Driving malfeasance

 

 White Collar Fraud

Welcome to New York City’s most impressive disappearing act yet. Following our previous exposés of fiscal acrobatics and car service extravaganzas, we present something remarkable: $4.2 billion of taxpayer money that’s simply vanished from public view.

In what could be called innovative municipal recordkeeping, New York City has classified an astounding $4,201,873,479.51 under the vendor code “N/A (Privacy/Security)” in 2023. Of this impressive sum, $4,131,414,624.59 lists its purpose as “blank” – presumably because even “N/A” felt too specific. The remaining $70,458,854.92 gets the slightly more descriptive purpose of “N/A,” for those times when someone felt compelled to write something.

A sum of $4.2 billion is almost too massive to comprehend, let alone cover in a single post. So, let’s start small – with our borough presidents, whose modest contributions to this trend are particularly telling. After all, if routine expenses like office supplies and travel can be deemed too sensitive for public disclosure, what hope do we have of understanding the billions classified elsewhere? These smaller examples reveal a culture of opacity that has trickled down from the highest levels of city government to the most mundane of expenses.

 Borough President Antonio Reynoso leads with $135,827.35 in classified spending. His office’s signature move? Converting $124,515 into “Professional Services Other” – a category that explains nothing while saying something. They’ve also managed to make $5,388 worth of books disappear from public scrutiny.

 Vanessa Gibson’s office presents $30,680.41 in mysterious expenditures, including $13,618 in travel expenses to undisclosed locations. The destinations remain as mysterious as the purposes.

Under Donovan Richards Jr.’s watch, Queens contributes $13,345.20 in classified spending, featuring $9,100 in “Temporary Services.” The nature of these temporary services remains, appropriately, temporary.

 Mark Levine keeps it modest with $6,358.10 in classified expenses, including an intriguing -$3.50 credit. Even refunds, it seems, can be confidential.

These are the hypocrites who want to abolish parking mandates.

 

But these borough-level activities are merely a prelude to the city’s larger production. Consider $4.2 billion – enough to fund significant public works – simply marked as confidential. More impressively, they’ve managed to make the purposes disappear as well.

When the purpose of $4.1 billion of spending is classified as “blank,” it raises questions about the very nature of public disclosure. The remaining $70 million marked “N/A” almost seems quaint in comparison.

 

Southeast Queens Communities open letter to YIMBY Hochul

Save1FamilyNY

 For decades, Southeast Queens has been held up as a model of the American Dream for those striving for a better life. Our communities in Southeast Queens have more than 220,000 residents claiming African American and Caribbean American heritage, many of whom themselves (or their parents and grandparents) left other denser parts of the city – often at greater cost and expense than most other ethnic groups in the city – to have some breathing room, own their own home, a backyard, grass and trees and to give their children a better life.

From Hillside Avenue to JFK Airport, Lefferts Blvd. to the Nassau County line, our mostly suburban neighborhoods have survived and thrived despite systemic racism and redlining. We cherish our low-density communities in Southeast Queens, and we have consistently defended our detached one-family zoning in places like Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, Laurelton, Queens Village, Rosedale, St. Albans, South Ozone Park, and Springfield Gardens. Additionally, over 60% of our residents own their own homes, more than double the citywide average.

We want to be clear: we are united with all of our neighbors in Queens, Staten Island, the rest of New York City, the suburbs in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and beyond regardless of race, ethnicity or economic background who oppose the “Housing Compact” which, in our estimation, will be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off in our communities.

Having the Governor mandate more development in southeast Queens, increasing density by 500% within ½ mile of our LIRR stations, forcing increases in housing if we don’t do it ourselves by overriding local zoning, giving blanket amnesty to dangerous and deadly basement and cellar apartments – these are extinction level policies that will wipe out our neighborhoods, plain and simple. Most of our elected officials from southeast Queens understand this.

Some supporters of Gov. Hochul’s plan, such as Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher of Brooklyn have equated single-family zones with Jim Crow practices, and have deemed the governor's plan as necessary to achieve "racial justice." While historically that is true, it does not apply to our communities in Southeast Queens in 2023.

What we’ve achieved over the years is the ability to live the life we want, where we want and how we want.

The governor's plan, far from bringing "racial justice" to our black and brown communities in Southeast Queens and other areas, would bring devastation throughout our neighborhoods if implemented.

The financial and political gains that African Americans have made in our city, our suburbs and across the State – our top elected officials except for the Governor herself are African American in both the State and the City – all of this will be lost if the “Housing Compact” becomes law.

We are the civic leadership of Southeast Queens. We are Black and we are 100% opposed to Governor Hochul’s “Housing Compact” and the attempts to increase density exponentially in our communities. We hope that the Governor and Legislature are listening very carefully.

Signed,

Addisleigh Park Civic Association
Alpha Street Civic Association
Brinkerhoff Action Association
Eastern Queens Alliance
Greater Triangle Civic Association
Queens Village Civic Association
St. Albans Civic Improvement Association
149th Street South Ozone Park Civic Association
221/222 Street Block Association
South Ozone Park Civic Association West
Sojourner Truth Democratic Club
United Coalition for Veterans & Community Rights (UCVCR)
United Neighbors Civic Association (UNCA)
Wayanda Civic Association

I'm going to leave this here too. This is a malignant thread from Manhattan Twitter, I mean Borough President Mark Levine that wants to destroy community boards as well so this housing compact can get rubber stamped and approved. Even though it still doesn't provide enough affordable housing for lower income working people.

 

Manhattan Borough "president" has no idea how democracy works but he sure thinks he knows how it should be run

By a caliphate of lobbyists he feels should influence laws and make all the decisions for communities.

Levine is a fascist https://t.co/2yUMhOYIiO pic.twitter.com/92Gj2RdVLJ

— WE❤️NYC LLC (@ImpunityCity) March 29, 2023

Caption the City Council Cronies

Name this band, wrong answers only of course

The city is considering burying coronavirus casualties in public parks

NY Post

A leading New York City lawmaker said Monday that officials may be forced to temporarily begin burying the city’s coronavirus victims in local parks — as morgues and hospitals struggle to keep up with the mounting death toll, a city councilman said Monday.

“Soon we’ll start ‘temporary interment’,” said Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) wrote in a series of tweets. “This likely will be done by using a NYC park for burials (yes you read that right). Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line.”

“It will be done in a dignified, orderly–and temporary–manner. But it will be tough for NYers to take,” Levine wrote, adding in another tweet, “The goal is to avoid scenes like those in Italy, where the military was forced to collect bodies from churches and even off the streets.”

He later clarified his tweets, saying this “is a contingency NYC is preparing for BUT if the death rate drops enough it will not be necessary.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked about the grim matter during a coronavirus press briefing Monday at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“We may well be dealing with temporary burials, so we can deal with each family later,” the mayor said. We will have the capacity for temporary burials – that’s all I’m going to say.”

“I’m not going into details,” de Blasio said. “I don’t think it’s a great thing to be talking about.”

However, Hizzoner did mention city-owned Hart Island — the city’s longtime potter’s field and nation’s largest public burial ground, which sits just off The Bronx’s southeast coast in the Long Island Sound.

“We’re going to try and treat every family with dignity, respect religious needs of those who are devout, and the focus now is to try and get through this crisis and obviously also put all of our energy and resources into saving those we can save,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the city’s Medical Examiner’s office, Aja Worthy-Davis, told The Post there are no plans currently to begin temporary burials and that the freezers at agency facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn have “adequate space.”

“We have no plans right now to bury anyone in city parks,” said Worthy-Davis, noting that the disturbing scenario is mentioned in a previous OCME disaster plan, but “it’s not in the works at this time.”

There is nothing dignified about this plan at all. Also undignified is the fact that this city did not did not prepare and was ill-equipped to handle a major emergency. 

Levine may be doing all the talking and tweeting about this, but this ghoulish idea has de Blasio's micromanaging style all over it.

It's only March, but this is the worst and most dangerous tweet of 2020

Update: Also from de Blasio's Health Commissioner

Shout out to White Rose for capturing this.

So you think you have talent? - Speaker edition

It's Friday. The City Council Speaker candidates didn't have a care in the world (except jockeying for position to kiss the king's ring) when they boogied down at Joe Crowley's holiday party. You might hit the eggnog extra hard yourself when you realize what we're in store for over the next 4 years. Go ahead and caption this photo.

Speaker race campaign finance shenanigans questioned

From Progress Queens:

Because Election Day is four (4) days away, on Tuesday, 07 November, Progress Queens is publicly releasing a civilian crime report filed by the publisher of Progress Queens with the U.S. Attorney's Office for New York's southern district.

The complaint outlined how the eight (8) candidates for New York City Council speaker have been making donations to other Councilmembers out of their committees to reëlect to win support for the speakership campaign ; have been having meetings, including with U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) ; and have been preparing for debates or holding debates before the November general election. The Council speaker candidates are: Councilmembers Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. (D-Brooklyn), Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), Donovan Richards (D-Queens), Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan), Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), and Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn).

These speakership campaign activities have been taking place in the apparent absence of dedicated campaign committees for the speakership race. Four years ago, the Municipal campaign finance regulatory authority reportedly provided advice to Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Spanish Harlem) that using a committee to reëlect for the speakership race was prohibited, forcing her to form a separate, dedicated campaign committee for the speakership race.

A review of information about campaign committees tracked online by the New York State Board of Elections did not identify which campaign committees were designated for the speakership race. For this report, attempts were made to reach the Council speaker candidates, or their representatives, but no response was received to a request made late Thursday evening. The Federal complaint alleges that Council speaker candidates, who do not presently have a dedicated campaign committee for the speakership race, are violating campaign finance laws, because the absence of a dedicated Council speakership race campaign committees implies that campaign consultants are working for free, a violation of law.

Speaker candidates will be tougher on the mayor

From Crains:

The eight city councilmen running to succeed Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito vowed to further democratize the body—and some said they would be tougher with the mayor.

The speaker candidates—Manhattan Councilmen Corey Johnson, Mark Levine and Ydanis Rodriguez, Queens Councilmen Donovan Richards and James Van Bramer, Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres and Brooklyn Councilmen Robert Cornegy and Jumaane Williams—made the remarks at a Crain's forum in Midtown. As speaker, Mark-Viverito has instituted reforms such as distributing discretionary money based on district need, but some members have chafed that she bottles up legislation unless she has negotiated a deal for the mayor's approval.

This has spared Mayor Bill de Blasio, who helped engineer Mark-Viverito's election as speaker in late 2013, from having to veto even a single bill after nearly four years in office. Torres decried as an "embarrassing months-long spectacle" the ill-fated agreement between Mark-Viverito and de Blasio to curtail the horse carriage industry in Central Park.

"Instead of representing the weight of the members, I thought the leadership of the council was effectively doing the bidding of the mayor," said the Bronx lawmaker, viewed generally as an underdog in the speaker's race.

He asserted that bills with a veto-proof "supermajority" of 34 or more sponsors should receive a vote regardless of the mayor's or speaker's feelings, even as he argued the speaker should provide some kind of "quality control."

Several of Torres' colleagues noted that the council bucked both the mayor and the speaker on the carriage deal. Van Bramer, Johnson and Levine praised Mark-Viverito for overcoming the mayor's initial resistance to more NYPD hires, to a new legal defense fund for all undocumented immigrants fighting deportation and to closing the Rikers Island jail complex.

Still, they called for rules changes that would stop a future speaker from continuing Mark-Viverito's tack of blocking bills that she or the mayor dislikes. Johnson suggested new mechanisms that would ensure a hearing on bills with majority support (at least 26 sponsors) and a vote on bills with 34 members signed on.

Giving low income tenants a right to counsel

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio and the City Council will announce a new initiative Sunday giving low-income tenants in housing court access to an attorney, according to sources.

Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), among others, has been fighting for a so-called “Right to Counsel” bill that would provide New Yorkers facing eviction with legal representation since 2014.

The movement hopes to lessen the chances that those unable to afford an attorney will end up in the homeless shelter system.

Council member proposes truck study

From the Daily News:

Delivery trucks barrel through the most congested parts of the city, but a Manhattan city councilman wants to see just how much traffic is caused by these gargantuan vehicles.

Councilman Mark Levine will introduce a bill Wednesday to require the city Department of Transportation to study truck deliveries south of 59th St. in Manhattan and in downtown Brooklyn.

Levine wants to see if traffic would improve if trucks made deliveries overnight from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., instead of during rush hour.

“We believe it’s a major driver of the escalating problem of congestion in Manhattan,” he said.

He raised the idea of a congestion pricing scheme for delivery trucks or an outright ban on them during rush hours.

Bill to ban credit score for tenant screening

From the Daily News:

Landlords would be banned from checking credit scores to decide whether to rent to would-be tenants under a new bill being introduced in the City Council.

Councilman Mark Levine’s legislation would also bar a slew of other factors that owners commonly use to pick tenants — including medical debt, consumer debt judgments, and debts that have been sent to collection agencies.

Owners could still run detailed credit reports and use other information on them, including history of bankruptcy, foreclosure, delinquencies on current debt, and how much total debt a tenant owes, to make their decision.

“We don’t want people who have had tough times financially to be blocked out of the housing market. If that happens they’re going to end up in homeless shelters” said Levine (D-Manhattan).

Bill drafted to stop the chop

From the Daily News:

The City Council is preparing a bill to ban helicopter tourism from the five boroughs, saying the flights are so noisy their wings should be permanently clipped.

Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn) is drafting the bill to nix the business, which employs around 200 people and operates out of the lower Manhattan heliport, his chief of staff confirmed.

The bill has not been introduced, but Council lawyers have already reached out to the industry — which some studies have shown adds about $33 million a year to the city’s economy — to say the ban bill is imminent, tour group representatives say.

And several Council members — including Corey Johnson, Helen Rosenthal and Mark Levine — have said they support a ban on the tourist flights, citing noise concerns from constituents.

City Council members admit they can't work without cars (but you should)

Brad Lander - Daily News

From Crains:

City Council members have come a long way from the days when a “windshield mentality” dominated that body, according to advocates who promote alternatives to automobiles. They have embraced Vision Zero—the de Blasio administration’s push to eliminate traffic fatalities, including a reduction in the citywide speed limit to 25 mph—and at a Crain’s Breakfast Forum last week, four members agreed that there’s a cost to having four free bridges spanning the East River.

But the quartet of council members—Brad Lander, Mark Levine, Jumaane Williams and Julissa Ferreras—were not ready to forsake their free parking spots next to City Hall.

Asked by the moderator, “Is it right that council members get free parking next to City Hall and if so, why do you deserve free parking more than the rest of us who try to get to work?” Mr. Williams replied, “The framing of the question deserves some kind of response.”

He then delivered one: “It would be very difficult for me perform my job as efficiently as I try to without [being able] to park, so I wish everybody had the ability to park as freely as some of us do, but essentially to do the job, you have to be able to park.”

Mr. Lander gave a nod to a former Brooklyn borough president in the audience who has spent much of his career driving around his home county. “Marty Markowitz is going to be so excited to hear me defend parking,” he began.

“I have supported many actions to make it more difficult, so I think it does need to be harder for New Yorkers to find free parking if we are going to move to a more sustainable city,” said Mr. Lander, whose district includes a section of Park Slope where surveys have shown half of all drivers are circling for parking.

“On the other hand,” he continued, “I don't know how I would get to the events that I try to get to without the car.”

"Let us know if you want us to honor you"

LaborPress seeks council members to nominate themselves for this very important honor. And the minimum sponsorship is $3,000, because these days the unions and the council members they love both represent the little people.

Maybe if they were a little more selective, they wouldn't get screwed over so often.