By Nora Bosworth

“Ken told me that he has not seen a room this crowded since the anti-war debates of the sixties,” announced Jason Haber, Chair of Community Free Democrats, who co-sponsored the democratic mayoral debate on Thursday night.
Ken Sherrill, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Hunter College, moderated the panel of five candidates: Sal Albanese, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Photo by Steven Barall

The event filled the Goddard Side Community Center to its capacity, with an estimated 300 to 350 people, according to Joan Paylo, District Leader of the 69th Assembly District, Part B.
There were “huge numbers of people turned away,” she added. Many attributed the debate’s great turnout to the Upper West Side’s history of passionate advocacy and political awareness.

“The Upper West Side has a long and proud tradition of progressive activism,” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal. “This district more than any other, I believe, is the embodiment of democratic values.”
Rosenthal added that her district always votes “in droves.”
Excitement reverberated throughout the Community Center as hundreds of local New Yorkers waited to hear the mayoral candidates address issues close to the residents’ hearts. Topics ranged from proper budgeting, to which Bloomberg policies the candidates would change first, to which borough the potential mayors know best. (Albanese, de Blasio, and Thompson said Brooklyn; Liu said Queens and Quinn said Manhattan).

After a series of playful questions, (when was the last time the candidates paid rent, and how much did they pay?), shouted an audience member: “Let’s ask some real questions!”

Quickly, the conversation turned to housing.

“Can you represent the interests of tenants when you take money from developers?” came the next question.

Applause erupted throughout the room.

Liu reminded everyone that the question did not apply to him, saying, “Sal and I are the only ones who do not accept contributions from people who do business with city.”

Albanese came out more aggressively, per usual, against his opponents.

“If you think [accepting contributions] has no influence, I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge,” he growled. He added that he alone would not be “wearing handcuffs” if elected mayor.

Thompson said his actions spoke louder than any accepted donations. He spoke to his years as comptroller, in which time he brought a spotlight to the failings of the Mitchell-Lama programs, which provides affordable middle-income housing.

“We worked to make sure people weren’t pushed out of Mitchell-Lama,” he said.

Quinn touted her record as Council Speaker, saying, “I can tell tenants I can deliver as mayor, because I’ve delivered as speaker.”

She cited her passing of the Safe Housing Act, which gives the city power to repair New York’s worst buildings, and then bill the landlords for the work. She also praised the Tenant Protection Act that she passed, the first law the city has seen that grants tenants the right to sue landlords over harassment.

“The law was so good it was sued by the landlord lobby,” she said, half-joking.

De Basio came out strongest against private developers.

“The real estate industry thinks it has tremendous power in the election and has played favorites over the years,” he said. He lauded one of his creations as Public Advocate, The Worst Landlords Watchlist, an online tool that reports and allows one to research the landlords with the most violations in the city. De Blasio said the webpage has helped “thousands and thousands of tenants,” and gotten some buildings “out of private hands and into non-profit hands.”

“That’s the kind of leadership I believe in,” he declared.

But perhaps the most fiery housing issue discussed was the New York City Housing Authority’s plans for building market-price condominiums on public housing project land. The Upper West Side’s Frederick Douglass housing would be particularly affected if the plans are realized; the Authority intends to erect four new buildings in that area alone.

The Housing Authority states that by leasing such prized land to private developers, some fourteen parcels in eight different public housing units, they could pay for the thousands of repairs needed throughout the various projects. The deal would grant the private developers access to the land for 99 years.

Among the many concerns voiced by the community and their mayoral candidates was a pervasive skepticism that the Authority is hurting as badly financially as they claim. Adding to this doubt was last year’s discovery that the organization was sitting on almost one billion dollars while petitioning the government for more funding.

In light of this scandal, their upcoming project, widely known as the “infill plan”, has encountered harsh criticism.

“NYCHA was sitting on a billion dollars of capital funds,” said Liu. “Now they’re claiming poverty, that they need a revenue stream; they shouldn’t keep piles of money lying around under the proverbial mattress while they go out and ask citizens to pay more.”

De Blasio, on the other hand, does not doubt that NYCHA is suffering economically. (In his testimony to the New York State Assembly this month, NYCHA Chairman John B. Rhea announced that the organization is currently stuck with “6 billion dollars in unmet capital needs.”)

Nonetheless, De Blasio stated that the proposal “can’t be trusted,” and that “people worried about losing housing have every reason to be worried.”

“Let’s call this for what it is,” said Thompson, echoing his opponents’ views. “A sham.”

Quinn also voiced her agreement, calling the auctioning off of Housing Authority property to the highest bidder “a terrible idea.”

“Stop this proposal and stop it right now,” Quinn exclaimed, “because we will never get that land back!”

The agency plans to sign with developers by November 2014, according to a recently released report.

Based on the Upper West Side’s history of activism, however, it’s safe to say there is more resistance to come.

The public advocate calls on the administration to find alternate solutions for struggling schools

By Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

If something is broken – fix it. Sadly, Mayor Bloomberg adheres to a different philosophy where our city’s education system is concerned. The Administration’s default response to struggling schools has been to close them, without first investing enough time and resources into turning them around. And instead of laying out a thoughtful plan for multiple schools to share facilities in the same building when they “co-locate,” the Administration turns a cold shoulder to community input. Clearly, we need a new approach for our city’s one million students.

There is a time and place to close a troubled school. But that should not be treated as an end goal in itself, nor an accomplishment to boast about. When all other options are exhausted, it should be the last resort. In 2011, the Department of Education (DOE) proposed for Canarsie’s P.S. 114 to be phased out. Yet the unwavering voices of students, parents and teachers of P.S. 114 were eventually heard, and the DOE resolved to work on lifting the school back up. Collaborating with community members like this – and really listening – should serve as a prerequisite for potential school closings. Too many of the schools doomed for closure have not been given the tools to improve, or the time to apply them.

Students at low-performing schools need the most support. But the Administration constantly misses the opportunity to pinpoint troubled schools, invest in them and turn them around. Too often, the Administration opts for the easier route, which is ultimately school closure. DOE’s policies have actually amplified the core problems that contribute to chronic poor performance. Adding more high-need students to poorly resourced and already underperforming schools is just one example. The end result? Performance results for our highest-need students have hardly budged, and educational disparity continues to besiege our city.

We see the same heavy-handedness in the way the City often shoehorns charter schools into existing public schools, without a well-considered strategy for both institutions to thrive. Co-location can be – and has been – successful in this city. Students at four high schools in the Brandeis Educational Complex, on the Upper West Side, learned beautifully side-by-side – until the DOE squeezed a charter elementary school into the building, despite staunch resistance from the school community. Successful sharing of space and resources can only be carried out through meticulous planning and input from all key stakeholders – students, parents, teachers, administrators, community activists and education advocates. Instead, the DOE has alienated school communities by neglecting their input and depriving them of a venue for meaningful engagement on educational policy.

As a public school parent, I know the difference of being involved in your children’s education can make in their academic success and self-confidence. That’s personal to me, and that priority is reflected in the recommendations my office put forth in 2010 to modify Educational Impact Statements and boost parental engagement. But the Administration failed to take our recommendations on community involvement and use of physical space seriously, resulting in a co-location process that is consistently divisive and poorly attuned to the physical demands of mutually-sited school communities.

That’s why, following Mayor Bloomberg’s latest announcement on school closures, I called on the Administration to freeze school closures and co-locations for the rest of the Mayor’s term. Until we can offer a comprehensive, community-driven plan for co-locations and school turnaround, I urge you to join me in pressuring the mayor to put a one-year moratorium on these divisive tactics. After years of disruption instead of progress, inequity instead of opportunity, haste instead of prudence. Enough is enough.

Sen. Dan Squadron’s grassroots campaign for public advocate paying dividends

When it comes to financing his still unofficial campaign for New York City’s public advocate post, Manhattan/Brooklyn Sen. Daniel Squadron is in many ways taking the road less traveled.
With a decidedly grassroots approach to fundraising which favors dainty donations from a diverse field mostly made up of city residents, Squadron, now serving his third term in the city’s 26th Senate District, is getting the biggest bang for the buck out of the five likely candidates.

According to his campaign, Squadron has raised a total of $1.75 million in direct contributions and expected public matching funds, but he has spent only $150,000, leaving $1.6 million in contributions and matching funds to spend on the race between now and the Democratic primary.
The city’s campaign finance board confirms that Squadron has raised more money than any of his four competitors, of whom only one, Cathy Guerriero, a business consultant and teacher, has formally announced her candidacy.

Squadron’s other likely competitors for the office of public advocate are Reshma Saujani, a former deputy public advocate under Bill de Blasio; Brooklyn Council member Letitia James; and Noah Gotbaum, an education activist on the Upper West Side and also the stepson of former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

In a recent press release, Betsy Gotbaum stated she would endorse Squadron instead of her stepson Noah. News reports said that Gotbaum had committed to Squadron’s campaign months before her stepson decided to shoot for the public advocate’s office.

“Daniel Squadron has the passion and the experience to be a great public advocate for all New Yorkers,” Gotbaum, who held the office from 2002 to 2009, said in a release from Squadron’s campaign. “He has always fought for families and those left out and left behind.”

The position of public advocate has only been in existence since 1994 and has been held by just three people: Mark Green from 1994-2001, Betsy Gotbaum from 2002-2009 and, since 2010, Bill de Blasio, who is now a candidate for mayor.

As a voice for all the residents of New York City, the public advocate is similar to the role of watchdog, ensuring that all residents get the services, rights and protections they are entitled to.
“I want to make this a city for more families,” Squadron said. “The advocate is a role really about giving a voice to individuals who need one.” Among the key issues Squadron says he’ll address as advocate are transportation, public housing and development of small business.

“Daniel radiates the kind of energy, smarts and guts that are a perfect fit with the office of public advocate,” said Green, the city’s first public advocate, in a statement.

“He knows when to bring people together and when to stand up to a mayor on behalf of those left behind or out. His record on child care, housing, guns and money in politics reflect the values that the office and city need.”

And Squadron, who prides himself on having never taken corporate or special interest PAC money, has maximized his grassroots support to the tune of nearly 1,500 individual contributors, of whom nearly 90 percent contributed less than $250. In addition, he said that 150 supporters hosted private, small fundraisers.

Most recently, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand attended a dim sum fundraiser in Chinatown in support of Squadron’s campaign. Other small fundraisers were hosted by Paul Newell, Democratic district leader for New York’s 65th Assembly district, and David Gruber, chair of Community Board 1.
“2013 will be a pivotal year of transition for our city—and New York families need a fighter who is ready and willing to stand up for them,” Squadron said. “I’m incredibly honored by this show of support from New Yorkers around our city, and it’s clear we will have the resources to run an aggressive, five-borough campaign.”

Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance, said that seeking out many, smaller donations instead of just a few lavish ones, was productive on many levels.

“Strategically, it’s a smart idea to get many smaller donations because that way, you build a base,” he said.

Discussing campaign finance reform, Squadron said the state should emulate the city. “The city’s system is what the state should be using,” he said. “The state system, now and for some time, has been about special interests giving extraordinarily large sums.”

Squadron added that the city system is more about getting thousands of people involved at whatever level of giving they’re comfortable with. “In New York City, the way to be successful is to get lots and lots of people involved.”

Since his breakout performance in Jim Jarmusch’s 1989 film Mystery Train, Steve Buscemi has become one of New York’s most recognizable and beloved actors. With his distinctive voice, gaunt visage and agitated manner, Buscemi has breathed life into unforgettable and eminently quotable characters in movies like The Big Lebowski, Reservoir Dogs and Fargo. In real life, the Brooklyn native is a far cry from the criminals and misfits he often portrays onscreen. A former New York City firefighter, Buscemi returned to his old firehouse to volunteer in the weeks following 9/11, and he has been active in the relief effort post-Sandy. Most recently, his community activism has inspired him to endorse Public Advocate Bill de Blasio for mayor. City & State Editor Morgan Pehme talked with Buscemi about de Blasio, Superstorm Sandy and whether playing a party boss in Boardwalk Empire has affected his outlook on politics.

The following is an edited transcript.

Why are you supporting Bill de Blasio for mayor?
I think he’s right for the job. I’ve known him for 12 years. I met him first when he was running for the City Council in Brooklyn. He was going door-to-door … talking to people, listening to people. It’s a quality that I like about Bill that he wants input from the community. I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who would impose his will on New York. He’s a progressive. I just agree with his outlook on things. He fights for teachers, he fights for the working class and he fights for the underprivileged. And he’s always been there for the firefighting community. I used to see him at all the rallies and protests when they were closing firehouses in the early 2000s, and much more recently he was instrumental in figuring out with the City Council, with the mayor, how to make the numbers work so they don’t have to close firehouses.

He’s been really helpful post-Sandy, because a lot of firefighters were struggling. We know that communities you don’t always see or hear about in the news, have such a long road ahead of them, and Bill understands that. He’s compassionate … I’ve come to him for a few things … on the ground, in the Rockaways needs weren’t being met, and I gave him a call, and he got right on it. I also am pleased with what he’s done for the film industry. Part of that’s selfish on my part, because I like working in New York, and I’m grateful to be on the show that I’m on—but I think that it’s good for New York in general to get the tax incentives that keeps the industry here. We’ve seen in the past few years that production has really flourished.

When you said that de Blasio wouldn’t impose his will on the city, was that a subtle dig at Mayor Bloomberg’s tenure in office?
Of course not! Our third-term mayor? No! [Laughs] I’m really proud of Bill [for] his stance on term limits. He really stood his ground there. And, really, I’m not out to criticize Mayor Bloomberg. I think his heart is in the right place … but I think it’s important that the city take another direction when Bloomberg leaves, and I think that Bill is the right person to lead us in that direction and take all of us along with him—every borough and people in every walk of life who live in this city.

Celebrity endorsements often get a fair amount of ink, but do you think that they motivate people to actually vote for a candidate?
I’ve never been swayed by a celebrity. [Laughs] I think what it does maybe is if you hear, you know, Alec Baldwin say something, that he’s interested in Bill de Blasio, maybe that will prompt people to take a closer look at Bill who maybe weren’t looking so closely. But no, I don’t generally believe that there are people who say, “Oh, I’ll vote for whoever Steve Buscemi votes for.”

Do you intend to endorse any other candidates this cycle?
No.

As a former firefighter, what has been your take on the government’s response to Superstorm Sandy?
I find that there’s been a general lack of communication on the ground. I think the volunteers’ effort has been truly amazing, and that they have led the effort. From what I’ve seen, [many people] don’t really even know how to get the support [they need] because … it just doesn’t seem that accessible. That’s on a citywide level. And I know that the mayor’s office has been doing a lot of wonderful things, and they have been trying, but I just find that they haven’t been leading the effort, and that’s what’s been frustrating.

Has playing a politician in Boardwalk Empire influenced your thinking about politics?
It makes me more interested in politics in general, just sort of reading about it, and seeing how things were done back then, and how things are done now. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing a politician. Of course, Nucky’s no longer a politician, and I actually miss that. [Laughs]

We’ve had so many troubles in New York since 2001. Are you optimistic about the future of the city?
I am optimistic only because it’s New York, and I think that New Yorkers will see their way through. I’ve seen a lot of strength on the ground. I’ve seen firefighters who not only went through a harrowing experience during the storm but a lot of them, their own homes were damaged either by flooding or fire, and I’ve seen other firefighters come in and pitch in. There was this amazing effort in Breezy Point where this whole pump-and-gut operation was led by firefighters on their days off. When I see people doing that, I just go, “Wow, I love the people in this city.”

This article originally appeared in City & State

“I think our school system is largely stalled right now,” asserted New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, one of the forum’s three undeclared Democratic candidates along with City Comptroller John Liu and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “We need a very serious reset.”

De Blasio focused on the importance of early childhood education throughout the discussion, an issue which all potential candidates supported. He called for universal pre-kindergarten programs and expanded extracurricular activities across the city, arguing “that’s the kind of investment we need to make, or we’re not serious about turning the corner with our school system.”

Liu emphasized the necessity of preparing students to not only enter college, but to graduate from it as well. To keep students on track, he proposed hiring more guidance counselors and reducing the current system’s heavy focus on standardized testing—another issue that the potential candidates uniformly agreed needs to be addressed—as well as cultivating better communication with students’ families, whose voices, he argued, are too rarely considered.

“We need to engage the public more in terms of what the schools need, what communities need, what families and parents need,” he said.

Quinn, who is considered an ally of current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, agreed that the current administration still has many shortcomings that need to be overcome. She supported an evaluation system that would weed out bad educators, and argued that reducing testing would grant teachers more freedom and creativity in their lesson plans. “For a child who might not learn in the traditional way,” she said, “having that level of attention on standardized testing significantly reduces or eliminates the moments where that child’s mind might get passion or a spark might get set off.”

She noted, “Clearly progress has been made, but not enough.”

Tom Allon, CEO of the forum’s sponsor Manhattan Media and a declared Republican candidate, advocated what he called a “medical model” of teacher training to ensure that they have proper experience before taking over a classroom. Through a tier-track system and mandatory three-year in-class training period, the city would boost its low teacher retention numbers, he asserted.
“What [the Bloomberg administration] has missed is the fundamental problem of education,” said Allon, “which is that we’re just not properly training teachers before they get into the classroom, and we’re not giving them proper instructions once they get into the classroom.”

The only declared Democratic candidate, former city comptroller and 2009 mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, focused his criticism on chronic school closures, the root of a tension between public and charter schools. He spoke of the particular difficulties of the recently popular “co-location” of public and charter schools in the same buildings, where public schools are often inferior in resources and appearances. “The children feel as if they’re second-class citizens,” he argued, which creates disruptive rifts in what is supposed to be a mutually beneficial approach to learning.
Thompson agreed that early childhood education is essential, and that teachers need more professional development opportunities and support. “Education is collaborative,” he said. “The schools that do better are the schools that have individuals who work together with one teacher to help improve another teacher.”

The forum, held at Fordham University, was the first joint appearance of the five mayoral hopefuls since the presidential election earlier this month, and also since Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, a presumed mayoral candidate, announced that he would run for city comptroller instead. The forum was considered an unofficial and symbolic start to the 2013 race, which will conclude next November.

Photo by ericrichardson, courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

By Paul Bisceglio

Bill Bratton served as New York City’s Police Commissioner from 1994 to 1996, when he was forced because of disagreements with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani over credit for the city’s decrease in crime. Now, he is interested in returning to the position.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Bratton has met with mayoral hopefuls Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and media executive Tom Allon to talk about the job.

“I’ll be quite frank, if that position were to be offered, I’d have to seriously consider it,” Bratton told WSJ. “I fully intend, at some point in time, to return to the public sector.”

The city’s current Police Commissioner, Raymond Kelly, is expected to step down when Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaves office in December 2013, though Kelly has not announced officially whether he would consider serving under Bloomberg’s successor.

Bratton has been Police Commissioner in Boston and Los Angeles in addition to New York, and was even considered for the position as head of Scotland Yard. He currently works as chairman of Kroll, an international intelligence and information management company.

“Bill Bratton is recognized as one of the finest and most respected people in law enforcement in the country and around the world,” Thompson’s campaign said in a statement. “He did an exemplary job as police commissioner of New York City and Los Angeles and his innovative strategies produced a significant reduction in crime.”

Some mayoral candidates have told WSJ that they are speaking with numerous law-enforcement professionals about the position, including John Timoney, who has served as Commissioner of Philadelphia’s and Miami’s police forces, and Garry McCarthy, Chicago’s Police Commissioner.

Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told WSJ that Bratton is greatly admired, but there is a “strong case” to bring in an outsider with a “fresh set of eyes.”

“No knock on Kelly, no knock on Bratton,” he said, “but there’s more than a couple of people who can run the police department and run it well.”

All those declarations leave the neighborhood ready for fresh political blood, and recent campaign filings give residents a sneak peek at who might be a serious contender come next September.

In the 5th District, Mark Thompson has showed his fundraising chops by raising $60,785 from 292 contributions in the past six months. So far, Thompson doesn’t face any other serious candidates, but insiders say Steve Newmark, who currently works for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and hasn’t started campaigning, could raise significant money and support when he officially jumps into the race.

In the 4th District race, two candidates, Domenico Minerva and Benjamin Kallos, are practically neck and neck when it comes to fundraising as of the latest filing deadline, which was July 16.

Kallos raised a total of $28,453 in the last six months, bringing his campaign chest to $33,456, he said. “Our campaign is very excited about the 348 contributions that demonstrate more community support than we ever expected, and we hope to continue that trend, expanding the number of small contributions from residents all over the district and the city,” Kallos said, noting that his average contribution was $95.42 and that 22 percent of the contributions were $10, a threshold many candidates point to in showing their grassroots support.

Minerva comes a close second in fundraising for the filing period, bringing in $24,793 from 104 contributions, which he raised almost exclusively in the past two months. The other contender, Hill Krishnan, raised only $1,085 from 22 contributions. The only other candidate, David Menegon, confirmed that he’ll drop out of the race due to the possibility of being redeployed to the Army by the end of this year.

But insiders say that at this point in the race, having the least—or the most— money in a campaign account is no indication of where a candidate will fall on the ballot.

“Because of New York City’s extraordinarily generous and almost universally participated-in campaign finance program, everybody will have the same amount of money, so the money has less meaning,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

The matching program gives candidates $6 for every $1 raised from New York City residents, for up to $175 per person. The program was intended to level the playing field and give candidates without access to big money a chance to compete, a point Krishnan raised in defending his fundraising position.

“Running for City Council in New York should be about more than just raising money,” Krishnan said in an email. “I don’t work in a lucrative career to meet and raise money from high donors; I am a professor.”

Sheinkopf said that it’s way too early to rule anyone out, regardless of how paltry their total seems in comparison to other candidates.

“Unlike most people in my business, I got rid of my crystal ball a long time ago—it didn’t fit in my wallet,” Sheinkopf said. “Early money helps define the race for people in the media business and for local community activists. But the general public, they don’t care.”

Via Wiki Commons.

2013 Mayoral Race

Bill de Blasio outraised his potential rivals for mayor.

Anthony Weiner referred to speculation about a comeback as a “clown question.”

Public Advocate

Daniel Squadron is leading the fundraising race.

Queens

The Queens DA may look into an Assembly candidate’s running of prostitution ads in his newspaper.

The Queens BP race is heating up.

US Senate

Wendy Long’s campaign remains in deep debt.

Brooklyn

Abraham Tischler says he would vote for Ruben Diaz, Sr. for majority leader.

State Senate

The Senate GOP has a major cash advantage over the Senate Dems.

Neil Breslin slammed his primary challenger for taking IDC money.

The IDC PAC has more than 300K on hand.

Elsewhere

Lots of money has been raised in the race to replace Jack McEneny.

Erie Democratic chairman Len Lenihan retired.

As a father of three children in local public schools and a member of District 3’s Community Education Council (CEC), Gotbaum has led a charge against the co-location of charter schools and has been an outspoken critic of the Department of Education’s policies. He’s also been involved in making the CEC a unified voice for parents from a diverse district that encompasses the Upper West Side as well as Manhattan Valley and parts of Central and West Harlem.

Now Gotbaum has formed a campaign committee and said that he’ll be spending the next six to nine months raising money and garnering support for a potential run, one he will base on his experience as an education advocate.

“I come from a labor family, but I’ve worked for 25 years in the private sector. Public service has always been in my blood,” Gotbaum said in an interview, acknowledging the influence of his father, Victor Gotbaum, a prominent labor leader, and his stepmother, former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, as well as his family’s history of teaching in public schools.

“I see the public advocate position as a way to really stand up and speak up for those who feel disenfranchised, and that’s really expanded, unfortunately, under Bloomberg,” Gotbaum said. He wants to encourage grassroots and community involvement in local decision-making and would point to some of the collaborative successes of the Upper West Side community as models for other neighborhoods.

Education reform will be the cornerstone of any campaign, he said.

“One in every three New Yorkers is involved in the public school system in one way or another. We don’t really have effective advocates for us as parents and for our kids,” said Gotbaum. “We waste money when it’s not being watched. We are wasting literally billions on no-bid contracts, on services that aren’t being delivered, on funds that aren’t even being collected. We have $600 million in special education fees that Bloomberg has not collected that are owed [from the state and federal governments]. While we’re not getting our fair share, we’re threatening to lay off teachers; we need to hire more.”

He said that neither Mayor Bloomberg nor Chancellor Dennis Walcott have done enough to ensure that every student gets a quality education, and is critical of mayoral control of the school system.

“The office of the public advocate is about ensuring that the services of the city are being delivered properly and efficiently and that they work for our communities, for everyone. When you have essentially close to a dictatorship at the top, that doesn’t happen,” Gotbaum said.

He also said that the lack of services applies to other sectors, like the economy and jobs, and that the public advocate should be watching those areas closely.

“In terms of the middle class and working class, we’re not providing the services that we need. We’re not investing properly in education, which is huge—in training our students and our work force adequately,” Gotbaum said. “We’re also not providing the services that enable people to get into the workforce: child care, after-school programs, job training programs.”

Gotbaum said he will wait for current public advocate Bill de Blasio to declare his 2013 plans—he is likely to run for mayor—before making an ultimate decision on whether to run. City & State reported last week that other likely contenders in the race will be City Council Member Letitia James of Brooklyn and Reshma Saujani, who challenged Upper East Side Rep. Carolyn Maloney in 2010 and has been working for de Blasio’s office since. Manhattan-Brooklyn State Sen. Daniel Squadron is also reported to be considering a run.

Synchronized Septuagenarians: The Harlem Honeys & Bears synchronized swimming team performs inside the Thomas Jefferson Park Pool to celebrate the expansion of the Senior Swim program to 14 outdoor public pools. The program runs through Aug. 24.

Espaillat Eyes Senate & Concedes to Rangel
City & State reports that State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who conceded defeat on Monday in his contested primary race against Rep. Charles Rangel, declined to say whether he would run for re-election to the state Senate.

But Espaillat signaled that he would run for his seat, revealing at a press conference Monday that he had given district leaders permission to circulate petitions on his behalf after the June 26 congressional primary.

“I authorized some of the district leaders to begin circulating petitions after the 26th, after Election Day, and I will be considering my personal decision as to whether or not I will accept those signatures and move forward with re-election,” he told reporters outside his district office. “I promise you that in 48 hours, I will have that answer for you.”

Petitions to run for the state Senate and Assembly are due by Thursday.

A source close to Mark Levine, an Espaillat ally who had been planning to run for Espaillat’s seat, also confirmed the senator will run for re-election. The source said that Espaillat will use his own petition signatures and not get on the ballot through a Levine vacancy committee, as had been speculated.

During the campaign, Espaillat said he only had his sights on the congressional seat, not his own. Rangel, the longtime congressman who faced his toughest primary challenge in over four decades in office, seized on Espaillat’s comments, saying that he didn’t know where the senator would find a new job when he lost.

Whether he runs for re-election or not, Espaillat could be a serious candidate for Rangel’s congressional seat again in two years. Espaillat, who is Dominican, came within 1,000 votes of ousting the incumbent, capitalizing on changing demographics and redrawn lines that made Latinos a majority in the district.

“There’s no question I come out of this process strengthened,” Espaillat said. “I think two years down the line is a long time. I will not make a decision right here, but I feel very strongly that I have been strengthened in this process.”

Espaillat could also find himself taking on the state’s other leading Dominican elected official, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares. Linares said he would run for Espaillat’s state Senate seat after Espaillat announced his run for Congress, and reiterated his intention to run when Rangel initially declared victory.

The Nabe’s Bad Landlords
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released his updated list of the city’s worst landlords last week, and four of the culprits are located on the Upper East Side.

The worst offender of the four is Golden State Holding, which according to de Blasio, operates a building at 408 E. 64th St. that has 16 units. The property has a total of 96 violations, placing it 38th on the list of the worst Manhattan buildings. The other locations on the list are M/S Capitol NY LLC, with an 81-unit building at 1531 York Ave.; 33-39 East 65th Street LLC, with a 48-unit building at 35 E. 65th St.; and 501 ½ East 83 Street LLC, with a building at the same address with 39 units.

“It takes years of neglect for a building to deteriorate to the point where it ends up on our Watch List. But with enough public pressure and strong tenant organizing, we can turn these buildings around and make life better for thousands of New Yorkers,” said de Blasio.
He began the list in 2010 in order to highlight repeat offenders and pressure landlords with dangerous conditions to make necessary repairs. According to de Blasio’s office, each entry on the list has a minimum of two hazardous housing code violations per unit, such as lack of heat or hot water, lead paint, toxic mold or broken plumbing.

For the Win For Now
While his lawsuit against Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council is still pending, Assembly Member Micah Kellner is touting a temporary win in the fight against building a new marine waste transfer station (MTS) at East 91st Street. Attorney Michael Cardozo, serving as corporation counsel for the city, signed a stipulation last week that prevents the city from doing any construction at the MTS site, where a defunct station and a community recreation facility, Asphalt Green, currently sit, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves the permits needed to start the project.

“We don’t know the true environmental impact of this transfer station,” Kellner said of the reason for his lawsuit, which demands that the city submit and receive approval on a new environmental impact statement that takes a larger capacity for waste processing into account. “We’re going to let a jury decide who was right on the law.”
The Army Corps must issue permits in order for the city to start construction because the proposed facility sits on a body of water.

Disabling the Training Wheels
A special training camp for children with disabilities will be held in New York City for the first time this summer. Lose the Training Wheels, a nonprofit organization that teaches people with disabilities to ride two-wheeled bicycles, is holding a free camp for children Aug. 6–10 in Brooklyn sponsored by the National Down Syndrome Society and the Lyle Foundation. The event will be held at the Aviator Sports & Event Center in Floyd Bennett Field, at 3159 Flatbush Ave.

The program uses special adaptive bicycles to gradually transition kids to riding regular two-wheeled bikes without assistance.
Participants must be at least 8 years old and have a disability. They must be able to walk without an assistive device and sidestep to both sides, as well as be under 220 pounds and have a minimum inseam measurement of 20 inches. All participants must be able to attend a 75-minute session for each of the five days of camp. Those with their own two-wheeled bikes are strongly encouraged to bring them the first day.
Registration is limited; email bikecampnyc@gmail.com for more information or to sign up.