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Marty Golden, Photo By Erica Sherman

As the upcoming mayoral race heats up, sharp battle lines between Democrats and Republicans are being drawn. The latest hot-button issue centers around City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s plan to create a special new oversight committee that would monitor and review NYPD policies and procedures, according to a report by the New York Post.

The new agency, dubbed the Inspector General’s Office (IGO), would challenge many controversial policing methods, most famously the stop-and-frisk program, which critics believe overwhelmingly target blacks and Hispanics. The IGO would be placed in the city’s Department of Investigation, the department in charge of investigating all city agencies. The IGO would not take the place of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs, which would still handle individual cases of police misconduct.

According to the Post, Quinn has enough Council votes to pass the measure, even in the face of a mayoral veto by Bloomberg.

Ex-cop and current State Senator Marty Golden blasted Quinn’s plan as “pathetic, sad” and “a setback for the city and the safety of the children.” GOP mayoral candidate, Joe Lhota, also derided the plan.

“Building another bureaucracy is not the answer,” the Post reported Lhota saying at a mayoral debate.

The issue of stop-and-frisk also divided Democrats when former comptroller Bill Thompson rebuked current comptroller John Liu’s call to end the practice.

“I’m worried also about my son being shot by someone who’s a member of a gang in the street.”

For his part, Liu, echoing comments made by Quinn and Thompson, promised to hire thousands of new officers if elected.

Source: Jamie Adams via Wikimedia Commons

We’ve been reporting on the possibility of casinos coming to New York City and New Yorkers’ lukewarm opposition to them. As the mayoral race becomes more a thing, the question arises as to where our future mayors stand on the issue. City and State recently got the skinny on where our would-be leaders stand on bringing glitzy gambling to the five boroughs and here is the breakdown:

• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D): While she thinks its a bad idea, if the state legalizes gambling, she said she would consider the possibility of a NYC-based casino.
• Former MTA Chief Joe Lhota (R): Supportive. He believes that the success of the Resorts World Casino in Southeast Queens speaks to the idea that New Yorkers would be excited for a casino if it was located far enough from communities.
• City Comptroller John Liu (D): He thinks its a good idea as long as its not easy to get to. He is worried about people having too easy access and gambling away their savings, so placing the casino in an isolated space, like Governors Island, appeals to him.
• Adolfo Carrión (I): Agrees with Liu. Wants the casino built somewhere on the city’s waterfront.
• CEO of Manhattan Media Tom Allon (R): Against legalizing gambling altogether.
• Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson (D): Wouldn’t support one way or the other. Believes that New Yorkers must decide themselves.

Candidates Bill de Blasio, John Catsimatidis and George McDonald were either not available to comment or declined to do so. We look forward to hearing their views well before the election.

The mayoral candidates at last Friday’s debate. Photo by Allan Rosen

THE COMMUTE: In Part 1 of this series, I reported on the candidates’ positions regarding major transit issues. In Part 2, I addressed financial issues. Now we will discuss safety, and sum up.

The first half of the conference addressed safety, both for transit employees as well as passengers. It is an issue that has been in the headlines recently and is a major concern for both parties.

The union implied that the number of passengers falling onto the tracks is increasing, stating that four people fell just during the past week. They did not mention their heavily criticized plan to slow down trains to make the subways safer. This issue was also not addressed further by the panelists.

Union officials mentioned that in 2010, there were the most service cuts ever, and also the most incidents of employee assaults. The question asked was: Is there a correlation between the 2010 service cuts and the rise in incidents of employee assaults?

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Attendees at the mayoral candidates forum. Photo by Allan Rosen

THE COMMUTE: In Part 1, with the exception of safety and financing, I reported on the candidates’ positions regarding major transit issues. In this part, we will address financing.

Commentary

The event was well-attended and the conference was run well, with time limits respected. There were some microphone issues, and the table was barely long enough to accommodate all seven panelists, with Thompson (seated at the far left) remarking about how little table he had.

Comptroller John Liu commented on bus schedules not being realistic.  Although traffic is probably considered in developing schedules, I agree that many schedules are unrealistic. Insufficient consideration is given to heavy passenger loadings and to wheelchairs, both of which delay buses.  If the schedule does not necessarily allow for it, a bus can lose up to 15 minutes or more on a single trip if more than one passenger in a wheelchair needs to be accommodated.

In response to the recent school bus driver strike, the moderator suggested that the MTA take over yellow school bus operations without any mention of the financial ramifications that it would cause. MTA workers are paid much more than school bus drivers and no revenue is obtained from the passengers, so such a move could be detrimental to the MTA’s finances without an increase in the city’s contribution to the MTA.

This was stated as a matter of fact — as something that just needs to be done. No candidate addressed that issue. There was little interaction between the panelists other than a slightly heated discussion between two participants regarding allowing non-medallion taxi street hails.

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The mayoral candidates (seated alphabetically by last name, right to left) at last Friday’s transit debate. Photo by Allan Rosen

THE COMMUTE: Last Friday I attended a discussion held at the City University of New York with mayoral hopefuls Sal Albanese, Tom Allon, Adolpho Carrion (Allon and Carrion are both seeking the Republican nomination), Bill de Blasio, John Liu, Christine Quinn, and Bill Thompson all in attendance. Former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, also seeking the Republican nomination, was not in attendance. The big question is: Why? This article sheds some light why he was not present.

The candidates answered most of the questions rather than sideswiping the issues, as we all too often see in political debates. One exception was the very first question about groping attacks on women in which the candidates used their time to make their opening remarks instead. The other questions asked of the panel were:

• Is there a correlation between the 2010 service cuts and the rise in incidents of employee assaults?
• New York City currently funds mass transit with .2 percent of its budget. As mayor, would you increase that funding amount to one percent?
• How would you reduce New York City’s carbon footprint?

There was a greater interest in improving and expanding bus service than subway service. Three candidates were in favor of building light rail and only Liu mentioned expanding the subway system in the long term. There was also much interest in ferries and the need to pay more attention to the outer boroughs.

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Newly elected Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who represents the majority of Anthony Weiner’s old stomping grounds in the recently redrawn 8th Congressional District, had a warm welcome by a slew of New York political heavyweights before his inaugural remarks, according to a report in the New York Times.

Jeffries, who represents a large part of the Brooklyn southern coastline including of Coney Island, received a sterling introduction to the Congressional stage as Democratic political bigwigs like Senator Charles Schumer and Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Yvette Clarke were in attendance at Pratt Institute Memorial Hall.

It seems that Jeffries’ inauguration was the place to be seen, politically speaking, as according to the Times, every Democratic hopeful for the upcoming Mayoral race was in attendance including Public Advocate Bill di Blasio, Comptroller John C. Liu, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Comptroller William Thompson.

In his remarks, Jeffries paid tribute to retiring Representative Edolphus Towns and former Representative Shirley Chisholm who had previously represented large parts of the constituencies Jeffries now presides over. He also put forward a progressive message.

“We’re going to give you the government that you deserve,” Congressman Jeffries said. “That’s my mission. We’re not going backward. We’re going to keep moving forward.”

Source: Google Maps

After years of delays and millions of dollars over budget, Marine Park residents are still without a much-anticipated community center. And the project is now one of the most notable in the city as an example of the Parks Department’s waste and inefficiency.

The community center, located at the northern end of Marine Park at Fillmore Avenue was touted in a new report by New York City Comptroller John Liu that blasted the Parks Department for “not carrying out and overseeing capital construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner.”

According to  the report, which audited Parks projects conducted in fiscal year 2010-2011, the agency was late on delivering 47 percent of the 315 capital construction projects completed. On average, the projects were 218 days late, nearly double the estimated time for completion.

And it’s not just a matter of delays keeping parks closed from the public. They’re racking up a price tag. Thirty projects combined to run up a tab of $10 million in cost overruns. And bungling by consultants and designers cost the city an additional $4 million to correct, an amount the agency failed to recoup despite clauses in contracts that require contractors to return the money to taxpayers.

The Marine Park Community Center, though, remains particularly galling. Its numbers are not included in the tally above – as Liu’s team only looked at projects completed during the audit period – though it earned some honorable mentions.

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New York City Comptroller John Liu joined the Be Proud Foundation yesterday afternoon, as the organization handed out more than 500 bags of kosher food in advance of Passover.

It was the third year in a row in which Be Proud organized the event, hosted by Aqua Health Rehabilitation Center at 2753 Coney Island Avenue. The group gave out Aqua Health tote bags stuffed with matzoh, Kedem grape juice, macaroons and other traditional Passover goodies, to a crowd dominated by seniors hailing from the former Soviet Union.

“Passover is the best time for us to show that we care about our neighbors,” said Raisa Chernina, founder of the Be Proud Foundation. “By giving out food we are going to share our happiness with those people who count on us more than ever in this current economic climate.”

Faculty, students and politicians rally to fight education cuts. In this photo: Kit Wainer, UFT Chapter Leader; Jessica Kallo, student; John Liu, NYC Comptroller; Principal Joseph Zaza (Source: Kit Wainer)

New York City Comptroller John Liu joined Leon M. Goldstein High School Principal Joseph Zaza, and 125 faculty members, parents and students last Monday to protest the ongoing budget slashes of the city’s public schools.

It was the latest in a series of rallies the school, located at 2001 Oriental Boulevard, has had over the past two years, since the city and state have sliced-and-diced from every nook and cranny of budgets. This rally came on the heels of the largest single-agency layoff since Mayor Bloomberg took office, in which 672 school aides, parent coordinators and family workers lost their jobs.

That meant more pain for our local schools, which are already suffering from staffing and programming cuts.

When we asked Victoria Sottile, Goldstein’s United Federation of Teachers Consultation Committee member, in a Q&A piece last year why a rally is important, she told us “the demonstration is important to raise awareness as to how seriously the budget cuts are affecting the quality of education we can provide to our students.” She told us about gaps in student schedules, the slashing of Advanced Placement programs and even basic science and math courses being eliminated because of staff shortages.

Last June, about 600 students staged an early morning walk-out in response to the budget cuts.

THE COMMUTE: It’s been a busy news week for commuters.

The Port Authority has proposed to increase PATH fares from $1.75 to $2.75 and peak-hour round-trip bridge and tunnel tolls for non-E-ZPass users to $15 from the current $8.00.  A new entrance was opened at the Fulton Street transit complex.  The MTA announced they lost $31 million last year to fare evasion. The New York Times revealed more insight into the reasons MTA Chairman Jay Walder resigned his position, effective in October; it appears that he received a cool reception from Governor Cuomo.

However the most noteworthy development of the past two weeks was the release of a joint audit of the MTA from the State and City Comptrollers, their first joint audit in 10 years. The subject of the audit is Subway Service Diversions for Maintenance and Capital Projects, which are necessary and yet so annoying.

The report has received much criticism. Called pointless by Ben Kabak in SecondAvenueSagas.com, and misguided and petty by the Daily News, I thought I would take a look for myself.

Keep reading to see what I found.