By Hunter Walker 3/20/12 9:48am

Crossfire

Ydanis Rodriguez (Photo: New York City Council)

Ydanis Rodriguez Discusses His ‘Protester’s Bill of Rights’ With John Gambling

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who has been a staunch supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement, appeared on the radio this morning to discuss his plans for a “Protester’s Bill of Rights” with John Gambling, who is most certainly not a fan of the Occupy movement. Mr. Rodriguez’s bill was inspired bythe NYPD’s handling of the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Zuccotti Park last Saturday.

“I believe that in the last couple of demonstrations there have been a lot of questions about how the NYPD has been handling the arrests,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “I witnessed the excessive use of force used by the NYPD last Saturday making the arrest and I believe that a ‘Protester’s Bill of Rights’ will help both the protesters and the NYPD to have a clear understanding of the rights and responsibilities of both the protesters and the NYPD.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 12/09/11 9:18am

Media Matters

Mayor Bloomberg (Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Says Police Didn't Prevent Reporters From Covering Occupy Wall Street

On John Gambling’s radio show this morning, Mayor Bloomberg once again addressed the controversy over press access at the NYPD’s raid on the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park last month. Multiple reporters were arrested while attempting to cover the evictions and there were widespread reports of credentialed members of the media being prevented from viewing the raid. “We didn’t keep anybody from reporting, they just had to stand to the side while the police did their job,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “Police have to protect people.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 11/04/11 11:27am

High Crimes

Mayor Bloomberg (Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Compares Parking Illegally to Murdering Your Parents

Mayor Bloomberg was asked about New York City’s unpopular sanitation parking stickers during his weekly appearance on John Gambling’s WOR radio show today.  A Brooklyn councilman has introduced a bill that would ban the stickers, which are placed on cars that violate alternate side parking rules and are incredibly difficult to remove, but Mayor Bloomberg told Mr. Gambling he supports the stickers and he compared people who break the rules to someone murdering their parents and not understanding why they have to go to jail. Read More

By Reid Pillifant 8/19/11 4:15pm

news radio

King Turns the Tables, Will Guest-Host for Gambling

In the run-up to his controversial hearings on Muslim radicalization earlier this year, Long Island Congressman Peter King had a lot of choice words for the media.

On Monday, King gets to turn the tables.

“I just want to congratulate you on your long career in radio,” he told John Gambling this morning. “Today is probably the last day you’re going to host the show.”

On Monday morning, King will guest-host Gambling’s four-hour show on WOR, with a slate of guests that includes Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; former MI6 agent-turned-novelist Matthew Dunn; sports reporter Bruce Beck; and maybe Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. Read More

By Azi Paybarah 7/19/11 8:24am

suggested reading

murdoch222

Morning Read: Liu Gets Big Money from Supermarket Cashiers, De Blasio Spends

2010: “Mr. Cuomo’s campaign paid $1,383.86 in January to a Chicago-based stylist who does hair and makeup for Mr. Cuomo’s girlfriend.” [Thomas Kaplan / New York Times]

2013: Liu’s campaign insulted when asked how “checkout workers” at “Great Wall Supermarket in Flushing” paid for $800 contribution. [Jeremy Smerd and Shane Kavanaugh / Crains]

2013: De Blasio hit spending limit for citywide candidate in non-election years. [Michael Saul / WSJ]

Debt Ceiling: Bill Clinton said, “idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for [expenditures] it has appropriated is crazy.” [Joe Conason / National Memo]

Same-Sex Marriage: “Episcopalians will be allowed on Sunday to get married by priests in Brooklyn and Queens, but not in the Bronx or Manhattan or on Staten Island; in Syracuse but not in Albany.” [Shaila Dewan / New York Times]

Atlantic Yards: “As of this month, the company said that the construction on the arena and the surrounding subway and rail yard infrastructure projects employed 430 workers (180 from Brooklyn), a fraction of what the developer promised and far from the 10,000 jobs that Senator Charles E. Schumer promoted.” [Liz Robbins / New York Times]

NY-1: Rove targets Rep. Bishop. [SA Miller / NY Post]

NY-9: “If elected, I would fight for no cuts and cost of living increases for Social Security,” Weprin said. [Shannon Farrell / Forum News]

NY-9: Weprin is “heavily favored to win.” [Forward]

NY-9: Weprin said “I have personally taken nine trips to Israel.” [Meagan Watson and Alison Gendar / Daily News]

NY-23: Rep. Owens targeted by Karl Rove’s group. [Mark Weiner / Post-Standard]

NY-26: Hochul raised in 6 weeks what Rep. Reed raised in 3 months. [Jerry Zremski / Buffalo News]

GOP: Republicans back DA Brown and former Councilman Dennis Gallagher, who the DA prosecuted and drove from office. [Sally Goldenberg / NY Post]

Transportation: Advocates not entirely happy with de Blasio, which is ironic. [Ben Fried / Streetsblog]

Traffic: Busting midtown congestion by having engineers direct traffic via live footage. [Jennifer Fermino / NY Post]

Bike Lanes: Markowitz said lanes around Prospect Park were supposed to be yanked if they caused problems. [Bob Fredericks / NY Post]

Bike Lanes: “I wouldn’t ride a bicycle in New York if my life depended on it” said WOR710′s John Gambling, minutes after interviewing the city’s Transportation Commissioner. [Twitter]

Nuclear: Cuomo has just 2 years to explain how he replaces power from Indian Point. [Bill Hammond / Daily News]

Media: “Citizen Murdoch’s “Rosebud” moment as head of his global media empire might be at hand.” [Rolando Pujol / amNew York]

Media: “Although I generally admire entrepreneurs who build giant companies, Rupert Murdoch, despite giving us Homer Simpson, generally has not been a force for good over the course of his long career…His tabloids have lowered the standards of journalism on three continents.” [Joe Nocera / New York Times]

Cyberbullying: Quinn convenes a panel to address it. [Heather Brown / Foxny.com]

Union: “generation gap.” [Rick Karlin / Times Union]

Union: Editors hope Bloomberg acts like Cuomo. [NY Post]

Union: “[S]tate will continue 2 pay 4 step increases. & a wage freeze in the third year will be offset with a $1K bonus.” [Jeremy Smerd and Shane Kavanaugh / Crains]

After Office: Gifford Miller building homes in the Bronx; no more politics. [Joseph de Avila / WSJ]

Congestion Pricing: Advocates hope Cuomo embraces it. [Adam Lisberg / Capital]

By Azi Paybarah 5/27/11 9:59am

Statements

Bloomberg Responds to Cop Acquittal

Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn’t say much this morning in response to news that two NYPD officers were acquitted of rape accusations leveled against them by a woman who said she was drunk and assaulted back in 2008.

Speaking on his weekly radio show, the mayor said the NYPD Commissioner, Ray Kelly “fired them right away,” referring to the two cops, who were found guilty of three counts of official misconduct for each time they returned to the woman’s East Village apartment that night.

“What we have to deal with is whatever the jury decided; that it” said the mayor.

Soon after, the mayor’s co-host, John Gambling, switched the conversation to charter schools.

Later on in the radio interview, Bloomberg was asked about the ticket-fixing scandal that prosecutors allege may involve dozens, if not hundreds, of police officers in the NYPD. “Ray Kelly is all over it,” said Bloomberg. “This is embarrassing to the greatest police department in the world.” Read More