New York airport police turning theft complaints into lost property complaints

by Scott Carmichael on

Something fishy is taking place at New York area airports. According to the New York Post, New York Port Authority cops regularly downgrade theft at the airport to “lost property” cases, artificially lowering the crime rates at the airports they protect.

By changing the statistics, crimes are no longer being accurately reported. According to the Post, Port Authority police captains regularly tell officers to rewrite reports. When filing reports, victims would report the events, and upon receiving the final report, things like grand-larceny turned in a basic lost property report.

Of course, with actual theft being reported as lost property, crime statistics are skewed and there will be no follow-up actions at the airport, allowing crooks to continue stealing from passengers without the true scale of their crimes becoming apparent.

When asked about the story, a Port Authority spokesman denies all the claims, saying “Every criminal complaint made to the PAPD receives a careful investigation.” Bottom line is simple – keep a close eye on all your belongings, and if something is stolen, be sure to verify that the police report stays accurate.

[Image: Flickr/Pheezy]

Telluride Blues & Brews Festival single-day tickets on sale now

by Laurel Miller on

Even in a town famous for its festivals, Telluride’s Blues & Brews is one hell of a party. The 17th annual, beery, bluesy weekend takes place September 17-19th in Town Park, but if you’re short of cash or time, single-day tickets from $55 to $65 are now available.

Headliners include George Thorogood & the Destroyers, B.B. King, and a TBA performer whose identity will be released Augusts 16th. The lineup also includes perrenial favorites like JJ Grey & Mofro, as well as Jimmie Vaughan, Allen Toussaint, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and the Dana Fuchs Band. Late night “juke joint” performances at bars and other venues around town are also a festival highlight; be sure to get these tickets asap, because they’re a guaranteed sell-out.

A Grand Tasting featuring 53 (mostly Southwestern) microbreweries and nearly 150 beers includes big guns like Sierra Nevada, Stone Brewing Co., and Red Hook, to Colorado standouts such as Avery Brewing Co., Ska Brewing Co., and Odell Brewing Co..

If spending a crisp, early fall weekend outdoors in one of the most spectacular mountain towns in the Rockies sounds like your idea of a good time, dust off your biker boots, and bring a warm, waterproof jacket, just in case. Town Park also has a beautiful campground with full amenities, right on the San Miguel River. It’s first-come, first-served, so get there early, or you might end up sleeping in your car for three days like a certain blogger once did. Thank god for construction site Andy Gump’s.

Five Brooklyn cafes with free wi-fi

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Brooklyn is full of cafés offering their patrons free wi-fi. Here are five particularly distinctive cafés with free wi-fi, strewn across Brooklyn, from neighborhoods ranging from Fort Greene (Smooch) to Ditmas Park (Vox Pop) to Red Hook (Baked).

Are you more of a Manhattan girl or a Queens boy than a Brooklynite? Don’t worry. I’ll come up with some great café picks for other NYC boroughs later this week.

Smooch. 264 Carlton Avenue, Fort Greene.

What makes Smooch so lovely? Is it the smiling antipodean barista slowly pulling your flat white? Is it bare bones interior, seen not long ago in scenes of HBO’s contemporary noir Bored to Death? Is it the creative menu or the perfect coffee drinks? Actually, it’s all of these things as well as its outdoor benches, which make for a friendly alfresco social scene.

Glass Shop. 766 Classon, Crown Heights.

Glass Shop has a fabulous, unfinished look and feel. It’s a stylish, minimalist spot that gives New York City’s other Australian cafés (Smooch above, Ruby’s, and Milk Bar) a run for their money. The espresso drinks are perfect and there are often ANZAC biscuits on offer as well. The atmosphere in the interior is sedate and studious, with most patrons bent over their laptops. There is a back garden, which is also unfinished and scrappy.

Tillie’s of Brooklyn. 248 Dekalb, Clinton Hill.

The most traditional American coffeehouse among the five, Tillie’s of Brooklyn feels like a college town café. The proximity of Pratt Institute no doubt feeds this impression. All the coffee on offer is organic, and wi-fi is free with purchase. Thursdays witness a 7:30 pm open mic event. Many of the café’s guests are here to work. Located at the corner of Dekalb and Vanderbilt, Tillie’s straddles the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene border.

Vox Pop. 1022 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park.

The collectively run Vox Pop (café slogan: “Books, Coffee, Democracy”) is a Brooklyn landmark, a cooperative-run cafe with over 200 owners. Vox Pop is a hell raising hotbed of political passion, often with three scheduled events a day. Sing-a-longs, movie nights, blues nights, jam sessions, and story hours fill up the calendar. Vox Pop’s late hours are another plus.

Baked. 369 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook.

Baked, Red Hook’s outstanding baked goods emporium, may have spawned a quiet industry (a cookbook, accolades from Oprah, and a Charleston, South Carolina spin-off) but it’s also a downright pleasant and poppy place to have a coffee and get to work. And don’t forget that, as unquestionably tasty as the in-house pastries may be, Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies sells its very delicious swingles (chocolate-dipped frozen key lime pies on sticks) just a few blocks away.

(Image: Flickr/Global Jet)

Blogger Meg Nesterov

by Meg Nesterov on

Where was your photo taken: On a plane bound for Tokyo from JFK, taken to join the elite ranks of Heather Poole’s laviators.

Where do you live now: Istanbul, Turkey. I arrived here in May to accompany my husband who is consulting on a project with Turkish company. We will eventually return home to Brooklyn, New York, where we can be found sampling the city’s many all-you-can-drink brunch specials and planning our next trip.

Scariest airline flown: Like Alex Robertson Textor, I’d have to go with La Costeña in Nicaragua to the Corn Islands. It feels like you are flying on an unwieldy bicycle, and when a fellow passenger noted that one of the controls was not working, the pilot remarked, “Oh, I don’t use that, it’s turned off!” They do serve cookies and Fanta, so not wholly unpleasant.

Favorite city/country/place: Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. After spending many childhood summers on the lake, I honeymooned there for a glorious week with my husband barbecuing, playing cards, and hiking through the woods with my grandfather.Most remote corner of the globe visited: Pisco Elqui, Chile. The town is named after the country’s favorite liquor, in an effort to reinforce Chile’s claim to Pisco over Peru. A perfect place to stargaze and think about climbing the Andes, maybe after another Pisco Sour.

Favorite guidebook series: I try to go with whatever has been most recently updated, but I like that Frommer’s guides generally have an actual, personal voice and all of their content is online.

Favorite travel author: Hard to choose just one, but I loved the books of Pete McCarthy: great insights to places and almost embarrassingly funny. McCarthy’s Bar is spot-on about travel in Ireland and the sequel, Road to McCarthy, travels everywhere from Morocco to the Caribbean. He sadly passed away a few years ago, but I still think of some passages of his books and laugh out loud.

Dream travel destination: Playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? made me intrigued with Sri Lanka. I imagine days full of visits to remote temples and lying in hammocks on the beach, and nights spent in grizzled expat bars being served gin and tonics by a bartender with an eyepatch. And catching an international jewel thief, of course.

Worst place to catch a stomach bug? An airplane. I was once suddenly ill on a London to New York flight and I can’t think of much worse than being on your hands and knees in an airplane bathroom, then returning to a middle seat.

When I’m not writing for Gadling, I’m…working remotely as a publicist for a travel PR agency in New York, handling media relations for several tour operators and hotels, and acting as “social media curator,” finding content for our Facebook page, Twitter, and eventually, blog. In Istanbul, I can be found looking for ways to escape the summer heat, playing tour guide to my visiting friends (six so far, including the inimitable Mike Barish), and bumbling my Turkish all over town.

Battleship New Jersey saved from funding cut

by Sean McLachlan on

The battleship USS New Jersey saw service in World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, and Lebanon and proved unstoppable, but one dangerous foe almost shut it down for good–budget cuts. A couple of months ago New Jersey Governor Chris Christie passed a state budget that did not include $1.7 million to keep the ship open as a museum in Camden harbor. Much political wrangling ensued, over this and numerous other funding measures, and the new budget that has just been signed includes the money for the battleship. The ship’s curators now plan to go ahead with a paint job and installing an interactive loading and firing simulation in one of the turrets.

Some other attractions and parks in the state have not been so lucky. The Camden Children’s Garden did not see its annual $625,000 grant renewed and has already cut staff and opening hours. Other states are having similar budget woes, with New York cutting funding to many parks.

Even the battleship is struggling. Its annual state funding used to stand at $3.4 million. It looks like there are tough times ahead for all attractions that rely on local, state, and federal funding. This may lead to rising ticket prices, shorter hours, and more appeals for donations.


Photo courtesy user Daveahern via Wikimedia Commons.