Results tagged “mayorjohnlindsay”

Mayor Bloomberg has made a big deal out of municipal belt tightening--stressing that the flush budgetary times funded by Wall St. bonuses and record real estate transaction fees can not last forever. Earlier this year, the mayor sent out a memo to the heads of city agencies that emphasized that flush times should not be taken for granted:

As you are aware, the City's economy depends in no small measure on the profitability and success of Wall Street and the financial services industry. Recent events in the financial markets are, therefore, a subject of deep concern. Capital market losses mean fewer tax revenues for our budget and fiscal plan. A slower real estate market means fewer transaction tax revenues – again, hurting our bottom line.

Now The New York Times is reporting that the deals the Mayor has made with city unions may have hamstrung city budgets long after the billionaire politician has left office. Basically, these generous pay raises to unions including the police sergeants', sanitation workers', and police detectives, will lead to "expenses that stand to outpace revenue, especially toward the end of the city’s four-year spending plan."

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.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 101st Ave. in Queens, a boat in distress at the Gateway Marina off Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and an "unusual occurrence" on Wall St. in Manhattan.
• Brownstoner notes the arduous bureaucratic effort to get DUMBO landmarked, and developers' rush to build before that can happen.
• The NYPD is initiating TOMS––Total Order Maintenance Sweeps––aboard Metro-North and LIRR trains to deter terrorists commuting from the suburbs, after examining the methods employed in places like Spain and London.
• A 17-year-old kid was shot once in the head and once in the chest in an East Harlem KFC last night. He was declared dead at the hospital.
• A short film showing the anonymous street artist known as Banksy installing his own works inside the Metropolitan Museum, along with identifying placards.
• An upstate teenager from Brewster would've been working double duty with his fake ID if he had one, because the 15-year-old was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and driving.
• Ironically, the itinerant Madison Square Garden that destroyed Penn Station (the good one), could wind up ruining the proposed Moynihan Station at the Farley Post Office building as well.
• Republicans hope to regain an Upper East Side seat, once held by liberal Republican and former Mayor John Lindsay but since surrendered to Democrats, in a special election tomorrow.

Photo of performance at Grand Army Plaza, from amg2000 at flickr

With the MTA and the transit workers union still in contract negotiations, every day without an agreement is another day for the media to help us freak out about the possibility of a strike. The NY Times details what is at stake for both parties. Basically, the MTA wants "flexibility in work assignments, tighter sick leave rules and less substantial health care and pension benefits for future employees". Flexibility as in being able to combine the jobs of train operator and conductor into one (hello, OPTO!) and the former token booth workers to "answer questions - to dust and wipe down the booths, empty trash cans and do other 'cleaning functions' around MetroCard vending machines; tighter sick leave as in halving sick days to six per year; less health care and pension benefits as in new employees paying new premiums and only getting benefits at 62 (versus the current 55). The transit union's main concern seems to be getting higher wages that will offset inflation - and not accepting the MTA's new demands. There seems to be some unhappiness with the president of the Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, Roger Touissant, over the last contract negotation in 2002 (wage freeze the first year of the three year contract), so if he concedes too much this time around, he may be out in the next union election.

And today, the Daily News has an exclusive about the police trying to tell the homeless to move away from Madison Square Garden because homelessness = scary to convetioneers and national TV crews, just as the NY Times looks at a draft of the city's new policy on homelessness that may eliminate some from entering the shelter system. Sigh.