When it comes to elections most people are focused on the biggie this November. But not New York City pols! They're already focused on next November when Gracie Mansion, long left vacant by Mike Bloomberg, is once again up for grabs. And the early front runner is... still City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. more ›

The Mayor's office and City Council reached a $63 billion deal for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1. The City's press release is pretty pointed (italics are ours): "The plan balances the budget with no tax increases despite the assumption of a massive and disproportionate reduction in the amount of tax dollars the State returns to the City and the lingering impacts of the national recession. The City Council is expected to vote on the FY 2011 budget plan early next week, marking the ninth consecutive year Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council have enacted an on-time, balanced budget." more ›

The Catholic League is planning a protest at the Empire State Building, because the city's tallest skyscraper won't pay tribute to the late Mother Teresa! The group asked that the building lights be blue and white (the colors of her congregation) on the 100th anniversary of her birthday, August 26, but the building refused. more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn isn't sweating Councilman Charles Barron's announcement that he's running against her for Council Speaker. The Daily News reports that Quinn said, "I take all races seriously, but I am very, very optimistic that I will be reelected in January as speaker of the City Council." more ›

While minorities are the new majority in the City Council, the Daily News' Adam Lisberg believes Speaker Christine Quinn will keep her leadership position: "When Quinn gave her late and grudging endorsement to city Controller William Thompson's mayoral campaign, reporters went running to [Councilwoman Letitia] James for what was sure to be an incendiary quote - but heard her praise Quinn instead. 'An endorsement is an endorsement,' James said." Apparently James and other Council members realize they should "cut deals with Quinn, because the speaker isn't going anywhere" and the "members who had seen their names floated as potential speakers are now talking with Quinn about getting leadership roles or powerful committees." As for Charles Barron's shot at being speaker, it's suspected he'll just get one vote. more ›

According to Runnin' Scared, City Councilman Charles Barron is considering challenging Christine Quinn to be Speaker, saying, "I would be an excellent speaker...We need someone to be a check on the Mayor, not a deputy mayor." He noted that the Speaker and Council chairs for the finance and land committees are white, so if a non-white Council member doesn't throw her or his hat into the ring against Quinn, he will. He added, "You only need 26 votes. There's an African American leader in the Bronx, 8 council votes in the Bronx, an African American county leader, with 10 council votes in Manhattan. And in Brooklyn a lot of us are. So even if you don't have all of those on board, they could pick the next speaker. I think we could do it if we could stick together." more ›

Earlier today, City Council Speaker Christine endorsed Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor, saying, "I think one of my important points about term limits was that it was important for people to have choice and option. I believe Bill Thompson’s been a good comptroller. I think he would be a good mayor and I think it’s very important that the Democrats are united.” Quinn is, of course, close with Mayor Bloomberg and CityRoom reports that Quinn's endorsement was delayed " as payback for Ms. Quinn’s failure to support Mr. Thompson over the last year," even after he clinched the nomination. more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council agreed on a $59.4 billion budget for the 2010 fiscal year. Besides agreeing on a 0.5% sales tax increase, the city will trim 2,000 (or 1,000) jobs, allow 16 firehouses to remain open, keep libraries open 6 days a week, and "spare 100 animals from being shipped out of the Bronx Zoo." The NY Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker hoped that the economy would perk up so next year's budget won't be as severe, but the Mayor added, "If our economy continues to stall, this may not be the last word on this year’s budget." more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will be giving her State of the City address at noon today. NY1, which will be carrying the speech, reports that she'll be discussing taxes: "The Speaker will propose eliminating personal income taxes for low and moderate income households that don't pay state or federal income taxes. Quinn also plans to propose a tax increase on New Yorkers earning more than $300,000 a year." She will voice her opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to raise the sales tax. It's unclear how much this speech is costing; last year, the Daily News found Quinn paid $12,000 to an outside consultant to write the speech (at the time, her spokesperson said it was common for elected officials to hire speechwriters, because it allows them and their staffs to focus on their work). more ›

City Council Christine Quinn joined a protest over a plan to restructure senior centers. Given how Quinn put her political future on the line by supporting the term limits extension, PolitickerNY's Azi Paybarah asked her "what she’d say to critics who’d see this protest more for its symbolism--to separate herself from Bloomberg--than for its substance," to which Quinn said, "If I had worn closed-toed shoes, you would have said that was a desire to have a tougher shoe so I could kick somebody in the tuchas, to seem tough." Still Fordham professor Bruce Berg tells the Times, "She has to demonstrate to the 22 who voted against term limits that she can lead independently from the mayor. What she’s doing is as much for internal consumption for the Council as it is for the mayor and the press." more ›

With all of the headlines going to the plethora of angles to come out of the big Election Night fallout, Mayor Bloomberg took the opportunity yesterday to drop a bombshell on us: personal income taxes for city residents could be going up as much as 15%. That idea came out of the mayor's press conference yesterday addressing the grim state of the city economy where he also revealed that the previously promised $400 tax rebate would no longer be happening. That's a move that even #1 Bloomberg ally Speaker Quinn said she was troubled by. more ›

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! more ›

With the City Council's budget practices coming under fire as the slush fund scandal continues to simmer, Speaker Christine Quinn introduced new, tougher rules to reign in discretionary funds. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg was beaming when he, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other City Council members gathered for a press conference to hail the Council's approval of congestion pricing last night, 30 votes in favor to 20 against. Bloomberg, who introduced the idea of charging drivers entering Manhattan (at 60th street or below) a fee, said, "The sun is shining on New York City's future today." more ›

In her State of the City address, City Council Speaker Quinn said that the Council would do its own belt-tightening given expectations the economy will slow. Still, she mentioned, per the Sun, "tax cuts, improved transportation, more pay for teachers, and affordable housing," saying, "Getting leaner does not have to mean getting meaner." more ›

Several hundred people, including Gothamist, gathered at the Staten Island Zoo early this morning to hear a well-fed rodent's forecast for the remainder of the winter. After the Tottenville High School chorus entertained the crowd local dignitaries and elected officials were introduced. Then, the moment everyone was waiting for. A Brownie troop member was enlisted to coax Staten Island Chuck out of his house with the aid of a few peanuts. more ›

Today is a citywide "Day Out Against Hate." City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Reverend Al Sharpton have spearheaded the event, which was prompted by a number of disturbing hate crime incidents, from swastikas in Brooklyn Heights to a noose found at the Columbia University campus. The Politicker was at one of the events this morning, where Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz "suggested, rather strongly, that city public school students be required to make... more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn urged the State Assembly to pass a bill authorizing the marine transfer station at the Gansevoort Pier. The MTS, part of the city's Solid Waste Management Plan, would handle recyclable paper, metal, glass and plastic and would help to ease garbage truck traffic. Bloomberg said there would be "a disaster" if the plan doesn't pass. more ›

Gotham Gazette has a fantastic analysis of what happens to the hundreds of City Council bills that have been introducedsince Christine Quinn become the City Council Speaker. The article points out many interesting things. For instance, out of the 622 bills introduced, 68% of them are never heard of again. About 15% do get hearings, but are never voted on, and only 17% actually pass to become bills. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Klein, City Council Speaker Quinn, and other city and school officials celebrated the first day of school yesterday with an appearance at P.S. 53 in the Bronx. P.S. 53 was selected because it will be receiving almost a half million dollars more in funding, due to Bloomberg's "fair student funding reforms." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg may be staunchly denying that he's running for president next year, but given the love New Yorkers seem to have for him, you can't blame him for high hopes. The latest Quinnipiac Poll says Bloomberg's approval rating is at 70%. This is down from his possible all-time approval ratings high of 75% at the start of the year, but it's still very high (back in 2003, his approval rating was around 33%). more ›

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city Buildings Department." The News also has an editorial saying that Spitzer must take charge (he "has the muscle to crack heads among the contractors and federal, state and city agencies that have made a perilous hash of the job"). more ›

It's the countdown to the final meeting determining increases for rent stabilized apartments coming next week. City Comptroller William Thompson issued a letter asking the Rent Guidelines Board to either raise stabilized rents by the minimum or not to raise them at all, given last week's announced homeowner tax rebates and property tax cuts. Thompson's letter (here's a PDF) notes that the city has not kept up stock for low- and moderate-income housing and that one third of city residents devote at least half their income to rent. more ›

Despite having been defeated in a City Council vote, where his chief of staff heckled Council Speaker Christine Quinn and threatened a black councilman with assassination, Councilman Charles Barron renamed a street in Brooklyn "Sonny Abubadika Carson Avenue" anyway, declaring that the renaming "is official whether they [presumably the city] take that sign down or not." Sonny Carson's name was struck from a list of people who would get honorary street signs earlier this spring. Council Speaker Quinn felt he was too divisive a figure in the city's history. This sparked a City Hall battle that frayed nerves and invoked additional police protection. more ›

As if the whole failed Sonny Carson street naming proposal brouhaha needed more wackiness! Today, The New York Sun takes a look at City Councilman Charles Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer. During the Sonny Carson street naming debate, Plummer heckled City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and later threatened an assassination "on" another member, Leroy Comrie, who abstained from voting. Barron had laughed the incident off as political squabbling between political opponents, but one couldn't help be reminded of the assassination of Brooklyn Councilman James Davis in 1994 more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn struck Sonny Carson's name from a list of of New Yorkers to be honored with a street named after them because she thought the political activist was too divisive a figure. Carson was a proponent of black economic empowerment and was distemperate in his views of other New York groups (e.g., whites, Jews, Koreans). Councilman Charles Barron, who shares Carson's past as a radical activist, thought Carson's exclusion from the list was more divisive than anything Carson had ever done, and indeed, voting on an amendment Wednesday to re-add his name split almost entirely down racial lines and the session was extremely acrimonious. more ›

Yesterday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Immediately, politicians weighed in with their reactions, including two notable presidential wannabes from our area. Senator Hillary Clinton calling it a "dramatic departure from Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose" while former mayor Rudy Giuliani said the Supreme court came to the "correct conclusion." Which the Daily News points out is a reversal from his 2000 position, when he opposed a partial-birth abortion ban. more ›

It was a good time to be a bill at City Hall this week as Council Members introduced stacks of legislation concerned with how we eat, speak, and party(bike) in the city. more ›