tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273833773853551162024-03-13T13:58:12.543-07:00The Devil Wears MarshallsThe emperor has no clothes, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and the Devil wears Marshalls. ¶
Welcome to my citizen journalist blog. ¶
"All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words." -- Harvey Milk ¶
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." -- Arthur SchopenhauerNYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-7348805779182051362012-12-16T19:07:00.000-08:002012-12-16T19:07:21.203-08:00Blog Comment Questions Integrity Of NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau<p><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/01089337958338068063" title="The Devil is a Liar!" target="_blank">The Devil is a Liar!</a> has left a new comment on your post "<a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/12/Adrian-Schoolcraft-Whistleblower-Retaliation-Update-The-Snake-Pit.html" title="Queens District Attorney Rules That No Crime Took Place When NYPD Retaliated Against Whistleblower Cop Adrian Schoolcraft By Throwing Him In The Psych Ward Of Jamaica Hospital. " target="_blank">Adrian Schoolcraft Whistleblower Retaliation Update - The Snake Pit</a>": </p>
<blockquote><p>"So says Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, whose office conducted a criminal investigation of the incident together with the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau."</p>
<p>"Together with NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau"</p>
<p>And there is the problem. The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and the NYPD Investigations Bureau is as crooked as it gets. Their main role seems to be tormenting the members of their own department who have angered or annoyed the brass. Look closely at what agencies have busted REAL criminal cops, I.e. gun runners, drug dealers, etc. and it becomes very clear that these criminals are most often caught by outside agencies. State police departments, Federal law enforcement agencies, etc. Rarely does the NYPD's own internal agencies catch real criminals. </p></blockquote>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-83153413783754554782012-01-05T04:16:00.000-08:002012-12-16T19:07:34.703-08:00Christine Quinn A "Flimflam" Politician<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">In Exchange of Tweets Last Night, Talking Points Memo editor casts New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in dark light.</font></b></p><p>Josh Marshall, the editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo, called Christine Quinn "standard political flimflam," describing his experience with her as "very negative."</p><a href="http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/?action=view&current=Christine-Quinn-Talking-Points-Memo-Josh-Marshall.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/Christine-Quinn-Talking-Points-Memo-Josh-Marshall.png" border="0" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=240 alt="Talking Points Memo Calls Christine Quinn Standard Political Flimflam, Josh Marshall, the editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo, Calls Christine Quinn "standard political flimflam," describing his experience with her as "very negative.""></a><p>The exchange of Tweets was in regards to 2013 mayoral candidate <a href="http://nyc-mayor-2013.blogspot.com/2012/01/tom-allon-st-vincents-campaign-ad.html" title="In a fierce new campaign ad, New York City mayoral candidate Tom Allon asks, "Did Christine Quinn Bet Your Life To Become Mayor ?" The headline appears above a screenshot of City Council Speaker Quinn kissing billionaire real estate developer Bill Rudin at an October 18, 2011, speech sponsored by Mr. Rudin's lobbying group, the Association for a Bitter New York." target="_blank">Tom Allon's full-page newspaper advertisement criticising Speaker Quinn over the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital</a>.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-40914564052976929982011-11-29T19:28:00.001-08:002011-11-29T19:28:11.927-08:00Bill Rudin Protest Viral Video<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">St. Vincent's Hospital activist bird-dogs billionaire Bill Rudin over controversial luxury condo conversion plan.</font></b></p><iframe width="400" height="301" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6_eil1bDFCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Artist and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy confronts Bill Rudin on West 12th Street. Community anger towards Mr. Rudin has inspired many protests, including a sustained protest and vigil outside the sales office of the new luxury condos. Mr. Rudin has ruthlessly ignored the community’s need for a full-service hospital. <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/da_eyes_st_vinny_go_for_broke_plan_fvDtudcbAWyxqqiQnhbzaI" title="''Going broke allowed the hospital to get an OK from the state Health Department to sell to the Rudin family, which is building luxury housing on the site. Without bankruptcy, state officials would not have been permitted the hospital to shut down, the sources said.''" target="_blank">Mr. Rudin paid pennies on the dollar to buy St. Vincent’s real estate</a>, and Mr. Rudin now stands to sell luxury condos and townhouses that, once constructed, are expected to have a combined fair-market value of over $1 billion. </p><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-michael-bloomberg-stop-the-rudin-luxury-condo-conversion-plan" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Save%20St%20Vincents%20Hospital/Mike-Bloomberg-Bill-Rudin-Hospital-Map-St-Vincents-1.jpg" border="0" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=400 alt="Michael Bloomberg,Bill Rudin,St. Vincent's Hospital,Pepper Spray,Occupy Wall Street,Lower West Side,Hospital Closings"></a>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-59912473231554070642011-08-27T10:00:00.000-07:002011-08-27T10:00:33.474-07:00Quinn NYPD Eagle Raid<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gays-Against-Christine-Quinn/135132039902594?sk=wall" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/QuinnEagleNYPDRaidiPhotoExportCrop.jpg" border="0" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=581 ALT="Show Us You Care ! Will Christine Quinn hold NYPD accountable for raiding the Eagle ? Probably not, as usual."></a><br />
<p>Is <b>Christine Quinn</b> going to <a href="http://where-is-kirsten.blogspot.com/2011/06/nypd-raid-eagle-bar.html" title="" target="_blank">hold the NYPD accountable for raiding the Eagle</a> on the very night when marriage equality became law ? What kind of an LGBT leader is she, if she does not fight for our LGBT civil rights ? Join our Facebook page : <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gays-Against-Christine-Quinn/135132039902594?sk=wall" title="Gays Against Christine Quinn" target="_blank">Gays Against Christine Quinn</a>. </p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-32942512139050284872011-08-23T17:23:00.001-07:002011-08-23T17:32:44.271-07:00Christine Quinn Mini Me<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Christine Quinn aka ''Mini-Me'' Uses City Council Funds (aka Taxpayer Money) to Reward Political Bosses</font></b></p><p>After City Council Speaker <a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/08/quinn-nyt-infomercial-fluff.html" target="_blank" title="Quinn NYTimes Infomercial Fluff">Christine Quinn got fluffed by NYTimes reporter David W. Chen</a>, now comes Michael Powell, a columnist for the Gray Lady, who pulls back the curtain on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/nyregion/christine-quinn-uses-council-funds-to-reward-allies.html" title="Christine Quinn Uses City Council Funds (aka Taxpayer Money) to Reward Political Bosses" target="_blank">Speaker Quinn's slush fund-tinged campaign for mayor</a>. </p><p>Mr. Powell reports that Ms. Quinn was appointed Speaker of the City Council after she "charmed" political bosses from Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. At her coronation ceremony, she put <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/nyregion/23lopez.html" title="Brooklyn Democrat Is Said to Be Investigated" target="_blank">Vito Lopez</a>, the notorious Brooklyn political boss (who is the target of several ethical and corruption investigations) in the front row. Speaker Quinn has also scratched Mr. Vito's back in exchange for his political support. "The fates have smiled on Mr. Lopez’s social-service empire, the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council ; this year the Council sent more than $4 million its way," reported the <span style="font-style:italic;">NYTimes</span>.</p><p>In a statement posted Facebook, a government integrity watchdog activist questioned why the latest NYTimes article stops short of probing the status of the federal investigation into Speaker Quinn's slush fund scandal. </p><p>"Instead of reporting on Quinn's criminal activity, the NY Times merely raises questions about her ethics and leadership: "But there are questions to be asked about her leadership, and not all cheery." Is it a fear of Bloomberg that prevents the Times from reporting on the well-documented budget and campaign corruption ?" Donny Moss posted on the social network.</p><p>This is how the <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/nyregion/christine-quinn-uses-council-funds-to-reward-allies.html" title="Christine Quinn Uses City Council Funds to Reward Allies" target="_blank">NYTimes</a></span> article ends : </p><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;"><p>Last year, a Council majority favored <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/nyregion/15sick.html" title="Christine Quinn Opposes Paid Sick Leave" target="_blank">mandatory sick days</a> for New Yorkers with less than a week of vacation. The mayor opposed it. Ms. Quinn killed it.</p><p>Some suggest that she has gotten lost in the game, that she can no longer recall the questions she once asked as an advocate. That sounds too definitive. Her arc is not done.</p><p>She affects nonchalance when described as a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHtHEW0ImPY" title="Christine Quinn's Puppet Show and Political Farce" target="_blank">mayoral puppet</a>: “You can call me <a href="http://christinequinnminime.blogspot.com/" title="Christine Quinn is Michael Bloomberg's Mini-Me" target="_blank">Mini-Me</a>. I don’t really care.”</p><p>The rub is that voters might care a lot.</p></span></blockquote><iframe width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wHtHEW0ImPY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-52878232163944997782011-08-04T04:46:00.000-07:002011-08-04T04:46:16.076-07:00Peninsula Hospital Closing Protest<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Peninsula Hospital Center - Protesters Take Over Lobby - Hospital Closings in NYC</font></b></p><p>Approximately 200 union employees, residents of Far Rockaway, in Queens, and local officials, gathered in the rain outside Peninsula Hospital Center, across the bay from JFK Airport. Peninsula Hospital Center has filed a plan to shut its doors. The hospital’s owner is embroiled in a political and financial scandal, but employees and residents are worried about the threat to public health, should the hospital’s closure plan be approved. </p><iframe width="400" height="257" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mGXR6cDbywg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p>Attendees of the rally braved the rain, then, once the rally had ended, stormed into one of the lobbies of the hospital, until hospital officials called the police, to clear the lobby of its own employees. </p><p><a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-city-hospital-closings.html" title="More City Hospital Closings" target="_blank">In the time that Christine Quinn had been speaker of the City Council, eight hospitals (not counting Peninsula) have closed</a>. If Peninsula closes, it would mark the ninth hospital to close under Speaker Quinn's watch.<br />
</p><p>This week, President Obama agreed to severe budget cuts to social safety net programs, that underpin the social contract we make with our government and amongst ourselves. More budget cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will lead to a further collapse of our healthcare system. Is Christine Quinn in Bermuda with Mayor Michael Bloomberg each time a hospital closes in New York City ? Is President Obama surfing in Hawaii each time a hospital closes in America ? </p><p>If we obediently listen to people, who are in power (the same people who work for us, the very same people who are closing our hospitals), telling us to leave the lobby of a closing hospital, then it just makes it that much easier for the New York State Department of Health/Christine Quinn to keep closing hospitals.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-40017761376010716172011-08-03T04:22:00.000-07:002011-08-03T04:22:32.258-07:00Peninsula Hospital Closing ?<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111478732284646" title="Save Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens : Don't let it become the next St. Vincent's Hospital : Another Luxury Condo Conversion for the billionaire Rudin Family empire." target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Peninsula-Hospital-Center-Queens-Celebrating-100-years-Closing-Bloomberg-Quinn.jpg" border="0" alt="Peninsula Hospital Center"></a><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Is the Rudin Family eyeing their next real estate harvesting operation on the dead carcass of the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens ?</font></b></p><a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/02/rudin-real-estate-donations.html" title="Rudin Real Estate Donations" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/william_rudin_St_Vincents_Real_Estate_Harvesting.jpg" border="0" alt="William Rudin"></a><p>After he's done with St. Vincent's Hospital, it has been heard on the street that <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/03/rudin-harvesting-st-vincents-remains.html" title="Rudin Interview on New York Real Estate Harvesting From Bankrupt Hospitals." target="_blank">William Rudin is considering another real estate harvesting operation</a>, this time at the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111478732284646" title="Save Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens from another Luxury Condo Conversion Plan by the billionaire Rudin Family empire." target="_blank">Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens</a>.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-50297743354993075412011-07-14T19:32:00.001-07:002011-07-15T04:25:36.027-07:00SAIC RICO Triple Damages<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">SAIC RICO Bloomberg Protest - Suzannah B. Troy Speech</font></b></p><iframe width="400" height="257" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AfnGDuHUQNk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Artist, blogger, and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy gave a speech today outside the New York City offices of SAIC to demand a <a href="http://www.outsourcing-law.com/2011/07/bribery-fraud-saic-citytime-debacle-in-new-york-city/" title="Bribery, Fraud and Contract Mismanagement: The SAIC / CityTime Debacle in New York City" target="_blank">RICO refund of triple damages against SAIC for their role in the organised crime</a> that took place to rob taxpayers of over almost $1 billion in CityTime project costs.</p><p>Union representatives from Local 375 and DC 37, community activists, New York City taxpayers, and others gathered at 1250 Broadway in a demonstration against the technology company known as SAIC.</p><p>For years, newspaper and television reporters, bloggers, and whistle blowers have been reporting details of a massive taxpayer fraud perpetrated by New York City officials, by employees of SAIC and of another company known as Technodyne, and possibly by lobbyists in connection with the scandalous CityTime project.</p><p>The CityTime project began with an original budget of approximately $60 million, but has since ballooned to over $700 million.</p><p>The U.S. Attorney's Office has begun an investigation, but nobody yet knows how high this scandal, and other technology consultancy contract scandals, may go up the Bloomberg administration.</p><p>Stay tuned.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-52292089644281412322011-07-07T19:54:00.001-07:002011-07-10T05:30:30.260-07:00St. Vincent's Document Shredding<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Bankruptcy Judge <a href="http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/judges/cgm.html" title="Before her career with the court, Judge Morris had a private law practice in Macon, Georgia, from May 1981 until February 1986." target="_blank">Cecelia Morris</a> has let the management of St. Vincent's avoid Freedom of Information requests and has let the Rudin Family to gut St. Vincent's and is about to let the Family take a wrecking ball to it. Now, Judge Morris is going to let the Management and the Family destroy evidence.</font></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ebecp3CLg4Q/ThZxAWgtz5I/AAAAAAAAASc/6Bvvka-fUKE/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-07-07%2Bat%2B10.44.03%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="297" width="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ebecp3CLg4Q/ThZxAWgtz5I/AAAAAAAAASc/6Bvvka-fUKE/s400/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-07-07%2Bat%2B10.44.03%2BPM.png" /></a></div><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Management of St. Vincent's Asks Bankruptcy Court to Approve Document Destruction, So That No Investigation Can Ever Determine Why the Hospital Closed Abruptly And Without Any Legally-Mandated Closure Plan.</font></b></p><p>No politician -- not CB2 Chair <b>Brad Hoylman</b>, not City Council Speaker <b>Christine Quinn</b>, Mayor <b>Michael Bloomberg</b>, or Senator <b>Tom Duane</b> -- is willing to do anything to prevent the luxury condo conversion of <b>St. Vincent's</b>. With the shredding trucks about to pull into the ambulance bays of St. Vincent's, the <b>obstruction of justice</b> will be complete : there may be no more hope to ever investigate the shady decisions that lead the hospital to close on April 30, 2010. It's exactly as <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/04/sarah-jessica-parker-st-vincents.html" title="Sarah Jessica Parker endorses a Full-Service Hospital to replace St. Vincent's." target="_blank">Sarah Jessica Parker</a> said : ''The community needs a hospital — and I think there’s been some clever obfuscation.'' </p><a title="View 1782-Motion Re Info Mgmt Services and Trust Ageement and Document Retention Plan on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/59572060/1782-Motion-Re-Info-Mgmt-Services-and-Trust-Ageement-and-Document-Retention-Plan" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">1782-Motion Re Info Mgmt Services and Trust Ageement and Document Retention Plan</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/59572060/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-getjxuhcwdt8so4cna9" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="1" scrolling="no" id="doc_78896" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-73495812889935721582011-04-11T14:22:00.000-07:002011-04-11T14:30:10.343-07:00Sarah Jessica Parker Supports a Full-Service Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Sarah Jessica Parker endorses a Full-Service Hospital to replace St. Vincent's.</font></b></p><p>In an interview with <i>The Villager</i> newspaper, <b>Sarah Jessica Parker</b> expressed her support for a <a href="http://www.thevillager.com/villager_413/scoopynotebook.html" title="''The community needs a hospital — and I think there’s been some clever obfuscation,'' Ms. Parker said." target="_blank">full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's</a>.</p><p><blockquote>''Asked what she thought of the latest post-<b>St. Vincent’s</b> proposal, for an emergency-care facility at the site of the former hospital’s <b>O’Toole building</b>, the <i>Sex and the City</i> star looked skeptical. 'I’m concerned, let’s put it that way,' she said. 'The community needs a hospital — and I think there’s been some <b>clever obfuscation</b>.' As a parent of three young children, she noted, she’s especially concerned about local healthcare. 'I would like to see a proper, functioning [hospital] — not a walk-in,' she stressed. She said she had spoken to Council Speaker <a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/" title="Christine Quinn" target="_blank">Christine Quinn</a> about the issue.''</blockquote></p><p>The interview given by Ms. Parker took place before information came to light about a <a href="http://everyminutemattersnyc.blogspot.com/2011/04/dont-be-fooled-slick-five-panel-mailing.html" title="DON'T BE FOOLED : the slick five-panel mailing sent to West Side residents is a PR ASTROTURF campaign : Meaning what it says are lies !" target="_blank">deceptive political campaign brochure</a>, which was mailed to residents of the Lower West Side by a front group calling itself the ''Westside Healthcare Coalition.'' A WhoIs search on Network Solutions today showed that the website for the front group is registered to <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz8yffmIJHS6MTM4YjVmNmMtMTc3NC00ZjZhLTkyY2EtZWM2YjY3NmY1ZWRi&hl=en" title="Mehigan, Bellone and Associates, Inc. is a PR firm hired by Westside Healthcare Coalition to mail confusion campaign literature to residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan" target="_blank">Mehigan, Bellone & Associates, Inc.</a> Whereas Ms. Parker was not directly speaking to the example of the campaign brochure as political subterfuge, you can see how she has already been concerned with the pattern of <a href="http://www.thevillager.com/villager_396/correctingsome.html" title="''We believe our community needs an acute-care facility and emergency room. But it will take hard facts to convince a potential hospital operator to invest the necessary hundreds of millions of dollars to finance a new facility, and no one else is going to gather this key data.''" target="_blank">clever obfuscation</a>.</p><p>North Shore-LIJ have a vested interest in installing a first aid clinic in the O'Toole Building in the West Village, so that the <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/03/rudin-harvesting-st-vincents-remains.html" title="The Rudin Family is harvesting St. Vincent's remains." target="_blank">Rudin Family can build luxury condominiums on the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital</a>. Meanwhile, watch this video about what having a full-service hospital in the Lower West Side means to one parent, whose child was treated by the live-saving emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital :</p><p><script src="http://www.winkball.com/embed/video?guid=73fbfd88-991f-4362-8b66-f4540ff0b3d7&style=web"></script></p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-21444981637667192382011-04-11T12:49:00.000-07:002011-04-11T17:05:58.832-07:00Rudin Family PR Campaign ?<p>The community of the Lower West Side of Manhattan are outraged over a <a href="http://everyminutemattersnyc.blogspot.com/2011/04/did-you-get-that-slick-hospital.html" title="Was the slick public relations mailer sent To Lower West Side residents by North Shore-LIJ-Rudin Family ?" target="_blank">deceptive political campaign brochure</a> that was mailed to residents in connection with a proposed first aid clinic that may replace St. Vincent's Hospital.</p><p>Community anger has reached a new high, such that one member has launched a new blog, <a href="http://everyminutemattersnyc.blogspot.com/" title="Every Minute Matters : Replace St. Vincent's With a Real Hospital, Not a First Aid Clinic !" target="_blank">Every Minute Matters</a>, to counter the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent by <b>North Shore-LIJ</b> and the <b>Rudin family</b>, to make sure that their <a href="http://www.westviewnews.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1191%3Athe-deal-is-done&catid=48%3Acurrent-issue&Itemid=176" title="Bankruptcy Court judge awards St. Vincent's buildings to Rudin for condos" target="_blank">greedy hundred million dollar condo conversion deal</a> goes through.</p><p>The slick mass mailer is an act of political subterfuge, community residents say, because it is being mailed by a <b>front group</b> calling itself the ''Westside Healthcare Coalition.'' (A WhoIs search on Network Solutions today showed that the website for the front group is registered to <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz8yffmIJHS6MTM4YjVmNmMtMTc3NC00ZjZhLTkyY2EtZWM2YjY3NmY1ZWRi&hl=en" title="Mehigan, Bellone and Associates, Inc. is a PR firm hired by Westside Healthcare Coalition to mail confusion campaign literature to residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan" target="_blank">Mehigan, Bellone & Associates, Inc.</a>) The intention of this fake political brochure can only be to intentionally confuse the public between the front group and the real group called the <a href="http://demandahospital.blogspot.com/" title="Coälition For A New Village Hospital" target="_blank">Coälition For A New Village Hospital</a>. The real group has been fighting for over one year to, at first, save <b>St. Vincent's Hospital</b> from closing. Then, once the hospital closed under shady conditions, the real Coälition has been fighting in court to save the hospital buildings and zoning, so that a new hospital can open on the location of the former St. Vincent's site.</p><p>Here is an anonymous line item review of what some community members describe as <b>deceptive advertising</b> that is printed on the controversial political brochure, which was mailed through the U.S. Postal Service :</p><a title="View West Side Healthcare Coalition is a Lie on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/52718885/West-Side-Healthcare-Coalition-is-a-Lie" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">West Side Healthcare Coalition is a Lie</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/52718885/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-dpzfqwmwtl6mxbuo9b6" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.772727272727273" scrolling="no" id="doc_6697" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script><p>The community isn't surprised that the axis of evil (aka North Shore-LIJ-Rudin Family) would resort to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a sick and twisted public relations stunt ; the <b>Rudin family</b> stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital. Even in the face of these deceptive political advertisements that are being mailed to city residents, the community continues to be likewise outraged by the veil of silence around City Council Speaker <a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/" title="Christine Quin" target="_blank">Christine Quinn</a> and Mayor <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/" title="Michael Bloomberg" target="_blank">Michael Bloomberg</a>, who have taken no concrete actions to save St. Vincent's.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-37674146625713472312011-04-10T09:34:00.000-07:002011-04-10T09:36:08.430-07:00Connecting Rainbows Easter Route Map For LGBT Civil Rights Walk<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151638914892077" title="LGBT Civil Rights Walk In NYC Easter Parade 2011 - Connecting Rainbows" target="_blank"><br />
Join us for an LGBT civil rights walk</a> that is being organised by <b>Connecting Rainbows</b>. The walk will take place on April 24 during the 2011 Easter Parade in New York City. We need your help to create a mass movement to legally recognise LGBT civil rights.</p><a title="View Suggested Connecting Rainbows Route During NYC Easter Parade 2011 on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/52699350/Suggested-Connecting-Rainbows-Route-During-NYC-Easter-Parade-2011" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Suggested Connecting Rainbows Route During NYC Easter Parade 2011</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/52699350/content?start_page=1&view_mode=slideshow&access_key=key-88bovnky4dg61z9g58y" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="1.2938689217759" scrolling="no" id="doc_7318" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script><p>Create profiles, form and join groups, and plan LGBT civil rights actions at our social media site at : <a href="http://connectingrainbows.ning.com/" title="Connecting Rainbows : Civil Rights Walks For America" target="_blank">Connecting Rainbows</a>. </p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-26022890919928956402011-04-10T05:24:00.000-07:002011-04-10T05:24:51.603-07:00During Easter Parade, A Planned LGBT Demonstration For Civil Rights<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BjYvRvxPUmY" frameborder="0" alt="LGBT Civil Rights Walk In NYC Easter Parade 2011 - Connecting Rainbows Invitation" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>You are invited to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151638914892077" title="LGBT Civil Rights Walk In NYC Easter Parade 2011 - Connecting Rainbows" target="_blank">register to participate</a> in the LGBT civil rights demonstration that is being planned by <b>Connecting Rainbows</b> to take place on April 24 during the 2011 Easter Parade in New York City. We need your help to create a mass movement to legally recognise LGBT civil rights.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-40823790838360033602011-04-07T18:06:00.000-07:002011-04-07T18:06:06.435-07:00Christine Quinn Attacks Reporter<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000"><a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/quinn-delivers-a-scolding-and-then-an-apology/" target="_blank" title="Quinn Delivers a Scolding, and Then an Apology">Christine Quinn Explodes In Anger At Daily News Reporter Who Wrote That The City Council Speaker Couldn't Afford To Pay Her Rent</a></font></b></p><p>City Council Speaker <b>Christine Quinn</b> had a sudden outburst of <b>anger</b> on Wednesday by bursting into a verbal attack at <b>Erin Einhorn</b>, a reporter for <i>The Daily News</i>, who did not refer to Ms. Quinn by the courtesy title, ''Speaker.'' Instead, Ms. Einhorn had referred to Speaker Quinn as, ''<b>Ma’am</b>.''</p><p>“You can call me Speaker,” Ms. Quinn said in a testy tone, reported <i>The New York Times</i>. “It’s <i>my</i> press conference. I actually decide what words are <i>necessary</i>.”</p><p><b><i><font color="# CC66FF">Updated with video link !</b></i> ➔ </font><b>NY1</b> has exclusive video of <a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/politics/136968/quinn-chews-out-reporter-over-form-of-address/" target="_blank" title="Quinn Chews Out Reporter Over Form Of Address">Speaker Quinn's hissy fit</a>.</p><p>After her little temper tantrum, Speaker Quinn knew she had crossed the line, and Speaker Quinn said she was sorry. “I was <i>nasty</i> to you,” Ms. Quinn said to Ms. Einborn. “I apologize.”</p><p>A few weeks ago, Ms. Einhorn had reported that <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/20/2011-03-20_the_city_councils_dirty_lil_secrets_many_pols_have_legal__financial_troubles_a_n.html" target="_blank" title="''Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) is about to move into a luxury condo building where she used taxpayer dollars to resolve a conflict with a neighboring building over garbage. She's also been sued repeatedly for nonpayment of rent.''">Speaker Quinn had had trouble paying her rent on time</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile, Ms. Einhorn could just as easily have said, ''Deputy Mayor'' instead of, ''Ma’am.'' For all the times that Christine Quinn has gone along with all of Mayor Bloomberg's horrible plans for New York : all of the school closings and Cathie Black's controversial schools chancellor waiver ; the unequivocal insistence that more and more luxury condos and university dorms get built out of hospitals, churches, and landmark buildings ; denying us paid sick leave ; the shady way that the City Council changed term limits ; the way that Quinn will most likely deny us a living wage -- she goes along with Mayor Bloomberg rather than stand up to him. </p><p>It's almost like Christine Quinn is Mayor Bloomberg's puppet.</p><p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wHtHEW0ImPY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-57585697354821362362011-04-03T08:09:00.000-07:002011-04-03T09:24:46.606-07:00In 3-way North Shore-LIJ, Rudin Family, and Christine Quinn Plan for St. Vincent's, a Fear of Union-Busting<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></p><p>OP-ED : <b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Update on Community Effort to Create a Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's in the Lower West Side of Manhattan</font></b></p><p>When a deal was announced for the transfer of bankruptcy assets from the 501(c)(3) charity that was <b>St. Vincent's Hospital</b> to the private real estate developer tycoon <b>William Rudin</b> at values that may not fairly represent the full market value, the bankruptcy assets transfer was hailed as a health care miracle, because it would replace the Level 1 Trauma Center that was St. Vincent's with a first aid clinic.</p><p>But just a mere examination, at first blush, of the beneficial transfer of assets to insider creditors, the jobs that it would create, and the services it would provide, show that this deal is fraught with potential legal challenges.</p><p>The transfer of St. Vincent's principal assets -- its real estate -- to the Rudin family, who has always had an ''<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz8yffmIJHS6ZGU5N2ZhZjgtY2MwNS00YWUwLWFlMDctNmMwOWQ3ZTNmNjlj&hl=en" title="''After the hospital went under, Rudin, understandably, was still seen as having the inside track on getting the property.''" target="_blank">inside track</a>'' on condo-conversion plans -- <b>may be fraudulent</b>, if the transfer does not happen at full market value prices. There is also community concern that the North Shore-LIJ landlord taking over the first aid clinic is going to hire only non-union employees for the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/village_hosp_reborn_c4HwpOPrtZbypGaVfN3lHN" title="" target="_blank">400 jobs</a> that are expected to be created at the first aid clinic, and that the new clinic will forbid any efforts at <b>collective-bargaining</b> ; presently, only approximately <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bz8yffmIJHS6YWFiODRjODctNzE2MS00NWUwLWIyYmQtZDQ0MWMwZTZjYjdj&hl=en" title="''North Shore-LIJ employs about 42,000, but about 15,000 are covered through union plans.''" target="_blank">36 per cent of North Shore-LIJ employees receive union benefits</a>. The services to be provided by the <a href="http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110403/FREE/304039965#" title="''It won't offer Level 1 trauma services that require 24-hour availability of a variety of specialists, so it can't handle women in labor, patients with severe trauma such as gunshot wounds or open fractures, or those requiring immediate surgery or cardiac interventions.''" target="_blank">first aid clinic</a> will not be able to treat ''women in labor, patients with severe trauma such as gunshot wounds or open fractures, or those requiring immediate surgery or cardiac interventions.'' In the face of the lack of life-saving services to be provided by the first aid clinic, and even the dishonest comparison of ambulance response times between 2008 and 2009 (even though St. Vincent's closed in 2010), predictably <a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/quinn-so-far-encouraged-latest-st-vincents-saga" title="''Quinn, So Far, 'Encouraged' by Latest in St. Vincent's Saga''" target="_blank">Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn can still be ''encouraged'' by the flimsy outpatient center</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile, here is a video of a press conference outside Friday's appellate court hearing in connection with a <b>freedom of information</b> lawsuit. </p><p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/21849399?portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/21849399">Why Are They Closing St. Vincent's Hospital? (Pt. 23) - Freedom of Information</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2076749">g. sosa</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p></p><p>As Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn try to destroy the social safety net by trying to <a href="http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2010/11/bloomberg-to-close-firehouses-at-night.html" title="''Mayor Bloomberg today is expected to order thousands of layoffs next year in bruising budget cuts intended to close a massive gap, sources told The Post last night.''" target="_blank">close firehouses</a>, <a href="http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2011/03/24/queens/qns_boro_hall_rally_20110324.txt" title="''Hundreds of seniors met with Queens leaders on the steps of Queens Borough Hall Friday morning to protest proposals by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to cut funding for senior centers and services.''" target="_blank">shut down senior citizen centers</a>, <a href="http://matzav.com/nyc-councilmembers-criticize-bloombergs-proposed-cut-to-child-care-programs" title="''In light of Mayor Bloomberg’s massive proposed cuts to child care programs in his preliminary Fiscal Year 2012 budget, Councilman David Greenfield sent a letter to yeshiva administrators on Sunday explaining what these cuts will mean for their yeshivas and child care programs.''" target="_blank">cut childcare</a>, <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/01/29/bloomberg_says_there_could_be_21000.php" title="''On his WOR radio show yesterday, he raised the specter that as many as 21,000 teachers could lose their jobs this year....''" target="_blank">layoff teachers</a>, <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2010/12/200000-missing-votes-found-nyc.html" title="''Every time something important happens in this city, there is Mayor Michael Bloomberg, showing up to demonstrate domination and authority. At every major fire house closing, schools chief waiver application, or term limits extension. Yet, here, after these 200,000 uncounted ballots are found in New York City, he is nowhere in sight.''" target="_blank">pretend like votes don't go missing</a>, <a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/03/st-vincents-becomes-condos.html" title="Christine Quinn Sells St. Vincent's Hospital to Rudin Family ; Jane Jacobs is Turning in Her Grave." target="_blank">build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital</a>, <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/03/bloomberg-government-inside-information.html" title="''Bloomberg Government'' is a money-making enterprise for Mayor Bloomberg's company, where he makes money from government and personal information, like contracts, employee lists, and other forms of databases." target="_blank">make money from government information</a>, and <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2010/07/bloomberg-end-progressive-reforms.html" title="Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Goldsmith want to unwind the improvements in checks and balances that were instituted in response to the political corruption during the Tammany Hall era." target="_blank">end Progressive Era reforms</a>, we are left to wonder. When will the focus of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/city-unveils-33-billion-w_n_835395.html" title="Mayor Bloomberg proposes $3.3 billion plan to develop more luxury condos along New York City's waterfront." target="_blank">irresponsible real estate development</a> at the expense of the <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105?currentPage=all" title="''As we gaze out at the popular fervor in the streets, one question to ask ourselves is this: When will it come to America? In important ways, our own country has become like one of these distant, troubled places.''" target="_blank">middle class</a> spark a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcToWCh5VhU" title="4 Community Activists arrested In HANDS OFF ST VINCENT'S" target="_blank">voter backlash</a>, that will lead to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173448992703011" title="Third Anniversary Protest of New York City Council Term Limits Scam" target="_blank">mass protests at the city's legislature</a>, or a revolution of the likes that have been happening elsewhere ? What will be the spark that will trigger mass protests in New York ?</p><p><i>(Christine Quinn is Speaker of the New York City Council, but she has made her bed alongside Mayor Bloomberg on many controversial issues that often times she acts more and more like his Deputy Mayor than an independent voice for Democratic Party ideals.)</i></p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-8578481784065231632011-03-27T12:20:00.000-07:002011-03-27T12:20:18.822-07:00Rally at St. Vincent's on April 30 to Demand a New Hospital for the Lower West Side<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Rally to Demand a Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's</font></b></p><p>Saturday, April 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.</p><a title="View 2011-04-30 St Vincents Hospital One Year Rally Poster on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/51662758/2011-04-30-St-Vincents-Hospital-One-Year-Rally-Poster" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">2011-04-30 St Vincents Hospital One Year Rally Poster</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/51662758/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-1d74langji7xr0k878d0" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.646934460887949" scrolling="no" id="doc_38960" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-10890274566550882982011-03-26T08:36:00.000-07:002011-03-27T18:13:42.492-07:00Mayor Bloomberg Was Heckled At The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Ceremony<i><b><span style="color:#B404AE">27 March 2011 Updated!</span></b></i> No major New York City newspaper has reported that Mayor Bloomberg was booed at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 100th anniversary ceremony.<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/by2Jlu1d1k4" title="Mayor Bloomberg Was Booed At The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Ceremony" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was booed at the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire ceremonies today.</font></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/bloomberg-heckled-shirtwaist-commemoration" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="152" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O6LPTnqhneg/TYzpz7rOYaI/AAAAAAAAAP0/UzeaVZtyB6A/s200/triangle-factory-fire.jpg" /></a></div><p>NEW YORK - At a ceremony commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110325/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsunionhistoryfire_20110325173249" title="''New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was loudly booed Friday at a speech commemorating the deaths a century ago of 146 people in a factory fire that then led to major labor law reforms across the United States.''" target="_blank">Mayor Michael Bloomberg was loudly booed by labor activists and union supporters</a>, the wire service <b>Agence France-Presse</b> reported.</p><p>Mayor Bloomberg had been delivering a speech about fire safety and the importance of labor protections when activists began to boo the unpopular mayor. The ceremony took place in Greenwich Village, outside the building where the fire broke out on March 25, 1911. The building is now owned by <b>New York University</b>.</p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="330" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7l0wkAjx644" frameborder="0" alt="Michael Bloomberg at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration (03/25/2011)" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Since he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/nyregion/04limits.html" title="Voters cannot forgive or forget about third term scandal." target="_blank">changed the term limits laws</a> to run for a previously impossible third term as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire, has been on a <a href="http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2010/01/here-we-go-againbloomberg-may-close.html" title="Here we go again...Bloomberg may close firehouses" target="_blank">scorched-earth campaign to shut down firehouses all across New York City</a>. Critics allege that the <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/jan/31/staffing-60-fire-engine-companies-remains-jeopardy/" title="''Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that the city will need to close firehouses if the FDNY doesn't make staff cuts at 60 engine companies. ''" target="_blank">closing down of firehouses and the layoffs of firefighters</a> would put the city at risk should a large fire take place.</p><p>Today's ceremony was marking the deaths of 146 people at the <b>Triangle Waist Company</b> ; the outrage following the fire and deaths resulted in reforms in labor laws in New York and around the nation. For weeks before the memorial ceremony, many newspapers and even some cable news channels, such as NY1, had been paying tribute to the ''<a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/135988/triangle-shirtwaist-fire--workers--protections-rise-from-the-ashes" title="Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Workers' Protections Rise From The Ashes" target="_blank">far-reaching impact on workplace safety, the labor movement and the New York political scene</a>'' that came about as a result of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. To not report how community activists booed the New York mayor over his scorched-earth campaign to close down firehouses, attack city unions, and do nothing to prevent hospital closings reveals that the media tributes were not only superficial, but, at the end of the day, the total media coverage has been an insult on the sacrifice made by the 146 people, who died in 1911.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-42118526785565731872011-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:002011-03-25T17:01:57.558-07:00As His Popularity Sags In This Tough Economy, Mayor Bloomberg Spends $1 Million On An Expensive TV Ad Campaign<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Mayor Michael Bloomberg launches a major TV advertising blitz to fluff his ''reputation,'' even as his goodwill amongst voters shrivels up.</font></b></p><p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="330" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qqS-3CIZq2w" frameborder="0" alt="Mike Bloomberg 1 million $ ad campaign = Buying Media Silence
" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p>Mayor Bloomberg has reportedly made a media buy of almost $1 million worth of TV commercials that tell the story that he has been ''<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/22/2011-03-22_bloomberg_buys_nearly_1_million_of_campaignstyle_tv_ads_as_poll_numbers_sag_to_e.html" title="Bloomberg buys nearly $1 million of campaign-style TV ads as his poll numbers sag to eight-year low" target="_blank">fighting for New York</a>,'' instead of trying to <a href="http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2010/11/bloomberg-to-close-firehouses-at-night.html" title="''Mayor Bloomberg today is expected to order thousands of layoffs next year in bruising budget cuts intended to close a massive gap, sources told The Post last night.''" target="_blank">close firehouses</a>, <a href="http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2011/03/24/queens/qns_boro_hall_rally_20110324.txt" title="''Hundreds of seniors met with Queens leaders on the steps of Queens Borough Hall Friday morning to protest proposals by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to cut funding for senior centers and services.''" target="_blank">shut down senior citizen centers</a>, <a href="http://matzav.com/nyc-councilmembers-criticize-bloombergs-proposed-cut-to-child-care-programs" title="''In light of Mayor Bloomberg’s massive proposed cuts to child care programs in his preliminary Fiscal Year 2012 budget, Councilman David Greenfield sent a letter to yeshiva administrators on Sunday explaining what these cuts will mean for their yeshivas and child care programs.''" target="_blank">cut childcare</a>, <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/01/29/bloomberg_says_there_could_be_21000.php" title="''On his WOR radio show yesterday, he raised the specter that as many as 21,000 teachers could lose their jobs this year....''" target="_blank">layoff teachers</a>, <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2010/12/200000-missing-votes-found-nyc.html" title="''Every time something important happens in this city, there is Mayor Michael Bloomberg, showing up to demonstrate domination and authority. At every major fire house closing, schools chief waiver application, or term limits extension. Yet, here, after these 200,000 uncounted ballots are found in New York City, he is nowhere in sight.''" target="_blank">avoid missing votes</a>, <a href="http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/03/st-vincents-becomes-condos.html" title="Christine Quinn Sells St. Vincent's Hospital to Rudin Family ; Jane Jacobs is Turning in Her Grave." target="_blank">build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital</a>, <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/03/bloomberg-government-inside-information.html" title="''Bloomberg Government'' is a money-making enterprise for Mayor Bloomberg's company, where he makes money from government and personal information, like contracts, employee lists, and other forms of databases." target="_blank">make money from government information</a>, and <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2010/07/bloomberg-end-progressive-reforms.html" title="Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Goldsmith want to unwind the improvements in checks and balances that were instituted in response to the political corruption during the Tammany Hall era." target="_blank">end Progressive Era reforms</a>. It should come as no surprise that, consequently, <a href="http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/2011/01/falling-in-polls-bloomberg-plays.html" title="''Bloomberg’s approval rating as a result of the December 26th blizzard is at its lowest point since taking office, 37%, down from its October survey when 50% gave Bloomberg high marks.''" target="_blank">Mayor Bloomberg is falling in popularity amongst voters</a>. It's almost as if <b>Mayor Bloomberg's legacy</b> has been <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2011/03/mayor-michael-bloomberg-legacy.html" title="NY1 Online: Mayor's Legacy Discussion On ''Inside City Hall'' 3/17/11" target="_blank">flushed down the toilet</a>.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-67118170774836391132011-03-20T13:06:00.000-07:002011-03-20T13:08:22.470-07:00True News From Change Blog Has Been Restored<p><i>Breaking News !</i> <b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Update on <a href="http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/"title="True News From Change NYC" target="_blank">True News From Change NYC</a> Blog</font></b></p><p><b>Gary Tilzer</b>'s blog, <a href="http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/"title="True News From Change NYC" target="_blank">True News From Change NYC</a>, about New York government corruption, political reporting, and other commentary about government transparency, has been restored. Earlier today, it had been discovered that <a href="http://nyc-mayor-2013.blogspot.com/2011/03/censored-true-news-change-blog.html"title="CENSORED : True News From Change NYC Blog" target="_blank">the True News blog had been suspended by <b>Google</b></a> for inexplicable reasons overnight. The suspension of the blog had become a focal point of support today by many New York bloggers and activists. No reason for the suspension is yet known, but New York bloggers suspect <b>political censorship</b> might have been one motive behind the removal of the blog.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-19782266017218611302011-03-20T06:15:00.000-07:002011-03-20T13:19:48.894-07:00CENSORED : True News From Change NYC Blog<p>Update : <a href="http://nyc-mayor-2013.blogspot.com/2011/03/true-news-change-blog-restored.html" title="Gary Tilzer's blog, True News From Change NYC, about New York government corruption, political reporting, and other commentary about government transparency, has been restored. " target="_blank">True News From Change NYC Blog Has Been Restored</a></p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Google Blogspot Blog Has Been Removed For No Reason ; Blogger Community Suspects Political Censorship ; Call To Action</font></b></p><a href="http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="''Sorry, the blog at truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.''"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/TrueNewsChangeScreenshot2011-03-20at81032AM.png" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=178 border="0" alt="True News From Change,Blogspot,Google,Censorship,Gary Tilzer"></a><p>Please send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:press@google.com">press@google.com</a> and copy <b>Gary Tilzer</b>, the owner of the censored blog, at <a href="mailto:Gtprinter@aol.com">Gtprinter@aol.com</a> -- demanding that the True News blog be restored.</p><p>True News is a blog dedicated to reporting about government scandals, politics, and transparency. (Here is the <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LtV-mGFDba4J:truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/+true+news+from+change+blog&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com" target="_blank" title="True News From Change NYC (Cached Version)">cached version of the True News blog</a>.) </p><p>This is not the first act of censorship against Mr. Tilzer. Before the 2010 election, a YouTube video that Mr. Tilzer produced was banned by NBC/YouTube and had to be replaced with an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnl7ApBR_tk" title="Banned by NBC/YouTube : ''Press Cover the Bums' Challengers''" target="_blank">edited version</a>. In the last couple of years, others have faced incidences of cyber censorship or retaliatory activity. One and a half months before the 2009 election, the <a href="http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/2009/09/youtube-censors-blogger.html" title="YouTube.com has censored the artist-activist-citizen journalist Suzannah B. Troy by suspending her entire account (300 videos)." target="_blank">YouTube channel owned by the artist and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy was likewise censored</a>, until bloggers and a lawyer intervened on her behalf. In 2010, this blogger was attacked by computer viruses 3 or 4 times, including on the day this blogger reported to the <a href="http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/" title="The Committee on Open Government is responsible for overseeing and advising with regard to the Freedom of Information, Open Meetings and Personal Privacy Protection Laws (Public Officers Law, Articles 6, 7 and 6-A respectively)." target="_blank">New York Department of State Committee on Open Government</a> an act of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LrNsWpyq8" title="This is going on YouTube : Brad Hoylman censors Yetta Kurland at CB2 St. Vincent's meeting" target="_blank">censorship committed by Brad Hoylman</a>. </p><p>Flashback : <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/07/flashback-sec-clinton-hailed-internet-freedom-tool-spread-truth-expose-injustice/" title="''US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a public speech in January 2010 championing Internet freedom as a vital tool to open governments and promote transparency, while criticizing "dictatorships" who seek to target those who use technology to expose their transgressions.''" target="_blank">Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Internet freedom as tool to ‘spread truth and expose injustice’</a></p><p>We need your help to keep courageous bloggers, like Mr. Tilzer, doing what they do. If you are reading this, it is because you are turning to the Internet for reliable information. For it to be here, bloggers, like Mr. Tilzer, have to be able to do their work without fear of retribution or censorship.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-50671045783064965482011-03-13T17:55:00.001-07:002011-03-13T17:55:40.380-07:00Christine Quinn Puppet Show - YouTube Video<p><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Third Anniversary Protest of Term Limits Scam : Christine Quinn's Puppet Show and Political Farce</font></b></p><p>Join us on Sunday, October 23, 2011, at 2 pm, outside City Hall, for a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173448992703011" title="Third Anniversary Protest of New York City Council Term Limits Scam" target="_blank">protest to mark the third anniversary of the City Council vote that overturned term limits</a>.</p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wHtHEW0ImPY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p>Back on this day in 2008, the <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/council-to-debate-term-limits-change/" title="New York City Council Votes, 29 to 22, to Extend Term Limits" target="_blank">New York City Council voted to change the term limits law,</a> thereby allowing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to seek re-election. The action by the City Council, lead by Speaker Christine Quinn, undid the term limits approved by New York City voters, who had previously passed two referendums that had restricted the service of elected politicians to a limit of two four-year terms.</p><p>Vote Quinn out of office !</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-74734543631021481652011-03-07T17:51:00.001-08:002011-03-08T03:53:04.090-08:00Without A Proxy, The Rudin Family Is Harvesting St. Vincent's Remains<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Rudin Interview on New York <i>Real Estate Harvesting</i> From Bankrupt Hospitals.</font></b></p><p>William Rudin, chief executive officer at Rudin Management Co., talks about New York City's real estate and the outlook for commercial property, including the millions <b>the family</b> stands to make from the <b>carcass picking</b> of the real estate property of St. Vincent's Hospital. <b><i>Watch at 5:40</i>.</b></p><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.gotraffic.net/flash/BloombergMediaPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="file_url=http%3A//videos.bloomberg.com/65964620.flv&autoplay=false&site=blp.embed&zone=vod/ceo&EnableLogging=true&LoggingDomain=www.bloomberg.com&sz=1x1&tile=1&poster_url=http%3A//www.bloomberg.com/apps/data%3Fpid%3Davimage%26iid%3DisTNL3Pca4PM"></param><embed src="http://cdn.gotraffic.net/flash/BloombergMediaPlayer.swf" flashvars="file_url=http%3A//videos.bloomberg.com/65964620.flv&autoplay=false&site=blp.embed&zone=vod/ceo&EnableLogging=true&LoggingDomain=www.bloomberg.com&sz=1x1&tile=1&poster_url=http%3A//www.bloomberg.com/apps/data%3Fpid%3Davimage%26iid%3DisTNL3Pca4PM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241" wmode="opaque" alt="William Rudin, chief executive officer at Rudin Management Co., talks about New York City's real estate and the outlook for commercial property. Rudin, speaking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television."></embed></object><p>To add insult to injury, naturally this interview was broadcast on <b>Bloomberg Opinion</b>, in keeping with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's worldview of <a href="http://gothamist.com/2011/01/29/bloomberg_says_there_could_be_21000.php" title="Bloomberg: There Could Be 21,000 Teacher Layoffs" target="_blank">starving the beast</a> until it dies in the back of an ambulance, stuck in crosstown traffic.</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-88409529568294960422011-03-01T20:32:00.000-08:002011-03-01T20:33:23.309-08:00In New York City, Do We Have Any Leadership Among Elected LGBT Politicians ?<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Members of the LGBT equality advocacy group called Queer Rising blocked traffic near Bryant Park on March 1, 2011, in an act of civil disobedience, demanding marriage equality in New York.</font></b></p><p>Eight activists from the were arrested after the group had unfurled a 75-foot banner and blocked traffic on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas in New York City. The activists were later released by police, according to a statement issued by GetEQUAL. </p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9QY5KlSypNs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>The marriage equality demonstration was reported about by a network-affiliate news program on WPIX 11.</p><p>Following is the full statement from GetEQUAL, followed by additional links to other Internet coverage of the protest and the arrests.</p><i><p><blockquote>Earlier this morning, eight activists were released from a NYC jail after they took action to stand up to our politicians' unceasing cowardice to do what's right for the LGBTQIA community. After years of waiting for marriage equality in New York and countless broken promises, members of the direct action group Queer Rising, allies of GetEQUAL in New York, demonstrated their growing frustration by sending a clear message to our elected officials.</p><p>At 8:30 this morning Kevin Beauchamp, Nora Camp, Natasha Dillon, Frostie Flakes (Adam Siciliano), Jake Goodman, Honey LaBronx (Ben Strothmann), Eugene Lovendusky, and Kitten Withuwip (Caldwell) blocked traffic at the intersection of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, where they unfurled a 75-foot banner that read "NY DEMANDS MARRIAGE EQUALITY NOW!" and chanted "I Am...Somebody! I Deserve...Full Equality! Right Here, Right Now! I Deserve...Full Equality!"</p><p>We know the courage these eight activists showed today is the same courage that lives inside many who are reading this email right now -- that the hunger for full equality that drives these activists is the same hunger that drove the suffragists to keep fighting for their right to vote; it's the same hunger that drove our civil rights fighters to keep fighting for their constitutional guarantee of equal protection, equal opportunity, equal access and equal justice; it's the same hunger that drives our fellow LGBTQIA brothers and sisters to keep fighting for the day when our dignity will be recognized, our love will be revered and our humanity will be respected.</p><p>Today's action is just the beginning of a sustained campaign that Queer Rising will be organizing in the months to come, in partnership with GetEQUAL and other civil rights activists in New York. If you're hunger for equality is pushing you toward taking up the fight, whether occasional grumblings or unrelenting pangs, today we invite you to take action for what is rightfully ours -- full equality!</p><p>If you want to get more involved with equality organizing in New York, email GetEQUAL.NY@gmail.com and we'll get you connected with opportunities in your area!</p><p>Every moment is one more opportunity to change your world...</blockquote></p></i><p>Read More :</p><ul><li>Next Magazine : <a href="http://www.nextmagazine.com/nexus/queer-rising-protesters-block-42nd-street-protest-marriage-inequality" title="Queer Rising Protesters Block 42nd Street To Protest Marriage Inequality" target="_blank">Queer Rising protesters clash with police on 42nd Street</a></li>
<li>Pam's House Blend : <a href="http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18760/queer-rising-ny-marriage-equality-protest-live-tweeting-by-village-voices-steven-thrasher" title="Queer Rising Blocks Traffic in Midtown Manhattan to Demand Marriage Equality" target="_blank">Queer Rising NY marriage equality protest; live Tweeting by Village Voice's Steven Thrasher</a></li>
<li>The Advocate : <a href="http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/03/01/Activists_Arrested_in_NY_Marriage_Protest/" title="Eight activists with the group Queer Rising were arrested in Manhattan Tuesday for blocking traffic at 6th Avenue and 42nd Street and unveiling a banner with the message, ''NY Demands Marriage Equality Now.''" target="_blank">Activists Arrested in N.Y. Marriage Protest</a></li>
</UL>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-64514614325127140282011-02-28T04:01:00.000-08:002011-02-28T04:01:32.848-08:00Christine Quinn's Big Wager<script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Christine Quinn Is Playing With A Stacked Deck.</font></b></p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDrPKr0E7g" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/5Kings.jpg" border="0" alt="Christine Quinn, Poker, Stacked Deck, Gamble, Politics, 2013 Mayor NYC, New York City, NYC, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Eileen Dunn, RN, Dony Moss"></a><p>When you ask New York City Council Speaker <b>Christine Quinn</b> a question, she likes to give you a non-answer. </p><p>She likes to be evasive, but she is definitive about giving you the run-around. She doesn’t have to give you either a proverbial bait-and-switch or back-pedal, provided she never has to first give you any policy position with which to lure you. </p><p>When City Hall bureau reporter Erin Einhorm from <i>The New York Daily News</i> asked Speaker Quinn what she thought about a bill that « would require mayors to disclose when they leave town and to designate a proxy, » Speaker Quinn said, « <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/01/council-speaker-christine-quinn-on-mayoral-whereabouts-bill-ill-get-back-to-yo" title="Council Speaker Christine Quinn On Mayoral Whereabouts Bill: I'll Get Back To You On That" target="_blank">I haven’t seen the bill, yet</a>. »</p><p>Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., planned to introduce the whereabouts bill, <i>The Daily News</i> reported. Here is how Speaker Quinn expaneded on her non-answer : </p><p><blockquote>« The councilmember has put in a request for the legislation to be drafted. I know that the staff is working on it. I’ve spoken with the staff. I've asked them to send me an initial read they can get me on whether it’s within the powers that we have as a council. I've not gotten that back and of course haven't seen the draft and as soon as I get that information and [have] seen the draft, I’ll be able to take a position. »</blockquote></p><p>Mind you, under Speaker Quinn, the <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/council-to-debate-term-limits-change/" title="Christine Quinn Supported Extending Term Limits" target="_blank">City Council found it within its powers to over-turn in 2008 two voter referenda approving term limits</a>, thus allowing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for a previously forbidden third term, but as to whether the City Council could require the mayor to leave a forwarding address, she would have to, proverbially, get back to us on that. </p><p>What is more, before Speaker Quinn was for extending term limits, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/09/04/2008-09-04_dont_ask_me_term_limits_up_to_mayor_bloo.html" title="Don't ask me. Term limits up to Mayor Bloomberg, sez Christine Quinn" target="_blank">she didn’t want you to ask her about it</a>. « The mayor knows my phone number, » Speaker Quinn said in early September 2008, after she was pressed about Mayor Bloomberg’s plans to extend term limits. « He knows where my office is, » Speaker Quinn added. « He knows where I live. If he has a piece of legislation he's interested in, he'll call me and we'll talk about it. Up until then, there's really nothing for me to say about term limits. » </p><p>If democracies are supposed to work efficiently only if voters know well each of tge issues and the politicians who run for and hold office, then our experience with this pattern of deliberately evasive non-answers isn’t going to lead us to the path where voters know where we stand <i>vis-à-vis</i> Speaker Quinn. But that’s her real intention. She doesn’t want us to know where we stand. If we are like a « deaf speactator in the back row, » as Walter Lippmann has described disenfranchised voters, then that makes it easier for politicians like Speaker Quinn to avoid the messy work of having to live up to an ethic. </p><p>But to Speaker Quinn, who is climbing up the political ladder with her wagon hitched to Mayor Bloomberg’s coattails, taking on the powers that be is not likely going to happen. Taking a public policy position means you have to have something to fight for, and you have to be somebody, who fights for that in which you believe. </p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Using the spree of hospital closings in New York City, including that of St. Vincent’s Hospital, as a litmus test for Christine Quinn’s ethics.</font></b></p>At an emergency community meeting in the West Village on January 28, 2010, just weeks before <b>St. Vincent’s Hospital</b> was to close, Speaker Quinn gave what should have been, by all accounts, a touching and inspiring speech. She endorsed the idea that fighting for the hospital’s survival was critical to New York City. </p><p><blockquote>« I fail to accept that in all of New York, » she began, « there is no other healthcare institution that wants to merge with the great St. Vincent’s. I simply do not believe it. The State Department of Health wants us to believe it, because they have created an equation where that is the only answer that we would get. We are not going to fall for that bait-and-switch. We’re not going to fall for this trick that Continuum is the only entity out there. We’re going to say tonight, and we’re going to say it over and over again : the only plan that should be considered or ever approved by the state is one that keeps our hospital and our emergency room. »</blockquote></p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="330" src=http://www.youtube.com/embed/MJFSBvyfQU8 title="Save St. Vincent’s Hospital : Thursday, January 28, 2010 community meeting at Our Lady of Pompeii Church, Greenwich Village, NYC" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>There are times, like in the preceeding Save St. Vincent’s video, when Speaker Quinn can tap into the truth that the common New Yorker senses : that our economy and our social safety nets are a giant rug that is being pulled out from under us, and that, inspite of the horror, she sells herself as courageous enough and willing enough to fight for a progressive agenda. But in the year since Speaker Quinn spoke with such leadership at the emergency community meeting at Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Greenwich Village, we need to make an assessment of where we now find her in the fight to restore a hospital to the Lower West Side of Manhattan. </p><p>How we got from « We are not going to fall for that bait-and-switch, » to « <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/147rENJ1R6erEciMe_E99e4_Z6WJK79LEy6QzX9YLQ5U/edit?hl=en" title="2011-01-28 Nirav Shah NYDOH Christine Quinn Oh Please.PDF" target="_blank">As the sale of St. Vincent’s properties makes its way through bankruptcy court</a> » and « <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p5Ww6eEFqXg4bsHkhREc4uGyOts6OZxKUdloHnueC1g/edit?hl=en
" title="2011-01-18 Mark Toney SVH Christine Quinn Pass Fake.PDF" target="_blank">We are currenlty engaged in a healthcare needs assessment</a>, » is that time-honoured tradition : the people’s advocate has sold out, where even a <br />
cornerstone institution such as a hospital can be deemed acceptable collateral damage if it means that a politician can collect large campaign donations to finance an expensive run for mayor of the most important city in the nation. (Flackback : Rewind : <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/15/bloomberg-campaign-spendi_n_425240.html" title="Bloomberg Campaign Spending Actually $108 Million" target="_blank">Mayor Bloomberg spent over $108 million dollars in reported/disclosed spending the last mayoral campaign</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/nyregion/04mayor.html" title="Bloomberg Wins 3rd Term as Mayor in Unexpectedly Close Race" target="_blank">only to win by a puny margin of about 5 per cent</a>.)</p><p>Should St. Vincent’s properties be sold and a new hospital never to be opened at its former site, lots of real estate companies stand to make a lot of money. A quick glance through the <a href="http://www.councilpedia.org/index.php?title=Christine_Quinn" title="Gotham Gazette, published by Citizens Union Foundation, has created Councilpedia to expand and enrich the conversation about money and politics in New York City by enabling you, our readers, to share information about city elected officials and the people and organizations that give them money." target="_blank">Councilpedia records published by the Citizens Union Foundation</a> shows that many real estate companies have made substantial campaign donations to Speaker Quinn’s presumed 2013 mayoral campaign. Here is a quick sample : </p><a href="http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/?action=view&current=2011-02-26QuinnSTVDonations525.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/2011-02-26QuinnSTVDonations525.jpg" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=1046 border="0" alt="Christine Quinn,St Vincents Hospital,Real Estate Industry,Campaign Donations,2013 Mayoral Campaign,NYC,New York,Councilpedia"></a><p>Indeed, as at February 26, 2011, according to Councilpedia statistics, <a href="http://www.councilpedia.org/index.php?title=Real_Estate_Industry_(Christine_Quinn_2013)" title="Christine Quinn Mayoral Campaign Donations Real Estate Industry 2013 (through July 2010)" target="_blank">Speaker Quinn had received over $569,000 in 2013 election cycle donations from the real estate industry</a>. You don’t need me to tell you that that is a lot of money. </p><p>What Speaker Quinn is gambling, the deal that she is making with the Devil, is that nobody is going to call her on her inability to make good on simple policy decisions, like « We are not going to fall for that bait-and-switch. » She is also counting on nobody getting outraged enough to say that the influence of real estate developers, as indicated by their large campaign contributions to Speaker Quinn's campaign treasury, is over-riding the needs the voting public. But with social media tools, such as Councilpedia, the old political boss ways of days gone by are numbered. What is more, in the political vacuum of Speaker Quinn’s definitive non-answers, she is creating opportunities for other politicians, to swoop in and offer voters a new sense of hope. </p><p>When he was a councilmember, <b>John Liu</b> found the courage to give press conferences about the performance of, dissatisfaction with, and budget crisis overseen by Speaker Quinn.</p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" title="Mayor 2013 - Budget Crisis" height="330" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G8QH8h4iCHY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Now that he is City Controller, Mr. Liu has found the courage to challenge Mayor Bloomberg to immediately review suspicious technology contract scandals, such as with the <b>Emergency Communications Transformation Program</b> (<b>ECTP</b>). In a letter written to Mayor Bloomberg by Comptroller Liu, the Comptroller's office rejected a $286 million contract request that would have nearly doubled the initial ECTP contract cost of $380 million. The new contract request would have raised the ECTP budget to $666 million. (Click on the link to read the <a href="http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/press/2011_releases/pr11-01-001.shtm" title="''Comptroller Liu’s office rejected a $286 million contract request from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) for the ECTP project.''" target="_blank">news release issued today by the Comptroller's office about the latest New York City technology contract scandal</a>.)</p><p>In the face of Speaker Quinn’s passivity, other leaders are stepping forward to demonstrate dynamism, charisma, and decisive leadership.</p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">The Definitive Answer to End the Cycle of Cynicism is Alive and Well In a Surprising Group of Activists and Leaders, among them Mr. Liu, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and the civil rights lawyer, Yetta Kurland.</font></b></p><p>If Mr. Liu continues to investigate questionable technology contracts, he is sure to win the praise of voters, who are tired of seeing tax money disappearing into blackholes of politically-awarded governemnt contracts, while, at the same time, the mayor runs his scorched earth campaign of school and firehouse closings with the tortured logic of the need to make budget cuts. </p><p>Shockingly, in the time that Speaker Quinn has presided over the New York City Council, at least eight city hospitals have closed. In 2010, North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy and St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village shut down after shady backroom meetings. In 2009, two hospitals in Queens – St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica – went bankrupt. In 2008, Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan, Parkway Hospital in Queens, and Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge closed. And in 2007, St. Vincent's Midtown in Manhattan was closed. Separately, one other hospital in Brooklyn, Long Island College Hospital, was recently saved : it had been on the brink of closing, and the only way the hospital was saved was by merging it with SUNY Downstate. </p></p><p>To some degree or another, each of the communities impacted by these hospital closings have objected, protested, or tried to litigate the decisions that lead to a hospital being closed in their community. But in no instance has a grass-roots community organisation powerfully come together as has happened following the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village. There, a group called the <a href="http://demandahospital.blogspot.com/" title="Coälition For A New Village Hospital" target="_blank">Coälition For A New Village Hospital</a> has been agitating, protesting, holding emergency community meetings, packing into Manhattan Community Board meetings, and litigating their cause to, first save St. Vincent’s Hospital, then, after the hospital closed, to restore a new hospital to the former site of St. Vincent’s. The group has shocked the normal course of cynical city politics, because, as we approach the one year anniversary of the closing of St. Vincent’s, this community group refuses to go away quietly. When the community heard « We are not going to fall for that bait-and-switch, » they believed it. Now, they’ve organised to make good on restoring a hospital to the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Recently, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcToWCh5VhU" title="4 community activists arrested in Hands-Off St. Vincent’s Sit-In" target="_blank">four community activists were even arrested after orchestrating a restro sit-in at the former main building of St. Vincent’s</a> in a courageous act of civil disobedience ; the four activists spent one night in jail before they got processed out of the court system. The closing of St. Vincent's has even inspired the creation of a non-violent civil disobedience movement. The sense in the community is one of dire seriousness.</p><p>St. Vincent’s was more than a hospital, it was also a Level 1 trauma center, which, for Lower Manhattan, had served as a critical underpinning for New York City’s emergency preparedness in this post-9/11 world. Some see a parallel between the need to be ready for another terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan and the fight to keep essential municipal services and basic infrastructure. And given that Speaker Quinn takes so many campaign contributions from the real estate industry, some community activists are sensing that the fight for a new hospital transcends a mere fight to preserve basic infrastructure, but it also taps into the historical tradition in Greenwich Village to fight urban renewal imposed by political figures, who force through neighborhood-destroying mega-development projects.</p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">In the face of over-development, there is a chance that New York City communities will link up in a city-wide grass-root effort to block urban renewal projects that would destroy the character of our neighborhoods.</font></b></p><p>In August 2010, <a href="http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/searchlight/20100826/203/3344" title="’’ The City Council on Wednesday approved a controversial 67-floor skyscraper, reaching nearly 1,200 feet, just two blocks away from the Empire State Building.’’" target="_blank">Speaker Quinn advocated and won approval from the City Council for a 67-floor skyscraper just two blocks away from the Empire State Building</a>. The new building is to be built in Speaker Quinn’s district. When <i>The Gotham Gazette</i> reported about the skyscraper’s approval, the newspaper quoted the City Council Speaker thusly : « <b>We want new Rockefeller Centers. … New York City is about growth -- about growing bigger and higher all the time.</b> » Whereas, all New Yorkers take pride in living in a vibrant city, we think that all the zone-busting development projects are just a revival of Robert Moses’ twisted idea that New York City should be one giant crosstown expressway, only this time the city planning idea being pushed is more skyscrapers and more and more glass and steel luxury condominiums.</p><p>And as in that time then, when Mr. Moses’s overdevelopment plans shocked the conscious of New Yorkers, unintentionally launching the careers of a whole wave of civic activists lead by <b>Jane Jacobs</b>, now in this time here, we have the creation of similar conditions under which Speaker Quinn’s development plans are triggering a new wave of civic activists, who are pushing back, who are saying, « Enough is enough ! » Whereas the popular perception then was that Mr. Moses was motivated by a power trip that made him feel like he needed to be in control over all major development projects in such a mania that bordered on demolishing as much of old New York as he could, we don’t know if Speaker Quinn is motivated by the same ambition. But we do know that she is in a race to raise substantial amounts of money to mount an expensive political campaign to become mayor of New York City in the elections of 2013. </p><p>The Coälition For A New Village Hospital is based squarely within Speaker Quinn’s City Council district. The Coälition has been networking with various city and state politicians, to find a champion on the inside, who could launch an investigation into the finances and the mysterious closed-door meetings that lead to the closing of St. Vincent’s. The Coälition has also been working to feverishly prevent any change in zoning for the main buildings that served as home to St. Vincent’s, to preserve the existing infrastructure for any new hospital that would be interested in replacing St. Vincent’s. Remember that in about the course of one year, we heard Speaker Quinn change her tune from : « We are not going to fall for that bait-and-switch, » to : « As the sale of St. Vincent’s properties makes its way through bankruptcy court. » The community sees the writing on the wall. And right now, there is no full-service hospital in the entire West Side of Manhattan from Columbus Circle all the way down to Battery Park. And with the loss of St. Vincent’s Level 1 trauma center, all of Lower Manhattan is at risk should another terrorist attack again happen below 14th Street. Even if Speaker Quinn really, deep-down, believed that the Lower West Side needed a hospital, nobody but her and her political campaign know for sure if she is really fighting for one, or if she is just going through the motions, a political bluff known as astroturfing.</p><p>In numerous conversations with the residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan, many people are beginning to hedge their bets. Others are saying that we need all hands on deck. They are looking to City Controller John Liu to launch an investigation into St. Vincent’s finances, in any jurisdictional capacity at his disposal. Residents are also looking to several Manhattan Community Boards, to help preserve the zoning on the former campus of St. Vincent’s. And in the last few weeks, one new ally has showed up on their radar, Manhattan Borough President <b>Scott Stringer</b>. In his authority, President Stringer has broad zoning powers. According to the city’s website :</p><blockquote><p>« The Borough President reviews all public and private land-use projects in Manhattan and can recommend approval or rejection of those projects. With an appointment to the City Planning Commission, the Borough President can also play a proactive role in shaping the future of development in Manhattan. Also, the Borough President appoints most members of Manhattan's Community Boards and then provides support and oversight to those boards as they make crucial decisions affecting zoning and permits. » </blockquote></p><p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000">Do the liberal and progressive politics of Manhattan Borough President Stringer include a real sensibility for the spirit of Jane Jacobs' ethics about responsible urban planning to prevent community decay ?</font></b></p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="400" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Go2fheL_Yrs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>At a February 16, 2011, meeting sponsored by the Coälition, Presdient Stringer spoke about the need for a full-service hospital in the area. By publicly throwing his hat into the ring of the fight for a new hospital, Mr. Stringer may have found a way to transform his political career. None of the often-touted, presumed 2013 mayoral candidates have yet to inspire a groundswell of grass-roots organisers to identify a clear early leader among the crowded field of Democratic candidates. As President Stringer prepares to launch his own mayoral bid, he could count on the support of a few hundred thousand New Yorkers, who live in the former St. Vincent's catchment area. He could also reasonably expect to count on the support of the teams of community organisers that are being developed by their participation in the Coälition. If President Stringer did find a way to enforceably preserve the zoning of the former St. Vincent’ campus, he would zone-block the biggest fear running through the community and the Coälition : the sale of St. Vincent’s properties currently making its way through bankruptcy court. The area that would most benefit from an enforceable zone-block would be a critical area of voters in Manhattan, which also happens to coïncide with what would be considered Speaker Quinn's strongest base of support, as she organises herself to run for mayor of New York in 2013. Not only would President Stringer win over a valuable new grass-roots organisation in Manhattan, but he would be undercutting Speaker Quinn’s base of support right in her very own City Council District. (One way for President Stringer to measure the likelihood that hospital closings will become a major mayoral campaign issue is if new threats arise that would affect hospital finances, or if neighborhoods outside of Manhattan begin to organise around this issue.)</p><p>President Stringer is an accomplished politician. His entry into politics was initially shaped by having served as a legislative assistant to Congressman <b>Jerrold Nadler</b>, back when the Congressman was an Assemblyman. Before he was elected to preside over the Borough of Manhattan, President Stringer served as an Assemblyman himself, representing the very seat once occupied by Congressman Nadler. A true Democrat, President Stringer has the support of progressive Democratic political clubs in New York City, among them the <b>Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club</b>, named for the legendary gay activist <b>Jim Owles</b>. Like any elected politician, President Stinger has not been able to please all of his critics. But residents of the Lower West Side -- and beyond -- are turning to him for the opportunity that both see in each other : a way to legally preserve the zoning of the former St. Vincent’s buildings, as well as a way to elect a mayor, who could hear the calls from the community to reverse the spree of hospital closings and to put a stop to the irresponsible and systematic demolition of old New York. Already, the movement for a new Lower West Side hospital has attracted members or former members of major LGBT organizations such as <b>ACT-UP</b> and <b>Queer Rising</b>, among others, plus the conribution of activists outside of Manhattan. And the movement has also guaranteed the ascendancy of civil rights attorney <b>Yetta Kurland</b> as a respected community leader. Therefore, President Stringer is looking at the formation of an almost instant coälition of support for his mayoral candidacy, provided he delivered quickly on an enforceable zone-block to preserve the integrity of the St. Vincent’s properties, before the buildings are sold in bankruptcy court.</p><p>If President Stringer played by the normal cynical rules of New York City politics, he would be all talk and no action. But if he was ready for a game-changer, one that would transform him into an instant populist hero, he would call Speaker Quinn on what everybody sees as one of her two Achilles’ Heels : her St. Vincent’s astroturfing bluff. (Speaker Quinn's other Achilles' Heels are term limits and the slush fund scandal.) She says that she supports a new hospital, while, at the same time, she is taking tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the very real estate industry that stand to make tens of millions, and possibly hundreds of millions in profits, from the demolition of the St. Vincent’s properties and the development of more glass and steel high-rise luxury condominiums in the heart of community where Jane Jacobs used to call home. And Speaker Quinn’s gamble is that she can get away with giving definitive non-answers when everybody in her very City Council District is longing for decisive leadership to restore a hospital at the former site of St. Vincent's.</p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJFSBvyfQU8" target="_blank"><img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/Christine%20Quinn%20-%20Protest%20Photographs/Bait-And-Switch.jpg" border="0" WIDTH=400 HEIGHT=309 alt="Christine Quinn,St Vincents Hospital,Real Estate Industry,Campaign Donations,2013 Mayoral Campaign,NYC,New York,Councilpedia,Bait-and-Switch,Urgent Care Centers"></a>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827383377385355116.post-67508263418248281952011-02-23T18:08:00.000-08:002011-02-24T04:08:44.576-08:00Bloomberg-Quinn Budget Cuts<p><b><font size="3" color="#FF0000"><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/02/23/stringer-snipes-at-quinn-over-budget-cuts/" title="Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer criticised New York City Council Speaker over proposed budget cuts to independently elected officials." target="_blank">Stringer Snipes at Quinn Over Budget Cuts</a></font></b></p><p>In the wake of the announcements that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/nyc-budget-teachers_n_824435.html" title="Mayor Bloomberg's Budget Would Cut 6,000 Teachers" target="_blank">Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to layoff 6,000 teachers</a>, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/02/18/2011-02-18_bloombergs_budget_cuts_poised_to_slash_daycare_and_senior_citizens_centers.html" title="Bloomberg's budget cuts poised to slash daycare and senior citizens centers" target="_blank">cut daycare and senior citizen centers</a>, and <a href="http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2011/02/bloomberg-to-defund-borough-presidents.html" title="Well, this is one way for Moneybags to hold onto dictatorial power and quash criticism." target="_blank">cut the budgets of independently elected officials, like the offices of the public advocate and the borough presidents</a>, politicians and community leaders are decrying the mayor's cuts as politically-motivated.</p><p>For example, <i>The New York Post</i> questions why Mayor Bloomberg is blaming Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/mike_found_money_cyvKk8Yfe1i9AaPPDzcFMP" title="Mike's found money" target="_blank">loss of $600 million in state funding</a>. In an NY1 broadcast, the mayor even <a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/politics/134429/bloomberg-takes-shot-at-gov-on-education-funding/" title="Bloomberg Takes Shot At Gov On Education Funding" target="_blank">called Gov. Cuomo ignorant about the city's budget</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile, in respect of the proposed budget cuts to the offices of the public advocate and borough presidents has outraged <b>Scott Stringer</b>, the Manhattan borough president.</p><p><blockquote>“It is outrageous that we are part of this political budget dance that impacts our ability to do our job effectively,” Stringer said in an interview with <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>. “And both <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/02/23/stringer-snipes-at-quinn-over-budget-cuts/" title="Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer criticised New York City Council Speaker over proposed budget cuts to independently elected officials." target="_blank">the mayor and the council leadership have been complicit in this attempt to silence independent elected officeholders</a> by going after our budget.”</blockquote></p><p>Mr. Stringer told <i>The Journal</i> that under the twin administrations of Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker <a href="http://www.christinequinn.com/" target="_blank" title="Christine Quinn">Christine Quinn</a>, the annual process for setting the budgets for the borough presidents and the public advocate has become the “most politicized” in a generation. </p><p>Moreover, that the mayor seems obsessed with laying off public school teachers has worried others whether the mayor is, indeed, making biased budget cuts.</p><p>"His complete insistence on teacher layoffs seems bizarre to us at this point. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110217/us_nm/us_newyorkcity_budget_6" title="NY City to fire teachers, cut capital spending" target="_blank">We think it's more of a political game and scaring people</a>," <b>Michael Mulgrew</b>, president of the United Federation of Teachers, told NY1 television, according to Yahoo! News.</p><p>Separately, proposed budget cuts to public libraries have triggered a backlash : <a href="http://bookable.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/nyc-new-library-cuts-for-fy’12/" title="At a certain point the question becomes : do we want to live in a city without libraries ?" target="_blank">is Mayor Bloomberg attacking freedom of expression, education, and access to information</a> ?</p>NYC News & Analysishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899988550696097916noreply@blogger.com0