East Siders ‘Trash’ Waste Station at Rally
Hundreds of outraged East Siders turned out to show their opposition to the proposed 91st Street Marine Waste Transfer Station yesterday evening at Asphalt Green.
The garbage site would process more than 5,000 pounds of trash per day with 50-200 trucks passing through the neighborhood on any given day, according to the City.
Sporting signs reading “Don’t Dump On Us” and “Fund schools, Not Garbage”, protestors signed petitions and voiced their overall disdain for a project that would pass next to the Asphalt Green Community Center and within hundreds of yards of the Stanley Isaacs Homes.
City Smoking
To the Editor:
A few comments about “The Benefits of an Outdoor Ban,” where, contrary to the title, you marshal several arguments against an outdoor smoking ban (Sidebar, “No Ifs, Ands or Butts,” Sept. 24).
The fact that New York City air is already polluted is not an argument against a ban. A high crime rate is not an argument for committing more crimes. And just because studies haven’t yet shown bodily harm from secondhand smoke outdoors doesn’t mean that no harm is being done. Any smoke is harmful for living things. When I walk behind a smoker I am getting a pretty concentrated dose of smoke from the cigarette, even if the smoker is not inhaling. Read more
No Ifs, Ands Or Butts
City smokers are being snuffed out, and if Mayor Bloomberg has his way, soon there may be no place left to inhale but your living room.
In 2003, New York City implemented in a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars, severing the sacred bond between nicotine and liquor and forcing the 17 percent of New Yorkers who classify themselves as smokers to take their habits to the curb. Read more
The Mayor’s Race: Focus on Economic Development
As the city attempts to pull itself out of the sort of economic crisis not seen since the days of The Great Depression, mayoral candidates are coming forward with their own solutions to the problem.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is running for re-election to a third term, arguing that the economic collapse requires continuity and his particular brand of leadership. But his opponents argue that he has been too friendly with Wall Street and the real estate developers that contributed to this problem in the first place. Read more
Senate GOP Killed 2nd Ave. Subway Bill
The 30-member State Senate Republican conference, consisting of suburban and rural-based senators, threatened to defeat a bill designed to assist struggling Second Avenue businesses affected by subway construction.
The legislation would give property tax abatements for the next five years to landlords who renegotiate cheaper rents with small businesses hurting from Second Avenue subway construction. Read more
The Mayor’s Race: Focus on Housing & Development
When it comes to housing and development, New York City often devolves into a war zone. The battle over Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, defeated plans for a Jets Stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan and the commercial and residential development of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn have aroused deep emotions, as developers, elected officials, affordable housing advocates and neighborhood preservationists fight for land in a city with limited space.
But the drama isn’t exactly unwarranted. Read more
COMMUNITY BOARDS PROTEST CUTS
On the steps of City Hall, elected officials and community board leaders from throughout the city rallied against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s cuts to the boards.
In the mayor’s $30,000 budget was chopped from the $190,000 each board receives. The money goes toward office expenses and the staff that handles day-to-day operations.
Community boards have an advisory vote on land-use issues and certain business licenses. But for residents, the boards provide a venue to voice concern, criticism or praise for development projects and quality of life issues.
Borough President Scott Stringer, who made community board reform a cornerstone of his first term, called the cuts outrageous, noting that 1990 was the last time community boards saw a raise in their budgets.
“The city’s proposed cut to community board budgets threatens the first line of democracy in our city,” Stringer said.
Comptroller William Thompson, Bloomberg’s rival for mayor, said the cut will render community boards ineffective.
“They’re the eyes and ears for our government, and the eyes and ears for our borough presidents,” Thompson said. “The mayor is trying to reduce their voice, cut them to the point where he can turn around and say, let’s get rid of community boards and borough presidents.”
The Council members in attendance promised to restore the cuts, if not increase the budget. Council Member Robert Jackson of Harlem, part of the budget negotiating team, said if Albany passes the city’s revenue package, there will be money for the boards.
Lyle Frank, chair of Community Board 6, said the cuts would be devastating, given the board’s small budget.
“The Council members will recognize the value of community boards and fight for them.” Frank said.
The Mayor’s Race: Focus On Education
In 2002, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of New York City’s public school system, reversing a 30-year governance structure in which the Board of Education managed 32 community school districts. It was a system that many regarded as marred by political infighting and lacking in accountability. The new law allowed the mayor unprecedented oversight, and through Bloomberg’s appointment of Chancellor Joel I. Klein, he created a system of competition among schools with annual report cards, cash incentives for academic progress and a slew of new small schools and charter schools from which parents could choose. Read more
FLU CLOSURES
St. David’s, a private Catholic school for boys on East 89th Street, closed May 18 after several students reported flu-like symptoms.
“Asking the students not to come to school today was the best way to control the spread of the symptoms through our community,” said St. David’s Headmaster, David O’Halloran. “It was the responsible thing to do for the safety and health of our boys and teachers.”
However, O’Halloran said that there have not been any confirmed cases of swine flu.
At an unrelated press conference that day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed that the Upper East Side school chose to close and did not shut down at the city’s recommendation.
Another independent school, Convent of the Sacred Heart School, shares a gym with St. David’s. Sacred Heart, which is at 1 E. 91st St., sent parents an email explaining that the institution “has not experienced an increase of illness.” However, administrators decided to stop using the gym until the school for boys is cleared. Sacred Heart representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.
LAPPIN VOTES ON TERM LIMITS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg scored a decisive victory in his quest for a third term last week, when the City Council passed legislation extending term limits. The final vote was 29 in favor of extending term limits to 22 opposed.
Council Member Jessica Lappin decided to vote against the bill to “respect the will of the voters” who voted for term limits in 1993 and 1996. She said she was “disappointed with the final result” and will be “moving on to govern and tackling the fiscal crisis.”
The bill almost headed for defeat when Council Members Gale Brewer, Alan Gerson and David Yassky introduced an amendment that would have made the term-limit extension valid only through a voter referendum, essentially gutting the mayor’s plan.
The amendment was defeated 28 to 22 with one abstention, clearing the way for Bloomberg’s bill.
The East Side’s other Council member, Dan Garodnick, was an early foe of extending term limits through Council legislation. He voted against the bill and for the amendment.
There were only two opponents of the term-limit legislation who voted against the amendment: Lappin, and Queens Republican Anthony Como.
Como, like many of his colleagues, took the opportunity to explain his vote on the floor of the Council, citing the high cost of a referendum at a time when budgets are being slashed.
Lappin did not explain her vote when she cast it, but defended her decision a day later.
“One of the reasons I voted no on the bill because I didn’t like the process,” she said of the mayor’s bill. “The amendment certainly was impractical and an impossible process. So to be consistent I voted no on both.”
–Dan Rivoli
