at 21 campus locations this week.

As part of “Let Your Body Speak Week,” and Eating Disorders Awareness Week, NYU Health Center is sponsoring the Great Jeans Giveaway through Friday, March 3.

In 17 residence halls and various booths in the health center and Kimmel Center, members of the NYU community can drop off their ill-fitting jeans and pick up a pair to their liking.

If You Own An Animal, For God’s Sake Use A Professional

Why anyone would patronize a back-alley, unlicensed veterinarian I have no idea, but thank god this undercover kitten stopped him:

Meet undercover detective Fred – the purr-fect cop.

The 9-month-old street-savvy feline pretended to be in need of a neutering to trap a bogus house-calling veterinarian, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said yesterday.

“This is the first undercover cat,” said Hynes, announcing felony charges against Kingsborough College student Steven Vassell, 28. “I want to make it clear: We’ll do it again.”

Hynes’ office set up the sting after dog owner Raymond Reid reported that Vassell bungled an operation on his Boston terrier, Burt. Reid, who said he heard about the phony vet through the grapevine, said Vassell checked out Burt in August.

Yesterday, as he cradled a healthy, panting Burt, Reid recalled how Vassell called him with bad news.

“I was devastated,” Reid said. “He called me and told me he found a foreign object lodged in Burt’s intestines. He told me he had to operate … that Burt was going to die. I told him I was going to come over.”

But Vassell decided to deliver Burt himself – with a bill for $985, Reid said.

“He drove up, and Burt jumped out of the car like there was nothing,” he said. “There was a scar. His mouth was drenched with blood. He didn’t leave any medication or anything.”

Reid said he got Burt to a real vet, then called authorities.

That’s when Hynes deputized Fred, a stray kitty with pneumonia rescued at 4 months old by city Animal Care and Control.

Secret cameras caught Vassell on a house call to an undercover agent who asked him to neuter Fred, authorities said. She handed him $135. Vassell was arrested as he left the apartment, Fred in hand.