SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said Monday it is investigating a fiery car crash at a San Jose, California, post office over the weekend as a potentially intentional act.

Richard Tillman, 44, of San Jose was arrested after the car rammed into the office located in a strip mall around 3 a.m. Sunday, causing the building to go up in flames, San Jose police said. No injuries were reported.

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About 50 firefighters took about an hour and a half to knock down the flames at the Almaden Valley Station Post Office south of downtown. Photos posted online by the fire department showed a charred vehicle inside the heavily damaged one-story building.

Tillman was booked on suspicion of arson. He was held in lieu of $60,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, according to online custody records. A phone number could not be located for Tillman. Messages were sent to the Santa Clara County District Attorney asking if Tillman has an attorney.

Postal inspectors are investigating the incident as a “potentially intentional act,” said U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel. There was no information about a possible motive.

Nearly 2 million people live in the metropolitan area of San Jose, about 50 miles south of downtown San Francisco.

City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.

(Gerardo Romo/NYC Council)

Welcome to City Limits’ NYC Housing Calendar, a weekly feature where we round up the latest housing and land use-related events and hearings, as well as upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.

Know of an event we should include in next week’s calendar? Email us.

Upcoming Housing and Land Use-Related Events:

Monday, July 21 at 1 p.m.: The mayor’s Charter Revision Commission will hold its last meeting to vote on a series of proposals to put on the ballot this fall for voters to decide on, including several related to the city’s public review process for new housing. More here.

Tuesday, July 22 at 9:30 a.m.: The Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet. More here.

Tuesday, July 22 at 10 a.m.: The Department of Housing, Preservation and Development will hold an online workshop for homeowners on how to avoid deed theft. More here.

Tuesday, July 22 at 6 p.m.: Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board will host a discussion on the history of New York City’s Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperatives (HDFC coops). More here.

Tuesday, July 22 at 6:30 p.m.: The NYC Department of Environmental Protection will hold a town hall on flood preparedness in Inward. Registration is required. More here.

Tuesday, July 22 at 6:30 p.m.: Join Crown Heights Tenant Union for a community storytelling event, “How Tenants Got the Building Back.” Participants will share stories about how they organized with neighbors around landlord foreclosure, rent strikes and more. More here.

Thursday, July 24 at 6 p.m.: The Brooklyn Public Library and St. Nicks Alliance will hold an eviction defense workshop at the Williamsburgh Library branch, 240 Division Ave. More here.

Monday, July 28 at 1 p.m.: The City Planning Commission will hold a review session. More here.

NYC Affordable Housing Lotteries Ending Soon: The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) are closing lotteries on the following subsidized buildings over the next week.

The Elliot, Brooklyn, for households between $73,578 – $140,000 (last day to apply is 7/22)

Altara Senior Apartments, Queens, or households earning between $56,332 – $168,480 (last day to apply is 7/24)

The post NYC Housing Calendar, July 21-28 appeared first on City Limits.

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s former interim police commissioner has filed a $10 million defamation claim against Mayor Eric Adams for reportedly suggesting he was mentally unfit for the job of top cop.

The filing comes less than a week after the ex-commissioner, Thomas Donlon, sued Adams and his top deputies, accusing them of operating the department as a criminal racket that rewarded unqualified loyalists and punished whistleblowers. Donlon said he was sidelined for trying to clean up the corruption.

After that lawsuit was filed, Adams privately told members of a nonprofit business advocacy group at a meeting that he’d fired Donlon, 71, from his brief stint as commissioner last fall because he was “rapidly deteriorating mentally,” according to attendees. Donlon cited news reports about those comments in his legal claim.

The department’s former top spokesperson, Tarik Sheppard, who was also named in Donlon’s lawsuit, told reporters that his former boss was “going through some cognitive issues” and believed “there was this conspiracy against him.”

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Their comments amounted to a defamatory “public character assassination” intended to “weaponize mental health to silence a whistleblower,” Donlon’s attorney, John Scola, said Monday.

Donlon, a former FBI official, was appointed by Adams in September to lead a department reeling from overlapping federal investigations and high-level resignations.

He was replaced by the current commissioner, Jessica Tisch, in November. During his short tenure, federal authorities searched Donlon’s home for decades-old documents that he said were unrelated to his work at the department. He has not been publicly accused of wrongdoing in connection with that search.

In his short time as commissioner, Donlon said he uncovered “systemic corruption” by members of the mayor’s inner circle, including a scheme to reward unqualified loyalists with lucrative promotions in exchange for political favors.

In his lawsuit, Donlon accused Sheppard of misappropriating the commissioner’s rubber stamp signature to give himself a raise, then threatening to kill Donlon when confronted about it.

Sheppard, who left the department in May, has denied that allegation. Inquiries to City Hall about the defamation claim were not immediately returned.

In a statement last week, a spokesperson for Adams, Kayla Mamelak Altus, described Donlon’s claims as “absurd.”

“These are baseless accusations from a disgruntled former employee who — when given the opportunity to lead the greatest police department in the world — proved himself to be ineffective,” she said.

The defamation claim adds to a recent spate of litigation brought by police officals against Adams, focusing scrutiny on his leadership as he seeks re-election on a platform emphasizing managerial competence and public safety.

Earlier this month, four high-ranking former NYPD officials brought separate lawsuits accusing Adams and his deputies of allowing rampant corruption and cronyism within the police department.

In response to those suits, a spokesperson for Adams said the administration “holds all city employees — including leadership at the NYPD — to the highest standards.”

By PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting of an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in a New York City park, law enforcement officials said Monday.

Christhian Aybar-Berroa is the alleged getaway driver in the apparent robbery-gone-wrong Saturday, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. He is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Monday.

Aybar-Berroa’s alleged accomplice, Miguel Mora, was taken into custody Sunday after arriving at a Bronx hospital with gunshot wounds to the groin and leg.

The 42-year-old customs officer, who was not in uniform, had been sitting with a woman in a park beneath the George Washington Bridge in upper Manhattan when two men approached on a moped, according to police.

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When he realized he was being robbed, the officer drew his service weapon. He and the suspects fired at each other: The officer was shot in the face and arm while the suspect was shot before he and the moped driver fled, police said.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in a separate announcement Monday, said the officer, who has not been identified by authorities, is recovering in a hospital and is expected to survive. He works for Customs and Border Protection, whose officers dress in blue and are stationed at airports and land crossings. Border Patrol agents in green uniforms patrol mountains and deserts for illegal crossings.

No lawyers were listed for Aybar-Berroa or Moro on the federal court case database and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan didn’t immediately comment.

Authorities say both suspects entered the country illegally from the Dominican Republic and have extensive criminal histories in their short time in the U.S.

The police commissioner said Aybar-Berroa arrived in 2022 and he has been arrested eight times for grand larceny and other crimes, and is a suspect in at least four other cases.

The Homeland Security chief said Aybar-Berroa was ordered deported by a federal immigration judge in 2023, but immigration detainers were ignored. She blamed New York City authorities for releasing him before federal officials could take custody of him.

He was “arrested again and again and again,” Noem said. “What did we think was going to happen?”

Moro, she added, has a “rap sheet a mile long” that includes grand larceny, assault and kidnapping charges.

Police said Sunday he entered the country illegally through Arizona in 2023 and had two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York. He is also wanted in New York to face accusations of robbery and felony assault, and in Massachusetts over a stolen weapons case.

“There is absolutely zero reason that someone like this — that’s the scum of the earth — should be running loose on the streets of New York City,” Noem said at a press conference at CBP’s Manhattan office.

Mayor Eric Adams, at a separate press conference, distanced himself from the so-called sanctuary city policies that Noem and other federal officials on Monday blamed for the shooting.

New York and other cities have longstanding laws and policies that limit or restrict local government involvement in federal immigration matters.

“I’m not protecting them,” said the Democratic mayor, a former police captain who is running for reelection. “I’ve always been clear: stop the revolving door system. Go after the dangerous migrants and asylum seekers.”

Follow Philip Marcelo on X: @philmarcelo