2010 21st Annual Phagwah Parade in Richmond Hill on March 7th @ Phil Rizzuto Park...

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2010 21st Annual Phagwah Parade

When: March 7th, 2010 - Noon
Time: Noon - Line-up begins at 10 am
Begins: Liberty Avenue at 133rd Street
Ends: Phil Rizzuto Park (formerly Smoky Oval Field)

Rev. Floyd Flake Defends Aqueduct Racino Pick as Fair, Praises Project as Job-Creating Godsend by Jill Colvin and Erin Durkin - NY Daily News

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The Rev. Floyd Flake defended the state's pick of Aqueduct Entertainment Group to run Aqueduct's racino, saying it was a fair decision. Egan-Chin/News

The Rev. Floyd Flake took to his Queens pulpit Sunday to defend the state's controversial pick to run the Aqueduct racino slots - a company in which he has a stake.

"I know you must have read a lot about this in the tabloids," Flake told the congregation, worshipers said.

Flake, an influential former congressman, owns a .06% stake in Aqueduct Entertainment Group, a politically connected company that won the lucrative deal to run the slots.

The Aqueduct slots could bring in as much as $6 billion a year, experts predict, with AEG taking home about $180 million annually.

Flake insisted the company beat out other bidders to win the racino deal fair and square - and he touted the project as a godsend that will bring much-needed jobs to the community.

Gary Billings, 57, of West Babylon, L.I., who attended Sunday services at Flake's Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, agreed.

Flake "just happened to be on the winning side, and the losers are bitter," Billings said.

Gov. Paterson has drawn fire for picking AEG days after Flake left open the possibility he'd support the governor's likely opponent in the Democratic primary, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

A source with ties to a failed bidder said the selection process "smacked of favoritism" toward AEG.

Other bidders described chaotic, secretive dealings and said state officials seemed to be "making the process up as they went along."

Flake declined to comment as he left church and drove off in a black Mercedes-Benz.

"Why would I talk to you?" he snapped at reporters.

Flake repeated his defense of the Aqueduct deal at three Sunday morning services, worshipers said. His remarks triggered applause.

"I don't believe in gambling. However, that's something that your conscience has to [guide]," said worshiper Costella Liggins, 67, a retired social worker from Rockville Center, L.I.

"The jobs are needed. They're definitely needed."

Paterson has denied the powerful minister's involvement influenced the selection.

Councilmember Crowley Slams Proposal to Cut Fire Companies by Jeremy Walsh - YourNabe.com

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City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, seen here at a protest of fire company closings last year, says she will fight again to keep them open this year. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Crowley

Fire companies are once again on the chopping block in the mayor’s opening round of city budget negotiations, including one that covers Ridgewood, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said.

Engine 271, which had been slated for closure last year as the city tightened its belt, is up for consideration as the city Fire Department begins to study where to make its reductions.

A Fire Department spokesman said no fire companies had yet been identified for closure this year, noting the budget process is in its beginning stages. The department is currently examining its statistics, the spokesman said. The proposed closings would cut about $28 million from the city’s expenses.

Much work remains to be done before the Council hammers out its final budget in June, and it is possible other budget solutions will be found. Last year the Council agreed to commit part of its discretionary funding to keep 16 fire companies open, but Crowley’s office said that was a one-time arrangement.

“It is alarming that so many fire company closures are even being proposed in the mayor’s preliminary budget,” Crowley, chairwoman of the Council Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to our taxpaying New Yorkers that when it comes to safety, we deliver.”

Bloomberg said other cost-cutting measures were possible, such as removing the Fire Department call boxes made obsolete by cell phones. It was not clear how much of the $28 million that would cover.

Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx) criticized Bloomberg’s plan as unacceptable.

“This plan represented a threat to life and life then, and it represents the same threat now. We simply won’t stand for it,” he said.

Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, had little to say about the situation so early in the game.

“Any firehouse closings will compromise public safety and endanger the lives and property of New York City’s taxpayers,” he said.

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Crowley’s office said last year that Queens had the worst response time in the city at six minutes, a minute longer than the citywide average. Engine 271 responded to 2,550 emergency calls in 2008, according to the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

Boro Man Head-Butted Angel Statue: DA Brown - YourNabe.com

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What a dopey criminal...You can't make this stuff up...lol

A South Ozone Park man was busted on suspicion of vandalism after head-butting another man’s cement angel sculpture, the Queens district attorney’s office said.

Around 2 a.m. Jan. 24, the resident of a home on 97th Avenue spotted Mark Jarvis, 21, shaking and then head-butting the yard ornament, causing it to fall off its base, the DA said. When apprehended by police, Jarvis allegedly told them, “Yeah, it was a stupid thing. I did it.”

Jarvis was arraigned Jan. 24 on criminal mischief charges and released on his own recognizance.

Wendi C. Thomas: Cussin' Calls Say Junior's No Gent » The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN

Here's a must read about Harold Ford, Jr. from Memphis columnist, Wendi C. Thomas...h/t: Albany Times-Union Capitol Confidential - A.M. Roundup...

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Dear New Yorkers:

Perhaps you don't read the Memphis newspaper, but thanks to the miracle of the Interwebs, I'm hoping this important message will find its way to Northern climes.

Former congressman Harold Ford Jr., who, depending on the day and the audience, might claim to be from this neck of the woods, is now pondering whether he wants to represent you Yankees by challenging and beating U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary.

I wouldn't know Gillibrand if she kicked me in the shins, but Junior, as we call him down here, I know fairly well since I've written about him many times.

Junior was facing Republican Bob Corker in the general election for U.S. Senate nearly four years ago. Just about every time I'd write a column that touched on Junior -- before and during the race -- I'd get a late Sunday afternoon call from him.

Because I contend he's a flip-flopping opportunist who pimps God for his purposes and didn't always vote in his constituents' best interest (his vote for the bankruptcy bill would be one stunning failure) and whose integrity could be measured in milligrams, not pounds, we often did not agree.

But my boss discourages me from using every curse word I know when talking with someone with whom I disagree.

Junior has no such compunction or personal guidelines.

In our late Sunday afternoon phone calls, Junior would start out pleasant and turn nasty quick -- something I'm sure many of his former aides could relate to.

Junior had the courtesy to introduce himself on the phone, and then the profanity would fly. A brief cussing out wouldn't warrant much mention, but Junior either had a lot to say or liked to hear himself talk -- maybe a little of both.

After a few of these calls, I realized that my presence really wasn't necessary. I could set the phone down, fry an egg, eat it, come back and Junior would still be on a tear.

Now, I don't expect politicians to be enduringly polite, especially with their critics. And if I had a dime for every such conversation (if you can call it that) we had, I'd probably only have 70 cents.

But while I was listening to Junior, a quote I'd heard about character came to mind.

It's attributed to advice columnist Abigail Van Buren and it goes like this: The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.

I could not do Junior any good, unless ceasing to write about him would be good for him. And in those conversations, I could have hung up, but honestly, I wanted to see just how far he'd go, just how crude he'd get, how hot his temper was, what kind of man he was when no one was watching.

And it wasn't pretty, as I'm sure many politicians' behavior isn't pretty when they think or hope no one is watching. (Appalachian Trail trip, departing from Argentina, anyone?)

But I haven't seen or heard from Junior in awhile.

The Democrat-depending-on-the-day has been scarce since he lost his Senate race. Junior's chances then of beating a Republican in a red state with a blue left corner were never good.

Since then, he has moved to New York, gotten married and gotten his first real job as vice chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

He has taken a leave from his job to explore whether he should run. He has also changed his stance on gay rights -- he was against gay marriage, now he's for it.

So voters may be inclined to think that Junior has grown and changed, isn't the kind of man who would be abusive to journalists or staff.

He's in a new environment, in a more liberal, educated pool of voters. Maybe now the real Junior can emerge -- a politician whose public and private words and deeds New Yorkers and Tennesseans could be proud of.

But then, I remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.