City Hall - April 23, 2009

David Dinkins, right, reflects on the role he plays now (Page 5), city politicians discuss their hidden artistic talents (Page 10) and

Vol. 3, No. 15

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April 27, 2009

Ruben Diaz, Sr., left, explains his gay marriage conspiracy theory (Page 23).

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN DALY

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS What four visions for the comptroller’s office

could mean for the future PAGE of city politics, policy and pension funds

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APRIL 27, 2009

Forethought

Token Gesture

magining New York City without a functioning and relatively inexpensive mass transportation system is impossible.

And while the Ravitch plan, both in its original iteration and its amended form, had its merits, including the notion of tolling the East River bridges— which would end an odd discrepancy whereby travel under the East River is charged but travel over it is not—the stubborn politics of Albany have rendered the plan dead on arrival from the very moment it was announced.

Transit systems are not meant to be self-sustaining. Neither here nor anywhere else is the burden to pay for maintenance and operations dependent entirely on riders. But especially in New York, the buses and

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trains of the public transit system are the tracks on which a successful city and vibrant economy run.

To preserve New York now and build it for the future, the Legislature must meet the long-term needs of the MTA. There is no choice. So if tolling bridges is anathema to legislators, then reinstating the commuter tax is the only option.

The commuter tax died a sad death 10 years ago, a victim of a political play in the 1999 special election for what is now Thomas Morahan’s (R) safe State Senate seat in Rockland and Orange counties. Democrats lost the race anyway, and the city continues to lose $500 million each year it otherwise would be collecting.

A commuter tax is only logical. People who work in the city but live elsewhere clog our streets, receive protection from the police and fire fighters and, yes, even use the subways and buses, but do so without contributing any money to maintain these services. Having millions come into the city every day is now a drain on city taxpayers—and one they can no longer afford. That many who commute into the city are upper-income earners who fled other city taxes makes the oversight particularly galling at a time when, due to widespread layoffs on Wall Street, a commuter tax might even encourage more people to settle in the city and help reignite the local economy.

Putting an onerous tax on state residents during a recession is not always best public policy. But with the MTA threatening to raise fares by upwards of 30 percent on riders, the question is not whether to tax, but whom to tax: commuters or riders.

And as distressing as the thought of yet more hikes is, the thought of extended service cuts is worse. Already, subways and buses are far too crowded, and waits far too long.

These complaints are not just the gripes of harried city residents. Longer wait times imperil productivity. Crowded cars, in some cases dangerously so, provide yet another reason for residents, workers and tourists to flee the city.

That is exactly what New York does not need.

What the city does need is money to pay for teachers and police officers and cleaner streets and, more importantly than ever, as the population of the city soars, to pay for keeping the city’s transit system up to speed.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg should use his bully pulpit and his clout with Senate Republicans to argue for a commuter tax. The mass of Assembly members and state senators from the five boroughs should join the fight, especially with a governor from Harlem, a speaker from the Lower East Side and a Senate majority leader from Queens knowing full well how dire the situation is.

Opponents of a commuter tax argue that it encourages companies to move out of the city.

However, as the city economy has come to rely more and more on knowledge workers, proximity to those workers has become the appeal. That makes all the threats to leave New York, ease of telecommuting aside, sound increasingly hollow.

But what will hasten an exodus is a city unable to pay for the services that make it great.

Having millions come into the city every day is now a drain on city taxpayers, and one they can no longer afford.

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Ballot Line Secure, Bloomberg Launches Effort To Court GOP

RON BUCALO

Fight for Silk-Stocking and outer-borough Republicans alike, despite Obama em-

BY DAVID FREEDLANDER ow that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gotten the city’s G.O.P poohbahs to let him run as a Republican in November, he must turn his attention to a thornier problem: convincing the half-million or so Republican and conservative voters in the city to ignore his stances on gay marriage and gun control and to cast a ballot for him.

At the April 15 tax day tea party protest in front of City Hall, the mayor’s name was hardly mentioned from the podium, but when it was, it was met with a chorus of jeers.

“I don’t like him,” said Harold Goldstein, a retiree and a registered Republican from Midwood. “Do you remember [the Con Edison blackout in] Queens? Those business owners went broke, and he never paid them back. I don’t like this thing with the traffic. Who wants more streets to get clogged up? I don’t like his thing with taxes. He could have done more tax cuts.”

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Frank Renno, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, agreed. “He’s supposed to be this financial wizard, but the city is as trashed as the rest of the country,” Renno said.

But Renno added a familiar refrain heard by many who were asked to put down their tea bags and tricorner hats long enough to contemplate local politics.

“I’ll probably vote for him. I know how that sounds, but I just don’t see anybody out there who’s better,” he said.

Even palpable anger over Bloomberg’s extension of term limits diminished when protesters were forced to consider the alternatives.

“He has no right to be running for mayor,” said one man. “Twice the people voted for term limits and he should respect that.”

Bloomberg skipped the tea party, as well as the Republican state party dinner held at the midtown Sheraton that same night. Nonetheless, the mayor’s is planning a spirited play for conservative voters, one that is designed to not alienate the city’s Democratic base.

According to a well-placed source in the campaign, data shows that Republican and Republican leaning voters comprise one-sixth of the votes he needs to win.

Campaign sources acknowledge that Republicans don’t agree with him on everything, but believe that “they see him as someone who is effective and who has governed the city in a non-partisan manner.”

There are essentially two kinds of Republican and

Republican-leaning voters in New York City. There are the Silk Stocking Republicans, most of whom live in Manhattan and are liberal on social issues and who in many instances voted for Obama for President, and there are the more conservative voters who live in the outer boroughs, and who—although some may be registered Democrats, were the ones who provided the margin of victory for Republicans in the last four mayoral elections.

The first group fits the same general ideological profile as the mayor, and takes less convincing. It is the second group who much of the messaging is geared towards.

And the campaign is focused on both groups remaining motivated enough—or afraid enough of the alternatives—to come out and vote in an offyear election.

Another concern among campaign officials is how to neutralize the star power of Democratic bigwigs who may be inclined to go stumping for one of their own.

It is hard to imagine Caroline Kennedy, who received the strongest support from the mayor in her Senate bid, putting party loyalty ahead of her friendship with Bloomberg. Neither is Sen. Charles Schumer seen as likely to get too involved, though Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has indicated she might.

As for the even bigger Democratic forces, mostly through his philanthropy, the mayor already has formed a close relationship with former President Bill Clinton.

And Bloomberg has regularly been at the side of Barack Obama in recent months, in an effort, a campaign insider says, to show the president that he and Bloomberg are of one mind on many of the major policy issues of the day. Plus, it could not escape the President’s notice that four years from now, the validation of a nonpartisan, forward-thinking mayor could prove useful when he navigates what could be a very different electoral landscape.

But whether that is enough to win over Republican hearts remains to be seen.

“I like the mayor actually,” said Phyllis Thies, who brought her yellow “Don’t Tread on Me,” to the tea party. “I think it’s because he’s a businessman, and government should be run like a business. But I gotta say, it’s hard to live up to Giuliani.”

Other rank and file Republican have been more circumspect. Daniel Peterson, president of the New York Young Republican Club, sent a letter to each of the five county chairs urging them to oppose the mayor’s efforts to run as a Republican.

“He’s a jackass in a Republican suit and everybody knows it,” he said. “There’s a little too much ‘let’s ban this and let’s ban that.’ It may all seem fine and dandy with this issue and that issues, but eventually it’s going to come up and bite you in the ass.” dfreedlander@cityhallnews.com

Internal polling sees Republican and Republican leaning voters as comprising onesixth of Bloomberg campaign vote total.

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APRIL 27, 2009

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With Funds Frozen, CFE Does the Math on Next Step

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS n 1993, advocates filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the state’s education funding system. Ten years later, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), ordering the state to provide billions more so that every child receives a “sound basic education.”

The state was supposed to pay right away. Eliot Spitzer (D) promised that he would make sure this happened when he was governor.

But six years later, the mandated flood of cash has slowed to a trickle, and will run completely dry for the next two years.

The state is blaming the economic downturn for freezing payments on CFE for two years, money that the state is constitutionally obligated to provide. But advocates are crying foul, saying that with federal stimulus money and revenues from increasing taxes on the wealthy, there is enough for a down payment.

Meanwhile, the city has slashed its education budget twice so far this year. And despite the influx of stimulus money, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is still talking about cutting thousands of teacher positions in order to balance the books.

For those that have been fighting for this money for almost 20 years, this is just the latest setback in a long and painful journey.

“We’re constantly playing a game of catch-up,” said CFE Executive Director Geri Palast. “And [it seems like] we will continue to play a game of catch-up in perpetuity.”

Less than 40 percent of the funds promised over a four-year period have been doled out so far. Under the new plan, the state will spend $7 billion over seven years to boost funding for poor city schools, starting in 2011. The original litigation was intended to erase inequities in the funding formula that left city schools with about $10,000 to spend per student, compared to about $13,000 per student in the neighboring suburbs.

State leaders would not listen, Palast said. So she reached out to a higher power.

In March, she and Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Education Quality, an Albany-based education advocacy group, sent a letter to Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama’s secretary for education, to request that he intervene in how New York is spending its federal stimulus money. They argued that language in the law passed by Congress prioritizes “equity and adequacy adjustments.”

But in a conference call with reporters in early April, Duncan seemed to suggest there would be no intervention in how

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New York distributes its stimulus dollars.

And with the state tightening its belt and making across-the-board cuts, there seems to be little motivation to do much else to restore the payments.

“There’s a lot of disappointment that there was no down payment at all this year on CFE,” Easton said. “At the same time, people understand there is a fiscal crisis.”

That does not mean CFE is taking the new payment plan lying down. Michael Rebell, who co-founded CFE along with Council Member Robert Jackson (DManhattan), said he is less concerned about the state freezing the payments this year and next, and more concerned about how the payments will be made in 2011, when the revised plan is set to begin.

“It looks like they’re going on a course that would create some real problems in that regard,” said Rebell, who currently works as the director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Columbia Teachers College.

In order for CFE to be successful, Rebell said, the money has to be disbursed in a stable and consistent fashion. Otherwise, schools will not know how much money is coming in, when they can expect it and how they should spend it.

“It is a right we’re talking about,” he said. “This is not a normal, legislative policy decision that they can say, ‘In flush times we’ll do it this way, and in other times we’ll do it another way.’”

Rebell said the lack of action on the part of the state could send all parties back to the courtroom, where they battled for many years while George Pataki (R) was governor.

“Hopefully, we can push them, and circumstances will be such they’ll do the right thing in a timely manner,” he said.

“But if they don’t, there’s always the option of calling the courts into it again.”

Others say the actual problem is with how the payments were decided in the first place. Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters and a fierce critic of the city’s Department of Education, said Rebell and others should have pushed to force the city to spend the money on targeted areas, such as the reduction of class sizes.

“They yell and scream a lot more about the money than what the money has actually produced for our kids,” Haimson said of the CFE. And even if the city schools did receive the additional state money this year, Haimson said she would not trust the Department of Education, under Klein’s aegis, to spend the money appropriately.

“I feel like the whole thing has been a tremendous disappointment, and in fact a tragedy, for our kids,” she said. ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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APRIL 27, 2009

Tough Decisions Among Old Friends for Dinkins in ’09 Still a quiet force, former mayor weighs in on Bloomberg, comptroller, Manhattan DA

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS o describe the 2009 mayoral election, David Dinkins employs a rather strange metaphor.

“Just like the man who hates his mother-in-law, just can’t stand her, and she goes over a cliff driving his brand-new Bentley,” said the 81-year-old former mayor, chuckling. “He didn’t want to lose his car, but, boy, that mother-in-law!”

So is Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) the man and his Democratic opponent, Comptroller William Thompson, the mother-in-law? Or is Bloomberg the mother-in-law and Thompson the car?

No matter. The point is that Dinkins believes both men are highly qualified for the job. Regardless of the outcome, the election should be a win-win situation for all New Yorkers, he said. And for Dinkins himself.

Sitting comfortably in his Upper East Side apartment, while his wife, Joyce, putters around the kitchen, Dinkins outlines his conundrum. He admires Bloomberg and what he has done for the city over the past eight years. But he has said he plans to endorse Thompson for mayor. After all, he has consistently supported Democrats for mayor since 1969, when he cast his sole non-Democratic vote for John Lindsay on the Liberal Party line.

The Thompson campaign is counting on Dinkins’ endorsement. But with Bloomberg now running for a third term, the Thompson camp is still waiting on that endorsement.

Thompson’s supporters are already drawing comparisons between their candidate and Dinkins, who in 1989 was elected the city’s first black mayor. Just as Dinkins was buoyed by Jesse Jackson’s (D) presidential campaign, they say, so too might Thompson’s candidacy be helped by Barack Obama’s (D) election as the nation’s first black president.

Dinkins said he appreciates the comparison, but thinks it a bit over-simplified.

“Mine was a big first at the time,” Dinkins said, “I think it pales in comparison to Obama’s success as president of the United States.”

Since his defeat by Rudy Giuliani (R) in 1993, Dinkins has led a low-profile life. He teaches public affairs at Columbia University, hosts a radio show and sits on several civic boards across the city. He is still obsessed with tennis, though he had to briefly stop playing after having a new aortic heart valve installed (he recently played for the first time in weeks). Like most retirees, Dinkins enjoys reading and discussing the many accomplishments of his children.

But he also stays active politically, mainly by endorsing candidates in local races. So far, Dinkins has endorsed Council Member David Weprin (D-Queens) for comptroller and Cyrus Vance, Jr. for Manhattan district attorney.

Weprin said he was honored by Dinkins’ endorsement.

He said he plans to use the former mayor’s image in mailers for his comptroller campaign, as well as for commercials and robo-calls. As the city’s first black mayor, Dinkins can help especially in the AfricanAmerican community, Weprin said.

But Dinkins’ legacy is spotty at best, as he is often remembered less for his historical achievement and more for his rocky tenure as mayor. The city’s economy tanked on his watch, while crime soared and the city’s quality of life hit new lows.

But voters this year are likely to remember a different Dinkins, Weprin said. Unlike Bloomberg, who is

DANIEL S. BURNSTEIN

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Dinkins said he admires Bloomberg and what he has done for the city over the past eight years. But he has already hinted that he will be supporting Thompson for mayor. sometimes seen as an uncaring technocrat, or Giuliani, who is mostly remembered for being a hard-nosed, prosecutorial mayor, Dinkins is often remembered for being the nice guy mayor, Weprin said.

“He’s what I would call a real mensch,” Weprin said. “Before he endorsed me, he wanted to call all my opponents to let them know.”

Dinkins’ endorsement of Weprin stung particularly for Council Member John Liu (D-Queens). Liu’s campaign for comptroller has been buoyed by a host of endorsements from prominent minority leaders—from Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-Brooklyn) to Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan) to Rep. Edolphus Towns (DBrooklyn). But Dinkins would have been the cherry on top.

“That endorsement clearly hurt,” said Kevin Wardally of Liu’s consulting firm Bill Lynch Associates.

Lynch, an old-school Harlem political insider, managed Dinkins’ campaign and served as his deputy mayor of intergovernmental affairs. But Wardally, Lynch’s legislative director, said he understood why

Comings and

Goings ,

Benjamin Kallos a former chief of staff to Assembly Member Jonathan Bing (DManhattan) and Council hopeful, has joined Mark Green’s public advocate campaign. Kallos will become the director of policy for Green and work on expanding the campaign’s Internet outreach and the website.

Green also retained Joe Slade White and associates

Dinkins would endorse Weprin, considering Dinkins’ longstanding ties to Weprin’s father, Saul Weprin, the former speaker of the Assembly.

“On this one, we respectfully disagree,” Wardally said.

“But we’ll be together nine out of every ten times.”

Dinkins said that in order to win his endorsement, sometimes all a candidate has to do is ask. But those running for public advocate would be advised to look elsewhere, because Dinkins will not be endorsing in that race. He expressed equal admiration for three of the candidates: Mark Green, who was commissioner of consumer affairs under Dinkins; Bill deBlasio, who also worked at City Hall while Dinkins was mayor; and Norman Siegel, whom Dinkins described as “vocal and gifted.”

“I can’t see myself to be in opposition to Mark or to deBlasio or Norman,” he said. “I’ve told them all that I’m going to stay out of it.”

Most of the time, Dinkins said he tries to stay out of politics. He realizes his time has passed and accepts his role as an elder statesman. He is not bitter about his loss to Giuliani in 1993, although he still attributes his ouster to the Staten Island secession referendum that ended up on the ballot, drawing out in droves the borough’s Republican voters.

Bloomberg likes to say that despite registered Democrats vastly outnumbering Republicans, the city has grown increasingly nonpartisan. But Dinkins disagrees.

“If it was, then most people would not enroll in the Democratic party,” Dinkins said. “Most people would do as [Bloomberg] had done and not select either party.”

The mayor’s office has remained elusive to Democrats for over 16 years. But Dinkins chalks this up as a fluke. Mark Green lost to Bloomberg in 2001 because the candidate made the ill-advised choice to support Giuliani’s request to stay in office 90 additional days following the attacks of 9/11, he said. Since then, no Democrat has been able to beat Bloomberg’s millions, Dinkins added.

He paused, as if considering his options.

“I think Mike’s been a good mayor and I can understand why he would wish to be mayor. It’s the greatest job in the world,” he said, clasping his hands across his belly. “Billy Thompson has alike feelings, I’m sure.” ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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Juanita Scarlett has Jill Alper and Valerie Biden-Owens—an ad team joined Queens Council Member

John Liu’s (D) campaign for New York Comptroller. Scarlett recently served as a communications consultant for the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee’s bid to win the Senate Haile Rivera, a community Majority. organizer from the Bronx who rose to fame after he won a dinner Laura Anglin, an with then-presidential candidate economist and director of Gov. Barack Obama, is joining Council David Paterson’s (D) budget office, will become president of Member Eric Gioia’s (D-Queens) the Commission on Independent campaign for public advocate.

Colleges and Universities, Rivera, who was running for Council himself before dropping effective July 2009. She will succeed Abraham Lackman, out to pursue a job with the CICU’s president since 2002.

Obama administration, has whose clients have included Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), Biden for President, Hospital Workers Union 1199 and the League of Conservation Voters.

said he will be doing Hispanic outreach for Gioia.

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APRIL 27, 2009

Wooing Donors To Carry Candidates over CFB Matching Fund Threshold Green, Avella, Siegel could miss out on $750,000 or more at curent pace

BY CHRIS BRAGG or public advocate candidate Mark Green (D), the difference between raising $125,000 and $124,999 in New York City’s campaign matching funds program could be far more than a dollar.

The difference could be at least $750,000. Or even much more.

Under New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) rules, a public advocate candidate must raise at least $125,000 to receive public funds under the program, a threshold meant to ensure that taxpayer dollars go to candidates who have demonstrated their viability and shown they can attract donations from a wide range of supporters.

Those that reach the threshold are eligible for six taxpayer dollars for every private dollar raised under the program.

Green, who is otherwise seen as having a leg up thanks to his name recognition and history in the office, may not reach the threshold. In his first month of fundraising, Green raised $143,000 overall. However, of that, just $17,692 was match-able, since only the first $175 a donor gives to a candidate is eligible, provided that money comes from New York City residents.

The threshold to qualify for the

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program is $250,000 for mayor, $125,000 for comptroller and public advocate and $5,000 for City Council.

Green did not officially enter the race until Feb. 10. If he keeps up the pace of fundraising he demonstrated in the month between then and the March filing, he would not reach the $125,000 threshold by the time the first public payments are doled out in mid-August.

While most mayoral, comptroller, public advocate and City Council candidates are well on their way toward meeting the target, Green and a few others are walking a tightrope in the highrisk, high-reward program. In a reeling economy that has hit New York especially hard, candidates who started early had a strong head start in the race to the CFB threshold.

In past campaigns, the first $250 of money given by a donor would count towards hitting the mark to receive public money. Then, in an effort to force campaigns to reach out to more small donors, the City Council passed a law in 2007 making only the first $175 of a donation count.

Council Member Tony Avella (DQueens), who is running for mayor, also appears to be a long shot to hit his own threshold, at $250,000. According to the CFB’s website, he had $55,305 as of March.

The website reflects only what campaigns have self-reported, and does not reflect the sum once the CFB has scoured the donations with exacting detail, rejecting many of them. In the end, candidates may have significantly less money overall and much less toward the match-able threshold than they initially appeared to on the CFB website.

The board keeps the amount of money that is under dispute between itself and the candidate, but hypothetically, one prominent fundraiser said, candidates could end up with half the match-able money they initially appeared to have.

Avella said he had been wrangling with the CFB regulations, reporting campaign funds being bounced back because a donor had written “Tony Avella for Mayor” on a check rather than “Tony Avella 2009.” He also said lawyers and doctors who wrote personal checks referring to themselves as Esq. or MD had triggered the CFB’s rule that donations cannot come from corporate entities.

“They’re insane. It’s completely stupid,” said Avella. “I’ve written several letters to the campaign finance board telling them how ridiculous they are. All I’m asking for is some common sense.”

Campaigns across the city report being in a constant back-and-forth over technicalities. Some have hired attorneys

to fill out their campaign finance filings for them because the process is so wrought with peril. The candidate handbook for this year’s campaigns is 160 dense pages long.

“Remember in high school, when you had that really nerdy kid in class who asked the teacher to assign homework?” said one citywide campaign manager.

“That’s the campaign finance board.”

CFB spokesperson Eric Friedman, however, said the aim is simply to ensure that taxpayer money is not wasted.

“If the public didn’t have confidence in the way money was being spent, then the system would have real problems,” Friedman said. “Any candidate should know that when we’re asking them for information, we’re doing the exact same thing for his or her opponent.”

Public advocate candidate Norman Siegel is struggling somewhat to hit the race’s $125,000 threshold. According to the CFB’s website, Siegel has raised $87,000 in matching funds so far.

But Siegel, who received matching funds in his previous two runs for public advocate, said he had no real qualms with how the CFB operates.

“It’s public funds,” Siegel said. “We know that they use a fine-tooth comb. So before we submit our fundraising, we go through it with a fine-tooth comb as well.” cbragg@cityhallnews.com

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“I don’t understand why the Mayor wants to move Sandra from her neighborhood day care center to an already overcrowded public school’s kindergarten! If money is the problem, why can’t we use what President Obama is sending us in the stimulus package?

There has to be a better way ...”

– Wendy Lee Manhattan

Call the Mayor at 311 and tell him to stop cutting child care. Working families need safe, affordable and quality public day care. To read more about AFSCME 1707’s plan for a better way, go to www.dc1707.net.

Join us: Wednesday, May 6 at 9 am as we march from Battery Park to City Hall to show our support for NYC’s publicly-funded day care.

Paid for by the women and men of District Council 1707, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.

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APRIL 27, 2009

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EDC and ESDC Aim To Access $30 Million in Untouched 9/11 Funds

BY KATE BRIQUELET he Empire State Development and New York City Economic Development corporations expect the approval later this month of a new $30 million initiative providing grants to smaller-sized and entrepreneurial companies relocating to Lower Manhattan’s struggling financial sector.

The public funding comes from the Job Creation and Retention Program, which was created after Sept. 11 to support city businesses, and will assist companies that create at least 75 new jobs in Lower Manhattan.

That is an important change: before the new initiative, the program required companies to create 200 jobs to receive funding.

“We had known the money was there but it had gone underused for some time,” said Seth Pinksy, president of the city’s development corporation. “When the economy hit crisis point, we realized this is the golden opportunity for us to take something which had its limitations and turn it into something new and much more powerful.”

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Job Creation and Retention Program activity became stagnant over the past year as the economy nosedived, with fewer businesses applying for grants. An EDC official said there were a total of 72 grants for a total of $280 million over the years, but the last time a grant was given out was a year ago. The official also said that about 10 legitimate companies have already expressed interest in applying and are waiting for the proposed changes to go through.

Previous grant recipients include American Express, Moody’s Corp., Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

As New York rebounds from the fall of its largest financial anchors amid a volatile international economy, the focus is shifting to smaller investment firms and international companies to boost the city’s economy. The city and state development corporations changed the program’s rules: at least 75 new jobs must be created to receive up to $4,000 for each new job, and grant recipients must commit to maintaining the jobs for at least 10 years. In addition to modifying the employment requirements, Empire State Development Corporation plans to extend the program through 2011.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Change in rules for job creation program spurred by financial crisis

EDC President Seth Pinsky was one of those who discovered a way to change a rule that would give the city access to $30 million in funds for Lower Manhattan.

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“Businesses right now are counting every penny and there is always the concern about New York being a high-cost place to do business,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. “This kind of incentive will get people’s attention and attract them to space downtown at a time when we really need the jobs.”

She said the future growth of the financial services industry would probably come from smaller emerging firms with a technology spin or those developing new products for the international marketplace.

“It’s interesting that despite the many losses we’ve suffered on Wall Street, the U.S. and New York are still perceived as the best place to build a business, the most stable environment to operate in, and companies from around the world are still eager to have a presence in New York,” Wylde said.

The changes to the program are expected to be authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and are also subject to HUD’s final approval and a 30-day public comment period ending this April 30.

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APRIL 27, 2009

Rivera Reaches Out to Rebel Party for Re-Election Support

BRONX

Well-funded challenger Radame Perez hopes to capitalize on divide Fordham

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS oel Rivera was supposed to be running for Bronx borough president right now. With millions in the bank and his family in charge of the Bronx County Democratic Party, Rivera would have been a frontrunner to replace term-limited Borough President Adolfo Carrión (D).

Instead, term limits were extended, Carrión left early, the son of a different political dynasty, Ruben Diaz, Jr. (D), is the borough president-elect, the county leadership is now in the hands of Assembly Member Carl Heastie and Rivera remains locked in a fight to keep his own Council seat.

Challenging him is Radame Perez, a well-connected, well-funded real estate developer with good name recognition throughout the central Bronx district.

Perez is hoping that the new leaders of the Bronx Democratic Party are still frustrated enough with Rivera and his family that they will throw their full weight behind his candidacy.

But Rivera is pushing hard for an endorsement as well, arguing to Heastie that supporting his re-election could be a way to mend ties between his father, Assembly Member José Rivera, and the Rainbow Rebels who ousted him last year.

“I’m going to be looking to receive the endorsement,” Joel Rivera said. “I believe right now Carl is assessing what he has before him.”

The county party has signaled its willingness to consider Rivera’s offer.

Whether party leaders are willing to put the past behind them, though, is unclear.

“Joel has been a pretty decent councilman,” said one insider with the current county leadership. “Carl would want a person who’s going to work with the county organization a little bit better.

I think the jury’s still out on whether Joel would do that.”

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“I’m prepared,” Perez said.

“And I continue to prepare, as I was encouraged to when I started this.”

Perez said he has been studying the district’s demographics to determine where he should concentrate his GOTV efforts.

Having already pulled in the Several members of the Rebel-backed maximum $160,000 for the county party said there are still lingering primary, Perez said he is focused frustrations with the Riveras, which could on raising the remaining $10,000 complicate Joel’s desire to secure an en- he will need to run in the general dorsement in his re-election race. election. He has also spent around $50,000 so far on his campaign.

The party also seems to like what it While he said he hopes to stay above sees in Perez. the fray between the rebels and the “He has good name recognition, Riveras, Perez seems to be already in the he’s well-funded, he’s a pretty smart, thick of it. But he acknowledged that in handsome kid, well put together,” the order to unseat an eight-year incumbent source said. “I think he would be a tough with a popular family name, he would candidate against Joel.” need all the help he can get.

Sources say that Rivera has met with “No one does this alone,” Perez said.

Perez to try to talk him out of running. “And I certainly don’t want to do this But Perez, who used to bundle campaign alone.” donations for Rivera and his family, said Meanwhile, Rivera is starting over he remains intent on staying in the race, from scratch. party endorsement or not. After all, he The $200,000 Rivera raised in said, the elder Rivera was the first to anticipation of an open race for borough encourage him to run, though that was president now sits unused in his frozen back when Joel was going to be term- campaign account. As of the March filing, limited out and his father was still in he had raised only a little less than $600 charge of the party. for his re-election.

But Rivera said he was confident that taking care of the money would not be a problem, though of course, he would not mind getting the extra boost of support from the county party.

“The county organization, what it can do for a candidate is lend more credibility for the fundraising aspect,” he said.

Even while hinting at the financial benefits of a party endorsement, Rivera sought to downplay expectations about receiving the organization’s backing.

“If they endorse me, that would be More City Hall www.cityhallnews.com great,” Rivera said. “If they don’t endorse

me, that’s fine as well.”

If they do not, Rivera said he would rely on community-based volunteers and a union-backed GOTV campaign. He predicted he would have between 300400 volunteers canvassing his district on primary day.

“That’s what really counts,” Rivera said, “because when a familiar face greets one of their neighbors by the school and says, ‘This is my candidate, Joel Rivera,’ that holds a lot more weight.”

But Rivera stressed that he was not turning to unions just as a way to gather fallback support should Heastie and the county organization back Perez. His family has traditionally been endorsed by the labor community, dating back to the days when the elder Rivera was a union organizer, he said.

Council Member Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx), who now backs Heastie after standing with Rivera through the leadership battle, said the unions were unlikely to abandon Rivera’s re-election effort. And without union support, any challenger would find it difficult to unseat an incumbent, party-backed or not.

“If you take the unions out of the equation, I don’t see how Carl and his allies, even if they were going to go after Rivera, could really put together much of an effort,” Koppell said.

Several members of the Rebel-backed county party, though, said there are still lingering frustrations with the Riveras, which could complicate Joel’s desire to secure an endorsement. Nothing is set in stone, several party sources said. This is the Bronx, after all, where shifting loyalties are the name of the game.

“If [José Rivera] can see the light and realize his time is behind him, acknowledge that Carl is the new leader,” one rebel legislator said, “well then, things might go a little bit easier on Joel.” ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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In Race Against Oddo, Jockeying for 2013 Tight margin could help Democrat position himself as future frontrunner

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or hopes for a successful bid for Council.

“This is the same race I was preparing for: an issue-oriented, result-oriented race,” Pocchia said. “It’s not something that’s within my control, who I run against.”

Pocchia, who is counsel to a district civic group, is a local

John Sollazzo, who ran against Oddo’s predecessor, Council Member John Fusco, in 1997 and then against Oddo in 1999, argued that running for the seat twice should give a strong candidate such as Pocchia a chance to flip the seat.

If Pocchia, a civic leader and attorney, can hold the popular incumbent to a tight margin, he would be the clear frontrunner for what will be an open seat in four years. And that is precisely why Oddo may choose not to opt to coast to November. By overwhelming Pocchia at the polls this year, Oddo could significantly soften the opposition for Matteo down the road.

For his part, Pocchia—who is expected to win a primary against education activist Martin Krongold—said his mind is fully set on this year’s race, and that Oddo’s decision to run for a third term has not changed his campaign strategy

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The weird and woeful mayors through hizz-tory

BY DAN RIVOLI or Staten Island Democrats, 2009 was the year to flip James Oddo’s mid-Island Council seat, the borough’s sought-after swing district that has stayed red even as the rest of the borough has turned blue.

Democrat James Pocchia was seen as something of a favorite over Steve Matteo, Oddo’s chief of staff, given the healthy Democratic enrollment advantage and the party’s big win in electing Michael McMahon to the Congressional seat that covers the borough.

Not anymore. With term limits extended and his bid for borough president put off, Oddo is running for re-election and expected to cruise to victory.

But the race is not without intrigue, since how well—or poorly—Oddo fares at the polls this November could have a significant impact on the 2013 campaign.

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Democratic stalwart—his uncle Anthony, once a Congressional candidate, serves as the borough party’s law committee chair.

Such connections helped him bring in $30,725, though Oddo brought in $25,855 in just the three months since freezing the formidable war chest he had built up in his expected borough president run.

Though Pocchia slams Republican leadership and notes the deteriorating quality of life in the district, Oddo’s name is never spoken.

“It’s not about one person or any pointed criticism,” Pocchia said. “It’s my observation over the years of not seeing the kind

of improvements in the day-today life of people.”

Should Pocchia fall short of besting Oddo, giving the incumbent a run for his money will pay off in 2013 if he attempts a second candidacy, said Vincent Montalbano, a Staten Island lobbyist and Democratic consultant.

Though Matteo said he is not yet concerned with reading the tea leaves, he acknowledged that a strong showing by Oddo would bode well for a future race.

“If we can expand on our base, it’ll give me access to everything that comes with a winning campaign,” Matteo said, emphasizing that the argument of being Oddo’s righthand man will be his strength if and when the time comes to run himself.

John Sollazzo, who ran against Oddo’s predecessor, Council Member John Fusco (R), in 1997 and then against Oddo in 1999, argued that running for the seat twice should give a strong candidate such as Pocchia a chance to flip the seat.

“Knowing Jimmy Pocchia, he’ll keep on running, keep himself involved and keep his name recognition up,” Sollazzo said. “I’m 70 years old this year.

In my lifetime, we’re going to take this seat.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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The curious case of John Purroy Mitchel: the second-youngest person elected mayor, at 34; a promising reformer, he won office by the largest margin since the city’s consolidation in 1898, and was so popular that President Woodrow Wilson endorsed him; four ineffective years later, he lost a second term by an even wider margin than he had won his first one by; less than a year after that, he was lying dead in a field in Louisiana.

Before that highly original circumstance of demise, however, came the disastrous JOHN PURROY MITCHEL events of what should have been a 1914-1917 successful mayoralty that instead Fusion Party became four years that flushed the reform movement down the toilet—where it stayed for the next 15 years.

When he was nominated for mayor in 1913 by the anti-Tammany Fusion party, Mitchel, who had pushed through fiscal reforms as president of the board of aldermen (City Council) promised “a nonpartisan, efficient and progressive government.”

That sounded good to voters, apparently. Mitchel wiped the floor with his Democratic challenger. Upon taking office, he created new city agencies, retooled others, appointed experts to top municipal jobs, cut costs and generally ran the city like a business.

For this, he was trounced in the election of 1917, losing to John Hylan, a Tammany hack if there ever was one. So what was everyone’s beef with the young reformer?

For one, the guy was a snob. An honors graduate of New York Law School, Mitchel had no time for anyone who could not hang with him socio-economically. From day one, he was alienating voters who suspected that the top hat-wearing mayor had an accompanying cane hidden away somewhere, the better to dance the Ritz with on the steps of City Hall.

His bigger problem was that he was more concerned with saving a buck than, say, education or job growth. In the end, the poor and working classes really did not care how efficiently he was running city offices if he was not making their lives any better. And so, come election day, they sent him packing Out of office and with World War I in Europe in full swing, Mitchel applied for a commission as a pilot in the Air Force. This was unusual for a public figure at that time, but after months of delays the Air Force relented and sent him to training.

Thus commissioned, Mitchel dove head-on into a bizarre fantasy about dying in combat and started inviting friends to visit him in training, to “celebrate my funeral in advance.” Clearly, the man knew how to party.

The closest he got to Europe was Gerstner Air Field, in Lake Charles, La. The last time Mitchel was seen alive, he was plummeting through the air, waving his arms wildly, trying to stick a landing from 500 feet, after falling plum out of the airplane he was piloting. He nailed the landing, not that it mattered: he was killed instantly, just before his plane followed him into the ground.

Notably, there was some speculation that Mitchel’s death was a suicide, with the ex-mayor despondent over his re-election loss and delays in getting to Europe. His official biographer mildly dismisses this theory, while at the same time describing his subject as “slightly schizophrenic.”

Either way, John Purroy Mitchel resoundingly wins the mayoral Most Original Cause of Death award, with all of its attendant pageantry.

—James Caldwell

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the

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The Hidden (and Not-So-Hidden) Talentsin City Politics

“I’m blessed at the fact that I have a career where I can do this,” she said. “I can go to a senior center and sometimes, instead of giving a speech, I can sing.”

She has also sung the national anthem at Shea Stadium, the U.S. Open, and at various veteran events. But politics and public service remain her top priority.

They sing! They act! They rock! They pass bills and balance the budget!

BY JULIE SOBEL

They are better known for their political talents, but there is more to some in New York City politics than meets the eye. From writing comedic press releases to singing the national anthem at Shea Stadium, some of those in government manage to integrate the political with the artistic:

Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. Somewhere between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center, City Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Queens) took a break from his trip to Disney World to discuss his musical talents.

“My real hidden talent’s being a dad,” he insisted, yelling over the loudspeaker on a Disney bus he was riding with his two daughters.

But Vallone is being modest. The Council member is multi-instrumental, playing guitar, base, piano and drums. A YouTube video of his recent birthday fundraiser shows Vallone rocking out to Bachman Turner Overdrive’s hit “Taking Care of Business” with his musical family. Daughters Catherine and Caroline sang, his mom Tena played the saxophone and his brothers Paul and Perry were on the drums and guitar, respectively.

Vallone almost ended up a professional musician rather than a politician.

“When I was just entering law school, my band got a record contract,” he said. “We were about to sign but they wanted us to start touring the country.” His father, who strongly favored law school over the band, helped him make the decision that ultimately led him to the Council.

For Vallone, the decision was tough at the time.

But he is happy with the way things turned out and glad he avoided the fate of most aging rockers like him.

“I love what I’m doing,” he said. “Most likely I’d be the old guy in the bar band.”

“I have no misconceptions about the fact that people like hearing me because I have the nerve to actually get up and do it,” said Katz. “I never wanted to do it professionally.”

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens)

Council Member Melinda Katz Council Member Melinda Katz (D-Queens) grew up singing Guys and Dolls and other show tunes in a very musical household.

Her father founded and conducted the Queens Symphony Orchestra and her mother founded the Queens Council on the Arts. As a kid, Katz took lessons in clarinet, guitar and trumpet. She sang chorus in both high school and college, as well as in stage musicals.

“I sing and I have fun doing it,” she said, noting that her love of music was part of the reason she strongly supports arts programs in city schools.

Katz’s talent is less hidden than most, as she often combines her political career with her love of singing whenever the opportunity arises.

When asked to describe his guitar style, Rep. Joseph Crowley gets modest.

“My style?” he said. “Aw man, I don’t know. I’m kind of, um, a lot of rhythm and a little bit of lead.”

But Crowley, who chairs the Queens County Democratic Party, is happy to explain how music has helped him develop his skills as a politician.

“I think it helped me in terms of my delivery,” he said. “Being comfortable with the mic and being comfortable in front of people.”

Since age 12, Crowley has always had a love for music. He played in an Irish wedding band while in college, as well as an R&B outfit, neither of which helped paid the bills.

Recently, Crowley played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with his fellow members of the Congressional Musicians Caucus, which he founded.

He has played with Rep. John Hall (D-Orange/Westchester), who used to be in the band Orleans, as well as with members of the band Steely Dan. In the past, he has sang with fellow Queens politicians like Council Member Melinda Katz, but has yet to perform with fellow guitarist Peter Vallone, Jr. Despite presiding over a borough rife with talent, Crowley said that an all-Queens political band is not

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in works.

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” he said. “But you never know. Depends on what the record deal would be like.”

Howard Wolfson: Mayoral Spokesman, Indie Rock Tweeter

Council Member Dan Garodnick Council Member and former aspiring actor Dan Garodnick’s (D-Manhattan) closest brush with fame came when he was almost cast in the 1989 movie “Dead Poets Society,” the classic Robin Williamsstarring tearjerker.

Garodnick was first runner-up for the role of Gerard Pitts in the movie. But actor James Waterston was ultimately cast. With a trace of sadness in his voice, Garodnick said he has not seen the film in a long time.

“It was hard to watch for me,” he admitted.

In junior high and high school, Garodnick acted in school plays and took classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, all while dreaming of the big screen.

“When I was young I was determined to go to Hollywood,” he said, laughing. “But that faded very quickly.”

While he no longer has the time for acting, he gets his fix of being on stage and talking to crowds in his daily life as a City Council member.

“Acting and politics have plenty of things in common,” he said.

And Garodnick (jokingly?) says that he has not entirely given up on the possibility of a future career in acting.

“We’re allowed multiple careers in our lives,” he said. “Maybe I’ll still make it.”

Andrew Moesel Director of media and public relations, Sheinkopf Communications When Andrew Moesel was about 10 years old, Comedy Central launched. He was instantly hooked.

“When it first came on it was pretty much all old standup comedy,” he said. “I just used to sit there and watch it all day.”

Inspired by 1980s comedians like Billy Crystal and Richard Pryor, Moesel loved stand-up comedy and wanted to be a comedian.

“But there’s no stand-up comedy major, no clown college, at least not one my parents would let me go to,” he said.

Instead, Moesel worked as a journalist and then for Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. before landing at Sheinkopf Communications.

Two years ago, he started performing at amateur night at a local Astoria comedy club. Soon he was spending four nights a week doing stand-up.

operatives, but he also knows a thing or two Howard Wolfson may be one of New York’s top political r in indie music circles who combines Eastern popula artist about Beirut. Not the city, mind you, but the solo European gypsy folk with Western pop. his Twitter page.

“Beirut was better with a violinist,” Wolfson explained on n posted more regularly on his website, Wolfso gn, campai 2009 erg Bloomb Before signing up with the n’s musings about music, and, from time to www.GothamAcme.com, which bills itself as “Howard Wolfso of Michael Bloomberg’s multi-million-dollar time, politics.” But apparently answering questions on behalf lfson’s last post there is from March 9. campaign for mayor has not left much time for blogging—Wo of NYers approve of the Mayor’s —2/3 His Twitter feed continues, though, still mixing up politics om/chbfdo 10:32 AM Feb 24th from inyurl.c http://t ts performance—double digit leads agnst both oppnen ted as posted: presen hits, recent t greates web—with indie rock reviews. Some of the Amazing lineup at this year’s Lollapalooza TVOTR Fleet Foxes Arctic Monkeys Glasvegas kings of leon

Bon Iver

6:57 AM Apr 21st from web

Beirut the band was better with a violinist 11:29 PM Apr 11th from web

in skoolkids @pitchforkmedia the day nevermind came out hearing it recs in Chapel Hill stopping dead in tracks blown away 3:26 PM Apr 10th from web

last night in @bradleysalmanac read your post on Bob Mould. saw him nyc—he was grt. did you tape him in dc?

4:47 PM Apr 9th from web

The Boss only played 4 songs off the new album last night that rolling stone gave 5 stars to

- the album

8:44 AM Apr 8th from web

@fyang there is a great album of acoustic sonic youth covers be recorded by someone

waiting to

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sad that i missed the feelies.

3:04 AM Mar 15th from web

same time i @pt_walkley v. strange—you signed up to follow me at the Music Other in cd your at looking was 3:44 PM Mar 5th from web

Lately he has not had as much time, so he had to cut back to once or twice a month. But he has always integrated comedy into his life.

“When appropriate, I have tried to use my sense of humor in my political daily work,” he said. He cited a press release for a bill that Vallone introduced to restrict motorcycle tailpipe emissions that he titled “Taking the squeal out of the hogs.”

My Pick

By Council Member Charles Barron First thing that came to mind was the play Sarafina! It was about the Soweto massacre in South Africa. The young children, over a thousand children, were massacred because they wanted to speak their own language and not the language of the oppressive Afrikaans. I must have seen the play seven times. It was powerfully presented, with music of liberation, a message of liberation. It was such powerful performance.

It’s one of my favorite plays that I’ve seen. They made a movie out of it with Whoopi Goldberg, who played the head master teacher. But it’s one of my favorite plays. I must have seen it … phew! Many times. It was like therapy almost.

[If they had a revival,] I would be tempted to say, “Could you put me in there somewhere? I can just stand there and hold the music sheet.” It was a powerful piece.

And I could watch a thousand times Spike Lee’s movie Malcolm X with Denzel Washington. That’s another one; if you played it 50 times I could probably see it and never get tired of it.

Bill Alatriste City Council photographer Bill Alatriste, Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s (D-Manhattan) photographer, lives by this quote by philosopher Martin Buber: “Every journey has a secret destination of which the traveler is unaware.”

His own journey led him through an MFA in creative writing and poetry at Columbia and a career as a college English teacher. While teaching, he also worked at City Hall writing proclamations.

Four years ago, his wife gave birth to twins and he reevaluated his schedule.

“When one method of seeing was closed off to me, another mode of seeing opened up, which was visual,” he said.

He enjoys the process of photography, of fumbling through the world visually, much as poets do linguistically.

“Poets have the luxury and the great fortune of letting words lead them,” he said. “I let the camera lead me.”

Alatriste notes that while he has an MFA in writing, his real hidden talent is jazz drumming.

A lifelong jazz aficionado, he attended a performing arts high school in the 1970s. He took a break from drumming in 1979 and picked it up again a decade later. Eight years ago, a back injury ended his playing.

But while he was drumming, there was nothing else.

“I’ve never done anything as a hobby in my life,” he said. jsobel@cityhallnews.com

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What four visions for the comptroller’s office could mean for the future of city politics, policy and pension funds

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

CONFLICTING

ACCOUNTS

BY SAL GENTILE

Here is how it will go: Cheryl Wertz, 33, of Park Slope, Brooklyn, will walk into the voting booth on Sept. 15, the day of the Democratic primary, and choose candidates for mayor, public advocate and comptroller.

For mayor, she will probably pick Bill Thompson, who she assumes will be swamped by the Bloomberg behemoth (though she is still holding out to see if Tony Avella can gain some traction).

For public advocate, she has been

mulling who will best bear the torch of progressive politics through what will likely be another four years of pro-development Bloomberg policies. She is drawn by Mark Green’s record, but Bill de Blasio’s slashand-burn campaign against the term limits

extension endeared him to her as well.

And for comptroller?

She still has not given it much thought—even after sitting through a marathon candidate forum at the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID)

in late March, during which Melinda Katz threaten to audit anyone in the room who actually timed her speech, David Yassky boast about his liberal credentials to explain his green investment plan, David Weprin spend three of his five minutes on a joke about a Rolls Royce to talk about creative financing and John Liu pretend to calculate one participant’s life expectancy on his BlackBerry.

“The comptroller is supposed to be someone who hangs out in the back and crunches numbers,” she said, hurrying out the basement door of the Park Slope Methodist Church after the end of the last candidate’s speech well past 11 p.m. More than that, she could not say.

Wertz is not alone. This is the dilemma

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that confronts all four hopefuls: how to campaign for an office no one really seems to get.

If this had been any other time, the Upper West Siders, the Downtown and Central Brooklynites who vote in Democratic primaries would have probably been looking for the right progressive, with the strongest liberal credentials.

Now they are not quite sure. They want a person who satisfies their vague inkling that the new comptroller should have a financial résumé. But they also want someone who shares their populist rage toward Wall Street fat cats and, specifically, Michael Bloomberg.

“There needs to be a balance,” said Tony Hoffman, of Greenwich Village, after a three-hour session of the Village Independent Democrats in March. “It doesn’t mean if somebody has a little bit more technical experience, and somebody else has positions I strongly believe in, I’ll vote for experience.”

“The office has very complicated, technical responsibilities that not everybody understands,” said Elizabeth Holtzman, who served one term as comptroller in the early 1990s. “But they

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could make a huge difference.”

Specifically, they could make a difference—to the city, and to taxpayers— to the tune of $5.7 billion, which is how much city taxpayers were projected to pay out this year to municipal retirees whose pensions are guaranteed by law regardless of how investments perform. If the funds hemorrhage money, say, as a result of worldwide economic collapse predicated on bad investments and loans, taxpayers are forced to pay the difference.

As the national economy shifted into hyper-drive in the post-Sept. 11 market, the city’s pension funds climbed in value as well, hitting the $120 billion mark.

Development boomed, real estate assets skyrocketed, the housing bubble drove the stock market up and equities made gains that seemed (and were) unreal. Meanwhile, securities were bundled, leveraged, insured and sold off, so whatever happened, they made a lot of money too.

Now the pension funds are hovering somewhere in the $80 billion range, depending on the week. And the financial industry—one of the two pillars, along with real estate, of the city economy—has been decimated.

All of which would seem to make the selection of a chief financial officer for New York City that much more crucial.

And it makes evaluating the plans Katz, Yassky, Weprin and Liu have proposed—and whether experts who know the office’s power well think they are smart, feasible or legal—arguably more important than ever.

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magine bundling up the entire metropolitan economy of San Antonio (in a bad week) or Ontario (in a good week), giving it to one person and telling him or her to make it bigger. Stir in a quarter-million city workers from some of the most powerful unions in the country, stakes in the wealthiest corporations in the world and the ethnic and borough politics of the Democratic Party, and you get the city’s mammoth pension fund investments, which the comptroller gets to manage.

The office also audits city agencies, rejects or certifies the budget, approves contracts, sells the city’s debt and produces independent forecasts of the state of the economy, which often conflict with the mayor’s own projections.

Before 1989, the comptroller’s

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foremost and most visible responsibility was helping compile the city budget as part of the Board of Estimate. More often than not, the comptrollers prevailed in their battles with the mayor.

Then came the city charter revisions which gave the mayor most of the authority to draft the city budget. The comptroller was crowded out of the process, left only with the power to audit what had been done, but not to shape the budget directly.

That is a hard thing to explain on a palm card.

So candidates came up with other things to talk about, like monkeying around with the pension funds, which have become more and more of a talking point for comptrollers and comptroller candidates who have tended to view the power over pension funds as a policymaking tool.

Once in office, they got involved with things like divestment from apartheid South Africa, tobacco companies and even Arab states accused of sponsoring terrorism.

Fiddling with that combustible mix of unions, Wall Street and money—lots of it—might seem like a bad idea, or at least a

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risky one. Certainly most financial analysts, some of them even employed by the current comptroller, think so. But each of this year’s candidates for comptroller has a plan for continuing to leverage those funds to accomplish various social policy goals, from building affordable housing to greening the economy to capping executive pay.

Not that this is necessarily a problem.

The funds used to be invested mostly in fixed-income assets, like bonds. They did not risk much, nor did they yield much. But even as Thompson and his predecessors got more political with the funds, the profits rolled in faster than the rate of inflation. Agenda-driven investing turned out to be profitable investing.

In different ways, the four candidates running this year are all hoping to follow suit, to find ways to dredge up new money amid a crisis, which also happens to be good grist for press conferences.

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here are companies all across the city that are in distress,” said Katz, finishing up an omelet in the Woolworth Kitchen on Broadway, across the street from City Hall. “I would love to see a part of the pension funds also go for distressed debt restructuring, so that you can contribute to the companies to become a restructuring office somewhat—you have to figure out exactly how—and be able to keep them in New York.”

Katz is campaigning as the everymom in the race: An average working professional, the only woman running citywide, the one who understands what goes into raising a family in New York.

She scored sympathy points with CBID when she told the crowd she waited until past 10 p.m. to ask for their endorsement, even though she had to go home and care for her one-year-old son, Carter. Later that month, waiting her turn at the Village Independent Democrats, she scrolled through a Blackberry for messages from the nanny in one hand while amping up for the long night ahead with a Little Debbie’s Devil Crème Cake in the other.

Her idea to pump pension money into floundering companies and then use the opening to restructure them ties in with her everymom rationale.

She says she could save jobs in the city and help keep families from having to move away.

Others say she is proposing backdoor bailouts with taxpayer funds.

Either way, going through the finer points of her plan gives her a chance to connect her experience as a mergers and acquisitions attorney to the actual duties of the comptroller’s office.

“The job of actually trying to determine the assets, the revenues, the liabilities, and how the structuring of the corporations are going to be moving forward, and profitable moving forward, a lot of the mergers and acquisitions attorneys are

CITY HALL

Behind Race for Comptroller, Race for Consultant Bragging Rights The winner of this year’s comptroller race will do more and help you get to the people that need to hear from you than decide who is the city’s top bean counter—the race in the quickest and shortest way possible,” he said. “They could also be seen as a controlled experiment to test who validate you in front of different audiences.”

Doug Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch can claim to be the city’s leading political mastermind.

Four of New York’s leading campaign-consulting firms— College, was having none of it.

“You would expect them to say that, because whether Knickerbocker SKD, Global Strategy Group, Bill Lynch Associates and Sheinkopf Communications—have a can- they win or lose depends on how much they can charge their didate in the race. Giving this clash of the local consultant next customer,” he said. “But if they don’t make that much of titans an extra edge is the remarkable similarity among the a difference, then why are they charging tens of thousands of dollars a month for their advice? Are candidates themselves, each of whom is “This is going to be they saying they are fraudulent?” a self-styled progressive Council member a squabble among All are also longtime players in city from the outer boroughs, and all of whom at this point are given an even shot at the professionals,” politics. coming out on top. said Maurice Carroll, “There are a number of talented consultants involved in this race. I’ve Observers say that the race will become director of the worked with or against all of them,” said something of a scientific experiment in the Quinnipiac Polling Ryan Toohey, who is running the Melinda unscientific world of big city politics, with the candidates acting as a control group.

Institute. “These are Katz (D-Queens) campaign for Global “This is going to be a squabble among all guys who know how Strategy Group. “It’s always better to be than against.” the professionals,” said Maurice Carroll, to do it and have done with The flat dynamics of the race could director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. it successfully. also provide political observers a rare “These are all guys who know how to do it glimpse into the behind-the-scenes world and have done it successfully. Whoever of campaign strategy. The similarity among the candidates wins, it’s going to be a reflection on the professional.”

When forced to comment, the consultants, all of whom means that every mailer, advertisement and speech might seem well-aware of what their colleagues are doing, denied be parsed for clues as to how the consultants run races.

None so far, however, would provide those clues. that the stakes are all that high for themselves.

Perhaps, implied Hank Sheinkopf, who is running David A typical sentiment was that expressed in a tersely-worded email by Josh Isay, the head of Knickerbocker SKD, which Weprin’s (D-Queens) bid, because there really is not all that is behind David Yassky’s (D-Brooklyn) run: “Consultants do much to be parsed.

“Consultants believe they are involved in brain surgery. not win races, candidates do.”

Kevin Wardally, director of political and governmental The difference between us and doctors is that if they fail, operations at Bill Lynch Associates, which is advising John their patients get buried,” he said. “Ours remain alive, only no one remembers them.”

Liu’s (D-Queens) comptroller bid, was more expansive.

“All a consultant can do is to help you define yourself —David Freedlander

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the ones involved with that,” she said.

“It’s not the bond underwriters and it’s not the management consultants. It is the ‘M & A’ lawyers that are looking at how the structures of the corporations can survive through today’s economic turmoil.”

This is just one of the plans being floated by the comptroller candidates to use the city’s massive pension investments to achieve some social objective.

the taxpayers’ necessary contribution to the fund. Comptrollers have mixed that or balanced it with various kinds of social policy concerns,” Brescher said. “You have to be careful about the activism that goes with that, as opposed to seeking maximum return.”

Even among the trustees of the pension funds—who would ultimately have to authorize such a plan—there are some questions of practicality and worries about what would happen to the invested money if those companies Katz would identify as ripe for restructuring collapse anyway.

One even promised to block Katz from carrying out her proposal if she gets elected.

“That’s not going to happen.

That’s not what the pension funds are for,” said Greg Floyd, the president of the Teamsters Local 237 and one of three labor trustees on the pension board. “From my seat, I would only agree to investing monies that would benefit union members.”

But Katz is not the only one pledging to use the pension funds to save jobs or rescue the city’s economy. Yassky, for instance, has said he would like to set aside a portion of the funds to invest in biotechnology and environmental technology.

Yassky has featured the plan

“The office has very complicated, technical responsibilities that not everybody understands,” said former comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman.

“But they could make a huge difference.”

Katz’s ideas are generally broader and further-reaching than her opponents’, which has already made them the subject of special scrutiny. Her restructuring proposal is especially radical. And, according to several analysts like Citizens Budget Commission director of research Charles Brescher, it carries deep risks.

“The primary responsibility is to maximize the return in order to reduce

prominently in his stump speech, promising to use the power of the comptroller’s office to encourage investment in green technology. This is the part of his pitch that his campaign thinks will win him support among reliable primary voters, particularly in Manhattan, the top prize.

“We need an aggressive, strong progressive in that comptroller’s office to be putting out the kind of ideas—new ideas—and agenda that can rally people around Democratic principles,” he said at the CBID endorsement meeting. “And, you know, we have not always had that.

Maybe that’s part of the reason we’ve lost the last four mayoral elections.”

Coincidentally, Yassky’s consulting firm, Knickerbocker SKD, is also helping Bloomberg try to win the fifth. Yassky himself has often been an ally of the mayor.

Investing in environmental technology firms across the world, which would allow you to pinpoint the ones that promise the most return, is one thing, they say.

Localizing the effort to New York City may close off too many options.

“If one were to go forward with something like that, it would probably not turn out to be fiduciarily appropriate, if it was only firms that were in New York City. That doesn’t meet the fiduciary responsibility of either the trustees or

CITY HALL the comptroller’s office,” said Steven Newman, who served as the top deputy to both former comptrollers Harrison Goldin and Alan Hevesi. “Logically, what you’re in essence doing is, there’s a whole country and a whole world, in fact, and you’ve decided to place your proceeds in one corner of it.”

But the whole idea of agenda-driven investment troubles Newman.

“People can’t look at pension funds as a candy store to carry out different policy ideas,” he said.

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ne of the least visible functions of the city comptroller is the ability to sell the city’s debt on the bond market in conjunction with the mayor. The city sells bonds, often in chunks of $1 billion or more, to raise capital for infrastructure projects such as school construction or water and sewer upgrades. The bonds are backed by property taxes, general funds or other dedicated revenue streams, and repaid to investors over time.

That completely unglamorous and quiet aspect of the job is the kind of thing that makes David Weprin’s socks roll up and down.

He has a lot to say about issuing debt.

“There’s obviously been a lot of turmoil in the financial markets in the last year,” he began, posing a question to his opponents at a Village Reform Democratic Club candidate forum in late March. “And one of the major functions of the comptroller, as the chief financial officer of the city, is the debt issuance function, underwriting municipal bonds, marketing municipal bonds for the city, whether they be the general obligations of the city, or the water authority, or the health and hospitals corporation. What would you do, in light of the turmoil in the financial markets, differently, in light of that, as far as the debt issuance function of the city?”

Before being elected to the Council, Weprin was the deputy superintendent of banks under Gov. Mario Cuomo (D). He later worked on Wall Street in municipal finance and, even while serving as chair of the Council Finance Committee, has made a hefty sum on the side as a lawyer and investment banker.

He makes his argument for the office more on this experience than his ideas for the pension funds, which are not as far-reaching as Yassky’s or Katz’s. He does not tear into opaque city agencies or state authorities, such as the Department of Education or the MTA. Instead, he focuses his argument on things like underwriting municipal bonds and how the city can best market debt to bond buyers.

“It’s generally been recommended by financial advisers and financial experts that it makes sense to have smaller bond issues and more frequent bond issues,” he said, “because if for some reason a bond issue is not well received in the market, you’re not locked into a huge bond issue of $100 billion or more.”

The problem with Weprin’s argument,

www.cityhallnews.com according to both political consultants and policymakers in the comptroller’s office, is that no one really understands what he is saying. Swinging hard on the experience argument and the arcane functions of the office has its political perils. People tend to respond to flash.

Not that Weprin lacks ideas of the candy store variety. He is the only candidate in the race who talks about capping CEO compensation by using the city’s pension fund investments. If the city owns enough of a stake in a company which is paying out excessive bonuses, such as AIG, Weprin would threaten to pull out the pension funds.

“You could influence corporate policy that is wrong, such as some of the exorbitant CEO bonuses and excessive compensation,” he said. “You can tell the companies that you want them to change their policy, or you will take your investment and put it in other companies.”

And while limiting CEO compensation may seem like a popular idea, letting a city comptroller act unilaterally, outside the framework of national policy, could have disastrous consequences for the funds. If a company that is paying its CEO well also happens to perform well—as many investment banks did for many years—the company would probably have little incentive to change policies just to satisfy the New York City comptroller.

“The act of divesting from companies because you don’t like their corporate governance,” said Newman, the former Goldin and Hevesi aide. “You can only do that in very limited circumstances.”

Another former top deputy to two previous comptrollers, who was not authorized by his current employer to speak on the record, was more blunt: “Anybody who talks about divestment should not be elected.”

One of the candidates who spars with Weprin over the bond issue is Liu, whose late entry into the race in March entirely reworked the political dynamics of the campaign.

Liu’s fiery rhetoric in the clubs and at civic associations has been dazzling the grassroots activists who will carry the petitions in June and go door-todoor in the fall. His stump speech modulates between his stodgy, actuarial background as a management consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and streaks of angry populism directed mostly at Bloomberg and the MTA. On the Council and as chair of the Transportation Committee, he has frequently fought both.

Conveniently, both have earned much scorn from the Democrats’ progressive base in recent months.

“When you have that kind of concentration of wealth in this city, which this guy does have,” he said of Bloomberg

at a meeting of the American Heritage Democratic Organization in Bay Ridge in March, “I think it’s pretty dangerous.”

Sitting in the Red Room on a slow day between committee hearings, though, Liu softened his rhetoric considerably, preferring to focus on his financial experience.

“I don’t even think that the current mayor is all that non-Democratic. For the most part, the guy is a Democrat,” he said. “He may have switched enrollments for expediency, but for the most part, the guy is a Democrat.”

Unlike his opponents, Liu considers the management of the pension funds a minor role of the comptroller, and says his interest is much more on the investigative powers.

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the latest in a string of disappointments.

He is not the only candidate getting grilled on issues that have nothing to do with the functions of the office. Katz is often pressed on her ties to the real estate community and her record as chair of the Land Use Committee. Weprin gets asked about the City Council slush fund scandal, which unfurled under his watch. Liu is tested on his commitment to the comptroller’s position, after wavering and briefly running for public advocate earlier this year.

The lesson, observers say?

Do not overestimate the value of experience.

Just ask Herb Berman, the last guy to run for comptroller on the strength of his financial chops. Berman, a 24-year Council veteran with a lengthy Wall Street résumé, lost to Thompson in 2001 by a margin of about 6 percentage points, despite winning the backing of powerful unions such as DC 37 and pulling in major private sector cash.

“Qualifications might become an issue,” he said. “But you still need the political ability.”

Berman said voters tend to latch onto hot-button issues that have little or nothing to do with the office of the comptroller, no matter how hard you try to reorient them. In his case, it was his opposition to the death penalty, which some conservative Democratic clubs in Queens and Brooklyn resented.

“In a number of places I’d go to, I remember vividly being attacked because I was against the death penalty,” he said.

“And I tried to say, ‘What in heaven’s name has that got to do with the comptroller?’”

Things might be different now that Thompson appears to have a clear shot for the Democratic nomination for mayor. Out on the trail himself, he will be explaining what he has actually done as comptroller, and why that makes him qualified to run the city. Those that are paying attention will be thinking more about the functions of the office than they probably would have been otherwise.

Of course, anything that Katz, Yassky, Weprin or Liu proposes is in some ways pointing out what Thompson has not done. But whatever they say, the race remains a political campaign—and the votes to win it are likely in the bettersounding ideas like leveraging pension funds, flexing muscles the office actually lacks and even throwing out statements slamming all those AIG bonuses. Instead of haggling over diversified investment portfolios and parsing audit policy, they will be promising jobs, affordable housing and green technology.

That is what you have to do to get elected comptroller—one of the most consequential but dullest positions in politics.

“You’ve got to convince them that you’re the next coming of the savior,” said Berman. “And, by the way, these are my qualifications.” sgentile@cityhallnew.com

“People can’t look at pension funds as a candy store to carry out different policy ideas,” said Steven Newman, who served as the top deputy to both former comptrollers Harrison Goldin and Alan Hevesi.

“I see the position as something that could be likened to the attorney general’s position on the state level,” he said.

Liu promises aggressive audits of pretty much every agency, especially those that already incite public rage, like the MTA and the Department of Education. But the audit function, too, is mostly over-glamorized by candidates, say policy experts, given that the requirement to audit each agency every four years is written into the city charter.

“To be perfectly honest, I think there’s less there than meets the eye,” said Ester Fuchs, a professor of public policy at Columbia University and a former Bloomberg advisor, though admitting, “it’s a nice line.”

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avid, I will hold you to your word,” warned one angry voter at the Bay Ridge political club, after Yassky pledged to make the comptroller’s office open and accessible to the public. “And I’ll come after you with a gun if you don’t let me in.”

What originally set Yassky’s tormentor off was the controversy involving former Brooklyn Council Member Stephen DiBrienza (D), who has continued to receive funding from the Council after leaving office for a nonprofit many allege does not exist.

The funding was channeled through Yassky’s office.

Yassky has not been accused of wrongdoing, but the progressive foot soldiers who propelled him into the Council see the DiBrienza scandal as just

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APRIL 27, 2009

Bloomberg Runs Red Light on Plan To Make Yellow Taxis Green Taxi operators threaten new lawsuit if administration provides incentives

BY JULIE SOBEL s part of his sustainability initiatives, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) wanted a fiveyear plan that would slowly transition taxis from Crown Victorias to hybrids.

Last year, he ordered the shift to happen immediately.

But when fleet owners successfully sued to stop the change, the mayor got around the ruling by incentivizing fleet owners to go green by raising the caps owners could charge on leasing hybrids.

Bloomberg’s proposal allows fleet owners to charge drivers an additional $3 per shift for leasing hybrid cabs and to charge drivers $4 less per shift to lease the old taxis, meaning that they will earn $7 more per shift for renting hybrids to drivers. That dollar amount will increase next year, as well as the year after. This switch is also expected to be beneficial for drivers who will save on fuel costs.

The plan gained the necessary approval by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) in March.

Most observers seem to agree that the city’s incentives plan will force operators to buy the hybrids even without the mandate.

Council Member John Liu (D-Queens) characterized the decision to move the requirement up to 2008 as politically motivated and a disruption to the original plan.

“It’s effectively a mandate,” Liu said.

“But hopefully it will overcome the problems of the original mandate.”

TLC Chairman Matthew Daus endorsed the new proposal, stating that their goal was for 100 percent of the city’s 13,000 cab owners to participate through the incentives.

“This is a no-brainer,” he said.

Rich Kassel, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and director of their clean fuels and vehicles project, agreed.

“We’re pretty confident that the drivers and owners will look hard at the incentives.

If the numbers work, they’ll buy greener cars, just like car owners everywhere,” he said. “It’s better for drivers, owners, passengers and non-passengers alike. It will lead to better economics in the taxi industry and cleaner air in the city.”

But the industry does not object to the incentives—just the disincentives— said Michael Woloz, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, which represents 28 taxi fleets in the city with about 3,500 cabs between them. Woloz added that they are likely

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has devised incentives to get around the court decision halting the mandate for expanding the green taxi fleet in the city. to sue again to stop them. This should not, however, be understood as an

opposition to the environmental ends, just the means Bloomberg has put

forward for achieving them.

“There’s a major difference between offering an incentive to purchase hybrid vehicle and actually stripping small businesses of revenue,” said Woloz. “It’s a horrible message to send to small business owners who weren’t even given the opportunity to see through their purchase [of Crown Victorias] and maybe make their next decision based on the incentives they might get.”

Woloz said there should have been a grandfather clause that would exempt from punishment cars that had already been purchased prior to the program.

Woloz also argues that hybrids are not built for the demands of New York streets, citing safety concerns and complaints the group has received from drivers who say the smaller vehicles are cramped and uncomfortable, and a similar “outcry” from passengers.

But for some, a green taxi can be quite luxurious.

“I think the cabs are comfortable,” Kassel countered, laughing, when asked about the allegations. “I think the days of putting a family of eight in a single Checker cab are behind us.” jsobel@cityhallnews.com

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State’s Green Jobs/Green Homes Initiative Takes Root

BY KATE BRIQUELET he largest residential retrofit program ever initiated is on the brink of passage as the Legislature moves on a bill that would green one million homes in five years.

The plan is also expected to create nearly 60,000 jobs at a time when politicians and advocacy groups tout green jobs as a panacea for the economic downturn.

The Center for Working Families (CWF) has drafted a plan entitled “Green Jobs/Green Homes NY” (GJ/GH), which would retrofit homes at no upfront cost to homeowners and landlords. While still in the planning stages, many involved expect the Legislature to implement it in June.

“We feel quite confident that this can work if we put a lot of organizing effort into it,” said Emmaia Gelman, the program’s senior policy director. “It will really lay the groundwork to say that as the nation’s investment in greening goes forward, that the jobs that are created will go to local people and will pay well.”

The funding and labor behind it, though, remain in question. The policy does not have an agency home—although New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is the prime candidate—nor does it have a ready workforce or set funding for

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first-year contracting, which is currently estimated at $192 million.

Right now, CWF is collecting data to identify target areas to begin the retrofits.

This fall, if it passes, the plan will begin community implementation in pilot programs. A statewide implementation would begin in summer 2011.

While most retrofit programs have been at the municipal level, a few have been launched statewide, in places such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Similarly, New York City could begin requiring mandatory building retrofits in 2013 under a recent proposal

by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (DManhattan).

At a policy briefing by the Rockefeller Foundation earlier this month, State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Energy Committee, said his colleagues in Albany are working hard to bring a bill to the floor by the end of this session.

“We want to make sure all details are fleshed out,” he said. “People are going to welcome it with open arms. It’s exactly what people are expecting to see from their government: a green New Deal.”

Gelman said that the legislation will

determine the program’s funding sources.

While GJ/GH could launch with federal stimulus dollars and other public funds, it still depends on a state retrofit investment fund to pay contracting costs. There is no private capital yet for the fund, but after the legislation has progressed further, Gelman said GJ/GH will contact banks

“It’s exactly what people are expecting to see from their government,” said State Sen. Kevin Parker, “a green New Deal.” and begin a marketing campaign.

Labor groups are already laying the groundwork to participate. Byron Silva, coordinator with Laborers International Union of North America, said his union will create a new weatherization curriculum by summer.

Officials will soon start to create demand for the work. Home energy efficiency has not been popularized on a mass scale before, since information in the mail sent by state agencies and contractors over the years has failed to generate substantial demand.

GJ/GH includes plans for marketing on a larger scale by partnering with locally-

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APRIL 27, 2009

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League of Extraordinary Environmentalists With PAC in place, politics picks up hese days, there are more greenbacks backing the green agenda in New York.

After more than 20 years advocating for environmental causes, the League of Conservation Voters has pumped up its PAC to expand its political operation.

“It’s a sea change in how we see ourselves in an organization,” said Marcia Bystryn, the group’s executive director.

Originally charged with an educational mission, the League has evolved into an important seal of approval for politicians. But the group’s support was always a paper endorsement, often mentioned on a candidate’s website or campaign mailer among a long list of other endorsements But to add value to the 2009 races, Bystryn said the PAC is aiming to raise at least $200,000—a huge jump from the $81,702 it had on hand at the beginning of the year.

“We need political money on the table,” Bystryn said. “We’re focusing some of our

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based organizations. Target communities for the program include those that are low-income and have higher rates of carbon emissions and energy-inefficient housing, both urban and rural, from the Bronx to Buffalo. Retrofits may include several home repairs such as weather-stripping around walls and floors and improvements to insulation, and installing new heat and hot water systems, green roofs, solar panels and low-flow showerheads and toilets.

Under GJ/GH, homeowners can receive an average upgrade to their homes of around $5,500, and save 30 to 40 percent on energy, which is $600 to $1,200 per year on costs, or about $1 billion per year statewide after the 10-year payback period. The program comes at a time when New York State ranks fourth in the country for total residential energy consumption and currently pays more for energy than any other state in the nation, according to federal data.

Gelman said GJ/GH is now laying the groundwork for workforce development, bringing together contractors, unions and locally-based organizations to get communities excited about the program.

She said the first year calls for 20,000 units to be retrofitted, probably in 20 localized communities where 1,000 retrofits will be done in each.

“In order to do that you can’t just plop down and do a bunch of retrofits,” Gelman said. “You really need a buy-in from the communities.” kbriquelet@cityhallnews.com

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fundraising around just that.”

The League is also raising its profile by expanding into everyday issues, like energy costs and subway fare hikes, that fall outside the scope of traditional environmentalism.

New League chair Robert Hallman said he hopes fundraising will be bolstered by the group expanding its message to include sustainability, energy and green technology.

“Our approach that will make us more effective is bringing together the economy and the environment,” Hallman said. “The more people see it, the more people will support the League and our PAC.” And League members are hoping for more opportunities like last year’s upset State Senate race that put Brian Foley (D-Suffolk) ahead of 13term incumbent Caesar Trunzo, in which the League played an influential role in Foley win.

Fresh off that crucial victory, the group injected itself in New York City’s special Council elections. While the league did not endorse in the February races, the group’s nonprofit education fund spent $100,000 on two forums, robo-calls and 30,000 pieces of lit mailed to residents of the Queens and Staten Island districts, won by Council members Eric Ulrich (R) and Ken Mitchell (D), respectively, to highlight transit and waterfront concerns.

Ulrich praised the league League of Conservation Voters executive director Marcia Bystryn and New York for holding forums that allowed City chair Ken Fisher are helping pioneer the organization’s new, more political candidates to talk on issues like approach. tolling the Cross-Bay Bridge that connects Rockaway and Broad Channel enabling targeting for future elections beyond simply writing a check or issuing with the rest of Queens, but said he that will give more heft to endorsements. an endorsement,” he added. believes League members’ interests But as environmental are best served by the group staying awareness has grown, the “The special elections NYCLV sees an opening to focused on education.

“They’re more informational than were ways for us to test move beyond their old “Save persuasive,” Ulrich said. “I don’t see out some new techniques, the Whales”-style sign-waving them coming into a political force to to become greater political move beyond simply writing players. be reckoned with.” a check or issuing an Ken Fisher, the former Council “Awareness over climate member from Brooklyn and the change, sustainability and green endorsement.”— Ken Fisher League’s New York City chapter chair, issues have just shot way up,” New York City chapter chair however, argued that the outreach said Fisher. “Voters are hungry during the special Council elections to know who has real credibility will allow the group to identify voters “The special elections were ways for on those issues and who doesn’t.” interested in environmental sustainability, us to test out some new techniques, move drivoli@cityhallnews.com ANDREW SCHWARTZ

BY DAN RIVOLI

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April 27, 2009

Classifieds In Print CITY HALL

Director, DYCD Youth Programs at NYCHA Centers The Department of Youth and Community Development SALARY: $50,610 to $135,240 The Department of Youth and Community Development is seeking to hire a Director for its newly created NYCHA Center Program Unit. DYCD will contract with communitybased, non-profit organizations to offer children, youth and families a wide range of educational enrichment, recreation, cultural arts and community assistance programs during the after-school, evening, weekend hours, and during the summer.

The programs will be located at selected NYCHA Community Centers throughout New York City, and offer activities that create opportunities for empowerment and skill building; development of sound character and positive social norms; and integration of family, school and community supports all in an environment supervised by caring adult role models.

Under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner for Beacon and Work Readiness Programs, the Director will be responsible for providing direct oversight to ensure implementation of programmatic goals to a staff engaged in effective program management of all programmatic components. Some specific duties of the Director include: * Advise the Assistant Commissioner in the development and implementation of all policies, including outcome tracking systems and attendance. * Provide overall supervision to assigned staff engaged in program management/ negotiation and monitoring. * Implement senior-level decisions regarding the management processes for contracts. * Serve as a liaison to partnering City Agencies, community-based organizations and other program stakeholders. * Represent the agency at conferences and other forums. * Design and coordinate technical assistance for providers and staff. * Perform related work.

TO VIEW THE ENTIRE POSTING AND LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR AGENCY VISIT www.nyc. gov/dycd

Special Assistant to the Deputy Borough President and Senior Advisor to the BP OFFICE OF MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT, SCOTT M. STRINGER Responsibilities: Assist the DBP/Senior Advisor on special projects and initiatives; Manage the DBP/Senior Advisor’s calendar of events; Handle incoming calls, place calls and communicate on behalf of the DBP/Senior Advisor; Maintain current directories of internal and external contacts; Prepare and disseminate correspondence, reports, and other documentation; Prepare check requests, expense reports, purchase orders and other internal and external forms; Perform other tasks as necessary or required.

Qualifications: Extensive experience as an Executive Assistant, or related job; Bachelor’s degree preferred; Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills; High level of commitment to promote Borough President’s mission; Ability and enthusiasm for working with staff at all levels of the organization; Individual initiative and strong motivation to complete projects and day-to-day tasks.

Interested candidates send resume in Word or PDF to resumes@manhattanbp.org.

NYC residency is required. The Office of the Manhattan Borough President is an EOE.

Assistant to the Director of External Affairs OFFICE OF MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT, SCOTT M. STRINGER Responsibilities: Provide administrative support to the Director of External Affairs and the unit; Disseminate correspondences, policy reports, and other documentation to external partners and stakeholders; Assist in the administrative maintenance of all Borough President’s appointments to various boards and commissions; Maintain office-wide database; Assist in all aspects of executing large scale events, including mailing invitations and other outreach, coordinating vendors, tracking and processing RSVPs, and assisting with day-of event needs; Assist with special projects as identified by the Director.

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CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree required; at least one (1) year of related experience with government, civic, policy/research or similar organizations; demonstrated commitment to public service with excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills; Individual initiative and strong motivation to complete projects and day-to-day tasks; Flexibility with working long work hours.

and Online Ad Copy: ($30/30 words, $.65 per additional word)

Interested candidates send resume in Word or PDF to resumes@manhattanbp.org.

NYC residency is required. The Office of the Manhattan Borough President is an EOE.

Manager - Lead Organizer Screen Actors Guild ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: • Develop and implement internal/external organizing campaigns • Conduct outreach to potential employers • Conduct assigned research projects • Work with and provide support to appropriate committee(s) to develop and facilitate organizing efforts • Manage volunteers • Performs other duties as assigned REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES: • Experienced organizer familiar with basic labor law as it relates to organizing • Experience working on strategic campaigns. Knowledge of traditional and non-traditional organizing methods • Research experience • Excellent bi-lingual skills • Knowledge of entertainment industry and SAG contracts a plus • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite • Excellent leadership skills • Detail oriented with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills • Able to organize, prioritize and coordinate multiple tasks under daily deadlines EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: Undergraduate degree in Labor Studies or related field, and/or equivalent work experience in union organizing and/or campaign driven work of at least 2-5 years.

Certificates, licenses, and/or registrations: Must have a current driver’s license with no infractions.

Payment: Check: Credit Card: Name on Card: Expiration Date Category: q Help Wanted q Employment Wanted q Real Estate q Business Opportunity Dates to Run:

Mail:

Steve Blank/Classified Advertising Manhattan Media 79 Madison Avenue, 16th Floor NY, NY 10016

Fax:

212.268.2935

Email:

sblank@manhattanmedia.com

Phone: 212.894.5412 Please email cover letter with salary requirements and resume to jobsny@sag.org

Deadline is Friday at 5 pm.

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APRIL 27, 2009

The PlaNYC Report Card Charting the progress so far on top priorities of Bloomberg’s sustainability agenda Build the Croton filtration plant

Require greening of parking lots

The nearly $3 billion project in Van Cortland Park to clean water from the Croton watershed has been plagued by controversy and huge cost overruns since it was proposed a decade ago. In February, a federal mafia investigation charged a manager at Schiavone Construction, the contractor hired to do excavation work at the site, with extortion. The charges were later dropped and Schiavone is still working on the project. The city maintains that an independent study blamed rising costs—initially estimated at $660 million—on external factors, including the increasing price of steel. New suggestions to contract out the operation staff could raise costs even further. Longtime critics, such as Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz (DBronx), argue that the city simply low-balled its initial estimate. Construction on the plant is still facing troubles from boulders in the site grounds and asbestos.

The plant is now the largest American contract for Swedish-based construction company Skanska. Structural concrete is being poured, and the city expects it to be done in 2012.

A PlaNYC success story: last year the City Council approved an amendment that requires plant life in large parking lots.

The idea, according to the city, is to help curb stormwater runoff. Zoning was changed to require perimeter landscaping in parking lots over 6,000 square feet, with street tree planting on adjoining sidewalks. Lots of 12,000 square feet must have canopy trees in planting islands inside the lots.

B+

Work with vulnerable neighborhoods to develop site-specific strategies

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The mayor’s office has met with five nonprofits throughout the city in neighborhoods likely to be affected by climate change: UPROSE (United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park), the Point in Hunts Point, Bronx, the Natural Resources Protection Association on Staten Island and the American Littoral Society in Broad Channel, Queens. “They just came and it was like, ‘We’re here for you, we’re trying to reach out to all those communities that can be impacted by sea-level rise,’” said Don Riepe, director of the American Littoral Society. “Every day we look at the tide chart,” he added. What these meetings accomplish is somewhat vague—but then again, so was the original goal.

Continue partnership with NYCHA to build 6,000 new affordable units The city announced in late October that over 1,000 affordable housing units will be built in the South Bronx, expected to bring $29 million to the agency. That windfall will help keep the NYCHA afloat. So will a little-publicized proposal to increase rent for low-income housing residents. For its part, the agency blames its $170 million budget gap for 2008 on lack of federal funding. An additional 2,000 units were listed as in the pre-development stage, in a March press release. As for these remaining units mentioned in PlaNYC, the city expects to seek more developers for more sites later this year and next.

C+

Address congested areas around the city Fourteen traffic corridors aggravated by congestion from shoppers and local truck traffic have been identified by the city Department of Transportation, with at least one in each borough. PlaNYC initially identified nine such streets and expected studies and discussions with local residents to be done in two years. Final results for five of the 14 corridors will be released next summer, while studies on the remaining corridors are not yet underway. Potential congestion remedies include rezoning, rerouting bus and truck routes, and physical improvements to roads and sidewalks. But part of the congestion pricing plan, designed to cost drivers extra when entering Manhattan below 60th Street on weekdays, recently failed due to insufficient support from the City Council.

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A

Create a database of historic uses across New York City to identify potential brownfields The database will be available to the public by late 2009 and will provide information on potential environmental hazards at vacant lots throughout the city, based on past uses of those sites. It will be used primarily by city agencies, community organizations and developers to help target areas for brownfield research, planning, investigation, cleanup and redevelopment.

B+

Develop underused areas to knit neighborhoods together Good public transportation does not necessarily lead to a vibrant neighborhood. This phenomenon is seen most often in the outer boroughs, and the Department of City Planning hopes to use rezoning to encourage commercial and residential development in several areas: an Environmental Impact Statement has been issued for the Lower Concourse in the Bronx and the public review process began in February; for the 161st Street rezoning, the public review also just started; for the 3rd Avenue Corridor in the Bronx, the planning department is studying the area and potential zoning changes, and a public review schedule has not been set. Meanwhile, for the Gowanus Canal Corridor in Brooklyn, the planning department has finished a draft zoning proposal and begun discussing it with community groups.

Finally, at Broadway Junction in Brooklyn, a study on transit capacity in the area will soon be complete. While the city often gets what it wants on rezoning measures, the process is lengthy and sometimes met with resistance from community groups.

B

Launch collaborative local air quality study Unsurprisingly, recent air quality studies have found a correlation between high cancer and asthma rates and areas with high commuter and commercial traffic, such as the South Bronx. With the city having the worst air in the state, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has contracted Queens College to conduct its New York City Community Air Survey.

Full results from 130 street-level sites will be available in the spring but have not yet emerged.

Incomplete

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APRIL 27, 2009

Sustaining the Sustainability Plan

BY JINA MOORE ohit Aggarwala has a lot on his plate—127 environmental and urban growth initiatives, to be precise—but even the city’s de facto eco-czar never expected they might include keeping mussels off of yours.

Aggarwala directs the team implementing PlanNYC 2030, the city’s much-heralded long-term, eco-friendly plan for urban growth. The plan is known best for its high-profile proposals, like the losing battle of congestion pricing and the more promising city parks initiative.

But burrowing between its more famous proposals are 20 cubic meters of mussels.

The idea is to reintroduce them to Jamaica Bay, where they will naturally filter decades of pollution of the water. But the idea is more complicated than it looks.

“We had to find a species of mussel that nobody likes to eat,” Arragwala explains. “[We] will put these shell fish in the bay in order to clean up gunk, so you really don’t want to be eating this stuff, but people might go and fish them out and eat them.”

This, and thousands of other small hurdles, is the kind of “detail … that’ll drive you crazy,” Aggarwala said.

Aggarwala is the director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability. His job sounds, he insists, crunchier than it is.

“Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg … does not start out as a tree-hugger,” Aggarwala says. And neither, he confirms, did he. Though he has always considered himself “pro-environment,” Aggarwala is a policy wonk. He worked on Assembly Member Samuel Hoyt’s (D-Erie) highspeed rail initiative, and was part of the Federal Railroad Administration during Bill Clinton’s presidency. He may also be a bit of a nerd: besides the MBA from Columbia University, and the master’s degree in Canadian history from Queen’s University in Ontario, Aggarwala holds a doctorate in history from Columbia for his comparison of 19th-century New York and Philadelphia.

“There are a lot of smart people who are just smart people, but smart in and of itself doesn’t get you where you want to go always,” says Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. “Rohit is [also] extremely organized and disciplined.”

Take tropical hardwoods, for instance.

When the mayor announced at a United Nations conference in Bali last year that

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the city would reevaluate its use of such increasingly scarce material, Aggarwala had to figure out how the city would replace the estimated 10 million board feet of rainforest wood that cover everything from ferry terminals to promenades to the city’s coastal boardwalks.

“It’s not just the slats—you have to redesign the boardwalk,” he said. “Every type of wood has a different flex, and if an ambulance drives over it to go pick up someone who gets hurt on a summer day, you can’t have boards that flex at different rates.”

He suppressed a sigh.

“But that’s where you make the difference,” he said.

Even those who have worked closely with him say they do not know him well, or personally. Aggarwala strikes a serious cut: bespectacled, tall and slim and broadshouldered, he seems quite at home in his slate-gray suit. The closest thing he has to a hobby, he says, is teaching a senior research methods class at Barnard College.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Two years later, Aggarwala continues work on the 126 other initiatives

Though he has always considered himself pro-environment, Rohit Aggarwala is a policy wonk.

These days, he and his staff of 16 take heart in what they have accomplished.

The failure of congestion pricing aside, Aggarwala says PlaNYC has been a miracle of efficiency: twothirds of the plan is either on time or ahead of schedule. And while wellintentioned green initiatives in other cities may be floundering, New York’s environmentalism was never just a fad—which is precisely why he left the big bucks of corporate consulting to become a civil servant.

“There are some entities, whether cities, companies or what have you, elsewhere that I think really did jump on the green bandwagon as a slogan, as a veneer,” he said. “I think what really distinguishes PlaNYC is that we came by environmentalism somewhat honestly.

Bloomberg asked, ‘If you have to fit another million people into a city that’s essentially already built, what do you do?’ We asked ourselves these questions, the answers wind up being about sustainability.”

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Gioia Lays Out Plans, But Not Dollars (Yet) for Carbon-Neutral Campaign New Jersey landfill, upstate dairy farm to benefit from public advocate race

BY DAN RIVOLI or Council Member Eric Gioia (D-Queens), in the public advocate campaign, green is all the rage—environmentally speaking, that is.

Gioia announced he was running a carbon-neutral public advocate campaign February 2008, and his campaign stresses the changes he has made to mitigate his carbon footprint. And indeed, he has spent only $1,444 on campaign mailing last February, saving on paper. Plus, he claims to use hybrid vehicles on the campaign trail.

But for all of his green-mindedness, only buying carbon credits will allow Gioia’s campaign to achieve carbonneutral status.

Gioia’s campaign has become a client of Standard Carbon, a Washington-based company that offers businesses and political candidates ways to mitigate carbon production. Standard Carbon is one of the few, if only, places where politicians can calculate and mitigate the environmental impact of their campaigns.

The company calculates how much carbon is put into the atmosphere based on the size of the office space used, miles traveled by candidate and staff, and

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number of mailers sent.

“In a lot of campaigns, you work 16 hours a day and can’t even figure out what a carbon footprint is,” said Brendan Woodward, president and founder of Standard Carbon. “We took the time to figure it out.”

From there, campaigns can buy enough credits to offset the carbon output or even have a negative impact by purchasing more than necessary.

The Gioia campaign, in a press release, noted that Standard Carbon offers a package that equates $2 of political spending to a pound of carbon dioxide emission.

Using that metric, the $490,270 Gioia has spent so far has produced over 122 tons of carbon dioxide.

Michael Sanfilippo, director of energy services for environmental consultant of city-based Great Forest, Inc., said that while politicians and businesses are looking at carbon offsets as a quick way to reduce a carbon footprint, this can be difficult in a market that is still relatively new and unregulated.

“There’s no one certification body,” Sanfillipo said. “There are different calculators across the globe that vary greatly.”

Despite the fluidity in the price of a carbon credit or how a footprint is calculated, the money will indeed go to a project that is designed to negate the campaign’s footprint. When the transaction is complete, Standard Carbon will send a receipt to the Chicago Climate Exchange, something of a carbon offset clearing house, to eliminate the credit.

As of now Gioia has not spent any campaign money buying carbon credits.

As the campaign continues, though, the plan is not just to buy carbon credits, but to have volunteers take time off from canvassing to plant trees.

And no matter what happens in September, Gioia intends to honor his pledge. Win or lose, the campaign insisted, he would put aside enough campaign cash to buy carbon credits.

Nonetheless, Woodward said Standard Carbon is already negotiating on Gioia’s behalf with owners of projects in a New Jersey landfill and a New York dairy farm that would mitigate his campaign’s impact on the environment.

“We went to find the best carbon offset project that would be above reproach,” Woodward said. “Politicians are very self-conscious. They don’t want to buy something that gives them bad press.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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Development Amid Deficits, Building Amid Budget Gaps mpire State Development Corporation President and CEO Marisa Lago was the featured speaker at an On/Off the Record breakfast held April 8 at the TD Bank flagship location on 42nd and Madison. With the economy very much on everyone’s mind, Lago discussed how her agency approaches development during a recession, the status on several of the major projects within her purview and the future she would like to see for both Empire Zones and the film tax credit.

What follows are selections from the on-the-record transcript.

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Q: Can you tell us which initiatives have had to be put aside, or which projects have had to be shelved for right now, or at least delayed?

A: I think there’s a realism about what can get done now, and let me use an example of the Javits Convention Center. I think of that as Empire State Development’s own mini-stimulus package. A few weeks ago our board approved $463 million worth of construction. That’s almost half-a-billion worth of construction, large by any measure. And what is going to be done with that $463 million? There’s going to be a 100,000-square-foot addition on the block north of the current convention center. That expansion space will allow portions of the existing Javits to be taken out of commission for a very significant rehab, a new roof, a new exterior, new heating/ventilation systems. And so one

Q: So we don’t know yet when the first basket will be scored in the Nets arena?

A: You know the history of predicting dates for it. I think the important thing is the commitment that the government has, that the city/state government has in working with Forest City to drive the project forward.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Q: You work for an economic development agency in New York. At this moment of recession, is the Empire State Development Corporation an oxymoron?

A: I actually think, far from it. Economic development is getting back to the basics, whether one is in a boom economy or in an economy much more challenging, like the one now. And what are the basics?

The basics are jobs. When one is in a boom economy the focus tends to be more on attracting new jobs; that doesn’t go away in a recessionary economy, but it does heighten the importance of hanging on to the jobs that we already have, so that is one of the shifts in focus. The second, which is a core facet of economic development, is infrastructure. A focus on what government can do through patient investing to put in place the infrastructure so that when the economy rebounds—note I say ‘when,’ not ‘if’— when the economy rebounds, we have in place the infrastructure so that the private sector can then invest on top of it, taking advantage of the infrastructure. The other thing about economic development, whether in a boom time or a recessionary time, is that it has to focus on all of the sectors of the state’s economy.

to particular dates, one doesn’t know, I think that it is a folly to say that. But, are we driving it aggressively? Absolutely.

could look and say, “Ahh, a gleaming, doubling-the-size new convention center, that was put on the shelf?” I think that’s the wrong lens to look at it—rather to say, we are going to Javits Convention Center, bringing it into the modern age, we’re going to do a rehabilitation without shutting it down, keeping the same capacity, and we have $463 million worth of construction in the city at a time when those jobs are so needed. So that’s what I call the new realism.

Q: What is the status on Atlantic Yards?

A: Obviously a challenging project. Again, projects conceived in a different time and in a different economy. But, one, now the focus is very much on moving forward with the Nets stadium and with the housing that is on that first block, the first phase of the project. Attenuated timelines, I think, are a reality for privatesector and for public-sector projects; there’s nothing wrong with that. You look at the history of the transformational projects that have occurred in the city— earlier I was discussing with some of the folks here Roosevelt Island, the project that has grown over decades; 42nd Street, a project that has grown over the past 25 years—and the scale of the Atlantic Yards is similar in that it is remaking, re-knitting a portion of the city. So, as I said: [we are] focusing on what can get done now in the current climate, what is finance-able now, and also recognizing that it is a project that is scheduled to grow out over multiyears, decades, not months.

Q: What dates are we looking at for completion, and what does it look like when it’s done?

A: With respect to Atlantic Yards, our focus is on the first phase, on the arena and the attendant community benefits and housing that surround it, and with respect

Q: The film tax credit was a one-year reprieve. What is the ideal program that could get passed here that would be a long-term solution?

A: The ideal program is something that we’ll craft with the industry—which is a magnificently organized industry, and it’s multi-faceted because it represents everything from the studios to the creative directors to the unionized workers. I’ve

been so impressed working with the industry, that they speak with a very cohesive organized voice. I think one of the keys is going to be multi-year funding predictability so that we don’t have a boom-bust cycle of running through the allocated credits. I think there was a very significant reform introduced this year and suggested by the industry, which is looking at the pay-out schedule for the smallest of the productions, for the indies: if the anticipated tax credit is going to be a million dollars or less, the company gets it in one fell swoop.

Why? It’s going to be a smaller company for whom cash flow is a problem. As the size of the production grows and as the size of the tax rebate grows, the payout schedule is over two years or three years.

So those are the types of wise changes in the program, but I do think the key focus is going to be on identifying the right multi-year funding source so that we have predictability.

Go to www.cityhallnews.com to view the entire video of the onthe-record interview, during which Lago also discussed other big projects, including the Freedom Tower, Moynihan Station and Brooklyn Bridge Park, as well as her take on the impact of the federal stimulus dollars flowing into New York and how ESDC tries to plan around the recession.

City Hall’s “On/Off the Record”

A BREAKFAST WITH CONGRESSMAN

ANTHONY WEINER Moderated by Edward-Isaac Dovere, Editor of City Hall You are invited to a special breakfast on May 18th, featuring Congressman Anthony Weiner who will join City Hall for an On/Off the Record discussion. The event will feature a half hour on the record interview and a half hour off the record Q&A with the audience.

Space is limited, so reserve your place now by contacting rsvp@ manhattanmedia.com or 212-268-0441.

Note: This event is closed to representatives of other media.

MONDAY, MAY 18TH, 8:00 - 9:30 am Breakfast will be served TD Bank, 317 Madison Avenue and 42nd Street Please RSVP to rsvp@manhattanmedia.com or 212.268.0441 Space is limited. Please RSVP by May 15.

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APRIL 27, 2009

At some length, Towns explained that a green light would show at the beginning of their five-minute testimony, which would turn yellow when they had one minute remaining, before finally turning red when their time was up.

“If you have any questions about that,” Towns said, “please let me know.”

“I’m hoping my transportation background will help me deal with the light system,” Gilchrist joked.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Markowitz on the Bread of Affliction and Other Travails

Lou Tobacco introduces the Grand Tea Bagger, keynote speaker Newt Gingrich, at the National Tea Protest in front of City Hall.

The View from the Back of Bloomberg’s Jeanine Pirro Moment Will anyone remember Jeanine Pirro for anything other than her disastrous campaign for Senate in 2006, and the many missteps that plagued her along the way?

No. Which is why she is probably the last person Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) wants to be compared to as his campaign for a third term really gets underway.

under the television lights and crushing silence of that one-minute-thirty-sixsecond pause, came up with a possible explanation for the mayor’s seemingly inexplicable behavior: air quality.

“The air was very sort of thick and close, and that, I think, also made it perhaps a little more distracting than it would have been if it was a bigger room and more air was circulating around,” Bing said. “It was pretty tight quarters, and the air in the room was getting pretty thick because of the lights.”

En Espanol Por Favor, Senator Smith

But she was the first person Assembly Member Jonathan Bing (D-Manhattan) thought of, watching Bloomberg glower at a disabled reporter whose tape recorder had accidentally started to play at Gov. David Paterson’s (D) press conference unveiling his gay marriage bill on April 16.

“Immediately, what flashed through my mind was the Jeanine Pirro for Senate introduction, where she lost the page, and was saying ‘Where’s page 10?’” said Bing, who was standing off to the side as the spectacle unfolded.

The press conference, which featured a string of inspirational speeches from some of the city’s leading LGBT activists, was brought to a screeching halt when Bloomberg waited while Michael Harris struggled to turn off a recorder that most people in the room could not even hear.

“The governor, I think, had given a very rousing speech, and I think it was a little jarring to go from a rousing, ‘win one for the Gipper’ type of speech, and then have this significant pause right after that, where some of the momentum was temporarily lost,” Bing said.

He and his fellow elected officials, squirming awkwardly behind Bloomberg

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In Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (Ind.) effort to woo Latino voters by speaking Spanish, he might want to call on Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (DQueens) for some tips.

On the steps of City Hall, Smith introduced the new Senate Puerto Rican/ Latino caucus—Democratic State Sens.

Ruben Diaz, Sr.(Bronx), Martin Malavé Dilan (Brooklyn), Hiram Monserrate (Queens), Pedro Espada (Bronx)—in Spanish first, before proceeding in English.

After he finished his adulation of the new caucus in a foreign tongue, Rafael Martínez Alequin, the City Hall gadfly and blogger, told Smith, “You are doing better than Bloomberg.”

Towns Brings Washington Testimony Quirks on the Road When Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn) held a satellite hearing of his Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Brooklyn recently, local officials—including the governor’s top transportation advisor Timothy Gilchrist and Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler—were forced to adjust to a few of Washington’s quirks.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (D) took some gentle ribbing from Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) at a press conference in the Brooklyn Navy Yards April 9 for attending a public event on Passover.

But after the event, which was held to publicize the city’s first multi-unit green industrial facility, Markowitz revealed his true feelings about the revered Jewish holiday.

“They’re too long,” he said bluntly about the Passover seder, the ritual meal held to honor the Jewish slaves’ exodus from Egypt.

Markowitz, who never hosts his own seders, said he has sat through his fair share of long-winded feasts.

“I like it when you get in, you ask, ‘Who’s the simple one,’ you get out, bing, boom, you’re done,” he said, referring to the tradition of listing the questions asked by four children, one of whom is the “simple child.”

Anything to get to the meal faster, the borough president said. But few can compare to the marathon seders held by some of Markowitz’s more devout constituents.

“The Orthodox Jews?” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Such a long seder.”

“Smoking Bloomberg” Lampoons Mayor’s Early Years For those who wonder how it will end for Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.), the answer is: clad in a minister’s outfit, rapping about his run for a third term.

That, at least, is the final scene of the play Smoking Bloomberg, which held its first public reading at the Connelly Theatre on East 4th Street April 22.

An irreverent look at the mayor’s early years in office, Smoking Bloomberg takes place right after the smoking ban took effect.

On the surface, the plot is simple.

As smokers and non-smokers battle it

out in the streets, Kim, a civic-minded Korean dry cleaner, despairs over lost business due to Bloomberg’s ban on indoor smoking (less smelly clothes to clean equals less business for Kim and her fellow dry cleaners). Kim plots revenge on Bloomberg with help from a male prostitute (also named Kim), an oft-persecuted Muslim cab driver, the ghost of abolitionist John Brown and a Bengali pimp named Rimshot. They sing.

They crack crude jokes. And they plot to kidnap the mayor.

Somehow Bloomberg in a minister’s collar spitting rhymes like “Vote for me and you’ll see a third term shizzel” turns out to be one of the less absurd moments.

Produced by Jennifer Maloney (who currently oversees “Rock of Ages” on Broadway), Smoking Bloomberg skewers those confusing post-Sept. 11 years, when the line between patriotism and jingoism was blurry and Bloomberg’s policies were derided as turning New York into a nanny state. The play seems a bit out-of-date (the opening line is “A long time ago, in 2003 …”), but it is buoyed by a gleeful and

naughty sense of humor. No one is safe in this absurdist take on politics, patriotism and power. Especially not Bloomberg.

(Spoiler alert: he lives.)

—by Chris Bragg, Sal Gentile, Andrew J. Hawkins and Dan Rivoli

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: Outspoken Amigo tate Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. (DBronx) recently had reason to celebrate, as his son Ruben Diaz, Jr., was elected Bronx borough president. Still, it is the recently introduced gay marriage bill that is on the forefront of the senator’s mind these days. During an interview at his Bronx office, Diaz, Sr. spoke about his son’s victory, gave a counterintuitive interpretation of the political motives behind Paterson’s gay marriage bill, reflected on the alleged secret pact the governor made with the Gang of Three and laid out the policy he is pushing as chair of the Aging Committee.

What follows is an edited transcript.

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ANDREW SCHWARTZ

“What about the people that voted for me, that gave me money, that supported me, and in the budget I didn’t vote for something that they wanted, I voted against it.” So you know, what can you do? You go there, you got elected, and you got to go with your conscience.

Q: What did you think of the MTA compromise recently put forth by Richard Ravitch?

A: Another gimmick. They say there’s going to be a rebate. They call it a rebate, it’s a gimmick. Give me tolls, we give you a rebate. Once you give them tolls, I assure you that after a year or two they are going to say they can no longer afford a rebate so they’re going to take it Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. has been at the center of recent controversies over Senate out. It’s a gimmick.

Q: What are you doing this year as chair of the Senate Aging Committee?

A: We are pushing for the State of New York to purchase prescription drugs from Canada. leadership, the MTA bailout and gay marriage, and is eager for more.

Q: What is your solution?

And the state would save $800 million by doing that, buying the same prescription drugs that they buy like [Tom] Libous.” But Skelos didn’t want to step down. A: The MTA has two problems. One is the immediate here. And our seniors would purchase drugs at the cheapest We had a handshake with the governor. And he said, problem that we’ll call operations. And the other is a price. Because now our seniors have to decide if they eat, if “Ok, go ahead and keep doing what you’re doing.” In long-term problem that we’ll call capital. So they have an they pay rent, or if they buy medicine. So this is a good way public, I’m going to keep pushing Malcolm Smith. But operational problem which is immediate and they have a you do what you are doing. I can tell you that the only capital problem which is long-term. We are telling them, to do it. The county of Schenectady is already doing it. way gay marriage will be done in the state is when we “We are going to solve your immediate problem, the Q: Do you think it has the chance of passing this have a Democratic majority. We need 32 votes, it cannot operational problem. We are going to give you the money be done with 31. Not one Republican will vote for it and you will not have one single layoff. We’ve solved your year?

A: That’s the question. Where are those Democrats and because they’re waiting for us to bring that issue, so they problem now.” And then you have a long-term capital Republicans that talk so much about protecting our could take out those senators from upstate. We got there problem. Nobody knows what the plan is. They’re saying, seniors, but where is the government in all of this? Why last year because of the Obama tsunami. That was it. It “We have a problem, we need money for capital, we have to buy things, we have to do things, give me the money.” doesn’t the governor use the same energy that he’s using was an anti-Bush thing.

So we say, okay, fine. Give me the plan. The plan was for gay marriage to pursue this possibility now? supposed to be submitted in October.

Q: So you believe Paterson is “This thing of So you want us to give you money Q: As a father, what are your feelings about your son still trying to hurt Malcolm Smith getting together now for something you didn’t submit with the gay marriage bill? winning the Bronx borough presidency? at the beginning in October? No. No. Because you A: I’d like to keep my son out of this. [Laughs.] My stances, A: I believe that’s the only thing he’s and trying to stop have a history of mismanagement, of my beliefs are different from my son’s. Sometimes my doing now. That’s the only thing beliefs hurt my son, but I have to go with my beliefs, but he’s achieving and he’s going to Malcolm Smith, that waste. So this is what we’re going to sometimes they hurt my son. People tend to take it out bring down some Democrats from was the governor’s do. We’re going to solve your problem on my son. People have to understand he’s my son, he’s upstate. idea. And I’m telling now. Meanwhile, we will have the his own person, he has his own beliefs, he has his own you right now here, opportunity to send an independent philosophy, and he has his own agenda. What father doesn’t Q: Do you believe Sen. Tom the governor was auditor into your books. The auditor take a look at your books and want the best for their children? But there are issues where Duane’s assertion that a number part of it. He doesn’t will we’ll see how many real properties you of Republicans have told him we disagree. Gay marriage. Abortion. Stem cells. want Malcolm Smith have. How many of those properties privately they’d vote for the gay to be there either, we could lease to families. How many Q: What is going on with the Gang of Three these marriage bill? and he knows that.” we could sell to families. How many A: I’m saying he should release days? Or is it the Three Amigos?

A: We are the Three Amigos! You call it the Gang of those names. If you give me a commitment, you have to be we could rent to families. How much your secretaries are Three. We don’t call ourselves the Gang of Three, we call man or woman enough to stand with that commitment. Or making. How many bonuses you’re getting. you’re not giving me a commitment. Either you give me a ourselves the Three Amigos. We have jackets. commitment or you don’t. But if you give me a commitment Q: What has it been like being at the center of so and say, “Don’t release my name,” then you are cheating. much controversy?

Q: Do you have a secret handshake?

A: No secret handshake. We have a secret handshake Then you should not be an elected official. Especially on A: I am responsible for my actions. I know what I with the governor. I’m going to tell you something that a sensitive issue like this. Either you are for it or you are am doing and I’m being responsible. I’m being very responsible. People don’t understand that, I’m not I haven’t told anyone. ... This thing of getting together at against it. seeing where the wind blows and going with it. I’m the beginning and trying to stop Malcolm Smith, that was the governor’s idea. And I’m telling you right now here, Q: How do you feel about being the de facto being a serious, responsible senator, responsible to my constituents, responsible to my obligations. And I know the governor was part of it. He doesn’t want Malcolm spokesperson against gay marriage?

A: I don’t mind. That has nothing to do with being my obligations. So who is the one who is out there fighting Smith to be there either, and he knows that. homophobic. You might not believe in my religious for the community, protecting our community and trying beliefs. That’s okay. Somebody asked me, “But what to expose what they are doing to our community? That’s Q: What did the governor do?

A: We met with the guy, he said, “I don’t want Malcolm about the people that are not your religion? What about what I’m doing. That’s why I’ve been called.

Smith.” But he had a problem with [Dean] Skelos. We the people that voted for you, that gave you money for —Chris Bragg said, “We could get somebody that would not be Skelos, the election, and now you vote against this?” So I say, cbragg@cityahllnews.com

C

For Governor Paterson

it’s not about the money or getting the best value for New York’s taxpayers.

If it were, the governor wouldn’t be ignoring the savings!

!

178% MOR E

VS New York State Public Employee Civil Engineer I / II

Costly Consultant - Civil Engineer Hired by State - Hardesty & Hanover, LLP

Hourly Rate: $49

Hourly Rate: $136

!

126% MOR E

VS New York State Public Employee Information Technology Specialist 3

Costly Consultant - Computer Software Engineer Hired by State - IBM Corporation

Hourly Rate: $50

Hourly Rate: $113

!

138% MOR E

VS New York State Public Employee Information Technology Specialist 3

Costly Consultant - Computer Software Engineer Hired by State - Unisys Corporation

Hourly Rate: $50

Hourly Rate: $119

The governor says the state can’t afford 8,700 state workers, but can afford to continue to pay private consultants at a much higher cost, including built-in yearly raises of 4 to 5 percent.

Go

! s r e k r o W e h t t o N ve r n o r, C u t t h e Wa s te , pef.org

New York State Public Employees Federation, AFL- CIO

Representing 59,000 professional, scientific, and technical employees Kenneth Brynien Arlea Igoe President Secretary-Treasurer