Top city elected officials and community advocacy groups said Tuesday from the steps of City Hall that the Department of Education and Mayor Michael Bloomberg put high need students at a disadvantage when closing schools.

Bloomberg said last week that new and better schools had replaced the closed ones. But many parents say that transfer students with high needs – such as those with behavior problems or learning disabilities – are not receiving the attention that they require to succeed in school.

Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller William Thompson – all Democrats with an interest in running for mayor – took up the parents’ cause by joining in the news conference. They said that larger schools had difficulty absorbing the high-needs students from the closed schools.

“What the Department of Education did was they overwhelmed Legacy High School with this high number of high need students and without the resources that they need,” said Juan Pagan, 55, of Manhattan, referring to a school on Roosevelt Island. “The school is overwhelmed with special needs children and without the resources, the DOE comes in and make evaluations and gives it a poor grade.”

Liu said that school closures do not benefit the community but in fact harm the students in the long run. According to a study by the Department of Education, only 14 percent of black and Latino high school graduates are ready for college.

De Blasio said he wants Bloomberg and the Department of Education to document what they say is the success of their programs.

“If you can’t show the people of the city what’s happening, the truth, if you are not willing to come out and tell us what we are experiencing, then why keep closing schools and claiming you can’t reach them?” said de Blasio. “Warehousing students is a byproduct of school closures, it means we are treating our children like products, leaving them on a shelf.”

Olivia Leirer, social media director of New York Communities for Change, said that not only do high-need students suffer from school closings but non-English speakers and special education do as well.

Gardeners say nature doesn’t quite know how to respond to this winter’s relatively warm weather.

“It’s confusing everything, including me,” Yonnette Fleming, vice president of Hattie Carthan Community Garden in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said Tuesday. She added that the weather is confusing all of the plants and the animals a little bit as well.

This warm winter “defies growing books and almanacs that tell people when to plant,” Fleming said. “All of the information in these sources will not be good to use. It’s a big deal.”

Gerard Lordahl, director of open space greening for GrowNYC, said spring plants are growing too soon. “The unseasonable warmth is causing a little bit of havoc for the plant material,” he said. “Early-spring bulbs, generally not up until March, are starting to pop out of the ground and shrubs, which usually open in 50 degree weather in April, are beginning to flower.”

The problem with this premature arrival is that there may not be any plants left to bloom when spring actually arrives. “The danger is the delicate flower buds being killed if we get a cold spell,” Lordahl said. “If we get a freezing, the buds will freeze and not emerge in the spring, leaving brown tips on flowering bulb.”

Tulips and daffodils were already coming up, according to a gardener at Creative Little Garden in the East Village, noting they may not bloom in spring as a result.

“Things are out of whack,” said Jackie Beech Bukowski, president of Westside Community Garden on West 89th Street in Manhattan. “The Japanese plum tree has bloomed and it isn’t supposed to until March. There are no bees to pollinate it and there aren’t any other insects or birds around.”

While it isn’t an opportune time for flowers and fruit, according to Bukowksi, “the good this is: you can plant lettuce.”

Council member Gale Brewer told the Women’s City Club of New York on Tuesday that she was bracing for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s upcoming budget proposal to seek cuts in assistance for the poor and people with AIDS.

Bloomberg is set to release the 2013 preliminary budget on Thursday.

Brewer, a Manhattan Democrat who serves on the Council Finance Committee and chairs the Committee on Governmental Operations, said that she expected Bloomberg to fill a $2 billion gap in part through cuts to the HIV/AIDS Services Administration – which gives assistance to those living with HIV and AIDS, and the Human Resources Administration, which oversees welfare programs, among others.

Council member Gale Brewer

Brewer spoke of the city’s Revenue Health Benefits Fund, an account that she referred to as a sort of “rainy day fund” that is set to run out by the end of 2014. Cuts in Wall Street bonuses, which generate taxes for the city, may lead the mayor to cut back on such a program, Brewer said.

The preliminary budget starts a process that culminates in a budget deal between the mayor and council before the new fiscal year starts July 1.The council reviews the mayor’s proposal until April, when the mayor proposes a revised budget that is subject to further negotiation with the council.

This story was reported by Peter Abramowicz, Marla Bahloul, Kerri Byam, Jessica Durham, Chika Dunu and Millissa Mathai. Jessica Durham is the writer.

Park Slope resident Corey Exline was on the Coney Island boardwalk Tuesday, taking in the sun with her husband, three-week-old baby and sister-in-law.

“We came to get a hot dog and walk around,” said Exline, 32. “I feel like New York winters are angry. They try to attack you. I am pleased because the weather is beautiful today. I didn’t even need my coat.”

But despite moderate temperatures through much of January and Tuesday’s high in the upper 50s, the month was not among the warmest on record in New York City. According to accuweather.com, this January was not on the list for the top 10 warmest in New York, or other major cities such as Washington and Chicago.

Joey Picca, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said the month that ended Tuesday was the 21st warmest on record in New York City, based on Central Park readings.

According to Picca, the average temperature for the month through Jan. 27 was 36.7 degrees, which is 4.1 degrees above the normal average. The highest average, 43.8 degrees, was in 1932.

There was a significant difference from last year’s cold, snowy January, however. Last year’s average temperature for January was 29.7 degrees, which was below the normal average of 32.6 degrees.

All around Brooklyn, there were warming signs. In Coney Island, a lot of people walked on the boardwalk Tuesday. There was a jogger without a shirt on, and some families were on the sand with their children. Nathan’s Famous Frankfurters was packed with people, even the outdoor seating.

“Today’s an excellent day,” David Gasparian, 70, living in Coney Island since 2005, said. “We’ve been walking everyday on the boardwalk. We couldn’t do this last year.”

Even though most of the shops were closed on Stillwell and Surf avenues, the New York Aquarium was open. “It’s great that they keep [the aquarium] open year round,” Javier Ochoa, 21, of Midtown Manhattan, said while on a date. “We figured it’s not your typical winter day so we decided to come here. It was great to see the fish and others in something similar to a natural habitat.”

Sanitation workers were among those who took note of the lack of snow so far this winter. “Yeah, there has been a difference. Last year, I worked 12-hour shifts for almost two months straight without a day off,” sanitation worker Jarod Barbuto said. “But this year I worked eight days with only one of those days being a 12-hour shift.”

Less winter clothing was being sold, too. “The clothes haven’t been flying off of shelves,” said Eastern Mountain Sports assistant store manager Amanda Cragen. “Last year around this time, there was a blizzard – it definitely is not like it once was.”

Michelle Solomon, manager of the T. Fusion Restaurant on Quentin Road in Marine Park, said the warmer weather encourages more people to leave their homes to eat out.

“When it comes to going out for dinner, it seems people will leave home no matter what, but for lunch they usually will not,” she said. “I have noticed more people coming in for lunch during the day because it is nicer during the day.”

Halal food vendor Bark Kaven, 34, who cooks and serves for 12-hour shifts at the intersection of Avenue H and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, said he appreciated the warmer weather as well, although he has roughly the same number of customers.

“It’s good. It is usually freezing out here,” he said. “You have to keep in mind that the grill also helps to keep me warm.”

In Prospect Park, people walked around without their jackets on. Most wore T-shirts and jeans; many wore shorts as they bicycled or ran. In the Prospect Park Zoo, a walrus played in the spray of a fountain.

“It’s really nice outside,” Camron Starr, 22, visiting friends in New York from Philadelphia, said. “I do think it’s weird that it’s warmer than usual.”

In the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Metro Hort held an event called Plant-O-Rama. It is a trade show where information about plants and tools is shared among commercial exhibitors and nonprofit exhibitors.

“With this weather you look at overall trend, not specific day,” Taryn Cunha, 33, of Queens, said. She was grateful for the warmth because her plants are doing well considering the circumstances, including a passion flower on which the veins are still green. “It hasn’t been cold enough to kill it off,” she said.

Emily Vance has seen “a patch of pink cherry blossoms” at the garden already.

Jeffrey Authur, owner of Tree Believers, a Long Island plant healthcare company, said that the weather has not helped his business because his clients are unhappy about the warm weather. Certain plants, such as the tulip foliage, grow abnormally.

During the event, there was a lot of talk of global warming, with varying opinions expressed.

“The weather is something to be concerned about,” Esme Webb, a gardener from Canada living in Brooklyn, said. “Last time this year it was raining cold.”

Eight people were indicted Tuesday in Brooklyn on fraud-related charges stemming from allegedly false applications for welfare and Medicaid worth more than $500,000 in stolen benefits.

The eight people—four individuals and two sets of spouses—had been fraudulently collecting money from the city Human Resources Administration for years, authorities charged. The defendants in six unrelated cases were charged with welfare fraud and larceny charges.

One of the defendants, Mohammed Irshad Chaudhry, 58, of Brooklyn, allegedly collected benefits since 2004, totaling $146,887, while he was the owner of five businesses. Chaudhry allegedly falsified Medicaid applications, claiming he was only an employee of two businesses that he actually owned.

“HRA funds are a crucial lifeline for thousands of struggling New Yorkers,” Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes said. “When individuals like these defendants who have substantial income try to cheat the system, it hurts the neediest among us. Those who intentionally conceal information to obtain benefits for which they are not eligible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Another indictment charges Oskana Bourukhova, 33, of Brooklyn with illegally collecting $39,310 in food stamps and $59,993 from Medicaid from 2003 to 2010. According to the documents, she used her maiden name when applying for benefits and claimed that she was a single parent of three. She was later found to be living with her husband—and the father if the three children—who was employed, authorities said.

Husband and wife Nuray Zivali, 37, and Yuksel Zivali, 42, were indicted on welfare fraud, grand larceny and other charges for allegedly collecting over $50,000 in Medicaid benefits while not living in the county in which they had stated on their application form. Authorities said they live on Long Island but listed Brooklyn as their residence.

Another indictment charges Anna Fan, 36 with concealing the fact that she owned commercial rental property in New Jersey, while collecting $8,077 in Medicaid benefits.

Unise Key, 43, allegedly received $6,210 in food stamp assistance while concealing the fact that she was employed by the MTA as a conductor.

Key also allegedly underreported her income to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to receive Section 8 housing assistance, from which she collected $48,087 over a span of nine years.

Mehtab Qureshi, 43, and his wife, Sarfaraz, 58, were also charged with welfare fraud.

Two alleged leaders of a notorious street gang at the Ebbets Field Houses in Flatbush were charged Tuesday with taking part in a ring of terror that carried out murders, robberies and assaults.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said that Yassa Ashburn, 28, and Daniel Harrison, 24, led a violent gang called Six Tre Outlaw Gangsta Disciples Folk Nation, or “Folk Nation” for short. Prosecutors said Ashburn could face the death penalty and that Harrison faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Authorities said the gang terrorized the local community, a housing development built on the fabled site where the Brooklyn Dodgers’ “boys of Flatbush” once played. “Motivated by greed, the Folk Nation employed indiscriminate violence to destroy the lives of their perceived enemies,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said. “ But their violence spread beyond the gang world into the streets and playgrounds of Brooklyn, and innocent bystanders, including a child, were caught in the crossfire.”

Ashburn and Harrison both pleaded not guilty Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Both were held without bail. Ashburn, who winked at relatives as he was led from the courtroom, is to have a further hearing on bail on Feb. 13. Charges in the case include racketeering and murder conspiracy.

Ashburn was indicted on a charge of murdering Jamaican-born Courtney Robinson on April 20, 2008 at a birthday party in the apartments. A scuffle between Folk Nation members and an individual thought to be from the rival Crips gang erupted, and Ashburn allegedly used a stashed weapon to fire into the crowd, killing Robinson, an innocent bystander.

Authorities charged that Ashburn and Harrison forced many of the younger gang members to engage in cutthroat acts of violence to prove their loyalty and to build prestige within the gang.

The gang consisted of approximately 20 members in the Brooklyn housing project and also in other areas around the New York City metropolitan area, authorities said. Many were already being held in state and federal prisons for related criminal offenses.

Residents of the neighborhood live in fear and violence that has lingered for several years. In one case, a stray bullet struck a 10-year-old girl in the neck, severely injuring her. Members of the gang have terrorized anyone who they believe to be informants or capable of providing any information to law officials, including members of the gang thought to be “snitches,” officials said.

An off-duty correction officer who survived a wound from a stray bullet at a fatal shooting during a Brooklyn basketball tournament testified Tuesday that she heard shots fired.

“I heard three shots going off within a three-second time frame,” said Maria Thompson Thomas, who wore a green turtleneck dress instead of her uniform at the trial of Andre Forde and Bryant Gibbs at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on murder charges.

Authorities say David Quintin Murray, 32, was murdered at St. Andrew’s Park at Atlantic and Kingston avenues in Brooklyn during a basketball tournament in 2010.

Prosecutors played a videotaped interview with Forde in which he admitted to firing three shots. He said he shot a handgun in the air and then focused near a tree. “After firing the first shot in the air Bryant told me to aim at the tree area and that was when I fired the other two shots,” Forde said, referring to his co-defendant.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Itain said she interviewed Forde around 11 p.m. on August 9, 2010. In the interview, Forde explained that his questionable friendship with Gibbs was unraveling because Gibbs was pressuring him to kill another target. Finally, he said, Gibbs pressured him to kill someone identified as “Quan,” not Murray. “He told me that if I didn’t shoot Quan I would be violated,” Forde said in the taped interview.

Forde’s taped account described the sequence of events leading up to Murray’s death. “There’s a gate in the park where Bryant gave me the gun to fire. It was packed since there was a basketball game going on,” Forde said. He added, “After the third shot Bryant snatched the gun and we all ran our separate ways.”

Murray’s brother Moses Murray, 35, who observed the trial, said his brother never started any trouble. “My brother was very into basketball, he was a mentor, worked with young people and coached high school students,” he said. “He was two classes away from earning his bachelor’s degree. Due to his dyslexia it took him 11 years.”

According to Moses Murray, his brother, nicknamed “Brave Dave,” went to SUNY Old Westbury, majored in health and society, and worked with disabled adults. He had been promoted to resident therapist supervisor.

David Murray left behind his parents, siblings and his daughter Sariyah Ajahnei Murray or “Freddy,” as he called her. She is now 5 years old and attending first grade.

Guerino M. Annarumma, 52, was arrested Monday at his Queensbridge Houses apartment on 12th Street for allegedly shooting Valeria Lowery, 25, and Olga Borodina Annarumma, 57, that morning at 22-49 38 St. in Astoria. It was the same day his divorce proceedings were to suppose to begin in Queens Supreme Court.

Both mother and daughter were rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center. Mrs. Annarumma was listed in critical condition; Lowery died from her wounds.

Valeria Lowery

Olga Borodina Annarumma

“This defendant is accused of tragically cutting short the life of a young woman and critically wounding a woman he once professed to love,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.

Annarumma was charged with murder; attempted murder, assault in the first degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence. Queens Criminal Court Judge Lenora Gerald ordered Annarumma held without bail and set the next hearing in the case for Dec. 21.

Police said Annarumma told them he waited outside his wife’s house in a New Jersey-plated car he rented that morning , armed with a .38 caliber gun. When he saw his wife step out to walk her dog, he approached her, threw her on the ground, and kicked her in the face, police said. Annarumma then proceeded to drag her to the door and rang the bell. It is alleged that when Lowery answered the door, he shot both of them.

“These shootings underscore our need to be vigilant in keeping illegal guns off of the streets and out of the hands of those intent on violently attacking others,” Brown said.

The writing on the wall could have been seen months ago when Annarumma posted a barrage of grim and haunting comments on his blog. “Remember one thing what ever goes around comes around,” one post said. “One day it will come to you and your mother.” The blog, created in June, was titled Valeria Kuzmina Lowery. It states that the agenda for creating the blog was to make readers aware of how his wife and stepdaughter ruined his life and reputation. It made various accusations in eight posts, the last on Aug. 26.

According to the blog, Annarumma met his wife in 2001 when she was employed to take care of his aunt and uncle; they got married on April 12, 2006. The blog says the relationship went downhill that same year when Lowery came to live with them.

“We bought a house trailer in Pennsylvania, me and your mother for when we retire; we were supposed to have a good time, your mother, Olga, and me, Guerino. But you destroyed everything,” the blog said in an August post.

One post said Lowery never respected Annarumma and was only interested in acquiring a green card.

“Till I die I’m never going to stop, you destroyed my dream; I will destroy you mentally,” the post added.

On October 15, 2009, Mrs. Annarumma called the police on Annarumma and had him arrested, claiming he was trying to kill her, says the blog.

The response: “Remember Olga I am going to hurt you the way you hurt me because I have nothing to lose anymore.”

Annarumma faces up to 50 years to life in prison if convicted.

A City Council committee voted Tuesday to loosen some of the requirements issued two years ago for commercial garages to set aside space for bicycle parking.

Currently, garages with more than 50 car spaces must provide one bike spot for every 10 cars, up to their first 200 car spaces. For garages with more volume than that, one bike spot is required for every 100 additional car spaces, according to Council member Karen Koslowitz (D-Queens).

The new measure from Koslowitz would give garages more latitude in how to provide bike parking. A requirement that each bike be given a space of two feet by three feet by six feet, , for example, would be eliminated, as would certain requirements meant to protect parked bikes from moving cars.

This bill will also require parking facilities to maintain racks, hooks, poles or other devices to which bicycles can be secured as well as locks and chains.

The measure, approved by the Council Committee on Consumer Affairs, advances next to the full City Council.

Councilmember G. Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx) said bicycle parking in lots should be more affordable.

“We need to offer low enough rates to see how many people are using bikes,” Koppell said.

New York City is increasingly becoming a biker’s city. According to the Department of Transportation’s Commuter Cycling Indicator, bicycle commuting has doubled between 2006 and 2010.

Increased cycling creates a need for bike storage, which is why the Department of Transportation installed its 10,000th bike rack in 2010. The rising numbers, along with weather conditions and theft concerns, increase the appeal of indoor bike parking and attended bike parking lots.

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters rallied in front of five foreclosed homes in Brooklyn’s East New York section Tuesday as part of a nationwide demonstration honing in on an issue that that affects millions of Americans – the housing crisis.

“Occupy Our Homes” is the movement’s new campaign. Thousands of protesters took action in over 25 cities Tuesday to highlight the plight of millions of homeowners who are at risk of losing their properties and to protest against fraudulent lending practices.

After assembling at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Livonia Avenues in East New York, hundreds of people marched through the streets.

“East New York has the highest foreclosure rate in New York City, so it isn’t hard to find foreclosed homes there,” said Sean Barry, director of VOCAL-NY, one of the many community groups involved in the “NYC foreclosure tour” in East New York.

Protesters chanted rhythmic slogans like, “Occupy will never die, evict us and we multiply.” They raised signs that read, “Evict Bloomberg,” in response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters from their home base at Zuccotti Park in November.

Protesters rallied and chanted in front of vacant foreclosed homes on New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Avenue, Sheffield and Alabama avenues and Vermont Street, where a block party was being held.

Dana Balicki, an Occupy Wall Street spokesperson, said the housing crisis is at the heart of the problem plaguing the country.

“This is to push back on the big banks and their ability to kick families out of their homes,” Balicki said.

Residents of East New York appeared to welcome the presence of the protesters who marched and chanted outside their homes.

“People work two to three jobs and then they get foreclosed – it’s not right. [This march] should have happened a long time ago,” said East New York resident Leeesther McCoy.

“Everybody is going for justice. No one is hurting anyone,” said June Green, who has lived near Pennsylvania Avenue for two years.

“I’m all for the fight,” said Howard Bostick, 36, a barber at Jay’s Barbershop. “You go around the corner and you see people sleeping in the gas stations and you have empty homes. Put the people in those homes.”

While the Occupy Wall Street movement has been criticized for not having a clear message, this new campaign takes a more direct stance on foreclosure. It is expected to unleash such tactics as occupying vacant, bank-owned properties and taking over buildings and opposition to eviction.

“It’s clear that the economy is not working for the 99 percent…the shelter system has more people than ever before in New York City,” said Barry, who added that community groups like VOCAL-NY have been working closely with Occupy Wall Street to identify homeless families to move into vacant homes.