Boards 4 & 5 dismiss intentions of
Empire Station Complex plan
BY MARK HALLUM
Community Boards 4 and
5 in Midtown Manhattan
issued a joint statement
Monday night dismissing Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s pet project, the
Empire Station Complex, as more
of a real estate deal than an earnest
effort to improve transportation
capacity around Penn Station.
Calling on Empire State Development
hit the pause button on
moving the expansion of the transit
hub to an entire block south of
Penn Station, community leaders
said the governor’s offi ce should
proceed with caution and further
engage the public in the future.
“It is time for a better Penn
Station. New York City deserves
a world class, intermodal
transportation center. Our communities
are eager to improve
Penn Station and we want to
do it right,” the joint statement
read. “Unfortunately, the plan
introduced by the Empire State
Development Corporation at the
height of the pandemic has nothing
to do with Penn Station or
infrastructure. Rather, it is a real
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in January 2020 the Empire Station Complex plan to ease
commuter rail congestion at Penn Station.
estate development packaged as a
‘transportation’ project.”
Cuomo proposed developing
the Empire Station Complex
by expanding Penn Station to
the south in January 2020 as
part of his State of the State
address that year. Three months
later, COVID-19 brought about
a whole new reality for the state
government as expenses for
containing the virus pushed all
other priorities back.
But the governor revived the
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
proposal to triple train capacity
around Penn during his 2021
State of the State address as it
became apparent that Joe Biden
would be sworn in as president
of the United States, making
the chances of another stimulus
package a near certainty.
But public opinion of the
project soured to some degree
as Layla Law-Gisiko, chair of
Community Board 5’s land use,
housing and zoning committee,
revealed to the New York Post
that the state had room for 10
skyscrapers in the fi ne print.
“Our State budget should not
be earmarked for non-existent
projects and we call for the
removal of $1.3 billion from the
FY2022 State budget until the
Penn Station plan is ready,” the
groups continued. “The ‘Empire
Station Complex’ plan calls for
developing ten buildings on eight
sites in a one-block radius of Penn
Station. It excludes Penn Station
reconstruction and expansion,
ignores Madison Square Garden,
but provides millions of square
feet of development in an already
dense neighborhood.”
The governor’s offi ce did not
respond to a request for comment
from amNewYork as has become
the norm after multiple allegations
of sexual harassment linger
and multiple investigations into
his conduct are pending.
Convicted murderer booked for violent anti-Asian assault
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Police booked a paroled, convicted
murderer from Midtown early
Wednesday morning who allegedly
assaulted a woman and shouted anti-Asian
epithets at her during a violent attack earlier
this week that was caught on camera.
Brandon Elliot, 38, of West 40th Street
faces charges of assault as a hate crime,
attempted assault as a hate crime, assault
and attempted assault for allegedly carrying
out the March 29 bias-fi lled beating on a
65-year-old woman in front of an apartment
building entrance on West 43rd
Street.
Part of the shocking attack — the latest
in an ongoing series of anti-Asian assaults
in New York City — was fi lmed by a security
camera inside the apartment building.
The video shows a door staff member at
the building watching and doing nothing to
intervene in the attack, adding to the public
outrage over the incident; that worker has
The suspect accused of assaulting a 65-year-old woman in Midtown
on March 29, 2021.
since been suspended.
Police sources said that Elliot was
previously convicted in the Bronx in
2003 on a second-degree murder charge
for stabbing a family member to death
PHOTO COURTESY OF NYPD
in 2002. State inmate records indicated
that Elliot was paroled in November
2019 after serving more than 16 years
behind bars.
Regarding Monday’s hate crime, cops
said that Elliot allegedly confronted the
victim outside the West 43rd Street building
at about 11:40 a.m. on March 29. He’s
accused of repeatedly punching and kicking
the woman about her body, knocking
her to the ground.
During the assault, police reported,
Elliot allegedly shouted a number of
anti-Asian statements toward her. He’s also
shown on camera allegedly stomping on her
head multiple times before fi nally taking off
in an unknown direction.
Officers from the Midtown South
Precinct responded to the incident. The
victim is now recovering at NYU Langone
Hospital from her injuries.
Police sources said Elliot was picked up
Tuesday for questioning thanks to a tip to
the NYPD’s CrimeStoppers hotline and the
assistance of the NYPD Warrant Squad.
Both the Midtown South Precinct and
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea congratulated
the offi cers involved in making
an arrest in the case.
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