Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hurricane Sandy - Bellevue, NYU, and Coler Hospital Evacuations - Political Accountability

Who is politically accountable for the failure of the emergency management plan in response to Hurricane Sandy that lead to infrastructure failure at New York City hospitals ?

Following the infrastructure failure of critical hospitals in New York City because of flooding and storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy and related power failures, some healthcare activists began to demand answers for the failure of New York City's emergency management planning. The fault does not lie with the doctors and medical staff at the impacted hospitals ; rather, the politicians in charge of the city's emergency management plan must account for this irresponsible and dangerous situation. How could it be that New York City's resources would prioritise reopening business when critical hospitals could be left in the dark ? One activist has posted a new YouTube video requesting political accountability for the dangerous risks posed to public health by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's lack of real emergency planning.

Video Link : http://youtu.be/ggjOOjbTKZs

Background

In the community effort to demand a replacement hospital for St. Vincent's, politicians imposed on the community the burden of participating in a needs assessment to determine if a full-service hospital was required in the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

"The hospital evacuations following the destruction by Hurricane Sandy expose the risks of the Rudin Condo Conversion Plan approved for St. Vincent's Hospital," said Louis Flores, an activist who produced this YouTube video. "New York City needs a Level I Trauma Center and full-service hospital in the Lower West Side for disaster recovery efforts. And New York City needs real resources to improve the infrastructure of all of our hospitals, including Coler Hospital on Roosevelt Island and SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn."

Hurricane Irene

In 2011, St. Vincent's activists organized a mass civilian trauma event exercise to demonstrate what grassroots community activists described was a major risk to public health : where would sick and injured patients receive emergency and trauma care in the event of a major national disaster under conditions that had created an irresponsible geographic distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan.

See related link : http://thevillager.com/villager_443/traumadrama.html

Hurricane Sandy

In the time leading up to and following the landfall of the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the infrastructure of full-service hospitals on the East Side of Manhattan has failed. Hospital patients were forced to be evacuated from NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals.

To Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, to City Planner Amanda Burden, Brad Hoylman, Bill Rudin, and to the Partnership for New York, where are New Yorkers supposed to go now, in case of a medical emergency ?

FDNY Help Evacuate Bellevue Hospital

Hurricane Sandy Exposes Risks Of Closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

The New York City Fire Department is helping Bellevue Hospital evacuate some of it patients, the Associated Press has reported.

Bellevue Hospital lost power during the blackout created by the storm surge, flooding, and damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Even with backup power operating, the Associated Press reported that the power outage had left many sections of Bellevue Hospital in the dark and rendered major medical equipment unusable without access to electricity.

Chinatown Con Edison Rotting Fish Sale $1

The Gothamist has reported that street vendors in Chinatown were offering to sell perishable, unrefrigerated fish at "bargain prices" in the wake of the power outage following the destruction from Hurricane Sandy. According to Christopher Robbins, Jonathan Maimon wrote an e-mail report indicating that he saw a fish "weighing roughly 20 pounds and spanning 3 feet from head to tail go to a buyer for $1 dollar. $1 dollar!!!!!"

Chinatown Fish Fire Sale from Gothamist on Vimeo.

When will Bloomberg-Quinn help the small businesses and the residents, who are suffering without power ? Who would buy a 20 lb. fish that has been unrefrigerated for over 24 hours for $1 ? How desperate for food must these people be ?

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Howard Glaser On Crackberry During Gov. Andrew Cuomo Sandy Press Conference

During Hurricane Sandy, Quinn and Bloomberg Defend Coastal Over-Development

From Queens Crap :

We know many people are not leaving the evacuation zone, and that many of them got there in the first place thanks to developments fostered by the Bloomberg administration. At his morning's briefing, The Observer asked the mayor if it was wise to continue encouraging development in these low-lying areas, like the Williamsburg and Queens waterfront, even along the fetid Gowanus Canal, which the mayor pushed to rezone. The mayor saw no reason to change course.

"People like to live in low-lying areas on the beach, it's attractive," Mayor Bloomberg said. "People pay more, generally, to be closer to the water even though you could argue they should pay less because it's more dangerous. But people are willing to run the risk."

Even as his administration encourages development in these areas, he did not believe it was necessary to undertake major infrastructure investments that could mitigate these storm surges.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn stepped in to argue that the city has already done a considerable amount to strengthen its built environment in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

Far Rockaway Queens Fire In Breezy Point

Related : New Hurricane Sandy Danger : Flood-Risk Nursing Homes Told Not To Evacuate

As of 11 p.m., fires were destroying a considerable section of Breezy Point, on Rockaway peninsula in Queens, after Hurricane Sandy created widespread damage after making landfall in Southern New Jersey. Firefighters in New York City are trying to respond to many emergency calls for help.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

Far Rockaway, Queens, is in a dangerous, but not unique predicament. In the last year, Peninsula Hospital Center closed. It is unclear how many community resources are available in Far Rockaway, Queens, to deal with the safety emergencies created by Hurricane Sandy.

Other communities, where there are no more hospitals, like in the Lower West Sid of Manhattan, where St. Vincent's Hospital was closed so that City Council could approve a controversial zone-busting luxury condo conversion plan by the Rudin family.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Hurricane Bloomberg Sanitation Department Scandal Waiting to Happen ?

Hurricane Bloomberg ?

Blogger and activist Suzannah B. Troy draws attention to the mixed messages about hurricane preparedness and readiness. Ms. Troy questions the ability of the 911 emergency call system here in New York City to handle a major emergency, such as a large-scale natural disaster.

Nobody understands how Mayor Bloomberg can expect city employees can show up to work when there is no mass transit due to the suspensions of services by the MTA New York City Subway system, and during what the National Hurricane Center describes as a "life-threatening" storm.

At 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Mayor Bloomberg ordered mandatory evacuations of Zone A areas of New York City, but he is only giving the impacted residents a few hours to find shelter. Has Mayor Bloomberg been sleeping on the job, or was he busy with his new Super PAC ?

Meanwhile, here in Queens, it is evident that the City's sanitation workers were not told to clear the garbage on the streets, to minimize flying objects during the hurricane wind gusts.

Are we heading for a repeat of the way that the Sanitation Department was overwhelmed in the aftermath of the post-Christmas Blizzard of 2010 ?

Quinn Politicises City Council Meetings, When She Has Them

Last week, The New York Times published the healthcare horror stories of two women, who work in Corona, Queens, and who are suffering because New York City Council Christine Quinn continues to block paid a sick leave bill.

Meanwhile, as Hurricane Sandy began to head toward New York, Speaker Quinn was trying to schedule a full City Council meeting in order to meet the statutory requirement to have two full City Council meetings per month. Seeing as how she politicises the council's agenda, tries to stall issues, and even resorts to sometimes locking out the community from City Council meetings, the fact that Speaker Quinn was having to resort to an emergency City Council meeting on a Sunday even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo was declaring a state of emergency demonstrates how the City Council Speaker manipulates the City Council calendar. So that she would not get in trouble with legal requirements, Speaker Quinn was planning to just "gavel in and gavel out," and discuss no business. But now it turns out that today's emergency City Council meeting has been deferred.

Speaker Quinn can gather all the City Councilmembers and hold an empty and meaningless City Council meeting ? For all that time that she continues to delay or thwart important business, like paid sick leave, but yet stack the deck to promote zone-busting real estate projects like Chelsea Market, even on the eve of Hurricane Sandy, how can this not be suspect ?

How can a large storm that was forecast days in advance to be heading our way can catch the City Council Speaker off guard ?

The New York Times article about the two women, who endure healthcare emergencies but have no sick days, risk getting fired if they call in sick. Their situation will continue, with no relief in sight, so long as Speaker Quinn continues to manipulate the City Council agenda for political expediency.

2012-10-28 New York City Council Meeting Deferred - Christine Quinn 2012-10-28 New York City Council Agenda - Gavel In Gavel Out - Christine Quinn

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Christine Quinn Betrays Community on Chelsea Market Expansion

Michael McKee Christine Quinn Chelsea Market

Council Zoning Committee Approves Chelsea Market Expansion Over Community Opposition

Excerpts from NY1 :

The City Council Zoning subcommittee approved Thursday a plan to expand Chelsea Market, which would add 290,000-square-feet of office space to the former Nabisco factory located next to the High Line in Manhattan.

"This is an outright betrayal by Chris Quinn of her community, someone that I used to work with," said Michael McKee, a Chelsea resident. "Where is that Chris Quinn ? Who is she now ?"

Some have privately questioned whether the Speaker would have approved the expansion if she had to run for re-election in Chelsea next year. Instead, term limits are forcing her out of the council seat, and she is laying the groundwork for a likely run for mayor.

The full City Council is expected to approve the expansion at its meeting on Tuesday.

Tom McDonald Sports on 1 St. Vincent's Hospital Yankee Stadium

Early this morning, Tom McDonald was hosting Sports on 1 on NY1, when a gentleman called into the sports TV show. The caller complained about how governments gave the owners of the new Yankee stadium complex hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies, but yet found no money to bail out St. Vincent's Hospital.

Mr. McDonald brushed off the criticism, saying that the new Yankee Stadium was good for tourism and that funding healthcare or keeping hospitals solvent were not important uses of taxpayer money.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Christine Quinn No Show At Chelsea Market Hearing

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was absent from a City Council Hearing about the zone-busting real estate development expansion project for Chelsea Market by its owner, Jamestown Properties. Speaker Quinn's decision to blow off the hearing angered some of her core supporters.

“It’s her council district. She was elected from a district, even though she’s now got citywide ambitions, and she should be here to hear testimony about a project that’s going to destroy her community,” Michael McKee told The Wall Street Journal. Mr. McKee once worked with Speaker Quinn back in 1989, when she was an organizer with the Housing Justice Campaign.

“She was a great community organizer. She was one of the best I’ve ever met,” Mr. McKee added, “but I don’t know where that Chris Quinn is.”

Also from The Wall Street Journal :

Quinn spokesman Justin Goodman said the speaker doesn’t always appear at hearings, even for projects in her own district. The spokesman noted that she also missed a hearing last year on the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Bloomberg Invokes Red Scare Against Elizabeth Warren

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called Elizabeth Warren, "God’s gift to regulation." How can New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn support Mayor Bloomberg, when he throws the Democratic Party under the bus ? Mayor Bloomberg even invoked "socialism" against Ms. Warren and the "U.S.S.R." to spread the typical unfounded Republican fears against Democrats.

Frank Rich and Fran Lebowitz - A Review of the Town Hall Conversation

A State of the Union Conversation : An Evening With Frank Rich and Fran Lebowitz

Two plush chairs sat empty on an area rug in the middle of the stage last night at the Town Hall, near Times Square in New York City. The setting was meant to be cozy, but early on the anticipation and tension was already palatable.

Some people who bought tickets were so late taking their seats that, twice, the early birds amongst the audience made noise to bring out the stars of the evening, who eventually took to the stage about 8:15 p.m. or so.

Frank Rich, the former op-ed columnist and drama critic for The New York Times, and Fran Lebowitz, the author and social critic, took to their chairs and shared a conversation about the 2012 presidential election with the audience.

"The whole United States is a protest zone," said Ms. Lebowitz.

Recording devices were banned, so I live-Tweeted some of the more memorable remarks of their conversation.

The Town Hall offered an intimate setting for the conversation. At many times, Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz received loud cheers in recognition of their especially brilliant observations from the audience. A few people even shouted affirmations or retorts, whenever the conversation touched a nerve. At one point, when the same gentleman in the audience made two loud comments in reply to Ms. Lebowitz's witticisms, she said, "Let us know where you are appearing tomorrow, so we can attend." Lots of people wanted to dive into the luxury of taking part in this conversation, because just sitting in their wise presence just wasn't enough.

Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz spoke about the tour that their "conversation" was taking them : they had recently appeared in Las Vegas and in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rich began their conversation on a sick and twisted (my words, not his) puff piece published by The Times in which Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticised President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Ms. Lebowitz offered a simple explanation for Mayor Bloomberg's interloping : he is envious that he could not become president.

Ms. Lebowitz said that when she saw Mayor Bloomberg get all involved up in Albany over last year's push for marriage equality in New York State, she said she hoped that Mayor Bloomberg would inspect Park Avenue for potholes as he was driven up to Albany, because potholes in New York City was his elected responsibility as a municipal administrator. This hilarious comment elicited many laughs from the audience.

At some point, Mr. Rich observed how none of the debates have touched on issues of LGBT equality. And Ms. Lebowitz observed that she was left confused by the LGBT equality movement's focus on getting married and joining the military, because, she said, when she was young, the two advantages of being gay was that you didn't have to get married, and you didn't have to go fight in any wars. There was also the obligatory joke about baby strollers. Her dry wit makes Ms. Lebowitz so attractive to people, who are sick and tired of the political spin of the talking heads on television news.

Mr. Rich circled back to the Bloomberg article in The Times, and Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz made observations about the shortcomings of the mainstream media.

Ms. Lebowitz couldn't resist making a joke about Jim Leher getting rolled over in the first presidential debate between President Obama and former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney.

The conversation by Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz was very current, you could not tell if any parts of their talk had already been shared at prior speaking events, but Ms. Lebowitz and Mr. Rich did touch on some very basic concerns among progressive voters.

Eventually, the moment of glory : the conversation was opened up to questions from the audience.

Ms. Lebowitz's wisdom and humor was praised by many people in the audience, she is such an insightful thinker and speaker.

Her use of humor must have been an embarrassment to many politicians, and Ms. Lebowitz was bipartisan in her criticisms of Mayor Bloomberg, who she called the #Moncarchofminutiae, and of the New York City Council, who did not do anything to keep the NYPD in check as it set out to deliberately crush the #OccupyWallStreet movement. Ms. Lebowitz made the observation that when Mayor Bloomberg shut down efforts by protesters to demonstrate against the invasion of Iraq and against the Republican National Convention in 2004, he did so by trying to designate restricted areas, where activists could hold their protests. Ms. Lebowitz was infuriated. She said that the mayor did not know how the U.S. Constitution worked. Mayor Bloomberg could not restrict areas where protesters could hold their demonstrations. "The whole United States is a protest zone," said Ms. Lebowitz.

Ms. Lebowitz said at one point in the conversation that she didn't believe that voters were interested enough to hear the truth and facts in the news. She said that she thought that people were more interested in hearing lies. She made this observation in connection to some of the salacious political television ads now being aired in the Las Vegas television market. (Her observation was no doubt informed by other experiences.) She said that our whole culture is geared toward fantasy. No child asks their parent, "Daddy, tell me some more statistics before I go to sleep," or some outlandish request along those lines, is what she said. And she is correct. Ms. Lebowitz has rightly tuned into the fact that people are interested in hearing fabrication and lies -- a story of pure make believe. Early on, Ms. Lebowitz also expressed criticisms about the style of reporting in newspapers that placed an emphasis on elaborate literary descriptions of quaint village settings over just reporting facts, which, she said, normally showed up in the third paragraph.

Many people in the audience deliberately took seats that put them closer to the stage, which was a hassle to the staff at the Town Hall, who had to check tickets and move people back to their rightful seats.

For my part, I would like to register a complaint : even though I bought and paid for my ticket online from Ticketmaster to sit in the second row, for which I paid a fee of $12.55 for that "convenience," and another $1.00 fee for the "facility," the Town Hall still saw fit to charge me $5.00 to pick up my tickets at the Box Office. When I demanded a receipt, the box office assistant refused to give me a receipt.

Our lives are at the mercy of all these fucking fees ! In the "Twilight Zone" that is our political reality in the United States, they can nickel and dime people trying to access a little bit of REAL TALK about the State of the Union. Note how the controversial issues discussed during last night's conversation never seems to take place right on the front pages of The New York Times, not even the issue of race, which, both Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz claimed is the motivation behind the GOP hatred of President Obama. I had to pay an unfair extra $5 for the privilege of hearing Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz, but I wonder what is the real price society-at-large pays for being shut out of this critical conversation ?

Friday, October 19, 2012

Protest against Obama and Romney Budget Cuts outside Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Hundreds of activists comprised of members of Healthcare for the 99% Working Group of #OccupyWallStreet, PNHP, ACT UP, the Granny Peace Brigade, Occupy Queens, OCCU EVOLVE, and other groups protest against impending budget cuts to Medicare and healthcare across the street from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where President Obama and Mitt Romney were participating in the annual Al Smith Wall Street fundraiser.

ACT UP activists also rallied in support of a Financial Transaction Tax to raise money to pay for healthcare and treatments to break the HIV infection curve and end AIDS.

Activists first started a moving picket on the sidewalk in front of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, but police closed the public sidewalk to only registered guests of the hotel and to persons paying at least $2,500 to have dinner at the annual Al Smith Wall Street fundraiser.

Inside the hotel, President Obama and Mitt Romney dined on a luxurious menu that included poached lobster tail and dark chocolate tropical fruit cadeau ; meanwhile, due to the fact that Democrats and Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the top 1% of income earners, the federal government faces draconian budget cuts to core programs, such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Presidential Debates and LGBT Equality Questions

The Advocate magazine : 3 debates, 0 questions on LGBT issues. (2012-10-16)

In France, LGBT activists organized a national platform, Meeting LGBT pour l'ÉgalitĂ©, where major candidates were questioned on issues related to LGBT equality. And then the activists posted questionnaires online. But not before they held a national forum of major candidates. And just like that, they helped to alter the national conversation around LGBT equality. Two measures of their impact : activists elected the progressive candidate (François Hollande), and now Hollande will deliver legislation soon for nation-wide marriage equality. Meanwhile, in the United States presidential debates, NOT ONE question has been asked about LGBT equality. What are nationally or regionally elected LGBT politicians doing about keeping the Commission on Presidential Debates accountable ?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Christine Quinn and Mike Bloomberg Take a Parody Cruise on The Love Boat

In the most recent example of biased journalism published by The New York Times, the editors never show a photograph of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's wife. Instead, in the media, we generally only see photographs of Speaker Quinn with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In this political parody video, we let our imagination have ... some fun.

Follow us on Facebook : We Protest Media Bias In The New York Times

Quinn Marches at Bloomberg's Side

Like Birds of a Feather ...

Christine-Quinn-Marches-At-Mayor-Bloombergs-Side-2009

NYT Publishes Biased Article About St. Vincent's Hospital

From the Demand A Hospital listserv comes an article that continues in the sorry pattern of media bias and no journalism ethics by Carolyn Ryan and other editors at The New York Times :

Is The NYTimes Telling us That a Drug Store Can Replace St. Vincent's Hospital to Protect Christine Quinn From Being Challenged By Activists and Residents, who Live in the Lower West Side, For Having Allowed the Hospital to Close ?

The New York Times article, New Style of Health Care Emerges to Fill Hospital’s Void and to Prop Up Christine Quinn, claims that the community seems to be doing fine without a hospital in the area -- this, in spite of the fact that North Shore-LIJ took a $10 million state grant for a money-losing urgent care center that it voluntarily closed, because it was only seeing 2 patients per day ! Nobody with heart attacks, trauma injuries, or other life-and-death healthcare emergencies would rightly trust an urgent care center with their lives.

The failure of the first North Shore-LIJ urgent care center bodes poorly for the stand alone ER. What will happen when the stand alone ER fails, as it surely will, because its business model is predicated on people willingly accepting emergency treatment from an inferior urgent care center, which any reasonable person will tell you is certainly not the case -- and can be proven by the failure of North Shore-LIJ's first urgent care center.

Was the $10 million grant a back-door incentive to North Shore-LIJ to serve as a bait-and-switch to clear the way for Bill Rudin to build his luxury condos ? Our tax money could have been used with other monies to help restructure or save St. Vincent's. We'll never know what could have been an alternate outcome, because Brad Hoylman, Christine Quinn, and others were rigging everything in favor of Rudin, who is connected to the Partnership of New York, where Brad worked.

Dr. David Kaufman is quoted in the article advocating for the need for medical care that cannot be provided by the proliferation of urgent care centers. Bravo for continuing to speak the truth as we know it.

And North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling, who is grossly addicted to his fat CEO pay package, criticises people for wanting a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's.

“Good hospitals are important, but you don’t need more than you need,” Mr. Dowling said. “In many cases, we’ve been addicted to inpatient beds. We can’t be addicted to them in the future.”

If you plan to write a letter to the editor, please address your e-mail to : letters@nytimes.com -- thanks for all you do !

Follow us on Facebook : We Protest Media Bias In The New York Times

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Christine Quinn Income Tax Flip Flop

Christine-Quinn-Luxury-Condo-Income-Tax-Flip-Flop

In the post-Occupy Wall Street world that we live in, now comes New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has flip-flopped -- she has announced that she no longer supports her very own 2009 proposal to raise taxes on the 1%. Instead of raising taxes on the top income-earners in New York City, Speaker Quinn now favours not raising taxes on them.

Because she is ashamed of being outed as secretly supporting the 1%, "Ms. Quinn on Monday repeatedly declined to answer questions about her position on income taxes," The Wall Street Journal reported.

But as early as 2009, it already seemed that Speaker Quinn was backtracking on tax increases on the wealthy.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Emin Karsavuran Horse Carriage Driver Speaks About Altercation

Horse carriage driver Emin Karsavuran is featured in a new YouTube video, in which he mentions a physical altercation he had with an animal rights activist, Andrew Grossberg.

The maker of the YouTube video can be heard asking Mr. Karsavuran, "Did you much him in the face ?" referring to Mr. Grossberg, who was hospitalised after the physical altercation. "I defended myself," answered Mr. Karsavuran.

In a blog post on The Village Voice, Mr. Karsavuran was shown to have had an outburst of anger directed at another animal rights activist.

Animal rights activists are asking politicians to ban the horse-drawn carriage industry and to finally put an end to the animal exploitation tourism that puts horses and their passengers into danger of having traffic accidents in the busy Midtown Manhattan traffic.

Friday, October 5, 2012

NYPD Send Bill Collector After Dead Man To Get Paid For Wrecked Car That Killed Man

These tough times in the city budget call for drastic measures.

Tamon Robinson, 27, died in April after he was running away from an NYPD patrol car in hot pursuit. How did the police catch up to Mr. Robinson ? The police officer driving the car chose to run Mr. Robinson over.

Now, the out-of-control budget cuts has forced the NYPD to hire a bill collector to try to collect the cost of the damage to the NYPD patrol car, which ran over Mr. Robinson, from his poor, grieving mother.

That's right, the NYPD wants to collect money from Mr. Robinson's surviving mother to pay for the cost to fix the body damage to the NYPD patrol car that ran over her dead son.

“We’re still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face,” Mr. Robinson’s mom, Laverne Dobbinson, 45, told The New York Daily News.

"A spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Thursday that the incident remains under investigation. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau was also probing allegations from witnesses that Robinson was deliberately mowed down," reported The Daily News.

Is Quinn Using PSA Commercials To Promote Herself ?

Christine Quinn Continues the Practise By City Council Speakers Of Using City Resources -- And Your Taxpayer Dollars -- To Promote Their Political Ambitions.

In his Not For Publication column in The Queens Tribune, Michael Schenkler questions Christine Quinn's use of taxpayer-funded Public Service Announcements to promote her mayoral campaign.

Mr. Schenkler described watching “Food, Faith & Culture,” a program on CBS Channel 2 last Sunday, and, in his newspaper column, Mr. Schenkler wrote about what the PSA looked like :

“Hello, this is Council Speaker Christine Quinn” or something like that said the recognizable voice of the council boss and Mayoral wanabe. It was a 30-second, multi-cultural lovefest with terrible production values – as bad as you ever see on network television. But the message of “Love Love” and “Hate Hate” is of course a seller in our great city. At the end of the painfully bad commercial with a solidly good message, was the City’s logo (NYC) taking ownership for the spot.

Mr. Schenkler then criticised Speaker Quinn for using taxpayer money to promote herself in the lead up to next year's Democratic primary fight in the 2013 mayoral election :

"She is not to be lavished with promotional funds to spread her name around our city. She should not be the beneficiary of taxpayer funds or City-owned property to elevate her image as she prepares to run for Mayor. Not on our backs, Chris."

What do you think about Speaker Quinn using not only your taxpayer money for her slush funds, but now for this stealth self-promotional political marketing campaign ?

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Politically-Motivated Campaign Sign Fines

The New York Post hounds Bill Thompson over suspiciously large fines being imposed by the Bloomberg administration in what has all the appearances of a politically-motivated effort to suck the funding out of any competitors that are challenging City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for the Democratic Party primary in the 2013 mayoral election. Meanwhile, here is evidence that political allies of Speaker Quinn break the law, too. But do the Bloomberg-Quinn administration likewise fine Brad Hoylman out the ass to the tune of $600,000, too ?

Brad-Hoylman-Illegal-Campaign-Poster-Utility-Pole, Brad-Hoylman-Illegal-Campaign-Poster-Utility-Pole