Mayor Bloomberg says NYC working on being better prepared for extreme weather like Sandy

The city will work on upgrading building codes and evacuation-zone maps, hardening power and transportation networks and making sure hospitals are better prepared for extreme weather after Superstorm Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday.

As a start, utility Consolidated Edison has agreed to spend $250 million to get its electrical, steam and gas systems in shape to withstand a Category 2 hurricane, Bloomberg said. City officials, meanwhile, will work on more comprehensive plans to help Sandy-ravaged areas recover and prepare the city for future weather disasters. That will include examining the pros and cons of building berms, dunes, levees and other coast-protection structures, Bloomberg said, though he remains cool to the idea of massive sea walls.

"Let me be clear: We are not going to abandon the waterfront," the mayor said in a speech Thursday at a meeting sponsored by the Regional Plan Association and the League of Conservation Voters. But "we have to build smarter and stronger and more sustainable."

The city is still focused on recovering from the Oct. 29 storm, but officials have started to think about preparing for natural disasters, in light of the prospect of more extreme weather and higher seas because of global warming, Bloomberg said. He has long been outspoken about the risks of climate change, teaming up at times on environmental and anti-global-warming initiatives with former Vice President Al Gore, who praised Bloomberg's efforts before his speech Thursday.

While Gore said Sandy "was related to climate change," Bloomberg was less explicit in drawing a connection.

"Whether or not one storm is related to climate change or is not, we have to manage for risks," he said, noting that severe storms, rainfalls and heat waves in recent years show "that the dangers from extreme weather are already here."

Before Sandy, the city had already made and touted its efforts to prepare for climate change and storms, through measures ranging from studying coast-protection strategies to changing construction laws. But Sandy's storm surge, a modern record, flooded beyond the area officials had expected and made it clear that utilities, hospitals, and transit systems need to be prepared for worse inundation than they were.

Bloomberg says officials also will revisit its construction laws, particularly height restrictions that could discourage people from elevating their homes.

And he has instructed economic development and planning officials to assess what it will take to make power grids, transportation networks and hospitals able to handle a Category 2 hurricane, record-breaking heat wave or other natural disaster.

Read More..

Art Basel brings full rooms, high rates to Miami Beach hotels

Hotels in Miami-Dade are full this week — of guests, art and events.

In some cases, they’re even being taken over. See: Lords South Beach at 1120 Collins Avenue, which has been turned from a sunny hotel into an intimidating, super-sized, crowd-interacting black dog.

“At night, when it’s talking, it’s so funny to watch people walk by and do the double take,” said Brian Gorman, the hotel’s founder.

The installation by Desi Santiago, formally called Perrier Presents: The Black Lords at Lords South Beach, shows how local hotels have embraced the week surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach as more than an opportunity to fill rooms.

Though they do that as well.

George Cozonis, general manager of W South Beach, said many guests have been staying at the hotel for Art Basel week since it opened in 2009.

“And they know what their favorite room is and they have gotten to know the staff, so one of the things they do before they leave is say, ‘I’d like to get the same room for next year,’ ” he said. “Many of our bookings happen during or right after [Art Basel]. By July, everything is booked.”

By midweek, only a few rooms remained for Saturday night with weeknights sold out at rates that started at $1,209 and topped out at $9,500 a night.

Hotels countywide are reporting about 90 percent occupancy, according to a preliminary survey by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. That’s a slight increase from last year’s 89 percent occupancy.

Nicholas Christopher, president and owner of official Art Basel travel agency Turon Travel, said rates in general are slightly higher than last year. He said most of the visitors are booked through Friday or Saturday, so some availability (and lower prices) could return by the weekend.

The hotels getting the most buzz are recently relaunched properties such as the SLS and James Royal Palm, he said. Both properties say they are sold out, with average rates over $1,000 a night at SLS and rooms going for $700-$3,500 at the James Royal Palm, which opened in early November.

The 87-room Gale South Beach & Regent Hotel cut it even closer, opening Tuesday.

“We knew we were going to be on schedule,” said Jared Galbut, managing principal of Menin Hotels, which also includes the sold-out Shelborne, Sanctuary and Bentley hotels. “We knew we had reservations; we made it clear to the contractor that it’s not an option to not be open.”

Opening-week prices at the hotel range from $500 to $800, Galbut said, about $150 more than what will be normal for the season.

At the other end of the price spectrum, Freehand Miami, an upscale hostel at 2727 Indian Creek Drive that opened this week, is also sold out with prices that start around $50 to $75 a night per person. Andrew Zobler, CEO of Freehand owner Sydell Group, said many guests are members of the press and artists.

“It’s really perfect for something like Basel where there’s so much going on,” he said. “They’re coming down for three days and probably sleeping four hours a night.”

Like many other properties, the hostel is hosting events every night, presenting almost unlimited options for out-of-towners after the art fairs close.

Mandarin Oriental, Miami on Brickell Key debuts an exhibition of contemporary Asian art in the lobby Thursday night. The Gale South Beach is hosting some events that don’t start until midnight.

At Dream South Beach, 1111 Collins Avenue, rock and jazz photography from the Morrison Hotel Gallery will be featured at the hotel, which also hosts events Thursday and Friday.

Brendan McNamara, senior vice president of brand development for Dream Hotels, said it’s important for lifestyle hotels to embrace major happenings like Art Basel and join the creative buzz. He praised the installation at the nearby Lords South Beach as well as a project called “Plane Text,” featuring a plane trailing messages, put on by Delano owner Morgans Hotel Group.

“It’s almost less competitive and it becomes this love fest of art,” he said.

Read More..

HOLIDAY LIGHTS

It’s that time of year to decorate your home and tell us how wonderful it looks!

We’re seeking all entries for our annual Holiday Lights showcase. Tell us about your home, your decorations and where you live. Send this information to Lidia at ltzdinkova@gmail.com. by Monday, Dec. 10 or to Joan Chrissos, Holiday Lights, Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fl., 33132. Please include a daytime phone number.

We will feature the homes in Neigbors on Sunday, Dec. 16.

Read More..

Pink Girl on Fire Acoustic Performance

With her album tearing up the charts, her singles dominating radio and a looming tour that is destined to sell out instantaneously given the sensational show she always stages, you could say Pink is on fire right now.

VIDEO - Behind the Scenes of Pink's Covergirl Shoot

Actually, you'd have to say that because Pink tackled Alicia Keys' Girl on Fire when she stopped by BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge on December 5.

VIDEO - The Empire State Building Honors Alicia's Fire

And while her live performances and music videos are always eye-catching, focusing solely on Pink's voice reminds you why she's been blazing up the industry since 2000.

Read More..

LI man shoots girlfriend in fight over zombies: cops

Police say an argument over the TV show "The Walking Dead" led a man to shoot his girlfriend in the back.

Jared Gurman of Williston Park, on Long Island, was ordered held without bail Tuesday. He is charged with attempted murder.

Police say Gurman fired one shot from a .22 caliber rifle. Officers say the bullet pierced the unidentified woman's lung and diaphragm and shattered her ribs.

Gurman took her to a hospital.

Police said the two were arguing about the show that features zombies in a post-apocalyptic world.

Gurman's attorney tells Newsday the rifle went off accidentally.

Jared Gurman

The attorney, Edward L. Lieberman, declined to comment about specifics of the argument.

Read More..

iPad’sdominance limits apps for other tablets

Q. When are companies going to start writing applications for tablet computers other than the iPad? I own a Pandigital tablet, and when I try to download apps, I’m told they’re either for the iPad or iPhone.

LeRoy Hilton,

Oro Valley, Ariz.

You can expect more apps for non-Apple tablet computers when those devices gain more market share. How soon, or if, that will happen is anyone’s guess.

People who write apps are motivated by the revenue they’re likely to get. They can maximize that revenue by focusing on the tablet computer that is owned by the largest number of people.

Right now, the best opportunity for app writers is the iPad, which in the first three months of 2012 accounted for 68 percent of the 17.4 million tablet computers sold worldwide, according to market research firm IDC. The iPad’s chief competitors, in order of market share, are tablets made by Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and Barnes & Noble. Pandigital is further down the list.Q. I recently bought a Kindle Fire tablet computer, and I’m disappointed that it cannot be read in the sunshine as other Kindle devices can. Is there anything I can do to make the screen more readable outdoors, such as buying an anti-glare screen protector?

Mary Jo Ready,

Shoreview, Minn.

An anti-glare protector won’t help. The issue is that your Kindle Fire’s LCD, or liquid crystal display, screen is lit from inside, but isn’t bright enough to compete with sunlight. Your only outdoor options are to raise the screen brightness and find some shade. A video that explains how to adjust screen brightness can be found on Amazon’s help pages, at http://www.tinyurl.com/7289vlo. Q. My Windows task bar was always at the bottom of my screen, but the other day it went to the top for some reason. How can I get it back to the bottom of the screen?

Kathleen Gignac,

Bartow, Fla.

The task bar can be dragged to a new location using your mouse. Left-click a blank space on the task bar and, while holding down the mouse button, drag the bar to the bottom of the screen.

You can skip this manual process if you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista. Just go to http://www.tinyurl.com/c7qwp8 and click the automatic “fix it” button. That will return the task bar to its default position at the bottom of the screen.

If you have problems with either of these techniques, the task bar may have become “locked” in its current position. There are directions on the same Web page that explain how to “unlock” the tool bar’s location so it can be moved.

Contact Steve Alexander at Tech Q&A, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55488-0002; e-mail steve.j.alexander@gmail.com.

Read More..

Son of slain Miami Gardens car wash owner: ‘He put his own life before someone else’

When Dameion Peart got the phone call from his uncle, he didn’t believe it. He drove to his father’s Miami Gardens car wash to see for himself. He hoped the news wouldn’t be too bad, or maybe the shooting happened someplace else.

He pulled up, saw flashing lights and police tape, and knew it was true.

His father, Errold Peart, had been trying to protect a customer Sunday afternoon from armed robbers at the car wash he ran at Northwest 191st Street and First Place.

The robbers turned their gun on Peart, killing him.

“He put his own life before someone else,” his son said.

Now, Peart’s family began the unexpected task of planning a memorial. He was five days away from his 60th birthday.

He won’t get to see his daughter, Mishka Peart, 23, graduate from the University of Miami’s medical school.

“It’s just sad,” Dameion Peart said. “It was unnecessary.”

When the community heard of the shooting, they started dropping by the scene. They were the ones who lived nearby, longtime customers and friends, each with their own tale of how his father had helped them through the years.

They talked about the times Peart, 59, didn’t charge for carwashes to people short on money. They told Dameion Peart, 32, how his father would give money to people who needed help paying for water and electricity, never asking for the money back.

They shared stories about people who couldn’t get jobs because they had convictions — until Peart gave them work.

One of the younger employees told him it was Errold Peart who convinced her to go back to school.

“He was a very good, kindhearted person and a good father at the same time,” Dameion Peart said. “The community where his business is located, he really helped them out here.”

Errold Peart hailed from Jamaica, where he played cricket and worked at one point at a school for problem children, his son said. He eventually came to the United States, where he continued to play cricket for the USA national team.

Peart represented the USA in five matches at the 1990 International Cricket Council Trophy in the Netherlands, where the batsman was the team’s leading scorer, ESPN reported. The USA made it through the first round that year before losing in the second, according to ESPN.

At first, Peart worked with an airline, his son said, but later decided to open his own business.

He started the car wash more than a decade ago, his son said. He chose the location because it was near a busy stretch of U.S. 441 and near Florida’s Turnpike, the Palmetto Expressway and Interstate 95.

“It was like a landmark,” Dameion Peart said. “Everyone knew him.”

But Peart worried about safety.

“He didn’t like guns. But every year, around this time, for the past three years he got held up at gunpoint and people tried to rob him,” Dameion Peart said. “The last time they even followed him home.”

So Errold Peart got a concealed weapons permit.

On Sunday afternoon, he noticed a pair of young men trying to rob a customer. Errold Peart went out to try and stop it, his son said, only to be shot himself.

The men ran away, leaving behind the customer and a bleeding Peart.

Miami Gardens Police still were looking for the suspects on Monday.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Read More..

Butter Deleted Scene Exclusive

While it didn't carve out big money at the box office, the adorable and acerbic Butter is headed to DVD and ETonline scored an exclusive sneak peek at one deleted scene!

Starring Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry and the scene-stealing debut of Yara Shahidi, I previously called Butter a "sharply observed comedy" and praised Garner's stunning portrayal of the diabolically delicious Laura Pickler, who is part Tracy Flick from Election, part Sarah Palin and all amazing. 

VIDEO - Exclusive Clip from Butter

The fly in Pickler's ointment is the perfectly named Destiny, an orphan who find new parents that embrace her unique carving skills. Check out a deleted scene featuring delightful and promising new star Yara Shahidi and see why I couldn't get enough Butter!

Butter is now available on DVD.

Read More..

Bronx man found dead with severe head trauma after nabes report 'foul odor': cops

An older man was found dead yesterday under mysterious circumstances in The Bronx, authorities said.

The 62-year-old victim was discovered around 10:40 p.m. after someone made a 911 call of a foul odor coming from the Davidson Avenue home, cops said.

Emergency workers responded and found the victim inside. He appears to have suffered from severe trauma to the head, police said.

It is not clear how long the man had been there or what might have happened, cops said. There was no sign of forced entry to the home, police sources said.

The cause of death is pending an autopsy by the city’s medical examiner, police said.

Read More..

AutoNation acquires six dealerships in Texas, adds 1,000 employees

Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, the country’s largest retailer of cars and light trucks, on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire six large auto retail stores in Texas with annual revenues of about $575 million.

Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s chairman and CEO, said in a television interview that the deal “is probably the largest in over a decade” in the auto retailing business.

AutoNation has seen its unit sales increase steadily during the country’s slow economic recovery, and the new acquisitions are a sign that the giant auto retailer expects continued growth. “You want to know what I’m thinking, look at what I do,” Jackson said on CNBC’s Squawk Box program.

He also announced that his company’s November new unit sales totaled 22,571 units, up 21 percent over the same month last year.

The sale price of the acquisitions was not announced. An AutoNation spokesperson said that the sellers did not want to reveal this information. In the past, the sales price of dealerships has been around three to five times annual revenues, according to industry estimates.

The acquisitions, which are expected to sell around 14,000 new and used vehicles in 2012, will add about 1,000 employees to AutoNation’s payroll, which stood at 19,400 at the end of 2011.

AutoNation is buying five stores from Boardwalk Auto Group in the Dallas area with annual sales of about $375 million. The five are three Volkswagen stores and one each for Audi and Porsche. Boardwalk Porsche ranked among the top ten in new vehicle sales for the brand thus far this year. Boardwalk, founded by Scott K. Ginsburg, the main shareholder, will continue to own and operate several other luxury car dealerships.

In Houston, AutoNation is acquiring Spring Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram from the current owners, Alfred Flores and Bruce Glascock. Spring is the highest volume Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealer in the Texas market and the fourth largest in the United States.

The deals are expected to close by the end of the year.

The purchase of these new stores will give AutoNation a total of 227 stores. Upon completion of the deals, the company will own and operate 50 new car franchises in Texas.

AutoNation’s most recent acquisition was in early 2011, when it bought a Toyota dealership in Fort Myers with annual sales of $135 million. It largest recent purchase prior to Tuesday was a Mercedes-Benz store in Pompano Beach, which had annual revenues of $230 million.

Read More..