Megachurch pastor resigns over adultery, porn

U.S

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:43 AM

Liberty University via YouTube Bob Coy, who founded the Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1985, stepped down after admitting to adultery and watching porn.

An ex-cocaine-using megachurch pastor in Florida — who gave up a life of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’roll — has been toppled after committing adultery and having a penchant for porn.

Pastor Bob Coy has also left the Coral Springs home he shared with his wife and two teenaged children.

The 58-year-old founded Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale in 1985. Outreach Pastor Chet Lowe told a congregation that “Our former pastor was caught in sin.

“He committed adultery with more than one woman. Our pastor committed sexual immorality, habitually, through pornography.”

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Coy resigned from the 20,000-member church on April 3.

The church’s only statement at the time was Coy was guilty of a “moral failing.”

But it was during Lowe’s 78-minute ‘Fear of God’ service on April 16 that the truth was revealed.

Megachurch Research Center director John Vaughan of Springfield, Mo., explained sex scandals are not the epidemic some people think.

“There are a lot of beautiful Christian women,” Vaughan said. “A pastor, as a man, would have the same kind of temptation as a man anywhere else would.”

Coy, who once worked in the music business, had spoken openly about cocaine use and working in Las Vegas casinos with exotic dancers, saying, “I was into sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”

Lowe asked for compassion for Coy.

“It’s our time to move forward. Bob will have a new life, but it won’t be leading Calvary Chapel,” he told a cheering audience.

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De Blasio pushes ‘mansion tax’ to fund affordable housing

After his failed attempt to hike income taxes on the wealthy, Mayor de Blasio is eyeing another way to squeeze money from millionaires to fund another top priority: affordable housing.

Multiple sources tell The Post that the mayor is talking to people about how to increase the so-called “mansion tax” on homes selling for $ 1 million or more to help offset the cost of adding 200,000 affordable-housing units.

However, boosting the mansion tax would require Albany’s approval, and sources say that could be a major hurdle for de Blasio because Gov. Cuomo smacked down his income-tax-hike idea earlier this year.

The state mansion tax already exists statewide and levies a 1 percent fee on residential property sold for at least $ 1 million. In the 2012-13 fiscal year, it generated a record-busting $ 259 million. While it covers the entire state, The tax hits hardest in Manhattan, where seven-figure prices are common even for modest-sized co-ops and condos.

Sources said an expanded mansion tax, which would be progressive based on the sale price of a property, could generate $ 150 million for the city.

City Hall declined to comment.

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EXCLUSIVE: City agrees to pay $500G to family of 17-year-old electrocuted in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:10 AM

John Tracy for New York Daily News Kids pay their repects a at memorial to Luis Rivera on Rugby Rd. and Newkirk Ave.

The city has agreed to pay $ 500,000 to the family of a 17-year-old student who was electrocuted by a light fixture while climbing a chain-link fence to sneak into a Brooklyn school playground, the Daily News has learned.

Luis Rivera was killed instantly on Sept. 13, 2006, after his head brushed against the 126-volt device affixed to the red brick wall of Public School 217. Rivera was with a group of friends who had scaled the fence to leave the locked field, where they had been playing football.

“No amount of monetary compensation can bring this young man back to us. However, given the facts and circumstances of this tragedy, this settlement was fair and reasonable,” Rivera family lawyers Sanford Rubenstein and Scott Rynecki said in a statement.

John Tracy for New York Daily News The 17-year-old was electrocuted while climbing a Brooklyn school playground fence in Sept. 2006. John Tracy for New York Daily News This light fixture at PS 217 is said to be responsible for Rivera’s death.

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The settlement, which will be paid by the city School Construction Authority and contractor Five Star Electric of Ozone Park, Queens, was reached last Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Court on the eve of jury selection.

A panel of appellate judges had rejected a motion to dismiss the suit, ruling that the city had failed in its duty to make inspections of the lighting system. The entire light fixture had become electrified due to a short in the splice box and two breaks in wire grounding, court papers state.

Nicholas Fevelo for New York Daily News Sanford Rubenstein, one of the lawyers for the Rivera family, says the settlement ‘was fair and reasonable.’

The authority had contracted with Five Star to renovate and upgrade the school’s electrical system in 1995.

Rivera was a senior at New Utrecht High School at the time of the freak accident.

A spokeswoman for the authority had no immediate comment.

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Sources: Mayor Close to Contract Agreement With City’s Teachers Union

Mayor Bill de Blasio is delaying the announcement of his affordable housing plan, originally scheduled for Thursday morning, and there is speculation that the reason is because City Hall is close to reaching a contract agreement with the city’s teachers union.

A spokesman for the United Federation of Teachers said negotiations are ongoing.

A spokesman for the mayor would not confirm the reason for the delay in the announcement.

He said the affordable housing plan is complete and not the cause of the delay.

All of the city’s 152 labor unions are working with expired contracts.

If the mayor reaches a deal with the teachers, it would be the first such agreement settled by his administration.

It could also prove to be a template for other unions negotiating with City Hall.

Leaders of the teachers union have been seeking retroactive pay raises for their members.

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Daily Blotter

Manhattan

Cops are looking for three gunmen who burst into a Harlem clothing store and robbed a customer of his cellphone, sneakers, belt and $ 2,500, then took his car keys and fled in his minivan, authorities said.

At 6:45 p.m. on March 18, the thugs entered Wolf Style Clothing on Frederick Douglass Boulevard near West 132nd Street with firearms drawn, police said.

They targeted a 29-year-old shopper, took his possessions and fled in his 2012 Dodge Caravan, cops said.

The trio left behind the car in which they arrived at the store, police said.

One robber was seen on surveillance video wearing a blue jacket with a hood and a scarf.

One accomplice wore a black knit cap, a black hooded jacket and black pants, while another was wearing a black jacket over a white hoodie, black pants and dark shoes.

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A woman was robbed of her $ 600 Louis Vuitton wallet, credit cards and $ 200 in cash in a Chelsea nightclub, sources said.

The victim was carrying her purse in The Park on Tenth Avenue between 17th and 18th streets at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when someone snatched it, ­police sources added.

By the next afternoon, someone had charged nearly $ 400 on her credit card at a Foot Locker in The Bronx, sources added.

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A thief grabbed a woman’s $ 2,000 Chanel bag off the back of her chair while she was chatting with pals at a bar in Chelsea, according to ­police sources.

The 31-year-old victim was in Bathtub Gin on Ninth Avenue at 12:30 a.m. Sunday when someone plucked the pricey purse containing a $ 650 iPhone, the sources added.

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Brooklyn

The man burglarized a Sunset Park home, cops said.

He snatched clothing, cash, debit and credit cards from the home at Seventh Avenue and 55th Street at about 5:35 a.m. Monday, police said.

He was seen on video surveillance wearing a light-colored hat and jacket.

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Police are working to smoke out the crook who used a credit card stolen during a Greenpoint burglary to buy two packs of smokes, cops said.

He used the plastic at the 24-hour Walgreens on Fourth Avenue near East 14th Street at 12:40 a.m. on March 29, a day after the burglary, said law-enforcement sources.

He was seen on surveillance video wearing a gray sweater and hat, a pair of blue jeans and black sneakers, the sources said.

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The Bronx

A woman was stabbed while standing on a street in Bedford Park, police said.

The 25-year-old woman was near Kingsbridge and Bainbridge avenues just after midnight Wednesday when a knife-wielding attacker plunged a blade into her left shoulder, cops said.

The stabber fled, and the victim was taken to Montefiore Hospital where she was reported in stable condition, police said.

She had not been robbed, and cops did not immediately know of a motive.

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Cops have identified a robbery suspect who allegedly tied up a Norwood man and cleaned out his home.

A man who reportedly goes by the name of “Dolo” entered the Decatur Avenue house with an unidentified accomplice at 8:15 p.m. on April 9, police said.

The intruders pulled guns on the victim, bound him with tape and swiped jewelry, a credit card, a cellphone and $ 900 in cash, cops added.

Less than an hour later, the robbers tried to use the victim’s card at a Rite-Aid on West 125th Street in Harlem, authorities said.

The victim was treated for minor injuries, authorities said.

Surveillance video shows “Dolo” wearing a gray ­T-shirt with white letters and red shading.

He was carrying a black duffel bag, sources said, while his pal was seen wearing a purple and black baseball cap.

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Reform the reform

Julia Xanthos/New York Daily News Improving the process. Now, get rid of the slush funds.

It took a new mindset and a new regime at the City Council to produce a series of badly needed reforms. Credit goes to Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Rules Committee Chair Brad Lander for delivering a package worthy of passage.

Despite a few big blind spots that we’ll get to, the proposals democratize the Council and empower individual members. No more will the body be ruled by the heavy hand of the speaker, as under Chris Quinn for the last eight years and her predecessors before her.

First, the good stuff:

– The reforms would give all members, not just the speaker’s pets, the ability to have their ideas drafted into formal legislative language.

– Bills would be allowed to move through committees and to the floor on their own merit, not only on the speaker’s whims.

– All committee chairs would have latitude to hire staff, set agendas and conduct hearings without having to wait on the speaker’s say-so.

– No longer would slush fund allotments to local Little Leagues, literacy programs, soup kitchens, senior centers and whatnot — politely called member items — be determined based on a member’s relationship, good or ill, with the speaker.

Add it up, and you have the makings of, dare we say it, a grownup legislative body.

Here’s the downside: Though given two new coats of paint, member items — an abuse of taxpayer dollars, any way you slice them — remain.

There’s nothing wrong with the vast majority of groups receiving the cash. Most community groups do great work, and are more than welcome to apply for government and private-sector grants, of which there are plenty.

But putting unilateral power to disburse public money in the hands of elected officials eager to spread magic dust and win the gratitude of their constituents (and reelection) invites corruption.

Ex-members Larry Seabrook, Miguel Martinez and Hiram Monserrate are all behind bars for stealing member items. Dan Halloran’s trial starts next month.

Which explains why a former councilman named Bill de Blasio, who smelled the stench of the slush up close, wants all $ 400 million in yearly member items banned.

That, of course, is a no-go with the Council, which would rather get a round of applause for reform while continuing to tap a huge kitty of cash.

The way out: De Blasio must use his power on the obscure Procurement Policy Board to flatly outlaw the practice by requiring that all contracts be competitively bid.

Neither the mayor nor the Council dispute that he has this authority. He has to use it.

Besides wrongly wanting to keep the slush funds, Mark-Viverito also punted on the extra cash payments, called lulus, that she hands out to members for running committees and holding leadership posts. Though a majority supports a ban, the speaker went only so far as to recommend that an advisory commission due to be appointed next year take up the matter.

That’s a dodge. Ban lulus. Ban member items. Go the distance on reform.

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EXCLUSIVE City Council wants to join Airbnb fight

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, May 1, 2014, 3:54 AM

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg The City Council wants in on the state attorney general’s fight with the apartment-sharing website Airbnb.

The City Council wants in on the state attorney general’s fight with the apartment-sharing website Airbnb.

“There’s a lot of concern in the Council about Airbnb’s impact on neighborhoods and housing affordability,” Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) said.

Airbnb is “getting in the way of affordable housing by making our housing stock . . . into high-priced rentals,” added Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan).

Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Council’s Housing Committee, said he would like to hold a hearing to investigate Airbnb.

Barry Williams/for New York Daily News Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is asking for the names of everyone in the city who rents their apartments through the site.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman already is dueling with Airbnb, asking for the names of everyone in the city who rents their apartments through the site. Schneiderman has said he believes the majority of Airbnb’s city listings are illegal short-term rentals.

Council members are getting information on Airbnb from Josh Gold, political director for the Hotel Trades Council, which represents hotel workers.

The hotel industry has long opposed Airbnb and clamored for the 2010 law that made it illegal to rent out a city apartment by the night.

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