RT @stopchrisquinn: #FastFoodFWD workers : "We're hungry." @chriscquinn : "Eat some fried chicken." #livingwage #RealTalk
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) November 29, 2012
Read more : Christine Quinn, Living Wage, and Corporate Backing
RT @stopchrisquinn: #FastFoodFWD workers : "We're hungry." @chriscquinn : "Eat some fried chicken." #livingwage #RealTalk
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) November 29, 2012
Read more : Christine Quinn, Living Wage, and Corporate Backing
NY1 reported that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was forced to respond to allegations that she is influencing the City Council redistricting process in order to help shore up support in her bid to become the city's next mayor.
The complaints came from people like Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, whose East Harlem district was changed drastically to become a majority Bronx district. Some say a backroom deal was cut between Quinn and Bronx leader Carl Heastie, where he would get more power while Quinn gets his support for her mayoral bid. The speaker and Heastie both deny this. (NY1)
@ny1headlines questions whether @chriscquinn uses @nyccouncil redistricting for mayoral campaign benefit ny1.com/content/politi… #2013
— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) November 28, 2012
Will there be a federal investigation into influence peddling, ethics violations, or campaign corruption ?
In other words, @chriscquinn is opening campaign offices in the outer boroughs and staffing them with City employees: soc.li/kuuu6SW
— Defeat Chris Quinn (@donnymossnyc) November 16, 2012
@carolynryan continues @nytimes #mediablackout on #VitoLopez redistrictingtruenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/2012/11/happy-… #Bloggers Won't Give Up @unitednyblogs
— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) November 26, 2012
NYPD Violate #Handschu and Deny #FOIL Request by @maslowsneeds christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/11/NYPD-V… #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #dueprocess
— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) November 25, 2012
NYPD continue to monitor peaceful activists in violation of the Handschu Agreement. In this latest case, NYPD officials are visiting this blog even though NYPD refuse to answer to a Freedom of Information request by the author of this blog.
Remember, this is on top of the fact that there have been allegations that Speaker Quinn has instructed the NYPD to use physical force against the author of this blog.
If Speaker Quinn can't find a way to violate due process by firing you, then she puts the NYPD on the case, to harass and cybermonitor you ?
2012 11 24 NYPD Cybermonitoring Louis Flores Handschu AgreementNew York City Michael Bloomberg succeeds in shaking down Bill Thompson out of $600,000, creating a huge hole in Mr. Thompson's campaign finances, thus ensuring that Mayor Bloomberg will be able to appoint Speaker Christine Quinn as his successor.
NYC2013 – Bill Thompson Drops 2009 Fine Fight bit.ly/UF23FL
— Gestetner Updates (@YGUD) November 25, 2012
If the election were held today, MTA boss Joe Lhota would lose to the Democratic nominee 60% to 9%, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. Another potential Republican candidate, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, would not fare much better than Lhota, the poll found: Carrion would lose 62% to 11% if he ran on the Republican ticket.
(Source : The New York Daily News)
The United States is falling behind in international education standards, and one area where we lack a clear advantage is in being able to communicate in languages spoken in foreign countries.
Tom Allon at education forum: Eliminate testing in grades 1 through 5, mandate foreign language and science instruction in elementary.
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) November 21, 2012
For example, in France, all students are required to pick a foreign language in 6th grade, which each student will continue to learn until 12th grade. And then, in 8th grade, students against pick a second foreign language, which the student will learn concurrently with the first, all the way until 12th grade. In France, students graduate with proficiency in speaking three languages : French, and their two elective foreign languages.
Meanwhile, in the United States, we are lucky if students graduate with fluency in just one language. Leadership provided by Tom Allon's proposal would improve our education standards, not the least of which would also foster a truly global sensibility among America's youth.
When will it be too late for Christine Quinn to block Vito Lopez? via @azipaybarah: bit.ly/T9PkZX
— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) November 23, 2012
In 2006, when she was elected to become Speaker of the New York City Council, Christine Quinn turned to help from Vito Lopez in Brooklyn, for the votes of Brooklyn councilmembers, in an effort to thwart Bill De Blasio, who (no surprise) failed in his campaign to become Speaker. Like then, Speaker Quinn is now turning to extending favours to Mr. Lopez. Only now, what is at stake is not the speakership, but the mayoralty.
Speaker Quinn needs to pump the political machine in Brooklyn for votes, because she has angered so many voters in her own City Council District over community-crushing development that is allowing New York University to overwhelm the special social fabric of Greenwich Village, that closed St. Vincent's Hospital, and that is going to destroy the character of Chelsea Market.
And, in exchange, Speaker Quinn is being suspected of delivering to Mr. Lopez a redistricted seat in Brooklyn, to give him a soft landing, once he gets kicked out of the New York State Assembly.
Dear Editor,
To the victor go the spoils, continues to be practiced by NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her predecessors for decades.
On Friday, January 21, she issued checks for 50 percent of each Councilmember’s annual awarded lulus of between $4,000 to $28,000 per year on top of a $112,000 base salary to her loyal members for chairing a Council Committee or subcommittee. The base salary plus lulu is three times what average constituents earn for a job officially classified as part time. Hardworking municipal civil servant employees and most ordinary New Yorkers would never see such treats from their employers.
Perhaps Quinn will host a ceremony when issuing the remaining 50 percent balance of lulus in July 2012 to coincide with completion of the renovated City Council chambers. Construction began in 2007 with an original cost estimate below $50 million and completion date of 2009.
Quinn continues the tradition of allocating millions of dollars in member item pork barrel projects to her Council favorites.
In 2008, the first of a series of cost overruns raised the price tag to $65 million.
The bills for both a final price tag of $123.8 million and completion date of July 2012 along with all the lulus are paid by your hard earned tax dollars.
Councilmembers have staff to also drive them around town and private parking privileges at City Hall. I wonder how many ever considered using mass transit for commuting to work like millions of their constituents do on a daily basis?
Do any Council members have a Metro Card and use it on a regular basis? Check out the City Hall parking lot when the Council is in session and see for yourself.
Quinn continues the tradition of allocating millions of dollars in member item pork barrel projects to her Council favorites.
With 9 percent of 8,000,000 New Yorkers still out of work, there are many public minded citizens besides the current 51 Council members with the knowledge and wisdom to perform their jobs at a fraction of the cost. Many would gladly serve and show up for work full time without all the perks of office for $112,000 per year minus all the traditional insiders lulus or other benefits ordinary citizens can only dream about.
LARRY PENNER
Mayor Bloomberg's spokesman calls Bill Thompson, "the invisible mayoral candidate" bit.ly/Q5gqUV
— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) November 19, 2012
Carrion's long road ahead in quest for mayorm.nypost.com/p/news/opinion…
— NYC Politics (@PoliticsInNYC) November 20, 2012
.@wsjny: it's essentially a 3-way race for #2013 Dem mayoral nomination.on.wsj.com/T5oSkA @chriscquinn @billdeblasio @billthompsonnyc
— Azi Paybarah (@azipaybarah) November 19, 2012
"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will accept money and support from StudentsFirstNY, an education advocacy group that was criticized today for having some donors in common with Mitt Romney." (Capital New York)
Speaker Quinn says there are likely DOE contracts that are "simply not necessary." Why is council funding them?
— Michael Howard Saul (@MichaelHwrdSaul) November 19, 2012
#NYC #BoardofElections has 330K uncounted ballots stored in garbage bagstruenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/2012/11/true-n… @tomallon4mayor @billdeblasio @johnliu2013
— Louis Flores (@maslowsneeds) November 19, 2012
Stringer Expected To End His Ambition for Mayor
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is expected to announce as early as next week that he will not run for New York City mayor in 2013, but instead campaign for comptroller, according to The New York Times.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg had been bullying candidates out of the race, in order to select his successor.
Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr., is expected to enter the race for mayor in 2013 as a candidate for the Republican nomination, The New York Times reported.
Mr. Carrión joins an close political ally of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, George McDonald, the founder and president of the Doe Fund, in trying to draw votes away from Republican candidate Tom Allon.
Mayor Bloomberg used donations to the Doe Fund to buy "astroturf" support to overturn term limits. And The New York Times reported that Mr. Carrión has been a supporter of Mayor Bloomberg.
In similar fashion, it is being said that Mayor Bloomberg may be resorting to alternative strategies to thwart the candidacies of mayoral hopefuls, who are seeking to challenge New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for higher office. Mayor Bloomberg is trying to personally install Speaker Quinn as his chosen successor.
Mayor Bloomberg's $500 Million Repair Fund Will Not Fix Healthcare Inequality
NEW YORK (12-Nov-2012) -- At Mayor Michael Bloomberg's news conference today, he announced a $500 million emergency repair fund for schools and public hospitals.
But this repair fund will not fix the grossly uneven distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan. Please see the attached map used by St. Vincent's Hospital activists that demonstrates the dangerous distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan.
Watch this YouTube video that questions the impact of the Berger Commission hospital closings on our hospital systems, now that they have been damaged by Hurricane Sandy :
"Let us pray that our political leaders and public health commissioners will use this opportunity to really examine and fix the unequal provision of healthcare that Hurricane Sandy has exposed," said Louis Flores.
Can one partially-functioning hospital on back-up generators be deemed "excess capacity" ?
The nurses' union, NYSNA, reported that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the only functioning hospital below 57th Street in Manhattan was Beth Israel Hospital, which was operating on back-up generators :
In the face of this dangerous situation, North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling said that he did not want Hurricane Sandy to be used as "justification" to restore a full-service hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan ?
How much more insensitive could Mr. Dowling be ? Even in the aftermath of such a devastating natural disaster, North Shore-LIJ is putting its financial interests before our public health.
Healthcare activists demand to know : Why is this acceptable ?
St. Vincent's Hospital
The taboo question that the media is too afraid to ask is : How could St. Vincent's Hospital have helped in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, if Christine Quinn had fought to keep it open ? Will we ever know the true loss to public health that we paid, and continue to pay, after Bill Rudin's luxury condo conversion plan was approved by the New York City Council.
Click here to read the mayor's repair fund news release.
Mayoral Candidate Tom Allon Statement on the NYC Marathon
New York City 2013 mayoral candidate has just issued this statement on the controversy of using valuable city resources for the NYC Marathon in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy :
"We're living in a highly-charged and evolving crisis and the Mayor's leadership has been sound thus far. Second guessing the Mayor's decision on the scheduling of the Marathon is an easy way for the Democratic Mayoral candidates for 2013 to get attention and score points with outraged New Yorkers. The anger that is being expressed by the elected leaders of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens reflects the concerns and frustrations being felt for the ongoing hardships of their constituents. For them, the Marathon symbolizes misplaced priorities.
"Personally, I would have delayed the Marathon for at least a week, like the Knicks-Nets game was postponed for four days, so that we can concentrate on helping all those in need and getting our electricity and mass transit back."