Slumlord Contributes to de Blasio and Campaign for One NY And Gets City Hall to Pass Tax Breaks for Billion Dollar Astoria Cove Project
Shomurm Leader Ready to Rat On NYPD Brass and Who Knows Who Else
Shomrim
leader looks for plea deal in NYPD corruption probe (NYP) A Brooklyn Shomrim patrol leader accused
of paying NYPD cops cash bribes in order to expedite gun permits is in
talks with feds over a plea deal, lawyers said Friday. Manhattan federal court
Judge Sidney Stein gave prosecutors and the defense three weeks to hammer out a
possible agreement for Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, who was busted in April for
paying cops as much as $1 million to keep the scheme going. “We have been in continuous discussions about
the resolution of the case,” said Assistant US Attorney Russell Capone. Lichtenstein,
44, who appeared in court looking tired and wearing a black suit, is charged
with bribery and conspiracy for charging his customers — members of his
Orthodox Jewish community — as much as $18,000 per gun license. Stein gave defense lawyer Richard Finkel
until Nov. 3 to file pretrial motions, which will go forward if no resolution
is reached. Lichtenstein’s shady business unraveled after a cop in the NYPD’s
License Division admitted he and another supervisor took payments they called
“lunch money” to process the permits. Lichtenstein
was secretly recorded bragging about securing 150 gun licenses through NYPD
connections, court papers said. He offered a whistle-blowing cop $6,000 to keep
the illicit scheme going and calculated that another 150 permits would be worth
$900,000 in bribe money, the papers said. The criminal complaint said
Lichtenstein hung around the License Division “on a near daily basis”
beginning in 2014. A handful of complicit cops were booted from the division
but have not been criminally charged. Lichtenstein
has been out on $500,000 bail and is charged with bribery and conspiracy. His arrest coincided with a sweeping probe by
feds into allegations of NYPD brass accepting bribes from businessmen Jona
Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg.
de Blasio Wants Albany to Unblock Release of NYPD Disciplinary Actions
de Blasio Wants Albany to Unblock Release of NYPD Disciplinary Actions
De
Blasio Calls for Change in Law That Blocks Release of Police Disciplinary
Actions (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to alter a statute
that has been an obstacle to sharing information on police misconduct.
In the Name of Social Engineering de Blasio Attacks NY's Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods
are rising up against de Blasio (NYP) de Blasio has learned the hard way that people —
even New York City liberals — have their own opinions about how they want to
live. Neighborhood after neighborhood has rebelled against de Blasio’s
heavy-handed social engineering. In
August, the people of Upper Manhattan forced City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez,
a progressive and strident de Blasio ally, to reject the first major rezoning
under the city’s new mandatory inclusionary housing policy. MIH was a citywide revision of land-use rules
allowing developers to build taller residential buildings with greater density
if they also include subsidized apartments for lower- and middle-income New
Yorkers. The development in question, called Sherman Plaza, at the corner of
Broadway and Sherman Avenue around 196th Street, would turn an old Packard
dealership into a 15-story apartment tower. Up to 50 percent of the units would
be subsidized. The proposed “upzoning” infuriated the local community, which
saw it as an effort to gentrify the mixed Latino and white neighborhood with
luxury housing. Pressure built until
Rodriguez, who voted for MIH as a citywide policy a few months before, nixed
the Sherman Plaza proposal as not in the “best interests” of the neighborhood. A
similar scenario played out in Sunnyside, Queens, where progressive council
Majority Leader Jimmy van Bramer rejected a proposed development to build more
than 200 affordable units. Like his colleague Rodriguez, he supports the
widespread development of affordable housing throughout the city — in theory. But his constituents, reliant on a
perennially crowded subway line and feeling that their neighborhood is already changing
too quickly, opposed the Phipps project and brought pressure on van Bramer to
reject it. On the Upper West Side, the
beating heart of traditional New York City liberalism, a near-riot broke out
last month over plans to redistrict elementary-school zones to promote racial
and socio-economic diversity. Racial “segregation” in the public schools has
become the latest “root cause” of inequality in New York, and the city is
pushing community districts to agree to boundary changes in order to dilute the
concentration of white students in certain schools. Of the
entire public-school student population of 1.1 million, however, fewer than 15
percent are white, and these students are clustered geographically in
particular areas. If racial diversity is meant to solve the problem of racial
inequality, it isn’t clear that there are enough white students to make much of
a difference. Thinking big is in
progressives’ DNA. In the words of de Blasio, progressive proposals must be
“transformative,” “historic,” “transcendent.” But as long as the mayor and his
progressive allies continue to force their grand vision on an unwilling
populace, they can expect to face local revolts from a notoriously and proudly
insubordinate city.
4 Child Care Workers Suspended On Their Handing of 6 Year Old Zymere
Sampson Finally Going to Jail
Albany Leader With Long Record of Covering Up Sexual Harrassment Attacks? Trump on the Bus
JCOPE is A Joke: Outside Income Law Rarely Enforce Ignored Mostly
From the conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to the recent federal charges against former top Cuomo administration official Joe Percoco, the issue of state officials' outside jobs — and the potential for graft created — has sparked calls for reform. But there is already law on the books that would shine substantial sunlight on such arrangements. Yet it doesn't appear to be enforced very well. The law, passed in 2011 as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's first ethics reform bill, requires lobbyists or their clients who pay a state employee more than $1,000 in a year to submit a form detailing the exact amount every six months. It also requires a description of the nature of the state employee's outside work. Since the law was passed, only 24 lobbying clients and 11 lobbyists have submitted paperwork detailing the hiring of state officials, according to the website of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state's lobbying watchdog agency. The law was passed in the wake of the 2009 trial of ex-Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, in which federal prosecutors charged the Brunswick Republican with using his position to enrich himself through a business he operated on the side. He was convicted on two federal charges, which were later overturned because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. In a second trial, he was acquitted.
de Blasio Camapign Aide Hilltop Hyers Lobbyists Capalino Under Fed Investigation for CONY Money Washing for Senate Campaign Now As Airbnb Lobbyists Has 10 Million PAC to Shape the Senate
de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires' Hilltop Helps Run the OneNY PAC
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?
Tuesday de Blasio Still Boycotting Press, Hiring Campaign Workers, Clinton
De Blasio still avoiding most media outlets after tantrum (NYP)
de Blasio on Clinton Leaked
email shows de Blasio criticized Clinton during debate
(NYP) * Latest Podesta
Emails Reveal a Servile de Blasio Eager to Please Clinton Campaign (NYO)* WikiLeaks
Emails Show Mayor de Blasio Venting at and Appealing to Clinton Campaign (NYT) The release of a second batch of John D. Podesta’s
emails shows Bill de Blasio urging the campaign to engage left-wing Democrats.* The second leak of Hillary Clinton Campaign Chair John
Podesta’s emails shows New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was determined to
offer himself as a Clinton cheerleader pushing the campaign to engage the
Democratic Party’s left wing, The New York Times reports. * Leaked
Emails Between de Blasio and Clinton Campaign Show a Complicated Relationship
of Candidate and Former Confidante (NY1) For days, hacked emails to and
from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, have been dripping out
on the Wikileaks website — among other things, the emails are giving us some
insight into the relationship between the Clinton campaign and Mayor de Blasio,
who publicly played coy about endorsing her for six months * Two @HillaryClinton campaign aides
referred mockingly to @BilldeBlasio
in internal emails as a "terrorist" * WikiLeaks
Emails Show Mayor de Blasio Venting at and Appealing to Clinton Campaign
(NYT) * .@HillaryClinton aides mocked'terrorist' @BilldeBlasio's
public flirtation with @BernieSanders * Mayor says "heat of battle"caused Clinton camp to call him a "terrorist" for delayingendorsement: (DNAINFO)
One Day After the Death of DA Thompson Push for PA Tish James to Replace and Ticket Shaping?
Well-placed Brooklyn lawmakers want Letitia James as next DA (NYP) *
Feds unseal charges against Cuomo cronies in bribery scandal (NYP) The city has dropped its plan to fully convert a Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter, citing "local opposition" that includes numerous protests from neighbors. The hotel near Maurice Avenue and the Long Island Expressway had been eyed as a full shelter by the city and its owner, Harsh Patel, for months.*
More Blame on ACS for Zymere Death
Sal Albanese @SalAlbaneseNYC Wiki emails show HRC
campaign treating DEB like a nuisance 2 humor & his silly "forum"
as an event they had no intention of participating in
One Day After the Death of DA Thompson Push for PA Tish James to Replace and Ticket Shaping?
Under Press of Causing A Racial Divide de Blasio Limits Plans for Maspeth Hotel to 30 Homeless Men Protests Continue
More Blame on ACS for Zymere Death
BOE Manhattan Democrat Says ID Programs Opens Up Fraud, Including Voting Fruad
Update Assemblyman demands elections official resign for linking minorities to voter fraud (NYP) Bronx Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda said Schulkin said the comments make Schulkin unfit to be a Democratic representative on the elections board. “His comments about alleged voter fraud coming from Black, Latino Asian and Muslim communities reeks of racism and is factually incorrect,” said Sepulveda. Schulkin was appointed in 2014 with the support of Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, and Manhattan Council members Corey Johnson, Margaret Chin, Mark Levine, and Ydanis Rodriguez, sources said. Manhattan Democratic Party leader Keith Wright supported another candidate, but lost out in the power struggle with the Council leadership , sources said. Mark Viverito issued a terse statement saying Schulkin’s comments are “uninformed opinions have no basis in fact.” A City Hall official said Schulkin is not likely to be reappointed when his term is up at year’s end. Schulkin addressed the controversy during a Board of Elections Committee meeting on Tuesday. He said he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body and claimed his secretly recorded videotaped comments were taken out of context.
Fallout From Buffalo Billion Arrests
SUNY PolytechnicPresident Alain Kaloyeros resigns amid Cuomo-probe corruption charges (NYDN) *
Daily News Blames Liberal Everyone Welcomed Homeless Policy Not Gentrification Push Out For Increase Homeless Numbers
Bill’s blame game on the homeless crisis (NYDN Ed) Deluded by righteousness and presuming the lowest motives among critics, Mayor de Blasio is unforgivably casting constituents as heartless racists in a drama of his own making. He needs to spend more time reckoning with his role in exacerbating record homelessness . The mayor’s Department of Homeless Services on Monday beat a retreat from a Maspeth, Queens, Holiday Inn it had intended to convert to shelter, after infuriated neighbors protested for weeks, including on the Brooklyn stoop of city homelessness czar Steve Banks. Still, says the city, it will continue to rent rooms in the hotel “for working adults.” The Maspeth revolt activated protests in Bellerose, where 40 homeless families lived in hotel rooms paid for by the city, with nowhere to squeeze into an overflowing shelter system now at population 59,928 and rising. Of those, as many as 6,000 live in hotels, a number rapidly rising. But dare to question the hotels, byproducts of well-intentioned policy gone amok, and heaven help your sinister soul. On Tuesday, the mayor called supplying shelter “a citywide moral and legal responsibility.” That followed a pair of manipulative internet videos — with the mayor’s name on them — shaming shelter opponents as harboring hate toward mostly black hotel residents. In one, a soundbite from the crowd rings “White lives matter.” Queens residents’ concerns about their new neighbors may be overwrought. But the worse offense is to impose on city neighborhoods ills that have metastasized because of a mayor’s own failed theories of social engineering.
True News Wags the NYP On de Blasio Turning Against Maspeth by A Video that Paints the Community as Racist
City Hall is oblivious and shows no interest in local input (NYP) So now when you fight City Hall, you can expect to be smeared by taxpayer-funded propaganda films casting you as heartless, children-hating villains. Two videos on City Hall’s Web site target a group of Queens residents and officials who demonstrated outside a homeless shelter to protest the way Team de Blasio is running roughshod over their neighborhood. One shows city officials ushering homeless children from the Bellerose shelter on a field trip as protesters rally outside. The other features a black mother and her infant — and scenes from the demonstration to a soundtrack of someone saying “white lives matter” over and over. The blatant message: Anyone upset about a shelter being jammed into their neighborhood with zero local input is just a racist. “I’ve never seen an administration go to that length to try and justify a failed policy. That was to me a sign of desperation,” says state Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens). In fact, the city’s efforts to ram through shelter sitings have met with backlash in all kinds of neighborhoods. Time and again, the mayor’s people meet local officials’ initial inquiries with earnest denials. Hiding behind regulations meant to protect the privacy of its clients, the Department of Homeless Services misleads elected leaders about its plans until it’s too late to stop them. Queens electeds, fed up with being stonewalled by DHS, have taken to checking the Buildings Department Web site to learn if local motels are being used as shelters. City Hall shows no interest in treating local officials as partners. Multiple Queens leaders say Team de Blasio not only fails to solicit local input, it’s oblivious to what it does hear from the community. Instead, it plainly prefers to damn the dissenters as bigots. We suppose that’s easier than rethinking the policies that have homelessness surging. Yet smug ideological lectures from City Hall can only further polarize the citizenry. That might be an effective short-term political tactic, but it’s no way to govern successfully in the long run.
Pols Frighten By the Markey Loss Because She Ignored Homeless Shelter March and Protest
de Blasio Using More Homeless Hotels Despite Pledge to Use Less
Number of homeless living in hotels doubles in two months (NYP) The number of homeless housed in hotels by the city has soared 50 percent in just two months – from 3,990 in July to 6,000 this month, The Post has learned. The surge comes despite a pledge by Mayor de Blasio in February to “utilize hotels less and less and, as quickly as possible, to stop using hotels,” following the murder of a homeless woman and her two kids in a Staten Island hotel. There were 2,656 homeless people in hotels at the time, with an average room cost of $161 per night.
Team de Blasio Crazy Ties to Get His Puppet Council to Boycott the Post With Him
City pol claims de Blasio urged council to stonewall The Post (NYP) Mayor de Blasio’s top lieutenants ordered City Council members not to speak to The Post months ago — even issuing a thinly veiled threat to at least one lawmaker if he failed to toe the line, the pol told The Post. “You shouldn’t be talking to The Post when they’re criticizing the mayor,” de Blasio aide Jon Paul Lupo warned, according to the council member, well before Lupo’s tantrum-tossing boss dismissed the paper as a “right-wing rag’’ last week, taking heat from both sides of the political aisle. “We remember who our friends are, and we remember who kicks us when we’re down,’’ Lupo said, according to the Democratic council member he targeted. The source said mayoral aide Emma Wolfe also issued similar, though “less direct,’’ warnings about talking to The Post. “Anytime a council member is quoted [in The Post] — even when and especially when they’re right — they’re going to get a call from the Mayor’s Office,” the council source said.
Scared Pols Want Bharara Too Do Their Job of Bring Down de Blasio True News Wags WSJ On Federal Investigation Will Shape the Mayor's Race
Investigations Will Shape New York Mayoral Race (WSJ) How they unfold is likely to determine whether Bill de Blasio faces a difficult race or skates to a second term de Blasio didn’t come to New York City Hall last Tuesday and instead spent the day at Gracie Mansion, talking with campaign consultants and government aides, eating pizza and plotting his 2017 re-election campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. At the campaign kickoff retreat, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, was in an upbeat mood as the team outlined a fundraising strategy, planned a campaign message focused on shoring up his base of support and scrutinized possible opponents, these people said. The group, sitting around a table downstairs, also discussed the state and federal investigations into Mr. de Blasio’s administration and fundraising activities, these people said. They examined how the investigations could affect potential challengers and a race that the mayor’s allies believe shouldn’t be difficult to win, they said. Several people who received subpoenas in connection with the investigations were at the summit, these people said. Investigators are looking at whether the mayor exchanged government actions for donations, people familiar with the matter have said. No one has been accused of wrongdoing, and the mayor has said he and his allies abided by all laws. The way in which these investigations unfold is likely to play a significant role in whether Mr. de Blasio faces a difficult race or skates to a second term, the mayor’s allies and potential rivals have said.
Post's McManus: de Blasio Crazy Attacks on Reporter are About the Federal Investigation, Not His Paper
Mayor de Blasio’s rant at The Post is good for a laugh (NYP) So New York City has a mayor with feet almost as big as his mouth, a fellow who can’t quite figure out how to get to work on time or what to do when he arrives, whose poll numbers have been underwater since roughly two weeks after he took office — and who’s now having a rant at The New York Post. And I agree that the paper has much for which to answer; name one that doesn’t. But the New York Post hasn’t been under federal, state and local criminal investigation for the past two-plus years, either — which, ahem, is more than can be said of Bill de Blasio. Which certainly could explain why Hizzoner’s been so testy lately; US Attorney Preet Bharara just dropped the hammer on the Cuomo administration, and maybe the mayor figures he’s next. And for sure it could account for his exasperation with The Post — which regularly hauls out the big type to report on his endless adventures with Bharara, state investigators and the Manhattan district attorney. Plus bums in the streets, chaos in the schools and rip-offs of New York’s sorely pressed taxpayers. He hired an advocate, not an expert, to run the city’s social services. No surprise that Grand Central Terminal is once again up to its scuppers in vagrants and worse. He padded the topmost echelon of his administration with fellow Service Employees International Union/1199 alumni. No surprise, then, that 1199 is a vector in at least two de Blasio administration scandals — the Rivington House nursing home deed transfer and the Long Island College Hospital land conversion.
Corruption Mayoral Politics Stringer Talks to Consultants Too Much Needs to Too Do What He Things is Right
Stringer Stuck In Status Quo Time Warp
Punches That Don't Land
Will Need An Assist From Bharara to Become Mayor
What Does ScottStringer Stand For? (Village Voice) Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, is strongly considering running for mayor. He remains in the drawn-out, time-honored posture of playing coy, which means getting a lot of ink — like a recent spread in the New York Times — for thinking about doing something. One of the more enjoyable parts of being a semi-high profile politician is existing in this state of unvarnished potentiality. You feel important. You dream. Stringer sees all of this and thinks he’s the guy to pluck the mayor’s low-hanging fruit. I’ve covered Stringer for about four years now and I’ve been chastised by his minders, sometimes rightfully so, for underrating him. I’ve called him “nebbishy”. He is not Kochian and we know politics remains an image game. Bloomberg was short in stature but had money. Stringer—who looks exactly like someone you’d imagine managing multibillion dollar pension funds—has a lifetime of Democratic ladder-climbing. He’s living the dream of ambitious New York pols everywhere, methodically office-hopping from the Assembly to the Manhattan Borough President’s office to Comptroller. Much easier said than done, to his credit. Any oddsmaking over Stringer’s chances must account for how difficult it is to dethrone an incumbent. Unless an indictment is handed down, de Blasio will have a stranglehold on the African-American voters who determine the course of New York primaries, and the support of the labor unions that matter. Gadflies like the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, stacked with non-New York City residents, and the Transport Workers Union, no longer a political power, can’t unmake a mayor. Stringer’s bigger problem, as outlined by Nicole Gelinas today, is what his campaign will really be about. De Blasio critics think crying corruption will be enough but it won’t be. A candidate needs a compelling, soundbite-ready vision to advance to primary voters, and as of October 2016, Stringer is lacking. His pitch to the city is something akin to Hillary Clinton’s: a beefing up of the status quo. Stringer wants to improve de Blasio’s housing plan and triple the city’s earned income tax credit. Admirable, sure, but not a reason to abandon the incumbent, who’s advancing a liberal vision as quickly as democracy and bureaucracy will allow. What is Stringer’s organizing philosophy, his ideology? How would you explain his candidacy to your friends?
Team de Blasio Crazy Ties to Get His Puppet Council to Boycott the Post With Him
De Blasio’s top lieutenants ordered City Council members not to speak to the Post months ago, even issuing a thinly veiled threat to at least one lawmaker, if he failed to toe the line for the administration
Scared Pols Want Bharara Too Do Their Job of Bring Down de Blasio True News Wags WSJ On Federal Investigation Will Shape the Mayor's Race
Will de Blasio Make Corruption History by Being the First Mayor Indicted?
And so it goes. Covering the de Blasio administration is like throwing darts at a wall covered with party balloons: Just about every toss, something’s going to pop. There’s the police-corruption scandal; the campaign-donation probe; the not-for-profit solicitation outrage; and just now The Post reports that de Blasio has stocked his personal staff with 264 taxpayer-funded “special advisers” — that is, operatives who shortly will peel off and kick-start his 2017 re-election campaign. Your cost: $18.7 million a year. (How many child-welfare case workers might that buy?) Now, The Post didn’t discover all of this. But it did its share — and it didn’t stint on the drama along the way. This is very much in a New York newspaper tradition that stretches back to the 1734 criminal libel trial of John Peter Zenger and his New York Weekly Journal — another “rag” that delighted in vexing pompous, sometimes duplicitous politicians. Zenger beat the rap, of course, establishing the basis for the First Amendment to the US Constitution and setting a precedent that most New York politicians have respected ever since: Newspapers have a right to publish just about anything they damned well please. Even when they are, in Bill de Blasio’s view, an “ideological apparatus” that constitutes “a very negative presence in our city.”
de Blasio Running the City Out of His Lawyers Office
de Blasio Running the City Out of His Lawyers Office
Mr. de Blasio has spent considerable time lately at the Midtown law offices of Barry Berke, who is representing the mayor in the investigations. He has sometimes even done other business from there. The campaign’s fundraising strategy—to solicit low-dollar contributions—was created, in part, because of the investigations. The campaign is trying to show it has deep, community support and wants to be careful not to be seen as too close to lobbyists.
Post's McManus Reports That de Blasio Lost With Less Than 20% of New Yorkers Voting But Does Not Explain Why Voting Numbers Shrinking
Or maybe not so bewildering. Bill de Blasio esteems himself to a degree not remotely commensurate with his accomplishments. He viewed his election as a personal affirmation, and as a rocketship ride to national prominence. But in fact it merely reflected the non-participation ethic that informs New York politics these days. That is, winning 70 percent of the vote in an election where scarcely 20 percent of the electorate turns out is not a mandate, it is a starting point. A wiser mayor would have understood this, and set about building a base.
Corruption Mayoral Politics Stringer Talks to Consultants Too Much Needs to Too Do What He Things is Right
“Stringer…prvtly told consultants...whether anyone is indicted has significant sway over whether heruns” (WSJ) “It goes without saying that if de Blasio gets indicted, everyone is going to run. The real political question is what if only staff gets indicted, and then what staff?” said Bradley Tusk, a political consultant and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign manager, who is trying to find an opponent to unseat Mr. de Blasio. He said opponents would be much harder to attract without indictments. City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat, has privately told consultants and others that whether anyone is indicted has significant sway over whether he runs, people familiar with those discussions said. Mr. Stringer has said he wants to be ready to announce by the end of the year, but isn’t committed and is less likely to run if no one is charged, they said. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., another Democrat, also has expressed an interest in running but remains unsure if Mr. de Blasio is beatable, a person familiar with the matter said, and believes his chance at being competitive hinges in part on the investigations.
Stringer Stuck In Status Quo Time Warp
Punches That Don't Land
Will Need An Assist From Bharara to Become Mayor
* A new poll from the Journal, NBC 4 New York and Marist shows that de Blasio’s positive job-performance rating inched up to 40 percent, and he holds a substantial lead in a crowded field of potential Democratic rivals, the Journal reports.
Brooklyn DA Thompson Dies of Cancer RIP
Bharara: Not a Problem That Can Be Solved by Prosecution the Media and Other Politicians Need Help Fight The Culture of Corruption in Albany
SHOCK POLL: 94% say Cuomo bears at least some responsibility for allegedcorruption...
Several lawmakers are calling for broad reform of the State University system’s contract procurement process, following charges against SUNY Polytechnic Institute president Alain Kaloyeros for alleged bid rigging, Politico New York reports.
When is the Media Going to Cover Groups Fighting Gentrification Going After Airbnb?
Airbnb’s illegal hotel purges slammed as ploy to throw off NYC regulators (NYDN) Airbnb’s highly publicized purges of suspected illegal hotel listings are a ploy to placate regulators and have done nothing to alleviate the city’s serious housing crisis, elected officials, housing groups and hundreds of tenants charge in a letter to the company. The letter, sent Friday to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, raps the company for not sharing the nixed listings with law enforcement and regulators. “One can only conclude that your lack of cooperation . . . is nothing more than a craven attempt by your company to generate sky-high profits at the expense of our precious affordable housing,” the letter from the Share Better coalition of pols and the New York Hotel Trades Council states. Critics charge that the site is a platform for illegal hotel operators, including greedy landlords who use rent-regulated units as hotel rooms rather than residences for New Yorkers, which worsens the city’s affordability crisis. The company, when reached for comment, dismissed Share Better as a “front group for the big hotels.”
Even the NYT's Says de Blasio Media Attacks Are Ugly and the Opposite of Transparent Do They Know Something About the Federal Investigation?
Q. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor —
A. You can keep calling all you want. Go ahead.
Q. Are you going to call on me today? Hey, are you — ?
A. I’m calling on real media outlets.
This was an extreme reaction for a mayor who is already unusually aloof from the press. His predecessors, notably Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, took questions nearly every day. Mr. de Blasio deigns to answer reporters’ “off topic” questions — those not related to his chosen issue of the day — generally once a week. The Post does not hide its anti-de Blasio feelings and is quick to ridicule. It can also be rather vulnerable to ridicule itself. But the article that set off Mr. de Blasio’s meltdown seemed straightforward, if pointed: It was about the hiring by the mayor’s office of 264 “special assistants,” outside the civil service, who looked to the paper like a “farm team” of political appointees. If Mr. de Blasio had specific complaints about the article’s veracity, he did not reveal them at the news conference. New York has a long tradition of outspoken mayors who have used and abused the media, who have belittled and ranted at reporters, while aides smirked and fawned. But the mayors have always talked. Mr. de Blasio says he is not playing that game, at least not with The Post. But it’s not just The Post — Mr. de Blasio got petulant when pressed by a reporter from Newsday for information about an inquiry into the Administration for Children’s Services and the death of a 6-year-old boy. “Come on — try and ask a real question,” he snapped. Then came this exchange with a Wall Street Journal reporter: Q. I’m just curious — taking questions once a week, and you know, insulting newspapers, media outlets — how do you think it’s helping you? How is it helping you? A. It doesn’t have to help. It doesn’t have to help. It’s the — well, I’m saying what I think is the truth. And by the way, I think the people share a lot of my view.
The Times Called de Blasio A Good Mayor: They Must Have Meant Good At Giving Their Developers Friends Whatever They Want
Daily News Albany Lawmakers Have Not Made the Case for A Pay Raise
de Blasio Paints the Post As Right Wing Exposes His 2017 Campaign Strategy to Gain Progressive and Liberal Votes
Together With his Black and Orthodox Jewish Base
The NY Post is Too Dumb to Understand That Team de Blasio by Calling Them Right Wing is Building A Progressive Vote to Get Re-Elected
Mayor de Blasio demands his own ‘safe space’ (NYP) Mayor de Blasio is perfectly free to keep ducking Post reporters’ questions . . . as long as he wants to keep coming off like a peevish toddler. A month ago, we wondered if de Blasio was cracking under pressure when he took out after The Post and our City Hall bureau chief, Yoav Gonen, at a press conference. On Thursday, he had another meltdown — refusing to let Gonen even ask a question, saying that’s for “real media outlets.” He got snarky with other reporters, too, but saved his special venom for The Post: “I[’ve] got no use for a right-wing rag that tries to attack public servants.” By which he means he has no use for a newspaper that asks (well, tries to ask) uncomfortable questions and exposes City Hall outrages and incompetence. What set the mayor off this time was a Post exposé of how he’s parked 264 political operatives on the public payroll as “special assistants” — at a cost to the taxpayers of $18.7 million.
Dumb and Dumber: Dear NY Post deB is Not About Transparent He is About Building A Progressive Coalition on Your Back
Dear Bill NYP Attack is Not About Free Press It is Because You Cut Out Old Guard Lobbyists Like Arzt for the Berlin Rosen Generation
de Blasio Channels Spiro Agnew
Yet blaming the messenger is rarely a winning approach — particularly when the self-professed “most transparent mayor in history” is having so much trouble being remotely transparent
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.Yet blaming the messenger is rarely a winning approach — particularly when the self-professed “most transparent mayor in history” is having so much trouble being remotely transparent
de Blasio Went After Bloomberg Each Time A Child Died Because of Abuse
NYC Sheep Voters Who Don't Read Newspapers Do Not Even Know That de Blasio is Under Investigation or Do Not Care
De Blasio sees slight uptick in poll numbers despite probes (NYP) Despite multiple investigations focused on his administration, voters are feeling better about Mayor de Blasio these days, according to a poll released Wednesday. De Blasio’s approval rating now stands at 40 percent, says the Wall Street Journal/NBC4 New York/Marist poll. That’s up from 35 percent in the same poll in April. The poll also found that 50 percent of registered voters think de Blasio deserves a second term — up from 43 percent who felt that way last November. In a Democratic primary against possible challengers such as Comptroller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, 42 percent of voters said they would vote for the incumbent. De Blasio faces a half-dozen investigations into his fund-raising, nonprofits and a controversial nursing-home transaction. * de Blasio’s pollnumbers rise as half of New Yorkers say he should be reelected (NYDN)
Another ACS Failure As Child Dies Mayor Announces Same Reforms Which Will Not Get Done Again
Alert: More Reforms Will Come After the Next Child Dies
* An array of New York City officials sat with Mayor Bill de Blasio in an effort to figure out how the case of Zymere Perkins, the 6-year-old who died as a result of domestic abuse, slipped through the cracks, but no clear answer emerged, The New York Times writes.
* An array of New York City officials sat with Mayor Bill de Blasio in an effort to figure out how the case of Zymere Perkins, the 6-year-old who died as a result of domestic abuse, slipped through the cracks, but no clear answer emerged, The New York Times writes.
New JCOPE Subpoenas Fly At de Blasio's Campaign For One NY PAC As Federal and Manhattan DA Investigation Continues
Is JCOPE Moving Against de Blasio's Campaign for One NY Because the Feds are Ready to Pounce?
The inquiry by the ethics panel, which has the authority to bring administrative actions and seek fines, is separate from more than a half-dozen federal and state criminal investigations that in recent months have examined various aspects of the mayor’s political fund-raising. One of those, being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has also focused in some measure on the Campaign for One New York, according to people briefed on the matter.
de Blasio and Campaign for One NY Joined at the Hip for A Political Mission Create A Lobbyist Shadow Govt
Did the Conflict of Interest Board and Campaign Finance Board Both Picked by the Mayor and Speaker, Protect Criminal Activity PACs Like Campaign for One NY?
Former mayoral hopeful gets heated over campaign finances (NYP) Former mayoral candidate Sal Albanese got into a shouting match Thursday with a member of the Campaign Finance Board while appealing a $10,000 fine for loaning his own 2013 campaign money that was never repaid. The Brooklyn Democrat forgave the $155,000 loan, which the board classified as a contribution that exceeded the $14,850 individual limit. “I didn’t violate the spirit of the law. I’m actually a victim of what’s become an inflexible bureaucracy that exists in a vacuum,” he said. Clearly angry over those remarks, board member Richard Davis noted Albanese signed a sworn statement promising not to break campaign finance laws. “Do you think it’s meaningless that you signed a sworn statement that you wouldn’t do what you’ve done? Do you think that doesn’t count?” Davis asked. “Your kind of comment I find offensive and erroneous and not consistent with the facts.” The board adjourned the case until its next meeting Sept. 24.
Cuomo Caught Up in Bridgegate Astorino Calls for Both to Resign
Witness: Cuomo, Christie talked about making Bridgegate 'go away' * Cuomo orderedhalt to Bridgegate probe after talks with Christie, former Port Authorityexecutive says * Cuomo Implicated in Bridgegate Scandal Cover-Up (DNAINFO) * Cuomo helped Christie cover up Bridgegate: witness (NYP) * Cuomo ordered halt to Bridgegate probe after talks with Christie, former Port Authority executive says (NYDN)
True News Continues to Wag the Post Again
Yesterday the Post Led With Special Assistants Padding Yesterday After True News Wrote "de Blasio's Campaign Payroll" Today the Posts Headlines "de Blasio's Campaign Hacks"
Monday de Blasio's City Hall Campaign Payroll
Mayor Bill de Blasio padded the city payroll with 264 “special assistants” during the past fiscal year, a more than 140 percent increase over his predecessor, which accounted for 40 percent of the entire Mayor’s Office staff and cost taxpayers $18.7 million, the Post reports.
Campaign for One NY Under Federal Investigation Was Not the Only Pool of Money That de Blasio Used to High Operatives for His 2017 Re-Election Campaign
A larger stable of political appointees as special assistants, who are available to go through the revolving door of public service and political-campaign service
ggg De Blasio padded City Hall with 264 ‘special assistants’ (NYP) de Blasio padded the city payroll with 264 “special assistants” during the past fiscal year — a more than 140 percent increase over his predecessor, The Post has learned. The bloated band of vaguely titled aides — accountable only to Hizzoner — accounted for 40 percent of the entire Mayor’s Office staff and cost taxpayers $18.7 million, payroll records show. City Hall insiders said de Blasio was using the special-assistant gigs in part to take care of political operatives as they bide their time waiting for the next campaign — a kind of publicly funded farm system akin to the ones used by Major League Baseball teams. “It’s usually given to one of our political guys as a way to bring them on board in the administration without any problems — whether or not they have the job requirements,” a de Blasio administration source admitted. “Many have worked on [the mayor’s campaign], and this job allows them to go back and forth, if needed, on the re-election campaign or campaigns of allies.” The hires contributed to a surge in payouts at City Hall, where the cost of de Blasio’s office was up more than 21 percent since fiscal year 2013, the last one over which former Mayor Michael Bloomberg had complete control. The fact that the jobs aren’t covered by civil-service rules also gives the mayor the latitude to dole out salaries and raises beyond the established ranges for comparable positions. Last month, The Post revealed that de Blasio had slashed the pay of more than a dozen aides held over from the Bloomberg administration, while showering his own appointees with more than $2 million in raises. At least 16 of the people de Blasio has hired as special assistants worked on his 2013 mayoral bid, one of whom, Monica Klein, is among two special assistants now on leave to work for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. One special assistant, Elana Leopold, saw her annual salary skyrocket from $60,000 in 2014 to $85,749 in 2016 before resigning this year to become the finance director for de Blasio’s 2017 re-election bid. The payroll records also show de Blasio reassigned his longtime election lawyer, Henry Berger, from a $187,583-a-year post as assistant corporation counsel to a job as special assistant at the same rate of pay. One of his special assistants, former campaign “high-dollar finance director” Hayley Prim, resigned to join Hilltop Public Solutions, a p.r. firm implicated this year in election-finance violations allegedly spearheaded by the mayor. *
How de Blasio's Flip Flop Attempt to Buy Off NYCHA Tenants Opposition to Luxury Housing Failed
de Blasio is Also Throwing Money At His Rivington Nursing Home Scandal to Make Up for the Close Facility
Health Care Facility to Replace About Half of RivingtonHouse Beds: Mayor (DNAINFO)
EDI @EDI_NYC 31m31 minutes ago Mayor @BilldeBlasio and @CM_MargaretChin using "Senior Housing" and "Affordable Housing" as catch phrases to cover-up scandal & incompetence
EDI @EDI_NYC 31m31 minutes ago Mayor @BilldeBlasio and @CM_MargaretChin using "Senior Housing" and "Affordable Housing" as catch phrases to cover-up scandal & incompetence
Sal Albanese @SalAlbaneseNYC Thank goodness NYC's economy is generating lots of tax revenue bc DEB is blowing through cash like a drunken sailor
Is Brooklyn Lost For Affordable Housing?
The last battle for Brooklyn, America's most unaffordableplace to buy a home (Guardian) It might be too late for Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy – but in Crown Heights, tenants have learned a few tricks to prevent the social cleansing of their neighbourhood. Can they succeed where the rest of Brooklyn failed?
Airbnb Bad Neighbors, Warehouses Apartments -- Rising Rents and Increasing Gentrification
Mayor Ignores Community Leaders Opposing His Zoning Plan
Affordable Housing, Low Wages Building, Rents
How Blacks the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Push Out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers
Low Turnout Elections Designed by Albany Spit 3 Primaries
Another Shockingly Low Turnout Election (Gotham Gazette) The numbers are bad again, additional proof that New Yorkers don’t pay much attention to local elections or make voting in them a priority. There were several hotly contested state legislative party primary elections on September 13, even a few for open seats, yet the best an individual New York City-based Assembly or Senate district did was 20% participation among active eligible voters. The winner of this unglamorous prize was Assembly District 65, Sheldon Silver’s old seat, where short-term incumbent Alice Cancel was defeated in the Democratic primary by Yuh-Line Niou. Of 43,094 active eligible Democrats in the Lower Manhattan district, 8,631 votes were cast, equal to 20.03%. Niou was one of three challengers to unseat New York City incumbents this primary cycle. Another, all the way Uptown in Inwood and nearby areas, saw long-term incumbent Assemblymember Guillermo Linares defeated in the Democratic primary by Carmen De La Rosa. There are 57,053 active eligible Democrats in AD72 and 8,317 voted (4,414 for De La Rosa), for 14.58% turnout. In Queens’ AD30, long-time Assemblymember Margaret Markey lost to Brian Barnwell in a Democratic primary that saw 7.94% turnout -- Barnwell won the primary, and thus the seat, with 1,622 votes to Markey’s 921. There are 32,162 active registered Democratic voters in the district.
Bharara: Yep. Too many PR people who spin and not nearly enough reporters who report.
Bharara: “I would encourage anyone who is in a position to fund investigative journalism to fund it. … It is money well spent."
Bharara told the audience at the gala that he was perplexed as to why no one asked him at the press conference where he announced the charges how his office started the investigation in the first place. “That case got started because journalists in Buffalo and elsewhere started to write that there were shenanigans they believe that were going on with the bidding of contracts in Buffalo,” Bharara said. “And you know what we did? We started to investigate.” “A lot of the greatest work that prosecutors and watchdogs do comes from the work that journalists do and I would encourage anyone who’s able to fund investigative journalism to spend money on it because it’s money well-spent and it’s good for the cause,” he added.
@SquarePegDem Apr 22 Gary Tilzer (@unitedNYblogs) warned that BdB circle of friends, lobbyists & PACs were up to no good. Like #Cassandra, he was ignored.
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Andrew Cuomo’s too-belated cleanup (NYP Ed) Cuomo is belatedly promising reforms to state procurement processes — now that several of his close allies have been indicted on federal and state charges, including bribery and bid-rigging on facilities that SUNY nonprofits built in Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse. Yes, once US Attorney Preet Bharara made it clear he’d found criminal wrongdoing in the Buffalo Billion, Cuomo brought in his own consultant to review it. And, at a cost to the taxpayers (so far) of $450,000, Bart Schwartz has identified extensive problems “with the approval, review and inspection processes” and held up $64 million in payments. Here’s the thing: Cuomo’s last procurement “reform” opened the door to such abuses. Five years ago, in the name of “streamlining,” Cuomo convinced state lawmakers to curtail Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s oversight authority on contracts and spending by SUNY nonprofits, public hospitals and similar agencies. In his zeal to think big and to get big projects — like the Buffalo Billion — done quickly, Cuomo put control and political capital in the hands of SUNY Polytechnic Institute leader Alain Kaloyeros and his string of SUNY nonprofits. * Bharara appears to slight Cuomo at Albany ethics forum via
Cuomo took office vowing to clean up state government, but it seems he wound up burying not only his guns, but his head. Bid-rigging — the oldest crime in government — went on right under his nose. * Cuomo says he’s taking over economic development projects from SUNY Poly in the wake of a corruption scandal – but legally it may not be so easy to do, requiring negotiations between multiple private nonprofits and companies, the Daily News writes
Is Cuomo building a solar plant that will never open? (NYP Ed)
Is Cuomo building a solar plant that will never open? (NYP Ed)
* A week after two COR Development executives were charged in a corruption probe, a Cuomo administration employee left a voicemail for a top aide to Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner pushing for an exemption for the firm, which the aide alleges “borders on a threat,” the Times Union writes. *
* In the wake of high-profile arrests emanating from the Buffalo Billion program, district attorney candidate Joseph V. Treanor III said he will beef up the public integrity unit that the acting district attorney created this year to root out public corruption, the Buffalo News reports.
* Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature should ask state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to do a risk assessment of the entire government to see exactly where public funds are particularly vulnerable to corruption and restore a system of checks and balances of power, the Times Union writes.
Three People Charged in State Corruption Probe Return to Court
(NY1) * Gov. Andrew Cuomo said much of the responsibility for the alleged corruption scandal touching his administration is on the state university system, specifically SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which oversaw many of the contracts. But reform groups say the governor is not telling the whole story. * More than a decade before confessing to corruption charges, there were warning signs that lobbyist Todd Howe, a former aide to Cuomo, was crooked.
FDNY Chief Kill By Illegal Gas Line After the City Crack Down
(NY1) * Gov. Andrew Cuomo said much of the responsibility for the alleged corruption scandal touching his administration is on the state university system, specifically SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which oversaw many of the contracts. But reform groups say the governor is not telling the whole story. * More than a decade before confessing to corruption charges, there were warning signs that lobbyist Todd Howe, a former aide to Cuomo, was crooked.
* After Cuomo charged Empire State Development to serve as project manager for more than a dozen construction projects, some tainted by a pay-for-play scandal that rocked his administration, Empire State Development chief Howard Zemsky said SolarCity will remain on schedule, the Buffalo News reports.
FDNY Chief Kill By Illegal Gas Line After the City Crack Down
Police have discovered a “deviation” in the gas line at the Bronx marijuana grow house that exploded last week, killing Battalion Chief Michael J. Fahy.
Flashback: Albany Got Away With the AEG Bid Rigging Scandal So They Did It Again
NYPD Officer Who Shot Himself Was Wanted as "witness" in Corruption Probe
NYPD Officer WhoShot Himself May Have Been Trying To Avoid Testifying In Corruption Probe (Gothamist) An off-duty cop who shot himself in the stomach on Friday afternoon was recently told by the feds that he may be questioned as a witness in an ongoing investigation of NYPD corruption—and may have shot himself to avoid testifying against his former boss. Lieutenant Peter Salzone shot himself several times in the stomach on Friday afternoon. According to the Daily News, the shooting occurred around 4 p.m. in his girlfriend's home in the Oakland Gardens section of Bayside. NYPD Officer Who Shot Himself Was Wanted as 'Witness' inCorruption Probe (DNAINFO) * NYPD officer may have shot self to dodge corruption trial (NYP)
As de Blasio Blames New Yorkers for Not Accepting Homeless Shelters Nobody is Demanding Answers Why Homeless are Increasing
New Yorkers fightcity’s efforts to house homeless in middle-class neighborhoods (NYDN) The record high nearly 60,000 people living in the city’s shelter system isn’t the only homeless crisis Mayor de Blasio is battling. The mayor is also grappling with a mutiny from New Yorkers who don’t want the exploding homeless population in their neighborhoods. And those New Yorkers are increasingly mobilizing to stop the tide of homeless in their residential, middle-class neighborhoods – with some success. In the past month, three different Queens hotels appear to have pulled out of deals to house the homeless because of community opposition. In all three cases, the city refused to budge, so the locals targeted the hotel owner Harshad Patel. It worked. After they sent flowers to his home with the ominous note, “We’ll go out there if you don’t want to meet us in Maspeth,” Patel told Maspeth resident he would nix plans for a 110-bed facility at the Holiday Inn there. He also owns two hotels in Bellerose that also take in homeless, along with regular guests, for emergency lodging when the shelters have no room. Robert Holden, a Maspeth community leader fighting the shelters, said their successes have led to other neighborhood groups calling and asking for advice to stop shelters, including Astoria and Rosedale in Queens, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. But Queens City Councilman Barry Grodenchik, said the Bellerose protesters in his district had “legitimate gripes.” When the hotel in his district first began accepting homeless people, he heard few complaints, he said, but in recent weeks, as more and more people were placed there, the chorus has grown. “It’s quality of life issues,” he said, citing loud noise and panhandling. Meanwhile, the mayor is trying to appeal to people’s hearts. On the day of the Bellerose protest, Banks took children living in one of the protested shelters to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan — and released a heart-tugging video documenting the visit. The trip, Banks said, was to show, “a helping hand from adults, rather than the back of a hand.”
Different Timelines Between Sorris and de Blasio When Both Knew About Rivington Scandal
No NYP It is Not Incompetence The Campaign Mayor Is Following Reagan Plausible Deniability So He Can Collect Pay to Play Campaign Contributions
Stringer found 40 staffers, “including top-level deputy mayors,” involved in the Rivington decision, yet no one stopped the deal. Or even, supposedly, told the mayor about it.
De Blasio deputy admits no one’s really running City Hall (NYP) At the hearing, Shorris said he wanted the site to remain a health-care facility — but for some reason (how should he know why?) his fellow staffers lifted deed restrictions, paving the way for a new owner to put up luxury condos. And for a de Blasio donor to snag an instant $72 million profit. In an interview with the city Comptroller’s Office, Shorris said something similar. Yet in two dozen-plus instances, he told that investigator he just can’t recall the details. Really? Why is someone with such a weak memory “in charge” of dozens of city agencies? And if he’s lying, what is he trying to cover up? Perhaps US Attorney Preet Bharara (who’s also investigating the case) will get the answers. Of course, the mayor’s aides were racing to please SEIU 1199, the powerful health-care union (also one of de Blasio’s top donors). The union wanted a quick sale in large part so it could collect $18 million in pension payments the facility owed it. And what the union wants, the union gets.
The Brooklyn Wars: How Big Banks Killed Our Neighborhoods
Daily News Cuomo's Plan for Penn Station Not Grand Meets Cash Reality
As Affordable Rents Dry Up and NYCHA Apts Decrease Homeless Numbers Increases
The Brooklyn Wars: How Big Banks Killed Our Neighborhoods
Across the globe, the word “Brooklyn” has come to represent cutting-edge cuisine, a vibrant music and literary culture, and the epitome of hip. But most of the world doesn’t see the price that local residents pay as their neighborhoods are swallowed by change. Masterful storyteller and award-winning journalist Neil deMause turns a spotlight on how the New Brooklyn came to be, who shaped it — and the winners and losers when “urban renaissance” comes to town. “A teeth-gnashing account of how the Big Money boys teamed up with City Hall pols to grab everything from Coney Island’s Thunderbolt to once–working class neighborhoods of downtown Brooklyn in the name of progress.” —Tom Robbins, Investigative Journalist in Residence, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism* “The Brooklyn Wars recovers the great Brooklyn virtue of telling it like it is. Neil deMause writes with the street-savvy common sense Brooklyn was known for before it became a ‘brand.’” —Paul Moses, author of An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York’s Irish and Italians “A great read, impeccably researched. This is essential reading for anybody who witnessed the mind-blowing transformation of Brooklyn over the past 20 years and hungers to understand what actually happened.” —Kelly Anderson, director of My Brooklyn
How Gentrification is Changing Neighborhoods
How Blacks the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Push Out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers
Airbnb Bad Neighbors, Warehouses Apartments -- Rising Rents and Increasing Gentrification
How Blacks the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Push Out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers
Airbnb Bad Neighbors, Warehouses Apartments -- Rising Rents and Increasing Gentrification
Daily News Cuomo's Plan for Penn Station Not Grand Meets Cash Reality
Well, he’s doing something: Cuomo's Penn Stationambitions meet cash reality (NYDN Ed) Proclaiming that New York had to once again build big and great, Gov. Cuomo in January announced that — ASAP —he would transform Penn Station into “a modern, iconic gateway to New York” fit for the 21st century. He pretended last week to keep his pledge with the resuscitation of decade-old plans to build a train hall in the Farley Post Office across the street. It’s a grand idea — and has been since Gov. Pataki selected the same developers to do much the same work because, as owners of many nearby properties, they have a viable financing scheme. They envision building an enormous public space, topped by a one-acre glass skylight, that would better accommodate Long Island Rail Road, NJTransit and Amtrak passengers who are interested in coming and going at the Eighth Ave. end of Penn Station. Without minimizing those virtues or the benefits of putting the rest of Farley to use, the project lacks the glory Cuomo advertised when he said Penn station “will be dramatically renovated.” While Cuomo vows that better is still to come for Penn, the immediate outcome explains why New York no longer builds big or great. Because it ain’t got the money.
As Affordable Rents Dry Up and NYCHA Apts Decrease Homeless Numbers Increases
The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports. *
In an ever-clearer attempt to dodge accountability for enabling a developer to make a bonanza on formerly city-owned real estate, First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris has played New Yorkers for fools — possibly including Mayor de Blasio. * The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In an ever-clearer attempt to dodge accountability for enabling a developer to make a bonanza on formerly city-owned real estate, First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris has played New Yorkers for fools — possibly including Mayor de Blasio. * The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Sal Albanese @SalAlbaneseNYC Are u kidding, there's no fight, they lied from the beginning when DEB said no one knew anything about it & that it was an oversight
Shorris says he didn't address Rivington matter again until Feb. '16 -- but internal finger-pointing had begun two months earlier
Shorris says he didn't address Rivington matter again until Feb. '16 -- but internal finger-pointing had begun two months earlier
@BenKallos: "How long did you work for (lobbyist) James Capalino?" #Rivington
Sally Goldenberg @SallyGold .@NYCCouncil asks Carter about @PreetBharara investigation into Rivington. "I'm surprised you're hearing this for the first time."
Sandi Bachom @sandibachom Loved the way the council chamber gasped when @BenKallos asked deputy mayor when he worked for Capalino. It's ok was 30 years ago
Media Tells Us That Homelessness Increases But Protecting Developers Will Not Tell Us Why
Media Critic @NYMediaCritic Shorris doing the classic "I don't recall" evasion. Shame. #RivingtonHouse
We reported this morning, Stacey Cumberbatch, former DCAS commissioner who moved to HHC after Rivington, left HHC in June this year.
Shorris says he didn't address Rivington matter again until Feb. '16 -- but internal finger-pointing had begun two months earlier
After New York City First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris told those investigating a land use snafu that he couldn’t recall the details, the Post asks why someone with a weak memory is “in charge” of many city agencies.
@BenKallos points out the city record used a block and lot, not an address, when advertising public hearing on rivington house.
Media Tells Us That Homelessness Increases But Protecting Developers Will Not Tell Us Why
The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Cuomo Pushes Percoco Under the Bus, No Way
Why Did the Lawmakers Take Away Oversight Power From DiNapoli of Contracts Like Buffalo Billion in 2011? Cuomo, DiNapoli and Schneiderman Return Contributions from Buffalo Billion Contriburtors JCOPE Missed Another Scandal
Now the Entire State Budget is A Member Item Pay to Play Opportunity
State leaders set aside $19 billion in “non-specific funds” in the latest $155.6 billion budget, which the government watchdog group Citizens Union said could be a source for corruption, the New York Post reports.
IDC's Klein Power Broker in A 2017 Cuomo Triangulation State Senate
Now That the IDC is a Lock Cuomo Does Fund Raiser for Senate Dems
All of the State Top Leaders Received Contributions From Buffalo Billions 1 Week After Arrests They Get Rid of Tainted Campaign Contributions
A Fake News Blog Funded by Lobbyists Honors Bharara Going After Those Same Lobbyists
Manhattan U.S.Attorney Preet Bharara honored as ‘Newsmaker of the decade’ at City &State’s 10th Anniversary Gala (NYDN) Preet Bharara went from serving indictments to being served dinner. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney, named “Newsmaker of the decade,” was the keynote speaker Tuesday at City & State’s 10th Anniversary Gala that was filled with the city’s top political leaders. The honor came just five days after he charged nine big wigs, including Gov. Cuomo’s former aide and campaign manager, with shaking down upstate companies seeking state contracts. The news magazine’s gala was held at the swanky Vermilion on Lexington Ave.
Cuomo, MSG, Prococo Job and New Penn Stations?
Cuomo, MSG, Prococo Job and New Penn Stations?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the selection of the team of Related Companies, Vornado Realty and Skanska AB for a fast-tracked, $1.6 billion plan to renovate Penn Station and add a train hall in the nearby Farley Building, The New York Times reports. * Joe Percoco, a former top aide to Cuomo who was one of nine people arrested last week in an alleged corruption scheme, now works for Madison Square Garden, which will benefit from the Penn Station plan, although officials said Percoco’s role is irrelevant, NY1 writes.
Deputy Mayor Shorris Does Not Remember Meetings, Email About Rivington Nursing Home Deal Will the Council Continue the Cover-Up?
Is Speaker Mark-Viverito A Racist?
Push to probeCouncil Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for bias over claims of racial remarksr egarding NYCHA hiring (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio's Human Rights Commission has been asked to investigate allegations that City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito pressured NYCHA to replace a black development manager in the Bronx with a “Spanish manager.” Community activist Tony Herbert announced Monday he’d demanded probes from the commission, as well as the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and city Department of Investigation. “What we don’t need is someone creating dissension between African-Americans and Hispanics in this day and age,” Herbert said.
Were Are the Council Hearing On NYCHA Repairs Sales of Land?
Were Are the Council Hearing On NYCHA Repairs Sales of Land?
Dickless NY Post Strange Fred Dicker Leaves After the Arrests of Cuomo Buffalo Billion Team
* The charges levelled against Cuomo and Christie in testimony from Wildstein – that they conspired to cover up the intentional closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge for political purposes – are by his own admission hearsay, and should be regarded as such, the Post writes.
GOP Ad Dicker Hits Cuomo on Corruption
As Hispanic Get Push Out of Williamsburg the NYP Calls A Councilman Protesters Gangsters Because They Protest A New Housing Development That Will Increase the Push Out of Their Community
@gblainnydn Given this was placed w Lovett, we can assume Cuomo's building a "stupid, not criminal" defense for his own indictment?
As New Yorkers Get Push Out of Their Communities With High Rents the Council Does Fluff Resolutions, Color Code Their Outfits to Make Themselves Look Better
Yes Gov Paterson Settles With SEC What About His Lobbing Work With Allure Rivington Group?
Paterson was paid consultant to firm that flipped nursing home (NYP, 4/10/16) Former Gov. David Paterson was a paid consultant to the Brooklyn company that sparked a scandalwhen it flipped the Rivington House nursing home for a $72 million profit, The Post has learned. The former governor was “on call” for Allure Group managing partner Joel Landau during talks for the takeover of a second nursing home, a Brooklyn facility that is also being converted into luxury housing, a source close to those negotiations told The Post. That deal is under investigation by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Cuomo's Poll Numbers Fall After Percoco Arrest Arrests Update
Cuomo's Poll Numbers Fall After Percoco Arrest Arrests Update
New: @NYGovCuomo hits 2nd-lowest approval rating (40%), per WSJ/NBC/Marist poll done duringPercoco et al charges (WSJ)
Prococo, Glaser Use Personal Emails to Hide Shadly Deals Cuomo Says He Did Not Know
Baked Ziti Puppy Dog Press
Bob Port @BobPort It's also time for so many journalists in Albany, NY, to stop being polite little puppy dogs and start pounding their fists on the table.
Mystery pasta delivered to LCA pressroom Reporters, it is said, will eat an old shoe if it’s covered in hot sauce and served with a shot and a beer. So it is no surprise that Capitol reporters are at this very moment consuming a tray of pasta and sauce dropped off by an organization calling itself ImpeachCuomo.net. The website includes a link to a petition calling on state lawmakers to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor, plus links to articles in the recent state and federal investigations of the administration and upstate development. The pasta appears to be a reference to “ziti,” the term for money used by former top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco and lobbyist Todd Howe in their conversations about alleged shakedown efforts. The LCA’s pasta, however, is penne Good journalists are not influenced by free food. But rather that let good pasta go to waste, they will consume it.*
$$$$$$
Cuomo is the biggestrecipient of campaign funds from Ciminelli, family, companies (Buffalo News) Campaign contributions from developer Louis P. Ciminelli, his wife, his companies and their top employees totaled $650,000 from 2000 through mid-2016 – and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has been the biggest recipient, a Buffalo News analysis found. Ciminelli’s extended family – his brother, late father and others – also has made significant political donations. Louis Ciminelli’s brother Paul F. Ciminelli, who owns Ciminelli Real Estate, made about $255,000 in political contributions during that same period, The News found. And their father, Frank L. Ciminelli, who died in 2014 and had founded the companies his sons now run, contributed, along with his wife, Rosalie, $250,000 during the time period.* ANDREW CUOMO AND THE CORRUPTION OF ALBANY (New Yorkers)
Heastie Says the State Legislators Deserve A Pay Raise Regardless of If They Don't Take Action to Strengthen Ethics Laws
Ethics Reform Before Pay Raises Cuomo
Some Progressives Organize Against Cuomo
State Democrats want to drive Andrew Cuomo out of office (NYP) Disaffected Democrats furious with Gov. Cuomo after nine of his friends and donors were ensnared in a sprawling federal corruption scandal last week say they plan to run him out of office. More than four dozen progressive leaders met in Albany on Saturday to launch a statewide organization aimed at moving the Democratic Party leftward and building support for a candidate to oppose Cuomo in 2018. “Taking over the Democratic Party and pushing Cuomo out the door is a major reason we are pushing this forward today,” said attorney Arthur Schwartz, who organized the powwow.
Tom Dadey @TomDadeyJr .@PreetBharara Describes Corruption in New York as systemic overlooks 'do nothing' District Attorneys * 
NYPD Ticket Fixing Scandal Reporting Drip Drip Drip
de Blasio in Panic Mode Lashing Out At Every Question of His Decisions
More Cuomo Bake Ziti Pals Could Be Charged
Liz Benjamin @CTLizB Basically, everyone's defense to date isn't "we didn't do it," but rather, "Todd Howe is a dirty liar." Cor attorney: Case against company executives based onTodd Howe's 'lies' (syracuse.com) * Cuomo tells reporters he had "no idea aboutanything" in pay-to-play case (Buffalo News)
"It turns out the state legislature does not have a monopoly on crass corruption in New York." — @PreetBharara
Cuomo pals linked to corruption case have not been charged (NYP) The wife of a longtime Cuomo family confidant and the governor’s former director of state operations both feature prominently in the feds’ latest corruption case — even though neither has been charged. Lisa Toscano-Percoco, who is married to former top gubernatorial aide Joseph Percoco, allegedly snagged a $90,000-a-year, “no-show” job with energy firm Competitive Power Ventures, in exchange for her powerful hubby’s influence in Albany. CPV “purposefully” kept her last name off brochures touting her work developing an education program for fourth-graders living near a plant the company was building in New Jersey, and also kept her from appearing in photos to promote the program, the feds say. She’s further accused of receiving $35,000 worth of checks from lobbyist Todd Howe to disguise bribes allegedly paid to her husband by the COR Development firm. Also mentioned repeatedly in the criminal complaint is Howard Glaser, who served as Cuomo’s director of state operations from 2011 to 2014, when he retired. * Feds: Former Cuomoaide was inside man for power plant Opponenscharge CPV bid rigged; ‘public got bamboozled’ former right hand man to Governor Andrew Cuomo received $287,000 in bribes from the energy company building a power plant in Orange County, in exchange for help greasing the wheels, a federal criminal complaint charges. The corruption probe, released Thursday, accuses Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr., CPV’s lobbyist and public relations person, with bribing former Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco. Percoco is charged with soliciting and accepting bribes in return for taking official action to benefit Competitive Power Ventures. CPV is at this moment constructing the power plant in Wawayanda, which will burn fracked gas.* Lt. Governor responds to Buffalo Billion probe: 'verydisturbing' & 'hurtful' (WBFO) * The federal court hearing against developer Louis Ciminelli was postponed and moved to New York City. * Prosecutors say Joe Percoco, the former top aide to Cuomo at the center of the corruption case, struggled to pay his bills and sought to continue a lavish lifestyle by trading on his influence.
NYT Already Trying to Clear Cuomo
Times Only Paper Not to Do An Editorial on Arrests
Editorials While Cuomo took office vowing to clean up Albany’s pay-to-play culture once and for all, it now seems that culture infected the highest reaches of his own administration and his billion-dollar signature initiative, the Post writes. * Federal charges leveled against a longtime aide to Cuomo and the mastermind of upstate high-tech economic development dealt a severe blow to the governor’s image as an executive whose stern management prevents corruption, the Daily News writes. * The Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon writes in the Post that with SolarCity struggling with business issues of their own, the massive factory the state is building in Buffalo slated to be run by the company may instead become a monument to the corruption and fraud alleged in the indictment of former top Cuomo aides. * State lawmakers should be denied a pay hike, the Daily News writes, unless they are willing to testify in front of the panel charged with recommending their next salary and can provide specific reforms that will help to stem the corruption that is so prevalent in Albany. All the governor’s men: Cuomo's damaging loss of control (NYDN) * Say nothing, get nothing: Unless legislators tell a pay-raise commission how much they want and what ethics reforms they'll agree to, they shouldn't get a cent (NYDN Ed)
Cuomo's Corruption Monument
Cuomo’s SolarCity disaster could become a monument to corruption (NYP) Earlier this month, Gov. Cuomo paid a visit to the centerpiece of his upstate economic development strategy: a massive, still unfinished “gigafactory” taxpayers spent $750 million to build and equip for SolarCity, a money-losing company with a foggy future. “This is the economy of tomorrow,” the governor gushed, according to a Buffalo News account. “It’s such a metaphor — a symbol of everything we’re doing.” Indeed. But rather than symbolizing a shiny high-tech future, the solar-panel could become a monument to what US Attorney Preet Bharara described as “pervasive corruption and fraud” allegedly infecting Cuomo’s signature economic development programs.
de Blasio Barks At Press Again And Again to Avoid Answering Questions
De Blasio lashes out after getting questions he doesn’t like (NYP) America’s touchiest mayor doesn’t like to answer tough questions — and lately, he’s blaming the people who get paid to ask them. Mayor de Blasio this week lashed out at journalists from The Post and The New York Times asking him about issues he would rather not answer, at one point chiding a reporter to “stop wasting my time.” On Thursday, he went after The Post for asking why he pushed back a meeting with blind residentsaffected by the Chelsea terror explosion so he could work out in the gym and sip coffee with First Lady Chirlane McCray. “I’m quite aware of what you guys are up to, and again, you are a paper with a clear right-wing agenda,” he raged. “Let’s be real about it. You’re a propaganda rag.” He then tried to justify his leisurely morning by arguing that maintaining his physique is in New Yorkers’ best interests. De Blasio delays visit to Chelsea bombing site to work out Minutes earlier, he cut off a Times reporter for questioning his senior adviser and 2013 campaign-finance co-chairwoman Gabrielle Fialkoff about how shady donors were appointed to his transition committee. The donors, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, are central figures in probes into de Blasio’s fund-raising. At de Blasio’s prompting, Fialkoff clammed up about the pair. A day earlier, the Times asked Hizzoner about a spike in crime over the last fiscal year..De Blasio, who frequently brags about the city’s falling crime rates, branded the reporter a “contrarian.”
Pro Developer Blaming the Victim - NYP, Daily News: Lies About the Cause of Increase in Homeless: Its' Gentrification Displacement Nothing to do with "Rights of Homeless"
NY Post: "The roots of the city’s homeless woes go back decades, to the mad decision to recognize a legal “right to shelter.” Advocacy groups — like the one where Banks spent most of his career — followed with endless lawsuits and other pressure to add to the “rights” of the homeless, and limit the city’s ability to use any form of “tough love."
Daily News: "At a time when decent, affordable housing is scarce, de Blasio’s uncompromising defense of a legal right to shelter for all — the life’s work of his welfare commissioner, Steve Banks — makes for a self-fulfilling crisis."
deB Banks is Clueless and A Incompetent Managers in An Administration That Has Sold Out to Developers
I Dreamed A Dream In Time Gone By When Hope Was High and Worth Living
Bharara's NY Revolution Starting Ex-Cuomo Aide Joseph Percoco Arrested
Todd Howe Ratting
9 Charged 80 Pages Read All of Bharara's Charges. First time I've seen a table of contents in an indictment
Federal prosecutors also plan to bring public-corruptioncharges against other individuals in investigation into Buffalo Billion *Feds may hit former Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco with corruption charges for alleged upstate bribery scheme (NYDN) A former top aide to Gov. Cuomo could be charged as early as Thursday in an alleged bribery and kickback scheme involving a multibillion-dollar plan to revitalize the upstate economy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara intends to bring public corruption charges againstJoseph Percoco, along with a number of others involved in the so-called Buffalo Billion economic program, the newspaper reported. Percoco, one of the governor’s most trusted allies for years, was reportedly earning consulting fees from companies doing business with the state while heading up Cuomo’s reelection campaign.* Excerpts from criminal complaint, including "2overlapping criminal schemes involving bribery, corruption and fraud" * @Nygovcuomo: "My administration will continue to be fully cooperative in the matter as we have been since it began.” * .@nygovcuomo: “SUNY has rightly relieved Alain Kaloyeros from his duties and has suspended him without pay, effective immediately." * .@nygovcuomo: "If anything, a friend should be held to an even higher standard..This sort of breach, if true, should be & will be punished." * .@NYGovCuomo issues statement: "saddened and profoundly disappointed" re: charges against Percoco (whom he doesn't name), learned this am. * .@PreetBharara says this is "not small stuff," but rather "systemic" actions by a "network" of people, "distressing and disturbing."* .@PreetBharara says today’s chargesgo to “the core of how I think state govt operates” (by @bcolbyhamilton) * #nycorruption - @agschneiderman says an architecture firm at CNSE agreed to pay more rent if it received more state work via Kaloyeros.* EJ MCMAHON: Cuomo's SolarCity disaster could become monumentto corruption... @EjmEj
OK, so, according to complaint, "herb" = term of endearment that Percoco, Howe & at least 1 other govt official used since Mario days.
FBI interviews two local Democrats in Preet Bharara’sprobe of campaign funds (Buffalo News) Source will not name Democrats who are under federal scrutiny
NEW: Joe Percoco's attorney has issued a statement on his behalf, saying he will plead not guilty. He calls the case "an overreach."
Former Cuomo aideand 7 others have been charged in a corruption scheme by the U.S.
Cuomo confidantes hit with corruption charges (NYP)
Source confirms @klnynews report: .@AGSchneiderman to announce own charges against Kaloyeros, Albany developer at SUNY nano today* .@AGSchneiderman: "It feels like we've been living in a Golden Age of Graft recently."* Tom Precious @TomPreciousALB Cuomo referred to the investigation that "ended yesterday.'' @PreetBharara said case is ongoing.
Bharara: I really hope there is a trial . . so that all NYers can see "in gory detail" how state govt works
In emails and other correspondence, Mr. Percoco and Mr. Howe referred to the bribes as “ziti.” * Todd Howe also got $14K per month from COR, and $385K in bonuses when SUNY Poly named COR a preferred developer.* Oh boy. Howe's lawyer: “(He) accepted responsibility for his actions and will testify truthfully if called upon.”* @JimHeaney ofthe Investigative Post was first to raise questions about SUNy Poly bidding. Hewas right. * @Nygovcuomo: "My administration will continue to be fully cooperative in the matter as we have been since it began.” * .@nygovcuomo: “SUNY has rightly relieved Alain Kaloyeros from his duties and has suspended him without pay, effective immediately." * .@nygovcuomo: "If anything, a friend should be held to an even higher standard..This sort of breach, if true, should be & will be punished." * .@NYGovCuomo issues statement: "saddened and profoundly disappointed" re: charges against Percoco (whom he doesn't name), learned this am. * .@PreetBharara says this is "not small stuff," but rather "systemic" actions by a "network" of people, "distressing and disturbing." * Good times: SUNY-RF boosted Dr. K's pay from $523,886 inFY14 to $877,098 in FY16. In plea deal, Howe not only admitted bid-rigging conspiracy but also embezzling from his firm, not paying taxes.
Bharara: I really hope there is a trial . . so that all NYers can see "in gory detail" how state govt works
Steve McLaughlin @SteveMcNY Mario Cuomo's "3rd son" is about to be indicted. I'm sure Mario's other son knows nothing about it. #BuffaloBillion
Capalino Who Pushed to Close LICH Hospital Still Trying to Push Luxury High Rise Housing On A Community That Does Not Want It - As David Boies Law Firm Moves to Represent the Defendants in the Judge Jacobson Lawsuit
The silent treatment: LICH talks at standstill ninemonths after DeBlasio tries to resuscitate (Brooklyn Paper)
Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH
UPDATE ON JUDGE JACOBSON LAWSUIT
A City and State Media Ad for Capalino is Mixed In With Their News Coverage Which Ignores the Judge Jacobson Lawsuit
UPDATE ON JUDGE JACOBSON LAWSUIT
George Campinello, a lawyer for one or more of the Judicial Screener Defendants in the Jacobson lawsuit, filed an application to be admitted to the Eastern District, where the case is. He is with a firm headed by David Boies, one of the top litigators in the country. Boies argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the George Bush Florida voting count case and lost. All defendants in the Jacobsen case except Seddio and the Kings County Democratic Party have hired David Boies law firm and the lawyer in particular is George Carpinello.
Futureof LICH site uncertain as negotiations slow to a crawl (Real Deal) The future of the Long Island College Hospital site is uncertain as negotiations between city officials and Fortis Property Group remain at a standstill. Fortis 
doesn’t need city approval to develop 529,000 square feet of market-rate housing at the Cobble Hill site, but there’s a potentially more lucrative option on the table. If the city were to rezone the site, an option backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the developer could build 900,000 square feet of housing, including affordable housing. But seven months after a meeting between city officials and the developer, Fortis is mulling whether or not it should try to convince City Councilman Brad Lander to support rezoning or if it should just move ahead with an as-of-right development, Politico reported. Talks are further complicated by recent reports that federal authorities are investigating the sale of the site. Last month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara began probing the mayor’s role in the deal. He subpoenaed the State University of New York, seeking all communication between City Hall and the school about the sale dating back to when de Blasio first took office, the New York Daily News reported. The mayor had campaigned to keep the hospital open, but shortly after taking office, he made a deal with SUNY to keep healthcare services at the site, but not necessarily a full-fledged hospital. Fortis, which hired lobbyist James Capalino to engage with City Hall aides, bought the site in 2014 for $240 million. The developer plans to demolish two buildings on the site and either build a luxury condo development or a series of apartment towers that would include affordable housing. [Politico] * How are judges made in New York? Like sausage [in 5 steps](CrainsNY) If the best judge ever isn't known to party insiders, he or she won't move up to
the Supreme Court
doesn’t need city approval to develop 529,000 square feet of market-rate housing at the Cobble Hill site, but there’s a potentially more lucrative option on the table. If the city were to rezone the site, an option backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the developer could build 900,000 square feet of housing, including affordable housing. But seven months after a meeting between city officials and the developer, Fortis is mulling whether or not it should try to convince City Councilman Brad Lander to support rezoning or if it should just move ahead with an as-of-right development, Politico reported. Talks are further complicated by recent reports that federal authorities are investigating the sale of the site. Last month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara began probing the mayor’s role in the deal. He subpoenaed the State University of New York, seeking all communication between City Hall and the school about the sale dating back to when de Blasio first took office, the New York Daily News reported. The mayor had campaigned to keep the hospital open, but shortly after taking office, he made a deal with SUNY to keep healthcare services at the site, but not necessarily a full-fledged hospital. Fortis, which hired lobbyist James Capalino to engage with City Hall aides, bought the site in 2014 for $240 million. The developer plans to demolish two buildings on the site and either build a luxury condo development or a series of apartment towers that would include affordable housing. [Politico] * How are judges made in New York? Like sausage [in 5 steps](CrainsNY) If the best judge ever isn't known to party insiders, he or she won't move up to
the Supreme CourtA City and State Media Ad for Capalino is Mixed In With Their News Coverage Which Ignores the Judge Jacobson Lawsuit
Capalino+Company is the #1 lobbying + strategic consulting firm in New York City specializing in helping companies, not-for-profits and institutions achieve long term, sustainable success in New York City. Our experienced team is proud of our 30+ year track record of working with the most globally recognized brands to achieve success on land use, legislation, community relations, MWBE compliance and the creation of impactful Corporate Social Responsibility programs. Let us know how we can help you.
More on Lobbyists Davidoff and Capalino
As deB Pushes Luxury Housing On Public Housing Land He Never Read His Report How Gentrification Hurts NYCHA Tenants
_How the Media Lost the Race for Mayor(City Limits)
DNAINFO Finds Another Pay to Play deB Contractor, Not Just About Rat Bags
DNAINFO Finds Another Pay to Play deB Contractor, Not Just About Rat Bags
Feds Probe De BlasioFundraiser Whose Engineering Firm Won Big Contracts (DNAINFO) A top bundler for Mayor Bill de Blasio is under federal investigation over his campaign fundraising and contracts the city awarded his environmental engineering firm, DNAinfo New York has learned. Manhattan federal prosecutors slapped Charles Hocking and his firm, Hazen and Sawyer, with subpoenas earlier this summer as part of their wide-reaching probe into the mayor and possible pay-to-play schemes, according to sources. Federal investigators have sought records connected to Hocking's donations to de Blasio, communications that Sawyer had with city personnel and contracts awarded to Hazen and Sawyer, the sources said. Hocking, the president of Hazen and Sawyer, raised more than $22,550 in campaign donations for de Blasio's 2013 mayoral run, campaign finance records show. The donations were all made two days after de Blasio won the Democratic primary. Nearly all of the 46 donations Hocking bundled were from Hazen and Sawyer employees, records show. Earlier in the 2013 election season, Hocking had raised $20,700 in donations for mayoral contender Bill Thompson. After de Blasio won the general election, Hocking raised an additional $30,350 for his transition team. The majority of the money again came from Hazen and Sawyer employees, records show. Hazen and Sawyer, which specializes in controlling water pollution, has been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in city contracts over the past three decades — and it has continued to win lucrative gigs in the past three years, records show.
Not Only Are NYers Block from Early Voting Albany Does All It Can to Suppress Voter Turn-Out to Protect Incumbents
Even the Supreme Court Donnell's Decision Could Not Keep Sampson Out of Jail
Former State Overseer Ratner's Atlantic Yards No Accountability One Big Rip Off
How Bruce Ratner Wins Approval for his Projects
Dominican Take Over of Harlem Continues With Senate Win
Dominican Take Over of Harlem Continues With Senate Win
Espaillat's Win Another Blow to Harlem's Black PoliticalPower: Experts(DNAINFO) "The truth is this is the official end of the Charlie Rangel era and the beginning of the Dominican explosion," said one political operative with clients in Harlem who asked not be named to protect working relationships. Marisol Alcantara, the handpicked successor of state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who won the primary for Rangel's old seat, won a tight race where she got 693 more votes than (Robert) Jackson, who was in third place, and 572 more votes than second-place Micah Lasher, chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Robert Jackson was backed by Rangel
The Most Transparent Mayor In History Is In Court Blocking Release Of His Involvement With His Shadow Govt Lobbyists
Another de Blasio Promise Broken Cannot Produce A Single Donor That Did Not Get Bag of Goodies From City Hall
Following news of an investigation into his fundraising efforts, de Blasio has failed to follow through on his Promise to release examples of donors to his campaigns and causes who did not receive benefits they had sought from city government, the Daily News writes.
Keep your word, Bill and produce the list of donors who got nothing (NYDN) “A stunning number of donors and supporters not only did not get things they hoped they would get, they got a rejection of things they hoped they would get,” de Blasio declared. Going still further, the mayor pledged to release “in the coming weeks” examples of donors to his campaigns and causes who did not receive the benefits they had sought from city government. That was on May 18. Since then, nothing. At the time, de Blasio was under pressure as the Daily News and others dredged up example after example of fortune smiling on donors who sought city actions to advance their business interests. A peddler of rodent-repellent trash bags who had given $100,000 to the mayor’s Campaign for One New York won a meeting with the mayor, a trial Parks Department contract and, finally, a subcontract worth millions. A lobbyist and a labor union, both generous de Blasio backers, had pressed to eliminate deed restrictions on a Lower East Side nursing home property — paving way for the buyer to score a $116 million luxury condo deal. Harendra Singh, operator of Water’s Edge restaurant in Long Island City under a city lease, had provided more than $20,000 to de Blasio’s 2013 election campaign. Although mayoral aides noted unspecified “vetting issue” and “r/flags,” Singh ended up named both to the board of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and to committee that unsuccessfully sought to lure the Democratic convention to Brooklyn. Singh stayed on the fund board until federal prosecutors charged him with Sandy aid fraud at the Queens restaurant and bribery of officials in Nassau County. He has pleaded not guilty. Now Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is reportedly scrutinizing whether the mayor’s office attempted to intervene on Singh’s behalf after a city audit found that he owed more than $1.7 million in rent and fees on Water’s Edge. Singh and many other donors got the red carpet treatment from de Blasio and deputies. So, what was that again about revealing those who didn’t? Could it be that listing mayoral benefactors who were denied benefits would be as good as listing those who got city goodies? Could it be that when prominent backers — such as the yellow taxi industry and advocates for a ban on carriage horses — did come away empty-handed it was at the hands of a City Council that defied de Blasio’s pressure on the donors’ behalf? Could it be that de Blasio has not a single example in which he disappointed a major donor? You’re the one who promised, Mr. Mayor. Let’s have the list — even if it is a blank sheet of paper.
Mayor's Broken Promise to Close A Homeless Hotel Also
Mayor's Broken Promise to Close A Homeless Hotel Also
Bronx officials fumeat de Blasio’s failure to remove homeless from motel (NYP) The city is reneging on a promise to remove the homeless from a motel in Riverdale where an accused bank robber had lived, angry Bronx officials charged Tuesday. Homeless individuals were indeed moved out — but they were replaced by homeless families. “This is the ultimate in hypocrisy and lies and just a sign that this administration has no clue on how to conduct a homeless policy,” fumed state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx). The Post reported in May that 48-year-old motel/shelter resident Paul Taylor was arrested in front of the Van Cortlandt Motel and charged with two bank heists in February. Residents and local officials said it was only then that they learned the motel had been leased as a homeless facility. Weeks after the Post report, de Blasio administration officials attended a community-board meeting and publicly promised to remove the homeless by September. “The mayor has a plan to discontinue that practice,” according to minutes from the June 9 Community Board 8 meeting. Lauren Gray, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services, said the city had hoped to empty the motel but needs to keep using it because of “increasing” demand. * The number of New Yorkers living in homeless shelters reached an all-time high over the weekend, a bleak milestone that officials blame on a lack of affordable housing and support services for the poor, the Daily News reports.
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de Blasio Using PAC Lobbyists Consultants To Get Around the Elections Law and Control Elections and the Press
Campaign LobbyistsControl A Secret Shadow Government
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Nepotism Head of Pension System Leaving
Bronx Lobbyists MirRam Group
Nepotism Head of Pension System Leaving
Pension-system head leaving amid probe into her hiring ex (NYP) The head of the city’s largest pension system is leaving her $219,771-a-year job amid an investigation into the hiring of her former live-in girlfriend. Diane D’Alessandro, executive director of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, said she’ll retire effective Dec. 31 from the agency that manages pension benefits for some 300,000 workers and retirees. She’s quitting nine months after hiring her ex-domestic partner, Ellen Carton, as deputy director of human resources with a $127,000 salary. D’Alessandro had previously awarded two consulting contracts to a two-person Arizona firm joined by Carton, The Post found. After the Post report, the city Department of Investigation launched an ongoing probe.
A Mayor Whose Pro Developer$ Housing Policy Failed Homeless Policy, Dumps Shelters on Communities That Won't Vote for Him
As Shelter Population Surges, Housing for Disabled Comes Up Short (NYT)
Advocates have been fighting for years for accommodations for people with disabilities, and the shortcomings have become more pressing.
De Blasio BlamesMedia Coverage of Homeless For Surge in 311 Complaints (DNAINFO) de Blasio said Thursday that heightened media coverage of the homeless in recent weeks is fueling the surge in 311 complaints since he's taken office. He said recent stories claiming an increase in the number of homeless people on city streets are overstating the problem — but they are having an impact on the public. "I think the media has put a lot of attention on this issue lately, more than previously," he told reporters during a press conference at Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx. "I'm not sure if the attention that's been given is proportionate to what's happening. I think it's caused people to be more and more concerned."
The Post Ignores the Reason for Increase Homelessness
Fighting back against de Blasio’s hopeless homeless policies (NYP) You can too fight City Hall. Indeed, folks in Maspeth have halted Mayor de Blasio’s plans to open a 115-bed homeless shelter in their quiet residential neighborhood. Then, in last week’s Democratic primary, they ousted Assemblywoman Marge Markey over her feeble response on the issue. The mayor’s folks aimed to convert a Holiday Inn Express to a homeless shelter, set to open Oct. 1. Queens lawmakers and residents sued to block the move last month — and the furor prompted the motel’s co-owner to tweet that the deal is off. City Hall insists the plan will still go forward — because it needs somewhere to put the ever-rising homeless tide. And turning hotels into shelters is a key part of its answer. But, as we’ve said before, it’s all a hopeless task as long as Human Resources Commissioner Steven Banks — who spent decades suing the city to create new rights for the homeless — leads Team de Blasio’s response. The Post recently found that the number of homeless persons sheltered at hotels had risen 50 percent since February to nearly 4,000 — and to over 60,000 in city shelters. And The New York Times reported that families are again sleeping overnight at city intake offices — something Banks fought as a Legal Aid lawyer 20 years ago. There has been a veritable explosion in the street homeless population as well as homeless families in shelters. The vacancy rate at city shelters for families with children is less than 1 percent. Team de Blasio’s desperate response includes paying to send homeless to their families outside the city and providing rental subsidies to homeless families willing to relocate out of town. But that’s not stemming the tide. Without a coherent homeless-prevention strategy, and a serious “tough love” approach to those claiming to be homeless, the need for more places to warehouse people will keep growing — and angering communities. Maspeth won’t be the last neighborhood to fight City Hall to a draw — or oust unresponsive elected officials.*
Fighting back against de Blasio’s hopeless homeless policies (NYP) You can too fight City Hall. Indeed, folks in Maspeth have halted Mayor de Blasio’s plans to open a 115-bed homeless shelter in their quiet residential neighborhood. Then, in last week’s Democratic primary, they ousted Assemblywoman Marge Markey over her feeble response on the issue. The mayor’s folks aimed to convert a Holiday Inn Express to a homeless shelter, set to open Oct. 1. Queens lawmakers and residents sued to block the move last month — and the furor prompted the motel’s co-owner to tweet that the deal is off. City Hall insists the plan will still go forward — because it needs somewhere to put the ever-rising homeless tide. And turning hotels into shelters is a key part of its answer. But, as we’ve said before, it’s all a hopeless task as long as Human Resources Commissioner Steven Banks — who spent decades suing the city to create new rights for the homeless — leads Team de Blasio’s response. The Post recently found that the number of homeless persons sheltered at hotels had risen 50 percent since February to nearly 4,000 — and to over 60,000 in city shelters. And The New York Times reported that families are again sleeping overnight at city intake offices — something Banks fought as a Legal Aid lawyer 20 years ago. There has been a veritable explosion in the street homeless population as well as homeless families in shelters. The vacancy rate at city shelters for families with children is less than 1 percent. Team de Blasio’s desperate response includes paying to send homeless to their families outside the city and providing rental subsidies to homeless families willing to relocate out of town. But that’s not stemming the tide. Without a coherent homeless-prevention strategy, and a serious “tough love” approach to those claiming to be homeless, the need for more places to warehouse people will keep growing — and angering communities. Maspeth won’t be the last neighborhood to fight City Hall to a draw — or oust unresponsive elected officials.*
Maspeth brings shelter protest to Brooklyn; de Blasio upset (WPIX)
A Pol From An Era When Albany Leaders Where Challenged and Communities, Voters Come First Has Died
Frank J. Barbaro, Liberal New York Lawmaker, Dies at88 (NYT) Frank J. Barbaro, a former longshoreman and liberal state assemblyman from Brooklyn who was Edward I. Koch’s chief challenger for re-election to a second term as mayor of New York, died on Sept. 4 at his home in Watervliet, N.Y. He was 88. The cause was congestive heart failure, his wife, Mary, who is known as Patty, said. Mr. Barbaro (pronounced BAR-ba-roe) was a liberal Democrat who won election as a legislator 12 times. But he also shattered some of the lances he wielded while championing sometimes quixotic causes during nearly 50 years as a candidate. He first ran, unsuccessfully, on an antiwar platform for the Assembly in 1968; last spring, he was elected as a Bernie Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention from upstate New York. (He had moved to Watervliet, in Albany County, a decade ago.) In between, he lost elections for Brooklyn borough president, mayor and Congress. In the Legislature, Mr. Barbaro was a fierce advocate for organized labor, tenants and minorities. He later served for six years as a State Supreme Court justice. He attributed his political radicalization to the Vietnam War. After leading neighborhood rent strikes, he was elected in 1972 to the Assembly, where he was chairman of the Labor Committee and served through 1996.
Are Their Now 8 Areas of Corruption the Feds Are Looking Into?
Probe Looks at Now-Closed Queens Restaurant Whose Owner HasTies to Mayor (WSJ) Investigators examine if officials in mayor’s office tried to dissuade city agency from pursuing inquiries into finances of Water’s Edge restaurant. Federal authorities investigating possible corruption in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration are looking into a now-closed Queens restaurant that leased land from the city and whose owner has political ties to the mayor, people familiar with the matter said.
Trial date set for Long Island restaurateur Harendra Singh | Newsday
Are Their Now 8 Areas of Corruption the Feds Are Looking Into?
Trial date set for Long Island restaurateur Harendra Singh | Newsday
Federal authorities investigating possible corruption in the de Blasio administration are looking into a now-closed Queens restaurant that leased land from the city and owner Harendra Singh, who has political ties to the mayor, The Wall Street Journal reports.
H. Singh and Eric Kumar in de Blasio's inauguration team - new york
Cyclists Dying Despite de Blasio's Vision Zero
Despite de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, so far this year motorists have killed 17 cyclists, putting 2016 on the path to being one of the deadliest for bike riders in recent years, the Daily News reports.
H. Singh and Eric Kumar in de Blasio's inauguration team - new york
Trial date setfor restaurateur Singh via @Newsday - Singh needs to sing all truth - good bad & ugly.
Cyclists Dying Despite de Blasio's Vision Zero
Despite de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, so far this year motorists have killed 17 cyclists, putting 2016 on the path to being one of the deadliest for bike riders in recent years, the Daily News reports.
IN INTERVIEW, BHARARA SAYS "PUTTING CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN JAIL MAY BE NECESSARY, BUT IT’S NOT SUFFICIENT"
C&S: What impact do you think your office has had onthe culture of Albany or the culture of politics?
PB: I don’t know how much impact it’s had yet on culture. The first and most important effect I think it’s had is it’s held people accountable, over a dozen people accountable just in the state Legislature, approximately. Just that alone I think is significant, and it sends a message to everyone in the public that this kind of conduct is not going to be tolerated. And people are paying attention and people are taking it seriously. And people are not afraid to go after folks who have power and have standing, and it doesn’t matter because no one is above the law. And I think, eventually, that has an effect on the people and the institutions that we’re looking at and investigating over time, and people get the message, I think. Particularly, there are a lot of smart people who are in politics and realize it’s not worth losing your liberty over, it’s not worth losing your reputation over, to engage in that conduct and conduct that they know is bad and unlawful. And I think over time that causes the situation to get better. But we can’t do it alone, and nobody here pretends that simply bringing a series of prosecutions is enough. I often say putting corrupt politicians in jail may be necessary, but it’s not sufficient.
Fed Rat Rechnitz: "I got the Mayor on Lock Down for OMB Top Job"
Vinny the Chin de Blasio Does Not Remember Rechnitz's Money or Hug
Silver Lower East Side Falls to the Asians
Yuh-Line Niou Defeats Sheldon Silver Ally in Primary for His Old Assembly Seat (NYT) In one of several closely watched contests in New York, Ms. Niou won a six-way Democratic race, defeating Alice Cancel, whom Mr. Silver, the disgraced former speaker, had supported.* Disgraced ex-Speaker Sheldon Silver's chosen successor loses primary race to Yuh-Line Niou (NYDN) *
LES Democrats Make History, Select First Asian-American to Represent Chinatown in Albany
Estimate of turnout in yesterday's NYC Dem primary is 10%. Apathy rules & political class loves it!
LES Democrats Make History, Select First Asian-American to Represent Chinatown in Albany
First Hasidic Woman Elected As Brooklyn CivilCourt Judge (WCBS)
Vote Totals
Vote Totals
Ron Castorina defeated challenger Janine Materna with 68 percent of the vote.
Incumbent candidates won races for the State Senate, State Assembly and City Council.
The ex-pol touted a lifetime of public service during his campaign, without any mention of his arrest.
State Senator Martin Dilan defended his seat in the Sept. 13 primary, earning 55 percent of the vote.
Wright beat out challenger Karen Cherry in the 56th Assembly District race Tuesday.
Few voters show up to decide on key races (Riverdale Press)
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera campaigned outside the Kingsbridge Heights School (P.S. 86), before casting his vote. But few other voters showed up during this week’s key races.
Cuomo IDC Rules Albany Now
Cuomo IDC Rules Albany Now
- SEN. JEFF KLEIN: SHE IS MINE...Alcantara Fundraising for IDC...
- * No matter which party controls the state Senate come January, there is an excellent chance state Sen. Jeff Klein, the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, at the very least will wind up the chamber's co-president, the Daily News’ Ken Lovett writes.
De Blasio’s Nonprofit Must Comply With Ethics Panel’s Subpoena, Judge Says (NYT) A judge in Albany has ordered Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political nonprofit to comply with a subpoena from a state ethics panel, putting a damper on the mayor’s widening effort to prevent the disclosure of certain communications that he deems privileged. The decision by Justice Denise A. Hartman of State Supreme Court involved an investigation by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics into whether the nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, violated state regulations byfailing to register in 2015 as a lobbyist. The two parties argued their positions in court in July, the first public court battle to emerge from various state and federal investigations into the mayor’s fund-raising and political activities, The ruling, issued last week but not received by the parties until Monday, comes as Mr. de Blasio is also fighting in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to keep emails and text messages between City Hall and a small number of outside advisers — some of whom played central roles in the political nonprofit before it closed down this year — from being disclosed to reporters. * Judge orders de Blasio nonprofit to turn over subpoenaed records (NYP) The nonprofit, which had taken in more than $4.4 million since January 2014 to promote the mayor’s agenda, had refused to fully comply with two subpoenas issued by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics seeking documents, claiming the panel was embarking on a fishing expedition. But Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman wrote Thursday, “The record before the court does not indicate that the challenged subpoenas constitute harassment or impermissible ‘fishing.’”The ruling means CONY, which disbanded in March, must hand over reams of documents and communications — including those between it and de Blasio — between 2014 to 2016. CONY lawyer Laurence Laufer said he was reviewing the decision. He continued to maintain that JCOPE — which has some members appointed by Gov. Cuomo, a de Blasio enemy — was engaged in a “politicized” probe. The mayor said that the administration disagrees with the judge’s decision and “we’re exploring appellate options at this point.”
Manhattan Judicial Panel Blinks Supports Ling-Cohan
In an extraordinary reversal of a decision made by its own screening panel, the Manhattan Democratic Party will nominate Manhattan Judge Doris Ling-Cohan to be put on the ballot for re-election as a state Supreme Court justice this fall, the Post reports.
Judge wins re-election ballot battle after being barred @nypmetro - Manhattan v Brooklyn: Ct is a Bank & JSC Tellers
Transparency Bill Even Losing His Friends Brian and the Times
De Blasio Faces Mounting Pressure on Matters ofTransparency (NYT) For about 10 minutes, the WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer hit Mr. de Blasio with a barrage of questions about secrecy and transparency, pressing him on his stance on police disciplinary records and his refusal to divulge certain emails and texts with outside advisers. The questions came after a lawsuit filed by organizations challenging the de Blasio administration over its denial of access to those communications. The radio exchange and the lawsuit, filed in state court on Wednesday, marked the boiling over of months of simmering tension for the mayor, a Democrat who championed transparency and police accountability as a candidate and now finds himself accused of failing to deliver on his promises. Exhibit A for critics is New York City’s Law Department, which is fighting multiple court battles to maintain the secrecy of city records of officers’ past misconduct and that of Mr. de Blasio’s own communications with outside advisers. The questions came after a lawsuit filed by organizations challenging the de Blasio administration over its denial of access to those communications. The radio exchange and the lawsuit, filed in state court on Wednesday, marked the boiling over of months of simmering tension for the mayor, a Democrat who championed transparency and police accountability as a candidate and now finds himself accused of failing to deliver on his promises. Exhibit A for critics is New York City’s Law Department, which is fighting multiple court battles to maintain the secrecy of city records of officers’ past misconduct and that of Mr. de Blasio’s own communications with outside advisers. “On the police records, I have a clear position that I want to see the state law changed and I want us to be able to release those records,” Mr. de Blasio told Mr. Lehrer, referring to a 1976 state law that protects police personnel records. The issue emerged for Mr. de Blasio last month after the Police Department’s decision to change a decades-old policy of posting certain disciplinary information on a clipboard in its public information office at Police Headquarters. The change, reported by The Daily News, coincided with the filing by the Legal Aid Society of a Freedom of Information Act request. “For the past two years it’s become increasingly clear that the lack of accountability in police-involved deaths and other abuses is germane to the public interest,” Cynthia Conti-Cook, a staff attorney at Legal Aid, said. Erica Garner, Mr. Garner’s daughter, put it more bluntly on Twitter on Thursday, accusing the mayor in particularly curt language of caring about black lives only in a sexual context. The mayor insisted that the city had no choice but to defend the secrecy of the records until Albany acted to amend the law. As for the key outside advisers, Mr. de Blasio said, “when some individuals are very, very close advisers, that it is appropriate to have a private relationship with them.” Officials at City Hall have maintained for months that emails and texts with a select group of outside advisers — including those whose firms have clients with business before the city — can and should be kept from public view if they contain advice for the mayor of the sort that his top city aides would provide. (For emails to City Hall related to advisers’ clients, officials have said those records would be turned over when requested.)Mr. de Blasio’s position gained a kind of political infamy when in May his then-counsel, Maya Wiley, deemed the advisers “agents of the city.” Reporters have sought through Freedom of Information Act requests to pry open those records; NY1 and The New York Post began their court challenge this week.
The No Show Council With A 32% Raise
For the future of New York’s kids: Post endorsements in legislative primaries(NYP)
STATE SENATE SD-25 (Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights/Red Hook): Michael Cox is challenging (too-) long-term incumbent Velmanette Montgomery. A Crown Heights native who served in the Obama administration, Cox became a devoted fan of choice, charters and education reform while teaching in East New York. SD-31 (Washington Heights/Inwood/West Side): In a four-way race to succeed Sen. Adriano Espaillat, the best choice is Marisol Alcantara, who’s backed by Espaillat and by the pro-good-schools Independent Democratic Conference. SD-33 (West Bronx): City Councilman Fernando Cabrera poses a real threat to incumbent Gustavo Rivera. That’s why the Fund for Great Public Schools, a union front, funded mailers smearing the challenger. In fact, this firm advocate of the EITC and charter schools has built a strong record of delivering solutions for his constituents.
ASSEMBLYAD-6 (Bay Shore/Brentwood/Central Islip): In his challenge to incumbent Philip Ramos, Giovanni Mata has also been the target of dirty-tricks mailers claiming he’s the pawn of “immigrant-bashing Republicans.” Yet it’s Ramos who is standing in the way of hope for black and brown kids in this Long Island district — and Mata who demands that all children have access to good schools.] AD-33 (Queens Village/Cambria Heights/Hollis): In a crowded field looking to replace the late Barbara Clark, Roy Paul stands out. He made history at 19 as the youngest African-American ever elected to public office in the state. Now 30, he’s been solid on charters and school reform ever since winning that school-board race. AD-46 (Bay Ridge/Coney Island): Pamela Harris, the incumbent, faces questions about her shaky personal finances and a nonprofit headquartered at her home. We strongly urge a vote for challenger Kate Cucco, who rightly calls the education tax credit a “win-win piece of legislation.” Daily News Newell for Assembly(NYDN) Newell is highly informed, fully in touch with a district that is 43% Asian, 33% white, 16% Hispanic and 5% black, and promises unusual independence in Albany. A native of Taiwan, Yuh-Line Niou grew up in Washington state, where she served as a legislative aide, focusing on health care, and worked as an advocate against predatory lending. Niou has lived in the district for three years, is chief of staff to Flushing Assemblyman Ron Kim and is backed by the Queens Democratic machine. She says that she was motivated to run in part as Chinatown residents were seeking constituent services in Kim’s Queens office. Newell has the edge over Niou in knowledge both of the district and of the issues. He is in touch with grass-roots concerns about traffic, schools, affordable housing and sustainable neighborhoods. Seeking to represent an area flooded by traffic from the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, Newell backs congestion pricing to toll the spans and pour money into mass transit. * Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has largely stayed out of New York politics since leaving City Hall, is re-entering the scene with a Monday night fundraiser for former aide Micah Lasher’s Democratic state Senate bid, The Wall Street Journal reports. * Micah Lasher for state Senate (NYDN) * A senator for the Bronx: Pamela Hamilton-Johnson is thechoice (NYT)
NY1 and Post Go After de Blasio Secret Agent Lobbyists Berlin Rosen at Last the Times See Nothing
NY1 and the Post filed a joint lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio over the city's refusal to release correspondence between the mayor and Jonathan Rosen, one of five “agents of the city” who the administration has shielded from public disclosure, Politico New York writes. * De Blasio Faces Mounting Pressure on Matters of Transparency (NYT)
de Blasio Fights A Neighborhood Over the Homeless He Created With the Help of His Developer Friends
The co-owner of a Queens Holiday Inn slated to become a homeless shelter said he wants out of the deal because community opposition is too much, but City Hall sources said the plan will go forward and the opening only delayed a few weeks, the Daily News writes.
Now That the Feds Look to Book Him the Media Discovers How Capalino and the Other Lobbyists Ran City Hall
The Wall Street Journal reported on those boasts in February, in a story on how the lobbying biz has soared since de Blasio took office. Now Politico has detailed how Capalino earned his pay, by looking at the e-mail trail between Capalino’s firm and City Hall for the first 16 months of the mayor’s term. Capalino and his staff exchanged messages with more than 120 administration officials — including every deputy mayor and nearly a dozen different agency heads. The lobbyists made a lot of requests for their clients — and look to have gotten action more often than not, even when the “ask” was at odds with the mayor’s progressive values. Of course, Capalino “earned” his access, having raised more than $45,000 for de Blasio’s 2013 campaign. Since then, he’s kicked in more cash to the mayor’s re-election bid, his nonprofit slush fund and even the private Gracie Mansion Conservancy He’s now the city’s top lobbyist, with his firm’s earnings up 172 percent since 2013. But he’s also tied into at least two different scandals, with his firm subpoenaed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. That prompted de Blasio to disclose last week, “I do not have contact with [Capalino] anymore.” Then again, a mayoral spokesman calls that an “ethical decision” the mayor made for himself alone — leaving other city employees free to make “ethical judgments every day in a wide variety of interactions with the lobbying industry. That won’t change. Sounds an awful lot like a recipe for business as usual, as long as de Blasio’s fingerprints don’t show. Which would be par for the course for a mayor who pledged to drive special interests out of City Hall — but instead has welcomed them with open arms. * Sixteen months of emails between the de Blasio administration and Capalino + Company, one of the largest lobbying firms in New York City, show employees cajoling City Hall on behalf of his clients, often with favorable results, Politico New York reports. * * Reports detailing de Blasio’s close relationship with lobbyist James Capalino shows that while the mayor once pledged to drive special interests out of City Hall, he has instead welcomed them with open arms, the Post writes. * City revokes registration of billboard group run by de Blasio backer (NYP)
Machine Man George Arzt: Brooklyn Machine, Bronx Machine and Queens Machine Non Profit, Developers
More About Lobbyists Campaign Manager George Arzt
As the CFB Ignores PAC Corrdination With Consultants UFT's UF, NYCLASS, But Goes After A 25 Year Old
Authorities said Celia Dosamantes, a young Queens politico who ran for New York City Council in 2015, was arrested for faking donations to get 6-for-1 matching taxpayer funds for her losing campaign and received nearly $19,530 from the city, the Post writes.
SHADY SECRECY: Mayor de Blasio fighting to keep cop records from public in unprecedented blow to transparency (NYDN)
* The Times writes that de Blasio needs to wake up and shut down the carnage of J’ouvert, the overnight ritual of music, dancing, shootings and stabbings that precedes each year’s West Indian American Day Parade, even if it means facing angry constituents. * The Daily News criticizes de Blasio’s attempts to keep from the public the disciplinary history of the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death and argues the mayor’s description of state law is wrong and imposes too much secrecy on police discipline.* IF IT AIN'T BROKE: NYPD, outgoing Bill Bratton defend controversial 'broken windows' tactics after DOI critique(NYDN) * Damn liars and statistics: NYPD IG's broken broken-windows report(NYDN) * Irish, Puerto Rican Communities Outraged Following De Blasio’s Comparison To J’Ouvert Violence (WCBS) * After the NYPD inspector general concluded this summer that cracking down on minor offenses had no effect on reducing more serious crimes, the department rolled out its own detailed report defending “broken windows” policing, The Wall Street Journal reports. * The Daily News criticizes the New York City inspector general’s report that found quality-of-life policing to be a crime-reduction sham and stands by peer-reviewed studies about the relationship between NYPD enforcement and declining crime rates.* New York law makes the disciplinary history of police officers “confidential and not subject to inspection or review,” but that means the taxpaying public has no right to know when those cops misbehave or whether they have been disciplined, Newsday writes. * 'JUST CAUSE YOU LOVE BLACK P---Y DOESN'T MEAN YOU LOVE BLACK LIVES': Erica Garner blasts de Blasio for refusal to release discipline record of NYPD officer whose chokehold led to father's death (NYDN) * Michael Bloomberg to host fund-raiser for ex-aide running for New York State Senate(NYDN) * Bratton’s blast back at the IG’s smear of the NYPD(NYP) * In one of his last acts as New York City police commissioner, Bill Bratton appeared with Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña to announce that the 2015-16 school year was the safest on record for New York City’s public schools, The New York Times reports. * After it was revealed the officer who killed Eric Garner with a chokehold boosted his salary with overtime pay, officials announced overtime for cops accused of misconduct will have to be approved in advance by the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, the Daily News writes.'* Bill Bratton's Legacy Is Mixed as He Leaves NYPD, Police Observers Say (DNAINFO) Fans say his crime-fighting tactics set the standard, while critics say "Broken Windows" was toxic.
Outrage in Manhattan to Party Turning on Sitting Judge Silence in Brooklyn About That Party Turing On Jacobson
Interesting the Post does a story about a judge dump on by the Manhattan machine but not the judge dump on by the Brooklyn Machine Which the Post work with to dump on
Democratic leader won’t overturn decision to re-elect ‘lazy’ judge(NYP)
Democratic base rails against party pols for barring ‘lazy’ judge(NYP) Manhattan Democratic leader Keith Wright is coming under intense pressure from key members of his Democratic base — gay leaders and tenant activists — to reverse the decision of a screening panel that found Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan not qualified for re-election.“I am outraged by the decision . . . I can assure you that this outrage is shared by the larger tenant community, tenant-advocacy community, legal services, Legal Aid and private tenant bar,” tenant leader Michael McKee told Wright in a letter.
McKee said Ling-Cohan is a champion of tenant rights and claimed the landlord lobby is out to get her. “It seems clear that Justice Ling-Cohan has made a lot of enemies among the landlord bar with her decisions, and somehow these enemies have been able to manipulate the screening panel in an attempt to end her career. I don’t know what Curtis Arluck and Louise Dankberg were smoking, but this decision is a travesty,” he said, referring to party officials overseeing judgeship selections.
“I urge you as Democratic county chair to intervene in this situation to correct this injustice.”
Lower East Side Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and other backers of Ling-Cohan are planning a press conference at City Hall Tuesday to demand the screening committee reverse itself. *Manhattan Dems Rejecting Justice Doris Ling-Cohan Sparks Outrage(Gay City News) *In manhattan, CL Wright is asking for re-hearing if screening rules not followed. In Bklyn, the County Committee Residency/Employment for Committee members not followed, and Screening Committee rules of Oral & Written Notice to Candidate of any issues not given + Screening Process Confidentiality breached with NYP's bad-sources saying knowingly false and defamatory statements with malice and reckless disregard of the truth.
Deptuy Mayor Capalino Emailed 120 Administration Employees
LOBBYING DE BLASIO -- Emails show Capalino's reach in City Hall -- POLITICO New York's Dana Rubinstein, Sally Goldenberg, and Laura Nahmias: "When a construction company with a tarnished reputation sought a contract from Mayor Bill de Blasio's public housing authority, it got it. When City Hall seemed like it would delay, if not outright stymie, a prominent developer's plan for a so-called "poor door," the developer ultimately won the day - with some minor concessions. When an energy company wanted a show of support for a microgrid project in Brooklyn, it got that, too. All of these companies had one thing in common - they employed Capalino and Company, the lobbying firm whose founder and CEO Jim Capalino was such an ardent de Blasio supporter that he raised nearly $45,000 for his 2013 mayoral run and personally wielded a "Come Meet Bill" sign at a rally that year."
DURING THE FIRST 16 months of the de Blasio mayoralty, Capalino and his employees exchanged emails with more than 120 administration employees, including each of its deputy mayors and nearly a dozen individual agency heads. They offered praise. ("Kudos on Deputy Mayor Glen's excellent ABNY speech.") And they offered commiseration. When Capalino failed to secure de Blasio's attendance at a tribute to the late Ed Koch in April 2014, mayoral scheduler Lindsay Scola urged Capalino lobbyist Tom Gray to "Please keep me posted on any events in the future." "Will do," Gray replied. "In my opinion you have the hardest job in government (politics), I absolutely appreciate your level of communication." "Thank you, this means a lot," responded Scola. "I worked for bdb for 8 years," said Gray, referring to de Blasio. "I know some of ups and downs folks face over there well ;)" Gray was de Blasio's director of land use from 2009 to 2011, when the mayor was public advocate. He also worked for de Blasio from 2005 to 2009, when he was in the City Council. In another exchange, Ellyn Canfield Nealon, who handles special events for the mayor, was asked whether First Lady Chirlane McCray would attend several events. "I finally had my weekly FLONYC meeting this past week and pitched tour AND food bank meeting and they were amenable to both," she wrote to Gray on April 2, 2014. "Things move VERY slowly through that team but I will keep pushing that." READ MORE: http://politi.co/2cvqaqd* Mayor Bill de Blasio has added about 16,000 New York City workers http://on.wsj.com/2cKIpMF via
It is Follow the Leader in Albany
The typical state Senate Republican cast his or her votes on legislation the same way as Majority Leader John Flanagan 98.9 percent of the time in 2016, up from 98.4 percent agreement with Flanagan’s predecessor, Dean Skelos, in 2014, Politico New York reports. * Wherethe Assembly math stands, seven weeks before Election Day(PoliticoNY)
Charter Schools 10%
According to New York City Charter School Center statistics, for the first time in history the expanding charter school sector will serve roughly 106,600, or about 10 percent of all New York City school kids this year, and that number is growing, the Post reports. * DOE’s pricey ventures are overcrowding schools despite open seats: report (NYP) * A new report found overcrowding in New York City schools remains rampant even though there are more seats than enrolled students and the city Department of Education is focused on new building projects while empty classrooms collect dust, the Post reports.
Albany Pols Will Destroy Constitutional Convention Purpose
Candidates for state Legislature in the forthcoming local elections should sign a pledge promising to not seek a delegate position if voters approve a constitutional convention during their term, Hofstra University’s James Coll writes.
Trump Hits Cuomo On State Up NY TV Ads
While accepting the state Conservative Party’s endorsement, presidential nominee Donald Trump slammed the tens of millions of dollars in public funds Gov. Andrew Cuomo has spent on TV ads program promoting his Start-UP NY jobs program, the Post reports. * Despite the company’s financial problems, Cuomo defended SolarCity and said that its Buffalo factory, the centerpiece of his Buffalo Billion initiative, is part of a broader strategy focusing on the growth of the clean energy industry, The Buffalo News reports. * PolitiFact assesses Assemblyman Robin Schimminger’s claim that state officials reported an incorrect number of jobs created by companies participating in the Start-Up NY economic development program, and finds the lawmaker’s assertion to be “false.”
Judge Jacobson and Ling-Cohen Hack by Bar Committees? - The schematic moves....to 2 different sub-plots
Questions about why Manhattan, Brooklyn party committees have withdrawn support from judges (Progress Queens)
On September 4, 2016 at 1:47 PM Ravi Batra &ravibatralaw@aol.com; wrote:
I have taken note of the fact that both Justice Jacobson and Justice Ling-Cohen are women, hardworking, well-respected, and have created legal precedent.
1. 2 clubs: Central Brooklyn Independent Dems and LAMBDA are supportive of Justice Jacobson's long and distinguished record of being a Straight Arrow and ruling without Fear or Favor, the Bob Morgenthau gold standard of public service, to do the right thing: merit-based justice one case at a time.
2. As I do not represent Justice Ling- Cohen, I am unaware of her facts. However, as to Justice Laura Jacobson, I am well aware of the documented history for her exemplary service on the bench. Indeed, the complaint filed in EDNY clearly alleges that J. Jacobson honored the strong public policy of the state of New York disincentivizing residential foreclosures while defendants Frank Seddio and Frank Carone have deep and wide ties and relationships with banking and lending - which is the root-support of real estate development. Of course, as the United States attorney Preet Bharara has repeatedly shown by securing convictions of the most powerful leaders, the sick and sordid self-benefiting corruptive influence of the real estate industry: the true Masters of the universe, as they actually own large swaths of most valuable parts of the earth.
J. Jacobson's involvement in LICH is a mere tip of the festering sewer of misconduct, that lies below. Federal civil discovery, given the now-public record of SDNY U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's interest, will flush out the public-private partnership(s) that made that LICH-to-Condos plan proceed and the less-than-holy participants and their Kabuki Play to lull the public.
But, at the heart of this case - which a federal jury will decide - is the ignoble, illegal and unconstitutional destruction of a great and fearless judge, a woman, who dared to honor her Oath, and that those who did the foul and malicious deeds did it all wrong and violated their own rules to do so. It's sorta like a gang that can't shoot straight or, as I have commented for almost two decades, that there is a peculiar political virus in Brooklyn: legal stupidity.
Keep in mind that had the Edelman Committee approved her, as it must have with only those sitting and voting that were allowed to, and the County Committee played politics and knocked her out - Justice Scalia in Lopez Torres said that was legal and constitutional.
What is truly most troubling is the unconstitutional attempt to control the court and make a judge into a political puppet by destroying judicial independence - and it is judicial independence that make our cherished separation of powers to function. The attempt to destroy judicial independence is nothing short of the ultimate Un-American act, for it destroys the very thing that makes America exceptional in human history and as Ronald Reagan said, "that shining city on the hill."
de Blasio Not the Lobbyists Cause the Corruption - He Let Them Run City Hall
In truth, the poison oozes from the mayor who invited the lobbyists and donors in to feed at his political profit.
Fed Law Suit On Elections Fixing in the Bronx
Bronx activists file suit begging judge to stop ‘rigged’ primary (NYDN) An underdog group of Bronx activists is asking a federal judge to cancel September's primary elections — claiming the local Democratic Party runs an elaborate scheme to cheat voters. In a theatrically written lawsuit — which quotes from The Federalist Papers and demands $5 billion in damages — eight plaintiffs allege that intervention from a judge is “the Bronx’s only hope of holding our first free and fair election in decades.” Among the plaintiffs in the suit, filed in Manhattan Federal Court, are several women who say party leaders nominated them without their knowledge to a local political body called the county committee which meets twice a year to endorse candidates. After missing meetings because they were unaware they were elected, their seats were filled by cronies loyal to the party leaders or simply left empty, court papers allege. “I knew nothing about this,” plaintiff Ilka Rios, 31, told the Daily News. “How can they use my name without my permission?” "We're prepared to defend the integrity of the Democratic Party, the voters who have made their voices heard, as well as the hardworking elected officials in this borough, against these scurrilous and ridiculous accusations," said spokesman George Arzt. Update Bronx primaries will be held despite claims of rigging: judge (NYP)A Manhattan federal judge said she will not halt the upcoming Bronx Democratic primaries amid new allegations of election rigging — but warned that she will order a do-over if the alarming claims bear out.“I have the power to order a new election and will do so if I find irreparable harm,” Judge Kimba Wood said at a court hearing Tuesday.
Lobbyists Stanley Schlein
Even Bertha Lewis With All Her Baggage is Over the Mayor
The New Dominican Machine
Mr. Espaillat, a Democrat who is favored to win a congressional seat in November, is trying to help two fellow Dominicans win state primaries.
de Blasio Secret Agent Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Bags $10,000
Firms hired by de Blasio earned at least $10M from campaign and non-profits (NYP) It pays to be an “agent of the city.” The political-consulting firms that helped Mayor de Blasio get elected in 2013 have hauled in at least $10.6 million from the mayor’s campaigns and charities over the past six years, a Post analysis of public records shows. BerlinRosen, which was co-founded by p.r. gurus Valerie Berlin and Jonathan Rosen in 2005, has expanded from five employees in 2007 to more than 100 today. The firm hooked up with de Blasio for his long-shot 2013 mayoral bid — and it apparently paid off. De Blasio’s campaign paid the firm $309,200 in consulting fees and to mail fliers to voters’ homes for his 2013 and 2017 mayoral bids, state campaign filings show.
And his Campaign for One New York charity paid BerlinRosen $530,413 to promote his universal pre-K and housing initiatives since 2014, the charity’s records show. The progressive p.r. firm has billed political candidates a total of $13.4 million since 2009, according to state campaign filings.
Federal and city investigators subpoenaed BerlinRosen for records regarding CONY expenses and coordinating with City Hall and Democratic candidates in the 2014 election cycle. Rosen told The Post he is “proud of our growth over the past 11 years into one of the country’s leading public relations, digital strategy and political consulting firms.” De Blasio has refused to release his e-mail communications with Rosen and other advisers, including AKPD media consultant John Del Cecato, and Hilltop Public Solutions political strategists Nicholas Baldick and Bill Hyers, naming them “agents of the city.” Those “agents” have also done well in recent years. Hilltop Public Solutions, a veritable revolving door of former de Blasio staffers, has taken $588,068 from the mayor’s campaign and another $362,732 from his nonprofit. And AKPD, which wrote an ad featuring de Blasio’s son, Dante, that helped the mayor win the primary, billed the mayor $7,603,765 for media buys and
his nonprofit another $1,346,420.
Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government
Silver Avoids Jail . . . Did Anyone Expect Him to Be Lock Up?
But Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni, who presided over Silver’s trial, instead granted the Manhattan Democrat’s request that he remain free on bail.*
Instead, they had to track down where the proceeds from the sale went. They finally turned up a company that was created three weeks after Boyland was sentenced. That company, Solar Studios, was supposed to be producing a children's educational TV show. Its CEO, Andre Soleil, says Boyland loaned it $90,000 from the house sale, with the repayments set to pay off child support Boyland owed. Soleil says Boyland paid off the $155,000 he owed the state, although the state couldn't confirm that, citing privacy laws.* As for the $169,000 money judgment he owes the feds, documents filed May 6 by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers say he hasn't paid a dime. Capers has moved to garnish whatever money Boyland put into Solar Studios.
Critics Say Ethics Reform Bill Passed in Albany Does Little to Pursue Actual Corruption(NY1) * One day after signing his fourth ethics bill into law since taking office as governor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is facing criticism from both sides, said there's still more work that's needed to be done, Time Warner Cable News reports.
In NY They Even Try to Clear Dead Corrupt Pol
The lawyer for Thomas W. Libous, a former top New York State senator, has moved to have his late client’s corruption conviction vacated based on the doctrine known as abatement by death.
Bo Going After de at Least in A Newspaper Story
NYT Which is the Official Flack of the Developers Says What Happen to the Mom and Pop Stores
New York’s Disappearing Storefronts(NYT)
Sander Faces Machine Meeks Payback forAborted Run for Congress
Incumbent Sanders Faces Primary Challenger Who Has Backing of Queens County Democratic Organization (NY1)
Shady Nursing Home Partner Pulls Out of Bedford Armory Deal
The seller, the Allure Group, at the time was still working to get the city to lift deed restrictions governing the use of the property. “Guys, please make sure we do not discuss this deal with anyone on the outside right now,” Slate founder Matt Nussbaum wrote in an e-mail to 10 company officials in May 2015.“The seller is very concerned that the city and [the nursing-home] union will find out that he is in contract to sell at the price that we are buying it, which will directly
impact his ability to have the deed restriction removed,” the e-mail continued. “Once he has it removed, we can do whatever we want.”
Now Carmelo Anthony Drops Out of Bedford-Union Armory Development Deal
Carmelo Anthony Drops Support for Bedford-Union Armory Redevelopment | DNAInfo Reports The team behind the controversial Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment has lost its star player Following pressure from local activists, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has dropped all affiliation with the Crown Heights project, a representative of the athlete said Wednesday. But the move follows pressure from housing advocates (in the form of a rally, open letter and online petition) calling for the basketball player to drop a plan that “will further exacerbate the gentrification” of Crown Heights, the petition by New York Communities for Change read. NYCC, working with the Crown Heights Tenant Union and others, also called for the removal of developer Slate Property Group from the project for their involvement with the controversial sale and conversion of the Rivington House, a Lower East Side nursing home, into luxury housing. Soon afterwards, Slate backed out of the redevelopment following pressure from the mayor’s office, sources told DNAinfo New York. “Carmelo is our hero,” said Bertha Lewis, the former CEO of NYCC when it was known as ACORN, in a first report about Anthony’s decision in the New York Daily News. Currently, the redevelopment project will continue with BFC Partners, the real estate group chosen by the New York City Economic Development Corp. to co-develop with Slate. But NYCC is pushing to start from square one on the project.
Something About the Brooklyn DA's Office
Check, please, for the DA: Ken Thompson's big meal mistake (NYDN Ed) For treating his security detail like gofers and for billing the taxpayers for his meals, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson has paid a hefty fine — and, more important, suffered a blow to his reputation.Thompson took office in 2014 after leaving a private-sector law firm at which, no doubt, underlings fetched expense-account meals. He seems not to have realized those days were over.Worse, Thompson seems to have bypassed reading city regulations governing official conduct — while running an office in which no one stood up to say that sending cops to pick up lunches and dinners was a no-no, that having them lay out the money was a no-no and reimbursing them out of the office budget was a no-no.In fining Thompson $15,000, the Conflicts of Interest Board hit Thompson with a record sum against a DA. He will also pay restitution. On the upside, the conflicts board applied a measure of punishment to a top official, rather than just hammer those lower down. In one case, the board forced a sanitation worker out of a job for taking a Christmas tip. That may be a cautionary tale for Thompson down the road.
Ken Thompson, Brooklyn District Attorney, Is Fined for Misusing Funds on Meals (NYT)
Ken Thompson, Brooklyn District Attorney, Is Fined for Misusing Funds on Meals (NYT)
Mr. Thompson used police officers to get his meals and pay for them before being reimbursed with office funds, said the Conflicts of Interest Board, which levied a $15,000 penalty. * Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson must pay $15G fine for taxpayer-funded lunch and dinners totaling more than $5,000(NYDN) * Ken Thompson’s $15K fine may not be end of free meal drama (NYP) Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson refused to say Thursday whether he’d been privately admonished for misconduct before getting blistered by the city Conflicts of Interest Board — and it could spell trouble for his law license if he was, an expert on legal ethics told The Post.* Investigator: Ken Thompson fired me because I’m former DA’s ally(NYP) * ‘Imperial Ken’ Thompson, the perk-crazed Brooklyn DA(NYP Ed) * Sister of 1986 hate attack victim sues Brooklyn DA for $15M, saying she was fired due to political ties(NYDN) * According to a new $20 million lawsuit, a longtime investigator is calling out Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson for firing her because she’s a close ally of his predecessor and claims she was demoted and replaced by someone who worked on his campaign, the Post writes. * Post exclusive sparked probe into Thompson’s free lunches(NYP)
New York Police Dept., Citing Law, Stops Sharing Personnel Data (NYT) Some criticized the department’s decision to shield information from journalists as a step away from transparency. * Citing a clause in a 40-year-old law, the NYPD has suddenly decided to keep records regarding the discipline of officers under lock and key — and will no longer release the information to the public, the Daily News reports.* Mayor de Blasio has no problem with keeping cops’ disciplinary records sealed, but once blasted NYPD’s lack of transparency (NYDN) * Think again, commish about hiding NYPD personnel info(NYDN)
Chartock Yes Albany is Rigged and Losing Bharara Make Me Queasy
What Do You Do When Facing 7 Federal Investigations Leave Town
Crown Heights Developer Generated Gentrification is Replacing the the Community That Blew Up 25 Years Ago
That could save precious properties from bulldozers and greedy landlords. Costa, founder of Crown Heights South Association, has been aiming her outrage lately at the city's plans for a century-old former armory on Bedford Ave. The city has said it would let developers known as Bedford Courts take over the structure and build luxury units. Half of the approximately 300 units would be "affordable," and of those 99 would rent within the price range of a family of three that earns $85,400 a year. Just 67 apartments would be affordable to households earning less than $40,000. That's just another way of telling current Crown Heights residents to get the heck out of the neighborhood, Costa and others say. The median income for all households in Crown Heights South, where the armory is located, is under $42,000.
Where Do the People Go After They are Push Out of Their Homes by Gentrification?
Why is the AG Going After A Corrupt Charity First Exposed in 2010? Ruben Wills Del
Cook’s charity shut down in 2010 after The Post exposed its wasteful spending.
Bharara Send Silver to Jail Now
Preet Bharara wants Sheldon Silver to go straight to jail (NYP) Convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should go straight to jail, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara argued in a letter to a federal judge. The filing late Wednesday by Bharara’s prosecutors cited an appeals court’s action hours earlier in upholding the punishment to one of Silver’s corrupt* Convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should go straight to jail, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara argued in a letter to a federal judge citing an appeals court ruling in the case of former Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, the Post reports.
Sheldon Silver's $80K Yearly Pension Could Be Up For Grabs By Feds(DNAINFO)
A new court ruling could stop corrupt New York politicians from keeping their pensions.
Sheldon Silver's $80K Yearly Pension Could Be Up For Grabs By Feds(DNAINFO)
A new court ruling could stop corrupt New York politicians from keeping their pensions.
Now the Gov Wants to Subsidized 421-A Workers to Push Gentrification?
De Blasio: Subsidized wages for construction workers are fine — if it doesn’t cost city (NYP) Mayor de Blasio said he’s fine with the state subsidizing higher wages for construction workers who build affordable housing in the five boroughs – as long as it doesn’t impact the city’s bottom line. Asked about a report in the New York Times that Gov. Cuomo was considering reviving a suspended real estate tax break program with a proposal that would see tens of millions of state tax dollars going to ensuring union-level wages, de Blasio said “God bless ’em.” “If that’s what the state thinks is the right thing to do with state money, of course we can work with that,” he said at an unrelated press conference on parks in The Bronx. “What’s not acceptable to us is to add to the cost of the city’s affordable housing program, which is already stretched very thin and trying to reach half a million people.”* De Blasio cautiously supports affordable housing tax break for developers — as long as it doesn’t drive up costs(NYDN) * In Attempt to Convince Lawmakers to Vote for Affordable Housing Project, Mayor Appears to Anger Queens Councilman(NY1) * Allies of Bronx Borough President Wonder if Politics Played Role in Lack of Funding for Orchard Beach Pavilion Repairs(NY1)
At a time when New York desperately needs housing, affordable housing most of all, the governor has boosted the cost and put the taxpayer on the hook.
* De Blasio, who has made creating more affordable housing a priority, has faced fierce community opposition on specific projects, slowing his plans to build more units as a larger push to keep New York affordable for working class people, The Wall Street Journal writes * Critics rip Cuomo plan that combines tax and wage subsidies (NYDN) * A proposal to revive the lucrative 421-a affordable housing tax credit for developers by providing government wage subsidies for the workers they hire is being blasted by business groups, nonprofit providers and economic experts, the Daily News reports. * Cuomo wants the government to pay union workers higher wages (NYP) * Why Cuomo wants you to pay unions to build luxury housing (NYP) What Andrew Cuomo did this month was like a parody of a black-and-white 1940s movie about beefing kids in the alley. Bully No. 1 has a baseball bat: “Why I oughta smash your head in!” Bully No. 2 has a knife: “I’m gonna slice you up good.” It’s a standoff, until along comes Andrew, kindly and whistling, the grown-up, the soothing Bing Crosby character. “What seems to be the trouble, boys?” says Bing Cuomo. The two bullies explain themselves. “He owes me money!” “No, he owes me money!” And that’s when you happen into the picture. Yes you, the entirely innocent New York taxpayer, the random citizen who happens to be walking by.
Cuomo Wants to Use Government Money to Revive Gentrification Causing 421-a
Cost of a good intention on 421-a fix (NYDN) At the urging of construction unions, the governor smashed the renewal of a property tax break, called 421-a, that is crucial to building housing, including affordable units, in the city. By demanding a so-called prevailing wage rate, Cuomo threw the economics entirely out of whack. He prevailed on the state Legislature to bake into law an unusual mandate for the Real Estate Board of New York, representing developers, and the construction unions to work out wage rates both could live with. Without such an agreement, the law fated 421-a to die. The two sides failed to reach a deal, and no wonder: financing higher wages on top of the affordable housing would bust the developers’ tight budgets, rendering many projects unbuildable. To break a months-long logjam, Cuomo now looks to dedicate potentially tens of millions of dollars of state taxpayers’ money to achieve private sector wage hikes that are acceptable to the unions.He pledges to kick in $15 an hour on wages of up to $65 for workers on large rental towers in Manhattan south of 96th St. and $50 on the booming Brooklyn-Queens waterfront.At a time when New York desperately needs housing, affordable housing most of all, the governor has boosted the cost and put the taxpayer on the hook.
The Courts Took Away Corrupt Pols Pension Which Albany Would Not Do
Court’s ruling on corrupt NY pols’ pensions is long overdue (NYP) Corrupt New York pols who dream of retiring with fat, taxpayer-provided pensions just took a big hit in court. Score one for justice and common sense. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 2d US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that pensions of convicted lawmakers can be seized — even though the state Constitution prevents those egg nests from being “diminished or impaired.” US Attorney Preet Bharara has been targeting the retirement pay of legislators he’s convicted, rightly calling it a “galling injustice” that crooked pols continue to collect cushy pensions until “their dying day.” The two corrupt former legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, are in line for $80,000 and $96,000 respectively. But the judges said disgraced former Assemblyman Eric Stevenson must surrender the $22,000 he paid into the system because the state Constitution is “pre-empted” by federal law, which allows “forfeiture” of property derived from a crime “irrespective of any provision of State law.” In 2011, Albany stripped newly elected legislators of their pensions if convicted. But they couldn’t touch those already in office, like Silver and Skelos, because of the state Constitution. This year, after much kicking and screaming, the Legislature OK’d a constitutional amendment to allow the pensions of corrupt veteran pols to be seized retroactively. But it wouldn’t take effect for at least several years. Which makes the 2d Circuit’s ruling all that more important. Crooked pols have long rested easy knowing they had a taxpayer-funded cushion to fall back on if they got caught. That cushion was just yanked from under them.*
* A federal Court of Appeals ruled that disgraced former Assemblyman Eric Stevenson’s pension contributions are available to the feds as they seek to recoup $22,000 in ill-gotten gains, the Times Union reports.
An Amego Makes A Comeback
Disgraced former state senator Hiram Monserrate is looking to return to politics.*
de Blasio Limits the Press
de Blasio Limits the Press
De Blasio Imposes Limits On Reporters’ Questions At News Conferences (WCBS)*
* De Blasio appears to have imposed new limits on how many questions reporters can ask at his public news conferences, saying that a question and a follow-up is allowed but that if “everyone’s doing like three-part questions, it becomes a problem,” CBS reports.
de Blasio Runs A Political City Hall
Allies of Bronx Borough President Wonder if Politics Played Role in Lack of Funding for Orchard Beach Pavilion Repairs(NY1) *Mayor de Blasio fast-tracks renovation of Orchard Beach’s landmark bath house, thanks in part to Daily Newser(NYDN) * Let Orchard Beach bloom with a big investment by Mayor de Blasio(NYDN Ed) * PAY FOR MAY(OR): Cuomo is doling out big bucks in the Bronx, perhaps signaling he wants borough prez Ruben Diaz to start mayoral run (NYDN)
* De Blasio appears to have imposed new limits on how many questions reporters can ask at his public news conferences, saying that a question and a follow-up is allowed but that if “everyone’s doing like three-part questions, it becomes a problem,” CBS reports.
de Blasio Runs A Political City Hall
Allies of Bronx Borough President Wonder if Politics Played Role in Lack of Funding for Orchard Beach Pavilion Repairs(NY1) *Mayor de Blasio fast-tracks renovation of Orchard Beach’s landmark bath house, thanks in part to Daily Newser(NYDN) * Let Orchard Beach bloom with a big investment by Mayor de Blasio(NYDN Ed) * PAY FOR MAY(OR): Cuomo is doling out big bucks in the Bronx, perhaps signaling he wants borough prez Ruben Diaz to start mayoral run (NYDN)
1199 Close to the Mayor Pushed the Rivington Deed Lifting
Emails and texts show 1199 SEIU helped a for-profit company build relationships with the de Blasio administration as it persuaded the city to modify deed restrictions on a nonprofit health facility in the Lower East Side, The Wall Street Journal reports Newly Released Documents Underscore Influence of Health-Care Union (WSJ) * While many New Yorkers are upset with the way de Blasio runs the city, emails made public by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer show that union bosses are the ones really calling the shots in City Hall, the Post writes.Smoking-gun evidence that union bosses run New York (NYP Ed) Many New Yorkers don’t like how Mayor de Blasio runs the city — but he’s not really the one calling the shots: Unions are. That became crystal clear from e-mails and documents City Comptroller Scott Stringer released this week linked to the city’s decision to lift deed restrictions from the Rivington House nursing home. When a top de Blasio staffer asked “how critical” the decision was, the reply from an aide, Sarah Samis, was telling: “Very critical b/c it involves 1199 jobs and they want this done,” said the e-mail, in a reference to the health-care workers union, 1199SEIU.
As New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration weighed whether to remove deed restrictions at a Manhattan nursing home—a matter now under state and federal investigation—a top economic development aide asked “how critical is this? “Very critical b/c it involves 1199 jobs and they want this done,” wrote Sarah Samis, an aide to First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris, in an email, referring to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Newly released emails, text messages and other documents show 1199, the nation’s largest health-care union and one of the most powerful in New York City, played an integral role helping the Allure Group, a for-profit nursing care provider, build relationships with Mr. de Blasio’s administration as the firm successfully persuaded the city to modify the deed restrictions on Rivington House. The deed change led Allure to sell Rivington House, located on the Lower East Side, for what appears to be a $72 million profit to developers who plan to build luxury housing, prompting several investigations. The union wanted Allure to operate Rivington as a for-profit nursing home, saving the jobs of some members, according to emails. The emails and other documents, which were produced as part of the city comptroller’s investigation into the Rivington House deed change, underscored the outsize influence 1199 has in Mr. de Blasio’s administration and the degree to which city officials assess the union’s interests when making policy decisions. The union was the only major organized labor group to endorse Mr. de Blasio’s 2013 bid for the Democratic mayoral nomination. The union was one of the two largest contributors to the Campaign for One New York, a now-disbanded political nonprofit supporting the mayor. The nonprofit received $500,000 from 1199, records show. A number of Mr. de Blasio’s top aides once worked for the union and one of his closest friends, Patrick Gaspard, formerly served as the union’s political director. “They are very influential,” said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Manhattan Democrat who once worked there. “There has been a weakening of the unions on the national level, but unions in New York remain strong…and 1199 is among them.” The union has long held considerable power in New York politics, with a member-mobilization operation and a large political-action committee to contribute to candidates during election years. Jennifer Cunningham, a former political director at the union, is credited with helping resuscitate the political career of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after he lost his first bid for governor in 2002. The union helped fund Mr. Cuomo’s publicity campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The union strategized with Mr. de Blasio in connection with the sale of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. The mayor initially promised to keep healthcare on the site but later backed a plan by Fortis Property Group, a real-estate company, to develop it into high-rise towers with some health-care services. Neighborhood activists tried to block Fortis because other bidders were offering more health-care services. The union received a subpoena in connection with a federal probe into the closure of the hospital and the property’s sale, a person familiar with the matter said. In the effort to lift the deed restrictions at Rivington House, Joel Landau, an executive at the Allure Group, often talked to 1199’s then-political director Kevin Finnegan, an ally of Mr. de Blasio, in hopes of getting the union’s help to influence the city, according to the emails and text messages. “Heard the mayor stood you up today,” Mr. Landau wrote in a text to Mr. Finnegan. “He showed up late as usual,” Mr. Finnegan replied. In one text from October 2014, Mr. Landau praised Mr. Finnegan’s success advancing the union’s interests in connection with the Brooklyn hospital sale. In a December 2014 email, Emma Wolfe, the mayor’s top political aide who once worked for the union, wrote that officials at 1199 were upset and “urgently” requesting that the city help Mr. Landau on Rivington House. A September 2014 memo prepared by city aides on Rivington included a chart comparing the interests of various stakeholders affected by the deed change. The union was one of four groups represented in the chart.
Officials at the local community board on the Lower East Side also appeared aware of the sway that the union held with the mayor’s administration. The union is “very close” to the mayor and that is an “understatement,” wrote Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, in an email. In an interview, Ms. Stetzer said the community board’s concern was transparency, and the community’s interests had been left out of the discussion. * Investigators have obtained the emails of Ross Offinger, a de Blasio fundraiser who connected him to wealthy donors but is now under scrutiny as part of a federal and state investigation examining the mayor’s fundraising activities, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Putting Students First is Always Printed on Pols Campaign Lit But Not A Reality Once Elected
Take the teachers union. It makes sure incompetent teachers can’t be fired and blocks kids from attending better-performing non-union charter schools. (Who can forget when City Council members actually read off a teachers-union cue card at a public hearing some years ago?) In Albany, Gov. Cuomo repeatedly bows to union demands — from holding up a tax credit needed for low- and middle-income housing to pushing his $15 minimum wage. The Legislature, too, takes orders from the unions. Just this week, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie asked Cuomo not to back a plan to let city charters use public funds for pre-K without city oversight. Why do pols cede power to the labor bosses? Because the bosses control big blocks of votes — and donate handsomely to the pols’ causes. De Blasio’s Campaign for One New York got $500,000 from 1199. Surely the union expected something in return.* De Blasio should rethink his city schools better test scores victory lap via@nypost * More happy talk on the city’s worst schools (NYP)
3.0 de Blasio Details of UFT Pact 5
CUNY SUNY
Federal Investigation Upstate Updates
Officials at the local community board on the Lower East Side also appeared aware of the sway that the union held with the mayor’s administration. The union is “very close” to the mayor and that is an “understatement,” wrote Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, in an email. In an interview, Ms. Stetzer said the community board’s concern was transparency, and the community’s interests had been left out of the discussion. * Investigators have obtained the emails of Ross Offinger, a de Blasio fundraiser who connected him to wealthy donors but is now under scrutiny as part of a federal and state investigation examining the mayor’s fundraising activities, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Putting Students First is Always Printed on Pols Campaign Lit But Not A Reality Once Elected
Take the teachers union. It makes sure incompetent teachers can’t be fired and blocks kids from attending better-performing non-union charter schools. (Who can forget when City Council members actually read off a teachers-union cue card at a public hearing some years ago?) In Albany, Gov. Cuomo repeatedly bows to union demands — from holding up a tax credit needed for low- and middle-income housing to pushing his $15 minimum wage. The Legislature, too, takes orders from the unions. Just this week, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie asked Cuomo not to back a plan to let city charters use public funds for pre-K without city oversight. Why do pols cede power to the labor bosses? Because the bosses control big blocks of votes — and donate handsomely to the pols’ causes. De Blasio’s Campaign for One New York got $500,000 from 1199. Surely the union expected something in return.* De Blasio should rethink his city schools better test scores victory lap via
CUNY SUNY
Federal Investigation Upstate Updates
In court filings, attorneys for G. Steven Pigeon, a Buffalo political operative indicted on nine counts of bribery and extortion, argue the case should be dismissed because evidence was illegally collected during a 2015 raid on his home, The Buffalo News reports. * COR Development, a firm reportedly at the center of a federal investigation involving Cuomo development projects, is suing Todd Howe, a former lobbyist who is part of the probe, over an $85,000 loan the company says it made Howe, The Syracuse Post-Standard reports. * * In the ongoing court battle over “pay to play” allegations by a Cleveland developer, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is shaking up his legal defense team, replacing one big name with another, apparently to avoid a conflict of interest, The Buffalo News reports.
Ferrer Revenge Kicks Ass of the Ass Kisser Green Plotter Running for the Senate
Espaillat's Chosen Successor Gets Backing That Reopens Old Political (DNAINFO)
WoundsFernando Ferrer backed Espaillat's chosen candidate after a personal history with opponent Micah Lasher.
Daily News Calls It Bizarro World That New Housing Causes Gentrification Displacement . . . The Paper Should Interview the Long Term Residents of Crown Heights About the Effects of New Construction
Yes in their backyards: Affordable housing now (NYDN) Construction of affordable housing faces doom in New York at the hands of the very City Council that cries how desperately needed it is. The vote confirmed that a key component of Mayor de Blasio’s drive to spur affordable housing is in deep trouble. While the plan is widely lauded, Council members balk at construction in their communities. The committee vote killed a project slated for Inwood, which is represented by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, usually a loyal de Blasio ally. Rodriguez bowed to an uproar by constituents who are convinced — in a Bizarro World interpretation of the laws of supply and demand — that new apartments would hasten displacement of longtime tenants. By Council custom, fellow members defer to the desire of their local colleague. So, down went the development. Message received: Each Council member has veto power over new construction, rendering the entire Council captive to anti-development agitators while depriving places to live to New Yorkers hungry for housing.
Daily News Dump Gibson As Public Safety Chair for Dangerous Driving NYPD Cover-Up
Ticket outta there: Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson should fall from public safety chair (NYDN Ed) Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson let stand a report that she called a precinct commander to quash a ticket for dangerous driving — in string-pulling that demonstrates unfitness to continue as chair of the City Council Public Safety Committee. Officer Michele Hernandez says she pulled Gibson over after spotting her talking on the phone behind the wheel in 2014, a scant three months into Gibson’s term. Gibson faced a fine of up to $200 and five license points. But, unlike typical New Yorkers, she had the pull to dodge accountability, Hernandez revealed in a lawsuit that accuses the NYPD of retaliating against her for failing to meet summons quotas. The NYPD denies such quotas exist but has said nothing to dispute its officer’s account of the Gibson encounter. Hernandez says Gibson used the cellphone to call a precinct commander , sparking an order to nix the ticket. Gibson even put Hernandez on the phone with him to make sure she got the message. Asked for comment by The News, Gibson refused the chance to call the cop’s account false. She said that she “does not recall” any such incident, but “always takes very seriously and complies with all of our traffic laws.” Amnesia sets in with disclosure of a double dereliction. Dereliction one: Gibson anointed herself above the law by virtue of her position and special access to NYPD brass, demanding special treatment unavailable to her constituents. Dereliction two: Driving while speaking on a phone is not just a violation of state law; it is downright deadly, increasing fourfold the chances of a crash. Gibson well knew how deadly, because just two weeks prior to her NYPD run-in she had presided over a City Council hearing on Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to reduce traffic fatalities. Her opening remarks spoke of safety’s urgency: “ We must do more to ensure that these horrific accidents no longer happen across our streets.” Family members of pedestrian crash victims then tearfully recounted their loved ones’ horrifying last moments. Said the uncle of a child mowed down by a cabbie: “There’s no moral difference between driving drunk and driving in an incompetent manner for another reason, whether you’re smoking pot, using a cell phone, road rage, impatience or turning into a crosswalk without looking.” Gibson might not recall that lacerating message, however. She had left the Council chambers. Now, she should leave her committee chair.
Cuomo Bites Back Hard
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides have developed a reputation for responding with searing personal attacks when criticized by those who disagree with his policies, which has left even political veterans jarred, The Wall Street Journal reports.
NYT Crime in the Parks Up Don't Worry . . .
The Times writes that New Yorkers should not be worried about an analysis showing crime has increased in parks, and that after years of increasing safety, New Yorkers have rediscovered the ability to be shocked by crime, not numbed by it. Spinning Education Numbers is the New Normal
The Post writes that the New York City schools’ relaxed promotion policy has led to thousands of students being moved up even when they should have passed summer classes or repeated a grade.*
De Blasio should rethink his city schools better test scores victory lap (NYP Ed) Mayor de Blasio might want to rethink the wisdom of that victory lap he took after state-test scores showed slight improvements for the city’s public-schoolkids. Especially since Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa on Wednesday dumped a bucket of ice water on his boasts of “progress,” noting that scores this year couldn’t be compared to those from last year because the testing changed so markedly. “The whole idea that we put the asterisk there . . . is that we really didn’t want people taking a victory lap,” she said. Ouch.
De Blasio should rethink his city schools better test scores victory lap (NYP Ed) Mayor de Blasio might want to rethink the wisdom of that victory lap he took after state-test scores showed slight improvements for the city’s public-schoolkids. Especially since Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa on Wednesday dumped a bucket of ice water on his boasts of “progress,” noting that scores this year couldn’t be compared to those from last year because the testing changed so markedly. “The whole idea that we put the asterisk there . . . is that we really didn’t want people taking a victory lap,” she said. Ouch.
The NYP Blames the Homeless Not the Loss Of Hundreds of Thousands Affordable Housing to Gentrification and Airbnb
Stuck-in-the-past Bill de Blasio still thinks more housing will end homelessness (NYP) Like most left-wing Democrats, Mayor de Blasio remains hopelessly mired in the past, declaring — as he did again just last week — that “the solution to homelessness” is more housing. De Blasio touted new figures he says show the success of the city’s programs — including emergency rental assistance and curbing evictions — in moving the homeless to permanent housing. Except for one missing detail: There are now more homeless families living in city shelters than ever before. But the reasons for this are not always strictly economic. In some cases, the same kind of substance-abuse and mental illness that leads to street homelessness among single men are at play.Also, some families claim homelessness because they know by law they are guaranteed an automatic right to shelter and will be given preferred access to public housing.*
The New York City Planning Commission declined to impose a zoning plank requiring affordable housing on a boutique condo proposed in Manhattan, and the borough president filed a letter objecting, which will send the matter to the Council, the Times reports.
Developer Wants to Test Mayor's Inclusionary Zoning in Inwood, Councilman Opposes Project (NY1) * City Council Votes Against Sherman Plaza Development in Inwood, Which Would Have Been the First to Use New Affordable Housing Regulations (NY1) *
The New York City Council voted against an apartment project in Inwood, which would have been the first private development proposed under de Blasio’s new zoning rules that require affordable units in any project that needs city approval, the Daily News reports.
The Times Union writes that most state lawmakers running for re-election would say they oppose a massive pay hike for themselves, and if they get one, there’s nothing they could do about it, but that’s not being entirely honest.
The Daily News writes that the council’s vote against an Inwood project shows a key component of de Blasio’s drive to spur affordable housing is in deep trouble, and that the speaker should disabuse lawmakers of the idea that they have veto power over new construction.
Sign A Petition to Stop Pay Raises to Lawmakers Until They Pass an Ethics Bill
Post reader starts petition to stop lawmakers’ 47 percent raise (NYP) A Post reader, spurred to action by a report about state lawmakers possibly getting a 47 percent raise, has started an online petition opposing the hike that has drawn more than 7,000 signatures in less than a week.
Pay Raises for His Staff to Keep Them From Walking? Keep Them Quiet?
De Blasio helps cronies but slashes pay for Bloomberg hires (NYP) *
Why City Hall staffers are getting big pay raises (NYP) The Mayor’s Office essentially admits the problem: The payouts are needed to “retain skilled staff,” it argues. But maybe the sums wouldn’t need to be as much if staffers better liked working for this administration.Start with the fact that Hizzoner is facing as many as seven different investigations into his team’s actions, including the Rivington nursing-home flap and his fund-raising for state Senate races. Then there are the reports of the mayor humiliating and upbraiding staffers at meetings and in “teachable moments.” And, of course, his ailing poll numbers and the (well-deserved) criticism of his mayoralty from so many voices (like ours). Refugees include Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Press Secretary Karen Hinton and his short-lived social-media director. Environmental Commissioner Emily Lloyd, Sustainability Director Nilda Mesa and counsel Maya Wiley also gave notice.
de Blasio's Public School Report Card Grade F and Lying About Charter Success
Mayor de Blasio’s lame excuses for charter schools’ success (NYP) harters did better, de Blasio said, only because they focus on “test-prep.” He also (falsely) claimed charters have a “history” of “excluding” lower-performing kids. The mayor insisted his approach is outperforming charters in terms of “actually teaching kids.” And that union-run schools are “doing better” — despite their lower scores. (The proof? There isn’t any.) Note the hypocrisy: Even as he downplayed the value of test scores at charters, he emphasized it for district schools. The results “represent important progress” and “real improvements,” he said, noting an eight-point jump in the percentage of English-proficient kids at the districts, and a one-point uptick in math.
De Blasio fires back at Success Academy boss over school's rising test scores, claims they're based on ineffective 'prep-heavy' models (NYDN)
De Blasio's agreement with teachers and principals doesn't ax enough bad educators 'to help kids' (NYDN)
Letter to Cuomo Reveals State Senate’s Plan to Help Success Academy (NYT) In the letter, John J. Flanagan, the Senate majority leader, urged the governor to do something about the “regulatory burden imposed” by the city’s universal pre-K program.
Fariña must tell judge why computer failed special-education students (NYP) D epartment of Education Chancellor Carmen Fariña will have to tell a judge why the city’s school system has failed special-education students, a new ruling says. Manhattan Judge Lynn Kotler ordered the special tribunal in response to a suit filed by Public Advocate Letitia James in February. James had found that a $130 million computer program that monitors the city’s 200,000 special-education students is “incapable of providing citywide data.” As a result, disabled students have missed out on services and the city has had to pay $38 million in overtime, according to James’ lawsuit. Fariña has resisted an inquiry into the $130 million program, known as the Special Education Student Information System, or SESIS.
Fariña must tell judge why computer failed special-education students (NYP) D epartment of Education Chancellor Carmen Fariña will have to tell a judge why the city’s school system has failed special-education students, a new ruling says. Manhattan Judge Lynn Kotler ordered the special tribunal in response to a suit filed by Public Advocate Letitia James in February. James had found that a $130 million computer program that monitors the city’s 200,000 special-education students is “incapable of providing citywide data.” As a result, disabled students have missed out on services and the city has had to pay $38 million in overtime, according to James’ lawsuit. Fariña has resisted an inquiry into the $130 million program, known as the Special Education Student Information System, or SESIS.
de Blasio to "Take A Look At" Another City Deal With the Rivington Nursing Home $72 Million Owners
Schumer Hillary Not Clear on Political Corruption Fighter Bharara's Future
Chuck Schumer says Preet Bharara is doing a great job,but won’t reveal if he wants the prosecutor back under next President (NYDN) *
Time For Preet to Clear His Plate (Manhattan Institute) The multiplying investigations of the de Blasio administration need resolution.
Hillary Clinton won’t commit to reappointing U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (NYDN) b Clinton during an appearance before the Daily News Editorial Board on Saturday would not commit to re-appointing Bharara should she win "I will take all that into account if I'm lucky enough to be elected President," Clinton said when asked about Bharara's performance in cracking down on government corruption. "I obviously want the very best people to be U.S. attorneys," she said. "I want them to give no favor to anybody. If there are cases to be investigated and made, they should do it." But she quickly added that "I'm not going to comment on any particular personnel decision."
Time For Preet to Clear His Plate (Manhattan Institute) The multiplying investigations of the de Blasio administration need resolution.
Hillary Clinton won’t commit to reappointing U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (NYDN) b Clinton during an appearance before the Daily News Editorial Board on Saturday would not commit to re-appointing Bharara should she win "I will take all that into account if I'm lucky enough to be elected President," Clinton said when asked about Bharara's performance in cracking down on government corruption. "I obviously want the very best people to be U.S. attorneys," she said. "I want them to give no favor to anybody. If there are cases to be investigated and made, they should do it." But she quickly added that "I'm not going to comment on any particular personnel decision."
How the Rivington Nursing Home Owners Played the State's Economic Development Corp for Another Development
City urged to scuttle project over developer’s ties to nursing home scandal (NYP) The city should scuttle a project on publicly owned land in Crown Heights because one of the developers was involved in the Lower East Side nursing-home fiasco, community advocates said Monday Groups including New York Communities for Change and the Crown Heights Tenant Union plan a protest Wednesday to try to block the Slate Property Group. Slate bought the Rivington House nursing home for $116 million in February with plans to turn it into luxury housing — but only after the seller got the city to remove a deed restriction in place for decades. The deal has embroiled Mayor de Blasio in a storm of criticism. Slate founder Matt Nussbaum warned company officials in a May 2015 e-mail to keep silent until the restriction was removed and then “we can do whatever we want. Seven months later, the city’s Economic Development Corp. awarded Slate and BFC Partners a lease to develop the building. “Slate has proven they cannot be trusted — they’re a deceitful developer,” said Renata Pumerol, a spokeswoman for NYCC, whose protest was first reported by Crain’s.
When Will the Media and Pols Blame Airbnb and Gentrification for Loss of Affordable Housing and Increase In Homelessness?
We Will Have to Wait for the Indictments to Find Out About the Real Deal to Close LICH
LICH: Everything you want to know (almost) about the deal toclose Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn Eagle)
Groundhog Day: Rivington Nursing Home, Special Agent Cover-Up At City Hall Continues
One Brooklyn PAC is Brooklyn BP Adams One NY Slush Fund
Feds probe Eric Adams’ non-profit over donor favor claims (NYP)A nonprofit created by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to advance his pet projects is being probed by both federal authorities and the city’s Department of Investigation, The Post has learned. The feds are scrutinizing the fund-raising of Adams’ One Brooklyn Fund, to see if it is being used to dish out pay-to-play favors, sources briefed on the matter said. One source said the investigation is “similar” to a probe by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara into Mayor de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York nonprofit. Like CONY, One Brooklyn has solicited cash from entities under review by authorities and that have business before the city. The DOI is investigating whether Adams violated any city laws by routinely asking outside groups to cut checks directly to his nonprofit to rent space at Borough Hall, rather than have payments go into the city coffers, sources said. Those payments slip under the radar because city-affiliated organizations like One Brooklyn aren’t required to report donations and other types of revenue under $5,000 with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. Since its formation two years ago, One Brooklyn has reported $315,000 to $860,000 in donations, disclosure forms show. It has pulled in another $344,000 in City Council funds.
Brooklyn BP Lobbyists Capalino and Another Slush Fund PAC
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| Capalino Buying Silence |
As Airbnb Warehouse Apts Driving Up
Prices Media and Pols Support them
A bill that would make advertising short-term rentals illegal is the latest example of New York officials trying to strangle the “sharing economy” when it should be embraced, since these companies satisfy a demand, the Cato Institute’s Matthew Feeney writes in the Post.* Airbnb and the Battle of Suitcase Alley (NYT) In New York and other cities with steep housing costs, a longstanding objection to home-sharing sites is that some listings remove units from the residential market.
Lobbyist Howe Turns Federal Rat On Percoco and Cuomo
Cuomo cronie spills for leniency deal in corruption probe (NYP) The corruption probe of Gov. Cuomo’s two longtime associates has taken a critical turn with Todd Howe, onetime lobbyist and longtime Cuomo family confidant, signing a “cooperation agreement’’ with US Attorney Preet Bharara, a source close to the investigation told The Post. The agreement promises Howe, whose ties to Cuomo go back three decades, “favorable treatment’’ and “leniency’’ in the event that he’s criminally charged, in exchange for full details of his lobbying activities on behalf of several major state contractors with senior Cuomo administration officials. Those officials include Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s closest friend and top aide who is currently senior vice president at Madison Square Garden, the source said.
Howe, who as a lobbyist had access to the highest levels of the Cuomo administration, and Percoco, who Cuomo has described as being like “my father’s third son,’’ were cut off from access to the administration after Bharara served a sweeping subpoena related to the activities of both men on the governor’s office in late April. The subpoena, which was followed by a state attorney general’s raid on Howe’s Albany office — located at the SUNY’s Polytechnic Institute, which he once represented — and a federal raid on Percoco’s Westchester home, was part of Bharara’s ongoing probe of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion project, contractors for which hired Howe and at various times paid Percoco and Percoco’s wife “consulting” fees.*Comptroller rips Cuomo’s jobs program for its ‘lowered goals’(NYP)
A New President Could End the Era of Bharara Corruption Fighting in NY
There's a reason Preet Bharara may feel pressure to finish politician investigations (NYDN)With time possibly running out on crusading U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's term, many in New York's political and legal circles are bracing for a frenzy of activity as his office works to finish up ongoing cases into the Cuomo and de Blasio administrations before the next President takes office. "When a U.S. Attorney is about to leave office, there's a lot of pressure on the assistants to finalize cases and indictments and bring them to fruition," former federal prosecutor Bradley Simon said. "In this case, he's concerned about his legacy and he's going to want all unfinished business completed." Simon said there's always a concern the next U.S. attorney may not place the same emphasis on particular cases. "The existing U.S. attorney doesn't want to take chances or see all their hard work going out the window," he said. "Once there is an indictment, a new US attorney can't go and pull it."
More SUNY Hospital Wasted $$$
Struggling hospital spends thousands on lavish travel, dinners(NYP) Struggling SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn allowed a top “restructuring” consultant to bill the state for $83,000 in lavish travel, lodging and dining expenses, a scathing audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli reveals. The expenditures included pricey rooms at the Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side, a booze-infused “team dinner” at the Docks Oyster Bar in Midtown, and sticker-shock limo bills, the audit found. Baton Rouge, La.-based Pitts Management Associates was hired in 2011 to find ways to cut costs at the financially ailing state university-run hospital. But the consultants themselves were living large, with SUNY Downstate staffers approving eye-popping reimbursements for expenses, according to the audit of expenses from March through August 2014.
So, Again Rivington Deed Change Whodunit? Shorris?, Capalino", Wolfe? and Why? Politico $upport For Reelection
City Hall mystery: Burning questions on the Rivington deed swap
Silver Thinks Skelos McDonnell Will Keep Him Out of Jail Also
Skelos to Stay Out of Jail Until Appeal Ruling Thanks to SC's McDonnell Ruling
Not One Elected Officials Has Demanded That de Blasio Release Lobbyists "Agents of the City" Emails
Get the message, Bill? 'Agents of the city' emails must go public (NYDN) Mayor de Blasio can call his email buddies friends, he can call them advisers, he can call them Ishmael — but “agents of the city” exempt from public revelation of their correspondence, he can’t. So concludes Bob Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government and New York’s top authority on the Freedom of Information Law. Responding to a request for his opinion from lawyer Norman Siegel on behalf of the Village Voice, Freeman wrote Wednesday that de Blasio cannot “deny access to the communications” by claiming that unpaid outside advisers are the equivalent of City Hall aides. De Blasio’s former counsel concocted the “agents” fiction to block disclosure of emails to and from political consultants enmeshed in investigations of the mayor’s fundraising maneuvers. Which is why agents, going by the letters F-B-I, are rifling through City Hall emails and much more.
