Leftie revolution coming soon

From the Daily News:

The City Council is about to take a sharp left turn.

Twenty-one new Council members are about to take office, and many of them are more liberal than the lawmakers they will replace — creating a tipping point, analysts say, in favor of a “progressive” agenda that has been bottled up for decades.

New Yorkers can expect everything from the expansion of workers’ rights to the imposition of new burdens on businesses.

“You have a wealth of young progressives who are going to be more aggressive than their predecessors,” said Councilman-elect Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).

“And then you have a mayor who’s willing to partner with the City Council to advance progressive legislation.”

“All the stars are aligning in a progressive direction,” Torres said.

Some civic and political leaders are sounding the alarm.

“What concerns me is they’re certainly going to have agreement on the broader strokes, and I think they’re going to advance that agenda,” said outgoing Council Minority Leader James Oddo (R-Staten Island). “What’s to stop it?”

Obamacare will screw every NYC taxpayer

From the NY Post:

The city’s generous health-care benefits for municipal workers might qualify as costly “Cadillac plans” that get socked with significant financial penalties under ObamaCare, Mayor Bloomberg’s budget director warned yesterday.

Councilman Jimmy Oddo (R-SI) raised the potentially explosive possibility during a routine budget hearing.

“It would mean the city would get a 40 percent excise tax,” Oddo pointed out.

When he asked Budget Director Mark Page if that was a concern, he got a one-word reply: “Yes.”

Employers who spend more than $10,200 a year on health insurance for an individual employee or $27,500 for a family would start getting penalized in 2018. The tax is aimed at prodding employers to eliminate bloated medical-insurance costs.

Concern over floodplain development

From SI Live: While neighbors plead with the government to buy and raze their flooded homes, one developer has plans to build 20 new semi-attached houses in the middle of wetlands that were swamped by Hurricane Sandy -- something Councilman James Oddo is asking the city and state to reconsider allowing. "What we're asking for is to have the city and state say, 'Time out, let's look at the specifics of this project,' and ask ourselves: Does it make sense to build more homes in this area, even if the homes are built almost in accordance to the new standards?" Oddo asked beside the property Monday. The plans call for eight homes along Seaview Avenue, near Patterson Avenue in Ocean Breeze -- a stone's throw away from Quincy and Buel avenues where people drowned in their homes. Another 12 units would be built behind them by extending Liberty Avenue into what is now a marshy area filled with phragmites. The architect for the project, Stanley Krebushevski, has not yet returned a call requesting comment. The property owner is listed on permit applications as Shalom Property, based in Scarsdale, but the phone number listed for the company goes to an accounting firm. A message left at the firm was not returned. The homes would be built to current base flood elevations -- not the advisory ones -- but the first floor wouldn't be living space, which would minimize the impact on flood insurance. The homes would have basements, Oddo said. "I don't want to say that they are building drastically outside of what the [advisory base flood elevations] are, or what we expect for the final flood elevations to be, but when you look at the overheads and you look at how they're building in the wetlands, it is problematic to me," Oddo said. Even if the proposed homes survive the next storm unscathed thanks to their elevation and new construction, the removal of the 481 square feet of natural wetlands on which they sat -- which will be mitigated by adding about 9,000 square feet of new wetlands and preserving another 34,000 square feet -- could impact other, older homes, Oddo said. "We've seen that across the Island, when there's more development and less natural area to drain, it exacerbates the problem," Oddo said. Oddo said even though new wetlands would be added, removing the wetlands that have always existed -- and to which water naturally flows -- could be a problem.

Maybe not the best time for the marathon

From the Daily News:

Who needs electricity, when we can watch tens of thousands of runners testing their physical limits on our streets?

That’s how it will be sold to America. And of course, this is nonsense. It is almost always nonsense when we turn sports events into something more important than what they are.

The Marathon is being run, mainly, because it would be a pain in the neck to reschedule, and because it would cost organizers and local businesses a ton of money. Not because this race is of any importance to the people who are huddled in shelters right now, still waiting for some hot water, or sitting homeless after their buildings have burned to the ground.

And definitely not because it is the right thing to do.

“If you saw what I saw in South Beach, Midland Beach and New Dorp Beach this morning, you would know how idiotic it would be to take even one asset away from people in dire need,” wrote Staten Island Councilman James Oddo.

The New York Marathon is a mass event that will tax the city’s strained resources, and should not forge ahead on Sunday. It will be run nonetheless, and likely go ahead without terrible incident. But it will be draining the police presence needed elsewhere and will fill precious hospital beds with relatively wealthy people who are inflicting damage unnecessarily upon themselves. Bellevue Hospital and NYU Langone have been forced to shut down and evacuate patients after the hurricane. The last thing this city needs at the moment is a rash of self-imposed injuries and cardiac complications.

And the marathon will have power while a million people are sitting in darkness!

The not-so-big, not-so-bad GOP

From the NY Post:

So now the entire Republican caucus in New York City government could stand in the same bathtub. Their leader, Jimmy Oddo of Staten Island, sounds like one of those admirable folks you read about who are fighting a very forthright, optimistic, brave battle against an incurable disease.

“It really didn’t come as a surprise,” he said of the Koo defection. “I think from day one there were rumors about the possibility of that.”

Koo, a self-financed owner of a string of pharmacies in Flushing, was elected to the seat on the Republican ticket with just under half of the vote in 2009, but his district is five to one Democratic.

“It gets to be a lonely place sometimes,” Oddo says.

The key to survival in a climate that is approximately as welcoming to GOPers as the tiger cage is to an asthmatic Chihuahua? Keep your head down. Don’t make any sudden noises.

“We gotta deliver for our district,” Oddo reasons. “If that means ignoring some rhetoric, if that means holding back or pulling your punches, we’re in the trenches. So don’t look for the fights. There are times when dispute and debate is good and we have to stand up for matters of conviction”— and then there is most of the time.

We bemoan the “polarized” situation in Washington, but back home in one-party land we see what happens when there is no meaningful debate. Quietly, with no “partisan rancor,” the budget has doubled in a decade. Of course taxes keep marching up; unions demand it. The United Federation of Teachers is even providing office space to a Democratic campaign office at 50 Broadway. Only Republicans call for spending caution, and Democratic voters simply dismiss them for being “heartless.”

Council GOP celebrates Thanksgiving

He should practice what he preaches

From the NY Post:

Sure, when it comes to Washington’s spending, he’s got all the answers. But critics note New York City’s debt has ballooned on Mayor Bloomberg’s watch.

Hizzoner said on Tuesday that fixing the federal budget is “just not that difficult to do, if you have courage.”

He scolded President Obama and both houses of Congress for their budget gridlock, sketching out a costcutting, taxraising, entitlement shaving plan that he said would dismantle the deficit and balance the budget in 10 years.

“I was reminded of the guy telling his neighbor how to fix his roof while his own is leaking,” Councilman James Oddo (RSI/Brooklyn) said of Bloomberg’s lecture. “Ten years into the mayor’s term, we have large, longterm fiscal problems we have not dealt with.”

Bloomberg’s budgets have increased the city’s capital debt by 72 percent —from about $42.7 billion when he took office in 2002 to $73.5 billion today.

That comes out to $8,763 of debt for every New Yorker, or 18 percent of an average New Yorker’s personal income — up from $5,293, or 14.3 percent, in 2002.

Council Republicans celebrate Easter

Do campaign finance laws need reform?

From the NY Post:

A city lawmaker is pushing to revamp the campaign-finance system after at least three council candidates who each got less than 10 percent of the ballot spent more per vote than did billionaire Mayor Bloomberg.

Republican Minority Leader James Oddo, of Staten Island, is introducing a bill later this month to double the threshold a council candidate has to meet in order to qualify for taxpayer-backed funds from the Campaign Finance Board.

Using public funds in 2009, three council candidates managed to outspend Bloomberg's self-funded $184-per-vote outlay in 2009:

* Erlene King, who spent $214 per vote and got just over 4 percent.

* Debra Markell, who shelled out $210 per vote for 5.35 percent.

* Ruben Wills -- the winner of a council race the following year -- who spent $257 per vote and won only 9 percent.

Council hopefuls need 75 donations of at least $10 each from donors in their districts and a total of $5,000 citywide in order to qualify for matching donations, which can be as high as six times the original amount.

Oddo's bill would double the figures needed to qualify for the public funds.

The CFB did not reject Oddo's proposal.

Bill to reduce matching funds

From the NY Post:

City Council Republicans have a new idea on how to rein in public spending: Trim their own taxpayer-subsidized campaign budgets.

The five-member GOP delegation plans to introduce a bill this month to sharply reduce the city Campaign Finance Board's required matching payouts to candidates as Mayor Bloomberg grapples with a nearly $4.6 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.

Under current rules, the CFB uses public money to provide candidates in the system with a 6-1 match for every donation up to $175 from city residents. Council Republicans want to drop that ratio to 2-1 in citywide election years when the budget deficit is at least $2 billion as of the mayor's annual January budget presentation.

Council Minority Leader James Oddo said the bill could save enough money to rescue teaching jobs and firehouses slated for closure in future years.

"Show me the firehouse you will accept to be closed in order to ensure you get a 6-1 match. Tell me which group of seniors you want to put out of their center because you want to do the matching game," Oddo said. "It's a choice between a high-falutin palm card or keeping a senior center open."

Oddo admitted he has accepted the 6-1 match because his opponents were doing the same.

The Republicans penned a letter to their council colleagues last night asking them to consider the measure, which faces an uphill battle among lawmakers who rely on the CFB's matching funds.

If the rule on matching funds is changed, candidates accustomed to getting as much as $1,050 in city funds for each $175 contribution would only get $350 instead.

Bike lane backlash reaching fever pitch

From the NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg conceded last night that his administration hasn’t done enough to consult with communities about bike lanes after irate residents of the Rockaways heckled a top Transportation Department official who extolled their virtues at a town hall meeting.

"Bicycle lanes are one of the more controversial things, obviously," the mayor said following the outburst at the Bayswater Civic Association.

"Some people love ‘em and some people hate them... It’s probably true that in many of these cases we could do a better job and we’re going to try to do that."

The meeting was proceeding routinely, dominated by local issues such as school closings and flooding, when Michael Gliner, a printing company owner, asked whether the bike lanes installed last summer on the main thoroughfare of Beach Channel Drive could be relocated.

Maura McCarthy, the Transportation Department’s Queens Borough Commissioner, responded that numerous neighborhoods were getting bike lanes and "Rockaway is one place we’re very proud to have put them in."

The boos that ensued from the crowd of about 250 were so loud that the moderator felt compelled to warn, "We will not have any of that at this meeting."

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Two former top city officials — including an ex-Transportation Commissioner who emphasized car travel over bikes during her tenure — have emerged as the principal leaders of the opposition to the city’s controversial Prospect Park West bike lane.

One day after the Department of Transportation announced last week that the lane has improved safety for drivers and cyclists, two members of the city’s old guard — former Sanitation Commissioner Norman Steisel and former Transportation boss Iris Weinshall — struck back, claiming that the agency fudged numbers to make the lane appear more successful than it is.

“We’re skeptical,” said Steisel, whose group is called Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes. “They’ve been opportunistic about the way they’ve used their numbers.”
Mac Support Store

Steisel said that current Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is so driven by her passion for bicycles that she may be “pushing facts so hard that they don’t paint a proper picture of the truth.”

From the NY Post:

Two city councilmen are pressing Mayor Bloomberg and his bike-lane-loving transportation chief to require that any new bicycle lanes go through the same exhaustive public review as other road changes.

Staten Island Councilman James Oddo, the Republican minority leader, said plans for new bike lanes should undergo the city's lengthy environmental-assessment process, or the city should allow other, more minor traffic changes to bypass the review.

Oddo and Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-SI) penned a letter last week demanding an explanation from Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, an avid cyclist and bike-lane proponent, of why the lanes don't require the scrutiny.

"The creation of bike lanes and the removal of vehicle travel lanes represent a major reordering of Department of Transportation priorities that may affect the environment and appear to qualify" for a formal environmental review, the letter reads.

Oddo told The Post, "To add one left-handed turning lane [on Staten Island], it's taking us eight to 12 years, yet there have been all of these bike lanes installed without any bumps in the road. How is that possible?"

From the NY Post:

The NYPD is "sick" of brazen bicyclists -- and has started a major campaign to slam the brakes on riders' out-of-control behavior.

Early this month, the police began a ticket blitz targeting bike scofflaws by handing out a slew of summonses to riders who refused to follow basic traffic-safety laws, sources told The Post.

In just the first two weeks of January in Manhattan, cops handed out nearly 1,000 tickets charging wayward riders with breaking the kind of laws many seem to constantly ignore: going the wrong way, running lights, making illegal turns and riding on the sidewalk.

"Bicyclists should travel like vehicles and must obey the same laws," said a police source familiar with the crackdown. "The department and the people are sick of it."

The sources said that bike riders -- including messengers and pedicab drivers -- had better get used to the hardened approach toward violations.

"It's from now until forever," a source said. "There is no set time."

The NYPD did not have the exact number of bicycle tickets written out in Manhattan over any other two-week period, but sources are sure they broke a record in early January.

"It's an all-time high," one high-ranking source said.

In addition to 979 Manhattan tickets, 315 were issued in Brooklyn and 167 were doled out in Queens.

Sources said that lawbreaking by cyclists has become the top quality-of-life complaint in some neighborhoods.

From the NY Post:

Not long ago, a confidant of Mayor Bloomberg's cornered me with a blunt question: "Can you figure out what his third term is about?"

I paused before offering the only thing I could think of: "Bike lanes?"

"Thank you very much," the frustrated Bloomy backer answered. "That's exactly my point."

Jerry Seinfeld made a successful TV show about nothing, but governing has to be about something. A year into his third term, even strong supporters wonder if Bloomberg has a clear focus.

It must be more than sailing through ribbon cuttings and gimmicks like splashing white paint on rooftops and streets to call yourself "green." Trips and speeches around the country definitely do not qualify.

What would qualify is a push that ties together the loose ends of the first two terms and secures the city's progress and his legacy. So far, there is no vision or energy for that closing argument.

But nature abhors a vacuum, so failures are defining City Hall. The snow disaster, the $80 million CityTime ripoff and citizen reports that the Bloomies are fudging data to defend unpopular policies help explain the mayor's 37 percent approval rating.

He said recently he hoped to be considered "the greatest mayor ever," but time is running out to make the kind of gains that could stand history's test.

Republican elves prepare for Christmas

Council members unhappy with budget cuts

From the Daily News:

The council has already proposed more than $130 million in alternative cuts and identified several areas it would like to see held harmless, including case managers at the Department for the Aging and layoffs at the Administration for Children’s Services. Nonetheless, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said this morning the council recognizes the city has to cut back.

“Most of those we support,” said Quinn of the administration’s plan. “I don’t want that to be lost in the conversation today.”

“That said, there are many troubling cuts,” the speaker added and then rattled off her list, including the nightly closures of certain fire companies.

Council members took aim at the administration over a slew of other slashes — from cuts to outreach for homeless youth (which we cover today) to funding reductions at libraries. Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, the chair of the Cultural Affairs Committee, said some libraries could reduce service to two or three days a week under the current cut.

And, of course, the conversation turned to politics.

Councilmember Jimmy Oddo, the council’s minority leader, questioned the administration’s reasoning for extending term limits — an argument based on its ability to use creative solutions for fiscal problems.

“We needed this administration because it was uniquely qualified. What in this modification would you argue is unique?” Oddo asked the budget director to a round of applause. “Where’s the payoff for the term limits vote? Where is the radical idea?”

Council passes new potty law

From Gotham Gazette:

Need a plumber? Call the City Council.

The City Council plugged some leaks Wednesday by approving a package of legislation aimed at conserving the city's water supply.

The bills will require new commercial buildings to have water fountains with spouts that can accommodate a 10-inch water bottle, mandate property owners install alarms to detect leaks in roof water tanks and, for the first time, allow dual-flush toilets.

All of them, said Council Speaker Christine Quinn, could prevent billions of gallons of water from being wasted every year.

The council's Republican delegation saw the proposal as overregulation at its best.

"Once again," said Republican Councilmember Daniel Halloran, "we are in the business of regulating crap."

Several Republican members also voted against a bill to require new construction to install plumbing fixtures -- like showerheads, urinals and sink faucets -- that would use less water. The bill (Intro 271-a) also allows buildings to install dual-flush toilets, which have two separate water pressure levels, one for solid waste and one for liquid. Buildings are fined if they have two-flush toilets now, said Quinn.

Critics of the bill said it would force homeowners doing simple bathroom renovations to buy -- and pay for -- new fixtures.

"It seems with every turn, with every aspect of building, every aspect of breathing, and now in one of those glorious moments in one little room in your home, government is coming and knocking on the door and saying, 'We'd like to check out the throne,'" said Council Minority Leader James Oddo. "This has nothing to do with conservation."

Budgetary winners and losers

From Gotham Gazette:

When it comes to bringing home the bacon, some City Council members do a lot better than others.

According to an analysis by Gotham Gazette, Councilmember and Finance Committee chair Domenic Recchia sponsored more individual member items than any other council member in this year's budget (more on its approval here). Recchia raked in nearly $1.3 million for nonprofits of his choice.

Recchia was one of four members -- Lewis Fidler, Leroy Comrie and James Oddo are the others -- who topped the million-dollar mark in member items, often referred to as council pork.

At the other end of the spectrum, Elizabeth Crowley garnered the least amount of money with $358,321, falling behind recently indicted Larry Seabrook, who had $362,276. Vincent Gentile, Gale Brewer, Margaret Chin and Helen Foster also got less than $400,000

Crowley's pot supposedly got chopped because she pissed off her royal highness, Christine Quinn.

Inside the GOP Christmas Party

Back by popular demand....more footage of the GOP, this time at their holiday hoedown!

GOP pals enjoy snow day

Did you have fun in the snow this weekend?

Jim, Vinny, Eric, Pete and Dan sure did.

Middle class treats Bloomberg like an alien

From Politicker NY:

At the moment, New Yorkers are watching a new campaign ad for Mr. Bloomberg currently in heavy rotation on seemingly every television channel, depicting a mayor who works for the “benefit of middle-class families” just like the one he comes from.

“The middle-class issue is clearly his greatest vulnerability,” said Jonathan Bowles, the director of the Center for an Urban Future and the co-author of the February study “Reviving the Middle Class Dream in NYC.” “You can grasp that just by looking at his campaign materials. He has become the middle-class candidate, which is kind of funny because he certainly hasn’t been the mayor of the middle class.”

City Councilman Jimmy Oddo, marching a few feet behind the mayor, with a wooden baseball bat resting on his shoulder, said, “There was a lot of antipathy on Staten Island to his administration after the property tax votes. But look at him, when he comes here, he’s treated like a conquering hero.”

Actually, they treat him like an alien. But they have determined that he is an alien they must live with. At times, Mr. Bloomberg marched alone, and he looked absolutely flummoxed when Mr. Oddo pinched his stomach, approving of his weight loss.

Attention, Nazli Parvizi!

Nazli, how did you let these signs slip past you?

Oh my God, a death threat! Please mail a nasty letter to this woman immediately and send every city agency to her house to harass her.

The Mayor would have no problem shutting down Gracie Mansion as well as the firehouse. He doesn't live in the former and would not be affected by the latter.

Hey Jimmy, what were you doing at the protest? Remember when you said this about why Republicans should support Bloomberg?

Turns out, the City Council came up with the money yesterday to prevent these closures, as per the SI Advance:

Calling the matter "a complete victory," the City Hall source told the Advance: "The public had its voice heard, the Council members heard it, the members in turn spoke to the speaker and the speaker heard those voices."

Twelve additional yet-to-be named city fire companies have also been spared from the budget ax, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because final city budget negotiations are still ongoing.

Only $263M?

From the Daily News:

Deadbeat contractors and developers have left a trail of destruction across the city, racking up more than $263 million in unpaid fines, yet many continue to work unpunished.

Many fines are levied but few are collected. Last year, the Buildings Department collected $1 for every $5 in fines, issuing $132.4 million in penalties while taking in just $29 million, records show.

Of the $263 million in unpaid fines dating back to 2000, $130 million has been deemed "uncollectable" because violators lack assets, went out of business or beat the clock on the eight-year statute of limitations.

"This failure to collect revenue is particularly galling when we are talking about closing Fire Department engine companies," said Councilman James Oddo (R-S.I.), chairman of the Task Force to Improve the Buildings Department. "What good is it when we enact laws and they don't have teeth?"

A bill has been introduced in response.