City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito with supporters at a birthday fundraiser. (Photo: Facebook/mmarkviverito)

At a birthday fundraiser last night in East Harlem, friends and supporters gathered to toast City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito’s re-election bid for a redrawn district. But for the two-term progressive rabble-rouser, there is far more at stake than keeping her seat.

“We want to see her Speaker!” shouted one supporter as the group crowded around Ms. Viverito at the cozy El Kallejon on East 117th Street to hear her remarks.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is running for city comptroller, underscored the significance of the race, at a time when the speakership is up for grabs.

“I want you to know that I look forward to walking the streets of El Barrio with Melissa to make sure that she wins, that she has the mandate she needs for the next four years. Because you never know when her leadership skills will be called on to do some bigger things in city government,” Mr. Stringer said to applause, prompting calls of “Melissa for Speaker!” from the crowd.

Mr. Stringer has endorsed Ms. Mark-Viverito in her council race against a group of lesser-known challengers, but has not formally weighed in on the leadership contest.

Ms. Mark-Viverito is considered one of the leading contenders to succeed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is running for mayor. The speakership won't be decided until a new class of council members takes office next year, but the wannabe speakers have nonetheless been busy jockeying behind the scenes, making appearances and supporting candidates who might deliver votes.

Harlem City Councilwoman Inez Dickens, a close ally of Ms. Quinn, is often introduced as "Speaker Inez Dickens" by supporters, while Ms. Mark-Viverito has made no secret that she, too, is interested in the race. Other names that have also been mentioned are Manhattan City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, Councilman Mark Weprin, from Queens and Jimmy Vacca from the Bronx.

Ms. Mark-Viverito's district was one of the most dramatically altered during this year's redistricting process, with a majority of its population now located in The Bronx. She has repeatedly accused Ms. Quinn of failing to reverse the changes for her own political gain--a charge that Quinn's office has denied.

But Ms. Viverito appeared Tuesday to be taking the new lines in stride.

“It has been an incredible honor and an incredible pleasure to serve district,” she told her supporters, who sipped on sangria and nibbled on passed Mexican hors d'oeuvres.

“It will be a very different district as of January,” she acknowledged. “We’re hoping the transition will be smooth and that we can ensure great representation.”

Mr. Stringer sounded a similar theme.

“Melissa has a primary and it's important that she not only win, but she win big. Because part of what she is about is about organizing and protecting and building coalitions to make sure her district is elevated in the public discourse," he said, after wishing her "feliz cumpleaños" in shaky Spanish. “Whether it’s Bronx or Manhattan , or a combination, the truth is that before she was elected, it wasn’t a lot of attention paid to this area. It wasn’t a lot of resources that came in."

"The harshest dictatorship I've ever seen has been under Christine Quinn," said Allen Roskoff, a notorious antagonist of Ms. Quinn's and president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. "One of the two bills that Christine Quinn has sponsored herself ... is to name the Queensboro Bridge after Ed Koch, who people here know in the gay community is considered an AIDS criminal and know what he's done as far as right-wing people he's supported for office. ... It is so unusual to name anything after someone who is alive, it's like, unheard of. And so, very good friends of the LGBT community, and members of the LGBT community and even people who said they were not going to vote for it voted to name the bridge and when I asked them why," he paused for dramatic effect, "because Quinn demanded it."

The anti-Quinn tirade was par for the course for Mr. Roskoff, a noted gay-rights activist who leads the well-connected club. Indeed, three of Ms. Quinn's Democratic opponents--Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu and former Comptroller Bill Thompson--sit on the group's board of governors.

Atop the Caledonia, a tony Chelsea apartment building where a black-clad doorman is solely employed to nudge a revolving door forward, the members of the Jim Owles club also grilled Harlem Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, a candidate to succeed the term-limited Quinn as speaker. Their questions focused on why she and her fellow progressives have not ensured a bill that would mandate paid sick leave for city workers becomes law. Critics have accused Ms. Quinn of effectively killing the Paid Sick Days legislation by keeping it from a vote on the Council floor.

"Could you address why the progressive caucus hasn't forced hearings and a vote on paid sick leave?" Mr. Roskoff asked Ms. Mark-Viverito.

"We've had conversations. We're actually having a meeting this week," Ms. Mark-Viverito replied, explaining that the legislation has "many different pieces to it" and that discussion about the bill is ongoing but incomplete. "We've been having conversations and there is some serious consideration about what next step we might want to take. We do talk about it every time, we do meet, and it's something we are concerned about, and you know, it's an election year and everything that's happening right now is being seen through that lens and that's the reality."

Ms. Mark-Viverito did not quite give the answer the anti-Quinn audience was hoping to hear: progressives are stalling because Ms. Quinn wants it that way. At one point in the meeting, Mr. Roskoff said that a council member, whom he only identified by gender, told him that she would not move to make the paid sick leave bill law because she was afraid Ms. Quinn would punish her by cutting funding for a crucial community program in her district. Ms. Quinn has argued the legislation would hurt small businesses in the current weak economic climate.

One member of the club, Scott Caplan, went on to assail Ms. Mark-Viverito's Progressive Caucus for having members "who don't even support LGBT issues." However, by the end of the meeting, Ms. Mark-Viverito was easily able to win over the crowd.

"At this point, I've already publicly stated I will not endorse Christine Quinn," she said, trying to speak through a hearty round of applause.

"Wah! Wah! I feel like vomiting! Dinner with a guy borned in Kenya and claims he was borned in Hawaii!" Ms. Wys tweeted at the President offering contributors the chance of dining with him back in June, for example.

Another time, Mr. Obama tweeted a reference of his wife's birthday, causing Ms. Wys to lash out with, "Who cares? Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya!"

Understandably, a number of folks found these comments offensive, including Ms. Mark-Viverito, who sent out the following press release earlier this afternoon condemning the tweets as "vile and disgusting, and represent the height of ignorance":

NYC COUNCIL MEMBER MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO DENOUNCES RACIST ANTI-OBAMA TWEETS BY ADVISOR TO SPEAKER OF PUERTO RICO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

New York, NY – New York City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito has denounced racist tweets sent to President Obama by an advisor to the Speaker of Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives named Heidi Wys (@HeidiWys) on July 26, 2012.  In response to a photo of Barack and Michelle Obama holding a birthday cake, which was tweeted with the message “Someone has a birthday coming up,” Ms. Wys replied “Who cares? Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya.”  Last month, Ms. Wys replied to a tweet regarding an Obama fundraiser saying, “Wah! Wah! I feel like vomiting! Dinner with a guy borned in Kenya and claims he was borned in Hawaii!”

She has sought to “defend” her comments by saying that she is not a racist since “mis sobrinas más queridas son prietas” (“my dearest nieces are dark skinned”) and that she is just anti-Obama.  She tweeted yesterday, “Combato a Obama con todas las fuerzas de mi corazon y pasion como descendiente de alemanes!!” (“I am fighting Obama with all my heard and passion, as a descendent of Germans!!”).  These tweets come just a few months after another set of racist Twitter attacks by Zaida "Cucusa" Hernández, a former Speaker of Puerto Rico’s House, against Rafael Cox-Alomar, a Democratic candidate for Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the U.S. Congress.

“Heidi Wys’ comments against the President are vile and disgusting, and represent the height of ignorance,” said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. “I am sickened by the continued racist attacks from prominent political figures in Puerto Rico. Instead of setting a civil tone and engaging in a responsible debate, Ms. Wys has stuck by comments that are inflammatory, highly offensive and continue to demonstrate the deep-seated racism that abounds in Puerto Rican political and social discourse.  I call on Ms. Wys to retract her comments and issue a real apology. If she continues to spew this kind of hateful and ignorant diatribe, she should be fired.  I also call on all Puerto Rican elected officials to denounce these racist statements.”

Liz McDougall, right, testifying at the City Council hearing. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

This afternoon, the Women's Issues Committee of the City Council held a hearing on a resolution proposed by Council members Brad Lander and Melissa Mark-Viverito that would call for Village Voice Media to shut down the "adult" section of its classified ad site Backpage.com. Village Voice Media, which publishes 13 alt-weeklies around the country including its the flagship Village Voice in New York, has faced mounting pressure over Backpage, which opponents claim encourages human trafficking. At today's hearing, the company's general counsel, Liz McDougall, spoke on behalf of Backpage and emotions ran high with tears, laughter and shouting all on display.

Prior to Ms. McDougall's testimony, a 16-year-old former victim of sex trafficking spoke about her experience with BackPage. To safeguard her identity, she was identified only as "Brianna" and gave her testimony from behind a white screen. "Brianna" said she got caught up in the sex trade at the age of 9 after she ran away from home and sought refuge with a friend's older brother.

"I found out he was a pimp and I tried to leave, but he didn't allow me," she said. "Although I've been exploited in several ways, the main way that he felt that he made the most money was through Backpage. At this time, I'm 12-years-old and Backpage sent me at least 35 dates a night. ... It was very painful for me because the dates I've gotten on Backpage have been the most violent. I just feel like this is something that needs to be taken down."

"Brianna" was several Backpage opponents who spoke at the hearing prior to Ms. McDougall and described how law enforcement agencies and youth organizations are seeing a growing number of trafficking cases that involve the site. When it was her turn to speak, Ms. McDougall, a cybercrime specialist with a background in fighting trafficking who joined the company in late February as the uproar over Backpage reached a fever pitch, acknowledged trafficking is a "social atrocity," but said the question surrounding Backpage are a "grossly complex issue." Ms. McDougall argued it's better to have ads for sex work appear on a site run by a company like Village Voice Media that is willing to work with law enforcement when requested rather than potentially moving to more shadowy corners of the internet.

"The reason that we take the position that taking the adult category on backpage is not an effective countermeasure to human trafficking is because ... the content and the advertising will migrate somewhere else," Ms. McDougall explained. "What terrifies me, is the notion that what is going to happen is that this content, this advertising is going to go to what is known as the 'black hat' web sites, the underground websites and, ultimately, the offshore websites."

Ms. McDougall highlighted her company's efforts to police the content on Backpage including sending about 2,600 reports of potential child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, hiring 100 staffers to monitor content on the site, cooperating with police investigations, imposing an age limit of 21 for site users and having multiple warning pages reiterating the age limit and illegality of prostitution. By charging for the site, Ms. McDougall said Village Voice Media was able to obtain information that could create a "financial trail" in cases where investigators were looking for a trafficker or one of their victims.

"We're working to establish best practices. We already are the industry leaders in doing that, both through our three-tiered moderation, including automatic filtering two levels of manual review, and the additional research that we do voluntarily for law enforcement to make sure that they have the most solid case possible to convict the traffickers," Ms. McDougall said.

Ms. McDougall didn't seem to sway the Council members, who aggressively criticized and questioned her following her testimony.

"You said you know that there is key parts to this problem and I think what you're missing is, you are a key part of the problem," Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, chair of the Women's Issues Committee said.

"I don't deny that Backpage is part of the problem, but the problem is the internet," Ms. McDougall said. "We are being abused by these criminals and we dont want to be abused by these criminals."

"I don't understand how you can be a victim when you're profiting," Ms. Ferreras responded. "I want to know what's the revenue that the Village Voice gets from their advertisements."

Ms. McDougall declined to reveal the revenues from the adult section of Backpage citing Village Voice Media's status as a private company. She also said she could not reveal the number of adult ads on the site each month and precisely how much that figure has grown in recent years.

"I'd like to have a dialogue with you, not a confrontation and not an argument," Ms. McDougall said to Ms. Ferreras, who was getting increasingly heated. "I don't appreciate being shouted at when I'm trying to have a conversation."

"I'm coming across a little loud, so lower my mic because I don't mean to shout," Ms. Ferreras said.

Things became even more contentious when Mr. Lander, who co-sponsored the resolution, got his chance to question Ms. McDougall. He asked her why, if Village Voice Media is proactive about rooting out trafficking on Backpage, the company has not made "one referral" to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. Ms. McDougall began to answer, but Mr. Lander cut her off and accused her of avoiding his question.

"Are we here to have a sarcastic back and forth or would you like to exchange useful info?" she asked.

"Well, so far you haven't given us any information on the volume of what's happening on Backpage.com, you haven't given us any information on your profits," Mr. Lander said. "The way a hearing works is that we ask tough questions."

Mr. Lander then asked Ms. McDougall how her company could profess to be cooperating with law enforcement when they didn't heed a request from over 40 prosecutors in the National Association of Attorneys General to shut the adult section of Backpage.

"The only people that have asked us to stop taking the ads that you're deeming law enforcement were the Attorneys General," Ms. McDougall said. "The attorneys general, for all of their great wisdom, are not experts in cybercrime and they have had very political agendas in their demands."

Ms. McDougall's reply led to another contentious back-and-forth with Mr. Lander. She eventually attempted to stop taking his questions.

"I'm not going to answer questions if you just continue to interrupt me," Ms. McDougall said.

"I'm sorry, this is a City Council hearing and the Council member is asking questions," Ms. Ferreras replied. "I'm going to ask you to also be respectful of the Council member, he has not finished his questions, if you choose not to answer that question, you could say that for the testimony."

"I would appreciate if you would admonish him to stop interrupting me then," Ms. McDougall said.

"We don't admonish here, we are colleagues here," Ms. Ferreras responded incredulously. "He's going to ask every question that he needs to ask."

Mr. Lander's next question drew big laughs from the audience.

"Are you thinking about setting up a drug dealing section of the Backpage.com website? ... How about a gun trading or weapons trading section?" he asked. "By your logic, wouldn't they be extremely helpful in prosecuting drug dealing and weapons trading?"

Ms. McDougall said she wouldn't respond to "sarcasm or rhetorical questions like this."

"I'm here to talk about human trafficking online and I've explained to you how we can be a valuable tool for that," she said.

Mr. Lander concluded his questioning by saying he believes the increase in volume of trafficking cause by sites like Backpage negates any efforts the sites make to aid prosecutions.

"I do appreciate your being here," he said to Ms. McDougall. "You have made clear that, in your opinion, the issue is grossly complex. To me, I think it's pretty clear that it's just gross."

There were at least two other people at the hearing who were on Ms. McDougall's side. Representatives from the Sex Workers Outreach Project testified eliminating Backpage would simply increase the amounts of "marginalization" and "criminalization" sex workers currently face.

Though the Council members clearly seem predisposed to passing the resolution, it won't have much effect on Village Voice Media. Unlike bills, Council resolutions carry no legal weight and this would merely be an expression of support for shutting the site down.

Angel Molina (Photo: BobKrasner.com via Facebook)

A man named Angel Molina is challenging incumbent Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito for her seat in the 8th district, which includes East Harlem, Central Park and portions of the Upper West Side and the Bronx. Mr. Molina, who recently filed to form a campaign committee to run for the seat, also has a website where he identifies fighting education spending cuts and raising the minimum wage as his the main issues on his platform.

"My commitment to social justice and growing up in a poor neighborhood gives me a distinct cultural perspective that I often use as my ethical compass to provide benefit to my community," Mr. Molina said in a statement announcing his candidacy on his site.

Mr. Molina's site describes him as a South Bronx resident and Public Health Educator for The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene who is "is active in his local community board, and served as budget delegate for the district’s first-ever participatory budget exercise." He faces a steep uphill battle against Ms. Mark-Viverito, an incumbent who is a leading candidate to replace Christine Quinn as Council Speaker when Mr. Quinn's term runs out next year.

An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in Zuccotti Park last year. (Getty)

Several Council members held a rally along with several members of the Occupy Wall Street movement to call attention to allegedly excessive force used by police who cleared crowds at the Occupy protest in Zuccotti Park Saturday night. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who has been a staunch supporter of the Occupy movement and claims he was the victim of excessive police force when he was arrested during the eviction of the protest from Zuccotti Park last November, said there will be a massive "Day of Action" for Occupy next Saturday, that he is working on a bill to establish a "protester's Bill of Rights" and that he plans to push Christine Quinn to hold a hearing reviewing the NYPD's handling of the occupiers.

"I am here today because, on Saturday night, I saw the NYPD using brutal excessive force arresting peaceful people that had gathered in this park," Mr. Rodriguez said. "More than 1,000 people came here to celebrate our sixth month anniversary in a peacful way, saying Occupy is here, Occupy is alive, Occupy will not leave."

Approximately 20 people were arrested Saturday. After being evicted from the park in November, Occupy Wall Street seemingly lost steam through the winter, however, the group's organizers promise the movement will be resurgent this spring and are planning a large "general strike" May 1 in addition to Saturday's events.

Councilman Rodriguez was joined at the press conference by fellow Council members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Jumaane Williams, who were both arrested while conducting civil disobedience in support of Occupy Wall Street last November, and Councilman Stephen Levin. Mr. Williams argued the protesters had a legal right to be in Zuccotti Park Saturday night.

"I want to make sure that the mayor, that the commissioner, that the whole world hears that we are still here," Mr. Williams said. "The problem I have is, we need to understand the Occupy Wall Street movement are not terrorists, they are not enemies of the state. Why are the police treating them as such?"

Zuccotti Park is a privately owned public space. The public is allowed to access the park 24 hours a day as long as they do not sleep there or erect structures. Mr. Williams said he attended Saturday's protest and witnessed no demonstrators breaking park rules.

"This park is a public private partnership. As a part of that agreement, it has to remain open for 24 hours a day," Mr. Williams said. "There were no sleeping bags that I saw, there were no tents that I saw, and if there were, you have to give people an opportunity to cure a nuisance when you see it. ... In absence of a public safety issue, why did the police start an aggression that they knew would result in people getting injured?"

Mr. Williams doesn't believe there are legitimate legal or public safety concerns behind the removal of Occupy Wall Street protesters, but he presented his own theory behind the evictions. Mr. Williams believes the police and the mayor want to keep Occupy Wall Street out of Zuccotti Park because they oppose the movement's message.

"What this is about, and let's be clear, is the suppression of dissent," Mr. Williams said. "The mayor, as he calls his personal, private army, is using the NYPD to suppress and crush any kind of dissent or speaking."

Mr. Williams said it is "lazy" of the Bloomberg administration to repeatedly remove the protesters rather than addressing their reasons for demonstrating.

"This movement still has a message, the message is still 100 percent the same; the inequality in this nation, in this city is reprehensible," Mr. Williams said. "We have a lazy administration and police department in Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly. Instead of choosing to deal with the problem and figuring out how we can fix the issues that Occupy Wall Street is doing and talking about, they come to bash heads."

After Mr. Williams spoke, Mr. Rodriguez introduced Occupy organizer Aaron Black, who he described as "one of the leaders" of the movement.

"We don't have any leaders here. There are no leaders at Occupy Wall Street," Mr. Black said. "We started a conversation and we want to continue that conversation. We've managed to change that conversation, and for some reason, we keep getting our heads beat in. I'd like to know why."

Mr. Black was followed by a tearful young woman named Liesbeth Rapp who said she witnessed protesters being "pushed over and stampeded" by the police.

"I saw a girl laying in the street, she had been experiencing seizures and convulsing, her head was unprotected on the concrete," Ms. Rapp said. "She was surrounded by over 100 police officers. Two EMT's were standing there and wanted to examine the woman, but they were denied access, despite carrying certification, by the NYPD."

Ms. Rapp did not seem to have been injured herself, but a subsequent speaker, Bill Livsey, showed off a large bruise on his arm.

"The injury that is sustained on Saturday night is minor, minor compared to some of my fellow protesters who are not standing here right now because they are either in the hospital or still in jail," said Mr. Livsey, who identified himself as a "musician and activist." "This injury was sutained when the NYPD came in, there was one police officer who took one hand of mine to pull me up and the other police officer began batoning my left arm."

The elected officials and occupiers were joined by New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, who reiterated a call made by some Council members for the establishment of an Inspector General to monitor the NYPD.

"The NYPD is out of control and this is the latest in a steady stream of scandals and abuses; the surveillance, the blanket surveillance of the Muslim community, stop and frisks of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers, the killing of Ramarley Graham and last fall's attacks on Occupy Wall Street, Ms. Lieberman said. "It is time to hold the NYPD accountable. It's time for New York City to establish an Inspector General's office. The NYPD is watching everybody else, but who's watching the NYPD?"

Councilwoman Mark-Viverito spoke out to express her support for Occupy Wall Street.

"Occupy Wall Street and this movement is a reality in New York City. It is a reality that continues to grow and will continue to be a presence in this city," she said. "They are speaking out with courage against a disparity that exists and I support that movement."

Occupy Wall Street is getting some support in Washington as well as support from the City Council. Last December, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes Zuccotti Park, called for a federal investigation into police conduct during the raid on Occupy Wall Street. As a response to Saturday's events, Mr. Nadler issued a statement reiterating his call for an Occupy investigation.

"I am disturbed yet again by allegations of police misconduct and excessive force used against Occupy Wall Street protesters during this weekend’s demonstrations at Zuccotti Park. Our law enforcement officers are charged with protecting our health and safety, but that duty must always be carried out with respect for the fundamental First Amendment rights to free expression and peaceful assembly," Mr. Nadler said. "Once again, I call on Attorney General Holder to launch a thorough investigation into law enforcement activities surrounding Occupy Wall Street – and its national offshoots – to determine whether the police have indeed violated the civil liberties of demonstrators or members of the media."

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly during his testimony before the City Council Public Safety Committee hearing. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly fielded questions on the department's controversial stop-and-frisk and Muslim surveillance programs during a contentious hearing of the City Council Public Safety Committee. Mr. Kelly was ostensibly testifying about the NYPD's preliminary budget for the coming fiscal year, but the hearing quickly turned into a heated discussion of the department's most controversial policies when committee members questioned the commissioner following his testimony.

Mr. Kelly began his testimony by praising the NYPD for reducing crime in the city to historically low levels.

"Last year, we saw continued, outstanding work from our police officers," Mr. Kelly said. "We ended 2011 with the lowest murder total in half a century and the lowest rate of auto theft in modern memory."

Mr. Kelly said the controversial practice of stop-and-frisk, which rose to record levels last year, was one of the factors that  helped "make this historic reduction in crime possible." In his testimony, Mr. Kelly pointed out "about half" of stops result in a "limited pat-down" and "only 9 percent involve a more thorough search."

"We utilize the long-established right of the police to stop and question individuals about whom we have reasonable suspicion," Mr. Kelly said.

Critics of stop-and-frisk point to the fact it is disproportionately deployed in minority communities. They also cite the fact that last year's nearly 700,000 stops only resulted in the seizure of approximately 800 illegal guns. Mr. Kelly said the majority of gun violence occurs in minority neighborhoods and said analyzing stops by race rather than looking at crime statistics is faulty logic.

"Our critics use a thoroughly discredited model of applying pure census numbers to analyze stops by race," Mr. Kelly said. "If we conducted stops according to census data, half of all stops would be women."

Mr. Kelly also addressed criticism of the NYPD's widespread surveillance program in the Muslim community, which was the subject of a critical series by the Associated Press that has drawn widespread attention. The commissioner described this program as an integral part of a counterterrorism program that foiled "14 attempted plots in past ten years." Mr. Kelly also said all surveillance efforts followed federal guidelines.

"In gathering intelligence, we adhere to a set of federal guidelines, the revised Handschu consent decree."

Some of the NYPD's investigations of the Muslim community took officers to New Jersey. These out-of-state missions have been a major target of critics including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and other Garden State elected officials who say they were not notified of the NYPD investigations. Mr. Kelly dismissed these claims in his Council testimony.

"It is also entirely legal for the police department to conduct investigations outisde of city limits and we maintain very close relationships with local authorities," he said.

Once Mr. Kelly's testimony concluded, the committee chairman, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.,  opened up the floor to questions from his fellow committee members. Melissa Mark-Viverito got into a testy exchange with Mr. Kelly about a recent Quinnipiac poll, which showed racial disparities in the way people view stop-and-frisk and Muslim surveillance.

"Overall people, yes, are supportive of these efforts, but when you start digging at the numbers, 59 percent of whites approve of stop-and-frisk policies, 27 percent of blacks approve. That is a large large gap in the sentiment," Ms. Mark-Viverito said. "When it comes to Muslim surveillance, 22 percent of whites think the NYPD is unfairly targeting Muslims ... 41 percent of blacks. Now, you as Commissioner are in charge of the safety and security for all New Yorkers, do those figures cause any sense of concern for you."

Mr. Kelly began to answer.

"Let me say this, in terms of the stop-and-frisk policy--"

Ms. Mark-Viverito cut him off before he could finish.

"Commissioner, I'm sorry. I want to respect you, but I just want you to answer that specific question," Ms. Mark-Viverito said. "Do those numbers, the gap in the way the sentiment is expressed by people of color in the city, does that have any concern to you?"

Mr. Kelly and Ms. Mark-Viverito both began speaking over each other and nearly got into a full-fledged shouting match. Mr. Kelly argued that minority communities are disproportionately affected by violent crime, so stop-and-frisk is benefiting those areas.

"Let me tell you something that also should be a concern to you," Mr. Kelly said. "96 percent of the shooting victims in this city are people of color, 90 percent of the murder victims are people of color. Now, stop and question is one of the strategies that we use, there's a whole host of others that have reduced crime in this city significantly. ... Who do you think's lives are being saved?"

Ms. Mark-Viverito countered by saying, regardless of the intended affect of these policies, they hurt the department's relationship with minorities.

"My community feels under siege and I understand what you're saying about the intent, but what I'm saying is that there has to be an acknowledgment that we can always fine-tune and improve our policies and practices," she said.

Mr. Kelly responded that police work often causes tension and said critics of stop-and-frisk and minority political leaders don't identify alternative solutions to reduce crime.

"There's always an issue of tension because of what we do. Yes, the police arrest people, we use force, we're the bearers of bad news, we do stop and question people," Mr. Kelly said. "What I haven't heard is any solution to the violence problem in these communities. People are upset about being stopped, yet what is the answer? What have you said about how do we stop this violence? What have leaders of the communities of color said? What is their tactic and strategy to get guns off the street?"

As her time ran out, Ms. Mark-Viverito agreed there should be a deeper discussion about fighting crime, but she stuck to her point Mr. Kelly should express concern about the perception of stop-and-frisk in the minority community.

"There needs to be prevention and deeper community based tactics," Ms. Mark-Viverito said. "I would agree with you there, but I think there has to be an acknowledgement."

During Ms. Viverito's testy back-and-forth with Mr. Kelly, one of the most outspoken critics of stop-and-frisk, Councilman Jumaane Williams turned to Councilman Dan Halloran and quietly whispered, "This is going to be fun."

Prior to the hearing, Mr. Williams and Councilman Brad Lander held a press conference inspired by stop-and-frisk on the City Hall steps where they called for the appointment of an NYPD Inspector General to guard against abuses of civil liberties by the police.

Since Ms. Viverito's time was up, Mr. Vallone stopped her by saying, "I'm sure that's going to be continued with some other Council members. Mr. Williams, who was wearing an anti-stop-and-frisk pin and recently debated against Mr. Vallone about stop-and-frisk on the Huffington Post jokingly responded, "Not me."

"Jumaane do you have your button on today?" Mr. Vallone asked.

Mr. Kelly's next heated exchange was with Councilman Robert Jackson. Mr. Jackson brought up allegedly untruthful statements made by the NYPD's top spokesman, Paul Browne, in conjunction with the Muslim surveillance program and the department's screening of a controversial anti-Muslim training video.

"Some of the responses by your deputy commissioner in respect to questions that were asked by media where false information was given, or incorrect information concerning surveillance, and about the videos and what have you, leads to question the honesty and integrity of responses by NYPD to questions from the media," Mr. Jackson said. "I question the honesty and integrity. ... The Deputy Commissioner needs to be held responsible for giving incorrect answers to these types of questions that are put forward to him by the press and others."

"I won't even bother," Mr. Kelly answered sparking another near shouting match where he and Mr. Jackson repeatedly spoke over each other.

"No Ray Kelly,"  Mr. Jackson said. "When you have a deputy commissioner that has all of the staff available, when he's asked a question and he gives an answer, OK, which is totally incorrect, then you start to question the honesty, integrity of his responses. And the bottom line is, that you're the commissioner and you're totally responsible for everything under your jurisdiction."

Mr. Kelly described the discrepancy over Mr. Browne's description of his appearance in the anti-Muslim training video as an honest mistake.

"He first said that he thought it was outtakes. I was in that movie for 16 seconds, by the way, where I talked about the nuclear threat to the city. So, that was incorrect, because I do a lot of interviews," Mr. Kelly said. "I think that was the fundamental issue, as to whether that was an outtake or I was in the movie. We then admitted that it was a mistake. He made a mistake. He said it many, many times. ... We're a big organization, we have a lot of interactions with a lot of people."

Mr. Williams eventually got his chance to question Mr. Kelly. He pointed to specific, predominantly minority police precincts in Brooklyn where there are high numbers of stop and frisks and rising numbers of shooting incidents.

"Can you explain the discrepancies between the stop-and-frisks you do in these districts and the gun violence not going down?" Mr. Williams asked.

"Well. I think overall violence is going down, when you look at the big picture," Mr. Kelly answered.

Mr. Williams responded to Mr. Kelly by saying he was discussing the specific communities "that are most impacted by the gun violence that you continually say leaders and elected officials like myself don't care about, or are not giving answers to."

Mr. Kelly answered with a curt retort.

"Well, you're not giving answers," he said. "You don't have any answers."

Mr. Williams pointed to comments Mr. Kelly made earlier in the hearing implying gun buyback programs are the only response elected officials who criticize stop-and-frisk have to violent crime.

"You poo pooed gun buyback programs," Mr. Williams said. "I had one in November, 85 guns off the street, one tenth of what you did with 700,000 stop question and frisks."

"I didn't poo poo it," Mr. Kelly said. "It's of value, but that's all you hear from elected people. That's the only answer that elected officials have."

After Mr. Williams' question, Mr. Vallone announced there would only be two more questioners, because the hearing was already running about ten minutes late.

"Thank you Mr. Chairman, for your commitment to the 12 o'clock cutoff," Mr. Kelly said.

"No one tries harder than I do commissioner," Mr. Vallone said.

"Well, you did not succeed," Mr. Kelly answered.

Despite his frustration with Mr. Vallone for not ending the hearing on time, when the final questioner, Councilwoman Tish James, raised her own questions about the effectiveness of stop-and-frisk, Mr. Kelly recommended she read Mr. Vallone's pro-stop-and-frisk portion of the Huffington Post debate with Mr. Williams.

"What about mine?" Mr. Williams asked as the hearing let out. "What about my article commissioner?"

Mr. Kelly didn't respond. After the nearly three hour hearing was over, he took questions from reporters in the lobby. The Politicker asked him if he was disturbed so many of the committee members focused on the controversies surrounding the department rather than the preliminary budget, which was the topic at hand.

"No. I've been here many times before with these hearings," Mr. Kelly said. "It's the way they sometimes go."

Another reporter asked Mr. Kelly what his reaction was to the hearing since it "seemed like it got pretty heated in there."

"Not really," Mr. Kelly said. "You know, I've been around a long time. Sometimes they get heated, sometimes they don't."

"The demand to shut down this section on Backpage.com will simply drive such content to other Internet portals who will move their advertising websites into offshore entities and out of reach of US law enforcement -- and the ability to trace the traffickers and the children that they are trafficking for rescue and prosecution will be lost," Ms. McDougall said.

Ms. McDougall said Village Voice Media engages in "industry-leading site moderation" and "unparalleled cooperation with law enforcement" and argued the ads could move somewhere that doesn't take such stringent measures if Backpage's adult business is shut down.

"Adult services advertising existed on the Internet before Backpage.com and will continue on the Internet regardless of Backpage.com," she said.

Village Voice Media, which owns the Village Voice in New York along with several other alt-weeklies around the country, has faced increasing calls to shut Backpage in recent months. The online classified site Craigslist closed a similar section of their site in September 2010 in response to a substantial push from the public and law enforcement officials leading to large growth of the business on Backpage. Councilwoman Mark-Viverito and Councilman Lander's statement announcing the resolution calling for the adult section of Backpage to be closed cited a petition created by Groundswell, "a multi-faith social action network housed at Auburn Seminary," that received over 91,000 signatures from people eager to see the site closed.

Read Ms. McDougall's full statement below:

The Auburn Seminary's initiative may be well-intentioned, but it is misguided. Shutting down the Backpage.com adult service section would be ineffective and a step backwards in the fight against child sex trafficking. Backpage.com operates industry-leading site moderation to assist in the prevention and rescue of victims of trafficking and in the identification and prosecution of traffickers, and provides unparalleled cooperation with law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), including creation of an "expedited" line to NCMEC to report potential child victims. And Backpage.com has remained committed to working with NCMEC, government and other willing interest groups to continue to develop and implement tools and strategies to combat child sex trafficking. Adult services advertising existed on the Internet before Backpage.com and will continue on the Internet regardless of Backpage.com. The demand to shut down this section on Backpage.com will simply drive such content to other Internet portals who will move their advertising websites into offshore entities and out of reach of US law enforcement -- and the ability to trace the traffickers and the children that they are trafficking for rescue and prosecution will be lost. All forms of human trafficking are heinous. Child sex trafficking is especially abhorrent. Online and offline communities must collaborate to combat these social atrocities. But a campaign against one website, Backpage.com, is not the answer.

"Whereas, Backpage.com’s adult section is facilitating sex trafficking and should alter its current practice; now, therefore, be it resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on Village Voice Media to shut down the adult section of its online classified site, Backpage.com, because it serves as a platform to traffic minors for sex."

According to a statement announcing the resolution, a "vast majority" of the sex trafficking cases prosecuted by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office involved Backpage. Both Councilman Lander and Councilwoman Mark-Viverito said that, by continuing to operate the "adult" section of the site VVM, which owns the Village Voice in New York and several other alt-weekly papers around the country, is profiting off the exploitation of children.

"I’m outraged that Village Voice Media is willing to make money off the exploitation of trafficking victims through Backpage.com’s adult services advertising," Mr. Lander said in the statement

"Village Voice Media must ensure that children and teenagers are not being abused in the commercial sex industry with help from their website," Ms. Mark Viverito said. "This resolution sends the message that we will not stand silent while this company profits from exploitation."

Anti-sex trafficking advocates claim Backpage is the mainonline site for prostitution and trafficking.

"Backpage is now the leading online facilitator of sex trafficking, operating in that least 10 other countries, generating an estimated $2 million per month-- all earned through a reckless disregard for human rights," Norma Ramos, Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women said in the statement.

The online classified site Craigslist closed its similar Adult Services section in September 2010 after substantial pressure from law enforcement officials and the public. In the absence of Craigslist, Backpage's market share for "adult" services has expanded.

In the fact of criticism over Backpage, Village Voice Media published an extensive series in their papers claiming anti-sex trafficking advocates exaggerate the extent of the sex trade in this country. As of this writing, Village Voice Media hasn't responded to a request for comment on this story.

A truck from the FreshDirect fleet. (Photo: FreshDirect.com)

The plan to open a new headquarters for online grocer FreshDirect in the the Bronx continues to draw a mixed reception from local politicians and community members. Today, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito sent a letter to the NYC Industrial Development Agency asking them to slow the approval process for the $74 million in tax exemptions being provided to the company as part of a $127.8 million package of grants, tax credits and other incentives from the City, the State, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s office and the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. Meanwhile, Mr. Diaz and the BOEDC announced they reached an agreement with FreshDirect to address concerns of those opposed to the plan and the Bronx Chamber of Commerce issued a statement in support of the FreshDirect facility.

Proponents of the FreshDirect move argue it will bring jobs to the area and preserve 2,000 existing jobs that would have been lost if FreshDirect, which is currently located in Long Island City, left New York. Those opposed to the proposal have a number of concerns including; the facility's environmental impact, the use of public funds, the company's relationship to the community, the lack of input on the deal from local residents and the quality of jobs at FreshDirect. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation approved the package of incentives for FreshDirect after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie aggressively lobbied and offered a $100 million bid to bring FreshDirect to the other side of the Hudson. The deal was announced before a scheduled public hearing on the FreshDirect facility that was held last Thursday.

In her letter to the IDA, Ms. Mark-Viverito asked the agency to delay its vote on the proposal to allow for more feedback from area residents.

"To hold a public hearing after an agreement was already announced in the press, and then schedule a final vote just a few days later, makes the City’s agreement with Fresh Direct seem like nothing short of a done deal," Ms. Mark-Viverito wrote. "I understand that the City and State entities involved have engaged in a real effort to gain a number of concessions and reassurances from Fresh Direct to assuage community concerns, but since the vote is coming so soon after yesterday’s public hearing, members of the surrounding community feel that their concerns are not genuinely being taken into account."

At the same time, Mr. Diaz and the BOEDC announced they created a "memorandum of understanding" with FreshDirect for the company to agree hire locals, work with nearby vendors, expand service in the area, accept EBT benefits and commit to using environmentally-friendly alternative fuel vehicles.

“I am very excited that FreshDirect will make the Bronx its new home, and that we have come to an agreement with the company that will ensure their commitment to the Bronx for decades to come. FreshDirect’s decision to stay in New York City, right here in the Bronx, is a win-win for everyone," Mr. Diaz said in a statement announcing the agreement.

Jason Ackerman was also quoted in the statement announcing the memorandum.

"We're thrilled by the opportunity to be a part of the Bronx community. We have historically created a large amount of new jobs and look forward to creating many more hand-in-hand with our new neighbors," Mr. Ackerman said. "Also, we take seriously our shared responsibility to the environment.”

Bronx Chamber of Commerce President Lenny Caro also weighed in with a statement of his own encouraging the city to "move forward with their support and welcome FreshDirect to the Bronx.

“FreshDirect’s move will also provide additional opportunities for the members of my Chamber to interface with another growing Bronx entity that is in need of their products and services,” Mr. Caro said.

The IDA is due to vote on whether or not to O.K. the $74 million subsidy package tomorrow.