Wildstein: Christie Knew

Looks like somebody is seriously looking for a plea deal.  Glad I popped that corn!

In a letter released by his lawyer, the former official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago. “Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him, and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

No honor among thieves. 

Security Theater

Unbelievable, even for a longtime airport security cynic like me.

TSA kabuki

People holding passports from the selectee countries were automatically pulled aside for full-body pat-downs and had their luggage examined with a fine-toothed comb. The selectee list was purely political, of course, with diplomacy playing its role as always: There was no Saudi Arabia or Pakistan on a list of states historically known to harbor, aid and abet terrorists.

George Carlin was prescient.  The whole system is a joke.

Fact Check: Not Exactly An Imperial Presidency

Kenyan Tyranny! /FoxNews

And, despite the Republican rhetoric, the numbers suggest that presidential power, as wielded by volume of executive orders anyway, is actually declining. George W. Bush and Obama recorded the fewest orders per day in office since before 1900.

A lie, just like everything else the right wing keeps repeating on the airwaves and in print.  But how many people now "know" that Obama has been governing like a dictator, even though it is factually untrue?

Millions.

Bloomberg Housing Legacy: Mission Accomplished!

Ambitious is not the word I would have chosen.

An audit shows the Bloomberg administration completed 95% of the mayor’s ambitious housing plan before he left office last year.

Park Slope's top cop creates a Vision Zero 'model' | Capital New York

Good story on the great work DI Ameri is doing in the 78th. 

On the fourth floor of the 78th Precinct, a cyclist and safe streets advocate named Adam White stood up to “commend the 78th Precinct” for its recent sting on drivers for failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.Deputy inspector Michael Ameri's precinct, he said, was “setting the standard for police precincts throughout New York City."Not to be outdone, Paco Abraham, a co-founder of New York City’s first political action committee devoted to safe streets—the aptly named StreetsPAC—thanked Ameri for creating a protected bike lane in front of his precinct using police resources and then shoveling snow from that bike lane after the recent blizzard.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of this community.

Dan Snyder Doubles Down On Casual Ingrained Racism

That's Dan Snyder's money.

I thought the title was an exaggeration, perhaps a joke, but if anything it's an understatement.  My jaw dropped in disbelief.  Fortunately, these are (mostly) villains of the "Home Alone" competence level.  

Washington Redskins Hire All-Star Team of Villains

The Washington Redskins, fighting off campaigns to force them to change their team name, have hired not only comically sleazy Washington lawyer Lanny Davis but an entire roster of Beltway super-villains. Dan Snyder's approach to any problem is to throw vast sums of money at overrated big names whose best work is behind them, so it is fitting that he has compiled an all-star team of mendacious sleaze.

Embarassing.

Promises Kept: deBlasio To Drop Bloomberg's Stop and Frisk Appeal

Progress.

De Blasio Moves to End Stop-and-Frisk Lawsuit

Mayor Bill de Blasio today made good on a campaign promise, laying out a deal to end the city's appeal of a federal court ruling that deemed the NYPD's implementation of stop-and-frisk unconstitutional. Under the deal, the city will accept Judge Shira Scheindlin's assessment that the the Bloomberg administration engaged in racial profiling and move to settle case.

Farewell to the Ray Kelly era of casual contempt for constitutional rights. 

BROOKLYN ELECTED OFFICIALS' STATEMENT ON LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL

Lots going on behind the scenes on the LICH front these days.  Here is the press release in full.

 Today, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, State Senators Daniel Squadron and Velmanette Montgomery, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Councilmembers Brad Lander, Steve Levin, and Carlos Menchaca released the following statement regarding Long Island College Hospital (LICH):

 

"As federal, state and city elected officials, we stand together against SUNY's latest attempt to turn LICH into a luxury condo deal.  As we have consistently said, SUNY, Governor Cuomo, and the NYS Department of Health must support a new, more open, and expedited process to solve the crisis at LICH -- in order to ensure the best possible outcome for Brooklyn.

 

"Of course we would strongly prefer to maintain a full-service hospital on the site. Nearly everyone in the community would, and it is what we have been fighting for, for over a year. We also recognize the possibility that even under a fair process, this option may not be proposed. But the only way to know -- the only way to have confidence that we are achieving the 'best possible outcome' for the community -- is through a fair and appropriate process. 

"SUNY's process has fallen far short, by any reasonable standards, and their latest last-minute, rushed, non-collaborative revision to their flawed RFP process is more of the same.  It limits the bidders to the handful of real-estate developers who chose to reply to the same RFP SUNY released in July, after which two separate State Supreme Court Justices ruled that SUNY failed to follow proper procedure or appropriately consider the community health impacts of LICH's closure.  The RFP is burdened with hundreds of millions of dollars in questionable liabilities; designed to undervalue healthcare and overvalue luxury housing; requires developers to offer the fully appraised value of the property (even though this assumes an entire conversion to residential use); and now even requires bidders to waive all claims they might have arising from the process (an apparent attempt to protect themselves from the consequence of this flawed process).

"If SUNY and the Governor genuinely want to achieve the best possible outcome, then they will do it through a real expedited RFP -- which could conclude in weeks, not months -- that includes the attached criteria.  If they did, we would be prepared to participate in the process, and to work together to achieve the best possible solution.

"Let's be clear, today's crisis at LICH has been created by SUNY's failure to work collaboratively, or within the law, to find a solution for more than a year.  Yesterday was more of the same, and will only lead to more costly delays in finding a solution. 

"If SUNY had worked collaboratively from the start, the State would no longer be saddled with LICH's deficit today. The extra months and millions in financial losses were not created by the community by insisting on preserving health care services; they were created by SUNY by refusing to work together toward a better outcome.

"Brooklyn healthcare deserves better. Only an open process, with revised goals and criteria that prioritize healthcare, and provide genuine community representation in the decision-making process, can ensure the best possible healthcare outcome."

 

The elected officials also set forward the following criteria for an acceptable RFP process: 

1.   Open to all respondents (or, at a minimum, affords all respondents to both the RFEI and RFP the opportunity to respond, with new partners).  If we are going to have confidence that this process will yield the best possible result for our community, under the current circumstances, then it must be open to a wider range of bidders than the handful of real-estate developers who chose to participate in SUNY’s early, highly-flawed RFP.

2.   Selection criteria:

1.   Financial contribution to SUNY only up to a pre-negotiated amount that fairly reflects SUNY liabilities. This must not be the full appraised value of the property, which is based on an assumption that the entire property is converted to “highest and best” (i.e. market-rate residential use), and therefore assumes the elimination of healthcare services.

2.   Quality and quantity of healthcare services provided must comprise the majority of the competitive criteria.

3.   Record of partnering with communities, meeting obligations and providing high-quality construction/management.

4.   As part of any housing proposal, the proposer should describe how their development plans would address affordability, neighborhood context, sustainability, open space and other factors relevant to a large-scale development.

5.   Financial and practical feasibility.

3.    Minimum required healthcare services:

1.    a smaller full-service hospital or, at a minimum, a facility that can receive 911 ambulance service, with 24-hour a-day care

2.    radiology

3.    pediatrics

4.    dialysis

5.    continuation of school-based health clinics

6.    Medicaid accessible primary and preventive care

4.   Selection committee must include meaningful (i.e. able to have an impact on RFP substance and selection) representation made up of the community, local officials, and the City.

5.   Significantly expedited process.

6.   Continuous emergency service through RFP and transfer.

7.   Deed restrictions on property to ensure use approved.

8.   Respondents should not be required to “waive all rights” under the RFP process, if they have legitimate claims against SUNY after the process has been completed.  This is highly unusual, and suggests that SUNY recognizes their process has been flawed.  We need the fullest range of bidders to ensure the best possible outcome, and cannot afford to limit the bidders willing to participate in a rigged process. 

I'll have to post the open letter issued by the community group plaintiffs (including Cobble Hill Association and Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association) later as well.

What Passes For Economic Development These Days

One of the great boondoggles of our time.  A hideous travesty, a shining example of multiple failures of leadership and vision, and an ongoing sinkhole for public money.

Development Watch: A Look at the 'Ugliest Damn Building' in Jersey, 'Maybe America'

Originally known as Xanadu—the potential for poetic irony apparently lost on the developers—this recent subject of a deep dive over at Atlantic Cities was proposed as a massive entertainment complex with an indoor ski slope, and nearly a decade after it broke ground, it still shows no signs of opening up in the near future. Come Sunday, this colorfully-paneled facility will serve as a staging area for police, as well as a reminder of the lingering death throes of the indoor mall.

Xanadu!

The Grimm Reaper Is Coming For You, Scotto!

A new career in pro wrestling might be a better fit for Rep. Michael Grimm, who will be losing his Congressional seat one way or another this year.  I look forward to Domenic Recchia dropping the People's Elbow on Grimm in November.

US Representative Michael Grimm Threatens to Break Reporter In Half and Throw Him Off a Balcony

US Representative Michael Grimm (Brooklyn, Staten Island) threatened to break NY1 reporter Michael Scotto in half and throw him off a balcony Tuesday night. The altercation happened after President Obama's State of the Union address, when the NY1 reporter attempted to ask Grimm about the federal investigation into his campaign fundraising.

More fun:

It’s certainly not the first time a politician has walked out during a live interview. But what happened next is shocking even to the most jaded observer. After Stotto returns to his report, Rep. Grimm, a former FBI agent and Marine, suddenly storms back into the camera frame, whispering a threat to the reporter. "I will break you in half," he says, reportedly threatening to throw the journalist over a balcony inside the U.S. Congress.

Although the audio is largely muted, NY1 employees say that Grimm said, "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this balcony.”

Brooklyn Boulders Bargain - Amazon Local Deal

Because it was there.

Not three weeks ago we took my nephew to Brooklyn Boulders for his birthday.  A huge space, friendly and knowledgeable people, and a great time.  This morning an Amazon Local deal for 54% off a day pass or 60% off a monthly pass popped up in my inbox.  I highly recommend the experience.  From the offer:

Rock climbing is a fulfilling way to challenge yourself physically or mentally. From core strength to balance and flexibility, your creative and strategic mind will be tested on our walls. Come to Brooklyn Boulders to experience climbing and community. Amenities include yoga, lockers, slackline, climbing training area, free Wi-Fi, and more.

• $19 ($41 value) for an all-inclusive day pass: includes 15-minute facility orientation and climbing introduction, full-day admission, and full gear rental
• $99 ($252 value) for a one-month membership with free gear rental and a 15-minute facility orientation and climbing introduction
• Over 22,000 square feet of climbing terrain
• Open 8 a.m. - midnight, seven days a week

Brooklyn Boulders' Website

We went on a Sunday afternoon and I was surprised by what a good crowd they had.  This is a big city.  If you fill an empty niche and fill it well, the people will come.

Alternate Side Parking Suspended Today

Well, I wasn't expecting that. 

Alternate Side Parking Regulations will be suspended citywide for today, Wednesday, January 29, to facilitate winter weather preparations and snow removal. Payment at parking meters will remain in effect throughout the City.

Download the alternate side parking calendar.

2013 Port Authority Brain Drain - To Be Seen In A New Light?

It didn't occur to me until today that this story from Crain's in September might be related to Christie's stacking of the PANYNJ staff with unscrupulous hacks.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, long a magnet for ambitious transportation, construction, engineering and real estate executives eager to ply their craft on a grand scale, is experiencing a high-level brain drain.

With its largest project, the $15 billion rebuilding of the World Trade Center complex, winding down and no huge developments on the horizon, key executives at the bistate agency are decamping in an exodus only worsened by a recent audit that triggered big changes in its management and salary structures.

. . . .

Executives at public agencies like the Port Authority have long moved on to more lucrative posts in the private sector. But the scale of the defections from the agency's upper ranks in recent months exceed its norm.

Perhaps an enterprising reporter would like to revisit this article and its theses.  I'm not saying there is a definitive relationship to Christie's burgeoning scandalpalooza.  But the timing is interesting.  In my experience people don't often flee a prestigious institution in droves in the absence of a toxic and/or intolerable working environment or some other compelling factor.

Capital New York On Regional Transit Planning For NYC

Other world class cities do it better.  We could too.  New York, New Jersey and Connecticut should be working together to plan for and operate transit on a regional basis.  Arbitrary political borders should not stand in the way of coordinating for the reality of the natural metropolitan area. 

The dangers of competition between governors, of course, can come into play even when they’re ostensibly working together. This much is gruesomely clear from the ongoing “Bridgegate” scandal currently engulfing the administration of Chris Christie and his appointees to the famously fractious bistate Port Authority—a worst-case scenario involving appointees making parochial political decisions with no loyalty to the entity and no sense of responsibility for the overall regional mission. Regional entities, if poorly conceived, hurt more than they help.But imagine if it were done right, and the systems were unified in a way that created a shared incentive among the states, and which discouraged parochialism and political maneuvering.The benefits wouldn’t just accrue to people traveling to special events, or to the odd souls who have regular occasion to travel straight from New Brunswick to Rye. Cohesive regional transit would be of significant benefit to the New York area, and to most everyone who depends on public transportation to get around it. The effect would be particularly noticeable to anyone who ever travels, in any direction, through Penn Station.

It's been a while since I wrote about this topic.  We can do so much better.

Gawker: 94 Reasons Pete Seeger Matters in 2014

Pretty good list.

94 Reasons Pete Seeger Matters in 2014

Because Taylor Swift isn't going to start a revolution . 

Because "a literal knight of the Kingdom of Norway" who can buy "a six-pack of Rolexes" would like to tell you how Occupy is like the Nazis.

R.I.P. Pete Seeger

94 years is a pretty good run.  I was fortunate to see Pete and Arlo and family perform at Carnegie Hall a few times in the last decade.  Our cousins have made it an annual tradition for something like 40 years and I am so glad they invited us to join in a wonderful experience. 

Pete Seeger was a giant. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

Pete Seeger, Legendary Folk Musician and Activist, Dies at 94

When Seeger was honored by the Kennedy Center in 1994, President Bill Clinton described him as "an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them." He supported the labor movement in the forties and fifties, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., participated in anti-Vietnam War rallies, and spent decades fighting to clean up the Hudson River. Seeger and his wife Toshi lived on the same property in Beacon, NY since 1949. She died last year, just days before their 70th anniversary. The couple had three children and six grandchildren. Seeger never retired from performing or political activism. He marched in the Occupy Wall Street protests, and joined Bruce Springsteen to sing "This Land Is Your Land" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during President Obama's first inauguration. "He was so happy that day," Springsteen recalled. "It was like, 'Pete, you outlasted the bastards, man.' It was so nice."

The next time Ted Nugent says some jackassed thing, remember you can pull up a little Pete on Youtube for a palate cleanser.

Union Street Jamming On A Monday Night: Dino BBQ and Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club

Last night was our CB6 EPPL committee meeting which, to my misfortune, was held at the 78th Precinct. Not the most friendly commute back to Carroll Gardens, especially as cold as it was last night.

Photo from Gothamist

On our way back we passed Dinosaur BBQ on Union Street and decided to warm up with a beer.  They did a terrific job with the space, and the place was doing a booming business.  Great beer selection as well.

Picture this, but with a lot of people in it.

Then a little further down the block the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club was holding one of its soft open nights.  That place as well was bustling.  Strange to think that on a cold Monday night there were hundreds of people out at these two venues, when a year ago they were both closed and empty spaces.

The Union Street game hall is decked out in Florida regalia, including old pendants, vintage shuffleboard pictures, and pink flamingo bathroom wallpaper. The esoteric sports arena will boast 10 courts, two bars slinging $11 cocktails named after legendary (to someone) shuffleboard players, and a rotating cast of food trucks such as the Red Hook Lobster Truck and Mexico Blvd. 

Patrons looking to play will have the option of renting a board for $40 an hour or joining a 10-week league for $450. For comparison’s sake, bowlers, who also propel circular objects down varnished wood aisles for fun, pay $45 for an hour of play at Sunset Park’s Melody Lanes or, if they are league members, $6 per game.

Both places are surprisingly large venues . . . that is, they seem bigger on the inside then from the street.  In the case of the shuffleboard club, of course, not all of the space is occupied, given the court layouts.

I guess the moral of the story is, I wish I had more free time.  We have a voucher for court time at the Royal Palms that we bought in a charity auction last summer, and I'm looking forward t using it when some of that free time materializes.

Why Is The NFL Allowed Non-Profit Status?

I don't get it.  Though I do know many who watch religiously.

Did you know that the National Football League is a nonprofit, and hasn't paid a dime in taxes since 1966? As a lifelong football fan, I was shocked to discover that I haven't just paid to watch games and bought NFL merchandise since I was 6 years old -- I've been paying higher taxes as an adult to make-up for the NFL's share.

Some of my best memories are football related. I remember standing in line in 1987 to get John Elway's autograph, and the famous playoff drive. I love the parity of the NFL, and I believe the league provides an important service by ensuring that the league remains strong and that competitive games are well-organized. But that service doesn't justify the NFL being granted nonprofit status -- like soup kitchens and charities have -- that allows it to avoid paying taxes, especially as top executives are paid up to $29 million per year.

I was shocked to learn that the last time the NFL paid taxes was 1966, when lobbyists convinced Congress to pass an obscure provision that expanded the definition of 501(c)6 not-for-profit organizations in the Internal Revenue Code to include "professional football leagues." The 1966 law gave the NFL a way to skirt taxes, while also granting it an uncommon antitrust exemption allowing it to create a monopoly to negotiate TV rights at the same time!

I get way too much junk mail from being involved in various causes.  But every so often I get something like this that's worth reading.

I Repeat: Ticketing Jaywalkers Is Not The Answer

Since there were some passionate objectors to my last post on this topic, I'd like to reinforce the message. Ticketing "jaywalkers" is the wrong policy.

The problem with police officers imparting such advice through ticket-writing, though, is that it leaves pedestrians with a misleading—and sometimes deadly—impression: that following traffic laws will keep them alive. Such a strategy doesn't work in New York, at least not yet. Officers presumably targeted Wong to change his future behavior. But by doing so, Wong could put himself in greater danger. According to news accounts, Wong was crossing two-way 96th Street and Broadway with a crowd but against the light. Had Wong waited for the light, though, he would have had no guarantee of safe passage. At 96th and Broadway, as is typical of a Manhattan intersection, pedestrians and drivers going in the same direction both get a green light at the same time. A pedestrian crossing a side street thus shares the same "go" time with drivers turning from the main avenue onto that side street. Wong could have patiently waited for the light to change and then assumed that any turning drivers would respect his right of way. That's what 72-year old Maude Savage did last November, stepping into a Brooklyn crosswalk only when she received her signal. "You [can] see Savage [on video] waiting for the pedestrian signal and looking both ways before stepping into the street," reports Streetsblog's Brad Aaron. After she did, a speeding driver turned into her. She died from her injuries two months later.

I'm sure the Precinct commander's intentions are good, but the policy is wrong.

I Love A Good Turn of Phrase

I'm not at all familiar with Blackboard, but this vivid and visceral loathing was highly entertaining to read.

Hundreds of years from now, after disease and fire and famine have thinned the human herd to a shrunken patchwork of sagging, skeletal bands of jagged, half-mad wraiths — when the parched soil chokes forth desiccated roots and the air is a toxic brume slumping down on the arched, knotted backs of the still-barely-living — a remote spur of humanity will somehow recover the capacity to speak, an ability long since abandoned by their ancestors, who were mute-struck with the unfathomable despair of those cursed to watch everything they love die. After generations of dry-throated croaking and lung-starched wheezing, their tongues swollen with thirst and punctured with abscesses that never heal, these distant people will bring forth a new language to survey the boundaries of their pain.

I saw this post described as Lovecraftian, but the prose is far better than old HP's.

Federal Taxes On The One Percent

I'm not going to start cheering, as Obama should have addressed this in 2010 at the latest, and there should be more brackets and a host of other tweaks. But it is something. 

Obama and the One Percent

Anyway, thinking about this sort of thing makes me realize that there's a danger, especially for progressives, of confusing the proposition that Obama's billionaire haters are stark raving mad — which is true — with the proposition that Obama has done nothing that hurts the plutocrats' interests, which is false. Actually, Obama has been tougher on the one percent than most progressives give him credit for. Start with taxes. The Bush tax cuts haven't gone completely away, but at the very high end they have been pretty much reversed; plus there are additional high-end taxes associated with Obamacare. The result is that taxes on wealthy Americans have basically been rolled back to pre-Reagan levels:

The level of shrieking is nevertheless far out of proportion to the actual pain.  Like a toddler getting a haircut or a nail trimming.

The Tone-Deaf, Pathological Narcissism Of The 1%

Amazing, disturbing, and pathetic.  Anyone who criticizes me is Hitler!

Venture Capitalist Compares Anger Over Income Inequality to Nazi Germany

Does San Francisco's backlash against its wealthy tech workers bear any resemblance to Nazi Germany? Influential rich guy Tom Perkins thinks so! In a letter to the Wall Street Journal titled "Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?" published on Saturday, Perkins, a billionaire who founded venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, writes, "I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich.'"

The piles and piles of money will never be big enough to fill the emptiness within.

Weekend Subway Service Advisories

Lots of work. Just not in Carroll Gardens. And neither am I, this weekend. So stay warm and we'll chat again Monday. 

Weekend work affecting 11 subway lines

A thumbs-up from then-Mayor Bloomberg on a delayed opening date. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak) For a Friday in late January, today sure was a busy day. If you missed it, we learned that East Side Access …

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2014/01/24/weekend-work-affecting-11-subway-lines-2/

- - -
Shared from the Digg iPhone app
Want more stories like this? Check out Digg Reader →

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

If The State Needs Money, Why Is Cuomo Opposing The deBlasio Pre-K Plan

Does the governor seriously want to (a) thwart the #1 policy goal of the mayor who was just elected in a landslide AND (b) poach dedicated transit funds at the same time?

To save NYC's millionaires a few dollars a day in taxes?  

The political calculus is way off.  I hope the Governor takes a step back to reevaluate his priorities this year.

Governor Cuomo Calls for Annual Transit Raids Until 2031

Most years since 2009, the state has yanked funds from dedicated transit taxes to fund other parts of its budget. The pattern continues in this year's budget, which includes a $40 million raid that pushes the state's debt obligations onto straphangers. Worse still is that the accompanying financial plan projects a $20 million raid for several years afterward — all for MTA bonds that the state had previously agreed to pay from its general fund. This is the first time advocates can recall a governor planning transit raids years in advance, not as a last-minute budget gap measure. "The repayment of the bonds is a state responsibility," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "The bottom line is that the state's not meeting its promise."

Third Way neo-liberalism is out.  The lipstick has worn off of the pig.

Our Glorious Merit-Based System

Criminal prosecutions?  No, bonuses!

Some board members fault what they consider to be overzealous federal prosecutors for the hefty fines, rather than Mr. Dimon or the bank, arguing that JPMorgan is being penalized for the sins of firms like Bear Stearns that it scooped up during the financial crisis.

But many of those very problems arose under Mr. Dimon’s watch, including $1 billion in fines from regulators over the trading blowup. Leaving his compensation unchanged could have sent a symbolic message of contrition to authorities.

Instead, the board’s decision to raise his pay may energize critics who have questioned whether the directors can provide an effective check on the charismatic Mr. Dimon, who is both chairman and chief executive. Some shareholders have argued for those jobs to be split to limit his power, but a proposal for such a division was handily defeated at the bank’s annual meeting last spring.

Amazing.  Those billion dollar fines for routine, pervasive violation the laws?  Just a cost of doing business. And in modern day America, we reward that kind of gumption.  You've got moxie kid.

How Will Your Children Support Themselves

When there are no jobs for them?  It's a serious question. And we need to start thinking of the answers now.

What happens when half the jobs are gone? by @DavidOAtkins

I've been banging on this drum for a while now, but someone should probably start thinking about what progressive public policy looks like when half the jobs are gone: 

Two hugely important statistics concerning the future of employment as we know it made waves recently: 

1. 85 people alone command as much wealth as the poorest half of the world. 

2. 47 percent of the world's currently existing jobs are likely to be automated over the next two decades.

Here's a thought experiment.  What happens when the .1% own everything, and don't need you?  Personally, I'd rather plan ahead now than face the dystopian nightmare future that the Koch-fueled libertarians dream for us.

The Sam Schwartz Plan Would Save Lives

. . . and reduce traffic, help price the negative externalities of driving, spread the cost burden more fairly, and raise money for maintenance and improvements. 

It's better and more nuanced than the Bloomberg plan was and would be an excellent component of NYC's transportation policy.  Again, however, there is the looming question of Albany's role in the City's affairs.

Seizing on a politically potent issue, congestion-pricing evangelist Sam Schwartz this morning made a pedestrian-fatality argument for East River bridge tolls. "The tolling policy of New York City puts probably 30 to 50 million miles more on New York City streets versus highways, because we invite people to go over the free bridges," he told WNYC's Brian Lehrer. "That results in casualties."

Again, I'm hopeful that this administration will recognize the benefits of the plan.  The question is, will the legislature and the governor?  We will have to make the case.   I expect to see a lot of effort put into this over the next 12-18 months.

New York Times Profiles Brad Lander

A good piece in the NYT on perhaps the biggest talent in NYC politics and policy circles today, our own City Councilman Brad Lander. 

A former housing advocate who succeeded one Bill de Blasio as a Democratic councilman from Park Slope four years ago, Mr. Lander and another passionate liberal, Melissa Mark-Viverito, joined with several other lawmakers, somer  of whom had been backed by the Working Families Party, to form a Progressive Caucus. They pushed to improve pay and benefits for low-wage workers. They argued for letting city residents help decide how lawmakers should spend their discretionary funds. And in 2011, they began making endorsements and bundling money for candidates, hoping to increase their ranks and perhaps play a role in choosing the next speaker.

Having run against Brad in the crowded primary of aught nine, I was prepared to be critical.  In retrospect he was hands down the best candidate of any of us, and I've been repeatedly impressed with his handling of issues.  

Best Fantasy Casting Ever? Aaron Paul For The Dark Tower

A little off-topic geekery.  I don't have any high hopes for this actually happening (and after the final installment in the book series I'm not sure I want it to) . . . but Aaron Paul was basically born to play the role of Eddie Dean.  I also like the idea of a mixed-media approach to adapting the series, which would otherwise be had to imagine.

But that doesn’t mean other people can’t talk about it in passing, such as when Ain't It Cool Newstalked to Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul at Sundance in connection with family drama Hellion, and Paul briefly mentioned that he’s met with the director about the part of Eddie Dean, which many people have been fantasy casting him for ever since the the project was announced:

“I've had a ton of meetings on that. I just had a general sit down with Ron Howard, who is a huge fan of the show, which is such a crazy thing to even think that Ron Howard even knows who I am. They're definitely planning on making it.”

“Their goal is to do three films, but also have a television element to it, which will be very interesting. From what I hear, Eddie Dean is a pretty epic, iconic character.”

The thought had never occurred to me while watching Breaking Bad, many years after reading the books.  But it's one of those things that, having read it, I can't imagine anyone else in that role.

City Planning On Parking Reform: A Day Late and A Buck Short

A long overdue study that was left to languish under Bloomberg turns out to be disappointingly weak tea. I do have hope that the deBlasio administration will do better, and on a faster schedule.

DCP Releases Timid Parking Reform Study for the Boroughs

Today, even transit-oriented areas in the outer boroughs with already-low rates of car ownership have parking requirements for new development, driving up the cost of housing. But DCP's latest report only contemplates reducing, not eliminating requirements in these areas. "It makes sense to have lower parking requirements in these neighborhoods," it says, without acknowledging that cities have ditched parking mandates in areas that have much less transit access than New York's "inner ring" neighborhoods. DCP's report is focused on determining the number of parking spaces that should be provided and crafting a zoning code that will require new development to provide those spaces. "Modifications can be considered to better match parking regulations to neighborhood characteristics," it says. "In areas where parking requirements are higher than necessary, requirements can be reduced." Sandy Hornick, a long-time DCP deputy director who oversaw much of the department's parking policy, retired at the end of last year. "We're trying to better understand the role that parking plays," he told the Wall Street Journal in 2010, "and adjust our policies accordingly." But it's not the role of city government to forecast demand for parking and then adjust policy to compel developers to provide that parking. DCP acknowledges that parking mandates have a host of negative impacts, but still insists on requiring parking in new development. With the share of car-free households on the rise in New York, it's long past time for the city to get out of the parking demand projection business, and get serious about achieving its environmental and affordability objectives. Parking reform is an issue Bloomberg barely touched. By taking it on, the de Blasio administration can make serious headway on its affordability goals.

I argued as an aside at a City Planning or BSA hearing all the way back in 2008 for eliminating mandatory minimums.  At the time, Amanda Burden said, actually, we are studying that now.  So, that took a while.

The Sad State of Affordable Housing In NYC, And A Way Forward

A rhetorical dodge of the Bloomberg administration that always rankled me was the "created or preserved" combination always used in discussions of affordable housing units. 

It was plainly obvious that few units were being created and regardless of how many were touted as "preserved" many more units were being deregulated.  The reporting on the issue over the last twelve years left a lot to be desired. 

This article in the Times today however covers the big picture fairly well. The big question I see is, will Governor Cuomo help NYC, or will this be a year of obstruction?  A lot hinges on that question. I believe Cuomo would be wise to help facilitate the policy goals of NYC's new leadership (Mayor and Council). 

The gutting of rent stabilization in 2003 under Pataki was a historical injustice, and we have a lot of lost time to make up for.

Of the 165,000 affordable units attributed to Mr. Bloomberg's housing strategies, more than 100,000 were preserved using such incentives, officials from his administration said. Still, the city continues to lose more affordable units than it creates. The share of regulated apartments is now less than half — 47 percent — compared with 53 percent in 2002, 54 percent in 1991 and 61 percent in 1981, Furman Center research shows. "It is a constant pressure on New Yorkers and on the city government to address that issue," said Marc Jahr, president of the New York City Housing Development Corporation, which finances affordable housing. Mr. Jahr said there was a net loss of 60,000 rent-regulated apartments during Mr. Bloomberg's tenure. But he said that looking at only numbers overlooks how whole neighborhoods have been revitalized with the city's investment in affordable housing. Mr. de Blasio is well aware of the challenge created by the attrition of affordable housing. "We are in many ways treading water," he told the Association for a Better New York in October. To make truly transformative changes in the supply of affordable housing, Mr. de Blasio would most likely need to find a way to change the state law covering rent increases and apartment regulation. He has told tenant groups that he will go to Albany with them to fight to repeal the statute that gave the state control over rent regulation in the city. "If you made it more difficult for private landlords to remove units," said Alex Schwartz, a professor of urban policy at the New School, "that'd be a great improvement."

Indeed.

The Poors Are Inheriting All The Wealth!

That's the latest complete bullshit being spewed by right wing media personalities.  They get on the radio and Fox News and repeat this crap until it seeps into the public's subconscious.  Right-wing media is really paid advertising for Orwellian bullshit.

What Fox and the like omit is the fact that the average value of wealth transfers received by the top 1 percent of U.S. households was a whopping $1,045,200 in 2007. That's twenty-five times the average value of inheritances for households in the lowest income bracket, whose average inheritance was $42,000 the same year. For lower-income earners, 42 grand is a large chunk of their total wealth. But the average wealth of households in the top 1 percent is around $16,439,400 -- so a million dollar inheritance is not as impactful.

The problem for them is that their bullshit has gotten so outrageous, even the subconscious is throwing up its hands in protest.  Most people instinctively realize this is nonsense.

Fire In The Hole!

Electrical fire in manhole at Court and President this afternoon. Multiple explosions and lots of smoke.  

I'm not aware of any injuries, but Mrs. Firstandcourt reports it was quite a scene with emergency vehicles blocking off the street.
Shared from the Digg iPhone app:

Pardon Me For Asking: Underground Fire On Court Street This Afternoon

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2014/01/underground-fire-on-court-street-this.html

Economic Populism: Good Policy and Good Politics

Most people don't necessarily "get" Keynesian macroeconomic theory.  They do understand vast and increasing inequality, and they don't like it.  I hope Obama does make inequality the centerpiece of the upcoming State of The Union address.  The President needs to make the case.

A Note on the Political Economy of Populism

It has been painfully obvious, to anyone willing to see (a group that unfortunately doesn't include a large part of the press corps) that deficit obsession hasn't really been about deficits — it has been about using deficits as a club with which to smash to welfare state, and hence increase inequality. Even the supposedly nonpartisan players have this remarkable habit of including "reducing marginal tax rates" as a key goal of deficit reduction strategies, which is a dead giveaway to what it's really about. Conversely, talking about the need to help struggling families is also a way to shift the focus away from deficit obsession, and pave the way at least for a relaxation of austerity, if not actual stimulus.

I'm holding out for actual stimulus.  Make the case, and then beat the Republicans mercilessly in the midterms with their anti-worker, anti-family, regressive policies.

It Snowed Yesterday. Thanks, deBlasio!

The NY Post appears determined to emulate the "Thanks, Obama!" Internet meme for its city news template. Daily Intel points up the Post's shrill ridiculousness. I won't link to the Post's garbage, or the Politicker regurgitation, but the lengths to which the Post will go to try to gin up controversy would be hilarious if it weren't so despicable. 

My Manhattan - Brooklyn and Brooklyn - Manhattan commutes were normal, and the schools are open.  But I spilled my coffee when I sat down to work. Thanks, deBlasio!

All That Snow Made a Bit of Mess — Blame De Blasio?

The good news: It finally stopped snowing! But now it's just sitting there, getting dirty and slushy, making everything more difficult than it should be on this Wednesday morning. New York City totaled about eleven inches of snow, while Philly and parts of New Jersey got over a foot, according to the National Weather Service, but the temperature is providing extra pain — the day started below 10 degrees in the city (feels like -9) and will top out around 17 degrees (feels like 3). Getting around is going to be far from perfect. The MTA says subway service today is "near normal," thanks to the suffering of a few: "Crews worked overnight in sub-zero temperatures and heavy winds as they cleared platforms, rails and switches of the powdery snow." Rails, buses, and road travelers can expect delays. More than 3,000 flights have been canceled across the northeast. New York City schools, as students already know, are open. "Travel conditions may be difficult, and families should exercise their own judgment when taking their children to school," said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.

The New York Post: NYC's Own Weekly World News

A publication with greater reliability and integrity than the New York Post.

Only in color, and with even less credible reporting.  So this is what it's going to be, as predicted: daily specious and baseless attacks against the new Mayor, the administration, the new Speaker, etc.

No links to their latest bilge.

And hey, Politicker - try just a little bit of skepticism when regurgitating Post stories.  I had the read the byline twice to see make sure it was Colin Campbell, not Col Allen.

Bread Pudding

I love bread pudding. On a night like this, I could sure go for some.

[VIDEO] Traditional Bread Pudding Recipe, With a Twist

Warm up your winter with this sweet treat.

http://carrollgardens.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/video-dessert-youre-craving-now-bread-pudding_53eaa338-carrollgardens

A Message From DSNY On Snow Plans

Via Craig Hammerman at CB6, an update from DSNY:

To Elected Officials and Community Boards:

·        DSNY Snow Operations are underway –

·        450 salt spreaders area already deployed citywide and are operating on their routes in each of the 59 Sanitation Districts (coterminous with the City’s Community Boards)

·        1,700 plows will be activated once 2 inch accumulations are on the streets

·        All DSNY trash & recycling pickups are suspended until snow clearing operations are complete. Residents should hold-off placing material out until collection operations resume. Trash and recyclables that have already been placed out may be left curbside. 

DSNY Snow Plans

The Final Plans for the 2013-2014 winter snow season are posted on DSNY’s website. They can be found athttp://www.nyc.gov/dsny under the tab Snow Plans and Mapping.

Some General Snow Information to keep in mind:

All winter weather information and information about the City’s response to a storm (including tracking spreading and plowing operations) can be found by visiting the City’s Severe Weather Website at www.nyc.gov/severeweather  or by calling 311. Also updates can found on our website at: www.nyc.gov/dsny , where information will be updated regularly. These websites will offer you and your constituents a simple and quick way to keep apprised of current conditions. You and your constituents can also sign up to follow the Department on twitter. 

Please remember that the Department’s snow plans, crews and equipment are place for each of the City’s 59 Sanitation Districts (which are coterminous with the local Community Board). Until all streets are clear, it is neither practical nor feasible to divert resources from the critical jobs to which they are assigned in order to address individual requests. Once all roads are cleared, we can review issues regarding specific locations.

Please understand that the Department prioritizes its resources by first clearing primary arteries, such as expressways; bus routes, hospital and school roads and other critical roadways to facilitate the movement of food and fuel, fire trucks, ambulances, police and other emergency vehicles. Our workforce then clears secondary roads, such as heavily traveled streets, followed by tertiary routes (predominantly side streets). It is important to keep in mind that it does take some time after the snow has stopped falling for all streets to be cleared. Be aware that although a street has been plowed and/or salted, it may not necessarily be black top -- it all depends on how many inches of snow have fallen, temperature and traffic.

We also want you to know that the Department works very closely with the City’s 311 Customer Service Center, which provides a forum for public information and for registering information, service requests and complaints. The data and information received by 311 is regularly transmitted to DSNY officials.

I for one welcome our new crystalline overlords.  Thanks, Craig.

The Ignorance Is All Yours, Meghan

That's what you get from watching Fox News, after all.  Advice to the Governor, move to the left and stop trying to placate the NY Post crowd.

Anguish and Pain

As a New Yorker, let me assure Meghan that we'll be happy to have her here as long as she pays taxes on her trust fund disbursements. But, as a New York resident, Meghan would do well to remember the crushing defeat of Teanderthal / Horse Porn Enthusiast Carl Paladino, who espoused the far-right beliefs Governor Cuomo was referencing. His 37% showing in that race was what New Yorkers thought of Carl's politics. If Meghan would stop getting her news from Sean Hannity, she might understand that 63% of her fellow residents don't like Carl's flavor of conservatism, and her party will be beat like a rented mule in every statewide race until they shitcan their bigotry, sexism and stupidity.

The descriptor "Teanderthal" for Carl Paladino is a stroke of genius.

Winter Is Coming; The F Train, Maybe

Image via Rampaged Reality

Ned Stark was right!  Note also, residual delays on the F/G lines due to an earlier signal problem at Jay Street, so plan accordingly.

The Snow Has Started and It Won't Stop Until You're Miserable

As promised, white flakes have begun to fall in New York City, and it's expected to continue till the sun comes up on Wednesday. Sure, it looks pretty now, but: "As you go into the darkness, it's just going to get worse and worse," says a National Weather Service meteorologist. In all, the city can expect eight to fourteen inches — up from yesterday's estimates and the largest piles of this polar-vortex-y winter so far. City schools are open today, the subways are running, and alternate-side parking is suspended. We'll see about tomorrow. New Jersey and Long Island are expected to get the worst of it, with D.C. and Philadelphia not spared.

The inch count keeps climbing.  Yesterday morning some sources still said 1-3", now it's 8-14".  

Neiman Marcus To Brooklyn Municipal Building

They managed to pull in some high end tenants.  It may not be the Apple store, but it's new life for a beautiful old building.  I'm still hoping to hear they've leased the lower level that opens on the 4/5 station mezzanine.  Such a wasted space at the moment.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS: Marc'ed up: Neiman Marcus headed for Municipal Building

"Upscale clothing store Neiman Marcus inked a deal to lease the entire second floor of the Municipal Building on the corner of Joralemon and Court streets on Jan. 10, pushing along the city's plan to turn its former office space into a mall. The Last Call Studio by Neiman Marcus outlet store is slated to open this summer, and shoppers in the area are already excited. "

Who needs to travel to the mall when you've got Fulton Mall in walking distance?

A Dose of Parking Sanity In Philadelphia

Street space for the free storage of your private property does not make sense.  At the very least, there should be limits and fees.  And yes, I have a car parked, for free, on the street as we speak. Implement residential parking permits and dedicate the funds to street, sidewalk and transit improvements.

If You Want To Rent One Half Of Your Side Of The Block It Will Cost You $260 Per Year

A modest move towards sanity in parking pricing, but if your household has 4 cars in an area with residential parking permits, you don't have a parking problem, you are the parking problem.

I do believe that eventually we will see some form of RPP in NYC.

Public Intellectual Property

Should be accessible to the public.   Old models no longer apply in the internet age. 

Congress requires publicly funded research to be publicly available

The new Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which Congress passed yesterday, contains an important -- and fantastic -- provision: it requires that scientific research funded by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education be placed in a free online repository within 12 months of their publication in a peer-reviewed journal. There are some caveats (this only covers research from agencies with budgets of $100M or more) and it could have been better (immediate publication and all work placed in the pubic domain), but this is still a major stride forward. To be frank, it's well beyond what I'd hoped we'd get from Congress, who are traditionally more than willing to let private firms wall away pubic access from the research that tax-payers fund.

Information yearns to be free.

Jaywalking Crackdown Not The Answer

Dear Mayor deBlasio, 

The jaywalking ticketing should be nipped in the bud immediately.  From both a policy and a political standpoint, it is not a good move.

Bratton's Pedestrian Ticket Blitz Won't Save Lives

"Police were also out ticketing motorists for moving violations, so the stepped up enforcement seems to be nabbing genuinely dangerous behavior as well. But the pedestrian stings are an embarrassment for a purportedly data-driven department that has just set out to drastically reduce traffic deaths. Where is the traffic safety global success story that relies on punishing pedestrians? Name one. In fact, the proven model — exemplified by the Netherlands — does not hold pedestrians at fault in the event of a collision, even if they disobeyed the letter of the law. By applying a "strict liability" legal framework to traffic crashes, the Dutch have codified the notion that when you drive a multi-ton vehicle, it's incumbent upon you to do everything possible to avoid striking pedestrians and cyclists. This has saved lives: Fewer than half as many people are killed in traffic per capita in the Netherlands as in the U.S."

I have confidence that this was a misstep under the new police commissioner and not the future of policy.