Results tagged “City Council”

One of the staunchest opponents to same-sex marriage is a Bronx state senator with two gay brothers, a gay grandchild, and a gay chief counsel. Democrat Ruben Diaz, Sr., a Pentecostal minister, has been a die hard foe of any bill that would legalize gay marriage in New York State, despite his supposedly convivial relationship with many homosexuals. "I love them. I love them," says Díaz, who grew up one of 17 children in Puerto Rico. "But I don’t believe in what they are doing."

According to Runnin' Scared, City Councilman Charles Barron is considering challenging Christine Quinn to be Speaker, saying, "I would be an excellent speaker...We need someone to be a check on the Mayor, not a deputy mayor." He noted that the Speaker and Council chairs for the finance and land committees are white, so if a non-white Council member doesn't throw her or his hat into the ring against Quinn, he will. He added, "You only need 26 votes. There's an African American leader in the Bronx, 8 council votes in the Bronx, an African American county leader, with 10 council votes in Manhattan. And in Brooklyn a lot of us are. So even if you don't have all of those on board, they could pick the next speaker. I think we could do it if we could stick together."

For the first time ever, black, Latino, and Asian politicians will outnumber white politicians in the City Council. In last night's election, minority candidates secured 28 seats while white candidates won 23, according to the Daily News. Currently in the Council, white politicians outnumber minorities 26 to 25.

The Bloomberg and Thompson bout was certainly been more entertaining than many expected, but it wasn't the night's only contested race. Though all of the incumbent Borough Presidents won another term and the citywide elections for Comptroller and Public Advocate were unsurprising (John Liu and Bill de Blasio won easily), several City Council races were action packed.

There's always a lot of political name-calling on the eve of election day, but we're pretty sure this one is a first. Democratic Queens Council candidate Kevin Kim is alleging that his Republican rival isn't just an anti-Semite — he's also a pagan. Kim's campaign is accusing Dan Halloran of insulting Jews in his attempt to downplay the role of blood sacrifice in the ancient Germanic religion of Theodism, a faith in which the City Hall hopeful has risen to the title of "'First Atheling,' or King," of a New York City area pre-Christian group according to the Queens Tribune.

If you awoke this morning with a parking ticket on your windshield, look closely, because the reviled orange and white leaflet might actually be a piece of last-minute campaign literature. In what he calls "guerilla campaigning," Republican City Council candidate Joe Nardiello has been placing fake parking tickets that double as campaign literature on cars in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Borough Park.

As previously discussed, the City Council voted to raise the fine for idling cars from $5 to $250. The move was prompted by two horrible fatal accidents: "In Chinatown, two children were killed when an unattended idling van rolled backwards. And in Queens, a car left unattended and idling was stolen by an intoxicated person who ran down and killed two high school students."

Howard Roark scoffs. A giant skyscraper, dubbed the MoMA Monster, keeps shrinking. Set to go up in the empty lot next to the museum, creators of the proposed 1,250 feet tower continue to fight a cut of 200 feet; WCBS reports that at a city council committee meeting yesterday, the real estate developer and the architect "saw their plans for a soaring Midtown skyscraper crumbling."

Voters in certain City Council districts showed incumbents that they weren't happy with them, by voting out an unusually high number of Council members in yesterday's primary election. Why? A combination of voting for term limits plus other scandals. For instance, Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan), Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn), and Helen Sears (D- Queens) all supported the term limits extension—and all lost to challengers.

We're running out of pigs-at-the-trough jpegs! After last week's news that the City Council is giving staffers approximately $3.9 million in "cost of living" raises, the Post has learned that a dozen council members showered their staffs with tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses at the end of the last fiscal year. According to the article, each council member gets $273,000 a year for expenses like rent and office supplies, and any unspent funds are supposed to be returned to the city. But an examination of financial records found that at least twelve council members transferred the leftover loot into their personal accounts in June, the last month of FY09. Councilman Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) moved $30,000 on June 19th to give bonuses to eight to 10 staffers; he tells the Post, "Me turning back $30,000 and everybody else spending their money to give it to the staff, would that make any sense to do?" Well, if everyone else is doing it, why not? And Councilman Thomas White (D-Queens), who spread $38,000 in unused cash between five staffers, explains, "I have a very committed, dedicated staff. They work very hard."

The City Council will give 550 council aides and central staffers approximately $3.9 million in raises for this year’s salaries and, retroactively, for last year’s salaries. The decision, which was not bogged down by any annoying "voting," was framed by Council speaker Christine Quinn's spokesperson as a "cost of living increase." Charles Meara, the Council's chief of staff and top paid employee, will see his salary go up to $209,973 from $194,132, a gain of $15,841. And his deputy chief of staff, Ramon Martinez III, got a nice bump too, from $191,664 to $207,303. (The Wonkster has a nice top 10 list of the Council's highest paid staffers.) The salary increases, which do not apply to council members, come on the heels of Mayor Bloomberg's $45 million in raises for his staff. And the city's district attorneys and borough presidents have given or are expected to give similar raises. Bucking the trend, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., a cash-starved Democratic candidate for mayor, has frozen the salaries of all his employees who make over $90,000 a year. But how will they afford the cost of living?!

The Bicycle Access Bill requiring commercial landlords to let office workers bring bikes inside office buildings wasn't the only bike-friendly law passed by the City Council last week. Less noticed was Intro. 780, the Bicycle Parking Bill. If signed by Mayor Bloomberg, it will require the operator of every garage and parking lot with a capacity of one-hundred or more cars to provide and maintain parking spaces for bikes. (And in two years, garages and lots with 51 or more spaces will have to provide bike parking.) The law mandates one bike spot for every 10 motor vehicle spots.

Now we may have some insight as to why Mayor Bloomberg isn't exactly, um, fond of answering questions on term limits. Throughout the mayor's gradual reversal of his term limits stance last year, he made it clear that he was for the concept, but had begun having doubts on whether the limit should be two or three. Yesterday, when asked whether he would guarantee not running for a fourth term, the mayor gave a standard answer of the law not allowing it...and then responded to a follow-up pushing him this way, "But it does now. It permits only three terms, so I don’t know. Talk to your City Council. Let me point out that I had no intention of running for a (third) term up until near the end, as you know. The City Council changed the law. It’s up to the voters whether they want four more years." Is it time to cue The Price is Right Ciffhangers yodeling music?

After years of discussion, the City Council voted 44-2-1 in favor of rezoning Coney Island per the Bloomberg administration's plan for the 27-acre area, which includes hotels, retail shops, and a new roller coaster. And it looks like the city is working out a deal with Thor Equites' Joe Sitt, the developer who bought much of the land at Coney Island in hopes of his own ambitious hotel-amusement park plans.

After a little speed bump, the City Council has passed Intro. 871, the Bicycle Access Bill, which requires commercial landlords to allow office workers to bring bikes inside office buildings (with freight elevators) as long as their employers have space for the bikes. The bill passed 46-1; Transportation Alternatives' executive director Paul Steely White said, "No other city in the country has a policy like the one City Council passed today. When we open the doors of New York City's workplaces to cyclists, tens of thousands of commuters are going to get on two wheels." Transportation Alternatives also points out that though biking is the fastest growing mode of transportation in the city, many people don't bike to work, due to fear of their bikes may be stolen on the street.

While smoking is already banned inside hospitals, the NY City Council is considering a bill that would prohibit puffing away outside hospital entrances and on hospital grounds. The AP reports, "The measure seeks to ban smoking on hospital property and within 15 feet of any hospital entrance or exit. It would apply to public and private hospitals, as well as residential health care facilities and diagnostic and treatment centers." However, if the bill passes, those 15 feet from hospital grounds should get some ashtrays ready: When smoking was banned on a Buffalo health facility's campus, the smokers moved across the street—and in front of residential houses. One smoker admitted he was going to throw his cigarette butt in the street; when a TV station reporter asked, "Why can't you throw butt in garbage can?" the smoker answered, "I will. I didn't think of that."

Despite objections from Save Coney Island and others, the City Council's land-use committee approved the city's controversial rezoning of Coney Island, putting the plan on track for full Council approval on July 29th. Some opponents were hoping the committee would send the plan back to the drawing board so that the proposed open-air amusement park be expanded and four high-rise hotel towers planned for the south side of Surf Avenue could be relocated. According to City Room, Councilman Dominic Recchia Jr. hinted that the city may expand the amusement area, but that will only happen if the Bloomberg administration can finalize a long-stalled deal to buy 10.5 acres of land from developer Joe Sitt before the full council votes. Sitt, who could probably best Bruce Ratner in a douchiest developer contest, told the Post yesterday, "I'm the guy who controls this—it's my sandbox." He added that he's willing "to share my sandbox with my friend Mayor Mike," but Mike wants to buy the land outright, and hasn't ruled out seizing the sandbox through eminent domain.

If you've ever queued up for a spin on Coney Island's landmark Wonder Wheel, you may have noticed that one of the cars is really going to the dogs. Well, one dog, at least: Sunny, a 12-year-old Rottweiler who guards the property by night and rides in car number four by day. Amos Crowley, who has worked at Deno's Wonder Wheel for the past 10 years, tells the Daily News, "Some people think it's funny, some people think it's cruel, but the dog thinks otherwise. We don't do it to be funny; we do it because she likes it. It's tradition. It's been going on for years and years."

On the heels of former City Councilman Miguel Martinez pleading guilty to stealing over $100,000 from taxpayers via slush funds, word is that investigators are eying the records of other local legislators with the possibility of more busts to come. The News says that "Martinez's scheme has offered probers a blueprint for how corrupt pols have tapped into secret slush funds." Yesterday on his radio show, Mayor Bloomberg discussed Martinez's fraud case saying, "It's an outrage. I've always thought if you steal from the public, it's worse than stealing from an individual because you're stealing from everybody. Hopefully, the judge will [sentence] as a punishment and as a disincentive to others to not steal from the public trough." While Martinez is currently out on a $250,000 bond, other nearby politicians at the epicenter of the investigation are keeping a watchful eye. At a dinner for Bronx Democrats this week, the Post says elected officials were (half-) joking that their conversations were possibly being recorded.

The first City Council member to resign as a result of a slush fund scandal wasted no time settling matters with the US Attorney's office. Today former Councilman Miguel Martinez pleaded guilty to money laundering and mail fraud, stealing in total over $100,000 intended for non-profit groups. In court today, Martinez said, "I received the money as a direct result of the conspiracy. I engaged in this scheme as a New York City Council member. I was able to engage in these schemes because I was a New York City councilman." Martinez copped a plea deal with prosecutors who recommended he be sentenced to around 4 to 6 years for charges that usually warrant up to 20, but the federal judge today noted that the court did not have to comply with that advice. The Times says Martinez had a "once-promising political career" while representing Washington Heights and Inwood, a seat that NY1 says will not have a special election because it would fall too close to September primaries.

City Councilman Miguel Martinez, who represents 10th Council District which includes parts of Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill, has issued his resignation; CityRoom reports that his letter read, "Dear Speaker Quinn, Effective today, July 14, 2009, I am submitting my resignation to the New York City Council." Martinez has been under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office for funding to a non-profit group; in March, the NY Times wrote, "The Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors, [which helps] small businesses and underserved Latino, immigrant and low-income people [in upper Manhattan]...received little city money until 2006, after Mr. Martinez’s sister, Maria Martinez, joined the board. Since then, the group has received more than $1.4 million in City Council funds including more than $400,000 sponsored directly by Mr. Martinez." Martinez has reportedly cut a deal with the feds to avoid prison time; the Post notes he is "the first elected official to be done in by the Council's slush fund scandal."

Remember how last year the City Council made a big stink about milk price gouging, calling on the Department of Agriculture and Markets to enforce price limits after a study showed that 86% of NYC retailers are breaking the law by overcharging for milk? The department regulates the price of milk with a monthly cost calibration, but many grocery store owners are unaware the law even exists. It's one year later, and Councilman Eric Gioia—who's running for public-advocate—is still crying over the price of milk. Though there's been an 83% drop in the wholesale price of milk in the past 18 months, some Manhattan stores are still charging as high as $6 a gallon. The Agriculture Department just can't get it together to publish the monthly threshold price on its website, and at a press conference yesterday, Gioia told reporters that the department's milk price enforcement is virtually non-existent: "We have a state agency that's not doing its job. The Department of Agriculture went from bad to worse." With an election looming on the horizon, you can definitely expect Gioia to milk this issue for all its worth.

On July 1st, the New York City Council was expected to pass the Bicycle Access to Buildings bill, which would require commercial landlords to allow tenants to bring bikes inside office buildings with freight elevators. Many building managers refuse to let workers bring their bicycles inside, even if their employer lets them keep their bikes at their desks, and the new bill, Intro. 871, would allow landlords the flexibility to develop individual access plans that suit their buildings and their tenants. (Department of City Planning says the biggest barrier cited by potential bicycle commuters is the lack of safe places to store their bikes.) But Councilman John Liu, who chairs the Transportation Committee, refused to bring it up for a vote. After working on the bill for eight months with the DOT, DOB, Mayor's Office, landlords, and community advocates, Liu abruptly decided that transportation agency can't handle more responsibility. Cycling advocates are pissed, and Councilman David Yassky, who authored the legislation, says Liu pulled the plug so Yassky can't claim credit during the election. Yassky tells the Post, "All I know is the bill was slated to pass the council on Tuesday and it was derailed at the last minute. I sense politics is at work."

During an all-day public hearing to review the city's rezoning proposal for Coney Island, the City Council seemed poised to veto the plan, which would designate part of the area as parkland to create a new 27-acre indoor-outdoor amusement district and encourage the development of towers up to 27 stories tall, expanded retail spaces, and 4,500 new housing units (800 of which would be built to be affordable units). Zoning Subcommittee Chair Tony Avella essentially recommended sending the plans back to the drawing board, which would be a victory for developer Joe Sitt, who's at a stalemate with the city over 10 acres of land he's bought up and refused to sell for city's offered price. But when pressed by council members yesterday, Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky admitted that the city is prepared to do whatever it takes to obtain Sitt's property: "I'm not saying we will use eminent domain, but in fairness to your question, I'm not saying we won't." If the plan moves forward to the full council, a vote must be held by July 29th, or by July 13th, if it wishes to modify the plan and send it back to the Planning Commission.

Yesterday, the City Council voted to add the Muslim holy days of Eid ul-Fitrand Eid ul-Adh to the NYC public school calendar. However Mayor Bloomberg does not approve, saying, "One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school.” There's a 10-12% Muslim population among students. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, head of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem and a proponent of the measure, suggested to the NY Times that there could be "catastrophic" results from the city's 600,000 Muslims come election time, if Bloomberg is still down on adding the holidays, “We really have confidence in the mayor’s intelligence. It’s an election year.” And City Councilman Robert Jackson told PolitickerNY, "Having to choose whether to send your children to school on your highest, holiest holidays where there may be an exam or stuff like that, it’s a clash situation and it should not have to happen."

The King of Pop's death and legacy was honored by the City Council today. But PolitickerNY, which took video (below), noticed that some City Council members walked out—Republicans Jimmy Oddo, Vinny Ignizio and Eric Ulrich and Democrats Peter Vallone Jr. and Lew Fidler—during fellow members Inez Dickens' and Helen Diane Foster's tributes.

Easygoing banks like TD Bank try to cultivate a customer-friendly atmosphere by cheerfully greeting customers, handing out lollipops, and making sure there's no oppressive bulletproof glass harshing the vibe. But now the City Council, acting like a bunch of squares telling the hippies to put their clothes on, is considering a law to force banks to use the "bandit barriers." At a Public Safety Committee hearing yesterday, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly testified in support of the legislation, arguing that 47% of robberies in NYC in 2008 occurred at banks with bandit barriers, while 53% went down at banks without them. (The NYPD says there were 444 bank robbery attempts in 2008 — both failed and successful — up 57 percent from 2007.) But Gregory Braca, TD Bank’s president of operations, begged the Council to drop the bill, citing "evidence that if we had to install barriers, it could increase the risk of hostage-taking and injury to our customers." One TD Bank customer explained the appeal to the Times: "With that glass, you feel like you're in a government office, where the lady just talks to you through the little window." (And never offers you a lolly.)

A campaign worker for a City Council candidate says someone driving an SUV "adorned" with posters for his boss's rival threatened him at gunpoint yesterday in Brooklyn. 20-year-old James Soyers was collecting signatures for candidate Anthony Herbert in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 4 p.m. yesterday when he says the vehicle hurtled toward him and his co-worker and "scared the pants off" him. The driver allegedly told the men to leave, and when they refused, he brandished a chrome gun with a black handle. Soyers tells the Times, "I was stuck frozen. My feet didn’t agree with my brain. My brain was telling them to run, but my feet just wouldn’t move." Oddly enough, Herbert's rival, Councilwoman Darlene Mealy, was at an event just half a block away. She denies that the gunslinger works for her, but Herbert says other candidates viying for Mealy's seat are "having trouble collecting signatures" to get on the ballot in the Democratic primary. He also adds that Mealy is "not the friendliest person."

Two former aides of City Councilman Kendall Stewart will plead guilty to fraud charges related to embezzling nearly $200,000 of Council funds. Asquith Reid, Stewart's former chief of staff, and Joycinth Anderson, a former staffer, were indicted after an investigation revealed that money, which Stewart directed to three community groups (controlled by Reid and Anderson), was being used for cash or wired to relatives; the scheme was discovered during a probe of the Council's slush fund practices. Councilman Stewart (pictured) told the Times, "I hope they will not be serving any time. With all honesty, I don’t think they have done anything wrong. I think they are being punished for not keeping correct paperwork." But Jumaane Williams, who is challenging Stewart for his Council seat, said Stewart should resign, "At the worst, Mr. Stewart had to have been complicit and known what was going on. At the minimum, he signed off on things without reading it and wasn’t paying attention to what was going on in his office. Either one is very bad."

Last week, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum criticized the Public Advocate's budget being cut from $2.8 million to $1.7 million. She even claimed the reduction was "political payback" from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, because Gotbaum opposed extending term limits. Yesterday, the five candidates who wish to succeed Gotbaum—and one of whom will have to deal with a 40% smaller budget—appeared together to protest the cut which goes into effect on July 1. The NY Times reports, "The issue was not food stamps, or reproductive rights for women, or child abuse, or any of the other topics the public advocate’s office is generally involved in...The cut, [the candidates] concurred, was so draconian that it threatened the existence of the office, which functions, as mandated by the City Charter, as a government ombudsman and watchdog." Former Public Advocate Mark Green, who is running again, asked, “Why has only the watchdog over City Hall been cut 40 percent?"