Simcha Felder Wants To Do Away With Public Advocate

In a grand display of pledging allegiance to Mayor Bloomberg, Councilmember Simcha Felder is reportedly getting a bill ready to do away with the Public Advocate's office. The elected position was created as to protect New Yorkers from potential abuses from the Mayor and Council. It is seen as a nuisance by Bloomberg and the ethically dubious members in the Council that interferes with their agendas that do not always have the people's best interest at heart. Two weeks ago Speaker Christine Quinn kept the Advocate's budget slashed by 40%, now Felder wants to cut it out completely.

From City Hall News:

The legislation, now under review by Council staffers involved with bill drafting, would likely come before the Council sometime this summer. If passed, a referendum on the matter could go before the voters as soon as the November general election.

If voters approve the referendum, the matter would then need to be reviewed by the Department of Justice. Almost certainly, that would mean the office would stay in place at least through 2013, allowing the winner of this fall’s election to serve one term in office.

Bloomberg will most likely campaign heavily for this referendum, as he has done trying to keep Mayoral Control on the books and the tens of millions already spent on his own re-election campaign. The Mayor has a long history of disliking the office that watches over him.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has long been seen as skeptical of the public advocate’s office—he has paid little attention to Gotbaum during their years of serving together, and in 2003 explored changing the rules of succession in the City Charter which put the public advocate next in line to the mayor. He also supported the referendum which passed that year which stripped the office of several of its statutory responsibilities and powers.

Unsurprisingly, the current candidates oppose such a drastic measure. Whether that is for their own self-interest or if they care about the need for an advocate of the people, that depends on which candidate you are talking about. In my opinion, Norman Siegel is the man that takes the office seriously, as he already advocates for the public without the official title. Though if he had a budget that had enough funds to sufficiently check the Mayor, then this city would be just a little more democratic. Abolishing the office would have the opposite, authoritarian, effect.

Gioia And Felder Go After City's Use Of Bottled Water

Yes, the City Council is a mess but at least two members of the corrupted institution have enough sense to help save NYC some money and help the environment in the process. Councilmen Felder and Gioia are sponsoring legislation to eliminate more bottled water use than before. The Council is already bottle-free, but city agencies still have some work to do.

From The NY Daily News:

City Councilmen Eric Gioia (D-Queens) and Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) will introduce a bill next week that would stop city agencies from buying bottled water and water coolers for workers at city agencies.

The city spends $2.1 million annually on bottled water, according to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

"New York City has some of the cleanest water in the country, and we should use it," said Gioia.

He noted that the move would also save on storage and disposal costs and help the environment by reducing waste and truck traffic for water-delivery services.

At least something good is going on at City Hall. With all of their problems, hopefully the rest of the Council can get together and pass this bill. Unless you work for Aquafina or Fiji, this is a no-brainer and completely not controversial, so it should get to the Mayor's desk quickly.

Term Limits Hearings: Round Two

Yesterday the Council chambers were in session for a little more than ten and a half hours. I was privileged to sit in the room for about an hour and half of it in the afternoon. Like any good New York political showdown, there was astroturfing by the Mayor, boos and cheers from the audience that elicited Chairman Felder's gavel and a few instances of kicking people out of City Hall and good ol' fashion public forum fun. The NYT's City Room covered it all, with many choice moments to remember, like that of a fourteen year old girl.

From The NYT City Room:

A member of the third panel of witnesses, Miss Trachtenberg gave pithy and powerful testimony in her allotted two minutes. She testified that her family moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn, recently after they were “priced out” of the East Village, said “Mayor Bloomberg is the worst mayor ever.” She added that “he gave tons of money to the Bush family and the Republicans” and deserves some of the blame for the war in Iraq and for incompetence in Washington.

“He had to spend $100 million to keep and buy his first two elections and he will spend another $80 million to buy the next one,” she said. “I hope you will choose honesty over bribery and keep term limits as they are.”

The chamber — or at least the balcony, which is packed with opponents of Mayor Bloomberg — burst into cheers. Even Councilman Simcha Felder, who is leading the hearings, said Miss Trachtenberg “deserves a round of applause.” And Councilman Alan J. Gerson predicted that the teenager just might be a future politician. (For the moment, she is focusing on her musical career with her family.)

I was lucky enough to be in there for that and am proud to say I was one that burst out into applause from the balcony. She was simply brilliant. There was a little more to her speech, especially her well-timed repetition of the phrase "Mayor Bloomberg is the worst Mayor ever!"

Everyone had either spoken or left by the end at 11:32 at night and now it starts up again in the Committee room just adjacent to the Council's hearing room. Will it last as long as yesterdays? That is anyone's guess but it should be going on for weeks, not two days as the Council is speeding this bill through with lightening quickness. Ominously, Quinn didn't show up at all yesterday, which can only mean one thing, she thinks she has the votes.

I certainly hope that is not the case. There are plenty of people working on the undecided members to ensure they do the right thing. I'd be down there myself speaking, but unfortunately my chest cold went from bad to worse, so I'll have to testify in writing instead. If you can't get down there, make sure to write a letter yourself. The more pressure we put on our Council, the more likely it is that we defeat the Mayor's end run around democracy.

The Pigeons Strike/Poop Back

Another day and the pigeon story develops a new wing. Did you know that if you counted pigeons in the census New York would have over nine million residents (One could only imagine if you put rats and mice in there as well)? With such a strong presence in New York City, it was only a matter of time before pigeons would speak up against the City Council's attack on the rats with wings birds. Ok well maybe not the pigeons themselves, since they only make that incessant cooing noise. There are people however who are turning out and spreading their own wings in this new political debate.

From The New York Times:

About a dozen or so of the city’s leading pigeon advocates gathered for an emergency meeting Wednesday night on the second floor of a Starbucks on the Upper East Side to plan a counteroffensive.

The meeting was called by Anna Dove, founder and president of the New York Bird Club, which claims 60 members and is one of the two leading pigeon-rights groups in the city. Ms. Dove legally changed her last name from Kugelmas in honor of her dove Lucy. Also present was Al Streit, director of Pigeon People, a rescue and advocacy group that claims 200 members in its online discussion group. Representatives were also present from New York City Pigeon Rescue Center, Win Animal Rights and other organizations.

“Don’t people realize that this is an extraordinary bird?” asked Mary Beyerbach, a member of the New York Bird Club, who noted the heroics of a homing pigeon named Cher Ami — in French, meaning “dear friend.” Cher Ami was credited with saving 194 American lives in France during World War I, earning him the Croix de Guerre honor.

Now that is one piece of military history that I had forgotten about. Ms. Dove is right, the pigeon is no ordinary bird. That is 194 more American lives saved than George Bush could ever lay claim to (not including those he indirectly sent to their deaths in Iraq). However, the pigeon problem here is not one of whether these birds are patriots, its that they are taking over the city. Sometimes you need to deal with such issues, as you know Serendipity 3 will be when it comes to those cute furry mice.

Attack On The Flying Rats

The flying rats (more commonly known as pigeons or Columbiformes if you want to go all Latin) that soar, shit and roost all over the city have never been the object of most New Yorkers' sympathy. No one has really ever done anything about them except bitch and moan....until now. Councilman Simcha Felder is on the prowl and wants to appoint a pigeon czar to take care of the problem. So what does his leader in the council have to say about all of this?

From The Daily News:

"I am not a fan of pigeons. No, I have no love of pigeons at all. I find them to be flying rats, and I have very little use for pigeons. But I don’t want to comment on the legislation, and I will not let my personal pigeon position impact my professional pigeon position, which I will be taking later upon review of the pigeon possibilities in the legislation. And that’s my full use of alliteration for the day."

You got to hand it to Christine for her wittiness. She hasn't taken any position as of yet on Felder's proposals, so we'll have to see where it goes from here. The media likes to spotlight this story because of its oddity factor, I'd like to post on it to again show the absurdity of our council and the crap (no, not pigeon shit) that comes out of the 51 member body. Can we please focus on more pressing matters than addressing 'flying rats?' Seriously whats next, mice and rat czars?

A Waste Of Menus

I am always annoyed at the onslaught of menus slid under my apartment door while I am away for the day. Not only is it a waste of paper and ink, it is a pain in the ass to pick them up and potentially dangerous to slip on them when entering a dark room. Sometimes the fliers are strewn all over the stoop, creating an eyesore. What's worse for the building owner, you can be fined by the Sanitation Department $100 for not picking up these restaurants' garbage.

Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder's mother received such a fine recently and you know she nagged him on it. I wonder how many times she complained to him until he finally took action and wrote a bill that would fine restaurants for making a mess. If passed, a $50 fine would be assessed for the solicitors.

Now this may seem like the over-regulation the city has endured for a while now, but I think this one may finally be a good one. The bill isn't too ridiculous and it helps the environment a little bit, as well me having to pick up the garbage they leave all the time in and around my building. If you really want to order take-out from a restaurant, wouldn't you rather make your selection based on quality and experience rather than what is thrown under your door?