As Steve DiBrienza started his run for his old City Council seat, he rapidly got sidetracked by an apparent scandal. The highly dubious NY Post claimed DiBrienza had simply kept his old city council office, two doors down from current City Councilman Bill de Blasio's office (did Bill know this?), paid for by city money (either with the approval of Gifford Miller and Christine Quinn, or they both were sadly lax in their oversight of their colleagues), and still drew a salary from city money. The cover for this was a supposed non-profit called the "Neighborhood Assistance Corp." Clever name. Sounded good AND it sounds like a branch of the legitimate, national organization Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America.  read more »

The DiBrienza scandal, which I wrote about a couple of days ago, may die out quickly...that is sure what DiBrienza, Quinn, Yassky and some other City Council members would like. Or it may be the beginning of a major scandal that could being some or all of those people down.  read more »

We think of progressive taxation, if we think of it at all, as a ten-dollar term for making the rich pay more of their fair share. But Thursday at Noon NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn Member David Yassky, advised by the Drum Major Institute, give it a newer twist: let lower income New Yorkers pay less . Is Ms. Quinn finally turning from the darkside of the Bloomberg Empire?

There are, as it turns out, almost 225,00 very low wage households in New York City in which workers are paying NYC income taxes even though they’re exempt from NY State and Federal tax (because they fall below the State and Federal, but not the NYC, tax minimum.)

Speaker Quinn will propose today to eliminate the income tax on NYC’s lowest income workers at the fairly modest cost to the City of $72 million. This will put, I am told, $321/year on average into the hands of families. That money will be spent immediately, creating a mini-stimulus, and easing the daily life of the most hard-pressed workers.

DMI explains:  read more »

Got an interesting letter forwarded to me, and I am told I can run with it. I am hoping I am not stepping on the toes of either of the two good folks in this sad, petty tantrum. Tony Avella and Doris Diether don't deserve this kind of crap. But it is worth showing that Chritine Quinn is willing to stoop so low for such petty reasons. Not sure the full path of this leak, but I Tony Avella does not seem party to it. But at least one key link in the chain has given the go ahead for it.

SO the background is that Doris Diether, a wonderful member of Community Board 2, is having an 80th birthday. Sincere congratulations! May Doris have many more wonderful birthdays! Doris has served on the community board since a little before I was born!  read more »

Mayor (Tsar) Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys

(Bloomberg photo from WCBSTV; Quinn photo from The Chief-Leader; Yassky photo from Streetsblog; Dom Recchia photo from Daily News)  read more »