Results tagged “cityhall”

With Mayor Bloomberg asking for $1.750 billion in budget cuts from agencies for this year and next, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler tells the Post, "It is serious, and it's serious for every agency," and didn't rule layoffs out, "So whether it's attrition or layoffs, some sort of personnel savings is going to be necessary in order to close the $5 billion deficit. It is hard to balance a budget of that size without dealing with the size of the city." The Citizens Budget Commission's Charles Brecher said, "In some ways, it's reassuring that they're at least, at the city level, facing up to the magnitude of the problem we have. We didn't have this discussion during the [mayoral] campaign."

Last week the Public Art Fund’s new exhibition at City Hall Park (Peter Coffin’s Untitled Sculpture Silhouettes), was unveiled. Currently you'll be able to find 13 monumental silhouettes of iconic artworks around the park (and miniature versions inside City Hall's lobby), including variations on Rodin’s The Thinker, Picasso’s She Goat, Michelangelo’s David, and one of Sol LeWitt’s Incomplete Open Cubes.

You may recall that State Senator Pedro Espada's son Alejandro—not the one who got hired by the Senate and then quickly quit, a different one—pleaded guilty to harassment against 76-year-old blogger Rafael Martínez-Alequin at a campaign rally last September. According to Martínez-Alequin, several people, including Alejandro, began shoving him and trying to grab his camera as he approached Espada with questions. Here's video, which shows the infamous Bronxchester Senator smugly telling Martínez-Alequin, "He's trying to teach you manners papa. He's trying to teach you manners." Alejandro was charged with harassment and criminal mischief for (allegedly) pushing Martinez-Alequin and breaking his camera, but he struck a plea bargain, pleading guilty to second-degree harassment and agreeing to pay $432 for the camera. Anyway, Alejandro was supposed to be sentenced yesterday, but that never happened because the judge was absent. So Martínez-Alequin didn't get to read his contemptuous victim's-impact statement, which calls the Senator "a common street thug. It is most unfortunate that a politician can resort to thuggish tactics and not be held fully accountable. Senator Espada encouraged his son to assault a defenseless 76-year-old man." Somebody sure needs a lesson in manners, among other things.

With polls recently citing that half of the city is annoyed by Mayor Bloomberg's reelection ads, the billionaire mayor decided to call in some star power for his latest video. Appearing to have not learned any lessons taught to him by his character in , look who showed up all alone to meet up with Mayor Mike along the waterfront.

The Parks Department says it's not trying to replace its well-paid union workers with a fleet of efficient, obedient, tireless robot lawnmowers, but why has a new Husqvarna Automower been busy cutting the grass at City Hall? Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe tells the Daily News, "It's on loan from the manufacturer for just a few weeks. We're trying it out to see how it works." At the same time, Benepe warns citizens, "If you see a strange machine coming toward you, it's a good idea to walk away from it." The environmentally friendly Automower 230 ACX, which retails for $2,699.95, gets an hour on a single charge and can send its master a text message when the work is done; it's also equipped with an upgraded anti-theft alarm and shuts off automatically if tampered with. It's currently operating under the watchful eye of City Hall security, and Benepe says it might be put to use elsewhere—but only when paid human workers can stand around and monitor it. Below, video of the Automower in action, but for our money we'd rather have a robot make pancakes.

The raccoon now known as Houdini—after escaping the cage his captors put him in yesterday—may have ended up being caught again, but the good news is he's still alive. The NY Post reports that the animal, who infiltrated City Hall, shows no signs of disease and "is scheduled to be released in a wooded area somewhere in the five boroughs." Phew! Mike Pastore of Animal Care & Control told NY1, "We get an animal like this, we're concerned for the public health aspect of it. We don't want somebody to encounter a raccoon coming across, so I'm glad that we were able to get him out the area." And just look how cute this 25-lb guy is! Guess all raccoons aren't foaming at the mouth.

It might be time to worry about a raccoon takeover of the city. Earlier today one of them outsmarted the humans, escaping their clutches after being caught on the roof of City Hall. 1010Wins reports back that "he quickly figured out his getaway—reaching up and bending back the top of the cage. He then got to the ground by climbing down some construction scaffolding on the back side of City Hall. He eluded animal control for more than half an hour as he crept along the bottom of the wall."

According to the NY Times, "For years, aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg routed hundreds of thousands of dollars in city money to at least two politically connected nonprofit groups in violation of government contracting rules, according to records and interviews." See, the mayor's office can only direct money (and in this instance, it was "$1.1 million to Agudath Israel of America Community Services and more than $400,000 to Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services" between 2002 and 2006) when it's requested by a city council member or borough president—but the city council member, who is indicated as the one who requested the funding in documents, says he never asked for the money! City Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) told the Times, "I did not ask for it," while a mayoral spokesman said, "We have no reason to think that the funding analysis contains any errors. And we disagree with the councilman’s recollection." Yet, the Times adds, "The mayor’s office said it had no documentation showing that Mr. Felder had made the requests." And an Agudeth executive said it also went to the mayor's office for help. Last year, the City Council slush fund mess prompted the mayor's office to open up about its own slush fund.

Time for some more crazy public art! This time around "British artist Richard Woods' wall and door and roof whimsically transforms various structural elements at City Hall. Cladding the property's two security booths with a printed facade of cartoon-like red bricks." In a press release from the Public Art Fund, Mayor Bloomberg is quoted as saying the project is “cute" and "part of what makes our cultural scene so vibrant. What better canvas for Richard Woods' 'wall and door and roof' than City Hall itself." But one officer told CityRoom, “It makes us look more visible. Like that’s what I want — more visibility.” Others thought it looked like Ronald McDonald, Candy Land and the North Pole. Like it or not, it's there through September!

     

Yesterday was tax day, and, as you no doubt know, "tea parties" were held across the nation to protest the current state of the union, which is going to hell because the Muslim terrorist president wasn't even born in America, as these insightful demonstrators know all too well. Last February, a modest group of New Yorkers held their first tea party at City Hall, but yesterday close to 2,000 tea-baggers (yes, ha) spilled out of the park and onto Broadway, eventually overwhelming the wide street on both sides. Tea bags were in short supply, but there were plenty of signs ("Washington: You have run out of our money!"), derision ("If it were a bunch of Democrats this would be unruly!"), and chanting (ranging from "USA!" to "Abolish the Fed!"), which at times drowned out the speakers .

Demonstrators putting together a display of baby dolls on the steps of City Hall yesterday in recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day struggled in their attempts to track down a balance of racially mixed dolls. The Times says that having a mix was important because about 90 percent of women living with HIV in New York City are black and Hispanic and an even higher percentage when it comes to new HIV infections in teenage females. But that wasn't easy to convey for members of the Gay Men's Health Crisis who helped organize it. One member said, “A few people who purchased dolls found it very hard to find brown or black baby dolls. I went to three 99-cent stores and couldn’t find any. Another colleague went to four stores. What is that about?” The paper points out that American Girl and Dora dolls (not to mention Homies) have gone a long way to diversifying what used to just include "Barbies dipped in color." Word is that Dora is about to get a sexy new makeover and there are now Sasha and Malia dolls—but not to be confused with the Obamas of course.

Some people irritated by the government's intervention in the economic crisis gathered at City Hall yesterday to throw a Taxpayer Tea Party. The NY Post reports that organizer Kellen Guida was "inspired to set up the rally after watching CNBC anchor Rick Santelli's scalding rebuke on Feb. 19 of Obama's $275 billion housing bailout last Wednesday." Guida said, "I know my basic economics, and know the stimulus package doesn't work. [Obama] is going to add more to the federal deficit in 20 months than Bush did in eight years." Hmm, maybe Guida doesn't believe in Keynesian economics! Daily Kos contributor stef went to the protest: "It was underwhelming, to say the least... They announced that the new battle would be not Democrats vs. Republicans but Capitalists vs. Socialists. They called for Revolution. They exhorted everyone to send tea bags to 'Nazi Pelosi.' Obama was variously described as a Socialist and a Marxist. They wore stickers that read JOKE with an Obama logo for the O. Most of them arrived via public transit."

The city has spent $12.3 million to spruce up its Marriage Bureau and move it out of its drab old home in the Municipal Building by City Hall, all in an attempt to compete with Vegas as "the wedding destination of the world." That necessitated hiring designer Jamie Drake, who handled Mayor Bloomberg’s Upper East Side town house, to transform an old DMV office up the street into a peach and lavender connubial oasis.

              

Yesterday afternoon, thousands of people gathered at City Hall to protest Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage. While there was a Prop 8 protest earlier this week outside the Manhattan Mormon Temple, yesterday's event was coordinated with many others across the nation and organized by Join the Impact.

While the term limits extension legislation was passed by the City Council last week, the public does have the chance to speak up when Mayor Bloomberg signs the bill on Monday. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum points out, "The voices mainly heard on this subject were elected officials and the newspapers themselves. Contrary to what some are saying, there was very little opportunity for public input or dialogue... That's why I urge New Yorkers to use their last chance on Monday to speak face to face with the mayor before he signs the term limits bill."

Shocking! After coming together to get the City Council to pass the term limits extension, now the NY Times reports there are tensions between City Council Speaker Quinn and aides to Mayor Bloomberg: "Feelings are raw between the two sides largely because Ms. Quinn took heavy political shrapnel for the mayor during the term limits battle as she rounded up support for what became an unusually difficult vote." In recent meetings that have "occasionally escalated into shouting," Quinn has been telling mayoral aides not to push for a property tax hike and a proposal for elderly program financing. And Mayor Bloomberg's calls to every City Council member to try to repair relations haven't been so smooth: Even term limits extension supporter Lew Fidler said, "I thought the phone call was going to be simply and purely, ‘Thanks for casting a tough vote.' I didn’t expect him to talk about the next tough vote." Ha! That's Bloomberg--Always Be Closing!

Quinn, an ally of Bloomberg's, had tried to play up the economic reality as a reason for term limits, "Our city, already in recession, is headed for a long and deep downturn. In challenging times like these, the voters should have the choice, the choice to continue their current leadership. They should have the right to vote for their current mayor or a new one, for their current City Council member or a new one."

The public hearings on term limits came to a close yesterday, but not before a second day rivaled the opening session with an equal amount of dramatic flar and fiery exchanges and even included a letter in support of the mayor's proposal from Robert DeNiro. At one point, the hearing's sergeant-at-arms was forced to eject a group of hecklers who showed up and interrupted the proceedings with a sign that read, "Bloomberg to Democracy: Drop Dead!"

After hours of testimony yesterday, the City Council is continuing its second day of public hearings about extending term limits today. The NY Post's City Hall bureau chief David Seifman wrote, "Yesterday's term-limits hearing at City Hall was filled with drama, a degree of intrigue, and the kind of public confrontations that haven't been seen since the gay-rights bill was debated in the 1980s. If it wasn't the greatest show on earth, it certainly qualified as the best political theater in town."

to extend term limits, why Bloomberg does support the California initiative against the incumbent-friendly redistricting, and the Mayor refused to comment on Hillary Clinton's term limits comments.

A photographer with the AP snapped this shot of a local entrepreneur prospecting for coins in the City Hall fountain. The Post has no details about how much the individual raked in, or how much hepatitis he picked up, but an NYPD spokesman says that, unlike Italy, it's actually perfectly legal to submerge oneself in the city's fountains to gather change and steal all the heartfelt wishes and prayers attached to them. And what about the maintenance workers who presumably use all the coins for a year-end pizza party? They have only themselves to blame for not diving in there sooner; this is NYC, baby. As E.B. White wrote, "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." Unidentified fountain dredger, we salute you!

As reports come in about Zimbabwean voters being threatened "into voting for Robert Mugabe's" party today, the NY Times' Clyde Haberman remembers when the controversial leader was welcomed at City Hall back in 2002. City Councilman Charles Barron, who hosted Mugabe, doesn't regret the invite and tells Haberman, "Does he do things that I disagree with? Yes," but then adds, "You didn’t care about black Africans when whites were killing them in Rhodesia." [Here's the Human Rights on Zimbabwe.]

This installment of NY1’s Today in New York City History aired ten years ago today (a Tuesday for those keeping score at home). Now thanks to someone randomly taping this back then and YouTube it is preserved in digital amber.

Since the heat is on the City Council's budget practices, specifically its use of slush funds and creating fake groups to collect money, Mayor Bloomberg released details about his own, uh, slush fund. Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler issued a memo noting reforms plus details of the Mayor's discretionary funds. Per the Daily Politics, it explained how "the mayor himself controls a pot of cash...for which Council members and borough presidents can apply during budget negotiations to direct to the nonprofit of their choice."

If you think a 66-year-old billionaire gets nervous about posing in trees for Time magazine's 100 influential people issue, think again!

The Daily News laments how, in spite of Mayor Bloomberg's promise to turn off lights in city buildings to conserve energy, many buildings are still glowing at all hours--even on Earth Day!

Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens) will be formally announcing his bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg this Sunday. Theories about likely candidates abound (e.g. Councilman John Liu, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly), but Avella is jumping to the head of the line by explicitly announcing his desire to be Mayor this Sunday at 1 p.m. on the steps of City Hall.

Plans to renovate and repair the City Council half of City Hall, which is divided between the Council and the Mayor's offices, are proving to be so complicated and expensive that the project has already been handed from one city agency to another and the cost estimates are ballooning. The Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services, which oversees City buildings, deferred to the Dept. of Design and Construction when it realized how complex the renovation of the more-than-two-centuries-old building was going to be.

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

Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, who has spent many months (if not years) hinting about his boss's presidential ambitions, is still stirring the pot of rumors. Last night on NY1's Inside City Hall, Sheekey, "promoted the idea of an Obama-Bloomberg presidential ticket."