RUDY HOOCHI?

YFP thought long and hard about publishing the following story. On a day when the news broadcasts that there were ten shootings in one night in Brooklyn, we decided that readers need some comic relief. The rumors of Rudy Giuliani's new dalliance have yet to be substantiated. The story is entertaining but YFP has no confirmation as to the facts. You dear reader....be the judge.

(Alleged) RUDY MISTRESS' CYBER LOVE NEST

'FRIEND' WITH BENEFITS? Shephard's MySpace pageIs this the MySpace page of Rudy Giuliani's mistress?

In its new issue, the National Enquirer reports that Starr Shephard, a 36-year-old motivational speaker from Houston, "is being accused of telling friends that she is Rudy's new lover." There are some caveats: Giuliani denies it, and Shephard herself says it's not true and that she's only met the former New York mayor and would-be president at campaign events.
Presumably, it was at one of those events that Shephard and Giuliani posed for the photo featured on her MySpace page. (She also has snaps of herself with Larry King and Donald Trump.) Above the photos, there is a link to a page urging visitors to donate to Giuliani's campaign; below them, there is this statement: "Believing unswervingly in the Honorable Rudy Giuliani to lead our nation and for his legacy of excellence and optimistic spirit for America to influence generations to come. His excellence, discipline, management, belief, optimism, and compassion to our citizens will protect and advance our One Nation under God. God Bless America for his power."
Elsewhere on the site, you can learn about Shephard's star sign (Pisces), body type (five feet, four inches/athletic), MySpace friends (Tony Robbins, Bill O'Reilly fans), and favorite books (including Leadership by, yes, R. Giuliani).
Starr will be in New York City to give a motivational, inspirational whatever in August. The following is an excerpt from her promotional ad.
Email now to schedule apt while she is in town. New York City - Mid town - August 18,19.

www.worldstarr.com

Apt. $200 hour to change your life and create the life you really want to LOVE. STARR Shephard, Masters of Science Clinical Psychology/Marriage-Family Therapy, Demartini Consultant (psychological paradigm to a new level), author for woman's handbook Girls Gals and Gurus motivational speaker seminar leader/keynote speaker The seven area's of our life must balance to receive the gifts of abundance that will fulfill our hearts innermost desires. All ages, any profession.
Everyone with a mind and a heart are welcomed to shine with STARR's inspiration. "Love Yourself as much as God loves you" "Believe in your true potential, live with vivid clarity, fulfill your inspiring mission, and definitely LOVE and be GRATEFUL to what you do" -STARR
Location: Midtown Manhattan

BLOOMBERG NO SHY GUY

SEX SUIT MAY HURT BLOOMBERG'S PRESS PLANS

SARA KUGLER

Associated Press WriterJuly 29, 2007

Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks his mind and that is a big part of his cachet in anything-goes New York. But new details from a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other racy comments over the years show how his blunt style could prove a liability if he runs for president as an independent.

Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP.

Among the allegations in the complaint:_Bloomberg asked the woman who sued if she was giving her boyfriend "good" oral sex._He said "I'd like to do that" and "That's a great piece of a--" to describe women in the office._When he found out the woman was pregnant, he told her "Kill it!" and said "Great! Number 16!" _ an apparent reference to the number of women in the company who were pregnant or had maternity-related status.

Bloomberg denied the accusations. Both sides were barred from commenting because of confidentiality agreements. Stu Loeser, the mayor's spokesman, said Friday he had no comment for this story. The suit was a minor annoyance for Bloomberg during the mayoral race in 2001; opponents in that first race tried, with little success, to draw attention to the allegations.

It was not an issue in his 2005 re-election campaign. But the suit and other potential embarrassments resulting from Bloomberg's tendency to speak his mind are largely unknown to the rest of the country and are certain to be re-examined if the billionaire media mogul undertakes a third-party, self-financed presidential campaign for 2008.

Bloomberg has denied having any plans to seek the presidency. Yet he recently left the Republican Party to become an independent and has increased his out-of-state travel, increasing his national visibility. The harassment suit was filed in 1997 by former Bloomberg LP sales executive Sekiko Sakai Garrison.

Bloomberg adamantly denied all the allegations in the suit. He settled the case in 2000 for an undisclosed amount without admitting any wrongdoing. During his first mayoral campaign, aides told reporters that Bloomberg had passed a polygraph test in which he had denied the allegations.

That year, his campaign refused to release the actual test. Loeser said Friday the mayor's office would not provide The Associated Press with a copy of the original polygraph. Bloomberg founded Bloomberg LP in the early 1980s to provide financial information in a way that had never been available before on Wall Street.

According to Garrison's suit, Bloomberg and other male managers at the company made "repeated and unwelcome" sexual comments, overtures and gestures, contributing to an offensive, locker-room culture. Comments attributed in the suit to Bloomberg include: "I'd f___ that in a second," "I'd like to do that," and "That's a great piece of a--."Once, according to the suit, Bloomberg pointed out a young female employee and told Garrison, "If you looked like that, I would do you in a second."The suit also accused Bloomberg of referring to Mexican clients as "jumping beans" and saying of another female colleague who was having trouble finding a nanny that "all you need is some black who doesn't even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building."

Some elements of the case were made public at the time. An individual with direct knowledge of the case provided additional details to the AP. The individual said Bloomberg admitted in a deposition, which never was made public, that he had said the words "I'd do her" about Garrison and other women.

When asked during the deposition what he thought that expression meant, Bloomberg said it means to have a personal relationship, according to the individual, who is barred from discussing the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The individual also said Garrison had a tape of Bloomberg leaving a message on her home answering machine, saying he had heard she was upset about the pregnancy and maternity comment and adding: "I didn't say it, but if I said it I didn't mean it."Garrison sought $15 million in the suit.

She is bound by a confidentiality agreement and declined comment to the AP. Garrison, who worked at Bloomberg LP from 1989 until 1995, left the company, unable to return to work after Bloomberg allegedly made the remarks about her pregnancy, according to her suit.

The company contended Garrison was fired. Besides Garrison's suit, two other suits were filed in the late 1990s that accused the company of sexual harassment; one was dismissed and the other was withdrawn. The people involved in those suits also are bound by confidentiality agreements. Bloomberg is often praised for his straight-talking, no-nonsense style.

Since he took office in 2002, his language in public settings has sometimes risen to a level that some may find blunt, but rarely offensive. When asked recently whether New Yorkers should be concerned about a foiled plot to blow up John F. Kennedy Intern ational Airport, his exasperated response was that people should "get a life!" "You can't sit there and worry about everything," he said.

His staff and circle of city commissioners praise him endlessly as a boss, but acknowledge that he is often startlingly direct. "He can be a little gruff," Patricia Lancaster, his commissioner for the Buildings Department, said at a recent news conference. She is one of a number of women serving in high-level jobs throughout his administration, including his No. 2 in City Hall, the first Deputy Mayor Patti Harris.

Many are part of a close-knit group that has remained fiercely loyal to him for years, following him from his company to various city government jobs. In private conversations, Bloomberg is less inhibited and is known to tell bawdy jokes, use provocative language and comment on women's appearances. The public got a glimpse of this in 2003, when he told a pair of disc jockeys on a radio program that he would "really want to have" actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. A day later, Bloomberg backpedaled a bit and told reporters, as his face reddened, that he would want to "have dinner" with her.

The 65-year-old divorced bachelor had a reputation as a womanizer during the years he was building his financial empire. He began dating his girlfriend, investment firm executive and former state banking superintendent Diana Taylor, before his first run for mayor. "I like theater, dining and chasing women," he once told a reporter. "Let me put it this way: I am a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan. What do you think? It's a wet dream."In his 1997 autobiography, he boasted of keeping "a girlfriend in every city" during his years as a young Wall Street up-and-comer in the 1960s and 1970s. A less-restrained Bloomberg was also portrayed in a book of quips, quotes and anecdotes attributed to him and put together by employees for a birthday present in 1990.

It contains such statements as: "If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's. "Or, as he is quoted as saying about his invention, the Bloomberg computer terminal that made him rich, "It will do everything, including give you (oral sex). I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business. "A former longtime Bloomberg employee who was familiar with the book confirmed the authenticity of the quotes to the AP and said Bloomberg regularly made similar offensive remarks.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear that Bloomberg would retaliate. During Bloomberg's 2001 campaign, he dismissed the book as "Borscht Belt jokes" and said he did not recall saying those things. Lee Miringoff, head of the Marist College poll that tracks New York politics, said the allegations had little impact on public opinion at the time, but that a presidential run would draw more scrutiny. "He doesn't have a defined national persona at this point," Miringoff said. "Certainly as a presidential candidate there might be a resurfacing of this _ it gets a second airing if he does decide to run."

JUDY COMES UP FOR AIR

After her initial foray into the limelight, Judy Giuliani was sent limping back to her shopping sprees. I'll prepared for the scrutiny of the media, Judy flamed out with faux pas. She reappeared last week in Savannah, Georgia on the campaign trail with Rudy. With Stepford Wife perfection, she beamed at her presidential hopeful. Long on mascara and short on comment, she praised the beauty of the Georgia terrain. Praise, however, is lacking in a soon to appear Vanity Fair article about Judy .

The Vanity Fair piece explores a run-in between Mrs. Giuliani and Sen. Clinton which transpired during a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11.

"Senator Hillary Clinton stood in the aisle -- until she was unceremoniously pushed by a phalanx of four burly cops entering the tent, these guarding Judith Nathan, Giuliani's girlfriend. No apologies were offered, one observer noted," Bachrach reports.

Clinton was apoplectic at the perceived slight.

"'The nerve of that woman!' Hillary exploded, recalling that her own daughter's Secret Service detail evaporated soon after Bill Clinton left office," Bachrach reports. "Why should an ex-mayor's girlfriend get such royal treatment? 'Who does she think she is?' Hillary said to an observer, who later recounted the story."

In her article, Bachrach employs some unflattering quotes from a longtime critic of the GOP presidential candidate, but identifies him as simply a "Giuliani biographer." Since the nineties, journalist Wayne Barrett has criticized the former mayor in a number of Village Voice articles and columns, plus two books he authored.

Barrett is used to back up the Vanity Fair profiler's observation that there may be cracks in Rudy and Judith Giuliani's marriage because the Republican presidential candidate appeared "strangely disconcerted" when his wife embraced him after a recent debate.

"It did not look like he was happy to see her. It looked to me like he was estranged," says Barrett. "He was cold."

NY Post gossip column Page Six characterized the Vanity Fair article as a "hatchet job" for painting Judith Giuliani as some sort of "an opportunistic, puppy-killing homewrecker."

Bloomquinn Boots Viola

Last week, New York City Hall became a battle ground of Barron vs. Quinn. City Councilman Charles Barron and Christine Quinn are in a running feud regarding the firing of Barron aide, Viola Plummer. Barron has vowed to keep Plummer on his staff
while Quinn upholds her "right" to fire city employees.

The power struggle escalated last week when Quinn ordered Plummer's removal from a section of City Council chambers reserved for staff only. Now granted, Christine won this round. However, it is only a matter of time before Charlie returns for yet another confrontation. Christine wants to be Mayor and Charles B. wants to be king. As Al Sharpton continues to ease into the main stream, Barron seeks to fill the void of grassroots leadership. Barron's fiery rhetoric is an eerie reminder an era gone by. A time when the political divide between Black and White was well defined. Hopefully this situation will resolve itself before we are back to the future. Watch the fireworks at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5122393062274800998&pr=goog-sl

NO PEACEFUL DOV

In a recent unfortunate event, a child was abducted and sexually abused in Boro-Park. Community members were as enraged with their politicians as they were with the crime. The following excerpt is from Chaptzem.blogspot.com. Furthermore, comments disparage a not so "kosher" Noach Dear.

Dov Hikind’s political illusion. Blame the victim.

If you’ve watched Dov Hikind’s press conference on the four-year-old girl’s assault in Boro-Park you’ve seen one of the best pieces of political slight-of-hand performed lately. Once again, before any facts have surfaced a Boro-Park politician, that is very unBoro-Park-like, has gone on a rampage to throw blame on the victim and their family, rather than look at his own job record. Dov Hikind, who, for all means and purposes, does not represent the Boro-Park people or their culture, or even understand them or like them for that matter, has tried one of the oldest political tactics in the book.

Dov went in front of the television cameras and, instead of saying in a humble voice “There is a safety problem in Boro-Park and I will do my best to help fix it.”, he rather decided to misdirect the focus and cast all the blame on the mother of this little girl. Dov Hikind hopes that by blaming the mother everyone will forget to ask why the Police are not doing their job of protecting the community and why our politicians aren’t demanding that they do. Dov Hikind will run again for office soon and once again he will run only against Dov Hikind. Now, who does that say more about, us as a community, or him?

www.chaptzem.blogspot.com

Click Dov Hikind's political illusion. Them click comments.

CASH FOR CANDIDATES

Political campaigns are run with money, vitriol, and promises. Once elected, the candidate has to reciprocate with favors, jobs and contacts. The campaign donation list is a partial view of who will be the recipient of political largess. Check it out.

http://www.campaignmoney.com

DEBT FREE DOCTORS

US medical students graduate debt-free in Cuba
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 FREE DOCTOR:


US medical students Jose Deleon and Kenya Bingham are two of eight Americans graduating from a Cuban medical school after studies fully funded by Fidel Castro's government. They plan provide cheap health care in poor US neighbourhoods. Eight
Americans have graduated from a Cuban medical school after six years of studies fully funded by Fidel Castro's government. Two are from the New York area. They plan to return home, take board exams for licenses to practice and provide cheap health care in poor neighbourhoods.

"Cuba offered us full scholarships to study medicine here. In exchange, we commit ourselves to go back to our communities to provide health care to underserved people," said Carmen Landau, 30, of Oakland, California.

The programme is part of Castro's pet project to send thousands of Cuban doctors abroad to tend to the poor in developing countries, such as Venezuela and Bolivia, and train tens of thousand of medical students from developing countries in Cuba.

Officials in Cuba's communist government relish the idea of training doctors for the United States, its arch-enemy since Castro took power in a leftist revolution in 1959.
The ailing Cuban leader, 80, did not attend the graduation for 850 students from 25 countries at Havana's Karl Marx theatre. He has not appeared in public since intestinal surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul Castro a year ago.
There are 88 Americans studying medicine in Cuba. The first to graduate two years ago was Cedric Edwards, who is now working at Montefiore Hospital in New York City's Bronx borough.
The US students praised Cuba's universal, free health-care system, which is community based and focuses on preventing illness before it becomes more serious and costly, in contrast to the US health industry indicted for being profit-based in Michael Moore's recent film "SiCKO."
"We have studied medicine with a humanitarian approach," said Kenya Bingham, 29, of Alameda, California. "Health care is not seen as a business in Cuba. When you are sick, they are not going to try to charge you or turn you away if you don't have insurance," she said.
The main difference in studying in Cuba was that there was no charge and the graduates can begin their practice debt-free, said Jose De Leon, 27, from Oakland.
"When medical doctors graduate in the United States they are usually in debt, between $US250,000 ($NZ315,099) to $US500,000, and spend the first 10 years of their careers paying it off," he said.
That, Landau said, requires rushing patients in and out to earn more. "'SiCKO' was an inspiration," said Landau, who plans to return to the United States to help promote the creation of a universal health-care system.
"It is a wonderful idea that makes total sense in every country, especially in one with so many resources. If they can do it in Cuba, we can do it in the United States," she said.

FOX ATTACKS BLOGGERS

BLOGGER POWER

The controversy of blogging continues to create discussion, apprehenssion and criticism. Blogging challenges traditional journalism. It creates an egalitarian forum where the powerless are empowered and the media elite are held accountable.
It's legitimacy will eventually be recognized despite the naysayers. As they slowly lose their strangle hold on the "News of the Day", bloggers will triumph.

Documentarian Robert Greenwald has a new campaign to answer the critics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpht4sXDhx0&v3

MONSERRATE DEALS CARDS

Councilman Hiram Monserrate has proposed an equitable solution to the problem of personal ID's for New York City residents. Although controversial, it could work.
Identification cards would be made available to all New York City residents — including tens of thousands of illegal immigrants — under a proposal by a City Council member from Queens...

“The city of New York is home to eight million people, many of them immigrants and some of them, frankly, undocumented,” said Mr. Monserrate, who plans to introduce legislation tomorrow to create the ID card. “Some of them have been residents of the city for many years, and to give them a basic ID card that’s valid within the city limits only makes sense for our municipality.”

Bill for New York City ID Card to Be Introduced by Councilman

But critics argue that it will entice illegal immigration and undermine border security.

For many city residents, the only state or local government identification now available is a driver’s license or a nondriver ID card. For both, the State Department of Motor Vehicles requires a Social Security card and other documents that prove legal presence in the country.

Posted by Queens Crapper at 12:27 AM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6033720416853359949&pr=goog-sl

YIPEE FOR HIPPIE

Has it really been that long ago folks? Well...maybe but we can relive it again.

HIPPIE
CULTURE HAS NOT BURNED OUT
THE YIPPIE MUSEUM, AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION CHARTERED BY THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF NEW YORK STATE IS SPONSORING A BE IN IN CENTRAL PARK.

THIS EVENT WILL BE AT THE NAUMBURG BANDSHELL Mid-Park from 66th to 72nd Street ON FRIDAY JULY 27, 2007 BETWEEN 2PM AND 7PM. AMPLIFIED MUSIC WILL BE BETWEEN 5 and 7 in accordance with park rules as we do have a permit
THE BANDS: AFUCHE / JAMMIN JON AND THE JAMMERS / TWENTIETH CENTURY FOXES
ARON KAY AKA THE PIEMAN IS YOUR HOST / HERO OF THE SUMMER OF LOVE IN NYC DANA BEAL / AJ WEBERMAN / AND XXX. LIKE COME THERE DRESSED LIKE YOU DID 40 YEARS AGO OR IF YOU ARE PART OF THE NEW CROP OF HIPPIES GET YOURSELF SOME BEADS, TIE DYE SHIRTS, BELL BOTTOMS, MUUMUUS. FOR MORE INFO CALL 1-917-374-7024

Lyndon LaRouche's Campus Cult

by Luis Alfredo Garcia


He' has been a presidential candidate 8 times. He was an adviser to President Ronald Regan and Norman Bailey. A former senior staffer of the National Security Council once described his Youth Movement as "one of the best private intelligence services in the world." His name is Lyndon H. LaRouche and his representatives have been recruiting on college campuses for years. Recently, they have been recruiting on an anti-war anti-Bush Administration platform while national public support for both has steadily declined

. His books such as Children of Satan, are handed out to college students on and around campuses. Students who may be drawn in by an organized anti war movement are picked up and taken to group meetings where they are told of a global economic collapse in the coming weeks and that Lyndon LaRouche has the only viable solution to that collapse.

That solution is to drop out of college. Students at Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington were informed by a sign outside their Library to start working for Lyndon LaRouche to stop the "Evil" Babyboomers and the "Evil" Bush Administration and the "Evil" Bankers. According to Jorye Fugate of the Seattle Branch of the Youth Movement "This is our mission. Anything else, is less moral, and therefore less fulfilling (in) life." Jorye has been with the Lydon LaRouche Youth PAC for ten years and explained using constructive geometry, ancient philosophy, Bach and volumes of LaRouche approved international news briefings that the world economy was going to collapse in a matter of weeks.

He contended at the time that Mr. LaRouche who he sometimes called "The General" or simply "Lyn" has never been wrong on any of his economic forecast and that Mr. LaRouche and the actions of the Youth Movement were "responsible for the Democratic wins" during the Nov. 7th 2006 elections.

According to David Benjamin, the former President of the Georgetown University College Republicans, "Asking a college student these days if he or she is against the Iraq war and the Bush Administration is like asking a college student if he or she likes beer and since LaRouche has been recruiting that way as of late it puts a lot of passionate well meaning young people in the dangerous position of wanting to believe his crazy ideas about good and evil.

CHRISTINE BLOOMQUINN FOR RENT

Councilwoman Christine Quinn has evolved from a humble gay rights activist to a political powerhouse. Under the tutelage of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Quinn is inseparable from the mayor. Her aspirations for higher office have already began in association with well defined political circles.

The City Council Speaker once stood with the angry masses against the West Side stadium and the Stuy Town sale. Now, she cuts back-room deals and collects hefty campaign checks from developers.

CHRISTINE QUINN, REAL ESTATE INSIDER

A rough tally by The Observer of her latest campaign filings show that Ms. Quinn has raised at least $262,745 from the real estate industry since last October, about 20 percent of the $1.4 million she’s received in private contributions. By comparison, just $5,760 out of the total $138,717 that Ms. Quinn reported for her 2003 council re-election appears to have come from real estate professionals.

What is next.....a change in hair color?

DOCTOROFF FADES IN

As Dan Doctoroff continues to channel Robert Moses, the back room deals just keep on coming. Last week, Doctoroff, Elliot Spitzer, and other notables announced a grand plan for the West Side rail yards. Doctoroff waxed eloquent in regards to the wonderful building legacy the development would mean to New York City. What he committed was the wonderful monetary legacy the development would mean to him.

450 W. 33rd St

Juan Gonzalez, a columnist at the Daily News, has done an extensive report on the personal profiteering by Daniel Doctoroff and his various business partners as a
result of the West Side Stadium deal with the Jets and seeming special treatment by the Department of City Planning, a department under Doctoroff's supervision. Below some of the story is digested and broken into component parts, but you can still read the two part original report in its entirety.
The original columns are at the Daily News:

Description

Two-block pyramid office building that sits directly across Tenth Avenue from the West Side railyard

THE DEAL

Decemebr 2003, refinanced (who?) a 16-story office building in the Hudson Yards area through $330 million in loans and equity.
The deal closed two months after top staff at the Department of City Planning - an agency supervised by Doctoroff - gave initial approval to an unusual rezoning proposal that was tailored for the building.
(how did DD and partners profit?)

Doctoroff was one of the investors in the building when its managing partners began their negotiations with the city for the change.

THE PERSONAL BENEFIT

The rezoning permits the building's current owners to demolish the structure and replace it with a commercial and residential complex larger than Time Warner's mammoth 2.8 million-square-foot building at Columbus Circle.

DOCTOROFF's INTEREST

Doctoroff has said he held a minor, noncontrolling stake of "less than 2%" in one of the partnerships that bought the building jointly with three other real estate groups in 1999 for $220 million. But, Texas billionaire Robert Bass, the deputy mayor's former employer and longtime business partner, was the main investor in the real estate group. The investment group is a limited liability company named after the address of the property: FW 450 West 33rd St. LLC.

Doctoroff's personal lawyer, David Lakhdhir, has said that the deputy mayor's original equity interest in the building was worth "approximately $71,000." Lakhdhir declined to disclose precisely when the deputy mayor divested from the building, except to say that it was sometime in "late 2003." He also refused to say how much he profited. "It was not a material amount," Lakhdhir said.

What's "material" for Doctoroff might be quite different than for you and me.
- Juan Gonzalez http://nydailynews.com/front/story/294120p-251827c.html

At Doctoroff's request, one of his trusts - the one that manages his numerous private investments with Bass - sold off Doctoroff's shares in the 33rd St. building, as well as a half-dozen other mid-Manhattan office buildings, after he joined the Bloomberg administration. But again a date was not disclosed.

OTHER DETAIL:

Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, does report directly to Doctoroff, but Burden's staff handles rezoning matters. There is a record of an email exchange from May 14th, 2004 between Doctoroff's office and CPC regarding 450 West 33rd Street. (see Gonzalez article too), although the contents of that email the city claims are party of interagency deliberations thus exempt from public disclosure.

Other CPC staff E-mails indicates that a month after the May 14 E-mail exchange with Doctoroff's office, department staff added a second, more lucrative enhancement to the proposed rezoning for the 33rd St. building.

DOCTOROFF FADES OUT

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff often touted as the new Robert Moses has hit strike three.
Often seen at the Mayor's side, he is a major player in economic decisions of the Bloomberg administration. However, Doctoroff's grandiosity does not seem to sit well with the masses. To date, he has lost the bid for the West Side Stadium, The 2012 Olympics and the Congestion Tax proposal. Many Doctoroff detractors have predicted a rough road from the beginning of his alliance with Bloomberg.

DEPUTY DAN DOCTOROFF
We have never been shy about expressing our distaste for the highhanded methods of Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. We were first exposed to his arrogant disdain for those less exalted when only a month and a half in office, he unceremoniously slam dunked Dominican developer Mauricio Fernandez and instead subsidized the installation of his friend Steve Ross into the Bradhurst development at 145th Street in Harlem.

As a result, it should be no surprise to find that the demise of the West Side Stadium and the finger pointing at Deputy Dan only makes us smile. It gives us a certain measure of satisfaction to see others (although mostly quoted anonymously), find out what we had been telling people for a while: Doctoroff exudes a smug haughtiness that has no use for anyone’s opinion but his own.

Ben Smith’s story in this week’s Observer really nails this. He clearly underscores how Dan’s arrogance poisoned the atmosphere and, what’s probably even worse, how his political naiveté led the Bloomberg team directly into an ambush. Politics, unlike investment banking where the monetary clubs are trump (no pun intended), requires some degree of deference to the sensibilities of tenured elected leaders. Clearly, when it comes to tact and deference the Doctoroff budget is full of deficit spending.

Smith Follows Bowles into Overestimation

Ben does, however, fall short in one area. He uncritically cites the outer borough developments as true breakthroughs (“a remarkably dynamic period in city government”). Before we grant the kudos it is important to evaluate the quality of the aforementioned projects and the methods used to achieve them. Bowles, to his credit, offers the nascent critique (top-down cronyism) and Ben needed to pursue this particular line of thinking.

In the end, however, the stadium’s demise may not only have the rebound effect of helping Bloomberg get reelected, it might also lead to the one major reason the mayor’s reelection may be palatable: a second term absent Dan Doctoroff.

# posted by Neighborhood Retail Alliance @ 9:06 AM Comments | Trackback

GOOD GOLLY MISS MALI

The saga of the yet to be renewed press card for Rafael Martínez Alequín continues unresolved. And although he is granted access to the blue room in City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will not take questions from him. As his hand waves perpetually in the air, Bloomberg gazes elsewhere. As City Hall continues to "script" the questions asked by reporters, one can compare them to the following crack down on the press.


"MALI LOCKS UP 5 OVER “INSULTING” SCHOOL ESSAY

Jun. 27 (GIN) - Five Malian journalists have been convicted of insulting President Amadou Toumani Touri when they wrote about a local high school essay assignment. The teacher was also convicted. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the incident stemmed from a classroom exercise about an imaginary presidential sex scandal. They called for the convictions to be reversed on appeal.

“These spurious charges … spoil Mali’s record of upholding democracy and press freedom,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Literature teacher Bassirou Kassim Minta told journalist Seydine Oumar Diarra he assigned the essay to help his students explore moral issues. Diarra was sentenced to the 13 days in prison. Publisher Sambi Toure received an eight-month suspended sentence and was fined $400. The teacher was sentenced to a two-month prison term and fined $200.

After Diarra was arrested, three publications reprinted the story as a protest—prompting authorities to arrest the director of each publication – and on Monday, most newspapers refused to print in protest of the case.

Giuliani Gets Exposed As Fraud by Firefighters

Firemen FLAME Giuliani

FIREMEN FLAME RUDY

John McCain's campaign continues to falter. Like rats leaving a sinking ship, friends and staffers are deserting. The Giuliani team sniffing the carnage, scours for McCain supporters to defect to the Rudy G. camp. This increases his chances of winning. However, there is the issue of disgruntled NYC Firemen and also who would reap the rewards of a President Rudolph Giuliani cabinet membership. The following is a list of names of Rudy G. associates—HALL OF SHAME. Google them for further info.
1. Bernard Kerik
2. David Vitter
3. Alan Placa
4. Russell Harding
5. Seymon Kislin
6. Anne Compoccia
7. Arthur and Thomas Ravenel
8. Lou Carbonetti

A portion of the NYC Fire Department does not want to be associated with Giuliani.
Click on the following link to see their "Swiftboat" video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaCYEEO-58I

BRUCE ON THE LOOSE

In an article titled "Hijacking Asthma",YFP details those members of a Partnership for New York City who would gain from congestion pricing tax. One of those members is Bruce Ratner of the Atlantic Yards development project. So connected is Bruce, that he has managed a multi million dollar gift from state pol, Vito Lopez.Thu Jun 21,2007 at 14:07:38 PM EDT by Phillip Anderson Earlier today I wrote about how the end of the session usually brings us all manner of truly bad legislation, amendments so narrowly written so as to benefit only certain interests, industries or individuals, language so precise they are literally referred to as "contracts."Well here is a perfect illustration of that shameful phenomena, an illustration showing how we give sweet deals to those with enough money to buy a couple legislators to slip this stuff in. In an ironic twist, we are giving tax breaks to a billionaire real estate developer, and him alone, in a bill to eliminate tax breaks to billionaire real estate developers.

"Nice work if you can get it...

Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project Would Be The Only Project to Receive Tax Breaks for Luxury Condos Under Bill 421-a. Bruce Ratner is about to join his own exclusive developer's club, once again at taxpayer expense. Forest City Ratner has often claimed that it's not getting anything that any other developer can't get. That was never the case, but now the development firm has positioned itself to get something that no other developer is getting. Albany is creating a special loophole exclusively for Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project as part of its bill "reforming" the 421-a tax breaks for development originally enacted in 1971.

With this special legislation Forest City Ratner's market-rate luxury condominiums will be the only such units in the entire reform zone receiving the 421-a tax break, saving the developer untold millions. "This is the cherry on top of all of the special treatment and sweetheart deals Forest City Ratner has been gifted for its Atlantic Yards project. This exclusive clause in the 421-a reform bill, benefiting Bruce Ratner alone, is an astounding example of absolute governmental favoritism, at odds with the very principles for which the reform bill is supposed to stand," said Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) spokesman, Daniel Goldstein. "There is no valid justification for this favoritism, and clearly there has been an utter lack of transparency in the decision to award one developer a special corporate-welfare package.

Is there any end to the favoritism and backroom dealing that consistently benefits Bruce Ratner? Will Governor Spitzer choose to allow passage of such backroom special dealing? " The special clause within the reform bill does not specifically name the Atlantic Yards project but rather describes "a multi-phase project that includes at least 2,500 dwelling units and (i) being implemented pursuant to a General Project Plan adopted by the New York State Urban Development Corporation and approved by Public Authorities Control Board." There is only one such project in the state fitting that description, and that's Atlantic Yards. Forest City Ratner is also seeking an extraordinary $1.4 billion in government backed, tax-exempt housing bonus.

Councilman Dennis Gallagher Probed

YFP looks far and wide for news. It also researches other blogs. Here is an interesting post regarding Queens pol, Dennis Gallagher. YFP cannot guarantee it's authenticity.

Monday, July 9, 2007

BREAKING NEWS: Cops search Pinky's office
Rumor has it that a felony was committed in Pinky's office last night and the cops were there this afternoon collecting evidence. Sources say there will be an announce- ment tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by Queens Crapper at 8:57 PM 21 comments Links to this post

HIJACKING ASTHMA (part 2)

There are few in the Partnership for New York City who ride the subway. For those that have, it is a distant memory obscured by chauffeur driven cars and taxi expense accounts. Therefore, it is simple to dismiss the plight of working class people who ride those trains. The trains are crowded and stuffy. In many instances, workers live in a two fare zone and it is cheaper to car pool than pay the expense. One has a seat and the companionship of the familiar. And although they arrive in Manhattan in a dented Chevy, they arrive unstressed.

The alleged pollution caused by their vehicle is no more pervasive than that from alternative transportation such as the ferry boats from New Jersey and Staten Island. Congestion comes in many forms. While the chauffeured members of the Partnership for New York City complain about being late for their luncheons from the back seat, they need only to look out the window for the answer. Taxi cabs that stop in mid traffic to pick up a fare. Delivery trucks that double park and pedestrians that cross at green lights instead of red. The laws to enforce these violations are on the books but not enforced. It is easier to blame it on the average motorist.

Some of these privileged policy makers actually stand to benefit from congestion pricing. Bruce Ratner of Forest Ratner is a member of the Partnership. Ratner's Atlantic Yards project sits above the Atlantic-Pacific street subway station. the largest train station in Brooklyn and the 3rd largest transit hub in New York City serving 11 different subway lines. His Brooklyn development will increase the population by approximately 15,000. The subway will expand and Ratner's property bought from the MTA at a bargain price will soar in value.

And there is Tischman Construction which also is a member of the group pushing congestion pricing. Tischman is the lucky recipient of a contract for construction manager of the new Whitehall Ferry terminal in downtown Manhattan. If congestion pricing becomes law, more people will be riding the ferries and more ferry facilities will be built.

Now with all of this news, someone has to handle the public relations. Howard Rubenstein and Associates, members of the partnership, "assist" with the publicity of advocating congestion pricing. Just connect the dots folks......just connect the dots.

MIKES BIKES SUPPORT

Who's behind congestion pricing proposals? The powerful bike lobby:
Once the domain of traffic nerds, congestion pricing has taken hold here recently like never before. Both the Partnership for New York City, a prominent group of business executives, and the Manhattan Institute, the conservative think tank, endorsed or re-endorsed it in December, joining a list of longstanding proponents such as the Regional Plan Association.

[Transportation Alternatives executive director] Mr. [Paul Steely] White represents the left flank, then, of a set of strange bedfellows. Founded by radical bicyclists in the 1970's, Transportation Alternatives comes across as a sort of alterna-elite group of forward-thinking urban planners.

About half of its 5,500 members are from Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn, and its 18 full- and part-time employees are generally white, well-educated twentysomethings who ride their bikes to work. Many of its largest donors are Wall Street types, and its largest individual funder is Mark Gorton, the high-tech entrepreneur who founded LimeWire. To them, Mr. White says, "Biking is the new golf."

But T.A., as it's called, has long tried to project itself as a generally pro-person, anti-traffic group. The city Department of Transportation ended up copying Safe Routes to Schools, a program established by Mr. White's predecessor, John Kaehny, which seeks improvements to streets near schools. A similar program, Safe Routes for Seniors, is next in line for adoption, Mr. White hopes.

And the group regularly submits suggestions for traffic improvements throughout the city, sponsors bike rides, and gives away helmets in poor neighborhoods.
The potential constituency for this tiny, million-dollar-a-year organization headquartered in a Chelsea loft is quite large. Everybody has a gripe about traffic, after all, and it's only going to get worse.

Posted by Scott at 09:35 AM in Architecture & Infrastructure
January 30, 2007

HIJACKING ASTHMA

The Partnership for New York City, sent out 350,000 flyers last week advocating for congestion pricing. The focus of the flyer was how traffic pollution contributes to asthma. This powerful organization composed of large business groups and bankers sits at Michael Bloomberg's throne. Along with Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg economic development czar, it is the engine driving the plan.

Asthma has been the scourge of poor communities such as the Bronx for years. It is with suspicion that the Partnership has hijacked this cause. They were loudly silent when community activist groups called for a reduction of trucks and waste transfer facilities added to an already burdened community. The Bronx has the highest asthma rate in the country. The Partnership for New York has spent $1 million to advocate Bloomberg's campaign for congestion pricing.

Some business leaders feel that congestion pricing is good for business. It will help restaurants, taxi and ferry service and the folks who maintain and manufacture the scanning devices necessary to enforce the congestion charge. But the Partnership has failed in policing it's own members environmental faux pas. We begin with the Alcoa Corporation, a member of the board of directors.

Environmental record according to the University of Massachusetts' Political Economy Research Institute. Alcoa is one of the top ten most toxic companies in the country, producing 9,884,267 pounds of toxic chemicals in 2002 alone.

[1] Since 1987, state and federal regulators have cited Alcoa for more than forty-seven pollution violations.

[2] In 2002, Alcoa paid half a million dollars in fines at its Indiana plant in order to settle lawsuits charging it evaded water pollution regulations.

[3] Under the controversial grandfather provisions of the Texas Clean Air Act, Alcoa has been exempt from installing up to date pollution control devices and submitting to health-impact studies.

[4] President Bush appointed former Alcoa Chair and CEO Paul O'Neill Treasury Secretary of the United States in his first administration.

Then there is Energy Nuclear Northeast, the folks who are responsible for the Indian Point Nuclear Reactor. Aka Entergy that sits on the board of directors.

Contact: Lisa Rainwater van Suntum 914-478-4501 x 221 Darcy Casteleiro 914-478-4501 x 239
For Immediate Release 4-18-2006

RIVERKEEPER NOTIFIES ENTERGY NUCLEAR NORTHEAST OF INTENT TO SUE FOR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL TOXIC WASTE LAW AT INDIAN POINT
***
Environmental Watchdog Group Takes Action As Radioactive Cocktail Continues to Leach into Hudson River and Groundwater, Violating Federal Environmental Law

Tarrytown, N.Y. Today Riverkeeper, the Tarrytown-based environmental organization, celebrating its 40th year of protecting the Hudson River and the watershed from polluters, announced its intent to sue Entergy Nuclear Northeast for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

This federal statute requires operators of industrial facilities to notify the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when they discover a leak of hazardous substances, such as radioactive isotopes, from their facility and to remediate the environmental damage in a timely manner. Entergy Nuclear failed to notify EPA when they discovered the leak of contaminated water from the Indian Point 2 spent fuel pool, thereby avoiding the involvement of EPA in the leak investigation and remediation process.

Croton residents Gary Shaw and Charlie Kane are co-plaintiffs in this pending litigation. Under the citizen suit provisions of RCRA, Riverkeeper must notify the defendant sixty days prior to filing suit.

Let us not forget Keyspan that is also on the board of directors of the Partnership

July 26, 2005American Lung Association of New York State Environmental Advocates of New York Hudson River Sloop Clearwater New York Climate Rescue New York Public Interest Research Group Renewable Energy Long Island:

NORTHEASTERN POWER COMPANIES TARGETED FOR DISPROPORTIONATE GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION NRG Energy, Dynegy Top Two Polluting Companies in the Northeast, Report Shows

Albany, NY - A new report More Heat than Light: Global Warming Pollution from the Northeast’s Dirtiest Power Producers released today by environmental groups found that a small number of the northeast’s dirtiest power companies are responsible for a disproportionate amount of power sector global warming pollution. The report also found that a majority, six of the top ten biggest emitting power plants are in New York.
The region’s ten dirtiest power companies emitted 64 percent of the global warming pollution while producing only 33 percent of the region’s energy.

While Keyspan is fourth among the ten worst polluting companies in the report, its Boston office signed a letter to Massachusetts Governor Romney supporting the regional global warming pollution cap on power plants. Groups stated that this generally put them a bit ahead of the curve of other power plant owners and encourages them to reduce the emissions at their New York plants. The Northport plan on Long Island and the Ravenswood facility in Queens were among the regions top ten emitters of global warming pollution.

“There’s no time to lose in tackling global warming, and the biggest polluters must clean up.” said Christine Vanderlan, global warming program director with Environmental Advocates of New York. “Governor Pataki needs to require them to cut carbon dioxide emissions now.”
The report also analyzed plant-by-plant data and found that the 50 dirtiest power plants in the region emitted 80 percent of the sector’s global warming pollution while only producing 45 percent of the region’s energy. There are 188 facilities that contributed to the region’s electricity pool in 2004. Twenty-two of the 50 dirtiest plants, or 44% were located in New York. Six of those facilities were in the top ten.

"With New York City facing deteriorating air quality (3rd worst in the nation) with over 200 deaths per year related to asthma, 840 heat-related deaths and 1,300 ozone-related deaths, the fight against global warming pollution is a key provision in guaranteeing the health of New Yorkers," said Marc Brammer, executive director of New York Climate Rescue.

Con Ed's Kevin Burke also sits on the prestigious board of directors. In the past, the company has been assailed for contributing to pollution in the Bronx. And although it has facilities there, it recently unveiled an "environmentally friendly" substation in the Mott Haven section. It is too early to determine it's effect on the already burdened community. But given it's past performance, one must remain skeptical.

In part two of HIJACKING ASTHMA, we will discuss the economic effect on those who would pay the price of congestion tax.

CHARLES BARRON BARKS

City Councilman Charles Barron publicly defied City Council speaker, Christine Quinn this week on the steps of City Hall. Barron defended his staff member, Viola Plummer, who Quinn accused of improper behaviour when Plummer called for the assassination of another city councilman, Leroy Comrie. Quinn docked Plummer's pay and demanded a statement from Plummer that she would refrain from future display of such conduct. Barron argued that Plummer works for him as opposed to Quinn and that Quinn overstepped her authority through her demands.

The fourth of July began early this week. Sparks continue to fly between Barron and Quinn without an end in sight. Barron is determined to reinvent the sixties while Quinn pumped with power from Bloomberg slowly swells into a political creature that is a cross between the mayor and his red headed protege, known as BloomQuinn.

If Barron loses this round, he will continue to agitate and berate Quinn until his rhetoric is used up. In the interim, Quinn has the power to add or remove funding to his district. And as Barron continues to fan the flames, one can only wonder how the heat will affect an already simmering cauldron of disaffected youth in the inner city. Watch Barron bark at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8966037998397118739&pr=goog-sl

MOUSE DOUSED

Mickey Mouse was killed this week by an Israeli
according to HAMAS TV. If this were not so absurd, it would be comical. In a bid to win the hearts and minds of Palestinian youth, HAMAS produces a children's show. featuring Mickey Mouse. Great concept, bad script.
In a week where the media has placed Muslim popularity at an all time low, it would be wise for HAMAS to reconsider it's public relations strategy. Something like "The Tale of the Friendly Falafel" or "Life With Happy Humus". Dialogue not diatribe. That is what both Israelis and Palestinians need now.

A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death by an Israeli "terrorist" in the show's final episode Friday. Translation courtesy of The Middle East Media Research Institute.

COMMENTS

Source: Al-Aqsa TV/MEMRI
RELATED LINKS
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AP: Hamas TV Kills Off Mickey Mouse Double
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MEMRI TV: Read Transcript
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VIDEO: CNN Yanks Hamas ‘Militant Mouse’ Video in Translation Furor
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VIDEO: The Episode That Started It All...
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EXTENDED VERSION: Hamas ‘Mickey Mouse’ Killed by ‘Terrorist’ Jews

A TAXING ISSUE

Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to propose a congestion tax on cars coming into Manhattan.
However, opponents have strong arguments against it. In addition, one should note that the building boom in New York City spearheaded by Bloomberg, has only increased the problem. Construction vehicles clog arteries and inhibit pedestrian traffic. Increased occupancy will only burden a subway system that the mayor insists that we all should use.

“THE SUBWAYS ARE OVERTAXED AND SO ARE NEW YORKERS. DON'T STAND FOR IT!"
"ANTI-CONGESTION PRICING PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS SCHEME FLAWS"

► To date no supporter of the Congestion Tax disputes Congressman Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, who advised no Congressionally authorized program exists to provide federal funds. The money at best remains a request from USDOT to Congress. [see http://www.dot.gov/bib2008/pdf/bib2008.pdf (page 16). And the Federal budget fiscal year does not begin until October 1, 2007.

► No real deadline exists to qualify for the funding that apparently does not yet exist. The USDOT's online Federal Register notice makes clear its deadline to qualify for funding is anything but firm and clearly malleable.

► The Congestion Tax Scheme offers no tradeoff in immediate or near-term mass transit improvements for city commuters. The MTA admits its system lacks capacity to handle the projected 90,000 riders the congestion tax scheme envisions diverting to rail, subways and buses. New York City Transit's analysis indicates many subway lines simply maxed out and lacking capacity; straphangers will face jamming together like a can of sardines. NYCT president Howard H. Roberts Jr. said, “This is scary in the sense that right now, on a lot of these lines, we’re several years and a big capital construction project away from being able to provide what I consider adequate service. We’re constrained....There’s no room at the inn.” (New York Time, June 26, 2006)

► The morning rush overcrowding on the 4, 5, 6 and L lines exceeds NYCT’s loading guidelines. The 4 and 5 Lexington express trains run at full capacity - 27 trains an hour - during morning peak. Only 83.2% of 4 and 87.2% of 5 trains run on time.

► Solutions, such as increasing capacity 20% by running 12-car trains instead of 10-car trains, the Second Avenue subway and expansion of a computerized signal system to allow more trains running closer together on the same tracks, remain several years away.

► If congestion pricing becomes a reality, planners also cannot rely any time soon on additional buses to meet any increased capacity.

► The City's Congestion Tax relies on one of the most extraordinarily inefficient revenue streams ever devised to generate new revenues for mass transit: $2 of every $5 collected would support the program, not to improve transit and clean our air. The NYC Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability estimates that the proposed system’s annual operating costs would total $240 million annually – 39 percent of estimated gross revenues. People who live, work, do business in and visit New York would be paying $620 million each year to generate only $380 million for regional transit improvements.

► By incessantly and misleadingly linking their proposal to the projected $31 billion shortfall in capital funding through 2030, and the prospect of a 20% fare hike, congestion tax supporters have sought to create the impression that it is the key to solving the region’s transportation capital financing problems.

If charges are set at the proposed levels, revenues from this congestion tax on businesses and people driving into or within Midtown and Lower Manhattan would finance only a fraction of the projected shortfall. The Independent Budget Office projects a $799 million MTA fiscal year 2008 operating deficit, exceeding $1.45 billion in FY2009. If the Legislature were to approve the congestion tax tomorrow, it would produce nothing in FY2008, perhaps $200 million in FY2009, and net but $380 million in FY2010 – when the congestion tax would be fully operational – but the MTA’s deficit will reach $1.78 billion. Congestion tax revenues simply aren’t enough – and would arrive too late – to avert significant fare increases during the next two years. And this tax scheme got linked to the fare in an effort to diffuse opposition to the tax.

► According to data published by the City, the total volume of greenhouse gases generated in New York City by on-road vehicles declined by 5.6% between 1995 and 2005, while those generated by all other sources rose by 12.8%. The city scheme proposes no measures that address asthma where it impacts mosts: air pollution hot spots including The South Bronx, East Harlem, South Jamaica, and Bed-Stuy.

► The City’s own figures suggest its congestion tax scheme will produce only a modest reduction in traffic congestion – the benefits of which have been wildly oversold.

► Better measures exist to relieve congestion and traffic. These include inducements to use mass transit – lower fares, lower express bus fares, reduced intra-city commuter railroad fares, and better bus connections to commuter rails. Traffic abatement measures include the posting of more traffic enforcement agents to avoid “box-blocking” to ensure traffic flow, and changing “blocking the box” from a moving to a parking violation which allows the use of cameras and fines to discourage that traffic-congesting activity.

► No other applicant proposed a congestion pricing to USDOT; the others involve drivers paying additional tolls to drive roads ("hot lanes") with less traffic.
The public ought to question the claims of deadlines and available funding that proponents of the Congestion Tax assert in their haste to pressure the State Legislature to adopt this inefficient and unfair scheme by July 16.

.........something smells fishy and it's not the New Yorkers stuffed liked sardines in subway cars!

COREY B. BEARAK, Esq.Government & Public AffairsCommunity & Media RelationsP.O. Box 135Glen Oaks, NY 11004(718) 343-6779facsimile (718) 343-5761Bearak@aol.comCoreyBearak.com

See video at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4097111213341599519&pr=goog-sl