Saturday, September 12, 2015

de Blasio Using PAC Lobbyists Consultants To Get Around the Elections Law and Control Elections and the Press 1333

Lobbyists Consultant Murder, Inc Run NY Govt and Campaigns Just As Much As Murder, Inc Ran NY in the 40's
The NYP and CFB Look At Gray Areas of Election Law While Covering-Up Illegal Coordination Between Lobbying Consultant, PACS and Candidates
The worst part of the city campaign-finance system is what’s legal (NYP Ed) News of a probe into Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign finances might offer some great comic relief — if it didn’t also raise troubling questions about the city’s rules. As The Post’s Yoav Gonen reported this week, the Campaign Finance Board began looking into possible Team de Blasio no-nos in 2013, after a magazine reported that the 1199 SEIU union “coordinated with the [then-candidate’s] campaign.” Under the city’s rules, candidates must cover the costs of any “coordinated” activities or list them as donations, which are subject to strict limits. It seems the board focused on whether de Blasio’s folks complied. Thing is, the rules themselves are laughable — as is the entire system. For one thing, if de Blasio did break the rules, then he had an edge in the mayoral race.

Daily News Ignores PAC Money Given By the Mayor to Lynch's Campaign
Editorial: Rebecca Lynch for City Council (NYDN Ed)

In the 40's the Mob Was the Shadow Govt . . . Today Lobbyists Political Consultants are the Shadow Govt
The board might fine his campaign, but it can’t toss him from office for cheating. Anyway, all his team had to do to stay out of trouble was “officially” avoid coordinating with the union. Smart pols do this all the time; as we said, the rules are a sham. And consider: If de Blasio managed to not “coordinate” with 1199, then the union’s efforts on his behalf — devoting its vast resources to help him get elected — were perfectly legal. Yet that’s an advantage Joe and Jane Voter don’t have. The rules give unions other advantages: By giving via local chapters, for instance, they can skirt the contribution ceilings.
1930'40's Murder, Inc

de Blasio Keeps Using PAC Lobbyists and Consultants To Get Around the Elections Law and Control the Press
De Blasio-Tied PAC Spends $24K on Former City Hall Staffer’sCouncil Campaign  (NYO) Mayor Bill de Blasio may claim he’s not paying attention to a crowded City Council race in eastern Queens, but a political action committee tied to the mayor spent about $24,000 to help his former aide win next week. New Yorkers for Progress spent the cash on campaign mailers for Rebecca Lynch, a former City Hall staffer, according to a filing with the Campaign Finance Board. The treasurer of the group is Sam Nagourney, the finance director of Mr. de Blasio’s campaign committee. Mr. Nagourney is a consultant with Hilltop Public Solutions, the firm that employs Bill Hyers, Mr. de Blasio’s 2013 campaign manager, and Rebecca Katz, a former de Blasio administration staffer. The mailers, which cost a total of $24,690, feature photographs of Ms. Lynch and a quick summary of her campaign platform. New Yorkers for Progress can spend an unlimited amount of money on Ms. Lynch as long as it does not coordinate directly with her campaign. Once an outside group spends $5,000 or more they are required to disclose all contributors who gave $1,000 or more, according to the CFB. New Yorkers for Progress is backed by labor unions who endorsed Ms. Lynch. PAC’s tied to the Hotel Trades Council, 32BJ SEIU and Communication Workers of Americas contributed $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.

Lobbyists in the City Council Campaign
Queens Democratic Party, Frank Bolz, collected $528 for petitioning expenses
Connective Strategies, a consulting firm run by Tyquana Henderson  Ali Najmi
 major chunk of Ms. Lynch’s cash has ended up in the pockets of BerlinRosen, a powerful consulting firm known best for helping Mayor Bill de Blasio win his 2013 mayoral race. For campaign mail and staff, Ms. Lynch has paid BerlinRosen about $52,000



de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires The New King of Brooklyn Heights
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

4. Is de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Pay Hires to Supplement His Pay the Director of His One NY PAC?

5.  Wolfe Mayor's Top Political Aide Was Paid Hires' Hilltop in 2014
Emma Wolfe, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s director of intergovernmental affairs and a top legislative aide, was paid by a Brooklyn-based outside consulting firm, Hilltop Public Solutions, last fall when she took a leave of absence to work with Democrats trying to retake the state Senate


3. Hires Sells A Massive Development At the Closed Hospital Site the Community Does Not Want
.Fortis Hires Firms With de Blasio Connections for LICHSite Proposal; CHA Hires Lawyer With Same (Brooklyn Heights Blog) Last week’s public meeting on Fortis Property Group’s proposals for development of the Long Island College Hospital site produced little but the conclusion that the developers and local residents are far from agreement on anything other than the need for affordable housing: see Mary Frost’s EaglestoryPolitico NY reports that Fortis has now hired Hilltop Public Solutions, which helped with Mayor de Blasio’s election campaign, to handle “community outreach” on the LICH project, and Capolino+Company, which “has worked closely with [de Blasio] since he took office”, to handle lobbying. Meanwhile, JP Updates reports that the Cobble Hill Association has hired Jim Walden, the lawyer who represented de Blasio as Public Advocate in opposing the sale of LICH, to represent the community’s interests in the LICH site matter. One bit of information that came from last Thursday’s public meeting: Fortis has not yet closed on the LICH site, contrary to what we earlier said, relying on Curbed. We weremisinformed.
More From Those Wonderful People Who Allowed A Hospital to Close and Allowed Housing in A Park 
De Blasio’s LICH problem (Capital) Candidate Bill de Blasio was lagging in the polls when, in the dead of the summer of 2013, he seized on a hot-button local issue in the heart of his former City Council district: the pending shuttering of Long Island College Hospital. The fevered pitch of the issue, in an area full of committed liberal voters already keen on de Blasio, offered him a media platform at a critical time in the race and, along with a series of other fruitful events, helped him sail to the top of the Democratic primary field. (The optics of getting arrested trying to save a beloved community hospital didn't hurt either.) Now, as mayor, the issue that provided him a political windfall is putting him—and, more immediately, Councilman Brad Lander—in an untenable position. Lander is part of a newly-formed community coalition working with the site's developer, Fortis Property Group, to negotiate a deal with residents who are unhappy with their choices. The first public meeting will be held Thursday evening and Fortis has indicated it wants to reach a conclusion by the end October. After all, sitting on undeveloped land is a costly endeavor



2. Both Hires and Berlin Rosen Runs Work for the Mayor's PAC One New York 
One New York Did An Illegal Mailing to Help An Assembly Candidate Who Got Arrested With Candidate de Blasio and Who Was Being Blamed for the Closed Hospital.  The Mailing Tried to Sell That the Band Aid ER Was A Good Replacement for A Closed Hospital

Berlin Rosen who worked for 52AD candidate Sikora and the PAC One NY, use to the PAC to send out to the voters of the district a misleading letter that a developers ER would be a good substitute for the closed LICH.  Rosen's assembly candidate was arrested during the 2013 mayor's race along with de Blasio protesting the closing of the LICH Hospital.  The Brooklyn Eagle called Berlin Rosen PAC mailing the dark money mailing, claiming the closed LICH hospital developer would build an emergency room that would meet the community’s health care needs.  Doctors and community leader have called that claim an outright lie. Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing
Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open 
Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News (NYDN) New York City Mayoral Candidate Bill DiBlasio and a nurse are arrested at protest outside the State University of New York offices on West 42nd st. Hospital workers were protesting the planned closing Long Island City Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re going to lose Long Island College Hospital in a matter of weeks if we don’t act now ... People are going to be much sicker in this city if we keep losing hospitals,” de Blasio said as he was led away in handcuffs. “This is about fighting for our hospitals. We have to save them* Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT)  Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.
More on Closing LICH Hospital



1. de Blasio Campaign Manager Hires Sent His Candidate to Be Arrested to Protest Closing of LICH Hospital

To de Blasio Hospitals Are Nothing But A Campaign Prop . . .  LICH Closed in His First Year In Office 


Paging Doctor de Blasio: New York City's Health andHospitals Corp. needs emergency care from the mayor (NYDN Ed)  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. Reflecting the gravity of the crisis, HHC Commissioner Dr. Ram Raju promised his workforce,

“The Health and Hospitals Corp. must and will survive.” Then, he presented a rescue plan whose success would hinge on beating incredibly tough odds. Landmark institutions like BellevueKings County, North Central Bronx and Elmhurst Medical Center face dire futures thanks to accelerating changes in the health-care marketplace, including Obamacare. Yet the mayor has raised no warnings about the looming crisis, let alone offered a vision for maintaining the nation’s largest public health-care system. City hospital head lays out ambitious vision (Capital)New York City’s cash-strapped public hospital system, tasked with caring for many uninsured and vulnerable residents amid growing budget deficits, unveiled a plan to help shore up its finances by 2020, the Journal reports: * After police refused to let thousands of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters march in the street on Wednesday, some people noted that the NYPD's tactic of violently repelling and arresting demonstrators differed considerably from how the de Blasio administration handled similar protests just a few months ago. At a press conference yesterday, the mayor assured reporters that this was wrong: "If you guys want to sensationalize, if you think that's your contribution to society, feel free."

Berlin Rosen Helped de Blasio Get Arrested As A Campaign Prop Protesting the Closing of LICH Hospital 
Mayor Says He Will Continue to Seek Advice from Top Adviserin Wake of NY1 Report (NY1) In the wake of a in-depth NY1 report last week, the mayor says he will continue to seek advice from a top adviser despite criticism of their close relationship.  Jonathan Rosen runs the public relations firm BerlinRosen and advises private clients with business before the city while also acting as a close advisor to the mayor. Because Rosen is not a registered lobbyist, he does not have to disclose his clients, but the mayor said there's no conflict of interest. "Jonathan is someone I worked with for years. He is a close friend, a close adviser going back many, many years, and he'll continue to be," de Blasio said. "He doesn't represent the interests of his clients when he talks to me. He is someone who I turn to advice on a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with his clients." * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he does not consider it a conflict when he seeks advice from Jonathan Rosen, a political consultant and campaign strategist who represents a host of clients who lobby City Hall on a variety of issues.In light of the NY1 report on the close relationship between de Blasio and Rosen, Sen. Tony Avella has introduced a bill that would bar lobbyists from also being political consultants.


4. de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Supplement Pay the Director of His One NY PAC
What the NYP Left Out That The CFB Needs to Know and Investigate
Hilltop Public Solutions Bill Hyers works for de Blaiso campaign slush Fund One New York. Like de Blasio other lobbyists who works for One NY Berlin Rosen Hyers hides behind his public relations title and is not a registered lobbyits.  Bill Hyers also work for Airbnb along with registered lobbyists who helps fund the mayor's slush fund One NY.







Daily News Says de Blasio Kills Campaign Finance With One NY PAC
Berlin Rosen Elects Dozens of the City's Elected Officials and Does Not Lobby Them For Their Clients? The Daily News Says the 1NY PAC Going Around the Campaign Finance Laws for the Mayor What About the Dozens of Other Candidates it works for?

The CFB One New York PAC de Blasio Cover-Up and Picking On Everyman Sal
Progressive Bill deBlasio kills NYC's campaign finance program (NYDN Ed) Let Mayor de Blasio admit this fact: His bear hug of the Fund for One New York, the not-at-all-independent nonprofit advocacy group he created, is hastening the demise of the city’s public campaign finance system. For a quarter century, that system — which limits contributions to candidates, matches small gifts with public dollars and caps spending — has been lauded by progressives, de Blasio included, as leveling the democratic playing field and amplifying the voices of ordinary citizens. “We are the gold standard,” he said last year. Those words take on an ironic double meaning as de Blasio hits up donors for millions, including large contributions that would be banned if made directly to candidates — and the fund works in lockstep to advance his agenda. The Campaign for One New York buys television advertisements; coordinates grassroots organizing campaigns; and employs and coordinates with allies of the mayor, including former staffers. In short, it works as a campaign apparatus in years when there’s no election. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling blew the doors off all previous attempts to limit outside money in government — and made hefty political spending by outside groups inevitable. But it’s no small irony that the man putting the nail in the coffin of the city’s campaign finance caps is Big Bill, progressive friend of the little man.* The state Board of Elections could close the so-called LLC loophole in the campaign finance system, but Democrats say that is unlikely because GOP commissioners do not support it, The Buffalo News reports * Daily News: What About Data and Fields in 2009, NYCLASS and the UFT;s United for A Future PACs in 2013?  What About the Real Estate's 71/2 Million Jobs for NY PAC?  What About the Millions in Assembly, State Senate and Gov PACs that Go Around the Campaign Finance Laws?
Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund 




Red Horse Lobbyist Consultants Who Got Away With Scamming the CFB in 2013 Caught In Petition Fraud in 2015 for A SI DA Candidate 
Candidate for StatenIsland DA says opponent collected fraud campaign signatures (WPIX) Joan Illuzzi is running as a Republican for Staten Island District Attorney. Mike McMahon is running as a Democrat and Independent for the same office. Both submitted approximately 4,000 signed petitions to have their names listed on the ballot, but Illuzzi’s campaign has questioned the accuracy of several of the signatures submitted by McMahon’s camp. McMahon’s campaign manager Ashleigh Owens released a statement to PIX 11 Tuesday that read in part, “Mike and our campaign unfortunately appear to have been victimized by a small group of individuals from Red Horse Strategies.”  Red Horse Strategies is a firm of political consultants. They were hired to collect petition signatures. Staten Island Acting District Attorney Daniel Master requested a special prosecutor look further into the allegations. McMahon didn't orchestrate or collect the forged signatures himself. He didn't sign off on them. He paid Red Horse Strategies to collect signatures for his Independence Party petitions. The Staten Island Democratic Party paid for the firm to collect signatures on Democratic petitions. 

Lobbyist Consultants in the City Council Campaign
Red Horse is Also Working in A Council Campaign in Queens Barry Grodenchik
Queens Democratic Party, Frank Bolz, collected $528 for petitioning expenses
Connective Strategies, a consulting firm run by Tyquana Henderson  Ali Najmi
 major chunk of Ms. Lynch’s cash has ended up in the pockets of BerlinRosen, a powerful consulting firm known best for helping Mayor Bill de Blasio win his 2013 mayoral race. For campaign mail and staff, Ms. Lynch has paid BerlinRosen about $52,000


Shadow Government Lobbyists and Consultants Control Most of the Campaigns 
 Fraudulent signatures were discovered on ballot petitions for McMahon, which included names of the deceased. The signatures were collected by a Democratic consulting group, Red Horse Strategies. * The Illuzzi camp asked the D.A.'s office to look into fraud allegations, considering criminal charges.* Special prosecutor requested for DA race fraud case SILive.com





The FollowingThe Following Were Red Horse Clients and Supported By A UFT PAC That Redhorse Also Worked for
The CFB Fined the Advance Group for Working for Two Council Candidate and the NYCLASS PAC.  The CFB Has Ignored Advances, Red Horse and Berlin Rosen Working for Both candidates and the UFT PAC United for the Future Which Funded the Candidates the Consultants Worked For
The UFT paid $252,233 to campaign consultant Red Horse Strategies to Help Run There PAC United for the Future Which Funded The Following City Council Candidates
Councilman James Vacca 
Councilwoman Annabel Palma 
Councilman Daneek Miller  
Councilman Richard Donovan  
Councilman Antonio Reynoso   
Councilman Richard Torres  
UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future
The UFT Coup d'Ć©·tat Of NYC Election System and Democracy


The CFB Fines the NYCLASS Consultant PAC Conflict of Interests But Ignores the More Powerful ful UFT Consultant PAC Conflict of Interests
Last April, the CFB hit Ms. Cumbo and Mr. Levine’s campaigns  with $7,868 and $8,686 in fines respectively for accepting improper campaign contributions from NYCLASS. Both candidates were clients of the Advance Group* Anti-horse carriage group to settle campaign finance charge New York Daily NewsIn May, however, the board ruled that the spending could not be considered independent because Levine, Cumbo and NYCLASS shared the same political consultant, the Advance Group. The board said the spending had to be considered an “in-kind contribution” — and as such, it violated two Campaign Finance Board rules.* It was apparent enough for just looking at press releases. Meanwhile, NYCLASS and Advance shared same small office for months*


Red Horse and Other Consultant Lobbyists Compromise Local Prosecutors By Getting Them Elected or Unelected
Manhattan DA Vance Consultant Red Horse Broke the Law Along With Advance Working for the UFT PACs United for the Future that did mailings for the same  Council Clients that both firms represented  
Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign.
Political consultant Red Horse worked for Brooklyn DA Thompson campaign along with Berlin Rosen.  Both Red Horse and Advance Group worked for the UFT's PAC United for the Future (the UFT attempted to covering up Advance involvement by paying them through a fake company) Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA. Red Horse worked for Brooklyn BP Adams, Bronx BP Diaz and PA James. Red Horse worked for Manhattan DA Cy Vance. Red Horse worked for Pitta Bishop for Brooklyn BP Adams. Red Horse worked with George Arzt in the Queens BP campaign. Berlin Rosen not only help elected Schneiderman to his AG position, both it partners worked for him when he was state senator. * Preet Bharara has become well-known in New York for prosecuting the state’s top political players. This month, the Manhattan U.S. attorney might be better known as the hottest ticket in town when it comes to law-school commencement speakers.



Conflict of Interests Board and CFB Are A Real Tail of Two City's 
Both the CFB and Conflict of Interests Board Look the Other Way for the Political Connected as They Pound on the Small Guy Albanese
The city watchdog that only barks at little pups (NYP) Mayor de Blasio’s hiring of Stephanie Yazgi — the romantic partner of one of his key political aides — to a plum $150,000 job as national coordinator on immigration reform is bad enough. Worse is how a city “ethics watchdog” signed off on the move. The hire — for a job that was never publicly advertised — screamed of rank insider favoritism from the start, as other city Democrats have acknowledged. Yet the Conflicts of Interest Board blessed it.  A few years back, Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris took over the Bloomberg Foundation, overseeing the billionaire mayor’s overlapping personal and political interests. The board saw nothing wrong. The board also blessed the City Council’s end-run around the term-limits law — letting council members and Mike Bloomberg run for extra terms the people had twice voted to prohibit. Conversely, for some time, the Conflicts of Interest Board has hammered low-level folks.

Who are the Shadow Govt and Campaign Lobbyists and Donors Protectors, In NYC Media and Progressives?
In January, it fined a deputy to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. $3,500 for participating in a robo-call for Diaz’s 2013 re-election — in which she mentioned her official title. Last September, the board dinged a longtime Department of Health employee $3,000 for engaging in personal research and writing on department time and city equipment. In 2009, it fined a Human Resources Administration lawyer $1,500 for using her city-issued LexisNexis password to look up a few law-school classmates. Maybe the board did right in those cases. But how then to justify the double standard exposed by the rubber-stamping of the Yazgi hire? It’s enough to make you wonder if there are two New Yorks or something.


CFB Goes After Mayoral Candidate Albanese Who Would Not Take Lobbyists and Developers $$$ 
Sal Albanese faces penalty for loaning his own campaign money (NYP)  Mayoral candidate Sal Albanese joined the campaign-finance program in 2013, but couldn’t raise enough money to qualify for public matching funds. So he loaned his own campaign $170,000, and when contributions came up short he simply wrote off the loan. Now he faces a $10,000 fine by the Campaign Finance Board for exceeding the $14,850 contribution cap put on candidates to their own campaigns. That’s got Albanese both baffled and furious, since the reason he said he made the loan was because he didn’t have sufficient contributions. So how, he asked, could he be penalized for going over the contribution limit? “This is insane. This is bizarre. What do they want me to do — hold a fund-raiser to pay myself back?” asked Albanese, who is appealing the fine recommended by the board’s staff.* Reform Groups urge Senators to support @SenatorLeahy bill, the Stop SuperPAC-Candidate Coordination Act 

The CFB is Going After the Type of Candidate They Were Created To Help
I am a supporter of campaign finance reform but NYC system is a broken quagmire that allows lobbyists to bundle $ & fines me 10k * I wasn't allowed 2 participate in key debates disabling my campaign despite 1,000 contributors I received no matching $ & now a fine * I lent my campaign money to pay my staff & vendors because I had an obligation to do so & wanted out of insane campaign system.




de Blasio 365 24/7 Campaign 
de Blasio 2013 Pays His Campaign Consultant and the CFB Looks the Other Way


Campaign finance experts are puzzled as to why New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2013 campaign committee continues to pay for services from a public-relations firm more than a year after the election ended
De Blasio’s campaign committee still paying firm over a year later (NYP)  Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign committee has continued to pay big bucks for services from a prominent public-relations firm more than a year after the mayoral race ended, records show. The New Yorkers for de Blasio committee earmarked $45,000 for the Brooklyn arm of DC-based Hilltop Public Solutions between January and July 2015 — including four months each of $10,000 in billings, according to state campaign filings. A spokesman for BerlinRosen, another consulting firm that helped manage de Blasio’s successful run for City Hall, declined to explain the nature of the public-relations work required of Hilltop 12 to 18 months after the election. “Hilltop is being paid for their work winding down the 2013 campaign committee, as required by campaign-finance rules,” said the spokesman, Dan Levitan. Even after the recent payouts, the committee still has $390,000 in its account. That money can’t be rolled over, can’t pay for services toward the upcoming 2017 campaign, and can’t go toward paying bonuses, according to campaign-finance rules. When the account closes, the balance will go to city coffers because it’s considered taxpayer money that was given to the campaign as matching public funds, according to Connor. He said the payments to Hilltop are worthy of “scrutiny,” but emphasized that only an audit could determine whether the new work falls within the guidelines of allowable spending. Nicholas Baldick, Hilltop’s founder and managing partner, raised money for the de Blasio campaign. A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board declined to comment.

The PAC, Lobbyists Special Interests Take Over of the Campaigns Has Weaken the City's Neighborhoods
Lindsay, Wagner Breslin and Mailer Worked to Give More Power To the City's Neighborhoods
In the early 1970's, Mayor John Lindsay created additional entities in some districts whose responsibility it was to oversee the provision of City services. Each "Little City Hall" as they were called, was headed by a District Manager, a person appointed by the mayor. Lindsay wanted the city halls to give neighborhoods more control of the city's government.  How They Came Into Being What would eventually evolve into a system of Community Boards was the brainchild of Robert Wagner, Manhattan Borough President, in 1951. He designated twelve districts within Manhattan and established, for each, a Community Planning Council composed of fifteen to twenty members. The function of these Councils was to advise the Borough President on matters related to planning and the budget. In 1963 while Wagner was battling Tammany Halls shadow control of city government, he got the City Charter to establishment Community Planning Boards, as they were referred to, in all five boroughs of New York City. Eventually the term "Community Planning Board" was shortened to simply "Community Board". The role of the boards was still that of advisory boards to the Borough Presidents.


New Yorkers Have Been Cut Off and Powerless From Their Local Govt
The Govt Now Works for the Special Interests Against the People
According to indictments unsealed this week, Ms. Rahaman was right. It was all a ruse involving their landlord and two inspectors from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, prosecutors said, a small piece of a larger bribery and kickback investigation involving nearly four dozen city housing and buildings employees, property owners, managers and construction industry workers. The court documents describe in detail how building code violations and tenant complaints were dismissed for payoffs that were sometimes just a few hundred dollars. “Notably, many of the buildings at issue are located in areas of Brooklyn which are rapidly developing and gentrifying, resulting in an economic incentive for building owners to sell or refinance quickly to take advantage of the booming real estate market,” said a letter submitted to the court by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr.


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