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Journalism

True News Has Found Out the Identity of the Lobbyists Smith Interviewed for His Puff Piece On Albany Lobbyists

Albany Lobbyists Are Misunderstood, Says Albany Lobbyist (NY Magizine)  NY magazine’s Chris Smith interviews an unnamed Albany lobbyist about the “tricks of the big-money trade” and what impact U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is having. Smith Said the Lobbyists he interviewed never saw corruption in Albany. Among the hard hitting questions Smith asked his unnamed lobbyists who True News has identified as

Pinocchio‎ are the following: What’s a typical day? Do many deals get made over lunch or dinner?

Smith: Dean Skelos has been accused of pressing a real-estate lobbyist to get his son a job and money.
Unnamed Lobbyist:  "I was stunned by that. I've never had anybody ask me to help out anyone in their family in a financial way. I have over the years had a couple of people I knew well ask me to see if I could help their children get a job, generally when they were in college or something or looking at summer jobs. No one has ever suggested what the kid should be paid. But if they're good friends I try to help them. I have kids of my own. I may need their help someday." 

NY Magizine's Smith Did Not Ask His Unnamed Lobbyists If He Ever Met Silver and Skelos Rat Lobbyists Meara

Smith: What about asking you for money in exchange for voting in your client’s favor on a bill?  

Unnamed Lobbyist: Now, if you’re saying, I'll vote for it if you’ll give $5,000 to my campaign … I don’t think I've ever had anybody be that direct. 

Smith: With all the recent investigations and arrests, has anyone ever asked you whether you’re wearing a wire or patted you down going into a meeting?
Unnamed Lobbyist: No

Smith: In the longer run, will all this scandal fundamentally change the way Albany operates?Unnamed Lobbyist: I don’t believe so. 

Smith: But the real problem is that it takes ever-increasing amounts of money to get access to the system, and then to grease the system’s wheels.Unnamed Lobbyist: Do not think money is the only thing that works up here, or works best.

Public Housing 

EXCLUSIVE: Mayor de Blasio wants to make it easier to evict and exclude criminals – who terrorize residents – from NYCHA apartments (NYDN) As crime spiked across the authority’s 328 developments and wreaked havoc in surrounding neighborhoods, the city dropped the ball on doing something about the perps next door — and the mayor is now vowing to fix the problem. Mayor de Blasio’s spokeswoman Karen Hinton told The News Saturday the mayor has ordered a total overhaul of the entire referral process to make it faster and easier for NYCHA to evict or exclude residents who are committing crimes on authority properties. The number of eviction cases commenced by NYCHA against criminal tenants dropped 40% from 1,581 in 2011 to 942 last year — and it’s on pace to stay the same this year. The number of actual evictions dropped from 172 in 2009 to 45 last year. As of mid-October this year there have only been 20. Meanwhile, crime — including shootings, murders, assaults and robbery — jumped 31% at NYCHA projects from 2009 through 2013, far outpacing a 3% rise citywide. It dropped off slightly in 2014, but climbed 11% in the last month. NYCHA can also permanently exclude non-tenants of record who live in NYCHA apartments. Exclusions rose this year to 415 from 344 last year, but are still way down from 619 in 2010.  Tyrone Howard had been convicted repeatedly of dealing drugs out of the East River Houses, but he would do his time and then return to his old stomping grounds to sell more drugs.

Escape From NYC 
Why Is Leaving New York the LatestTrend?  Between 2000 and 2010, the Tax Foundation found that 3.4 million residents moved out of New York, Forbes listed the state in their feature “The States People are Fleeing in 2014,” and New York was the third highest “moving out” or “outbound” state inUnited Van Lines’ 2013 Migration Study. So, what’s the deal? The Sunshine State has no income tax and no estate tax — both of which New York charges. In fact, each year from 1977 to 2011, New York ranked No. 1 for the highest tax burden (except for 1984 where it came in second). The fact is, it’s expensive to live in New York and the additional tax burden over other states is becoming less appealing. When people renounce their New York citizenship, they take their tax dollars with them. The Tax Foundation estimates that New York lost more than $45.6 million in tax revenue over the last 10 years. Going along with that, the Tax Foundation listed New York as No. 49 on its 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index. Last year, it came in dead last. If the mass exodus intensifies, perhaps enough changes will be made to New York’s overall tax code to make living and retiring there more affordable. In the meantime, New York residency will continue to decline.

NYC's Economic Problems

Clueless Protested Burning An American Flag On the Sacred Burial Ground of Revolutionary Colonists Who Died Fighting for Freedom from the King Of England 

Protesters tonight plan to burn an american flag tonight in Fort Green Park in honor of those who died at the hand of Dylan Roof in the chruch in South Carolina.  The Facebook site says that Dylan Roof isn’t an isolated actor – he is a product of a consistent pattern of state-sponsored terrorism and racialized dehumanization in America.”  What the protesters did not understand or care about is the very park that they are holding their flag burning is the sacred burial ground of the colonists martyrs who died for the right to protested against their government. The memorial crypts are the resting grounds to the more than 11,500 New Yorkers, American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison ships during the American Revolutionary War.  More people died on those ships than in the entire revolutionary war (4100).  During the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, the British arrested scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. Those apprehended were deemed by the British to be prisoners of war and were incarcerated. When the British ran out of jail space to house their POWs they began using decommissioned or damaged ships that were anchored in Wallabout Bay (near the Brooklyn Navy Yard) as floating prisons.    Life was unbearable on the prison ships, the most notorious of them being the Old Jersey – which was called "Hell" by the inhabitants. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were horrendously overcrowded and wretched. If one had money they could purchase food from the many entrepreneurs who rowed up to the boat to sell their wares. Otherwise, the meager rations would consist of sawdust laden bread or watery soup. A great number of the captives died from disease and malnutrition. Their emaciated bodies were either thrown overboard * Cop haters plan flag-burning rally at NYC park(NYP) * Planned Flag Burning In Fort Greene Park Is Meant ToCriticize Racism, Say Organizers (Fort Green Focus)

de Blasio Stacks the Health Department to Win the 2017 Campaign 

The New York City Board of Health voted to consider waiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for an Orthodox circumcision ritual that can lead herpes in children, the Times reports:  * At the de Blasio administration’s urging, the NYC Board of Health voted to considerwaiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for metzitzah b’peh, an Orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. A public hearing will be held in July, and the board is expected to make a final decision in September.

De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay  The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual. 

de Blasio 2017 Re-election Campaign Has Started The Nanny Mayor Continues 

Seabrook Broke Union Out $20 Million 

Hedge fund holding Norman Seabrook’s $20M investment is broke (NYP) The embattled hedge fund holding a $20 million investment from the city’s correction officers’ union has finally admitted that it’s broke.  The Platinum Partners’ Value Arbitrage fund filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in Manhattan bankruptcy court late Tuesday. The filing represents the nail in the coffin for the $20 million the union invested in Platinum, under the leadership of its ex-president Norman Seabrook.  “Norman Seabrook severely impacted his members by making these frivolous investments that only benefited himself, and now the COBA is out $20 million,” said Corrections Officers’ Benevolent Association member William Valentin, who triggered a federal probe into Seabrook with a lawsuit over the risky investment.

Cuomo IDC Rules Albany Now

• CUOMO: INDEPENDENT DEMS NOW AN INSTITUTION...

• SEN. JEFF KLEIN: SHE IS MINE...Alcantara Fundraising for IDC...
• * No matter which party controls the state Senate come January, there is an excellent chance state Sen. Jeff Klein, the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, at the very least will wind up the chamber's co-president, the Daily News’ Ken Lovett writes.

New Yorkers Cannot Vote Early and 95% Don't Qualify For Absentee Ballots Have A Board of Election's Which Allow the Dead to Vote

Elections board won’t stop sending dead man’s family absentee ballots (NYP) Queens resident Michelle Dimino has a simple request for the city’s Board of Elections: Please remove my late dad from the voter rolls. Dimino’s father, Anthony Baldomir, died on Oct. 4, 2012. But according to the board’s records, he could vote in the Nov. 8  presidential election.

NYT Which is the Official Flack of the Developers Says What Happening to the Mom and Pop Stores

New York’s Disappearing Storefronts(NYT)

No Rat Deal Yet in NYPD Gun for Sale Guy

Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, who was charged in a $1 million scheme to illegally obtain pistol permits from the NYPD, failed to reach a plea deal and is now trying to suppress statements he made to authorities, the Post reports.

What Does Bharara Know About Weiner's Emails As the FBI is in Crisis 

Investigators from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office slapped Weiner with a subpoena for his cell phone in September after it was revealed that he had allegedly sexted with a 15-year-old North Carolina girl. (Daily News) * STASI: Weiner MayDecide Winner... @lindastasi

Fredric U. Dicker ‏@fud31   "The reality is that Mr. Comey’s Clinton probe has been a kid-glove exercise all along." A Fine FBI-Clinton Mess

A Fake News Blog Funded by Lobbyists Honors Bharara Going After Those Same Lobbyists

Manhattan U.S.Attorney Preet Bharara honored as ‘Newsmaker of the decade’ at City &State’s 10th Anniversary Gala (NYDN) Preet Bharara went from serving indictments to being served dinner. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney, named “Newsmaker of the decade,” was the keynote speaker Tuesday at City & State’s 10th  Anniversary Gala that was filled with the city’s top political leaders. The honor came just five days after he charged nine big wigs, including Gov. Cuomo’s former aide and campaign manager, with shaking down upstate companies seeking state contracts. The news magazine’s gala was held at the swanky Vermilion on Lexington Ave.

Only A Federal Arrests Will Get the Lead Out of NYCHA Apartments

Time to lead on lead: Nomore NYCHA excuses (NYDN Ed)  For years, the New York City Housing Authority has dodged its obligation to protect its smallest tenants from toxic lead paint, slipping through a loophole in safety rules. No more, if the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development keeps up its nerve with a plan to force NYCHA and other housing authorities to prevent kids’ poisoning. As the Daily News revealed earlier this year, since 2010 city health officials have identified at least 202 children living in NYCHA apartments with dangerously elevated levels of lead in their blood — poisoning associated with potentially irreversible damage to developing brains. NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye has until the end of Halloween to tell the federal government what she thinks of the looming lead-poisoning crackdown. Her bag is all out of tricks.

New York City is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month housing homeless families in the NoMad hotel, but simultaneously suing the property’s owner for operating illegal and dangerous rentals, the Post reports.

As Affordable Rents Dry Up and NYCHA Apts Decrease Homeless Numbers Increases

The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports. *
In an ever-clearer attempt to dodge accountability for enabling a developer to make a bonanza on formerly city-owned real estate, First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris has played New Yorkers for fools — possibly including Mayor de Blasio. * The number of people sleeping in New York City shelters has increased by 18 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and reached nearly 60,000, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

FDNY Chief Kill By Illegal Gas Line After the City Crack Down

Police have discovered a “deviation” in the gas line at the Bronx marijuana grow house that exploded last week, killing Battalion Chief Michael J. Fahy.

Nepotism Head of Pension System Leaving

Pension-system head leaving amid probe into her hiring ex (NYP) The head of the city’s largest pension system is leaving her $219,771-a-year job amid an investigation into the hiring of her former live-in girlfriend. Diane D’Alessandro, executive director of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, said she’ll retire effective Dec. 31 from the agency that manages pension benefits for some 300,000 workers and retirees. She’s quitting nine months after hiring her ex-domestic partner, Ellen Carton, as deputy director of human resources with a $127,000 salary. D’Alessandro had previously awarded two consulting contracts to a two-person Arizona firm joined by Carton, The Post found. After the Post report, the city Department of Investigation launched an ongoing probe.

Is Brooklyn Lost For Affordable Housing?

The last battle for Brooklyn, America's most unaffordableplace to buy a home (Guardian) It might be too late for Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy – but in Crown Heights, tenants have learned a few tricks to prevent the social cleansing of their neighbourhood. Can they succeed where the rest of Brooklyn failed?

Gentrification and Race
Airbnb Bad Neighbors, Warehouses Apartments -- Rising Rents and Increasing Gentrification
Mayor Ignores Community Leaders Opposing His Zoning Plan  
Affordable Housing, Low Wages Building, Rents 
How Blacks the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Push Out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers