Just weeks after trouncing Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York) to be re-elected as Council Speaker, Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) stripped Barron of his position chairing the Higher Education Committee. In a near repeat of the 48-1 vote in the Speaker race, the Council voted 47-1 to demote Barron. In both instances, Barron cast the only vote in his favor. more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn isn't sweating Councilman Charles Barron's announcement that he's running against her for Council Speaker. The Daily News reports that Quinn said, "I take all races seriously, but I am very, very optimistic that I will be reelected in January as speaker of the City Council." more ›

After telling the Village Voice he would be an "excellent Speaker" last month, controversial City Councilmember Charles Barron is expected to announce that he will challenge City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for leadership tomorrow. He tells the Daily News that he knows he's a "long-shot" but adds, "This is going to be done from the ground up. I think the speaker should be a facilitator, not a dictator." Barron has been in the news this week for his intense-for-a-groundbreaking ceremony argument with a CUNY trustee, whom he called a "sickening racist" and whom he wants removed. more ›

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." more ›

In the wake of revelations that the City Council had a slush fund (for rainy days when the mayor would cut budgets), City Comptroller William Thompson told City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that his office would review how the council uses discretionary money. In a letter, he wrote, "It remains clear…that the Council’s process was conceived and used to deflect legitimate inquiry into how our City’s tax dollars are being allocated.” more ›

According to the NY Post, the City Council Speaker's office has, since 1988, had the tradition of granting money to "phantom" (as in fake) groups. A source explained it gave the speaker "a stash of cash with which to thank or pay off politically important allies or cooperative council members." more ›

Translation: "This building is not as big and ugly as we'd like it to be." more ›

An effort to get more fresh fruit and vegetables into the hands of poorer and allegedly under-served communities is being fought today by bodega and supermarket owners, who feel that a proposed 1,500 new street vendor licenses will cut into their business. Backers of the new licenses include City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg, who cooperated in introducing the "Green Cart" plan, which will issue licenses to vendors who commit to serving fresh fruit and vegetables in poorer communities. more ›

In her State of the City address, City Council Speaker Quinn said that the Council would do its own belt-tightening given expectations the economy will slow. Still, she mentioned, per the Sun, "tax cuts, improved transportation, more pay for teachers, and affordable housing," saying, "Getting leaner does not have to mean getting meaner." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an injured police officer at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn, a gas leak on South 8th St. and Wythe Ave. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery at the North Fork branch on 87th St. and Broadway in Manhattan.
  
• The FDNY will be stationing a battalion chief at the Deutsche Bank building until it is fully dismantled.
  
• Someone in the Clinton campaign said that there's a 5% chance that in the event of a deadlock between Obama and Clinton at the Democrats' national convention, Al Gore may arise as a compromise candidate.
  
• Plans for a Veselka on the Bowery may be on the rocks, as a liquor license for the Avalon building location looks unlikely.
  
• The 69-year-old man, who was killed after being sideswiped by a cab and then run over by a bus on West 57th St. yesterday, was on his way to deliver candy to Oprah's best pal Gayle King.
  
• A 500 lb. man is suing the FDNY for $5 million after ten firefighters, who were trying to take him to the hospital using a pulley-and-platform rig to get the man out the building, dropped him down a flight of stairs.
  
• Patty Hearst's French bulldog won Best of Opposite Sex in the breed's category (a male won Best of Breed) at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
  
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn proposed a citywide network of water-borne mass transit, where boats could ferry New Yorkers from stop to stop all over the city's five boroughs.
  

After a year of widely publicized construction site deaths, New York City's Buildings Dept. is working to tighten up some work rules that may have fallen by the wayside or are no longer sufficient. DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster wants new rules and a strengthening of the enforcement of work licenses for contractors and concrete operators. more ›

Several hundred people, including Gothamist, gathered at the Staten Island Zoo early this morning to hear a well-fed rodent's forecast for the remainder of the winter. After the Tottenville High School chorus entertained the crowd local dignitaries and elected officials were introduced. Then, the moment everyone was waiting for. A Brownie troop member was enlisted to coax Staten Island Chuck out of his house with the aid of a few peanuts. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg presented the preliminary 2008-2009 fiscal year budget which inclued cuts to almost every city agency, saying, "Everyone is going to have to tighten their belts." One big reason is the slowing economy and its effects on the city; for instance, the city had previously thought Wall Street profits would be $16.8 billion last year but they are more likely to be $2.8 billion. more ›

Take a good, long look New York: You could be staring into the squinty eyes of your future mayor. (Yes, the white dude on the right.) Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who describes himself as “somewhat comical” [emphasis added] is on the verge of announcing his candidacy for mayor. Fuhgeddaboutit? more ›

Not everyone got an over-hyped "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" when it hit Whole Foods last year, so the powers that be had to step in and put an end to the bag's nemesis: The Plastic Bag! more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is seeking the dismissal of a civil suit against her filed by Council Member Charles Barron's former chief of staff Viola Plummer. Quinn gave Plummer the boot when the councilman's aide refused to sign a pledge to compose herself while the City Council was in session. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn have announced a plan to issue 1,500 new permits to vendors who commit to selling fresh fruits and vegetables from carts in low-income neighborhoods. The “Green Cart” plan, expected to be approved by the City Council, comes on the heels of a Health Department study comparing Harlem to the Upper East Side; it determined that supermarkets in Harlem are 30% less common than the UES, and that only 3% of Harlem bodegas carry leafy green vegetables, compared to 20% on the UES. The UES also has better sushi, but that disparity remains unacknowledged in Bloomberg's plan. more ›

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. more ›

Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying... more ›

After City Council member Simcha Felder announced he would propose legislation to ban feeding pigeons, bird lovers joined forces and, yesterday, held a rally at City Hall. Armed with posters like "Save Our Right to Feed Wildlife," "Have U Known Anybody Killed by a Pigeon?", "Pigeons are Beautiful Birds," and "Felder's Pigeon Bill is Poop!", the pro-pigeon protesters spoke out for their feathered friends. One demonstrator told City Room, "We are voices for the... more ›

Today is a citywide "Day Out Against Hate." City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Reverend Al Sharpton have spearheaded the event, which was prompted by a number of disturbing hate crime incidents, from swastikas in Brooklyn Heights to a noose found at the Columbia University campus. The Politicker was at one of the events this morning, where Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz "suggested, rather strongly, that city public school students be required to make... more ›

City Councilman Simcha Felder's proposed legislation to fine people $1,000 for feeding pigeons has struck a nerve. Felder and other elected officials claim that pigeons' poop is harmful to New Yorkers and, therefore, various ways to limit pigeons' eating and procreating should be explored. But some pigeon lovers are unhappy with the level of vitriol directed at the city's unofficial bird. Hence the video from Animaniacs, "Goodfeathers" (it's 10 minutes, so settle in to... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A police impersonation on Ocean Parkway and Quentin in Brooklyn, a car vs. Pathmark at 107th Avenue at 105th Street in Queens, and an evidence search at 13 East 12th Street.
• The new report cards for public schools may mean principals will be fired and schools closed.
• A stop work order didn't stop a construction crew from tearing up the building where Gertel's once stood on Hester Street.
• Giuliani sticks up for his pal, embattled former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik: "if I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape."
• A Rockland County church isn't very forgiving to the homeless man who broke in to call sex hotlines.
• Speaking of sex, the National Organization for Women's NYC chapter succeeding in getting New York magazine to stop running sex ads in the back of the magazine. It was really convenient, since New York says they were thinking of getting rid of them some time anyway.
• Was the poker heist that left one player dead an inside job? The victim's friend thinks yes.
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn would prefer to reform the St. Patrick's Day Parade to tout inclusion, versus green beer.

Howard Beach residents are probably shaking their heads over reports of yet another allegedly racially motivated attack in their neighborhood. The police say that a group of white teenagers claims they were attacked by a group, who were made up of Hispanics and blacks. more ›

city agencies to imposed a hiring freeze for all areas (the exceptions are for essential public safety and health workers). more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn urged the State Assembly to pass a bill authorizing the marine transfer station at the Gansevoort Pier. The MTS, part of the city's Solid Waste Management Plan, would handle recyclable paper, metal, glass and plastic and would help to ease garbage truck traffic. Bloomberg said there would be "a disaster" if the plan doesn't pass. more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave a speech at an Association for a Better New York event yesterday that seemed to be a preview into Quinn's 2009 mayoral campaign. According to CityRoom, the speech "seemed to be steered toward showing Ms. Quinn to be a responsible, knowledgeable fiscal heavyweight who would be an effective watchdog of New York City’s financial health." more ›

Gotham Gazette has a fantastic analysis of what happens to the hundreds of City Council bills that have been introducedsince Christine Quinn become the City Council Speaker. The article points out many interesting things. For instance, out of the 622 bills introduced, 68% of them are never heard of again. About 15% do get hearings, but are never voted on, and only 17% actually pass to become bills. more ›

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York is sure going to be a doozey. He may have decided not to visit Ground Zero anymore, but his appearance at Columbia University, to participate in a World Leaders Forum, has many people upset. more ›