Cyber Monday Question : Does Christine Quinn Use NYPD To Monitor Activists ?

2012-11-26 Cyber Monday Question - Does Quinn Use NYPD to Monitor Activists

Who Can Ban The Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry In New York City ?

WHO can end the carriage trade in New York City and why are they not doing anything about it considering that every online poll since 2006 has shown between 75 and 80 percent of respondents want this business to be shut down?

Animal rights activists are escalating the pressure on elected officials to ban the horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City over renewed safety and public health concerns for passengers, drivers, and the horses, themselves. Here is an excerpt from a blog post, written by Elizabeth Forel, and posted to Facebook earlier today :

• Mayor Michael Bloomberg can use his influence to get such bills passed. But he supports this business. Why? The real truth is anyone’s guess because it simply does not make sense. His daughter is a world-class equestrian, known to oppose this trade – surely she knows that New York City is a very bad environment for horses and I am sure she would never subject her horses to these conditions.
• The Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, can do the same. She, too, is a big supporter of the carriage trade. Why? It is clearer here because of her allegiance to the Queens Democratic Party, which put her in power. It is all politics. But then, Quinn has killed every meaningful animal issues bill that has been in the Council since she became Speaker – so she obviously does not care.
• The City Council - The Council is not a democratic body. For the most part, which means almost always, Council Members vote the way the Speaker tells them. If not, they risk losing their committee chairs and lucrative stipends that the Speaker doles out. Unfortunately, there are virtually no City Council Members with a backbone to stand up to Quinn and say – “Enough is Enough! Let’s get those horses off the street before someone is killed.”
• The State Legislature – there is a real chance here with the bill sponsored by Senator Tony Avella and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal. The bill is essentially the same as the historic one Senator Avella introduced in the City Council in 2007 when he was a Council Member. One big problem with this bill is that it needs a Home Rule approval memo from the City Council, which is unlikely to happen. However, the bill will be reintroduced in January when the State Legislature reconvenes and it will address these issues. Stay tuned.
• A new humane mayor. Ah there is the rub. Who will it be?

Read more : STOP THE INSANITY! Carriage Horses - NYC : Commenting on and exposing the inhumane carriage horse industry in NYC.

Quinn Uses NYPD To Thwart Dissent

Links to The Wall Street Journal blog post about New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's alleged use of NYPD to thwart ''bad publicity.''

Here are some links to the Internet conversation, which The Journal article has triggered, about Speaker Quinn's use of NYPD to suppress free speech :

• ''Mayoral Hopeful Quinn Uses Cops To Protect Her From Bad Publicity'' on Thee Rant Forum on Yuku.com ;
• ''Protesters Say Quinn Used NYPD to Thwart Them (WSJ)'' on Morning Headlines : Must-Reads from the WNYC News Hub ; and
• ''Christine Quinn Illegally Uses the NYPD to Block LGBT Protestors from Photographing'' on Mayor Bloomberg King of New York blog.

So far, Louis Flores, the activists who was pushed around by NYPD Officer Lamonica, has received no communication from either the Civilian Complaint Review Board or Speaker Quinn's office.

Mayoral Candidate Tom Allon Pledges to Open City Hall to Bloggers, Citizen Journalists

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 17, 2012
Press Contact: Evan Burr (917-686-8554)

Mayoral Candidate Tom Allon Pledges to Open City Hall to Bloggers, Citizen Journalists

Allon Vows His Administration Will Be Most Transparent in NYC History

NYC mayoral candidate Tom Allon pledged today that when he is elected mayor he will open up the City Hall press corps to include bloggers and citizen journalists to an unprecedented extent.

Allon, who is the publisher of a family of community newspapers and a former journalist, vowed to make his administration the most open and transparent in the city's history.

"Why is it that right now City Hall gets to decide who gets credentialed to cover it? That’s like the fox guarding the henhouse. When I am mayor I am going to invite questions from anyone who dedicates themselves to the free and open exchange of information, be it through political blogs like Room Eight, True News, and The Perez Notes, or neighborhood blogs like Boogie Downer in the Bronx, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Queens Crap, Washington Square Park Blog in Manhattan or the Staten Island Treasure Blog," said Allon.

"Citizen journalists like Katia Kelly, Rafael Martinez Alequin, Rock Hackshaw, and Heather Letzkus have become one of the great bulwarks against corruption and incompetence we have in this city. In this age of media consolidation and newsroom layoffs, the Mayor owes it to the public to empower our tremendous community newspapers, ethnic media, bloggers and citizen journalists to ask the questions that matter most to their readers. If sunlight is the best disinfectant, it's time that we let the sun shine in to City Hall."

Allon said that rather than the current system of City Hall and the NYPD making the determination who is a legitimate reporter that he would appoint a nonpartisan, blue-ribbon independent commission of journalists, publishers, civil rights attorneys, and bloggers to determine the criteria for who is eligible for press credentials. He emphasized that public safety and security concerns would not be discounted from the new criteria, but that they would not be used as an excuse to curb the freedom of the press.

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