Results tagged “citygovernment”

After the NY Times reported that Mayor Bloomberg had commissioned a poll which included questions about how voters felt about term limits, Bloomberg admitted he's interested in public service.

Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg speaking at the State of the City address by Mary Altaffer/AP

The Gotham Gazette has a fairly comprehensive overview of the unpleasant byproducts associated with densely populated living: garbage. The details are illuminating, 64,000 tons of weekly garbage that amounts to 7 billion pounds every year. The feature is an examination of the accumulation of daily decisions that New Yorkers make every day about the things they consume and dispose of. Paper, plastic, food waste, electronics, and other things we throw in the trash add up...

While no one is questioning the fiscal stability of New York City the way they were during the 1970s, municipal spending has nonetheless exploded during Mayor Bloomberg's five years in office, far in excess of anything his predecessors accomplished over the last three decades.

Yesterday, the city announced that cigarette smoking by construction workers most likely caused the seven-alarm fire at the under-demolition Deutsche Bank building that claimed the lives of two firefighters on August 18. FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said, "Smoking was engaged in throughout the building, and particularly on the 17th floor, where the fire originated."

The Office of Emergency Management would like to remind you that for the next three days, New York City will be grosser than usual, with the heat index tipping 90 every day. But the professionals at OEM are on the case with such well-researched tips as,"Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing" and "Use an air conditioner if you have one." What would we do without our City government?

The saga of the issuance of Official New York license plates to people, businesses, and groups that are not a part of the government continues. Yesterday, the Daily News followed up with a story about how the New York Public Library received several sets of the plates for its vehicles. In case you didn't know, the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Borough Public Library are not a part of the city government, but instead are all private nonprofit corporations that get funding from the federal, state and city governments unlike some other libraries in the state which are directly part of local government. And of course the News mentioned they found vehicles with the Official plates parked illegally and free of parking tickets.

The city's Water Board approved to raise the water and sewer rates starting in July. The rate hike, which AMNY calls the biggest increase in 15 years, means that an average household's water bill will go from $623 to $700 annually. The water board says that the new $700 average water rate is still below the national average (apparently Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Atlanta have average rates of over $1000 a year) and that the money is needed for mandated improvements to the water system.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a residential hi-rise fire on 10th Ave. in Manhattan, a double shooting on Beach Channel Drive in Queens, and a transformer fire at Barbey St. and Pitkin Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Entergy was fined $130,000 for not installing a warning siren system at its Indian Point facility by a required deadline. That would be the nuclear power plant that just had its safety rating downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• The City Council distributed a memo reminding workers that even though Casual Fridays were in effect, flip-flops, shorts, and other too-casual clothing items are inappropriate for city government.
• A mugging by an 11-year-old who wanted another child's change after he bought candy ended with the victim's skull impaled with a stick. He survived, but is expected to leave the hospital for a nursing home.
• The niece of Tom Carvel, the man who brought us Fudgie the Whale, is claiming that he was murdered with poison and wants his body exhumed so an autopsy can be performed. We never trusted Cookie Puss.
• A gravedigger in Yonkers noticed four black bags in a freshly dug grave he had recently prepared. The bags each contained one smoked fish and pictures of unidentified people. Police are investigating but the bags' meaning is yet to be determined.
• The city medical examiner ruled that the jump rope-involved death of five-year-old Monet/Monique Flugham was an accident.
• The shutterbug photographer who caught American Idol lingerer Sanjaya hobnobbing with Gov. Spitzer––or is it the other way around?––is none other than Valerie Bertinelli!
• The case of NYC vs. Deadbeat Diplomats is being heard in the Supreme Court this week.

In yet another sign that the state and city government want big business at the redeveloping area near the World Trade Center, the NY Times reports that JPMorgan Chase is "in negotiations...to build a 1.3 million-square foot skyscraper." And not only would thousands of employees move from Midtown (277 Park Ave.; the bank would keep 270 Park), the skyscraper would be at 130 Liberty St. - where the toxic Deutsche Building is being dismantled.

Chase wants a hefty incentive package, or subsidy, to build the 50-story tower on the site of the Deutsche Bank building, the officials said. The building would have to cantilever over a planned park along Liberty Street to accommodate large trading floors, and that could stir community opposition.

Continue reading "JP Morgan Chase May Head Near Ground Zero"

over the past two years. And not only is he suing them for $1 million, Kemp wants the four to stay at least 100 feet away from his store.

Spinners at SGoralnick's Most Well Documented Party Ever.

Congress is all about fraud stemming from September 11 relief efforts this week. A House oversight subcommittee has been discussing a number of programs which people not eligible for relief were able to apply for - and get relief. Sound familiar? Yes, it's just like what happened this past year after Hurricane Katrina. One notable example would be a program that gave people the option to buy new air conditioners, since their old ones would have been affected by the Ground Zero dust. Except many people who got money didn't even live near Ground Zero or even lived in apartments with central air! The AC program was budgeted at $15 million, but went to $100 million because of the many applications. With these hearings, and testimony from the Inspector General of Homeland Security, the House hopes not to repeat problems seen after September 11 and Hurricane Katrina; we hope problems leading up to those events won't be repeated either.

Monitoring the city's job postings can pay off! Luckily, Streetsblog has been doing just that and pieces together how the city is serious about developing "comprehensive transportation and land use strategy for New York City."

The first signal came at the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's second term when DOT Commissioner Iris Weinhall was knocked one rung down the Administration's org chart. She is now reporting directly to Doctoroff.

Continue reading "Planning Has to Start Somewhere"

The Post reports that the Lover Manhattan website is all zinged up for "morale-boosting" and "updates" on Ground Zero-area construction. Those "This is 2010. It's Happening Now" posters are all part of the a campaign "aimed at giving residents and workers in lower Manhattan real-time information about the $20 billion in construction projects that will be ramping up this summer." So for four years, you can get served up the government's spin on what's happening. What we're impressed by is how the state and city government is commited to 2010 as a hard date. Given all back-and-forth, 2015 seems more likely.

But a schedule does not mean things will happen the right way. NY State officials and the private developers have agreed to project's schedule, which means construction will start this fall, in anticipation of a 2012 opening. However, not all the i's are dotted, as there still needs to be formal approval from Albany. And then there's that whole thing about whether or not Madison Square Garden will move in the Farley Post Office space as well. amNew York lists "who's paying what" for the project, and the breakdown is thus:

In all the excitement of a three-day weekend we plum forgot that this past Friday was the last Friday of the month. And you know what that means don't you? Time for the police to go out and give tickets willy-nilly to every other person they see on a bicycle. Mike over at Bike Blog wasn't able to attend this months Critical Mass either, but he still managed to pull together a report on this months ride, and it looks like it was one of the worst ones yet. A few choice bits:

City government has never been sexier, as Standard & Poor's have given NYC an A+ to the city's debt rating, which is its best ever! So what does that mean? Public finance expert Dall W. Forsythe explains to the Times that the city can borrow at lower interest rates, more people will be willing to city bonds. And the Independent Budget Office points out to the NY Sun, "The lower your debt service costs, the less a drag it is on your other expenditures" (the city paid $4.6 billion in debt service last year). Yeah, a thrill-a-minute, but we wouldn't expect less from our billionaire mayor, because if there's one thing he knows about, it's money (give or take some issues about how to allocate it): He also told the Citizens Budget Commission that the rating "give me a smile on my face every once in a while."

Tacky city government! Tacky!

This past weekend saw a tradition that involves the Mayor dressing up in chainmail and belittling his various policies and efforts: The annual press corps spoofing of the city government. Last year, the Mayor skipped the follies because of Pope John Paul's death, but this year, he donned an outfit from Monty Python's Spamalot to sing "Spendalot," an ode to his super expensive campaign, and according to Newsday, he was "shimmying and kicking like a bad Rockette dancer." Boy, Gothamist isn't sure if we're glad or sad that we didn't see it! We do appreciate the fact that the Mayor didn't go in drag, because we still have nightmares from Rudy Giuliani's trowel-like application of foundation. The Politicker gives some extra details that weren't in the papers including how Bloomberg's girlfriend Diana Taylor and Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris sang Landslide and the Mayor made fun of NY1 and the NY Sun.

This morning's NY Times article about some very high-ranking city officials who get a salary AND pension at the same time from the city's payroll is fascinating. For a mayor who wants to limit pensions and benefits for other unions, Mayor Bloomberg has made a point of requesting special waivers for certain retired city workers to draw pensions as they return to the city workforce, and the Times's opening is hilarious:

One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's first acts on starting his second term was to write a letter to personnel officials asking that his correction commissioner, Martin F. Horn, be allowed to collect a pension along with his $178,200 salary.

Continue reading "Double Dipping In the City's Chip Bowl"

"New York might need an extra million or so slices of cake for its 400th birthday party in 2025."

Yesterday we mentioned the big Times Up memorial rally that was going on yesterday-- JibbaJabba already has some pictures up on Flickr. BikeBlog wrote:

- 175,000 calls have come into 311 since midnightIs everyone ready for the fun commute home yet? Are your bosses letting you off early so you don't have to walk until 9?

- Is the NYC planning department so desperate for World Trade Center planners that they're using craiglist to look for potential candidates? Like, isn't this the kind of job that requires a headhunter? Nevermind...we'll never figure out city government

Jonathan Mandell & Mark Berkey-Gerard, Gotham Gazette

The Campaign Finance Board's records show that Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields has not reimbursed her government drivers for driving her to campaign events. Newsday points out that Fields hasn't "paid for gas or parking used during those appearances" and that in the past week, only two of her many events were job-related. Fields' campaign manager, Chung Seto, claims that the drivers/city will be reimbursed, but she doesn't know why it's taking so long. Just like she didn't know why the flyer was Photoshopped, eh? Actually, the practice of using a city government car for campaign events is common, as long as the city is reimbursed is common (City Council Speaker had his police detail drive him around). Congressman Anthony Weiner's campaign took the opportunity to say that while he has a congressional car, Weiner uses his own hybrid car to get to campaign events.

Right now, the legal party for Marc Ecko's Getting Up video game is getting underway on West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Animal magazine's Bucky Turco sent a photograph that shows the subway car replicas up ready to be vandalized...just kidding, City Government alarmists - the subway car facades are ready to be decorated by many graffiti artists. We're sending someone to check out the scene, but if you happen to head there, let us know what it's like.