Sunday, March 27, 2011



BREAKING: Budget Deal

Gov. Cuomo Reaches Deal With Legislature On Tentative State Budget: (NYP)

 New York, Meet Your New State Budget (DN) * Power $ jobs renewed, made permanent, 3,700 prison cells closed. "Budget that is honest and aggressive...a policy reform document," Cuomo * Cuomo: "Ambitious" budget passed on time a "very deal." We're "striving" toward an early budget. High court agreed to 10 percent cut. * $272 m restoration in education aid, 4201 schools fully restored...$91 m restored for human services. $86 m higher ed/cuny restored* med mal is out. living wage is in. $250 m overall increase from the exec proposal, budget $132.5 b. * The proposed cap on medical mal practice awards is not included in the budget deal. * Skelos says "trust" is developing with the Cuomo admin, feels confident prison closures without commission will be OK. * Cuomo: * (TU) * State budget agreement reached in Albany (CBS Albany) * * restores funding for 4201 schools that service deaf & blind students. * (NYT) * Cuomo Strikes Tentative Deal on N.Y. Budget With Big Cuts: The $132.5 billion budget keeps state spending roughly...  * "No new member items" and other interesting factoids from NY's budget deal today:  * No Medical-Malpractice Cap In Budget (Gannett Albany)* Cu * Mayor Bloomberg: Budget Deal Bad For NYC (DN) * (Newsday)* Bloomberg Not Pleased With Budget Deal (YNN) * ‘Do You Feel It?’(Video of Budget Agreement Announcement) (YNN) * (TU)* Cuomo and Leg leaders strike budget deal. Here's our first crack at a story, more to come. (NYT) * The Highlights Of The Budget Deal (Gannett Albany)

 

Before the Budget Deal


"Until you have total agreement, you have no agreement," Cuomo said at the end of a day of negotiations. "That's how this works. And we don't have an agreement." Cuomo

State Budget Deal Not Reached Before Weekend (NY1)So near, yet so far (TU) * Cuomo: No deal, NY budget talks to continue (WSJ) * City Room: Cuomo and Lawmakers Are Close on Budget (NYT) * No Budget Deal (WNBC) * Governor: Without total agreement, no agreement (WNYT)NY Assembly seeks 'significant' school aid bump (WSJ) * Skelos: $250M to be added to school aid (Newsday) * Gov raises the alarm as budget talks stall (NYP) * LIFO lives on -- for now No changes in the budget (NYP) *Sunday ** Rich District, Poor District The inequity of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed education cuts can be seen in how they will affect two New York State school districts: Ilion and Syosset. (NYT Ed) *  Budget cuts too painful for those on Medicaid (DN) * Your New State Budget Scoop (DN) Despite pleas from advocates and Assembly Democrats, the final budget restores only $272 million of the $1.5 billion cut Cuomo proposed in school aid.


 Where is the Money Mr. Mayor?                   

Federal agents raid safety deposit boxes linked to CityTime scam, and come up nearly empty

Federal agents with search warrants opened safety-deposit boxes linked to the CityTime payroll kickback scheme - only to find them virtually empty, the Daily News has learned.(DN) * It wasn't the union protests nor Councilwoman Letitia James' prescient description years before of just how vulnerable the city had become to multi-million dollar sub-contractor fraudsters that provided the "aha" moment for the Bloomberg Administration. (WNYC)

 

  3rd Term Makes Mayor Bloomberg Bored

Lisberg: Though he may try to hid it, Bloomberg is snoozing through third term Those who work closely with the Hizzoner at City Hall say his attention is no longer solely on the city. (DN)

 

 

Inner Circle

Mayor Bloomberg takes center stage in costume (DN) * Bloomberg at Inner Circle: "here's a million... Maybe you can buy ballot security" (Twitter) * How ABBA-surd, Mike! (NYP)
Bloomberg Takes Jabs In Annual Inner Circle Fundraiser
* Mayor Bloomberg Steals the Show

 More Pictures

 

 

The Gang of New York Part II: The City Council     

The City Council is a sorry spectacle, the Daily News investigation showed in sordid detail 

Newly elected Queens Councilman Ruben Wills even turned out to be wanted in two criminal cases. He turned himself in. Four members - Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx, Peter Koo of Queens and Brooklyn's Mathieu Eugene and Jumaane Williams - had all won real estate tax breaks on properties outside their districts by swearing that said properties were their primary residences. Cabrera and Koo had so sworn on residences in the suburbs. Two Brooklynites won the award for the worst of the worst. Erik Dilan and Darlene Mealy represent districts with large low-income populations, where families with limited resources face the tough challenge of finding decent places to live. And what has Dilan, of Bushwick, chairman of the Housing Committee, done to help? He helped himself, of course. He moved into a subsidized apartment that is supposed to be for families with incomes of less than $114,000. He and his wife reported incomes $40,000 over the limit. Mealy, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, is also squatting on housing that should be occupied by someone making a lot less than the $112,500 salary plus a $10,000 lulu she gets for her part-time Council job. She and her sister bought a taxpayer-subsized three-bedroom co-op in Bed-Stuy in 1993, when Mealy worked for the Transit Authority. Their joint income was supposed to be less than $15,000. Two years later, they came up with a $14,000 down payment for a brownstone.  City Council Sleaze Week (Bay Ridge Journal)


 

Judge out of order Gets tax & rent breaks after mortgage lie







Driven to excess  Beep's rides cost 177G/yr. (NYP)












While the NYP and Daily News Expose Corruption the NYT Give Us A Day in the Life of State Senator Diane J. Savino

Cleanliness Is Next to Politics (NYT)


Fluff Local TV News Also
With no Albany budget deal Friday local TV stations continue to rack in TV commercial funds with mayor and all the other groups continue their ads campaign to influence public opinion and thus the budget.  If you watch the morning local news Sunday there was no mention of what is holding up the budget. * On TV, on the radio and in the newspaper, the signs are clear for Mayor Bloomberg that his legacy as mayor is still unfinished and the ending is very much in flux. (NYDN)





Geraldine Ferraro passes away at 75 after long battle with cancer, RIP.

Geraldine A. Ferraro, Politician, Dies at 75(NYT) *  Geraldine Ferraro, 1st woman VP candidate, dead at 75 (NYP) * Geraldine Ferraro, a former congresswoman and vice presidential candidate, has died at the age of 75. * Trailblazing Politician Geraldine Ferraro Dies At 75 (NY1) * She Ended Men’s Club of National Politics (NYT) * Geraldine Ferraro remembered fondly by political brethren (DN) *Ferraro was a daughter of Queens until the end (DN)Geraldine Ferraro, 1935-2011(NYP) * Geraldine Ferraro, One Tough Democrat - Joan Walsh, Salon

 

Smaller Class Size Conference and A Massage

As budget cuts loom, state's largest teachers union has burned through millions of dollars(DN) As Gov. Cuomo moves to slash $1.5 billion in school aid, the state's largest teachers union has burned through millions of dollars on junkets, feasts and parties at resorts across New York. (DN)






 Investment Giant BlackRock Assets of $3.56 Tillion Gets A Tax Break

State Weighs Tax Change for Giant Financial Firm A provision in the budget would allow BlackRock to be taxed by the state as a general business corporation rather than as a bank, which would save the firm millions of dollars in the future. (NYT)













It's tough going for city's job market (NYP)
With New York City unemployment rate stuck at 8.9 percent and prospects for job growth dimming as local government layoffs overshadow any private sector opportunities, some locals have taken their career on a new path -- despite a hefty pay cut.











 Why Not Ask A 2013 Mayoral Candidate How They Will Solve the Overcrowding of Schools

City Is Planning Major Cuts in the Construction of Schools
In Packed Districts, Lists for a School Spot Grow (NYT) * An Unhappy Rite of Spring: The Wait List (WSJ)








 
 Census Says After 100 Years People Have Returned To Live in Central Park
Census Apparently Did Check Behind Every Tree and Under Every Bench (NYT) * Leaving City for Long Island Over the past decade, 20,000 blacks have moved to Long Island, driving a 9% bump in the island's black population, a small but significant shift in the demographics of the traditionally white area. (WSJ) * City to Press for a Higher Estimate (WSJ) * Incompetent Census flubbed New York City head count, declaring tens of thousands of homes are empty (DN Ed) * A 'growing' confidence Battered 'hoods flourish (NYP) *  New York by the numbers (NYP Ed) * The United States' booming Hispanic population shows just how well diversity can work (DN Ed) * More Census Maps: 2000 vs. 2010 Race Plurality (The Brooklyn Politics)