The masked figure known as Spider-Man swung into Midtown
late last night, subduing three armed suspects outside
Midtown Trust before police arrived on the scene. Witnesses
say the wall-crawler webbed the men to a lamppost above the
bank's entrance and vanished over the rooftops before a
single officer could take his statement. Midtown Trust
confirmed no funds were missing and no hostages were harmed,
though a teller who asked not to be named said the sight of
a man clinging to the ceiling "nearly gave the whole branch
a heart attack." Publisher J. Jonah Jameson maintains the
costumed vigilante remains a greater menace to this city
than the criminals he pursues, and has again called on the
police commissioner to authorize his capture.
Continued…
A city council committee opened hearings this week on a
proposed ordinance that would require costumed adventurers
to register their identities with the NYPD before operating
within city limits. Supporters, including several council
members who cite the Bugle's own reporting, say the measure
would finally bring accountability to masked vigilantism.
Opponents call it unenforceable against a man who has never
once been photographed without his mask, and warn it would
do nothing but drive him further underground.
Continued…
Circulation figures released Monday show The Daily Bugle
outselling every rival paper in the five boroughs for the
fourth straight week, a trend editors attribute almost
entirely to the public's appetite for the latest on the
wall-crawling menace. Newsstand operators from Battery Park
to the Bronx report selling out of the Bugle's morning run
by nine o'clock whenever a Spider-Man photograph runs above
the fold, and the paper's switchboard has fielded a record
number of calls asking when the next one will appear.
Continued…
This newspaper has said it before and will say it again: the
masked figure prowling our skyline is no hero. He is a
vigilante, plain and simple, answerable to no one and
accountable to nothing but his own vanity. Every week some
breathless account crosses my desk praising this
"wall-crawler" for a rescue or a collar, and every week I
ask the same question nobody in city government seems
willing to answer: who does he think he is? A costume and a
camera-ready escape do not make a man a hero, they make him
a menace this city has been far too eager to applaud.
Continued…
Not every New Yorker shares the publisher's view. Dozens of
letters arrived this week, and while a handful echo Mr.
Jameson's alarm, the majority strike a different tone
entirely — several from readers who say they owe the
wall-crawler their lives, including a Brooklyn mother who
says he carried her son down six flights of a burning
stairwell and vanished before she could learn his name.
Continued…
The MTA board voted 8–3 Wednesday to raise the base
fare from $1.25 to $1.30, citing rising maintenance costs
and a signal-upgrade program on the Lexington Avenue line.
The increase takes effect Monday; riders using tokens
purchased before then will still be honored through April.
The Bombers took the top spot in the American League East
with a 6–2 win over Boston at the Stadium last night,
backed by a three-run homer in the seventh. Manager praised
the bullpen for holding the lead after a shaky start from
the rotation.
City Hall announced a new curbside recycling program set to
begin citywide next quarter, requiring households to sort
glass, plastic, and paper into separate bins for the first
time. Sanitation officials say the pilot borough, Staten
Island, has already cut landfill volume by 15 percent.
Partly cloudy today with a high of 68°F and light winds
out of the southwest. Rain is expected to move in Thursday
afternoon, with clearing skies forecast to return by the
weekend.
A Forest Hills resident says he owes his life to the
wall-crawler after a three-alarm blaze tore through his
apartment building early Sunday morning. The man, trapped
on a fourth-floor fire escape, says a figure in red and blue
appeared out of nowhere and lowered him safely to the
street moments before the escape collapsed.
A budget committee weighed a $2 million proposal Tuesday
to install brighter, longer-lasting streetlights across
outer-borough neighborhoods that have gone years without
repair. Council members from Queens and the Bronx argued
the funding was overdue; the finance chair says a vote is
expected before the summer recess.
Con Edison crews worked through the night to restore
service to roughly 4,000 homes after a transformer failure
knocked out power across three Queens neighborhoods just
after midnight. Utility officials say the cause remains
under investigation, though cold weather is suspected to
have played a role.
