Prostest Against NYU Expansion

Not since Robert Moses planned to construct a highway through the Greenwich Village has this special part of Manhattan been under so much threat.

Approximately 500 activists and residents of Greenwich Village turned out for a protest against the destructive expansion plans by New York University and other corrupt real estate developers -- and against their political enabler, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Activists were getting ready to attend a Community Board 2 meeting, which was holding its final public hearing about NYU’s over-development plans. Speaker Quinn, in part, decides who serves on Community Board 2.

The constant over-development of Greenwich Village is uniting community members against the political enablers of corrupt real estate developers. This year alone saw a controversial application by the Rudin family to convert St. Vincent’s Hospital into a mega billion-dollar luxury condo and townhouse complex with no allocation for affordable housing. Now comes NYU, with its own irresponsible expansion plans that promise to shred the fabric of the fragile community feeling in Greenwich Village.

The hundreds of people who stood in line to get into the Community Board 2 meeting expressed support for the campaign to vote Speaker Quinn out of office. Activists distributed hundreds of flyers, until the entire supply of flyers was exhausted. Many people asked for additional flyers to distribute to their friends.

The type of people who attend community board meetings are politically aware, and it is the politically aware voter, who understands why Speaker Quinn must be voted out of public office. When asked after the protest whether the anti-Quinn activists had converted many people, one of the organisers remarked, "We didn't have to try too hard to deliver our message tonight, because the people we spoke with were already on our side. I think we energized them to spread the word about Christine Quinn and provided them with information to help them expose her corrupt support of real estate developers, like the Rudin family and NYU."

It is not just residents, who oppose the reckless NYU expansion plans, but also students, who fear that the billion-dollar expansion budget would result in a vicious cycle of tuition hikes, which, in turn, would lead to higher student loan burdens.

But not only is it the actual cost or the impact on the fragile neighborhood fabric of Greenwich Village that is uniting activists against the NYU expansion plans, but also the dangerous precedent that would be set. The community of Greenwich village, lead by urban activist Jane Jacobs, had decades ago fought and defeated Robert Moses's plan for the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have destroyed Greenwich Village and parts of SoHo. Look at how all these many decades later everybody is trying to "correct" the wrongful demolition of the old Penn Station ? What is the difference between Robert Moses back then and each of Bill Rudin and John Sexton today ? Mr. Rudin is the patriarch of the billionaire Rudin family, while Mr. Sexton is president of NYU. Not much, say the community.

And now, the community is beginning to see Speaker Quinn's true colours : She can easily be counted on to be the political enabler of every corrupt real estate developer. For example, she accepted $30,000 in political campaign donations from the Rudin family, all the while Speaker Quinn refuses to recuse herself from ramming the Rudin condo conversion deal through the governmental approval process.

The only thing that can undoubtedly stop corrupt real estate developers like NYU and the Rudin family, among others, and their political enablers, such as Speaker Quinn, would be when the courageous activists, who turned out tonight, join forces with the broader people-powered social movement spurned by a spontaneous popular uprising of regular, average folks, who are demanding a restoration of the democratic process. Stay tuned.

Who has got your back ?

Join Gays Against Christine Quinn on Facebook.

Which Side Are You On ?

Is Christine Quinn ever going to do anything to stop all the hospital closings ? Or is she just going to sit around and watch as our social safety net is shredded by budget cuts and corruption ?

Join our Facebook Page : Gays Against Christine Quinn.

Rudin Mayday Hospital Closing Protest

May Day Protest Against Rudin Management Company, Inc.

On May 1, New York City voters will protest outside the real estate empire offices of the Rudin family.

Activists will issue the "Mayday" signal to indicate the life-threatening emergency caused by the Rudin family's billion-dollar luxury condominium and townhouse conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital.

New York City has been experiencing a massive wave of hospital closings, which is triggering a new wave of the single-payer healthcare movement.

In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of 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 saved in early 2011 : it had been on the brink of closing, and the only way the hospital was saved was by merging it with SUNY Downstate. Still yet one other hospital, Peninsula Hospital Center, filed for bankruptcy in late 2011 and was slated to close ; but Peninsula's bankruptcy workout plan is now threatened, meaning, that Peninsula may yet still close. Everywhere you look, incumbent politicians like Speaker Quinn are overseeing the shredding of the social safety net.

Brooklyn Students Protest Hospital Closing

A group of students from Progress High School in Bushwick, Brooklyn, held a rally outside of Wyckoff Hospital after school ended on Friday, February 17, 2012.

Here is their flyer :2012 02 17 Wyckoff Flyer Students

Rudin Valentine's Day Protest

Activists held a Valentine's Day protest outside the luxury apartment building, where Bill Rudin lives, at : 211 East 70th Street.

Activists were protesting the Rudin family, because they have become to symbolise the way corporations and the 1% buy off political enablers and craft legal loopholes that serve the interests of corporations and the 1%. The Rudin family have used campaign donations, lobbying, and legal loopholes to convert St. Vincent's Hospital into a zone-busting billion-dollar luxury condo and townhouse complex. Other corporations and other members of the 1% have created the anti-labor legislation in Wisconsin and the racist bill SB 1070 in Arizona, among so many others. Either they work independently, or they use the American Legislative Exchange Council (''ALEC'') to spread these corporate laws around the country.

To find out what you can do to protest against corporations, the 1%, and others, who pervert our democratic government in the name of corporate greed, please check out the February 29, 2012, ALEC call to action.

Christine Quinn Returns Tainted Cash

More "Dirty Money" discovered amongst City Council Speaker Christine Quinn political campaign contributions.

From The New York Post :

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (pictured) said she will return a $4,950 contribution for her likely 2013 mayoral run after The Post questioned the source of the funds: an actress and model who admitted under oath to being involved with convicted swindler Norman Hsu. Quinn took the maximum legal donation from Suzanne Raffaelli in 2007 for a campaign that was widely assumed to be for the open mayoral seat.

Quinn’s mayoral campaign was put on hold after the City Council extended term limits allowing Mayor Bloomberg to run again in 2009. But she put the money away for a 2013 citywide campaign.

Raffaelli admitted to being a straw donor for Hsu, who is behind bars for mail and wire fraud in connection with a Ponzi scheme. ....

Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Closing

Another medical center will close in New York City ; City Council Speaker Christine Quinn maintains her deadly silence on hospital closings.

The New York State Office of Mental Health is closing Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Kingsboro Psychiatric Center joins a long list of hospitals that have closed in New York City under City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's watch.

2012 01 31 Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Public Notice Closing

The notice of closing was issued on January 31, 2012. So far, Speaker Christine Quinn has issued no statement about neither Kingsboro Psychiatric Center's closing, nor the numerous other hospital closings across New York City, including the controversial closing of St. Vincent's Hospital, which is now being converted into a massive billion-dollar luxury condo and townhouse complex by the politically-connected Rudin family.

In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of 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 saved in early 2011 : it had been on the brink of closing, and the only way the hospital was saved was by merging it with SUNY Downstate. Still yet one other hospital, Peninsula Hospital Center, filed for bankruptcy in late 2011 and was slated to close ; but Peninsula's bankruptcy workout plan is now threatened, meaning, that Peninsula may yet still close. Everywhere you look, incumbent politicians like Speaker Quinn are overseeing the shredding of the social safety net.

If you want to help make a difference, order this book from Amazon.com and join the movement for a single-payer healthcare system in the United States :

People Against Christine Quinn For Mayor

Another Protest Against Christine Quinn

On Tuesday, February 7, activists gathered outside of the New School at 55 West 13th Street to protest against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Protesters cited many reasons to vote Speaker Quinn out of office.

Many activists held protest signs that reminded passers-by of Speaker Quinn's relentless use of slush funds and other payments to fictional charities in budgetary maneuvers that allow the City Council Speaker to reward her political allies and punish her political opponents.

Still, yet, other activists held up protest signs to remind voters about the back-handed way that the City Council Speaker changed term limits in 2009.

A popular chant that the protesters used went like this : "Given all the laws she's breeched, Christine Quinn should be impeached." All the while, activists distributed flyers with other information about Speaker Quinn's record of corruption.

Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.

41 Madison Company

The Rudin Family owns the office building at 41 Madison Avenue, and three members from the Rudin Family are registered with New York City as trying to do business with New York City government.

Three members of the Rudin family are registered to do business with the government of New York City through an entity named "41 Madison Company." See pp. 608-9 of the June 30, 2011, Doing Business Database People Report. Are Beth Rudin DeWoody, Jack Rudin, and William Rudin listed as lobbyists because they are trying to get business from New York City into their building at 41 Madison Avenue, or is it because they are using their landlord holding company for the New York Merchandise Mart for lobbying activities related to the Luxury Condo Conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital ?

2011 06 30 NYC Doing Business Database People Report

Who is Melanie Meyers ?

Melanie Meyers is just one of the lobbyists, who Bill Rudin and the Rudin Family hired, to scheme the system to approve their Luxury Condo Conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital.

Over the course of the last 4 years, Rudin Management Company, Inc., has paid at least $371,246 in declared lobbying expenses to the real estate lawyers and other lobbyists at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

The Fried Frank real estate lobbyist that was most visible during the Community Board 2 hearings was Melanie Meyers. (Fried Frank is the old law firm, where Sarge Shriver once worked as a name partner ; Fried Frank is now disparaging Mr. Shriver's activist commitment to healthcare under President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty.")

As of February 5, 2012, information available on the New York City government website indicates that Rudin Management Company, Inc., has declared $576,921 in lobbying expenses under the "Pay-to-Play" campaign finance reform regulations.

Quinn Returns Some Tainted Donations

Christine Quinn Gives Back $2,000 In Dirty Money, But Keeps $41,000 In Shady Donations, Including $30,000 in Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Donations.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn "plans to return $2,000 from convicted felons" after reporters from The New York Post questioned suspicious donations in her 2013 Mayoral campaign account.

CAMPAIGN DONOR	QUESTIONABLE DONATIONS
Kenneth Starr	Ms. Quinn's troubled 2013 mayoral campaign was shamed into returning a $1,000 donation from Ponzi schemer Kenneth Starr, formerly of Starr & Co., but she is not so ashamed, because her spokespeople are saying that her campaign is keeping $10,000 from his associates.
Hassan Nemazee	Ms. Quinn's campaign staff also announced their intention to return a $1,000 donation from Hassan Nemazee, a former businessman and Democratic donor who pleaded guilty in 2010 to defrauding banks of $292 million, but naturally, Ms. Quinn's campaign will keep a $1,000 donation from Mr. Nemazee's wife, even though there's no way of telling if her donation comes from co-mingled monies.

Ms. Quinn's campaign is on the defensive about having accepted so many questionable campaign donations. In addition to the $11,000 that Ms. Quinn's campaign is keeping in questionable donations, as indicated above, her political handlers are keeping silent about $30,000 in donations that she has accepted from a billionaire family, that is lobbying the city for special treatment. Conflicts of interest are apparent in the $30,000, for example, which Ms. Quinn's campaign has accepted from the Rudin family.

The Rudin family has needed several approvals from the City of New York for its Luxury Condo Conversion Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital, and the large and sizeable donations that the Rudin family has made to Ms. Quinn's campaign raises serious questions if Ms. Quinn runs a "pay-to-play" political campaign.