Results tagged “ronaldlauder”

The speculation on how the City Council members will vote on extending term limits will end on Thursday, because the Council will vote on the matter then. NY1 relays its latest tally of support: 17 for extending term limits, 21 against, and 13 undecided (the measure needs 26 votes to pass).

A week after Speaker Christine Quinn said that the Council doesn't typically write in any "Lauder" options into its legislation, critics are saying that Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to extend term limits has done just that. The mayor's proposal introduced Tuesday has been amended to explicitly say that the law will revert back to two terms if voters come out in favor of the current law in a 2010 referendum. Lauder, the most vocal backer of term limits, only wants to see the law changed in order to keep Bloomberg around amidst the current financial crisis. While Speaker Quinn defends the amendment as necessary to assure that "this legislation would be superceded by a revision to the Charter," many see it as another sign of the fellow billionaires being in cahoots to skirt the will of voters. Bloomberg responded to critics of the term limit extension on his radio show yesterday saying, "I find it fascinating, those who are arguing against, argue against it because they will have competition that they don't want."

Billionaire term limits proponent Ronald Lauder (pictured, far right) confirmed his support for Mayor Bloomberg's and the City Council's legislation to add another term to term limits--and expressed his hope it would be overturned after (presumably) Bloomberg was re-elected. Lauder told the NY Times that he believes term limits will go back to two after a voter referendum in 2010, "To me, this is a temporary solution."

Yesterday, the City Council introduced the bill that would permanently extend term limits from two terms to three. The Daily News spoke to "opponents of the bill" who says the legislation is "being rushed through"--and may come up for a vote in two weeks. A source confirms to the Post, "They're really fast-tracking it because of the mounting opposition."

Today, the NY Times reports that billionaire Ronald Lauder opposes Mayor Bloomberg's and the City Council's plan for legislation to permanently extend term limits from two four-year terms to three four-year terms. But the NY Post reports\ that Lauder, who help fund the initiatives to introduce term limits in the first place, made a deal with Bloomberg where Lauder would "support legislation...in exchange for a guaranteed seat on a Charter-revision commission."

Any third term aspirations Mayor Bloomberg has got a vote of confidence from fellow billionaire Ronald Lauder--who funded the previous campaigns to implement term limits. Lauder told the Post, "I've been reading that Mayor Bloomberg might be interested in serving a third term. Because of the unprecedented times, this is welcome news. To me, Mayor Bloomberg's brilliance in the financial sector, particularly Wall Street, would be invaluable."

People Have Spoken Coalition, a collection of politicians and community leaders, gathered in front of City Hall yesterday to show their support for term limit laws as the City Council inches closer to an attempt at overturning them. The group is prepared to organize rallies and potentially take legal action in order to protect term limits, which have been voted on twice by New Yorkers. At the gathering, state senator Eric Adams said, "The city will not die without Bloomberg." Elsewhere over the weekend, TV ads financed billionaire Ronald Lauder in favor of term limits began airing. In one, he compares politicians to diapers that need to be changed regularly. While the ads attack the City Council who Lauder calls "a widespread disaster," they do not address Lauder's friend Mayor Bloomberg, the central figure in the term limits debate.

At this point, the next chapter in the saga of whether Mayor Bloomberg and City Council will make a play to extend term limits is waiting to be written by whichever of the two parties will officially pull the trigger and begin the process. Yesterday on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg hinted again that he would sign a proposal to extend the current limits for both him and the Council themselves, but refused to commit saying, "I never speculate on what I'll do until I see a piece of legislation." Council members, meanwhile seem to be reticent to draft a bill until they officially know Bloomberg's official stance. "I don't think we're going to send him a bill until we know where he stands," Councilman Lew Fidler said.

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."

In a city whose mayor has made gun control one of his signature issues, it's no surprise that the number of registered gun owners has gone down. The Post reports that there are now 36,169, versus 38,000 last year. Permits that allow one to wear a gun on a holster (concealed) also dropped to 2,555, which the Sun says is almost 50% less than the 2004 number. Of course, there's now way to estimate illegal gun ownership.

What does a $135 million Klimt buy you? The ability to charge $50 for admission to see it, apparently. The Neue Galerie, the tiny, gorgeous Fifth Avenue museum, received the $135 million painting as a gift from Ronald Lauder, and has been earning rave reviews from critics for the gilded Klimt painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer I. And now, it is putting a $50 price tag on the chance to see her on the gallery's usual closed day - Wednesday, as it rides a publicity wave. The Neue explained the price hike using the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which announced it was raising the suggested general admission to $20 last week, as an example, noting the Met's $50 admission on Mondays for special exhibits. We're trying to think of people who would pay $50 on Wednesday while they could pay $15 on other days, but we suppose those people might be scholars, tourists with a Klimt hankering, and those who can use a write-off.

- And former Mayor Koch met some advertising icons in Times Square today, all for Advertising Week... will Mayor Dinkins be meeting members of the Justice League next?