On Tuesday, Sheepshead Bites and GerritsenBeach.net sponsored the first blog-hosted political debate in New York City, rounding up candidates for the 46th City Council District. The debate featured incumbent Lew Fidler (D), Gene Berardelli (R), and Derek Sacerdote (L) with Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association President George Broadhead serving as moderator. The 46th District covers the neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Georgetowne, Starrett City, Flatlands, Futurama, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Gerritsen Beach, Madison and Sheepshead Bay.
A feisty debate, the candidates wrangled over special interest groups, term limits, making New York City affordable, transit issues, and more. And yes, we got to see a taste of that nastiness, as allegations of antisemitism flared once more.
Questions for the debate were compiled from readers of both Sheepshead Bites and GerritsenBeach.net, as well as from local leaders on the Community Board and civic associations, and local news outlets. Moderator George Broadhead had the final say in determining questions.
People keep asking us: who won the debate? Well, we don’t want to become horse-race commentators. Instead, we’ll let you do that! But we will say we thought all the candidates expressed themselves well, and gave us a good idea on where they stand with a variety of issues. After the debate, we certainly felt like we had a better idea of their individual viewpoints, and each candidate held their own.
We want to once again thank all of our participants, and our moderator, who were patient and accommodating towards helping us put together this event. We’d also like to thank Baron DeKalb-Knights of Columbus, who supplied space, and Joe Mikos, who handled the video.
Check out the video and hear where your potential councilman stands on issues important to the city and our little nook, then let us know below what you thought of their responses!
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Futurama?
This was one of the most interesting debates I have ever seen.
I had prepared a horse-race, ahem, detailed commentary, but alas, it got lost in some electronic error involving a backspace key and one very fast pinky finger. So, for now, I have this to say: Watch this debate.
Arthur, my Futurama research paper will be upcoming in the future.
Lew, it’s time to go. You are out of touch with lots of us.
Most of your constituents will vote for Bloomberg.
Well, Alex, we’ll see. And we’ll see if most of my consitutents feel that I am out of touch or not.
And I want to thank Ned, Ray and others for their hard work on putting this together and apparently their harder work in getting it posted.
Lew from Brooklyn
Hello Voters:
Thanks for watching. I wish I could have been more articulate in my words and had more time to prepare my responses. I want to add a few more remarks after having thought about the conversation topics a bit more.
1. On compensation. How much a legislator or anyone gets paid ought not be determined by his or her personal financial preferences. It should depend on how much he or she is WORTH. It doesn’t seem right that elected officials have a hand in setting their own salary. At the very least, any wage increases should be widely publicized and should NEVER TAKE EFFECT UNTIL AFTER THE NEXT ELECTION.
2. I find it VERY interesting that Mr. Fidler can struggle to make ends meet with two six-figure salaries, but he CAN’T UNDERSTAND how his legislation creates severe hardship for those people who make less than ONE TENTH of his income and who must struggle to earn a few dollars doing extra work.
I too want to thank everyone involved in the debate, including my adversaries. SheepsheadBites and GerritsenBeach.net deserve a whole lot of credit for putting this together. They have taken a HUGE step into what I believe is an emerging world of citizen journalism that should be respected by mainstream media.
I welcome any and all feedback, and look forward to the conversation to come on here and on GB.net.
Derek,
I do not have two six figure salaries. The forms you refer to I am sure, since I doubt you have seen my tax form, are foms that purport to represent your assets, not income. In my case, as i told the NY Post, the forms are misleading in that they use “ranges for asset value”. My actual value of assets were worth less than one eighth of the top of the range, and I offered to show the ACTUAL statements to the Post reporter who wrote on this.
The facts are that I live in a modest one family fully attached brick houe in Sheepshead Bay. In order to pay for my children’s higher education, I did in fact have to re-finance my home after having struggled like everyone else over the years to have almost paid it off. I drive a seven year old car. I live a relatively modest lifestyle, though I recognize absolutely that I have it better than many…and not as good as many others do.
Like you, I recognize the value of doing something with your life other than serving in public office. It keeps you in touch with the real world, and in fact, I credit my small legal practice work with making me see sooner than anyone else that the foreclosure crisis was coming.
I resent remarks like the one made by the Mayor when he proposed congestion pricing…”Get over it, it’s only $8, it costs twelve bucks to go to the movies.” My response was that I have constituents who don’t go to the movies because they are $8. I don’t think I have lost touch with the reality of the less fortunate.
Also, please see the series of hearings that I have done on the very least fortunate among us: runaway and homeless children. It is the work that I am the most proud of.
There were many points that were there to be made that none of us had the time under the rules to get to. We talked for a minute a piece about education. There was nary a word about affordibility in this City, or the use of ticketing to raise revenues instead of their intended purpose which is to maintain the quality of life.
So many things we could have talked about.
I insisted that you be included in this debate because I wanted you to have a fair shot at voicing your views. I think and I hope that the three of us have had our say.
Now its up to the voters. Again, please please please vote on Tuesday, November 3rd.
Thanks.
Lew from Brooklyn
And what legislation are you talking about Derek? What hardship?
You made that remark during the debate but I did not get the chance to ask that question?
Lew from Brooklyn
Would any of you three be willing to tell me what you plan to do about Police Quotas?
Today I was waiting for a client in front of 1213 U (I realize it’s not your area but I’m curious anyway). I was parked as close to the parked cars as possible to allow traffic to pass by me easily. A Police AUX Van pulled up next to me and the officers therin waved for me to move. I tried to explain to them I was waiting for my client who was about to exit the lawyers office but they insisted I move. I was actually ABOUT to move when my client came outside, ON CRUTCHES. I couldn’t very well pull away when my client was 5 feet away, on crutches. As he reached my car and opened the door an officer hopped out of the van which simultaneously pulled ahead of me to prevent me from leaving and the bastard wrote me a ticket for double parking.
This is ridiculous behavior from police. Aux Police should not be preying on people in the community this way to increase the city coffers. If the car was unattended, or if I wasn’t a clearly labeled Car Service then maybe the ticket would be justified, but the entire van full of those pigs, *ahem* officers, excuse me, clearly saw a handicapped person hobbling to my car and STILL gave me a ticket.
So, whichever one of you gets elected, I’m really curious, what will you and the City Council do about this unspoken policy of ticketing everyone on sight even if the tickets never should have been given. Tickets that are notoriously impossible to defeat. Ask any driver in the city. When it comes to tickets we’re guilty till proven innocent, even if we have evidence proving otherwise.
I think Mr. Sacerdote did well to shine a light on the struggles of some of the people in the 46th, even if I don’t agree with his solutions. (And, I have a feeling many of those struggling would not agree with his, fairly Libertarian, antidotes) Oh, and if any of his students read this – your teacher is doing you proud by trying to make a difference in the community. That’s something we should all respect.
What struck me most about the debate, however, was how much more familiar with the issues and the district Mr. Fidler appeared to be. Yes, part of this is because of how many years he has spent in the Council. But, it seems to me like he spent those years really learning this district and the issues that matter to most of us (education, property tax calculation, dollar vans, . And with Mr. Fidler’s attendance record, that Mr. Broadhead mentioned, at the Gerritsen Beach Property Owner’s Association, I can see how Mr. Fidler did it. Like how Mr. Sacerdote said that teaching helps him stay grounded, it seems Mr. Fidler has found a way to stay grounded in the community – by attending local meetings and really learning about our concerns.
For Mr. Berardelli, while I understand (for practical reasons) your positions on issues like term limits, I couldn’t really get behind other ideas like the suggestion that 311 is the solution to local issues like street repair. I think we turn to our local council people so often because of 311′s shortcomings. And, with all due respect, Mr. Berardelli’s closing speech was pretty cliche-filled.
Incidentally, what’s with all the Cherry Hill talk? That’s a Sheepshead Bay issue, sure, but not a 46th District issue.
I wrote something earlier which was insightful and brilliant and my computer ate it. So I suppose this will have to do.
This was a better debate than most. Most people running for office posture, and spend more time asserting that their opponent would totally ruin the country, state or city. While there was a little of that the dialogue was most one of information. For that I thank all three.
This debate needs to be seen by residents who will vote on Tuesday. So spread the word. I am assuming that Vimeo is actually hosting the file, so there won’t be a bandwidth issue for Ned and Dan. At least I hope so.
Those who put this together deserves thanks. As do the three candidates who have given voters in a local election an opportunity to make a more informed decision on Tuesday.
Dear Lew and ‘BMB’
Thank you for your comments.
I am referring to two VERY specific pieces of legislation:
1. An amendment to NYC Sanitation Code which increased the fine for “Stealing” recyclable trash from the curb from (I believe) $100 to $2000. The amendment also authorized the Department of Sanitation to impound vehicles in order to extract payment. The second “offense” raises the fine to $5000. This amendment was sponsored by Councilman Fidler and several other local Brooklyn members, to whom I had written in outrage several years ago. Out of everyone, the only member (other than Councilman Fidler) who felt compelled to respond was Councilman Gentile, who explained to me that the City partly funds the recycling program by selling recyclables.
After further research, I unearthed the legal premise that trash becomes city property the moment it is placed on the curb. I wrote to Councilman Fidler several times, indicating that collection of scrap is a mainstay of some people’s income (largely poor, minority, and non-english speaking), many of whom either are not otherwise employed or who need supplemental income. He continued to use the word “STEALING” in all correspondence, despite how offensive the word was to me and to those to whom I related it. As I see it, people are being prohibited from doing something efficiently and profitably, in order that others can do it, less efficiently, at our expense.
A “libertarian solution” would turn the entire recycling issue on its head. Rather than coercing and threatening people into it, we can send the message that recycling makes simple dollar sense. Instead of searching our garbage and fining us for packing it improperly, spread the word that all recyclables: paper, plastic, glass, and metal, can be sold for profit, and publicize the recycing centers. People would be saving and recycling at a much higher rate. I daresay that you might eventually need fewer pickups in certain neighborhoods.
2. I also referred to a piece of legislation which increased the fine for “illegal posting” to $150 and authorized the department of sanitation to use telephone records to hunt people down and give people fines. I will admit that my tutoring business was largely built by posting paper signs on cars (which was legal at the time) telephone poles, and putting stickers on parking meters. To a teacher who barely qualified for a home loan, despite teaching summer school and night school, newspaper ads were pretty much out of the question. I had scarcely finished posting for one night when a good samaritan called and warned me that she had been fined $80 per sign for doing something similar. I had begun to increasingly see the City as a greedy impediment to our progress.
This “quality of life” issue has been supported by the City Council and other locals like State Senator Carl Kruger. To this day, I have NEVER encountered a regular civilian who told me that advertisements on poles (be they paper or plastic) seriously infringe upon their quality of life. I happen to see lamppost advertising as capitalism at its best, and the only option for those trying to start a new small business. They are also ideal for political and social networking. I used to enjoy walking on 7th AVenue in Park slope because of all the interesting postings at every corner. Gone.
These are the kind of issues which galvanized my decision to run in the first place.
With regard to your other comments:
These past six months, I have had a largely positive response, though it should be obvious to most viewers that I spend most of my time in Canarsie, East Flatbush, and Mill Basin north of Avenue L. Most people think I’m “joking” when I tell them about some of the above legislation. Many of my students, neighbors, and colleagues regularly ride “dollar vans” and would choose them over an MTA bus in a heartbeat, despite often exaggerated accounts of reckless driving and lack of insurance. So I don’t think many of the working people in the district would necessarily reject Libertarian solutions. Rather, most are so convinced of the false dichotomy of the two-party system that they are enlightened to hear that there are other options.
The City Council, as you know, votes on city-wide issues. So a member from the Bronx certainly could cast a vote on an issue which primarily affects Staten Island. It is perfectly appropriate, in my estimation, to offer opinions on any city issues, and not detach myself from something like Cherry Hill, which lies perhaps ten blocks into an adjacent district. All City Council members, though tempted to play Santa Claus to their district, are to an extent answerable to all residents of the city, even those who did not support them.
As far as the salary issue goes, I wish I recall the website that cited Councilman Fidler as among the members with the highest outside income. The site quoted an estimated income range from a legal practice which was more than double the City Council income (post-raise). I apologize if my information was not correct.
Thank you ‘BMB’ for your praise. It has not been easy to keep up a campaign in which I am officially campaign manager, treasurer and author of all literature, flyers and posters, while starting a new job at Kurt Hahn last month, a small High School within Tilden Campus, where I have worked since 1998.
Thank you Lew, for speaking up for my inclusion. You are not the first Democrat to help me out, perhaps due to a kind of kinship that comes from use of the word “Tilden.” My final thought is this: THIS ONLINE CONVERSATION between elected officials and constituents should be a NORMAL PART OF GOVERNING, not a freak event in the days before an election. It is something which should be ongoing and publicized on multiple forums, such as facebook and twitter, for example. I approached blogs months ago with the idea, but no bites. People are not enthusiastic because it isn’t being done. More people need, like Ned and Daniel, to take the leap and make it happen.
To Derek and Arthur,
Derek, thank you for acknowledging thatyour info gleaned from a website about my income might not be accurate. I can assure you that if you were elected and kept your teacher’s job as you said you would, your income would be no higher than mine. A good living for sure, but not millionaire status.
The issue of “stealing” scrap seems silly until you know why. Taxpayers pay for recycling programs. And if they did not come close to generating the cost of recycling itself in scrap costs, they would be a huge economic burden to taxpayers even with the environmental benefit. In Manhattan, trucks are coming over the bridge from NJ and “stealing” the huge recyclings tonnage that is left out in Manhattan. We aren’t talking about folks who come and pick thru the garbage in our neighboorhoods…we are talking about people who make this a commercial venture. If they are not stopped, you, me, our neighbors will have to make the choice between kicking in about a million dollars or two…or worse, cutting the recycling program. I hope you understand the full nature of the issue, Libertarian solutions notwithstanding.
We are of a different mind as to illegal postings.They tend to run down a neighborhood visually. In the rain and the wind, they then tend to become street litter. Given how widespread they are now with it being illegal, just imagine how prevalent it would be were it legal. I am sorry, I just disagree with you on this.
Final note to you Derek, you say that this kind f dialogue ought to go on on the web all the time and not just election time. As I am sure Ned, Dan and others can attest, I am one of the few elected oficials who DOES engage people on issues on the internet and have been doing so for some time.
Arthur, several years ago, together with southern Brooklyn’s other Councilmembers, we held a town meeting on the subject of unfair tickets and excessive ticketing. It was widely advertised, particularly to the folks that I had been writing support letters for who were fighting their tickets, and was held at Kingsboro College. We had the Sanitation Police there….and I flat out told him that no one in this room believed that there weren’t quotas. He denied it. However, I then asked him what they would do with an enforcement agent who typically wrote half the tickets that other agents wrote. He said that I could figure that out…and I said to him that this was an ADMISSION of quotas.
I also took on the Mayor’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget regarding their “estimates” of revenue from ticketing, which always are put in the budget at about 40% beneath what they wind up being. This was covered, I believe it was a year ago from last June by the Daily News’ Adam Lissberg. Probably can find it by googling.
I have in fact been outspoken about the use of tickets for raising revenue and harassing people instead of for preserving quality of life. And I co-sponsored Councilman Felder’s bill that would require ticketing agents to give a 5 minute leeway period at all parking meters and for alternate side parking before they could issue a ticket.
We need to change the psychology around here about ticketing and I have said so publicly and repeatedly.
Lew from Brooklyn
Dear Arthur:
You must be talking about the quota system which, according to the NYPD, does not exist. This is in complete contradiction to what I have been told by police officers who are not in the process of writing me a ticket.
The Parking Violations Bureau is one of the most egregrious sources of disproportionate penalties (AKA extra taxes) in the entire city. To be honest with you, it is my belief, however, that double parking is probably the primary violation which ought to be enforced because it is the only one that really slows down traffic. Clearly, your circumstances are extreme and basic human decency should have warranted an exception.
One day, years ago, I was on the subway with a bicycle, and saw a man sitting down with an “Administrative Law Judge” badge on. I asked him if he adjuducated parking tickets and he said that he did. I told him that I had lost many appeals over the years (though I had won many as well) and he made a comment, gesturing to my bicycle, that “this” was the overall goal. I took that to mean that parking violations are used by the city to manipulate our behavior through crippling fines and inconvenience.
Short of giving meter maids an iota of conscience, the most pragmatic solution, would be, given the tradition of ultraspecific legislation required to eliminate the necessity of thinking, to create an exception to double parking regulations in cases of picking up or discharging invalids.
Lew:
Point taken, however the department of sanitation has no difficulty enforcing the $2000 penalty and impound on otherwise unemployed people driving beat-up vans which may be their only transportation, and whose entire “take” is less than $50.
Derek:
It shouldn’t even be an issue of who I’m picking up. TLC Licensed FHV Vehicles and Car Services like mine are prohibited from picking up people on the street. Our exclusive source of income, by LAW, is servicing customers that call the car service and request door to door service. By design my only choice when picking up a passenger is to pull over at their address and wait for them to come out. We can’t simply keep circling the block. That creates more traffic and more pollution.
They were wrong for asking me to move, they were wrong for giving me a ticket, they were EXTRA WRONG for giving me one when I’m picking up a disabled passenger. I’m fairly sure that the Traffic Sam column in the daily news has covered this issue before. I wasn’t legally double parked.
That officer ticketed me out of spite because instead of taking his orders and moving I tried to explain what I was doing there and he didn’t want to hear it. It’s wrong. On every level imaginable.
This isint even the only one. Two years ago I got a ticket for running a stop sign. (East 28th and Gravesend Neck Road). Obviously I didn’t run the sign. I had proof showing that the officer could not have possible seen me run that stop sign, he had an obstructed view. The stop sign on that block is obscured by an unusually high corner fence and the stop sign is set to far from the curb. The judge wouldn’t even look at it.
More recently I got a ticket for talking on the phone while driving, I was actually talking on my car radio. Our car radios arent covered by the cellphone law. I’m legally allowed to use the radio, while the car is in motion. The radio is even attached by a thick wire. Of course the judge wouldn’t hear of it. The cop that pulled me over wouldn’t even let him show me my recent calls list (which is very detailed on the iphone) which would have shown the last time I made a call was more then 30 minutes prior. Of course I lost that case too.
Eventually some enterprising indivudual is going to find some way to document this stuff and find some solid proof of collusion in city government and when they sue the city it will lose millions.
This crap has got to end.
*sigh*
Sorry for yammering on. I’m very agitated today.
I seemed to miss a lot of back and forth, but I’ll try to catch up a little bit.
BMB: 311 is an example of progress made in order for citizens to address local issues like street repair – it is not a new solution. I simply think that the squeakiest wheel gets the grease and that our neighbors have to stop accepting the way things are and to complain to 311, the council office, the community board and every outlet imaginable.
As far as a cliche-filled ending – you’re right. No excuses. I had, as we all did, a lot more to say and very little time to say it. Overall, it was a good experience. I knew that compared to the Councilman’s 8 year head start on issues and presentation, I’d have an uphill climb. Could I have done better? Absolutely. I think we all could have. That said, I can live with the results and leave it to the voters to take in the past few months and cast their vote.
***
As far as Lew insisting that Derek Sacerdote be included in the debate, I sincerely thought that went without saying. He is a candidate, after all, and people deserve to hear all points of view. No insisting was required. As exhibited here and at the debate, Derek has much to offer this discourse.
***
Arthur: Your ticket story sounds like abuse of discretion to me.
Tickets should not be a solution for budgetary crisis. A study is needed to show that “ticket blitzes” do indeed occur. If proven, action must be taken within the Police Department to discourage the practice.
On the other end of things, fighting a ticket shouldn’t mean days lost from work. Let’s look into automated processes that can be done over the Internet to contest tickets, allowing for submission of evidence and electronic filing. If lawyers can e-file certain cases, why can’t the public do so for moving violations? Ease of access to government should be a goal in all areas.
Arthur and Gene:
I agree 100%. TLC can not possibly be bound by the same parking rules as “regular” drivers. Certainly there should be a “time limit” added to the definition of “expeditiously picking up and discharging passesengers,” which could distinguish between a pickup and someone waiting while a passenger to do some shopping and causing congestion all the while.
Furthermore, online defenses should be available, as they are in many smaller cities. This goes for ECB violations as well. Those are the $100 fines they tape to your door while you are at work because there is a store flyer on your front walk or a napkin on the sidewalk. I have been fighting one such ticket since the spring. So far it has required about 5 mailings back and forth, three phone calls, and 8 notarizations. The office which handles appeals has no direct phone number. I wonder why. Ya think they just want me to drop it?
With regard to the traffic offenses, these are adjudicated by the state, and those judges are brash, rude, long overdue for judicial review (and probably retirement). It is well known that the testimony of a police officer is worth that of at least two “regular human beings” in traffic court.
Hi Derek, several points.
First, postering is annoying. A couple of weeks ago I spent an inordinate amount of time removing the ads from local telephone poles. Why? Because they are simply disgusting.. Someone has a moving company. They put a poster up on a telephone pole. Another person, with a competing company, puts a poster up over that one, a third does the same. They ensure that their signs stay up by covering them with tape which encircles the poles. It’s not a pretty sight.
I understand the the libertarian ideal is to encourage free enterprise and free expression with little restriction. The ideal fails because eventually society requires limitations.
Chaos is not tolerated for long periods of time. Irresponsible behavior can not be ignored forever.
Like our Red Fish Smoking poster.
http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2009/07/redfish-smoking-graffiti-flyers-raises-q-1/
Movers who wish to advertise can find more conventional and aesthetically pleasing ways of doing so. As for our Red Fish Smoking friend, well, in one’s face postering of great proportion is annoying to an extreme to many.
Now as to the other matter……..
Every time garbage is collected I see perfectly good items placed on the street for collection. I have photographed many such things. Reducing a usable radio to scrap merely because it contain a few ounces of copper wire is waste. A refrigerator that could be repaired and donated to a poor family, bigger waste.
But you are essentially correct in that the economic gain is small for such endeavors.
I suppose that next they will be harassing those who remove the returnable bottles and cans from the trash. Technically they are in violation of the same law. And some create difficulties for sanitation workers by failed to properly close bags after they have removed the returnables from them.
I do wonder how much real money the city can make from recyclable trash, as compared to the costs. While I understand that the ratio has improved, it’s still not going to diminish our sanitation costs significantly. Even if we curtailed the activities of those who remove items from the trash to earn some income.
It does seem more like class warfare to me than real concern amount theft of income to the city.
You did a good job in the debate. You made your positions clear in a succinct fashion. No need to apologize at all for your presentation, it accomplished the purpose of letting voters know your opinions on the matters discussed.
Arthur:
Why I am here at all is because it is the most forceful way I can show outrage about the kind of things you are talking about. My frustration for years was how useless it was to send angry letters and emails. This last few months as a candidate, I met plenty of people who agreed with me on most issues, but who admitted that they didn’t vote. I met other people who were very forceful about their viewpoints and I asked them to appear in my videos. They refused.
People are scared, frustrated, disenfranchised, and for whatever reason, JUST DON’T FOLLOW THROUGH. Politicians would respond if people massively took their anger to their offices, and to the streets, in a loud visible way. Councilman Fidler said it: voter turnout is very, very, low.
Whatever happens Tuesday, I will continue to make as much noise as I can on behalf of people who feel shafted by the City. But I’d be FAR more effective with an active, vocal group of people who feel the same way.
Lisanne!:
How about we increase enforcement of posting violations and reduce the fine from a crippling $150 to an annoying, proportional, but manageable $1 a sign. Therefore and individual or business who plasters a neighborhood gets perhaps a $1000 fine to more than pay for the eventual cleanup, but likely gets one or two jobs out of it, offsetting the cost and creating a legacy of referrals.
I sincerely doubt that the courts would like to sift through photographic evidence of thousands of signs. Because some of these posters have placed signs on literally thousands of poles. So if we actually followed this rule to the letter, and did the work to document these, the fines could be even higher.
But city employees will not take this time. And a fine of $100 is not an effective deterrent.
And part of the function of civil penalties is that they are meant to curb “unacceptable” behavior.
Maybe we need public billboards where moving companies and other pole posters can put up their signs without creating an unmanageable eyesore.
People are online debating about:
1. Dollar Vans
2. Parking Tickets
3. Postering
4. Scrap Metal Collection
I’ve already succeeded beyond my initial expectations.
Lisanne I think that is a wonderful, SIMPLE solution to this debacle
[...] time Trick-or-Treating, cruise-partying, sitting on the dock of the bay when going clubbing, or electioneering — whatever is your [...]
Maybe Gene will take a picture of his house, which he has decorated for Halloween. I would have photographed it, but I don’t know precisely where it is.
We’ve never discussed dollar vans, but have certainly discussed postering. And then there was the would be council candidate from the 48th distriict, Simon Belsky, whose involvement in politics was precipitated by a parking tickets. Metal collecting is also new to these pages, though we have covered the plight of metal shopping carts.
Blogs have become the vox populi more than any previous media. The days of the soapbox orator is long gone, but for each one of them there are ten bloggers today, each of whom have a dedicated and often vocal following.
Sometimes I believe that the future has worked out rater nicely.
Hey Lisanne, I’ll try to get some pictures up soon – camera’s not working, so my sis took pics on her Sidekick – won’t be the best res.
I’ll see what I can do!
I usually take photos of Halloween decorations but what I saw this year didn’t inspire me. I only found one or two that were unexpected.
So I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures.
My 2 cents
Dollar vans: Proof positive the MTA must do a better job.
Parking tickets: everyone is above average and is treated unfairly. There seems always to be mitigating circumstnaces.
ALL public postings, graffiti, legal billboards = visual pollution. Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame but when is enough is enough?
Scrap Metal Collection: Proof positive the Sanitation Dept. must do a better job. There is an obvious need to move our garbage at a faster pace. Maybe the geniuses laid off from Wall St can figure it out.
Dollar Vans: I think comparing these guys to the MTA is not really appropriate. They don’t work on the same scale. They don’t have the same overhead. Most of the guys driving them are “independent contractors” the same way most of us Car Service guys are. They don’t get pensions or medical insurance, they dont have a union fighting for vacation days and perks.
From a certain point of view these guys work under Draconian Conditions compared to the TWU.
If a certain route is not profitable then there wont be a dollar van on it. The MTA has to service the city and its citizens profit or not right? It runs routes that lose money but still run because of other revenue streams. The MTA is not just funded by fares, but by taxes, government grants and fees and tolls.
None of that applies to these dollar vans. Their sole purpose is to undercut the MTA and Car Services by running a single route over and over and over. Do they provide a service, yes, do they provide a legitimate service, well thats up for discussion.
People keep saying the MTA has to do a better job but its not just the MTA. It’s the city and state government. It’s us too. We’re failing ourselves.
A real solution for the MTA would be for some auditor or group of auditors to deconstruct the entire system and business. What generates a profit. What doesnt? What positions are not needed or can be folded into other positions. If you combine two jobs, and give that worker slightly higher pay to compensate you’re saving money because you only have to pay one set of benefits and taxes. What lines routes and lines can be altered or moved? Which ones are 100% needed for the good of the city and which are only for the good of one neighborhood.
Excuse my language but the entire MTA system is a cluster fuck of over 150 years of patchwork. New York City is not Coruscant. It’s not some sci-fi fantasy land. At some point the entire thing needs to be replaced, wholesale.
In the end we need to take a major step back and take a look at the big picture. For some reason whenever someone in this city builds infrastructure they can’t seem to look more then 20-30 years in the future. We need to start building things that are designed to last 200 years or more, and designed to be replaceable with the utmost of ease.
Arthur, I agree with almost every word of that….though I think expecting infrastructure to last 200 years is, well, do you think that the folks in 1809 could have ever foreseen our system today?
But you do seem to have true understanding of the MTA and the Dollar Van issue. BTW, how many dollar vans operate without insurance?
Lew from Brooklyn
Maybe it’s my American Ego talking but The Romans built the Aqueducts, those have lasted thousands of years.
The native people of South America (I think in Peru?) built underground aqueducts that are also in use today.
Relatively simple (by technological standards) civilizations used nothing but math and manual labor to build the most incredible things.
We’ve got Modern Technology, Advanced Mathematics, Futuristic Metal Alloys, the mental brain power of 6 billion people on the planet. For anybody to claim that we CAN’T achieve any of these things is plain ludicrous. We’ve seen more technological and scientific advancement in the last 100 years then in the entire history of the human race. What is that? 60,000 years?
What’s Obama fond of saying? Yes We Can?
Any reasonably educated person should have a “true” understanding of the difference between the MTA and Dollar Vans. It’s an issue of scale. Now, granted, when we get into the specifics of economics vs macroeconomics or microeconomics or whatever I know diddly, but it’s fairly easy to see that the MTA is a raging river and Dollar Vans are a little creek somewhere far up stream.
Dollar Vans aren’t the only ones who operate without insurance. Car Services do it too. Not just without insurance but without licenses.
Which brings me to another point. Is it just me or does it seem like every single city agency is filled to the brim with middle management. People pulling between 50-100k a year to “supervise” and “manage” or “audit” just about everything in site. When the “grunts” the people that are supposed to be out and about the eyes and ears, the actual hand of the city are slowly being fired off.
Aonther quick tangent. Robert Moses made this city what it is today with money given to the city over a 30-40 year period by the New Deal and other programs. For good or ill, despite any past controversy nobody can deny that. Some of those projects are starting to fall apart. Today we’ve got Obama and the Stimulus package. This city needs to get every cent it could get to replace bridges and highways and finish the 2nd ave train tunnel and everything else.
Woo! Another rant on city mismanagement brought to you by Arthur!
Posters and billboards to many people do equate with visual pollution. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that those who are bothered by street advertising are neither those who utilize it nor those who respond to it.
I am in no way discounting the negatives of postering. It may be easy for many of us to be angry and dismissive about the advertisements placed on our cars, poles, and front gates. Weigh the inconvenience of picking up stray papers or the “ugliness” of a telephone pole covered with signs against the need to connect people with skills with those who need their services. For some that is their livelihood. Weigh the seconds it takes to discard unwanted papers against the need of some people to compare prices, clip coupons, or get cut-rate repairs. In my calculation, the latter is a more important concern, and the former is comparatively petty. Without on-street advertising as well as leafletting, the only way a “little guy” can get established is by joining up as an employee of a major outfit. This route offers far less chance of independence.
Surely the three of us candidates, and many people reading this blog have reached a point in life, largely due to the degrees we hold and years of work, where we no longer need to “hustle” as much for an extra dollar or two, nor cut corners as much in order to save money. Furthermore, I’m sure the occasional fine would not devastate any one of us. But years ago, this was not the case for me.
However, I realized that I because I had certain advantages which many did not in this City, I was better able than the majority to pull myself out of financial hardship. At that time, I vowed that if I ever was in a position to speak out for those people who struggle to better their situation and are handicapped by City fines and regulations, I would do so in whatever capacity I could. Such people often work until they drop, and have little time to get involved in politics or reach out to their elected officials. They probably lack the means to craft defenses to violations with which they are charged. More likely than not, the people for whom I am advocating are not reading this, and will likely not vote (if they are even eligible). Regardless, I will continue to speak out on their behalf.
As far as parking tickets are concerned, I continue to attack their overall premise. Alternate side parking regulations are a money-making scam. The same gutter which must be accessible to the sweeper is the gutter for which the adjacent property owner is forcibly made responsible. Fine the homeowner for garbage in the gutter. Fine the driver for oversleeping and not moving the car. Pay for sweeping out of our tax dollars. How much garbage is there, really? Much of the district, sections of the 50s in particular, have NO alternate side parking regulations. Contrary to the what you would expect, the streets are tidy and well-kept, not festering dumps, owing to the fact that the amount of trash which falls in the gutter is more than manageable for the residents to clean at their convenience.
Here in Sheepshead Bay we have a individual plastering every available surface with their ads for moving services. Every block here has scores of these ads. they are secured in such a way so as to make their removal difficult. This does not appear to me to be the work of some poor struggling person. Rather, there is an aggressive entrepreneurial mind at work here.
For some reason this reminds me of one of my favorite Yogi Berra quotes. Asked what he would do if he found a million dollars he replied “I’d find the guy who lost it. And if he was poor I’d return it.” The assumption is that postering provides these people with their livelihood. What if every business decided that postering was the means of getting business? What happens when they run out of space on the telephone and traffic poles?
Then there are the campaign workers of our Mayor, who are engaging in similar practices in some places. They should have been told where they can put these things and where they can’t.
Maybe we should fine the mayor. Especially since he believes that fining us for engaging in behavior unacceptable to him is for the good of society. As an example, he doesn’t want anyone feeding the birds. i mean, any kind of bird. I’m amazed that they haven’t gone after the supermarkets that sell large bags of bird feed. They’re not being used to feed the family canary.
Birds are aesthetically good for our environment. So are squirrels. Possums eat vermin. We could live without raccoons though, I haven’t seen any myself but others I know have. Raccoons are destructive, and harm other animals.
Our tolerances have limits.
As I wrote earlier in this thread, public bulletin boards could be set up to allow small businesses to promote themselves. Thusly people seeking services would read the ads. In the meantime, I shall be removing every ad I see posted on a pole. As should all responsible people. The number of these thing is so out of control that one person can’t eliminate all of them. I know its like attempting the drinking the ocean, these signs will reappear quickly, but it better than merely complaining.
I suppose everyone’s mind is made up on this issue, but I continue my mantra: Show sensitivity. Be aware that many people NEED to do whatever they can to survive, and for them postering is a matter of survival, not of aesthetics. If perhaps a successful business grows from street advertising, then big deal. More power to them. This is a capitalist country, isn’t it? Why must we be so rigid? Why are people so concerned about minutia that we put it into law? The election, I’m sure, will be decided by those affluent enough not to see it my way.
Derek,
Obviously we continue to disagree on postering.
Today, I saw your campaign poster affixed to a pole on Nostrand Avenue. Given your philosphy on this, I am neither surprised, and I am surely not “upset”. But what I would ask you to do is this: After the polls close, would you arrange to have all of your posters removed and disposed of properly? That would be the public spirited thing to do. I commend Gene for not postering thus far. I did not print posters and when I have in previous efforts, they only went in store windows. (I figured someone might ask…)
Fair is fair. I know you have limited resources for getting your message out. And while I don’t like any medium like this which is illegal, I understand your use of it. but can we ask you to clean up after yourself?
Lew from Brooklyn
PS Good luck tomorrow.
Derek – Actually, its not just affluent people that find these things appalling. Some people stay poor because they do follow the rules of a society. Many such people have pride and its a matter of honor to them.
Even a capitalist society has laws that preclude businesses from engaging in various practices. There was a time when restrictions were few. We had child labor back then, dangerous products being sold without warning, rampant misrepresentation of the various qualities of goods and services, and corporate combinations that led to price gouging and other unsavory practices.
Keep in mind that legitimate moving companies are licensed and therefore, at least theoretically accountable. The individual who engages a non-licensed company is running a higher risk of damage to their property. Many times these operations change their numbers and company names so that those running them can’t be easily found.
Someone who is putting up thousands of posters isn’t looking to make a basic living. In fact it is conceivable that the poster is a legitimate business that wishes to appear as if they are providing a discounted service. As no company name is given, who knows.
Given the high sentiment, it was always my intention to remove all remaining posters after the election, which should be easy since 90% were hung by me, and most are already gone. I will retrace my steps Tuesday evening and happily remove every single one. If any remain on Wednesday, feel free to criticize or notify me personally through my email or phone number, which is on my website. If anyone would like a souvenir poster, I will be happy to deliver one free of charge.
Thank you Derek. You are a gentleman and a tribute to my alma matter. Hail Tilden high…or what’s left of it.
Lew from Brooklyn
I’ve limited my sign posting to locations where residents and/or business owners give me permission to hang signs – given resources, the effort has been limited. There won’t be any signs posted on poles from my campaign. It’s political graffiti.
Back to pounding that pavement!
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