City & State, December 16, 2013

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Vol. 2, No. 24 - DECEMBER 16, 2013

KLEIN SKYLER LOESER BENEPE WALSH OLIVER FEINBLATT DOCTOROFF MORGENTHAU

ROBERT CARTER

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UPFRONT

More From Moreland A Must

Morgan Pehme EDITOR

W

ith the next legislative session in Albany right around the corner and a flurry of important bills on the horizon, it could be easy to lose sight of the critical ongoing work of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption.

Let us not forget that the report issued by the Commission on Dec. 2 was, as intended from the outset, solely a preliminary synopsis of its findings. Though Gov. Cuomo officially announced the Commission on July 2, it was not until mid-fall that it was fully staffed, meaning that the Commission had only a little more than a month of operating at its fullest capacity prior to having to meet its mandated report deadline.

There is still a lot to be done.

The areas the Commission is probing are highly sensitive and complex, and populated by players whose selfinterest lie in stymieing the Commission’s ability to pull back the curtain on them. The Commission still needs more time to delve into the practices of the lobbying industry, to assess the influence of real estate interests on policies like the 421a tax exemption, and to offer specific recommendations as to how to reform the woefully inept and institutionally corroded New York State Board of Elections.

Then there is the glaring

omission of any mention of the Committee to Save New York in the Commission’s preliminary report. The Commission needs to have the opportunity to address CSNY to clear the air of any allegations that the governor has tried to meddle with the independent body, and to put to rest the accusation that the Commission was called into existence purely to conduct a witch hunt in the state Legislature.

Another valuable reason for the Commission to continue its work in 2014 is so it can monitor Albany while it is in action, grappling with difficult decisions that must be made with the utmost care and transparency, like casino licensing, a particularly vulnerable and tempting process to manipulate, as we saw with the shameful way the AEG bid was handled during the Paterson administration.

Those who have criticized the Commission for not turning up any bombshells through their investigations to date have unrealistic expectations (and, I would argue from having attended the devastating grilling of BoE officials in Manhattan, are also wrong). Serious investigations take time. The Commission’s charge is not just to expose activity that is illegal but also to bring to light that which is currently permissible but probably shouldn’t be.

Who believes that a labor of this magnitude can be wrapped up in a month or two? Cleaning up the Augean Stables was a cinch compared with taking on all the ordure in Albany.

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AROUND NEW YORK Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the winners of the third round of his Regional Economic Development Councils. In all, none of the 10 councils received more than $100 million—the threshold that top prizewinners broke only in 2011, the program’s first year. Of the state’s 98 selected projects, 23 are set to receive $1 million or more.

LONG ISLAND With projects aimed at improving infrastructure, building new facilities at Stony Brook and renovating part of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, among others, Long Island was the jackpot winner on Dec. 11, when the awards were announced. Long Island’s REDC brought home $83 million to continue existing projects and kick-start new ones across the state. The highest amount set aside for a project on the Island was $3.6 million, which will go to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a food industry supply chain company aiming to build a state-of-the-art automated warehouse in Suffolk County.

CAPITAL REGION The high-tech industry was among the focuses of the $82.8 million in awards granted to the Capitol Region, which, along with the Mohawk Valley, has been pegged as part of the state’s Tech Valley.

Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering received $5 million to support continued growth at the school.

MOHAWK VALLEY High-tech industry was also a focus of grants to The Mohawk Valley, which received $82.4 million in total. The Mohawk Valley is slated to be part of the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s growth, most notably through Nano Utica, a SUNY-IT campus in Marcy toward which $1.5 billion in public-private investment was committed earlier this year. The Mohawk Valley’s REDC received $3.25 million to go toward the development of the Marcy Nanocenter, and the Quad C, or Computer Chip Commercialization Center, was also awarded more than $3 million.

NORTH COUNTRY Last year’s top performing region in the REDC awards scored another impressive total in 2013: $81.3 million. Among the prizes were $6 million for infrastructure

improvements to expand broadband Internet in the region and the affordability of access to it, and $5 million to revitalize the Hotel Saranac, in an effort to boost yearround tourism in the region.

NEW YORK CITY When he announced the awards, Gov. Cuomo said none of the 10 councils were considered losers in the sweepstakes. However, New York City received the lowest amount for the third consecutive year. This time around, the $57.4 million granted to the Big Apple will help finance projects like infrastructure improvements and waterfront development work in Staten Island.

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Andrew J. Hawkins ‫@‏‬andyjayhawk: Marty ribs Miley Cyrus’s MTV performance: “sorry Miley in Brooklyn we’re all about working, not twerking!”

Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Editor-in-Chief Morgan Pehme mpehme@cityandstateny.com Managing Editor Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com Associate Editor Helen Eisenbach City Hall Bureau Chief Nick Powell npowell@cityandstateny.com Reporter Matthew Hamilton mhamilton@cityandstateny.comAssociate Publisher Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com Events Manager Dawn Rubino drubino@cityandstateny.com Government Relations Sales Director Allison Sadoian asadoian@cityandstateny.com Business Manager Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Multimedia Director Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Art Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com Illustrator Lisanne Gagnon CITY AND STATE NY, LLC Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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UPFRONT

BY THE NUMBERS

THE KICKER: A CHOICE QUOTE FROM CITY & STATE’S FIRST READ

INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY

“Critics say it’s a fishing expedition. … Well, let’s show the fish.”

—Assemblyman Robin Schimminger on the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption’s preliminary report and its lack of disclosure regarding legislators who committed ethical or criminal violations, via The Buffalo News

Mayor Michael Bloomberg already had a fortune when he started his first term in New York City.

But over his 12 years in office, his wealth has doubled nearly three times.

THROUGH THE AGES

$31 BILLION $25 billion

Twelve years of running the America’s largest city takes its toll, but 71-year-old New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t aged nearly as much as you’d think—at least not visibly. Here is a year-by-year view of him throughout his time in office.

2013

$16 billion

2010

$11.5 billion

2009

$19.5 billion

2011

$18 billion

2012

2008

$4.8 billion

$5 billion

$5.1 billion

$5.1 billion

March 2003:

March 2004:

March 2005:

March 2006:

$5.5 billion

$4.8 billion March 2002:

2006

$4 billion

2007

2005

2004

Source: Forbes 4

DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

Sept. 2013:

Sept. 2012:

Sept. 2011:

Sept. 2010:

March 2009:

March 2008:

March 2007:

2002

March 2001:

2003

IT’S TIME TO GET IT RIGHT Parents and educators agree: The State Education Department’s rushed implementation of the Common Core state standards has undercut the credibility of those standards and jeopardized their potential.

Now is the time for a three-year moratorium on the use of assessments for high-stakes consequences for students and teachers, giving the state the time it needs to “get it right.”

SED must:

n engage and listen to parents; n act now to provide teachers the tools and support they need; n develop grade-level appropriate curriculum aligned with classroom practice; n respect teachers’ professional judgment; n provide transparency in the state’s assessment program by releasing all the test questions; n postpone using Common Core Regents exams as a graduation requirement; and n advocate for the state funding needed to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve the new standards.

Failure to help students, teachers and schools is not an option.

Richard C. Iannuzzi, President Andrew Pallotta, Executive Vice President Maria Neira, Vice President Kathleen M. Donahue, Vice President Lee Cutler, Secretary-Treasurer

Representing more than 600,000 professionals in education and health care.

800 Troy-Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110-2455 n 518-213-6000 / 800-342-9810 www.nysut.org n Affiliated with AFT / NEA / AFL-CIO

COVER

On Bloomberg

Recollections and reflections from aides and officials who worked closely with the mayor

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DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

COVER O N

B L O O M B E R G

I

n the late fall of 2000, citizen Michael Bloomberg stood in the cold mud on Randall’s Island, as a chilling wind blew off the Harlem River. He was there with dozens of Bloomberg L.P. employees as part of a volunteer planting day for the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation, and he worked side by side with them, placing tulip bulbs in the damp cold soil.

I was there with him, in my then capacity as Manhattan borough parks commissioner, greeting a group of volunteers. Patti Harris, who among many other duties was coordinating the company’s corporate good works, introduced me to him—Patti and I had worked together in the administration of Mayor Ed Koch, she as executive cirector of the Art Commission, I as director of Art & Antiquities for the Parks Department—and I was impressed

by Mike Bloomberg’s genial attitude and willingness to get really dirty on a scruffy patch of parkland. I had no idea then that Citizen Bloomberg would run for election and become Mayor Bloomberg, and that Patti would be his closest confidant, and eventually first deputy mayor, and that I would be selected to run the Department of Parks & Recreation.

Now, more than 12 years later, the Bloomberg legacy as mayor may be most fully expressed in his extraordinary accomplishments leading the largest and most sustained period of expansion and improvement of parks since the Great Depression and the WPA—and in fact the mayor’s ambitious park expansion program endured for twice as long as the WPA, which was largely over after six years or so amid the rumblings of WWII. Of course, the mayor is remembered

ADRIAN BENEPE for the projects that literally changed the face of New York—converting a decrepit elevated freight track into the High Line, one of the most innovative parks in the world; transforming collapsing, abandoned waterfronts into world class parks in Manhattan and Brooklyn (both projects were begun under Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki, but Bloomberg allocated most of the funding and got them largely completed); converting the world’s largest garbage dump (Fresh Kills, in Staten Island) into the ultimate recycled park; and grabbing the former Coast Guard base on Governor’s Island to transform it into a spectacular park and cultural space in the middle of New York Harbor. More than $5 billion was allocated and spent on capital projects for parks during the 12 years he was in office—more than many other large American cities put together.

M

ayor Michael Bloomberg was a dedicated and committed public servant.

I had the opportunity to work with him in three different areas, one as a district attorney of Manhattan.

He was always a strong supporter of law enforcement. Under his watch there was a significant reduction in crime. He did not interfere with the work of the Police Department. He left that up to his able commissioner.

I am chairman of the board of the Police Athletic League, which provides recreational and educational opportunities to young people and boys and girls in economically deprived areas, and he was always extremely supportive of PAL. As a chairman of the board of the

ROBERT MORGENTHAU

His proudest moment was probably not about anything that he built but was likely the day in February 2005 that the 7,000 saffron-colored curtains were unfurled in Central Park, opening the 16-day installation of “The Gates” by artists JeanneClaude and Christo. Although the mayor had told me he would like to see the exhibit happen, he also told me that I needed to be satisfied that the park would not be injured.

The park was not, and “The Gates” was a spectacular celebration of the resurgence of New York City, coming back from the terrible blow of the World Trade Center attack and beginning an extraordinary run as the world’s great tourist destination.

But it was the mayor the public largely didn’t see who may have made the biggest difference. He was the first to jump in the public pools when we opened them at the beginning of the summer. He joined Big Bird and Bette Midler to announce the beginning of the Million Trees NYC program (and 800,000 have since been planted). He delighted in high-fiving kids at scores of ribbon cuttings for neighborhood parks projects, and when he arrived at those events he always said hello first to the police officers and parks workers at the site, and shook their hands—then made his way to the politicians gathered at the podium.

Every summer he would travel out to Pelham Bay or Marine Park, to stay at the 8th hole and play golf with each foursome as it came through at City Parks Foundation events to raise money for free golf programs for inner city youth. He showed up at all the fundraisers organized by volunteer groups for parks, and hosted parties for neighborhood volunteers at Gracie Mansion, standing patiently in

one spot as ordinary New Yorkers by the hundreds lined up to take a picture with him (though he would then try to find a few minutes to enjoy a hot dog and some baked beans—his favorite picnic dish).

Even in the winter he managed to get outdoors to parks. He was a great sport, participating in a tradition started by my predecessor, Henry J. Stern, in which castaway Christmas trees were chipped up in parks to be recycled as part of Mulchfest. Donning work gloves (but never the suggested safety goggles or helmet—no Michael Dukakis photo blooper for him), he would stand at the maw of the roaring chipper, gamely feeding dried trees into its fearsome mouth as balsam-scented chips spouted into a truck.

I harbor only one regret. Although the mayor came to several events on the banks of the Bronx River (where the city eventually allocated $100 million for various projects), we never got him into a canoe.

As a former Eagle Scout, he surely would have found it child’s play to canoe down the relatively placid waters of the city’s only freshwater river. So I was delighted when he later took on Gov. Cuomo in a whitewater rafting race upstate. Though he didn’t win that one, I hope he demands a rematch, this time on the Bronx River. I would be proud to come out of retirement to paddle from the bow while he pilots.

Museum of Jewish Heritage, I watched firsthand his commitment to the arts and culture. He was always a big supporter of the museum. He used to have his Hanukkah parties at the museum. He could always be counted on to support arts and culture. He was a great believer in the freedom of worship and nondiscrimination against any group or faith, as witnessed by his willingness to support a mosque near the World Trade Center, which was angrily opposed by many people.

He supported new technology, even though when you do something new and different there are some glitches.

He brought the city a long ways and established himself as a first-class user and supporter of technology.

I think that there’s no doubt about his loyalty to the city, and no doubt about his honesty, integrity and commitment to the welfare of all the residents of New York, particularly its young people. We all have an obligation to remember what he accomplished with gratitude and appreciation.

I am confident that Mayor Bloomberg’s great interest in the welfare of the city will continue unabated, although from a different vantage point, and the city and its residents will benefit greatly from that concern.

Adrian Benepe served as commissioner of Parks & Recreation for almost 11 years under Mayor Bloomberg, from February 2002 until September 2012. He is SVP and director of City Park Development for the Trust for Public Land.

Robert Morgenthau served as Manhattan’s district attorney from 1975 to 2009.

cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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COVER O N

B L O O M B E R G

I

remember standing next to Mayor Bloomberg, cell phone in his hand, one autumn day in 2012. Within moments, the camera was rolling, and a director yelled “Action.” Hitting his mark, the Mayor delivered his line in response to learning the identity of “Gossip Girl,” the eponymous character of the CW Network’s “Made in NY” television series, which filmed all six of its seasons in New York City. As I watched the Mayor, I was once again astonished at how far we— and the local media and entertainment industry—have come.

When I was first appointed as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, New York City was not the first choice for filmmakers and producers. It was too complicated and too expensive to film here, they said.

With all this in mind, I looked to the leadership of Michael Bloomberg, a man whose vision for New York City has had a transformative effect.

My focus at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has always been on customer service, and it’s a practice I learned from the mayor himself when we worked together in the private sector.

That simple strategy of listening to

KATHERINE OLIVER customers, understanding their needs and providing top-notch service, has meant that we’ve turned New York City into a thriving center for production, eliminating red tape, opening up city locations for filming, revolutionizing the permitting process and introducing free marketing services for productions.

From the beginning, the mayor understood that we needed to diversify the City’s economy by supporting an array of different industries, and our work with the film and television industry has been a towering example of what can be accomplished with city government as your champion. Together the mayor and I have visited sets, filmed cameos and gotten to know the remarkable people who make up this thriving industry. Along the way, we’ve created 30,000 new jobs in the sector since 2004. In fact, New York City’s production industry is the strongest it’s ever been, generating a direct annual spend of more than $7 billion to the local economy.

The Mayor’s support of the film and television industry has also been felt in a number of far-reaching ways.

Thousands of local small businesses have experienced the positive effects of increased filming in the City: restaurants delivering food to stages; antique shops scoured for set pieces; lumberyards supplying construction materials for the scenery. The increase in production has also meant new opportunities for young people: more than 450 young New Yorkers from economically disadvantaged

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I

t was a Sunday morning just a few weeks after Superstorm Sandy. I was having a catch with my 10-year-old son when my phone rang. It was Shea Fink, and she wanted me to meet the mayor in Red Hook in the next hour.

I rushed over to Red Hook where the mayor and I walked the retail corridor along Van Brunt Street and met with small business owners. We then walked over to the piers in Red Hook where all the small businesses were devastated by the storm.

Along the way the mayor stopped to thank countless volunteers who were helping businesses get back on their feet and Con Edison workers who were restoring service.

When we got out to the piers, I remember how attentive the mayor was

backgrounds have been trained for entry level positions on film sets and are now flourishing in their new careers, thanks to the “Made in NY” Production Assistant Training Program, which our office developed in partnership with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations.

The mayor, with his background as an entrepreneur, has also had the insight to recognize new trends and emerging industries. With the appointment of the first chief digital officer and the creation of a department focused on digital communications and supporting the tech sector, he has placed New York City in a potent position to harness the power and innovation of the technology industry.

Everything that we’ve accomplished in recent years—record levels of production, job creation, the growth of the tech industry—is due to the Mayor’s singular leadership and guidance, and it has been a privilege to serve his administration.

Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, was appointed commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting in 2002 and has overseen NYC Media since 2009.

when he met with Mark Snyder, the owner of the Red Hook Winery. The winery was wiped out by the storm. Mark was exhausted and not sure if he would ever open his doors again. I was struck by what a calming force the mayor was as he listened carefully and asked insightful questions. He lifted Mark’s spirits and gave him and his team the confidence to go forward. The mayor promised them that the city would do everything possible to get them up and running. The mayor then followed up himself with calls to the chair of Con Edison to get the lights on.

On that day the mayor lifted Mark and so many others in Red Hook. He also lifted me. I went home that night and told my wife how proud I was to have been a part of the administration for 12 years.

Great leaders often exhibit their very best during times of crisis. Mike Bloomberg showed this after 9/11, and through all the challenges that have faced our city.

When the Red Hook Winery reopened their doors, the mayor returned—and bought a bottle of wine.

Rob Walsh, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, has served the entirety of all three of Mayor Bloomberg’s terms.

COVER

cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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COVER

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COVER O N

B L O O M B E R G

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O

ne of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s most impressive qualities as a leader is his willingness—I wouldn’t say desire—to take heat for things he believed in. He would take short-term heat if he thought something was in the city’s long-term interest. He was willing, time and time again, to bear the brunt of political pain for things that he thought would serve the city well. Whether you think about the smoking ban or necessary tax increases right when he took office and he was facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, or other controversial issues, he was always willing to do what needed to be done—and he understood he would pay a price for it, but that never stopped him. He wasn’t naive about the price, but it never dissuaded from doing something he thought needed to be done. People with that type of courage in politics are few and far between.

The other thing was how he managed people. Delegation sometimes has a negative connotation—that if you’re delegating, you’re not involved, you’re not hands-on. I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. What he did is allow people to be creative, allow people to take risks and stand behind them. Some of those controversial issues were things that were proposed to him, and he would support the people who worked for him. He knew that if people were to do interesting and innovative things, there would be a period of either criticism—and, when the results might not be clear, that the people working for him needed that backing.

He had an expression: “The difference between having the courage of your convictions or being pigheaded is in the results.” Nobody really knows when you innovate what the result is going to be.

He understood—and a lot of people in politics don’t—that if you try 10 things

and five of them work out, that’s actually a pretty good success rate. He was always willing to take those chances. He was not afraid of failure. When you’re not afraid of failure and you preach that to your people and you back them up, some amazing things can happen.

It was 2002 when the smoking ban was proposed, right after 9/11, and there were all sorts of concerns about whether New York would remain the capital of the world, and whether tourists, in light of terrorist threats, would come here. The ban was portrayed by some critics as posing a threat to the vitality of the nightlife and restaurant industries, and there is obviously incredible employment in those sectors—jobs the city relies on. The allegation was that the ban was going to cripple those sectors. What we saw after it was enacted, however, was the opposite; that actually more people went out to eat and stayed out, and more tourists came here because it made the experience more enjoyable. Aside from protecting the health of workers, which is really what inspired the initiative, the ban actually became a selling point for the city.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and today you see the smoking ban replicated all around the world, and not just in the U.S. In 10 short years, it’s become the standard. Now it’s a surprise when you can go into a place and people are allowed to smoke. He knew he could save an incredible number of lives by doing it. He knew New York is an urban laboratory, and he was willing to take the heat.

I learned a lot from the mayor because there were things I was concerned about.

My job was to protect his public image, and when you’re in a situation where you have to raise taxes, or you’re going to pass a smoking ban, I knew he was going to take a hit for that. I was there in the first term when people talked about his low approval ratings. But I saw the full arc. I saw the rebound as people got to see the benefits of his policies. It was an important lesson for me in the “stick-to-it-ness” of riding things out if it was the right policy; that there might be some shortterm pain but long-term gain. It might not be pleasant when you’re fighting the battle for public opinion initially, but that’s part of the process.

Ed Skyler, executive vice president for global public affairs at Citi, served in the Bloomberg administration from 2002 to 2010, rising to the position of deputy mayor for operations.

COVER

POLITICS • POLICY • PERSONALITIES

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COVER O N

JOEL KLEIN

A

s mayor, Mike Bloomberg was unafraid to take on tough fights— regardless of which way the political winds were blowing. Nowhere has this been truer than in his efforts to

B L O O M B E R G

reform the city’s public education system.

The results speak for themselves.

Mayor Bloomberg’s journey on the road to education reform began with an unorthodox move: convincing Albany to give him control of the schools by eliminating the dysfunctional management system that mired the city’s schools in failure for generations. Prior to mayoral control, the New York City public school system was ruled by a Rube Goldberglike structure of 32 different community school boards—each with its own superintendent—vying for power with a central board and its largely powerless chancellor.

Though that era seems like the distant past, a quick Google News search would show article after article highlighting how bad things were and how negatively it impacted student achievement. Dysfunction wasn’t the exception; it was the rule.

Before Mayor Bloomberg, there was little hope that anything could change for the better.

Asking Albany for authority over the schools—and along with it the credit or blame for their performance—was not a move that saved Mayor Bloomberg from headaches. He was not a man who made decisions based on what was easy. Rather, the mayor focused on doing what was right. In this case, that meant putting kids

I

was sitting next to Mayor Mike Bloomberg in the middle row of a black Chevy Suburban, heading east from City Hall for a press conference with the mayor—my first as his chief spokesman.

Though I’d worked for his re-election campaign over the previous year, we didn’t really know each other very well. And he was pushing me—hard—about the answer I had suggested he give if asked about a small story in that morning’s papers.

Never mind that there was little chance he’d get a question about a complicated legal issue in a tiny story—and it was pretty clear that he would just pivot to the response I had already suggested. He wanted to know what the facts were and, more important, how I was going to find them out.

“Whenever someone tells me New York City can’t do something—or has to do something—because it’s the law, I ask them a simple question: ‘How do you know?

Can you show me the law?’ Half the time, it turns out there’s no law—and nothing actually standing in our way other than the

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DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

STU LOESER

first and politics last.

The mayor’s approach to education reform was based on two core principles: Set high goals and hold everyone accountable for reaching them—from the chancellor to the classroom teacher—and increase the number of really great traditional and charter schools to choose from, especially for families in poorer communities.

Mayor Bloomberg’s A–F grading system—one of the first of its kind in the country—allowed the public to easily determine which schools were doing a good job of educating students and those that were struggling to do so. During his tenure, he opened 654 new schools and closed down 164 failing ones, many of which had been dropout factories for decades.

Bloomberg recruited great teachers aggressively and significantly increased teacher pay. The mayor also ended some of the arcane practices that rewarded educators for how long they had been on the job instead of how effective they were in the classroom. And the mayor set a higher bar for granting teacher tenure.

In the past, tenure was automatically granted to a vast majority of teachers after only three years on the job. Now half as many get it in that time, and only after close review.

The results? High school graduation rates increased by almost 20 points, and the number of students who graduated college-ready doubled. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the academic achievement of New York City’s very diverse and mostly low-income public school students almost caught up with that of their more affluent peers from around the state.

When Bloomberg started, none of the state’s top 25 performing elementary and middle schools were in New York City; now 22 of them are.

Bloomberg set out to show that while poverty and family issues can raise difficult challenges, the effects of those challenges can be significantly ameliorated, if not eliminated, by a great education. He would be the first to admit that he didn’t achieve everything he wanted, and that the city needs to do a lot more to improve education for its children in public schools. But he paved the way for a better tomorrow by accomplishing what he did during his years in office. He showed, in short, something he preached: Leadership matters.

status quo and the ways things have always been done,” he said.

We drove deeper and deeper into Brooklyn; the walls of the Suburban felt like they were getting closer and closer.

First I called Michael Cardozo, the corporation counsel. Then an agency counsel he suggested. Then another agency lawyer.

All the while Mike caught up on reading— maybe listening, maybe not. When I finally gave him the answer—a court ruling created case law that had the force of legislation—he thanked me and quickly went back to work.

As we finally got out of the truck and I gulped down a few breaths of fresh air, the lead detective of his security detail congratulated me for passing the test.

As he explained, the mayor wasn’t concerned about how he would answer that question, one he almost certainly was not going to get. He just wanted to see if I’d get him good data.

Government too often rolls along on circular logic—people get jobs because they are experts, and they are experts

because they have held certain jobs. Mike Bloomberg saw things differently. For him, “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” was anything but an acceptable answer. And as a result, before meeting with Mike, his staff, anticipating “How do you know?” asked that question of their staff. So they asked it of their staff, and on and on.

It was a simple premise, but it is not overstating it to say that it helped create a city government culture that promoted innovation over inertia.

There are far better known Bloomberg sayings: “In God we trust, but everyone else has to bring data.” “Don’t screw it up.” But in public safety, public health, public education and every other reform he tackled, no four words carried more weight and cut through more myths than Mike Bloomberg’s simple “How do you know?”

Klein served as Bloomberg’s schools chancellor from August 2002 to December 2010.

He currently is CEO of Amplify, an education company owned by NewsCorp.

Stu Loeser was Mayor Bloomberg’s chief spokesman from 2006 to 2012. He now runs his own consulting firm, Stu Loeser & Co.

THE REAL ESTATE BOARD OF NEW YORK CONGRATULATES THE INCOMING CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS! AS A RECENT QUINNIPIAC POLL INDICATED, JOB CREATION IS THE ISSUE THAT MOST CONCERNS

NEW YORKERS.1 REBNY LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU TO CREATE MORE GOOD JOBS. 1

11/27/13 QUINNIPIAC POLL

COVER O N

JOHN FEINBLATT

I

have found during my nearly 12 years of service in the Bloomberg administration that there has been one overarching quality, which has characterized most, if not all, of the mayor’s initiatives, especially as they have pertained to public safety: courage.

More so than any other elected official in our country, Mayor Bloomberg has had the courage to disregard special interests and political obstacles for the sake of making our nation a safer place for all.

B L O O M B E R G

On the issue of gun violence in particular, the mayor has demonstrated a willingness to take on a problem that others previously thought was either too risky or insurmountable.

Neither of these concerns bothered the mayor. In his mind it was simple: 33 Americans are being murdered with guns every day—some of them in New York City—and it was incumbent upon us to do everything in our power to stop the bloodshed. He knew that wading into the gun debate would stir controversy and present hurdles along the way, but it didn’t matter.

If it would save lives, that was most important.

As criminal justice coordinator and chief policy advisor, I have had the privilege of working on this issue with Mayor Bloomberg. Under his leadership—and thanks to the outstanding work and tireless efforts of Ray Kelly and the NYPD—we helped reduce gun violence in New York City by doing everything from creating the nation’s first gun-offender registry to passing tougher state laws to increase minimum sentencing for illegal gun possession.

And the results have been remarkable.

In 2012 New York City saw the lowest number of murders and the lowest number of shootings at any time since comparable records were kept, with

I

n hindsight, it’s tempting to think that New York City’s resurgence after the September 11 terrorist attacks was inevitable. After all, we’re the world’s financial capital, the most diverse city on earth, a magnet for arts and culture … and we have Brooklyn! But the truth is that our recovery was far from a sure thing. In fact, when the history books are written about Mayor Bloomberg’s 12-year tenure, I’m confident he will be viewed as a transformational mayor, uniquely suited to the job and moment at hand.

When the mayor took office on Jan. 1, 2002, the city was physically and financially devastated. The fires were still smoldering at Ground Zero. Residents and businesses had fled, tourism had dried up and huge budget deficits threatened to overwhelm the quality-of-life gains that had been made in previous years. People questioned whether the very thing that had made New York successful—its openness—could be sustained.

In our first days at City Hall, the mayor challenged us to develop a plan for rebuilding that was ruthlessly forward-

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DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

DAN DOCTOROFF looking. After the shock and despair of 9/11 began to recede, a kind of nostalgia for lower Manhattan began to set in, masking the fact that the area had been in decline for decades. And the city was clinging to its industrial past, with wide

419 murders and 1,374 shootings. And this year we are on pace to beat those numbers.

But for the mayor there was one piece of data that stood out: 90 percent of guns recovered at city crime scenes came from out of state. Guns simply do not respect borders, and every day these guns are illegally trafficked from states like Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, highlighting how one state’s weak gun laws can have lethal consequences on our streets across the five boroughs.

It became abundantly clear that no matter how strong our local and state gun laws were, we would continue to be at the mercy of other states where it was easy for criminals and traffickers to obtain guns.

And so Mayor Bloomberg helped launch a national campaign to reduce gun violence in America, establishing the national bipartisan coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2006. True to form, the mayor didn’t want this group to be just another ineffective blue-ribbon commission—the coalition, and the City of New York, were going to take swift action on this issue.

The mayor charted new territory by ordering the city to sue 27 out-of-state firearms dealers who were among the top sources of recovered crime guns.

The suits were unprecedented and even

deemed a “witch hunt” by some of the dealers, but the results were a win for New Yorkers. Almost all of the dealers agreed to a court monitor of their sales, and the percentage of recovered crime guns sold from their stores dropped by 84 percent.

The mayor even led the first of its kind undercover investigation into illegal gun sales online and at gun shows, shining a light on a dark corner of the vast private marketplace for firearms. Some officials in the states we investigated roundly criticized Mayor Bloomberg for extending his public safety campaign beyond the confines of New York.

But despite the controversy these initiatives prompted, they were the right thing to do. And at the end of the day, the mayor knew that a little controversy didn’t matter—the well-being of our communities and our loved ones was on the line. Even in his final weeks in office, the mayor has continued to charge full steam ahead. And when presented with new ideas and initiatives, his only question remains: Will it save lives?

If the answer is yes, there’s never any question about whether to proceed.

swaths of valuable land zoned for factories and warehouses that offered little utility or benefit to the 21st century New York economy. Instead of continuing to wallow in the past, we determined that it wouldn’t be enough to restore the city; our job was nothing less than to reimagine it.

What a gift it was to be part of an administration that was averse to politics as usual. Mayor Bloomberg was beholden to no one and had the gift of thick skin: As long as he was convinced we were right, he tuned out the criticism and second-guessing from those who were the prime beneficiaries of the status quo.

As his third and final four-year term comes to an end, New York is thriving. The population has increased by nearly 300,000 since 9/11. Nineteen million more people visited New York in 2012 than in 2002. Job creation has outpaced the rest of the nation despite the 2008 financial crisis. Physically the city is being transformed. Rail yards are becoming New York’s next great neighborhoods. An abandoned rail line became one of the world’s greatest new parks. The city has reclaimed its decrepit waterfront

and reshaped hundreds of riverfront miles into thriving destinations for housing, sports, hillsides, kayaking, playgrounds and performances. New industries for New York, like life sciences and technology, are burgeoning, offering a broader range of economic opportunities than ever before.

The city preserved and created affordable housing for an unprecedented 500,000 low-, moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers; and implemented the world’s leading environmental sustainability plan.

Mayor Bloomberg’s lack of sentimentality probably ensured that he would be more respected than adored by the city’s residents. He ran the city the same way he ran his remarkable company: with a sober analysis of facts, no patience for drama— and a finely attuned, unwavering moral compass. He was exactly the mayor we needed.

John Feinblatt, New York City’s criminal justice coordinator since January 2002, also has served as chief advisor for policy and strategic planning since 2010.

Dan Doctoroff served as deputy mayor for economic development andrebuilding under Mayor Bloomberg. In January 2008 he left the administration to become president of Bloomberg L.P. In August 2011 he was appointed CEO of the company.

COVER

“My name is Constance Nugent-Miller.

I struggle like many of my neighbors – as a single mom, working two jobs to pay the bills. I provide affordable rental housing to six families in Crown Heights in a building that’s been in my family for 50 years. That’s a hard job, working under the toughest rent laws in the country. But I manage – because my tenants are counting on me.”

“My name is Albert Corion. I’m a retired truck driver, struggling like many of my neighbors to make ends meet. I provide affordable rental housing to forty-one families in two small buildings in Flatbush that my family has owned for 30 years.”

“We hire neighborhood plumbers and painters to maintain our apartments.

We give jobs to local residents. Our real estate taxes pay for cops, firemen and teachers – buy books for school kids – and provide services for senior citizens.

Fact is, thousands of small building owners just like us help the city and state survive economic hard times. And, we provide affordable housing to our tenants.”

RSA · 123 William Street New York, NY 10038 · 212-214-9200 · WWW.RSANYC.ORG cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

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is pleased to present the inaugural

GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT With this guide, City & State is pleased to provide information on graduate and continuing education programs to the many thousands of government staff, government relations professionals, business executives and media professionals throughout New York who depend on our traditional award-winning coverage of New York government and politics.

Please have a look at the following special section for the latest offerings from some of the top educational institutions in New York and beyond.

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DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

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GRAD SCHOOL FINANCE ADAM KOTSKO • How To Manage Finances When

On The Long Haul Through Grad School 2. Favor liquidity: Given my access to credit, the only hard constraint was the availability of cash (meaning money in my checking account).

If given a choice between going further into debt or making a cash payment that would quickly put me at risk of not being able to meet another cash obligation, I always chose going further into debt.

W

hen I was in grad school, I faced near-constant financial problems. My income was barely adequate, and the variety of streams it came from meant that my access to the money I’d already earned was often delayed in unpredictable ways. My one advantage was a good credit rating. I had gotten my first credit card as an undergrad, and I used it sparingly and paid it in full nearly every month. After a semester abroad, I was carrying a balance, and I took out a small bank loan to pay it off. So I had drawn on a significant amount of credit and used it responsibly. I understand that not everyone starts from this point, so my strategies may be inapplicable for many people.

3. Preserve the credit rating: This meant always paying every bill by whatever means necessary. If I missed a single payment, that could lead to a decline in my credit-worthiness, leading to higher minimum payments and a decline in liquidity that could further endanger my ability to meet my ongoing obligations.

My goal was to keep my spending within the limits of my income and subsidized student loans. Like most grad students, I maintained a pretty austere lifestyle, but nonetheless there were times when I was forced to engage in deficit spending. My strategy for coping with the difficulties of financial management during these periods was based on three simple principles:

To make this strategy work, I maintained at least three credit cards at all times. My intention was to have one credit card as my “rolling account,” which I would pay off every month. Most of the time, this actually happened. The other two gave me room to bounce money back and forth. I absolutely refused to ever have a debit card for a variety of reasons. First, if the credit card company was willing to give me a free loan every month for my dayto-day purchases, why not take it?

Second, if I did wind up carrying a balance, the consequences were likely to be less expensive than if I overdrew my checking account (fees and penalties were at their pre-crisis peak). Finally, if someone stole my debit card, that gave them access to my actual money — and even if I’d get that back, any serious disruption to my liquidity could have very negative consequences.

1. Think short-term: Long-term questions like how I was going to pay everything off were moot. The important thing was how I was going to keep meeting my immediate obligations until the next influx of cash came.

At times, I would not be able to pay the full amount of my “rolling account,” and so I would do a balance transfer. This actually helped my short-term liquidity because the balance transfer satisfied the need to pay that account for that

particular month. I always timed my balance transfers to take advantage of the ability to “skip” a payment out

circumstances of grad school is not to minimize your debt load, but to maintain your ability to keep rolling

“...contemporary academe puts even the most fortunate grad students and young job-seekers in an impossible financial situation. We shouldn’t make it worse by adding further constraints due to our prejudices about credit card debt or our false belief that our academic calling makes us unemployable anywhere else.”

of my checking account. Balance transfers do normally carry a fee, but the priority under the emergency

over your debt on favorable terms.

Making sure to keep rolling over

HUNTER COLLEGE, located in the heart of Manhattan, is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Founded in 1870, it is also one of the oldest public colleges in the country and famous for the diversity of its student body, which is as diverse as New York City itself.

Most Hunter students are the first in their families to attend college and many go on to top professional and graduate programs, winning Fulbright scholarships, Mellon fellowships, National Institutes of Health grants, and other rare and competitive honors.

The 1,700 full- and part-time members of Hunter’s faculty are unparalleled. They receive prestigious national grants, contribute to the world’s leading academic journals, and play major roles in cutting-edge research. They are fighting cancer, formulating public policy, expanding our culture, enhancing technology, and more.

cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION balance transfers with new offers does have the long-term benefit of minimizing your interest payments, but in the short term, it also reduces your minimum payment, hence helping the all-important liquidity. If your card has cash-back rewards, it helps to stockpile these so that you can get a free minimum payment out of it every once in a while.

Informal credit can be helpful, too.

Periodically paying for group outings on your card and taking cash can reduce the need for ATM withdrawals for cash-only settings, maximizing the amount of money available in your checking account. Having a roommate with a more stable financial situation can also help if he’s willing to let you delay paying your portion of the rent until that next check comes in (thanks, Mike!). I always avoided taking direct loans from friends and family members, however, because I knew I would never actually pay it back, at least not within a reasonable amount of time. Between the stress of being indebted to an evil bank and the stress of letting my financial situation ruin an important personal relationship, I always went with the former.

For this system, it helps to be as anal-retentive as possible. I always paid my minimum payments for my credit cards within a day or two of receiving my statement, just to be safe. I set up as many other bills to charge my credit card automatically as possible. I also kept up the seemingly antiquated discipline of maintaining a written check register, which allowed me to keep better track of where funds had already been committed. People sometimes make fun of me for doing this, but one benefit is that I’ve literally never overdrawn my checking account at any point in my entire life. Given how badly the downward spiral of overdrawing your account can become, that’s hugely important.

Now that I’ve gotten a job, I’m on pace to pay off my credit card debt over a period equal to how long I was in grad school — meaning that it was essentially “income smoothing” on a very long time frame. My student loans are excessive, but I can still pay them off within the normal 10-year period without living in abject poverty. And this has all been possible even though my salary at both places I’ve worked has been far below average. So I think that this 18

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strategy, though stressful and far from ideal, has turned out basically successfully for me.

In short, contemporary academe puts even the most fortunate grad students and young job-seekers in an impossible financial situation. We

shouldn’t make it worse by adding further constraints due to our prejudices about credit card debt or our false belief that our academic calling makes us unemployable anywhere else.

Adam Kotsko is assistant professor of humanities at Shimer College.

This article originally appeared on InsideHigherEd.com on August 9, 2013.

Angela Cressy Deane, Alumna M.S. in Global Affairs Director, New York Committee Human Rights Watch

Throughout her career, Angela Cressy Deane has been deeply involved in human rights. In her current position at Human Rights Watch, an international NGO, where she serves as the director of the New York Committee, she focuses on development and fundraising for an organization that is dedicated to defending and protecting human rights worldwide. Her decision to pursue the M.S. in Global Affairs offered by the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) Center for Global Affairs, stemmed from her desire to gain a broader perspective of international human rights. Through rigorous coursework and the opportunity to complete field intensives in Cuba, Bosnia, Serbia, and at The Hague, she was able to meet people from around the world who offered the nuanced perspectives that have enhanced her ability to raise funds for this incredibly important cause.

Learn More visit: scps.nyu.edu/cga/programs1h call: 212-998-7100

Knowledge Through Practice

request info. and/or apply: scps.nyu.edu/gradinfo12h

DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

NYU-SCPS Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications Job Number: a1314-0251 Product: MS in Global Affairs Size: 7.458” x 10”

Pub/Issue Date: City & State - Graduate Spotlight 12/16/13 Date 12/11/13 Artist: pw

GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

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Columbia’s New Sustainability Essentials Training While the use of the word, “sustainability,” is now commonplace, understanding how we can achieve it remains a challenge. The Earth Institute’s Sustainability Essentials Training Program introduces participants to the basic concepts and core principles of sustainability, so that they can begin to integrate them into their work and their lives.

SET is a non-credit training Program that addresses central areas of sustainability.

The Program comprises well-designed lectures and participatory learning experiences that center around four fundamental questions: • What is sustainability and how does one manage it in any organization?

• How can government policy and regulation speed the transition to a sustainable economy?

• How do we create a built environment, including workplaces, buildings, and infrastructure, while conserving water and energy and reducing environmental damage?

• How can we finance sustainability initiatives that may be risky and involve a long time gap between investment and pay-off?

Upon completion of the Program, participants have an understanding of sustainability practice, a familiarity with the management strategies that are used in this field, a grasp of the interplay between the built environment and the natural environment, as well as insight into the financing of sustainability projects.

For more information, please visit our website:

http://earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/3127

NYU Wagner prepares the world’s future public service leaders to solve today’s most complex challenges. Our unique, multi-disciplinary education combines theory from the classroom with practice in the field, giving our students the tools they need to change the world.

.

Master of Public Administration Master of Urban Planning Executive Master of Public Administration Full-time and Part-time Programs Available U.S. News & World Report national rankings: #6 among all public affairs schools #2 in City Management and Urban Policy #5 in Nonprofit Management #8 in Health Policy and Management #8 in Social Policy #9 in Public Management and Administration

>> NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE : JANUARY 6, 2014

wagner.nyu.edu cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

| SUPPLEMENT Study on campus or online

MASTER OF ARTS IN

Public Policy and Administration • Prepare for leadership roles in government and nonprofit organizations.

“I had a lot of experience in education before SCS. But the MPPA program deepened my interest in educational policy and helped redefine my career path.”

• Develop expertise in policy development, analysis and implementation.

— Charles Crabtree, MPPA ‘12, PhD candidate, political science,University of South Carolina, recipient of a Presidential Teaching Fellowship in Social Advocacy and Ethical Life

• Earn your Northwestern University master’s degree by attending evening courses in Chicago and Evanston — or study completely online.

Apply today — applications are accepted quarterly. The summer application deadline is April 15.

877-664-3347 • mppaonline.northwestern.edu

CORO NEW YORK LEADERSHIP CENTER ANNOUNCES ITS 2014 LEADERSHIP NEW YORK (LNY) PROGRAM About LNY For more than 25 years, Coro Leadership New York (LNY) has equipped thousands of our city’s top talent— from Commissioners and Councilmembers, to activists and entrepreneurs— with the resources they need to understand how decisions are made, how complex policies are shaped and how to influence meaningful change.

Why LNY? • THE NETWORK: LNY connects participants to an accomplished community of City leaders, from all industries and sectors, who are dedicated to supporting one another and to improving the City in which we live and work.

• THE KNOWLEDGE: LNY deeply immerses participants in the analysis of current, pressing social and economic public policy issues facing New York City.

• THE SKILLS: LNY uses the City of New York as a laboratory to explore, test and build effective leadership skills in order to learn how to adapt and thrive in challenging environments.

Applications Available in Early Spring

For more information about the program and the application process visit: www.coronewyork.org to complete an early pre-application form or call 212-248-2935 ext. 303. Leadership New York meets September through May. 20 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

GRADUATE & CONTINUING EDUCATION

The NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs M.S. in Global Affairs and Graduate Certificates Impart Skills to Advance Your Career As society becomes increasingly globalized, new opportunities abound for those with the know-how to navigate today’s social, political, and economic realities. Individuals in the government sector with an understanding of the changing global environment can pursue career paths in diverse areas including policymaking, research, law enforcement, and diplomacy.

The NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) Center for Global Affairs (CGA), ranked by the Foreign Policy Association as a leading institution preparing students for international careers, offers the 42-credit M.S. in Global Affairs.

Classes are taught by faculty members who are scholars and skilled practitioners, including former officers of the United Nations, international attorneys, leaders of organizations engaged in refugee relief and the protection of human rights, diplomats, activists, economists, and global energy experts from whom you will acquire both nuanced analytical understanding

and the methodologies to develop and to implement strategic solutions that address critical global problems.

CGA also offers three 15-credit certificate programs that–if successfully completed–may be applied towards credit for earning the master’s degree. The Graduate Certificate in Global Energy prepares students to succeed in this sector, taking advantage of the many emerging opportunities in all areas of energy, from exploration and production, to project finance and analysis, energy efficiency and sustainability, and electricity networks. Students who complete the Graduate Certificate in Transnational Security emerge with critical skills centering on the spectrum of security concerns, from military affairs to conflict resolution. The Graduate Certificate in Peacebuilding prepares you for critical thinking about peace and conflict, conflict assessment and analysis, mediation, and program development.

For more information, visit: scps.nyu.edu/cga/programs or call 212-998-7100.

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EXPLORE

Columbia University’s Sustainability Programs

M.P.A. IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY • Full-Time, 12-Month, intensive program.

• Apply by February 15, 2014 for May enrollment.

M.S. IN SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT Leadership New York offers something you can’t find in any other program.

It delivers a unique, civic style of leadership — one that’s built on understanding complexity, listening to multiple perspectives and leading change. Simply stated, participants hone the skills needed to get things done in a complex, multistakeholder environment. This is valuable for public service professionals and those in the private sector who increasingly have to navigate the intersection of government and business.

Admission Requirements Approximately 50 successful mid-career professionals are competitively selected to participate each year. Selected participants reflect the demographics of New York City and come from the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Leadership New York meets September through May.

• Part-time/Full-time. Evening classes.

• Our most flexible degree program.

• Apply by May 15, 2014 for September enrollment.

SUSTAINABILITY ESSENTIALS TRAINING • A new non-credit 40-hour training program on the basics of sustainability.

• Apply by January 30, 2014.

• Training begins in February.

LEARN MORE:

earth.columbia.edu

Candidate Requirements • Live or work in New York City • Minimum of seven years of professional work experience.

• Passion and curiosity about developing new leadership skills germane to problem solving in New York.

• Interest in civic engagement

cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

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Higher Credentials: Hire Prospects Prepare for High Demand Exciting Careers with Graduate Studies at CUNY • Outstanding faculty • Affordable tuition • At colleges in every borough

Visit cuny.edu/grad BARUCH COLLEGE • BROOKLYN COLLEGE • THE CITY COLLEGE • CUNY SCHOOL OF LAW • COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND • CUNY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES • CUNY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH THE GRADUATE SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY CENTER • HUNTER COLLEGE • JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE • LEHMAN COLLEGE • QUEENS COLLEGE

The end of the year is a wonderful time to reflect on the successes charted over the previous months.

Jennifer Raab, President, Hunter College At Hunter College, we’ve been fortunate to have accomplished unprecedented achievements in the pursuit of giving our students every resource we can to help them succeed in their educational aspirations.

This past year has seen massive growth in our physical presence, with new spaces being planned, constructed or opened for our students.

Each of these spaces was made possible through creative real estate transactions that unlock the value of our buildings, and open new doors for our hard-working students.

On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, we will soon begin work with Memorial Sloan Kettering on a combined 1.15 million-square-foot medical complex that will provide new space for our nursing and physical therapy schools, as well as science and research facilities, and an outpatient treatment center for MSK. In October, we announced a partnership with Weill Cornell Medical College that will see Hunter take an entire floor in the new Belfer Medical Research Building on East 69th Street, as it seeks to advance medical research and education in New York’s ever-growing bio-med corridor on the Upper East Side.

We have also moved our prestigious graduate art school program to a 95,000 square foot space at 205 Hudson St, providing more spacious studios for classes, and a ground floor gallery space that will be used exclusively to exhibit student artwork.

In Harlem, we are doing amazing work at the new home to the Silberman School of Social Work on 118th Street. The new building not only put the school into better facilities, but put the facilities in a neighborhood where students could put their classroom skills to practical application. The building also provides much needed space for the community to hold public events and meetings.

And in 2013 we were blessed to receive the largest donation in our history: $25 million from graduates Toby & Leon Cooperman, part of which will help us complete the transformation of our newly-renovated and technologically advanced library at the 68th Street campus, providing students with a place to congregate, collaborate and learn.

A wise man once said, “Success is not achieved alone.” We are grateful for all the people who have collaborated and helped us along our journey this year. We look forward to more success in 2014.

22 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

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The Baruch College School of Public Affairs congratulates the newly–and re-elected Members of the City Council and joins with all New Yorkers in wishing you the very best for what is sure to be a demanding and productive legislative session. With more than 1,200 students and 500 graduates entering the public sector workforce every year, SPA cares deeply about the quality of government and is dedicated to supporting legislative and executive branches alike, by educating talented public servants and by working directly with government on research and training programs.

Some of our programs include: • Master of Public Administration (MPA) • Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) • Master of Science in Education, Higher Education Administration (M.S.Ed)

Baruch College. Where you’ll not only pursue your passions—you’ll discover them.

D I S COV E R where YO U R PA S S I O N S take you at b a r u c h . c u n y. e d u /s p a

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• MANHATTAN ISLAND • • BROOK• STATEN • THE BRONX • QUEENS • STATEN • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND BRONX • BROOKLYN MANHATTAN ISLAND • • THE MANHATTAN • QUEENS • BROOK• STATEN ISLAND • • BROOKLYNISLAND • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN • QUEENS • STATEN • THE BRONX • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • STATEN MANHATTAN • QUEENS • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • BROOKLYN ISLAND • • BROOKLYN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • BROOK• STATEN • THE BRONX • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN • QUEENS MANHATTAN• BROOKLYN • QUEENS MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS ISLAND • THE BRONX • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • STATEN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND LYN • QUEENS • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • BROOKMANHATTAN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN • QUEENS ISLAND • • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • MANHATTAN LYN • QUEENS • QUEENS • BROOKLYN MANHATTAN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS ISLAND • THE BRONX ISLAND • • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • STATEN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • QUEENS • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN LYN • QUEENS • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • THE BRONX MANHATTAN • THE BRONX• STATEN ISLAND • QUEENS • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN ISLAND • • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS ISLAND • THE BRONX • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN QUEENS • STATEN • THE BRONX • STATEN ISLAND • BROOKLYN • LYN • QUEENS • MANHATTAN • QUEENS • THE BRONXSTATEN ISLAND ISLAND • • • BROOKLYN • MANHATTAN • QUEENS THE BRONX ISLAND • BROOKLYN • STATEN QUEENS • THE BRONX • MANHATTAN

DEEPAK CHOPRA REVEALS IF POLITICS CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY PAGE 27

N.Y. governor signs nation’s first gun-control bill since Newtown (CNN)

The Superstorm Sandy Courage Award: Ted Cruz

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State Sen. Malcolm Smith, city Councilman Halloran arrested in ‘bribery plot’ to rig mayor race (New York Post)

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The SLUSH FUND Legacy

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WHAT NYC CAN LEARN FROM THE YANKEES’ FAILURE

HOW MUCH IS GRACIE MANSION WORTH?

Ex-aides to John Liu sentenced in campaign finance scheme (Newsday)

SPEAKING

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Is NYC on the Verge of Changing Voting in America?

Education commissioner changes his mind, will hold 12 Common Core forums (Buffalo News)

JESSE VENTURA ON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2016 (WITH HOWARD STERN AS HIS VEEP!)

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WILL WOMEN ACTUALLY VOTE FOR WEINER? SPOTLIGHT: ORGANIZED LABOR

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COALITION

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TOP New York TEN City MAYORS

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Edward I. Koch, Mayor as Brash as His City, Dies at 88 (New York Times)

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Vito Lopez’s ogling of teen intern led to 911 calls by staffer and her mother (New York Daily News)

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New York passes a budget on time for 3rd time in a row (The Post-Standard)

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State Grants Oneida Indians Exclusive Territory for Casinos (New York Times)

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Test Scores Sink as New York Adopts Tougher Benchmarks (New York Times) Madam-Turned-Candidate Kristin Davis Busted for Selling Pills (DNAinfo)

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are SHELLY’S DAYS NUMBERED? BOSTON’S greatest NEW YORKERS

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De Blasio Is Elected New York City Mayor in Landslide (New York Times)

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Vol. 2, No. 24 - DECEMBER 16, 2013

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New York casinos poised to explode after voters say ‘yes’ to gambling meccas (Daily News)

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25

GAMING

26 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

GAMING

cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

27

ENERGY

Anti-Frackers Turn Focus to Liquefied Natural Gas LNG SUPPORTERS TOUT ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS, WHILE CRITICS DEMAND STRONGER REGULATIONS

By MATTHEW HAMILTON AND JON LENTZ

28 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

“

It’s drawn into the whole fracking issue, and they’re just anti-natural gas, in any way, shape or form, the result of which is energy rates are going to be higher in New York, the cost of doing business is going to be higher in New York. It’s shameful on their part.

“

N

ew York may soon pave the way for bus lines and trucking companies to use a cleaner and cheaper fuel, but proposed regulations for the natural gas-based fuel could be sidelined by the hydrofracking controversy.

The fuel, known as liquefied natural gas, is natural gas chilled to negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit. Proponents of LNG have said that the fuel is a better alternative to diesel. While officials say regulations now being written by the Department of Environmental Conservation would most likely pave the way for small refueling stations, anti-fracking advocates fear they could open the door for the construction of larger facilities and hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of drilling for natural gas that is currently banned in the state.

“It’s drawing opposition from the antifracking community, which is really sad, because it’s a great pro-environmental issue,” said state Sen. George Maziarz, who chairs the Energy Committee. “It’s going to create cleaner air, but there are some people out there, particularly in the anti-fracking movement, who are against natural gas anywhere in the country for any reason.”

But state Sen. Tony Avella, a leading opponent of hydrofracking in the state Legislature, said that the two issues “should not be related in any way, shape or form.” Avella acknowledged the environmental benefits of LNG—70 to 90 percent reductions in carbon monoxide and 20 to 30 percent reductions in carbon dioxide— but took issue with the DEC’s regulations.

“I have some concern with the proposed regulations because I don’t think they go far enough in limiting the size of these facilities, having specific limitations on sensitive locations. Why are there no specific emission limits on requiring for measuring reporting, the methane venting and flaring? So there’s a lot of issues that are not addressed in the proposed regulations by DEC,” Avella said. “So we need to take a much closer look and strengthen these regulations before we do this. But I think we have to recognize that this better than burning gasoline.”

In the 1970s, the state introduced a moratorium on the construction of

liquefied natural gas facilities, which the Department of Environmental Conservation is considering allowing once again through regulations first proposed in October.

Environmental groups like Frack Action—a Southern Tier-based group— are calling for the proposed regulations to be pulled back in favor of new ones that are more focused, but only after additional studying is done.

The group said at the beginning of December, when it helped deliver more than 50,000 public comments to the DEC about the regulations, that as the regulations stand, they would possibly allow the fossil-fuel industry to build natural gas infrastructure that would facilitate fracking in New York.

“The DEC has publically stated that the LNG regulations have nothing to do with fracking and opening the doorway to fracking,” Frack Action’s John Armstrong said. “What we have said to them is if DEC is being honest with New York and saying that, then withdraw these regulations.

Then come back with regulations that [do what] the DEC says they are dointg, which is allowing fueling stations.”

New York Public Interest Research Group Legislative Counsel Russ Haven said the link between allowing liquefied natural gas and fracking would be strong if the DEC’s draft regulations are passed unrevised. He said industry chatter indicates that the new regulations would allow infrastructure that would accommodate fracking in New York and support fracking in Pennsylvania.

But the alternative is not widely available, with only six stations east of the Mississippi River, Armstrong said.

While New York could be considered a hub for the cleaner-burning fuel, Haven said more review needs to be completed before the positives can really be considered as such.

“Particularly in urban areas and other corridors where there is high truck traffic or equipment traffic, we would see cleaning up the air of those communities as a positive,” he said. “But you need to look at the environmental impacts of the LNG proposal. …

You also need to do a real review to ensure safety is maximized. We don’t see either of

these things in the draft set of regulations.”

Opponents have lambasted the 2011 NYSERDA study DEC has used, which was produced through a grant to NYSERDA from the energy company Expansion Energy, according to comments from NYPIRG and Riverkeeper submitted to the DEC. That company filed for patents for non-hydraulic fracturing extraction shortly after submitting its safety study and it already holds patents for mobile liquefaction production facilities, according to the comments. It is also the only recent report used by DEC, NYPIRG says.

Not only would a new study help groups like Frack Action better understand the risks involved with liquefied natural gas, but it would help legislators, who Armstrong said may be in the same boat when it comes to evaluating LNG. Armstong contends that because the legislation to impose the moratorium was enacted in the 1970s, few, if any, lawmakers from that era are still serving in the Capitol, and as a result it would be of great utility to conduct a new study to bring more current facts to light.

“If you want to do these refuel stations and that’s it, come out with regulations that don’t allow every facility under sun,” Armstrong said. “Come back with a proposal based in science, so we can have informed discussion about the proposal.”

Haven said because the state’s moratorium was lifted in 1999 but any strides forward have been mostly in the regulatory phase, liquefied natural gas has largely been out-of-sight-out-of-mind for legislators. He said some may have an understanding of the issue, but “by and large, I don’t think most have a take on it.”

However, Maziarz said that some of his fellow lawmakers had initially supported legislation that would allow the transportation of LNG in the state, which is not part of the DEC regulations, but that they had succumbed to pressure from anti-fracking activists.

“It’s drawn into the whole fracking issue, and they’re just anti-natural gas, in any way, shape or form, the result of which is energy rates are going to be higher in New York, the cost of doing business is going to be higher in New York,” the lawmaker said.

“It’s shameful on their part.”

Working With: • NY City Department of Transportation • NY City Metropolitan Transit Authority • Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority

• NY State Department of Transportation • The Port Authority of NY/NJ • NY State Bridge Authority

Kieran Ahern • President • Dan O’Connell • General Counsel

ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

BUFFALO BOOM? HOPE FOR RECOVERY AS WESTERN NEW YORK PROJECTS TAKE SHAPE

By ALLISON HIBBS

based clean energy companies. The two companies, Soraa, which makes lighting systems, and Silevo, which produces high-efficiency solar panels, will anchor one of six planned buildings at the Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Hub at RiverBend (the former site of Republic Steel), potentially creating some 2,000 jobs.

Another state-supported enterprise, the University at Buffalo’s $375 million medical school building, is set to open its doors in the fall of 2016. Partially funded through NYS2020 legislation, the 540,000-square-foot building will include an indoor seven-story glass

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the latest round of grants as part of his Regional Economic Development Council program this month, including nearly $61 million for Western New York.

F

or years Buffalo has been in dire economic straits. Decades of population and revenue loss due to deindustrialization, suburbanization and racial unrest reduced the once thriving metropolis to the second poorest city in the nation by 2007. Despite billions of federal and state dollars funneled into Western New York—via a hodgepodge of programs and incentives—the goal of revitalizing the area and helping its poorest inhabitants appeared to many an unmitigated waste of tax dollars. Proposed solutions to the problem were many: Let the city shrink to a manageable size; consolidate regional decision-making; invest more; invest differently; let the private sector do the investing. Meanwhile, the city’s population continued to shrink right along with its median income.

Today the remaining denizens of Buffalo and its surrounding areas are seeing things they have not seen since the first half of the 20th century: a whole lot of money and no small amount of hope. The 30 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

recent influx of new business, construction projects and, most important, jobs in the region has many wondering whether this time Buffalo will truly overcome the legacy of its past.

Estimates put forth by Buffalo Business First and shared by the office of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz have placed the total amount of incoming dollars at more than $8 billion for projects across Erie and Niagara counties, including money from private investments and public programs. With those investments comes the expectation of thousands of new jobs with higher income-earning potential.

While exact numbers vary, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s office estimate that at least $2.2 billion is being invested in the city, including for projects such as a hightech green energy complex announced

by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month. The state will invest $225 million through the governor’s Billion to Buffalo program, its largest outlay to date, to augment the $1.5 billion that will come from two California-

atrium, state-of-the-art laboratories, a center for clinical, surgical and robotic surgery training, and a built-in light rail station. The new structure is expected to attract, train and retain world-class physicians and scientists.

The Cuomo administration has not stood alone in its financial display of faith in this long-doubted region. Private investment has played a huge role in the burgeoning rebirth of Buffalo, including from the governor’s erstwhile adversary Carl Paladino. Construction on Ellicott Development’s $75 million “The Carlo” (named for Paladino’s grandfather), a complex that will include a hotel, in addition to residential and commercial space, is expected to begin at the Erie Basin Marina in 2014. Additional property investments

by Paladino’s corporation since the beginning of the year are valued at approximately $10 million.

Other projects are moving forward as well. In April the owner of the Buffalo

Sabres hockey team, Terry Pegula, broke ground on his $172 million Harbor Center on the Webster Block, a 1.7-acre cityowned site located across from the First Niagara Center, where the Sabres play.

The Harbor Center is expected to have a restaurant, two ice rinks and parking open to the public by September 2014, in time for hockey season. A 200-room hotel will open in 2015. In all, the facility promises to create 350 long-term jobs.

Another project, the recently completed Conventus Building at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, a $100 million structure housing clinical, practical and medical research space, is expected to create more than 100 new jobs. Next summer the new $46 million Catholic Health Systems headquarters will be completed. The following fall the $40 million Clinical Sciences Center at Roswell Park Cancer Institute will be finished, and the new $42 million John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital is expected to open early 2016.

Additional renovation projects are either complete or underway to add hotel and commercial space at the Donovan State Office Building, now called One Canalside ($30 million), the Tishman Building ($40 million), the Hotel at Lafayette ($42 million), the Curtiss Building ($18 million) and the Richardson Olmsted Complex ($56 million).

Among other notable expenditures are several that are intended to beautify the city and its surrounding areas: $88 million for a three-phase renovation process turning the former Memorial Auditorium site into a tourist-friendly attraction featuring replica canals (an homage to the economic and cultural history of the area), shopping, an ice rink and a children’s museum; $15 million for Buffalo Riverfront Park; and $25 million for the renovation and upgrade of Niagara Falls State Park facilities.

Taken together, these investments represent a new way of thinking about Western New York and the implementation of solutions to decades of economic decline. Turning away from the industrial heyday of the city’s past, the governor’s Regional Economic Development Council is emphasizing investing in other area strengths, which in Western New York includes education, energy, advanced manufacturing, and the health and life sciences. Earlier this month Western New York won $60.8 million in the latest round of the governor’s REDC program, including $1 million for a computing and data analytics center at SUNY Buffalo.

“These projects dovetail with the proposals of the Regional Economic Development Council and my economic agenda, Initiatives for a Smart Economy,” Poloncarz told City & State. “As these investments mature and produce fruit, we anticipate more interest and job-creating potential in the future from other businesses who have seen the benefits of conducting business in Erie County.”

ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

Big Projects

E

arly next year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s No. 7 train will carry its first passengers on a new extension to Manhattan’s West Side. On the other side of the island, the MTA’s Second Avenue subway tunnel is inching along, and its East Side Access project is getting closer to bringing Long Island commuters directly to Grand Central Terminal. And of course, up the Hudson River, construction workers are already preparing to build a new bridge to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge.

But these are not the only major projects going on across the state. To keep you up to speed, here are five other public works across the state that are in critical planning stages, about to get underway or meeting key milestones.

Kosciuszko Bridge Project: Replacement Agency: New York State Department of Transportation Price tag: $971 million

T

he 1.1-mile Kosciuszko Bridge carries traffic on the BrooklynQueens Expressway over Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and the Long Island Expressway in Queens. But the bridge, which is over 70 years old and carries more than 160,000 vehicles each day, is in dire need of replacement. The state has adopted a two-stage plan: First, under a design-build contract, a new eastbound link will be built, and the old bridge demolished; work was originally expected to start this year, and is projected to be complete in early 2018. In the second phase, workers will construct a new westbound link.

Goethals Bridge Project: Replacement Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Cost: $1.5 billion (additional federal funding is also being sought) 32 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

Interstate 81

T

he Goethals Bridge, one of three Staten Island bridges linking New York and New Jersey, is part of a key route between Brooklyn and New Jersey, and serves as an integral link between airports, seaports and regional markets in both states. In April the Port Authority announced a public-private partnership with NYNJ Link Partnership for the design, building, financing and maintenance of

the bridge, which is more than 80 years old. The new bridge will sit directly to the south of the current one, which will be demolished once its replacement is completed. The new bridge will have six lanes, including three in each direction, a sidewalk/bikeway, and space for potential transit service in the future.

Harold Interlocking Project: Easing train congestion Agency: Metropolitan Transportation Authority Cost: $368.5 million

T

he Harold Interlocking Northeast Corridor Congestion Relief Project is centered on a busy train intersection in Queens—in fact, it is the busiest such train intersection in the country. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service, which connects Boston and New York, currently crosses over local train lines at the Harold Interlocking,

Harold Interlocking Interstate 95 Goethals Bridge

and the ongoing construction project adds bypass routes to eliminate the crossover, reduce congestion and pave the way for high-speed rail in coming years. Federal funds were designated for the project in 2011, and the MTA is overseeing the effort in tandem with its East Side Access project.

Interstate 81 in Syracuse Project: Undecided Agency: New York State Department of Transportation Cost: To be determined

I

nterstate 81 is a key transportation link in Syracuse, carrying 100,000 vehicles a day and serving as a major commuter route connecting downtown Syracuse all the way down south to Tennessee and up to the Canadian border to the north.

Built in the 1950s and ’60s, the interstate highway is falling into disrepair in places and is seeing accident rates rise,

Kosciuszko Bridge especially on the raised 1.4-mile “viaduct” near downtown Syracuse. Following the conclusion of a planning study corridor for the 12-mile corridor, state and federal transportation officials are now conducting an environmental review, with public meetings held this fall. Among the goals for the project are to address the viaduct’s structural problems while also adding pedestrian access and improving the look of the interstate’s infrastructure. However, residents are split over whether to repair the highway or tear it down and replace it with a boulevard, and it will take years before either option moves forward.

Interstate 95 Project: Roadway improvements Agency: Thruway Authority Cost: $47 million

T

he New England Thruway, part of the country’s Interstate Highway System, spans about 24 miles in New York, from the George Washington Bridge to the Connecticut border, where it becomes the Connecticut Turnpike. The Thruway has launched multiyear improvements along the New England Thruway, and in its capital plan for 2014 are concrete pavement restorations from Pelham Parkway to Port Chester on the Connecticut border, and the rehabilitation of bridges over Kings Highway, the Cross County Connection and Cedar Street Interchange.

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ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

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t the turn of the century, there was a general worry among real estate developers about the lack of commercial space in New York City. Across the Hudson, New Jersey was being touted as the “sixth borough”—the next frontier for commercial development, with Manhattan overcrowded and no momentum for re-zoning the outer boroughs.

Enter U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. In 2000, Schumer convened a group of 35 business, labor and academic experts to develop an ambitious plan that called for a combination of condemnation, tax breaks, transit links and zoning changes to create expanded business districts in downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City in Queens and on the far West Side of Manhattan.

“There is a troubling storm cloud on the horizon that could cause New York City to stagnate or even decline,” Schumer said at the time in a speech introducing the Group of 35. “The troubling storm cloud can be summed up in one word: space. Though many are not aware of it yet, New York is about to enter into a space crisis.”

Nearly 14 years later, much of the Group of 35 plan has been implemented, thanks in large part to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In addition to the three aforementioned business districts, all of which were re-zoned under Bloomberg, the city approved plans to develop ancillary business districts in the Queens neighborhoods of Jamaica and Flushing, and along 125th Street in Harlem—recommendations which were also made in the original report. With this mix of outer borough and Manhattan development, New York City actively sought out ways to remedy its space problem.

Still, with Manhattan the crown jewel as far as attracting businesses, Bloomberg hoped to achieve one more development goal before exiting office at the end of this month: re-zoning Midtown East. The Bloomberg administration envisioned soaring skyscrapers like those in Lower Manhattan clustered into a 73-block area around the Empire State Building.

However, with a groundswell of activists and environmentalists opposing the plan, citing traffic and preservation concerns, the Midtown East plan was scuttled at the last minute. City Councilman Dan Garodnick, who represents the neighborhood, declined to vote in favor of the plan, though he left open the possibility of revisiting it during the next administration.

Is Midtown East the final frontier for commercial development in Manhattan? Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, noted that a construction report issued by his organization in October showed that 94 percent of all office construction in the city is in only two places: the World Trade Center site, where One World Trade Center and several of the adjacent buildings are nearly complete, and Hudson Yards on the Upper West Side, which broke ground last year. As for areas of Manhattan that are still ripe for development, he pointed to a parcel of land near the United Nations building, and the Brookfield site on the far West Side, which broke ground earlier this year. He also said that there is plenty of remaining space at Hudson Yards.

“We have a lot to absorb before people would run to the outer boroughs,” Anderson said.

“The outer boroughs are more residentially oriented, anyway. You’ve got downtown Brooklyn, which certainly has potential, everything from the Borough Hall area down to Atlantic Yards.

There’s a lot of room there.”

Of course, a great deal will depend upon how the incoming mayor, Bill de Blasio, will prioritize development. De Blasio has roots in Brooklyn, where his family lives and he served in the City Council, and he has a track record of being fairly development-friendly, voicing support in the past for the controversial Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn.

De Blasio has staked out a position as a “progressive”—zeroing in on income inequality, and making the city fairer for all. How this dovetails with the future of commercial development remains to be seen. De Blasio has a grand plan to build hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, but with so little land available, incentivizing developers to build is expensive.

De Blasio will also face the challenge of building relationships with the real estate and construction communities. One real estate source, who requested to go unnamed so as not to offend the mayor-elect, suggested that developers might find it less palatable dealing with a political operative like de Blasio than a business titan like Bloomberg.

“If you’re a business leader and you’re making decisions about where you’re going to locate your business…obviously that crowd felt a lot better dealing with the billionaire guy at City Hall who built his own business, because he inherently came from that world,” the source said.

During the Bloomberg era of mass development, as long as people had the appetite to locate their businesses in New York, the city found a way for them to do so. The question remains whether de Blasio will be as accommodating.

Now it’s time to build for tomorrow: • Build a Full Length Second Avenue Subway • Build a New Passenger Rail Tunnel under the Hudson River • Build Moynihan Station • Complete the Third Water Tunnel

ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

Where’s Sandy Recovery Money Going?

New Tracker Gives Incomplete Answers.

By ANNALIESE WIEDERSPAHN

THE NEW YORK WORLD

Spent

Allocated / Obligated

Funds Finalized

The Sandy Funding Tracker tallies broad categories but is skimpy on details about spending on private contractors. Here’s how the city plans to use funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the tracker.

T

he city’s storm recovery agency launched a Sandy Funding Tracker this month to tally billions of federal dollars flowing into New York City for rebuilding—but without information on the private contractors who have received much of the money so far.

Under a measure currently being considered by the City Council, the website would have to reveal considerably more information, including details about the companies under contract to do the work, the wages they pay their workers and the locations of projects completed.

“City Hall must do more to provide detailed information on Sandy rebuilding employment and contracting, including specific numbers, wages and the names of firms being contracted by the city,” said Nathalie Alegre, coordinator of the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, a coalition of labor and community groups, in a statement sent after the tracker went live.

“These additional data points are essential 36 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

in order to ensure every taxpayer dime is spent wisely and prevent abusive wage theft from unscrupulous contractors.”

A recent Baruch College study found that 82 percent of Sandy relief and recovery workers had not been paid some portion of their wages.

The Sandy recovery funds come from two sources: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has delivered $1.6 billion in aid allocated by Congress, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is just beginning to fund recovery projects in the region through its Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program. The city’s tracker fulfills a commitment the city has made to publicly report its Sandy spending. (New York State is posting its own reports separately.)

At a City Council Finance Committee hearing earlier this month about the measure, Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway insisted that the city’s tracker renders the Council bill unnecessary. “We

believe the Sandy Funding Tracker obviates the need for Intro 1040-A,” he testified, suggesting that going forward the existing tracker could be expanded to include details about private contractors and how much money each is receiving.

The city is already posting HUD-funded contracts, in PDF form.

The bill’s boosters in the City Council are not accepting that answer. Following the hearing, Councilman Donovan Richards, a sponsor of the bill whose district includes storm-hit Far Rockaway, said he would press on for passage.

“Our legislation has helped start the process of tracking Sandy funding,” Richards wrote on his Facebook page.

“However, we are still moving forward with our bill to ensure that the process and details toward rebuilding are transparent for years to come.”

The current tracker discloses no information on individual contractors or the projects on which they have worked.

Instead, it tallies total dollars allocated and spent under 18 programs the city is running

with approval of HUD. Funds from FEMA are itemized separately, broken down by city agency. The tracker also provides some basic information, organized by borough, on program results, such as the number of applicants for housing repairs and the number of jobs created.

In November Richards and Councilman Brad Lander joined labor activists at a rally on the steps of City Hall in support of the Sandy tracker bill. They met stiff opposition at the hearing that followed from Thaddeus Hackworth, general counsel at NYC Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations.

Hackworth testified that the bill would be unworkable. The city could not readily acquire detailed information from Sandy recovery contractors, he said, because no such disclosure was negotiated by the city when it signed contracts with them.

“Ask them nicely, ask them not so nicely,” Hackworth said. “The city cannot make these contractors provide the [labor] information.”

—www.thenewyorkworld.com

WHO WE ARE Louis J. Coletti President & CEO

• The Building Trades Employers Association represents 28 union contractor trade associations made up of 2,000 union construction managers, general contractors and specialty trade contractors doing business in the city, employing 100,000 skilled Building & Construction Trade Council members.

The BTEA Congratulates Our Newly Elected City Council Members

WE NEED YOUR HELP. Tell Albany to stop protecting Trial Attorneys and allow us to build the classrooms our children need.

Help us grow our city’s Minority & Women Owned Businesses and create good paying middle class jobs.

Tell Albany we need Scaffold Reform for our children, for our communities.

THE BUILDING TRADES EMPLOYERS’ ASSOCIATION: BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL NEW YORKERS

Building Trades Employers’ Association | 1430 Broadway | Suite 1106 | New York, NY 10018 | 212.704.9745 | www.bteany.com

ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

THE ROUNDTABLE KENNETH ADAMS

REP. MICHAEL GRIMM Q: Staten Island was among the places that were hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy over a year ago. Is enough being done at the city, state and federal level to rebuild the borough?

MG: Of the $60 billion in federal funds I fought to secure in Congress, both New York City and New York State received recovery funding. New York State prioritized housing, and Long Islanders have already received award letters—receiving an average of $112,000 and additional funds to raze homes. In contrast, the city failed miserably in prioritizing housing, so that only one-third of the 12,000 Priority 1 homeowners will receive assistance from the first funding tranche. Taking care of the people and getting them back in their homes should be our top priority. It’s unacceptable that New York City has left its residents in the dark and without a home.

Q: Last month you criticized New York City and its Build It Back program. What is the problem? Has the city made any progress since then?

MG: About 26,000 New York City residents have applied for Build It Back, yet almost no one has received funding or even an award letter. Christmas is almost here, and some Staten Island families will spend another holiday season without a home. Families are at their wit’s end, waiting in limbo on action from the city. They deserve answers on when they will be receiving funds and how much. Relief is long overdue, and I will not allow this mayor to run out the clock. On behalf of my constituents, I am demanding answers, and will continue to fight for expedient action.

Q: You are a sponsor of H.R. 184, a bill on mechanical insulation installation. What would this legislation do?

How likely is it to pass?

MG: H.R. 184 allows manufacturers to increase their maintenance deduction expense up to a maximum 30 percent of the energy saved. By promoting incentives for mechanical insulation installation, Congress will create jobs and help manufacturers successfully compete in the global marketplace. I am pushing to include this bipartisan bill in any tax reform package moving forward.

Q: The backing of construction labor unions, based on your support for project labor agreements and prevailing wages on federal projects, seems to have helped you win re-election. Do you expect labor to help you again in next year’s election?

MG: I grew up in a working class union household, and I know how hard our labor community works, which is why I support competitive wages and safe working environments. Being a strong advocate for these policies is in the best interest of the people I represent. Doing the right thing for the people who elected you to office usually does help to get re-elected, so I do expect to receive strong labor support.

38 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

President and CEO, Empire State Development Commissioner, New York State Department of Economic Development

Q: The Cuomo administration recently announced that the state’s START-UP NY tax-free program has received applications from more than 800 companies.

Do you expect this to spur new construction projects across the state?

KA: Yes, because some of the schools are including surplus land as part of their start-up plan. New buildings will be built to suit the needs of the business applicants and the universities.

Q: Empire State Development also has a Small Business Storm Recovery Program, which helps businesses impacted by Superstorm Sandy last year, as well as other natural disasters. How many businesses have been helped, and how much money has been disbursed?

KA: Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the New York State Emergency Small Business Loan Program, administered

by Empire State Development, a $10 million emergency loan fund program to assist small businesses. Over $3.2 million in low-interest loans were issued to more than 140 storm-impacted businesses. Empire State Development launched the Storm Sandy Emergency Loan Fund in conjunction with the New York Bankers Association and New York Business Development Corporation, or NYBDC. Administered by NYBDC at no cost to New York State, the loan program offers qualifying businesses loans of up to $25,000, with no payment and 0 percent interest for the first six months and a 1 percent interest rate for the following 24 months. The program was launched to support independently owned and operated businesses in the regions designated as disaster areas, with the loan funds used to replace or repair damaged assets and inventory, and for working capital losses incurred due to business interruption.

Q: Some budget experts have praised the state’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative, which is now in its third round of funding, for better allocating capital dollars across the state. What’s the latest development with the REDCs? KA: For the last three years, the Regional Councils have pursued economic development projects on the ground all across the state, from creating new technologies and supporting innovation to building hospitals and tourism destinations that will further our economic growth.

The Regional Councils were empowered to change the face of economic development in their communities, and they have accomplished just that. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the third round of awards— $715.9 million to support more than 800 projects. These investments continue the state’s commitment to these creative and groundbreaking plans and further the immense progress that has already been made in revitalizing our economy and putting New Yorkers back to work.

CATHARINE YOUNG Chair, New York State Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development

Q: It has been over a year since Superstorm Sandy hit New York. Is enough being done to rebuild?

CY: Superstorm Sandy was an unprecedented disaster, and assisting those who have suffered damage and lost their homes must continue to be our first priority. Officials at all levels are working hard to help people get back on their feet and rebuild affected areas. But people are still suffering, and many are understandably frustrated that recovery efforts may not always move as quickly as needed. At the state level, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature have initiated the NY Rising storm recovery program, which is providing help to affected victims, including assistance with home repairs and rehabilitation, storm mitigation, and house elevation. NY Rising also includes a Community Reconstruction Zone program that is working to ensure local communities and businesses have a strong say in rebuilding plans.

With many families still facing tremendous hardships, however, we must not lose our focus, but make sure rebuilding efforts are moving ahead and funding continues to be put to good use.

Q: Senate Republicans this fall put out a report calling for state tax reforms. Could these proposals spur more construction?

CY: Our tax reform plan would encourage homeowners, retirees, job seekers, businesses and all taxpayers to stay here and invest in New York. Through reduced personal income taxes, business taxes, estate taxes and local property taxes, New York will become a much more welcoming destination for construction and development initiatives.

Q: What is your top legislative priority next year for construction?

CY: Expanding economic opportunities for women is also on my agenda for 2014. I sponsor a bill to create the Building Opportunities Program, which would allow more women-owned business enterprises to compete in the affordable housing development arena.

A recent disparity study done by the City of New York verified that these businesses have limited prospects to compete. Current law explicitly only provides for such programs for minority-owned businesses in certain areas. This proposal broadens the authority of municipalities to implement targeted development opportunities ... for both women and minorities. .... State and federal tax credit programs have been disrupted as a result of the country’s financial crisis.

Refundable housing tax credits would spur greater private investment in affordable housing, driving more development across the state. We passed this bill in the Senate, and I am optimistic we can have it become law in the coming year.

ISSUE SPOTLIGHT / CONSTRUCTION

SCORECARD: CONSTRUCTION THE PLAYERS

THE ISSUES SUPERSTORM SANDY: Over a year has passed since the storm hammered New York, and it will take years before the rebuilding and recovery are complete. Both the Cuomo and Bloomberg administrations have issued in-depth reports and recommendations, though much of the work, such as making the coastline more resilient and updating building codes and standards, has yet to be done.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: Public-private partnerships, or P3s, have been a buzzword since Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office, and he signed legislation in 2011 paving the way for design-build, a limited type of P3 that makes a developer responsible for both the design and construction of a project. Design-build is planned for the project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, one of Cuomo’s top priorities. But full-fledged P3s are not yet allowed in the state, except on state authority projects, such as the Port Authority’s new Goethals Bridge.

THE SCAFFOLD LAW: A long-running battle in Albany centers on the Scaffold Law, a unique provision in New York that holds employers and property owners liable when construction workers are injured in gravity-related accidents and proper safety equipment was not provided. Some lawmakers and tort reform advocates want to amend the law to take workers’ behavior into account, though trial lawyers say the law provides a critical safeguard that protects workers.

THE STATE Gov. Andrew Cuomo has seized the reins of the project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, and progress on the key piece of infrastructure after years of inaction by the state could provide him with a political boost. His administration also released the state’s first-ever 10-year capital plan earlier this year, which experts applauded as an important step toward prioritizing key projects. Two Cuomo appointees, Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Tom Prendergast, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, oversee key construction projects upgrading the state’s transportation infrastructure, while Joan McDonald heads the state Transportation Department.

THE CITY Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s top commissioner on the regulatory front is Robert LiMandri, who plays an integral role in a city where real estate is a driving force. Other key players include Kyle Kimball, who heads the city’s Economic Development Corporation, and Amanda Burden, who chairs the city’s Planning Commission, though the Bloomberg administration only has a few weeks left in office, and the mayor’s appointees are all likely to be replaced by the new administration. The Real Estate Board of New York, headed by Steven Spinola, and the New York Building Congress, of which Richard Anderson is the president, are influential players in the construction industry.

LABOR AND CONTRACTORS Unions continue to be a powerful force in New York, and they play a major role in the construction industry. Gary LaBarbera, the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, a union umbrella group, is an influential figure on the labor side of the industry, and Louis Coletti’s Building Trades Employers’ Association is a key group representing contractors.

NEW YORK CITY CONSTRUCTION SPENDING

$40 BILLION

THE INCOMING ADMINISTRATION

$0 2012

2013

2014

2015

(2014 AND 2015 NUMBERS ARE ESTIMATES)

Jill Lerner, the president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and Rick Bell, the organization’s executive director, have proposed that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio create a new deputy mayor position to oversee housing, planning, design and construction. The following are some potential appointees suggested by AIA’s leaders for the post they envision, as well as for some of the city’s key existing construction-related positions.

POSITION: Deputy Mayor for Housing, Design and Construction Suggested Appointees: Jonathan Rose, real estate executive; David Burney, Department of Design and Construction commissioner

NUMBER OF NEW YORK CITY CONSTRUCTION JOBS

POSITION: Housing Preservation and Development Current Commissioner: RuthAnne Visnauskas Suggested Appointees: Shola Olatoye and Katie Swenson, Enterprise Community Partners vice presidents

135,000

POSITION: City Planning Commission Current Chair: Amanda Burden Suggested Appointees: Regina Myer, Brooklyn Bridge Park president; Vishaan Chakrabarti, Columbia University; Ray Gastil, former director of City Planning’s Manhattan office; John Shapiro, the Pratt Institute 105,000 2012

2013

2014

2015

(SOURCE: NEW YORK BUILDING CONGRESS)

40 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

POSITION: Buildings Department Current Commissioner: Robert LiMandri Suggested Appointees: Fred Mosher, Buildings Department deputy commissioner

LOCAL 3 IBEW - NECA NY THE GOLD STANDARD

THE RIGHT CHOICE

FOR ALL YOUR ELECTRICAL NEEDS

LAST LOOK

HOLDING WALL STREET ACCOUNTABLE

CHANGING THE JOBS DEBATE

By MICHAEL JOHNSON

T

OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL

The New York State attorney general speaking in New York City on Nov. 19.

By MICHAEL JOHNSON

M

ore than five years have passed since Congress enacted the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, authorizing the U.S. government to loan up to $700 billion to stabilize troubled banks and avoid a global financial collapse that many believe would have been worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Yet the vote left Americans feeling scarred. Millions lost a large chunk of their retirement savings. Millions more saw the values of their homes plummet. Public anger over the bailout of the nation’s largest financial institutions helped spur the Tea Party movement on the right and Occupy Wall Street on the left.

A common complaint is that top banking executives who bear some responsibility for the financial collapse have not been held accountable for their actions. For many Americans, the demand for accountability will only be met if these bankers are personally punished.

Last month when New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a record $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase, the agreement left open 42 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

the possibility of criminal charges down the road.

In a Last Look interview with City & State after the settlement, Schneiderman acknowledged that many people want arrests to be made.

“I know a lot of people aren’t going to be satisfied if that doesn’t happen, and I can understand the sentiment that if you commit a big enough crime, you are allowed to get away with it. It’s tough,” Schneiderman told City & State. “When I came into office and started to investigate this area, a lot of time had already gone by, and our statute of limitations is much shorter than what the federal government has. So the federal government is continuing to pursue the possibility of criminal charges. But I can’t really argue with the sentiment that it seems there really was a missed opportunity here to set a tougher standard for folks who knowingly violated the law.”

It has been widely reported that a criminal investigation into the big banks, led by the federal government, is underway. Schneiderman said that he is optimistic that the actions of the working group he co-chairs with other

state attorneys general will hold the financial services sector accountable.

“I think this settlement and the settlements to come really reflect the working group that the president set up,” he said. “[It] has started to deliver results, and we are actually digging into the crash that happened in the housing market, the crash in the mortgage-backed securities market that brought America to its knees and created the recession from which we are still recovering.”

“This is accountability,” he continued.

“I can understand the point of view from some folks that it is not quite enough, but this is a big deal, and ultimately it is also going to help the folks who are hurt the most.”

To watch these and other Last Look interviews in their entirety, go to cityandstateny .com/video. To receive every Last Look in your inbox, sign up for Last Read on City & State’s website.

he New York State AFL-CIO has launched a new statewide campaign with the goal of changing the debate over job creation in the state.

Corporations have dominated the conversation too long, maintained AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento, who says he wants to make sure the voices of hardworking New Yorkers are heard.

“Working men and women have been on the defensive in this state and across the country for many years now,” Cilento said in a Last Look interview with City & State. “We have had to defend our basic wages, benefits and conditions of employment, and the time to stop it is now because we are recognizing [that] the income inequality in this state and across this country is greater than it has ever been.”

Cilento points to the recent authorization of expanded casino gambling as the type of long-term investment in sustainable jobs the state should be making. On average, casino workers are paid a comfortable living wage, Cilento said, which helps boost the income tax base for communities and helps pay for government employees such as police officers and firefighters rather than necessitating continual layoffs to balance budgets.

The AFL-CIO would like to see state policy focus more on attracting new industries to the state and less on providing tax breaks to large companies in exchange for the promise of jobs that sometimes do not materialize. One target in 2014 will be Industrial Development Agencies, or IDAs, which the labor group argues should be more accountable and fair.

If the state does provide tax incentives to corporations, Cilento said, it needs to hold them accountable if they fail to create the jobs they promise.

“If we are going to give you a million dollars in tax breaks and you are going to create a thousand jobs—then create the thousand jobs,” Cilento said. “If you don’t, if you create 500 jobs, we need to get that money back. Not to punish that employer but to give it to the next employer on the list, so they in fact can create those jobs. We have got to do this better.”

PERSPECTIVES

Council Watch

T

he ascension of the first Brooklyn mayor since Abe Beame marks a shift in the power dynamics of the city, as Manhattan’s dominance over the political culture of New York appears to be on the wane. Christine Quinn’s disastrous mayoral bid, backed heavily by all sectors of the Manhattan elite, demonstrated convincingly that elections are not won on the editorial pages, but require the buy-in of the voters who, however unfortunately for the wannabe kingmakers, actually decide who wins.

Now, as attention shifts to the election of the Speaker of the Council, alliances are forming that could further effectuate the long-awaited rise of the outer boroughs to prominence. The bosses of the Democratic organizations of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, who traditionally have selected the Speaker, are now being taken on by a bloc of reform-minded Council members, allied with the Brooklyn-based Working Families Party, who are demanding a seat in the proverbial backroom. The Progressive Caucus and its auxiliary “Progressive Bloc” have linked arms and issued an ultimatum that they will only agree to vote for a “progressive” Speaker.

Yet amid the current hubbub regarding the ascending “progressive moment,” as Speaker candidate and PC co-chair Melissa Mark-Viverito calls it, the question of what being progressive means has become increasingly hard to define. For example, in announcing the appointment of Bill Bratton as his police commissioner, Mayor-Elect de Blasio hailed Bratton as “a progressive visionary.” If Bratton, who was the guiding spirit behind CompStat and the Giuliani-era zero-tolerance policies, can be included in the progressive camp by de Blasio and Mark-Viverito (who called Bratton “fair and progressive”), then the definition of progressive is elastic at best.

Who in New York City isn’t some kind of progressive? Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz of Forest Hills and Rego Park remarks, “I’m a progressive person, my whole life has been progressive and in support of progressive policies; I just don’t believe in joining caucuses to demonstrate it.” Councilman Oliver Koppell of Riverdale, who was first elected to the state Legislature in 1970, championed environmental legislation and disability rights throughout his career, and in 1971 sponsored a bill to restore voting rights to felons. A former senior aide notes, “Koppell put himself on the line for liberal causes like LGBT rights years before it became fashionable. Joining

the Progressive Caucus is more of a means of political affiliation than it is an ideological alignment.”

Indeed, PC members tend to be unaligned (or less aligned) with existing political organizations or clubs. Koslowitz, for instance, is closely tied to the Queens County Democrats, and Koppell is a member of the powerful Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club. The current members of the PC received election on the

“ Amid the current hubbub regarding the ascending “progressive moment,” as Speaker candidate and Progressive Caucus co-chair Melissa MarkViverito calls it, the question of what being progressive means has become increasingly hard to define.

“

By SETH BARRON

RISE OF THE OUTER BOROUGHS WFP line and in most cases (Letitia James, Julissa Ferreras, Debi Rose, Jimmy Van Bramer, Jumaane Williams, Margaret Chin and Danny Dromm) were insurgent candidates who did not originally have machine backing.

Consider the case of Manhattan, which has the least powerful Democratic organization, and which exercises little aggregate influence on citywide questions such as the election of the Council Speaker. All of the new class of Manhattan Council members (Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Helen Rosenthal and Ben Kallos) have aligned themselves with the “Progressive Bloc,” and all but Helen Rosenthal have made it clear that they plan to join the Progressive Caucus as full members. Johnson, Levine and Kallos were all backed by the WFP and received substantial financial support from its affiliated unions; Helen Rosenthal, who received endorsements from some smaller unions but raised most of her campaign money from individuals, is exercising restraint about whether to join the PC. Basically we see that the elected officials who owe the most to the driving forces behind the Progressive Caucus are the ones who join most readily, while members who owe them less are not as likely to sign on.

The expansion of the PC, which will entail embracing a more vague, broader ideological definition of “progressive,” could harm the faction’s political “brand” if its agenda becomes too thin to have much impact, or if the membership grows big enough that it is no longer a vanguard. The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the Council is a cautionary example: Comprising more than half of the body’s elected members, the BLA Caucus is too unwieldy to stand as a significant political force. Note Councilman Charles Barron’s constant exhortations for the BLA to elect one of its members as Speaker, raising the question of why such a large group lacks actual power.

On the issue of member items, for instance, the PC’s statement on rules reform calls for allocation on a “fair and objective” basis. But as we heard during the Speaker forums, there is no consensus about what constitutes “fair and objective.”

Some of the contenders, including Councilman Mark Weprin, call for equal distribution of member item money; others, including Mark-Viverito, insist that money must be allocated according to a needbased formula. This difference may sound trivial, but in fact it cuts to the heart of the progressive agenda: Equal, to a progressive,

is inequitable, because some communities, the argument goes, start from a higher baseline of need. How to distribute the money assigned to the Council for allocation (which constitutes less than one percent of the budget) is the kind of item of contention—like the flat tax or the taxation of investment income—over which schisms occur, because it arises from a fundamental philosophical question as to what government’s role in distributing wealth should be.

Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who is also in the running for Speaker, has not endorsed the rules reform statement because of precisely that ambiguity, and he makes the point that changing the existing levels of member item allocation would disproportionately hurt the districts that have benefited from the current system, such as those represented by Quinn allies, like Joel Rivera and Leroy Comrie, who were rewarded with largesse for their fealty to the Speaker. After all, should the local organizations in those needy districts suffer cuts from their accustomed level of funding, simply because they happened to have profited from a skewed system of patronage? “Equality sounds good,” says Vacca, “but the Speaker has to have flexibility to address extenuating circumstances.”

Such rules reform would radically diminish the role of the Speaker, grant chairs far more control over the operation of their committees, and make it easier for members to get legislation to the floor for a vote. This disaggregation of power, which appears likely to happen given the number of sponsors the reform movement has attracted, hints obliquely at the increasing possibility that the next Speaker will not be from Manhattan. Councilmen Dan Garodnick, Vacca and Weprin, the latter two of whom are close to Queens County Democratic boss and “Third Way” centrist Rep. Joe Crowley, have emerged as front-runners in the last few weeks, as the candidacies of Inez Dickens, Jumaane Williams and Annabel Palma have sputtered. Melissa Mark-Viverito continues to alienate her colleagues with her persistent use of assumptive language, proclaiming, “When I am Speaker” even when there is no one around except other Council members.

Vacca, who demurs from being labeled a potential “Bronx Speaker,” prefers to be considered “a representative of the outer boroughs,” whose district “is similar in many ways to Bayside or Bensonhurst.” Weprin, whose father was Speaker of the Assembly prior to Sheldon Silver, has signed on to rules reform, as has Garodnick, a Manhattanite who demonstrated his independence when he nixed the rezoning of midtown last month. Either of them would thus satisfy the demand of the progressive bloc for a “progressive Speaker.” What remains to be seen is if the progressive wing of the new Council has the tenacity to hold fast to its principles and force the hand of the county bosses when it comes time to vote. cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

43

PERSPECTIVES

DO AS I SAY A P O L I T I CA L A DV I C E CO LU M N

By JEFF SMITH

Q.

I saw that you were a Black Studies major and that the district you once represented was majority black. Given that background and experience, why do you think black New Yorkers appeared to support de Blasio over Thompson in the primary?

—P.W., a student, but not yours, New York City

A.

Remember, my district was in St. Louis, and I don’t presume to know what black New Yorkers are thinking. In fact, I probably shouldn’t presume to know what any New Yorkers are thinking, since I did not foresee de Blasio’s dramatic rise. But with that disclaimer, I’ll hazard a few thoughts: 1) De Blasio’s message was one of inclusion, which, per Marshall McLuhan, he reinforced through the medium: his biracial children who carried the message in television ads. And de Blasio hammered it home himself via extensive campaigning in black churches and neighborhoods.

2) At events I attended in front of largely black audiences, Thompson just didn’t seem to electrify people. Which may partially be explained by the fact that…

3) Most important, and most generalizable, black candidates often face constraints white candidates do not. Research suggests that minority candidates who stress issues popularly associated with minority groups have difficulty gaining crossover support. John Edwards, for instance, could come out for things that Barack Obama probably couldn’t during the 2008 primary, and so ran to his left on housing, healthcare and poverty, which disproportionately affect African-Americans. You see that carry through to today, as the president does everything in his power to frame issues disproportionately affecting blacks (i.e., criminal 44 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

justice, unemployment) as nonracial. And so while de Blasio—once an Edwards adviser, perhaps not coincidentally—staked out a strong position against stop-and-frisk, for instance, Thompson seemed milquetoast as he resisted close association with a “minority” cause. The combination of de Blasio’s boldness and Thompson’s caution on various issues also helps explain de Blasio’s greater appeal in the black community.

Q.

Dr. Smith: I’m a senior political science major at a well-regarded university. I love politics and am consider pursuing a Ph.D. in political science. But I’m also thinking about taking a shot at political journalism, or maybe even working on a campaign. I’m writing you because my class watched your movie, and my professor explained what happened to you since then, and when I Googled you I saw this column. What would your advice be?

—Budding Political Junkie, Southern California

A.

My advice is two-prong. First, if you love politics, I wouldn’t pursue a Ph.D., because during the next five years of graduate school one of two things is likely to happen: Either 1) Your natural love of politics will dissipate as you are fed a steady diet of statistics, formal theory and academic literature about academic literature (as opposed to writing about politics/policy); or 2) You will quit graduate school.

It is rather difficult to retain a love of politics while immersed in the world of political science; it is even harder to impact the worlds of policy and politics from a political science perch.

However, should you decide to pursue a Ph.D., or if you decide to try journalism, I’d advise you to do a campaign or two when you graduate, because having actually worked on campaigns will make you a more insightful researcher, teacher or political reporter. Some of the best political scientists and political reporters are those who have spent time in

the campaign trenches.

Q.

I am hoping to find a position in the new administration, and have been checking in with my contacts from [a city government office] weekly. In all honesty, I am running out of things to say. This may sound silly, but I want to be persistent while making meaningful contact. Any suggestions? Thank you for your help.

—F.M., Manhattan

A.

Send articles that will be of interest to them, individually. Doing it as a mass email is probably worse than not doing it at all. Tailor the articles to the interest of the person you write, and say that the piece reminded you of them. I’m sure you come across interesting pieces all the time, and the more tailored to the target, the better. For example, the Times just began an amazing series on poverty and homelessness and the opening profile of a middle-school girl was heartbreaking and compelling. But if you never discussed poverty, homelessness, or narrative nonfiction with your old supervisor, then don’t send him a note saying, “Hi Steve, I found this piece amazing. Thought you would, too. Enjoy!” Instead, you should find a piece on something you two had discussed—or perhaps on an avocation about which you know he is passionate. For instance, you might forward a recent BuzzFeed piece with a note like: “Hi, Steve. Came across this quirky little piece on grown men at a Brony convention. Since I’d heard that you were into My Little Pony, thought you might be interested! Be in touch!”

Jeff Smith (@JeffSmithMO on Twitter) is a former Missouri state senator who resigned from office after a felony conviction and served a year in federal prison. Now an assistant professor of politics and advocacy at the New School, Jeff recently co-authored The Recovering Politician’s Twelve Step Program to Survive Crisis.

PERSPECTIVES THE GRINCH WHO STOLE DEMOCRACY

By MICHAEL BENJAMIN

T

his Christmas, Santa Cuomo is leaving lumps of coal in the stockings of New Yorkers. He is dumping a pile of coal on downstate New Yorkers— mostly minority voters—by refusing to call special elections in early 2014 to fill eight or more vacancies in the state Legislature.

The state Constitution invests him with the discretion to do so.

It’s unfathomable that Cuomo would deprive close to a million New York residents of equal representation because he wants to exercise faux fiscal prudence. Last month he declared, “It’s a balance of the cost and the hardship of the election versus the community’s right to representation, but we don’t have any plans right now.”

Cuomo’s rationale for not calling special elections to fill vacancies created by the election of five city and three upstate state legislators to local offices is ludicrous.

Cuomo must truly believe his “I am the government” Freudian slip.

If carried out, this action would make

Cuomo the Grinch who stole democracy.

The one major responsibility of state legislators (aside from getting re-elected) is to negotiate and pass a balanced state budget. Through their elected legislators, New Yorkers from Wantagh to Watertown, the Bronx to the Queen City, have a voice in the crafting of tax policy and allocation of state resources.

Cuomo’s decision would deny thousands of New Yorkers representation during budget deliberations. His proposed action is a violation of the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. In the Bronx my federally indicted legislator gets a say on the state budget, while my neighbors across the street go without representation. That’s unfair.

Several minority legislators I spoke with expressed their displeasure with Cuomo’s pronouncement. Even Dick Dadey, head of the good government group Citizens Union, no fan of party-controlled special elections, expressed reservations about Cuomo’s plan not to call special elections in early 2014. “Special elections should be reformed so that party committees don’t choose the nominees, but to wait to hold elections until next fall disenfranchises voters from having their voices heard during critical state budget decisions and votes,” said Dadey.

Santa Cuomo’s other lump of coal involves potentially saddling taxpayers

WINNERS & OSERS

with anticorruption reform that in reality would be a raid on the state treasury.

When it comes to “corruption in Albany,” Cuomo takes a holier-thanthou attitude. Apparently everyone in the Capital is dishonest except for him. He is the only true guardian of the commonweal.

But that act is beginning to wear thin with some New Yorkers. His political machinations are becoming ever more gauzy, if not transparent.

His handpicked and allegedly staffdirected Moreland Commission recently issued a hoary report declaring that there is corruption in Albany. Correction: “in the state Legislature”—because, as Cuomo opined on an Albany radio show, “The problem has been evidenced in the Legislature. That’s where the indictments are.”

But none of those indictments involved campaign finance irregularities.

Moreland investigators apparently haven’t publicly deposed lobbyists to learn what they tell clients about making campaign contributions to the governor or the Democratic State Committee.

And unlike Mario Cuomo’s broader Feerick Commission, this Moreland Commission is now examining only the Legislature, even though the governor said that “anything they want to look at they can”—including himself.

Were it up to Cuomo, taxpayers would be saddled with campaign finance welfare

for incumbents, candidates and lobbyists doubling as campaign consultants.

Gold-plated welfare programs of the ’60s and ’70s spawned “poverty pimps.” Were it up to Cuomo, 2014 would spawn “political campaign pimps” using the lure of free money to run “competitive” primary and general elections. Under the guise of fighting corruption and in the name of fair elections and democratic competition, a new set of special interests would be feeding at the public trough.

The shell game in Albany is shifting taxpayer dollars from one special interest group to another, all in the guise of reform.

I still recall the guffaws elicited when, during my freshman term in an Assembly Majority meeting, I noted that all we did was move money around.

Mom and Dad always counseled, “Truth always lies at the heart of jest.”

Santa Cuomo’s lumps of coal would disempower voters as decision-makers and empower an unelected group to run legislative campaigns, elect those legislators and lobby them on behalf of their private clients months later.

To these affronts, New Yorkers must collectively say “No.” Former Assemblyman Michael Benjamin (@SquarePegDem on Twitter) represented the Bronx for eight years.

Will the Moreland Commission lead to real reforms? Will Bill Bratton, the next NYPD commissioner, scale back stop-and-frisk? Will Carl Paladino duke it out with Donald Trump for a chance to give Cuomo a landslide re-election victory? All we know is that there will always be more winners and losers.

Go to cityandstateny.com each week to vote.

Week of Dec. 2, 2013

WINNERS

THE COMMISH Emma Wolfe 53% Bill Bratton 36% Dennis Walcott 6% Andrew Cuomo 3% Donald Trump 2%

Andrew Cuomo: Moreland overlooks executive branch Donald Trump: Mulls run for governor Dennis Walcott: Rising graduation numbers

Bill Bratton: HE’S BAAACK! With his dignified charm and familiar Boston accent, Bratton was introduced as Bill de Blasio’s new police commissioner, returning him to the position he held in the mid-’90s, when he helped Rudy Giuliani bring down crime. A little older and wiser, Bratton has enough personality to handle the scrutiny. The gruff Ray Kelly was an easy punching bag, so it will be interesting to see if the schmoozing, pseudo-celebrity Bratton gets the same treatment— and the same results.

YOUR CHOICE Emma Wolfe: Don’t let her low-key personality and diminutive size fool you: Emma is now the Wolfe of City Hall. After driving key victories for the WFP, Wolfe hitched her star to one of her winners, Bill de Blasio, and spent four years masterminding his improbable march to the mayoralty. De Blasio repaid her by making her one of his first appointees. If past is prologue, it’s hard to believe she won’t continue her extraordinary run of success.

LOSERS

YOUR CHOICE Michael Bloomberg 35% Dorothy Ogundu 24% Howard Permut 17% Joanie Mahoney 13% Karla Giraldo 11%

Karla Giraldo: Monserrate’s girlfriend suing—but MIA Howard Permut: Metro-North train wreck Dorothy Ogundu: Nonprofit head arrested

Michael Bloomberg: Oh, Bloomy, how we’ll miss you and your impromptu jet-setting during crises.

The mayor’s latest onefoot-out-the-door flub was his reported golfing trip to Bermuda last weekend during the Metro North train derailment in the Bronx. Granted, the MTA and Metro-North are under the purview of the state, but it’s a bad optic for a mayor to be absent during a local tragedy, and his successor, Bill de Blasio, piled on by saying he would have visited the crash site.

DISSENTING OPINION Joanie Mahoney: The Onondaga County exec asserted that Cuomo’s Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, of which she’s a member, shouldn’t bother investigating the governor.

Since Cuomo appointed the commissioners, she said, investigating him would be “making a mockery” of the process. Cuomo himself once said that the commission should investigate anyone it wants to. Others quickly pointed out the contradiction, and one commissioner openly called Mahoney a liar. This is what you get for being the governor’s favorite Republican? cityandstateny.com | DECEMBER 16, 2013

45

BACK&FORTH

OPEN CITY A Q&A WITH IGNAZIO MARINO

I

gnazio Marino was elected Mayor of Rome, Italy in June 2013. A renowned transplant surgeon, who spent 20 years practicing medicine in the United States, Marino returned to his native country a decade ago and began a career in politics, getting elected a Senator as a member of the centre-left Democratic Party in 2006.

At a recent reception in Manhattan co-hosted by DL21C and Circolo PD, City & State’s Morgan Pehme and Alexis Grenell spoke with Marino about Bill de Blasio, the differences between American and Italian politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and, of course, soccer.

The following is an edited transcript.

CITY & STATE: What lessons did you take from your time living in America to your political career in Italy?

IGNAZIO MARINO: The system in Italy and the United States are very, very different from many points of view. For example, the United States is possibly the richest country on the planet and yet does not provide medical assistance to all the citizens. There are a number of citizens without healthcare in this country—the number is as large as almost the entire population of Italy. On the other hand, a good lesson that I took back from this country to my country is the fact that, in general, it’s not important where you come from, what is your last name, what is the color of your skin or your religion. If you’re good at what you do, you will be supported and you will advance in society and in your career. In Italy this is much more problematic and the culture of giving the right prize to whoever is making all the efforts to succeed is not so straightforward as it is in this country. So there are good things here and good things on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

a lot of people today look at these social networks more than at a newspaper or other media. If you ask a teenager what is going on, what are the main news [stories] in his or her country today, I’m pretty sure that that teenager would be able to answer the question, [even though] she or he did not read any newspaper and probably did not watch any news on TV. They learn whatever you need to learn by other means.

C&S: On that note, you make good use of Twitter and you even have a hashtag #opencampidoglio [Ed. Note: Campidoglio is shorthand for Rome’s City Hall]. This seems to be part of an effort by you to counteract the corruption that has characterized so much of Italian politics. What have you done to bring greater transparency to government in your city?

IM: I can give you a practical example. I just approved the budget less than a week ago, and for the first time ever, during the last discussion on the floor, we decided not to accept any amendments where money would be given directly through the constituency of a single politician elected in the general assembly. Usually, in order to get your majority to vote or the opposition to not be too aggressive, the system that was used was [in] the last day or the last two or three days, an amount of money [would be] distributed to the different politicians in different parties so they could use [it to please] their constituency. I said, “Look, I’m ready to go home if we do this.” And we were able not to do that.

C&S: It seems like you are trying to change the culture through your actions.

For instance, you ride a bicycle to work to promote a greener approach to transportation, and you’ve turned the road separating the Coliseum and the Forum into a pedestrian plaza. These efforts sound similar to those undertaken by our transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Kahn. Have you looked at other cities as a model for Rome?

IM: The only thing that I know how to do is to study, so I study a lot of different models. For example, my friend Bertand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, in the last 10 years has changed completely the way of managing transportation in Paris. Right now he has 24,000 public bikes, and every single day 150,000 people ride on one of these bikes in Paris. This changed tremendously the traffic and all the problems related to [it]. I bike every day, going to work and going to meetings. I joke with the people working with me, because usually I [arrive] on time and they get to [our] appointments late, because they drive a car. I wanted from the very beginning to establish a new style, and I’m the first mayor of Rome that does not have an escort, that does not have a car with police following me.

I go around in the town like any other citizen, and I think this is perceived well by the population.

C&S: Mayor Bloomberg implemented a number of bold health initiatives, some of which, such as the smoking ban, have taken hold in Europe as well.

Given your background as a physician are there any novel health initiatives that you will aim to enact in Rome?

IM: I don’t want to disappoint you, but the ban on smoking in public places started in Italy before it started in New York City. In 2002 a law was passed in our country, and it was really a revolutionary law, because smoking was prohibited in any indoor places.

Obviously, Mr. Bloomberg did more about that. He made a number of decisions in healthcare and issues that are related to healthcare like nutrition, which I believe were very bold, but also very, very good. I’m looking at the change that will happen in this town with a new mayor with a lot of interest, because this town grew tremendously from the economic point of view during the tenure of Mr. Bloomberg, but as I was landing in New York City today, I was shocked by reading on the front page of The New York Times that in New York City there are 22,000 kids [who are] homeless. Obviously, this is a huge problem that needs an answer.

46 DECEMBER 16, 2013 | cityandstateny.com

C&S: You are meeting with Mayor Bloomberg while you are in New York City. Do you intend to meet with Mayor-elect de Blasio as well?

IM: I did ask for a meeting with Bill de Blasio, but at the present time I understand he doesn’t want to meet with anybody because he’s working as hard as possible in order to get settled in the government.

C&S: You are a great fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and often quote lines from them. What is your favorite Arnold movie?

IM: Terminator 1 [Laughs.]

C&S: And, lastly, what do you think are Roma’s Scudetto chances? [Ed. Note: For the uninitiated, this is a critical soccer question.]

IM: I’m not going to discuss that, because people in Rome don’t like [it when I] discuss [Roma’s] Scudetto chances.

MORGAN PEHME

C&S: You spent only $32,000 on your campaign, compared to a half a million dollars by your opponent. This sum is almost inconceivable to Americans, given the massive amount of money spent on campaigns in this country, even in local elections.

IM: $32,000 was the cost of the primaries. Then when I ran for the real game, the amount of money was about $350,000, which was much less than the millionaire budget used by my main opponents. But what we decided to do was to use mainly social networking, Internet, this kind of communication. A lot of people thought that that was going to be a losing choice. Instead, I think

C&S: There have been a lot of articles in the American media that Italians are excited about the election of Mayorelect de Blasio. Is that hype or is that feeling real?

IM: There was a lot of attention during the entire campaign.

To watch this interview in its entirety, including Mayor Marino’s thoughts on Silvio Berlusconi and income inequality, go to cityandstateny.com.

THE SHOW CAN’T GO ON IF THE LIGHTS DON’T.

Three months of rehearsals. Two weeks of ticket sales. One performance. Talk about pressure. Not just on the kids, but on the electricity. That’s why Con Edison spends $2 billion a year improving its energy systems. But if you ever do lose power, please report the outage online at conEd.com or call us at 1-800-75-CONED. And, to learn more about our work backstage, follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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