de Blasio Using PAC Lobbyists Consultants To Get Around the Elections Law and Control Elections and the Press 4
Bill’s dirty millions: De Blasio money grubbing will hurt him (NYDN) It’s a damning indictment of a man who offers himself as a paragon of progressive virtue: Mayor de Blasio shook loose millions of dollars from real estate developers and others seeking a business boost from the city — by far the most lucrative source of contributions to his now-defunct non-profit Campaign for One New York and his doomed effort to secure Democratic control of the state Senate, an explosive investigation by the Daily News finds. The mayor clearly aimed to use the funds to bolster the case for his 2017 reelection, by promoting signature accomplishments such as universal pre-K and affordable housing. Now, in an ironic reversal, he will find his reelection campaign hounded by his systematic perversion of New York City’s most powerful post into a platform for the mutual advancement of himself and big-money donors. Whether or not the paying and playing add up to anything illegal is for others — foremost, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara — to determine. That the machinations were cynical and unsavory is true beyond a reasonable doubt. It all began when, shortly before his January 2014 inauguration, de Blasio created a nonprofit group called the Campaign for One New York — a promotional apparatus run by his campaign team while the mayor sat in City Hall. Its charge: to promote de Blasio and advance his agenda. Its ethical limitations: few and far between. CONY collected unlimited sums from anyone under the sun, including from businesses eager to do business with — or already doing business with — the city. While de Blasio was personally barred by the city Conflicts of Interest Board from demanding funds from individuals and firms with business pending, his team operated under no such restrictions. Their targets were many of the same people who depend upon the municipal government to bolster their bottom line. CONY treasurer Ross Offinger targeted corporations and lobbyists with heat-seeking precision — and for a period raised funds both for the Campaign for One New York and de Blasio’s reelection fund, for which corporate contributions are banned by law. Taken together, it was as subtle as placing a “For Sale” sign on the steps of City Hall. It is not only that, via this broad move, de Blasio sidestepped tight campaign funding limits designed. With donations often obtained just before or after key meetings on matters of interest to the contributors, the appearance of impropriety is undeniable. Offinger pitched lobbyists, who in turn pitched their clients with enticements — one, delivering a $5,000 check after the dangled possibility of serving in a mayoral advisory group. Targets could expect to hear both from city officials about their projects and from Offinger about their contributions — as did developer John Zuccotti, whose Brookfield Properties made a $50,000 donation the very day he spoke with Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. Among contributors, it was understood that buying in to the Campaign for One New York or the state Senate takeover effort might brighten relations with the mayor they depend on for business deals. Six developers with interests along the route of a proposed streetcar line linking Brooklyn and Queens delivered $245,000, just as de Blasio weighed whether to throw the city’s building and borrowing powers behind the project. And he did.
deB Banks is Clueless and A Incompetent Managers in An Administration That Has Sold Out to Developers
Trump Dumps Lobbyists As Fake Progressive de Blasio Not Only Keeps Them Protects Their Special Agent Shadow Gov Emails
What de Blasio could learn from Trump about handling lobbyists (NYP) Heading into his re-election year, Mayor de Blasio still hasn’t managed to keep his promises to be open about the influence of lobbyists in City Hall. President-elect Trump, by contrast, is keeping his promises even before taking office. As reported in Thursday’s Post, the mayor has yet to post all his staff’s meetings with lobbyists on the city Web site, as he promised in 2013. Nor has he made good on his more recent vow to release a list of all the donors — to his campaign and his pet nonprofits — who didn’t get favors from the city. If donors got something from the city, he says, it was a coincidence. Yet an avalanche of pay-to-play scandals has Team de Blasio facing multiple criminal probes. The mayor even resorted to declaring some lobbyists secret “agents of the city” to shield his e-mails with them from Freedom of Information requests. The Post had to sue to see some of their other e-mails. Team Trump looked bad on this front right after the election: The transition effort set up during the campaign turned out to include quite a few lobbyists — some of them advising on personnel and policy in the very fields that would impact their clients. But then Trump got directly involved. One of his first moves after Election Day was to name Vice President-elect Mike Pence as the new chairman of the transition — and Pence promptly ousted all the lobbyists. Even more important is a rule Trump adopted soon thereafter: Anyone working in his administration will be barred from working as a lobbyist for five years after leaving government. Progressives like de Blasio love to thunder against lobbyists’ influence. It’s interesting to see who’s actually doing something about it.
de Blasio Admits NYC is Still For Sale
de Blasio Re-Hires His Failed Aides to Shut Them Up
More About de Blasio
More on How the City Failed the Homeless
Cuomo vs de Blasio War: Affordable Housing Poison Pill Football
Cuomo Squeezes de Blasio's Budget
* The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, now re-branded as NYC Health + Hospitals, is facing a tidal wave of red ink that’s only projected to grow, posing perhaps the greatest financial crisis of its existence: (City and State)* Cuomo Says Proposed Cuts to City University Won't Hurt Students, Administrator Says It Would Be 'Crushing' to the System (NY1)* CUNY official: State cuts could require sharp tuition hike (PoliticoNY)
What de Blasio could learn from Trump about handling lobbyists (NYP) Heading into his re-election year, Mayor de Blasio still hasn’t managed to keep his promises to be open about the influence of lobbyists in City Hall. President-elect Trump, by contrast, is keeping his promises even before taking office. As reported in Thursday’s Post, the mayor has yet to post all his staff’s meetings with lobbyists on the city Web site, as he promised in 2013. Nor has he made good on his more recent vow to release a list of all the donors — to his campaign and his pet nonprofits — who didn’t get favors from the city. If donors got something from the city, he says, it was a coincidence. Yet an avalanche of pay-to-play scandals has Team de Blasio facing multiple criminal probes. The mayor even resorted to declaring some lobbyists secret “agents of the city” to shield his e-mails with them from Freedom of Information requests. The Post had to sue to see some of their other e-mails. Team Trump looked bad on this front right after the election: The transition effort set up during the campaign turned out to include quite a few lobbyists — some of them advising on personnel and policy in the very fields that would impact their clients. But then Trump got directly involved. One of his first moves after Election Day was to name Vice President-elect Mike Pence as the new chairman of the transition — and Pence promptly ousted all the lobbyists. Even more important is a rule Trump adopted soon thereafter: Anyone working in his administration will be barred from working as a lobbyist for five years after leaving government. Progressives like de Blasio love to thunder against lobbyists’ influence. It’s interesting to see who’s actually doing something about it.
de Blasio Admits NYC is Still For Sale
de Blasio Re-Hires His Failed Aides to Shut Them Up
Nearly three months after Gilbert Taylor resigned as the commissioner of homeless services amid record levels of homelessness in New York City , de Blasio has named hima judge in Family Court.
FINANCIALLY REWARDING THE NOT SO EFFECTIVE Inside government or out, Bill de Blasio’s cronies have it good (NYP) It’s good to be a crony of Mayor de Blasio. If you’re outside government, you can make big bucks lobbying him; if you’re on the inside, you’ll get a golden parachute even if you screw up. For the outsiders, it’s really rewarding. Take big FOB James Capalino, a lobbyist and fund–raiser who boasts of his easy access to the mayor. His firm’s earnings jumped more than 50 percent last year — from $8.2 million in 2014 to $12.9 million in 2015. And Capalino’s no oddity. Despite de Blasio’s campaign pledges to the contrary, lobbying has soared in his first two years — with firms’ earnings up 37 percent from 2013. But in Blas World, even failing pays. Gilbert Taylor was a disaster as Homeless Services chief. De Blasio officially removed him from his duties in December — just weeks after Taylor ’s crew was unable to give exact figures on the homeless population at a City Council hearing. That fiasco concluded months of the administration downplaying the exploding homeless problem — though it had held meetings on the emergency all year. Yet Taylor still kept his $219,773 salary and the title of “consultant.” And this week, the mayor named him to be a Family Court judge. This is a pattern. Stacey Cumberbatch left as Administrative Services commmissioner — but kept her $205,868 pay for a gig in the city hospital system. Rose Pierre-Louis, fleeing the mayor’s Domestic Violence office, kept that same $205,868 as a senior adviser on gender issues. This comes atop insider hires like Stephanie Yagzi, romantic partner of mayoral aide Emma Wolfe, to a $150,000 made-up job that was never advertised publicly. Between taking care of his pals on the outside and his minions on the inside, it’s a wonder the mayor has any time left for the people’s business.* Nearly three months after Gilbert Taylor resigned as the commissioner of homeless services amid record levels of homelessness in New York City, de Blasio has named him a judge in Family Court, the Times reports * Ex-Homelessness Chief Is Appointed as New York Family Court Judge (NYT)
The Failed Homeless Commissioner and Other Given A Job to Shut Them Up?
Failed Homeless Services chief made aFamily Court judge (NYP) Continuing a trend of cushy landings for high-level appointees who leave or are pushed out of their posts, Mayor de Blasio has nominated former Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor to be a Family Court judge. Taylor resigned suddenly from his $219,773 position on Dec. 15 as the mayor announced a 90-day review to overhaul the struggling agency. Taylor has since been largely out of sight after being retained in a consulting role at full salary to help shape the new homeless policy. Critics say his nomination to a judgeship raises questions. “Whatever Gilbert Taylor’s qualifications may be, the appearance of using a Family Court judgeship as a soft landing for someone who botched the city’s response to the homeless crisis is concerning,” said City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens), chair of the Committee on Courts & Legal Services. Other top administration officials have also kept collecting paychecks after losing their posts. Stacey Cumberbatch, once the commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, became an assistant VP at the municipal hospital system in January, retaining her $205,868 salary. In October, Rose Pierre-Louis left the mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, but also kept her $205,868 salary as a “senior adviser” to the mayor on gender issues. Consultant George Arzt added that keeping appointees in government is “a reward for loyalty — and that’s a huge commodity when you’re in government.”*
Cuomo vs de Blasio War: Affordable Housing Poison Pill Football
Mayor de Blasio's housing commissioner says Gov. Cuomo's affordable housing budget is a 'poison pill' (NYDN) Cuomo’s budget is a “poison pill” for city affordable housing, Mayor de Blasio’s housing commissioner said Thursday. When the state didn’t come through with about $160 million the city was expecting in tax exempt bonds, that halted the production of 1,200 affordable apartments, said Vicki Been, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. And new rules inserted into Cuomo’s proposed budget will “make it even worse,” she said. Under Cuomo’s plan, any project funded with the bonds would have to be approved by the Public Authorities Control Board — a panel with appointees by the governor, Assembly, and Senate, where any one of the three can scuttle a deal.*
Cuomo Squeezes de Blasio's Budget
BUDGET WARNING -- Council urges City Hall to prepare for state cuts -- POLITICONY The specter of Andrew Cuomo's executive budget loomed large over the first day of hearings on Mayor Bill de Blasio's preliminary budget at City Hall Tuesday, as City Council members expressed repeated concerns that the city isn't prepared to fill the possible giant hole in its budget that would be created if Cuomo's proposals to cut city funding are enacted. De Blasio's top budget official told council members that he and his staff have yet to hold any conversations with Cuomo's administration over how to mitigate any of the state budget proposals that would cost the city almost $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2017, and more in the next several years. "I have been told by the governor's staff they will be reaching out to me soon," City budget director Dean Fuleihan told council members, when asked what the city was doing to prepare for the possibility that some or all of Cuomo's proposed cuts could end up in the final state budget, which is due April 1. "Clearly from our perspective, the fact that we've engaged in very little conversations and they may be passing this budget by April 1st, in 30 days, does that bring concern to you, as a director, that they haven't engaged you as of yet?" City Council Finance chair Julissa Ferreras-Copeland asked. "Yes." Fuleihan replied.* “Name the issue – charter schools, taxes, public housing, law enforcement, regulation of car-sharing services – and Cuomo has gone out of his way to step on de Blasio’s plans and sometimes humiliate him.”* Tight squeeze forBill (NYDN Ed) On Monday, city budget director Dean Fuleihan alerted agency commissioners that they must generate “significant new savings,” starting in the coming spending plan. During the Bloomberg administration, City Hall steadily required agency heads to meet specific targets for saving money through increased efficiency without cutting services. De Blasio abandoned the discipline in his first two budgets, to fiscal watchdogs’ distress. Now, his order tightens the belt partially: He has yet to present commissioners with actual benchmarks. Fuleihan attributed the stepped-up caution to an increasing danger that “volatile” world stock markets and a slowing U.S. economy could reduce city revenue. But events within the mayor’s control are more immediately threatening. Spending on homeless services and prevention is up 46% from just two years ago, to $1.7 billion. The tab to keep the public hospital system in business amid Obamacare cuts amounts to more than $1.3 billion. The police department is growing by 1,300 officers. Pension costs have leaped by a sudden $600 million a year because retirees are living longer. Underperforming pension fund investments may force further calls on the budget. The mayor’s generous labor settlements gave city workers raises at the same time that City Hall has helped the unions to largely fake their way out of delivering health-care avings. Still coming due are pledges to rebuild the city Housing Authority and help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital plan. How to pay for it all? Troublingly, de Blasio counts on a teeth-grinding 6.5% average annual rise in property tax collections through 2020. Now, go tell it all to the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo — from whom de Blasio is asking big bucks while the Senate wants the city to live within the 2% cap on property taxes that covers the rest of New York . Further hanging over de Blasio is the governor’s ill-founded plan to unload onto the city $800 million in costs for City University
Incompetent City Hall Fumbles Rec Center Gift to Help Drug Addicts, Spiking Crime and the Education Gap
Staten Island: City Hall bungled $90Mdonation for rec center (NYP) City Hall’s paralysis by analysis cost a low-income Staten Island neighborhood a $90 million donation from the Kroc family for a recreation center, Borough President James Oddo charged. “To have it slip through our hands is unforgivable,” Oddo fumed. “These centers are transformative,” Oddo told The Post. “They save lives.” The borough won a competitive bid to land a Kroc Center Cromwell Center Kroc Center Kroc Center
The Mayor and Council has Not A Clue How to Solve the City's Affordable Housing Crisis As They Spin Failed Plans
The Mayor's Plan Will Cost Billions and Will Not Build Enough Affordable Housing
de Blasio Clueless On How to Manage the Homeless Problem Keeps Throwing Money At the Growing Crisis
Bill’s costlyhellholes: As the homelessness crisis grows, the administration seems to bethrowing good money after bad (NYDN) Ponder Mayor de Blasio’s priorities — and the goods he is buying with spiraling outlays on serving the homeless. The rapidly rising figures are astonishing. All together, the mayor will spend $1.7 billion on homelessness this year, a whopping 46% more than just two years ago. For context, $1.7 billion is more than the city spends annually to pick up and dispose garbage, run the fire department or keep the city’s drinking water clean. That amount includes $1.3 billion to run shelters, an outlay larger than the city spends on parks, senior centers, libraries and cultural institutions combined. Thousands of homeless families live in decrepit, roach-infested temporary apartments and hotels that have numerous housing code violations — with landlords reaping thousands of dollars a month for each apartment. Families frequently complain they receive little guidance securing an apartment so they can leave these abysmal accommodations — even though facility operators are paid to help them. Conditions are often so frightening in congregate shelters for single individuals that many live on streets or subways — and the city’s census of street denizens is questionable.
If the Council Pass the Mayor's New Housing Bill They Will Take Direct Responsibility for the Gentrification Throwing People Out of Their Homes
Violent Incidents at Schools Soar While de Blasio Spins Safer Than Ever
Two More Cops Shot Expected to Make Full Recovery
Sources said one of two officers hit in a shootout with an alleged Muslim extremist was struck by a bullet believed to be fired by the suspect, but it is still unclear who fired the bullet fragments that hit his partner, the Post reports:
UPDATE: Two officers shot are alert& in stablecondition -- expected to make full recovery. (WPIX)
Two more cops shot in what has become a tragic regularity in NYC
Violent Crime in Certain Precincts
A Bronx Precinct Where Killings Persist (NYT) The death of a woman at the Mott Haven Houses in the 40th Precinct reveals a swirl of deeper dysfunction.
Man Who Pushed Woman On Subway Had Open Warrants That the Council Wants to Vacate
Man Who Pushed Woman On Subway Had Open Warrants That the Council Wants to Vacate
These Same Warrants Identify New Yorkers Suffering From Mental Illness
Man who pushed woman toward subway had open warrants (NYP) A homeless man shoved an NYU Ph.D. student toward the tracks at a busy Brooklyn subway station— and it turns out he has the exact kind of low-level open warrants that the City Council speaker wants to vacate, a law-enforcement source said. David French, 46, who has skipped out on two court dates for littering and public urination, attacked Martina Balestra, 35, as she waited for a northbound train on the 4 and 5 line at the Borough Hall station Thursday around 7:15 p.m., the source said. French lunged forward and shoved her toward the train tracks — but the quick-thinking Balestra grabbed a pillar at the last second and stayed on the platform, the source said. The homeless man, who has been living at a shelter in Harlem , was busted for littering and urinating in public last year — but he never showed up to his court dates. When cops tracked him down, he still had two open criminal court summons warrants, sources said. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has said she wants to vacate about 700,000 old open warrants for low-level offenders who never showed up to court.
de Blasio Inconsistent Relatonship With the NYPD: Back the Future On Advice to His Son
Daily News: By Agreeing to the Council Raise de Blasio Telling the NYPD They Are Second Class
The Mayor Turns A Sanitation Failure Into A Press Release and the Daily News Compares Him to LaGuaridia
Last Week the DN Reported on the Mayor's Failed Council Raise Pay to Play Horse-Carriage Deal The Newspaper Should Have Compared de Blasio to Corrupt Mayor Jimmy Walker
Call him Mayor Clean: In praise of Bill de Blasio's newanti-trash and anti-graffiti push (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio has Fiorello LaGuardia’s wisdom that — updated for the times — there’s no progressive, or the-opposite-of-progressive, way to pick up the garbage. He’s ramping up trash pickups and graffiti cleanups from Bay Ridge toBorough Park to Bellerose to the Bronx . Named CleaNYC, the mayor’s push is designed to attack nagging complaints that, in some neighborhoods, rubbish is overflowing and vandals are tagging buildings. Sanitation workers will:
Call him Mayor Clean: In praise of Bill de Blasio's newanti-trash and anti-graffiti push (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio has Fiorello LaGuardia’s wisdom that — updated for the times — there’s no progressive, or the-opposite-of-progressive, way to pick up the garbage. He’s ramping up trash pickups and graffiti cleanups from Bay Ridge to
de Blasio's Affordable Housing Plan Crumbles as He Heads to Iowa to Campaign for Hillary
The Cuomo administration strongly backed a plan by NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer to divert $400 million over 10 years for affordable housing to make needed improvements at the New York City Housing Authority. But de Blasio quickly threw cold water on the idea, pitting him against two of his frequent critics. * De Blasio’s affordable housing plan allocates fewer units for the poorest households in the city than his predecessor, Mike Bloomberg’s did, according to a new study — frustrating advocates who say they supported him because he promised to help the neediest. IOWA NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to travel with his wife, Chirlane McCray, to Iowa this weekend to campaign in support of Hillary Clinton, his fellow Democrat and former boss, in the final days of her close race against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the state’s presidential caucuses. The couple will pay their own expenses.* Tish James & Scott Stringer participate in rally slamming @BilldeBlasio housing plan in comparison to Bloomberg's:
\@WSJ on DEB Iowa trip 2 "help" HRC echoes what I pointed out most people don't know him & a resident said NYC seems dysfunctional under him
de Blasio So Loves Developers He Allows Them to Build At Night
de Blasio 2008 Promise of Ratner's Affordable Housing Falling Far Short
Are You Following East NY?
A de Blasio flashback: he supported AY for "over 3000 low-income units" (nope); "I will take what I can get" (AYR) I recently found the original copy of a document I cited nearly seven years, when then City Council Member Bill de Blasio, at that point aiming to be Brooklyn Borough President and now of course our city's mayor, explained his support of Atlantic Yards with a sloppy, erroneous reference. The interview was in the Spring 2008 issue of the Park Slope Reader."I’ve supported Atlantic Yards because it will provide over 3000 units of affordable housing to low-income residents and it will bring more local jobs to the neighborhood," de Blasio claimed.Actually, the plan was and is to include 900 low-income apartments, among 2250 subsidized rentals, and potentially 600 to 1000 for-sale affordable units, of which a "majority... will be sold to families in the upper affordable income tiers," according to the Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Forest City Ratner signed with ACORN. (The plans for the for-http://truenewsthebund.blogspot.com/2016/01/mayor-ignores-community-leaders.htmlsale units are far more fuzzy than plans for the rentals.) Low-income does not mean "affordable," but de Blasio apparently didn't care about the distinction. Or is it that, as an October 2013 profile inPoliticker indicated, he was said to be "a surface guy, total surface. He’s not in the weeds." The "surface" now is that two towers will have 100% affordable units (but be matched by 100% market-rate rental buildings, which was never planned). So de Blasio can say "affordable" even as the affordability drifts upward--even in the low-income categories--from the income "bands" targeted in the ACORN agreement. As I reported, half the units in the next two towers would go to households at the income band that requires some $3,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.
Mayor Ignores Community Leaders Opposing His Zoning Plan
de Blasio Brought Back the Homeless Hotels to Avoid Community Opposition NIMBY Politics
De Blasio banned the opening of more homeless shelters (NYP) Mayor de Blasio personally banned the opening of new shelters in 2014 because of community backlash — and instead told officials to put homeless families in less secure hotels like the one where a mom and two kids were slaughtered Wednesday on Staten Island, The Post has learned. De Blasio issued the edict during a meeting with Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli and Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor — both of whom later resigned amid the growing homeless crisis, a DHS official said. “They started pushing us to put clients in commercial hotels because they didn’t want to notify the people in the communities,” the DHS source said. “When you open up a shelter, you have to notify the community, City Council members, officials, and people get upset. [De Blasio] had opened a lot of shelters that fall and was afraid of opening more. So he started opening up these hotels.” De Blasio sent senior policy adviser Lincoln Restler to work with DHS on the hotel program, but Restler ignored senior staffers’ fears that the hotels could endanger homeless residents, the DHS source said. * Unarmed homeless-services cops face violence in shelters, dozens of serious incidents categorized as 'priority one' (NYDN)
“These commercial hotels don’t have adequate security, and [city officials] know that,” the source explained. “Regular shelters do. [Many] have full-body metal detectors. A boyfriend can’t just walk in and go to his girlfriend’s room if he doesn’t live there.” In the Staten Island bloodbath, it’s unclear if tighter security would have prevented the atrocity. Surveillance video showed that victim Rebecca Cutler, 26, let Michael “Skyes” Sykes, her boyfriend who was also the father of one of the children he allegedly stabbed to death, into the hotel through a side door, a staffer there said. The city was not using any commercial hotels for the homeless in January 2014, City Hall officials said. But since then, Gotham ’s homeless population has soared — and so has the number of homeless staying in the commercial hotels. As of this week, roughly 2,656 people were housed in 41 hotels throughout the Big Apple, the City Hall source said, adding that only 16 had full-time security. The Ramada Inn in Willowbrook, where Wednesday’s killings took place at about 8:50 a.m., only had security at night.Cops were still searching for Sykes, 23, after tracing his whereabouts to Brooklyn , where his mother currently resides.* De Blasio and Cuomo Fire Tense Letters Over Security in Homeless Shelters (NY1)The latest public feud between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo is over security in homeless shelters, after a multiple fatal stabbing in a Staten Island hotel on Wednesday.*
Berlin Rosen Not the Mayor Office Listed As Contact for the Mayor in Iowa
...And while @BilldeBlasio is in Iowa
After Holding Off On Clinton Endorsement and Failure of His Progressive PAC Mayor Heads to Iowa to Campaign for Clinton
After Holding Off On Clinton Endorsement and Failure of His Progressive PAC Mayor Heads to Iowa to Campaign for Clinton
Bill de Blasio’s off to Iowa to sell his soul (NYP) The trip comes in the wake of two years of ego-driven national overreach. Last year, he set his heart on his Progressive Agenda Committee hosting a presidential forum on income inequality. Oops: Not one candidate, not even Bernie Sanders, agreed to show. As another part of his broader plan to make himself the face of the new progressive movement, the mayor also loudly held off on endorsing Clinton — despite having run her 2000 US Senate campaign. He insisted he needed to hear more “commitment” from her on progressive issues like inequality.
As the Mayor Campaigns Uninvited in Iowa the Guardian Go Back to Patrolling the Subways
Subway riders beg the Guardian Angels to protect them again (NYP) The city Sunday saw its sixth and seventh subway slashings in less than a month — and the terrifying spree has inspired the Guardian Angels to resume patrols not seen since the Big Apple’s bad old days. For the first time since 1994, the red-berete-wearing Angels will maintain a regular night-and-day presence in the subways, group founder Curtis Sliwa said. The teams of 12 volunteers will take two shifts, one running from the afternoon until 7 a.m., and another from the morning into the afternoon.*STALKER: Blaz d CORN oor-knocks in Iowa for Hillary even after her 'no thanks' — but some question if he's just wasting time (NYDN) * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken pains to maintain a low profile while stumping for
This is a mayor who is a top operative, who understands optics, who just enabled a series of stories that make him look downtrodden
Developers Get to Make Noise At Night
A tale of two noises: De Blasio’s unequal ‘quality of life’ crusade (NYP) On Sunday, his team announced a deal to halve tourist helicopter flights. The same day, The Post reported on the jump in permits for loud overnight construction work. De Blasio’s Economic Development Corp. says the chopper deal will cut 30,000 Downtown Manhattan Heliport flights a year. No more Sunday flights either, or ones over Governor’s Island . Yet the city’s doing nothing about another ear-ache: As Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported in Sunday’s Post, the Buildings Department OK’d 59,895 permits last year for work between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. — a 24 percent jump from 2014. It nixed only 431 applications, for an approval rate of 99 percent. ’Copter-noise complaints make up a minuscule share (less than 1 percent) of all noise-related 311 calls. But one resident calls night-time construction work an “indescribable nightmare.” Machines make it impossible to sleep, and filing complaints “does not work,” says Isabel Madden, who lives near a project at 220 Central Park South.* Developers, DOBlove night construction, but residents not so much (Real Deal)
* The Post writes that helicopter noise complaints make up a“miniscule share” of calls to 311 about noise concerns, and the de Blasio administration is not addressing the “ear-ache” stemming from night-time construction work: * Post writes that helicopter noise complaints make up a “miniscule share” of calls to 311 about noise concerns, and the de Blasio administration is not addressing the “ear-ache” stemming from night-time construction work:
Bloomberg and his fans have been traveling the world to spread the gospel of the former mayor’s management style and philosophy to other city governments.* The annual overtime costs of uniformed workers in New York City hit more than $1 billion.
Mayoral Control of Schools is Part of the War for the State Senate
Fariña’s failures prove that de Blasio can’t be trusted (NYP) Who will control New York City public schools on July 1? The question has become a referendum on Mayor de Blasio’s leadership. De Blasio requested permanent mayoral control of the schools last year. In June, an unimpressed state Legislature renewed it for a single year. De Blasio was essentially on probation. At an Albany budget hearing last week, de Blasio floated a seven-year extension — ensuring his control through a second term — when this year’s renewal runs out. A still-skeptical Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan responded that he “supports mayoral control . . . but not at any price.” Flanagan and his Republican colleagues are put off by de Blasio’s antagonism toward charter schools. They’ve also called for more scrutiny of the city’s education spending. De Blasio, then, hasn’t earned a longer leash. Why not? A primary reason is his handpicked schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña. * Playing politics with toddlers: De Blasio’s real pre-K priority (NYP) The mayor is refusing to pay roughly $720,000 due to the Success Academy
Delayed Homeless Shelter Safety Report Released Whooping 21,401 Code Violations
How Team de Blasio (Berlin Rosen) Tried to Blame Homelessness and the NYCHA Mess On Cuomo
Iowa Who Is de Blasio? Hillary Campaign Declined de Blasio Frist Offer to Help
Iowa Who Is de Blasio? Hillary Campaign Declined de Blasio Frist Offer to Help
Iowans have no idea who Mayor de Blasio is as he knocks on doors to aid Hillary Clinton campaign (NYDN) Des Moines, Iowa — Eagle-eyed Hawkeyes don't know who he is — and he's getting no face time with Hillary Clinton. His staff refused to allow reporters to come along or provide details of his canvassing times — necessary, de Blasio said, to hold frank and persuasive conversations.* Iowa on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and he seemed not to mind being relatively obscure in the state as well as not appearing with the candidate,the Journal reports: * Hillary gave de Blasio her worst campaign volunteer job (NYP) * Mayor de Blasio heading homefrom Iowa a day early after knocking on 1,800doors for Clintoncampaign (NYDN) * Hillary gave de Blasio her worst campaign volunteer job (NYP) * De Blasio’s awkward tour of Iowa (PoliticoNY)
By Jim Callaghan Big Bill rushing to break Mayor Jimmy Walker's record for sleazoid deals before he leaves office in two years. as yogi said: "It's Dej Vu all over again- theft of pubic parkland. The Central Park Casino, originally the Ladies Refreshment Salon, was a restaurant near East 72nd Street , in Central Park in New York City . The name of the building came from the Italian for "little house"; the Casino itself was not a gambling business. Built in 1864, the restaurant was once intended for unaccompanied female visitors to Central Park, but was soon patronized by both men and women. While the building that housed the Casino belonged to the City of New York , the City often leased the Casino to independent operators. Mayor Jimmy Walker exercised this power in 1929 by terminating the lease of C.F. Zittel, allowing Walker 's friend, Sidney Solomon, to transform the Casino into one of New York 's most expensive nightclubs. Besides entertaining elite guests in the restaurant, Walker had an office in the Casino and conducted city administration there while meeting with political cronies. When the Great Depression hit four months after the Casino reopened, the nightclub faced increasing criticism for operating on city land while maintaining prices only the wealthiest New York residents could afford. As part of their personal vendetta against Jimmy Walker, the new Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and his Park Commissioner Robert Moses demolished the Casino in 1936 and built a playground over the site of the former restaurant Koch tuned City Hall over to Meade, Cohn, Manes, Freidman and their pals; DiB turns it over to his pals in the same fashion. where is the "reform?"
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James and Building and Construction Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera joined a rally at City Hall calling on the administration to revamp its housing agenda:(C&S)
de Blasio Plan to Fix Homeless Shelters: Make A Historic Promise and When That Fails Make Another Promise 2.0
The mayor says it is unacceptable that his administrationfailed to create report cards for city homeless shelters: (NY1) * De Blasio Administration Months Late in Creating Scorecards for Hundreds of Homeless Shelters (NY1) Almost eight months ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would be sending out squads of city workers to make rapid repairs on homeless shelters and promised to disclose all of that work publicly, giving every city shelter a scorecard. But NY1's Courtney Gross found out that's not yet happening. The administration's initial response was last May. It was here that the mayor promised to send repair teams into city shelters and give every single city shelter a scorecard so the public could keep tabs on all the work that was getting done. "There will be an accountability system," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time. "It will be a public system maintained by the Department of Homeless Services. There will be a public tracking system so you and members of the public can identify where we stand with each of the facilities. There will be a scorecard made available publicly. That will be up later this month." Eight months later, almost none of those scorecards are in. Only 23 shelters are rated when the promise encompasses nearly 700. A previous version of the Department of Homeless Services website promised reports "by September," but that never happened. Now, the website says "by November." Still, the scorecards aren't there. The tardiness comes even as criticism of shelter conditions has increased, particularly from de Blasio's chief political rival, Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The administration's initial response was last May. It was here that the mayor promised to send repair teams into city shelters and give every single city shelter a scorecard so the public could keep tabs on all the work that was getting done. "There will be an accountability system," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time. "It will be a public system maintained by the Department of Homeless Services. There will be a public tracking system so you and members of the public can identify where we stand with each of the facilities. There will be a scorecard made available publicly. That will be up later this month." Eight months later, almost none of those scorecards are in. Only 23 shelters are rated when the promise encompasses nearly 700. A previous version of the Department of Homeless Services website promised reports "by September," but that never happened. Now, the website says "by November." Still, the scorecards aren't there. The tardiness comes even as criticism of shelter conditions has increased, particularly from de Blasio's chief political rival, Governor Andrew Cuomo.* De Blasio visits Manhattan homeless shelter, takes resume (NYDN)
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The Result of de Blasio's Management Skills is to Throw Money At Problems
De Blasio hasn’t met a problem he doesn’t want to throw money at(NYP) The mayor is right to worry — but he’s also doing not much, too late, to help New York weather a downturn. Instead, he’s added billions in unnecessary spending — making cuts to services like police and libraries that much worse when the bad times do come. De Blasio is good at diagnosing the risk. We’re “watch[ing] economic storm clouds gather across the globe,” he warned last week. “World stock markets have lost trillions of dollars . . . We’re seeing slow or negative growth in many of the world’s major economies.” But even without such signs, the mayor added, he wouldn’t be complacent: “New Yorkers know the economy can turn on us suddenly and without warning,” he said. Consider the mayor’s actions over the past two years. During Mayor Bloomberg’s last year, the city spent $54.7 billion of its taxpayers’ cash (plus distributed another $19.9 billion in federal and state money). But for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts in July, de Blasio proposes to spend $62.1 billion. That’s a 13.5% hike in spending — nearly seven times as fast than inflation. Starting this year, de Blasio is hiking the minimum wage for all city employees and outside contract workers to $15 — costing another $115 million annually.
Another de Blasio Management Promise Fix Failure: Isolation for Young Adults in Jail
New York Jail Agency Seeks to Delay Ending Isolation for Young Adults (NYT) The plan affecting inmates ages 18 to 21 was to take effect at the start of this year, but the Correction Department is seeking a postponement after assaults on guards.* Rikers officials want to push back plans to end solitary confinement for younger inmates (NYDN) * After a series of assaults on guards at Rikers Island, the New York City Correction Department is seeking to delay a plan announced last year to eliminate the use of solitary confinement citywide for inmates ages 18 to 21, the Times reports:
Queens streets would be cleaner Tuesday morning.
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47 Years Lindsay Was Destroyed by Not Cleaning Up Queens Snow
Today New Yorkers and the Media are More Forgiven to de Blasio for Not Cleaning Up the Snow in Queens
City Investigating Whether New Plowing System Left QueensBuried « CBS New York * New Snow-Plowing Strategy Left a ‘Mixed Bag’ in Queens (NYT)
Wednesday -City’s inactivity turned Queens streets into a block of ice (NYP) * City sanitation workers and private snow contractors traded blame for snow mess in Queens (NYDN) * NO SNOW JOB: High marks for storm response but mayor must get to the bottom of Queens plowing questions (NYDN) * Accuracy of City's Snow Plow Tracking System Under Fire From Queens Pols (DNSINFO) Mayor de Blasio vowed that
De Blasio blames Queens residents for snowplow nightmare (NYP Ed) With Queens still snowbound on Monday, Hizzoner slapped residents for digging out their cars on plowed streets: “A snowplow goes through and then people go out and clean their cars off and they literally re-block their own streets . . . People are saying, ‘My street’s not cleared.’ They’re not wrong, but unfortunately they may have contributed . . . to it inadvertently,” he said. * Bill de Blasio Progressively Worse?: Queensresidents: De Blasio’s a ‘moron’ for snow comments one term Bill *
The Council’sphantom menace (NYDN Ed)* New York City snapped back to normalcy after one of the largest blizzards in city history, but pockets of the city, mostly in Queens , had yet to be plowed by Monday afternoon, engendering wrath that worries public officials, The New York Times reports: * While de Blasio appears to have learned from past mistakes in blizzard recovery efforts, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia needs to explain why many smaller streets in Queens were still impassable Monday, the Daily News writes * As New York City kept digging out from the second-largest snowfall on record, residents and elected officials in Queens said their borough got short shrift.
Operating on the assumption that policing is an inherently oppressive and almost surely racist act, the City Council is working up legislation advertised as limiting the NYPD’s enforcement of quality-of-life offenses. The bills started out as measures to decriminalize behavior like public urination, public drinking and turnstile jumping. Now, they offer a “solution” that is as small as the imaginary problem they address is vast. Effectively, cops would keep discretion to treat minor offenses as either criminal matters deserving arrest or as non-criminal matters, with simple tickets that won’t turn into warrants if they are not dealt with. The NYPD’s hold on criminal authority is certainly why Commissioner Bill Bratton has acquiesced to this neutered fix to an imagined ill — as he heads a department that has already reduced quality-of-life arrests to 20-year lows, as a matter of voluntary strategy. Letting the Council play mock government may be the simplest way to let the grownups actually run the city. But, ultimately, the legislation damages police-community relations by unjustly appearing to certify that the NYPD is guilty of widespread abuse. * Queens was basically forgotten during Winter Storm Jonas (NYP) * COP VESTS ON ICE: $60M that Cuomo planned to spend on police gear went to snow plows, other expenses instead (NYDN) * SNOW EXCUSE! Mayor de Blasio tours Queens for closer look at borough hit hardest by blizzard, expects to see streets in passable shape by Monday morning (NYDN) * New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said schools will be open today and alternate side parking is suspended until Friday after the blizzard, and he directed more plows to Queens, saying the Sanitation Department needs to do a better job there, NY1 reports: * Cuomo’s plan to spend $60 million for police vests and body cameras instead went to new snow plows and other expenses, including last summer's manhunt for two escaped murderers and the state's response to a 2014 Buffalo snowstorm, theDaily News reports:
sorry doofus @Warpublican i have family in the bronx (born there) they got screwed too @BilldeBlasio @nypost
Cuomo de Blasio Fight in the Snow is the Shut Down One-Upmanship?
one-upmanship
Mayor @BilldeBlasio going LIVE on @facebook soon. Watch:
Cuomo, de Blasio issue travel bans, limit MTA service (Politico) Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have both issued travel bans effective at 2:30 p.m. for New York City and Long Island as a winter storm is expected to deliver record-breaking snowfall for the region. * If they are doing their jobs, they don’t need martial law.Igrew up in NYC. It never closed, certainly not for snow. Is the war between the two causing them to try to outdo each other -Shutting the City? Subway?
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The Daily News writes that the Blackstone Group, which is purchasing the Stuyvesant Town
Daily News Sunday Copies True News Saturday on de Blasio Bad Management Abilities
"De Blasio’s can-do promises clash humiliatingly with his can’t-do record"
De Blasio’s latest announcement in his fight against homelessness and brave expressions of good intentions are theater by a panicking mayor who’s about to be shredded for ineffective management by the governor
Monday A surge in homelessness is bedeviling
Maybe panic willwork for de Blasio on homelessness (NYDN) Confronted with an embarrassing failure to deliver even a small measure of the relief he promised to the more than 58,000 New Yorkers living in homeless shelters, Mayor de Blasio retreated Friday to his comfort zone: the moral high ground. There he made extravagant new promises to vanquish homelessness in a campaign that will demand more mayoral mojo than he has ever shown — without offering a hint as to how he plans to get the job done. That’s because de Blasio’s brave expressions of good intentions were theater by a panicking mayor who’s about to be shredded for ineffective management by Gov. Cuomo. “There have been a number of times when we’ve been told it will get better but enough is enough,” said Cuomo, adding that he’ll focus on homelessness in his State of the State address this week. Last May, to take one example, de Blasio announced that “hundreds of special SWAT teams” would swoop into shelters to keep them in habitable repair, after the Department of Investigation issued a report finding facilities rife with dangerous conditions. The mayor also promised the creation of an online scorecard tracking every safety-code violation in every shelter. Eight months later, only 23 shelters out of almost 700 are accounted for, and those have 91 outstanding building and fire-code violations. Reviewing city inspectors’ own records, Controller Scott Stringer tallied an astonishing 18,704 health and safety code violations in 341 facilities housing children.
de Deblasio Blames Everyone But Himself for His Own Bad Management of the Homeless
A day after de Blasio was called out for failing on his commitment to have report cards for each homeless shelter the mayor blamed the past mayors for the problem. In the past he blamed Cuomo, the press and the past mayors
de Blasio Gets An F- At Education Management
Principals’ Union Says Mayor de Blasio Has Lost Focus on Students (NYT) The union’s president blames micromanagement from the top, with conflicting orders and too many school staff members being overwhelmed with paperwork and meetings.* New York City ’s principals’ union, said he had lost confidence in de Blasio because his administration has made its school turnaround effort too political, the Timesreports: * Ernest A. Logan, the president of the union that represents NYC’s principals and assistant principals, says he and and his members have lost confidence in NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, calling the mayor’s school turnaround effort “a political mess” that isn’t focused on kids. -- Principals union sours on De Blasio -- Times' Kate Taylor: "When Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, it seemed like the start of a bright new day in the relationship between City Hall and the people who run New York City's schools. Rather than close struggling schools, as his predecessor Michael R. Bloomberg had done, Mr. de Blasio promised to support them. In November 2014, he and his schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña,announced a program to funnel resources, training and social services into 94 of the lowest-performing schools. At the time, Ernest A. Logan, the president of the union that represents the city's principals and assistant principals, lauded Mr. de Blasio, saying that the initiative demonstrated a 'philosophy of collaboration over competition' and reflected 'the deeply held values of most of our school leaders. ... Now, however, Mr. Logan says he - and by extension, the 6,000 members of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators - has lost confidence in the de Blasio administration. In a column to be published in the union's newsletter this month, Mr. Logan writes of the Education Department, 'Sadly, in the timeworn tradition of the D.O.E., there are so many cooks running around in the kitchen, the chefs don't know what kind of dish they're concocting.'" BONUS QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I think a majority of them would say they probably had a better shot of being able to effectively do their job under the old administration." -- Ernie Logan, president of the principal's union
de Blasio Even Blamed His Own Staff As Cuomo Plans to Fix the City's Homeless Problem
None of dozens of homeless people interviewed said they’d been approached by outreach workers de Blasio said he would be dispatching to the streets to persuade this population to come indoors, The Associated Pressreports
Mayor de Blasio vowsto 'turn the tide' on homelessness as Gov. Cuomo prepares new plan (NYDN) De Blasio also said Friday that he was upset that his administration did not follow through with plans to give homeless shelters letter grades like restaurants, something he pledged to do in May. NY1 first reported that the grades weren’t released last year as promised. “It’s unacceptable to me that those scorecards were not prepared,” he said. “We made a commitment to do it. ... The people who are part of my administration will feel the lash.” Cuomo Attacks: Says He Will Solve the Homeless Crisis Calling it a “scandal” that’s gone on for too long, Mayor de Blasio on Friday vowed once again to “turn the tide” on homelessness — at the same time his enemy Gov. Cuomo vowed to lay out his own agenda to combat the problem. De Blasio, speaking at a shelter for homeless young people in Hell’s Kitchen, said the problem of homelessness has gone on for decades with little attention — suggesting that previous mayors were also to blame. Earlier in the day, Cuomo said he was going to address the city’s homeless crisis in his state of the state address next week. “It is a sad, sad failure that we have people who in this day and age we leave on the streets,” said Cuomo. * In his fight against the homelessness crisis, de Blasio announced a plan to add 300 beds in shelters for older teenagers, a group advocates say is underserved, with 100 new beds a year over the next three years, the Times writes: * My Predecessors AreAlso Reponsible For Homelessness Crisis: De Blasio (DNAINFO) * As de Blasio worried about what Cuomo will do onhomelessness, he criticizes predecessors and cultivates advocates:(WSJ)
It is Not the Message Its the Messenger
Both Cuomo and de Blasio Agree Their Fight Their Governing is All About Them
Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s rift is now undisguised mutual loathing, and nearly every day the two men act out another scene in one of the most curious and entertaining political psychodramas of our time, the Post’s Kyle Smith writes in The Wall Street Journal:
de Blasio Defends His Record On Failing Schools
De Blasio pushes back against principals’ complaints over failing schools (NYP) Mayor de Blasio pushed back Thursday agaiDenst complaints by principals-union President Ernie Logan over how the city is running its lowest-performing schools, arguing he was elected to implement a “different vision” than his predecessor. In a public letter to his members this week, Logan complained that there were too many bureaucratic cooks in the kitchen at the 94 so-called Renewal Schools, and that principals don’t have nearly as much autonomy as they did under former Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But de Blasio fired back that he was picked for mayor because of his education platform. “If anyone says they would prefer the previous administration’s model, well, they should have voted for that. We have a different vision,” de Blasio said at the high-performing HS for Arts & Business in Queens . * De Blasio pushed back against complaints by principals-union President Ernie Logan over how the city is running its lowest-performing schools, arguing he was elected to implement a “different vision” than his predecessor.
de Blasio Caught At Making Nice to Flanagan At the Same Time He is Trying to Defeat Him- Meeting Off
Mayor School Control On the Table
Mayor deBlasio’s plans to make nice with state Legislature foiled again (NYDN) New Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan was set to meet face-to-face with the mayor a week after Christmas. But Flanagan is said to have abruptly canceled the sit-down after it was reported that de Blasio was still working behind the scenes to help the Democrats claim control of the Senate in the upcoming November elections. De Blasio had previously stated he would be taking a more low-key approach to the races after he gambled big on the Democrats in 2014 and lost, leaving the Senate GOP even more hostile to his agenda. "The mayor doesn't get it and he probably never will," a state government source said. "He has no allies in Albany , he is toxic in most parts of the state and on top of all that he shows that he can't be trusted. Why would anyone want to work with him? "* New York 's Less than a year after the New York State Legislature extended mayoral control over New York City schools for just a single year, Mayor Bill de Blasio is preparing to return to Albany to ask for a longer renewal. But this year, the dynamics in Albany indicate that it may be a less contentious process. ... De Blasio is starting this year off on a less acrimonious footing with Senate Republicans, as unlike last year, when de Blasio unsuccessfully intervened in Senate re-election races, the mayor recently vowed to stay out of this year's Senate election cycle. ... But de Blasio's own education record may be his greatest obstacle to securing a longer mayoral control extension. *-- WSJ headline: "New York City's Bill de Blasio Faces Another Slog in Albany": * On mayoral control, @BilldeBlasio isn't interested inbeing held accountable & expects a rubber stamp from Albany: * Assembly Dems Have Preliminary Talks On Outside Income (YNN) * Senate Revives Education Tax Credit Push (YNN) * Kaminsky Forms Campaign Committee For Skelos Seat (YNN)
"We have a list of rules reforms that Assembly Democrats voted down. Term limits for legislative leaders. Term limits for committee chairs.
NYP Attempts to Tie de Blasio Management Abilities Into Dinkins
The Making History Peoples History Press Releases Tang
de Blasio Returns to Albany New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, bruised from a tough second year in office, must now prepare to return to Albany , the site where many of his troubles began, The Associated Press reports: http://goo.gl/Ierb3Y
Nobody Asked Me But:
de Blasio It Obsessed With Getting Rid of the Horse Carriage to Cover-Up His 2013 Election Fraud With NYCLASS De Blasio has been obsessed with getting rid of Central Park’s horse carriages since before he was mayor — and the bizarre quest points at his every weakness, Nicole Gelinas writes for the Post:
GOP Flanagan Will Meet With de Blasio to Avoid A Not Meet Bigger Story . . . The Two Have A Death Match for Senate Control in 10 Months NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will be in Albany today to testify before a joint legislative budget hearing, and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has (finally) agreed to meet with the Democratic executive while he’s in town.
de Blasio: No Mistake Fighting With Cuomo
De Blasio Concedes Mistakes and Says, ‘I Want to Do Better’ (NYT)Halfway into his four-year term, the mayor cited some victories but said that leading 8.5 million New Yorkers has proved to be a bigger challenge than he expected.* Albany , helps New York City , I will praise them, I will support them in that, I will thank them, and when they don’t support New York City ’s interests, I’ll say it,” de Blasio said.* * In a roundtable with reporters New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted he had made mistakes in his first two years in office but spoke optimisticly about his agenda for the next two years of his term, NY1 reports: * In an end-of-the-year sit-down with reporters, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged mistakes over the past 12 months but said his decision to publicly skewer Gov. Andrew Cuomo, sparking a battle that continues today, was not one of them.* @BilldeBlasio: "My job is tomake fewer and fewer mistakes. My job is to always learn from everything"
de Blasio Says I Have to Do Better, What if He Can't?
Even de Blasio knows he’s been a lousy mayor (NYP) Mayor de Blasio conceded on Friday that his administration “needs improvement” as it approaches the halfway mark of his four-year term. A lot needs improvement, I’m very clear about that,” the mayor said on WNYC radio when asked to give himself a midterm grade. “And that’s the way I think about myself and my work and the work of the administration,” he added. “We have to constantly work to get better. I’m very humbled about that fact.” The mayor, who spent the week tackling the homelessness crisis he had been criticized for not acknowledging sooner, also named a host of big-ticket items he’s proud of, including the expansion of full-day pre-K, improvements in public safety, and the financing of 30,000 units of affordable housing. “Although I’m pleased that we’ve made some real progress . . . and we’ve started some very, very big initiatives, I don’t feel any sense of resting on laurels,” said de Blasio. “I feel a sense of, there’s a whole lot more work to do.”
2015 de Blasio Forgetaboutit
2015 Year in Review: A Bruising Year for de Blasio (WSJ) New York City ’s mayor spent much of his second year in office enmeshed in fights even as his team sought to highlight his work in expanding prekindergarten, developing affordable apartments and other issues.
How Team de Blasio (Berlin Rosen) Tried to Blame Homelessness and the NYCHA Mess On Cuomo
NYP Reminds de Blasio of His Mistakes
Mayor de Blasio can’t recall his mistakes – so here’s a list to help him (NYP Ed) “I would have to think about that and come back with a coherent answer,” he said. That was Nov. 3. “I’m not in the business of dwelling on the past,” he said. But, “it’s pretty obvious that some things, you know, worked as we hoped, and other things didn’t.” True, anyone with a record as awful as his wouldn’t want to “dwell” on it. But there’s no other way to learn from mistakes. So as a service to the mayor, and to readers, herewith is a brief sample of Hizzoner’s biggest blunders during his first two years as mayor.
- Fighting charter schools: De Blasio’s effort to deny space to charters sparked a new state law forcing him to find room — or pay their rent.
- Pushing to ban carriage horses: City Council members refused to support him because drivers would’ve lost their jobs — and, despite his claims, the horses are treated well anyway.
- Fueling anger at cops: He backed a lawsuit slurring cops as racist, treated cop-hating Rev. Al Sharpton as co-police commissioner and, as anti-cop hatred grew, described how he’d warned his biracial son to be careful around cops, implying they’re racist. Two NYPD officers were later targeted and slain by a madman seeking revenge against the police, and cops turned their backs on de Blasio at three public events.
- Pushing to cap Uber’s growth: To protect the powerful taxi monopoly, de Blasio tried to freeze the number of Uber cars. But New Yorkers love the app-based service, and his effort crashed and burned.
- Refusing to close failing schools: De Blasio gave 94 long-dysfunctional schools three years to turn around. Only a year later, he’s already closing three. But scores of others remain open, trapping kids.
- Denying the homeless crisis: When The Post spotlighted the growing number of homeless, and bums relieving themselves in broad daylight, he told folks not to believe their lying eyes — that the ranks of the homeless were actually dropping. Fortunately, he’s since done a 180 on that one.
- Pushing his national image at
- Attacking GOP candidates in the 2014 state Senate elections. With Republicans holding a majority of Senate seats, that brilliant move helped push the chamber to reject de Blasio’s legislative agenda — including permanent mayoral control of the schools.
- Goading Gov. Cuomo: The mayor’s broadside against the governor — faulting his leadership and claiming he resorts to “revenge” and “vendettas” — only fueled Cuomo’s thirst for, uh . . . revenge. * For New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, political combatdominated in 2015 (WSJ)
GATEKEEPERS AT DE BLASIO'S TOWN HALL MEETING
2nd Town Hall Ticket Controlled By de Blasio Flunky Councilmen
De Blasio’s next town hall is ‘open to the public’ — with a catch (NYP Ed) Well, Mayor de Blasio’s next “town hall” won’t be as clearly rigged as the dog-and-pony show he put on last time, which was by invitation only. But don’t think for a moment that Thursday night’s session at PS 69 in
Blasting the Press,de Blasio, Sharpton Over Noerdlinger and Racial Divide, NYPD
Is NYCLASS, Advance Group and de Blasio Sexist?
de Blasio Bubble Includes Radio Hosts Favorable to Him
While Still Excluding City Hall Reporters and Public in Real Town Hall Meetings
De Blasio has done more than 30 talk radio appearances in the past three months, engaging in the sort of banter rarely heard in his news conferences while continuing to limit interactions with the press, The WallStreet Journal reports: * In hopes of lifting his ratings, de Blasio has become a mainstay on talk radio, engaging in the sort of banter rarely heard in his news conferences. He has done more than 30 radio appearances in the past three months—more than during his first 20 months in office.
Is NYCLASS, Advance Group and de Blasio Sexist?
de Blasio's National Progressive Agenda Failure
Bill de Blasio’s plot to be leader of progressive movement fizzles (NYP) This was to have been the year of Bill de Blasio — the year America Iowa America ’s mayor set out to tug urban progressivism center-stage and maybe become a movement superstar in the process. Didn’t work out.”
More Leave de Blasio Administration
Rent Guidelines Board chair and Design Commission execlatest officials to quit De Blasio administration via @nypost
After Campaigning Attacking Bloomberg for Closing Schools de Blasio Closes 3 Schools
New York City to Close 3 Troubled Public Schools in Brooklyn (NYT) It is the first time Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has elected to shut down any noncharter public schools.* New York Regents Vote to Exclude State Tests in Teacher Evaluations (NYT) The board, which was acting on a report from a task force created by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, also heard recommendations for addressing problems at a Rockland County New York (Wash Post)* Three NY schools down — scores more to go (NYP Ed) The mayor came into office promising to end Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s practice of shutting down horrible schools and reopening them with new management and staff. Instead of closing failure factories, Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña vowed to plunge more money into underperforming schools — particularly the ones that made it onto their Renewal Schools list — which would have three years to turn around. Fariña recently said that maybe some schools wouldn’t get three years, and she made good on that this week with the announcement she’d close two middle schools, Peace Academy and the Urban Assembly School for the Urban Environment, and the Foundations Academy high school — all in Brooklyn . Better late than never — but also not enough. After all, out of nearly 100 Renewal schools, a mere three are being closed? In explaining the closures, the Department of Education cited three criteria: “low enrollment, performance issues and lack of demand from students and families.” Funny, measured that way, more than 80 more persistently failing schools, with 21,000 students, should be closed. Three bad schools with 212 students are shuttered — while 21,000 kids remain stuck in equally bad schools. A full 55 middle schools, with nearly 15,000 students, had lower state test scores for third- through eighth-graders than did Peace Academy and the Urban Assembly School Foundations Academy
Daily News Calls de Blasio A Dreamer
He is Just A Campaign Manager, Media Spinner With Poor Management Skills
Failed At Affordable Housing In the same speech, de Blasio reiterated plans to create 80,000 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years. To depict his plan as supercharged compared with Michael Bloomberg’s, he added the tools of mandatory inclusionary zoning and enriched 421-a tax breaks to require inclusion of affordable units in all projects benefiting. But de Blasio’s 421-a plan has foundered in a wage stalemate between developers and construction unions, while most community planning boards have called for rejecting zoning changes that would mandate set-asides of affordable apartments when the city allows development of bigger buildings.* Affordable housing activists worry mayor's rezoning planwill create "a 'Tale of Two Cities' 2.0""
Meantime, the Department of Investigation found that felons nest in NYCHA apartments with impunity because management is incompetent at rooting them out even when alerted by the police department. No surprise that crime rates in NYCHA developments remain stubbornly worse than citywide trends.
Failed At Fixing the Schools On the schools front, while campaigning for election, de Blasio pledged that every third grader would read at grade level. In 2014, Chancellor Carmen Fariña went further at a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board. “I have a higher goal than that. I want to see every second grader on grade level,” she said, adding, “It’s not going to happen overnight, but I would say over the next few years.” ince then, de Blasio and Fariña have moved the pie down the sky. They envision getting two-thirds of second graders up to speed within six years, assuming one or both of the officials remains on the job, and boosting 100% of the kids to grade level by 2026, when both will be gone. De Blasio has also promised that all eighth-graders will have access to algebra classes by 2022 — when now just over half of the city’s high schoolers pass the Algebra Regents exam.
Freedom of the Press
Thomas Jefferson Vs de Blasio: I Do Not Get Paid to Answer Media Questions
Bill de Blasio Says He Gets Paid to Be Mayor, Not AnswerMedia Questions (NYO)
A Constitutional Crisis At City Hall
Mayor de Blasio, Amid Criticism, Tries to Keep Press Under Control (NYT) City Hall reporters object to restrictions on what questions can be asked. * Bill de Blasio acknowledges engaging in new media strategy (NYDN) Bill de Blasio acknowledges engaging in new media strategy (NYDN) But de Blasio, whose approval ratings are at record lows, insisted he would make more of an effort to talk directly to the public, without the help of the Fourth Estate. That will involve meeting with community and church leaders, town hall meetings with the public, and appearances on radio shows where he takes calls from listeners, he said. The new strategy has been in place for several weeks — and has led to some testy confrontations with reporters who are used to more access. On Wednesday, his press secretary Karen Hinton had a beef with CBS political reporter Marcia Kramer — caught on cameras and broadcast on the station’s newscast — over de Blasio’s refusal to take questions at a public event. Ironically, he announced his new limited press availability in a freewheeling news conference Friday afternoon in the City Hall Blue Room, where he took over two dozen questions over close to an hour and a half. “We’re going to change the paradigm ... because we think there are better ways to communicate, and better ways to be connected to the people,” he said. * De Blasio, Down in Polls, Alters Media Strategy (WSJ) * De Blasio Indicates He'll Be More Open to the Public, Not So Much to the Media (NY1)
A Constitutional Crisis At City Hall
THE MAYOR WHO WANTS TO TELL REPORTERS WHAT QUESTIONS HE’LL PERMIT THEM TO ASK By Gabe Pressman
Mayor DeBlasio has tangled with a reporter, Marcia Kramer, over whether she had a right to ask him a question. The Mayor who promised to run a “transparent” administration has done the opposite. He insists on setting the agenda for his press conferences. He gives us the topic and then assesses each question. If it’s something he doesn’t want to discuss, he admonishes the reporter to stay “on topic.” I’ve been covering press conferences at City Hall for 60 years---and never has a Mayor had the temerity to enforce an agenda on journalists. This Mayor who proclaims he is a “progressive” is anything but. The word “retrogressive” might be a better fit. He needs a lesson in the history of freedom of the press in NY John Peter Zenger went to jail for criticizing the English governor of New York . That happened 300 years ago and, if it were not for Zenger, the principle of freedom of the press might never have been embedded in our constitution. Zenger, a half-literate German-born printer, was a true progressive.
Joel Siegel @joelmsiegel Uh, previousmayors (pre Bloomy) didn't take questions "two or three times aweek." They took them daily #factcheck
Those Wonderful People Who Gave Us Failed Schools, A Broken NYCHA and Homeless Gentrification City Council Wants 71% Raise
What the Council’sworth: How to raise the pay of New York City's legislature (NYDN Ed) De Blasio, Mark-Viverito and the rest should take their cue from subway fares. Often in the past, fearful governors and mayors let long periods of time pass between hikes, ultimately necessitating big hits to straphangers. More recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has stuck with inflation-based increase every two years. The pain arrives in an orderly, measure way with comparatively little public upset. So, ban lulus and establish a four-year schedule of prospective raises pegged to inflation and be done with it.
True News Tuesday Mets Manager Takes Blame for Losing Series When Was the Last Time A Pol Took the Blame for Homelessness Bad Schools?
True News Wags Daily News On Where de Blasio's Buck Stops
Wednesday Update: The buck stops withBill de Blasio: What the mayor should learn from rough new poll numbers(NYDN Ed) In May, he complained to Rolling Stone that “a lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in (his) first year of New York City better than people in New York City .” In September, he stopped blaming New Yorkers directly, and started blaming the media for confusing New Yorkers about the state of the city. “I don’t curse the darkness here,” he told the Daily News Editorial Board. “I don’t say, ‘Oh, why doesn’t the public see through it?’ I’m actually sympathetic — that if you hear the same message over and over again, it affects your judgment.” “I think there is a gap between reality and perception,” he said. “And I have to constantly take responsibility. If I got all this product and I’m not making it clear enough to people, of course that’s on me.” And now cotton candy, plus mayoral determination to get better at “explaining to people how (his progressive) vision is affecting their lives.” Politicians seek good PR, but poor messaging hardly explains why the public has soured on de Blasio’s handling of crime (32% approval), police-community relations (34% approval), schools (35% approval), and poverty and homelessness (28% approval) The Daily News writes that de Blasio’s low poll numbers are not “evaporating” and that almost halfway through his first term, they show discontent is lasting
It Took A Fall In Poll Numbers for the Press to Go After de Blasio
De Blasio’s insistence on “on-topic” versus “off-topic” questions is a break from his predecessors, and the mayor should remember the press is not his enemy, Josh Robin writes in the Daily News:
Also good to remember: NYT and WSJ reporters get far more 1 on 1 interviews with this mayor than other news outlets
The Real Tale of Two City's: Poll Whites Hate de Blasio Black and Hispanic Still Hanging In
Mayor 15 Year Plan to House the Homeless As the NYT Stand By Their Man de Blasio
Bill puts up the money (NYDN Ed) No one can now say that Mayor de Blasio stands by idly as the mentally ill homeless sleep on subway grates. On Wednesday, he announced a $3 billion commitment to house and serve 15,000 suffering souls over the coming 15 years.*City creating 15K units of supportive housing (NYP) * City Moves Forward Without the State to Build Housing for the Homeless(NYO)* New York’s Rise in Homelessness Went Against National Trend, U.S. Report Finds (NYT) An annual homelessness report by the federal government found that New York’s homeless people accounted for 14 percent of the national total * Tackling the Homeless Crisis, Without Mr. Cuomo NYT EDITORIAL BOARD The ill will between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the governor makes it harder to find a solution to homelessness in New York City .* The NYT says that in a “better world” de Blasio and Cuomo would work together to address homelessness in the city, but they “are stuck in a malfunctioning relationship that has turned once-routine city-state partnerships and problem-solving exercises into an unusually fraught psychodrama.”* Asked in a radio interview to describe his greatest failure in office, de Blasio said he “didn’t explain to people well enough what we were doing to address homelessness,” though he was proud of the efforts, theDaily News writes * De Blasio said failing to get ahead of the city’s homelessness problem and explain it to New Yorkers is the biggest mistake he has made so far in office.
NYT Break From Flacking for de Blasio - Learns to Count Homeless
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said homelessness in New York City had “exploded” over the past two years but praised City Hall’s efforts to create housing and curb substance abuse, the Wall Street Journal reports: * The federal government’s annual homelessness count showed an increase in New Yorkers living on the streets or in shelters, even as the number of homeless people nationwide dipped slightly compared with the previous year.
But Still No Cause Given
.The Homeless Have Become the Victims of the Shadow Govt Lobbyists Pushing 421-a and Airbnb
Despite Vow, Mayor de Blasio Struggles to Stop Surge in Homelessness (NYT) By one key measure after another, homelessness in New York City has worsened over the last two years. The number of people entering city shelters has increased under Mayor Bill de Blasio, and when they enter the system, people are staying longer, striking markers of a crisis that has forced its way to the top of the mayor’s agenda. Many people across New York believe the city is experiencing an epidemic of street homelessness. Mayor Bill de Blasio, the embattled liberal steward of a city in which people have a legal right to shelter, has disputed this. And in another troubling sign, the number of families re-entering shelters within a year of leaving is increasing as well. “An ever-growing homeless population is unacceptable to the future of New York City ,” he said. “It will not happen under our watch.” But it has happened.
More on the Homeless
de Blasio Looks for A New Speech Writer to Sell His Bad Message
De Blasio seeking new speech writerafter media snafus (NYP) Mayor de Blasio is looking for a progressive speech writer as he retools his media strategy. A job listing posted Thursday on idealist.org revealed that Hizzoner wants to hire a “senior speech writer” who will serve as a “key member of the team responsible for communicating the administration’s vision, mission and policies to New Yorkers.” The ideal candidate will also be expected to “refine facts and messaging” and finalize “event remarks, policy speeches, op-eds, press statements [and] social media copy.” The mayor’s revamped plans follow the New York Press Club accusing him of being “retrogressive” to reporters.
NYC Real Estate Barrons' Found Their Puppet A Progressive Mayor to Gentrify East New York
The study, "The Effects of Neighborhood Change on NYCHA Residents," written by the consulting firm Abt Associates with help from New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate, found that NYCHA tenants often wind up feeling like aliens in their own neighborhoods, surrounded by newcomers who claimed they'd just "discovered" the neighborhood. “NYCHA residents could be priced out of new private amenities and new, higher-income neighbors may not contribute to accessible community resources,” the report reads.* * New York City hired five NYCHA residents as urban “interpreters” who gathered information for a $250,000 report that concluded most New Yorkers already accept as true: gentrification doesn't help the poor,the Daily News reports de Blasio Spins Back The city's voluntary inclusionary housing program, which rewards developers who set aside apartments for low rents, yielded more than triple the number of units in fiscal year 2015 than it did previous year,Politico New York reports:
Roosevelt A Real Progressive for the People, de Blasio Spin Progressive While Shilling for Real Estate, Pushing New Yorkers Out of Their Homes
Because the Campaign for One New York is a nonprofit and isn’t a re-election account tied directly to the mayor, donors aren’t required to follow the city’s campaign-finance laws that limit donations to candidates. Many developers and others in the industry said they were skeptical of Mr. de Blasio at first but have grown increasingly satisfied with his positions, including his work on behalf of 421-a. In 2015, the group’s focus shifted to Mr. de Blasio’s national agenda. Among the expenditures: more than $150,000 to AKPD Media, where Mr. de Blasio’s political consultant John Del Cecato is crafting his national agenda and about $140,000 to Mr. de Blasio’s polling and research firm. About $100,000 went to Hilltop Public Solutions, where de Blasio campaign manager Bill Hyers works. The group also spent more than $60,000 with Berlin Rosen, a firm run by de Blasio ally Jonathan Rosen that also represents real-estate companies. The group has paid for the mayor’s travel to San Francisco , hotel rooms in Milwaukee and travel to Iowa and Washington , D.C. Iowa forum, said it would create another account to collect contributions. The Campaign for One New York can accept donations through limited-liability corporations, which shroud identities. One of the biggest givers, Two Trees Development, gave $100,000 through a limited liability company. Two Trees is developing the Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn and other sites. At least some entities contributed to the Campaign for One New York as they also paid representatives to lobby City Hall, a practice that is legal but also has been criticized by Mr. Horner and others. Toll Brothers spent $32,000 to lobby City Hall, but also gave $25,000 to the Campaign for One New York. In a statement, a spokesman said the firm gave because it supported affordable housing. Property Markets Group, which spent more than $80,000 to lobby City Hall in 2015, gave $5,000 to the Campaign for One New York. One of the firm’s lobbyists, James Capalino, also gave $10,000. He didn’t return a request for comment. Madd Equities, which spent $37,500 in lobbying city council members, gave the Campaign for One New York $10,000. The firm didn’t return a request for comment. Longtime real-estate developer Steven Nislick, who wants to ban horse carriages in New York and has funded the group NYCLASS, gave Mr. de Blasio $50,000. He declined to comment.* When 65% of NYC voters oppose carriage ban, only route for Nyclass is to buy Mayor's support with $50,000via @WSJ
The Lobbyist's Shadow Government
NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists
Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them
NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists
Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them
The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine
More about Lobbyists Mercury
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
More on the Advance Group
By Blaming the PBA for the 1% Proposal de Blasio Damaging Any Relationship He Has With Cops
More about Lobbyists Mercury
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
By Blaming the PBA for the 1% Proposal de Blasio Damaging Any Relationship He Has With Cops
Labor Victory at a Price (WSJ) Mayor Bill de Blasio’s apparent victory this week in labor negotiations with New York City ’s biggest police union could reignite tensions with a group he has worked hard to placate in recent months. *
'SHE WAS TRULY AN AMAZING HUMAN BEING': NYPD Lt. Marci Simms, 51, dies from 9/11-related illness, family says (NYDN)New York writes:
Does de Blasio Still Think Silver is A Man of Integrity Like He Said Last January?
"He picked the people's pocket to line his own" - from opening arguments against ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (DNAINFO) Sitting in the back row for the opening of the Silver corruption trial: Preet Bharara. Key phrase in opening statement from Sheldon Silver's attorney at his federal corruption trial: "No corrupt intent." Another surprise guest during opening statements at Sheldon Silver trial: one of the Assistant U.S attorneys prosecuting Dean Skelos's case. * Here's a full post on this morning's court action by @bcolbyhamilton: Openings paint two Sheldon Silvers * 'Power. Greed. Corruption.': Sheldon Silver's trial begins New York Post Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was ripped by the feds as the quintessential greedy lawless power broker on the first day of his corruption trial Tuesday — while his lawyer portrayed him as nothing less than a devoted public servant. * Prosecutors described former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as someone who manipulated public trust, while his defense attorneys portrayed him as a conscientious official during opening statements at his corruption trial, The Wall Street Journal reports: )
De Blasio Governing by Dick Morris Triangulation - All Sides 1984 Doublespeak
He would not let himself be bullied by the top government official in New York . And, thanks to a brilliant lawyer and a courageous jury, he was acquitted of wrongdoing. Any question is fair game for every mayor. Indeed that principle has suited presidents and governors as well. For a reporter to be guided by any other code would be unprofessional and a betrayal of his obligation to the people. John Peter Zenger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia * The Trial of John Peter Zenger [ushistory.org] * The trial of John Peter Zenger * A day after one of his aides got into a heated argument with a TV reporter over his refusal to take questions on homelessness, de Blasio insisted his administration had an open door policy with both the press and the public. * After one of his aides argued with a TV reporter over hisrefusal to take questions on homelessness, de Blasio insisted his administration had an open-door policy with both the press and the public and promised more town hall meetings:
Mayor Early to An Event Makes News . . . Give Him the 71% Raise
De Blasio wasactually early to the Flight 587 memorial this year (NYP) Mayor de Blasio made sure to show up to a memorial service for Flight 587 a half-hour early Thursday morning — after the families of crash victims blasted him last year for arriving 20 minutes late. The often tardy mayor made it to the ceremony in the Rockaways at 8:05 a.m., then stayed in his car until 8:30 a.m., when he got out to mingle with families who lost loved ones in the 2001 plane crash. It was a much different scene than last year, when de Blasio infuriated relatives after being so late that he missed the reading of the names of the victims, which begins just after a bell is tolled at exactly 9:16 a.m., marking the moment the American Airlines flight went down.
De Blasio "should look into the mirror" beforeblaming others for officer's death, judge Patricia Nunez says.(WSJ) * De Blasio unloads on judge who freed ‘cop killer’ (NYP) Mayor de Blasio unloaded Friday on the judge who said he should “look in a mirror” before blaming her for accused cop killer Tyrone Howard’s not being held behind bars on a previous drug rap. “I think that’s outrageous. I don’t know this judge — by the way the judge attackedCommissioner Bratton too and I think she owes him an apology,” the mayor said on WNYC radio. “This is ludicrous. This judge was part of what happened here, it went horribly wrong. The judge apologized profusely, now suddenly is turning the table — that’s ridiculous,” he added.“I think someone who I think handled the situation wrong should own up to it, not try and cast the blame.”* ‘Outrageous’ and ‘Ridiculous’: Bill de Blasio TrashesJudge After Courtroom Rebuke (NYO) * The state Department of Financial Services and the state’s health exchange announced several companies have agreed to auto-enroll individuals who had been customers of the failed Health Republic co-op, State of Politics reports Saturday Sorry, judge: You still share the blame for Officer Holder’s death (NYP) * BLAME GAME: De Blasio says judge who let slain cop Randolph Holder’s accused killer off with drug treatment needs to look in the mirror (NYDN)
On the Animal Farm Some Are More Equal Than Others
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.
Team Hillary Cuomo Pols Dumps Our Campaign Manager Mayor In An Iowa Cornfield
Possible challenger blasts de Blasio’s out-of-town travels (NYP) The Congressman was tweaking Mayor de Blasio for planning a presidential forum in Iowa – while still not endorsing the woman who hired him to be her campaign manager in her New York Senate race 15 years ago. "It's not clear to me, however, that a town hall meeting in the corn fields of Iowa has anything to do with the quality of life of everyday New Yorkers," said Jeffries. * “He’s entitled to his own timetable, but it’s not clear to me that a town hall meeting in the cornfields of Iowa has anything to do with quality of life for people in New York City,” Jeffries said. “Many of my constituents are unclear as to why the mayor has made the decision to spend a significant amount of time out of state . * Cuomo attacks Sanders on Clinton’s behalf (PoliticoNY)* Gov. Andrew Cuomo boosted the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton by criticizing her rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s gun control record, State of Politicsreports: * While NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio remains conspicuously uncommitted in the presidential race, New York ’s other top Democrats – including US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito – are already putting in work on behalf of Hillary Clinton. * Cuomo, who has endorsed Clinton , attacked the gun control position taken by candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential debate
Boxing the Mayor In
Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries announced his support for Clinton , and wondered by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who ran her 2000 campaign for the US Senate, isn’t doing the same. The congressman also said he’s not considering a 2017 run for mayor “at this point in time.”
Dead Cop Game Change In Hypocritical, CYA No Morality, No Shame NYC Politics
Bad Cases Make Bad Law
De Blasio faces rare skepticism from left on bail-reform plan (NYP) Mayor de Blasio’s bail-reform proposal — requiring judges to consider whether a defendant is a danger to society and not just a flight risk — could face its biggest hurdle from left-leaning state lawmakers who are usually his staunchest supporters in the Legislature. Liberal Assembly Democrats called de Blasio’s plan a “knee-jerk” response to the murder of Police Officer Randolph Holder and said the plan needed further study. “Terrible cases usually make bad law,” said Codes Committee Chairman Joe Lentol (D-Williamsburg). “You shouldn’t act as a result of a terrible case — it isn’t going to fit in every other case.” Lentol said most judges already weigh an offender’s threat to public safety when they set bail and that a law would be redundant.
de Blasio and Mark-Viverito Give Orwellian DoubleSpeak Answers to Bail 180 - No Investigation and Council Hearings
Bill toughensup on bail (NYDN Ed) A somber Mayor de Blasio on Friday called for overhauling New York’s bail and sentencing laws so the forces that set free the drug dealer accused of murdering Officer Randolph Holder can never again conspire to threaten public safety Far less helpfully, the mayor muddied churning waters by insisting on additional action to keep low-level defendants out of jail before trial. Although the concept was irrelevant to the public safety challenges exposed by Howard’s case, de Blasio declared the bail system “broken both in the way that we treat hardened criminals and how we treat first-time low-level offenders.” Consider it a call-and-response to the caucus that seeks to essentially eliminate bail for minor crimes, led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who stood by de Blasio’s side Friday. While Howard’s gang and their rivals terrorized her East Harlem district while he was out on bail, she had busied the Council with a proposed bail fund for defendants who had been deemed by judges unlikely to show up for trials. You would never know that two in three prosecuted defendants are released on their own recognizance, with neither bail nor jail. Only when a judge deems a defendant a flight risk because of prior conduct does the law come down pre-trial. * New York safe. But that partnership can’t succeed if the only time officers feel their efforts are supported and their contributions valued is when one of us has made the ultimate sacrifice. If the partnership doesn’t succeed, there will be more grief. More New Yorkers and police officers will lose their lives. We simply can’t go on like that. It’s time for officials to take meaningful actions to show they support the police officers on the street.* The New YorkTimes writes that it was a wise move by Mayor Bill de Blasio to call for state action giving judges the power to factor in danger to the public, and not just flight risk, when setting bail: Before Murder of Officer Holder De Blasio unveils no-bail plan for low-level crimes — even felonies (July, 8 2015, NYP) Starting next year, the $17.8 million program would let about 3,400 defendants charged with low-level, nonviolent offenses — including some felonies — be placed under “supervised release” instead of getting locked up. Police sources predicted it would lead to more crime, given the history of low-level offenders eventually escalating to violent felonies, including murder.* City Needs Bail Reform, de Blasio Says After Kalief Browder ... (June 8, 2015, NYO)
Homeless Deputy Mayor Ignored Quits Because Of A National Agenda Pursued That Also Failed
Deputy Mayor Barrios-Paoli quit the de Blasio administration because she was tired of being ignored by the mayor about the growing homelessness problem
Fed-up deputy mayor quits after being ‘ignored’ by de Blasio (NYP) The city’s top official on health and homelessness quit because she was tired of being ignored by a mayor more interested in boosting his national profile than attending to the city’s day-to-day concerns, sources said. Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli worked for five mayors and oversaw seven city agencies under Mayor de Blasio — but she couldn’t get meetings with him, sources said. As the exploding homeless problem began capturing headlines over the summer, Barrios-Paoli said, “I told you so. If you’re not going to listen to anything I say, I’m out,” according to the source. The source added, “The mayor is so focused on national issues, he has not taken time to focus on local issues.” Bronx Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo lambasted Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña for being disrespectful and unresponsive. “I cannot work with you,” the lawmaker fumed during an 
After His 6 Months Journey to Become Progressive Voice He Winds Up With Bubkis
de Blasio Flip-Flops and Endorse Clinton Before His Iowa Town Hall
'The right experience to get the job done': De Blasio finally endorses Hillary Clinton for president(NYDN)
Voters say 48-42 percent that the mayor does not deserve re-election. There are signs of strength for Mr. de Blasio in the poll, particularly as he prepares to seek re-election. His approval rating is 61-30 percent among Democratic voters and primaries in New York are restricted to registered Democrats. Republicans, who are far outnumbered, disapprove of Mr. de Blasio 81-14 percent. In Quinnipiac’s poll of the primary field, Mr. de Blasio gets 41 percent, with 13 percent for Comptroller Scott Stringer, 7 percent for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn and 4 percent for Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has all but ruled out herself for a 2017 bid. Two other rumored candidates, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and Public Advocate Letitia James, were left off the poll. In a general election match-up, de Blasio gets 48 percent against former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, a rumored 2013 candidate for mayor who never ran and has not indicated he would run again, and Michel Faulkner, a reverend and former NFL player. Mr. Kelly and Mr. Faulkner got 28 percent and 6 percent respectively, with 13 percent undecided.* .@QuinnipiacPoll: More than two years before he seeks re-election, @BilldeBlasio leads his potential opponents * Two years ahead of the next mayoral election, de Blasio leads all would-be challengers, though a third of democrats are still undecided, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll
Kramer Asks de Blasio Flack to Ask Questions, But She Does Not Ask Albany Lawmakers About the Silver Trial?
After True New Wags the NYP On How de Blasio Accused the Paper of Fear-Mongering the Tabloid is Still Half Asleep
NYP Today: “The media has put a lot of attention on this issue”
True News Friday: "On July 14th de Blasio Charges Homeless Crisis is A Case of Media Fear-Mongering
De Blasio knew about homeless crisis even as he was denying it (NYP Ed) If you faulted Mayor de Blasio last summer for being ignorant of the spike in homelessness in the city, you gave him too much credit. Turns out Hizzoner was well aware of the crisis — even as he denied it. In fact, he’d been holding weekly emergency meetings on the issue all along, news reports this week said. Even while pooh-poohing the problem and denouncing “hype” from The Post, which ran stories and photos that documented the growing chaos. “The media has put a lot of attention on this issue,” he said back then. He asked if the focus was “proportionate to what’s happening,” insisting that “reality is a little different” than the news reports. It wasn’t — as he later admitted: In 2014, city homelessness set a record, at nearly 60,000. In August, 311 homeless complaints reportedly had spiked 60 percent under de Blasio. And The Post published hard evidence, including a front-page photo of one vagrant urinating right in the middle of the street.
On July 14th A Month After Secret Meetings on the Homeless Crisis de Blasio Said The Post Is Making Up the Increase Homeless Stories
Friday Update
ON THE RISE: Study predicts that spending on NYC's homeless, including 271 shelters, to reach close to $1B in 2015 (NYDN)
Former NYC Council Speaker Chris Quinn, Christine Quinn, who unsuccessfully battled Bill de Blasio in the 2013 mayor’s race, is about two weeks away from taking over as head of a homeless service provider – a job that will put her in the trenches on an issue that has frustrated the de Blasio administration.* Report: City's Spending on Homelessness Has Risen Dramatically (NY1)
De Blasio thinks homeless crisis is a case of ‘fear-mongering’ (NYP) Mayor de Blasio on Monday ripped The Post’s coverage of the homelessness crisis — and touted an estimated drop in the vagrant population based on a single-day census conducted in sub-freezing temperatures. * The Agnew de Blame the Press "Fear-Mongering" Edition
Secret Meetings on Homeless
De Blasio HeldWeekly Meetings on Homeless While Publicly Denying Problem (DNAINFO) Mayor Bill de Blasio held a "Weekly Homeless Meeting" for months this summer with top city officials even as he publicly denied the city was experiencing a problem with homelessness, DNAinfo New York has learned. The mayor brushed that off saying he had inherited the homeless surge from his predecessor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and blamed media coverage for overplaying the issue. "I think the media has put a lot of attention on this issue lately, more than previously," de Blasio said then. But de Blasio had been meeting with city officials about the homeless issue as far back as June 5, according to Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter's schedule, a copy which DNAinfo obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. The FOIL request covered the period through the end of July.
NY1's Louis Concerned That Lobbyist Have Manipulated and Comprised Journalism
Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless Who Hired Berlin Rosen, Who Bashed Cuomo Praised de Blasio is Married to Ratner's Daughter When NY1's Louis interviewed Patrick Markee, head of the Coalition for the Homeless he did no know that Berlin Rosen worked for them. Unregulated Berlin Rosen Will Lead to Foreign Control of New York's Government - A Silent Coup d'eta On Inside City Hall host Errol Louis in a discussion of the stations report on Berlin Rosen admitted that he was surprised at the reach of Berlin Rosen. He expressed concern that advocates that use the media might not be independent. He said he was shocked to lean that the Coalition for the Homeless which was blaming Cuomo for the increase the city's homeless hired Berlin Rosen as its consultant. Louis on NY1: "Last week when I interviewed the coalition for the homeless, I did not know they were a Berlin Rosen client. The report (the coalitions issued) goes out of their way to blame everyone but the mayor for the record high homelessness in the city. They talked (blamed) the governor and (blamed) at length the last past mayor. When I realized they were a client, I realized this is a problem not just for transparency and private sector clients not being registered lobbyist . . . this works both ways. Maybe we got advocates who are not independent advocates."
To de Blasio Hospitals Are Nothing But A Campaign Prop
Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood isn’t giving good reviews to a developer’s proposals for the Long Island College Hospital
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De Blasio’s Stand on LICH Site Disheartens Brooklyn ’s Cobble Hill Neighborhood (WSJ) Developer’s plans don’t include full-service hospital, something mayor once vowed he would fight for. In 2013, when Bill de Blasio was the city’s public advocate and campaigning for mayor, he was arrested at a demonstration over the possible closure of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn . “This is about fighting for our hospitals,” Mr. de Blasio said as he was led away in disposable plastic handcuffs. Now, as a developer brings forward two proposals to rebuild and expand the LICH site, Mr. de Blasio’s administration has been publicly and privately supportive of one of the plans, which would include new affordable apartments. Both proposals include tall towers in the low-rise Cobble Hill neighborhood, but neither include a full-service hospital. Rebecca Katz, a former aide in the de Blasio administration, is now working with the developer, Fortis Property Group LLC, to persuade a skeptical community to support one of the plans. At the 2014 news conference, Mr. de Blasio and others celebrated the decision that forced the State University of New York, which then owned the site, to put out a new request for proposals. LICH had reported annual operating losses for 17 consecutive years, according to a state audit. “This is a transcendent moment for health care in New York City ,” said Mr. de Blasio, who took partial credit for keeping the “wolf from the door.” The hospital is now closed. Many in the community, however, aren’t happy. Theirs is a historic community of low-rise brownstones and townhouses. And while some blamed SUNY and the state for not doing more to save the hospital, they all remember Mr. de Blasio’s 2013 protest. “It was an exercise to help him get elected as mayor,” said Roy Sloane, a longtime former president of the Cobble Hill Association. “I don’t think he did anything to save LICH.” Franklin Stone, a longtime resident who also has served as association president, said many in the community supported affordable housing but felt that a large tower and a new school would clog an already packed neighborhood—and still leave residents needing more health care options.
de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires' Hilltop Now Works for Deverloper on the Hospital Site
1. Hires: de Blasio Campaign Manager Who Uses Candidate Fake Arrest to Protest A Closing Hospital As A Prop
2. Once the Hospital is Closed Hires Who Works for the Mayor Slush Fund PAC One NY Uses It to Tell the Community That the Band Aid ER the Developer Agreed to Build is As Good As the Closed Hospital
3. Hires: Sell A Large Development to Replace te Closed to A Community Who Opposes It*
Airbnb Accuses NYC Lawmakers Of "An Attack On TheMiddle Class": At a contentious City Council hearing earlier… * Airbnb is not happy with the NYC Council, which today will hear legislation that would further penalize hosts for renting out their homes illegally. In advance of the hearing, the apartment-rental platform delivered a letter to Council members signed by Airbnb hosts imploring them to back off. * Airbnb agrees to discuss sharing data with officials to crack down on illegal operators (NYDN) * City Council Members Clash with Airbnb Officials at Hearing (NY1) * Councilman threatens $100K fines onAirbnb’s ‘illegal hotels’ (NYP)
4. Is de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Pay Hires to Supplement His Pay the Director of His One NY PAC?
de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund, Berlin Rosen, Bill Hyers, Red Horse
In the Name of Diversity de Blasio Accomplished What the British and Tories Could Not Do Throw George Washington Thrown Out of New York
Is This Any Way to Honor the Nations First Capital
The de Blasios have dumped portraits of George Washington and others from Gracie Mansion
de Blasio Consumer Affairs Commissioner Husband Forced Tenants Out AG Fines Quietly Again
Shocking de Blasio Cancles Iowa Presidental Forum as Cuomo Hits From the Left on $15
NYC politics right now: de Blasio sulks out of Iowa forum, Cuomo rallying for higher minimum wage
De Blasio group cancels planned Iowa iowa forum - Sorry the Reporters Had to Waste Their Time * De Blasio’s day today: Forum falls apart, Cuomo strikes from the left * Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for all state workers to $15 an hour using executive authority, making New York the first state to set such a high wage for about 10,000 state workers, the Times reports: * Bill de Blasio Admits Planned Iowa Presidential Forum Wasa Failure (NYO)
Yes I Failed In Iowa But I Am Not Done With National Politics
State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said a conversation still needed to be had about the broader impact of the $15 minimum wage proposal and continued to raise concerns about the same wage floor for fast-food workers, State of Politics reports: -- The forum had become a political albatross for de Blasio, who had taken pains to distance himself from the planned event amid accusations that he was focusing too much on national politics at the expense of New York City 's own problems. The cancellation of the forum allows him to shed that baggage and move on. He recently followed a similar playbook on an interrelated front: his non-endorsement of Hillary Clinton ... Much as the forum seemed designed to elevate de Blasio's national profile, his reluctance to endorse Clinton until he learned more about her progressive credentials seemed both forced, and designed to enhance his national stature. Instead, he became something of a laughingstock. * "I don't want to insult my friend like this, but there is a sense it was a 'legend in his own mind' kind of phenomenon," said Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College
Yes I Failed In Iowa But I Am Not Done With National Politics
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted his Iowa presidential forum collapsed because no one wanted to go, but said his forays into national politics are far from over.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio confessed his much-mocked planned presidential candidates forum in Iowa was a failure—a day after his left-leaning non-profit claimed it was called off because it had been such a success.
Mayor Secret Meeting to Fix Minority Contracting Problem
De Blasio holds secret meeting to boost minority real estate developers (NYP) Mayor de Blasio had a secret meeting Tuesday with minority real-estate developers and told them he’s considering rewriting city contracts to give an advantage to projects that use minority firms. De Blasio also discussed setting aside six development projects, valued at $200 million, for minority developers, sources said. During the City Hall meeting, which was kept secret from the press, the mayor also agreed to create $10 million to $20 million in revolving loan funds that minority developers can tap into to cover start-up costs. The powwow comes as de Blasio faces criticism for failing to significantly boost minority participation in city contracting.* De Blasio told real-estate developers he’s considering rewriting city contracts to give an advantage to projects that use minority firms and plans to set aside certain development projects for such firms, thePost writes:
The Media Does Not Hold de Blasio Responsible for CSA Failures Like They Did Bloomberg
De Blasio and the city’s Administration for Children’s Services stand silent on the three deaths of infants in the last three months at the hands of their mothers and should swiftly account for, and end, the deadly “epidemic,” the Daily News writes:
de Blasio Was Not Silent About Child Abuse Before He Became Mayor “That says we are missing an opportunity to intervene asearly as possible,” the public advocate, Bill de Blasio, said in an interview. (2012, NYT) * PUBLIC ADVOCATE BILL DE BLASIO CRITICIZES THE CITY FORCRITICIZING HIS REPORT ON CHILD DEATHS (2012, Village Voice) * There was a City Council hearing on the ACS in September 2007, announced by then-Councilman Bill de Blasio, the chairman of the General Welfare Committee, which has jurisdiction over the ACS. De Blasio cited the death of 21-month-old Hailey Gonzalez after she was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend and the death of a 2-month-old after the child was allegedly shaken by his mother in a homeless shelter. The Councilman said that ACS has made some progress but noted that children were still being lost. * Following Reports of Abuse at PS 87, De Blasio Calls onChancellor to Explain Lack of Discipline for Prior Incident * De Blasio: Six Years After Nixzmary, Children Still Lostin Preventable Deaths (Brooklyn Eagle) * De Blasio's Past as ACS Watchdog in Spotlight After MylsDobson's Death (DNAINFO)
On August 25th Team de Blasio Blamed the Homeless on Bloomberg Now Friends?
de Blasio Who Attack Bloomberg Polices and Embarrassed Him At the Swearing In Now Needs His Help?
De Blasio Adopts a Warmer Tone Toward Bloomberg (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio has come to see his rift with Michael R. Bloomberg, his predecessor, as an unnecessary political liability and has recently hailed the former mayor as a champion for New York City .* De Blasio has recently changed his tune in relation to his predecessor former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, hailing the man he once worked to differentiate himself from during his campaign, the Times writes:
De Blasio, a Democrat, and former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, will hold a joint news conference Oct. 21 in the Bronx to plant the millionth tree of the Million Trees NYC program that Bloomberg launched in 2007 to improve the quality of life on the city’s streets.
2013 Flashback Did the speeches at the inauguration of Mayor Bill deBlasio show disrespect to Bloomberg, ignoring his accomplishments, or were they voicing the frustrations and aspirations of millions of New Yorkers who have rarely been heard? *
GOP Which Lost Their Way On LI Spins de Blasio as Their Punching Bag Target
GOP Which Lost Their Way On LI Spins de Blasio as Their Punching Bag Target
Fred Dicker: “(NYC Mayor Bill) de Blasio is so reviled across the state that Senate Republicans are planning to use criticism against Hizzoner to boost their candidates in next year’s campaigns — and they’ll use critiques leveled by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to help demonize him.”* De Blasio-Cuomo feud is Republican ammo for 2016 (NYP) *
Catsimatidis goes easy on de Blasio as he debuts new press strategy(NYP) A de Blasio spokeswoman conceded the questions were grapefruit league. “The Cats Man is not known for asking tough questions, and there are plenty of other elected officials who have been thrown softballs on his show,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton, who said the program was taped Wednesday.
Public Advocate Tries To Slow Bloomberg's "Boro Taxi" Plan ... 2010 Bill de Blasio: Citizens United Avenger | Mother Jones * BARRETT: BILL DEBLASIO, PUBLIC ADVOCATE OR TEACHERS UNIONPATSY? (UPDATED) (Wayne Barrett, Village Voice) *Public Advocate blasts mayor over teacher evaluation ...(NYDN) * De Blasio Defends NYPD's Muslim Surveillance - WSJ Blogs * De Blasio backs suit vs. taxi plan - NY Daily News
Progressive Mayor Has A Minority Woman Contract Problem
'UNACCEPTABLY LOW' Controller Scott Stringer hits NYC poor low grade for hiring minority, women-owned companies (NYDN) * Rikers Island
Out of Town Bill
Scripted de Blasio Poll Numbers Fall as He Deceives Met Fans and Voters
Outsourcing the Mets
Heartfelt Mets Tweets
YA GOTTA DECEIVE: De Blasio’s emotional, heartfelt Mets tweets after World Series loss were actually written by staffer (NYDN)
De Blasio’s approval numbers hit all-time low (NYP) The poll — conducted by The Wall Street Journal, NBC4 and Marist — found a paltry 38 percent of New Yorkers approve of the job Hizzoner is doing, the lowest approval rating of his mayoral career. His ratings dropped from 44 percent in May. De Blasio was also unpopular for his gallivanting outside of town, and lost major points among those surveyed for his handling of crime, with 51 percent disapproving of his methods. Some 55 percent of New Yorkers said they thought the city was headed in the wrong direction, which is the highest number since 2004, according to Marist. Only 38 percent of voters said they thought the city was moving in the right direction. * A new poll finds New York City voters have an increasingly negative assessment of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s job performance, souring on how he has handled crime and concerned that the city’s quality of life is slipping, The Wall Street Journalreports : * De Blasio’s approval ratings continue to drop to new lows — with only 38 percent of New Yorkers approving of his performance, according to a new poll by Marist, the Wall Street Journal and NBC4. They survey found the mayor’s rating dropped from 44 percent in May, to his lowest point since taking office.* Bill de Blasio Can’t Name a Single Mistake He’s Made In Office (NYO) Asked by a reporter what he regarded as the greatest error of his nearly two years in office, NYC Mayor de Blasio called it a “cosmic question,” but said he could not come upwith anything off the top of his head.* When asked what the greatest mistake of his mayoralty was, de Blasio said it was a “cosmic question” that he would need to think about, but also said his office could improve its public relations, the Observerreports: * A de Blasio aide composed a series of tweets published on the mayor’s Twitter account during this weekend’s World Series game that included several first person pronouns and was praised for its genuine nature,The New York Times reports: * Bill de Blasio tells Andrew Cuomo NYC doesn't need saving (NYDN)
When Hillary Got Him By the Balls de Blasio's Hearts and Minds Follow, Where is Iowa?
Now He Changed His Mind Again
Bill de Blasio Shoots Down Reports That He’s Backing Hillary(NYO) An irritated Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed a couple of news reports that said he was on the verge of endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, telling reporters today that he won’t respond to “third party reports.” “Don’t reference … third party reports. When we have something to say on the political front, we’ll say it,” Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said at an unrelated press conference in Queens . “I haven’t said anything yet. That’ll be something we address in the future.” Politico New York and the Associated Press, citing unnamed sources, reported yesterday that Mr. de Blasio was in talks with Ms. Clinton about an endorsement before the mayor hosts an Iowa forum on income inequality next month. * De Blasio brushed off a question about whether he would soon endorse Hillary Clinton for president, saying “when we have something to say on the political front, we’ll say it,” Politico New York reports: Wednesday Update With sources saying de Blasio is expected to offer his endorsement to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign soon, some are now waiting to see if it happens in a press release or by her side, the Timeswrites: * *Mayor's Timing Hardly Ideal for Presumed Endorsement of Clinton (NY1)
de Blasio Endorse
Hillary Clinton (Canceled?)
Now, Clinton campaign in talks with de Blasio about endorsement( PoliticoNY) "I think like a lot of people in this country, I want to see a vision," said de Blasio in April, on the same day Clinton formally announced her run for the White House. "And again that would be true of candidates on all levels." An organization founded by de Blasio will host a presidential forum on income inequality in Iowa City in December, and sent out invitations to all the major Democratic and Republican candidates. *
So is de Blasio going to bail on his Iowa
De Blasio to host presidential forum on inequality in Iowa (NYP) Mayor de Blasio will host a bipartisan presidential forum on income inequality in a place that will put him on a national stage — the first caucus state of Iowa , multiple sources told The Post. * De Blasio blasted for skipping cop-related town hall meetings (NYP) Civil-rights attorney Norman Siegel called out Mayor de Blasio on Tuesday for failing to attend a series of town-hall meetings devoted to improving police-community relations. “We’re extremely disappointed,” Siegel said at a press conference alongside Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. “Not participating in town-hall meetings that [de Blasio] and his staff were invited to. What does that say?”* Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is yet to make an endorsement in the race for the White House,will host a bipartisan presidential candidate forum in Iowa on income inequality. * Civil-rights attorney Norman Siegel is blasting de Blasio for not attending a series of town-hall meetings on police-community relations. * State Republicans Knock de Blasio’s Iowa Forum (YNN) *De Blasio Returning to the National Political Stage (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, is flying to Washington — his eighth trip there as mayor — to address what is billed as “the largest-ever gathering of progressive lawmakers.”* Bill de Blasio’s silly Iowa event is a recipe for more New York blues (NYP) “It upsets me that he hasn’t done a town- hall meeting,” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer told The Post. “I don’t know that going to Iowa is going to help secure funding for affordable housing.” The mayor’s still deep in his bubble: Out-of-towners “get” his “accomplishments” better than New Yorkers, as he’s said. Yeah: Out-of-towners don’t see his results. If you want to make “inequality” a thing, do something about it — starting with, say, how the public-school system denies the poor the education they need to rise. Or with violent crime plaguing minority neighborhoods.* De Blasio’s plan to hold a presidential forum in Iowa next month isn’t sitting well with other city officials, who say he hasn’t held a single town-hall meeting on his own turf since being elected 21 months ago, the Postwrites: * * After a summer of local headaches, from squabbles over taxicabs to toplessness in Times Square , de Blasio is returning to the national political stage, a realm that he relishes,the Times writes: * De Blasio, a Democrat, is flying to Washington tomorrow — his eighth trip there as mayor — to address what is billed as “the largest-ever gathering of progressive lawmakers.” His top political advisers are also finalizing a forum for presidential candidates, to take place this fall in Iowa , where the mayor is hoping to inject his signature issue of income inequality into the 2016 race. * New York Republicans wasted no time in attacking de Blasio over his plans to hold a presidential forum in Iowa sometime in November. “It would appear Mayor de Blasio is bored with his job already,” state GOP chair Ed Cox said in an emailed statement. * State GOP chair slams de Blasio’s plans for Iowa presidential forum (PoliticoNY)
de Blasio Hires Campaign Workers in City Jobs to Set Up His Re-Election
De Blasio hires cronies to advance his progressive agenda (NYP) In addition to creating a $150,000 post for Stephanie Yazgi — the longtime girlfriend of his top strategist, Emma Wolfe — de Blasio has created positions to amp up his progressive agenda and national profile and spread propaganda touting his “transcendent” accomplishments. The city’s television station — led by de Blasio buddy Janet Choi — devotes much of its taxpayer-funded $5.7 million budget to broadcasting his ribbon-cuttings, announcements and features about his friends, including his wedding singer. His $105,000 digital director, Jessica Singleton, shapes his social-media image while his $69,000 media analyst, Mahen Gunaratna, measures the influence of his messages. Update Stephanie Yazgi, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new “immigration organizer,” was being paid by private funds before being brought on staff – countering his claim that taxpayers had to pay her $150,000 salary because an outside grant fell through, the Post writes:
“The CAU has now turned into a four-year organizing arm of the de Blasio campaign,” said a former liaison with the unit.
But the bulk of his buddies land jobs at City Hall in the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.The CAU traditionally had staffers represent the mayor at community-board and civic-group meetings across the city, reporting back to the administration on neighborhood concerns. “The CAU unit now employs Pinny Ringel, a $65,000-a-year liaison to the Jewish community and a former Public Advocate’s Office staffer under de Blasio. Sarah Sayeed is a liaison who specializes in the Muslim community. And Jonathan Soto is senior community liaison to the Clergy Advisory Council, another de Blasio creation. Kicy Motley, a de Blasio campaign worker who tweeted “F- -k. The. Police.” in 2012, found a home in the CAU office as $55,000-a-year Brooklyn borough director. And Rebecca Lynch, a Teamsters union lobbyist who backed de Blasio’s campaign, landed a gig as an $85,000-a-year special assistant in the CAU before taking a leave of absence to launch a bid for City Council in Queens .
de Blasio Leading From Behind
Monday A New York City data engineer has created an app that allows users to take photos of homeless people and upload them onto a map, which he believes could be useful to city officials, the Post reports:
De Blasio, Facing Criticism, Is Taking On Homelessness With $22 Million Initiative (NYT) For Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has staked his administration on battling inequality, dealing with what seems to be a growing homelessness problem is as much about social reform as political survival. * Rent subsidies for needy families up 50 percent under de Blasio (NYP) * With city falling apart, de Blasio nowhere to be found (NYP) Mayor de Blasio abruptly canceled a major policy announcement Wednesday on the city’s new plan for dealing with the homeless, amid questions about his administration’s handling of grade-fixing in public schools, a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak in The Bronx, and an uptick in the murder rate. Hours later, he also suddenly pulled out of an appearance before the ADA Sapolin Awards to honor those helping the disabled. The first event — which was to include details about moving homeless people into mental-health facilities — was postponed at around 10 a.m., just a few hours before two media briefings. “We need to finalize an aspect of the policy. We are rescheduling for Thursday, time, TBD. Sorry for the late notice,” said the mayor’s spokeswoman, Karen Hinton, in an e-mail to the press. When asked what “aspect” needed more work, she declined to elaborate.* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to unveil a plan to try to move homeless people who have shown violent tendencies in shelters and on the streets toward mental health care, The Wall Street Journalreports: * New York City Initiative Aims to Help Violence-Prone Mentally Ill People (NYT) Friday De Blasio puts health workers on watch for mentally ill (NYP)* City’s $22 MillionMental Health Plan Doesn’t Quite Tackle Homelessness as Advertised (NYO) Sunday De Blasio demonstrated a stroke of sanity in pushing for a new policy to treat severe mental illness in those disposed to violence through his new NYC Safe plan, including mandating treatment by court order, the DailyNews writes:
NYP Attacks Cats for de Blasio Softballs. Is Cats Getting Close to Buying the Daily News?
Catsimatidis goes easy on de Blasio as he debuts new press strategy (NYP) New York ?” “Are you afraid when the phone rings at 3 o’clock in the morning?” and “What can we do to improve our schools?”
NYC doesn’t know how many cooling towers there are after 10 die from Legionnaires’ disease
Thursday Now 10 dead, 100 sickened amid unprecedented #Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NYC, officials say (WNBC)
Even as cases of Legionnaire’s disease have increased across the nation, and experts have called for more safeguards, New York City has done little to address the risks water-cooling towers pose as prime breeding grounds for the illness while they power air-conditioning systems in many large buildings. * De Blasio is crafting his own downfall (NYP) Mayor Putz is getting whacked like a piñata, and he always seems surprised. One day, it’s murder mayhem, then an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, then a cheating scandal in the schools. Some days, like yesterday, it’s an avalanche. As one teacher told The Post, “The state, the city, the mayor, the chancellor all look good with an inflated passing rate.”* THE KILLERS IN THE MIST: De Blasio announces new legislation to identify, inspect buildings with cooling towers as 86 cases of Legionnaires’ disease are confirmed in South Bronx (NYDN) Some experts are questioning why New York City officials didn’t get on-the-ground assistance containing the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * Editorial: They missed the Legionnaires mist (NYDN Ed) * The Daily News writes that de Blasio was caught “way behind the curve” on preventing Legionnaires disease and must get a grip on the scope and danger of the illness before more die from it: * The city's Office of Emergency Management rolled out itsmobile office to the Bronx amid a Legionnaires'outbreak: (NY1) Thursday The death toll rose to eight in the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the South Bronx , with the total number of people who contracted the bacterial infection also increasing to 97, the Journal reports: * * Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio’s health commissioner for not enlisting the federal government’s assistance in combating the outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease, theObserver reports: * The family of a Bronx teacher who died in April of Legionnaire’s disease said he could have been the “canary in the coal mine” for the outbreak, but the city “ignored” his death.
The Mayor and Trump Hae Latino Problem
For Some New York Latinos, Enthusiasm for de Blasio Gives Way to Frustration (NYT) A citywide coalition of Latino leaders has been organizing demonstrations and lobbying the mayor to hire more Hispanics and Latinos in his administration. The New York City Campaign for Fair Latino Representation, a coalition of leaders lobbying the Mayor Bill de Blasio to hire more Latinos, said it is frustrated by the de Blasio’s lack of movement
de Blasio Aide Bid to Land DNC on the Taxpayer's Tit
Taxpayers paid for de Blasio aide’s bid to land DNC (NYP) City taxpayers picked up part of the salary of Mayor de Blasio’s chief of staff when she left the government payroll last year to lure the Democratic National Convention to Brooklyn , according to city records. The financial-disclosure forms filed by Laura Santucci show she received between $100,000 and $250,000 from the city’s tourism arm — NYC & Company — as director of the city’s DNC bid from November 2014 to April 2015. NYC & Company gets roughly one-third of its revenue from city coffers, so taxpayers funded a portion of Santucci’s convention-coaxing work.
What Do You Do When You Realize You Can't Handle the Job and Even the Press Can't Cover Your Ass - Zen Out in Park Slope
After Friction, Renewed Zen for de Blasio (NYT) Since weathering poor approval ratings and attacks on a range of issues, Mayor Bill de Blasio has adopted a subtle shift in tone, perhaps heeding the worries of advisers.* De Blasio insists exercise helps him be an effective leader (NYDN) * Mayor spars with radio listeners over Uber, rent andcarriage horses (CrainNY) Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to highlight his accomplishments on the Brian Lehrer radio show, amid growing frustration with his administration and falling poll numbers.The NY Times Goes Zen to Protect Their Mayor Under Attack* The Daily News’ Josh Greenman writes that de Blasio has made some major changes, but he needs to fix his sometimes clumsy stagecraft and embrace the no-nonsense persistence New Yorkers want to see in their mayor: * The Post’s Bob McManus argues that when it comes to his work, de Blasio is “a bit of a dope” who calls for transformative ideas but can never implement any of them into reality:
de Blasio Loved Way City Handled Legionnaires Outbreak
De Blasio actaully loved how city handled Legionnaires’ outbreak (NYP) Mayor de Blasio on Tuesday hailed his administration’s “unprecedented response” for containing a weeks-long Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in The Bronx, despite criticism from political rivals. The bill came a day after Gov. Cuomo, who marshaled state resources during the outbreak, signed an emergency declaration putting in place similar rules and remedies statewide. De Blasio insisted the two sets of rules were “complementary” and not competitive, even though state rules would supersede the city’s where they differ.“They were obviously built together,” said de Blasio, who credited the state for its work despite months of tension with Cuomo. The death toll remained at 12, while the number of people infected in the South Bronx inched up to 127, officials said. * De Blasio signs Legionnaires law, sends FDNY to check roofs (NYDN) * Legionnaires outbreak started at the Bronx Opera House Hotel (NYP) * Health Commissioner Says Legionnaires' Outbreak in South Bronx Is Over (NY1)
If Comic Louis C.K. Would Talk to One of the Many New Homeless On the City Streets
Media Invents An ASSHOLE Comic As de Blasio Savior
Louis C.K. Defends Bill de Blasio on the Radio. Maybe. (NYT) A man who called into Brian Lehrer’s talk show on WNYC on Tuesday sounded familiar to many listeners, who thought he could have been the popular comedian. * Did Louis CK call in to defend Mayor de Blasio on WNYC? (NYDN)
In de Blasio's NY Some are More Equal Than Others
The Real Tale of Two Cities is About Insider Privilege
Favors for de Blasio cronies is the real ‘tale of two New Yorks’ (NYP) It sure pays to have friends in high places. Just ask Roberta Kaplan. In January 2014 — weeks after Mayor de Blasio took office — a water-main break knocked out utilities in her upscale Greenwich Village building. Kaplan — who gave the maximum $4,950 to the de Blasio mayoral campaign — wrote City Hall. And she cc’d the founder of the firm BerlinRosen — which worked for the campaign and now runs the mayor’s pocket nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York. Hours later, a mayoral aide responded that city agencies had been dispatched. Inspectors showed up the next day — an unusually rapid response: The service interruptions were at first deemed a “priority B,” which typically means no action for weeks. campaign adviser, was pulled over for a traffic violation — just weeks after the Kaplan episode. Since Findlayter was driving with a suspended license and two outstanding warrants, he was arrested. Late that night, the mayor reached out to the NYPD to ask about the arrest. A couple intra-department calls later and — voila! — Findlayter was sprung. De Blasio called his actions “appropriate.” This month, The Post reported on the curious hiring of Stephanie Yazgi, romantic partner of mayoral aide Emma Wolfe, to a $150,000 made-up job that was never advertised publically. Connected friends (and friends of friends) of Bill de Blasio can clearly expect to get special treatment. Sure, that’s always been a part of politics. But it’s odd to see with Mr. Tale of Two New Yorks running things.
de Blasio's Trust Leadership Problem
How do you solve a problem like de Blasio? (NYP Ed) Mayor de Blasio last week moved to bring law and order — well, a semblance of order — to Times Square, the Battery and Coney Island . Scores of cops will flood the landmarks to tamp down panhandling and related anti-social behavior by aggressive Elmo impersonators — and, of course, toprotect tourists from the now-infamous Naked Ladiesof New York City. Another teapot tempest, calmed. But how is it that such a low-grade nuisance was allowed to blossom into a public-relations uproar so intense that people were speculating on primary opponents for de Blasio two years out? * How de Blasio is failing the test of the city’s success (NYP)
and He Roots Against the Mets! NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was low key when he went to all three games played between his beloved Red Sox and the Mets this weekend, frustrated by his favorite team’s disappointing season but excited for the upstart Mets and what their surprising resurgence could mean for October’s playoff possibilities in the nation’s largest city.* Mayor de Blasio Takes to Twitter for a Lunchtime Chat (NYT) Bill de Blasio held a brief, unannounced question-and-answer session on Twitter, addressing topics personal and political.
de Blasio Know What To Do He Just Does Not Know How to Do It
de Blasio Know What To Do He Just Does Not Know How to Do It
In the Daily News, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio lays out his plan to tackle the day-to-day issues facing city residents, saying he will never allow the quality of life in the city to erode and pledging to aggressively combat homelessness and crack down on nuisance panhandling
The Times Square fandango was just one in a series of unforced errors that are coming to define de Blasio’s mayoralty — including, most recently, theLegionnaires’ disease fiasco in The Bronx, hishumiliating defeat in the Uber dust-up and the schooling he took from City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on hiring more cops. * De Blasio says city won't go back to 'bad old days' (NYDN) * Mayor de Blasio Authorizes Emergency Measure to Aid Homeless People (NYT) The $10 million initiative, modeled on an emergency measure to assist families with children, is expected to provide rental assistance to as many as 1,000 adults.
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A Joker for Mayor? In A City's Govt That Feels Out of Control
Twitter attack proves de Blasio ‘doesn’t have temperament to run the city’: experts (NYP) Mayor de Blasio’s fake New York Post front page on Twitter was a petty attack on a newspaper that has exposed serious issues — and it proves he’s “extremely thin-skinned and doesn’t have the temperament to run the city,” a top political strategist said Thursday. “This type of deflection is not only in poor taste, it’s bad politics,” said crisis-communications consultant Susan Del Percio, who suggested de Blasio “stop worrying about his bad press and worry about running the city.” “You can’t laugh off certain things, and he’s trying to make a joke about something people are very concerned about,” she said. De Blasio tweeted his mock Post Page One on Wednesday night, hours after the NYPD released favorable crime stats.
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The Children's Design
Hey de Blasio, here’s how you design your own Post cover (NYP) You call this a front page? I’ve seen supermarket shoppers and law journals better designed than the pitiful parody of The Post that Mayor de Blasio tweeted. You obviously read the paper every day, Bill, considering how much it’s gotten under your skin. Why’d you make us look as dull as the Daily News? “SAFEST SUMMER IN 20 YEARS.” It’s only called the “wood,” it’s not actually suppose to be wooden. How about, “HOT DAMN!”
de Blasio So Moved By 911 Giuliani
De Blasio stares down Giuliani during 9/11 memorial ceremony (NYP) Mayor de Blasio couldn’t hide his feelings about nemesis Rudy Giuliani, giving him a piercing stare Friday during the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero. Only hours before they shared the stage at the solemn event, Giuliani for the second time this week criticized de Blasio for misrepresenting the city’s homeless crisis. “OK, here’s how ignorant Mayor de Blasio is. He said that there were 40 percent more homeless people during my administration,” Giuliani said on Fox 5, adding the mayor misquoted that statistic, which The New York Times put at 32 percent. Giuliani also said the spike was only in the shelter population, not in the number of homeless on the street. “People who are in shelters, I would like to inform the mayor, are not homeless,” Giuliani sniffed. The two mayors have been locked in a war of words since Giuliani blasted de Blasio and his “progressive views” for allowing vagrants to sleep on the streets in a Post op-ed last Sunday. *
6 Months Ago True News Reported On the de Blasio Press Bubble
As de Blasio Poll Numbers Fall He Floats His Press Bubble to the Outer Boroughs
Approval ratings behind de Blasio’s outer borough roadshow (NYP) Mayor de Blasio ventured to the Rockaways on Friday, continuing his outer-borough charm offensive in the wake of sinking poll numbers and criticism of his progressive wanderlust. A day after a staged photo-op showing Hizzoner filling potholes on Staten Island, he ventured to Queens for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at part of the rebuilt boardwalk destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The city got $480 million from the feds to rebuild the boardwalk, and de Blasio announced any leftover money “will stay in the Rockaways.” Political strategists say it’s no accident de Blasio is taking his show across the city. “The poll numbers show he’s sinking, so he has to take action,” veteran operative told The Post. “He’ll be appearing at fires, crime scenes, anything to show he’s the mayor of the city. The people have said we don’t want him to be the mayor of America , they want him to be the mayor of NYC.” A Quinnipiac University New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio marked the unofficial opening of summer on Friday with a celebration of the completion of the first restored section of the Rockaway Boardwalk that was wrecked by superstorm Sandy in 2012. Mayor Puts New Yorkers Who Want to Ask Questions Into Pens and Reads His Script in Front of the Political Class* -- AP’s “[O]n Friday in the Rockaways, unlike on Staten Island the day before, [de Blasio] largely heard cheers. That was in part due to the event's careful stagecraft, featuring tight security that kept would-be demonstrators nearly out of the mayor's line of sight. … the site of his press conference was tightly controlled by Department of Parks security and City Hall staffers, who took the unusual step of cordoning off potential disruptors to an area about 50 yards down the boardwalk.” * Channeling Orwell: Mayor de Blasio's "Free SpeechZone": (WCBS)
Bubble Mayor No Town Hall de Blasio Spins and the NYC Press Defining Journalism Down
de Blasio Played the Horses for the Money to Get Around the Election Law
De Blasio’s new horse-carriage plan iseven more ridiculous (NYP Ed) Mayor de Blasio’s affordable-housing plan is in shambles. There’s traffic chaos in the streets. Sixty percent of New Yorkers say they see more homeless people around. And 48 percent of New Yorkers don’t want de Blasio to have a second term. So what does the mayor do? He races back into the arms of the special interests who helped get him elected. That’s right — he’s re-embracing the nuts who want to ban the Central Park carriage horses. But the mayor did have a political case: The people behind NYCLASS gave nearly $2 million to his 2013 campaign and to negative-ad campaigns against his opponents, and now to his new “nonpolitical” slush fund. Now de Blasio wants to reduce the number of horses to 70, and stable the horses in Central Park rather than having them commute from the West Side . This makes no sense on at least three levels. First, if the horses are so horrifically abused, why is it better to abuse 70 horses instead of 220? After all, no one ever says that we should reduce, say, the number of trafficked or forced prostitutes. The goal is zero. The answer here is that the animals aren’t abused, and the mayor well knows it. Second, if the streets are so unsafe for the horses that they can’t go back and forth 11 blocks to the park, that’s a problem with the streets, not with the horses — and the answer is better traffic safety to protect drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists, too. Third, why on earth would we give part of our precious public park to house a private business? Central Park doesn’t have room to stable 70 horses — and there’s no need for it. Where would a horse stable go — and who, exactly, among the park’s users would like to give up a playground or some green space? Like many of the mayor’s ideas, from building a new subway on Utica Avenue when we don’t have money for the old subways, or building housing over a rail yard that’s going to be part of a complex MTA construction project for years to come, nobody thought this through. The mayor has said that he wants to do something about the horses to show, as the Times put it, that he is “a man of his word.”
The NYCLASS PAC Aloud Team de Blasio to Collect Large Donations that the Election Law Blocked to Kill Quinn
Mayor de Blasio reins in plans to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park, but says he'll work to reduce their number (NYDN)Central Park as a compromise, it is anything but that, writes the Daily News * With Thanksgiving approaching, Christine Quinn, CEO of Win and former speaker of the New York City Council, writes for the Daily News that New Yorkers need to not only continue donating, but also push for more support for agencies that can help break the city’s cycle of homelessness: (Daily News) * De Blasio Admits Horse Ban was Stable Grab for Donor | Frontpage Mag
In 2014 Daily News Reported That Team de Blasio Poured Money Into NYCLASS
Daily News Interviews Quinn On Homelessness On the Same Day the Mayor Backtracks On the Horses?
A Great Question to Quinn Would Have Been Did You Think You Lost the Mayor's Race Because of NYCLASS?
The NYCLASS PAC Aloud Team de Blasio to Collect Large Donations that the Election Law Blocked to Kill Quinn
Mayor de Blasio reins in plans to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park, but says he'll work to reduce their number (NYDN)
In 2014 Daily News Reported That Team de Blasio Poured Money Into NYCLASS
In 2014 the Daily News repored that the FBI was investigating donations to NYCLASS from men closeto Mayor de Blasio that may have been used toward anti-Christine Quinncampaigners On May 21, lawyer Jay Eisenhofer gave $50,000 to NYCLASS, the animal rights group leading the crusade to ban carriage horses. Ten days later, on May 31, NYCLASS gave an equal amount — $50,000, to the anti-Quinn group. On June 1, NYCLASS received another large donation, this time for $175,000. It came from UNITE HERE! — a labor union headed by John Wilhelm. Two days after that, on June 3, NYCLASS sent the same amount, $175,000, to the anti-Quinn campaign. The issue? Both Wilhelm and Eisenhofer have long-standing ties to Bill de Blasio, one of Quinn’s Democratic rivals in the mayoral campaign. Wilhelm is de Blasio’s cousin — and a prolific fund-raiser for him. Wilhelm raised $6,950 for de Blasio’s 2009 race for public advocate and $80,000 for de Blasio’s successful campaign for mayor.
Horse-Carriage Fight Politics
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping
How the Advance Group Conspired to Steal the 2009 and 2013 Election
CrainsNY on the Advance Groups Double Dipping
de Blasio's Leading From Behind: Public Hospital Crisis
Paging Doctor deBlasio: New York City'sHealth and Hospitals Corp. needs emergency care from the mayor (NYDN) The city’s top doctor on Tuesday pronounced the municipal hospitals in critical financial condition — and says New Yorkers will have to step up to save them. Are you ready to pitch in? Mayor de Blasio hasn’t been. Fifteen months into his term, it suddenly dawns that the Health and Hospitals Corp.’s 11 major medical centers are hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Without radical treatment, they are terminal. Landmark institutions like Bellevue , Kings County , North Central Bronx and Elmhurst Medical Center
More On Hospital Closing and Problems
BREAKING NEWS: A New York City Mayor Rushes to the Scene of A Crime or A Fire
Cheers for all butone: While the Finest and Bravest do the city proud, Mayor de Blasio hits thegym (NYDN Ed) Unsurprising was the professionalism and heroism of New York City ’s emergency responders after a berserk, heavily armed gangbanger forced a long and terrifying siege on Staten Island . Unsurprising was the mobilization of the NYPD’s emergency services teams, hostage negotiators and aviation unit, which sent a helicopter to bring the gunman’s mother from Delaware in the hope of persuading him to surrender. Unsurprising was the bravery of the Fire Department’s Engine 158, called to the scene as it first unfolded and as smoke billowed from the basement apartment of career criminal Garland Tyree. Unsurprising was the valor of Fire Lt. James Hayes, a 31-year veteran, who led the way in and was shot twice, once in the leg and once in the hip. And unsurprising, too, was how one man took it all in stride, perhaps literally on a treadmill, while working out at a gym for as many as 100 minutes and then stopping to pick up a bite to eat: New York’s Mayor de Blasio.
The Workout: While his Cops Were In A Dangerous Standoff, Mayor Decided to Hit the Gym
Monday Update Firefighters say an FDNY lieutenant almost died because he wasn’t told by law-enforcement officials that the home he was racing into housed an armed Bloods gang leader suspected in two murders, the Post reports:
NYC Mayor de Blasio spent two hours at a Brooklyn YMCA this morning, leaving his police and fire commissioners to deal with a Staten Island standoff in which a gunman shot a city firefighter. * Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said de Blasio should not have been fiddling around in Brooklyn while a building in Staten Island was burning and a maniac was shooting at police officers. “Even the Emperor Nero attempted to put the fire out in Rome ,” Mullins said. * A group of influential Democrats believe de Blasio is grooming his wife, Chirlane McCray, to succeed him in 2021. * Former NYC Council Speaker Chris Quinn sent a lengthy “what I’ve been up to lately” email to supporters, but says she has no intention of challenging de Blasio in 2017.* Mayor de Blasio Hit the Gym Amid Staten Island Standoff (NY1) * De Blasio Went tothe Gym During Gang Leader's Standoff With NYPD (DNAINFO)
NYT The Mayor's Protector Leaves Out His Workout At the Brooklyn Gym
De Blasio QuestionedAbout Going To Gym After Firefighter Shot On Staten Island (WCBSTV) Mayor Takes Exception To Reporter's Query: 'That's Just Not A Serious Question' Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to answer a question Friday about going to the gym hours after a firefighter was shot by a man who later barricaded himself inside a home on Staten Island. De Blasio’s press secretary, Karen Hinton, said the mayor was at the gym for at least 80 minutesduring the standoff, which started at around 6 a.m. De Blasio arrived at his Park Slope gym at 9 a.m. and stayed until 10:40 a.m., according to Hinton * Mayor Stayed at Gym During NYC Standoff With Gang Member WhoShot Firefighter (WNBC) * MAYOR DE BLASIO FACING CRITICISM FOR GYM TIME AFTER STATEN ISLAND FIREFIGHTER SHOT (WABC) * De Blasio was weighing himself at gym while cops were indanger (Daily Beast) * De Blasio waves off questions about workout (PoliticoNY)
NYT The Mayor's Protector Leaves Out His Workout At the Brooklyn Gym
Man Who Shot Firefighter in Staten Island Standoff Has Died (NYT) Garland Tyree, 38, died after a standoff that began early Friday morning, when members of the United States Marshals Service tried to arrest him, the police said.
"Park Slope might be Mayor de Blasio's Bermuda ", says artful @gracerauh in her report tonight on @InsideCityHall
Wayne Barrett: de Blasio's Big Transactional Lies and Contradictions
Barrett Exposes de Blasio's Real Political Agenda and Phoney Empty Immoral Soul
Muckraking investigative reporter Wayne Barrett unmasks Mayor Bill de Blasio's "transactional" hypocrisy
The transactional Bill deBlasio (Wayne Barrett, NYDN) “Transactionality is a trap,” preached de Blasio on NY1, contrasting himself with that denizen of the dark side, Andrew Cuomo, who, the mayor declared with wide-eyed sincerity, “deeply believes in the transactional model.” He acidly ascribed everything bad that happens in Albany to the governor — even though a man who knew them both well, Mario Cuomo, endorsed de Blasio in 2009 with the memorable words: “He’s a lot like Andrew.” de Blasio’s attack on transactional politics was itself a transaction, a favor for labor. * WAYNE BARRETT in the News, “The transactional Bill deBlasio”: “Most of the water de Blasio carries for his backers these days flows from city reservoirs. He has awarded the richest labor contracts in city history, and support for his 2017 reelection bid from the union recipients of his public largesse may ward off any primary challenge. SEIU signed one of those contracts — valued, when combined with the nurses union, at $879 million. Hotel workers don’t have a city contract, but are pleased no doubt by the mayor’s enforcement war against hotel competitor Airbnb. ... “The progressives who hate Cuomo the most, including perhaps the mayor, hate him for his alliance with the Republican state senators. Yet they simultaneously expect him to milk it, as he has on marriage equality, gun control and other issues. They damn and cheer him in the same sentence, demanding more than he could ever extract from a Republican conference financed by real estate and other corporate interests, and controlled by an upstate majority with a downstate suburban face.” The end of the article notes that Barrett’s “wife is an adviser on nonprofit policy for Cuomo .”
de Blasio and NYT Enabler Support Silver's Transactional Politics After His Arrest
Law Department Online Challenge
De Blasio’s legal department pressured to file cases online (NYP) A councilman is demanding Mayor de Blasio’s legal department investigate how it can save taxpayers millions of dollars filing cases online. Manhattan Democrat Ben Kallos wrote to the city’s Law...
How Many Homeless Plans Has de Blasio Had So Far 19 Months in Office
Groundhog Day: New Homeless Plan New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to unveil a plan today to address homelessness and move mentally ill people from the streets into housing and supportive facilities, The Wall Street Journalreports: Groundhog Day NYCHA Plan New York City officials directed nearly $80 million toward upgrading lights at 15 public housing developments flagged for high crime rates, but some developments that need it most are in the dark, the Daily News reports: Homeless and Crime Bratton Says Homelessness Is Fueling Perception of aCrime Spike (NYO) After announcement of a plan for handling New York City ’s homeless and mentally ill was pushed back to Thursday, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said an increase in homelessness is fueling perception of a crime spike Bratton Bill Bratton thinksmore New Yorkers should be in jail (Gawker) * NYPD head Bill Bratton opposes letting more people out ofjail: (NYDN) * NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton speaks out against cuttingjail population: Thousands of criminals ‘have no values, no respect for humanlife’ (NYDN) * A report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that city officials are prioritizing treatment of less-severe mental-health cases at the expense of more severe, potentially violent cases, City Journal writes:
de Blasio Boos At Dominican Parade is Having A Bad Spell
De Blasio met with boos at Dominican Day Parade (NYP) They marched just one block from each other, but the greetings Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo received at Sunday’s Dominican Day Parade were worlds apart. De Blasio, who slammed the Dominican Republic in June for deporting workers of Haitian descent, strolled along Sixth Avenue to a hail of boos.“No more de Blasio, no more de Blasio!” a crowd chanted. New Jersey . “ ‘Don’t go to the Dominican,’ he says. He said we don’t like Haitians. He says our country is racist.
Homelessness Grows the Homeless Boss Goes
Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, was reportedly “miserable” in her job and felt the mayor politicized too many decisions.
Deputy Mayor Barrios-Paoli leaving the de Blasioadministration (NYDN) Amid controversy over Mayor de Blasio's handling of homelessness, a deputy mayor will soon be leaving the place she's called home for 20 months. Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, de Blasio's top official for homelessness, social services and health, is leaving City Hall, the administration announced Monday. She will depart at the end of September and take an unpaid post chairing the Health and Hospitals Corp. board. *
Daily News: Mayor Gloom
Mayor of Gloom City: De Blasio’s badmouthing has come back to hurt him (NYDN Ed) The mayor has been a superstar at talk, but his delivery has often left much to be desired or raised questions about whether he is actually in command. He waged and, happily, seems to have abandoned a plan to ban carriage horses from the city. He declared that he would hire no new cops and then suddenly agreed to bolster the force by 1,300 officers after being smartly outmaneuvered by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. He set out to slowly strangle charter schools, only to be beaten back by public opinion and Gov. Cuomo. He took on a huge fight to cap the number of Uber cars in operation — arguing not on pragmatic terms, but by painting the company as a billion-dollar behemoth like ExxonMobil or Walmart. New Yorkers who appreciate the car service, especially those in the cab-starved outer boroughs, didn’t get it — and the mayor was forced into an abrupt U-turn. He has used phony numbers to claim that he kept a promise to wring health-care savings out of the unions. He is struggling to get control of Rikers Island New Yorks :
A Tale of Two Cities: The de Blasio Poll Show and Increasing Racial Divide
It’s official: New Yorkers are growing sick of Bill de Blasio (NYP) New Yorkers flunked Mayor de Blasio in a devastating poll released Wednesday — giving him his lowest approval rating yet amid revelations in The Post about a growing grade-fixing scandal in city schools. The Quinnipiac University
NYP's End of de Blasio's Term Countdown Clock
They disapproved of his handling of the latest city budget by 38-43 percent, and the city’s rising homeless population by 36-53 percent. Carroll also said it’s obvious that de Blasio had failed to bridge the divide between rich and poor New Yorkers and the racial divide between blacks and whites. “The mayor has yet to close the book on the ‘tale of two cities’ written on Election Day 2013. Black voters still approve of de Blasio by a lot; white voters don’t,” Carroll said. Howard Wolfson, a former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, agreed. Following the release of the poll, Wolfson tweeted, “Amazing. Guy who ran on ending ‘two cities’ has a bigger gap btwn white and AA [African-American] approval (32 points in new Q poll) than Bloomberg ever did.” * Quality of life in NYC is at its worst in years: New Yorkers (NYP) * The NY Post has launched a countdown clock to keep track of how much time remains in de Blasio’s “disastrous” first term.
Hey de Blasio, put on your big-boy pants and act like our mayor (NYP) Asked why he wasn’t at the unveiling of the glitzy plan for La Guardia Airport with Gov. Cuomo, Vice President Joe Biden and other officials, the mayor offered a revealing response: He only goes to events where he’s invited to speak. OK, we get it. De Blasio’s war with Cuomo continues, and because the gov wouldn’t let him near the microphone, the mayor boycotted the event rather than fume in silence. I think we know what Yogi would advise in such situations: “Grow up!”* De Blasio has alienated every prominent New York Democrats and will struggle when he runs for reelection in 2017 and seeks a top Democrat to campaign with him, playwright Mike Vogel writes in amNewYork: * Mayor Seems to Be Having Tough Time with NYers Who Helped Him Win City Hall (NY1)
No NYP Goodwin de Blasio Not Trapped In Left Ideological, He is Caught in An Hypocritical Swamp of Lies and Has No Management Skills
Michael Goodwin: “In the middle of his second year, de Blasio has hit a wall. Trapped in a far-left ideological swamp, he can’t bring himself to put his duty to the city ahead of his narrow-minded petulance. He doesn’t even seem to be trying.”
1. Homelessness is Increasing Affordable Housing is Decreasing As de Blasio Takes Money From Real Estate Developers and Their Lobbyists
2. de Blasio Takes Money From Taxi Bosses and Loses Their Uber Battle
3. UFT PAC and Lobbyists Help Elected de Blasio and He Cannot Stop Increase In Charter Schools
4. de Blasio Needed NYCLASS Attack on the Mayor to Get Elected and He Cannot or Does Not Want to Ban the Hourse Carriages
5. de Blasio Campaigned on Blasting Bloomberg NYCHA Polices and He Copies the Parking Lot Selloff and Cannot Do Any Better Fixing the Repairs
6. de Blasio Campaign on Keeping LICH Hospital Open and It is Closed and A Hugh Development is Planned From A Developer who Contributed to His Campaign
7. Shooting and Murder are Going Up
8. de Blasio Blasted Bloomberg Trips Mayor for 18 Months Jetting off to California , Iowa , New Mexico and Italy , Among Other Places
9 Fighting With the Council Speaker Who He Put Into Office and Needing Help From the Senate GOP Who He Worked Against to Continue Control the Schools
10. de Blasio Runs A Slush Fund PAC One NY Funded By Developers, Special Interests and Run By An Unregistered Lobbyists Berlin Rosen
NYT Defends de Blasio for His Albany Failures
Monday Update
Despite Cuomo’s Claims, de Blasio Hails ‘RealProgress’ on 421a (NYO) * * *
New Yorkers get a break: Crucial reforms to the 421-aprogram survive Albany,giving the city the chance to accelerate affordable housing production (NYDN Ed) * New York City’s Burden Grows Heavier in Albany (NYT Ed) Cuomo and Republicans in the State Senate worked hard to make life miserable for Bill de Blasio this year. It is always galling to see the mayor of the nation’s biggest city begging for the bare essentials inAlbany . Without the approval of New York State ’s lawmakers, New York City ’s elected leaders can’t raise most taxes, can’t really control traffic, can’t even run their own public schools. This week, as legislators finished their annual session, the anti-urban agenda seemed even more pointed than usual, a direct aim at New York City ’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republicans in the State Senate this year worked hard to make life politically miserable for Mr. de Blasio and his 8.5 million constituents. NYT de Blasio A Victim? Veterans in the state capitol suggest that lawmakers are taking their revenge for Mr. de Blasio’s meddling in last year’s elections. The mayor, a Democrat, vigorously campaigned against Republican state senators. (Only in Albany are legislators supposed to run for office without real opposition.) And when Republicans won, they took aim at the mayor. Mr. de Blasio also pushed Governor Cuomo into firmly declaring his support for a more progressive than usual agenda last year in order to gain support from the liberal Working Families Party.* Cuomo’s Bid to Make Albany Work Was Tested (WSJ) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s claim that he cured the capital of dysfunction has been complicated this year by a protracted legislative session thrown into disarray by corruption charges against both legislative leaders. * Mayor Quiet as City Officials Slam Final Albany Deal (NY1) * Cuomo's AlbanyIs Pricing Us All Out Of NYC (Gotamist) * How Andrew Cuomo Sold Out New York City Renters to a Pack of WealthyLandlords | The Nation * 421-a deal brings more anxiety for real estate developers (Capital) Requires unions, developers to negotiate on wages * The 421-a tax break deal enacted in Albany has developers worried and rushing to get planned buildings into the ground, but new rental projects seem to be out of the question, Capital New York reports * The short-term Big Ugly deal on 421-a has real estate developers gearing up for the next round of negotiations. * New York City developers are questioning a deal on the 421-a program, including a provision to negotiate a wage mandate for construction workers, with insiders predicting court challenges, Crain’s writes:
Despite Cuomo’s Claims, de Blasio Hails ‘RealProgress’ on 421a (NYO) * * *
New Yorkers get a break: Crucial reforms to the 421-aprogram survive Albany,giving the city the chance to accelerate affordable housing production (NYDN Ed) * New York City’s Burden Grows Heavier in Albany (NYT Ed) Cuomo and Republicans in the State Senate worked hard to make life miserable for Bill de Blasio this year. It is always galling to see the mayor of the nation’s biggest city begging for the bare essentials in
Cuomo de Blasio Race to Marry Same-Sex Couples
Cuomo one-ups de Blasio by marrying couple at Pride Parade (NYP) * Cuomo is set to officiate a same-sex wedding before today’s gay pride march in Manhattan after winning the heDaily News reports: * There is no Team Cuomo. There is onlyCuomo."(NYP) * Gov. Cuomo to officiate same-sex marriage before Pride March (NYDN) power to do so from the state Legislature just a few days ago, * Cuomo officiates gay wedding at historic Stonewall Inn (NYP) * Cuomo marched about a block ahead of de Blasio at the Pride Parade in New York City and “one-upped” the mayor by officiating a same-sex wedding.
Its Not Shocking That the NYT Called City Boy Cuomo de Blasio's Political Bully
Governor Cuomo, ‘City Boy’ (NYT Ed) He needs to use his power to make sure his hometown gets the help it needs. Mr. Cuomo should now put pressure on his Republican allies in the State Senate to give the city’s mayor full control of schools. The Times accuses Cuomo of political bullying and says that the issues de Blasio pushed in Albany this past week—schools, housing and mass transit—need real solutions, not political one-upmanship
Why the NYT Kisses Developers Asses Ads
"Everything you love about Brooklyn"?: marketing push for 550 Vanderbilt condo begins (AYR) It was hard to miss, the half-page advertisement on Page 4 of the New York Times Real Estate section yesterday for 550 Vanderbilt, with thatdeceptive rendering we have gotten to know.
From the NYT: "City housing is another problem that cries out for the governor’s help. Instead, the governor is criticizing the mayor’s efforts at compromise as “a giveaway to the developers.” What would really be a giveaway is a simple extension of rent laws and tax breaks for developers. The city loses thousands of affordable rental units a year, and that will continue unless the state gives those with rent-stabilized apartments a better chance of staying put."
The Mayor's Door Wide Open to Lobbyists
De Blasio’s door is open to lobbyists (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show. Leading the pack was last year’s highest-earning city lobbyist, James Capalino, who met with Hizzoner three times in the last three months. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful mayoral run in 2013. Clients who accompanied him to the meetings included Chinese real-estate and movie-theater mogul Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Janno Lieber, a top Silverstein Properties exec who bundled $11,100 for de Blasio two years ago. Capalino most recently met with the mayor on May 28 on behalf of helicopter-tour operators in lower Manhattan — an opportunity that critics of the noisy flights say they haven’t gotten. “It’s very discouraging but not surprising,” said Delia Von Neuschatz, a resident of Battery Park City who founded an advocacy group to halt the tours. Other lobbyists/campaign supporters who met Hizzoner privately included Michael Woloz, who bundled nearly $237,000 for his campaign on behalf of the yellow-cab industry but who met with him on a doctors-union labor issue on Feb. 2. * The mayor has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show.
The Lobbyist's Shadow GovernmentNY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists
Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them
de Blasio Press Reports About My Bad Relations With Assembly Wrong
despite reports suggesting that members of the conference were not happy with him. “I feel great about my relationship with the Assembly,” de Blasio said. “It has been a very strong relationship of mutual respect, obviously with Speaker [Carl] Heastie, and I think with the overwhelmingly majority of the Assembly members. I’m sure there’s going to be some disagreements. That’s normal.” * De Blasio insisted he is on good terms with Democrats in the state Assembly, despite a published report in the Daily News suggesting that at least some members were not happy with him. Unclear plans: “So where exactly are you envisioning the sale of public housing land in the city?” Torres pressed. “I imagine that you’ve given some thought to the subject.” Kelly said the NYCHA was still working out the particulars. When Torres asked which NYCHA land would be used for market-rate private housing development, versus affordable, Kelly said the authority would prioritize “those sites that have the highest market value,” but again declined to elaborate
The Mayor's Door Wide Open to Lobbyists
De Blasio’s door is open to lobbyists (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show. Leading the pack was last year’s highest-earning city lobbyist, James Capalino, who met with Hizzoner three times in the last three months. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful mayoral run in 2013. Clients who accompanied him to the meetings included Chinese real-estate and movie-theater mogul Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Janno Lieber, a top Silverstein Properties exec who bundled $11,100 for de Blasio two years ago. Capalino most recently met with the mayor on May 28 on behalf of helicopter-tour operators in lower Manhattan — an opportunity that critics of the noisy flights say they haven’t gotten. “It’s very discouraging but not surprising,” said Delia Von Neuschatz, a resident of Battery Park City who founded an advocacy group to halt the tours. Other lobbyists/campaign supporters who met Hizzoner privately included Michael Woloz, who bundled nearly $237,000 for his campaign on behalf of the yellow-cab industry but who met with him on a doctors-union labor issue on Feb. 2. * The mayor has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show.
Nanny Mayor's Back With Salt Warning On the Day the Mayor Stacks the Board of the Health Department
To Pass Controversial Ultra-Orthodox Circumcision Ritual
To Pass Controversial Ultra-Orthodox Circumcision Ritual
de Blasio Stacks the Health Department to Win the 2017 Campaign
De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual.
de Blasio A Tale of Two 421-a's
de Blaiso Spins A Black Chruch That 421-a Was Only About Tax Breaks for Luxury Buildings
As NYC Becomes A Gilded City de Blasio Promises He Will Stop It
The Mayor Who Cannot Fix Homelessness, NYCHA, Keep Hospitals Open Crime Down is Going to Stop NYC From Continuing to Become A City of the Wealthy?
The mayor tried to confuse his audience when he said “We can talk about the pros and cons of gentrification, and we can acknowledge that it’s not all good or all bad, but we do know one thing: gentrification has changed us rapidly,” he said, arguing the status quo will drive people out of their homes. “It will make this a gilded city, a city for only those wealthy enough to be here.” * Unless Albany takes action, de Blasio said, New York will become a “gilded city, a city for only those wealthy enough to afford to be here, and we will not accept that.”
It is not the status quo which is pushing blacks out of their neighborhoods, it is the 421-a tax break program. One of the reforms the mayor wants in the 421-a would speed up gentrification racial change. The mayor wants to extend 421-a tax breaks to buys from 20 years to 35 years. This change would make the 421-a in gentrifying neighborhoods more attractive to buyers. Hey, Did You Know Crown Heights Is Gentrifying?: Gothamist * Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Gets Its Turn - NYTimes.com “Certainly the dominant narrative in Crown Heights Harlem church Sunday and said if the state does not approve sought changes to the 421-a tax abatement program, the city should end it *NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on Developers' Tax Break: 'Mend It or End It' Wall Street Journal (blog) * Mayor De Blasio says he would get rid of 421-a if lawmakers can't modify to ... Newsday * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on Developers’ Tax Break: ‘Mend It or End It’(WSJ)
Bill de Blasio’s Battleto Save New York—and Himself (Vanity Fair) * De Blasio faces an uphill battle in regaining theconfidence of New Yorkers and taking on challenges like homelessness and crime, as some question whether he is up for the task, Brian Burrough writes in a profile of the mayor in Vanity Fair: * De Blasio aide slams rich New Yorkers’ refusal toacknowledge administration’s good work (NYDN) * A top aide to Mayor de Blasio blasted the city’s elites for refusing to acknowledge the good work the administration has done — and accused them of hating the mayor because he’s not in their swanky “golf club.” “Most of the people in (City Hall now) are not familiar to (our critics). In the past 12 years, they’ve been hanging out at (East Hampton ’s posh private golf course) the Maidstone Club with (Bloomberg’s people) and it's been really nice and easy,” Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said in a lengthy Vanity Fair profile of the mayor. “But at the end of the day ... paid child care, building rental housing, creating a ferry system — these are things any smart person running a city would be doing. The fact that these people don’t go to the same golf club as Bill de Blasio? OK, whatever. That's all this is about.” But the Rev. Calvin Butts told Vanity Fair that de Blasio didn’t do enough for black New Yorkers after Garner’s death, and he criticized the mayor for failing to fire the cop who put Garner in the chokehold.
“I think he feels comfortable in whoever is advising him that the black community is in his pocket,” said Butts, an influential black pastor in Harlem . He added, “I feel strange saying this, but ‘People in the black community, please, don’t be taken for a ride by this man.’ ”* Elected officials and other self-identified irritants have noted a shift under de Blasio compared to some of his predecessors: He has, at least when it suits him, shown a bit more deference to squeaky wheels, though those close to him are sensitive to any perception that he is too reactive to pressure, from the public or from private interests. * Hamill: Tough-talking ‘Morning Joe’ host goes soft on Bill de Blasio (NYDN)
Vanity Fair Kisses de Blasio Ass Skimming Over Real Problems, Ignoring Dirty PAC Politics and Inventing Realty to Fit Progressive
Who is Responsible for New Yorkers Hate Living In NYC More Than Ever?
New Yorkers hateliving in the city more than ever, a new poll shows. (NYDN) Only 33% of voters say that quality of life in the city is “very good” or “good,” the Quinnipiac Poll released Thursday found - the lowest number ever recorded by the poll, which has been asking the question since 1997. The poll also found that 46% of New Yorkers say crime is a “very serious” problem in the city — an all-time high for that stat. “The quality of life in New York City isn’t good and it’s getting worse, many voters think,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll. * The Daily News writes that if de Blasio was going to getinto a fight with Cuomo, he should have been prepared with a number of powerfulallies and a longer track record of getting things done: * Mayor de Blasio’s approval ratings have hit a low point (NYT) * HOW LOW CAN HE GO? Voters give Bill de Blasio his worst marks ever in latest Quinnipiac University poll (NYDN) 'As voters get to know Mayor de Blasio better, they like himless.' (NYDN) * 33% of NYC voters say quality of life is good or very good -- lowest number ever measured:
The Daily News writes that de Blasio’s lowest favorability ratings yet show he is reaping the gloom he has sowed by lamenting about what is unfair in New York City without effectively delivering remedies
@ QuinnipiacPoll * tenure,according to a new Q poll, placing his popularity with New York City voters well behind that of Gov. Andrew Cuomo — his counterpart in a protracted municipal feud. * Part of the de Blasio administration’s plan involves locating homeless people who have shown violent tendencies and pushing them toward mental-health care. This comes as the mayor is under increasing fire for an apparently growing population of people living on the streets and after several attacks that have rattled the city. * Mayor Bill de Blasio's real poll problem (CrainsNY) The strong economy should be boosting his approval rating. * A Quinnipiac poll found just 33 percent of New York City voters think their quality of life is “good” or “very good,” 46 percent say crime is a “very serious” problem, the Daily News writes: * * In a profile in the Observer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was coy about any future run for mayor, although he spoke about a number of transformative projects he hopes will change the perception of the borough: * Mayor de Blasio doesn't care about his declining pollnumbers. * White and black voters were widely split on the mayor, with 64% of blacks approving the mayor’s performance and 59% of whites disapproving. Just 40% approved of the mayor’s handling of crime and only 36% approved his handling of the NYPD, with an all-time high of 46% saying crime is a “very serious” problem in the city. Voters are tuning out statistics showing that crime remains at or near record lows, no doubt because of de Blasio’s rocky relationship with cops. Meantime, 53% of voters reported seeing more homeless on the street; 49% reported encountering more panhandling. They seem to be asking: Where’s Rudy Giuliani when we need him? Last, by a wide margin, New Yorkers believe that de Blasio turned his attention from basic mayoral duties as he has engaged in national issues. * A Summer Of Discontent For New York City (YNN) * De Blasio the Bungler (Manhattan Institute) New York City
PayBack: de Blasio Raised $$$ To Defeat Senate GOP
de Blasio Hides A Bus Company Payoff In A Putnam Democrat Housekeeper Account to Fund A Senate Democratic Take Over
What's driving political donations(CrainsNY)Last month, a man named Alexis Lodde made a $100,000 donation to a Hudson Valley Democratic Party account. It was an exceptional gift from a Texan who until recently had never made a political contribution in New York . The donation came less than two months after employees at certain bus companies, including one owned by Mr. Lodde's firm, were given a $42 million grant pushed through by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Employees at Mr. Lodde's company are expected to be among the largest beneficiaries. The Daily News reported that Mr. de Blasio and associates raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the obscure campaign account—the Putnam County Democratic Committee, whose chairman quickly transferred $433,000 to help two Democratic state Senate candidates. Berlin Rosen Cut De Blasio pals cash-in even after Democrats lose the Senate According to Crain’s New York, hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by the mayor’s team for four upstate Democrats — all of whom lost — got the money and spent it onwent to two of de Blasio’s closest political consultants, BerlinRosen and AKPD Message and Media.
Mr. de Blasio has been working to facilitate a Democratic takeover of the Senate. State law prohibits gifts of more than $10,300 to a state Senate candidate, but donors can give $103,000 to county political committees, which can then make unlimited transfers to candidates. A de Blasio spokesman said the mayor had not personally requested Mr. Lodde's gift, but declined to say who had. Mr. Lodde owns Dallas-based MV Transportation, which in 2011 purchased USA United Fleet, which operated 500 bus routes for the city's public schools. MV subsidiary Reliant Bus Co. took over those deals and maintains lucrative contracts with the Department of Education. Some 900 Reliant workers are expected to get raises from the $42 million city grant. Critics warned that the $42 million set a bad precedent. Supporters portrayed it as a safety measure, saying higher pay yields better workers to transport schoolchildren. Although Mr. de Blasio's measure was primarily meant to appease union workers at Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181—whose pay had been cut when former Mayor Michael Bloomberg rebid school contracts in his final term—bus companies such as Mr. Lodde's are helped indirectly by the subsidy, said Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission. Putnam County Republican chairman files formal complaintover Democratic donations(NYDN) The head of the Putnam County Republican Committee is asking state Board of Election Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman to probe whether Democrats were improperly using a county committee to skirt campaign donation limits in several key Senate races. In his complaint filed Thursday, Anthony Scannapieco Jr. said the Putnam County Democratic Committee "appears to be engaging in a pattern of soliciting or receiving donations well in excess of the $10,300 limit for the express purpose of assisting Friends of Justin Wagner, a state Senate candidate and Friends of Terry Gipson, also a state Senate candidate."
de Blasio's Secret Senate $$$ and Other Funding Secrets
By Bill Bratton -Bratton: Crime surge not a return to NYC’s ‘bad old days’ (NYP) It’s time for a sense of proportion about the increase in shootings and murders in New York City in the first five months of 2015. While it’s true that both categories have risen over last year’s low numbers, the increase is not a harbinger of collapsing law enforcement or crime raging out of control, as some local columnists would have it. Nor is it evidence that the steep decrease over the past four years in reasonable-suspicion stops — or “stop-and-frisks,” as they’re colloquially known — has caused the increase in shootings. The NYPD has plans to counter the current rise in shootings, including reinforcing patrols this summer with police officers who usually do administrative work, and targeted investigations of known gangs and shooters.
NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists
Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them
de Blasio's War On NYP and Daily News
Bratton Backs Mayor Crime Increase Is Not the Bad Old Day . . . Nattering Nabobs of Negativism?
City Hall Ties to Control the Crime Narrative By Attacking the Press
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton writes in the Post that a rise in shootings and murders in New York City is neither “a harbinger” of struggling law enforcement tactics nor the result of fewer stop-and-frisks
We may be able to moderate the increase or even reverse it over the summer. But even if we don’t succeed, the current rise is not the earth-shaking event that has been pictured. By far, the largest and most dense city in the United States remains an extraordinarily safe environment, with the lowest property-crime rates among the nation’s 25 largest cities and a murder rate lower than the nation’s as a whole. …Michael Goodwin’s not buying it, saying Bratton is waving a “white flag” at criminals and making a defense of the mayor that “reeks of politics.* Bratton, responding to a call from some police union leaders to conduct more stop-and-frisks amid an uptick in violent incidents, told reporters today the controversial tactic doesn’t really impact crime at all. “Let’s get over this issue of stop-question-and-frisk, how impactful it is, or isn’t,” Bratton said in a press conference at NYPD headquarters Monday morning. * The City Poll: Crime Tops Concerns for Bronx Residents (NY1) * "Broken Windows" policing does work. Says who?Residents of poor black neighborhoods. (Manhattan Institute) * New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton tells the Guardian that hiring more non-white officers is difficult because so many would-be recruits have criminal records:
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de Blasio "Don't Believe What You Read In the NYP and Daily News About Crime Rising"
Friday Do Not Believe Everything You Read in the NewYork Post': Mayor Smacks Down Tabloids (NYO) Once again, Mayor Bill de Blasio dinged the city’s two tabloids today, telling radio listeners that the New York Post and Daily News are greatly exaggerating the threat that crime and shootings pose to the five boroughs. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, appeared on WNYC this morning, taking call-in questions from New Yorkers for the first time since he became mayor more than a year ago. He took special aim at “New York ’s Hometown Newspaper.”
A Tale of Two Press Attacks: On the Right Agnew vs On the Left de Blasio
“The Daily News, with all due respect to them, was really misleading to the people of this city,” Mr. de Blasio told host Brian Lehrer. “The headline you talked about on the subway crime, it doesn’t surprise me that there would be sensationlist headlines.” Mr. de Blasio was reacting to a Daily News cover from yesterday that announced subway crime had soared, pointing to a 27 percent increase in felony assaults in the city’s subways. The mayor aggressively pushed back on those numbers, telling Mr. Lehrer that a straphanger has “about a one in a million chance of being a victim of crime.” * Bill de Blasio: Rikers Reform and HomelessnessMore Important Than 1K Cops (NYO) * the mayor’s office is using @Genius to “factcheck” the @nypost: * De Blasio downplaysquestions regarding uptick in subway crime, claims Daily News report onassaults was ‘very misleading’ (NYDN) * De Blasio downplays questions about uptick in subway crime (NYDN) * Jeffries takes on role as de Blasio watchdog (Capital)
A Tale of Two Press Attacks: On the Right Agnew vs On the Left de Blasio
The Mayor's Door Wide Open to Lobbyists
De Blasio’s door is open to lobbyists (NYP) Mayor de Blasio has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show. Leading the pack was last year’s highest-earning city lobbyist, James Capalino, who met with Hizzoner three times in the last three months. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful mayoral run in 2013. Clients who accompanied him to the meetings included Chinese real-estate and movie-theater mogul Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Janno Lieber, a top Silverstein Properties exec who bundled $11,100 for de Blasio two years ago. Capalino most recently met with the mayor on May 28 on behalf of helicopter-tour operators in lower Manhattan — an opportunity that critics of the noisy flights say they haven’t gotten. “It’s very discouraging but not surprising,” said Delia Von Neuschatz, a resident of Battery Park City who founded an advocacy group to halt the tours. Other lobbyists/campaign supporters who met Hizzoner privately included Michael Woloz, who bundled nearly $237,000 for his campaign on behalf of the yellow-cab industry but who met with him on a doctors-union labor issue on Feb. 2. * The mayor has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show.
The Lobbyist's Shadow GovernmentNY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists
Foreign Ownership of NYC Real Estate and the Lobbyists Who Work for Them
de Blasio's Band Aid Government
Bratton the Pol: "Hard to Hire Black Cops Because of Their Jail Record"
NYPD Commissioner SPINS For Job and Boss
Bratton: Quote about hiring black cops was taken out of context (NYP) * NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton is still blaming publication for twisting his words on hiring black cops (NYDN) * An increase in gun violence in large municipalities across the country is reigniting a debate about how aggressive police officers should be in trying to prevent crime while protecting the rights citizens, the Journal writes: * Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather Mac Donald writes in the Journal that the recent spike in violence in cities around the nation and relaxed policing tied to recent community backlash are linked:
Saturday Update
Police Review Board Seeks Grand Jury Records in Eric Garner Case (NYT) The Civilian Complaint Review Board argued in State Supreme Court on Friday that jury transcripts are needed to review police actions. * New Message on Frisking From de Blasio’s City Hall Amid Criticism NYT) The recent reminders about the origins in the later Bloomberg years come as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration faces criticism over crime.* As we near the one year anniversary of the death of EricGarner, the Staten Island man who died after a struggle with police, the New York Times examines the events that lead up to the deadly encounter: *
NYT de Blasio Wooing Business Leaders he Denounced
New Tack for de Blasio: Wooing Business Leaders He Once Denounced (NYT) The mayor, who railed against big business during his campaign, is making what corporate executives described as a delayed attempt to meet them on their home turf.
Dept of Consumer Affairs Boss Announces She Will Start Doing Her Job
City to burn food vendors who hike, hide prices (NYP)The city is about to put the bite on sleazy hot-dog vendors. The Department of Consumer Affairs says it’s launching a “crackdown” on food- cart hawkers who don’t display their..Berlin Rosen, George Artz and Global Strategy work on Menin failed bid to become Manhattan Borought President
A Progressive Mayor Working With Developers Against Prevailing Wages?
Has Anyone Notice the Mayor is Pushing for Renewal of 421-a With Changes for More Affordable Housing. What About Gentrification Displacement?
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is playing it both ways on whether developers who get huge tax breaks through the 421a program to build affordable apartments in the city must pay workers prevailing wages. More here. * PLAYING IT BOTH WAYS: Mayor de Blasio dismisses idea of prevailing wage for construction workers from developers with big tax breaks (NYDN) It's a tale of two de Blasios. The mayor is playing it both ways on whether developers who get huge tax breaks to build affordable apartments in the city must pay workers prevailing wages. * The state AFL-CIO released a statement blasting typically pro-union de Blasio for his plan to extend the 421-a tax abatement without a prevailing wage mandate for construction workers, the Times Union writes: Butts Blasts Mayor De Blasio brushes aside criticism from Butts (Capital)
On Tuesday the mayor brushed off a demand that developers who benefit from the big property tax dodge known as 421-a pay the workers who build their projects a prevailing wage. But behind the scenes, he was pushing to expand prevailing wage for building services employees like superintendents and doormen who work at the tax-break buildings, documents show. This apparent contradiction has emerged as de Blasio has vowed to “reform” 421-a, the city’s biggest property tax break that Albany is considering extending when it expires June 15. Flashback Bill de Blasio'sclaim that money will have no sway over his decisions as mayor will be put tothe test (NYDN 2013) The special interests who contributed to de Blasio's campaign will be eager to see if he shows his gratitude when he starts making decisions in City Hall. * Real estate opens checkbook for de Blasio | Crain's New York (2013) * REBNY Banquet | De Blasio Real Estate * @AFLCIO presidentopposes straight extension of 421-a tax break
de Blasio and His Mini Me WFP See Every Political Event As Meat to Eat For Themselves
The Alinsky Method
Just minutes after Clinton formally announced her run, New York ’s Working Families Partyonce again urged Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to get in the race. * In addition to @BilldeBlasio,Tish James and MMV also not ready to endorse Hillary Clinton yet: (WSJ) * Nadler Defends de Blasio’s Non-Endorsement ofHillary Clinton (NYO *
Black Leaders Make Demands of de Blasio as His Wife Plays the Victim to Shore Up the Black Vote for 2017
DOES HE LOOK WORRIED? Unfazed de Blasio says he can stomach poll that finds his support among blacks plummeting (NYDN) *Black Leaders Showing Signs of Frustration With Mayor de Blasio (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio remains popular with black constituents, but some community ministers and activists have complained that he has been slow to address their concerns.* Some of de Blasio’s support in the black community has atrophied due to the perception that he has eased up on his commitment to reform * Dozens of black ministers, justice reform advocates and civil rights activists and four black members of Congress gathered last Monday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem to discuss a delicate matter: What to do about de Blasio. The meeting was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote in 2013.* Chirlane McCray: I felt ‘sadness,’ ‘disrespect’ when NYPDcops turned backs on Mayor de Blasio at funeral of slain officer (NYDN) Over the course of the morning meeting, attendees voiced a series of concerns:
Mr. de Blasio, some complained, seems to have lost his appetite for criminal justice reform. The mayor, they said, has been too slow to take action against the police officer whose use of a chokehold on Eric Garner, an unarmed black man on Staten Island , led to Mr. Garner’s death. Other participants grumbled that Mr. de Blasio and his staff have simply not done enough to communicate with black community leaders on issues like affordable housing. The unusual congregation of community influencers, convened by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote when he was elected in 2013. -- Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: There is “growing disenchantment with the administration in the black community. The disenchantment relates to policing issues, the mayor’s support of broken windows, his lack of support for banning chokeholds and his willingness to support making resisting arrest a felony.”- Tamika Mallory: “The police turned their backs on him and all of the sudden he is beginning to concede … Is it already to the point that we have to turn our backs on the mayor?”
de Blasio's No Pay Interns
De Blasio interns receive education, not pay (Capital) Despite rhetoric, no money for full-time work *
McCray Victim of NYPD
* New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray said she felt “tremendous sadness” and “disrespect” when officers turned their backs to her and the mayor at a slain colleague’s funeral this winter, the Daily Newsreports: * McCray: I felt 'sadness,' 'disrespect' when cops turned away(NYDN) -- On the police officers who turned their backs: “It was horrible. I don’t know why the officers turned their backs,” McCray said in a wide-ranging interview on WABC-TV’s “Up Close With Diana Williams” that aired Sunday. “I believe in protest. I think there’s a time and a place for it, and that wasn’t the time,” McCray said, referring to the January funeral for Officer Wenjian Liu, where hundreds of city cops turned their backs on de Blasio and McCray as the mayor delivered his eulogy for the fallen officer. “That was a terribly sad day for the city and for those families. Those families are still grieving and it will take a long time for them to get back to whatever could be called normal,” she added. Daily News’ AdamEdelman
-- WATCH the video
Children's Blame Game in Albany
Lawmakers Say Governor Should Be Included In Ethics Package . . . U.S. Attorney Will Make Sure Of That . . . The Expected Plea Deal Of Former Speaker Silver Will Also Have Something to Say on the Cuomo
"More than 30 state legislators have left office in disgrace .. and their first instinct is to point fingers"
State pols say ethics package should include publicdisclosure for Cuomo (NYDN) State legislators say they are willing to enact a number of new ethics reforms, but they argue Gov. Cuomo should subject himself to more public disclosure as well. Republican and Democratic legislative sources say that while Cuomo has attacked lawmakers on the issue of outside income, the governor is making as much as $900,000 from HarperCollins for his recent memoir, which only sold a few thousand copies. They also say that perhaps there should be a ban on governors giving paid outside speeches. They note his big book advance and lucrative salary and investments of his live-in girlfriend, Food Network star Sandra Lee. While Cuomo during his first four years has not given such speeches, former Govs. Mario Cuomo and George Pataki did. * Cuomo’s former chief of staff Larry Schwartz, who left the administration on Jan. 11, is still on the state’s payroll and being paid his usual $181,560 annual salary for a job listed as “Dir of NY Off,” the Post’s Fred Dicker reports: * Cuomo's proposal for income disclosure has a few holes, (Capital)
Tenant Advocates vs. de Blasio
As the 421-a Program is Exposed As the Center of Corruption in Albany the Mayor Tries to Save the Giveaway to Developers With Limit Reforms That Even the Real Estate Board Agrees With
NYP Thanks de Blasio for Taking Their Advice by Going On Radio -Answering 4 Questions
NYT Calls NYC Safe
De Blasio finally takes questions from everyday New Yorkers (NYP) He took four questions during a 36-minute appearance, just weeks after getting slammed for shunning New Yorkers while answering questions from common folk on a trip to San Francisco. The mayor has also been criticized for abandoning the decades-old practice of holding town halls, although he insists he gets plenty of feedback on the streets of the Big Apple. The bulk of the radio interview focused on an uptick in murders and shootings in 2015, which Hizzoner said he takes “very seriously” and for which he is deploying additional officers to troubled precincts starting Monday.* Bill de Blasio, in Radio Appearance, Defends Approach on Crime (WSJ) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday he was doing everything in his power to bring down the city's rising homicide rate even as he defended his approach to policing.
70's McCray On Spin Control
Why A 75 Year Old Resident Ask Chirlane McCray To Stop the Guns She Had No Answer
Chirlane McCray Silent After Questions About NYC’s Soaring Shooting & Homicide Rate(WCBS) Residents Suggest The NYPD Bring Back The Stop-And-Frisk Policy In Modified Form * Hi Chirlane, here’s why quality-of-life arrests matter (NYP) * de Blasio said that funneling cash to the reform of New York City ’s jails, education system and homeless shelters is more important than adding a thousand new police officers, the Observer reports: * Chirlane McCray wasn't 'personally afraid' of homeless man (NYDN)
de Blasio Solves lack of Attention to Staten Island By A Press Event
The Spin Connect of Staten Island. Bit Player A Staten Island Member Item GOP
De Blasio spotted actually working in NYC( NYP) Dressed like a road-repair worker and sporting a hardhat, jeans and work boots, Mayor de Blasio on Thursday assisted a street-paving crew on Staten Island — marking only the third time this year that the well-traveled mayor has visited the borough. “This is about the quality of life; this is about our future economically, and here in Staten Island , people will feel the difference,” he said in New Dorp while announcing a $242 million allocation to repave 2,500 lane miles citywide in the next two years. de Blasio to Staten Island NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will be in Staten Island tomorrow – only the third time this year that he has made a public appearance in the borough.* "But then suddenly de Blasio was involved in animpromptu street corner town hall...." * STATEN IRE LAND: Angry resident rips de Blasio over speed cameras, property tax as cash grab during rare visit to borough (NYDN) * After taking heat for traveling the country while making only two public appearances in Staten Island this year, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio headed there yesterday, filled a pothole,and got an earful from a local resident angry about speed cameras and property taxes. More here. writes about fixing NYC’s “rotten boroughs” – “places with fewer actual voters that send representatives to the state Assembly, leading to unfair representation.”* De Blasio heralds the arrival of summer, in Rockaway (Capital) Unlike previous visits, mayor gets a warm reception* Last Week’s WildEvents Have New Yorkers Wondering: Where Was Our Mayor? (WCBS) De Blasio Catching Heat For Being Everywhere But Here When Major Incidents Went Down
A Town Hall Meeting With One Voters . . . 8.299,999 to Go
Now we know why Mayor de Blasio doesn’t visit Staten Island too often. After taking heat for traveling the country while making only two public appearances in the borough this year, Hizzoner headed there Thursday — and got an earful from a local resident angry about speed cameras and property taxes. Chris Altieri, 49, confronted the mayor as de Blasio wrapped up a press conference on road repairs in New Dorp. Altieri insisted a nearby speed camera on the corner of Hylan Blvd. and Tysens Lane is illegally placed since it is not as close to a school as state law requires. City officials say it passes legal muster — and speeding has dropped 30% since it was installed. “It’s illegal and you know it’s illegal,” said Altieri, who went on to argue with the mayor over whether the speed camera program is motivated by safety or cash. “You want the revenue,” Altieri said. De Blasio says the cameras to bust speeders are part of hisVision Zero push to end traffic deaths. * Staten Island Man Quarrels With de Blasio, Says SpeedCameras Are For Revenue (WCBS) * De Blasio Confronted by Resident During Trip to Staten Island (NY1)
A Town Hall Meeting With One Voters . . . 8.299,999 to Go
Daily News Blasts McCray For Calling the 70's Good Old Days
Saturday Update DUMB & DUMBER: Chirlane McCray recalls ‘strong’ times in 1977 when city crime was high, while husband Bill de Blasio insists reduced stop-and-frisk makes NYC safer (NYDN) It was the year of the blackout and bloodthirsty Son of Sam, the South Bronx was burning and subway cars were slathered in graffiti. Or as Mayor de Blasio and his wife Chirlane recall 1977, the good old days. New York City ’s population dipped by 10%, as residents fled for safer climes. Chirlane McCray, while urging tougher rent hike regulations, wistfully recalled on NY1 her arrival in the reeling city during the Abe Beame administration.
Good old Son of Sam: First Lady Chirlane McCray's bizarrenostalgia for 1977 New York City (NYDN Ed) The mantra in every discussion about quality of life in New York holds that the bad old days must never return. Now, the city comes to discover that, in fact,these are the bad old days. Mayoral first lady Chirlane McCray took a nostalgic trip back to 1977, the year she arrived in New York out of college, recalling that “the city was strong, the city was inclusive and dynamic, and we want the city to stay that way.”
Ah, yes, the halcyon era when crime was rampant, arson raged across whole neighborhoods, abandoned buildings lined miles of streets, a blackout unleashed mass rioting, the subways were covered with graffiti, tensions ran high between blacks and whites, the job base collapsed and 10% of the city moved out. Some commentators pondered the death of urban America . But, hey, you could find cheap apartments on the Upper West Side , Park Slope or anywhere else you dared to live. That’s what counted to McCray in measuring the New York of today against the New York of yore — and rendering judgment on the modern thriving metropolis through wildly jaundiced eyes.Mayor de Blasio seconded the extraordinary (one of his favorite words) motion.
And her husband, after defending his spouse, reiterated FrThe mantra in every discussion about quality of life in New York holds that the bad old days must never return. Now, the city comes to discover that, in fact,these are the bad old days. Mayoral first lady Chirlane McCray took a nostalgic trip back to 1977, the year she arrived in New York out of college, recalling that “the city was strong, the city was inclusive and dynamic, and we want the city to stay that way.”iday that the reduction of stop-and-frisk had zero correlation with this year’s increase in murders and shootings. “As we have reduced stops, we have reduced crime,” the mayor said during a live radio appearance Friday. “I think the numbers are overwhelmingly clear.“To me, this has actually been a great ratification of the fact that we can protect individual liberties while making ourselves safer.” The Daily News reported exclusively that the city is on pace to make 42% fewer stops this year as homicides are up almost 20%.
Before 421-a Tax Breaks for Developers You Could Find Afford Housing In NYC
De Blasio, asked if his wife’s pining for 1977 was a gaffe, said she was referring to the amount of affordable housing available at the time. “I think she has no illusions about how tough things were in this city in 1977,” the mayor said. “But she made a really powerful point: Until recently, good times and bad, you could find (an affordable) place to live. “I think what my wife was saying was those were not ideal times, but at least you could find a place you could afford to live.” City Hall press secretary Karen Hinton said any other interpretation of the First Lady’s remarks was “misleading and inappropriate.
Why is Crime Up . . . More Cops
Sharpton CCRB vsNYPD, Noerdlinger, McCray, de Blasio
Back the the 70's Fear of Going to Central Park as the Establishment Gets the Rising Crime Message
It one thing for Gangs Shooting Each Other In East NY But When It Hits Central Park the Media and Big Boys Notice
Saturday Update
Monday Update Robbed teen is 19th Central Park victim this week (NYP) * Cops hunt thug who robbed teen in Central Park as officials cite spree of similar crimes (NYDN) *** Recent crime spree has residents avoiding Central Park (NYP) Cops recorded 18 serious incidents through Sunday, compared with 11 incidents during the same time period last year. And those figures don’t include the most recent mugging, when an elderly man walking home was robbed of his watch early Wednesday by a thief who grabbed him and demanded his valuables.
Patrick Lynch re-elected as PBA president (NYDN) * Police union president re-elected in a landslide (NYP) Police officers had been casting their ballots during the past two weeks, and the tallying of the results was finished Friday, handing Lynch his win by a margin of roughly 70 percent.*Police union president re-elected in a landslide(NYP) * Patrick Lynch, Police Union Chief Who Fought Mayor, Wins a 5th Term (NYT) Mr. Lynch overcame two opponents, his first challengers in a decade, by taking 70 percent of the vote to lead the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.* Pat Lynch re-elected to 5th term as police union president (Capital) * PBA Members Re-elect Lynch to Fifth Term (NY1) * Patrick Lynch, Police Union Chief Who Fought de Blasio, Wins a 5th Term (NYT) * Patrick Lynch Re-Elected PBA Union President In Landslide (DNAINFO) Outspoken leaders of city's largest police union received 70 percent of his 23,000 member tally.
The Mayor's Even Given Up A Union-Scale Wage to Save 421-a
Up4NYC, a lobbying coalition of building-trade unions and contractors, criticized the mayor's plan on the grounds that it wouldn’t require developers to pay union-scale wages. “The mayor’s plan will not provide middle-class wages to the workers employed on what will remain mostly taxpayer-subsidized luxury housing, and it will not significantly increase affordable housing production for New Yorkers who need it most,” Pat Purcell, head of the Greater NY Laborers-Employers Cooperation & Education Trust, said in a statement. On the other hand, Stephen Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, a lobbying and trade group affiliated with the city’s big developers, praised the mayor’s plan as “ambitious, yet practical,” saying in the de Blasio press release that it will “result in the creation of much more affordable and market-rate, multifamily rental housing in New York City.”
Affordable Housing Has Become A Band-aid On A Cancer for Elected Officials to Protect Them From What They Are Doing to Our City With Their Tax Breaks to Developers Corruption probes affecting rent control extensions: Cuomo (NYP) Federal corruption probes of state lawmakers are making it harder to resolve major issues before the Legislature — particularly politically explosive matters such as extension of rent control for New York City, Gov. Cuomo said Friday. “If it was a different time in Albany , frankly, and Albany was a little bit more stable situation, I would normally take these negotiations to Albany and try to work it out among the parties,” Cuomo told business leaders at an Association for a Better New York breakfast. “Albany has a lot going on right now, let’s say.” He was responding to a question asked about the fate of the 421-a tax abatement program for developers and the law covering rent stabilization. Both lapse on June 15. Tenant advocates are demanding an end to 421-a, which they claim is a giveaway to developers even though it produces units for affordable housing. Cuomo said even those who support the program — developers and the carpenters union — are at odds over some provisions. At minimum, Cuomo promised that he and the Legislature would simply extend the current laws for both programs with few or no changes. * From Campaign 2013The Bloomberg administration’s ambitious housing plan to create or preserve 165,000 affordable units by the end of June 2014, largely through incentives to private developers, will fall short of meeting the need for affordable housing in the city. “We hardly gained anything because we lost an equal number of units from rent regulation and Mitchell Lama,” said Mr. de Blasio. “There’s over a third of the city paying more than 50% of their income for rent.” Poor Door’ in a New York Tower Opens a Fight Over Affordable Housing(NYT) As public housing becomes a relic, American cities have grown morereliant on developers, who say they can maximize their revenues and build more affordable units, by separating them from their luxury counterparts. * Real Estate Developers, Tax Breakes and Politics * BdB undecided on extending 'affordable' housing tax break (NYP) * Sad how many of these stories we've heard: Brooklynlandlords pushing black tenants out for whites: (NYP) * The Times Union writes that the New York City real estate market needs tax breaks as much as ice cream trucks need grants to market treats to kids, so the 421-a tax break should be viewed as an integrity test
Albany Times Union Which Has Nothing to Do With City's Poor an Middle Class Losing Their Homes to Gentrification is Opposed to 421-a
TU Edit Board: 421-a tax abatements have outlived theirusefulness, now just a giveaway for wealthy political donors:
There is No Discussion Of the Corruption Connected to the 421-a Program as the Extension of the Program is Planned in Albany
Does 421-a Destroy More Affordable Housing By Fueling Gentrification Than It Builds
Albany Times Union Which Has Nothing to Do With City's Poor an Middle Class Losing Their Homes to Gentrification is Opposed to 421-a
TU Edit Board: 421-a tax abatements have outlived theirusefulness, now just a giveaway for wealthy political donors:
de Blasio: Solving Growing Homelessness by Press Releases
NYT Reports the Mayor Is Throwing $$$ at the Problem, But Does Not Talk About What is Causing the Increased Homeless New Yorkers . . . 421-a?
De Blasio proposes a landlord-friendly tax tweak (Capital) Mayor Bill de Blasio's “sweeping” plan to reform a controversial tax break for developers will allow some landlords whose benefits are about to expire to continue receiving them, under certain conditions. De Blasio’s proposal, which will require approval in Albany , would give landlords the opportunity to extend existing 421-a tax abatements awarded before 2008 that are about to run out. The deal would allow landlords who qualified for 421-a prior to 2008 (when the abatement was last amended) to continue receiving the tax break on half of their building's property tax for 15 more years, provided they make an additional 5 percent of the building’s apartments available at an “affordable” rent. * A report from the New York City Independent Budget office finds that despite adding funds to the proposed 2016 budget for homeless services, the de Blasio administration will still need to increase funding for the city’s shelter system: * For New York City’s Working Poor, New Help in Getting Out of Homeless Shelters * State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his office would use $1.2 million in money from its myriad settlements with large financial institutions to stem the city’s ballooning homeless crisis, the Observer reports: * AG Eric Schneiderman announced his office would use $1.2 million in money from its myriad settlements with large financial institutions to stem the city’s ballooning homelessness crisis.`
Officials said New York City would commit $100 million in annual spending to combat homelessness, including funding for rental assistance, to more than 7,000 new households, anti-eviction efforts, The New York Timesreports: * Bronx citycouncilman accuses Cuomo of putting 'political favors' ahead of NYCHA repairs(NYDN) Bronx city councilman accuses Cuomo of putting 'political favors' ahead of NYCHA repairs “The notion of diverting state funds away from emergency roof replacement and into a political slush fund is morally sickening to me," Torres said.* New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and New York City Housing Authority Chairwoman Shola Olatoye announced the authority would overhaul its oversight of warehouses in the wake of an audit, the Observer reports
The Daily News Makes It Look Like Homelessness Down
Homelessness Growing? Why? Whose to Blame?
De Blasio’s homeless shelter crisis (NYDN Ed)
Rolling Stone Puff Piece On de Blasio Daily News "Insulting Arrogance"
De Blasio: How’m I doing? Ask people outside NYC (NYP) “A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than the people in New York City,” Bill Deblasio. What an arrogant snake making condescending remarks about New Yorkers, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s doing a great job — just ask people around the country and not the average New Yorker. In a seven-page spread in Rolling Stone magazine, de Blasio liberally patted himself on the back for accomplishments that, he claims, Big Apple citizens don’t quite seem to grasp. “A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than the people in New York City ,” he told the magazine. “But I’m convinced something very special happened here.”
The Daily News criticizes de Blasio’s “insultingarrogance” displayed in his recent national coverage and trips to Iowa and Nebraska about his first year as mayor while jails run out of control, housing projects crumble and homelessness surges: * Mayor de Blasio'sepic ego (NYDN Ed) The insulting arrogance displayed by Mayor de Blasio in describing New Yorkers as too dumb to appreciate his greatness will be remembered as a milestone of his mayoralty. De Blasio is sure that he is smart. While he is inarguably right about his IQ, his compulsion to grade his labors as “extraordinary” and “transformative” is indeed extraordinary in distinguishing him from the many politicians convinced of their own brilliance. From the start of the administration, de Blasio’s Mayor Me tendencies have been evident in the discourtesy he has shown in arriving late at even meaningful events — or in blowing them off entirely. So persistent has been his disrespect that no one any longer expects better. More recently, while kids need educating, the parks need tending and garbage needs collecting, de Blasio has focused on claiming the title of America ’s progressive tribune. In Iowa and Nebraska and on national TV, he has beat the drum loudly for liberal Democratic social and economic policy. Hosannas from those who share the ideology have confirmed to de Blasio’s ego that worship is his due. So, summing up his freshman year in office, he told an interviewer for Rolling Stone: “A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than people in New York City . But I’m convinced something very special happened here.” Like jails that have run out of control, housing projects that have crumbled, homelessness that has surged and a signature municipal ID program that still struggles to issue IDs. Oh, and water bills are rising. All hail Bill the Magnificent.** After unveiling a national progressive platform in Washington D.C., New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will travel to Silicon Valley to speak at his daughter’s college, Santa Clara University, Crain’s reports:
Mayor's Poll Numbers
Latest poll shows ‘lukewarm’ support for de Blasio(NYP) Only 45 percent of New York voters think the city is moving in the right direction, while 49 percent believe it’s going the wrong way, a Wall Street Journal-NBC 4 New York- Marist poll of de Blasio’s performance has found. An even worse number for the mayor: 57 percent of people in the city think quality of life has gotten worse or stayed the same over the past year, de Blasio’s first as mayor. And those who said it stayed the same did not think that was a good thing, the Journal reported. Only about 20 percent of people think quality of life in the city has improved. The only good news for the mayor was that, despite all the criticism of his performance, his overall approval rating edged up five points over the past year, from 39 percent to 44 percent. One area in which de Blasio has been hammered is his handling of matters involving the NYPD, especially after his soft reaction to unrest in the city after the police-arrest death of Eric Garner last year. According to the poll, only 37 percent of voters approve of the way de Blasio has handled police-community relations, compared with 57 percent who disapprove. The poll also shows that de Blasio has the support of black New Yorkers, 66 percent of whom think he deserves to be re-elected. Only 28 percent of whites would like to see him stay in office eight years. * De Blasio moving NYC in wrong direction: poll (NYDN) * * A Marist poll for The Wall Street Journal and NBC 4 New York found that 49 percent of New York City voters believe the city is moving in the wrong direction, the Journal writes:
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de Blaso Spin the Press on Lateness
55% of New Yorkers Think the Mayor's Constant Lateness is Irresponsible
55% of New Yorkers Think the Mayor's Constant Lateness is Irresponsible
Meanwhile, one of the mayor’s particularly bad habits got rapped: According to the poll, 55 percent of voters think his constant lateness is irresponsible.
The infamously tardy de Blasio showed up 20 minutes late last night to make a speech honoring the late Rep. Herman Badillo. A bill sponsored by NYC Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, a Brooklyn Democrat, would require taxis and car services like Uber to have a back-seat panic button that could summon the police to a passenger in peril. De Blasio late for speech honoring dead politician (NYP) Mayor de Blasio continued his tardy ways Monday night, showing up 20 minutes late to make a speech honoring the late Rep. Herman Badillo. De Blasio, who got top billing on the CUNY-sponsored memorial’s program, was slated to deliver remarks at 6:30 p.m., according to his public schedule and event organizers. But when his Hizzoner didn’t show up on time, other speakers rose to take his place, until he ambled onto the stage of Hunter College
With A Gov Trying to Blow Him Up, GOP Senate and Silver Gone
All de Blasio Will Get From Albany is This Lousy T Shirt
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will head to Albany this week with a sprawling agenda and no shortage of political challenges during an unusually turbulent time in the Capitol, The Associated Press writes: De Blasio's visit comes at an unusually turbulent time in the Capitol, one that could prove pivotal to the always fractious relationship between City Hall and the Capitol. Manhattan Democrat Sheldon Silver - long the city's key advocate - is out as Assembly speaker, consumed by a corruption scandal. New Speaker Carl Heastie of the Bronx could be a formidable ally for de Blasio, but his leadership is untested. While they profess their friendship, the mayor and Gov. Andrew Cuomo often don't see eye to eye.* The policy priority rift between de Blasio and Cuomo will be on display when the mayor comes to Albany Wednesday to testify before a joint legislative budget committee hearing.* De Blasio moving ahead with Sunnyside Yards housing plan | Capital New York *The “total disclosure” Cuomo says he wants of legislators’ outside income is relative, and would have some exemptions under his current reform proposal.* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to lobby the state legislature for control over setting the minimum wage during his Albany visit today, but has kept details of his presentation close to the vest, City & State writes:
Is de Blasio A Pen Pal With the NYT? Or is the Mayor Flacking for Himself to Excuse Another Lateness?
Does Bill de Blasio accidentally emailing the Times show that he regularly communicates w/ the Times from his own email address? Mayor de Blasio Accidentally Sends Email About Delayed Trainto NY Times Reporter (NYT) The email was only intended to go to city hall staffers, but it appears the mayor accidentally included one of the newspaper’s reporters as a recipient. In the email, with the subject line “2 problems today,” de Blasio reportedly detailed a 20-minute wait for a train amid major delays. * De Blasio complained after being stranded on subway platform (NYP) * Staff not checking subways delays spurred angry de Blasio email (NYP) * NEW YORK'S MESS TRANSIT: De Blasio and Cuomo both must step up to aid ailing MTA (NYDN)*MTA finally finds a way to speed up the subways(NYP)
When he decided to leave the station rather than keep waiting, the team that normally drives him around the city in a NYPD-issued SUV was nowhere to be found. * BLAZ 'EXPRESSES' FRUSTRATION: Notoriously late mayor fumes after waiting 23 minutes on A train, hurries off in disgust (NYDN) He gave himself 15 minutes to travel four stops to 34th St. — which any regular MetroCard carrier probably could’ve told him was cutting it a bit too close. The mayor ended up cooling his heels on the platform for 23 minutes before leaving in frustration.* The Citizens Budget Commission writes that calls for New York City to provide more funding for the MTA obscure the fact that the boroughs’ taxpayers already provide most of the transportation authority’s revenue:* Hey, Mayor de Blasio — try REALLY living the subway hell (NYP)
The Mayor Offers to Increase the City's Contributions to the MTA From $100 Million to $125 Million the MTA is Asking for $2.5 Billion
FIDDLING AS WE BURN: Blaz leaves city for two-day D.C. trip to push progressive agenda as thugs go wild at home in robbery shootout that leaves innocent mom hurt (NYDN) * With Approval RatingAt All-Time Low, Mayor De Blasio Continues Trip To D.C., California (WCBS) According to the latest Quinnipiac Poll, 49 percent of voters do not approve of how the mayor has handled crime, while 42 percent do approve. That’s a big change from January when 41 percent of New Yorkers disapproved and 50 percent approved, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Tuesday. America ’s mayor” is not a distraction. * EDITORIAL: Bill de Blasio, America’s public advocate (NYDN Ed) * Mark-Viverito defends de Blasio travel (Capital)
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Bill de Blasio needs to get off the road and back on the job (NYP) * De Blasio stood with allies from across the country in Washington, D.C., making his case that the liberal beliefs that catapulted him to City Hall in New York City were about to go national, the Times writes: * De Blasio pushes ‘progressive agenda’ in Washington DC (NYP) * De Blasio, in Washington, Unveils Campaign to Promote Liberal Causes (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced his campaign, “The Progressive Agenda,” complete with a wish list of reforms, like raising the federal minimum wage and mandating paid family leave. * As de Blasio is out of town selling his progressive agenda, he is being criticized by liberal groups back home who say he hasn’tdone enough to stem inequality in New York City, The Wall Street Journal writes: * The Post writes that de Blasio needs to cut his trippromoting his progressive agenda short and return to New York City to deal with a laundry list of issues popping up back home: * The Daily News agrees that de Blasio needs to come homefrom gallivanting as a national champion of a social and economic agenda—to prove with results, rather than rhetoric, that he’s up to the job:* De Blasio failing to focus on day job as mayor of NYC by opting for ambitious role as national liberal spokesperson (NYDN)* The same poll showed de Blasio with the lowest job approval ratings of his mayoral career, with 44 percent of voters giving him a thumbs up compared to 40 percent who thought he was doing a lousy job. * De Blasio laid out a liberal vision in the nation’s capital yesterday, calling for a renewed fight against poverty and taking leaders to task for failing to challenge policies he said hurt struggling Americans. Back home, however, the mayor faces criticism from liberal groups who say he hasn’t done enough to stem inequality—and should be more focused on the city’s problems rather than traveling.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “a powerful voice” in the fight against inequality, praise that comes as he seeks to push the Democratic Party to the left in the 2016 presidential primary, * A Quinnipiac University Poll found that New York City voters say 46 to 42 percent that de Blasio's involvement in national affairs is distracting him from his duties at City Hall:
BdB goes to DC as anadvance man for Hillary (Politico) [S]o far, Clinton stands far ahead of her likely competitors—Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee—in polling, reducing pressure on her to appease liberals. In that vacuum, Warren and [Mayor Bill] de Blasio have sought to position themselves as kingmakers among activists in early-voting and swing states, a role de Blasio has pursued by stopping in Iowa and Wisconsin. His “Progressive Agenda” is designed to be broad enough for Clinton and other Democrats to embrace whole-heartedly: he is expected to call for universal pre-kindergarten, a higher minimum wage, and a paid family leave policy—all of whichClinton Washington comes at a time when Clinton Warren
De Blasio said his trip to Washington D.C. and California will benefit the city and noted that his predecessors also used the mayoralty as a bully pulpit on issues facing others across America , the Daily News reports: * De Blasio: New Yorkers are too mean to me at baseball games(NYP) Milwaukee counterpart is greeted by fans. “I go to quite a few baseball games in my city of New York , and I gotta admit — the reception isn’t always that cordial,” he added. “People recognize me, all right. But oftentimes our exchanges are limited to a few choice words . . . or even a particular finger!” * As de Blasio embarks on trips to Washington D.C. and California to discuss his anti-inequality agenda, he opens himself up to criticism that he is not prioritizing problems at home, the Times reports: * Mayor de Blasio’s Days on the Road Fuel Criticism at Home (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio, seemingly determined to reshape the future of national politics, has left himself open to criticism that he is not prioritizing problems in New York .
@BilldeBlasio defends busy travel schedule * BLAZ GETS TRIPPY: Unrepentant mayor defends frequent out-of-state traveling as he's off to D.C. and Calif. in latest mission to spread his progressive On Wednesday, he is set to lobby with other officials for increased federal transportation funding before jetting to California to speak at two universities and raise funds for his City Hall nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York.When de Blasio and US Sen. Elizabeth Warren appear together today at the National Press Club in Washington before he unveils his Contract with America for the left, it will be the latest step in the Democrats’ primary within the primary: liberals’ effort to figure out how to push Hillary Clinton to the left. De Blasio defended his recent trips across the country, saying it is important for him to influence the broader conversation on the nation’s wealth gap in order to secure expanded federal funding for New York City .* De Blasio goesnational, Cuomo goes left (Capital) * "I dont think BdB traveling to those places causes harm. Coming back to NY, that's diff story." Moskowitz at event where Bratton hailed her * DE BLASIO GOES NATIONAL, CUOMO GOES LEFT— Capital’s “When Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his national ‘progressive agenda to combat income inequality’ on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., the conceit that he and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are partners in an era of unprecedented city-state collaboration can officially be declared over. De Blasio is attempting to fashion himself as a national progressive leader of sufficient stature to pull his old boss Hillary Clinton to the left as she runs for president. And as he does so, he's also threatening the standing of Cuomo—who styles himself a pragmatic centrist, often in opposition to his party's traditional liberals—as the state party's most prominent Democrat.”* Mayor De Blasio Heads To DC Amid Criticism He’s Spending TooMuch Time On The Road (WCBS) * De Blasio, Stiglitz and Warren Team Up as Avengers ofInequality (Bloomberg) * In Washington, Bill de Blasio Calls Elizabeth Warren’s Leadership ‘Extraordinary’
BdB goes to DC as anadvance man for Hillary (Politico) [S]o far, Clinton stands far ahead of her likely competitors—Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee—in polling, reducing pressure on her to appease liberals. In that vacuum, Warren and [Mayor Bill] de Blasio have sought to position themselves as kingmakers among activists in early-voting and swing states, a role de Blasio has pursued by stopping in Iowa and Wisconsin. His “Progressive Agenda” is designed to be broad enough for Clinton and other Democrats to embrace whole-heartedly: he is expected to call for universal pre-kindergarten, a higher minimum wage, and a paid family leave policy—all of which
Mayor de Blasio First 3 Months
de Blasio at 9 Months
3.0 de Blasio Details of UFT Pact 5
| No Town Hall de Blasio Spins and the NYC Press Defining Journalism Down de Blasio's Secret Senate $$$ and Other Funding Secrets How de Blasio Closed LICH Hospital |
Is the Mayor's Family A Prop or Team?
Mayor de Disney's Fantasy World Future Also Applies to Managing the City
Big-talking Bill leaves city's future to the imagination (NYDN) New York for the better. Now, he’s promising even more — more than anyone could ever imagine. Sixteen months into his mayoralty, de Blasio Tuesday published a sprawling array of intentions in a mission statement that amounted to 322 pages of “huh?” because the grandeur of his goals far exceeded the credibility of his plans for getting from here to there. He says New York will reduce unnecessary incarceration, deliver cheap broadband to all, open breastfeeding rooms, repair public housing’s chronically leaky roofs and become a city whose residents eat lots more fruits and vegetables. And so much more, in a game plan that conquers environmental ills and social and inequality in one giant swoop. Where to begin?Not with funding, details of which were nonexistent. Nor with benchmarks for measuring progress because those, too, were largely absent. Nor with persuasive, confidence-building evidence that anyone in the world could reach de Blasio’s target of reducing the city’s emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. Realism also requires noting that de Blasio pins many of his hopes on Albany . If the Legislature and governor fail to approve an agenda that includes funding energy efficiency, overhauling tax credits for cleaning up polluted land and a substantial minimum wage hike, a good portion of the mayor’s dreams are DOA. The mayor’s document lapsed here and there into incoherence. Asserting that “people are more likely to obey the law when they believe those who are enforcing it have the legitimate authority to do so,” de Blasio envisions fighting crime by “the building of neighborhood-justice mapping centers that will engage residents and promote cohesion through joint action.” Once more: Huh? * De Blasio’s long-term environmental goals, which include eliminating all waste sent to landfills by 2030, are causing some to question how the mayor will accomplish those feats, The New York Times writes * FUZZY BLAZ VISION: Mayor unveils 'One New York' manifesto detailing grand goals for city's future, but fails to address its cost (NYDN) * Green v. red (NYP) * Mayor de Blasio releases lofty goals for NYC future, butcritics say plan lacks specifics (WSJ) * The de Blasio administration released a report that argued the city could move 800,000 residents away from the poverty line within a decade if Albany authorizes a $15 minimum wage in the city, Capital New York reports:
Water Increase Not My Fault de Blasio
Water Increase Not My Fault de Blasio
De Blasio sought to distance himself from an administration document that projected the city would continue a practice he criticized as a candidate that involves enriching New York City
More On de Blasio's City Where Crime is Up Where 91 Failing Persistent Schools Remain Open
De Blasio allowing city to trickle back to bad old ‘Taxi Driver’ days (NYP)
NYP Another de Blasio Late Story
De Blasio’s chronic lateness shows he doesn’t respect NYers (NYP Ed) Queens . “Give that man a watch!” one angry parade-goer was heard to shout...
de Blasio Blasts Cops for Wikipedia Edits, But His Staff Did the Same, So Did Quinn
De Blasio rips cops for Wikipedia edits — but his staff did the same (NYP) New York City mayoral candidate Sal Albanese blasts the current mayor, saying, “He's probably the least qualified of all the mayors I've worked with," in an interview with City & State's Gerson Borrero:
Guess Who Was Late to the St. Pats Day Mass
The Daily News writes that de Blasio thinks he’s a “demigod” and has never put his “self-centeredness” on display more than he did by arriving 15 minutes to St. Patrick’s Day Mass yesterday * A FLAWED POL TO ANOTHER! Anthony Weiner offers de Blasio some advice about punctuality (NYDN)
Bill de Blasio the boor, late to St. Patrick's Day Mass (NYDN Ed) Whether celebrated in a cathedral or a small parish church, the Mass is the central ritual of the Catholic faith. Each element of the liturgy is crafted in worshipful preparation for the sacrament of communion. By virtue of civic prominence, some Masses become both expressions of private belief and proclamations of a shared conviction. So it often is at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and rarely more so than on St. Patrick’s Day. Mayor de Blasio, arrogant, insulting and egotistical, couldn’t give a hoot. On Tuesday, he showed up 15 minutes late for the Mass that marks the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland and of many a New Yorker.* The Times’ Lawrence Downes writes that de Blasio needs help fixing his “terrible habit” of showing up late, which sends the message that he doesn’t care enough about the job to show up for it on time: *** He also sidestepped a reporter’s question on whether his aides were authorized to edit his Wikipedia page at the time. Mayor de Blasio on Monday scolded the cops who used NYPD computers to edit Wikipedia pages — but his memory got hazy when asked how it was any different from his campaign staffers making changes to his own page on the Web site. In 2012, The Post reported that staffers for de Blasio, the then-public advocate and a mayoral candidate, altered his Wikipedia page by removing Warren Wilhelm as his birth name and adding that he is of “German-American and Italian-American heritage.” “Of course, we update the page,” de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell said at the time. “That’s become standard practice for public officials.” But on Monday, when pressed about those changes, de Blasio said he didn’t remember them — and then added they could only be made if it were part of a staffer’s job responsibilities. He also sidestepped a reporter’s question on whether his aides were authorized to edit his Wikipedia page at the time.* NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said he does not anticipate punishment other than admonishment for two officers who used a police server to edit a Wikipedia page about the death of Eric Garner, the Daily News reports: Mayor Late TARDY TO THE PARTY: Habitually late Mayor de Blasio stays true to form, shows up tardy to St. Patrick’s Mass (NYDN) * De Blasio late again at St. Patrick’s Day Mass (NYP) * Bill de Blasio Somehow Manages to Be Late to Event at HisOwn House (NY Mag) * De Blasio rather come late to events & not flyhelicopter, because "It's not my thing. I prefer to be on theground. (NY1)* A FLAWED POL TO ANOTHER! Anthony Weiner offers de Blasio some advice about punctuality (NYDN)
de Blasio's "I didn't sleep well" has to be in Hall of Fame of Lame Excuses for lateness. Lunesta, Brother Mayor?
NYPD Erasing Police Brutality From Wikipedia
NYPD computers used to change police-brutality Wikipedia pages (NYP)
Text surveys may soon help New Yorkers assess cops: Bratton (NYP)
Day After de Blasio LateGate He Pledges SI Will Never Be the "Forgotten Borough"
De Blasio vowed to eradicate the “forgotten borough” moniker and even disgruntled Staten Island residents might concede that the borough is not that forgotten by the mayor, The Staten Island Advance reports: Tuesday Vague De Blasio gives vague excuse for late arrival to parade (NYP) Mayor de Blasio refused Monday to say which subordinates kept him so busy that he delayed the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the Rockaways, where furious residents reacted with jeers of “worst mayor ever!”
Bill and the Irish Not Happening in de Blasio's NYC
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New de Blasio Flack Dating Columnists
Before Writing for Mayor de Blasio, He Wrote About Love (NYT) Ryan Dodge’s past experience as a dating columnist was a worthy education for a budding speechwriter for New York ’s mayor.* New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray’s role in the administration has evolved from the involvement in day-to-day operations people once anticipated to focusing on issues she personally relates to, the Timesreports: *Ryan Dodge, a speechwriter for de Blasio, once worked as a dating columnist for Glamour’s website. He’s married now, and dabbles in fiction on the side.
Groundhog Revenge?
A meteorologist and parents questioned the decision to keep New York City schools open on Thursday, despite the fact conditions were later harrowing enough for a plan to slide off a La Guardia runway, the Post writes:
The Corruption Progressive Coalition
Blasio praised the speaker, now under federal investigation, with a phrase usually reserved for line-of-duty cops
Wed Silver Re-Elected
De Blasio's man in 'blue' is Silver
@ShellySilver re-elected as #nyassembly speaker. He marks 21 years in the post in November, breaks record next year
De Blasio's man in 'blue' is Silver
De Blasio’s man in ‘blue’ is Sheldon Silver (NYP) Turns out Mayor de Blasio has shown his unwavering support for “the thin blue line” — just not the one most people are familiar with. The embattled mayor uttered the colloquial term for police to heap support on the unlikeliest of public protectors: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. At a closed-door meeting of Silver’s Democratic conference last year, the then-mayor-elect praised the speaker, who is currently under investigation by federal prosecutors, by using a phrase usually reserved for line-of-duty cops.
The Style Over Substance Mayor Floats Calmly In His Own Reality and Imaginary Majority
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Mayor de BlasioConfronts Crisis With a Practiced Calm(NYT) Manhattan skyline to dim their lights on Tuesday evening in tribute. The mayor’s approach will be tested in the coming days. Mr. de Blasio and his aides hope the Christmas holiday will ease tensions and allow them to seek a more civil and tempered discussion. Aides to the mayor say that they are intent on de-escalating the conflict, and that they have been effective at it.
de Blasio Work Out Breaks the Law and Not to Healthy for the Rest of Us
"Mayor’s cars running while he jogs at Slope Y …leaving a car idling is also against the law.” (Brooklyn Paper)Finally, it’s important to note that New York ’s police force has 6,000 fewer officers than it did when Michael Bloomberg became mayor. So far, de Blasio has shown no sign of wanting to bring the number back up by hiring additional cops. To implement his new strategies, however, he may need to bring on at least 1,000 new officers right away and probably 1,000 more at the beginning of 2016. De Blasio’s predicament offers a chance to reevaluate NYPD operating strategies in 2015. We need to take a new look at neighborhood policing and get out from under the shadow of Broken Windows. NYPD IG Right Back New York City ’s Office of Inspector General, created to monitor the NYPD, referred more than half the complaints it received to the NYPD’s internal investigation body, according to its first annual report, The Wall Street Journal reports:
Daily News Blames de Blaio, Tell Him and PBA to Grow Up
The de Blasio Mob Includes Union Soldiers From 5 Families
City Hall insiders call them the “Five Families” — the politically plugged-in unions whose leaders often act as capos to enforce Mayor de Blasio’s progressive agenda
DE GODFATHER: Mayor and 'Five Families' unions often flex political muscle to enforce Blaz's agenda, sources say(NYDN)
When his candidate turned out to be a winner, Gresham. SEIU 1199 flexed his muscles to get his former union organizer, Melissa Mark-Viverito, elected as City Council speaker. The union’s political operative, Kevin Finnegan, is the group’s amiable consigliere, the source said. The hotel trades union, now led by the forceful Peter Ward, inked a contract over the summer that brought unionized maids’ wages up to $38 an hour with free healthcare. It was lauded by de Blasio as a textbook win-win deal for labor and management. Like Hector Figueroa, of 32BJ, Ward had initially backed Christine Quinn for mayor. But both unions switched alliances quickly when she lost the primary — helping de Blasio avoid a bloody run-off against fellow Democrat Bill Thompson. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, was the only leader of the Five Families who backed Thompson until the candidate threw in the towel. But the mayor and Mulgrew have since found common ground fighting charter schools and standardized testing and creating a universal pre-K system.* Cops again turn their backs on de Blasio at NYPD officer’s funeral(NYP) * Cops again turn their backs on de Blasio at NYPD officer’s funeral(CBS) * UPDATE: Father of murdered #NYPD Officer #Liu says funeral is the'saddest day of his life' * VIDEO: NYPDCommissioner Bratton's eulogy for Detective Liu * Mourners honoredfallen NYPD Detective Wenjian Liu today. (NY1) #nypd #union pres #PatrickLynch says cops that turned backs to mayor during #WenjianLiu funeral did it respectfully.* PBA President Pat Lynch defends officers who turned their backs. Says it was "organic" and that it's "their right"* Funeral held for NYPD officer: Thousands of police turned their backs Sunday as Mayor Bill deBlasio eulogized...
The Groundhog Hires Heat
Does Staten Island Chuck see the shadow of his mortality today?
de Blasio and Mayor Lindsay Connect
Another Cuomo Wack on Mayor? The longer the ongoing feud between de Blasio and the NYPD last, the greater the threat Cuomo will once again undercut the mayor and make peace with the police force for him, the Post writes: The New Lindsay There’s no great benefit for Bill de Blasio politically toidentify with Lindsay.”(NYO)
Cuomo Does A Subway Snow Job on de Blasio Latest Battle In Ongoing War
De Blasio: I was frozen out of decision to shut down subways(NYP)
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de Blasio Fund Raising Chair Lobbyist Capaino Works for Developers That Closed LICH Hospital and St Vincent's
Capalino, Advance and Bertha Lewis All Are Working to Stop the East 91st Marine Transfer Station
Lobbyist shoots to #1 in NYC after backing de Blasio for mayor (NYP) A veteran lobbyist who was a major supporter of Bill de Blasio’s run for mayor in 2013 saw his business nearly double in 2014 after his pal was elected, records show. Jim Capalino reported hauling in $8.2 million from 237 clients last year — up from the $4.6 million earned by his downtown Manhattan firm during the last year of the Bloomberg administration in 2013. The firm also signed 69 new clients, according to records released Monday by the City Clerk. Capalino’s surge was enough to dethrone the city’s perennial No. 1 lobbyist — Suri Kasirer, of Kasirer Consulting, whose billings also rose, from $6.6 million to $7.7 million.Among the new clients that swarmed to Capalino + Co. were a number trying to change the mayor’s position on public projects, including Asphalt Green. The group has been engaged in a protracted fight over the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station that is under construction near Gracie Mansion
“Picking the mayor has helped his business explode, but he’s always been very competent,” fellow lobbyist Hank Sheinkopf said of Capalino. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful campaign — including a Roosevelt Hotel bash featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in October 2013 — where he was listed as a co-chair expected to bring in at least $25,000. Kasirer was also a $25,000 co-chair at the event, which pulled in over $1 million for de Blasio.He has since donated to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit arm of City Hall chaired by de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray. Among other top lobbying firms, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin — which consulted on Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s campaign for the top council spot — also boosted its billings after backing a winner. The firm climbed from seventh place in 2013 — with $2.1 million in business — to fourth place in 2014, with $3.3 million in billings. * Lobbying Report
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de Blasio At Year One
Mayor Bill de Blasio fought to fulfill his promise to advance liberal policies after Democrats’ two-decade exile from the west wing of City Hall, but many of his accomplishments during a stormy first year were ultimately eclipsed by the imbroglio over this month’s police killings, theJournal writes: * The Mayor at Year 1(NYP) Mayor de Blasio and the police unions are finally talking, and that’s a good thing. But it underscores the most terrible development New York City has seen over the past year: a police force that believes the mayor regards it as the enemy.* Year One: A Bill de Blasio paradox (Capital) * WILD RIDE: Mayor deBlasio's first year in office, as reported by the Daily News. An interactivetimeline(NYDN) * JibJab 2014 Year inReview: "2014, You Are History!" * The Daily News chronicles 23 key moments in de Blasio’sfirst year, from when the mayor ate pizza with a fork and knife to the recent eulogy he delivered at the funeral of NYPD officers Liu and Rafael Ramos * An Eventful Rookie Year (WSJ) Mayor Bill de Blasio fought to fulfill his promise to advance liberal policies after Democrats’ two-decade exile from the west wing of City Hall, but many of his accomplishments during a stormy first year were ultimately eclipsed by the imbroglio over this month’s police killings.
NYT Finds A Way to Honor de Blasio
WSJ Says de Blasio Walks A Fine Line, Seem More Like Stumbles Through Liberal Agenda and Managing NYC
New York’s Mayor Walks a Fine Line(WSJ) Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pledge to enact a liberal agenda while leading the nation’s largest city is testing his ability to govern as a representative of the Democratic Party’s activist wing as he moves to heal rifts with police.
Daily News Says Mayor Toxic In Albany . . . Its Editorial Board Thinks He Must Lobby to Save School Chancellors Powers
de Blasio Allies Think He is Toxic in Albany
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De Blasio has problems all over. In Albany , "He has no political capital" & lots of "political enemies"
After de Blasio’s unsuccessful effort to help the Democrats win back the state Senate and his damaged relationship with the NYPD, de Blasio’s allies in Albany want him to lie low in 2015 because he’s “toxic,” the Daily News’ Ken Lovett writes: * Cuomo has let it be known he will push for major education reforms in 2015, for this reform to work, de Blasio must take the lead in pressing for the powers Chancellor Carmen Farina needs to boost school performance* Mayor de Blasio'smojo weakened in Albany
de Blasio Pisses Off the Permanent Government
"Exasperated mayoral aides said that Mr. de Blasio has time and again voiced support for the police" they still don't get it
The problem with DEB is that he's a political operative & not a leader thus he's surrounded & comfortable by people like him
de Blasio's Tea Party Problem
Bill de Blasio’s Tea Party Problem (Daily Beast) Just as Tea Partiers hate being defined by the Confederate flags at their rallies, the mayor doesn’t want peaceful protests to be defined by the fringe. But he’s part of the problem. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio should know better. s his relations with the NYPD frayed even further, he tried to flip the script and blame the media for their coverage of the divisive police protests. “Are you going to keep dividing us?” asked de Blasio. “Twenty-five thousand people marched down one of our streets a few days back, absolutely peaceful, no chants like that, peacefully calling for what they believed in as American citizens, and the NYPD protected them.” The New York City mayor was understandably frustrated at being asked whether he approved of protest chants like “NYPD, KKK, how many kids did you k
NYT Paints A Clueless Picture of the Mayor
de Blasio "Everything is Under Control" Turns to Campaign Manager for Help
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Blunder alienated moderates/white liberals
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In Police Rift,Mayor de Blasio’s Missteps Included Thinking It Would Pass(NYT)Not long after Mayor Bill de Blasio sat beside the Rev. Al Sharpton at a July summit meeting on police reform, a political adviser gave the mayor a blunt assessment: You have a problem with the cops. Rank-and-file officers felt disrespected by the mayor, the adviser explained, and were dismayed to see Mr. Sharpton, a longtime critic of the New York Police Department, embraced at City Hall. But Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, rejected the notion that officers disliked him. His message, the adviser later recalled, was clear: Everything was under control.
In recent days, Mr. de Blasio has sounded downcast, according to aides who have spoken with him. The manager of his mayoral campaign has returned to help. And his team is considering focus groups and a poll to refine the mayor’s message to New Yorkers who may have soured on him.
"The raw fury from union leaders after the shootings caught City Hall by surprise." 2 cops murdered in broad daylight & they were surprised?*
The Mayor Backs Down On Blocking Charters Space
The de Blasio’s administration said Tuesday that it would provide free space in public school buildings to a dozen new or expanding charter schools, including 10 run by Eva Moskowitz, one of the mayor’s fiercest rivals on the issue, the Times reports: * The bad blood between the NYPD and blacks predates the recent tragedies and it won’t get better until police accept that they are part of the problem, too, but people who reflexively blame cops are part of the problem, as well, Newsday’s AlvinBessent writes: * New York City Will Provide Free Space for a Dozen Charter Schools(NYT)
Shocking NYT Supports the Mayor 1000%
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de Blasio Bashes Bloomberg Also
Gotham Gazettehighlights twelve 2014 moments when de Blasio criticized former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's policies and attempted to show his moves in a new direction:
WTF Is Vanity Fair Saying About deB?
'Bill de Blasio Sex Tape!' Vanity Fair makes jokingreference to nonexistent bombshell video with new cover (NYDN) To be clear, no such tape is known to exist! But cryptic, partial text — "ill lasio ex ape!"— on the January cover of the pop culture mag plants the idea that one might!
de Blasio Makes Fun of NYP's Squeegee Man Coverage
De Blasio rips into The Post’s coverage of his tenure(NYP)
Only 24 percent of voters think that Mayor de Blasio’s wife should play a “major role” in public policy
New Yorkers: Stay away Chirlane!(NYP) Only 24 percent of voters think that Mayor de Blasio’s wife should play a “major role” in public policy, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Thirty-seven percent said she should play a “minor role,” while 34 percent said she should have no role at all. The poll showed that by 61 percent to 31 percent, voters said the mayor’s spouse should not have a chief-of-staff. * BdB is asked about racial divide. He disagrees with Q-poll numbers. If all that is discussed is race, he says, people will think. * Poll: New Yorkers wary of McCray position at City Hall(Capital)
de Blasio and the Cardinal
Mayor de Blasio and Cardinal Dolan: Beyond the Church-State Separation(NYT)
PETA's Man of the Year Kills Groundhog and Hates Pandas
'He doesn't like horses, and, I guess, he doesn't like pandas': Rep. Maloney says de Blasio has ignored request to support bringing giant pandas to NYC(NYDN) Flashback New York Mayor de Blasio named PETA's Person of the Year * Zoo in coverup after groundhog dropped by de Blasio dies (NYP)...
de Blasio Late Angers 587 Memorial Attendees
Teen to Bill de Blasio: "Kill Urself, Fucking Dumass"(Gawker)* Lower Manhattan Thursday.
After de Blasio woke up “sluggish” yesterday and showed up late for a memorial for victims of Flight 587 in Queens, the state GOP sent him two cans of Red Bull in the hopes that they would help him “cut through the fog,” Gannett Albany reports:
Mayor Arrived Late By Boat to the Rockaways Where He Discontinued Ferry Service
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The mayor’s mode of transportation struck a particular nerve: In October, his administration discontinued a ferry service between Manhattan and the Rockaways that had operated since Hurricane Sandy. Lisa O’Shea, 55, who works at a copy center near where the memorial was held, cited divine intervention. “He had the luxury of taking a boat over, like we’d like to do,” she said. “God punished him. That fog was intentional.” * Belle Harbor , Queens .
The Plane The Plane
Tardy De Blasio Made JetBlue Flight Wait at the Gate(DNAINFO)*
A Season of Blame and Excuses
de Blasio Blames Democrats for Not Being Progressive Enough
Democrats should not blame a Republican wave for wiping them out in the mid-term elections, de Blasio said on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show—they should blame themselves for not promising progressive policies, the Observer reports: * Bill de Blasio Takes aSwipe at Alison Grimes’ Failed Campaign(NYO)* De Blasio, in an election post mortem for the Huffington Post: * .@BilldeBlasio gives advice tored-state Dems, then dances a bit when asked how it applies to Cuomo * Doesn't seem like de Blasio's aggressive HuffPo advice-blogis helping NYC get the 2016 * Mayor Bill de Blasio offered some unsolicited advice to red-state Democrats on Wednesday, suggesting they might have survived a Republican wave last week if they had only stuck to the “core principles” that helped him win in New York City last year.* Mark-Viverito gave a half-hearted endorsement of the mayor’s latest call-to-arms to progressives across America
“(A)s a progressive, I know my party need not search for its soul – but rather, its backbone.”* De Blasio Blames 'Rough Night' and Fog for Missing Flight587 Ceremony (DNAINFO) * On Wednesday, Mr. de Blasio, who swept into office promising to reduce income inequality and promote racial equity, published an op-ed article urging Democrats around the country — many in far more conservative environs than New York City — to adopt his own policy priorities for the 2016 elections. “This year, too many Democratic candidates lost sight of those core principles, opting instead to clip their progressive wings,” Mr. de Blasio wrote.(NYT) * Blaming the non-voters — liberals’ turnout excuse(NYP) The Times has it that our voters stayed home because of “anger and frustration at the relentlessly negative tone of the campaigns.”
First he blames the fog, then it was a 'rough night'... but really de Blasio is just LATE & LAME for missing moment of silence for victims and families of Belle Harbor tragedy(NYDN) Mayor de Blasio arrived 19 minutes late — completely missing the ringing of a bell, followed by a moment of silence to pay respects to the 260 people who died on the flight. At first, staffers for the habitually late mayor blamed fog over the East River and New York Harbor for delaying the NYPD boat that brought de Blasio from Gracie Mansion
de Blasio Government TV: More Spin and Control of the Message
WNYC TV and Radio Was Founded to " Dissemination of public information to the people of the City of New York upon an enlarged scale and therefore of a higher caliber"
De Blasio turning city’s TV station into campaign arm(NYP) NYC Media, the city’s production arm that includes NYC TV, has 49 staffers on the payroll. The station’s $5.7 million budget comes from taxpayer funds, a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and licensing payments by cable providers. One weekly show, “City Scoop,” consists of one-minute capsules on mayoral ribbon-cuttings, announcements and initiatives. “Since we’re owned by the city, we’re essentially de Blasio’s media arm. We follow him around because we are his,” the insider said. A September “City Scoop” episode shows the mayor high-fiving kids while announcing after-school programs, then flashes to de Blasio at a press conference with US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Govs. Cuomo and Chris Christie. “It’s all mayor,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who wants other officials and professionals to have input. “Nobody pays any attention to this. There’s no real oversight. They can kind of do what they want.” Bloomberg also used the programming to promote his leadership, but de Blasio treats it like a campaign ad, the source claimed. “He milks it like crazy,” the insider said. “It seems like he’s still running.” De Blasio hired Janet Choi, a former TV reporter and producer, as the station’s general manager. She is a de Blasio pal and has boasted of plans to spend Thanksgiving with the mayor and his family, the source said.
Grover A. Whalen described himself as "Mr. New York " for his autobiography. Indeed, at various times he was the city's official and unofficial greeter of royalty, celebrity and the political elite. He was a businessman and a public relations guru, and is perhaps best known as President of the 1939-1940 World's Fair. "In March, 1922, a proposal came before the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the establishment of a Municipal Wireless Broadcasting Station. Upon my suggestion as Commissioner of Plant and Structures, the Borough President of Queens made the proposal, pointing out that recent scientific developments in this new medium made possible the dissemination of public information to the people of the City of New York upon an enlarged scale and therefore of a higher caliber than was possible heretofore."*Channeling Mayor Bill (NYP) The city doesn’t need its own television station, but it seems the mayor does. As Susan Edelman and Amber Jamieson reported in The Post, the mayor is turning a “public” TV station into a vanity channel for his political and personal interests. Officially, it’s called NYC TV, but given the mayor’s role in dictating content, it would be better to call it WBdB-TV — for Bill de Blasio. The programming includes a feature the mayor ordered up on dancer and “healer” Alessandra Belloni — an old NYU pal who performed at Bill’s wedding. Her “spider dance” is supposed to help domestic-violence victims overcome trauma. It was filmed in September.
de Blasio Who Join OWS Protests, Now Redistributes Wall Street Surplus Tax $$$ To His Friends and Political Supporters
The Alarm Clock Worked Friday
Mayor Santa OWS
de Blasio Who Join OWS Protests, Now Redistributes Wall Street Surplus Tax $$$ To His Friends and Political Supporters
Wall Street’s success turns de Blasio into Santa(NYP) The city’s Independent Budget Office last spring predicted Wall Street-driven personal income-tax revenue will come in at $100 million more this year than de Blasio’s budgeteers had estimated — and $500 million above that over the next two years. And state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli had even better news during the summer: He estimated the income-tax surplus will come in closer to $800 million, most of the dough generated by unanticipated financial-sector growth. That’s pretty much what’s happening — some estimates put the potential surplus at $1.2 billion. Not surprisingly, City Hall is giddy. Exhibit A, of course, is last spring’s lollapalooza of a teachers-union contract — a $9 billion pact so fat that it won’t be fully paid off until 2018. It loaded roughly 20% in new raises on top of the 40%-plus boosts extracted by the United Federation of Teachers during the Bloomberg years.
Never Forget
The fact that the deal came shortly after the American Federation of Teachers, the UFT’s parent organization, dropped $320,000 on de Blasio’s not-for-profit slush fund, the Fund for One New York, is wholly coincidental, of course. And then there’s the growth in city jobs. Full-time employment in municipal government grew by 3,151 between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 — a 1.2% increase The growth is driven, for the most part, by hiring to staff up de Blasio’s signature pre-K education program — a $300 million undertaking funded with state money this year but with only promises from Albany in place for next year and beyond. Progressives cheer these generous union contracts and settling cases like the Central Park 5. It’s true that New York ’s city-funded spending ballooned by some 65% during the Bloomberg years — from $29 billion to more than $49 billion, measured against inflation of just 29%. But while Mayor Mike’s reign was anything but austere, he also took care to squirrel away rainy-day dough — handing de Blasio more than $1 billion in mad money as a welcome-to-City-Hall present.* EXCLUSIVE: Central Park Five seek an additional $52 million forwrongful imprisonment in 1989 rape of jogger. (NYDN) * Enough is enough (NYDN Ed) The Central Park 5 don’t need another pay day. * City makes $743.4M deal with school principals: officials(NYDN)
Saturday Update
The Post gives perennially late de Blasio an alarm clock(NYP)
The Post gives perennially late de Blasio an alarm clock(NYP)
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. Letter to the NYT Editor Nails the Mayor
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. Letter to the NYT Editor Nails the Mayor
To the Editor: Re “Mayor’s Tardiness Angers Attendees at a Memorial” (news article, Nov. 13): Mayor Bill de Blasio’s lateness is now understood as a personality trait, irritating for those affected, but part of his distinctiveness. But chronic lateness displays a lack of character and obvious disregard for the other. It is particularly galling in someone who purports to care a great deal about others. Regarding the missed moment of silence at the anniversary of Flight 587, the 2001 plane crash in Queens : His absurd excuses of not sleeping well the night before and fog delaying his boat speak for themselves. But I will add that the average considerate person leaves plenty of time to arrive somewhere, not planning the trip in a best-case scenario to arrive on the dot of the appointed time, but early! DEBBIE PLUMER Brooklyn , Nov. 13, 2014* "Mr Mayor,don't you realize that these unforced errors overshadoweverything else that you are trying to accomplish?" * The de Blasio Diaries, Chapter 6: Fog of Snore(Vanity Fair) New York
Will de Blasio's His Normally Puppet Council to Shut Down the Rein in the Cops Bill?
Will de Blasio's His Normally Puppet Council to Shut Down the Rein in the Cops Bill?
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Waiting on the Mayor's Plan for Failing Schools
Mayor Bill de Blasio needs to flesh out his vague policies on how and when the city should intervene.
School suspensiond steady, despite mayor’s vow to reduce them(NYP) Mayor de Blasio vowed to lower the number of school student suspensions but the figure has remained about the same over the past two school years. School administrators doled out 53,504 suspensions during the 2013-14 school year — 39 more than the previous year, according to school data.
The Press Does Not Hold Pols to Their Campaign Promises
McMcmanus NYP " Just as he wonders why anybody would have thought he was serious last spring when he promised to campaign hard for a Democratic state Senate in return for the backing of the Working Families Party. “I won the endorsement. And that’s what’s really relevant,” he said afterward. And he has scarcely lifted a finger for Senate Democrats since. “I am the government,” Cuomo once announced. Bill de Blasio leaves a hospital protest in handcuffs (Capital 2013) And then there is Mayor de Blasio — so unfocused and self-absorbed that it’s news when he shows up anywhere on time; so unsure of his message that he can speak only in superlatives, and so eager to please the authority figures in his life that he can scarcely say no to anyone. For the mayor, there are no plain-vanilla policies. They are all “transcendent!” That is, when they are not “transformative!” Or profound!” Or “momentous!” Or maybe even, “most-bestest!” (Well, not yet. But soon!) Meanwhile, his press releases are pamphlets — chock-a-block with praise for the mayor from politicians and the public alike.
Ebola Doctor Leaves Hospital
A New York doctor diagnosed with the Ebola virus is now healthy and will leave Bellevue Hospital Center Bellevue Hospital
What de Blasio Says What He Really Means
McMcmanus NYP "Or maybe it’s that he just speaks in tongues. A new NYPD training program meant to change the department “profoundly,” he said Thursday, includes “verbal judo [which] in effect means learning how to defuse a crisis first through dialogue before having to resort to physical means.”Here’s a rough translation: “When the Rev. Al and I get done with this department, nobody’s going to recognize it.” Which would indeed be profound."
Mayor's PR Youtube Tax Payer Dollars
Mayor YouTube(NYP)New York already has one. It’s Mayor de Blasio’s YouTube channel. It carries videos produced by NYC TV, a taxpayer-funded public-television channel. In two exclusives, The Post has reported how Mayor Bill has injected himself into the station’s content, ordering up, for example, a feature on an old friend famous for her “spider bite” dance.
Developers Pressure Kills de Blasio's Inclusionary Proposed Increase
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s forthcoming mandatory inclusionary housing proposal is more likely to hover around a 20 percent affordability requirement—a ratio associated with the current Inclusionary Housing Program—rather than the increase to 30 percent or more that some have suggested, Crain’s reports:
Pay to Play Halloween . . . Trick or Trick Campaign Corruption
De Blasio’s Halloween party costumes were free(NYP) The Halloween costumes Mayor de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray donned during Tuesday’s Halloween party at Gracie Mansion were paid for by a Brooklyn company that donated thousands to Hizzoner’s campaign fund last year. Broadway Stages — which city records show funneled at least $25,000 through its employees to the mayor — rented the costumes from Abracadabra, according to a de Blasio spokesperson. The ancient Greece-themed outfits cost about $350 to rent, according to the Abracadabra Web site. Broadway Stages, which bills itself as a “film, television and music production” facility, helped arrange for the mayor to appear on the CBS drama “The Good Wife” after he took office.
De Blasio Gives UFT Their Contract Magic Class Size Is No Longer A Problem
Teachers union gives de Blasio a pass on school overcrowding(NYP)
Progressive Leadership Breaking Its Own Rules Allowing Homeless to Sleep In Homeless Office
HomelessServices breaks own rules, lets people sleep overnight at office(NYP) Bronx office, The Post has learned. At other times, DHS bent the rules by shuttling people to a nearby hotel before dawn for as little as an hour — before returning them to the center. “You’re not supposed to sleep there, they’re supposed to take you somewhere. They didn’t,” said Cynthia Penns, who was with her 14-year-old son. “There were a lot of people sleeping — kids, babies, too.” The strain at the registration center comes as the homeless population has increased by 4,400 since January to more than 56,000.
de Blasio is the First Mayor of NY in 60 Year That Won't Talk To Gabe Press
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At the start of the parade, 90-year-old television reporter Gabe Pressman — who has criticized the mayor for not being available enough tothe press — approached Mr. de Blasio with his microphone, asking a question from the other side of the mayor’s banner. Other press rushed up behind Mr. Pressman, hoping to hear any response the mayor might offer — but the scrum was quickly broken up by Mr. de Blasio’s security, even as Mr. Pressman kept pointing his microphone at the mayor as he was shuffled away.
* De Blasio booed at Columbus Day Parade (NYP) “He’s horrible,” said Staten Island resident Liz Musto, 57. “We need to get rid of him.” One dissatisfied taxpayer even heckled Hizzoner with chants of “socialist,” while several more fixated on the mess surrounding top aide and former Rev. Al Sharpton press secretary Rachel Noerdlinger. * Mayor de Blasio got a scattering of boos on Fifth Avenue duringthe Columbus Day Parade(NYP)
Pablo Guzmán @yoruba69 @unitedNYblogs @farrodread Mayor @deBlasioNYC knows better & should be ashamed. But Bloomberg and at times Giuliani ducked #GabePressman.
More About Gabe Pressman More
Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire
Parade comes to brief halt as 90-year-old Gabe Pressman tries to ask question to @BilldeBlasio, who has no Q&A scheduled. De Blasio refuses. * NY1 Online: Consultants Discuss Controversy Over PersonalLife of Mayor's Top Aide (NY1)
At Somos de Blasio Throws Klein's Spaghetti Against the Wall to See If Anything Sticks
de Blasio Tries to Salvage His State Senate Loss With Clinging On to Weaken Klein Who Is Begging the Majority GOP for A Seat At the Table. The Same GOP Who Won Seats By Attacking the Mayor
De Blasio skips Puerto Rico beach for politicking(NYDN)The mayor, attending the Somos el Futuro conference along with hundreds of other New York politicos, met privately with frenemy state Sen. Jeff Klein. * De Blasio focuses on ‘agenda’ after Klein meeting(Capital) * Bruno To Skelos: No Need For IDC - NY State of Politics * IDC May Live On Despite Republican StateSenate Majority (NY1)* Eric Jenks Queens state Sen. Tony Avella is staying with the IDC(NYDN)* NY Senate GOP goeshard against Mayor de Blasio, Dems in new fundraising email(NYDN)* Sen @TonyAvella sticking with the IDC,even after Klein grovels to Skelos. *
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s forthcoming mandatory inclusionary housing proposal is more likely to hover around a 20 percent affordability requirement—a ratio associated with the current Inclusionary Housing Program—rather than the increase to 30 percent or more that some have suggested, Crain’s reports:
Pay to Play Halloween . . . Trick or Trick Campaign Corruption
De Blasio’s Halloween party costumes were free(NYP) The Halloween costumes Mayor de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray donned during Tuesday’s Halloween party at Gracie Mansion were paid for by a Brooklyn company that donated thousands to Hizzoner’s campaign fund last year. Broadway Stages — which city records show funneled at least $25,000 through its employees to the mayor — rented the costumes from Abracadabra, according to a de Blasio spokesperson. The ancient Greece-themed outfits cost about $350 to rent, according to the Abracadabra Web site. Broadway Stages, which bills itself as a “film, television and music production” facility, helped arrange for the mayor to appear on the CBS drama “The Good Wife” after he took office.
De Blasio Gives UFT Their Contract Magic Class Size Is No Longer A Problem
Teachers union gives de Blasio a pass on school overcrowding(NYP)
Progressive Leadership Breaking Its Own Rules Allowing Homeless to Sleep In Homeless Office
HomelessServices breaks own rules, lets people sleep overnight at office(NYP) Bronx office, The Post has learned. At other times, DHS bent the rules by shuttling people to a nearby hotel before dawn for as little as an hour — before returning them to the center. “You’re not supposed to sleep there, they’re supposed to take you somewhere. They didn’t,” said Cynthia Penns, who was with her 14-year-old son. “There were a lot of people sleeping — kids, babies, too.” The strain at the registration center comes as the homeless population has increased by 4,400 since January to more than 56,000.
At the start of the parade, 90-year-old television reporter Gabe Pressman — who has criticized the mayor for not being available enough tothe press — approached Mr. de Blasio with his microphone, asking a question from the other side of the mayor’s banner. Other press rushed up behind Mr. Pressman, hoping to hear any response the mayor might offer — but the scrum was quickly broken up by Mr. de Blasio’s security, even as Mr. Pressman kept pointing his microphone at the mayor as he was shuffled away.
* De Blasio booed at Columbus Day Parade (NYP) “He’s horrible,” saidStaten Island resident Liz Musto, 57. “We need to get rid of him.” One dissatisfied taxpayer even heckled Hizzoner with chants of “socialist,” while several more fixated on the mess surrounding top aide and former Rev. Al Sharpton press secretary Rachel Noerdlinger. * Mayor de Blasio got a scattering of boos on Fifth Avenue duringthe Columbus Day Parade(NYP)
de Blasio is the First Mayor of NY in 60 Year That Won't Talk To Gabe Press
* De Blasio booed at Columbus Day Parade (NYP) “He’s horrible,” said
Pablo Guzmán @yoruba69 @unitedNYblogs @farrodread Mayor @deBlasioNYC knows better & should be ashamed. But Bloomberg and at times Giuliani ducked #GabePressman.
More About Gabe Pressman More
Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire
Parade comes to brief halt as 90-year-old Gabe Pressman tries to ask question to @BilldeBlasio, who has no Q&A scheduled. De Blasio refuses. * NY1 Online: Consultants Discuss Controversy Over PersonalLife of Mayor's Top Aide (NY1)
At Somos de Blasio Throws Klein's Spaghetti Against the Wall to See If Anything Sticks
de Blasio Tries to Salvage His State Senate Loss With Clinging On to Weaken Klein Who Is Begging the Majority GOP for A Seat At the Table. The Same GOP Who Won Seats By Attacking the Mayor
De Blasio skips Puerto Rico beach for politicking(NYDN)The mayor, attending the Somos el Futuro conference along with hundreds of other New York politicos, met privately with frenemy state Sen. Jeff Klein. * De Blasio focuses on ‘agenda’ after Klein meeting(Capital) * Bruno To Skelos: No Need For IDC - NY State of Politics * IDC May Live On Despite Republican StateSenate Majority (NY1)* Eric Jenks Queens state Sen. Tony Avella is staying with the IDC(NYDN)* NY Senate GOP goeshard against Mayor de Blasio, Dems in new fundraising email(NYDN)* Sen @TonyAvella sticking with the IDC,even after Klein grovels to Skelos. *
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