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In and Out at Homeless Services
April 19th, 2010

With the Bloomberg administration under attack for its plan to charge some families rent for living in homeless shelters, the city’s commissioner of homeless services, Robert Hess, is leaving his job.

By most accounts, Hess’ four years on the job could hardly be considered a success. He came from Philadelphia promising to “fulfill the mayor’s commitment to ending homelessness as we know it within five years.” Although street homelessness declined during his tenure, the latest Mayor’s Management Report found the number of families with children entering the shelter system increased by 34 percent from fiscal year 2008 to 2009. In Hess’ time at the agency, the number of people living in shelters grew by 5,000 and now stands at 36,000 people.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has selected Seth Diamond, executive deputy commissioner at the Human Resources Administration, to try to make a dent in these numbers. Hess will take a job with the Doe Fund, a nonprofit that works with the homeless and one of the mayor’s favored charities.

By Gail Robinson on April 19, 2010, 12:38 pm
In category: City Hall, Gotham City, Housing, Social Services | No Comments »

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Weekly Web Wrap
April 16th, 2010

The New Graffiti Removal Laws
(Habitat Magazine)
Cartoonist’s Take on Paladino
(Adam Zyglis)
Upstaters Debate Gas Drilling
(The American Prospect)
Renter’s Rights Flash Cards
(Idealist in NYC)
Taking Issue with Liu on 401(k)-Style Pensions for City Workers
(NY Fiscal Watch)
Mitigating Sewage Overflows
(Urban Omnibus)
Executive Budget Proposal for Higher Education Funding Reform
(Citizens Budget Commission)
Proposed Road Expansion Squeezes Out Other Worthy Plans
(Tri-State Transportation Campaign)
Inside the Croton Water Filtration Plant Construction Site
(Bronx News Network)
Is Financial Reform Bad for New York?
(DMI Blog)

By Mike Muller on April 16, 2010, 9:21 pm
In category: Gotham City | No Comments »

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Missing a Rattner Link
April 16th, 2010

Steve Rattner, who now stands accused of paying kickbacks to win business from the state pension fund, was President Barack Obama’s auto czar. You know that if you read the News and the Times accounts of the agreement by Rattner’s old firm Quadrangle Group to pay $7 million for its role in the state pension fund scam — and to pin the blame on Rattner.

But what the Times and the News apparently do not find noteworthy are Rattner’s close ties to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Post, is a bit more upfront here, referring to Rattner as a “Bloomberg pal,” and going on to say of Quadrangle: “Two months ago, Bloomberg revealed he would move $5 billion of his personal fortune out of the firm’s asset management unit — along with the people who managed Bloomberg’s money.”

And even out of city papers caught on to the connection, with the Los Angeles Times, for example, noting that Quadrangle’s clients ” included billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Gail Robinson on April 16, 2010, 11:14 am
In category: Albany, Electoral Politics, Gotham City, Governing | No Comments »

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Assemblywoman's Grandson Still on Staff
April 15th, 2010

A month after pleading guilty in federal court to embezzling more than $100,000 from a Bronx nonprofit, Richard Izquierdo Arroyo is still acting as the chief of staff to his grandmother, Assemblymember Carmen Arroyo, he confirmed this afternoon.

When asked during a phone interview whether he had considered resigning from his post in the assemblywoman’s office following his guilty plea, Izquierdo Arroyo said, “I think this conversation is over.” He then hung up the phone.

According to SeeThroughNY, Izquierdo Arroyo made $82,964 in 2009 as the assemblymember’s chief of staff. Izquierdo Arroyo is also the nephew of Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo, and he was indicted in June of last year.

Izquierdo Arroyo pleaded guilty in March to embezzling $115,000 from SBCC management, a nonprofit that manages residences for low-income tenants, between May 2005 and February 2009. He was president of the organization at the time. The cash went to clothes, shoes, airfare, hotels and restaurants as well as campaign contributions to the assemblymember and a new floor for her office.

Izquierdo Arroyo, 33, is scheduled for sentencing on June 25. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, and he has agreed to pay $115,000 in restitution.

By Courtney Gross on April 15, 2010, 3:17 pm
In category: Albany, City Hall, Crime & Safety, Economy, Electoral Politics, Eye Opener, Gotham City, Governing, Law, Public Finance, Work and Labor, nextNY | 1 Comment »

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Bouncing the Rubber Rooms
April 15th, 2010

Like the Pentagon’s $640 toilet seats and the bridge to nowhere, New York City’s rubber rooms have emerged as a symbol of government programs run amok. Well, critics of the teacher’s union wont have those rubber rooms to kick around any more.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew today announced an agreement to eliminate the rubber rooms where teachers accused of misconduct or incompetence can spend years literally doing nothing while they wait for their cases to be resolved. According the city’s figures, some 550 teachers currently wile away the hours in this temporary reassignment center, costing the city $30 million a year.

The agreement would speed up the process for hearing cases, requiring the Department of Education to act quickly or send a teacher back to his or her class. To further accelerate the process, the department will increase the number of arbiters. And while teachers do wait to learn their fate, instead of sitting in a rubber room, they will now do administrative chores in Department of Education office or non-classroom work in their schools.

By Gail Robinson on April 15, 2010, 2:11 pm
In category: Education, Work and Labor | 1 Comment »

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Goodbye New York City OTB?
April 14th, 2010

Gov. David Paterson is blaming legislators for what looks like will be the end of bankrupt New York City Off Track Betting. Paterson submitted legislation that would have kept the entity on life support for the time being but the legislature left town after session today without acting on the bill and is not expected back until Monday. The OTB was set to layoff thousands of workers least Sunday but the action was delayed to allow negotiations to take place. Those negotiations seem to have collapsed.

Here is Paterson’s statement.

Today, after weeks of intensive negotiations with Senate and Assembly leadership, I submitted agreed upon legislation that provided for an interim solution to keep New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation (NYCOTB) operating. This plan included no additional commitment of taxpayer dollars. However, the Legislature adjourned before acting on the bill.

The Board of Directors of NYCOTB resolved to cease operations no later than close of business April 18, absent action by the Legislature to solve the Corporations immediate cash flow problem by making adjustments to payments to the industry. Given that stakeholder disagreement prevented this legislative action, I expect the board will carry out its planned shutdown as reflected in its resolution.

Consequently, the closure of NYCOTB will have a profound impact on the 1,300 employees and their families. I am deeply saddened that we could not find a workable solution during this fiscal crisis to save any of these jobs.

I will continue to work with my legislative partners and the stakeholders to keep racing viable in New York State.

By David King on April 14, 2010, 5:04 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | 3 Comments »

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Rose Plaza Moving
April 14th, 2010

Stop and smell the roses, looks like Rose Plaza is coming to Williamsburg.

Aaron Short of the Brooklyn Paper has the story here.

By Courtney Gross on April 14, 2010, 12:05 pm
In category: City Hall, Community Development, Electoral Politics, Gotham City, Housing, Land Use, Parks, Waterfront, nextNY | No Comments »

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No Deal on Rose Plaza Yet
April 13th, 2010

Things don’t smell so rosy for Brooklyn development Rose Plaza on the River.

The approximately 800-unit Williamsburg mixed use development, nestled along the Brooklyn waterfront and south of the Williamsburg Bridge, was placed on the agenda for tomorrow’s City Council meeting. But according to a spokesperson for the councilmember who represents the area, Stephen Levin, the vote may not necessarily be in its favor.

“There are talks,” said Hope Reichbach, a spokesperson for Levin. But, she added, “nothing is final yet.”

When asked whether the council could reject the project, Reichback said, “It’s possible.”

When it comes to land use, the whole City Council usually defers to the member who represents the area. If he or she supports the project, it’s approved. If he or she doesn’t, well, you get the picture. Rose Plaza has become controversial, said Reichback, because of the amount of affordable units, around 20 percent, and the small number of apartments that could accommodate large families.

The council isn’t under the gun to vote tomorrow. Technically, it has to approve a land use application within 50 days of its approval at the City Planning Commission. City planning ok’d the project on March 8.

It’s not unprecedented for the council to vote against the sitting member. Just last year, the council approved the Dumbo Dock Street project — which happens to be in the same district as Rose Plaza. In that case, former Councilmember David Yassky opposed the project for fear it would obstruct the view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

By Courtney Gross on April 13, 2010, 3:59 pm
In category: City Hall, Community Development, Economy, Gotham City, Housing, Land Use, Parks, nextNY | No Comments »

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Party in Albany
April 13th, 2010

If there was a day to be in Albany, today was the day.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the lunch trucks were out in full force and the Tea Party Express was in town singing “Proud to be an American.”

Former Saturday Day Night Live member Victoria Jackson waved the American flag on stage while a mass of protesters swung their Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. In fact there were far more Gadsen flags on display than there were American flags. No, Sarah Palin didn’t make it to Albany.

But there were a plethora of signs playing on Obama’s “Yes We Can” Slogan.

One man carried two signs. The first read, ” OH YES WE CAN VOTE YOU OUT” The other read, ” OH NO YOU CAN’T LIE TO US.”

Meanwhile, the assumed Tea Party candidate for governor was not having such a hot day.

Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino is still reeling from reports that he forwarded a number of racist, sexist, pornographic e-mail to friends and colleagues. Paladino has been playing down the scandal. His office reportedly received a bomb threat from a man who identified himself as being from a “black militant group.” Are there a lot of those these days?

Mark Williams, chair of the Tea Party Express, told the Times Union that his group is not necessarily going to support Paladino. “I doubt we would support the guy, based on what weve seen,”Williams said.

By David King on April 13, 2010, 3:54 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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Waterfront Plan Kicked Off
April 13th, 2010

waterfront2

First they went green. Now they’re going marine.

Channeling their inner seafarer, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn launched the city’s “Vision 2020″ this morning — a plan to create a blueprint for the city’s 500 miles of waterfront for the next decade.

The plan is part of an initiative Quinn announced in 2008 to hone in on the city’s shoreline.

Before the Brooklyn Bridge, before Robert Moses, and before Fiorello La Guardia, New York Citys waterfronts were integral to its bustling blue highways, said Quinn in a prepared statement. Hundreds of years later, we are standing on these same shores, launching a long-term collaborative initiative to reclaim our waterfronts and bring them into the 21st century. The City Council is proud to have passed the visionary legislation that requires City government to come up with an effective and responsible waterfronts plan, not once, but every ten years. Through this law, we will never turn our backs on our citys 578 miles of waterfront.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Courtney Gross on April 13, 2010, 3:10 pm
In category: City Hall, Community Development, Environment, Gotham City, Measuring UP, Waterfront, nextNY | No Comments »

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Espada's Two Cents
April 13th, 2010

The ever-controversial Sen. Pedro Espada presented the New York City charter Revision Commission with his proposal to change the city’s charter. Espada would do away with the position of borough president and the office of public advocate. He would also hold non-partisan elections for community board members.

Here is Espada’s statement:

I am recommending that the offices of borough president and city public advocate be abolished in this round of charter revision, not as a political slap at anyone in these positions, but because we have a sensible and realistic opportunity to reduce city government and empower the people, said Sen. Espada.
I am proposing that some of the money saved in the city budget through the elimination of these positions be redirected to local community elections as a way of engaging and empowering citizens in the management of their neighborhoods, said Espada.

We already have the framework in existing community boards. Lets give these civic boards relevance and empower citizens, through non-partisan elections, to be part of the policy-setting and decision-making process in the services their neighborhoods receive from city agencies. This is real democracy, full community participation that provides voters with choice not based on party or politics, but on performance and credentials, Espada said.

Our communities would be better served by less government because residents would have a real voice and accountability in their local government whether it be legislation passed in the City Council, or education, transportation and essential services that their neighborhoods receive, he added.

Espada called term limits window dressing and a symbolic gesture.

The reality is, with term limits the characters change, but the process stays the same. Sen. Espada said.

As someone who began my career in public service on the grass-roots level as a tenant organizer, community leader and health care advocate, I am a strong proponent of residents being fully invested in their community.”

Celeste Katz of The Daily Politics reports that reaction to the proposal has not been pretty.

By David King on April 13, 2010, 2:12 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | 2 Comments »

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Rough Road Ahead
April 13th, 2010

Watch out, there may be some rough roads ahead.

After snowstorms and other winter wear, some New York City streets have come to resemble war-torn terrain and not the byways of a well-kept metropolis.
2277222830_207d43d051_m

Photo (cc) 2008 shoehorn99


Now Gotham Gazette and The Huffington Post want to know what kind of craters mark your streets. Is your block a virtual obstacle course? Has your car or bike tire exploded thanks to an avenue’s neglect?

Send us photos and addresses of neglected roadways in your neighborhood, along with any other lurid details you care to provide, and we’ll report back next week.

By Courtney Gross on April 13, 2010, 11:37 am
In category: City Hall, Crime & Safety, Economy, Gotham City, Governing, Health, Land Use, Law, Measuring UP, Social Services, Work and Labor, nextNY, sustainability | 1 Comment »

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Senate Approves Budget Extender
April 12th, 2010

And after all of that…the budget extender was approved in the senate by a vote of 54 to 6.

By David King on April 12, 2010, 6:41 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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Budget Blame Fest
April 12th, 2010

Senate Democrats and Republicans are at each other’s throats about the budget being late. Republicans insist Democrats need to abide by budget reforms and hold conference committees and deliver a budget as soon as possible.

Democrats are insist that Republicans barely ever delivered on time when they were in the majority. The debate is taking place in anticipation of a vote on a budget extender that will keep state government functioning for another week. A number of Republicans have indicated that they will vote against the extender to make a point.

Republican Sens. Tom Libous, John DeFrancisco and William Larkin all took turns scolding Democrats for excluding them from budget negotiations and ignoring budget reform laws that call for conference committees when Democratic Sen. Kevin Parker rose to ask a question of Larkin. He asked Larking how long he had served. Larkin answered that he has served in the legislature for over 20 years.

Parker asked: “Over those 20 years, how often has budget of the State of New York been late?”

“Until we passed reform it was many times late,” Larkin responded.

Larkin insisted that it was a combination of the assembly and governor that helped make the budget late.

Parker scoffed at the idea.

Parker went on to blame Republican policy for the state’s financial woes.

Only moments later. Sen. Carl Kruger announced the number of times the budget has been late over the years, including the number of days the budget was late and how many extenders were passed to keep the government running.

Republicans argued that no matter what the history has been Democrats need to hold bipartisan negotiations and work for an on-time budget.

If you recall, the budget being late was considered the absolute norm in Albany for years. Albany passed it’s first on-time budget in 21 years in 2005.

Sen. Andrew Lanza asked Parker if he was blaming the late budget on George Bush and the fact that the budget has been late in the past.

Parker retorted that he was simply blaming the policies of the Republican Party and the policies of the former Senate Republican Majority.

Later Lanza spoke on the bill and said he was tired of hearing Democrats using past budget delays for the current one. “I have a five-year-old at home that comes up with better excuses than that.” He went on to insist that no Democrat has reached across the aisle to talk to him about the budget.

And so it goes…

By David King on April 12, 2010, 6:10 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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Senate Debates Budget Extender
April 12th, 2010

The Senate is currently considering the budget extender that would keep state government running for one more week in the absence of a real budget agreement.

Before the bill came to a vote Republican Sen. John DeFrancisco put forward an amendment that would have required the budget extender to include funds to pay contractors who are working on state construction projects. Francisco argued that the construction projects need funding to protect public safety on decaying roads and bridges and to preserve jobs.

Late last month Gov. David Paterson put funding for hundreds of road and bridge contracts on hold. As a result of the move contractors have begun having to lay off workers who they can no longer afford to pay.

Sen. Martin Dilan, head of the Transportation Committee, told DeFrancisco that he has written to the Paterson’s budget office to demand funding for the projects. He said he has also been “fighting” with the Paterson administration to restore the funding. But Dilan said he would not vote for DeFrancisco’s amendment because he said the Assembly has already passed their budget extender and not passing the extension, “would shut down government.”

I understand Sen. Dilan’s position,” said DeFrancisco, “but I think there comes a point in time where we really truly ought to fight in the forum where we have some power rather than hoping on the good will of the administration. ”

DeFrancisco’s amendment failed.

The Republicans are now admonishing Democrats for holding secretive budget negotiations and not holding conference committees to hash out the differences between budget proposals between houses.

Paterson said earlier today that he is considering asking legislators to stay past Wednesday this week to negotiate the budget. Legislators are scheduled to work a Monday to Wednesday scheduled for the rest of the month. The budget is currently two weeks late.

By David King on April 12, 2010, 5:35 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany, Transportation | No Comments »

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Weekly Web Wrap
April 9th, 2010

State Denies Indian Point Water Quality Certificate
(TreeHugger)
State Seeks Mobile App Ideas for Parks
(GovTech)
Secrets Under a Chinatown Street
(The Real Estate)
Mapping the City’s Bodegas
(Edible Geography)
Pondering Urban Authenticity
(New Geography)
Columbia to Offer Computer Science-Journalism Degree
(Wired via NYConvergence)
New 13 Percent Water Rate Hike Proposed
(Bronx News Network)
The Effects of Nurses’ Strikes on Patients
(NY Fiscal Watch)
When the Car Was New
(Regional Plan Association)
Cartoonist’s Take on State Workers and the Budget
(Matt Davies)
Building an Alternative Shoreline
(Metropolitan Water Alliance)
A New Dawn in Sunset Park?
(DMI Blog)

By Mike Muller on April 9, 2010, 3:55 pm
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Closing State Parks
April 9th, 2010

Gotham Gazette parks reporter Anne Schwartz filed this post.

The state’s plan to close dozens of parks is moving forward while legislators and Gov. David Paterson trade blame for the delay in reaching a budget agreement. Parks agency commissioner Carol Ash said on Thursday that without a final state budget the agency “has neither funding nor authorization” to open the parks and historic sites it had slated for closing.

The agency has canceled camping reservations at those parks, and is offering refunds to people who reserved sites in parks where pools, beaches and other key facilities will be closed. “Practically speaking, most of the parks and historic site slated for closure were already shut down over the winter, and they will remain that way for now,” she said. “Lifeguards and seasonal workers aren’t being hired; picnic tables will stay in storage; bathrooms will stay closed.”

Patersons budget proposal closes 55 parks and historic sites and reduces hours of operation, eliminates programs or shuts pools or sections in 22 other locations. It also relies on $5 million shifted from the Environmental Protection Fund to keep open an additional 34 parks and maintain full services at 18 sites. The Assembly and Senate budgets restore enough funding to keep all of the parks open, with a total of $11.3 million.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Gail Robinson on April 9, 2010, 2:29 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany, Parks | No Comments »

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Passing the Buck on The Budget
April 8th, 2010

Gov. David Paterson took to the airwaves this morning to complain that legislative leaders won’t meet with him to negotiate the budget.

“We have not met in recent days. Im ready to meet any time. But trying to get meetings in Albany is difficult,” Paterson told John Gambling.

Paterson said legislative leaders don’t want to meet until they come to an agreement on how to reduce the deficit.

But legislators insist it is Paterson who is holding up the process.

“I think the lack of progress has to do with the fact that the governor has not sat down to negotiate,” said Assemblyman Bob Reilly earlier this week. He said he thinks the governor wants the legislature to present a plan so he can pick it apart without negotiating anything.

“I think his staff is inexperience in negotiating and he is trying to make the legislature look like the bad guys,” said Reilly.

As for legislative conference committees to hash out the budget between both houses, Reilly said, “Conference committees can happen after we reconcile how much we have to spend. We have to reconcile the absence of the soda tax in the Assembly’s budget.”

By David King on April 8, 2010, 11:34 am
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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Press Card Haves and Have Nots
April 7th, 2010

The long battle by Gotham Gazette and other online media to get press credentials may be nearing a happy conclusion for us (though we still dont have the pieces of plastic to hang around our necks). But while the proposed changes to the press rules offer hope for reporters and photographers previously denied press cards, those who already have the credential worry the changes will make it more difficult to cover the news.

At a hearing today, journalist after journalist came to the microphone in the auditorium at One Police Plaza to tell stories about being denied access and sometime being insulted by police. Many speakers — largely photographers who cover emergency events, such as crimes and fires — argued that the changes will make things even worse and give police officers on the scene too much discretion to deny them access. Under the new rules, people with the new press card could cross police lines and other barriers “subject to safety, evidence preservation and privacy concerns.”

One photographer said many of his colleagues fear the effect this will have on their ability to cover breaking news. “I’m concerned I’m not going to be able to take the photograph I need to take to tell what is happening,” one freelance photographer said.

Focusing on the issue of privacy concerns, Ray Stubblebine, president of the New York Press Photographers Association, said it would let police determine what is news and what is in “good taste.” “That’s not the police officer’s job — telling me what my job is,” he said.

There was little discussion of the issue that inspired the changes: the refusal of credentials to some journalists, particularly ones, such as Gotham Gazette city hall editor Courtney Gross, whose work appears only online. Read the rest of this entry »

By Gail Robinson on April 7, 2010, 3:45 pm
In category: City Hall, Crime & Safety, Gotham City, Law | No Comments »

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Skelos Slams Budget Process
April 7th, 2010

Senate Republicans slammed the timing of the unveiling of the Senate Democrat”s budget reform package, saying that the Democrats aren’t currently following the established budget process.

Sens. Dean Skelos and John DeFrancisco said they found it laughable that Democrats had yet to set up required conference committees to publicly hash out the budget and yet are proposing new reforms.

Skelos pointed to a budget meeting that took place at Peter Luger’s Steak House between Gov. David Paterson, Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch and Senate Majority Conference Leader John Sampson. Skelos said he hadn’t even been invited “for an appetizer.”

“The budget is now a week late,” said Skelos in a statement. “There are no conference committees or other budget negotiations underway. The Democrats, who flagrantly violated the state budget reform laws last year and again this year, are now calling for new laws. Last year, and again this year, they retreated behind closed doors and put together a budget in secret that increased spending and taxes. The budget resolution they adopted was out of balance, did not contain any long or short term fiscal plan and would violate the very reforms they proposed today.”

Skelos also insisted that Democrats plan to, “sock New York taxpayers with more than $8.2 billion in tax increases.” Read the rest of this entry »

By David King on April 7, 2010, 3:20 pm
In category: Albany, Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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