Pols Clueless On How to Save Jobs
More blue-collar jobs leave town, politicians still don't know how to save the city's working class
Bazzini's Nuts Moves Out of the BronxIn the last two years, the Bronx alone has lost more than 360 union jobs paying $18 to $20 an hour with good benefits after Stella D'Oro and Old London shut bakeries. They left town looking for cheaper, nonunion labor. Wonder Bread decamped from Queens in January because the company found it impossible to compete with modern bakeries from its 1870s plant in Jamaica. Sabra Dipping Co., the world's biggest hummus maker, stripped Queens of 200 jobs when it moved to a factory in Virginia last year.
New York's political class hasn't a clue how to stem the losses. The best that's been offered is the insane idea to have taxpayers subsidize wages in the private sector. That kind of thinking by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz killed the Kingsbridge Armory Mall and 2,200 jobs in 2009. He said he would rather have no jobs than jobs paying less than his ideal salary. What he got was no jobs, and that's what he keeps getting more and more of. (NYDN Ed) * The NYC Council will hold a hearing on May 12 on a controversial living wage bill.
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5Pataki and Spitzer: Do As I Say . . . Not As I Do
Former Govs. Pataki, Spitzer now full of good advice they didn't follow when they were in office (NYDN Ed)
Pataki omits the $20 billion in debt Pataki either pushed for or went along with - a 65% increase. Then there's the $12 billion in borrowing he foisted on the MTA - a 125% increase.
Spitzer helped create NY's deficit by running up spending as New York headed for a fiscal cliff.
Dicker Uses Journalism to Get His Political Agenda Accomplished
A Reporter Slugs Away in Albany Fredric U. Dicker’s brand of journalism — old-school beat reporting, searing commentary and a dose of showmanship — has made him a potent force in Albany.(NYT) * Unnamed source said Cuomo compared his dealing with Fred Dicker to feeding a caged animal. Dicker declined to participate in the profile. Writing the NY Post a huge part of his influence. * Jeremy Peters tries to deconstruct the complex relationship between The Post’s Fred Dicker and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.* When Cuomo officially arrived in the governor's mansion, Reid Pillifant looked at his relationship with Dicker. When David Paterson became governor, Ben McGrath hung out in Dicker's office for the day. Back in 2005, Ben Smith's profile called Dicker "The Undisputed King of Albany Press." * Roundup: Trump Vows Early Disclosure, Flashback to Dicker's Assault (CBS 6 Albany)
A source tells the AP several high-ranking city officials had their traffic tickets taken care of by police
Several Nervous People At City Hall
Rookies expose the scandal; top Bronx official reportedly caught helping "honorary NYPD deputy commissioner."
Bronx sergeant caught trying to make violation disappear (NYP) * Alleged NYPD ticket fixing must be quickly probed, guilty punished, public assured it can't repeat (NYDN Ed) * AP Source: NYPD Fixed Traffic Tickets For High City Officials (NY1) * The cop who helped the baseball official could face perjury charges.* “I have been on the job for nearly three decades, and it was never deemed unusual to get calls from high-ranking department members when a summons was given to their family member or friends,” said Edward Mullins, head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
Who Are the City Hall VIP Who Had Their Tickets Fixed?
Cover Up to Protect Who?
Ticket Blitzes For Everyone Else
'Seems To Be a Lot of Evidence' in Ticket-Fixing Probe, Says Bloomberg (NYO) * Many rigged tickets were for moving violations, not parking, mayor says (NYP)
Why is City Hall Spinning That the Ticket Fixing Problem is Fixed Even Before We Know Who is Involved? New system could prevent ticket scandal (NYDN)
Passover ticket rage (NYP)
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You Want to Go to California: You Talking To Me?
TLC issued more than 1,000 tickets for illegal livery street hails(NYDN)
Worker Cites Boss’s Order in Standpipe Collapse at a Bank Tower (NYT)
GOP operatives Michael Avella and John McArdle working join marriage advocates
Gay Marriage Effort Taps GOP Strategists(WSJ)
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How About the Oil Burned By Con Edison's Power Plants and Bloomberg's Jet?
After 9 years and a nation wide depression Bloomberg now wants building owners to spend more?
Bloomberg ditches plan to delay construction of garbage facilities. City Issues Rule to Ban Dirtiest Oils at Buildings(NYT) * Mayor Goes After Dirty Heating Oil In PlaNYC Update (NY1)
Bloomberg On His Environmental Push Restores Sanitation Funds After City Council members and activists accused him of reneging on a promise that to treat all neighborhoods equally when it comes to garbage collection (WSJ)
Cheers: Everyone knows Your Name
State Worker Charged Over Alleged Tavern Time A state employee is facing felony charges for allegedly hanging out at Albany taverns when he was supposed to be at work. (WSJ)
State halts construction for $23M apartment complex for Court of Appeals judges (NYDN) * Lippman's lip-service (NYP Ed) * Judges fire court staffers (NYP) * The Post is not impressed by this “symbolic gesture” of stopping construction on the VIP judge apartments.
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Another Pension Double Dipper
Former state Democratic Party Chairwoman June O’Neill is receiving both a state pension and a state salary thanks to her recent hiring by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.
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Pell Grants Scandal
Beauty school forged student records for Pell grants (NYDN)
Winners & Losers, April 22 edition
Plans for the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” are full steam ahead, its developer insists.
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Vengeful in Jersey (NYP Ed)
Americans hit new pessimism low about country's direction (NYDN) * CBS News Poll: 70 Percent Of Americans Say Country On ‘Wrong Track’ (video)
Tim Hetherington: Why the "tribe" of war photographers gather in NY.
