Defector Espada Failed To get $2MM In Earmarks For Related Entities

Via the NYT CityRoom blog.

State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. requested more than $2 million dollars in Senate earmarks this year for two groups with links to the health care organization that he founded and which appeared to have been created in part to receive such grants, according to several Democratic officials and aides with knowledge of the requests.
. . . .
When Senate officials expressed reservations about the grants to Mr. Espada’s staff, aides to the senator asked to resubmit the grants with a new address for both organizations: 742 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx. Several weeks later, as Senate officials continued to balk, Mr. Espada finally asked that all the money be earmarked for the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, an existing and well-established organization.

The GOP can have these two sleazy pols. It is clearly where they belong.

UPDATE: Speaking of where they belong, I almost forgot that Pedro Espada doesn't even live in his district in the Bronx . . . he lives in Westchester! Espada is a fraud and a crook.

Ground Broken for New NJ-NY Rail Tunnel

Apparently, this is the biggest transit infrastructure project in the country. And long overdue.

Two Members Of "Fare Hike Four" Reveal True Colors

Indicted domestic abuse suspect Hiram Monserrate (Queens) and campaign finance train wreck Pedro Espada (Bronx), two grasping, power-hungry nominal Democrats just went full-dirtbag and joined the Senate Republicans in an attempted coup.

It remains to be see how this mess will sort out, but one thing is certain: progressive Democrats need to unite to ensure these two treacherous, self-serving walking scandals never see another term in elected office.

No Wonder Brooklyn Museum Needs Money

In 2005 their former payroll manager stole $620K, according to the Post.

The first thing I thought of was this article from the Brooklyn Paper on the financial troubles at the museum. City budget cutbacks have certainly impacted the museum - but better oversight of their finances would help.

I thought that was the end of the story for now. But this bit from the Daily Intel is priceless:

He faced 20 years in prison. Donna was probably pretty pissed about that. But she scraped together the $600,000 bond to make sure he could come home to his kids. Then, yesterday, after his first hearing, they exited the courtroom together. As they walked into the courthouse lobby, Dwight broke into a sprint, running down the building’s steps and careening down the sidewalk, away. Donna probably wondered why she had so easily abandoned her detective skills.

The Daily News has an action shot of the great escape.

Free Brooklyn to Governors Island Ferry

Eh, guv'nah?

Senator Squadron's office writes that after giving Brooklyn the cold shoulder last summer, GIPEC will finally provide free ferry service from Brooklyn to Governor's Island . . . starting this Saturday! Full release below:

I am writing to share some exciting news- this summer there will finally be free ferry service between Brooklyn and Governor's Island!

This ferry is something that Senator Squadron has long requested to better connect the Brooklyn Waterfront with the rest of New York Harbor, and we hope that you will be able to celebrate with him at the ferry's innaugural launch this Saturday, June 6 at 11:00 am, at Fulton Ferry Landing.

The ferry will leave Fulton Ferry Landing every hour, every Saturday when there is programming scheduled for Governor's Island. [UPDATE - The ferry will not continue to Battery Park as originally stated]. Please visit www.govisland.com for a full schedule...

...and please join Senator Squadron and other community members to celebrate the first launch this Saturday at 11:00!

Hope to see you then.

Great news. Thank you, Senator and staff.

Massive Mortgage Fraud In Queens: NYC Media Ignore It

Back in 2007, I wrote three posts on an unbelievably sleazy criminal, one Thomas Kontogiannis.

I contacted the news rooms at several local papers, including the Times, the Daily News, the Post, and a paper or two in Queens. Nothing but crickets in response. This is no boring story: Tommy K is now in prison for bribing California GOP Congressman Duke Cunningham. This was HUGE news on the West Coast - but not a single column inch of coverage here in NYC. Why?

Via Talking Points Memo, Reuters has a story up on Kontogiannis's $92 million dollar mortgage fraud. Maybe this contributed to Queens foreclosure rates dwarfing those of every other borough.

Real estate developer Thomas Kontogiannis, 60, and eight other defendants are accused of orchestrating fraudulent loans that were subsequently sold to the financial firms.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI said the scheme was centered around property developments that Kontogiannis bought and subdivided from 2001 to 2003 in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

To finance the projects, the defendants are accused of staging sales of the properties financed by mortgage loans. Bogus appraisals supported the price of the properties, even where buildings had not yet been constructed or had fictional addresses, said the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, which is prosecuting the case.

The Daily News failed to cover any aspect of this story, except for this mention in an article about tax delinquents:

Federal prosecutors who indicted Long Island financier Thomas Kontogiannis for laundering bribes to California Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham tied him to at least 22 companies including Westshore 480 Development, which, the city says, owes $751,708 in taxes on a waterfront property in Brooklyn.
A lawyer for Kontogiannis denied his client owned Westshore 480 or owed money for its property taxes. "He has no ownership and no liability," lawyer Robert Wolf said. "It would not be accurate to report that he does."

Apparently this guy was also involved in some shady business with spy agencies. All the more reason local papers should take an interest in an investigative story - but so far, no takers. What gives?

Andrew Ross Sorkin: Out Of Touch

After reading about NYT's columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin's anti-union comments on MSNBC's Morning Joe, I wonder if this guy ever worked a single day in any sort of blue collar job. I'm betting "no".

This is not Sorkin's first bout of anti-labor ignorance. Last fall he gave wide dissemination to the (false) stories of $70/hour auto workers.

It is amazing to me the extent to which the right has managed to demagogue labor in this country over the last 30 years. And the extent to which our establishment media, which spreads these myths, is still somehow regarded as liberal.

By the way, the New York Times lost approximately $58 million last year and $74 million in Q1 2009 . . . Surely the fault lies with the Times's union employees, at least in the eyes of people like Sorkin.