Friday Headlines: Can You PanHandle This Edition
How unsafe is panhandling?
Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello thinks signage discouarging the practice at various intersections around the city have conributed to safety while detractors have argued that the signs actually are distracting for motorists, according to WAMC.
State DOT forced the city to move one of these signs on Hoosick Street, but only beacuse it had veered over into their jutrisdiction.
Mantello is right to be concerned about street safety in the city – a man was hosiptalized after a car driver hit him on on July 5 – but targeting panhandlers has been porrly received by some since the genisis of the idea in 2025.
Even it tamps down on near misses, as Mantello suggested, others will still see it as a “marketing stunt.”
Elsewher in the Empire State:
- Reformist Democrats in Brooklyn are hoping their pick can become the new leader of the county’s Democratic Party committee. (NY1)
- Albany’s credit rating was downgraded as it weathers a fiscal crisis. (The Times Union)
- The Onondaga County Board of Elections is expecting the veto snafu over county executive term limits to be decided by litigation. (State of Politics)
- The Department of Justice ended its probe into the Ulster County Board of Elections. (The Times Union)
- Geneva is looking to clamp down on e-bikes, joining other cities outside of the New York City metropolitan area. (Finger Lakes Times)
- Binghamton residents want to see Flock Safety license plate reading cameras gone. (Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin)
- A bus company owner on Long Island orchestrated a $9.3 million bank fraud scheme. (Syracuse.com)
- Civic leaders are wondering if a weekend age limit needs to be enforced on Chippewa Street to prevent violence. (The Buffalo News)
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