Midday News: NYC Ups Offer to Renovate Vacant Rent Stabilized Units, 11 More Library Branches Offer Seven-Day Service, and a Court Panel Weighs Extensions fo...

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City, from WNYC. It's Friday, September 5th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: For the past two years, New York City has offered to pay landlords to renovate vacant rent-stabilised apartments and then put them back on the market, but as WNYC's David Brand reports, not a single owner has taken the city up on the offer.

David Brand: The program's called Unlocking Doors, and the goal is restoring low-cost units during a housing crunch. The city offered to reimburse landlords up to $25,000 for renovations, but only one owner applied before dropping out of the program. Now the city's upping that to 50,000. Landlord Humberto Lopes says he's still skeptical owners will apply because of the regulations that come with it.

Humberto Lopes: Getting money from the city is one of the worst things. You'd rather go to the mob and get the money from the mob because at least you know you're paying, you pay the interest, and you're gone.

David Brand: Program proponents say it could help rehab hundreds of affordable apartments.

Michael Hill: In other news, New Yorkers in almost a dozen neighborhoods will now have the opportunity to beat the Sunday scaries by picking up a good book. Starting this weekend, seven day service expands to 11 more public libraries citywide, thanks to $2 million from the city budget. There's a high risk for rip currents at beaches along the southern shore of Long Island today, including Brooklyn, and in Queens, the national weather says life-threatening currents are likely through this evening. The agency is warning beachgoers to stay out of the surf and to swim near a lifeguard if they do get in the water.

We're at 77 and partly sunny, going up to 83 today, so good beach weather. Mostly sunny, light wind we've had today, mostly clear and 71 tonight and then tomorrow, a chance of midday showers and storms into the afternoon. Could be some heavy rainfall, a high in the mid-80s.

Janae Pierre: Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Janae Pierre. State court officials will soon decide whether more than a dozen New York City judges who are 70 or older can keep serving past retirement age. WNYC's Samantha Max looked at the database of judicial records and reports that one judge in Queens is a statistical outlier in terms of legal errors. She spoke with my colleague Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: Sam, does New York require all judges in New York to retire when they turn 70?

Samantha Max: Not all, but many. In the state constitution, there's language that requires retirement at age 70 for judges on a few different courts, including family court, the court of appeals, this happens on the last day of December, the year that they turn 70. Retired judges then can technically remain on the bench in two-year installments and until they turn 76, but they need special permission from the court system to do this. Before the courts give permission, officials seek public input on the judge's legal abilities, their capacity to do their jobs, their judicial demeanor, their integrity, their character, all these different types of things that are important in how judges do their work each day.

Michael Hill: Some federal judges get life tenure. Is there any movement to do that in New York state courts or to raise the retirement age?

Samantha Max: I don't think there's been a real push for that here, but there have been calls from judges and lawmakers over the years to at least raise the retirement age, and those calls have gained some traction in the legislature. There's a bill that has been proposed several times, including this year, that would officially change the retirement age to 76. That way, judges wouldn't have to keep going through this process every two years when they turn 70, but that would require a constitutional amendment, which would have to be approved by voters.

I spoke with former Staten Island Judge Philip Straniere, who is very much in favor of raising the retirement age. He retired reluctantly several years ago and felt like he was still perfectly capable of working.

Judge Philip Straniere: There's people who are 50 years old on the bench, and they're incompetent. Right?

Samantha Max: Straniere loved his job as a civil judge. He often presided over cases where people were representing himself, and he really had to kind of explain the law to them and help them along in their journeys. He was known for making his rulings more relatable by peppering them with lyrics from musicals and other pop culture references. He says he's in favor of older judges having to go through some hoops, like passing mental and physical tests to ensure that they can still do their jobs, but he says that there should be some sort of option to work part-time or have a lighter caseload so that judges can stay on the bench.

Michael Hill: Sam, you looked at the records of all the state judges in New York City who are seeking permission to stay on the bench past retirement age. What did you find?

Samantha Max: Well, I found one of the judges who's going through this process who had imposed the sentence that a higher court found was too long. I found another judge who had two cases overturned because higher courts found he had allowed prosecutors to use evidence that was obtained illegally.

Then, out of all these other judges, whose records I reviewed, there was one judge in Queens, Justice Michael Aloise, whose record really stood out. He has been a judge for more than two decades. He's presided over some really high-profile cases, including the trial of NYPD detective Kevin DeSormo, who was convicted of perjury, and both trials of Chanel Lewis. You might remember he was the man convicted of killing Queen's jogger, Karina Vetrano. Aloise has faced allegations of bias against defendants and in favor of law enforcement over the years, including in both of those cases I just mentioned.

There is this database that was recently created that has the records of all active New York State judges. It shows that he is a statistical outlier in terms of his decisions being overturned by higher courts. Higher courts have reversed his decisions about whether to suppress evidence at a rate that is higher than nearly 95% of active New York State judges, according to the database. I reached out to Aloise's chamber and asked to discuss the allegations with Aloise. His clerk referred questions to the state Office of Court Administration.

A spokesperson for the state court system declined to comment, so did the association that represents New York Supreme Court justices.

Michael Hill: Sam, you got a copy of a letter criminal justice reform advocates submitted to court officials, urging them not to allow Justice Aloise to remain on the bench. What reasons did they give?

Samantha Max: This 12-page letter that was shared with me about Aloise, it cites a bunch of different cases in which higher courts have reversed his decisions. There are seven cases it cites in which he allowed prosecutors to use evidence that appellate courts later found was illegally obtained. In at least three cases, according to court decisions that I reviewed, appellate courts shortened defendants' prison terms after finding Aloise gave them excessively long sentences.

Court records also show at least six cases in which higher courts tossed convictions reached in Aloise's courtroom because they found the judge infringed on defendants' constitutional rights. As I said, I did review the records of other judges who are reaching retirement age and hoping to stay on the bench. None of them had records like Aloise's. Public input submitted to the courts during this process, like the letter that I received, is typically kept confidential. I just was able to get this one letter because criminal justice reform advocates shared it with me.

I wasn't able to see any feedback submitted on the other judges, but all the information that I was able to see about the records of Aloise and the other judges reaching retirement age is because of a movement in recent years to increase transparency about New York's judiciary. This is a branch of government that has so much power, but it often operates out of public view.

Michael Hill: Samantha Max covers the courts for WNYC. You can read all of her reporting on our news site, Gothamist. Sam, Great job on this.

Samantha Max: Thanks, Michael.

Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.

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