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New Voting Machine Chosen for City
February 8th, 2008

The New York City Board of Elections today chose the ES&S AutoMARK voting machine as its new machine in a four to six roll call vote that took only moments. One machine will be placed in each polling place by the 2008 primaries to provide accessibility to disabled voters. It is an optical scanning device, so the actual ballot is cast on paper.

The only commissioner to explain his vote was the Democratic commissioner from Staten Island Queens, Terrence O’Connor. He said he chose ES&S because, “It was the least expensive, and we’re going to be voting again next year, and maybe next month.”

The decision comes after a series of twists and turns in a rapidly changing series of events, as O’Connor’s last comment would suggest. Just yesterday, the ES&S machine was placed back on the state’s list of voting machines that individual counties could choose from. This came after a series of lawsuits from voting machine vendors and reversals on certification from the state Board of Elections.

Even the city Board of Elections President James Sample didn’t realize a fourth machine was being considered. When he announced the machines the commissioners had to choose from, he left out one machine, and had to be corrected (although nobody voted for it).

NYPIRG’s Neal Rosenstein credits Queens GOP Commissioner Anthony Como for the decision. In his observations, there was partisan deadlock over which machine to choose, and Como broke ranks with the other Republican commissioners who chose Sequoia’s Imagecast machine. He also suggested the vote be held today, a date that included ES&S’s machine on the list the commissioners could choose from.

The ES&S machine was one of those preferred by Center for Disability Rights. They had called on the state to include the machine on the certification list just days earlier.

And although NYPIRG doesn’t have a stance on which machine should be picked, Rosenstein is happy with the selection. “It’s clearly a victory for optical scanners.” But he has encouraged ES&S to ebrace some of the features of the Sequoia machine, primarily the fact that Sequoia’s software is available for inspection by the public.

“If anything,” he says, “it would help ensure public confidence in election results.”

By Mike Muller on February 8, 2008, 3:23 pm
In category: Albany, Governing, Tech | 5 Comments »

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Take Recyclables, Get Your Vehicle Taken
February 8th, 2008

The trucks and vans would drive around picking up recycling from the curb – but they weren’t helping the city. Rather, they were making a profit off the recyclables that the city wanted, and the ones that got caught no longer have their vehicles. The Department of Sanitation impounded 59 vehicles last month, more than doubling last year’s monthly record. While some of the vehicles were impounded for illegally dumping garbage, the vast majority were taken because of the unlawful removal of recycling.

Not only are their vehicles impounded, but the violators names are publicly displayed on the department’s website, and they could face fines up to $5,000 for taking recyclables and up to $20,000 for dumping.

This increased enforcement was sparked by a new law dramatically increasing the penalties for taking recyclables. Last year, sanitation officials estimated the city was losing $150,000 to $300,000 a year from Manhattan alone due to people stealing paper for recycling. The city is paid $10 to $30 a ton for paper under its recycling contract.

By Mike Muller on February 8, 2008, 10:38 am
In category: Environment, Public Finance | 1 Comment »

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Toxic Brooklyn Video
February 7th, 2008

A video documentary called “Toxic Brooklyn, The Story of Williamsburg and Greenpoint” has been produced for a youth culture video news site called VBS.TV. It takes an in depth look at the environmental issues plaguing the area.

At one point, the video correspondent tours a new condo in Williamsburg and queries whether anyone ever asks about the industrial pollution. The real estate agent giving the tour responds, “If any thing, a lot of people actually like the [industrial character] of the neighborhood.”

“People are attracted to the look of it without quite being prepared to grapple with what the look really means and actually represents,” Council Member David Yassky says in the video.

[A reader has noted that this video is over a year old.]

By Mike Muller on February 7, 2008, 8:56 am
In category: Environment, Land Use | 1 Comment »

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Campaign Contributors Surge
February 6th, 2008

Now that the presidential primary is over, and we all can recover from our politically saturated hangover, it’s time to move on to another contest. Why not the citywide race in 2009?

The city’s Campaign Finance Board released a new analysis of the latest campaign finance filings from January 15, which show contributors have increased nearly 30 percent compared to similar election periods.

The report compares this cycle – which is for the ‘09 race where 36 members of the City Council will have to vacate their seats and myriad officials will vie for citywide office – to that of 2001. Many of these races are already competitive.

The total amount raised compared to 2001, which also saw a large amount of political turnover, more than doubled to $25.7 million – or an increase of 111.6 percent.

For the full analysis, click here .

By Courtney Gross on February 6, 2008, 5:57 pm
In category: Governing, Public Finance, nextNY | No Comments »

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Democratic Primary Results by Congressional District
February 6th, 2008

Sen. Hillary Clinton may have easily landed the popular vote yesterday, but Sen. Barack Obama still ended up with nearly 40 percent of the Empire State’s delegates. And in a race this close — where a clear nominee may not be apparent for weeks, maybe months — every convention seat filled will count.

In total, Clinton landed 140 delegates and Obama won 92, according to the latest figures from the State Democratic Committee. After the jump is a breakdown for all of New York City’s congressional districts via the committee.

The breakdown shows weaknesses in Clinton’s organization here, and where Obama was able to make up the difference. Obama even won several districts, including Yvette Clark’s in Brooklyn, which spans Crown Heights, Park Slope and Brownsville – much of the area where Obama campers were seen hoisting signs and distributing campaign literature over the weekend.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Courtney Gross on February 6, 2008, 3:35 pm
In category: Gotham City, Governing | 7 Comments »

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Voting Machine Confusion -- Present and Future
February 5th, 2008

This is by Andrea Senteno who handles voting issues as a program associate at Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette.

We are well into Super Tuesday here in New York. More than 20 states are holding caucuses or primaries today, including delegate rich states like our own and California. While polls have been open for little more than nine hours, reports of problems at the polls have been popping up since early this morning. Voters across the city have reported back to the New York Times and The Politickerabout what they have seen at the polls, including broken machines that are forcing voters to cast their votes using paper emergency ballots.

Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections has been under constant watch in recent days following a controversial decision that two of the three ballot marking devices (BMDs) approved for purchase were non-compliant with New York States full-face ballot provisions, which require that all races can be viewed at once. The board had also initially rejected the submission of a Liberty Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machine, which was submitted as an option for the ballot marking device to be used in 2008. Liberty filed suit, and yesterday a judge ordered the state to include the Liberty machine in the list of approved voting systems.

The city Board of Elections is set to hold a special meeting tomorrow to select the ballot marking devices that will be used in the September and November elections this year.

This dance back and forth over the machines hardly seems likely to benefit New York voters. After considering the problems some voters are experiencing at the polls today, it really makes one wonder what we can expect with the arrival of a new voting system.

By Gail Robinson on February 5, 2008, 3:26 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Governing | 1 Comment »

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Existing Homes: the Frontline of Global Warming
February 5th, 2008

Building on the consensus that existing homes present the biggest hurdle in reducing carbon emissions in the city, the Sallan Foundation, an environmental organization, looks to contractors’ role in addressing the issue. It notes that the majority of home improvement contractors do not communicate with one another when addressing individual issues such as heating. So, for example, a contractor who installs a new heating system often does not look to see whether the home could be better weatherized. Further, there are a limited number of contractors specialized in reducing energy use in existing homes.

To address these issues, the Sallan Foundation recommends training contractors to conduct energy audits and giving incentives to contractors and consumers to conduct such audits and retrofit the homes to be more energy efficient. The organization also suggests requiring an energy audit when an alteration permit is approved by the Department of Buildings or when a building is sold.

By Mike Muller on February 5, 2008, 3:24 pm
In category: Environment, Housing | 2 Comments »

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A Bike Campaign Not Approved of By Cyclists
February 5th, 2008

In time for fashion week, clothing company DKNY has chained up a number of bright orange bikes emblazoned with their logo around the city. The idea was to promote cycling in New York City as an environmentally sensitive and healthy means of traversing the city. But the reaction to the campaign was less than positive, with a bit of an online uproar. Many cyclists were none too happy with the fact that some of these bikes were chained to trees, which damages them, and a lot of them felt the painted bike idea was offensive to the white painted ghost bikes meant to memorialize cycling deaths. The idea of trying to get models to ride bikes seems to BikeBlog like “something more out of Zoolander.” And a photo of one of the bikes in the trash on NYCBikePolo does a good job of summing up their feelings. Even the NYPD wasn’t a fan, as this photo of them hauling off of a number of the orange bikes would seem to suggest. In the meantime, the city has seen the highest number of cycling deaths in at least eight years, but Streetsblog has some questions about the numbers released by the city.

Image from rollingrck’s photostream.

By Mike Muller on February 5, 2008, 2:41 pm
In category: Environment, Health, Transportation | 1 Comment »

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Guide for the Last Minute Voter
February 5th, 2008

If you’re a registered Democrat or Republican you have until 9 p.m. today to vote for your party’s presidential nominee.

If you still haven’t made up your mind and wonder how the candiates stack up on issues of particular concern to New Yorkers, click here for the Democrats and here for the Republicans.

By Gail Robinson on February 5, 2008, 1:06 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Governing | No Comments »

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Losing an Urban Voice
February 4th, 2008

New York Magazines Chris Smith does not have much use for former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani: He ran a lazy, incompetent campaign. And even if Rudy Giuliani had somehow been elected, he would have been a terrible president.

But Smith misses him anyway (and not simply because the former mayor is so much fun to kick around). The fact that a former resident of Gracie Mansion was a real contender for president was important, Smith writes. Eighty percent of the nations population now lives in urban areas. Yet the senators and governor still standing only give lip service to the problems in public education, housing, transit, poverty, and crime that touch millions of city lives every day. John Edwards did more to address those issues on the campaign trail than Giuliani did, but having a former mayor of the countrys biggest, most complicated city in the presidential race injected some non-Washington grit into the mix. Thats gone now, and its a loss for New York.

For more on how urban issues figure or do not figure into this years campaign and for charts indicating how the Democrats and Republicans stand on key issues, see Gotham Gazette.

By Gail Robinson on February 4, 2008, 2:08 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City | No Comments »

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