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Issues Discussed in Queens Special Election
May 16th, 2008

While the resignation of Councilmember James Gallagher received wide ranging coverage, the resulting special election for his seat in Queens has gotten less attention - as is generally the case. But a historic preservation coalition recently released a wide ranging voter guide. Although the focus of the guide is decidedly on preservation, it covers a number of development issues, touching on PlaNYC, industrial zoning, eminent domain, and transparency in government.
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By Mike Muller on May 16, 2008, 2:50 pm
In category: Voting
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River Crossings
May 15th, 2008

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council yesterday released this map of 2005 river crossing data.

A couple interesting highlights: The Bayonne Bridge has had the biggest increase in use over the past 10 years, with 4.9 percent rise, and the Cross Bay-Veteran Memorial Bridge is the runner up with 3.9 percent more traffic over the last decade. With the exception of the Williamsburg Bridge, all of the Brooklyn river crossings have seen a drop in traffic of about 0.5 percent over 10 years.

By Mike Muller on May 15, 2008, 11:49 am
In category: Gotham City
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E-Waste Override
May 14th, 2008

The bill does not cover cell phones as was originally — and incorrectly — reported in this post. Disposal of cell phones, according to a spokeswoman for Councilmember de Blasio, are already covered by state law. Thanks to a reader for drawing this our attention!

In a rare disagreement with the mayor, the New York City Council today overrode his veto of a bill that would require electronic manufacturers to meet certain benchmarks in recycling their discarded products. The override — by a 43-3 vote — was the latest development in the city’s efforts to deal with what bill sponsor Bill de Blasio has described as a “tsunami” of electronic waste.

Earlier the council and the mayor agreed on a measure to establish a recycling program for old televisions, computers and the like. But they disagreed over a bill that would require manufacturers to meet certain benchmarks. The administration has argued the benchmark would unfairly penalize businesses if they’re customers don’t recycle. But at the council meeting de Blasio argued the requirement is essential.

“Performance standards,” he said, “make the industry move forward and recycle and make greener products.”

At the press conference prior to the meeting, both de Blasio and Council Speaker Christine Quinn acknowledged that the administration would almost certainly not enforce the measure, despite the override. They said environmental groups might seek to challenge that inaction in the courts or that a new mayor — and there’s almost certain to be one in January 2010 — might take a more kindly view of the measure.

By Gail Robinson on May 14, 2008, 5:01 pm
In category: Environment
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Hudson Yards Plan Derailed
May 13th, 2008

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to salvage the latest version of the Hudson Yards development plan for the West Side of Manhattan have failed. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials and developer Tishman Speyer have been unable to work out their differences, and today, the MTA released a brief statement:
“The MTA met today with Tishman Speyer. Despite the best efforts of both sides, a final agreement could not be reached. The MTA has now re-entered discussions with other interested developers and remains committed to timely development of these unique and valuable parcels of land on Manhattan’s Far West Side.”

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on May 13, 2008, 3:49 pm
In category: Community Development, Transportation, Waterfront
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Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Bash
May 13th, 2008

Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz announced a five-day celebration to mark the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge. The event will run from May 22 through May 26 and include a bridge lighting, concerts, lectures, children’s readings, dance performances, and a bike tour. The New York Observer notes that the $15 million birthday bash will cost roughly as much as it did to build the bridge over a century ago (not counting inflation). But there may be at least one lasting result of the event: an upgraded pedestrian bridge entrance, which officials promise is getting “newly designed signage and energy efficient lighting.”

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on May 13, 2008, 8:33 am
In category: Gotham City, Transportation, Waterfront
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Staten Island Scenarios
May 12th, 2008

So the weekend — Mother’s Day weekend no less — has come and gone with no word from “I led two lives” Rep. Vito Fossella on his political future or lack thereof. As Fossella cogitates, pundits prognosticate. What are the various scenarios? And who wins and who loses?

Fossella could resign effective immediately, keep his seat now but decide not to run for re-election in November, or stay and run.
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By Gail Robinson on May 12, 2008, 5:46 pm
In category: Electoral Politics
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Game City
May 12th, 2008

Whatever you think of the merits or evils of videogames (Too violent? Mindless? A skills tool?), they can help the economy. New York City already has about 30 game development companies and another 55 firms involved in some aspect of games, according to a recent count by the Center for an Urban Future. And the think tank’s report, “Getting in the Game” urges the city to try to attract more. “Doing so would help the city diversify its economy and create good-paying jobs in one of the nation’s most promising sectors,” the report states

But what do video games mean for our city’s image. The report comes amid much buzz — and huge sales — for the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto. The setting, Liberty City, is essentially New York.
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By Gail Robinson on May 12, 2008, 2:16 pm
In category: Crime, Economy, Tech
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McCain's East River Tour
May 9th, 2008

In anticipation of John McCain’s trip to our hometown, the Democratic Party has released this cute map outlining the areas where he has failed to provide for the city’s infrastructure. (Via the Albany Project)

Although the campaign did not respond to requests for comment, it might be noted that the Republican candidate has positioned himself as a fierce opponent of government waste, and a major source for this flier is the Citizens Against Government Waste’s “Pig Book.”

Indeed, a McCain advisor says, as quoted by Time Magazine, “I haven’t seen public data on this, so let me not elaborate for the moment, but a huge majority of people, [about] 75 percent think the federal government spends too much and wastes a lot of money. Ask them about pork barrel projects that’s the biggest number of all.”

In fact, voting against some of the projects mentioned in this flier certainly seems defensible. The case the party makes for McCain’s failure to provide for the Brooklyn Bridge? These earmarks actually have nothing to do with the bridge itself. One is a $300,000 grant for a youth program at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. The other is a $1 million grant for a study of the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

But there are other items here that may not be so easy to shrug off as waste. The Arizona Senator has repeatedly denied funding for the repair of sea walls for the East River. According to a memo from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who sought funds to repair Queens seawalls which protect the likes of parks and subways, the city’s seawalls are typically in a state of deterioration.

“The age-old problem for people living near water, is that eventually the water has an impact on the land – in some places it’s flooding, in some places, like Venice, the entire city starts to sink,” said Maloney. “In New York, we have to maintain our seawalls.”

For details on the map’s points, click here.

By Mike Muller on May 9, 2008, 2:00 pm
In category: Finance, Voting
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Water System Critics Opposed to More than the Rate Hike
May 8th, 2008

To help limit increases in water and sewer rate hikes, a number of people are calling for changes from the city, and it is coming from more than just those who are running for office, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg has scoffed. Among the changes critics say are needed are: a new rental agreement between the Water Board and the city for the use of infrastructure, a review of capital spending to ensure efficiency, and reforms to the water system that will protect affordable housing and conserve water use.
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By Mike Muller on May 8, 2008, 4:28 pm
In category: Economy, Environment, Finance, Housing
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The Last Republican?
May 8th, 2008

Given our focus on policy and issues, we have avoided the travails of Rep. Vito Fossella since his arrest for drunk driving last week. For those of you have taken a similar tact, the congressman from Staten Island and Brooklyn was arrested in northern Virginia early Thursday morning with a blood alcohol level of about twice the legal limit. With his judgment perhaps clouded by the wine that (according to the police document) had stained his lips, Fossella called a “friend” to pick him up following his arrest. Now it turn outs she’s more than a friend — and the married politician is the father of her three-year-old daughter. Fossella acknowledged this in a statement released today.

And so Fossella seems poised to become the next New York politician to see his career fall victim to scandal.
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By Gail Robinson on May 8, 2008, 2:02 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City
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Silver: Saint or Sinner?
May 7th, 2008

With Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver facing a credible challenge for his Assembly seat on the Lower East Side, a heated debate has broken out in some progressive circles over whether Silver is really so bad after all.

Blogging on Open Left,
Dan Cantor, founder of the purportedly progressive (but very tied to the Democratic Party) Working Families Party, comes out enthusiastically for Silver, even though the party has not made an endorsement. “His batting average has not been perfect - nobody’s is. But he prevented more harm and accomplished far more good than anyone could have expected during an era when Democrats were a minority party among Albany’s power centers,” Cantor
said, citing Silver for standing up to former Gov. George Pataki and for backing bills that made it “more difficult for employers to fight union organizing, barred discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, restored Food Stamps for immigrants … and increased the minimum wage.”

Now Paul Newell one of two announced challengers to Silver (Luke Henry is the other), has fired back on the same blog. “Sheldon Silver is neither a progressive Democrat nor a conservative Democrat. Sheldon Silver is a status quo Democrat,” Newell writes. “Sheldon Silver chooses his positions so as to best maintain his power. As Silver’s power derives from a Democratic held body, it is often in his interest to strike a comparatively progressive pose. But progressive action is rare.”

Another progressive, Chris Owens, chair of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, tries to take (on this one) a middle of the road position, telling the Daily Politics that Silver is “a mixed bag for progressives.” “Silver’s “greatest weakness has been his maintenance of old-school Albany politics,” Owens said.

The Daily Gotham leaves little doubt where it stands. “Shelly Silver Killed Congestion Pricing” it blares in huge white on orange type.

By Gail Robinson on May 7, 2008, 1:58 pm
In category: Albany
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More on Atlantic Yards Redesign
May 6th, 2008

Over the weekend, developer Bruce Ratner unveiled a redesigned and scaled-down version of the Atlantic Yards project for downtown Brooklyn, complete with new models and drawings and an op-ed in the Daily News.

Now opponents have unveiled a new Web site called Atlanticlots.com, created by the Municipal Art Society and Brooklyn Speaks. It features a slide show with aerial views the proposed development and a click-able link to “Ask Governor Paterson to make an interim plan for the site that works for Brooklyn.”

The real estate blog Curbed provides a look at the “mini-taboloid war” between the Daily News and the Post in their coverage of the Atlantic Yards redesign. (The blog Atlanticyardsreport says the New York Times has ignored the story.) Curbed also offers a poll so readers can weigh in the old and new version of the tower.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on May 6, 2008, 8:27 am
In category: Community Development, Land Use
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Skipping Gym Class
May 5th, 2008

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found the Department of Education is skimping kids out of their exercise, according to a new survey of scores of randomly selected elementary and middle schools.

The report found that 96 percent of elementary schools violate state mandates for third graders, who are supposed to have PE class daily.

We ran a similar story in March, which showed the lack of focus on physical education has been a growing trend since the 1970s, when schools turned more towards academics.

But the Department of Education contends it is working hard to reverse this trend.

Obesity is still a huge problem among New York City kids. How do you think the department should, if at all, get kids to shed pounds?

By Courtney Gross on May 5, 2008, 7:22 pm
In category: Education, Gotham City, Health
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Spring Snarls
May 5th, 2008

It’s that time of year again — when city streets are closed to traffic, making way for foot races, organized bike rides, charity walks and street fairs. Fine. As writers for Gotham Gazette have frequently noted ( here, for example), in a city where land is a previous commodity, cars do not deserve so much of it.

The problem is not the closing of streets but how it’s managed. Police officers and traffic agents patrolling the areas seems completely unaware of alternative routes — or unwilling to provide assistance. Many are downright rude, refusing to even try to answer questions from bewildered citizens, instead demanding drivers “move along” into a miasma of traffic.
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By Gail Robinson on May 5, 2008, 6:25 pm
In category: Gotham City, Transportation
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Brooklyn Blight
May 5th, 2008

Every day seems to bring more stories about troubles at Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner’s megaproject in downtown Brooklyn. The latest, from today’s Daily News, reports that the signature “Miss Brooklyn” residential and commercial building will be scaled back, renamed and only contain commercial space. Ratner has conceded the troubled economy could delay the residential and commercial project for years, casting doubts on whether the affordable housing and other community assets will fall by the wayside. And even the basketball arena for the Nets could be in jeopardy with accounts surfacing in the Jersey Ledger last week that Newark Mayor Corey Booker is working to have the team move to Newark, instead of Atlantic and Flatbush.

The possible demise of Atlantic Yards though could be a pyrrhic victory for opponents of the project, since New York’s leader have already allowed Ratner to level much of the surrounding area. If Ratner does not build on much of it, a neighborhood that probably would have developed just fine on its own could instead be a bleak and blighted landscape of vacant lots.

As evidence, the Municipal Art Society has released a series of artists’ renderings showing just how much of this key location, close to Manhattan and atop transit and commuter train routes, could lie empty for years thanks to Ratner and his allies in the state government, Bloomberg administration and Brooklyn borough hall.

“We are concerned that the approach with Atlantic Yards is to build when the market is ready, blighting the area with parking and harming Brooklyn in the meantime,” said Kent Barwick, president of the Municipal Art Society said in a prepared statement, adding Brooklyn could “be burdened” with the parking lots for 15 to 20 years.

“The independent renderings portray a vision of urban blight: Only the planned arena near Atlantic and Flatbush avenues and a lone adjacent residential/office tower remain, surrounded by a series of large ‘temporary’ surface parking and other empty space,” said the New York Post.

Ironically, Ratner was allowed to level the area of small-scale apartments and business to remove so-called “blight.”

By Gail Robinson on May 5, 2008, 5:49 pm
In category: Community Development, Housing, Land Use
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Spreading Ferry Service
May 5th, 2008

Staten Island aqua travel shouldn’t seem so unique for that much longer.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the start of expanded ferry service to the outer boroughs this morning — a pillar of Quinn’s State of the City address in February — which will start with service in the Rockaways then expand to North Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

The two-year pilot project for the Rockaways is funded by $1.1 million from Councilmember Joseph Addabbo’s discretionary funds.

Forget about the obnoxious waits of the infamous G line or the shadowy subterranean travel of the subway system, because the service could spread even more.
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By Courtney Gross on May 5, 2008, 12:41 pm
In category: Environment, Gotham City, Transportation, Waterfront
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Reactions to the Mayor's Proposed Budget
May 2nd, 2008

Most of the reactions to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s executive budget proposal so far hail its fiscal prudence, albeit some include caveats and others were outright hostile.

Comptroller William Thompson and the Citizen’s Budget Commission are both happy with what they heard, and are pleased that their recommendations are included in the proposal. Both called for reducing capital expenditures, which is money invested in long-term assets like buildings and transportation networks. The mayor addressed this by stretching the capital plan from 4 years to 5 years, which will reduce debt service.

The New York Times editorial board is also supportive. For one, they call the mayor’s plan to end the 7 percent property tax cut in fiscal year 2010 - which starts July 2009 - “politically brave.” The move will bring about $1 billion in taxes back into city coffers. Given the money at stake, the Times thinks the $400 annual rebate should also be put to rest.

But the New York Post’s editorial board disagrees. Although they also commend the mayor for holding the line on spending and using surpluses to pay off future debt, they don’t like the idea of ending the tax cut, which they refer to as a tax hike.

Education advocates, however, are steaming mad, and are launching a campaign to reverse spending cuts for city schools. Accusing the Bloomberg Administration of retreating on previous financial commitments, they are starting a campaign called “Keep the Promises!.” The Promises! coalition, which launched with a rally and a radio ad yesterday, includes the teachers union, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the Alliance for Quality Education, ACORN, and the New York City Coalition for Education Justice.

“The mayor rightly understood it was important to keep his $400 promise to homeowners and to roll some of the surplus as a cushion,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the teachers union. “He should have given the same consideration to the importance of the 4-year promise the city made to our children. He has broken that promise, and we have five weeks to work with him and the City Council to reverse it.”

By Mike Muller on May 2, 2008, 12:52 pm
In category: Education, Finance
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Live Broadcast of Executive Budget Presentation
May 1st, 2008

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is currently giving his executive budget presentation, click here to watch a live video stream. (Microsoft Windows Media Player required. Click here for download.)

By Mike Muller on May 1, 2008, 11:53 am
In category: Gotham City
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