Scott Stringer may be unopposed so far in his bid to be the city’s next comptroller, but that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down.
To wit, Mr. Stringer’s campaign rolled out the endorsement of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO this afternoon, a labor body that represents 1.3 million members, placing a further marker down as he seeks to lock up the Democratic nomination and bash his eventual Republican opponent. Read More
Yesterday afternoon, mayoral candidate Bill Thompson delivered the keynote speech at the annual luncheon of the Association of Master Painters and Decorators of New York, Inc. at The New York Hilton hotel. Though he didn’t give his opinions on any decorative matters such as Anthropologie kitchenware or Rococo-inspired wall treatments, he was certainly well-received by the members of the association. Read More
This morning at the New School, Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave a sweeping speech on reforming New York City’s education system, where she rolled out ideas like tablets replacing textbooks and online service programs for both students and parents. Creatively using the online shoe company Zappos.com as an example, Ms. Quinn also pressed the case for how more should be done within the city’s existing educational framework.
“Now, not everything we’re talking about here requires a new program, sometimes it’s just about recommitting to doing things better,” Ms. Quinn said, quickly pivoting to a her shoe-based explanation. “I don’t know … how many of you are familiar with the online shoe company Zappos? Now, for those of you know me, I know you’re shocked I figured out how to work shoes into the speech. But I will say, 50 percent off online and they’re good, okay?” Read More
Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city officials unveiled a new initiative to limit supplies of prescription painkillers in the city’s emergency rooms as a way to combat what they described as a growing addiction problem in the region. Some critics, as documented by The New York Times, however, felt the move would unnecessarily hurt poor and uninsured patients who use emergency rooms as their primary care doctor. Needless to say, Mr. Bloomberg was not swayed by this line of argument.
“The city hospitals we control, so … we’re going to do it and we’re urging all of the other hospitals to do it, voluntary guidelines. Somebody said, oh, somebody wrote, ‘Oh then maybe there won’t be enough painkillers for the poor who use the emergency rooms as their primary care doctor,’” the mayor said on his weekly radio show with John Gambling. “Number one, there’s no evidence of that. Number two, supposing it is really true, so you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit. The other side of the coin is people are dying and there’s nothing perfect … There’s nothing that you can possibly do where somebody isn’t going to suffer, and it’s always the same group [claiming], ‘Everybody is heartless.’ Come on, this is a very big problem.” Read More
As the field of mayoral candidates competing for Gracie Mansion continues to grow, Politicker stumbled upon a contender who has, thus far, flown under the radar of local political insiders.
Amid the candidates listed on the Wikipedia page for the 2013 New York City race is “Cen Alligator,” who is described as an “alligator enthusiast from Astoria.” His inclusion on the page is supported by a link to a YouTube video where Mr. Alligator announces his potential mayoral bid and explains that getting added to Wikipedia’s potential list of candidates is actually the raison d’etre for his campaign.
“The main reason I made this video is that I can prove a point on Wikipedia that I can just make up a YouTube video and record myself and then put myself on the potential list of candidates for Mayor of New York City, you know,” he said. “Because this is straight from the horse’s mouth, it’s a real citation. It’s a real thing. It’s not a fake thing at all. It’s a genuine, real thing. It’s true. Straight from the horse’s mouth.” Read More
Earlier today at Grand Central Terminal, George McDonald, the Republican CEO and Founder of the DOE Fund, kicked off his campaign for Mayor of New York City. The DOE Fund’s mission, which is to provide employment to the homeless and formerly incarcerated, was on full display at the event, where he was introduced and surrounded by graduates of his nonprofit’s program.
“Time is not what it seems in Grand Central Terminal. It’s said that trains leave promptly on schedule, one minute after the posted time on the big board, a kind of grace period for busy commuters. And in what seems like a minute, our city has been transformed,” Mr. McDonald expounded. “25 years ago New York was a different city, it was dirty, dingy, unsafe, and many believed unmanageable. It was widely thought that our best days were behind us. During those days, I came to Grand Central every night, 700 nights in a row to feed the homeless.” Read More
As city politicians at all levels of government slam Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision to continue its plans for the New York City Marathon, an elected official in one of the hardest-hit communities is taking the fight to the next level. Assemblyman Lou Tobacco, representing the South Shore of Staten Island, has called for a nationwide boycott of the marathon’s sponsors if they do not push to end the race.
“I urge the sponsors to do the right thing and join me in calling for the postponement of the race,” Mr. Tobacco said in a statement. “If they fail to do what is right, I urge a nationwide boycott of their products. These sponsors have the power to stop this race, they need to do what is right.” Read More
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is in New York City as part of his book tour for his upcoming tome, Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds.This evening he spoke before a couple hundred fans packed into the Rebel nightclub on 30th Street and he made the case for restraining the federal government while slipping in a dig or two at the local municipal one.
“The whole thing is about submission,” Mr. Paul explained after a long rant about indefinite detention and security procedures at the Transportation Security Administration. “They want you to submit, they want you to listen, do what you’re told. I think we’ve had it up to here in New York because you’ve got ‘Nanny Bloomberg’ for your Mayor.”
The crowd booed and Mr. Paul went on to malign Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial plan to restrict the size of soda cups at restaurants and concession stands. Read More
The campaign against the pro-charter school political organization “StudentsFirstNY” is amassing support from current and aspiring politicians.
The anti-StudentsFirst group formed last week and quickly caused a number of 2013 mayoral candidates looking at signing on a pledge to avoid any contributions from StudentsFirst, with Comptroller John Liu completely signing on and Council Speaker Christine Quinn declining to do so. But pro-public school advocates didn’t slow down there and they’ve rolled out a plethora of officials who have signed the pledge, including contenders for Gracie Mansion, various borough halls, and the City Council. Read More
Mayor Michael Bloomberg wishes the Olympics were held in New York City instead of London this year, but, in his words, his administration is not going to “go and cry” about it. In fact, after a press conference earlier today, he said the city has built and done many of the things it would have done for the athletic event anyway.
“I’m sorry that we lost our opportunity, we gave it our best shot, and lots of people gave money and worked very hard to bring the Olympics here,” Mr. Bloomberg said of the city’s unsuccessful bid to get its own Olympic nod. “It would have been wonderful, but we didn’t get it. But we didn’t go and cry. What we did is we built a very big percentage of the things we would have built anyways, if we had had the Olympics.” Read More
