Thursday, February 28, 2013

Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin diminish Sarge Shriver's legacy

Like our new Facebook page : Is Fried Frank betraying the legacy of Sarge Shriver ?



From the Demand A Hospital e-mail listserv :


Dear All : 
We were a small group today, but we did well to keep showing up to say that our fight goes on :  we still need a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's. 
At today's real estate forum, it shocked our conscious to learn that Julie Menin, candidate for Manhattan Borough President, was a participant -- even through the highlight of the forum was Melanie Meyer's and Samantha Rudin's distorted presentation about St. Vincent's Hospital.  We will contact Ms. Menin, to ask her to explain why she took part in the real estate forum, if it was glorifying the Rudin takeover of St. Vincent's.... 
We were not allowed inside the forum, and one of our friends reported to us that the conference was deliberately not being recorded or live streamed, because the forum's participants did not want their conversations recorded for public examination.  While Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin talked about the profits that they are making, they don't want us to know the exact amount of their riches... 
Here is our video of our protest, pointing out how Melanie Meyers and the Rudin family are corrupting Sarge Shriver's legacy at the law firm of Fried Frank :  http://youtu.be/O-lN9sw2UsA 
Thank you for all that you do.

Monday, February 25, 2013

@StopChrisQuinn Live Tweets NY1 The Call Program on Paid Sick Leave

Tonight, John Schiumo, the host of NY1 The Call, gave a shout out to the @stopchrisquinn Twitter feed for live Tweeting his program about paid sick leave. We were happy to oblige, since The Call is one of the few media outlets, which allows for a truly open conversation about New York City politics from the voters' point of view.

Tonight's program was all about how New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been blocking a vote on the paid sick leave bill.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Protest against Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin

Like our new Facebook page : Is Fried Frank betraying the legacy of Sarge Shriver ?

UPDATED : VIDEO OF PROTEST :

The Fried Frank lawyer Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin and her father, Bill Rudin, tarnish the legacy of Sarge Shriver.

Sarge Shriver's old law firm, Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson, have spent years representing the Rudin family's hostile takeover of St. Vincent's Hospital.

While the entire Lower Manhattan has no more Level I Trauma Center, the Rudin family (with Fried Frank's help) stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital.

What would Sarge Shriver's family think about Fried Frank engaging in business that goes contrary to Sarge Shriver's legacy of public service and Progressive and humanitarian causes ?

Vulture Capitalism Melanie Meyers Samantha Rudin St. Vincent's Hospital photo melanie-meyers-samantha-rudin-banner-photo_zps4ed9b2d8.jpg

St. Vincent's Hospital activists announce a protest against Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin.




Rudin Management Company are laughing all the way to the bank with all the money that they are making from the reckless luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, and now they are gloating about it !  Join us for a protest this week :

Date :  Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Time :  2:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Place :  McGraw-Hill Companies, 1221 Avenue of the Americas (btwn 48th and 49th Streets), Manhattan

Executives from Real Estate Weekly Women's Form are gathering at McGraw-Hill on Wednesday to discuss how real estate executives can further their careers and discover new business opportunities. Among the many speakers are Melanie Meyers, the Fried Frank law firm partner who was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby CB2 and the City Council, and Samantha Rudin, from Rudin Management Company.

Join us as we protest from 2:30 - 3:00 outside McGraw-Hill's offices at 1221 Avenue of the Americas.

Here is the specific entry on the day's agenda, which reveals how Ms. Meyers and Ms. Rudin plan to describe how Rudin Management Company succeeded in exploiting community resources for private profit :

2:35 PM :  The Journey of St. Vincent’s

A look into Rudin Management’s vision for the development of St. Vincent’s, the milestones that have been met to pave the way for the project, the twists and turns that had to be addressed in achieving them and what we can expect as the redevelopment takes shape. The recent land use approvals will allow the abandoned hospital to be converted into a new, primarily residential and environmentally friendly complex encompassing the adaptive reuse of six historic buildings and the creation of a new public park that commemorates the history of St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Melanie Meyers, Partner, Fried Frank
Samantha Rudin Earls, Vice President, Rudin Management Company

Notice how Melanie Meyers and Samantha Rudin are portraying St. Vincent's Hospital as having been "abandoned."

CORRECTION :  It was Rudin Management Company, Fried Frank, Christine Quinn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the city and state Departments of Health which abandoned St. Vincent's.

Please bring signs to protest the Melanie Meyers, Samantha Rudin, Bill Rudin, and Rudin Management Company.  Our community still needs a full-service, Level I Trauma Center to replace St. Vincent's.

Please RSVP on the Facebook Invite :  https://www.facebook.com/events/133601436814483/

2013-02-27 Agenda | Real Estate Weekly Women's Forum by

Another Paid Sick Leave Rally Targets Quinn

"Council Speaker Chris Quinn has stalled a paid-sick day bill, but she’s now being pushed by liberals and women, who will rally at City Hall Monday."

More than 15 women elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Carolyn Maloney, will gather at City Hall today to demand that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn allow a vote on a bill requiring employers to give their workers paid sick leave, The New York Daily News reported.

Last week, Gloria Steinem said that she would withdraw her endorsement of Speaker Quinn’s campaign unless Speaker Quinn allows a vote on the paid sick leave bill, The Daily News added.

This Week in Carolyn Ryan Media Bias

Everybody reported about Christine Quinn being booed about the Upper East Side waste transfer station, except for The New York Times. No surprise !!

As usual, almost the whole wide world has by now reported about the latest occasion when New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been jeered at a large meeting, excepting, of course, for the Metropolitan Section of The New York Times, which is edited by Speaker Quinn's brunch date, Carolyn Ryan.

"Upper East Siders opposed to the construction of a waste transfer station in their neighborhood booed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at a mayoral forum," (NYPost).

After City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she supported the location of the trash depot, she was promptly booed. "Don't expect us to vote for you, baby!" one angry voter screamed. (Gothamist)

"Speaking at a candidate forum on East 93rd Street, hosted by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, more than a hundred residents, some wearing green "Dump the Dump" t-shirts, heckled and booed the one candidate who said explicitly that the East 91st Street location for the garbage facility should not be changed: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn," (Capital New York).

Ms. Ryan has to bend the journalism in The New York Times to fit the mayoral agenda of Speaker Quinn's politics. Ms. Ryan makes it her duty to keep portraying Speaker Quinn in the best light, because that's what Speaker Quinn wants.

It's not like you would expect something even approaching journalistic balance from Ms. Ryan or The Times ?

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

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Bradley Manning 1,000 days in jail, and 1,000 days of silence from Christine Quinn

1,000 days in jail for Bradley Manning ; 1,000 days of silence from Christine Quinn

Today, LGBT Army PFC Bradley Manning marked his 1,000th day imprisoned without a trial, reported Raw Story. PFC Manning is "suspected" of being the source of making government transparency disclosures to WikiLeaks.

PFC Manning is an LGBT service member, and many groups and leaders have been advocating for justice for PFC Manning. But New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been eerily silent.

"It has taken him from the desert of Iraq, where he was arrested at a military operating base outside Baghdad, to a prison tent in Kuwait. From there he endured his infamous harsh treatment at Quantico Marine base in Virginia, and for the last 14 months he has attended a series of pre-trial hearings at Fort Meade in Maryland, the latest of which begins next week," reported Raw Story.

Among the violations of due process, government transparency, torture, and other charges, the government's prosecution of PFC Manning includes blatant acts of censorship.

No statement of support from LGBT leader Christine Quinn, who has her own murky history of redacting government documents.

What kind of an LGBT leader is Speaker Quinn if she remains quiet about the government's violations of PFC Manning's constitutional rights ?

Quinn Booed Again, This Time Over Waste Transfer Station

Upper East Siders Booed Christine Quinn - And They Trashed Her Waste Transfer Station Plan

From The New York Post :

Upper East Siders opposed to the construction of a waste transfer station in their neighborhood booed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at a mayoral forum today for her continued support of a controversial project that would send garbage trucks rumbling throughout posh area streets.

“I am not changing my position on the [marine transfer station],” Quinn declared to the crowd inside the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens on E. 93rd Street.

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, new concerns have emerged about the E. 91st site, which is now classified as a flood zone, but Quinn said structural changes would be made to prevent any storm damage.

Immediately, the crowd jeered and heckled.

“Why have you never visited the site?” one person demanded.

Quinn did manage to raise a stink — about the jeers.

“Hang on — if you want an answer you have to listen,” she barked. “You can scream and yell. You could throw soft things after, but you have got to let me answer if I listen to your question with attention.”

Speaker Quinn's rude comeback is reminiscent of when former Schools Chancellor Cathie Black mocked a large parent meeting in the middle of a devastating scorched earth campaign of school closings.

Read more : Upper East Siders Booed Christine Quinn - And They Trashed Her Waste Transfer Station Plan

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Wrath of Quinn : Endorse Her Or Else No Slush Funds For You !

Christine-Quinn-Bad-Hair-Day photo Christine-Quinn-Bad-Hair-Day_zps77af4598.jpg

City Council Members Fear Budget Revenge if They Don't Endorse Quinn

From DNA Info :

Many City Council members are wary of endorsing candidates in the 2013 mayoral race until after budget season because they're afraid a vengeful Speaker Christine Quinn will cut their share of $50 million in discretionary funds, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

The funds, which are controlled by the speaker, are dished out to members each summer to fund constituent-pleasing services, such as community centers and seniors programs. While Quinn’s office has long insisted that the money is allocated based on districts' needs, it’s no secret that members on Quinn’s good side tend to profit — while those who cross her get their budgets slashed.

And many Council members now worry that endorsing a rival in the mayor's race, where Quinn is widely perceived as the front-runner, will result in the same fate.

“I definitely think that discretionary funds will be wielded as a weapon in the fight for endorsements,” said one Democratic Council member, who, like nearly a dozen others who spoke to DNAinfo.com New York, asked for anonymity to avoid angering Quinn.

“Certainly, that is the elephant in the room,” another member said.

“It’s a legal form of blackmail," still another member said.

To avoid retribution, some Council members are weighing postponing their endorsements until July, after the budget is adopted and Quinn no longer has sway over the money.

See also : Endorse Quinn - or else ! (via Queens Crap)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Has 32BJ union been infiltrated by real estate group ?

Update : 32BJ endorsed Christine Quinn for mayor. No surprise, given the possibility of influences from real estate corruption.

Has the union 32BJ SEIU become co-opted by the Real Estate Board of New York ?

A notable union representing doormen and service workers, 32BJ SEIU, appears to have become co-opted by the Real Estate Board of New York, a trade association of slumlords.

32BJ and REBNY will be screening mayoral candidates together in joint meetings. From the appearance of such an arrangement, the union and the trade association appear to be collaborating on a joint endorsement, which would mark the death of the independence of unions.

Already, Rob Speyer, chairman of REBNY, said in a statement, "Early on we realized that the interests of REBNY and 32BJ actually align in more ways than not."

Read the full story at : A union and a real estate lobby will screen mayoral candidates, together (Capital New York)

The neoconservatism of the REBNY has translated into neoliberalism at the unions. We are doomed.

Witness how New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn booby-trapped the ATU Local 1181 bus strike by issuing a statement on February 12, in which she called on the union to end its strike and engaging in a "cooling off period."

There's more than one way to bust a union, either by dooming a strike, or by infiltrating it to sabotage its own best interests. Or so it apparently seems...

2013-02-12 Christine Quinn Statement of New York City Council Re ATU Local 1181 Bus Strike Union Busting by

Bloomberg: "No One Is Sleeping On The Streets"

Mike Bloomberg is blind to the homeless problem. No surprise.

Homeless advocates are criticizing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's assertion that "no one is sleeping on the streets," after he was asked today about a report that the city shelter system is turning away families during cold winter days. (NY1)

How can anybody take Mike Bloomberg seriously, if he is so blind to his own elitist worldview ? Will anybody take him seriously when he makes an endorsement in the mayoral campaign ?

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Political Liability of Stop and Frisk For Christine Quinn

At tremendous political peril to Christine Quinn, the leader of the NAACP plans to make ''stop-and-frisk'' a major mayoral campaign issue.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been so close and chummy with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's and NYPD Commish Ray Kelly's unconstitutional and racist policy of ''stop-and-frisk.'' She has been waging a neoliberal campaign that is hard on crime by being harder on people of color.

But now comes NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, who is sick and tired of the racial profiling that underpins the entire ''stop-and-frisk'' program, The New York Post reported.

Mr. Jealous "trashed" the stop-and-frisk program during remarks he made at Nazarene Congregational Church in Brooklyn yesterday, and Mr. Jealous's comments were seen as criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's and Police Commissioner Kelly's ill-conceived support for the use of stop-and-frisk. Indeed, Mr. Jealous portrayed Mayor Bloomberg and Commish Kelly as "villains."

“We intend to ensure through every legal means that stop-and-frisk becomes a thing of the past with the next mayor of this town,” Mr. Jealous said.

3.7 Million Stop-and-Frisks Since Christine Quinn Became City Council Speaker photo 2012-12-30_13-34-04_929-christine-quinn-stop-and-frisk-sign_zps940ba2e2.jpg

Three of the four major Democratic candidates — Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former city Comptroller Bill Thompson — have all said the practice should be reformed but not scrapped. Quinn has yet to take a position on a package of bills before the Council to scale back the program.

City Comptroller John Liu wants to abolish stop-and-frisk altogether.

Jealous also said he wants the next mayor to get rid of Kelly, who consistently polls higher among Democrats than any elected official.

Quinn has signaled she would keep Kelly on board if she won the race and Kelly was willing to stay.

Her competitors in the primary have not made the same commitment.

For her past support of Commish Kelly and for going along with fully funding the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program all these many years -- over 3.7 million stop-and-frisks have occurred whilst Christine Quinn has been speaker of the City Council -- Speaker Quinn has been targeted by activists for enabling the NYPD's discrimination against people of color. (Another blog post about the protest against Christine Quinn's support of stop-and-frisk.)

Read more : Christine Quinn Caught in Stop-and-Frisk Political Trap

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Anti-Quinn Activists Need More Resources To Educate Voters

NY1 Exclusive : Anti-Quinn Activists Still Have Work To Do : New Poll Shows Quinn In Front Of Other Potential Democratic 2013 Mayor Candidates

2013-02-14 NY1-Marist College Poll NYC Mayoral Race photo 2013-02-14ny1-marist-college-poll_zps55fe131a.png

Last night on the Road To City Hall program on NY1, it was mentioned amongst the panel of experts that, given voters' relative low negative perception of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Stop Christine Quinn protest effort still has work to do, because voters are not yet educated on Speaker Quinn's horrible record while in office.

One of the activists, Louis Flores, has posted a solicitation for resources, in order to escalate his efforts.

Here are some of the poll findings :

What are New York City Democrats’ impressions of these mayoral aspirants ?

  • 65% have a favorable opinion of Quinn, while 17% have an unfavorable one. 18% have either never heard of her or are unsure how to rate her.
  • 49% have a favorable impression of Thompson, while 20% do not. 31% have either never heard of him or are unsure how to rate him.
  • 48% of New York City Democrats have a positive view of de Blasio, while 20% have an unfavorable one. 32% have either never heard of him or are unsure how to rate him.
  • When it comes to Liu, 43% have a favorable impression of him while 27% have an unfavorable one. 30% have either never heard of him or are unsure how to rate him.
  • 26% of Democrats have a positive opinion of Albanese while 20% have an unfavorable view of him. 54% have either never heard of him or are unsure how to rate him.

Poll results have a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percent.

Left unsaid during the panel discussion was the impact of all the totally biased/fluff pieces being published by The New York Times, which favours Speaker Quinn, like her Betty Crocker story with its staged photo, the café story, and her luxury condo feature story.

It seems that Speaker Quinn's favourability ratings are being artificially inflated due to the biased and deliberately fluff news pieces being published about her.

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

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Voter Anger Revealed In Daily News Letters To The Editor

Two very insightful letters published by The New York Daily News, which continues to reveal voter anger toward the corruption by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has lost touch with reality of the challenges facing average New Yorkers :

Chris cross I

Brooklyn: Re “Begin the Quinn spin” (Feb. 12): Middle-class housing for a family of four with an income of $103,000 to $142,000. If that is middle class, where are my food stamps, Medicaid card and free housing? Those amounts are not the middle class that I know. Christine Quinn must have been making a joke in her State of the City speech, right? Clifford F. Zeman

Chris cross II

Richmond Hill: Has City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convinced herself that she is a fair, honest and ethical leader who is worthy to hold the office of mayor? In 2006, she approved a generous pay raise for herself and the entire Council. Then, she extended her own patronage-appointed, cradle-to-grave city career by changing the laws of term limits for dictator Bloomberg. The final betrayal was her denying a vote on paid sick time for the working poor. Clean up your act, Empress Quinn, and withdraw your deeply flawed candidacy. Adele DeLeva

Christine Quinn Mike Bloomberg Valentine's Day Tribute

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

People Aren't Laughing At Christine Quinn, So Much As Christine Quinn Is Laughing All The Way To The Bank

From ''Christine Quinn Doesn't Care If You Are Laughing At Her ; She'll Just Get Even'' :

Christopher London wrote on February 3, 2013, 3:21 PM [LINK]

As stated in Rolling Stone: “In an excellent new book, Twilight of the Elites, journalist Chris Hayes argues that what happened is this: Our ruling class failed us. Behind the seemingly haphazard pile-up of recent calamities he sees a pattern: In each case, a cadre of Very Important People succumbed to some combination of blinkered groupthink, deception, self-dealing, fraud, smugness, and self-delusion. And in virtually every case, they escaped accountability. Or, as Hayes puts it: "All the smart people f_cked up, and no one seems willing to take responsibility."

There is a mainstream citizen revolt against the attempt by societal elites and Mayor Bloomberg to install Quinn as the next Mayor of New York City. All levers of the media will be used in an effort to insure that reality against the prevailing and existing will of the people. In my estimation, Christine Quinn represents a doubling down by the elites in an effort to control the aftermath of what they have created for or imposed on the rest of us, through unchecked and uninvestigated government waste. 'Pontificating Poseur & Societal Elite Windbag' - Senator Tom Duane – an opportunistic and self professed LGBT hero and his protégé in identity politics, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn enabled her crony capitalist sponsor, Bill Rudin of Rudin Management and the Rudin Family to seize St. Vincent’s Hospital, the epicenter of the AIDS Crisis, for pennies on the dollar so the Rudin Family Luxury Blood Condos could be built in its place. Is this what Quinn’s sponsor believes will lead to “A Better New York” – that he trumpets through ABNY – the Association for a Better New York? The best AIDS Memorial is preservation of the hospital and treatment facility at the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic, for its humanity in treating patients not luxury condos in its place.

Quinn is now taking heat from the LGBT Community including her own Chelsea: District 3, because, her remarks (via mass email) praising Ed Koch upon his death, she didn't acknowledge his failure to address the AIDS Crisis as thousands of gay men were dying. The gay press has not yet mentioned the fact that Christine Quinn actually rewarded Koch for his endorsement, despite his preference for someone other than Quinn, by renaming the Queensboro Bridge after him in exchange for his unwavering support of her Mayoral candidacy. The Council and the public opposed the renaming of that bridge.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

@nytimes @carolynryan @nytopinion collude to help @ChrisCQuinn with June Primary (no surprise)

Who would have thought that the Editorial Board of The New York Times would enable the corruption of the Board of Elections in order to help their mayoral pick, Christine Quinn ? Really ??

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

Andrew Cuomo and the Neoliberalism Spree of Hospital Closings

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is closing hospitals, cutting healthcare, and attacking the social safety net in a spree of neoliberalism to "window dress" the New York State budget. His plan will make him look good, but it comes at the risk to public health. What are you going to do about it ?

Eleven hospital closings in New York City alone, since 2006 :

- Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn voted to be closed down under pressure from the Department of Health in 2013 ;

- Peninsula Hospital Center closed by the Department of Health in 2012 after it filed for bankruptcy ;

- North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;

- St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village was shut down in 2010 to become luxury condos built by the greedy Rudin family ;

- St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;

- Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Queens, went bankrupt in 2009 ;

- Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, Queens, closed in 2008 ;

- Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;

- Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, closed in 2008 ; and

- St. Vincent's Midtown (f.k.a. St. Clare's Hospital) closed in 2007.

We are at the point right now where there are not enough hospitals left in New York City to deal with a mass civilian trauma event, natural disaster, or epidemic.

This year's flu season was aggravated by the temporary closing of these hospitals, which sustained major damage from Hurricane Sandy :

- Bellevue Hospital ;

- NYU Langone Hospital ;

- New York Downtown Hospital ;

- Coler-Goldwater Hospital ; and

- Coney Island Hospital.

And the only functioning hospital in all of Lower Manhattan was Beth Israel, but it was functioning for a time solely on back-up generators.

Is this the kind of healthcare system that we can rely up on save lives in times of a medical emergency ?

Christine Quinn - Eleven Hospital Closings

In the time that Christine Quinn has been Speaker of the City Council, eleven hospitals have either closed or downsized in New York City.

2012 06 03 Christine Quinn Hospital Closings

Related : When Stephen Berger says "hospital merger," what he means is, "hospital closure."

Friday, February 8, 2013

SUNY Board votes to close Long Island College Hospital

SUNY Board votes to close Long Island College Hospital

From WABC-TV Channel 7 Eyewitness News :

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The only hospital emergency room in the Brooklyn Heights-Cobble Hill area will soon be shuttered.

Officials of Long Island College Hospital voted in favor of closing the financially-strapped facility Friday morning.

The 155-year-old hospital is run by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, whose president said LICH has a projected $41 million deficit this fiscal year. He says the gap is expected to increase to $60 million next year.

Officials had recommended shutting down the inpatient facilities and then working with the community to find a long-range solution. About 2,000 jobs are at stake, and hospital staffers gathered Thursday to denounce the proposed shutdown. At a hearing Thursday night, 150 people packed an auditorium yelling "Why close LICH?"

Officials say there are no plans to sell the property.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Daily News Does Their Annual Spanking of Quinn and the Councilmembers, who Pocket Lulus

Only three City Council members refuse corrupt lulu payments outright. Cash bonuses give Speaker Christine Quinn too much power over body.

From The New York Daily News :

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn can award or withhold lulus solely at her own discretion.

About half of the City Council’s 51 members say they disagree with Speaker Christine Quinn’s blatantly wrong practice of giving cash bonuses, called lulus, to favored members.

The lulus, in theory assigned for committee chairmanships and the like, range from the yearly $28,500 Quinn pockets down to $4,000. That’s over and above the very healthy $112,500 the pols earn in salary for their part-time positions.

It’s not only wasteful, it’s corrupting — because it gives one elected official undue influence over her colleagues. No wonder that outside New York, every other legislature in America, local, state and federal, pays its members equally.

The cash comes twice a year (Jan. 18 was payday), so we present the semiannual list of who is naughty and nice and who lives by his or her word.

Stellar, as always, are Daniel Garodnick and Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Brad Lander. On principle, they refuse the money.

On the other side of the ledger are a quintet of hypocrites, members who have gone on record as opposing the practice yet keep the cash: Sara Gonzalez and Diana Reyna of Brooklyn, Helen Foster of the Bronx, Margaret Chin of Manhattan and Danny Dromm of Queens.

Then there are 15 members who take the lulus and claim to donate the money to charity. New to this list is Peter Koo of Queens. He just got a lulu for the first time and he says he is giving it away.

The other donors from Queens are Julissa Ferreras, Karen Koslowitz, Eric Ulrich, Jimmy Van Bramer and Ruben Wills. In Manhattan, it’s Gale Brewer and Rosie Mendez. Plus, Staten Island’s Debby Rose, Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx and Mathieu Eugene, David Greenfield, Letitia James, Steve Levin and Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn.

Unmentioned by name here are the 22 others who join with Quinn and who happily and shamelessly pocket thousands of dollars they think they are entitled to.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Looking for resources

I'm looking for resources, to escalate my activism full-time for the next few months. Contact me if interested : 1 (646) 400-1168. Thanks. -- LOUIS FLORES

@CarolynRyan, Metro Editor at @NYTimes, Blocks @StopChrisQuinn Twitter Account

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

The Neoliberalism Label Waiting For Christine Quinn ?

Christine-Quinn-Political-Ethics-404-Not-Found photo Christine-Quinn-Political-Ethics-404-Not-Found_zpsa9f2d652.jpg

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is being viewed from the prism of the damaging neoliberalism policies of his political doctrine. Now that she is in "mid career," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's sharp turn to right of center has crossed her over to the dark side of neoliberalism, too. How long before major writers, bloggers, and voters notice the change ?

From The Nation

The instant beatification of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch has a lot of folks itching to do some grave dancing. Leftists will denounce Koch because he was one of the original neoliberal mayors, ushering in a regime of gentrification and finance-driven inequality that defines the city to this day. Minorities regard him with suspicion because he marginalized the city’s black and Hispanic leadership and inflamed racial fault lines to corner the white vote, presaging the Sister Souljah moments that would come to afflict the national Democratic Party. And yet even there, among the new Democrats, Koch was never a stalwart, breaking with the party to endorse George W. Bush for president in 2004 and flirting with the neocons over Israel late in his life.

All that said, there is a special place reserved for Koch in gay hell—because he was mayor during the onset of the AIDS epidemic, which he is widely seen as failing to do enough about, and because it’s commonly assumed that Koch was a closeted gay man. “I hope he’s burning next to Roy Cohn”—or sentiments quite like it—have appeared frequently on my Facebook feed, especially from vets of ACT UP. ...

Read more : Ed Koch and the Cost of the Closet (The Nation)

Bloomberg Quinn Groundhog Vampire Shadows Joke

Christine Quinn Vampire Groundhog Day photo Christine-Quinn-Vampire-Ground-Hog-Package_zps3885d9b8.jpg

A spokesman for Bill de Blasio said, “If Christine Quinn were mayor, it would be the last 12 years over and over again.” (Groundhoggin' the Spotlight * The New York Post)

Staten Island Chuck did not see his shadow when he came out of his burrow at the Staten Island Zoo. Chuck predicts early spring for New York City. (Groundhog Day 2013 * The New York Daily News)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was not at this year's event, so he cast no shadow. No word if Christine Quinn, who prematurely inserted herself into this photo opportunity, cast her shadow. Jokes on Twitter were playing off of her "vampire/gothic" look in a recent publication relations effort in New York magazine. One person wrote, "Vampires don't cast shadows."

LOL. Groan.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Quinn Koch Tribute AIDS Activist Backlash

Ed-Koch-AIDS-Deaths-How-Doing-ACT-Up photo Ed-Koch-AIDS-Deaths_zpsa0e6e7b1.png

Christine Quinn issues revisionist Tweet to celebrate Ed Koch, who was responsible for many AIDS deaths.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn issued public statements yesterday to honor for mayor Ed Koch.

However, Speaker Quinn's sucking up to Mayor Koch's fans triggered a huge, stinging backlash from AIDS activists, who are critical of Mayor Koch, for doing NOTHING during the early years of the AIDS crisis.

"We will never forget his contemptible legacy of neglect during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis," wrote Peter Staley on his Facebook page, for example.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Ed Koch dies unforgiven by AIDS activists (except by Christine Quinn, who is turning his death into a crass voter outreach opportunity).

Ed-Koch-AIDS-Deaths-How-Doing-ACT-Up photo Ed-Koch-AIDS-Deaths_zpsa0e6e7b1.png

From Gay Star News :

After lesbian NYC mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn released a statement calling Koch a 'great mayor' and a 'great man,' LGBT activists pounced. Among those critical of Quinn is Peter Staley, one of the key members of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) whose activism and innovation is credited with playing a crucial role in HIV-AIDS going from a death sentence to a manageable condition with the help of certain drugs.

'I'm supporting Christine Quinn for mayor, but this mass email she just sent out is completely tone deaf to the generation of gay New Yorkers who worked tirelessly to throw (Koch) out of office (and we succeeded),' Staley writes in a Facebook post. 'We will never forget his contemptible legacy of neglect during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis.'

Read more : Former New York Mayor Ed Koch dies at 88 unforgiven by AIDS activists. Many say he was closeted gay man who didn’t do anything on AIDS when his constituents were dying of disease.

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REALITY CHECK : Christine Quinn is not tone deaf. Instead, she is taking for granted that the LGBT community will vote for her. Therefore, she is taking us for for a ride. She is playing politics with Mayor Koch's AIDS responsibility in order to appeal to voters in the run-up to this election year. When will people wake up to this fact ?

Rally to Save Interfaith and LICH outside Cuomo's Office

Call Gov. Andrew Cuomo : (212) 681-4580. Tell him : Save our hospitals !

Rally on 31 Jan 2013 to save Interfaith Hospital and Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Brooklyn.

Gov. Cuomo and his political aide, the investment banker monster Stephen Berger, are obsessed with closing hospitals. And now, they are setting up "for profit" hospitals in Brooklyn. This is dangerous !!

Gov. Cuomo, in a supreme act of failed neoliberalism policies, has proposed to make Brooklyn one of two counties in the state as a pilot project, in which current state regulations would be to waived to allow for-profit health care investments. (Read more : Judy Wessler).