Legislators say they have been told a deal has been reached and that Gov. David Paterson has accepted a $2.8 billion package to reduce the budget deficit. After over a month of stop-and start-negotiations, a vote is expected to take place as early as noon tomorrow — but not everything [...]
Councilmember Jim Gennaro took a bite out of the big apple today — quite literally.
The Queens-based councilmember chomped into a juicy, green Newtown Pippin on the steps of City Hall this afternoon in order to convince his council colleagues that this Queens-bred fruit should be [...]
Hotel Lobby Misappropriates Privately-Owned Public Space
(I (heart) Public Space)
Mapping Vacant Storefronts
(Curbed)
Analysis of Tax Receipt Decline Must Factor in Tax Increase
(NY Fiscal Watch)
Dueling Economic Geographies Within Global Cities
(New Geography)
The Lifespan of Smart Meters
(PULP Network)
Charter Schools as [...]
Gov. David Paterson sure knows how to bring people together. Senate Democratic Conference Leader and Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos say that they stand together against Paterson’s budget proposal and the notion of giving him the power to cut the budget himself.
Both men say they may work on “improving” [...]
“Cut this deficit with me or I will do it myself,” Gov. David Paterson just told legislators. Paterson announced that he is tired of haggling with the legislature over budget cuts and as a result he plans on giving them two choices.
He will introduce two bills: his original deficit reduction [...]
If you blinked you probably missed today’s Senate session. It lasted all of ten minutes.
Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson gave a speech insisting that progress is being made, despite what Gov. David Paterson might be saying. He also pledged the entire Senate stands against mid-year school cuts.
What about other legislative [...]
Bloomberg Needs to See New York as City of Neighborhoods
(Regional Plan Association)
How to Judge the Next Teachers Contract
(Citizen’s Budget Commission)
State Pension Fund Up, but Still Down
(NY Fiscal Watch)
New York Sun Slowly Re-Rises
(Editor’s Weblog via NYConvergence)
What Researchers Learned [...]
The Alliance for Quality Education is rallying the troops in anticipation of a vote on a deficit reduction plan on Monday. The education advocacy group wants to put pressure on the Assembly to publicly oppose education cuts. Senate Democrats have already made their stance against education cuts perfectly [...]
All over the city NYC Condoms can be found. They’re free, plentiful and pretty easy to find. And if the 3.4 million distributed monthly are any indication, they’re quite popular, too.
But over two years after the city began the condom campaign, anecdotal evidence has trickled in suggesting that people [...]
It may be shocking (not really) but another day has passed without an agreement to reduce the state’s deficit. Many legislators have already departed for their districts and the Senate won’t be in session again until Monday morning. The Assembly is scheduled to return on Monday as well.
Earlier this [...]
There was a sense of accomplishment and competence floating around the Capitol today. The sense was fleeting.
The Senate came to session early this afternoon to consider Leandra’s Law, a bill that makes it a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car and expands the use of interlock [...]
There has been a lot of positive reaction to the deal on public authorities reform reached today between Gov. David Paterson and the legislature.
The legislation is designed to reign in public authorities such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Empire State Development Corp., which have developed a reputation for [...]
Update: The Senate now is expected to vote on the authorities bill this (Wednesday) evening.
A budget deal still seems far away, but leaders in Albany have apparently reached accord on another vexing issue: changing some of the rules governing the state’s public authorities.
Details are not yet available, David [...]
Dana Farrington filed this report on the City Council hearings Tuesday on paid sick leave.
Advocates for paid sick leave in New York City may have viewed the law in San Francisco as an example before, but they probably had not done so literally — until today. The City Council [...]
Things got ugly on the Senate floor last night when Democrats tried to start voting on legislation. Republicans and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. protested taking any legislative action until a deficit reduction deal is reached.
“Stop the farce,” Diaz demanded. “Stop the mockery. Stop the laughing to the face of [...]
As City Council members rallied to the cause of New York City drivers yesterday, they attacked the administration for playing “gotcha” with traffic violations, using parking tickets as kind of cash cow, and serving as judge and jury for New Yorkers accused of parking illegally. Did the vigorous criticism, [...]
Thirty-eight of the 51 City Council members have signed on to a bill, Intro 1059, that would require private employers in the city to give their worker paid sick days. But the most influential member — Council Speaker Christine Quinn — said she still has not decided whether to [...]
Some Senate Democrats are troubled by the aggression displayed by Sen. Carl Kruger in deficit reduction negotiations this weekend. The Brooklyn Democrat has gone on the offensive against Gov. David Paterson, pledging to block any serious cuts to health care and education. The Times points out that [...]
Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders have heard the public outcry over the state’s new license plate requirement. Are they going to do something about it? Well, maybe.
Paterson issued a statement this evening saying that he is willing to work with the legislature to repeal the requirement that was [...]
City Ranks Sixth Highest as Music Location
(Creative Class)
But Two City Districts Rank in Bottom Tenth for Happiness
(Creative Class)
The City and its Flooded Double
(BLDGBLOG)
The Black Middle Class
(Huffington Post)
Teachers Not Paid to Teach
(The Weekly Standard)
Palestine in Queens
[...]
Judging by the amount of debris cleaned up after their victory parades, New Yorkers were more excited by the Yankees 27th World Series victory than the Giants third Super Bowl win last year. The tallies are in, and the Department of Sanitation reports cleaning up 56.5 tons of paper [...]
With Gov. David Paterson and various fiscal experts warning of dire financial starts for the state, a report released by the Pew Center for the States gave Senate Finance Committee chair Carl Kruger reason for cheer. Citing the report — a fiscal scorecard for [...]
After hours of negotiations, what did the state legislature actually accomplish during yesterday’s special session?
Besides adding to the general perception that they are a “bunch of bumbling do nothings,” as one frustrated observer put it, they actually managed to vote on two pieces of legislation.
The first was a mandate [...]
“Two bills,” that is what Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. replied when asked what he expected to achieve during today’s session.
After hours of waiting, protests, negotiations and general frustration the special session will not produce a vote on same-sex marriage or a deficit reduction package. Espada said he expected [...]
The Senate began special session today by paying tribute to soldiers in honor of Veterans Day. After about half an hour of tribute the Senate stood at ease to wait for bills to be delivered from the Governor’s office.
Both houses have agreed to take up a few issues that [...]
Gov. David Paterson gave it his last big push yesterday in the form of an address to a join session of the state legislature.
“I will mortgage my political career on this plan,” Paterson said. “But I will not mortgage the fate of the State of New York.”
And now the [...]
If it were up to New York, the health care bill in Washington would have been approved by a much wider margin. The vast majority of the state’s 29 members of Congress said “ay.” (The Empire State’s Congressional Delegation approved the bill 24 to 5. The final vote in the [...]
After predicting for months that Mayor Michael Bloomberg was invincible and would win by a double-digit margin, the pundits now offer their explanation for why the mayor did so much worse on Tuesday than they had anticipated. A consensus seems to have emerged: People were furious about term limits, the [...]
Image (c) Coast Guard BM
Just in case you were wondering where some of your elected officials were posturing post-election, many are heading to Puerto Rico today for the annual Somos conference.
First started in 1987, Somos courts itself as the “largest gathering of Puerto [...]
Within a quarter-mile of Gotham Gazette’s offices, there were 103 incidents of stray voltage in the past 21 months. Five of them were potentially fatal, and one shocked a person or a pet.
We know this due to a new map from the Jodie S. Lane Public [...]
Sure, they squabbled over term limits, but they can still sit down for coffee.
In a post-election photo opportunity, newly re-elected Mayor Michael Bloomberg sat down with Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio this afternoon to make nice. De Blasio was a Thompson supporter and was very critical of the [...]
Republicans picked up two seats on the City Council yesterday, bringing their total to five seats out of 51. The GOP gains came in District 19 in Bayside, where Republican Dan Halloran defeated Democrat Kevin Kim, and in Flushing’s 20th council district, where Peter Koo, a [...]
Following his narrow victory last night, Michael Bloomberg may make changes — Ben Smith reports in Politico that he has “already promised a major shakeup of his senior aides.”
So who’s headed out the door? David Bloomfield, an education professor at Brooklyn College, bets on Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
“Eight [...]
According to the New York Times, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has successfully landed a third term.
Just as the New York Times declared the race, so did NBC. According to NY1, with 22 percent of precincts reporting, Bloomberg has 49 percent to Thompson’s 47.66 percent.
Stay tuned for [...]
It’s isn’t only Mike Bloomberg who is advertising.
Even council members who face little opposition are taking to the world wide web. Seen here, Councilmember Jessica Lappin’s ads were spotted on the New York Times site yesterday even though she faces only token Republican [...]
Still mulling whom to vote for today? Well the ballot does provide choice for mayor beyond Michael Bloomberg and Bill Thompson. Also on the ballot are Stephen Christopher (Conservative); Dan Fein (Socialist Worker); Francsica Villar (Socialism and Libertarian); Dan Fein (Socialist Worker); Bill Talen (Green); [...]
By far, the city’s five boroughs have received the largest chunk of stimulus funds compared to every other area in the state, according to data released by the governor’s office today.
Out of about $18 billion, the city has received nearly $8.2 billion. Medicaid and education were the largest recipients [...]
If the election were today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg would land a third term by 50 to 38 percent with 10 percent undecided, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
Those figures are a small improvement for Thompson compared to last week’s survey, which had the comptroller at [...]
Courtney Gross, Gail Robinson, David King, Mike Muller, william
