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Bloomberg Leaves the GOP
June 19th, 2007

In a move sure to feed the frenzy and speculation over a possible run for the presidency, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this evening that he is quitting the Republican Party. It’s the second known party switch for the mayor, who left the Democratic Party for the GOP before he first ran for mayor in 2001. This time, Bloomberg said he will remain unaffliated.

“Although my plans for the future havent changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city,” he said in a statement. Crediting his “nonpartisan approach’ for many of the gains he said the city has made in the past six years, Bloomberg continued, “As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face.”

The mayor has a big speech planned for tonight in California, so stay tuned. And for more on New Yorkers in the 2008 presidential contest see Hillary, Rudy, And George, But Not Mike ( Or So He Says).

By Gail Robinson on June 19, 2007, 5:34 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City | 2 Comments »

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Garbage For Gansevoort Gets A Boost
June 19th, 2007

Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg is creeping toward implementing the city’s new Solid Waste Management Plan, whether he will be entirely successful by week’s end (the end of this legislative session in Albany) is still up in the air.

Yesterday, the state Senate approved a bill that allows for the reactivation of a waste transfer station on the Gansevoort peninsula in Hudson River Park near 14 Street in Manhattan.

Several parks groups and Manhattan Assembly members, who contend the station would deteriorate scarce parkland, have held up the proposal . Supporters of the station say the station is necessary so each borough can take care of its own share of the city’s garbage.

Bloomberg released this statement after the Senate’s move yesterday: “Todays Senate vote echoes the vote of the City Council that overwhelmingly passed the landmark plan last year. I urge the Assembly to take immediate action, so that we can begin to take waste out of overburdened neighborhoods before the end of the legislative session.”

By Courtney Gross on June 19, 2007, 11:11 am
In category: Albany, Environment, Gotham City | No Comments »

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After-School, Judicial Conduct, and Power
June 19th, 2007

The New York Times wants Governor Eliot Spitzer to rescue the citys after-school programs.

The Daily News calls on the state Commission on Judicial Conduct to make its investigations and hearings public.

The New York Post believes that legislation governing the states power-plant construction is a prescription for blackouts.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 19, 2007, 7:35 am
In category: Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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Quinn Endorses PlaNYC
June 18th, 2007

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined other New York City officials today in endorsing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC and gave a nod to the sweeping environmental initiative’s most controversial element: congestion pricing.

Saying she supported PlaNYC “in its entirety,” Quinn explained she had held off endorsing the 127-part proposal until her concerns were addressed.

Quinn, flanked by representatives of myriad environmental groups at Hudson River Park, said she was discussing several initiatives with the Bloomberg administration and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to ensure the plan was implemented “as smoothly and fairly as possible.” Among the elements she is highlighting is the creation of a regional transit pass for those connecting between different modes of transportation, such as from the Long Island Rail Road to the subway.

Just as the speaker was handing out her support, accounts emerged that a compromise in Albany over congestion pricing is on the horizon. Some state legislators have been cautious to endorse the plan, stating it would adversely affect residents in the outer boroughs by turning neighborhoods into parking lots and that the city wants too much control over funding.

Now, a Republican-backed bill has been introduced in the Senate that would give the state more oversight on funding and end the congestion program after three years.

Quinn joined many other New York politicians who have endorsed the plan, including Governor Elliot Spitzer, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and Assemblymember Jose Rivera. But, of course, it is not without its opponents. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, among others, has expressed extreme doubts about the idea.

By Courtney Gross on June 18, 2007, 3:31 pm
In category: Environment, Gotham City, Transportation | 2 Comments »

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Coney Island Merry-Go-Round
June 18th, 2007

Joseph Sitt, the developer who bought the land in and around Coney Islands famed Astroland, has a new plan for this legendary patch of real estate. And to comply with the citys wishes, it does not include luxury condos, the Times reports today. All in all, Sitt says its a plan for everyone: Were asking for motherhood, motherhood. Apple pie, Chevrolet and Coney Island.

But the proposal seems unlikely to mollify those concerned about Coney Islands character (and characters). As Curbed describes it, Thor has scrapped the apartment buildings in favor of three high-rise hotels, including time shares, to go along with the new water park, amusements, restaurants, shops, movie theaters and everything else that will be coming to Coney Island sometime this century.

Robert Lieber, president of the citys Economic Development Corporation (parent of the Coney Island Development Corporation), has described the new plan as a wolf dressed up as a sheep. Liebers comments cant be good news for Sitt, chief of Thor Equities, since he needs the citys rezoning and financial help to make his plan a reality.

A Coney Island blog called Kinetic Carnival also has concerns. Some of the proposed buildings, it says, look like Donald Trump style boxes with windows. The blog questions whether there will be enough business to support the three hotels called for in Sitts plan and writes, Why time-shares? Isnt that similar to condos. Theyre still residential.

But Brownstoner sees the once glittery, now somewhat seedy seaside retreat as posing a challenge to developers Thor Equities or anyone else. The key to any plan for the area is finding a way to make Coney Island a year-round destination, it writes. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see how to accomplish that while maintaining the old-school vibe for which so many New Yorkers feel nostalgia.

For more on changes at Coney Island see Coney Islands Summer of Reckoning. And to find out how some Boardwalk stalwarts see the possible changes, click here.

By Gail Robinson on June 18, 2007, 10:56 am
In category: Gotham City, Land Use, Waterfront | 2 Comments »

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Charges of Hypocrisy
June 18th, 2007

A group of allegedly liberal politicians are putting the health of thousands of poor children at risk to protect their own environment, Errol Louis writes in the Daily News. The center of this dispute is Gansevoort Pier. The city wants to put a recycling facility there part of its plan to have Manhattan finally take care of some of its own garbage. But three Manhattan assembly members are trying to block the plan and writes Louis, they are being backed by a contingent of black and Latino pols, notably Harlem Assemblyman Denny Farrell, who doubles as the Democratic boss of Manhattan.

I wonder how these politicians sleep at night, Louis writes.

(For more on the Gansevoort Pier dispute and the citys continuing efforts to enact its garbage plan, see Gotham Gazettes Latest Round in the Garbage Wars.

By Gail Robinson on June 18, 2007, 10:20 am
In category: Albany, Environment, Gotham City | No Comments »

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Those Congestion Pricing Foes
June 17th, 2007

Both the Post and the Daily News take on opponents of congestion pricing.

The Posts David Seifman finds that City Councilmember David Weprin who opposed congestion pricing even before the mayor proposed it has raked in campaign contributions from parking garage owners. The garage owners, needless to say, are not to keen on charging people a fee to drive in Manhattan, thinking it will mean fewer fees for them. Records show that since 2001 (when he was first elected to council), Weprin received 28 contributions totaling $40,650 from garage companies and their owners, Seifman writes. A spokesperson for Weprin denied any link between his opposition to congestion pricing and the money.

And the News faults all the plans opponents in the state legislature for a lack of ideas. If there’s a smarter way to tackle congestion, degradation of the environment and improved transportation in a city projected to grow by 1 million residents over the next quarter-century than congestion pricing, the editorial says, we haven’t heard it from the naysayers in the legislature.

By Gail Robinson on June 17, 2007, 8:37 pm
In category: Albany, Environment, Gotham City, Transportation | 1 Comment »

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Wish List
June 17th, 2007

With the state legislature about to begin the final week of its session, the Times ticks off the items it would like the Assembly members and state senators to take on before going on vacation (or returning to their lucrative law practices). The list includes campaign finance reform, Mayor Michael Bloombergs congestion pricing plan, cameras in courtrooms, a better bottle bill and an expansion of DNA testing. If [Senate Majority Leader Joe] Brunos Republicans would agree to reform campaign financing and [Assembly Speaker Sheldon] Silvers Democrats would agree to congestion pricing, we could have a decent finale, the editorial says.

By Gail Robinson on June 17, 2007, 8:20 pm
In category: Albany, Crime & Safety, Electoral Politics, Environment, Gotham City, Governing, Transportation | No Comments »

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Did Cops Overdo It at Puerto Rican Day Parade?
June 15th, 2007


Ricky Martin at the Puerto Rican Day parade.

In the Daily News, Juan Gonzalez argues that police went too far when they arrested more than 200 people along the route of Sunday’s Puerto Rican Day parade in an effort to crack down on Latin Kings gang members.

Whether you think the Latin Kings should have a right to march in the parade or not, that still doesn’t excuse indiscriminate police sweeps in a huge crowd of perhaps 2 million people, Gonzalez writes. To those of us who have decades of experience going to the Puerto Rican Day Parade, this kind of heavy-handed treatment by police has become maddeningly routine.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 15, 2007, 10:09 am
In category: Civil Rights, Crime & Safety | No Comments »

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Friday's Editorials
June 15th, 2007

The New York Times says that improved math scores for city students wont be considered fully legitimate until New Yorks students are judged on the federally backed National Assessment of Educational Progress. Even so, all signs suggest that the city and state are on the right track.

The Daily News says that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn struck a sound balance in the new $60 billion budget by giving taxpayers some well-deserved breaks while maintaining prudent control over the budget.

In the New York Post, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute says the budget does not cut taxes enough.

And the New York Sun believes that Governor Eliot Spitzer “got taken to the cleaners by JPMorgan Chase” who received $200 million in subsidy for its new downtown building.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 15, 2007, 10:00 am
In category: Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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Rudy's Lesson
June 14th, 2007

As former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani continues his run for presidency there may be increased scrutiny of what he did as mayor before 9/11. Giulianis record arose earlier this week when he announced his 12 commitments (cleverly lampooned by the Daily News) for what he would do as president.

In one Giuliani pledged, I will provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents.

While supporting school choice wins plaudits from conservatives, campaigning on education could pose a problem for Giuliani. Mr. Giuliani has often been faulted for the turmoil and lack of progress in the New York school system during his years as mayor, the Times observed. Several months ago, he acknowledged that education was one area where he had not achieved the kind of change he had hoped.

And Mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly told the late journalist Jack Newfield in 2001 or 2002, Giuliani never got his hands around the school system. There is no question that it’s gotten worse the last eight years, not better.”

Even critics of the Bloomberg/Klein education regime rarely look back fondly on the Giuliani years. People recall turmoil as Giuliani drove two chancellors from the school system (in a thinly veiled remark, he called one precious), cut funding for much of his first term, and dismissed any ties between spending and quality as he sent his son to a pricey private school. By the end of his first term, his standing on the issue was so low that, according to 1997 Quinnipiac University poll, voters, by a 48 to 40 percent margin, thought his hapless Democrats opponent, Ruth Messinger, would do a better job on schools.

“Mayor Giuliani turned an indifferent eye to the school system until this year, said a 1998 editorial in the Riverdale Review. He has shown none of the understanding and none of the urgency that characterized his attack on crime.

By Gail Robinson on June 14, 2007, 4:40 pm
In category: Education, Electoral Politics, Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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What They're Saying
June 14th, 2007

The Post throws some cold water on the celebration surrounding the citys 2008 budget. While City Hall is awash in money now, the paper says, The city’s fiscal house remains structurally unsound with $10 billion in budget gaps, a possible economic downturn and maybe even tax hikes looming on the horizon. In light of all that, the Post wonders, Why must pols live on the edge – spending to the max in good times and hiking taxes (heaven forefend they should trim spending) when the next crisis rolls in?

It takes the Daily News not one but two editorials today to continue its unwavering defense of the police department. In the first, the paper justifies the arrest of 208 people, suspected of being gang members, at Sundays Puerto Rican Day parade. While some people may have been swept up by mistake, the paper says, “there is no evidence police engaged in mass, indiscriminate arrests – even if some New Yorkers stand ready to jump to that conclusion at every groundless accusation.

The other involves another mass arrest this one the May roundup of 32 teenagers on their way to the wake for a reputed gang leader. While the teens have maintained they were peaceful Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes disagrees.

And education professor Diane Ravitch steps up to defend a maligned minority: public school teachers. Praising the teachers she knows for being hardworking, earnest and deeply committed to their students, Ravitch writes in the Sun, We will continue to misdiagnose our educational needs until we focus on the role of students and their families. If they don’t give a hoot about education, if the students are unwilling to pay attention in class and do their homework after school, if they arrive in school with a closed and empty mind, don’t blame their teachers.

Also focusing on education, El Diario/La Prensa hails the progress made in education for Hispanics under schools chancellor Joel Klein. But despite that, it says, an abysmal gap remains between students who are proficient in English and those learning the language.

By Gail Robinson on June 14, 2007, 12:39 pm
In category: Civil Rights, Crime & Safety, Education, Gotham City, Immigrants, Public Finance | 1 Comment »

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Budget Message: Shop Til You Drop
June 13th, 2007

The mayor and the speaker celebrated a deal on the 2008 budget with kisses last night, basking in the glow of budget surpluses and tax cuts. After all as MyFoxNY writes, If you own property or like to shop, New York City’s 2008 budget will be good.

But there are a churlish few out there, commenting on what the budget does not do.

While Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn may have been double-kissy about the deal, Quinn did not get the $300 rebate for renters she had hoped for, writes The Gothamist.

Theres one thing in the plan thats obviously missing: tax relief for the two-third of all New Yorkers who rent their homes, writes East Village Idiot. While Speaker Christine Quinn trumpeted such a tax rebate this winter she has been pretty quiet about it since, and the mayor apparently never said whether he was for it or against it. Speaker Quinn is just another spineless Democrat on our City Council, the blogger says. Shed rather cave in to Mayor Mike than take a stand for the little guy.

For good measure the blog adds that by cutting the sales tax on clothes, regardless of the price, the new budget does provide tax relief for any and all New Yorkers buying a $202 pair of 7 Denim shorts.

By Gail Robinson on June 13, 2007, 3:55 pm
In category: Economy, Gotham City, Housing, Public Finance | No Comments »

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What They're Saying
June 13th, 2007

The Daily Newscheers the performance of city students on the state math standardized math test. And the paper applauds the educations policies of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein too: Ending social promotion, winning teachers contract reforms that boosted instructional time and sending a clear message that schools must be held accountable for student performance have all contributed to improved learning.

Also in the News, Maura Moynihan, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihans daughter, urges the city and state to go ahead with the plans for a new and better Penn Station, named for her late father. A project once intended primarily to remove New Yorkers from the squalor and inefficiency of Penn Station now has added importance, she writes. Global warming gives a new urgency to public transportation projects, Moynihan says, adding, Our future survival rests upon our collective will power to get things done with speed and vision.

In the Sun, Sigrid Fry-Revere criticize a plan in Albany to require health professionals to routinely test most, and perhaps all, patients for the virus that causes AIDS. Fry-Revere argues this idea is driven not so much by medical concerns as by new federal regulations that give states money based partly on the numbers of their residents who test positive for HIV. It’s bad enough for a state government to decide that it wants to protect people from themselves by making medical choices for them, Fry-Revere, a bio-ethicist at the libertarian Cato Institute writes. But it’s worse when that supposedly well-intentioned paternalism is really a ploy to dip into federal coffers.

By Gail Robinson on June 13, 2007, 8:19 am
In category: Albany, Civil Rights, Education, Gotham City, Health, Land Use, Transportation | No Comments »

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Not in My Borough
June 12th, 2007

Members of the Organization of Waterfront Neighborhoods marched in front of Assemblymember Deborah Glick’s Manhattan office this morning, claiming the state legislator was harboring NIMBY (not in my backyard) tendencies by opposing a recycling station on the Gansevoort peninsula near her district.

The marine transfer station near 14th Street is part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s solid waste management plan. It was approved by City Council, but needs an OK from the state to move forward. Glick, along with two other members of the state legislature from Manhattan, want to block a bill that would make way for the recycling station

As dozens of Brooklyn and Bronx residents chanted, “Fair share for clean air, representatives from organizations opposed to the plant said there are more suitable nearby sites for the waste facility. They denied the NIMBYism charge.

But the stations supporters accused Manhattan residents of not doing their part to help dispose of New York Citys garbage. Waving posters calling for “environmental justice,” members of the waterfront neighborhoods group claimed areas in the Bronx and Brooklyn have been overburdened by the entire city’s waste for years.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose district includes the peninsula, has backed the plan, and joined Bloomberg in urging Albany to approve the amendment.

By Gail Robinson on June 12, 2007, 2:52 pm
In category: Albany, Civil Rights, Environment, Gotham City, Waterfront | No Comments »

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Local Editorials
June 12th, 2007

The Daily News says that a state law that requires patients to read and sign a four-page form before being tested for HIV means that New York is fighting the epidemic with its hands tied behind its back.

The New York Post believes Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s opposition to congestion pricing has more to do with politics than traffic. “It’s that time of year in Albany, you see, when lawmakers – particularly kingpins like Silver – play ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’” The Post writes.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 12, 2007, 8:18 am
In category: Gotham City | No Comments »

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Silvers Puts on the Brakes
June 11th, 2007

With Sheldon Silver shaping up as the biggest obstacle in Albany to congestion pricing, his stand gets him boos and cheers.

The Post writes, How typical it would be if Silver once again proved the obstructionist, unilaterally killing a plan that benefits all New York to serve his parochial interests.

But in the Sun, Jacob Gershman sides with skeptical Shelley and other doubters on congestion pricing. (Although since it is Silver were talking about here, Gershman does temper his praise by calling Silver obstructionist, the political merchant, the dour face of Albany’s status quo, and conceding his motives may not be entirely pure). Gershman questions whether congestion pricing will reduce traffic and wonder whether its really a fig leaf for scheme to raise money for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Quoting Fred Siegel, Gershman wonders, If Mr. Bloomberg was seriously intent on combating traffic, why wouldn’t he first roll back the scandalous number of parking permits issued to public employees in Lower Manhattan or do a better job of enforcing traffic violations that contribute to congestion?

Also in the Post Nicole Gelinas thinks leaders in Albany Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno are probably salivating at the prospect of getting those congestion parking fees and feeding them to the MTA. While Bloomberg is seeking to create a new authority to spend those funds, she writes, the mayor may soon learn that while his plan to do an end run around the MTA’s storied dysfunction was creative, the MTA is simply too big, and too dysfunctional, to ignore.

By Gail Robinson on June 11, 2007, 3:47 pm
In category: Albany, Environment, Gotham City, Transportation | 2 Comments »

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Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants: Cost Benefit Analysis
June 11th, 2007

Mayor Michael Bloomberg lamented the the collapse of immigration reform in Congress. “We will not have an economy, we will not have an America without a constant stream of immigrants coming into this country,” he said. But not everyone agrees with the mayor. “The bill, which would make millions of undocumented immigrants eligible for all kinds of benefits, would bear a monumental cost to the taxpayers of the United States, no matter what their color or background,”said Stanley Crouch of the Daily News. “How much? By some estimates, $2.5 trillion”

Today at a news conference, President George W. Bush vowed to get the immigration legislation passed, saying, Ill see you at the bill signing. To be continued…

By Oates Ritthichai on June 11, 2007, 12:49 pm
In category: Gotham City | 2 Comments »

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Congestion Pricing Plan Still Moving
June 8th, 2007

Yesterday, Governor Eliot Spitzer and United States Transportation Secretary Mary Peters expressed support for Mayor Michael Bloombergs congestion pricing idea, a plan to charge drivers $8 to enter certain parts of Manhattan.The New York Times Empire blog says “it looks like a big victory for the mayor and another step in a remarkable turnaround for the Bloomberg administration.” But to get the plan through Albany, the mayor may have give up his desire for city government control of the transportation funding, according to The New York Observers Real Estate blog. On the Drum Major Institute blog, Amy Traub writes that “congestion pricing is an excellent policy for New York’s current and aspiring middle class.”

For all of the legal and legislative details of the plan, visit Streetsblog, which has a copy of the 154-page bill for the PlaNYC program to make New York City environmentally sustainable.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 8, 2007, 8:06 am
In category: Transportation | 3 Comments »

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Kids These Days
June 8th, 2007

A year ago the Parks Department closed a student art exhibit in the Brooklyn War Memorial because of a sexually explicit sculpture. Now the city has settled a case, issued an apology, and agreed to pay $55,750. The Daily News suggests that to avoid future conflicts with “oh-so-oppressed kids” that the city should just bar all art exhibits on city property.

The New York Postthinks a Bushwick youth group, who had a run in with the police and has earned the support of teachers and a City Council member, is nothing more than a “gang.”

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 8, 2007, 7:29 am
In category: Arts, Crime & Safety, Parks | No Comments »

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