Gentile: Brunt of MTA Fare/Toll Hikes Falls on New York City Commuters

In a media release responding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board's announcement yesterday that it has approved universal fare and toll hikes as of March 22, City Council Member Vinnie Gentile scored the MTA for using New Yorkers as "ATM machines."



On March 22, an MTA single fare card will go from $2.50 to $2.75; a weekly MetroCard will go from $30 to $31; and a monthly card

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Gentile Proposes $7.3 M for Bulletproof Vests

A City Council Coalition that includes Council Member Vinnie Gentile and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito today proposed to allocate $7.3 million in the FY 2016 preliminary budget, with additional funding in coming years, for updated bulletproof vests for NYPD officers.



The funds will ensure, Gentile said, that NYPD can buy the most advanced, effective new technology, at a per-unit

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Gentile Calls on Bay Ridge to "Go Blue" for NYPD Officers

In the aftermath of the horrific execution-style murders of on-duty NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday, City Council Member Vinnie Gentile has called on his district to "go blue" by wearing or displaying a blue ribbon to show support for NYPD officers.

Ramos and Liu were ambushed by deranged gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley as they sat eating lunch in their

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DeBlasio Build It Back Overhaul Exceeds Labor Day Milestones

According to a media release today from Council Member Vinnie Gentile's office, Mayor Bill de Blasio's January overhaul of the controversial Bloomberg-era "Build It Back" Program exceeded its goals by logging 535 construction starts and cutting 543 reimbursement checks by Labor Day.

As of January 1, the Build It Back Program had made no construction starts and cut no checks. Homeowners were

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SBA Swats deBlasio with Full-Page New York Times Ad

As reported by News 7, a city police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, took out a full page ad in Tuesday's New York Times hitting Mayor deBlasio's bid to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn.

Aimed at deBlasio's public safety policy, the ad ominously declares that the city is headed back to the "bad old days" of out-of-control

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Gentile, Golden Host Presser at Summer Stroll Tonight

City Council Member Vinnie Gentile, State Senator Marty Golden and other local officials will host a press conference at the corner of 87th Street and 3rd Avenue (near the Bay Ridge Cares table at Summer Stroll) at 7:45 PM on Friday, August 15 (tonight), calling on Empire State Building officials to recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by illuminating the tower in gold during September.

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Gentile Convenes a Meeting on Illegal Conversions

According to a media release today, City Council Member Vinnie Gentile has responded to mounting concerns about the scale of the illegal home conversion problem in his district by convening a meeting this week with Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann and representatives from the Mayor’s office, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ office, City Council Speaker Melissa

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