NY Drivers Getting Away With Murder: This Video Will Rip Your Heart In Two

I am trembling with rage and literally nauseous at the injustice here:


Liao Family Testimony in Support of 19-190 and Crash Video from Vaccaro and White on Vimeo.

I have a three year old daughter and I don't think I could be responsible for my actions in the face of this kind of injustice.  The Queens DA pressed no charges.  And now the NYSDMV has voided the tickets this man received (and clearly deserved to get).  If this isn't enough to make your blood boil, I don't know what is.

Vote! November 4 Is Election Day

What a year it's been.  As for the Governor's race: it didn't have to be this way.  But Andrew Cuomo has decided that he can kick progressives, kick the mayor, kick teachers, kick brownstone Brooklyn and the people who depended on LICH, and embrace Chris Christie and the politics of fear and ignorance and win a second term.  Sadly, he appears to be right, though at the expense of any further political ambitions he may have had.  These are my endorsements; check here to find your polling site and view a sample ballot.

US Congress District 7
Nydia Velazquez
We love Nydia.

Governor
No endorsement.
Andrew Cuomo is going to win reelection in a contest that is not expected to be close.  Which gives me the freedom to vote my conscience, and undervote the Governor's race for the first time I can remember.  Rob Astorino would be a disaster of a governor on many fronts.  And despite the delusions that some people seem to harbor, there is zero basis to believe he would lift a finger to save LICH.

I really would have liked to vote for Zephyr Teachout in this election, and as a result I will not be voting for Cuomo on the WFP line, either.  Nor will I vote for him on Chris Quinn's embarrassing "Women's Equality Party" line, which in reality served three purposes only (1) to undermine a strong female candidate among primary voters (2) to siphon off votes from the WFP and (3) to reanimate the corpse of Chris Quinn's political career.

Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman

Comptroller
Thomas DiNapoli

NY Senate District 26
Dan Squadron

NY State Assembly District 52
Jo Anne Simon
Jo Anne will make a fine replacement for our outgoing Assemblywoman Joan Millman.  I've known Jo Anne for a number of years now and she is smart, hardworking and energetic.

Updated to reflect the fact that Lt. Governor runs on a ticket with Governor and is not a separate race.

Upcoming Meeting On Long Term Control Plan for Gowanus CSOs

Our antiquated combined sewer system regularly puts the "anus" in Gowanus.  Come out and learn what the city's plans are to fix it, and contribute your own ideas.  Should be ab interesting follow-up to the September meeting on the siting of potential CSO retention tanks that CB6 hosted.

Public Meeting On the CSO Long Term Control Plan for the Gowanus Canal

Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Public School 32
317 Hoyt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
6:00pm to 8:00pm

Doors open at 6:00pm
DEP will give a brief presentation at 6:30 followed by a question and answer session.

When there are heavy rains and the sewer system is at full capacity, a diluted mixture of rain water and sewage, also known as combined sewage, may overflow into local waterways as a combined sewer overflow (CSO). The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is developing a CSO Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) that will identify and evaluate alternatives to improve the water quality of the Gowanus Canal.  In addition to developing alternatives through the LTCP process, DEP is currently working with the US Environmental Protection Agency under the Superfund process to site and design CSO retention tanks.

Citibike Is Coming!

The yellow areas will get Citibike before we do.

By 2017 Citibike will have expanded into Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Gowanus, Red Hook . .  . in fact all of CB6, as well as northern Manhattan, more of Brooklyn and parts of Queens. I can't wait!

And former MTA head Jay Walder will be running the show - that was a shocker.

CHA Meeting: Move-NY Presentation for Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens TONIGHT

Move-NY will give a presentation at the Cobble Hill Association's meeting tonight, and CHA has graciously welcomed Carroll Gardeners to the session.  Move-NY is the new and improved incarnation of the Sam Schwartz equitable transportation plan, which would cut down on traffic, create a steady stream of funding for maintenance and improvement of our transportation networks, and more fairly distribute the toll burden throughout the city.  It's a damn good plan.

All that and free snacks?  You'd be a fool to miss out on this!

The Grand Bargain Clutches At Dems From Beyond The Grave

The "Grand Bargain" proposed to cut popular, useful programs like Social Security and Medicare was atrocious policy and even worse politics.  Everyone who advocated for this is guilty of political malpractice at best, and their advice should not be taken seriously by Democrats. 

A short history of the Grand Bargain and why it's still biting us in the ass #2014 #ads

"It was always bizarre that a Democratic president would believe that an epic economic downturn was a good time to worry about deficits and try to strike a bargain to cut the Party's signature domestic economic achievement --- an achievement  which had lifted massive numbers of people out of poverty. It was conceived as a "go to China" moment in which only a Democrat could cut Social Security without being demagogued by Democrats. Apparently it didn't occur to these visionaries that the Republicans were increasingly dependent on the elderly for votes and would be happy to demagogue the Democrats instead.  Certainly no one should have depended on their honesty and integrity. There have been few more misguided initiatives than the relentless pursuit of a Grand Bargain during the president's first term. And the Party continues to pay a price for that mistake. Fortunately for the Democrats no bargain was actually struck and a light is now shining on the inequities in the funding stream for the programs and a new approach is slowly being accepted as the new agenda: raise the cap on social security taxes and raise benefits. If the Party puts that in its platform and really gets behind it, it might even win back the support of the elderly. And then the GOP will have a real problem on its hands. "

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-short-history-of-grand-bargain-and.html

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Ron Fournier Has Become A Parody of Himself

This intro made me laugh out loud. 

Fournier-cation: Self-Service Edition

"Itinerant Rove-stenographer Ron Fournier, who once emitted a squid cloud of butt-hurt so opaque that Glenn Greenwald called him out for being a petulant crybaby, has written scads of tiresome columns earnestly urging Obama to be more leader-y. But his latest is the Platonic Ideal of a Fournier column, and the header captures the tone perfectly: "

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/10/24/fournier-cation-self-service-edition/

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