State pols make a mint

From the Daily News:

State lawmakers draw a $79,500 salary from taxpayers for their part-time legislator jobs — but for most of them, that’s just chump change.

A new study shows that members of the state Assembly and Senate took home between $178,140 and $237,941 in 2012 on average, thanks to outside income from investments and jobs with law firms and other businesses.

“Being a state legislator is considered a part-time job and, clearly, a lot of them treat it as such,” said Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which released the study with Common Cause/NY on Tuesday.

Lawmakers on average earned far more than the state’s median household income, which was $56,951 last year.

And some earned stratospheric salaries with 20 legislators recording total assets worth $1 million or more.

The revelations about lawmakers’ wealth are available thanks to new ethics disclosures that for the first time required all elected officials to report details regarding their outside incomes. The lawmakers disclosed income ranges, not specific details.

Read More

Does St. Michael's Cemetery have land to swap for parkland?

This was passed on by a reader:

BILL NUMBER:S581

TITLE OF BILL: An act to authorize the city of New York to discontinue use of and convey certain park land

PURPOSE: To authorize the city of New York to discontinue use of certain park land and convey it to the St. Michael's cemetery.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1. Authorizes the city of New York to discontinue use as park land and to convey, in fee simple, the land described in section three of this act to Saint Michael's Cemetery.

Section 2. Provides that the authorization of this act shall be subject to the requirement that the city of New York shall use any proceeds and/or land received in exchange for the conveyance authorized by this act to acquire land, to be dedicated for park purposes in an amount equal to or greater than the fair market value of the land being conveyed.

Section 3. Describes the land authorized to be discontinued as park land and conveyed as the property bounded by Astoria Boulevard to the north, 30th Avenue to the south, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the east, and St, Michael's Cemetery to the west, in the Astoria section of Queens, City and State of New York. The property consists of a 3.77 acre highly irregularly shaped parcel of vacant land know as St. Michael's Park.

JUSTIFICATION: This legislation would allow St. Michael's Cemetery, located in Astoria, Queens to acquire a small strip of park land that is underutilized and in disrepair located adjacent to the cemetery.

St. Michael's Cemetery has agreed to transfer a replacement parcel of land to the City of New York in order to replace the park land acquired and ensure that the western Queens community does not lose valuable green space.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2012: Senate Bill 2513 (Gianaris) - Died in Senate Cities Committee 2012: Assembly Bill 4874 (Simotas) - Died in Assembly Rules Committee 2010: Senate Bill 2768-B (Onorato) - Died in Senate Cities Committee 2010: Assembly Bill 4317-B (Gianaris) - Died in Assembly Cities Committee

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.

VOTE: COMMITTEE VOTE: - Cities - May 30, 2013
Ayes (5): Lanza, DeFrancisco, Grisanti, Avella, Breslin
Ayes W/R (1): Ball

So, where is the replacement parkland?

Read More

Avella vs. Stavisky on FMCP parkland alienation

Watch Senator Avella denounce the USTA's alienation of parkland at 8:10:41 followed by Senator Stavisky urging her colleagues to vote in favor of it at 8:13:30.

Read More

No more welfare for booze, sex and gambling

From the Daily News:

Welfare checks could no longer go for beer, booze and babes under a bill that passed the New York state Senate on Tuesday.

The bill would bar welfare cash withdrawals at liquor stores and strip clubs, and would penalize recipients caught blowing support checks on sin and vice with the loss of benefits for a month or more.

The feds have ordered states to crack down on welfare waste, fraud and abuse by February or lose 5% of their federal public assistance funding.

Read More

Pedro sent to the clink for 5 years

From CBS New York:

Former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., who pleaded guilty to tax fraud, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Espada blew a kiss to supporters before deputy marshals took him out of courtroom. The once-influential politician was convicted previously in a separate case alleging he looted more than $500,000 from taxpayer-subsidized health clinics in the Bronx.

Espada founded and operated the Soundview Health Center for three decades until prosecutors accused him of turning the network into a personal ATM.

Prosecutors have said Espada spent some of the stolen funds on lobster dinners, the remodeling of his Westchester home, flowers for his wife and ponies for a grandchild’s birthday party.

Espada was apparently calm as he strutted into the courtroom on Friday, but that confidence was quickly erased as a judge handed the former Bronx State Senator five-years in jail. The sentence begins immediately, giving Espada no time to get his affairs in order.

Speaking before the sentence was handed down, Espada offered no signs of remorse.

Read More

Shirley says entire Senate is corrupt

From the Daily News:

Huntley said she agreed to become an informant — spying on pols using James Bond-like gadgets like a video camera hidden in a water bottle — to protect her family from being prosecuted along with her. And to those who condemn her betrayal, she offers a middle finger.

“I could care less what the politicians think about me,” Huntley, 74, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview. “They know what I say is true because they live it every day. Albany is a mess. It’s all about money and power. I don’t think most of them give a tinker’s damn about their constituents.”

Huntley is indeed unabashed.

“If John (Sampson) and Malcolm (Smith) would talk, oh my God,” she said provocatively. “They flip him (Sampson) and you’ll need a special election to elect a whole new damn Senate.”

Read More

"Senator Rules" is Mike Bloomberg

From the Queens Chronicle:

Within the halls of Albany roams a lawmaker, unelected and unseen, with one role: to introduce legislation no other state senator wants to be associated with. “Senator Rules” is his (or her) name, and he (or she) is the lead sponsor of a bill currently in the Senate’s Rules Committee that will alienate what is now parkland to allow the United States Tennis Association to expand its presence in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The legislation literally lists “Rules” as its sponsor, reflecting the committee’s ability to refer bills to itself. It is part of a common practice in the Senate, sources with knowledge of Senate practices told the Chronicle.

“Senator Rules” is the resulting fictitious lawmaker jokingly referred to in the halls of the state Capitol for such bills. But intrigue surrounds who exactly pushed for the USTA alienation bill. Several lawmakers demurred at speculating who pushed the Rules Committee to take up the bill, but several sources said a Republican-controlled Senate committee would not grant anonymity to a Democratic lawmaker.

“Senator Rules” commonly introduces bills that increase taxes in Republican districts, said one source with knowledge of the Senate’s machinations. The fictional lawmaker also sponsors legislation on behalf of municipalities — which may point to the USTA bill’s author, which some sources believe to be the Bloomberg administration.

The last line of the bill’s sponsor’s memo reads, “Accordingly, the Mayor urges the earliest possible favorable consideration of this proposal by the Legislature.”

“The bill seems to have been submitted directly from the Mayor’s Office,” said one source, who asked to remain anonymous.

An inquiry with the Mayor’s Office prompted a terse response stating Bloomberg supports the USTA’s plan, but no specifics about the administration’s role in the legislation’s genesis.

Read More

Avella's brownfield bill passed by Senate

From Bayside Patch:

The state Senate has passed a bill proposed by Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, that would require the city’s Department of Environmental Conservation to notify any community board of new brownfield site cleanups.

Current DEC regulations require a period of public comment for a brownfield cleanup request. Adjacent property owners, nearby schools and local newspapers must also be notified.

But Avella said community boards should also be notified because they are often instrumental in soliciting public comment from the neighborhoods they represent.

Avella said he was inspired to introduce the bill by the Waterpointe-Whitestone brownfield site. Community Board 7 had been holding committee meetings regarding the site, but were never informed of the initial plan for a cleanup at the site.

Read More

Avella's BSA bills advance

From Bayside Patch:

The state Senate’s Cities Committee has passed two bills proposed by Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, that involve the city’s Boards of Standards and Appeals.

One bill would require that one of the members of the BSA, which regulates development of private property, must be a financial analyst with processional qualifications and at least 10 years experience in the field.

Currently, the city’s charter requires the board to have at least one member who is a planner, another who is a registered architect and at least one licensed professional engineer.

“Given the broad powers the BSA has in granting variances based on economic and financial hardship, it should also be obvious that there is an important need for one member of the BSA to be a financial analyst,” Avella said.

The second bill would require that the variance and special permit decisions made by the board must be decided by a two-thirds majority of quorum present and voting.

Read More

Cowardly senators introduce parkland alienation bill without sponsor

From A Walk in the Park:

With just ten days left in the State Senate and Assembly session, "no name" proponents quietly introduced legislation this afternoon to alienate parkland for the United State Tennis Association expansion NYC Park Advocates has learned.

And we mean quietly. The Bill, S 5663, was introduced without a sponsor, a distinction reserved for legislators unwilling to take responsibly for the legislation.

"That seems like a way around accountability," commented one chief of staff for an Assembly member.

So everyone has come out in favor of the USTA plan, but no one wants to put their name on the bill?

Simply amazing. But not all that surprising.

Read More