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.

How we should be hearing reality during a needless bus strike

By Helen Rosenthal

As we now know, New York City spends more than twice as much busing our kids to school compared to any other city. The mayor’s plan to bid the contracts to lowest-bidder bus companies who keep their costs down by hiring the newest, lowest-salaried employees—is not likely to have much of an impact on the $1.1 billion the city spends annually—nor is it structurally sound. Eventually workers’ salaries will increase again with longevity.

Real budget savings will happen when the routes are managed more efficiently.

Parent coordinators on the Upper West Side say that it’s not unusual to have two kids who live on the same block come in two separate buses with fewer than six kids on each bus—buses that are meant for 20 kids. The reason that New York City spends so much money on buses is because they are used inefficiently. It’s not about the union drivers and matrons asking for job protections—and frankly it is in our best interest to have drivers and matrons with experience, especially when they are helping our special needs kids get to school.

We count on city government to spend our tax dollars wisely and efficiently. How efficient are the 7,700 bus routes that are devised by the Department of Education? According to the DOE, nearly 400 routes have fewer than 6 children, and 27 routes have just one child. How many routes are filled to 90 percent capacity? What incentive does the DOE have to maintain efficient routes?

Meanwhile the strike, going into its fourth week, is having a real impact on kids, their families, and the workers.

One Upper West Side family struggles daily to get their son to his special needs school in Brewster, 23 miles away, along with their two other children who attend local public school. After a harrowing year identifying the right school, he finally settled into a routine with a bus driver and matron who are extremely kind and attentive. Needless to say, all of that is turned upside down again.

Maria, a bus driver who lives in the Bronx, is striking because she has seven years of experience, makes $34,000 annually and is mother to three young children—asking her to give up her “seniority” would have too great an impact on her family. As a taxpayer and parent, I appreciate her seniority—her commitment—to the kids she safely brings to schools.

Our children deserve experienced drivers, matrons, and mechanics—we count on them every day.

At issue is the RFP (Request for Proposals) that the mayor plans to issue this week so bus companies can bid for these contracts. Unlike the previous contract, the RFP does not include the employee protections that give workers with seniority first dibs on available jobs.

ATU 1181, the union representing the striking bus workers, recently asked Mayor Bloomberg for a “cooling off” period which allows them to go back to work with the understanding that the Mayor would hold off on putting their contracts out to bid. This would give time for the two sides to come to an understanding about employee protections; it would also give the DOE more time to properly analyze how many bus routes are needed.

Most importantly, a “cooling off” period would end the disruption in the lives of the 150,000 children and their families who count on the bus each day. It would allow parents, drivers, matrons, and mechanics to get back to work. Our New York City economy needs this to happen.

Helen Rosenthal is former Chair of Community Board 7 and is currently a candidate for NYC Council, the Upper West Side District 6.

Oyster shell dresses and green grass suits raise awareness of the city’s community gardens

Michael Leete, who works at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) in Alphabet City, showed up for last weekend’s “anti-fashion” show dressed as a sparkly orange tree. Leete, 28, and fellow acts were decked out head-to-toe in all recycled and organic material.

“We’re exposing a different side of fashion,” Leete explained of the show’s mission. “We’re showing how it can be used in protest to make the act more interesting.”

While high-end fashion is invading New York City for February Fashion Week, MoRUS and its partner organizations had something a little different, something a little earthier, in mind for their show, which took place at the museum’s C-Squat on Avenue C.

Another volunteer, Barbara Ross, came strapped with dangling oyster shells.

“New York City once had oysters in the Hudson River that were wiped out,” she said of her costume’s purpose. “There’s talk of bringing them back to help with storm surges.” Ross’s oyster shell costume was meant to shed light on the potential environmental benefits of mollusks.

“All these costumes have a green message,” she said. “They show what people can do.”

“Fashion can also be functional,” Leete said, adding that costumes like his, a part of the Earth Celebrations series, were intended to raise awareness of the city’s prolific community gardens and plans to demolish them.

Earth Celebrations is a nonprofit organization directed by activist Felicia Young that aims to preserve these gardens through art and performance.

In addition, the show had a broader mission of bringing attention to how costumes and props can be used to promote positive change in the face of social, environmental and political issues—including the use of puppets to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Prior to the show, Young took the stage to talk about the group’s work.

“New York City has the highest concentration of community gardens in America, and Earth Celebrations helped save them,” Young said. “People didn’t even know these gardens existed.”

Young said the gardens grew out of rubble-filled lots of the 1970s, cultivated by individuals who helped transform neighborhoods previously considered slums. Real estate developers then began targeting those very spots.

“These gardens should not be a temporary stopgap on the way to luxurious neighborhoods,” Young said. “These are not vacant lots.”

Over time, since the organization’s founding in 1991, politicians like former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg got involved in helping preserve the gardens by providing grants and helping raise awareness.

Volunteers Isabelle Garcia, 31, and Lauren Mittelman, 24, walked the recycled runway in suits made of grass, which was grown directly onto the costumes by Bill Di Paola, a MoRUS co-founder and staunch activist in the city with the environmental organization Time’s Up!

Mittelman said the suits represented how easy it can be to grow something no matter the context. “If you can grow grass on a suit in a week, you can grow sustainable stuff anywhere,” she said.

Amanda Buckley, a 30-year-old painter in the city who works a variety of odd jobs, was in the audience on Saturday. Buckley heard about the museum’s show on Facebook and decided to check it out.

“I’m interested in how political activism can exist in an artistic context,” Buckley said.

Another audience member, Jerry Trudell, said he used to squat nearby in the 1990s and helped start the transformation of vacant lots into gardens that brought Earth Celebrations into being. He said a garden procession went around every year to support and bring visibility to the garden coalition by uniting garden activists from different areas.

MoRUS’ “anti-fashion” show also included a brassy performance by the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a volunteer-run band, complete with dancers, which regularly shows up at a variety of protest events, rallies and benefits throughout the city. The band first formed to protest the Republican National Convention.

Hanna Kyle Moranz, 31, a dancer who’s been with the band since 2008, said the orchestra, like MoRUS and its partner organizations, “strongly believes in the power of spectacle for positive change.”

By Nick Powell

Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined his preliminary budget for fiscal year 2014 last Tuesday, emphasizing that the budget will be balanced without any tax increases. But what stood out was the glaring loss of $724 million in state education funding over the next two years, a consequence of the lack of progress over negotiating a teacher evaluation plan with the United Federation of Teachers.

The $250 million loss this year will be reflected in immediate cuts to child care and after-school programs, and would result in a loss of up to 700 teachers through attrition. The city will forfeit $250 million in aid in the next fiscal year too, plus another $224 million in the state executive budget if the two sides do not reach an agreement by Sept. 1, meaning another 1,800 teachers could be lost through attrition.

State Education Commissioner John King recently wrote to Bloomberg that he plans to baseline that $250 million loss for the next four years—resulting in a potential four-year loss of roughly $1 billion in state education funding—if discussions between the city and the teachers union remain stalled.

Bloomberg said the city was spending $8 billion more per year on education than when he first took office, and while the state’s education aid has plateaued in the last four fiscal years around the $19-21 billion range, it has also generally increased from 2002-03, when the state spent $14.6 billion. Still, the mayor accused the state of turning its back on the city’s children by imposing the school aid penalties.

“We’re not walking away from education in spite of the fact that I would argue the state’s walking away from us,” Bloomberg said.

Later, in a testy exchange with a reporter, he remarked that the one-year teacher evaluation agreements that 99 percent of the state’s school districts have signed are a “sham” and a “joke” because they violate state law that requires a two-year period to evaluate a teacher. He added that Gov. Andrew Cuomo “can’t just snap his fingers” to make the school districts agree to another teacher evaluation deal after this year.

However, the mayor said that he would happily take the $250 million in education aid should he be able to reach a deal with the teachers union in the coming days. The mayor left open the possibility of coming to an agreement, but hardly sounded optimistic.

“I said from day one, we can come to an agreement with them, we talk every day,” Bloomberg said. “But fundamentally you’re asking a union to let its members be evaluated, and discriminate, and have distinctions based on productivity rather than based on seniority, and essentially unions have always been opposed to that, but we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, UFT President Michael Mulgrew testified in front of the Legislature on Tuesday, where legislators grilled him on the failed teacher evaluation agreement. Mulgrew continued to blame Bloomberg and education officials for not negotiating in good faith.

“We had 40 plans from different cities during negotiations, and they were not interested in copying another city’s plan,” Mulgrew said.

Despite the lack of progress on a deal, Mulgrew said he reached out to Bloomberg to set up a future negotiation date, but that has not been scheduled yet.

In addition to the loss in state education aid, $135 million will be cut from after-school and child care programs that service more than 47,000 children, many from low-income families. The specter of this cut, among others, set off angry responses from child care advocates.

“Just like last year, 47,000 children are set to lose access to after-school and early education programs—programs proven to help children succeed while parents work to support their families,” said Michelle Yanche, assistant executive director for government and external relations at Good Shepherd Services, on behalf of the Campaign for Children, a coalition of child care advocacy groups. “The same parents and providers will be forced to fight for the same funding that they were just given a few months ago. How can this be happening, after all we’ve heard from our city leaders about making children a priority?”

With reporting by Aaron Short. A version of this story originally appeared on the
website of City & State, cityandstateny.com.

MICRO-APARTMENT DESIGN WINNER ANNOUNCED
New Yorkers are used to living in tiny apartments, but the shoebox is about to get even smaller. Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the winners of the “My Micro NY” apartment design contest. The winning designs, by a team from Monadnock Development LLC, Actors Fund Housing Development Corp. and nARCHITECTS, feature 9-to-10-foot ceilings and somewhere around 300 square feet of space. Almost half of the 55 micro-units, which will be built on East 27th Street, will be available at an affordable price.

“New York’s ability to adapt with changing times is what made us the world’s greatest city,” the mayor said when announcing the winner. “And it’s going to be what keeps us strong in the 21st century.”

The space includes ample storage, a tiny kitchen with a full-size fridge and a living/sleeping area. The building itself is a part of Bloomberg’s program adAPT NYC. Construction will begin in the fall.

EDUCATION 311 CALLS GETTING LOST
It is no secret that 311 calls get lost in the shuffle, even though the calls are supposed to be answered within seven days. But according to City Councilmember Gale Brewer, parental calls about schools have been re-routed to school networks instead of the superintendent. This makes many of the calls go largely unnoticed, she said in a letter to the Department of Education.
“Parents are desperate to have their questions answered,” Brewer said. But she also allowed that the 311 system might not be the most efficient place for school concerns; in her view, “311 is great for simple things and information,” not so great for more complicated educational questions.

SPEAKING OF LINCOLN
The New-York Historical Society presents a special historical treat. Watch the critically acclaimed movie Lincoln and then hear from the movie’s screenwriter, Tony Kushner, (Angels in America), and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer (Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America). They will discuss the film’s treatment of our 16th president. Tickets are $35.

FIGHTING HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN
On Friday, Feb. 1, Lenox Hill Hospital is offering free screenings for cholesterol, blood pressure, calcium scores, glucose, BMI and vascular health. Visitors can also sample heart-healthy snacks and check out free yoga demonstrations. At the Einhorn Auditorium, 131 E. 76th St., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

MICRO-APARTMENT DESIGN WINNER ANNOUNCED
New Yorkers are used to living in tiny apartments, but the shoebox is about to get even smaller. Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the winners of the “My Micro NY” apartment design contest. The winning designs, by a team from Monadnock Development LLC, Actors Fund Housing Development Corp. and nARCHITECTS, feature 9-to-10-foot ceilings and somewhere around 300 square feet of space. Almost half of the 55 micro-units, which will be built on East 27th Street, will be available at an affordable price.

“New York’s ability to adapt with changing times is what made us the world’s greatest city,” the mayor said when announcing the winner. “And it’s going to be what keeps us strong in the 21st century.”

The space includes ample storage, a tiny kitchen with a full-size fridge and a living/sleeping area. The building itself is a part of Bloomberg’s program adAPT NYC. Construction will begin in the fall.

CORNELL TECH CAMPUS COMES ONE STEP CLOSER
The proposed high-tech Cornell NYC campus for Roosevelt Island is one step closer to fruition. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer approved the plan last week under a few conditions. The brand-new tech campus is designed to attract students of science and technology and will feature energy-efficient buildings and new degrees like the Master’s of Engineering in computer science. The project, with residential, commercial and academic buildings, is expected to be completed by 2037.

But Stringer did approve the project with some stipulations: He wants to create a community advisory board, expanding the red bus line and expanding the hours of the open campus space.
The new tech campus is part of a citywide plan to help foster New York’s growth as an incubator of technology and innovation.

“The proposed project will have significant benefits to New York City as it will expand our ever-growing tech sector,” Stringer said.

HISTORY BUFFS REJOICE!
The 59th annual Winter Antiques Show at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street and Park Avenue is now under way, and runs until Feb. 3. The show will feature 73 exhibitors with wares from Ancient Rome to mid-century Americana. The show will, as it usually does, benefit the East Side House Settlement in the South Bronx. Tickets are $20. Don’t miss “Young Collectors’ Night” on Jan. 31, featuring cocktails and a private viewing of the show.

FIGHTING HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN
On Friday, Feb. 1, Lenox Hill Hospital is offering free screenings for cholesterol, blood pressure, calcium scores, glucose, BMI and vascular health. Visitors can also sample heart-healthy snacks and check out free yoga demonstrations. At the Einhorn Auditorium, 131 E. 76th St., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“Today’s announcement is a milestone for new housing models,” Steel said at the press conference announcing the decision.

AdAPT NYC was launched last July as a pilot program seeking to develop micro-units, a new model of housing that aims to be efficient and affordable in a time of rising population growth. A Request for Proposals was issued to find developers to design, build and operate NYC’s first-ever micro-unit apartment building at 335 E. 27th St.

“We’ve built market-rate and affordable housing in the five boroughs that has given people places to live and make memories, but this is an important opportunity to change the way we think about living space in an urban setting,” said Alphonse Lembo of Monadnock.

Because an entire building of micro-units does not meet NYC housing codes, Bloomberg has decided to waive the relevant zoning regulations during this testing period.

“The growth rate for one- and two-person households greatly exceeds that of households with three or more people, and addressing that housing challenge requires us to think creatively and beyond our current regulations,” Bloomberg said.

My Micro NY will be Manhattan’s first multi-unit building to use modular construction, a method that cuts cost and time. Sections will be pre-made at another location, in this case the Brooklyn Navy Yard, then transported and added to the already completed foundation, utilities and ground floor.

Features of this winning project include a multi-purpose ground floor used for “creative activities,” a rooftop garden, laundry room and fitness space. The housing units themselves, covering 250 to 370 square feet, will be divided into “toolbox” and “canvas” zones, featuring full-depth closet, compact kitchen, 9-foot, 10-inch ceilings and Juliette balconies.

Who is the target consumer for this revolutionary style of living? One or two people earning low to middle incomes looking to live in Manhattan. The city hopes it might attract young professionals trying to get their footing or a newlywed couple looking for their first shared home.

The Museum of the City of New York will be  featuring the winning proposal along with four other distinguished proposals in the exhibit “Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers.”
Museum director Susan Jones said, “With this exhibition, the Museum of the City of New York and the Citizens Housing & Planning Council are giving New Yorkers a glimpse into the future of housing in our city.”

Another Democratic Official Backs Lappin
State Sen. Brad Hoylman is the fifth elected Manhattan Democrat to endorse City Council Member Jessica Lappin in her run for Manhattan borough president. Noting Lappin’s past achievements that should prove beneficial for future issues, Hoylman said, “She’s fought to bring new schools to the borough and ease overcrowding. Her key role in bringing the Cornell-Technion applied sciences campus here will create thousands of good jobs. And she understands how critical preserving and expanding affordable housing is to the middle class.”

Hoylman went on to acclaim Lappin’s progressive efforts, particularly toward pro-choice, LGBT rights, civil rights and social justice.

“I’m incredibly proud and honored to have Brad’s support for borough president,” Lappin said. “He’s one of the exciting new voices in the Democratic Party—and someone who’s spent more than two decades as a West Side civic activist making a difference on so many issues important to his community.”

Nadler Ranks Again
Once again, Congressman Jerrold Nadler has been named the ranking Democrat on the newly renamed Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice of House Judiciary Committee. This subcommittee has jurisdiction over all proposed constitutional amendments as well as constitutional and civil rights and civil liberties (i.e., LGBT rights and abortion rights).

As a vehemently outspoken advocate of these rights and liberties, Nadler is honored to continue this role. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance critical constitutional and civil rights that continue to be under attack by a right-wing majority in the House and in the courts,” he said. I will do my very best to form a first line of defense against any and all attempts to limit or roll back protections.”

Compiled by Jessica Mastronardi

Mostly I push “Yes” on my keyboard all the time to support liberal progressive causes from the comfort of my swivel office-chair. My advocacy for human and animal rights has largely consisted of signing “Yes, I agree.” “Yes, I stand with you!” on such petitions.

In the past two years, there have been 18 accidents involving horse-drawn carriages, many injuries and several deaths. So why is it so hard to end this archaic form of so-called amusement? The carriage industry has a strong union which, along with stubborn politicians including Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg, says the carriage rides are good for the all-important tourism industry. But, of course, it is also a form of animal cruelty.

NYClass, an animal advocacy organization (the acronym stands for New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets), has proposed a plan that is tourist-friendly, helps carriage drivers keep their jobs, and uses clean energy. It suggests these horses be humanely retired and replaced with vintage electric cars. Makes sense to me.

In December, I met NYClass and fellow protesters at 59th Street and Sixth Avenue. The Trump-lined street was teeming with tourists interested in carriage rides through the park. While we protested by holding signs and posters of horses down from accidents, I was taunted, mocked and cursed out by an angry horse driver.

“Oh, the poor horseys,” he called out to me. That alone was a bit shocking, but he continued by calling me a crude name for female genitalia. Really? Did he just call me that? Who does that? Feeling helpless and provoked like a 12-year-old being bullied, I retorted by giving him the finger. The fortysomething, amply built man then challenged me with what he thought was a clincher of a question.

“Name me three breeds of horses—go ahead, name me three breeds of horses!” he yelled. I shouted back, “No, I can’t, but can you tell me the names of the last three horses that died while pulling tourists?” Again he replied, “Oh, the poor horseys!”

By then, rip-roaring mad, I called him a different body part and walked away. I am not proud of this. I probably should have been more mature and controlled.

Well, you don’t have to put yourself at risk of being cursed out by a carriage driver, although it was instructive to join the fight. If you would like to help put an end to this abusive practice, check out NYClass’s website, www.ny-class.org, and push “Yes, I support retiring the horse-drawn carriages and replacing them with humane, sustainable electric vintage-replica tour cars proposed in the NYC Council bill, Intro 86A.”

And if you do decide to join them on their next outing, they have a calendar full of events. Hey, you may meet Kathy Najimy or Alec Baldwin or Lea Michele or Miley Cyrus’ sister Noah, or any number of stars who also think this industry is just downright mean.

NADLER, CUOMO ATTACK DELAY IN SANDY AID
The House of Representatives’ failure to vote on a $60 billion Hurricane Sandy disaster aid bill last week prompted a number of angry responses by local elected officials representing the storm-ravaged city.

“This is a betrayal of the millions of Americans who are struggling after Sandy and a trivialization of the loss of more than 100 American lives,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “Not taking up the $60 billion Sandy funding bill will mean that many Americans could remain homeless, the rebuilding of homes and businesses across the Northeast will be delayed, and the coastal infrastructure of the region will remain damaged and vulnerable to the next storm.”

He noted that agencies including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could not proceed with major repairs until funding is secured.

Local governors were similarly incensed. “This failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a joint statement with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer, families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and struggling during these harsh winter months is a dereliction of duty.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed more patience about the delay. “You know, democracy is something that takes a while to come together and to get the results,” he said. “As long as it turns out that we get the monies that we think are appropriate for the federal government to send to a part of the country that’s had a major natural disaster, all’s well that ends well.”

The House cast a preliminary vote to direct funds to the National Flood Insurance Program on Friday, and has scheduled to vote on the remaining aid on Jan. 15, the first day of legislative business from the new 113th Congress.

FIRE FATALITIES DROP TO LOWEST NUMBER EVER
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano announced last week that 2012 saw the fewest civilian fire deaths in New York City history. Fifty-eight people died in blazes, four fewer than the former record low of 62 deaths in 2010, and a 12 percent decline from the 66 deaths in 2011. It was the seventh consecutive year that fire-related deaths have numbered under 100, which has occurred only 12 times since the city began keeping records in 1916.

The top two causes of fire-related deaths last year were accidental electrical fires and smoking. Forty-three percent of those killed in a blaze were over the age of 70, and 79 percent of the fatal fires struck where there were no working smoke detectors.

Bloomberg and Cassano also announced that FDNY’s Emergency Medical Service set a new record last year for fastest average ambulance response time: The new record, 6:30, is down one second from 2011’s previous record.

“With a record low number of murders and shootings and the fewest fire deaths in our city’s history, 2012 was a historic year for public safety,” Bloomberg said. “The FDNY has consistently improved fire safety over the past decade and has continued to drive response times to historic lows. These achievements and the efforts by our firefighters, EMTs and paramedics to save lives—while putting theirs on the line—is the reason fewer New Yorkers died as a result of fire in 2012 than ever before.”

POLITICAL MEMORABILIA SHOW TO HOST ED POTTER AWARD
The American Political Items Collectors’ Big Apple Ed Potter Chapter is sponsoring its 25th annual Political Collectors Show on Sunday, Feb. 3. The show will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sixth Street Community Synagogue, 325 E. Sixth St., and will feature over 10,000 political items for sale, including buttons, posters, mugs, bandannas, watches and clothing that cover the presidencies of George Washington to Barack Obama, as well as a special exhibition of political memorabilia from the 2012 election.

The show will also include the presentation of the fourth annual Ed Potter Memorial Awards, named after the political memorabilia collector, which are given to those involved in the political process who have used political items and artifacts in their campaigns. This year’s recipients are New York State Assemblyman and City Councilman Adam Clayton Powell and Manhattan Media’s own CEO and mayoral hopeful Tom Allon.

Admission is $3 for adults and free for children under 16. For more information, call 212-764-6330.

MTA TO RAISE FARES
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously voted to raise fares on the city’s trains, buses, bridges and tunnels last Wednesday, Dec. 19. The new rates, which will go into effect in March, include a 25-cent increase on base subway and bus fares (up to $2.50), an $8 spike on 30-day MetroCards (to $112) and an extra $1 for a seven day pass (to $30).

Bridge and tunnel tolls all will increase, many by 53 cents to $5.33 for E-ZPass holders and by $1 to $7.50 for cash users. Metro-North and Long Island Railroad fares, which vary by time and distance, will go up on average 8.19 to 9.31 percent per ticket.

The bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards also will decrease to 5 percent from 7 percent. A bonus will be applied to purchases of $5 or more, however, instead of the current $10 minimum.

To determine the fare changes, MTA accepted feedback from customers on four different proposals for increases earlier in the year. The price hike is the authority’s fourth in five years, and it is expected to generate $450 million annually.

CITY SEEKS TO EXTEND EAST RIVER FERRY SERVICE
Major Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and NYC Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky announced their search for a long-term operator for the East River Ferry service. Launched in June 2011, the ferry this year already surpassed its projected 1.3 million passengers for the entirety of its three-year pilot program.

According to Bloomberg, “We now have the opportunity to build upon this success and sustain this essential part of our transportation vision well into the future. Expanding transportation options along the waterfront will better serve communities and spur new housing and economic development.”

A major success of this service was proven in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in that it was one of the first forms of mass transportation that got back on its feet.

“This ferry has not only proved to be a reliable and efficient form of transportation in a time of crisis, but New Yorkers also really love taking it the rest of the year,” Quinn said.

BillyBey Ferry Co. operated the ferry for the pilot program, which will expire in June 2014. The new Request for Proposals seeks an operator to maintain, improve and possibly expand this system for the following five years. Responses to the request will be collected through March 2013.

KRUEGER ENDORSES LAPPIN FOR BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Last week, state Sen. Liz Krueger has announced her endorsement of Jessica Lappin in the Democratic primary of Manhattan borough president for next year. Krueger, who noted that she had worked with Lappin for almost 10 years, said she had no doubt about Lappin’s ability to lead and make a difference.

“She shares my commitment to reform and has a proven record getting results for all New Yorkers,” Krueger said, listing results such as limited power of big money, three new Manhattan waterfronts, regulation of crisis pregnancy centers and the building of additional schools.

Lappin, in turn, praised Krueger for her tenacity. “I am equal parts excited and honored to have Liz’s support in my campaign for borough president,” she said. “No one has done more to advance the cause of reform and good government in New York over the past decade than she has.”

RED HOOK WORKERS STAFF NEW FAIRWAY IN KIPS BAY
Workers from the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged branch of Fairway Market in Red Hook relocated to Manhattan last week to staff the company’s newly opened grocery store in Kips Bay. The Red Hook branch, which is right on the water in Brooklyn, remains temporarily closed, and the company has been working to place workers in its other locations and provide free shuttle services to transport them there. The new 40,119-square-foot branch, located in the Kips Bay Shopping Center at 550 Second Ave. (at East 30th Street), is the market’s fourth Manhattan store, and 12th overall. The market has opened nine of its locations in the past six years.