Results tagged “thomasognibene”

Gothamist was reading our NYC Voter Guide for Manhattan when we noticed an unusual party in the profiles of the mayoral candidates: The Rent is Too Damn High party. Intriguing! We went to James McMillan's profile, and his answers (to the three questions posed to all candidates) were extremely on point. We're reprinting them here in the Voter Guide:

1. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE CITY YOU WOULD ADDRESS IF ELECTED? RENT Is Too Damn High there is nothing else to talk about. All poor people are being ran out of New York.

Continue reading "Rent is Too Damn High!"

Last night, two was the loneliest number, or that's what Fernando Ferrer and Thomas Ognibene would argue as they debated without Mayor Bloomberg. Granted, Mayor Bloomberg was busy getting on CNN and all the other channels by telling everyone that there was a subway terror threat but things are okay and he was riding the subway so don't you worry. Ferrer and Ognibene spent quite a bit of time blasting the Mayor for passing up the debate, calling him arrogant, which excited the crowd. And debate organizers thoughtfully left the middle podium empty, which was a nice way to balance the two debaters, versus putting them in podiums alphabetically, leaving an empty podium on the left. Among the things voters learned during the debate: Ferrer has smoked pot, while Ognibene hasn't; Ferrer thinks starting teacher pay should be more than starting cop pay while Ognibene disagrees; and they both think people should be allowed to drink coffee in the subway.

The first official Democratic candidate mayoral debate took place last night with all four candidates, including Congressman Anthony Weiner who had been passed a kidney stone earlier in the day. After that, we can only imagine the debate was a walk in the park! The NY Times has a transcript of the debate, but there's nothing like seeing City Council Speaker Gifford Miller get all pissy when asked if he would send his kids to public school (they attend private pre-K now). Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer tried to redirect criticism from himself to the Mayor, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields was the only candidate to eagerly say she wanted the Reverend Al Sharpton's endorsement, and Weiner came away with the best one-liners. All in the all, the debate was kind of boring, like the candidates themselves; the Observer's Ben Smith and Lizzy Ratner explain the problems with all the candiates, including Mayor B, in an article today called the "Aristo-Democrats," with the most frightening cartoon EVER.

Last night, the mayoral would-be candidates, sans Congressman Anthony Weiner (because of stuff in DC) and the Mayor (because he didn't want to), debated the issues on NY1 in the first televised forum. The big topic of the night was how the Mayor's education plans are still failing the city's kids as well as how security measures like bag checks are not very effective. Ooh, we can't wait for campaign caricatures that show "Bag Check Bloomby!" Like the Parks Mayoral Forum we attended earlier this week, Fernando Ferrer, Gifford Miller, C. Virginia Fields and the lone Republican, Thomas Ognibene, tried to establish their own distinct personalities. The NY Times pointed out that Ognibene attacked Bloomberg in "more personal terms", and we suspect that Ognibene is a dream for the Democrats, as their candidates don't have to get their hands too dirty with attacks.

Last night, Gothamist headed to the mayoral forum held by Parks 1, the non-profit that is working to make NYC's parks the number one in the nation by trying to get the city goverment to commit 1% of the city's budget to the parks. (You can sign the pledge here.) Four of the potential candidates appeared: Former Bronx Borough President Ferando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and former Queens City Councilman Thomas Ognibene. Congressman Anthony Weiner had agreed to come, but he was stuck in D.C. (legislation!), and Mayor Bloomberg was invited but did not attend. The discussion covered topics like how the candidates would deal with poorly maintained parks, vehicles in parks, and community gardens. Also, the candidates had other ideas about revenue to support and maintain the parks besides the 1% idea, because 1% of the city's budget is a huge chunk of change (we think it's about $500 million, based on the 2006, but we're still trying to figure out how the parks line item works). While the candidates tried to emphasize their commitment to New York and the parks, Gothamist began to think about who might be left standing this fall.

When Gothamist wants fluff pieces in the papers, we prefer them to involve food. So we greeted the Daily News' awesome political fluff piece with glee, as it detailed what kinds of ice creams the mayoral hopefuls like - if you can't be bothered to study the issues, then vote for the candidate whose cold dessert treat views align yours! Mayor Bloomberg like lemon ices from the Lemon Ice King of Corona, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller favors banana (B-A-N-A-N-A) ice cream from Emack and Bolio's, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields enjoys Haagen-Dazs rum raisin, former Bronx Beep Fernando Ferrer crosses boroughs for Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory's French Vanilla and Queens GOPster Thomas Ognibene loves butter pecan from his borough's Eddie's Sweet Shop. But the best explanation came from Representative Anthony Weiner:

Representative Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn frequents Uncle Louie G when he's in the mood for ice cream (the chain has multiple locations in the city), and he always gets mint chocolate chip. Weiner has warm childhood memories of eating the frosty stuff.

Continue reading "Ice Cream For Politicians"

Yesterday, the seven mayoral candidates for Mayor converged in Queens to speak at the Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council. Mayor Bloomberg left after giving opening remarks, giving some of the other attendees (Democrats Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Representative Anthony Weiner; Republicans investment banker Scott Shaw and Thomas Ognibene of Queens) opportunity to slam him. Weiner ragged on how Bloomberg was there for such a short period (Bloomberg says he had other activities; this ">Post picture proves he needed to be in a Greek parade with some youngin's) while others sounded the usual things against him: The West Side Stadium, education reform that hasn't quite jelled, being a billionaire, bad housing policy, and being Manhattan-centric.

The NY Times conducted some research on the Mayor, as well as his standing versus other mayoral hopefuls such as former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Manhattan Borough President Virigina Fields, and former Councilman Thomas Ognibene. The study says that 41% of registered voters view the Mayor favorably; while 41% sounds mediocre, that's a 10% increase from last summer. He does lead his opponents (see the NY Times graph here), but one Democratic strategist tells the Times that "Any incumbent starting off an election year with an approval rating under 50 and losing to an unnamed opponent by 22 points is in real trouble." To drive that point home, it seems that these numbers are closer to David Dinkin's pre-reelection numbers than Rudy Giuliani. Ouchy. Issues where voters are still on the fence with the Mayor are indeed education and the proposed Jets stadium on the West Side, which means Bloomberg will be working overtime to emphasize his strengths and appeal to voters that overhauling the education system will take time and he should be in office for that.

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller is staging an event in Brooklyn to "receive" support from various politicians there today. The Post reports the Brooklyn locale was a deliberate choice to one-up fellow Democratic candidate wannabe Congressman Anthony Weiner, a Brooklyn boy.