Daily News Dump Gibson As Public Safety Chair for Dangerous Driving NYPD Cover-Up
Ticket outta there: Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson should fall from public safety chair (NYDN Ed) Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson let stand a report that she called a precinct commander to quash a ticket for dangerous driving — in string-pulling that demonstrates unfitness to continue as chair of the City Council Public Safety Committee. Officer Michele Hernandez says she pulled Gibson over after spotting her talking on the phone behind the wheel in 2014, a scant three months into Gibson’s term. Gibson faced a fine of up to $200 and five license points. But, unlike typical New Yorkers, she had the pull to dodge accountability, Hernandez revealed in a lawsuit that accuses the NYPD of retaliating against her for failing to meet summons quotas. The NYPD denies such quotas exist but has said nothing to dispute its officer’s account of the Gibson encounter. Hernandez says Gibson used the cellphone to call a precinct commander , sparking an order to nix the ticket. Gibson even put Hernandez on the phone with him to make sure she got the message. Asked for comment by The News, Gibson refused the chance to call the cop’s account false. She said that she “does not recall” any such incident, but “always takes very seriously and complies with all of our traffic laws.” Amnesia sets in with disclosure of a double dereliction. Dereliction one: Gibson anointed herself above the law by virtue of her position and special access to NYPD brass, demanding special treatment unavailable to her constituents. Dereliction two: Driving while speaking on a phone is not just a violation of state law; it is downright deadly, increasing fourfold the chances of a crash. Gibson well knew how deadly, because just two weeks prior to her NYPD run-in she had presided over a City Council hearing on Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to reduce traffic fatalities. Her opening remarks spoke of safety’s urgency: “ We must do more to ensure that these horrific accidents no longer happen across our streets.” Family members of pedestrian crash victims then tearfully recounted their loved ones’ horrifying last moments. Said the uncle of a child mowed down by a cabbie: “There’s no moral difference between driving drunk and driving in an incompetent manner for another reason, whether you’re smoking pot, using a cell phone, road rage, impatience or turning into a crosswalk without looking.” Gibson might not recall that lacerating message, however. She had left the Council chambers. Now, she should leave her committee chair.
Council After Bagging Secret Member Item Deals Ok's Mayor Zoning Deal
Well Before Silver and Skelos Took Their Cut of the 421-a Programs Albany Leaders Announced That It Would Save Affordable Housing In NY
Housing Plan Gains New York Council’s Backing With Expanded Affordability Rules(NYO) * Saving a Mixed-Income New York (NYT) * De Blasio, City Council strike affordable housing deal (NYDN) * Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan emerged from the New York City Council with enough support to pass after some revisions satisfied council members and others concerned it did not do enough to address affordable housing needs, The New York Times reports: * financing has no “rational” policy basis and is simply a blatant power grab by the state,according to a scathing new NYC Council report.* City Council, Mayor Bill de Blasio set zoning deal to build more affordable housing (WSJ)* Community Groups Disappointed by Lack of Details and Info on Rezoning Deal (DNAINFO) One community leader described the Council's announcement of the rezoning changes as "embarrassing." * Council Committees OK Rezoning Plans Some Fear Would Encourage Segregation (DNAINFO)
Some City Council members raised concerns about segregated housing.
City Council After 32% Pay Hike Spends Money On Itself Like A Drunken Sailor
City Council can’t stop spending, raises budget $3M (NYP) The City Council, whose members gave themselves a 32 percent pay hike this year, increased its operating budget Wednesday from $61 million to $64 million. It was the third straight year the council boosted its budget to cover expenses such as staff salaries, rents for district offices and equipment. Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the series of increases was necessary to make up for ground lost under her predecessor, Christine Quinn. Quinn’s last budget as speaker, covering the 2014 fiscal year, was $51.5 million. “Prior to my becoming speaker, the council budget had been deprived over the years,” Mark-Viverito said. “We had a lot of correction to do and kind of beefing up the council to really be a professional body where we have staff in the legislative body, in the finance staff, to really do our work effectively.” “There was a lot of catching up that we had to do,” she said. The council’s Republican leader, Steven Matteo of Staten Island, disagreed. “I personally believe adding funding to the council budget should not be a priority at this time,” said Matteo, who along with Staten Island colleague Joe Borelli voted against the increase. * The New York City Council Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections approved a resolution to “delete” the Committee on Community Development, which was prompted by the resignation of its chairwoman, former City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Gotham Gazette reports
The Council Member Item Type Crumbs In Affordable Housing Will Not Stop the Gentrifiers and Profit Seekers
The reason: Mayor de Blasio. Claudette Brady is the Bed-Stuy resident who spearheaded the eight-year campaign to get the most recent district approved. Brady noted that developers have been among the most vigorous opponents of landmarking. Of de Blasio, she said, "He is a developer-friendly mayor." In a plan on the cusp of City Council approval, the mayor wants to encourage developers to construct hundreds of thousands of units that will supposedly offer rents within the budgets of working-class New Yorkers. The so-called affordable housing plan requires developers in rezoned areas to set aside significant percentages of apartments for those families in the low and medium salary range. Where some see a city growing and trying to make itself affordable, others see another opening for future waves of gentrifiers and profit seekers.
de Blasio Council Hard At Work
De Blasio throws support behind ‘tax’ on grocery bags (NYP) * City Council finalizes bills easing penalty for peeing in the street (NYP)
de Blasio Uber Retreat After Getting the Crap Beaten Out of Him By the Uber Gang Political Consultants
Uber lobbied hard earlier this year, spending $359,089 on lobbying, ads and direct mail to advance its agenda in New York , a sum that excludes its recent campaign amid a fight over a proposed cap, Capital New York writes: * After coming under attack last summer from the ride-hailing app Uber, the de Blasio administration shelved a proposal to cap the number of Uber vehicles and undertook a study of the service’s effect on New York City traffic. The study was due by the end of November. But over six weeks after the deadline, the findings have yet to be made public.* This summer, de Blasio admin said Uber's rise could make NYC"impassable." A look at why City Hall changed its tune:
Uber wouldn’t face regulations or limits on its so-called surge pricing from the New York City Council, according to legislation introduced Friday by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, marking a political winhttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/bill-takes-ride-uber-article-1.2498624 for the company.* City issues low-impact report on car-hail apps (Politico) * New Bill Would Let Prospective Cabbies Skip English Test (Gothamist) * Bill takes us for a ride on Uber (NYDN) All in all, the skimpy 12-page report managed to confirm only facts that were open and obvious — at a cost of more than $160,000 a page. Blame de Blasio for wasting a huge pile of money while doing the bidding of a friendly special interest. * The Daily News writes that the de Blasio administration’sstudy of Uber’s impact on traffic is a “$2 million botched hit job” that confirmed obvious facts, which means de Blasio wasted money while “doing the bidding of a friendly special interest”:
Councilman Lander Lied About A Park Slope Bike Lane Being Temporary To Blunt Distract Community Opposition To Him
In April 2010, a staffer for Councilman Lander referred to the lane as a trial at a community board presentation of an updated design, and Benson maintains that he corrected him. One main propagator of the notion was Lander, who was part of the original push for a bike path as a community board member. He took the stand on Friday. From his testimony, it became clear that his office send out emails and make statements to the press describing the path as a trial after Benson's purported correction that April—pressed about a day spent handing out flyers with this erroneous information alongside then-DOT Brooklyn deputy commissioner Keith Bray, Lander wouldn't concede that Bray had read the flyers, saying, "I don't know how to answer. He was near the flyer. He was near the flyer!" Lander's office kept up the lie after a phone conversation Lander testified that he had with then-DOT deputy commissioner David Woloch, wherein Woloch corrected a draft letter to Sadik-Khan that described the lane that way. "He said, 'It's not a trial, period,'" Lander recalled on the stand. "We are 'implementing the bike lane.'"
Lander changed the letter, but his office kept up with the misrepresentation of the project. Cross-examining Lander, lawyer Georgia Winston, a partner at Gibson Dunn, asked him whether he did and why. "We did, but much less frequently," he said. "The language from those prior emails was sometimes recycled and reused." Beyond that, Lander said publicly that the path "should be made permanent" as late as January 2011. The councilman explained that he kept calling the path a trial to "solicit lots and lots of feedback, but an email to a constituent in which Lander wrote that the trial period makes it "relatively easy to defuse opponents" is probably closer to the truth. Asked about why he thought the subsequent installation of concrete pedestrian islands would make the lane "more permanent," Lander got philosophical. "Permanent is kind of a metaphysical concept. You could rip up concrete pedestrian islands today if you wanted to," he said, noting that pedestrian islands planned for Brooklyn 's Fourth Avenuewon't come till 2018, and that street's redesign is being evaluated as all street projects are. "I don't know what's permanent." Outside the courtroom, Lander said "No one told me to call it" a trial, and that he believes most people shared his "common-sense understanding" of the word. What's clear is that the DOT did little to dispel the idea of the path being a pilot project once it started to gain traction. But in December 2010, Sadik-Khan clarified the DOT's position, testifying to the City Council that the department does not install temporary bike-ways as a matter of course. Benson told the court Friday that the Prospect Park West path was built with federal funds for bike infrastructure that require the project to have a lifespan of at least approximately 25 years, so it couldn't have been temporary.
Council Takes the 32% Money But Runs From the Free Pens (Moral Crime Tool)
City Council members take the checks — but not the pen (NYP Ed) Members of the City Council may be capable of shame after all. At least that’s one conclusion you could draw from the tale of the souvenir no one wanted. Like many chief executives, Mayor de Blasio uses multiple pens when signing most bills into law — then gifts them to legislators who fought for the measure. He did just that Friday as he put his John Hancock on several pieces of legislation. But not the bill granting council members that fat 32 percent pay hike. That one, he signed rapidly with but a single pen — and no one wanted the memento. The city’s legislators will take the pay — $148,500, up from $112,500. But none wants to “claim ownership.” In the only hearing the council deigned to hold on the proposed raise, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez justified the hike by noting he has a family to raise and works more than 60 hours a week. Tell that to the New Yorkers whose taxes pay his salary: They’re raising families, working three jobs and only just making ends meet. Yeah, that’ll sit right. One reporter asked Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — now pulling in $164,500 a year — how she and her fellow council members would spend their extra dough. She replied, “If you want to be cynical, that’s your right.”
First Puppet Council Gets 32% Raise Now Corrupt Albany Lawmakers Want More $$$
NY SHEEP They get what youpay for: Here come state elected officials' pay raises (NYDN) Next in line for pay raises: The governor, attorney general, controller and the 213 members of the state Legislature. You have our deepest condolences. That said, more than 16 years have passed since Albany salaries were hiked. Theblame falls on a corrupt and dysfunctional Legislature that has been afraid to hit up the taxpayers. Now, though, a seven-member commission will recommend how high salaries should go. Its findings will be law unless the Legislature and governor overrule them. Computations should be easy. Start with base pay, multiply by inflation, which has run about 42%, and fill in the blank. The governor’s $179,000 salary would hit roughly $255,000. Lawmakers would go from $79,500 to $113,000 — plus a bonus for eliminating the extra stipends, called lulus, that legislative leaders award to loyalists. Dividing the total pot of $2.5 million by 213 produces an average of $12,000. Add that amount to salaries for a fair yield of $125,000. Finally, the commission must complete its work months before the November elections so the voting public will know what’s up.* Nobody wanted to take home the pen de Blasio used to sign a bill giving City Council members and other elected officials a sizable pay raise when the mayor signed it and other legislation enacting reforms into law, the Times reports:
City Council Gets 32% Pay Hike and Nobody Notices . . . They Will @ Election Time
Watchdog skepticalof pay hike for city’s elected officials (NYP) Mayor de Blasio approved raises for all the city’s elected officials Friday — including a 32 percent hike for City Council members — in exchange for reforms that some critics worry aren’t ironclad. Dick Dadey of Citizens Union suggested the mayor should have signed two salary bills in pencil — not pen — because the reforms can easily be “erased” by future councils. One of these short-lived reforms bans stipends known as “lulus” of $5,000 to $25,000 that are doled out by the council speaker to committee chairs — but only for the current term that ends in 2018. “While that is a historic reform, it is only temporary — because that reform ends when this council leaves office,” said Dadey. “There’s nothing that will prevent a future council from coming back and enacting stipends in the future.”*
The No Show Council With A 32% Raise
Fresh off raises, City Council members no show key meeting (NYP) They gave themselves a fat 32 percent raise and now rake in $148,500 a year — but six City Council members didn’t show up for work Friday, forcing the cancellation of a key committee meeting. A Public Safety Committee meeting on expanding the NYPD’s reporting of sex assaults, hate crimes and domestic violence was canceled after only five of the 11 members turned up. Committee chair Vanessa Gibson scheduled the meeting for 10 a.m. at City Hall, but by 10:30 a.m., only four other members, James Vacca, Chaim Deutsch, Steven Matteo and Robert Cornegy had appeared — not enough for a quorum. Those who did show were surprised by the absentees. “It’s very rare that we don’t have a quorum. I went out of my way to be there and I was upset we didn’t have a quorum. The bills we were supposed to pass were significant,” said Vacca. Deutsch said, “This is a full-time job, and nobody is here.” And Cornegy added, “What’s funny is the chair sends [reminder] emails the night before and the morning of” meetings. But they still defended their missing colleagues: Vincent Gentile, Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Jumaane Williams, Rafael Espinal, Rory Lancman and Ritchie Torres. Cornegy remarked, “I think it’s more related to this being the first hearing of getting back in session . . . it’s the last vestige of a holiday before we get full blast into session.” The council went on break Aug. 17 and returned Wednesday. The 51-member council in February voted itself a hefty pay hike retroactive to Jan. 1 — a move Mayor de Blasio hailed at the time as well deserved. Friday’s agenda included proposed bills that would expand how the NYPD publicly discloses sex offenses, hate crimes and domestic-violence incidents, requiring the department to post more data online and break out cases that occur in public housing. The no-shows and their colleagues insisted that they’re absence doesn’t mean they don’t take those issues seriously. Torres said he didn’t hear about the meeting until Thursday afternoon, and that Fridays are typically days for members to meet with officials and residents in their districts. Gentile’s office said he was at a 9/11 ceremony at Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn and couldn’t reschedule it. Williams said he was at a street renaming for a gun-violence victim that he committed to a couple weeks ago. Ferreras-Copeland said she was meeting with local groups; Espinal said he had a previous commitment involving school funding; and Lancman said the meeting was called “on less than 24 hours notice” and a 9/11 ceremony took precedence.
City Council Crime Fighting and the NYPD
Were Are the Council Hearing On NYCHA Repairs Sales of Land?
de Blasio Hides His OK of the Council's 32% Pay
In a move that critics say appears to be an attempt at downplaying the controversial move, Hizzoner tucked a last minute notice into the City Record on Friday announcing he would sign into law a bill that guarantees the raises. The mayor’s office by law must notify the public within five calendar days of a planned bill signing. The pay raise notice came at the start of a three-day weekend — a time when pols typically bury unfavorable news — and was added so late it didn’t make the newsletter’s “public hearings” section. It was in the “late notice” section at the very end of the paper.
Raise During the Holiday Weekend
Mayor de Blasioquietly agrees to 32% pay raise for City Council (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio has quietly agreed to give City Council members a 32% pay hike. signed legislation today giving immediate pay raises to New York City elected officials. The raises are retroactive to Jan. 1 and went into effect with de Blasio’s signature.
Council Pay Raise Voted Now the Voters in the Next Election and Media Will Answer Their Tyranny Against New York
City Council Votes To Give Itself $36,000 Pay Raise (WCBS) City council members give themselves a 32 percent raise (NYP) The three Republican members, Steve Matteo and freshman Joe Borelli of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich of Queens, issued a joint statement explaining why they voted no. Democrats Elizabeth Crowley of Queens and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn voted no without explanation. Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who earns considerable outside income, also voted no, while Paul Vallone (D-Queens), who holds an outside job as attorney, voted against after saying he believed a reform banning outside jobs would have “unequal impact” on members. * Less than 24hours after cops shot, City Council votes to give themselves 32% pay boost (NYO) * With just seven dissenters, NYC Council members today went above the recommendations of a salary commission to award themselves a 32 percent raise — from $112,500 to $148,500.* Completing a fast, criticized process, Council membersvote for raises (PoliticoNY) * City Council,Surprising No One, Votes To Give Itself A Raise (Gothamist) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will now take home $164,500 annually, was asked by a reporter how she and other members planned to spend their windfall, declined to answer. "If you want to be cynical, that's your right," she said. * See How Much More Your South Bronx Council Member Makes Than You
(DNAINFO) The winner of the District 17 election will make more than eight times what their constituents do.
CM Gentile Begs de Blasio to Make Him A Judge
Makes No Sense for the Mayor to Deliver Judgeships Now, When He Can Use the Councilman to Deliver Votes to Him for His Re-Election
Three-term councilman begging de Blasio for a new job (NYP) A Brooklyn legislator who wants out of his elected post has begun pestering Mayor de Blasio for a judgeship or job within the administration, sources told The Post Thursday. Democratic City Councilman Vincent Gentile of Bay Ridge — who voted with the rest of his colleagues last week to boost their salaries by $36,000 yearly to $148,500 — is lobbying hard for a golden parachute before his third four-year term expires at the end of 2017. The sources said Gentile is trying to cash in on his repeated endorsements of de Blasio — including in the 2013 mayoral Democratic primary. “It’s gotten so bad that he’s begun recommending some staffers look for new jobs,” said a City Hall source. “I don’t get why he’s telling anyone who’ll listen he wants out.
@VGentile43 desperate 2 stay on public payroll by begging DEB 4 a judgeship crystallizes the quintessential term "career politician"
Council Pay Raise Voted Now the Public and Media Will Answer Their Tyranny Against New York
City Council Votes To Give Itself $36,000 Pay Raise (WCBS) City council members give themselves a 32 percent raise (NYP) The three Republican members, Steve Matteo and freshman Joe Borelli of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich of Queens, issued a joint statement explaining why they voted no. Democrats Elizabeth Crowley of Queens and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn voted no without explanation. Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who earns considerable outside income, also voted no, while Paul Vallone (D-Queens), who holds an outside job as attorney, voted against after saying he believed a reform banning outside jobs would have “unequal impact” on members. * Less than 24hours after cops shot, City Council votes to give themselves 32% pay boost (NYO) * With just seven dissenters, NYC Council members today went above the recommendations of a salary commission to award themselves a 32 percent raise — from $112,500 to $148,500.* Completing a fast, criticized process, Council membersvote for raises (PoliticoNY) * City Council,Surprising No One, Votes To Give Itself A Raise (Gothamist) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will now take home $164,500 annually, was asked by a reporter how she and other members planned to spend their windfall, declined to answer. "If you want to be cynical, that's your right," she said.
Another None Profit Rip Off
Nonprofit director laundered nearly $1M to fund lavish lifestyle: officials (NYP) The head of a city-funded nonprofit that delivers meals to senior citizens stole nearly $1 million from the foundation to pay for his family’s Long Island home, luxury car and clothes, federal officials charged Wednesday. United Block Association Executive Director Kwame Insaidoo, 59, and his wife Roxanna Pearson, 62, allegedly laundered $953,875 through a shell company they owned called Allied Home Care Services, federal prosecutors say in court papers. Insaidoo is accused of failing to report to the city “several” bank accounts he used to funnel the money from UBA to Allied — which he was required to do. Insaidoo allegedly over-reported and over-billed the city for expenses at the four Upper Manhattan senior centers it operates..
By Taking the Money the City Council Becomes Full Time?
A full-time City Council is bad news for New York (NYP) Boosting productivity or working longer hours is usually good reason for a pay hike — but not when it comes to the City Council. The Quadrennial Advisory Commission has recommended raises for all elected city officials, including the council’s members. Mayor de Blasio — who signed off on the commission’s work — will get a 15 percent bump to $258,000, though he says he won’t accept the raise this term. Borough presidents get a 12 percent raise to $179,200; district attorneys to $212,800 and the public advocate to $184,800. The comptroller gets a 13 percent hike to $209,050. None of it thrills us — but another shift is downright dangerous. The 23 percent raise in council pay, to $138,315, comes with a change in the rules: Members are now supposed to work full time, with limits on outside income. (Bonuses for leading committees also go out the door.)
All the Council Cares About is Who Will Become the Next Speaker
What Really Matters: Who's Running for Speaker? (City Council Watch) As the Council gets into the second half of its current term, debate is heating up among the Members. So what is the big issue now? Is it decriminalization of petty crime? Is it economic inequality? The schools? Affordable housing? Banning carbon emissions? If you imagine that any of these matters is foremost on councilmembers’ minds, you haven’t been paying attention to the low level of backbiting and petty squabbling that defines our (almost) one-party unicameral legislative body. The primary focus and main gossip of the city council now is: Who will be elected Speaker in January 2018? When Mayor-elect de Blasio shoehorned Melissa Mark-Viverito into the Speakership, he did so fully cognizant that she would serve as a lame duck. Term-limited, MMV was handicapped from the start from wielding total fear-inducing authority over the Council in the style of Archduke Chris Quinn. In promoting his loyal comrade and ally Mark-Viverito, de Blasio ensured that he would have a consistent rubber-stamp at his disposal, and that he would still be able to put the squeeze on individual councilmembers who knew that he would almost certainly be around longer than she would. Here is a list of candidates, in geographical order: Vanessa Gibson, Ydanis Rodriguez, Mark Levine, Corey Johnson, Jimmy van Bramer, Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Donovan Richards, Jumaane Williams and Robert Cornegy. If you think I have erred, please say so. Maybe de Blasio will do the same thing he did last time, and use his Brooklyn influence to install his chosen Speaker. Brad Lander is trying to get the members of the Progressive Caucus to vow to align themselves as a Spartan bloc, so with those votes and Brooklyn, the rest of Queens and the Bronx could be again discounted entirely.
Mayor's Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Working to Give de Blasio and Other Pols A Raise
FAO Schwarz to chair Mayor's Quadrennial Advisory Commission for the review of compensation levels of elected officials. Schwarz is the Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Brennnan Center *
Give City Hall and Albany A Raise for Their Wonderful Work on the Homeless and the Schools?
De Blasio leaves door open on a second term salary increase (PoliticoNY) Mayor will submit official response Jan. 13*
Why Not Tie City Pay Raises to Job Performance Approved by the Voters?
As Homeless Increase, Schools Suck, No Affordable Housing City Officials Get A Pay Raise From Berlin Rosen Commission
Commission recommends pay raisesfor city officials (PolticoNY) In a report released Monday morning, the Quadrennial Advisory Commission suggested the mayor receive a salary of $258,750. That represents a $33,750 raise from what a New York City mayor currently earns. City Council members, who have been clamoring for higher pay, would receive a base pay of $138,315, up $25,815 from the current salary of $112,500. The commission recommended the members' roles be classified as "full time," which would mean they could not earn outside income as they are now allowed to do. In addition, the commission recommended eliminating bonuses members receive for chairing committees — a perk known as a "lulu." Those bonuses vary in amount depending on the committee assignment and total $447,000. The speaker of the Council would see a salary raise to $154,375, which would reflect folding a $25,000 lulu the position comes with into the base salary.
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was noncommittal about the recommendations in a statement after the report was released. The city comptroller's pay would be raised from $185,000 to $209,050; the public advocate from $165,000 to $184,800; and borough presidents from $160,000 to $179,200. The five district attorneys would also see a raise of $22,800, bringing their final salaries to $212,800. Read the full commission report here: * A commission convened to assess the salaries of top NYC officials has recommendedraises for the mayor, the City Council and other politicians, while declaring Council members should not be able to earn outside income. * New York City’s Elected Officials Should Get Raises, Panel Says (NYY) * De Blasio would receive a 15 percent raise, to $258,750 a year, under a series of recommended pay increases for New York City ’s elected officials. The mayor has said he will not accept a pay increase for the duration of his first term in office, which concludes at the end of 2017. Any raises must be ratified by the City Council. Elected officials in the city have not received raises since 2006.*An independent commission's set of recommendations that would give city officials salary increases creates a difficult challenge for New York City Council members, who must decide whether to vote to give themselves a raise while also ending certain perks, Politico New York reports
Pal Implicates Councilman Wills in Pass-Through Member Item Scheme
Queens councilman implicated by pal in pass-through scheme (NYP) A pal of Councilman Ruben Wills implicated the Queens politician in court Thursday in a scheme to steal thousands of taxpayer dollars by ordering him to deposit and withdraw funds from a sham company.Jelani Mills fingered Wills for the corruption after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of falsifying business records in a case brought by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The damning plea statement against Wills capped a bizarre three days that initially centered on Mills’ mysterious whereabouts. Mills said he filed the paperwork to incorporate Micro Targeting using a false address. He was the sole proprietor. “At the direction of Mr. Wills, I deposited a check in the amount of $11,500 in that account, which was drawn on an account named, `Ruben Wills for New York .’ This $11,500 was not the result of money earned by Micro Targeting,” Mills, 29, said. “I do not speak Spanish and I have never translated any campaign literature or any other documents for Micro Targeting or for Ruben Wills or his campaign committee. I have never submitted an invoice for such services to Ruben Wills or his campaign committee,” Mills said. In November 2009, he said, Wills directed him to withdraw $2,500 from the Micro Targeting account. “Mr. Wills directed me to give that cash to him, which I did,” Mills said. Later, Mills said he withdrew $2,000 from the bogus firm for his own “personal use.” But the councilman objected, he said. “Upon learning of that $2,000 withdrawal, Mr. Wills told me that the money in the Micro Targeting Chase account did not belong to me, and that I need to return $2,000 that I had withdrawn,” he said. The duo was accused of scamming the city Campaign Finance Board by accepting public matching funds to pay Micro Targeting for helping with Wills’ failed 2009 City Council bid.The indictment also alleged that Wills stole more than $30,000 in state grants sent to anonprofit he founded New York 4 Life. He is charged with using the tainted cash for a shameless shopping spree where he purchase items at Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and Century 21 — including a $750 Louis Vuitton handbag.As part of the plea settlement, Schneiderman’s office is recommending that Mills be sentenced to one year’s probation and perform 10 days of community service
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Councilman Torres Gets Hacked on Instagram
INSTA-SCAM! Fake Instagram account set for Bronx City Councilman Ritchie Torres, puts out racial slurs in his name (NYDN) A Bronx city councilman claims a dirty digital trickster set up a bogus Instagram account in his name and used it to sling racial slurs and offensive digs at officials and constituents. Making matters worse, says City Councilman Ritchie Torres, the social media site shut down his real account after he complained, while allowing the fraudster to continue spewing hateful bilge. A Bronx city councilman claims a dirty digital trickster set up a bogus Instagram account in his name and used it to sling racial slurs and offensive digs at officials and constituents. Making matters worse, says City Councilman Ritchie Torres, the social media site shut down his real account after he complained, while allowing the fraudster to continue spewing hateful bilge.
Friday's True News
A Result of the Cover-Up by the CFB and Board of Ethics On the NYCLASS Election Corruption, The Council is Openly Bribeable To A Developer Deal
BOSS TWEED WOULD CHEER: Stink of manure as Council plans to vote for big raises on the very day it votes on de Blasio’s horse bill (NYDN) * There was no smell of fresh hay when Mayor de Blasio reached a horse carriage deal with Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on the very day he blessed pay hikes for her members. Now there’s the stink of manure as the Council plans to vote for even bigger raises for themselves on the very day it votes on de Blasio’s horse bill. This isn’t horse trading; it’s daylight bribery. First, animal rights activists pump a critical $1 million into de Blasio’s election campaign. Next, de Blasio says he’ll spend $25 million on a Central Park stable to keep promises to the activists. Next, a Council that had refused to kill the carriage industry gets a big payday and goes along with a plan that purports to limit the horses to Central Park but, in fact, will starve the industry to death well before a necessary new stable opens. Meanwhile, the Council is writing a pay raise bill in secret with plans to take far more than the hike an independent commission recommended. In doing so, Mark-Viverito and company will violate decades of sensible precedent. In every previous pay raise round — in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2006 — the Council voted into law the salary recommendations of special temporary commissions set up to provide the public with an independent judgment of how much pay levels should be increased. Never has a Council passed raises greater than a commission thought warranted. This time, the panel recommended hiking the Council salary 23% from $112,500 to $138,315 while abolishing extra stipends doled out to loyalists. Instead the Council is moving to set salaries closer to $150,000. De Blasio got his money, the animal rights activists got their stables, and Council members are sealing the deal with big money in their pockets.* The New York City Council completed a package of bills on that would adopt provisions on outside income and financial disclosures while raising pay to $148,500 a year, far above a city commission’s recommendation, The NewYork Times reports: * The New York City Council has scheduled two separate hearings on Feb. 9 and 10 for de Blasio's controversial zoning plans related to his overall affordable housing goals, though it’s not clear which officials will testify, Politico New York reports:
Council's Attack on Greenfield Sounds Like Horse Manure
Councilman says he lost committee seat over horse-carriage ban concerns(NYP) A Brooklyn legislator who voiced concerns about a push by the mayor and City Council speaker to shrink the horse-carriage industry was booted from two prominent committees, sources told The Post on Wednesday. David Greenfield was bounced at least temporarily from the council’s leadership and budget-negotiating teams, prestigious appointments made by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. His sidelining was announced at a leadership meeting Tuesday, according to City Hall sources. “The plan is to give him a chance to earn it back,” said one council source. Sources said Mark-Viverito and other council leaders were infuriated over Greenfield’s call for delaying a vote on the horse- carriage proposal earlier this month — a top priority for Mayor de Blasio and his donors, and backed by Mark-Viverito.* 
Judge Does Not Buy CM Wills Scam Witness Sick Daughter Excuse, Warrant Issued for His Arrest
Judge doesn’t buy ‘scam’ witness’ sick daughter excuse (NYP) The Queens man who bolted from court Tuesday before he could enter a guilty plea expected to implicate City Councilman Ruben Wills in a corruption scheme got an earful Wednesday from an angry judge who didn’t take long to throw him in jail. Jelani Mills didn’t do himself any favors with his lame excuse, either, telling Judge Barry Kron that he’d skipped out because his daughter wasn’t feeling well. “He has a 9-year-old daughter and his daughter had an illness at school,” Mills’ attorney Scott Davis told the judge. “His wife is a schoolteacher who was unable to [help].” But Kron, who issued a fugitive warrant for Mills after he ducked out of court around noon Tuesday, wasn’t buying it. According to two sources, Wills is sick in a hospital and is not expected to return to the City Council for at least two weeks. He did not return calls Wednesday.
Indicted CM Wills Key Witness Disappears and the Media Does Not Ask the Councilman the Speaker WTF?
A man expected to implicate Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills on corruption charges Tuesday bolted from the courthouse just before proceedings started, and the judge issued an arrest warrant for him
Co-defendant in corrupt councilman case goes missing from court (NYP) A Queens man who was expected to implicate a sitting city councilman on corruption charges Tuesday bolted the courthouse just before the proceeding started — leaving his lawyer in the lurch and the judge fuming. Justice Barry Kron issued an arrest warrant for Jelani Mills, who was in court to plead guilty to crimes that involved his co-defendant, Queens Councilman Ruben Wills, but fled sometime after noon. His blindsided attorney, Scott Davis, had no explanation for Kron on why Mills was a no-show when the case was called in Queens Supreme Court. “It was my understanding that the district attorney is prepared to resolve this case — and it’s not going to be resolved,” Kron said, referring to the charges brought by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Mills, 29, and Wills, 44, were charged in scams in which theyallegedly fleeced tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars through nonprofits. In two indictments brought over the past two years, Wills and Mills were charged with a dozen counts that include fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records. They’re accused of defrauding the city Campaign Finance Board by accepting public funds to pay a shell company, Micro Targeting, purportedly to provide campaign-related services for Wills’ losing 2009 race for City Council. Mills allegedly filed the paperwork creating the company and billed Wills’ campaign $11,500 for work that was never performed. nstead, some of the funds allegedly were funneled to a shady nonprofit, New York 4 Life, that was founded by Wills. Wills also is charged with stealing more than $30,000 in other state taxpayer money from New York 4 Life — and using some of the cash for shopping sprees at Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and Century 21 that included the purchase of a $750 Louis Vuitton handbag. Wills received the state funding through a pork-barrel grant obtained by ex-Queens state Sen. Shirley Huntley, who was later sentenced to prison in a separate case of public corruption. Wills had served as Huntley’s chief of staff.
Wills Who Was Indicted By the AG Over A Year Ago is Still Doing Pay to Play Deal With His Lobbyists Campaign Manager
TRASHY POL: Indicted Queens Councilman slams proposal that hurts campaign donor (NYDN) An indicted Queens pol with the worst attendance record on the City Council showed up to hearings of a committee he doesn’t sit on to blast proposals that threaten to hurt a campaign donor. Councilman Ruben Wills — a Democrat who has received $3,000 from donors tied to Royal Waste and Regal Recycling — slammed a commercial trash handling proposal that would carve the city into zones, and assign each area to one chosen waste company, at a sanitation committee hearing April 29. Wills has received $3,000 from owners, managers and family members of Royal and Regal, which runs a complex of waste transfer and recycling facilities in southeast Queens outside his district. He also got $750 from the companies directly — which had to be returned because corporate contributions are banned under city rules. Last year, he had the worst attendance rate of anyone on the 51 member Council — blowing off 27% of the meetings he was supposed to attend.
Bratton: Destructive City Council No Experience Needed
‘Enough Is Enough’:Bill Bratton Lashes Out at ‘Destructive’ City Council (NYO) Mr. Bratton, speaking at a Citizens Budget Commission breakfast in Midtown this morning, said he had to wrangle with a “novice” Council with many members who never worked in the private sector, and implied their lack of experience was the reason they were advocating for a series of police reform bills he despises. “The City Council … depending on the day of the week is supportive and helpful or obstructive and destructive,” Mr. Bratton said. “The vast majority of these bills I feel are unnecessary, intrusive and self-serving on the part of the particular members of the Council.” Two pieces of legislation, a bill to make police chokeholds illegal and a pair of bills known as the Right to Know Act, have galled Mr. Bratton most. The chokehold bill, advanced after Eric Garner, a Staten Island black man, died in an apparent police chokehold last year, would make criminal an act that the NYPD already forbids internally, though progressives in the Council believe police enforcement is not enough to ensure more chokeholds aren’t used. The Right Know Act would compel police officers to identify themselves to those they stop by name, rank and command, as well as require them to ask permission before conducting some searches. Mayor Bill de Blasio has backed up Mr. Bratton in opposing all of the bills.* NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton likes de Blasio but not the City Council — whose legislative efforts to tweak policing practices he derided as “obstructive,” “destructive” and “unnecessary, intrusive and self-serving,” Politico New Yorkreports: * Bratton is pushing back on a number of NYC Council measures aimed to change police practices across the city.* Clueless City Council destructive to NYPD: Bratton(NYP) “Most of the City Council members were new to their positions. Most of them had never worked in the private sector, were people who had worked in various political capacities and had a significant lack of experience,” he said. “And they were now governing certainly the world’s most significant city.” He accused some members of micro-managing the department, noting there are a number of bills on the table aimed at hand-cuffing the NYPD.* Criminal justice reformers split with de Blasio on bail, diversion (PoliticoNY)* De Blasio disagreed with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s comments that the New York City Council has “destructive” novices, but expressed no problem with his commissioner speaking out in harsh terms, theDaily News reports: *De Blasio disagreed with Bratton’s slam of the NYC Council as a destructive bunch of novices.
YOU POOR BASTARDS! City Council members say they will give up outside income for 71% raise — but most of them DON'T EVEN HAVE outside salaries (NYDN) A Daily News review found that 40 of 51 Council members report zero outside income — and most of those who do, pocket only small amounts as adjunct professors or part-time lawyers. Seven Council members did report part-time moonlighting gigs, but their minimum take-home income averaged around $1,000 to $5,000. One Council member, Barry Grodenchik, was elected in September and has yet to be sworn in. * Only three Council members reported what could be considered substantive income on the side: Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), the only Council member to report minimum outside income that topped six figures — between $100,000 and $250,000 from his real estate company, Chasa Management. Peter Koo (D-Queens) continues to collect a minimum salary of $70,000 from his pharmacy companies, K&F Drug Corp. and Koo & Co.* New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres is beloved by progressives but is above all a pragmatist when it comes to helping NYCHA tenants and supports selling public land for private development, City Limits writes:
The maximum is $195,997. David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn), an attorney, reports a minimum salary of $60,000 (the maximum at $99,999) for part-time law work. On Thursday, the plot to inflate their paychecks received another body blow when Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito ridiculed the idea of a pay hike that steep. “It definitely is a ridiculous amount,” she told reporters. A commission appointed under the City Charter is mulling raises for elected officials. It’s expected to make a recommendation to the mayor regarding whether or not to grant lawmakers salary increases in early December. Mark-Viverito said she might support a raise, but hasn’t settled on an amount.* The vast majority - 40 of 51 - New York City Council members reported zero outside income — and most who do made small amounts, despite a plan hoping to give up outside income in order to get a 71 percent raise, the Daily News writes:
You Give Us 71% We Give Up Our Lulus and Outside Income that 40 out of 51 Do Not Have
As the Daily News reported, a group of Council members has been quietly pushing a plan to boost their paychecks to a whopping $192,500. They receive a base salary of $112,500, with some pocketing bonuses known as “lulus” for chairing committees. The average lulu is $8,000 but some — like the one Mark-Viverito gets as speaker — are as high as $25,000. The hope was that by agreeing to those concessions, some good government groups — who typically dislike lulus and pols holding outside jobs — would agree to back the generous pay package, City Council sources said. King Beyond Lulus New York City Councilman Andy King was slapped with a nearly $17,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board for, among other things, paying thousands to his wife without justifying it with paperwork, the Postreports: * Bronx Councilman Andy King, who put his wife on his campaign payroll and used campaign funds to cover his home phone bill, was slapped with a $17,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board.
Council 71% Pay Raise On the Animal Farm Where Some Are More Equal Than Others
The Fix is In for A Raise
Greedy City Council members seek whopping 71% raise that will bring salaries to up to $192G — as cops, firefighters face measly 1% to 2.5% hikes (NYDN) A rip-off at halfthe price: Say no to a City Council pay raise (NYDN ED) Whereas City Council members want to boost their pay to $192,500, up from $112,500, a 71% increase that would set their annual salary at almost three times New York’s median family income, and Whereas the Council would pull down a higher salary than received by members of Congress, as well as by even highly responsible, in fact, indispensable city workers, such as police and fire captains, and Whereas, the Council has passed budgets including minuscule raises for the municipal workforce, and Whereas, Council members routinely beat up on the 1%, into whose income neighborhood they would be moving, and De Blasio disagreed with Bratton’s slam of the NYC Council as a destructive bunch of novices.
Hey Daily News Why You Keeping the Six Plotter For A Raise Secret?
Daily News: "More than half a dozen Council members — who earn base pay of $112,500 — have been holding hush-hush meetings to try to engineer the huge raises, which would bring their salaries above those of the governor and members of Congress, multiple Council sources said."
EXCLUSIVE: NYC City Council members seeking 71% raise (NYDN) * 'I THINK IT'S RIDICULOUS': Speaker Mark-Viverito trashes proposed 71% raise for NYC Council members (NYDN) * New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito,reacting to a front page Daily News story, said council members’ push to give themselves a 71 percent raise in exchange for ethics reforms was “ridiculous,” the Observer reports:* Melissa Mark-Viverito dismisses idea to raise NYC lawmakers’pay by 71%
Daily News Dump Gibson As Public Safety Chair for Dangerous Driving NYPD Cover-Up
Ticket outta there: Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson should fall from public safety chair (NYDN Ed) Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson let stand a report that she called a precinct commander to quash a ticket for dangerous driving — in string-pulling that demonstrates unfitness to continue as chair of the City Council Public Safety Committee. Officer Michele Hernandez says she pulled Gibson over after spotting her talking on the phone behind the wheel in 2014, a scant three months into Gibson’s term. Gibson faced a fine of up to $200 and five license points. But, unlike typical New Yorkers, she had the pull to dodge accountability, Hernandez revealed in a lawsuit that accuses the NYPD of retaliating against her for failing to meet summons quotas. The NYPD denies such quotas exist but has said nothing to dispute its officer’s account of the Gibson encounter. Hernandez says Gibson used the cellphone to call a precinct commander , sparking an order to nix the ticket. Gibson even put Hernandez on the phone with him to make sure she got the message. Asked for comment by The News, Gibson refused the chance to call the cop’s account false. She said that she “does not recall” any such incident, but “always takes very seriously and complies with all of our traffic laws.” Amnesia sets in with disclosure of a double dereliction. Dereliction one: Gibson anointed herself above the law by virtue of her position and special access to NYPD brass, demanding special treatment unavailable to her constituents. Dereliction two: Driving while speaking on a phone is not just a violation of state law; it is downright deadly, increasing fourfold the chances of a crash. Gibson well knew how deadly, because just two weeks prior to her NYPD run-in she had presided over a City Council hearing on Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to reduce traffic fatalities. Her opening remarks spoke of safety’s urgency: “ We must do more to ensure that these horrific accidents no longer happen across our streets.” Family members of pedestrian crash victims then tearfully recounted their loved ones’ horrifying last moments. Said the uncle of a child mowed down by a cabbie: “There’s no moral difference between driving drunk and driving in an incompetent manner for another reason, whether you’re smoking pot, using a cell phone, road rage, impatience or turning into a crosswalk without looking.” Gibson might not recall that lacerating message, however. She had left the Council chambers. Now, she should leave her committee chair.
Council After Bagging Secret Member Item Deals Ok's Mayor Zoning Deal
Well Before Silver and Skelos Took Their Cut of the 421-a Programs Albany Leaders Announced That It Would Save Affordable Housing In NY
Housing Plan Gains New York Council’s Backing With Expanded Affordability Rules(NYO) * Saving a Mixed-Income New York (NYT) * De Blasio, City Council strike affordable housing deal (NYDN) * Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan emerged from the New York City Council with enough support to pass after some revisions satisfied council members and others concerned it did not do enough to address affordable housing needs, The New York Times reports: * financing has no “rational” policy basis and is simply a blatant power grab by the state,according to a scathing new NYC Council report.* City Council, Mayor Bill de Blasio set zoning deal to build more affordable housing (WSJ)* Community Groups Disappointed by Lack of Details and Info on Rezoning Deal (DNAINFO) One community leader described the Council's announcement of the rezoning changes as "embarrassing." * Council Committees OK Rezoning Plans Some Fear Would Encourage Segregation (DNAINFO)
Some City Council members raised concerns about segregated housing.
City Council After 32% Pay Hike Spends Money On Itself Like A Drunken Sailor
City Council can’t stop spending, raises budget $3M (NYP) The City Council, whose members gave themselves a 32 percent pay hike this year, increased its operating budget Wednesday from $61 million to $64 million. It was the third straight year the council boosted its budget to cover expenses such as staff salaries, rents for district offices and equipment. Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the series of increases was necessary to make up for ground lost under her predecessor, Christine Quinn. Quinn’s last budget as speaker, covering the 2014 fiscal year, was $51.5 million. “Prior to my becoming speaker, the council budget had been deprived over the years,” Mark-Viverito said. “We had a lot of correction to do and kind of beefing up the council to really be a professional body where we have staff in the legislative body, in the finance staff, to really do our work effectively.” “There was a lot of catching up that we had to do,” she said. The council’s Republican leader, Steven Matteo of Staten Island, disagreed. “I personally believe adding funding to the council budget should not be a priority at this time,” said Matteo, who along with Staten Island colleague Joe Borelli voted against the increase. * The New York City Council Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections approved a resolution to “delete” the Committee on Community Development, which was prompted by the resignation of its chairwoman, former City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Gotham Gazette reports
The Council Member Item Type Crumbs In Affordable Housing Will Not Stop the Gentrifiers and Profit Seekers
The reason: Mayor de Blasio. Claudette Brady is the Bed-Stuy resident who spearheaded the eight-year campaign to get the most recent district approved. Brady noted that developers have been among the most vigorous opponents of landmarking. Of de Blasio, she said, "He is a developer-friendly mayor." In a plan on the cusp of City Council approval, the mayor wants to encourage developers to construct hundreds of thousands of units that will supposedly offer rents within the budgets of working-class New Yorkers. The so-called affordable housing plan requires developers in rezoned areas to set aside significant percentages of apartments for those families in the low and medium salary range. Where some see a city growing and trying to make itself affordable, others see another opening for future waves of gentrifiers and profit seekers.
de Blasio Council Hard At Work
De Blasio throws support behind ‘tax’ on grocery bags (NYP) * City Council finalizes bills easing penalty for peeing in the street (NYP)
de Blasio Uber Retreat After Getting the Crap Beaten Out of Him By the Uber Gang Political Consultants
Uber lobbied hard earlier this year, spending $359,089 on lobbying, ads and direct mail to advance its agenda in New York , a sum that excludes its recent campaign amid a fight over a proposed cap, Capital New York writes: * After coming under attack last summer from the ride-hailing app Uber, the de Blasio administration shelved a proposal to cap the number of Uber vehicles and undertook a study of the service’s effect on New York City traffic. The study was due by the end of November. But over six weeks after the deadline, the findings have yet to be made public.* This summer, de Blasio admin said Uber's rise could make NYC"impassable." A look at why City Hall changed its tune:
Uber wouldn’t face regulations or limits on its so-called surge pricing from the New York City Council, according to legislation introduced Friday by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, marking a political winhttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/bill-takes-ride-uber-article-1.2498624 for the company.* City issues low-impact report on car-hail apps (Politico) * New Bill Would Let Prospective Cabbies Skip English Test (Gothamist) * Bill takes us for a ride on Uber (NYDN) All in all, the skimpy 12-page report managed to confirm only facts that were open and obvious — at a cost of more than $160,000 a page. Blame de Blasio for wasting a huge pile of money while doing the bidding of a friendly special interest. * The Daily News writes that the de Blasio administration’sstudy of Uber’s impact on traffic is a “$2 million botched hit job” that confirmed obvious facts, which means de Blasio wasted money while “doing the bidding of a friendly special interest”:
Councilman Lander Lied About A Park Slope Bike Lane Being Temporary To Blunt Distract Community Opposition To Him
In April 2010, a staffer for Councilman Lander referred to the lane as a trial at a community board presentation of an updated design, and Benson maintains that he corrected him. One main propagator of the notion was Lander, who was part of the original push for a bike path as a community board member. He took the stand on Friday. From his testimony, it became clear that his office send out emails and make statements to the press describing the path as a trial after Benson's purported correction that April—pressed about a day spent handing out flyers with this erroneous information alongside then-DOT Brooklyn deputy commissioner Keith Bray, Lander wouldn't concede that Bray had read the flyers, saying, "I don't know how to answer. He was near the flyer. He was near the flyer!" Lander's office kept up the lie after a phone conversation Lander testified that he had with then-DOT deputy commissioner David Woloch, wherein Woloch corrected a draft letter to Sadik-Khan that described the lane that way. "He said, 'It's not a trial, period,'" Lander recalled on the stand. "We are 'implementing the bike lane.'"
Lander changed the letter, but his office kept up with the misrepresentation of the project. Cross-examining Lander, lawyer Georgia Winston, a partner at Gibson Dunn, asked him whether he did and why. "We did, but much less frequently," he said. "The language from those prior emails was sometimes recycled and reused." Beyond that, Lander said publicly that the path "should be made permanent" as late as January 2011. The councilman explained that he kept calling the path a trial to "solicit lots and lots of feedback, but an email to a constituent in which Lander wrote that the trial period makes it "relatively easy to defuse opponents" is probably closer to the truth. Asked about why he thought the subsequent installation of concrete pedestrian islands would make the lane "more permanent," Lander got philosophical. "Permanent is kind of a metaphysical concept. You could rip up concrete pedestrian islands today if you wanted to," he said, noting that pedestrian islands planned for Brooklyn 's Fourth Avenuewon't come till 2018, and that street's redesign is being evaluated as all street projects are. "I don't know what's permanent." Outside the courtroom, Lander said "No one told me to call it" a trial, and that he believes most people shared his "common-sense understanding" of the word. What's clear is that the DOT did little to dispel the idea of the path being a pilot project once it started to gain traction. But in December 2010, Sadik-Khan clarified the DOT's position, testifying to the City Council that the department does not install temporary bike-ways as a matter of course. Benson told the court Friday that the Prospect Park West path was built with federal funds for bike infrastructure that require the project to have a lifespan of at least approximately 25 years, so it couldn't have been temporary.
Council Takes the 32% Money But Runs From the Free Pens (Moral Crime Tool)
City Council Gets 32% Pay Hike and Nobody Notices . . . They Will @ Election Time
Watchdog skepticalof pay hike for city’s elected officials (NYP) Mayor de Blasio approved raises for all the city’s elected officials Friday — including a 32 percent hike for City Council members — in exchange for reforms that some critics worry aren’t ironclad. Dick Dadey of Citizens Union suggested the mayor should have signed two salary bills in pencil — not pen — because the reforms can easily be “erased” by future councils. One of these short-lived reforms bans stipends known as “lulus” of $5,000 to $25,000 that are doled out by the council speaker to committee chairs — but only for the current term that ends in 2018. “While that is a historic reform, it is only temporary — because that reform ends when this council leaves office,” said Dadey. “There’s nothing that will prevent a future council from coming back and enacting stipends in the future.”*
The No Show Council With A 32% Raise
City Council Crime Fighting and the NYPD
Were Are the Council Hearing On NYCHA Repairs Sales of Land?
de Blasio Hides His OK of the Council's 32% Pay
In a move that critics say appears to be an attempt at downplaying the controversial move, Hizzoner tucked a last minute notice into the City Record on Friday announcing he would sign into law a bill that guarantees the raises. The mayor’s office by law must notify the public within five calendar days of a planned bill signing. The pay raise notice came at the start of a three-day weekend — a time when pols typically bury unfavorable news — and was added so late it didn’t make the newsletter’s “public hearings” section. It was in the “late notice” section at the very end of the paper.
Raise During the Holiday Weekend
Mayor de Blasioquietly agrees to 32% pay raise for City Council (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio has quietly agreed to give City Council members a 32% pay hike. signed legislation today giving immediate pay raises to New York City elected officials. The raises are retroactive to Jan. 1 and went into effect with de Blasio’s signature.
Council Pay Raise Voted Now the Voters in the Next Election and Media Will Answer Their Tyranny Against New York
City Council Votes To Give Itself $36,000 Pay Raise (WCBS) City council members give themselves a 32 percent raise (NYP) The three Republican members, Steve Matteo and freshman Joe Borelli of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich of Queens, issued a joint statement explaining why they voted no. Democrats Elizabeth Crowley of Queens and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn voted no without explanation. Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who earns considerable outside income, also voted no, while Paul Vallone (D-Queens), who holds an outside job as attorney, voted against after saying he believed a reform banning outside jobs would have “unequal impact” on members. * Less than 24hours after cops shot, City Council votes to give themselves 32% pay boost (NYO) * With just seven dissenters, NYC Council members today went above the recommendations of a salary commission to award themselves a 32 percent raise — from $112,500 to $148,500.* Completing a fast, criticized process, Council membersvote for raises (PoliticoNY) * City Council,Surprising No One, Votes To Give Itself A Raise (Gothamist) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will now take home $164,500 annually, was asked by a reporter how she and other members planned to spend their windfall, declined to answer. "If you want to be cynical, that's your right," she said. * See How Much More Your South Bronx Council Member Makes Than You
(DNAINFO) The winner of the District 17 election will make more than eight times what their constituents do.
CM Gentile Begs de Blasio to Make Him A Judge
Makes No Sense for the Mayor to Deliver Judgeships Now, When He Can Use the Councilman to Deliver Votes to Him for His Re-Election
Three-term councilman begging de Blasio for a new job (NYP) A Brooklyn legislator who wants out of his elected post has begun pestering Mayor de Blasio for a judgeship or job within the administration, sources told The Post Thursday. Democratic City Councilman Vincent Gentile of Bay Ridge — who voted with the rest of his colleagues last week to boost their salaries by $36,000 yearly to $148,500 — is lobbying hard for a golden parachute before his third four-year term expires at the end of 2017. The sources said Gentile is trying to cash in on his repeated endorsements of de Blasio — including in the 2013 mayoral Democratic primary. “It’s gotten so bad that he’s begun recommending some staffers look for new jobs,” said a City Hall source. “I don’t get why he’s telling anyone who’ll listen he wants out.
@VGentile43 desperate 2 stay on public payroll by begging DEB 4 a judgeship crystallizes the quintessential term "career politician"
City Council Votes To Give Itself $36,000 Pay Raise (WCBS) City council members give themselves a 32 percent raise (NYP) The three Republican members, Steve Matteo and freshman Joe Borelli of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich of Queens, issued a joint statement explaining why they voted no. Democrats Elizabeth Crowley of Queens and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn voted no without explanation. Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who earns considerable outside income, also voted no, while Paul Vallone (D-Queens), who holds an outside job as attorney, voted against after saying he believed a reform banning outside jobs would have “unequal impact” on members. * Less than 24hours after cops shot, City Council votes to give themselves 32% pay boost (NYO) * With just seven dissenters, NYC Council members today went above the recommendations of a salary commission to award themselves a 32 percent raise — from $112,500 to $148,500.* Completing a fast, criticized process, Council membersvote for raises (PoliticoNY) * City Council,Surprising No One, Votes To Give Itself A Raise (Gothamist) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will now take home $164,500 annually, was asked by a reporter how she and other members planned to spend their windfall, declined to answer. "If you want to be cynical, that's your right," she said.
Another None Profit Rip Off
Nonprofit director laundered nearly $1M to fund lavish lifestyle: officials (NYP) The head of a city-funded nonprofit that delivers meals to senior citizens stole nearly $1 million from the foundation to pay for his family’s Long Island home, luxury car and clothes, federal officials charged Wednesday. United Block Association Executive Director Kwame Insaidoo, 59, and his wife Roxanna Pearson, 62, allegedly laundered $953,875 through a shell company they owned called Allied Home Care Services, federal prosecutors say in court papers. Insaidoo is accused of failing to report to the city “several” bank accounts he used to funnel the money from UBA to Allied — which he was required to do. Insaidoo allegedly over-reported and over-billed the city for expenses at the four Upper Manhattan senior centers it operates..
By Taking the Money the City Council Becomes Full Time?
A full-time City Council is bad news for New York (NYP) Boosting productivity or working longer hours is usually good reason for a pay hike — but not when it comes to the City Council. The Quadrennial Advisory Commission has recommended raises for all elected city officials, including the council’s members. Mayor de Blasio — who signed off on the commission’s work — will get a 15 percent bump to $258,000, though he says he won’t accept the raise this term. Borough presidents get a 12 percent raise to $179,200; district attorneys to $212,800 and the public advocate to $184,800. The comptroller gets a 13 percent hike to $209,050. None of it thrills us — but another shift is downright dangerous. The 23 percent raise in council pay, to $138,315, comes with a change in the rules: Members are now supposed to work full time, with limits on outside income. (Bonuses for leading committees also go out the door.)
All the Council Cares About is Who Will Become the Next Speaker
All the Council Cares About is Who Will Become the Next Speaker
What Really Matters: Who's Running for Speaker? (City Council Watch) As the Council gets into the second half of its current term, debate is heating up among the Members. So what is the big issue now? Is it decriminalization of petty crime? Is it economic inequality? The schools? Affordable housing? Banning carbon emissions? If you imagine that any of these matters is foremost on councilmembers’ minds, you haven’t been paying attention to the low level of backbiting and petty squabbling that defines our (almost) one-party unicameral legislative body. The primary focus and main gossip of the city council now is: Who will be elected Speaker in January 2018? When Mayor-elect de Blasio shoehorned Melissa Mark-Viverito into the Speakership, he did so fully cognizant that she would serve as a lame duck. Term-limited, MMV was handicapped from the start from wielding total fear-inducing authority over the Council in the style of Archduke Chris Quinn. In promoting his loyal comrade and ally Mark-Viverito, de Blasio ensured that he would have a consistent rubber-stamp at his disposal, and that he would still be able to put the squeeze on individual councilmembers who knew that he would almost certainly be around longer than she would. Here is a list of candidates, in geographical order: Vanessa Gibson, Ydanis Rodriguez, Mark Levine, Corey Johnson, Jimmy van Bramer, Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Donovan Richards, Jumaane Williams and Robert Cornegy. If you think I have erred, please say so. Maybe de Blasio will do the same thing he did last time, and use his Brooklyn influence to install his chosen Speaker. Brad Lander is trying to get the members of the Progressive Caucus to vow to align themselves as a Spartan bloc, so with those votes and Brooklyn, the rest of Queens and the Bronx could be again discounted entirely.
Mayor's Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Working to Give de Blasio and Other Pols A Raise
FAO Schwarz to chair Mayor's Quadrennial Advisory Commission for the review of compensation levels of elected officials. Schwarz is the Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Brennnan Center *
Give City Hall and Albany A Raise for Their Wonderful Work on the Homeless and the Schools?
De Blasio leaves door open on a second term salary increase (PoliticoNY) Mayor will submit official response Jan. 13*
The Quadrennial Advisory Commission said mayor and other elected officials deserve a 15 percent raise.* Legislative Pay Commission Expected to Increase Salaries, Ban Outside Income for State Assembly, Senate After Election Next Year (NY1)
Why Not Tie City Pay Raises to Job Performance Approved by the Voters?
As Homeless Increase, Schools Suck, No Affordable Housing City Officials Get A Pay Raise From Berlin Rosen Commission
As Homeless Increase, Schools Suck, No Affordable Housing City Officials Get A Pay Raise From Berlin Rosen Commission
Commission recommends pay raisesfor city officials (PolticoNY) In a report released Monday morning, the Quadrennial Advisory Commission suggested the mayor receive a salary of $258,750. That represents a $33,750 raise from what a New York City mayor currently earns. City Council members, who have been clamoring for higher pay, would receive a base pay of $138,315, up $25,815 from the current salary of $112,500. The commission recommended the members' roles be classified as "full time," which would mean they could not earn outside income as they are now allowed to do. In addition, the commission recommended eliminating bonuses members receive for chairing committees — a perk known as a "lulu." Those bonuses vary in amount depending on the committee assignment and total $447,000. The speaker of the Council would see a salary raise to $154,375, which would reflect folding a $25,000 lulu the position comes with into the base salary.
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was noncommittal about the recommendations in a statement after the report was released. The city comptroller's pay would be raised from $185,000 to $209,050; the public advocate from $165,000 to $184,800; and borough presidents from $160,000 to $179,200. The five district attorneys would also see a raise of $22,800, bringing their final salaries to $212,800. Read the full commission report here: * A commission convened to assess the salaries of top NYC officials has recommendedraises for the mayor, the City Council and other politicians, while declaring Council members should not be able to earn outside income. * New York City’s Elected Officials Should Get Raises, Panel Says (NYY) * De Blasio would receive a 15 percent raise, to $258,750 a year, under a series of recommended pay increases for New York City ’s elected officials. The mayor has said he will not accept a pay increase for the duration of his first term in office, which concludes at the end of 2017. Any raises must be ratified by the City Council. Elected officials in the city have not received raises since 2006.*An independent commission's set of recommendations that would give city officials salary increases creates a difficult challenge for New York City Council members, who must decide whether to vote to give themselves a raise while also ending certain perks, Politico New York reports
Pal Implicates Councilman Wills in Pass-Through Member Item Scheme
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Councilman Torres Gets Hacked on Instagram
INSTA-SCAM! Fake Instagram account set for Bronx City Councilman Ritchie Torres, puts out racial slurs in his name (NYDN) A Bronx city councilman claims a dirty digital trickster set up a bogus Instagram account in his name and used it to sling racial slurs and offensive digs at officials and constituents. Making matters worse, says City Councilman Ritchie Torres, the social media site shut down his real account after he complained, while allowing the fraudster to continue spewing hateful bilge. A Bronx city councilman claims a dirty digital trickster set up a bogus Instagram account in his name and used it to sling racial slurs and offensive digs at officials and constituents. Making matters worse, says City Councilman Ritchie Torres, the social media site shut down his real account after he complained, while allowing the fraudster to continue spewing hateful bilge.
Friday's True News
A Result of the Cover-Up by the CFB and Board of Ethics On the NYCLASS Election Corruption, The Council is Openly Bribeable To A Developer Deal
BOSS TWEED WOULD CHEER: Stink of manure as Council plans to vote for big raises on the very day it votes on de Blasio’s horse bill (NYDN) * There was no smell of fresh hay when Mayor de Blasio reached a horse carriage deal with Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on the very day he blessed pay hikes for her members. Now there’s the stink of manure as the Council plans to vote for even bigger raises for themselves on the very day it votes on de Blasio’s horse bill. This isn’t horse trading; it’s daylight bribery. First, animal rights activists pump a critical $1 million into de Blasio’s election campaign. Next, de Blasio says he’ll spend $25 million on a Central Park stable to keep promises to the activists. Next, a Council that had refused to kill the carriage industry gets a big payday and goes along with a plan that purports to limit the horses to Central Park but, in fact, will starve the industry to death well before a necessary new stable opens. Meanwhile, the Council is writing a pay raise bill in secret with plans to take far more than the hike an independent commission recommended. In doing so, Mark-Viverito and company will violate decades of sensible precedent. In every previous pay raise round — in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2006 — the Council voted into law the salary recommendations of special temporary commissions set up to provide the public with an independent judgment of how much pay levels should be increased. Never has a Council passed raises greater than a commission thought warranted. This time, the panel recommended hiking the Council salary 23% from $112,500 to $138,315 while abolishing extra stipends doled out to loyalists. Instead the Council is moving to set salaries closer to $150,000. De Blasio got his money, the animal rights activists got their stables, and Council members are sealing the deal with big money in their pockets.* The New York City Council completed a package of bills on that would adopt provisions on outside income and financial disclosures while raising pay to $148,500 a year, far above a city commission’s recommendation, The NewYork Times reports: * The New York City Council has scheduled two separate hearings on Feb. 9 and 10 for de Blasio's controversial zoning plans related to his overall affordable housing goals, though it’s not clear which officials will testify, Politico New York reports:
Council's Attack on Greenfield Sounds Like Horse Manure
Councilman says he lost committee seat over horse-carriage ban concerns(NYP) A Brooklyn legislator who voiced concerns about a push by the mayor and City Council speaker to shrink the horse-carriage industry was booted from two prominent committees, sources told The Post on Wednesday. David Greenfield was bounced at least temporarily from the council’s leadership and budget-negotiating teams, prestigious appointments made by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. His sidelining was announced at a leadership meeting Tuesday, according to City Hall sources. “The plan is to give him a chance to earn it back,” said one council source. Sources said Mark-Viverito and other council leaders were infuriated over Greenfield’s call for delaying a vote on the horse- carriage proposal earlier this month — a top priority for Mayor de Blasio and his donors, and backed by Mark-Viverito.*
Judge Does Not Buy CM Wills Scam Witness Sick Daughter Excuse, Warrant Issued for His Arrest
Indicted CM Wills Key Witness Disappears and the Media Does Not Ask the Councilman the Speaker WTF?
A man expected to implicate Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills on corruption charges Tuesday bolted from the courthouse just before proceedings started, and the judge issued an arrest warrant for him
Wills Who Was Indicted By the AG Over A Year Ago is Still Doing Pay to Play Deal With His Lobbyists Campaign Manager
TRASHY POL: Indicted Queens Councilman slams proposal that hurts campaign donor (NYDN) An indicted Queens pol with the worst attendance record on the City Council showed up to hearings of a committee he doesn’t sit on to blast proposals that threaten to hurt a campaign donor. Councilman Ruben Wills — a Democrat who has received $3,000 from donors tied to Royal Waste and Regal Recycling — slammed a commercial trash handling proposal that would carve the city into zones, and assign each area to one chosen waste company, at a sanitation committee hearing April 29. Wills has received $3,000 from owners, managers and family members of Royal and Regal, which runs a complex of waste transfer and recycling facilities in southeast Queens outside his district. He also got $750 from the companies directly — which had to be returned because corporate contributions are banned under city rules. Last year, he had the worst attendance rate of anyone on the 51 member Council — blowing off 27% of the meetings he was supposed to attend.
Bratton: Destructive City Council No Experience Needed
‘Enough Is Enough’:Bill Bratton Lashes Out at ‘Destructive’ City Council (NYO) Mr. Bratton, speaking at a Citizens Budget Commission breakfast in Midtown this morning, said he had to wrangle with a “novice” Council with many members who never worked in the private sector, and implied their lack of experience was the reason they were advocating for a series of police reform bills he despises. “The City Council … depending on the day of the week is supportive and helpful or obstructive and destructive,” Mr. Bratton said. “The vast majority of these bills I feel are unnecessary, intrusive and self-serving on the part of the particular members of the Council.” Two pieces of legislation, a bill to make police chokeholds illegal and a pair of bills known as the Right to Know Act, have galled Mr. Bratton most. The chokehold bill, advanced after Eric Garner, a Staten Island black man, died in an apparent police chokehold last year, would make criminal an act that the NYPD already forbids internally, though progressives in the Council believe police enforcement is not enough to ensure more chokeholds aren’t used. The Right Know Act would compel police officers to identify themselves to those they stop by name, rank and command, as well as require them to ask permission before conducting some searches. Mayor Bill de Blasio has backed up Mr. Bratton in opposing all of the bills.* NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton likes de Blasio but not the City Council — whose legislative efforts to tweak policing practices he derided as “obstructive,” “destructive” and “unnecessary, intrusive and self-serving,” Politico New Yorkreports: * Bratton is pushing back on a number of NYC Council measures aimed to change police practices across the city.* Clueless City Council destructive to NYPD: Bratton(NYP) “Most of the City Council members were new to their positions. Most of them had never worked in the private sector, were people who had worked in various political capacities and had a significant lack of experience,” he said. “And they were now governing certainly the world’s most significant city.” He accused some members of micro-managing the department, noting there are a number of bills on the table aimed at hand-cuffing the NYPD.* Criminal justice reformers split with de Blasio on bail, diversion (PoliticoNY)* De Blasio disagreed with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s comments that the New York City Council has “destructive” novices, but expressed no problem with his commissioner speaking out in harsh terms, theDaily News reports: *De Blasio disagreed with Bratton’s slam of the NYC Council as a destructive bunch of novices.
As the Daily News reported, a group of Council members has been quietly pushing a plan to boost their paychecks to a whopping $192,500. They receive a base salary of $112,500, with some pocketing bonuses known as “lulus” for chairing committees. The average lulu is $8,000 but some — like the one Mark-Viverito gets as speaker — are as high as $25,000. The hope was that by agreeing to those concessions, some good government groups — who typically dislike lulus and pols holding outside jobs — would agree to back the generous pay package, City Council sources said. King Beyond Lulus New York City Councilman Andy King was slapped with a nearly $17,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board for, among other things, paying thousands to his wife without justifying it with paperwork, the Postreports: * Bronx Councilman Andy King, who put his wife on his campaign payroll and used campaign funds to cover his home phone bill, was slapped with a $17,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board.
Council 71% Pay Raise On the Animal Farm Where Some Are More Equal Than Others
The Fix is In for A Raise
Greedy City Council members seek whopping 71% raise that will bring salaries to up to $192G — as cops, firefighters face measly 1% to 2.5% hikes (NYDN) A rip-off at halfthe price: Say no to a City Council pay raise (NYDN ED) Whereas City Council members want to boost their pay to $192,500, up from $112,500, a 71% increase that would set their annual salary at almost three times New York’s median family income, and Whereas the Council would pull down a higher salary than received by members of Congress, as well as by even highly responsible, in fact, indispensable city workers, such as police and fire captains, and Whereas, the Council has passed budgets including minuscule raises for the municipal workforce, and Whereas, Council members routinely beat up on the 1%, into whose income neighborhood they would be moving, and De Blasio disagreed with Bratton’s slam of the NYC Council as a destructive bunch of novices.
Daily News: "More than half a dozen Council members — who earn base pay of $112,500 — have been holding hush-hush meetings to try to engineer the huge raises, which would bring their salaries above those of the governor and members of Congress, multiple Council sources said."
EXCLUSIVE: NYC City Council members seeking 71% raise (NYDN) * 'I THINK IT'S RIDICULOUS': Speaker Mark-Viverito trashes proposed 71% raise for NYC Council members (NYDN) * New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito,reacting to a front page Daily News story, said council members’ push to give themselves a 71 percent raise in exchange for ethics reforms was “ridiculous,” the Observer reports:* Melissa Mark-Viverito dismisses idea to raise NYC lawmakers’pay by 71%
On Time de Blasio Deserves A Raise?
De Blasio has been working to address his tardiness problem, and has been mostly on time to public and private events – sometimes even arriving early.* Mayor Answers Questions on Education at Town Hall Meeting in Jackson Heights (NY1)
The Fix is In for A Raise
Some elected city officials say they don’t need a raise (NYP) Some elected city officials say they’re satisfied with their paychecks and aren’t looking for raises — even as a mayoral commission studies whether to boost their salaries for the first time in nine years. “I’m perfectly happy with my salary,” said City Councilman Alan Maisel (D-Brooklyn), who like other legislators earns $112,500 a year in base pay, plus bonuses for serving as committee chairs. “I’m not pining for a raise. I’m doing OK.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer echoed that stance Monday, but said it was not clear what the advisory panel would decide. The panel’s recommendations are due by the end of November.
Mayor's Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Working to Give de Blasio and Other Pols A Raise
FAO Schwarz to chair Mayor's Quadrennial Advisory Commission for the review of compensation levels of elected officials. Schwarz is the Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Brennnan Center *
More Fake Campaign Finance Reform Ideas From the Council
95% of the Money From People or Companies Who Do Business With the City Come to the Candidates Through PACs and the Lobbyists Who Run Their Campaigns
Legislation introduced to tighten New York City
Brennan Center Has Never Demanded That Berlin Rosen Register As A Lobbyists
A growing class of New York political consultants who enjoy close ties to elected officials but don’t register as lobbyists may well have to start doing so, in light of a proposed guidance issued by JCOPE. * The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics said consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists, even if they do not directly ask officials to take action on bills,the Times Union reports: * ALBANY’S TOP 10LOBBYISTS: City & State features the top 10 lobbying firms in Albany in 2014, including a summary of each and an introduction to their key players in Albany: * Queens state Sen. Tony Avella, who has been pushing a bill to require more disclosure by political consultants, is praising new guidelines from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Times Union reports
Two Councilmen In Legal Trouble Have the Worst Attendance Records
2 NYC councilmen have worst attendance records on Council (NYDN) A Queens pol accused of corruption and a Bronx pol accused of sexual harassment have something in common besides legal trouble - the worst attendance records on the City Council. Indicted Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Queens) and Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx) each missed about a third of their required meetings, putting them in a tie for dead last in attendance on the 51-member body. King, who was hit with a claim this year charging he wrongfully fired a staffer after she spurned his sexual advances, skipped 29 of the 89 hearings he was supposed to go to, or 32.6%, according to attendance records obtained through the Freedom of Information Law. Wills missed 26 out of 111 committee and Council meetings during the fiscal year that ended in June - 32.4%. * A Queens pol accused of corruption (Ruben Wills) and a Bronx pol accused of sexual harassment (Andy King) have something in common besides legal trouble – the worst attendance records on the City Council.
15 Months After His Arrested Wills Still No Trial?
After Years Of Insider Knowing the Facts of Wills' Corruption, An Arrest Indicted City Councilman Ruben Wills went to great lengths to avoid investigators’ questioning in past years, ignoring requests for meetings, using excuses about a sick family member and even storming out of a hearing with state prosecutors, DNAinfo reports: NYC Councilman Ruben Wills arrested(NYP)
Progressives Inc. Only Opposes Tax Breaks for Education Not Developers
Enemies of the education tax credit bash the rich — but slam the poor (NYP Ed) New Yorkers back Gov. Cuomo’s plan to help kids go to private and parochial schools — which is probably why the idea’s foes keep telling ever-fatter fibs. Thursday’s Quinnipiac poll shows that voters statewide favor Cuomo’s proposed tax credits for non-public education by two to one — rising to three-to-one in the city. They also endorse its support for giving to scholarship funds. A Siena poll shows that poorer folks and minorities back the plan most. Hmm. Cuomo would let public-school teachers get back up to $200 for money they shell out for classrooms. Are they the “rich”? None of these facts stop city teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew from painting Cuomo as a reverse Robin Hood who “will do or say anything for his hedge-fund buddies.” Or the statewide union’s Carl Korn from claiming the credits would “siphon off taxpayer money for tax giveaways to the rich.”* As Albany debates whether to authorize more charter schools, parents in central Brooklyn are flooding their neighborhood charters with admissions applications. A new study found 40 percent of all kindergarten-eligible kids in eight public-school districts in the heart of the borough tried to get into a charter this coming September.* In Video, Dolan Makes Appeal For Education Tax Credit (YNN)
Nail Biting or How To Buy Your Way Out of Reforming the Nail Business
Backed by Nail Salon Owners, New York Legislator Now Helps Lead Fight Against Reforms (NYT) Assemblyman Ron Kim, who was instrumental in creating a law to protect workers, has since received tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from salon owners and industry groups.* Assemblyman Ron Kim helped craft a bill protecting nail salon workers from labor abuses and potentially dangerous chemicals, but now – after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from salon owners – opposes it. * Assemblyman Ron Kim, who helped craft a bill protecting nail salon workers, has now become a vocal critic of the law, which many see as connected to generous campaign donations from nail salon owners, The New YorkTimes reports:
Who Runs the Council Lobbyists or the Mayor?
When Will Speaker Mark-Viverito or Mayor Hold A Town Hall Meeting to Explain the Changes They Wants to Make the the NYPD?
New York Council Speaker Raises Profile in Police Dispute With de Blasio (NYT) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, in her first substantial departure from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s agenda, has insisted that New York hire 1,000 new officers. * MARK-VIVERITO, RISING -- Times’ “[City Council Speaker Melissa] Mark-Viverito’s proposals are plainly in tension with the mayor’s preferences: Besides adding 1,000 officers, which she says is essential to retraining the police force, she has also called for creating a public fund to help low-income defendants make bail. Most contentious of all is Ms. Mark-Viverito’s proposal to decriminalize a range of low-level offenses like public urination … the speaker’s sudden prominence has also come with a clear upside. Ms. Mark-Viverito, 46, struggled in her first year as speaker to define herself independently from a mayor whose agenda she largely shares. That has begun to change, as she points to the Council’s work on criminal justice as a point of contrast, calling it the leading edge of a national movement. ‘* NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — typically a close ally of de Blasio, a fellow Democrat — has made criminal justice reform the central mission of her second year as speaker: Sweeping proposals have driven her rapid emergence as a visible public figure, leading to her first real confrontation with the mayor’s administration.* New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s push to hire more police officers has resulted in her first real confrontation with the de Blasio administration and raised her profile, The New York Times’Alexander Burns writes:
de Blasio Fixes His Council Puppets
To save face, de Blasio twists Council arms (Capital) In recent weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his aides have engaged in the most forceful lobbying of city council members since the mayor helped install Melissa Mark-Viverito as speaker in January of 2014. Eleven council members interviewed by Capital described a coordinated campaign of phone calls from the mayor and his top aides in the impossible-to-ignore context of budget season, when members seek support for their pet projects. At issue is an arcane dispute over how to reform disability pensions for the city's uniformed workers, one that ended up pitting de Blasio against both Governor Andrew Cuomo and the police and fire unions.* Amid the debate over disability pensions for uniformedworkers, Capital New York writes that de Blasio has engaged in his most forceful lobbying of the City Council since Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was installed:
Under the cover of budget negotiations, Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to persuade New York City Council members to pass his proposed ban on Central Park ’s carriage horses, but is not finding support, the Post reports: * The car ban does not apply to the antique electric vehicles the mayor favors to replace horse-drawn carriages in these two parks.
The Daily News Reported On Broken NYCHA Mailboxes This Morning . . .
This Afternoon the Councilwoman Rosie Mendez Makes Sure She Takes Some Credit for Fixing Them
NYCHA residents on LES – some elderly and disabled – mustgo miles to post office as mailboxes remain busted for months (NYDN) For most New Yorkers, the task of getting the mail involves simply checking the mailbox on the way into their apartment. Not for NYCHA tenant Gregory Coleman. At least once a week, Coleman, 60, navigates a winding path through the Lower East Side in his fire-engine red motorized wheelchair from the Jacob Riis Houses to the E. 14th St. post office. Round trip, he travels just under 2 miles — rain or shine. Coleman must do this because, since November, his is one of 25 mailboxes at 1115 FDR Drive that have been vandalized — and nobody can agree on who should fix it.
Vanessa
Gibson Demands Bratton Clean House; Ignores Own Backyard (Council
Watch) Councilmember Vanessa Gibson,
chair of the Public Safety Committee, has announced her plans to probe the
finances and activities of the New York City Police Foundation. This
foundation, which is funded by private donations, hires consultants to study
the operations of the NYPD and make recommendations; in some cases, these
consultants have been hired by the police department. For example, in her
2013 campaign for office, Gibson (who was at that time a member of the state
Assembly) accepted contributions from 26 individual donors employed by SCAN New York . SCAN is
a service provider in the South Bronx that
targets at-risk youth and helps through mentoring and various programs.
The 26 donors collectively gave Gibson $2,125, which doesn’t sound like much
until you consider that her entire campaign raised only $110,000, most of which
came from unions or other political committees. Small donations from
individuals are subject to city matching funds, which multiply their effect by
a factor of six. In the FY 2015 budget Councilmember Gibson allocated $20,000
to SCAN as part of the Council’s Anti-Poverty Initiative. Eleven employees of
the 1332 Fulton Avenue Day Care Corporation contributed to the 2013 Gibson
Council campaign. Gibson later awarded the non-profit organization
$50,000 to provide social services to children in the district.
Four directors of the Garifuna Coalition contributed to the
Gibson campaign: the organization was later given $10,000 as part of the
Anti-Poverty Initiative.
The executive director of Southeast Bronx Neighborhood
Centers wrote the Gibson campaign contribution checks on three separate
occasions. Gibson later allocated $10,000 to Southeast Bronx Neighborhood
Centers out of her pot of discretionary funds.
Was Mark-Viverito's Election for Speaker illegal?
Speaking of speakers (NYDN Ed) Gifts of service to Melissa Mark-Viverito must not go unpunished. When, after the 2013 elections, then-Councilwoman Mark-Viverito was angling, with Mayor de Blasio’s enthusiastic backing, to become Speaker Mark-Viverito, she relied on the help of a well-connected political consulting and lobbying firm called the Advance Group. The pros helped her prepare for debates, network with county leaders, court fellow Council members — and win the second-most powerful job in city government. She got those usually high-priced services for the low, low price of zero dollars and zero cents. In other words, Mark-Viverito received a highly valuable in-kind campaign contribution from a company with lots of business before the city — including representing dozens of clients who regularly lobby the Council. This column urged the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board to take up the matter. The City Charter, after all, states: “No public servant shall accept any valuable gift . . . from any person or firm” who “is or intends to become engaged in business dealings with the city.” To its credit, the board has now opened up a case; the speaker has filed campaign finance statements that she has spent $20,000 on lawyers to represent her. What could her defense possibly be? Neither the facts of her accepting freebies nor the rules against it are in dispute. She should be fined the max possible, $25,000. Even still, she’ll end up getting away with having violated the charter in order to be one of the top officials sworn to uphold it.
Have the Progressive Caucus Also Violated the City Ethic Law By Asking A Lobbyist to Work for Free ?
From the NYT: "The caucus asked a labor official, Alison Hirsh, the political director of 32BJ, the union of janitors and doormen, to negotiate with the county chairmen, other council members and speaker candidates on its behalf." Alison Hirsh, who is a registered lobbyist. The progressive has not registered with the BOE and CFB to legally hire a lobbyist.
De Blasio has been working to address his tardiness problem, and has been mostly on time to public and private events – sometimes even arriving early.* Mayor Answers Questions on Education at Town Hall Meeting in Jackson Heights (NY1)
The Fix is In for A Raise
Some elected city officials say they don’t need a raise (NYP) Some elected city officials say they’re satisfied with their paychecks and aren’t looking for raises — even as a mayoral commission studies whether to boost their salaries for the first time in nine years. “I’m perfectly happy with my salary,” said City Councilman Alan Maisel (D-Brooklyn), who like other legislators earns $112,500 a year in base pay, plus bonuses for serving as committee chairs. “I’m not pining for a raise. I’m doing OK.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer echoed that stance Monday, but said it was not clear what the advisory panel would decide. The panel’s recommendations are due by the end of November.
More Fake Campaign Finance Reform Ideas From the Council
95% of the Money From People or Companies Who Do Business With the City Come to the Candidates Through PACs and the Lobbyists Who Run Their Campaigns
Brennan Center Has Never Demanded That Berlin Rosen Register As A Lobbyists
A growing class of New York political consultants who enjoy close ties to elected officials but don’t register as lobbyists may well have to start doing so, in light of a proposed guidance issued by JCOPE. * The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics said consultants who take actions related to lobbying efforts must register as lobbyists, even if they do not directly ask officials to take action on bills,the Times Union reports: * ALBANY’S TOP 10LOBBYISTS: City & State features the top 10 lobbying firms in Albany in 2014, including a summary of each and an introduction to their key players in Albany: * Queens state Sen. Tony Avella, who has been pushing a bill to require more disclosure by political consultants, is praising new guidelines from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Times Union reports
Two Councilmen In Legal Trouble Have the Worst Attendance Records
15 Months After His Arrested Wills Still No Trial?
After Years Of Insider Knowing the Facts of Wills' Corruption, An Arrest Indicted City Councilman Ruben Wills went to great lengths to avoid investigators’ questioning in past years, ignoring requests for meetings, using excuses about a sick family member and even storming out of a hearing with state prosecutors, DNAinfo reports: NYC Councilman Ruben Wills arrested(NYP)
Enemies of the education tax credit bash the rich — but slam the poor (NYP Ed) New Yorkers back Gov. Cuomo’s plan to help kids go to private and parochial schools — which is probably why the idea’s foes keep telling ever-fatter fibs. Thursday’s Quinnipiac poll shows that voters statewide favor Cuomo’s proposed tax credits for non-public education by two to one — rising to three-to-one in the city. They also endorse its support for giving to scholarship funds. A Siena poll shows that poorer folks and minorities back the plan most. Hmm. Cuomo would let public-school teachers get back up to $200 for money they shell out for classrooms. Are they the “rich”? None of these facts stop city teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew from painting Cuomo as a reverse Robin Hood who “will do or say anything for his hedge-fund buddies.” Or the statewide union’s Carl Korn from claiming the credits would “siphon off taxpayer money for tax giveaways to the rich.”* As Albany debates whether to authorize more charter schools, parents in central Brooklyn are flooding their neighborhood charters with admissions applications. A new study found 40 percent of all kindergarten-eligible kids in eight public-school districts in the heart of the borough tried to get into a charter this coming September.* In Video, Dolan Makes Appeal For Education Tax Credit (YNN)
Nail Biting or How To Buy Your Way Out of Reforming the Nail Business
Backed by Nail Salon Owners, New York Legislator Now Helps Lead Fight Against Reforms (NYT) Assemblyman Ron Kim, who was instrumental in creating a law to protect workers, has since received tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from salon owners and industry groups.* Assemblyman Ron Kim helped craft a bill protecting nail salon workers from labor abuses and potentially dangerous chemicals, but now – after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from salon owners – opposes it. * Assemblyman Ron Kim, who helped craft a bill protecting nail salon workers, has now become a vocal critic of the law, which many see as connected to generous campaign donations from nail salon owners, The New YorkTimes reports:
When Will Speaker Mark-Viverito or Mayor Hold A Town Hall Meeting to Explain the Changes They Wants to Make the the NYPD?
New York Council Speaker Raises Profile in Police Dispute With de Blasio (NYT) Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, in her first substantial departure from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s agenda, has insisted that New York hire 1,000 new officers. * MARK-VIVERITO, RISING -- Times’ “[City Council Speaker Melissa] Mark-Viverito’s proposals are plainly in tension with the mayor’s preferences: Besides adding 1,000 officers, which she says is essential to retraining the police force, she has also called for creating a public fund to help low-income defendants make bail. Most contentious of all is Ms. Mark-Viverito’s proposal to decriminalize a range of low-level offenses like public urination … the speaker’s sudden prominence has also come with a clear upside. Ms. Mark-Viverito, 46, struggled in her first year as speaker to define herself independently from a mayor whose agenda she largely shares. That has begun to change, as she points to the Council’s work on criminal justice as a point of contrast, calling it the leading edge of a national movement. ‘* NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — typically a close ally of de Blasio, a fellow Democrat — has made criminal justice reform the central mission of her second year as speaker: Sweeping proposals have driven her rapid emergence as a visible public figure, leading to her first real confrontation with the mayor’s administration.* New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s push to hire more police officers has resulted in her first real confrontation with the de Blasio administration and raised her profile, The New York Times’Alexander Burns writes:
de Blasio Fixes His Council Puppets
To save face, de Blasio twists Council arms (Capital) In recent weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his aides have engaged in the most forceful lobbying of city council members since the mayor helped install Melissa Mark-Viverito as speaker in January of 2014. Eleven council members interviewed by Capital described a coordinated campaign of phone calls from the mayor and his top aides in the impossible-to-ignore context of budget season, when members seek support for their pet projects. At issue is an arcane dispute over how to reform disability pensions for the city's uniformed workers, one that ended up pitting de Blasio against both Governor Andrew Cuomo and the police and fire unions.* Amid the debate over disability pensions for uniformedworkers, Capital New York writes that de Blasio has engaged in his most forceful lobbying of the City Council since Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was installed:
Under the cover of budget negotiations, Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to persuade New York City Council members to pass his proposed ban on Central Park ’s carriage horses, but is not finding support, the Post reports: * The car ban does not apply to the antique electric vehicles the mayor favors to replace horse-drawn carriages in these two parks.
The Daily News Reported On Broken NYCHA Mailboxes This Morning . . .
This Afternoon the Councilwoman Rosie Mendez Makes Sure She Takes Some Credit for Fixing Them
NYCHA residents on LES – some elderly and disabled – mustgo miles to post office as mailboxes remain busted for months (NYDN) For most New Yorkers, the task of getting the mail involves simply checking the mailbox on the way into their apartment. Not for NYCHA tenant Gregory Coleman. At least once a week, Coleman, 60, navigates a winding path through the Lower East Side in his fire-engine red motorized wheelchair from the Jacob Riis Houses to the E. 14th St. post office. Round trip, he travels just under 2 miles — rain or shine. Coleman must do this because, since November, his is one of 25 mailboxes at 1115 FDR Drive that have been vandalized — and nobody can agree on who should fix it.
Vanessa
Gibson Demands Bratton Clean House; Ignores Own Backyard (Council
Watch) Councilmember Vanessa Gibson,
chair of the Public Safety Committee, has announced her plans to probe the
finances and activities of the New York City Police Foundation. This
foundation, which is funded by private donations, hires consultants to study
the operations of the NYPD and make recommendations; in some cases, these
consultants have been hired by the police department. For example, in her
2013 campaign for office, Gibson (who was at that time a member of the state
Assembly) accepted contributions from 26 individual donors employed by SCAN New York . SCAN is
a service provider in the South Bronx that
targets at-risk youth and helps through mentoring and various programs.
The 26 donors collectively gave Gibson $2,125, which doesn’t sound like much
until you consider that her entire campaign raised only $110,000, most of which
came from unions or other political committees. Small donations from
individuals are subject to city matching funds, which multiply their effect by
a factor of six. In the FY 2015 budget Councilmember Gibson allocated $20,000
to SCAN as part of the Council’s Anti-Poverty Initiative. Eleven employees of
the 1332 Fulton Avenue Day Care Corporation contributed to the 2013 Gibson
Council campaign. Gibson later awarded the non-profit organization
$50,000 to provide social services to children in the district.
Four directors of the Garifuna Coalition contributed to the
Gibson campaign: the organization was later given $10,000 as part of the
Anti-Poverty Initiative.
The executive director of Southeast Bronx Neighborhood
Centers wrote the Gibson campaign contribution checks on three separate
occasions. Gibson later allocated $10,000 to Southeast Bronx Neighborhood
Centers out of her pot of discretionary funds.
Was Mark-Viverito's Election for Speaker illegal?
Speaking of speakers (NYDN Ed) Gifts of service to Melissa Mark-Viverito must not go unpunished. When, after the 2013 elections, then-Councilwoman Mark-Viverito was angling, with Mayor de Blasio’s enthusiastic backing, to become Speaker Mark-Viverito, she relied on the help of a well-connected political consulting and lobbying firm called the Advance Group. The pros helped her prepare for debates, network with county leaders, court fellow Council members — and win the second-most powerful job in city government. She got those usually high-priced services for the low, low price of zero dollars and zero cents. In other words, Mark-Viverito received a highly valuable in-kind campaign contribution from a company with lots of business before the city — including representing dozens of clients who regularly lobby the Council. This column urged the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board to take up the matter. The City Charter, after all, states: “No public servant shall accept any valuable gift . . . from any person or firm” who “is or intends to become engaged in business dealings with the city.” To its credit, the board has now opened up a case; the speaker has filed campaign finance statements that she has spent $20,000 on lawyers to represent her. What could her defense possibly be? Neither the facts of her accepting freebies nor the rules against it are in dispute. She should be fined the max possible, $25,000. Even still, she’ll end up getting away with having violated the charter in order to be one of the top officials sworn to uphold it.
Have the Progressive Caucus Also Violated the City Ethic Law By Asking A Lobbyist to Work for Free ?
From the NYT: "The caucus asked a labor official, Alison Hirsh, the political director of 32BJ, the union of janitors and doormen, to negotiate with the county chairmen, other council members and speaker candidates on its behalf." Alison Hirsh, who is a registered lobbyist. The progressive has not registered with the BOE and CFB to legally hire a lobbyist.
To the Winner Lobbyists Goes the Spoils (City Council)
Since the 2013 elections Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin has picked up of 70 clients to lobby for. 51 clients to lobby the city council, 17 to lobby the office of the mayor
Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list. Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.
The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Lobby for the City Council Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: MedReview, Inc., Meadows Office Supply Co., Inc., National Lighthouse Museum, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Inc., Knickerbocker Plaza LLC, Local 420 AFSCME AFL-CIO, Vera Institute of Justice, Inc., Hotel, Restaurant & Club Employees & Bartenders Union Local 6, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO, Detectives Endowment Association Police Department, City of New York Inc., Lakeside Manor Home For Adults Inc., Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc,, Grasmere and Cameron Lakes Bluebelt Conservancy, Inc., Plumbers and Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 of the United Association, New York State Conference of IUOE, Richmond Uni Home Care, Inc., Adco Electrical Corp, BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC., New York Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Assoc. of NYC, Inc. Health Benefits Fund, LOCAL 372 NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEES, UNITE HERE, MagnaCare Administrative Services, LLC, District Council No. 4, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, A.T.U.-Division 1181-1061 AFL-CIO, OFFICE &PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 153, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 9 , RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Glenwood Management Corp., LOCAL UNION NO. 94-94A-94B, I.U.O.E., AFL-CIO, NYSARC, INC., NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN'S ASS'N LOCAL 831 - I.B.T, Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, Inc., East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, Inc., Urgent-MD Hewlett Management LLC , SOSH Architects, P.A.,, Lobby for the City Council and office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: New York Wheel LLC, WellPoint, Inc., Pier A Battery Park Associates, LLC, Garage Employees Local Union No. 272, Staten Island Marine Development, LLC, The Francis School, Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Food Distributor, Inc., THE WITKOFF GROUP LLC, Il Commandatore Restaurant Inc., RJ LEE GROUP, INC., Cameron Club of Staten island, Inc., Milrose Consultants, Inc., Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc, UNIFORMED FIRE ALARM DISPATCHERS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. , Lobby for the office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: Gardeners/Growers/Landscapers Association of New York, Inc., Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, SOSH Architects, P.A.
Council Speaker Campaign Gives the Most Member Items $$ to Her Campaign Consultants Lobbyists MirRam
After a Bad Night for Their Client Espaillat MirRam Still Made Money Today
Melissa Mark-Viverito Paid MirRam $35,000 for Her Campaign
Hispanic Federation gets biggest @NYCCouncil member item:$400K out of speaker's pot. (Capital)The federation has ties to almost every Hispanic lawmaker in The Bronx, including Rivera, but primarily benefits two men: political strategist Luis Miranda, who co-founded it and once served as its president, and Roberto Ramirez, a former Bronx Democratic Party boss. The men run a private political consulting firm, the MirRam Group. It’s paid by the Hispanic Federation and is hired by politicians who steer taxpayer money to the nonprofit.Flashback Twi$ted web of political nonprofits in Bx.(NYP)
Council Protests Against the Government They Run
#NYC’s confused #politicians demonstrate against a system they own and operate (City Journal) Civil disobedience historically involves a demonstration by an aggrieved people against their government. In an unusual twist, New York City is now governed by aggrieved politicians who demonstrate against the people. Standing in traffic, picketing small businesses, and interrupting their own meetings, Gotham ’s elected representatives enjoy the privileges of power while simultaneously donning the mantle of the oppressed. Last November, 15 New York city council members interrupted a meeting of the full council to protest the non-indictment of Ferguson , Missouri
Two weeks later, following the non-indictment of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island , 25 council members and a contingent of supporters stood in the middle of Broadway chanting “I can’t breathe,” before staging a “die-in” in front of City Hall. Then the assemblage trooped inside, again begging “hands up, don’t shoot” to an imaginary phalanx of hostile troops, before attending their scheduled meeting. Properly understood, civil disobedience is resistance against an authoritarian state. A powerful elected official involving himself in a labor dispute against a tiny local business scarcely rises to Gandhian levels of moral courage. In New York ’s caricature of civil disobedience, politicians pretend to protest, and the police pretend to arrest them. No recent example exists of a city politician spending the night in jail or otherwise suffering any of the discomforts one might expect of the truly politically committed. Council Member Brad Lander, ideological mastermind of the council’s progressive wing, was arrested in March for protesting at a car wash in Brooklyn . Lander and Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who was also arrested, were participating in a labor action by eight employees of the Vegas Auto Spa, who are suing the car wash to gain union recognition and back pay. The two council members were led away in handcuffs, smiling broadly, and were apparently released immediately.* NYPD Commissioner: Relationship between city officials, union better (SI Advance)* NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and officers have overcome their estrangement, but several police sources said they still harbor bad feelings toward the mayor, the Postreports:
.
A Council Member Breaks MTA Safety Rules and Blames Stop and Frisk
Councilmember Johnson Who is White Has Attacked the NYPD for Targeting Blacks . . . Now He Filed A Complaint
Update
New York City Councilman Tried to Call Top NYPD Official During Ticketing: Police Commissioner (WSJ) New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said Friday a city councilman tried to call him or another senior police official as officers ticketed him for passing between subway cars.
NYC councilman ticketed for moving between subway carsfiles complaint against NYPD officers (NYDN) 23rd Street station along the A/C/E line, a police source said. “The officers admitted to taking the phone just to calm down the situation,’’ the source said. Johnson’s spokesman said he has paid the $75 summons.
NYC councilmanblasts 'broken windows' policing after being busted moving between subway cars:police sources (NYDN) A New York City councilman blasted “broken windows” policing when he broke the law Wednesday, police sources said. Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) was stopped as he moved between cars on an A train near the W. 23rd St. station around 6 p.m., cop sources said. “He was making a big deal out of it,” a source said.
A Few Days Ago Man dies while urinating between subway cars (NYP)
Councilman snags $30K settlement in Occupy Wall Street lawsuit (NYP)
***“He was saying this is what’s wrong with broken windows. He identified himself. He pulled out his cell and started making calls.” A spokesman for Johnson, who got a summons, said in a statement the councilman was “fully cooperative” and has the “utmost respect for the men and women of the NYPD.” “Broken windows” targets low-level infractions to prevent major crimes.* An increase in bad behavior is holding up subways, with the number of train delays attributed to unruly straphangers this January increasing 80 percent from last year, the Post reports: Johnson complained about flaws with broken window policing when he was issued a summons for moving between subway cars Wednesday* Bratton:Councilman tried calling police while being ticketed (Capital)
.
Even the Post Has Joined the Fight With True News to Expose Lobbyists and The Shadow Govt They Run
Bill de Blasio, Melissa Mark-Viverito: Progressives for sale (NYP Ed) Paying off the folks who helped you rise to power is nothing new. But it’s an odd way to deliver on rhetoric about bringing “a new progressive direction to New York .” BerlinRosen, the PR/lobbying firm behind Bill de Blasio’s mayoral run, enjoys unrivaled insider access at City Hall — even as it represents firms doing business with the city. And now Melissa Mark-Viverito has lavished over $1 million in taxpayer-funded pork on the clients of a lobbying firm that helped her become City Council speaker. As The Post’s Rich Calder reported Tuesday, 14 nonprofit clients of Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin won $1.08 million in council discretionary funds — $780,000 of it from Mark-Viverito herself. Council members have long used this pool of cash to buy support, without anyone voting on where the money goes. De Blasio has called rightly for an end to the practice — but hasn’t lifted a finger to try to abolish it. Which brings us back to his relationship with the firm of BerlinRosen — which also runs de Blasio’s external nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, which has raised $2 million from public-worker unions, individuals and firms that do business with the city.
Speaker Porks Her Council to Lobbyists Pitta Bishop Del Giorno, MirRam and Berlin Rosen
New budget proves it really pays to be friends with Mark-Viverito (NYP) A politically connected consulting firm that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become City Council speaker scored big bucks for its clients in the city’s new budget, records show. The lobbying firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin was able to rake in at least $1.08 million in council discretionary funds for 14 nonprofit clients in fiscal year 2016 — including $780,000 directly funneled by Mark-Viverito, a Post analysis of city data shows. The Manhattan Democrat’s cozy relationship with the Staten Island-based lobbying firm includes once paying it more than $61,000 to help get her elected speaker in 2013. * City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito directed her $16 million in discretionary funds toward a potpourri of progressive causes, but borough leaders say distribution is more even than in the past, City & State reports:
Pitta Bishop, the consulting firm that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become New York City Council speaker, scored at least $1.08 million in discretionary funds for 14 nonprofit clients in the city’s budget
The Weisenthal Center Arab-American Family Support Center in Brooklyn , which went from $6,225 pre-Mark-Viverito to $63,750 for fiscal 2016, the records show. Since Mark-Viverito took power in January 2014, Pitta Bishop’s influence has risen dramatically at City Hall, as it has been paid more than $3.3 million by clients to lobby the speaker and other council members.
Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list. Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.
The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Lobby for the City Council Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: MedReview, Inc., Meadows Office Supply Co., Inc., National Lighthouse Museum, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Inc., Knickerbocker Plaza LLC, Local 420 AFSCME AFL-CIO, Vera Institute of Justice, Inc., Hotel, Restaurant & Club Employees & Bartenders Union Local 6, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO, Detectives Endowment Association Police Department, City of New York Inc., Lakeside Manor Home For Adults Inc., Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc,, Grasmere and Cameron Lakes Bluebelt Conservancy, Inc., Plumbers and Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 of the United Association, New York State Conference of IUOE, Richmond Uni Home Care, Inc., Adco Electrical Corp, BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC., New York Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Assoc. of NYC, Inc. Health Benefits Fund, LOCAL 372 NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEES, UNITE HERE, MagnaCare Administrative Services, LLC, District Council No. 4, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, A.T.U.-Division 1181-1061 AFL-CIO, OFFICE &PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 153, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 9 , RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Glenwood Management Corp., LOCAL UNION NO. 94-94A-94B, I.U.O.E., AFL-CIO, NYSARC, INC., NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN'S ASS'N LOCAL 831 - I.B.T, Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, Inc., East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, Inc., Urgent-MD Hewlett Management LLC , SOSH Architects, P.A.,, Lobby for the City Council and office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: New York Wheel LLC, WellPoint, Inc., Pier A Battery Park Associates, LLC, Garage Employees Local Union No. 272, Staten Island Marine Development, LLC, The Francis School, Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Food Distributor, Inc., THE WITKOFF GROUP LLC, Il Commandatore Restaurant Inc., RJ LEE GROUP, INC., Cameron Club of Staten island, Inc., Milrose Consultants, Inc., Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc, UNIFORMED FIRE ALARM DISPATCHERS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. , Lobby for the office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: Gardeners/Growers/Landscapers Association of New York, Inc., Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, SOSH Architects, P.A.
Council Speaker Campaign Gives the Most Member Items $$ to Her Campaign Consultants Lobbyists MirRam
After a Bad Night for Their Client Espaillat MirRam Still Made Money Today
Melissa Mark-Viverito Paid MirRam $35,000 for Her Campaign
Hispanic Federation gets biggest @NYCCouncil member item:$400K out of speaker's pot. (Capital)The federation has ties to almost every Hispanic lawmaker in The Bronx, including Rivera, but primarily benefits two men: political strategist Luis Miranda, who co-founded it and once served as its president, and Roberto Ramirez, a former Bronx Democratic Party boss. The men run a private political consulting firm, the MirRam Group. It’s paid by the Hispanic Federation and is hired by politicians who steer taxpayer money to the nonprofit.Flashback Twi$ted web of political nonprofits in Bx.(NYP)
Council Protests Against the Government They Run
#NYC’s confused #politicians demonstrate against a system they own and operate (City Journal) Civil disobedience historically involves a demonstration by an aggrieved people against their government. In an unusual twist, New York City is now governed by aggrieved politicians who demonstrate against the people. Standing in traffic, picketing small businesses, and interrupting their own meetings, Gotham ’s elected representatives enjoy the privileges of power while simultaneously donning the mantle of the oppressed. Last November, 15 New York city council members interrupted a meeting of the full council to protest the non-indictment of Ferguson , Missouri
Two weeks later, following the non-indictment of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island , 25 council members and a contingent of supporters stood in the middle of Broadway chanting “I can’t breathe,” before staging a “die-in” in front of City Hall. Then the assemblage trooped inside, again begging “hands up, don’t shoot” to an imaginary phalanx of hostile troops, before attending their scheduled meeting. Properly understood, civil disobedience is resistance against an authoritarian state. A powerful elected official involving himself in a labor dispute against a tiny local business scarcely rises to Gandhian levels of moral courage. In New York ’s caricature of civil disobedience, politicians pretend to protest, and the police pretend to arrest them. No recent example exists of a city politician spending the night in jail or otherwise suffering any of the discomforts one might expect of the truly politically committed. Council Member Brad Lander, ideological mastermind of the council’s progressive wing, was arrested in March for protesting at a car wash in Brooklyn . Lander and Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who was also arrested, were participating in a labor action by eight employees of the Vegas Auto Spa, who are suing the car wash to gain union recognition and back pay. The two council members were led away in handcuffs, smiling broadly, and were apparently released immediately.* NYPD Commissioner: Relationship between city officials, union better (SI Advance)* NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and officers have overcome their estrangement, but several police sources said they still harbor bad feelings toward the mayor, the Postreports:
.
A Council Member Breaks MTA Safety Rules and Blames Stop and Frisk
Councilmember Johnson Who is White Has Attacked the NYPD for Targeting Blacks . . . Now He Filed A Complaint
Update
New York City Councilman Tried to Call Top NYPD Official During Ticketing: Police Commissioner (WSJ) New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said Friday a city councilman tried to call him or another senior police official as officers ticketed him for passing between subway cars.
NYC councilman ticketed for moving between subway carsfiles complaint against NYPD officers (NYDN)
A Few Days Ago Man dies while urinating between subway cars (NYP)
Councilman snags $30K settlement in Occupy Wall Street lawsuit (NYP)
***“He was saying this is what’s wrong with broken windows. He identified himself. He pulled out his cell and started making calls.” A spokesman for Johnson, who got a summons, said in a statement the councilman was “fully cooperative” and has the “utmost respect for the men and women of the NYPD.” “Broken windows” targets low-level infractions to prevent major crimes.* An increase in bad behavior is holding up subways, with the number of train delays attributed to unruly straphangers this January increasing 80 percent from last year, the Post reports: Johnson complained about flaws with broken window policing when he was issued a summons for moving between subway cars Wednesday* Bratton:Councilman tried calling police while being ticketed (Capital)
Even the Post Has Joined the Fight With True News to Expose Lobbyists and The Shadow Govt They Run
Bill de Blasio, Melissa Mark-Viverito: Progressives for sale (NYP Ed) Paying off the folks who helped you rise to power is nothing new. But it’s an odd way to deliver on rhetoric about bringing “a new progressive direction to New York .” BerlinRosen, the PR/lobbying firm behind Bill de Blasio’s mayoral run, enjoys unrivaled insider access at City Hall — even as it represents firms doing business with the city. And now Melissa Mark-Viverito has lavished over $1 million in taxpayer-funded pork on the clients of a lobbying firm that helped her become City Council speaker. As The Post’s Rich Calder reported Tuesday, 14 nonprofit clients of Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin won $1.08 million in council discretionary funds — $780,000 of it from Mark-Viverito herself. Council members have long used this pool of cash to buy support, without anyone voting on where the money goes. De Blasio has called rightly for an end to the practice — but hasn’t lifted a finger to try to abolish it. Which brings us back to his relationship with the firm of BerlinRosen — which also runs de Blasio’s external nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, which has raised $2 million from public-worker unions, individuals and firms that do business with the city.
Speaker Porks Her Council to Lobbyists Pitta Bishop Del Giorno, MirRam and Berlin Rosen
New budget proves it really pays to be friends with Mark-Viverito (NYP) A politically connected consulting firm that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become City Council speaker scored big bucks for its clients in the city’s new budget, records show. The lobbying firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin was able to rake in at least $1.08 million in council discretionary funds for 14 nonprofit clients in fiscal year 2016 — including $780,000 directly funneled by Mark-Viverito, a Post analysis of city data shows. The Manhattan Democrat’s cozy relationship with the Staten Island-based lobbying firm includes once paying it more than $61,000 to help get her elected speaker in 2013. * City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito directed her $16 million in discretionary funds toward a potpourri of progressive causes, but borough leaders say distribution is more even than in the past, City & State reports:
Pitta Bishop, the consulting firm that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become New York City Council speaker, scored at least $1.08 million in discretionary funds for 14 nonprofit clients in the city’s budget
The Weisenthal Center Arab-American Family Support Center in Brooklyn , which went from $6,225 pre-Mark-Viverito to $63,750 for fiscal 2016, the records show. Since Mark-Viverito took power in January 2014, Pitta Bishop’s influence has risen dramatically at City Hall, as it has been paid more than $3.3 million by clients to lobby the speaker and other council members.
To the Winner Lobbyists Goes the Spoils (City Council)
Since the 2013 elections Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin has picked up of 70 clients to lobby for. 51 clients to lobby the city council, 17 to lobby the office of the mayor
Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list. Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.
In an unseemly but legal case of double-dealing, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become New York City Council speaker and is now lobbying Council members to pass mostly pro-union legislation
The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Pitta Bishop is A Lobbyist for A Nunber of LLCs Including Litwin's Glenwood management
Lobby for the City Council Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: MedReview, Inc., Meadows Office Supply Co., Inc., National Lighthouse Museum, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Inc., Knickerbocker Plaza LLC, Local 420 AFSCME AFL-CIO, Vera Institute of Justice, Inc., Hotel, Restaurant & Club Employees & Bartenders Union Local 6, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO, Detectives Endowment Association Police Department, City of New York Inc., Lakeside Manor Home For Adults Inc., Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc,, Grasmere and Cameron Lakes Bluebelt Conservancy, Inc., Plumbers and Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 of the United Association, New York State Conference of IUOE, Richmond Uni Home Care, Inc., Adco Electrical Corp, BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC., New York Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Assoc. of NYC, Inc. Health Benefits Fund, LOCAL 372 NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEES, UNITE HERE, MagnaCare Administrative Services, LLC, District Council No. 4, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, A.T.U.-Division 1181-1061 AFL-CIO, OFFICE &PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 153, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 9 , RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Glenwood Management Corp., LOCAL UNION NO. 94-94A-94B, I.U.O.E., AFL-CIO, NYSARC, INC., NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN'S ASS'N LOCAL 831 - I.B.T, Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, Inc., East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, Inc., Urgent-MD Hewlett Management LLC , SOSH Architects, P.A.,, Lobby for the City Council and office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: New York Wheel LLC, WellPoint, Inc., Pier A Battery Park Associates, LLC, Garage Employees Local Union No. 272, Staten Island Marine Development, LLC, The Francis School, Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Food Distributor, Inc., THE WITKOFF GROUP LLC, Il Commandatore Restaurant Inc., RJ LEE GROUP, INC., Cameron Club of Staten island, Inc., Milrose Consultants, Inc., Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc, UNIFORMED FIRE ALARM DISPATCHERS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. , Lobby for the office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: Gardeners/Growers/Landscapers Association of New York, Inc., Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, SOSH Architects, P.A.
Lobbyists MirRam Big Winner At Council Pork
Spending members Items jumping to $57 million, $7 million more than this year
City’s new budget allots $57M for ‘pork’ spending (NYP) Spending on pet projects among City Council members is jumping to $57 million in the coming fiscal year — $7 million more than this year’s levels, new records show. The 14 percent boost in spending came out of negotiations between Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito as part of their agreement on a $78.5 billion citywide budget for fiscal 2016. The increase was OK’d by the mayor even though he has called for the elimination of such funding, which good-government groups and other critics deride as pork. The lion’s share of the council’s spending falls under the discretion of the speaker, who has direct say over $16.5 million in funds. Records released Thursday afternoon show her biggest beneficiaries are nonprofit clients of the MirRam Group, which consulted on her 2013 council campaign, and whose founder, Luis Miranda, is considered a pal. The lobbying firm’s clients — including the Hispanic Federation, Comunilife and the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement — got $1.2 million in earmarks collectively. * The mayor is quietly backing away from an effort to end member items on the New York City Council.
City Council Lives Up to Its Puppet Makeup
New York City Council Adopts Budget With Little Dissent (WSJ) The New York City Council on Friday approved a $78.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins next week, ending the annual debate about city spending with markedly less divisiveness than Albany’s end-of-session wrangling. * City Council Approves $78.5 Billion Budget(NY1)
Her other big beneficiaries include the nonprofit arm of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which is getting $340,000. The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, the controversial nonprofit founded by disgraced ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, was earmarked $250,000 at the request of several Brooklyn councilmen. Two of those members, former protégés of Lopez — Brooklyn Democrats Rafael Espinal and Stephen Levin — additionally chipped in nearly $100,000 combined. Other members each allocated at least $660,000 to their pet causes — often to neighborhood groups with which they have close ties. Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) gave $25,000 to the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee, where he previously served as executive director for a decade. The Brooklyn delegation, where Lander wields a good deal of power, gave the organization an additional $75,000. Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx) earmarked $10,000 for The Bronx Defenders, a legal-aid group that recently came under fire when its staffers appeared in a rap video advocating cop-killing. Vito Lopez Corruption Lives The New York City Council funneled more than a half million dollars to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a nonprofit founded by disgraced former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Observerwrites: * City Council Continues to Fund Vito Lopez’s OldNonprofit (NYO) NY’s City Council feasts at the pig trough yet again (NYP Ed) Every year — without fail — budget negotiations end with the City Council’s little piggies going “wee-wee-wee” all the way to the pork trough. This year is no different. “Discretionary spending” by council members is up 14 percent, to $57 million in the just-concluded budget deal. And despite claims the system’s been fixed, it still functions like a slush fund for the speaker. And this year, the biggest winners of pork she herself ladeled to outsiders were the nonprofit clients of MirRam Group, which consulted on her own 2013 campaign.* City Council approves NYC's $78.6 billion 2016 budget, beefs up NYPD (NYDN)* The Post calls on the New York City Council and the mayor to do away with discretionary funding for members, arguing that giving politicians millions in cash to buy public and political support is an invitation to corruption: * City Council reaches $21 million deal to keep community-based nonprofits in business (NYDN)
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Progressive Unemployment
City's Job Placement Drops 30% After Living Wage Commitment
Job placements drop 30 percent after de Blasio’s ‘living wage’ commitment (NYP) Job placements through the city’s employment centers plummeted by nearly 30 percent after the de Blasio administration stopped dealing with employers who pay less than a “living wage” for part-time. work, new data show. About 28,300 applicants were placed into jobs in 2014, compared to 39,800 in 2013 — the final year of the Bloomberg administration. The sharp drop came after the city began requiring participating employers to offer either full-time work or pay at least $10 an hour as of April 2014. The “living wage” requirement was bumped up again last month to $11.50 per hour. *
NYP Says the Council Might Be Right on Something
Update Where is the Health Care Savings?
New York City Labor Relations Commissioner Robert Linn explained how the city plans to save $400 million in health expenses this year and achieve the $3.4 billion in savings that unions agreed to find over four years, the Observer reports: ** New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration laid out the details of its plan to save $3.4 billion in employee healthcare costs over the next four years, TheWall Street Journal reports: * New York City is crediting municipal unions with $108 million in savings after the city eliminated 14,000 ineligible recipients from its healthcare rolls this year, the Post reports: * New York City could lose $129 million a year in Head Start funding if it doesn’t fix six serious problems in child facilities, a federal official told the City Council, the Post reports: * The Post lauds the New York City Council for questioning de Blasio’s claims that new union contracts would save taxpayers $3.4 billion in healthcare costs over four years: * Council bites dog (NYP Ed) Man bites dog? The City Council — usually consumed with blocking cops from doing their jobs, imposing new burdens on local business or harassing school reformers — may this week actually do part of its real job. The council plans a hearing Wednesday to hold the de Blasio administration accountable — challenging its lack of transparency on a multibillion-dollar issue. In question are the supposed billions in health-care savings the city claims will help pay for the mayor’s generous contracts with city unions. Last spring’s deal with the teachers union, for example, granted 18 percent raises and retroactive pay — made officially affordable by a complex gimmick that supposedly would mean $1.3 billion in health-care savings. Now that nearly all the municipal unions have inked similar deals, the administration says such savings will total $3.4 billion. * Presto, chango in City Hall: The City Council must get tothe truth behind sketchy health-care savings (NYDN Ed) * Dr. de Blasio’s cooked books (NYDN)
Daily News Names A Bunch of Councilmembers Heros for Not Taking Lulus
Naming the names of NYC Councilmembers who do the right thing on lulus, and those who don't (NYDN Ed) Albany . Eleven of the 51 members refuse the money on the principle that all lawmakers should be paid the same, as is the case in Congress for everyone from the least to the most senior. Here are the local heroes: Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who turns back $20,000 yearly; Brad Lander from Brooklyn and Dan Garodnick of Manhattan, who say no to $15,000 each; and Rory Lancman of Queens, Alan Maisel, Carlos Menchaca and Mark Treyger of Brooklyn, Andy Cohen of the Bronx, Ben Kallos, Mark Levine and Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan, all of whom relinquish $8,000. Despite having told this Editorial Board or the good-government group Citizens Union that lulus should be limited only to the top leadership, six members pocket the money: Corey Johnson and Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan, Daneek Miller, Danny Dromm and Paul Vallone of Queens and Vinny Gentile of Brooklyn. Seventeen supposed reformers take the money and claim without proof to donate it to charity: From Brooklyn, Robert Cornegy, David Greenfield, Antonio Reynoso, Darlene Mealy, Mathieu Eugene, Rafael Espinal, Chaim Deutsch and Inez Barron. From Queens , Costa Constantinides, Julissa Ferreras, Peter Koo, Karen Koslowitz and Eric Ulrich. From the Bronx , Fernando Cabrera and Ritchie Torres. From Staten Island , Debi Rose. From Manhattan , Inez Dickens. The rest of the Council makes no bones about grabbing the cash even as they cheapen their offices.
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Councilwomen Cumbo Asian Problem
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Editorial: Laurie Cumbo the divider (NYDN Ed) The them-and-us racial overtones in remarks uttered in City Hall Thursday by Brooklyn Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo were appallingly divisive. Cumbo, who is African-American, represents neighborhoods that have been predominantly black for decades. More recently, some whites and Asians have arrived. Cumbo worried that Asians had moved in large numbers into certain New York City Housing Authority projects. Channeling the perspectives of residents of the Walt Whitman and Ingersoll Houses, who apparently are predominantly black, Cumbo questioned NYCHA chairwoman Shola Olatoye. Though she wrapped her words in everyone-loves-everyone rhetoric, the point was clear: We are watching them encroach upon ou r community. Follow the poisonous pronouns as Cumbo began: “We have a very large Asian population in our district, which we love, and they add something very valuable to our community and our district, and they are welcomed in our district.” How nice.* New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo’s remarks about “blocs” of Asians moving into NYCHA developments “unfortunate,” the Daily News writes
Why Don't The Progressives On the Council Try to Pass A Bill Banning Lulu?
Daily News Gives Credit to A Few Council Members for Returning Their Lulu, But Never Asked the Councilmember Why No Bill
Before every election, good-government groups and the Daily News Editorial Board poll candidates on the question of accepting lulus. Van Bramer brings to 12 the cadre who have signed documents renouncing the extra cash. The others who had already done so are: Brad Lander, Alan Maisel, Carlos Menchaca and Mark Treyger of Brooklyn; Andy Cohen of the Bronx; Dan Garodnick, Ben Kallos, Mark Levine and Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan ; Rory Lancman of Queens; and Steve Matteo of Staten Island . Garodnick and Lander said no to $15,000 lulus. Matteo’s was $5,000 and the rest declined $8,000. Bravo to all. An additional 18 members accept lulus and say they donate the money to charity, though they show no proof of their gifts.
Puppet Council 180 On Protests After the Death of PO Ramos and Liu
There were no Council members blocking traffic. Instead, there was unstinting praise for the police from the Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, who earlier this month had asked her colleagues to repeat “I can’t breathe” 11 times, for the number of times Mr. Garner said those words before he died in the encounter with the police. “We are here to send a simple and direct message: that we unequivocally support, appreciate and value our police officers, that we condemn any and all violence against them, that we must end hateful and divisive rhetoric which seeks to demonize officers and their work,” Ms. Mark-Viverito, flanked by fellow Council members, said at a news conference.
Proof of NY's City Council are Puppets, No Mayoral Veto All Year
For second timesince 1990, NYC mayor goes a year w/out vetoing any legislation:(Capital) In his first year as mayor, Bill de Blasio has signed into law every bill passed by the Council. It's only the second time in more than two decades a mayor went through a calendar year without having vetoed a single piece of legislation. De Blasio enjoys a close relationship with the Council's speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a like-minded, left-of-center Democrat who de Blasio personally lobbied members to elect in January. Between 2002 and 2005, when the Council was led by Gifford Miller, Bloomberg's political rival, the mayor vetoed 48 bills. In 2005 alone, the year Miller ran against him, Bloomberg vetoed 19 pieces of legislation, according to a veto tally provided to Capital last year by Bloomberg's aides. (Two of those 19 bills were passed in 2005, but vetoed in January of 2006.)* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first-year agenda has faced next to no resistance in the City Council, which some say is because of his successful efforts to install Melissa Mark-Viverito as Speaker, the Wall Street Journal writes:
NYC's Progressives Never Speak Of Government Reforms Like the Founders of Their Movement Built Their Cause On
The real reason why the rent is too high (NYDN) Big developers flood politicians with cash Both major candidates for mayor, Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota, agree that an inadequate supply of affordable housing is a serious problem, and both have plans to create more. But what has not been discussed nearly enough is one of the major causes of the shortage: the way the real estate industry uses its massive campaign contributions to limit our affordable housing stock. This year, after receiving tons of money from well-placed donors, the governor and members of the state Legislature quietly gave away millions of your tax dollars to developers of luxury towers. The deal was so bad that it is being looked at by the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. The report found that four of the five developers used high contribution limits and loopholes to give more than $1.5 million to state elected officials, political parties and real estate PACs between 2008 and 2012, including at least $440,962 in 2012 alone. And Cuomo, who had to sign the legislation, was the biggest single recipient, pulling in $150,000 from the four developers in 2012.
NYC Fake Progressive Movement
The 1st Progressive Era Goal Was to Destroy Political Bosses
The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s.[1] One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercuttingpolitical machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supported prohibition in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons.[2] At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena.[3] A second theme was building an Efficiency movement in every sector that could identify old ways that needed modernizing, and bring to bear scientific, medical and engineering solutions.Progressives sought to enable the citizenry to rule more directly and circumvent political bosses. Many cities set up municipal reference bureaus to study the budgets and administrative structures of local governments. Charles Henry Parkhurst (April 17, 1842 – September 8, 1933) was an American clergyman and social progressive. Although scholarly and reserved, he preached two sermons in 1892 in which he attacked the political corruption of New York City government. Backed by the evidence he collected, his statements led to both the exposure of Tammany Hall and to subsequent social and political reforms. Frances Perkins and the New Deal
The Real Progressives Reform Movement 1890 to the 1920's
Today's Progressives Just Power Hungry
Progressives Make A Deal With the Corrupt Brooklyn Boss to Elect Speaker
"They went from progressive deals to back-room deals with a machine boss in record time"(Capital)
Not One City Elected official Will Stand Up and Make A Case for Their Own Pay Raise
No say, no pay (NYDN Ed) Right now, New York City ’s elected officials think that they’re up for raises. Some of the more delusional members of the City Council went so far as to suggest behind closed doors that they ought to get a 71% hike to an annual salary of $192,500. Although the Council and Mayor de Blasio will legislatively set pay levels for themselves and the rest of the city’s political hirees, a special pay-raise commission is studying how big any hikes should be. The panel will make non-binding recommendations after taking testimony. Its most crucial witnesses will be elected officials themselves. Given that, for better or worse, they are performing the job functions for which they are paid, they are ideally positioned to explain how pay checks should be adjusted for the first time since 2006. Oops. Almost every elected official in the city is avoiding the commission as desperately as if its members carry the Ebola virus. Chaired by former Corporation Counsel Fritz Schwarz, the panel sent written invitations to the mayor, controller, public advocate, all 51 councilmembers, all five borough presidents and all five district attorneys, asking each to come forward with thoughts about the “appropriate pay for city elected officials.” Greeted largely by silence, the commission followed up with phone calls. As of the close of business on Friday, only the five DAs had jointly put their formal request on paper. They proposed a 32% pay hike, which would bring their salaries to $250,000 a year.New York City council members now involved in participatory budgeting are rethinking their commitments because of the significant workload, the fear that certain interest groups are dominating and the idea that it dilutes the power of council members, the Observer reports: * The fact that most New York City elected officials won’t testify as to how much money they think their salaries should be increased by is shameful and unreflective of the way things work for New Yorkers in the real workplace * New York City Council pay hike on panel agenda for study (NYDN)
Memo to Progressive: The Likely GOP Takeover of the Senate Will Mean Less Money for MTA, NYCHA, HHC Other City Servies
Can Bill de Blasio Lead a Progressive Urban Surge?(City Limits)
The mayor has chalked up victories at home and rallied fellow mayors around an activist platform. Sure, this could be another false dawn for the hope of a new, national urban agenda. But maybe ...
Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list. Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.
In an unseemly but legal case of double-dealing, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin helped Melissa Mark-Viverito become New York City Council speaker and is now lobbying Council members to pass mostly pro-union legislation
The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Pitta Bishop is A Lobbyist for A Nunber of LLCs Including Litwin's Glenwood management
Lobby for the City Council Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: MedReview, Inc., Meadows Office Supply Co., Inc., National Lighthouse Museum, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Inc., Knickerbocker Plaza LLC, Local 420 AFSCME AFL-CIO, Vera Institute of Justice, Inc., Hotel, Restaurant & Club Employees & Bartenders Union Local 6, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council AFL-CIO, Detectives Endowment Association Police Department, City of New York Inc., Lakeside Manor Home For Adults Inc., Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc,, Grasmere and Cameron Lakes Bluebelt Conservancy, Inc., Plumbers and Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 of the United Association, New York State Conference of IUOE, Richmond Uni Home Care, Inc., Adco Electrical Corp, BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC., New York Hotel Trades Council and Hotel Assoc. of NYC, Inc. Health Benefits Fund, LOCAL 372 NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEES, UNITE HERE, MagnaCare Administrative Services, LLC, District Council No. 4, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, A.T.U.-Division 1181-1061 AFL-CIO, OFFICE &PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 153, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades DC 9 , RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Glenwood Management Corp., LOCAL UNION NO. 94-94A-94B, I.U.O.E., AFL-CIO, NYSARC, INC., NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, New York Black Operator's Injury Compensation Fund, Inc., UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN'S ASS'N LOCAL 831 - I.B.T, Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, Inc., East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, Inc., Urgent-MD Hewlett Management LLC , SOSH Architects, P.A.,, Lobby for the City Council and office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: New York Wheel LLC, WellPoint, Inc., Pier A Battery Park Associates, LLC, Garage Employees Local Union No. 272, Staten Island Marine Development, LLC, The Francis School, Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Food Distributor, Inc., THE WITKOFF GROUP LLC, Il Commandatore Restaurant Inc., RJ LEE GROUP, INC., Cameron Club of Staten island, Inc., Milrose Consultants, Inc., Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc, UNIFORMED FIRE ALARM DISPATCHERS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. , Lobby for the office of the mayor Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin,: Gardeners/Growers/Landscapers Association of New York, Inc., Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, SOSH Architects, P.A.
Lobbyists MirRam Big Winner At Council Pork
Spending members Items jumping to $57 million, $7 million more than this year
City’s new budget allots $57M for ‘pork’ spending (NYP) Spending on pet projects among City Council members is jumping to $57 million in the coming fiscal year — $7 million more than this year’s levels, new records show. The 14 percent boost in spending came out of negotiations between Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito as part of their agreement on a $78.5 billion citywide budget for fiscal 2016. The increase was OK’d by the mayor even though he has called for the elimination of such funding, which good-government groups and other critics deride as pork. The lion’s share of the council’s spending falls under the discretion of the speaker, who has direct say over $16.5 million in funds. Records released Thursday afternoon show her biggest beneficiaries are nonprofit clients of the MirRam Group, which consulted on her 2013 council campaign, and whose founder, Luis Miranda, is considered a pal. The lobbying firm’s clients — including the Hispanic Federation, Comunilife and the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement — got $1.2 million in earmarks collectively. * The mayor is quietly backing away from an effort to end member items on the New York City Council.
City Council Lives Up to Its Puppet Makeup
New York City Council Adopts Budget With Little Dissent (WSJ) The New York City Council on Friday approved a $78.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins next week, ending the annual debate about city spending with markedly less divisiveness than Albany’s end-of-session wrangling. * City Council Approves $78.5 Billion Budget(NY1)
Her other big beneficiaries include the nonprofit arm of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which is getting $340,000. The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, the controversial nonprofit founded by disgraced ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, was earmarked $250,000 at the request of several Brooklyn councilmen. Two of those members, former protégés of Lopez — Brooklyn Democrats Rafael Espinal and Stephen Levin — additionally chipped in nearly $100,000 combined. Other members each allocated at least $660,000 to their pet causes — often to neighborhood groups with which they have close ties. Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) gave $25,000 to the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee, where he previously served as executive director for a decade. The Brooklyn delegation, where Lander wields a good deal of power, gave the organization an additional $75,000. Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx) earmarked $10,000 for The Bronx Defenders, a legal-aid group that recently came under fire when its staffers appeared in a rap video advocating cop-killing. Vito Lopez Corruption Lives The New York City Council funneled more than a half million dollars to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a nonprofit founded by disgraced former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Observerwrites: * City Council Continues to Fund Vito Lopez’s OldNonprofit (NYO) NY’s City Council feasts at the pig trough yet again (NYP Ed) Every year — without fail — budget negotiations end with the City Council’s little piggies going “wee-wee-wee” all the way to the pork trough. This year is no different. “Discretionary spending” by council members is up 14 percent, to $57 million in the just-concluded budget deal. And despite claims the system’s been fixed, it still functions like a slush fund for the speaker. And this year, the biggest winners of pork she herself ladeled to outsiders were the nonprofit clients of MirRam Group, which consulted on her own 2013 campaign.* City Council approves NYC's $78.6 billion 2016 budget, beefs up NYPD (NYDN)* The Post calls on the New York City Council and the mayor to do away with discretionary funding for members, arguing that giving politicians millions in cash to buy public and political support is an invitation to corruption: * City Council reaches $21 million deal to keep community-based nonprofits in business (NYDN)
Progressive Unemployment
City's Job Placement Drops 30% After Living Wage Commitment
Job placements drop 30 percent after de Blasio’s ‘living wage’ commitment (NYP) Job placements through the city’s employment centers plummeted by nearly 30 percent after the de Blasio administration stopped dealing with employers who pay less than a “living wage” for part-time. work, new data show. About 28,300 applicants were placed into jobs in 2014, compared to 39,800 in 2013 — the final year of the Bloomberg administration. The sharp drop came after the city began requiring participating employers to offer either full-time work or pay at least $10 an hour as of April 2014. The “living wage” requirement was bumped up again last month to $11.50 per hour. *
NYP Says the Council Might Be Right on Something
Update Where is the Health Care Savings?
New York City Labor Relations Commissioner Robert Linn explained how the city plans to save $400 million in health expenses this year and achieve the $3.4 billion in savings that unions agreed to find over four years, the Observer reports: ** New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration laid out the details of its plan to save $3.4 billion in employee healthcare costs over the next four years, TheWall Street Journal reports: * New York City is crediting municipal unions with $108 million in savings after the city eliminated 14,000 ineligible recipients from its healthcare rolls this year, the Post reports: * New York City could lose $129 million a year in Head Start funding if it doesn’t fix six serious problems in child facilities, a federal official told the City Council, the Post reports: * The Post lauds the New York City Council for questioning de Blasio’s claims that new union contracts would save taxpayers $3.4 billion in healthcare costs over four years: * Council bites dog (NYP Ed) Man bites dog? The City Council — usually consumed with blocking cops from doing their jobs, imposing new burdens on local business or harassing school reformers — may this week actually do part of its real job. The council plans a hearing Wednesday to hold the de Blasio administration accountable — challenging its lack of transparency on a multibillion-dollar issue. In question are the supposed billions in health-care savings the city claims will help pay for the mayor’s generous contracts with city unions. Last spring’s deal with the teachers union, for example, granted 18 percent raises and retroactive pay — made officially affordable by a complex gimmick that supposedly would mean $1.3 billion in health-care savings. Now that nearly all the municipal unions have inked similar deals, the administration says such savings will total $3.4 billion. * Presto, chango in City Hall: The City Council must get tothe truth behind sketchy health-care savings (NYDN Ed) * Dr. de Blasio’s cooked books (NYDN)
Daily News Names A Bunch of Councilmembers Heros for Not Taking Lulus
Daily News Names A Bunch of Councilmembers Heros for Not Taking Lulus
Naming the names of NYC Councilmembers who do the right thing on lulus, and those who don't (NYDN Ed) Albany . Eleven of the 51 members refuse the money on the principle that all lawmakers should be paid the same, as is the case in Congress for everyone from the least to the most senior. Here are the local heroes: Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who turns back $20,000 yearly; Brad Lander from Brooklyn and Dan Garodnick of Manhattan, who say no to $15,000 each; and Rory Lancman of Queens, Alan Maisel, Carlos Menchaca and Mark Treyger of Brooklyn, Andy Cohen of the Bronx, Ben Kallos, Mark Levine and Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan, all of whom relinquish $8,000. Despite having told this Editorial Board or the good-government group Citizens Union that lulus should be limited only to the top leadership, six members pocket the money: Corey Johnson and Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan, Daneek Miller, Danny Dromm and Paul Vallone of Queens and Vinny Gentile of Brooklyn. Seventeen supposed reformers take the money and claim without proof to donate it to charity: From Brooklyn, Robert Cornegy, David Greenfield, Antonio Reynoso, Darlene Mealy, Mathieu Eugene, Rafael Espinal, Chaim Deutsch and Inez Barron. From Queens , Costa Constantinides, Julissa Ferreras, Peter Koo, Karen Koslowitz and Eric Ulrich. From the Bronx , Fernando Cabrera and Ritchie Torres. From Staten Island , Debi Rose. From Manhattan , Inez Dickens. The rest of the Council makes no bones about grabbing the cash even as they cheapen their offices.
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Councilwomen Cumbo Asian Problem
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Editorial: Laurie Cumbo the divider (NYDN Ed) The them-and-us racial overtones in remarks uttered in City Hall Thursday by Brooklyn Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo were appallingly divisive. Cumbo, who is African-American, represents neighborhoods that have been predominantly black for decades. More recently, some whites and Asians have arrived. Cumbo worried that Asians had moved in large numbers into certain New York City Housing Authority projects. Channeling the perspectives of residents of the Walt Whitman and Ingersoll Houses, who apparently are predominantly black, Cumbo questioned NYCHA chairwoman Shola Olatoye. Though she wrapped her words in everyone-loves-everyone rhetoric, the point was clear: We are watching them encroach upon ou r community. Follow the poisonous pronouns as Cumbo began: “We have a very large Asian population in our district, which we love, and they add something very valuable to our community and our district, and they are welcomed in our district.” How nice.* New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo’s remarks about “blocs” of Asians moving into NYCHA developments “unfortunate,” the Daily News writes
Why Don't The Progressives On the Council Try to Pass A Bill Banning Lulu?
Daily News Gives Credit to A Few Council Members for Returning Their Lulu, But Never Asked the Councilmember Why No Bill
Before every election, good-government groups and the Daily News Editorial Board poll candidates on the question of accepting lulus. Van Bramer brings to 12 the cadre who have signed documents renouncing the extra cash. The others who had already done so are: Brad Lander, Alan Maisel, Carlos Menchaca and Mark Treyger of Brooklyn; Andy Cohen of the Bronx; Dan Garodnick, Ben Kallos, Mark Levine and Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan ; Rory Lancman of Queens; and Steve Matteo of Staten Island . Garodnick and Lander said no to $15,000 lulus. Matteo’s was $5,000 and the rest declined $8,000. Bravo to all. An additional 18 members accept lulus and say they donate the money to charity, though they show no proof of their gifts.
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Puppet Council 180 On Protests After the Death of PO Ramos and Liu
There were no Council members blocking traffic. Instead, there was unstinting praise for the police from the Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, who earlier this month had asked her colleagues to repeat “I can’t breathe” 11 times, for the number of times Mr. Garner said those words before he died in the encounter with the police. “We are here to send a simple and direct message: that we unequivocally support, appreciate and value our police officers, that we condemn any and all violence against them, that we must end hateful and divisive rhetoric which seeks to demonize officers and their work,” Ms. Mark-Viverito, flanked by fellow Council members, said at a news conference.
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Proof of NY's City Council are Puppets, No Mayoral Veto All Year
For second timesince 1990, NYC mayor goes a year w/out vetoing any legislation:(Capital) In his first year as mayor, Bill de Blasio has signed into law every bill passed by the Council. It's only the second time in more than two decades a mayor went through a calendar year without having vetoed a single piece of legislation. De Blasio enjoys a close relationship with the Council's speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a like-minded, left-of-center Democrat who de Blasio personally lobbied members to elect in January. Between 2002 and 2005, when the Council was led by Gifford Miller, Bloomberg's political rival, the mayor vetoed 48 bills. In 2005 alone, the year Miller ran against him, Bloomberg vetoed 19 pieces of legislation, according to a veto tally provided to Capital last year by Bloomberg's aides. (Two of those 19 bills were passed in 2005, but vetoed in January of 2006.)* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first-year agenda has faced next to no resistance in the City Council, which some say is because of his successful efforts to install Melissa Mark-Viverito as Speaker, the Wall Street Journal writes:
NYC's Progressives Never Speak Of Government Reforms Like the Founders of Their Movement Built Their Cause On
NYC Fake Progressive Movement
Not One City Elected official Will Stand Up and Make A Case for Their Own Pay Raise
The 1st Progressive Era Goal Was to Destroy Political Bosses
The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s.[1] One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercuttingpolitical machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supported prohibition in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons.[2] At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena.[3] A second theme was building an Efficiency movement in every sector that could identify old ways that needed modernizing, and bring to bear scientific, medical and engineering solutions.Progressives sought to enable the citizenry to rule more directly and circumvent political bosses. Many cities set up municipal reference bureaus to study the budgets and administrative structures of local governments. Charles Henry Parkhurst (April 17, 1842 – September 8, 1933) was an American clergyman and social progressive. Although scholarly and reserved, he preached two sermons in 1892 in which he attacked the political corruption of New York City government. Backed by the evidence he collected, his statements led to both the exposure of Tammany Hall and to subsequent social and political reforms. Frances Perkins and the New Deal
The Real Progressives Reform Movement 1890 to the 1920's
Today's Progressives Just Power Hungry
The Real Progressives Reform Movement 1890 to the 1920's
Today's Progressives Just Power Hungry
Progressives Make A Deal With the Corrupt Brooklyn Boss to Elect Speaker
"They went from progressive deals to back-room deals with a machine boss in record time"(Capital)
"They went from progressive deals to back-room deals with a machine boss in record time"(Capital)
No say, no pay (NYDN Ed) Right now, New York City ’s elected officials think that they’re up for raises. Some of the more delusional members of the City Council went so far as to suggest behind closed doors that they ought to get a 71% hike to an annual salary of $192,500. Although the Council and Mayor de Blasio will legislatively set pay levels for themselves and the rest of the city’s political hirees, a special pay-raise commission is studying how big any hikes should be. The panel will make non-binding recommendations after taking testimony. Its most crucial witnesses will be elected officials themselves. Given that, for better or worse, they are performing the job functions for which they are paid, they are ideally positioned to explain how pay checks should be adjusted for the first time since 2006. Oops. Almost every elected official in the city is avoiding the commission as desperately as if its members carry the Ebola virus. Chaired by former Corporation Counsel Fritz Schwarz, the panel sent written invitations to the mayor, controller, public advocate, all 51 councilmembers, all five borough presidents and all five district attorneys, asking each to come forward with thoughts about the “appropriate pay for city elected officials.” Greeted largely by silence, the commission followed up with phone calls. As of the close of business on Friday, only the five DAs had jointly put their formal request on paper. They proposed a 32% pay hike, which would bring their salaries to $250,000 a year.New York City council members now involved in participatory budgeting are rethinking their commitments because of the significant workload, the fear that certain interest groups are dominating and the idea that it dilutes the power of council members, the Observer reports: * The fact that most New York City elected officials won’t testify as to how much money they think their salaries should be increased by is shameful and unreflective of the way things work for New Yorkers in the real workplace * New York City Council pay hike on panel agenda for study (NYDN)
Memo to Progressive: The Likely GOP Takeover of the Senate Will Mean Less Money for MTA, NYCHA, HHC Other City Servies
Council Wants It Both Ways On Tickets
Council Spends the Money Collected From the Summon System and Complains Tickets Have Overwhelmed the Courts
New York City Council members expressed concerns about the city’s summons system at a hearing Monday, as legal advocates described what they see as opaque, rapid proceedings in overwhelmed courts, the Journalreports: * New York City has issued violations to a half-dozen businesses for failing to comply with the new paid-sick-leave law—the first enforcement actions since the law was passed in March, the Post writes:
The Council Capital Budget Operate Like Member Items
The Media and Good Government Attack Member Items But are Silent About A Much Larger Pot of Money the Council's Capital Budget
Daily News de Blasio must call an end to this insulting lunacy by announcing that he would veto any such measure
May I Search You De Blasio's duty to veto NYPD handcuffs (NYDN Ed) Asking permission is no way to police. A bill requiring permission from suspects for police searches failed the laugh test when Councilmen Antonio Reynoso and Ritchie Torres offered it in November. The bill provides powerful evidence that the Council is filled with members who believe the NYPD cannot be trusted to constitutionally carry out its duties. That’s what they are saying by proposing to force cops to get documentary proof from suspects that they have consented to be searched. Searchees would even get receipts. Call it the “mother, may I?” school of policing. Mayor de Blasio must call an end to this insulting lunacy by announcing that he would veto any such measure. Doing so while also canning a bill criminalizing chokeholds would dampen City Hall’s anti-police fanaticism.
Another Clue of the Strange Value System Of Those That Lable Themselves Progressives
Progressives, Including de Blasio Campaigned On Ending NYCHA's NYPD Vertical Patrols But Restart the Program When the Reality Of High Crime Appears
The housing police contend with some of the city’s most entrenched crime, particularly tit-for-tat shootings Prince Joshua “P.J.” Avitto « CBS New York * Program targets safety at NYC public housing(NYP)* Bill de Blasio Says He’ll Fulfill Horse Carriage and Living Wage Promises(NYO)* Pols Want Broader Push as 200 Cops Hit Public Housing Through Budget Deal(NYO)* DE BLASIO’S VIOLENT-CRIME CHALLENGES(New Yorker) *Security Cameras Have Mixed Results in Making Things Safer at Public Housing Developments(NY1)
As
the City Adds More Cops Why is There No Public Discussion of Judge
Scheindlin Ruling and 2013 Candidates Promising to Stop Vertical Patrols
in Public Housing
Remember
those awful “vertical patrols”? This was the policing of public housing
projects that local pols and activists called “intentionally
discriminatory” in a lawsuit against the NYPD cops still
pending..Remember those awful “vertical patrols”? This was the policing
of public housing projects that local pols and activists called
“intentionally discriminatory” in a lawsuit against the NYPD cops still
pending before federal judge Shira Scheindlin.The idea is that police
patrols of housing projects are bad for residents because they are
racist and unconstitutional.We think about Judge Scheindlin — and the
city politicians who egged her on in her fight against the police — in
the wake of the latest criminal horror, a stabbing of two children who
live in New York City Housing Authority buildings.
Rubber Stamp Council Wants to Fake It Better
Council Staff Hid Documents from Members
New York City Budget: Vote First, Read Later
Some NYC Council members and government watchdog groups are calling for council members to have at least 24 hours to read budget documents after the city budget was voted on and passed within a few hours of its printing, Wall Street Journal * Council staffers deliberately withheld some budget documentsfor more than 6 hours ahead of budget vote
.
Council Progressives Look The Other Way When Their Members Get Paid for Nothing
Money for nothing(NYDN)
Council members rake in thousands of bucks for nothing at
all. Here’s an existential puzzle: If a committee has only one member,
is it always in session? The question must be asked because four City
Council panels have one member each, with each member serving as
chairman and with each pulling down an $8,000 stipend for holding the
title. Most absurdly, Brooklyn Councilman Chaim Deutsch has failed to
gavel himself into order as chairman of the Subcommittee on Non-Public
Schools since he was named to the newly created panel in January. Then,
there’s Councilman Ruben Wills, who was removed as chairman of the
Subcommittee on Drug Abuse after he was indicted for allegedly stealing
state funds — leaving the subcommittee without any members. All told,
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito doles out $472,000 in annual stipends,
called lulus, enabling her to boost incomes above the Council’s lawful
$112,500 salary. The extra money went to 47 of 51 members, supposedly
for extra work. Right.
Progressive City Council and Their Tammany Hall Member Item Reelection Fund
The New York City Council plans Wednesday to approve $50 million in discretionary funds to hundreds of community groups, defying Mayor Bill de Blasio's call for abolishing what some critics describe as "pork."* New poverty formula for member items gives most to@MMViverito & some who didn'tsupport her(Capital)* The New York City Council plans today to approve $50 million in discretionary funds to hundreds of community groups, defying Mayor Bill de Blasio’s call for abolishing this type of government funding that some critics describe as “pork.”* NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito promised a fairer distribution of discretionary funds than in the days of predecessor Christine Quinn — but the largest piece of the pie still went to her and her friends.
How Does the Progressive Justify Lulus
The Port Authority Also Gives Out Member Items Slush Fund to Increase Their Power
Storm in a Port(NYP) Among the many sources of scandal and corruption for our state and city legislators has been “member items” — taxpayer dollars given to each member to dole out to local community groups with no vote and zero accountability. Turns out the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has something very similar. It’s a group of funds known collectively as “regional banks.” Over the past three decades, governors of both states and both parties have used these funds to hand out $1.5 billion in donations to non-profits — most of them completely unrelated to the PA’s core mission of transportation. For example, according to The Record, the PA gave $10 million to the New York Botanical Garden, $1 million to Ballet Hispanico, $5 million to the Museum of Modern Art, $3.5 million to Jazz at Lincoln Center and $5 million to the Jersey City Medical Center, among many others. All worthy causes, no doubt — but none having anything to do with transportation. And the banks, which were recently replenished to the tune of $950 million, get their spending money from tolls and fares.* NY Taxpayer money used to pay lobbyistsThe City Budget Found No Extra Money For Veteran Despite Promises to Do So
True News Called the Council's Member Items Reforms Bull Shit Before the Daily News, NYT
Last Weeks Cartoon From True News Wags the NYT
Today's NYT writes that proposed rule changes to improve the legislative process for the New York City Council are good, but where the rules reform package doesn’t crack down harder on members’ ability to steal money is bad The City Council, Playing by Better Rules(NYT Ed) The New York City Council missed an opportunity by seeking to study “member items” rather than end these stipends that pad members’ salaries.
De Blasio Says End Member Items Now . . .
Fake Council Progressives Have Removed Reform From the Progressive Movement
Daily News Editorial Stick a fork in the pork(NYDN Ed) The Council doubles down on "what, me worry?" as yet another member is arrested. Following the arrest of Ruben Wills, Mayor de Blasio needs to stand up to objections from City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and push to abolish member items or require that all contracts be awarded based on competitive sealed bids.
Councilman's Arrest Revives Debate on Grants(WSJ)
Mayor Bill de Blasio today repeated his opposition to City Council member items, setting himself up for a showdown in the coming months with council members, who rely on the millions of dollars to fund senior centers, parks and other projects in their districts, boosting their reputations in the process.
Mayor and Progressives Pay Off Bus Union While the Council Rubber Stamps With Little Oposition
Mayor and Progressives Pay Off Bus Union While the Council Rubber Stamps With Little Oposition
Does the Bus Deal Show that the City Government Represents Fiscal Responsibility or a Narrow Interest Group?
De Blasio, aiming to reverse conditions that led to a strike, defended spending $42 million to boost the pay of seasoned school bus drivers, saying less experienced drivers put children at risk, The New York Times reports: * De Blasio's $42M school-bus-company grants debated(NYDN) * De Blasio’s $42M school bus driver pay hike likely to pass(NYP) De Blasio’s proposal to award $42 million in pay hikes to private school bus workers appears likely to breeze through the New York City Council despite reservations by some members
* Citizens Budget Commission slams $42 million plan to boost school bus...(NYDN) * New York City Councilman Dan Garodnick was the only member of the Council to vote against a bill restoring $42 million for wage increases to school bus workers, the Daily News reports: * Bill’s bus boondoggle(NYDN)Redeeming a campaign promise, Mayor de Blasio is moving to undermine competitive bidding, use public money to supplement private wages and divert $42 million that could be used in classrooms.* New York Council Vote to Pay School Bus Drivers More Is Criticized(NYT) * Bill’s bus boondoggle (NYDN Ed) Mayor de Blasio recklessly dips into public treasury to boost private companies' wages* * De Blasio expressed confidence that his administration's effort to increase wages for private school bus drivers by $42 million would hold up if challenged in court, Crain’s reports:
Fake Council Progressives Have Removed Reform From the Progressive Movement
Daily News Editorial Stick a fork in the pork(NYDN Ed) The Council doubles down on "what, me worry?" as yet another member is arrested. Following the arrest of Ruben Wills, Mayor de Blasio needs to stand up to objections from City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and push to abolish member items or require that all contracts be awarded based on competitive sealed bids.
Councilman's Arrest Revives Debate on Grants(WSJ)
City Council Checks and Ballance Not
A Budget Passes With No Public Discussion or Debate on City Policies
Take Your Member Items and Pass the Budget
City Council approves $75B budget for 2015 fiscal year * The New York City Council approved a $75 billion budget, a seven percent increase from last year, which includes free lunch for middle school students and moves 200 officers from desk jobs to the streets, the Daily News reports: Veterans Problems piling up at VA hospitals require better oversight and accountability, the Buffalo News writes: * Snouts in the public trough(NYP Ed) Whether it’s in Albany or City Hall, allowing pols to dole out public funds to specific groups without any vote is a breach of the most fundamental responsibility of a democratic legislature. And our news pages have more than borne out our warnings, filled as they are with stories about elected officials sent to prison for funneling these public dollars to non-profit groups that they themselves control. It doesn’t matter that some worthy groups receive money along the way. If their funding serves a public purpose, a bill to that effect should go before the legislature where the merits can be argued. The truth is that member items constitute a legalized slush fund that gives pols millions in taxpayer cash that they then use to buy loyalty, community support and votes. It doesn’t need reform. It needs complete abolition.
Another Clue of the Strange Value System Of Those That Lable Themselves Progressives
The New Progressives For Municipal ID Cards the NYACLU Against Over Privacy Issue
The New York Civil Liberties Union
came out against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to create
municipal ID cards for undocumented city residents, charging the law
could jeopardize residents’ privacy and leave them vulnerable to
deportation, the Daily News writes: * NYCLU opposes municipal ID bill, citing privacy concerns * De Blasio Signs Bill Creating City ID Card That Is Open to All Resident(NYT)* Mayor de Blasio launches municipal ID program in Brooklyn(NYP)* Available Soon for People Needing ID: City-Issued Cards(NYT) * What a card (NYDN) If executed smartly, municipal IDs make sense* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
signed legislation to launch the municipal ID program on Thursday, but
issues like getting banks and the NYPD to accept the cards could cause
difficulties launching the program successfully, the Journal writes: * A Municipal ID Card That’s Worth the Wait(NYT Ed) A New York City law that creates ID’s for residents
is good news for immigrants and marginalized city dwellers, but crucial
details still need to be worked out.
A New York Civics Lesson: Even the Councilman Don't Vote
On Third of the City Council Was Is Infected With Illegal PAC $$$ From Advance and Red Horse in the 2013 Election
Candidates Funding By Advance and Red Horse
NYCLASS: Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo: (Advance Client)
United for the Future: Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client), Councilman Robert Jackson (Advance Candidate, Boro President Candidate)
Candidates Funding By Red Horse and Advance's United for the Future PAC:
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (Abvance Worked on her Speakers Race), Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (AdvancePAC) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland),
Red Horse Clients Who Received United for the Future Mailings from Red Horse
James Vacca, Helen Rosenthal, Annabel Palm, Daneek Miller, Antonio Reynoso, Ritchie Torres
Advance Clients Who Received Mailings from Advance PACs
Mathieu Eugene, Yetta Krukland, Ydanis Rodríguez, Rafael L Espinal, Jr.
Other Council Member Funded By United for the Future
Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG), Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client), Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Inez Barron, Jumaane Williams, Alan Maisel (Brandford), Mark Treyger (Hudson TG), Debra Rose (Brandford), Steven Matteo, Vincent Ignizio, Eric Ulrich, Rosie Mendez Mendez, Inez E Dickens, Andrew Cohen, Rory Lancman, Steven Levin, Brad Lander
* The New York City Council has created a new Economic and Community Development Division, which will help the council try to broaden its role in new development by advising lawmakers on land use and building projects, the Journal reports: http://goo.gl/7lmoce
True News Called the Council's Member Items Reforms Bull Shit Before the Daily News, NYT
Last Weeks Cartoon From True News Wags the NYT
Today's NYT writes that proposed rule changes to improve the legislative process for the New York City Council are good, but where the rules reform package doesn’t crack down harder on members’ ability to steal money is bad The City Council, Playing by Better Rules(NYT Ed) The New York City Council missed an opportunity by seeking to study “member items” rather than end these stipends that pad members’ salaries.
De Blasio Says End Member Items Now . . .
Fake Council Progressives Have Removed Reform From the Progressive Movement
Daily News Editorial Stick a fork in the pork(NYDN Ed) The Council doubles down on "what, me worry?" as yet another member is arrested. Following the arrest of Ruben Wills, Mayor de Blasio needs to stand up to objections from City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and push to abolish member items or require that all contracts be awarded based on competitive sealed bids.
Councilman's Arrest Revives Debate on Grants(WSJ)
NYC Councilman Ruben Wills: “ I am not resigning on charges, this is America, people. We are presumed innocent before we are proven guilty.” * Ruben Wills: ‘I Am Presumed Innocent and That’s What I’m Going With’(NYO) * Wills Used Charity To Conceal Matching Funds Theft (Updated)(YNN) * Councilman Ruben Wills defiantly proclaimed his innocence after arrest for looting a non-profit group he once ran (NYP) * Schneiderman Slams Councilman Wills’ ‘Shameful Breach’ of Trust(NYO)
Bill de Blasio Says ‘It’s Time to End Member Items’(NYO) Mayor Bill de Blasio today repeated his opposition to City Council member items, setting himself up for a showdown in the coming months with council members, who rely on the millions of dollars to fund senior centers, parks and other projects in their districts, boosting their reputations in the process.
Mayor Bill de Blasio today repeated his opposition to City Council
member items, setting himself up for a showdown in the coming months
with council members, who rely on the millions of dollars to fund senior
centers, parks and other projects in their districts, boosting their
reputations in the process.
Fake Council Progressives Have Removed Reform From the Progressive Movement
Daily News Editorial Stick a fork in the pork(NYDN Ed) The Council doubles down on "what, me worry?" as yet another member is arrested. Following the arrest of Ruben Wills, Mayor de Blasio needs to stand up to objections from City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and push to abolish member items or require that all contracts be awarded based on competitive sealed bids.
Councilman's Arrest Revives Debate on Grants(WSJ)
NYC Councilman Ruben Wills: “ I am not resigning on charges, this is America, people. We are presumed innocent before we are proven guilty.” * Ruben Wills: ‘I Am Presumed Innocent and That’s What I’m Going With’(NYO) * Wills Used Charity To Conceal Matching Funds Theft (Updated)(YNN) * Councilman Ruben Wills defiantly proclaimed his innocence after arrest for looting a non-profit group he once ran (NYP) * Schneiderman Slams Councilman Wills’ ‘Shameful Breach’ of Trust(NYO)
Bill de Blasio Says ‘It’s Time to End Member Items’(NYO) Mayor Bill de Blasio today repeated his opposition to City Council member items, setting himself up for a showdown in the coming months with council members, who rely on the millions of dollars to fund senior centers, parks and other projects in their districts, boosting their reputations in the process.
Where the Check On de Blasio Budget?
Mulgrew "Gum up the works"
‘Great place’: De Blasio’s budget leaves a (mostly) contented Council(Capital)* As he presented his $73.9 billion budget at City Hall Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was giving up on his campaign promise to get rid of the City Council's discretionary funding, saying he and the Council have "agreed to disagree" on the topic.* Friction by press release only.
New York’s City Council denounces schools that help disadvantaged kids. http://bit.ly/1koIsJn
The City Council passed a sweeping rules overhaul Wednesday that strips the speaker of power to dole out cash for local projects — money long used to keep members in line. Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the vote marked a “new era” for the body. Under the new system, each member will get the same amount of discretionary money for local nonprofits.
* Raju Mann, a Municipal Art Society official, will take over for Gail Benjamin as the New York City Council’s land use director when Benjamin steps down in July, the Daily News reports: http://goo.gl/PvqfYE
City Council’s Progressive Caucus Nearly Doubles in Size http://nyob.co/1iISK1h.
City Council’s Progressive Caucus Nearly Doubles in Size(NYO)
* While much of the press around the City Council’s rules reform package has focused on member items, the legislation also commits to greater transparency by altering how data is presented on its website, Gotham Gazette reports: http://goo.gl/qhTDli
on D-Day Punk CM Dromm Want to Kick the Military Out of NYC Schools
Tuesday Update
Junior ROTC kids fire back at councilman who trashed program(NYP)
New York City Council Education Committee Chair Daniel Dromm wants to shut down the New York City school system’s Junior ROTC program, saying he has a philosophical problem with the program, the Post reports: * The head of the NYC Council’s Education Committee, Queens Democrat Daniel Dromm, wants to shoot down the school system’s Junior ROTC programs — charging they’re training high-school students for a “war machine.”
If You Needed Proof That the Council are Jerks and Puppets Controlled By the Mayor and Lobbyists . . .
It
took six months in office for members of the City Council
freshman class to admit they really don’t know what they’re doing. An
e-mail obtained by The Post shows that some of the 21 novice
legislators expressed befuddlement over the rules governing the
so-called “stated” meetings — which have been held at least twice a
month since January.* Only one new City Council member
attended a “mock” Council session designed for new members and staff,
after details of the meeting were leaked to the press, City & State reports:
Council is Really A Prop for Lobbyists to Rob the City's 72 Billion Budget
The Daily News writes that in continuing to deal with Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has brought pay-to-play to the Council, and she must cut ties with the firm or its clients: http://goo.gl/u9Rtmg
Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll(CrainsNY) Melissa Mark-Viverito quietly handed a $130,000-a-year staff position to a lobbyist from the firm that helped propel her to the City Council speakership, payroll records show. In late March, Carlos Beato, who was a lobbyist at the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, joined the City Council payroll as a deputy general counsel. The move came not long after the lobbying shop—which has long served as Ms. Mark-Viverito’s campaign compliance consultant—quarterbacked her council speaker bid. * COUNCIL WATCH: FRIENDLY FIRE: Since the progressive movement took hold of both wings of City Hall Council members have had to concoct controversy to pull off their typical grandstanding, Seth Barron writes in City & State: * New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, other council members and advocates will announce on Wednesday the expansion of participatory budgeting to at least 20 council districts, Gotham Gazette reports:
No Reaction From Progressive Councilmembers on Wills Arrest
NY's Corruption Extortion Governing After Years Of Insider Knowing the Facts of Wills' Corruption, An Arrest Indicted City Councilman Ruben Wills
went to great lengths to avoid investigators’ questioning in past years,
ignoring requests for meetings, using excuses about a sick family
member and even storming out of a hearing with state prosecutors,
DNAinfo reports: NYC Councilman Ruben Wills arrested(NYP)
Queens Councilman
Ruben Wills was arrested Wednesday morning in
connection with misuse of public funds, law enforcement sources said.
Wills had been under investigation by state Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman’s over tens of thousands of dollars in missing state funds
given to a not-for-profit group he once headed, New York 4 Life. Wills was arrested and charged with
misusing public funds, falsifying records and trying to conceal the
theft after tens of thousands of dollars went missing from a charity he
ran
* While much of the press around the City Council’s rules reform package has focused on member items, the legislation also commits to greater transparency by altering how data is presented on its website, Gotham Gazette reports: http://goo.gl/qhTDli
on D-Day Punk CM Dromm Want to Kick the Military Out of NYC Schools
Tuesday Update
Junior ROTC kids fire back at councilman who trashed program(NYP)
New York City Council Education Committee Chair Daniel Dromm wants to shut down the New York City school system’s Junior ROTC program, saying he has a philosophical problem with the program, the Post reports: * The head of the NYC Council’s Education Committee, Queens Democrat Daniel Dromm, wants to shoot down the school system’s Junior ROTC programs — charging they’re training high-school students for a “war machine.”
If You Needed Proof That the Council are Jerks and Puppets Controlled By the Mayor and Lobbyists . . .
The Daily News writes that in continuing to deal with Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has brought pay-to-play to the Council, and she must cut ties with the firm or its clients: http://goo.gl/u9Rtmg
Council speaker puts connected lobbyist on payroll(CrainsNY) Melissa Mark-Viverito quietly handed a $130,000-a-year staff position to a lobbyist from the firm that helped propel her to the City Council speakership, payroll records show. In late March, Carlos Beato, who was a lobbyist at the firm Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, joined the City Council payroll as a deputy general counsel. The move came not long after the lobbying shop—which has long served as Ms. Mark-Viverito’s campaign compliance consultant—quarterbacked her council speaker bid. * COUNCIL WATCH: FRIENDLY FIRE: Since the progressive movement took hold of both wings of City Hall Council members have had to concoct controversy to pull off their typical grandstanding, Seth Barron writes in City & State: * New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, other council members and advocates will announce on Wednesday the expansion of participatory budgeting to at least 20 council districts, Gotham Gazette reports:
No Reaction From Progressive Councilmembers on Wills Arrest
Council Speaker and the Progressives Councilmembers Do Not Say The Member Items System Sucks After Wills Arrests
SHOCKING Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Who Continues the Corruption Member Item System Will Not Allow Wills to Control Who Gets Member Items in His District Anymore CM Ruben Wills will not be allowed to select his own "member items" when fy15 budget is approved next month.(WSJ)
Flashbacks the Daily News reported in 2012 that Mr. Schneiderman’s office was investigating a $33,000 state grant that allegedly went missing after being doled out to a nonprofit linked to Mr. Wills. * According to the 2012 News report, Mr. Wills repeatedly failed to provide an account of tens of thousands of state dollars allocated to New York 4 Life, a shady nonprofit founded by Mr. Wills in 2009 that does not have a website. The funds were reportedly earmarked by Ms. Huntley in 2008 to fund various programs, including meals for single parents and a campaign to fight childhood obesity, but Mr. Wills was never able to provide documentation of how the cash was spent and failed to cooperate with the state comptroller and attorney general’s office.
.
Lobbyists Puppet Council Speaker . . .
Top Speaker Lobbyists Puts A Man Inside
http://ny-popculture-politics.blogspot.com/2014/05/Using-political-entities-operatives-game-campaign-finance-regulations-through-pattern-of-activities.html
.
Council Bums Even Lie About Giving Lulus to Charities
City Council members can’t prove they donated bonuses to charities(NYP) The bonuses, known as “lulus,” are doled out to members who take leadership roles or otherwise curry favor with the speaker. This included Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), who for eight weeks was unable to provide a single receipt documenting what he has done with the $60,000 in lulus he has been allocated since 2010. It was only after a Post reporter confronted him in person that Van Bramer’s office provided a short list of recipients, including the NAACP of Astoria and the 108th Precinct Community Council, but no amounts, dates or documentation. Those two groups confirmed they had received donations of $100 each from Van Bramer.he councilman also noted recently spending $25 on books at a charitable flea-market stand that he characterized as a contribution, and he said he gives $100 a year to a local church through a senior who asks for the donation. But his minimal list was more than what was offered by the bulk of council members, who provided no detail of charitable giving from their bonuses. Those include current Public Advocate Letitia James, Mathieu Eugene and Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn; Fernando Cabrera of The Bronx; Julissa Ferreras, Karen Koslowitz, Ruben Wills, and Peter Koo of Queens; and Rosie Mendez of Manhattan.Debi Rose (D-SI) said that she has given compensation to local nonprofits but that she considers the donations “private” and at her own discretion.Jane Carey, chief of staff to David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn), told The Post, “Councilman Greenfield does not share who he gives what charity to, as that would be seen as taking ‘credit’ for giving charity, which is contrary to religious Jewish values.” Citizens Union director Dick Dadey says council members who want credit for donating their lulus owe voters proof.
NYT to Council Why More Cops? . . .
Council in the Catbird Seat: Even If No More Cops Are Hired, They Can Not Say We Told You So If Crime Goes Up
The New York Times writes that without an increase in crime, the burden is on the New York City Council to show convincingly why and where it believes 1,000 new NYPD officers are needed The Crime-Inequality Link: A Test for New York Mayor(WSJ) One difference between the Bronx's Morrisania neighborhood 20 years ago and today is that residents now expect to walk down the street in daylight without incident. Residents say they want the same to be true at night. High-crime areas pose challenge for de Blasio
NYPD and Bill Braton
.
Council Robin Hood Member Item Pork
Member Items: Now A Pig With Lipstick
Mark-Viverito outlines rules reforms(Capital)
The reform to so-called member items, which have historically been
controlled by the speaker, would be "sort of a hybrid of need and
equal," according to one member who attended the private meeting and
would only speak on background and not for attribution.The member
said those who represent low-income districts would get more than those
from wealthier districts, in some cases up to 25 percent. * City Council members set to reform discretionary funds(NYP)Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is set to
propose rules changes, including relinquishing her authority in setting
how much money members receive for community groups * City Council Rejects Quinn Era With Rules Reform (NYO) Under the new rules, the council would come up with an “objective” and
public formula to decide how member item money is disbursed. The plan
would either mandate equal funding for all members or create a
“data-driven” formula that would account for economic differences
between districts. Under one plan that has been discussed by
members, districts would start off with the same-sized pot, with extra
money then going to districts with the highest levels of poverty.CM Feel Left Out By Speaker Mark-Viverito
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
Complaints mount in Council about Mark-Viverito(Capital) The burgeoning discontent has been prompted, most recently, by the speaker's appointments to the body's "budget negotiating team," or BNT. Several members, including some of her allies in the Progressive Caucus, are furious they were left out of the group, and rec "There is a huge problem with communication now," said a member who was appointed to the BNT. "That's what a lot of members are upset about, finding things out at the last minute. They don't feel informed." “Several members … are furious they were left out of the group, and recently held a conference call to air their concerns,” sources told the outlet. Others are angry about how they found out.
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
Is the Only Way to Reform Albany Through A Prosecutor, Where is the Call for Term Limits?
Senate majority now just hanging on(Capital) Buffalo News. They emerged united behind their leader, noting that he has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing. * Gibson: Three Men In A Room ‘No Way To Govern’ (YNN) Rep. Chris Gibson last week in a Capital Tonight interview said the ongoing federal investigation into Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is yet another a good argument for term limits and democratizing the Legislature.
Fake Council Reform . . .
True News Called the Council's Member Items Reforms Bull Shit Before the Daily News
TN Wags the DN
Today's Daily News - Reform the reform (NYDN Ed) It took a new mindset and a new regime at the City Council to produce a series of badly needed reforms. Credit goes to Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Rules Committee Chair Brad Lander for delivering a package worthy of passage. . . Putting unilateral power to disburse public money in the hands of elected officials eager to spread magic dust and win the gratitude of their constituents (and reelection) invites corruption. Ex-members Larry Seabrook, Miguel Martinez and Hiram Monserrate are all behind bars for stealing member items. Dan Halloran’s trial starts next month.
Which explains why a former councilman named Bill de Blasio, who smelled the stench of the slush up close, wants all $400 million in yearly member items banned. That, of course, is a no-go with the Council, which would rather get a round of applause for reform while continuing to tap a huge kitty of cash. Besides wrongly wanting to keep the slush funds, Mark-Viverito also punted on the extra cash payments, called lulus, that she hands out to members for running committees and holding leadership posts. Though a majority supports a ban, the speaker went only so far as to recommend that an advisory commission due to be appointed next year take up the matter. That’s a dodge. Ban lulus. Ban member items. Go the distance on reform.
Yesterday's True News
Changing How Funds Are Distributed Does Not Fix Corruption of Member Items System
Lipstick on So Called Progressive Pigs Power Grab
All of the corruption connected to member items has come from who the council members have distributed the funds to, not how many dollars in funds the speaker gave members. It is a power grab by member disguised as reform. Councilman Larry Seabrook was convicted of orchestrating a broad corruption scheme to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in city money to his relatives, friends and a girlfriend through a network of nonprofit organizations that he controlled. Councilman Miguel Martinez was convicted of misappropriating $55,000 meant for two nonprofit groups in his district, the Washington Heights Art Center and the Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors.
City Council 2014, Progressives
City Council Member Items Slush Fund
Has A Patty Hearst Type Stockholm Syndrome Cause Advance's 25 City Council Clients to Remain Silent?
Not Even A Ransom Note
Other Advance Group Clients 2012-13: Former DA Joe Hynes, Councilman Mark Levine, CWA District 1 PAC, State Senator Diane J. Savino, Voice of Teacher for Education Committee, NYCLASS, Assemblyman Brook-Krasney, City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, Councilman Vincent Gentile, Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., Councilwoman Linda Rosenthal, Assemblyman Dan Quartz, Assemblyman Walter Mosley, Assemblyman Rafael Espinal, Assemblyman Brian Kavanaugh, Councilwoman Inez Dinkens, Assemblymen Robert J. Rodriguez, Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, Councilman Robert Jackson (running for Manhattan BP) Advance Losing Candidates for City Council 2013: Noah Gotbaum, Igor Oberman, Yetta Kirkland, Brian L. Gotlieb, Robert Waterman, John lisyanskiy; Advance Losing Candidates for Assembly 2012: Rodneyse Bichotte, John Mancuso
Advance Either Managed or Funded 31 of the 51 Council Members Including the Speaker
Candidates Funding By Advance's NYCLASS PAC: Yetta Krukland (Advance Client), Councilman Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (Advance Client)
Candidates Funding By Advance's United for the Future PAC:
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens (Advance Client), Corey Johnson (Berlin Rosen Client) (running against Advance client Yetta Krukland), Mark Levine (Advance Client), Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Paul Vallone (Mercury Client), Rosie Mendez, Councilman Andrew King, Councilman James Vacca (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Annabel Palma (Red Horse Client), Councilman Costa Constantinides, Mark Weprin (Hudson TG), Councilman Daneek Miller (Red Horse Client), Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Richard Donovan (Berlin Rosen Client), Councilman Eric Ulrich, Councilman Antonio Reynoso (Red Horse Client), Councilman Brad Lander, Councilman Mathieu Eugene (Advance Client), Councilwoman Inez Barron, Councilman Jumaane Williams, Councilman Alan Maisel (Brandford), Councilman Mark Treyger (Hudson TG), Councilwoman Debra Rose (Brandford), Councilman Steven Matteo, Councilman Robert Jackson (Boro President Candidate), Councilman Vincent Ignizio
More on the Advance Groups Corruption * CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping * The Big 8 Lobbyists * Dark Pool Politics
"No," while aides surrounded him as he
walked into his wing of the building."Literally I've told you all I know," he said, when asked whether the
allegations were legitimate. "I'm not familiar with the allegations so I
can't comment."* De Blasio Says He’s Unaware of Reported FBI Investigation of Anti-Quinn Group(NYO) * De Blasio unfamiliar with NYCLASS probe(Capital)
Nobody on the Council Steps Up to Debate Texas Gov Perry About Job Creation
Paid vacation could become city mandate through new bill(NYDN)
Councilman Proposes Bill to Alert Neighborhoods When Hotel Construction Is Headed Their Way
NY state has highest 2011 tax burden: report(NYDN)
Taxed to the max(NYP Ed) Just days after noting our surprise that Gov. Cuomo was consulting with the same Tax Foundation his aide once dissed as a biased, right-wing think tank, the group has come... * The Post writes that with New York ranked as having the highest local and state taxes, the state needs radical overhaul aimed at making New York competitive with the top and a governor bold enough to do that:* Councilman’s idea to stop NYPD’s ‘minor’ arrests is wrong(NYP)
A Play Budget Written By the Lobbyist That Run the Council and Mayoral Staff
Mayor Shoot Down Council More Cop Plan
De Blasio shoots down bid to expand NYPD by 1,000 cops(NYDN) * Both NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and de Blasio pushed back against a City Council proposal to hire 1,000 police officers, the Daily News writes: * SHOT DOWN: NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, Mayor de Blasio reject City Council's proposal to hire 1,000 officers(NYDN)
The New York City Council’s proposed budget, which will be unveiled today, will push for $24 million for free lunches for all public school children and $94 million to add 1,000 new police officers to the NYPD’s force, the Daily News writes: * The New York City Council will also unveil a proposal for a commission to overhaul the city’s property-tax system to make it more equitable, The Wall Street Journal reports: *Free Lunch for All Public school kids may get free lunch regardless of family income as part as $24M program in proposed City Council budget(NYDN) .
PC Bratton not only couldn't pick his top deputies now he's forced to say he doesn't need more cops despite patrol strength depletion
Sal Albanese
To the Winner Lobbyists Goes the Spoils (City Council)
Since
the 2013 elections Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin has picked
up of 70 clients to lobby for. 51 clients to lobby the city council, 17
to lobby the office of the mayor
Another big winner of 2013 made a similar argument. Jon Del Giorno, sitting in his firm's 28th-floor conference room a few blocks from City Hall, downplayed the notion that his closeness with Ms. Mark-Viverito will help his firm, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin, which has hovered near the bottom of, or just out of, the top-10 list. Pitta Bishop has done Ms. Mark-Viverito's election-law compliance since 2005, and last year Mr. Del Giorno quarterbacked her uphill speaker bid. In a clever and unprecedented move, the firm set up a 2017 campaign account for an unspecified office with the state Board of Elections, which allowed Ms. Mark-Viverito to raise $100,000 and hire a full staff for her run, despite needing just 26 votes from council colleagues to win. More than $21,000 of the money reportedly came from Pitta Bishop's long roster of business and labor clients, and gave Ms. Mark-Viverito an edge over her rivals. Common Cause New York said the new speaker was "exploiting" the state's lax campaign-finance system.
The Speakers Lobbyists Cash In
Left Strengthening Their Machine
A new podcast called “Hall Pass” is being launched today by a group of progressive New York City political activists and advocates, including Maria Fernandez of the Urban Youth Collaborative, community organizers Steve McFarland and Stephanie Yazgi and independent consultant Theo Moore. The audio show, which can be downloaded through iTunes, bills itself as “sharp elbows, sharp wit—your podcast at the intersection of City Hall & the progressive movement.” Today’s show includes an interview with Councilman Carlos Menchaca on municipal identification cards in New York City and another Hall Pass founder, Arab American Association of New York Executive Director Linda Sarsour, on the NYPD’s recently shuttered Muslim surveillance unit. “Hall Pass NY is a long overdue online platform to spread the good work of the progressive movement in New York City,” Menchaca said in a statement. “As a recent guest, I felt right at home amongst diverse progressive organizers discussing pertinent issues that impact all New Yorkers." (City and State)
New Council Spends More $$$ Already
City Council plans 10 percent raise in its budget(NYP) The move by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito follows five years of relative austerity under her predecessor, Christine Quinn, who ended her tenure with a $51.5 million budget. The new budget for Fiscal Year 2015, which starts on July 1, will be $56.9 million.
Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin Makes the Speaker and Cashes In
Meet the New Progressive City Council, Sock Puppets for Lobbyists
A consulting firm—Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin—that helped Melissa Mark-Viverito in her runs for City Council and Council speaker has lobbied her on behalf of four clients, the Daily News reports: Disclosure reports show an advocacy group, the East Side Alliance Against Overdevelopment, paid Pitta Bishop $15,000 in November to fight a plan by Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital to build two towers on city-owned land on E. 73rd St. Pitta Bishop lobbied Council members from Manhattan, including Mark-Viverito — who represents East Harlem — to vote against the project when it came before the 12-member Manhattan Borough Board on Nov. 21. Mark-Viverito voted no, but the project was approved 6 to 4. Mark-Viverito’s spokesman said her vote had no connection to the lobbying by her consultant. In January and February, Pitta Bishop lobbyists also met with Mark-Viverito’s staff on behalf of another client, the Vera Institute. The goal? Vera’s request for additional Council funding of a pilot program providing legal aid to immigrants. Vera received $500,000 in funding last year and wants $5 million more this year. Pitta Bishop also lobbied Mark-Viverito in January and February seeking “support for museum programming related to anti-bullying” run by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Manhattan. She was asked to speak at an anti-bullying event targeted to children, which she agreed to do, her spokesman said.
One Party NYC, No Check and Balances, No Separation of Powers
Orwellian NYC
Democrats All Around Atop New York City Government(WSJ) Mayor's Watchdogs are Also His Allies. New York City Public Advocate Letitia James walked away from reporters inquiring about a controversy dogging Mayor Bill de Blasio. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito left a budget oversight hearing lauding a new era of collaboration with the administration.
A Tale of Two Plastic Bags
David G. Greenfield
Here's an idea: let's punish the neediest New Yorkers by taxing them when they buy groceries Proposal would levy 10-cent fee on paper, plastic shopping bags
City Councilman Daniel Garodnick (D-Manhattan) will introduce legislation requiring all businesses with 20 or more workers to allow employees to set aside pretax money for transit costs, under a federal program that some employers participate in voluntarily, Durkin writes.
Council Still After Charter SchoolsCM Dromm Who Tried To Stop Charter School Children and Parents from Their Highly Successful Protest in Albany is Still Attacking Moskrowitz
City Council revives war with charter schools after De Blasio makes peace (NYP) The Council Education Committee announced Monday that it plans to hold an oversight hearing on “charter school management and accountability” on May 6. Committee Chairman Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), a former teacher with close ties to the United Federation of Teachers, initially called for the hearing last month after learning that Moskowitz allowed kids in her Success Academy network to skip classes and attend a rally in Albany to support their schools
Love-In
Absence of Contention at Council Hearing Helps Reinforce the de Blasio Effect(NYT)
Nothing better illustrates the new relationship between the fiercely liberal City Council and the fiercely liberal mayoral administration than the tone of preliminary budget hearings. Showing off a good relationship between the liberal Council and the liberal de Blasio administration* Council forms budget negotiating team(Capital) * With much of the NYC Council ideologically aligned with the new de Blasio administration, the previously contentious budget hearings have at times turned into something like a love-in.
NYT Wants to Charge 10 Cents 4 Plastic Bags
Good for Me Not U
Ten Cents a Bag? That’s About Right(NYT Ed) The city should go farther and find a way to rid itself of a bad habit that prizes convenience over litter, wasteful energy use and environmental damage. Until then, 10 cents a bag is a start. The bags are no good. Their use should be curtailed. The bill should pass* Senator Savino Slams ‘Half-Assed, Feel Good, Limousine Liberal’ Bag Tax Proposal(NYO)
OrthodoxPundit
.
Progressive deB Won't Battle Real Estate's Control of the City
A bill set to be introduced to the New York City Council would make municipal identification cards available to all city residents regardless of citizenship statusBill Would Establish City ID Cards(WSJ) * Council Bill Would Require Photo Evidence When Issuing Violations(NY1)
CM Dromm' Joe McCarthy Hearing
With No Evidence of Corruption in A City Full of It, Progressive CM Drumm Wants to Asked Charter School Leader Moskowitz if She is Corrupt
Where is Murrow?
Council’s education head: Ask charter network boss about corruption(NYP) The head of the City Council’s Education Committee said Tuesday he intends to call charter chief Eva Moskowitz to a hearing just in case “corruption were to exist” in the finances of her 22-school network. “We need accountability, we need transparency, and we need to know who is giving them the money and what they’re doing with that money,” Dromm said. “This is an opportunity, if corruption were to exist . . . I can’t just let it go.” Moskowitz, a former council member, has never been accused of corruption even by her harshest critics. It’s not clear if Dromm has jurisdiction over Moskowitz, who is not a city employee. Moskowitz has not received an invitation to testify, said a spokeswoman who would not comment further. McCarthy-Welch Exchange: “Have You No Sense of Decency” Councilman Dromm? * NYC Councilman Danny Dromm, the chairman of the Education Committee, asked the city’s top investigator whether he has the power to probe the political activities of charter schools.
Mercury Public Affairs Works for the Right Wing Koch Brothers PAC and For Progressive Council Member Margaret Chin And they Bag Millions from City Contracts
Chin Campaign paid Mercury over 100,000
In 2013 Mercury Public Affairs, which was running an independent spending campaign funded by billionaire David Koch and others boosting Mr. de Blasio's general-election opponent, Republican Joseph Lhota.
Who are the Council Progressives Fooling Besides the Press and Public?
What difference does it make how the corrupt member items funds are distributed? How can the Goo Goos call for a formula for discretionary fund? All the corruption connected to the member items slush fund have nothing to do with how much money members get, but how the money is spent. Calling the equitable, needs-based formula for discretionary funds (fancy name for member items) reform is like calling those mobsters who attended the 1957 organize crime Apalachin Commission Meeting reformers, because the mob came up with a plan to split the drug, prostitution and gambling money equally among each of the familes.
Council Dumps Lulus Reform
Note to Daily News: Don't Believe Campaign Promises From Young Fresh Face Progressive Councilmembers to Eliminate Lulus or Institute Reforms
Sally Goldenberg
@SallyGold I think Ydanis argument here is about member items, not lulus. Nothing has changed w/ lulus. via @politicker * Ross Barkan
@RossBarkan @SallyGold @Politicker @azi we discussed this. ydanis explanation can be questioned but there has been a change in lulus. $ different.* Azi
@Azi
@RossBarkan what was the change? * Ross Barkan
@RossBarkan @Azi the amounts of $ they are given is different. different for committees. new leadership circle * True News
@unitedNYblogs @RossBarkan @Azi BS Were is the reform? Where are the good government groups on the fake changes in lulus?
Daily News Say bye-bye to lulus - NY Daily News (Oct 22, 2013)
Most City Council candidates have committed to end a corrupting
practice. The City Council convenes in January with a fresh crop of
members and a
two-thirds majority that has called for eliminating bonus pay for being
good little boys and girls.The newcomers who pledged to abolish the
stipends are: Corey Johnson,
Helen Rosenthal, Mark Levine and the winner of the David Garland/Ben
Kallos race in Manhattan; Alan Maisel, Robert Cornegy, Antonio Reynoso,
Carlos Menchaca, Inez Barron and Mark Treyger in Brooklyn; Costa
Constantinides, Rory Lancman, Daneek Miller and the victor of the Paul
Vallone/Dennis Saffran election in Queens; Andrew Cohen and Ritchie
Torres in the Bronx; and Steve Matteo in Staten Island.
Sick Pay Bill A Secret to Opponents
Mayor Holds Public Hearing on Paid Sick Leave Bill (NY1) * De Blasio plans to sign paid-sick leave bill this week(NYP) * Sick-pay opponents say they weren't notified about hearing(NYDN)
Sick Pay Bill A Secret to Opponents
Mayor Holds Public Hearing on Paid Sick Leave Bill (NY1) * De Blasio plans to sign paid-sick leave bill this week(NYP) * Sick-pay opponents say they weren't notified about hearing(NYDN)
Shameless Councilmembers Ignore Reforming the Corrupt Member Items System
Council Fight Over Slush Fund Money
Council's Member Item Debate Turns Into Fight Between Rich and Poor(NY1) The City Council is committed to changing how it hands out its discretionary money, or pork, to individual members. The question now becomes: how? Based on need or done equally across the board? It may turn into a fight between the rich and the poor. Courtney Gross filed the following report. A tale of two cities may soon be told at the City Council. "Zip codes are for mail delivery. Not for social service delivery,” said Manhattan Councilman Corey Johnson. "Forty percent of my constituents live below the poverty line. The median income is about $20,000. And there are vital social service providers who need member items,” said Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres.
Progressive Member Item Power Grab Disguised As Reform
City and State Reports
COUNCIL MEMBER ITEM REFORM EASIER SAID THAN DONE: City Council members have been clamoring for member items reform for years, but an equitable, needs-based formula for discretionary funds remained elusive at a Rules Committee hearing Monday for the $50 million dollar slush fund the council givers out each year.
_____________________________________
NYC Government No Vets
For the First Time In NYC History Its Government Will Contain no Military Veterans
City Council Living In A Different Economic World
Paid vacation could become city mandate through new bill(NYDN)
Councilman Proposes Bill to Alert Neighborhoods When Hotel Construction Is Headed Their Way
NY state has highest 2011 tax burden: report(NYDN)
Taxed to the max(NYP Ed) Just days after noting our surprise that Gov. Cuomo was consulting with the same Tax Foundation his aide once dissed as a biased, right-wing think tank, the group has come... * The Post writes that with New York ranked as having the highest local and state taxes, the state needs radical overhaul aimed at making New York competitive with the top and a governor bold enough to do that:* Councilman’s idea to stop NYPD’s ‘minor’ arrests is wrong(NYP)
Azi
Knockout Apology
Laurie Cumbo Apologizes for Controversial ‘Knockout Game’ Letter (NYO) * Brooklyn Councilwoman Apologizes For Her Alleged "Anti-Semitic Stew" (Gothamist) * Brooklyn Councilwoman-Elect Laurie Cumbo Apologizes For "Knockout Game" Comments (NYDN)
#Brooklyn pols call for more #NYPD patrols on Jewish Sabbath due to knockout attacks. http://fb.me/3c2QnBPyE
Knockout Wow Statement
-
-
Councilwoman’s black-Jewish resentment talk slammed(NYDN) Councilwoman-elect Laurie Cumbo, who is black, wrote on Facebook that black residents feared being ‘pushed out by their Jewish landlords.’ The Anti-Defamation League said the posting ‘evokes classic anti-Semitic stereotypes.’* .@HikindDov responds to Laurie Cumbo’s letter connecting ‘jewish landlords’ to ‘knockout game’ (NY Metro)
Andrew J. Hawkins
@andyjayhawkIncoming Councilwoman speculates that resentment of "Jewish success" fueling so-called "knockout game" http://dnain.fo/IsogGy -
Dumb, dumb, dumb. This kind of excuse-making for criminality doesn't bode well for NYC over the next 4 long years.
@andyjayhaw
-
Michael Benjamin
Assault Charges Council’s Finance Director
City Council finance director Preston Niblack busted in domestic assault(NYDN) Niblack was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, after cops found his partner bludgeoned by a statue and picture frame in his Upper West Side apartment. The partner, Helvio de Faria, alluded to Niblack being influenced by new flame, a decorator.* Assault Charge for a Top New York City Council Official(NYT)
Transparency Promises
De Blasio to attend a closed door city council meeting (Capital)De Blasio, who counts Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito among his
closest political allies, will discuss the city budget, which must be
adopted by July 1 after negotiations between the legislative and
executive branches of City Hall. He also will talk about land-use
issues, over which the Council has significant say, said one source
briefed on the upcoming meeting.
Lobbyists the New Permanent GovernmentCouncilman Levine wants NYC tax payers to subsidized the state?
Editorial in
Mark D. Levine
Reply @unitedNYblogs @MMViverito @timesunion No, if the tax is state-wide every region would carry its on weight.
Answer @MarkLevineNYC @MMViverito @timesunion You did not say make the tax statewide Sir
Harassment and Discrimination Protections Rights for Interns
De Blasio Signs Bill Giving Unpaid Interns the Right to Sue for Discrimination(NYT)Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill that extends harassment and
discrimination protections to many of the unpaid young workers who flock
to New York City in the summer.
Our annual
The Rubber Stamp Council
The secret to de Blasio’s dance-free budget(Capital) The mayor and the city council are celebrating the end of the dreaded "budget dance"—the
if-you-must political theatrics whereby the mayor cuts programs in
early version of the budget and the restores them in the final
("adopted") budget.* Hearings Begin on Mayor's First Budget(NY1) * Council budget hearing turns into director lovefest(NYP)
His past co-workers at the Queens Library are Under Investigation by FBI
The Gang of Four (L to R – Dinkins, Paterson, Sutton, Rangel)Â
- See more at:
http://lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4868:charles-rangel&catid=79&Itemid=169#sthash.rEVf0oaQ.dpuf
Book'em? The FBI, federal prosecutors and the New York City Department of Investigation are working together to examine spending by Queens Library President Thomas Galante, The New York Times writes: * FBI and New York City Department of Investigation launches probe of Queens Library spending on renovations * EDITORIAL: It’s a sorry state of affairs when the Queens Public Library is the target of criminal investigation by the FBI(BTDN) *Book ’em, maybe(NYDN Ed) Law enforcement eyes the mess at the Queens Library
The McDonald's City Council Economy
City Council Fights for Higher Minimum Wages Not High Paying Jobs
New York State’s low-pay employment growth soars(NYP) New York is in a slow economic meltdown, analysts say. The city and state face a future of low-wage job growth, killer taxes and regulations — and a hostile business climate forcing firms out. One in 10 workers in New York City — 400,000 in all — are now in low-wage jobs, with 37 percent of all wage earners paid less than $15 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Eight of the 10 occupations reckoned to add the most net jobs in the Big Apple over the next 10 years have median annual wages of below $30,000, according to another analysis.* NYC Pols Take Minimum Wage Challenge | New York Daily News * Council Members Rally for Higher Minimum Wage NYC | (NYO) * Tax policies hurt hiring in New York(NYP) These hindrances include scheduled increases in the state minimum wage, new city paid sick leave rules for small businesses, high construction costs and burdensome taxes.* The Working Life: Among de Blasio’s Priorities, Minimum Wage Waits Behind Pre-K (NYT)
More about NYC Economic Problems
True News' Bum of the Week: CM Dromm
A lesson in political shenanigans(NYDN) Charter kids come to Albany, and learn about the politicians who don't care much about their success. Politicians opposed to charter schools made a great show of outrage over the fact that thousands of charter school students traveled to Albany this week to plead for a cease-fire in the war on their future. One accusation, voiced by City Councilman Danny Dromm, who chairs that body’s education committee, is that the trip was purely political, with no educational valueI beg to differ. The kids in extraordinarily high-performing schools — who worked extra hard, learned everything put in front of them and grinded out high test scores to prove it — are getting a rich lesson in how the city actually works.
And they also have the chance to learn some splendid vocabulary words. One of them: disingenuous. If New York went back to the original vision of charters, the Department of Education would compile a list of the most promising innovations pioneered by Success Academies and other great schools — ideas like expanding the school day, week and year. Then we’d have a citywide discussion of which changes we need to make, instead of the embarrassing spectacle of children begging their government to let them learn.*** New York City Council Member Asks a Senator: Stop the Emails(WSJ) Daniel Dromm Says Newsletters From Ruben Diaz Sr. Were 'Harassing' Him* * New York City Councilman Daniel Dromm's comments about charter schools cut to the heart of the progressive opposition to charters, which is that their teachers typically are non-union, Seth Barron writes in Council Watch:
Is Councilman Dromm Interfering With Charter Parents Rights of Free Speech and to Protest Their Government?
Dromm to hold hearing on Moskowitz’s rally day(Capital) Councilman Daniel Dromm announced Saturday that he will hold an oversight hearing to investigate whether Eva Moskowitz is illegally closing her schools on Tuesday so that students can participate in a pro-charter rally in Albany. * Co-location expansions Charter school expansions to be subject of city public hearings(NYP) The DOE press release notes that “significant changes in school utilization” will be considered at the May 6 Panel for Educational Policy meeting at Murry Bergtraum HS.* Dromm to hold hearing on Moskowitz’s rally day(Capital)
More on Education and the Charter School Fight
More On de Blasio vs Cuomo
Addabbo wants member items back
While most legislators are busy haggling over pre-kindergarten funding and campaign finance reform in the state budget, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) has renewed his bid to secure money for Queens nonprofits.
Addabbo said he met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this month and urged him to institute an alternative framework for distributing state funds to community organizations, schools, senior centers and neighborhood projects after the executive curtailed lawmakers’ access to member items in 2010 amid a spate of scandals involving the so-called member items.
The Press Covers CM Dromm' Joe McCarthy Attacks . . . Does Not Hold Him Accountable for the Educations Systems Failure
Council’s education head: Ask charter network boss about corruption(NYP) The head of the City Council’s Education Committee said Tuesday he intends to call charter chief Eva Moskowitz to a hearing just in case “corruption were to exist” in the finances of her 22-school network. “We need accountability, we need transparency, and we need to know who is giving them the money and what they’re doing with that money,” Dromm said. “This is an opportunity, if corruption were to exist . . . I can’t just let it go.
Will the Progressive Left Elect A Right Wing President in 2016?
Arne Duncan just doesn’t get it: How the media and phony reformers hurt your kids(Salon)
Defenders of charter schools and Common Core cast critics as ignorant skeptics. It could cost Democrats elections* Is Eva running for mayor of NYC? * Bill Hammond
The Times profiled Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer, who “as chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee — and now
majority leader — … has carved out a niche as the Council’s champion of the
arts, one whom cultural organizations have come to rely on as they press their
agenda forward with a new administration.”
Judging Pols Work
Phil Goldfeder
Thank you #BreezyPoint for the very warm welcome! We will not rest until every family is safe and secure back in their own home! #Sandy
True News
Greenfield's Nom De Plume
Fake You Pols: The Real Future of Journalism is 1984 Big Brother
Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield has just given us a view of the real future of journalism and it is all about faking out the public. Today over one third of all Americans get their news online. Over 20% of those online readers get their news directly from elected officials and campaign consultants who post directly online bypassing reporters entirely. In a far reaching article City and State's Nick Powell proved that Greenfield was not only using a pen name to putting himself in a favorable light other reporters were quoting from the fake posts as fact. For nearly two and a half years, a Yeshiva World News blogger who goes by the name of Dov Gordon appears to have been one of New York City Councilman David Greenfield’s biggest fans in the local Jewish media.Gordon named Greenfield a “winner” for backing Mostofsky (Mostofsky won civil court seat). “Maybe it’s because he works harder than anyone else in the community, maybe it’s because he delivers more than anyone else in the community, or maybe it’s because he’s very good at bringing together coalitions within the community,” Gordon wrote. “Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Greenfield has emerged as one of the most important Jewish political players in New York.”
GREENFIELD’S ALTER EGO? New
York City Councilman David Greenfield secretly used a blogger alias to
pen stories portraying himself in a favorable light while criticizing
political opponents, sources say:
Civil War in Boro Park
A
former staffer to New York City Councilman Daniel Greenfield has
accused him of promoting himself on a blog written by himself but under a
pseudonym of “Dov Gordon.” “A report by journalist Ross Barkan refers
to a Dov Gordon as the spokesperson for an organization called Save
Flatbush, which ran an ad in the Jewish newspaper Hamodia condemning
the City Council’s proposed redistricting of south Brooklyn.
“The report, including an interview with this Dov Gordon, was posted on Barkan’s blog in February, two months after Pete Appel had speculated whether Greenfield might be Dov Gordon. City & State sent an email to Save Flatbush asking if the Dov Gordon that worked for the organization also wrote for Yeshiva World, but received no response.
“The report, including an interview with this Dov Gordon, was posted on Barkan’s blog in February, two months after Pete Appel had speculated whether Greenfield might be Dov Gordon. City & State sent an email to Save Flatbush asking if the Dov Gordon that worked for the organization also wrote for Yeshiva World, but received no response.
Article Written By Dov Gordon in Yeshiva World Attacking Hikind
Constituents Ask: Is Dov Hikind Still in Florida?
CM Dromm Foe Of Charters Goes After Their Leasing Arrangements ?
Monday Update
Charters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between(NYT)Although a primary rationale for charter schools is to test practices for wider public-school use, battles over space and money have inhibited attempts at collaborat
Council Fixed Their Party Bar With A Favor the SLA Could Not Refuse . . . Bans Harvey
Charter schools paying millions in taxpayer money to middlemen while students suffer(NYDN)
Brooklyn
Dreams pays $2.3 million to for-profit firm National Heritage Academies
to lease space from the Catholic Church — at a price much higher than
what the city would normally pay. Dozens of for-profit vendors such as
NHA are collecting millions from charter schools, but can't always
account for how it's spent. Parents say for all the funding, charter
school students are still being shortchanged.On a quiet Ditmas Park side
street, taxpayers shell out $2.3 million a
year to lease space from the Catholic Church for a charter school called
Brooklyn Dreams. What’s shrouded in a cloak of secrecy is whether the
arrangement is a good deal for the taxpayer. That’s because a for-profit
firm called National Heritage Academies
acts as a middleman, renting space from the church at rates it calls
“private.” Then NHA sublets the space to Brooklyn Dreams. The firm
charges the school $46.99 per square foot — much more than the
$14.25 to $25.50 per square foot the city typically pays to lease school
space from the church. In effect, the for-profit company is charging
the taxpayers at a far
higher rate— in some cases more than double — than what the city would
normally pay to rent space for public schools. Each year dozens of
for-profit vendors are paid by charters, including
accountants, financial advisors and real estate brokers. One company,
the Manhattan-based Charter School Business Management Inc., has
experienced 176% growth since 2009, with revenue growing from $1.4
million to $3.8 million in 2012. CM Dromm wants to know how these
contracts are awarded, if there’s
competitive bidding to hold down costs and whether board members have
financial ties to vendors hired by the schools — a conflict that’s
emerged several times in recent years.
Dromm Beats the UFT Drums Against Charters
Opponents blast charter schools at testy hearing(NYP) Charter-school opponents bludgeoned the schools’ leaders during an
eight-hour City Council Education Committee hearing Tuesday — in sharp
contrast to Mayor de Blasio’s recent bid to mend ties with charter
operators. Committee Chairman Daniel Dromm wore an orange United Federation of
Teachers shirt inside-out to protest one charter school’s disciplinary
policy.* Beating the Dromm(NYP ED) * A real win for NYC’s schoolkids(NYP) * Success Academy boss Eva Moskowitz a no-show for City Council hearing on charter schools(NYDN)
CM Dromm Foe Of Charters Goes After Their Leasing Arrangements ?
Monday Update
Charters, Public Schools and a Chasm Between(NYT)Although a primary rationale for charter schools is to test practices for wider public-school use, battles over space and money have inhibited attempts at collaborat
Council Fixed Their Party Bar With A Favor the SLA Could Not Refuse . . . Bans Harvey
The New York City Council booked its holiday party at a swanky new bar that still needed a liquor license—so they just called in a favor for a rush permit so the bar would be able to serve them drinks
City Council pushed SLA to hurry holiday party’s liquor license(NYP) Park Place watering hole was still awaiting a license from the State Liquor Authority, the sources said. That’s when they turned to First Deputy Chief of Staff Ramon Martinez, who is known as “the fixer” for his ability to solve problems. Feder asked Martinez at a senior leadership meeting to pressure the SLA — and state officials gave the bar its license just hours before the party started. * Uh oh, Doc! City Council votes to enact bunny ban(NYP)* Puppy mills” will be sent to the doghouse under a wide-ranging package of NYC Council legislation that tightens regulations on pet shops.
__________________________________
Knockout Wow Statement
Councilwoman’s black-Jewish resentment talk slammed(NYDN) Councilwoman-elect Laurie Cumbo, who is black, wrote on Facebook that black residents feared being ‘pushed out by their Jewish landlords.’ The Anti-Defamation League said the posting ‘evokes classic anti-Semitic stereotypes.’* .@HikindDov responds to Laurie Cumbo’s letter connecting ‘jewish landlords’ to ‘knockout game’ (NY Metro)
Andrew J. Hawkins @andyjayhawkIncoming Councilwoman speculates that resentment of "Jewish success" fueling so-called "knockout game" http://dnain.fo/IsogGy- Dumb, dumb, dumb. This kind of excuse-making for criminality doesn't bode well for NYC over the next 4 long years.
@andyjayhaw
Has the City Council Forgoten Something?
1. ID for undocumented aliens, transgender people or anyone else who for whatever reason doesn’t possess legal proof of identity, the municipal ID card has been presented as a means of integrating a shadowed community of New Yorkers into society. Council member Danny Dromm, the lead sponsor of the muni ID bill, has repeatedly said that the card will become the “must-have accessory” for all “real” New Yorkers. Councilmember Mark Weprin echoed this sentiment, saying during the vote on the bill that “we live in the coolest city in the world, right? And now we’re going to have a membership card, and people will want to be part of that club.”
2. Leave it to the City Council to throw a couple ridiculous crusades into the mix. Council member Peter Koo, who was born in China, wants all textbook references to the Sea of Japan also to call it the “East Sea.” Indicted council member Ruben Wills has introduced a law to establish a nine-member Cricket Task Force to promote the sport in the city. Neither has passed (yet).
3. The new budget may not raise taxes, but that doesn’t mean the City Council isn’t trying to nickle and dime in other ways. Council member Brad Lander wants the city’s stores to start levying a 10-cent fee (which the stores will keep) for every bag they give customers to carry their stuff out of the store. Handleless bags for use inside the store, such as for produce, are exempt, as are bags for pharmacy prescriptions. It hasn’t come to a vote yet.
4. Perhaps the biggest piece of legislation was overriding Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the paid-sick-leave bill and passing an expanded version of the bill.
Dromm Beats the UFT Drums Against Charters
A Real Progressive Era
The 1st Progressive Era Goal Was to Destroy Political Bosses
The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s.[1] One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political machines and bosses. Many (but not all) Progressives supported prohibitionin order to destroy the political power of local bosses based insaloons.[2] At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena.[3] A second theme was building an Efficiency movement in every sector that could identify old ways that needed modernizing, and bring to bear scientific, medical and engineering solutions. Progressives sought to enable the citizenry to rule more directly and circumvent political bosses. Many cities set up municipal reference bureaus to study the budgets and administrative structures of local governments. Charles Henry Parkhurst(April 17, 1842 – September 8, 1933) was an American clergyman and social progressive. Although scholarly and reserved, he preached two sermons in 1892 in which he attacked the political corruption of New York City government. Backed by the evidence he collected, his statements led to both the exposure of Tammany Hall and to subsequent social and political reforms.Frances Perkins and the New Deal
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