Comptroller John Liu Audit Shows Ex-Operator of Forest Park Carousel has Shoddy Bookkeeping, Poor Maintenance by Lisa L. Colangelo - New York Daily News

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As city officials embark on another search for someone to run the shuttered Forest Park Carousel, a new audit shows how the former operator almost ran the historic amusement into the ground.


City Controller John Liu said the concessionaire, New York One LLC, failed to make about $500,000 in capital upgrades to three city-owned carousels.


That includes more than $50,000 for Forest Park, $110,000 for the carousel at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and more than $400,000 for the Central Park Carousel.


The audit also said the snack bars, pushcarts and surrounding areas were not maintained 'in a safe and sanitary manner.'


Supporters of the Forest Park Carousel, closed since 2008, had long complained about poor maintenance there. The company let its contract expire in 2009.

Liu: Queens Carousels Mismanaged by Vendor by Anna Gustafson -Queens Chronicle

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City officials have issued a Request for Proposal from vendors who want to run the Forest Park and Flushing Meadows carousels.FILE PHOTO

After an audit by city Comptroller John Liu found the company that ran the Forest Park carousel until 2008 wildly mismanaged it, community leaders are calling on a group that will take over the ride to honor its more than 100 years of history.


“I hope we get someone who will do the right thing for the carousel,” Community Board 9 District Manager Mary Ann Carey said. “We really need to do something with that carousel. It’s such a wonderful piece of artwork, and it shouldn’t just be standing there.”

New York One operated the Forest Park merry-go-round until 2008, when the company let its contract lapse. The city has since issued three requests for proposals for a group to run the carousel, with the final RFP being issued last week by the Parks Department. No one submitted proposals in response to the first two RFPs, but city officials are hoping things will be different this time around because they are also asking interested parties to operate the Flushing Meadows Park carousel.


Liu said in an audit released last week that New York One, which currently manages the carousel in Flushing Meadows Park and ran another in Central Park, overcharged customers, maintained little to no records of its cash transactions and violated health codes.


“Our kids want to go for a spin on the merry-go-round, but taxpayers don’t want to be taken for a ride,” Liu said in a prepared statement. “This contractor needs to straighten itself out. The Parks Department needs to monitor the company to ensure taxpayers are getting their due or find someone who is up to the job.”
New York One did not answer requests for comment, though Liu’s office said the company disagreed with many of the audit’s findings.


According to the audit, the operator owes the city $454,325 for restoration and repairs that need to be made to the carousels at Forest and Central parks.
Auditors found the operator charged more than Parks Department guidelines for admissions, food and souvenirs at the Flushing Meadows site, and they said the operator should spend $110,000 on capital improvements on that carousel.


While the Forest Park and Flushing Meadows carousels did not have a makeshift toilet in the go-round’s mechanical room that used buckets and a funnel, as auditors said the one in Central Park did, there were a variety of health issues the report found at the two sites.
Liu’s office said food carts at the Forest Park and Flushing Meadows sites were not properly licensed by the Health Department, and auditors said the operator did not “maintain the three carousel’s pushcarts, snack bars and surrounding areas in a safe and sanitary manner.”


Built in 1903, the Forest Park carousel has some of the last surviving creations of master wood carver Daniel Carl Muller.


It contains 49 sculpted horses, a lion, a tiger, a deer and two chariots. There is also a carousel band organ.


There are just five city parks that operate carousels — Forest Park, Flushing Meadows, Central Park, Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Staten Island’s Willowbrook Park.


“It’s very bad that the Parks Department hasn't gotten it open again sooner,” said civic activist David Quintana. “It’s a true work of art. Those carousel horses were done by a master craftsman, and now it’s closed to the public.”


The Parks Department will give tours of the two Queens sites for interested vendors on April 27.


Proposals are due May 13.


Visit comptroller.nyc.gov/audits for Liu’s full report.

Rep Nydia Velazquez Christmas Party on Dec 17th at the Warsaw in Greenpoint Bklyn...

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Comptroller John Liu Takes Aim at Bloomberg Through DOE Contracts - John Liu takes aim at Bloomberg through DOE contracts By Andrew J. Hawkins - City Hall News

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Much like his predecessor, Comptroller John Liu has focused on contracts with the city's school system as a way to check Mayor Michael Bloomberg's wide-ranging power.


The war began in early October, with news reports that the Department of Education was blaming the comptroller for delaying contract approval that would allow over $500,000 in profits from new health food vending machines from being transferred to schools. Liu's office said it was probing possible "collusion" between the vending machine companies.


The dispute soon escalated over insurance contracts between the comptroller's office and DOE, which still has the potential to leave hundreds of school buses without insurance coverage after December.


Under the revised mayoral control law, DOE must register contracts with the comptroller's office before finalizing them. But a contract between insurance broker Willis Group and DOE to insure city school buses expired June 30 and has yet to be registered by Liu's office. Liu's office is refusing to approve the contract, arguing that, as it is currently written, it "usurped" the comptroller's responsibility under the City Charter to adjudicate insurance claims.


Cathie Black's replacement of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is unlikely to ease the tension between DOE and the comptroller's office. If anything, some experts predict that Black's ascendency to the top position could heighten the perception of DOE as an agency unchecked.


"Generally, executives like to keep the power they think they inherited," said Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at New York University. "She would see this as a power loss of some of her authority, especially because she's coming from the corporate world. With only the mayor for her to report to, it really leaves no room for checks and balances."


Bloomberg has always pushed back against the idea of increased oversight by the city comptroller, arguing that DOE is more a state agency than a city one, answerable to the State Education Department. This stance led to friction between the mayor and then-Comptroller Bill Thompson, compounded by Thompson's political ambitions to run for mayor himself. Though this was exacerbated after the term limits extension, which set the two up to run against each other, Bloomberg aides felt even before the fall of 2008 that Thompson occasionally hit the education record to help lay the foundation for his own mayoral run.


Barring some massive change of heart in the referendum electorate and another recalibration of the political world from the mayor, Liu will not be running against Bloomberg at any point. But he is seen as a likely candidate for the 2013 race, when having some burnished credentials and additional exposure would be important for sticking out of a crowded field.


"There's always been tension, political and administrative, between the comptroller's office and the mayor's office," said David Bloomfield, an education professor at the City University of New York. "So it's not unusual for the comptroller, in his role as auditor and oversight manager, to hold things up, doing his due diligence, and take advantage in that situation perhaps to bring the mayor up short, to not steamroll his program through the contracting process."


After the Legislature reauthorized mayoral control in the summer of 2009, the city comptroller was given new powers to regulate and manage DOE's contracting process. Problems with the new protocol were evident almost right out of the gate.


In July, Liu's office got word that the Panel on Education Policy would seek to approve a resolution that would allow DOE to make contract purchases without the panel's approval. Liu fired off a letter arguing that the resolution would not only be in violation of state law, but was also not put up for public review, as required. The panel eventually pulled the resolution from its agenda.


But a few months later, DOE and the comptroller were back at it. With the vending machines, Liu's office refrained from approving the contracts, holding up hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthy snack profits until concluding that there was nothing improper in how the contracts were awarded. But DOE installed the vending machines anyways, before the contracts were registered by Liu's office.


The flap over school bus insurance appears to be more severe. Willis, the insurance broker, threatened to terminate the contract by Nov. 5 if it still had not been approved by Liu's office. The deadlock would have left thousands of children without rides to school had the deadline not been extended at the last moment to Dec. 31 to allow added time to work out a claims protocol with DOE and, more importantly, avoid a potential public relations nightmare.


Alan Van Capelle, deputy comptroller for public affairs, said that this is a systemic problem with DOE that needs to be addressed.


"We hope that the Department of Education uses this increased time to work with us and find a resolution to all the outstanding issues," Van Capelle said. "But I think DOE needs a study hall on procurement. And they need to understand that mayoral control of schools does not mean they control everything. There still is a procurement policy and they're required to follow it."

A DOE spokesperson declined to answer questions about the status of the insurance contract, preferring instead to highlight the procedural issue between the agency and Liu's office.
"Yellow bus service will continue to serve our children," said DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg. "The comptroller has 30 days to register the contract and the time period is not yet over. As we do with many of our contracts, we have had discussions with the comptroller during the registration period, and we expect all issues will be addressed and that the contract will be registered."

Senator Joe Addabbo Visits Small Businesses in Woodhaven - Joined by Congressman Anthony Weiner, Comptroller John Liu

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Seeks Community Input from Local Residents and Business Owners

On Sunday, October 17, State Senator Joe Addabbo—joined  by Congressman Anthony Weiner, Comptroller John Liu, and members of the community—visited stores and restaurants along Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven, reaching out to small business owners and residents of the Queens neighborhood.

Senator Addabbo said, “Small businesses are the backbone of our community and play a critical role in maintaining our neighborhood’s character and economic health. But they are still struggling in these hard economic times – we have to continue our efforts in helping them overcome the obstacles of running their business, create more local jobs, and remain a vital economic and cultural element of our neighborhoods. An open, continuous dialogue with local businesses is an important step in understanding their challenges and finding solutions.”

Senator Addabbo has made strengthening the local economy a central focus of his work. He helped bring thousands of jobs—and millions of dollars—to Queens with the Aqueduct Racetrack project. In addition to creating jobs, Senator Addabbo has fought to ensure that existing jobs remain in the community, writing the law to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs out of state, and pushed to use this savings to create incentives to hire new workers and provide job training programs.

Senator Addabbo’s community initiatives also include helping small businesses cut down on their utility bills through joint initiatives with energy providers, and sponsoring several large job fairs to connect hundreds of employers with thousands of job seekers in the community.

NYC Comptroller John Liu Announced New Website "Checkbook NYC" - Allows Users to Track How NYC $ is Spent...

New York City has opened up a look inside its ledger. Checkbook NYC, released by city comptroller John Liu yesterday, sets up users to search and download some top-level details on the money spent by the city each day. Liu's office reports that some $35 billion in city spending since the first of the year is accounted for on the new site.

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Online App Tracks New York City Spending -- Including Bloomberg's Car-Service Tab - Metropolis -By Aaron Rutkoff and Michael Howard Saul - WSJ:

Downloading every item of New York City’s spending — there’s an app for that.

City Comptroller John Liu released a searchable online database of every disbursement made by New York City in 2010. To date, the database has over $35 billion in city spending.

The project, called “Checkbook NYC,” is an extension of an initiative launched by Liu’s predecessor, William Thompson, to log every city contract in an open database. The next step, slated for completion by the end of the year, will measure each agency’s contracts with minority- and women-owned businesses.

So how long does it take to expose somewhat embarrassing information about city spending after the launch of this new online tool? Less than one day. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office spent $2,064.96 at K & D Liquors, $325.96 at the Lobster Place and $201.62 at H&H Bagels.

According to the website, the office of the mayor’s food and drink bill totaled more than $50,000 during the first six months of this year. Nearly $25,000 was spent on office equipment and maintenance. More than $55,000 on travel.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Bloomberg, said the food bill for the mayor’s office is mostly attributed to events at Gracie Mansion. The mayor doesn’t live there but holds events at the Upper East Side mansion often.

Roughly 70% of the costs of entertaining at Gracie Mansion are paid for with private dollars, LaVorgna said. “Gracie Mansion is a city facility — there is a cost to it,” he added. “There are hundreds of events there. It’s not like this is for food in the office.”

Beyond food expenses, there’s the matter of car-service spending. The mayor’s budget staff has spent more than $10,000 on car services so far this year, the Associated Press found, despite Bloomberg’s avowed dedication to commuting by subway.

And the budget staff wasn’t even the biggest spender for car services: Law department staffers have spent $66,000 on car-service rides this year.

New Web Site Tracks Taxpayer Money in New York by Stephen Caesar - NYTimes.com

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office spent a total of $5,500 on three alcohol purchases at a liquor store on the Upper East Side. The New York City Board of Elections spent more than $472,000 on car service over five months.

As of July 1, the city has spent in this calendar year exactly $40,733,960,217.46.

That is just a sample of the spending details that can be found on a new Web site unveiled on Thursday by John C. Liu, the city comptroller. Mr. Liu said he wanted to make it easier for New Yorkers to find out how taxpayer money is spent, or perhaps misspent.

More transparency, Mr. Liu added, could lead to more responsible spending by all city agencies, including his own.

“It’s about open government, intrinsic accountability and creating strong incentives towards saving taxpayer money,” he said at a news conference in Manhattan. Mr. Liu’s office, for example, has so far this year spent $200,000 on postage. That might seem high, but a spokeswoman said that was reasonable since the office produced reams of paperwork.

The online database, named Checkbook NYC, allows users to search and download expenditures by agency, the name of a payee, the purpose and the amount. The database will be updated daily and uses the city’s financial management system to record all city expenditures, Mr. Liu said.

The database cost about $320,000 to produce and will cost $70,000 a year to maintain, Mr. Liu said — those costs can also be found in the database.

Not everything can be found there. The names of some individual payees are left out because the payments involve salary or expense reimbursements. Depending on legal concerns, the office hopes in the future to be able to disclose the names of every city worker and the gross amount of his or her paycheck, Mr. Liu said.

Mr. Bloomberg’s office spent about $2,000 on each of the three purchases at K & D Liquors on Madison Avenue near 96th Street this year. The alcohol, as with most food purchased by the office, is for various events held by different groups at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, said Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg. The mayor does not live at the mansion.

Though the bills were paid using taxpayer money, most of it was reimbursed by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit that uses private money to support public programs, according to the mayor’s Web site. Sometimes the group involved in hosting the event will pick up part of the cost, Mr. LaVorgna said.

The bill paid by the Board of Elections to two car service companies is a result of an agency policy to provide workers with car service home if they work more than 12 hours a day, said Valerie Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the board. Car service is provided so that workers can get home safely, Ms. Vazquez said.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a government watchdog, praised the new database, saying that agencies are more likely to pay greater attention to the way they spend money if more eyes are watching them.

“Once it becomes a matter of course,” she said, “it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.”

Mayor Bloomberg Under Fire for his 'Trickle-down Theory': Spend Money to Make Money by Adam Lisberg - NY Daily News

I just wonder if being the richest person in New York City and his own tax savings influences his decision not to tax the rich more...Doh..!

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Mayor Bloomberg is being slammed by conservatives and liberals for his 'trickle-down theory' of New York's economy. Whyld/AP

Mayor Bloomberg has a trickle-down theory of New York's economy: Spend money to make money, and make sure the people at the top have money to spend.

He believes in generating jobs through big projects like rebuilding Coney Island and Willets Point - subsidizing them with tax breaks and public money if necessary.

At the same time, he protects rich New Yorkers from any more tax hikes, saying their big spending creates jobs for everyone else.

Just 18,000 New Yorkers pay half the city's income taxes, Bloomberg said last week, while half of New Yorkers pay no income taxes at all.

"If you hurt, for example, our financial services industry, it's the people at the bottom ... that are going to get laid off," Bloomberg said.

Now he's being challenged on several fronts. The opposition comes from different sides of the spectrum - and isn't always consistent - but agrees that just because Bloomberg dominates the budget process doesn't mean he's right.

Call it the trickle-up theory.

"If nobody can show that trickle-down theory works," said Controller John Liu, "we should get rid of it."

The conservative Citizens Budget Commission slammed Bloomberg's $2 billion third-term economic development plan, saying there's no evidence it generates new business.

The liberal Fiscal Policy Institute slammed Bloomberg's reliance on Wall Street, saying he should focus on bringing up the subpoverty-level wages of the poorest working New Yorkers.

"Relying on better wages for every New Yorker makes a lot more sense as an economic recovery strategy than waiting for Wall Street bonuses to trickle down," wrote FPI economist James Parrott.

The tension was on display last week at a hearing on a bill to require a prevailing wage for workers at buildings with city-funded tenants.

The Bloomberg administration said it would force rents up, but it has strong Council support. (It helps that the bill is backed by building workers union 32BJ, which backs the Working Families Party, which helped some Council members get elected.)

Less likely is a tax on Wall Street bonuses, pushed by the Council's WFP-backed Progressive Caucus, which contends it won't drive rich New Yorkers to leave. They don't have the votes to pass it, but they want to steer the conversation their way.

Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) said Bloomberg doesn't seem to worry about why so few New Yorkers are at the top of the tax bracket and so many are at the bottom.

If Bloomberg really wants to grow jobs, Lander said, he would reverse one of his proposed budget cuts: Saving $4 million by eliminating 737 low-wage Parks Department training jobs for people on welfare just entering the workforce.

"It seems to me that's one of the areas where you'd want to expand instead of cutting back," Lander said. "I'd rather see us use more of our economic development resources in projects that more directly create jobs."

Where's Bloomberg? by Adam Lisberg - NY Daily News

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First came the firefighters and the ambulances. Then came the Transportation Department honchos. Then came the politicians, all the way up to Gov. Paterson.

Everyone rushed to Staten Island this morning to deal with the wreckage and the injuries from the latest ferry crash -- everyone, that is, except Mayor Bloomberg.

"The mayor is monitoring the city response," spokesman Jason Post said. Post didn't say where he was monitoring it from, repeating the canned line from the past nine years that Bloomberg's personal time is, well, personal.

He pointed out that Bloomberg didn't make a personal appearance during the last major ferry crash with injuries, in July 2009, and the proper authorities seemed to respond just fine. As Bloomberg would surely point out if he were in front of a microphone today, his job is to hire people who can handle a ferry crash, not to fix it himself.

But the mayor's absence, while Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and the governor fielded questions, highlighted the inscrutable nature of the billionaire's private schedule.

His fondness for Bermuda weekends is well-known. As the owner of a private jet, he was able to celebrate last fall's election victory with an off-the-schedule dinner in Paris. And he has events in London and Berlin on Tuesday, so perhaps he headed there a bit early to check on his rowhouse on Cadogan Square in London.

Whatever the reason, Bloomberg's absence let Paterson fill a leadership void for the cameras, just as the two men are feuding over budget cuts. It created a great opportunity later in the afternoon too, as Paterson suddenly added a 6 p.m. event on his public schedule to "greet New Yorkers" at the corner where a failed car bomb paralyzed Times Square a week earlier.

Click through for the other citywide leaders' reaction.

“Obviously there should be an investigation because even though there were not any serious injuries, it’s something we want to avoid in the future,” Paterson told reporters at the scene. Later, the official city update went out under Sadik-Khan's name, not Bloomberg's

Controller John Liu and Public Advocate Bill deBlasio said they do not know where Bloomberg is. Nor does City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s staff. Liu, a frequent critic of Bloomberg, was fine with this.

“I haven’t been in contact with the mayor or his staff. Nor would I expect to be. The DOT commissioner was handing it. I don’t know what constrained the mayor,” Liu told the DN City Hall Bureau's Kathleen Lucadamo.

As the former head of City Council’s Transportation Committee, who held countless hearings on the 2003 ferry crash and last summer's as well, Liu was more troubled to hear another boat accident occurred.

“One incident can be isolated. Two in a row,” he said, noting this one and the one last summer were due to mechanical woes, “begs more questions.”

Toot toot! Beep Beep! Nydia Velazquez Parties Down by Aaron Short - YourNabe.com

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It was two weeks before Christmas, but Rep. Nydia Velazquez had reason to celebrate.

The Health Care bill passed the House, her friend and ally Councilmember Diana Reyna (D-Williamsburg) was re-elected, and it was time for Velazquez’s annual Holiday Party, held at The Warsaw (261 Driggs Ave.) on December 18.

“You give me the strength to do the work that I do. You really do and I want to say thank you,” said Velazquez, addressing a crowd of 200 guests.

Velazquez was joined by Comptroller-elect John Liu, Rep. Ed Towns (D-Williamsburg), Reyna (D-Williamsburg), Democratic District Leader Jo Anne Simon, and scores of other North Brooklyn community leaders who dined on roasted chicken with rice and beans and danced to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, and The Electric Slide.

Slide-show photos by Me...

Vote Democratic on Tuesday - November 3rd - 6 AM to 9 PM

Let your voice be heard:

VOTE

on

Polls open 6 am - 9 pm

Tuesday, Nov. 3

Frank Gulluscio in District 32

Elizabeth Crowley in District 30

And the Democrats have some great City-wide candidates:
Bill Thompson for Mayor
John Liu for Comptroller
Bill DeBlasio for Public Advocate

NOTE: Vote on either the Democratic OR Working Families Party Line

(Both count and some of us prefer the Working Families line as it is viewed as a vote for progressive politics.)

Bill Thompson Opens Campaign Office in Cypress Hills - 2009-10-10

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Democratic Unity Rally at City Hall - The Dream Team - Thompson, Liu and DeBlasio - October 4th, 2009

On Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 Democratic candidates for mayor, comptroller and public advocate made their first public appearance together since the Sept. 29th runoff election.



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Bill De Blasio and John Liu Win in Democratic Runoffs by Julie Bosman and Kareem Fahim - NYTimes.com

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Councilman Bill de Blasio, the nominee for public advocate, celebrating his victory with his wife, Chirlane McCray, and children.

Bill de Blasio, a councilman from Brooklyn running for public advocate, and John C. Liu, a councilman from Queens running for comptroller, easily defeated their opponents in the Democratic runoff election on Tuesday in two citywide races that drew scant interest from voters.

The nominee for city comptroller, Councilman John C. Liu of Queens, with his wife, Jenny, spoke Tuesday night in Manhattan of “the wonder and possibility of New York.”

The decisive showings by Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Liu were also a victory for the Working Families Party, the labor-backed group that endorsed both candidates and that mobilized its formidable field operation to turn out voters on a day when most polling sites were largely empty.

And both Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio, unlike their opponents, were vocal critics of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s successful effort to persuade the City Council to amend the term limits law so he could run for a third term.

With Democrats dominating New York City’s voter rolls, Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio are not likely to face much competition in the November election, and they would fill offices that could quickly make them strong contenders for mayor in 2013. Mr. Liu’s victory keeps him on the path to becoming the first Asian-American elected to citywide office.

Mr. de Blasio scored an overwhelming victory against Mark Green, who was the city’s first public advocate. With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed Mr. de Blasio with 63 percent of the vote and Mr. Green with 37 percent.

In the comptroller’s race, Mr. Liu also won easily, with 56 percent of the vote, while David Yassky, a councilman from Brooklyn, had 44 percent.

Mr. Liu, standing with his wife and his 8-year old son at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers in Manhattan, thanked his parents, immigrants from Taiwan, for “providing a better life for me and my younger brothers.”

“No one appreciates the wonder and possibility of New York better than me,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Mr. Liu’s long list of thank-yous included labor unions and the ethnic newspapers. Mr. Liu said, “We won this campaign in the streets.”

Mr. Liu, who beat Mr. Yassky by eight percentage points in the primary two weeks ago, drawing on support from union members and Asian and black voters, fended off a late, somewhat unexpected attack from the mild-mannered Mr. Yassky, who accused Mr. Liu of dishonesty.

As a candidate, Mr. Liu, a former actuary, counted on allies he had made speaking out on issues like hate crimes, stands that struck a chord with immigrant and minority groups.

Mr. Yassky, less adept at cultivating a traditional base, promoted his support from the city’s newspapers and his former boss, Senator Charles E. Schumer.

The race turned bitter in its final week, as Mr. Yassky questioned his opponent’s honesty in television advertisements and mailers.

“Would you hire an accountant who doesn’t tell the truth?” a narrator in Mr. Yassky’s ad asked.

In their final debate, Mr. Yassky sought to draw a contrast with his approach to the comptroller’s job, suggesting that he was a stronger advocate for pension reform than Mr. Liu was.

The comptroller acts as the city’s accountant and earns an annual salary of $185,000, manages a staff of more than 700 people and oversees the city’s five pension funds, now valued at about $80 billion.

Mr. Liu, a forceful and sometimes confrontational advocate for reform in city agencies, talked about using the comptroller’s audit power to eliminate waste in government. He will face a Republican, Joseph A. Mendola, in November’s general election.

Mr. Yassky, speaking to his supporters at a club in SoHo, said, “I hope that none of you here will take this defeat as a reason to stop believing in the possibility of politics, and the possibility of good politics.”

Mr. de Blasio will certainly be a more outspoken and visible public advocate than the one he would replace, Betsy Gotbaum, who kept a low profile. Ms. Gotbaum said last October that she would not run for a third term.

In a speech to supporters at a bar in Manhattan near Mr. Green’s campaign office, Mr. de Blasio offered a preview of his willingness to attack Mr. Bloomberg, invoking the term limits fight. “When a mayor ignores the will of the people, we set back the notion of ‘one person, one vote,’ ” Mr. de Blasio said.

As he has done throughout the campaign, Mr. de Blasio promised he would fight for the needy and the working class and stand up “when a mayor ignores the little people.”

“This means supporting senior citizens and the working poor, supporting the homeless and the hungry,” Mr. de Blasio said. “And more than anything, it means protecting our children from danger.”

The public advocate is the city’s ombudsman and second-highest elected official, responsible for monitoring and reviewing city agencies, and is next in line to succeed the mayor if he is unable to serve. Mr. de Blasio will face a Republican, Alex T. Zablocki, in November.

Mr. Green got into the race in February, explaining that even though he vowed in 2006 that he was finished running for office, he was motivated by his anger over Mr. Bloomberg’s move on term limits and his concern about the city’s fiscal troubles.

Overnight, Mr. Green became the front-runner, largely because of his name recognition and a general sense that, as public advocate from 1994 to 2001, he was an effective foil against Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The mood was subdued at a small gathering at his campaign office, even before the results were announced. Still, there was a cheer when Mr. Green entered the room to give a two-minute concession speech.

Mr. Green said again that he planned not to run for another elected office.

“For now, I’ll go back to writing, commenting, perhaps teaching and Air America Radio to keep the progressive voice strong around the city and country,” Mr. Green said. “You’ll be hearing from me, but not in elected office. I leave that to politicians more skilled than I. For me, campaigns were a route to public service, not an end to themselves.”

Mr. de Blasio, who came in first in the primary on Sept. 15, proved too formidable an opponent. He raised nearly $1.9 million, more than twice Mr. Green’s total, and collected the lion’s share of endorsements from prominent labor unions. On Tuesday, the de Blasio campaign hired 200 voters to promote him throughout the city.

Mr. de Blasio’s connections became ammunition for Mr. Green, who said Mr. de Blasio was a “quintessential political insider” who could not be trusted to be independent.

The race turned particularly negative after the primary. In the final two weeks before the runoff, Mr. Green and Mr. de Blasio sparred in a debate, with Mr. de Blasio questioning the relevance of Mr. Green’s experience, and Mr. Green suggesting that Mr. de Blasio had improperly accepted $33,000 in consulting fees while on the City Council.

William C. Thompson Jr., the city comptroller and the Democratic candidate for mayor, appeared at Mr. Liu’s victory party and exuberantly tried to build excitement for the Democratic ticket heading into the general election.

“Now it is Bill de Blasio, John Liu and Bill Thompson,” Mr. Thompson said. “Looking forward to, on Nov. 3, having a Democratic sweep across the board!”

He then led the crowd in a chant of “Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!”

Reporting was contributed by Flora Fair, Ann Farmer, Colin Moynihan and Joel Stonington.

Five Available Seats Make Queens' November City Council Race Brisk by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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With five City Council seats up for grabs in Queens, Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a busy election season.

In addition, Democrats are hoping to keep eight incumbent Council members in their seats - and knock out the lone GOP freshman.

But many more hopefuls are moving ahead with their campaigns, even if it means a bruising primary battle against party-backed candidates.

Candidates who want to receive public funds were required to file with the Campaign Finance Board last week.

Some of the most crowded fields of candidates can be found in the races for seats now held by Council members Melinda Katz, Tony Avella and John Liu, where at least six Democrats are vying for each seat.

Liu and Katz are running for controller, while Avella is making a long-shot bid for mayor.

Queens Democratic Party Executive Secretary Michael Reich said he is confident ex-Deputy Borough President Karen Koslowitz will be able to regain the District 29 seat she held for almost 10 years.

He also thinks Democratic candidate Frank Gulluscio will be able to defeat Republican newcomer Eric Ulrich, who won in a special election for the seat formerly held by State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, a Democrat.

"He got in on a fluke," Reich said of Ulrich. "Frank has tremendous experience in the community."

But Queens Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa disagreed and said he also expects former Councilman Thomas Ognibene to beat out Democratic Council member Elizabeth Crowley, who was elected last fall to his former seat - a one-time GOP stronghold.

"He's been there before; people know who he is," said Ragusa.

Reich pointed out Ognibene has been out of office for eight years.

"People are going to ask him, 'What have you done for me lately'" Reich said.

The herd of candidates, however, will most certainly be culled during the petitioning process.

Candidates are gathering signatures to secure a place on the ballot. But party-backed lawyers routinely pore over those signatures in search of irregularities that can keep candidates off the ballot.

lcolangelo@nydailynews.com

Bowne House Funds on Hold by John Lauinger - NY Daily News

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Photo by WallyG on Flickr

THE BULK of the funding for the long-overdue restoration of the historic Bowne House in Flushing remains in place, but a portion will be held back until 2013, city officials said last week.

The Colonial-era relic - one of the city's oldest homes and an important symbol of religious freedom - has been surrounded by controversy amid a series of anonymous e-mails lambasting the city for yanking the funds.

The city is in the process of acquiring the house from the Bowne House Historical Society.

The $628,000 that City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) allocated for the restoration has been pulled by the city, the Parks Department confirmed to Queens News.

That money won't be available until 2013, but department officials appeared to quash fears that the restoration project was doomed.

"We currently have $1.7 million available for the restoration of the roof, siding, windows and doors, as well as structural stabilization of the house," Parks said in a statement.

The Historic House Trust of New York City, a nonprofit preservation group that works with Parks, issued a similar statement.

The Bowne House, where John Bowne defied Dutch Colonial law and allowed members of the outlawed Quaker faith to meet, will become the Trust's 23rd site once the handover is complete.

The historical society's board of trustees signed over the home to the city in March, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

All that remains is for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to sign off on the transfer.

"Capital restoration work can begin after the transfer," the Parks Department said in its statement, without providing a timeline.

The funding scuttlebutt prompted some preservationists and a state lawmaker to charge that the pullback would jeopardize the continued existence of the home, whose roof is covered by little more than a tarp.

"Bowne House is in desperate need of the funds to continue with the building repairs," state Sen. Frank Padavan wrote to Mayor Bloomberg on May 18. Padavan has allocated $100,000 to build a visitor center at the site.

Members of the Bowne House board learned of the funding issue in an e-mail that Mikel Travisano, an architectural conservator with the Trust, sent to some members on March 24, shortly after the board signed away the property, a source said.

That e-mail, obtained by Queens News, included a message that could prove ominous for the project's future.

"Because of current and continuing budget problems, future changes to the Parks budget will be funding cuts rather than moving funds to a future fiscal year," Travisano wrote.

"Sorry for the bad news," he concluded.

jlauinger@nydailynews.com

Equal Marriage in NY - Attend Rally on May 31st at Athens Parks in Astoria...

All New York families deserve the protections of marriage. The couple featured here, Jeremiah and Karla, show the real people and loving relationships behind the fight for marriage fairness in New York State. Marriage...

Attend the rally in Athens Park in Astoria, Queens tonite night from 6:00-8:00. Take the N/W train to 30th Avenue and join us (10 minutes from Manhattan). This rally will feature numerous elected officials - including Councilmembers Eric Goia, David Weprin, John Liu and, likely Peter Vallone.

Broadway and television performers at the rally have appeared in: Rent, Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Flower Drum Song, The King and I, Spelling Bee, Good Vibrations, and Mary Poppins, and on the television shows Guiding Light and Hi-5. Most importantly, the rally will feature real people of all ages, races, religions and sexual orientations.

Come show the world that Queens believes in Civil Rights and that marriage is a human right that should not be denied on the basis of sexual orientation.

Flushing Drama Trumps Dem Choices by Vladic Ravich - Queens Tribune Blog

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James Wu and John Choe are both running for the 20th District

John Choe officially announced his candidacy for the 20th Council District on Monday and promptly won the endorsement of the Queens County Democratic Organization the next day.

The endorsement gave a boost to former Chief of Staff for Councilman John Liu – who currently holds the seat, but it was the most hotly contested of all the endorsements made that day. Choe faced a strong challenge from District Leader James Wu for the endorsement, but following the abstention votes by District Leaders Julia Harrison and Martha Flores Vasquez, Wu relinquished his votes to Choe “for the sake of party unity.”

“I’m totally happy with the situation,” said Wu. “Of course I would’ve liked the endorsement, but the will of the voters is more important.” Wu emphasized that he still supported John Liu for Comptroller, explaining that he understood why Liu would back one of his former staffers. “Having Liu running strong citywide will still help me on the ballot,” said Wu.

Wu said that while he could have tried to force a deadlock and move on to more rounds of voting, the two abstentions made it impossible for him to win, because even assuming he won the plurality of the votes, he would still lack a majority. So the choice became a stalemate from Liu’s district, which Wu said would look bad for everyone, or Wu would have to switch his votes to his opponent.

“I do think abstention is a huge cop out,” said Wu.

Vasquez said she and Harrison made a “mutual decision” to leave the decision to the voting community. Vasquez said she wanted a candidate to represent the whole district, “not just the Asian district.”

“In this district we go one of two ways: we want an Asian candidate or a qualified candidate. I think this is the year for a qualified candidate,” said Vasquez. She also said that Wu changed his vote out of “anger and retaliation.”

Harrison said she did not appreciate U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), the county Democratic Chairman, dictating which candidate would be endorsed. “There is a united front in the community to not have someone shoved down our throats – let it be a free election and let the community decide for itself.”

She also said “I don’t know how John Choe can possibly win with three Korean people in the race.” She then said her sources tell her that Choe is “perceived as an advocate of a North Korean government […] The anxiety is very strong about John Choe proselytizing to the young people of immigrant parents selling them on the philosophy of the North Korean government.”

Choe brushed off the accusation as “crazy talk,” calling it “a desperate attempt by opponents to distract the electorate from the real issues.”

“Working families care about how they’re going to support their families, provide health care and a good education to their children. They care about maintaining the quality of life for their neighborhoods and to work with their neighbors to improve their community,” Choe said. “That’s what I’m running on and that’s what I’m qualified to help people as a candidate and elected official.”

Choe also noted the double standard for multiple Korean candidates: “When there are multiple white candidates no one says they are splitting the vote.”

The Queens County Democratic Organizations also endorsed Bill Thompson for Mayor, Eric Gioia for Public Advocate and John Liu for Comptroller. All the incumbents, including Helen Sears, received the party’s backing. The Democrats also endorsed Jerry Iannece for the 19th district; Deirdre Feerick for the 26th district; Frank Gulluscio for the 32nd district; and Karen Koslowitz for the 29th district.

JFK Has Most Bird Strikes, FAA Reports by Stephen Geffon - Queens Chronicle

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The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether Canada geese, pictured here, are to blame for the majority of bird strikes. (photo by Ray G. Foster)

The full extent to which birds collide with airplanes had been unknown to the general public — until last week.

After initial reluctance, the Federal Aviation Administration released a comprehensive report on the dangerous bird problem at the nation's airports, an account that resulted in Kennedy International Airport scoring headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The FAA report, which tracked the period between January 1990 and November 2008, found that, since 1990, Kennedy has led the nation with 1,811 reported bird strikes. By comparison, LaGuardia had 954 avian collisions. The report only captured about 20 percent of all wildlife strikes and included the cost of repairs to the planes from the bird strikes — estimated to be more than $267 million.

And, at the heart of the controversy, one bird species seems to be garnering the nation’s attention: Canada geese.

JFK, the nation’s sixth busiest airport, is located near the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a 9,000-acre stretch of small islands and marshes that is home to 330 bird species. The Wildlife Refuge is also a veritable breeding ground for gulls and geese which, along with mourning doves, comprise the majority of birds that hit planes, according to the FAA.

While the National Transportation Safety Board has not completed its investigation, authorities believe that a flock of Canada geese were sucked into the two jet engines of US Airways Flight 1549 shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport on January 15. The bird strike caused the plane’s engines to immediately shut down, forcing the pilot to land in the Hudson River.

At a news conference last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the federal government should “create a new program that would devote millions of dollars to wildlife mitigation focusing on reducing bird strikes at the New York City airports and airports around the country.” Schumer also announced this week he will introduce new legislation requiring the FAA to make bird strike data mandatory.

Doug Adamo, spokesman for Gateway National Recreation Area’s Jamaica Bay Region, said officials are not currently performing habitat management to enhance bird habitats or nesting sites in the area to attract birds.

But officials at Kennedy seem to be taking matters into their own hands. This year, the airport expects to install the Avian Radar System, manufactured by Accipiter, which tracks birds’ course, speed and altitude within six miles and 3,000 feet of the airport.

City Council Transportation Committee Chairman John Liu (D-Flushing) said that although he does not plan to hold any hearings to look at bird strikes, he will work closely with federal authorities to find strategies to solve the problem and will consider everything from “more sophisticated electronic deterrence” to the “scarecrow” effect.

The scarecrow method is exactly what it sounds like — the use of falcons to scare birds out of a plane’s flight path, an environmentally friendly form of bird control known as a type of falconry.

“It’s something we have to look at, obviously,” Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), a member of the Transportation Committee, said. Falconry is still a viable alternative option, he said.

The Port Authority currently has a five-year, $3 million contract with Falcon Environmental Services, Inc. to perform falconry at Kennedy Airport.

While Kennedy has been using falcons for decades to frighten gulls from its flight paths, they are not currently used at LaGuardia, Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said.

Falconry wouldn’t work at LaGuardia, he said, because it is “effective against gulls, not geese.” Gulls are the primary birds at issue at Kennedy, but not at LaGuardia, where geese pose the main threat, DiFulco said.

However, veteran falconer Andrew Barnes of Falcon Environmental Services disagreed.

“It is the best tool we have available to us,” Barnes said.

Regardless of the method ultimately chosen to combat bird strikes, Queens officials agree: something has to be done to prevent another destructive accident.

“Active bird management and habitat alternation methods must be enhanced to ensure the safety and well being of air passengers,” said Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park).

Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and Parents of Victim Introduce Legislation to Make NYC Safer...

Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, today introduced legislation to raise the penalty for anybody who leaves their vehicle running and unattended. The bill came in response to a tragic hit and run by a drunken thief who stole an idling car and fatally struck Alex Paul of Brooklyn and Robert Ogle in Middle Village, Queens, early in February. Another similar tragedy occurred weeks before in Chinatown when an unoccupied van was left in reverse and mounted a sidewalk, ramming into a group of preschool students, killing two of the children and injuring at least eleven other people.

“A few weeks ago, a seemingly avoidable tragedy struck my district,” said Council Member Elizabeth Crowley. “Sadly, the death of the two young men, Robert Ogle and Alex Paul, may have been avoided if a man had not left his car running while shopping in a store. The current fine for leaving your car ignition on and unattended is five dollars. With this new legislation that I am proposing, the fine will be raised to two-hundred and fifty dollars to deter anyone from being careless with their vehicles. Leaving your car running and unattended seems like a minor, careless mistake but all New Yorkers must understand that it is irresponsible, dangerous and potentially deadly.”

Council Member Crowley was joined by Council Member John Liu, Chair of the Transportation Committee, as well as Mei and Brendan Ogle, in honor of their late son Robert Ogle, on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday before the bill’s introduction. Robert Ogle, 16, of Middle Village, was a junior at the elite Brooklyn Technical School, where he was a football player and an aspiring journalist. The other victim, Alex Paul, 20, of Cypress Hill, Brooklyn, had met Robert on Saturday night and the two were part of a group having fun around the neighborhood.

In partnership with the new law, Council Member Crowley is working with Council Member John Liu to implement an awareness campaign to prevent people from leaving their cars running while unattended.

PHOTO CREDIT:William Alatriste

Rep Nydia Velazquez and Assemblymember Darryl Towns Endorse Councilmember John Liu for Comptroller...

March 7th Press Conference on the steps of City Hall - Us Rep Nydia Velazquez and NYS Assemblymember Darryl Towns endorse Councilmember John Liu for NYC Comptroller...

Video by Azi Paybarah....

Heres the related article in NY Politiker...Liu Runs. For Comptroller

The crowd was large. The signs – blue and green with three stars – were waved. And the message from the candidate, John Liu, was clear.

"This is an amazing day, and something I’ve prepared for for a long time," he said at his campaign kick-off yesterday on the steps of City Hall. "This is a day that has occurred in a natural sequence. And it is a job that I truly want."

Liu’s entrance to the race Sunday comes months after his opponents have already been campaigning for the job, and after he had declared an interest in seeking the public advocate job. The current field of comptroller candidates includes council members Melinda Katz, who has been campaigning for the job and announcing union endorsements since 2007, David Yassky, whose campaign has already gone through its first staff overhaul and David Weprin, who has been positioning himself for this race since becoming chair the Council’s Finance Committee in 2002. (Katz and Weprin, like Liu, are from Queens.)

But at the rally Sunday, Liu said that his work at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and later in the City Council, had all been leading up to this moment.

"I know that I can do it because of my background. I know numbers, but we also have to know and realize that it’s not just about numbers. It’s about the bigger picture, the broader package that we in government have to deliver," he said.

Also on display was the fact that unlike his opponents, Liu is an immigrant--from Taiwan--and has the support of a number of minority elected officials, including Assemblyman Darryl Towns and Representative Nydia Velazquez.

Indicators that Liu’s entrance to the race may not have been that long in the making: his campaign web site is under construction, and has not previously made reference to the comptroller office. And (OK, this is very circumstantial evidence) the signs at Sunday’s rally were hand-made.

Afterward, Towns told me that Liu isn’t in fact late to the contest, saying that most people are only figuring out now what exactly they’re doing in municipal races. Towns said part of the timing had to do with the plans of Adolfo Carrion, the Bronx borough president who had been running for comptroller before getting a job in the Obama administration.

Towns also downplayed the notion that Liu would be hurt by being the third City Council member from Queens running for comptroller this year.

"In New York City politics, geography is just one of the factors," he said.