New York City because a Big Blue Town is a good thing to have in a Purple Nation.
Welcome to the second collection of weekly news from the Big Apple and surrounding communities. This diary is not one of your Le Parker Meridien quickies. Since there is so much to see and do here, the diary just goes on and on.
Where to start? How about an Oscar for NYC’s best bus driver?
How’s this for visual of the week? Thawing out on Governors Island at Water Taxi Beach?
Not my photo, I lifted it from The Week in Pictures. Personally I would have clicked when the Staten Island Ferry was between the palms but what do I know? One thing I do know about that photo is that across the water behind the ferry, the curved shiny building, that is the Whitehall induction center where Arlo Gurthrie was poked and prodded.
Okay less trivia, more progress and politics with a taste of the New York social. Check out a day by day NYC week in review.
Sunday in the City. The week started out with a tragic story from the night before. A Five Alarm Fire that killed one woman, injured twenty firefighter and eleven residents in a Brooklyn apartment house. The fire also forced others to flee into the winter chill and there was a good neighbor story, Brooklyn business owners come to aid of neighbors displaced by five-alarm blaze.
NYPD heroism was in the news and all the way up at Storm King mountain. Stranded West Point cadets saved in daring, dramatic rescue by NYPD Aviation Unit caught on VIDEO. It was also a sad Sunday in Poughkeepsie. There was a candlelight vigil for slain Police officer John Falcone.
The Sunday New York Times had The Rich, the Famous, the Armed. On the list of several famous New Yorkers who are packing heat with licensed handguns, there are a couple of fun shooters.
The 41,164 handguns registered with the Police Department as of Jan. 14 include those owned by more than 2,400 people who live outside the city but have permission to bring their weapons here — people like Roger E. Ailes, the president of Fox News, whose license lists an address in New Jersey; John J. Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, who lives in Westchester County; and Sean Hannity, the conservative talk-show host, who lives on Long Island.
Grow NYC was in the Sunday news with The Lure of a Price Tag That Says Zero. As another of their many efforts for recycling and a green environment they are sponsoring Stop N Swaps, one for each “cleaning season.” The event last Sunday on Staten Island drew 225 people. GrowNYC was also recently pleased to announce The Citywide School Gardens Initiative.
More NY Green! "New York City and Westchester County, N.Y., more than doubled the amount of photovoltaic installations in the region in 2010."
And the NYC parks are turning 'greener' for exec$ too.
Douglas Blonsky, the head of the Central Park Conservancy, got a 20 percent raise, bringing his salary to $433,940, according to the nonprofit's just-released tax filings for 2009-10.
Speaking of highway robbery, after Marat Mikhaylich struck again The Daily News looked back at the good old days. Caught in the act! World's most infamous bank robbers was fun. Compare that Dillinger smile to to Johnny Depp and check out the similarities to all the actors who played the bad guys.
The Daily News also exposed the world's crappiest inventions. Take a walk on the wild side with this Loo Read;
Perhaps because the bridge almost fell into the East River when he was mayor or maybe Queens would like to keep the bridge identity but it is looking like the Koch Over Troubled Waters is out and the name Queensboro Bridge is staying. So now there is a scamper to name something after Ed Koch. Most answers were fun but one New Yorker remembered what Ed Koch was good for and hit the nail on the head.
“The Edward I (How’m I doing?) Koch Health and Wellness Clinic”
Like a bad penny former Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada was back in the news, Furor over former state Sen. Pedro Espada's $1 million payroll.
Former Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada was a one-man employment agency while in office, racking up a $1 million payroll over his final six months at the State Capitol. The scandal-scorched Espada, who was tossed by voters last September, spent more on staffers than any other senator - by far.
But Espada is old news and the local papers missed what his replacement has been up to. The community activist that the people picked to replace the man who could no longer buy a vote, Gustavo Rivera was up in Albany to do some talking.
Chanting “protect kids, not millionaires” and “hey-hey, ho-ho, the governor’s cuts have got to go,” over 200 people from around the state marched from the annual convention of the Association for Black and Puerto Rican Legislators to the Executive Mansion to protest Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed cuts to education.
New York City Councilman Robert Jackson led the demonstration, which also included speeches by Sens. Bill Perkins and Gustavo Rivera. Jackson was the lead plaintiff on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, which ruled state lawmakers were short-changing New York City’s public schools, depriving students of their constitutional right to a “sound, basic education.” A 2006 ruling by the Court of Appeals led Gov. Eliot Spitzer to promise $7 billion in additional aid over several years. This year, the demonstrators — including members of Citizen Action and the Alliance for Quality Education — said, Cuomo is taking steps backward.
City Councilman Leads Protest Against Education Cuts. Many New Yorkers opposed to Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed education cuts took their fight to Albany this weekend. A little NYC demonstration going on in the Capital city with many from the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators showing their displeasure for Andrew Cuomo.
In the evening one outspoken City Council member led a ‘shame on you’ chant against the Governor.
Four people, led by New York City Councilman Charles Barron and his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, chanted “tax the rich” and “stop the cuts” as Cuomo addressed the 40th annual gathering of the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.
Many members of that group have taken issue with aspects of Cuomo’s proposed budget, which proposes to cut $1.5 billion in education aid and would allow an income tax surcharge on New Yorkers earning over $200,000 a year to expire.
The dinner capped a weekend-long conference of the association, which has close ties to the 49-member New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. The annual event is a must-attend for New York Democrats, and is an illustration of the power of legislators of color.
Charlie Barron might have been the most vocal but he is not alone. NY1 Reported that a majority of the State Assembly are pressing Cuomo about the Millionaires Tax that is expiring in December. "I don't believe in increasing taxes," Cuomo said. "I believe it's counterproductive for the state. Andrew Cuomo does not believe in the rich being taxed.
Meanwhile up in the Innwood Hills section of Manhattan City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was in the Sunday paper for fighting to get shelter for homeless victims of a slumlord.
"This is inhumane," said City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who held a press conference in front of an Academy Street apartment building that was evacuated Friday by officials worried it could collapse.
And the Gothamist had a story about how Chuck Schumer Wants To End The "Flamingo Express." Whatever that is.
Long Island was in the news for cockfighting but Nassau County has bigger problems than that. A recent stay prevented a NIFA takeover of Nassau budget. Well at least Minneola doesn't need to worry about paying for a crime lab anymore.
Changing times. Mulberry Street ain't what it used to be. Right after Fashion Week "It's a clash of cannoli vs. couture."
Supporters of Little Italy's famed Feast of San Gennaro -- set to celebrate its 85th year in September -- are fighting a newly passed Community Board 2 resolution urging the city to consider shrinking the boisterous, sausage-filled festival by three blocks -- including one that includes beloved St. Patrick's basilica.
The recommended cutback -- blasphemous to Italian-Americans who revere the celebration -- stems from gripes by owners of snooty Nolita boutiques about the noise, crowds, cooking smoke -- and even customers attracted to the 11-day event.
The following morning in The New York Times there was an explanation for the San Gennaro Feast getting smaller, New York’s Little Italy, Littler by the Year.
Of human interest there was a story about a neighborhood joint "Knitty City" on the Upper West Side Where the Yarns, and the People, Are Colorful. H & H Bagel was still there on Sunday morning and Construction workers were contemplating the NYC pinch. There was also a look from afar where Mike Bloomberg seems to represent America, Talking Turkey What Interesting People These Americans Are …
And two local stories from Staten Island. First Amanda Farinacci took New Yorkers for a little tour of Ceder Grove in Public Officials Turn Private Beach Club Into Private Filming Location. But even better was some young New Yorkers who have a big day ahead of them, "It's Oscar-mania for Staten Island school chorus who are psyched to be singing at Academy Awards."
On Sunday the clouds cleared just in time for a sunset view.
Monday in New York. President's Day, no alternate side of the street parking but remember to feed the meters. There would not have been any alternate side of the street parking anyway because it was snowing again!
With Wall St. being closed it made for a slow day in the City but finance was still in the news. As the talking heads were talking up runaway inflation that union busting could solve there was Rising Property Taxes Overwhelm Many Who Are Living on the Edge and Big Prices on Food and Clothes are set to Wallop Us! Oh, Delinquency Rates in Parts of City Are Triple the National Average.
The Wall Street Journal had the most repulsive story of the day. In an obvious effort to sway Chris Christie into going hard on Unions o Tuesday's New Jersey budget, Monday's big story was Christie Ducks Questions on Wisconsin Union Battle. That was supposed to be news, not their crazy opinion page. Do you remember when Rupert Murdoch was not going to change the news department at WSJ?
Meanwhile Gov. Chris Christi was making news in the NYT for tightening all sorts of belts. Trying to appear presidential?
In the good government department John Liu announced a record-breaking settlement of $2.35 million on behalf of 24 workers who were cheated out of wages.
"This goes to show that vendors who have the privilege of working on city contracts and do not honor their requirements will be held accountable," Liu said. "We will not tolerate contractors who seek to avoid the responsibility of paying their employees what they are rightfully owed."
Catching up with Eric Schneiderman, he's moving fast. There was Schneiderman settles drug company case for $2.5M and NY debt collector pleads guilty to fraud to add to suing NRC over nuclear waste storage.
Marty Markowitz, State Senator Carl Kruger and Anthony Weiner were in the news for attempts to prevent another NYC food desert after the Pathmark grocery store in the Sheepshead Bay announced its closing.
Anthony Weiner also got noticed at PolitickerNY for challenging Republicans to do without Healthcare.
"Lets put your money where your mouth is," he said. "Why don't you step up and say 'We're opposed to government run health care for members of Congress!'"
Not so good government news was the Daily News story Good news: He's out. The bad: Cost us 375 G. Apparently the army of lawyers wasn't good enough for New York state to boot the creep Hiram Monserrate from the Senate. So they gave $376,464 to a Park Ave law firm.
Andrew Cuomo did not take President's Day off. There was time for further cuts to education, this time the educational cooperative Boces was on the chopping block.
“We’re taking a big hit already on the governor’s proposal for state aid,” the district’s superintendent, Paul Casciano, said, “and it sounds like some of the things we have depended on in the past are vanishing as well.”
But then again, there was Cuomo Releases Redistricting Reform Act of 2011. The following morning in DK Elections Daily Digest: 2/22 David Nir wrote;
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has releases his "Redistricting Reform Act of 2011," which would create a non-partisan commission that would draw both state lege and congressional district lines. The members of the commission would still be political appointees, though, with the governor apparently holding the final card. Cuomo has threatened to veto any old-style gerrymanders, but it's not clear to me that this bill has much of a chance, particularly since other reports say Cuomo is willing to trade this for a much bigger priority, like property tax reform.
Paul Krugman had a good one in the Times, Wisconsin Power Play.
In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.
Given this reality, it’s important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.
You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.
Not that anyone takes Unions seriously anymore but reports were coming in that the Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy was claiming that the severity and outcome of Saturday's fire was caused by staff cuts imposed by the Bloomberg administration. FDNY Brass had a list of other reasons but one person was dead and twenty Firefighters were injured. Both sides agreed there were delays in getting water on the Saturday night blaze in Brooklyn. One of the first engines to respond was down a firefighter after reductions and that slowed the process. Actually three of the first six engine companies to respond had only four firefighters but there were all sorts of other excuses. NY1 has the video.
The five alarm blaze in Brooklyn was not the only fire in the news on Monday. With the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire drawing near someone most of us know had a big spread about his work in the New York Time. Michael Hirsch was written up as "an amateur genealogist and historian" who helped attach names to six of the unknown victims.
“We consider his list to be the best ever produced on the question,” said Curtis Lyons, director of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University, which holds one of the most thorough repositories about the Triangle fire.
Workers United, the garment workers’ union, and David Von Drehle, who wrote “Triangle: The Fire That Changed America,” a 2003 history of the fire, said they also regarded Mr. Hirsch’s list as the most authoritative.
From left, Max Florin, Fannie Rosen, Dora Evans and Josephine Cammarata were among the final six unidentified victims of the Triangle Waist Company factory fire of 1911, which killed 146 and influenced building codes, labor laws and politics in the years that followed.
Over at "The Stoop" there was a human interest story The Big Brooklyn Dig. The “bottle club” will come to your backyard and dig up your privy to find antique bottles. Go figure.
And on WNYC Michael Pollan stopped in at The Brian Lehrer Show to explain recent government approval of certain genetically modified foods and answered why those foods still don’t require a GMO label on the package with the quote of the day.
"On this issue both political parties are on the same side, Monsanto's side."
But the story of the day came from Celeste Katz. Ever notice how Republicans always screw you but Democrats always seem to screw themselves? Well New Yorkers were ready for paper ballots but Frank Skartados was not prepared for a vague election law crafted by his own lawyer. Oops, when all votes don't really count.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's former adviser wrote the state law that may have cost him his powerful, veto-proof, Democratic supermajority.
Democrat Frank Skartados was forced to concede the seat for the 100th Assembly District last week when he was a mere 15 votes behind.
In his heart of hearts, he believes he won.
But in a double whammy of irony, Skartados was seemingly doomed by a vague election law that was crafted by his own lawyer, Kathleen O'Keefe, while she worked as Silver's chief election counsel. O'Keefe's strict interpretation of her own law walled off one of Skartados' last hopes of fighting for the seat.
Not much of a sunset on Monday but, hopefully, the last chance to see the snow on the Palisades.
Tuesday, the day after Presidents' Day (or is it Presidents Day?) February 22nd was once only one President's birthday. Down in the town called Washington they were sending smoke signals.
As the Second City went to the polls for Rahm's 'Humbling Victory' New York's morning wind chill made the streets feel like temperatures in the teens. Except for the New York Post all of the front page of all the NYC tabloids screamed "Hello Melo!" The Post put the same catchy phrase on the back cover. That's Carmelo Anthony who was a mile high in NYC.
The front pages were not very informative but on the top of the Daily News website all day there was news from Wonkette, Sarah Palin's biggest fan, her sock puppet 'Lou Sarah.' For more internet love affairs there was Will You Use the Facebook Stalker App? and Five Better, More Brutally Honest Tips for Successfully Dating a Blogger.
The Daily News also had some fun at the expense of the last person anyone would expect tax advise from, Rep. Charlie Rangel offers annual tax tips despite ethics violations, failing to declare income .
There was little coverage of the Mayor joined Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman of Connecticut, and the president of Planned Parenthood on a conference call with reporters from across the nation to condemn the Republican's plan for poor women and Planned Parenthood.
“Let me start by being clear,” Mr. Bloomberg said, “they have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility or the budget deficit.”
Those cuts, passed by the House last week as part of the budget, would eliminate a $317 million program that provides family planning to low-income women. Planned Parenthood’s share of that money is $75 million.
It was shaping up to be a Medicaid news week and The New York Post was leading the charge.
New York spends more than $100 million marketing Medicaid to the state's low-income and poor residents.
A new Health Department study shows that most of that money is illegally misused by HMOs who utilize the funds to steal patients from competitors, rather than attracting the uninsured.
"Marketing costs are largely spent by health plans to attract members of other plans," the study finds. "They do not focus on enrolling the uninsured."
The New York Post reports that health officials are using the data to suggest that the $113.6 million subsidy should be cut from the budget.
With all the media coverage on Wisconsin there was little news in the city about meetings across the river. About the only local media news was that Chris Christie's budget cut everything except for a tiny raise in education. A little better at the local NPR station that Republicans are trying to do away with, WNYC had NJ Governor Chris Christie's 2012 Budget Address and In Wisconsin's Shadow, Christie Offers Budget for NJ.
Richard Pérez-Peña at The New York Times did point out the Christi who claims he is not ready for the White House sounded like he was trying on the crown, Raised Brows as Christie Dons Mantle of Trailblazer.
“This year, look at how other states are following New Jersey,” he said. “Democratic governors and Republican governors now look to New Jersey as a beacon of hope for what can happen when leaders lead and a people sacrifice as one for the future of our children.”
Mr. Christie listed actions by governors in New York, Wisconsin and Ohio as among the copycat examples. Twice he cited Jerry Brown, the Democratic governor of California, who has proposed lower pay and layoffs for state employees.
As Brian Lerher had Steven Greenhouse on the radio to discuss What Does the Future Hold for U.S. Labor? New York City labor unions were calling members to get out on the streets to explain one important fact, that Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker was not elected on the promise to end collective bargaining. Brian's guest was a middle man from the NYT but he got some facts in;
Greenhouse said despite all this debate, the New York Times has reported that Wisconsin is in much better fiscal shape than most states. Even the pension plan is in great shape. As for those other states, like New Jersey for example, Greenhouse said he thinks Gov. Chris Christie, "in his heart of hearts," would love to do the same kind of thing Gov. Walker's doing in Wisconsin.
Some people are saying that Gov. Walker is not letting this budget crisis, however serious or not it is, he's not letting this crisis go to waste.
Comparing the national economy crises to the NFL's labor negotiations, Greenhouse saw an interesting similarity. The NFL owners had record profits and are still asking the players to make concessions. In the American economy, corporations, like the NFL owners, are enjoying record profits, but are still asking the workforce to make concessions.
Why We Are All Wisconsin was explained by Justin Krebs at It's A Free Country. City Unions were sending reinforcements to the Madison Protesters and the Working Families Party started sending Pastrami to the Cheesestate.
Chuck Schumer is on it! After promising "Wisconsin can’t happen here," the Senator sent out a letter to his supporters expressing solidarity with the demonstrators.
"[Walker] may wish to take America back to the 1920s, when workers had no rights, but the rest of us certainly don't," Schumer writes. "Tens of thousands of people at a time have been demonstrating at the state capitol for almost a week now, refusing to bow to this attack in the national battle over our rights. Let's turn their attack into our strength."
Schumer then asks his email list to donate to Wisconsin's Democratic legislators who have fled the state in an effort to resist the governor's budget cuts.
"Show Wisconsin's Governor Walker and his national hard-right allies that his attacks will only make us stronger — join me in making a contribution to go toward electing more Democrats to the Wisconsin State Senate," the Senator writes, adding "If you support collective bargaining rights, join me in making a contribution to help elect more Democrats to the Wisconsin State Senate and show Governor Walker he can't take us back to the 1920s."
And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in the news for doing what Republicans never even intended to do, creating jobs.
Gillibrand has announced that $1,367,000 in federal funding will go to the New York State Foundation for Science Technology and Innovation to strengthen and grow New York’s manufacturing industry.
The funding will be allocated to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“New York’s manufacturers powered us through the 20th Century, but have been among those hardest hit by these difficult economic times,” said Gillibrand.
“We cannot rebuild our economy without helping our manufacturers upgrade and compete in the new economy.”
In the New York Times Jessica Steinhauer looked at bipartisanship. Rep. Anthony Weiner is buddies with conservative Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz. It's all about mohair and peace subsidies.
One lawmaker is a brash New Yorker whose tempestuous speeches on the House floor are a thing of YouTube wonder. The other is the fun-guy-in-your-physics-class type who prefers to cut up on Fox News. One has an F from the National Rifle Association, the other likes to tote his Glock as he walks the streets of his Utah district. Their voting records have almost zero overlap.
The NYPD was in the news for setting a record, more than 600,000 people were stopped and questioned by police last year.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the numbers show glaring disparities between whites and people of color stopped by police. Black and Latino men accounted for 85% of the stops last year.
"Unfortunately, the pattern of stopping innocent New Yorkers continues," Lieberman said. "The pattern of stopping enormous numbers of overwhelmingly African-American and Latino men continues."
The New York Civil Liberties Union had a victory to announce. A judge orders the City to Release Reports on Shots Fired by Police at Civilians Since 1997.
The decision, by Justice Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court, means that a trove of internal police documents could soon be thrust into public view. The decision, dated Feb. 14, gives police officials 60 days to turn over two sets of the documents for each shooting dating back to 1997 — a period covering roughly 850 shootings. The city has not decided whether to appeal.
One of the documents Justice Goodman ordered to be released is an investigatory report done within 24 hours of each shooting. The other report, completed within 90 days, is more extensive.
The ruling, affecting about 1,700 reports and thousands of pages, could provide the public new details about such recent police scandals as the 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell in Queens and the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx.
There was an interesting guest on The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss America’s Hottest Export: Weapons.
From Patriot Missile systems to F-15 fighter jets to high tech helicopters, more than $100 billion in weapons sales have been approved (just to the Middle East) during the first two years of the Obama Presidency. Mina Kimes looks at America’s booming arms sales. She’s the author of “America’s Hottest Export: Weapons,” in the March 7th issue of Fortune magazine.
I just loved hearing about America sending foreign aid to other nations so American taxpayers can pay for high tech weapons of mass destruction being used all over the world.
Tuesday was also the day that smokers lost their next to last sanctuary. ninety days after Bloomberg signed the legislation expanding the smoking ban it will still legal to smoke a cigarette outdoors in parking lots and on sidewalks, just as long as you are not near the entrance of a commercial building. Mayor Mike is looking for a little social pressure here.
Most entertaining title of the day came from PolitickerNY, Mama Grizzly Comes to New York—But Is She Eating GOP's Young? Not much of a story but a happy title.
There was a bright sunset, too bright.
Wednesday was not such a hump day. It's that the time of year when the mornings seem to bring warmth and on that morning Mike Bloomberg announced that New York City would not have to lay off as many teachers after all.
Joe Biden was in town! At Fundraiser, Biden and Maloney Laugh About Maloney's Primary Race. Apparently after all the nastiness of the previous election the very liberal Maloney still received 81% of the votes.
"I wanted to come in and campaign for Carolyn earlier this past year and do a fundraiser for her then," Biden said. "But I was told were I to come in she would only get 75 percent of the vote so we put it off until today."
Now that made for a good Wednesday but speaking of humps The New York Post as bad a right wing rag as it is, I still can't help being entertained by the stupidity of their front page. It's just funny. A few chuckles as the NYP exposes the fact that Illinois is the place to be for Red State Democrats. Isn't that Obama territory?
The tabloid points out knowing it is in the wrong place at the wrong time with Red tide is rising on Bam.
New York now has 6.7 percent fewer Democratic voters, but it is still "solid Democrat" and among the most solidly Democratic states in the country.
Not so funny when the writers are salivating over Senate bill for 'fire' power vs. teachers but the crap is a good look inside the Republican's mind. Look but don't stare.
There was progressive news too. Lifting the Veil on the Practice of Billing Patients Who Sue was about righting a wrong.
New York State has long had a policy of countersuing patients who demand compensation for being injured in state psychiatric hospitals. The Office of Mental Health immediately bills them for the time they spend in the hospital, often stopping the case cold and making it nearly impossible for the patient to attract or keep a lawyer, a practice we explored in this article in December.
Repulsive internal memos and practices against victims are leading to a good outcome.
The judge in that case, Judge Robert J. Ward of United States District Court, said the Office of Mental Health was violating the 14th Amendment prohibition against selective enforcement by “shooting only those ducks that have chosen to ‘quack’ by exercising their First Amendment right to sue.”
To counter some idiot getting noticed for A Call to Deny Communion to Cuomo, Sandra Lee, the state’s “First Girlfriend,” was featured in Vogue.
But one thing Lee said she's wasn't worried about was the governor pulling any of the tricks that forced former attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer to step down.
"Oh, no, I don’t have to worry about that; I can relax," she reportedly said. "I’ve got a good one."
Mike Bloomberg was not feeling the love for Andrew Cuomo. When asked about Wisconsin the Mayor stood strong with municipal unions but about Cuomo's position that the city has enough reserve funds to offset cuts in state education aid, Bloomberg took a swipe.
"The governor’s office may be an expert on the governor’s office. The governor’s office is not an expert on the city. The city does not have...we have put an extra $2.1 billion this year into education, at the same time other levels of government are cutting back the amount of money they’re putting into education. I think we would have a little more credibility in speaking about what we can afford," Bloomberg said.
The mayor is calling on the state to restore $200 million in education aid.
A healthcare cutback brewing in Albany, Proposal Would Limit Annual Medicaid Rise was also about across-the-board spending cuts for health care providers who service the poor.
Another proposal that will be unveiled on Thursday is a steep reduction in Medicaid spending for the administration of personal care services in New York City, which Mr. Cuomo has called a particular source of wasteful spending.
A little scandal brewing to go with the cutbacks, Pressure Put on Adviser to Cuomo. Jeffrey A. Sachs who was a campaign helper and is now a health care adviser to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, violated state law by failing to register as a lobbyist. As a member of Medicaid Redesign Team that is cutting billions of dollars from New York’s Medicaid program, government watchdogs want answers.
Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy, a group that fights efforts to limit tort lawsuits, called on Mr. Sachs to reveal his clients and the services that he provides them, though Mr. Sachs’s membership on the team does not require him to do so by law.
“The Medicaid Redesign Team is seriously considering new provisions that could limit the legal rights of patients at the recommendation of hospital and/or health industry representatives, which would allow substantial financial benefits to accrue to your clients,” Ms. Doroshow wrote in an open letter.
Here's a frequently asked question by New York City Democrats, Why do Chris Christie and Sarah Palin love Andrew Cuomo so much?
In Albany, the usual thing for Democrats in the legislature (and, lots of the time, Republicans) is to vote the unions' interests but to do so without much fanfare, without drawing attention to what it actually costs to keep their supporters happy. Cuomo is giving cover to the conservatives, as you say, but isn't he also giving cover to the Democrats to stand down from an unpopular fight? Whatever happens in Wisconsin, where the proposition to end collective bargaining for public employees is a drastic one, the argument in New York, which is merely about reducing spending in ways that will affect union members, is already over, and the question is just about how big (and, to the unions, devastating) the cuts will be.
It feels a tiny bit like Clinton and welfare reform. Pat Moynihan filibustered, but in the end the party went along with it, and in the process took a big Republican issue off the table entirely. So maybe something like that happens in New York: Maybe Democrats figure Cuomo's success with a Christie-like platform is a good opportunity to marginalize the Republicans, at a time when organized labor is in a particularly bad position (thanks to Cuomo's business friends) to lobby against it.
Meanwhile down in the big city, elected officials showing solidarity with organized labor.
City Council members joined labor leaders on the steps of City Hall this morning to condemn what they called concerted attacks on unions in Wisconsin.
Standing before a raucous crowd of union employees, speakers equated moves to diminish collective bargaining rights with an assault on the middle class and charged that such measures were motivated more by political calculus than by saving money.
"The conversation that is going on in Wisconsin is not a conversation," Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "This isn't a discussion with municipal or state workers about how to balance a budget. This isn't a discussion about how to keep a pension system sustainable. This is a governor standing up and engaging in union busting."
Sen. Charles Schumer was in The Daily News with Republicans won't compromise on budget to avert government shutdown.
The Republicans just won't take "Yes" for an answer to their demands to cut the budget, Sen. Chuck Schumer charged Tuesday afternoon.
Apparently Port Chester has nothing better to do with their money. Of course Republicans are involved in Port Chester to Appeal U.S. Voting-Rights Ruling Aimed at Helping Latinos.
From The Voice of the People;
Lest we forget
Highlands, N.J.: Richard Cohen must have a case of selective amnesia ("Public unions vs. the taxpayers," column, Feb. 22). Everyone knows that many of the line-of-duty disability pensions granted to New York City police officers and firefighters in recent years are a direct result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent rescue-and-recovery operation.
Bryant Phillips
Long forgotten, Peter Applebome posted a story about a deadly fire that happened four months before the Triangle Waist Company fire, In Newark, Wresting a Fatal Factory Fire From Oblivion. On a brick wall in a vacant lot a graffiti artist has written the word "Forgotten."
History, like life, has its own perverse winner-take-all quality: the biggest moments are remembered; the others often fade away. But Newark’s sweatshop fire has its own lessons, its own stories and, it turns out, its own stubborn character, insisting that attention, however belatedly, be paid.
The fire in Newark broke out at the Wolf Muslin Undergarment Company, on the fourth floor of an industrial building dating to the Civil War, after a container of gasoline was knocked over at the lamp company on the floor below. Most of the victims jumped to their deaths, some gruesomely impaled on a spiked metal fence. The death toll may never be certain, but a dogged, ad hoc investigation by Guy Sterling, a former reporter for The Star-Ledger of Newark, puts the number at 26. The youngest victim, at 16, was Mildred Wolters. The oldest, 59, was Catharine E. Weber. Three were sisters: Minnie, Tillie and Dora Gottlieb, ages 19, 21 and 29, who were buried under a single tombstone.
The fire made national news. More than 100,000 people flocked to the scene the next day. But the blaze did not change the world. There was some effort at improving worker safety in New Jersey, but nothing monumental. A hurried coroner’s jury a month later deemed the fire the result of human error, ruling: “They died from misadventure and accident.”
For going green and good labor there was Under the Gowanus Canal, Flushing Out the Stench.
And by 2013, the people of the Gowanus area will be able to pass judgment on the quality of their invisible work far beneath the street just by sniffing the air.
Or you could give The $200 Microhouse a try.
No, than how about the Republicans latest answer to health care? It's 'Doc in the Box.'
But the people of the city had finally applied enough pressure on Michael Bloomberg. Many are still saying that the city is moving to slowly but City to Replace School Lighting Tainted by PCBs.
Wednesday is food day in the New York papers and The New York Times had a little something for the Homer Simpson in all of us.
George Clooney on politics: I've had too much sex, done too many drugs to ever run for office. That and the fact that he is far too honest for American politics.
The human interest story of the day came from one of the newest citizens in New York City. Dafna Linzer wrote How I Passed My U.S. Citizenship Test: By Keeping the Right Answers to Myself.
I was not home for sunset on Wednesday. I was down by the riverside.
On Thursday I woke up to a story that should warm the hearts of even the most die hard Yankee hater. It Happens Every Spring: 'Driving Mr. Yogi'
TAMPA, Fla. — With all the yearly changes made by the Yankees, Yogi Berra’s arrival at their spring training base adds a timeless quality to baseball’s most historic franchise.
Berra, the catching legend and pop culture icon, slips back into the uniform with the famous and familiar No. 8. He checks into the same hotel in the vicinity of George M. Steinbrenner Field and requests the same room. He plans his days methodically — wake up at 6 a.m., breakfast at 6:30, depart for the complex by 7 — and steps outside to be greeted by the same driver he has had for the past dozen years.
The driver has a rather famous name, and nickname, as well.
“It’s like I’m the valet,” said Ron Guidry, the former star pitcher known around the Yankees as Gator for his Louisiana roots. “Actually, I am the valet.”
It was a People's Day in the city. Coney Island got another reprieve. "Shoot The Freak" is coming back. The Village Voice covered the deal where Coney Island avoids becoming a corporate shopping mall for one more season. CHEERS to The Coney Island 8!
There was even a rally for the Middle Class! You know how Andrew Cuomo's big promise is not raising taxes? Well what about us?
But if the city’s rent regulations are allowed to lapse this summer, that, say many Democratic lawmakers, will be equivalent to a tax on the working class.
"Make no mistake, if these tenant protections disappear, that’s a tax on millions of tenants that live in the City of New York and in the surrounding counties. And that’s one tax we absolutely cannot afford," said State Senator Daniel Squadron of Manhattan.
Of course the Republican-controlled State Senate would like nothing better that to let rent regulations expire and forcing thousands of NYC residents out of their apartments to create a crisis the city can’t afford. But Democrats have a better idea.
With state rent regulation laws set to expire in June, state and city lawmakers gathered on the steps of City Hall on Thursday to advocate for a new law that would extend rent and tenant protections.
“What they're saying is that they don't want to tax the rich people, but they'll tax the middle class and the poor people,” City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams said at the rally. “And they love to do that to balance their books.”
State Senator Adriano Espaillat’s new bill would repeal vacancy destabilization and reregulate most of the 300,000 apartments that have been deregulated since 1994.
No chance to pass a bill like that in New York State so city Democrats are hoping to place the regulations in the budget and do battle there.
"If we pass the budget with rent regulations expiring this year, it will be the single biggest tenant tax in the history of this state," said Brooklyn Senator Daniel Squadron. "Make no mistake. These tenant protections disappear, that's a tax on millions of tenants that live in the city of New York and in the surrounding counties. And that's one tax we absolutely cannot afford in New York."
A good New York representative was making news.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Huffington Post that he will be introducing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA, "very soon" and with "quite a few cosponsors."
The idea is to take advantage of the headwind created by the Department of Justice's Wednesday announcement and push for a permanent solution over the legality of laws that prohibit gay marriage. Until Congress acts, or the Supreme Court issues a ruling, DOMA -- which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states -- continues to be enforced.
"The president's move is another step in the increasing realization that there is no conceivable justification for DOMA, that it is motivated, was motivated, purely by irrational considerations and fear and that there is no rational basis that will stand up to a constitutional challenge," said Nadler. "Hopefully, that will make it somewhat easier to pass legislation in Congress."
And Harry Reid was in The Daily News on Thursday for pointing out more truth, Government shutdown? Harry Reid blasts John Boehner's GOP budget plan calling for $4B in cuts.
House Republicans will propose a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown that could begin as early as next Friday, but Democrats quickly slammed the bill as a "nonstarter."
The two-week GOP plan, spearheaded by House Speaker John Boehner, includes $4 billion in spending cuts (which would keep the government on track to meet the $61 billion in spending cuts the Republican-dominated House passed last week).
Wow! Thom Hartmann even made The Daily News web page. The great punking of the nation's number one union hater made print but on a day that BuffaloBeast.com was very busy the news online had Buffalo Beast blogger Ian Murphy plays trick on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the newspaper showed the video.
For more lighthearted fun check the photos in Oscar's picks for best costume design and Oscar nominees before they were stars that was found in the same paper.
No fun to be found in NYC students score below state and national averages on US-wide science exam.
Just 13% of eighth-graders were deemed proficient in science on the National Assessment of Educational Progress - a smaller percentage than the performance of all public school students in the 17 large cities that participated nationwide.
In fourth grade, only 18% of city students passed the 2009 exam, results released Thursday show. The city's fourth- and eight-graders scored below both the state and national averages on a nationwide science exam last year.
Add in On National Science Tests, City’s Students Fall Short and perhaps NYC education is not improving as much as Bloomberg's media empire is claiming.
It was nothing Queens residents didn't already know and given a chance to plead for all sorts of funding there were some strange goings on at a meeting with the elected.
Few props were off-limits yesterday as dozens of Queens community boards, cultural groups and other organizations pleaded for city funding during a sometimes wacky hearing in Kew Gardens.
Given a rare chance to speak to Borough President Helen Marshall and City Council members, many speakers resorted to unusual visual aids to catch the attention of the dais and make the borough's priority list for the new budget.
Others stuck to traditional yet emotional speeches when asking for expanded libraries, improved roadways and more cops and firefighters.
But then the Daily News had to go and sensationalize a party, UFT Brass Living large as teachers face layoffs. Well there is the legitimate answer "UFT president Michael Mulgrew defended the lavish expenditures of his union, saying they were for the benefit of members."
The real spenders were in the news too, Cash Bonuses Down on Wall Street. Don't worry, it's only 8% and they have already offset with higher regular salaries. But damn "knocked down to an average bonus of $128,530 for all of the employees of Wall Street" has got to leave a mark.
The reports on Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team submitting their planned cuts came in and were not good. Jeffry A. Sachs was amongst the missing but many bigwigs seemed satisfied with moving the poor into managed care.
“This is a historic day by any stretch of the imagination,” said Kenneth E. Raske, the president of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Still, Health Department officials acknowledged that many details still needed to be worked out. One committee member, Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried of Manhattan, a Democrat and the chairman of the Assembly’s Health Committee, doubted that a key provision in the proposal to create the spending cap would even be constitutional.
There was a bonus for Republicans, a Democratic administration is suggesting tort reform in the report.
The consumer advocacy group Center for Justice and Democracy is on the attack over one proposal in particular that they say benefits hospitals at the expense of patients.
"It is proposal 131. And it would severely limit the liability of unsafe hospitals and negligent health care providers in this state," said Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice and Democracy.
Well at least everyone else seems to be getting along in the newest Democratic method of hearing all sides.
The deal represents a break with past efforts to overhaul Medicaid because Cuomo, rather than unilaterally recommending changes, forced all the major industry leaders around a table to agree on a package.
If you put together Pay$ to be ex-boss of transit boss at The New York Post and MTA hires McKinsey & Company, where Chairman Jay Walder once worked, for 5-year consulting deal at The Daily News you might smell a rat at New York's Teflon bureaucracy.
And for some real bad news there was the Thursday edition of The Brian Lehrer Show. It was part four of a four part series where Phil Angelides tried to explain banking reform. This week was Ask the Chairman and when the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission chairman explained that some bankers in the Savings and Loan meltdown went to jail, that sounded like Republican oversight. This time is sounds like Biggest Fish Face Little Risk of Being Caught.
For human interest here's a great one, Paul McCartney Composes Work for City Ballet. After Black Swan tickets are all sold out for Swan Lake and now we have the "unexpected intersection" of Beatles meet Ballet.
It was lucky that I pulled the camera out early on Thursday afternoon. Friday's rain clouds came early and there was no sign of the sun at sunset.
Friday kicked of with some homegrown revolution in the air. A smokers rebellion probably already has Bloomberg calling secret meetings to pass laws against growth with NYPD forming a backyard task force against gardens that are named after the mayor. Now in Brooklyn, Homegrown Tobacco: Local, Rebellious and Tax Free is a story of an urban garden of a different sort. I just hope flowing tobacco survives the government assault. The flowers looks pretty in the summertime.
Not everyone in NYC gets taxed to death. The New York Daily News started the weekend with the new luxury apartment of Yankees star Alex Rodriguez where he will be paying about $100 a month on real estate taxes for his $6 million view of the Hudson.
Wow that the NYC tax on about eleven packs of cigarettes.
Of course A-Rod only has one number on his mind 28! It would also be nice to see the names of all the bankers that will become the new neighbor of the Yankee star but the tabloids see no fun in that.
Just on of those many tax loopholes but that's how housing works for rich New Yorkers while us working stiffs pay through the nose and rent stabilization doesn't stand a chance in Albany.
Well at least rich New Yorkers have a sense of humor. Look it’s Recession Porche.
Another Co-Op was in the news, The Man at the Center of a Dispute at the Dakota. I knew about John Lennon but I never knew that Leonard Bernstein and Lauren Bacall once called the Dakota home.
The New York Daily News also started the weekend with the good news that the racially charged anti-abortion billboard in SoHo finally came down and the Mother of the child in the shocking anti-abortion billboard photois demanding an apology. What did that billboard say? "The Most Dangerous Place for an African American is in the Womb."
Even breathing is bad for your health. The Daily News played the report down by linking it to Bloomberg's law.
"Another case is now made for cleaner air," said Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital who likened the risk of air pollution to the harm of secondhand smoke.
Evidence shows that banning smoking in public places reduces heart attack rates by 17%, the authors said. Mayor Bloomberg this week signed a bill that makes it illegal to smoke at city beaches, parks and plazas like the one in Times Square.
But this is serious, Air Pollution Triggers More Heart Attacks Than Cocaine!
Richard Pérez-Peña posted a good story about New York's favorite muckraker. Wayne Barrett who wrote for The Village Voice for 37 years and was recently laid off got his due in The (Ex) Voice of the Village.
One of the least favorite writers around these here parts wrote How Chris Christie Did His Homework. I don't think there is anything funny about Christi but...
Like a stand-up comedian working out-of-the-way clubs, Chris Christie travels the townships and boroughs of New Jersey, places like Hackettstown and Raritan and Scotch Plains, sharpening his riffs about the state’s public employees, whom he largely blames for plunging New Jersey into a fiscal death spiral. In one well-worn routine, for instance, the governor reminds his audiences that, until he passed a recent law that changed the system, most teachers in the state didn’t pay a dime for their health care coverage, the cost of which was borne by taxpayers.
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey has a big issue to deal with in 2012, Chris Christie.
Anthony Weiner posted his Bar Mitzvah photo to fulfill a promise. Ten thousand followers at Twitter gets the pic.
Joe Allen was in the news, When a Show Goes Down, a Poster Goes Up: Will ‘Spider-Man’ Join ‘Moose Murders’?
The rest of the day was Oscar Buzz and Charlie Sheen. "Your Weekend Starts Now."
But the quote of the day came on Friday's PBS NewsHour during Govs. Daniels, Schweitzer on Looming Federal Government Shutdown When asked "Do you look to Washington in some way to help your state's fiscal problems?" he answered;
If a state looks to Washington, D.C., for your help, you're in big trouble. You will be disappointed every time.
You know, this is a city that oftentimes confuses motion with action. There's a whole lot of talking about things here in Washington, D.C., but not very much action.
Most Governors, including our Nutmeg State neighbor, were in Washington stumping for federal cash, not Andrew Cuomo.
As to Friday's sunset, forget about it. Too wet in the city for sunshine. Here are a few of my snapshots from Friday morning.
But it cleared up by the evening.
Saturday is here! It is a nice sunny and warm day here in the city but I slept in and did not even check the news yet. Besides I'm looking to keep this diary short so you fill in the blanks :-)