Controlling Contracting

The WSJ is reporting that the city council is considering legislation to rein in outsourcing of city services through independent contractors: "The City Council is expected to approve legislation aimed at reining in the billions of taxpayer dollars that are spent annually on outside contracts, a move that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration contends will increase government inefficiency and bureaucracy."

That's a real backslapper! All of a sudden the mayor is interested in increasing government efficiency after ten years of larding up the public payroll? No friends this is all about control and the ability to award contracts and have the contractors beholden to-well, the mayor, of course.

Here's the mayoral spokesman's comical turn of a phrase: "Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, said the administration has "worked hard to reduce the cost and inefficiency of government by streamlining bureaucracy and cutting red tape." He said the bill "not only adds to those requirements, but erects barriers and limits commissioners' discretion to get services as quickly and efficiently as possible."

This is all Kabuki theater because-in a plague on both your houses fashion-the mayor and the council are twin culprits in the growth of government. The council's move is really to insure that more services are performed by the elite corps of unionized public servants that are known for their efficiency-not to mention crippling pension and benefit costs.

What neither Speaker Quinn nor the mayor are inclined to do is reduce the size and scope of this ever expanding and useless government edifice-the real culprit for the fact that NYC ranks at the top of the list as one of the worst places in the entire country to do business. These two are simply quibbling over the manner in which the tax payers are to be fleeced.

But if the council is really serious about containing outsourcing it might profit from taking a long hard look at the out of control NYC EDC-a "quasi-governmental" agency that runs amok without any supervision. As the NY Daily News reported last year:

"The agency that collects rent on city property failed to turn over millions to the city - but still managed to spend big bucks on extravagant travel.

The Economic Development Corp. paid for luxury hotels in China, London, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Washington, expenses from January 2008 through April show.

The records show that EDC operates under looser travel rules than city employees, who are supposed to fly coach, stay in economy hotels and limit how much they spend on food and drink."

And the same cavalier attitude applies to the agency's contracting-where they let contracts out without competitive bidding. Who decides? Who sets the rates? Who cares? We have seen what this attitude brings when it comes to the incestuous relationship between EDC and the environmental firm AKRF-phony data proffered with no accountability. AKRF is chastised for a bad data submission to state DOT by being awarded more money to clean up its filthy act.

So let's not get misdirected by the council's actions here-it's Quinn tip toeing past her Bloomberg loving past to try to curry union support for 2013. The only thing missing is a truth in advertising provision. What we need are elected officials who understand that the NYC Leviathan is the problem-the current crop couldn't understand this without a frontal lobotomy.

Helmeted Arrogance

The recently released news that an epidemic of bike related injuries is inundating NYC hospitals points to the arrogance of the mayor and his crank traffic commissioner-consider that all of this biking up the wrong tree was done without any independent review of its potential impact on either traffic congestion or car safety:

"More than 500 New York City residents are injured badly enough to be treated in hospitals after being struck by bicyclists each year, according to an analysis by Hunter College professors. The number, while small compared with the number of pedestrians injured by cars, is a much higher figure than an earlier study by the same researchers found."

And this may be only the tip of the iceberg since many of the injured are utilizing local doctors and clinics: “We don’t know how many people are injured and just go home, or see their family doctor,” said the study’s co-author Bill Milczarski, an urban planner at Hunter College. “We have lots and lots of people competing for scarce space.”

What the mayor and this nut Sadik-Khan have done is to attempt a transformation of the city's streets into one big bike lane without subjecting this massive experiment to any proper land use review-and now comes the ridiculous 10,000 bike sharing idea that threatens to make a bad situation that much worse:"And now, of course, Mayor Bloomberg and his bike-happy transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, are gearing up to put 10,000 more threats on the streets through their bicycle-sharing program."

What this demonstrates to us is the massive contempt that the elitist Bloomberg has for New Yorkers-imposing by dictat what should properly be considered through legislative review. Not that a stugy would have been any much better since the Bloomberg administration can spew out more phony data since the old Soviet Union started to concoct its fantasy Five Year Plans.

We should know. We are still sitting in amazement at the disgraceful proffer of phony traffic data for the Willets Point development-all of which points to the appropriate epitaph for the Bloomberg regime: Figures don't lie, but liars figure.

A Sorry Apology on Kelo

We just got word from Queens Crap that one of the Connecticut Supreme Court justices is now apologizing for his decision against Suzette Kelo on the New London condemnation case. The Hartford Courant has the story:

"Afterward, Susette and I were talking in a small circle of people when we were approached by Justice Richard N. Palmer. Tall and imposing, he is one of the four justices who voted with the 4-3 majority against Susette and her neighbors. Facing me, he said: "Had I known all of what you just told us, I would have voted differently."

I was speechless. So was Susette. One more vote in her favor by the Connecticut Supreme Court would have changed history. The case probably would not have advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Susette and her neighbors might still be in their homes.

Then Justice Palmer turned to Susette, took her hand and offered a heartfelt apology. Tears trickled down her red cheeks. It was the first time in the 12-year saga that anyone had uttered the words "I'm sorry."

It was all she could do to whisper the words: "Thank you."

With all due respects to Judge Palmer, you can keep the apology because it is meaningless and not only that-it is irrelevant to the legal framework that the court used to decide Kelo's fate. As the inversecondemnantion blog observes-citing the court's ruling:

"The point of us quoting these passages from the majority opinion is that it did not matter to the court whether New London's development plan would "materialize." Thus, even if the property owners had been able to show that the plan likely would fail and that the area had a high chance of becoming "barren and wholly undeveloped," the rational basis standard of review endorsed by the Connecticut Supreme Court majority meant that these factual predictions would be meaningless unless the city's predictions of success were utterly impossible or completely irrational, which they were not."

Maybe it's high time for court's to exercise a little judgment and not simply allow municipalities to run roughshod over the property rights of its citizens:

"So while it's nice to see one of the justices who endorsed that rationale make nice and say sorry, it seems to be a bit of historical revisionism to suggest that if only he'd known the future accurately he would have voted differently (wouldn't we all, Your Honor, wouldn't we all), when he expressly held that predictions of success or failure of the plan were legally irrelevant. The rational basis standard of review he applied to the case makes his present assertion that he he didn't know of the failure of the plan because those facts "were not yet in existence," itself pointless.

How about instead of these heartfelt -- but legally meaningless -- post hoc gestures, courts adopt a standard of review that would allow consideration of evidence about whether redevelopment plans such an New London's really have a genuine chance of working?"

When SCOTUS ruled that condemnation for public benefit was legal as long as there was a well developed economic plan-Justice Kennedy's brainstorm-what it failed to consider was the nefarious nature of so much that is done in the name of economic development-especially in NYC. What we have been demonstrating throughout this long fiight over Willets Point is that these city officials have an arm's length relationship with the truth-and there's a decent chance that Willets Point will be transformed-just like Suzette Kelo's neighborhood-into a dump!

The effort by NYC EDC to end run the environmental review of the required traffic ramps in a newly concocted first phase development underscores how duplicity reigns in Bloomberg's New York-and how no one's property is safe here as long as Iron Triangle Mike is holding onto to power.

TDC: Only in America?

Now that we know that TDC is vying for a large slice of the Willets Point development isn't time to ask the question: With whose money is the company playing? This is not a rhetorical question because TDC-having been stymied in its Flushing Commons project at Muni Lot I is looking to Chinese investors to jump start its project.

We covered this-and the Flushing Times had the story: "Last July, the city approved TDC’s proposal to build Flushing Commons, a mixed-use project with a price tag of more than $800 million, in the space currently occupied by Municipal Lot 1 in downtown Flushing. But the company has yet to secure the funding it needs to move forward on the condominium-centric development. TDC has turned to Chinese investors and possibly breaking the project’s construction down into phases in hopes of getting a shovel into the ground soon."

So let's get this straight. The city is actually allowing a company that-as we said yesterday-was part of an illegal lobbying scheme to bid on a project that will displace American land owners, and do so with foreign money? Isn't it enough to violate Constitutionally protected property rights without adding insult to injury by outsourcing the land purchase?

AG Schneiderman, you're on the clock.

TDC Submits a Bid: Will Crime Pay?

The Flushing Times is reporting that EDC has accepted bids on its bogus Phase I of the Willets Point development and, guess what?-TDC has submitted a bid:

"Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development — one of the premier firms in the Flushing development industry — said his company was one of the ones that submitted a first phase proposal. The company has long been a part of the ongoing process to choose a proposal and developer for the site.

“I’m just going to say at this point, since [the EDC hasn’t] gone public with anything that from the time we submitted our Request for Expression of Interest six years ago, we’ve been consistent throughout,” Myer said Tuesday. “I am very interested to know how many people submitted.”

Well, well, well, isn't this interesting. TDC has been an integral part of the Claire Shulman LDC crime scheme-you know the one that cloaked the selfish interests of developers like TDC under the umbrella of a phony not for profit; a not for profit we may add that is enjoined from legally engaging in any lobbying whatsoever. This same entity received $500,000 in tax payers money to advance the interests of Mr. Meyer's company. Nice, no?

This is the fraudulent scheme that AG Cuomo was supposed to have been investigating before he got the endorsement of the mayor-can you say, quid pro quo? It is the scheme that the current AG, Eric Schneiderman is-at least according to his staff discussions with us-supposedly still investigating. What's the hold up, Eric? Not interested in taking on the mayor and the Queens Dems-led by Virginia's own Joe Crowley?

The bottom line in all of this is that Mike Bloomberg, Mr. The Rules Don't Apply to Me, concocted a plan to create a phony grass roots support group to advance the Willets Point development-and created an LDC that was simply a stalking horse for TDC and its cohort of developer colleagues. So, in essence the tax payers funded an astroturf effort to deprive the WPU property owners of their Constitutional rights.

But what are property rights to Mike Bloomberg-a man who's only interested in protecting his own rights but not those of small landowners. Oh yes, Bloomberg will give a lachrymose speech at Ellis Island in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty to support some hucksters advancing a plan to build a GZ mosque. Freedom of religion and all. But property rights, fuhgeddaboudit!

Mike's got his, so the hell with anyone else. We wonder what it will take for law enforcement to take a long hard look at the mayor's unilateralism-maybe it will come from the Haggerty trial and the exposure of the Bloomberg electoral bribery scheme. Who knows? But no one should allow TDC to profit from its scheming-after all, crime doesn't pay, right?

The Incredible Shrinking Mayor

Well we have to say that it's about time that the local press caught up with our less than stellar view of Hizzoner the mayor. His actions around the development of Willets Point-and particularly the employment of illegal lobbying tactics-have earned Mr. Bloomberg failing grades with WPU. He has exhibited nothing but arrogance and dishonesty when it comes to our basic Constitutional rights.

Now as the mayor slogs through his illegal third term-bought and paid for by a whole host of underhanded methods and bribes of good government groups-his true colors are shining through; and the vertically challenged Bloomberg is actually getting smaller before our very eyes. This fact was amply demonstrated by his actions surrounding the dismissal of Deputy Mayor Goldsmith-as far from a profile in courage by Mikey the Mayor as possible.

Back in August, you see, Goldsmith got into a heated argument with his wife in Washington DC and the police were called-Goldsmith was arrested for domestic violence and spent 36 hours in jail before being let go when the wife wouldn't press charges (Not so lucky was Hiram Monseratte). After a conversation with the mayor, Goldsmith was sent packing.

So, what did Bloomberg tell New Yorkers about the goldsmith exit? Certainly not the truth-as the prevaricating little wilted flower prattled on about "seeking opportunities in the private sector." It took the mayor a month to come clean and when he did, he actually had the temerity to defend his actions-prompting an outcry from a formerly obedient press ensemble. Clyde Haberman captured the insouciance of the arrogant leader:

"With his smooth handling of Tropical Storm Irene, Mr. Bloomberg seemed to be getting his groove back. But now he has gone back to foot-shooting. Worse, he has lost a large measure of credibility with his unapologetic half-truths about why Stephen Goldsmith left as deputy mayor for operations.

It took a month for New Yorkers to learn the real reason, by way of The New York Post: Mr. Goldsmith had been arrested in Washington and jailed for the better part of two days on a domestic violence complaint."

The NY Post's Michael Goodwin also chastised Bloomberg:

"Face it, New York. Our mayor is just not that into us anymore. Bloomy Dearest has checked out and moved on. The job of mayor is beneath him, and it's no longer worthy of his full attention. Besides, there's no point being a billionaire if you have to follow the same rules as everybody else.

No man who cares about his job or reputation would behave as Bloomberg did. By claiming the right to deceive the public, he recalls the attitude of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who famously grabbed some beers, opened the emergency chute and told the world to "f*&% off."

Not to be left out we have words of wisdom from Michael Powell of the Grey Lady herself:

"Now 10 years into his mayoralty, Michael R. Bloomberg still tends to view the office of the mayor as akin to a hallway at Bloomberg L.P. Rules apply as the boss prefers. He wants a deputy mayor to run his foundation, which in turn ladles out dough to constituents’ nonprofits? Done. With precious little input, he wants to pick a Park Avenue friend as schools chancellor? Done. You want to take undisclosed vacations to undisclosed mansions on undisclosed islands? That too.

So it’s not surprising to find the mayor at it again on Sunday, this time defending something less defensible: His refusal to disclose that Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith resigned under duress, after police had arrested and jailed him on a domestic violence charge in Washington."

In summary we are saddled with a chief executive who doesn't believe that the rules apply to him-and therefore it isn't surprising when he resorts to extra-legal tactics as he has done at Willets Point. We have been assaulted by His Arrogance for three years now and he and his minions have pulled every trick in the land use book-from illegal lobbying and doctored data, to bribed environmental groups and an illegal new development phase never before vetted by the city council.

Enough is enough. We have seen as much of this little Caesar as we care to see-and it is high time that clearer thinking folks pull the plug on his vanity development over at the Iron Triangle. If they don't Willets Point will be turned into a garbage dump just as Suzette Kelo's neighborhood has been in New London. We'll give Gideon's Trumpet the last word:

"As regular readers of this blog know, the redevelopment project that gave rise to the wretched U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, never came about. In spite of the city’s boasting about the quality of its plans, nothing was ever built on the Fort Trumbull site from which the city displaced an entire unoffending, well maintained lower middle-class neighborhood. Though the formal taking took place in 2000 and the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to it in 2005, the city’s project has been a failure, with 91 acres of waterfront property sitting there empty and overgrown by weeds.

Now, we learn from the local newspaper, The Day, that following the hurricane Irene, the city has designated the Fort Trumbull redevelopment site as a place to dump vegetation debris. For a video of locals dumping that stuff on the site, click here.

Connecticut taxpayers have thus been soaked tens of millions of dollars, not just for nothing, but for making things worse — for transforming a nice local neighborhood into a dump."

Eric the Reticent

In today's NY Daily News the paper editorializes about AG Schneiderman's prosecutorial zeal and advises him to, "take a deep breath." Now what the News is talking about is the AG's utilization of his investigation of the banks as a fundraising tool but here at WPU we're more concerned that the zeal he is showing-and posturing about-is tuckering him out with an investigation that he inherited from his predecessor, Mr. Ethics himself, the new governor.

What the former AG Cuomo did or didn't do about the illegal lobbying of EDC, the mayor and the former BP of Queens Claire Shulman should be of paramount concern to law enforcement. In effect the mayor set loose an illegal lobbying scheme to deprive all of us of our property rights-and no, Mr. Mayor, it isn't something done all the time-a preposterous allegation that Bloomberg told a local paper.

The mayor, as the recent flap over his failure to disclose the reason for Deputy Mayor Goldsmith's resignation highlights, lives by his own rules and he doesn't feel obligated - just like Leona Helmsley - to live up to the legal requirements of all the "little people." This entire fiasco at Willets Point deserves a full and fair investigation - and if the AG can't do it then he should no longer posture as a champion of the people against the special interests.

Someone at the AG's office in late 2010 decided that it wasn't in the interest of the attorney general to do any further exploration of the illegal lobbying scheme. Inquiring minds want to know who made that decision-was it the current governor?