De Blasio Advocates For Developers

If there is anyone you should cross off your list for Public Advocate, start with Councilman Bill De Blasio. The job he's running for requires a politician that is serious about standing up for ordinary New Yorkers (IMO people like Norman Siegel). De Blasio however, regards developers like the Toll Brothers as regular people, going so far as to decry efforts to clean up the severely polluted Gowanus Canal.

From The NY Daily News:

City Councilman Bill de Blasio (D-Park Slope) said he didn't believe the cash-strapped federal program would be able to come up with the funding to complete a cleanup.

"We're being sold a bill of goods," he said. "There isn't necessarily money attached. ... How can you call it Superfund if there's no fund?"

Answer:

The Superfund program usually pays for the early stages of a cleanup and then goes after polluters and owners of contaminated land to foot the rest of the bill. Cleanup can take years.

So why is De Blasio so adamant about not having the government clean the toxic canal?

Officials from Toll Brothers, whose controversial plan to build 460 condos and townhouses along the waterway was approved last month by the City Council with de Blasio's backing, have said they will drop the project if the canal becomes a Superfund site.

The Bloomberg administration came out against the Superfund proposal last week, touting city plans to spend $175 million on a new pumping station and upgraded flushing tunnel for the canal, and dredging a portion of the waterway.

"We, locally, have gotten our act together. The city's doing the right stuff. ... The Toll site will get cleaned up," de Blasio said, charging the feds would just "get in the way."

That's his opinion (and Bloomberg's). What do environmentalists in the community say?

"Those are just cosmetic cleanups. They do absolutely nothing," said Ludger Balan, a Gowanus resident and environmental programs director at the Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy.

He said the most an upgraded flushing tunnel would do is move around dirty water. "It does not remove the toxins."[...]

Federal officials have found high levels of cancer-causing PCBs and metals such as mercury and arsenic in the Gowanus Canal. While contaminants at many hazardous waste sites are measured in parts per million, levels of coal tar more than four parts per hundred were found in canal sediments.

"The city has had decades ... to do something about the canal and they've really been dragging their feet," said Marlene Donnelly, a member of Friends and Residents of the Gowanus Canal. "It's really disingenuous for them to turn around and say [they have] a plan."

Who are you going to believe, a self-interested pol like De Blasio or advocates in the community that care about seeing the area cleaned up? Commenters from Pardon Me For Asking know the deal with De Blasio, and so should everyone who is going to cast a ballot for Public Advocate in the fall.

Quinn Caves For Her Man Bloomberg

So much for representing Chelsea or even guiding the City Council in a respectable, reform-minded fashion, Christine Quinn is officially in the bag for Mayor Bloomberg and his push to make an end-run around democracy. Yesterday she finally decided to stop hemming and hawing over the inevitable and announced she'd support an extension of term limits for the Mayor and the current Council members only.

From The Gothamist:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is currently holding a press conference declaring her support for the mayor's proposal to extend term limits. Her announcement ends Quinn's remaining mum on her official stance since Mayor Bloomberg announced his intentions to maneuver for a third term bid almost two weeks ago. It also reverses the vow she made last year to uphold the two voter referendums in support of term limits.

Quinn had originally intended to make a run for mayor herself next year, but backed out of the race when her close political ally Bloomberg finally threw his hat in the ring after months of speculation. The mayor's decision to run gave Quinn an easy out of a campaign that looked like it would be an uphill battle after what has been a scandalous year for the Speaker.

Opponents to the mayor's plan are not surprised at Quinn backing it. To them this is just the inevitable next step in what they see as a series of handshake deals and back room agreements, including Ronald Lauder dropping his opposition of extensions and the mayor secretly going to the heads of the Big Three city papers looking for their support. "It's been carefully choreographed from the get-go," said Councilman John Liu.

Quinn probably figured that she didn't have enough support to run for Mayor herself, so perhaps she thinks that this public bow in deference of Bloomberg will give her a leg up in 2013 (that is, if Bloomberg doesn't want another term then). Liu is right, it is all theater for her and nothing about principles or respecting the voters. Another observer that is right on target is Dan Jacoby, who believes we need to impeach Christine Quinn for reneging on multiple promises to New York. All I have to say to that is, "where do I sign up?"