Week of September 12, 2005
9/16/05
New York's Disaster Plan
New York City's plan to protect people in the event of a hurricane is seriously flawed, according to a State Assembly report released yesterday. City officials argued, however, that the plan to evacuate New Yorkers is "very solid." It calls for people who have nowhere else to go to report to city-run sites from which they would be sent to a shelter. But according to Assemblymember Richard Brodsky, most New Yorkers have no idea what the plan is or what they should do in the event of a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Brodsky and the city also clashed over whether the city had offered to let Brodsky see its evacuation plans, with Brodsky claiming he had been denied access.
Business Group Sees Improvement in City Schools (NY Times)
Teachers Irate Over Contract Proposal (Daily News)
Indicted Brooklyn Boss Said to Be Picking New Surrogate's Court Judge (Daily News)
Reformers Back State Amendment on Budget Powers (NY Post)
City Unemployment Rate Falls to 17-Year Low (Newsday)
City Politicians Prepare to Welcome Cindy Sheehan (NY Sun)
Daniels, NY Secretary of State, Resigns (NY 1)
High Line Block Party, Bus Festival, Architecture, and more (Gotham Gazette)
Council Passes "Green Building" and Human Rights Legislation (Gotham Gazette)
A Lesson for Moskowitz, More on the Runoff (Gotham Gazette - Wonkster)
Human Rights Law: Will It Become An Issue In The Mayoral Campaign? (Gotham Gazette)
Civil Rights Links In The News (Gotham Gazette)
9/15/05
Weiner Concedes, Vote Count Continues
Representative Anthony Weiner conceded the Democratic mayoral nomination yesterday to Fernando Ferrer, the top vote-getter in the race. Unofficial results showed Ferrer had fallen short of the 40 percent vote needed to avoid a runoff; Weiner had less than 29 percent of the vote. Weiner said he wanted to unify the Democratic Party in its effort to unseat Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Board of Election officials said the agency will continue counting absentee ballots and if Ferrer does not get the required number of votes, a runoff will still be held on September 27.
Recounts are underway in several other races that are too close to call. In City Council District 8, Melissa Mark-Viverito leads Felipe Luciano by 16 votes. In the race for Brooklyn Surrogate's Court, Diana Johnson leads Margarita Lopez Torres by 80 votes.
For more post election news, see Campaign 2005
For updated results - for everything from mayor to alternate delegates to judicial conventions - see Election Results
MTA Approves Brooklyn Sports Arena Project (NY Times)
Fuming Teachers Talk Strike (Daily News)
Legislators Try to Cap the Gas Tax in Albany (NY Post)
New York City Police Information for Your I-Pod (Newsday)
Challenges for Schools as Students and Teachers Head Back to School (Amsterdam News)
FDNY Report Says "Black Sunday" Deaths May Have Been Avoided (NY 1)
Another Weird Election (Gotham Gazette)
Voting Links In The News (Gotham Gazette)
9/14/05
Weiner to Concede
Congressman Anthony Weiner will concede the Democratic mayoral primary to Fernando Ferrer at a press conference set for noon, according to WCBS TV. See Campaign Trail.
Ferrer Wins -- Runoff Unclear
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting by midnight, Fernando Ferrer looked to have received just under 40 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. Both Virginia Fields and Gifford Miller conceded. It is unclear whether Ferrer will reach the 40 percent that would preclude a runoff with the second-place finisher, Anthony Weiner, who received some 50,000 fewer votes than Ferrer's 180,000.
A spokesperson for the Board of Elections said Ferrer does not have enough votes at this time to avoid a run-off. The Board of Elections will begin counting paper ballots on Thursday and will open each voting machine to get the official vote count on Friday. The vote count will continue through the weekend.
Gotbaum, Morgenthau, Hynes, Stringer Win
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes have beaten their challengers in the Democratic primary, according to preliminary election results. Scott Stringer won as Manhattan borough president.
City Council Gets Eight New Nominees; Jennings Only Incumbent to Lose
In City Council races, former Councilmember Thomas White defeated incumbent Allan Jennings, the only incumbent so far to lose. Seven other newcomers won nominees to open seats: Rosie Mendez in District 2; Daniel Garodnick in District 4; Jessica Lappin in District 5; Melissa Viverito in District 8; Inez Dickens in District 9; James Vacca in District 13; and Darlene Mealy in District 41. Five of these will face Republican challengers in the general election in November.
For the latest results on all the city races, see our Election Results page.
For links to what everyone has written about the campaign see the Campaign Trail.
Low Turnout
Less than 20 percent of registered Democrats voted in yesterday's primary election -- 300,000 fewer than voted in the primary four years ago. "In my lifetime," writes veteran political journalist (and one-time campaign manager) Doug Ireland , "there hasn't been a New York City mayoral election that was such a snooze-a-thon as this one."
To read more about what columnists and newspaper editorial boards are saying about the turnout and the possibility of a runoff, see Gotham Gazette's new blog of NYC opinion: Wonkster.
History of Runoffs (NY Times)
Arbitration Panel Recommends 11 Percent Raise for Teachers (NY Times)
Democratic Primary Leaves Voters Hanging (Daily News)
Determining Whether There is Runoff Could Take a Week (NY Post)
MTA Plans Campaign to Convince Voters to Approve Bond Act in November (NY Post)
Turnout Varies by District (Newsday)
9/13/05
Primary Day Today
Today is Primary Election Day in New York City.
There are primaries for mayor, public advocate, Manhattan borough president, Manhattan and Brooklyn district attorney, several judicial seats, and 25 City Council seats.
Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.
If you don't know where you have been assigned to vote, visit the Board of Elections' poll site locator or call 1-866-VOTE-NYC.
To compare the mayoral candidates on the issues, see our Mayoral Issues Grid
For key mayoral endorsements, see our Endorsement Grid
For what the newspaper editorial boards are saying about the candidates in the races for public advocate, Manhattan D.A. and Brooklyn D.A. -- and why endorsements aren't all that useful for some public offices -- see our brand new blog, The Wonkster
For more information on who is running and how, when, and where to vote, visit the Guide for the Last Minute Voter.
If you encounter problems at the polls, call one of the following places:
- League of Women Voters Election Day Hotline: 212-725-3541
- New York Public Interest Research Group: 212-822-0282
- New York Civil Liberties Union: 212-344-3005
For other information about your rights as a voter, see our Guide.
After the polls close at 9 p.m., visit GothamGazette.com for a list of the winners - posted as they are announced � on our Election Results page
Mayor's Management Report
The Mayor's Management Report, released on the eve of the primary of his opponents, showed mostly improvements in city services from July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005. Crime and traffic deaths are down; school test scores and tourism are up, according to the Daily News. However, the News also found some bad news: "The Fire Department's response times to blazes rose 13 seconds, or five percent, over the previous fiscal year, the biggest jump in years. The number of recycling summonses rose 22 percent, more New Yorkers are living with syphilis and the number of rat complaints is scurrying up faster than inspections." The New York Post reports: "Just 48.2 percent of 1,392 principals had three or more years on the job - a 14.3-point drop since 2003, and the first time in at least four years that so many school leaders had so little experience." To see the report online, click here.
3rd, 5th and 7th Grade Students to Get One Set of Tests, Ending Dispute Between City And State (NY Times)
New York's Ever-Changing Electorate: Next, the White Minority (NY Times)
MTA's Real Estate Division Recommends Approval Of Developer Bruce Ratner's $100M Bid To Build Nets Arena In Brooklyn (Daily News)
New Yorkers See Troubled Schools As Unchanged (Newsday)
Subway Bag Searches And Surveillance Debated (More Or Less) In Public Forum (NY Sun)
The New Orleans H.S. Student Who Made It To Brooklyn (The New Yorker)
The Cupcake Wars (New York Magazine)
9/12/05
9/11 Plus 4
New York yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with moments of silence, a ceremony at Ground Zero, and memorials to emergency workers who died that day. At a ceremony at Ground Zero, siblings of those killed on 9/11 read their relatives' names. In his speech, Mayor Michael Bloomberg rememebered the victims of the bombings in London earlier this year and of Hurrican Katrina as well as those killed at the World Trade Center. Along with grief and rememberence this year, though, there was increased concern about the future of the World Trade Center site. In a New York Times poll, 61 percent of New Yorkers responding said that the time has come to stop talking and start building at Ground Zero, with most supporting the construction of housing and offices, as well as a memorial there. And on Saturday, relatives of those killed held a rally to protest the proposed International Freedom Center at Ground Zero, which, they said, would detract from honoring the dead by including exhibits on "freedom's evolution." For more, visit 9/11 And "Inappropriate Art"
Program Didn't Monitor Health of Federal 9/11 Workers (NY Times)
Madison Square Garden Owners Seek To Build A New Garden Further West (NY Times)
Fewer City Schools On Failing List (Daily News)
9/11: Will The Lessons Learned Help New Orleans? (Gotham Gazette)
Land Use Links In The News (Gotham Gazette)