Monday, January 1, 2007

And the winner is...

Hey, look at this! Someone is "inviting" people to a party but only if they fork over no less than $50 a pop!


Here are some of Melinda Katz's campaign contributions. Notice how many of her donors are connected to the real estate industry... Maybe instead of "Donor, Supporter, Patron" her categories should read "Developer, Realtor, Contractor." Those descriptions would certainly be more accurate. Why would she advertise herself as chair of the land use committee in a fundraising letter unless she is looking to collect money from the people who are destroying Queens? What a disgrace this "representative" is.

Above photo from 2001. Left photo is recent. Looks like burning the candle at both ends canoodling with developers and campaigning for her yet-to-be-declared future office has taken a toll on her.

Check out this revelation made by one of Katz's city council colleagues:



In light of all this, and the fact that she was overwhelmingly chosen by Queens Crap readers as most deserving of the distinction, we are coronating Councilwoman Melinda Katz as the 2007 Queen of all that is Queens Crap! To acknowledge the role she has played in the overdevelopment drama of our borough, we have awarded Ms. Katz this Queens Crap tiara, sash and brooch.


:::::Mel pauses briefly to sing "God Bless America" before hopping back on the overdevelopment gravy train:::::

Thank you, Lord, for this new year, for the many blessings you have bestowed upon this city, and for giving the majority of the people of NYC the wisdom to twice vote in favor of term limits.

Final Poll Results:

Which NYC council member most deserves the Queens Crap overdevelopment award?

Melinda Katz: 44%
Dennis Gallagher: 21%
Eric Gioia: 13%
John Liu: 13%
Peter Vallone, Jr: 10%

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw shucks, you took down the ballot.

I had fun casting my vote a few times.

Like a developer, I wanted to contribute to and influence the political process time and time again.

Anonymous said...

Something odd came across my desk last year.

I work in Soho and a local publication came out down there that supported Katz for Speaker of the City Council. They praised Katz for the sensitivity displayed at APPROVING BUILDINGS THAT MAINTAINED THE INTEGRITY OF THAT NEIGHBORHOOD.

Funny, when it comes to Manhattan, our representatives have a different standard then for their own backyard right here in Queens.

Yes that’s true! At the same time as our local officials bad mouth preservation issues in Queens, when it comes up to a vote in City Council for landmarking another neighborhood (usually in Manhattan), they fall over themselves to do ‘the right thing.’

They never, repeat, never, mention the same anti-community pro-development bull-crap to Manhattan folks that they tell us. Should we not demand that they do so? I want the folks in Manhattan to face the same warped value system as we do in Queens.

Lets make a list every time politicians from Queens support preservation for Manhattan and contrast their vote there with there actions here.

verdi said...

Let's make that "perky" little Melinda Katz (shop-worn as she may appear lately, after all that canoodeling with developers) our "poster child"! Maybe her "coronation " picture" would make make a great "bumper sticker" i.e: "The Katz Meow of Land Abuse"! Wadda ya all think?.......VERDI

Anonymous said...

A special category, above and beyond the usual "Queens Crap", should be created called: "Katz- Krap" (of course, named in honor of Melinda!)

Anonymous said...

Membership in the Land Use Committee Definitely Has Its Privileges

Just ask Melinda Katz, the Chair of the committee. An analysis of her financial filings, she raked in over $170,000 from big NYC real estate during the 2005 election cycle - a staggering 26% of the pot.

Her list of contributors reads like a who's who of luxury NYC real estate, from the Rudins and Elghanayans to the Walentas, Dursts and Brodskys.

And as for her grassrootsiness, well, the pastures are clearly greener on the developers' side. Of the 969 contributions Katz received (which, btw, averaged $688 a pop) only 81 of them were $100 or less - an abysmal 8%.

Additionally, Katz took in $57,000-plus from lobbyists and PACs combined (9%), and over $48,000 from organized labor (7%).

But the latter inflows pale in comparison to her coziness with real estate, which we must admit, leaves us wondering about the state of affordable housing in this city.

Anonymous said...

HELP! we here in the Dutch Kills section of LIC are misrepresemnted by the golden boy, eric gioia. he no longer even pretends to be available to his constituents and since our area is over run with out of control high-rise hotels mid-block among small homes, we wonder who is financing gioia's political future.

anyone know how we can track that?