Rory has an opponent

From the Times Ledger:

Bangladesh-born City Council candidate Mohammed T. Rahman is hoping to make history as the first South Asian Muslim official in the City Council.

Rahman, who worked as a supervisor in the city Department Of Social Services for 21 years before retiring in March, said he was inspired to run amid growing concerns about how the Trump administration’s policies toward Muslims will affect New Yorkers.

Rahman, of Jamaica, is running against Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) in the Sept. 12 Democratic Primary to represent Council District 24, which covers Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, Briarwood and Jamaica.

“New York has one of the largest Muslim communities in the nation, yet there are no elected Muslim officials in the City Council,” Rahman said. “As a result, we see not only a growing distrust of ordinary Muslim citizens, but also a huge disparity in how Council discretionary funds are distributed.”

Rahman said his campaign is part of a growing trend of South Asian-American candidates running for city office, a reflection of the community’s increasing population and influence. The city’s Bengali population has doubled to 100,000 since the 2010 census, Rahman said, and it’s time for new voices to be heard.

“Muslims are slowly being squeezed out of the mainstream by discriminatory practices and attitudes,” he said. “The best way to combat this is to normalize relationships between all of our communities, and integrate Muslims into our system of representative democracy.”

Rahman said he has spent most of his life helping the community as a social worker and he believes he will provide better representation for the community if elected. He said he will be able to better distribute city funding and services and will make certain every community in District 24 gets its fair share.

Does this group deserve taxpayer cash?

From the Daily News:

A scandal-scarred Queens nonprofit is getting $69,000 in taxpayer cash from City Council pols doling out member items, budget records released Monday show.

The Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation was picked for the grants as part of more than $60 million the Council is giving out to favored nonprofits in the $85.2 billion city budget set to pass later this week.

The Council’s discretionary spending adds up to $61.5 million — a $1.7 million spike since last year.

The Daily News reported the foundation — which has been represented by powerful lobbying firm Constantinople & Vallone — got $1.88 million in city contracts in the past year despite a string of criminal charges against employees, city probes and bad performance evaluations.

The group has twice been penalized for losing a child on a field trip, and is currently being investigated for payroll discrepancies and conflicts of interest.

Sports and Arts is set to receive 12 new grants, ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, from 12 different Council members, according to the budget documents.

Dromm co-sponsored dirtbag's program

From Progress Queens:

New York City Councilmember Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) was a co-sponsor of $300,000 in discretionary funding awarded to a sensitivity training program that was supported by Jona Rechnitz, one of two men reportedly the subject of a Federal corruption investigation tied to both the New York Police Department and the de Blasio administration.

Mr. Rechnitz’s support for the training program was revealed in a report published by The New York Post. Councilmember Dromm’s co-sponsoring of the funding was identified in the City Council’s Fiscal Year 2015 Schedule C, which details the awarding of discretionary funding.

According to the report in The New York Post, Mr. Rechnitz was introduced to municipal legislators during tours of the Museum of Tolerance New York, where the sensitivity training was reportedly held. The individual, who orchestrated the tours and introductions, was the lobbyist Michael Cohen.

It is not known if Councilmember Dromm took one of those tours or if he met with Mr. Rechnitz or Mr. Cohen.

Councilmember Dromm’s office did not answer several advance questions submitted to him via e-mail by Progress Queens, and a message left with his communications director, Michael Mallon, was not returned.

Park projects take a really long time

From the NY Times:

David G. Greenfield, a city councilman from Brooklyn, is passionate about parks, having allocated $12.9 million to green spaces in his district since taking office in 2010. “Parks are a great equalizer,” he said. “Whether you’re rich, poor, young, old, you use parks. There really is no better expenditure of government funds than parks.”

But so far, none of the projects he has financed — including rehabilitated handball courts at Colonel David Marcus Playground and a bathroom renovation in Gravesend Park — has been completed. His frustration over the delays is shared by other council members and parks advocates, who say that capital projects in the park system take far too long.

With many small- to medium-size projects financed by council members and borough presidents, the delays are not merely frustrating for park users. They also threaten the well-primed spigot of money that flows from lawmakers’ discretionary funds into neighborhood parks. Often, elected officials miss out on the political payoff of their contributions: a ribbon-cutting with beaming constituents.

“We’ve started calling these ‘legacy projects,’ because it’s a legacy you’ll leave for your successor,” said Mr. Greenfield, whose district includes Borough Park, Bensonhurst and Midwood. “In the outer boroughs, we have council members who refuse to fund parks because they know that the likelihood that the project will be completed while they are in office is not very high.”

Quinn funds private park with discretionary funds

From Sunnyside Post:

Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, the fundraising arm of the membership-based park, received $25,000 through Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Those funds were for items such as “installing playground equipment and other recreational equipment.” Since 2010, Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park has received $142,600 in city funds, most of it through Quinn. Park membership is not always open to all those who can afford the modest fees, such as with a YMCA or other non-profit. Members have to live in a geographical location to join.

Quinn not being as bitchy as last year

From The Politicker:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has long been accused of using the Council’s budget as a tool to punish those who cross her and keep members in line. But, as member item allocations have come under increased scrutiny in light of the mayor’s race, Ms. Quinn appears to have changed course.

Sources familiar with the camps of three of Ms. Quinn’s most vocal critics in recent months told Politicker Tuesday that their member allocations–which fund local community non-profits, including senior centers and after-school programs–will either remain steady or tick up slightly, according to preliminary numbers shared with their offices this week.


Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who has repeatedly accused Ms. Quinn of slashing his funding back in 2011 after he vocally opposed her plan to re-name the Queensboro Bridge after former Mayor Ed Koch, said he was informed in a meeting with Council staff on Sunday that his funding would remain about the same as last year–marking the first time in three years, he said, that his total has not been cut.

Another frequent critic, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who appeared on a CNN broadcast in March criticizing Ms. Quinn’s decision to slash her funding because of a mis-timed press release, as well as in a New York Times story on the subject, also appears to have been spared.

It was the same for Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who said Tuesday he was told his allocation would be the same as the last two years–despite his public threats to bypass Ms. Quinn and force two bills to vote.

FMCP to gets new volleyball courts - but still looks like crap

From Forest Hills Patch:

Flushing Meadow Corona Park will get some new volleyball courts this summer, and they're opening Tuesday!

Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowsi will join Borough President Helen Marshall in the park Tuesday morning to celebrate the opening of the volleyball courts, which are the first on the Corona side of the park.

The money for the parks came from the discretionary budget of the borough president's office, and the courts cost a reported $450,000 to construct.

Park maintenance shouldn't rely on discretionary funding

Photo from Times Ledger

From the NY Times:

Of the 51 Council members, at least three — the Democrats Charles Barron of Brooklyn, Peter Koo of Queens and Annabel Palma of the Bronx — gave no money to parks in the past three fiscal years. Another three — the Democrats Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan, and Albert Vann and David G. Greenfield, both of Brooklyn — allocated $8 million to $9 million each over the same period.

The amount of money they have to disburse is determined, in part, by the speaker of the City Council, Christine C. Quinn, who is now running for mayor (and who has been a major supporter of parks). Some members may perceive more pressing demands, like affordable housing or public safety.

Some City Council members chafe at the requests to finance basic park infrastructure. “Why should we be paying for it?” said Mark Weprin, a Queens Democrat, who recently designated money for protective netting at a public golf course. “They come to us with a list of projects, and I always find that offensive. These are the basic needs of an area. It shouldn’t be up to the local councilman to fix up parks.”

Agreed.

Endorse Quinn - or else!

From DNA Info:

Many City Council members are wary of endorsing candidates in the 2013 mayoral race until after budget season because they're afraid a vengeful Speaker Christine Quinn will cut their share of $50 million in discretionary funds, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

The funds, which are controlled by the speaker, are dished out to members each summer to fund constituent-pleasing services, such as community centers and seniors programs. While Quinn’s office has long insisted that the money is allocated based on districts' needs, it’s no secret that members on Quinn’s good side tend to profit — while those who cross her get their budgets slashed.

And many Council members now worry that endorsing a rival in the mayor's race, where Quinn is widely perceived as the front-runner, will result in the same fate.

“I definitely think that discretionary funds will be wielded as a weapon in the fight for endorsements,” said one Democratic Council member, who, like nearly a dozen others who spoke to DNAinfo.com New York, asked for anonymity to avoid angering Quinn.

“Certainly, that is the elephant in the room,” another member said.

“It’s a legal form of blackmail," still another member said.

To avoid retribution, some Council members are weighing postponing their endorsements until July, after the budget is adopted and Quinn no longer has sway over the money.

Gennaro may actually put money toward Brinckerhoff this time

From the Times Ledger:

A committee formed to preserve Brinckerhoff Cemetery, a colonial cemetery in Fresh Meadows that was recently named a landmark by the city, is hoping the City Council will buy the burial ground from its private owner.

“The city made an error when it sold the land several decades ago,” said James Trent, member of the Brinckerhoff Memorial Committee, referring to when the city sold Brinckerhoff in a series of moves starting with a public auction in the 1950s to pay off tax debts. “The city should reverse the wrong decision it made.”

Trent is also the president of the Queens County Farm Museum, an organization that has been on the forefront of advocating for Brinckerhoff’s designation as a landmark.

City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) said he would be willing to use his discretionary funds in order to buy the cemetery.

“My role is to put up the money and hope that City Hall can talk to various parties and make this happen,” he said.

But he said there are potentially many roadblocks to making the plan a reality. The city Office of Management and Budget would have to approve using Gennero’s descretionary funds to buy the cemetery, and even if approval is granted, it is not clear whether the cemetery’s owner, Linda’s Cai Trading, will want to part with it.

So then the City can condemn it the way they did back in the 1950s. Problem solved.

Comrie on top, Crowley at the bottom

From the Daily News:

City Councilman Leroy Comrie was once again the borough’s big winner in the annual battle for discretionary funds.

Comrie, the deputy majority leader of the City Council and head of its Queens delegation, received $1.1 million in funds for senior, youth, cultural and other programs.

“I received over $3 million in requests,” said Comrie (D-St. Albans). “I direct most of the money to groups that are taking care of south Queens residents even if it’s a citywide or borough-wide program.”

Individual lawmakers receive so-called member items as part of the annual city budget to fund nonprofit and civic groups in their districts.

The Queens delegation, under Comrie, also controls how additional borough-wide funds are distributed.

Comrie, who is credited by his colleagues for his even-handed approach, also benefits from a close relationship with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).
Those who don’t can end up at the bottom of the list.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) received $378,321 — about half of what she received a year ago. In fact, the only person lower than Crowley on the citywide list is scandal-plagued Councilman Larry Seabrook, who is barred from handling any discretionary funds in his district.

Crowley reportedly angered Quinn by going “rogue” and running in the Democratic congressional primary for the 6th Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Gary Ackerman.

Comforting to know that your district's funding is dependent on whether or not the speaker has personal problems with your council member, isn't it?

Now let's see who's being funded with our tax dollars. From the Daily News:

The vast majority of senior centers, advocacy groups and Little Leagues that stand to collect cash from a $50 million City Council slush fund appear to be legitimate, but at least 39 of them are so badly run, they’ve had their tax-exempt status revoked. The groups lost their status for failing to file a tax return for three straight years.

Losing tax-exempt status should be a red flag for anyone considering making a charitable donation, he said. Yet more than two dozen Council members earmarked cash for the questionable groups — including Finance Committee Chairman Domenic Recchia.

The Brooklyn Democrat, who is widely reported to be considering a run for city controller next year, sponsored $25,000 in funding for two groups that lost their status. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Another Brooklyn Democrat, Diana Reyna, sponsored $27,500 in pork for three groups that failed to file their returns, but said she counts on Council staff to root out suspect recipients.

More pork doled out to favored council members

From the Daily News:

The heartiest eaters at the trough of City Council slush funds were named Tuesday in a good government group report which argues that the way the money's doled out gives the Council speaker too much sway over individual members.

Brooklyn Democrat Domenic Recchia, the powerful head of the council’s Finance Committee, was number one in FY 2012 with $12.1 million, according to Citizens Union.

Councilman Erik Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) came in second with $11.3 million and Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn) was third with $10.7 million.

The Council allocated $459 (fixed) million in discretionary funds in FY 2012. Members gave the money to non-profits and used it for capital expenditures on city property.

Citizen Union head Dick Dadey said the funds should be handed out “more objectively” and with “greater equity” and that politics should be taken out of the process.

“The City Council speaker and some of the other leaders have too much say in what gets distributed,” he said. “One could argue that that’s a way to keep the Council in line as you try and move a legislative agenda forward.”

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn pointed out in a statement that Council had already made changes to make its expense funds more transparent and was planning to do the same with capital funds.

From the NY Post:

A new analysis of how the City Council allocated more than $2 billion in discretionary funds between 2009 and 2012 has found a wide gulf between the haves and have-nots.

Dominic Recchia (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, was the biggest winner in the Citizens Union study, collecting $66.7 million to spend on capital projects and nonprofits of his choosing. Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn), an ally of Brooklyn Democratic leader Vito Lopez, came in second with $37 million.

Dead last in 51st place were Dan Halloran (R-Queens) and his predecessor Tony Avella, now a state senator. Over the four-year period, they pulled in just $9.5 million for their constituents.

Avella, an outspoken critic of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said the results should come as no surprise to anyone.

“Nothing is done by merit,” he said. “I was independent and took on the speaker.”

From the NY Post:

Council Speaker Christine Quinn is yanking Seabrook’s discretionary funds in the upcoming budget as the beleaguered Bronx politician gears up for a second federal trial on charges of extortion, money-laundering and fraud, The Post has learned.

“Council Member Seabrook and I have come to a mutual agreement that this year’s funding to his district will be determined by the Speaker’s Office and the Bronx delegation chair,” Quinn said in a prepared statement, reversing her position on the issue from several months ago.

“All allocations will undergo the appropriate review and vetting process, including by the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services and city agencies,” she said.
In February 2010, federal prosecutors alleged that from 2002 through 2009, Seabrook funneled more than $1 million in council member items — also known as pork — to nonprofits he controlled, with about half that money lining the pockets of his girlfriend and family members.

Marshall concerned about budget cuts

From the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget is not as benign as it appears, according to Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.

Senior centers, firehouses and programs for children remain on the chopping block, she said.

“Deep cuts are on the horizon because funding restored by the City Council will be eliminated,” Marshall said Monday at the start of a day-long hearing at Queens Borough Hall.

Representatives from community boards, cultural organizations, nonprofit groups and colleges argued for their piece of the budget pie.

Marshall and her aides use the testimony to help shape her budget priorities.

But Marshall will also have to do her own lobbying. She said $1.6 million of borough president discretionary funding was not included in the mayor’s budget.

“Without it, six senior centers will close, four adult day care centers, transportation programs will cease and much more,” she said.

The Council can restore those funds during budget negotiations with the Bloomberg Administration.

Quinn has no regrets about Larry's money

From the NY Times:

A slightly testy City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn on Wednesday defended her decision not to strip Councilman Larry Seabrook of control over more than $350,000 in discretionary funds in the coming budget cycle, even as he awaits a second trial on corruption charges related to his use of such funds.

When she was asked, at a news conference before Wednesday’s Council meeting, whether the critique had given her any second thoughts, Ms. Quinn offered a one-word answer: “No.”

“We used to have a process in the City Council where basically Council members made requests to fund groups in their district, and it was a little bit of an honor system — there was the assumption that those were groups were qualified to do the work,” she said.

“We no longer have an honor system. We have a verification system, where the groups that are seeking funding from the Council are taken through an aggressive vetting process.”

In Mr. Seabrook’s case, Ms. Quinn said, none of what has been alleged “could have happened under the system we now have.”

“What we’re trying to do with member items is support many groups out there at the local level who are doing the work well, and make sure the money is scrubbed thoroughly, so it is going to those groups,” she said. “And I stand by that process.”

Heathens abandon Halloran

From the Village Voice:

Disappointment in Halloran by the members of his tribe, some say now, was instant: They’d already had their doubts while he was running for office.

“If you’re a Republican, and you’re a heathen, you’re shooting yourself in the foot!” says Valadia Kasandria Kristoffersen, an early member of New Normandy who goes by the name Kasidy. “I mean, if you’re a Republican, and you’re not a Christian, they don’t like you.” (Kristoffersen, who swore her oath to Halloran’s “Luck” as a member of his “Reich,” says she “defended him to death” for years. Now, she is more likely to call him “that slimy son of a bitch.”)

On the campaign trail, Halloran seemed to go back and forth about his beliefs. During a Tea Party speech from Bowne Park in Flushing right before the election, he said, “My gods!” (plural) at one point. At the end, though, he wound up screaming about “programs that never worked, never will, and ultimately come back to bite us in the ass,” and then slipped back into the singular deity as he yelled, “It’s our nation, one nation, under God, and indivisible with liberty and justice for all!”

If Halloran were ambivalent on the campaign trail, as an elected official, he seems to have abandoned his love of the Germanic deities altogether.

Kristoffersen expressed disdain that, as a councilmember, Halloran has been “giving his money to all of these religious charities, but he’s never given, one time, as far as I know, to any pagan groups,” a sentiment echoed by other former followers. In an interview with the website Pagan+Politics, Halloran said that he had “funded Orthodox Jewish, Catholic, mainstream Jewish, Lutheran, Protestant, Buddhist, and Hindu” organizations. He mentioned nothing about pagan groups and said nothing about his own New Normandy.

Kristoffersen describes the meetings of New Normandy in the Camelot days as being “the most amazing thing. It was like being family. It was like coming home.” With Halloran as their Atheling, for several years, Kristoffersen and others were excited to have a leader serious about the historical accuracy of heathenry. Under his leadership, this wasn’t lightweight fairy stuff like Wicca: This was the real deal, re-creating the life of their heathen ancestors.

Now, she says, “not a single person from that era is still there.” No one the Voice spoke to in 2009 about New Normandy is still in the group.

“There is not a man who knows him well, not a one, who doesn’t hate his guts now,” another former follower says.

30-year wait for potty is over

From the Times Ledger:

Thirty years after a man walked into a Community Board 7 meeting to request a toilet at a public park — in Flushing of all places — the city has taken up his project.

John Byas, now 78, said tears came to his eyes when he was informed that the city Parks Department would construct a restroom in the park across from IS 237, at 46-21 Colden St.

“I fought like hell for this,” Byas said on a recent walk toward the grassy strip where the city had already begun digging up the foundation for the johns, which are set to be operational in about three months.

Byas has lived in Flushing since 1974, when the neighborhood was a different place.

Where the handball and basketball courts, baseball diamonds and community garden now sit across from the school there was once a patch of untamed foliage.

According to Byas, it served little function besides a dumping ground for criminals who wanted to get rid of evidence.

But by the late 1970s, the sport facilities and garden had all been built.

With one notable omission.

There was no bathroom in the park, and the children who played on the fields and the senior citizens who socialized and toiled in the garden could often not even get into the school across the street, he said, since the doors were locked.

The aptly named John Liu, now city comptroller, agreed to dish out $250,000 to build the WC from discretionary funds he enjoyed as a councilman [in 2009].

The funds were not immediately available, and it took two years for them to work their way through city agencies, culminating in the announcement by Parks two weeks ago that a facility would actually be built.

It will house both boys and girls restrooms — the first containing two toilets and four urinals and the second containing three toilets.

The public toilets will finally provide a basic service to his community, he said, which should not have had to wait through a turn of the century.

City short $70K for St. Saviour's acquisition

From the Times Ledger:

The city is less than $100,000 away from beginning to acquire the land for a park at the site of the old St. Saviour’s church in Maspeth.

The city Parks Department said that between $50,000 to $70,000 is needed to begin the legal process by which the city purchases land, called the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. If the city gets the money, it will begin the process, a spokeswoman said.

The funds to actually buy the land, at 57-40 58th St., are still incomplete, but since the ULURP process can take months or in some cases over a year to run its course, Maspeth activists have repeatedly asked Parks to begin the process now while the other funds trickle in.

Activists estimate that between Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) there is $5.25 million allocated for the park.

In her discretionary spending for this year, Crowley allocated $1.1 million to build a new free-standing building onto the Ridgewood public library, but according to Lydon Sleeper, Crowley’s chief of staff, if some of the library money is needed to supplement the park, then it can be transferred.

Crowley’s office told TimesLedger Newspapers in early July that the entire $1.1 million sum would go toward the acquisition of the park.

So Crowley lied to a newspaper and, by extension, to her constituents? And the purpose of that was?

And yep, they're still building despite multiple stop work orders...

Halloran suggests per capita funding

From City Hall:

Though Queens is nearly five times the size of Manhattan and has 700,000 more people, Queens' budget for its borough president’s office, libraries and its capital construction budget is often equal to or less than that of Manhattan, according to Queens Republican Council Member Dan Halloran.

In order to reduce these inequalities in per capita funding, Halloran introduced a potentially politically risky bill at Wednesday’s stated meeting that would level the playing field between Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

The bill would change the Council’s internal rules to require that funding for borough presidents, libraries and capital construction be distributed solely on the basis of a district or boroughs’ population and geographical size.

Though the city’s charter revision discussed questions of how to more equally distribute funds between the boroughs, Halloran argued that no panel formed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg would every actually approve such as measure for the ballot, since doing so would take away considerable discretion from Bloomberg in doling out funds.

“The mayor would never let something like that happen,” Halloran said.

Halloran’s bill would have to go through the Finance Committee, where Halloran said he expects it will see resistance. Manhattan members will likely oppose the bill, along with the mayor. Still, Halloran said he was trying to rally support from good government groups and other outer borough Council members.

Smith's ice cream money went outside his district

From the Times Ledger:

State Senate President Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) may represent Queens, but nearly 70 percent of the $5.7 million in funding he doled out to nonprofits last year was given to organizations not based in the borough, according to a New York good government group.

The largest beneficiary of the pool of money Smith controlled in 2009, known as member items, was the Manhattan-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, which received $500,000 from the senator, based on data compiled by the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Smith was allocated $5.7 million in member item funding, $3.9 million of which went to organizations with offices outside the borough.

Smith was elected minority leader of the Senate by his colleagues in 2007 and rose to majority leader in 2009. He later became president of the Senate later that year following a coup led by dissident Democratic senators.

Smith’s district includes Jamaica, South Jamaica, St. Albans, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Hollis, Queens Village and the Rockaways.

Out of 103 organizations Smith gave money to, 43 had a mailing address outside of Queens.

Of those 43, 30 had a Manhattan mailing address, four had a Nassau County address, two were based in Albany, another two were from Brooklyn and one apiece were based in the Bronx, Monroe County, Erie County, Orange County and Westchester County.

An end to tweeding money?

From the NY Times:

It is as regular as swallows returning to Capistrano: Every year, no matter how large the state’s deficit or how steep the cuts to critical government services, the Legislature dishes itself a healthy serving of pork. Tens of millions of dollars in earmarked state grants go to favored nonprofits, museums, cultural organizations and Little Leagues, with each check credited to the lawmaker or lawmakers who arrange it.

But as state officials look to close a budget gap of more than $9 billion, some lawmakers are saying enough is enough.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the State Assembly is sponsoring legislation that would prohibit all such grants, known in Albany as member items, for the next fiscal year, citing the state’s dire economic straits.

“It’s discretionary funding, and we are cutting required funding from all kinds of programs,” said Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, a Democrat who represents parts of Westchester and Putnam Counties. “In my view, it’s inappropriate. If we’re cutting money for the arts, should we do member items for the arts? I don’t think so.”

Ms. Galef has never requested member items of her own during nearly two decades in the Assembly. One of her co-sponsors on the bill, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, has also decided not to request member items this year.

“I have not submitted any requests,” Ms. Paulin said. “It’s very difficult at a time when my schools are not going to be getting enough state aid and my hospitals are going to be taxed. For me, in good conscience, I can’t take discretionary funds.”

WHOA. This will never pass. Without ice cream money, the pols can't silence complainers and buy support. Nope. Not gonna happen.