Bloomberg Do As I Say Not As I Do
Mayor Office Increased 16%
Budget Trouble: Does Bloomberg Follow His New Deputy's Advice? From 2004 to 2010 the number of full-time employees in the office has increased 16%. The mayoralty is projected to exceed its current $83.3 million budget by 18% after Bloomberg gave across-the-board raises to virtually all of his City Hall staffers. Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis and the newest member of Bloomberg’s staff, also offers a bit of indirect (and possibly inadvertent) criticism of his new boss’s policies. In Governing, a trade publication for municipal leaders, Goldsmith offers his prescriptions for successful budget cutting. It is not entirely clear that Bloomberg’s expanded office budget matches Goldsmith’s advice. (WSJ)
Another Clueless CouncilmanThe job of the City Council Transportation Committee Chairman is to find out what the MTA is up to, not to sit back and get reports from the flacks that work for the agency. After all his years in Bronx politics do Mr. Vacco know the difference between agency spin and fact finding? "I held a hearing on safety just two weeks ago," Vacca said. "They (MTA officials) certainly did not paint the picture that this article painted."(about the MTA broken cameras) Is Mr. Vacca imagination limited to believing all the MTA tells him? "It defies imagination," said City Council member James Vacca. It would make more sense if the Daily News reporter asked Mr. Vacca why he did not find out the subway cameras did not work before last weeks Times Square car bomb than asking staphangers if they were upset the cameras were broken. NYers rage over 910 nonworking subway cameras. The Daily News if they were doing their job should have asked the former City Council Transportation Chair Comptroller Liu why the subways do not have working cameras nine years after 911. Pols, straphangers rage over 910 nonworking subway cameras
Getting to Know the TWU Rat Handler Joe Ruggiero is on rat duty for the transit union. For the past year, Ruggiero, 46, is the sole person responsible for setting up and deflating the “union rat” balloons, one of which was set up outside MTA chief Jay Walder’s house to protest layoffs. (AM New York) * Drivers actually win out in MTA's latest budget cuts * Managerial hiring continues even as MTA lays off workersNew York's Economic Meltdown Posh nabes get bus-ted Most of the 570 bus stops that will be eliminated as part of the MTA's huge service-cut plan serve those well-off areas (NYP) * Cuts Begin on Long Island Rail Road *(WSJ) * LIRR Service Changes (Fox 5) * Manhattan Theater Owes MTA $300,000 in Back Rent * Gov. David Paterson attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new park on the same day parks all over the state are slated to close.
Gov: Two Minutes Curtain CallCuomo budget decree near (Cuomo Communicators through NYP reporter Dicker) Dave threatens cutting 10K jobs *Gov. Paterson isn't the only governor getting sued by unions over his solutions to tight finances -- so are Govs. Schwarzenegger and Christie.
Election 2010 Donovan Launches Bid for Attorney General (WSJ) *Donovan Throws Hat Into State AG Race (NY1) * Attorney general candidate Kathleen Rice scrutinized for stand on Rockefeller-era drug law reform (DN) * Staten Island DA gets Bloomy endorsement for AG race (DN) * Governor hopeful Andrew Cuomo will pick running mate before Democratic convention (DN) * GOP Staten Island DA Dan Donovan pledged to make fighting public corruption the focus of his AG campaign * Rep. Charlie Rangel has four Democratic primary opponents: Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, Vince Morgan, Jonathan Tasini and Joyce Johnson, who quietly entered the race last month * The field of candidates hoping to oust embattled state Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. is getting even bigger? * So is the group of those hoping to push out scandal-troubled Rep. Charlie Rangel * Fernando Tirado will announce his state senate candidacy "within spitting distance" from Pedro Espada's house * Joyce Johnson Quietly Jumps Into Rangel Race
Where are NY Investigative Reporters? Reading all newspapers every day and review local TV news it is clear that there is very little investigative reporting going on in New York anymore. If you read the NYT and WSJ two papers which are supposed to be in the middle of a newspapers war almost every story is the same. That means that reporters generate most of their stories either by flacks press releases or just do what local TV news does copy what in the competitions paper. Where is the story about how the fact that two top elected officials who were appointed have no serious opponents. Does GOP lobbyist Al D'amato who was at Senator Gillibrand appointment announcement has anything to do with the fact that a real GOP opponent to her has not materialized ? Where are the stories about Comptroller DiNapoli who is under investigation by AG Cuomo not having a primary opponent? Where are the stories about the council slush fund. Last week attorney Norman Siegel appealed to the New York Court of Appeals his attempt to used a old Tammany fighting to use the courts to get to the bottom of the city council slush fund scandal. Siegel lost in the appellate court 3 to 2. If Siegel wins in the states highest court the city would come to a halt as Quinn and the other thieves get on the witness stand and tell us all how they robbed this city to hire their friends and family members. Not one paper has reported on Siegel's lawsuit in almost a year.Flack Generated News Blogger The candidates think the flack are getting the message to the voters and the bloggers keep their flack sources for future stories. In reality these are dead end stories that never reach the voters. These same blogger will never ask the real questions of the elected officials for fear of losing sources. It a new kind of political privileged elitist culture when an inexperienced challenger to Congresswoman Maloney, Reshma Saujani get constant coverage in the New York Observer because she is friends with the new wife Ivanka Trump of the paper owner the son of a real estate developer, Jared Kushner. The Idi Amin Mailer (Azi,Obsever). Even pension fund scandal king Steve Rattner is helping Saujani * A Primary Challenger in Carolyn's Court (Obsever)
Today's Blog Flack Crap: Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice’s liberal credentials are under fire, with critics accusing her of flip-flopping on Rockefeller Drug Law reform (YNN) * Would-be GOP state comptroller Harry Wilson drew some canine support at his campaign kick-off in Johnstown this weekend (YNN) *Businessman Randy Altschuler, the conservatives’ preferred congressional contender in NY-1, is under fire for his past enrollment in the Green Party (YNN) * Nassaul County DA and attorney general hopeful Kathleen Rice is taking heat for her stand on the Rockefeller Drug Laws (Daily Politics) * And AG hopeful Bob Antonacci is taking a much quieter approach to seeking the job. (Daily Politics) * Republican Congressional candidate Randy Altschuler is getting ripped over his ties to the Green Party.(Daily Politics) * Kathleen Rice didn't "publicly" rebuke the District Attorney's Association for criticizing Rockefeller Drug Law reform. (Politicker) * Dan Donovan: "The experiment with one-party, absolute rule has clearly failed."(Politicker) * AFL-CIO Targeting Three Senators On Jobs, Unemployment (Daily Politics) *NYS AFL-CIO Targets 3 More Senators (YNN) * NYC Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito (an ally of Sen. Eric Schneiderman) is upset with Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice over Rockefeller Drug Law reform (YNN) * Staten Island DA Dan Donovan would accept Cuomo’s endorsement of his AG candidacy (YNN)
What Will Silver Do? UFT Vs. Charters
Cuomo supports busting the cap *Cuomo's silence on governor's race annoys pundits* Mayor Takes Charter Message to Church (WSJ) * Mayor: More charters mean better schools and $700M (DN)
Inside City Hall City clerk's offices to conduct civil ceremonies for gay couples * New homeless services boss Seth Diamond to city shelter dwellers: Find a job!
The Charter Review Commission is holding a panel discussion with chairs of previous commissions tonight at 6 p.m. at Baruch.Posh-hotel concierge caught on camera $queezing cabbie
Bad Boy Bad Boys What You Going to Do When They Come For You
Kerik vows to continue fighting as he heads to prison *Ex-NYC Top Cop Kerik To Surrender Monday (WCBS)* On the eve of the start of his federal prison sentence, former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik compared himself to Rocky Balboa. * Slash and Spurn Hiram Monserrate looking for love after cutting gal pal free Aftermath of Fat Tony Seminerio Hospital Rip Offs Tussle at Hospital In Corruption Case A $1 billion hospital network is facing new questions about its operations in the wake of an influence-peddling scandal that sent a former Queens assemblyman to prison for six years.
Will the Bronx Burn Again
Like it Did in the 70S
Why the Bronx burned Blame statisticians, not arson. And New York City could be making the same mistake all over again.
Private Park in the Middle of Manhattan Behind a Park's Locked Gates For those with keys to Gramercy Park's iron gates, Manhattan's only private park is very much a small town with bitter squabbles and decades-long grudges. (WSJ)
Mad As Hell?Congressional Elections 2010 In Three Turbulent Primaries, Measures of Voter Discontent (NYT) * President Obama begins to rein in Congress (Politico)
Terrorism Pakistani-Americans and Police Sharing, and Trying to Spread, Trust * WTC veteran cop Robert Oswain, 42, dies from cancer * 9/11 family members are not fans of US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Law and Order Horror rape in Queens (NYP) *Officer gravely hurt in cycle hit * Cops die in party car * Pot luck for drug do-overs Rocky-reform hit & miss (NYP) * 2 Officers Die in Crash; Third Is Badly Hurt in Chase (NYT) * Two Officers Die, Another Injured (WSJ) * Sponsors of Elle's Law pushing to punish reckless drivers (DN) * Marine vet James Brower, who served in Afghanistan , wages war with NYPD over cop job * Thug eyed in 2006 DJ slay (NYP) * 3 arrests after NYPD officer struck by motorcycleWall Street
Greece may target US banks in legal action (NYP) * Fears Intensify That Euro Crisis Could Snowball (NYT) * When Washington Took On Wall Street | Vanity Fair * Goldman Sachs Backs Bank Reform In Public, Trying To Kill It Behind The Scenes (Huff Post)
Media and New Tech Biggest TV drama: upfront ad sales (NYP) * Broadband and the F.C.C. Republicans are fiercely criticizing the F.C.C.’s plan to subject broadband Internet access to some of the same regulations as telephone services, but the oversight is needed * Fans of Gourmet Magazine Accept No Stand-Ins * YouTube: Now Serving 2 Billion Clips a Day * Ombudsman: Ignore The Numbers, Washington Post Will Survive * LAST MAN STANDING: Will Time's Survival Strategy Work? * What Can American Newspapers Learn From Germany?
