Bloomberg Congratulates Quinn On Council Slush Fund Discretion

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that the slush fund operated by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was thankfully no longer the subject of public scorn, unlike the slush fund being operated by New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Councilmembers Hesitate To Challenge Quinn On Paid Sick Leave

Nuclear Option Over Paid Sick Leave

Thirty-six New York City Councilmembers currently support the Paid Sick Leave bill, but they cannot vote on the bill, because City Council Speaker Christine Quinn keeps blocking the bill. But journalist and civic expert, Andy Humm, has provided a way forward for supporters of the Paid Sick Leave bill, if only they had the courage.

"When the speaker of the City Council refuses to schedule a vote on a bill, the lead sponsor has the right to file what is known as a discharge motion with seven others to bring it to the Council floor for a full vote by their colleagues.

"But it might as well be the nuclear option, because most sponsors and advocates run for the fallout shelters when asked about whether they would consider standing up to the leadership."

But Mr. Humm polled several progressive leaders amongst the City Councilmembers, who support the Paid Sick Leave bill, but none of them would commit to the nuclear option. It's not known what role that perks and privileges plays in the reluctance that keeps Councilmembers from challenging Speaker Quinn.

But one Councilmember, who spoke freely with Mr. Humm, said he believed that Speaker Quinn exerts too much influence over the legislation considered by the City Council.

“Members are afraid to assert their own power,” Councilmember Charles Barron said of his colleagues. “They fear the speaker who they give too much power. Nothing in our rules says that she controls capital money and expense money, but they let her determine how much we get. Funds are not distributed based on the need of impoverished communities. They go to the Council members who go along, get along, and do the speaker’s bidding. She determines what committee assignments we get and whether we get to chair a committee.”

Mr. Humm was able to conclude from his interviews that Councilmembers hesitate to challenge Speaker Quinn :

"The sick-leave bill (Intro 97-A) has a more than veto-proof majority of 36 City Council co-sponsors – just 34 are needed for a two-thirds override of the mayor’s promised veto of the bill. But the legislation has languished without a vote because of the opposition of one member, Quinn, and the refusal of her members to contradict her."

Read more : Fear and Cowering on Paid Sick Leave ; Advocates Dodge Option to Use Discharge Motion over Speaker's Objections

Protest Against Suspicious Journalism by editor Carolyn Ryan at The New York Times that promotes Christine Quinn

Does Carolyn Ryan, an editor at The New York Times, prevent any journalism that is critical of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn from being published by the newspaper ?

Instead, we get fluff pieces, like the one that the bloggers Gary Tilzer and Suzannah B. Troy refer to as the "Betty Crocker story," the main point of which was to show that Speaker Quinn knew how to bake pies.

Meanwhile, nobody knows exactly how much taxpayer money Speaker Quinn has given to Brooklyn political boss, Vito Lopez.

For more information, please visit the blog : Christine Quinn Sold Out.

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

Christine Quinn Watergate Redacted Documents ; Purging Public Records

Twenty-four hour local news channel NY1 filed a Freedom Of Information request to obtain the 2011 schedule of NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the presumptive leader in the 2013 mayoral election. What they got back was a list that included over 600 hours of blackened appointments. (Joe My God)

Moving Picket Line During Protest Against NYTimes Media Bias That Benefits Christine Quinn

Protest Against Christine Quinn outside The New York Times building.

One of The NYTimes editors, Carolyn Ryan, is believed to stop all articles that are critical of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Approximately 30 activists (or more) turned out to demand that The NYTimes demonstrate integrity in its journalism.

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

Christine Quinn Protest Outside The New York Times

Protest against the media bias of The New York Times and Carolyn Ryan that favours and benefits New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Watch the moving picket line formed by approximately 30 activists via the revolutionary live-streamer, recaiiskender3, on Ustream.

Video streaming by Ustream

Another Ustream video by the same videographer :

Video streaming by Ustream

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How Many Injured by NYPD Outside Empire State Shooting ?

Confirmed on NYTimes: Bystanders Hurt in Manhattan Were Hit by Police Gunfire

Confirmed on CNN: Police gunfire responsible for wounding all 9 innocent bystanders in Empire State Building shooting in New York

Rumors are flying around that all of the innocent bystanders, who were shot outside of the Empire State Building this morning, were not shot by bullets from the the shooting suspect, Jeffrey T. Johnson -- who was shot dead by police -- but by bullets shot by police. Not yet confirmed, but I heard this from a very reliable source. I wonder how this will change the narrative of today's story of a disgruntled ex-employee shooting indiscriminately at the throngs of crowds outside the Empire State Building ?

From The New York Times, the police description of the firing of the bullets seems to indicate that the only people shooting their weapons outside the Empire State Building were police officers, not the lone gunman, Mr. Johnson :

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said one witness had told investigators that Mr. Johnson had fired at the two officers, “but we don’t have ballistics to support that.” Mr. Browne said “it’s possible” that the officers had shot him before he could return fire.

One officer fired seven times, the other nine times, Mr. Browne said.

According to the Associated Press, the NYPD has so far admitted that some of the innocent bystanders were struck by bullets or bullet fragments shot by the responding police officers, but the story has not yet been fully told : if the gunman Mr. Johnson did not fire his weapon, that means that the collateral damage that took place today was as a result of "friendly fire."

City Council Redistricting As A Ploy For Mayoral Campaign Endorsements ?

Are Quinn and Bloomberg Engaged In An "Endorse-to-Play" Quid Pro Quo Over The City Council Redistricting ?

Council Redistricting Corruption Silence

From True News From Change NYC, written by Gary Tilzer :

Many of his fellow reformers felt that Citizens Union puppet general Dick Dadey sold out last year when he supported Albany's compromise to put off independent redistrict for 10 years. But nothing can compare to Dadey and the rest of the goo-goos, editorial boards', and reformers' silence on the corruption going on with the City Council redistricting operation. For starters, the appointed council redistricting commission is controlled by two people supporting Quinn for mayor in 2013 : the council speaker herself and her puppet master the mayor. Although the redistricting commission work has just begun, there are already reports that county bosses Crowley and Lopez, ethic and minority leaders are already dealing with Quinn operatives to cut districts favorable to them or those they support in exchange for their endorsement for Quinn's 2013 mayoral bid.

Are People Dying Because Quinn Keeps Blocking Paid Sick Leave ?

Supporters of sick-leave bill say Council Speaker Christine Quinn is partially to blame for death of Brooklyn grocery store worker

Supporters of a paid sick-leave bill suggested Wednesday that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is partially to blame for the tragic death last month of Felix Trinidad, a Brooklyn grocery worker.

Healthcare and other activists organised a memorial vigil in tribute to Mr. Trinidad, 34, who died of stomach cancer after "putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, at the Golden Farm supermarket in Kensington, which does not offer sick days," reported The New York Daily News. The vigil was organised outside City Hall. “He would have been better if the bill had been passed because he wouldn’t have had to worry so much about having to miss work,” his widow, Anastacia Gonzalez, 31, told The New York Daily News.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to that entire family,” Speaker Quinn said. “That said, my position on paid sick leave legislation has not changed.”

Speaker Quinn has repeatedly said that she does not support giving paid sick leave days for people, who are sick and may be dying.

According to The New York Daily News report, Speaker Quinn has "refused to allow a Council vote on a bill requiring most employers to offer at least five paid sick days a year[,] and advocates of the bill have been pressuring her to change her mind as she prepares to run for mayor next year."

NYPD Biased Against People Of Colour

Majority in City See Police as Favoring Whites, Poll Finds

A significant majority of New Yorkers say the Police Department favors whites over blacks, according to a new poll by The New York Times. Concern about discrimination comes at a time of intensified scrutiny of the Bloomberg's administration’s possibly illegal practice that directs the NYPD to use "stop and frisk." Last year, the police made nearly 700,000 stops ; about 85 percent of the stops involved blacks or Hispanics. (NYTimes)

Quinn Silent On Afghanistan War

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who began her career in politics by representing a progressive point-of-view on social and governmental issues, is eerily silent about the Obama administration's further prosecution of the war in Afghanistan.

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — As an outraged local family prepares to bury their Marine son, two more U.S. servicemen have died in a similar attack by supposed allies. Now, some are asking whether America’s bravest are in fact training their own killers. ...

Read more : Slain L.I. Marine’s Family Speaks Out After Another Deadly Incident Carried Out By Afghan Recruit

Bloomberg-Quinn's Budget Has A Hole Innit

From True News From Change :

Just weeks after Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn celebrated their inside budget negotiation deal, acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued an opinion that put a stop to the mayor's taxi medallion revenue plan for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. The court ruling creates a $600+ million hole in the Bloomberg-Quinn budget.

... At issue is a law, passed in February, allowing New York City to create a new fleet of 18,000 lime-green "borough taxis" to service the outer boroughs and Upper Manhattan, where regular yellow cab service is a rarity.

That same bill also allowed the city to auction off 2,000 wheelchair-accessible yellow cab medallions, which were expected to garner more than $1 billion for the city's budget and also vastly improve the fleet's ability to serve passengers in wheelchairs. As the fleet now stands, there are only 233 wheelchair-accessible yellow cabs. ... (Capital New York)

Mayor Bloomberg warns of layoffs after judge shoots down outer borough taxi plan (NYDN) Judge's decision creates $1.46 billion hole in the budget, including $635 million for this fiscal year.

NYCHA Scandal On The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show features The New York Daily News investigation into the New York City Housing Authority.

"New York's public housing authority is under fire for mismanagement at the highest levels. Arthur Browne, Daily News editorial page editor, discusses his paper's investigation into NYCHA finances and his meeting last week with NYCHA head John Rhea," reported The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.

Many activists are seeing how NYCHA can let its buildings deteriorate while it is hoarding approximately $1 billion in cash as one more evidence that the Bloomberg-Quinn administration is failing people, who live in poverty. For his part, Mr. Browne indicates that NYCHA has historically been a political patronage dumping ground.

BCG-report-NYCHA-Key-Findings-and-Recommendations-8-15-12vFinal

Stop and Frisk Flashback Rewind

Since she became Speaker of City Council, over 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped and frisked. Why is this acceptable ?

Stop and Frisk Flashback Rewind

Last May, 20 activists were convicted in a criminal trial related to an act of peaceful civil disobedience when a mass protest took place against Mayor Michael Bloomberg's misdirected and possibly illegal use of NYPD to ''stop and frisk'' people of color in New York City.

Twenty protesters were convicted on Friday of disorderly conduct at a demonstration in the fall over the New York Police Department’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy.(NYTimes)

A criminal court judge in Manhattan convicted all the defendants in one of the biggest group trials in recent years over a political protest in the city. The trial drew additional attention for counting the civil rights advocate Cornel West among the defendants. They were arrested Oct. 21 while standing in front of a police station door to protest the stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking of hundreds of thousands of people annually," reported The New York Times.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been enabling the NYPD's use of its "stop and frisk" policy.

Carriage Horse Protest WCBS News Video

Advocates for animal rights and members of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages held a protest earlier this afternoon across the street from the Plaza Hotel, WCBS Channel 2 News reported. The protest was in response to a traffic accident that injured a horse named Oreo last Thursay.

“Horses don’t belong in traffic, it’s an inhumane and unsafe industry and it needs to be shut down,” coalition president Elizabeth Forel told WCBS 880′s Jim Smith.

The artist and political blogger, Suzannah B. Troy, was dressed up in a red wig and symbolic costume and pretended to be New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Animal rights activists, who have been putting pressure on the New York City Council to pass legislation to support the safety and wellbeing of horses by banning horse-drawn carriages, point to Speaker Quinn for blocking any meaningful animal rights protection legislation.