BLOOMBERG, SCHNEIDERMAN BLAST GUN BILL
By Dan Rivoli
Legislation to force gun manufacturers to “code” bullets fired from semi-automatic pistols was tabled after State Senate Democrats failed to muster the 32 votes necessary to pass.
Stamping would help law enforcement officials identify the make, model and serial number of the gun that fired the bullet.
Most of the State Senate Republicans were either against the legislation or uncommitted. One Republican, Frank Padavan of Queens, supported the bill while three upstate Democrats vowed to be “no” votes.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a gun-control advocate who has donated to State Senate Republicans in the past, was a major supporter of the legislation.
After the measure was set aside, Bloomberg released a statement scolding the bill’s opponents, who felt that gun manufacturers would carry the financial burden of implementing the technology.
“This was a defeat for our police officers, district attorneys and the public—and a victory for criminals who use illegal guns to shoot and kill innocent people,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, the bill’s author and an attorney general candidate, felt that the failure to pass the legislation was a setback for public safety. Schneiderman has since called for a new vote on the microstamping bill at a press conference in Long Island.
“Opposing microstamping is like opposing DNA evidence or fingerprinting to solve crimes,” Schneiderman said in a statement.
WEST SIDE LIBRARIES BRACE FOR CUTS
The New York City Public Library could face devastating cuts if Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed $37 million reduction in library funding is adopted. In addition to jobs lost through attrition, 736 additional library jobs could be eliminated, according to Susan Singer, a library manager at the Bloomingdale branch, on West 100th Street.
“It would be the worst cut in our history,” Singer said during a July 17 meeting of Community 7’s youth, education and libraries committee.
Six-day service is also under threat. West Side branches have already cut down on hours and instituted a hiring freeze. If the proposed changes go through, the surviving libraries would only open four days a week, according to Singer. Free programs for children would also be eliminated.
In response to the crisis, the library has instituted a fundraising and letter-writing campaign. To date, nearly 100,000 letters of support have been collected.
City Smoking
To the Editor:
A few comments about “The Benefits of an Outdoor Ban,” where, contrary to the title, you marshal several arguments against an outdoor smoking ban (Sidebar, “No Ifs, Ands or Butts,” Sept. 24).
The fact that New York City air is already polluted is not an argument against a ban. A high crime rate is not an argument for committing more crimes. And just because studies haven’t yet shown bodily harm from secondhand smoke outdoors doesn’t mean that no harm is being done. Any smoke is harmful for living things. When I walk behind a smoker I am getting a pretty concentrated dose of smoke from the cigarette, even if the smoker is not inhaling. Read more
No Ifs, Ands Or Butts
City smokers are being snuffed out, and if Mayor Bloomberg has his way, soon there may be no place left to inhale but your living room.
In 2003, New York City implemented in a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars, severing the sacred bond between nicotine and liquor and forcing the 17 percent of New Yorkers who classify themselves as smokers to take their habits to the curb. Read more
The Mayor’s Race: Focus on Economic Development
As the city attempts to pull itself out of the sort of economic crisis not seen since the days of The Great Depression, mayoral candidates are coming forward with their own solutions to the problem.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is running for re-election to a third term, arguing that the economic collapse requires continuity and his particular brand of leadership. But his opponents argue that he has been too friendly with Wall Street and the real estate developers that contributed to this problem in the first place. Read more
BID B-DAY
The Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) celebrated the start of its 10th year at a luncheon last month.
The BID, created in January 2000, is contained within the Central Park West Historic District, and covers Columbus Avenue from West 67th to 82nd streets. In addition to promoting local businesses, the BID provides maintenance, sanitation and security services to the area. It is one of 64 BIDs in the city.
“Columbus Avenue has long had all the ingredients of a thriving corridor: It’s an historic district with great cultural institutions, right next to one of the world’s most famous parks. But for too long, it didn’t live up to its potential,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg during a June 23 celebration at Isabella’s, on Columbus Avenue. “Building strong, attractive neighborhoods is one of the pillars of our administration’s five-borough economic opportunity plan—our strategy for leading the city out of the national recession as quickly as possible.”
Earlier this year, the BID hosted the second annual New Taste of the Upper West Side event, attracting more than 1,700 attendees and raising additional funds for beautification initiatives.
The Mayor’s Race: Focus on Housing & Development
When it comes to housing and development, New York City often devolves into a war zone. The battle over Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, defeated plans for a Jets Stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan and the commercial and residential development of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn have aroused deep emotions, as developers, elected officials, affordable housing advocates and neighborhood preservationists fight for land in a city with limited space.
But the drama isn’t exactly unwarranted. Read more
The Mayor’s Race: Focus On Education
In 2002, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of New York City’s public school system, reversing a 30-year governance structure in which the Board of Education managed 32 community school districts. It was a system that many regarded as marred by political infighting and lacking in accountability. The new law allowed the mayor unprecedented oversight, and through Bloomberg’s appointment of Chancellor Joel I. Klein, he created a system of competition among schools with annual report cards, cash incentives for academic progress and a slew of new small schools and charter schools from which parents could choose. Read more
LAST MINUTE TERM-LIMIT DECISION
When Council Member Gale Brewer was about to explain her vote on term limits, she said she had two speeches in front of her eyes: one in support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s bill to extend term limits, and one against the measure.
She eventually read from the speech that explained her “no” vote, though she said nobody knew how she was going to vote until she actually did. Brewer had remained silent on the issue and undecided on her vote.
“I think about a half hour earlier I decided,” Brewer said. “I really didn’t know.”
Her decision might have been made for her if an amendment that she introduced with Council members Alan Gerson and had David Yassky passed. That amendment would have required a voter referendum to extend term limits, essentially gutting the mayor’s bill. Brewer, Gerson and Yassky all voted for the amendment, but Brewer was the only one who also voted against the mayor’s legislation.
Brewer had been wrestling with the vote: she said she thinks Bloomberg has been an effective mayor and has always felt that 12 years in office is better than eight. Even more so, she said she felt that Council members who voted against Bloomberg’s bill would benefit with a third term anyway.
“It is a little ‘Have your cake and eat it too,’” Brewer said. “You’re riding on the backs of people who vote ‘yes.’”
Still, Brewer bucked that logic and voted against the bill.
“Something just gnawed at me, at my gut,” she said. “The real reason was the depth of people concerned about this issue. I never saw anything like it.”
Many of her closest friends and allies, Brewer said, felt passionately that term limits ought to be changed through a referendum, like the ballot initiatives in 1993 and 1996 that authorized term limits, rather than Council action.
“Most of the people who were bothering me about the right to vote,” Brewer said, “mean a lot to me.”
–Dan Rivoli
EXTEND TERM LIMITS FOR 2009
From political circles to dinner tables and PTA meetings, the city is abuzz with term-limit discussions. Reasonable people can reasonably disagree on whether or not we should extend the current two-term threshold for city officials in 2009, and certainly here in our office we’ve had a spirited debate on the matter. But given the unknown—and likely bleak—outlook on the economy, we feel voters should be given a third chance to elect Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Read more
