Explicating The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement of Christine Quinn

Queers Against Quinn respond to @nytimes endorsement of @Quinn4NY https://t.co/E9IjDCe4iR @colvinj @SallyGold @Azi pic.twitter.com/gPc2aoFt2t

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) August 24, 2013

The New York Times Mayoral Endorsement : Christine Quinn, the Democratic Choice

Following is a line-by-line explication of editorial in which New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is endorsed by the Editorial Board of The New York Times :

WHAT THE NYTIMES WROTE	WHAT THE NYTIMES MEANS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is almost gone.	Real estate developers and big business interests are worried about who is going to carry out Mayor Bloomberg's policies for the next eight years.
At year’s end there will be nothing more he can do to shape, alter or improve the City of New York.	The Editorial Board has been tasked by Mayor Bloomberg to help elect Christine Quinn.
It’s the end of 12 years of governing under one man’s singular, often inspiring, sometimes maddening priorities, which were as big as a rising ocean and as small as your soda cup.	The Editorial Board is afraid of calling out Mayor Bloomberg for the dictatorial ways that he has run New York City. He wouldn't have made it to three terms, unless Christine Quinn violated the two voter referenda that imposed term limits, something the Editorial Board is trying to cover up.
It was a vision that succeeded brilliantly, but incompletely.	The Editorial Board believes that Mayor Bloomberg should have done more to help the 1%.
But don’t worry, New York.	The Editorial Board doesn't want the Real Estate Board of New York or the Partnership For New York City, our last two groups of major advertisers, to worry.
Mr. Bloomberg’s is hardly the only way to run a city, and the excellent news is that there is a candidate who is ready to carry on at least as well as he did.	The Editorial Board is going to help Mayor Bloomberg anoint his own chosen successor.
She is one of seven Democrats who have been toiling for months in the primary race, standing before voters day and night in a marathon of civic engagement.	The Editorial Board believes that even through Christine Quinn has been in public office for 15 years, she has had to hurry up and do her "wawk and tawk" tour to try to introduce herself to the taxpayers paying for her political slush fund.
A common complaint is that this year’s candidates look small, like dots on the slopes of Mount Bloomberg.	The Editorial Board thinks that even though the crop of candidates are not billionaires, if we have to do with peons, we can accept Christine Quinn, because she's proven to have sold her soul to big business interests, which is the only thing that the Editorial Board cares about, frankly.
But that isn’t fair; all but a few are solid public servants running substantive campaigns.	The Editorial Board has to give lip service to the other candidates, so voters could fool themselves into thinking the editors might possibly consider a candidate other than Mayor Bloomberg's heir apparent.
Though the race was crashed, and distracted for a few irritating weeks, by the unqualified Anthony Weiner, it has since sobered up, and voters are paying attention.	The Editorial Board did its best to keep focusing on Anthony Weiner in a negative light, so that the editors could dispatch him as quickly as possible, so that the editors could focus on fluffing Christine Quinn's sagging campaign.
It is clear by now — and last Wednesday’s debate made it even clearer — that the best in the group is Christine Quinn.	The Editorial Board is trying to make this hard sell of Christine Quinn, so we will go to any lengths to push her campaign on voters.
Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, offers the judgment and record of achievement anyone should want in a mayor.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has a corrupt enough record that she will nicely fit into the broken political system.
Two opponents — Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, and William Thompson Jr., former comptroller — offer powerful arguments on their own behalf.	The Editorial Board wants to give these two fools more lip service, yadda-yadda-yadda.
But Ms. Quinn inspires the most confidence that she would be the right mayor for the inevitable times when hope and idealism collide with the challenge of getting something done.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn will be a perfect puppet to her REBNY and PFNYC masters.
Ms. Quinn has been an impressive leader since her days as a neighborhood advocate and her early years on the City Council.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn has fully sold out and betrayed her activism roots by now. She's gotten that shit out of her system, and she is a complete "Yes Woman" to her campaign contributors and special interests.
We endorsed her for the Council in 1999 as someone “who can both work within the system and criticize it when necessary” — a judgment she has validated many times since.	The Editorial Board analyses this as meaning that Christine Quinn will do what she is told by big business, and she will continue to undermine democracy and shred the social safety net when instructed.
She has shepherded through important laws protecting New Yorkers’ health, safety and civil rights, including measures banning public smoking, protecting tenants and small businesses, and battling slumlords.	The Editorial Board wants to remind big business interests that Christine Quinn has a record of doing what Mayor Bloomberg told her to do.
She sponsored the sweeping 2007 legislation that made the city’s exemplary campaign-finance laws even stronger.	The Editorial Board is only telling you a half-truth here, because Christine Quinn also weakened campaign finance laws this very year to benefit outside groups being able to spend unlimited amounts of money to further corrupt political campaigns.
She pushed successfully for a state law making kindergarten mandatory for 5-year-olds — giving thousands of poor and minority children a better start on their educations.	The Editorial Board likes it when Christine Quinn focuses her campaign on childish issues, because that helps voters forget her betrayals on term limits and her corrupt record with slush funds.
As speaker, Ms. Quinn has been a forceful counterpart to Mr. Bloomberg, and has turned the Council from a collection of rambunctious, ill-directed egos into a forceful and effective legislative body.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn subjugated herself to Mayor Bloomberg, and she used her slush funds to reward and punish her political allies and enemies like a good political boss should do.
In wrestling with budgets she has shown restraint that runs counter to lesser political instincts.	The Editorial Board is most impressed that Christine Quinn was able to focus on a political agenda that favoured the 1%, even when it meant driving up poverty and homelessness in New York City during the Bloomberg-Quinn administration.
She fought, for example, for a Bloomberg plan to keep a year’s surplus as a rainy-day fund.	The Editorial Board liked that Christine Quinn didn't use surplus funds to fight poverty or homelessness.
There was fierce opposition from Council members who wanted to spend the money.	The Editorial Board congratulates Christine Quinn turned her back on the needy, especially LGBT homeless youth, which is not an easy thing to do, given her identity. Let's give her some credit for that !
Ms. Quinn was right, and the city had a cushion when the recession hit.	The Editorial Board is impressed that Christine Quinn found ways to prevent tax hikes on the 1%.
Mr. Bloomberg has raised expectations that hard decisions should be made on the merits — that the city needs a mayor who is willing to say no.	The Editorial Board is endorsing Christine Quinn in part because Mayor Bloomberg told us to, and plus we may need to be bought out by Mayor Bloomberg if the newspaper business keeps losing money.
More than with the other candidates, that description fits Ms. Quinn.	The Editorial Board believes that Christine Quinn is the most corrupt candidate, and the extremes that she will go to embrace corruption is why Mayor Bloomberg respects her so much, that's what he told the Editorial Board during our back room meeting.
As an early leader in the campaign, with a target on her back, she has faced anger and derision without wavering.	The Editorial Board has tried to keep extending political cover to Christine Quinn, so that she wouldn't suffer such a steep drop in the polls.
We admire her staunch support for the city’s solid-waste management plan, which is good for the whole city but bitterly opposed in some neighborhoods.	The Editorial Board picked this lousy issue to focus on, because the editors didn't want to touch the slush fund scandal.
She has been willing to challenge the mayor’s misjudgment and insensitivity, as when he tried to require single adults to prove their homelessness before they were allowed to use city shelters.	The Editorial Board mentions the only thing Christine Quinn has done to address a small part of the homeless problem, so that the editors could keep running the façade of a "liberal newspaper."
Mr. de Blasio has been the most forceful and eloquent of the Democrats in arguing that New York needs to reset its priorities in favor of the middle class, the struggling and the poor.	The there is no way that the Editorial Board could ever support a candidate that wants to help the poor.
His stature has grown as his message has taken root — voters leery of stark and growing inequalities have embraced his message of “two cities.”	The Editorial Board endorsed Christine Quinn so that we could shift the campaign conversation to be about identity politics, not about income inequality.
He has ennobled the campaign conversation by insisting, correctly, that expanding early education is vital to securing the city’s future.	The Editorial Board picked early education as an issue for Mr. de Blasio, because that's an issue that provides the editors with some political cover in the Christine Quinn endorsement.
And yet, Mr. de Blasio’s most ambitious plans — like a powerful new state-city partnership to make forever-failing city hospitals financially viable, or to pay for universal prekindergarten and after-school programs through a new tax on the richest New Yorkers — need support in the State Capitol, and look like legislative long shots.	The Editorial Board has brought back Anemona Hartocollis to continue to write shoddy and entirely biased reporting to undermine Mr. de Blasio's platform on saving community hospitals.
Once a Mayor de Blasio saw his boldest ideas smashed on the rocks of Albany, then what?	The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that he would pull strings with the state GOP politicians up in Albany to undermine any candidate other than Christine Quinn.
Mr. Thompson, meanwhile, who nearly defeated Mr. Bloomberg four years ago, has run a thoughtful campaign grounded on the insights he gained in important elective and appointed posts in New York City.	The Editorial Board can't take Bill Thompson seriously. His wife has taken millions in charitable donations from Mayor Bloomberg. There's no way that the Thompson family isn't already indebted to Mayor Bloomberg, even the editors would figure out this much.
A former president of the old Board of Education, Mr. Thompson argues that he is the best candidate to fix the city schools, but his close ties to the United Federation of Teachers, not always a friend of needed reforms, give us pause.	The Editorial Board was told by Mayor Bloomberg that the next item on our political agenda is to bust up the teachers' union.
The teachers’ union is one of the municipal unions itching for retroactive pay raises in contracts that expired under Mr. Bloomberg and need renegotiating.	The Editorial Board is going to start a campaign to deny the teachers' union any pay raise.
For all the growing testiness of the campaign, the Democrats share much common ground.	The Editorial Board believes that enough real estate and big business campaign donations have steered the Democratic candidates into adopting campaign platforms that embrace an ideology of neoliberalism.
All agree on equality, opportunity and fairness.	The Editorial Board doesn't give a shit about equality, opportunity and faireness -- except as it would apply to our dwindling list of advertisers.
They concede that the best of the Bloomberg years — the economic diversification and growth, the astounding drop in crime, the transit innovations, the greener and cleaner public spaces, and big plans for the future — must be preserved.	The Editorial Board wants a mayoral candidate that will continue Mayor Bloomberg's policies of gentrification, stop and frisk discrimination, higher transit fares for commuters, the sale of more parks for sports stadiums, and more zone-busting real estate development.
And they agree that the worst must be corrected — starting with the Police Department’s unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk, which has abused and humiliated hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers.	The Editorial Board believes that stop and frisk should be ended in the outer boroughs, but its use should continue in Manhattan, perhaps even increased.
Ms. Quinn has no specific plan to require the richest New Yorkers to pay more in taxes in service of important civic goals (she says she will raise taxes as a last resort), but neither has she made a long list of unrealistic promises.	The Editorial Board is happy to see that Christine Quinn will keep sparing the 1% from having to pay their fair share, and, even better, Christine Quinn isn't making any promises to the poor or working classes of New York City. If low-income New Yorkers can't afford to live in New York City, they can always move to New Jersey.
The biggest challenge has not been talked about much — next year the new mayor will have to confront a budget crisis with no money to spare and all those expired municipal contracts to settle.	The Editorial Board is salivating at the opportunity that Christine Quinn will have to bust up a few municipal unions.
The mayor we will need then will not be the police reformer or education visionary, but a skilled and realistic negotiator.	The Editorial Board doesn't want Christine Quinn to reform the police department. As stated, the editors prefer to continue stop and frisk discrimination and police brutality as a way to drive out undesireables from the five boroughs, or from Manhattan, at least.
Some positions Ms. Quinn has supported are unwise or objectionable.	The Editorial Board is thrilled that Christine Quinn so readily adopted neoliberal and racist policies without complaint.
She has been too strong in supporting Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the architect and stoutest defender of stop-and-frisk.	The Editorial Board expects that Christine Quinn will expand the use of stop-and-frisk.
She has supported, too blindly, Mr. Kelly’s practice of spying on Muslims at prayer, a similar false choice of public safety over the Constitution.	The Editorial Board finds this kind of discrimination excusable, and notice how the editors didn't mention how the NYPD also menaces people of color and LGBTQ and gender non-conforming New Yorkers. Basically, the editors don't care about civil rights and civil liberties violations.
She can become mumbly when talking about things that the real estate industry opposes, like changing zoning laws to require construction of affordable apartments.	The Editorial Board likes that Christine Quinn won't bite the hand that feeds her.
She has a reputation for shouting, but has shown a capacity to listen, and to be persuaded to change her mind — attributes we will count on seeing more of if she is elected.	The Editorial Board is already receiving estimates and bids for the installation of sound proofing in Gracie Mansion.
We had already made up our own minds in favor of Ms. Quinn, but the Wednesday debate would have clinched it anyway.	For years, the Editorial Board has been instructing reporters to write their articles from a point of view of bias that fluff's Christine Quinn's image and her campaign.
Candidates were asked what legacy they wanted to leave after two terms.	The Editorial Board has arranged it for fix to be in so that Christine Quinn can serve two terms as mayor.
“More people in the middle class,” Ms. Quinn said.	The Editorial Board helped Christine Quinn with this lip service.
It was a perfect answer, and she could have left it there.	The Editorial Board told Christine Quinn to shut her mouth and not ruin her interview with the editors.
But, Quinn being Quinn, she threw in supporting details.	But being the big mouth that she is, Christine Quinn went on tawking and tawkig and tasking, so much so that many editors put on their earphones and started listening to the latest Lady Gaga song on their iPhones.
She wants 40,000 more apartments the middle class can afford to live in.	The Editorial Board did hear that Christine Quinn has a plan to help funnel tax breaks and low-cost loans to developers, so that taxpayers could subsidize real estate profits to some of her campaign donors.
She wants to repair crumbling public housing, providing “quality conditions” for 600,000 people.	The Editorial Board promised to help support Christine Quinn carry out Mayor Bloomberg's plan to allow the development of luxury high rises on the last little bit of open space in NYCHA housing projects.
She wants to make the school day longer and replace textbooks with electronic tablets.	The Editorial Board also liked what it heard when Christine Quinn said that she wants to outsource teachers to a series of computer learning modules in 45 minute segments.
At the buzzer, she threw in: make the city “climate-change ready.”	The Editorial Board is looking forward to finding out how Christine Quinn has funnel more tax dollars to real estate developers that keep wanting to build along the rivers and beaches of the five boroughs. The editors view this as a risky proposition, but Christine Quinn seems to be obsessed with making more and more back room deals with real estate developers. The editors want to see how much she can get away with.
A lot of good ideas that, in Ms. Quinn’s case, add up to an achievable vision, and one we would be glad to see come to pass.	The Editorial Board is going to help Christine Quinn win by running more fluff pieces about her new luxury condo, her week-end home, her cooking skills, her favourite café, and her love of animals.

Will Thompson Family Save LICH ?

Last week-end, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn closed on the 2014 city budget without making any provisions to save Long Island College Hospital (LICH). Because she has abdicated all sense of municipal leadership over the collapse of strategic public resources, such as hospital closings, to a laissez-faire belief that she's adopted from her close associations with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the right wing group Partnership for New York City, she is creating opportunities for other leaders to step forward in this political and leadership vacuum.

And that's exactly what happened yesterday, when the father of one of her challengers for this year's Democratic mayoral primary election, Bill Thompson, was appointed by a court to serve as a monitor over LICH.

Let's see if the Thompson family's political ambitions will be strong enough reason for New York City's leaders to perform the political triage necessary to save LICH. If the Thompson family succeeds, it will only draw attention to how Speaker Quinn has stood idly by and allowed 10 New York City hospitals to close or downsize during her speakership, including the spectacular 2010 closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in Speaker Quinn's very own City Council district.

Lack of political triage to save LICH forces court to appoint Bill Thompson's dad as monitor over Brooklyn hospital. http://t.co/QdpUSFYz5o

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) June 28, 2013

As a side note, what does it say about the disfunction of our political system that we must seek justice over the management of strategic community resources, such as community hospitals, from court-appointed monitors ? How much more of a sign do we need that New York City's political leadership are incompetent and/or their abdication of their political responsibility is so dangerous that the judicial system is called forth to intervene on behalf of public health ?

Quinn Tries To Lure Tech Voting Bloc, Attracts Affordable Housing Criticism

No doubt at the suggestion of the Partnership of New York City or her other Republican/Chamber of Commerce backers, Christine Quinn delivered a policy speech yesterday meant to attract the influential techie voting bloc. These folks are well informed and super inter-connected on the Internet. They know the real deal. Consequently, her speech was seen as being one-sided, only about how the tech industry could benefit the city, not the other way around, for example. But what was very telling was during the Q&A. "Ironically, the first question an audience member posed to Quinn after the speech had to do with a more old-fashioned city problem. He wanted to know the next mayor could make housing more affordable." Everybody knows how Speaker Quinn has enabled real estate developers to decimate the supply of affordable housing. Here's to hoping that the influential techie voting bloc posts and reposts this link ! (Quinn Touts Tech, Stumbles Over The Old-Fashioned Art Of Pronunciation * NYDN)

@ChrisCQuinn and @MikeBloomberg #MyGuy #Neoliberalism Political Parody Musical Slideshow

Christine Quinn has transformed into the worst about neoliberalism.

Speaker Quinn has embraced a culture that can only be described as "pay to play." She accepted $30,000 in campaign donations from the owners of Rudin Management Company before the City Council approved the zone-busting Rudin luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's Hospital. Speaker Quinn supports hospital closings, so that billionaire real estate developers can capitalise and profit off of the assets of public charities. To that end, Speaker Quinn has curried favour with Brad Hoylman, Kathy Wilde, and the Partnership for New York, of which Rudin Management Company is a member. Speaker Quinn has supported all of Mayor Bloomberg's most controversial initiatives, from mayoral control of the school system, to the outsourcing of top education posts to business CEO's with no education credentials. Speaker Quinn also supports the racist NYPD commish Ray Kelly, which puts Speaker Quinn at odds with various minority communities in New York City.

This is a political parody slideshow that was composed with editorial criticism and satire.

Quinn Weakens Campaign Finance Laws For Corporations

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn thinks that corporations are people, too, and that they deserve to be counted as member organizations in order to allow corporations to use corporate money to influence the outcome of elections.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn achieved a life-long dream to weaken campaign finance laws yesterday. A new bill, which was passed with almost unanimous support through the New York City Council, was nominally promised to help unions, but the dark side of the bill is a backdoor loophole that exempts corporations from disclosing election-related communications with their employees, stockholders, directors, and other stakeholders about activities that corporations undertake to endorse and support corrupt candidates.

. @chriscquinn weakens campaign finance rules for corporationscityandstateny.com/city-council-p… @opensecretsdc @moneyinpolitics @ows_getmoneyout

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) January 24, 2013

Read also :

"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, facing accusations that legislation she championed opened a 'gaping loophole' in New York City's campaign-finance system, backed off her proposal and oversaw the passage of a watered-down bill Wednesday that reduced the reporting requirements for unions, corporations and advocacy groups." (Council Eases Finance Rules * The Wall Street Journal)

What Influence Does Carolyn Ryan Have Over Metropolitan Political Articles That Are Biased Against Joe Lhota ?

After having gone on a spree of Tweets ridiculing Joe Lhota's campaign for mayor, The New York Times metropolitan editor Carolyn Ryan's metropolitan desk then publishes a critical article of Mr. Lhota's campaign. Coïncidence ? Probably not.

Oh, Lordy ! I think @carolynryan ought to cut back on that #eggnog ! @joelhota @mattfleg @grynbaum twitter.com/carolynryan/st…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 19, 2012

Ooo-wee ! I'll have some of them brownies that @carolynryan is eating !! @mattfleg @grynbaum twitter.com/carolynryan/st… @donnymossnyc

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 19, 2012

A movement has begun: RT @juliweiner: HILLARY CLINTON FOR MTA CHIEF

— carolynryan (@carolynryan) December 19, 2012

Well, maybe @joelhota has #statenisland strategy. But @chriscquinn has @nytimes strategy. @carolynryan twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 19, 2012

Notice how The New York Times article of Mr. Lhota's campaign did not disclose that Kathryn S. Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, was editorialised as the "city’s premier business association," and how it was not disclosed that Ms. Wylde is invested in the campaign of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Furthermore, the article allowed Josh Isay, Speaker Quinn's campaign consultant, to openly criticize Mr. Lhota over MTA fare hikes. “Joe Lhota announced his resignation the day before the Lhota fare hike gets voted on,” Mr. Isay, the campaign spokesperson for Speaker Quinn's campaign, told The New York Times. “He may think he’s pulled a fast one, but voters are too smart for that.”

But the article did not mention the litany of criticisms that Progressives have with Speaker Quinn's political ethics -- ranging from the change in term limits, the spree of hospital closings, including of St. Vincent's Hospital in Speaker Quinn's very own City Council district, the reckless approval of the expansion of New York University, and the disruptive zone-busting development plan for Chelsea Market. Meanwhile, The New York Times chose to portray Speaker Quinn as a "presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination," even though that editorial qualification was not attributed.

If you were not aware, an average voter would read this article and think that Mr. Lhota was not a viable candidate, instead of the fact that biased reportage was portraying Mr. Lhota as such, according to predetermined agendas of the people involved in this article.

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

Fast Food Living Wage ?

RT @stopchrisquinn: #FastFoodFWD workers : "We're hungry." @chriscquinn : "Eat some fried chicken." #livingwage #RealTalk

— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) November 29, 2012

What ever happened to that living wage bill that New York Speaker Christine Quinn watered down ? Remember how Speaker Quinn stalled, delayed, thwarted, and then revised the living wage bill until she and lobbyists watered it down soooo much until it would only benefit, according to her very own calculations, perhaps as few as 400 New York City jobs -- all this to please the Partnership for New York City and campaign contributors ?

And then remember how Speaker Quinn stormed out of the farcical living wage press conference, after somebody referred to the mayor by the moniker, "Pharaoh Bloomberg" ?

One of the major puppet masters behind Speaker Quinn's opposition to a real living wage law is the lobbyist Emily Giske. Ms. Giske represents the parent-holding company of the fast food restaurant chains Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Ms. Giske’s firm, Bolton St. John, has also lobbied against the paid sick leave bill.

Many campaign donors, who give tens of thousands in electioneering payments to Speaker Quinn, belong to the Chamber of Commerce, such as Rudin Management Company. Members of the Chamber of Commerce try to subvert campaign disclosure laws and unfairly try to influence legislation so that the City Council agenda only promotes big business interests, instead of protecting workers' rights or union rights.

How sincere is it, when Speaker Quinn issues a message of solidarity with #FastFoodFWD workers, but it was she herself who watered down this year's living wage bill. Is this acceptable to you ?

Read more : New York Is Site of Nation’s Biggest Drive to Unionize Fast-Food Workers

Will Christine Quinn Try To End Rent Regulation ?

The Business Establishment wants Christine Quinn to be your next mayor, so that she can keep denying you each of paid sick leave, a living wage, and a full-service hospital that might save your life.

Real estate developers are feverishly working to appoint Christine Quinn to be the next mayor of New York City, so that Christine Quinn can end rent regulation and turn all apartments into market-rate rentals. Real estate executives are mainly impressed with how Speaker Quinn shut down St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, which Robert Moses was unable to demolish and ram through a cross-town highway decades ago.

For years now, Speaker Quinn has subjugated herself to the misogynistic male sexist domination of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been on a scorched earth campaign to destroy the social safety net by trying to close firehouses, shut down senior citizen centers, cut childcare, layoff teachers, pretend like votes don't go missing, build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital, make money from government information, and end Progressive Era reforms, we are left to wonder. When will the focus of irresponsible real estate development at the expense of the middle class spark a voter backlash, that will lead to mass protests at the city's legislature, or a revolution of the likes that have been happening elsewhere ?

What will be the spark that will trigger mass protests in New York ?

Everybody Is Worried That Christine Quinn Will Probably Defeat The Living Wage Bill

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn refuses to support the Living Wage Bill, just like she squashed the Paid Sick Leave Bill, because she is in bed with special interest groups that oppose the middle class.

The Poverty in America blog has exposed the reason why Speaker Christine Quinn would not endorse the Paid Sick Leave Bill and why Speaker Quinn also opposes the Living Wage Bill : both laws are being targeted for defeat by a shady anti-middle class group calling itself the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance.

The 5 Boro Chamber Alliance was formed in 2009 to take down the Paid Sick Leave Bill, and now it is reportedly organising a political campaign to defeat the Living Wage Bill.

The Poverty in America blog is worried that the Living Wage Bill will be defeated the same way as the Paid Sick Leave Bill was defeated : each were opposed by Speaker Quinn.

''Quinn's silence isn't random; she's declined to take a position on either bill because of pressure from the city's business interests. One of the main business groups that spoke out against paid sick leave was the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance, a group of chambers of congress from around the city,'' reported the Poverty in America blog.

Based on her history, more and more people are worried that we can't count on Speaker Quinn to do the right thing. ''We know what her position was on the paid sick leave bill and how mindful she has been not to cross the business community as she plans a run for mayor in 2013. Let's hope this time the speaker will think first and foremost of the well-being of the great majority of New Yorkers,'' wrote Albor Ruiz from The New York Daily News.