Results tagged “michaelgianaris”

Last week, Councilman-elect Dan Halloran (R-Bayside) narrowly defeated a Democratic candidate in one of the nation's most liberal cities. Now comes the hard part: explaining his religious beliefs to the press. For the past two decades, the cop-turned-lawyer has been a devout believer in Theodism, a pre-Christian faith rooted in Celtic and Germanic tribal religions. "Understanding my theology is a little difficult for mainstreamers," admits Halloran, who serves as the "First Atheling," or king, of a local tribe of 120 followers called New Normandy.

With Governor Paterson's sinking poll numbers, many suspect Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will run for governor in 2010. Which means the Attorney General position will be up for grabs. The NY Times counts nine possible candidates—three Republicans and six Democrats. What might hurt Paterson the most is that two of the Democrats are are in his cabinet! Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who ran against Cuomo in 2006 but dropped out before the primary, is apparently going to throw his hat in the ring again; he tells the Times, "Andrew Cuomo has been one of the best attorneys general in the state’s history, and I was honored to support his election in 2006. That said, whenever he moves on to better things, I would certainly be interested in following in his very large footsteps."

Last month, the Public Service Commission approved a 2010 Con Ed rate hike that would result in about a $6/month increase in a residential customer's bill. Now, the utility is asking for rate hikes in 2011 and 2012 because Con Ed doesn't think the first hike will do enough, given its rising costs. One plan calls for a hike of about $6.48/month for residential customers while another proposes a $8/month hike. This isn't sitting well with Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who says, "Just last month Con Ed was handed over $700 million in rate hikes, and already it has its hand out again. Con Ed fiddles while homes explode and blackouts and electrocutions become routine. This unaccountable monopoly does not deserve one cent in additional rate hikes until it reforms its practices and changes the way it does business."

State employees could be enjoying long weekends on a regular basis if state assemblyman Michael Gianaris (of airline passenger bill of rights fame) has his way. The Queens politician plans to introduce legislation that would require all state agencies providing "nonessential services" to change their working hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, instead of the current 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week. Gianaris says the change would save New York $30 million a year in building maintenance and transportation costs. (Education, transportation, public safety and hospital workers would be excluded, according to the Times.) Governor Paterson's office has yet to comment on the proposal, but Utah, which has a much smaller state workforce, is saving $3 million annually with four-day weeks. New York's budget deficit is expected to hit $15 billion this year.