Free Republic

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed legislation for New York to recreate a new waterfront commission to fight the kind of Mafia corruption made famous in Marlon Brando’s 1954 flick “On The Waterfront.” But the union representing dock workers in the Empire State said Hochul is living in the past and urged lawmakers to sink the measure. Hochul proposed the new waterfront unit for New York’s side of the harbor to replace the prior Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, a bi-state agency founded in 1953 by a Congressionally authorized compact between New York and New Jersey.

A man arrested in connection with a Father's Day shooting between two cars in crime-riddled San Francisco that went on for about a mile and injured six people is not being charged by San Francisco's district attorney. Brooke Jenkins is not, for the time being, pursuing charges against Lee Alexander Haywood, 33, who was arrested Wednesday in connection with the shooting. Her office cited a need to investigate what they deemed a 'complex' shooting further and left it open that Haywood may face charges in the future. 'This is a complex investigation involving multiple crime scene locations, many witnesses as...

For 66 years, Seattle’s downtown was separated from its waterfront by a hulking, double-decker viaduct. When it was blown up in 2019 over earthquake-safety concerns, the possibilities seemed endless. Now, construction is well underway on a 26-block, $700 million waterfront park. It promises to be an open space with stunning views of the Puget Sound and an agenda aimed at dismantling racism.

The bodies of hundreds of New Yorkers are still sitting in a refrigerated morgue on the Brooklyn waterfront more than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Big Apple. The remains of about 750 people are in long-term storage in the specially designed disaster morgue that opened in April, a medical official told a City Council committee meeting on Wednesday.

SEATTLE -- Bertha finished boring the path for a new tunnel under Seattle nearly one year ago. Since then, construction crews have finished installing a double-deck highway end-to-end inside the tunnel. That leaves crews to finish installing and testing the $3.2 billion tunnel's advanced operational and safety systems. So when will the tunnel open? How much will tolls cost? And what happens to the Alaskan Way Viaduct? When will the tunnel open and what happens to the viaduct? After the tunnel is finished, crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for several weeks to realign the highway to the tunnel....

Earni Young | Burying I-95 would enhance Del. River waterfront I HAVE SEEN the future, and in it Interstate 95 was given a burial and Columbus Boulevard was given new life.The vision of a group of planners brought together to create a vision for the central Delaware River waterfront was unanimous.The interstate has to go down if the city is to get the most beneficial use from the rebirth of the formerly industrial waterfront.OK, I can hear the chorus of doubters:"No way," you say. "It will never work," you say. "It's too expensive," you say.But how will we know, if...

United States City planningTunnel vision Feb 22nd 2007 | SEATTLE From The Economist print editionMayor and governor are mud-wrestling over Seattle's waterfront   APThere's a great view here somewhere IT SHOULD be among the most beautiful cityscapes on the west coast: a mural of distant mountains, piers jutting into sun-flecked Elliott Bay and giant orange cranes plucking containers from freighters. Overlooking Seattle's waterfront, however, is a noisy 1950s elevated highway in hideous grey concrete.The elevated highway—known in Seattle simply as “the viaduct”—is also a hazard. It was damaged by an earthquake in 2001, and engineers believe that another quake...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A company that sought state approval for a major development deal on the city's waterfront made substantial campaign contributions to politicians who controlled the project's fate, a newspaper reported Saturday. Campaign finance records show that Mills Corp., which long has lobbied to build a $210 million retail and sports complex on Piers 27-31, contributed at least $53,250 to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and state Controller Steve Westly in the months before and after they endorsed the project, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Westly and Bustamante, who sit on the three-member California...

Union Official Charged in New York Waterfront Mob Extortion Case By Michael Weissenstein/Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - A reputed mob associate was charged Tuesday with conspiring to extort money and power from waterfront businesses and officials of the International Longshoreman's Association. Law enforcement authorities described the arrest of union official and alleged Genovese crime family associate Harold Daggett as part of a broader effort against a union deeply under the sway of organized crime. Daggett is the third ILA official to face federal criminal charges in recent months. He was arraigned on a federal extortion conspiracy charge and released...

<p>CBS 5 News has learned Marlon Brando passed away Thursday in Los Angeles.</p> <p>Brando may be best known for his roles in "The Godfather" and "On the Waterfront". He won oscars for his work in those 2 films.</p> <p>The cause of death is still unknown.</p>

Decades After Brando, Waterfront Still Mobbed Up   BAYONNE, N.J.  — At the headquarters of New Jersey's most notorious union, the ornate front windows are etched with an anchor-and-rope motif. They're opaque, making it impossible to peer inside International Longshoremen's Association (search) Local 1588.That hasn't stopped law enforcement. Local 1588 was historically so corrupt that mob enforcers were unnecessary, according to one veteran investigator. Kickbacks, extortion and fraud became as routine as a Labor Day picnic at the local, long a lucrative outpost for the Genovese (search) crime family. In 1954, when Marlon Brando (search) starred in the Oscar-winning "On The Waterfront," one of 1588's delegates was...